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On The Write Path

by Kåre Enga in Montana

Rated: 13+ · Book · Travel · #2032403

ON THE WRITE PATH: travel journal for Around-the-World in 2015, 16, 18.

For there are many paths.

Visitor's Center of Woolaroc in Oklahoma, Osage Nation. Tribute to Native America.

A tlog. A travel blog. A keeping-track of my trials, er.. travels.

February 26, 2015 until ... June 18,2015.
January 12, 2016 until February 15, 2016.
November 13 to 30 2018 ... 2019,

2020: Taiwain.

I went nowhere in 2021.

2022: Portugal, Thailand.

Will include: Hawai'i, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Untied Arab Emirates, Portugal, Norway, Ireland and... (2015) ... Norway and Estonia (2016), México (2018), Taiwan, Balkans, Baltics, Turkey, Costa Rica, Nicaragua.

Vi får se.

"Where I have traveled, stayed and visited. Over 181 places."

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Kåre Enga in Montana

Mar 22, 2024 at 10:27pm
In response to "Ides of August "

Wordsmitty ✍️ Many people seek thrills. Boring moments are quickly forgotten. I try to look deeper... still boring. But... someone was born that day and someone died. All days matter to someone. We're all just passing through...

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 22, 2024 at 1:45pm
In response to "Ides of August "

I remember reading this. Seven months later I comment (reminder comment from "333 steps"

)

I also like watching the scenery and people as I pass through or over. The open land always says so much in its shades of green, trimmed here and there stretching across its curves and hills with man's intrusions popping up once in a while.

Never thought of what the day tastes like. Sound and smell, yeah. I'll have to think about that more and see what I come up with.

Thanks for taking us along with you, but without being in the heat.

Kåre Enga in Montana

Mar 22, 2024 at 4:11am
In response to "January 2024 angst"

Wordsmitty ✍️ Forgot to check... Tokyo? I could visit you in Japan? Cherry Blossom Time. Don't miss it!

Of course, as you know, I went back to Montana for two weeks and returned via Taiwan.

Kåre Enga in Montana

Jan 25, 2024 at 11:53am
In response to "Expatriation? "

Sumojo Thanks for reminding me to read this article in full. I wonder about the flip side... there's also an urge to nest in a safe cave... kinda like a hobbit.

My experiences living in Costa Rica and Thailand have remolded me.

Yet, at this moment I just want to curl up and nest.

1 Like

Sumojo

Jan 23, 2024 at 10:02pm
In response to "Expatriation? "

Thanks for the link Kare. I read and agreed with every word especially This journey, sometimes difficult and lonely, is also a journey towards understanding and acceptance. It teaches us humility, patience, and open-mindedness.

Kåre Enga in Montana

Jan 20, 2024 at 8:01am
In response to "Orange is a color of winter."

Lyn's a Witchy Woman Yes and no. Country people are poor. Survival is #1, not health. Think of factory towns in the Great Lakes in the 50s and 60s.

The problem last year included Laos and Myanmar. The burning is sugarcane and corn. The governments made a mistake by allowing burning in February and in Thailand there was an uproar because it affected tourism in Chiang Mai... $$$ is king.

There are solutions but local people need to be consulted and big-money corporations that buy up the products and encourage production at any cost must be regulated or reined in. Education and consequences... right now there isn't much of either.

Lyn's a Witchy Woman

Jan 18, 2024 at 3:29pm
In response to "Orange is a color of winter."

Aren't they worried about putting all that smoke into the air, how it will affect other growth as well as the people who reside there.

Kåre Enga in Montana

Jan 18, 2024 at 12:23pm
In response to "Paradise has pitfalls "

Legerdemain I don't fit in. And yes, that's frustrating. If I'm traveling I try to act respectful but I usually don't have time to learn enough to do better. That said, I'm living in Thailand. Living in a place is an entirely different experience.

Locals don't always want needy greedy visitors that disrupt their peaceful lives. Some places are overrun by traveling hoards. Prague comes to mind.

Legerdemain

Jan 2, 2024 at 12:03pm
In response to "Paradise has pitfalls "

I feel like any time an american tries to insert themselves into another culture, it's looked at as being a bull in a china shop. They say when visiting another place, ask the locals where they eat and hang out, but honestly they really don't want us there.
I'd love to visit all the places you do, but I don't think I'd ever fit in.

