The city with a thousand faces

It is obvious that Zagreb hides a lot of secrets. The best coffee bars seem to be hiding from pedestrians and are only accessible to you if you dare to enter a not so promising courtyard. The best sculptures appear only when you look up. The most surprising architecture in the shapes of domes and pointy towers are only visible if you dare to take some perspective and time to find them. Zagreb is a city full of secrets and it seems like it has so many that I will never learn all of them.

This is why I decided to do something I rarely do, try to join a local guide hoping she/he would unveil some of these secrets and this is when I found Secret Zagreb. I took two of their tours and I left knowing a lot more about Zagreb and at the same time feeling that I would never be able to reach all the secrets the city is hiding. Here are some of the weird things I learn, and I hope they will be intriguing enough that you will decide to visit Zagreb soon.

• Dragons: I heard that now in Game of Thrones there needs to be an image of a dragon in every episode, otherwise they lose audience. Well, if you are part of the dragon madness you definitely need to visit Zagreb, there are plenty of dragon stories for you, including a secret society.
• There sculptures of planets spread out through the city that you can find, they are situated in proportional distance to the sun that is in the center of Zagreb. There is a map that tells you where they are. This is just one of the examples of tours that you can do by yourself. Zagreb seems to be a perfect city where you can organize your own quest, I think you could do other self-guided tours looking for:

• Theatrical faces coming out of buildings
• Graffiti
• Masonic symbols
• Mansions
• Cast iron work
• Sculptures
• And certainly 100 million tours about architecture; the city has a lot of variety!

• Zagreb is a city that has welcomed a lot of expats, what does this city that attracts foreigners? I think that even though is not a big metropolis, Zagreb has many faces: there is the preppy Zagreb, the Austrian Zagreb, the socialist Zagreb, the sweat pants Zagreb, artistic Zagreb,… another example of a place that has been part of different empires and that has a had a very absorbing culture that today leads to a very diverse society.
• The key to partly understand Etruscan society resides here.
• It is part of the Croatian character to complain about everything. During the tour we saw some examples of the society complaining about things that for today’s eyes are perfectly beautiful, like a nice fountain in the middle of a park. Do they complain and that gives them energy to excel? Do they complain and just keep complaining without advancing? Not sure yet, I think I will write more about this topic in the future because it is certainly interesting.

I hope I convinced you. More stories from Zagreb coming soon!!!!

Read More

10 influences

I am taking a Coursera class and they ask us our 10 most important influences, motors, builders and destroyers in my life. Here we go:

Tintin:

http://us.tintin.com/
The possibility to explore the world

Dr Slump anime:

From Arale I take the colours, the absurdity and the happiness.

Gilda:

From Gilda I take the capacity to dare to be different.

Jana Sterbak

http://www.janasterbak.com/

From her I take the boldness and the possibility of uglyness

Born to run:

I take the strenght to GO

Mies van der Rohe:

http://www.archdaily.com/59816/ad-classics-iit-master-plan-and-buildings-mies-van-der-rohe/
My notion of beauty

Jaume Plensa

http://jaumeplensa.com/
Power from the calm

Miquel Barceló

How it is important to know one's nature and explore it so things come easier.

Maus by Art Spiegelman:

I haven't been able to put my jaw back in place since I read it.

South East Asia:

And how they make things look pretty.

Read More

Humour and Airlines: Thank you for paying attention to our safety presentation

In school it was clear, the teacher that caught our attention the most was the one that was unpredictable, passionate and funny. Today for the first time I listed to 2 different safety presentations in airplanes:

Delta Airlines, Domestic flight

The plane was small and had no screens so the flight attendant made all the explanation and added some things like this:

• "In case of emergency, first stop screaming, then pull the mask..."
• "During this really long flight to..." (flight is about 30 min)
• When demonstrating how to use the seat belt he did it in slow motion
• "If you have any complains or commentaries you are welcome to contact us via our webpage and you can also keep them to yourself"
• After we landed: "be careful when opening the compartments and get out of here!"

Delta Airlines, International flight

A little bit more low key, but still great because it catches people's attention, here's a version of the video they showed:

Thanks Delta Airlines for making the experience a little bit more relaxing!

