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October 07 Brief Reflections on a time gone by I just stumbled back onto my blog, in disbelief the months and years have passed by so quickly.. I don't really have a witty comment or tender story to tell of travel, life or love .. just a happy appreciation and gentle longing for the happiness, time, diversity and adventure this trip brought me. I don't have that same feeling in my gut and heart to travel beyond and explore with the same passion and necessity I felt back then. I have new challenges, interests and motivations now, that drive me to different places that may not be so far in distance, but are just the same in the courage, strength and tenacity they call upon. To those who feel the travel bug, or the call of the wind to blow them in new directions, I recommend with all I have to follow those passions that are burning. If those fires burn out, all that shines around them will be lost, and you'll never see all the wonderful things they lit up around them, and the new places they led you to. March 06 Back in Town!Alas, my trip has now come to an end. The journey home from Koh Tao, after I decided I was ready to come home, to Canada was a 2 week "ping-pong" exhibition from Bangkok to Singapore, then Rome to Frankfurt, and finally to Toronto, with brief visits to parades, shops, the vatican and its museums, cafes, gelateria's and beer hauses. I was kind of dragging my feet the last few weeks in Thailand and Europe, ready to come home and see family, friends and excited for new beginnings. I boarded the last flight with anticipation. It wasn't until the wheels of the plane touched down in pearson that it hit me that I was going to be home. (that and my first visions of snow in nearly a year). As I got off the plane, a gust of wind and snow howled its way through the cracks in the airplane descension dock, escorting me into the country. The Canadian Customs Agent didn't disappoint me either, she looked through my passport, smiled at me and said, "you must be tired. Welcome back". In the airport, I was greeted by my newly engaged sister. We chatted over a chocolate biscuit and jumped in her car, listening to Canada's latest tunes my ears were blind too. The trip hadn't ended yet though. With jet lag and running on fumes I rented a car and started the 3 hr drive, the last half hour greeted by a snow storm, to kingston to surprise Marsha. By 9pm, I finally arrived to a warm hug. This morning I sit updating this blog, contacting all my friends that I'm home, and just pondering the future. Alas, the journey continues ... _________________________________________________________________ Explore the seven wonders of the world http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE February 13 Koh Tao & Phangan.. Matt arrived safely on the 1st of February around midnight in Bangkok airport. We had a 6:30am flight to catch to Ko Samui so we slept in the airport for a few hours until we could check in for our flight. (or, more accurately, we found a muslim prayer room with comfy pillows in the airport and slept in a corner of the room .. tucked away.. facing mecca.)
We arrived in ko phagnan the day of the full moon party and as expected had a really difficult time finding accomodation. It took about 4 hrs, but we finally found a luxurious double room just steps from the beach and settled there for a few days. We headed out to the full moon party that night, which was wild, but slightly over rated. We stayed on the island then headed to Koh Tao two days later, which is the island I find myself in the arms of today
Koh Tao has been beautiful. Matt and I did a 4 day scuba diving open water certification course. After watching a few hours of video instruction and 3 hrs of classroom studies and tests, we loaded on the scuba gear and headed into the waters, at chest deep level, and just sat under the water for a half hour doing all sorts of safety exercises. After that we did some snorkeling and diving. The corel, sea cucumbers, rocks, angel fish, brain corel we saw were all stunning. The next day we went 9 meters deep, and the last day 18 meters deep. Admittedly, I got little sleep and caught myself wondering, at 4 am lying in bed, why on earth I was venturing 18 meters under water and worried about the bends and lung explosion and all these fun things we had studied in class. But alas, the fear added to the fun and I am now the proud holder of a lifelong open water diving certification from PADI. I even have a DVD of the higlights of our last two dives on DVD, which I will be showing constantly to u all when I get back.
