"Nonsense, Bucharest is miles out of the way" An epic train Journey and a Sandwich

I recently read my friends excellent blog post about Sandwiches having Stories and this reminded me of one of the greatest sandwiches I ever had, which also has a pretty humourous story behind it. It has already been told on an older blog which is now defunct, I thought I would tell it again. It takes place largely in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. It concerns the trip we took from Thessalonika, Greece to Budapest, Hungary.

This event was early in my proper backpacking career on the first trip I took. I learnt two very important lessons in regards to travelling; 1. Never trust Dave with the timetable and 2. Jacob is actually insane.

Tanks on the Street in Athens... Signage to Thessalonika

The whole thing started badly as we waited in Thessalonika for 13 hours, we tried to find the beach which we knew was nearby but failed in the heat with our heavy backpackers and a seemingly endless construction site with walls blocking our path. For an international train station it was rather rudimentary, with a horrible Cafe and small shop to boot. It also appeared to be home to a large number of tramps, I refer to this time as Purgatory, endlessly waiting for yet more waiting. I bought a Greek Maxim to use up the last of my Euro's which would be fairly useless in Hungary.

First tell-tale sign of the impending problem that was too come - the board for the information for trains going to Budapest said 'Via Sofia/Bucharest. This appeared to be our train, we commented that Bucharest was miles out of the way.  In fact in my journal, Dave actually is quoted saying these (now) immortal lines "Nonsense, Bucharest is miles out of the way" Dave, was very much correct, it is miles out of the way, about 24 hours to be exact. Yes we were that arrogant to believe that the screen and the train company was wrong. We for some deluded reason believed our train to be taking a more direct route through Serbia Montenegro.

I don't see our train... oh phew its the arrivals

Finally it was time to board our train to Budapest, a nice affair with proper sleeping cabins much like the one from Paris to Rome. This was our second overnight train of the whole trip and it was a rather different affair. So we began are overnight trip to Budapest through the adjoining countries. First shock to the system, being rudely awoken by big burly immigration officers with big boots demanding passports at 3am. In a sleep filled haze this was achieved and we returned to sleep and we assumed we had crossed into Serbia. None of the peace and quiet of the Paris/Rome leg but we thought this would be good practice for more strenuous immigration issues crossing in to Russia and China further down the line. For reference, China/Russia border crossings are a hoot, with blackmarket currency exchanges, bizarre markets and being stranded for 2 hours.

You'd think we may have figured things out earlier, but without crossing the second border point (or the third for that matter) we awoke the next day and we figured we were nearing our destination as Dave had confidently asserted after checking the timetable that we should arrive in around an hour or two. He proceeded to ask the attendant what time we will arrive... "1130, Tomorrow" - Dave became rather puzzled,
"You mean today? Obviously thinking it was a language barrier problem.
"1130, tomorrow" the repeated answer.

Dave returned to tell us the bad news, and rechecked the timetable book.... oh yeah we noted we are on a train that goes to Sofia and Bucharest as previously stated and it quite clearly takes two nights not one. Armed with this new information that we were in a whole different country to the one we expected to be in, the daunting prospect of being vastly under-prepared for 48 hours on a train began to sink in. Although not the end of the world, we had limited food, money and water.

Not having eaten anything for the whole day we were beginning to get rather hungry. Luckily we stopped at the border for immigration checks. Some entrepreneurial kids came to the window and began to offer to sell us stuff. We scraped together a measly six Euros and asked for food from the keen grafters. What we were furnished with was beyond anything we expected. They returned with three kebab style sandwiches laden with meat,lettuce, chips and sauces that spilled out everywhere... it was a veritable feast. It also tasted fantastic and was hard work to finish. Salvation had come in the form of sandwich. This is the sandwich of my story, provided by budding kids trying to make a few bucks off the daily train that comes through town. So far it has been my only contribution to the Romanian economy. However the the train journey didn't end there and there are a few more events still to happen.

Late in the afternoon we pulled in to a station, a barron station with one small building and what passed for a platform. The attendant happily hopped off an we followed suit. As the attendant didn't get back on the train we didn't either. What happened next was also completely unexpected. The majority of the train pulled off leaving the last two carriages(one being ours) alone stranded in the middle of nowhere. We were left here for 3 hours. On the plus side there was a water fountain we could use to top up our water bottles. It was at this point that Jacob had his mental breakdown, something about a frog that we couldn't kill or stop that would kill us all. Im sure he still has nightmares about it to this day.

