~thatman

A disclaimer first: thanks for all the comments on my work...I read all of them...but internet time is slightly limited...so please don't be offended when I don't re-comment...you know what I mean.

Yesyesyes...another border is to be crossed...this time from Turkey into Syria.

Sooner or later I'll end up in Iran, the home of such amazing poets such as Al-Ghazzali or Khayyam who lived some 900 years ago...if you're looking for someone who is critical of the power of religion read Khayyam's account about heaven and hell:

I do not know at all whether he who moulded me
Made me one of the inhabitants of Heaven or Hell
A bowl of wine, a beautiful woman and music in a garden,
Give me these in cash and you can take Heaven in credit.

or:

If you do not drink wine do not speak about drinkers sarcastically
Do not lay a foundation of deceits and tales.
Do not be proud for not drinking.
You devour one hundret mouthfuls, so that my drinking is nothing in comparrison.

Or Farid ud-Din Attar:

Give up the intellect for love and see
In one brief moment all eternity

Just in case you're a bit tired by the same old same old...look to the east and find some writers like Muhammad Baqir Khalkhali (in 'The Book of Foxes') so violently attacks the hypocrecies of the the mullahs and the religious establishment....

Anyways. Back to today...

Today I celebrated the 150th day of this trip. With some chai looking over the sea. The most remarkable thing of this trip turned out to be the fact that I've travelled for almost half a year and true...wait a second...12 countries without having paid for a single night's sleep. No hostal or hotel (except those few nights at the Hilton in Istanbul...which I had been invited for), either sleeping rough or at some nice persons' home. That's remarkable because it tells me that there are lots and lots of kind people out there who love to give some kindness to a traveller. To add the fact that I generally hitchhike makes it even more stunning... I live of the generosity of strangers and boy it's an amazing life.

What else to tell...there's too much. The thousands of teas I shared with those lovely people I met in Turkey in the last few weeks...that evil guy (or girl) in Greece that stole my hard drive so I lost some 900 photos of which I hadn't made a back-up yet (but easy come easy go as my friend Tom always said...), the sun that is kicking out the cold that crept into my bones in the freezing winter in the Balkans, the Turkish I'm learning yavas, yavas, the cries of the muezzin that seems so part of my daily life, my new found love to the best product since bread came slized ayran, endless walks through unknown cities, the so comfortable feeling of Lily (my backpack) on my back, strolling through the ruins of ancient civilisations, sleeping on the beach, being offered a tea by Ozgur, my current provider of a safe resting place for Lily and me, the strange songs that stick in my mind, the amazing scenery of some secluded cove along the beach, the notes in my book that seem to become longer and longer and crazier and crazier...

It's the love that makes me move.

Soon I'll put some more photos online...

lots of love...you have to do it to feel it and yes...you can do it too...just be brave for a minute. A single minute...