Matt and I are now going our seperate ways, as he's heading to the beautiful beaches of Krabi, which I have already visited. With Matt leaving tonight I rented an absolutely beautiful bungalow overlooking the sea on the southeast quiet corner of Koh Tao. I'll probably spent 4 or 5 days here, finishing up some reading and journals and deciding where to head to next ..
ciao, john January 31 Favourite Pictures Summary and BangkokI just put together an album of my favourite 60 pictures of the last 2 months in India, Nepal and South East Asia .. its the latest album to the right .. As for what I have been up to, after Pnhom Penh, I took a 3 hr bus ride to Sihanoukville, a beach community on the south east shores of Cambodia. It turned out to be very similar to Railay Beach, one of my favorite spots in Thailand. I was planning on staying there for only a few days, but I got to know a bunch of really cool people, so I stayed a week, and just got into Bangkok on the 28th. The ride into Bangkok took 17hrs .. quite awful. In Cambodia we were slowed down by 3 rivers were no more than 500 meters wide, but they didn't have any bridges, so we had to take these makeshift ferry boats across. I think we traveled around 500 km in those 17hrs, but the bus ride was entertaining, inspired by interesting conversations due to lack of sleep, games of truth or dare, roadside kiosks, ipod video (I loaded the enitre 'simpsons season 2' and 'the office' onto my ipod in cambodia at a shop that prints money loading albums onto ipods. I also put on Cat Stevens album "Tea for Tillerman" .. this guy is awesome ..) The roads in Cambodia are improving though, and there are bridges that are going to open soon .. Cambodia is on the rise. On the beach in Sihanoukville, kids come around selling bracelets and make for the ideal entertainment. My friends and I would always have a posse of 3 or 4 kids around because they are so witty and fun. One little girl, no more than 9, asked me to buy a particular bracelet. I said, "no, no, I already have that one" (which I didn't actually have) She looked at me and said, deadpan, "You can lie to me, but you cannot lie to yourself" Right now I'm in Bangkok and am surrounded by friends I've met along the way. These guys and gals are great. We went out last night, and during the day I went shopping, purchasing computer software, dvds, clothes, a digital camera yes, my 3rd in 6 months, and other nick nacks. Matt arrives at midnight tomorrow, and then we're off to the full moon party ... alright .. i'm off .. John
January 19 Cambodia .. Siem Reap to Pnhom PenhI flew from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap on the 14th, I was surprised at how developed the main strip of Siem Reap was, I felt like I was on Sunset Boulevard. It's easy to see that the world has caught on to Angkor Wat (damn Tomb Raider). I spent my first couple of days exploring the old city of Angkor, visiting the temples, buying/being chased by 8 and 9 year old Cambodian girls and boys selling everything from cold water, postcards and bracelets, to copies of the Lonely Planet and some random Cambodian travel novels. I've taken to traveling by moto instead of auto ricket and even when I got off the bus in Pnhom Penh with backpack and guitar in hand, I jumped on the back of a moto taxi and sailed away to my hotel. I think a moped may be my first purchase when I get back. Cambodians have been amazing to me and almost all backpackers complement the happy attitude of Cambodians. They've had a crappy past 25 years for sure, but now they all have this cheerful, almost absent minded happiness to them. I mean, I saw a bus almost hit a girl riding a moto and instead of the bus driver muttering curses under his breath, they both kind of looked at eachother and smiled, like .. whoooa, that was a close one, but it happens, now go on your way .. The children are little pitbulls though, they love u, but if you buy from they're friend and not them, let me tell u, they get nasty .. especially the little girls, they run the show around here. The little girls. and yes, I have been punched by them .. but I still love them. (similar to how Marsha courted me) I think almost all children under 10 here are geniouses. Regardless of if you're wearing 10 bracelets on each arm, or have 30 postcards in your pack, they still manage to talk u into buying from them. And then, hours later, they somehow convince u to give them the bracelets back! I'm starting to understand more and more what my dad means when he say's I'm not "Furbu" (thats some serious Italian dialect, people) Today, I visited Tuol Sleng (the S21 prison) and the killing fields in Pnhom Penh. I head for Sihanoukville tomorrow to chill on the beach for a few days, then head to Bangkok to meet up with my buddy Matt Shara(!), who will arrive a few days later, on the 31st. I was fooling around with the settings of my blog and figured out a way to update my blog by sending an email to a secret address. (yes, secret. I can't have guys like Mark Fabbroni updating my blog) So hopefully that means I'll be able to update more often. Also, I found