Hotel Belmont Smolyan

... barrier) with my dad, Chris. Having grown up while Bulgaria was still very much under communist rule, they've had a lifetime of experience at making do with what's available. So many things were unable to be purchased under communism that they're become very proficient at simply making whatever they need. Between the two of them, it's difficult to conceive of any task too difficult. One of the more impressive examples of their handiwork (see pictures) is an enormous 40 or ...

... became, "Fanny ****", Hayley Price became, "dirty ruggers", "Ben Cradock became, "C*nt Face", Michal Price became, "Scrote" and for some reason, Doug got stuck with the name, "Aussie Butt-Plugg" while I was given, "Aussie Cock Ring". Butt Plugg and Cock Ring I can understand, but Aussie? Where the hell did that come from..? Anyways, failure to use anyone's nickname resulted in penalties swiftly and vigorously applied. Not that we needed to get any more pished, we were all ...

... out there for round 5 or something that day. However after about 10 minutes the same guy pulled up in the car with guests in the back seat. They got out and in broken english this kid who was 16 asked me if I spoke spanish. And I thought after all that time studying and struggling in Madrid I would never use my Spanish in Bulgaria....but I responded with the equivalent of a "HELL YEA I DO!" Turns out this kid, his uncle (who lives in Bilbao), and his ...

... 1075;радо 74;е. И в двата има и движе 85;ие, но и споко 81;ствие.

... that the next time you hit the slopes, you're going to go faster still! There were plenty of stacks involved in all of this of course, some funny, some painful, some spectacular and some just plain crazy. For example: my day of snowboarding today ended in what I can only describe as a big ****en ouchie. Going down the piste is all well and good, but the real fun, the really exhilarating stuff is to be found, 'off piste', out in the powder... oh ...

... in Bulgaria, we figured that the trip would have to take a fair bit longer than that. The first half of the bus trip was pretty uneventful, as we ground our way through gears and the streets of Sofia in roughly equal measure. Once out on the highway, the pace picked up and the grimy houses and factories fell away to reveal open plains covered in yet more snow. Things really only became interesting again when, some hours later, we started to grind our way ...

... No deposit no nothing. Wandered down to the local pub where we had a few drinks... till 3 in the morning with the locals. We were supposed to go mushroom picking at 6 in the morning. I slept in but Neil actually got up to see whether the bloke would be back to pick us up!

A very hippy kind of town with a gorgeous old town, and one of the best hostels i have stayed in with the token long term older resident running away from the real world, and the youngens sampling the local wines into the early hours of each morning...

... spent listening to Stijn drunkenly rattle off the list of Canadian seeds he would need for his experiments in Belgium. When he later fell asleep in the nearby woods with a giant bottle of rakia, we counted our lucky stars. Eventually I attempted to hitch out of Shiroka Lāka but soon learned that the roads westward leading to the Pirin mountain range were little-travelled. By late afternoon I made it as far as the sweeping Trigrad Gorge ...

... use in recent years, Emmy told us how the younger members of the Plovdiv Jewish community had started observing the Friday prayers and now it was a usual thing. Later that evening we went to "Happy's Bar and Grill" where we had "American Style" food which was really good, and not too expensive, I also had quite a bit to drink. We slept in this rented apartment with what Ina calls "communistic furniture" and it added allot ...