A Chance to See Beyond Oneself

The Story
Bulgaria and Romania

From Thessaloniki, Greece, I took a train north to Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. On the train ride I met two Canadian girls I would meet again in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungry. Blagoevgrad is a small town that is fairly characteristic of most crumbling cities in eastern Europe. My main reason for stopping there was that it is the best way of getting to the Monastery of St. John of Rila, the largest orthodox monastery in Bulgaria that dates back to the 10th century. The magnificent interior was very peaceful and inspiring; after exploring the premises I hiked up a trail behind the church to get a nice view of the surrounding snow caped mountains and valley. I hitched a ride back to the small town of Rila where I wondered about for the rest of the day before returning to Blagoevgrad.

The next day I took a train to Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria, where I would spend the rest of my time in Bulgaria. I met two cool guys, one german and the other dutch, who convinced me to stay in the city a little longer than I expected. During the day I visited the sites, which were few in number, and spent the rest of the time relaxing before going out at night with the guys. One site that I made sure to visit several times was the Aleksandar Nevksy Cathedral. This massive Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral is one of the largest orthodox churches in the world. Each time I walked inside inside, I was enraptured to an awe of peace and silence.

One night one night the two guys and I went to a bar called The Apartment that had such a great unique environment. It was essentially a large apartment flat that was turned into a bar/lounge, with lots of art on the walls, big couches, great music, and very friendly locals (the beers were in a fridge that you could go and get out yourself). One night the two guys and I celebrated with some of the hostel workers as one of them just found out his wife got pregnant; they introduced us to this slightly sour yogurt drink that you sip along with your alcohol as well as with meals – at first the taste is quite unappealing but after a few sips you get used to it and really enjoy it (or at least that’s the way the three of us felt). One funny thing about Bulgarians is that they shake their head to mean yes and nod to say no, which makes for some difficult communication, even if someone does know a little English (English is not known very well throughout the country).

While on a train back in Greece, I had met a Croatian guy who lived in Bucharest, Romania, and offered to take me with him hiking on a weekend in a mountain town a few hours outside of the city. He called me and told me a friend and him were going during the coming weekend so I skipped the rest of Bulgaria to meet up with them. Unfortunately, upon arriving in Bucharest from a long overnight train, I found his friend got a cold and that Marko (the Croatian) was pretty tired from a long work week – so no climbing in the mountains. I spent a day visiting the sites of the city which consisted of a mix of historical picturesque European buildings as well as the old cement dark crumbling communist apartment/office buildings blocks (quite common throughout eastern Europe). Even the really nice neighbourhood of Bucharest was looking like it was half falling apart. One massive building I visited was the Palace of Parliament which is the third largest building in the world: not incredibly ascetically pleasing but certainly impressive in size. After going out for a great traditional meal with Marko, I was ready to head to bed to wake up early for a train ride to Brasov.

Brasov is the capital of Transylvania; and yes, that’s the place where Dracula is from. First off, let me explain what I learned about this legend of Dracula: he was no vampire – he, being Vlad Tepes or also known as Vlad the Impaler (his surname is Drăculea), was a brutal, yet still highly thought of, dictator from the 15th century that is known for his excessively strict reign and harsh punishments with impaling (quite a miserable way to die). There were stories of him hiding in civilian’s clothes, pretending to not notice he dropped money on the ground, and then watching whoever would pick it up, and then arresting and impaling them for their theft. People would be harshly punished for just about any small crime. But crime became virtually nonexistent. To prove this, he left a golden chalice next to the cities water well for people to drink with and guess what, it was never stolen. Another story I read was that when he heard the Turks were going to make a further advance into his country, he impaled 20,000 prisoners of war and other criminals in an area of 1 kilometer by 3 kilometers to scare off his enemies – it worked. Bram Stoker and a few other authors were the people who created this Dracula myth. Despite the distortions of history by modern story tellers, Romania still is able to make a profit from the tourists on this nonexistent Dracula.

