Traveling – Ontij

The Pros and Cons of Biking (and Public Transport) – Or: Shit, I have become a Berliner

It’s official. After 12,5 years in this city – with its wonderful public transport, that is, INSIDE the “Ring” – today I lost an important aspect of my dutchie-ness.

No, this is not the state of my own bike. It’s hasn’t been THIS unused (yet)

Wanted to see a gig in a nice location In Schöneweide/Lichtenberg. Outside the Ring. So, public transport is close tot non-existent after midnight.
So. I take my bike. 25 minute ride is nothing for a dutchie right?
No matter what weather conditions, right?

I DID get on my bike. Managed to get to Ostkreuz. Shitty rain, and fighting against the wind. Knowing I would have to bike for another 4km along a looong, straaaaight, road crossing an industrial park, and probably facing more wind straight in my face.

I turned around and went home… I actually turned around and went home.

Fck that Sht. I have become a Berliner. The kind of person who runs for the metro, even though the next one will be in 5 minutes. For whom the worst curse is “Schienersatzvekehr” (SEV, look it up…first page will be the Berlin Public Transport Company – BVG). Who efficiently waits on the platform there, where you know it will be closest to the exit when you get off. Who counts distances not in km, but in how far it is from the nearest metro station, and how many times you have to change trains. Who plans routes through the city by how many stairs you have to go up or down, not the fastest one, since there’s usually at least 5 ways to get anywhere.

Bikes in my Backyard.
Note the fact the snow heaps on the saddles are 20 cms or more.
No, you don’t ride your bike in Berlin Winters

There was a time I didn’t understand the question “till when do you bike?”
This has changed…
OMG.. this has changed…

I.. have.. been.. berlinerized…

Blurp – Trainwrecking

Dear “Life”,
by now, my reputation for causing huge technical problems with public transport is so bad, my friends and family actually try to avoid taking a train if they know I’m traveling.
But really.. letting a ship wreck a train bridge between two countries in such a way, it prolly won’t be rebuild until 2020 just to make sure I barely make it back home?? Yougottabekidding….

Blurp – Living dangerously

ok.. usually when people tell me I take too many risks (hiking alone in the mountains, firebreathing, hitchhiking in countries where I don’t speak the language, acrobatics and other physical exercise which require movements the body isn’t really meant to do), I jokingly point out, the biggest risks I take are crossing two busy streets on my way to work twice a day. That’s JOKINGLY.

Life-with-a-capital-L shouldn’t need to prove it. I’m very much aware of statistics, thankyouverymuch. Today on the way back from work I almost got hit by a car who ignored my pedestrian light being green (busy road 1), after a short ride in the metro I got hit by a bike without lights going in the opposite direction on the sidewalk (busy road 2).

Again, dear Life-with-a-capital L, please don’t take my jokes seriously?? You already did this too many times…

Impression – The Borders between the Balkan and Germany

Back home. Situation traveling on the way back from the Balkan to Germany. Crossing three borders – easy if you have the “right” papers and the “right” skin color.

Border Slovenia: a few 100 refugees, a LOT of cops, a LOT of press, and a LOT of volunteers. The volunteers (I saw cars with license plates from Bosnia, Croatia, Austria & England, FULL of blankets, food & drink, kid carriers and so on) were putting up tents.

I saw people with dreads and antifa-shirts working together with religious people. I saw people playing football with the refugees. A kid holding a huge yellow plastic ball.

Behind me in the bus sat a bosnian guy. When we were allowed to get out of the bus and wave our passports, he started talking to me in bosnian, with a sad face, looking to all the refugees that did not get through. When I told him I don’t speak bosnian, he simply looked at me and said “I’m a bosnian refugee”.

The border with Austria was empty. So were the border control stations on the german side. A few kilometer past the border btw.

And the crisis at the station in Munich? If there was any, it was caused by the 1.000s of visitors of the oktoberfest (in september, but anyway) in Lederhosen & dirndls…

But yah, glad I made it home…

(pics are here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207514489405216&set=a.10207385245814207.1073741842.1378531435&type=3&theater )

Impression – 6 Borders down, 3 to go

Zagreb, Croatia: 6 borders down, 3 to go. But they will be the hardest. Back in the EU, but since the membership states now are about to reinforce those oso open borders again.

Weird btw, I have to get used again to street lights, separate-your-waste-bins, five-lane streets, and shops which sell like at a least 10 brands of everything.

Didn’t miss these things the last few weeks. I rather realize a. there’s something like a Milky Way, b. it actually has colors :), c. can’t recognize the star signs since there are too many frikkin extra stars.

And I’ll miss falling asleep with the sound of waterfalls or rivers nearby, or waking up by the call for morning prayers, or the sound of nightly wild life sneaking around my sleeping place. Or bumping into a lynx (!) And the coffee won’t be that good, and I won’t taste yet another variant of fried cheese.

