28th August to 1st September - Refreshment of the Soul

I awoke around 1 or 2 pm, which would turn out to be a fairly standard affair. Zeljko cooked a really tasty breakfast and prepared a fantastic coffee (which seemed to be a Balkans take on the Greek/Turkish coffee). Naturally (to Zeljko) he also served up a shot glass filled to the brim with my raki alongside the coffee. And let me tell you, nothing says "Lets have a great day" better than homebrew raki, strong coffee and tasty breakfast! Sent a few emails and chatted, was actually well into the afternoon before I made it down to the beach. Superb. I had one of those moments where you think "This is like a dream, I can't believe I am really here". This is the Europe of your dreams. The "Stari Grad" (translation: walled city) which I was staying in, is 2,500 years old and laced with narrow streets and overhead balconies. As I type this entry up back in Australia, I can easily reflect that it is probably the most beautiful place I visited in Europe. The water is perfectly clear, the rays of sunshine rippling over the rounded, aqua-marine rocks, which stud the sea floor. Greeting your salt stung eyes, as they break the surface of the Mediterranean is the intriguing architecture of the stari grad, with the Montenegrin mountain range rising steeply in the background, bald patches of rock staining the slopes, betraying their age.

Today I woke a tad earlier and had the same coffee/raki/breakfast, today washed down with some beer, before the sun had crossed the yardarm. Whatever, i am holidays. Hmmm, this does ring somewhat hollow though as I realise that I have been on holidays for about 18 months. Satisfaction. I was feeling very contemplative, something that is rather easy when you have only two things to "do". One was lying on the beach. The other was wandering through the alley ways and alcoves. Spent some hours down on the beach, was very enjoyable.

After that I spent some time just wandering aimlessly, but not without aim through the backstreets and alleys. Fantastic.

Wandered around in the early evening with Teresa and Zeljko, got an awesome sandwich and went to a bar for a beer. Or more accurately, went and sat in a vine covered alley, and were served beer. Relaxing. After a few beers I wandered towards the end of the unlit alley, peering into backyards. The curved alley revealed an archway, which I was somewhat surprised to find led only to a 2m drop onto rocks. No signs. Nothing to stop you. Simply stunning views greet the eyes, imprinting themselves directly onto my brain, as these were the sights I had dreamed of. Some days pass...

Was planning to leave this morning, but the sensually relaxing lifestyle seduced me into staying for another day (I slept in). We all went down to the beach, swum and sunned ourselves. As we returned to T and Zeljko's apartment, we met a couple of fellow travelers. Actually, there was already another CSer hanging out, so that meant 6 people in a 1 room apartment. Interesting, but we somehow managed to position ourselves with no worries. The two travelers were called Florian and James, couple of cool guys who had met on the road and decided to travel together for a while. We went for some beers and I slept my last night in enchanting Budva...

27th August - Road to Montenegro

Ah, getting up and leaving is getting a little harder to do each time, compounded I suspect by the lack of sleep. So I packed up my worldly goods, Beti and I wandered into town, to pick up some homemade raki that I had asked one of Beti's Albania friends for. So, he presented me with 1.5L, free of charge! This would prove to be a social lubricant for the next two countries (I conservatively estimate the alcohol content at 60%. A conservative estimate, remember). So, whilst walking out of Lezhë I had a quick espresso and then assessed my hitching options. Frankly, they didn't look too good. So I paid for transport, dammit, the princely sum of $2 to be crammed into a minibus and driven over what qualifies as a 'road' in Albania, to Shkodër. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten to print a map. So, after getting lost, find a net cafe, and getting lost again, I found myself in what appeared to by the centre. I judged this by the large amount of taxi drivers heckling me for 'cheap' €20 rides. I was wondering how the hell i was going to get to Budva, my target for the day. Still a border crossing away. Somehow, I remember exactly, I bumped into 2 Czech guys (brothers) and then bumped into them again 10min later, only this time they had managed to secure a ride with some guy to Ulcinj, in Montenegro. I asked if I could come along too, and for the grand sum of €3 I quickly become sandwiched between the 2 brothers in the back seat. Turns out the drivers command of English was much like that of his car, poor at best. So, as he could speak a little German, i got the main job of translator, as task to which I was ill matched, but as our German was equally bad, we seemed to understand each fine. So we get to the checkpoint, which was quite new, only being open for a year or something (as Montenegro only declared independence in 2006). This is evident in that it is the same building, just different windows, for Albania and then Montenegro. I wish this was more commonplace, would have saved me quite a few kilometres walking. While we were waiting, I somehow got talking to a 60 year old guy who had been living in Sydney for the last 40 years. Was an interesting chat. So, I then got dropped off in Ulcinj and wandered to the outskirts. Where I stayed for a good 2 hours, in a great spot. I did eventually get a lift to Bar. I could smell the most delicious aroma of freshly baked bread and without even thinking, started to look around the car (I hadn't eaten in 9 hours). He noticed and mentioned that I should take some bread, which I promptly did. He said it he was on Ramadan and as it was still daylight, I surmised he wasn't going to eat it just yet. The scenery along the coast of Montenegro is simply stunning. It is a series of tight bays, with the mountains rising directly out of the water. So, I was then dropped at a bus stop, from which i tried unsuccessfully to hitch from for over an hour. Darkness was falling, so I hopped on a bus to Budva. I arrived at Budva at 8.30 with these instructions:

