Eva the Angel

The train station looked so deserted and felt so cold when the last train finally arrived in Stockholm Central closed to midnite. I have no Swedish Kroner nor booking at any accommodations. I was looking forward to the boat accommodation touted by my guidebook.

She was reading a book when I braced myself to approach her to ask direction to a cash machine, after several “tawaf” of the place and still couldn’t find any. And she spoke perfect English! :) She told me that the station recently relocated the machine outside and she could direct me to it herself - as she missed her train and had to wait for the last one which will take some time. While I was taking some cash she asked me if I have any place to stay since it was so late already and when I said not yet and it was way too late for me to call my sister’s friend who lives in Stockholm, she told me we can use her mobile to call the numbers. We called several numbers from my guidebook especially the boat accommodations which I was so looking forward to, but after several rounds of call without anyone picking up the phone, I began to panic. This is the first time I arrived at any city without being able to get accommodation! Eva being the angel she is immediately offered me to come home with her! We took the train after midnite to Kelhel where she lives.. I think that's the name :) (Sorry Eva, I don't think I will ever get this right! :)

Thus, I made a new friend whom I will never forget, who was so kind to help a complete stranger in distress.. She even let me use her PC to send e-mails (I immediately told both Sedad and Khal about Eva :) and served me breakfast the next morning, along with great conversations (about men :) and family values) before sending me off on the train toward the direction of Gamla Stan on her way to bowling practise (Eva BTW is a great bowler! after seeing all those bowling trophies at her apt!) I took her advice on checking out the Viking Cruise to Finlandia, which I am glad I did and went :)

This is for Eva, my Swedish Angel :)

Eva

Pics by Teliung

I hope one day (soon!) she’ll make that trip to sunny Malaysia, so that she can use the pareo I am sending her to be used on our tropical beach :)

Praha and the Hungarian train

My first two efforts to go to Praha (Prague) were not successful, either I missed a train totally or the available connections just doesn’t make sense..ending myself each time in Berlin! I almost give up at the third trial coz myself and this nice couple – (American woman married to a German man) going to Praha got on the wrong coach that headed for Leipzig, eventhough the train clearly said Praha. We had to make a 3-4 hour detour becoz of that mistake and shorting my time in Praha effectively. That really thought us a lesson- that coaches do separate! Well, we figured we must experience everything at least once.

So I finally saw Praha today.. it is a beautiful, vibrant and happenin' town, exudes old world charm with huge ornate buildings. Where did these people get all these money to build humongous monuments and buildings from???

The Chezch are nice warm people. I have strangers chatting me up as soon as we got to Cheb borders like they’d known me for years and speaking in a strange language that includes a lot of the word 'nam'. They would keep chatting with me without realizing I have no idea what the 'heck' they are talking about, except they seems to be very excited to meet someone from Malaysia, including the border polizeis :)

Beautiful countryside, town and river.. too bad not much time to
spend in Praha. I have to overnite again in Berlin, which seems
like my temporary home right now.. coz all trains go back to Berlin
before Hamburg and north. I missed one connection and so had to take
the early morning train tomorrow morning.

Praha has great theater scenes, and transportation around town is so
much cheaper compared to Berlin - in general cheaper than EU
countries. I sure hope it will last for some time.

At this point of my journey, I also really missed my apt ): It feels such a vagabond to be on the road all the time, but I guess the new sceneries and experience along the way compensate for that.

I also experience my first, "Eastern European way".

From Praha to Berlin, the train conductor insisted that I need to pay an additional 24 euro to his pocket (eventhough the full ticket is paid for and meaning I don't get a receipt - but he returned the 4 X 1 euro coins (I figured coz you can't change euro coins at the money exchange!). He put it like he's doing me a favor by personally taxing me only 20 euro), while the jolly kitchen chef insisted I gave him a kiss on the cheek to change some money to pay that train conductor! Oh well! On top of it, the kitchen staff gaily brought me a dinner menu to my seat, explaining in details their speciality, that I felt I must order something from the kitchen.

I then realized all the menu are in Hungarian and it dawned on me that I was on a Hungarian train! with an all Hungarian staff! (err.. yes, I also end up with an expensive Hungarian dinner..Hungarian gnocchi is terrible! just lumps of plain boiled dough :) Considering this, I felt quite lucky after all the warnings I read on possible Hungarian harassment from the travel guide..especially since all services were served with a smile :)

The Wall of Berlin

The last bastion of the Berlin Wall

Pics by teliung

I had to go to the very edge of town via two changing of the trains to find the last bastion of the original Berlin Wall. I took a chip of the falling block as a souvenir and that little piece is now a fridge magnet in my Ulu Kelang apt. There is a nice river side restaurant behind this wall.

