Wagons East

So we packed up our belongings and decided to hoof it for Budapest on friday morning. Belisce was sunny and clear as we checked the oil and loaded the bags into the car. After corralling the crew into conducting an interview each before we left, we jumped into the car, set the GPS for Budapest and hit the road. It occurred to me at this point that we are incredibly spoiled in this day and age with all the technological advancements of the 21st century. Setting a GPS is still foreign for me but having it for use during a road trip is really a godsend especially when traveling to countries with signs spelled in cyrillic. With the GPS set we headed into Hungary. Entering an E.U. country from a non E.U. member is always an interesting experience. Fortunate for us all documents were in order and we hopped onto the fantastic hungarian highway to Budapest. I have fond memories of Budapest from a past visit to Hungary with my friend Eva back in 2007. I had never been to the city and was incredibly surprised by her offer to come and join her in the city. My memories are comprised of the following thoughts. Hungarian people are incredibly nice. We ate shitloads of amazing hungarian food. Hungarian people know how to riot and are good at it. Budapest is very reasonably priced.

Budapest March 2007

This time around, Budapest definitely did not disappoint. The opportunity to share this experience with my brothers was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We found a very nice hostel just outside the center of downtown and went out for an evening of hungarian goulash, fantastic beer and lots and lots of photos along the Budapest waterfront. Our first stop was a restaurant called "For Sale". Home of 1100 Forint litre bowls of goulash, this place is a must see when you visit Budapest. A cozy dark brick room welcomes you along with straw hay strewn about on the floor. A basket of peanuts on your table for you to enjoy... simply discard the shells on the floor. Somewhat reminded me of a tasteful version of the Pioneer Pub in Richmond. Then the Goulash. Litre bowls of it. Thank goodness we were sensible and ordered two bowls for four people, complete with three different types of chili powder. The hungarians love their spice... and I love hungarians!

Kat testing the chili.

Goulash Aftermath

After dinner was the start of the photo/video excursion. Which is probably where our groups opinions of how it went differ. When you're a photographer/camera man it's quite easy to stay warm. Your day is usually comprised of stopping to take photos of the group, interspliced with hundred meter sprints to catch up with the group. It's a great way to stay warm, but if you're trying to convince people to pose for a photo its a great way to piss off the group as they are slowly getting colder and more disguntled with time.

The Danube

The chain bridge roundabout.

I always told myself that if I returned to Budapest with an SLR digital camera, I would have a field day. You can ask Katarina, Miles or Emmett and I'm sure you'll get a different opinion but I certainly made a damn good effort to balance my subjects and desperately try to gather as many quality night shots as I possibly could at the same time. We made our way up to the Buda palace at the top of the hill and took some shots of the city. One of my favourite places to explore when I was there back in 2007 it was an experience that was extra special when shared with my brothers. Getting to show them around such a magical place at night was a real treat.

We made our way to "Simple" bar. Simple is a very cool place to say the least. It's similar to what you get if you took East Vancouver alternative lifestyle and mated it with eastern european socialism. A studio warehouse literally turned into six different bar rooms. Take something you found on the sidewalk and attach it to the wall. The place was a decoration in itself. Everything on the walls including plenty of advice. Cheap beer, good crowd and an amazing atmosphere. It was artists commune turned into a bar. Very very cool.

Kat pointing out some good advice.

The next morning was the big day. We woke up and enjoyed the free breakfast at the "Aboriginal Hostel". I must say after working at many hostels over time, this definitely had the best breakfast of any hostel I had been to. Waffles with chocolate, Museli and proper brewed coffee were the highlights. We packed our things and prepared for a 7 hour day of driving through Ukraine up to Lviv. We were optimistic as we drove through the beautiful hungarian countryside. The new highway was a delight with it's modern fuel stations, wide shoulders and 130km/h speed limits. Little did we know that Ukraine would be very very different.

Three things I did not expect.

- The underside of your car will bottom out against the ground. A lot.

