Laine & Justin

This post is dedicated to Laine & Justin. Without whom my poorly edited blog would have no poorly edited comments.

I miss you two like I miss smoked salmon and maple syrup. (I'm not sure who is which)

And much like the above combination; Laine & Justin are both sweet, enjoyed all year round and provide a truly Canadian experience :)



Thanks boys! Keep up the good work!

I'm alive :)

I WAS NOT on the train that exploded in Italy today. But it IS on my route to Riomaggiorre tomorrow :s

Just wanted to let everyone know in case it was on the news... I hear it travels fast these days.

- Jesse Mah (needs to find a new route to Cinque Terre)

Ps. It was a gas leak... no evil people involved.

Bye Ninimuggers!!!

Nin left me in Florence today. She was the ultimate travel companion... A human Swiss army knife. I will miss many things about travelling with Nin. Mostly, I will miss her long winded readings from Rick Steve's Travel Italy 2008. The book that has now become my Italy survival guide... Tell it like it is Rick.... Tell it like it is...


(Nin crammed on SITA bus in Amalfi)


(Nin covering up for the Churches, while maintaining her charismatic charm)


(Nin stranded at the train station)

Bye for now Nin, see you back in Vancouver!

- Jesse Mah (is most definitely alone)

Roaming

Michael Jackson died !?! What the F... conspiracy theory much? I think MJ and Tupac are now living on the same tropical island somewhere. Semi-kidding.

Nin and I had planned on spending a night on the town, but when we found out about Michael, we ended up eating pizzas and watching MJ music videos on MTV all night.



Since that night, any Michael Jackson song reminds me of Rome. And when Nin leaves me I'm sure I will be singing "you are not alone" to myself while walking through cathedrals.... ALONE.

As for Roma, she's crazy. The city is 99.9% tourists and you have 55.5% chance of getting hit by a moving vehicle. (numbers may have been dramatized.) Still the city is a living museum. It isn't possible to escape the history... you can frolik through the history. Please restrain from mental images of me froliking through history :)

- Jesse Mah (is not alone)

Pompei and Napoli

Sorry no pics this time... I was too scared to bust out my iPhone in Napoli.

That said, Naples is probably one of the most unique cities i've visited in Italy so far. At first we were a little freaked out, as the city has a pretty shady history. But it might even be worth getting mugged in Napoli just to experience it's gritty charm. There are mountains of garbage in the streets and tons of dark alleys full of shifty characters (who I can only assume are part of the mafia.) On the flip side the piazzas are full of children playing soccer, vespas zooming by, people yelling and lots of mom & pop shops. It was grrrrreat.

Pompei is huge, and to be frank quite tiring. We spent 5 hours walking around with handheld audio guides that played really cheesey music. If anyone ends up going I'd suggest paying the full 10 euros for a walking tour and save yourself a blister or two ;)

Bring on the gelato!!

Enough writing.... Here are some pictures of my time on the Amalfi coast. (Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi Town)


(enough said)


(looking down on Positano from our hostel! Denzel W was visiting..... Hi Denzel!! I loved you in that movie were you played a basketball coach for underprivilaged kids aka. Every movie you've been in!! Snap :p)




Purple! Italians weat alot of purple... Literally every local is decked out in purps.


(looking up from the beach. It's a hell of alot of steps to get back up :s)


(Drinking wine at night in Amalfi/ waiting for the mama SITA bus)


(BIMBOS!)


(Amalfi at night)


(Ninianne getting ready for one of the worlds last great "white knuckle rides"... It's a quote from Rick Steve's travel book)

- Jesse Mah (Italian resort destination lover)

24 hours to Sorrento

I am just finishing my first 24 hours of non-stop travel! At this point I feel like a total hippie!



From Dubrovnik, Nin and I took a ferry to Bari Italy. We planned on catching an overnight train to Naples from Bari, but the ferry was 3 hours late and we missed the train. This led to my first time sleeping in a public ferry station! I'm sure my parents are proud :)



We are now on a train to Naples, which is known as the birth place of both pizza and the mafia. I also hear it's the worst place for travelers being scammed by shady locals.



Once we get to Naples, we're off to Sorrento and finally we can sleep in a bed!!

- Jesse Mah (getting ready to sleep and then eat pizza!!)

