Took an overnight bus from Belgrade to Sarajevo (10.25pm – 5.30am, 20 Euros). I was late and have to catch the bus after the bus left the platform.

Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia with a population of 500,000. There is another capital called Banja Luka which is the capital of Republika Srpska. Republika is kind of like a Serb territory inside Bosnia.

Sarajevo is one of the most historically interesting cities in Europe. It is the place where the Western & Eastern Roman Empire split; where the people of the Roman Catholic west, Eastern Orthodox east and the Ottoman south, met, lived and warred

Arrived at the smaller bus station at the west part of the city at 5.30am. Took a bus from the small bus station at New Sarajevo to the main bus/train station in the city.

Got the schedules of train and busses then took tram 1 to the old town. Found a place to store my bag for 5 Euros because I was not sure if I will be staying there for a night yet.

Old town

Chess Player

Met 2 other Chinese guys at a mosque and we hang out together. There are working in Turkey and came for a short break.
The corner beside this bridge is the catalyst for world war I where the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assacinated.

With my new travel mates

Since we covered pretty much the old city by walking, I decided to take the overnight train at 10.25pm to Sarajevo (46.20 Bosnia Mark, around 23 Euros)

The NATO bombing during the Kosovo War in 1999 caused substantial damage to the city. A few bombed buildings are still standing.

Biggest Orthodox Church in the world

The republic square which is just right beside Knez Mihajlova – one of the most popular pedestrian streets in Belgrade

Danube and Sava river cross

Met a lady at the fortress. She told me that she works for the Kuwaiti embassy and mentioned that there is a Malaysian embassy that just opened so I decided to drop by. Met the friendly ambassador, Zalinah at the embassy.
Malaysian Embassy

Karl, Milan (middle) my host and Malwina

Visited the new Belgrade which has blocks and blocks of communist style buildings. In most ex communist countries, the New city usually means the area which the communist built. The road in new Belgrade is wide and spacious. All buildings here look the same. There is a big chinese market there at Block 70. I decided to check it out, but surprisingly it is close on Tuesday. I thought Chinese work everyday. Met a few Chinese guys and they shared some of their experiences. There are many small shops here but the look might be deceiving because they only do wholesale, and the revenue for each day is above a million Serbian pounds.

Old Communist Style buildings in New Belgrade

Chinese Market

Went to the Serbian embassy early today, I was second in line. Got my transit visa (22 Euros) after some questioning.

Decided to visit Belgrade as well since I have the visa now. Got on the 1.10pm (23 Euros) bus to Belgrade. Belgrade is just around 440km away but the bus took 8 hours.
On the border, I saw the immigration officer took my passport to a room and I thought there were some issues with my visa. Later I found out that they canceled the Kosovo stamp on my passport because Serbians still think Kosovo is part of Serbia.

Kosovo stamp annulled.

Skopje has a population of around 500,000 and the city is quite small, you can walk across the city in less than 40 minutes. A quarter of the country’s population live here.After achieved independence from Yugoslavia 18 years ago the country is still trying develop its economy. Macedonia is still a poor country, monthly average salary here is around 300 Euros. Macedonian is a pretty diverse country, with Albanian, Macedonians, Turks, Serbs and Gypsies living here. Majorities are Christian orthodox but there are many Muslims too.

Market selling all kinds of pepper

Mosque

Museum

Church

Went to Shupka, (bus 19 o 20). Shupka is the largest gypsy neighborhood in the world. People are quite nice there and I noticed people here stare at me a lot, probably not many Asians here.

The market in Shutka

My next destination is supposed to be Sarajevo, Bosnia but I found out that the bus will pass by Serbia and I will need a visa to go through Serbia. Another way is to go to Montenegro first, I thought I won’t need a visa to Montenegro but then I found out I need a visa too. Since it’s a Sunday, I just have to stay one more night at Skopje. Usually, I prefer to take overnight ride but I guess not this time.

Spent the morning visiting the historical museum in Tirana (100 Lek for student). Surprisingly, there are a lot of stuffs in the museum with history from the Neolithic period all the way to Albania independence and communism but the explanation is in Albanian.

I was deciding if I should go to Skopje, Macedonia or Prishtina first. On the map, Skopje looks closer to Tirana but the bus ride takes more time (9 hours vs 6 hours, Prishtina to Skopje takes 2 hours I heard). So I guess the road to Prishtina is better and I heard that it’s easier to get to Sarajevo from Skopje too. So my plan is to Prishtina, Skopje then Sarajevo. There is no central bus station in Tirana and bus leaves from a particular location and the ticket office. Took the 3pm bus to Prishtina, Kosovo (15 Euros, 6 hours bus ride).

From the last census, 70% of Albanian population are muslim but people here are not religious at all, probably because of communism few decades ago. There is not many mosques and no one wears the Burqhas on the street. Took the 3pm bus (15 Euro) to Prishtina.

On the road

Arrived Pristina at 9.30pm. Pristina is the capital city of Kosovo. Kosovo is the newest country and the self-declared independent state is recognized by 62 countries so far. Serbia still does not recognise the secession of Kosovo and considers it a United Nations-governed entity within its sovereign territory.

After the Kosovo War and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the territory came under the interim administration of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), most of whose roles were assumed by the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) in December 2008.

The bus station is at the south eastern part of the city. Usually I avoid taking cab but since it’s raining, dark and the hostel is around 3km away, so I took a cab to the Professor Guesthouse. This is the only hostel in Pristina. Got a single room (15 Euros since dorm beds were full).