- Passing other cars is a national sport in Ukraine.

- Expect the unexpected when driving outside of any Ukrainian town. Pack of dogs on the highway? Horse drawn carriage coming at you in an oncoming lane? A tractor pulling a wagon full of potatoes across four lanes of traffic? Yeah all normal in Ukraine.

But that's a story for next time.

The start of something big.

So over the last few days since leaving Dubrovnik I have been filming and documenting as much as I can. It has been a rewarding experience so far documenting our trip form Zagreb through to Serbia and back again. Yesterday We made a side trip to the towns of Vukovar and Ilok. We stopped by and checked out the vukovar "Ovcara" museum. A sad sad place where 261 people were massacred during the war. Not a very uplifting place but a vry important experience to fully understand croatian history and culture.

On top of seeing the sights and experiencing the lifestyle, I have also been shooting my ass off! So much so that I actually managed to kill my $1000 camera lens. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to Zagreb or Slovenia to get it fixed for the big Ukraine trip. It is such a massive pain in the ass because it is the only camera lens I have that has any zoom/range. My only other lens is a fixed 50mm prime lens so I NEED to get my other lens fixed so I have something to take to the Ukraine. Anyways aside from the lens incident, things have been going smoothly and I look forward to leaving for the Ukraine this weekend. If all goes well I will keep filming and should have some interesting footage to put together a nice little doc by the time I'm done. Anyways here's what I have so far, so give it a whirl and leave some comments if you dig it!

Untitled from Fraser Martyniuk on Vimeo.

On the road... again

It has been an incredible month. Time has flown by as always but October seems to have been even worse than the rest. It was October 1st... then suddenly it was the 28th.

I was very melancholic while slowly dismantling the life I had previously lived for the prior six months. The house what was my home was being reduced to two backpacks full of random items. One full bag of computer and photo gear, one of clothing and real life stuffs. As I went through everything I had to decide what to store, pack or throw away. At the same time in Dubrovnik because the ex-pat community is so tight, I was also doing the rounds of "goodbyes" and "see you in Zagreb"s. A coffee here, return an item there, clean my room and suddenly the day was nearly over. The last few hours until 1 am were spent checking my baggage twice to make sure I didn't forget anything. I crashed around 1:30 only to wake up at 4:30 am to catch the 6:00 am bus to Zadar to meet Dave.

Its a strange feeling to walk out of a city for the last time. I was leaving behind something so familiar, a city I had lived in for six months. It's a strange feeling looking down and empty street and not knowing whether you will ever return to that place. With a heavy heart I walked out of town with my belongings on my back, but not before snapping one last shot of the "grad". I caught the bus to the station and boarded the eight hour bus to Zadar.

It's strange. Once my ass hit the seat on the bus, it was all familiar once again. That feeling of being on the road once again. Not to mention that all too familiar bus seat that feels like it's been "designed to be uncomfortable". My home for the next eight hours. Days earlier I had booked two beds for Dave and I at the "Drunken Monkey Hostel" in Zadar. Now I'm not one for party hostels, but according to hostelworld reviews this was the only hostel in Zadar that hadn't recently had any encounters with bed bugs. party hostel be damned, I was going to sleep bed bug free so I booked us two beds and prepped myself to see Dave again.

It's a funny thing seeing friends while abroad. There's quite a difference between "true friends" and "acquaintances". Acquaintances tend to lose contact and feel the geographical distance and time a friendship suffers while two people are apart. With "true friends" time and distance don't matter. It's just like old times when you finally do come together again. That is exactly how I felt when I finally met up with Dave in Zadar. It was literally like no time had passed since we last saw each other. Other than the obvious fact that we were both in Croatia, nothing had changed. Time to explore Croatia as friends.