that u can view stats of the blog, and I was amazed, I've had 3,550 views since I've started this blog! Imagine if I was funny! okay, i'm off for some Cambodian Fish Amuk with Rice, which is brilliant!! I'm hitting the scales at 166 lbs now .. for those wondering, yes, that's my Dairy Queen weight. Oh .. Dairy Queen .. food .. hmm .. Top Ten foods (and food requests :) for when I get back: 1) Mom's tomato sauce 2) Nanna's meat balls 3) Zia Laura's Christmas Lasagna 4) Marsha's moms Serpathal 5) Turkey with Cranberry Sauce 6) Beef Burrito from Burrito Boyz with the works 7) Spicy Peanut Chicken at Szechuan Szechuan 8) Pizza and Wings from the Pizza Company at Marco's 9) Sashimi Rainbow Roll from HoSu 10) Wendy's Bacon Mushroom Melt Value Meal John, mouth completely watering now disclaimer: (despite 3500 hits, John is not accepting any corporate sponsorship for the above Top Ten List... though he is listening) _________________________________________________________________ Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail. http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d January 12 Kuala Lumpur .. the worlds biggest/tallest (fill in the blank)I've been in Kuala Lumpur the last 3 days. Visited the Petronas Towers the other day, the worlds 2nd tallest building, also visited the worlds 4th tallest satellite tower, headed to some really cool clubs, checked out some buddhist and hindu temples and visited the malls, the required visit in this city. Malaysia's goal is to be a fully industrialised, modern city by 2020. They have all this cool infrastructure: opera houses, museums, malls with asia's largest imax screen and the worlds largest anime store, the worlds largest 'Borders' book store, the worlds largest Japanese anime store, roller coasters and 10 floors of shops... but they're all empty! We decided for a lazy day today and ended up spending it in the mall.. (we being myself, Jens, Kev, Kamil, Sharmany and John, a group that I've been hanging out with the last week, that I met in the Cameron Highlands .. a great group that I've been laughing with all week ... this laughter is underrated i tell u ..)
Before that I was in Penang, an island on the northwest coast of Malaysia, and the Cameron Highlands, a jungle area that also has some amazing tea plantations. I also did some hiking there through this jungle full of fawna and beautiful carnivorous flowers ..
I've uploaded a whole bunch of pics .. 4 albums .. give the procrastinators something to do!
Okay, shout out to tomorrows moving crew : Bryan, Teresa, Felipe, Marsha and Mike who are moving my stuff out of my old apartment for me .. while i'm here .. MANY THANKS!!!
Shout out to my Zia Laura too, who I have a feeling will be the first to read this!
The 14th I split ways with Jens, and leave for Siem Reap to start off visiting Cambodia ..
Ciao for now,
love john
January 01 Happy New Year!!Happy New Year!!! Rang in the New Year on Phi Phi Island last night with whisky buckets, fire works, fire dancers and friends i've met along the way. They didn't play Auld Lang Syne at midnight ... but I just got off the phone with Marsha where I listened to the countdown with her, and got to hear it in the background! After two weeks of Thailand beach exploring, I'm throwing the backpack back on and heading to Malaysia tomorrow to see some jungles, tea plantations and the Petronas Towers ...
On this New Years Day, I say to all :
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind ? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne ?
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup ! And surely I’ll buy mine ! And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
We two have run about the hills, and pulled the daisies fine ; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand my trusty friend ! And give us a hand o’ thine ! And we’ll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne.
Happy New Year All! John December 25 Merry Christmas!!Hey Everyone .. hope u all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year!! Please, please, have a glass of egg nog for me .. impossible to find here..
I'm in Thailand right now, at Railay beach .. I just had Christmas dinner with a friend, Jens, (Fish Curry and friend banana's ... no turkey's here) and life is kind of going on tonight without very little signs of Christmas .. I don't think there is a Church within 100 miles of here.
Christmas is certainly not the same here without being surrounded by all u guys, shopping with marty at the pen on christmas eve and buying all your presents, then the night at nannas watching my dad and luc's latest creative attempts at placing the highest ornament with the chorus of aunts carolling in the background, running into marco and dave at midnight mass and them telling me we all smell like fish, morning stockings and presents (Jens bought me a thai massage!! ) and chocolates, talking to marsha christmas morning , my moms baked sweets and shots of cognac, then hanging out with the sexy seven after the family parties have died down .. but like Eliana said, next Christmas will be great..
