Me (Dutch) and a friend (Portuguese) visited TransD in april 2008. Getting in we paid 20euro for the two of us. The borderguards set the price by simply grabbing my wallet and see what was in it, that was the entrance fee.
In Tiraspol we were followed for the first hour/hour and a half by a guy in military uniform. We didn’t talk to people much, just one young girl, who was keen to practice her english. She was friendly, helpfull and showed us some sights. But everytime we took a picture she got a little skittish and she refused to be in a picture with us, saying that wasn’t ‘smart’.
Leaving TransD we had learned from our mistake getting in, and hid all our euro’s and moldovan Lei’s in our socks. I just had 5 TransD ruble in my wallet. But when the guard grabbed my wallet again in the small interragation room, he also found 100 romanian lei, which I had forgotten to put in my sock. Not quite knowing the currency probably, he chose the 5 ruble over the 100 lei (25euro)…

It was an interesting but somewhat scary trip!

As the text states, when I was in TransD, the diplomatic situation between TransD, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia was dire. Everyone was on edge. And we certainly felt it at every turn. Even my Moldovan escort was nervous, so it wasn’t a case of me having missed my meds.

Incidentally, I just got a note from Marisha saying the border into TransD was worse than ever and her friend in Tiraspol had been brought in for questioning due to the abundance of visitor invitations she was requesting. She was sternly asked to cease this habit and informed that tourists were not welcome in TransD. This was just in September, so it must have been happening at the same time you were there. Seems as if you got in and out on a rather lucky lark, though I hear entering via Ukraine is a cake walk compared to entering from Moldova, so that’s part of the reason.

Glad to hear you had a good time though. I don’t know if I’m doing the next book, but if I do, as always, I am obliged to visit TransD and I will once again have to report to the best of my abilities on the snapshot environment at the moment, which as we have seen, changes constantly.

Having recently (Sept 07) visited Transdniester/Moldova with the Lonely Planet Romania & Moldova guidebook accompanying me, I was most interested to read this topic. I wonder whether there are two Transdniesters and we visited different ones!

I didn’t find it unwelcoming, and as a solo, non-Russian-speaking tourist, didn’t encounter any of the horrible events you darkly warn are “guaranteed”. In fact I’m so pleased that I didn’t read this piece before I went, as your tales of intimidating inteview rooms, multiple bribes, outright ostracism etc would have put me off going. But I experienced none of these – and also found many of the things you state in your Lonely Planet guide, particularly in the “Tread Lightly in Transdniester” box on page 336, to be wrong.

I had no problems at the border. Going in, on the bus from Odessa, I had to fill out a form – but the bus driver hassled the border guard into processing me quickly! I had a letter of invitation through http://www.marisha.net which was a wise move. Going out, on the bus to Chisinau, I also had no problem, though I had registered with the police in Tiraspol which I think was also a good move. Registering with the police (which one of Marisha’s friends kindly did for me) cost a few cents but I wasn’t asked to pay anything at the border, in or out.

“Social ostracism of foreigners”? Not at all. People were delightful: friendly, kind and honest. “Watched at all times”? Not at all. People didn’t stare at me as if they’d never seen a westerner, nor with suspicion, paranoia etc. I don’t speak Russian, I certainly looked like a stranger, but got not a single funny look (and I’m quite observant). Nor did I get hassled, robbed or conned – and (unlike in Chisinau) never felt in any way that I was going to be. “Frosty merchants rush through transactions without a word”? None of the merchants I bought from: no different from buying stuff anywhere you don’t speak the language – except that several times when, through lack of understanding or disbelief at prices, I attempted to pay well over the odds, the merchant always put me right – no-one tried to take advantage of the rich foreigner.

Several police heard me speaking English, and saw me taking photographs. Not a problem. Only one time, when I took a photo of a Russian guard at a hydroelectric plant, he told me off. I didn’t have a single experience of being harassed by a policeman or any other official.

I hold no brief for President Smirnov (although a dictator who goes on foot to the Independence Day parade, makes no speech there and has no guards outside his palace is a novelty) but I didn’t get the feeling that people were scared or intimidated. They spoke openly about and against the government, and (except for some of the elderly whose pensions, like in so many ex-Soviet countries, are worthless) didn’t appear to be downtrodden or fearful – and often seemed to be having fun! I definitely can’t see that Transdniester is any worse a place than the rest of Moldova (which has an admittedly communist government and is rife with corruption), and many of its problems are, as you say, down to its isolation and lack of outside investment.

So how come my experiences were so different from yours? I asked a few people whether things had changed much in the past year and nobody seemed to think so. Of course you can only write from your experiences; but it seems a pity that Lonely Planet readers do get a very one-sided impression of the place.

Are you yet working on the next edition of the LP guide? If so, I hope you will take another look at Transdniester, and get to see a bit more of the “country”. And/or, I’d be happy to contribute some of my experiences to your Transdniester chapter.