New Years Resolutions and Trip Financials

Now that the holidays have passed and I'm not working everyday, I'll be writing a bit more. For my first post of the new year, I figured it'd be appropriate to share and talk about new years resolutions. Also, I want to make good on a promise to go through my trip financials.

Final Few Days, Returning Home, and Job Searching

It’s been a few since I last wrote. A lot has happened… I wrapped up my trip in Scotland, flew home, reunited with Ivy, trying to get a job (or a least an income), and beginning to scope out some of the spiritual thingys out there. It's going to  be a long one...

I'll start from the beginning, the last I wrote I was on my way to Edinburgh. I did stop over at Aviemore to look at our “mountain”. The mountain that they set on fire was actually mostly a cliff face and the rest was a craggy hill. I snapped some photos and hiked around for awhile in the park devoted to it which was really pretty. After a few hours, I caught the train to Edinburgh. Side note: One thing I like about most of the trains in Europe is that you buy a ticket without a time. For example, the train runs every 90 min during the day from Aviemore to Edinburgh. If I had have missed the one at 3, I just show up to the next one. No need to change my ticket or anything. End note. On the way to Edinburgh I passed through Sterling. The only reason why I mention it is that Sterling hosts the William Wallace monument.

A Little Grantime

It seems fitting, in some way, that although I left without any need to find myself, I am here in the land of my ancestors finding shit out about myself. Well, not really about me, just about where I came from; my roots, if you will. I'm glad I saved this part for last (or close enough to last). It seems to wrap things up well. This post will be about Inverness and Grantown, but mostly about the Clan Grant, so if you don't care about cool shit this will bore you.

Holland, London, and a Quarterly Check-in

Even though this is my one year check-in, I'm going to try to keep this one brief. I left Ostend a couple days after writing the last post. I needed some slow down time and it offered it. I mainly just kept to myself, walking the beach when the sun was out and eating when it wasn't. They have a sweet park there that I spent some time in. I even got the room to myself on the last night. When I left it was with the intention to go to Antwerp, but every thing was booked up. So was Amsterdam.

Beer Tour Belgium

I have not been thrilled at the availability of internet. Why they charge in many hostels, even for WiFi, is beyond me. It's up to about $5 an hour here, which judging by the speed of the connection is not much more than a normal deal you'd have at home, means they pay off the entire months bill within a day or two. Luckily, the hostel I'm at in Ostend has free internet (from a computer) and free WiFi for an hour or two at a time (its a weird system). Also, this is from my phone and not proofread - FYI. I'll explain how I came here and how I found some time to write this post...

Prague Through Berlin

I have had a surprisingly hard time finding time, for writing. Mostly, it is a combo of lack of accessable computers and doing stuff with friends. That should be at least calmed down a bit as I don't anticipate seeing anyone I know till I get to London next month. Maybe I'll have better access to computers, but I doubt it.
To get on with the trip, not really much in the way of cool stories happened in Prague; a lot happened in Munich; and Berlin was pleasant, though different than expected.

Lots of Flying Butts in Poland

I am of course speaking of the only thing I retained from my college art history course, flying buttresses. Being that there are a shit load of massive, 5+ story, churches here, there are a ton of flying butts. Flying butts are not anything impressive either, but appear to just be a waste of time and money. Then, again, that's what the church loved more than anything back in the day and still does to some degree today. That may be the name of the post cause I like playing on words, but I don't care about churches so I wasn't going around looking at them and really, it won't be a focus of this post.

