Travel till the world ends

The making of Sand Castles

2014-10-26T11:15:00.003-07:00

Since my college friend was going to propose to his girlfriend of 5 years, he then planned of giving her a surprise party overseas and invited all of us the close friends to take part in it, too. Before getting everything figured out, he asked me for travel advice that which tropical place would be the most suitable. Without hesitation, I burst out "Boracay" in the Philippines. There was no special reason, it's just the place I had always wanted to go. When we were discussing what kind of props we would use in the proposal, I once again suggested "building sand castle", which led to the troubles that I would be facing.

As a result, I got myself involved in this whole sand building thing, and our prior practice even lasted for a month long!

Day 1:

Today we only had 3 people. As it was my first day, I first learned how to build the base of the sand castle with my bare hands. And then shaped the corners with our homemade wooden boards. Secret trick: cannot build it with full force, have to control the force that applies on the sand and make them more cohesive.

Besides, I also learned the skills of pouring water from a bucket and making sand balls. Hence , there were many balls for decorations towards the end of the whole practice.

Duration: 4 hours

After practice, we tried to brainstorm the design in one Mc Donald's and what equipment we had to prepare for later.

It didn't look all bad on the first day, right?

The first draft we had come up with

Day 2:

Today I needed to wake up at 4 a.m. again, and was managed to see the beautiful sunrise in Clear Water Bay. Excitingly, we had new member today, thus the sand building process was much lighter than yesterday's.

Perhaps it was more efficient with more people, I had the time to learn how to build tower with wet sands and sharpen it with a specific stick (my friend brought it back from Boracay). It was more difficult than expected.

Duration: 6 hours

The sunrise was stunning, but the sun was so evil afterwards.

We even built a sign in the front.

Day 3:

One member had to go back to Canada, hence we only had 3 people today. Though there were less people, the newly added tools made the best complement to our process. We didn't need to build towers with bare hands anymore, thus more time was saved.

Today I learned how to build/sharpen small houses, as well as my favorite part - windows sculpting. Unfortunately, I couldn't put my hand on the sand to steady myself and I nearly fell most of the time.

Duration: 6 hours

Day 4:

Today is my rest day, but my friend still went to the beach on his own in the morning. He built some more houses and towers on both sides. The sand castle did look more magnificent when it was bigger!

Duration: 3 hours

Day 5:

Today we were back to 2 people again, therefore, there was no complete sand castle. In addition, it was too harsh to build the base with only 4 hands.

Learned how to make tall towers today, despite it was just by luck most of the time. For the rest of the day, I just improved my window sculpting skill.

Duration: 5 hours

Day 6:

Morning - I slept in. My two friends who came pick me up waited downstairs of my home for an hour. I never showed up. (sorry~~~)

At 10 p.m., I rushed to the beach and took a look of the progress. Even though there was new blood today, the pace seemed slower than expectation.

Duration: 4 hours

Wind blew so strong today, and our towers could not stand against it at all.

The best and the most beautiful round tower I have seen so far

Afternoon - In order to make up for the morning session, we headed to the beach again in the afternoon. After the new blood left, another new blood joined us in the afternoon session. Sadly, tidal waves came earlier in the evening, our incomplete castle was almost destroyed in the end.

Today learned how to sculpt small house, and kept sculpting windows!

Duration: 4 hours

New design of staircases

Day 7:

Today was one of the rare days that we could build our own sand castles. As a result, I took my time to build tall towers and to sharpen houses. It was unfortunate that the sand was very grainy and it was mingled with many gravels. My towers was thus nearly broken down.

Duration: 5 hours

My masterpiece - a miniature Sagrada Familia

Day 8:

Today we were back to 2 people again. Maybe we got well practiced, our pace got somewhat faster. (Though I was more than reluctant to build the base)

And I continued to build towers and sculpt windows, this was how I could sculpt 7 windows in a minute. Moreover, I tried to sculpt patterns today. My sand building skill got one step forward!

Duration: 5 hours

Day 9:

Today is my rest day, but my friend insisted to go alone in the morning. He refurbished the 2 round towers and added more spikes on one side. The layers indeed looked more outstanding after he added more on the side.

Duration: 3 hours

Day 10:

So as to build a complete sand castle, 2 of my friends first went to the beach in the early morning. I just joined them in the afternoon. (I was really not that interested in base building part)

Despite we had 3 people, we didn't have enough time. From the top towers to the round towers, we at least spent more than 5 hours. We just barely finished when the sky got darker.

Besides building towers and sculpting windows, today I learned how to sculpt heart and refurbish the round towers. One step closer to be the sand master!

Duration: 10 hours

Me - sculpting heart

We always heard compliments like "wow, it's amazing! wow, it's beautiful!" on the beach

It's not finished yet

Had to leave when it's dark

Day 11:

Today is the last practice in Hong Kong before the proposal, so we gathered all the guys who would go to the trip and including me, we had 5 people in total for today's practice. We had to build a complete sand castle within 8 hours.

In fact, the base was quickly shaped when there were more people. Sadly, sculpting team lacked talents, we wasted most of the time on sculpting in the end.

Everything went very well today. The sand was fine and moist, the best condition I have ever seen on this beach!

Our final product was the best one among all these practices. Couldn't be more proud of myself every time I looked at the photos.

Duration: 8 hours

Sunrise

Sunrise was even prettier

Unprecedentedly many people for base building

Sh! Sculpting in progress!

Made a donation sign next to our sand castle

A super nice guy really donated a 20 dollars bill to us

New member of Daft Punk

Our last one was an excellent masterpiece

Conclusion:

Initially, I resisted the idea of building sand castle, as it was time consuming, and it could be paid to do so. Nevertheless, after numerous times of practice, I started to fall in love with this art. Whenever I looked at the final products, whether it was incomplete, I felt a sense of achievement that I had never felt before.

In the end, the proposal trip had a great success. Our next target, shouldn't it be the sand building competition?

The worst hitchhiking experience ever

2014-08-27T13:16:00.001-07:00

Not sure if it means shitest Albania or shit hole Albania!!!

I don't have many experiences of hitchhiking, because I believe it's not something convenient for solo female traveler like me to do so. The last and the worst hitchhiking experience for me happened last year in Berat, Albania. Sometimes when I think it back, my body still gets shivers and I can't be more thankful that I am still alive to tell this story. The plot line could have changed if I didn't make the right decision or right move, and I could have been dead or got sold to the brothel or something that I could never imagine. Anyways, will I try hitchhiking again? Probably not.

Before starting my excursion to Berat from Tirana - the capital city of Albania, I was told that the last bus/furgon (a smaller van) would depart at 5 in the afternoon. I bore that in mind and decided to leave when it was about 4:20 p.m.. I stood in front of the big church where the furgon once dropped me off, but there was no bus/furgon, and I started to wonder if they stopped in another station. So I kindly asked an old man, he couldn't speak English, but he told me by body language that the last bus/furgon was gone. I was freaked out and didn't believe him. Hence, I asked another old man, and he told me the same thing and suggested me to take the taxi instead, which would cost around 80 EUR. I didn't give in, because I could buy a plane ticket with that 80 EUR. Then I stopped a young girl on the same street, hoping she could speak some English. In fact, she didn't speak English, but some Spanish and Italian. We tried hard to communicate in Spanish, that she told me the last bus was gone. (I was dumbfounded, like seriously???) She then waved to a friend who happened to drive in a car on that street and told me that he could speak some English. He could be the interpreter.

The girl offered that she would ask her family to drive me back to Tirana, yet I didn't want to bother her family, I said no. She insisted to take me home first, then her friend (the interpreter) voluntarily offered to take me to Tirana. I felt reluctant at first, as I didn't want to stay in the same car with a lone man, a total stranger. Nevertheless, the girl said I should get in the car with him and asked me not to worry. Eventually, I agreed when there was no other choice. I sat in the front, since I didn't want to make him feel like my private driver. When the door closed, NIGHTMARE began.

Berat

We sat in silence for a while, then he started to talk to me. I sat very uncomfortably and very stiff, because I didn't want to lose my guard. He then picked up some phone calls and talked loudly in Albanian (At that moment I really wish I had Doraemon's translation konjac). Suddenly, he asked me in very broken English, "Tirana is far...no gas in my car...you pay for it?" I was like, why didn't you say it earlier? If so, I could have left with that girl. I then asked, "How much?" He said, "50 EUR." I was irritated, because I could drive 50 EUR gas for 2 weeks when I was in the states. I was a bit dubious at that moment. On one hand, I didn't want to pay 50 EUR for the freaking gas. On the other hand, I didn't want to take the god damn taxi. Then I went, "I didn't have enough money with me, does that really cost 50 EUR?" He then went, "um....I think...40 EUR...OK?" I thought in my head, "It's obviously a freaking scam. But then it will really take him to drive for 4-5 hours back and forth, sigh, whatever, 40 EUR then." Afterwards, he drove to the petrol station and I paid the gas for 40 EUR (still better than giving him 40 EUR without seeing the gas).

Afterwards, we continued our way back to Tirana. His phone rang again, and he talked loudly on the phone, with a smirk this time. I didn't feel good with that smirk and intentionally asked who's on the phone (I knew it's very rude to ask someone I didn't even know something like that, but I did trust my women's intuition, it's not something good! And I paid for the gas, I had the right to know everything, right?) He then told me it was his mom, and he just told her he would go home late. Ok, tried to guilt trip me! Ok, fine!

In the beginning of the car ride, I was still mad, as I didn't want to pay for the freaking gas. (I admitted I was stingy, but hey, who paid for hitchhiking???) Hence, whatever he said, I didn't show too much reaction. Later, he told me his background (21 years old, Muslim, born and lives in Berat, army, law students in college, has a lawyer dad and his mom owns a snack shop). This background somehow ensured me that he wasn't a smuggler or murderer, he even showed me his army ID card that I shouldn't be too worried. Also, he told me a lot of stuff about his army training. And I got to know that army in Albania indeed had more power than police, even police couldn't pullover his car when he's speeding. (At that moment I still didn't realize that police couldn't help me out if I really really got in troubles with him.)

The more I talked with him, the looser I gradually felt. He talked a lot more bullshits on the way, like how he liked big cities and how he hated Greece (He childishly said that he didn't like the Greeks because the Greeks didn't like the Albanians. Hey you know what, here a girl from Hong Kong joins the same hating army of the Greeks too. You can't blame them for hating you, they must have a reason!). At one point, I even asked him if he wanted a postcard from Hong Kong, by showing my gratitude that he drove me today.

I wished there was a stop sign on the highway

When the sky got darker, our conversations changed abruptly from daily hobbies to something very sensitive, like human trafficking (I was like, HOLY CRAP!). It immediately struck me a bit odd and I fell back to my initial alert mode, he then said, "You know...Albania...many human trafficking...many girls...in Italy...they stand on the street...", he then added he saw it on the documentary. Following it was an awkward silence in the car, so he turned on the radio to kill the dead air. The music it was playing was annoyingly loud and so not my type, and he said people usually played this song during wedding. Then he asked, "You...want...make sex...wiz me?" I was startled, and didn't dare to show it in the face. And somehow I knew it was going to end like this, remembering that freaking smirk on his face. I knew it, I knew it!!! I played dumb at once, pretended I didn't understand his perfect English. He then asked FEW more times. I couldn't use this method anymore but answered with a firm NO.

The sky was completely dark at that time, and we were driving on the highway, not sure if we reached half of the way yet. He continuously convinced me to have sex with him, of course with a lot of touching on my body (Thanks god it was still cold and I wore so many layers). Obviously, he changed to be like an animal all of a sudden, without prior notice. Luckily I put my heavy as stone backpack on my lap and he couldn't explore further by his hand. He kept driving with one hand, and the other hand put on my head and forced me to kiss him, in vain. At first, I felt scared that he would do anything bad to me. So I didn't show my frightening face and kept rejecting him by grabbing his only free hand tightly. Then I changed to be like a teacher or a mom and tried to preach him that we should focus on the road and go straight to Tirana. (I deliberately mentioned his mom for several times that I hoped he could remember his mom was a woman too.) Afterwards, he still didn't give up. As a last resort, I showed him my frightening tears in my eyes, and softly said, "You don't want me to cry, do you?" (I wasn't scared anymore at that moment, it was just my last trick to see if I could stop his animality. I felt like I could be nominated for an Oscar, seriously!)

Fortunately, it worked. He gave up the idea of sex, but insisted to kiss me. I said I would do it ONLY we got to Tirana, before Tirana? No way. (I was afraid he would lose control again if I rejected him for that many times.) We struggled and tangled in the car for like an hour in reality, but it felt like it lasted for a year!!! All I could do was to hold his free hand to refrain him from touching me. I thought of jumping out of the car once, but we were on the highway, it would be too dangerous. Then he suddenly said, "I...drive a girl...before...to Tirana. She...make sex...wiz me. Why...you...don't?" I was infuriated and thought "WTF are you talking about?!? I am not that girl and I am not stupid. Don't you ever compare me with that dumb chick????? It's her stupid decision, I am not an idiot!!!" I then went indifferently, "You can go find a girl in Tirana, but not me." He then said, "It....need....money." (Rolling up my eyes with an extremely annoyed face)

My reaction to his response

In the last hour of the car ride, I felt incredibly angry and annoyed, because we still didn't make it to Tirana yet. However, he gradually let go of my hand and changed to be totally normal again. I was confused and wondered if he wanted to get an Oscar nomination too, as he acted like a normal person out of the blue. He even apologized for his crazy behavior not long ago, that he didn't mean anything he said. He told me he became so wild, as he snorted something before driving and it started to get effective and was high as f**k on the way. I was aloof and pissed off, and didn't intend to forgive what he did to me. Therefore, he begged my forgiveness when we're approaching the last 15 miles on the highway. And he said he didn't want to make me feel unhappy and stuff. I was not interested in listening to his sweet talks, all I wanted was to go back to Tirana right away, that's it!!! He talked a lot of normal stuff again, which I didn't give any response. Most of the time, he was just talking with himself.