"Find Caffe Jef and Caffe Greco, 2 outdoor bar/cafes well known to the locals inside Stari Grad (means Old City). The entrance is through 2 big plain white painted wooden doors set in a stone wall next to the cosmetics shop Bingo - which has no identifying marks... Go through the doors and up the stairs to the large vine-covered patio that can be seen when standing outside of Caffe's Jef and Greco. Go through the open door on the and up the blue stairs. We are the door at the top"

These directions were duly followed and I found myself in the Europe that I had dreamt of. A stone balcony, with over hanging grapes, ripe and Delicious. I knocked on their door and meet my couch surfing host 'T' and her boyfriend Zeljko. I felt at home immediately. I whipped out the raki in short order and finished the evening drinking rakia with T, sitting in the the edge of the balcony, dangling our bare feet and watching the people dancing the night away below us...

Check out the plates (you will need to click on the picture to get full size), only in Albania can you get away with that!

Is the implication in this photo that, after a visit, your vagina will be able to played like a violin?

26th August - Lezhë

12 hrs of sleep later, I was feeling surprisingly refreshed, despite the quantities of rakia ingested the previous evening. Beti apparently was working today and so I should go look for her in certain cafe. This is what the note she left for me said. So, as I wandered out the door, I was struck by the rather nice views from her apartment. I found it also heartwarming (well, throat burning would be more accurate) that there were several long rows of grape vines, who only purpose as far as I could ascertain, was the production of rakia. Hmmm, Albanian has a way of growing on you. 

 And then you are forced to use one of these 'toilets'. Unfortunately, I have become somewhat of a veteran of these things, having pooed (or as I now prefer to say "laying a deuce") my way from the Italian Alps to the Ukrainian lowlands. So, left to wonder what stupendously pyroclastic bowel movements could have possibly cracked a piece of the ceramic off, I headed further into town. I quickly realised though not large by any means, Lezhë was large enough to prevent me from chancing upon the cafe in which Beti was apparently ensconced. My plans foiled I resorted to asking a passerby, who (instead of stabbing and robbing me, as people who have never visited Albania are wont to describe the tendencies of its inhabitants) took the time to lead me directly to the cafe in question. Thank you random Albanian man. So, after finding Beti, we went back to the head PC office. 3 computers and perhaps it was just my newness to the scene, but it didn't seem like a whole lot of work was being done. But that is my general impression of Albania, so perhaps they had just smoothly slotted into how things were done (or not) here. So, after some time we dropped into a local bar, invited for some rakia (what else?) and I decided that it would be impolite to refuse an offer for my new favourite drink.

After the drinks ,as we headed home, picking up a few ingredients for dinner, I noticed an interesting  phenomena, which Beti explained to me and it cultural ramifications. So, a little bit of brief history first for context. Cue wikipedia link here: Albania. So, rather incredibly attractive women wander the streets (rather like the Italians and Greeks do in the evening, albeit in more picturesque settings), dressed in an extremely revealing manner. However, Albania is still very conservative, so they wont actually sleep with anyone they don't intend to marry. One one hand sucking at the teat of the American media and on the other retaining cultural values from 200 years ago. Makes for strange viewing in the evening, no wonder the men are having some problems. Anyways, we went back and had some food and proper European Absinthe (with wormwood). Have you heard that you are supposed to somehow filter it through sugar and then add some fire? Well, it still tastes bad...

25th August - 25th Birthday.....twice

As I find myself sitting at the front of the bus, watching an Albanian music video clip (quite possibly choreographed by a 5 year old) playing on the small tv screen, I start to realise I may be welcoming in my birthday in a distressingly uncomfortable manner. Its 8pm and I have a 10hr bus journey, that will crest the mountains between Greece and Albania. I abandon all pretense of sleep, instead just watch out of the window as the bus starts to climb, the far reaching views hidden under the cloak of darkness. As the bus the nears the top of the range, the temperatures plummeted, a fact I am awoken to as I step wearily down and am startled to see my breath readily forming clouds in front of my face. As I avoid the group of men offering "great rates" on the Albanian currency, the lek, I check the time and notice that I may be able to perform a nifty trick. As the border formalities take quite some time, the clock ticks 12.01am and I suddenly become 25! However, we then proceed about 30 min later through the Albanian checkpoint and since it is an hour behind (if only that was all) I suddenly become 24! I have managed to legitimately have my birthday separately in two countries!

