Leaving the Continent

Well, it's approaching. I have already dipped under the 36-hour mark. At 13.30, Istanbul time, I will be departing from this side of the Bosphorus to Singapore. Starting to have mixed feelings about all of this. I really really want to go to Singapore and know that it will be a blast. However, all those feelings about my life going through a change, while not being doubted, have fallen by the wayside so that I may enjoy the twighlight hours of the European Excursion.

Today, I took another trip to the Turkish baths. I have met a great girl, Betsy, 26, who works for the military at Garmisch, very very near Bad Aibling. That is what got us talking and we haven't stopped since. Hanging out with someone with whom I have bonded so well is a great relief. Looking back, I want to sort of tally the good times and the bad. The good meet ups and the ugly ones.

March 4 - 11: Amanda...mediocre time that turns great then immediately nosedives.

Mid March: Meet Machie, invites me to stay at his apt with his roommies. Great guy. Only stay half a day. Meet up with three Americans: Noam, ?, ?, down in Matmata. Hang out for three days. Mixed feelings. Didn't bond so well. Meet Australian couple on ferry ride back to Trapani and hang out through Palermo. Very good people. Wish I could have met them earlier in the trip.

March 27 - April 1: Amanda, Kaisa, Victoria; nice group of girls. Good company. A little over the top on drama.

April 4 - 9: Amanda's place. Decending the levels of hell each day. Depart early in order to avoid burning alive.

April 11(12) - 18: Lanie, Codi, and Becky. Didn't hang out everyday but this is how long I was in Florence. Had a good time. A little hectic b/c of their clases. Spent last four days in a hostel. Hostel was absolutely horrible. Did not meet with anyone there except for a few minutes with an artist guy. Amiable but preoccupied, like me.

Last week and a half of April: Pick up things at Amanda's. Spend an afternoon. Much more pleasant experience. Meet Chris at Venice "hostel" that evening and hang out. Next day, hang out a little. Not much to talk about. Good guy. Really into basketball and claims that he is a damn good poker player. He seems that he would rather do that instead of become a doctor, like his father. On the train from Venice to Ljubljana, I meet a couple who have retired from their jobs but are also Peace Corps volunteers. They were wrapping up their service, which is located in the Moldavian province of Romania. He was an attorney and subsequent representative at the state level (democrat) and amateur sculptor. I forget what his wife did prior to the Peace Corps. I arrived in Zagreb that late night and the next day, went to Ravnice Youth Hostel. Met David, Canadian/American, happens to be traveling on his passport. He and I took in some of the Biennial Contemporary Music Festival, met a couple of Australian girls, and then hung out at Apartman Cafe and the Hemingway Bar. Hang out with him for a few days. Until the middle of the next month, I did not bond with anyone at Ravnice Youth Hostel. Mostly writing. I did; however, hang out with Marko. I met several of his friends, too. Daliborka, Vedrana, Fiki, etc. Went to a linguistics presentation. Went for drinks. Meetings were intermittent. Headed for Bucharest, via Belgrade, mid-May. Did not meet anyone.

Mid-May: return to Zagreb and hang out with Marko on occassion. I forget whether or not I meet Robert during this time or before I left for Bucharest. I bond with no one else. I head back east towards end of the month. Take train to Nis, meet Bulgarian girl, Christina. Nice girl, pretty. Too young. Also meet three Americans (Victoria also has French citizenship). Met her on the bus. Met Sebastian and Dave on the train to Sofia. From Sofia to Istanbul and Cappadocia, I hung out with several people between the three of them and others. When I return to Istanbul, I did not hang out.

In fact, it wouldn't be until June 10th, when I arrived to the Moldovan border, that I was invited to join a group of cadets, studying in Chisinau, to hang out. Unfortunately, the information was either stolen or lost. I am not sure which. While in Chisinau, I met two American girls, one a Peace Corps volunteer and the other was her friend. They invited me to eat dinner with them and so I met a gaggle of volunteers and then met Katya the next night. Went out on a date. Was okay. Was promising and then she annoyed me. My Hertz rental car died on our second date. I never called her back. Prolonged my stay by missing my train out of Chisinau. Accidentally met back up with the volunteers and hung out with them over the next three days. Great time. Leave Moldova and capitulate to an illness. Remain in Sighisoara over three or four days. Josh, Cindi, Alex. Great people. Two other Americans and some strange Brits.

