East is still de best!

Ok...so the night that we found the wicked wee pub in Sarajevo turned out to be a pretty awesome night partying it out with the locals and had a good chat with this guy who was about 75 or something and was telling us all about Bosnian life etc..then informed us that he could snap our arms in 2 seconds, which he would do if we touched him again. He seemed to be semi-joking but we made sure not to upset him just incase :D So eventually, being rather responsible (or because the bar was closing) we decided we should head back to our hostel and get some sleep. I was awoken at 4am by a rather calm Donny who informed me that there was no way that we were going to make our 6am bus since we had no idea how to get to the bus station and our bags werent even packed! Luckily we had found out the night before that there was actually more buses leaving from a different bus stop later in the day! So we went back to sleep for a while then got up and had some stale bread and jam, which is the hostels breakfast specialty! Made our way around the town one last time and went to say goodbye to Nicks "Jersey" friend at the bank but unfortunately he wasnt there which only added to Donnys depression (you may remember he was already depressed about his fiance). Managed to make it to our busstop without too many dramas and settled in for a nice long bus ride to Belgrade. Arrived Belgrade with directions to a hostel and everything but after wandering for a bit decided on a nice cheap hostl right near the bus/train station and dropped off our bags and crap. Got some din dins, grabbed a couple of bottles of Pivo and settled in for the night to watch some Underbelly (which is actually a really good series and quite funny too so would recommend). The following day we decided that we would just go for a random adventure around the city with no real plans. First place that we stumbled upon was a rather nice Orthodox church, which was cool but really just another church. Oh and on the way we got to see first hand why you shouldnt fuck with America, half bombed out buildings in the middle of the main street. A real reminder of what happened and the fact that it wasnt all that long ago. After the church we spotted some signs pointing towards a Citadel which we had read about so were fairly interested in and started to head in the general direction of it,not really knowing how far away it was or even what a Citadel really was for that matter. We decided that it must have been a Salvation Army band like the one Sammy played for in Wellington. On the way I decided that Belgrade was a pretty cool city. Sandra found some sweet boots on the side of the road which she decided to keep and we saw a market with tanks of huge fish which were still alive though crammed together like sardines (I dont think they were Sardines). After a while of walking decided to stop for a coffee at a very suave looking cafe. Inside I felt terribly underdressed since everyone else was a business person wearing a suit. Sandra needed to toilet so buggered off for a minute and returned with a pocketfull of chocolates and a look on her face which could only mean one thing..thats right, heated toilet seats and a sprayer to wash your ass! This was all very exciting but did make me and Donny slightly concerned about whether we would be able to afford the coffees which we had ordered without looking at the prices! So to make sure that we got out moneys worth Donny and I both made (separate) trips to the toilet and filled out pockets with Chocolates and a free condom on the way out! We neednt have worried because in the end the coffees only set us back about 1euro (or less) each! We decided that the cafe was awesome and that we were the richest people in Belgrade! We continued on our merry way to the Citadel stopping for a quick see-saw and the occasional Coke (which is stupidly/addictively cheap). The citadel was awesome...basically its like a big old fortress sort of thing and we climbed around on the walls for a bit and sledded in the snow before making our way inside. There were a whole bunch of old tanks and stuff which we probably werent meant to play on (especially since we had already been told off for climbing on the walls) but we played anyway and got some sweet photos of us inside them and stuff. Twas a really cool place. Spent a while more looking around taking some photos and shit before wandering back into town. Got some roasted chestnuts which I had seen everywhere, turns out theyre shit so we gave them to a lady at the travel agencies where we asked something and probably didnt get a coherent answer to. Eventually made our way back to the hostel once again making the most of Donnys excellent navigational skills and Sir Edmund Hillary based explainations and encouragements. I think we got some more Pivo and watched some more Underbelly before Donny jumped on a bus to escape us (which took him to Podgorica with no hostels or anything haha) Spent the rest of the night watching and drinking. The next day Sandra and I awoke to the scary realisation that we were now alone without Nick to navigate for us...but we werent worried. Enquired about buses and trains for that evening (16/1) then headed out around the city again. Bought some energy mints which are full of Caffeine and Guarana and ate a whole pack of them which seemed like a good idea at the time..and there were no warnings on them..well not in English anyways. Stumbled upon the Tessla museum. Turns out this guy was super smart and invented all sorts of stuff (which apparently youre not meant to touch, which I found out after turning on some big electric thing and getting in trouble) the tour of the museum was really interesting and oddly enough I learnt a lot. After the museum we headed off to find the sweet wee coffee shop from the day before. Had some lunch and suddenly started feeling really weird...our hearts were racing and our limbs felt numb and crazy...this is about the time we realised that a whole pack of energy pills probably wasnt the best idea. We left to get some freshair but only started feeling worse! It was like being drunk and not in control of your body ( Sandra was also getting weirdly paranoid and freaking out) decided it was time to head back to the hostel...but we didnt know which way it was. So asked a guy who proceeded to lead us for about 20 minutes through heavy traffic at a blistering pace. Was not a lot of fun when youre not feeling in control of your body. As we were walking along I suddenly lost control of my legs which freaked me out a bit as I almost collapsed in a heap on the pavement...I was getting a bit worried until I asked Sandra if she had the same thing and she had...so turns out we had stepped in an electric puddle and both having we feet and jeans had been slightly electrocuted. Sandra being in her state of mild paranoia suddenly remembered all these horror stories about people collapsing up to 24 hours after being electrocuted and tried to talk me into going to hospital haha. But eventually we caught a tram