Pishat e Buta Kavaje

... army to various victories against the Turkish empire.
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!).

... kleiden sich sehr westlich, man sieht we***** Kopftuech** als in Deutschland. Und alle 100m gibt es ein Casino.

Morgen geht es dann weit** gen Norden, sollte morgen Montenegro **reichen. Liege ganz gut in d** Zeit, kann v**mutlich einige Staedte an d** Kueste besichtigen, Inshallah.

Gruss
Ralf

P.S.
Dachte d** Pauschaltourismus ist noch nicht hi** angekommen, ab** im Nationalmuseum lief doch glatt eine deutsche Reisegruppe h**um.

... americaine envahissante dans le pays... quand je leur propose d'avoir un oeil critique, ils ne comprennent pas et me demandent pourquoi... ils me repondent aussi que si les americains ne font pas leur affaire, qu'ils les metteront dehors comme ils ont fait pour les sovietiques... en passant, l'albanie produit du petrole!!! dans le mini-bus qui me conduisait a berat, nous avons rencontrecinq patrouilles policieres dont trois nous ont arrete... a un de ces ...

... plus latins en ce qui a trait au respect des lois: il faut savoir traverser une rue ici sans te faire frapper; t'as l'impression que les autos courent apres les pietons alors que dans les autres pays, les pietons etaient rois... au resto ou j'ai dine ce midi, il y avait une affiche indiquant de ne pas fumer et les gens s'en allumaient une juste en-dessous... en passant, le voyage de lacroix est en train de devenir un chemin de croix; en ...

... sat chatting over a coffee, tea for me, he explained that he was going to Greece to visit his brother who works in a bar on the island of Rhodes. Jimmy himself is living and working in Helsinki and was just back on holidays to visit family. Having been to Helsinki I was interested to get his thoughts on the place but I could have guessed his response before I asked the questions, cold! He was fairly interested in my trip to Australia and unique in that he is one of the few people that ...

... long. I tried to stay awake to watch the countryside and see what Albania looked like, but my heavy eyelids won that battle. From what I did see Albania reminded me more of South America than Eastern Europe. The only paved road I saw until we reached Tirana was the one we were driving on (and even that would barely pass for paved in a more developed country). There were people out in the streets and ...

... appear from all sides to take it. I am usually lucky but others had to wait up to 2 hours until it's filled to leave. Speaking of noise, Albanian music rocks. Better than (gasp) LA's music scene. More stations pumping out reggaeton, salsa, hip-hop, dance, and techno (sorry, still not a big fan of this). I have a private chuckle every time the buses pull up with a busload of 60 to 70 year-olds near some rustic village. People are in their ...

... Hoxha. Shortly there-after, thousands of young men climbed aboard ships in the Albanian ports and took things over, insisting that the ships take them over the Adriatic to Brindisi. All in all, within months, multi-party elections occurred, though filled with scandal. Then the country went through a financial upheaval where thousands of citizens lost money through pyramid schemes. Street riots ensued, anarchy, etc, to the point ...

... price for a 3 hour drive)...the driver asked, "what are you doing in Albania?" with a disbelieving voice...he couldn't fathom why people would want to visit his country... Now I must admit that up to this point I was a trifle skeptical about Albania...all I had heard up until that point where warnings (mind you the warnings were from Serbians and Montenigrans, who are rather soured on the country due to the whole Kosovo issue ...

... to get approval from his father. Agim, his father and Director, came in and after some pleading (I think) said fine. The next day I went to Sandi's house (by personal driver) to look at his new computer and play some chess and maybe ping-pong later. He is very competitive, so this was USA vs Albania, East vs West!! The short story is that he demolished me at chess (found out later he is ranked 3rd in Albania), but I made a huge comeback in ...