Abroad Trip Day 21

Early morning wake up today at 6:30, then breakfast at the buffet. I had french toast, pancakes, eggs, fruit, cereal with yogurt and fruit and coffee. Very nummy! We met up with Tony again and he brought us to a very touristy wat with a giant reclining Buddha. Then he brought us to another temple with an Emerald Buddha (it's actually jade, but the only jade I could see was on his face, because he was wearing winter clothes). Then we went to the royal palace. So touristy and gold and shiny and crowded and hot. Not the funnest morning.

After, we went to Thamassan University, where there was a massacre of over a hundred students by the military and police because the students were holding a peaceful protest for democracy in 1976. That was more interesting, and we were only there because Ryan asked Tony to take us there instead of more wats. We are so wat-ed out. No more monks, no more offerings, no more blessings, no more gold leaf, please.

After we returned, we got lunch (street pad thai), and then had the other half of the presentations for 4 hours. Again, kind of a long time to do presentations, but it was okay overall. Then some of us desperately tried to escape the tourist bubble by going to a less touristed area. However, we could not find a tuktuk cheap enough nor a taxi willing to use the meter. So we walked around Khao San Road again. Crowded, whorish, farang kinok and gross.

I got a hair cut, though! Super short! I'm very excited for it. It'll look better in MN when it will grow out a bit and not be as humid.

Day 21 - Mostar!

Today, we drove around Sarajevo a bit before we left. We saw the Olympic stadium, and a massive graveyard. About the size of the national cemetery in DC, but it was only created after 1992. Pretty intense.

After, we left Sarajevo. I kind of dozed off. When I woke up, it was a winter wonderland. It was about 3 degrees C in Sarajevo, and it was -3 degrees C. It had snowed the night before in Sarajevo, so it was slippery, but it didn't really stick. But here, it was white! Everywhere! Lovely! We passed a bombed out and abandoned village, covered in snow. It was a little surreal. Then we had to go down the winding icy mountain road on a coach bus. Luckily, Boris has earned the nickname Ms. Frizzle, so the magic school bus did it somehow.

Then we went through a tunnel, and whoa! No snow! There was a lovely green river flowing alongside the bus, the weather warmed up to 5 degrees C, and we had a lovely balmy drive through the mountains. I have some great pictures.

The valley we were driving through was a strategic valley as it opens to the sea and is very difficult to occupy without help from the locals. We stopped at a museum along the road that was opened by Tito to commemorate a dramatic WWII battle against the Germans. The Yugoslav Partisans were suffering, so they withdrew to this stronghold, and 80,000 Yugoslav citizens came with the military, bearing the wounded Yugoslav soldiers with them. The bridges were all destroyed, so the army built a tiny wooden bridge in 19 hours across the river and up a cliff alongside the old, destroyed train bridge, and had a good battle and whatnot. Our translator, Duska, is an art historian, so I am not exactly clear on what happened. Military translations are not her strong suit.

Anyway, we arrived in a very windy Mostar. Very windy. We actually postponed our city tour til tomorrow morning because the wind is so strong. We instead went to a lecture from the Nansen Dialogue Center. After, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant as a group. LaVana, Meichen and I sat with Darco (whose Christian name is Gabriel), a handsome, charming Croat (who has been dating a girl for 6 years. Damn!). He is a 3rd year Political Science student who is in charge of his faculty's student newspaper. Remember, the years are different. In the US, we have a 4-1-4 system for bachelors, master and doctorates, whereas in most of Europe have a 3-2-3 system. He watches MTV, and asked us if the shows he sees there are real to most American's lives. Answer: hell no! We are a diverse group (Meichen is Chinese, LaVana is Bahamian), so we compared politics and culture a lot.

It was a fun dinner. However, this is the second time I have ordered chicken with curry for dinner, and the second time it has been bland. I haven't had anything spicy since I've been here, and that's not by choice. I don't like spicy food, but everything here is mild. Ah well!

Anyway, we go to Split, Croatia in the afternoon. I hope to be able to buy some souvenirs here in Mostar tomorrow morning, and some from Croatia in the afternoon. Should be exciting! Back in the almost-EU!