In Transit (An Email)

I caught an early morning bus from Sofia to Skopje, capital of the tiny (but surprisingly beautiful) country of Macedonia. Then from Skopje it was on to Ohrid, the, uh, "jewel in Macedonia's crown" (not my words.)

Here's the email I wrote during my bus ride from Skopje (yes, my Macedonian bus had wi-fi.)  

"Today was a transportation day, so not much in the way of sightseeing - so I'll just make three observations:

I. All these different currencies are annoying, and I can't imagine how much worse it must have been 30 years ago. Also, the Euro is going up in value, and it's causing me stress. Also, it feels really weird withdrawing 5,000 anything from an ATM. 

II. Border crossings are also annoying, and I can't imagine how much worse it must have been 30 years ago.

III. Middle-aged Bulgarian shopkeepers are annoying - and, generally speaking, ugly - and I can't imagine how much worse... Well, never mind.

Anyways, I got to Skopje with about 90 minutes to spare before the connecting bus to Ohrid. Time enough, maybe, to walk around the city a little bit and possibly take a few pictures. Unfortunately, no matter which door I tried to leave the bus station from, I immediately found myself swarmed by taxi drivers wanting to drive me somewhere; anywhere. And then it started pouring rain, and thundering, and lightning.

So I just ended up waiting in the station. Boohoo, etc.

Now that I'm on the bus, though, I'm enjoying watching the rain-soaked streets pass by. There are quite a few statues, a big cool looking fortress (Kale Fortress?), lots of crumbling apartment buildings, a turbulent river, a big cross on a hill above the city, and - oh my goodness! One Direction is coming to Skopje next month!!1!!11

Waking Up

It's 5:45 in the morning and a car horn blasts outside the under-insulated walls of our hotel. Various birds begin to make their morning noises.

Then the call to prayer starts somewhere nearby. And then another one starts, and then another. And they all move at a slightly different rhythm, so it quickly becomes quite the experience in musical polyphony.

Even though the beds are a bit hard and narrow and the single pillow is woefully insufficient, I already got a good 9 hours of sleep. So I have no choice but to lie back and enjoy the sounds of the neighborhood waking up. 

Let the journey begin...