Discovering Istanbul

Sorry for this short break...

On my first day in Istanbul, i look for a flat, i decided to start with the couchsurfing faltmate groupe and contact 4 or 5 people. Then, i have the chance to read in my mailbox that there is a couchsurfing meeting at 2 pm. I join what starts with a couple cay (tch-eye), talking about politics, turkey, foods etc... The turish cs girl tells me she does not like Turkey because of womens position, the italian Cser tells me how much he loves it, the spanish Cser is discovering something new as i am and is rather happy about it. Different experiences different points of view, as always :)



We then start to drink a couple beer on one of istiklals small side streets. The typical type of streets you find in Taksim, walking only, narrow, full of people and full of terasses, half of them cafes, half restaurants. The restaurants display great ice tables full of fish, the waiters want to invite us in... The traffic is intense and the population very mixed, this is on of the things that strike me, unlike in the Balkan where it is pretty straight forward to spot a foreigner (ok i still cant recognize Albanians from Croatians or Serbian but i think this is impossible anyway), here i am puzzled by the variety of hair and skin colors, figures traits and eye colors. In the end in Istanbul i could look Turkish...
So we sit and sip our beers, the Turkish girl sitting opposite me, Eva, slams them down one after the other, i have two, the Italian dude one while she had 3... It turns out she did a year exchange in Check republic. That explains things! Later, two more people join us, they confirming the impression i just mentioned, both Turkish and yet one has chocolate skin, a round face and an American accent, and the girl has freckles, dark curly hair, also a very round face and i would have said she is German. After they join us, we head for some food, finally, i had nothing but beer to eat today. The food is nothing special and Eva gets all excited that out Turkish specialty is not served properly. An eggplant puree with some meat pieces, covered with melted yellow cheese. It is ok for me anyway.
As i sip my glass of red wine, one of the eventual flatmates i found shows up, he does not like this place so we move a bit further. Still in taksim, he and his girlfriend take me to a small alley, into a building, in the elevator and up the the last floor. There, we are welcomed by chill out music and a nice atmosphere. The Balkoon bar offers both a roof terrace and a roof greenhouse. It is too cold outside, we make ourselves comfortable at a large table. Soon three more girls join us and we start a lot more chatting about Turkish society. They paint a very unequal repartition of wealth, few people are extraordinary rich and spent a week end shopping in Dubai or a week flying around the world from Istanbul, to Dubai, Paris, London new-york Sydney and home, while many people are extremely poor... As i picture a depressed France where many people are on prosac to my neighbor, she tells me that she is as well... I meet some very nice people and a sweet place where i will come again but the cohabitation is not going to be possible, he looks for a longer therm flatmate...
Later, we all leave and i join the second potetial flat mate. She listens and sings hxc, Hard core music. Yeaaah!! She looks for someone temporary before choosing “the perfect match”. I can visit tomorrow. We understand each other pretty well in this Arsen Lupin bar, playing a lot of rock, hard rock and metal classics.
It is past two in the morning, i am exhausted and head home. On my way i find out i now live in a city, a big city with all the stuff that comes with it. Prostitutes, transvestites, drugs, violence and verbal aggressions... For the first time in 6 month i feel slightly unsafe. Mmmhh dont care, just want to get home, and i do, fast.

The end of a 40 hours day.

The pictures of the end of that day first...


As we get into Gozes flat, it is already 7am, we both need to do many things, first of all wash and eat. I am still a bit drunk from that night in Bitola and on the train. Emails folow the food break and i am surprised to be able to keep my eyes open long enough to wright a couple emails. I take a nap, probably less then an hour and we then get ready to meat our friends from the train at 11h15 (who choses this stupid time?? hehe) in the center.
My eyes are a little shut but the promise of a good Turkish tea keeps them open and as soon as we get on bike to head of, the wind wakes me up and i am back! I d better be since the traffic in Skopje and the drivers are not quite that in Lausanne. I stick to Goze who is ridding as a madman in front of me. I keep following as we pass a red light. A red light on an empty road and about to turn to green. Still a red light and the police car that is parked right there does not oversee that. We get a horn. don't care but soon someone is yelling something, as i turn my head, i see the police man waving a sign to me and asking me to stop, i slow down and say i dont understand shit and i cant loose my friend. I point to him and they go for him. Locky for us they are in a traffic jam, i pass them and as join Goze he tells me. “The police? So what! it is Macedonian police, there are fuckers, cant catch us anyway, they are to layz to get out of their car! lets go!” Ok sure why not! In the end it avoid us some useless trouble and probably a crazy fine, gave me a small adrenaline rush and woke me up.
We get to the square and of course no one is around. pretty obvious they got to sleep and unlike us crazy two stayed in bed. We still go for the promised Caj and order some lahmajdun. Turkish specialty, better than in turkey! They are a deliciously tasty flamenkuch like dish with a bit of salad and lemon juice. We get back on our bike to hit the big bazar, get me a used phone since mine stayed on the train... One more thing i dropped somewhere. but who cares, i didn't loose my sim card and i guess this phone will be useful to someone else. We don't buy it straight away and keep looking for more stuff. Goze is a compulsive buyer, he spreads his money buying loads of stuff. After all that is his job :) buying and selling. He shows me around, the bazar, the finest handcraft man in Skopje, the cheapest pita and yogurt, the art faculty and all his friends around...
In the afternoon we get home to take a nap. I use the internet connection to post blogs and do a couple skype calls. After a month i finally speak with my family again. i should do this more often. I tried to call you Foinfoin but i could only hear a baby crying and on the other side they could not hear me... i get the good surprise to get a call from Nono, back in Alsace! Not so interesting day except for the short police chase and some more sights into the city.

