Well, actually the High Tatras Mountains rather than "Tantric", but the use of the euphemism will become clearer later on in this entry.

A High Tatras Mountains are a sort of mini-Alps, snow-capped jagged mountains, beautiful ultramarine mountain lakes and crashing waterfalls traversing Slovakia and Poland. However, in 2004, a massive windstorm uprooted trees and turned a once-dense pine forest into meadow.

We were staying at the Hotel Vesna in the small resort town of Novy (New) Smokovec, next to (unsurprisingly) Stary (Old) Smokovec. There was also a sign to the intriguingly-named Horny Smokovec, which we didn't manage to check out. Upon arriving at the hotel early in the morning from our overnight train, we were given a shot of the local firewater to warm ourselves up and then had breakfast laid on for us.

The biggest attraction in the region is hiking (along with winter sports) - the scenery is stunning, and the whole area very peaceful. However, after having lunch at Pizzeria Montanara, we visited the supermarket and found out that large bottles of beer cost about 40-50c and a 500ml bottle of Um cost about €3 (they don't sell Rum so have a local substitute called Um, they can't call it Rum presumably because it was supposed to taste more like urine than Rum, although I thought it was okay), so some of us decided to partake in another activity, namely drinking till the early hours of the morning. This was the cheapest booze of the whole trip so far and it would be a shame to miss it!

There was a Christian celebration in a few days (All Saint's Day) and apart from our group, the rest of the hotel had been filled with friends and family of the owners. Their celebration seemed to involve drinking continuously for the next few days, all day and all night. Also, from observing the blatant flirting and various couples dashing off to bedrooms at regular intervals, they also seemed to be celebrating by sleeping with each other's partners. The only members of the local fraternity who didn't seem to be seeing any action were the old hotel owner, although he seemed to be trying it on with anything that had a pulse, and the German Shepherd. I did notice the dog wasn't around in the morning...... I think the whole town was probably a swinger's paradise.

The next day, after a late breakfast, a few of us rustled up the enthusiasm to pay a visit to nearby Strbske Pleso, a glacial lake offering stunning views and photo opportunities. Another visit to Pizzeria Montanara in the evening was followed by a few drinks back at the hotel (in my case, another bottle of Um).

The next morning, Manuel had arranged a couple of minibuses to take us to Budapest in Hungary. I was rather alarmed when the driver of our minibus got into the passenger seat and what seemed to be his son (who appeared not to have even started shaving yet) got into the driver's seat. We later discovered that he was indeed a learner and what followed was one of the most hair-raising bus journeys I had ever encountered on my travels. Fortunately, I had my Dog Poo Bag which I had kept as a souvenir from Prague in case an emergency evacuation was required.