When we first arrived at Novi Banovci we saw river boats. We had not seen anything like it since we were used to sea or ocean vehicles. These were long, flat and wide. It took me a month to understand why the river boats were so flat: it’s because they have to be able to fit under all the bridges.
Most of the river boats we saw were for cargo. They wouldn’t be one single boat. Instead, they were locked into each other like a train carriage. There was the engine boat that pushed the boat from the back, and then there were the long, wide cargo boats that could be two or three long and usually two next to each other.
Lots of locals had a small motorised dinghy they would use to go fishing in the river. Our landlord brought us fresh catch one morning. Ajay said it tasted really good. I think the most common catch is the blue nose fish.
From Novi Banovci, Beograd is a two hour bus ride in hot conditions because the air-conditioning doesn’t work. Most of the main buses are bendy with four doors. People can hop on and hop off at any stop but must swipe their card at the door entrance or must have purchased a ticket before entering the bus. This means we accidentally hopped onto a few buses for free because we didn’t understand the system.