Skopje drug city...

Tonight i will once again have the confirmation about who afflicted Skopje is by drugs but i warn you it is a long read and no pictures. After a very quiet day and a good filling dinner, we meet at Hihi's house to drink a couple glasses of vine and get ready for tonights big party at the club right next to her home. For a change, it is a trance night but there is a live drum performance going with it. Sounds great. If for me getting ready means sip the vine, talk and joke around comfortably seated in the couch, for the 3 of the girls around it means quite something else. A friend comes over with some amphetamine and i can feel the mood changing as they are preparing shots. They sniff it so they have prepared a couple lines on a CD cover and rolled a banknote... With some of them i can feel the apprehension, and that before they even take their shot, they already feel a lot better. The atmosphere is happier, the talk is more relaxed but despite the attitude trying to play it cool and as if everything was normal, the eyes are always sticking to the cd. This is especially true for the blond colored girl sitting on my left hand side. She is now smiling a little and lost the contracted expression she had on her face.
It is amazing how in a couple minutes her expression changes, as she walked in she was as is said a little reserved and contracted, when the dealer arrived, she relaxed, when the lines were on the table she was getting delighted, when she had the cd in her hand she was feeling comfortable, snifffff in... haaa slight breath out ... sniffff other naustral. Now, nothing would possibly stop her doing her thing and feeling full of energy and like a queen of the night... And she passes it to right hand side, to me, i put on a discreet, polite smile and say no thanks. “Why !?!” Slightly offended... Well i don't put anything in my nose i reply politely, not wanting to tell the brutal truth: that i have no idea what they are handing me, that it looks like some brown powdered dirt, that i don't do any chemicals, that i don't need it to have a nice night, that i am already feeling very good etc... Once again her expression changes, i can see doubt in her eyes, the smile faded away but only for a matter of seconds, I pass it to the right. Snifff in, breath out, sniff in the other side. snif snif my nose itches... houuuuuu this is strong shit she says .... and i keep my smile and fake attitude while i think houuu that just annihilated some of you smelling abilities and is corroding quite some tissues... already the two girls to my left who had their shot before are changing expressions once again. They look turns to that of a heavy drunk, movement are clumsy, speech is comparable to that of an Englishman at midnight.
Already the first girl stands up, unsure steps, the unity in the group and discussions is n longer existing, the second girl walks away to the toilets and comfortably seated in the couch next to me, the third says “Fuck i feel so good!” and a bit later as she balanced her head back a couple times and here look is vague and seems to be lost somewhere distant, she sight again “fuck... what is this??” My guess is that you just tried heroin darling... And probably not the best version of it. I mean i don't know much about amphetamine since i never had any but i would not have expected it as a brown powder and i know the effects are supposed to be energizing. And now, a couple minutes after her shot, my neighbor is incapable of doing anything, she wants to rest a couple minutes, take a nap before going out. Hihi does not agree, her mom is home and she will wonder what she does home and what happened and while find out about the drugs... Yes, i forgot to mention, as we are “preparing to go out” in the living room, Momy is sleeping next door.
So we all leave after one last blast of a trance tune on the home stereo. All this happened real fast, maybe 10 minutes between the time they unpacked the shit and th time we left. The two girls are fucked, the dealer friend tells me thats why he never does chemicals (but he still will drop a couple pills later on...). I for myself enjoy the party, have a couple more drinks while the girls are struggling to keep up, completely softened out by what they agre to be bad heroin... The blond girl that was sitting next to me is like a zombie, she does not know how to behave anymore and finally vomits on the dance floor... The music is blasting, i am still having a good time, however slightly worried about the third girl still in the apartment. I give a call, she answers and says she will come in a couple... She was alright, sounded real tired but she never came. Nothing else special to say about this night, i meet more of the trance crowd of Skopje, all nice people but with a bit of a drug problem. Some are aware of it in control but others are clearly overrun...

Saturday in Skopje.

We are pretty tired after last night long long party and wont be up to much today. Plus the little we did happened about a month before the day i am writing this and not everything stayed in my memory. I can remember however that we went out in the park next doors with Tonin and Aurelie. A nice park where we come across a dog that looked very much like a wolf. Probably half wolf or one quarter wolf. H was held on a damn big chain but seemed to be pretty well dresser. Otherwise the park seemed pretty much deserted and we understood later why. When we tell a friend of Aurelie who also lives in Avtokomanda thet we went there, he says “ah the forest with Albanians...” What? i knew only of forest with trees :) It seems that it is not a safe place, at least so do the locals believe. Albanian go there to shoot around with their weapons and steal from people walking around with computer and cameras... What do you think is the part of truth in this? I had my camera along, and still have it and we didn't hear any gunfire...
At night we go out for the beer fest, it is a major event in Skopje. We walk a bit in town and are a bit disappointed, the streets are pretty empty. Well we soon find out that it is not because this Saturday, everyone decided to stay home but because the whole youth of Skopje is at the beer fest! The kitschy rock on the live stage is not so convincing, we drink a Chimay... mmm long time no good beer! And then move to the Dj scene, to our surprise, they are playing Seeed , Raggasonic and Spook and the Guay amongst other European reggae artists.
We are t tired to take it late into the night but still appreciate a bit of the live Gypsy music on the live stage before taking a cab home. Taxis are really cheap in Skopje, especially at night when there is no traffic and we get home for less than a euro.

Infected Mushroom.

