Nirvana Hotel Tirana

... army to various victories against the Turkish empire. <br>On the road from the bus station (stop) there is a street of wooden shops (that ironically looks very turkish and was selling predominantly turkish goods!).

... behaviour of these buses are, beside the fact that they nearly brakte into pieces, qutite funny. The bus driver starts, when the bus is half full, a shedule is not used. On his way out of the city, he passes 3 times every roundabout, trying to catch some people by using the horn. Using the horn is here generally used as in western countries the blinker. They say "hello", "watch out, i am coming" and "i want to cross your trace" with the horn ...

... the foreigner in their midst. He went over to his friend, slightly thinner and older and he was and pointed in my direction. His friend came over and directed me to follow him. A younger soldier came closer, smiling. "Anglias?" "Yes" I smiled as I followed the old man into a squat little building. It doesn't matter how much people smile at you, there are far few things more worrying than being taken off a bus in the middle of the ...

... and Bar. We stopped to take a photo of the small island of Sveti Stefan. This was once a fishing village but it was totally bought out by a developer and now the whole island is a resort. There were many beaches along the coast, all seemed to be packed with people. Then it was on through the border with Albania. What a difference in scenery. We moved away from the coast and it was so evident that this was a very undeveloped part of the world. There ...

... can you smell what the Rock is cooking". With their young mouths aghast I brought the house down with my finale, impersonating his killer move 'the peoples elbow' to whoops and cheers. It was always my belief that being equipped with this knowledge would prove invaluable one day. My estimation was correct and today was going to be that day. When the high-five hand slapping ceased the boys shouted out another wrestlers name "the Undertaker" and with my counter "the Heartbreak Kid, Sean ...

... of kindness: - Vina and Edvin taking us on a hostel field trip to Elbasan and instead of shopping as they planned, showed us the sights. Free and knowledgeable tour guide. Good company and a lot of food. Only thing was that Vina almost got into a fight w an old man over tourists taking photos near his restaurant. Had to hold the little ...

... one of the English speakers. We thank him for their help and they continue on their way. After a few minutes, another policeman comes rushing over. He speaks a little English so we explain again, brandishing our postage stamp-sized receipt. He nods intently and confers with the first policeman, who also nods intently. A moment later, four more policemen walk briskly towards us, one hand on their guns. The assembled law-men discuss our predicament with much ...

... Probably a good idea as we were all split into pairs to stay in various homes across the town. Lucy and I were staying the furthest away, with a fantastic family. Then they asked us 'Why are you in Albania and what are you bringing to the team/Kruje'- starting with me! Trev in particular always speaks his mind, which overall I think is a good thing. I felt quite stressed not knowing exactly where I was meant to be when- took me ...

... a small rug. The area is supposedly famous for them, though probably only within Albania, but I had a few Leke left to burn, so why not? I even got to watch them making rugs. Every carpet shop had two or three women working on looms. Apparently it takes days to make a decent sized rug, which accounts for why they were so loath to bargain!

... Kosovo and "Macedonia" (FYROM). One by one each region has split apart. Seems that the power was controlled primarily by Serbs and centralized in Belgrade. With the breakdown of Communism, areas with Serb minorities became increasingly unstable (since Democracy is a rule of the majority...yet decisions continued to be made by Serbs). The result = Breakaway Republics. Serb repression of such led to wars...and to "war crimes" (ie. Ethnic Cleansing, etc ...