Shout out to TERESA AND BRYAN who just got ENGAGED!!! Really really happy for u guys!! big hug to you both and the rock of gibraltor..
MERRY CHRISTMAS
love john .. who is contemplating why he is covered with mosquito bites on Christmas day ..
p.s. I finally posted some of my pics of India !
December 19 PICS FROM INDIA!So, my friend Paul from the India tour posted some pics of the India tour .. see link below!
John
December 17 Day in Smelly Delhi .. on to Phuket I just landed in Singapore from Delhi .. its 5:30 am here and I'm just enjoying a Gingerbread White Mocha Late from the Singaporean equivalent of Starbucks in the airport, awaiting the Train Station to open up to take me downtown. I spend a night in Singapore, before leaving for the sunny Paradise of Phuket in Thailand! I'm finally feeling the signs of Christmas around met. Christmas music is playing and the airplane was decorated with wreaths and hollies.. In India and Nepal you'd have no idea Christmas was a week away.
I flew into Delhi from Kathmandu yesterday, and I spent it on my own, walking around the bizaars, soaking up the last bit of the atmosphere there. The last time in a while I'll have to shoo cows out of the way walking down the street, walk past a seemingly infinite row of tiny shops selling anything u can think of, drink coke out of tiny glass bottles again, eat garlic naans every day, get clipped in the back of the leg by rickshaws, hear the horns, smell the smells or get shouted at me "Hello sir, how are u? Are u spanish? come visit my shop, looking is for free!". I've learned from my rookie mistakes in India though. Usually addressing anyone shouting at u as you're walking down the street in India or Nepal is an automatic entrance ticket to their shop. I remember the first day I was in India I would address everyone who addressed me. I started out by replying, "I'm fine, thanks" .. which usually got answered "Yes, you're fine, sir, but I'm not fine. I will be fine if u come in, please. Looking is for free! I give u good price! good price!". I'll miss getting asked if I needed a taxi everytime I walked by a rickshaw.. even if I was right across the street from my hotel .. I mean, the customer service in these countries is really quite remarkable. Apparently someone wearing shorts was once shouted at them " Come into my shop sir .. I sell you long pants for short price!" .. thats pretty good. I was thinking that, in general, people here tend to not wear masks. I guess intent is clearer based on circumstance.
Like I said, tomorrow I fly into Phuket!! I'm hoping to laze by the beach for a little bit, re-energize and then check out some of the surrounding area ...
Ciao for now.. john
December 12 Kathmandu and Pokhara - The HIMALAYAS!!The 2 week tour I took with my friend Jon Shui from Delhi to Kathmandu ended on Saturday, and I was kind of down. Most of the people I met went their separate ways, and I started planning out the next month or so. It really sunk in that I wouldn't be home for Christmas and New Years.. I just kind of sulked away the rest of the day .. until the next morning, when I left on a mountain bike tour of the Kathmandu Valley, and was it ever incredible. We rode 48km through the city and surrounding mountains, doing off roading, passing by local villages of farmers and their wives and children. We passed by daughters filling water jugs at the water fountains, kids waving and smiling, men carrying fire wood, women carrying twice the amount the men were carrying, on their heads. Once we reached the top of the main mountain beside the city, we went onto 'Scar Road' ... aptly named .. it overlooked the whole valley . . and at the top was a small school. We stopped for a break, and so I peaked in. Next thing u knew, I was in front of the class teaching the alphabet. It was quite the day.
The next day, Paul and I left for Pokhara, which is only 200 km away from Kathmandu .. but took us 12 hrs to get there on the bus, due to the nature of the roads.. u know the roads, where if the bus slides one foot we're falling off the side of a mountain to our deaths .. it was an absolutely beautiful scenic ride, though .. payment for the risk... We got stuck in a 4hr traffic stop too, either due to an accident, or a maoist rally ahead ... we still don't know which it was. The entire 12 hrs was worth it though, when I got my first peak of the himalayas. Looking at the Taj Mahal is kind of looking at the Himalayas, just surreal. As though you've just walked onto a hollywood movie set, and are staring at an artificial background, cause it just is so lovely that it can't be real.