Finally, we got back to the familiar Skanderbeg Square. Before I opened the door, he asked, "Will...you send me....postcard...now?" I then yelled a big "F**K YOU" without any hesitation and got off the car, slammed the door in his face!!!

10 most surprising teams in the World Cup 2014

2014-07-16T08:59:00.003-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Following the elimination of Spain, this World Cup 2014 has become meaningless to me. As what I had presumed before, Germany successfully got to the finals. (I don't say it because they really did it, after all I still believe if the semi-finals of Euro Cup 2012 was Spain vs Germany, Spain wouldn't even win) Out of my expectation, the other team which got to the finals was Argentina. In addition, I didn't have any preference of these two teams. If I really needed to choose one, I would support Germany. Owing to the fact that Messi has really lacked sportsmanship these years, he doesn't deserve to be the football king yet. At last, Messi didn't get what he has always wanted. And Germany has become the champion of World Cup 2014. Herzlichen Glückwunsch Deutschland!!!

Although I was heartbroken by the defeats of Spain, I was still surprised by the excellent performance of many underdog teams in this tournament. Thus, the entire month of pulling an all-nighter was totally worthwhile. Here are the 10 teams that I am quite fond of: (Listed in particular order)

10) Algeria

At the group stage, I was very disgusted by Algeria's performance. As I don't like defensive football, and they even played 10-0-0, no attacking at all. In the first match vs Belgium, if Vertonghen wasn't that stupid, they wouldn't even get the penalty kick. Fortunately they insisted to play defensively, otherwise Belgium wouldn't be able to win it back. Despite their 10-0-0 tactic was very annoying, Germany finally felt troubled because of the parking bus. In the end, both of these teams had to play extra time in the round of 16. Though they were defeated 2:1 by Germany, their effort to score the final goal was highly appreciated.

9) U.S.A.

Because the U.S.A. was coached by Jürgen Klinsmann, they were also called the sub-team of Germany. Their results were not bad at the group stage, although they were tied with Portugal, they could still enter to the round of 16. However, Klinsmann used the completely wrong tactics during the match against Belgium, which he wanted to play counter-attack. In the end, they were defeated by Belgium even though they scored one goal. Nevertheless, the goalkeeper Tim Howard became the savior of the U.S.A team, since he did save 15 goals in total. If not, the U.S.A. would be beaten harder......

8) Bosnia and Herzegovina

Their first own goal vs Argentina of the group stage was so unworthy, but luckily they could still keep up with the pace and didn't get defeated like what Spain did. Besides, the second defeat by Nigeria was the most most most unworthy one and that was what made them get eliminated. Because of the mistaken offside goal by Edin Dzeko, as well as the never-been-booked foul by the Nigerian player, which let them easily score a goal, all I could think of at that moment was Black Ref! Nonetheless, the midfield performance of Bosnia did quite surprise me. Their passing was smooth, yet the organization in the front line was not very ideal. It was hard for them to attack even they possessed the ball. When they faced the defensive teams like Argentina and Nigeria, they couldn't even finish the ball in the box, created no threats at all. If they can improve on the front attack, they may get a chance to shine in the Euro Cup in 2016.

7) Belgium

Belgium has been considered as the dark horse in this World Cup, surely they didn't get us disappointed and successfully entered to the quarter-finals. Of course, they were picked in a group together with some relatively easy teams. Unfortunately, their inconsistent performances did scare/bore me off in the beginning, though the teams they were facing were not strong. From the first match vs Algeria's hard as rock defense, coach Marc Wilmots insisted to play group pass. In the end, he needed to sub in Marouane Fellaini to score the headers and took the victory back. Then it was the second match vs Russia, the ground pass didn't work out and the team finally won the match as Eden Hazard made a decisive move in the penalty area in the last 80 minutes. Even though there were many stars in the Belgium team, their performances were all so unstable. In the match of quarter-finals vs Argentina, it was clearly seen that Hazard was being invisible, the long passes of Kevin de Bruyne were terrible and the attacking pace was always stopped by Axel Witsel, these were all fatal to the loss of Belgium. If they played crosses in the first place, they could have won the game! Anyways, kudos to Vincent Kompany, if it's him, Gonzalo Higuain could have scored more.

6) Chile

Honestly, I have fallen in love with Chile since last World Cup. Due to their traditional South American's style, fast pace and frequent attack, I was fascinated by them very much. (When I looked back to Argentina's 5-3-2, I really wanted to throw up) After 4 years, Chile seemed to be stronger than last time, and the players also got so much maturer. In addition to the different style from Barca's, Alexis Sanchez got more space and played even better. Their passage to the round of 16 was undoubtedly worthwhile. Nevertheless, they were too unlucky to lose to Brazil by penalty kick. If it's judged by overall performance, Chile for sure was more worthy to get to quarter-finals, but not Brazil!

5) Mexico

The last time I watched a game of Mexico was the final match of Olympics. Despite the quality of the players in the Olympics was varied, Mexico still managed to play beautifully and won the gold medal at last, which left a very strong impression to me. In this World Cup, the performance of Mexico was still very outstanding. The first match vs Cameroon of the two mistaken offside goals were outrageous; the second match vs Brazil was astonishing even without a goal; and the third match vs Croatia was very passionate. Unfortunately, in the round of 16 match vs the Netherlands, the coach of Mexico used the wrong tactics that they decided to play defense with only one leading goal. Finally, the Netherlands scored 2 more and ended the match with a victory. Besides the mistake of the coach, Mexico was also defeated by the newly introduced "cooling break", while the coach of the Netherlands Louis van Gaal could grab the time to change their tactics. Though they got knocked out, the goalkeeper of Mexico Guillermo Ochoa has become a legend. Because of his godly saves, I almost screamed my lung out in the midst of these late nights!

4) France

Since the retirement of Zidane, France have apparently got no heir of such football legend. If they weren't in the same group with Spain in the Euro Cup 2012 and the World Cup Qualifiers, I wouldn't even take the initiative to watch their matches. Before this World Cup started, I had expected the farthest that France could go was the round of 16. Nonetheless, after watching their first match vs Honduras and the landslide victory vs Switzerland, every goal was served as a slap on my face, as if I were warned that I shouldn't have belittled their strength. Surprisingly, without the presence of Samir Nasri and Franck Ribery, the performance of the French team seemed to be more direct and smooth. Perhaps not only I was slapped, but also these two players! (After the list of 23-player was announced, the girlfriend of Nasri continuously attacked the coach Didier Deschamps on Twitter that he picked the wrong players. Until the elimination of France, she once again said that the team should have chosen her adorable boyfriend, so that they wouldn't lose to Germany. I really wanted to shout in her face, "France could get to the quarter-finals, it's all because your useless boyfriend wasn't selected! Just shut up already, b!) Although France lost to Germany in the end, they can indeed prepare for the future, after all their players are still very young. When they become more experienced after 4 years, they maybe can enter to the semi-finals in the next World Cup.

3) Costa Rica

Despite Costa Rica was drawn in the same group with Italy, Uruguay and England, this ultimate underdog unexpectedly knocked Italy and England out and reached to the round of 16 by being on the top of the group. There was no other reason, it's just because their defense was very monolithic, and the performance of the strikers Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz was also very outstanding. When they got to face Greece in the round of 16, no score was conceded by both sides and the match was resulted in penalty kick. Finally, Costa Rica won, in which the goalkeeper Keylor Navas played a very important role. Their defense remained as strong in the quarter-final stage against the Netherlands, that the Dutch kept falling for the Costa Rican's offside trap for over 30 times. Unfortunately, their tactics of 10-0-0 couldn't get them the victory, the match was ended by the penalty kick shootout again. Besides, the Dutch coach Louis van Gaal played the psychological strategy that he changed the goalkeeper only for the shootout. As well as the lack of luck, Costa Rica was finally defeated, but still they won many people's hearts.

2) Colombia

Due to the absence of Radamel Falcao, Colombia had been underrated before the World Cup. To be frank, I didn't really pay attention to their games during the group stage, since their opponents were all very boring. However, without Falcao, they played more as a whole and the style became more direct. The strikers were brilliant, that James Rodriguez became the biggest star in this World Cup. Besides the spectacular goal against Uruguay, he even won the Golden Boot award for scoring 6 goals in total. If they didn't get affected by the quick pace of Brazil in the quarter-finals, Colombia should have been the winner and reached to the semi-finals. Then Brazil wouldn't have conceded 7 goals and the semi-finals would have been more intensive, it would be a win-win situation for both of them!

1) The Netherlands

Since the Euro Cup 2012, the performance of the Netherlands has become very crappy. Furthermore, half of the defensive players of the Netherlands were not famous, as well as the issue of aging Wesley Sneijder, they had been actually belittled before the group stage started. Whereas, the Netherlands' road of the World Cup became smoother after the landslide victory over Spain. In addition to some extra luck, the Netherlands successfully reached to the semi-finals at last.

In fact, the most controversial game was at the quarter-final stage. The starting goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen was replaced by Tim Krul during the penalty shootout against Costa Rica. Eventually, this tactic worked and van Gaal was therefore highly complimented to make such godly substitution. Later in the semi-finals, both of the Netherlands and Argentina played more conservatively and the final result was decided by the penalty shootout again. However, van Gaal did use up all 3 substitutes and couldn't change the goalkeeper this time. In the end, Ron Vlaar and Sneijer missed the penalties and Cilessen couldn't save one goal from the Argentine. Accordingly, the Netherlands was knocked out from the finals of this World Cup.

Actually, I felt pretty resentful of this substitution by van Gaal, as poor Cillessen and Krul were being blindfolded and fooled solely by the coach. Neither could they both get the confidence of the coach, nor they could argue with him. In the post-match's press conference, Cillessen was asked if he had known the arrangement beforehand. He said he had completely had no idea. The journalists asked him again, if he felt unsatisfied about the whole incidence. He could merely say that he respected the arrangement of the coach. In fact, who would know if he was swearing and cursing van Gaal in his heart? Could he say it out loud without anyone criticizing him? After the Netherlands lost to the Argentina, van Gaal even said, "If I had had the opportunity to substitute Jasper I would have done that but I had already used three substitutes so I couldn't." What the hell?!? How could he just put all the responsibility on Cillessen? If Cillessen didn't keep the clean sheet for the entire 120 minutes, the Netherlands could play in the penalty shootout? Shame on him, seriously! And good luck to Manchester United, which will have a coach who doesn't give a damn to the players, but is so full of himself!

Truth be told, why have I written so much about the Netherlands? It's just because Cillessen is super cute!

OMG, that wink!!!

Photo sources: FIFA

The end of an era?!?

2014-06-24T03:54:00.001-07:00

In spite of the disheartening defeat by Chile last week

Spain has learned the lesson and got back on the right track again

This 3-0 victory over Australia serves a somehow bittersweet ending for Spain in this World Cup

yet I am still the proud fan of them

Regardless of the previous bad performances

Spain NT is forever the best team in the football history

Thank you so much for these wonderful 6 years

for all those spectacular moments

This may be the end of some players of this golden generation

whereas it is definitely not the end of an era

It is just the beginning

I believe
Spain will have many more phenomenal successes in the future

David Villa

El Guaje! Mi jugador favorito! Thank you so much for all these years! You are the best and will forever be the best in my mind. When you cried in tears after subbing off, my heart was broken too. Anyways, good luck in New York and maybe we'll see you in the Euro Cup in 2016, no?

Xavi

I have been really upset when the news of your transfer to Qatar broke out few days ago. You are always the legend of Barca, as well as La Roja. Moreover, you simply did not deserve to get those harsh criticisms after playing the first match against The Netherlands. In my honest opinion, you played impeccably as always. No matter what you choose for your career, I still wish you all the best! The future of both Barca and La Roja are waiting for you! Muchas gracias por todos!

Iker Casillas

San Iker! It doesn't matter how bad you played in the first two matches, you are still the best goalkeeper in the football history. I am not sure how your career will turn out in the future, but I do hope there will be no more predicament for you before your retirement. Thank you for every goal you have saved! Your remarkable performances will forever be remembered!

And for other players such as Torres, Xabi, Reina
Thank you very much!

Gracias por estos 6 años maravillosos
Estoy muy orgullosa de ustedes

Siempre con La Furia Roja y
¡¡¡Viva España!!!

7 reasons why Spain lost to the Netherlands in the World Cup 2014

2014-06-15T10:44:00.002-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

I felt really hurt by watching the debut World Cup match of Spain today
5: 1!!! As if I were watching Barca vs Bayern last year in the Champions League...
If it was a match of another country
I might mock and sneer them pretty hard
Unfortunately, this was played by my beloved Spain NT
It can't be imagined how gut-wrenching I am feeling right now
If it was a Barca's match tonight
I believed I wouldn't be that heartbroken

These are the reasons why we had such a bad game tonight:

1. The call-up list by Del Bosque
The 23 person who got called up for the World Cup are not sufficient for rotation. Firstly, Jesus Navas wasn't called up. Maybe he was injured, but we don't have anyone similar to his style, meaning we won't have a plan b. / The strikers should be a selection between David Villa and Fernando Torres / None of the strikers is tall, which means no plan c either. / At the end of the season Diego Costa was injured for those crucial final games, I don't understand why he was still selected. / Iker Casillas was semi-benched for the last two seasons. He could still be the captain for Spain, but the starter goalkeeper should be someone else. / No breakthrough for the central defenders, when Raul Albiol was still chosen, we could see the coach was already giving up the defense of Spain.

