Only 2 weeks left?!

Hey! So it's December 1st and it's finally starting to hit me that I'll be heading home soon! As sad as I am about that, I still have 2 weeks left in Portugal and Spain which isn't anything to be sad about. haha In addition, I really am looking forward to heading home despite having an amazing time over here in Europe. I can't WAIT to see my amazing and beautiful girlfriend Jenny, Xmas is going to be awesome this year at my house in Spokane (Jenny and both of my brother's family and kids will be there), and I'm actually getting excited (and nervous) about starting my job at Cisco on January 2nd. It's going to be a rough first month at work. haha

Regarding my travels the last, idk, 3 weeks, I've been having an awesome time seeing new cities and meeting new people, and have even grown even closer with my girlfriend. Sorry i haven't been able to blog more frequently, but it's tough to find time when on the road and staying with friends. I'll be staying at (and have been) hostels for most of the rest of the trip as I've finally exhausted most of my friend resources in Europe. haha I still have friends in Bilbao Spain, Lyon France, Toulouse France, Geneva Switzerland, and Lake Constance that I would like to see, but I don't think it's gonna happen on this trip. Sorry!

I'd like to get around to blogging (really, this is more like a personal journal for me to have later, but I'm letting friends/family see what I've been up to as well) for the last 3 weeks, but I might not get to that for a while so I wanted to write a brief update for those who are curious.

I was in Budapest, Hungary for 6 nights with my friend David and had an amazing/freezing time at the Budapest Fridge Festival. David and his friend Danny showed me all around the city, I went to 2 different caves which were sweet, I went to an extravagant hot spring/"Bath" and saw lots of old creepy dudes (I got a massage there too which was sweet), there was a mini house warming party at the apartment with lots of beer, guitar playing, and singing, I tried some traditional Hungarian food (very hearty and delicious) and I was able to get a pretty good grasp on the city and the people. Hungarian girls are by far the prettiest girls of any country I've been to btw.

Vienna was my next stop and I stayed with my good friend Miriam for 4 nights in her dorm (on a nice air mattress). Despite being freezing cold as well, Miriam showed me all around and I had a great time. Vienna, and Austria in general, was just beautiful and I want to come back here more than any other city/country I've been to (except maybe Portugal now...). While I was in Vienna, I did a day trip to Linz to check out a crazy science museum, Miriam and I went to a number of Xmas markets, I toured the Schonbrun Castle, explored around a lot but not too much because it was so cold, and had a number of delicious meals and soups with Miriam. Saying goodbye was sad, and Miriam even escorted me to the train station in Casablanca fashion. Haha

My next stop was Italy, which involved a night train from Vienna to Venice. Night trains suck btw. It’s cool to wake up in a new city, but man, “sleeping” on them sucks. Venice was pretty cool, and I had a fun time walking around all the canals and meeting crazy Australian in my hostel. I made a day trip the following day to hopefully explore these amazing caves in sloevnia, but there weren’t any buses that would get me there in time for the last cave tour, so I just explored the Italian town of Trieste all day which was still super cool as it’s a beautiful coastal town.

After Venice, I packed my gear, took a train to Florence, explored Florence for 4 hours (cool town btw), then made my way down Italy to Naples (or Napoli) for Thanksgiving to visit my friend Shane Anderson, who I knew back in High School, and is now in the US NAVY stationed in Naples. I had an American Thanksgiving with Shane and his wide which was sweet. The next couple days we went to Pompeii, hiked Mount Vesuvius, had some amazing pizza, did flaming Lamborghini shots, went shopping on black Friday on the military support site, and I got to see where he works at the NATO base in Napoli.

Rome was my next awesome destination, and it really was pretty amazing. The Trevi fountain, Coliseum, Vatican City, and Sistine Chapel all lived up to their fame. Italy as a whole kinda feels dangerous, they drive crazy, and the Italians always seem like they’re angry or complaining about something. Haha I had an argument with a guy and was yelling back at him with an over the top Italian accent which was fun. Hmm… what else. I almost got stranded in Rome when my phone died and was trying to get back to Naples to stay the night with Shane. And I got to sleep in the airport in Rome before taking a RyanAir flight at 6:30am to Porto, Portugal.

