111 people I met in the last 3 months and what they told me

I travel alone. Many people ask me if I feel lonely sometimes. The answer is NEVER. The reason is simple, every time I want to talk, I talk! There's ALWAYS some friendly people around available for a chat.

I used a subjective selection criteria here. I list people I chatted just for a few minutes and people with whom I spent several days. All these 111 people are "meaningful to me". Next time I want to list also non-verbal meaningful people. A traveller learns a lot by simply watching. For example, the first Chinese I saw farting in a restaurant ;-)

(this is just a memory helper for me, I don't really care about listing/counting people)

Here it goes:

Cairo, Egypt

- Kamel and Hirschan, two Egyptian students, I met them on the pyramids, they told me about their student life in Cairo. When we walk on the street, one of them holds my hand as a sign of protection ("I have to protect you from the Egyptian girls"). This was the biggest sign I saw of the local becoming the Other (as opposed to the traveller becoming the local), as we walked the streets of Cairo, this young man was feeling a foreigner, he was in my skin, he thought how he could survive if he was in my place, how would he walk around, read signs, communicate to locals, he was afraid of being me, of becoming me, he holds my hand, I will protect you! When I walked my way away from them he told me: "you are very smart" as I read "I couldn't survive the way you do, this is a jungle for a foreigner."

Dahab, Egypt

- English Douglas, "you just need little money, all you need is food and shelter, and people will give you that", "it depends what you want to do with your life"

- dutch manager, about Muslim prayer times, "man needs rhythm and rules"

- retired 35 years old, ex software free lancer, "I don't know what I am gonna do but I am not going back, let's see what happens to my money"

- Synbad host, "my wife is mine, I don't want to share it!"

- Makmud, friendly Egyptian student that spends his weekend in Dahab, swims, snorkels and sleeps on the beach

- the Russian couple in the beach of Dahab that talk to me in Russian

- Mohamed and Mustafa that shows me his sons pictures on the bus stop, so friendly!

- 50 young Egyptians who camp in St.Katherine and hike the mountains of the Sinai. Religious young adults that pray, sing, laugh and walk together.

(10) - 3 Irish guys that were 2 years in Namibia volunteering and were n ow going back home to Ireland, by land!!! (Namibia is just north of South Africa)

Nuweiba, Egypt

- Indian Prassana, going back from the US where he studied and worked, to India where he will find his business. He speaks about modern and educated Indian culture, Indian women and men, families, dreams and social expectations

- Mat Freeman, the new generation hippie that smokes pot, teaches me the anarchic way: ideology and life. Lives around London in a truck made into a house, the unity of the universe, the in-existence of the state and its contracts. "this passport is just paper", "i am not the legal entity that someone named Mat, I am not that entity, a signature in a document is a act of faith".

- Anna Moon plays the guitar and sings, enchants everyone, rainbow member, hippie! Mat's girlfriend.

- smiling Fahed, plays the Egyptian sitar and sings exotically, uses a traditional white cloth and a red scarf

- Assan and the older guy who smoke so much pot. They are so happy by the beach of Nuweiba listening to Fahed

- German student Monika lives in Tel Aviv studying Hebrew, independent 18 year old is couchsurfing on a couch right on the beach

- Californian restaurant owner, ex-hippie, sounds like he took too many drugs when he was young but his voice is incredible sweet and his inner peace invades me. He and his wife used to grow and sell marijuana in the USA.

- English George, 60 years old. He travels by bike from Sarhm el-Sheik to Manchester "my children are older than you". That day he could "only" do 70kms because it was windy (major inspiration for my bike trip).

- English Navid is a Pharmacist on vacation, second generation Pakistanese

Wadi Rum, Jordan

(20) - Jon, very young french electrician and nageur salvateur, peaceful and friendly he teaches me his ways of living, the beach and the good things of life

- Ben, le basque de bayonne, the friendliest guys I met here, helps me with my french and teaches me his Muslim curiosity and his intense interaction with all people, "mais c'est beaux ici!"

- two Moroccans, they speak french and travel Jordan speaking Arabic with everyone, not friendly but interesting

- Ali, the small desert restaurant owner (and his young helper... Ali) is a friend in 5 minutes, tells us about his inner concerns, about life, time, Islam, women and his passions. "I want to give time!"

