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.

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

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.

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!

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

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

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.