Today is the day of that live concert that has kept me in the area and (i dont know it yet) will keep me around for some time. I leave Nis in the morning, this time i m hitchhiking back and it should not be a problem to get over the 200 kilometers to Skopje. I get out of the city after a minimal breakfast and a long struggle at the post office to get a package sent to Switzerland, a freaking long customs paper to fill which is fortunately in Serbian and French unlike the other paper for the post office which is only in Serbian, written in Cyrillic. The women at the desk is just as nice as in most French post offices, she is disgusting. Anyway, the guard is nice, we chat and laugh.
The first men who picks me up in the outskirts of Nis is young, he works for the family business and he takes me a couple kilometers, a good spot to get south, not by the highway but the normal local road. Soon an truck comes up, and i get the best ride of the day. A man in his 50s, he is driving his truck all over the place and has been to most European countries. he is keen to talk and with such people my Serbian is good enough to talk about almost anything. Of course we speak about the usual topic, the beautiful Serbian country. Its food, it girls, its music, culture and beautiful natural landscape. Serbia, he says, is a country with such great land that it was never hungry, always had plenty to eat and plenty of the best since it all comes from the neighboring fields and farms. It is true, you can see food growing everywhere and what you buy at the market (unless you are in Belgrade or buying bananas) rarely was driven around for hundreds of kilometers. You get fresh, local, seasonal and delicious fruits and vegetables. For proof of that he points at his belly, big and round like always in the Balkan, shows a great smile and drives on. We then also talk about his job, he tells me he has driven this Mercedes i am sitting in for 800 000 kilometers without maintenance, just the normal oil change. And it keeps going! he has driven over 3.5 millions kilometers in his lifetime!
H drops me in a tow some 40 kilometers south, Leskovac. A short but pleasant ride. As I walk to the right spot to continue my journey, a men on a tractor passes slowly, turns around on his seat and gives m the finger with a bad grin on his face. I realize how fast I can change moods, not that he scared me but he switched my thoughts from very positive ones inspired by my ride to darker ones about human nature. I then have to wait quite long before i get a ride with Vladimir to Bujanovac, he drives to visit his girlfriend or the weekend. We talk about rock, watch a live concert on the small screen sitting next to the driving wheel. He drops me in a familiar place, i have waited her on my less successful ride north a couple days ago...He started his journey this morning in Trieste, he is in a bit of a hurry and quite tired. Understandable, he has been driving for over 10 hours straight...
We pull up at the Macedonian side boarder, big queue 15 minutes of waiting, far to much for my stressed driver. He sakes little, we converse in a mix of languages, Italian, English and Macedonian. While we wait we watch the dogs begging for food at each car and make jokes. We pull over at the cafe just across the boarder, it seems my driver needs one more awaking drink to make it the last 70 kilometers. After the boarder i get to see the industrial zone bordering Skopje, on my way out, i was sitting on a bus reading the small book by Suskind i was offered by a German on the ferry in Albania. At first it is a real nice sight, some of the hilly fields have just been worked on and are brown other are yellow, between them rare trees and houses stand to complete the landscape. There is something about this view that made me think it is beautiful and i think it is the round shape of the fields laying on a hill side. Nothing is straight or flat. The dark brown color adding to the impression of relief.
We arrive in Skopje, i get of in Autokomanda, the area Aurelie lives in. she is not home so i take a little time and sit at the internet cafe where i wait for her and Totor. As they arrive, we head for her home and drink the bottle of beer that was waiting for us in the fridge. impossible to buy more, the stores stop selling alcohol in Macedonia at 7 pm. So we start the bottle of Raki i was offered on my first ride into Skopje. It is strong. I show em how to prepare a cafe bucheron. Make coffee, add a lot of sugar, dont stir, drink the coffee, leave the sugar, add the raki. Then comes the funny part, us a metal spoon to stir and as you stir put the raki on fire and mix until all the sugar is melted in. Nazdravie.
A friend of Aurelie who will get her in for free joins us and we head for the Skopje fair where the concert takes place. We catch a cab and i discover once again how cheap they are. About a euro, maximum two fro a ride trough the city. The crowd is pretty young and excited, so are we. guy at the wardrobe is a fucking asshole, i give him 100 and as i don't see my 50 change, i understand that he has no change and i need to wait, i give him an other 50 but never get my 100 back. Motherfucker. oups sorry did i just write that?? The The next lesson about Skopje is that it is a drug city. It is a trance night so of course there are drugs but I did not expect this many. Almost everybody takes something: mdma, ecstasy, amphetamine, speed, lsd... but it seems cocaine is to expensive. Tonight I am a little drunk and very excited to see Infected mushroom, the only trance band i really like, so i don't need any of this and off course you all know that it is not my type of drug. A bit later, i find Nicolas and Alberik who came from Pristina for the night. Nice to see them again!
Soon the show starts, distorted guitars, electric keyboard, crazy light show and the singers modified voice singing the classics of infected mushroom. Remembers me of the times i was biking over the hills of Sydney listening to my ipod. “I m the supervisor”. The crowd goes crazy, people dancing everywhere, jumping, turning, running... It is all over much to fast, but a good dj takes over and makes us dance for a couple more hours. As the show ends, we are all still up for more and try to find an after party. Impossible, so we head for a place Enes knows. We all expect an apartment and are surprised as we get into a strange internet cafe after a long taxi drive. The place smells like cigarettes and is pretty crowded (remember it is about 5 am) with people sitting in front of their screens. There are also a couple girls, young, maybe 19 sitting in the chairs, laid back. Unreal moment. What are we doing here?? Enes tells us there are rooms and we can go sit there... Hu?? we can rent a private room and site there... this just gets stranger. We don't real want this so we head to Aurelie's place. There i am confirmed what i know about Skopje. As Aurelie is sleeping next door, her young Macedonian friends (about 20) take an acid trip at 7 in the morning... Me and Nicola watch this unreal scene laughing and not really believing it. Soon i to go to sleep.

