12:40 PM - As we pulled away from Skopje and new passengers came onboard, we were faced with the possibilities of a new roommate. Since we had the room to ourselves all morning and were given the impression it should stay that way, we successfully fended off two older passengers with the I'm-pretending-to-read technique. They wondered if they were going to be forced to use the top bunks, and we weren't going to volunteer any information - a big mistake that would come back and bite us in the ass!

In the corridor, we heard some commotion between a passenger (who was clearly out of breath) and the conductor. As the panting grew closer, we got our first visual. Enter Joze Lesnicar - a very large man literally busting out of his food-stained shirt and unzipped pants. He had an unkempt, mullet-style hairdo with blond highlights streaking down toward his unshaven face. Entering without a word into the confined space, he dropped into the adjoining seat and almost instantly fell asleep. We're not kidding you when we say it was within one minute.

We only wish we could imitate this on a sound bite, because there are no words that can truly explain the sound of this man's snoring, but the noises he emitted were like nothing either one of us has ever heard a human make. He slept with his mouth agape, thus allowing a freefall of drool to hang from the corners of his mouth and eventually come to rest on his shirt. The conductor, upon hearing the noises, thought this was hysterical, and every time he passed the room, he laughed. Alli gave him the you've-gotta-be-fucking-kidding-me look, but he was too amused to care.

1:15 PM - As we approached the Serbian/Macedonian border, people had gathered in the hallway to take a look at what could possibly be producing so much noise. We just looked at each other, not really believing this was happening, and laughed. It was either that or cry, which Alli almost did at the thought of spending a sleepless night next to this man. We went into the hallway, and sure enough, everyone else was laughing, too.

At some point, Alli went back in to lie down, and Joze woke up briefly and uttered his first words of broken English. He told her that he couldn't get a job because he was too overweight and was going back to live with his parents. Then he fell asleep. Upon hearing this, Chad immediately recognized him as the real-life Ignatius Reilly (see: "A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole) and began to feel sorry for him.

1:25 PM - At the border crossing into Serbia, the guards immediately took on a more imposing presence. Not only did the crossing take forever, but they double-checked passports, scrutinized photos, and when they called out his name to get his attention, Chad even wondered if they were going to ask him if he knew Wes Clark, who bombed the living daylights out of their country in the 90s.

We're also pretty sure that the border patrol officers in charge of checking passports and cabins were the only people not amused by the sound of the snoring man. They didn't so much as crack a smile when they entered the room.

1: 35 PM - In the corridor, we met Elena and Ilin-Dime, who both spoke English and immediately offered their services if we needed anything. They were students from Skopje and were headed back to school aboard "The Balkan Express". Elena told us that she was an art student in Ljubljana, Slovenia, while Ilin-Dime said he studied music in Trieste, Italy. They told us that Ljubljana was probably a more scenic place to go than Zagreb, and we began to think about changing our plans.

While we were stopped, Alli thought she would utilize the border check and use the bathroom. She was stopped by the conductor, though, and was basically sent back to our room. It turns out that you can't use the bathroom while the train is stopped because toilets empty directly onto the tracks, and at the border checks, everyone on the train has to be visible. Unfortunately, border checks were more like 30-90 minutes layovers, so this posed a problem for Alli.

2:35 PM - Once the train started to move again, Alli finally went to the bathroom. Still in the corridor, Ilin-Dime told us that the best place to get food along the route was during a 20-minute stopover in Belgrade, where they supposedly have great hamburgers. When we asked how long until Belgrade, he said nine hours. After doing the math, we ate two sesame sticks a piece.

3:03 PM - Alli was beginning to feel the heat and the effects of our water rations, and she went into the cabin for a nap. Shortly after, our roommate woke up for the second time, ate lunch, and instantly fell back asleep.

3:47 PM - Out the windows we noticed tons of squalor, and we couldn't tell if it was general poverty or actual damage from the war. We thought it was the former because from everything we had read, the war didn't really affect the regions this far south. All the homes did have amazing, immaculate gardens, though. For mile after mile we saw rows of corn, cabbage, melons, peppers, tomatoes, etc.

5:15 PM - After finishing the chips, Chad noticed that there were small, square buildings made of brick after every bridge crossing. The tops of the buildings looked castle-like, similar to the rook on a chess board, and there were small slits in the bottom that appeared to be lookouts. We wondered what they were, thinking they might be war-related, but did not get a definitive answer.

APPROX 6:00 PM - While in the corridor, Elena notified Chad that the Balkan Express was currently running three hours behind schedule.

6:45 PM - Upon waking up for the third time, our roommate began to look for a ladder to climb up to the top bunk. Alli called for Chad in panic, as he was still talking to Elena in the corridor. Through a series of hand gestures, Chad motioned that we would sleep in the top bunks, and he should take the bottom. Honestly, this was better for the health and well-being of all parties involved, and I think all three of us experienced some degree of relief once the sleeping arrangements were resolved.

6:48 PM - Snoring resumes.

7:10 PM - At a stop in the southern regions of Serbia, more passengers began to board, and we got another roommate. He was an older gentleman with a gold tooth, and he was extremely polite and very kind. Unfortunately, he spoke no English, so communications were reduced to hand gestures and common words. Nonetheless, he became our new Serbian friend.

7:19 PM - Our new Serbian friend realized the cabin's noise pollution problem and began to squeeze an empty water bottle to wake him. Despite the plastic cackles, the snoring man was not roused.

8:55 PM - By this point, hunger had completely set in, and we gave up on our food rationing in hopes that Belgrade would bring us the hamburger bliss Ilin-Dime said was waiting. The food was gone, the water was gone, and there was nothing left to do but sleep.

Chad hopped up on the top bunk and did just that, Alli finished her book. The Serbian man opened his bag and began to eat the dinner his wife had so lovingly prepared for him. He avoided bumping into the still-sleeping snoring man, sat down on the couchette, and without hesitation, proceeded to share his meal with Alli. It was so sweet of him, and the food (which we would later be told was "burek", a traditional Yugoslav pastry), was delicious. Unfortunately, Chad was soundly sleeping and missed out.

11:49 PM - Finally, we arrived in Belgrade and were excited to chase down one of its famous hamburgers. We got off the train with Elena and Ilin-Dime, and to all of our disappointments, everything was pretty much closed. We were happy enough to buy some cold water and crappy chips, and headed back to the train.

Ilin-Dime was as prepared as the Serbian man, and generously shared two of the many sandwiches his mother made for him. Elena and another man shared their cookies. Unfortunately, the only thing we could share was gratitude. We were taken aback at the amazing generosity of these complete strangers who were turning what should have been a miserable experience into one that was quite memorable and even bordering on pleasant.