July. Starts as a bad month. Never meet anyone in Amsterdam except for some stoned out kids. The next to last day in Den Haag I meet three girls: one from Romania and two from Macedonia. Nothing ever comes of it as I have not heard back from them. Was nice talking to them though. I arrive back in Split and immediately and accidentally find Coonoor and Jess. Meet Kevin. Hang for a few days. Great. Go to Trieste, meet Amanda. Mixed feelings. The first two nights are nice. Meet two English girls the second night and adds a lot of fun. From there on out, sort of blah. Mixed feelings. Say goodbye to her on July 12th. I leave the next day. From the 14th onwards for one month, save for the last day or two at the Pula Youth Hostel, I am never alone. Tons of fun, probably the most fun since I have started this trip. Movie Fest. Johnny, Tom, Yuranov, Maats, Rasmus, Norweigan guys and Swedish girls, Brian and his friend, Karlos(?). Meet Sasha and Anna and, unfortunately, Mel.

August: Johnny and Sasha. August 14th is the first day alone this month. August 15th, my b-day, Sasha arrives and remains for three days. Good times. Meet lots of people on my b-day. After August 17th, I am on my own. Was on my own until I arrived to Istanbul a few days ago, yesterday, in fact, when I started hanging out with Betsy. I did converse quite a bit with three Serbian girls in Belgrade at the hostel. We never hung out.

In putting this together, I just wanted to compile data and form an opinion of it from what I am seeing rather than relying on what I would like to think without thinking through the evidence first.

I would have to say, as far as meeting people goes, the first three months of this trip was not so hot. Half of the instances I have listed here are only meetings based on conversation, not spending days together. The group I met in Tunisia proved to be cold in many ways. That happens and I do not begrudge them. The worst hostel experience goes to the one in Florence. Absolutely no one was opening up...with me. I was there. I wanted to talk. I just went back to Lanie's. May was a little better. In really looking at the evidence, Marko and I did hang out and there was that one time I met Daliborka. Marko was very and is very busy with work. So, most of May was passed without much company. However, I did not mind because I was busy writing.

June...Turkey, Moldova, Sighisoara...great times, punctuated by a lot of alone time. Getting better at not having to be lonely and on the other hand not being inundated by people.

July...August...have been amazing months in terms of what I have wanted out of this trip. Not everything but close. If these two months are any indication of how the rest of the trip proceeds, then I have a lot of fun to look forward to.

European Saturation

It's not that I have had it with Europe, it's that I have had it with having so much Europe. I am one who, while being content to go and explore, is easily bored and tends toward whims if possible. This time, I am headed to Singapore. That decision was made final when I bought the airline tickets about three weeks ago in Zagreb. It was raining outside.

Rain.

Rain.

It has been a very rainy summer. Just as when I was here three summers ago, the center of Europe is being gripped in torrential rainfall and subsequent floods. This time it is much more extensive. I arrived to Europe on the cusp of a snowstorm. Three days into my travels, I was mired in eight inches of snow along the canals of Venice. Now that I am preparing to head by train to Istanbul, I leave a thoroughly drenched region to my north, praying that this does not slow me down in my need to arrive in old Constantinople.

This may be my last post for this weblog. I will soon discontinue, though maintain it. I can't be 'balkan around europe' if I am in southeast Asia.

To Europe, a great place to hover and discover for six months! Certainly, I stole of to Tunisia and Anatolia, but only for one week and two days, respectively. You are my first in international travel. You have kept me 26 months of my 28 years. Longer than most places. In my heart, even longer. I run off now to SouthEast Asia, first to Singapore, then possibly anywhere after...perhaps to the ruins of Angkor Wat, the Forbidden City or the Great Wall of China, even. What of Lake Baikal? But wait and don't worry. I must return to you one day.

Ciao Croatia

I left from Zagreb this morning at 00.12 in a crowded train with a cabin full of travelers.

I have had some mixed emotions about the departure. I didn't to leave. But I knew I had to. Part of me says to get back on that train, what the hell am i thinking? and to spend more time there. just be more frugal with the funds. that would mean the omladinski. but stop! this isn't going to happen! i am continuing in a southeasterly direction. I have become a juggernaut and cannot be suppressed. What remains to be seen is whether I will travel through Bulgaria from Macedonia or to Romania from here. Where in between?

Where I go from Istanbul is wholly unfamiliar to me. Save Abhi and Ash. I am excited but a little disconcerted, too.