Belgrade again!

Again and again i come to this city! Even though i love it and come regularly, this time it also because i have to. I have to pick up a letter (a new swiss sim card replacing the one i lost in the madness of exit festival and some sweet words) and also bring my camera to maintenance so that they can clean the captor, full of dust and dirt making some dark spots on the pictures. Besides my blog which needs feeding, this gives me a lot to do today.
This time i am staying at Jeremie's place once again but it is not the same place. Since Stephanie moved back home, he had to leave the flat and he is now living in novi Beograd with the father of a Serbian friend from Switzerland. I will have the pleasure to meet him tonight. We leave the flat, Jeremie goes to work, i get busy. After finding a wifi cafe, updating a bit of my blog and writing numerous mails, i meet Jeremie for lunch. We go for a nearby small kafana and eat one more rich Serbian portioned meal. I have goulash and red peppers if i remember correctly. It is red peppers season, they are everywhere, sold in big huge bags on the road side to bottle them or make ajvar for the winter. O and a beer of course! Delicious and cheap as always. Lots of things to talk about with Jeremie as usual :)
In the afternoon i just run all around the streets of Belgrade, go for the camera shop but they send me to the Nikon maintenance center. Then head back on the other side of the bridge to delta city mall where i meet Mina's brother to pick up the letters. The mall is packed, people are getting from shop to shop or simply walking around checking out each other while they get their nails done or have coffee. I hate this temples of consumerism, all these well presented shop with their “marketing concepts”, the sterile environment: white neon light, ultra clean windows, shinny floors... The bad music and the security service forbidding me to take pictures for security reasons on top of that... It is still fun and i do manage to take a couple pictures.
As i get back to the flat, Milan, Vlad's father, is sleeping resting from a long day of work. He works in a clinic as a radiologist, taking early or late shifts. His living room is full of a huge collection of records, mostly rock. When he wakes up, he shows me his video about Vienna, so funny to see my city on tape, so many places i recognize! We then go down to the local restaurant and have out evening meal, a supper of beer please! Even thought Milan is from a different generation then us, he seems so young. Both his face and his word make me think he is in his early 30s. We joke around, laugh a lot and cheer all the time. Giveli! Soon it is midnights, the restaurant closes, we get a couple more bottles and head back up to the flat. We start to be quite drunk and start a skype conference call with Judith and Vlad. More fun and laughter. Even though they might not understand everything that is going on on this side... Milan takes out his accordion and starts to play... Mythique! We shoot a couple pictures before going to bed, drunk as ... Milan wakes up tomorrow to be at work at 7... i am happy i don't have to and that I can sleep a little longer.

USA Pristine (United States of Albania hehe)

After sitting in cab, listening to some reconstitution of the now 7 years old tragedy I am now in the American University in Kosovo. I don't know if it is the dramatic voice, music and sound effects of the reconstitution or rather the sterile atmosphere of the cafeteria i am sitting in but i feel a slight uneasiness. Soapy folk music on the tv, new tables and plastic chairs, young rich students (immigrants or children of the elite i guess), all working on identical laptops, with identical bags, slight bitchy looks for th girls, polo or chemise for the boys... The toilets are just as sterile, white neons and antiseptic smell. I guess I d still have to prefer this to the usual Turkish toilets... Oh a big FAT FAT Cartman cat just walked by.
Since i arrived i have been in this sterile milieu all the time, it would probably have seemed normal coming straight from Switzerland but now, i got used to the Balkan way, especially after Albania. to places like the toilet/shower/washing room in the ¨camping¨ two days ago. But the clean, new, modern apartment somehow doesn't have such a positive effect as the guest house/hotel at Tuto’s in Gjirokaster where curtains separate rooms and where the family sleeps under a simple but comfortable shelter. More than 10 beds on mere 60 square meters...
Anyhow I feel all pumped up again, probably the electro music on the tv, the expresso and the frenzy of writing down 10 days of my life and some short articles staring at my mini screen and keyboard during 4 hours. But i lay back as Kreshnick comes back and we walk trough parks back into the center. Tonight is football time. Albania vs Malte. 3-0.

After some rest we go out to visit the city once more, photo exhibition, Maria Teresa street, Bill Clinton boulevard, an other Skanderberg statue, more friends, some strange omelet, internet session in the cooking sun on the balcony, washing clothes, drinking coffee, drinking beer, walking a lot, UN buildings, official buildings, many many official white 4 wheel drive cars on the streets etc... A couple normal days out in a city. Tonight ends with a long talk into the night with an other CS member.

The next day we were supposed to get to some waterfalls after Timi and his friend got their visa to Belgium for a year of exchange. but administration is giving them a hard time, it wont be anything today. This ain't to bad, i will have more time for those waterfall later, but the day ends and Timi did not get his visa. His flight is on Sunday, no visa, he will have to postpone it... An other very concrete example of the difficulty faced when wanting to get out of your country. Belgium granted rights, procedure got stuck on the Kosovo side... I hope he will get there soon! I go and meet Nicola for the next days and nights.

More Castles.