Du, Dubrov, Dubrovnik!

It was sunny and the water was is most beautiful thing I have ever seen!




We spent the first day checking out the old town (stari grad). At this point in the trip I have seen my fair share of "old towns" and this one was by far the best. What makes this one so interesting is that this town is still used today the same way it was hundreds of years ago. A huge chunk of Dubrovnik's population live and work in the intricately restored old town.



The next day, we took a boat to Lokrum island just off the coast of old town. Lokrum had the best swimming spots in Crotia hands down. The island also has a small salt water lagoon that reminded me of Swiss family Robinson. It was the best day in Croatia :)


- Jesse Mah (gives Croatia 2 thumbs up!)

12 hours on Korčula

6 pm: Leaving Hvar was sad but inevitable. Nin and I coined the island's new slogan "Hvar, were adults can eat as much ice cream as they like!"... And they do :)

7 pm: We took the ferry to Korcula island. The weather began to get stormy, possibly a sign of things to come.

8 pm: Arrive in Korcula. We were greeted by Dragen, the owner of Dragen's Den hostel where we were to stay for the night. He was a short hairy man who can only be described as ferret like. Dragen asks Nin if her and I are "together forever?" Nin stands a bit closer and says "YES!"

9 pm: Nin and I, along with two French Canadian girls, arrive at the hostel which seems to be in the most unexciting neighboured on the island. This is after the girls have suffered through an hour of inapropriate comments and questions during the car ride. ie. Dragen day dreams aloud about selling Nin in the Russian sex market. Upon arrival, Nin also gets her hair spray painted by drunk slovakien roomates.

10 pm: The four Canadians escape Dragen's Den to find food and of course escape Dragen. During dinner we laughed at his sexual comments, but the girls seem genuinely frightened.

11 pm: On our way home, we stumble across Dragen lurking around the bus loop. He offers to drive us home, which we turned down, but then we remembered the hostel is in the middle of nowhere. During the car ride home Dragen continued his sexual rants while giving us a full itinerary for the next day. BEACH AT 10!!! We realized Dragen is a lonely man... and possibly high.

12 pm: Nin and I searched desperately and found a place to stay in Dubrovnik (3 hours away)

1 - 5 am: We slept lightly as we heard Dragen scurrying about the house. I saw him on my way to the toilet, he was high as a kite.

6 am: We catch the bus to Dubrovnik and got the hell out of Dragen's Den!

- Jesse Mah (Drageb Den survivor)

The Zapper!!!

As some of you may already know, I have an amazing ability to get myself into awkward social situations. Case and point, chatting up our hostel owners, Ed and Slavika, upon our arrival to Hvar. The owners were a Serbian couple who imigtated to Croatia in the 80's and now live in Sydney Australia for nine months out of the year. The other three months are spent managing thier villa on Hvar, not a bad life.

Both Ed and Slavika are very friendly people, so naturally I felt a little rude cutting the social banter short to discover the local beaches. At the time the only "out" I could think of was to say "we should sit down and have a meal together some time." Not thinking for a second that I was pretty much inviting myself over to eat. There was a pause and then Slavika quickly piped up "yes, we will go to the market and get some fresh fish tomorrow for dinner!" Nin made sure to poke fun at my self-invitation, and rightfully so... We were both preparing ourselves for a forced and somewhat awkward meal.

The next day went by quickly on the beach and around town. We bought some local wine and met our hosts for dinner around 7pm. The dinner was delicious and Ed seemed to approve of the wine, things were going well. The first foreshadow for the rest of the evening came as I filled Ed's wine glass for the third time. Slavika turned from here conversation with Nin and said "give him anymore and he'll be talking all night." she wasn't kidding.

Our role for the next five hours that night would be to sit, nod politely and try to keep up with whatever Ed was saying. Slavika put her elbow on the table, her head on hand and watched adoringly. It seemed she'd had some practice.

The conversation started with their daughters, then grandchildren, then cronic fatigue syndrome, then friends' grandchildren, then growth hormones, then grandchildren again. I give Nin alot of credit, she really did appear interested for the first two hours... But then we were introduced to the Zapper...

