Bosna i Hercegovina 2013

**Originally posted on September 9, 2013**
**Warning: Extremely long post**

(Don't say I didn't warn you now..)

Oooowee. It feels like it's been so long since I've been back.. but in reality, it's only been a little more than a month. 

My trip was from July 10th until July 31st, a span of 20 days meeting with family, exploring the country, and just relaxing. I guess the best would be to go through my trip chronologically and highlight/post some pictures. 

A Little Background

The boyfriend and his family are from Bosnia. During the 1992 Civil War, they had to basically live in a war zone until the family abandoned everything and escaped to Sweden. And then later started a new life, filled with opportunities in the United States (and thank goodness they did, or else I would never have met my favorite fatty in the whole world). I think that explains why we are there.. 

13 Hour Flight from SFO to Frankfurt to Croatia
3 Hour Car Ride from Zagreb, Croatia to Prijedor, Bosnia

13 hours is not that bad. Much better than a flight to Asia! From the moment we stepped off our plane at our stop in Frankfurt, Germany, everybody was staring at me. When I say everybody. I mean everybody. It's like they've never seen an Asian person before (will get to that a little later). I guess it also doesn't help that I was traveling with a family of four who are all over 6 feet tall. I was freshening up in the bathroom when all the ladies washing their hands were just blatantly wide eyed staring at me while I was brushing my teeth. There is also no such thing as personal space outside of America. 

Settling In

(Taken from the third floor balcony #nofilter)

The culture (and life there in general) is so different from what I am used to (duh). Not only was our house in the countryside (literally our house faces River Sana *above* that stretches for miles), but the people are extremely nice. Is that sad that I'm shocked when strangers are nice (this usually occurs after they stare me down)? 

It's so weird meeting Amar's entire family. I never really thought about what it would be like going. I obviously knew going in, we were living at their house but I didn't expect to meet cousin after cousin and know everyone in town. It was actually a pretty diverse group of people. His cousin told me that people not so much judge you by your race, what really matters is religion. During the summer time, Bosnians around the world vacation in Bosnia and it was pretty cool to meet his family members living around the world like in Denmark and Sweden. 

The language barrier was a pretty big deal as well. I think English is more prominent now than it was a few years ago among the younger generation but (surprise, surprise) the main language is Bosnian. I have never been in a living situation where I was unable to understand anything (now I will understand how Amar will feel when he visits me in Hong Kong). Big props for people traveling abroad without knowing the country's language. After awhile, I was able to understand certain phrases/questions. Like gladna, majka, WC, aaaaand that's about it. And after a longer while, I was able to appreciate the beauty of the Bosnian language. The way it is spoken is really smooth and it sounds nice. It was relaxing in a way to just listen to people talk and it gives me time to think and reflect on everything. 

There is also so much space. Everywhere. And there are so many abandoned buildings that are destroyed leftover from the war. (See below.)

Mini Day Trip to Bliha Waterfall

As someone who plans out my weeks/months in advance, it is very hard to go on a trip without an itinerary. His parents are very spontaneous people. So it was no surprise when I woke up one day thinking I was going to hang out by the river to packing to go on a day trip to the waterfall. At the time, I didn't even know where we were going. This trip taught me so much about just living and enjoying the moment. His dad always says, "Don't worry, be happy." So simple but so very true. 

Our destination for the day was Bliha Waterfall which is located near Fajtovci. 

Things I have never done before this mini-trip

• Ride on top of a moving car through a creepy tunnel

• Hike through a damn forest to reach the waterfall

• Drink fresh iced water from a cave/the very beginning of River Sana

• Eating *real* fish and chips

Did someone say roadtrip?

A few days later, after his parents finished what they had on their mental checklist of things to do around the house, we set off on a 7-8-9-10 day road trip. Apparently road trip means, pick a place, stop for a night or two or three if we like the city, and when we are ready to go, we go onto another city. After going on this road trip, I have to say that there are so many things to see from castles to pyramids. 

*Unnamed body of water*

A few hours into the drive, we noticed a beautiful body of water and decided to pull to the side to take a few pictures. The picture above was taken shortly before we got back into the car and were signaled to pull over by the police (who had this cardboard fan sign with STOP on it.. I think. And as he waves and points at you, you have to pull over.) Apparently, it is illegal to pull off to the side of the road, drive with broken headlights during the day, aand drive without seat belts (we all know this one). We had one more count against us, but I can't remember at this moment. But thank goodness the police let us go with a warning since this was only the start of our road trip. We also visited a castle, a pyramid (more on that), and a museum this day before spending the night at a rent-a-room junk bucket hostel/motel.