This morning, despite getting up at 8 i wont be at the ¨bus station¨ before 11. One more nice breakfast with Stavri, getting of the city bus at the wrong stop, wondering around the market and looking for the post office will delay me. As i get to the big roundabout where buses are supposedly leaving, i get sent from one corner to the other only finding buses to Durmir, the coast resort. Finally in a nice shaded parking spot, i find my Furgon to Kruje . It is the former capital and there stands the big castle fiercely defended by the Albanian hero Skanderberg against multiple Turkish attacks. This charismatic figure is considered a huge hero in Albania and is sculpted and depicted on many occasions, namely on the 5000 lek bank note ;) The castle is nice, the museum refreshing but i don't learn much since most the stuff here is in Albanian... The setting is nice but i preferred Gjirokaster.
I head back on the road have a couple fruits (i realize i never ate so much fruit than during this trip, a couple peaches, apples or plums are just the ideal lunch in the blazing heat). And get back down to the valley with a private building worker. Then a road construciton boss pikes me up and drives me up closer to Skoder in his air conditioned 4 wheel drive. We pass a huge wood fire that just keeps burning... They have no way to stop it, no planes, little fire vehicles. And once more i get dropped at a bus station, People always seem to thin it raly is the best way and i should top hitchhiking... Furgons what to take me to Skoder, i dont :) walk away a bit, stick out my thumb and just as locals are trying to help me out and ask why i dont get a sign with my destination, a van stops. Old man, silently driving his wreck towards destination, smiles and looks out the windows with his big clear blue eyes. We pass a dramatic frontal crash, probably a couple dead in that one. This remembers me of the main danger in Hitchhiking those countries, it is not the driver itself as most people would think and argue but rather his driving and the bad roads...
I safely get to a village, closer to my goal, Koman, from where my ferry leaves the next morning, up a beautiful canyon, closer to the Kosovan boarder. As walk the road here, i am invited to relax and have a beer with some local men. Ani, a young men who has been to england for a couple years but did not like it much except for work, along with older fellows are chilling around a glass water. They tell me the story of Francois who passed here last year walking his way to Israel and whom they never heard of again, despite phone number...
Back on the road i get a short ride, then a longer one with other garbage trowing Albanians, a shorter again with Italian emigrants and finally a local youngster does a 30 km detour to bring me to Koman. And what a slow detour, the bad and curvy roads take ages to get over into the valley.
Finaly in Koman for sunset, i have a fresh beer and then a good super with my last lek at the only local restaurant whom offers me to sleep over, in his garden for an euro. I accept, mainly because of the shower and the nice trees by the river where i put up my hamac. The bathroom is worth a couple words, it holds a washing machine, a shower hose, a small mirror and a Turkish toilet trough which the water from all this flows away. All this despite its simplicity (or maybe thanks to) is however very clean and there is no sign of moisture or bad smell.
The moon is shining, the river flowing and the wind blowing, i get into my hamac for what wont be the best night of sleep.

Kluja Castels

hitch to the ferry

Tirane again.

Monday in Tirane, i got some rest, slept in. Stavris flexible work allows him to sleep a little more when he feels like it. Today i go up the hills, on the national park. The view is unfortunately obstructed by the smog. The weather is really heavy and the air is far from being clear. This heavy heat also somehow discourage me from getting any higher and as i get of the carrier, i simply have a small walk and lay down in the grass, in a shady spot. Next to me, a family is having a big day out, a picnic on big napkins, loads of roasted lamb, salads and drinks. The whole family is there, maybe 30 people. The kids play around. The boys play football, drive dads cars, running after each other and sometimes after some girls :) The remaining girls dance to the music. The family is quietly seated, eating and chatting under the shade of a big tree.
As i get back down, it has gotten even hotter and i decide to escape the heat and sit in a wireless cafe, drink a cold Mociato, write mails, tell my host in Pristina when i will arrive and hopefully write some blog post. In 3 or 4 hours, i only get to write mails, forget about the CS host and dont blog anything... But i did get two contacts for the new project running on my brain for the past days, to get something published weekly in a paper...
As i hurry back to Stavris for my cold shower (the water stopped running for about 2 weeks in this part of city and only works somewhere between 7 and 8...) i find the apartment empty and locked so i get back into city center, the blok, the place where young people walk around, hit the bars and where the very young go for a tour on the carousel. I meet Stavris brother and soon as we are talking about meeting Nora, we bump into her on the street! Coincidence? Sure... 10 steps further we bump into the brothers freind who were just talking about him :)
We agree that this might mean something and cant decide what. I am starving and get some Qofte at Tumi’s the most delicious around. A nice bun, two pieces of meat and some sour cream are a delight! We go for Iliria’s (the nae of Albanians ancestors) where we share a couple beers and talk about tourists, garbage along Albania’s streets and roads. Nora and her friend advice me into the right way to get to Kosovo, getting to Koman and taking the ferry boat from there. I will follow their advice.
Stavris musical friend is there again, his presence being much more pleasant without ipod in his ears :) We head for an other bar and have an other very interesting but never ending and not concluding discussion. thanks you for that girls! It did help however.
the bed time discussion with Stavri who cant get any sleep tonight turns around tourist activity in Albania. He justifies his position of elite/luxury tourist trips for Japanese groups. This tourism bringing more money for less effort than that of Noras friend who targets outdoors, sports and green tourism. Smaller groups, cheaper hotels, more personalized itineraries. More effort less money. I can just say that i am glad this sort of tourism exists and that people break their ass for it as it is the one i would choose if i d go for an organized tour. :)

