Dubrovnik Lurv

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I absolutely loved Dubrovnik. Old town is packed with tourists, but my hostel was a 10 minute bus ride away which meant cheaper and less busy. Met some absolute beauties at the hostel and since the majority of us arrived on the same day so we all explored everything as a group, like a mini field trip but with less yellow buses. I was sad to leave!

Its not a cheap city especially compared to Sarajevo, but it is a really interesting place. I believe it was only conquered once by the sneaky frenchman Napoleon and it was an independent state until relatively recently when it joined the rest of Croatia. If you look at a map you’ll see Dubrovnik is cut off from Dalmatia by a little chunk of Bosnia. That’s because, as I learned, Italy wanted Dubrovnik for themselves and my peeps in the Dubs didn’t want that so they let the Ottoman Empire (who ruled all up in what is now Bosnia’s grill) squeeze in between. So that Italy (Venice I believe) would have to fight the Ottoman if they wanted to get to Dubrovnik. Droppin knowledge on ya whether you want it or not.

Didn’t see anyone from Game of Thrones. Its too bad they weren’t looking for any recovering food poisoned Canadians as extras.

Black Mountain

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Went on a day trip to the nearby town of Perast. The main attraction aside from the old town is this church, Lady of the Rock built on a man-made island. It took them 100 years to build it up from the sea floor 20 meters down. They used rocks, old or captured ships, tourists, anything, to build the foundation. Its pretty impressive to see and very purdy. Being a sunday, buses run every 2 hours and finding any sort of timetable was a pipedream but we managed to get a ride back to Kotor from a passerby. Felt weird to be in a car after a month of buses and trains. I felt like that there Paris Hilton all fancy like.

There’s a few cruise ships that come in, and although its not as many as Dubrovnik, Kotor still fills up and gets all bloated with their kind. Juuust kidding.

Off to Budva tomorrow!

Perast

Ain’t Nothin’ but a Peanut

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Everything will be all right

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, or like a man rising up from his bed 7 times throughout the night to purge the heresy from deep within his soul.. The blog is back.

I can hear the cheers from here!

Now it wasn’t 6 days of me pouting and feeling sorry for myself to finally gain enough composure to start it up again, it was more like 5.5, but I’m just happy to post pictures again. I will try to recount the past week in the next few posts as best I can, but here’s a quick update.

Sarajevo was a very cool experience. An interesting dichotomy of east meets west and war torn meets modern 5-star hotels. It has a great night life. I checked out, among other bars, a jazz bar located in the basement of a building and it was so good. The next day I went on a good tour all around Sarajevo and learned about the war in some detail. Our guide actually fought on the front lines and from his descriptions of the battles, about losing friends and family, and actually returning to places where his fellow soldiers and friends were carried out on stretchers I don’t know how he was such a cheery guy. Maybe just grateful to be alive? Pretty surreal to see bullet holes in tombstones. After the tour I met up with some people and went to dinner, it was a good time.

And then I ate the soup.

I’ve been battling a cough (black lung I’m sure of it) for weeks now so I thought some nice vegetable soup at a vegetarian restaurant would be a prime choice. Because of all the meat and bread I’ve eaten I really wanted a break from it. It was not a prime choice. I can’t prove it was the soup that spawned one of the worst illnesses I’ve dealt with, but I just know.
“Oh, I have soup left for one person only!” The waitress said.
“Durrrr Cody will have some,” I reply. My big eyes and dumb grin grow like the bacteria that’s been festering in the improperly stored soup for who knows how long.
“Hmm its luke warm,” I casually think to myself. As a slave to my hunger I continue to slurp it down. Every. Last. Drop.

Like the Black Hand to the Archduke, I was a marked man. 3 hours later would start the largest expulsion of foreign material from my rippling and chiselled body that I’ve ever experienced. I’m still recovering from it a week later (tip: Croatian pharmacies and pharmacists RULE). I could have gotten it in any country at any restaurant or even at home, so no hard feeling Sarajevo. Really wish I couldve seen more of you, you sassy minx.

