travels with herodotus

what a great book!

my first encounter with ryszard kapuscinski just totally drew me into his world. an amazing book blending a few of my favourite topics: travel, history, the modern and the ancient world, discovery. if you come accross it, read it!

one of my favourite parts...
"...For all intents and purposes, [such people] do not grow attached to anything, do not put down deep roots. Their empathy is sincere, but superficial. If asked which of the countries they have visited they like best, they are embarrassed - they do not know how to answer. Which one? In a certain sense - all of them. There is something compelling about each. To which country would they like to return once more? Again, embarrassment - they had never asked themselves such a question. The one certainty is that they would like to be back on the road, going somewhere. To be on their way again - that is the dream."

and yet another one of the many gems and anecdotes hidden in the book:

"...Croesus personally received Solon and ordered his servants to show him his treasures, and, certain that the sight of them astonished his guest, he queried him: "So I really want to ask you whether you have ever come across anyone who is happier than everyone else?"

But Solon did not flatter him in the least and instead cited as the happiest of men several heroically fallen Athenians, adding: "Croesus, when you asked me about men and their affairs, you were putting your question to someone who is well aware of how utterly jealous the divine is, and how it is likely to confound us. Anyone who lives for a long time is bound to see and endure many things he would rather avoid. I place the limit of a man's life at seventy years. Seventy years makes 25,200 days...No two days bring events which are exactly the same. It follows, Croesus, that human life is entirely a matter of chance...

"Now, I can see that you are extremely rich and that you rule over large numbers of people, but I won't be in a position to say what you're asking me to say about you until I find out that you died well...Until [a man] is dead, you had better refrain from calling him happy, and just call him fortunate...

"It is necessary to consider the end of everything...and to see how it will turn out, because the god often offers prosperity to men, but then destroys them utterly and completely."

iceland

ok, so this is not such a recent trip, but the posting has been pending since the end of march when i came back from the extraordinary island of iceland. and i couldn't not post it, since this is one of my best trips recently, and also one that i would recommend if you wanna see a "different" country.

i was of course lucky to go at the end of march, for a few good reasons. the day lasts for about 13 hours, not too short, not too long. it's not too cold at that time, although it's still below 0 degrees, but you can still see all the icy landscapes. and it's considered off season, which makes the sky high prices a bit lower, at least on accommodation.

6 days gives you a good idea, but may not be enough if you want to explore more than the standard stuff. i wouldn't do iceland on a weekend though, since you'd only see reykjavik.

3 stays in the capital, 2 stays in akureyri, with trips from both of them, allowed us to see a good part of the country. major highlights are the golden circle, though not so much the geysir, godafoss, lake myvatn, the blue lagoon (worth doing on your way to the airport, really relaxing), both towns we saw had their own beauty. reykjavik has great nightlife and its unique architecture, invites you to walk around and explore it. people are friendly, art is everywhere, and so is design, which shows from restaurants and cafes to hotels and dorms. akureyri in the north had the beauty of a small place that has everything compact, but still manages to keep life exciting for the 17,000 inhabitants and visitors.

we were unlucky not to see the northern lights (apparently some other people saw them the night before we arrived) and not to have a few more days to explore the west fjords, the little island on the arctic circle, do whale watching or see the glaciers and do a bit of jet skiing on them. but you can't have everything in life now, can you?

all in all, i thought it's an impressive country. having to fight the natural elements, ice, cold and earthquakes and volcanos, the icelanders have managed to turn this country into a modern and exciting place, while preserving its uniqueness and beauty. the natural beauty and wonders you see in this country, and the effort the residents have put in order to live with them, are the things that impressed me the most, and make this place a must see.

hope you manage to set foot there and enjoy it!

istanbul / κωνσταντινούπολη

it's been a little over a week since i am back from that amazing city. the city a lot of people through the ages have been passionate and fought about. the city that stands between europe and asia. a giant and a beauty, at the same time. the city my grandfather was born in, 100 years ago. istanbul.

it was only a 3-4 day trip, which leaves me with only positive impressions and memories. walking down sultanahmet. visiting Agia Sofia. going for a hammam. eating mezes in the little streets around istiklal. walking around the spice market. seeing the blue mosque. having turkish coffee on the galata bridge. recognising familiar words here and there, words which have now been absorbed in the greek language. meeting old [and good] friends. seeing a bit of the nightlife. nargile at top hane. seeing the view at night from the top of the marmara hotel in taksim. sensing so much tradition and history in the air, in a modern, crowded city full of young, energetic and friendly people.

this city you only have to promise one thing to: return.