I’m in Porto, Portugal right now and am heading to Lisbon in a few hours. Porto is my new favorite city, and I had an incredibly random/awesome time within the first 30 minutes of being there. I used my free voucher for a City Sightseeing tour immediately when I got there (I was getting tired of looking for free internet to find my hostel and decided to just hop on with my pack) and hung out with a cool Brazilian guy and a fat obnoxious old man from LA that afternoon. We went wine tasting for free on the tour, had some traditional Portuguese food, and got to explore the beach area and city center for a while. I switched hostels to hang out with the Brazilian guy, and that night we met up with a friend of his from school who lives in Porto, and lived up the nightlife before I finally crashed. Not from the alcohol (only had 2 drinks), but from sheer exhaustion. I had gotten maybe 6 hours of sleep the last 2 night combined and it finally caught up with me at the bar. The bar scene/nightlife in Porto is the craziest I’ve ever seen btw. There were SOOOOOOOO many young people packed on the streets and in the bars it was crazy.

Well, I gotta run. I’m off to Lisbon in an hour or so and gotta do a few things before leaving, including getting some lunch. I finally got a chance to upload my pics from the last month on facebook, so take a look there for some cool pics of things I’ve been up to. I’ll get around to the Italy pics when I get a chance. I hope everyone reading this is doing well. Until next time!

- Kyle

Budapest Fridge Festival

Caution: This blog post will take you at least 3 hours to read. Kyle's Editor is out for the week.

My next destination after Prague was Budapest, Hungary! My friend David lives there and I was stoked to see him again (it’s been ~3-4 years since I last saw him last in CA with Kirsten Halden). I actually planned my trip around seeing him to some extent because he told me there was going to be a large festival in Budapest Nov. 10-13. It’s called the Budapest Fridge Festival, and is essentially a crazy outdoor festival with a giant ski jump competition (they build a huge ramp in the square) and partying all night. There’s live music and DJ's all night (til 4am), food and drinks everywhere, and even an ice rink. David was working at the festival (part of the time) and said I should definitely visit him while this event is going on.

My train to Budapest arrived late, so I unfortunately missed my connection in a town south of Prague, and ended having to stay in that random town for 2 hours which sucked. Everything was already closed down by 6pm (it was so weird). I made the most of it tho and checkout out a small castle and skyped with Jenny for a bit in a cafe, before eventually making my way back to Budapest. I forgot my eurail pass doesn’t work in Slovakia tho, and the train was definitely passing through Slovakia to get to Budapest, so I ended up having to pay an additional 20 euros to the stewardess/conductor which wasn't very cool either.

I planned on blogging a bunch during the long train ride, but was I wasn't feeling to well from the night before to think clearly and decided to take a nap and finish my book instead. I also met a really cool guy from UCLA who was sitting next to me and we talked for most of the train ride which was cool. He’s doing a different kind of Europe trip, hitting up all the eastern countries that no one really ever goes to like Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. He definitely had some interesting stories to share about Eastern Europe.

Ukraine particularly sounded interesting. Apparently most families make their own vodka in their backyard, and everyone is VERY proud of their “Family Vodka.” Haha That’s so cool! The baths/hot springs there are supposed to be very cool there as well. ____ got a FULL body massage at one of them, and even suffered for a bit in the saunas which is apparently a different experience than what we Americans are used to. ____ also talked about how Ukraine somewhat of a 3^rd world country, where the locals rarely have access to a hot shower, internet, or an actual toilet. Kinda sad really, but ____ said they were some of the most fun people he’s met on his trip.

When I arrived in Budapest around 10:30pm, David and his girlfriend Rita were there waiting to pick me up. It was kinda funny when I first saw him, because neither of us immediately recognized the other person (it’s been a few years since we’ve seen each other, and to be fair, I look like a MAN now with my burly mustache. Haha) Either way, after some quick greetings and introductions we were on our way to his brother’s house to drop off my bag, take some shots, and then head out to the Fridge Festival.

