Discovering Macedonia,Albania,Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina & Croatia (Sept 2024)
Another journey is on the way. Discovering the Balkans was never on my bucket list but somehow an opportunity opened up and I thought why not!. I wanted to see the remains of the brutal war in 1995. The Bosnian War. I was in the UK at that time and the horror of the war was relayed in real time. About how a group of young boys just gathered in the woods and blew themselves up. Or a lorry full of men dug a hole for themselves to be shot and buried in there. The awful narrations were unbelievable but they were real and happened not so long ago. I just could not pass this opportunity to be there and feel the horror myself.
We left KSE late in the afternoon. The amber September sky was there; saying goodbye and looking so beautiful as ever. I looked up as the car driven by my daughter Maryam weaved around the rush hour traffics. The excitement to travel was intervened by some element of sadness .KSE is my home now and leaving home has never been easy. I left the comfort of home, my plants that might not survive, the surau that I always run to be on time and not to mention the beautiful people that greeted me and made my day so bright and colorful. All things that promised me an awesome day will come tomorrow. I have started to believe it and the heavy burden of living has become lighter.
The airport seemed busy as always. Not much has changed since my last visit only the toilet has been upgraded with that fancy water outlet that crept up to shotgun your ass. It startled me and the water splashed all over my pants.
Oooo stupid !,I grumbled quietly. Now what! Do I have to walk around for the rest of this journey with this soaking wet pants.
It’s okay, I said hopelessly to myself.
The B777 Turkish Airline was modest with red and blue interior; a bit too much for me ( out of fashion or in Kelantanese —-‘ darat’). The headphone was not working. But using my earphon was able to “tilawah “ by 6:30 am KL time —- as I always do at the surau. We were over Iran at the time. The food was okay Chicken Rendang( described as Indonesian Chicken curry with white rice).” or Fried Noodles.Seriously? Indon mari? I chose fried noodles. The turbulence happened throughout the flight, shaking and rattling everything around us.
I closed my eyes and dreamt of Istanbul.
رب يسر ولا تعسر وتمم بالخير
