Hi everyone. I'm at mom's house right now talking about the Canucks and getting my head back on straight. Took roughly 38 hours to get home, but I had some sleep on the flight to Vancouver as well as on a bench at YVR, so I feel ok. I'll be playing a hockey game tonight, I've already reinsured my truck and put on a load of laundry (hope it doesn't permanently soil the machine!)
Thanks for arranging this beautiful weather today, btw. It was an amazing ferry ride home: I was comparing it to all the beautiful places I've been, and once again we find that good ole Vancouver Island stacks up with the best in the world.
cheers everyone!
bms
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
more Bratislava
I'm just having too much fun here in Bratislava to leave any sooner than absolutely necessary, so I've extended my stay one more time, and I'll be taking an early train tomorrow to Vienna, and then connecting directly to the airport by bus. From there, I fly to Toronto at 2pm, arriving at 7:30. My connection to Vancouver departs at 10pm, and lands at 12:30am, so I should have my luggage and be cleared through immigration by 1:30 or so. From there it's a snooze on a bench until 6 when I can get a bus to the ferry (I hope: still need to confirm that the airport PCL to the ferry goes to that early boat). --UPDATE: nope, the first bus from YVR is for the 9am ferry. Oh well, I can still make that.--
We have family friends in Delta that offered to pick me up and let me sleep after my flight, but I've decided to just tough it out and do the whole trip home in one go. It's a sort of masochistic pleasure that can be derived from doing a ridiculous stretch of travel. I think Slovakia->Austria->Toronto->Vancouver->Victoria is pretty good. I'm sure I'll count the hours up and make a big deal out of how long it took. You can all look forward to me being loudmouthed about that one!
I don't really have anything blogworthy to report from Bratislava, it's just been a really relaxed, laid back place to chill out for the end of the trip. This hostel is just awesome: their restaurant is absolutely fantastic! I've had four meals here so far, each one just amazing. Going to have another tonight after a bit of a nap (ok, ok, so I was out until 4am last night. There's a group of 12 british girls here at the moment... what can I say? ;)
This will probably be the last entry from foreign soil, unless I find a terminal in Vienna to use while I waste time. I'd like to finish up with something profound, but I think I'll leave it for now, and perhaps write up something interesting after I get home. If I never get around to that, though, let me just thank everyone who's come by here, and especially those of you who left comments for me: they really helped to keep me going a couple of times, and were a constant reminder of all my friends and family back at home. much appreciated everyone!
cheers,
bms
We have family friends in Delta that offered to pick me up and let me sleep after my flight, but I've decided to just tough it out and do the whole trip home in one go. It's a sort of masochistic pleasure that can be derived from doing a ridiculous stretch of travel. I think Slovakia->Austria->Toronto->Vancouver->Victoria is pretty good. I'm sure I'll count the hours up and make a big deal out of how long it took. You can all look forward to me being loudmouthed about that one!
I don't really have anything blogworthy to report from Bratislava, it's just been a really relaxed, laid back place to chill out for the end of the trip. This hostel is just awesome: their restaurant is absolutely fantastic! I've had four meals here so far, each one just amazing. Going to have another tonight after a bit of a nap (ok, ok, so I was out until 4am last night. There's a group of 12 british girls here at the moment... what can I say? ;)
This will probably be the last entry from foreign soil, unless I find a terminal in Vienna to use while I waste time. I'd like to finish up with something profound, but I think I'll leave it for now, and perhaps write up something interesting after I get home. If I never get around to that, though, let me just thank everyone who's come by here, and especially those of you who left comments for me: they really helped to keep me going a couple of times, and were a constant reminder of all my friends and family back at home. much appreciated everyone!
cheers,
bms
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Bratislava
Hi everyone,
I've been in Bratislava for a few days now and I'm really enjoying it. It's a great place to finish up the trip, as there's not really that much to do here, it's just a nice place to be. The hostel is great, with a fantastic restaurant in the basement serving up excellent, moderately priced food. Some good people around too (Canadians vastly outnumber Aussies here: weird). I extended my stay an extra night (to 3) and will only stay in Vienna for the night before my flight. I'll probably leave early tomorrow morning though, so that I can at least spend the day wandering around the city a bit.
We went to a Slovakian elite league hockey game last night. It was great to be in a hockey arena again. When the players came out to warm up I got a major urge to get back on the ice myself. Can't wait to suit up for the Knuckleheads again when I get home!
The game itself was pretty ho-hum. Those europeans never finish their checks, so to my eyes it felt like a very lazy game with no intensity or effort. The home team won, though, so the best part was at the end of the game. They left the ice, but returned sans helmets and gloves, and did a big victory lap, waved to all the fans, and then went down to line up on the blue line, opposite the crazy fans in the standing room section. These fans had been going crazy the whole game, and now the players lined up in front of them, joined hands and started lifting their arms into the air repeatedly, really fast. The fans all did the same, and it was like this big fan/player love fest or something. We were killing ourselves laughing, it was so funny to our eyes. Still, it was really cool to see the players engage the fans in that way. I liked it.
I'm starting to look forward to some of the simple things of home now. Like sleeping through the night without having your bed shaken like an earthquake by the dude on the top bunk at 5am. Or going to the bathroom when you want, not when its available. Or a million other little things (knowing where you can get bacon and eggs for breakfast being one that immediately jumps to mind).
So that about catches me up I think. I'm not going to write any more Romanian stories, as there's just too many to type out. Hopefully I'll generate one or two more good ones in the time I have left, and then it'll be back to the real world. Yikes!
cheers,
bms
I've been in Bratislava for a few days now and I'm really enjoying it. It's a great place to finish up the trip, as there's not really that much to do here, it's just a nice place to be. The hostel is great, with a fantastic restaurant in the basement serving up excellent, moderately priced food. Some good people around too (Canadians vastly outnumber Aussies here: weird). I extended my stay an extra night (to 3) and will only stay in Vienna for the night before my flight. I'll probably leave early tomorrow morning though, so that I can at least spend the day wandering around the city a bit.
