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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Croatia 29 May-14 June


 Dubrovnik





Split
wedding in Split
Brac Island

Superstar sunset




Postira

Postira

Bol

Bol: famous beach




Zagreb







Zadar
Zadar: full of ships and boats

Zadar: Old town

Solar

Croatia
I have joined many local activities in Dubrovnik such as biking, traditional silk workshop. I also attended the performance of Dubrovnik students who celebrated the semester ending. I love Dubrovnik very much.(http://dubrovniknet.hr/novost.php?id=24298#)

Brac is a peaceful and attractive island too. Dol is a small village, Postira is a quiet tourist destination, Superstar is somehow like Postira but it is the center administration of Brac, so there are more shops and activities; Bol is famous for its beach and water sports are popular. 

Zagreb is a great city.

If compare to Split and Brac, Zadar is full of ships and boats. I love the old town of Zadar because of the sea organ. There are so many old towns in Balkan : Kotor, Dubrovnik, Herceg Novi, Mostar, Sarajevo etc. However, sea organ is first experience. I celebrated my birthday in Zadar since I was hosted by Rafael in the last minutes. I brought a bottle of red wine. That’s all.


People I met in Croatia
Dubrovnik: Ivana. Ivana is an ambitious lady who fight for the right of local. I learn many tips for reuse and recycle from her. She brought me to join a lot of local activities. 

Brac: Pero, Katirina and their three kids, Yakhsha. I helpx in Friendly Place for one week. It was a great experience. Work is not so hard and they were very friendly. I join Yakhsha for fishing early in the morning (430am) and in the evening (7pm). He spread the net in the evening and then collected the fishes early in the next morning. It was such as waste that he threw away many sea cucumbers which were expensive in Asian market. Unfortunately, he cannot speak English so it was impossible to make him understand that he had thrown away around 100 Euro.

Zagreb: Vladimir is a German teacher who teaches in a high school. Consequently we have a nice conservation about teaching experience. He is too mild to be a teacher. I ate free at his home. He doesn’t cook and picky for gastronomy. Therefore I mostly cook for myself only.

Zadar: Rafael had a lot of questions to ask Jasmine and Claren (another two Singaporean surfers). Claren has a great knowledge about Singapore and Malaysia. I am glad that he answered all the questions of Rafael.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Bosnia and Herzagovina (14 May - 29 May)

Konjic


Konjic : beautiful


Sarajevo

Traditional Bosnian custumes
 Bugojno

Graduation of high school students
 Mostar






Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia is not Herzegovina because Herzegovina is full of nature of beauty.  The most impressive was I hitchhike with a driver who took cocaine. He stopped few times at the roadside to inhale some cocaine and then continuing the journey. I was a little bit scare but he was kind to me. They told me that alcohol is more harmful than cocaine! They hate alcohol. Secondly, I felt so lovely to stay of Zoran’s family. Mostar is an impressive city too. I was molested by a horny host in Sarajevo, therefore I hate Sarajevo. However, I am safe!



Summary of Balkan
1.      Hitchhiking in Balkan is not difficult. The problem is the low number of cars. However, I get lifts in many places.
2.      Balkanians are more conservative and emphasize much in family relationship comparing to western Europeans.
3.      Balkan is cheaper than Western Europe except Croatia.
4.       They share the same languages root and traditional foods.
5.      Drivers didn’t lock the cars when they went to have a drink in cafĂ© even in the centre city of Skopje.