A little too special
I knew the train ride was going to be an unforgettable experience. A special treat. Well, turns out that the treat had ALOT of whipped cream and frosting on it. A bit too much actually..
This is going to be long again. Bullet point time..
• U of T, eh?
The train itself is tiny. Only two compartments. Can't really blame it since not many took the train back in the day when it was build. Maybe 20-30 people got on at Sarajevo.. The guy who I ended up in the same cabin in, Tyler, was a University of Toronto graduate who attends Ottawa
University for Law School. Now looking back to it, it's quite a coincidence.. someone whose been at the same school for a year, ends up sitting next to me in a train from Bosnia to Serbia? Well I thought it was pretty cool. Good old UofT talks were nice. Ended up getting along pretty well. Don't worry about Tyler too much, he'll come up throughout the rest of the story..
• Europeans..
I know this is stereotypical but I also know it's true to an extent. Europeans, you're obsessed with strikes. I hope they know it's the most effective when used only when it is absolutely necessary. NOT whenever you feel like it. Not only does it become less effective, it also causes inconvenience for people like ME, whose train stops half way through his journey because all public workers at the train station decides to abandon their job and go to the streets! Literally, without any notice whatsoever, the train stops in who-knows-where, and we have this mysterious 60 minute idling time until some local Bosnian suddenly yells at us to get off the train. I find out later on (like literally, 10 minutes before this) that a strike broke out in Greece because a new budget cut was officially introduced by the parliament. How that effected the train ride from Sarajevo to Belgrade? I don't know. But thanks to them, my train ride got much more interesting.
• Back to Croatia
Apparently, the strike caused a delay in train stations even in Serbia. So right when we were about to enter Serbia, we get get off the train at some local station, and we wait for a bus to come pick us up. We waited for 2 hours, but at this point we were just relieved that the bus actually came. After a 2 hour bus ride of not knowing where we're going, we hit a boarder check. Yes, finally, Serbia. We all celebrated and was relieved to finally know where we were. That is, until we sat down and saw a Croatian flag..
So yes, back in Croatia. Where I was..yesterday. Turns out we entered Croatia once only to cross the boarder into Serbia from there (Bosnia/Serbia boarder still have tensions). From there, we drove for another 3 hours..took random piss breaks..and got to another train station. Got on the train station, and finally reached the Croatian/Serbian boarder. The boarder security guy kept asking us what we were doing in Croatia.. IDK MAN YOU TELL ME. Took 12 hours in total instead of 8.
• 1-4
So one thing about this unexpected chaotic journey is, I met VERY interesting people. Tyler was the quiet, innocent, serious, Canadian law school student, but there were 4 others in our cabin. 3 were Bosnians, and one was Serbian. None of us knew each other at the beginning, but..I've witnessed the power of alcohol and cigs. All of us were in our 20's. Me being the youngest, and the oldest was the 30 years old Serbian dude. By coincidence, turns out that 3 of the Bosnians were going to the same friend's wedding. Talk about small world. I guess it also shows how much people hate taking the train..
What makes these people (excluding Tyler) is, that, well, the 4 of them finished 24 cans through out the trip. Consider this:
- they don't know each other
- they didn't have alcohol at the beginning of the ride
- they're going to a wedding
- there's almost no supermarkets or liquor stores
- we don't know where the hell we're going
- we cross the boarder and get checked twice
and they still decide to get drunk.
They found it so weird that me and Tyler refused to drink or smoke. It must of been their first time because Bosnians and Serbians never say no to beer and alcohol. Tyler doesn't only dislike drinking beer, he also cannot stand cig smoke (nor severe sunlight, extensive walking, and crowded places. I don't know how I managed to stand this North American more than the Europeans.)
But the ride with them was just so fun. If I grew up with them and lived in their countries, I'd probably live a happy life without a single worry. Need alcohol? No problem, just pay the bus driver 5 Euro to hold the bus. Piss Break? No problem, just stop the bus and piss on people's lawn. No smoking on the bus? No problem, do it anyways. It was especially interesting to see them talking to the boarder security when they're obviously drunk and can barely talk. I can't believe someone would invite them to a wedding..