Tirane at 5am

As the bus wound back down the mountains, sleep becomes impossible, as the approach of the bus drivers closely resembles that of the World Rally Championship drivers. We arrive in Tirane at 5am. It looks exceedingly dull in the grey light of dawn, an effect amplified by the communist architecture. For some reason there was an English family having an argument. I could identify from their poor command of English that they were as we say in Australia, 'bogans'. Can't escape them anywhere it seems. After being told to get in a minibus which did nothing for 30min, I was then bundled into another one, which took me part of the way, stopping in Laç. I then managed to secure another to Lezhë, my final destination. We bump over, for want of a better name, the 'road'. This consists of asphalt, cunning pockmarked with a rather large number of potholes. Then a section of dirt, of varying lengths, seems to appear. And so on. I arrive in Lezhë, manage to call my CSing host, Beth and met her. She works for the PC (Peace Corp), and they are having a once year get together of all the children they have involved in their volunteer work. I do manage to score a T-Shirt. After their presentations, we all head down in a rickety bus to the beach for the afternoon. The kids love dancing. As you can see in the clip, it’s not especially complicated. But they did it for hours. Pretty cool.

 

So, Beth and I went for a swim in the late afternoon, realised that there was no more buses. So, we were forced to climb fences, teetering on the edge between falling into a shitty hole on the road on one side and a hole full of shit in a pig pen on the other. Ah, you shall long remain in my memories, sweet Albania. We hitched the short distance back into town on the fading light. Picked up ingredients for dinner on the way home, dropping into a bar for a shot or two of Rakia, you can see the effect upon humans in the first picture of this entry. Firewater made from grapes. Powerful...

Shoe repair man

24th August - Thievery in Thessaloniki

So, after yesterday returning to Thessaloniki 11 hours after I left the day before, I had researched a way to get to Albania. There was an overnight bus leaving today at 8pm and damn the expense of €32, I had been nearly a week in one place and felt the urge to get going. On the way to the bus station, I had decided to meet with John (a rather unlikely name for a Greek) a CSing host who I had communicated with prior to my arrival in Thessaloniki. So, we met up for a an excellent 'Greek' coffee (its a Turkish coffee, but due to tensions between the 2 countries you have to call it a Greek coffee in Greece. Damn Greeks) and had a good old chat. We covered quite a diverse range of subjects, as he was a good conversationalist. He was what is know as a Pontian Greek , a interesting group of Greeks that experienced a forced Diaspora due to a massacre buy the Turks 100 years ago. Check out the hyperlink for the history lesson. Actually, my host is also a Pontian Greek. There is also a Pontian Greek community, not very large. I am rather surprised that there is any Pontian Greeks in Thessaloniki at all, as it is the birthplace of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , who gave the order for massacre of the Pontian Greeks. Actually, he is responsible for much more than that, but I don’t have the space for the many things he did here. The reason I am surprised (after all, it was 100 years ago) is that the Pontians act like it was yesterday. Anyway, we had a great chat and I was sorry that I didn’t have more time to spend with him.

So, I hoped on a bus to go to the main bus station, in order to buy my ticket. I was just standing on the bus, near the door. Some random dude got on, but of course I paid him no attention whatsoever, other than to notice he was carrying a newspaper. Bumpy roads which weren't effectively compensated for by the suspension, meant that I paid no attention to a bump on my leg, figuring that I just bumped someone or something. However, not too long after the first bump on my leg, I noticed another. This time i wondered what had happened and looked down at my thigh. WTF? What should I see but the hand of the newspaper guys, in my pocket trying to get my wallet. FUCKING THIEF! I decided that I should remonstrate with this man and clearly and succinctly communicate to him my feelings on the matter. Perhaps I was too succinct? No, on second thoughts, I believe the words "What the fuck are you doing?! Are you fucking right?! Get the fuck off this bus, you fucking thief! FUCK OFF!' communicated just the right mix of feelings, my thoughts on his actions and a suggested future action. So, after this interesting interlude, I arrived at the main bus station. After waiting, I proceeded to the ticket counter to purchase a ticket. "What’s that, you need my passport?" I said, clearly unprepared for this technicality. Maybe you hoity toity European types knew that a passport is required for booking a seat on a inter country bus, but not me. Damn it! So, I reserved a seat, returned to the apartment say my goodbyes and hopped on the bus to Albania....

