Frosty England Christmas

Devon - Cornwall - Somerset - Bristol

Another week on the farm, from left to right: Herding the horses in to the paddocks with my bestmate, fatboy Moby the fat golden labrador; Kate cleaning the horse stables; Church we went to for the Christmas Carols; Leading the ponies into their paddock for the day; Me and Moby doing selfies; View of the farm; The caravan which is my own little private space; Cat on the right, me and the other helpers Kate from Canada, Valentino from Italy and Kate from Russia; Me, Valentino, Cat's mom Copper and Kate at the Church service.

After 2 weeks of regularly feeding animals, cleaning stables, pig pens, bird pens, plucking turkies, ducks, geese, chickens and dressing them, making sausages and burgers as well as selling them at the markets, I left the farm for the time being and spent christmas with Heather's family, from left to right: Christmas night Heather and Kegs slow dancing with a full stomach; Me in my christmas pressie mouse onesy and Dave, Heather's brother; The onesies!!!; Veriti statue on our north coast trip; Kegs being totally shitfaced!; Frosty morning; North coast beach; Same; Me, Heather and Livvie, Heather's sister being silly onn boxing day in Topsham; More of the north coast; Same; Wild ponies on the road on our way back home; Heather in Porlock posing on a cool shaped rock; North coast town; North coast town at night; Bridge across the river; Typical old phone booth; View of north coast.

After the biggest days of feasting and getting totally wasted, Heather and I drove up to Bristol to leave for Edinburgh and celebrate new years eve.  Coming soon is new years video of us jumping in to the river in Edinburgh. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and UK

Lagos - west coast and inland Portugal - Lagos - Malaga - Amsterdam - UK

The week started with a roadtrip up to the west coast of Portugal for 4 days.  The nights were cold and waking up with frost was becoming a daily routine.  It got cold as we headed further north but still warm enough to sun bath and swim in the ocean.  After 4 days, we finally head back to Lagos where I then spent my last night in Portugal.  I left early in the morning heading to Malaga, Spain where I have booked a flight to head to Amsterdam.  The bus trip took all day and I definitely felt very sad to leave Lagos, my new home, but it was time to go.

In Malaga, I caught up with my good friend Vince who hosted me in Paris and who is now travelling as well.  My flight to Amsterdam was on a Sunday and there was a fiesta then, the roads were closed off and my bus was late and had to go around to finally get to where I needed go.  I got to the airport late and panicked.  Luckily I've checked in online but couldn't check in my backpack, which I was really worried about because I had my swiss army knife, pointy pegs, large sizes of lotion which I was sure I was going to lose going through the security check.  I went through the security scanner feeling so nervous and my backpack passed through the scanner while the ladies in front of the monitor were too busy chatting away, probably whinging about having to work while there is a fiesta happening.  I quickly grabbed my backpack and left towards my gate with a huge smile of relief on my face.

After 3 hours flight, the plane landed in Amsterdam and I met my friend Manuela at the airport who had just landed from Italy.  She invited me to her apartment where I was h hosted generously.  Close to sunset, we went to her band practice and watched them play.  Manuela made my Amsterdam experience really really unforgettable.  At night, I headed to my friend, Lili and Michael's place, welcomed by a big plate of delicious lasagna and spent the night there.

From left to right: Lagos; First night camp inland west coast; west coast cliffs; west coast beaches, same for all 3 photos; our roadtrip car; west coast beach; inland Portugal; inland Portugal; west coast beach; Manuela playing in her band; photo of me beside my wall message in Lagos; Yarran, feeling on top of the world in the mountains of inland Portugal; me and Manuela

I then set off to the airport in the morning to fly to London.  When I got to London, I  immediately took the bus heading to Tiverton, Devon where I was then picked up by my Heather's (my pommy friend who turned out to be living near by)'s mom who took me straight to the farm I am currently volunteering at.