Papal Vatican

Pics by Teliung
Vatican City

The Pope fell ill when I first arrived in Milano. The 3rd day I was in Geneve, I heard on TV that the Pope had died.

This Polish pope was one of the most open in terms of building relationship across faith and vocal against wars. The whole Italy was in mourning and it can be felt in Switzerland as well amongst the mostly Protestants Swiss.

I took a 5 days detour off Roma and Vatican City to avoid the 3 millions people fluxing these two cities during this time. Many catholics I met in Firenze, Venezia, Verona and Roma were part of these groups who couldn't enter the Vatican and Rome due to the curbing of visitors to the wake. While I was in the Vatican, I took a point to mail some postcards to office mates and to buy some stamps and first day covers. The Sistine Chapel was closed to tourists due to the voting of the new pope. If there is a consensus, a white smoke will be signaled from the Sistine Chapel tower. Everyone in line (behind me was this family from America and a padre from England)were busy discussing the voting process. From their conversations, it seemed even in religious institution there are major lobbying going on for who gets to be new pope.

I also came across the newly elected pope while observing the evening mass taking place that day. I think I snapped his pic somewhere.. I just have to find it! He was in cardinal color and leading the mass at that time. I found out the new pope was from Munchen on the train from Wien to Munchen - on my way to Bonn. Since I was heading to Munchen, imagine being overwhelmed by all sort of papers (distributed by train staff) in German touting the new pope who is from Bayern Munich..

The Healing of Sarajevo

April 16-17, 2005

I almost didn’t make it to Sarajevo but somehow I did.

The journey from Mostar to Sarajevo was an eye opener. I took the bus, coz throughout the Balkans the bus is the most reliable and efficient form of public transport. The whole country is highly mountainous with the river Neretva and its sparkling turquoise water lazed through it like a huge swollen snake. Too bad I can’t see much after that except for sleepy villages dotting the mountains coz dusk was fast approaching and it got very dark on the mountains with no street lights. The mountains loomed all around you and one passed many bridges throughout the journey.

When I finally arrived in Sarajevo after 9PM, Alden and Mehmed were waiting for me at the main bus station. They took me to the HalVat Guest House near the Bacharsije area for me to refresh, before we drove to the Park Princeva Restaurant on top of the hill for dinner. Alden enquired what I would like to eat, and having had cold and dry food minus any protein throughout Italy (except for Milano), I eagerly said MEAT..served hot! The Parc Princeva was an elegant affair..there was also a nice folk band and its view of the whole Sarajevo was spectacular. I felt so out of place in my jeans.. I regret for not changing coz didn’t want the two gentlemen to wait.. arriving at the restaurant, how I wished I had changed into something nicer!

Alden and Mehmed ordered a traditional Bosnian cold starter – with goat cheese, beef and hot buns and made me try some (pretty good :), and ordered for me veal chops with fries on the side, which they won’t try any! I ate ALL 3 slices of veal minus the fries..and Mehmed teased me to say that it is HARAM to waste good food, but I truly can’t eat any fries after finishing the veal :) I think it would be haram for me to eat the fries after I was so full.. My own fatwa, but am sure there is a Hadith somewhere that will backed me up on this! :) They sent me off for a good nite sleep and Alden arranged for a Malay girl named Nurhidayah to show me around town the next day. It seems there are a few Malay families in Sarajevo – mainly involved in civil projects to reconstruct the city, as with the case of Nurhidayah’s family. Alden considered the girl half Bosniak on the fact that she speaks perfect Bosnian!

Sarajevo, BOSNIA

Pics by Teliung

The next morning, somehow I managed to mislocate Nurhidayah. Alden must have changed the location and informed me but I was too tired to pay attention, so off course the next afternoon I was waiting at Mula Mustapha Orthodox Church, the first point mentioned, when Nurhidayah was waiting for me at the tram station right down the street of my guesthouse. I couldn’t reach anyone to find out what happened coz it seems Maxis/its partner doesn’t have proper coverage of Sarajevo (ironic that I could reached Alden from anywhere else in Europe but not Sarajevo..). So for the next hour I walked the street of Sarajevo aimlessly, visiting the morning market along the main street, and noticed that along that vicinity, places of worship of four different religions lie in close vicinity - along Mula Mustafe Basekije, the old Orthodox Church and the old Jewish synagogue, the Gazi-Husrevbey Mosque and several madrasahs in the old town and the Catholic church at Ferhadija. Finally at the end of the road, at the Park where many recent war victims and shahids were buried and memorialized, I found a newspaper kiosk that sell telephone card to make a public phone call to Alden.