Brasov, specifically the old town, is small and quaint, set in the southern portion of the beautiful Carpathian Mountains. Unfortunately some fool/s (don’t worry, I don’t mean that objectively, just subjectivel ) decided it would be a good idea to put a large sign in white letters, similar to the Hollywood sign, with the word “Brasov” on the top of the hill bordering the city – it is just about the tackiest thing I have ever seen in a city. I spent my first day wondering around the town and hiking up the mountain with the “Brasov” sign to overlook the town. That night I had some great conversations about film and travel over dinner with an interesting Australian girl who was living in Norway and travelling around Eastern Europe. I also met a young English couple who I would go on to travel with throughout the rest of my time in Romania and meet again in Hungry. I also met the Canadian girls from the Greek train ride here as well. The next day the couple, one of the Canadian girls, and I ventured off on some bus rides to see the two local castles: Bran Castle (not Vlad’s castle as it is often said to be) and Rasnov Castle (which unfortunately also has a large tacky Hollywood-like sign).

The English couple, to be specific: Adam and Kelly, and I took a train to another small picturesque town called Sighisoara. Our first evening led to great conversations about politics and eco-friendly lifestyles over some rather tasty pizza and beer. The next day was spent exploring the many old streets of the old town up on the cities main hillside. The sites were nothing that really changed our lives (even though essentially every moment of experience changes our lives…but this was a rather minor life changing experience in this city); we did get to see the birth place of Vlad aka Dracula, so I suppose that’s my claim to fame: I saw where the supposed sharp toothed blood sucking seducer of necks lived…and this is why I travel…

The depths of our experiences in Sighisoara gave way to the joyous company of a town known as Cluj – a place where Adam, Kelly, and Karl made new quality friends (life is empty without the third person) (and parenthesis). We had some fantastic conversations about the meaning of life, value, the search for truth, and so many other topics over dinner the first night in the hostel lounge. Most were initiated/provoked by some of the comments made by a 60 something ex math professor. Some of his catch phrases were: “just about all people are stupid, me included,” “lets seek the truth on this,” and whenever you would question his premises that seemed faulty, he would state “I don’t know the truth;” it made it rather hard to make progress, ie actually search for the truth, in the conversation. But he certainly had a more educated view of the world than most. It was also fun to have a very educated british bloke, who studied and practiced psychology but quite to be a plumber and a musician, add his input to the conversation. The other people in our large new group of friends (in addition to the English couple) was an American female traveler, a French girl living at the hostel and working with an ngo helping gypsies, a Scottish guy doing some carpentry work, and an odd swiss man who was quite the linguist and cultured traveler (we had also met him in Brasov). During the day we would all do our own things. I mostly hung out with the America girl, as we had a lot of interests in common and had similar personalities. One day she and I rented a car and drove a few hours out of town to a countryside village and went for a hike up a steep rocky mountain (probably more of a large hill) and enjoyed the magnificent view overlooking the surrounding country pastures and towns. At night everyone would join together for drinks, dancing, and darts (we started quite the international dart tournament between all of us). We had so many fun bonding experiences everyone was sad when the group started to break apart. One by one we each had to move on to our next destination. But I suppose that is the transitory nature of meeting travellers – you meet, you great, you laugh, you love, and you say goodbye. The English couple I was with wanted to stay longer in Romania but I needed to keep moving because I was short on time schedule. After saying my goodbyes I was off to Hungry.

The Reflection

When I got to Bulgaria, I was getting slightly tired of seeing so many sites; I hit a bit of a travel low. Towns and cities all started to look alike; the impressive sites appealed for the first few moments but then no longer held my interest. The feeling still remains to some degree. Sometimes it just feels like I am seeing a slightly different angle of the same painting. But then there are times when I see something new in it, something special that catches my eye and reveals a new truth in the beauty of the world or of people. This always reinvigorates me to continue observing and exploring. In some ways I do look forward to moving back to the states for the sake of just being able to enjoy the sedimentary life for a while.

Speaking of America, I had an interesting conversation with the American girl from Cluj that helped name some of my feelings. We both recognized that each time we shared with other people that we were Americans, we felt a sting of guilt. We were both ashamed of being associated with this country that much of the world doesn’t have a clue about but thinks they understand because they hear USA on the news or in movies. I fully realize I too don’t know anything about America. I have lived in California my whole life and only been to about a quarter of the states. That is not nearly enough to make any claims of true knowledge of the reality of such a large mass of land and people. And yet so many people around the world who have never even been there and have negative views of it – quite unjustified. But the funny thing is that people will also usually affirm that the American people are great but the government has just really fucked things up. We both wondered where these feelings come from, if people only disliked our government, why should we feel so bad as we know we didn’t vote for them? There are certainly a large majority of people who think most Americans are a little too ignorant for such a rich country, which, I must say I partially agree with from a certain percentage of American travellers I have met. But again, I know I am not one of them, well lets say it this way, I am pretty ignorant about a lot of topics but at least I feel I am trying to eliminate my ignorance as opposed to the many who don’t care. So now I will be returning to this place that I feel guilty about being associated with but why should I feel bad about returning to my homeland - I know that I haven’t personally contributed to many of the sins of American imperialism, ignorance, destruction of the earth, etc. Perhaps I am not confident enough in the many values of Americans and allow my own perspective to be dominated by the ignorance of others. I don’t really have an answer and these feelings still exist in my mind but this is something I really wish to consider more before I return in late July.