Petra, Jordan

- Scottish guy, 20 years living in a van in Holland is focused on small details of travelling, the ruins, the people, very curious, very shy, he is around 50 years old

- German gentleman looks for women around the world, his son lives in Germany with his Peruvian wife just a few blocks from him, divorced, used to collect gems from all around the world. Some years later sold the complete collection.

- Danish girls are watched by Jordanians while they bath in the dead sea, friendly but absolutely unaware

Amman, Jordan

- Japanese philosopher that studied Heidegger but is not able to talk about it, tells me about Japanese life and culture

- Japanese artist shows me his works, interesting paintings, "how can a Japanese artist survive in Japan?"

- hostel owner is Palestinian, has 13 brothers but he is the only one with Jordanian passport. A smart guy!

Israel

(30) - English Sam likes beer and bars, second generation Indian emigrant lives in London, we had fun in Tel Aviv!

- Irish master planner Leslie, makes water and power plans for cities in undeveloped countries, works in Dubai

- Pat, American troop, speaks of how Arabs are different from him, how democracy should be implemented everywhere, why the Americans are good and the war is necessary! Clear and simple.

- Justin, is a product manager in California, very friendly acknowledges that things are not so simple as Pat puts it, together they show me the American point of view on the situation

- Israeli model, "Portugal is in south Africa, right?"

- Israeli guy, "everyone wants to get out of here and you come here to have fun!" (about tel aviv)

- Israel receptionist, "Life is nice. You get used to it."

- Cambridge middle eastern studies student is very young but already looks and sounds like an English diplomat, fluent Arabic and Hebrew

- bald Israeli is very friendly and takes us on a bar tour

Damascus, Syria

- French Laurent, reads and writes, works as a teacher in France 6 month per year, takes amazing pictures and speaks of life, people, travels, women... very interesting

(40) - Spanish Adriana, quits her publicity job and gets into a international career with a master in international development, very interested in the Colombian situation, goes to Beirut to study public health

- Californian Steve plays ukulele and smokes pot

- American Mat, formed member of the American communist party. His unique way of speaking, curiosity and his way of reacting to things make him an absolutely unique person!

- Iraqi Raki is obsessed with muscles and women but speaks of his father, an Iraqi politician and his Turkish life

- German Fru Ki is interested in Portuguese music

- German Genet who bites everyone

- Norwegian Christian likes surfing in Portugal

- Funniest Norwegian Ola dances like a robot and makes everyone laugh with his ways

- Slovenian Tadej biked Africa and now para-glides in Asia, writes to magazines and is inquisitive

- Slovenian Sasha, also para-glides in Asia. This couple is very friendly and shines with serenity

(50) - Australian Tom is bored with is trip around the world

- Australian Tirita looks like a native from New Zealand

Lebanon

- young American Max is a composer and musician, left the states with 17, he is now 21 living in Lebanon, "french music sucks, except Debussy who is the father of jazz"

- Italian Tulio, the guy everyone talks about works in a bar and is obsessed with feet. First thing he said to me "do you life feet?"

- Italian Lucia likes manifestations and is passionate about her life

- Lebanese Jean is a great host and tells us about his country

- Czech Matej is 23, quit is management job and goes around the world in a quest for "what the hell is this?"

- Lebanese Tony sells hot dogs in Beirut but sounds like an American from the 50s, strong American accent, mafia in Beirut

- young Swedish guy that looks Arab has blue eyes and curly hair, one of the most interesting faces I saw in this trip

Syria

- American Claire, PhD in history of sexuality in the European middle ages tries to go to Iraq by bike but does not succeed, stays in east Syria and goes back to Aleppo where she sells her bike, she travels with her stuff in a garbage plastic bag (she is the main inspiration for my bike trip)

(60) - French Philosopher Sebastien doesn't like Gilles Deleuze and, probably for the same reason, he is not very interested in talking about his philosophy. Travels slowly by bike and shows, with no words, that his Philosophy is travelling with him!

- Sebastien's friend is younger and friendly, he is talking his serenity and curiosity to India

- East American guest wears a shirt in Aleppo and is travelling, but he is so far from the land his feet touch!

- Syrian Myriam, couchsurfing host is friendly and smiley

- Myriam CS friend tells me about the Portuguese revolution

- young Turkish American football player studies in the university in Istanbul and talks about his Romanian girlfriend, Turkey and Turkish culture

Turkey

- fire department manager talks about Turkey

- hostel owner shows me his Turkish ways

Vientiane, Laos

- Israeli Miki has a restaurant and talks about why he does not like to travel "we are all the same, it's all the same everywhere, the world is not beautiful" and about his messiah!!!

