I am not that into nightlife when I am on assignment overseas, meaning I missed the nightlife in Kosovo last time, but this time, I know I need to make some time for the nights in Prishtina.

I would have to say drinking and dining out in Prishtina are reasonably cheap. In Prishtina, finding a €1 beer has no difficulty at all and if you are a female, the chance you are given free drinks is pretty high, but please beware of any suspicious people/drink as if you are in your own country. Common sense applies everywhere.

 

There was one night, we, the backpackers from hostel, all went to a party. Right after the party, I was too drunk to remember when and where exactly our group found a supermarket trolley. We "drove" the trolley all the way from the city centre to our hostel. I remember we met some policemen and workmen during the way back to hostel but no one stopped us. The policemen even requested photos with us...

I also remember several of us climbed up the NEWBORN and shouted loudly like a drunk chav. All I got on the next day, was a bit dehydration, some stupid photos on my phones and a few bruises on my knees and arms.

What a night in Prishtina!

I missed the Bill Clinton Statue in Prishtina somehow, just saying.

Can't remember since when exactly I developed an idea to visit Kosovo every year. I have a desire to visit Kosovo from time to time...I always feel like there is some sort of connection between me and this place since I first learnt about its name from TV news when I was a kid. This is just like some girls are so obsessed with Paris with no reason. Never mind, I am a nerd and this explains everything.

After a 2-hour bus ride from Mitrovica, I arrived in the Prishtina major bus terminal. Unlike last time, there is no photo assignment no tripod no multiple cameras in my pack this time, I am with a light backpack only. I walked all my way to city centre from bus station, without the help of taxi or any mean of public transportation. This 20-minute walk made me felt like I knew the city well. (Sounds creepy, I know.)

On my way to city centre

Nice statue on the roof of Hotel Victory! Oh wait, this isn't USA?

It has been only 10 months passed from my last visit in Prishtina, I can really notice the city is changing in a rapid way.

NEWBORN is painted in foreign flags!

Don't foresee the places for Greece and Spain will be painted in short term

This was taken in 2012, the flags are all gone, guess those were temporary decoration.

The same "old thing" still happened to me is, creepy guys from street tried to offer me free sex. "Not discounted but free instead? Wait! Do I really look like a sex tourist who travels half around the globe to buy sex from a random guy in Prishtina?" I asked myself. I discussed this matter with several female solo travellers I met in the hostel and found out I wasn't the only one who received this type of harassment among the group.

I have been asked couples of time by random guys "Can you kiss me for one time?" in Prishtina. I am not sure if that is an inside joke or just a local clique. I asked help from a hostel staff and a Canadian female traveller. We tried to google "kiss me for one time" but found nothing special. Mystery remains mystery.

We tend to believe those were just some random creepy guys who intended to sexual harass foreign female traveller. Anyway,  "Welcome back to Prishtina." I told myself.

 Departure - early morning bus leaving Belgrade for Mitrovica, a city in northern Kosovo

The bus ride was about 6 hours and there was no passport control point all the way. It stopped at the northern side of the city and the driver kindly told me if I wished to continue my journey to Prishtina, I shall go to bus station in the south. I wasn't surprise at all, because the bus belonged to a Serbian bus company.

Mitrovica is "divided" by Ibar river, Serbs mainly stay in the north side and the Kosovo Albanians  remains in the south. The New Ibar Bridge becomes an ironic landmark of this divided city.

 Unplated cars can be easily found in the north, including some taxis on the main road....

May not be that politically correct by certain people's standard

 I don't understand the exact content but the "не" and "Бојкот" messages are pretty clear. I am missing the context only. I guessed these posters were related to the upcoming election in Kosovo.

New Ibar Bridge - Entrance from the northern side has been blocked for quite some time but a narrow side way for pedestrian is created recently (see the far right side of this picture)

The northern entrance becomes an open fruit market during the day

Serbian flag flying in the northern side and vehicles are used to block the northern entrance of the bridge

Crossing the bridge

 By seeing the KFOR patrol jeeps on the Bridge, I could really feel the tension.

 Abandoned UN office in the south

 An new sports centre, funded by EU, is on its way

Young men hanging out in group (but more like checking out who is on the street)

The Mos in the south, buses going to other major Kosovo cities can be found nearby

I stayed in Mitrovica for 2 days only and found the local were way too friendly than I expected. There was once a young police drove to me and wished to offer me a free ride on his police car. Well, I would never expect to have a free ride on a police car in any country and I rejected his kind offer.

