After the traumatic experience of yesterday, I was still frightened and firmly made up my mind that I would just leave Albania, without traveling to other cities on my previous to-go list. Nonetheless, misfortune does not come singly.
In the morning, when I went in to the bathroom to take shower, bad luck once again came knock on my door. When I finished getting dressed, I couldn't open the lock on the door. No matter how many times and how hard I tried, the door still couldn't be opened. I started to get panicked, even though I didn't have claustrophobia. There was a guy sleeping in the room and I didn't hesitate to knock on the door for help, though I was probably disturbing his sweet dream. At that moment, I heard another roommate came back, and they all tried to open the door for me, to no avail. Then one of them went down to the reception and asked the hostel staff for help. The same lady (who showed me the wrong direction to the furgon station and gave me the wrong time schedule of the last furgon) came, and she asked why I locked myself in the bathroom. (Seriously? That's really all you can think of? It's because the freaking lock can't function well, not me intentionally have that time to lock myself in the bathroom. I ain't no kid and this isn't fun at all!!!) She then asked me to try to open the door, without giving me any constructive suggestions and kept on saying the door should have had no problem. (The door obviously has problem and it is a severe one. Please go fix it and stop bullshitting!!!) About 15 minutes later, I took my last breath and tried to open the lock one more time. This time, the lock moved slowly, and then the door was finally opened!!! (Kudos for those helpful roommies to keep trying with me) But then, that lady who went to find the key in the reception came back. And said, "Oh, you are out! Told you the door had no problem." I was like, what the hell......
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| One of the very few street scene of Tirana |
So, I packed my stuff and was ready to leave this freaking city and country. Before that, I went out to the post office to mail the postcards. (In the end, none of the postcard was successfully mailed out. I really wondered what the people were doing in this country?????? Why couldn't they just make something work?????? At least for once!!!!!!)
When I got back to the hostel, I made my last request to the hostel lady that I wanted to call a taxi to go to the furgon station to go to Shkodra. When I got on the taxi, which looked so modern that there was even WiFi on board, the driver reassured my destination with me. He asked, "Are you going to the bus station to Shkodra?" I felt a bit annoyed as I told the hostel lady that I was going to the furgon station to Shkodra, so I said, "No, I am going to the furgon station." The driver was confused and he immediately got off from the car and went back to the hostel. He came out with the hostel lady and she asked me, "Are you not taking the bus?" I clarified, "No, I am not taking the bus. I am taking the furgon, FURGON!" She asked, "So you are not taking the bus?" I got irritated and said one last time, "I AM NOT TAKING THE BUS!" She then turned to the driver and said something in Albanian and turned to me, "I thought you were taking the bus!" (Pfffffffff)
There was no actual furgon station, again. The furgon to Shkodra just parked on some street with no indication nor sign. I put my stuff in the back of the car and then hopped on and got a window seat. The furgon to Shkodra (500 lek) departs every hour, and it takes around 2 hours to Shkodra with a lot of stops on the way. I got off at the last stop, where I could find the connecting bus to Ulcinj. When I walked to the bus, the people around told me that the next bus would depart at 5:30 pm. Actually, the hostel lady told me the next bus would depart at 4:30 p.m. and I really wondered how many false information she kept giving to people, when they desperately needed this information to continue traveling. How many people got stranded in a deserted city? How many people got scammed by the hitchhiking driver? And how many people got trafficked by bad people simply due to her ever-so-correct information?
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| Another street scene of Tirana |
When I was feeling so pissed off and didn't know what to do as I just arrived at this city at 3:30 p.m., a private taxi driver came to me. He asked where I was going, I told him I was going to Ulcinj and he said he could take me for 15 EUR. I felt reluctant, because Mr. Jerk already scammed me 40 EUR yesterday, I didn't have that redundant money to splurge on his 'private car' again. I then negotiated to 8 EUR with him and he finally surrendered. I got on his car, this time on the back, as I didn't want the same unhappy incidence happen again. On the way, he picked up another guy who were also going to the direction of Ulcinj. But he was nice enough to ask for my permission, so I agreed. In fact, that guy was going to Bar. And the driver asked if I were willing to pay him some more money and he would take both of us to Bar and then I could take the bus from Bar to Kotor. I refused. Firstly, I didn't have the bus schedule from Bar to Kotor, what if there was no bus? Secondly and most importantly, I just didn't trust anyone in Albania anymore.
In less than an hour time, he finally drove me to the bus station in Ulcinj. The bus to Kotor departed at 6:41 p.m., so the ticket lady suggested me to take the bus to Bar first and then catch the 5:44 p.m. bus to Kotor. When I got to Bar, I still needed to wait for an hour for the next bus. And there was no restaurant, no snack shop around and I was very hungry that I didn't have lunch yet. However, it was still worthwhile as long as I could leave Albania. I didn't mind this temporary hunger.
The bus to Kotor came on time. Except every one could smoke on the bus, the journey was smooth. (The smokers didn't know how I was constantly cursing them on the bus. It's a minibus, couldn't they be more considerate to other non-smokers? In this case, I am not a whining bitch that likes to complain about every minor stuff, I just think the Balkan people seriously need some civic education! It's a public transport after all. Also, my mood was obviously struck by Mr. Jerk yesterday that I felt unsatisfied about so many things.)
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| How to find the other half? |
After a long day of taking buses and car, I finally made it to Kotor at 7 at night. The hostel I am staying is Old Town Kotor Hostel, which was highly recommended by R. The reception area already gathered a lot of people, as free dinner was being served tonight. After I settled my stuff in the 10-bed dorm, I went down to have some dinner and met a lot of new people. The hostel staff were really nice to connect everyone in the hostel and the atmosphere was superb. I was offered several shots of the famous homemade Rakija, which is a very strong alcohol. As a non-alcoholic person, I got so tipsy after the second shot already.
In my memory, I recalled I talked so much Mandarin with an Italian guy called Mattia and his girlfriend Julia, both of them actually studied and worked in China before. Later that night, all the hostel people moved to the kitchen and continued drinking. It was a fun night (especially I felt horrified as hell last night), but I was so wasted and forgot most of the things when I got back to bed.
In my memory, I recalled I talked so much Mandarin with an Italian guy called Mattia and his girlfriend Julia, both of them actually studied and worked in China before. Later that night, all the hostel people moved to the kitchen and continued drinking. It was a fun night (especially I felt horrified as hell last night), but I was so wasted and forgot most of the things when I got back to bed.
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