Following my last post, I decided to go into detail about some of the more interesting less known places I've been ... starting to feel like a travel journalist!

Lethem, Border Town, British Guyana, South America:

If I had to describe this town in one word it would be AIDS. (Because, as I found out after I left, over 90% of the population suffer from the disease.) The other word would be backwards – their border was a river you could have swum across, and when I got stamped into the country the guy signed his name on my passport – Pugsley. What a joke. The entire place was like an open farmyard and the woman who we stayed with ran a restaurant that received one customer in our three day visit. Her daughter was obsessed with the colour white, I bought flip-flops and she convinced me to get white ones, when we watched the horses go past she said she dreamed of having her own beautiful white horse one day, and she stared at my skin so much it started feeling embarrassed. This Country receives little tourism, but it was the biggest eye opener I experienced during my three months in South America.

Manali,. India,

This towns closest airport is Kulu, and from there it takes one hour to reach the breathtaking town of manali. Marijuana plants grow freely by the roadside, adn as we were walking up one day from the town to the hotel a gorilla about twice as large as me was casually having a good old rummage in the bins. Being at the foothills of the Himalayas you obvious have a stunning backdrop and the air and the water (especially coming from London) is really something else.

Recife, Brasil

Recife was the last town I stopped in as I was heading South before I really got to the most visited towns in Brasil (Salvador, Rio and Sao Paulo.) It was in Recife where I saw my first favela, with a street kid I got talking to as my tour guide. It was wierd. My “tour guide’s” girlfriend was pregnant but wouldn’t let me buy her any food, she only wanted money (undoubtedly for crack.) I did give her some clothes though which she could grow into as she got bigger! The favela in that town was, as I said something else! It was like walking into a miniature town where they were running an open plan laundrette, old peoples home and nursery all meshed into one, in the street. Clothing lines, wrinkled old men, scrawny dirty kids, screaming babies, bags of drugs and disgustingly dirty banknotes everywhere you looked. And everywhere you looked everyone was looing at you, the gringo. Memorable and definitely worth a visit if you can get someone to show you the real side.

Travelling

I read on someone elses' blog that each City in the world can be summed up in a word. I like this idea, however surely, according to your own personal experience places can mean different things? I mean, if you found your true love in Islamabad, it could be a more of a romantic city to you than say Paris or Rome, although the latter two are widely considered as typically romantic cities, and were "summed up" as I read, as romance and sex. I made a little list of some of the places I have been, not just cities, the memories I have of them and the impressions they made on me personally. I couldn't sum them up in a word so I expanded to a sentence Feel free to comment if you had a totally diffferent experience, or just to read, and get some ideas. I also put a list after of some of the places I still want to go to and why.

Enjoy! X

Ibiza, Spain – My birth town, Santa Eulalia, beautiful, special, like nowhere else, relaxed, calm and hippy, happy, party.

London, U.K – Diverse, buzzing, fast paced, cosmopolitan, big.

Rio De Janeiro, Brasil – Sexy, sunny, short.

Sao Paulo, Brasil – Beautiful, unexpected, romantic,

Bologna, Italy, - Sights, shopping with friends, Oldest university in Europe and quaint feel.

Berlin, Germany – Party city, fun times, extended stay, post-club kebabas, and Australians

Amsterdam, Holland – Hostels, weed, boats, typical tourist stay, (viewing only – red light district.)

Barcelona, Venezuela – A beautiful sunrise, and the start of an adventure

Marseille, France – Holidaying with a friend and family, good times, nice beaches.

Mexico City – Smoky, busy, poverty striken, huge and confusing.

Delhi, India – Something else! rickshaws, beggars, bad smells. Markets and clothing and a small village on a grassy patch next to a roundabout.

Caracus, Venzuela – Bewildering, busy, similar to Spain i.e. road signs, buildings, first place I ever went to outside of Europe.

Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain – Architechture, cool clubs as venues but a lot of mainstream music, metro, coloured trainers and tight jeans everywhere!

Belem, North Brasil – Mangoes and Amazonian marijuana, had a great time.

Karlstad, Sweeden – Clean and cute, friendly and beautiful northern lights and people.

Oslo, Norway – Expensive! Breathtaking scenery, super clean air.

New York (Airport only) Huge portion of chips and Elephant size sandwiches, fingerprints just on a stopover!!?? US security is tight.

Places I want to go and Why

Tokyo, Japan - This one is a little random, but Japanese culture intrigues me, the low tables, the animation in the films, Memoirs of a Geisha is also one of my favourite books, I've read it several times so it would be cool to see the places mentioned there.

Sydney, Australia - The other side of the world, see how it feels to be upside down, the beaches, the parties. Australia has certain things you just don't get anywhere else - I don't want to die without having seen a Kangaroo in it's natural habitat! Plus, when you do travel you tend to run into a lot Australians, so I have a few people who I have promised a visit to.

Los Angeles, USA - Again this one is obvious, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, beach clubs ect. However, I also want to see some other places in California, it's the American state that interests me most, I mean Joni Mitchell wrote a song about it, so did the guys from the OC soundtrack, so did x, y and z, I want to know what all the fuss is about.

New York, USA - I was in Newark Airport coming back from Mexico and it made an impression on me, I still need to go and explore the city, drink the coffee, eat an apple in the big apple and go see the Empire State Building.

Paris, France - Another big building that needs climbing, La tour Eifel, (probably spelt wrong -sorry) I hae been to France loads, however, never made it to Paris, La Louvre, the Champs Elysee amongst other sites are on my to see list.

There are obvious many other places I want to travel, even for silly reasons (Russia because I'm one eighth Russian, Austria becuase my Grandmother was from there.) And I wouldn't say no to a free ticket anywhere, it's always cool to get to know new places, even if you have a lousy time you always learn something. Hope you enjoyed reading, Big love X