2. The untimely and inappropriate substitution

In the first half of the match, Costa should be subbed off when he didn't contribute much besides creating a penalty chance. When Pedro was subbed on in the midst of the second half, the attack was thus slightly improved, only it was too late. / The sub-off of Xabi Alonso was uncalled for. Cesc Fabregas didn't improve much of the attack, but our defense did get progressively worsened without Xabi's presence.

3. The incredibly horrendous defense

The two central defenders were doing their own things on the pitch with no communication nor common consensus. Gerard Pique was chasing after Robben, while Sergio Ramos was playing the offside trap, so that RVP could easily even the score. / Ramos was constantly using the offside trap at the back, therefore couldn't follow the ball in time. Besides, when the Dutch players made some fouls, but the referee still didn't blow the whistle. He would keep on raising his hands instead of chasing that person. / On the other hand, Pique was as slow as a snail as usual. Always lost his position and repeatedly showed off his stunt - tackled the air in the penalty area. This was not his first time he played with Robben, I don't understand why he could make the same mistake over and over again.

4. The severely malfunctioned goalkeeper

I believe the third goal was not Iker's fault, because RVP crashed on his body and the referee didn't stop, it should be the referee's fault! (When looking back to the kick-off match, the Croatian player slightly touched the Brazilian goalkeeper, it was immediately stopped by the refereee!!!) The fourth and the fifth goal were absolutely the low-level errors. If I didn't watch the match, I would have thought the goalkeeper was Victor Valdes. This time, Iker obviously tripped up!

RVP was completely collapsed on Iker's body, why did the goal still count?!?

I was face-palmed so hard for this goal

Due to the miscommunication between Ramos and Iker, Robben once again scored an effortless goal

5. The unmatched strikers

Costa was basically useless in the first half besides the chance of the penalty. His attack was not as good as the time he played for Atletico. It was apparent that he couldn't fit in with the midfielders, hence there were only few attacking opportunities when he was on the pitch. / The other striker Torres was totally a joke. Again, he couldn't score in the open net. Seriously, how many 'signature Torres' he still needs to play? I really wonder why he could be selected with such bad form. And from their performances, I can certainly foresee the road for the Spaniards to defend the World Cup title is getting so much harder now.

6. The bad mentality of the players

Despite all of the players are playing for the big football clubs and they have all represented Spain NT to play for four big International Cup games in six years, they still couldn't face the adversity after the smooth time all these years. In fact, their bad mentality could already tell from the loss of the Confederation Cup against Brazil last year. In this game, it got even more uncontrollable. When Spain was losing 3-1, Iker has lost all his senses and got a yellow card. When the score was 4-1, the whole team was downright disunited. It would not be surprising if they lost 1 or 2 goals more.

7. The midfield wasn't monolithic enough

Actually, the performance of the Spanish midfield was already flawless tonight. However, comparing to the past, the midfield should have more possessions and couldn't get counter attacked so easily. And now, whether Spain or Barca, they only keep the possession rate, yet no one's running to create space, no short passes nor one-twos. This is basically not the effective and ideal Tiki-Taka anymore.

Seriously, this is not the time to put the blames on the players
After all football counts on teamwork
And it was just the first match
Don't forget that Spain lost their first game in the last World Cup
and eventually won the champion
Maybe the same routine will apply to Spain this time, again (Though the chance is slim now)
Hopefully Del Bosque will rearrange the starter list
Personally thinking the goalkeeper has to be changed: De Gea will be more suitable
The two central defenders also have to be changed: Since not many choices left, Pique can go, while Javi Martinez can start with Ramos
Or else, we can change to the long ball tactic
when we don't have a proper striker anyway
Pique and Martinez can start for the defense
and Ramos can play for no. 9
Who knows? His brilliant header may be helpful for the team

Ahora más que nunca!!! Vamos España!!!

Other notes on the World Cup:
Although many new technologies were applied to the matches such as the goal line technology and the free-kick spray, the quality of the referee did not have any big enhancement.
In the kick-off, the referee was too obvious to favor the Brazilian NT
As well as the match of Mexico vs Cameroon today
The two mistaken offside goals were too outrageous
If this kind of circumstance persists
It's better to terminate the whole tournament
and directly give the World Cup to Brazil instead
It's just not fair!!!

My rant before World Cup

2014-06-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

It should have been a peaceful Thursday before the kick-off of the World Cup
Meanwhile, I should have boosted my mood to patiently wait for the game
Nonetheless, after seeing the transfer confirmation by Cesc Fabregas
After seeing him wearing a blue Chelsea jersey
After seeing him saying he was proud to join Chelsea
I literally wanted to throw up on my phone
Like seriously? Chelsea?

Cesc, I don't mind if you are a traitor to Arsenal or not
Because Wenger decided not to buy you back after all
You can go anywhere
to Man United, to Man City, even to Spurs I don't care
but not Chelsea
not under the worst coach in the world, whose name is Mourinho
who tried to sneakily stomp his feet on your face in the league game
who constantly whines like a bitch in the press conference
who persistently puts the blame on the players instead of his stupid, old-fashioned, boring football tactics
Why you still chose to get humiliated?
There's no future for you in Chelsea
You will just end up being like Mata
No matter how good the performance you deliver
You will still get sold and the club won't even show any gratitude

If you are longing for the fame
If you are hungry for the money
I will be extremely disappointed
You are just sabotaging your career
You are just destroying your reputation
And most importantly
you are ruining my mood for the World Cup

My thoughts after Copa del Rey

2014-04-16T19:37:00.002-07:00

To be brutally honest, I was in utter disappointment with Barça's poor performance tonight. It's not only because of the loss, but also the attitude of the players and the stupid tactics we have been playing since April. In fact, I didn't have high expectation of tonight's game. I had not the slightest idea why the squad list was not changed a bit when we had already lost 2 trophies with the same squad. I know I can't put all the blames on the players. Some of them tried their very best while some of them were beyond horrible. We just need a change, the idiotic management board and the coach have to be changed, RIGHT NOW!!!

Here are my thoughts on Barça:

Barça management board: When will you actually see that we need to buy a natural center-back? Since season 11/12, we were excited to buy a new center-back, but you bought a midfielder - Cesc Fabregas. Then in season 12/13, an other midfielder - Alex Song came. OK, until this season, still no center-back, but Neymar. Can you see that our defense sucks to the max. Puyol is getting old; Mascherano is a defensive midfielder; Pique's performance is worryingly inconsistent and Bartra is inexperienced and mostly singled out by the coach. And now, 3 out of 4 CB are injured and we don't have players at the back. You are the one who hold us back in these seasons. Our losses of La Liga, the Champions League and Copa del Rey are surely your fault. When will you wake up? Money is not everything, forget about the renewal of Camp Nou, just focus more on reforming the team, please!!!

Tata: I don't know why you kept on playing the long balls/crossings tactics, while you obviously knew how short of our strikers and midfielders were. Who would be able to score with all those horrible passes? Messi? Iniesta? Neymar? Also, the Xavi-Iniesta-Cesc formation was UNFEASIBLE. We had solid proof in the last 2 matches already. We needed a real striker like Perdro/Alexis in the front and Iniesta in the back to create chances, not the slow-as-hell Cesc being stuck in the middle when playing false 9 nor losing the ball within few seconds when he was in the midfield. Every time when Cesc was subbed off, our attack could then get back with its pace. Could you see the difference, seriously? For the recent losing streak, you for sure need to take full responsibility. I don't anticipate you will win all the following league games, just GET THE HELL OUT when this season ends!!!

Messi: If you don't want to get injured, if the World Cup is more important, just don't stay at Barça anymore! In these games, you were simply a disgrace. You barely ran; you hardly helped your teammates; you didn't defend; and you lost the ball so easily that the second goal of tonight was completely your fault. If you didn't devote 100% on the pitch, just don't occupy the starting place. Many more players on the bench would love to take part in the game, and I believe they would not play worse than you, despite they were less talented and less privileged. Moreover, I was very frustrated that every time you played a shitty game, you got a pay rise. How could this even make sense? If Barça did not waste the money on you, we could have already bought some decent center-backs and our defense could have been more monolithic. Frankly speaking, I don't even think Argentina can make it to the semi-finals in the World Cup. Just wait and see what you have been saving for will turn out to be thoroughly unworthy. If you continue with this mentality, don't even cry when Barça sells you one day.

Dani Alves: What the heck were you thinking? Your performance has been very inconsistent lately and for tonight, you were beyond horrendous. All the crossings you made were terrible, we didn't need the long balls crossing in the air, because none of our strikers was tall enough to even touch the ball. Every time when you got the ball, our attack just ended in no time. Besides your poor attacking, your outrageous defensive performance did get on my nerves, too. The first goal was 100% your fault, when you could not hold on to the ball and got counter-attacked so effortlessly. The second goal was partially your fault, when Bartra was being outrun, you were no where to be found. If we can get passed the FIFA transfer ban this year, you must be the first one to be got rid of and I don't even feel sorry.

Pinto: OLD, SLOW, STUPID! These are the words that I can think of to describe you. Those two goals were not that deadly and we lost just because you were indecisive and your reaction was too slow. If VV was here tonight, he could absolutely save them with no hustle. I knew we couldn't count on you as much as we did on VV, however, you were the second last goalie we had on the squad and you still couldn't get your shit together for once? I wouldn't be that pissed off if we put Oier out tonight, perhaps he might save those amateurish goals despite he was inexperienced, at least he was so much younger. Thank you for all these years staying in Barça, I wish you all the best next year, just don't sign for one more season and I will be relieved.

Cesc: I loved you, as an Arsenal player and as a player in Spain NT. I just don't think you fit in well in Barça. You may have some outstanding statistics in the beginning of the season, nonetheless, they are mostly from the games with poorer teams. And we could obviously see that you were mostly invisible, when we played with stronger teams. You couldn't hold the ball and you couldn't calmly make consistent and decisive pass like Iniesta or Xavi nor could you create chances. Every time when we were attacking, you just slowed down the whole pace or being invisible that I didn't even remember you were on the pitch. Also, it was crystal clear that the team played way better without you. It was regretful to see you have been transformed like this, maybe we should blame it on the stupid false 9, it was just a bad decision. In fact, I had thought you would perhaps replace Xavi one day, but now I don't see it will likely happen. Just go somewhere needs you more, apparently Barça doesn't need you now.

Xavi: I would not take the blame on you, as I know you were exhausted and you are not young anymore. Tonight, I could completely understand that you were not playing at your best form. If Tata did not let you play so many trivial games before, you might have saved more energy for the recent games and maybe we wouldn't have this losing streak. As I also understand, this team actually cannot play without you. We are too Xavi-independent, we are too easy to lose our pace without your lead. Please take more rest after tonight, as we still need you to play for Spain in the World Cup. Also, I hope Barça will figure a way out soon before you retire someday in the future.

Busquets: Well, you are always the calmest and smartest player out there. What happened to you tonight? Not the worst player, but definitely not the best. I'd consider it as poor performance overall. Nevertheless, the team really relies on you as our defensive midfielder, while I can't even think of Song without suppressing my anger. I hope you can keep up with your best form and positive attitude in the following games, though it seems like we have lost the opportunity to defend our title already.

Neymar: I won't be too harsh on you since this is your first year at Barça. Yet, with that crazy sky-high price we paid, I strongly doubt if you're worth that much. So far in this season, your performance has been undoubtedly inconsistent. All I have learnt from you is that you are a terrible finisher and a physically weak striker who gets tripped all the time. Tonight, you missed a golden chance to score the second goal for Barça, and I was not surprised. As I said, you were horrible at finishing the ball. When I saw you played with Brazil, you were totally a different person. I believe this Messi-independent Barça team does somehow constrain your style, and hopefully, you will fit in better and will have a more fruitful season next year.

Mascherano: To be frank, it was not completely your fault that we lost these important games. After all, you are not a center-back. It was absolutely the fault of the management board, Zubi and Rosell to be exact, since they insisted not to buy center-back for that many years. And tonight, you did have a fairly better performance. Without your tackles, we might have lost more goals to Real Madrid already. If you leave next season, good luck! If you stay, I hope you will start as a defensive midfielder instead of a center-back.

Adriano: A decent backup who can always live up to the expectation and do his job well. Tonight was not an exception for you, you could play fairly well on the right back, even though I wish you could replace Dani Alves instead of Jordi Alba.

Pedro: One of the very hard-working players. Though you couldn't do much in the last 30 minutes, you did best on what you were always good at: running to create more space and breaking the defense of RM. I wish Tata could make you as a starter of such important game, but it's also believed that he would never sober up. God bless you!

Jordi Alba: One of the few best players of tonight's game. Your performance in the 1st half was impeccable, comparing to the right side, you could still make the short passes and cooperate pretty smoothly with Iniesta. You could definitely be the real threat for RM, however, the team somehow preferred to attack on the right more with all those retarded long balls. Besides, you did have a brilliant defensive performance tonight. Otherwise, we could have lost the cup in the first half already. Unfortunately, you were subbed off in the second half due to injury, it was a genuine pity and I wish you a speedy recovery. We need you in the World Cup.

