Days 42-43: Ice Ice Baby

While the bus ride to Skopje was pretty uneventful, my quest to find my hostel once I got there was anything but. Gah.

One thing I seemed to have forgotten (damn short-term memory, haha) is that taking the bus typically results being dropped off in the middle of nowhere (AKA not exactly in the bus station ^^;;;) at your final destination. I had to take a stab at which stop I was supposed to get off, and once I did, I could only pray that I was in the right city.

Haha, such a loser I am!

But all is well and good -- I took a risky gamble (it was snowing quite a flurry at the bus stop!), and thankfully it turned out to be somewhere in Skopje.

Visibility was rather terrible, so I folded like a house of cards. I called for a taxi.

My first taxi, too! Quite a milestone for sure, lol! Unfortunately, though, this taxi ride ended up to be close to a half hour, since 1) my driver spoke no English, except the word 'problem' and 2) my driver had no bloody clue where my hostel actually was. After a few merry-go-around nickel tours of downtown Skopje, I finally asked to be dropped off at the station -- where I first started. Nothing says progress than going back to square one, haha.

An hour and a whole bunch of stuff later, I ended up staying at this seedy motel in the center of town. Yes...quite seedy indeed. My room was literally meters away from this huge highway. Hahaha! Essentially, I was just waiting to get stabbed in the dark by an anonymous junkie while I slept :P.

The bathroom...well, let's just say that there was a bathroom. Period. Best not to share details of what was actually inside this "bathroom."

The afternoon (if you could call it that...it was completely grey and morbid outside since it was snowing like hell) I spent molding myself into the next human ice sculpture. It was today (and the day after that) that I learned to never get my feet wet in freezing temperatures. Toes might go missing later.

That evening, though, I heard the evening prayer a couple of times. Even though I was too busy shivering underneath my covers in my room, hearing that was quite relaxing. Probably because I remember the first time I heard that, which was only a year ago in Kuwait...

The next day, I opened my door to find that at least half a foot of snow had fallen overnight. Bollocks. Looks like I won't be doing too much sightseeing today, either (as I am quite keen on preserving all 10 toes). So, to vent my frustration of another day's plans spurned, I built a snowman. He ain't fancy, but he's got 5-denar-coin eyes! lol.

That day I toured around the Old Bazaar, took more pictures of those ubiquitous mosques (I stopped after the first five -__-;;), and promptly returned with frozen appendages. When will I ever learn? :D

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Part of trip: My Stint in Montenegro + Surrounding Areas

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