SJJ - KUL

Sat 21/9/24

Time to go back today. Before checking out we went for the hotel buffet breakfast which is included in the room rate at 7am. There was a tourist crowd already at breakfast and the buffet spread was just so so but sufficient. We had latte with croissant, eggs, yogurt and fruits.

breakfast at hotel

We checked out at 9am, filled up the tank at the petrol station just beside the hotel and drove straight to the airport, reaching there within 10 minutes. We parked the car the airport car park just in front of the Sixt office and returned the car keys to the staff for inspection. The inspection was swift and there were no further charges.

We went to the check in counter to check in our bags and get our boarding passes. We managed to finish up our remaining cash in BAM, buying lokum, fig pastry, fridge magnets and a croissant before going in for security check. The shops after security and passport control only accept payments in EUR.

We utilised our MH's Enrich and QR's Privilege Club membership to access the Business lounge while waiting to board our flight scheduled for departure at 12.30pm. We boarded a bit late but the plane was ready by 12.30pm However, we were delayed on the tarmac for 45 minutes and only departed at 1.15pm

SJJ business lounge

For lunch we chose the Irish beef stew with mashed potato .

Irish beef stew with mashed potato

We were worried that we would miss our connecting flight due to the delay from SJJ airport as our layover time was only 1 hour 30 minutes. True enough, when we landed at Doha, the ground staff was already waiting for us and handed us 2 pairs of new boarding passes heading to Phuket (HKT) instead of Singapore (SIN) and the onwards flight to KUL. As the DOH-HKT flight was ready for boarding, we made our way straight to the gate. Again, we didn't have enough time to enjoy the lounge at Doha. Our flight departed on time at 8.50pm, one hour after our original DOH-SIN flight.

For dinner we chose the slow cooked mustard beef with parmesan.

slow cooked mustard beef with parmesan

We landed at HKT at 7.15am and again was greeted by the ground staff. We were told to go to passport control, collect our luggage and check in again at the counter to get a new boarding pass to KUL and check in our luggage again. This whole process took almost 2 hours when we finally get to relax a bit at the Coral Executive lounge, utilizing our MH's Enrich and QR's Privilege Club membership. We had some breakfast at the lounge of eggs, croissant and latte. 

HKT Coral executive lounge

Our flight back to KUL departed on time at 10.30am and we reached KLIA airport at 1pm local time (Thailand time is 1 hour behind Malaysia time) and the flight only took 1 hour 30 mins. We were served with water and sandwich on the HKT - KUL flight.

water, mushroom sandwich and peanuts

On hindsight, we would not book a flight with less than 1 hour 30 minutes transit time to avoid missing our connection flight. Although Qatar airways did arrange for an alternative flight for us, however, we lost some Enrich, Avios and QR points due to the change of flight. 

Sarajevo

Fri 20/9/24

The journey from Lukomir to Sarajevo was an equally scenic one so the 1 hour 30 mins drive went by without us noticing. We decided to wash our car as it was really dirty from the off roading and we stopped by at a DIY car wash  place. A local lady helped explained to us how to use the coin machine and operate the washer. It only cost us 4 BAM for the car wash which we paid by cash (coins) at the machine.

coin operated car wash machine

After the car wash, we drove towards our hotel Ibis Sarajevo booked through the Accors app for 101 BAM for 1 night with breakfast paid by credit card and setoff with some points redemption. We reached the hotel at 1pm but we managed to check in our room before the check in time at 3pm.

Not much plan today, as this was our second visit to Sarajevo. We only planned to go to Baščaršija to buy some souvenirs and have late lunch there. From the hotel, we walked to the Alipašino Polje tram station and took the tram to Baščaršija station. The tram ticket cost 1.8 BAM per person which we bought from the train driver by cash. The tram ride to Baščaršija (16 stops) took 33 mintues. 

It was drizzling when we arrived at Baščaršija so we decided to have lunch first in a restaurant. We randomly chose Kolobara Han for lunch. We had cevapi and dolma with tea and coffee which cost 42 BAM. The taste was so so only but it was sufficient to fill our tummies. 

dolma for lunch

It was still raining after we finished lunch and didn't want to wait out so we proceeded to buy some scarves, smoked figs and lokum (Turkish delight) as souvenirs. I prefer the Turkish made lokum as the Bosnian ones tasted too sweet as it had chocolate fillings. 

roofed bazaar at Baščaršija

Sebilj, a wooden fountain Baščaršija landmark

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque

Before going back to our hotel we bought our final burek for the trip for takeaway and then made our way back to Baščaršija tram station. We got an older tram this time and the train driver didn't have enough coins to pay the balance so we paid 2 BAM per person for the same number of tram stops from Baščaršija to Alipašino Polje. 

At the hotel we had our welcoming drink of latte at the hotel rooftop cafe before retiring for the day. Tomorrow we would be going back to Malaysia after a 7 night trip around Bosnia and Herzegovina.

rooftop cafe at Ibis Sarajevo

Lukomir

Thu 19/9/24

We woke up to the sound of heavy rain this morning. So we only managed to get a 2 day window of sunny days without rain at Mostar. We were lucky to have pictures and flew the drone yesterday morning in clear weather. Partner in Crime quickly made his way in the rain to the bakery to buy burek for breakfast today. We took our time today morning as it was raining and waiting to arrive at Restoran Kovacevic in Jablanica at opening time to try their roast lamb as recommended by a Malaysian uncle that we chatted with yesterday. 

