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Hey again keen readers,
I don't know how people prefer me to write and I'm not sure if it's boring or interesting. Some people should tell me. J So ill just keep writing how I do in the meantime. This is my continuation from Austria as I travelled in to Slovenia, where I tried to cross the border carrying no expectations of what would be likely to unfold and how I would enjoy the country.
So this chapter starts with me missing a 7.30am train, lay the blame either on my general lack of preparation and care factor of times and dates while travelling or my previous nights mayhem. Eventually getting on a train at I believe was 9.30am I looked over the times of trains, where I had to change trains precisely, whether I'd make the change overs or not and if ultimately I could reach my destination in Slovenia. To be honest it didn't concern me a great deal, nobody was expecting me and I had no deadline or no time frame to be anywhere, besides my flight out of Austria in 3 or 4 days time, which held no relevance. However I did want to get places but in the end I think you end up places for a reason and when things go wrong, they do so to teach us, and these experiences are for our benefit in the end.
So I sat on trains and made all effort to chat to all people that sat near to me. I think first was a guy from Belgrade - Serbia, who had moved to Austria several years earlier for what I, and most others would presume a better and more prosperous life. More would be to arise on this after a short chat on the way to a village where he worked in a hotel. I don't recall a name, but as I probed him with questions he had a deep and dark story to tell. As I shared my left over chocolate with him he described some elements of the war in the mid - late 90's to me. His brother (presumably older than he) was involved in the war in Serbia for about 5 years. "Now he is crazy, wakes up screaming from nightmares about things he saw," he announced as he flickered his fingers across his eyes to express the point further. I listened on quietly. He described people in the war as, "All like this." Talking to someone that has been in such a situation really did increase my gratefulness of my upbringing. This guy also told me how he was once riding to school and was blown off his bike by a grenade. Imagine riding to school with guns cracking in your ear and explosions around. It was a real war zone and he was supposed to be going to learn maths and science. He also described of how he and a friend were visiting a town somewhere in Serbia where the population was about 70 - 80% women. Guys, I mean who wouldn't enjoy the attention? In the circumstances though its terrible, the majority of this towns men had died in war and this apparently was a common representation of a town. This is just one story and I have no idea about what is real and what is truth, however this guy was sincere and seemed an honest person.
At his stop, we wished each other all the best and said farewell. Next to arrive on my train was a lightly framed Austrian girl, with a very peculiar hoarse voice and spoke an unusual brand on English. She wasn't too interesting for my standards and in comparison with my last train conversation. We talked about the mountains and rivers in Austria and what each other did. I try to remember to when I spoke with another girl. I believe it was from Salzburg to Innsbruck - so going back 4 or 5 days. I was throwing out the usual icebreakers and got a few short responses before she dug into her bag and plugged her ears full of music. I found this rude although am not one to judge. Everyone is different, but surely a chat with a friendly stranger is better than listening to music and certainly much more interesting. I am not that scary right? I suppose everyone is taught not to speak people they don't know though, so maybe that was her reason, or she might have had a cool new album on her I-pod. That was that anyway, It's interesting to see how people socialise differently especially on these transport chats I like to have. I spoke with a middle-aged man briefly on the train to Villach and then had to wait for 2.5 hours at the train station, where I watched a group of teenagers loitering around the main entrance. Their fashion sense was so twisted and peculiar that I doubted the sex of one of them for the next 2 hours. I watched, listened and speculated but could come up with no concrete evidence to suggest IT was male or female. I was also a little disgusted at the attitude of some of this group. An old old lady walked out of the train station to be welcomed by some stupid little b**** jumping out on front of her to scare her from behind a wall. I wish I had of walked up and told her what I thought whether it be in horrid broken German or swearing my face off in English. Her friends all seemed to think it was funny also, which appalled me further.
I eventually got on the train to Bled and crossed the border as I recall in darkness. I began to speak to a few Australian girls on the train. They seemed to want to go to the same hostel as I did. I had read a little about Bled in my lonely planet book. When we arrived at the train station, we took a bus into the town centre and looked at the options. As the 3 girls and I walked around in the rain looking for directions to the hostel an old lady approached and asked if we wanted an apartment. I not really liking this type of option refused and said goodbye to the girls as they took up the old ladies offer and went to her apartment. I walked for 5 minutes up the hill in the rain, where I eventually found the hostel. The place was quiet but was very aesthetically pleasing. The girl at the front desk was very kind and I went up to a room of my own where I got settled and had a shower. As I came out an old fellow has since joined, his name was Coz and he was from Nevada. He is a naval engineer, after many other jobs throughout his life. We had dinner downstairs together and a few beers as we chatted. Afterwards I went walking to find a pub. The town was quiet, real quiet. I walked down by the lake, around the main strip to find nothing but a few bars with 5 or 10 people in each. It is obvious that this place gets insanely busy in the summer time, with several huge hotels down by the lake. For now though it was on the most part a ghost town. Some things were open but nobody really seemed to be around. I eventually walked into a student night in a bar, where a guy played piano and sang some great tunes in Slovenian. Even though I couldn't understand it was nice to listen to. A few local students turned up, being by myself in this new town I was in a weird mood and wasn't ready to invade tables of 20 to introduce myself. I strolled back to the hostel after a few beers and turned in early around 11.30pm.