Alden rescued me and took me to the quaint and scenic Barcharsije area (which I found out was just running parallel behind this street!). I tried the meat and potato burek Alden ordered for lunch..it was quite good and most importantly everything were served piping hot! He also took me to the Begova Mosque, as well the point where the Austrian crown prince got assassinated which triggered WW1, the City Hall and the Turkish-influenced scenic stalls. There's also the Morica Han now an arabic cafe along Saraci but was formerly a tavern and stable when Sarajevo was a crossroad between East and West. He also showed me the surrounding hills where Serb and Yugoslavian armies would roll bombs in used tyres to the valley that is Sarajevo where thousands of fleeing Muslims perished without a chance to save themselves. It all seemed like a nightmare and that was not too long ago.. I didn't get to see the Sarajevo roses- which are skeletal indentations where a shell exploded.


It was interesting to go through the cobbled Turkish Quarters.. some of the stalls sell souvenirs made of bombs and bullet shells.. many of the vendors are war veterans with limbs missings. I end up buying a silver coffee set from a war veteran with an arm missing..breaking my own rules of not carrying anything heavy with me. I spent the rest of the evening at the Easy Internet center which cost me only 1 euro for the whole hour with the soothing recitation of the Qur’an in the background. The proprietor, a pious muslim man was very nice to download my camera memory card and doesn’t want to accept any money. After I insisted on paying, he finally agreed to accept payment for the CD only – such a difference from eager internet operators in Italy and Spain who were more that quick to charge you at least 5 euro to download.

In the background, Mt Jahorina site of the 1984 Witner Olympics loomed, offering some of the best skiing in Europe, per Alden as cheap as 10 euro - a bargain basement price! Thruout the city, one can still find faded posters of the 1984 Olympics along with newer poster of Maya Karin coming to Sarajevo for a music festival. It is encouraging to see many little kids playing everywhere and many young people in the Bacharsijiye area. I find this a good sign indeed coz throughout Europe its hard for me to find children and young people (Europe as a whole has a huge aging population) coz for this land to heal from the war, they need their young generations to build the country.

Bacharsijiye, Sarajevo - BOSNIA

Pics by Teliung


I left Sarajevo for Zagreb and at the bus station, saw a man caught by policemen for trying to steal an old lady’s purse. At the end of the interrogation, the guy was crying to plead his case..someone mentioned he is probably a drug addict. There are probably many social problems in this war-torn region, and the public facilities are in dire need of upgrading and major funding. (Currently there are some existing fundings from the international communities- this for the fact there were 5 of us at the Guest House at breakfast and 4 are from international institutions with various fundings programs). Even then, this area is worth a visit as its distinct uniqueness set it apart from the rest of Europe and gives one a refreshing view. This is also probably the only European country I can hear the call to prayers :) When a couple I met in Slovenia was trying to decide where to head next, I without hesitation recommended them to head this way!

The future of Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, Doboj and Bosnia i Herzegovina as a whole lies in the hand of committed individuals like Haris, Alden, Mehmed and Sedad. Educated young generation contributing to the health of this country from their expertise, whether as an architect, a banker, an economist or a telecommunication specialist. Whether they are in the country or outside, they are directly and indirectly rebuilding this beloved land of theirs, fought and torn apart by so many for so long. I wish them all the best. Amin.

Father and Daughter at Bacharsijiye, BOSNIA

Pics by Teliung

Ode to the Adriatic

Clear turquouise water of the beautiful Adriatic

Pics by Goran

Adriatic Coast, Croatia

Pics by Goran

Spring Morning in Spalator - Dalmacijian Coast, CROATIA

Pics by Teliung

Split's Morning Market and Roman Port - DALMACIJIAN COAST

Pics by Teliung

The Road to Mostar

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Battlefield Frontline, Mostar - HERZEGOVINA

It took me a major detour and major time backlog to do Mostar. But it was worth it.

When Sedad first mentioned about Bosnia and Herzegovina, I wasn’t sure I will be meandering that way.. but reading Sedad e-mails about Mostar (and Sarajevo) :), it perked my interest. There were several major obstacles before I get to see Mostar. First the land barrier - if I were to go from Greece and Turkey (my original destinations), I have to go thru Bulgaria, FROM (heck I have to read up about FROM! to figure out what country this is and was! :), Albania and Serbia. Checking visa requirements - Malaysians have no problem going thru the first three except for Serbia. I anticipate a lot of problem getting a visa to go thru Serbia! Checking flight prices from Turkey to Bosnia will cost me over 800 Euros (so that was out of the question, especially since I won't get to see the land). Finally, I had that unexpected problem to take out cash in Rome to top it all.