In the small writing (if you can read backwards it says via Bucharest)

Quaint Station

"Hey, Where'd the Train Go?"

Meanwhile... in Eastern Europe

When we arrived in Budapest we booked the correct train to Warsaw then and there. Having learnt a valuable lesson.
1. Check where the train goes.
2. Have some additional snackets
3. Romanians make awesome sandwiches

I never board an overnight train without at least one pot of chinese instant noodles, some fanta and plenty of money for the beer trolley! Optional extras... cards, mp3 player to share with the other people on the train. Seriously playing Drum and Bass to middle aged Chinese people is really quite amusing. Anyway we made it, and then the Danube flooded. Observe...

Holocaust Memorial... Budapest 

and the Same shot two days later (or as close as I could get)

Team GB sails Turkey

The last post was rather waterry themed and boatlike and this one follows on from that. The last proper sailing adventure I had was Panama to Colombia which was amazing. This time the location was the Bodrum Peninsula of Turkey and only involved one (attempted) border crossing.

Things didn't exactly start well, Sunsail never received our flight information and so we had to wait a whole ten minutes before the minibus arrived; where my parents assured us it was "a 15 minute transfer"... an hour later we arrived, dumped our gear on our new home 'Adelaide' found food before going to sleep.

View of the Marina

After a Turkish breakfast and briefing where we met our fellow flotii's and the lead boat crew consisting of Tom, Rachel & Erol (we had met them the night before but everyone was tired). I have at this point, just now realised that we represented GB entirely, our English Boat, the Welsh boat and our lead boats 66% Scottishness (The welsh boat was actually also 66% Welsh but they did fly a Welsh flag for the duration so they are officially Welsh for all purposes and shall henceforth be known as The Welsh Boat so as to avoid any confusion). As a group we will be known as Team GB, it is Olympics year after all.
We learn't we were the first flotilla of the season and as such were basically the guinea pigs, no problems here. While I spent the morning collecting essential supplies -Beer, Limes and Coke for the rum; the others went and bought non essentials - food and water (this is a lie, I actually only bought limes). At this point it'd be nice to point out some Turkish cultural differences... but the supermarket was very similar to a UK one.

Fully stocked we FINALLY left port and headed out to sea. Think ride of Valkyries style epicness... or not. A seemless exit and we headed into the fine breeze and hoisted the sails... 

Under Sail Day One

Enjoying the Sail

I believe it was the first day where we saw some Dolphins, I failed to picture them because everyone was more worried I might accidently catch a dolphin with the fishing line I had out the back of the boat... so yeah not my fault. I mean really, catch a Dolphin?
First stop was a bit of a change as the original plan of Rafting (see me if you are unsure as to what this entails) was a no go so we dropped anchor and free swinged (again, see me if unsure). The town was called Gumusluk or something to that and was quite small. We went ashore for a rum punch party which was actually pretty good. We had a nice meal of Turkish things... I can't quite remember. It being the first week me and my sister decided to recon the area and bars. I think we can safely say this was achieved as somehow in a tiny town I managed to return at 7am and my sister [like the idiot she is] swam back to the boat.

Attempting to Row with broken paddles in the bay

Sailing day two was upon us after I emerged from slumber and we had already left and were ready to bring up the sails. I had arrived at the right time. Now this part of the story for us is rather uneventful but for Tom & Rachel I am understood they were a bit worried. We turned to wind an tried to bring the main up, but it would not go all the way. Whilst we attempted to fix this we carried on our course to wind... straight towards Greek waters. Now this is a problem because as you may know, Turkey and Greece are not the best of friends despite being neighbours, and secondly without the correct papers/transits/etc you can face some serious problems. Y'know just like walking from Panama to Colombia or Mexico to America.

We did not really become aware of this until much later when we received a text 6 hours later "Um probably not a good idea to sail to Greece guys" and a few missed calls from unknown numbers. The radio should have worked too, but it did not.

Anyway illegal border crossings averted, I plotted us an excellent course to the next Marina. My excellently laid plans were almost instantaneously ruined by the lookout spotting some things, lots of things floating in the water blocking the course. On closer inspection they turned out to be.. MILLIONS of fish farms. Navigating this mess, we arrived at Maya Marina where I perfectly reverse parked (disclaimer: I'm shit at reverse parking in a car). Dinner this time was in a nice restaurant on the hillside, where my sister failed to leave the boat. Turkey 1 - Abigail 0.

