Malina Chalets Borovets

... soon full and we waved Tsvetan and his truck goodbye.

Then it was back to the town of Botevgrad to vist the Roma community and give out vouchers for the box distribution tomorrow. It was really good to see some old friends again. Having spent some time working in this community Rich, Mimi and Valya are quite familiar with the people there but it is still a shock to see just how poor this community is- 200 people, 2 outside taps, no toilets, pirated electricity and real ...

... just decided to walk through a park which puts you right into the center of town. Because we were already headed for the bus, the park wasn't a straight shot, but we were pretty sure if we just cut through this "parking" lot it would be a straight shot to the park. A few days earlier Paul had mentioned that lot was the end of a long line of cars waiting to be registered. Long is an understatement. It takes so long to ...

... on extensive beaches covered with fine golden sands, the majority of which have been awarded the EU Blue Flag for their environmental cleanliness. Temperatures in summer fluctuate between 23ºC and 30ºC, with water temperatures of between 17ºC and 25ºC. There are more than 240 hours of sunshine in May and September, and more than 300 in July and August. Given this combination of factors, it isn't hard to explain why this region is becoming ...

... now. The coolest thing ...

... room in second class and I did not get another reservation. I'm actually glad I did not take the overnight train because the ride would have been absolute hell. As is, it was better because I was amused at least for some part of the 11 hours on the train by some Dutch boys who taught me a new card game called Duken. The game is absolutely unlike any I've played before and made the unbearable heat tolerable. (Airconditioning? What's that?) Though watch out for Dutch ...

... t take it, so I left and had doner kebab at 3:00 a.m. That's my weekend meal schedule now - dinner and 3:00 a.m., sleep through breakfast (which is included at most hotels here and I never get my money's worth), and skip lunch because I'm not hungry after the 3:00 street-food. On Sunday (and Monday), I spent a lot of time on the Internet firming up my plans through about July 10 (confirming dates of festivals, booking flights and hotels, etc ...

... was my set of walkie talkies. After the initial abuse that I took for having them, everybody decided that it was a really good idea. The problem with the walkie talkies is that once one gets dropped in the snow somewhere on the run, the other one becomes a bit pointless. Alex was fined for this but got full marks for finding the couple that picked it up whilst skiing later in the day. I was to pre-occupied with drawing sexual ...

... Billy claimed that he managed to get in a "heel clicker McTwist", everyone else thinks he just did well not to break a leg on landing. The skiing finished and headed back up the slopes for the tobogganing that we had booked. Now it did look a bit lame initially, but as with all things, throw in a bit of competition and it all gets a little more interesting. The form suggested a win for the Room 310 massive (me and K), however, due to technical issues on my sled (you like the ...

... drinking cheap beer. A quick walk to 101 Cocktail followed, and we picked Kiwi Chris and Pete up along the way. Another Egyptian pipe was sampled, as was the sounds of drunk people doing karaoke in Black Tiger, and Billy's toxic **** in Rila. The evening finished in Buzz Bar (are you seeing a theme emerging here?!) where the terrible happened. Billy and Kit saw the 2 girls they had "chatted to" on Sunday pulling a couple of Cockney's with ****, highlighted hair ...

... when I visit such places, that they just sit there in the middle of the city and you can walk and climb around in them, with nary a "Do not touch" sign in sight. For a late lunch/early supper we went to a restaurant that serves traditional Bulgarian food, which was very good. G insisted on drinking beer and wine, so he became splotchy and funny-looking. Because I had no starter, I ...