Retrospection - post Serbia trip

Looking back it's been 7 months. Been quite an experience and some time away from home. Really looking back to be home - family, food and ambience. Not to say that balkan is not good, Serbians are in general very polite, strong, passionate and warm people. Probably the few place in the world where its good enough that there is no real Chinatown if it's to be compared anywhere else which i didn't see until over time staying here. 

Now looking at statistics , since sitting here at A08 Belgrade departure gate, waiting for flight to Istanbul let's go a little into the numbers. Arrived at Serbia W3 June and leaving W2 Jan , about 7 months duration here. 

By tracking spent about RM4.5k all in all , not inclusive of claimable expenses. Rental is pretty crazy in Novi Beogard , A Blok area is about 45ish Eu per night range , only good thing is i got a good deal on one room apartment with separated bath and kictchen area at Belville which is much better than what most people got i think.  4.5k / 7 months = its about RM660 per month. 660/30 =  RM 22 per day which is not too shabby in Europe region, but also considering that im home cooking most days and don't splurge unnecessarily on restauran food which can get pretty outrageous high. Will need to compare if this is viable in Malaysia as well haha.

Bought a second hand bike at 12k rsd, used for about 5 months and sell off again at the same website Kupujemprodajem at lower rate of 8k rsd. Pretty convenient to slash down 15-20min walk to 10 min ish daily so its probably worth it, and in addition makes easy commute on weekends for groceries.

Not too sure what's next, will i be travelling more or have the opportunity to stay on in Malaysia projects as much as possible at least for next few years. This is at least the strategy im opting for years ago - second wind stance. 

There are things that worked and don't. Electric pots are genius for traveler's but only useful for light cooking since mostly are non stick glazed surface that can easily get damaged. Going from asia to Euro/non asian region its best to bring some dry condiments, worked really well. My sambal chilli 2 bottles lasted till last day here. Would be good to ready some small tools for cooking such as mini cutter/portable blender etc and possible some dry spices which might be a rarity in overseas market. 

Jackets - bringing a spare would be sufficient and for winter season its actually necessary to bring that armor thick jacket i've kept in wardrobe ,hmm i think mum's house wardrobe for 10s of years. Practically impossible to use in Malaysia, but for winter it'll be more comfortable to have it. Else match and pair long sleeves or jackets that can wear together to be comfortable. Over packed jackets for this round, i brought 4x pieces which is comsuming too much baggage space in the bag.

Learnt basic oven baking, roast chicken, how to clean , salt brine for juicy meat and freeze store cooking meat. Prepare one pot meals and batch cooking preps. Learning to use frozen corn, frozen peas as good source of nutrients, balance out food nutrition for the body and make own food as much possible. Tested out how to make chilli oil, how to prep lemon sugar (honey probably better option) for ease of use. So much to learn in this area from IG and chat GPT. Solo baked my very first cookies that turned out great, and all in all practice frugality even in foreign environments.

Weekends noon here (night in Malaysia) spent on video calls, teaching kiddo BM which yield some small results. Hopefully it can help her out and keep on continuing, CEO approved this. 

Used up 1x shoe throw there, 2 pairs torn socks and one torn tracksuit. All left behind in Balkan.

Laying foundations for the years to come. I guess thats more or less about it, its more or less boarding time. Let me enjoy my Maxi packed and discounted pita bought the night before that. Signing off.

 

Jan 5- Quiet day at Belgrade office

Since today, hmm actually past 2 days are very quiet days in 2024 in office. Just taking time to ponder about in office. Basically not much people here;  most either took leave ,  some showed face a little while in office and dissapeared. 

It's now end of 6th month and entering 7th of my journey in Balkanland. ending soon.

Bought my bike here for ease of travel 29-July, initially thinking that i can't drive with M-land license here. Apparently i can like <1 month later. 

For 11K rsd the quite new 2nd hand bike was bought at KupujemProdajem aka local mudah.com where people sell and buy 2nd hand stuff.   Spent another 600rsd for the red bike chain from the chinese market at Blok 70.  1 week after use, one of the pedal actually fell off , signs of lack of use by previous owner and needed to go for repair at Iron Bike's near Blok 70 or Local wet market as well to refit/lock it back and check air of both tyres. There goes another 200 rsd fees.  It's first 1 year life as bicycle is really easy, just sit tight in garage i guess. Now i was working it hard everyday to work haha. In total the cost was 11+ 0.6+0.2 = 11.8 k  rsd investment. 2 months later, i discovered that petrol stations have bicycle pumps with correct size to pump tyre at any time so this is also another good things available publicly. 

Upon getting notification of my departure, again went back to Kupujem to post advertisement and sell off the bike. Luckily i got a buyer that is looking for a training bike for his son. Sold at 8k rsd ,selling price was 74 Eu or about 8.6k rsd but i gave the buyer an offer that i hoped to closed the deal immediately. Which is pretty good price. Either this or probably left this bike in office garage to rust and rot for 10 years+ haha. Transaction happened on 29-Dec, one week or so after i got my notice. Efficient shit turnover i guess :)

All in all actual used period was actually 5 months. 11.8k - 8 k  = thats 3.8k cost for 5 months use. Not so bad actually,  3.8k / 5months = 777rsd per month. Thats coverts back to about rm34 per month. So thats about RM1.1 per day ok la cheaper than taking busese here which i never got around to try actually. Close enough from my previous guesstimation. Return for use value is pretty great, i didnt go too far with this fella considering trying to preserve durability , my stamina-interest diminishing after 20-30mins ride and weather quickly changing to winter soon but its still great to bike to work cutting 15-20min to-fro-work commute to  <10min daily one way.

The question will be what's next after this. Well, go home first i guess.

Poutine - the canadian snack

Clearing stock, here is another recipe thats easy fast and delicious. Only few ingredients. Apparently poutine is like a national dish in Canada. Here is what google yields of its origin:

Poutine, a Canadian dish made of french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. It first appeared in 1950s rural Québec snack bars and was widely popularized across Canada and beyond in the 1990s. Poutine may be found everywhere from fine dining menus at top restaurants to fast-food chains.

Ingredients: 

-either potato to slice and make fried, or frozen fries

- curd  , replaced with cheese i have on hand.

- gravy i had from previous roast of chicken, thicken and add soy sauce some flour to thicken. this one could have been more diluted to reduce saltiness.

- variation  - added some slice of sausage and half of diced yellow onion. (loved the onion additional flavor).

Bake or Fry potato which ever way to cook it up. I used oven, just dump frozen fries inside preheating oven for 10-15 mins while i get busy on other things. Set 175 C for the fries 18min add sausage slilces . At 5 min left, drop in yellow onion into the oven to bake as well slightly. Gravy leftover just drop the teared chesse slice into gravy and nuke it in the microwave for some hot sauce and melted cheese goodiness. Drizzle on top of fries, sausage and onion mix and serve hot.

Sidenote: being asian, not a simple drip of gravy goes to waste. I nuked gravy together with one slice of white bread from my freezer. Tools to clean up gravy :)