"Love is in the air"
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2007
1
46
Trip End
Ongoing
Singapore,
Singapore
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Here will probably be one of my last message, for this trip anyway!
I'll be back in Paris the 13/06 so pretty soon!
So much to say, so much to think, so much pictures in my head!
One important thing i've notice in this past 2 years, wherever you go 1 thing has been very important: THE PEOPLE, what can you do in the most beautiful paradise island when you are alone? how will you appreciate the best meal ever when nobody sitting around the table?
So many people are in my head!.....i manage to cry only ones when i was alone last week on a mountain above Brisbane and the ocean by night! I could feel this energy that all of you gave me during all this trip!
My started like this:First i met Liga in Riga( Latvia) who hosted me for few nights, then it was Ance in Liepaja (Latvia), we managed to get the key to go to the mushroom house! and then after our trip to Lithuania we went to swim in the Baltic sea in the evening time (fucking cold!), the visit of the prison...and all our long talks about life! few days later it was my old friends i've met in Estonia, Margit and Rego. The trip with Rego to the Love and Anarchy festival in Helsinki and the fucked up party, with Margus "the routard", my host from couchsurfing!
Then my dream came true and i enter Russia! The meeting with Karina and Lucya from couchsurfing in St Petersburg, and then Gosia and Isa ( from Poland ) we all had a party on the 28 floor of the building in St Peter looking at this amazing city by night!, Rusya "the hippie and dreamer" who host us for few nights in her warm flat and spiritual flat! and then we went to the hitchhiker festival......I met lots of people!!! with Fromagia (from Uzbekistan ), we hitchhike to Pavarovka suburb of Moscow where we stay for a week with Natashya and Lena, thanks for this beautiful time and your great spirit! Thanks Fromagia for the time we spend together and the great effort you did to communicate all this time in English, also Natashya you got so much better English....then Natashya took some time off from work to take me to Kazan this beautiful Tatar city and all the mosque, 13 hours form Moscow!. We met Slava her good friends, who treated us for the all stay in Kazan about 5 days, he rented a flat for us took us to drink and eat and anytime i wanted to pay he got angry! amazing man and good example of the Russian hospitality! Then Valentina came from Moscow by hitchhiking to meet me in Kazan ( we met at the festival a week before ) and we went for few days journey to her home town near the border with Kazakhstan, it took us few days to hitchhike, by the way Valentina, is now in Africa, She's been hitchhiking from Russia all across Europe and Africa, she left more than 6 months ago, last email i had was last month she was in Somalia! she's traveling alone! I stay at her place and met her mother...great woman! we play few time persecutions and her mother sang some shamanic song! What a feeling!
Valya I wish you millions more km around the globe, and wait a little that we meet in Africa!
After that i went for a long journey across Kazakhstan to get to Irkutsk where i was welcomed by Nastya and Irina, friends of Fromasia! They hosted me more than a week before i went to Mongolia...Nastya helped me to do all the papers needed to enter in Mongolia, and i helped her for her French homework, apparently i got it wrong! but that came from your teacher;)...hope your French is getting good! Nastya took me to her spanish lesson, and that's where i met Humbertito Che Guevara from Peru! We spend a short time together before i left, at this time i didn't know that a month later i will be back to his place after Mongolia!
So i went to Mongolia where i met my couchsurfers CIndy and his friend who have a Indy rock music band and are pretty famous there, i stay there 10 days, with all his friends, before i met Mathias, Randolf, who were traveling from Germany by bike... I met Jurek ( Russian commender) from Poland at the hostel and then we went to the country with Arleene, Adam, and Chris and Mathilda (who by the way just finish their trip around the world! and they bring back a future baby...Congratulations guys!!!
Then back in Siberia I met Jurek by pure coincidence in a bar, he was living the next day for a 10 days trek near the Baikal lake! so there we went ( 1 of my most beautiful memories in my life) unfortunately i got no pictures at all from this trip! ( I'm still waiting that you send me some pictures Jurek ;)
Then I went to Khabarovsk to get my visa to China....Shit happen with my back pack who get stolen, but at the end i got everything back, and i even met beautifull Klavdiya who were my translator, who introduce me to Daria, and Angelina...Daria is a Chinese teacher and we met again few month later in Beijing!
Then i went to Vladivostok where i stayed with Katiya from CS, we had a very relaxing time in her flat for few days....we even made a cheese fondue:) with a Russian cheese a bit similar than the swiss cheese!
I met Andrey from CS who show me around the city by day and then by night with a friend of his who had a car!
Finally i got to China, first in Harbin! where i saw THE ice festival....it's just incredible, ice sculpture everywhere in the city, some of them, were more than 15 meters high! that gave me an idea of what Chinese can accomplish!
Then Beijing!!!!! It would be to many names, but the closest friend i had like, Xiao Tong, Nemo, Fernando (Alfombra), Santiago, Yaaya, Ermal, Sebastian, Bertrand, Jumbo, Laurent, Hannah, Shlomit, Jimmy, John, Popo George, Inbal....and so many more (sorry for all those i didn't write)! 1 thing i can say about China, is that even thought they had a shitty recent past they are open to know who you are and why you are here, they are smiling and really smart people! If i wasn't pushed to leave the country before the Olympic Games i could have still been there! I loved it so much!!!!! and the Chinese food my friends, is amazing!!!!!