Sunset over fish farms

Team GB

Abigail re-emerged from the depths of Valhalla or wherever it was and we re-embarked on the next leg of the sail. Largely uneventful we toured an island, and enjoyed some calm sailing downwind under the Genoa. Not on parking duties I cracked on with the beer and rum, finishing my books.

Enjoying a post Hangover Swim

Hilarious...

Next day was 'Free Sailing' where we got to choose where to go, given all the options it was quite clear there was only one real option, Torbay, Devon. Not quite, Torba was the actual destination and it was quite pleasant, we had a good meal and I enjoyed a 'Cornetto Disc'. Amusingly on 'free sail' day we all ended up in the same place, ultimately forcing Tom & Rachel(pictured above) to work on what is sort of a day off for them... sorry guys!

You may have noticed the French flags in a lot of the pictures... well the boats are registered in France and so fly French flags... It should be noted that this is not the standard French flag, there are two extra unnecessary colours on the one shown here, specifically the blue and red. (see me, if you don't get it once again)

Second to last stop was Gundogan. We got a little damp here on the journey in, Me and Abigail played cards in the sun while we waited for dinnertime after a very tasty lunchtime Mezze. Dinner was another good affair of Turkish dishes, fish and meatball type things. At one of the meals I had Buttered Octopus and it was fantastic. Once again time to head back to the boat and read before a sleep and the final leg of the tour.

Team GB set sail as per usual with us being the last to follow. We attempted to get the sails up and just gave up after the wind decided to be about as useful as a chocolate teapot (stolen from somewhere/one). Then came the rain... it was heavy. Fully soaked we blitzed on through into the Sun and enjoyed the last of the journey back.

A writers table?

Responsible Helming

Sunset in Turgutreis

Back at base camp we headed out for one last group meal, which was again very good, especially the onion rings. A surprise birthday cake was delivered for Andy and then came out the prizes: The Welsh: 'Best Exit' (crashed) and another I have forgotten, The English: 'Escape Artists'(Sailing to Greece) & 'Last Ones Standing' (First night escapades). We then headed out with the group to spend the last of our remaining Lira in the local marina bars and altogether drinking too much. Final full day was spent sat in the sun waiting for the bus to the airport.

Birthday Cake... it was huge

Due to 1st Night Antics

That was another week of Sailing, more wind and sails than Panama to Colombia. Oh a while back I figured out another reason why I like to sail and drink rum (sometimes at the same time), back in Primary school we use to sing this song:

When I was one I'd just begun

The day I went to sea,

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was two I lost my shoe

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was three I hurt my knee

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  four , knocked at the door

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  five I learnt to drive

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  six I played some tricks

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  seven I went to Devon

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  eight I found a mate

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  nine I had some wine

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

When I was  ten I bought a hen

The day I went to sea.

I jumped aboard a pirate ship

And the captain said to me -

"We're going this way, that way,

Forwards and backwards,

Over the irish sea.

A bottle of rum to fill my tum

And that's the life for me."

We also sang another song entitled "What do we do with a drunken Sailor" so y'know go figure....

Ps. Kudos for reading this far, a reward awaits you... not really. Also I brought the weather back with me, so you can pay me in beer/cider.

Saturday Afternoon Pictures

With no travelling or exciting adventures to speak off as current I will fill this void with photographs so enjoy... 

Harbourside view towards centre

An exciting thing happened in Bristol a few weeks back, so as any doting citizen I grabbed my camera and went to view this event. The magical excitement was a rather large docking in the harbour.... once our fine city was full of large vessels and now we have just one, which is dry docked (SS Great Britain - not the one below).

It has a stupid name.

Continuing the aqua theme, here is a swan enjoying the spring sunshine.

Loving the glare

You know what, I should just make this whole post about boats, here are some more from a recent outing to Cardiff.

Big Red

Sailing in Cardiff Bay

Red Sails

Inadvertently hijacking this post with boats was an accident, just turned out they are the best of recent photos.   Here is a somewhat more bleak one of the Arches from Bristol to end with.

City Arches

Well enjoy your Saturday afternoons.

The British Method (over reacting to nothing)

Everyone thinks the Japanese are weird, and when  I was in Japan I commented on some of the quirks that I came across. Now I am going to treat the UK exactly the same, some bizarre behaviours and downright stupidity that we experience as a nation on an almost weekly basis, usually ending in a load of fuss over nothing.


