#30 Driving the Garden Route, sunsets and 2 traveling buddies.

I was staying in a backpacker in Cape Town called long street backpackers that overlooks the main part of town, it's good people that work there and many nice people I have met that stay there. They made food for everyone for a couple of days free of charge.
I have two friends from home who were traveling around South Africa and now have come to meet me, Erin and Jamie. Actually, I only knew Erin from home but have heard about Jamie and now have gotten to know her as well. The first night they arrived in Cape Town we headed for a 3 hour walk up the hills to go to a point where we could watch the sun set. On the way there printed on the street it said "100m until heaven" This was very exciting to me since I have heard so much about heaven and I never thought I would get to see it so soon. Madonna wasn't crazy when she said "heaven is a place on earth". Anyways, at the top of signal hill it was quite nice and the sunset was beautiful. It's just my expectations were sooo high that it couldn't possibly meet them. After the sun set it was quite cold and luckily we found some people to drive us back to town.
The next day we decided to hit the road so we went and rented a car. We learned that the car is not covered for attempted theft. They told us when we are out of the car to lock all the doors and the other safety things to deter the theives but I was thinking that if they attempt to steal it and break stuff we have to pay so why not leave the doors unlocked so they don't have to break windows and then if they do steal it, it would be covered by insurance.
Anyhow, getting comfortable again driving on the other side of the road with the steering wheel on the other side of the car and remembering how to do stick shift with my left hand took some time. When we got out of the city we got off at a wrong exit. Here there were thousands and thousands of shacks made out of metal or wood that people found and put together that couldn't be much bigger than a normal size kitchen and each one housed a family. We have since seen many of these neighborhoods.
The first night out of town we went to wine country and stayed in a beautiful hostel that was on a large vineyard. We did a long hike in the evening through all the vineyards, around large ponds and once again saw another great sunset. This place cost a little more than most places (about $19). When we left there we headed to a small beach town and got some beach time before heading to a city called hermanus which is world famous for whale watching. When we woke in the morning and went out to the cliffs we could see very easily a whale and her calf swimming. It was awesome to see and we watched for hours as they would every once in a while spray water through their blow holes and then also go down under by bringing their tale up above the water. They are a very peaceful animal to watch. When we left there and headed along the coast we saw a bunch of baboons back off the road in the bushes, it's no farm or anything, just wild baboons running around;crazy. (When I was telling people this later and they didn't seem to care much at all it was because I was so excited telling this story that I said bamboo instead of baboon and they didn't care too much that we saw bamboo.)
We stopped at the southern most tip of the african continent and saw where the Indian and Atlantic ocean meet. This night we stayed in a hostel that was actually an old train that is right on the beach. When we went back to the big dorm room (a train car) I saw 3 german girls that I had roomed with back when I first got to cape town. When we roomed together in cape town they always saw me eating apples and thought it was the only food I ate so they were amazed to see me eat other food. They would also ask me if I speak german and then I would tell them no, but when they would talk and then look at me and then laugh it didn't matter if I understood german or not; I understood what was going on. Earlier in the day we stopped at a little fishing village where the boats go out and actually fish with lines and the old styles to catch the fish. We were there when they arrived back and so we bought some fresh fish (a red roman which is only found in these waters). They were absolutely delicious!! After our night on the train we were off again and this time we found ourselves in another ocean city where we asked about hostels and were told of one that was out near buffalo bay, so we decided to check it out and when we got there we saw miles off beaches with this building that was right on the beach in the most amazing spot. We thought that can't be it, but to our luck and amazement that was it, right there on the beach for $13 a night where back home it would be hundreds. We were the only guests as well and at night they built a fire on the beach for us. Where we planned on staying for a night we will now stay for a few nights. Erin and Jamie have been very easy to travel with, they are quite laid back and happy about everything (it's not to hard to be happy in places that we've been), even when jamie cut her finger and almost bled to death (ok, a little dramatic).

You can't always view beauty from a comfortable armchair.