Read More

On how Asia reminds me of my childhood: Excitement

Cycling around Asia is a great way to see the real life. You can go on an organized tour or you can go by yourself, most of the places are very safe and people are extremly curious about you.

When you cycle in small towns kids get extremely excited. Here's some of the situations:

• Moms with babies waiving at you, starting to teach the kid to say "Hello"
• Kids so little they don't even know what to do, they just stare at you with their mouth wide open.
• If you look at the front yard of the house, you might see little kids going to get their big brother because they want to go by the road and say hello to you.
• Kids screaming "Hello", "What is your name?", "Wellcome to Malaysia!".
• Kids picking up their old rusty bikes and racing you.
• Shy girls smilling at you and waiving from their bikes.
• Teenagers getting out of school and trying to block your way or do stupid things.
• And the most painfull but also the best, High fives! Yes, high fives are back.

When I was little every summer there was a race going on and they would go through my grandparent's house. We would be waiting for them for hourss, to see the cyclist, to cheer at them and to get the beach balls and other merchandising that they were giving away.

Going through the little villages and hearing the kids with their "hello, hello" made me think of what I looked like when I was little.


The picture that ilustrates this post was taken by somebody I don't remember with Max's camera during our trip from Saigon to Hanoi in Vietnam.

Here's other reasons why Asia reminds me of my childhood:
Everything is under construction and there are lots of flowers
Sun drying food and stone tables 
Poorly paved roads and reusing stuff

Read More

Do not talk to strangers

Being a woman and travelling half of the time alone in Asia is not easy. I am going to write some posts about women related safety issues, here's the first one, I thought of this when talking with some female friends who are also travellers but they haven't been in Asia alone.

Do not talk to strangers

When I was little my parents told me not to talk to strangers and this worked out for me pretty well until I moved to Asia. People here are so nice and so curious about you that they want to get to know. The ways of showing this curiosity go from:

• Honking at you from their mortorbikes or cars
• Saying "Hi", smiling and moving their heads when you walk by
• Rolling down the window and screaming things like "Welcome to my country!"
• Stopping their car in the middle of the road at 11pm when they see you walking on a direction that makes no sense.
• Asking you where you are from when you are walking on the street.
• Showing you the places where they like to eat (this applies everywhere we have been but not Thailand).

Do not take food from strangers

 Again, I know I shouldn't take food or drinks from people I don't know, but some of the best experiences that I have had are because people gave me food or drinks as presents. Here's some of the best examples:

• Bringing you drinks when you share a long bus ride with somebody.
• Giving you fruits that they picked from their gardens
• Inviting you to coffees, even if they don't talk to you and they just seat in the table next to yours
• Inviting you to have tea with them and chat for hours
• Bringing you a birthday cake with candle included because they heard it was your birthday

So if people are so nice and so warm, how am I supposed to not talk to strangers and not take food and drinks from people I don't know?

Read More

Vacaciones en los alpes franceses: Grenoble, 2011

El verano pasado pasé mis vacaciones en Grenoble cerca de los Alpes franceses, una ciudad preciosa y totalmente recomendable. Dormí en la carabana llamada James que una família muy especial me dejó. Digo que son una família especial porqué entre muchas cosas, han viajado por muchos sitios del mundo en un Tandem, este es su sueño. Les encontré gracias a CouchSurfing y siempre les estaré agradecida porqué son una gran inspiración de como es posible vivir la vida a la medida de cada uno. Aquí va la ilustración. En el margen derecho podemos su tandem :-)

Read More

Sydney sobre ratlles, 2010

Com podeu veure, Sydney em va agobiar una mica.

Read More

New Zealand 2010

Doncs s'han acabat les fotografies analògiques. Vaig aprovar fotografia a l'universitat gràcies al treball teòric, s'han d'acceptar les limitaciones que un té, disimular-les i potenciar les fortaleses. Així que a partir d'ara només hi haurà dibuixos de les aventures pel món.

Començem amb una aventura del 2010, la millor aventura de totes, Nova Zelanda amb la Maria.

