The story about a 14 year old boy.

Firstly I'll mention the wedding at our lovely hotel yesterday on our rest day. The first couple who I got to take a photo of was a young Muslim couple. They arrived at the hotel with the car horns blaring and ribbon hanging off everywhere.  They had some photos taken, a chap playing the piano accordion and then they were off to another hotel for the reception.  I could think of other places to have your wedding photos taken than outside the cement bunker we were staying in.

A little later on another wedding party turned up and they stayed on till the early hours of this morning.  Whilst Peter and I were sitting at the bar a 14 years old Serbian lad came up to us and wanted to have a chat with us. His English was pretty good and he was keen to practice on us. 

Now I've met many 14 year old boys in the course of my work, and the majority of them were criminals. this Serbian boy was someone different.  He spoke about playing basketball, his family and his devoted admiration for his father.  He told us he wanted to be a truck driver and went into great detail how his father is a truck driver, and his father's father is a truck driver.  All he wants to be in life is a truck driver just like his dad.  He could tell us the type and model of the truck he wants to drive, and one day he hopes to travel to America to see the statue of liberty.

Many of us today want more out of life, more luxuries, more income, more experiences, more travel, but not this boy, all he wanted was to talk about his family and to be a career truck driver.  He was well mannered, polite, and listened to our story about riding our bicycles through Europe.  I was more impressed with his story than he was of mine. His father arrived and looked at his son and why he was speaking to 2 elderly gentleman.  After a long chat with the father, we were invited to stay with them in the north of the country.  We had to decline the offer, as it was time to start the long ride south. 

The other interesting person we met was the 21 year old lady who worked for the hotel.  She told us she gets 1 day off a month and earns 200 Euro a month.  And there's no overtime payments.   

 The photo above is the young boy and his father at the wedding.  Best of mates, the way it should be.

 The photo above was of the Muslim bride.  She did look gorgeous on her special day.  Getting approval to take the photo is another story for later on.

 The photo above is of the piano accordion player at the photo shoot of the Muslim wedding party.

Now for today's ride.

We left the hotel at 8am for a 63km ride to Sjenica.  We were told to take the road to Nova Varos and then to Sjenica due to the bad road conditions and mountains if we took the most direct route.  Since we had 3 confirmed reports on the road conditions we opted for the long way round.  The first part of the ride to Nova Varos was downhill and running beside a small river.  Beautiful green forests followed us all the way to the turn off at Nova Varos.

We stopped about 5kms before Nova Varos for a cup of tea at the local fish farm.  A cup of tea costs about 40 cents Aussie.  Now that's a bargain.  The waiter at the fish farm told us that the road now goes upwards.  Well that's a surprise, the road going up on this trip.  That's all we seem to be doing of late, climbing mountains.

We climbed all the way to Nova Varos and then a sharp right hand turn off the highway and up it went. The road was so steep for the first 2kms that at stages I thought I would have to get off and walk.  I'm too stubborn for that, so I pushed on to the top.  For the next 30kms we climbed and climbed.  Eventually we made it the Panorama Hotel and took a break.  It was now going to be all downhill to our destination for the day.

The last 10kms was pretty fast but once again at stages the road was a mess.  Huge potholes that could smash your wheels to pieces and send you to another place in time.  As we got close to Sjenica we pulled over to a small store and ordered some bread and tomato for a usual lunch meal.  As we were about to sit on the footpath and eat our lunch, the old man from the store took us down the front yard and into a storeroom which had tables and chairs for us to sit at and enjoy our lunch.  This is something Josh  and I experienced in Africa many years ago when an elderly man took us inside his home so we could eat off a table instead of a dirty footpath. I'm sure this would happen back home if we were in the same situation.

After a nice lunch we headed to the Hotel Berlin which is a nice hotel in the centre of town.  For 20 Euro we've got a twin room, balcony, TV, wifi and a fridge.  Why put up the tent when you can these luxuries at that price?

After the usual chores we walked the town and came back for an early dinner.  Now we're going to sit back, relax, put my feet up, watch some TV and start counting sheep. 

 The photo above was taken off the menu at the fish farm today.  I don't think I could stomach home made greasy cheese.

The photo above is myself with the old man who allowed us to eat at this table. 

So today was another fantastic day of riding in the mountains and meeting some terrific people.  Tomorrow will be a nice ride to the town of Novi Pazar, and hopefully the mountains will be kind to us.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.