Today, our first in Pokhara, we rented mopeds and road around the city, with the himalayas surrounding us.. We just rode and rode, to all the surrounding mountain tops.
Tomorrow ? ... PARAGLIDING!! December 05 India and Southern NepalWe pulled out of India yesterday and entered into Nepal. I am still shocked and am collecting my thoughts on India. It was not at all what I expected. The last few days in India, we went to a cooking classes .. i'm a pro at chai masala now .. took a boat ride along the ghats in Varanasi, watching the sunrise, and hindus purifying themselves in the holy waters of the ganges river .. after that we had a yoga lesson, then headed to Sarnath, where Buddha gave his first Buddhist sermon after attaining enlightenment. We left Varanasi the next morning at 4:45am for Nepal.. ouch .. Shout out to my nephew David, who turned 1 the other day!! Welcome to the Natural Numbers ..
We spent our first day in Nepal in Lumbini, which is where Buddha was born, checked out the "exact spot" where he was born .. apparently a stone was discovered that was incribed 2 thousand years ago that said that Buddha was born there. I aslo visited my first buddhist monestary, it was as peaceful as i expected it. We took a bus this morning to Chitwan National Park, which is a really just a jungle that has tigers, bears, elephants, deer, rhinos ... but on the way we were stuck in a Nepalese protest, it came with the works : megaphones, traffic stopped due to rubber tires being burnt in the middle of the road ... it delayed us a few hours, but everything was fairly peaceful. From where we are, we can't yet see the himalayas, but we will in a few days, as we head further north. The weather has been amazing here, t-shirt weather. We visited an elephant breeding habitiat, and saw and fed an elephant that was 7 days old.. Alright, tomorrow we enter the jungle .. ciao .. December 02 India - New Delhi to VaranassiFirstly, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes .. and sorry i havent replied .. first internet stop i could find working in india .. and i am on an auto shutdown in 4 minutes .. so may end abruptly ..
quickly, started off in new delhi, alone, found my way to my hostel... cool taxi ride at around 1 am, on the street leading up to my hotel saw cars, cows, rickets, bikes and .. yes .. an elephant .. all sharing the same lane .. welcome to new delhi .. it was not what i expected, poverty, i guess depending on how u define it, is more than the textbook 40%, at least from what i've seen .. the markets and bizaars are so different, and raw and loud and smelly that you cant help but smile ..
i met up with my tour group a few days later, which have been unbelievable, such fun and energetic people out there, and we've head to all sorts of towns .. we stopped in agra and saw the .. ahh .. the ahhh its so nice, the TAJ MAHAL .. it just floats there like a hollagram in all its majestic splendour.. i couldn't really believe how amazing it was til i saw it, and this is WITH the hype ..
Other small towns along the way, Gwailor and Orccha, have contained some incredible hindu temples, palaces, markets, bizaars and rivers .. in fact we sailed down the ganges river the last few days .. saw a hindu cremation .. 30 second warning .. and within these days i did get incredibly ill, body pains, sweats, i know .. don't drink the water, gotta eat something though .. okay , gotta go, in varanassi now .. til we meet again .. john November 21 Stockholm-Paris-Rome-SingaporeI hear the calls for more pics .. sorry .. been having some technical difficulties. But i was able to put them all of them up to today on dvd, so they should be coming soon.. just not now cause this computer doesn't have a dvd player :)
So, my travels after copenhagen took me to Sweden, where a 6hr train ride suddenly turned into a 14hr bus ride .. which took a chunk out of my stay in stockholm. Nonetheless, i met a cool swede and finn on the bus (the later who attempted to teach me to sing .. hey, it was a long ride..) and the former, who introduced me to the wonderful world of snus. (thats raw tabacco that u roll into a ball and put under your lip) Its the equivalent of 3 cigarettes of nicotine and it hit me like a train... needless to say i felt exhilarated for about 2 minutes, and then nautious for an hour, so that was the end of the snus.
