Big tour Day 17: I’m in Tirana, still / luggage sweep

Today I’m spending the day partaking in the national pastime. I’m sitting in a street cafe, drinking espresso and water, watching the world pass by. I’m actually writing blog posts and postcards, so am probably over doing it by local standards, but what o you expect from a tourist? Brunch was byrek and an icecream, chocolate i think, all for 80 leke. Here the icecreams come in a cone with a plastic shovel/spoon. they are cooling and refreshing, but a little lacking on flavour, i’m yet to find a reallly strong flavour but will try some of the more fruity ones before I go.

Ah, all good things come to an end. Was thinking it had been a while since someone had tried to shake me down for money, when along comes a street urchin who didn’t want to take no in russian, english, albanian orr italian. I was moving up to germaan when the waiter came out and he ran off. The kid was all of 10, so don’t know what he needed the cash for. The streets seem full of 10 year old kids selling cigarettes out of shoe boxes. Mostt are polite enough, and go away with a firm “jo’.

Quick break to move sofas, staying in the shade.

I think I’m getting a little thinner and fitter, at least it feels that way. Coped yesterday lugging my backpack through kruje. Today my shorts feel a little bigger around the waist. I seem to be able to walk further for less sweat. i think my knees and ankles are half shot, having haa fair bit of a workout from uneven streets, and my feet keep finding new places to blister. That massage in Singapore was a long time ago, feels like forever…

So what does Albania offer the average white guy going travelling? Cheap food, mostly friendly people, pushy beggars, low crime, an interruptible power supply, creative driving, beautiful scenery, ugly buildings, litter, no no smoking policy, mobile coverage, limited wi-fi, a sad indifference to animals, colourful buildings, a cafe culture…

Would I come back? not in a hurry. There is little here that can’t be found elsewhere, maybe costing a little more, but at least as rewarding. There is beautiful scenery all over the world, castle ruins, there’s nothing here that is special, unique. Maybe I may have found this heading out of the city more, getting a fuller experience of the country as a whole. Maybe I would have just found myself crammed into a sweaty, overcrowded bus driving along the edge of a precipice, and would that constitute a real adventure?

Whatever, I’m not likely to die wondering if I could have spent my time here better, if I could have tried to enjoy the place more. I appreciate Albania, and appreciate that there are people who call this home. But while I have sat here writing this, I’ve been listening to US hip hop, not even the local equivalent. I’ve head a lot of US music here: I heard more Albanian music in Kosovo.

I have come to a place different to the one that the lonely planet guide talks about. Come here and i think you will, too.

Luggage sweep

Okay, here’s the score. Am flying from Tirana to Warsaw tomorrow, via a switch at Budapest. Whoever can guess where my luggage ends up, and the number of days before I get it back, wins some tacky souvenir.