travel plans

finally some travel for 2008! for the first time since i returned from my xmas holidays, i am going on a plane again in only 6 days from now. let me know if you are somewhere around these places on the right dates:

thessaloniki: 27-28 feb
istanbul: 29 feb - 3 mar
iceland: 21-26 mar
the netherlands (amsterdam & den haag) 29 mar - 1 apr

see you there?

the stuff jealousy is made of

Δύο Έλληνες, ένα τζιπ και μία περιπέτεια 800 ημερών.

around the world on a landrover in 80 days! god, i have to do something like it one day!

greek article

english website.

la bella italia #2

well, i've been to italy a few times in my life, but most were in the earlier years (as a kid or transiting :-), so i think i am able to enjoy it more now. after the trip to alghero, sardegna, in october, i took the opportunity to go to firenze for the first time in my life, in december.

unfortunately that was only for 2 and a half days, full of rain. but i can tell you that the city definitely lives up to the expectation its name creates. got to practice my italian a bit, ate so much prosciutto, gorgonzolla, peccorino, pizza and pasta/meat that i can't even begin to describe, walked on the coblestone streets of florence and caught a glimpse of the extraordinary palaces filled with masterpieces in that city. there's so much art to see over there it would take you weeks to appreciate it all. the medici family did a good job of collecting all of that.

also met a good childhood friend who's setup up there for the past few years and is now on his way to become a rock star :-) but more on this on another posting.

all in all it was a great 3 days and i am looking forward to exploring more of beautiful tuscany in the future with a car and better weather.

images from Oman

i know i know, it's a bit late for all these postings now, but better late than never, no?

well, here's the story: my friend Valia, who lives in muscat, had sent an open invitation a few months ago to celebrate her birthday over there. Valia is an old friend from the 1990's aiesec times and i really wanted to go, though i didn't have any days of left from work. surprisingly in the beginning of october i managed to put my final 3 days together and tadam! booked my tickets to spend 4 and a half days in the middle east, mid november.

i was so much craving for a "different" destination (not that i spared myself of those in 2007, including china, malaysia, singapore and thailand) and there i was, enjoying the sun, swimming, celebrating my friend's birthday and being in a different world, in november, when it was cold all over europe. i hadn't been to the middle east [save for egypt in 1992] before, and i enjoyed every minute of it.

oman struck me as a country with beautiful landscapes, friendly people, a strange political system (a very progressive sultan), modern infrastructure and a capital developed in traditional architecture but with quite a bit of anarchy there. the recent history of the country is quite impressive. the current sultan basically lifted the isolation that the country had been into for decades, started training, founded schools and universities, made a more secular state than before, invested in infrastructure and started making a business out of oil and tourism. that's not bad at all for 37 years, when previously the country only had a handful of schools and about 11 km of road strip.

all of this has brought a certain pride to the omani people, who nevertheless are very tolerant and open to foreign people. the biggest contrast that impressed me was the fact that tradition and modernisation so far seem to be going hand to hand. the religious feeling is there, the traditional way of life and dress is there, but so is the education, the training of the workforce and the modernisation of the country. i haven't visited the wealthy neighbours to have a measure of comparison (UAE), but it seems to me that oman is progressing without necessarily selling out to the west.

if my impression is right, i wish it lasts for long. eitherway, it's a country worth visiting.

la bella italia

did i forget to mention i was in beautiful sardegna on the weekend (and monday) of 6-8 october?

just the perfect place to be in europe after a freaking intense summer at work. 30 degrees, sun, sea, off season, good food and scenery, and great company. hadn't been to italy for a few years now, so got to practice my italian as well, while bidding farewell to a friend who's moving to a better island than ours, namely australia! some good laughs there. enjoy.

new york, new york

never been to that city, but yet it's been on my mind for the past few days, including the song...i must add it to the 2008 list, somehow!

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
And make a brand new start of it
New York, New York
I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.


I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.

what's the plan

too many travel destinations for 2008 already, and too few holidays. sooner or later i have to start realising some of them and also filtering down, as not all of them will fit in one year, quite obviously. to name a few:

india (weddings & leisure)

australia (weddings & leisure)

the czech republic (I can’t believe I still haven’t set foot on that country)

morocco

berlin

iceland

greece (family)

oman

hong kong & macau

and these are just the ones i can think of as of now, i’m afraid a few more might be added to the list soon…got to get my act together and make a good plan for the year, securing some of these but also allowing a certain degree of flexibility as well…

photos from the trip

...are finally here, uploaded. check them out (click on photos, login doesn't require full registration on kodakgallery.com, only e-mail and passwd)

China

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

Thailand (Koh Tao)

Singapore

summer travel plan

- july 7-8: athens (chryssa's & socrates' wedding)
- july 20-22: rotterdam (ai transition party)/amsterdam
- september 1-2: oslo (kristin's wedding)
- september 14-16: amsterdam (vivek's & lonnie's wedding)

except for the fact that this is essentially a wedding tour (well, i am at this age when everyone around me is getting married and envious of my unmarried status :-P)...

