Monday, December 25, 2006
Last, long update before I leave.
Okay, ironically, Xmas eve is the only time I've had to myself so far. A whole day's worth of self-recharging and thinking. I was looking through some old pictures from my May/June Europe trip and I realized I haven't yet updated fully about it as I said I would, especially the not-so-good parts. People have also been asking me about backpacking in Europe and so, whatever I can recall for now, I will write about here. The rest will have to wait for another time when my memory proves more receptive!
From the looks of my earlier post written in Milan, I really was quite scattered haha. Running around Europe on whims and spending half my trip on the train or the platform waiting for the train to come in seems to be the case most of the time. Did I mention the amount of times I'd missed my train just because I'd miscalculated the time it took to:
1) Drag myself out of bed/couch/floor at unearthly hours in the morning
2) Walk the 2-3km to the busstop with my 20kg backpack
3) Rush to the drugstore to try and buy a bus ticket, whilst trying to understand and speak the few choice foreign words in my limited vocabulary
4) Then rushing back to the busstop after realizing my bus is there already and the next bus comes at a 20minute interval
5) Getting onto the bus all dishevelled and out of breath, with my pride all but nonexistent by then, my shoe(s) in my hand or something else falling off in the process due to my completely un-glam rush for the bus
6) Reaching the train station and trying to read all the signs that point me to the right counter for buying train tickets (there're special ones for eurailpass holders, latecomers, internal trips, international trips, etc..) It gets so maddening when it's in a foreign language you can't read for nuts..argh!
7) Queueing up whilst hoping like hell you'll be able to get your ticket before the train leaves
8) Reaching the counter after 10 or 15 mins of queueing and be told, "Sorry, you've been queueing at the wrong counter", or "Your train is leaving now, you'll have to take the next train which leaves 293470238hours later" or something to that extent because at that point in time, even 2.5 hours would seem like eternity after all that damned trouble you took to get there.
I swear, if this trip didn't seem like an Amazing Race re-enactment, then I don't know what is. For every minute lost within each interval, it accumulates and accumulates till the time I reach the train station, I've no time to get a good place to sit, let alone change some euros to buy myself a meal before the 8 hours of forced famine on the train with nothing to eat. Sometimes, buying a train ticket doesn't always mean you've got a seat for the next few hours for sure, haha. I can't remember where it was - somewhere in italy I think, but there were a few times I was forced to half stand/squat on my backpack for the whole journey because the train seats had been oversold to my frustration. I guess this is where you learn that planning ahead is the golden rule when it comes to transportation! You definitely do not want to try arriving past midnight in a foreign country and not knowing how to get to your destination from the station. Also important, is remembering the main words in other languages at each country's train station like 'exit' (eg. sortie in french), 'platform', 'train carriage', 'ticket counter' and etc. All the small things. Kind of hard when you're moving between 4 countries like a pin ball on coke for 2 months straight. Your cultural meter tends to go a tad haywire.
Of course, another problem with my spontaneous whims was that I had to find people to let me crash at their place at realllly, really, last minute notice. Think arriving at the train station in Austria and calling up people on the spot to see if they might be free to let you stay the night(s). Thank god for the kind souls who were laidback enough to endure my last minute pleas of help! And yes, I was staying with strangers the whole time, except for when I was in Paris. That's why I didn't kill my budget with some 20euros a night hostel accommodation and what not. And yes also, I know it's not safe staying with people I've only emailed once or twice before, but this is where Hospitality comes into play. Here onwards, I'm just gonna copy and paste from the hospitality website cos I'm a bit tired of having to explain to people what exactly it entails:
"What is it?
Our aim is to bring people together - hosts and guests, travelers and locals. Thousands of members around the world help each other when they are traveling - be it with a roof for the night or a guided tour through town. Joining is free, takes just a minute and everyone is welcome. Members can look at each other's profiles, send messages and post comments about their experience on the website.The club is supported by volunteers who believe in one idea: by bringing travelers in touch with people in the place they visit, and by giving "locals" a chance to meet people from other cultures we can increase intercultural understanding and strengthen the peace on our planet.Come onboard - join the largest online hospitality exchange organization! You will meet friendly people and find free accommodation when you travel to any corner of the world. There are no obligations (you do not have to host anyone at your home!), membership is free and we would love to have you in our world wide web of friendly people! "
And there you have it. To sum it up, you contact a person whom you'd like to stay with through the site, after having a look at his/her profile and references left by the people that they've hosted/stayed with before (they can't delete these references, so this prevents weirdos from getting to host people). And if he/she is free to show you around or let you crash at their place, then they'll do all they can to bring you around and show you what it's like being a local in the country you're visiting (eg. finding the cheapest yet best eats in town, partying at places only locals know about, learning about the language and cultural norms..) The whole thing works both ways. And you don't owe them a thing, except for gratitude of course. But in a way, it's like passing on the spirit of hospitality to other people you meet later on. I thought it was some dodgy organization at first, but damnnnnn, this thing has changed my life, or at the least, made realizing my travelling dreams much easier.