Tirane 2

Day two in Tirane

Late waking, Sunday, lazy day :) we go for a fresh waking coffee. Meet a dutch girl starting an internship in the embassy. We go for a rest after we think we figured out the national museum opens at 5pm. I will meet a friend there at this time. After a short nap i head there only to find close doors and an other disappointed tourist. She probably got the same wrong info. It is also closed tomorrow so to bad i wont see it... I walk around looking for some nice pictures to take.
At night i meet with Nora for a tour in the children's amusement park with her friend and her young son. A couple rides later, the kid still didn't have enough and probably will want more eternally. We head for a beer next doors and there we have a long interesting discussion about society, citing the brave new world i argue that the middle class masses in western civilization are just like the betas (or gammas i cant remember), brainwashed and manipulated trough their fears. The Soma of our modern civilization being consumption. Huxley pictured our society very well in his metaphor some 30 years ago.
The very interesting discussion goes on into societies happiness. I tell them that people here, in the Balkan, seem happier, especially in villages (of course not always but they are not starving, which i never saw). They have less stuff, if you look around a house here, they don't have piles useless stuff like we do store all around our houses (in nice different Ikea storages). Also they care less about what happens in the world. They don't get bothered so much about wars, suicide attacks and other climate catastrophe outside their world. They are bothered enough with they own small problems and neighborhood problems. Once these are solved (sometimes before) they go for coffee. This two things might be the explanation for more smiles and happy life. I don't say that everybody is satisfied and has his dreams fulfilled. Speaking about dreams, people have more dreams, objectives and are happy with simpler things. For example they are happy and laughing talking to a foreigner like me, helping him out. Talking around a coffee for hours (we do this on some Sundays, around here it is non stop, all along the week and at all times of the day). Not bothering so much about next month or next year. Not saving up for years with no precise goal. Not living on credit. Having time when they cross boarders to chat with the policemen...
This discussions stop as we go and meet Stavri and some of his friends in the Presidential park. Again, laughter, simple talks and chats. Then we get to be spectators of imaginary fights in the kids playground. Hitting the climbing ropes, fighting the structure of the swinging chair, the bushes branches. Doing push ups on the bars... All this to our entertainment and distracting us from some serious conversations...

Tirane 1

Back north, direction Belgrade.

Today i leave Djirokaster with the objective of reaching Tirane. 200 kms of roads. This means some good 4 if not 6 hours in Albania. Morning picture session is not convincing i am sorry i lost last nights pictures... i get a taxi out of town, and get of when i realize he is a taxi, charging 1000 lek to Fier, only halfway... :) A truck driver then picks me up and gets me into Tepelene, some 20kms further. He is all wonders “what the hell i a you doing here?? Why? Who are you??”. The conversation is simple since i speak no word of Albanian besides good, yes, no, no problem, hello, goodbye and thank you :) We somehow understand basics about each other using international words and a lot of gestures. In Tepelene i get picked up by a football fan heading for Tirane for the football game against Sweden. He owns a cafe in Saranda, he is a nice man with simple life and a very good and open minded when we exchange our philosophy about life and religion. Respect, helping each other etc... But when it comes to god, he exists and there is only one! We stop in Fier for a refreshment, to drop his friend and meet a bunch of others. Since he cannot drink during the Ramadan, he washes with cold water to cool of. Who hard that must be on days like this driving a car with no cooling r ventilation...
In Tirane i meet a german-italian couple cycling trough the Balkans who loved Bosnia and are now a little disappointed. I recommend them the southern part of the coast and since they have little time, they go catch a bus down there right now. I myself then get to the Sky tower and meet with Eleonora, Nora for friends. Frappe, cold water and a long chat in thee parks about professional life and choices.
I find the same discussions but in different voices, words and emotions everywhere. Questions, fears, dreams, ideals... Nobody knows and anyway it would be boring to know. Nora goes of for dinner and me to meet Stavri, my host. She recommends me a delicious Qofte, at Tumi’s. Delicious in deed this little sticks of grilled meat. But also friendly, real fast and refreshing thanks to a nice tap beer. Simple, Fresh, Cheep, Fast and Friendly you certainly rarely find this in Switzerland. Waiting for Stavri i watch the boring game on Tv... I finally
meet with him and his friends At Iliria’s for a couple beers. Soon we start excited chats about music, exchange band names, addresses, tastes and then a bit later opinions... I love these first moment when you have a beer with strangers, laugh a lot , exchange information with excitement and discover all those new things about new people! By the way the pub is named after Ilirians, the ancecters of all Albanians.
As Stavri will later say in the park, they bring me local knowledge which i spread in my travels and thereby contribute to the ongoing, unstoppable globalisation :) The chats go on in the park where we meet Marie and listen to music. One friend goes into a private session of ipod listening, tripping on Roni Size dirty beats :) It is late, we grab food and go get some deserved sleep. Getting into the family’s apartment late and waking the parents is a problem for nobody. Every body falls back asleep.

Girokaster to Tirane

Back to civilisation

We catch an early bus out of this deserted battlefield. In the morning, all fogy and covered garbage the parking has a real mystical touch. The bus ride is quite epic. All squeezed in, we watch how Lorin gets real close to catastrophe :) At the Cacak bus station we all look quite exhausted. The crazy bunch is going on to Sarajevo, we are going back to Belgrade with Jeremie. The ride is long and hard... back in Belgrade we get a long awaited shower and eat some fruits and vegetables. mmm healthy food :)
At night we go for the ? Kafana where Jeremie now has a waiter friend and gets special treatment :) We don't need a menu, he bring us mix of plates to share amongst us. After starter and a first round of main plates we are quite satisfied... and he comes with a second main plate! Ok no desert please :)
On the next day Judith leaves, back to Switzerland and i am alone again... well not completely alone since i am staying once again at Jeremie's place. The next days are very uninteresting, i wonder if i should buy an eee Pc to blog and Skype. I finally buy it, and right now i am sitting in a camping, thinking back about this and typing the 15th blog entry of the day. Unfortunately the internet connexion is down and i ll be late with all the blogging. But at least i m outside, 100m from the beach :) I also get my camera to the repair shop after dismantling it repairing the dis functioning mode selector and realizing the Jimy Hendrix purple images are due to a defective chip and canon will replace it for free. I will however not get i back before leaving and consider once again buying a serious semi pro camera... the guy from the computer shop advises my to go and see a serious camera shop were they have a used Nikon D70. I go check it out and get to see a well preserved camera with 2 batteries, a bag, memory card and hand harness. The whole lot for 400 euros. I exceeded my withdrawal limit today but might well come back tomorrow. Night will bring me advice.

