Slovakia (Bratislave & Piestany) August

Brastislava

Bratislava Castle

Cycling to Lake and meeting some farmers

Piestany

Bratislava was a small city. The price was what I like most. Everywhere was walkable. I went into a restaurant for toilet at city centre, the young waiter just showed me the direction without asking for fee. It was so wonderful. Bratislava was celebrating summer festival so there were many culture events every night. While the choir wearing traditional costume, many tourists and I quickly took picture. Nevertheless, after I chat to them, I just realise they were wearing German costume since their culture were deeply connected to German’s.

The Donau (Danube) river was cleaner than Vienna’s. I just realize Donue and Danube were the same river with different names. Someone jumped from Most SNP at that evening. Miguel says it must be German, they were crazy.

Czech –Slova were deeply connected. Their languages were similar.

Attending CS meeting, there was a participant driving his car from Croatia to Slovakia (6hours drive) just for the meeting and bought many of us a drink.

I cycled to Lake Rusovske and saw many 50s people nude. This was my first time to see naked men but not a very good experience. Haha

Piestany was a great town. Lubomir and I cycled around the river, spa island and city. The scene was wonderful. We entered a prohibited area. I witnessed how Lubomir settled the problem with his wisdom. I admired his social skill. The second day, I had breakfast with Lubomir family at the park Kuku and I went to swim in the lake in the late afternoon. There was a hot sprint water for drinking but the smell was just as rotten egg. Lubomir explained that it was mineral.

People that I met

Miguel is an optimistic host. He has taught the way to happiness such as emphasizing on small pleasures; he is one year younger than me though.

Lubomir and Kuku was a strange couple. Their relationship was very free. They are free to each other from traditional relationship. They are free to have other relationships. Even though they have a son they were not bound to each other. They were free. Lubomir had wonderful changing lifestyle stories. He changed his lying habit to be honest. While he started to be honest and told his wife about his relationship with others, his wife just rejected him He quitted his job as a higher officer to be a freelance healthy lifestyle promoter. I think he should write a book of himself. Kuku told me that she lost nothing while Lubomir had more than one girlfriend. I had no comment but blessed her. Nevertheless, Lubomir told me that Kuku had other affair with another man too. These were their lifestyles. Kuku cooked Haluski for dinner and it was simple but delicious. 

Peter, the owner for the Zytel bar offered me Slovakia typical drink (quite similar to Coke). He has travelled a lot but now was ‘jailed’ by his bar. hahah

Austria (Klagenfurt, Wein) August 2013

Klagenfurt

Klagenfurt Stadium

Wein (Vienna)

I didn’t like Klagenfurt. I wasted time there for asking direction. 80% of people that I met were tourists due to the Volley Ball Championship. The local either could not speak English or unwilling to help. I asked Evelyn ‘s neighbour to help to give Evelyn a call, she just answered ‘NO’ and shut the door. I belled the ring of her neighbourhood and no one answered the doors. While their dogs kept barking, they shouted at their dogs from window. Most of the houses were fenced; Evelyn told me that it was due to many Romanians disturbing the peaceful of neighbourhood.  The local found Romanians were annoying. They were not friendly to strangers. Nevertheless, there were some good Austrian giving directions and offering me a hand. As a conclusion, I didn’t like Klagenfurt due to Evlyn’s neighbourhood’s unfriendly attitude and also it was so difficult to ask for direction…90% answer : don’t know; sorry I cannot speak English…

I like Klagenfurt Lake. The problems were quite similar to Balatonalmadi. Many areas of lake were privatized. It ruined my moods for freedom. There were really very crowded due to the championship. I borrowed Evelyn’s bicycle riding around the lake and it was a wonderful experience. Evelyn’s mother offers me apples. While I took the offer, she immediately plucked an apple from the tree and gave to me, what’s a wonderful experience. Evelyn also prepared Austrian dumplings for us.

Vienna (Wein) was a city .I did not sense its musical environment, there were many commercial concerts and operas though. Due to the high temperature, I did not really enjoy the city walk. Therefore, Robert and I cycled to Schonbrunn Palace at 7am and came back on 10am on the second day. ???Palace was quite a good place for picnic, jogging and relaxing.

The most disappointed was swimming in Danau River. Since Danau River was very famous so I insisted to swim there. However, the water was not clean. It was quite dangerous since the dept of water was unpredictable. I walked down and suddenly sank since there was no big stone on the river bed. It was not too safe for children.

People that I met

Evelyn: she was young but intelligent. She emphasized on healthy lifestyle and food. There was another surfer from Peru. He looked a little bit strange since he took off his shirt all the day. He has travelled for 12 years and claimed that he owned a company to teach people to travel. It was strange to hear that people willing to pay for learning the way to travel.

Robert is an Australian. Robert cooked for me and his friend. He was a fantastic cook. It was strange that his friend warned me that Robert was dangerous while he drank too much. Therefore I did not go to bar with him. The second day, Robert told me that he used to have affair with the friend. However, they were nice persons, I was just not match their lifestyles.

Slovenia (Celje, Ljublijana, Bledn, Bohinj) July 2013

Celje Square

View from Celje castle

Ljublijana

Ljublijana

Dragon Bridge (Ljublijana)

Ljiblijana

Bled

Bled

Bohinj

Bohinj

Celje is a small city and not a touristic place. However I enjoyed my Celje trip very much. Irena brings me to her family gathering at her brother home which located on the top of the mountain. The view is amazing and the food is awesome. There were many types of pancakes. Her nephew plays traditional Slovenian music for me. The guests sing or hum while the music is flowing on the air. There are not much tourists in Celje but it was a lovely and clean small city. Celje castle navigates a sad story about forbidden love between Prince Frederick and a lady Veronica. Frederick was locked in the castle for lifelong and the lady was believed being killed or evicted.

