former yugoslavia bus troubles

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in the coastal town of montenegro they can't/won't help with buses to pristina, kosovo. so i hopped a bus to podgorica the capitol of montenegro. once there i found a night bus to pristina but i wanted to go today. only one bus they tell me. my experience tells me that closer to the border there are more buses, so i hop next bus to berane which was mentioned the day before by some fellow travelers. in berane they tell me only a 0030 bus, which is the same one from podgorica, so i decide to head to the border at rozaye. i buy a ticket but the bus that was there a moment ago has left, EARLY!!!! so i am stuck in berane for 5 hours awaiting a bus. a day later, i met a montenegran from berane and he wondered what the hell i found to do there for 5 hours. A BIG FAT NOTHING! i had some fun with the locals in the bus station but that was about it! nothing to be done there and the rain didn't help.

some of the people i was chatting with were students and they use the public buses as school buses. i now remember what it was like as a high school student. OMG!!! i would have texted but alas i couldn't. some of the boys were punching each other out and unlike american school buses the driver here didn't much care. he got a good laugh as the rest of us did. wish i could put the sound recording on here but that will have to wait, if it ever happens. i considered this a dress rehearsal for my upcoming high school reunion. i should have fun. and i didn't mention 30th for a reason so don't ask!!

anyway it was too late to leave rozaye so i stayed the night in a stinky (cig smoke) room. only choice and i didn't notice as the window was open when i looked at room. next morning i was out fast on first bus at 0830, though the night before they had told me 0800. hurry up and wait!!

from rozaye, montenegro it was onto peje, kosovo. the same bus issues here and again in macedonia. the bus station ticket sales people are unwilling/unable to help with onward connections. i am 25 km's from albania in ohrid, macedonia and the ticket office couldn't/wouldn't help with tickets to albania. i must go to struga, 15 km's from here. fortunately, a tourist office person was able to help a little. at least, i hope she had good info as i am on my way to struga this morning. let us go back to kosovo for a minute.

i made three stops in kosovo and each city was less impressive. sadly, i didn't pick up email from a cousin who had adopted family in kosovo. it might have been nice to stay a little while. as it is, i went through in a day finding myself in skopje, macedonia. this was a good place to stop.

in skopje i stumbled upon a wine festival. sadly, i had just eaten fast food from the supermarket as they take credit cards and i had yet as to change money. i did suss out that it was a five day festival that i could enjoy tomorrow and the following day, so not too much sleep was lost.

i also found the bus tickets sales office much more helpful. i made the mistake of asking the woman behind the counter for a ticket to skopje (i am there). she managed to give me a timetable and the pricing, both one way and roundtrip. to where? i don't know but when i realized i had asked for the same town and had all this info in writing i was amused. glad for the help even if i didn't know where i might have gone. it would have been an adventure at least.

the wine festival was nice and the food is charged by the gram. hey Fig, i found this quite helpful for enjoying more foods for less. i wish they'd institute this in new orleans!! i had a few wines including an all too sweet hot wine. it does go down well on a cold day!!

in skopje and throughout the former yugoslavian republic in general, the women like high boots. and i don't mind mentioning that i like women in high boots. there is something very sensual in them.



an aside: i need a dream interpreter. i had a dream involving president bush. in this dream, he was trying to speak japanese and doing an awful job. i was his aide and i along with another were openly laughing/snickering at him. he found it funny also. hmmm what is to be made of this! could it be i am feeling inadequate in my own attempts at communication and why bush?

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