A few years ago Ed had done some research that would help him deal with cronic fatigue. He stumbled upon a Canadian doctor who had developed blueprints for an electric machine that kills viruses in the body and boosts immunity to illness. My ears were giggling, but I was crying on the inside as Ed pulled out his home-made contraption of wired components. Think Dr. Ho's massager meets car jumper cables. Basically he holds the positive charge in one hand, the negative in the other, and electrocutes himself!

By this point I realized we were paying the price for dinner. Ed, who turned out to be quite the philosopher, was happy to continually shock himself throughout his endless mutterings on religion and todays youth. All Nin and I wanted was two advil, a glass of water and the silence of our private little suite.

Make like a Croatian and Split

Nin and I are leaving the town of Split today for Hvar Island island on the Dalmatian Coast!

Split is a very busy port town that acts as a main hub for boats travelling throughout coast. It is also home to Elda's Hostel! Her hostel may have been cramped and poorly decorated, but Elda herself was entertaining enough to recommend a nights stay... Maybe just one night though :)

Zagreb to Split

I arrived in Zagreb around 8 pm Friday evening. The city is super cute, sort of like the victoria of Croatia. I also got a chance to visit the public market on Saturday morning, which absolutely huge. If you're ever in Zagreb DON'T stay at the Carpe Diem hostel. I was woken up in the middle of the night, because some guy said I was in his bed. Turns out they double booked us. It's just super disorganized and the owner smelled of garlic and cabage... Stay far away!



The next morning I left for Split on the coast of Croatia. The train ride from Zagreb to Split was the most scenic ride so far, Croatia is such a beautiful country. It made me realize how lucky I am to be on this trip and see all this culture. Many European locals don't even get to visit half the cities I've seen. So for that I'm very grateful.




Moving down into the meditteranean is sort of an end to the first two weeks in eastern Europe. The pace, the weather, the people should all change now. Super excited :)




And of course I met up with Ninianne! We had a good time last night catching up and chilling along the seawall. We're going to leave tomorrow to do a little island hopping. Destination still to be determined :p

- Jesse Mah (eastern Europe conquorer)

10 Beds Budapest

Every backpacker remembers their first sketchy hostel experience. Max and I had both been pretty lucky throughout eastern Europe finding relatively clean hostels (ones that operated as actual businesses at least.) I guess you could say we were both virgins to the "sketchy hostel experience." That would soon change after discovering Adrian's 10 beds hostel in Budapest.

Max and I met in Vienna on route to Budapest. He had been traveling with some American girls who I ended up chatting with over breakfast. We all chilled for a while and before I knew it Max and I were on a train together to Budapest. Being the well adjusted/ sensible guys we are, I recon we trusted each other enough to ditch one of our separately booked hostels and both stay at the same place. The hostel I had booked (the 10 beds) was closer to the train station, so we decided to check it out first.

The walk to the hostel was a bit of a culture shock. Budapest is undoubtedly home to some of the knarliest looking panhandlers I have ever seen (seriously the streets are a circus act.) We made it to the hostel unscathed and buzzed up to the 10 beds. A kind aussie voice answered "Hey, Adrian isn't here. But come up, you have to take the stairs." The door opened to the most unnecessary ear-piercing alarm and we hurried inside, either to make the sound stop or to get away from the circus act outside.

We hadn't inspected the building until after we were inside. The place was definitely haunted; dark, large and vacant. We regretted the decision of going inside more and more with every step we took. I think we stopped on the second floor and actually considered turning back. Max and I both started to recall scenes from horror films as to make sure we didn't end up in one ourselves.

A pretty girl named Anne greeted us at the door. She gave us fresh linen, a rundown of Budapest and apologized for Adrian's absence. At the time we found it suspicious of a fellow guest to be so helpful... And who was in charge of the place at the moment. was this Adrian guy? Did we enter a cult? Is Adrian some kind of polygamist leader who summons guest to the suspicious bed in the middle of the living room? We were now pretty sure we were living the movie hostel. Two gullible guys lured in by a fit Aussie :s
It was also a little strange that Anne had Adrians phone number, and was able to text him to find out where to find spare keys.