Tea and salad

After a too short night we are woken up by the sun. I hear Micheal moving around next doors and go check for him, it is 10 am and i slept mere 4 hours... But feel incredibly good, must be the Garlic :) We start chatting and go out for coffee, just 50 meters from the old center we find a cafe filled with older man, reminding the men drinking tea and playing checkers in Turkey. The price is 4 times lower the in the old town. We then check out the room and go for lunch, Cevap, Sarajevo style. They are supposed to be the best worldwide and for sure are the best for me so far. We then join Micheal for some tea in a back yard chicha cafe.


This man amaze me, he has been around so much and still is amazed by any new information, even or person. We dig the young girl who comes to ask for some change. Pola marka, pola marka (half a mark)... He plays with her and his umbrella, she wants to exchange here worn out umbrella for his new one. She finally gets her pola marka and then wants the 2 marks of the bill... she goes of, sorta chased away by the cafe owner. Our neighbors offer us the end of their chicha, and by lifting it by the top, the bottom glass part loosens off and brakes... The owner comes out, smoking his cigarette, casual like... and charges them 50 Euros... I go around to check out the pries of chichas in the tourist shops... you get new chichas, complet, for 60 euro, turist price. We all agree she should fight for it and not pay it... Who ever payed his broken glass in a bar?? As Micheal says, you are a tourist, they want to get every last dime out of you and you have to resist. This is most important in India and you learn it very fast Michael tells us :)

Finally a little clear sky if you can call this clear...

Posers

Sarajevo old center.

We head up the hills, using the clear sky for the first time today to have a small pick nick with the rests of the vegetables we got in Cacak. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, little hot peppers and olive oil. The excellent local bread makes the whole thing just delicious. We then have to say goodbye to Micheal heading for Ljubljana and then Bologna where he wants to settle down a bit. Sad one, once again, this was a great encounter.

We go to sleep our last night at Zlatko and Bilja‘s were we have a quiet night, drinking tea, and beer :) and watching Guca the movie by Emir Kusturica to prepare for the real festival.

View on Sarajevo from their balcony.

The war cemetery, there are buried all the people who died during the occupation.

Our happy hosts.

They have been so nice and welcoming. Made us tast the special Bosnian caned food, showed us movies, played us music, hosted us and most important shared a great time with us. They were a real life enjoying compagny and i can still remember all those hysterical laughter with Zlatko!

A day in Sarajevo

We walk around the center again, the weather remains gray and a little wet. We meet Micheal (Jackson!! yeaaa but not the real one) whom we came across last night at the reception and go for a coffee and breakfast with him. I try to find a couchsurfing host for one or two more night in Sarajevo but everyone is overbooked... Welcome to August, the busiest times of traveling. We decide to go for the room next to Michaels one, more central, nicer, friendlier and cheaper...

Backpacking ants around the city :)

Micheal is a crazy traveler who still gets amazed by things after 3 years of travels through 37 countries. He comes back from 6 month in Egypt making pictures and video for an archaeological excavations in the heat of the desert. Unlike us, he is quite happy to feel the rain on his face :) We go for a nice lunch and then head for a bit of culture at the national museum.

Rainy days...

As i ask the direction for the museum at the tram station to two young locals, they get all curious about where we are from and whats happening with my toe... yes i forgot to say that since we went to Tara, the nail on my big toe did not get better and after walking with wet shoes for some hours it is all infected and red and swollen. So i took care of it, got the pus out and now only walk with flip flops in order not to irritate it any more.

Zlatko and Bilja help us out and get of with us at the museum and suggest to have coffee at Tito‘s, a famous cafe in Sarajevo. Micheal goes strait for the museum we will meet him again later. Zlatko and Bilja are roommates, he just finished law and she is finishing her studies. They are both fun loving party goers so we arrange to go for a drink later ad join Michal in the museum before it closes.

The history of Bosnia Herzegovina is exposed in two floors, the first dedicated to history since somewhere around 10th century, the second to the war in the nineties, with a focus on the life in Sarajevo. The visit brings the answers to some questions about Yugoslavian history. It also reminded me how difficult it most have been living in Sarajavo in those days. Constant bombings and snipping, low food supplies, problems with electricity, water and communications... Besides that i particularly remember one picture, that of a father in sorrow at a tomb, presumably that of his child. I have seen this picture before. It was in the tempory exposition about controversy in photography at the Elyse museum in Lausanne. The controversy about it was that the men in the picture had nothing to do with the buried body he was moaning. If i had internet right now i would check this out along some other facts. Like taht during the year 99 their were more bombs dropped then during the whole second world war or that the snipers shooting into the peace rally that year were actually mercenaries, engaged by who?

tramway, is th best way in the rain...

But its still cold waiting for it, me and Michael do some exercise!

