Zagreb - London [23-06-08]

Woke up feeling pretty hot and realised the sun was casting its rays on me. What a great splendid spot i chose for my bed. Spent the morning washing up and using the free internet until i don't want to use anymore. Last night i tried to strike a conversation with this Japanese backpacker in the same room as me. He was totally plugged into his playstation the whole time, oblivious to my presence. And when he finally unplugged that earphone off his ears, he looked at me as if i was speaking Martian. Apparently his English was not good at all and oh well, our conversation ended there and then. I wonder how he could survive travelling alone in eastern Europe without a command of English or slavic languages, not to mention that even if you know English, it doesn't guarantee you a value meal over the Mcdonald's counter.

I went out for a walk and it was definitely more crowded than the day before. THe open market was very interesting, selling flowers, fruits, vegetables and handicrafts.
I went past this 'Mary' shrine (as shown in previous day entry) once more and found many people praying there. It's interesting to see some passers-by doing a 'knight bow' thingy when they passed by the shrine. I even saw an old lady grabbing hold of the gate of the shrine and kneeling down before it. Others were lighting orange candles. Frankly speaking, i did not know if i was in a church or a temple. The difference was a bit too small to be seen.

A Jesuit church

And i got mistaken to be a Japanese again for the nth time. It's really funny to see all the local kids 'konichiwa' me every time i walked past them. One more 'konichiwa' and i will scold them with a string of Mandarin.
It's very interesting to see this 'China Shop' emerging everywhere in eastern Europe. I saw it in Budapest, in Bosnia, and now in Croatia as well. I remembered telling Jeremy the other day how there will be a Chinese shop or restaurant everywhere in the world. He then said that the same goes to Irish pubs for they are everywhere in the world too. And it's really funny how the both of us will switch on our radar to spot any Irish pubs or Chinese shops everywhere we go.
Ate Mcdonald's for brunch, went to Konzum for some snacks purchase and back to the hostel to rest. Took a tram at 1245 to the main bus station and it was a really hot day. Took the plane Wizzair to Luton airport. On the way, i was worried about the custom. I remembered i was stalled at that time when i was entering Heathrow from Singapore. As it turned out, it weren't that bad after all. I just told the custom officer i'll be in London for a few days before flying back to Singapore and she just let me through immediately without further questions. I guess having a massive queue behind me did help a little.

Oh well, this spells the end of my eastern europe escapade and thank you guys for having that patience to read my blog entries. Do drop me a comment or 2 if you wanna enquire more. =) i wonder where will be my next destination... *ponder*