# 35 More to come

Hey,
I don't have time to write an update but it willl be coming soon. I am in Tanzania now and have had some great times up to now.
The sound of the ocean isn't just in the shell, it is in anything that is enclosed near your ear. At 26 I just realised this and it is very dissapointing.
Other than that everything is great.

#34 Through Zambia and now into Malawi

After leaving Vic Falls we crossed over into Zambia and headed towards Lake Kariba where we boarded a houseboat for a couple of days. Once we were in the middle of the lake we were allowed to jump off the roof of the boat. Crocs don't tend to be in the middle of the lake, they are genarally near the shore which seemed to be the case for our experience as well. It was a very relaxing couple of days where we got to know the other people on our tour, catch some sun, fish a little and enjoy the scenery of the neighboring islands. At night if we didn't want to sleep in our rooms we could pull our mattress to the roof and sleep under the stars. I have never seen so many stars in my life, it was fantastic to fall asleep gazing at them only to wake up in the morning to the sunrise over the lake.

The next couple of days consisted mostly of driving and stopping for short breaks in little towns and villages. All along the roads there are the little (what we would call one bedroom huts) homes of these people who would get real excited as we drove by and waved. Little kids especially would scream and sprint towards the road to greet us with a wave or whistle as we drove by. Watching them it seems that they spend the morning doing all of the hard work in the fields or going to collect what they need for the day or week and then once the heat from the sun sets in they try to stay cool under the shade or take care of less energy consuming chores. It is the most basic life compared to our standards but it just amazes me all the time to see them so happy about everything.

One afternoon when we arrived at our campsite Egg and I decided to walk towards the nearest village which we were told was quite far away. We never did make it to the village but the entire time we walked we had company. Local people walking along with us or riding their bikes along with us to ask us questions about our lives and to happily answer questions about there life or teach us some of the local language. Some little kids just want to shake our hands or show off there little brothers or sisters. Most people don't have cars and there isn't too much public transportation so all along the streets are masses of people walking and people on bikes who carry more on their bikes than I could fit in my car.

Egg, German (Jamie) and I just realised that yesterday on thanksgiving was also one month that we've been traveling together (and they haven't killed me yet).
Oh yeah, HAPPY THANKGIVING to everyone!! Most of the world have no idea what Thanksgiving is. We just arrived today into Malawi which is one of the poorest countries in the world. We head to Lake Malawi which takes up about a quarter of the countries space.

I try to explain what I do and see but it is so often quite hard to put my feelings of these places and the people and feel of the communities into words.
I still have not had any type of connection to put up pictures but will let you know when I do.


The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.
-Frederick Beuchner

#33 One of the 7 natural wonders of the world and time to switch tour groups.

Some info about the falls I went to see all of yesterday.
The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya are situated on the Zambezi River, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, (17°55′1″S, 25°51′0″E) and are roughly 1.7 km (1 mile) wide and 128 m (420 ft) high. They are considered a remarkable spectacle because of the peculiar narrow slot-like chasm into which the water falls, so one can view the falls face-on.
Victoria is the largest single sheet of water in the world , over 100 metres tall, and over one mile wide
The falls are extremely broad at about 1.7 km across, and the height of the cascade varies from 80 m at the right bank to 108 m in the centre. This makes Victoria roughly twice the height of Niagara Falls, and well over twice the width of the horseshoe falls (Niagara's main portion). The falling water generates spray and mist that rises typically to a height of over 400 metres (and sometimes even twice as high), and is visible from up to 50 km (over 30 miles) away. At full moon, a "moonbow" can be seen in the spray instead of the daylight rainbow.
During the wet season the falls have over 500 million litres (19 million cubic feet) of water falling over its crestline each minute, and spray from this rises hundreds of metres into the air because of the incredible force of the falling water.

It was absolutely fantastic to see this wonder. The water is low right now and still you get soaked walking a fair distance aways from the falls due to the pressure of the falls. They were so beautiful and like a lot of other parts of the world they didn't have security everwhere or tall fences up (in fact they had no fences or anything at all near the cliff) so you felt like it was just you and this amazing thing in the middle of nowhere.

Before we got to Vic falls we where in another city where we did the rhino trek for the day and got drenched. It turned out that we could upgrade at this place from our tent to a bed in a dorm room for the price of $1. Still some people didn't take it. Me, it was one of the best dollars I've ever spent. The owner of this place was also a massage therapist so for $10 I got a 45 minute sports massage.

Our first day arriving in Vic Falls we went out to a restaurant with our group and had a buffet style meal where I got to eat ostrich, warthog and kudu (similar to a deer, but much better meat). We also got to see a bunch of different local dances accompanied by singing. I loved this and got called up to dance during one of them (I think I held my ground) Later that night we visited a local bar/club that had live music and our group (the only white people in there) danced the night away with the locals.
I got to spend a bit more time with Gift, who calls me steveini and teaches me some of the local language. We went out to lunch along with Egg (Erin) and had some local food where you eat with your hands which I quite enjoy.

For the next 20 days or so Jamie, Egg and I join a new bus crew and so get to meet all new people for the next leg of the trip up to Nairobi.

It amazes me how friendly everyone is here and it's not just to us because we our tourists with money or since we are white and stand out in a crowd but just watching them among each other there is a happy kindness that I haven't experienced anywhere else.

It is also strange to be in a city with tons of people around while baboons just wander through the streets, on top of buildings and are just there but don't really get in the way of the people.

In this part of the world when you are talking to someone about doing something such as "when will you be here to pick me up?" they could respond "just now" when they say just now it means that it could be anytime after at least 2 hours and could be as late as months from now.
To the same question they could also respond "now, now"
when they say this it means anytime from now until usually about the latest being 2 hours from now.

Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi

#32 Animals-the big ones, the real africa and an interesting collection of people on the big yellow bus-truck

High speed internet and internet in general isn't in much of africa.
There has been a crapload to happen since the last entry and I can't even remember it all so I will give you the highlights.
Erin, Jamie and I just bumbed around cape town for the last day until we flew into Joberg where we met our group of 19 people to join us in a overland safari from Joberg, South Africa through Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. There are people of all ages from many different coutries.
Our first stop was at Kruger Park. We did a night drive when we got there and saw giraffes, buffalo, baby jackals, baboons and lots of different types of deer type animals. This night also began our month long of sleeping in tents and waking up before 6 every morning to get on the road (we have lots of ground to cover) or start the days activities. The following day we spent the whole day in the park where we saw more of the same along with elephants, zebra, hippoes, rhino, a leapard and the king of the wild, the lion. It was such a great experience and cool thing to see out there in this park that is the size of belgium. (that's right, belgium=kruger-waffles+cool animals) We spent a majority of the next few days driving and stopping in small cities along the way which I really enjoyed since it gave me a chance to talk with the locals. In this time we also saw the 2nd largest canyon in africa, the great zimbabwe ruins where back in the day the king had 250 wifes (I don't even know 250 girls). We camped one night at a place that had a swimming pool that overlooked a cliff with valleys and mountains as far as the eye could see.

I have a small bladder. That and the fact that I drink a lot of water doesn't go over so well when you are always on the road in a vehicle with no bathroom although we can stop any time it's needed. I truly go like 10 times a day. I don't know who I inherited this from but it really disturbs the day especially when you can't get out because there may be lions or other animals near.

We stayed a couple nights at a place called antelope park (I'm sure you could read about it online). When we arrived and set up our tents there were elephants swimming in the river that wasn't 50 meters from us (150 ft, ps-no one in the rest of the world uses ft) This place is famous for saving orphaned lions and breeding them to release them back into the wild since the population number has decreased unbelievably. During our time there I went and played with lion cubs, saw the larger lions and the breeding program and walked with lions one morning to see how they are out and about with other animals around. Some of us also did a carriage ride that went around the park where we could get an upclose look at animals, we saw wildbeasts, zebra and vultures eating a dead cow.(vultures don't eat skin so if a cow hasn't been killed with insides already showing the vultures starts to eat it by going in through the anus and eating the insides-I know that's nasty)
Today we went on a rhino tracking where we looked for footprints and other clues to help us figure out which way to go and then we ended up about 30 ft from them on foot.(they are huge-weighing around 2 tons) Our group decided to go with the guide who had the open top truck and so when it rained on us there wasn't a damn thing we could do except get soaked to the bone and freeze for the next few hours.

Meals have been good, our cook Gift is from Zimbabwe and is the nicest guy in the world who calls me steveini. Some of the group call me Sir-eat-a-lot.
I have been able to make mixes and play my Ipod in the yellow submarine which as you can imagine I've been quite happy about.

We had a day where we went to a little market to buy things and the people wanted everything we had. (I traded the shirt off my back for something) This is because in Zimbabwe it is so hard for people to get stuff they want anything. They asked for Erin's hairtie right from her hair and were so happy when they got it.(It makes you think about the fact that we get tired of our clothes so quick and can just easily go to a store to buy anything we want. The houses many of them live in are just little one room huts. I can't really explain how I feel about it but it's a different world then I've ever seen. We traded some US dollars for zimbabwe money and at the bank we would get 250 for $1 but on the black market we get 1500 for $1 since no other countries will accept zimbabwe money.

This has been such a great experience so far and I will try to update as much as possible. I can't put the pictures up here and don't know when I will get a chance but as soon as I do I will let you know.

#31 Bungee, Canoing, Ostriches and the end of the road trip.

216 meters= about 640 ft. This is the hight of the highest commercial bungee jump in the world that I did after I wrote the last blog. Driving there was the scariest part but then when I had in my mind I was going to do it I quite enjoyed it because I figured I live or I die and since I'm writing this you know the outcome. The two girls joined me as well and were nicknamed the BB's (bridge buddies), which we found pretty funny. It was quite a long way to free fall until the bungee kicked in.
Later that day Erin went paragliding to test her luck with life and after 45 minutes in the air and the guide on her back not being able to land where he wanted they ended up in a cow pasture and had to jump an electrical fence. We all decided that was enough excitement for the night and headed back to the ocean side backpacker to relax for the evening next to a bonfire.
The next morning the sun was shining and we headed out for our next adventure. We stocked a cooler with food and drinks for the night and jumped in canoes leaving our car behind. We had about a 2 hour ride paddling canoes to get to our cabin in the woods that was only accessible by canoes. We thought we would get a little sun and take our time but as we took off the clouds began to appear and after a short time the rain began. We pulled over to the side of the river to wait for a while under trees hoping to stay dry and keep our stuff dry. When the rain finally slowed we headed off again and not more then 10 minutes went by before we had to hurry and look for another pull off spot. This time, wet and cold and sitting under a tree we decided to make a concoction with our drinks. After a half an hour or so with our blood warm and full of energy we decided to push on through to the cabin. When we got there we were not dissapointed one bit. It was a beautiful wooden cabin with a big clean room, an outdoor kitchen with gas stove and a huge deck with a bonfire pit in the middle. First thing was first, I headed out with the axe there to paul bunyan some of the wooden stumps (Jamie took some pictures but it came to an end when the pieces of wood flew off and hit her). After we made dinner, got a roaring fire going and made some drinks we sat in our chairs with blankets and let the night fade into oblivion.
The next morning after finishing too much alcohol the last thing we wanted to do was get back in the canoes and paddle our way back (this time against the current and wind). There were many times that I contimplated living in the woods for the rest of my life or throwing my paddle overboard so I had to choice but to wait for help. When we finally made it back we got some chinese and headed back to our hostel (same one which we planned on staying one night and instead stayed 4) and slept and took it easy the rest of the day.
The next morning after I ate 9 eggs along with 6 tomatoes, a carton of mushrooms, half an onion and a block of cheese (needless to say Erin and Jamie do not approve of my traveling eating habits) and saying goodbye to the owners, Johanne and Annelle we headed off for a full day of driving. Our first stop was in a city known for raising ostriches. Our goal: to ride them. I was too heavy to ride them and I can't tell you in words how upset this made me. The girls refused to on account that they had to do a walking tour about the ostriches life before riding them; that and they are a bit freaked out by the bird that has a bigger eye than brain. Our next stop was to visit the famous local caves. This is by far the worse tour of anything I have ever done. Granted, it was the woman's first group she has taken but really, everytime she spoke I would have preferred that she was punching me in the face and I'm quite sure the rest of the group would have enjoyed it more as well.
We (I) then drove for the next 6 hours through some of the most beautiful country and scenery I have ever seen. One part of the drive was on small roads in the mountains that I was admiring when Jamie very calmly said "well, steve" and pointed at the car coming right at us since I was in there lane. After swerving out of the way my heart was pounding as the girl went back to talking about whatever it was they were talking about before our near death collision.
We finally arrived on the west coast and found a farm that was a backpacker/kennel. (seriously, I took a picture). Then the main mission was to get the girls food; they were upset that I didn't stop to let them eat for like 10 hours. Exhausted, we were awoken at around 4 am to roosters, barking dogs and any other kind of animal you would not want to wake up to. They continued through the whole morning which is when we decided to get up and get the hell out of there. We then had to decide on what to do for the day; mountain bike or go relax on the beach. So after our day (you guessed right) hanging out at the beach we went to a small fishing village nearby to treat ourselves to a delicious dinner at a restaurant on the water. I had some of the best fish of my life, called angel fish. We then went to our new hostel to get a good night sleep periodically waking up to the neighbors barking dogs.
Our last day with the rental car we took off back towards cape town and went to see the cape of good hope which is this southern point that has hikes where you can look over cliffs at the ocean. This day while driving along the bays we stopped at one beach that had tons of penguins everywhere. ( I didn't know penguins were in warm areas, they have it much better than the ones in march of the penguins). We also saw maybe 10 whales or so and they were very active, doing flips, waving there tails and fins and blowing water everywhere; one even waved to me, I called him sam; he was my favorite. Not only that but they were so close to shore that it was very easy to see them; we nicknamed it whale heaven.

