Loony Mouse Hogmanaying Scotland

Edinburgh - Aberdeen - Glasgow - Highlands - Bristol - Ilfracombe

When the plane landed in Edinburgh, I was welcomed by a cold, windy and wet morning.  I settled in to my hostel and at night met Heather for the Torch Procession. Seven thousand people including us walked through town with our burning torches from the city centre up to Calton Hill where the procession ended with beautiful fireworks.  After the ceremony, we went to the pub to meet the rest of the gang, Vince (my cheeky monkey lovely Parisian mate), Vlasta (my beautiful beloved Czech mate) and Vlasta's friend, Honza.  It was a nice get together after not seeing each other for a while.

On New Years Eve, Heather, Vince and I dressed up in our onesies.  Vince was a monkey (of course, being the cheeky monkey that he is),  Heather was a parrot with a kilt (annoyingly to be occasionally mistaken as a cockatoo) and me as a super Scottish mouse with a kilt and a cape.  We filled our plastic bottles with as much alcohol as possible and went off going nuts and danced around in the city and at the street party.  We managed to get everyone all ages to either start dancing or take pictures of us (felt like celebrities that night).

After going crazy at the street party, we went in to the Ceilidh concert and learnt traditional Scottish dances.  It was so much fun, as well as frisky and full of spinning around.  Luckily none of us felt too sick to throw up, but a couple of hours was definitely enough.  We went back to the street party just before midnight and met up with Vlasta and Honza.  We all celebrated the welcoming of 2014 together.  As 2014 entered, the moment became absolutely magical and unforgettable, especially when the fireworks took off where I was feeling like I was in another world enjoying every second to the great beginning of 2014.  I knew at that time being with the people I really love and having the most magical experience that it will be a grand year.

From left to right:  Me and my sword; Me and Heather getting ready to light up our torches; The opening ceremony of the torch procession; Me and Heather with our lit torches; The nice view of people behind us with their torches; Fireworks at the end of the procession; More fireworks; Beautiful Edinburgh; Vince in his monkey onesie going bananas (Thanks for celebrating new years with me Vince.  You really made it unforgettable); Vince, me, Honza and Vlasta taking pictures of Edinburgh before new years eve; Me and Vlasta having lunch; New Years Eve in Edinburgh; Ceilidh Concert; Church in Edinburgh; Me and Heather in our onesies; Me, Heather and Vince in our onesies rockin the city; Edinburgh on new years eve; Vince, Emilie and me at the Ceilidh concert; Me, Heather and Vince resting on a bench at 7am after partying hard all night. (Most of the photos were taken by Heather.  Thanks lovely!)

We continued partying up through til morning and ended up sleeping for an hour, having to wake up for our (me and Heather) Loony Dook plunge in Queensferry.  I was late and not being very prepared, I wore my bikini, mouse onesie and reef shoes to loony dook and did not take spare clothes nor shoes.  It was a cold morning but Heather and I were so ready to do it!  There were about 1,000 of us.  Everyone was dressed up and we all paraded together towards the water followed by drums to make us dance all the way.  Heather and I then got in our bikinis, prepared my camera, ran to the river then dived in.  It was SUPER BLOODY FRESH!  The video camera only lasted for 10 seconds which was such a bummer.  We then headed back to Edinburgh and being not well prepared for after the event, it was definitely the coldest journey back to the hostel.

We changed to warmer clothes then headed in to town to meet Richard and Sandra (my beloved Aussie mates) who were staying in Glasgow at that time.  We walked around town and caught up for a couple of hours until they had to head back to Glasgow.  Meeting Richard and Sandra made my new years celebration even better, it was perfect!

After spending the last day with Vlasta, Vince, Honza, Aron and Emilie, we said our goodbyes hoping to meet again in the near future.  It was a sad farewell.
Heather and I chose to walk up to Arthur Seat for our last day in Edinburgh.  We chose the worst day to do it but it was crazily fun to walk up  the hill.  The ground was slippery at times, the wind tried to blow us away, and hail aiming to our faces, but it was an adventure and we really experienced the real Scotland walk (well, apparently that's what the locals said).  It was an absolutely wet and cold adventure, as our rain coats were soaked and water got in to our clothes.  We then headed back to the hostel where it was warm, we were given towels to dry up and changed to dry clothes and we were given cakes and tea in front of the heater.  They were really sweet and lovely.