...i am looking for a destination (and company) for the august bank holiday (25-27 august). i don't have holidays till october (no coincidence that all the above are weekends) and that's just about my only chance to go swimming and catch a glimpse of the sun - so i am thinking southern europe. sicily or sardinia could be a good option - not swamped (like ibiza) and i haven't been there. any ideas are welcome. it's 3 days.

i still have to fit prague somewhere in 2007, and potentially a couple of other european or north african destinations. οψόμεθα.

the trip

well, it's long gone now...i've been back to london for some 12 days now already. and it's surprising how being busy and moving houses and getting back to your daily concerns almost makes you forget (so fast) about great times you've been having - even though it hasn't even been two weeks since i came back.

so, well, i think it's not a good time anymore to post full stories of the trip. should have done that two weeks back. but my method for overcoming stress, rage, frustration these days, is to consciously think back to the times in china, malaysia, thailand and singapore, the friends i met, the places i saw and all the new experiences, and SMILE.

such different places, and quite a few days of staying there, i just will go into listing some moments from the trip, which, as said already, was much more than what i was expecting.

some selected moments in chronological order :-)

- staying at sathe's place even though he was not there
- finding out that in a 15+ million city like shanghai you can't count on your english to survive
- meeting aiesec alumni i knew of before and new friends, randomly in a party in beijing and in shanghai. devrim, chris, birtan, fulvio, da li, to name a few
- the great wall of china. need i say more?
- amazing food, when i had smn there to help me with ordering :-)
- KL - such a chilled place. couldn't take my eyes off the petronas towers, which explains so many photos of them
- playing scrabble late at night at pilli's with her and caro
- seeing a salsa bar full of chinese people skillfully dancing to salsa tunes in KL! surreal experience, but i guess salsa is a global phenomenon by now
- 36 hour trip in extreme temperatures and humidity, from KL to Koh Samui. train, bus, night boat
- snorkelling in thailand - so beautiful down there
- hanging out with a few people we randomly met in thailand - sunsets at the beach bars
- the best airport in the world: koh samui! you have to go experience this yourself!
- nights out in singapore and catching up with lots of friends
- ktv with ying, chao, brenda, ceci
- being the only backpacker in a plane full of people with suits, on the way back, transferring from amsterdam to london on an early morning flight.

i am forgetting a lot but the purpose of this is not to remember everything. the overall feeling i have is that i do not regret a single moment from these three and a half weeks, and that all was kept in good balance of seeing new places and meeting my friends. surprisingly, it all worked, and i just wanna say a big thanks to all of you that made my life easy. to all friends we hanged out with - my home is your home, whether in london or anywhere else on this small planet. see you soon.

some last photos from singapore and thailand

singapore skyline - friends in singapore (bulan, cha0, pedro, brenda, thomas, vega, liv, ying) - view from brenda's place - tasos & jervina - signpost at mrt - last night in thailand with the koh tao gang - coolerst airport in the world (koh samui - outdoor!) - nangyang island postcard - last sunset in koh tao...

the stories to follow during the weekend!

from Thailand with love

this is actually the chill out part / kind of greek island /part of my holiday. after 36 hours of travelling, we made it to Koh Tao island, and well, it's rewarding to be here even for three-four days only. malaysia - well, KL really - was a lot of fun. i find that place much more relaxed than the other asian capitals i've been to, but at the same time modern and relatively easy to navigate.

met with caro at the airport and stayed at pilli's and fabian's place, which was great. but basically we got lazy, and we only just saw the main sights f the city, spent time watching movies and discussing, and of course expored the nightlife. highlights would have to be the scrabble games, the salsa bar filled with chinese people dancing to latin american tunes (completely surreal but they were actually very good) and of course the petronas towers. a fantastic place to be indeed.

monday night we took the train to hat yai, where we reached after 15-16 hours. got the bus to surat thani, which was quite an experience as even the aircon cannot counter the heat in this country. we then relaxed there for a few hours, till we finally got the 8 hour night ferry to Koh Tao, along with alice and brian, whom we met on the train from KL...and the fun is about to begin...

well, i'm off to the beach now :-)

some more China photos

enjoy! now back to shanghai and soon to go on an excursion, before descending to kl on friday!

