Peja

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I sleep pretty well but I wake up tired and my back is sore from the too soft bed. I get dressed and head down. I find the hostel owner on the sofa, it looks like he slept there and I wonder if I’m in his room and he gives it up when guests book? It definitely feels more like an air bnb than a hostel. I tell him I’m too tired for hiking today and just going to see the city he says no problem.

I head out walking to the bus centre which I do think is further away then the 400 metres he advertises. I continue walking looking for the street we drove through last night. I find the bazaar which is essentially lots of shopping streets with shops selling trainers, sports gear, jewellery; all incredibly cheap and I wonder if it can possibly be real. It is interesting to walk around though and I take a lot of photos. I wander the streets for about an hour admiring the buildings and taking it all in. I try to find the main street where we drove last night and when I find it I wander along taking pictures until I find a cafe that does both coffee and food. This is surprisingly difficult. So many places do coffee or food but not both. I finally find somewhere that has a menu and order coffee and pancakes. I jump on the wifi, catch up with Mum and Kerry and do a bit of life admin. My breakfast is more like fried doughnuts dipped in Nutella which I believe are Kosovan pancakes. They’re nice though.

After a few hours chilling I head towards the monestry which is the other main thing to do here. I wander along the river taking pictures of flowers and Street art. It is dry and you can see the mountains so it is stunningly beautiful. The monestry is Serbian, guarded by Serbian army and you have to hand over ID for entry. The guard is very friendly and takes my drivers license inside before returning it almost immediately. I wander in through the entrance way which is like a road to a mansion house, all tree lined and immaculately kept. I head into the monestry which is absolutely beautiful. The new areas around the sides are living quarters and off limits but it is the older areas I am interested in. In the middle are the ruins of the 14century building which you can still clearly see outlined in the ground. There is a couple of 16th century buildings I can see which have beautiful artwork and decoration. The flowers and trees are the most beautiful thing though and I take lots of photos of them. wandering through the little water ways. Once I have taken enough photos I head out back the way I came.

There is a visitors centre over the road and I realise I am close to the canyon. With the nice weather I think I’d like to go so I ask the visitors centre for information. I connect to the WiFi and ask about options to get there. I can take a bus for 6 euros but it just goes there and back, I won’t see a lot or I can get a taxi but it is around 50euro and the guy says not worth it. I have received a message from my hostel owner offering a lift to the canyon after 330 now the weather is better so I reply taking him up on it as it looks like my only option to see it. I talk to mum a bit while I wait then a street dog won’t leave me alone, keeps biting my ankles so I head inside to get away from it. I stay inside until it has gone and the man is starting to lock up. He says if I want to get the bus at 3 I need to stand on the road but I tell him my hostel owner is picking me up. Instantly his face changes and he describes my hostel owner to me, asking if its him, i say it is and he tells me to be careful. I ask why and he says that just the other day a woman from Trinidad and Tobago was in the police station reporting him for sexual assault at a waterfall he took her to. He says he doesn’t want to get involved but begs me if anything happens to go to the police as they can only stop him if people report him and hes almost certain he has done this before as he used to call.his place something else and had to change the name after bad reviews from women. As I’m about to get in a car on my own with this guy I’m pretty horrified. I say nothing happened last night when he took me to the canyon; the guy asks if we stayed on the road or went down to the waterfall I say the road as I needed the toilet and he says the road is too busy, the waterfall is in a secluded spot and I did good not to go. I am genuinely concerned now as this guy is literally on his way to get me. I ask the tourist info guy if he’s telling me not to go and he says he’s not telling me anything but to take his number off the visitors centre door and if anything happens to activate my British data and call him. He says this guy has a pattern, whenever the reviews get too bad he changes the name of the hostel and reopens again on booking.com with a new name. He heads off and I’m left genuinely concerned. There is a couple around my age, clearly tourists who passed us earlier and heard a bit of what I was being told. I explain the situation to them and they both say I need to make sure I’m not alone with this guy. They are walking back into town and offer to walk me back so I text him saying I’ve run into friends and as its raining I’m heading back to town with them which is 50 percent true. I receive a text back saying he is on his way so we quickly cross the road and head down to the river. After we have crossed the bridge and are on the other side I see his yellow van pull up but luckily we are too far for him to see me. I walk amicably with my two new friends telling them everything that happened with the messages and the canyon visit last night they say it’s a good lesson in listening to your gut and not letting your guard down. They also give me tips for Skopje and Prizren and Pristina as they came that way. At their hostel we say bye.

I head to a grill restaurant and order some amazing looking steaks. They are just as good as I thought they’d be and I jump on the wifi and catch up with Tara for a bit, telling her about what has happened; she tells me to be careful and leave if I get even the weirdest of vibes. Louise calls and her advice is to get out of there so I end my call with her and go find a back up hotel for the night then I head back. He is not in when I return but I have new roommates next door; a biker couple and I tell them what I was told. They are also concerned, especially the man but they say they’ll be there and if I lock my door like they will do they’re sure we will be fine for one night. He also says to call out or bang on the wall or floor and he’ll come running and he’s huge so I trust him. The hostel owner is still not back so I head downstairs and pay the wife and child. I even refuse the 4 euro change in case he still wants to charge me for my half of the bill in spite of me buying the beers and machiatos but I don’t want him having any excuse to come to my room. I also shower quickly while he is not home.

I head upstairs, go the toilet then lock my door with the key and pull the unit against it. I look again at the reviews on booking.com, the hundreds who mention how wonderful the host is and I realise that none are solo women. There is one that has been removed by booking.com and a new one by a woman from Trinidad and Tobago. He had mentioned this review on Friday that she wanted to cancel last minute and he told her no so she put a really nasty review even though she only stayed a few hours. At the time I sympathised with him but now as I read it she clearly alleges he assaulted her without actually saying so as its against booking.coms terms and mentions the other review that was removed by booking.com and if she’s the same person who also made a police report then her story rings true; why go the police if it was just posted in spite due to not getting a refund? I’m grateful again that I didn’t go the waterfall and that the man from tourist info warned me before I got in that car again. I’m also furious at booking.com who told me there has been no complaints in the past when clearly there had. If they’d have been honest with me I’d have stacked up the loss and stayed somewhere else. I am fully packed, and stayed awake until nearly 2 before I am too tired so I put white noise on and go to sleep. My alarms are set for 8.

Food: pancakes with Nutella, steaks and salad, coke zero 2 coffee 3 water
51 euro

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