We left Mostar at 9.30 am and arrived at the restaurant at 10.30am. We enquired if the roast lamb was ready - it was ready indeed. So we had brunch of 2 dishes of roasted lamb with potato and tea which cost 56 BAM. 

view of Neretva river from the restaurant in Jablanica

roast lamb at Jablanica

From the restaurant, we drove towards the village of Lukomir. We were directed to the offroad path somewhere after Vrdolje, about only 20km to the village but felt like forever as there were loose rocks. At one point I had to get out of the car to remove some loose rocks to give some traction. 

turn right towards Džepi

starting the offroad

start of beautiful scenery to Lukomir

offroading with beautiful views to Lukomir

We finally arrive at our homestay Etno Koliba at 2pm in the pouring rain. Our room cost EUR 32 per night with breakfast booked through booking.com and paid by cash. We also ordered dinner from our hosts Zineta and Duran for EUR 10 per person since there are no restaurants around here.

our homestay at Lukomir

The people of Lukomir village rear sheep and will bring their sheep to graze at the fields in the morning and herd them back before dusk and they have sheep dogs to herd and guard them. They still live in the traditional way and our homestay is heated by the traditional heater cum oven. I watched Zineta grill the red bell pepper in the oven to make ajvar as sauce or dips.

ajvar

traditional oven cum heater with firewood

Since it was still raining, we rested a bit in our room until it stopped at around 4pm. We ventured out soon after and walked about 10 minutes towards the a beautiful view point with views of the mountains and canyon. There was no one here so we flew the drone and took pictures here.

Lukomir viewpoint

Lukomir viewpoint

Lukomir village behind

mountains behind

beautiful mountain views from Lukomir viewpoint

Lukomir village is one of the stops to stay the night for hikers so by 6pm we saw some hikers arriving at the village while we made our way back to our homestay for dinner. There is a waterfall nearby about 45 minutes hiking but we didn't have enough time to return home before sunset at 7pm so we only partly walked he path to the waterfall to see views from the other side of the mountain.

the way to the waterfall

For dinner we had pita with cheese filling, corba soup with beef and yogurt drink. The cheese and yogurt is locally made from the sheep milk of Lukomir village, according to Duran our host. The freshly made pastry was fluffy and delicious. After dinner we called it a day and retired to our room. 

pita

corba soup with beef, tomato (as salad) and yogurt drink

Fri 20/9/24

We woke up at 6am the next day and I caught the sunrise from our large bedroom window. It was blissful to wake up with views of the mountains and fresh crisp air outside. At 7am we made our way out to walk towards the direction that we came from yesterday. There were sheep dogs guarding their herd of sheep at a nearby pen. 

morning walk at Lukomir

morning walk at Lukomir

sheep dog guarding sheep

We could have made the trip to the waterfall this morning, but we already told Zineta that we would have breakfast at 8am, so alas, not enough time for that. We went back to the view point of the mountains before returning for breakfast. For breakfast today we had a local type of savoury donut with eggs and tea. Duran chatted with us using the translator app on his phone about our country and we likewise about his country.

simple breakfast of savoury donuts and fried eggs with tea

There was still plenty of time to enjoy at Lukomir so we sat outside in the homestay garden sipping hot tea and enjoying the views of the mountains and sheep grazing. It was simply peaceful and relaxing.

the view in front of our homestay

homestay garden

At 11am we said our goodbyes to Zineta and Duran and drove towards our final destination of our Bosnia & Herzegovina trip - Sarajevo. It is located only 52 km from Lukomir and we would be taking a different route with much better road condition. We already reached the tarred road within 30 minutes compared to yesterday where we were on the offroad path for almost 2 hours.

more sheep otw from Lukomir to Sarajevo

sheep crossing

Blagaj - Pocitelj

Wed 18/9/24

Early morning after rising up for Subuh prayer, we walked to the Neretva river to capture pictures of Stari Most before the crowd arrives. True enough, the Old Town was just opening up at 7am, with some cafes opening up their premises and there was no crowd at all. 

We happily took pictures with no one else in sight and flew the drone to capture the aerial video of the Stari Most bridge across the Neretva river with the background of the Old Town and mosques. 

areal shot of Stari Most bridge early morning

no crowd early morning at old town Mostar

After completing our mission, we walked back to our apartment, stopping by at the bakery Pekara Tinjak just in front of our house to buy burek for breakfast. This time we bought the spinach and cheese burek which cost 5 BAM. We had breakfast at the compound of the apartment.

spinach burek

After breakfast, we drove to Blagaj to capture the beautiful view of the river Buna near the edge of the cliff where you could also do rock climbing. The drive there took only 25 mins, as it is located only 14km from Mostar. When we arrived there at 9.30 am, there was already a small crowd so we had to wait a bit to take pictures.