Iniesta: Don Iniesta, my favorite player of all time! Savior of Spain NT, Savior of Barça as well. Notwithstanding you did not play the best game tonight, at least you tried your best. As a matter of fact, this time you did not play for your natural position again. It was inspiring, since you could still have such incredible performance. As always, you are the most hardworking player on the pitch, you were one of the very few who showed your heart that you wanted to win. Thank you for putting so much effort on this game. I have massive respect for you. Good luck in the World Cup!!!

Bartra: You have been considered as the third center-back of Barça, nonetheless, you outshone every shameless veterans tonight with your superb performance and your enthusiasm of playing for Barça, that was priceless in every way. If Jordi Alba was the Man of the Match in the first half, you would definitely be the MOTM in the second half. Ironically, the 2 out of 3 threatening goals from Barça were scored from you, a defensive player, it could be clearly seen that our strikers were hopelessly struggling in the front. When you scored that perfect header, my eyes were filled with happy tears. Not only we could tie the game, but I finally saw someone who was giving his best in the game. In fact, I have been your loyal supporter since last season. It was unfortunate for you last year. You were benched most of the time, and all of a sudden, you were forced to face the strongest team like Bayern. However, I believe that you had learnt from your experience. And tonight, you did not disappoint us. I felt terrible that you insisted to defend your best, to give the best to the club in spite of your thigh injury tonight. The goal from Bale was not so much your fault, you did all you could do, you were alone in the defense, just don't put it in your heart! And I hope you won't have ill-feeling when you got subbed off, Tata was just an idiot. Hopefully, Vincente del Bosque could appreciate your eagerness and select you in the Spain NT. If not, you still have a bright future coming ahead and many more World Cups to play for.

A letter to Víctor Valdés

2014-03-26T15:57:00.002-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Dear VV,

To be frank, I have not been a culé for a very long time, but I do love Barça. I love the concept of La Masia , I love the style Barça has been playing, and I love the hardworking players who have always been striving for every possible titles. Except you, in my opinion, you are a very overrated goalkeeper. Especially in the last season, your unstable performance did really get on my nerves. I strongly believed that Barça could do so much better without your presence. Not to mention the Spain NT, many other goalkeepers such as David De Gea and Diego Lopez both deserved more to be selected. Until the moment you announced that you would not extend your contract with Barça, I was completely overwhelmed. I was already imagining the whole team lifting up the cups of La Liga and the Champions League with the new goalkeeper, what a fantastic picture it would be! However, you chose to stay for one more season and would leave Barça for free, I was thoroughly disillusioned.

Actually I have not had high expectation of Barça for this season, as our shitty defense remains the same and the fact that you are still on the team. Nevertheless, your performance has been consistently good since the first match of La Liga. You have been playing unbelievably well, to the extent that I think you have changed to be another person. In fact, you have saved our asses for so many times. We could have lost many points, if you did not play that astonishingly.

Last Sunday, it was your last El Clásico at Bernabéu. Of course, you did not disappoint us and the team did a very good job too. As a culé, I was really proud of the final result in spite of the controversial penalties. I was even sleepless because of the adrenaline rush, it took me quite a while to calm myself down afterwards.

At this critical moment, when we are striving to get back to the top of the league table, bad news always come. Unfortunately, your knee got injured and it turned out to be a torn ACL. You will probably be out for 6 months. I feel really terrible that this game vs Celta de Vigo is actually your last with Barça. Besides La Liga and the Champions League, you will surely miss the World Cup in Brazil too. I feel really heartbroken for you. I can totally understand how gut-wrenching it is, when your career in Barça ends so unexpectedly and you miss the chance to defend the World Cup championship for your country.

Anyways, thank you for everything you did for the club! You are an amazing goalkeeper and you will for sure be missed by us the culés. Last but not least, I wish you a speedy recovery and get well soon, crack!

Ánimo Víctor Valdés!!!

Best regards,

A culé from Hong Kong

Day 21: Novi Sad, Serbia

2013-04-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Today I had to wake up at 5 in the early morning, as I needed to take the bus from Sarajevo to Belgrade. I shared a taxi together with an Australian guy who stayed next door in the hostel, and then we took the same bus to Belgrade. Since I was still very sleepy, I barely talked with that guy both on the taxi and the bus. All I did on the bus was sleeping, sleeping and sleeping. I could barely remember the bus made some toilet breaks in between, however, I couldn't stay awake for more than 5 minutes and fell right back to sleep afterwards, despite it was freezing cold on the bus.

Walking to the old town

After 5-6 hours, I arrived at the good old bus station in Belgrade. I immediately went to buy the bus ticket to Novi Sad, there was bus to Novi Sad every half hour. When I got on the bus, I nodded off right away. Once the bus arrived at Novi Sad, I could finally get back my senses.

The hostel I reserved is called Hostel Rookies, which is centrally located next to the old town, and it isn't difficult to go from the bus station at all.

Theater Square

In the afternoon, I started sightseeing the old town. It is a smaller city comparing to Belgrade, but the architectures in the old town are very European, which makes it a lovely city. I walked pass the Liberty Square and headed to the river banks, it's accessible on foot and quite a pleasure to walk in this warm weather.

The name of Mary Church on Liberty Square

Old Town

Restaurants were everywhere

A lake in Danube Park

There is a bridge across the Danube, on the left bank I could see Petrovaradin Fortress. I didn't go up there in the end, as I was pretty tired after so many days of walking. I just spent some time strolling on the right bank instead. There were many people jogging, cycling and strolling, what a beautiful place to do some exercises.

Petrovaradin Fortress

Danube again

Danube is yellow, not blue

Lover locks on the bridge

Very European

Flower blossom

Statues by Danube

This once was a bridge which bombed by NATO

Very exercise-doer friendly

Before sunset, I walked back to the old town and wandered a bit more. At night, I had a Serbian's style fast food and then went back to the hostel. I got to know a new friend, who was a German woman. Interestingly, she had not stayed in Germany for few decades. Instead, she had worked in Hong Kong for 20 something years and now is residing in Malaysia. It is actually nice to have someone to talk to before going to bed.

Building in communist style

Precious Gelato moment

Walking around the old town

Sunset

Desserts in the fast-food store

Liberty Square at night

The name of Mary Church at night

Day 15: Budva, Montenegro

2013-04-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Last night I went to bed pretty late again and I was not in the mood to wake up early today, while I could clearly hear the heavy rain outside. At the same time, my roommates all woke up, but they didn't move either. We ended up drinking coffee (Ovaltine for me) and chatting in our own bed for the whole morning.

After I was done getting dressed, I went down to the living room. There were already a lot of people, most of them were playing card games. Meanwhile, I was busy checking where to go in this heavy rain. The staff, who had taken revenge on me yesterday, suggested me to go to Budva. I doubted if it was worthy to go on such a rainy day. She claimed that Budva was still beautiful in spite of the rain. Then I was convinced and invited my roommate Jesslyn to come along.

When we were walking to the train station, I already felt quite regretful. The rain didn't stop, nor didn't seem to rain any lighter. The bus from Kotor to Budva costs EUR 3 and takes around an hour. The bus station of Budva is located pretty far away from the old town. In the end, we walked for around half hour to the old town in the pouring rain and it was not fun, at all!!!

The weather was very gloomy

The old town of Budva is pretty small. There is a wall and a front gate like any of the old town in the Balkans. We walked from the front entrance and saw many small alleys, very similar to those in Kotor. There are also many stores inside, yet barely no tourists to be seen under such bad weather. Eventually, we spent just 15 minutes to finish walking the whole old town and decided we should head back to Kotor instead. The weather made everything bad.

Actually, I have always wanted to go to Sveti Stefan. It is a privatized island and has been turned to be a resort for many years. From far away, the island looks like an isolated old village because the houses are still preserved with orange roofs, very typical old-town like. Next to the island, there is a beach with the turquoise Adriatic water. What a stunning picture it is!!! Unfortunately, I gave up going due to the bad weather. Budva was already ruined, I didn't want to destroy the beautiful image of Sveti Stefan in my mind. There is always next time~

The wave was raging

After the bad trip to Budva, I went back to the good old living room of the hostel in Kotor. The people who were initially playing card games were gone. The only person left in the room was Chris, an Oxford physics graduate, who has no specific travel destination and decided to stay in Kotor for as long as he could; and my roommate Gil, who is from Israel and a rapper enthusiast. We three had nothing to do in the living room and started another round of card games. Originally I had no idea of how the game worked, but with some beginner's luck, I won for quite a few times. (I could feel that Chris was not very happy with his loss, after all he graduated from one of the top schools in the world with a physics degree and got beaten by a math idiot aka me!) Then a new member Dale joined us. He is currently teaching English in Romania and catching some free time to travel around the Balkans. We four played the games until the sky turned completely dark.

The bell in the old town of Budva

Then it was time for dinner. Tonight there's free dinner in the hostel again! YAY! And besides my roommates, I got to know more people as usual. There came 3 guys, they are working in Hamburg at the moment but come from different countries. N from France, J from Mexico and M from the states. In fact, M comes from Michigan which intrigued me even more. But then I found out he just graduated from MSU and we were like.....ew, rivals! Just kidding, we had a very good time together. We even went out to a bar to get some more beer. (By the time we got to the bar, I saw that Barca just finished the games with PSG. Gosh, I missed it, again!!!!!! Luckily Barca won, that's all that matters!!!!)

In the end, we were hungry and went out to the hamburger stand outside the front gate. It was raining nonstop and didn't stop for once today. My shoes got all soaked and I had no idea how to continue my journey with my wet converse, smh!!!!!!! Before going to bed, I chatted with M and Gil in the stairs outside the dorm room. The greater the night was, the faster the time flew. I miss my time here in Kotor already, but tomorrow I am going to my favorite city of all time and hope I will still have such great time.

Day 14: Kotor, Montenegro

2013-04-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Happy April Fool's! Though I unexpectedly had such a crazy party night yesterday, I would not be going to fool around anymore in this beautiful coastal old town of Montenegro. Instead, I did some serious and real sightseeing for the whole day.

The door I saw while walking to the hostel

St. Tryphon Cathedral

However, there was a little drama in the morning. When I finally got my lazy bum out of the 10-bed dorm room I had previously reserved, the receptionist of the hostel stopped me from going outside. She asked me to move out from that room immediately, because a large group of Argentinian people just arrived. Due to the little hangover I had and the long time that I had just spent to get myself prepared, I insisted I would come back and move when I finished hiking to the castle on the hill. She didn't look happy with it, but what could she do? I swear, after that hitch-hiking experience, I am not going to do anything I don't want to do. Regardless I sound like a jerk, I just don't care!!!

Just started the hike

Continued to indulged in the old town's fascination

The sky was quite cloudy today, which made my mood continue to swing. The entrance of the castle is not located in a prominent position, when everything looked exactly the same in the old town. I was walking back and forth from one tiny plaza to another, still couldn't find the entrance. In the end, I met a guy who worked at the hostel in the alley and he finally took the clueless me to get to the entrance. (In the midst of searching the entrance, I saw that receptionist again. She was obviously still unsatisfied with my decision and gave me a questionable look as if she didn't understand why I insisted to climb the freaking mountain, when I could pack and move my stuff out of the room and then she could keep her working progress smoother than ever in the afternoon. But still, zero shit was given.)

The only way to go to the castle

the Church of Our Lady of Remedy

Overlooking the Church of St. Nicholas

There is actually a ticket stand in the entrance (just a desk and a guy sitting next to it), and the fee is EUR 2. Castle Of San Giovanni is located on the mountain top. From the ground to the top, there are 1350 steps in total. The hike was not very formidable, as the stairways were spacious and I could sit down and take some rest whenever I needed. Friendly reminder: Remember to eat something before hiking, preferably bring some bananas to go along if you are physically weak. After all, 1350 steps are no joke!

1350 steps, almost there

The old town, Kotor

The other side of Kotor

At last, I spent around 2 hours to finish the hike, inclusive of the resting time. Then I went back to the hostel and fulfilled the wish of that receptionist - pack my stuff and move my ass out. When I stepped in, the receptionist showed her victorious face to me and said, "Oh, we moved your stuff out of the bed and put it aside. You can now go to your new room. It's on the third floor." I took the key from her hand and went to my old room. My backpack and my other stuff were piled on the side of my old bed, but I couldn't see my flip flops. I searched the whole room, they were no where to be found. I went back down to ask the receptionist, and she said she had no idea, but would ask the cleaning staff to keep an eye on it. It seems that in her point of view, revenge is a dish best served HOT. Well played, well played.

The emerald green of the water in the bay of Kotor is definitely another value

The flag on the top of the castle - it's an achievement to just take a photo of it

Overlooking the fjord, I wished the weather was nicer

Met this cat in the exit

Followed another one with stunning blue eyes

In the afternoon, I continued to wind into the alleys in the old town. Without the flooding of the cruise ship's tourists, Kotor was apparently quieter and gave people an extra peaceful vibe.

Besides Castle Of San Giovanni, the old town is also named as one of the UNESCO heritages

Back to the ground with the Church of St. Nicholas

The quiet alley with no people

The emerald bay water - looks like a piece of fine jade

It didn't move a bit when I was walking around

The path I hiked in the morning

The front entrance of the old town

When I was tired of walking, I went back to the hostel and chatted with other travelers. They suggested me to pay a spontaneous visit to the nearby town - Perast. That was not a bad idea, so I decided to go with the German roommate I met last night. The bus to Perast departs from the main station every one hour, there are also bus stops along the way. The bus ride takes approximately 30 minutes and costs EUR 1.5 each way.