Next day,

Library of Pristina University

The city

New born country

Kosovo is new and still trying hard to get other countries to recognize them. These are countries that recognize Kosovo so far.

Met a German guy at the bus station and he speaks much better Indonesian/Malay than me. He put me to shame.

Took the 3pm bus to Skopje (5 Euro), the bus already left the platform and luckily I managed to catch the bus. The trip to Skopje from Pristina is just around 85km but the bus took 2.5 hours. Arrived Skopje around 5.30pm and it’s still raining. Tried finding my way to Art Hostel but someone gave me a wrong direction so I went to Hostel Hostel instead (8 Euro).

Met a Belgian and a Serbian at the hostel and we went to a club which played electronic music.

I though it sounded just like techno but they disagreed.
Steve and Milosh

Arrived at Sarande 5am in the morning, Albania is an hour behind. Took another 6.30am bus to Tirana. Tirana is only about 230km from Sarande but the bus took 7 hours. Albania is a hilly country.

The bus to Tirana took a while because the road is not that developed. So in total, I spent 17 hours on the bus.

Tirana is the capital of Albania with a population of around 800k. Spent 2 hours walking around the city before found the Backpacker hostel (12 Euro).

There are not many tourists in Albania and I think there are only 3 hostels.

The Historical Museum

Skanderbeg Square (The Opera, National History Museum, Mosque, clock tower and the statue of Albanian hero Skanderbeg, stands in the square)

Albanian money is called Lek, 1USD=91Lek. Things here much cheaper than Athens. Ate a lot of Soulaqe (Gyros, 100Lek) and ice cream (30Lek) today. Then met Edrin, an Albanian friend for a drink at night.

Finally got on my 3.55am flight and arrived at Athens at 6.30am in the morning. Yeah!
There are many foreign workers in Athens. Waited for an hour in line for immigration. Got in into EU quite easily, the immigration officer didn’t ask any questions at all.
[mappress]

Took the metro (6 Euro) to the city and checked in to the Aphrodite Hostel (14 Euro) which is close to the Larisis metro stop. After cleaning up, started another full day of sight seeing in this historical city.

Walked to Omonia which has many shops and is close by the acropolis.

Athens meat market

The changing of the guards in Athens was unique

Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus

Parthenon at the Acropolis

Theater

Piraeus (A port city in West Athens, with boats to Italy and the greek islands.)

The Acropolis Museum

Athens Olympic Village

Next day,

Tried to get a ticket to Tirana, Albania. Went to a bus station behind Larissi train station but wasn’t able to get a ticket. I thought the guy said that all tickets were sold but later I found out that there is no bus to Tirana on Tuesday.

Bus schedule in Greek (no bus on Tuesday and Wednesday)

Met Maria and she showed me around Athens. Tried Gyros (Souvlaki, 2 Euro) and Frappe (Greek ice coffee). Went to Gazi which is an area with many cafes.

Greece has a population of 11 millions but there were 17 millions tourists visited the country last year. There are also many immigrants from Africa and Asia in Greece. Greece is very touristy so things are not cheap here, especially with the weakening dollar. An average meal here cost around 8 Euros.

Since the route to Europe is a detour, I tried to travel faster. I decided to go back to Larissi bus station and took an overnight bus to Sarande (10 hours bus ride, 26 Euros), a town beside the beach at the southern part of Albania. From Sarande I can then take another bus to the capital city, Tirana.

Walked around the city center today, from Northeast London city center, Faringdon Station to South West London city center, Imperial College.

View Larger Map

I have a late lunch at a Buffet Thai vegetarian place (5.50 pounds). I love buffet..and that will be my meal for the day..haha.

Stop by Harrods, a pretty interesting shopping mall

A 5000 pounds cake, it’s not the weight, it’s how much it cost

Spent some time at Imperial College then checked out a couch surfing meeting London at Oxford St in the evening.

Joined a free London walking tour this morning. They have free tours at 11am and 4pm.

Met at Wellington Arch which is just beside Hyde Park metro stop.

Walked to Buckingham Palace

change of guards opposite St. James Park

The walking tour took 2.5 hours and passed by Pall Mall st., Trafalgar square, some Palaces and then Westminster.

Then took a train to cambridge at 2.45pm (20 pounds for 45 mins off peak same day return ticket). There is also another option of taking a bus which is cheaper (around 5 pounds) and slower (2 hours), I took the train because it’s late in the day and Cambridge is just around 80km away from London.

Train to Cambridge

Visited Wei Sing’s dorm and we went to Cambridge University Addenbrookes hospital for his training. While waiting, I took bus Uni 4 to west Cambridge where there are newer buildings for science and engineering.

Physics building

Took another bus to the city,

Cambridge University celebrates its 800 year anniversary this year. It’s one of the oldest university.

An old college

Met my old high school classmate ChinLik who is doing his Phd in neuroscience and we went for dinner.

With the 2 doctors.

Took the last train back to London at 11.20pm. Arrived at King Cross station around 12.30am then walked back to my aunt’s place which is not too far away.

It’s very nice for Wei Sing to take a train down from Cambridge to visit me and we walked around the city. Called up YingJie, a good friend of mine and we decided to meet at King Cross station. I have not see her for 7 years and she still look the same.

British Museum

British Library

Renae and Jay treated us at a good chinese restaurant famous for its roast duck. too bad I forgot to take a pic then..

Trafalgar Square

Big Lion at the square, there are 4 of this lion actually

Palace of Westminster Building