It's been a week on the farm now and it's been hard work but a really new experience and challenge which makes it fun.  It's an animal farm consisting horses, sheep, cows, birds, dogs, cats and ponies.  There were also 3 other helpers beside me from the US, Spain and Australia.

From left to right: me and beautiful Heather; Azure's (Heather's mom) house; same; Farm I'm working at; Beautiful Devon view; The farm

New home Lagos

Spain - Portugal

From left to right: Portimao, Portugal; Camped in National forest, South Portugal; Campsite in Sevilla, Spain; Campsite in Spain on the way to Portugal amongst horses; Portimao; Castle in Portugal; The frost I woke up to hitching in Portimao after waiting for 7 hours then finally got a ride after waiting another 4 hours (we need more hitch hikers in Portugal!!!); Really yummyy and interesting fruit found in the local market; Portimao

Kate, Gabriela, Laura and I rented out a car to go on a roadtrip to Monchique (high moutain seeing north and south portugal view), Sagres (End of the Western world) and beaches along south west.  From left to right: Monchique during sunset; Beach in Sagres; Beach in Sagres; Beach south of Aljezur; On one of the cliffs in Sagres; Same; Beach in Sagres; Same

Spent a week in Lagos making myself at home.  Had a really cute welcome in Lagos, was greeted by a black labrador with a winter scarf around its neck.  From left to right: Cool grafitti in town; Lagos cliffs; View of Lagos from cliff; More cliffs with Yarran; More cliffs; High tide; The rocks are eroting and this is a pedestrian walk and driveway infront of a hotel; More rocks; My gorilla shoes I wore everyday around town that Ben lent me; Flying kite on the beach with Fredrik; More rocks.

After welcomed by the labrador, Ben (one of ShangriLagos hostel owner) greeted me at the door just as I arrive.  Then I immediately felt home and been living in a house with my Lagos family.  From left to right: Cooking and washing dishes together; Snuggled together watching Death Proof; My first night at home; Thanksgiving dinner we did for Kate; Jamming after dinner; Fredrik, Alva and me after walking Phil (papa bear) to the train station; Crazy dress up night where we all then did a piib crawl around town while dancing and singing each way, until everyone was totally drunk of course (luckily most costumes survived the wild night); Cute picture of Gabriela, Kate, me and Laura on a giant chair (like tiny kids sharing a chair); Our beloved rooftop where we love to hangout during the day, sunbathe, yoga, learning the flute, playing the guitar; Fredrik, Maulice and me after walking Jack to the bus station; So, introducing my Lagos family, Maulice; Laura; Jack; Alva; Ryan; Fredrik; Kate; Yarran; Me on top of the world (exactly how I'm feeling); Ben; Alva with Tiago; Paula. Missing out on John's picture.  Sorry John.

Best Europa Afriquana Roma photos 2013

Espana Roma with Nuni

Sevilla - Granada - Cordoba - Sevilla

I arrived in Granada straight from Sevilla on Monday. I checked in to a hostel and was quite amazed with the quality of facilities they have there. It definitely felt like a 5 star hostel. I spent a couple of days cruising around town and also visited Monachil Waterfalls which landscape's reminded me of Atlas Mountain in Morocco.  The water was icy but I went for a swim anyway.  Need to toughen up for 'Loony Dook' Scotland on new years day!!

As I was walking back to my hostel from the waterfall, I saw this familiar image of a person and it turned out to be Nuni (one of my best friends from Indonesia)!!!  I was so surprised and couldn't help myself from screaming and basically jumped on her in the middle of the crowded streets of Granada.  Nuni is probably 3/4 my size so we almost fell down to the ground.

From left to right: Local dudes flamencoing for fun; On the top og the hill at sunset (sacromonte); Monachil Mountains; View of Al Hambra on top of the hill; Granada city centre; Sacromonte with some caves that people live in; Santa Ana; View of Cathedral from top of the hill; Interesting cafe at Sacromonte; Granada city centre; Another view of Al Hambra from top of hill before sunset; Swimming at the fountain of Monachil mountains; Cathedral; Monachil bridge.

