Nomad Kim
30th Oct 2007Still Hanging Out in Torino Since I have been traveling, this is the longest stay in one place! By the time I leave Torino this weekend, I will have been here one month! And what a much needed relaxing month it has been. Torino is in the northwest of Italy and historically was the first capital until Rome took over. It was also the host of the Winter Olympics last year. Among tourists, it is known for its beautiful architectural buildings, as in old palaces and castles, and diversity in culture. Mind you, I didn`t know ANY of these important details before making the impulsive decision to come here. Unlike other tourists and backpackers, I never read up on any city or country that I am going to visit. Sometimes I will borrow a fellow backpacker`s travel guide and skim through the pages but then I always get quickly bored. I prefer to follow the wind, literally. I think that is what true traveling is about, following your instincts. ALL of my best experiences have been the manifestations of my unplanned instincts. I am always baffled by travelers who have their entire agenda well thought out and planned to the tiniest details! That method isn`t for me! In my last entry, I said that I wanted to fall in love with Italy and its people. Shortly after having written that, I started meeting so many people and after a month in Torino, I have fallen in love with both the country and the people. I understand the culture much better; I have learned how to cook pasta correctly (They actually weigh their pasta on a little scale. I quickly learned that I eat 100 grams, significantly more than the average person); everyone wants to teach me Italian; everyone wants me to teach them English; and I have visited many villages and cities nearby and I love them all. I have taken to drinking orzo after my meals. It is a substitution for coffee, made from barley. I love going to the open market and buying fresh fruits and vegetables from the local farmers. I have been VERY domesticated in Torino, a nice change from my crazy travel schedule. Finally I was able to spend many lazy days reading...the 1982 biography of Jane Fonda (it was either that or Moby Dick, the only 2 English books in my host`s home. I also wanted to challenge myself into changing my previous opinion of her but found myself reverting to my former opinion!) and now "Wild Swans," an autobiography about 3 generations of Chinese women who lived under Mao`s tyranny during Communist China. I have not wanted to travel with books because they just add more weight to my luggage! But I have been starving from reading so I bought this in Torino. When I was in Milan, I literally ate up "The Tipping Point" in under 24 hours. This new book is over 600 pages and I am halfway done already. I love to read and have missed it immensely while traveling. Geographically, Torino is in a perfet location! It is less than 2 hours from the Liguria sea coastline, which boasts many quaint, charming traditional Italian villages. It is a popular vacation or weekend getaway spot for the locals as well as other international tourists. Additionally, Torino is about 3 hours from the Cote D`Azur of Nice, Monte Carlo and Monaco, where I visited 3 weeks ago. The two coastlines are different from one another and each is breathtakingly gorgeous in its unique way. I wish all of you can see these beauties! I captured them with my digital camera, but you know sometimes cameras don`t do any justice in capturing the true essence of a place. I had always heard that Monaco is tiny and man, is it tiny or what!? Isn`t the whole point of being a king is to rule over millions of people??? I saw Monaco by night and couldn` take any pictures since my camera apparently didn`t come with a flash!??? (I was really confused about this) I laid out on the beach in Nice for 2 days and got a nice tan! I was very happy about this! The water was slightly cold but after a few minutes, you get used to it and then it feels so good and you are rejuvenated! When my host invited me to tag along with him on a photography assignment, I was eager to revisit Liguria and to see Nice, one city top on my list to visit. But I had no idea how lucky I was to have these amazing opportunities to visit another part of the world. The Cote D`Azur i(I am sorry I don`t know what the English name is for it) is home to the wealthy and is an extravagant area. Liguria is traditional, small and not opulent. I like them both. From the bedroom door in the home I am staying, I can see the Alps. One day as I was looking out the window, I did a double take at the sky because I couldn`t tell if I was looking at clouds or mountains! When I inquired about this, my host told me that the Alps had just gotten snow the day prior! So since we are in Italy, this side is the Italian Alps and directly on the other side is the French Alps. Amazing! And somewhere along is the Swiss Alps, I am sure! I can`t believe I am SO close to the Alps! When there are clouds in the sky, you can`t tell which part is the clouds and which part is the snow. Now, I look out the door regularly and just stare at the Alps. I saw the Swiss Alps while I was in Zurich but it was a scant view. This weekend, I am heading to Bordeaux, France, to visit longtime family friends who escaped Vietnam with me and my family. I didn`t know this specific detail until only a couple of weeks ago. My mom had told me at the beginning of my trip that I can rely on this family to help me out if I needed rescuing! She teased me incessantly about selling eggrolls with them on the beach (we later found out that it`s the market, not beach) so that I can make some extra money. I do not remember these friends but nonetheless it will be a very special reunion and my mother has been VERY eager for me to visit them. I am looking forward to eating Vietnamese food, speak Vietnamese, hear Vietnamese music, and joking in Vietnamese!!! Aside from missing America, I have missed the other important part of my self identity: my Vietnamese heritage! After a week in Bordeaux, I will take a 3 hour train to Paris and meet my friend Roldan who is coming all this way to visit me! We have been planning this adventure for months and I am very excited to have my dear, dear friend visit! I have adjusted to my homesickness but it will be just as comforting to have him with me. Roldan and I have a mutual passion for anything French so naturally we picked Paris, yet another city I wanted to visit 15 years ago. This is a time in my life when I am chasing all my dreams!
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