#29 South Africa Sun, Seals and Stories.

Have you ever looked at a tire from a car and thought shoes? me neither, until now.
Rewind.
Ok, so I arrived to the sunny Cape Town and got myself a room in a backpackers on long street, the main street in town (about $13). I headed off wandering around the city and found myself down by the harbor in the middle of restaurants, shops, boats and seals swimming all over the place. On all the little docks there were seals laying there basking in the sun. I ventured down to one dock that was away from people and had about 10 seals laying on it looking lazy as ever (reminded me of Adam-Borat and Mark-brother hanging out together) I went down to take pictures with them and as I got close one made a big bark and I ran like a little girl. (Ok, I know I have a lot of friends that are little girls and maybe you take offense to that. Actually thinking about all of you I picture you running as well so I'm sticking with it) I ran like a little girl!! It's not that they would bite me I don't think, but they are big and I wasn't expecting it. Well, then after walking around for a while more and getting some food I was still knackered from the long flight and so went to bed and slept for 14 hours. I decided the following day would be a beach day but instead of paying for a cab I walked for about 2.5 hours over the little mountain to the beach. Absolutely beautiful beaches with the mountains in the background I laid there and would go for a swim in the freezing cold water every half hour or so and the rest of the time enjoy the sun and the scenery (mountains, water and girls in the vacinity). I managed another day at the beach since I've been here but took a van taxi where they pack about 15 people into a van and it is quite cheap and quite an experience in itself. Another night I went dancing for a night with some other people I met in the backpacker, more Germans, I swear they are everywhere on this trip; luckily they have all been nice and lots of fun.

On another night I met Miyere, a Masai Warrior from Kenya. We have since spent a lot of time together and I have been fascinated, educated and made a good friend along the way. Last night I went to a barbeque (here they say a brii) in a farm up in the hills that overlooks the city. At the farm there are horses, cattle, donkey, chicken, pigs, dogs, cats and more animals that I didn't see. They aren't caged in or fenced in, they just walk around and all live in harmony together. The barbeque was to raise money for homeless children in the city. Today I learned how to make sandals out of tires. I tried some on and they are extremely comfortable so when I get home I will make myself a pair and if anyone else would like to learn, well then come to africa and have someone teach you. I will tell you much more about Miyere but he will have to have a blog of his own.
Life and things happen in mysterious ways.
I read the other day a quote.

Action without vision is just passing time
vision without action is just daydreaming but
vision with action can change the world.

#28 A hug fits all sizes and to the Cape I go.

My last night with Adam I sat courtside for the team's biggest game yet. They only dressed 7 so the players had to step up. Adam led the way with 22 points for an exciting victory over the other team. The reason I have more pictures of the cheerleaders than of the basketball game is that everytime I tried to take a picture during the game the other team would do well and our team not so well; so by the 4th try I eased off a bit. (some nice cheerleading shots however). After the game we decided to head out on the town with a few of the teammates to hit up a place that reminded me of vegas, not because it had lights or casinos or fake breasts but because it was this huge club sprung up in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Either way we had a fun night with adam making the most of his chance to drink on a rare occasion. The morning after with a frozen bag of vegies on his ass adam and I reminiced about the game and the night before. (The sore ass may have been from the game or a fall during the outing or a combo of both). And like that I leave another familiar face and was off on an overnight train/bus trip to frankfurt.

