Since there was no breakfast, I prepared a cup of tea for myself. Only one sachet of Indian tea is left. After getting ready, I left the hostel with my packsack. US girl- Laura had gone to the market and the woman told me that Laura too has some plan to visit St. Naum but later.
I exchanged 20 Euros from the exchange shop into Macedonian Dinar and Euro into Lek as I was short of 100 lek for the taxi. I also bought two bananas for 60 lek. Then I hired a taxi for the border for 500 lek. The driver told me that he would take me to St. Naum for 10 Euro but I did not agree. I thought I will be walking the distance from the border. Then I realized that it may be difficult and agreed to pay him 500 lek + 245 Lek + 5 Euro.
Now he was asking for 20 Euro for Ohrid town. I refused to pay that much.
Albanian border had no problem. Passport was stamped while I was sitting in the taxi. Then after a while came Macedonian border. Here I had to stop. No Indian has passed through this border in recent time. The taxi stayed at one side while the Passport Officer contacted his supervisor. A woman officer checked my packsack superficially. After 10 minutes my passport was returned with the stamp. I was glad that I did not decide to walk as it would be difficult in the Sun with no shade and distance is also long. I sat in a nearby restaurant and asked for omelet for breakfast. Then I saw the same US girl Laura getting down from a taxi. I called her name (wrongly) and after 2-3 calls, she looked towards me and exclaimed with joy. The woman at the hostel gave me wrong information that she would be going later. Otherwise we could have shared a taxi. Anyhow, she also came to the restaurant for breakfast and had a coffee. Then we kept our rucksacks in the restaurant and walked towards St. Naum Monastery, a hotel and a restaurant of the similar name.
St. Naum Monastery is a very well known UNESCO protected heritage building. It was nice bright brick colour from outside and walls adorned some beautiful paintings inside. Outside are many natural springs having drinking water and also protected. Beach here is good for swimming but apparently not that big.
I spoke to Robert from here as the telephone was still working. He sent me the phone number of Thale, his friend in Ohrid Town. I, then, spoke to Thale and told him that I could come by boat as suggested by Robert. But the boat is at 4 p.m. It will be too late.
Now we are waiting for bus. We missed the earlier bus by 2-3 minutes while returning from the monastery. Bus came at 12’O clock and we were 3 passengers in it. The fare was 100 Dinar (1 Euro = 60 Dinar). We reached Ohrid Town in one hour. Journey was through many villages on the sea coast and people were taking bath and swimming wherever there was a space for it in the Ohrid lake.
Bus stopped in Ohrid town at a crossing which was its last stop near the centre. Laura said bye and went to the city hostel. I bought a sim card from a nearby store. It was fairly easy. No passport and no filling up of a form like in some countries. It was 300 Dinar or 5 Euro. I phoned Mr. Thale and he immediately responded. He will be coming in 15 minutes to pick me up. I gave my mobile to the counter girl who explained him where I was standing. Thale came running to me at the crossing. He has parked his van on the other side and then we drove to Scout’s Camping area. Thale is Director of Scout Camp for 4 months here. Otherwise he works at Skojpe at the National headquarter of Scouts.
We chatted during the drive. Robert had told him about me. We reached the camping area in 10 minutes and went to his office. He introduced one woman whose name is “Lady” (funny). She is a middle age woman and showed me my accommodation in a hut of the camping area. There is a row of these huts in 2 and rest in tents, small and big and many caravan chalets. The room is well furnished with ensuite WC and a small T.V. I kept my rucksack here and then we walked to a nearby restaurant inside the camp and in front of the lake Beach which is very small. Many families were taking bath or basking in the sun. Water is not deep here and so children are playing in water with their parents. Restaurant is also very crowded. Mostly children and adults are eating ice-cream. I had lemonade and Lady had cold coffee. I had a good talk with Lady and came to know the geography and their dispute over name with Greece. She said that they had no problem but Greece has with them. She completely denied any similarity of culture or anything with Greek. Both Communities are noticeably different. Thale joined us after sometime and we were served grilled cottage cheese and salad. I could not eat much cottage cheese but ate salad. Thale asked for Reiki which was not much strong. It was 3 p.m. and we decided to meet here again at 6 p.m. I came to the room and slept for an hour or so. It is cold now as the sky was cloudy. I came out to the restaurant at 6 p.m. after taking shower. Thale met me there and we drove to the city centre crossing. He will pick me up at 9 p.m. from here. I realized that I’d left my mobile and the diary in the room. If he does not come, I will show the key which has the camping phone number to the taxi driver and go myself. The city center as in all cities is full of restaurants and shops, a fountain and absolutely no vehicles in the area. I walked till the lake and then by the side of the lake. This place was crowded. Here I could see a large number of hawkers selling roasted corn. Coal is used for roasting. This I have seen in Albania also but here are many and not only Roma selling it but others also. I sat on a bench for a long time. In fact for more than 2 hrs. I took some pictures and then sat for a coffee for one hour till 9 p.m. Thale came at 9.10 p.m. and we drove back to the camping area. Thale’s wife was coming from Skojpe to join him in a couple of hours. We sat in the restaurant and drank a bottle of red wine. Also hot bread pieces with grated cheese over there (a Macedonian delicacy) and chinopi made out of mixing of two meats was served. Thale is the Director and so it is his restaurant. His wife came at midnight with two other people. There is a live with a person singing. Listened to Serbian or Macedonian songs for hours till I said goodnight to everyone at 12.30 a.m.
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