Wordsmitty ✍️

Dec 26, 2023 at 12:39pm
In response to "January 2024 angst"

For me, it's Japan the first two weeks of April. Only in Tokyo Mar31 and Apr13-16 to get on and off planes. Whatever you decide, it will be a good break. Enjoy yourself.

June 7, 2020 at 9:39pm

#985216

Kaap Stad, Suid Afrika

Lions Head as seen from Camp's Bay. South Afrika, 17.april.2015.

I may never go back.

The glare into the back of my head cannot be unseen. The screech of Akrikaans on the graffitied train 1 from Simon's Town cannot be unheard. And my smeller no longer can catch the faint fragrance of protea 2.

Plus, the penguins didn't show up.

I spent my birthday at Kirstenbosch Garden. Marveled at the beauty of the fynbos 3, a narrow-leaf plant kingdom of it's own. Took a picture of Oliver 4, a 150 year old rescued olive tree, now a bonsai, and wondered who'll rescue me and my wrinkles.

I even had my picture taken by a friendly group.

And there's the rub. They were not the only friendly people. The bookseller at Wordsworth 5, a lady under the oaks in The Company's Gardens 6, a man on the main drag, Long Street 7... all friendly... but there was a scent of hostility hanging in the air... most everywhere.

I got to see a seal being fed at Hout Bay on the line of the hop-on hop-off bus 8 and the brightly painted homes in Bo-kaap 9. I even ventured around windy Table Top 10 taking the rotating cable car ascending and descending like an alien ship 11 with a magnificent view of the city 12.

It was enough.

There's little reason to return. I know no one there and made no connections.

Cape Town is a beautiful place. It has one of the most scenic backdrops of any city in the world 13 14. But for me it's about people and culture and there are at least 20 places in Africa I'd like to visit before I'm too old.

Translation sung by Doris Day and Frankie Lane circa 1952.

A nice article: http://africanaromatics.com/oh-sugarbush-how-sweet-you-are-me/

2.532

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June 2, 2020 at 11:22pm

#984889

Spain? ... no ... just pain.

For:

FORUM

The Bard's Hall Contest

(13+)
MAY Villanelle
#981150 by StephBee

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

That was last month's prompt, but too appropo to pass up.

I was looking forward to visiting Spain in March of 2020. In hindsight it's just as well I didn't go. It's June ... and I might still be stranded there.

I thought I could survive Madrid even though it has never been on my bucket list. But then other great cities like Vienna and Paris weren't either and I've been to both. London? Maybe never.

But there were great tickets! About $700!! Cheap and good flights. To Madrid on March 3rd and back from Bilbao in May. 9 weeks seemed a tad long but I was willing if not thrilled.

I figured I could go south to Malaga and maybe some other places that off-season might not be overrun with tourists. I'm not a good tourist. Frankly? Prefer travelers and locals to tourists. But one shouldn't complain.

Spain ... is close to Morocco ... and I've never been. Checked flights to Casablanca ... doable. A place to stay in Rabat ... very doable. Fes, Chefchouen, Tangiers? All good. Then back to Spain and on to Portugal.

But ... which side of the border would I have been on when Morocco suddenly closed on March 16th. The US offered to rescue Americans ... for $2,500. I'd still be there or somewhere rambling around Europe.

Of course ... I didn't find out. On March 1st I canceled when I couldn't add travel insurance. My tickets were non-refundable. I lost $700.

And that's where Shelley's quote becomes pertinent. The anguish of not only having to cancel a trip but to lose my money ... and then to know that no one cared. A 'it sucks to be me moment' par excellence.

I was upset for days. I wasn't safe at home in a building with shared facilities any more than I would've been in Europe in a hostel. And I was further pissed off at ignorant Americans who thought that their American superiority complex mattered to a virus and then ... the me-me-me's of 'freedom now' because wearing a mask was crushing their rights ...

I was hurting, upset, LIVID.

Still am. But I've blogged about that elsewhere.

I will get to Morocco some day. I will revisit my favorite places in Portugal. Madrid? Who knows.

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