We met up with some of David’s friends outside the entrance of the festival and hung out for a while in the freezing cold drinking even MORE vodka, trying to finish what we could before going in (you’re not allowed to bring food or drinks in). Since David was working at the festival, he managed to get me a pass for the whole festival for free which was pretty sweet. Thx dude.

Oh man, the next part of this story was really funny/nerve racking (and possibly too drawn out haha). We still had a bunch of vodka bottles with us, and I wasn’t really sure what we were going to do with it all, when all of a sudden I was given a bottle a told to stick it in my sock/under my pant leg, and that we were gonna go through security now. Oh man! I did my best to put it in my sock and conceal it, but my socks were just too loose at the top and the bottle was swaying every direction, about to fall out with each step I took.

If anyone would have looked at my feet, or even just observed the way I was walking for more than a split second, they would have easily noticed a giant object protruding from my ankle. Haha Well, I didn’t have much of a choice, and was gonna do my best to walk through security without it falling out and potentially ruining everyone’s chances of getting alcohol in. Oh, and I also put the bottle of chaser in my other sock, so now I was walking like Frankenstein, with my legs completely straight, and in slow motion.

Not only did I have to walk SUPER slow (snails pace really, it was embarrassing), but my ankles were now throbbing from the stupid glass bottles. I was sure there was no way security wouldn't suspect something about me, so I improvised and borrowed David’s girlfriend Rita, put my arm around her, and started to walk through security, slowly.

I was hoping the security checkpoint would be right next to the entrance and I would be home free soon, but NOOOOO, I had to walk through a maze of metal crowd barriers just to get to the “pat down” area! It took Rita and me so long to snake our way through that stupid thing. The pat down went ok as they just checked our upper body and waist, but there were seriously security guards every 30 feet, and I wasn’t home free yet.

I had to walk further to along the path to get to the festival, and then had to conquer 2 sets of stairs with security guards swarming the place. Haha I have no idea how the bottle didn’t fall out on those stairs (it would have been pretty funny tho), but it stayed where it needed to and soon we were in the middle of the festival with people all around, where we could sneakily retrieve our merchandise. I just realized that whole little story totally sounds like I was trying to smuggle 5 lbs of cocaine in . Haha

Anyway, after that whole ordeal (which only I was truly aware of at the time), we explored the festival for a bit, which was situated right next to Hero’s Square and some magnificent castle. It was so cold outside btw. I miss San Luis Obispo. Haha

I wasn’t really expecting such a huge event to be going on. And the ski ramp. THE SKI RAAAAAMP! This thing was so big. Check out the pics. The competition may have been done for the day when we arrived, but I could easily imagine skiers flying through the air pulling all sorts of tricks off this jump. After marveling at the jump for a while and getting a cup of gluwein (hot wine that is spiced and has juice added), we made our way inside the biggest festival tent where the main DJ’s were playing at the time.

BAM! I was immediately slapped in the face with amazement as I walked in the tent. Techno/house music was blasting in my ears, laser lights were drawing intense patterns of color in my eyes, and there was a giant mob of dancing people stretching endlessly to the stage. I had no idea this event was gonna be so big. Budpaest definitely knows whats up and how to get their party on. Our group of friends joined the party soon but not after finally mixing our vodka with the free Monster energy drinks that David hooked up for free.

I’m not really sure what we did the whole time we were there, but dancing, head bobbing, and “fly swatting” were at the heart of everything we did. Haha Taccini would have fit in perfectly. We were there for 2-3 hours before finally making our way back home to David’s place which was where I crashed for the night (even tho my bag was still at his brother’s). Oh, and a couple quick notes: The Doner Kebab I had near the main tent was amazing and was the second best one I’ve had on my trip (the pizza kebab in Berlin is still #1. Thanks Phillipe). And the music all night was horrible. It was seriously the same freaking beat all night. It sounded like the same song was on repeat , and probably was to be honest. And the beat wasn’t even good! Ugh. The next night was supposed to have way better music tho.