Since I have no travel plan, I started to join their crazy schedule. They were planning to travel all over Europe in a month. I could only keep up to Sevilla. So, the next day, I travelled with her and 2 of her friends to Cordoba.

We got to Cordoba in the middle of the night, so I didn't have much energy to spread out my nylon tarp on the bed to prevent bed bugs, and sure enough, there were bed bugs! Argh!!!

Cordoba is a much smaller town than Sevilla and Granada, so spending 3 days there was definitely enough.  Cordoba has the oldest mosque in Spain that has been converted to a church, it was free for visit from 8-9am, so we took the opportunity and got up early in the morning. All 4 of us then travelled to Sevilla together and when we got there, I was their tour guide because I know the town pretty well now.   We spent the whole day walking around town until they had to leave to Portugal in the middle of the night.

From left to right: Castle wall in Cordoba; Buidling; Statue in the plaza centre of town; Us having tapas; Roman ruins in middle  of town; Arch de Triumph of  Cordoba; Market place; Church; Funny pic of Nuni; Cathedral at night; Photo of us; Me and Nuni in middle of town; Inside mosque now cathedral; Same; Buidling..

Since then, I been staying in Sevilla for more than a week now and the weather is starting to get too cold. So, I am heading off to Algarve, Portugal relying on the weather forecast saying it to be a warmer place than Sevilla

Afriquana Sevilla Roma

Map of trip Marrakech - Sahara Desert - Sevilla

In the morning, we got up early to start hitching to Marrakech.  After a few kms of walking, a ride and finally sticking my thumb out for 15 minutes on the highway, a car heading directly to Marrakech stopped.  We got to Marrakech at about 3pm and found ourself a good cheap hotel.

In the afternoon, as we were walking around the markets in the Medina, people didn't seem to be as pushy and rude as they were in Fes.  I felt quite happy about that, also many foreigners were wearing tangtops and shorts, so I felt comfortable.  At night, when the Jemma El Fna came to live, the square was full of food stalls.  So many people were asking us to dine at their stall, some were really pushy and rude as well, so I thought 'I spoke too  soon'.  Even worse, one of the waiter abused us verbally after we ignored him, Emmanuel got so angry and faced him and he said after we left him "I not scared of you! I kill you!" Wow! What a way to attract costumers..

Unfortunately,  we had to stay longer there, we spent the week fighting our cold and diarrhea.  In the hotel, we could hear everyone else coughing and sneezing, we thought we needed to get out of Marrakech asap.  After a week, Emmanuel decided that he didn't feel safe with me hitch hiking in Morocco, even with him.  I was very disappointed to hear that, especially because I do love hitch hiking.  But he meant well and it is for my own safety.   So, after he felt better, I left Marrakech to go on a 3 day tour in the Sahara Desert while Emmanuel planned to head to Spain and we were to meet again in Spain.

(From left to right: Cobra dancing through music (I feel so sorry for these reptiles, they must be totally drugged to be so dosile all the time); A tomb we visited but not wanting to see the actual tomb even after paying for it considering there was 300 people in the queue and you can only stand infront of the door to take pictures; The so called 'Eiffel Tower' of Marrakech which is a mosque; A nice intricit design of a door at the palace; The roof top of our hotel where we like to chill; The courtyard of the palace (typical riad design with water element in the middle for cooling system); Huge nest of birds on top of a building beside the tomb; Meet blacky, my little mate at the hotel; Part of the tomb; Entrance door 

I left Marrakech at 7am.  The drive going through the Atlas Mountain was mind blowing.  It is such a dramatic landscape.  We visited the Kasbah world heritage which was built in the 11th century.   It's a pretty amazing architecture, considering the whole village was made out of mud.  We were dropped off to have lunch and to visit the cinema museum, because Morocco was the place where a few famous hollywood movies were made.  Lunch was overpriced and blend, I also decided not to go to the museum,  feeling that it will not be worth it, like the food at lunch.  And sure enough, it wasn't.