After Stockholm, i spent 4 days in Paris.. I checked out the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay (wicked!), the Dali Museum, and then the areas of Montpartre (where Sartre and Hemmingway used to chill .. even went to Sartres grave, an appropriate plain, bare, white grave stone beside his girl, Simone DeBeauvier.) I checked out Montemartre too, the sacre coeur, and a cool wine bar withi some friends, and the hostel bar too ..
I returned to the embraces of my cousins in Rome and just chilled with them, rented a couple movies (7 years in Tibet, for inspiration). We went out for one of the best pizzas too..
I just landed in this oasis called Singapore at 7 am (a 12 hr flight) ... feels like a tropical Toronto. My flight for New Delhi doesn't leave til 6pm, so I just got back from a tour of the city of Singapore .. the brochure says that this city is a testament to the ability of man .. mostly its clean, and has some serious high rises, great architecture (from my lay opinion) and seems like a cool place to live. Right now i'm in this airport that is a city unto itself. Free internet and a free movie theatre, there is a gym, massages, 4 gardens, mini putt and tons of shopping. Why am i leaving again ..
Til New Delhi in a couple hours .. i'm a little anxious, but so be it .. got to take the malaria pill soon .. ahhh ..
john November 10 Denmark .. CopenhagenFirstly, a big shout out to Nadia and Mark who just had a baby girl named Olivia! Now, my nephew David has a little girl to chill out with .. Good job.
My fourth day in Copenhagen is winding down .. this city spins like a watch, feels a bit like the Truman show. Its got to be the city of the future, everything is energy efficient, the toilets have two flush strengths, lights and taps all have sensors, the subway operates without a driver as its computerized where u know the exact time the next train will arrive at, everyone rides bikes with infrastucture to support it. They have these 'city bikes' as well, where they have bike posts set up all over the city and anyone can use them. If u return it u get your coin back, otherwise, if u leave it, anyone else can pick it up and use it wherever they want to go.. I wanted to head over to horns rev, the biggest wind farm in the world, but its quite some way in the north sea, and is on the opposite side of the country, so its not going to happen...
Its crazy expensive here though, big mac meal is 10 bucks, a coke is 3 bucks, a beer is 9 bucks... u get the point ..
I have met up with a bunch of aussie guys .. i think they have ambassadors in every hostel cause they are everywhere .. and have checked out the city, went out for some beers at these cool clubs .. its a minimum of 12 bucks cover .. painful..
I also met up with a cool guy from London .. Ontario .. its his 34th birthday today, so a bunch of us went out last night we had some tequila at midnight .. things got messy...had to go for the swarma after the bar too, yummy ...
the next morning when I left the hostel the bike I had rode home that night was awaiting me... what bike? good question .. donøt worry, i returned it the next day .. (not a city bike .. oops)
The guys here are all massively tall too. At the bar i actually had to go on tippy toe when i was peeing.
I realized while i was on the train the other day, that i can say thank u in 7 different languages now ... here goes .. thanks, grazie, gracious, tak, gin kui, merci, .. okay i didnøt say i could spell them .. and yes, i know thats only 6 ..
Tomorrow morning I have a 10 hr bus ride ahead of me, for Stockholm, Sweden .. It leaves at 5:30 am so it will probably be a low key night tonight. I just finished reading my second book, I read 'Homeword Bound' by woody guthrie earlier and I finished 'The Fountainhead' yesterday .. a crazy genious book that iøm still sorting out in my head.
Tomorrow is Marios stag night on the town too .. sucks that I canøt be there .. GET OUT THE GUILATINE!!
ciao .. john November 03 Poland - Krakow ... keeping warmI decided to change my plans from flying to copenhagen out of prague, to first coming to Krakow, so i could se a bit of Poland, and also visit the former concentration camps of Auchwitz and Berkenau. I took a 9:18pm train out of prague last night, and arrived in Krakow this morning at 5:50am .. I slept on the train, not that comfy but i was really tired, so slept most of the way. My map showed that hostel was close to the train station, and so, after being advised that the path there wasn't a rough area, I set out in the dark, along the cobblestone streets for my hostel.. but man .. was it cold!! It was only a 15 minute walk, but I seemed longher, because outside the train it was below 0 and snowing ... I hadn't run into any cold weather, and my spring jacket just wasn't cutting it ..
