My host in Bratislava, Matej, playing the “juice whistle”. He says there are a million names for this instrument, but this is what he came up with for English.
Right now Matej is somewhere along the Trans-Siberian Railway! Last week I was on a mission in Vienna to find him the latest edition of Lonely Planet’s guide for the Trans-Siberian Railway because it’s cheaper than buying it in Bratislava. (It took some pavement-pounding on Tuesday, but in the end it was mission accomplished!) A couple of days before I went to see Matej, his visa for Russia was approved and he was planning to set off on his trip two days later, but thankfully (for me) it was postponed because otherwise I might not have seen him at all. Matej took some time to bake me a birthday cake (I’ll upload that photo along with the rest of the birthday food pics — of which there are MANY) and he even made me dinner! What a guy! I’m excited for him, he’ll be travelling for two months with a tent and staying in rural villages along the way. As much as I enjoy modern tech gadgetry, Matej’s journey is the one I’d choose if I had two months.