Algunes coses que podem veure al dibuix:

• Falguera: sempre present a tot arreu a on vas del país. Quan més m'agrada no és quan ha crescut sino quan neix, fent espiral.
• Hei Tiki: figura que representa la fertilitat en la mitologia maorí i polinesia.
• Llacs, rius, muntanyes, volcans, glaciars... ai, si no podeu anar tant lluny aneu fins a Islandia que s'assembla molt!

Read More

Mes rêves en Asie :

Photo by www.albadanes.com

• Dans ce rêve je veux prendre le bus TEISA pour aller à Barcelona et je suis en retard. Il est très difficile d'arriver sur le lieu où le bus part et je suis très nerveuse. Ce rêve est le frère du rêve où je veux remettre le dernier projet à l'université pour obtenir mon diplôme.
• En cet rêve mon oncle est vivant. Ma tante est en vie aussi. Pendant les premières semaines ici, je rêvais de cette histoire plusieurs fois par semaine.
• Mes dents tombent. Ce rêve est partagé avec deux amis.
• Les troiss premieres moins ici, j'ai eu longues conversations seulement avec Alfredo et Robert, quand nous sommes allés au premier BBQ avec 20 personnes, je rêvais toute la nuit avec des gens qui parlent avec moi. Vraiment stressant ! 

S'il vous plaît, si vous parlez français aidez-moi à améliorer l'écriture, merci ! 

Read More

Paradise number 3: Pulau Langkawi

After Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Tioman, the third paradise is Pulau Langkawi in the Adaman sea. Some facts about Langkawi:

• Malays eager for consumism, shops and Duty free items love it.
• We meet a lot of very well travelled people that advised us not to come to Langkawi.
• We stayed in Langwaki for over a month, yes, we don't like to be told what to do or where to go. :-P
• This might be the only paradise with a road in it.
• Underneath the surface of a very tourist island, we found two things:
• An amazing expat community that welcomed us inmediately and made our stay in Langkawi a fantastic, unforgetable time. We are so thankful for that!
• Locals living in their kampung houses, going to school and doing their business like everywhere else, I mean this is still their country. I say this because we were told that there where just a few malays in Langkawi!!!
• The water is not clear like in Perhentian and Tioman but the beaches are fantastic and the lake too. 
• There is jellyfish so it is always an adventure to go swimming!
• But for us Langkawi will always be the place where we meet great people that love boats, the sea and travelling! Thanks!

Read More

Taking photos with us

Picture taken by the Rogge Master in Merdeka Sq KL

This was the first man that asked us to take a picture with him, this is what we thought in order of appearence:

• That he didn't speak good english and that what he really wanted was us to take a picture of him. We soon discovered that we were wrong, not only he wanted to take a picture WITH us, but he wanted us to take off our sunglasses so his friends and family would see our eyes.
• That he wanted to steal from us. This is our second day in Malaysia and we were coming from Barcelona, I hope malays can forgive us.
• That he was out of his mind, I mean, he only had some teeth left and was all alone wearing a pink shirt! Not only he was not out of his mind but he was a very nice and friendly guy.

The next day, while walking on a Park we got asked by a group of people from Singapore and today I got asked by a couple from Sudan. The funny thing is that they always have special requirements: take off your sunglasses so we can see your eyes, pose here, pose there, or even to take a photo with you on your bikini so everybody can see how fair your skin is! :-) I love cultural exchange!

Read More

Vacances

Aquests dies estem a Langkawi, una illa al nord de Malàisia que és anunciada a nivell nacional i internacional com al millor lloc a on anar de vacances. Això fa que hi hagi molt turisme però té un efecte positiu fantàstic i que no havíem trobat a cap altre lloc: la gent té moltes ganes de passar-s'ho bé.

Quan viviem en altres llocs a on la gent no anava de vacances sinó que hi havia gent local i backpackers-cobradors-de-prestacions-d'atur la gent estava relaxada, passant els dies amb poc interès i endinsats en el que és la quotidianitat. A Langkawi tinc la sensació de que la gent actua com si el món s'acabes. És la sensació aquella de saber que només tens 1 setmana de vacances a l'any i que t'ho has de passar molt bé. Els diners no són un obstacle perquè res pot arruïnar les teves vacances així que vius a tope. És com viure en una illa a on tothom està eufòric i obert a tot. Això si, si alguna cosa no funciona els turistes s'enfaden molt perquè només tenen 1 setmana, però en general són una companyia molt agradable.

