Well, its a good job all the others are in the shower queue as it has taken me about 10 years to log into this account. It seems google have so much security I dont even qualify as myself. Awk. Anyway lots to catch up on and not enough time! Here goes... we start 3 countries back in Macedonia at lake Ohrid. After the taxi driver got lost and drove us to sun gate hotel instead of sunny lake hostel we finally made it! beautiful little old town on a lake which is sooo big it might as well be the sea. But more importantly Super comfy beds the softest sheets ever and free ice-cream! We wandered a bit and soon it was time for tea. Not sure how it happened but the other girls managed one and a half whole chickens and I threw in a goulash, plate of beans and kebab and some chips for good measure. The carcasses left on the table were testament to all our efforts! We did skip lunch after all.
Turns out it was choir festival weekend in Ohrid- Ideal! so that night all the choirs were just out in the street doing little mini performances it was great! The next day the competition started and we trekked wayyy out of town to see some of the shows. Don't say we are not cultured! We also managed a cheeky little boat tour with a man who loves the word panorama even more than Laura! We then clambered through a building site to get to a church everyone was talking about only to find that was a different one completely. I also had the pleasure of hearing the worst ever cover of Moves like Jagger in the jazz bar at three in the morning. Mistake. We all loved Macedonia ... weird but good and they have a cool flag, what more could you want in a country! but it was time to move on.
The plan had been to get a night bus from Ohrid to Budva in Montenegro but it turns out this bus only goes every two days and typically we got the wrong day. So instead of chilling and having a lovely time exploring the lake more we decided to trek through Albania on 5 different types of transport to arrive approximately 12 hours earlier than we would have had we waited for the next bus.
Im glad we checked out Albania even if it was just for 24 hours (how many people can say that! The capital, Tirana didn't have many sights persay but we found the best restaurant in town and had drinks, foccacia stuffed peppers and chicken and potato casserole, which turned out to be just chicken and potato, slightly lacking on the casserole...all for the princely sum of 4 euros each. or in fact 3000 leke for the table. We then headed to a cocktail bar and I made the mistake of asking for beer without specifying and was greeted with some huge vat of guiness looking liquid. That went down well- not. We headed back to the hostel where me and laura slept in a tent in the garden to save 4 euros. Sally and Lizzie chose the bed option- they must be made of money!
We were up bright and early- yet again! well I was and had to drag the others out to go find a bus to the border town, not an easy task in a country with no bus stations. Eventually we got on after they tried to charge us double, we were having none of it, and by lunchtime we were at the border. The problem then, was finding a suitable taxi into Montenegro. One guy came over and offered his services, but was promptly beaten to a pulp by another and then he ran away. Great. The fighting guy then came over and tried his luck, but we decided against it when I asked him the time and there was blood all over his knuckles. We crossed the street looking for some saner looking people and chose one. Bad luck for him, his sunglasses had been smashed on the floor in no time by another angry driver. But we felt loyal to this guy... and in the end he ditched us and threw us in a car with another random guy who offered us cigerettes so must be ok. Cliche I know, but I was thinking of the film taken through the whole thing, especially when he argues with the customs officer and was adamant that he was not a taxi. Great
We did however make it in one piece and after another sweaty but picturesque bus, and half an hour wandering trying to find the hostel we had escaped albania and made it to montenegro. And that is where the story will have to end for now as there is a queue of people waiting for the computer. Our train passes start today so who knows where we will be next time! laterz xxx
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