And there was a time I went into an convenient store and was given a free bottle of water by the owner (and of course some photo times with his family). On the same day, I was even given free chocolate candies by a random teenage boy in restaurant. Sounds odd but these little cute things surely made my general impression of Mitrovica (both northern and southern sides) a very positive one.

The overnight train from Budapest to Belgrade took about 8 hours in total and I survived from that. The ticket that costed me €20EUR was bought just 1 day before departure and it was a seat ticket only, meaning no bulk bed, no private sleeper compartment, just seat. The train was never full and the seating area was pretty empty. I guess there were only 15-20 travellers in this passenger coach.

Clean and comfortable seats

 The toilet is clean and comes with toilet paper! (What a luxury!)

The first class seat compartment

When the train reached the border between Hungary and Serbia at about 1a.m., Hungarian immigration officers boarded the train and asked for passengers' passports. My passport got checked and stamped. Train left that station after the Hungarian officers finished checking all the passengers and it stopped half an hour later, then the Serbian officers boarded. Again, passport checked and stamped, everything was all good. One of the officers was a nice old gentleman and said to me, "Welcome to Serbia."

The bus ticket office near Belgrade Main Terminal

The train arrived Belgrade on time at about 6:45a.m. The weather was a bit moody and rainy.

To be continued...

My best travel buddy, Olga, waited me at the Budapest Airport and we hugged so hard when we finally saw each other. I was a bit afraid if she can still recognise me after our last meet in 2010. Fortunately, both of us didn't change much in the past 3 years.

I met Olga's friend, Jaja, from Thailand during my second day in Budapest. Jaja showed me around the city and all the cute little hidden gems. We've been eating all day long. I feel sorry for not spending more quality time on visiting museums.

 A beautiful McDonald Restaurant near Nyugati pályaudvar Train Station

Cafe in vintage decor

of course, place to hunt for cheap and tasty Goulash

 Just FYI, 350HUF is about €1.2EUR and you can get a pint of beer out of that

 cheap local cafe is easy to spot

Out of curiosity, I bought a Wasabi flavoured cheese from a local supermarket. Holland is now on my wish list.

 cute sign on tram

 Traditional Hungarian apartment

3 days pasted and my time in Budapest was great, mainly because Olga was with me. It is hard to tell when we will have chance to meet each other in the near future, since we both have engaged in full time work at different sides of the world.

I always believe the best part of travel is not about the number of tourist attractions you've visited, it is more about the level of enjoyment you've gained from the trip, no matter how did you gain that. You may enjoy eating cheap local foods from an open market stall more than in a character-less 5-star hotel, only you will know.

 
waiting for transit in Moscow airport

Just a month before my 25th birthday, I felt like I was in some sort of Quarter Life Crisis seriously. I am not a fresh-grad from university anymore; I am repaying my student loan; I start saving money; I have a so-called decent job in media. I shall have nothing to feel confused or depressed with.

"Turning 25 years old is really just nothing. People do get old everyday." I once told myself.

My family and friends back in Hong Kong always think I travelled too much. Maybe, they are right. I have backpacked to 20ish countries before I reached 24 years old and I am not even a rich kid. There was a moment I thought I should stop travelling for a while, just to urge myself to get a "real life" and settle down, instead of wandering around the world.

But my travel bugs really got me. I travelled on-and-off in the past 4 years and I enjoyed doing that. I want to do the same for my 25th birthday as well. I definitely won't want to do the quit-job-and-travel-around-the-world-within-just-a-year-can-heal-everything thing, because I am the type of person that needs time and space to learn and absorb new things.

So I started to plan a not-so-ordinary birthday trip in late-August. After some researches had done, I decided to re-visit Balkans and try Caucasus region for the first time with Chechnya to be my final destination. Sounds ambitious.

I then bought a last-minute open-jaw ticket from Aeroflot. The deal was €630EUR(tax inc.) for a flight from Hong Kong to Budapest via Moscow, then Moscow straight back to Hong Kong. Quite a deal indeed.

That's how I ended up spending 16hours flying across Eurasia continent on my 25th birthday.