I was pleasantly surprised by what Zadar had to offer. It is a small city with a population of around 80,000 residents, but in comparison to Dubrovnik it seemingly has a lot. Real grocery stores, western european shops and brand names, even an H&M store to buy reasonably prices winter wear. I was very impressed with the amount of local art and culture presented within the old city walls. The old city itself felt large than that of Dubrovnik with an emphasis on art. Zadar has a few local installations as attractions along it's beautiful riviera. The "sea organ", a stone waterfront with holes cut in the side to allow water to generate air pressure as the waves pass by is a definite highlight. Sitting on the waterfront not just watching the waves coming in, but hearing them as well was a total treat. You wouldn't really think it, but the waves do have a magical and hypnotizing sound to them that does actually sound musical. Right next to the sea organ is the "Sun Salutation" circle. A solar powered LED light exhibit that captures the light during the day and illuminates panels during the night while putting on a "jumbo-tron" like light show. I managed to snap plenty of night shots along the riva with a local tallship moored alongside.

In Zadar we happened to run into Andy Davidson, a friend of my brothers. Now it's a bit of a funny story but Andy actually gave my brother Miles a ride back from Greece on the back of his motorcycle. It may sounds simple, but it was far from it. Bad roads, crappy signage, crazy drivers and cold weather were some of the obstacles that confronted them. When they arrived in Dubrovnik Miles asked if Andy could spend some time at our place to get some much needed rest. What was supposed to be "a few days" turned into over a week... which was our pleasure as Andy turned out to be a stand up dude. About as good as they come. Miles had left to go meet Emmett in London but Andy had stuck around and hung out with us in Dubrovnik a few days longer... then rode his bike up to Zadar and managed to meet Dave and I at the Drunken Monkey Hostel. It's strange how easy it is to get along with other travelers... people who really know how to grab life by the balls and cherish every moment of being on the road. Andy is definitely one of those dudes.

Here's a picture of Andy and his ride.

How Andy, Miles, both their bags, fuel tanks and camping gear ever fit on there... I will never know.

Anyways we all had a blast in Zadar, meeting other fellow travelers, locals and for myself getting to experience a new part of the croatian coast. It's strange how once you spend a lot of time in Dubrovnik, you get used to the fact that you miss out on a whole shitload of other cool things out there. After spending a few days in Zadar, we decided it was time to part ways and head to Zagreb. Dave and I jumped on a bus while Andy once again saddled up and headed directly to Ljubljana. We boarded the bus in the warm adriatic sun. As we drove along the road to Zagreb we passed through a super long tunnel. I swear it must have taken us 10-15 minutes to drive through! Once we passed through the other side, it was cloudy and foggy and cold. A sign of the weather to come. We had officially left the dalmatian coast behind for cool weather, cloudy skies and real winter. What was even better was that Dave was sleepingmost of the time... so when he passed out, it was sunny and warm. When he woke up the sun was gone and it was hovering about 5 celcius. Not anybody's favourite way to wake up...

Anyways we arrived in Zagreb... met up with my friend Booboo and finally laid our heads to rest. It was a good trip so far and as we would find in the coming days, familiar places were all about to get a bit more familiar...

Tofino Family Getaway (one year later)

So I was arranging all the files and footage on my computer the other day and realized I had over 100 gigabytes of footage on my computer that I had never really finished editing. Last year my family and I rented a minivan and decided to head out to Tofino for a weekend to reconnect and get back to nature. It was a fantastic trip and I was even able to drag both my brothers out surfing for a bit. Fortunately I also managed to drag along my go pro camera and capture all of the action as well! Anyways I apologize to my parents for taking so long, but I finally managed to find the time to edit it all up and I think it turned out nicely!

Song: "Bourgeois Shangi-La" by "Miss Li"

The Day Winter Finally Caught Up With Dubrovnik...

So over the last two months, I've got to say I've had relatively little to complain about weather wise. On my igoogle homepage, I've installed side by side webcam apps so I can simultaneously watch Vancouver and Dubrovnik weather. Needless to say in comparison Vancouver has got the shitty end of the weather stick this season with it's few precious weeks of summer. Aside from the occasional hour long shower, Dubrovnik hasn't really seen rain since May. With temperatures hovering in the 25 to 30C mark consistently for the last five months, my mixed feelings of leaving Vancouver have been reinforced by the warm water, sunny days and beautiful temperatures.