1. This Oil panic.
A completely pointless incident whereby a load of people caused an oil shortage due to some bad advice from the government and severe lack of common sense. So what happened? The drivers who deliver the oil, and lets be very specific here "threatened" to strike over Easter weekend. Firstly, it was only a threat, secondly they would require seven days notice before any said strike could take place. Ample time to prepare for said event and buy petrol. But this is what happened next:

Cameron/Tories say: Fill up your half full tank now!
Mass panic ensues, queues at petrol stations, demand rises 175%, pumps run dry.
Then this happened: Woman burns herself with Petrol
After, politicians said "we didn't cause a panic" - Yes you did...

And finally after all that the union says it won't strike during easter anyway. Outstanding. The only people I know who were affected by this whole set shenanigans were my friends who actually have to drive places, who didn't panic and then were unable to top up when they actually needed to.

Yes please

Well, sure, I mean this isn't the same thing... oh what the hell its beer!

2. 'PastyGate' and naming every scandal a 'Gate'

Topical item number 2. Everyone got all upset this week over Cameron adding tax to a hot pasty or a cold one. I'm confused but I don't care. Everyone got mad, Cameron claimed to have eaten a pasty where the shop no longer exists. The papers started referring to it as "Pastygate"... because every scandal is now "....gate". It is idiotic and unoriginal and displays how lazy the media is.
Quote of the week for this incident:
"That put the Jaffa Cake into limbo land and that's what the government's done with the pasty. They've put the pasty into limbo land. People aren't going to be happy about that."

3. Man Puts Up Sign Asking Children Be Quiet, Everyone Gets Offended


The killjoy. Almost all sides mentioned in this article are at fault. Firstly the guy getting upset over the noise (during the day I might add) is nonsensical. I would suggest he drinks some more tea and enjoys life a bit. The second person to blame is the article. She apparently speaks for all the parents of the children and the school and states she found it threatening and bullying and goes on to say "I was so upset on behalf of the staff and the children". Thats an awful lot of upset to be for a lot of people over one grumpy old man. To feel threatened/bullied by a sign that says "Please do not scream or shout loudly". Do stop signs also upset her? Slippery floor? A trip with her must be hilariously awkward as she becomes scared at any sign of a polite request.
Perhaps it was the size of the sign? Anyway the whole article probably only became a news story because he happens to have "once been a tv presenter" who I've never heard of, this article should have been called "Grumpy old man inspires hilarious over reactions".

What would she make of this sign?

These aren't even isolated incidents, are news is full of minor incidents that somehow everyone gets upset about. Next time let's all abide by that (non)classic british sentiment "Keep Calm and Carry On"


Or you know just riot for no reason. All this has made me two steps closer to buying a boat. Peace.

Bristol Legacies (or why I love my city)

Well you know I love my city, (hence putting it at top five places to live in a top ten I wrote a while back) anyway here are some things that come from or make Bristol what it is. You might not find these on a more mainstream list.


Herberts Bakery/The Breadstore/Fanstastic Sandwich
Although I grew up at first in Kingsdown I grew up on Herberts bread. My parents with lack of a closer bakery would drive to Herberts and collect bread from here. It is forever ingrained as a mecca of bread production. Whenever I walk past Herberts there is an unmistakeable smell of excellence, an no doubt ask anyone in Montpelier and you'd get the same result. It is probably largely to blame for my bread snobbishness and disdain for supermarket bread. Now living closer to the Breadstore, this has become my bakery of choice. Another outpost of excellence, particuarly great when drinking late on a friday night as you fall out of the nearby pubs you can try your luck with some freshly made produce as they get ready for the Saturday morning rush.To complete the trio of bakery related products we finish with Fantastic Sandwich. Hidden away on a side street of Gloucester Road is a sandwich shop that uses Breadstore bread to create excellent sandwiches and baguettes. It only opens until about 2pm and this is usually because it has ran out of ingredients. My usual sandwich is a Thai Sweet Chilli Crab Baguette but it has a massive range, none of which will disappoint.