Local market - the bottles are homemade olive oil

The port and the cruise ship

A very ancient looking clock, loved it

In comparison with Kotor, Perast seems to be a lot more tranquil. There are two islands in the middle of the fjord, and tourist can take a boat ride to visit there. The old town is very small indeed, so we took a stroll around the whole town within 30 minutes and decided to go back.

The two islands in Perast

St. Nicholas' Church in Perast

Many orange trees planted in the Mediterranean countries, was later told it was only for making jam

Although the loss of my flip flops made me pretty sad, spending time with other tourists in the living room cheered me up a lot. I got to know more friends and chatted along with them for the whole night. That's absolutely a very special April Fool's Day I have ever celebrated (as if I had really celebrated before)!

So quiet yet so small

The weather was nicer towards the evening

Day 13: Kotor, Montenegro

2013-03-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

After the traumatic experience of yesterday, I was still frightened and firmly made up my mind that I would just leave Albania, without traveling to other cities on my previous to-go list. Nonetheless, misfortune does not come singly.

In the morning, when I went in to the bathroom to take shower, bad luck once again came knock on my door. When I finished getting dressed, I couldn't open the lock on the door. No matter how many times and how hard I tried, the door still couldn't be opened. I started to get panicked, even though I didn't have claustrophobia. There was a guy sleeping in the room and I didn't hesitate to knock on the door for help, though I was probably disturbing his sweet dream. At that moment, I heard another roommate came back, and they all tried to open the door for me, to no avail. Then one of them went down to the reception and asked the hostel staff for help. The same lady (who showed me the wrong direction to the furgon station and gave me the wrong time schedule of the last furgon) came, and she asked why I locked myself in the bathroom. (Seriously? That's really all you can think of? It's because the freaking lock can't function well, not me intentionally have that time to lock myself in the bathroom. I ain't no kid and this isn't fun at all!!!) She then asked me to try to open the door, without giving me any constructive suggestions and kept on saying the door should have had no problem. (The door obviously has problem and it is a severe one. Please go fix it and stop bullshitting!!!) About 15 minutes later, I took my last breath and tried to open the lock one more time. This time, the lock moved slowly, and then the door was finally opened!!! (Kudos for those helpful roommies to keep trying with me) But then, that lady who went to find the key in the reception came back. And said, "Oh, you are out! Told you the door had no problem." I was like, what the hell......

One of the very few street scene of Tirana

So, I packed my stuff and was ready to leave this freaking city and country. Before that, I went out to the post office to mail the postcards. (In the end, none of the postcard was successfully mailed out. I really wondered what the people were doing in this country?????? Why couldn't they just make something work?????? At least for once!!!!!!)

When I got back to the hostel, I made my last request to the hostel lady that I wanted to call a taxi to go to the furgon station to go to Shkodra. When I got on the taxi, which looked so modern that there was even WiFi on board, the driver reassured my destination with me. He asked, "Are you going to the bus station to Shkodra?" I felt a bit annoyed as I told the hostel lady that I was going to the furgon station to Shkodra, so I said, "No, I am going to the furgon station." The driver was confused and he immediately got off from the car and went back to the hostel. He came out with the hostel lady and she asked me, "Are you not taking the bus?" I clarified, "No, I am not taking the bus. I am taking the furgon, FURGON!" She asked, "So you are not taking the bus?" I got irritated and said one last time, "I AM NOT TAKING THE BUS!" She then turned to the driver and said something in Albanian and turned to me, "I thought you were taking the bus!" (Pfffffffff)

There was no actual furgon station, again. The furgon to Shkodra just parked on some street with no indication nor sign. I put my stuff in the back of the car and then hopped on and got a window seat. The furgon to Shkodra (500 lek) departs every hour, and it takes around 2 hours to Shkodra with a lot of stops on the way. I got off at the last stop, where I could find the connecting bus to Ulcinj. When I walked to the bus, the people around told me that the next bus would depart at 5:30 pm. Actually, the hostel lady told me the next bus would depart at 4:30 p.m. and I really wondered how many false information she kept giving to people, when they desperately needed this information to continue traveling. How many people got stranded in a deserted city? How many people got scammed by the hitchhiking driver? And how many people got trafficked by bad people simply due to her ever-so-correct information?

Another street scene of Tirana

When I was feeling so pissed off and didn't know what to do as I just arrived at this city at 3:30 p.m., a private taxi driver came to me. He asked where I was going, I told him I was going to Ulcinj and he said he could take me for 15 EUR. I felt reluctant, because Mr. Jerk already scammed me 40 EUR yesterday, I didn't have that redundant money to splurge on his 'private car' again. I then negotiated to 8 EUR with him and he finally surrendered. I got on his car, this time on the back, as I didn't want the same unhappy incidence happen again. On the way, he picked up another guy who were also going to the direction of Ulcinj. But he was nice enough to ask for my permission, so I agreed. In fact, that guy was going to Bar. And the driver asked if I were willing to pay him some more money and he would take both of us to Bar and then I could take the bus from Bar to Kotor. I refused. Firstly, I didn't have the bus schedule from Bar to Kotor, what if there was no bus? Secondly and most importantly, I just didn't trust anyone in Albania anymore.

In less than an hour time, he finally drove me to the bus station in Ulcinj. The bus to Kotor departed at 6:41 p.m., so the ticket lady suggested me to take the bus to Bar first and then catch the 5:44 p.m. bus to Kotor. When I got to Bar, I still needed to wait for an hour for the next bus. And there was no restaurant, no snack shop around and I was very hungry that I didn't have lunch yet. However, it was still worthwhile as long as I could leave Albania. I didn't mind this temporary hunger.

The bus to Kotor came on time. Except every one could smoke on the bus, the journey was smooth. (The smokers didn't know how I was constantly cursing them on the bus. It's a minibus, couldn't they be more considerate to other non-smokers? In this case, I am not a whining bitch that likes to complain about every minor stuff, I just think the Balkan people seriously need some civic education! It's a public transport after all. Also, my mood was obviously struck by Mr. Jerk yesterday that I felt unsatisfied about so many things.)

How to find the other half?

After a long day of taking buses and car, I finally made it to Kotor at 7 at night. The hostel I am staying is Old Town Kotor Hostel, which was highly recommended by R. The reception area already gathered a lot of people, as free dinner was being served tonight. After I settled my stuff in the 10-bed dorm, I went down to have some dinner and met a lot of new people. The hostel staff were really nice to connect everyone in the hostel and the atmosphere was superb. I was offered several shots of the famous homemade Rakija, which is a very strong alcohol. As a non-alcoholic person, I got so tipsy after the second shot already.

In my memory, I recalled I talked so much Mandarin with an Italian guy called Mattia and his girlfriend Julia, both of them actually studied and worked in China before. Later that night, all the hostel people moved to the kitchen and continued drinking. It was a fun night (especially I felt horrified as hell last night), but I was so wasted and forgot most of the things when I got back to bed.

Day 12: Berat, Albania

2013-03-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

According to many weather forecast websites, it is going to rain in the next 2 days here in Albania. Therefore, I decided to go to Berat today, when it is apparently the only day with no rain, but will be cloudy for the whole day. I took the advice from the hostel staff, who happened to be the same lady who stayed in the reception last night, that I should follow her direction to walk to the "furgon" station. And before I left, she reminded me casually that the last bus/furgon would leave Berat at 5 in the afternoon. I bore that in mind.

As I said yesterday, there was no main bus station in Tirana, but many small stations of furgon/bus of different routes spreading across the whole city. So, what's the difference between furgon and bus? Furgon is the faster and smaller van and bus is the big travel coach. In addition to the extremely bad condition of the roads here in Albania, taking bus will make the journey so much longer, as the bus has to slow down or stop for the potholes on the way. On the contrary, furgon can easily dodge the potholes as their size is a lot smaller.

The King's Mosque

Somewhere near the King's Mosque

The stones that built the whole town and the fortress

The furgon station is very far away from my hostel, it took me at least 30 minutes to walk to there. When I finally got to the station, I didn't see any furgon, but many big coaches instead. I began to freak out, since I would almost miss the time of the car. Hence, I walked to a family, who seemed to speak English judging by their looks. Thanks god they really could speak a bit English and told me that it was the bus station, not the furgon station. (I was kinda lost, when I already made sure with the hostel lady that I wanted to go to the furgon station, not the bus station!) The family then offered to drive me to the furgon station, which happened to be nearby (estimated 15 more minutes on foot, few minutes by car). Actually, they come from Berat. So they told me a lot of good things of Berat in the car.

After thanking the friendly and helpful family, I hopped on the real furgon in the real furgon station. The whole ride to Berat took around 2 to 3 hours and the driver dropped me in front of a big church when we arrived. Then I walked to the town center and continued to walk to the fortress (Kala), which is located on the top of the hill.

The big church in the old town

Door's decor

Inside the King's Mosque - there was nothing

On the way to the fortress

This slope almost took my life away

Near the entrance of the fortress, I saw 2 painters who were painting the fortress on canvases with oil colors. As it was interesting, I sat by their side and quietly watched them paint (actually I wanted to learn some skills too). The painters were very kind, they told me that they were actually employed under the same gallery in Tirana. On this very day, all the contracted painters were driven to Berat, in order to work on the paintings that would be sold in the gallery later.

Inside the fortress

The nearby town

The citadel, where the painters were painting

It's unfinished, but already looks very pretty

The other painter, who drew with a totally different kind of technique

Should better check out the back of the painting, there may be some surprises

Then, I kept on meandering around the fortress. The citadel is still inhabited and I did see many residential houses inside. On the other side, I could overlook the whole city of Berat and the views were marvelous. When I decided to walk down to the town center, I was approached by a beautiful Albanian teenage girl. She politely asked me why I traveled to Albania, and gave me some recommendations of Tirana and other cities. In the end, she hoped that I would like Albania as it's a beautiful country. I didn't know if it's really that beautiful, but I was sure that the people were really amiable. (Only if I didn't have such horrible encounter later that day)

Walking around the citadel

It reminded me of Plovdiv

It's still inhabited

Panoramic view of Berat

Kisha e Shen Triadhes

Close up to Berat

What are these?

First time that descending was better than ascending

When I got down to the town center, it was 4 in the afternoon. I didn't waste any time, but quickly wandered around the Osumi River. There are many Greek style houses, making Berat look ultra exotic. Although there was still some time before 5 p.m., I decided to leave Berat and quickly bought some barbecued pork for my late lunch.

The Greek houses look so funny

Osumi river

Many people were fishing by the river

Berat is also named as "City of Thousand Windows"

Nightmare began

By the time I got back to the big church where the furgon once dropped me off, I couldn't find any of the bus/furgon around. Long story short, the last bus/furgon was actually gone. I got on a stranger's car who offered me a ride back to Tirana. When the seat didn't even get heated up by my butt, the driver aka Mr. Jerk asked me to pay for the gas by guilt-tripping me which I couldn't say no. On the half way of the ride, he even sexually harassed me and tried to convince me to have sex with him, in vain. After dealing with him for an hour on the car, he eventually gave up and got sober up too. Towards the end of the car ride, he told me that he snorted something before driving and acted very apologetic to me. Sorry, none of this shit was ever forgiven nor forgotten. In the end, I got back to Tirana safely. I am glad I will never see him in my life again, and I am actually staying alive after this horrible experience.

When I got back to the hostel, the same hostel lady asked if I had a nice visit in Berat. Yes, it was great! Because of your best and accurate advice, I could have the most authentic experience and know super in-depth of the Albanian people. Thank you so very much!

Day 11: Tirana, Albania

2013-03-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Today it's the time to leave the beautiful Macedonia and continued my long bus-riding day to Tirana. After bidding the real farewell to R and exchanged souvenirs with each other, I officially started my journey of today.

Going to Tirana from Ohrid was not as direct as I had thought. Firstly, I needed to go to the main street in Ohrid to take the mini-bus to Struga, a Macedonian city located in the northern shore of Lake Ohrid. There was no specific sign or an actual station, I was just told the bus would be parked opposite to the market. When I got there, I was immediately approached by some shared taxi drivers and they said they're going to Struga too. I then hopped on and few minutes later, the car was loaded up already.

The shared taxi took less than 30 minutes to get to Struga, some people got off on the way, but the vacant seats were quickly filled up. The worst thing was that the taxi didn't stop in front of the bus station in Struga, I was dropped in the middle of the highway and it started to rain cats and dogs. The driver showed me a very vague direction of the bus station to me, then I followed to walk towards that direction in the rain, with many big trucks along the road and industrial sites around.

My favorite Fornetti as breakfast

Approximately 10 minutes later, I saw the bus station within one of the industrial sites. I quickly bought the bus ticket at the counter and then waited at the station together with 2 other backpackers. Surprisingly, there was free WiFi in the bus station and it was very stable too. Therefore, I downloaded as many as YouTube videos of my favorite radio show in the station for me to kill time on the bus later. I guess I started to feel so bored with my iPod already. (Kudos to the developers of any kind of YouTube downloader)

The bus didn't leave from Struga, but somewhere else, maybe from Skopje. It should have arrived at Struga at 12:30 p.m., instead it came late and arrived at 1:30 p.m. eventually. On the bus, I kept on indulging myself in the radio show and it seemed that the time would pass faster.

Before entering to the Albanian border, there was a short toilet/restaurant break. I finally got a change to talk with the 2 backpackers who happened to sit behind me. They are actually from Norway, Bergen to be exact. Both of them are students and studying biblical theology. Before school starts again in September, they decided to fly all the way to Turkey and are currently trying to hitchhike back to Norway. Because they heard it wasn't easy to hitchhike in Albania, they chose to take the bus to Tirana, and will couch-surf there instead. It is actually very inspirational to meet this kind of budget travelers on the road, I hope I will have that courage to do such thing like them someday.