It’s his party and he’ll ____ if he wants to…

When I got back to Adam’s house at 8pm from my hiking trip in Bohemian Switzerland, I was immediately caught up in the madness of Adam’s Birthday. Technically his birthday wasn’t until the next day, but he had work the next day at night as a bartender so he decided to celebrate it the day before. I bought some groceries and a fifth of vodka at a store on the way home (the usual haha), and when I arrived back home, Adam and Sarah were actually about to head to the bar that moment and were writing me a note with directions of how to get to the bar. I convinced them to stay a bit longer and take a couple birthday shots of my vodka, and 3 shots later (for me at least), we were on our way to the first bar to meet some friends.

The bar we went to was ok, but none of us were REALLY sure why we went there first. haha Either way, after a round of beer, more shots of vodka, and some cigarettes, everyone was relaxed and chatting it up with the other people at the table. It was fun meeting some new people. One of the girls I met does Thai massage, and I even got a short demonstration. :) Oh man she was good. Just thinking about it makes me tingle. She had her hands and elbows pressing so hard in just the right places, it was painful yet glorious. Anyone who’s ever had a Thai massage can relate. I was even lucky enough to have my neck cracked by her. So good! Her boyfriend who was also there is definitely a lucky guy (or IS he….? Haha).

At some point in the night, I left to group to snag some food since I hadn’t eaten since noon (other than the 2 amazing apples I had with me that I ate on the trail). It took me a while to find a place that was open, but I eventually found a pizzeria and got a delicious calzone that I brought back with me to the bar. I’m not sure why I’m saying this in the blog, but for some reason I felt like golem or something the whole time I was eating it. Haha I had this huge pizza box on the table with the lid down covering my hands and the food, and I kept sneakily breaking apart pieces with my hand and eating it all messy like. Idk what I’m talking about. Haha

Shortly after I finished my pizza, I took a birthday shot with Adam, and not long after that, Adam was passed out with his forehead on the table and his hands in his lap. Haha Apparently he had taken some more birthday shots with other people at the table while I was getting food, and had another beer or two as well. He’s not exactly a biggest dude and probably shouldn’t have consumed that much alcohol. Either way, it was pretty funny to me and I quickly passed off my camera and started posing with the weary drunkard passed out on the table. Haha

Sarah was far more concerned than I was and was forcing Adam to drink water the rest of the night. I thought he was down for the count for sure and we would have to carry him home, but after receiving a call from 2 “cute” Asian guys Adam liked, he perked up immediately. Oh Adam… haha Oh! And I almost forgot the best/worst part of the night, which inspired the title of this blog. At some drunken point in the night for Adam, he started making out with various girls at the table. I’ll upload pics later and you’ll see what I mean about the” best/worst part” of the night then. Sorry Adam. Haha That was your decision, not mine.

The two Asian guys eventually made it to the bar and hung out for a while which was cool. One of them eventually left tho, and soon after, Adam and the other guy went back to the flat to “hang out.” Meanwhile, the rest of the group that wasn’t heading home (me, sarah, brooke, and maybe some other people) decided to go to a new bar. This new bar wasn’t any better, and Sarah and I were confused again of how we ended up at such a lousy bar. Haha It was complete with creepy dudes and slot machines. Oh well. We hung out there for a while, and Brooke continued to down mini bottles of wine. I swear she must have had at least 8 of these things, and kept drinking them after Sarah and I left around 3am. Haha Brooke was definitely a character to say the least, and I felt much safer to be back at home without her harassing me. Man, it’s hard to explain, but she was creeping me out. Haha

It was definitely a fun yet strange night in Prague. A new experience for me to say the least with some of the dirty/strange/uncomfortable conversations that were going on. Haha Man, I can’t quite say everything we talked about in this blog, but that’s probably a good thing. haha. That’s part of the fun tho and I wouldn’t have changed anything from the night. Except for maybe the bar locations. Haha Happy Birthday again Adam!

Bohemian Switzerland

After a fairly lazy day the day before, I felt the need to redeem my trip by making an excursion somewhere. After waking up early and browsing cool day trip possibilities, I finally settled on going hiking near the Czech/German border, where my train passed by from Berlin to Prague a few days earlier. It looked gorgeous from the train, and I made a note that day that I NEEDED to return someday. Quick note: I should really just use italics to emphasize words. Too much work tho.

