Парадокс с дедушкой (когда ты строишь машину времени, возвращаешься в прошлое, убиваешь своего дедушку, поэтому ты уже не можешь родиться и построить машину времени и убить своего дедушку) это хуйня по сравнению с этим:

В 1945 г. в приют г. Кливленд подбрасывают девочку младенца. “Джейн” растет замкнутой и тупой, не зная кто её родители, до тех пор пока в 1963 она не влюбляется в бродягу. Он заделывает ей ребенка и исчезает, но в тяжелом процессе родов выясняется что Джейн – гермафродит, у неё есть мужские и женские половые органы. Чтобы спасти её, врачи удаляют женские органы и Джейн становится мужиком Джейком. Ребенка похищает какой-то сраный ублюдок прямо из роддома.

Охуев от невезения Джейк начинает пить и становится бомжом. В 1970 он заходит в бар, где рассказывает историю своей жизни бармену. Бармен предлагает Джейку отомстить бродяге за то что он бросил “её” после рождения ребенка и предлагает ему вступить в ряды путешественников во времени. Джейк соглашается и они вместе с барменом летят обратно во времени в 1963 год, когда у Джейн должен появиться ребенок. Но Джейк случайно влюбляется в молодую сироту, и делает ей ребенка, после чего исчезает.

Потом бармен путешествует на 9 месяцев вперед во времени, похищает ребенка и подкидывает его в приют в 1945 году, после чего переносит немного охуевшего Джейка в 1985 год, чтобы он вступил в ряды путешественников во времени. Джейк раздупляется по ходу дела, становится нормальным, бросает пить и становится барменом.

Затем Джейк переносится в 1970 чтобы стать барменом и подготовиться к судьбоносной встрече с самими собой в баре.

Внимание вопрос:
Кто является отцом Джейн, кто такой Джейк, нарисуйте их родословную.

I just remembered a conversation I had over the weekend with an Italian friend of mine who lives in a very picturesque city in Italy. Isn’t the whole of Italy picturesque anyway? We were talking about Christmas plans. He’s looking forwards to a week in Prague. I told him that sounded like a nice plan. As for me, my Christmas plans mainly involve having time with my similarly poor family and then back to uni business. He said he wished we could get away and do something together. I said, “I do too, unfortunately, I’ m broke”.

The conversation then moved to how much the weather here is awful. I told him I was not impressed with the rain and was getting tired of the way of life here in general. The Italian then said, “Move to Italy bella. People in Sicily are still going to the beach. You know my home is always open for you. Even if you’re broke. You can spend a few days at my house in *picturesque city”. I thanked him for the offer.

“Next summer,” I meant it.

I’ve always had this feeling that The Italian fancies me. I know I often get deluded and needy but with this man, I can feel it. We’ve been friends for about a year now, mainly because we both share a passion for photography and travelling. He’s never been suggestive or leering like all the other random guys. He cares about me and is always checking to see how am doing. He encourages me to go for whatever I want in life, to have fun, to be honest with him. I love that. I also like the fact that he’s very intelligent. I’m a sucker for intelligent men. Conversations with him are always fulfilling and enriching, something that I don’t get from most men I talk to. I mean, afterall most of them are after  pussy, so I don’t know what I was expecting. I’m not saying The Italian is not after pussy too. If he is, then I’ll have to admit I like the way he’s subtle about it. I don’t mind either. He’s the type of man I could see myself having a fulfilling long time relationship with. I don’t care that he is 10 years older than me. 5QA7SBMYEGUM

He finished with a ‘Buonanotte bella ’.

So I did it! I had a  trip to Penang amidst the chaos of college dramas. I was more than glad I did not sacrifice fun for work! Should you guess who did I go with, assuming that my college mates were all busy rushing themselves to meet the deadlines?

After meeting Pea at the hostel, she toured us around USM. It was drizzling.

I went with my ex tuition mates and another new friend who is also currently studying at HELP now. I made a promise to Pea that I would visit her when her Jazz band at USM holds a concert during the year end. However, we made the visit a tad bit early, and we visited her and traveled instead of checking out the band concert.

It was a sweet and short 3D2N trip, we stayed at Batu Ferringhi’s Sri Sayang apartment. Hard Rock Hotel was fully booked but we insisted a visit anyway. We rented a Saga and toured around buying the local goods, visiting temples and went clubbing in town with the help of GPS. I’ve well-researched my must-visit places; and it had to be including Khoo Kongsi! The artwork on the walls of the building is amazing, I must have to agree ancient Hokkien residents were so capable of fulfilling their aesthetic needs. Another must-visit place would be Kek Lok Si, though I’ve visited the place for the second time. Perhaps there was so much that I missed during my first visit, perhaps it was the people whom I went with. Burmese temples were also interesting to me as I received my first formal blessing from monks in which my first intention was to ask for their permission to photograph them.

