Homeward Bound

i'm back home now and sitting at my computer at work on a slow Friday, after catching up with everything that transpired here over the past two weeks. i landed back in T.O. yesterday afternoon, and it took about 24 hours to get home. Wednesday evening, i hopped on a quick flight to Madrid, then had a 16 hour layover. coincidentally a friend i met early on in San Sebastian (another Scott who traveled across Africa for 2 1/2 months) was on the same flight back to Toronto, so it made the layover pass by less painfully. we slept in the airport overnight and were able to finally check-in 3 hours before our flight departed.

i'm happy to say it was a pretty nice holiday overall. i really did chill out and got to do everything i planned. but i suppose it would've been nicer to have met more people and partied more, but because of San Fermin (Running of the Bulls) most people were just passing through San Sebastian, staying one night, laying on the beach, and then moving on to their next destination.

on my last full day in Basque country, i rented a car and drove east across the French border and around the Pyrenees. i really enjoy driving the twisties in Europe - so fun! i ended up with a Skoda Octavia wagon, which surprisingly had a fair amount of torque from its turbocharged diesel engine. it was quite smooth on the highway at 140 km/h, but definitely not built for ripping down mountain roads. i was hoping to get a GPS and ended up driving in circles a few times.


driving east from San Sebastian, i headed to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, which is very picturesque and has much more charm than San Sebastian due to its size. i broke for lunch there and felt more natural speaking French, rather than Spanish (must be my Canadian upbringing haha). i then headed to Bidart & Biarritz, which were some more beautiful beach towns with French charm. Biarritz is built along a cliff where surfers ride the waves that crash on the rocks - very cool to watch! from there i headed inland to do what i originally planned. i discovered many wonderful twisty roads and proceeded to rip past as many drivers as possible. i stumbled upon some very lovely villages which are apparently the beginning of the pilgrimage hiking trail to Santiago de Compostela - Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry. i was confused at first to see such flourishing villages in the middle of nowhere since so many other places were quite deserted. i spent nearly twelve hours driving that day and used up a half tank of diesel. i probably would've saved a load of time with a GPS (was looking forward to playing with one after driving around in the older Scott's Mazda6).


so this marks the end of my summer holiday to Basque country. up next: Delhi, Agra & Rajasthan!!! this is a trip i am seriously looking forward to. i'll be there for a couple weeks after New Year's, and spending a week in Hong Kong over Christmas visiting my parents & relatives. i've noticed the more i travel, the more the world looks the same. i need to travel to a place that's so much more different than everywhere else, and they say you haven't traveled until you've been to India. i've already started planning the adventure and will be booking my flights fairly soon.

in the coming days, i'll be updating my recent blog posts with some of the photos i took. copying my pics to my computer last night, i noticed i took more than 1000 shots!

Bulls, Racism and Small Villages

well it's Monday the 14th, and i've lost track of day number what it is. i've finally settled into *holiday* mode and have stopped keeping track of time. usually i'm hopping from place to place, spending maybe 3 nights at most in one place, but having decided to stay 9 nights in one town has truly defined vacation for me. it's nice for relaxing but i wonder if i should've seen more places - although i have been taking day trips. there have been times where i just veg out - sleep in, lounge around, go down to the beach.

but let's see what have i done since my last update... i went back to Pamplona, hiked/strolled to the two viewpoints in San Sebastian (Monte Urgull & Igeldo), drove west of town to visit some picturesque villages and attempted to surf. i've also been meeting loads of Aussies & Canadians, and a few Americans here and there, plus the odd random European - plenty of new travel friends.

my return trip to Pamplona had its ups and downs. i got some stellar Running of the Bulls photos from my balcony view, but also experienced racism from the Spanish youth. i arrived in time that evening to watch the full 15 minute fireworks display, before looking for a nice place to sleep for the night. it was a chilly 13C that night plus it rained earlier that day, so sleeping in the park was not an option. a friend suggested sleeping in a parkade but the stench of urine & vomit was nauseating. eventually i decided on sleeping just inside a bank where the ATMs are. it was clean & warm, and only experienced minor hassles from drunks coming in to get more cash for their source of drunkeness, but at one point the entire entrance was packed with others thinking the same idea as me - napping in a warm, clean area. the group of them were called away and a few stayed behind. i didn't show my head until later, and that became a mistake. they misidentified me as Filipino and even though they spoke Spanish, their words and prods had the notes of harrassment & bigotry. they even said in English, *Chino, do you think you're ugly?*. and i was thinking the first time i visited Pamplona, it was simple fascination with a foreigner - taking photos, attempting to engage in conversation, etc. it also continued a bit more when i was at the bus station to catch my bus back. i didn't this experience the first time i visited Spain but i interacted with more locals this time around.


but on a positive note, watching the Running of the Bulls from a balcony on Estafeta, just after *Deadman's Corner* was brilliant! i was able to get to the balcony an hour before and take in all the energy & buildup before the run. :-) the run itself only lasts 3 minutes from start to finish, and of course they whisk by very quickly in front of you. i set my camera on continuous shooting and held down the shutter as the runners rounded Deadman's Corner, until the bulls could be seen running away. there was one major casualty who required medical attention - looking like he was holding his crotch or ass. haha (sorry). i think i caught some frames of him getting trampled.

back in San Sebastian over the past few days, i wandered around town on occasion, walking up & down the beach doing some serious people watching - plenty of topless sunbathing, and also got some great shots of the cityscape/landscape from the two Montes.