There was a lot of talk the other day about the weather as it seemed summer was really about to come to an end. Temperatures were forecast to drop 15 degrees, snow was forecast in Zagreb and the locals were making a last ditch effort to solidify their sesonal tan by spending the last sunny hours on a beach. I myself joined in on the action with some last minute snorkeling and a last attempt to spot an octopus in it's natural habitat. I never saw the octopus, but I did manage to find an eel... a very colourful yellow and grey one which I stalked for many minutes while it hit between some rocks. As it turns out, 24 hours later, summer really would be over in spectacular fashion.

The following day was a mixture of sun and cloud when I woke up. There was a nice onshore breeze but you could tell something was different. Over the last week I have been house sitting at Jon and Sanja's house, looking after the dog and taking care of the Launderette. As I woke up and walked out onto their beautiful balcony, I looked out on the horizon and had to do a double take. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Off in the distance was a TORNADO! Well to be perfectly honest, when it's on the water it is a "water spout" but it really was a full on cyclone whipping up the water and sucking it up a thousand feet into the clouds. I watched as it started off in the distance, but was slowly coming towards shore in my exact direction! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I was only able to snap some lousy quality iphone photos.

I can only imagine what the captain of that cruise ship was thinking as the water spout was coming closer and closer to the ship. There's no point raising the anchor cause it means you are now at the mercy of the winds, you can't run away as it would take too long... you can only really sit there and pray that it doesn't bowl you over, suck up all your passengers and destroy the ship. Luckily for him, as the spout came closer to land it also dissipated in strength and eventually made contact with land and vanished. Life in Dubrovnik returned to normal.

Then later in the evening the clouds rolled in, the air became sour with ozone and you could feel the electricity in the atmosphere. I had to make a serious attempt to run for the launderette, close it up just in the nick of time and then run home on the scooter to close up the windows and shutter just as the storm hit. Wind, sideways rain and massive lightning bolts illuminated the sky. Once the initial rain subsided I was able to duck out on the balcony with my tripod and snap this photo of lightning hitting behind Lokrum Island.

Thankfully the storm was over just as quickly as it had arrived leaving behind clean fresh air and a much cooler temperature. Summer was officially over. Away with the flip flops, shorts and t-shirts and time for winter jackets, jeans and gloves. Ugh. At least it will be a good way to get to the temperatures in the Ukraine...

A Thousand Islands.

So back in May when I had just returned to Croatia, I received a call from my longtime sailing friend Bastian who mentioned an opportunity to go sailing in Croatia with the Cooper Boating crew. When you travel, plans tend to change, people get busy, have stuff to do and arrangements tend to fall through. I was pleasantly surprised when earlier in September I got a confirmation call that the sailing trip was on, and there was extra space on the boat. Being a bit strapped for cash, Bastian was kind enough to invite me along as long as I hauled my weight on board in return. Fortunately there was also extra space on board, so I was able to bring my brother Miles along for the trip as well. It would definitely be a new experience for myself, but it would even cooler to share the memory of trying something new with Miles. Sailing in Croatia. Land of a thousand islands. Pearl of the Adriatic.

