360 degrees in 364 days!

Photos: Evora (Portugal)

alexxdiep — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:43:00 GMT

Photos: Lisboa (Portugal)

alexxdiep — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:30:00 GMT

Malaga with the in-laws

alexxdiep — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:02:00 GMT

Sorry for the long delay before this article, my laptop crapped out and I am forced to type this on a public computer. It's not so bad unless there are people queing behind me to use the computer... So unfortunately, this will be a very short article.

After spending some time apart from Gen, we were reunited in Torremolinos, Malaga, Spain. I was happy to see Gen again, I missed her. It was also a big reunion because Gen's parents, her sister and her husband were meeting us there as well. We spent two weeks together visiting the area and had fine dinning experiences almost every night. It was good to see relatives again and to travel together. It was wonderful the first time with my sister and my mom in Vietnam, now it's as good to be with the in-laws in Spain. What was even better was that we were able to stay with them in their appartments for free, this saved us lots of $$$. And that $$$ went to a good cause: fine dinning, good wines and great times!

It was so much fun to chill with them by the sea side. But it wasn't always restful at the hotel with the guests partying until 1 AM before they go clubbing. And we all heard them come home shortly after 6 AM, EVERY morning for TWO weeks :) Yes, that's the Spanish way: dinner at 9 PM, going out at 2 AM, coming back at 6 AM and breakfast at 11 AM. On occasions, fights break out between the locals and tourists at 6:41 AM; I was abrubtly woken up one morning at 6:41 to see beer bottles flying across the hotel pool. The end result: the police came and 16 guest were evicted. They know how to party here hahaha!

After two wonderful and grateful weeks with the in-laws, and after a couple of really good sightseeing outings, we parted. They went home and we went on, to Sevilla.

Sevilla is an awesome place. It's beautiful and a very historical place to visit with its' castle and cathedral (have a look at the pictures). The people are super friendly and the food is spectacular! ) As for the weather, well it was just like everywhere else in Spain: HOT! We stayed there a few nights and went on to visit Portugal.

We have an announcement to make: we are coming home! After being on the road for 9 months, we decided that we are too tired to keep going and we miss our relatives and friends too much. We miss having a daily routine with our friends, we miss the more frequent phone calls with our relatives, we miss having our own space, we just simply miss being home. We kind of started feeling this in Vietnam when my mom and sister left, we felt a little left behind when we saw them off at the hotel in Dalat... After much debating for a few weeks, we made the firm decision to cut our trip short from 12 months to 10.

We're supper excited to be coming home! We look forward to spending time with you guys and be in our own home, when we find one :) We look forward to having you guys over for dinner... Portugal will be our last stop in Europe and Gen's last stop before heading home. Gen is making a 3 weeks stop in Quebec before meeting back with me in Calgary on September 10. While she'll be visiting her friends and family, I'll be in Brazil visiting a friend. Livia, be ready for me :)

See you soon EVERONE!!!

Photos: Sevilla (Spain)

alexxdiep — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:43:00 GMT

Photos: Malaga (Spain)

alexxdiep — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:27:00 GMT

In transit in Italy...

alexxdiep — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:27:00 GMT

I spent a total of two days in Italy, both times while in transit; the first time between Greece and Croatia, and the second time between Croatia and Spain. It was nice to be able to add another country on my itinerary and have a little taste for a different country.

Going to Croatia, I had to take the ferry from Greece to Bari, Italy before continuing on to Dubrovnik in Croatia. My 12 hours there were fun. I ate gelato, Italian sandwiches and pasta. They were all very tasty! I took a few Italian classes in Calgary and was able to use some of that while I was there. That was very fun.

The town of Bari is very small but the people are super friendly. I enjoyed walking the streets there and visiting the sights.