Herberts in its Glory

Gloucester Road Pubs
Obviously this has to make an appearance on any list of Bristol's best attributes. Usually it gets thrown in here because of accolades relating to its independent stores and the fact its still a vibrant high street. But for this list I will talk about its pubs. In a space of just over 1 Mile on this stretch of road are at least 15 pubs or drinking establishments. This I know for a fact, on one fateful evening we once pub crawled to all of them. It did not end well. The start of this misadventure is the rather nice Baths Ales pub called the Wellington, which does fancy but nice pub food. Moving down the road we will skip most as they aren't all worth mentioning. Halo is a nice bar/restaurant that offers cosy dining for relatively cheap, it also helps that I use to live above it. Opposite that we have what is basically a student pub that has recently undergone a revamp being re-dubbed "The Cider Press", next to that we have the more upmarket 'Flyer'. Towards the bottom of the road we get to Music Cafe The Prom and next to that the Blue Lagoon. Both make for good afternoon drinking spots especially in the sun. Lastly we have the Prince of Wales which is a proper pub, serving classic ales and Cider with a nice enclosed Garden at the back. It is also known for having a rather large lovable dog from time to time. It does however get a little too crowded almost every day of the week. So there are my favourite locals...

PoW

The Apple
Affectionately known (by me) as 'The Cider Boat'. It is a boat that specialises in Cider. What else do I need to tell you? All you need to know has already been covered; "Cider" and "Boat", nuff' said.

Smerins Anti-Social Club
One of my favourite local bands, always smash it. BBC Music describes them as a '9 piece funk-dub-spacerock band from Bristol' which I guess is pretty apt, I'd throw in some Ska/swing too though. They don't play that often but when they do it is a treat not to be missed. Here is a small clip of them playing at Womad:

They also do a version of the Dr Who theme dubbed up (which can be heard in this clip aswell). Check it here. Some other amazing local bands to check out include Goan Dogs(happen to be friends of mine) they play something called "Desert Rock", Dr Meaker, a live dnb/dubstep outfit and plenty more to check out. The point here is that Bristol has some of the best music around and there never is a shortage of talent. It continuously gets this praise and as I know nothing of music thats me for now.

St Andrews Park
You may have noticed by now how Gloucester road centric these places mostly are. This is because it is the best place in Bristol. When summer comes round the best place to be in, is the park. Despite the bad side of the hordes of retard crusties doing stupid amounts of Noz it is a splendid place to spend the afternoon having BBQs and drinking beer in the sun.

St Andrew Park in the sun

Quirky Venues
Time to branch out an head further afield than my local territory of Glos Road. First up we have The Cube. The Cube is a local, independent volunteer run cinema which also occasionally has small gigs. It mostly screens small, independent or foreign films. It also has a bar which sells organic brews which is an added plus. Next up we have The Lanes, this is retro 50s themed bowling alley/bar/club. Exactly what it sounds like, get drunk and go bowling. This has led to some hilarious incidents that I'm pretty sure Katie doesn't want me to repeat on the internet. Either way it is a pretty cool venue. Moving on we have another boat, Thekla. Quite the Bristol institution I like it because it is a boat. It is bar and club that is a docked near to King Street and the Apple. Although there are numerous more venues an places to mention, I will finish this section with my favourite cafe, which isn't exactly quirky, though the seats made of tyres use to be... yes it's Boston Tea Party on Park Street. The white hot chocolate is my staple beverage and the HUGE sandwiches are pretty good for a lunch as well. The upstairs is too crowded for my liking but the garden is spacious and enclosed. Honourable mentions go to The Cider House, The Corrie Tap, Lloyds Amphitheatre(for views, gigs and skating) Motion(cause everyone whose been says it's amazing and I really want to go and yet still haven't made it) and of course Ashton Court.

Thekla on the Left

Lloyds in Winter

Restaurants
Places I go regularly to eat or places that I go not so often but are amazing. Once again we may get a Glos Road theme but I also go further afield for food. My favourite Italian is Rocco's, located next to the new Sainsburys it is a tiny family run restaurant with a proper atmosphere, good food and service. It is in my mind exactly what a small restaurant should feel like; slightly cramped but warm and welcoming. My next restaurant up is Tai Pan. Practically across the road from Rocco's for the first half of my Thai time I preferred the food here, the Pad Thai is excellent and the Prawn Crackers are also fantastic. The next winner is the Lal Jomi in Redland. My favourite curry house by a mile, always order too much food and never disappointed. A proper curry experience. Next up we have a place I've only been once but it was amazing. This is Culinaria on Chandos road. It is only open 3 days a week and serves incredible food. Might not be the biggest portions (thats not the kind of food) but everything else makes up for that. Honourable mention time, Casa Mexicana, Zero Degrees(for its bizarre and sometimes not good pizzas but redeemed by the Mussels) and Water Sky (best chinese food around).

