Mog's Blog: Alps, Public Transport and Italians

Hello again, have been around a bit recently. Went to west of Slovenia to visit my cousin - and visited the mountains which are close to the Austrian border. Those places are very accessible here as well as not being too overdeveloped, we went for a short walk of one hour hour and we were at the foot of 2000m peaks. Also cycled to the Croatian Border - to the Dragonja Valley - kilometre after kilometre of grape vines, and visited the capital city, Ljubljana. Off on my cycling trip on Thursday (Italian Railways permitting) - so hopefully will be able to send some adventures and pictures from there. Looking forward to it - hopefully I will last the 2 weeks!

Characters on Public Transport

As in Australia, you come across the most interesting characters on public transport (or at least I do!). I came across my first carny folk* on the bus. Well the male of the couple was complaining that it was too hot on the bus and that the sun was beating down on his head (it was mainly cloudy). Something was certainly happening in his head and so he had to move to the back of the bus (near me, of course!) - at which point the couple engaged in (or resumed) an inane discussion in which each party didn't appear to know what the other one was talking about.
On another occasion on a bus trip to the capital, Ljubljana, the bus was just about to go on to the freeway (at a toll station, basically in the middle of nowhere)- when a couple started waving the bus down. They wanted to get to the next town! I don't know how they knew the bus would go on to the freeway there (it was a railway replacement bus on a weekend with few buses), the time it would be there, that it would stop, and that it was the right bus! Anyway the driver was feeling compassionate, and probably also surprised, and so let them on. On the same trip a couple of women got on with the same oversize sunglasses and oversized dangling earrings (but different colours) - it was as if they were wearing a uniform.
One time a knucklehead saw the back door of the bus at the Piran bus station opened. Just as he was getting to the door the driver closed it and opened the front door as he was getting ready to go. The knucklehead tried to force the doors open waving at the bus driver. He finally realised that the front door was opened and so he went there - the bus driver was not happy and told him off, he explained that he wanted to get on and the driver told him that there was still a few minutes before departure. Here, you don't get on the bus until the last minute. I later saw the knucklehead buzzing around the train station. On another occasion we stopped at a bus stop which we never really stop at to pick up a tourist - he was only going one stop (a few hundred metres) - clearly he was scared of walking in the dark in scary Izola (a small town here). And he couldn't count either and got charged the equivalent of $1.65 for the privilege.

Tourists (especially Italians)

A lot of Italian tourists here still - even though the peak was August. They walk around completely oblivious to the existence of anybody else - whether you are on a bike or trying to walk on the same footpath as them. But dealing with them is a different matter again. Usually I have low expectations of people - and that works as most people exceed those expectations - so it is a positive thing. Italians are different, they usually meet my expectations. For instance, in trying to arrange my train tickets to northern Italy for my bike tour - I contacted Italian railways, the person spoke very good English. It was all going well, he explained what tickets I could book now etc. And then it just stopped: he just said "That's all. Goodbye" and that was it. So, I don't know whether he was on a time limit or something but most call centres at least ask if there was anything else you wanted. Same with the rail trail which nominally goes from Trieste in Italy, through Slovenia, to Porec in Croatia. When you get to the Italian border the trail continues for a little while, degenerates into a a narrow path (barely enough for one person) before deposting you on a main road a few kilometres outside Trieste.

As I have mentioned previously - there are some interesting sights here. The other day I saw the whitest person I have have ever seen - he was as white as Casper the ghost and wearing bathers - definitely out of place here in barbecue land. Also saw a person that was two toned (like an upside down Polish flag): from the shoulders up he was red, while the rest of him was white. Clearly didn't put much thought into this beach thing.

Cycling

It is a much more positive experience here. Motorists actually stop and give way to you when a path crosses a road (although they are usually parallel to pedestrian crossings). But some people (tourists), don't get it. One trail is marked with red lines and bicycle symbols and people still walk straight through the middle of it! But some cyclists are really into it - one (Italian) cyclist had the whole coordination thing going. His theme was black and blue. Black and blue bike, shirt, helmet and water bottle. But he didn't leave it there - he complemented it all with vertically stripped black and blue socks. I wanted to take a photo.

Interesting TV Programmes

An interesting programme is the cooking channel. The difference is it is in a variety of languages. So I am not sure who it is aimed at. The person that just likes to watch cooking - sort of like a sport? Another programme is a US one: Bait Car. This is where the police park a car (full of cameras and GPS) - always unlocked and either with the door opened or a whole of of valuables on the front seat - and wait for someone to try to steal it. You can imagine what sort of person usually gets caught. I will give you a clue: not any members of organised crime groups!

Different Concepts

Some things you see here are so different. For instance, because credit cards etc. are not as prevalent here they have cash on delivery. So if you order something online you go to the post office and pay for it there in cash - they make the payment into the account of the seller! Another interesting thing I saw in the shop the other day was an electric fly swatter. It is basically the shape of a tennis racket - with the strings being replaced by wires and it being battery operated. I am no fly expert and so I am not sure what is less cruel; instantaneous electrocution or getting choked to death by a spray. It is a German product.

Koper

This is the regional capital and I have been there a few times as that is where the biggest shops are. It's about 50 minutes on the bus. Anyway it appears to have a disppropriate number of travel agents and opticians. Does that mean the people there have poor health and can't wait to get out of the place?

*carny folk - a person who may be involved in the carnival industry, usually itinerant and is not adverse to engaging in illegal activities and particularly opportunities that may arise for theft . Personally, usually has bad teeth, body odour, burnt to a cinder and is loud. Diet is fast food and soft drink (thanks to Steve for help with this definition)