We went to a Slovakian elite league hockey game last night. It was great to be in a hockey arena again. When the players came out to warm up I got a major urge to get back on the ice myself. Can't wait to suit up for the Knuckleheads again when I get home!
The game itself was pretty ho-hum. Those europeans never finish their checks, so to my eyes it felt like a very lazy game with no intensity or effort. The home team won, though, so the best part was at the end of the game. They left the ice, but returned sans helmets and gloves, and did a big victory lap, waved to all the fans, and then went down to line up on the blue line, opposite the crazy fans in the standing room section. These fans had been going crazy the whole game, and now the players lined up in front of them, joined hands and started lifting their arms into the air repeatedly, really fast. The fans all did the same, and it was like this big fan/player love fest or something. We were killing ourselves laughing, it was so funny to our eyes. Still, it was really cool to see the players engage the fans in that way. I liked it.
I'm starting to look forward to some of the simple things of home now. Like sleeping through the night without having your bed shaken like an earthquake by the dude on the top bunk at 5am. Or going to the bathroom when you want, not when its available. Or a million other little things (knowing where you can get bacon and eggs for breakfast being one that immediately jumps to mind).
So that about catches me up I think. I'm not going to write any more Romanian stories, as there's just too many to type out. Hopefully I'll generate one or two more good ones in the time I have left, and then it'll be back to the real world. Yikes!
cheers,
bms
Friday, October 19, 2007
the big kahuna
As I prepare to write this, I'm expecting it to be the longest post on the blog. The limiting factor may be this wooden stool that I'm sitting on, as it tends to put my leg to sleep!
Where do I even begin to describe my time in northern Romania? The wild, windy mountain roads that look like they're straight out of Gran Turismo? The strange, unspoken animosity that I felt was directed my way from one of the guys? The bizzaro route we drove to get back to Cluj? The club that we went to in order to kill time before our 3am train out of Romania?
No. This story begins and ends with a single scene. It's not an action scene. It's not a love scene. It's a panoramic shot that would've made Peter Jackson proud.
On my birthday I woke up early, put on my boots, toque, gloves and a few layers of clothes before heading out for a walk through the contryside. We were staying in a guesthouse in a town called Ocna Sugatag, right in the heart of the Maramures region of Romania. I told the gang that if I wasn't back by 11am they could head out on their day trip without me. I hit the road and headed straight out of town. After the last house I spotted a thin trail heading into a huge hay field. I jumped the ditch and began my adventure.
The sun was climbing into a pure azure sky, casting long shadows across vibrant green grass that still sparkled with a fringe of frost. Beads of dew clung to the heavy grasses that parted for my muddy boots. The trail wound alongside an ancient fence made of woven branches before it veered off into the middle of the field. In the distance was a low ridge obscured by massive haystacks. Far off to my left was an a old man scything grass by hand, head down as he worked.
I wandered through the haystacks, taking a self-portrait of myself beside one of them for posterity. These stacks are really interesting: they're formed around small trees that have been topped and limbed, leaving a 15 or 20 foot post with 8" stub branches upon which the hay is piled and draped. In the end it forms large, rounded stacks of hay that sometimes have to be propped up with extra poles.
Nearing the ridge line I saw the trail disappear through a hole in a hedge that was made cattle-proof via a small wooden set of stairs. I had to duck to get through the hole in the hedge, and when I raised my head on the other side I was almost knocked backwards by the scene before me.
Stretched out as far as I could see in the early morning mist was a valley so green, so rich in detail, that I was left stunned. Within moments I had tears in my eyes. I stood there for a long time, contemplating my presence in this amazing place, thinking about what a unique birthday I was having. Words really can't describe the scene. Even the pictures that I have can't do it justice. The landscape wrapped around me like a fireside blanket on a cold night. The view to the east can't be appreciated without the hedge wall behind you. The view across the valley to the north isn't the same without the experience of having hiked a similar valley in order to see it.
After some time, perhaps ten minutes, a short, round Romanian woman of many years wandered up the path towards me. I gave her a big smile and said something about the beautiful weather and gorgeous scene that I knew she wouldn't understand. Evidently I had my arms lifted up with my palms facing the sky as I said it, because as she smiled back at me she returned my greeting by making the same gesture with a slightly confused look on her face. It was a classic moment.
After absorbing as much of the scene as I could, I began my descent into the valley. The trail wound alongside a pumpkin patch, a pasture, through a fallow field and down a horse cart path. I passed one of the famous wooden churches of Maramures on the way, stumbling upon the structure in the middle of an copse of trees. There was a small plaque on the wall that I couldn't read, but it placed the church's construction in the 1600's. Finding that church was a treat, as I was sure that it was not one that many tourists ever get to see.
From the church I followed a very rough rough that led down to the main asphalt strip that ran along the valley floor. I was intent on climbing up to the opposite ridge line, so I followed this road until I found a bridge across the picturesque little river and began the trip up the north side.
At first I followed another gravel road that quickly turned into a canyon of mud. The road wasn't a road in the way that we think of roads. This was a cart track that was so old, it had eroded down to the point where the fields on both sides were a good four feet higher than the path. Walking through it, trying to hop from stone to stone to avoid the knee-deep mud, I could put my arms out to brace myself against the dirt walls. The grass in the fields was almost at eye level at times.
Eventually the road forked and I took the less-travelled path. This petered out to a barely-discernable path through goat-cropped grass, surrounded on all sides by more haystacks, withered corn fields, seed cabbages and pumpkin patches. I was passing random people and exchanging big smiles and waves every once in a while. I kept moving on, lost in this land of wooden pitchforks and hand-scythed fields.
After a time I began to realize that I should have brought some food with me. I was getting hungry and there was clearly no chance of stopping at a shop for a bite. My cutoff time to hookup with the group was fast approaching, and I was unsure if I wanted to go back or to just push on by myself. Strangely, the decision was made for me by an irritated old man with a very sharp pitchfork.
