Well - maybe after this nice smooth sealed path - but at the next town, the path just got better! It even had a white dotted line down the middle... And before I knew it, am arriving in Novi Sad an hour earlier than I thought! so of course, my booked accommodation wasn't expecting me till 3pm, so I took a spin along the river front - it was pretty popular (Saturday afternoon) but there was a separated bike path and even had a path for those wanting to jog and a wide path for the dog walkers. In fact, when I cycled back to my apartment along a main street, there were bike paths separated from the walking path... there were heaps of people wobbling along on a wide variety of bikes and scooters, juggling kids on handle-bars or on rear racks, bags of shopping hanging from handle bars or wobbling in baskets on the back... One could almost start to think that this might be an alright sorta place... But since crossing the border yesterday, I have been amazed about how much rubbish and litter that is just scattered around - today I saw a guy with a dodgy motorbike, towing an even dodgier (?) trailer, dumping bags of rubbish on the side of the road... others had been there before, so I couldn't work out if it was an official dump site and the garbos will come and pick it all up... but I have my doubts... Just around the corner here there are 5 big industrial bins that are overflowing and there's rubbish everywhere.. I really don't think that they have heard about plastic pollution, tho the Danube looks pretty clean... have seen a couple of plastic bottles floating along, but so far I have been impressed at how clean the banks have been... it might be a bit different from now on...
so.... what else did I see today? well, there was a mob of pigs were feeding on the flood dyke... not sure if they were farm animals that are just allowed to roam, or whether they were actually wild pigs. they were pretty cute and they scattered when they spotted me... a tad scary cos the piglets went one way and mama the other, but I got safely past! Saw another smaller group later on and there was a small mob of goats on the banks too - and a man was herding a group of cows that were feeding on the green grass along the edge.
I don't think the Animal Rights have made it here either - there was a small paddock of cows - probably about 6 - they were just standing in mud, it wasn't like they were penned up for milking... at 1pm... there was a sort of manger with a few sticks of straw in it... and a water bowl... (no, I didn't like to take a photo). And there are quite a few stray dogs around... they aren't threatening, they are just mangey looking, one had long matted hair and scavenging around...
So just one day into Serbia, my opinion is not so good... there just seems to be a bit more problems. I saw two girls in the supermarket looking at something, but counting their money to see if they could afford to buy it... another woman at the cashiers, slowly paying for some groceries, pulling out some paper money, then slowly counting out a handful of coins... yeah... jumping to conclusions... but....
anyway, tonight I am in a small apartment - I see them on Booking.com, but haven't been game to book, just not sure if they are dodgey or not... but after spending last night in an old hotel that still stank of tobacco smoke - tho no smoking allowed... I decided to give one a try... when I arrived at the address, I was instantly regretting my decision... There was this crumbling facade and all doors were locked. I noticed that there were to buttons to press for each unit, so I just pressed every button. The large door opened and a smiling woman invited me into a pretty courtyard... Who would have thought there was this behind that daggy door. so with a lot of sign language, she took me up to the unit, gave me the keys, explained how the tv remotes work... took my passport and my money (she gave my passport back promptly) and here I am... a tiny 1 bedroom unit... the sort you see in the demo section of Ikea! and its so clean and very nice.. am I lucky this time? or will I try this again... I mean for $41... so I went down to the supermarket, found Haloumi, same brand I buy at home, tomatoes, eggs, (hardboil them for lunch on the track) salad and a capsicum and came back and made myself a decent meal... win win!
so a pretty good day all round... a nice ride - 55km, plumped up by wobbling around the streets! sunshine and no wind! and a comfy room at the end of the day!
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| tiniest fishing cottage ever! |
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| Carrots anyone? |
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| signs again! Yay! but then I noticed they had a wise saying on this one - Life is 10% of what happens to us, and 90% of how we respond to it.. I wonder if there are more! |
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| Cabbages and castles |
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| Goats |
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| rubbish |
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| People pour into the automobiles as much vanity as petrol!! :) |
Love the signs.
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