from china with love

i have been in this fantastic country for 5 days now - since i landed on sunday. and basically i have so much to write that if i start now i am gonna need a book and miss out on seeing more. i'll try to summarise though:

i landed in shanghai on sunday the 6th, after some 15 hours on the plane. very quickly you realise that china is more like another planet than another country. i left to beijing on tuesday and returning to shanghai this saturday after having seen the main sights. so far i definitely want to thank all people i met here for their hospitality (tzyy, sathe, carol, carlos) and others that have helped me a great deal before the trip (jenny, ying, sathe again etc.). i have met quite a few ppl that i had heard of before and finally got to hang out with while here and others who were friends but now are my friends as well. i might be forgetting smn so apologies in advance.

china is a fascinating place to be. you can see that in shanghai, that everything is moving fast and the modernisation of the country is going forward. but i'd prefer the term modernisation to westernisation as the underlying principles of the chinese are still based on their tradition, which i deem to be a good thing. beijing is more laid back in my perception and you can see the olympics coming, as there are olympic related works and mention everywhere. shanghai is also a big construction site, due to the constant growth of the city, but as they say, they may be larger in population, but it's a taller city in terms of buildings, as i found out for myself, and therefore smaller in size than beijing. that makes beijing a huge city, which i found out by walking for about 3 hours on the day i got here, for what seemed on the map to be a 15 minute walk. both places are a lot of fun, and for the fanatics (jenny?) - i am not able to choose yet :-) but there's plenty to do and see in both. the rest of the country i haven't seen yet.

other than that, the trip is so far everything i wanted it to be, only the duration for such a big country will always be short. the culture is so different, the language barrier is there but you would always get around and that's what i was looking for, a place different than europe. so far have seen plenty of museums, met different friends, been to tian'anmen square, forbidden city different parks, the ming tombs and the Great wall of china, which is really something. i also went out and enjoyed the nightlife for 3 evenings so far, and will be doing more of that, while currently trying to filter out which "non city" places i will visit. finally, i have been walking for more than 8 hours every day that i have been in china, and have used a bit of public transport as well, but prefer walking as i can see things first hand. i consider riding a bike here a bit dangerous, as everything moves so fast and the traffic in beijing is on the unpredictable side! :-)

there's so may moments and images to describe, but i won't go on for now. will probably go for this after i am back to london.

that's all for now, i'll let the photos speak for themselves, and don't know how my internet access will go from now on, but will try to keep it coming. see you all soon.

copenhagen

after a period of relative blogging inactivity, i am back with some images from the 3-day trip to copenhagen. i have to thank matt and diego for the suggestions of where to go and what to do, cause it turns out that in 3 days you can only do so much in such a city, and especially when the weather is cold enough not to be helping you out.

anyway copenhagen is beautiful. i had only been on the airport on transit in the past (on the way to the legenday ipm2003 in talinn) and decided i have to properly set foot on this country after this long while. it looks a bit like stockholm in its architecture, the canals and the people give a certain amsterdamish feel to the city (though the danes are more beautiful people than the dutch, i have to say :-) and everything works as efficiently as in germany (i.e. public transport). the cafes and bars are all very different to each other and put certain effort to look different and offer an original environment, more like the coffee experience in greece (without the weather). it's also a fun city with plenty to do at night and during the day - though a bit pricy at times ...

pity i couldn't see different parts of the country, but this three day break was enough to freshen up and see what i think is a beautiful and interesting city! recommended experience!

the first step

today i booked my flight from london to shanghai and from singapore to london. 5th of may and 28th of may respectively. non refundable. i took my risks. and as a friend says, unless you book your flight, you will never start planning a trip. and it truly feels this way.

nomads in shanghai, get in touch!, since i'll be spending about a couple of weeks at your side of the world. will do some research on where to go over the weekend. lets meet up!

see you all there!

see you on the 18th of May in KL!

i don't want to sound too optimistic, but after a couple of phonecalls this weekend, it seems like my asia trip in may is coming to shape. thanks caro, and see you on the 18th in KL!

now the things to do is confirm the rest of the destinations, tickets and of course the days off from work! but it should all get done within this week! so cool!

dublin & st. paddy's

it's time i wrote something about my weekend in ireland, which is hard to describe but in a couple of words was great!

first of all i should say i scheduled this trip 5 months ago, in hope that i would find smn to go with on the way. it appears the only thing i did since then was book the tickets and nothing else, so last minute i was left alone, and with no accommodation. a couple of e-mails later, i had a place for friday (kritika's) and saturday (irish mc), whom i thank both for hosting!

