Green Lane, Sherborn

Long time between entries indeed. The Journey of the Phoenix has come to an end, the cycle is over, once more into the ashes, my wings charred, my majestic flight at an end. And so, I begin the cycle anew. I have slumbered, I have rested, recharged and reflected. I am ready.

I spoke with an old friend some time ago, and in my account of the finale she protested that my journey was surely not at an end, the final chapter was yet unwritten, such a cliffhanger does not occur. A few weeks ago, we spoke once more, and discussed the unwritten chapter, the next twist in the tale. Her enthusiasm for the story bubbled over, and I feel it is time to start the next chapter. My story shall move to another blog, as this one is devoted to accounts of my time on the Journey of the Phoenix, as I spread those wings and soared around this World in which we live. I have circled the globe to find myself back at the start, back to the beginning.

For those of you interested in the further chapters and what happens next, please email me for details. I won't bore you with the details, but involves a new journey, and a wild new job where it rain naked people from the sky. As Hunter would say, "When the going gets tough, the professionals get weird." The Wandering Philosopher is going Global.

"It is a Dream! I will Dream On!"

Lisbon, Portugal

I know it's been a long, long time since I've written here, believe me there are plenty of drafts I wrote to explain the circumstances of my leaving Germany, but I haven't got it right yet, I suppose. I'm better though, recovering my senses, and my emotions. I've spent my time, recuperating, reviving, and thinking about what's next. I haven't got too much else to say at the moment, simply that I'm live and kicking. At some point, I will finally put up what happened that's brought me to this point, it's a story I need to tell, I just haven't figured out how. But in the meantime, I've been enjoying being near the ocean once more, taking in the sunsets, and marveling at the waves.

Somewhere

Well, I'm going to keep this brief. It turns out it was an illusion, a nice dream, that didn't survive the harsh light of reality. I came to Germany to stay, but as it turns out, the reasons I came turned out to be lies. I came to give this a chance, but as it would seem, I was the only one who tried. So, I'm on the Road again, once more Rambling without Direction. I try now to recapture some of the Dreams I once had, the ones I gave up in the hope of something better.

It is a Dream! I will Dream On!

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.