November 29, 2006 by zankbennett.

Luxor.  Arrived by overnight train…it was only 2 hours late…unusually on-time apparently.

Hiked all around the West Bank’s Valley of the Kings.  Amazing.  More taxis and donkeys and camels…

View from the top of the Valley of the Kings!  Lunch break!  I challenged a local guide who just wouldn’t leave me alone to a race to the top…these guys just don’t give up.  It’s simply amazing.  He declined…then gave me a guilt trip for free.

 
Can’t remember where this was…but it was my favorite spot…will update name.

I just can’t find myself in the picture among the hieroglyphs…

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November 28, 2006 by zankbennett.

First stop in Egypt and first time ever in Africa. It’s impossible yo use adjectives to describe this city. Instead, I’ll just list a few observations/thoughts:

-population, bearing 20,000,000
-dinner first night here, $0.95. Was stuffed afterwards.
-the Egyptions…among the nicest people on the face of the earth.
-learned how to make paper today from a sacred egyption reed.
-taxis. Well, there are no road rules here…some examples: no lanes exist. Traffic goes BOTH ways around any rotary. Seatbelts? J-walking is a necessary artform…and you’d better be good, FAST.
-horns, they go all the time. I was mildly annoyed…The cab driver called the incessant horns “music” and suddenly…I understood; it’s how they communicate…and it’s art. They drive nearly as much with ears as eyes.
-ran a 4:30 lap around the second largest pyramid of Giza.
-smog is so thick, breaths are shallow and short, by necessity. Visibility is never > 1 mi.
-everyone has a service to sell you and to the Egyptions, “no” is an unequivocal “maybe”.
-i took the time to learn all the Egyption numbers. o7V is 567, believe it or not!
-written Arabic flows beautifully!
-buildings are constructed from the (finished) ground floor up. When the early floors are done, renters move in as the builders (most of the time) keep building higher.
-i have seen goats grazing in giant trash/rock/dirt pits between buildings. 80 m x 100 m.
-in similar spaces I have seen soccer goals set and the trash pushed to massive sideline piles.

 
The “Sound and Lights” show, my first night in Cairo.  A   L O N G taxi ride to get there.

My Taxi!  Peugeot 504 (i think)

Possibly my favorite picture of the trip.  Just to the left of his chin, barely visible, the barrel of his automatic weapon creeps out of the window.  Scary as hell!  This was the locomotive car of the overnight train to Luxor.  They’re there to make us all feel safer.  Hmmm.

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November 23, 2006 by zankbennett.

So, I’m sitting here in the basement of a building just off the main square having a terrific Italian meal. I never would have found it but for a recommendation. Great food, Croatian red wine, BUT…not a marshmallow-covered, maple-syrup drenched yam in sight!

4 days here, then on to Cairo on Monday…and 7 days later to Bangkok!

Picking one day on which to be thankful seems silly to me for the first time. I’ve been waking up lately in full appreciation of how lucky I am for what it is that I’m doing and that my arms and legs work and I’m capable of this trek. It’s been amazing so far, and I already miss the places and people that/who made this trip what it’s already been!
Thanks to everyone who’s
Been there along the way.

I wish you all a happy Turkey Day!
-Zank

Possibly my favorite picture of the trip.  THis double mirrow was somewhere along the city streets of Zagreb.

Went for a hike in Croatia’s biggest of eight national parks.  Waterfalls everywhere.  THis is at the end of the hike where the boat dropped me off.  Five hours of bus riding…1.5 hours of hiking!

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November 22, 2006 by zankbennett.

