Happy New Year, the squat — 3rd of January

Šabac

So you thought I was dead? Well, you thought wrong! Though I went through hard times after the rescue operation. I hurt my back and got unable to move or carry anything heavier than a kilogram. Fortunately, a cool guy in Šabac hosted us for 10 days. Long time, doing nothing but watching movies and learning Serbian while my back healed up slowly. Pretty much eventless days if you exclude some interestingly strange talks with our host. We got back on the road on the 26th of December, so we can spend NYE in Beograd.

Travel was, well, as travel is. An unusual encounter happened on the last days though. We somehow took a wrong turn and ended up in some kind of fish restaurant at twilight. Exhausted, we got in for a tea. Nice place, looking like one of those expensive restaurants with some kind of mood. Well, people there were really nice, and insisted on offering us some of the local fish soup for dinner, plus some dessert. It was really, really good. No wonder why: as it turns out, we just ran into a renowned restaurant of Belgrade.

Anyway, blablabla we get to Belgrade, blablabla where are we gonna sleep, blablabla… Hey what about squatting? Fire up that internet search, follow those links, track down the location, walk for 3 hours, find colorful building, say hi to people, explain your story. Shazam! We are sleeping at the Inex Film squat.

I like to move it

The place is buzzing with activity. As it turns out, there is a massive party scheduled for New Year's Eve in there. Hundreds of people are expected, we are on the 28th and the place is not ready. Forget Beograd for now, let's help here. With pictures:

Inex film squat, main room

Inex film squat, Graffiti room.

Inex film squat, future lounge room.

We are running late on that last room. Actually, we will only open it at around 11pm, less than an hour before New Year. But who cares, it's still open in time, and we got a wonderful dinner along the way. Everyone party now!

For more photos, see that facebook album.

Big party, though it ran totally out of control. More than 1000 showed, perhaps 1200, which is much, much more than what the squat can actually handle. People dancing and smoking everywhere, for one of the best parties ever. Plus, as we got to know people from the squat and helped them, we were part of the crew, with access to VIP areas, where we could enjoy beers, some puffs, and more… There is not much I can say that would not be better said with the above pics though so I encourage you to have a look at the album.

This party is gonna stay as one of the first big squat parties in Serbia. And know what? We were there, and even helped a bit. That's it for today though, the next few days were a bit of rest and cleanup, and then… Well, for more Beograd underground culture, just come back in a few days for the next post entry! In the meantime, enjoy!