Thank you for reading and existing – if it weren’t for “you”, there probably wouldn’t be a “me”.

Karl Smerecnik
Writing from Vienna, Austria.

The Story
Greece

Yet again I am far behind on updating the blog, I can only hope your forgiveness can extend beyond my inconsiderate nature ;-). At least I have some pictures to supplement my stories (look at the last blog entry for access to the pictures).

From Marmaris, Turkey, I took a ferry to the island of Rhodes (Greece)that stopped right next to the remarkably picturesque old town where I would spend almost an hour trying to find my hostel. The hostel was well worth the search through the many cobble stone alley ways as the owner was very hospitable with sharing home made pizza and his original music. I spent the first day on a rented scooter cruising along the coast, visiting old ruins and small towns that made me smile from their combination of tranquility and remarkable history. At one point the strong winds from the approaching storm made me reconsider my route through the mountains as I often was blown from side to side. The storm proved to be quite ready to transpire for as soon as I returned to the hostel it started to rain; and rain it did for the next day as well. After exploring a little more of the old buildings in the old town during the few dry pathes, I prepared myself to catch my 3 am ferry to the island of Santorini.

After the long ferry ride, having spent most of it conversing with a Canadian English professor, I arrived to Santorini late in the evening to find the first accomodation available; unfortunately the local hostel didn't pick up their phone and I didn't have their address to give to the taxi driver. After a good night sleep I hitchhiked to the other side of the island to book a room in the quite cheap hostel and rent a car (most people always rent a scooter or car when arriving to the island, the car was the same price so I decided on the latter). I met a chinese couple who shared in my explorations of the island; after dropping them off at a black sand beach they wanted to visit I made my way to the famous location of Oia where the famous pictures are taken of white dome like houses with blue doors overlooking the dark blue sea. I don't know if there is anywhere in the world like it. It is exactly what you would expect it to look like from the pictures, it meets the greatest of expectations. I bought some groceries and had a fantastic picnic watching the sunset from one of the empty roofs of the houses. Quite an evening. Sadly, three days after I left Santorini I found out that a cruise ship sunk only about a few thousand meters off shore. Luckily everyone made it off board but all of their luggage went down with the boat (happened right before Easter, quite a mess). I met other travelers who saw it happened, quite a sight, even though it took about 20-some hours to sink (it made international news).

After two nights on Santorini, I took a ferry to another very popular Greek island, Mykonos. After negotiating a reasonable price for a room with a guest house owner (still in the bargaining mood from SE Asia), I rented a scooter and was off to explore the island. Besides the beautiful rocky coast line and rolling green hills, I most enjoyed the pleasant maze of alleys in the main city portion. Its a fairly touristy place but luckily I was there before the summer season starts, so I had the benefit of enjoying the well-kept buildings without the crowds.

From Mykonos I took a ferry to Athens to meet my cousin for the first time. Angelica, 7 years older than myself, and I hit it off right away, we could relate on so many different perspectives and interests. My father is originally from Austria so there are many relatives that live in Europe that I have never met. It was weird to see the connection of my personality to the Smerecnik family , especially in my cousin. I visited many sites in the city during the day (the highlight being the Acropolis) and Angelica and I would hang out at night. After two days in the city, we made our way down to Corinth in Peloponnesus to meet my aunt and other cousin for the easter weekend. Again, in my aunt, I could see so many ways in which I am like the Smerecnik family, many of whom are also travelers. My aunt was so hospitable in always making me great food and showing me around and giving some indepth history lessons on all of the ancient sites in the region. My highlight being the Corinth Canal (see pictures). As about 90% of greece is orthodox, they took me to an easter midnight service (on saturday) in a church where Peter and Paul from the Bible taught. There are many fascinating practise in the orthodox faith that were interesting to observe. One of the most interesting was the lighting of the candles from a flame that was brought from Jerusalem. I am fairly uneducated on it but basically they light a candle in Jerusalem, fly it to Greece, light other candles from the Jerusalem flame upon arrival, fly those candles to main cities by helicopter, and then from there they get distributed to even smaller villages. Congregations then lights their candles at the beginning of easter and take them home.