Scenery on the way

The border crossing was easy, nevertheless, everything started to change in the last 2 hours of the bus ride. The bus began to move slower and more careful, since there were many potholes on the road, even on the highway. In addition to some traffic on the way, the bus finally arrived at Tirana at 8 p.m.. The sky was completely dark by the time I got off from the bus, it was definitely not part of my plan, as I usually hate finding direction in the dark. Besides, the bus didn't park in the bus station, just dropped us on one main street again. It was even harder as I had no clue of where I was located.

After asking for the driver, he showed me to walk down the street, then I would see Skanderbeg Square and from there I could follow the direction that the hostel gave me. Reality is always different than ideal, it took me more than half hour to walk to Skanderbeg Square, let alone I would need another 20 minutes to walk to the hostel. The worst part was that I didn't have any Albanian lek with me, so I couldn't even take the taxi. In the end, I walked with my heavy backpack for 50 minutes and my back was sore like crazy.

The hostel I am staying is Tirana Backpacker Hostel, located next to the shopping street Rruga Myslym Shyri. After a quick dinner, I went back to the hostel and began to do some research for my later on journey. On one hand, I want to go to Spain to meet up with R again. On the other hand, it's easier to catch a boat from Albania to Italy. It's so hard to choose......

Day 10: Bitola, Macedonia

2013-03-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

After the sleepless nightmare of last night, I made up my mind again, that I would move back to Di Angolo Hostel today, at least I could take a hot shower to withstand the coldness. As expected, there was no hot water in the shower room today, again. Therefore, I didn't even have the free breakfast and checked out from the hostel immediately.

The owner of Sunny Lake was so caring that he unceasingly asked me why I would leave that early. I said I was going to Tirana today. And then he insisted that there was still plenty of time. And then I made up some excuse that I needed to go to the post office and maybe walked around and stuff, he still patiently showed me the direction to the post office. At that moment, I felt quite bad to lie to him. Nonetheless, the facts of no hot water and the freezing night were reasonable enough to make me leave. Sorry, maybe next time, if there's hot water or a more powerful heater, that would make me come stay again.

Then I went back to the Di Angolo, the waitress was so surprised to see me one more time. She asked why I would show up in the early morning and I thought she kind of suspected me changing hostel yesterday. So I said I was just back from Bitola and she bought that, perhaps. OMG, I hate lying so much. How come I just couldn't tell them the ruthless truth???

The shopping street in Bitola

Didn't know my favorite Fornetti had a franchise in Macedonia

The hot shower in Di Angolo was so cozy that it immediately perked up my mood of today, despite I didn't sleep well last night. Then I took the taxi to the bus station and changed the bus to Bitola. Once I hopped on the bus, I quickly fell into my deep slumber.

When I woke up, I already arrived at Bitola's main bus station. The return bus schedule was not very frequent, it was either 5 p.m. nor 7 p.m.. Therefore, I might need to either walk around real quick in the city and then back to the bus station, or stroll around slowly until 7 p.m.. Couldn't believe that other than the hostels, the bus schedule could still be a dilemma to me in Macedonia.

Spidey popsicle

They're literally EVERYWHERE in the world, no jokes

Heading to the old bazaar

The bus station of Bitola, once again, is located far away from the city center. Whereas the walk to the center was not hard, I could easily get there without asking for direction. Bitola is not a popular city, I came here to visit is solely due to the postcard I had received and the sender said it was a good place.

There is a main shopping street in the center and many cafes on the sides. Towards the end of the shopping street, there are a tall clock tower and some mosques, nothing special and nothing more. Hence, I decided I would catch the 5 p.m. bus to go back to Ohrid, after I briskly wandered the old bazaar and the nearby churches.

If the weather was better, the snowy mountain on the back could be very scenic

The main shopping street

Clock tower

When I got back to Ohrid, the sky was already getting dark. Since I still had plenty of time before having dinner, I decided not to take the taxi and walked back to the old town instead. But I didn't have a map with me, I eventually walked for more than an hour just to get back to the old town. The distance was indeed longer that I had assumed.

A clock tower in the church

On the shopping street

After dinner, I went back to that once-pissed-me-off-as-hell room. However, this time I owned it all by myself when there was no one sharing with me. While I was tidying up my messy stuff, someone knocked on the door. I opened it and saw R. He came all the way from Kotor today and the most surprising thing was that I just sent him a message during dinner and then BOOM, he was standing in front of me. The world is incredibly small, literally!

Ugly building series: Hotel something

Back to the bus station

A swing with a back was way better than the one I used to play when I was small

I abandoned my stuff and went out for a walk with him. He told me a lot of things of Kotor (it didn't rain) and I told him what had been happening to me after he left Pristina. It was very nice to meet him back in Ohrid. Unfortunately I am leaving tomorrow, otherwise it will be happier to venture this city with him instead of that ahem....my previous inconsiderate roommate.

A night with a hot shower and a good travel companion, what more can I ask for?

Day 9: Ohrid, Macedonia

2013-03-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Because of the missed football match of last night, I woke up in a bad mood again. As well as the unstable WIFI and the rude waiter, I decided to change another hostel for tonight.

Before checking out, my roommate invited me to have breakfast together, but I rejected him. Not because he was the major reason I missed the game last night, but I really wanted to settle down in the new hostel and start my sightseeing as soon as possible.

Panoramic view of Ohrid city

Fortress under the nice weather

The ancient theater

Viva orange juice

The hostel for tonight is Sunny Lake Hostel, it is located on the hill. From the map, it didn't look that difficult to find. Nevertheless, I got lost for several times before I could see the front door. The owner is a very nice guy, he immediately introduced the sightseeing places to me and even let me try the free breakfast in the kitchen. My day seemed to be brighter, after the gloomy night of yesterday.

King Samoil Fortress

St. Sophia Church

Ohrid old town

Vintage old car

Another church

The weather was also so much sunnier, hence I climbed up to the fortress first. I met a pair of old couple there, they are actually from the states and currently traveling around the Balkans. They already retired, but choose to go travel in the winter for half year, and then go back home for another half year. This actually sounds like a good plan, yet the premise is that I will have enough savings before trying to do so.

A little girl and the lake

Ohrid old town built on the hill

By the lake

This thing is extended to the lake

The other side of Ohrid

Peaceful old town

But not the wave

The weather was so different from the day before

Before lunch, I just walked up and down the hill and then back to the lake side. Then I spent the whole afternoon and dusk time walking to the other side of Ohrid. Though it is also by the lake, the atmosphere is very different from the old town.

There are bicycle lanes. Besides biking, many people walked dogs and went jogging there. I wish I had a dog or a bicycle with me, so that I could have more things to do. In spite of all, I still had a pretty good time taking a stroll. If I had more time, I would spend one more afternoon to stroll or to read there.

Macedonia's local beer

The old bazaar

Mosque in the old bazaar

At night, I bought some instant soup and had dinner at the kitchen of the hostel with 2 other people. It was a such a nice night, until the time I went to shower, I discovered that there was no hot water and it was freaking cold at night. Therefore, I gave up the idea of taking shower and went straight to bed. The room was very cold and no matter how high temperature of the heater I turned, I still couldn't feel the heat from my bed. I ended up sleepless for the whole night. Why can't I have some better sleep in Ohrid? Just why?

Love this thing

Small boat

Bigger boat

Wish I could bike here

It's so peaceful here

Evening in lake Ohrid

The mannequins in Easter Europe are too hilarious

Old town at night

Lake Ohrid and the old town at night

Day 8: Ohrid, Macedonia

2013-03-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

After a few days of very good weather in Pristina and Prizren, it started to rain already yesterday until I don't even know when. As rainy day is my travel day, I took the long bus ride from Pristina to Ohrid today. However, there was no direct bus from Pristina to Ohrid. I needed to go back to Skopje to change another bus.

When the bus went through the border immigration, there was no problem for me to use both passports again. I just love how easy it is to cross border in Europe with 2 different passports, so much better than those annoying procedures I had encountered in South America.

Lake Ohrid under the gloomy weather

The transfer in Skopje was effortless, while I still had some time to mail my postcards in the post office. Then here it came the bus ride, it took around 4 hours. Comparing to the exhausting bus ride from Belgrade to Skopje, this one was already very easy and fast.

The wind made the wave even stronger

The bus station of Ohrid is not located in the city center, so I needed to take a taxi to the hostel. The hostel I planned to stay is Di Angolo Hostel. Before getting on the taxi, I had agreed on the price at 120 MKD with the driver. Therefore, I gave the address to him and he headed off to the center right away. But he did not take me right in front of the hostel, nor to the main square. And somehow I was being so annoyed that I insisted he took me right to the hostel, otherwise I wouldn't get off the car. He got off the car and asked other drivers/pedestrians for direction, and got to know that we had to ride on the hill to get there.

Nevertheless, he requested for money if we had to drive on the hill. In no time, I rejected and insisted that we had agreed before we made the deal. He couldn't retort, but merely drive me to the hostel. Afterwards, the taxi went up on the hill and the irregular roads looked like a maze with ups and downs. I admit that I did not treat the driver with a very good attitude when he asked for more money, then suddenly, I was afraid that he might drive me to somewhere up on the hill and I might.......(can't imagine no more...) Fortunately, the driver was still a gentleman and finally took me right in front of the hostel.

Overlooking the fortress

Di Angolo Hostel is located on the second floor of a restaurant with the same name. I went inside to the restaurant and the waitress just brought me to the room upstairs. When we opened the door, I saw a room with 3 beds and met my roommate for tonight. He is a Turk and was waiting for a very important phone call from a French company he might join at that moment.

While he was waiting, I settled my stuff and took some rest in the room. A while later, his phone rang and then came the good news, that he was given the job and would start 2 weeks later. He was so excited and then invited me to take a walk with him around the city. I said yes.

The old town on the hill

So, in the whole afternoon we walked along the lake and up to the castle on the hill. However, the weather was rainy and windy, I couldn't wait to go back to the room to take some rest. Instead, we had dinner at a restaurant by the lake. The food was great and not expensive, and the atmosphere of the restaurant was so comfy, too. During dinner, we talked a lot more of the jobs, languages and religions. But I needed to go back to watch the World Cup qualifier match of Spain vs France, we might have spent more time on that dinner if we had more time.

Direction sign

Exhibition of what?!?

After we went back, nightmare began. As it wasn't the time of my match, my roommate chose to watch the Turkey's game first. However, when it was 9 p.m., he did not change the channel. He kept the remote control with him and said, "Just finish the Turkey's game first." I was like, "What? I have already informed you that I have to watch this Spain game and it's very important to me." I half-jokingly asked him for the remote control for one more time, and he still did not give it to me.

When it was 9:30 p.m., he finally changed the channel and I was already mad angry. The worst has yet to come. We found out that there's no live match of Spain shown on any network of the Macedonian TV. I immediately stomped out the room and turned on the computer with a CRT monitor in the common room. With that vintage look, I could imagine how slow it could be, as if I were using the long forgotten 56k modem again. In addition to the unstable wifi, I thus went down to the restaurant to ask for help. To be exact, the only male waiter who made me wait for like 10 minutes and told me that nothing could help me. I was beyond irritated and quickly went back to the room.

My roommate might sense that I was not in the mood, therefore he constantly gave me suggestions to soothe me. Nonetheless, I was so not in the mood and please don't forget who occupied the remote control in the first place. I could have known that there was no Spain's game on the TV earlier; I could have known that the computer sucked shit in the common room and I could have just found some internet cafes to watch the stream instead.

The ancient theatre

In the end, Spain defeated France once again (Kudos to Pedro). But I did not feel any happier, because I freaking missed the game, and it was an important one. Therefore, I did not talk with my roommate for the rest of the night. I didn't know what happened to me today. First it was the taxi driver, then my roommate came the next. Just blame it on my PMS, that is the only reason can explain my grumpy behavior of today.

The ancient theatre

Day 7: Peja, Kosovo

2013-03-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Before we went to bed last night, R checked the weather in Kotor and began to feel grumpy as it would be going to rain tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Then he asked me what had I done in such rainy weather while I was traveling? Good question. Did I ever travel on a rainy day? I could only think of the day when I was in Kathmandu when he asked me, but all I had done there was just sleeping and hanging out in the hotel for the whole day, that seemed to be quite pessimistic.

If he asks me now, I can tell him the day I spent in Budapest 8 years ago. It was raining for the whole day, yet I managed to grab the time and went to the must-see places as much as possible in the rain. Although the grand atmosphere in Budapest was somehow ruined, I still had a good time there.

NEWBORN monument

The ugly stadium in the background

I totally understood why R was upset about the weather, because we are the same kind of person. I used to feel the same when I was traveling in Turkey, always worried if there's blue sky the following days. Nevertheless, I don't know since when I have become more magnanimous in terms of travel. Perhaps I have changed after the experience in Tibet. When I was there, I got to realize that every cloud had a silver lining. No matter how harsh the weather condition is, it will always be sunny after raining. It's just the matter of time.

Despite R wanted to give up the idea of going to Kotor, I unceasingly encouraged him that the weather might change and he should go there, while he's already in the Balkans. What are the chances? Seriously? When I woke up this morning, I got the note R left me. He left earlier at 7 a.m. and decided to continue his journey to Kotor. Hopefully he will forget about the rainy weather and have a good time there.

