April 23 2005 page 6 |
2005 BALKANS TOURBen Oostdam |
SERBIA |
| Since I had not been able to make reservations for lodging in Subotica, I asked Dragan, the bus-driver if he had any suggestions. Just before we reached the almost deserted borderpost, he made a cell phone call to a friend - taxi-driver - to pick me up at the border. While Dragan and the big bus drove off, I waited anxiously for the friend, who showed up soon but did not speak a word of English, German or French. He started driving through Subotica but then left it and headed inland mentioning a hotel on a lake. I protested that I wanted to stay in town, and had to ask him to call Dragan - now on his way to Belgrade - to translate. As a result, the taxi-driver turned around and took met to a small but very busy motel in town - within easy walking distance from the bus-terminal! Here I met the manager, Nicola Malov, who assured me that he would make space for me, althought his whole place was taken over by a girl handball team and its managers. I paid off the taxi-driver which cost me 10 Euros - same as the nightly rate for the small bedroom - and wrote it off as a fine for not speaking the language. |
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| We had a fine dinner together, the girls trying to speak English and to translate for their fathers/managers. After dinner we went to town, the girls for icecream, the men for coffee and beer. | |
 BLO fecit 20050619 - MAP |
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