After a few days of being utterly spoiled by my aunt, I moved on to see the historic six monasteries of Meteora, daiting back to the 11th century, which are lodged into massive rock cliffs with some incredible views. Upon further research of the location, I found that the band Linkin Park named their second album after this place...after finding this out, the euphoric memories I had of this significant location were slightly scared (lets just say I am not a big fan of bands that remix their debut album). I hiked up to two of the monasteries near the town I was staying in and explored the mountain side until my legs were too tired to go on.

The next day I took a train north to the city of Thessaloniki where I ended up only spending half a day before taking a night train to Bulgaria. The city was fairly average, nothing that stood out too much in my mind. On the train ride to Thessaloniki I met a Croatian guy who was living in Bucharest, Romanian that I ended up staying with when I made it there.

The Reflection

I am short on time, as seems to be usual these days while I am rushing through Europe, so no time to express a full reflection. One thing I have been considering, coming from Turkey which was 95% Muslim and arriving in Greece which is about 95% Orthodox, is religious pluralism. In my experience, it seems religions are derived as a cultural means of attempting to connect with the mystery that is beyond us (as some may have recognized, I really like that phrase). If this is the case, each culture will have different value systems which are tied into their religious dogmas. I have been researching some interesting cultural values gathered by Geert Hofstede that seem to often compliment the manner in which the predominant religion of a country is practicted. Here is a good website where you can see some of Hofstede's research in cultural values:
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/geert_hofstede_resources.shtml

For example some interesting correlations can be found if you look at the uncertainty avoidance of certain countries and then compare that to the manners in which the predominant religion's dogmas are followed. Arabic countries often have a high level of uncertainty avoidance. Compare that to the way that Muslims are often very strict about observing the literal translations of the Koran. Or even if you look at the very structured liturgies and very specific practices of the Greek orthodox and compare that to their countries high level of uncertainty avoidance. Perhaps these are simply correlations and not causes but still seem interesting to me. You could also make the argument Hofstede is creating an unrealistic dichotomy with his study that is simplifying the complexity of human identity and cultural identity. Just some thoughts, no real conclusions thus far.

One observation in Greece was that a large majority of older men have these things called worry beads (at least thats the translation a greek guy told me they were called). They look like rosary beads or some type of orthodox prayer beads but really have no religious significance. They are simply used to keep your mind off distractions or maybe as some type of anxiety toy - men will flip them around in their hands, count through the beads, click them together, or just hold them wrapped around a hand. In some ways it seems so silly that grown men need these little things to play with, it reminds me of a child who needs his toy to keep him/her from getting bored. But my concepts of "silly" are derived from my own cultural values which are incredibly limited. And maybe there are a lot of health benefits to flipping around some beads in your hand, they can possibly keep you more focused and provide a release from stress.

So those are some thoughts. I am currently traveling with an English couple in Romania (after coming up through Bulgaria) and will be leaving for Hungry in a few days. I will try to update soon on these other travels.

And in the words of Bobby McFerrin:
"Don't worry, be happy!"

KS

So its about that time I share some pictures. Here are the links to each country or you can just navigate to the other countries after clicking on the first link. I am currently in Bulgaria and will hopefully have a blog entry for Greece soon.

Bahrain
http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/size/M/users/lost%20again/tags/Bahrain/

Turkey
http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/size/M/users/lost%20again/tags/Turkey/

Greece
http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/size/M/users/lost%20again/tags/Greece/

Bulgaria
http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/users/lost%20again/tags/Bulgaria/

The Story

Europe, what a splendor. It has all of the old roads, narrow alley ways, historic sites, and assortment of rather expressive individuals you can ever want.

Turkey

First off, this blog entry is way over due as I have been out of Turkey for a while now but I figure better late than never. This entry will be a little rushed and lacking in details because I am also working and writing the details for my more current travels.