But the things I’ll miss the most are the general gentleness, friendliness & hospitality of random people I have met. I left bosnia with a vitamin overdose of all the fruit I got on the way, from the figs & grapes from the guy who gave me a lift to Mostar, the prunes from the bus station chef in Foca, the apples everywhere but most specially from the family who gave me a ride in Una park, and all the self-baked bread & cake (and baklava, or some local variant of crunchy pancakes filled with apples honey, MJUM) people put on a plate, in a bag or simply into my hand. My pockets are filled with telephone numbers of people I met when they gave me a ride, on the streets, in the buses, or hiking, all inviting me to stay at their place the next time.

Again, the rougher the landscape, the nicer the people (and unfortunately, as I found out by hitchhiking from Sarajevo, or in Sanski Most, the softer the landscape, the harder and more egoistic the people….)

Impression – Traveling: Small Town, Big Problems

Happy to leave Sanski Most behind me. Weird little town, full of big city problems. And I felt like the bone the dogs were fighting about. The only thing the dogs agreed upon was that it was not a tourist-friendly place (no kidding…) and there’s a lot of corruption. & since the waterfall was still another 20km away, skip it, next year, at it will be a day trip from the city where I am now.

Last stop in Bosnia is Prijedor. Here the people are utterly friendly again, the people at the train station loved how I tried my few bosnian words, and I could leave my backpack in the office for free to explore the town for the 5 hours I had to kill to catch the train to Zagreb. Where you can’t get the bosnian coffee anymore and no cats on the terraces, but the best espresso. And some strange pear drink, which is utterly tasteful, but also attracts a LOT of wasps…

Rant – Crossing Borders

Three weeks with bad internet connection. So three weeks without real “news”. Now, in the notsocheapmotel, I’m reading up…

Three week ago, I though I would be traveling against the stream of refugees taking the dangerous Balkan route. Well… I did. After the closing of the border of Hungary, I expected many refugees would try to go over Montenegro & Bosnia, but there weren’t as many as I expected.

But from tomorrow, I will join that stream. Though with a valid ticket. And with the “right” papers and the “right” color of skin. The worst I can expect is a traffic jam near the german-austrian border and I might miss the last train back home. But I won’t have to jump that train, or walk over the border. And I will “pass” any border controls.

I was thinking of going back for a longer period to help out in Serbia.

However, I’m also catching up with the mails of my friends volunteering in the giveaway shop and the foodsharing, One of the reports I read was from one of my colleagues now volunteering in the “Jungle” in Calais…

But I’m afraid I won’t need to travel to help out. There’s a lot of support needed, both in people as well as in goods, for those who have actually made it. One of the mails I read was about a group of 20+ minors (between 15 and 18) stuck in some sort of “vacation village” without any kind of support, not from the government, not from NGOs, and only 2 volunteers. Those kids only have summer clothing, one of them has no shoes, there’s no medical help, and two of them are seriously ill….

Nope. I won’t have to travel. Damn you Fortress Europe.

Blurp – Traveling – a short stop over in Bihac, Bosnia

Sitting on a terrace in Bihac, with a view on the turquoise, deep & utterly clear waters of the Una river. Sipping Bosnian coffee, and of course there’s a cat 🙂

People here are almost scarily friendly here, I can plugin my laptop, and well… I will prolly leave Bosnia with a fruit overdose.

The Bus to Sanski Most leaves at 15:15. The bus driver already packed my backpack with 3 weeks of dirty laundry inside, and since I couldn’t find a place to stay by the internet, he will arrange a room for me 🙂 Pity the bus will prolly arrive too late to hike to the waterfall in Sanski Most (2 hour hike, bus will be in the town at 17:30), and tomorrow it will rain… Plus, I need to be in Prijedor at the latest at 16:30 to catch the last, last, last possible train to Zagreb…

But I already had such a huge amount of beautiful nature here.

Impressions – Una National Park, Bosnia

Forget Plitivice. Here’s Una National Park. And hardly anyone around.

Utterly btw, I could do two waterfalls today, thx to almost EVERY car stopping when I was hiking & give me a lift. Really, it seems the rougher the landscape, the nicer the people 🙂 Including a guy bringing his really old, gold-toothed mum home, a young Saudi family, she was completely covered up, but started video-ing at the moment they stopped & asked me if I needed a lift (bye bye privacy 🙂 ), a little van with husband and wife who just came from fruit picking, so I now have ANOTHER kilo of apples to eat, the owner of a new campsite near this waterfall, a friend of the ranger (ok, he was friends of almost anyone we drove past..) and.. and.. and… I will leave this trip with a vitamine overdose.. I still haven’t finished the grapes and figs I got in Mostar.