We spent the night at a really beautiful place callled Dades Gorges.  The landscape around Atlas Mountain is very overwhelmingly dramatic and spectacular.  At the hotel, we hung out with a couple of Berber guys who lives in the village.  We had a drumming session together.

The next day we headed off to the Sahara desert, almost everyone were starting to itch, apparently the hotel was full of bed bugs!  It was the worst thing ever!  We stopped by for lunch and seeing the overpriced menu, with Vlasta, who is from Czech, I had fruit and biscuits for lunch plus dates that were readily available for us to pick from the tree beside us.  Since then we became best mates.

Then we headed off and got to the desert just before sunset.  We rode our camels as we watched the sun go down.  Right beside our nomad tent is a really big sand dune known as Erg Chebbi, it seemed easy to climb so we tried to race up but as I started climbing it felt impossible.  The sand was so soft and it was very steep, to give you an idea, it's about 75 degrees.  It was tiring and a huge effort to get up the top but I had to do it because it may be my only time in the Sahara desert. I finally got to the top, out of breath and super exhausted.  I dropped down lying on my back and looked at how much stars there are in the sky.  It was really nice, so quiet as well, I couldn't imagine being lost in the desert walking on that sand.

We had to get back  down for dinner then after that sat around the campfire listening to berber music, which includes drumming and singing.   Of course, not able to help myself, after a few songs, I joined in.   So we jammed.  Four of us from the group slept outside, it was really nice and quiet and cold, but worth it.  I slept after counting 12 shooting stars.

The next morning, we rode the camels back to the minibus during sunrise.  Then after that it was a long trip back to Marrakech.  I spent the night walking around the market and main square with Vlasta.  The next day Vlasta and I planned to check out Ourika Valley but time was tight so we ended up walking through new town Marrakech which was really nice.  Walking through the new town felt like we were in a  different world.  Such a big difference to the old town.  I'm glad the Sahara trip brightened up my stay in Morocco and spending the last few days cruising around town in Marrakech was a really nice way to end roaming Morocco.

(From left to right: All 4 photos are the dramatic landscape of Atlas mountain, check out on the first picture how the dramatic change from the background the mountain has snow and in the foreground is a really dry and hot climate almost desert. The road was pretty windy and awesome as well; Overloaded truck?; The world heritage Kasbah, village made out of mud; 2 pics of cliffs that were surrounding us, felt like I was in the 'never ending story' movie; Me and Brittany my camel, look alike? I hope not; The guys in the tour, Vlasta (now one of my bestmates on the right); Berber guy in the heritage village; Camel toes!!!!; Beautiful serenity Sahara; Sunrise above the sand dunes; Camel ride! Yeehaaa!!!)

Early in the morning,  I caught the plane to Sevilla, Spain.  It was very hard to find a hostel in Sevilla because of the long weekend they are having and also that weekend was the gay pride celebration in Sevilla.  I came on time for the fiesta but not organised enough to book a bed beforehand.  Luckily I came early in the day so I was able  to get a bed at the place I was staying before.

I walked all day around town and just enjoyed my personal time and space, enjoying everything that happened around me, the people I meet and spent time with and of course the beautiful atmosphere of the city.  Sevilla really felt like home.  The more I stayed in Sevilla, the more I fell in love with the city.  The last night I was there, I stayed with Domingo who was my kind and very knowledgeable in Spain's history host.  He gave me a tour around Sevilla and at night we had tapas along with a breathtaking Flamenco performance.

Today, I'm off to Granada.  Another farewell to Sevilla, but I'm sure I will be back there.  Granada, here I come!!!