I came back to Italy and visited Pisa and its’ famous leaning tower. This is also a very small town. I was expecting to get lost here but that was not the case. Other than the beautiful tower, there weren’t much to see. Nevertheless, it was fun to be there and the locals were very nice. It’s also a fun to check that off my list of things to see in this lifetime :o)

In Italy, I had a chance to go through the Ryan Air experience. For those who don’t know, Ryan Air will fly you from one end of Europe to the farthest opposite end for ONE Euro ($1.32)! Yes, if you book ahead of time long enough you can fly for that amount. I book mine two weeks ahead of time and I paid 29 Euros ($38) to go from Croatia to Italy. The catch is they charge you 20 Euros for a 15 kg bag. This means sometimes people pay more for their luggage than for their airfare :o) The money they don’t make on airfare they make up for it by selling all kinds of stuff onboard (from drinks, food to calling cards and scratch cards). They announce it loudly on the PA then walk around with the merchandise. It is never a very restful flight with Ryan Air, forget about a quiet nap on these flights. At one time, the PA said: “we would like to remind you this is a non-smoking flight and please wait till we land to go to designated areas to smoke. In the meantime, we do have duty free tobacco to sell. We have three brands for you to choose from...” Hahahaha! Priceless. Also, there is no assigned seats on these flights, it’s first come first serve. The Italians (and European in general) don’t have the same concept for queuing for something. I was waiting in line politely with an Italian girl and we were there an hour ahead of everyone. But when boarding time came, we suddenly saw a mass of people elbowing their way to the front. She looked at me and said: “I am sorry for my country.” All that is a very small price to pay for really cheap airfare and I would do it again if I can.

Photos: Bari & Pisa (Italy)

alexxdiep — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:22:00 GMT

Viva Espana in Croatia!

alexxdiep — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:18:00 GMT

After over seven months on the road together, Gen and I decided we would split up for two weeks; this would be like our separate vacations from our regular vacation :o) Gen really wanted to visit Barcelona and the north of Spain while I really wanted to see Croatia. I was in Barcelona four years ago and I didn’t want to retrace my foot prints. I wanted to take advantage of being so close to Croatia to go check out its’ Adriatic Coast. I got some really good travel tips from a friend so I was really excited about going.

What can I say about Croatia? For starters, this country has a beautiful coast. It was somewhat similar to Greece with tons of islands to visit and taking the ferry was the most common mean of transportation. As it was the case in Greece the water here was crystal clear where pebble beaches outnumbered the sand beaches. In Croatia, it’s very funny and sometimes odd that the local consider a beach anywhere that you can go in and out of the water easily. This means swimming in the harbour among the anchored boats is normal, or sunbathing on the elevated ledge by the street curb is also normal.

One thing that is very noticeable at the beach is that you will often see young kids or teenagers bringing a water polo ball to pass around in the sea water or practicing drills. No wonder why this country has produced some of the most talented water polo players in the world. It’s kind of the same thing when we see young Canadian kids picking up a game of street hockey or American kids playing pick-up basketball at some random park.

Water polo is their national sport and smoking comes in a close second. If you have no athletic skills in the water you can become a smoker. This is one sport that does not discriminate in gender, age or social status, everyone is treated the same when buying a pack of smoke. It’s amazing how everyone smokes here. I think I second hand smoked about a pack a day while I was here.

The people here don’t have the biggest smile, they don’t smile very easily. The men are very proud, they get very upset when you turn them down for something: I offended a tailor because I made a face while I was deciding whether I’d be better off buying a new pair of shorts or have him repair mine (the cost was almost the same). He got so angry that he simply refused my business and said I was not worth his time. The women are so grumpy, especially at the supermarket! With that said, I also did meet a few very friendly people on my path. I spent my time talking with a guy during a three hour bus ride and it was very nice. He treated me to a beer once we arrived and his buddy helped me find my hostel and gave me a ride. The staff at the hostels in Dubrovnik and Zagreb is also friendly and helpful.

The food on the coast where I spent most of my time was very Italian influenced. It was good: octopus, calamari, pizzas, seafood, etc. Inland, I could notice a closer flavour to the Greek and Turkish cuisine: lots of kebabs (gyros for the Greek)!

One thing I never got used to is how they always round the total on a bill. It’s ok to pay 56 kunas (local currency) when you actually owe 56.87 for example. On the flip side, they will often round down the amount they owe you in change...

