 A typical off-season cafe scene in downtown Vrysses, Island of Crete, Greece, about a 35-minute walk downhill from where I live. The non-bustling, one-road village serves residents in the surrounding foothills of the White Mountains.
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 That's Tav the dog, whose daily delight is setting a brisk pace for our morning walk-and-run on the hilly roads where we live. ,Following is a series of photos taken with one hand while hanging onto the leash of my personal trainer and fitness master with the other, on our daily morning walk-and-run through the rural Cretan landscape.  The morning sun climbs over the mountains to warm the valley.  Not much land is left where you can still plant a few olive or fruit trees.  A few row houses on a busy turn of the road.  From the Grapes of Heaven, comes wine.  A typically handsome stone house.  A weathered door in an old stone wall.  Looking over the valley toward the White Mountains.  A local Greek Orthodox Church.  A stand of flowers over a low stone wall.  The end of our walk. Life is good!  “The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man.” -- Albert Einstein My son Mackey recently sent this photo of me overlooking the grandeur of Colca Canyon, Peru. We hiked together there more than two years ago, but I'd never seen this photo until now. It reminded me of the above quotation from Einstein about religiousness, sentiments I truly felt in those unforgettably inspiring moments in Colca Canyon.
Thanks to Mackey, I'm sharing this warm remembrance with friends around the world on this chilly morning in Greece, the first day of December 2019. Life is good, enjoy!  A monument in the center of the village of Vrisses, commemorating the 1897 revolt that led to Crete's autonomy. Day 3 (11/16/19) I was a minute late for the planned 7a.m. walk and started out on my own to find Dimitrius, Christine and Tav the dog. It was a gorgeous, crisp, cool morning, sun rising through the trees and over the mountains. I got lost on the unfamiliar, winding roads, but eventually found my friends. Walked for an hour up and down the hills of the narrow, twisty rural roads among the olive trees and homes scattered about below the White Mountains peaks. Came back and chatted with Christine over hot fresh home-brewed ginger tea on the sunny outdoor deck overlooking the valley before going to the neighbor’s house down the road where I helped Babis, harvest olives. It’s pretty hard work, the kind of work these hardy Greek men my age and older do regularly. The kind of work that persuaded me as a youth that my future lay somewhere other than agriculture.  "These are my father's trees, said Babis. "I love these trees." We used hand-held mechanical harvesters that are like weedeaters with several flexible plastic rods that jerk back-and-forth to shake the olives safely from out of their trees to make olive oil. We waded into the trees and indeed the small olives fell unharmed onto the large tarps that we placed on the ground. We’d remove the sticks and leaves, gather the olives together in a tarp, and pour them into 40kg (88lb) burlap bags. They were ready for pressing at the factory in the nearby village of Vrisses.  A rainbow blessing Monday in the olive orchard behind YesCrete Retreat, where I'm living, on the island of Crete.  One of the roads leading to the villa I'm caring for on the island of Crete. More than two weeks ago I arrived at Chania airport on the island of Crete, the largest island in Greece, where I'm caretaking a villa.
I took a chance on this trip, not knowing what I was getting into when responding to a travel forum solicitation for someone to take care of the property, which includes a dog and a cat, for 11 weeks from mid-November through January. I was thousands of miles away in Malaysia when I started corresponding with the owners, a young, American ex-pat couple. The photos they posted were gorgeous and we seemed to work well together online, so I was inclined to go for it after a lengthy stay in Southeast Asia, just for the change. Still, you never know, right? They didn't know me either. But we played our hunches, struck a deal, and I booked my flights. Now I'm so glad I did. What a wonderful place to be!  A monster cumulus cloud on the horizon at dusk points the way for my Air Malaysia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok on Tuesday. The photo was taken from my window seat on the second of five separate flights over 36 hours of travel to the Island of Crete, Greece. Amazingly, I made all my connections and lost nothing along the way. Now I'm now enjoying life in the Mediterranean far more than I imagined I would. Stories and photos from my first few days here will come shortly.
 The pool at Yes Crete Retreat, where I'll be until February. The Island of Crete: Breathtaking beauty, ancient architecture, world-class history and culture, the Mediterranean, fabulous food, and the birthplace of Zeus, King of the Gods!
Greece has been on my mind for a long time, but I was never sure how southern Europe was going to fit my itinerary.  Here are three photos from one of my favorite places, the Kinabatangan River in Sukau, Sabah, Malaysia, where there's an abundance of wildlife and beauty abounds. The photos received a gratifying reaction recently from subscribers to the Facebook forum, "My Beautiful Sabah: The Crown of Borneo," so I thought I'd also share them here.   I am now counting down the days in Malaysia before I begin a new chapter in my travels. After an eventful three months in Malaysia, I'm leaving Nov. 12 for my next destination, one I haven't mentioned before, but a place I've always wanted to go. The opportunity came suddenly so my previous plans for trekking through Indonesia are currently on the shelf. Even the best-laid plans can change fast and often. I'm very excited and will post again soon on where I'm going. Meanwhile, I'll end this post with a quote from the the multi-talented Shel Silverstein, best known for his children's books, but also an accomplished travel writer, who wrote: "Comfortable shoes and the freedom to leave are the two most important things in life." It's among a number of new additions to my collection of travel Quotes For The Road.
Enjoy!  My intrepid partner Cathy and I, seated second from the back, along with our crew, navigate the roiling treachery of the mighty Kiulu!!! My Kota Kinabalu friend Cathy and I went rafting down the Kiulu River on a pleasant Saturday in Sabah, Malaysia last week.
 I don’t know where you can get a better taste of traditional, native Sabah foods than at one of my favorite eateries in Kota Kinabalu.
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Quotes For A Good Life On The Road
"Smile a lot, talk to strangers, accept all invitations, eat everything offered.”
-- Sage advice from Rita Golden Gelman, author of Tales of a Female Nomad, an inspiring story of how a dramatic change of life led to her travels around the world, one of the first books I read on my journey. Now see my complete collection of travel quotes online by clicking "Quotes For The Road" under "More" in the menu above.
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Solas "Best Travel Writing" Awards
Bronze Winner
Elder Division Saysha: What Happened? 13th Annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing (Read it here) *** 
More About Me?
I'm a retired journalist from Hawaii who tired quickly of retirement and hit the road as a slow, solo world traveler in August 2016. I've spent time in 19 countries on four continents and right now I'm enjoying life on the Island of Crete, Greece. I've been interviewed about my travels by Nomadic Matt, and Expat Focus, and here's a great story by veteran Borneo newsman and prolific author James Ritchie about our meeting in Kuching, titled, A Confluence of Adventure Writers . Also online ...
GARIFUNA SETTLEMENT DAY CELEBRATION Still the most authentic, lively and colorful local cultural festival I've seen on the road. SELVAMONOS I found this Alternative Arts and Music Festival in the Amazon highlands of Peru. What a find! ANIQUEM Here's how I found a friend and discovered what's real in a Lima, Peru, neighborhood. PROMISES, PROMISES My partner and I were left high and dry in this Siem Reap Rip. Be careful! |
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