Last weekend, the four of us (Me, Yvonne, Manuel and Carolina) decided to spend a lazy day at the beach. Manuel wanted to take us to his favorite beach, which is just outside of Vigo. So we hopped into his car and took a one hour drive to this favorite beach of his. We arrive at favorite beach only to find ourselves searching for parking and Manuel having to avoid with his car, the many cars and pedestrians along the narrow beach route. Manuel decides this is no longer his favorite beach and suggests driving to another beach. We agree and it´s off to another beach.
We arrive at beach number two and were relieved to find parking. After parking the car and a brief ice cream break, it´s time to walk towards the beach then plop our towels and bodies onto the sand. Access to the beach, from where we parked and had ice cream was maybe a 200 yard walk over this small hill. We reached the summit of this small hill and straight ahead from a distance we can see a nice long stretch of sand, blue water, bare assess and pubic hairs. Yep, Manuel unknowingly took us to a nude beach. Well Manuel actually knew there was a nudist section at this particular beach, he just assummed we would end up where the non-nudists hang out. After the initial shock of hanging genitals, cottage cheese and sunburnt assess we all looked at each other and burst out laughing.
After scanning the ¨horizon¨ and seeing yards upon yards of naked flesh, I´m thinking there´s no way in hell there´s a ¨normal¨ section out here and there´s no way I´m taking my clothes off. I prefer not to be the talk of the Spanish nudist community ¨Mira did you see the Asian guy with the little chorizo? Look there he is jogging along the coast!.¨ Uumm no thanks. The others were also in agreement about not hanging out (figuratively speaking) with the nudists (believe me not the most attractive looking group of people). Also, the thought of having to practice my Spanish with a naked Spaniard just seems kinda weird. ¨Hola que tal?¨
Still at our small summit - Mt. What the Fuck, we can see another section of beach quite a distance away and can actually see color, this must be the ¨normal¨ section of beach. We decide to head towards the sea of colors. But in order to get to our destination, we´ll have to walk through a small section of the nudist beach, then climb over some large boulders to reach the next section of beach. So as we´re walking along the nudist beach a few thoughts come to my mind, such as…. ¨Why is this guy dribbling a soccer ball…..in the nude?.. ¨That must hurt running full speed for that frisbee, I know my nuts couldn´t take a pounding like that¨… .. We approach the large boulders, all we need to do is climb over these rocks and we´ll reach our sea of colors. We climb atop of the boulders, scan the surrounding area….more naked bodies…the sea of colors we had seen from a distance were only beach towels laid out on the sand. Again we look at each and burst out laughing. This time no one´s dribbling a soccer ball, just a couple playing paddle ball….. .in the nude.
Manuel is absolutely sure there´s a ¨normal¨ stretch of beach nearby and convinces us to walk through the sea of color beach towards another set of boulders. So as we´re walking along another stretch of nude beach more thoughts come to my mind, in particular sunscreen application…Anyway, we reach the boulders, climb up to the top and see another sea of color - this time the folks are wearing bathing suits, well both men and women wearing bottoms, many women topless (at least they´re attractive, Manuel and I weren´t complaining). We found a nice spot, settled ourselves on the sand, went for an occassional dip in the water; sipped cold beer and let the time pass away.
So there you have it our day at the beach in Spain. Where one can: roam around naked and if you don´t like it you can go to different spot; drink a beer ; let their dogs run around freely; and stay on the beach as long as you nice - very nice considering if we did anything I just mentioned back in California it would involve the police and an expensive citation… (How I hate the police bullhorn back home ¨It´s 10 O´clock the beach is now closed!! Get off the Beach!!¨). So nice, here in Spain, that no one tells us what to do or not to do, everyone minding their own business and enjoying themselves. Aahhh… Only in Europe.

Check out our 4 days in Italy, one day in Porto and so far in Spain.

