Welcome to my first blog in over six months (Life happens!) & my first for 2020! …
Last time I was writing a blog it was July, & I was in Asia having just spent a month in Vietnam. On my way back to Australia I spent a week in Bangkok which is always a great experience.
I then returned to Sydney and worked doing casual teaching from July until the beginning of December. I will write more about teaching soon in an up & coming blog. Spending a lot of time in the Dominican Republic and other countries in the developing world, it is always a great experience to return to Sydney. Besides the opportunity to make good money teaching in Sydney, there are just so many great privileges of living in a wealthier country. Many things that Westerners take for granted. I can drink water straight from the tap, the electricity does not go off sporadically, the traffic lights work properly and drivers obey them and other rules. I can go to supermarkets and buy a huge range of food at prices that are often cheaper than in the developing world. The parks are clean & beautiful to spend time in, when it rains the gutters & drains are clear so there is no major flooding. And being in Sydney from July to December means that the weather is fairly mild. It is winter and some days get cold, but nothing like Europe or North America. Many is a day where I can sit in the park enjoying the sun and maybe not even needing to wear a jacket.
On my return to the Dominican Republic this time, I travelled via Asia to Europe and I also travelled with Raff, my ex-partner who is Maltese Australian. He was returning to Malta after 20 years to spend some time living there with family & other options to explore with his work. We flew on December 8 to Singapore, arriving in the evening and staying that night. We had the next day to explore Singapore, weaving our way around the occasional rainstorm. For December, Singapore was still very warm. The flight from Sydney to Singapore took about eight hours, and I have learnt from experience that flying from Sydney through Asia to Europe in one hit is very tiring and challenging. So, by overnighting in Singapore, the journey was much better. The second flight Singapore to Athens, departed at 3 am which was more like 6 am in Australia, so that in itself was challenging. And the flight from Singapore to Athens took 12 hours. It was not too gruelling, but it is often difficult to sleep on flights per me. So, by the time we arrived in Athens, Raff and I felt pretty shattered, but not as terrible as 2017 when I did the journey in one go with an eight-hour stopover in Singapore!
Fortunately, I had got the approval of the hotel in Athens for an early arrival. Tentatively, Raff and I had considered visiting the Acropolis and other famous historic sites on this first day if we were up to it. We were not!
Once we got to the hotel, and checked into our room, we went out for a short walk. I found a money machine and got myself 100 Euro for whatever was needed, we found a fantastic kebab shop with 2 euro kebabs right across from our hotel. After showers and such things, we both agreed that we were pretty tired, so we got into our beds, with curtains closed for a sleep. That was maybe 1pm. I think I woke up at 7 or 8pm, sleep being assisted by not just sleep deprivation but also a coolish wet winterish day in Athens.
Of course, details of the journey become a bit murky after a two-month gap, but after waking up about 7pm, and seeing that Raff was still ensconced in sleep, convinced me that such an option was a good one. And so, I went back to sleep again. If I remember correctly, we woke up about 4 or 5 am with our body clocks telling us that in Sydney we should be wide awake!
So, Wednesday, December 11, was our day to explore as much of Athens as we wanted to. This was my third visit to Athens and Raff’s first. So basically, I was the tourist guide. Using my phone with Google maps and downloading a map of Athens for off-line use, we made our way from the hotel to the train station near a square at the heart of the tourist area. In this area is a very old ancient Greek library or it’s remains. Then we climbed the hill up to the Acropolis. We spent most of the morning exploring the Acropolis, which is such a fantastic place to be. In the afternoon Raff wanted to see the Acropolis Museum. He is a fortune teller, so Greek Mythology was something that he wanted to see as much of as he could. Sometimes museums tire me, so I took my journal with me and while Raff explored the museum in more detail, I sat in the cafe with my journal and did some great writing while I drank delicious Coffee and looked out at the incredible view of the Acropolis. I took a photo from this location which just looked amazing. I also explored the museum too. It is well presented.
The next morning, we had an early departure around 4 am to get to the airport for an early flight to Rome. The flight was fairly quick and the journey into Rome was a little bit complicated with waiting for a bus to get us to a nearby train station. Once we got to the main train station in Rome, getting to the hotel was a little problematic as Raff’s bag wheels had begun to come apart in Singapore. Moral of that story is even though you think your 20-year-old bag is in good condition, do not use it to travel around the world!
