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Trip to the U.K (1970)

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SO..let’s pick up again..middle march 1970..
hitch hiked to Ostend..ferry to Dover..didn’t get seasick
Dover was busy..as always,I guess…got a ride quick enough..
all the way to London..big city for me..I was really impressed..
slept in Youth Hostel..I believe Holland House (Kensington)
just lazied around in Hyde Park..some crazy dude was telling
the world was coming to an end soon..2 days London..
was enough for me…big place to get out..tube towards outskirts..
hitch hiking was a piece of cake..never stood long..these good old
British,you know..i remember Coventry..Leicester..Derby..
Stoke on Trent..Leeds..York..and Newcastle upon Twyne…
what happened inbetween..sorry..don’t remember..but it was O.K..
I clearly remember one ride with some monks towards Alnwick…
they wanted to convert me,I believe..they took me to the monastery..got food for free..
after that…Edinburgh(Scotland)didn’t stay long..slept in the outskirts…
some young kids were wondering..what I was doing there in my sleeping bag??
I always carried a small camping gas with me..lovely to make my own coffee in the morning..hitched towards Stirling..
and all the way into the Scottisch Highlandstowards Fort William, Inverness…didn’t see the Loch Ness monster..
did not hitch higher up…stayed in Glen Nevis youth hostel one day..
nice place Scotland..lovely scenery..hitching slower then U.K.though..
went to Oban..down to Campbeltown..ferry to Ireland..don’t recall from where..
hitched to Dublin..nice country Ireland…very friendly people..
funny accent..they roll their R’s..slept in a park in Dublin(Trinity?)
good Guiness in these Irish pubs..they like to get drunk..and sing..
no wonder Ireland won several times Eurovision contests
back to U.K..I think it was Holyhead..these damn ferry’s cost money
back down towards London again…Dover..back to Ostend (Belgium)
If you ask me..the U.K.was O.K..hitching alright..always got away..
very good sense of humor as well…so..back home in may 1970..
I left 3 weeks later towards North Cape (Norway)
tell you later about that…one of my most beautiful trips in Europe..

P.S..link for Scotland https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html

First Trip to Amsterdam (1969)

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I’ll start with my first trip..
1969..I guess it was in july..i got sick of my Dad’s alcoholism
packed a rucksack..and hitched to Amsterdam..no problem..
Woodstock mentality..at least 1500 hippies sleeping outside
in Vondelpark..there was a place called Paradiso..where gigs
were held almost every day..saw a rockband there called Brainbox..
still remember it..Amsterdam was great..the love-ins..sit-ins..
my first joint..met a beautiful Dutch Indonesian girl who lived on a
houseboat(=Bella)on Brouwersgracht..no electricity on that boat..candles..
after 2 weeks Amsterdam..my gypsie blood took me back home..
I worked a bit in the black(painting some house)and left for Italy..
end target was Venice..but i ended up in Dubrovnik (Yougoslavia)
Hitch hiking in Germany was easy..Austria as well..Italy O.K..
Yugoslavia..well..some Germans took me from Gorizia (Trieste)
towards Zadar..lovely coastline..and dirt cheap food..
it was still great Yugoslavia under Tito..I usually slept rough..
I recall Dubrovnik as a very clean city..went back up via Beograd..
autoput (highway) to Zagreb..and back home via Austria-Germany
it was 1970..and I planned a trip to the U.K..Scotland-Ireland..
I’ll tell you all tomorrow about that adventure

P.S..Paradiso Amsterdam still exists..it’s on Weteringschans..
https://www.paradiso.nl/web/English-Agenda.htm

https://www.dubrovnik-online.com/english/english.php

Vietnam: Day 3 (Diving, in retrospect)

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I forgot to weblog my third day in Vietnam. I went scuba diving. They took me out early in the morning on a glorified version of the banana-shaped fishing boats that are omnipresent on Pho Cuoq. It was a sunburning hour and a half boat ride to our dive sight, but it was worth it. There was a divemaster for every two recreational divers and we were paired up with a woman from Vancouver. All the divemasters are foreigners staying in Phu Cuoq for employment.

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Vietnam: Day 2 (morning coffee)

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I woke up at around six hundred hours (Vietnam time, of course) this morning, still a little jet-lagged, but substantially refreshed. Still a little used to my old institutionalized self, I was surprised to find myself covered in mosquito nets, with all my belongings next to me in a big safe. I spent a few moments lying there in order to let my mind get a better grasp on its surroundings and reset my (Swiss-made) circadian clock.

I went outside and laid down on my hammock just as thew Sun was rising over the jungle palms. It was a breathtaking sight and it reminded me of an idea I’d had looking East on a November morning in Montreal.

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Vietnam Day 1

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The following being an account of my travels in Southeast Asia, Starting with my overly complicated and lengthy trip from Montreal to the Pacific island Phu Cuoq:

I have finally obtained my long-awaited state of cathartic release. I feel overjoyed as I realize this, sitting on the beach of an island on the south-eastern coast of Vietnam. The last 48 hours, in addition to the last 4160 hours spent in gruesome mind-numbing rehabilitation, have been torturous. Fortunately, all of this only added to the catharsis.

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