The name of the park/area i went to is called the “Bohemian Switzerland,” and has areas of the park in both Germany and the Czech Republic. It’s famous for rock climbing (one of the best places to go in Europe apparently) and the great Pravice Gate, which is the largest sandstone arch in Europe. Getting there was kind of a chore, but I made it there around 1:30pm, which was kinda late which sucked because it gets dark so early nowadays.

Getting to the park required taking a train to a random Czech town called Decin, and from there taking a bus to Hrensko. It took me forever to find the tourist office in town in Decin (I was trying to look up bus schedules and to ask about touring the castle in town), but when I finally got there, it was closed. yay. While wondering through town tho, I stopped at a couple cool thrift stores (didn’t get anything this time), and stopped at a food market where I bought the 2 of best tasting apples I’ve had on my trip (and I’ve had a lot of them, in every country). I also got a great big bowl of Goulash from one of the food vendors. I’ve always thought that Goulash was Polish, but after visiting Budapest Hungary I quickly learned that it’s a Hungarian thing. It was so good. I need to try making it back in the states for sure.

I actually got incredibly lucky when I showed up at the bus stop. It turns out the bus I needed to take to this random town only runs 3 times a day, and the next bus was leaving in 5 minutes. Even if I had showed up 3 hours earlier or didn’t get lost looking for the dang tourist office, I would have still needed to wait until ~1:00pm to take a bus to this city. Man I lucked out. Regardless of luck, or destiny haha, I was on my way to go Bohemian Switzerland.

The town leading into Bohemian Switzerland (Hrensko) is super tiny and is nestled in a valley right next to the river, which is also nestled in a huge valley with large/unique mountains on each side. It would have been a really cute town if it wasn’t flooded with so many Vietnamese tourist stands everywhere that you can’t walk 10 feet without a new owner haggling you to buy a new hat, remote control car, or pair of shoes. (I’m actually just guessing that they’re Vietnamese, but Adam told me that Czech has the largest number of Vietnamese immigrants in Europe, and that they’re some of the hardest working people in Czech). Either way, since the trailhead was ~3 km from the river anyway, and I was tired of being haggled, I decided to just jog through the city, giving the owners no chance to stop me. Got em!

Unfortunately, due to a semi-late start to the day and a long train ride, I was already starting to lose daylight when I arrived at the trailhead. No problem tho, I was wearing my red pair of trail running shoes and decided to make up some more time by jogging on the trail whenever I could. The trail to the sandstone arch (my destination for the day) was beautiful. It was evident that fall was in full swing, with gorgeous yellow and red trees everywhere. The trail was also kinda hard to follow with so many leaves on the ground (I totally thought I was gonna eat it running down certain parts of the trail), but the trees/path was well marked which was nice.

There were 3 other groups of people I met along the trail, but everyone was already heading back when I was going up, leaving me alone out in the wilderness which was kind of a scary feeling. It’s a good thing there aren’t any cougars or bears in this area, or Europe really. Haha As it was, I had a very nice hike, exploring all sorts of little areas including a small waterfall and cave on the way up. The trail had rails going up along the ridges, so I could tell it was somewhat of a touristy trail. It wasn’t very hard, and actually, really wasn’t ALL THAT pretty compared to any hike I’ve done in the Northwest. There weren’t any jagged mountains nearby, there wasn’t a pristine lake at the top, and even the view from the top wasn’t anything worth seeing again.

The Sandstone Arch was fairly impressive tho. It’s 26 meters in length and 16 meters high, and comes out of nowhere from the side of the mountain. There was also a touristy hotel built into the mountain right next to the arch which I thought was a little unusual. I actually thought the hotel kind of ruined the atmosphere. Hotels just don’t belong in certain parts of nature. The weather wasn’t the greatest (hooray fog), but even if it was a nice day, I still don’t think I would have been THAT impressed by the arch. After going to Sedona in Arizona with Cory and Athena, it’s going to take a TON of HUGE arches to impress me. Sedona is amazing. I definitely need to go back again.

