Slovenia-Croatia Day 4: Reversion to the 'mean'

Day 4 26 May 2019 (Sunday) The driving jokes kept coming thick and fast. Kanu asked me to reverse the car from the parking bay while they could commence and complete their breakfast. The jokes were steady and plentiful. The reassuring thing was that they were not treating me differently after my eye injury i.e. they were being mean as ever. Reversion to the mean, to coin a phrase! The plan for today was “Bohinj lake: Hike / Vogel cable car / Savica waterfall” before driving to Croatia (3 hours) and staying in Hotel Mariana & Rastoke at night to check out Plitvice Lakes National Park tomorrow. We ate leftover pizzas from yesterday, batata vadas and poha and checked out at 10 am and drove to Lake Bohinj (which, after learning that j is pronounced as i in Slovenian, Ashwani calls Lake Mohini). We took a cable car to the top. This is part of Julian Alps and it is also a ski resort in the winter, although there appear to be only a few slopes here. The hike from the cable car to a higher part of the mountain was not too difficult. The views were good but we have been surrounded by so much breath-taking scenery during this trip that today would probably be the least memorable in my mind. I was discussing the perils of modern technology with Ashwani while hiking up – for instance how with modern gadgets you get so many early warning indicators (EWIs) about any upcoming health issues that it starts disrupting your state of mind. I then challenged him to a race a few metres up, and he beat me comfortably. I am in a poor state of fitness and simple checks such as these are a useful reminder to start doing something about it. A useful EWI, this one!   We had lunch at the restaurant in the mountain (the veggie burger was good) and then drove to Savica Waterfalls in the afternoon. We parked at the car park beside the Savica restaurant, from where it's a 25-minute walk up more than 500 steps and over rapids and streams to the falls. While driving to the waterfalls, the road was full of twists and turns. At one short sharp bend, there was a large bus hurtling towards us from the other direction. We both stopped in the nick of time but it took some effort for me to make space for the bus to turn around our car. The hollering brigade took over and launched into a chorus from every side of the car. The symphony would have been complete if the ensemble was not missing Shalini who was in the other car which was behind us. She did get a slice of the action from there though, and recorded it on her phone with some not-so-gentle commentary. There will be a story narrated somewhere in the future about this non-event. Witnesses will turn me in, the video will be accentuated, tongues will wag, the rumour mill will be in overdrive and answers will be found in the grassy knoll. It reminds me of Wordsworth’s poem (Simon Lee: The Old Huntsman) where he tells the reader they can make a tale out of what he is about to say, if they think hard enough.   My gentle Reader, I perceive, How patiently you've waited, And now I fear that you expect Some tale will be related.   O Reader! had you in your mind Such stores as silent thought can bring, O gentle Reader! you would find A tale in every thing. What more I have to say is short, And you must kindly take it: It is no tale; but, should you think, Perhaps a tale you'll make it.   As we approached the waterfalls, Kabir asked Mishti if she sensed a special sense of energy when standing close to a waterfall. He launched into a discourse on the benefits of being around waterfalls, and Mishti asked him if this was Vaastu-shastra. Shalini (who seemed to have heard his theory before) chipped in by saying this is ‘in-house research’. After the waterfalls, Kanu had researched Slasciarna Zima as the best place to have desserts. We drove there and launched into the cream cakes and chocolate cakes like there was no tomorrow (There is no tomorrow in Bled as we are leaving for Croatia in the evening). Kanu, Sneha, Mishti and I were in one table munching the goodies when Kabir entered and remarked that we were attacking the food like hyenas. Completely satiated, we started the 3-hour drive to Croatia in the evening. Kabir and Shalini did not want to do a long drive back and forth (it is 3.5 hours back to the airport from Plitvice) and chose to stay in Bled for one more night. During the long car journey where Gaurav drove, we slept, listened to questionable music and made dating jokes. Ashwani calls Anshuman ‘Baku’ (he pronounces it as buk-oo) since Anshuman currently lives in Baku in Azerbaijan. We call Ashwani ‘Bumble’ after Sneha found his picture on the dating website. We had our passports checked on the road at the border crossing to Croatia. We had not expected this and had to park the car on the side and retrieve all our passports from our bags in the boot. At night, after we checked in, we had dinner and drinks at the hotel restaurant. Sneha was sharing her room with Ashwani. I told Sneha he wakes up at 2 am and has hunger pangs. She asked “should I be worried about something?” I replied “there is only one way to find out.” I am called “love guru” by Ashwani because I have been giving him unsolicited advice on dating. Kanu asked me what my top tip to Ashwani would be. I told her that he has no talent (except being able to rotate a glass with water in a full circle without spilling the water). My advice to him would be to stay in wait and when he comes across the first girl who shows positive intent, “lapakke usko pakad lo” (i.e. just lurch towards her). Keep all of us on standby to hastily complete his wedding before the girl has a chance to change her mind. Get back on the horse before it bucks you! Later on, in a Whatsapp conversation in the group, I would tell Ashwani to think about the fact that the bride’s family may ask him for dahej (dowry) to get her married to him. My advice to him: “Crowdfunding start kar de Ashwani…this is going to need everyone to chip in.”