(Another picture of a destroyed house above.)

Underground Labyrinth Ravne

One of the highlights of my trip. Definitely went in without knowing anything about pyramids but whenever I think of pyramids (back then) I think of Emperor's New Groove.. you know with Kuzco.

Anyways, back to the Labyrinth. It was so. Amazing. I copied and pasted some facts about the pyramid from this blog (and more information here).

• Ravne underground tunnel labyrinth in Visoko has been dated as Europe's oldest prehistoric tunnel network, where human presence endured for over 30,000 years. 
• The presence of health-giving negative ions in the air in Ravne tunnel is up to 40 times higher than anywhere else in nature. Scientific studies using negative ion-heavy air on different life forms have shown amazing positive results.

(Our tour guide was A-MAZING as well. She lead us to where they recently discovered an underground stream from who knows how long ago. And we were lucky enough to climb in and gulp down some clear fresh happy water! *His parents are still jealous to this day)

Amar and I were fortunate enough to be able to follow one of the only English speaking tour guides who was extremely knowledgeable about not only the pyramids but everything surrounding the controversies with the discovery of the tunnels and Egypt. Fun/weird fact: She also told us that many people/volunteers who help dig and discover more passages in the tunnel (because at this point, they are still uncertain how many tunnels is within the pyramid-- hence the name), actually camp out (and meditate) INSIDE the tunnel in the areas with the most negative ions. 

Saravajo, the Capital

Next stop was the country's capital: Saravajo. Although it is considered much more urban (and fancy) than obviously other areas in Bosnia, you can still see abandoned buildings in between nicely developed malls/buildings-- shown below. 

I also saw the one of a handful (maybe even less than that) of McDonalds in Bosnia and it was huuuuge. 

After a long day, we stayed at a place I never want to return to a rent-a-room motel below. It looks all bright and nice. Looks are so deceiving. Amar and I shared a room that is smaller than a single dorm room in China. The bathroom was dirty and it reaked of mold. Not to mention I barely was able to fit into the bathroom (I don't know how Amar was able to get in there to shower). It is also conveniently located across from the Sarajevo Military Prison where it houses Serbian war criminals. 

The next day, we explored the beautiful city of Sarajevo (and also where I stared at a crowd of Asian tourists *below). 

We walked alongside this main road next to downtown (I think) and it was amazing to see Latin Bridge in person. It is currently under construction.. for a reason that I don't remember.. Well anyways, the Latin Bridge is a historic Ottoman bridge and it is where Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914, which essentially started World War I. 

(Gross pigeons)

They said that the fire always burns in memory of those who have fallen during the Civil War.. even during the winter time! 

Never did Amar's dad use any type of navigation throughout this road trip (maybe a glance at an actual map or asking for directions once in awhile). We were able to locate places around the country from his memory. Like this place above, his parents had breakfast with some guy and he brought them to the top of the hotel (that was built on top of a tall apartment building) with an amazing view. I still need directions going places in San Francisco. o_o

Mostar, more like mo-heat

This place. Must be on exactly where the equator is. Cause it's hot as hell. But it is so freaking beautiful.

Also, I would like to point out that bugs/insects/spiders in rural areas are exotic, gigantic, and monstrous like below.

This next place we visited.. I wish I knew what it's called. In between Mostar and passing out in the car from the heat, we ended up at this house that was built (I don't know eras so I have no clue) but a really really really long time ago. And women were not allowed to go into the house unless they were covered from head to toe (because it's considered a sacred place since their bodies are technically buried/in one of the rooms *below).

***Update***

Amar finally asked his parents for where this house was. Apparently, this holy house is located in Buna, which is a short river. It is best known for being one of the strongest spring in Europe with extremely cold water. 

Mače mače ^

Neum

Next stop! Neum, the only coastal town in Bosnia (squished in between Croatia) and bordering the Adriatic coast. 

When we arrived at Neum, we didn't have a place to stay. We literally found people at the bus stop holding a sign that says, Rooms Available and they brought us to their house (people here are so honest and trusting..). None of them really worked out until we were walking around and saw this tiny cute little house that had a sign out front that said Apartment for Rent. It turned out to be perfect as it was owned by the former police chief of Bosnia (eased my mind a bit on the issue of safety) and a cute little majka. What a great find! We stayed here for 4 nights? and 5 days and it was a convenient 5 minute walk *which included a whole lot of stairs* to the beach. The five days consisted of a lot of ice tea, lots of ice cream, lots of salt water, and a whole lot of sun. 

***To be continued in Part 2***