19th to 23th August - Thessaloniki to.....Thessaloniki

Another day, another beach awaking. I mean less that I woke a beach to consciousness (a rather nifty trick, had I achieved it), but rather I woke up on a beach. Anyways, I ate some rather lacklustre breakfast, which was possibly 2 days old. So, I meandered out of town, encountering yet another LIDL (god bless the Germans and their aggressive expansion strategy. Hang on, isn’t there a German word for that? Ok, I should probably stop before I make this any worse) and stocked up on supplies. I walked for quite a way, waited for a little and scored a direct lift to Thessaloniki, 300km away. I was quite tired and ended up sleeping for most of the way, instead of soaking up the views along the coastline, as I had planned. Ah well. After being offered the drivers ham and cheese burger for the umpteenth time, I accepted it. Hmmm, kinda tasty and kinda tasty is more than I need. I got a bus into town and hung out there for a little while, then called my CS host (called George, rather incongruously) and organised to meet up. Interesting guy, speaks 4 languages (Estonian, Russian, Greek and English), comprising 3 alphabets. Always, we walked back to his place and had some beers and some retsina (Greek rosé) with coke. Sleep was inevitable...

Got up late, wandered into town for a frappé, which is essentially is a foam-covered iced coffee drink made from spray-dried instant coffee (thank you wikipedia). It’s the most popular drink in Greece, which is interesting as it tastes like bad. I mean, when did it become cool to drink instant coffee that was left for half an hour to cool down? Anyway’s, after paying the exorbitant price (like everything in Greece) we went further into town and wandered along the esplanade, which had a multitude of bars. No one (except for in Berlin and Copenhagen’s Christiania) knows about uncool being the new cool. So, what you get is ultra modern, ultra expensive bars filled with ultra attractive ultra rich people. Damn you and your good looks and full wallets. Prices in theses bars commonly hover around €10 ($16) for a beer. My daily budget. So. I contented myself to wandering past and wondering by which path does one take to find themselves sipping cocktails and looking like a douche bag in the beachside bar in Thessaloniki? Oh, and my beachside I am of course referring to the 20km long completely cemented, no beach or sand allowed, esplanade. You do get used to cement in Greece. So after this foray into the lives of the rich and douche baggy, we returned to his apartment and I ended up talking to his parents over Skype, with him. He translated (in Russian) to his parents. Interesting. After that I ended up joining him at his night shift for the apartment block, hung out all night and just talked...

After the late night, we slept quite a lot of the day. I went into town and walked up the rather steep hill, to the castle over looking the city. Some interesting contrasts, such as almost slum like houses, having multi-million dollar views. It would appear that at least here, views are not the purely the realm of the rich. I then wandered over to another part of the castle, which was completely deserted. Ate some of the grapes growing on a vine. Deliciously illicit. Next thing on the list was an internet cafe (far to much to organise for my liking).

Not everything is what it seems...

 So after some intensely aimless wandering, passingly some rather politically incorrectly named shops (I also noticed that in Greece there is no such thing as a normal bakery. it would appear that Greeks are only partial to a variety of sugared snacks, not loaves of bread) I happened across a shop with the words "Internet Cafe" in big letters (as you can see in the photo). Strangely, I took this to be a place where I might be able to use the internet. No David, no. As soon as i went in I noticed the interior had a hushed feel to it. I was presented with a bar and a velvet partition. Not a nerd in sight. Hmmm, somethings not quite right here. Presently, an attractive girl appeared wearing a low cut top. "What is this place?” I think. When I asked her wether they had the internet here, as advertised outside and she replied in a dreamy, seductive voice "No, its something else" I started to realise that perhaps what they offered didn’t cost only €2 per hour. So, I left. As I re-examined the "cafe" from the outside, I realised that perhaps the velvet curtains which didn’t even let a sliver of light in, should have clued me into the nature of the place. I was later informed by a local that it was most likely a illegal casino. However, I have chosen to disregard this information and stick with my initial, more exiting theory that I had stumbled into a disguised brothel.

The next day I left early, as I had an extremely ambitious day ahead of me. I wanted to hitch hike from Thessaloniki to a small town in Albania, north of the capital Tiranë, called Lezhë a distance of some 400km. And having heard about the poor quality of the Albanian roads, this was going to be quite a challenge. I caught a bus to actually another little village, on the far outskirts of Thessaloniki. As usual, I was following directions from Hitch Wiki, a free resource updated by hitch hikers with good hitch hiking spots and how to get to them. Hence my appearance in the middle of nowhere, following directions to a big toll station. As I am wandering through this town of no more than 2,000 people, I glance to my right and see an Ostrich. WTF? A goddamn Ostrich! Just wandering around in someone’s yard. Previously I had thought myself starting to become immune to being amazed my completely random, completely un-understandable things (there are so, so many in Eastern Europe, I love it). I would appear not, as I stopped dead in my tracks and gazed dumbfounded. Anyways, Albanian was still pretty much all of those 400km away... A walk though bushes and a jumped fence later (I would have taken more care in those bushes had I known as I walked through them that they were largely used as public toilets by the people pulling over in the stop area after the toll station) I found myself in front of a huge toll station, 5 lanes going in each direction. With a large pull over lane and plenty of traffic. "This shouldn't be too hard", I thought. 2 hours later, still standing in the same spot in the hot sun, I was starting to doubt the wisdom of that thought. Eventually I got a lift with a Greek guy, who spoke only Greek and German. Well, another chance to polish the scrap of brass that is my German to a high sheen. So, we ended up going a little different path to the one I had planned, but sometimes that happens. However, you should be careful that it doesn’t lead you into the Greek countryside, in the middle of the day, without any water. Hot. No lifts. Hours pass. I decide to walk to the highway that leads to both Thessaloniki and a town further south. Just as I am contemplating the decisions that led me here, a car reverses and asks in English "Where are you going?” I cunningly reply with another question, also in English "Where are you going". He says "Thessaloniki" and saying "OK", admitting defeat...

