Last stop ın Europe

In around 48 hours time I will be at Ataturk international airport awaiting my flight out of Europe and into New Delhi, India. To get the ribs out of the way first then! they still hurt a bit but they are getting there and I do not think they will be an obsticle to my progess. That little incident aside I have enjoyed my 2 and a half months easing into the trip, visiting places I have never been before and meeting great people along the way. Istanbul is in many ways a terrible choice for my last stop as there is simply too much to do here! It really is quite a place, smokey streetside kebab stalls, crazy carpet salesmen, amazing architecture and some 14 million people make for a pretty electric atmosphere and it has reignighted my passion to travel at just the right tıme. My last few days in Bulgaria were spent in the town of Plovdiv which is a bit more westernised than the capital Sofia. It also has an attractive old town and a small Roman Ampitheatre and was a nice place to finish that part of the trip with. I bid fairwell to Max and Maria after insisting on buying them dinner for all their help. It was the least I could do really as I may have had to go home without their help. A few boring statisics for you then, so far I have been to 7 countries, travelled for 74 days and stayed at 31 hostels/hotels a fair old start I thınk. I have to say I am a bıt nervous going into India but also massively excited. I have always wanted to go there and I know there is going to be a massive culture shock but I will deal with it and adjust as I always do. There is a lot more I want to write but this keyboard is beyond confusing and it has taken me almost an hour just to write this! Signing out for Europe then, India, baby, I will be seeing you real soon. Chris

Show must go on

I am going to assume that pretty much everyone reading now knows what happened to me almost a week ago. If you don't then please ask someone else. The reason is I am sick of talking about, sick of thinking about it and sick of it hanging over my trip like the horrible grey cloud that it is. Yes I am still recovering physically and mentally but I am getting there and I am now beginning to feel that leaving Europe and getting to India will almost start things afresh and I can go on from there. I am trying to look for the positives in what was a horrible situation and I think firstly the fact that something awful has happened to me and I have not ran home at the first opportunity is massive and does give me confidence for the months ahead. I did always wonder if I could cope with something really bad happening and now I know that I can and that makes me feel proud and eager to continue with things. I have had a bit of help with my backpack from the lovely Max and Maria from France who are pretty much driving me around Bulgaria, I cannot thank them enough and they have even altered their route slightly to help me, proof indeed that there are decent people still out there to counter the arseholes that exist in this society. It was always going to be a struggle for me to like Bulgaria after what happened, I still find the people cold and unfriendly in general and it is a struggle to get anywhere if you do read Cyrillic, I have slowly been taking in the alphabet to try and get into it. The two things I really have liked so far are the 2 hostels I've stayed at, first in Veliko Tarnovo and now here in Sofia. Both are part of chain called Hostel Mostel and really well run establishments aimed at backpackers with a range of services such as day trips to nearby attractions and walking tours of the cities. The other thing is the Bulgarian love of putting cheese on pretty much everything which suits me right down to the ground and after a couple of months of being relatively watchful of what I am eating I felt I deserved to pig out a little for a change. My route from now until India is fairly simple, I am in Sofia for tonight and tomorrow then 2 nights in the town of Plovdiv further south. After that I am Istanbul for 4 nights and then it is on to Delhi in India for a completely new chapter and new experiences in a place that will undoubtedly be like nowhere I have every been before and hopefully I will almost be back to 100% by then. To be honest I cannot be bothered to write much more, this is simply updating to let people know I am okay and still very much enjoying this trip for the most part. I will probably do one last update from Istanbul and that will wrap it up for Europe. Thanks for all the messages of support from friends and family, you've all helped me get through this. Chris xxxx

Halloween in Transylvania

As a child and as an adult I've never really cared for Halloween, I like horror films don't get me wrong but the dressing up and everything that goes with it has always just seemed like a waste of time. I still kind of feel that way but at least I can say that being in Romania for Halloween this year has been an enjoyable experience. I have traveled a fair bit of Romania since my last update, from Cluj-Napoca I headed east to Sighisoara, a great little Saxon town which was the birthplace of Vlad Tepes. It's sights can be seen in a few hours and seeing I was with a Canadian I actually bothered to go in the museums for a change! the best of the 3 was the history museum which was set inside a tower. It had exhibits on each level all leading to a cracking 360 degree view of the town and surrounding mountains. In all honesty I could have done the town in a day trip but the 2 nights I spent there were well worth it for the people I met in the evenings. I went to the same local restaurant both evenings and then to the one bar that seemed to have any signs of life after 10pm, first with Florain from France and then Alexis from Australia the second night which ended up with a lot of beer being consumed and discussing the history of Romanian football for 4 local guys we met. The next day I stumbled out of my hostel, leaving my towel behind which annoyingly I've been unable to replace since. I went to Brasov which is meant to be the number 1 destination in Romania for tourists. The hostel I had booked had given my bed away to a large group of Serbians who were there for Halloween, which was rather annoying. They did direct me to another hostel nearby which was pretty cool, so I stayed there the 3 nights instead. The actual center of Brasov did not really overwhelm me. There were the usual pedestrian shopping streets, souvenir shops and overpriced restaurants and besides the excellent main square it didn't offer a lot. Brasov is known for excellent local hiking but I was feeling fairly rubbish and not really in the mood, so for the first time in the trip, I had a day off and didn't really do anything but watch TV in the hostel with Hannah from Australia who had the flu and no real other option and Judy the hostel cat! I got my act together the next day and visited Bran castle which is known as Dracula's castle even though Vlad Tepes only briefly stayed here. The first sight of it is pretty ominous and in my opinion the best thing about it, inside was quite touristy but still I'm glad I went and saw it. I did do a short hike when I arrived in Brasov, up to the Hollywood style Brasov sign in the surrounding hills. I left Brasov yesterday for Sibiu which is the third of the Saxon towns and my last stop in Romania. I have actually yet to visit the town and feel fairly lazy today. I have noticed that these days are creeping in a bit more now, which was always going to happen, in travelling as with anything in life, you need to take the odd day for yourself here and there. Last night was good though, I went out for dinner with 2 Australian girls and another from New Zealand. They all had a lot more travel experience than I did and were all travelling alone so it was interesting to hear their stories. We bought massive 2.5 litre bottles of local beer for the equivalent of just over a pound and this may explain my slight reluctance to shift my arse at all today, though the center isn't meant to be big and the sights can be done in a couple of hours. Last night I had these cabbage rolls filled with meat and rice for dinner and I've actually got slightly addicted to these since arriving in Romaina, they are cheap, filling and amazing. I have had a tricky week mentally, I won't go into detail on here but I feel as though I have been tested and come through the other side of it with the same massive appetite to carry on with this trip as I've ever had, I mean I'll be in India in just over 2 weeks for goodness sake and that is really exciting. This is my last night in Romania and I'd rank it second behind Croatia so far, the people are incredible, so warm and hospitable for people who have so little compared with Western Europe. The towns are stunning generally and the surrounding countryside on the train journeys has been among the best I've seen. Add to that great food, cheap beer, quality hostels and the awesome fellow travelers I've met and it has all been a wonderful experience. Tomorrow I get the train to Bucharest and then immediately get another train to Ruse on the Bulgarian side, arriving at around 2am. I have booked a private room in a bed and breakfast as I feel I need a couple of days to properly regroup otherwise there is a chance Bulgaria will be wasted in my hurry to get to India. That's about all I have for now, hope everyone had a great Halloween!