Made in Japan, Outsourced Globally

What do a couple of Turks, Americans, a Polish, German, Uighur Chinese, Japanese, and a Belizeian have in common? Nothing. Except a fortuitous junction in Croatia for New Year’s 2007, that is.


Happy New Year's! - from Split, with love.

I must admit, when I first decided to go on this trip, I would say, “Yeah… I’m going to Croatia… in the winter. But it’s going to be fun, because all my friends will be there.” Now, I’m a complete advocate of Croatia – it is a little-known Mediterranean secret, especially the southern coasts during winter. The sun shines bright and the sky is blue. The cold sea is broken by drops of Agean blue, a hint of the crowded beaches in Summer.


Dubrovnik


The crew - Tugba (Turkey), Kathleen (Germany), Guljahan (China), Grzegorz (Poland), Saki (Japan), Nick (US), Jam (Belize), Paul (US), Devrim (Turkey)

There were three Euro-trip virgins, and they couldn’t have had a better destination for their very first time. I’m sure it has whet their appetite for more.

Dubrovnik
When Old European cities were first built, they must have looked like Dubrovnik’s Old Town. All the stones are polished white and everything glistens like a fairy tale.


Walking around Dubrovnik's Old Town

It’s mind-boggling to think that 80% of the city was bombed and rebuilt 13 years ago. I couldn’t help but come to an eerie realization that this is the first time I ever stepped onto soil where a war happened during my generation.


A map indicating where the bombs hit streets and roofs during the war.

But back to our holiday… We struck a good balance between sight-seeing and partying, thanks to Digidy keeping us on track with the itinerary (truly a pleasure to travel with you, buddy) and to Grzegorz, who never ceased to remind us to grab a pivo (or two, or three).





Lodging was pretty easy-going, except for this one lady who complained that we were too noisy (um… we’re 9 young people coming in for the New Year’s – why rent the place out to us in the first place?). We were super lucky otherwise. For the last couple days in Dubrovnik, we had an awesome host who took us out to Montenegro and gave us some of his homemade grappa – yum! His whole family was nice and welcoming. We felt a little happier and closer to the people in Croatia.


Nikolai was an awesome guy. Great host and great grappa!

Croatia – Bosnia? – Croatia again
So we headed up the Dalmatian coast to spend our New Year’s in Split, which is a 4-hour bus ride away. We were giddy as school children with junk food scattered on the seats.

We were mildly amused to find that we had to go through Bosnia to get to Split. Suddenly, the country count went up to 2 – woot! The customs patrols scrutinized our troupe’s passports, and I’m sure they were thinking:
“Turkey. OK. Now what’s this? China? She doesn’t even look Chinese. Belize…? Now they’re screwing with my head – is that a country???”
We were certainly a strange combination traveling together.


Split




Split is a really cool city, especially because I’m a sucker for port cities. Istanbul, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Hamburg, Split – they’ve all got that certain energy of a city by the water. We took a ferry to Brac Island, which was a sleepy little town this time of the year… except for a couple of crazy tourists jumping in the sea for dares… Ballsy or insane? Your call.



New Year’s in Split





Need I say more? (Okay, power hour was a little weak. Nobody was stumbling. We need to improve on that next year).

Montenegro
Digs and Drake left their women behind (poor Guljahan and Jam had a hard enough time getting Croatian visas), so the guys (+ Saki) took off for a day trip to Montenegro (country #61 for Digs).




The funny thing is, we watched James Bond Casino Royal the night before, so we were expecting this super ritzy and expensive city where all the high-rollers, well... roll. Our expectation was countered with a beautiful mountainous landscape, fortresses, and nice beaches. We saluted the sunset with some cigars, Montenegran spirits, and tea.


Watching the sunset in Montenegro - life is good.

Epilogue
As we travel more and more, our comparative instincts kick in. At one point or another each of us said, “Croatia reminds me of so-and-so place…” It’s so interesting how we all see the same thing, yet our finders perceive slightly different images – colored by our own experiences and emotions.

I left Dubrovnik while the town was sleeping, and I saw the walls of Old Town grow smaller. The car turned around the bend and the city lights disappeared. Suddenly, a view of the crescent moon casting a soft light on the pitch black sea jumped into my eyes. Being struck unexpectedly by the beauty of the girl-next-door – that’s what winter in Croatia is like.