Politically incorrect much?

18th August - Bye in Bulgaria

Woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed after 5 hours drunken sleep on cold concrete, softened only by the sleeping bag. Had some watermelon for breakfast. Antinos arrived as we had organised (with not one word of the other persons language) and although he didn't bring the schnapps like he said he would, there was a bottle from the night before with a quite a bit in it still and he decanted it into 2 .5L bottles, one for each of us. I must wait until I return home before i am allowed to open it, a promise I shall have no problems keeping, as the taste of the schnapps from the previous nights drinking was lingering in my mouth. Went a short way before dropping Felix off on the 'highway' leading to Sofia, fitting that the last sight I would have of him before catching up in Berlin is from the wing mirror of a car. It was as a hard as I thought it would be, as we had grown quite close, spending 24hrs a day together for 2 weeks. So many emotions and laughs shared from sleeping next a petrol station, crammed into a Ukrainian mini-bus with 30 other hitchhikers, hitchhiking in the Moldovan countryside, the brooding Bulgarian forest, problems at borders, 47 lifts and too many more to list.

First attempt ever at sign writing

So, Antinos dropped me at the Bulgarian/Greek Border. I walked through with no worries and proceeded to walk to the Greek border. Hmm, WTF? There was just a road. Man, with new borders, the checkpoints are right beside each other. This one was bloody kms apart! In the hot sun. Took a photo of that sign to prove how cool I was and then noticed a guard in the distance. Shit, so I pretended to be just turning the camera off. Sucker! Anyways, got to the next border eventually and asked if they had a toilet. I was presented with a pamphlet. Ah, I was looking for countries in which people couldn't speak English, wasn't I? So, I put my stuff down in the shade of the border checkpoint roof and wrote a sign for Alexandroupoli. I quickly realised that I had been rather wise to leave the sign writing to Felix as it is actually more difficult than it looks. Which I think you should be able to discern from the quality of the sign I ended up writing. Got a few laughs from onlookers and then I hitchhiked a lift about halfway. Although there was a suspiciously placed Playboy on the centre console, it was otherwise a pretty good ride. High up and good views on a hot summer day...

So, I got dropped out. The spot didn't look good and I felt confident that just a little further up the road a better spot would appear. Just a little further...There is something liberating about making your own bad decisions and recognising this and saying 'Whatever, I do what I want'. So, 5 km down the road I realised that I had been dropped at the only place people could possibly stop for quite a while. However, a LIDL (Germany discount supermarket, are everywhere) appeared like a mirage out of the baking midday heat. So in I trooped to stock up on water, bananas and bread. As i was going in and having some problems getting a trolley out (I just like pushing trolleys around) some old lady started talking to me in Greek and gave me a  yellow token and to this day I have no idea what the hell it is for. I tried it in the money slot, didn't fit. I think it is a discount for chicken. Why the hell would I need uncooked chicken when I was quite obviously hitchhiking? Old people are a mystery to us all. So, off I walked again. I think i walked another 5 km before I came to a spot. And waited. For over an hour. there was heaps of traffic and I was slightly dying in the sun, having adjusted to European temperatures and also perhaps foolishly had no hat. I did eventually get a lift with a pretty cool Greek guy going all the way to Alexandroupoli. Sweet. So he was talking about religion for some reason, and by this stage he knew I was a Australian guy hitchhiking around the place. So, he says 'Everyone is my brother' an endearing, if not paradoxical statement. He then asked me if i was Greek Orthodox, like him. I mean, what the fuck did he think the chances would be? Did he think they would be good? Anyways, when I replied in the negative, he did grunt in disapproval. I enquired as to whether it is OK to not be Greek Orthodox and he said it was. But it did take some time for the conversation to get started. He dropped me right in the middle of town and here I was. But I didn't have anywhere to stay and wasn't about to part with the coin for a room in a hostel. Tried to get a place to stay with CouchSurfing, no luck. So I went for a swim for my first time in the Mediterranean, was OK. The wandered around town, was very beautiful at night, with many people eating out at restaurants, walking around and such. I went to a place on the beach that I had identified earlier and got ready for sleep. All I had to was ignore the overly amorous couple who had settled down 10 metres from me. Easier said than done...