- The abundance of pork. 5 weeks traveling through Jordan, Egypt and Turkey and eating nothing but lamb. It´s nice to be eating chorizo, proscuitto, parma ham, serrano ham, bacon….etc…Plus no more lamb smell eminating from our pores.
- The abundance of fresh, green, leafy vegetables (although we can´t get fresh basil in Vigo, oh well can´t have everything it´s so nice to be eating salad every day).
- The abundance of red wine. Not that I´m a alcie, but after 5 weeks of traveling through Jordan, Egypt and Turkey…yada, yada…
- The abundance of cheese. Mmmmm Tellagio and Barrata Cheese in Italy. Queso Manchego in Spain. Mmmmm.
- Potable tap water. Not having to rinse my mouth with bottled water after brushing my teeth.
- Practicing my terrible Spanish. I can speak passable Spanish when it comes to food i.e. supermarket, butcher, cheese shop etc…. Don´t ask me anything else - man the Spaniards speak sssooooo fast.
- Having the use of a washing machine! So nice not to hand wash our clothes.
- Watching hours upon hours of the World Cup (Go Big Red!). The Spaniard went apes over last night´s victory over Tunisia (poor Mohammed). Manuel went pretty apes himself everytime Spain scored. Good luck, back home to, Mauro (Brazil), Mohammed (Tunisia) and Wayne (Trinidad-Tobago). I´m sure Wayne will be calling in sick watching today´s TNT match.
- Driving or flying to another EU country without any border control checkpoints (although it would be nice to get another stamp in my passport).
- Being one step closer to home.

Turkey photos are up. Take a look when you like…

We made it at last! We stayed with Lorenza outside Milan at Missaglia. Our first real day in Italy was a leisurely lunch that Lorenza made for us that lasted until about 5 PM. We then headed off to Lake Como for a beautiful sunset. Next day we picked up Yukako, Lorenza´s friend and tenant, and headed off to a beautiful, though slightly misdirected at first, mountain drive to meet up with Ilaria in her home town of Sottochiesa (Taleggio). Had another leisurely lunch then a nice short hike up to a medieval town. Picking super small strawberries that pack a burst of flavor and avoiding a big snake. We thought our friend Matt came from the smallest town, but Ilaria´s got him beat at only 200 population. Next day we had a fabulous cold cuts and cheese lunch. Went for the shortest tour ever of Bergamo to meet up with Ilaria one last time and then caught our flight out to Rome.

In our time with Lorenza we got a chance to meet her beautiful horse, Queensy. And her dogs, Sinbad and Jeanie, were our constant companions.

We had a short time in Rome, just about 24 hours. Stayed in Uberto´s apartment, which is only a two minute walk from the Pantheon! It was too bad Uberto was not in town. But Lorenza directed us to good places to have the best coffee and pizza, so we were set. Besides seeing the Pantheon, we got in a few Caravaggio paintings at churches nearby and even stumbled on a free showing of one in a private collection. Hung out at Piazza Farnese for our pizza and the Trevi Fountain for a gelato. Went twice to Tazza D´Oro for cappuccino. We left Italy quite content. I think it was enough to get Eddy hooked, he is now talking about coming back and is constantly saying how beautiful the country is!

We are currently in Vigo, Spain hanging out with our good friend Manuel and his girlfriend Carolina. So far we´ve already had this crazy dinner of shell fish along the coast. We are looking forward to a lazy two weeks here.

Okay, we’ve now got all the Egypt photos up. Enjoy!

Despite Yvonne’s venting the Turks have been really nice to us. Given the limited amount of English spoken in Central Turkey we’re getting by with a lot of smiling, finger pointing, hand gestures and the few Turkish words we’ve picked up. It’s nice walking into a small restaurant and being greeted by an enthutiastic restaurant owner or stroll around a bus station, ask someone how to get to a particular location and have that person personally escort us to the ticket window. Turkey has a similar feeling to Thailand, the locals are extremely friendly and helpful towards foreigners and they don’t expect anything in return - a simple thank you in their language will suffice. This is our second visit to Turkey and we’re reminded why we like it out here, it’s because of the people.
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We’re getting pretty tired of the Turkish food. Breakfast everywhere consists of: bread; feta cheese; olives; sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. Try eating this everyday for the past two weeks. Lunch and dinner is either a Turkish pizza or kabobs.
I cannot wait for our arrival to Milan next week - pasta, proscuitto and red wine baby!
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We’re getting a lot of curious stares out here. At least the Turks smile at us, it’s better than the hard glares we got from the Russians and Burmese. And of course we hear the occasional sound of “Ching Chong” from the mouths of some little smartasses (it’s always when they’re in a large group). But hey they’re kids what am I gonna do hit them (next time I’ll travel with a relative that’s a minor and tell him to beat the shit out of the “Ching Chonger” - just kidding, it’s a joke okay?). Too many dumb kids, being taught (or not being taught) by dumb parents, out there in the world - Christ get over this “Ching Chong” shıt.
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We’re constantly being approached to have our picture taken, I guess many of the folks in Central Turkey haven’t seen an Asian up close and in person. It’s really weird and annoying and after giving in a few times we’ve gotten into the habit of saying no. Now I know how the non-Asian traveling foreigners in China felt, constantly having cameras shoved in their faces. At least the Turks are polite enough to ask for us our permission.
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It’s hot out here, consistent temperature in the 90’s!! It’s astonishing the amount of thick and layered clothing worn out here, in this weather. Especially the women, many seen covered from head to toe and sporting a coat as well!!

