TCC Plaza Hotel Skopje

... figured it would make a good layover before heading to Ohrid tomorrow.

Our first impressions of Skopje were far from positive. The taxi driver from the bus station to the hotel totally ripped us off by charging 3x the normal fare. The hotel itself was quite nice, but is entered through a very dodgy storefront. You then take an antique lift up 5 floors, walk up one more flight of stairs, and then emerge into the relative paradise of this sharp hotel.

Skopje, Macedonia balkans2009

... an ace drink). I got inside the station, unsure what to expect except some reasonable shelter- but overjoyed to find an overnight internet café where I spent the next four hours until dawn. Kicking back with some music, e-mailing friends and changing my facebook status to reflect what country I was in, what a morning. Eventually, as the sun rose, I left the computer and ventured down to the train stations entrance foyer- well two kiosks. I'd got my change ...

... First stop we made was at Smolare Waterfall. The climb to the waterfall was terrible and I found out that I definitely was out of shape. With all those stairs I should have a tight butt though!Hehe. The way to Koleshino, another waterfall, wasn't as hard as the first. Although it was a lot of climbing, there weren't as many stairs to go up. Both waterfalls were near a city called Strumica. I didn't get really good pictures of the falls ...

... again. We picked up Marija's cousin Bazhe and mom, then we headed to see a Macedonian Pharmacy. There I met Radmila, a pharmacist who went to school for 4 years. Bazhe went to his friends and we headed to eat. We ate at a restaurant called Macedonian House, which looks like an old style Macedonian house- imagine! The inside was decorated with cookware that they use and clothes that they wore. Suzana and Marija ...

... the vast underexposures turning out anything). Mitko has been a blast the last few days and I'm really enjoying hanging out with him. We met up with a few more people and then went out to (and I'm not kidding) a disco. For a few hours I knew what it was like to be my parents when they were my age. They said it was fancy and hard to get into, and we had to give them some sort of "hard to find" ticket to get in, but I ...

... from bustling, but the music pulsing out from the CD stalls does its best to create an atmosphere. It is different from the music I have encountered on this trip so far, too, many Arab influences conspiring to contribute more to the exotic feeling of the morning. Leaving the market, I head for the Cifte Amam, an old Turkish bath turned art gallery. The modern art inside veritably bursts with colour and having read of the bath's layout outside ...

... but you can feel that pessimism. On the way back, the Macedonian border police wanted to make money with me or sometihng because they asked me to pay for an extra visa. How nice. They said they will send me back to Albania if they don't pay. The day after we went ot the police station here and they know nothing. Even about that i will tell to my grandchildren. :) Time here is coming to an end and i have lots of matters to evaluate. My travelling will anyway ...

... something is progressing. Other EVS:s have work now, too and we even got weekly evaluations. I hope I will learn Macedonian well, and sooner or later I will. Lume at work doesn't speak any English and our communication is funny. Every day i can say something more even though i don't often have a clue of the structure of the sentencies. Well, it is not that important. Some Albanian I have to also learn, since the kids are mainly Albanians. :) Last weekend i got ...

... And i will travel, too, again. Tommorrow I go to another yoth exchange to Slovenia. This time i know that the group leader and hopefully i can learn something about the experiences in Novi Sad. We will see. And i will meet Anne, who is doing EVS in Ljubljana, so cool. :) My favourite place here is the lake Ohrid (!), but not on the day time. I normally go there to swim in the morning and in the evening, when the stars appear on the sky. At that time it is all mine, and ...

... road,and we all stared across at the mountains that we w**e skirting,wond**ing wheth** th**e really w**e rebels out th**e.Now I can safely say "Th**e's rebels in them thar hills,alright!" The rebels,who we w**e now visiting,w**e also in control of the res**voir to the north of the Black Mountains,and so the city of Kumanovo had had no wat** supply for the last week.People filled buckets from tank**s in the street,while policemen drove around town in open ...