A Moving Experience
After deciding to meet the ladies from Sydney we found ourselves in Bosnia a country that was ravaged by war not more than 12 years ago. The scars are still very visible with bullet holes riddling a frighteningly large proportion of the houses and buildings around the country. En route to the capital we stopped overnight in the town of Mostar which is reknowned for its old bridge Stari Most which was rebuilt after the war as a symbol of peace, progress and hope for the Bosnian people. Turns out the whole area around the bridge is a beautiful cobblestone town with nice restaurants souvenir shops. Touristy but nice. On the night we were there we happened to come across a big rock concert under the bridge put on by Heineken which was pretty cool. It interesting seeing the Bosnian youth release their angst, basically it was like a Bosnian "Shoreshocked" with a killer venue.
The next morning we walked into our hostel to find two sleeping beauties waiting for us with mad bed hair. Meeting the girls in the beautiful city of Sarajevo was another unexpected suprise on my trip which turned out to be great. We did some solid catching up and sharing of travel tales, the girls having come from Bulgaria and Turkey, followed by some city exploring before an awesome home cooked dinner (Briony is a Spaghetti god!) and then some solid drinking at a nice bar in town. We happened to come across an Austrian Thai-kick boxer who was having one of his 2 drinking nights for the year so he forced round upon round on us and picked up the tab. He was a hilarious dude, telling us about loose women in Austria, his insane training regimen and even gave Briony a nice compliment about her ass (in a non sleazy way).
The next day proved to be one to remember as we took the recommended tour of Bosnia by a man called Soni, who was a teenager in Sarajevo during the war. He took us to the famous tunnel museum, sniper hill and a great lookout over the city. But what was really emotional was when we sat down in a park overlooking the valley of Sarajevo and he told us the story of his city's tragic history. Like a lot of peoplem Sarajevo and Bosnia were just names I would hear on TV or see in the newspaper, but to be there and have someone as eloquent and humane as Sonni explain what happened adding personal accounts and stories was very moving indeed. People cried as he told the story of his people and everyone was touched by the accounts of heroism and endurance. That night when we were out drinking I said to him that today was a special day for me; he laughed (somewhat at me) and said "It was very normal day for me!" before I left feeling slightly humiliated... but a great guy none the less.
The next morning we walked into our hostel to find two sleeping beauties waiting for us with mad bed hair. Meeting the girls in the beautiful city of Sarajevo was another unexpected suprise on my trip which turned out to be great. We did some solid catching up and sharing of travel tales, the girls having come from Bulgaria and Turkey, followed by some city exploring before an awesome home cooked dinner (Briony is a Spaghetti god!) and then some solid drinking at a nice bar in town. We happened to come across an Austrian Thai-kick boxer who was having one of his 2 drinking nights for the year so he forced round upon round on us and picked up the tab. He was a hilarious dude, telling us about loose women in Austria, his insane training regimen and even gave Briony a nice compliment about her ass (in a non sleazy way).
The next day proved to be one to remember as we took the recommended tour of Bosnia by a man called Soni, who was a teenager in Sarajevo during the war. He took us to the famous tunnel museum, sniper hill and a great lookout over the city. But what was really emotional was when we sat down in a park overlooking the valley of Sarajevo and he told us the story of his city's tragic history. Like a lot of peoplem Sarajevo and Bosnia were just names I would hear on TV or see in the newspaper, but to be there and have someone as eloquent and humane as Sonni explain what happened adding personal accounts and stories was very moving indeed. People cried as he told the story of his people and everyone was touched by the accounts of heroism and endurance. That night when we were out drinking I said to him that today was a special day for me; he laughed (somewhat at me) and said "It was very normal day for me!" before I left feeling slightly humiliated... but a great guy none the less.
posted by Dave Tran at 9:38 AM
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