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Planet India

10 Nov 2011

Day 65-66: Shkoder

I slept india the day asking long as I could... Until nine.
Did I say I like the city?
Since I'm tired of walking the cities in my biking shoes, it's time to get a second pair of light shoes. The clicking of the cleats was pissing me of for too long. So I was asking, back at the tourist information, for a, shopping center and she indicated me the way. After following the instructions, I found myself in a kind of bazaar, where most of the shops where half of the street. No H&M, no Esprit, actually I did not see a single one of these food and cloth chains that usually occupy the city centers in Middle Europe. So I was wandering for hours through this chaotic market without finding what I was looking for. The shops often do not seem to have a certain category of goods but more a mix of whatever they could lay hands on. So it's was hard for me to navigate without the normal logos pointing me towards the right direction. But it's was fun observing this bazaar. Around 2 p.m. I needed a break, went to the hotel and washed some cloth. And an hour later, when I wanted to go back to some shops I took note of earlier, certain merchants where already starting to closed up for the day. So I got a bit in a rush, to get what I wanted, but just managed getting shoes and trousers. And look! Me looking all civilised again. Now it feels really like a day of from cycling. Should have done that earlier or even better I should have packed the stuff in the first place, insted of putting the jeans back in the wardrobe. However it is really cheep to shop here.
After this I got myself a kebab. here they put fries in it and the meat is really good, with a structure and taste. B.t.w. Since I left Germany, I very rarely saw this homogeneous looking kebab grills, those with meat that was first mashed and then squeezed around the bar.
The weather is looking good, maybe small showers tomorrow but, then sunshine! Let's hope the weather frogs are right. The nights are around -5 though. But my guide book strongly recommends not to campe freely, especially in the north, so that's two reasons to look for a room. Also the lady from the tourist information today, was telling me a lot of stuff differently than her college from yesterday, so I'm not really sure if the route I chose is really rideable. So it was for instance said, that the journey too Theth takes 4 hours by car. My maps indicate a distance of 70 km. so what road makes a car go at 17km/h ?
But I'm about too find out anyway.

When I woke up this morning, I decided to stay another day, hanging a bit more, write some post cards and most importantly, doing nothing (giving the muscles time to relax)
Around midday, I just came back from the post office, I ran into the english boys again. They stood next to the tourist information, which was closed, while a voice from the top of the minaret was calling to say grace. So we went for a coffee together and exchanged the latest news. It appears they had a couple of intense days behind, Mark left the bunch to start his job in Milano, they got invited in Bosnia and got a chance to rakie with the hosts, Toby had his birthday (celebrated) and a guy helped them out finding shelter in a football club in Montenegro, when they got caught by bad weather.
When they decided to check into a hostel I left to take a stroll through the city. It was all sunny and I just lingered and got lost in the streets.