The capital of Hungary. This is one of the biggest cities so far. Planned on spending four days, but it turned into five.
The majority of the allure of the city came from the hostel where I stayed: the Backpackers’ Guesthouse. The hostel is a good two miles from the city center, but still, it’s an amazing place to stay. I met a Kiwi on the overnight train from Krakow and we navigated our way to the hostel, deep in a residential area.
That first day, went hiking with Mark, American, to the local sites. The Dabube river bisects the city, separating sides Buda and Pest. The riverside heights afford terrific views.
Went with my two roommates, Cory and Adam to a giant bath house in the city’s park near the zoo and circus. The baths here are legendary and are littered about the city.
That night, stayed in the hostel and played some guitar with roommates….three guitars in one room!
Friday, did some walking around the city, getting acquainted with the scenery/layout.
That night, I played guitar for around 3 hours in the TV room and everyone sang along to all the classics, then at around midnight the whole hostel cleared out and we all walked to a nearby (a good 1.5 mi) dance club.
The walk was its own event; about 100 meters from our place, we decided to see how many of us we could jam into a phone booth! That was a new one for me. Someone found a trashed gay and it became the evening’s mascot. We climbed on trash piles of old TV boxes and heaps of wood. It was the oddest site…all this trash in the streets.
Had a good time…and of course there was a falafel stand open for us on the walk home…are there falafel stands in EVERY city I’m going to?! We took tons of pictures…and there was trash EVERYWHERE…see pic caption.

Saturday, didn’t do much. Mostly stayed at the hostel, but did manage to have lunch with a friend of James’s from our stay in Portugal. Sat night, we stayed in the hostel and played music and talked…great times with great people.

Sunday evening, we all went to the same bath again…this time with the water housing for my camera. We had a blast. The bath has a sauna, a snow machine, a cold!!! pool a hot pool, a medium temp hot pool with a whirlpool in the middle…and more and more. This place is HUGE.

L to R: Fraser, Mark, Wong, Will, Me, Dan, Rosanne.
We came out rubberized and looking for some live music…so back to the hostel and then back to downtown to a pub that 10 minutes prior had had live music….but there WAS NFL football playing!
From there to another spot just down the block until about 4 am. Monday morning was my time to leave, but there were plans in place to visit a field/park of old Soviet monuments that had previously been placed around Budapest. There was Stalin staring at us from high at the entrance. Seven of us spent a couple hours climbing up these things and jumping off them and just generally having a good time. These pictures are hilarious and great at the same time.

Monday night, the seven of us plus a couple more made dinner for eachother and Fraser rented a couple movies for a mellow movie night. After dinner, we all went into one of the larger dorm rooms and filmed a video for a song I’d just written. Motivated by a suggestion from Dan, we got the whole hostel in this one room and used a rough recording to lip sync the words and dance/jump around. It was a great time and everyone was so cool about doing it. Can’t wait to edit the footage together! Thanks to everyone who participated…you guys are awesome!

This hostel was unlike any place I think I have ever stayed. I think it was like what a commune must be like. So many people extended their stay after arriving and sampling the atmosphere. People there ware always coming together to do things or just sit around and talk. People were so generous. I traded my green jacket and red gloves for a new (read different) cost and sweet Russian leather hat! It would be easy to stay there for a month or more. As they told me when I arrived, the place just sucks you in. The experience of this sort of living was tremendous, if markedly different than all others I have had on this trip. I can’t say I got much of a feel for the Hungarian people as I might have, but I wouldn’t have traded the friendships.

I slept through most of a really good movie and now am on the train in Slovenia after just passing Zagreb, Croatia. It’s much more mountainous here. Just beautiful. About an hour from Ljubljana…say that name three times fast OR slow!

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November 22, 2006 by zankbennett.

In Slovenia right now..the capital citz called Ljubjana.  It´s raining today, but going to see the town castle none the less.

Last night had a drink in a crazy pub…I think the name was death…but can´t be sure…there were glass encased skeletons everywhere…even the acquarium had fish skeletons “swimming” around.  To get to the bathroom, I had to push a fake bookshelf that was really a door…how cool is that?

Updated the Nida, Lithuania posting with pictures…worth a look.
best,

-Z

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November 18, 2006 by zankbennett.

Great hostel here called Backpackers’ Hostel. A bit out of the city, but worth the bus or tram ride.
Have spent some time walking around the city a bit on both the Buda and Pest sides of the Danube river.
Here are some pictures…

Bored…this is from Nida, Lithuania.  There was this quarter-sized reflective wall hanging thinggy.  It took a while to get the camera to focus then I hit pay-dirt.  Ahhh.
An older pictures…from my hostel room in Krakow…had a 4-bunk room to myself.  Played a lot of guitar in front of that window.

