53rd Stop: San Francisco, California

Even before I had ever been to San Francisco (this would be my second time), I had always felt drawn here. I had said to myself, if I ever return to live in the USA, it would be San Francisco and nowhere else. Why? I guess the culture, the personal freedoms, the scenery, the climate, the people, to name a few. San Fran, you once again lived up to expectations...

I flew back to the future, meaning I left Tuesday night and arrived Tuesday afternoon, and met Nate at the airport. Coincidentally, Nate was just coming back from a trip to Minneapolis, our mutual home town, arriving just an hour before me! We got a cab and caught up on the events in each others’ lives for the past few years.

I knew Nate from high school but only really got to know him at the University of Minnesota. Nate went into journalism and now works for the Press Democrat, a Sonoma county paper, covering business and wine. He recently won an award for some investigative journalism into property dealings that ultimately led to an investigation by the attorney general. Kudos Nate!

Nate is also one of the reasons I’ve been wanting to surf for so long. The last time I saw him (in San Fran), him and another friend, Matt, told me all about their new passion for surfing and it sounded so inspiring that I’d been wanting to try it ever since. Ok, that’s enough about Nate, even though I’m tempted to tell you a really funny story from my wedding involving him...

When we arrived at Nate’s place in the Mission, an old Sears Roebuck store that eventually got converted into lofts, we where met by Tess, Nate’s new roommate who works in industrial design, designing furniture as a freelancer.

I was having a nice time in San Francisco and could go on for pages, but I’ll try to speed his up. Here are some photos of murals and parties in the Mission...

Party wall climbing

I ran two Wordfast workshops downtown for translators during the week and in the evenings, went out with Nate and his friends, including Aaron, a math professor whom I really appreciated. One night, we went to a couchsurfer meet-up downtown and I also coordinated with Lando and Joel Yau to meet us there.

Lando and I met in Mauritius and he recently came back to look for work and settle in San Francisco. I met Joel Yau in 2008 when I helped organize France’s first street painting festival outside of Nice, Les Craies d'Azur. We flew Joel over from California to participate in the festival and show us how it’s done! He stayed with my family in France and we had a blast. Ever since, we’ve stayed in touch and it was really great to see him again.

Madonnari and Vagabonds

Another friend from high school, Adam, noticed via Facebook that I was in San Francisco and him and his girlfriend Rose happened to be there randomly that weekend as well. So we all met on Friday night and stayed out till the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday afternoon, Nate and I left for Bolinas, north of San Fran, to go to the birthday party of Matt, the surfing friend and erstwhile neighbor, and another person. Matt grew up down the street from me in Minnesota and now works as a dentist. Every year, him and his friend rent a house overlooking the ocean in this small hippy community and have a crab fest. I say hippy community because there are some hot springs where people generally bathe naked and locals have been known to tear down the sign that tells people how to get there!

Driving down the mountain to Bolinas

Before the party started, Nate and I threw our wetsuits on and tried to catch some waves. Unfortunately, the surf was calm though it was quite the sensation to be surfing at night in the fog. After surfing, we strolled through the local Christmas crafts fair before it closed and drank some delicious homemade eggnog. Then I called Véronique, one of my trainees from my Wordfast training the other day, who happened to live in Bolinas and who had told me to call her and stop by if we wanted to. Sure, why not!

Véronique served us some whisky and popcorn and we spoke with a couple of her friends and her husband, a famous writer by the name of Charles Fox. Charles has been living with multiple sclerosis for more than 20 years. He is quoted as saying, “It's good to be alive. It's a gift, an extraordinary experience. We only have this very brief time, and it's important to take full advantage of it.” I couldn't agree with you more Charles! Thanks again Véronique for having us over, it was a pleasure meeting everyone!


By the time we got back to the house, the crab fest was well underway and about 15 people were there having a splendid time. Once we ate and drank our fill, it was time to walk down the beach to the local pub, listen to music, sing along, and dance! We were in luck because there was a great band from Canada playing that night; I was extremely happy to hear the cover of Tryo, a French reggae group.

Matt in a hat and Nate

The next morning, I got up early to check out the waves. There wasn’t enough surf to make it worthwhile so instead I walked along the beach with Laurel and caught a beautiful sunrise.

Nate and I got on the road by 9:45 because we had an hour’s drive ahead of us and my flight was 11:30!