I then flew to Vienna where I got to meet up with recently new friend, Monika and her family. We danced the night away on both friday and saturday night with her sister, Ines and her friends who were all a fun and happy bunch. I was spoiled with meals, drinks and tour of the city and a comfortable couch. I headed into Ines's work one day which is a sort of after school hangout place for kids. Here I whipped out some magic tricks and to them I was like David Blane, they just couldn't believe their eyes. I followed the magic up with kicking all of their butts in ping pong (OK, so they're only 10). We spent sunday eating. Seriously, from the time we woke up until we went to bed we were eating. We met Monika's mom and sister, Mary for lunch where there was lots of laughing and great conversation. They joke a lot about sex and I said that in the US we generally don't say things about it as freely as they do with families and such. The impression that many Europeans have is that people in the US are very prude and don't talk about sex as if it's a bad thing. They pretend nothing ever happens while it has the biggest market of porn in the world. (This was just one of our many enlightening topics). We all then headed back to Mom's house to eat some snacks and desserts and meet her brother, Filip.
It was absolutly great to spend time with such a kind, outgoing family that made me feel like part of their family for the few days I was with them.
Monika- Thanks for everything, you are a wonderful person and made me feel right at home during my visit.

I headed back to Frankfurt for the night to catch my flight the next morning to Cape Town. I got a chance to meet up with a German friend Kristina for my last day on the European continent to hang out and go out for a great dinner. Kristina-It was great talking with you and thanks for the gifts, it was more than kind.

The following morning I headed to the airport at around 9 to catch my first flight of 6 hours to Doha, Qatar. Here, I only got to wait around in the airport but had a chance to visit the bathrooms. I was amazed that in the stalls near the toilet they had little shower heads. A little confused I thought about this as I sat there and then realised it isn't used to wash your head and face so like they say "when in rome" I figured it could go for "when in Doha" and it was great how clean I felt.
I boarded my second plane at around 8:30 for my second flight which lasted 12 hours. When we got on board the pilot announced that we would be leaving about 20 minutes late but not to worry because we would arrive 4 minutes early which for a 12 hour flight seemed beyond irrevelant.
I have been very lucky since I left home as far as flight go. Out of the 11 flights I've taken I have been able to get an exit row in 10 of them. I made this very long flight with Emirate air which is one of the nicest airlines I have flown with. The food was tremendous and plentiful. We had our own tv with tons of choices of movies (I watched 4, Nacho Libre, The Breakup, Cellular, and 16 Blocks-all decent) Also, the stewardesses were very friendly. I arrived this morning to Cape Town and beautiful weather and didn't realized that there are no buses from the airport to the city but lucky for me a guy I met on the plane called to me and offered me a ride to the city with his girlfriend and his mom.
So, here I am on my second continent, happy, excited, warm, and ready for more adventures.

#27 First continent coming to a close, off to warmer weather

If you are still having problems seeing the pictures here is an easy way to see them:
You have to make an account with winkflash.com which is free and then you click on public files and it will say to put in a user name which is when you put in my user name: stevehowson and all of my pictures will come up.

After leaving Janiboy and the crew in Kiel I headed to Hamburg to visit some other friends, Tom (who I met earlier on the trip), his girlfriend Anne, Oliver, and his girlfriend, Yvann (sp). We started the night with the guys just catching up and playing indian poker which is where you put the card on your forhead and look at the other people and there card trying to bet whether your is higher or lower. We did this while watching the German soccer team on TV (soccer rules in Germany, along with most of the rest of the world).
We all then headed out to the famous Rappebaun which is known for loads of bars and women who wear fanny packs, these women are known as whores. I'm not being mean calling them this, they really are. We met up with some of there friends who were on a bachelor party and joined the party for the night. While waiting to decide where to go next I was hanging back and was approached by two girls with fanny packs, they said that one would suck my ____ while the other one would lick my ____. (If I got a dollar for everytime I heard that I would now have 1 dollar).
This was not free of course and I kindly refused which is when they said they want to see me naked (they said this in the tone that Flea says "we want the money lebowski" in The Big Lebowski)and I told them to take a number which is when they got disgusted with me and walked away. We finally made it to a karaoke bar and they were all excited for me to sing a song in english with my american accent but after waiting for too long to call our song (which was going to be Karma Chameleon) we left and went to another bar where they played songs like the name game, it was great before heading back to crash. There is a sort of thing called easy karaoke which is this program that when you pick the song, no matter what your voice sounds like it makes your voice sound like the original artist of the song, so everyone sounds amazing.