Khoo Kongsi, a must-visit.

Khoo Kongsi. It's all over the walls.

Burmese temple. Each statue is slightly different from one another and they are representatives of different countries.

The monks who offered me the blessings. (:

Taken by a tourist who encouraged us to be spontaneous in photos! And she got what she wanted.

View from the top of Kek Lok Si (Temple of Supreme Bliss)

Leann-yana Sutra: The wisdom of awakening

I also noticed that when I drove in Penang, there were lots of old buildings that are used as an office or boutique. Wawasan Open University was one of the gorgeous examples. I could almost get involved in multiple car accidents just because my eyes stayed lingering to the historical buildings. I would say Penang is a mix of both historical and modern living; but I think only tourists would be reflective of my saying as the locals could be pretty much desensitized.

An old British building used as the Municipal Council of Penang Island.

Another thing Penang is famous for would be… food! Penang Laksa, Penang Curry, Pasembur! We were told that the tourist spots food would not be genuine as a representation of Penang tastes; and this time we were lucky to have Pea and Leann who had better experience in touring us to the right places for a cheaper and tastier alternative.

Penang curry with blood cubes, prawns, sotong, and sihammmmm! Penang Old Town.

Okay, so it was like aunty war fighting for the piahs and rojak sauce.

Our victory

Hard Rock Hotel was newly opened in Penang and since they were doing promotion of a cheaper room package, it was packed with tourists and the rooms were fully booked. We attempted to sneak in the buffet lounge but it failed because it was also full and that we had to wait. Hence, I strong recommend tourists to avoid spontaneous visits like we did and book as early as possible if you attempt to check out the latest BOOM in Penang island. Bands were playing and the night continued raining. It was interesting to me that we were shadowed by the biggest mobile umbrella while walking towards the inside of the hotel. Though we did not have the luxury to sit and relax at Hard Rock, I think the glamor-liked chandeliers/lights had treated us well just like we were rock stars.

Self explanatory.

Glam.

We couldn’t get dinner at Hark Rock so went to The Ship instead. (:

Dinner at The Ship.

The downside of Penang must be the infamous traffic jam and ugly drivers. Who said KL was responsible for the reckless drivers? Penang people made themselves so ugly just by driving. It wasn’t new to me about the warning; it was just new to me because I happened to be driving in Penang most of the time during the trip and literally got an awful taste of it. There was this moment where we waited for a car to allow us getting into the mainroad; we counted the cars who passed us by and guess what – it was a driver with KL number plate who allowed us into the queue

The beach in Penang was sadly unappreciated by me because there are other states where their beaches were obviously superior at. *coughs* Redang *coughs*; and I don’t blame Penang for that. Also, the Batu Ferringhi Night Market walk was overrated by travel guide reviews. What I’ve seen more of the market were pirated DVDs and fake watches; and sellers who woo girls as they walk pass. It was perhaps unconscious to them that their faces were already labelled as ‘con man’.

Ferringhi Night Market walk.

I am glad that I’ve revisited Penang and this trip was really a breather for me; it had me realized that I should never get carried away by work. I was too focus in my responsibilities and I couldn’t have fun; but now I see!

Penang Revisited on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=138436&id=556607200&l=542adca2b4

London

London has lots to see, that’s for sure. If you’re planning on travelling from Spain, we’ve discovered a website that makes things a lot easier, even if you’re looking for lodging.

Colectivo Magazine is a digital London travel guide in Spanish. Aside from having useful information for settling in and/or visiting the city, the magazine explores relevant initiatives in London culture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. This is the first time in my 22 year existence on this Earth that I haven’t spent Thanksgiving with my extensive extended family. We usually spend time with my Dad’s side of the family, feasting and then playing our traditional Thanksgiving game of… floor hockey. A little strange, but an absolute blast.

Coincidentally (because the Islamic calendar is lunar and hops back about 11 days every year), Thanksgiving coincides this year with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha (عيد الأضحى‎), which is a holiday marking the pilgrimage to Mecca. To commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God (copyright Wikipedia, ha), Muslim families all over the world sacrifice some sort of animal, usually a sheep – not that different from Thanksgiving, eh? We make pilgrimages to our families houses and sacrifices turkeys. But there is a big difference – the actual Eid is tomorrow, but today is a day where many Muslims will fast for the entire day. So this year, our day of feasting ironically coincides with their day of fasting.

