Kind of Like Spanish, but Not...I Must be in Portugal

I am currently writing this update in a unique dual-use space. While seemingly normal to some, I am quite amused by the hair salon/internet cafe located in the corridor of a subway station. I suppose getting some extensions while surfing the information superhighway is the obvious way to spend time.

Now, while my specific locale is relatively amusing, I find it even more so that I am writing from Lisbon, Portugal. I made it. Grab a globe and follow the route: Hong Kong to China to Mongolia to Russia to Estonia (and Finland) to Latvia to Lithuania to Poland to Germany to France to Spain...and to Portugal. All by bus, train, ferry, car, subway, foot, and horse. Whew. I'm tired, but happy.



Last time I wrote I was not here. In fact, I was a long way from here. But my, how magical bus travel can be. I left several days ago from the beautiful city of Krakow. After an overnight bus ride and the strained navigation of a German subway system, I arrived in Munich, Germany. Munich is home to beer, bars, breweries, and drunk college kids...among other things. And while I feel I am getting a little old to overindulge in the aforementioned items, Munich proved to be a very worthwhile stop. Interestingly enough, apart from wild Windsor, Canada, Germany was the first country outside the United States that I ever visited. Thirteen years and nearly forty countries later, it was wonderful to return.



But my time in Munich was short lived. After two days of taking advantage of perfectly brewed beer and an efficient subway system, I made the decision to move on. And while my departure ticket for the States said Berlin, I decided that such a momentous trip was in need of a momentous end. As such, I changed my flight and booked a bus, the former departing from Madrid and the later departing for Portugal.

But, you may be thinking, Germany and Portugal aren't exactly near one another. Exactly. Leaving at 5:30 in the morning from Munich, I wasn't to arrive in Lisbon until nearly 10:00 the next evening. That's a long trip, but it was something I was willing to endure. So, with bags in hand, and enough salami and swiss cheese to last two days, I woke up early, caught the subway, and headed to the bus station.

The trip started off auspciously, as a drunken Portuguese man, upon being denied entry on the bus, stationed himself in front of the coach, forcing us to delay our departure by an hour. It wasn't until Munich's finest arrived and arrested our friend that we were able to leave. However, that was not to be the end of our excitement.



About tweleve hours later, 200 kilometers outside of Paris, our bus broke down, leading to a four hour delay that consisted of dozens of smoked cigarettes by the drivers, and, luckily, nearly as many laughs among the passengers. Once Jacques, our savior in the form of a French mechanic showed up, the bus was mended and we were back on our way.

Several hundred kilometers and a few Snickers bars later, we arrived in Portugal. The total trip, door-to-door from Munich to Lisbon was 42 hours. About 38 of those were spent trying to contort myself into a moderately comfortable position in a bus seat. Here is the trip by the numbers:

2500 cigarettes smoked by drivers and passengers of my bus
7 salami and cheese sandwiches
300 grams of gummi bears
4 Snickers bars
5 horrendous movies
2 Screaming kids
1 drunken Portuguese man

But we made it.

So Lisbon...if they spoke Spanish here, which they kind of do, I would consider moving to this city. It is BEAUTIFUL. Oddly, it is very similar to San Francisco, right down to the hilly terrain and red-painted bridge.



My time here has been spent reading, writing, and trying to stretch all the kinks out of my body. I have also taken a few photos and climbed a few hills. To be sure, I have no regrets whatsoever in undertaking such a long and arduous bus ride.

So what did my arrival to Lisbon provide me? Well, for what it's worth, my arrival was a personally momentous occasion. Nearly ten weeks ago I arrived in Hong Kong. Since then I have covered the length of the Eurasian content by means of overland travel. Over those thousands of miles I have seen and experienced so much. It has been fascinating to see how so many social and cultural aspects have changed over that distance. From Cantonese to Portuguese, Communism to Capitalism, the number of sociatal differences I have been exposed to over the past couple months astonishes me.

So what's next? In a few hours I head out on the final bus ride of my trip. This one is shorter, being only eight hours from Lisbon to Madrid. Upon my arrival to Spain I will drop off my bags, sharpen up my Spanish, and head out to see La Reina Sophia, one museum in the world that I have regrettably never visited. Then, after a day of broken Castillian and undoubtably some ham, I will head to the airport where I will catch a flight to Dublin. There I have a hostel and supposedly a pub waiting for me. And then, in three days, I leave. Gone. Done. Back to the United States. There I will eat my fill of burritos and prepare to rejoin the working world that I left a little over two years ago.

Wow.

And while this may not be my last entry for this trip, I wanted to make sure, if it were to be, that I included at least some sort of ending.

Anyhow, it has been fun. Look out for some more pictures from my trip, and, perhaps, and epilogue detailing the highs and lows of Eurasia 2008.



See everyone back home!