Welcome to Africa

This is definitely one of my most exciting experience in my life.

To set foot on Africa the first time, I have chosen a common way, crossing from Spain to Morocco. The adventure started right from the beginning. First it was the ferry. Supposedly we could take the first ferry from Algeciras, the port town in Southern Spain, to Tanger; which is just a matter of 2.5 hours. The 7am ferry didnt come, and people were stuck in the departure area, starting to grumble. Some Moroccans started to bang on the windows of the check-in counters, but the Spanish staff just couldnt be more carefree. Then the police came since there was a bit commotion, but they obviously couldnt care less. Of coz there is nothing they could do nor they did anything.

I attached to an American-speaking couple to get hold of the best of the situation, coz my Spanish would only help in normal non-emergency situations. The news was, the next ferry was 9 and thats the earliest we could take.

This first thing at the beginning of the day is already an experience itself, coz if anything like this happens in HK, people wouldnt have reacted like this, since it wont happen in the first place, or at least there would be announcements or the staff would try making things right at their very best.

Now I know I am entering another world. Welcome to Africa.

It was quite shocking as I landed the port of Tanger. Everything was in Arabic and French. But thats not the most different thing. The whole atmosphere was totally different.

To be honest, I was literally shocked when I entered the Medina, seeing the tower of the mosque and the people in the whitewashed narrow alleys. But then the whole experience was even scarier.

Picture this: two Asian looking guys in the most bustling area of port town of Morocco full of Muslims and occasional white tourists. Probably they havent seen Asians like us more than once in their whole life [except on TV], so we constantly heard konigiwa every 2 minutes. The look you get from some of them are actually quite scary, and its not just a single glance but a complete scan from head to toe then toe to head - twice. If its just one it would be scary, but call that exciting, or interesting, or scary if thats 5 glaring at you like that in an alien nation.

Morocco is Africa and Middle East rolled into one. It feels a bit unsafe at the beginning but the experience is rewarding. The exotic people, language, food and most imporantly, the logic things go by are all totally different.

Probably out of desperation in sucking Euros from the opposite shore, I felt that every single one in this shady port town was trying their best to make business in any way they could.

The hustle and bustle after dark was even tempting, and of coz I told myself to be ultra careful while contemplating my existence in such a surreal Abrabic kaleidoscope.

1 AUGUST 2007 Day 11 Lisbon

The tranquil sunshone monastery cloister plus the sea-like River Tejo plus the fortress that guards against invaders from Pacific plus monuments of sea voyages brought me back to the glorious days when Portugal were king over the world, far to our Macao. Well, I seemed to have seen another Macao. Or I should say, Macao is another mini Lisbon...oh that makes me fall in love with Macao...

Aventura Lisboa

31 JULY 2007 Day 10 Lisbon

The Pena Palace in Sintra evokes imagination like fairy tale princess plus a technicolor coat, with the only downside that it was almost closing so there isnt much time to take photos, but that was exactly the time the evening sun sets its gentle golden light on the facade, generating a dream that was almost surreal.

30 JULY 2007 Day 9 Porto -> Lisbon

The highlights of Lisbon were exploring the tiny cobbled alleys looking up to see Portugese flags up in the small balcony, people bustling by, grannies sitting at the doorway and kids running around for fun. This tiny neighborhood is full of life, you see how locals live their lives in great contrast to our busy city life in HK.

Watching the sunset at Castelo Sao Jorge strangely resembles the experience in Macao, only to find that here you can overlook the panoramic view of Lisbon at the verge of Pacific Ocean, instead of Zhuhai and the rest of mainland.

Squeezing into a mini Fado restaurant was the climax of the day, but seeing this music tradition doesnt recall any sadness which Fado is supposed to mean, probably becoz of the joyful din and magical ambience created by the Fado singers. Perhaps even more, Portugal has shaken off that sense of national greatness that faded away, and now it is embracing a modern face in new economy and thriving tourism.

On the edge of the land

29 JULY 2007 Day 8 Porto

Woke up refreshed in the music of Enya with the backdrop of church bells.

Couldnt be better embracing the sun, sea and wind at the coast of Pacific Ocean, ending the day with a Portugese meal in a tiny eatery with nice traditional decor.

28 JULY 2007 Day 7 Porto

With all the hassles in the morning we finally came to Porto. The flight was only 1 hour but the process that went before and after was much longer. Anyway, the plus was enjoying a beautiful flight low in the sky, seeing some interesting landscapes and immersed in the bright blue sky.

If you ve been to Macau, thats the feeling you get here. Comparing to Spain, here you feel a sense of being deserted middle of nowhere, probably becoz of the fact that this is the western end of the European continent, facing the Pacific Ocean.

Wandering through the cobbled stoned narrow alleys brought me back into centuries ago, and at the same time I feel like suddenly I realized my dream of being part of the picturesque scenery only seen in Lonely Planet.

It was almost 4pm when we set off, the sun is still high up in the sky of course, peoples lives go on as usual, and we re hungry to death (as usual too) having eaten nothing at all since the simple breakfast before the flight. So, we headed to a local restaurant (which was full of joyful din when we passed by at 2pm). The communication was totally, er, I should say, non-communication, broken down. With no knowledge in Portuguese I could barely understand the menu, only to guess some of the words which are similar to Spanish. After some moments of confusion (which, you could say, is why travelling is fun) we finally had Cozido a Portuguesa and Vileta Asada (which I guess are special meat dish in Portuguese style and oven baked meat plate). The portion was super generous, lots of bread, potatoes (baked and boiled) and veggie, and large portion of meat, consisting of.......pigs and chicken, parts unknown (dont get me wrong they didnt serve anything indecent, its my problem, not theirs, its just that I couldnt tell).

After devouring every delicious piece, cleaning the plate, it was almost 5pm, another surprise was it only cost 11 Euros - hey, for two! Actually, what was served was only the half portion. I was wondering, what about the full portion? Who eats such large dishes?

The 7th day of the trip ended in style with our deliberate effort of sun tanning on the beach at 6pm (the sun is still high up in the sky) and watching seagulls for fun. What came as a bonus was the reddish sky at sunset.

The real end was also a surprise when we roammed into the train station, only to discover the perfectly preserved facade and nicely decorated interior. I almost thought I was in a musuem, or travelled thro the time tunnel. If you have no idea of the word perfection, look at the blue and white tiles (azulejos in Portuguese) and in the interior part it seems to bring you back at least 1000 years ago, when Portuguese were king of the world...............................(correct me if I m wrong)

The only thing is, I found the people difficult to communicate with, just like Spain, but in Spain I can stuttle a few Spanish phrases, and here in Portugal ? I am dumb. Tomorrow I will bring my Lonely Planet phrase book.

Anyway, the outing was the tiring but its worth it for sure. Love it!