People in south africa say "is it?" as we would say "really?" or something
for example
I would say " I had a great time last night, the people were real cool"
their response: "is it?"
This really bothers me for some reason but also makes me laugh at the same time.

if you want to check out the backpackers we stayed at on the ocean for like $15 a night the website is: www.buffalobaybackpackers.com the pictures are great.

We spent last night with the masai warrior, Miyere at his barbeque. I will still write a blog about him. I am going to his village outside of kenya when I get there and he informed me that I will be the first white person many of them have ever seen.

oh yeah. I woke up the other morning to a guy standing above me in his boxers. When I jumped and yelled at him what he was doing, he told us that we were in his beds and when I finally realised where he was supposed to be I pointed him in the right direction back to his room; ahh alcohol. After a short time later I got up to go to the bathroom and when I opened the door after going there was a black cat in our room in front of me. Luckily it went out without too much of a fight but it was too late I was freaked out.

Today we did nothing but ride a train to go to a beach that was too windy to be able to lie there. None the less, not a bad day, I learned a new language.

"I don't live the way I do to escape life, I live this way so life doesn't escape me"

It is my brother Mark's 21st birthday today, so mark, happy birthday!!!

We fly to Joberg tomorrow and on wednesday morning head out on our 32 day bus trip from Joberg to Nairobi.
If you would like to see the itinerary you can go to:
http://www.overlandafrica.com/tours_temp.asp?TourNo=212

3 months have already passed and it is amazing to me how much I have seen and experienced and how many great people I have met. It is very encouraging for the rest of my trip.
thank you to those who read this and write to me, I really do appreciate it.

#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

#24 Robert (Robbie)

If I had to write a biography about someone I think it would be Robert.
When I arrived in Split, Croatia on the ferry I was offered a room by and man and his son. It was a good price so I went with them to the house and when I got there I met a guy named Robert who comes and lives there for at least a couple of weeks every summer. He looks like a mix between George Castanza and Danny Devito but with a smile that I would imagine Mr Bojangles has in the song by Jerry Jeff Walker; it was only redone by the others. Robert drinks too much, smokes too much and has a dirty mouth, but means well. Much of his family lives in Michigan. His parents are both from Hungary and moved to the US when they were very young. They had their honeymoon in Pearl Harbor when it was getting bombed. He doesn´t like his mother. He has two sisters and a brother; one sister recently passed away. He is in his 50`s. He has lived in California and studied Oenology (the study of wine and wine making). He also lived and worked in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and spends the majority of his time in Hungary and the Czech Republic.
I got to spend only about 24 hours with him but got to hear many stories. Our conversation was 90% Robert, 5% me and 5% silence (usually when he was buying a beer or taking a leak). He worked as a Roadie in the early 70`s for Yes, The Eagles and Pink Floyd; they liked him because he worked hard while they hooked up with women. He loves music and reading and writing. He has every National Geographic since 1953 and reads a lot of George Orwell and other classic authors. He hates McDonalds but eats a burger every once in a while to remind himself. His last girlfriend turned out to be a lesbien. The girl he liked most he was together with for 3 years and she had been married 3 times before him. At one point he told me that after he left her...well, she sort of dumped him, there was another girl interested in him but he still had feelings for the old one. He then adds 'looking back, I should have forgot about her and I would have even hooked up with roadkill'
He gave me advice about life: Don`t get married and don`t have kids. When I asked what else, he said that was it.
Once when he was in Estonia he almost got strangled to death by muggers who he earlier swore at and then resisted when they tried to take his money.
Following his stories I often felt like I did when I watched 'memento' where it jumps to the future and then the past and your just trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
I mostly just laughed at his stories and asked him more questions; I couldn't get enough. When I managed to say a word or two he would tell me that I'm really funny before starting another one of his stories.
When we passed the old square in Split he said 'See how old this stuff is, it's before indians came to detroit, that's what I like about history, how old stuff is.
As he would finish a beer he would say 'to beer or not to beer, that is the question and I know the answer' I once said 'another beer?' and he replied 'it's what I do, sometimes I just drink beer'
Robert remembers dates and cities that he`s visited from all over the world. To EVERY lady that walks by he says 'hi honey'
He told me that if he were a lady he`d find me good looking, he then laughed about this and for the next 25 minutes told me not to worry he loves women and I have nothing to worry about. (He then pointed out all the girls he would hook up with, which was pretty much everyone that walked by)
He does great accents from all over the world.
There is so much more that I can't even think of right now.
It wasn`t just the stories he told but the demeanor he told them in while coming up with quick, whitty comments about the stuff going around us at the time as well. He made me laugh and called me his friend; he even gave me a hug when I was getting on the bus to the airport. It`s very rare to ever meet a Robert but I will remember him and hopefully meet him again somewhere down the road to hear more stories. We traded contact info but he doesn`t have email yet. I know that you all would love to meet him so when I find out when I will meet him next I may take him on tour.
Next time you have a drink, cheers for Robert.