I cannot begin to describe the many people I've met on that trip. Although I was travelling alone, I wasn't really alone, except for when I was on the bloody train I guess. It's just such a nice feeling that you get from the small things, like when you talk with someone on the otherside of the world, and find that you guys grew up watching more or less the same things, albeit dubbed in different languages (Doraemon, Captain Planet, Flash, Mcguyver..) haha! You realize that despite cultural differences, people still connect in the same ways. And over a glass of alcohol du jour, conversation naturally flows easier no matter the language barriers ;) I met some great people, but of course, there were one or two weird ones as well :/ These were the ones that caused me to change my original plans at such a last minute mostly. I'd just grab my backpack and leave the next morning even though I just arrived that night, if the person I was supposed to stay with wasn't giving off good vibes.
Anyway, here's how the trip went, if I recall right:
Paris for 2 and a half weeks--->Avignon (France)--->Marseille (Southern France)--->Aix-en-Provénce (France)--->Marseille (S. France)--->Nice (S. France)--->Cannes (S. France)--->Milan (Italy)--->Venice (Italy)--->Milan (Italy)--->Nice (S. France)--->Antibes (S. France)--->Milan (Italy)---> Bern (Switzerland)--->Milan (Italy)--->Rome (Southern Italy)--->Milan (Italy)--->Vienna (Austria)--->Innsbruck (Austria)--->Milan (Italy)--->Marseille (S. France)--->Paris for another week.
Messy, isn't it! As you can see, Milan was mostly the travelling base cos it's right smack in the middle of the 4 countries. Red is the route I took the last trip. Blue is the route I'm planning to take this coming trip. I leave for Paris this wednesday, hopefully I don't stray too far from the original route...although it's usually the case. :/ So yes, it's bonjour-s and que pasa-s for me this time round! I'll be gone till January the 18th, and then it's Full Moon Partyyyy in Thailand!
Seeing that I'll be missing quite a lot of school, I'm thinking of dropping out first, before my transfer overseas in june/july. In the meantime, I'm hoping to take up a TOEFL course so that I can get a job teaching English in Beijing. The pay is surprisingly high! Just got back from Beijing, and it's one of a kind. My first impression of Beijing was terribly mistaken, when I got in from the airport, all I saw was bleak-looking trees and dull industrial buildings whilst being blown away by the cold winter winds, this led me to think Beijing wouldn't be as interesting as I heard it would be. But after the first few days of walking around and exploring Beijing, amidst the hu tongs, peking duck, forbidden city, summer palace, etc.. I was won over by it's old-china charm. It didn't hurt that my host in Beijing, a swedish-israeli traveller who's been living there for 2 months plus now, showed me the abundant nightlife in BJ as well as initiated me into his amazingly friendly, friend-circle over there. :) So days were spent with friends and family seeing as much as I could in Beijing, shopping at yasiu and si tan, stuffing myself with all kinds of cheap, delicious food, whilst nights were spent laughing at ktvs, drinking in bars and clubs at sanlitun and other places which names I forget. You can just imagine the state of hedonism I was in, haha! If I were to choose between working in Beijing or Shanghai, it would be a tough choice for sure. The Winter in Beijing kills me though. :/ It was -11degrees celsius when I left, and most times when I'm coming back from a night out around 5am in the morning, the winds just blow me away. I've had my bag AND jacket physically blown off before. (?!?) Crazy winds man. Too bad I was only there for a little more than a week though :( It's always hard leaving people behind for some place else, but it's only the natural order I guess. You make friends, some better so than others sometimes, but you still have to say goodbye and move on sooner or later as long as you're on the road.
I've written so much. I can't believe it, ha. Looks like this will be the last post in a while, unless I've some time to spare in Europe. Here's some videos I took the last trip:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9EtlNTg4UM (Top of the Eiffel Tower on a really windy day)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHnxURIvKi0 (We happened upon Gay pride day whilst walking in Paris)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEb4koyREGw (Aix-en-Provence. Nico my host, desperate for a lighter, uses the toaster instead, haha!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGEd5jgF3ao (Paris. Berrrts family and him showing me how to eat raclette, a typical french dinner.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUZnggdjB14 (Venice. Main square filled with pigeons!)
The rest of the videos are too random, I'll put them up next time, too sleepy now. See you guys when I get back from Europe then! Enjoy New Year's in Sg :)
Shu at 12:11 AM
