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By the time I found I was awake, my eyes had scanned their full panorama several times, taking in it detail. Intrigued by everything in this standard hotel room. Everything here in Romania was just so different to all I had known before. In my limited travel abroad there had always been common denominators, drink cans, electrical goods, cars all had been the same. Now here in this room I looked for some evidence of trade crossing the iron curtain. The shape of the mirror, the brown sludgy colours, the ornate chandelier, the one remaining light bulb within it, all products of an alien system.

There was a knock on the door; it was time to go up. Tim stirred in the other bed and I decided to hit the bathroom. As I pushed off the cotton-covered quilt, time my sore head reminded me of the previous evening. We had been taken to a special fish restaurant to drink as much as we could and eat fish from their beloved river. To us it looked like the end of Europe's largest sewer. Out hosts had treated us like Royally, yet again, and there had been an endless supply of their local light, but strong beer. We were told it was local but like most bottles in this country, it had no label. It was only after I arrived in the bathroom I realized there had been no point in the journey. On most previous occasions there had been no hot water. There was no cold time time, but decided to give any form of wash a miss. On one occasion I had cleaned by teeth with the water, I had suffered badly for 24 hours. Until I got told that more than my feet smelt I would not bother.

The normal group was gathering on the landing and the conversation was the same as it had been for most of our stay, did we really need to go for breakfast? Our Romanian hosts seemed to be convinced that westerners eat four times the amount we do and every activity had to be preceded by a banquet. Colin arrived as the discussion hit its crescendo; he always looked worse than everybody else my guess was because he usually had drank more than anybody else did? But as usual he went into action before us and calmed everything down by saying be would tell our local contact we would not need breakfast and ride his indignation. The food situation had been complicated all week because the hotel did not serve any food at all. It was meant to be a tourist hotel but it provided not food or drink, towels or even toilet paper. All for $40 a night which we were not paying. I could hear Colin trying to communicate with one contact. Like every conversation it seemed to need to hit argumentative levels before the point was accepted.

By nine o'clock we were at the hospital loading up the truck, two lorries and my minibus called Kevan. There was little help from the hospital staff today. It seemed so different. We had used a large storage room in the hospital as a sorting depot. Unloading most of the twenty odd tons of goods into them, so it was possible to take bits from each pile for each of the local trips we had made. It had seemed that most of the hospital staff had come to help us unpack. It had been very difficult to control the vast man power and impossible when they realized that we were not giving them any of it. We escaped when it reached a full riot and when we had found some had returned the following morning, the hospital administrator called the police to clear the doorways and allow us to start deliveries.

I was trying to influence whether we went back via Bucharest. Tim and Colin thought there was too much to deliver there, but I wanted their sums to be wrong. If we didn't go, it would tie up the seven tonner for a day. If we could do it we would see more of Romania and justify leaving earlier to gain some time in our very tight return schedule. I examined the contents of the load and told Colin we could take it. At last he agreed. "You will never get it in", said Tim shaking his head and a smile, it was all the motivation I required and he knew it. The saline drips went on the roof rack, the goats milk, rubber gloves, disinfectant and medical boxes inside.

We wanted to leave at about 3pm for our five-hour journey so most could be achieved in daylight. On the journey in we had come so close to ploughing into the back of an unlit cart and it had frightened us all.

Colin had to see the Mayor at that time, so I wasn't too concerned when he suggested that we were involved in the day's deliveries before we left. Kevan's team was to be split; Tim was to go with Nick, Sarah and Sasha with Doug and I with Colin and Chris. It made a change to have finished and not be starting the packing at 11am and not suffering indigestion.

I had no idea where I was going, except it was another orphanage with an unpronounceable and forgettable name. There were two hundred children there, but not one was around outside as Chris turned the arctic in the small courtyard. Nicolette another of the reception committee had come with us. "He is a very impressive driver isn't he " She said to me and I agreed. There was a shout quickly followed by the smashing of glass and a thud. A porch now contained part of an arctic wing mirror, CB aerial and blue scares! Now Tim and I were the only drivers not to have had mishaps. I found a piece of wood quickly.