It was a really peaceful and relaxing place (minus the crowd would be even greater), so it's no wonder the Sufis made a monastery at the place for prayer. We also found a few stalls here selling fresh figs so we bought them for 5 EUR / kg (I paid in Euro by cash). We found a bench by the river to sit and enjoy the fresh figs. It tasted really good and sweet.

Blagaj monastery (tekija) by the Buna river

peaceful and beautiful Blagaj river

Blagaj monastery (tekija) by the rock cliff and Buna river

fresh fig

Satisfied with fig eating and picture taking, since we still had plenty of time, we then made our way to the Pocitelj fortress which was not in my original itinerary. The drive to the fortress located 26km away took about 40 minutes. I searched for a parking place of the fortress and we were directed to the location at the top of the fortress. This turned out to be good as we didn't have to climb up from the bottom at the Neretva river. There is no entrance fee to the fortress.

There is a village with traditional houses and people living in the houses at the fortress. The houses reminded me of the ones in Safranbolu with Turkish influence. We spent some time there walking from the top to the fortress tower and flew the drone. It was sunny today and there were not many tourists here compared to Mostar or Blagaj.

view of the old town and Neretva river from the top of Pocitelj fortress

Pocitelj fortress tower and Neretva river

traditional houses reminiscent of Safranbolu at Pocitelj

Pocitelj fortress tower

We returned back to Mostar at 1pm and arrived 40 minutes later to our apartment and parked our car there before walking out again to the old town to have lunch at Sadrvan restaurant again. Since it was already past 3pm, there was no queue for lunch today. We had trout fish and klepe (dumplings) today with orange juice and promeganate syrup which cost 45.5 BAM. After lunch, we tried pistachio ice cream from a nearby stall for 2 BAM (normal one) and artisan pistachio ice cream for 6 BAM. The verdict - the artisan pistachio ice cream tasted better, so the pricier cost was justified. 

klepe dumplings

Not much remaining things to do, bought some fridge magnets here as souvenirs. We had a chat with a Malaysian uncle, he recommended to eat lamb at Jablanica, so we decided to stop by there tomorrow to have a try on the way to our next destination, Lukomir. We searched for it in the web and managed to find the said restaurant. We went back to our apartment before sunset and called it a day.

Mostar

Tue 17/9/24

Our accommodation does not provide breakfast, so we made tea and coffee and ate the burek that we bought yesterday. Apparently there is a bakery in front of our house that opens early so we actually could have a fresh hot burek instead. 

We decided to drive to the hut with the view point of Jajce waterfall and fort. We parked by the roadside near to the trail towards the hut and walked about 5 minutes. Indeed, we managed to find the spot and took some pictures. 

view of Jajce waterfall and fortress from the hut opposite side of Vrbas river

We then continued our journey towards Mostar, located about 200km away and took about 3 hours. We stopped by Restoran Zdrava Voda near Jablanica for toilet break and had a drink of coffee and tea by the Neretva river. Luckily we arrived before a tourist bus and managed to avoid the queue to the toilet and secured a table with a nice view of the river.

view of Neretva river otw Mostar

We arrived at our accommodation Apartments Enigma at 12 noon and our host have managed to clean and prepare our apartment in time as I have messaged him while on the way there. The studio with kitchen and washing machine cost EUR 66 (RM 311) for 2 nights which we booked through booking.com and paid online.

After settling down and refreshing up, we walked to the old town of Mostar to have lunch. We wanted to have the National plate at Sadrvan restaurant which we had during our first visit in 2017 and we were glad that the restaurant and the dish still exists! However, there was already a long queue when we arrived at 1.30pm. We queued for about 30 minutes before getting a table and our dish arrived about 15 minutes later. The National plate consists of japrak, dolma, cevapi, rice, bosnian cookie, boiled potato and sour cream is enough for 2 persons. Our lunch today costs 64.5 BAM with drinks of orange juice and homemade juice.

National plate dish

The old town of Mostar was really crowded, such a contrast to the small towns of Travnik and Jajce that we visited a few days earlier. We wanted to avoid the crowd so we down to the river Neretva to take pictures with the view of the famous Stari Most bridge (although this was our second visit). We still couldn't get a picture of the bridge without any people, so we planned to come back again tomorrow early morning and to fly the drone too.

Neretva river at Mostar old town

Stari Most bridge on a busy day

busy Mostar old town

Mostar old town Koski Mehmed Pasha mosque

We walked back up to the Old town again, trying to find fresh figs, which we found not too far outside of the old town. We walked up a bit in the hope to find some more stalls, but there was none. When we returned back to the stall, the figs were sold out already. No luck today.

We stopped by a café to try a local dessert hurmasice and orange juice which cost 10 BAM. I didn't really enjoy it to be honest. We returned back to the old town, just browsing along looking for souvenirs. 

local dessert hurmasice

After buying mineral water from the supermarket, we walked back to our apartment and called it a day. We washed our clothes today since there is a washing machine. I purposely searched for the facility when doing the booking. There is no extra charge and the washing powder was also provided.