Poulets and Motels

The weather is really hot now, so we spent last night in a Motel on the Albanian Highway. Bit of a dump, but far better than we are used to and I finally got a decent night's sleep.

Popped into Tirane today, and the road laws are basically non-existent. Dunc and I caused a small pile-up on the way out, people look at us because we are funny-looking, and there was a large collision about 5 meters behind us. Three cars involved, definately a write-off, and we were close to loosing a leg. Looks like landmines are not the only danger to our limbs!

There are lots of stolen cars here with British and Italian plates. Anyone owning the car with custom plates N3 ALP, your car is in Tirane being driven by a guy who doesn't speak English. The Albanians love a Land Rover Discovery! We also saw a Bentley. The locals also all wear three-piece suits even if it is over 50 yrs old and 30 degrees centigrade. In a restaurant we asked for two chicken meals like the ones on a nearby table, and got served two whole chickens with no cutlery or other food. Lovely! With a half-litre beer it came to about 4 euros each, which we thought wasn't too bad.

Also we saw the roughest town so far today on the outskirts of Tirane. Unbelievably dirty and a marketplace that has to be seen to be believed. We thought it was cool and sat down for some weird dough soaked in honey which was quite rank. In fact it was so bad we chucked half of it in the bin (i.e. on the floor). First time on the tour we didn't eat food we had.