As much as I hate to admit it now, we actually set out to see if the hostel Max had booked was any better. Maybe it was fate but for the life of us we couldn't find the other hostel. We would have to stay with 10 beds for the night.... Dun dun dun

The 10 beds were all booked up with some of the strangest characters I have ever met. There was a couple from china (the guy wanted to arm wrestle everyone and I don't think I heard the girl talk), Anne and Dan were a traveling Aussie couple who had been away for years (very descent people), Ferdie was a German from Berlin who had lived in Budapest the year before, Nick was an American who had hitched hiked all the way to Budapest from the states (don't ask how that's possible), Liz was a Romanian missionary... you get the idea. Max and I were definitely the only traveling rookies in the place.




The days that followed were an absolute blast. It's not like it was easy getting to know some of these people. But by the time I had left the hostel, I can honestly say it was a pleasure to meet everyone there. Going clubbing with ferdie, watching the white Chinese guy arm wrestle people and listening to Nick's absurd hitch hiking stories. It was a wicked experience. We even got to drink with the all mighty Adrian one night (he is not a cult leader... I don't think)


In the end the clear lesson was that when your traveling, you should never expect to be too comfy. Sketchy hostels aren't always sketchy. And if you stick enough freaks in a room we're bound to become friends eventually. That is if we don't kill each other first.

Thanks for having us Adrian. Also thanks to Anne and Dan who reassured us that other sane people were close by ;)

And thanks to all of those who actually made it through this really long story

Ps. I will upload some more photos to this post that I need to get off my camera

Buda-Best!!!

One of the swankier British guys I've met in my travels so far would have to be my new mate Max. The two of us have spent the last four days checking out local culture, having a few drinks, meeting alot of strange people and of course chilling with Adrian at the 10 beds (see next post).

I have to give a shout out to old maxxy, without whom Budapest could have never been as great of an experience as it was. Even if he got more attention at the baths then me (no not that one, the one in the yellow) ;) But I will miss travelling with Max and wish him the best of luck. I recognize you will get along proper fine in Serbia buddy!




Budapest is by far the most amazing city I've visited in Europe. Beautiful buildings, interesting people, hundreds of things to do at night. It's kind of like Paris but with only 20% of the hype.

Culturally, The city breaks away from the rest of Europe with a little more eastern flava. A perfect example would be the gypsy festival that a group of us went to on Wednesday night. There was a live Hungarian band playing with hundreds of people drinking and dancing on the steps of an abandoned train station. Afterwards we went to a popular rooftop club which was too crazy to even try to explain... Lets just say it involved hidden elevators, large shots of whiskey and a rooftop view of the city.

I'll have to end this post with the best thing you can possibly do in Budapest, and that is visiting the Hungarian bath houses!! The baths are fed by thermal springs under the city and are probably the most relaxing thing I've ever experienced. What is even more amazing is the design and history of each building. You can swim and soak in the same pools that were used by the locals hundreds of years ago. To put it lightly, it was like swimming in the middle of a cathedral.

I could probably go on about this place for ever. Just don't be suprised if I'm living in Budapest in a few years... You can all come visit :)




Now I'm crossing the Croatian border to a city called Zagreb. Unfortunately I can only spend one night, but I'm super stoked to travel to Split tomorrow and meet up with my buddy Ninianne from Vancouver!

Bye for now Budapest!

Ps. Last night I had dinner with a girl who turned out to be a missionary and tried to convert me to Christianity :s Gyyyyulllp. She gave me a book called "More than a carpenter" should be a good read :)

Wien a slice

Compared to Prague, Vienna is a little slice of heaven. Don't get me wrong, Prague was beautiful, but unfortunately first impressions are everything.... Plus I hadnt seen any blood in Vienna, so that was reassuring.

The city is emacculate which probably explains why I was able to actually breath for the first time in weeks. Air compairable to Canada has been hard to find in Europe.

The locals here are very friendly aswell. I found a very cool beer house with some hostel friends and met a local named Dietmur. One day Dietmur gave a local tour and we drank some bevys at a Vienneze coffee haus which was a really good time.

All in all Vienna was a super friendly & clean city that very much reminded me of home. Now I'm off to Budapest :)

Bye for now!!

PS. This was a really wicked outdoor lounge that I found callef "T" This whole courtyard gets packed with people after dark. Definitely the best bar experience yet :)

Prague re-deemed

My first night in Prague may not have been ideal, but the city soon made up for it's sketchy night owls during the following few days.