When I was in Palermo, Sicily I sms-ed both Sedad and Alden that I would not be abled to make it after all, with all those headaches, but amazingly after giving up I can see the road to Mostar clearly :) On the train from Palermo to Rome (to catch the ship to Greece from Brindisi), at the spur of the moment while checking my train connections found out there was a train going to Ancona and a ship sailing for Spalator (which is close enuff to Mostar) on the same day. I decided to take that leap of faith. (Knowing me, I am never the one to take the easy way out!:)

I spent a very relaxing evening in Ancona eating my last Italian gelato (Italian gelato is the best!), inspecting the pasar malam and talking to this nice girl at the tourist center who is interested to visit Malaysia, while waiting for the shipping line Jadrolinija from Croat. I realized all the folks in Ancona were so nice (compared to Milanese and Romans).. to fit the port sunny disposition, as happily suggested by this elderly Anconian couple I bought souvenirs from.

While boarding the ship Marko Polo, I was pleasantly shocked to find how very tall and fair the Dalmatijians are. They are all over 6 footers including the women, blonde with blue eyes (their stark lankiness reminded me of a childhood rhyme..about stevedores). It’s a startling difference from the mostly short and stubby dark Italians :) I spent the nite listening to very boisterous and loud Dalmatijians singing every ethnic songs they can think off..the whole nite long (all the while this childhood song.. “what shall we do with the drunken sailors” came to my mind..(Alden and Mehmet told me later on while we were having dinner at the Parc Princeva restaurant in Sarajevo, that heh they were definitely all drunk!)

After spending a beautiful morning in Spalator (Split) at the sunken Roman fort, with its morning market full of fresh flowers (especially my favorite – Lilies of the Valley).. the panoramic shuttle that would take us to Mostar finally arrived about half an hour late.. around 11:30AM. The view from Split to Mostar is very scenic, where the route took us along almost 2/3 of the beautiful and blue Adriatic coast toward Duvronik.. I’ve never seen the Adriatic..and was amazed to see how beautiful this region is. (Note to myself: must do Adriatic coast via caravan for 2 weeks next time).

When the shuttle turned in land to the border between Croat and Herzegovina, the scene turned gloomy with potholes and signs of a war torn zone.. bombed and abandoned houses and mass graves marked by huge white crosses. I realized this was what I was expecting. At the border I went out to stretch my legs and was trying to take some pics of the two flags Croat and Bosnia i Herzegovina side by side, but the border police were quick to stop me. I realized I was still in a sensitive time and area.

As arranged by Alden, a childhood fren of his, Haris, was waiting for me when I arrived at Mostar's main bus station. Haris and his family have lived in Mostar for generations. Haris was a soldier fighting for his home and land during the war. He showed me pics of his parents’ bombed house, the one he rebuilt upon becoming an architect after the war and the one I visited that afternoon. The war surely toughened Haris from a street smart juvenile to a real war hero. On the way he showed me the many graves of his friends who lost their lives in the war.

I met with Haris’s family - his brother (a doctor who had treated many war casualties) and his children (a pair of beautiful boy and girl), and had tea with Haris’s parents, as well as Tessa their cat and a pair of peacocks :) Taking pics of the kids I was happy to see this country is recuperating from this terrible tragedy. Children are hopes for the future and may it have a bright future..



Mostar is such a beautiful place, a true gem of the Balkans.

The beautiful river with its turquoise flowing water divided the town and its faiths.

It is amazing this medieval town and its landmark bridge still exists despite heavy bombings and the scene of a major battle field during the war. The bridge was bombed by the Croats and rebuilt (with its old stones) recently by international funding to ensure its 500 years history and unique architecture is being kept alive. (I actually saw a documentary in the Discovery Channel about the rebuilding of this amazing architecture becoz until now engineers and scientists are still stumped how over 500 years ago they can built a structural marvel with a technology they still cannot comprehend until now, never anticipating that not long after that I would be so lucky to actually walk on it myself!). The influence of Turkish empire long gone can be felt everywhere along its cobbled stones, interweaved with its unique history and resilient people. There are EU soldiers everywhere..Haris said mainly Spanish soldiers patrol Mostar these days, while Italians help a lot with humanitarian causes.

I wish I can spend more time in Mostar but perhaps one day I will come by this road again. I lost my favorite silk scarf somewhere in Mostar, so perhaps it's a sign one day I will return..InsyaAllah.



Pics by teliung
Beautiful Mostar

From Spalator to Mostar

Pics by Teliung

VIETATO FUMARE!

