Epic Joyage

A few things:

-Kel and I have decided we are horrible backpackers. First of all, we don't have legit backpacks--we're travelling around with a school-size backpack and a laptop backback, respectively. Our hostelmates without fail have legit, backpacking backpacks. Second, unlike many of the other backpackers in our hostels, we're in bed by ridiculous-o-clock early, because we're usually exhausted from travelling/staying warm/climbing citadels. Third, we have a bad habit of just showing up in a city, and looking for a hostel once we get out of the bus/train station. Thus we end up like last night, when our train got in to Bucharest after 9, we started walking towards a hostel, got lost, had to take a cab (which ripped us off by a factor of 3, but the end total was still under $5), found that hostel dark and shut down, and took another cab to another hostel. That cab got really ridiculously lost, and we ended up having to call the hostel owner for directions in Romanian before finally showing up at 11:30pm, hoping they actually had rooms. Luckily, winter is most definitely the off season for this region, so they had beds. The last way (for now) that we are just bad backpackers is our choice of time to go voyaging: these areas are clearly set up for summer tourists, generally, and most backpackers come through Eastern Europe once it's not iced over. Oh well... We add our own distinctive flair to our travelling.

-Mishaps so far: I lost my phone yesterday in Bucharest, presumably to a pickpocket. I'm really more unhappy about losing the number than the phone. Kel was grazed by a car this morning, also in Bucharest (don't worry parents and Grandma, she is fine). She stepped into the second part of a 2-median road without looking in the right direction, and a car clipped her with its rearview mirror. Luckily, the car saw her and was braking, and her 4 layers of coats/shirts took away most of the force, so she pretty much was just grazed and scared the living daylights out of both me and the driver, who stopped and got out to yell at us in Romanian. I have spent the rest of the day making sure she looks both ways.

-Both Bulgaria and Romania love love love American pop music. Particularly Katy Perry's "I kissed a girl". I think we hear it at least 3-4 times a day, usually interspersed by Rihanna. Some of these songs I've never heard before, because I'm a square and don't follow new music and such.

-There is a ridiculous Turkish influence here, mostly apparent in food, vocabulary, and traditional music. They've got the same soups, stuffed dishes, stews, and other traditional foods. There are a noticeable few Turkish words in Bulgarian and in Romanian, although not really enough for me to get by speaking Turkish. And the traditional music is verry similar, played with the same instruments and occasionally the same melodies. Of course, the Bulgarians and Romanians will vehemently deny it, as there's still quite a bit of resentment for the Turkish invaders here, even though they were Ottoman and centuries ago. Some things take awhile to change...

On that note, we have a train to catch, so I'll update from another computer, in another country. Hopefully a warmer country.... We think we'll be heading from Belgrade to Sarajevo, then out to the coast to Mostar, Split, Dubrovnik, and points south. Of course, we change our plans nearly every day, so we'll see what happens...
kib,
-R