Thanks Nate for hosting me in San Francisco and Matt in Bolinas; that’s 5 more bednets to protect 5 more families from malaria! I had a wonderful time with everyone and look forward to catching up with you all again soon.

Next stop: Orange County and Los Angeles, California!

50th - 52nd Stops: Taupo, Rotorua & Raglan, New Zealand

After the glow worm caves, we set out for a day of hiking around Lake Taupo. Thanks Craig for pointing out this little-known hike through a fern tree forest to a beautiful secluded beach where we picnicked, sun-bathed and swam in a crystal clear blue lake.

On top of Lake Taupo

Joyce getting ready for a swim

We hit the road later in the afternoon and drove straight to Rotorua. This was Joyce’s last night with us so we went to Rotorua’s world-famous Polynesian Spa around 8 or 9 pm and soaked our aching bodies in alkaline and sulfur pools. The alkaline spa is good for your skin apparently while the sulfur is good for your joints.

Polynesian Spa by night

The last supper

The next morning, Joyce left us for Australia and Atma and I drove to Raglan. Raglan is another one of those world-famous spots, but this time for surfing! When I was in Madagascar, I met the Valérie, the sister of a surf school instructor named Fred who happened to be living in Raglan.

Fred told us to go to the Raglan Surf School and we got accommodations there. If you’re ever in Raglan, I definitely recommend this place. It’s similar to a youth hostel, nestled up a ravine in the mountains, overlooking the majestic Raglan coastline, and has a great communal area where you can meet lots of other travelers and surfers.

Chatting with Inès from France

By the time we got there, Fred had already left for the day. We got settled and then went into town for the Sunday Sessions, an outdoor reggae party under an early summer, afternoon sun.

Reggae Sunday Sessions

Feeling irie

World-famous Raglan break, not quite so famous surfer (me)

The next days Atma and I surfed and hung out with Daisy from Holland. Interestingly, Daisy had just arrived in NZ and was planning on woofing. Woofers work on farms in exchange for room and board and the chance to learn something new. Atma and I both had the same idea, at the same time: you should contact Craig! She eventually did and Craig told her that any friend of Atma and John is a friend of mine. Daisy would end up going to Craig’s and staying on for several months (easy to predict the future when you’re several months behind on your blog)!

Unfortunately, Fred was off the next days and had to make a trip with his boss so we never actually got to see each other! We did have fun shooting pool with Daisy though in town!

Pool party

By Tuesday, it was time to say goodbye to New Zealand. I was heading for North America and Atma for South America. Hopefully, we’ll cross paths again in Brazil!

Thanks to Joyce, Atma, Craig, Steve, Daisy, and everyone else I met in New Zealand. What a beautiful country, I’ll be back soon! Thanks also to Savitri from Simple Car Rentals for the excellent, friendly service!

Next stop: San Francisco!

On our way out of NZ :-( 

45th Stop - Sydney and Newcastle

Ken and Matt

I left Adam and Fran’s place after surfing one more morning and changed hosts. My new host, Matt, lives in Surrey Hills just outside of the downtown area. We met and almost immediately left to go on a walkabout of the city.

Every week, while the girlfriends and wives play trivia, Matt, his brother, and friends use the pretext of a man’s club to go walk around the city, try a couple of different pubs, and enjoy a meal in a new restaurant. Tonight, it would be just Matt, his brother Ken, and me. Thanks guys for the great tour of the city and excellent dinner!

Sydney by night

On Wednesday, I met up with Alexandr from Russia, a couchsurfer who was going to host me but the dates didn’t quite work out. So we went for lunch instead. Alexandr had just returned from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and really appreciated the mission I was on to raise money and awareness for malaria, so much so that he went ahead and made a $100 donation. Thanks Alexandr for your donation and the inspiration; I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Bondi Beach

Surfing at Bondi Beach the next morning. It seems that the boards I was getting were progressively smaller and getting up was getting progressively harder! No worries though, practice makes perfect! Later that night, Matt’s roommates introduced me to a TV series called Trailer Park Boys which I would recommend.

I had been in touch with Art, another couchsurfer and American living in Australia for the past 20 years, while I was in Japan. Art was organizing a camping trip over the weekend and he invited me to come along. On Friday, we all met up and set off for the sand dunes at Stockton Beach just outside of Newcastle.