The main square in Peja

The building in Peja also looks absurdly ugly

Mother Teresa's statue

Street scene in Peja

Although it's raining today, I still took the bus to Peja. When I left the hostel, I discovered that I forgot to bring my umbrella. Maybe I was too lazy, I didn't bother to climb those staircases of 4 floors and left to the bus station regardless.

The bus from Pristina to Peja took around 2 hours and cost 4 EUR. Comparing to the taxi price, the domestic bus fare is very cheap.

River Lumi Bardhi

Peja is famous for its beer

Local butcher shop

When I arrived at the main bus station in Peja, I had no idea which direction I should head to. The city of Peja is quite thoughtful, there are direction signs of every popular sights on the street. I followed the sign to head to the bazaar, meanwhile, it started to rain slightly. As it was only a light drizzle, I continued to walk to the main square in the city center. After being advised by the tourist information center, I decided to find a monastery, which I could never find it out. The longer I walked, the heavier the rain became. At last, I couldn't walk in the rain anymore and bought an umbrella on the way.

Imported cigarettes

Kosovo's newspapers

He is an auto mechanic

Seemed like the rain wasn't going to stop any sooner, and there's nothing special in town, thus it was time to say goodbye to Peja. While I was walking back to the bus station, the heavy rain made it hard for the sewage to drain the water away. The road was overflowed with a swamp of water. I couldn't cross the road, as the car was quickly passing by in the water. While I was feeling so helpless, a giant truck stopped and let me cross the road. Eventually, I could carefully cross the tiny river without soaking my shoes in the water. What a heartfelt gesture of the truck driver!

Was following to find the never-been-found monastery

I felt like I was trespassing some private properties

Goodbye, Peja!

Day 6: Prizren, Kosovo

2013-03-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

After the crazy fun night out of last night, I still managed to wake up in the morning. Because I had repeatedly asked R not to be late, I could not be late either. I quickly took a shower and got ready before our appointed departure time. Matteo had also asked me to wake him up when we were drinking in the club last night, however, I thought it was just drunk talk, I left him sleeping in his bed at last.

On the way to the town center

No GUN please

The bus from Pristina to Prizren takes around 2 hours and the fare is 4 EUR. R and I talked a lot during the bus ride, regarding his life in Madrid and how his life changed after he has moved to Germany.

As advised by the local people, we got off the bus before the bus arrived at the main bus station. Nevertheless, R needed to get the timetable of the bus to Montenegro. We still had to walk to the bus station, but couldn't figure out the way without a map. Then a friendly Kosovar couple offered to drive us to the bus station. (Thank you so much!!!) In the end, there was no bus to Montenegro, didn't know if it was a Sunday or there's simply no international bus at all.

Kosovo Force by NATO

Bistrica river running in Prizren

Later on, we continued to walk to the town center. The scenery along the way is unbelievably picturesque. All the houses are built with the orange-colored roofs, and there's a river flowing in the town center with stone bridges in between. In addition to the big mosque and the fortress on the hill as the background, I can officially say that Prizren is one of my favorite old towns in the world.

The mosque in the town center

Unexpectedly scenic

Taken on the stone bridge

The first thing we did in Prizren was to climb up to the fortress, whereas I hadn't had any breakfast beforehand. I was exhausted to death once we got on the top of the hill. Luckily the way wasn't that long, otherwise I must have died.

From the top of the hill, the scenery is even more breathtaking. Besides the panoramic view of the town, we could overlook the snow mountain in the far back and the expansive scene of the whole city.

View from the fortress

The other side of Prizren

We spent some quality time on the top of the hill, then we descended back to the ground. Instead of walking around the old town, we chose to sit down and had a pretty late lunch outside of a local restaurant. In Kosovo, people mostly eat something very similar to Turkish cuisine, such as burek and kebab. So, we ordered some chicken kebab and spent some time enjoying the sunny weather before leaving.

Picturesque view

I was pretty impressed by this one-day trip to Prizren. Not only because I had a good company, but Prizren is genuinely a spectacular town. Moreover, there're not flooded with tourists. Except the soldiers from NATO, all the people we saw are locals. I wish I could come back there in the future. Hopefully it won't be spoilt by foreign tourists and Prizren can retain her authenticity.

Sheep-herding on the hill

Sheeps

Since there was no bus to Montenegro, R took the bus with me back to Pristina. On the inbound bus, we watched a super weird TV show, which might be considered as 'comedy'. Perhaps we didn't speak Albanian, we didn't find it funny at all. But the people on the bus cracked up so loudly, making us feel even odder.

When we were walking back to the hostel, I discovered that I lost my scarf, maybe on the bus. It made me feel very miserable for the whole walk. Until we got back to the hostel, I laid on my bed and felt so remorseful about the loss of my scarf. Suddenly, R came to me from the male bathroom with my scarf in his hands. I was shocked and then I recalled that I put it in the male bathroom while I was drying my hair there in the morning. In fact, I forgot to wear it and was hurried to leave the hostel with R so as not to be late. I am toooooooo lucky, ain't' I? From now on, I believe I will cherish my scarf as much as I can.

Time to leave Prizren

Sunset at the bus station

P.S. Matteo woke up in the morning and we were nowhere to be seen. Then he decided to take the bus to find us in Prizren, in vain. I felt quite embarrassed when he told us this incidence, as I deliberately didn't wake him up (of course I didn't tell him the truth)......

Day 5: Pristina, Kosovo

2013-03-23T03:20:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Today is another travel day, meaning I was taking the bus from Skopje to Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo. The bus schedule to Pristina is quite frequent, it departs every hour from the main bus station in Skopje. I took the 10 a.m. one to get to another country for less than two hours.

When the bus was lining up for border control in the Macedonia's immigration, the driver gathered our passports and handed them to the officers. Crossing border in the ex-Yugoslavia countries is not as easy as expected, because of the complicated relationship between Serbia and Kosovo. Based on the information I read, Serbia will not approve my entry if my passport have the stamp of Kosovo. As a result, it's time for my British passport (BNO) to do its magic again. According to my horrendous experience in Argentina, I should have used the same passport all along. Nonetheless, this time is completely different, it will only be feasible to cross border with 2 passports. Therefore, I did the same thing as what I had done in Argentina. I first handed my HKSAR passport to the driver, and then used my BNO when we crossed the Kosovo's border. Miraculously, it worked with no obstacle!!! Due to this smooth process, I will have no more worries in the rest of the trip.

The busiest area in Pristina

There're so many football's merchandise in the Balkans

One of the tallest buildings

One of the many ugly buildings

Once the bus arrived at the main bus station of Pristina, I immediately went up to the ticket office to check for the bus schedule to Prizren and Peja. However, the staff in the ticket office didn't speak English. I ended up going to the travel agency to get all my answers, when the guy in the travel agency was the only one who could speak little English in the entire bus station.

Afterwards, I took the taxi to get to the hostel I am staying for these nights. As stated by many travel guidebooks, the taxi waiting in the main station would cost more. For budget travel, tourists can walk outside of the bus station to hail the cheaper taxi. Since I was carrying my heavy backpacks, I couldn't bother to walk anymore but took the taxi from the main bus station. It eventually cost around 5 EUR.

This mannequin is too funny!

Kosovar people need to cram into such small place, too

Starting my walk on Bill Clinton Boulevard

The hostel I am staying is Hostel Han, which is located very centrally in the city. Except the lethal staircases I needed to climb, the quality of this hostel is pretty good with all the new renovations. The extra plus of this hostel is the curtain of every bed, which provides enough privacy for each traveler, a very thoughtful gesture.

I settled my stuff and was ready to head out for the day. I first went to the famous Bill Clinton Boulevard, which is obviously named after the president of the U.S.A.. At the end of the road, there is even a bronze statue of the president and the poster with his face being hung up on the facade of the building.

A bronze statue of Bill Clinton

A poster of the president is hung up on the wall

The whole boulevard is named after Bill Clinton

Then I walked back to the direction of Mother Teresa Square and went to another popular sight - The National Library of Kosovo. The owner of the hostel told me that it was the ugliest architecture in Pristina. When I saw the actual thing, yup, it's very ugly! It is covered by the dirty oxidized steels and decorated with some big and small light-bulb like domes on top. There is simply no aesthetic but it looks rather chaotic. And I don't get much of the irregular shape at all, what message do the architect want to convey? In spite of its bizarre outlook, it somehow makes Pristina very special as we do not usually see such weird and unattractive building during travel. Maybe this is the reason why it is a signature building in Pristina.

The church next to The National Library of Kosovo

The ugliest architecture in Kosovo, probably in the world as well

The housings in Pristina look like the public estate in Hong Kong

Contemporary architecture series: University campus

One last look of the ugly library

The longer I wandered on the street, the more tired I became. I didn't know if it was due to jet-lag, but I certainly hadn't felt that much of weariness in Serbia and Macedonia. After walking for an hour or more, I gave up and headed back to the hostel as I couldn't bear standing on my feet anymore.

Surprisingly, the bed of this hostel offers a heavenly aura. It feels even more comfortable than my own bed at home. Hence, I laid on my bed for I didn't know how long. I just didn't want to move.

The donut store on the Mother Teresa Square

In spite of the unappealing look, it tasted very good

National Theater

Mosque

After the reluctant but necessary dinner, I went back to the hostel and decided to chill in the common room until the time of going to bed. This was where I met R, Matteo and Stefan, they come respectively from Spain, the Netherlands and Germany. Matteo and Stefan invited everyone who presented in the common room to go to a local party together. Initially, I was quite unenthusiastic about going to a party while I have been feeling really worn out for the whole day. After several persuasions by different person, I was convinced and agreed to go with them. (At that moment, Stefan cheekily came to me and said, "Girls always need to be asked for several times..." I was dumbfounded. In fact, I don't admit I am an indecisive person and for sure not a high maintenance girl, I was just TIRED for no particular reason!!!!!!) Anyways, they are really fun people to hang out with and I didn't regret to go out with them. Before walking to the party, we went down to the convenience store to buy our own beer, BYOB!

Kosovar version of Agnes b.

Clock tower

Moon in the afternoon

National museum

The party was actually thrown by some expats who are currently working at Pristina. The party holders invited other expats too, seemingly we were the only tourists there. We got to know many people, who are working at different kinds of organisation in Pristina like United Nations and university research.

The party was mainly about chit-chatting and networking. I mostly talked with my hostel mate R, as he is from Madrid and I am a fervent Spanish football fan. Ironically, he doesn't like football and doesn't give a damn to the tension between RM and FCB. All I could say is that he just took it for granted and showed no appreciation to being born in this marvelous country, what a waste! (Just kidding)

When we started to get comfortable in the party, the party holders suggested we should all go to a beat-box concert together. The concert took place at a pub near Pristina City Stadium. Except it was filled with cigarettes' smokes and I was almost suffocated to death, going to a beat-box concert was actually a brand new travel experience for me. The concert was amazing, though it was so different from what I have been listening and the other concerts I have seen before.

When I thought the party was nearly over, they didn't let it stop. We changed the party's location and ended up going clubbing near the national museum. I had never thought I would go clubbing during this trip, especially with my pair of converse and other inappropriate outfits. It reminded me so much of my clubbing experience in Pamukkale and Havana as well, those are not the place for clubbing and I had not even been prepared!!! Because I am so not a clubbing person, I eventually just left for the hostel with R.

No parking???

So hilarious!!!!!!

When we got back to the hostel, it was already 3 in the morning. I hadn't expected I would take part in any nocturnal activity in Kosovo, especially on the exact day that I felt very much exhausted. Time to bed now, and then I will go to Prizren with R 7 hours later.

Another modern architecture

Fruits are very vital when I go travel, because I don't eat raw veggies salad

Day 4: Skopje, Macedonia

2013-03-22T02:17:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

After the gloomy rainy weather of yesterday, the blue sky reappeared today, but the temperature was incredibly low, to the extent that I thought I was back in Michigan again. Despite it was very cold outside, I chose to walk on foot, since Skopje was not a big city at all. I walked along the river banks, where I accidentally came last night. It looked so different during day time, not as scary as I had thought, at least there were no more strangely looking people chasing me from behind.

Walking along the Vardar river

Flamboyant style

Then I encountered many construction sites, the city is currently undergoing an urban renewal project. Almost all of the (old) buildings are being renovated, therefore it was quite dusty to walk around those heavily constructed areas. Renovation may be a good plan for a city, but I personally think that is a bit too much, it makes the city look absurdly artificial.

The stone bridge

Besides constructions, statues could be seen everywhere in the city

Alexander the great and the Macedonia Square

One of the communist architectures - the post office

Vardar River

Eventually, I arrived at Macedonia Square, which is the main square in Skopje. I walked across to the other side through the stone bridge, which is also the main access to the old bazaar from Macedonia Square. The old bazaar in Skopje is the largest in the Balkans, which is used as a shopping area. Besides stores, mosques and Turkish baths could be found there. Then I walked straight to the food market next to the old bazaar and bought some fruits, the strawberries smelt so good but they were a trap, they didn't taste as sweet as they smelt.

Many bridal shops in the old bazaar

Mosque in the old bazaar

The old bazaar

Yellow bananas in the food market

Yellow lemons

Small garlics

My beloved oranges

Fruits store

The owner of the shoe store

Shoe boxes stored in the ice-cream fridge

Macedonian puffs

Old bazaar

Skopje's local beer

After the crazy fruits shopping, I slowly climbed up to Kale Fortress, which was built on top of the hill. Nonetheless, it was closed for visitors at the moment. As a result, I just indulged myself in the panoramic view of Skopje there instead.