Nothing reminds you more that you are an ex-pat than Thanksgiving. I was invited to 3 or 4 separate feasts, all from people trying to keep alive in their hearts the most genuine of our annual holidays, even if it would be with randos and not their families. I decided to celebrate right here on campus with the American faculty, and it looks like it’s going to be a gathering of a few dozen. We are all thankful of this nice calendar coincidence because we actually get a week long “Thanksgiving” vacation, just like we normally do.

Then, later tonight, I’m headed off to Istanbul, Turkey to meet up with one of my best friends from college, Sam Davies, and travel for a week. The flight was only $300 and will only take a little more than 2 hours – crazy! So to add to the irony and weirdness of this day living outside of the States, I’ll be ending my Turkey Day in Turkey. I’m thankful that I have this opportunity to live, teach and travel abroad, and I’m thankful for all my family and friends who won’t fade even though I’m 9,000 miles away.

Cheers, I’ll write again in a week…

Last bit of Dan Shui but not for the Taipei trip yet.

Too bad that we need to rush back hotel to get dressed for the 五月天 concert hence we didn’t have enough time for the beautiful sunset and a boat ride to 渔人马头

Getting ready for the concert.

We went for the 1 day tour the next day but it was rainy cats and dogs that whole day which spoils our shopping plan at Shilin Night market.

These are some of the pictures of the day trip.

My ‘touristy’ picture

(at the museum where phototaking is not allowed. Therefore only this was taken at the escalator)

at their 原住民 store where they sells 灵芝，峰皇胶 and some other chinese TCM items.  The one that caught our attention is:

I find it so scary but they urged me to take a picture this.

This is 花鹿殆 which can cure asthma, sinus, etc. and it not cheap if u are wondering on the authenticity of these products, there are the certifications approved by the local governement.  Apparently, its very popular among the local and overseas entertainment artist for their maintaince of well being.

I had asked around about this product when I came back to Singapore. I ended up feeling so shallow as it kind ‘this is so common!” and only I dont know about it.

We went Shinlin night market after the tour but no photo taken due to the ’sad’ weather.

Yay! Here I am!

The closest neigbhour is…. Empire State buildning! It’s fogy and cloudy outside but I hope the weather is better tomorrow for the parade!

8 minutes from liberal kansas and the captain anounces that it will get bumpy. Ah… Strongly dislike turbulence. But landing in UK London in August on my way to the US was the worst I have experienced so far!

Can anyone explain the circles?

Breakfast and lunch: banana, blueberry muffin, yoghurt, hot coco and and a Coke.

Got out of bed at 5 am this morning after sleeping for about 4,5 hours. I’m sittng in the Shuttle that will take me LAX Bd the hhopefully to New York! Im so happy and excited!

Just realised that I had took so many photos of DanShui Old Street (淡水老街) in this trip.

It was my 1st time to there which I like very much and will definately go there again if I am going to Taipei.

The street was packed with tourist and local on Saturday afternoon.

Its a rather long street with different stores such as food, souvenir store, my favourite ‘Watsons’ and even game stores, which we dont normally see in Singapore.

Street Artist ‘Booth”

Fresh Seafood for sales

while waiting for the boys during their toilet break.

Temple,  I like the unique architecture in this area. Its so ‘mixture’ of culture, which makes me wonder the history behind this place. Time for goggle.

U will see this tall ice cream all over the street which only cost us NT10 (approx.: $0.45).

To be contiuned….

Our first days

Actually our crew which flew to Caracas was me, Carlos, Edie and my dad. He needed to take some time off so he decided to travel with us and experience the culture of Latin America.

As I said in the title. We finally reached our new home. Flat of Carlos mum and his “home” is located in the Cumbres de Curumo. Which actually is not anymore part of the Caracas city. But I would say that only  biger difference is that we do not have that much traffic jams and there are no slams close by. This part of Caracas is very nice. More or less quite, although we live in front of the main avenue so we are in the centre of traffic. There are mostly only big family houses, parks, supermarket and all basic shops with services you might need. To the centre you have to go by car or bus. But since petrol cost basically nothing (full tank of petrol is about 2-3 BF which is about 20-30 CZK) since Venezuela is petrol nation, everybody drives car. Which creates constant traffic jam with never ending sound of horns of impatiens car drivers.

