I’ve been chilling my ass off in Italy for the past couple of weeks. Rome has been a blast, especially when I was joined there by Dennis and Marck. However, Sicily has been really relaxing and fun as well.

We spent last week chilling at the beach, eating delicious food, renting a boat and trying to find nice parties (found some!). We also got to hang out with Renato’s family, who are awesome! Today Dennis and Marck went back home, so me and Renato have 3 more days left here (4 nights), which we intend to spend relaxing a bit more, but of course we’re gonna see if we can find a nice party on Friday, our last night.

Which means… I’m coming home this Saturday!!! After almost 7 Months of being gone from Amsterdam it’s just about time, isn’t it? I’ll be flying back together with Renato, since we managed to find a very cheap direct flight from Palermo back to Amsterdam with the Transavia airline. Flight details are as follows:

Flight number: HV822
Departing time: 16.15 (Palermo, Italy)
Arriving time: 19.10 (Amsterdam, Holland)

Which means I should be through baggage claim between 19.30 – 20.00. Although it would, of course, be great to be welcomed by masses and masses of friends when returning at the airport, you can also come and meet me at another location, later that night.

Since I truly believe circles are round (and squares are just … square), it would be great if you could all join me for drinks in the Waterhole. Yes, the same pub where I had my bye bye beany party. I’ll be there between 22.30 and 23.00 if all goes according to plan.

Hope to see you all on Saturday!!

My flight to Rome was a bit of a drag. I had a 10 hour flight, with loads of leg space, from Beijing to Dusseldorf, where I had to transfer for my flight to Rome. Unfortunately, in my pursuit of cheap tickets, I had decided to make this transfer a bit of a weird one. I arrived in Dusseldorf around 3 Sunday afternoon,  but my connecting flight would be Monday morning around 8 (check-in around 6). So there I was, stuck for the night at an airport.

The first thing I tried, was using the wireless network there. However, Vodafone operates the network there, and nobody seemed to know how I could connect to it. No automatic registration or anything, so internet was out of the question, go Vodafone! Luckily I did find a spot where I could use the power outlet, so I had access to all my files on my external harddrive. So, having nothing to do anyway, I ended up working on a document for Qelp, while waiting for it to become a suitable time to try and get some sleep.

I ended up sleeping, quite badly, on a bench which was part of a coffee corner. It was quite fun to eventually wake up, and see several customers sitting around you, drinking their coffee… I checked in, and off to Rome I was!

Once I arrived at the Roman airport, I first had to go to the toilet a little. I only had to take a leak, but once I got into the toilet though… I spotted something that made it damn near impossible not to take a crap… (for insiders only).

After I got my backpack, I started for the train into town. Luckily, after you’ve navigated the Tokyo railway and metro system, any station becomes a breeze to navigate through. So I quickly found the right train, and headed to Termini station.

When I arrived at my hostel, it was about 11 o’ clock and I was ready to get some serious sleep on, to get rid of my jet lag. Unfortunately, that serious sleep had to wait, since I couldn’t go into my room until 3 in the afternoon. So I pulled out my laptop and started checking my e-mail, hyves and facebook, while waiting for check-in time.

While doing so, I met a nice dude, who coincidentally is also named Rob. He’s from Chicago America and currently on a “queste” to find his family roots. Apparently he’s got some family living near Naples and he’s dying to meet them. We started chatting and he introduced my to a fine Roman pizza place, where you get delicious pizza for an affordable price.

Since then we’ve been hanging out all the time basically. The first night we had an excellent home made dinner together with his friend Vicky, who had to go home, and Alaria, who’s also staying at our hostel. Tuesday we were planning on going to the Vatican City, but woke up too late. We went around Rome instead, trying to find a nice park, but ended up just walking around the city for about 6 hours straight.

While walking around, we constantly ran into ancient structures and amazing views, so it was a very pleasant walk. In the evening we had dinner together again, after which we walked around a bit in the neighborhood. I was still tired, however, so I headed off to bed quite early in hopes of waking up nice and rested the day after.

Wednesday we tried going to the Vatican again, so we got op relatively early and took off for the Metro. Once we got there though, it turned out there was an accident and the metro wasn’t going. When we reached the bus, it was packed with people trying to get on as well, so we decided to take it as a sign and skip the Vatican for now and try for it on Thursday.

Instead, we wandered around a different part of the city a bit and even checked out the university campus. It looked like a nice place to study, with some nice areas to study, hang out, or chill in the shade.

In the evening, Rob’s friend Bryan joined us and we ended up having dinner at the worst pizza place in Italy. We couldn’t believe the actually used pre-made pizza bottoms. Frozen pizza from the supermarket is usually better quality than these.  Anyway, after dinner we hung out with Lara, who works the evening shift at our hostel.Until we called it a night around 1 A.M.