While I was starting to leave the old bazaar, I saw an antique shop and went inside to dig some treasures. The owner "Lucre" is a talkative old man. He introduced me the backgrounds of all the pins I picked up, as well as the city's history. Besides, he shared his thoughts with me on how his life was changed after the collapse of Yugoslavia. It was intriguing, as I had read it on books or watched it on TV, but had not heard from a real person.

In his story, he apparently missed the time of communism, while he found that the relationship with other people was more intimating. Also, he did not need to worry about money,everything was taken care by the government. Unlike today, he has to open this store and struggle with life for every second. However, he can earn a lot more and has better living. So I asked him, which one did he prefer, Yugoslavia or Macedonia? He pondered for a while and said: "Macedonia."

Life is full of dilemma, nothing is always perfect. All you can do now is just to reminisce the good old days and continue to live your life to the fullest. After all, the world is changing every day.

Saw this hotel when I was climbing up to the fortress

The mosque near the fortress

It was only closed for visitors, but I kept seeing people walking in and out freely from the fortress, who were they?

Panoramic view from the fortress

Stadium, sadly I missed the game

The panoramic view from the fortress

Museum of Contemporary Art

Mustafa Pasha Mosque

Macedonian people

Old bazaar

Kale Fortress

Clock tower

The chat with Lucre was inspiring and thus I bought some pins and some vintage postcards from him, in order to show him some supports. Then I went back to the Macedonia Square and had a freezing lunch there. The whole afternoon, I just spent some time walking back and forth the main streets, I don't even remember how many times I passed by the square.

The stone bridge and Macedonia Square

Archaeological Museum

Macedonia flag

Double-decker bus in Skopje

Surprisingly, I saw many Belgian people drinking already in the late afternoon. All of a sudden, I realized that today is the World Cup Qualifier match of Macedonia vs Belgium, and it's going to be held in the Stadium in Skopje, meaning Eden Hazard is also in Skopje at the moment. I had too many questions in my mind, for instance, should I go to the match? What are the chances of me and Eden being in the same city besides Hong Kong and London? Is the ticket sold out already? Will it be too freezing to watch the match in live tonight? Should I abandon watching Spain vs Finland?

Before I came back to the hostel, I had struggled for a long time and still had not come up with any solution. Then I was told by my Korean roommate that the ticket was only sold at 5 Euros. My head was going to explode, as I still couldn't make up my mind. Until the moment I met another 2 girls in the living room, they gave me a very good reason not to watch: it was indeed too cold outside.

Then I decided I should better stay indoor to watch the game. Moreover, I had promised myself not to miss any match of Spain before the World Cup, so I ended up watching stream on the computer instead of watching the live match of Belgium on TV with another 2 girls. But it was lucky to have them by my side, I never thought they were also that enthusiastic of Spanish football and we could even have some rational discussion of it.

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa House

The Macedonian version of Charging Bull

In the end, the match of Spain vs Finland was mad boring and the result was a 0-0 tie. I was so regretful that I did not go to watch the live match of Belgium vs Macedonia. Why did I always make the bad decision when it came to something so important? Eden, wish you all the best in the World Cup, be a beast and shine every moment you get, this is YOUR time now!!!

Train station, it was bombed during WWII

Had my lunch there

Porta Macedonia

P.S. Actually the hostel was full tonight, but the staff made a mistake and let me stay for one more night. Eventually, the original owner of my bed, who was a Belgian guy, ended up sleeping on the sofa instead. Poor him~~~

The stone bridge in the evening

Skopje in the evening

Day 3: Skopje, Macedonia

2013-03-21T01:42:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Today is the day to travel, as I left Belgrade and took an almost 11-hour bus ride to Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia. I hadn't known the bus would take such long time, maybe it was due to the rainy weather. Nevertheless, I arrived safely at the bus station at Skopje at around 8 in the evening.

Goodbye to Belgrade

The boring highway in Serbia

The hostel I am staying tonight is Shanti Hostel. It is located closely to the bus station, however, I couldn't recognize the roads in the dark. And I ended up walking to the river banks, and met 2 strangers (suspected as gypsies) who seemingly were chasing me from behind. I was startled and tried my best to run back to the main street. It's just suicidal to run with my two backpacks in this unbelievably freezing weather. Luckily, they did not try to come close to me anymore. After a while wandering in the same neighborhood, a nice Macedonian lady advised me the direction and I could successfully make it to the hostel.

Bus station on the way

Day 2: Belgrade, Serbia

2013-03-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Before going on this trip, I had briefly checked the weather of the Balkans' area, but the result was quite disappointing that it would be mostly cloudy or rainy. When I woke up with not much expectation today, I saw the sunny blue sky vividly outside the window of my room. I was thrilled and couldn't wait to spend the day out immediately.

Doggie's morning stroll on Knez Mihailova Street

The famous Hotel Moskva

Had no reason to not go out on this sunny day

Political posters?!?

To explore in-depth of this city, I chose to walk on foot instead of taking the 'free bus', after all I might see more while walking around the neighborhood. The first stop of today was the famous St. Sava Cathedral, which is the largest orthodox church in the world. However, it is currently undergoing an internal renovation and I wasn't able to see how magnificent the sanctuary could be. Therefore, I just took some rest in the park outside the cathedral and then continued to walk back to the city on a different street.

The west side of Cathedral of St. Sava

Cathedral of St. Sava hiding behind the tree branches

Love the blue and the green

Finally, I walked back to Skadarlija St., where I had dinner last night. There were many local restaurants at reasonable price; the traditional Serbian cuisine is very meat-oriented, which is actually very similar to other Eastern European countries.

Afterwards, I walked back to the busy Knez Mihailova Street, which is the main pedestrian street in Belgrade. Besides restaurants, there are many cafes on both sides. Surprisingly, it was already crowded with a lot of people in the afternoon on a weekday. Do they need to work at all?

At the end of Knez Mihailova Street, it is the entrance of Belgrade Fortress. Belgrade Fortress is located next to the Danube and Sava rivers, and people can overlook the view of Novi Belgrade (the opposite bank) on the top of the fortress. Novi Belgrade is relatively flat with mundane architectures, hence I decided to go there to overlook the old Belgrade instead.

The tallest building in Belgrade

Dog could also be scavenger

St. Mark's Church

Tram no. 6

National Assembly

Very communist style, love it

Spring's coming

The long unseen climbing frame

Skadarlija Street - full of local restuarants

Skadarlija Street - also very artistic

Art-piece on Skadarlija Street

Knez Mihailova Street

Belgrade Fortress

Military Museum - Tanks for display

To go to Novi Belgrade, I needed to take the tram no. 2 first, which is a circular route and it could take me to the main train station directly from the fortress. The scenery on the tram was notably different from walking, thus it's strongly recommended to spend some time on a tram while doing sightseeing in Belgrade.

I got off at the train station at last. In Serbia, train is not a common transportation, since the intercity railways are very old, so are the trains. On the other hand, the bus network is more developed. If crossing border to the neighboring countries, Serbian people will just take the bus with no hesitation.

Confluence of Danube and Sava rivers

Overlooking Novi Belgrade

West Gate

The other side of Belgrade Fortress

Central Train Station

It did not look as deserted as expected

Empty rail

Then I changed another tram to go to Novi Belgrade and got off after 1 stop. I walked along the river bank and the view from Novi Belgrade was obviously more picturesque.

An hour later, I headed back to the hostel on foot, as I already spent the whole morning and afternoon outside on the street, it was very exhausting especially I am still adapting the jet lag.

At night, I went out for dinner on Knez Mihailova Street. There were many more people. It is so ture that the night-life in Belgrade is indeed very vibrant and lively.

Just arrived at the river back of Novi Belgrade

Taken from Novi Belgrade

There's Belgrade Fortress

Panoramic of Novi Belrade and Old Belgrade, Sava in between

Sunset on the way back to the hostel

Day 1: Belgrade, Serbia

2013-03-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Since the last trip to Croatia and Slovenia, I could finally continue my unfinished journey around the Balkans this time. In fact, I had always thought of going back to the Balkans after the last visit, however, visa was the main obstacle which refrained me from going. Until recently, I have discovered that all of the ex-Yugoslavia's countries, including the non ex-Yugoslavia Albania, equally allow HKSAR passport to enter without visas. I was super excited and immediately planned this trip once I got my work done.

Belgrade is both the first and the last destination of this Balkan trip. Maybe it's been a while I hadn't set feet on the Europe continent, the smooth and fast custom process did surprise me a little. Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is very compact, and the A1 airport shuttle bus (RSD 300) can easily be found outside the arrival hall. The bus departs the airport once it is filled up. The bus ride is not very long, it take around half hour to get to the city center.

On the bus, I got to know a local Serbian guy, who just came back to his hometown from Africa after losing contact with the civilization for quite some time. Actually, he is an interior designer and has been working in the Netherlands and Africa for over 10 years. This time, he will stay in Belgrade for a month, and will reunite with his family and friends. Nonetheless, when I told him that I would go to Kosovo, he became so agitated and nonstop persuaded me not to go. Today is only the first day of my Balkans trip, and most importantly, I am only an apolitical traveler. Sorry to disappoint him, I am going to Kosovo regardless!!!

Slavija Square - the final stop of the airport shuttle bus (A1)

When the airport shuttle arrived at Slavija Square, I parted with that Serbian guy and followed the direction the hostel gave me. Before getting on the trolley bus, I had been looking for the kiosk to buy the bus ticket, in vain. Everyone looked nonchalant, when I asked them where to buy the ticket. At that moment, a nice lady came towards me and told me that I could buy it on the bus. I followed her to get on the bus and gestured where to buy the ticket. She just smiled politely at me and said: it's ok, we'll be there soon. After several stops, she told me to get off the bus. As a result, I took the first free bus ride of this Balkons journey on the very first day!

Later I was told that no one actually had paid for the bus/tram/trolley in Belgrade, which seemed to be a norm. Until one night, the government installed the electronic machines on every transportation to collect fees without prior notice, and paying the transportation fees became mandatory to the residents. The Belgrade residents were very unsatisfied and thus started an online (facebook) petition, in which they decided to ignore the paying machine and everything would go back to normal. In the end, they succeeded and the machines became just another decorations on the bus.

What if I got caught? Then I was told that the simplest way to escape was to speak English, because most of the authorities could not speak English and they would just let you go if they could not communicate with you. For a person who has a knack for not paying for transportation, I love this city so much already~~~

I was hyper to see this vintage elevator, though I was afraid it would stop working out anytime

The hostel I am staying is Olive Hostel Belgrade, which is centrally located right next to the National Museum. The owner is a busy Serbian lady, as her full time job is a mom. After waiting for my arrival, she had to get back home to take care of her daughter in no time.

Tonight, I am staying in an empty 6-bed dorm room all by myself. Finally, I could relax on the comfortable bed after such long plane ride!

National Museum

The view from my empty room

Day 27: New Delhi, India

2012-07-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Our one-week India trip finally came to an end (applaud), hence my two companions had all prepared the mood to go back home. But I am not going home yet, I could only prepare my mood to venture another city - Shanghai (finally back to civilization)!

The car ride of today was the worst part. Not including traffic jam, it took more than 6 hours. On the way, the driver did stop at some restaurant with some rip-off tourist price. We just finished the crackers we bought yesterday, so that we wouldn't be starving when we were back in New Delhi.

Before going back to the hostel, we asked the driver to stop at the post office first. He then nonstop chattered to himself, but in fact he was blaming us, that today is holiday and post office would not be opened; and complained we did not tell him earlier. Finally, the post office was still opened, we could mail our postcard successfully and he could keep his mouth shut forever!!!

He dropped us at the same big road where he picked us up a week ago. Chloe was responsible to give him the tips from us. When he looked at the money, he started to yell at us again. Since I was busy to load off our luggage with Eason, Chloe was the one to deal with him. She told him that we did not have extra money left, we had to save for the taxi we would take to the airport tonight. Therefore, we just had this amount of tips we thought he deserved. He got so mad, and drove off immediately without turning his head back to us!!!

We stored our luggage in the hostel we had stayed previously, and then went to have lunch in Connaught Circus. To celebrate the last day in India, we chose a more high end restaurant. The food was not bad, but the irresponsible waiter made a wrong order and we had to suck it up no matter how many times we complained. Tears fell down when we saw the final bill!

The market in New Delhi

After lunch, we walked back to the hostel on foot. Though the flight would depart at 11 p.m., we determined to go to the airport earlier, at least the environment was so much nicer. Back to the familiar airport, things did not go as smoothly as anticipated. Previously mentioned in the Kathmandu's airport, travelers had to show e-tickets before entering the departure hall. Of course we did not have the e-tickets with us this time, therefore, we needed to go to the far left side of the airport. There was a counter, where the staff could print out our e-tickets. Needless to say, this service wasn't free. They really know how to do business here in India!

There's no free wifi in the airport. It was quite boring to stay at first, but it got so much better after getting through custom. There were duty free shops, book stores, branded boutiques for us to kill time. Eventually, I bought 2 more books of my beloved author Milan Kundera. The price was unbelievably cheap, maybe it's the only good thing of India that I could ever think of.

Epilogue:

There was no travel journal for Shanghai, because I did not take any photo besides eating/ sleeping/ defecating. Also, the impression Shanghai gave me was very similar to Hong Kong, high rise buildings everywhere to be seen, nothing's really special. One thing worth to mention was that Chloe did not only have an upset stomach after going back home, but also vomited her lung out. On the other hand, my diarrhea was lasted for more than 2 months after I was back home. In fact, this impromptu Indian trip did cost us really dearly.