Albania

I had been trying to arrange with Robert in Albania to meet up with him in Shkodra, but my email had been playing up and I couldn't send text messages from my phone (I would need to top up and no guarantee it would work then anyway). Eventually we agreed 2pm somewhere in Shkodra, so I thought the 11am bus (which someone in Ulcinj has told me about in French!) was a good option. The bus arrived at 11am, I paid, put my bags in and the driver just walked off! So I waited and waited and eventually realised it wasn't leaving until 1pm, so I went in search of a way to text Robert. A group of Albanians were standing nearby and I was able to use one of their mobiles to send. Eventually we left and finally we crossed the border into Albania.

In Shkodra I met up with Robert - although we'd never seen each other before, it wasn't all that hard to spot the other one as English ("Dr Livingstone, I presume?"). I had been waiting at a cafe where an Albanian I'd met on the minibus had bought me a drink (he wouldn't accept me paying for it), and from there Robert took me to a studio where he was helping record an album of children's praise music in Albanian. Then on to Lezha to his home.

Brief first impressions of Albania, although I have been before: a lot of dirt, especially unmade-up roads with poor drainage, and garbage lying around; very generous people, lots of handshaking; farm life still prevalent; good times with Albanian Christians.