There is everything measured by time. If you ask how far is some place in Km it is not relevant. Everything depends on traffic and everybody will tell you distance by time. So in our case it used to take about 40 min to down town and when we were unlucky also about 1-1,5 hours. Unfortunately down town is one of the most dangerous places, it belongs to Chavistas and their companeros. You are not allowed to go there without local guide, who in our case was Sandy and Carlos. I felt safe and nobody was bothering us but we could hear around “mira Gringos” (look American guys) so obviously we did not look local. With our white skin we were more than visible. Our white skin was shining among the “chocolate” citizens.

Caracas had about 7 mil inhabitants and if we count all tourists and also people who travel insight of town because of work than we can easily count about 10 mil people. If we count also that most of the people have car than you can imagine how it look like. Not everybody follow the traffic rules so it creates a bit mess on the road.  Caracas is divided into many parts from which you can easily see which one belongs to Chavista Party  and which belongs to opposition. Chavistas had most of the infrastructure destroyed (problem of common ownership) and opposition has nice neighborhood. I consider Caracas quite green and more or less clean, depending in which part you are. Although more and more places is filled with barrios or ranchos (slams). Which from far behind looks cute, colourful and I did not saw them as poor places. Still you can see that they are built from bricks and on the top of iron wood you can see satelites with direct TV. Because it does not matter that people do not have enough money for food and their car looks like after hard fight time. The most important is to have direct TV with non stop access to soap operas

That is Caracas and its life -  80% of population live int he poverty, large fields of slums are the sights of reality

Although there is also beautiful Avila mountain which is surrounding Caracas from northern side and makes the natural border and protection against sea

I like the life in Caracas although is very different from the one I am used to.
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Writer: Zlata B. Vaskova

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3 November 2009

Kalau di Indonesia, usia 17 tahun sudah dianggap dewasa, dimana pada usia tersebutlah kita mendapat hak pilih pada pemilu dan juga bisa mendapat SIM kendaraan bermotor. Lain halnya denga di Jepang, batas usia dewasa adalah 20 tahun. Pada usia 20 tahun barulah memiliki hak untuk memilih dalam pemilu, dan pada usia tersebut juga lah secara hukum dibenarkan mengkonsumsi alkohol dan rokok. Akhir-akhir ini dengan dilakukannya pembaharuan undang-undang negara Jepang dimana salah satu klausulnya menyangkut tentang perubahan batas usia dewasa yang tadinya 20 tahun dijadikan 18 tahun. Dengan kata lain hak pilih pada pemilu dan masa boleh mengkonsumsi alkohol dan rokok menjadi lebih cepat 2 tahun. Berdasarkan beberapa survey yang dilakukan masih banyak pro dan kontra menyangkut masalah tersebut. Misalnya saja usia kalau selama ini untuk mendapatkan pinjaman dan sebagainya, apabila berusia di bawah 20 tahun, orang tua punya hak untuk membatalkan pinjaman tersebut, karena pinjaman harus dilakukan atas dengan persetujuan wali (orang tua). Dan masih banyak hal-hal lain yang berhubungan dengan penurunan batas usia dewasa di jepang tersebut.

3 November 2009

Kalau di Indonesia, usia 17 tahun sudah dianggap dewasa, dimana pada usia tersebutlah kita mendapat hak pilih pada pemilu dan juga bisa mendapat SIM kendaraan bermotor. Lain halnya denga di Jepang, batas usia dewasa adalah 20 tahun. Pada usia 20 tahun barulah memiliki hak untuk memilih dalam pemilu, dan pada usia tersebut juga lah secara hukum dibenarkan mengkonsumsi alkohol dan rokok. Akhir-akhir ini dengan dilakukannya pembaharuan undang-undang negara Jepang dimana salah satu klausulnya menyangkut tentang perubahan batas usia dewasa yang tadinya 20 tahun dijadikan 18 tahun. Dengan kata lain hak pilih pada pemilu dan masa boleh mengkonsumsi alkohol dan rokok menjadi lebih cepat 2 tahun. Berdasarkan beberapa survey yang dilakukan masih banyak pro dan kontra menyangkut masalah tersebut. Misalnya saja usia kalau selama ini untuk mendapatkan pinjaman dan sebagainya, apabila berusia di bawah 20 tahun, orang tua punya hak untuk membatalkan pinjaman tersebut, karena pinjaman harus dilakukan atas dengan persetujuan wali (orang tua). Dan masih banyak hal-hal lain yang berhubungan dengan penurunan batas usia dewasa di jepang tersebut.