- American girl that works in Thailand as an English teacher

(70) - Dutch guy who says "Turkey is not Europe!!!"

- American Nit was born in Bolivia and adopted by an American couple, plain American with a Bolivian face tells us about his trip to the Bolivian orphanage he was born

- relaxed German Nina travels with Nit

Vang Vieng, Laos

- Lithuanian Ruta talks about feng shui and Chinese culture, the five elements and why I am clearly wood with a bit of water

- Lithuanian Audra explains me why Lithuanian is the oldest language in Europe

- Mexican scuba diving instructor from playa del carmen, "que hace un mexicano aqui?" "el mismo que un portugues?", he tells me why he will not go back and will try to find a job somewhere in the world

- Smith, a young Thai business man, travels from Bangkok with his girlfriend and another couple, tells me how the machine components import/export business goes in Thailand. He got a MBA in the US and tells me how did he choose that specific school

Luang Prabang, Laos

- restaurant owner tells me about her adventures with her husbands

Northern Laos, Laos

- Slovenia cyclist Roberto, speaks of bike travelling and his plans in china, north of Tibet

- Laotian driver with 3 wives and 3 children offers me a beers and talks about his country

Yunnan, China

(80) - hotel receptionist who speaks good English, gives my first Mandarin lesson in china

- Canadian student tells me about his studies in Hong Kong and why he can't watch Chinese girls eating

- German Anna travels with Raymond and has a fascination for China, "the Chinese challenge"

- Raymond studied some philosophy and is curious about Gilles Deleuze

- American Alex is curious and smart

Yangshuo, China

- Dutch hostel owner is SO friendly shows everyone her family

- Dutch hostel manager tells me about his travels and plans

- American government employee is obsessed with the Shanghai expo, this guy is not married (because/) and is absolutely unbearable!!! The only one of the 100 people I would NOT like to see again!!!

- Israeli couple and their trip

Macau, China

- Portuguese Carol hosted me and was my friend for 48 hours, being home!

(90) - lawful and interested Joana

- designer Carolina is calm and has many things to say with no rush

- lawyer Hugo works like hell in Macau

- intern Ana (Inov Contacto) is very funny and friendly

- the event manager is the face of the tourism industry in Macau

- Roberto is a young student of the Portuguese school in Macau, speaks perfect Portuguese, Mandarin and English

- Noel plays violin on the street with me and talks about love and authenticity

Hong Kong, China

- French Charles is a calm software geek like me and we talk about neural networks and algorithms, he works with face recognition in surveillance videos in Shanghai

- Singaporean Jedi is doing her graduation trip and meeting some friends, Hong Kong frequently meets Singapore, we talk about Chinese from Singapore versus Chinese from Malaysia living in Singapore

- American Gene is over 60 and teaches English somewhere in China, he can't eat spicy food so he orders, waits, sees the food is spicy and leaves without paying, funny. He tells me his ways of living. He talks as if he was 30!

(100) - Kun is my couchsurfing host in Hong Kong, interesting Australian with Chinese genes with many friends working in finance

- Chinese/American Yimni is "a typical Chinese"! No, he is the funniest Chinese I ever met, his energy and curiosity takes me to the next step

- Rosa is from Hong Kong and works in banking, she doesn't like it

- young couple on the train from GuangZhou to Shanghai who teach me the difference between Shangainese, Cantonese (8 tones) and Mandarin, the technical university in Hong Kong and the field study of intelligent building automation. Domotics.

Shanghai, China

- Even is my host in Shanghai and is hipper friendly!

- Martha is Even's friend: a very funny country girl

- Sean and Kevin are Even's friends that take me out to diner and talk about Chinese Funk and Hard Rock

- French Valentin and Charlie are Even's work colleagues. The first complete sentence I got in the middle of a conversation between two Chinese: "wo bu xi huan fa guo ren" 

- two young Chinese friends who talk about business and life in China. The auto-industry and acrobatics.

Beijing, China

- Theresa, my American host in Beijing is a art teacher and lives in an amazing apartment, the convenience store in front of her apartment looks like a glass box and makes me feel I want to live in China 

(110) - Chinese guy that takes me to a "dating fair", funny and interesting 

Wait, number 111 is looking at me! I am gonna go talk to him! ;-)