Art letting air out of tires before hitting the dunes

Wow, what a trip! About 20 people from all over the world, five 4x4’s, bonfires, guitars, surfboards, tents on the beach, tacos, eggs and bacon breakfast, beverages, and a lot of good laughs! A big thanks to Art for the excellent organization, Michael for bringing lots of gear, the Newcastle CS crew for the logistic support, David for letting me use one of his boards, Amanda for the girl scout-esque mint cookies, Julien for showing us his wicked hands, and all the people who made this such a memorable experience.

Lazy mornings around a burnt out campfire

Anyone want an egg and bacon muffin?

Julien's wicked hands

Next stop: West Pymble, Sydney, and Cottage Point!

44th Stop - Sydney, Australia

Have you ever had one of those dreams that make you do things unwittingly? I did, on the flight from Japan to Australia. At one point, I reached out to grab my neighbor’s hand. I was in a daze but I think he pulled away his hand. He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the flight. I think I made him feel uncomfortable.

I was originally supposed to stopover on the Gold Coast, but the pilot had a problem so they put everyone on the flight to Cairns. I had never heard of this place before, but it seems quite nice: great barrier reef, tropical rain forest, salt water crocodiles, and tiny jellyfish that sting like a bee with rabies. Nice, except for the jellyfish and crocs.

I arrived in Sydney and left almost immediately for Manly, a quiet beach town a short ferry ride across the bay. I met up with Adam and Fran, my hosts, and we got ready to go for a swim at the beach.

Sydney Opera House

Adam grew up in Tasmania and Fran in Detroit and they met up through the magic of couchsurfing! Adam is now a successful headhunter in Sydney with a couple of on-line ventures while Fran recently left the retail merchandising business to move to Australia. Interestingly, Fran lived in Chicago and after we became Facebook friends, I soon realized that she’s friends with people who are friends with one of mine, Molly E., from Minnesota. The world is contracting people.

We went for a nice swim that afternoon, then back to Adam and Fran’s for a BBQ and beers before Will's wife’s birthday party that evening. We were enjoying our drinks on the terrace when Fran scared the wits out of me by telling me to keep an eye out for the deadly red-backed spider that could kill me. Apparently, there are quite a few around the house.

Time to celebrate at the hippest club on the beach, the Shore Club! When we got there, Adam and Fran went up to the private function and I stayed downstairs for a while. I got my first drink, but my credit card was refused. The man in line behind me blurted out, “Don’t worry about, I’ll get his drink. I’m really impatient.”
“Are you sure?” said the bartender and me simultaneously.
“Yeah, no worries mate.”

Manly 'n' Me

I thanked him and we started up a conversation that continued for a good hour or so. Ian was from London and in the debt collection family business ever since he was a wee lad. By debt collection, I think he meant loan sharking because it didn’t sound pretty some of the things he had done. In fact, he was looking for ways to atone for what he had done in the past. Now, he was working as an account manager for a major IT firm and was very successful. But that didn’t seem to make him all that happy. I told him about my work and what I’ve been doing in my community with JCI for the past few years and he was inspired. So inspired, he insisted on buying me drinks all night. Thanks Ian, I enjoyed our conversation and hope you find what you’re looking for.

Ian introduced me to an oilman from Northern Ireland and after chatting a while, he too wanted to buy me a drink. Were it not for the conversations and vague hints at Ian and this other guy's interest in women, I would have thought I was getting hit on by men all night!

I eventually went upstairs to the private party, met some of Adam and Fran’s friends and ate some pizza. Then we all went down to dance the night away.

We kicked it on a smaller beach in a cove on Sunday before heading to the Newtown music festival in the afternoon. Then I made a poulet aux morilles (sans morilles) for dinner.

Adam

Newtown Festival

Fran

Random Japanese who looked really cool

Finally, Monday and surf lessons! The weather wasn’t so nice but all the better. There were only 3 of us with the instructor. The waves were perfect for learning too. Needless to say, we were all getting up on the board after just a few attempts and surfing! What a thrill, feeling the power of the waves through your entire body.

Thanks again Adam and Fran for hosting me in Manly. I had a great time with you and look forward to seeing you both again soon!

You always get more with crazy John's tongue

Next stop: Sydney (this time for sure) and Stockton Beach, Newcastle!

26th Stop - Mauritius

According to Mark Twain, Mauritius was created first,
then heaven; and heaven was copied after Mauritius!

Despite several attempts to contact some JCI members in Mauritius, I only received replies from people who were no longer members. I appreciate their efforts nonetheless of having forwarded my message on to active members.