Thursday morning I met my new roommate Penny, who has just started her world tour! Sick and tired of work, she decided to travel around the globe until August next year. She’s currently going around Europe, after which she’ll go to Asia, Australia, North America and back to the UK next year. Quite a journey, and a very cool decision I must say.

We had breakfast together, after which we were joined by Rob and Bryan. Thursday we would finally go to the Vatican! Penny joined us, and luckily, the metro was working that day! So all went nice and smooth, and we reached the Vatican around 10.30 in the morning.  We first joined the queue and headed in the High Altar of St. Peter’s. This awesome hall features many statues and paintings, so it was quite nice to wander around there for a while.

After the High Altar, it was time to visit the Sistine Chapel and gawk at the glory of Michelangelo’s masterpiece. While going to the Chapel, we were quite surprised that the walk up to the place isn’t through some magnificient park area or something like that. Instead, you’re led through a stuffy museum, with corridors getting smaller at every turn.  We had to walk around the museum for a good hour to eventually reach the Chapel.

When we reached it though, all was forgiven. What a sight! So much detail and love went into this piece of art. It is unbelievable that it took him only 4 years to complete the ceiling. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside, but I managed to sneak some in anyway, up untill the point the guard threatened to throw me out if I did it again…

After the Vatican, we went back to our hostels and rested a bit, only to meet up again around 8 for dinner. We made an excellent risotto with fish, succini (courgettes) and the best salad ever! The grated cheese was quite a success as well… Kudos to Bryan and his mad salad hussling/cheese grating skillz! However, in this picture we see Rob, just after dinner…

Around 11.30 we met up with Lara at the hostel, planning to hang out at her place for the night. However, plans changed and we ended up going to the “Beer Bottle Symphony” instead. This refers to a small square near our hostel, where every day tons of Italian youth hang out, play instruments, drink and talk.

It has a very chill atmosphere, and since no Italian can be bothered to throw away the bottles neatly, by the end of the night, the place is covered with empty beer bottles. Needless to say, these get kicked around and break all the time, so while hanging out, you hear a constant kinking and clattering of the bottles. Hence the term “Beer Bottle Symphony.”

Tonight we are planning on hanging out at Lara’s place for real this time! Tomorrow I’ll leave my hostel, only to check in at a hotel with Dennis and Marck! Time to figure out how the club life is in Roma!

At the airport I went through customs without any trouble, and there I was, suddenly again in a country where nobody speaks your language. Armed with Dutch, English and Japanese, I can literally say nothing to the average Chinese person, because he/she will not understand a word I’m saying and the other way around. But with a lot of pointing and gesturing we come a long we, don’t we. Anyway, I had tourist information write down the address of my hostel in Chinese and went for my taxi.

After about an hours drive, my taxi driver found the place. I payed the whooping fee of 100 Yuan (about 9 Euro) and checked in my dorm style room. It was a 6 person dorm room, which I shared with 3 girls. Two English girls (Shell and Doth) and one Chinese girl. I hardly spoke with the Chinese, but quickly became friends with the English girls.

The first night, I met up with Lucy, Michel’s Chinese friend. She took me to a restaurant to try the local special, you guessed it, Beijing Duck! It was quite nice, I did not know duck was that sweet though and the skin is very though. After walking around a bit, showing the city, I decided for an early night and went back to the hostel.

At that point I was in a bit of a culture shock, however, because truly Beijing is totally different from Japan in every way. The streets are dirty and chaotic. The people don’t seem to know or care about any rules (who needs a traffic light anyway) and, frankly, the city smells! At first sight, the city was interesting, but not a place where I personally would want to live for an extended period of time.

The next day we met up again, and went to the forbidden city. This used to be the Emperors home, which he hardly ever left. It is very grand and impressive. Especially the front part of the city is breathtaking by its grandeur.

Lucy went to her parents the next day, so I lost my guide after the forbidden city. Luckily Shell and Doth were planning on a tour through Longqing  gorge and were happy to have me tag along. So Tuesday our room was full of early risers, as we had to leave for the gorge around 7 in the morning. Poor Chinese girl…

The bus ride to the gorge was a bit bad, since one dude with a severe hangover puked allover himself after about 15 minutes of driving. So the rest of the drive we were accompanied by a nice sour smell. Luckily, with all the windows open, it was manageable. However, once we arrived at the place, we were treated with some very nice views, so all was forgiven (at least on my part).

It was quite wicked to see how an entire street of shops had been removed by the government to provide a more pleasant experience for the people who will be visiting during the Olympics. A sight you can find anywhere in and around Beijing at the moment. Everywhere the city is being “patched up” for the flood of foreigners yet to come next month. Everyday new bits and pieces of subway open up, but still a lot of work has to be done. I wonder if they’ll make it in time, but next month we’ll know, won’t we…

Although the gorge has become very touristy, with tons of boats lying in wait for visitors, and cheesy Chinese pop music while boating around. The scenery more than made up for it, and it was a pleasant trip around the gorge. We even got treated by a biker riding high up in the sky…

After the boat trip, we went up to god’s temple, which was about 1.2 Kilometers up the mountain. Luckily, the first part could be done by taking the cable elevators (what do you call those things again…). Needless to say, the view was impressive…

We ended our trip with a lunch at some local restaurant, where unfortunately I ate something wrong. So the last couple of days I’ve been hunted by stomach aches all the time. At the moment they’re almost gone though, so no worries, I ain’t dying .