Aquí hi ha pocs turistes blanquets com nosaltres, la majoria de turistes són parelles de Sudan, Emirats Àrabs, Dubai, Pakistan,... en lluna de mel. Ens encanta aquesta versió feliç de Platja d'Aro!

Read More

Paradis numéro deux: Pulau Tioman

Nous avons visité Pulau Tioman il y a trois ans pendant la basse saison et cette année quand nos amis Arantxa et Iñigo ont décidé de visiter la Malasie, nous sommes allées là parce que Tioman est le meilleur endroit pour faire de la plongé et pour se détendre.
Mes raisons pour aimer Tioman :

• Les plages sont fantastiques, mais il fault faire attention aux oursins !
• Si on prend un bateau, on peut voir le corail vert, violet, rouge... et beaucoup de poisson-clown, des seiches et d'autres animaux maritimes plus beaux.
• Il y a une piste qui connecte des plages et on peut aller d'excursion et se baigner sur des plages désertiques.
• Il y a une plage peu profonde qui s'appelait Monkey Bay où nous avons vu un requin plus proche de la plage que nous. 

S'il vous plaît, si vous parlez français aidez-moi à améliorer l'écriture, merci ! 

Read More

Having a scooter

My friends from Olot probably remember me in my Honda PXR, what a great bike that was! Nothing to compare with Gerard's Vespino, Arantxa's Jog or Caixas' scooter inhered from his older brother. :-P
Right now we are in the beautiful island of Langkawi where there are roads, so we have rented a scooter. Here's some things I forgot about riding a motorbike:

• The sensation of freedom that you get, it all came back to me
• How fast you can get to everywhere
• How much fun it is to pass all the cars in a traffic light and be the first one to go
• While I am riding the schooter I always sing this old song from Cristina y los subterraneos, how weird is that?

I cannot help to insert a video of Nanni Moretti riding his Vespa in Rome in Caro Diario, I love that movie!

Read More

Feliz Wesak!

El sábado 5 de Mayo coincidiendo con la luna llena de Mayo, tuvimos la suerte de presenciar una procesión budista que se hace para celebrar el nacimiento de Buda. Las comunidades budistas de cada ciudad preparan la desfilada y cada agrupación tiene una carroza decorada con motivos religiosos y florales, durante la procesión los participantes cantan, rezan, reparten flores y caramelos. Las agrupaciones más afortunadas llevan a un monje que bendice con agua bendita a los asistentes.

La procesión empieza en el templo y termina en el mismo templo. Las distintas agrupaciones escogen temas para el desfile, algunas religiosas como Buda debajo el árbol o Buda en el mar mientras que otras agrupaciones optan por representaciones no-religiosas como carruajes con dragones (aprovechando que es el año del dragón), con vestidos tradicionales nyonya, vestidos tailandeses, disfrazados de dinastías chinas, etc...
La mayoría de los asistentes eran malayos de origen chino. Para poder participar en la procesión no se tiene que ser budista, de hecho algunas de las comparsas eran de escuelas católicas pero si se decide hacer la procesión con el tono religioso, se debe comer solamente vegetariano durante el mes antes de la lluna llena y no se puede comer ajo ni beber alcohol.

Como se puede ver en las fotos, se respiraba un ambiente de felicidad y bienestar. La única nota negativa fue que la policía y las autoridades, mayoritariamente musulmanas, no cortaron el tráfico, de forma que la procesión de 63 carrozas que normalmente dura entre una y dos horas se alargó hasta 5 horas. Los coches pasaban entre carroza y carroza, no dejaban hacer las coreografías a los participantes y los espectadores estábamos bastante frustrados por estar en medio de un atasco, incluso algunos coches pitaban!

Durante la procesión nos acompañó una joven malaya de origen chino y budista de religión que ese año no podía participar porqué estaba en sus días impuros (o sea que tenía la regla), nos explicó muchas cosas sobre el budismo y nos prestó algunos libros en inglés para poder aprender más de esta religión. Después de leerlos llegué a la conclusión de que puedo aprender muchas cosas del budismo ya que tiene valores muy importantes y que me pueden ayudar a ser una mejor persona, pero sigo incapaz de seguir los dictámenes de una religión ya que veo demasiadas libertadas cortadas al ser devoto, así que continuaré atea.