China

Yesterday, I accidentally opened the Ryanair page and found they were offering £2 one way tickets for journeys in November through to March. The tickets went really quick and by the time I got home there weren’t any left for the routes I was interested in.

I started to dig around to see how come I missed this great offer. Even though I’m subscribed to Ryanair’s newsletter I got no heads-up for it. I checked on their Press Release page but there was nothing on it either.

So it’s not just me. 66 million Ryanair passengers, some of whom are surely subscribed to the newsletter and others who check their PR website regularly didn’t know of the sell-out. Why?

The only reasonable explanation I can offer is that it’s one of Ryanair’s marketing tactics. News spread quicker by word of mouth then via any press releases, newsletters or any other marketing campaigns. Moreover, it’s reaaaaaaaally cheap.

I continued to wonder how this may work. Surely, Michael O’leary isn’t going to make it easy for us to figure out when he’s planning the next sale.

I went through all Ryanair’s special offers press releases and put their dates on a Google Calendar.

So I went ahead and analysed the press release calendar pattern quickly. Here’s what I found:

Ryanair Press Release Analysis

Almost 60% of all Ryanair special offer announcements were made on a Monday or Tuesday, with just over 20% made on a Thursday. They have never made any announcements on a Saturday, Wednesdays and Sundays being the least popular days when nearly 10% of their announcements were made.

The period analysed was between February 2007 and November 2009 as their announcements don’t go any further than the beginning of 2007.

Very interesting is the immense growth of press release popularity in the second half of this year when almost 60% of all special offer announcements were made – 34 out of 58.

The press release pattern seams very erratic. Some of the offers were prompted by bad publicity, e.g. ‘Ryanair gives away 1.1m FREE seats BBCPanorama lies’ (O’leary beautifully manipulated the whole Panorama crew who did publish his interview on their website).

Right, so what are we gonna do with the findings? There are a few tips we could bear in mind:

- don’t wait for the newsletter to announce any big sales

- they’ll come unexpectedly on Monday or Tuesday

- if not check on a Thursday

- you’re safe to go for a pint on a Friday because there will be no announcements on a Saturday

- Sundays should be quiet too, with only a handful of less important announcements made

Finally, judging from the popularity of the offers yesterday if there will be a sale tickets will go within a few hours. So be prepared to buy when the time comes.

I’d love to be able to provide any alternative analyses of this type but unfortunately weren’t able to find any. Looks like Ryanair’s not very popular with academics.

Anyway, hope this helps a little bit. Keep your eyes open and let me know if you spot any trends. And any big sales of course!

When I was in Italy, I was used to travel by bus to go to work. About a year ago they renew the website and give to customers the possibility to subscribe to a newsletter that announced changes in the path of the bus, due to works on the street and so on.

I still a subscriber of this newsletter (that I guess is useful), more for laziness, but tonight I receive a message about a variation of path in Melegnano.

First of all two words about it. Melegnano can be considered the pain in the ass of every person is travelling to Milan from the South, vice-versa (but also in any direction that include this bloody city). There aren’t big streets to avoid you to pass inside the city and the roads available are small, that means queues every day and almost every hours! Every people would like to blow up Melegnano and build an highway instead (by the way I know some nice people from that city, none of them I would see hurt).

Anyway, today I saw an email from the bus company said the path will change for one day because in Melegnano there will be men at works for the pruning of plants in one street (Viale repubblica),  from 7:00 to 16:00. Guess, that street is one of the main street people use to pass throu the city. What does that means? Jungle!

After reading that I starts guessing all my emotions during the travels to and back to work (and I can say that I’m one of the luckiest guys in my company), with car or bus. Will be able to come back to my previous life? Probably not. That because the quality of life is mostly based on the environment around your job, and I guess, the travel can change a lot how you feel (like or dislike) your job.

Of course there isn’t a place without defect…but we’ll see (after the Dutch winter)

Dear A,

I’ve been writing emails to plenty of people now and since I am currently on an email writing frenzy and that I cannot control myself anymore because of my apparent OCD… I’ve never actually asked my doctor if it was OCD but sometimes I go crazy on simple things like this ( and actually I like it because i always feel fulfilled once I’m done… 3 hours later ).