I'd been walking up a grassy hillside when I heard a piercing whistle from down below. I turned and saw an old Romanian man standing in the field below. He waved me down, so I turned and walked down to meet him. I was surprised when he started in at me in Romanian. Not surprised because it was Romanian, of course, but because he was actually a bit angry. Maybe not angry, but irritated. I tried to sign that I was just out for a walk and didn't mean to cause trouble. He pointed at the way I was going and gave me the "nu, nu" shake of the head. Then he pointed at a hedge straight ahead and gestured that I should go that way. I tried a little more to figure out what was going on, but it was no use, so I started off in the direction he pointed.
I hadn't gone more than 30 feet before it became clear that there was no way through the hedge. I turned to him and pointed to the hedge, indicating that there was nowhere to go. He just pointed back and shrugged, as if to say "I don't care, just get off my property." Truly strange. Since there was no way through, however, I pointed back in the direction I had come and just said "Ocna Sugatag" and made a walking motion with my fingers ("I'll just go back then"). This seemed to satisfy him, so at that point I decided to head back and rejoin the gang.
As it turns out, they were just headed out when I stepped onto the main road. They literally drove past me and then slammed on the brakes as one of them recognized me at the side of the road. I jumped in and we took off for a full day of sightseeing and hiking high in the hills on the Ukranian border.
There are more stories from that one day, my birthday, than I could type here in a full week. This will do for now, because as I said at the beginning, that panoramic valley scene was the defining moment of my experience in Romania. I've now done my best to describe it for you all! (pictures to come later)
cheers,
Mike
Where do I even begin to describe my time in northern Romania? The wild, windy mountain roads that look like they're straight out of Gran Turismo? The strange, unspoken animosity that I felt was directed my way from one of the guys? The bizzaro route we drove to get back to Cluj? The club that we went to in order to kill time before our 3am train out of Romania?
No. This story begins and ends with a single scene. It's not an action scene. It's not a love scene. It's a panoramic shot that would've made Peter Jackson proud.
On my birthday I woke up early, put on my boots, toque, gloves and a few layers of clothes before heading out for a walk through the contryside. We were staying in a guesthouse in a town called Ocna Sugatag, right in the heart of the Maramures region of Romania. I told the gang that if I wasn't back by 11am they could head out on their day trip without me. I hit the road and headed straight out of town. After the last house I spotted a thin trail heading into a huge hay field. I jumped the ditch and began my adventure.
The sun was climbing into a pure azure sky, casting long shadows across vibrant green grass that still sparkled with a fringe of frost. Beads of dew clung to the heavy grasses that parted for my muddy boots. The trail wound alongside an ancient fence made of woven branches before it veered off into the middle of the field. In the distance was a low ridge obscured by massive haystacks. Far off to my left was an a old man scything grass by hand, head down as he worked.
I wandered through the haystacks, taking a self-portrait of myself beside one of them for posterity. These stacks are really interesting: they're formed around small trees that have been topped and limbed, leaving a 15 or 20 foot post with 8" stub branches upon which the hay is piled and draped. In the end it forms large, rounded stacks of hay that sometimes have to be propped up with extra poles.
Nearing the ridge line I saw the trail disappear through a hole in a hedge that was made cattle-proof via a small wooden set of stairs. I had to duck to get through the hole in the hedge, and when I raised my head on the other side I was almost knocked backwards by the scene before me.
Stretched out as far as I could see in the early morning mist was a valley so green, so rich in detail, that I was left stunned. Within moments I had tears in my eyes. I stood there for a long time, contemplating my presence in this amazing place, thinking about what a unique birthday I was having. Words really can't describe the scene. Even the pictures that I have can't do it justice. The landscape wrapped around me like a fireside blanket on a cold night. The view to the east can't be appreciated without the hedge wall behind you. The view across the valley to the north isn't the same without the experience of having hiked a similar valley in order to see it.
After some time, perhaps ten minutes, a short, round Romanian woman of many years wandered up the path towards me. I gave her a big smile and said something about the beautiful weather and gorgeous scene that I knew she wouldn't understand. Evidently I had my arms lifted up with my palms facing the sky as I said it, because as she smiled back at me she returned my greeting by making the same gesture with a slightly confused look on her face. It was a classic moment.
After absorbing as much of the scene as I could, I began my descent into the valley. The trail wound alongside a pumpkin patch, a pasture, through a fallow field and down a horse cart path. I passed one of the famous wooden churches of Maramures on the way, stumbling upon the structure in the middle of an copse of trees. There was a small plaque on the wall that I couldn't read, but it placed the church's construction in the 1600's. Finding that church was a treat, as I was sure that it was not one that many tourists ever get to see.
From the church I followed a very rough rough that led down to the main asphalt strip that ran along the valley floor. I was intent on climbing up to the opposite ridge line, so I followed this road until I found a bridge across the picturesque little river and began the trip up the north side.
At first I followed another gravel road that quickly turned into a canyon of mud. The road wasn't a road in the way that we think of roads. This was a cart track that was so old, it had eroded down to the point where the fields on both sides were a good four feet higher than the path. Walking through it, trying to hop from stone to stone to avoid the knee-deep mud, I could put my arms out to brace myself against the dirt walls. The grass in the fields was almost at eye level at times.
Eventually the road forked and I took the less-travelled path. This petered out to a barely-discernable path through goat-cropped grass, surrounded on all sides by more haystacks, withered corn fields, seed cabbages and pumpkin patches. I was passing random people and exchanging big smiles and waves every once in a while. I kept moving on, lost in this land of wooden pitchforks and hand-scythed fields.
After a time I began to realize that I should have brought some food with me. I was getting hungry and there was clearly no chance of stopping at a shop for a bite. My cutoff time to hookup with the group was fast approaching, and I was unsure if I wanted to go back or to just push on by myself. Strangely, the decision was made for me by an irritated old man with a very sharp pitchfork.
I'd been walking up a grassy hillside when I heard a piercing whistle from down below. I turned and saw an old Romanian man standing in the field below. He waved me down, so I turned and walked down to meet him. I was surprised when he started in at me in Romanian. Not surprised because it was Romanian, of course, but because he was actually a bit angry. Maybe not angry, but irritated. I tried to sign that I was just out for a walk and didn't mean to cause trouble. He pointed at the way I was going and gave me the "nu, nu" shake of the head. Then he pointed at a hedge straight ahead and gestured that I should go that way. I tried a little more to figure out what was going on, but it was no use, so I started off in the direction he pointed.