After taking a couple pictures near the top, I climbed up a steep ledge through some barbed wire to get to the very top for the “best” views, which had been closed off for the winter season. It was a much better view, but still not that great because it was foggy. On the way down, I had to jump off an 8 foot ledge because I didn’t trust myself climbing down the steep moist ledge through the barbed wire. That was probably the most fun part of the hike actually. Haha The next trip I do needs to incorporate more adrenaline activities like white water rafting, bungee jumping, snowboarding, or just anything fast. I made my way back down the trail in record time, and was soon on a bus back to Prague after having a beer in a café while waiting for the bus. I definitely need to start trail running when I get back to the states. It’s so much fun, and much more fun than running through neighborhoods/cities.

With my trip to Bohemian Switzerland behind me, I was now ready to party with Adam and his friends for his 22^nd Birthday party/gathering... Next blog please...

Cool Running and Vysehrad Castle

Planning what to do in each city can be a chore for me, and even with a guidebook of Prague, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do during my days in Prague. My 2 go-to websites for advice are usually wiki travel and tripadvisor.com, and through trip advisor I stumbled across something I’ve always wanted to do, and that my parents have talked about doing on multiple occasions: A bobsled run! Well, not exactly, there’s no ice or sled, but there IS a concrete track down a hill and you ride down on a small cart with wheels and a brake. Legit!

You can control how fast you go with the brake, and if you don’t brake at all, man, you better hold on, lean into the turn, and pray that you don’t crash. Haha I met a couple in Budapest that crashed on the bobsled run outside Budapest (apparently it’s the biggest one in Europe), and the girl had a pretty gnarly scar from it. The dude leaned the opposite way of the turn….

I’ve always wanted to do the one in Canada just north of my house in Spokane (Kimberley?), but apparently it’s closed down now because it’s a “safety hazard.” Man, Canada’s becoming too much like the U.S. these days where everything is a safety hazard and people will sue companies over the slightest scratch. If you crash your sled in Europe, it’s YOUR fault, like it’s supposed to be. Unless of course the brakes broke or something else like that.

Anyway, I took the metro out to this place in Prague, just outside the city, and made two epic runs down the course. I would have done more, but it was kinda pricey, and I was content after two. It definitely go my adrenaline pumping tho. Some of the turns were pretty intense and I felt like grabbing for the brake, but had to resist in order gain maximum speed which could be measured at the bottom of the track (it wasn’t working when I was there tho L ). I have to admit that for one of the turns, I had to brake beforehand. You come flying into it at max speed, and there is no way I would have survived without braking a little. Idk I kinda wanted to do a 3^rd run and test out not using the brakes on that turn just to see if I could pull it off. I definitely have a lot of respect for all the Olympic athletes who do that stuff. )

After bobsledding around for a while, which didn’t take long actually, I made my way to the other side of the city to check out Vysehrad Castle. It was pretty cool. It used to be a fortress/castle in Prague, and had an impressive wall all around it. It had a 360 view of the city depending on where you were at, and despite the fog, I could still see a fair amount. It didn’t take long to explore this sight either, but since I got a late start to the day (as usual), it was already getting late/dark by the time I was done walking around.

The rest of the night was fairly tame if I can recall. I made my way back to Adam’s, said hello, then walked to the nearest bar/café to chill on my computer and give Adam some space. Since I was staying at his place for 5 nights, and had spent a lot of mornings/nights hanging out in his kitchen/room, I felt it would be best to give him some space so he didn’t feel like I was intruding. Couchsurfing is definitely great, but as a guest, it’s always important to respect the host’s personal time.

I’m not really sure what we did the rest of the night, but we may have watched some American Dad, cooked a pasta with homemade sauce (something I am doing from now on bwt), gone out to a bar for a drink or two, I may have skyped with jenny, I may have planned the next day of my trip, killed some time on facebook/gmail, blogged (not likely haha) or I could have gone to bed early. Idk I’m trying to remember what I did over 10 days ago which is tough. Side note/ending note: The next time in Prague, I want to see a Black Light Theatre show. I’ve heard mixed things about it, but I think it would be cool.