Rocco's

Everything Else
Other things that are fantastic to do are walk around the docks at any time. You can see in some of my photos how great it looks in the sun and at night. The harbourside festival takes advantage of this too. Another highlight I like in Bristol is the amount of (good) Graffiti. This can be hard to find or very obvious, for instance the famous Banksys etc. Clifton Suspension Bridge is off course a Bristol Icon, viewing this from the Cumberland Basin and around is one of my favourite sights, either on the train or from the causeway as I return from adventures in the South West. Just over the bridge we have Ashton Court which has already been briefly mentioned, a great day trip for a picnic or the newly relocated Brisfest.  One could go to bath, but bath is boring so don't bother. Head the other way to Somerset for some nice country pubs, farmers, the Mendips and Cider.

Dat Bridge

Well that's the end, no doubt I've missed off a load of awesome things but you go find them yourself.

A Year In The Ring of Fire

Well I am Home, I have sorted my job applications for the day and other menial tasks one has to do at home so I thought I'd get this finalised....  enjoy

I have been plotting and planning this blog post ever since I got to South East Asia as to me that signals the end of the trip, despite still being 3 months away at the time it feels like nothing. This was not to say I wasn't keen to carry on travelling, I was. In fact when Welshman decided to head home I seriously considered the same thing but it was never a viable option. I know I would have regretted it, there were still adventures to be had, people to meet and experiences to well, experience. Cambodia proved it was the right choice, the warmth of the people and everything coming together at New Year. (I'm actually writing this still in Cambodia with a solid 45 days to go before I even finish my travels but what I can recall about the year starts now). Being the cynical grumpy bastard I pretend to be, this is actually quite hard, recollecting on everything that has happened, from the amazing scenery to the wonderful people I have met. It has been such an amazing year that I can't understand what I ever did to deserve it. In travelling around the World you learn that despite everything it isn't that big (anymore) and we are all the same. Despite this it is big enough that I have come nowhere near seeing everything and there is still so much more to see. I have seen the worlds highest mountain and sailed under the stars, slept in a temple, a farmers house and many other locations (including an airport). I crossed the international date line twice as well as making it to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. At every step and turn, sometimes just when you began to lose faith you would meet or find something that made it all worthwhile. So, A year in the ring of fire, Sauntering 'Vaguely' Downwards the year that was.

The Very Beginning, Night One - Hong Kong.

I couldn't quite figure out how to mention everything so I will do brief recaps/highlights of countries, you can find the whole adventure in the previous blogs. Starting in China I fell in love all over again, the people, culture, food and everything. I did all the things I meant to and had time left for some new things. I slept in a temple on a mountain, saw the Li River and even made it to Tibet where I met people who had never seen the Sea. I have since met people who've never seen snow. China was a good reintroduction to the travel lifestyle as it is fairly familiar to me. I'll chuck Korea in here as I was only there a week, seeing Clare who I hadn't seen in a while which is always nice.

Stupa in Zhongdian

Japan came next, a complete culture shock from China. I drank too much sake and ate raw horse. I slept in traditional Ryokans with Tatami mats with sliding doors. I saw the illustrious snowcapped Mt.Fuji, got lost on the Tokyo metro and spent a majority of my time in the 'Onsen'. Arriving 2 months after the Fukushima disaster I saw a country in mourning and repair, yet still very upbeat. It is this pragmatism and cheer that teaches you obstacles can be overcome even with the threat of nuclear oblivion hovering over you.

Nara, Japan

Canada was once again completely different(obviously) to Asia. I watched Ice hockey, predicted a riot and was impressed with the clean up effort afterwards; the best and worst of humanity in 24 hours. It was apparent it wasn't the Vancouvans who had really rioted as they spoke out against it. I saw a humpback whale with Mercedes and saw the most beautiful lake in the world, before walking on a glacier and witnessing bears in the wild(an everyday occurrence for Canadians). Canada was a land of natural wonder and odd food (Poutine)

Lake Louise

Continuing South I walked across Niagara falls where I learnt how incompetent bus companies in America are. I met my friend Welshie for some well needed companionship. We joked with police officers and visited most of the 'great american cities'. In America I was amazed at how generous Welshie's friends were with putting not just him up, but me a stranger too on the logic 'any friend of yours'. They not only put us up but often took us on tours or arranged them for us when they couldn't. It really made me address my half assed attitude to the same thing back home. They repeatedly went the extra mile at every turn. We met Savage and drove up the west coast witnessing beautiful nature and having hilarious adventures (the stripper, the lesbian and the transgender). I returned to Yosemite and it truly is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We saw both man and natures dark sides again, forest fires in Nevada and gambling addiction in Reno.