I arrived to Montenegro today after hitting Dubrovnik which was one of my favourite experiences so far, more on that in a future post.

My phone is not fixed, and internet here is snails on the computer but I have some workarounds (thank you Lenny for the PSP, you are a beauty).

My friend Natalie flies in tomorrow so I’m stoked to see her and chill for the next week!

I also want to say hey to my workmates, I can’t access email to harass any of you anymore but know that I would if I could. Thinking of y’all back home, hopefully you’re enjoying the warm sea breezes and warm waters.. Oh wait. Ha hahaaa. Just kidding, please let me have a job when I get back.

New Media Man battles technology in Sarajevo

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The only photo on my phone. I am not implying anything.

I am very used to technology failing. I think I’m pretty good at troubleshooting and problem solving due to all the times I’ve had computers work in a way they shouldn’t, hell my degree was basically how not to crash a program every 5 minutes while making pretty pictures. Well a new wrench has been thrown at my gear, err, gears. My phone uses separate servers to route email and its messaging service through. That stopped working a few days ago. No big deal, I can still use the internet. Today, after visiting the site of Franz Ferdinand’s first concert which sparked WWI or something, my phone stopped recognizing the SD card. I have no access to music or the photos, videos I’ve been taking on my phone. Ok no big deal, I am pretty sure I can recover them once I’m back home. However now I can’t even save photos to the internal memory. That’s no good.

I’ve been in contact with my mobile carrier but there’s only so much they can do via email, and I’m not interested in spending $2/min via payphone to get it sorted (no guarantees). So this is kind of a bummer. I liked just posting photos here and writing a little blurb, it was quick and easy. If I can’t get this sorted I will have to resort to just text, but it won’t be as often. Text sucks. Pictures mo’ bettah. Fingers crossed my phone deals with its daddy issues and cools its shit.

World War III

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Pocitelj a Medieval Town

view from the bank which was used as a sniper tower

An incredible couple days in Mostar. I ended up staying another night to join this highly rated tour organized through the hostel. 12 hours of touring later and I am thrilled I stayed! I learned so much and about how messed up this war was, which what the locals refer to as WWIII. Went swimming under waterfalls, visited a village which was overshadowed by a monstrous cave and enjoyed herb and flower drinks (non-alcohol, I was good) prepared by a local woman and much more. Truly one of the highlights of my trip, I would recommend it to everyone. Early train to Sarajevo tomorrow so signing off!

Mostar

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The Old Bridge

Made it to Mostar today and it is another complete change from Croatia. Bus ride aside, its a very different feeling place with a vast but also painful history that I will be learning more about tomorrow. Unfortunately the tour which I was aiming on catching doesn’t run while I’m here, but you learn a lot just wandering through the town. Bosnia vs. Slovakia is on right now and the streets are packed around the pub TVs, its quite a sight!

My First Regret

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There comes a time in every mans life where he wishes he could’ve done more. Where he replays the same thing in his head over and over. And that thing for me is WHY DIDN’T I BOOK MORE THAN ONE NIGHT HERE!? On top of the fact that I may have to take the 6:30 catamaran tomorrow morning which will be negative fun. Hvar has its arms open waiting for me to run in and be swept away into glorious fun time land. I’ve made some decisions in my life before. Some smart, most dumb, and this one falls into the latter camp.

View from the hostel

So long Split

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Bummed around today, and felt like I’ve seen everything I wanted to. Off to Hvar tomorrow, a little island an hour away and then Mostar, Bosnia on Wednesday! After this little hotspot relaxation I’m ready to hit the road again.

from the Bell Tower in Old Town

Split

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This is a great city, beautiful weather and water. The sun has given me the old one-two so I’m soaking myself in lotion. I have another two nights here and then its off to Hvar for a night, which is an island 20 mins away. I ended up not going to Trogir, I bussed through there and although its beautiful, I’m feeling like just kicking it here and taking it easy.

promenade near old town

Packing tips

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I’ve officially been on the road for 2 weeks and since I’m on a bus I have some time to give packing tips. Although I think I’m getting worse, my bag seems fuller than it did when I started..