I spent the last few days before the trip planning our way up the coast, transportation to Trogir and a way back at the end of the week. Thankfully my boss Jon was awesome enough to cut me some slack and come in a bit earlier to replace me so I could leave town a few hours earlier. That worked out great, the only other problem we had was that once we arrived in Split by bus, we would have to catch another connection out to Trogir harbour, which didn't run late at night. Huge thanks go out to my friend Diana, who was kind enough to drive us out to Trogir in exchange for a nice dinner out. I was also excited that Miles got to meet Diana and see what kind of great people Croatia has. As we drove out to Trogir, Diana told us about all the times she had been in a fender bender since I had last seen her in Dubrovnik three months earlier. She was pushing the limits but managed to avoid losing her job seeing as her car was provided by her employer (the number is five accidents in three months). Needless to say we made it to Trogir in one piece, albeit a bit nervous and met up with Bastian and his friend Isabellina. We sat around, had a drink, took in all the beautiful harbour had to offer. Due to rough weather we had to stay in Trogir harbour for two nights. Both nights I managed to sleep in the hammock up on deck which was an amazing experience. By day we went exploring and shipping at the local markets. It's strange how in this part of the world "buying local" isn't anything new. In fact for the most part they never stopped. Organic carrots, apples and my favourite, mandarin oranges were all bought in the local market. Lets also not forget a bottle of local "Travarica" that Miles found, a local Croatian herbal brandy which was consumed by all on the trip.

During the second night in Trogir harbour, we were slammed by a squall at about 9:30 pm. Initially Bastian and I had wandered into town to take photographs. As we walked into Trogir town we noticed that a storm front was steadily approaching. Not being more than 15 minutes from the boat we weren't worried about it. We took shots of the town, enjoying the local cafe culture and trying to snap as many discreet pictures of the locals as we could sneak. As we snapped away we noticed the storm getting closer and closer. I managed to snap a few pretty cool pictures of the storm as it approached. On average I would say there was a lightning strike every three seconds. It was a storm that was packing a heck of a punch. As we felt the air go still, and the hairs stand on the back of our necks, we decided to make a run for the marina. As we sprinted over the Trogir bridge back to the right side of the channel, the wind picked up significantly. What Bastian and I thought was a rain cloud aproaching at breakneck speed was actually a dust storm from the local harbour howling our way. We managed to make it back to the boat in the nick of time as the marina got hammered by the squall. Three foot waves started to form and batter the boats against the docks. Foresails proceeded to unfurl and flog themselves to death in the heavy winds. Our boat fortunately was well secured as we fired our motors up and left the boats in gear to help keep them from bashing into dock finger. During the early stages of the storm I managed to record this video.

Needless to say I don't think many people had seen anything quite like that before. A quiet idyllic marina turned into complete mayhem in an instant. Fortunately thanks to quick thinking from fellow sailors we managed to save a few boats from damage. Ripped power boxes, a shredded jib and a damaged pontoon of a catamaran. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but I know a few sailors were shaken. Other than the drama from the second night, the trip was otherwise a relaxing and warm vacation. Days were spent sailing in great winds, or motoring in the sunshine. We anchored out for lunch a few times, eating european style with a platter of cheeses and meats. Snorkelling until we were tired, napping until we were awake and traveling until we were reunited with the group. The further away from Split we went, the cleaner the water seemed to get with visibility improving and reaching the 100 meter mark. Fantastic snorkelling was experience, although I have still not managed to see the ever elusive octopus which is supposed to rule the area. We saw some amazing sunsets which I also managed to snap a few pictures of.

To earn my keep aboard, I was Bastian's "right hand sailor" always manning the main sheet and other lines. I also hauled my weight by being primary cook on board. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners were handled by yours truly. Meat and cheese platters, curries, omlettes etc... were all prepared on the tiny two burner stove in the galley. Here is one of our meals. Not too bad considering it came out of a boat galley! In the end I think Bastian was happy with my performance as a crew member.

So the rule of thumb goes that the longer your boat, the faster it's top speed will be. For some reason in Croatia this is not the case, as our tiny 32 foot "Dinghy" (compared to the other 43 footers) managed to consistently lead the pack and give all the other sailors a good run for their money. Plenty of fun was had on my last day as we raced from Stari Grad, Hvar to the small marina of Palmizana. I managed to snap some pretty cool photos along the way. There are some advantages about leading the pack!

Anyways on the last day, Bastian was awesome enough to drop me off in the town of "Hvar" where I caught a high speed catamaran to Split. A five and a half hour bus ride later on a double decker bus and I was back in Dubrovnik ready to work again on Saturday day... which is where I am writing this to you now! So if somebody asked me what my new favourite activity to do in Croatia is... my new answer is SAILING! The islands are stunning, the views amazing, the water clear and blue and the weather fantastic. And let's not forget the Bijela Kava with a shot of travarica.

