Eucalyptus

Rainy Mornings

Rainy days are far from over. Not much to do outside except photographing rain drops. :)

Beats by Comrade Dre

Smoke in the sky

[caption id="attachment_2548" align="alignnone" width="660"] Smoke in the sky[/caption]

Nothing serious, perhaps burning plastic or tires. Last time there was smoking in the sky, it was in 2008. Bad times... I remember I was at my fiancee's house, laying on the bed (doing nothing actually). Suddenly a thunder like sound and earthquake like tremors swept through for a fraction of a second. A couple of minutes later all TV stations stopped broadcasting their regular programs and there were breaking news about a large explosion some 15 km away.

Long story short, some 21 year old guy from The States had won a contract with Pentagon to supply Afghan troops with ammunition. Sneaky motherfucker that he was, came here and bought Chinese and Soviet ammunition that was being prepared for dismantling. And funny thing is that US forces had contributed monetary for the dismantling process. So, this guy and his Albanian counterparts (including ex PM's son) would sell to Pentagon the same ammunition Pentagon was paying Albanians to dismantle. Also, there is some sort of embargo against using Chinese and Soviet ammunition for American purposes. So they would repack it as Made In Albania and fly it to Afghanistan.

All this process was uncovered from a partner of the American guy, whom they pushed outside the business. Some time later he was found dead in an hunting accident but it is clear he got executed from ex PM's people.

This was a black page in Albania's history and the now-PM vowed to make things right. Unfortunately that was a political stunt and now, 7 years later, together with 26 souls, everything lays under the dusty mantle of  forgetfulness...

January 8th

[caption id="attachment_2545" align="alignnone" width="660"] January 8th[/caption]

Not much to say today. I haven't been out to take photos due to the cold.

Je Suis Charlie

Joep Bertrams

BunkArt - Conference Hall

"The aim of bourgeois-revisionist television is mass degeneration."

[caption id="attachment_2539" align="alignnone" width="660"] Conference Room[/caption]

This conference room was quite spacious, considering that you are underground and you have to traverse seemingly endless tunnels. The colored domes on the scene are bunker replicas. The hall has been used this New Year's eve for a TV show. Acoustics are not bad and the temperature is constant. Air vents are fully restored and if you don't suffer from claustrophobia, you should totally visit BunkArt.

BunkArt - Inside some of the rooms

This is the most publicly hated guy in the last 25 years. He was hated even before but it was in private. Any attempt to show your hatred in public, resulted in a nice and long vacation to prison, your family moved to a shitty place and your whole genealogical tree deprived from higher education, comfortable job and even get them jail time if the prosecutor felt like they had fed your hatred. He was one good looking motherfucker though (while young). I present you, Enver Hoxha, Kim Jong Il's equivalent.

To give Caesar's his due though, this guy built post-war Albania. He eradicated malaria, illiteracy, blood feud, homelessness, unemployment etc... It looks to good to be true, hence the hatred. It all happened with a cost. We didn't have democracy, multi-party elections, free movement abroad, economic relations with the west and all that flows behind that, like technology, medicine etc etc...

I could go on and on but let's leave that for another time, if beers included :D

Notcie the walls, those are dressed with some kind of fiber. Behind the fiber there are metallic sheets and then concrete. The fiber and the metallic sheets are to prevent stone chips in case of strong explosion from outside. This fiber was very expensive back then, hence only his room is dressed with that. The next room was the bedroom but nothing important in there, just a bed.

This Sonra, German radio, was by his desk. The lamp though must be made in Albania. I remember during communism, all our household items were like mass produced. All neighbors had the same lamps, the same carpets, the same clothes and even the same TVs. We used to produce black and white TVs, did you know that?

This was supposed to be his toilet. There was this huge bathroom and this red toilet at the corner. I think this was a bad executed joke on the museum's curators side. A red toilet for a communism dictator? Come on!!! The cap is also missing. Either things got lost during the last 25 years and they couldn't replicate his bathroom, or they just didn't care. - What's there? Just a toilet? Nothing else? Fuck it, paint it red.

This room is prime minister's room. This TV is made in Albania. Notice the walls? No fibers here, too expensive.



Here is the photo of Enver Hoxha, over the PM's desk. The previous photo was in Hoxha's desk. I guess they used the one in military uniform to  aspire people to fight.



This is PM's Mimoza radio, made in Czechoslovakia. I had that very same lamp in my room. I remember my father bought like 3 of them and used the glass part for ceiling light, hanged upside down with thin cable.



Albania's map. Not much to say about this except the part that we used to recognize Kosovo as part of Jugoslavia. No particular mention on the map.

BunkArt - Tunnels

Entrance to the bunker. After the 4-5 concrete and metallic doors, there is this short tunnel which leads to more tunnels. Between them there are stairs and you get the impression that you go like 5 floors deep underground. In reality, you don't go deep underground, you just walk along the hill at a descending angle. So, you enter at the tunnel at ground level and you go like 4-5 floors down and when you get out you are still at ground level. That's because the way to the entrance is in some sort of U shape, like walking in a large trench. It's just that the tunnel is way deep horizontally. Here is a 3D rendering of it. 

When you enter, the first apartments you encounter are those of Enver Hoxha, the highest figure and then officers and that of Mehmet Shehu, ex-PM who allegedly committed suicide sometime in 1981. The first question that comes in your mind is why are the most important figures at the beginning of the tunnel? In fact, that is the end of the tunnel but it is being used as an entrance so people won't have to go upwards while inside the tunnel. That means that if someone entered the tunnel from the real entrance, it would give enough time to the commanders to leave toward safety. Or, if there was no hope leaving, they would be the last men standing.

Some tunnels are closed to the public, because the rooms are empty and there is nothing to show yet.



Maybe there are other secret levels, who knows...