Coz had explained to me earlier about his sleep apnoea and said he should sleep quietly throughout the night with the aid of his machine. Not much to my surprise I was awoken several times to sounds far heavier than Darth Vader. I knew straight away it was Coz. I was at one point very close to getting up and waking him, as he said he would sleep soundly I thought there might be a problem. I knew though that if there was noise then he was still breathing somewhat. I let myself drift back off eventually. Breakfast was a feast with the 4 or 5 people in the hostel and then I was off to walk around Lake Bled. I walked for a few hours that day around the Lake. A really pretty sight you see as fish jump out of the water, a few fishing boats row out to the church and the clouds just dump their rain as they casually drift by. I got really wet that morning as I hiked up a small hill to catch the view. I ran into one of the Aussie girls around the far side of the lake and had a quick chat. I would never see them again. I then walked around the far side and hiked up to the top of a hill where the castle sat, the view from up there is glorious, do check the photos. The castle drops off a sheer cliff straight down. I entered the castle and read up on the history of the area, which was really interesting. That afternoon I caught a bus to Ljubljana with no specific plans on what I would do. I was in the mood to party.
I remember arriving on the outskirts of Ljubljana thinking to myself this was a bad idea. The place looked boring, with tall, bland flat buildings that did not appeal to my eyes at all. I saw nothing that looked at all appealing. Eventually the bus stopped and I saw a sign that pointed towards the hostel I was looking for. I wandered through a decrepit old back streets courtyard and into the hostel, which was bright and welcoming, however it used to be a jail some years ago. I luckily scored the last bed in the whole hostel. Good timing! J I went out for dinner with 2 Swiss girls and a guy from South Korea. They were all great fun and we had a lovely dinner at some fancy restaurant, then as it was almost Halloween, we went to this place called the Skeleton bar. It was like nothing you can imagine, just full of skeletons in the walls and everywhere. You get half price cocktails, which all have gross or horrific sounding names. Went back to the hostel eventually and got a bit pissy.
I walked out to the back streets behind the hostel. I recommend this to anyone who travels here to experience these back streets. At first it seemed like I was isolated and amongst a social minority around here. I asked some girls what I could do and immediately they asked about me, what was I doing here etc. I just replied with something along the lines of, "I'm not sure, having a look around." They were here to celebrate their friend's birthday. They were having a party! Out here there were hundreds of people, the walls of the buildings were covered in amazing graffiti art and unusual sculptures. As I got talking with these girls they introduced me to friends and eventually I felt like part of the crowd. At one point I remember feeling like some sort of god with 5 gorgeous local girls around me asking questions and chatting away. It was flattering. I spoke with some of the guys also, who were cool. One of the girls and her boyfriend asked if I would like to follow them the next day out to a countryside town to party with them. I said yes and took a number down to call in the morning.
The next morning I woke up and went for a walk around the city in the daylight. I rang the number, which I immediately knew was wrong. There were not enough numbers, so that was that and I wasn't going to wherever I was meant to be. I was set to stay in the city. I sat around with a German guy for a little while, gave him a beer and chatted about the city. He told me his story about passing through Ljubljana 3 or 4 months ago and has been squatting here ever since. There are many places around the city where people squat. He told me a place where he would be later, where I could meet him. I contemplated going to check it out but never made it in the end. I will never forget my Slovenian Friend Andreas. On this day it was a public holiday so most of the shops were closed. I asked a girl for directions to a shop that is open. The girl grabbed my hand and said follow me. We walked for 7or 8 minutes to a small shop and at this point she actually said sorry for being so forward and walking you here. I was amazed and thanked her massively taking me there. She then walked me in and asked what I wanted and after knowing so, started ordering the things for me from the ladies behind the counters. I then payed and we walked out. Andreas then walked me all the way back to where we first met and we waited for her friend to come. It was just such a kind act from a complete stranger. These are the things that I love when travelling. That night I had a few beers and went to some bar, but the others at the hostel wouldn't come so I went by myself. I chatted with some more local people til the place closed and ended up at a late-night club in these back streets near the hostel. It was pouring down with rain and I was sitting there chatting with people listening to some death metal music in the most unusual of places. I never imagined myself being in a place like this, but it was a really cool experience. Soaked and cold I got back to the hostel about 6.30am. Got my things, went and had breakfast and left on my way to Klagenfurt Airport in Austria. I said goodbye to Ljubljana, I think ill be back though. The day was long on my way back to Austria. I bought heaps of food on arrival at Klagenfurt and ate it on the roof of the Airport. Not sure if I was allowed up there though. I just wanted to lie down but the police lady wouldn't let me sleep in the park, so I went back to the airport. There weren't many people around because all the flights are in the evening so I walked up there ate then fell asleep.
A drama was still to come. I checked in and got my beer glass taken off me in luggage check that I had picked up a day earlier in Slovenia. I was pissed off and argued that what is the difference between me smashing my glass over some ones head and someone buying a bottle of wine or spirits in duty free and smashing it over some ones head. Absolutely ridiculous!! I was pissed off so I walked back through with my bag and took my glass out to the check in desk. I asked around for a favour for some people to put it in their main luggage. I had 2 or 3 people say no and on my last effort a lovely Austrian couple and their cute young daughter said yes!! I was stoked. So I would meet them on the other side at Stansted to get it back!! I spoke with an Austrian guy who teaches German in Cardiff on the plane. We spoke deeply about long distance relationships and our travels. Hopefully catch up with him some time.
So we landed heavily at Stansted and I got my glass back!! J I made it to my flat at around 12.30am. Such a pain!! Stansted!!! Grrrr…. I continue to book flights from there….
So that was the end of my latest trip. I learnt a lot and met some amazing people, who I still need to email. I really would love to do a ski season in Austria, Switzerland, France or Italy. Anywhere really.
The next chapter is all about working, settling down and acclimatising to this dark English winter! More soon!
Be good,
Morgs
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