(From left to right: Sevilla, I'm home!!! All saint Festival in Seville; My new greek friend Ranya; The fine art museum; More fiesta; The tobacco industry; Arheological museum; Sevilla at night; Plaza de Espana; The largest wooden structure in the world; 2 pics of plaza de Espana (now for you starwars fan, does this site remind you of 'attack of the clones'?, apparently it was shot here); All saint festival was also gay pride day so the horse was rainbow coloured; Me infront of plaza de espana; Last night in Sevilla, went to a flamenco show with my host, Domingo, it was breathtaking, have I mentioned anywhere how I love Sevilla?; Part of archeological building in the park)

Afriquana Europa Roma

Trip from Portugal through Spain to Morocco

It was a Tuesday morning and I have prepared myself mentally and physically that I am capable to hitch hike on my own that day.  I walked out the door of my host's flat and walked to the metro station to get to the outskirt of town.  The metro was closed, apparently that day they were having a strike.  So I had to wait for an hour amongst other hundreds of people trying to catch the bus.  It was a bit of a hassle, but I finally got to the bus station where it gets me across the bridge out of Lisbon.  I monitored my GPS so that I can stop closest possible to the petrol station beside the highway.

After getting off the bus, I walked 500m to the station and found out it was all fenced off.  I thought 'ok, you can do this!'.  I looked for the safest and most discreet fence to climb over, which I did.  I threw my bags over and climbed after.  With a big smile on my face feeling proud of myself, I took my 'Faro' sign out and walked to every single truck at the station.  Unfortunately none of them were going my way.  Bugger!

So I walked to the start of the exit of the petrol station and hitched from there.  A truck stopped but was going another way but insisted that the way he'll go will eventually get me where I want to go.  I thought to myself, 'gee, he's persistent'.  I didn't like the sound of it at all and said 'nau, i wait, obrigado'.  He was pissed off and climbed back on his truck.  Weird!

A few people stopped but they were only able to give me short rides, so I had to refuse even though I was starting to feel fed up after standing there for 3 hours.  An hour later, Pedro stopped and said, 'I'm not going to Faro but I'm going to Sines.  Which was perfect because I have organised a host a few kilometres south of Sines at Vila Nova de Milfontes.  It was a nice ride, Pedro was a really fluent english speaker so we talked about a lot of things and also congratulated him for being my first ride.

I got to Sines late at night and too late to hitch to Milfontes, so I stayed the night there.  After my experience the previous day, I was losing motivation to hitch hike.  The next day, I took a bus to Milfontes with a big guilt on my shoulder feeling like a total failure.  I wasn't proud at all but I couldn't find a motivation either.  I got to  my host's place in the afternoon.

At night, I cooked dinner for Sylvain who lives in an awesome mediterranean arabic style house with so much decorations from around the world.  We had really good conversations.  Sylvain's a barefoot runner and our talk that night really inspired and motivated me to continue on hitch hiking.

From left to right: A portugese style architecture in Sines; Trees farmed for the barks to be used as wine bottle corks; Beautiful Milfontes; Milfontes beaches, Portugese road; Algarve (Lagos); Sunset in Milfontes where I had dinner; Beautiful Lagos; Beautiful rocky Miilfontes beach; View from Sylvain's roof top; Sylvain on the right and his mate Falco on the left; Sylvain's nicely decorated house; Very simple bus stop in Portugal

After staying for a couple of nights, in the morning Sylvain dropped me off at the round about where people normally hitch. In 5 minutes I got a ride with a really nice couple of Portuguese guys who were heading south.  That day I travelled through almost every town in Algarve and decided to stay the night in Seville. I got to Seville at night and immediately looked for a hostel and got a bed. I spent almost the whole night at a place where all the locals like to hang out.  It was a really nice atmosphere and the fact not many people can speak English but still can have a great conversation with me, goes to show how warm and friendly local Sevillans are.  It also really inspired me to learrn to speak Spanish.