st paddy's was lots of fun, as were all the new people i met while being there. combined with the rugby 6 nations, there was admittedly lots of alcohol around, lots of drunk people (i think i've never seen so many in my entire life - but a friend at work today said it's because i haven't been to australia), lots of laughing, lots of people staying in the same flat (18 i think?), some dancing and lots of good conversations - aiesec related and not. leprechauns, guiness, people dressed up in green etc all inclusive. and of course, re-discovering how small the world is through the common people we know.


it's not surprising to say that - although i regret not staying longer (i definitely have to go back when the weather is better) - i enjoyed myself so much and got a bit of the vibes of that country, ireland, on which i set foot for the first time. irish people are very friendly, and that's not because of drinking (only :-). i literally started meeting people from the moment i landed at the airport. the first impression dublin gave me was similar to the uk, but that's superficial and only on the surface, probably related with things that i have associated with the uk (architecture and driving on the left etc). but it's definitely more easy going, as are the people, and more fun than london (or so it seemed to me). it's also a smaller city, and with much more open spaces it occurred to me.

on sunday, believe it or not, aine, bruna and i went to the irish history museum, after walking around the city and having our bagels for brunch. after that it was time for visiting the jameson distillery and have some irish coffee at the brazen head (oldest pub in dublin). before i knew it i was on my way to the airport and back to london. it appears that although i returned back home exhausted, my batteries were fully charged, just from the excitement of meeting all these new people and having a different weekend in a new country.

i guess i ought to do this kind of thing more often :-)

[awaiting more photos]

travel planning

today is march the 1st (καλό μήνα)

on the 16th i am going to ireland for the weekend (st. patrick's celebrations). i have a place to stay on friday, i don't have a bed for saturday night the 17th of march (any suggestions are welcome but from what i can see online there's not much left - or that i can afford - to book). any nomads in town, by any chance?

on the 5th of april i am going to greece for easter. will be back here on the 10th.

on may is my - pending - long trip to asia. for the time being it looks like i will be leaving the uk on the 4th or the 5th. going to china, staying there for a couple of weeks. shanghai, beijing, travel and then of to thailand or malaysia for a week. i wanna get some sun and swimming, as i don't have summer holidays due to my job. the trip ends with 2-3 days in singapore, to meet up with all friends who currently reside there. there is nothing booked and i need company for thailand and travelling in china. if you are travelling during that period, lets try and combine. i am back to london 28th or 29th may.

in july i am spending the 1st weekend in greece, since my cousin is getting married, and 15th september i am in the netherlands once again, for vivek's and lonnie's wedding.

in between all these, and excluding the summer when i will be messed up with work, i wanna try and get my ass over to barcelona, copenhagen, prague.

post october i should have like 5 days of holiday left. which i still don't know what to do with, but things might change if i don't manage the asia trip in may. lets see how much of this can be realised. so far the only tickets booked are to ireland and greece (x2)...

is it too late to say...

...that i had a great time in NL for new year's and in GR last weekend? those were 7 days to remember for 2007, and we haven't even been through the 1st month yet :)

rotterdam new year

just wondering...any nomads around in rotterdam or nl in general anytime close to the new year? i am in r'dam/a'dam from the 29th dec through to the 2nd of jan.

get in touch.

a great weekend

a weekend that included a lot of good features. mostly drinking and hanging out with friends. volodi, sathe, adriana, hanna, goncalo and andreia, amit - didn't get the chance to catch up with maria though. my first time in brussels after the summer of 2004. planning out my trip to asia for may. chatting about everything and anything. finding out that i pretty much know how to get around in brussels after 4-5 times that i've been there. seeing that the spark and good company with friends is always there, even if you haven't met in a while. a bit of good food, good brunch, good belgian beer and dancing. planning out a couple more trips around europe, since it's the easiest of things to take off and spend your weekend skiing in switzerland or chilling in spain. walking around the city and enjoying the [non rainy] weather.

random events of the weekend:

1. upon arrival, volodi is waiting for me at midi. we take a cab to go find the rest of the gang, and we accidentally meet them on their way there (they were walking). imagine the surprise on rohit's face when he heard me shout his name on a brussels street.

2. we (of course) had the unavoidable flash back on our ai year, and talking about what everyone is doing now. one of the people i haven't seen since july is kene. and knew nothing of his whereabouts. imagine my surprise when, upon getting out of the victoria coach station today, i heard a voice calling my name. it was kene!

3. i caused two people to get back in touch after 6 and a half years.

not bad for a weekend...now lets see how the week ahead will bring!