I hadn't gone more than 30 feet before it became clear that there was no way through the hedge. I turned to him and pointed to the hedge, indicating that there was nowhere to go. He just pointed back and shrugged, as if to say "I don't care, just get off my property." Truly strange. Since there was no way through, however, I pointed back in the direction I had come and just said "Ocna Sugatag" and made a walking motion with my fingers ("I'll just go back then"). This seemed to satisfy him, so at that point I decided to head back and rejoin the gang.
As it turns out, they were just headed out when I stepped onto the main road. They literally drove past me and then slammed on the brakes as one of them recognized me at the side of the road. I jumped in and we took off for a full day of sightseeing and hiking high in the hills on the Ukranian border.
There are more stories from that one day, my birthday, than I could type here in a full week. This will do for now, because as I said at the beginning, that panoramic valley scene was the defining moment of my experience in Romania. I've now done my best to describe it for you all! (pictures to come later)
cheers,
Mike
Thursday, October 18, 2007
still alive!!!
Hi everyone! I'm still alive, even after four days in a rental car in Romania. I don't have much time: I'm just jumping online to see how many people loved me from afar on my birthday (answer: lots! thanks guys). This is just to let you all know that I'm back in civilization, namely Bratislava, Slovakia. I'm going to go to a hockey game tomorrow night with some other Canadian boys and try to enjoy my last few days here.
I plan to write up a looooong post about Romania when I have more time tomorrow. It was amazing!
cheers,
bms
I plan to write up a looooong post about Romania when I have more time tomorrow. It was amazing!
cheers,
bms
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Cluj, Sighisoara and one damn funny night out.
Hi again everyone. We've made it to a city called cluj (kloozh). There's not much here except for a big club scene and cheap rental cars, so the rest of the gang is gearing up to hit the club and I snuck out to spend a few hours on the internet. We had a big night out last night in Sighisoara (siggy-sho-arra) that was absolutely ridiculous. I'm actually shocked that I was relatively un-hungover this morning, but somehow your body seems to go into uber-efficient food and alcohol processing when you travel.
In any case, the last few days have been fun but somewhat wearying at the same time. We're now traveling as a group of 5 people. Mike, Jed and I invited another Aussie dude named Justin to go with us, and that would've made for a perfect 4 man road trip. Jed then got a little sweet on an 18 year old girl (from Courtenay of all places) and invited her to join us. My first thought was ~~greeeeeat~~ but actually she's been pretty cool. Of course 5 is a tough number though: we don't fit in cabs, we don't fit around most tables and its too many people to make decisions. I feel like 'dad' with these guys both because I've got almost a decade on them and because I lead them around by the nose a lot. I understand now why some of the guys would get really antsy on the COCA trips about the dickering that would go on while trying to make decisions. I'll certainly be better prepared for another trip like that in the future.
Anyway, I'd guess that these guys are probably just as ready to get rid of me as I am to drop them. That's an overly harsh way to put it... it's more of a craving for freedom that's slowly getting stronger and stronger. I expect that in 2 days, when we're finished with the car, we'll all be happy to go our separate ways.
Sighisoara was kind of a weird place. It rained hard last night and we all got soaked. Jed's walking around today in wool socks and flip-flops because his shoes are so wet. (It's 2 degrees out today). The town would be picturesque in a very Germanic-medieval way if every street in the old town weren't ripped up for some kind of sewage system repair/construction. I swear there were times when you had to inch along an ancient stone wall for fear of falling into a 10' hole in the street.
The town itself was completely dead by 10pm on a Friday night. Of course, it's only a town of 30k people so you can't expect a bustling city center, but it was eerily weird because we were, as I mentioned, inching along twisty, dark, steep cobblestone streets that were more open-pit strip mine than street.
We finally found a place that was open for food and enjoyed some good pizzas and beers, followed by more beers upstairs in the loft. An accoustic band was playing there that was pretty enjoyable, and we got started with our drinking. the entertainment was provided by an extremely drunk young woman who was with a table of Americans next to us. There were 4 guys and this girl, and she was putting on a show with ALL of them. We sat back and watched these guys competing for this girl. I won't try to describe it, but it got damn funny.
Eventually they closed down and we went back to have some drinks at the hostel next to our guesthouse. This place was full of 14 year old kids on some kind of school field trip- we had tried to stay there after getting off the train earlier. After being told they were full we asked if we could come back and drink there later. The answer: "fuck yeah... fuckin hell yeah!". The guy running the place, Andrei, was so sick of these kids that he was desperate for some normal people to keep him company. So, we came back, now soaking wet, and sent a crew out to get some booze. That trip ended up with 1 litre of vodka, a few 2.5 litre beers, and a picture of a cab driver in a huge sombrero dancing in the bottle shop.
We quickly found out that the Americans were staying at this hostel and that the girl worked there. Oh boy. We kept to our separate spaces, them in the lounge and us in the adjacent billiards room (sticky table, no tips on the cues). This worked ok, but since we spent half the night laughing our asses off at the video that we had taken of this girl "dancing" at the bar earlier, we ended up pissing them off pretty good. It never got nasty, but we eventually had to leave while the girl was yelling at us all. Damn it was funny.
Today was a sort of hazy day of sightseeing and trains. The real highlight was finding a grilled ham and egg breakfast offered at the restaurant from the previous night. I added a cappucino and a plate of cheese and ham covered toast and called it a perfect hangover breakfast. What a find: greasy eggs, toast and "bacon" after my biggest night of drinking so far. Sweet.
I should try to get my iPod and camera hooked up to this computer here so that I can transfer some more pics. Not sure how many I have now, but it's a lot. If I have some time at home before going back to work I better get my ass in gear and start sorting and editing them!