Book Reviews: Tandia, The Valkeries

Tandia, by Bryce Courtenay -This is the follow up book to The Power of One, and it is equal to the first. I really liked this book and if you remember, I was complaining about the ending to the first saying that it lacked the closure that was built throughout the book. This one starts right where the other left off. Peekay, the Tadpole Angel, is headed for Oxford to learn law and bring it back to South Africa to try to change things during the time of Apartheid. At some point he realizes that the law taught in England won't really apply to this system. However, he goes about trying anyway. There is a new introduced named Tandia. She is a colored girl who really has a shitty life. First, she is a child of an Indian man who is slightly connected to Peekay from many years back. He cheated on his wife with the black help and this is where Tandia comes from. She is raped after her father dies mysteriously, and almost killed by the police to cover it up. She ends up living a whore house and the madam takes an interest in her intelligence, and beauty. She sends her to school, and eventually Tandia gets a law degree. However, it's not all fun and games. The villian of the story continues to be a force of brutality and terror in her life. This ends up leading Peekay and her together.
However, the book doesn't lose sight that Peekay, who ends up realizing his dream of being welter weight champion of the world, is the driving force with a destiny to unite all of Africa. This is why I'm divided on the end. The end of the book does, but doesn't, fulfill his destiny. You are lead to believe in these superstitions and medicine men and other supernatural things. Even Peekay, who is reluctant to believe that he is suppose to be the one to bring peace accepts much of these things in the end. However, we never find out how he does. That being said, the end still could be fulfilling his destiny, it just seems like it should be a little more than it was. It can still be a good ending, but I wanted more and I didn't like certain things about it. Anyway, I still highly recommend this book.
The Valkeries, by Paulo Coelho - this is the same guy that wrote The Alchemest, which is a huge seller. I haven't read that one, and would be willing to give it a chance even after reading this rubbish. This is supposed to be a mostly true account (according to the author) of a trip he took earlier in his life to the desert. He goes there to see his guardian angel. I didn't really know what this book was about before reading it and since I didn't have to buy it and recognised the author, I figured I'd give it a whirl. It appears to be one of those books that is really trying to be spiritual in a how to way, like the Celestine Prophecy. However, this guy who is supposed to be a magus (think new age wizard), is super Christian. None of it really makes sense together since the riturals and things contradict Christianity. Anyway, he writes as if you not believing every word makes you an idiot. But most of it is totally crazy bullshit, even for me whom just underwent many spiritual awakenings and am open to a lot of things now. But this is over the top even for me. Could the book be ok if the guy wasn't trying to say it was all real? Perhaps, but only because you wouldn't have to going, "god this guy is full of shit." Anyways, I wouldn't recommend this book unless you believe in what the bible says about all those crazy angel wars and levels of spirits and what not word for word.

Well Then, I'm Happy to Tell You That God Loves You

This post is Croatia to Vienna, so it'll be long...


Croatia is lovely, but really, it's kinda dull. It's expensive (min of around €40 a day), and while nice, it lacks anything really special to hook you. It's got nice, clean beaches in warm Mediterranean clear water; it's got walled cities and intact fortresses; it's got mountains; it's got somewhat interesting cultural things. But so do other countries around it that are much cheaper. Originally, I was going to spend a bit more time, but the cost really put a damper on that and I only stayed about 5 days.

Easiest Way From Greece to Croatia? Italy

In my last post I had made it to Rethymno and met some cool people. Even did a tour of the Minoan Knossos. I left the day after that post for Santorini, Greece's poster boy. I must say that Santorini is dramatic. Three of five towns are built not just on the top of 500 meter cliffs, but down parts of said cliffs. The town I was able to get a hostel was Perissa.

Book Reviews - Celestine Prophecy, One For My Baby, and The Big Book of Chi

This is what happens when you don't write for awhile, you get a back log of stuff. That's why there's three.

Island Hopping in Greece is the Bee's Knees

I took the ferry from Çeşme to Chios (pronounced kios) on the 3rd. I was the lucky recipient of being the sole person to have to empty the entire contents of my bag for border control. The guy thought I'd some how come up with a way to fit cocaine into the air pockets of the foam cushioning in my bag. I was almost certain he was going to slice it open. Then had me answer a dozen times that this was indeed my bag. Thanks for being a dick just because I was American.
Chios isn't much to write about. The town is like most island towns here, it is built around the marina as the main focal point of the city. In Chios, the main road goes along the harbour and splits the shops and restaurants from the walk path. The affect this has is that it sucks; you don't want to sit in a cafe cause you have cars in your face and you don't really want to walk the path cause its uninviting. it does have a wall around part of it, but compared to other towns in Greece, its impressive. There is nothing resembling a hostel, so its not a great destination if you are traveling alone. I spent most of Wednesday morning trying to find a cheap place to stay. There are the hotels and pensions, but Greece has places that have a sign outside advertising rooms for rent. These are your cheapest option next to hostels. In the end I got one for €20. Always ask if they have cheaper rooms or will go less. Almost all will show you a room that isn't their cheapest, or they'll drop the price €5. The place I stayed had a great typical Greek lady running it. She was on the heavier side and hilarious. She spoke some English, but it was heavily accented so it was tough to understand.
It also turned out she was a level 2 reiki. She mentioned it to me when I asked her some places to see on the island. She said there was a sea cave that was great for reiki. She asked if I knew what it was, so I grabbed my big book of chi and turned to the reiki chapter. I tried to see if she'd do a session on me, but she said she couldn't for some reason.

Turkey Post, Finally

I've been neglecting posting lately. Mostly that's because of access to a computer. I'm writing this from my phone, which I hate. It's hard to type long prose and I basically can't proof it, not that I do too much proofing anyway. So FYI.