Apparently, in Budapest, it is possible for every person to litter the sidewalk twice a year with whatever trash he/she pleases…this is an opportunity for scavengers of all types and a few homeless pictures…ha ha

 TV anyone?

 
Another random homeless shot…please send money…not for a hotel, but for a CHANGE OF CLOTHES!!!!  Notice same jacket/pants combo…it’s getting old!  Only 9 days left before tropics…
        
some sight-seeing…
 

Dan (a true musical genius, if the look on his face doesn’t give it away) and I.

Adam plays the mini…

Card game…the before-going-out antics!

the group from the Backpackers’ Hostel.  Great group of guys/girls

The after-going-out antics…I’m the one with the hat (that someone else found in a trash pile then told me later) on.  I think there are about 5 people in the phone booth invisible to the camera…Dan is in upper right…squished! The Swedish guy in the front looked like that for about the whole night.

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November 14, 2006 by zankbennett.

Beautiful city in the south of Poland…here is a picture of me and Marcelina’s friend, Justina on my left…and her roommate who’s name I can SAY…but can’t spell ;)))  We went for a quick beer (NO VODKA!!!) at PROZAK.

The bars and nightlife here are great.  The town has a very young, lively vibe, despite the antiquity.  Visited the old Jewish quarter today. Going to the salt mines tomorrow.

I’ve already mapped out all the good pastry shops…getting FATTER every day!!! mmmmmmmmm!

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November 13, 2006 by zankbennett.

Here is an assortment of older pictures from the camera….after finally getting to a proper WINXP computer…alas, no more WIN2000!!

Me and Erica…on the crazy party boat…

“my” pier in Stockholm on the island where I stayed in the prison.  The sunsets were sensational.

Dancing in Stockholm…no comment.

Some friends in Stockholm.  Temi (Ayo’s brother) in bottom right…

Erica, Elizabeth and I on the boat in Stockholm…i can almost hear them playing “Eye of the Tiger” in the background…

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November 12, 2006 by zankbennett.

Łódź…
Spent two wonderful days here. Arrived from Warsaw on Friday afternoon and took a taxi to Damian’s house (the cousin of Kate, from Warsaw). He and his brother and I spent some time getting acquainted, then at around 10 pm went to meet Marcelina, the waitress that James and I met while in Albufeira, Portugal. We agreed to meet in the town center and so it was…the name of the bar excapes me, but it was massive with there floors and packed with people. Damian and I met up with Marcelina and went for a drink at a quieter pub. I had a typical Polish drink made with vodka with a special grass…something like that. It was good, but this would prove to be the less painful of my partakings in Łódź tradition!

 
Half the crew from the evening…notice the “art”  ha ha!  Bushi…or Baltimore on my left…I don’t think he even has a real name…eh, Bushi?  ;)
From there, back to the first place for a little more “atmosphere”. Then…there’s a tradition in Łódź. It goes like this: before the evening gets really going, everyone buys a bottle of vodka and heads to the central gas station to sit on the cement wall and drink vodka. I thought they must be kidding, but sure enough, we come walking around the corner and the wall is just littered with the night’s empty bottles…these people drink vodka like it’s beer. Really.
So, in about 2 degree weather we sit and, between the three of us, finish off the bottle of polish vodka called Absolvent. I think it’s a Polish word meaning grappa…which is an Italian word meaning that which tastes rather bad and makes for a vicious headache the next day!

After the bottle of rubbing alcohol is done, we go back to the first bar to meet many of Marcelina’s friends. This girl, it turns out, is like the unofficial mayor of Łódź and knows just about everyone, everywhere we go. So, I make a ton of friends and the night was terrific.

Me with bottle of “death” and Damian holding the cups…

Hilarious…Marcelina…met in Albufeira, Portugal.  …it’s a little COLDER now!  Notice gas station in background…

Sat. Woke up early and went for some lunch with Marcelina and her brother Maciek (pronounced like “magic”). Saw the old city a very small amount and took a good tourist photo or two. Visited a funky, independent movie theater called Lemon (only, in Polish)..definitely something 99% of tourists would miss alltogether. Very cool place.