Buddhist Temple and Thai Buffet

One of the more randomly awesome highlights of my trip was going to Buddhist Temple with Adam in Prague. I’ve always been interested in Buddhism, and Adam was kind enough to invite me to a “service”(I can’t remember what it’s actually called). Either way, Adam did his best to bring me up to speed on Buddhism on our walk to the service, but I still felt like I had no idea what to do once I got there, how it was going to work, or what to say (if anything) to the monk who was going to be there. Haha

I was definitely lost/confused when I walked in (for a variety of reasons), and was even more confused/perplexed when I saw the monk sitting legs crossed, in his orange “toga,” talking on his cell phone before the service started. Haha Not what I expected, but I guess even monks can have cell phones. Everyone was super nice to me when I walked in and greeted me with a smile (very few could speak English), but I could tell they were all wondering if I was Adam’s new boyfriend. Haha Adam is gay for those of you who missed the last post. After clearing a few things up tho, we were all on the same page and they were just looking at me as if I was the only tall, white, non-Buddhist in the room… Which I was. Haha Everyone other than the me, the Monk, and Adam were all short Taiwanese ladies.

The “service” itself was held in an apartment on the 3^rd floor in a random neighborhood on the edge of the city. They’re still working on raising enough funds to build/buy a new home for their service. For its purposes tho, and the number of people who attended on a Tuesday (I think that’s the right day), it works very well. The main room for the service was decked out with Buddhist statues of all shapes, colors and sizes, and had all sorts of things on the walls and ceremonial area that I had no idea what they were. It was all very nice tho, and I could definitely sense the serenity that could be achieved by sitting in this room.

As for the monk, he sat on a raised platform in the front/back of the room so everyone could see him easily, or for some other reason I don’t know. The rest of us sat legs crossed on the floor in front of him. A Quick Confession: I can’t sit legs crossed. My legs are too long and more importantly, I’m helllllllla inflexible. Haha Everyone was looking at me weird throughout my time there as I sat down with my legs sprawling every which direction so I could get comfortable. I’m gonna start doing more stretching/yoga when I get back to the states with Jenny.

The service itself was short and followed the ritual Adam briefly described to while walking there. I tried to follow along, but, as I’m not Buddhist and can’t speak Thai, it was pretty tough. Haha From my perspective, there were lots of “prayers” and “repeat after mes,” as well as lots of bowing down on your knees with your hands together, so your head almost touches the ground (sorry I’m doing a horrible job describing everything Adam). I’ve never seen anything like it, and was glad to be there to observe their ceremony and rituals. While confused pretty much the entire time, I was still able to enjoy the service as well as listen to/reflect on my thoughts which was nice and very much needed at the time.

After the short service, things proceeded with a food offering to the monk. There was also a food and water offering to the Buddha I believe. Apparently this is the only meal the monk eats all day, and has to take place before ~12:30pm I think. Everyone who attended (~8 Thai women & Adam and I) brought a homemade Thai/Asian dish. After the Monk gets his filling, everyone else eats the food together in a sort of potluck/Asian food buffet. Haha Oh man, it was great!!! I haven’t had Thai or Asian food at ALL on my trip, and boy do these women know how to cook!

I was definitely spoiled, but was eventually punished by the shear spiciness of some of the food. My mouth burned for 20 minutes after we left. Haha The meal itself was a ton of fun, and I had a great time just BEING THERE if that makes sense. My first (and hopefully not the last) experience at Buddhist Temple was a great one, and I’m excited to learn more about Buddhism when I get back home. I highly recommend going if you ever get the chance.

The Rest of My Day

• I pretty much just hung out in Adam’s apartment all day which was fine. Sometimes I need a day like that to recoup and just be lazy
• I Skyped with Jenny for ~2 hours in the morning, and sent her a loooooong message in the afternoon. I think we talked at night too. Haha Sometimes we go a couple days without skyping, other days we talk 2-3 times during the day. It all depends. Either way, I LOVE my girlfriend SO much! Long distance just sucks tho and requires a lot of effort. Especially in our situation, where I’m always on the move and never know what my schedule is like or when I can chat, the 9 hour time difference complicates everything, and Jenny has a crazy busy semester with a full load of classes and 2 jobs where she works 30+ hours a week. We’re making it happen tho, and as I’m writing this, there are only 3 weeks left til I get to see her. J
• Adam and I hit up another Thrift store after Buddhist Temple and I scored a sweet pair of brown pants that fit perfectly. I think I forgot to mention this in my last blog, but the day before, Adam and I hit up a different thrift store where I scored a super nice lightweight down jacket (navy blue) for ~7 euro, and badass pair of thick wool socks that I now use as slippers. haha
• At night Adam and I walked to a cool park/scenic view overlooking the city (would have been cool w/ less fog). We then hit up a unique bar nearby with great beer and cool “stuff” all over the ceiling and walls. I love how each bar in Prague usually supports just one local brewery and only has THEIR BEER on tap. You can get other beers in bottles too, but I think it’s cool that the bar you choose to hang out in is not only influenced by the atmosphere, but by the beer on tap. Haha Love it!