#23 Song long Dubrovnik, off to split

My last day in Dubrovnik I wandered all around the parts of the city I haven't been to after taking a morning swim. After my long walk (5 hours) I went for an afternoon swim before going back to make some dinner. There happened to be a festival in the main square where they had a band playing and passed out free drinks and appetizers to everyone; score!!! I spent a lot of the time there watching these little kids play, it's funny to hear little kids talk in other languages.
The next morning I boarded a ferry for an 8 hour ride up the coast to Split. It was an absolutely beautiful day, the sun was out, we were between the main coast looking at the cliffs and on the other side small islands and the big blue sea. I made some friends on the ride as well, a guy from new zealand, andrew who we spent about 3 hours of the trip laughing at this or that. Then I met an australian girl who I talked with in between her reading her lonely planet book and me telling her it was worthless. Then I met two German guys who I assumed they were friends because they sat next to each other and bought each other beers. They didn't really talk to each other, just sat quiet for hours taking in the sun and drinking there beers. When we finally got talking they were quite funny and we chatted and laughed with the australian girl the rest of the way to split.
I was sneezing a lot on the ride (I know, sneezing again.) I really enjoy sneezing, it really jolts the soul and stirs things up. I was also thinking how much I enjoyed the scooter riding and thought that if I live somewhere warm it would be fun to get a motorcycle or scooter but then thought about sneezing with the helmet on and the fact that the eyes shut for a moment, it could make for a dangerous, messy, situation.
More to come soon. I have met one of the most interesting people in all my days.

#22 Cruising through Croatia

Back in Prague Adam and I had another night out with nothing to exciting to talk about except that we saw this lady with bright red, leather pants that we found very funny and took lots of pictures of, you will see a couple.
The next day we toured and walked all around the city and ended the day with a boat cruise up the river through the city.
Thanks again to the Topalo family for being so kind and letting us stay in their apartment and feeding us as well.

Adam and I were then off on a flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We arrived and were picked up at the airport by people who we booked the hostel through. I on the way to the city we booked scooters (mopeds) for the next day and a 3 island boat tour for the following day. But for this first night we were ready to go out and check out the city's nighlife. We had our own apartment in the old part of the city. (The old part is surrounded by walls) It is a very special place, something very unique, the pictures will help you get an idea. So we headed out for the night and found out that everyone in the city goes out on saturdays to the point of being clostrophobic in every bar. Even when there is no room to go anywhere people keep pushing in and barreling through. The ones pushing through with the most force arent the big guys, but the girls. They are like running backs making space for themselves. We went to about 5 different bars and clubs until we just couldn't take it anymore.
The following morning we woke early and headed to a place we had been waiting for; the beach. It was absolutely stunning, so we laid there and swam for a few hours soaking up some sun and checking out the local scenery. After we both were worn out from the sun we stopped for lunch and then went to get our scooters. We felt like tough guys on the scooters, me with my helmet too small for my head and adam's helmet going over his ears we were off to explore as much as we could. We first cruised around the main city getting comfortable with our bikes and then headed for the main roads out of the city. We ventured to a neighboring town where we walked around and went swimming in their beaches as well. After a while at the beach I told adam that I'm going to get a speedo on this trip because it is acceptible here and when he asked me what if I get a boner all I could think was that then my back would get really tan. (I still haven't gotten one) We then headed up, up, up to the top of a mountain that overlooked all of Dubrovnik. To the backside of the mountain were hills and mountains that we were told not to go around because there are still lots of landmines out there. It is crazy to think that only 15 years ago there was a war going on where thousands and thousands were killed. The view from the top of this place was brilliant and at the point where we were resting and getting our views this dog kept coming by us and licking us and laying right next to us. We couldn't believe that the owners (who we assumed were the other people there) would not call their dog off. But then they left and when the next family came and the dog went to check them out which led to the little girls screaming we got bad looks because they assumed it was our dog. This was an ongoing cycle and we still never found out who's dog it was, but it was a very friendly, gentle dog.
We eventually made our way back to town with no accidents although I almost got ran off the road by a bus and adam almost skidded out once and almost became part of a pole another time. We had an easy night this night so we would be ready for our island tour the next day.
We boarded our boat along with a brazilian couple, a german couple, and a french couple. The brazilian couple was late and would be the entire day with no cares in the world. We left early in the morning and arrived around 7 in the evening. In between we visited three local islands and getting to know our company on the boat. We got a chance to have lunch with the French couple who were very nice and made lunch a bit more enjoyable. We went swimming off the different islands, and I had my first injury which was by a black plant in the water, the plant was more like bunch of black needles that got into my knee. When I stopped bleeding I asked our captain and he said not to worry, he's gotten it many times. This was the same captain who smoked and drank while he drove our boat with his foot and knee. It was a great day trip being able to see the local islands with the great company we had on the boat.
That night we wandered out into the city again. There is a building on the main street that has a stone protruding out of it and it is said that if you can stand on this stone and take your shirt off and put it back on without falling off you will have good luck for a year. We watched many people try and fail with only few actually being able to stand. We did watch one guy do it along with the shirt removal; I guess all the locals can do it. We tried and couldn't even stay up on it. There was an Ausralian girl who could stand on it easily, the only problem was she had a dress on and so wouldn't take it off. All the guys she was with wouldn't lend her their shirt so I told her I would lend her my shirt, but if she accomplished it we would share the year of luck and with that an agreement was made. She did it successfully and we were both happy. I'm not sure if my luck is the first or second 6 months or if it's split monthly.
The next morning adam was off back to the states and I once again am flying solo. I headed to the local national park island where I swam in their version of the dead sea and tried climbing a rope from the water before heading to the top to see the fort. When it began to rain I went back to get on the ferry and headed back to the main city. After getting dinner I went and sat in an outdoor cafe where I sipped a glass of wine while listening to a jazz band for a few hours and let the last couple of weeks soak in.
Two weeks traveling with adam flew by but still we did a ton of stuff: A walking tour in Budapest, a bike tour in Krakow, I river boat tour in Prague, a scooter and island tour in Dubrovnik along with many nights out and a lot of other sighseeing. When we weren't busy we were usually laughing about something stupid or making fun of each other for something or another.
Adam-I'm going to be in internet cafe's a lot less without you. It was a lot of fun, I'll just think of the mirrors or other little things we did if I need a laugh.