I may add things to this post as I remember them. And don’t complain about the lack of list organization, I normally charge hundreds for my advice. Embrace it.

This is what I brought:
3x pants (2 stain/wrinkle resistant grandpa slacks and 1 pair of raw denim (take up less room))
2x shorts
3x tshirts
1x longsleeve (very thin)
1x oxford shirt (doesn’t look too bad when all wrinkly)
2x gun show exhibitions (man tanks)
4x skivvies
4x socks
Cable with lock (small TSA bag lock with cable used for lockers and can tether my bag to the bed if necessary — not a lock and key one, don’t want to lose the key)
Combination lock for bigger lockers
2 outlet adapters for the countries I’m visiting and I actually picked up a voltage converter as well with adapters built in. Very handy and protects my electronics.
Travel insurance – probably a good idea. Print off copies and store them in your wallet, bag, wherever
Make sure to call your credit card company and inform them of your travels
CDN flag patches – Gotta rep my country with pride! (The glue on ones don’t stick too well, I sewed mine on afterward)
Pack of cards is a good way to pass the time/drinking games
Check for any vaccinations you might need
Shoes – I wish I had a nicer pair/casual for nights out but I don’t want to haul them around at all
1x flip flops for shower
1x sandals – might be redundant but its MY LIFE OK
Small first aid kit – very happy I have this, within two weeks I’ve cut my feet twice
Dry-fast pack towel – it folds up into nothing
Cinch bags – helps separate my things. One for chargers, cables, etc. One for health stuff (wipes, first aid), one for little electronic things (SD cards, flashlight, etc), and one to separate my underoos and socks
Money belt – I keep copies of passport, travel insurance and my credit card in here. Some sketchier places I’ve put my passport in there, but when I go out I leave my passport locked up. Some say to keep it with you at all times but my issue is when I go out and happen to go to the beach or wherever, then its nice to know you’re not leaving it in the open
Small day pack – there was a pic of this one from the post a week ago. Very handy when out being a super tourist SD Cards for camera
Extra camera battery
Hand sanitizer
Universal Sink Plug – use one of those rubber jar opener – thanks dad for that one (this can be used for washing clothes)
Baby wipes – because I’m a baby and I like to stay clean
Imodium or some other preventative porcelain-crushing drug
As said before make copies of your passport, both soft and hard.
Check if your bank offers free international withdrawal from ATMs. I got one with my bank. As well as change your PIN to a 4 digit code if you haven’t
Plastic bags are invaluable. You can store wet things, dry things, soft things, hard things, big things, small things. Seriously supeeeer handy. A guy I met separated his groups of clothes in plastic bags, makes it easy to find your things!
Garbage bags
Rain poncho

Some tips:

Roll your clothes like you roll a towel. It saves space and they won’t wrinkle as bad

Try to be consistent in where you put your things, makes it easy to find them and pack up.

Don’t put things in the paper bills part of your wallet. Its a good way to lose a postcard that many friends have signed and a train ticket to Zagreb. For example.

The only things I wish I brought are:

A jacket/warmer shirt/light sweater or jumper as the brits say (seriously they’ve colonized every hostel I’ve been at. So so cheeky)

Painkillers/cold meds – I’m fighting through the last part of a cold, thankfully the first day I was sick I was bunked up with two German pharmacists who hooked me up with strange medicine that worked! Sorry mom for accepting drugs from strangers 🙁
Now I’m slogging back delicious Croatian cough syrup. This stuff tastes like green tea. Delicious.

Sunscreen I swear has been the most expensive purchase of my travels, it rivals my plane tickets. Croatians apparently don’t burn like a paper-white bearded Canadian vampire. I’m glad I don’t either. Though it wouldve been good to bring some with me.

That’s all I can think of for now. Enjoy some pics from Zadar 🙂

P.S. I miss granola bars.

uncle Owen and Aunt Beru live here now

Breakfast by the Adriatic

Near the Sea Organs, solar powered light show