Among the Hip
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
98
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Pag,
Croatia
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I spent most of the day finshing my Banco book. I also read through my Middle East book for a second time to make sure I was going to be fully prepared. As for the Middle East book, I realized a few things. One, getting visas to both Syria and Iran will be tough. Two, I will need hard currency to get through Iran as the country does not accept credit cards, travellers cheques or have ATMs linked up to the international network. Three, Turkey will be challenging to see as it is a huge country and all the places that interest me are not close together. I am glad I was able to get my hands on this book as it has opened my eyes to a few things.
I also tried to figure out my timeline for the Middle East. I want to be in India by the 3rd week of Novenmber so this should give me 3 months to go overland from Turkey to Egypt. I think this wont be enough time as 4 would be ideal. Initially, I wanted to be in India by the first week of November so I could have time to go to Nepal. I no longer think this will be possible. I dont want to rush through the Middle East just so I could see Nepal. So I may have to remove Nepal from my list of countries to visit. But of course everything depends on whether I will get my visas to Iran and Syria. If I cant get my hands on the visas, Nepal will be back on the list. I will take it one day at a time and see how it goes.
By 4 pm, the bars by the beach started blasting music. It was only at this time did the beach became crowded at the atmosphere changed from one you would find at Mooneys Bay to one you would find on a beach in Acapulco. It was funny as I realized (again) that I couldnt relate to this crowd anymore. It was still fun to observe the crowd though.
By 530, I had enough of the Spring Break atmosphere. I walked back to my guesthouse as I thought my body could use the exercise. WHen I arrived, Momma Boyana told me that Papa Slobodan was going to drive me to the bus station tomorrow. Momma Boyana's really liked me. Papa Slobodan had no say in the matter.
During my last night in Pag, I ended up talking to my Belgian neighbors for the first time. They were actually nice guys, not the jerks I initially thought they were. I told them my story about travelling for a year and they were all intrigued by it. They asked a lot of questions and I answered all of them. One guy even went so far to say that he had a tremendous anmount of respect for me as he didnt know if he could go to the places I was going all alone. I told him it was undeserved respect. It really isnt that hard once you do it for a while. He explained that he has always been sheltered from his family and thought that a 3 month trip by himself would help his character and his development as a person. I told him a trip alone would defnitely bring him the confidence he was looking for and that he should do it. He would never regret it. Hopefully one day he remembers my advice. Anyhow,we spoke for a few hours. The Belgians then invited me out for drinks but they were too hard core for me. I didnt want to go out and get wasted. These guys went out every night and got hammered. So I actually said no which I know is surprising given that I was looking for some people to go out with. Besides, I felt the invitation was more out of politness than anything else. Momma Boyana made me laugh as she said I was too serious and I needed to go out and have fun. She was probably right.
Tomorrow I am off to Zadar.
Dino Vagabond