21 Taking over Prague

When we arrived on our night train to Prague we were welcomed with open arms by our friend's mom who lives here in Prague. Not only are they letting us stay in their extra apartment, but when we got there the fridge was stocked with food.
Thank you Goran and Mrs Topalo, you are too generous and the place is great.
We are now pumped because we can unpack our bags and scatter our things for a few days.
Adam aka Borat and I spent the next few days walking the entire city. We went to a castle, that's right, a real castle so this time when adam points and says castle it actually is. We saw the famous Charles bridge, went to the little island off the river that had an exhibit that I had seen over two years previous in Portugal of a famous photographer who takes pictures all over the world. We walked through the old Jewish area of town, the main squares and then made our way up to the highest point in the city. Petrin is a tower that is on a high hill that we had to climb over 300 stairs to get to the top and overlooked all of Prague. Near petrin was a mirror maze along with magical mirrors that transformed our bodies in many strange ways. We spent hours in this little room that was no bigger than the size of a kitchen laughing until we had tears. I don't know if it was really that funny or just that the time we went we were in the mood for it.
We've had a couple of long nights out on the town in some clubs where we took over the dance floor and mingled with locals. The first night out we were talking to two girls and when they asked if we had girlfriends, Borat came out and explained to these girls that he has a wife, but she is at home in a cage. These girls were trying to figure out if they understood right and kept repeating "You keep her in a cage"? Needless to say that were quite nervous of the both of us at this point so we told them that it was just a joke. Another night out between walking from one club to another we stopped in casino. This so called casino and 3 rooms about the size of high school class rooms. We were the only people in the casino and went to the black jack table. We ordered our free drink and put our bets down. Our new favorite drink is apple juice with vodka, it has to be 100 percent juice, not the fake juice stuff, but trust me it's amazing. After I one the first bet with all the money I had I stopped playing and sipped on my drink while adam played about 10 hands and won as well. So after about 10 minutes of playing we both left with more cash than we started and a free drink in our bellies, they loved us there.
After our short visit to the next club we decided to jog back to the apartment which suprisingly we made and my sandles survived as well. We saw some interesting outfits out and about as well that you will get to see when I put the pictures up.
A couple more days in Prague and then off to Croatia.
Wa Wa Wee Wa

Let me know if anyone tries the apple juice and vodka. about 1-4th to 1-3rd vodka.
It's a niiiiiiiicccceeeee.

#20 Tour of Krakow through day, night and a day at Auschwitz(HELL)

When we finally awoke after our big night out we headed to do a five hour bike tour around the city of Krakow. We were the only two on the tour so it was very friendly, personal, and extremely informative. We got to hear about the history of the city from hundreds of years ago to moving all the jews in the city to the Jewish Ghetto (which we went through and got to see) in the early 40's and even learned about the ways of communism and how it's changed slowly since the wall came down in 89'. We saw the river that runs through the city, saw the different neighborhoods, universities (Krakow is the largest university city in Poland), and learned about the traditional happenings in day to day life. We also visited Oscar Schindler's factory where they did a bit of the filming of the movie. (Schindler's list). There we got a full picture of Oscar from the beginning when he took the factory from a jewish family and then got rich by using slave jewish laborers; but he did change dramatically and put himself in harms way by helping over 1000 to survive.

Did you know that speed walking was an olympic event? I did not. A polish man is the defending 3 time gold winner of speed walking. During our tour there happened to be a speed walking race through the main city and yes, it did look as funny as you would think. I don't know how they tell the difference between that and a run but I think all these guys could walk faster than I could run. I don't know how you decide to do this seriously. Maybe when you're young you tell your friend you'll race him to the corner but no running and that's when it is discovered that it's time to take this fast walking to the next level. I couldn't get enough of watching it and watching the judge determine if they are walking by the rules.

We headed out for the night still a bit tired from the night before combined with our full day tour. We ended up at a live music bar which was quite entertaining. Not only did the band sing great (all english songs that they sang like the singer themselves although I don't know if they really knew english or just knew the words to the songs because when they took a break and I talked to them a little they didn't seem to understand me or more likely just didn't want to understand me) but there were a group of really drunk, strange looking english guys that took over the dance floor and put on a show for everyone there to see music; there was no chance of not watching these guys because they were all that could be seen between the people watching and the band.

This morning we headed out to the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. This was the biggest concentration camp which killed around 1.5 million people. Just over 1 million of these peoples were Jews from around all of Europe and the rest were intellectuals, Political prisoners, Gypsies, Handicap, and other assorted groups. They were executed by guns, hangings, poisoned, along with starved and worked to death. They were tortured such as forcing 4 people to stand in a 4ft X 4ft square, bricked in for hours and sometimes for days. We saw the crematoriams that could burn up to 1,400 bodies a day, the sleeping quarters, the gas chambers and all the other parts of the camp that went on for multiple years.

Even after spending the day there, seeing and hearing all the stuff it is impossible to fathem the reality of what really took place. When they talk about a day that 1,000 were executed it seems insignificant compared to the 1.5 million, yet the 1,000 is the size of many high schools. On the bus ride back to Krakow we heard all american songs on the radio and mid way back the song 'wonderful world' by Louie Armstrong came on and I like to think that we do live in a wonderful world and we can all make it a wonderful world, but there are some fucked up people and stuff that goes on everyday.

We arrived back in Krakow and headed to a very authentic polish restaurant we heard through the grapevine. It was great, cheap and we left ready to nap for days. We spent less than $10 dollars each and ordered at least twice as much as we should have. Many people in the place were laughing when they saw how much food we had between the two of us. (One appetizer we ordered was something that said '3 types of perogies' and when we got it there were 3 types but there were about 8 of each type). That was one of 4 appetizers we got before our two main courses. We are now on our way to an overnight train for Prague. Main goal of the trip-not to lose our tickets.