Sat. night started at my new residence, Maciek’s house. We learned that the state between New Hampshire and New York is called “vermin”….with a polIsh accent… Ha ha. Played some guitar and of course, there was the vodka again. Everyone sang along to a song or two…even in Poland where I was told that no one appreciates live music! Ahem.

Luckily, we skipped the gas station tradition and went straight to a small club called Coffees and Toffees for some dancing. By the end of the night, I’m pretty sure I knew 20 people. It was like being out at home, where it’s impossible to walk from one end of the bar to the other without stopping 15 times to say hello to people. It was great…then out into the rain for a taxi…
Spent the night at Maciek’s house and went this morning for breakfas…perogies!!! so good!

They took me to the train station…again, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Was a great weekend with amazing people everywhere I looked. Marcelina and Maciek were too kind and really gave me one of the best couple of days I could imagine in this small-ish, industrial town. Endless thanks to them for their kindness and generosity!

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November 6, 2006 by zankbennett.

The capital of Lithuania is a most special place. I heard an interesting thing about Vilnius from and English man in Riga, Latvia; he said that Vilnius was still somewhat shaded from the barage of tourists for the fact that the low-price airlines (Ryan Air and EasyJet) just don’t serve the city. I find that very interesting and immediately evident.

In true E European style, the city is well-labeled, but it’s still a but more difficult that other places to find one’s way…the walk to my hostel was one of the longest, and most serpentine! Once there, checked into a giant, nearly deserted, Russian-style building. The decor? Compession-formed particle board. Unpainted. I have my own bathroom. I can’t remember the last time that happened…
The place is actually quite close to the city center, but for the first days I would spend nearly 30 mins trying to get there! It’s now an eight-min walk.

My first night (felt more like three!), went out to find a vegetarian restaurant recommended in my travel book. Finally find the entrance which was really nothing more that a big hole in the ground. So, with low expectations, I went for it. How cool can it be…a bunch of weird Lithuanian vegetarians?! The restaurant was really a bar with damn good food and an excellent live-music venue. This dungeon had doors that led out from the main bar area to various eating/drinking/listening rooms. I got a table in the back with three goth girls. They were classic and spoke good (enough) English. The one in all black was explaining to me how when she met the other girl sitting across from her (dressed in all white), they had made a deal to always wear only that one color. She assured me that her entire closet contained nothing but black clothes. I took her word for it! I took an amazing picture of the three. Will post…
The band playing was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, and certainly the best on this trip. I asked, but no CD, no web site.

From there, walked aroung in circles trying to find the next thing to do. Wound up at a really cool 2-level bar that was like an old ranch house with steep wooden stairs leading up to the second floor and a small dance floor. The music was, well, terrible. It’s not that I’m not down with Paris Hilton or that Wang Chung song, or She Bangs! She Bangs! or AC/DC…but how do they expect people to dance to that mix?

At 5 am, they kicked everyone out into the -6 C morning. A friend, Sandra, I had been dancing with wasn’t any more tired than I was and gave me a full guided tour of the city until 7 am…It was sureal! The snow was coming down in a constant white blanket as the morning sun made the sky just so subtly, deep orange. We were amidst castles and old fortresses and state buildings with massive columns…and everything was white! The lamps that illuminate the taller buildings stood out like cartoon spotlights as the snow lit their paths through the air. We stopped for a while in near white-out conditions to push snow off some of the tiles in front of the Vilnius Cathedral…looking for this special translucent one. When I found it, we brushed away all the snow and she told me the tradition of standing on the tile and spinning three times while making a wish, which will subsequently come true…
The last few days trump nearly every beautiful alpine experience I can ever remember, save one or two. It’s shocking! Have pictures…one great one of is walking, and trying, with both our mouths open, to catch snow flakes…..

Finally left vilnius Monday morning on a (slow!) bus to Warsaw, Poland.

Man, this is the best!!!! Really the best. All of it, even the sweet sorrow of leaving such a beautiful city to memories.

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November 2, 2006 by zankbennett.

Bus-bus-ferry-bus-hike. Finally arrived easily at my private residence. Here’s the excerpted email. I love this!

