溝通不良，但心意直達的民宿老闆 A great hostel owner in Croatia

離開薩格勒布，來到了這個國家最著名的國家公園，巴士來的路上，窗外的風景在不經意間已經換成森林裡的道路，巴士慢慢地開著，幾乎沒有其他的車輛，彷彿只有我們一台車穿梭在這山野裡，意外的平靜。車上的遊客，包含我們也好像被這寧靜的森林感染，大家都靜靜地欣賞一幕幕從窗戶撥放的劇情。雖然要帶著手套與毛帽，來應付帶點寒意的氣候，但樹林間穿過的陽光，讓人看了心中就起了暖意；道路兩旁用落下的泛黃樹葉做裝飾，彷彿好像有人安排精心整理過一樣。

Plitvice Lakes National Park surely is a beautiful place. The bus was running slowly in a forest to one of the most famous place in Croatia. It seems we are the only vehicle on the road. The forest was peaceful and quiet. It’s so peaceful, it seems make people on this bus clam down and enjoy the running photos that played on the bus windows. It was a bit cold, I had to wear a hat and gloves. But the little sunlight went through trees and leaves make me warm inside. Even driving here is such a nice thing to do.

到了一個只有涼亭的小站下車，我們要聯絡民宿的主人來接我們，只有名字跟電話，在這國家還不確定一般電話要怎麼打呢!旁邊有一位計程車司機大哥，問我們要不要搭車，但他說當地話我們聽不懂，就比手畫腳地跟他說我們要聯絡這民宿的主人。司機大哥看了看我們要撥的電話，也比手畫腳的指著電話號碼，又指著自己說”Friend”.看來這裡的住戶大概每個人都認識吧，於是他幫我們打電話聯絡到民宿的主人來在我們。

The driver put us down. There is a small pavilion there and that’s it. We know it’s not busy season for tourist. But we were wondering where should we go to get the hostel that we booked. We got owner’s name but we don’t know how to pronounce it. We got this phone number but we didn’t know how to dial the number in this country. Then there was a taxi driver came to us and ask us where we want to go? Of course he doesn’t speak English. So we used the most powerful way, body language, to tell him we want to reach the hostel. The driver took a look of the number and pointed himself and say “friend, friend…”. Then He called the hostel owner and told him to give us a ride. Wow… how lucky we are. I guess everybody know each other in this small place.

伊凡是個外表嚴肅，沒什麼笑容，但非常非常好的人，中年胖胖的身材，短髮留著絡腮鬍，鼻頭與臉頰有點天生的泛紅，像是卡通人物裡喝醉酒的水手。他只能用一些基本的英文單字跟我們對話，再加上許多的手式，最常做的動作就是雙手打開一攤一副”沒辦法”的姿勢，但他很多言語都用這個姿勢”不知道”攤一下，”不喜歡”也攤一下，實在很可愛。當天下午他送我們去園區的入口，跟我們說要回來時打電話給他，他去載我們。但我跟旅伴實在很享受這裡的鄉村景色，時間又早，所以我們決定走路回去民宿，結果走回民宿的時候，天已經微暗了。看到他心急如焚地從樓上下來，穿著大衣，因為擔心我們，準備要去找我們兩個呢!害我們很不好意思，讓他跟他老婆這麼地擔心我們。

Ivan, the owner, doesn’t smell much. But he is a really really nice guy. He can use only some basic English to communicate. So basically we talked by hands. What he like to do is open his arms and shrug this shoulders, kind of like “I have no idea”. He does it all the time. “I don’t know” do it. “I don’t like it” do it. So funny.
He gave us a ride to the park entrance, and told us give him a call when we done. He will pick us up back to the hostel. When we done that evening, we enjoyed the walk and country view so much. So we decide to walk back to the hostel and spent more time with nature. But when we got back, it was dark already. We open the door and saw he and his wife were rushing down and put a coat on, then he saw us. He said he was worry about us and was going out to find us. Oh… we were so sorry. We should give him a call and tell him we were walking.

兩天後我們離開時，他的小孩剛好生病，但他也堅持免費載我們去巴士站，並且要陪我們等到巴士來，結果等了一個多小時，巴士一直沒來。他打電話去問，然後跟我們解釋說，因為搭巴士的客人不足，所以今天這班巴士沒開了!真是隨興巴士呀!苦了老闆，他又載我們回民宿，看看他兒子，打電話幫我們問今天有開的車，然後載我們去另一個站坐車，一樣堅持送到我們上車他才走。離開時，我跟旅伴給他一個深深的擁抱，他提供的關懷與心意遠超過一個老闆。旅行呀!很多看過的風景會忘記，去過的地名也會忘記。但是遇到的人常常是一輩子忘不了的，我想這就是原因了。

We stayed there for 2 days. The morning we left, his son had a flu. He gave us a ride to a bus station. And he still insisted to be with us until the bus come, despite we said it’s alright. And we waited for more than an hour. For some reason, the bus didn’t come. We had to go to another bus station to catch another bus in afternoon. He took us back to the hostel, had a look to his son. And sent us to the bus station, and waited with us again until the bus came. We gave him a big hug before we got on it. What he offered was much more than a just hostel owner. I wish I could spoke Croatian and tell him how much I appreciate for what he did.

I mean, when we travel, we might forget the place’s name that we been to. We might forget the scenery that we have seen. But often times, we will never forget the people we met. I guess this is the reason why.