#19 Amsterdam and Budapest/Krakow with Adam:aka:Borat

I arrived in Amsterdam late at night and was tired and planned on taking it easy until I met two beautiful brazilians outside of my hostel and after chatting a bit we decided to go and check out the town. Amsterdam is a great city with canals going through it every which way. It is also known for a few other things since it is a liberal city. There is the red light district which is a few streets lined with women in windows and red lights above them. It is possible to hire services from these women. They have a union and it is called the red thread union which helps the women set up like an entreprenuer. I would wonder when they decide to stop selling themselves and are ready to move on what they would put on the resume and depending on the job or the boss if that would help them get a job or hurt their chances.
After checking walking around the red light district and the downtown the girls and I met up with a couple of other brazilian friends of theirs. We then went to a coffee house. Coffee houses aren't known for selling coffee even though they do. They are more famous for handing you a menu which lists many types of canibus; aka: marijuana, weed, and such. (If you would like to know all the names for this there is an Ali G episode where he goes into it). Don't worry, I didn't buy any canibus, but everyone always thinks I smoke anyways since I talk slow, am usually not in too much of a hurry, usually have a smile and am generally up for eating munchies. Although it is legal in Holland, their country has one of the lowest percentage of users, it is mostly all tourists. (Just so you know, you don't have to fly to amsterdam to buy it, although it isn't legal everywhere, you can buy it anywhere).

The following morning I headed for a walk around town and met up for a 5 hour bike tour that took me all around the city learning about the different areas, the history, out to a farm that makes cheese and clogs (some people still wear clogs-wooden shoes). I had to walk back to the hostel, get my bag, jump on a tram to the train station, take a train to the airport, took a flight to budapest, got a taxi to a hostel and there waiting was Adam (a different one than in germany) this one we call Houdini or BORAT.

After an quiet first night we woke to walk around the city for a few hours before doing a 5 hour walking tour around Budapest. There is a river that runs through the city and in the old days on one side it was called Buda and the other side was Pest. Why they called the city Budapest instead of Pestbuda I can only guess, but it definately flows better this way. Not to brag but I one the prize in our walking group for answering the questions our guide asked. The prize: a coin worth about 4 cents; I don't know where it is anymore. It is great touring around with Borat because every big building he points to and calls it a castle. If you get a chance to travel with him and he is your guide you will wonder why no city has churches, museums, government buildings or any other type of large building. You will however be amazed at the amount of castles built and wonder why they have a cross on them or other markers that might fit another building better.
After a brief rest we headed out for the night. First stop-a jazz fest. This was situated right on the river and we got to sit in a little hut, drink wine, listen to the music, enjoy each others company while discussing how we'd both rather have the company of a lady at that moment but instead we were stuck with each other. After coming to this conclusion and finishing our wine it was time to head out. We then ended up at a bar/club that we couldn't get into because I had brought my bag along; I bring this bag everywhere, it has my life: cameras, ipod, passport, medicine.. you get the point. (This won't be the only place I'm not allowed in. It wasn't the first and is far from the last, I'm usually too dressed up and places won't let me in). So we ended up at some other outdoor festival for a while until we decided to end the night after devouring a pizza and burning our mouths.
Next day we put the walking shoes back on and first stopped in a church that was carved into the side of a cliff and then headed to the highest spot in the city where there is the Liberty statue of Hungary and from there we could overlook the entire city.

Toilets around parts of Europe. Instead of these toilets looking like a funnel where everything goes in the hole some toilets have a ledge right beneath you and then when you flush it pushes everything forward into a hole at the front of the toilet. Because of this, when you do your business and finished it is glaring at you and you are forced to see what you've done. It's as if the toilet is talking to you saying "alright, look what you've done, now how do you feel?" I thought I felt better but now I'm so ashamed and since it's not in water the smell takes over too so I feel even worse thinking I made that and that smell. It really can humble you.

Borat and I headed on an overnight train to Krakow, Poland. After a few hours we had to switch train cars and when we did we realized that we had accidentally left the tickets on the old car which was left back in another city. So we had no ticket and two more countries to go through. We found a guy in the train who spoke english and explained our situation to the ticket man in Poland; he was fine with it. Then he explained it to the guy in the next country; he wasn't fine with it and charged us for the duration in his country which luckily was only a couple of hours. Then we arrived in Poland and that ticket lady was MEAN. She told us an amount for the ticket and since we didn't have Polish money we had to pay in US and we knew the currency exchange and she tried to tell us it was different but we held strong and when she got frustrated she left. We figured we owed her between $40 and $50 and when she came back she told us a number and knowing she wouldn't take credit cards we asked her if she would and this frustrated her to ask us how much american money we had without speaking any english of course; there was a lot of hand motions, some noises and her speaking the same lines in polish that we didn't understand and us speaking the same lines in english that she didn't understand. We gave her a $20 and told her it's all we had and she gave us a ticket and left fairly happy.

With a couple hours of sleep we arrived in Krakow. We treated ourselves to a gourmet breakfast which costs about $5 each while in the meantime laughing to tears for no other reason except that we were so tired that anything was funny. We we got into our hostel we took a well deserved long nap before heading out of town to the world famous salt mines. (World famous and I bet you've never heard of them).
These mines were unbelievable. It was like an underground city. It went over 1000 feet deep and since they started it they've taken out over 30 million tons of salt; think about that number. Thousands died in the hundreds of years they worked on it. Down at the bottom of the mine there is a church that is breathtaking, everything in it is carved out of salt, the alter, the chandeliers, the statues in the walls and a statue of the pope. The only downfall of this was that it was extremely set up for tourists, they suck every cent they can out of you and make you go on a guided tour through roped off areas. I want to get down and dirty on tours, scrape my knees, fight for air and not just listen to a lady or is talking to us like she's said the same thing thousands and thousands of times.

We had taken a bus to the salt mines about a half an hour outside of the city and while waiting to catch a bus to head back I jokingly suggested that we hitchhike back to the city. Two cars later a car of three ladies drove by and I partially put my hand out; the brake lights went on and they stopped. We asked if they were headed towards the city and when they said yes we jumped in. The were three attractive women in their late 30's who only spoke polish so all the way back they cranked up the american rock and roll music and we all sang as our driver raced a taxi towards town. When I gave them gum in a shape they apparently haven't every seen they asked if it was drugs and when they chewed it they jokingly started making sexual noises. When we got to the city we sat and had a drink with them and then after talking with to Dutch guys who were in a golf tournament there we headed back to our hostel to get ready to go out for the night.