back to the hostel relaxed and watched some more underbelly without dropping dead. We decided we had bad luck since Donny left and had obviously disrespected Tessla in some way so had been punished accordingly with electricity. Managed to catch our overnight train to Thessaloniki, Greece in search of some warmer weather, relatively hassle free. During the night some lady came into our cabin and made some weird hand gestures and yelled some stuff at us while we just nodded, she later returned with a couple of big bags of stuff which she put under our seats before disappearing again. We were too afraid to touch them, thereby inciminating ourselves with fingerprints so just sat there bemused until she returned a few hours later to retrieve them. As she was doing so a train conductor turned up and questioned her, so she took out her purse and (we can only assume) paid the bugger off. We came to the conclusion that we had just helped some old lady smuggle drugs from Serbia into Greece. We had big dreams of being paid 1000 euro each for our troubles but unfortunately it was not to be. She took her bags and we never saw her again and were left to our imaginations about what had just happened...was really weird. Arrived in Thessaloniki the 17/1 and proceeded to search for a hostel...in a town where hostels dont exhist...hotel hotel hotel but no goddam hostels. Eventually Sandra decided she would watch the bags while I went looking for a net cafe to check for hostels. There were none. Though there was a Hotel with rooms for 16.50euro each so decided we could splash out for a night or 2. Though on our way to this Hotel we decided to check others and found one for 12 euro each. Checked in and then went adventuring hoping our bad luck wouldnt continue. Had some food and looked around the city which we decided wasnt too bad after all but certainly not our favourite. Had an ok sleep in the hotel (which was really just a hostel but only private rooms...they were shitter than some hostels weve stayed in). The next day we decided to head to Mt Olympus which seemed a relatively simple day trip from what we had read in Lonely Planet. Unfortunately we decided for some reason (still unknown) not to take the Lonely Planet guidebook with us. Turns out the people in Greece suck with English and even Mt Olympus has a different name and it takes a couple of changes to get there...so after trying for a couple of hours to figure out how to get there we decided to head back to the hotel and try again the next day. So for the rest of that day we explored Thessaloniki and checked out the art museums and galleries which were suprisingly cool and had a pretty cool day after the shitty start. The next day we decided to head to Skopje in the F.Y.R.O.M (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia). Arrived at a good time and had directions to a hostel all written down. Wandered away from the train station for a bit before flagging a cab..only to realise we had no Macedonian money. We were left with no option but to wander in the direction of the city to find an exchange place. We had arrived on a fucking public holiday and everywhere was closed..except good old Maccas. I had no choice but to pay $8 to withdraw money from the ATM and buy some McDs so we could use their free internet before taking a taxi to our hostel. The first taxi couldnt find the place we asked for so dropped us in the middle of nowhere for only 1euro. Luckily the second taxi took us straight to our hostel which was awesome and had hot showers (which I was beginning to need rather desperately) and free food. We chilled for a bit, grabbed some Pivo and drunk the night away. Spent the next day exploring the city which was really nice and sort of reminded me of Sarajevo. Headed out that night and had a beer and a coffee with a guy called Mohammed who we met at a bar. He was a Muslim and explained to us all about his religion and about how extremists are notreal Muslims etc. Was really really interesting. The next day we caught the bus to Ohrid still in Macedonia and checked into a nice we hostel which was amazingly cheap and was more like a hotel. Our own tv, free wireless internet and all round just a really nice place. The 22nd of Jan we walked around Ohrid with me feeling a bit shitty from a minor cold/runny nose. The town is really beautiful and situated on the edge of a lake which is half in Macedonia and half Albania. Walked up a big hill and visited some wee churches (of which there are 365 in Ohrid, with a population of sweet bugger all) Visited the former residence of Tsar someone arather on the top of the hill which was really cool and old castley thing. Went out for a bit that night and had a drink but a rather early night. The 23rd we headed from Ohrid to Tirana in Albania. The bus ride was going really well and we were seeing some really cool stuff until we got to the border and were made to get off the bus as apparently (despite what Lonely Planet says) New Zealanders absolutely must have a visa to get into Albania. I was pretty much packing myself as talk of 50euro taxi rides circulated. I guess our worried looks were too much for the mean border guards to handle and eventually they made a phone call and told us to get back on the bus...not really knowing whether we were in or out we hopped on and just sat and hoped. Eventually the bus started off, both Sandra and I still passportless. Luckily the passports were returned and we were now allowed into Albania. God knows why but I was just happy to make it to Tirana with my 50euros and passport intact. Checked into another really good hostel in Tirana with a private room with TV and free wireless again. Spent yesterday (24/1) checking out the city, after failing to find the buses to Kruje for a day trip, because once again for some unknown reason we figured we could remember the way to the bus stop without Lonely Planet (we really should learn) the city is quite ugly and the park is by far the ugliest and unkept I have ever seen but for some reason I still like it here. We saw a couple of toads bamming by the ugly artificial lake in the ugly park which was sort of cool. Spent last night just having some drinks and watching a movie then tried to work out where we would go after Albania. Turns out there isnt really buses or trains to anywhere decent out of Albania without changing a number of times. So we stressed a bit about where we would go since I need to get to Stuttgart and then Munich before the 2/2. After spending about half of today at the few travel agencies which are open on Sundays, Sandra settled on a bus to Montengro with one change and Im heading to Athens so that I can get a train to Patras and ferry to Venice. So that pretty much brings me to where I am now. Soaking wet (its been raining) sitting in a netcafe in Albania, happy as Larry and waiting for my bus to Athens at 5pm. Had some weird chocolate custard out of a coffee cup. Ive missed a lot of stuff out of this but I can tell you it all when I see you in person. See ya all in a couple of weeks (shit!)