The following day I headed back to Bremen with Tom and Anne to watch season one of friends which Tom had gotten since my last visit when we watched season 9.
Now I am back in Quakenbruk with Adam and the frogs. I am going to go see his basketball game tonight and then I go to Vienna for a few days before heading to South Africa in less than a week, which will be good timing since it is beginning to get cold here.

It is amazing how fast these first 2 1/2 months went by and to think about how much I've done blows my mind. I will have been to 10 countries, have been on 11 flights and many train and bus rides since I've left along with hitchhiking, bike tours, walking tours, boat tours and moped cruising. I've been able to see lots of friends I haven't seen for years and made some great new friends.

A couple of things I've noticed traveling around Europe:
1-Lots of people use travel books like Rick Steve's which may be a good start but what many of them don't realize is that when he travels he doesn't pay for anything, they treat him very well and the places he stays and the restuarants he eats at and he doesn't have to be on a budget.
2-People you meet will tell you their opinion of places that you are going and many times your opinion might agree but everyone's experience depends on lots of things; who you meet, how the weather is, what you do and lots of other things, whereas one bad experience can ruin the image of a city for someone. I could go to the same city 5 times and have 5 very different experiences therefor leaving me with 5 different opinions of what I would tell people.

Thanks for following along during the first leg of the trip.
I will try to continue to keep up frequently on the journals.

There have been quite a few people that I have come across that don't speak much English at all and I don't speak their language but a smile, laugh or body language can often say more than words can.

#26 Visiting Jan and northern germany, treated like a king surrounded by gourmet food, free drinks models.

North to Kiel I went to see my "german cousin" Jan. Arriving in Kiel I was met by the man himself along with his brother Kai. We headed out around the streets in our all access vehicle.
Jan works for Mybach, it is a restaurant/catering service that bases out of their upscale restaurant in the largest mercedes dealership in the north of germany. For the first couple of days I was in town there was a large festival. The 3rd of october is a celebration of the reuniting of east and west germany. There are 16 counties in germany and each has it's capital and every year this big celebration happens in a different capital. This year was Kiels turn. For these couple of days while Jan worked, Kai and I roamed around listening to different bands, checked out all the different booths and local entertainment and stopping frequently at one of the tents that is run by Jan's company stopping to get some free food or drinks.

For a couple of the other days during the week I would stop by the restaurant and get some (free) food including one the best steaks I've ever had; an argentinian steak. I took the bike into town one day to check out the city. Another evening Jan took me to Baltic Sea which I swam in. It wasn't strange that I was swimming naked in this sea to anyone but it was strange that I was swimming in the middle of october to them. As I swam there were people walking by with heavy sweatshirts, winter hats and baffled looks on their faces. For one week of the year an outdoor restaurant opens on the water that sells fresh clams; this is the week of the year when they are in season. This is an all you can eat clam restaurant and all I could eat I did, five huge bowls. It was absolutely delicious and being that they are afrodiciacs (sp) I figured I was going to be horny (well, more than usual) for the next couple of weeks.

The popular drink for Jan and everyone that Jan knows is called a cuba libre which is this cuban rum, Havana Club mixed with coke and fresh squeezed limes. It goes down easy and I figured I should have my share since we can't get Cuban run in the US and also since they were also free.