After crossing all China from North to South, Lao and Birma, by train, bus, and boat, I went to Thailand where Ermal one of my friend form China was there in holidays, and then i had an amazing time there, and very relaxing after the millions of people living in Beijing, so i stayed in Chiang Mai for 3 months (noth of Thailand), i had a motobike and went to many trip in the jungle! I've met Aom, we travelled to Laos together...and then with Pla we went to Pai the Hippie Village!
Laetitia and Nelly 2 french girls and really good friends that i've met in Ireland, where coming from Australia, and pass by Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia came to visit me for few days in Chiang Mai, i was very happy to meet somebody i knew, after so long time it's like taking a deep breath! i didn't really knew what to do at this time cause i had very little money left, i didn't want to go in a westernized country but i decided to go to Australia anyway! I was hosted by Brian and Lolo 2 friends, we use to live in Ireland together. They hosted me for 6 weeks and helped me a lot for all annoying stuff , administration, bank and so on...i start work 1 week after i was there, and then moved to Manny's house, i didn't know at the time, but he changed my life for ever! we had so much talk about life, we had rarely different opinion, but he teach me lots of stuff when in the same time i teach him! 1 thing he specially made me understand what is the meaning of beeing on earth if you are ready to understand it, and how the mind is deep and powerful....we had some nice journey, especially one in the rain forest where we connected with nature, and at 1 stage in the a small town, we came into this busy pub, and end up talking with most of the people.....we just connected with all this people in a very strange way...we end up eating some cheese and salami and drinking a bottle of red wine with this guy we met, and in the same time this guy answer so many questions that i had inside without asking him anything...it was a very strange and powerful journey!!!
I met Manny's friend, Jacob, Dan, Dean, Tash...and those who will become my very good friend, from India, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Japan....and a place to sleep any time i came back to Brisbane...Suzanne, Lharissa, Virgil, Vala Ricky, Omar, Li Wen, Akiko....thanks for all the good time we had and the beautifull Indian, Malay, Chinese food we had every night! Last week, Val a fench girl i met in Byron Bay came t visit me in Brisbane, and we had a Cheese Fondue with all of them! They were amazed and understood where the reputation that french people eat a lot of cheese come from!
Lorenzo ( East Timor) Peter ( Samoa) Paul ( Australia) were my friend from work at Brisbane market! we had lots of good time especially when we were fed of work!
In Chinchilla, a town in the middle of nowhere, we did fruit picking, and i met lots of french people, long time i didn't speak french, at this time i didn't know but for the next 3 months i will meet lots of french people and in the same time, getting use to be french before i come back home! I met Val in Byron Bay who came to pick me up to jump from a plane of 4000 meters altitude... that was an incredible day and experience, we went for 2 days with her friends to a bush party....extreme relaxing people and experience...never forgot!!!
Then I went to Sydney where i met my old friend Dom, we did the apprentice ship together 10 years ago, he was doing pastry and me cooking, at this time we had long hair, rebel, and smoking too much! i've been looking for him for few years i couldn't find him and when i was in Brisbane he found me on Facebook! so it was really nice to spend this few days together, meet his wife and 2 kids!
And then Finally i arrive in Melbourne, the last part of my trip where i work 1 and half month in an Italian restaurant!...This a life experience working only with Italians! It was pretty funny but sometimes too much arguing for nothing! Anyway i met Laura, who work in the kitchen with me...Really crazy girl with a huge open heart, I met Lorenzo form Roma...If you saw the God Father he's the same one, but funnier...Thomas from Brazil always singing and then Beautifull Federica:)
I was living in the hostel about 200 rooms, hard to don't party, especially when you know most of the people....my favorites Damien, Marco, Nico, Eric, Adri....that was a good team:) after that i went for a short week in Brisbane, where i met Lulu ( friend of my cousin), who just arrived in Australia with who we spend less than 24 hours together and feel that we know each other for months! ( Enjoy your trip ma Lulu!!!!!)
I spent few days in Malaysia to meet with Federica and her friend Irene....I miss her already:( We were hosted buy Rozaly an amazing guy who volunteered for more than 20 years in an elephant park, and who is doing as a job, training people to survive in the jungle!!! Trust me he has lots of stories!!!
So here I'm in Singapore, 1 day before getting the plane back to Europe! I'm hosted by a Malaysian Chinese family, husband, wife and 3 kids, they are very nice, they took me out last night all around the city and the beach till 1 in the morning even thought they had to work this morning!
Today i wil meet some more people from CS, to visit a bit the city! Singapore is too organized and clean for me, you get fine for crossing the street when it's red, or smoking in the street outside the yellow line, their are sign everywhere for forbiddeen stuff, in the metro they keep telling you to report people who look suspicious or nervous! in case is a terrorist, but the best is in the public toilet, they are on each mirror, the 8 steps to follow to wash your hands properly....it's really advanced for buisness and technology...but that's about it! still in the small chinese or indian neighboorwoods you can talk and relax with people!
Anyway you must be bored reading about my life!
So i wish you all that you went or will go on the same kind of journey, cause i believe that traveling is the school of life!
I will download pictures when i'm back to France!
Last week i was in Oceania, this week in Asia, next week in Europe, and the following week in Africa! 4 continents in 1 month! that's my life and don't think it will change!
Peace and Love :)
