PC541 Krakow Again , Poland 13-16/9/09
Sun - Ojcow National Park, very complicated by bus
- I'd read the Lonely Planet guidebook for Poland and decided that one of the few places I wanted to visit was this valley as it has old castles and doesn't involve travelling 3 hours to get to. The bus to Krakow was OK, but after that I had real big problems finding a the bus to Ojcow .. people kept sending me to this place and then anothet etc. etc. ... after 3 hours I was on a bus to Skala. I hitched and it was after 4pm when I arrived at Skala Castle. It was OK but not great.

- I ended up walking 10Km with my big backpack, the bloody people who designed the footpaths in the National park don't walk much ..they sent the walkers up and down, whereas the road goes along the valley bottom. I followed the road for 4 Km then it sent me up to an old church with a view. You come back down and turn south into the Ojcow valley I walked 3Km down to the castle, but it was virtually dark when I arrived.

- I had planned to stay at a guesthouse 1Km up the road ... I had reasoned it would be a good atmosphere to stay in the countryside and meet some Polish people, but when I arrived at the guesthouse it was full of a big Polish birthday party and there were no beds available.

- I walked upto the campground. It was not a good experience it was deserted there was was no one to take my money so the next day I left some money under the windscreen wiper.

- as I walked down from the campground the bus leaving passed me. I had to walk a 3Km path to intersect the highway out of Skala. I was back at the hostel in Krakow by lunchtime.

Mon - Dentist
- Pissing around wasting time. I wanted to be in a smaller city to see an inexpensive dentist . One in suburbs was full, but he recommended one near the hostel, which wouldn't be expensive. It bloody was ! 10 quid for a 10 minute evaluation.

- To refix my broken crown would take 4 visits they said. And at their prices it would be 200 quid. The Indian X-ray appears to show infection at the root of that tooth so the Indians had said I would need root canal work there, but that’s all. In fact I have never had any pain there. I can't believe their isn't a simple way to disinfect it. Can't they just inject antibiotics or something ? and Don't some infections get cleared by the body ?

- Now this Polish dentist looking at the same X-ray came up with 4 hours more work She said that she could see that the next one was infected also and that I need 3 more fillings . I am not sure this true it's a bit strange that in only 2 months 3 new cavities need filling. The first thing I thought is get a new x-ray to check if there really is infection. But their price was $50 , 20 times more than the Indian one cost !

- So I’ll have to wait until I get to a cheaper country again.

Mon- Booked bus ticket to UK
- OK since I won't be getting my teeth fixed in Poland I might as well go to England as I have now visited the places i want to see in Poland.
- As I was booking a Wizz airline ticket to Doncaster the price went up ... so I booked a bus ticket instead ... Tuesday the bus was ful so leave 11am Wednesday arrive 6pm Thursday

... .amazingly I found there is a new Megabus service from London to Scunthorpe I got a bus ticket for only £5.

Tue - Kosciuszko Mound and Hospital
- the only thing more I wanted to do it Krakow was go up one of the mounds which are around the city. Other tourists visit Auchswitz Concentration Camp, but 19 years ago I didn't see any point to visit and I felt the same now..And they visit the salt mines but they are too expensive.
- So I walked the 2 Km north and then went up the Kosciuszko Mound - it was quite misty so the view wasn't great

- I was getting sicker so I decided since it would be Friday before I could see a doctor in the UK I should try a Polish Hospital. After an hour I found a private clinic for 100 zloty about £25 so that was too expensive. It took ,me another 2 hours to find the public casualty room. That was an abortion I sat down and waited, but a load of Polish people turned up and pushed in front. Another local doctor was £10 but a long wait.

- I'd come past the old college at 3pm when the robot dolls dance out of the clock.

Wed - 26 Hour bus journey
- I've done long journeys before so I knew it would be so bad. Got on the bus at 11.30am we spent 8 hours travelling through Poland. arrived in Berlin at 9.30pm and changed bus. The guy next to me looked like he was from Turkmenistan .. him and his wife were some of the people thrown off the bus when we came to the UK border patrol point in Calais.

- The ferry took less than 2 hours and the M2 traffic light so we arrived in London on time. And I got down early at the traffic lights near Embarkment Station and walked to St Pancreas Station

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