That's about it for news and events. We're still hoping to get the car tomorrow and find a cabin to rent for a night or two. It's sunday tomorrow though, so I have some doubts about whether this will be possible. Once we get out though I expect to be off the grid for a couple days. Don't expect much here until I'm back in civilization.
cheers,
bms
In any case, the last few days have been fun but somewhat wearying at the same time. We're now traveling as a group of 5 people. Mike, Jed and I invited another Aussie dude named Justin to go with us, and that would've made for a perfect 4 man road trip. Jed then got a little sweet on an 18 year old girl (from Courtenay of all places) and invited her to join us. My first thought was ~~greeeeeat~~ but actually she's been pretty cool. Of course 5 is a tough number though: we don't fit in cabs, we don't fit around most tables and its too many people to make decisions. I feel like 'dad' with these guys both because I've got almost a decade on them and because I lead them around by the nose a lot. I understand now why some of the guys would get really antsy on the COCA trips about the dickering that would go on while trying to make decisions. I'll certainly be better prepared for another trip like that in the future.
Anyway, I'd guess that these guys are probably just as ready to get rid of me as I am to drop them. That's an overly harsh way to put it... it's more of a craving for freedom that's slowly getting stronger and stronger. I expect that in 2 days, when we're finished with the car, we'll all be happy to go our separate ways.
Sighisoara was kind of a weird place. It rained hard last night and we all got soaked. Jed's walking around today in wool socks and flip-flops because his shoes are so wet. (It's 2 degrees out today). The town would be picturesque in a very Germanic-medieval way if every street in the old town weren't ripped up for some kind of sewage system repair/construction. I swear there were times when you had to inch along an ancient stone wall for fear of falling into a 10' hole in the street.
The town itself was completely dead by 10pm on a Friday night. Of course, it's only a town of 30k people so you can't expect a bustling city center, but it was eerily weird because we were, as I mentioned, inching along twisty, dark, steep cobblestone streets that were more open-pit strip mine than street.
We finally found a place that was open for food and enjoyed some good pizzas and beers, followed by more beers upstairs in the loft. An accoustic band was playing there that was pretty enjoyable, and we got started with our drinking. the entertainment was provided by an extremely drunk young woman who was with a table of Americans next to us. There were 4 guys and this girl, and she was putting on a show with ALL of them. We sat back and watched these guys competing for this girl. I won't try to describe it, but it got damn funny.
Eventually they closed down and we went back to have some drinks at the hostel next to our guesthouse. This place was full of 14 year old kids on some kind of school field trip- we had tried to stay there after getting off the train earlier. After being told they were full we asked if we could come back and drink there later. The answer: "fuck yeah... fuckin hell yeah!". The guy running the place, Andrei, was so sick of these kids that he was desperate for some normal people to keep him company. So, we came back, now soaking wet, and sent a crew out to get some booze. That trip ended up with 1 litre of vodka, a few 2.5 litre beers, and a picture of a cab driver in a huge sombrero dancing in the bottle shop.
We quickly found out that the Americans were staying at this hostel and that the girl worked there. Oh boy. We kept to our separate spaces, them in the lounge and us in the adjacent billiards room (sticky table, no tips on the cues). This worked ok, but since we spent half the night laughing our asses off at the video that we had taken of this girl "dancing" at the bar earlier, we ended up pissing them off pretty good. It never got nasty, but we eventually had to leave while the girl was yelling at us all. Damn it was funny.
Today was a sort of hazy day of sightseeing and trains. The real highlight was finding a grilled ham and egg breakfast offered at the restaurant from the previous night. I added a cappucino and a plate of cheese and ham covered toast and called it a perfect hangover breakfast. What a find: greasy eggs, toast and "bacon" after my biggest night of drinking so far. Sweet.
I should try to get my iPod and camera hooked up to this computer here so that I can transfer some more pics. Not sure how many I have now, but it's a lot. If I have some time at home before going back to work I better get my ass in gear and start sorting and editing them!
That's about it for news and events. We're still hoping to get the car tomorrow and find a cabin to rent for a night or two. It's sunday tomorrow though, so I have some doubts about whether this will be possible. Once we get out though I expect to be off the grid for a couple days. Don't expect much here until I'm back in civilization.
cheers,
bms
Thursday, October 11, 2007
laaaate
It's really late and honestly I was on my way to bed when I noticed that a) the hostel computer is actually working; and, b) it was free. So here I am.
I'm in Brasov right now, considered to be the heart of Transylvania. This region is really cool, and actually feels more like home than any place I've been so far. It's cool, misty, damp, mountainous and full of evergreens. There are lots of differences too, of course, like the wide valleys (similar to the Fraser Valley), patches of broad leafed trees and a lack of ferns, but overall I like it a lot.
I joined a big tour today of the three major castles around Brasov. The first was a partially rebuilt ruined citadel that was quite cool. Great location for a castle for sure. The second was the castle in Bran, the setting for Bram Stoker's Dracula. The real person, Vlad the Impaler, upon whom Dracula is loosely based, only visited the castle once. It's really just a purely fictional link, and honestly the castle was quite lame and very touristy.
The third one was great though. It was more of a 18th C. castle with extremely grandious and expensive furnishings and decoration. There was a crystal mirror from Vienna on one wall that was 5 meters high and 3 wide. It was a single piece of crystal. crazy. Plus it had a big room full of all sorts of weaponry, including a mounted knight on an armoured horse. Very cool. The detail of the woodwork, the gold leaf, crystal, gemstones, stone inlays, etc etc etc made for an incredibly busy decor that pulled your eye in every conceivable direction. Amazing to look at, unimaginable to live in!
The tour was also fun because it was a chance to become friends with 8 other people, in addition to Mike and Jed, the guys I've been traveling with for 3 days or so now. We're having a good time here, but it's amazing how that group aspect means that I have very little time to myself, and so the blog and personal journal tends to suffer a bit. For my COCA compatriots: we went out for dinner as a group of 8 and actually managed to do it quickly and to everyone's satisfaction. Who'd of thought it possible?!?