I had a wonderful time in Dubrovnik! This is was my first stop in Croatia and I loved it. The old town is a definite must-see. It has a huge massive fortress, the alleys are narrow and there are tons of shops and restaurants within the big walls of the maze. The towers and churches erect really high above, it’s simply very beautiful! I met some really fun football fans, and more importantly Spain fans. We watched the semi-final and celebrated together in the streets when Spain won.

My second stop was Korcula, a really small town on the coast. There isn’t much to do here once you’ve seen the old town. It’s so small here that people only stay for one night... but I loved it here. The temperature is a lot cooler at 26 and at 5pm every day, the wind picks up and everything cools off. I had a great room with a perfect view over the harbour. I rented a bike to go to Lumbarda where the concentration of tourist is to a minimum. Lumbarda is known for its beaches but mostly for its wine. The local specialty is the Grk wine, made of Grk grapes. You can only find Grk in Lumbarda. I did a few tastings and had my mind set on a bottle of white Grk. I bought a bottle to savour with my in-laws when we meet in Spain. I wish Gen was here, she would have loved this place.

Although I would have easily stayed in Korcula for a few more days, I had to go to the capital Zagreb. I needed to be there early because I intend to apply for a visa to visit Brazil. Normally this takes 3-5 days. But to my amazement, it took only 24 hours and I got my visa for Brazil. Lots of people don’t enjoy Zagreb and prefer to spend time on the coast. Me, I liked Zagreb. There is a good balance of a big city scene (population 777 000), historic sites and modern buildings and lifestyle. Anyone with an artistic mind would simply fall in love with this place. Zagreb has hundreds of art galleries and museums, that’s what it’s known for.

In Zagred, it didn’t take me very long before I associated myself with other Spain fans. I think I will most remember this city by Spain’s first win of the prestigious World Cup :o) I went to watch the final with my new Spanish brothers and sisters in the old town. But by the time we arrived, there were no more seats anywhere, so we shared a couple of tables in a pro-Netherlands bar where our red jerseys were simple little dots among a sea of orange shirts and the Dutch fans. But as the saying goes, it’s not about the quantity, it’s all in the quality. And Spain was all quality that night. I’m glad to say the red shirts became more present and made more noise than the mass of orange shirts towards the end of the game :o) Viva Espana, they are the World Cup Champions! I was so jealous of Gen who was somewhere in Spain watching the same game among thousands of Spaniards at the very same time.

My last Croatian stop was in Zadar. I went back to the coast to catch a flight to Italy then on to Malaga to be reunited with Gen. After spending so much time with Gen the previous seven months, I found out travelling alone sucks. In Zadar I had no interest for visiting, I forced myself to get out and see stuff but it was not as fun. I enjoyed not depending on someone else to make decisions but sharing ideas and visiting sites with someone is so much better. I missed my Gen. I was literally counting down the days to leave Zadar. This town has a nice little old town quarter but honestly, once you’ve seen the old town in Dubrovnik it is difficult to get excited about another one.

I would definitely want to come back to Croatia. It’s a nice country and the transport system is very organized. I hear Montenegro is also beautiful, I wouldn’t mind combining the two in a future trip.

Photos: Zadar (Croatia)

alexxdiep — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:49:00 GMT

Photos: Zagreb (Croatia)

alexxdiep — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:43:00 GMT

Photos: Korcula (Croatia)

alexxdiep — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:38:00 GMT

Photos: Dubrovnik (Croatia)

alexxdiep — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:32:00 GMT

Greece was nice!

alexxdiep — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:20:00 GMT

Our stay in Greece was pretty busy and short. Well, compared to the four months spent in Asia the two and a half weeks in Greece lasted a blink of an eye. But as the saying goes, it was short and sweet!

We were first greeted by my friend Stella whom I have not seen since we graduated high school together some twenty years ago. Stella picked us up at the airport in Rodos (Rhodes Island in the Dodecanese). It was quite a great feeling to see her again and to have a familiar face waiting for us at the airport. The long journey from Phuket (Thailand) pretty much killed us with delayed flight, so Stella was our hero! She hooked us up with her husband who works for a four stars hotel: we got a really sweet deal thanks to Theofilos.