Last big hike: Una Park in Bosnia, near the border with Croatia. On the croatian side, there’s Plitvice Lakes, lots of tourists. Here, hardly anyone…

Hiked towards Martin Brod, the southmost village in the park, and about 10 km walk in almost 40 degrees and no shadow. Again, proof, the rougher the landscape, the friendlier the people. Almost immediately got a ride from a man bringing his gold-toothed mom home, and a few km further, from a saudi family (and she making vids of me the whole time)…

Started walking around Martin Brod, a village just simply teeming with smaller and bigger waterfalls EVERYwhere. Got another ride back to where I slept in Kulen Vakuf. On both sides of the village there’s old Ottoman forts (like everywhere near the river) but it was just to frikkin hot to hike up that hill. So I decided to try for another waterfall.

Thx to another ride, of a local couple in a van full of freshly picked fruit (got another 2 kilos of apples), I made it to Ocasan, a village 20km north of Kulen Vakuf, with another Ottoman ruin, and the biggest waterfall nearby. The waterfall was supposed to be ca. 6km from Ocasan. There was supposed to be a hiking trail, but.. I didn’t SEE the trail, neither did I see any signs pointing out to it, so I kept following the maybe longer off-road along the river.

And though I was afraid I wouldn’t make it before dark, and certainly not back before dark, hiking along the river to Strbacki Buk waterfalls was frikkin 100% worth it. The Una River is blue blue blue blue. Locals kept telling me the waterfall was 3km away, and again 3km, and again. Luckily I got another ride from a local camping owner (who complained his camping site stayed so empty.)

Walk along the Una River. Listen to the sound coming from the hills on the other side of the river: that’s not a dog. When I came here, I saw my first glimpse of a wild lynx (omg, they are BIG cats). On the trail next to the river were signs, “watch it, bears crossing”. Guess no car could survive a collapse with a bear (pity I didn’t take pics of that sign). And I know there are wolves.. But maybe it is “just” a fox? Dunno what sounds they make. Later on, someone told me it was probably a deer in heat.

Hiking back from Strbacki Buk waterfalls (try to pronounce it… took me quite a few tries, prolly lost the skill by now), I got company from another doggie showing the way. And got another ride back all the way to the main road. To view the sun slowly setting over the old town in Ocasan.. and just on my way to Kulen Vakuf, I got another spontaneous ride (this time, I did not see a lynx, like yesterday). To arrive in Kulen Vakuf just to see the sun set over the fort (with the moon sickle above it) and the river..

At the guest house where I was the only guest, and the lady didn’t speak english (my bosnian is very slowly improving…) I told where I hiked today. The conclusion was I obviously was in need of a lot of calories :). And got crunchy pancake is filled with honey, nuts & apples and very yummy.

Impression – Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (Reprise)

Had to get up early to start hitchhiking, since the people at the bus station in Sarajevo told me it would take me over 16 hours by bus to get to Bihac, which is like a 5 hour drive. They told me there was no direct connection between Sarajevo & Bihac, and only way to get there was to get another bus in Jajce, and I would have to leave Sarajevo at 7:30, and arrive at 22:00 in Bihac).

So I decided to take some local transport to just outside of Sarajevo & start hitchhiking. After all, I had such wonderful experiences in Montenegro and the east of Bosnia.

Well.. 3 rides later, of each 20km or less, and 3 guys trying to grab me or otherwise being sexist assholes, I arrived in Visoko. Where there are two roads leading out of the town going northwest, and all the time the locals telling me “wrong road” & I went to the other, where again I heard “wrong road”..

After one hour of walking back& forth, and meeting the local hippie (nice guy btw), who told me he never saw hitchhikers in this part of the country, I decided to give up after one more annoying guy bringing me to Kakanj and, while standing there near the (right) road, some idiot doing rounds in his car around me.

Ok, 100% idiots, plus another idiot checking on me all the time, there’s risks I take, and risks I don’t. Time to find the bus station. And guess. There ARE direct buses between Sarajevo and Bihac. And they only take 6 hours. So far for getting the right information from the people from the Sarajevo Bus Station… Ah well.. at least I will arrive in Bihac.

Though again the people from the bus station itself were utterly friendly, also in Kakanj, where I had to wait 5 hours, I magically attracted all the males thinking with their underbellies. Happy to get on the bus, where I met a NICE older musician speaking german, who lived in Travnik, and I had the usual experience of getting lots of local info, someone being proud of his town, and an invite, which I turned down, since I still wanted to make it to Bihac. Poor guy, because of the not so nice experiences I had that day, I almost didn’t trust him…. Oh, btw, pf course I drank a lot more bosnian coffee while waiting ;).

So, except for not seeing the waterfall near Sanski Most, everything will be alright :).

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