Poland; My First Solo Adventure Travel Part 2

 29 May (Second Day)

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The hostel staff had recommended me to go to their most beautiful lake in Poland, Morskie Oko which is the largest and fourth deepest lake in Poland as 29 May (Wed) had the best weather on that week and I didn't plan anything for that day other than going to the Gubalowka Hill which takes only 3 hours. 

Morskie Oko is located within the Tatra National Park which is 30 minutes away from Zakopane. And once you have reached there, you have to walk 2 HOURS and 20 MINUTES to reach the lake 0_0 So means that you need to walk approximately 5 HOURS for the whole journey of Morskie Oko.

It is seriously a huge effort and contribution you need to pay in order to see the beauty of Morskie Oko. So there are many people actually come to here for hiking while getting the opportunity to get to see Morskie Oko. 

But there is also an easiest and effortless way to get to the Morskie Oko for those elderly, kids and lazy people like me XD which is by getting on the horse carriage. As I had only 1 whole day in Zakopane, I need to get this done latest in the afternoon so that I can go to Gubalowka Hill :p  

 View from the bus to Morskie Oko

(10 zt per journey)

 Souvenir shops outside the National Park

 You need to pay entrance fee in order to get into the National Park

(4zt per entry)

But I was lucky enough to get student fare even though I don't have ISIC card :p Means I still look like student to them :p

(Student fare: 2zt)

 The first sign that you will see once you've entered the National Park. It's sort of like 'Start' sign ? XD

 You have to walk approximately 9km one way up to the Morskie Oko lake from here (base of mountain)

 Horse carriages are available near the entrance of the national park

(Going up- 40 zt per person takes approx. 1 hour)

(Going down- 30 zt per person takes approx. 40 minutes or less)

 Some people were actually bringing their babies walking up to the lake 0_0

 A place for you to rest and toilets can be found on the way to the lake :)

 I think the horses that I got on are OLD horses because they are really slow like turtle. As first I thought it was normal as it's quite a burden to go up the mountain until I saw the 2nd and 3rd carriage getting nearer to us. =.=

 And finally they reached the destination earlier than us (1st batch). And I saw the 4th and 5th one coming once we were almost reaching the destination. =.=

 The OLD horses. I swore at that time that I won't get on this carriage when I go down the mountain later :p

The horse carriage can only bring us up to the destination that you will reach in 2 hours by walking. So means that I still need to walk 20 minutes in order to reach the lake. 

Everyone was wearing puffa or wind jacket to the lake but it was freaking hot even I'd only walked approx 10 minutes ! I was wearing a thin jacket at first but I took it off half way because I was a bit sweaty and cannot tahan liao. 

Everyone was looking at me throughout that 20 minutes journey might be thinking that I'm a bit psycho since I was too underdressed to them. But I looked at them thinking the same thing too as they were seriously OVERDRESSED to me XD

 Finally reached !

 A restaurant here for you to have your lunch with the view of the beautiful Morskie Oko :D

 Awesome and breathtaking ! Too bad the weather was not really good so couldn't see the top of the mountain :/

 The 7th and final sign to show that you have reached Morskie Oko!

 In carriage back to the entrance :)

 Horses of the carriage that I got on :) This picture is so lovely :p

There were 2 old man and woman in the same carriage as mine during the journey back to the entrance. They were so kind enough and gave me a lift back to Zakopane. :D

They are Polish and couldn't speak English. So it's a bit like 'chicken and duck talking' ? XD But when we were on the carriage, they were so kind to me and asked me to sit nearer to them (share some heat to me) in the carriage when they saw me wearing only a thin jacket XD 

When we have reached the entrance, the old lady stopped me when I was on the way to get a bus back to Zakopane. She 'bla bla bla Zakopane ?' to me and I can only understand the word 'Zakopane' XD But I knew that she was asking me whether am I heading back to Zakopane so I've nodded. Then she talked again and showed some body language asking me to wait next to her. 

At first I thought the bus is gonna stop at the place that we're standing at that time so I just waited with them quietly until I saw a car (a middle-aged uncle was the driver) coming to us. And I just followed them and got into the car :P 

I think the uncle was one of the passenger in the carriage but I wasn't really sure as I can't recognise and remember people easily XD I guess the uncle was also giving a lift to them too? Oh well, this is gonna be a question that couldn't be revealed :)

Quite many people scolded me saying why I followed stranger's car as I've posted it in Facebook. And of course my parents scolded me too in Whatsapp early in the morning around 3-4am +.+ 

(Moral of the story: Facebook is no longer a private place so don't post anything randomly ! )

Maybe I really shouldn't follow their car but to be honest I never thought of any dangers that I might get by following them :p Even though there might be communication barrier between us, but I was sincerely thank them for giving me a lift :) It sounds dangerous to all of you but it was really one of the memorable experiences to me in my journey in Poland.

Second day to be continued in the next post :)