caro caro

Amsterdam lives up to is expectation. It's the city that seems to tolerate everything. From its infamous Red Light District, to graffiti, to dog poo, and petty crimes. I found the RLD is the most intriguing. I think it's the one place in the world where happy, contented tourists and their families choose to mingle with prostitutes, drug addicts/dealers, and the city's sleazes in the kind of place they would try to avoid, or even close down, in their own town. The area smells of piss and pot, guys in suit yelling out what's being performed inside their live,sex show theaters, and questionable looking guys whisper innocent nothings to passerbys, "Coca, ecstacy,..." It was all very amusing. They wouldn't serve tap water in restaurant. I would never forgive Amsterdam for that. Being cheap, stubborn heads as ... read more

Belgians are weird, they put mayonaise on their fries and charge people to use the restrooms. They at least did Brugge right. It's a town straight from Walt Disney fairy tale. With towers and turrets, ivy covered old walls, swans swimming in the calm river that meanders through town, stone bridges, and windmills at the edge of town. I wouldn't be surprised if I had bumped into Cinderella, having lost her glass slipper yet again. During the day hordes of tourists fill its narrow streets and alleys, in the cool evenings the locals and tourists alike bring their children to the grandest square I've seen yet to listen to the chimes of the bell tower. We spent two days there, just relaxing. Well, sort of. We went hunting for Chris' Birkenstock and we probably visited every ... read more

People travel for different reasons. I think I travel to feel complete. I found bits and pieces of myself in these different countries, in different cultures, in being lost and not understanding any words, in trying to figure out how the simplest things work, like buying a cheesepie, it's like being born again. Mostly I found them in the countryside. Away from the city and the hardened people, away from the crowd and the long lines. They say in the cities you see the backbones of a country, but to experience the soul you have to go the countryside. Either in Scotland, or in Greece, or anywhere for that matters, that's where the magic is. I think I ate more meat than I've ever had in the last 7 years. I have yet to learn how ... read more

I decided that I like Rome. It reminds of home (Jakarta); the litters on the street, the gritty smog from the cars, wild scooter drivers, and plenty of food and sunshine. At the end of a day of walking, we'll stagger back to our hostel, a little bit darker than when we left in the morning, from the sun as well as from the dirt that sticks to our sweaty, stinky bodies. I hope there's no disease that's caused by walking too much, eh? Because walk, walk and walk we do to save money on bus tickets so we can buy ourselves a nice meal with wine at night. Rome has plenty to see and 4 days is definitely not enough. I'm not going to go on listing what we did because I assume everybody knows ... read more

We're at the train station, waiting for our train to Sienna, then to Rome. Italy is also the land of cheap Internet. Wee! So expect me to keep this journal more up to date in the coming days. I just did my previous journal last night so there's nothing new to add yet. So, here are some random stuff. Anyway, here's a list of casualties we've encountered and experiences we've survived so far: 1. Lost our flashlight (Switzerland) 2. Lost our ledger book (Florence, Italy) 3. Lost my face wash *sniffles* 4. Flies swarm (Switzerland) 5. Hordes of mosquitos (Italy) 6. Stinging nettles (Scotland) 7. Flying, stinging, unidentified insect (Switzerland) 8. Bed bug bites (England) We've heard unpleasant stories about Rome, about the gypsies, the rude people, the pollution, etc. There's this morbid obsession I have ... read more

Sorry, it's been awhile. Switzerland was extremely expensive and we couldn't find any internet point that doesn't cost a day's food budget. Anyway, the Alps was amazing. Bern and Luzerne were a little of a disappointment. They both have medieval buildings and storefronts, Luzerne scored a point because most of its old town is pedestrianised, but Bern has its blue Aare river which was oh, so inviting when we visited because it was boiling hot that day. We saw some locals jumped from a bridge into the fast moving river and Chris was tempted to do the same. But he changed his mind in the end (lack of proper swimwear, or so he said.) Fast forward to the mountain. We didn't do the Jungfraujoch trip because it was so touristy (and mostly no money). I always ... read more