Rome was pretty cold especially after bushfire Sydney that we had just left. It was raining too.
We had a walk to see the Coliseum, which is an impressive site, and we saw some other buildings in that area, but really it was not a good day to be exploring Rome. Raff’s solution was to go to bed and sleep all afternoon. But I was not really tired so I did some exploring on my own which I kind of enjoyed, because I tend to do a lot of travelling on my own, and I love that feeling of independence. I explored the shopping area around the main train station & then I found a nice little market and found a great little carry-on bag. I was not sure about buying it though, as it would add an extra 1.5 kg, and my bag weight limit on the next flight and another flight was 10 kg, and I already had with the fold up bag more than 10. In my hesitation, the Bangladeshi guy who was selling it to me quickly dropped the price from €15 down to 12. How could a person who loves a bargain resist? That bag then travelled with me to Amsterdam, Eindhoven, various places in Morocco, Brussels, Santo Domingo and then up to Sosua. But I am getting ahead of myself in those details.
I found a wonderful cafe near the market and enjoyed drinking coffee in Rome while talking to the waiters and waitresses who were mainly Filipino. I also went back to the Coliseum in the early evening and got some more photos with night-time lighting.
The next morning, Raff and I headed out to that airport by taxi in the pouring rain. I had checked carefully as there are two airports in Rome and I was a little nervous about all the organisation. This was where Raff and I were to go in different directions. But really the whole organisation was so easy and we discovered that our departure gates, in a very large airport were right next to each other! In fact, both our planes were delayed because of some technical glitch at the airport and so we watched each other for some time, as we waited in different queues. And then both our planes had to be reached by airport buses, and the bus for my plane followed his. And then his plane was parked right next to mine. And, as I went to board my plane, I saw Raff walking up the steps into his plane. His plane departed and the plane I was on was either the next or the one after that departed. He flew down to Malta where a very emotional reunion occurred for him and his parents and his brother. It had been 20 years since he had been with his mum and dad.
My flight took me to Amsterdam. And who should I be sitting next to, but two young guys from New Zealand!
When I had been making my plans to travel to the Dominican Republic, I wanted a one-way ticket, so flying through Europe was cheaper than going through the states. Plus, it gave me the option to travel with Raff making sure he got back to Malta okay. My travel experiences are more than his! Getting to Europe by mid-December was still a good price for airfares. But getting from Europe to Dominican Republic was expensive like 600 Euro. By waiting until January 2, I could fly Brussels to Santo Domingo for 230 Euro. I did not want to stay in Europe for two weeks though, as I knew it would be cold and Europe can be expensive. So, I had made plans to go down to Morocco for two weeks where things can be warmer and far more affordable.
When I arrived in Amsterdam, it was so exciting to be back. The Netherlands is one of my favourite countries. There is such a sense of efficiency, organisation and international connections. The train from the airport takes you to Central Station in under 10 minutes. Amsterdam was wet and cold. But I had my nice winter jacket, mittens and soon a good touristy Amsterdam woollen hat. I found the tram to take me near the hostel where I was booked. The hostel was clean and well organised. I spent the afternoon and evening exploring Amsterdam. With the weather getting cold, people spend more time in shops and cafes, and that worked fine for me. I stayed in Amsterdam two nights.
On Sunday, December 15, I caught a bus to Eindhoven. There was not so much to see in the middle of that town and my bag was a little difficult to manage in shops. I caught a bus to the airport and then that evening flight flew me down to Morocco. I landed in the city of Fez. By the time I got to the hotel where I had a booking, it was 1 am. The people there had gone to bed and had no interest in taking me to a room, but someone took me to another hotel. It was a little more expensive, but okay as a place to sleep. After breakfast the next morning, I decided that the hotel was charging too much and the location was too far from places that I knew. So, I found a different hotel online that was a better location and a better price. I wheeled my lovely little bag for 20 minutes up hills through the Medina and eventually with some help, found my new location. Fez was very cold, but if you could find a sunny spot, you could get warm. The hotel was basic but clean and there was a sunny balcony and the owner was a good guy. I explored Fez and ate lovely food, drank delicious Moroccan Coffee & stayed for a couple of days. I then travelled down to Marrakesh by train, stayed there for a few days. Marrakesh was lovely & warm especially in the daytime. I went over by bus to a coastal city popular with tourists called Essaouira. The Medina seemed a little too touristy for me & the town being on the coast gets very breezy, so was a bit cold. But the hotel and my room were very affordable and beautiful.