We leave the museum (which by the way still wear the scars of the war) get for some rest and then join Zlatko and Bilja for a couple beers. We get hungry and around midnight go for some pizza, U2 pizza, the best in town, with an excellent garlic sauce. And i have to say it IS the BEST pizza ever since that on pizza i had in south of France at age 11 or so. The Provancale, sold in some pizza truck by the beach. I can't remember where it was exactly and maybe mom or dad can help here but it marked my memory for ever. And so did this one. Simple recipe, Garlic, lots of it, olive oil, parsley and a touch of balsamic vinegar. mmmmh.

Sarajevo church

Sarajevo mosque

Sarajevo Library

Sarajevo wall... CPR ??? no i cheated, cut of the first part..

Routine in Belgrade??

Writing the following made me realize i slowly got into my routine in Belgrade... Only and fortunately broken by the presence of Judith. Today, we go for classical late Serbian Burek breakfast (always with yogurt!), do laundry, go to the colorful markets and wnder around.

St Sava Church, the bigest orthodox church in Europe.

From inside, still in construction.

Belgrade benches... and this is the comfortable one :)

This is th other option :)

Atnight, we meet at Jeremies for a French apero. The cheese Judith brought from Switzerland and France makes everybody around smile, long time since we last tasted this flavors... With some Serbian salami and a Montenegrin bottle of red vine it is just perfect. Mina and Natasa join use lat after one more of their over book busy days... Those two, like any decided Serbian citizen who want to be able to do what he dreams, never stop, work, work, coffee, work, friends, mobile... A friend of Stephanie joined use and Mina happily distributes advice about a short trip to Montenegro to them. One more roof of Serbian hospitality and helpfulness. I write this after coming back from Rainbow where i was reminded once again how one sided and extremely brutal the Serbs were described by the media in Europe and the world. Maybe i shoul include a little history lesson?? Actually i will one day.

The real storry about my birthday...

Once again i was out in th middle of nowhere and could not update my blog. Sorry. But it does not seem to bother anyone, except Judith.

So after showing Judith around town, we joined Mina and Natasa for a beautiful fish dinner at Reka, a well known konaba to celebrate events. Judith, Jeremie, Mina, Natasha, Stephanie, Milan and Ana are in the place. So is the band preforming tonight. As usual in Serbia, we will start eating around 9-10 after a little Rakija aperitif. What to say more than it is real nice to have a proper dinner surrounded by friend thousands of kms from home :) I even got presents, a bottle of homemade Rakija from Milan's grandfather and a nice Belgrade t-shirt.

Mina Natasa and Jeremie

The atmosphere in the place.

Midnight walk after dnner, at the gates of a cemtary. Again the picture i a bit dark, expect beter picturs as i just acquird a new camera.

I could also mention quickly why i am late again... Happy hitchhiking surprise again! On my way to civilized south of Macedonia where i would have written some more updates, i was picked up by a bus full of hippies and alternative people :) They were heading to meet their big worldwide family, the rainbow family! and it was such a nice, fun living, loving ride with the family that i spent 3 days with them in the middle of nowhere. But more on this in a while!

Also, i am writing this on the newly acquired ultra portable laptop, eee pc :) waiting for the bus to meet Mina and Natasa, i realize how contradicting this is with the place i come from, were i lived with practically nothing. D‘amour et d‘eau fraiche comme on dis en France. I guess buying this was a professional deformation, i cannot live without a computer :)

25 years old, o my god.

Next day, next thing was my birthday! yeaaa. Mina and Natasa booked a table at the Reka Kafana, on the Danube river, specialities of fish and meet, live music. It is very famous amongst Serbs for wedings and other big parties.

Back to calm...

Back to Belgrade, today is my mother and Stephanies birthday! After watching Ghost dog and falling asleep in the middle of it we have quiet night of celebration: a good meal in a restaurant at Ada. We are still tired from the festival and get some well diserved rest.

View from the plane on switzerland alps and lake.

Next day, Judith arives from switzerland, after renting a nice apartment quite well located, the owner drives me to the Airport since the formalities made me miss my bus to be there on time. Again the very kindness and helpfullness of the Serbian (and more generaly ex-Yougoslavian) pleases me. But not as much as to meet Judith again :) We spend a day wondering around belgrade, drinking coffee, and have an exclent Serbian meal at night.
Ok nothing very interesting for you readers here... sorry. Here are some more pictures.

St Marc Church.

An aperence :)

mmmh Stephanies syrilic alphabet wich i almost master by now.

Visiting Bucarest

After the rain finaly stoped, Andrei takes me and Criss around town. With loads of explanations and comments he makes it a great journey trough town.

River Side
mmm Comunist architecture!!!
Mad max like old factories in the sunset.
La Ruine, Some buildings here have a big red dot on them, this means that in case of an earth quake, they WILL colapse.
Inside la Ruine.
Chicha and tea with Andrei and Criss in that beautiful hall.
Yellow ligh through the glass roof.
A Bucarest street....

Brasov

The next day, Deni takes me all around Brasov, the nextdoor town. Not only have an excelent host, but also an excelent guide. I get to know everything about local history and see all the monuments, the city wall etc... Better than a hundret words, some pictures:

Old town center.

Same place, other angle, old defending towner in the back (one of several)

Church, forgot the history about this one, sorry Deni, its been a long time... Can you refresh my memory?

Beautifull view from up on the road.

The Black Catherdral, remember the little anecdote about this one :) Merchants going from the far East to Europe had to pass trough a dangerous forest full of robers just before getting to Brasov, where the "safe" part of the journey started. So They old stoped in this church to thank God and offered something, mostly Carpets from the east. Also it is named Black because it burned a couple times.