Lake Victoria

I parted ways with Welshman as me and Savage headed to Panama. We practised our Spanish with the hostel staff and had drunken conversations at 3am in the pool with lightning flashing above us. My naivety kicked in here as a I realised there is no land route from Panama to Colombia in order to get to Peru(the plan). In one of those amazing coincidences I learnt to you could sail to Colombia and so I ended up spending five days at sea sailing to Colombia which was one of the best experiences of the whole trip, and true to the subtitle I hadn't intended to visit Colombia but in the end I did, and I think I needed to. I fell in love with the way Colombian women move on the dancefloor and made it to Peru.

Puerto Lindo

Peru was easily one of my favourite places.Culturally I saw ancient lines, in a hilariously dangerous plane(now its hilarious), climbed Machu Picchu and hung out with monkeys in the Jungle. I cut short Chile just to adventure more in Peru. I met some truly amazing people and was invited to Peruvian birthday parties left right and centre. It wasn't all gravy in Peru there were times I questioned what I was doing and for a few days became unmotivated, but I think this was largely due to not having a proper coversation with anyone for about a week.  However everything transpired to turn the last couple of weeks in Peru in to another amazing time, returning to a hostel 1 month and a half later to still be recognised is a fantastic feeling. This continued in the few days I had in Chile, once again peoples generosity shone through. I met a girl who despite not having ever met agreed to meet and give me tips for Santiago(her mum works with my mum, so in typical mum meddling she passed on the details)

Local Peruvians

In New Zealand it was once again time to meet the Welshman, with a new companion the Stonelake. Old hockey boys from the Plymouth days. New Zealand is again a country of natural beauty. Driving around was a great way to see it as we could stop where and whenever. Once again the Welshmans contacts sorted us out with incredible hospitality, sometimes turning up no less than half an hour before and being lavished with wine. I popped in on my cousin Doug who has a house with a stunning view over South Wellington and the sea. I became frustrated with the New Zealand hostel system, a moniker of "for backpackers by backpackers" is clearly crap when every little thing is charged extra (and it isn't cheap to begin with). Despite this we had a great time in New Zealand, partied with Orlando Bloom (not really) and marvelled at the sites. Visiting Christchurch we saw the destruction from the Earthquake and it was sad to see that the centre has been ruined and the mood in town was rather solemn, while in Thailand we learnt that it had been hit with yet another Earthquake which is never good news. Australia was a write off because I can not afford to spend 3 weeks there.

Some River

Looking forward to returning to Asia, Thailand was both welcome but a bit of a disappointment at times. The rampant over commercialisation found in parts is almost exactly why one wants to leave England. I also found the backpackers weren't so much here to see things, experience culture but more get as drunk as possible. Despite this we met some incredible people, some stunning sites and amazing experiences. It is often when I became disheartened that the best things happen, there are definitely places in Thailand I would return to. I spent my first Christmas away from home, which was a quiet time for reflexion of the previous year and what was to come. Although I spent Christmas eve and Christmas day alone (apart from Kevin)  it never really felt depressing to be alone at this time due to being surrounded by beautiful beaches and relaxed beach bars with fireworks. I wondered if people were thinking "What kind of decisions do you have to make to end up alone at Christmas?"; in my case pretty good ones. However I shared a thought for those whose Christmasses weren't so good, and recounted some of the sights/stories I've seen or heard that were not so uplifting. The second half of Thailand made me think I had been a little too harsh on it as first as I discovered the other, nicer quieter side to it. The Welshman decided to go home midway through and three months early and I can understand why. Either way I eventually re-found my zest and headed to Cambodia.

Rai Leh, Ao Son Tai beach

I almost instantly fell in love with Cambodia. I celebrated an amazing New Year on the beach with new and (new) old friends with fireworks galore. I finally got my sailing fix on and enjoyed some incredible seafood before I left beaches behind for good. I witnessed the dark history of Cambodia and then the incredible sight that is Angkor Wat. The people in Cambodia were amazing and some of the friendliest on the whole trip. With time running out I had to leave Cambodia, rather reluctantly and it is an almost definite return location.