So, after checking into the hostel, I knew my mission was clear .. winterize. Where to start? I headed for the mall in krakow .. but way too expensive ... I remebered seeing some kiosks at the train station that were closed when I arrived, so I went back to the station and picked up a sweet pair of gloves and a tuque for 7 euros! .. but I couldn't find a cheap sweater anywhere.. after mosying around in the mall, I thought I'd have to pick someting up at H&M .. But instead, I ran into a 2nd hand clothing store and bought a sweet winter coat for the discount price of ... 7 euros!!
So, i'm winterproofed, for under 20 bucks ... and not only that .. I look like a local ..
Tomorrow I'm off for Auchwitz and Berkenau, Sunday i'm going to this part of Poland that still is really socialist, and I leave for Copenhagen on Tuesday.
ciao
John October 31 PragueI've been in Prague for about 4 days now, a really comfortable, well preserved city. I was blown away by how clean and different the buildings in the old town are. Iäve stayed at this hostel, the chilli hostel, and met all sorts of people. The first night, friday, I got in late and met up with some guys from california, iowa and chicago and we went bar hoping. The city was surprisingly slow, but we managed to find some jems. Our last bar was a place that played only 80s hair metal ... with video accompanyment. Beer is so cheap here, $1.25 a pint!! Just ate dinner, it cost me 78 korona, which is less than 4 bucks (that includes a pilsner).
The next night we went to 'the club' in prague, called 'the crossover club' which had a different kind of heavy metal theme, it was designed with a machinery theme, so everything was made up of machine parts. (I can think of a few friends that would be in heaven .. insert Brian Nelson or Fabs' name here) .. The chandeliers were motor blocks, with lights coming through them that were spinning by a crank shaft driven by something or other, the chairs were pulled from old buses, the disco ball was a replica of the Nebuchadnezzar, the ship from the matrix. Iäm not gonna lie, there were alot of drugs there, every table, and i mean every table, had someone rolling a joint. We met this hilarious guy who looked like Jaromir Jagrs little brother, and made us laugh the whole night ... :)
Speaking of Jagr, on the train into Prague I ended up sitting beside this Slovakian girl who spoke English, so we chatted for a bit. When I asked her where she lived she was being a bit cheeky, not really wanting to tell me .. reason? She was Marian Hossa's girlfriend!! (Yes, gentlemen, she was smoking) (women, he´s one of the best goal scorers in the NHL)
Last night, I went out with some Germans that were staying in the hostel with me, a pretty low key night. What have i been doing during the day? I've spent the days walkin around, just checking out and getting a feel for the city.
Tonight, Iäm heading out for a halloween party. Everyone was getting dressed up, so what was I to do, I didnät pack a costume, and Iäm certainly not going to go out and buy one, so ... Iäm going as .. eliana, u know it .. i borrowed someones guitar case and iäm carrying it around because iäm going as .. the one and only .. CAT STEVENS!! (yes, Jesus was a close second on the list)
Seeing as Iäve been staying in hostels for the last few weeks, (In prague its been 12 bucks a night) I decided to bump up to a hotel for the next two days .. oh .. yes!!
alright, til we meet again. John
October 25 Budapest .. riot freeAfter a few more days in Morocco, including the day in the desert in Meryouga and visitings some coastals towns along the atlantic ocean, i headed back to Spain and spent a couple days in Malaga.
In Malaga, I just relaxed on the beaches, reloading for budapest. I caught the last F1 race of the season, where Spaniard Alonso won the drivers champioship amidst local celebration, then watched the Real Madrid vs Barcelona matchup in a local bar which ended up being a doozy, with the locally supported Real Madrid winning 2 to nil.
