Family Travel

that's the greeting that sits on a large plastic sign high on the wall in the passport control office on the Syrian Border 40km outside of Allepo. I had the misfortune to have to use the grim keyhole toilet located outside the office and the book I'm reading called "What Went Wrong" by Bernard Russell (which is an overview of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the West) seemed to be so relevant.

We are really really tired today thanks to a slack travel agent in Istanbul who stuffed up our bus booking resulting in our arrival at a bus station in Hattai in Southern Turkey at 2am in the morning with no follow-on transfer. I also have a filthy headcold but fortunately my headlice seem to have been exterminated by the poisonous shampoo purchased in Dubrovnic.

Since my last entry weve covered some ground, the vast bulk on overnight trains. We took the Balkan Express from Belgrade to Istanbul which was a 24hr haul over the mountains through Bulgaria and we had a 6 berth couchette all to ourselves, in fact we had the whole couchette carriage to ourselves. We also took the Anadolu Express from Istanbul to Ankara which was only 10hrs, but also pleasant (once the Turks next door stopped smoking). The rhythmic patter of the train is a very pleasant bedfellow and having now done a few long bus distance bus hauls, we now know what we prefer.

We are now moving thru the transition zone from West to East. Istanbul is the vibrant crossroad and we enjoyed wandering its streets and taking in some of its historical sights. In Istanbul I became nauseous from inhaling too much mint tobacco from a large exotic waterpipe whilst battling Victor and Max in backgammon on mother of pearl inlaid boards. We were lucky enough to see a live Sufi "whirling dervish" performance in a large room at Istanbul train station and I was elevated and taken away with the music. The performance was somewhat let down by the venue, but it was an insight into the religion that Rumi began so long ago. I think the boys found it a bit boring but perhaps one day they will appreciate it.

Books have become very important on our journey and the boys are now busy chewing on the first two books of Lord of the Rings. Max is a bit like me (somewhat obsessive) and once he gets into a book there is no stopping him. Unfortunately for him this means he is living though floods and droughts as our journey is not regularly intersecting English bookstores. Victor is busy devouring all the maps we are gathering, he loves to get them and adjust them with pens and highlighters creating new imaginary lands.

it took some time for me to accept that Lute could go no further. She had managed to get off the bus from Dubrovnic but Max had to repeat that "she would be sick" before I finally "got it" that she was not going to make it another 10hrs to Belgrade. Bloody hell I can be so one track sometimes. Anyway, there we were, late on a Friday night in a bleak, cold almost deserted bus station in Mostar, Bosnia with no information at hand. I felt quite alone as I left Lute with the boys and walked out of the waiting room to find some money and accomidation.

All turned out fine, as it nearly always does. I found the bus station manager behind a closed window and once he understood the situation he rallied to the cause. 30min later we were in a private apartment run by Dino and his mum Tania. Tania brewed Lute a pot of herbal tea to help her out and she was asleep not long after. Today we have spent wandering this war torn town and sitting in cafes whilst the boys waded through their first english grammer exercise in the books we bought for them in Dubrovnic. Lute is feeling better and we are planning to catch the bus tonight.

I am presently treating myself for some uninvited hitchhikers. Yep, somewhere in the last few weeks some headlice jumped on board. The assistant at the pharmacy in Dubronik offered me two products (hair retention and anti dandruff) until I changed from sign language and drew my best picture of a louse.

We jumped off the bus and surged past the throng of people trying to convince us to take private accomidation. A short walk towards the church saw us at the information office where I soon learn't that we would need to take private accomidation to stick to our vague budget. I went and had a chat to one of the women standing on a street corner in her long synthetic black patterned dress. I was soon wisked away by Nevzeta's husband in his 26 year old banger. The apartment was fine and I negotiated 350Kruna (50Euro) for all of us for one night (only this morning did I realise that they had vacated their bedrooms for us and slept in their living room).

If you are coming to Dubrovnic and want to stay somewhere close to the port in a clean room with a view call Nevzeta Custovic (020) 418 547. Her warmth and hospitality will remind you why you travel.

Last night we saw Dubrovnic by night. It was chilly, windy and beautiful. We are going to slow down now and hope to spend at least four days camping and exploring Mjlet Island.

yep, in the city that has always intrigued me. The name alone is inspirational.

Last night we arrived at Keleti station and I was swayed by the guy at an information booth to have a look at an apartment that his firm had an association with. Half an hour later I rejected the smelly place and we ended up back at the station. We finally found a hostel smack bang in the centre of the tourist district and when we got upstairs the room wasnt cleaned nor could they find any sheets for us. The guy at the counter was very apologetic and offered a discount. I couldnt be bothered moving again so we took it and slept ontop of some doona covers.

Today we took a tour in a big opentop redbus and got a feel for the city. I like it, perhaps even more than Prague and wow you should see the wrought iron scattered around, so ornate. I have been on a photo frenzy, snapping up one doorgrill after another.

After the bus tour we found a great vege restaurant and gorged ourselves on greens and legumes...

Our gear jettisoning has slowed but Lute did leave her watch in the shower at a camp ground in Slovakia. One hour later she realised, but it was gone like the wind. So thats the second item lost, my rough guide to Czech/Slovakia dissapeared at a hostel in Olomouc, which was damn annoying. Since then we have been using the Lonely Planet website shop which allows purchase and downloading of chapters from most of their books.

Its interesting, every time we move into a new country there is an initial sense of vulnerabilty that slowly fades with familiarity. Jumping out of the train here in BudaPest I felt it acutely, especially as my initial accomidation plans had fallen through at the last minute.

Travelling without a computer in the backwaters of Eastern Europe makes it difficult to keep a blog going and to effectively plan ahead. Of the few places I found with internet most were only open during business hours and that is not where one wants to be when the sun is shining. So we have been flyin a little blind which is sometimes frustrating when you miss convenient bus or train connections. Because time online has been so limited I have not even responded to the comments that have been made to my blog....sorry to you all. I have been reading them and will attempt to reply over the next few days as we do a bit of housekeeping and wash some very smelly clothes.

The czechs and the slovaks ARE BIG on cheese and meat and we have hit overload.

The last week has seen us hiking in the Mala Fatra Natrional Park in the western Tatra mountains and in the last few days in the eastern Tatras. I think we have all been a bit dissapointed with the Slovenski Raj Ńational Park in the East. This park appears to be a mishmash of pristine areas and logging coups and most of the hiking yesterday was on logging trails. The Mala Fatra NP on the other hand was well worth while, the highlight for us was stumbling upon fields full of fruiting alpine blueberry on the last hike from the top of the chata vratna chairlift.

We shed 5kg of gear in the Czech Republic and our packs are somewhat more mangeable. Due to poor public transport access we hired a small Skoda in Kosice and are now touring on four wheels. Its much easier to get around to the campsites and I am happy with the decision. So far, we are roughly travelling on about AU$100-day which is what I had planned.

The scars of socialism are clearly evident in the towns, with concrete apartmentblocks commonplace. The older people seem somewhat stern and watchful and poverty is hard to ignore.