Mainz, Germany

I'm home. We're pretty much moved into the new apartments, and the pile of boxes in the dining room is shrinking daily. And the place is lovely. It's easily the nicest apartment that I've ever moved into.

It's been a busy week. Monday was spent shuttling carloads of stuff from the old place to the new one. Tuesday started early when two burley, tattooed movers with no hair showed up to move the heavy things. It's a bit different moving here, compared to the US. We moved Everything! Light fixtures, countertops, appliances even the kitchen sink. It all came with us from the old place to the new one. It's fairly common here in Germany, but I found it a bit surprising. I spent most of my time keeping out of the movers' way, as they spoke no German, so I wasn't much of a help.

The past two days have been spent unpacking and figuring out the layout of our new place. We've got most of the kitchen set up, and it looks great. A few cabinets still need to be hung and the stove isn't working yet, but we're nearly there.

Eva's bought all of our bedroom furniture on ebay, and we're still waiting to get most of it, which I believe takes place tomorrow. We've got the bed, just not the box spring yet, so the mattress is still on the floor. Our bedroom is actually two rooms, the front one will be our sitting room, with our closet space as well as a desk and comfortable chair for studying and reading. The back one is simply for the bed, which will be Eva's dream bed, the one she's wanted for years.

The one weird part of the place is that the only shower is off our bedroom which means Julia, Eva's best friend, and our roommate must pass through every time she needs to take a shower. Apart from that though, the place is wonderful. 20' ceilings, large windows so that the entire place feels light during the day, tons of floor space.

Our final roommate, Jolie the cat, is having a ball. She hid in Julia's closet on the first day, overwhelmed by all the people andt he new surroundings. The next day, she grew adventurous, and slowly made her way through the entire apartment, nosing her way into every box, over, under and into everything she could find. She's also found the window ledge which provides her with never ending entertainment with people strolling along our street, as well as the craftsment placing the new cobblestones. The old place had no such view, so we feel she's going to love this place, that and enough room for her to get up to a full sprint.

The apartment is right in the heart of the old part of Mainz. The cathedral is a block away, and it's bells are clearly heard in the apartment. Our street is in the process of being recobbled, and when it's finished, it should look amazing. We're on the second floor of our building, the first has a restaurant in it, a traditional German place, with a decent menu. We've trooped downstairs for dinner our first night.

Mainz itself is simply a pretty town. It reminds me of Avignon with its city walls and being on a river. The Rhine instead of the Rhone, but pretty close, I mean one vowel's difference. Gutenberg was from here, and so, I would imagine is the first printing press. I've come to the heart of the Reformation. There's also a church in town whose windows were done by Marc Chagall.

So, I'm happy. Content. Each day is an adventure. The week has flown by. Eva's just gone to work, so Julia and I are off to the Sandbox to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. The Sandbox is called the Beach here in Mainz, but if there's not water on one side, I'd call it a sandbox, for adults. It is on the edge of the Rhine, at least.

Mainz, Germany

I went to see about a girl.

Four months. 135 days, to be exact. Yesterday, I got an early flight out of Bangkok, and finally set sail into the West, to Germany, and to Eva. And so, the Wanderer comes home. The Journey of the Phoenix, my Round the World Journey, has come to an end. I've come to Mainz to find a home, and a life, with Eva.

It's been an amazing two years, ranging around the world, befriending strangers, trying the new, the unknown. Witnessing the Beauty of World around us, sunrises and sunsets, mountains, rivers and deserts. Words fail me at the moment as I marvel at what I've accomplished. I went further, farther than any previous Journey of mine.

Am I sad by the end of my Journey? Not even a little bit. One thing I've learned is that the road goes on, and with the girl sitting by my side. My road now lies with Eva, and I can think of nothing better.

Bangkok, Thailand

Back in the Big Bad city. The train ride here was a fun one, excitedly envigorating in the sense that I didn't sleep on it. I may have drifted off for about 10 minutes sometime after sunrise, but that's it.

I read.

There were a few other foreign travellers in my car, one of whom turned out to be Anna, a Romanian Vet whom I'd met at the Half Moon Party, my first week on Ko Pha Ngan, back in May. We chatted a bit and I also met Justine, the German whom Anna was sitting with. Justine was excited by the idea of seeing Bangkok's sex district and Anna seemed interested as well, though she was headed back to Ko Pha Ngan and might not be stopping for the night in Bangkok.

She didn't, and Justine and I hit Pattong. I got say, I was exhasuted by that point, as I'd been up about 36 hours straight at that point. As it turns out, there's no strip clubs in this area of Bangkok. You can only watch Go Go dancers who are wearing bikinis, or the ping pong shows. We ended up at another ping pong show. I stayed well clear of the darts this time round and to be honest, was pretty bored within five minutes. The only halfway interesting act was the lesbian bubble act, as opposed to the straight lesbian act. The bubbles were neon pink and green and looked really cool under blacklight. That was the most interesting thing for me. I felt really bad yawning during one act when a girl was doing something impressive. I don't remember what, just feeling guilty for my lack of enthusiasm. I decided not to stay out that late, and went home to pass out in bed.