Until the next adventure...

When Miles came to visit (along with everybody else)

So it seems that I am best at posting blogs with large amounts of time between entries. That's mostly due to the fact that I am out doing awesome shit, and seriously lack time and patience to write about it. Luckily I take a boatload of pictures, so I can always bring you up to speed quickly about the time that you may have missed.

So where to begin? Well it all started roughly on the 17th of August, when Miles, Christine and Lisa all happened to arrive on the same day, about two hours apart. Miles and Christine had just finished a family reunion trip in England, and fancied a visit. Lisa had been paying close attention to my blog and was obviously enthralled by my fancy pictures and enthusiastic writing and had decided to blow all her remaining vacation time to come visit me in Croatia.

What I neglected to mention was that Kim and her friend Joy had also visited and stayed for two weeks on my couch. To be honest, for the most part I have had somebody on my couch almost solidly since mid june. Lucy(6 weeks), Sarah (10 days), Suzanne (6 days), Kim and Joy (two weeks), Lisa (Three weeks), Me (five days, while Miles and Christine had my bedroom), and have finally reduced the number of random travelers to just my brother. Now you'd think that one would potentially go "Bat shit crazy" from such large numbers of people in the house, but it actually works out very nicely. When I cook up large curry dinners for the hostel (cooked at home), I never seem to have a shortage of hands to help me bring food and supplies up for dinner.

Not to mention the fact that all of these people have been close friends, or people that I had grown closer to during that time. Make a few new friends, see some old ones, have a sibling or two come visit. It's been a hell of a treat to get to show dear friends and family around Croatia. Not just show them Croatia, but show them MY CROATIA! Ranting a car and driving through the Peljesac peninsula, tasting wine and swimming along the way. Driving up to the mountains to enjoy a nice fresh locally grown meal in Konavle, hopping in kayaks and going to explore caves, bombed out hotels and hidden spots in the city of Dubrovnik.

After years of having people put up with old man Fraser telling stories like a senile nostalgic traveler, I am finally getting some glory by showing them that I didn't make that shit up... they are all real places full of real adventures to be shared.







Anyways it has been fantastic having friends and family visit the last little while. Even acquaintances have provided a unique experience, just like the last few days when Alanna's sister Laura and her friend Sara came to visit. It's strange how you can get to know somebody you've never met, but had an amazing amount of things in common with, halfway around the world. I figure showing people a good time is something like "travelers karma". When I end up in another town somewhere random in the world, the amazing people will come out of the woodwork and show me the unique amazing things of the region.

Speaking of random, I met up with a fellow traveler I met five years ago at Fresh Travelers Bar. Now it was a random meeting to begin with. His name is Sergei and he's a Kazakh/Russian fellow who was living in London. Interesting guy to talk to back then, ironically enough he came back to Dubrovnik and sought me out. I went out for a drink with him yesterday where he introduced me to his recently married wife Olga. By chance Olga happens to be from the Ukraine... and not just the Ukraine, but also the region that my ukrainian heritage is from. We spent the better part of the next hour and a half talking about ukrainian life, life in Bukovina, the making of kutia (a traditional ukrainian dish we would make at christmas), the best things to do and see in the country and some good insight for north american travelers. The more time I spend on the road, the more it makes sense that I need to return to the Ukraine and see it for my own eyes. Experiences like this seem to solidify the fact that I do in fact need to start planning and executing a trip there this winter. Everything is slowly falling right into place.

Anyways it is 1:30 am, I need to be up at 7 am to work at the hostel but wanted to avoid leaving you all hanging so I decided to bang out this blog. Here's a few more pictures from the month to tie you over until next time! Safe journeys in the meantime, and to anyone else in the area, don't hesitate to drop by for a visit!