After flying from Bahrain to Istanbul, Turkey, I took some buses and subway connections to meet the couchsurfers I was staying with in the city. We spent the night talking about traveling and life in Istanbul, nothing too profound. The next day I met up with Hakan, a friend and professional tour guide I traveled with in Laos. He gave me a fantastic private tour of the highlights of the city explaining the history significant to each location we visited. It was probably one of the most informative experiences I have had in a city thus far. Between that day and the next I visited the beautiful Hagia Sofya, the Topkapi palace, the grand blue mosque, the vast grand bazaar, a trip up the Bosphorus river (which divides Asia from Europe), as well as a number of other mosques and important sites that probably weren't too important to me because I don't remember them now...but I suppose importance is relative....

The Hagia Sofya was once an early church, then became an eastern orthodox church, then a mosque and now a museum. For hundreds of years it was the largest enclosed space in the world. In the Topkapi palace, where important rulers once lived (there is so much history it is difficult to keep it all straight after a while), I saw the preserved arm and a piece of the skull of John the Baptist as well as the spoonmaker's diamond, which is the 5th largest diamond in the world. The grand bazaar is the largest market area I have ever seen (perhaps one of the largest in the world), it consists of over 4000 shops; quite easy to get lost in the maze of tiny shops/stands. I quite enjoyed Istanbul, it has a very european feel while still including some elements of asia. Great food and fun loving people, not to mention a unique night life scene.

From Istanbul I took an overnight bus south to the town of Izmir where I stayed with another couchsurfer. Izmir doesn't really have much to see but it is the best place to take a day trip to see Ephesus - one of the best preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean. It was amazing to imagine what it once looked like while strolling along the old roads and gazing at the marble pillars and remnants of stone houses and large amphitheaters. I also visited the house Mother Mary died in and a quaint hill village that is known for its wine making. After the day of sites, my friendly and hospitable couchsurfing host took me to see some turkish folk music at one of the many laid back bars.

The next day I took a bus south to the sea side town of Marmaris (I traveled pretty fast through turkey because I was eager to get to greece and I am on a tighter schedule to attempt to balance breadth and depth in my experience of europe). The town of Marmaris was a nice enough sea side town (more of a bay actually) that most people use as a base to take day trips to Rhodes (Greece). But little did I imagine the pristine day that awaited me. I found out that the ferry to Rhodes left only on certain days so I had to leave the next morning to Greece - that gave me one day to see the area around Marmaris. I quickly checked into a cheap hotel and rented a scooter to head out to see a combination of natural sites that would lead me to conclude it was one of the most beautiful days of my travels thus far.

After riding through a few small towns, I made my way up over the pine tree covered hills curious to see what was beyond. I descended to a road that winded along a series of peaceful bays and small towns. The rays of the sun kept me warm from the cool ocean breeze, the road was fairly empty, and I was progressively getting more excited about what was to come. After riding over a few hills I arrived in a completely different environment. The pine trees gave way to pasture filled farm lands with scattered rolling hills all about. The sea provided the background as well as small villages and farms. It was a breath taking view too witness. After riding through several small picturesque towns, I stopped for a few small walks along the ocean side - it was incredibly peaceful. I then headed out into the isolated country roads not really knownig where I was going but enjoying ever moment of it. I decided I better start making my way back Marmaris as I had return the scooter by a set time. Since none of the towns really had any signs I didn't know where I was on the map and pretty much picked what seemed like the best road and asked people along the way simply pointing with my finger and inquiring "marmaris?" (not many people in turkey speak english, especially outside of the large cities).

I started to head back up into the hills. As I came over a pass leaving the farm lands behind me, I arrived at a grass and rock covered plateau that closely reminded me of the Irish countryside. I couldn't remember a time I had such a large smile on my face for such an extended period of time. It was such a happy moment. I was alone in the middle of this beautiful scenery, long flowing grass and large oddly shaped rocks, on a small country road, surrounded by complete serenity. After this I was further blessed to arrive back at the forest covered mountain tops to look down on what looked like villages from the alps nestled in the mountain sides. I never expected to see such sites in Turkey, my expectations were quite wrong but I was over-joyed with the experience. The next morning, I would have to say goodbye to this fascinating country I was just getting to know.