Actually, the journal hasn't been totally neglected. On our way here from Bucharest, we managed to get on to the wrong train and as a result I had *plenty* of time to write in the journal. We paid extra for express tickets to avoid the 4.5 hr podunk-station local's train, which we ended up boarding by accident. I can't tell the story properly via this blog, but in retrospect it was a bit funny. We were almost late getting to the station, the guy I asked about platforms tried to tell me "9" but I thought he was saying "nein" in German, and we were basically too rushed to look properly at the board. Oh well, we made it, but man was that a slow train. It averaged less than 40km/hour over 160 km.
So, there may be some car rental action in the next few days, and tomorrow we may be off to Sighisoara. Hard to say at this time. I'll keep you up to date!
cheers,
bms
PS: Mom, you don't *need* the international DL here, but I have one with me anyway. And they drive on the right side. Most of the time.
I'm in Brasov right now, considered to be the heart of Transylvania. This region is really cool, and actually feels more like home than any place I've been so far. It's cool, misty, damp, mountainous and full of evergreens. There are lots of differences too, of course, like the wide valleys (similar to the Fraser Valley), patches of broad leafed trees and a lack of ferns, but overall I like it a lot.
I joined a big tour today of the three major castles around Brasov. The first was a partially rebuilt ruined citadel that was quite cool. Great location for a castle for sure. The second was the castle in Bran, the setting for Bram Stoker's Dracula. The real person, Vlad the Impaler, upon whom Dracula is loosely based, only visited the castle once. It's really just a purely fictional link, and honestly the castle was quite lame and very touristy.
The third one was great though. It was more of a 18th C. castle with extremely grandious and expensive furnishings and decoration. There was a crystal mirror from Vienna on one wall that was 5 meters high and 3 wide. It was a single piece of crystal. crazy. Plus it had a big room full of all sorts of weaponry, including a mounted knight on an armoured horse. Very cool. The detail of the woodwork, the gold leaf, crystal, gemstones, stone inlays, etc etc etc made for an incredibly busy decor that pulled your eye in every conceivable direction. Amazing to look at, unimaginable to live in!
The tour was also fun because it was a chance to become friends with 8 other people, in addition to Mike and Jed, the guys I've been traveling with for 3 days or so now. We're having a good time here, but it's amazing how that group aspect means that I have very little time to myself, and so the blog and personal journal tends to suffer a bit. For my COCA compatriots: we went out for dinner as a group of 8 and actually managed to do it quickly and to everyone's satisfaction. Who'd of thought it possible?!?
Actually, the journal hasn't been totally neglected. On our way here from Bucharest, we managed to get on to the wrong train and as a result I had *plenty* of time to write in the journal. We paid extra for express tickets to avoid the 4.5 hr podunk-station local's train, which we ended up boarding by accident. I can't tell the story properly via this blog, but in retrospect it was a bit funny. We were almost late getting to the station, the guy I asked about platforms tried to tell me "9" but I thought he was saying "nein" in German, and we were basically too rushed to look properly at the board. Oh well, we made it, but man was that a slow train. It averaged less than 40km/hour over 160 km.
So, there may be some car rental action in the next few days, and tomorrow we may be off to Sighisoara. Hard to say at this time. I'll keep you up to date!
cheers,
bms
PS: Mom, you don't *need* the international DL here, but I have one with me anyway. And they drive on the right side. Most of the time.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Bucharest
I'm operating on a different frequency here in Bucharest. Moving with two guys, Mike the Canadian and Jed the Aussie. We're trying to decide right now if and how we rent a car for the next little while to get around the rest of Romania. It's a bit of a negotiation to try to sort something that works for all three of us.
No time to get into details right now, but otherwise everything's good.
cheers,
Mike
No time to get into details right now, but otherwise everything's good.
cheers,
Mike
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Veliko Tarnovo
Hi everyone,
You'd think that on a day as lazy as this one is that I'd write up a long and detailed account of my recent travels. Well, if you think that, you're wrong! Instead, you get a couple of sentences explaining that it's still raining, it's really not bothering me because I didn't plan to do anything today anyway, and otherwise things are good.
I met another Canadian guy named Mike (go figure, it had to happen eventually). I think we're going to head into Romania together. Not sure how long that will last, but he's a cool guy and we'll at least do Bucharest as a team. I'm going to wander down to town to sort out the bus ticket right now. Hopefully I can locate a barber somewhere so that tomorrow I can get the head shaved and beard trimmed up. Feeling pretty scraggly at the moment! It's sunday though, so no chance that the barber will actually be open today.
k, that's it for now. See you all later!
bms
-PS: I kicked ass in my hockey pool last night and am now in first place. Nice.
You'd think that on a day as lazy as this one is that I'd write up a long and detailed account of my recent travels. Well, if you think that, you're wrong! Instead, you get a couple of sentences explaining that it's still raining, it's really not bothering me because I didn't plan to do anything today anyway, and otherwise things are good.
I met another Canadian guy named Mike (go figure, it had to happen eventually). I think we're going to head into Romania together. Not sure how long that will last, but he's a cool guy and we'll at least do Bucharest as a team. I'm going to wander down to town to sort out the bus ticket right now. Hopefully I can locate a barber somewhere so that tomorrow I can get the head shaved and beard trimmed up. Feeling pretty scraggly at the moment! It's sunday though, so no chance that the barber will actually be open today.
k, that's it for now. See you all later!
bms
-PS: I kicked ass in my hockey pool last night and am now in first place. Nice.
Friday, October 5, 2007
a proper posting from Istanbul
I figured I should put up a proper posting from here in Istanbul. Despite the negative tone of my previous posts, I'm actually having a good time here. For one, I feel quite a bit better today, so I'm confident that I'll be close to 100% again soon. On top of that, I've had some good days filled with cruises, museums, mosques and all kinds of wondrous sights. Today I spent probably 4 hours in the Archeological Museum. Wow! I met a historical geography prof last night who told me about this place, and he was right. it was truly an impressive collection, and it was displayed in an outstanding setting with excellent lighting and full English placards for everything. It was really cool.
