2019 Serbia Ten-Day Travel Notes I

It’s been almost a year since my trip to Serbia, and I haven’t properly recorded this special day in the form of a travel diary. So I used the precious time at the end of the semester to catch a fish (?) and review the ten days into a running diary.

7.31 It’s a Small World. I met George at Shuangliu Airport T1 and even took the same flight to Abu Dhabi with him!

There was a bug when I checked in for an international flight for the first time. I was told that "the seat on the connecting plane was locked and I could not get my boarding pass." I was told to go through the security check and go to the terminal to wait. The staff gave me send over.

The uncle at the security check asked me in surprise, "Are you alone?" But I was so proud (bu)

However, when we started boarding the plane, the boarding pass still didn’t come out, so the little brother told me to go to Abu Dhabi to get a replacement boarding pass. I just boarded the plane with a lot of worries, thinking that if people didn't recognize me there, wouldn't it be impossible for both sides to go back?

It was early in the morning when we arrived in Abu Dhabi. After anxiously circling around for a long time, I finally got my boarding pass! After another few hours of connecting flights, when we arrived in Belgrade at 6:30 local time, the sky was completely bright, giving people the illusion of a noon sky!

The host of the B&B, named Samuel, came to pick us up at the airport holding a sign with Betty printed on it. He was very enthusiastic. Afraid of embarrassment, he kept chatting with me in the car and made clear arrangements for accommodation-related matters. Because I arrived too early, it was only eight o'clock when I arrived in the city, and the tenant from the previous night had not left yet, so I could only be left wandering around nearby.

First I got my phone card, exchanged euros for dinars, and then found a coffee bar to sit for an hour (a cup of espresso only costs 6rmb!!). Then I didn't turn on any navigation, and just wandered around the street, turning left whenever I wanted, turning into any alley I wanted, and I didn't know how far I walked. I came across many squares, churches and monuments. After a while, I opened Google Maps and found that I had visited almost half of Belgrade.

At twelve o'clock at noon, Samuel went to work, and it was his father who came to pick me up. The old man couldn't speak English well, so he could only sign with me. Their house is a single-family house with a nice decoration, a sofa bed, a kitchen and a bar. Even the doors and windows have no security guards, which is quite scary.

In the afternoon, I went to visit Michelangelo Street. It is a tourist attraction that is recommended in most travel guides, but it is actually just a commercial pedestrian street with a relatively charming charm. There are all kinds of shops, but unfortunately, ysj and his family don’t dare to go in. They basically just go shopping for food (…). The drink maniac ysj bought many kinds of weird drinks and a pizza for dinner. He went back to the house and lay down on the bed to watch videos. The first day was over.

The next day we took a bus to the small town of Zemun. The bus card in Serbia is as thin as a piece of paper, which makes people wonder if there is no magnetic strip inside it. Most people don’t swipe their cards when getting on the bus, but occasionally someone will come to check the ticket (I was checked at the airport on my last day). But even if you can evade the fare most of the time, it’s still worth spending 200 dinars to buy a bus card as a souvenir!

The buses in Belgrade are all trams, painted with bright paint, which is particularly retro. The bus is also very efficient, with nearly 20 stops, it takes more than half an hour to get there. Zemun is on the Danube River. A long street along the river is full of restaurants and bars. The colors of the buildings are very pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately, it rained heavily that morning and the sky was extremely gloomy. Miraculously, the rain stopped in the afternoon and the sun was shining brightly.

We had lunch at a music restaurant by the river and ordered a cup of hot chocolate (very thick, almost like chocolate sauce), a pasta (very sour), and an apple pie. Among them, because I didn’t know that Europeans only manually call for dessert after a meal, so I stupidly thought that the clerk had forgotten me and was embarrassed to ask, so I fidgeted for a long time. Finally, I spoke, and the lady immediately said enthusiastically, " Oh, you want dessert, right?" He quickly served me dessert. It's embarrassing, but the apple pie is delicious.

There was also a China Sunset Red tour group eating at the same restaurant. Their tour guide was a local girl with uniquely dyed hair. She spoke carefreely and spoke fluent Chinese. When my mother-in-law and grandfather saw me sullenly eating, they came over to chat with me. They were so enthusiastic that I didn’t even know what to reply. Finally, before they left, they gave me a refrigerator magnet bought at a nearby attraction...

The weather is fine and we walk along the Danube River. There are many old friends hanging out leisurely, and there are also many people with children. I found a place to sit on the steps that were almost close to the river, clicked on the playlist I had prepared and started looping, holding my chin and letting myself go. I was in a daze for a long time, crying and laughing at the same time. It was very joyful. There were many swans and colorful boats on the river, as well as many mosquitoes (...) I sat like this for two or three hours. It was probably the longest and emptiest time in my life. Then I took the bus back slowly.

A person doesn't dare to go out at night, so he rushes back to his house before dark every day. Fortunately, it gets dark late in Serbia, otherwise the nightlife would be too boring. Even so, lying in bed still felt like the night was too long. It happened to be early morning in China, and there was no one to chat with me. I often feel sleepy and fall asleep after eight o'clock, wake up again at ten o'clock, and then entertain myself until twelve o'clock, then turn off the lights and rest.

When I first arrived in Belgrade, I was still timid about many things. I didn’t boldly explore more novel things. It’s a pity when I think about it. On the third day, we went from Belgrade to Novi Sad. Let’s tell the story there next time!