The Reflection

While in Turkey I was pressed to soon make a decision about graduate school. It really brought back the reality of a life with responsibilities. Traveling for such an extended period of time makes one forget about all the work that it took to save to get the point of being able to travel. At times when I think about returning to life in California, I can become slightly depressed wondering if I will find as many occasions for happiness as I have found on this trip. I love the accomplishments that arise out of the settled life but I also enjoy the uncertain events of living one day at a time while traveling. I decided about a week ago I would attend San Diego State University to attempt to obtain my masters in Communication Studies. As I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity for graduate school, it is still difficult to know how I will adjust to normal life. I suppose one can get used to all things even if it is difficult at first.

I am continuing to explore the topic of mysticism as I have found that many of my views have naturally developed into that of a mystic without even being very aware of mysticism. Is that not a sign of truth when one develops in a direction that is unknown to oneself but has been vastly explored and named by others? But perhaps truth is relative to each person's experience and just because one finds their way to similar beliefs of others does not mean there is anything universally true about it. Alas. I am reading another book on the topic called Exploring Mysticism which I just happened to find in a used book store - is it perhaps fate that my eyes have several times landed upon books on the topic of mysticism during this trip? I am also reading Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (the first two books - it is a 7 book novel) who has now became an absolute favorite author of mine. He reminds me, through his power of his words, how language can be such a beautiful art form that can inspire in so many ways.

Oh yes, and an unfortunate bit of info, my Camera broke while in greece. It can still take picturse, but the screen is cracked so I can't: tell how many pictures are left, see how a picture turned out, turn off the flash, see the batterly level, etc etc. Give me your pity. Life goes on. Hopefully I can share some pictures soon. I will try to finish my update on Greece soon and then I will add some info about Bulgaria where I am currently traveling.

To infinity and beyond!
Karl

The Story
Disclaimer: I am typing on a Turkish keyboard which is a slightly different format than western keyboards, so the i`s might look weird

After moving on from Laos, I traveled, in the company of an English girl I met on the Gibbon Experience, to the very laid back city of Chiang Mai ın Thailand. My tıme ın SE Asia was soon to conclude so I had to rush my experıence of Chıang Maı to get back to Bangkok ın tıme. Chıang Maı ıs a great base for trekkıng but unfortunately I was feelıng a lıttle sıck from somethıng I ate and dıd not get the opportunıty to see the mountaıns. My englısh frıend and I spent two days explorıng the cıty and then I took an overnıght traın back to Bangkok. In Bangkok I spent my tıme runnıng some last mınute errands before catchıng my flıght to Bahraın.

It was actually a rather sad experıence to be fly out of Asıa. There were so many thıngs I came to love about the people`s perspectıves on lıfe, the food, the beautıful landscapes, and of course the cheap prıces. Throughout SE Asıa I was always so ımpressed by how happy people appeared; for example there were countless tımes when a shop owner would gıve me the most genuıne smıle and thank you for purchasıng an ıtem. The people are also so laıd back about everythıng, the stress that exısts ın so many of people`s lıves I wıtness ın Calıfornıa doesn`t exıst ın most of SE Asıa. SE Asıa wıll be mıssed.

From Bagkok I flew to the smallest Arab natıonö Bahraın, whıch ıs sıtuated between Saudı Arabıa and the Unıted Arab Emerıtes. It was my first tıme ın the mıddle east and a most unıque experıence. Upon arrıvıng at Bahraın late at nıght, the surroundıng cıty envıronment felt lıke I was dropped ın the mıddle of a new housıng and shoppıng development. Most of the buıldıngs ın the maın cıty of Manama all look brand new, seem to have the same archıctural desıgn, and, for the most part, are eıther whıte or a lıght tan color. It gıves a very bland ımpressıon. The fırst nıght I had to spend ın a hotel (quıte prıcey for me) because the cab drıver dıdn`t know where the local hostel was and they werent pıckıng up theır phone. After some ınternet research and some help from a local couch surfer, I was fınally able to fınd the run down hostel rıght near the Amerıcan mılıatary base. It was odd comıng from Thaıland where everythıng ıs so cheap to Bahraın, where the dollar ıs quıte weak compared to theır currency (dınar).