After this, I travelled back to Marrakesh for a few days, and basically enjoyed relaxing and walking around lots of the locations. I went on a day trip down south to Ouarzazate which has very old buildings & fortifications. Christmas came and went in these locations (being in a mainly Muslim country Dec 25 is just another day) and I ended up staying in three different hotels in Marrakesh this time. From there I caught a train up to Tangier and had a couple of days there before flying up to Brussels on December 31. I caught up with a few different friends in Morocco so that was great.
In Brussels, the temperature was hovering between zero and 6°, not really my cup of tea. But it was only for a couple of days, in fact one day really. Arriving in Brussels involved getting a bus from Charleroi airport up to the centre of Brussels and then I caught a train to near the hostel where I was staying. The trains were only once an hour, but they got me near to the hostel, without complications. New Year’s Eve was a non-event. Having made my journey from Morocco to Brussels and found my way to the hostel, all that was important at that point, with the weather freezing, was to be able to relax inside and be warm.
On the day that I had free in Brussels I went to the city and explored touristy areas, found the Sun wherever I could and drank Starbucks coffee & ate a great kebab with chips to get warm. After being in Morocco, finding the Arabic food shops is always appealing. I love the diversity feeling of different cultures whenever I am in Europe.
When in a cold place, shops become a place to get warm and exploring tourist sites often gets deferred.
I did not sleep on the night of January 1, as the morning flight to Dominican Republic was leaving by 7 am, and I went out to the airport at 4 am, so that any complications would hopefully be avoided. The flight across to Dominican Republic took about nine hours, with no major issues. I was able to watch a couple of movies including “Rocket man”, a great movie.
Arriving in Dominican Republic, the temperature hit me as soon as I left the aeroplane. I did some negotiations with drivers and managed to get a taxi to Caribe Tours for a price that was okay and then travelled up on the bus to Sosua which takes 4-5 hours.
I have been back here now since January 2. A lot can happen in six weeks, some of which I will write about in a future blog. But basically, all things are going pretty good here. I have my lovely little studio apartment. The second one that I had next door has now been sold so that’s great. Each morning I walk to the beach which is about 5 km round trip. In the afternoons I get some sun by the pool and then swim 30 laps in our wonderful large swimming pool. I was eating lunches from one of the local Dominican Comedors, but I was getting gastro. So now I am mainly buying food from the supermarket cooking it myself. I have been reading a fair bit and now I am writing too. I have been to one of the February Carnivals in the city of Santiago. Carnival was cancelled for today across the country & all alcohol sales banned for this weekend due to municipal elections held today. But glitches have occurred in the electronic voting system! They only discovered these issues last night apparently! So, the whole election has had to be delayed. Maybe it will occur with the Presidential election in May. As I saw one post on facebook today, Dominicans got denied the right to buy alcohol on the one day off work, and the election does not even happen!
I have made a few resolutions for 2020, one of which is to read 52 books by year’s end. I have now read three, all in the last two weeks. One by Michael Connolly, my favourite crime writer. The other two by Lindsay De Feliz, a British woman living in the Dominican Republic who was murdered in December. I will be writing about topics to do with DR and what she wrote about in a blog soon.
Other blogs that I plan to write in the next few weeks will cover topics to do with education, the coronavirus threat, the relationship between Haiti and Dominican Republic, environmental education and action in the developing world especially the Dominican Republic, Islam & the West Part II, affordable housing for NZ & Australia, and strategies to do with ending poverty and promoting democratic socialism for the world. I hope these will be of interest to you.
Wherever you are in the world, I hope 2020 is off to a good start for you, and that this is going to be our best year yet!
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