From Behind the Iron Curtain (email #9)

Hello! I know I said I was gonna stop doing these, but here's a quicklowdown on what I've been doing in Eastern Europe...

11th: DELHI to PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC. Flew into Prague after having apanic attack at Heathrow. Too many flashing lights and Starbucks!

12th: PRAGUE. First day of the tourist thing. I spent so much timebumming around cafes reading Franz Kafka that I didn't actually get tosee the Palace... Met a bunch of funky Yankees who were studying inBerlin, and attempted to meet up with them that night. Failedmiserably and I ended up in a dingy club with 40 year old men droolingat me in the corner. Was in bed by midnight.

13th: PRAGUE to ZAGREB, CROATIA. I still had my massive backpack onwhen I met some locals who were playing in one of the big centralfountains. Dumped my stuff at a hostel before spending the day with agroup of Poms. Coincidentally ran back into the same guys I met in themorning, and shared my ice cream with them. Ended up talking to one(who was actually from Denmark) on a park bench for 3 hours aboutdivine mathematics, the perception of organic art and modelaeroplanes. Went back to the local's place, sat on their roof, andlistened to Serbian reggae whilst watching the lightning.

14th: ZAGREB to SPLIT, CROATIA. Met up with Anna in Split. Turns outthat she caught pneumonia in monsoonal India is has been forbidden totravel. Should have freaked out that I was now going to be travellingex-Cold War Yugoslavia regions by myself. Decided to get sloshed withan Aussie couple that we met instead.

15th: SPLIT to HVAR, CROATIA. Took the ferry to supposedly one of themost beautiful islands in the world, intending to go on and meetpeople in Korcula (another island). Turns out the next boat was onSaturday, and the boats back to Split didn't leave until the nextmorning. I used the fact that I was stuck on one of the best islandsin the world to my full advantage. Slept in a lovely old couple'sspare room.

16th: HVAR to SPLIT to DUBROVNIK, CROATIA. A ferry (and some sunburn)and a stunning bus ride down the Dalmatian coast later, I'm inDubrovnik. And I'm staying at what turns out to be the best hostelthat I, or anyone else who was there, had ever stayed in. I get inpretty late, and still somehow end up at a bar that's outside thefloating city's walls, looking out over the moon rising at 2am.

17th: DUBROVNIK with a day trip to MOSTAR, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.Kick arse day. Started with local oyster tasting from the AdriaticSea; then went swimming and rock hopping in a waterfall (which Iunfortunately lost my haviannas at. I got back to the border when Irealised I didn't have them); then rope jumping; then went up to thehill where a couple of kids apparently saw the apparition of MotherMary; then to Mostar, where I saw locals jump 26 metres off a bridgeinto a rock-filled river; then to a cave that is actually a club thatwe had a few beers and an Turkish apple hookah pipe. Went back 'home',cooked fresh mussels, more oysters, and got kicked out by theneighbours from the balconies at about 3.

18th: DUBROVNIK. Decided to stay another day here coz it's such agreat place. Did the touristy thing in town, and happened to find aHavianna outlet store. Go figure. Got back in time to go for a dailysnorkel trip in the Adriatic rock formations. Had beer and pizzabefore watching the sun set and a harvest moon rise. Planned to goback out into the old town, but ended up with a guy from Alaska, a guyfrom Canada and 3 Irish girls in the basement playing the morpunkinstrument I got in India. Went to bed just before 5.

19th: DUBROVNIK to SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. Got up at 5.30 tocatch the early bus to Sarajevo. Painful bus trip. Got lost trying tofind the hostel, and when I did, it was shit! Wandered around townfeeling sorry for myself, and unable to find anyone who spoke English.All I can say in Bosnian is 'Tee cei yehdung magrats'. Which means'you are a donkey' so I wasn't getting very far. Eventually found outabout some massive concert, and ended up tagging along with 4 guysfrom Sweden, Argentina, Finland and Serbia. Turned out that there were70,000 people! Danced to Turkish rock til 1ish, then crashed coz I wasso tired.

20th: SARAJEVO. Writing this email! Belgrade tomorrow, then Novi Sad,the Budapest. The maybe through Slovenia to Salzburg... Then upthrough Germany to Denmark, then back down to Switzerland, then Milan,then Rome... and that's all gonna change probably!

If you want any more details (because you know me, I'd LOVE to tellyou them all...) then please please enquire! There are so many amazingthings to talk about. But I just can't in one email!

Love to hear from you all.

Bog! (yes, that really is goodbye!)

Xx