Wednesday we went to the Summer Palace, which turned out to be quite a nice place. However, it was heavily tourist infected (both local and international), with gift shops and souvenir stands everywhere. So after a while we couldn’t help but getting a bit of a theme park feel about us. The palace was nice, but some places had been restored so recently, you could still smell the paint. So much for authenticity.

That night I went to an excellent Kung Fu theater show, where all the usual Shaolin tricks where shown. This included the breaking of various kinds of objects on the stomach, arm and head. At one point the main character was even lifted by 3 spears. Although I do not really get the point of doing that, it remains an impressive sight! After the show, I went to bed early, since I was tired and the next day it was time for the tour of all tours.

It was time to hike the Great Wall! I joined a hike from Jin Shan Lin to Si Ma Tai which turned out to be a very good choice. This route is about 10 kilometers long and includes 30 towers. It is also very hard going, so it is not crowded on the wall and we were allowed to walk on our own, without the guide. On the way to the wall, I met a very nice American couple, Jason and Kelly, whom I joined as we walked the wall.

Anyway, this hike was the best hike I’ve ever done in my life. It was very hard going, with steep climbs and descends along old crumbled down staircases and sometimes even besides the wall, because it was impossible to remain on it from time to time. The hike took about 4 hours, during which I took about 250 photos. Man what a sight! Time and again.

Our hike reached it’s end in a gorgeous valley with a nice suspension bridge across a small lake (created by a dam). These final views were as magical as all the others so far. Although the final stairs did push us to our limits. While climbing those, I literally had my calves shaking under the strain.

However, the well deserved icecream once we reached the endpoint must’ve been the best icecream ever and truly shows all the satisfaction of the hike we’d just undertaken.

After we reached the endpoint and had our icecreams,  we descended down to the meeting point. When everybody was gathered up, we went to a restaurant to restore our energy by having a very nice lunch. After that we went back into the bus, to be brought back to our ho(s)tels.

Back at my hostel, I got a pleasant surprise! By then everybody had checked out of my dorm room, so I was the only one staying there, or so I thought. That day, a family of 5 had checked in, so the hostel employee asked if I would like to switch to the adjacent room. Which turned out to be a three beds dorm room, with only me staying in it! So I got upgraded from a 6 persons dorm, where I slept in the upper bunk bed, to a 3 persons room, where I slept in a normal bed. Not too shabby, ey!

At night, I met up with Jason and Kelly to go for some drinks in the Guloudajie  area of the city. In that area are a lot of bars and restaurants, located around a small lake. Very nice to walk around and sit down for some drinks, although the vendors got a bit annoying after a while, “NO I DON’T WANT YOUR CRAPPY LASERPOINTER, NOT EVEN AFTER 5 BEERS!”

After eating and drinking a bit in a bar (yes, Kelly was pretty sunburned btw), we tried a nearby “disco” to see what was going on there. Although the place was pretty empty, we had fun nonetheless and even dancing a bit at the nearly empty stage. Kelly quickly found herself a Chinese admirer there, which was very funny to see.

Friday I was pretty much deadbeat, so I decided to stay in and arrange everything that still needed to be arranged for my trip to Rome (oh yeah, I still needed a hostel). I was also a bit down, so I went to bed early and slept like a baby for a solid 10 hours or so.

Today was my last day, which I spent in Beihai park. It is a very nice park, which features the White Dagoba, which is quite impressive. I spent there quite some while, walking around, chilling and checking out the place. Even though this area was very very crowded as well, I still managed to find a chill spot and relax for a while.

I laughed a lot at the “free interpretation” offered at all the various locations.. At the White Dagoba I went into a small tower whose walls are lined with small Buddha’s on tiles! Pretty cool, and of course a nice opportunity for a picture!

After a while I ran into these ancient Chinese characters, which are basically the predecessors to the current writing system. Pretty cool to see those “in action.”

After the park, I visited the Monument to the People’s Heroes between the Forbidden City and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. I also wanted to enter the mausoleum and check out Mao’s preserved body, but unfortunately it was already closed.

After the monument, I went back to the hostel to prepare for my departure for Rome tomorrow, which is what I’m doing right now, besides writing this post of course. Tomorrow morning I’m flying back to Europe! I’ll arrive in Dusseldorf around 3 in the afternoon, where I have to wait a gruesome 15 hours for my “connecting” flight to Rome. I’ll be in Rome on Monday morning around 10 A.M. I guess after which it’ll be pizza’s all around!

See you back in Europe! (did you write down the 2nd of August in your agenda yet??)