Belgrade anyone?

Well after 12 hours in a place no-one could claim to understand it, or it's people. I accidentally spent this much time in Serbia, then deliberately 24h in Montenegro.

What I do want to say is that the Slavik states, in particular Serbia, have always been in dispute. fighting has never been far from these people (WW1 started here). Throughout history these states have been amalgamated and broken apart, often with serbia in control. Today they are almost completely separated - Montenegro voted and gained independance in May this year, and the Serbs are currently having a referendum as to whether Kosovo should be allowed to break off as well. I don't know how this'll work, I understand the majority of Kosovar people want to, but there are far more in Serbia. If the vote is based purely on numbers isn't it obvious who'll win? Milosevic may now be dead, but so is Zoran Djindjic his democratically elected successor.

I'll leave you with my (translated!) diary excerpt and a few photos...

Well that settles that I guess.. I had to stop for 12h 'cos the train I was supposed to take isn't going. Luckily train station staff are great, everyone who's had to help me has been russian-stuck-in-the-system-come-back-when-someone-else-is-working friendly. Then when I don't need a hand, people have gone out of their way to help.. maybe they just don't like work? I don't blame them.. I'm rapidly getting more adverse the closer I get to the big bad UK :) i'm so dirty, wish i could have a shower. my train problem has partially solved my cheapness problem (trains overnight save on having to book accomodation) at the expense of a shower tonight. Oh well, hopefully the train's empty as it was last night, a whole carriage to myself!

I'm sitting in the citadel at the heart of Belgrade - it's beautiful and sunny and there are kids everywhere! The military museum next door has an amazing display of paraphinelia - including some US military equipment from 6 years ago. This is the first place I've been where history tells us the locals were the "bad guys", war feels like a part of life here.. Conflict is so recent, it feels strange wandering around their home when the people involved are still round.. I guess there's two sides to every history, there's certainly no obvious sign of remorse. Or maybe i wasn't looking in the right place.. The part of the military museum I understood was all about "look how bad the US was to us", with no mention of the Serbian violence... It's hard to figure.

Stopping in Montenegro was another "necessary" break to make a long journey bearable. It was lucky really, my train carriage was overfull and the guy sitting opposite chain smoked just about all night, despite sitting right under the "no smoking" sign :) Kotor sounded like an interesting spot for a visit, and the fjord looked incredible as we zig-zagged down the steep road at the head of the valley. I had to take a second take as I stepped off the bus though as right accross the road was a closed down 'Duty Free' store, a sure sign I couldn't afford this place :)

Luckily it was quiet and i managed to find a homestay within the walls of the old town for just 20 bucks a night. The weather was good, and there were plenty of walks around the town (freebies!).. I spent a good proportion of my time hanging out in the sun at the castle above the town or by the water :) As usual in really touristy places, it was hard to find random people to talk to.. but time to myself was good. Can't wait to catch up with the girls :)

This journal has changed from the one I hurriedly tried to write in Croatia... What may make sense and provoke memories in a journal may read very badly when the context is removed... apologies, K.

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