17th August - Don't fall alseep at the wheel (Turkey to Bulgaria)

Why?

So, packing and trying to figure out how the hell we were going to get out of Istanbul dominated our morning. Cem had actually left in the morning for work before we got up, so we missed our chance to say goodbye. After a while of checking the satellite imagery on Google Maps (we are high tech hitchhikers nowadays), we identified an on-ramp that led onto the highway we wanted to take. We knew which bus to take from talking to Cem last night. OK, so everything was planned. So, on the first bus, we got talking to this Turkish guy. Nice guy, he gave us an apple each, which had come from his tree at home. Then we changed for the Metro Bus. Pretty impressive system and brand new. There are two lanes, one going in each direction, in the middle of a brand new highway separated from the car lanes by a fence and the only access is from underneath. And the buses are as new as I have seen in Europe. So what this means is no congestion. However, most countries would build a train/tram system. Anyways, as we getting off, I was a bit slow the doors were closing. So, I for some reason thinking that bus doors are like elevator doors, stuck my arm in between the doors to stop them from closing. Hmmm, not my best idea. So what happened is that I am stuck in the bus with one arm up to my shoulder sticking out and the bus driver about to take off. Lots of yelling in the Turkish people on the bus prevented me from leaving like that and he opened the doors! I wandered off, feeling extremely foolish and wearing a rather sheepish grin on my face. Stupid westerners was the main though running through the heads of the Turkish people on the bus I guess. So, after another bus ride we ended up at the end of the line. However, it was looking a bit more difficult on the ground to find where we needed to get to. And there is no sidewalk. So some highway walking and we found ourselves in a part of Istanbul which I estimate receives visits from tourists every 10 to 15 years. Mainly because it is incredibly shit. But as everywhere in Turkey, the people are unfailing polite and helpful. However, this doesn't stop people giving retarded advice. Like how we asked for the way to the highway at two separate petrol stations and received instructions for exactly opposite directions from each place. Hmmm, well we ended up at an Internet cafe and figured out where we were and got ourselves heading in the right direction. On the way a young child wandered up to me, just wanted to talk and practise his English (he was 12). Cool little dude. Whilst he was walking with me he found 1 lira. Seemed to make his day (1 lira is one Australian dollar, €0.50 cents).

Eventually we located the on ramp (mainly due to Felix's unerring sense of direction) and were chatting with a guy nearby who was telling us that we wont be able to get a lift when a semi-trailer stopped. It was the day of the truck for us, and it turned out in the end we nearly only got lifts with trucks. Our 3rd lift was with a truck driver who spoke intermediate German (better than me) and so we were having a great time chatting away. Then suddenly, we all got jerked forward and then the truck driver hit the brakes hard. I wasn't sure what had happened and I saw a suspension coil rolling out from behind the truck in the rear view mirror as we stopped. I though initially that truck had suffered a catastrophic failure or something like that. I got out and saw bits of crap spread all over the road. Hmmm, I kept walking around the truck and saw a car crashed into bushes on the other side of the road. WTF? I really had no idea what the hell had happened, was thinking that the tyre blowing up had caused the crash. Then I walked right around the semi-trailer and all was clear. The car front right hand side of the car had slammed into the back left-hand side of the semi-trailer. It had done this hard enough that the wheel was ripped completely off the car and jammed up behind the wheels of the truck, which had caused the braking. Unbelievably, there were no fatalities or injuries. So it was OK to be pissed off. And we were, as that truck would have taken us all the way to the border. We had to get away from the accident before the police arrived as well, would have been tricky to explain away the 2 westerners with backpacks fitting legally into a truck with only one seat. We managed to get lift very quickly with a trucker who had pulled up to see if he could help with the accident. About 1 km we passed the burned out hulk of a semi-trailer resting against the side of the bridge. No clues as to why it had caught on fire. Unfortunately our driver dropped us in a shitty spot and we ended up walking for miles on the highway. Eventually we arrived at the Turkish/Bulgaria border at 9pm, got our last lift with customs officers on their way to work! Checked out duty free and some dodgy lady kept trying to get us to buy cigarettes for them. After the border crossing of Moldova/Romania, we were keen to keep quiet far away from that behaviour.