Stella simply took charge of us the next few days being our personal tour guide, chauffeur and chef. She had all the days planned down to the lunches and picnics at the beach with her beautiful kids Angeliki and Manolis. The Greek hospitality is pretty awesome! We had lunch at her place and had so much fun learning about the local flavour, colour and sound.

Other than spending time with Stella, Rodos was definitely a highlight for its very famous Old Town. The Old Town is the oldest inhabited medieval quarter in the world. Roaming the narrow cobber stone streets was super awesome! The narrowed alleys have shops in the most unexpected corner and the salesmen are so funny and charming. We bought stuff from this one man just because he was so funny and friendly. If you’re walking and you reach a cul-de-sac, a cute patio restaurant would normally await you among the many centuries old walls of the fortress. The food is quite good here; I gained a few pounds in the first few days! The feta cheese is delicious which makes the Greek salad nothing like what we have at home. The Greek like their frappé a lot! It’s a water blended coffee whipped together. The coffee is not very strong so you’ll see them have one at all times of the day.

We went out for drinks in the evening in the Old Town and it was really cool to see it transformed into a scene of vibrant and hip clubs and bars. The ladies here show a lot of skin when they go out, and I don’t mean just going out dancing, I mean simply going out of the house! The contrast is quite strange between Cambodian women going out in public in their pyjamas and the Greek ladies in their stiletto and low cut tops at the market :o)

The sandy beaches are not as common here, most of them are pebble beaches. The Aegean Sea water is CRYSTAL clear! It was amazing how we can see every single particle of anything in the bottom. I’ve never seen such clarity. We had a great time visiting Rodos and Stella, we were disappointed to leave after four short days. We’ll definitely come back one day because Stella is a wonderful hostess :o)

Although we wanted to stay a little longer in Rodos, we were also looking forward to meet up with our friend Cait in Crete. Cait flew from Calgary to come spend two short weeks with us, it was very fun! We met up in Crete and then took off together to explore the main Islands: Crete, Santorini and Naxos. There are 1400 islands in Greece, it would take years to do them all. We also spend a little bit of time in Athens.

I loved Hania in Crete. It was a beautiful and charming harbour town at the north-west end of the Island. We checked into a really neat room in near the harbour with a nice view from the rooftop. We explored the cute shops in the narrow alleys and ate at this great restaurant. It was recommended in the Lonely Planet so we gave it a go, the food was fantalicious! It was funny how all the patrons there at that time came because of the Lonely Planet’s recommendation :o) We also pleasantly learned that after a delicious meal, it is complimentary in Greece to offer your guest a shot of raki (rachi in Crete) along with delicious desert. Raki is a strong alcohol, perhaps like a digestive. Whether we enjoyed it or not, we gulped down the shot and made funny faces and laughed at each other. My personal highlight was to be sitting on a rooftop patio with the girls and watch Spain beat Honduras on an open air giant screen.

Following Hania, we made a quick stop in Paleohora before taking the ferry to hop over to Santorini. This was such a treat! This island is BEAUTIFUL! Fira was touristy within reasons. Walking towards the cliff was unbelievable; the bright rays of light deflected from the white walls of the blue top houses were surreal. The village is literally built in the cliff. Needless to say, we got trigger happy with our digital cameras. We enjoyed a nice (expensive!) drink at a bar with the awesome view of the other islands. People also go there to catch the sunset, which we did and it was also very fun. But not as fun as watching Spain win their game over Chile while chewing on octopus, veal and mussels :o) We had a great time at the restaurant. In Santorini the dinner finale is not a shot of raki but a shot of Vin Santo. This drink is much smoother and tastes better than the raki. It’s their local sweet wine. That incited us to do a self guided little wine tasting tour the next day, it was very fun. We also visited Oia, a village not too far away. Oia is similar to Fira on all aspects so we enjoyed our time there as well.