You kinda gave me an idea. I don’t know if I told you about this but I am seriously considering hitchhiking Canada. I would start from here in the province of Quebec, then I would go to Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and then I would come back. If I have more time on my hands and everything is right I also consider checking out Yukon. I started planning stuff. I began thinking about what I should bring and what I shouldn’t bring and what kind of craziness might happen. In between this I began to realize that I needed something to attract drivers in order to be picked up easier and faster so I don’t stand like a wounded dog under the rain for five hours. I almost immediately thought that I should bring my guitar ( and that means I have to re-learn how to play it ) but then I thought that it would be too big so I thought of the ukulele you kept mentioning and now I am considering buying a cheap ukulele!!! Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing!?!? I mean I would be known as the legendary ukulele wanderer!!! I would make the news like ” Have you seen the Uke Traveller?! ” and ” The Ukulele Wanderer strikes again! “. Ok, ok, I’m dreaming here… But I do think about bringing a ukulele with me.

So yeah I’ve started planning this thing. I subscribed to a hitchhiking forum where experienced people will probably be able to give me some advice. I plan on doing this in two years from now on june 2011. I will try not to spend money during this trip and I expect to spend most of the summer travelling this way. I still have to tell my family about it and I am pretty sure everybody’s going to freak out so I have to choose the right moment or unless they will believe I am in some sort of state of distress or something… Frankly I have no idea how I will present this idea, most especially to my mom, because I’ve been there forever for her and she has been there for me as well.

I see this as a personal journey rather than a travelling experience. I will write my daily experiences in a journal that I will bring with me. I will also bring my Canon camera that is neither too expensive neither too crappy so I will bring some great pictures ( I think ). I’ve started thinking about some “tricks” like putting two 200$ in two plastic bags and hide them in my two shoes for desperate measures. I also plan on bringing my cd player and some amazing cds like Sigur Ros!!! I will try not to go in hotels and rent rooms and I will try to camp as much as possible and for this I expect to deal with cops and thugs so I will bring my best smiles with me for the cops and my little handy knife for the thugs…

I think what’s triggered me to think about this seriously is Jack Kerouac’s book titled ” On the Road ” which is all about hitchhiking. The guy in the story is pretty messed up and I am different ( I think ) when compared to him, but I still need that freedom I can’t seem to find in here. Plus, this Jack Kerouac guy, well, the “hero” in the book, is him and it’s mostly an auto-biographical novel. I don’t know if I told you about this, but I have always had some sort of love for the 50s and when I found the Beat Generation writers like Kerouac I immediately associated myself to them and Jack Kerouac seems to have some sort of link with me. He was french canadian too! I don’t know what the hell is going on between him and I.

I’m pretty sure that what I am searching for won’t be found during this trip but I have been sick enough in the recent years to see people around me are living in a daily routine and I don’t want to live that. I’ve spent some time in hospital beds and when I would talk with other sick people the topics were really different. We would talk about simple things. Things you don’t think of when you aren’t sick. I remember I spoke to an old man while we were eating that horrible hospital food and we were wondering what we would eat and drink when we would get out. I remember I wanted a good bloody steak with mashed potatoes and some green broad beans. It was enough to make me feel happy and I wanted to get out of there just to eat that. Nowadays I’ve begun to fall back into routine and I almost forgot about that desire I had back in the hospital and I don’t want to forget about that and that’s why I want to leave this place with a feeling of uncertainty so I can enjoy everything I see, taste and touch. It’s like in my favorite book, “The Little Prince”, when he goes to the well in the middle of the desert and he drinks water with the aviator. The water would be ordinary to other people who drank water everyday, but to the aviator, it was the product of their desire to get water, the fact that they walked so long and the fact that they had to use the pulley in order to ultimately get it! That’s why it tasted so good to him and to the little prince.

The fact is that I am doing this knowing that I will probably find adversity. It’s not like I am going there with an improvised bag using a red cloth with white spots on it, all of it attached to a wooden stick like in the cartoons. I know I’ll probably be unable to sleep during some nights. I might get robbed or beaten or whatever. I’ll try to avoid this as much as possible, but I still have to hitchhike the way I want to or else it won’t be hitchhiking anymore. Still, I have to train my body for this because I’m pretty sure I’ll be dead tired most of the time so I have to be in the best shape possible.

That’s why I’m going to walk practically everyday from now on. I’ve already been walking pretty often but it was only for entertainment purpose or to go out with friends. I don’t have a car and when I have to buy stuff or whatever I just WALK to the store and bring back the goods home. I still don’t get the car thing and I don’t understand why so many people have cars. I don’t know if I missed something here. So, yeah, from now on I’ll walk a lot. Next summer I’m planning on walking from home right to the camp ( which means about 250 kilometers… and seriously I won’t do the math to explain how long that is in miles because you americans need to use the metric system ). I will bring the usual stuff I bring when I go there ( clothes and books and some cds and other things ). It should give me a preview of a hitchhiking experience without drivers picking me up ( which should be the hardest days ).

