Journal Entry 40

November 9th, 2004

"The Anatomy of a Decision"

 

This is a bit of a companion entry to my last (two days ago, which incidentally I think was my most boring to date)...it's much different than my other updates (and shorter as well); it's a bit of a psychological offering.

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So how did I end up in here? If you don't care, and don't want to know any more about the inside of Brian's head, stop here. If you do, and want to know how, in general, I make this and other decisions, read on.

Back in Japan, the plan was to head across Russia to Europe, then into Western Africa. I even bought a West Africa guidebook to browse through. But if we step a month further back, the original plan was to fly from New Zealand or Australia to South Africa. Then it dawned on me that I had two choices: (1) Take expensive direct flight, arrive in one day, or (2) Fly to Japan, visit friend Trupti, go to Russia, cross it, visit friends in Europe, make my way to Africa from there, maybe a few months later.

#2 won. Kind of. Because I subsequently stopped in Korea (cause it's next door) and back to China (to meet up with Nicole who I'd met in New Zealand, and see more of Tibet). And then I got caught up in the Baltic States, after tentatively deciding to go to Lapland (northern Finland and Norway) and then changing my mind and skipping that due to time constraints (meeting mom).

But to step even further back, Europe and Africa were never in the 'original' plan. But neither was spending 24 months in Asia. But anyway, back to the story...

So after mom leaves France, the plan is to hop on a bus to Marrakesh, Morocco. But I happen to think, hmmm, the Balkan peninsula seems nice. And it's definitely changing fast (one of my primary goals is to visit places that will change a lot in my lifetime). So I decide to maybe head to Slovenia and make my way southeast from there, ending in Turkey and perhaps on to the Middle East. But then I find a good deal on a flight from Paris to Athens, for under $100 (via London). Okay sounds good. A healthy combination of finance, gut-feel, and 'why-not?'.

So that brings us to Athens. Planned just a night there, then off to the north of the country (for hiking), then to consult the Oracle at Delphi, to the Peloppenese peninsula to see Olympia, then to Crete, then to Rhodes. Well, I hurt my hip, so skipped the hiking bit. The Oracle is dead, so skipped that. Decided to go to Turkey instead of Bulgaria next, and somehow ended up skipping Olympia too. Went to buy a ticket to Crete, then said hell with it and went to Rhodes instead. Added a day in Athens cause I didn't feel like taking the boat when I woke up one morning. And just like that, my planned 3-4 weeks in Greece was down to a week.

Rhodes. Planned seven nights, stayed five. Left first hostel cause the owner was psychotic. Left the second cause I had a roommate who was psychotic. When a place doesn't feel right, it's easy to move. When I visited Lindos (halfway down the island), I bussed there. I was contemplating hitchhiking back, then a black cat crossed my path on my way to the main road. I took it as a bad omen and opted for the bus.

But you can't avoid fate: I accidentally left the book I was reading ('100 Years of Solitude', Gabriel Garcia Marquez) on the bus. This really pissed me off, cause it's one of the top 10 books I've ever read and I was 50 pages from the end. But alas, I've been a good boy and the wheel of karma turns slowly but surely--when I tracked down the same bus (#15) the next day, the driver had my book. I read the rest that afternoon before I had another opportunity to lose it. I'd decided to leave the island after losing the book, opted to stay longer after finding it, then met my (aforementioned) roommate again and went and bought a ticket to Turkey for next morning.

Turkey? Yeah, figured it's pretty close, why not? Perhaps spend 2-3 weeks here. Only one hour by boat. Decide to head eastward down the south coast, then get there and decide to head north instead. First stop: Bodrum. Decide to stay two days and stay one instead (guesthouses and hostels always ask how long you plan to stay, I perpetually say I don't know and pay on a day-by-day basis because my mind changes hourly).

Skipped Troy (yes, it's in Turkey, not Greece) because there's apparently not much to see, and it's become a trendy place to go since this summer's movie. So I decide I want to go to a 'normal' city and decide on Izmir. Meet a woman who says it's a hole. Go to Bursa instead. I go to Bursa instead. Bus stops in Izmir on the way. It's a hole.

Istanbul's cool. But by this point, I've already decided that eastern Turkey deserves a long, healthy look. However, the Balkan peninsula is approaching winter, so I decide to jet ASAP, and come back to Turkey in a few weeks or months. I generally stay in a place until it feels 'right' to leave. Istanbul was like a hiccup. I hurried-up and bought my ticket to Bulgaria, then when it came time to leave I didn't want to, but did anyway. Coming back soon to finish it off!

Bulgaria? It's worth 3-4 days as I pass through I guess. Set off one day in Veliko Turnovo intending to visit a neighboring village and take a bus somewhere else, and somehow ended up doing a 25-km hike with no food or water. Then there was Sofia, where a dude told me about a cool mountain hut, but you had to walk 1.5 hrs to get there. Forget that: not only am I slightly injured, but I have a cold coming on, so not smart. So I visited Rila Monastery, and decided that hut IS a good idea after all, only now I'm 6 hrs from it, and it's 1300m (4500ft) uphill, and I still have the aforementioned cold. And no map. But I do it. Then (with no map and the hut being unattended) I don't have a real solid idea of how to get out of there so I follow a river valley, find a lightly-trodden trail, and pop out at a village 5 hours later the next day, an hour after meeting some local lumberjacks who give me a swig of their moonshine. Bulgaria ends up being a week.

So I get to Macedonia. Plan to perhaps see the south of the country. But then I meet Krys, a Polish-Australian, and we decided to head off to Kosovo the next day. Cool. Don't know where to sleep really, but meet a woman on the bus, and end up staying in her home in a small town. Perfect. We're made part of the family. Then I leave, backtrack to Macedonia and see the south like I'd planned. And here I am, in Ohrid, southern Macedonia. Off to Albania in a few days, maybe one or three. Time zone's funny here, gets dark at 4pm.

So if you wonder why, in my updates, I don't say where I'm going next, now you know. I always have a rough plan. I (almost) never stick to it. The current rough plan has me continuing north and west until it gets cold, then doubling back to Turkey eventually, and heading east and south and west from there.

Oh, and incidentally, if you care, I think I've discovered my goal/ambition, in travel but also perhaps in life itself...or rather, a way to put it into words anyway:

'To see what's on the other side of things.'

'But he found that a traveller's life is one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are forever on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties.' (-Mary Shelley)

 

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