Being in Krakow on a saturday night I could only look with my mouth open, it was as if we were in a rap video or on entourage. Half of the girls that walked by were stunning. When we found our way into "the best club in town" on our second time there (the first time we weren't allowed in because of what I had on from head to toe, so I had to change) it went up to maybe 8 or 9 out of 10. We ended up with a bachelorette party for the whole night talking and dancing with them. I spent a portion of the night talking and trying to understand a girl telling me that she's dated someone for three years who she doesn't love but it would be scary not to have someone because it's comfortable; no conclusion came about. Adam and I headed out of the bar with a plan to find our next thinking maybe it was 1:30 or so and when we were on the street and asked someone the time we were utterly amazed when they said it was 4:30. (Neither one of us has a watch, we go to bed when we're tired and wake up whenever. So far we've been on time to everything we needed to to be; I repeat, so far).

Oh yeah, one of the girls asked us if we liked jokes and then asked us "why don't italians like grilling?" Because the spaghetti falls through.
We politely laughed and wondered if that would be any funnier told in any other language.

Most cities have famous quotes on a wall or on a statue or something like that.
In Amsterdam they have a saying carved into the stone on a famous building that forever will be sound advice. Translated it says "Human Beings should not urinate into the wind" Something to live by.

There are more pictures up for this portion http://tinyurl.com/oa3ea

#18 Adam in Quakenbruk, and taking over Bremen with Tom

I was kindly picked up from the train station by adam who treated me to one of his favorite german meals; burger king. We then headed to his apartment which we were welcomed by the main light in his main room which is a bright red light. Imagine looking up at his apartment window and seeing me with my shirt off with a bright red light behind me; exactly. So you can imagine my dissapointment after standing there for a number of minutes and not getting any takers. Adam has two beds, both in his room and the foot of each bed facing each other so when we would wake up we would sit up and be looking directly at each other. So while dragging one of the beds out to the main room adam tells me that for breakfast I can eat some of the corn flakes in the cupboard. While I'm thinking to myself how nice this is of him, he adds, I bought them on accident and hate them, if you add some sugar it will make them better. So with the bed out in the main room and tucked behind the couch and under the slanted ceiling I can now sleep comfortable in my little cocoon.
I got a chance to walk around Quakenbruk which is a quaint little town where everyone knows everyone's business. I went to the mid-friday farmers market and explored the city.

Adam was raised by Giggles and The Footer. If you visit their home you will see lots of frog statues and frog things around the house. The story behind the frogs I will not be able to tell because the Footer swore Giggles to secrecy about the story. Now, Quakenbruck means frog bridge. All around town there are little frog statues in front of shops that are all painted different ways; we quickly named these 'Footer's Frogs'. You will see a seperate folder of pictures with these frogs and you may also notice letters held up near each frog which may bring us closer to understanding the deep, intellectual inner workings of the Footers mind. Feel free to comment under this blog or ask footer questions (footer-you feel free to explain as well, if only the frog part of the story was the strange part.

Adam plays professional basketball here in Germany. Friday night the trainer of the team had invited the coach and all the players over to her house for dinner. This turned into the team + Steve dinner. They would not serve any of the team alcohol this night but we quickly came to the conclusion that I am not on the team which would mean that I was allowed wine while the rest of the team sipped on apple juice. While sitting outside with adam and a couple of other players the hostess continued to bring us plates and plates of delicious meats put together by the self proclaimed grillmeister; she also felt it necessary to keep my wine glass full at all times. At one point she became busy putting meat on my plate and instructed one of adam's teammates to top off my glass. The teammate she picked out was not only a basketball player who is used to being pampered, but one who is used to top notch pampering as he has had a few stints in the NBA. When she told him to go inside and, "grab steve some wine," I just broke down laughing and could hardly contain myself. Needless to say he was very confused and didn't retrieve my wine. After thanking our hostess she made me promise that when I come back through I would stop by again; how could I refuse.

It didn't take long to understand adam's life here in Germany; it reminds me of...oh yes, the same life he lives in the US. He wakes up and eats some cereal, goes to practice, comes home and eats an american deli sandwich or pbj and watches american tv. He then rests and dreams about happenings in the US before heading back to another practice where most of his teams are american including the coach. Back home to read books or listen to music sent from the US. Even at restaurants he orders in english, but to give him credit he will say goodbye or thank you some times in german.

My next day of walking around the city an old lady was walking down the sidewalk and had a bad fall. I ran over to help her and helped her from her stomach to her knees which is when I think she said to give her a moment. So while standing there and waiting for her and some movement she continued talking to me in German and I just rubbed her shoulder and back for moral support, not having any clue of what in the world she was telling me; alright well maybe she was saying "I can't believe I fell, I'm alright, I'm ready to get up, do you have any idea what I'm saying". A few older people came to help and check on her and I think they were asking her if I took her down. After getting her up I gave a smile and walked away a new man, a little confused but I also felt like a small time superhero (who doesn't speak german).

I then headed north saturday afternoon to visit a german friend, Tom who lives in Bremen and I haven't seen for a couple of years. We decided that we would take over the city. We sat at his house, had a great dinner and decided to drink a few beers with a couple of shots to help it go down smoothly. A couple hours out on the town and it was time to walk home. On the way home there was a big house with a wedding party which of course I thought, "I've seen wedding crasher, I can do that" So into the party I went not thinking about the small details; once again my lack of german and the fact that I had on shorts and a big sweatshirt. I didn't stay too long.

The next morning was not the best morning I've ever had but Tom was there to help me feel better, with a plate of sandwiches, a tall glass of water and a playboy magazine he thought would help the recovery. Low and behold the magazine was in german so I couldn't even read the articles, the nice gesture made me feel better though. We then went on a tour of Bremen to check out the downtown, the river walk, the university, and the lake. Tom had recently seen his first episode of friends and quite enjoyed it, so he decided to order a season. Which season would you start with, probably the same one that he chose to start with; season 9. We watched 9 episodes of season nine on Sunday, made for a successful day.
Tom-Thanks for the great night out and full city tour; I loved it and enjoyed eating more German food in 24 hours then I have during the week with adam.