Serbia, the city
Geographically, Serbia connects the East and the West of Europe. Seeing both sides, it felt that the same can be said culturally and even within the people. Belgrade didn't feel like a small, local, city like Split or Sarajevo, but it was also different from a city like Rome, where a vast collection of monuments and museums constantly attract tourists. It was somewhere in between. Not many tourists, but the mildly busy city is filled with working citizens, and there are some historical buildings with great significance. There were many cafes and restaurants similar to Split and Sarajevo, but it wasn't as crowded because Belgrade has less tourists, and it is more known for its nightclubs and ferry bars.
The food
Was great (for me). If you're like me and like pastries, this is the place you should be. Bakeries (called Pekara here) are the only place open 24 hours and the only store with lines. EVERYONE stops by and buys their favorite bread in the morning. McDonald's next door had nothing on the Pekaras beside it. Even watching the street, so many of them were eating their breakfast while walking.
Former-Yugoslav (Kosovo War and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia)
This is a touchy subject and I don't want to get it wrong, so I'm just going to introduce the basics that I am aware of. If you're interested in this topic, please look into it more because it's fascinating, and it's why I decided to come here (and not France or the UK). As mentioned, there are still uneasy tensions between Serbia and Kosovo. Why? because until couple years ago, Kosovo was a part of Serbia. They did enjoy some autonomy, however (sounds like a French "nation" on Canadian land..). But in 1989, the Serbian leader at the time Slobodan Milosevic removed its autonomy and tried to bring it under Serbian control. This triggered the Kosovo War, which led to displacement of over 400,000 Kosovar Albanians (many Kosovars are of Albanian descent), and 1,500 deaths. NATO intervened (rather aggressively) in the 1998 by authorizing air strikes in the two cities of Belgrade, Serbia and Pristina, Kosovo, with the ultimate intention of removing the Serbian force out of Kosovo territory.
So this is a short, simple introduction to the former-Yugoslac/NATO relationship. Being one of the most recent NATO operation, the event is still a taboo in these countries and also the reason why not many tourists do not visit. In fact, Kosovo only officially declared independence as Republic of Kosovo in 2008, and still awaits on the candidate list to become an EU member. It also doesn't help that foreign embassies until this day give out warnings to citizens visiting these countries.
Just so you know
Serbians and Kosovars aren't stupid. They know what has happened in the past. The people there today are the same people who lived the tragedy. They are also aware of the imagine held by the international community towards their country and people. Many of us are not interested in the Eastern European countries. Those who do are become hesitant to physically go. So either way, Westerners naturally disregard the East when forming their itinerary. What a waste..
A kid same age as me helped me get to the bus station today. His name is Boki. He studies Business at one of the country's best universities. He walked 20 minutes with me to get to the bus station at 11PM because I couldn't speak Serbian and couldn't understand directions. He wants to work in the USA because there's more opportunities there but he can't because Serbia has yet to be become an EU member, meaning it's difficult for Serbian corporations (literally, almost impossible) to enter the US market, and vise versa. He wants to get over the past and chase his dream. He wants more people to see Serbia and understand their situation. He wants the same opportunity as we do. I felt like was he was telling me "Why only me, and not you?" All I could say to him was, "I'm sorry.."
Here's what I felt
Go. For these reasons.
- See the city. There are still bullet marks on the walls.
- Talk to the people. They want to share what they saw, felt, and what they want to do. These people are eager to strive but are often deprived of an legitimate opportunity.
- Learn the history. It's not even history. If you're 20, you lived through it.
- It's cheap. Seriously. It's ridiculously cheap right now because so many Eastern countries are still struggling to get accepted as an EU member. We still get to go on good tours. We get to go to different countries each day because buses and trains are affordable. We still have room in our budget to eat out and do shopping.
- WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING OF ABOVE IN FRANCE. IN ITALY. IN LONDON.
- Hitler. Romans. Ottoman. Jews. Tito. World War 1. World War 2. You've heard all of this. You know how significant it is and how much it has effected our world today. The National Museum in Sarajevo said that events held in East Europe has changed the life of over 3/4 of today's world population. The only reason we don't trust this is because..we just don't enough.
My point is, please consider going. At least let it cross your mind next time. Enough said.
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