Same Same but Different: Ton Sai

Life is simple here...

7:45am - Keelin and Ian wake me up by knocking on my bungalow door and we have some breakfast.
9:30am - We climb. Usually getting to the route is half the fun (wading in neck-high water, scrambling through the jungle, etc.) Sometimes we skip the morning climb and just sit on the beach.
1:00pm - Lunch at our favorite "restaurant" called Chicken Lady 2. It's really just a food stall with three bamboo tables. The same guy takes our order every time, which usually includes him laughing at us about something or giving us a mini lesson in Thai.
2:30pm - We climb some more, meaning that Ian climbs up like a pro, Keelin does a good job, and at multiple points on the route I just hang there and wonder how the hell I am supposed to reach my hand into the pocket four feet above me.
6:30pm - Dinner at Chicken Lady 2 and the sunset. The BBQ chicken is bomb. Don't eat too many mangoes and too much curry. I did have a not so pleasant deja-vu moment in the jungle (only those of you who were in Ko Samui eleven years ago know what I'm talking about). We've been forced to take "rest days" consisting of toast, bananas and rice.
8:00pm - We retire to our bungalows. Often I am greeted by giant cockroaches, frogs, and other unknown creatures...there are a few holes giant in the floor (hooray for cheap accommodation!)

Most days also include playing with kittens on my porch, watching baby monkeys, reading on the beach, and complaining about the mosquitoes.

Keelin and I on the sailboat!

Today, however, we spiced things up and went on a sailboat that took us to a sweet deep water soloing locale, then sailed a bit through the islands. It's not very often that you get to dangle from a stalactite then drop twenty feet into the Andaman Sea.

From Pacific to Atlantic: Cordoba, Seville and Portugal

Cordoba turned out to be a city that I meshed with - a slower tempo, not many tourists, and lots of tiny cobblestone streets to explore. Was greeted by a parade for All Saints Day the evening I arrived - lots of priests, Virgin Marys, and kids with instruments.

Stroll through Cordoba's side streets

Met some fellow West-coasters in Seville and spent an evening watching an impromptu flamenco show. I was a little disturbed by THREE Starbucks within two blocks of eachother by the cathedral, and found myself longing for a smaller town and the coast...

Which is a small part of why I ended up in Portugal. An old friend had been camping near the coast, and equipped with only the name of the town he was camping near and a little faith, I made the journey to Sagres, Portugal to track down the most un-trackable person I have ever met. Somehow things fell into place (thanks to the Swiss girl on a bike, the Spanish guy who gave me a ride, an old Portuguese woman who offered me a room, and the British guy I met on the beach who, after I explained my story, told me it sounded like Sleepless in Seattle), and I found my friend.

My lone backpack and the cliffs in Sagres, Portugal 

Too bad I only had a couple days in Portugal, because it is amazing. Huge cliffs, beautiful beaches, and genuine people. Spent Sunday hiking along the coast, deep water soloing, swimming in caves, and picnicing. Monday morning we took a bus to Seville, and then I hopped on a plane to Rome. Almost didnt make it on the bus out of Sagres (for a solid twenty minutes I convinced myself that I could just camp there and stay forever), then almost didnt make it on my plane to Rome (completely different reason - and now I know not to drink a bottle of wine before catching a bus to the airport).

Next post will be from Thailand. Ciao, Europe. You taught me to live in the present and that things always work out in the end.

In Good Company: Màlaga

A huge part of traveling is the people you meet, and often it determines how you will remember a city. My first impression of Màlaga was not positive - after a windy six hour bus ride and arriving in the polluted and hideously modern city center, it took me two and a half hours to find my hostel (a combination of me not writing down the address and getting directions from shopkeepers to where the hostel used to be). Eventually found it, and partially thanks to the people I've met, my impression has been improving.

Went out for a few drinks last night with my roommates which included: a 70-ish year old eccentric gay man from Ottowa who just completed the 1000km Santiago pilgrimage and is about to travel for six months in Africa, a 40 year old from Italy that actually uses the phrase "Mamma Mia!", and an extremely handsome 30 year old British doctor/ice-climber/world traveler (aka my future husband). It's been so amazing to meet and talk with people I typically would never meet (obviously because of location) but also because the nature of solo traveling requires that you break down your wall and open your mind a bit.

My childhood dream came true! Malaga on Halloween turned out to be pretty crazy...

I think I'll head to Cordoba tomorrow, then Seville after a couple days. Then in a little over a week I fly to Rome, and two days later to Bangkok (which includes a five hour layover in Cairo). The evening I arrive in Bangkok, I´ll hop on a 12 hour night bus to Krabi, then a boat to Ton Sai in the morning. Pray for me.

Off the (main) Tourist Track: Garrucha

Time for some relaxation. As fun as it is to sight-see and stay in hostels, it was time to take a break from the big cities. Obviously I can only scratch the surface by spending only a few days in each city, but I started to get the feeling that even the tiny bit of surface I'm scratching is fake. It's so easy to follow the well-worn tourist track.When I had the chance to experience a smaller town, I took it. I was the last person on the bus from Granada, and the bus driver looked at me like "what the hell are you going to do in Garrucha?", but I am so happy I came.

Garrucha is a little town of about 6,000 people on the southern-ish coast of Spain.  So far, I've hung out on the beach, eaten delicious tapas, watched terrible Spanish TV, and that's about it. I also exercised for the first time in six weeks (besides all the walking) and went to a spinning class. It's been awesome staying with Gretchen (a friend from Bellingham) and her roommates - she has an apartment with a view of the ocean (there's kind of a port in the way), and it's only a couple minutes walk to the beach!

Almost Six Weeks: Valencia and Granada

Reading back on my first post and how I was concerned about many months of homelessness, I do find I miss certain things (cooking in my own kitchen, family and friends, jogging, knowing the language) but not as much as I expected.  My shoes are my home. Sounds silly, I know, but I find comfort in my shoes.  The Teva´s I have with me I bought at Stanley Market in Hong Kong when I was 15 and have been with me through thick and thin. From hiking in the North Cascades to exploring Osaka during my exchange program, backpacking through Vietnam and China, roadtrips to California and across the mid-West, and trekking up a river in Mexico. And now, they have been with me as I´ve stepped in nasty dog shit in Berlin to wading in the Medeterranian.

The second I dropped off my bag in Valencia I went to the beach.  After getting lost for an hour (you think it would have been easy to just walk east, but the streets are confusing) I finally made it. There was a scattering of litter, but other than that it was great. Met some hilarious older American women (they are working as nurses in England) and spent most of my time in Valencia with them. Hopped on a train down to Granada and am trying to understand Spanish culture. It´s a lot different here than the rest of Europe - the people are a bit more rough (in a good yet slightly intimidating way - maybe just more honest?) and from what I can tell the general attitude towards working is a lot more relaxed.

View of Granada from the Alhambra 

Now I just have to make some decisions and figure out how the hell I´m getting from here to Italy and where to go next. Malaga? Seville? Smaller coastal towns? Morocco?  By bus or tain or plane? I suppose if these are the types of decisions I have to make, life is good.

Going to the Alhambra tomorrow morning (looks amazing - google it), and maybe after that I´ll figure out where to go next.