The last time I posted I was on my way to Ljubljana, which I must say was a short and a sweet stay. What followed next (you will know if you are following me on Social Media), was the much-awaited trip to CROATIA.
By now, I’ve spent over a week here, exploring Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split. As I write this post, I’m already sulking about missing out my day trip to Plitvice National Park, but feel partly happy about leaving Croatia!
Why happy? Happy in the hope of cutting short some drama!
There are 2 scenes that truly added to the drama-
SCENE 1- ZAGREB
Pickpocketing
Parichay was robbed off his wallet while getting off the tram in Zagreb!
We’ve been careful with our belongings since day 1 (despite having lost a tripod, a leather jacket, a towel, and almost lost a laptop). And now, a wallet with about 200 euros, a credit card, debit card and home keys was picked by some clever thief!
We did try to be careful, but I cannot exactly narrate how it did or must have happened. 15 minutes ago it was there, a few tram stations later it wasn’t.
WHAT FOLLOWED?
A trip to the police station, registering an FIR, calls to India to block the cards and of course, some panic and worries and moments to grieve over an otherwise while budgeted trip!
His passport was with me, hence safe. (So no insurance money for the Gujju lad ???? )
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
You can be careful, but every thief has his/her day!
Always scatter your money and keep while travelling! (I do that, Parichay doesn’t!)
Know the contents of your wallet (including the card details)
Keep quiet at the police station! ????
When you are over this, there is scene 2 as well!
SCENE 2- ZAGREB TO DUBROVNIK
Racism!
This one was an incident that we were unprepared for, at least in Croatia. The same night we had a night bus from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. With the bus tickets and passport safe, we decided to continue with our travel after having reported the theft of the wallet.
With a big bag (befitting a 50day trip) per person, we were stared at by our bus driver. He seemed a rather unpleasant person, who was at least highly suspicious of us. We decided to ignore that, only to wake up to a surprise. The driver had tipped us to the Boarder Police while crossing Bosnia and Herzegovina. On their routine checking, they took our passports and even asked one of our team mates- Akash to head out of the bus.
The police only had 4 passports, 4 Indian passports. Bunny was asked to empty has pockets and further on asked to open his bag. The police was hoping to find some drugs, and they weren’t any secretive of their intentions. They asked Bunny to handover any drug that he had on him.
Of course the bus driver, who assisted in opening the luggage storage in the bus was enjoying the scene.
When there was nothing to be found worth reporting, we were handed back our passports. (Honestly, with all the cases of framing that we’ve read, this was a scary experience)
Reaching Dubrovnik wasn’t the end of this as more people gave us dirty stares on the bus. Someone did mutter ‘Asians’ while making a face.
Further on, we were questioned if we belonged to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
You see, things aren’t always as FAIR as THEY SEEM TO BE!
Don’t worry; Croatia did give us a fare share of fun and joy. And I shall post about that too! SOON.
Until next post,
Parampara
(Who has crossed levels of being AWARA)
This post is from the 50Days trip to Europe across 9 countries and 20 cities. For more updates and blogs in this series, check Awara Diaries.