Fishing at Sunset in Cambodia

With time running out the next stop was Vietnam. I started by taking a boat trip down this part of the worlds most important/famous river the Mekong to the Delta area. I acclimatised to the hustle of Saigon and learn't more about the Vietnam war than I had really previously looked in to and learnt the horrors of Napalm and Agent Orange. I headed north in to what was a cold and wet climate. Tet got in the way of a lot of my plans but I met friends from home and made many new ones, which is what its all about. I visited the scenic sights of  Halong bay and the Hai Van Pass before finishing Vietnam in the  UNESCO heritage town of Hoi An, I enjoyed my time in Vietnam but I had met others who had not had such a great time, being scammed as such it reminded one to always be aware and how different experiences shape your opinions.

At Halong Bay

Laos was the next and last new country I would visit on the trip making it country number 15. For a period of time in Nam I had considered skipping Laos due to time constraints but in the end after everyone I know who had been telling me I had to I found the time to include it and was glad I did. Half of all travelling is relying on word of mouth for places and you get an opinion that even the best guide book would fail to provide. I skipped Vientiane and headed to party capital Vang Vieng where I randomly met people I had met all around South East Asia, once again ramming home the 'it's a small world' theory. After leaving Vang Vieng it was time for cultural time in another UNESCO heritage city where I took in temples and met lots of elephants. Laos was a stunning country and I am disappointed I had so little time to explore, there are many sights I would have liked to get in but this is the nature and inevitably when time has become short. The last few months in Asia were almost a contrast to the first three where I had plenty of time and I operated at a slower pace but still managed to take (almost) everything in.

Temple, Laos

Returning to Thailand almost felt like a home coming, not just because it is the only country I revisited on the trip, and nor because I was returning to a familiar location (I was not, Chiang Mai was totally new to me) it was because it was the end, I had the prospect of seeing old faces with little agenda except to prepare for heading back to rainy England. I needn't say a lot here because it is all covered in the previous blog post. What I can say is that obviously being so close to returning home I spent a lot of time thinking about what I will do when back home and seeing If I have come any closer on figuring out what to do with myself. So far the answer is no. I was ready to return not because I am bored/sick of travelling but just because I am looking forward to familiarity and staying in the same place for a while. This is what I came to crave towards the end, stability.

Elephants by the river

People will probably ask me if I've changed or if I learnt anything on my travels. I am not sure if I have changed, I feel my perspective has slightly changed and I hope I am a bit more welcoming and can repay some of the hospitality I have experienced on my travels. Before I finally round up this year long review I thought I'd include some statistics/figures ranging from countries visited, books read to items lost/stolen;

Total countries visited: 15
Books read: over 30

I have taken over 20,0000 pictures.
I have gone through; 3 pairs of shoes, 2 side bags, 3 pairs of flip flops, 1 pair of shorts and 3 pairs of swim shorts.
I have lost; 2 phones, 1 towel and wash bag, a padlock and chain, 1 speaker, 2 t-shirts and most of my socks (Seriously I started with about 7 pairs, bought more along the way and I have about 3 left) :/
I have broken; 2 pairs of headphones, a pair of chopsticks.

On top of this I have mailed two boxes home and sent more stuff home with Welshie.


So to finish, I wrote the majority of this in Cambodia while I waited for a bus, it was an emotional recollection from the lows to the highs, but mostly due to the highs I got emotional. Setting out alone I could never have envisioned what was to come, before I set out I was apprehensive and wondered if I could actually make it a year. Some people think I'm brave for heading out on my own for a year, often I will hear "alone, wow I couldn't..." etc. Truth is, I am little fish in a big ocean with no direction and it was often other peoples faith in me that when stranded in a little village in Panama or in Peru in a tiny town at 3am for instance, that I didn't panic or throw it to the wall and carried on. I've met people who've been through much more hardship than I have ever had to endure and these people are inspiration, at home and abroad. They know who they are and if I tried to name them I'd feel bad if I forgot someone. At New Year in Cambodia we were asked, if there was one thing in 2011 we would have changed about the year, my answer "absolutely nothing" So as I wrote this in a bar in Cambodia back in January getting teary and not really caring who knew, thinking about it all, I'd do it all again in an instant (after a couple of months rest :P).

"You live and learn. At any rate, you live" - Douglas Adams
"Some things never change...some things do. .." Morpheus - The Matrix

My longest travel companion, Kevin & me in Vietnam at Hai Van Pass