So, yeah, I’m going to write a book on this. I don’t expect it to be published by anyone but I’ll try to if I feel like the material is somewhat worth it. I’ve never studied literature ( so my curriculum vitae in that department would be pretty short ) but I think I’m pretty good ( in french, at least ) and I know a couple of authors in the area who might be able to help me.

I’ve recently met very old friends who were in classmates in primary school and high school. When I was really sick I lost sight of them and back then I thought that they were really ahead of me in studies and jobs. I mean, they are. Some of them are going to be doctors and pharmacists, others already have great jobs and live a steady life. But somehow I feel like I have something more inside my head that they don’t have. They don’t question society like I do and they don’t see the things I see. They don’t know how to write either ( I found that out on Facebook ). I think that all these years of illness I’ve spent reading and listening and watching others is finally paying off. I feel like I am stronger inside. I also am sad to see that these young minds who sometimes were breaking laws and questioning so many things in life ended up as ordinary human beings with very little imagination, ideas and hopes. Of course they still have these things but it’s hidden deep inside now and it will only bloom when it will be too late.

I can’t believe I wrote so much stuff! I don’t even know how much time I spent on this email! Ok, I have to stop myself now. I guess I had to tell someone about this and since I’m too chicken shit to tell my hitchhiking plans to the people who live next to me and I wanted to tell them to someone like you who can’t really judge me or anything. I guess this is the good side of internet? I don’t know, really. This place is both full and empty at the same time. It’s confusing.

Thanks for reading my “dreamer’s melodrama”,

X

Travel Friends in Australia

The idea of travel friends is great for saving money because you can share accommodation expenses, transport costs when you are in Australia and food expenses as well. Not only this, but it will make your travels fun and interesting to have someone to share things with and enjoy a new country with. If you have a travel friend you can also go all around the world and enjoy some great experiences in many different countries. It is a great way to meet new people and will ensure that you have an awesome time when travelling if you couldn’t find anyone to go with you.

Travelling the world is something that everyone wants to do at some point in their lives, but going overseas alone is just not that much fun. Well, you can always get female travel companions and travel friends that will make your trip to Australia or New Zealand much more fun. Cruise companions are perfect for travelling and you can get to experience the best sights of Australia ,New Zealand, the South Pacific Islands with someone who is also interested in the same places.

Travel companions will be there to offer you friendship and you can have a lot of fun with them when you want to check out the night life and club scenes in Australia. Any travel friends, female travel companions, group travel companions can be found online, but the safety of this is questionable. You can also find out from your local clubs, community, colleges and other places where there are people who are willing to travel with you when you want to tour Australia or around the world.

When you are travelling on your own you are also more at risk and in a group or at least with one other person you can be safer. Even though most countries are fine and Australia is safe, there are always some criminals in every city you go and you should be aware of carrying money on you – rather use travelers checks, keep valuables in a pouch or somewhere safe when you are walking around and never go alone to clubs and night venues, especially if you are a female. It is always wise to get a female travel companion so that you can enjoy the sights and sounds while keeping an eye on each other to make sure you are both safe. Getting a travel friend is one of the best ways to enjoy your vacation to Australia, New Zealand or any other country.

In Australia you can visit all the major cities like Sydney and see the famous Sydney Opera House. You can visit Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne, and many other places. Here you can enjoy the beautiful scenery and weather as well as learn more about the lifestyle and culture. Travelling with a cruise companion you can make your way to New Zealand by boat which is an adventure in itself and when you are there you can take in the amazing scenery and visit the areas where Lord of the Rings was filmed among many other epic films.