After all that fuss that the picketing agent gave me in Bangkok, all I had to do was walk up, say I wanna go in Turkey, and they gave me a visa. When I got to immigration, the hardest part was the 5 min. line I had to wait in. I'm not sure one person looked at me to see if I was even the same sex as on my passport. I guess it may be because they have women with burkas comings through all the time and checking a passport against a small slit where you can only see their eyes really means nothing. No, they don't have to remove them, but yes, you as a man will need to remove your hat.

Quarterly Update 3, A Little Late

Sorry this is a bit late. I hit 9 months on my birthday and there was no way I was writing then or the following day. Then, I was traveling, then I was behind on some other posts, and then I didn't have access to a computer. I am going to include the last couple weeks in this, so consider it a quarterly update, plus Turkey. I still didn't when I "wrote" this post. I used the speech to text function on my phone and am borrowing a computer from a guy at my guesthouse. That means that this will probably be full of spelling and formatting errors. So without further ado:

Getting Tired of Vegetarians

Aren't we a bit self righteousness

I'm seeing a lot of stuff like that picture above lately. I'm even reading some of it in unlikely places. I'll save my review of Walden for when I finish it, but I can tell you this much, it will be a long post for good and for bad. There is a part in it that really illustrates what my point, "I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food". There seems to be this belief throughout society that eating vegetarian is of a higher moral plane. It is not.

Tigers

As a sorta birthday present to myself, I decided to go to hangout with tigers. There are a couple places you can do this in Thailand. The Tiger Kingdom in Chang Mai and the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi are the only places that I know of. Before visiting either, I had heard mixed reviews from travelers and definitely polarized reviews on the Temple.
After getting a positive review on the Kingdom from the Irish couple doing the Gibbon Experience, I decided that it would be wise to go to that one, and perhaps if I felt up to it, do the Temple as an additional one.

Book Review, Walden

One of the more fascinating books I've read, this year (and all time), is Walden (this one has a different introduction than mine and comes with annotations for some reason). Written by Henry Thoreau in 1850's Massachusetts, it was a book far, far ahead of it's time. I would go as far as to say that this is definitely a classic that should be read by everyone. It's not an easy read. It took me about 20 days to consume this 330 page book, which is quite some time for even me. There are two reasons that it's a tough read. It is written in 1850's language and prose. Some sentences are literally a page long and therefore easy to start zoning out or to get lost. I do like the old language, though I found I had to look up a few words that are out of fashion today. The other reason that this book is a tough read is that it's heady or heavy, requiring breaks every so often to contemplate.

Beer Wıth Me

I have several posts that I'm working on simultaniously, including my 9 month check in, so bear with me. Also, if you were one of the people interested in beer with me, Oktoberfest is fast approaching and it'd be prudent to get tickets soon. Jordan and Chelsea have informed me that they just purchased theirs!
Ok, so quick update - I'm ın Istanbul now. Yesterday was brutal.

Ever Had Fresh, Right Off the Tree That Almost Fell On You, Papaya?

No?! Well, it can't be beat.
I'm sure the big question, esp. after I posted the ziplining videos on FB, is how was the Gibbon Experience? Well, for most of the men out there, it was like living out a childhood fantasy. I lived in an awesome treehouse in the jungle, hiking and zipping around the jungle at my leisure. For the women, I guess it's the equivalent for you would be if I got to get married and cook and clean for 2 nights. Isn't that what you fantasised about?

Blurb to Update Cause I Don't Plan on Internet for the Next 5 Days

So, really briefly...
Three things I forgot in the last post. One, the power in Luang Prabang cuts out randomly for random lengths of time. One day, part of the town didn't have power for five or more hours. Maybe that particular one was due to the storms that have been hitting the area, but the  power would cut out at least once a day even on the sunny days. Two, I was a bit in a funk when I was writing the last email. I don't really know why. It was after hanging out with the elephants. I came home and practically passed out, only to be awaken by my "take malaria pills" alarm shortly there after. When I woke, I was in a fog and a bad mood, but that mood lasted the rest of the night and I tried to avoid seeing anybody I knew. On the bright side, the next day the "boss" of the coffee shop allowed me to download music. I walked away with about 600 songs. Most hadn't heard, and a lot is jazz (there are a few gems but I will be deleting most of the jazz). I've gone through about half and am deleting about 1 in 8 songs. The third thing was that I found out that I will most likely not being receiving $1,000 of which I had budgeted into my trip. It involves a friend back home whom I lent money to. I don't know all the details or all the sides of what has transpired so it's not fair for me to speculate on here. Suffice to say that a combination of job loss and legal problems will no doubt put paying me as a last priority. I hope this not to be the case and I want to trust that this person can get their act together enough to pay me before I come home. It would be a bummer to have that issue waiting for me upon my return.

OK, now to the reason for this post -