Bahraın ıs a very modern and wealthy mıddle eastern country; there are many Amerıcan stores scattered throughout the developed cıtıes as well as a large number ımmıgrants leadıng to a large degree of cultural dıversıty and many bılıngual/trılıngual speakers. There ıs a large populatıon of Indıans, Phılıpınos, Srı Lankans, and Europeans and Amerıcans. Many Amerıcan and European companıes have taken ınterest ın Bahraın as the country`s populatıon ıs rapıdly expandıng. The country ıs about 85% Muslım whıch makes for an ınterestıng sıght; there are a large number of women wearıng the full body coverıng (black dress wıth only eyes showıng) as well as a large number of men who wear the whıte robes (for lack of the approprıate name). One nıght I vısıted one of the large malls whıch made for an ınterestıng experıence. I am used to seeıng these men and women ın tradıtıonal dress on news clıps or fılms; to walk ın to a shoppıng mall that looks exactly the same as any ın the States and see many of the women ın the full black head and body coverıngs (wıth only theır eyes showıng) as well many of the men ın whıte robes remınded me I am ın such a completely dıfferent culture yet wıth elements that are so sımılar to my own. The medıa so often portrays the more conservatıve muslıms as thıs extremely dıfferent people group yet ıf anyone were to walk ınto one of those malls, they would fınd the same types of people you would fınd anywhere else ın the world. Perhaps thıs ıs quıte an obvıous lesson that most people would recognıze wıthout comıng to the mıddle east but I found ıt so ınterestıng beıng a whıte foreıgner ın thıs very dıfferent/same envıronment.

Most of my tıme ın Bahraın was spent explorıng the small cıtıes/suburbs and attemptıng to fıgure out the transportatıon system. The bus routes are not very clear and taxıs are quıte expensıve so I certaınly walked a lot as well as got lost a good amount. The people are usually very frıendly and helpful though and used to seeıng foreıgners. One day I met a local couchsurfıng member for coffee, an Indıan woman who moved to Bahraın wıth her husband, and also met agaın later that nıght for a sufı musıc concert at the contemporary arts center. Thge Iranıan band played some ıncredıble musıc ın a genre I had never really heard before; the ınstrumental and vocal styles were unlıke anythıng I had really heard before whıch made ıt a very enjoyable occasıon. I spent some tıme vısıtıng the cıty sıtes, such as the largest mosque ın the country (quıte ımpressıve actually), the natıonal museum, some market streets, etc. Because of the run down state of the hostel I was stayıng ın, I attempted to move to the newly buılt hostel a few suburbs away. Upon arrıvıng I found the whole hostel was booked by a kuwaıtı muslım gırls retreat, so I was back to my old hostel where I was the only backpacker there. Because all the couchsurferıng members (as well as hospıtalıtyclub members) were all busy and I was the only backpacker at the hostels, I thınk I can almost safely say I was the only backpacker on the whole ısland for my stay ın Bahraın. I found out the manager of the hostel I was stayıng at was a polıce chıef from a large town ın Iraq whıch led to some fascınatıng conversatıons about the sıtuatıon there (he left Iraq because ıt was gettıng to dangerous for hım). I also met some Amerıcan guys statıoned wıth the coast guard ın Bahraın; whıle we were hangıng out they got a call from theır frıends tellıng them about the Iranıan capturıng of the Brıtısh Marınes that just happened. They began tellıng me that could have easıly been them that were captured whıch led to some ınformatıve conversatıons about mılıtary presence ın the mıddle east.

It was an ınterestıng experıence to vısıt Bahraın but such a small ısland gets pretty borıng after a few days. I am certaınly more ınterested ın the mıddle east after vısıtıng Bahraın and hopefully wıll one day see more of the countrıes. I am currently ın Istanbul, Turkey and wıll now be makıng my way through Eastern Europe and eventually on to Western Europe. My trıp ıs more than half way over and I am currently ın the process of fınalızıng my decısıon for a graduate school (I have to let the schools know by mıd next week). Cross your fıngers or knock on wood or say some type of rıtual chant for me, I am quıte an ındecısıve person and all the schools seem lıke a good opportunıty.

The Reflectıon

Don`t spend too much tıme reflectıng or you won`t have any tıme left.

Some wıse words by Aldous Huxley:
- We lıve together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and ın all cırcumstances we are by ourselves.
- Most men and women lead lıves at the worst so paınfuli at the best so monotonousi poor and lımıted that the urge to escapei the longıng to transcend themselves ıf only for a few moments ıs and has always been one of the prıncıple appetıtes of the soul.
-We are for ever attemptıng to convert thıngs ınto sıgns for the more ıntellıgıble abstractıons of our own ınventıon. But ın doıng so, we rob these thıngs of a great deal of theır natıve thıng-hood.
-To see ourselves as others see us ıs a most salutary gıft.

cıao!
Karl