Next stop was Naxos, another coastal town with tons of tourists. It was as charming as the other places we’ve been to. Browsing the narrow lanes of this town was very interesting, it’s a maze. The culinary experience here was also very memorable. We asked a chef what was his recipe for the delicious stuff we were having and he said: special herbs, special meat and secret sauce. Priceless! Everything here tasted very lemony, even the desert shot of digestive.

Our last stop was on the mainland, Athens. This place does not have the coastal flair or flavour but it is so rich in history! We visited the majestic Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and the other main attractions. While visiting the Acropolis, I had the same humble feeling I felt when I visited the ruins of Angkor. It was magical. The highlight was without a doubt going to a classical music concert in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It didn’t matter if you like classical music or not: sitting on the old stone bleachers while your ears pick up every little sound the instruments made was a fantastic experience. We were so lucky to catch the concert that night. We also celebrated Gen’s 29^th birthday in Athens. My Gen had a big Fat Greek Birthday with live music and dancing. The only down side was not connecting with my other high school friend, Nectaria, in Athens. Maybe when we come back...

Our time in Greece was great! We loved the country and the Islands. The feta cheese, the olives and the octopus will forever be disappointing anywhere else in the world :o) I am grateful for seeing Stella again and travelling with Cait. Our time here was short but it gave us the opportunity to discover the islands that we want to come back to on our next visit.

Have a great summer everyone, and happy Stampeding Calgarians!

Photos: Athens (Greece)

alexxdiep — Sat, 3 Jul 2010 23:58:00 GMT

Photos: Naxos Island (Greece)

alexxdiep — Sat, 3 Jul 2010 23:47:00 GMT

Photos: Santorini Island (Greece)

alexxdiep — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Photos: Crete Island (Greece)

alexxdiep — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:59:00 GMT

Photos: Rhodes Island (Greece)

alexxdiep — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:37:00 GMT

Goodbye Asia, thank you!

alexxdiep — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:15:00 GMT

On November 14, 2009 we left Canada to start our Around the World trip. Now, on June 14 we’ll be leaving Bangkok and Asia to continue our trip to Greece. It is incredible that it had been seven months since we started. We visited so many wonderful countries and places. We met awesome new friends and relatives. We learned so much about Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The colourful cultures, the friendly people, the language, the culinary experience, were all terrific! We are so happy we got to experience all that.

Asia was a treat: it opened our minds to new ideas and to new ways of thinking. Our reference base from home has no bearing here because the oriental way is so different from what we are used to. It is much simpler and sometimes a lot more efficient. Asia challenged us big time during our four months journey: we did not always have a full understanding or even less, control, of what was happening because we did not speak the local language; the standard hotel room with clean bathroom, shower and A/C has a different meaning here and many times, lunch is whatever you could manage to mime or point out from the menu... In those situations, we had to trust life and trust ourselves and let fate take over and lead us the way, we simply went with the flow. So far things have always worked out just fine :o) Asia also enriched us with stronger family ties. We met and spent time with relatives we haven’t met or have not seen in decades. We had a memorable time here and we’ll definitely miss her. Thank you to all the new friends we met during the four fantastic months, you made our travels so much more enjoyable.

Now we are ready for a new chapter: Europe. We look forward to discovering the European culture, people, languages and food. If South East Asia was any indication of what awaits us in Europe, then we are very much looking forward to being there. It’s going to be a whirlwind of a trip. We only planned two months to visit Greece, Croatia, Spain and Portugal. That’s and average of two weeks for each country... What is even more exciting is the people we’ll visit and the people meeting us in Europe. Two high school friends of mine moved back to Greece, I can’t wait to see them again and to meet their family. Another Calgary friend is joining us in Greece. After spending time with my side of the family in Vietnam, I really look forward to spending time with Gen’s family who will be joining us in Spain.

This is giving us a renewed energy. Although it had been exciting and awesome for the last seven months to leisurely roam the globe, we noticed a change in our travelling momentum. We’re a little tired and slow to visit the main sites at the last couple of places we’ve been to. So the change of decor and food in Europe will be very welcoming. I’ll check back with you in Greece :o) Have a great summer everyone!

Oh and one more thing: GO SPAIN GO!!!

Photos: Phuket (Thailand)

alexxdiep — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:39:00 GMT