I was never good with farewells, so Croatia, all I will say is ciao. dovidenja.

Where to in the interim

do i go see macedonia, or do i rent a car in sarajevo and tool about seeing the places that i patrolled when i was in the army.

This is how the coutry was divided for the NATO troops deployed there. I was in the northeast sector from April 1999 to March 2000.

Unfortunately, and time and distance does this, I have lost contacts with all the people, both local nationals and military, alike, from my time there. However, the cities and the culture remains, and I would like to see how it has changed in my more than five years away. Or maybe I'll just let it be what it was and not go back. I tend to do that with my past.

The next major port of entry will find me landing in Singapore. The plan, though it will probably change, has me going north through SE Asia, up to China, Mongolia, hanging out in Siberia and then over to European Russia. The terminus of my trip is far off and only Heaven knows when I will make it back home to the States. Maybe not for a few years. (I have had this fantasy of not returning to America for decades, finding odd jobs and writing about my experiences around the globe).

running on silent mode

one month. 31 days. i can't believe it's been that long since i have written. catercorner across the Continent and here i am, back in Pula, where i have been habitating and relaxing for the past 20 of those 31 days.

this picture (not my own), does not justice to how beautiful and amazing the town of Pula really is.

this is where i attended the 52nd annual Pula Film Festival. every night there were two features, the first Croatian and the second foreign, presented here beginnning at 21.30. an amazing structure, 2000 years old (approx.) and last night there was an Anastasia concert held here. didn't attend.

all that aside, i am leaving here tomorrow. the beaches, the people (how many have i met?), and soon enough it will be croatia that i leave for a very long time.

Den Haag ain't as bad as it sounds

Okay, hate me if you're Dutch, but the way the language sounds when spoken does sound a little strange...I suppose it's that I'm not that use to really guttural languages.

Anyway, I left Amsterdam and all its attendant potential, near disasters. That's right...good-bye smoke shops (coffee shop, my ass!) and smart shops (no, they don't smell smartie candies) and red-light, red-hot panties district, and all the other immature shit and people, whether you're a German high school kid who dresses like you belong in the red light district or some 50 year-old Canadian dude opining, in an attempt to get attention from two Australian chicks, about the horrors of cops pulling you over in the totalitarian nation of the USA. So, whether they were suffering from mid-life crises or quarter-life crises (what the hell is that?!, c'mon, are we gonna have quarter-mid-life crises next?)

To hell with Amsterdam! Den Haag (The Hague, in English) is a big city with a definite small town feel and combines amazing old-world charming architecture with modern steel skyscrapers that actually look pretty damn amazing. Been here for about eight hours and already a fan.

The Uneasy Lowness of the Dollar

All be amsterdamned...even though the dollar is back down to $1.21 to the Euro (was $1.36 when I was in Bologna and Florence), it is very very expensive here. I just dropped 100 Euros today. Of course, I bought two books: one by Murakami and another by Palahniuk (sp?).

I miss 50 cents per hour internet (the cheapest I have found here is nearly five times that at the EasyEverything Internet centers, which seem to have taken a bad run of luck and they are no longer 24 hours and not in as many cities as they were before. Step aside Paula Cole, you and your cowboys, I have a song to sing...Where have all the cheap internet cafes gone? Not that I really listen to Paula Cole...just the unfortunate circumstance of having to listen to her whine ever other song on the radio back in Colorado Springs about six, maybe, seven years ago) that was featured all over the Balkans, except for Croatia. It's a dollar there.

nothing really to note...

Not Amsterdam but NYC. Just another big city that I am visiting; however, the gritty feel, the interminable stench of pot and piss through the streets is beginning to rack my nerves. I have been here before and each time (this is my third), it really gets worse. I don't know what to think of here. I am beginning to think that this place is damn near the edge of the earth. All her shame brought to show on her sidewalks from the beaten prostitute to the gaggles of tourists peering into the pink flourescent-lit windows wondering, licking their lips and wondering what may just lie (take that either way) on the other side of that fortress made of thin cotton. Her ominous yet inviting architecture, famous mad artists, beautiful canals and vast tracts of cobble and tracks of tramlines portends potential transformation in more ways than you or I could imagine. What is it you expected to find when you passed by here? Some questions are best left unknown and some regions of life whether on earth or inside our heads may need to be explored with better care. As for me, I think that I will take my leave of this place soon. Bruges, Belgium may be more my speed.