a definite highlight of the past few days and of this trip, was doing a drive with Scott to visit some villages west of San Sebastian - Zarautz, Zumaia, Elantxobe and Gernika. in Zumaia, we saw some really weird trees that grow together - their branches joining with the branches of an adjacent tree. in Elantxobe, Scott mentioned the town was similar to those in Cinqueterre (i've never been). we briefly checked out the museum in Gernika, which had displays on the 1937 Nazi bombing. outside Gernika near the town of Oma is something truly fascinating - El Bosque Pintado (the Painted Forest). local artist Agustín Ibarrola had painted several trees creating eerie, enchanting images. i was also thinking the whole time what an awesome ride it would've been on my motorcycle on those roads - WICKED twisties!


the final bit for my blog update is my failed attempt to do some surfing. the conditions were horrible, the instructor was crap, and it was expensive as hell. as a result of all that, i cancelled my second day. i only got an hour of instruction for 40 Euros! basically the guy says, here's your board, this is how you stand up, now get in the water. thankfully i did some extremely detailed and involving lessons in Bali last fall. the waves were also nearly non-existent. i definitely do not recommend surfing in San Sebastian - i'm heading to Central or South America next time.

with a couple more days to go, i'll be renting a car, and driving east and probably across the French border to visit some more villages, eating more tapas, plus more wandering and strolls on the beach.

from Madrid to Pamplona

well it's day 4 and i've finally been able to sit down and make my first blog entry of the trip! i took off from Toronto Sunday night, taking the usual red eye to Europe, and landed in Madrid just before noon. running on a few hours sleep, i hoped on the Metro to check out the Reina Sofia. i had a six hour layover, which translated into only two hours in the city. my first impression of Madrid was the smell - ewwww. something was smelling a bit nasty. anyway, the Reina Sofia was just okay. after seeing MoMA in NYC and the Pompidou in Paris, the Sofia didn't do it for me.

so after a few hours, i hopped back on the Metro and flew into San Sebastian. San Sebastian airport is actually 22km east of the city right on the French border. the runway lies next to a river, and France is on the other side! made my way into town by bus first, then shared a taxi with a couple girls from T.O.! finding a taxi wasn't so simple. there were no taxis wandering the streets and we eventually found a taxi stand with two taxis but neither had drivers. a taxi then pulled up and picked someone up. then another but it pulled over and the cabbie said he was on his break. eventually we found one and were on our way. got to the hostel and it was quite pleasant! it's a converted large family apartment, so it's very cosy and friendly. spent the night in the kitchen exchanging stories with other travelers and sharing some vegetable shrimp pasta with a guy from Edmonton/Vancouver who just completed a few months touring through Africa.


day 2, i zipped off to Bilbao with a couple people in my room. my roommate Scott drove his car from Germany, and he offered to drive. it was pretty cool seeing his parking sensors and GPS in action! Bilbao was nothing special apart from Frank Gehry's Guggenheim. it's an architectural masterpiece and the collection is entertaining. definitely a recommended place to visit! the interior of the museum is outstanding. we also checked out the Bilbao Museum, which was a snore. zzzzz...

day 3, i wandered town before hopping on a bus to Pamplona to watch the Running of the Bulls. i walked into the old town and checked out a recommended pintxos (tapas) restaurant called *La Cuchara de San Telmo*. AMAZING food! San Sebastian definitely is the culinary capital of Spain! these are the tapas i've been looking for, rather than the deep fried crap found everywhere else. the tapas are similar to the wonderful ones at Torito in Kensington Market.

i arrived in Pamplona late at night and explored the route of San Fermin. it definitely did not look promising to get a vantage point on the side of the route, so i found a store that sold balcony viewing tickets, but could only get one for Sunday! so i'll be returning for another day for 50 Euros. i then went in search of food, and eventually found a great shop selling real good bocadillos (baguette sandwiches) but it took 20 minutes for it! damn service made me miss half the evening fireworks - pretty nice and VERY LOUD! i then explored the festival grounds and was amazed by the plethora of entertainment options - concerts in parks, parties in the streets, an amusement park with rides, markets... i didn't sleep at all that night. it was drunken mayhem all over. by around 5am, people started lining up to get into the bull ring to watch the runners and bulls make there way into the final stage. the running lasted a mere three minutes! it's good i got a preview of it all so when i come back for my balcony view, i'll know what to do to make the night go by more smoothly and less exhausting.


now i sit at the PC typing my blog entry. a serious chill day. my bus arrived back in Pamplona at 11am, and i slept until 5. probably get some more tapas tonight. mmmmm...

less than two weeks to go...

this is my first ever blog entry. usually when i holiday, i do mass email blasts to a bunch of people, but i figure it's about time to start a blog, where i can add photos and such.

i'm pretty stoked for this trip! this'll be my first proper trip since Feb O7 when i went to Brazil. sure i went to Steamboat (Colorado) back in March but that was a weekend of skiing, and i also went to Hong Kong & Bali back in the fall, but that was for my cousin's wedding and i stayed with my Mom in HK - that doesn't count. oh yeah, i also did a weekend in Paris during Labour Day weekend, but that was my third time there. anyways, i'll be going somewhere new & undiscovered, on my own staying in hostels, meeting fellow travelers, and ultimately doing a new adventure!

i still have a few things to do to prepare for my trip, let alone packing. all my accomodations are booked, and i've got my plane ticket. Espana here i come! (btw this is my second time in Spain - did Barcelona & Andalucia back in May O6. i <3 Spain)