There are more pictures in the Germany folder.

Choos

#17 Visting my peeps in Germany

To see all of the pictures I have so far if you are having trouble here is what you do: go to this website: http://tinyurl.com/oa3ea when you do it will ask for your winkflash account, if you don't have one, make one up; it is free. When you are in your account go to public folders. When it asks the user name you can put in my name which is: stevehowson and then you will be able to see all of the picutres.

When I left England it was off to Stuttgart, Germany where I was to visit a friend that I made 6 years ago when visiting Germany; Sarah. I probably picked on of the most transitional times to visit her. She is in the middle of finishing her masters thesis, interviewing with different companies and deciding which job she will want to take which in turn will change her life completely and on top of it the trying to deal with the men in her life and what she think of the whole mess. This just goes to show that like everywhere else in the world people in general worry about similar things.
It was a very relaxing few days. Her apartment was outside of the city and sat up on a hill where if you looked off the balcony you could see quite a ways. We made a trip into Stuttgart for a day which is very clean and lively city. We headed to Munich for a day (I wondered around while she had to do a full day interview). There was lots of excitement around Munich as they were preparing for the Pope's visit along with beer fest starting soon. We also went to visit her University which was near her house. Did you know that Universities in Germany are paid for by the government so anyone can go and study for years and years.
Sarah is quite a cook too, so after getting used to traveling and eating like a backpacker I was for a few days fed like a king. In the process I got a chance to try very Germany foods which I took to liking (I'm sure you are all surprised considering how picky of an eater I am).
Sarah-Thank you for your hospitality and good luck with the decision of choosing which path to follow.
And like that three days were over and I got on a train to head to northern Germany to visit Adam (footer jr) who lives and works playing basketball in Quakenbruck, Germany. On the train ride north some guy who was sitting near me left his big luggage high on the rack and when the security came by and he was gone for a while I had to answer lots of questions about this man and how long he had been gone. When the security came back the second time with more security they asked me and others to clear the section. After some time of checking out the luggage the man came back and had decided that he wanted to sit about 10 seats back away from his luggage (probably just away from me but he forgot his luggage near me).

I will leave you with a joke that my brother Mark sent me:

Two turtles went camping. They brought a bunch of beer and sandwiches. After 3 full days of walking they found the perfect spot, but it was then that they realised that they had forgotten the bottle opener. "You have to go back and get it" said the first turtle "or else we won't have any beer". "No way" the second one said. "If I go back you will eat all the food while I'm gone". "I promise I won't" the first one replied. So the second turtle headed back and after 9 full days of waiting he still hadn't got back. So hungry, the first turtle couldn't wait any longer and bit into the sandwich. The second turtle jumped out from behind the rock and said "I knew it!!!! I'm not fucking going back!!"

Thank you to my family and those of you who have sent me emails letting me know how you are doing and what I am missing out on in your lives!!!

#16 So long England after reunion with Friends

First off late me say, Happy labor Day!! what is this labor business anyways?

After fully recovering from a cold and loads of rest I got to enjoy one of the other great parts of traveling. I got a chance to meet up with friends that I had made on previous trips.
One night I met up with my friend Kathy in London. She was my scuba instructor in Australia a couple of years back so it wasnt a big surprise when I saw her and she kindly called me scuba steve. I met up with her and a few of her friends at her place of stay. We shared a couple of bottles of wine, had dinner and then headed to a couple of bars for the night.

I then headed south to Brighton which is right on the Sea (the english channel which connects the north sea to the atlantic). In Australia I traveled for about a month with three lovely english girls, Anya, Sal, and Lynne. It was Anya's place that we met at in Brighton which was about a block from the sea. Sal and Lynne drove about 5 hours from the north to have a reunion for the weekend. It was so hard to believe that it had been nearly three years since seeing each other, but was so comfortable and nice to catch up and reminice about the days traveling together. It's funny how well you get to know people when traveling and spending so much time together because you really get to see the core of the person. I feel I knew the three of them better than many people that I have known for a much longer time.
We toured around Brighton, it happened to be cold and rainy for the couple of days we were there but none the less we had each others company. We drank tea like it was going out of style (by the way, what is back in style in london and maybe england for that matter is the full jeans with the jean jacket look and also the skirt with the pants or tights on underneath; gotta love the 80's). I learned that I weigh 15 stones (does everyone know this measurement 1 stone=14 pounds) There were often other words that they used which I didnt understand as there were also words that I used which they didnt understand which would usually bring about a big bout of laughter from everyone which is always a common language.
I decided that I needed to go in the sea just because. The girls thought I was crazy because it was cold, wet and the waves were huge and there was not another single soul in the water or in shorts for that matter. I went in and it was great; very refreshing. After a couple of days which went by in what seemed hours we all had to say goodbye and hope that it wouldnt be 3 years until seeing each other again (at least I felt that way). Anya-thanks for having us over and being such a great host!!!! Sal and Lynne- Thanks for making the long drive to come and meet up, it meant a lot. All 3-Thanks for the smiles, laughter and of course singing along.

I also got a chance to do something I haven't done for a long time:SHUB. When I lived with Evan in college for a year we lived in the attic of a house. Since it was the attic the roof would slope down on both sides. It happened to slope over the bathroom and the lowest point came down over the tub. Because of this there was no way to stand a shower in the tub, you would have to lay down and move the spout back and forth over your body. As Evan loved it and shubbed (showering in the tub) many times a day I would go to the Kuwaiti house (friends that are all from Kuwait) and shower there everyday. Well, I had my chance to shub again at Anya's place and jumped at the opportunity which will explain the picture in the photo album.

I headed back to london for a night and got to see skaya who's bed I had slept in for the last week while she was on holiday (thank you skaya). The next morning I headed off to Germany. 3 countries down, many more to go!!!

You should be able to see the England pictures, it is the same link as the last 2 because now it has just turned into a public drive where all the pictures will be able to be seen.

You also may be wondering how I do so much in a short time since I often have the same shirt on. I'll just tell you that it' not in such a short time, I only have so many shirts.