Ljublijana were a small city. While I was at Celje, the temperature was 36 degree Celsius. However, on the journey to Ljublijana, the driver received a call from her son and was informed that there was a hailstorm in Ljublijana.  The temperature dropped sharply to 20 degree Celsius. Most of the trees along the highway slant to one sides and some were toppled. While I arrived Ljublina, the temperature was 20 degrees only.

Darko showed me around the centre in the evening. It was lively but not too congested. He was a sweet young man to bring an extra umbrella to me. The market or city centre of Ljublijana was not so clean as Celje, rubbishes were sprawling at the pathway. The river was quite clean but after drinking few class of beer, Darko just pees at the riverside.  Few year ago, some tourists from German jumped and swam in the river. Slovenian people was shocked and not welcomed their deeds. They should not do it in the city center. I joined the walking tour too, it was quite interesting. Nevertheless, I was too exhausted to walk up to the castle. A cheeseburger only costs 1 Euro but there was no McDonald at tourist spots, I was very disappointed. Slovenian did eat horse meat but I lost the chance to eat. It was interesting to find out that there was water meter of every houses here, therefore they paid water bill by counting the number of residents. It was strange.

I hitchhike to Bled and Bohinj for one day trip. The water of Bled and Bohinj were very clean and clear. The visible was more than 1 meter. I was so regret that I didn’t prepare for swimming. It must be a wonderful experience to swim in such clean water. Bled and Bohinj were really beautiful, it was very worth to spend one or two days there. The water from Bled and Bohinj were connected. Along the journey from Bled to Bohinj, the scene was amazing and awesome. You can stop anywhere to enjoy the sparkling water. I had visited many lakes in Europe, the lakes in Slovenian were the best.

People that I met

Irena has a wonderful lifestyle. She knows what she is going to do and enjoying her life very much. She taught me about recognizing and categorizing stones. I hope she will succeed in her new hotel business.

Darko is a very cute and shy host. He has a very kind heart. He has a lot of crazy idea and I think he would be a very good husband and hope he can find his wife soon. Even though, he was bullied by his mother and sister for many year (he claimed these), he still prepared to give his wife fully support and love. He was very sweet. He prepared an umbrella for me and a bus card for all the surfers. We just need to top up the amount.

He is an interesting fortune teller.  As he said, he was always right but reality didn’t follow his fortune telling.

Hungary (Budapest, Szekesferhervar, Balatonalmadi) July 2013

Budapest Matthias Chruch

fountain at Obudai

Sculpture on the mountain

Pest

Szekesferhervar1

Szekesferhervar2

Balaton Lake

Balaton Lake

I just realized that Budapest was divided to Buda and Pest. Kristina showed me around Buda in the evening. It was so lovely and it prompted me to spend more time at Vienna which I intended to skip. I visited Pest under 36 Celsius degree and it was really exhausting. Budapest was a beautiful city. I loved it because the free admissions to castle or palace. If you wanted a free toilet, please went in Hilton Hotel and the toilet was on the right. Do not ask for permission!

I arrived Szekesferhervar at a traffic light on 79 Budai street. I walked around 2 km to where my host Zsomba work. However I only found 177 and there was no 179 . I walked half hour (1km) continuing Budai street  but I cannot see any shops or houses and therefore I went back to 177 and the officer helped me to call Zsomba. I walked 400 meter again to the OMV gas station. I was so tire. I asked him about the address. I almost cried while he admitted that he had no idea what his company address was. However, he didn’t inform me about the wrong address but gave a ‘ghost’ address. I have walked 2km with a 10kg backpack to find his company address but to no avail and begged someone to call him. He seemed so ignorance and didn’t find out what the consequences to provide a wrong address.  I was so frustrated and we agreed to meet after his working hour. I was really angry. However, he was a good man. I enjoyed staying at his home very much: we had a nice dinner, a wonderful family lunch, attending wine festival, swimming at Balaton Lake.

I was quite disappointed with the quality of Balaton Lake. Firstly, there is no public place for swimming. All are privatised and you need to pay (630+ Hungarian Forint)to swim in the lake. It is really stupid. There are just few hundred meters opened to public where we can enjoy the view of Balaton. Therefore I swam there. However, I was the only one who swam with a dog on the small public area. The water quality was disappointed which was too muddy and there were many plants in the lake or on the surface of the lake. It was very uncomfortable to step on the plants. Zsomba and I visited it in the evening and you can swim for free before closing time.

I attended the wine festival. It was not beer but wine festival. It was quite interesting and I enjoyed it.

People I met

Kristina: She is a talent artist and very good in portraits drawing. She takes care of her brother and friends. Kristina’s brother, Mihaly has tattoos all over his body. He has no job and no target for his life but a really kind young man. He hasn’t found his life philosophy and it may take time. Kristina has a friend, Yani who is an opera singer. He is a little bit touchy but respects Asian culture. He is just like a child who can sing opera on the street. He paid ice-cream for us. hahah

Zsomba: He is an honest man. He scared of commitment so he has no intention for marriage. He tries his best not to controled by his mother. I am not sure what he is trying to escape from, he is a good man. He is introverted, likes drinking and photographing. His home is wonderful where got a swimming pool and it is just like a holiday resort and you can enjoy the view of Balation Lake from his home. Even though he is only 34 years old, he has more than 10 girlfriends in the past, hahah.