1. There are crooks everywhere... Phone fraud (people calling and telling you your loved one was in an accident, is in jail and needs to be bailed), insurance fraud (For example ARMEETS refused to pay for my broken windows on my car which had KASCO full-coverage insurance), VAT Fraud (one of my ex-best friends' brother was in jail for heading an organized ring for VAT fraud), ATM card fraud etc. etc., police racketeering, etc etc

2. There are many thieves in Bulgaria: My village house in Trankovo was broken into more than 5 times and things like my boiler, shower head and sink taps were stolen... My car was broken into twice in Bulgaria. Part of the problem is unemployment and low salaries and lack of a firm judicial/Police will to stop crime. Our baby stroller was stolen from in front of my wife's parents' apartment in Plovdiv. A neighbour said he saw a Roma lady walking away with it.

3. Bulgarians like to throw an air of superiority... I worked in a power station in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian engineers and middle management acted like they were really smart or important people... which they were not. They keep repeating to themselves what a great nation they are which they are not, generally speaking... there are great Bulgarians though.... I have read some amazing Bulgarian books by writers such as Anton Donchev and Dimitar Talev. But they tend to be from an era gone by...It seems to me Bulgaria was a better place to live in under Communism.

4. Bulgarians like to talk shit behind people's backs. There is a Bulgarian saying which says if two Bulgarians get together, the third one is bound to be a traitor. I was backstabbed very badly in the power station I used to work at in Bulgaria. My neighbour in Plovdiv called the police on me during COVID, I had gone to the river during quarantine after I got a negative COVID test. I ended up with a 10,000 Lev fine. The Police were after money, the DA does not care he wants money, the lawyer i hired was corrupt. My case made the local news paper... many people gloated...

5. Many Bulgarians are superstitious and use the services of "mediums" for predicting the future and protection against black magic. They even have TV channels dedicated to that. On one of the talent shows in Bulgaria there was an old lady that claimed she can clear the air of nuclear pollution and predict one's blood pressure.

6. Bulgaria is plagued by corruption: there are numerous reports of appropriation of public property for cheap. Traffic police can be bought for 50 leva (which can be a good thing to be honest), technical car inspection stickers can be bought, even a passport or ID can be bought. My best man's wife died under anasthesia while undergoing a simple medical procedure in a private hosrpital in Plovdiv and the responsible doctor is still practicing and the DA wants to drop all charges.

7. Bulgarians tend to be unprofessional: I bought a brand new fridge 4 years ago for my village house in Trankovo from Techno market, Stara Zagora. This is a large chain store for electronics and appliances. It barely worked two years and it broke down after the warranty expired. The technical support of Technomarket were very unprofessional... Not to mention the many subcontractors that I hired to fix up my village house: some were drunks, some wanted more money in the middle of the job, some just left the job site without finishing the works. About a month ago I bought some tyres on line from BGgumi.com. I couldn't get an invoice for a long time... People at work do not like to take responsability...

8. Many Bulgarians listen to Chalga, turbo folk music which talks about sex, money, love, cars, air planes...

9. Bulgarian roads are horrible (especially in early spring): in March 2012 I cracked two aluminum rims on the road from plovdiv to Stara Zagora on my beautiful S class AMG which was broken into later.

10. Bulgarian TV shows are generally sub-standard: for example the copy-cat show of Slavi Trifonov and the toilet-humor of Kumitsite. If you watch Nova TV news, you realize it is written by retards and watched by retards... There is no investigative journalism. No one exposes the Oligarchs.

11. Nepotism: they say everyone in Bulgaria is someone's cousin...

12. Organized Crime: what is sad is that the government is the mafia in Bulgaria.

13. Bureaucracy is very bad in Bulgaria. When I used to work at a Bulgarian power station, I was amazed and how much useless payperwork had to be filled out. When I had to get my BG driving license (even though I had a Lebanese, Saudi and a California DL), despite the fact that I passed a complete theoretical/practical driving class in Bulgaria, one of the absurd document requirements was that my US MS diploma had to be notarized from the USA !!!! I pulled some connections and the requirement was waived...

14. December 2024: I visited plovdiv to spend my Birthday with my girls. Depresssed, decrepit old people everywhere, young people have all emigrated... food quality is low because supermarkets are run by traders they buy the cheapest bulk products for maximum profit. Meat, cheese products, are low quality and the prices high. The old taste of good Bulgarian food is gone forever... Villages have been destroyed because European funds are funneled into large corporations run/owned by the government oligarchs. No money to help village people, develop the villages...

15. The Political scene is a mess, a bunch of stupid thieves in power. They cannot form a consensus government because they are greedy arrogant fools. Corrupt pigs like Peevski who was slapped with the Magnitsky corruption act still shows his ugly mug on TV just like the chimpanzee Boyko Borrisov.

16. My guest house in Trankovo burned down this summer in 2024 because some idiot was chopping up iron waste with an angle grinder during the summer heat and there was tall dry grass every where. Forget about the fire fighters arriving in time or the villagers lifting a finger or God forbid bringing a bucket of water... Forget about getting any compensation, the police called me from Radnevo and interviewed me no results yet....

17. My mom got a jay walking ticket in Plovdiv in December 2024. The street was completely empty of cars. She is a pensioner with a small pension and her eyesight is not so good. The police are there to fleece people not to catch criminals whom they protect and let off the hook every time...

18. Plovdiv is now really congested with old, black plume emitting cars. 30 minutes to 1 hour to get from one end of the city to another and it is a small city. Rush hour traffic is terrible.

19. The river looks really polluted and ugly in Plovdiv. rampant construction is choking the city. Mostly laundered money you never know who the owner is.

20. Bulgarian courts are corrupt. I divorced by ex in Bulgaria she got the kids and alienated them against me. I sued her for more visitation rights than 2 days a month and lost... she had connections....

21. My sister once went to a beach resort in Bulgaria. First day she bought baclava dressed humbly and was charged 5 lev. Next day she was dressed posh and was asked to pay 10 lev for the same baklava...

22. Took my daughter to the Bushido discoteque in Plovdiv in 2024. They were selling laughing gas balloons in the open and giving free vapes to underage kids....

23. My taxi driver from town to Plovdiv airport stank... It has happened to me more than once....

24. Bulgarians are traitors. They forgot the debt of honor they owe Russia and toe the party line of NATO and their European masters in Brussels where the money comes from...

25. Watch out for Shark taxis, their prices are inflated will charge you a fortune for a short trip...

26. Bulgarians show off that they saved their Jews in WW2 but do not teach their kids in school that Bulgaria was on the side of the Nazis in WW2. Many Bulgarians hate Communism but forget that Communism was a reaction to the excesses of Fascism....

Rami E. Kremesti M.Sc., CSci, CEnv, CWEM

founder BONKA.BG

Blog started Somewhere in Serbia on the Way to Baden, Switzerland

Last updated December 16, 2024