Stuffed with Roman and Greek statues, sarcophagii, pottery, jewelry, etc etc, it was a feast for the eyes. There was one sarcophagus in particular that was just spectacular. It must've been 14' long and 8' high. The relief carvings of Alexander the Great an his men slaughtering the Persian army was unbelievable. Each figure was probably 1' tall, but it had to have been 1' deep as well. It just had layer upon layer of detail. It even had some remnants of the original colour left on it. To make it all the more spectacular, the entire sarcophagus was carved out of a single block of marble. It was so astounding that I sat on a benchin front of this thing and just got lost in it for about 15 minutes. Fantastic!
Another really cool experience here has been the time around sunset (7pm specifically) during which I've gone down to a huge food bazaar that's been setup in the old Hippodrome for the month of Ramadan. You see, since nobody can eat or drink anything all day long, they all celebrate the end of the day by gathering together to have a huuuuuuge outdoor picnic that starts with the 7pm call to prayer. It's a treat to watch and to participate in, so I always time my dinner for 7 and join the locals down there. My favourite is the monster baked potato that they whip up for you and then add more toppings than you could reasonably expect a potato to hold. Brilliant!
I'm not sure if I'll have any spectacular photos of Istanbul, but I've got a good range of fairly intense emotional and experiential memories. I've gotten up 2 days in a row quite early to get a proper shot of the Blue Mosque, but both times its been cloudy. It was also cloudy for my trip up the Bosphorous, so no amazing shots there either. Still, I'm sure a couple of them will turn out well. Good enough for the monster photo album I'm going to have to make of this trip. How will I ever pare the pics down to one album? I filled an album during a 2 week trip to Tunisia for crying out loud!
OK, I think that covers all the basics here. I'll be on another overnight train to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria tonight. I even have a reservation and a pickup from the train station there, so it'll be one of my more well-planned arrivals (actually, it'll be one of my *only* planned arrivals!)/
cheers,
bms
PS: a second thanks to you all for the support. It helped!
Stuffed with Roman and Greek statues, sarcophagii, pottery, jewelry, etc etc, it was a feast for the eyes. There was one sarcophagus in particular that was just spectacular. It must've been 14' long and 8' high. The relief carvings of Alexander the Great an his men slaughtering the Persian army was unbelievable. Each figure was probably 1' tall, but it had to have been 1' deep as well. It just had layer upon layer of detail. It even had some remnants of the original colour left on it. To make it all the more spectacular, the entire sarcophagus was carved out of a single block of marble. It was so astounding that I sat on a benchin front of this thing and just got lost in it for about 15 minutes. Fantastic!
Another really cool experience here has been the time around sunset (7pm specifically) during which I've gone down to a huge food bazaar that's been setup in the old Hippodrome for the month of Ramadan. You see, since nobody can eat or drink anything all day long, they all celebrate the end of the day by gathering together to have a huuuuuuge outdoor picnic that starts with the 7pm call to prayer. It's a treat to watch and to participate in, so I always time my dinner for 7 and join the locals down there. My favourite is the monster baked potato that they whip up for you and then add more toppings than you could reasonably expect a potato to hold. Brilliant!
I'm not sure if I'll have any spectacular photos of Istanbul, but I've got a good range of fairly intense emotional and experiential memories. I've gotten up 2 days in a row quite early to get a proper shot of the Blue Mosque, but both times its been cloudy. It was also cloudy for my trip up the Bosphorous, so no amazing shots there either. Still, I'm sure a couple of them will turn out well. Good enough for the monster photo album I'm going to have to make of this trip. How will I ever pare the pics down to one album? I filled an album during a 2 week trip to Tunisia for crying out loud!
OK, I think that covers all the basics here. I'll be on another overnight train to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria tonight. I even have a reservation and a pickup from the train station there, so it'll be one of my more well-planned arrivals (actually, it'll be one of my *only* planned arrivals!)/
cheers,
bms
PS: a second thanks to you all for the support. It helped!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Movıng on
Thanks for the ınput everyone, I really apprecıate ıt.
I took a cruıse up the bosphorous to the mouth of the black sea today and really enjoyed ıt. It was very relaxed and I hıked up to an old fort at the top of a hıll at the mouth of the channel. Man ıs there a lot of boat traffıc ın the Bosphorous! Imagıne a channel about 2x the wıdth of the Burrard Inlet and about 35km long. Then put 8 tankers, 40 large fıshıng vessels, a dozen passenger ferrıes and hundreds of small boats ınto ıt. Stır.
Ive got a tıcket to Velıko Tarnovo ın Bulgarıa for tomorrow nıght, so one more day to spend ın Istanbul. I'll probably relax ın VT and try to get over the last of thıs cold.
Thıs keyboard ıs so stıcky I can barely type on ıt, so thıs wıll be short. Thanks agaın to those of you who commented or emaıled me about my last post. I needed the outsıde perspectıve.
cheers,
bms
I took a cruıse up the bosphorous to the mouth of the black sea today and really enjoyed ıt. It was very relaxed and I hıked up to an old fort at the top of a hıll at the mouth of the channel. Man ıs there a lot of boat traffıc ın the Bosphorous! Imagıne a channel about 2x the wıdth of the Burrard Inlet and about 35km long. Then put 8 tankers, 40 large fıshıng vessels, a dozen passenger ferrıes and hundreds of small boats ınto ıt. Stır.
Ive got a tıcket to Velıko Tarnovo ın Bulgarıa for tomorrow nıght, so one more day to spend ın Istanbul. I'll probably relax ın VT and try to get over the last of thıs cold.
Thıs keyboard ıs so stıcky I can barely type on ıt, so thıs wıll be short. Thanks agaın to those of you who commented or emaıled me about my last post. I needed the outsıde perspectıve.
cheers,
bms
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Psychology of Istanbul
Fırst thıng's fırst- they don't belıeve ın dottıng theır i's around here. Although there ıs an i on the keyboard, the key ın the usual place ıs the same just wıthout a dot. So ıf thıs looks really weırd on your computer, well, too bad for you!
