After Peniche, I grabbed a bus to Lisbon, where I had an overnight bus booked to Granada, Spain, leaving at 10:15pm. I know, I know. Night buses are always bad ideas. But it was an 11 hour trip and it…
A Perfect Place in Peniche, Portugal
After walking through city after city, I was ready for some beach time. I had booked 4 nights in the surf town of Peniche, about an hour north of Lisbon, but looking at the weather forecast I debated changing it.…
Hostel Life- When you’re not 22
8:00pm- The woman with the fur coat is also harbouring a cold (surmised based on her constant throat clearing, not the fact that she’s wearing a fur coat), and chatting incessantly in Portugese to someone on the phone, which she…
Camino Culture: Pontevedra and Santiago de Compostela
Heading north from Portugal, I stopped for a couple of nights in Pontevedra, Spain. I was there to experience the urbanism from a city that has won multiple awards for its measures of restricting cars from the city centre, being…
Amarante: A Sleepy Portugese Village with a Love of Noise
After the unexpectedly boisterous streets of Lisbon during Ramadan, I was looking forward to a couple of quiet nights in Amarante, a “sleepy village” according to Lonely Planet, about an hour east of Porto. It’s also known as the village…
Cities of hills: Lisbon and Porto
After walking the Fisherman’s Route for 5 days, we were ready for a bit of a break from walking. Alas, it was not to be. Lisbon and Porto are both very walkable cities, albeit hilly. I think some days we…
Walking the Fisherman’s Route in Portugal
Leaving Odeceixe in the morning, we were now officially following the Rota de Vicentina, or the Fisherman’s Route, a 125 km route along the coast of Portugal. It’s a fairly popular route, which meant we could take advantage of the…
The Big Trip
My first sunburn is fading into a tan, I’m averaging 20km a day of walking, I’ve eaten the same meal three nights in a row, I’ve read four books and I’ve lost two consecutive nights of sleep to other people…
From Kalaw to Inle Lake: Myanmar’s Trekking Mecca
“The first day we trekked for roughly 18km. While it started off cool, it grew hotter as the day progressed. Fortunately, the path was an easy one to walk. Our first stop was for tea with an elderly woman weaving textiles for sale at the local markets. We moved on, walking past massive squares of harvested red chilies drying in the sun, then along train tracks and terraced rice fields. At one point, we even found ourselves in the the midst of a funeral.”
The Highs and Lows of Mount Kyaiktiyo
A Journey to Myanmar’s Golden Rock Despite being listed as a must do in Lonely Planet, many people skip the opportunity to visit Golden Rock on their trip through Myanmar. It is, after all, just a rock covered in gold…