jetzt endlich mal wieder post von mir… die letzten tage werde ich nur kurz resümieren, weil wir eigentlich nicht viel in nouakchott gemacht haben; ich hab super kontakte geknüpft (sepp aus österreich war da, ein zufallsbekannter von marcel, der uns milkaschokolade mitbracht hat… und ein ziemlich cooler neuseeländer, der mit uns die letzten tage verbracht hat…) und nen job an der uni hier angeboten bekommen (am english departement). wie seriös das angebot dann allerdings wäre,… weiß ich (noch) nicht *lol*. denn zuerstmal die größte neuigkeit vorweg: marcel und ich bleiben noch ne zeit in mauretanien, genauer gesagt: in der wüste. um alles relativ kurz zu halten bzw. um nicht all zu viel privates in den blog zu bringen (nicht das, was ihr jetzt denkt… *lol*), werd ich das in einem satz erklären: mit sidi, den ich hier in der auberge kennengelernt habe, bin ich die letzten zwei tage ur oft in der stadt rumgehangen und ja stundenlang nur gequatscht, gequatscht, gequatscht… als er dann meinte, ich könnte einfach mitkommen auf so einer touri-tour und dem koch bei dem trip helfen, also quasi gratis mitreisen, hab ich mir mal dacht, dass ich das echt machen könnte… vielleicht sollt ich noch erwähnen, dass er touri-guide ist… also nicht irgendein dahergelaufener… *lol*. natürlich konnt ich nicht einfach so von einer sekunde auf die andere sagen: „hallo gruppe, ich bin dann mal weg und bleib bis anfang februar in mauretanien“ (hab ja so lange visum…); ich hab mal mit marcel gesprochen, dass ich überlege ein bisschen hierzubleiben und später nach mali nachzukommen… einfach weil ich mir dachte: wann kriegst du jemals wieder die möglichkeit mit einem einheimischen so ne geniale tour zu machen? (ok, ich seh schon, ihr haltet mich für komplett irre!) so lange du willst mit kamelen durch die wüste reiten? :p wie geil ist das denn??? naja und weil marcel im gegensatz zu den anderen ur begeistert war kommt er jetzt mit. also sind wir zu dritt… sidi, marcel und ich… und ich „muss“ nicht arbeiten (sprich kochen *gg*), sondern das ganze läuft „privat“ (ich will kein wort von euch hören!). dafür musste marcel sein visum verlängern, was innerhalb von wenigen stunden erledigt war (man muss sogar fingerprints abgeben… ) und die autoversicherung nochmal erneuern, wir hatten die ja nur für zehn tage. sidi ist mit ihm mit, hat eigentlich alles für ihn geregelt.. tja und wennst an einheimischen dabei hast, hast eh schon gewonnen.

während daniel und sarah also richtung senegal unterwegs sind, haben meine zwei jungs alle bürokratischen angelegenheiten erledigt. und wo war ich? tja. im bett. mir ging’s furchtbar und ich weiß gar nicht warum. brechreiz über ne stunde, kopfweh, bauchweh, übelkeit… gschickter weise hab ich halt in den letzten zwei tagen genau sechs stunden geschlafen… kommt davon, wenn man so viele leute kennenlernt *loool* – tee trinken bis drei/fünf uhr in der früh… das kost zeit. also schlafdefizit plus halb krank-sein… wiedermal ne geile kombi. ich lieg also da mit extremen schädlweh bei keine ahnung wieviel grad hitze im bett rum und mir ist (achtung!) kalt. ok teilweise. wechselt halt ab. *gg* kaltheiß, heißkalt. solang ich aber noch ansatzweise lachen kann (sidi sorgt dafür *g*), wird’s schon nicht so wild sein. morgen sollt ich fit sein, da wollten wir unseren trip starten… hab ich schon erwähnt, dass wir die gesamten 600 km wieder zurückfahren, die wir grad vor vier tagen oder so runtergekommen sind? crazy? yes, we are. aber so muss ne reise sein.. immer spontan, immer unberechenbar, immer voller abenteuer. und dank sidi’s geschichten und offenheit tauch ich grad ganz tief in diese kultur ein. interessanter geht’s gar nimma.

what else… ja also. nur noch zur weiteren erläuterung (ich bin krank, man erwarte sich nicht zu viel an logik in diesem text). wir hätten ja heute fahren sollen. und vorgestern hat sidi mir seine visitenkarte gegeben,… mit den worten: „i’m looking for more professional ones.“ naja und was lag dann mehr auf der hand als dass ich ihm 100 stück frisch gedruckte visitenkarten (also quasi professionelle) als überraschung geschenkt habe. ihr könnt euch gar nicht vorstellen wie sehr ihn das gefreut hat. na er ist ja schon ein lustiges kerlchen, hat sich’s verdient .

so. dann werd ich mich mal ins www café quälen, aber davor noch fiebermessen (und nur zur beruhigung… laut thermometer: kein fieber *gg*).

p.s.: nouakchott ist sonst nicht so der renner,… der fischerhafen ist gigantisch… gut, dass ich dort schon war und nicht heute mit meiner übelkeit dorthin musste… aber zu sehen wie die leute bei einem deartigen wellengang die boote in das wasser bringen und v.a. wieder rausziehen… hut ab kann man da nur sagen!