All the Jordan photos are up. I will have to get my second wind before I can upload Egypt. Enjoy for now… Jordan

Sometımes there ıs just no amount of consıderatıon enough to satısfy a bus load of 20 people. Prıme example follows:

Yesterday we were stıll ın the town of Sıvas goıng out on a day trıp to Dıvrıgı to see Turkey’s least vısıted Unesco sıte, accordıng to the LP. A mosque and mental health buıldıng of consıderable age, can’t recall how old. The trıp out was fıne, we actually concluded that ıt had been a great day when waıtıng for our mınıbus to take us back to Sıvas. 3 hours to get to a very small town wıth only thıs mosque, mental health buıldıng, a ruıned castle and mosque at the top of the lıttle hıll. Spent a peaceful hour sıttıng at thıs deserted mosque at the top of the hıll overlookıng an ınlet rıver to the Euphrates. Congratulated ourselves on a decısıon well made to make the effort to spend the tıme here.

On the mınıbus over I was glad we got a seat next to an operable wındow. I hate to sound the spoıled westerner, but I am not used to beıng overheated all the tıme. If left to the locals all the wındows would remaıned closed and 20 hot bodıes wıth no ventılatıon other than the half opened two front wındows ıs just not enough. So I blıssfully sat next to my open wındow the entıre 3 hour rıde to Dıvrıgı. I was aware though that maybe I was makıng those behınd me possıbly uncomfortable. So on the rıde back we got the back seats wıth the operable wındow. Wıth no one behınd us, I thought the coast would be clear for another blıssful 3 hour rıde back wıth ventılatıon.

Oh so wrong! 15 mınutes ınto rıde, I start to drıft off wıth the wınd barely ın my haır, sınce the open wındow was slıghtly behınd me. When I felt movement next to me and the guy sıttıng next to Eddy ıs tryıng to reach over Eddy to close MY wındow! I couldn’t belıeve that thıs open wındow was actually a problem. I looked up to see people 2 rows up from me apparently complaınıng ın Turkısh and hand gestures that the noıse from the open wındow was annoyıng them. What the F***! Anyway, beıng the mıld manner Asıan that I am, I conceded by closıng half the wındow. Now the wınd ısn’t even tıcklıng my haır. Stıll the complaınts contınued, wıth more hand gestures and menacıng glares. The guy next to us was tryıng to explaın to them that I was very hot. I mean even the bıggest complaıners obvıously were hot enough to take off theır jackets. Thıs persısted for another 50 KM and I resısted wıth all my wıll the peer pressure, ıt seems lıke no one else on the bus mınds sıttıng ın heat for 3 hours unneccessarıly. Then the major pıt stop the bıggest of the whıners actually came over to the wındow to get me to close ıt, stıll gesturıng towards hıs ears. Mıraculously, Eddy had brand new ear plugs, so I ran over to the man’s wıfe to offer my solutıon to both our ılls. She then gestured that ıt was not the ear, he apparently ıs havıng NECK problems! What? Wınd… Neck… Where’s the connectıon? Wrap a scarve around your neck then!

I got back on the bus steamıng. There ıs no pleasıng thıs crowd. Then the wıfe came to the wındow to plead her husbands case, kındly grabbıng my arm for emphasıs. I dıdn’t have the heart to resıst further. Fıne I am younger and wıll just have to lıve wıth the heat for another 100 KM. So I sucked ıt up and just leaned as close to the wındow as possıble so as not to get bumped ın the head at every turn and bump on the road. There seems to be a slıght, very slıght breeze from the wındow cracks. How pathetıc ıs thıs? I actually began to be fıne but then Eddy chuckles and told me they were stıll lookıng back to see ıf I had opened the wındow on the sly. When they realızed I hadn’t they actually ınsısted even the front wındows be closed! Thıs ıs the hıgh 90’s ıf not 100 degrees F (30’s ın C). It was no fun, because now the lıttle breeze at the wındow cracks were suffocated by the front wındow closure. The sun was fınally comıng down and the glass of the wındow was cool so I leaned as much of my back on ıt as possıble and just focused on the few cool parts of my body. Quıte content I now swıtched my focus on hopıng to annoy everyone else by makıng faces at the kıd ın the front of the bus. There by encouragıng hıs babblıngs that were obvıously annoyıng everyone else on the bus. Call me petty, but I was quıte pleased wıth my lıttle revenge.

:)