///////////
Dear Zank,
Thank You for the message and I hereby confirm your reservation in a fisherman’s house in  NIDA:
///////////

My picnic table…
 
The place is sweet. It’s a 5 (house with shared kitchen and I’m the only one. Just steps to the gulf of the Coronian Spit.
Was still so weak that I crashed in bed. Woke this morning to? SNOW!! It covered everything…I thought! I was like Calvin, racing to get my coat and gloves and get into it. The thing to do is to hike out onto the famous dunes that dorm the spit and separate the gulf from the Baltic Sea. I thought there might be some icy surf today.

Hiked all around. The views were nice, not exceptional…but the snow was magical! From the top, of the famous dune, I could see the Baltic surf blowing in and roaring to the shore. About 30 mins later, I was on the sand watching the big wind-generated rollers come in. The water was surprisingly warm; I’d say about 50 F.

Town of Nida in background and down, below the dune I´m standing on.

Patches of sun traded with a few cloudy moments and no snow until the walk home when it turned dark…then predictably WHITE! It’s nearly 11 pm and it’s been snowing since 3 pm. It’s the perfect weight snow and not too windy, so absolutely surface has at least 3 in of fresh powder. It looks as magical as I’ve ever seen. It’s always rare to have all the trees covered and fence tops and any other, however thin, surface covered.

Throwing snow…

Having a drink at the only open pub/restaurant open in the winter. Speaking German, bec it’s better than English for most people here. Lol!

I leave by bus in the morning for Vilnius, the capital. Monday to Poland.

…woke up this morning (Friday) to the same snow-covered landscape I wandered home through last night. It’s as beautiful a non-mountainous winter setting as I’ve ever seen, even after 18 winters in northeast America.

The house was another thing…the heater decided to RESET itself…woke to the strange feeling of ice forming on the top of my head. I kept dreaming about finding and putting on my hat. It was 57.2 F inside. Ha! I was frozen there before the heater shut off.
Bus driver is giving me an ulcer, pulling fishtails in the face of massive oncoming snow plows, blasting glam-rock through this oversized death-toaster. He’s not a day under 65.
Traveling

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November 2, 2006 by zankbennett.

Flew from Copenhagen to Riga, Latvia. Nothing to it, except losing the hour in flight. The new-looking airport was quite nice. Took a bus to the city center and walked quite a ways to the hostel. So far, so good.
Hostel is the best I’ve stayed in. Young, interactive staff. It’s like they’re there to lounge and hang with the guests as much as check is in and take care of the day-to-days.
Watched a movie in the lounge and went to sleep. Room with 3 others. No problem.
Next day, woke up and went to John Lemon -ha!- for an omelet breakfast and for the foot-your of the town. A magazine printed a great guide, so I ripped it out and…
Stopped along the way for a pastry and a look at some of the local vendors. Thee are four old zeppelin hangars that now house GIANT swap-meet style shopping. Exch has a particular category: one houses arts and crafts, one vegetables, one meat and one fish. I’m not sure which smelled worse!
No one spoke English. Ok, my universal sign-language has gotten quite good.
Towards the end of the tour, stopped for some bread soup. Yep, not a misprint. It was cold, and delicious. Was served with some elixer made of got currant juice and some herbal extract thing. This is the standard Latvian warm-you-up drink and did just that. Man, it was like instant stomach warmth. …on with the your before dark.
Started to feel a little weird. Nothing big.

That night went out with all the other hostelers to the Jack Daniels bar…had orato spaghetti and a Jack/coke.

Feeling weird now.
By midnight, I was really getting it and, long story short, wound up getting vicious food-poisoning. No idea from what. No sleep before 6:30 am. Then only a couple hours. Pain was so complete that I couldn’t walk the entire next day. Canceled plans to do outer-city exploring. The people at the hostel could not have been nicer. Watched movies and the like for the whole next day. Perfect.
Note on this place: it’s really close to a bobsled track. Open to the public! Pulls five G’s apparently. No way, esp after being so sick. Also, there are caves and castles worth exploring. And, you can go shoot Soviet AK-47’s if that’s your thing. Classic. Welcome to E Euro!

Strong enough to barely tote the pack, finally left a day later. Still no food yet.
Made the bus to Nida, Lithuania.

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