Today was a lazy sort of day, just got some errands done, and had some lunch. Made a few appointments to pamper myself tomorrow, Bangkok's fun for that. No, I'm not talking about that sort of thing. Geesh.

Chang Mai, Thailand

On the road again... Heading back to Bangkok and the hustle and bustle that one find's there. Took a bus down from Pai today, and I've got a train out of here around 10pm tonight. So, I'm getting some food, maybe buying a book or two (they've got great book shops in Chang Mai), then back to the station for the train ride south.

Pai, Thailand

The Hectic Life

Well, yesterday was a busy one. I woke at a reasonable hour (noon) and had some breakfast at the place by the bus station. They've got a staggering choice of shakes there, and I once again had my strawberry lemon soda shake, which is yummy. That done, I decided to rent a scooter to visit the hot springs that I'd heard about.

On the way to the scooter place however, I was detoured by the nail painter who'd set up in the street. She had an array of colors and designs for those who wanted to get their nails painted in an artistic manner. I had my nails last done in Ko Pha Ngan, when Charley, Veg, and I had an arvo of pampering. That was in June, and my nails were now in a woeful state. I showed the girl a photo of some nails from Bangkok, which had belonged to one of the receptionists at D&D Inn. She studied the photo for a bit and then we began.

I chatted with her friend, an English guy who was in town looking after his friend's bar. As the artistic process unfolded, we discussed the hot water springs, and he recomended a place a few kilometer's from town, at a campground. Sounded good to me, though the day was uncharactistically sunny, and he advised waiting till dark.

A crowd soon formed as my nails took shape. Not so much from the novelty of a guy getting his nails done, but more from the fact that it was not a simple design and took some time. Girls who were also keen to painted their nails waited as glitter and acyrlic paint was added to mix.

Finally, they were done. One of the girls confessed that she thought initially that they were going to be a disaster but loved the final product. The artist herself was all smiles. For one thing, she told me she never got male clients and was hoping to get one, at some point. But, she also was captivated by her finished product, they looked...fabulous.

I then resumed my original plan and rented a scooter for the day. The sun was shining, so I made off for the waterfalls, thinking cold water sounded better in the bright day. It was a good plan, sadly as I approached the falls, the rain started to fall. It was a passing shower which ended by the time I reached the falls, but the clouds remained and a soak in the water seemed less appealing. The falls were nice though.

I headed back to town for some dinner and relaxed as darkness fell, before once again hopping on my bike and roaring off to find some hot water in the dark. I did, much to my surprise. The spas at the campground were lovely, they'd been described to me as looking like Roman Baths, and they did. The hot pool was large, the size of a decent swimming pool though it was only waist deep water. Benches ringed the stone walls to relax against while soaking and two islands had been built in the middle, both sporting trees and other shrubbery. Roger the Shrubber's work perhaps. Either way, it was one hell of a good place to relax. I soaked for an hour or so, before finally pulling myself from the steaming waters. I had a drink at the campsite and then drove my way home, once again dodging the dogs that litter the roads.

Well, the sun's shining again today. I had my shake again, and had a nice talk with Dad, with whom I haven't spoken in several weeks. That also came with the realization that my faithful phone, may once again be somewhat broken as we had a hard time getting our call to go through, and our texts didn't seem to reach each other at all. I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship with modern technology. And I think that's an entirely sane view.

Pai, Thailand

I took the bus up here from Chang Mai yesterday. A few people had told me about this place, and they all seemed to like it, so I figured I'd give it a look. That, and the fact that there are hot springs in the nearby area. It's been too long since I've been in a natural hot spring, so I couldn't pass on the chance for another soak. It's a quiet little town, though what constitutes a small town for me has been somewhat altered after Laos.

The drive up here was beautiful, and we climbed, winding our way back and forth on cut back roads, through some mountains. Being lazy, I took the last bus of the day and arrived in town just after dark. I got a room and then some food.

I then fell in with a group of people and went to a bar for a few drinks. I drank more last night than any night since Bangkok, I was a bit tipsy even. The bars here are very chill, everyone seems to end up at the Bamboo bar on the river. We did, and I didn't get home till after 5am. Slept late today, and became reunited with the term, "hang over."

Needless to say, it's been a rather unproductive day; though, I doubt most people back home consider any of my days productive. Tomorrow, I hope to find some hot water springs and soak though, which in my mind is terribly productive.

Oh. I should mention a bar in Chang Mai that I ate at a few times. I went in one day, to get some dinner and read a bit. I got distracted by the music playing though, which was from a concert they had showing on DVD. It was Phish. This was the first time that I've heard Phish outside the US, at a bar. I was speechless. Turns out the owners are from Quebec and they also had an Allman Bros. concert on DVD. That combined with excellent food, and a free computer for checking email makes this place one of the best bars I've found in Thailand. Sadly, everyone else there listened to the music in mild confusion. For my non US friends, Phish was one of the top US music acts over the past 20 years. Certainly, they sold more tickets to concerts than anyone in this time. They never made singles, videos or anything like that, so they never really made a splash on the international scene, but for some, they're like Gods, and were followed from concert to concert during their tours. I went to see them once, it was an experience.

So, here I chill. It's a good place for it. Evening's falling now and I'm getting somewhat peckish, so I'm going to wrap this one up and find some dinner.