I flew from Malaga into London at midnight, and slept in the airport on a modernly designed, yet really uncomfy cafe chair inside the station, as my flight to budapest left at 6:40AM. I eventually left the chair for the floor and slept comfortablly for a couple hours, but awoke chilled to the bone, feeling like woody guthrie on some boxcar heading through some cold western landscape. I eventually arrived in budapest, and made my way through the bus and subway system to my hostel. I was nervous arriving in budapest because of the riots that i had read about on cnn.com that were occuring in the streets marking the 50 yr anniversary of hungarian liberation from the russian communist rule (their rescuers from WWII german invasion). As it turned out, the major riots occured in the square just outside my hostel the night before. I saw some neat pics taken of teargas bombs and rubber pellets. The people at my hostel spoke of my bad luck for having missed it .. i wasn't so sure. Last night was riot free.
Budapest is actually made up of two towns, buda and pest, which is separted by the danube river, and now there are a few bridges linking the two cities. I'm just leaving for pest to have a bath (and maybe a massage, hey its cheap, go canadian petro currency) at one of the famous turkish baths here .. then off to buda to visit castle hill and some other chillin spots and underground natural caves that housed, apparantly, 'pre-historic' humans (so titled in the guide book).
okay, enough of this, i gotta a massage lined up.
peace, John
October 19 Morocco - Fes & the Sahara DesertMorocco has been unbelievable :: based on the days my friend Ken had left in his holdiays we rushed into Morocco on a night ferry from Spain to Tangier; We got off the boat and all i could think was :: so this is Africa :: it was dark and everything was written in arabic so Ken and i looked at eachother and said :: okay; now what? Ken kept saying to me 'John, walk with purpose': so thats what we did, we had no idea where we were going, but it looked like we did :: after fighting off some hustlers, we finally arrived at the train station; and then boarded a 930 train from Tangier to Fes; switching trains in some random town :: we didnt get to Fes til 2am and to be honest; i was scared: i hadnt built up any familiarity with the moroccans, people stared at us; and it was late in some strange city:
The next morning we got a guide to show us around fes and head into the medinaa; the old town and market::: We walked through a muslim arch and entered this huge covered city of tight winding alleys filled with bustling people dressed in tradtional muslim clothes: lt was unbelievable; it was as though i walked into a time warp and i was in some medieval biblical city: the streets were lined with small shops and kiosks selling everything from dried dates; fresh fruits; live sheep; i walked past a goats head lying on a table; i heard some yelling behind me and nearly got run over by a man riding a donkey by me, ::: walking a bit further i could hear a low sound and it was an old man chanting the koran :: a thin cat strolls by me; i smell fish and manoure; turn the corner and there are a pile of people arguing over the price of bread; All this was just an overload to the senses; i was overwhelmed; i felt like crying; not out of fear or security nor because i felt the people around me were poor; but because i felt like i was experiencing life at its rawist: people living, eating, breathing; selling; i saw a man buying a chicken and the moroccan actually put the chicken on a rudimentary scale; weighed it; then chopped its head off right in front of me; old women sat on the side of the street sowing buttons for clothes; men hammerd away at iron making pots and pans; Eventually i made my way to the tannery where i felt like i was going to throw up cause all i could smell was a combo of dead lamb, camel and cow :: which it was; right beside the leather goods store ::: after a couple hours and some carpets in hand, we left and hid in our hotel til diner:
anyways; fes has been an experience i was hoping to have: i saw life in a different way: hopefully ill be able to post the pics soon; tomorrow were off to the sahara desert!!!
john October 14 Bull-fighting in SevilleBeen in Seville the last few days. When i got into the city i didn´t have a hostel booked, as its usually fairly easy (low season) ... but it was friday night on christopher columbus long weekend, and every hotel, hostel, pension, campsite was booked .. so i ran into some aussies in a similar situation and had to be creative ...
so, visited a bull-fighting ring and watched a fight on tv today ... wild, bloody, pompous, fierce .. i don´t know, i couldn´t help but feel bad for the bull, it was about 10 men and an armoured horse on 1 and the bull had no idea what he was getting into. Interesting facts .. i asked if they honored the bull at all after it died and was dragged out of the room .. music perhaps? the guide said yes, what they do is take it to the market and eat it .. no music i guess .. If the bull kills the matador (very rare), then the bull is burned (and not eaten), and its mother is killed. I think Marco should have been a matador. |
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