The unloading started and the staff took over most of the work as usual to enable them to have a good look. We seemed redundant, so I asked if we could be shown around. A few minutes later a woman arrived and made gestures. She was dressed in white cotton working clothes, trimmed with matching scarf and apron and looked older, rounder and more senior than the others. I was ready for the tour; all three cameras round my neck. Colin was the only other person following the woman. "No, we want to go into this building here". He said pointing at a small square whitewashed annexe. The woman pretended to look confused and continued on in her original direction towards the main buildings. Colin just started walking where he wanted to go. He didn't care whether or not she came; he knew where to go. I followed him and soon the woman did too, she had lost her request and looked concerned. At the broken fly screen doors Colin stopped turned and looked me straight in the eyes. "This is the HIV ward - OK?" He wasn't so much as giving me an option about entering, he knew me better than that, it was just a warning that after a 1700 mile journey it was places like this that were the reason why he kept coming back. I didn't reply, just followed him through and up the stairs, he knew exactly where he was going. I had heard Colin talk about the rancid smells before, but it was still a surprise as he opened the first door off the landing. Apart from including stale urine I could analyse it, it had no connection with anything I had ever smelt before. It seemed to choke each breath and dry your mouth. In the small room were six cots that looked more like open-top cages with white painted chicken wire sides and iron frame. There was a baby lying in each, one was crying the other lie quiet but awake. Colin walked straight over and picked it up and started to talk to it. I grabbed a camera; this was the shot I wanted. As I focused the lens on the baby I could see that the clothes on the lower half of its body were darker than the top half. "You are soaking wet my little one." Colin said. He felt the mattress; it too was saturated in urine. The child stopped crying and the only sound was Colin's quiet voice. I walked across to another child; it was as wet as the other one. It lay still watching me. I bend down and touched its tiny hand with my little finger. Its wet fingers closed round mine. Its weak grip seemed to say so much. I hadn't the courage to pick it up. We just stared at each other. I had seen the television, heard the reports but at that moment it was so real a perfect little face without expression or reaction. The silence of whole place was so eary, through the glass panels I could see half a dozen rooms of babies, yet not one child was now making a sound. I pulled my finger away and looked at the next cot. The child's head was rocking from side to side; its eyes didn't appear to focus. I touched it hand and it didn't react at all. I tried again then left it to its own world, I prayed it was a peaceful one. The next baby was covered in spots. I gave it my finger and after a little while it smiled at me. I could not understand - they seemed starved of human contact except for the odd feed and very occasional change, yet it could still return a smile. These were the forgotten children. The ones nobody loved, yet they could still give a forgiving smile. It made it all so much worst, unlike most of us this little one had not given up hope of a miracle.

We came out of the room and I looked at my hands they were still very dirty from unpacking, Colin's were the same. We found a basin and washed. I felt guilty till I remembered that really I was the one at risk. We moved into another room. The woman returned, I hadn't even noticed she had left us or that even with 30 or 40 babies there was no nurse on duty. Colin started on her with his slow English and actions. "Three months ago - I came here - I left five thousand nappies for the babies - where are the nappies? The babies are very wet." He was getting angry where it hurt. "I think they go to the other building. These are sick babies." she replied in broken English. Colin's reply was predictable, I moved away , I didn't want to hear people arguing right now. The next room was the same as the last. All the babies just lying, still in silence. I touched each ones hand and didn't want them to let me go. Flies were walking across their face and they didn't care or attempt to stop them. Their eyes followed my movements and a couple more smiled. By now there were lots of women calling and answering outside. The seniors' senior came into the room and ordered me to stop taking photographs. Colin told me not to take any notice and tried her for some answers. When she started the same ridiculous explanations, he just turned his back on her and tried a few more doors. I was sure that if he had found one that was locked he would just consider it a better reason to open it. I continued looking at the babies and noticed one of the members of staff had started to change one of babies in the next room. She was using an old square piece of cotton as nappy. As she removed the old one I was nearly sick. The whole of the back of the child's legs and its entire bottom was deep red with sores. The colour of raw steak. She displaced no care in handling the child; it may as well have been dead meat to her. I grabbed at the camera and wasn't sure if I was successful. They just did not want people to see the state of the kids because it would look bad on them.

I had seen enough and needed some clean air. Colin came out with me, there was no point arguing. "I believe you now Colin, I believe you." I said and left him to go to the arctic. I wanted to be alone, but there was no place here. A teenage lad wanted an English address so he could practice his writing, I wrote down Sarah's address and again I tried to be alone. There was nowhere to go. If I could not cry I was not going to talk. Everything else we had seen paled into insignificance, this was what I had seen on the videos, this is what I expected to see but I still could not cope with it. I was still in control but the images were there and I couldn't calculate the effect. Worse was the righteous way the staff were defending the conditions. They seemed genuine in their belief that the kids were all right and did not need anything else. I could see Jane wandering around looking shell-shocked; she had just seen it all too. I hid, I could not talk about it and I could not cope with listening.