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VIETATO FUMARE, Ancona

I got very excited when I saw this sign.

I took this pic while waiting at Port Ancona, Italy side of Adriatic coast, while waiting for the ship to Croatia. The gangly, rowdy Croatian sailors and the proper elderly English ladies waiting in line with me seemed to be rather curious as to why I was so interested in this sign.

One thing I was shocked about Malaysians when I first returned from the States is how rampant and normal it is to see Malaysian men smoke. It's also amazing to see them smoking wherever they feel like it, in front of women, pregnant mothers and children. I think non-smoking Malaysian men (particularly Malay men) are an endangered or rare species indeed.

In Ancona I see this non-smoking sign everywhere, as well as "We don't sell cigarettes" at all their stores. What a relief. If you look carefully at the sign, at the bottom, it says.. "not only will those smoking in front of children, women and pregnant would be fined 10X the amount, but it also says they will have secret police and everyone watching out to report them".

This is one thing I admire about Italians, their attentiveness to family life, women and children. For e.g., I've seen the whole pew (of men) at the Vatican making much fuss to give a late arriving mother and a baby a seat in a full house mass, as well as children being fussed over on trains and everywhere I went in Italy. Whatever is lacking with the Italians, family and children is certainly a core part of their life :)

NO SMOKING SIGN

Pics by Teliung

Ancona, ITALIAN ADRIATIC COAST

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Roma, ITALIA

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Tuscany, Firenze

Villa Camerrata, Firenze Tuscany 

Sienna, WEST COAST ITALIA

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Delicious Italian dessert

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Lunch was Spinach Focacia.. too bad everything was served cold in Italy! This focacia would be heavenly if only it's served hot! I don't think they ever heard of Microwave!



Pics by teliung

Firenze, TUSCANY

Cold and wet Firenze, TUSCANY

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Genoa, Land of Columbus

Pakcik tua comel dan very curious at Genova Centrale


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Pics by teliung

Another Pakcik tua yang comel at Port Genova

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Pisa, WEST COAST ITALIA

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Cold Expensive St. Moritz

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Zermatt - Top of Europe

I love Zermatt! It's a wonderful vibrant place. It's bloody cold with lots of white fluff but I just love the ambiance. The minute one walked out of the train, you are there in amongst Gornergrad's glory.

Yes, Zermatt is dang expensive with all the snowbunnies and rich folks frolicking at its backyard, but I figured ordinary folks like me can try to "afford" it as well. There is a supermarket that open for a few hours which is quite affordable compared to the price thruout Europe, and the small hotel where I stayed was quite affordable where I made good fren with this lady from Holland. She was there for a skiing week and we shared a room to ourselves. It was fun talking about nothing and everything in general.. we stayed up until past 2AM I think. She asked me to visit her on my way to Amsterdam unfortunately due to limited timing, I couldn't. She also told me to come again to Zermatt next time for a skiing week with her.

The hotel which is right across the train station (I am lazy to look around :) also has a huge kitchen where one can cook and keep our groceries as well as a warm cozy living room to read or catch up with some news on TV. So we shared our morning breakfast, she contributing milk with muesli while I contributed fresh strawberries.

It was a cold freezing nite, while waiting for the internet terminal at the Brown Cow Cafe, I ordered a cup of hot coffee to eat with the Berry Kuchen and Chocholate berg truffle I bought at one of the many wonderful pastry shops on its main street. The Italian girl manning the kitchen was very nice albeit having no English skill at all. Somehow we managed to communicate. The small cup of coffee costed about 4 euro or more! The Swiss proudly does not use Euro, so everything was in Swiss franc which is more expensive than Euro. Fortunately this was offset by the nice businessman who offered me his terminal which has like 9 euro or more on it. I have always been blessed by good deeds by strangers and frens. There seems to be an Angel looking after me wherever I go :)

Gornergrad Zermatt - Top of Europe, SWITZERLAND


Pics by teliung

Geneve

My first impression of Geneve having arrived from Milano, it is much more sophisticated that the Italian city. The folks are also better dressed compared to the scruffy Milanese.

Geneve is however quite boring, very sedate and other than the UN, the banks and Swiss watches, nothing much to do except find a train connection to do all the mountain rides. But one must be an early bird for this as it takes the whole day or more than a day to complete a Swiss Alp mountain rides. It is truly worth it to do the mountain rides.

Geneve in general has a pretty global population despite being far flunged among the Swiss Alps. I guessed it has market itself well among the international global institutions such as the UN, which made its headquarters here.

Sedate Geneve

Pics by teliung