Read More

Begudes

Llet de soja amb gengibre

Coconut shake amb Lin-lin i amiga

Aquí la varietat de begudes és al.lucinant. Us faig una petita guia:

• Sucs de fruita naturals de xíndria, meló, pataya amb llimona, lima, pinya, mango,...
• Llet de soja amb prunes, amb gengibre, amb ginseny o amb te d'herbes!
• Llet de coco
• Shakes, o sigui llet amb gelat. La versió india sería el Lassi, o sigui sucs de fruita amb iogurt.
• Refrescs com els que ja coneixem però amb versions locals
• Com que la majoría de la gent és musulmana, no es veu gaire alcohol però a les illes es veu molta cervesa i sempre amb llaunes. :-(
  
• Te, un altre dia us explicaré l'experiencia de la cerimónia del te



Llet de coco a Singapore

• L'aigua de l'aixeta es pot beure si la bulls primer, el que no podeu fer és veure aigua de les fonts que hi ha al mig dels parcs o sinò tindreu molt mal de panxa.

Read More

Paradis numéro un: Perhentian (Pulau Besar)

Pendant notre voyage, nous avons visité beaucoup d'endroits fantastiques, mais ce sont des îles que j'aime le plus.

Ici je parle de la première île où nous sommes restés une longue saison, Pulau Perhentian et des raisons pour aimer cette île :

• Pendant le mois du Fébrier, l'île est complètement désertique. 
• Si on nage deux minutes, on peut faire de la plongée avec tuba et voir beaucoup de poissons aux couleurs vives.
• La plage est paradisiaque. Dans la jungle il y a des singes, des serpents et beaucoup de lézards. 
• Il n'y a pas de rue ou routes pavé.

S'il vous plaît, si vous parlez français aidez-moi à améliorer l'écriture, merci ! 

Read More

Killing little animals

Robert asked me to show my killer face and I did. This photo was taken seconds after I had gone into "killer mode" and killed a very big spider, it took me five hits to kill it, it was so scared! That same night I killed one cockroach, one small bug without a name and one little animal that was something between a baby rat and a baby lizard, it was just born so it was hard to know what it was. I felt so bad that I decided not to kill anymore animals and I haven't since then. :-)

Read More

Bibliotecas

 Una de mis cosas favoritas cuando voy a una ciudad es visitar la biblioteca municipal. Estas fotos están tomadas de la biblioteca pública que hay en Jonker Street en Malacca, en el barrio chino. Esta biblioteca es preciosa. En la entrada hay un montón de libros de difusión gratuita, cuando entras hay el mostrador con la bibliotecaria y una pequeña sala con una fuente, con sus piedrecitas y sus tortuguitas de cerámica. Al fondo una mesa de lectura. Muy sobrío y agradable.
Aquí mis bibliotecas favoritas:

• Dipòsit de les Aigües (UPF Ciutadella, Barcelona) proyectada por Josep Fontseré y rehabilitada por Lluís Clotet y Ignacio Paricio 
• Bibliothèque municipale de Rochefort, France
• Bibioteca de la Fundació Tàpies (Barcelona) proyectada por Lluís Domènech i Muntaner
• Biblioteca pública de Seattle, US de Rem Koolhaas

Me he olvidado de alguna?

Read More

Casetes

Com ja sabeu ens agrada quedar-nos varies setmanes en els llocs que ens agraden. Aquestes fotos són d'un poblet que es diu Cherating a on ens hi vam quedar gairebé dues setmanes. En aquest cas l'allotjament era una cabanya amb una habitació, WC+dutxa i un porxo amb una taula desplegable i dues cadires. Perquè entengueu una mica més com vivim us explico les coses que mirem quan busquem allotjament:

• Perfecte cobertura de la companyia telefònica d'aquí que es diu Celcom i així podem utilitzar el nostre internet portàtil.
• El llit no pot tenir animalets ni humitat.
• Si és en una ciutat ha de tenir aire condicionat i si no és a la ciutat un ventilador.
•  Ha de tenir una taula i cadires per treballar.
• No pot ser un prostíbul.

Read More