Such great guys (Felix on the left)

So, we then tried to hitch. For more than 2 hours. We were completely exhausted from our hitching. I wandered off to try lay deuce in privacy, but no luck. I was wandered along the road when i bumped into a border guard standing in the darkness who told me to go back. Dammit. So, at around 11.30pm, we decided to wander into Bulgaria to find somewhere to sleep. Again, a border guard appeared out of nowhere, this time asking for passports. Hang on a second, where is my passport? I couldn't find it for the life of me, all the while this border guard standing there with his flashlight. Eventually, I just emptied my pack, found the passport nestled in some corner. So, back on the road, albeit it foot powered. Looking around at the strange town, trying to see if there was somewhere to sleep. There was a rundown hotel, guarded on the inside by a loud barking German Shepherd, which we only discover as we were standing in front of the door. Big surprise! Anyways, they wanted €15 per person for the night which was daylight robbery considering the time, the location and that it was a piece of shit hotel. So, walking along we were passing this kind of store/bar thing (yeah, its pretty tough to describe it) and this old guy calls out to us (in English, always surprising in Bulgaria): 'Hello my friends, where are you going?'. Normally I would just kind off fob this off as attempt to get money out of me, but the combination of exhaustion, a sense that this guy was genuine and curiosity lead myself and Felix to wander over and start chatting. Good move on our part. This guy was really friendly and so were his two friends. He said we could sleep on the concrete behind his shop and he opened the toilet. At this stage, this was like the Hilton to us. Then he invited us over to chat and drink schnapps with his friends. Bulgarian Schnapps. Not be mistaken with schnapps from other countries. This stuff tastes really strong. And by strong I mean bad. One of the guys, called Antinos, who was sitting down was the maker and he was chasing the stuff down with fanta. Intense. Although, in typical Balkans style, you don't drink the whole shot, just sip at it. They also gave us more food than we could eat (and I was trying hard to eat it all). Weird combinations which actually taste great. For example, bread with watermelon and Bulgarian cheese. So, we chatted into the wee hours. Felix and I just couldn't believe our luck and ours grins split our faces from ear to ear. Eventually, we finished up and went to lay down on the concrete, which after 3 hours of drinking schnapps, felt like a feather filled mattress...

16th August - Lazy day in Istanbul

Woke lateish and had another fantastic long breakfast prepared by Cem. We did eventually head into town, we were meeting up with another two CSer people, to wander around the Archaeological Museum with. So, we wandered. And wandered. The place is massive! Got talking to Erdal, started a deep conversation and just went deeper. You got to be careful when talking to philosophy majors! So, we discussed deeply religion and nationalism. Was a very interesting chat. One thing I have learnt from my travelling, is that I would prefer to have an good intelligent chat rather than see some old building. People are what matters. Also, I tried to get into a children's version of the Wooden Horse of Troy. A security guard put a stop to that. Seems like he was indeed a member of the fun police. After some hours of wandering, we went and had some food.

And then the best part of the day. We headed to a graveyard cafe (you actually walk past some real graves with tombstones on the way into the cafe. It is laid out in inner courtyard, playing some very chilled Turkish music. So, you sit down on a comfy couch and within seconds a man is there to take your tea/coffee/hookah  pipe order. Well, when in Turkey do as the Turkish do. So, I got a tea and coffee and we all got a hookah pipe. Apple flavour. Felix and I passed the hours playing backgammon, checkers, smoking the hookah pipe and drinking tea. Incredibly enjoyable. We went for a long walk along the Phosphorus, facing the stiff breeze. Invigorating. After just missing ferries and buses, we ended up with a rather late night, not the ideal preparation for a huge day of hitchhiking the next day...

Just before I was told that I wasn't allowed to climb into the Trojan Horse, as it was 'just for children'

15th August - Partying in Taksim Square

It took an extended bout of door knocking on the part of Cem to get me to wake up, was in quite a deep sleep. Awesome breakfast of fried cheese, boiled eggs and olives picked by Cem and his father, bread, Turkish coffee, tea and yogurt. Eventually we left the house and went down to the old part of Kartal. However on the way I finally got to tick off one of the things i want to do in my life (these include: natural hot spring nude swimming with beer in winter in Japan, sauna in Sweden in winter, working as a commercial raft guide overseas). I paid a man to shave me. Just my face you filthy beggars. It was something of an anti-climax, but still enjoyable, as I hadn't shaved for 3 weeks (I know you are imagining a massive bushy beard, but you would be better of imagining a random distribution of random length hairs which do slightly resemble a beard from a distance). I guess i was hoping for a barber shop from the American mid west of the 1850's, possibly was hoping for too much. I also wanted a guy to be sharping a blade on a piece of leather, but they just insert a fresh blade nowadays for hygiene reasons. Damn hygienic practices. Anyways, it was cool to finally get shaved and also great to get rid of my crappy beard.

So, down to Kartal we continued. There is a nice pedestrian street. We went to a nice open air cafe and had some tea and coffee. I taught Felix how to play checkers and Cem taught me how to play backgammon. After some time a friend of Cem's came along and joined us. We then went for some more food, this was called 'Manti', kind of like ravioli but Turkish. Went to a spice store was pretty amazing! They don't do things by half measures. You know, like 50kg bags of cinnamon sticks. Being in Istanbul feels like the halfway point of my Euro trip. Not sure why, just feels that way, probably due to the fact that I am so far from Europe and still have 2 months before i go home.