Travel Update

For those of you who have been following my blog, you’ve probably noticed I haven’t posted in a while. My bad. I’ve been fairly busy in my travels and didn’t feel like making blogging a priority. I’ve had a blast the last 10 days or so, so keep your eyes open for my next posts as they should be fairly fun to read. I’m currently on a night train from Vienna to Venice rocking out to Steely Dan, “Reelin In The Years.” Haha It’s 9:15pm at the moment, and my train is set to arrive in Venice, Italy at 8:40am on Tuesday November 22, 2011.

I’d rather be reading my book (Stephen King – The Waste Lands) or planning my trip in Venice right now, but I’ll get to those in a bit. I had hoped to find a couchsurfing host in Venice, but at the moment I’ve been stood up. People either haven’t replied back yet, or have said no for various reasons. Fear not, I have a backup plan and booked a hostel for the next 2 nights, but if someone responds on Tuesday I’ll likely stay with them instead. Hostel traveling is too expensive. 20 euro (~$25 USD) doesn’t seem bad, and really isn’t, but on a 3 month trip, it can add up. Either way, I’m super excited to go to Venice!

In a way, I’ve actually already been to Venice tho . Quick Thought: Isn’t it weird that the only word I ever shorten in my blog is “though?” The extra three letters really aren’t that hard to type. Anyway, haha, I’ve been to Vegas a few times and I’m pretty sure the actual Venice is gonna look the exact same. Ok, probably not. But everything is still gonna be hella expensive, dirty, and magnificent everywhere I go.

I’m looking forward to a lack of tourists that are going to be in Venice this time of the year. Although it’s going to be cold-ish (high of ~55F, low of 38F), the mobs of people (and hopefully pigeons) won’t be everywhere which will be nice. And apparently Venice smells bad in the summer when it’s hot, so that will be nice to avoid too. Tho I have to admit I wouldn’t mind lying out on the beach right now and enjoying some warmth, even if I had to put up with the smell. Northern Europe was getting too cold.

To get everyone caught up to where I am now, I was in Vienna the last 4 nights staying with my good friend Miriam, who I knew from Couchsurfing before. It was great to see her again and we got to see all sorts of things in the city. It was freezing cold outside most of the time, so honestly, I wasn’t as ambitious in seeing everything I wanted to see. Numb fingers, a bright red nose, and burning ears are a good deterrent to doing anything outside for too long. Haha You’ll hear more about Vienna in the upcoming blogs, but I think it might be my 2^nd favorite city so far on the trip (Ghent, Belgium still takes the cake). Oh, and before Vienna, I was actually in Budapest, Hungary for 6 nights with my friend David. I’ll get to Budapest soon as well.

Where I’ve Traveled Recently:

• Prague: 5 nights w/ Adam (found through couchsurfing)
• Budapest: 6 nights w/ David (foreign exchange student friend)
• Vienna: 4 nights w/ Miriam (couchsurfing friend from CA)

Upcoming Travel Plans

• Italy: Venice, Trieste, Verona, Sirmione/Lake Garda, Florence, Pisa/Ludda, Greve in Chianti (renting a scooter to explore wine country), Rome, Vatican City, Naples, The Almafi Coast
• Portugal: Porto, Lisbon, Lagos (I'm staying at a hostel called, wait for it!... "The Rising Cock" haha It's pretty famous I guess. Understandable.)
• Spain: Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona (Planning is still in the works)
• And Then… Geneva, Munich, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Spokane!