The next day I got up really early in the morning full of energy and walked all over the city all day long and met so many genuinely really friendly and warm people everywhere. I absolutely love Seville, the whole city really made me feel like home. In the afternoon I met with Sandra and Richard who are really good friends from Australia. We spent the whole night enjoying Spanish food and atmosphere. It was such a great night!

From left to right (all taking place in bonito Sevilla) : Flamenco dancers; Me on the tiled 'couch'; Bank Holiday fiesta, parade of drummers in awesome costumes; Cool Spanish Moorish style building which is a theatre;  Ladies banging on pots and pans on sttage for the fiesta; Love this building; Me with my favourite Richard and Sandra (Uncle John and Aunt Yoko); Thick chocolate churros after tapas and gelateria; Another bonito building; Bull fiighter statue; Sevilla view; Bonito architecture; Small  part of the biggest Cathedral in the world; Burger vending machine, very popular in Spain, I dare anyone to try one; The super grande Cathedral, can't get enpugh of it, such a complicated design and sooooo big. 

Early in the morning, I left Seville for Morocco. After a bus, ferry and a stuffed grand taxi ride and also a help from truly superbly nice Spanish and Moroccan friends I met during the trip, Emmanuel and I finally met again in Chefchaoun.  We were planning to spend a few nights there until the end of Eid Adha which is the sacrificing lamb/goat/cow day.  We thought the thick red colour blood everywhere in town would be very dramatic with the blue town.

Two days before Eid Adha, I got a message from Ouma, a host I organised in Fes.  She welcomed us to join her and her family for Eid Adha.   We thought it was a much better option because it is a family celebration and it would be nice to experince the culture with the locals.  So the next morning, we hitch hiked to Fes.   It was my first hitch hike in Morroco and it was easy.  We only waited for a car to come by and straight away we got a ride.  It was very lucky too that Hatim was going to Fes to celebrate Eid Adha with his family.

When we got to Fes, we met Ouma at the bus station and she took us too her family's house.  It was a nice local atmosphere with her family all gathering together for the big day.  In the morning, we saw the sheeps on their stairs.  I tried not to get too attached with the sheeps so that I don't get upset when the time comes.  At 10.30am, the professional slaughterer came and started what they had to do.  It was a really quick process which was great.  Straight away the liver and heart were made into kebabs and barbecued in the living room.  It is a Morrocam tradition to have barbecue inside the house like the nomadic way of cooking in the tent.  We looked around the neighbourhood and everyone was doing the same thing.  It was a very smokey day.

From left to right: Goodbye for now Spain, I miss you already; First landing in Tangier, Morocco; cactus fruit (note to self: never pick it yourself, only buy in market); the blue city of Chefchauon; decor of hotelwe stayed in at Chefchauon;  City view of the blue city in the morning; an amazing view of turquoise lake with red mountain on the way to Fez from Chefchauon; Medina gate in Fez; cool 13 century architecturein Fez Medina (oldest Medina in Morocco); view of Medina; typical Moroccan style building; nice architecture; me and Ouma (our lovely host) in front of sheep slaughtering action on Eid Adha day; me and Emmanuel taking sheep to the butcher to get cut; me making friends with Ouma's cute little cousin who is wearing a Moroccan berber traditional outfit.

After a couple of days stuffing ourselves with food and walks around the city, we head to the Medina and spent the night there.  After dealing with the craziness of the Medina, we hitched south towards Marrakech the next day.  We had a really nice long ride with Meriem and Akhmed up to Casablanca, who also treated us for lunch which was really nice.  After that we had another couple of rides to Settat, where we spent the night because it was getting dark.

Settat is an interesting small city where not many tourists go to, so it was very difficult for us to find a cheap hotel there.  We didn't have any option but to bite the bullet because it's impossible to camp in Morocco, with wild dogs and plenty of homeless people roaming around.

The next day we set out hitching to Marrakech.  Marrakech, here we come!!!