The final couple of days the mercedes dealership hosted a fashion show which is one of the biggest events of the year. Maybach was in charge of food, drinks, music and some decor. So I was in there helping set up shop for the event hanging out with the owner and the other manager (those two along with Jan call themselves the A-Team). The day before the models arrived so we got to watch their warmups as well. Models are OVERRATED!! at least these ones were. It was amazing that just because of that title many thought they were amazing but if most of you saw one on the street I don't think you'd look twice, maybe twice but that's it.
Anywho, since I wasn't really working and no one knew who I was when the party came I got to wear a pink workshirt (it was quite stylish, especially compared to my regular t-shirt look) which allowed me access to anywhere; even back stage. As I walked around and talked to people with a cuba libre in my hand while everyone else in pink shirts was serving drinks or taking dirty glasses and plates away I had lots of people stop me to what I'm assuming was order a drink or ask me something that they thought someone working should know, I would just smile and say I don't understand German and be on my way (I'm sure I made a good impression for the company). Fashion shows aren't very exciting either, I found myself back near the kitchen talking to friends I had made that work there like Olie and Kristina who were much more entertaining than the party.
Jan- I felt like a king visiting you, free drinks, free food, I got to play DJ and the best air mattress I've ever slept on. You have a very nice girlfriend and some great friends, I look forward to seeing you in the US next summer and I will stop telling everyone how you scream like a girl on rollercoasters, I promise; you too Tom.

#25 Croatian friends as I depart for a busy berlin.

On my final day in Croatia I walked around in the morning with Robert listening to many more stories and singing jimmy buffett. I then lost Robert because while I went into a store he accidentally fell asleep on a bench so I couldnt find him. I decided it was time to head to the beach to catch some sun before heading north to the cooler weather.
At the beach I made some friends, two croatian girls and a german guy. We spent the rest of the day talking, swimming and lying in the sun. As it grew later we decided to go and have dinner together so I headed back to get my bags then headed to meet them along with Robert who had napped and woken up in that whole time. For dinner I ordered a fish platter. When it came it was 4 grilled fish, not 4 grilled fish fillets, but 4 grilled fish, head and all. They were just caught in the last 6 hours and as I tore them apart with my hands and ate them I could taste the freshness. One of the fish had some sharp looking teeth which made me nervous at first until I had his whole middle section in my mouth. While at dinner we decided to have a mock wedding with rings made out of straws and Robert being a little drunk decided to be the priest; this after his only advice to me was not to get married. Anyways, it was a good laugh and a good group to spend my last hours with in Croatia.
On the flight to Berlin I met a couple who had been traveling, James and Jamie who had gotten engaged during their vacation. We all headed to the same hostel, chatted a while and got to share some laughs and stories. Before we boarded the plane, when I was getting my seat I jokingly asked the lady at the ticket counter to sit me next to the cute girl. She said ok and that she knew who I was talking about and to consider it a gift. So as I was boarding the plane you can imagine how excited and anxious I was to see who this woman at the counter thought was cute or who she thought I would think was cute. When I got to my seat there sitting next to meet was large, older german man who had his hefty legs slightly over in my already squished seat. James, after seeing this and knowing the story slipped me a piece of paper that he had torn out of the magazine. When I opened it, it read 'no need to look any further'.
My first day in Berlin I did a walking tour to see all the major sights and hear about the history of this very significantly historical city. I saw the difference that still show between the east and the west, the holocaust monument and of course the berlin wall. There is a few portions of the wall still up. Since people try to take parts of the wall they have one the most ironic things up I've seen; a 4 ft fence protecting a 10 ft wall. I also got to see the bank from the movie 'Run Lola, Run'-if you havent seen this movie I highly recommend it. We also saw the famous Hotel Astor which is more famous in the last few years because it is where MJ held out his baby from the balcony. After the tour and wandering around the city for the day I got a good night sleep for my next big day. The main highlight of the following day was I went to a soccer match, Berlin vs Stuttgart. Before the game in the parking lot I got a german brat and beer. This brat was a little longer than a hotdog but put in a bun about a third the size of a hotdog bun, I was very confused and looked around to see if this was what they gave to eveyone or just a trick on me, it wasnt a trick on me. The stadium was great and the game although ending in a 2-2 tie was very exciting with spectacular goals and constant cheering and heckling through the entire game.
I am now in the north of Germany on the sea in a city called Kiel visiting my german cousin, Jan and his friends.

A girl in germany told me that eastern germany has seen some sad and hard days and a Nietche saying they sometimes use is that: there will often be stones in our path and it is important that we take these stones and build stairs with them.

Choos