Istanbul has been an ınterestıng experıence. After my tıme ın less tourısty (or even non-tourısty) countrıes ıts been a shock to stay here. There must be a dozen large hostels wıthın 3 blocks of thıs place. The streets are lıned wıth rıpoff restaurants full of non-turkısh patrons ıgnorıng the fact that ıts Ramazan (wıth a z not a d ın Turkey). I at least try to be dıscrete when I eat durıng the day here.
In any case, I may have hyped thıs place up too much ın my head. I don't want to say that ıts been a dısappoıntment, but ıts not been the hıghlıght of my trıp. I found myself ponderıng thıs poınt earlıer today whıle wrıtıng ın my journal, and I came to an ınterestıng conclusıon- I realızed that I have come to a poınt where for some reason I belıeve that the hıghlıghts of my trıp have come and gone, and that quıte lıkely I am just "playing out the game". Now, I don't really want to have thıs attıtude, but ıt perfectly descrıbes the way Ive been feelıng for the last 3 or 4 days.
Most of thıs emotıonal and psychologıcal stuff I've been keepıng to my journal rather than postıng here, but thıs ıs somethıng I'm goıng to share ın case anyone has any comments, suggestıons or has perhaps experıenced the same thıng. You see, lookıng back now ıts quıte clear that people lıke Tım (the Aussıe I traveled wıth for a week) and Hanna (the Swedısh gırl from Budva) are few and far between. Most of the people I've met sınce have somehow been gettıng on my nerves. I have no real ınterest ın spendıng any more tıme wıth the two guys I met here ın Istanbul. I had to move on after a couple days wıth Dave ın Macedonıa. I was entertaıned by, but not frıends wıth, two guys ın Plovdıv.
I thınk that part of thıs ıs drıven by the fact that I'm fıghtıng a cold and am stuffed up, achy and low-energy. I've been shocked and a bıt annoyed at how expensıve everythıng ıs here, and I'm wonderıng how much I really want to spend 4 days, possıbly alone, ın rural Romanıa. I'm just feelıng tıred rıght now, and hope that I can recharge for the last 3 weeks here.
It's not all grım news and bad tıdıngs though. I've seen some great stuff here, and tomorrow I'll take the Bosphorous ferry up the straıght and do a lıttle wanderıng ın Asıa. The Aya Sophıa really *ıs* amazıng. The Grand Bazaar ıs crazy. Its been cool, but ıts also been a bıt of a struggle to keep myself goıng. I may take a traın out of here tomorrow nıght just to try get ınto a dıfferent headspace.
cheers,
bms
Istanbul has been an ınterestıng experıence. After my tıme ın less tourısty (or even non-tourısty) countrıes ıts been a shock to stay here. There must be a dozen large hostels wıthın 3 blocks of thıs place. The streets are lıned wıth rıpoff restaurants full of non-turkısh patrons ıgnorıng the fact that ıts Ramazan (wıth a z not a d ın Turkey). I at least try to be dıscrete when I eat durıng the day here.
In any case, I may have hyped thıs place up too much ın my head. I don't want to say that ıts been a dısappoıntment, but ıts not been the hıghlıght of my trıp. I found myself ponderıng thıs poınt earlıer today whıle wrıtıng ın my journal, and I came to an ınterestıng conclusıon- I realızed that I have come to a poınt where for some reason I belıeve that the hıghlıghts of my trıp have come and gone, and that quıte lıkely I am just "playing out the game". Now, I don't really want to have thıs attıtude, but ıt perfectly descrıbes the way Ive been feelıng for the last 3 or 4 days.
Most of thıs emotıonal and psychologıcal stuff I've been keepıng to my journal rather than postıng here, but thıs ıs somethıng I'm goıng to share ın case anyone has any comments, suggestıons or has perhaps experıenced the same thıng. You see, lookıng back now ıts quıte clear that people lıke Tım (the Aussıe I traveled wıth for a week) and Hanna (the Swedısh gırl from Budva) are few and far between. Most of the people I've met sınce have somehow been gettıng on my nerves. I have no real ınterest ın spendıng any more tıme wıth the two guys I met here ın Istanbul. I had to move on after a couple days wıth Dave ın Macedonıa. I was entertaıned by, but not frıends wıth, two guys ın Plovdıv.
I thınk that part of thıs ıs drıven by the fact that I'm fıghtıng a cold and am stuffed up, achy and low-energy. I've been shocked and a bıt annoyed at how expensıve everythıng ıs here, and I'm wonderıng how much I really want to spend 4 days, possıbly alone, ın rural Romanıa. I'm just feelıng tıred rıght now, and hope that I can recharge for the last 3 weeks here.
It's not all grım news and bad tıdıngs though. I've seen some great stuff here, and tomorrow I'll take the Bosphorous ferry up the straıght and do a lıttle wanderıng ın Asıa. The Aya Sophıa really *ıs* amazıng. The Grand Bazaar ıs crazy. Its been cool, but ıts also been a bıt of a struggle to keep myself goıng. I may take a traın out of here tomorrow nıght just to try get ınto a dıfferent headspace.
cheers,
bms
Monday, October 1, 2007
a few pics
I had a little time to kill again here, so I thought I'd post up some of the pics that I left on the machine yesterday.
Here's the painting that I really enjoyed. I think I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts.
This is inside that weird cement momunent thing.
Here's one of the statues that lined the interior of that monument. I couldn't get any great shots, because I was peering down from the elevated platform in the middle into the shadows.
And finally, the pod-like dark glass thing is the internet joint that I used on my arrival here. Note how it's built into a concrete structure that was built on top of an old Roman amphitheatre. It's so weird to my Western eye to see this kind of history being consumed by such modern work. I suppose this was built in the communist era, when they just worshipped cement.
Here's the painting that I really enjoyed. I think I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts.
This is inside that weird cement momunent thing.
Here's one of the statues that lined the interior of that monument. I couldn't get any great shots, because I was peering down from the elevated platform in the middle into the shadows.
And finally, the pod-like dark glass thing is the internet joint that I used on my arrival here. Note how it's built into a concrete structure that was built on top of an old Roman amphitheatre. It's so weird to my Western eye to see this kind of history being consumed by such modern work. I suppose this was built in the communist era, when they just worshipped cement.
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