Little Trip to Janjevo

Tom took me for a little drive to an area near Llipjan a few nights ago. We went through several villages before we got to Janjevo. I couldn't believe that the road(?) we were on was the main road through the village. It became progressively more narrow and steep and finally we turned around. There was a group of Roma people outside sitting and I was very excited to observe that the women were dressed exactly as I always thought .... you know, the stereotypical head kerchiefs and gold hooped earrings. I'm always very self conscious about taking photos of people but on our way back through the village I told Tom he had to take a photo of them. I doubt they spoke any English but he did ask permission and they seemed very friendly. But before he could get the shot a group of very happy and excited little girls ran up and insisted upon being photographed. They were really cute and Tom couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them. He did eventually get a photo of the ladies but you have to zoom into it to see the hooped earrings. I'll have to fix that photo before I post it here.

The next day Tom was telling his Serbian language assistant about being up there and he told Tom that that is a mixed area and that there are a lot of Croats living there with the Albanians and Romas. Apparently the Croats came to the area in the late 13th century to work as craftsmen at Novo Brdo where there was a flourishing silver mine and city. At one time Novo Brdo was larger than Paris. Who knew?

When the silver played out and Novo Brdo declined some of the Croats stayed and it wasn't until the mid 20th century before a lot of them (their descendents) moved back to Croatia. At this time there is a significant number of Janjevci living in Zagreb.

Tom's L. A. also told him that the church we saw there isn't a Serbian Orthodox church like we presumed. It's actually a Catholic church, Sveti Nikola. A few years ago a British KFOR officer said something about there not being any Catholic churches to attend Mass in and Nik told him that he knew where one was. So the next Sunday, to the astonishment of the villagers and the delight of the priest, about 20 KFOR vehicles showed up with a number of British soldiers and they attended Mass.

Anyway, here is Tom's photo of the little Roma girls who shared their smiles and laughter with us. I wonder what their lives will be like living up there where it seems like they are a world away from modern Pristina. It seems impossible but it's only about 20 kilometers from Janjevo to Pristina and I'm sure they can see the lights of the city from there.

For a companion photo to this one, go to www.woophy.com and put Janjevo Kosovo in the Search area and it should come up. You'll also see that it has received a lot of views, and a couple of comments and a rating! Wish I had taken the photo but Tom gets the credit.

Back in the saddle again....

Finally, after 5 weeks back in the U.S., I arrived back in Pristina only to leave a week later for Thailand. If that sounds like a complaint, it isn't! Tom had a fair amount of laundry needing to be done so that took a couple of days and then I started gathering together all my summer clothes, bathing suit, flip flops, sunscreen and sunglasses. After we got back to Kosovo two weeks later, the old laptop finally died a slow and painful death. We went shopping the other night and bought a new one so I'm a happy, contented Internet addict again. The whole point of all this is by way of an explanation (excuse) for why I haven't been posting to the blog for such a long time.

After a very rough flight from Vienna to Bangkok we arrived at the sparkling new airport in Bangkok. And what an airport that is! Wow....I had read that Bangkok has incredible shopping but I don't know why you would ever need to leave the airport to do that. Every upscale shop you can imagine is there....Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci....the list is endless. Not that I could spring for a $3500 handbag, but nevertheless, it's a fascinating airport and I usually don't have anything good to say about airports. And apparently this airport never closes. We were there for a flight that left at midnight on our return flight and the place was throbbing.

Anyway, we had a great time in Phuket. It's beautiful, warm (I mean really warm) and the people are friendly. I always mention the food everywhere we go and this is no exception. It was great. Reminded me of a fabulous Thai restaurant my niece and I went to in Morgan Hill, California....only it was about a thousand times better. Everything was really good and spicy and a lot of dishes had pineapple so that made it even better. Someone there told us that the pineapple in southern Thailand is known for being especially sweet. With all that great Thai food there I hate to admit that we ate at a Mexican restaurant called Coyote on Patong Beach that was super good, too. They probably had the best nachos I've ever had. Just as a side note, the hotel we stayed at was the best ever. It has an odd name....the Access Pool Resort and Spa. But the staff was incredibly nice and the entire place was spotless. Our room was just beautiful and the back door to the room stepped right out into the pool that we spent tons of time in...even when it rained.

Anyway, this is a blog about Kosovo so I don't want to give a blow by blow of Thailand. But here's a photo just to prove we were there. Okay, I realize this photo proves nothing and it's just a couple of chickens. But I figure you can see all the Buddhist temples, beaches, and tuk tuks you could ever want to see by Googling them. I liked these chickens. So there you go.