Then we returned back to Cem's place, showered and prepared for some partying! We went to Taksim Square, the main party area of Istanbul. It was great and cheap! We met up with some other CSers and had a little party. Was a lot of fun and the atmosphere is just fantastic. It was absolutely crowded, the busiest bar area I have ever been too (and I think that is saying something!).  Took forever to get home, minibus home. However, Istanbul is one of the most amazing cities at night that I have ever been to. Just amazing!

14th August - Europe to Asia

Surprisingly rested after my fitful sleep on the vans seats, I was however in dire need of the bathroom. My bladder was stretched to bursting point and I was trying to walk in a manner which caused me no pain, without success, perhaps resembling the gait of a crab. Lucky for me, there was a McDonald's close by and I was able to use their toilets. For once I was giving them some crap, instead of how it usually works at McDonald's. Later, whilst I was changing some money, I started talking to an American guy called Jason, who turned out to be a Couch Surfing Ambassador for some Romanian city. He was doing his Peace Corp time in Romania and could also now speak Romanian. So, all 5 of us went for a coffee (Turkish coffee is awesome) and tea. Very nice. Then came one of the highlights of the trip. We all walked down to the Blue Mosque. It is awe inspiringly magnificent. It is one of the wonders of the world I think. I can now understand the power of architecture to inspire religious belief. The interior is simply amazing. Go and see it.

After the Blue Mosque, we walked to the Grand Bazaar, which was a change of pace to say the least. It is the largest the indoor bazaar in the world at something like 1km square. I can easily believe it. I didn't quite get lost, but was close a few times. There is no price on anything and so everything is completely negotiable and depending on your skill level you may be able to get a bargain. But in the end I didn't buy anything, although I was pretty close. But there is only so much stuff that you can carry. Some of the sales pitches were an refreshing blast of honesty in a world of slimy half truth advertising. A point in case was a store owner (young guy) who called out imploringly "How may I take your money?", which I enjoyed thoroughly. It is also a bastion of maleness, with not one single female working in the whole place, at least not selling anything. We spent around 2 hours in there, trying to see everything, but not really sure if we succeeded. After that we said our goodbyes to the french couple and Jason, headed off to the ferry. Actually, we accidentally caught the fast ferry, as I wanted to sip on Turkish tea and travel slowly, in style. It only took 10min to cross the Phosphorous, 30min with the slow ferry. Felix and I both jumped through the air together to land in Asia, when we docked! This really is a high point in our trip as it feels the furthest we have come from home and is! However, the Asian side of Istanbul does look rather similar to the European side, at least at the dock which was somewhat of an anti-climax, even though it was an expected one. Ah well.

So, next problem was catching the right bus. We had the address written on a piece of paper, along with our hosts name (Cem Yildiz). Imagine going up to a ticker seller in normal unfriendly countries and showing them a piece of paper and gesticulating (sometimes wildly) to try and get the point across that you would like some help as you don't speak the language. The usual response would be "um, fuck off". Not so in Turkey. he could see we had the address in our hand and even though were trying to get to a major stop called 'Kartel', he asked for the piece of paper, saw the address and wrote down the stop and the bus number, with a smile on his face. Then we couldn't find the bus, and a young bus driver led us 500m away to the other side of the bus station directly to our bus. The we got on the bus, the bus driver helping us greatly to buy a ticket from him, which is always good. Then, as it was a long bus ride and the bus filled up (by the way, the buses drive on the highway and just pull over to the side through peak hour traffic to disgorge passengers) we started to get crowded, but there was a sort of ring around us, the two extremely obviously westerns speaking English. The people were simply curious, as no tourists head that far south into the Asian side of Istanbul. As were talking to each other about when to get off, some people gestured that we should show them our piece of paper and they told us in international sign language that we had still some distance to go. When we got to our stop, again a guy asked for our piece of paper and he motioned that we should follow him. He not only led us to the address, but knocked on the door, as apparently he knew Cem. So, from the ferry all the way into the heart of the Asian side, we were kindly guided by the Turkish people. Cem is a really nice guy, for him Couch Surfing is just an extension of his Turkish hospitality.

So, I finally got the long awaited shower. For a week now I had been thinking, mmmh, yeah nice tan you are getting davyboy. Hello, ladies. Turns out to be less a tan, and more a layer of dirt accumulated by standing by the road for hours. The water was running somewhat black off me. Hmm, no matter. So, we went for a beer on the coast, looking at the other side of Istanbul over the Black Sea. Very nice. After that, we return home to watch a movie all about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the creator of the Turkish country. there is something of a hero cult of worship around him still today. Anyways, I fell asleep rather quickly mainly due to the comfortable couch and the tortuous sleep of the previous night...