Prague's best feature is definitely it's abundence in all things old. There's basically old stuff wherever you look. Old buildings, old walls, old streets, old restaurants, old ladies.... It's really old. A few of my roomates and I checked out the town together. These were my favourite old things in Prague: old public parks, old town, old beer recipies and an old restaurant which I never found the name of. This is what I ate though :)






Is it weird that I keep taking pictures of my food? This whole plate of delightful Czech cuisine only set me back about $4!!

I'm just arriving into Vienna now, and I already see less old stuff than Prague. I'll write again soon! Take care.

- Jechnovik Mah

Czech your head

Rolling into Prague at 1 am is sort of like arriving in one of those creepy North Korean train stations. The building was eerie, delapitated, vacacant and basically had communist written all over it. Though I was warmly welcomed by a number of old ladies asking me to stay the night at their house. "accomadation sir?" Needless to say it was a little creepy.

Things got creepier as I was walking towards a cab to go to the hostel.

(I was tired, maybe a little lost and it was late... princess wanted a cab.)

Just as im crossing the street toward the car, this frantic woman comes running up from the other side, jumps in and steals my cab... As the car pulled away I then realized she was running from a screaming man who was covered in blood. Literally this guy had it all over his face, down his shirt, on his hands. All I could think was "welcome to Prague!"

I quickly found another cab and asked "you take Euros right?" Sure enough he did and we were crusing along towards the hostel. 30 minutes later the driver was lost and had decided to drop me off where he thought the hostel was "supposed" to be. He turns around and says "that is 50 euro." (around $80)

I threw a 10 euro bill at him and ran :s

- Jesse Mah (Prague survivor)

Best of the Wurst

This was my Last meal in Germany! Something-wurst on a baguette... Aka a hot dog





- Jesse Mah (German condiment lover)

German engineered

Hello everyone

I'm leaving a very very short stint in Germany and am now on my way to The Czech Republic by train. Should be arriving in Prague around 11 pm.

I won't lie, a good half day in Munich was spent pouting because I wasn't in Paris.... Poor me ;)

In the end though, Munich totally pulled through. The city has this gastown sized district completely dedicated to small design firms. Most of the firms sold their designs right out of their offices! Anything from clothes to notebooks, I was pretty stoked! Laine would be proud I didn't buy any overpriced junk :(

I was also able to sneak in the Olympic park and the BMW museum before I left. It sounds super touristy but the BMW headquarters were actually really slick (yeah I said slick). The museum was full of interactive displays made by industrial designers from all over the world, although I was a little dissapointed there were no Canadian designers. There was a really interesting display by an American desinger named Eddie Boes though.

Of course Munich also had alot of history and architecture. I completely forget how to spell the name of this building, but it's cool looking :)



Hopefully Prague keeps the ball rolling nicely.

- Jesse Mahkavstrasse

GOOD MORGEN!!!

First meal in Munich was a good morgen pretzel!!

There was so much butter on this thing, I'm pretty sure Ive lost a year off my life... Completely worth it though :)

Danke schain,



- Jesse ( good morgen pretzel eater)

Midnight train to Munich

Right now Im on an overnight train to Munich from Paris. These beds definitely are not made for a 6'3 canadian..... gyyyulp :s

The other passangers in my cabin are a real bunch of characters. The old German lady in the bed below and across from me has been staring at me for 30 minutes straight. This would probably be flattering if she didn't look so scared. I think she's afraid I am going to mug her while she's sleeping

The cabin was so small that I could only take a picture of this:




- Jesse (big old lady robber)

Au Revoir Paris

Saying that Paris is an amazing city is a huge understatement, so I'll just say that I can't wait return for a few days near the end of my trip. I was very lucky to meet up with my buddy Altan and his family for the last two days. We've been eating breakfast in the sun and checking out the sites during the day. One of the best experiences so far has been hitting up a garden party in the french suburbs with Altoon. His friends were a wicked group of people and I hope to meet up with them again on my way back into France.




- Jean Mah Pierre

Ps. I take back what I said about the Paris Metro. Gare De L'est is my Savior

Pps. Sorry for the lack of pictures... my phone isn't picking up wifi but I hope to get that fixed

Ppps. PICTURES!!!