The unpacking was finished and we went into the main block for the usual offering of food. Tomatoes and ham again but this time with chips. I did not ask any more questions anymore, what I had seen had given me all the answers.

We left for a maternity hospital. This was so different. While it was twenty years behind one from England, that only reflected the state of the country. Most outstanding was the happiness. Proud Mums showed us the results of their agony. There was plenty of space Nicolette explained, before the revolution there were state inducements to have five children per family. It was the main reason why there were so many orphans. Now state maternity hospital number four reflected the countries changes with a seventy five per cent reduction in births. We handed out nine prams and showed the chosen mothers how they worked. Some of the women seemed so young, or was I getting old! "Don't forget to service them every four thousand miles." Colin shouted as we left. "Yes, keep those nipples greased." Chris muttered.

We got back to the Hotel and Colin went off to see the Mayor. Then returned, the message was everybody was invited out for an evening meal at a very special restaurant. I explained to Tony that the four of us would not be joining them. He insisted and for the first time so did I, it was getting very awkward when Stefan arrived back with Sarah and Sasha. Stefan cooled it down but Tony still did not understand we had five or six hours travelling to do at it was now 18:00pm.

Ion arrived, we hadn't met before and I immediately saw on opportunity that I didn't want to miss. He was in his early thirties and desperate for western goods. He asked if we had any spare shampoo that we didn't want. Here was the contact we needed to change some money. I had made a couple of suggestions to Tony, he said it was no problem and he would come shopping with us. I wasn't sure if he was going to pay and not let us pay him back, or if he wanted dollars like everybody else, and if so at what exchange rate. Ion was different and we understood each other straight away. I gave him one hundred and eighty eight dollars, all the small notes. He disappeared in his car and the three of us cleared the rooms. He returned and asked me if I wanted a ride in his car. Sarah and Sasha looked confused, but it was two policemen in the hotel that concerned Ion. Round the corner I was presented with a pile of old notes three inches thick, fifteen thousand and forty lei. That was eighty lei to the dollar, four times the hotel rate. Ion wanted me to count it I couldn't be bothered, it would have taken ages and the shops were closing again. We returned and I gave Sarah about a third of the money. "Go and get the music stand and anything else you can, I'll wait for Tim." I got one of her smiles and she left with Sasha.

Ion and I talked, I wish I had met him before, we would have had some fun with him. The music stand arrived and Ion wanted to take us somewhere. We followed him into a back street and up some stairs. A small room was set up as a shop; lots of people were examining produces. I laughed and turned to Ion "This is what we can buy at home, I cannot take these as presents." Records, booze, pop posters, it was a stall for western goods. The prices reflected the rarity of the goods. We did buy Tim a new lighter; he had lost his old one. Now I realized why everybody kept asking us for a light. Lots of people had approached us and I had been so suspicious straight away. Now I could see that with a cheap disposable lighter, at over one days wages, nobody wanted to light their own cigarettes.

Tim and Nick had still not returned, I was getting concerned, it was now dark and their trailer had no lights. Nicolette telephoned the restaurant where most of the others were already with Colin and the Mayor. I agreed that we would go and look for them, Ion knew where they were delivering. A few miles down the road we found them, the clutch was on it's way out! Nick was going back to the Hotel so Tim joined us and continued to the Restaurant to drop off Ion, Nicolette and Russell. Again we had to convince them we didn't want to eat. We still had to get to Bucharest. Marian and Chris wanted a lift back to the hotel first, and then Tim asked if he could visit the hospital. He had befriended one of the porters who had helped allot with the unloading and loading. Tim had some presents for him. It seemed more important to Tim than the time we would lose. He disappeared into the main hospital building with Sasha. Forty-five minutes later started to explain how it had been worth the extra delay. They had had a great time, he had not been working, but someone had driven them in an ambulance to where he lived. They had met the three children and his wife and seen the squalid conditions in which they had to live. Some of the gifts were for one of the children who were ill. It was now midnight and we were only just leaving Galati, at least the carts should be off the road. But no - people, bicycles and carts were still wondering around. I drove for two hours but I did not sleep when Tim took over, there was too much to watch for. We arrived in the Capital at 04:30hrs and crashed out straight away, it had been a very long day.