From left to right: Preparing mentally for Loony Dook (worried!!! Do I look worried?); Heather looking worried and cold as well; The nice looking bridge in Queensferry where loony dook takes place; The Loony Dook parade; Time for everyone to dive in!!!!; I did it!!!! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!; We did it!!!; Heather did it!!!; Freezing cold at the bus stop on the way back to Edinburgh; View of Edinburgh from the castle; Live music after new years eve in Edinburgh with Richard, Sandra and Heather; Me and my beautiful Sandra; Me and gorgeous Heather and lovely Richard (thanks for making my new years experience even more magical guys, you're the best!); A cute purply building on our last night in Edinburgh; The Castle; Calton Hill; Me and Heather playing dress ups in the museum; Me and Vlasta on our last day (thanks for being there Vlasta, you really created a magical new years experience for me); Me and Heather fooling around at the museum again; Heather walking towards Arthur's seat; Me and Heather walking towards Arthur's Seat in the windy hail storm (Without you I won't have had a crazy awesome new years celebration Heather). Again, most of the pictures were taken by Heather.

Heather and I then parted. I wanted to experience more of Scotland then spontaneously headed up to Aberdeen hosted by my mate Andrew.  It's a very grey city because most of the buildings were built from granite plus Scotland sky at that time was really grey.  It was nice, but one night was definitely enough there.

The next day, I followed my heart to Glasgow.  It was raining alot and the hostel I was staying in was really quiet.  So I went for a walk in the centre and came across a Scottish band called Clanadonia playing so I stuck around.  At the end of their play, I hung out with the band and chat for a bit.  One of the drummers, Gavin, who I hung out most of the time kindly hosted me in Glasgow.  Maggie and Gavin made me feel so comfortable in their home and treated me like I was part of the family.  Gavin taught me how kilt works, which starts of a 4 metre fabric then folded nice and exact to act as a sleeping mat then becomes a blanket.  It then wraps around to become a kilt also trousers, coat and it works best when it's wet because it makes you warmer.  Wow!  I was impressed!  The Scots sure know what they're doing.

From left to right: The only picture I took in Aberdeen; Glasgow, the city of creativity; Glasgow city centre; George Square in Glasgow; Cathedral in Glasgow; Clanadonia in action; Clanadonia shirt; Me playing the didgeridoo taught by a Glasgowegien, hmmm; My lovely hosts, Gavin, Maggie and Buster; Gavin folding the kilt precisely by couting the squares; Me in the kilt.

Gavin also took me on a road trip to the highlands.  To make it more interesting, I wore my mouse onesie throughout the whole trip.  The landscape  was absolutely mind blowing.  Snow was covering the top of the mountains, Waterfall every where, hee-land coos (highland cows) and I managed to do a take two loony dook video where it was even colder as it is further north than Edinburgh.  It was, again, or more so, SUPER BLOODY FRESH!  I haven't managed to upload the video online, having some technical problem.  But just to give you a bit of a vision, I was screeching like a mouse.  It was soooooo much colder than Edinburgh!!

After a few days in Scotland, I headed back to England heading riding a very comfortable 10 hour night bus to Bristol where the seats were converted to beds, then continuing another bus ride in the afternoon to Ilfracombe.

From left to right: The road trip begins! YEAH!!; Loch Lommond; The highlandsl; Waterfall; On the road through the highlands; The beautiful highlands; Lunch time, peanut butter sandwich without cutleries; Waterfalls again; More of the highlands; On the road again through the highlands; Highland views; More highlands view; Oldest pub in Scotland; Have you ever  seen a mouse attack a bear before? Well, here you go!; More waterfall in the highlands; More highland views; And more views; More breathtaking views; A mouse in the highlands; And towards the end, more highland views.  It's definitely a must go place.  Absolutely breathtaking!

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)