Lim, another person on www.CouchSurfing.org, and I failed to firm up plans before I arrived because of a communication breakdown so I contacted Sandy from Feast of Mauritius, a bed and breakfast in Flic-en-Flac, and checked in for the week.

Sandy has an interesting concept for her bed and breakfast. She proposes an all-inclusive formula for a bed, breakfast and gourmet dinner each night. She is the author of a best-selling cookbook in Mauritius which I had a chance to look through. What I really like about the cookbook was that she adhered to the KISS principle. No, there were no pictures of glam rockers and extra long tongues. KISS stands for Keep it Simple Silly. The recipes are creative and tasty, but more importantly, easy for anyone to make.

I met her brother from France, Colin, who was there on vacation, her husband, Rajan, and son, Kingsley. Everybody was very pleasant throughout my entire stay. I was shocked when I told Rajan that I had lived in Saigon and he started talking to me in fluent Vietnamese. He had spent the first 20 or so years of his life there and fled when the communists took over. I also attended a joint birthday party on Saturday night and met their extended family and friends.

On Saturday, I took the bus into Port Louis to meet up with two other couchsurfers for lunch, Jennyfer from Mauritius and Lando from the USA. Thanks Jennyfer for arranging this! It turns out that Lando was also staying in Flic-en-Flac so we rode back and he told me all about what brought him to Mauritius.

Me with Manu and Côme in Bel Ombre

Lando had left the high-rolling world of hedge fund management after the crash (and Madoff fallout) to pursue something more noble in life. He started out volunteering on a sustainable farm outside of Cape Town and then went on to Kenya to help farming cooperatives reschedule their debts and clean up their balance sheets. After that, he decided to take a vacation in Mauritius and the Réunion and ride some waves. Yes, Lando is also a surfer.

Lando and I rented a car on Wednesday to go South and try to catch some waves or maybe hook up with a German friend of his, Basti, who was kite-surfing at the Morne. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any swell and we couldn’t get ahold of Basti, so we went on to Bel Ombre to meet up with Manu and Côme, two people he had met through Jennyfer.

Manu, from Mauritius, and Côme, from Lyon, are working at the Bel Ombre Foundation for Empowerment which provides skills training to the local population that empower them to get jobs. Manu gave us a tour and introduced us to Oriana, the operations manager, who went into more detail about their different programs. Thanks Manu for giving me the chance to tell the young group of students about my project!

Seven Colored Earths

Afterwards, Lando and I went to see the Seven Colored Earths natural wonder in the middle of the island. This is a unique natural phenomenon created by different metals in the earth. The dirt is in seven different hues ranging from reddish pink to orange and purple.

A quick stopover in Flic-en-Flac to get changed and then we went to Manu’s parents place for dinner. Thanks again Manu and to your parents for a lovely Mauritian dinner and some fascinating conversations. Lando and I both learned about the forced eviction in the 1970s of the Chagossians (former inhabitants of the Chagos Islands) by the British so that that Americans could build a naval base there. Check out the article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagos_Archipelago

On my last day in Mauritius, Lando and I drove out to the East coast of the island and checked out another kite-surfing spot, but unfortunately we didn't have time to learn. Then he dropped me off at the airport and I was on my way to India!

Next stop: Mumbai, India!

25th Stop - Antananarivo, Madagascar

It seems as though the length and extent of my posts are a good indication about the quality of the destination, people, and experience. Madagascar is no exception to this rule. It’s really been a fantastic time, much more than I could have ever hoped for.

I had a nice long drive back to Tana, sitting next to a young girl who was vomiting every 45 minutes or so. No worries though; she had a stash of plastic bags and kept things rather clean.

I went back to Paul’s place for one more night. He had a prior engagement and ended up not coming home, so I went to bed early to get some sleep before the training I was giving the next day.

Wednesday was a great day. I trained five colleagues on how to use Wordfast Pro at a beautiful venue overlooking the entire city. This venue was a Catholic seminary and one of my trainees pointed out that the church has some of the best property in the city.

Wordfast trainees

After the training, I met up with Paul and his colleague Cédric for dinner at the Shakamanga restaurant downtown. Cédric has been living in Mada for two years now, working as a graphic designer for his brother’s IT business. He’ll stay at least another year before trying to work in the United States. Interestingly, Cédric’s mom used to be a member of the Junior Chamber in France; I’m glad I got a chance to tell him more about the association and hope he hooks up with some of the great people I met last week.

Dera came and picked me up at the restaurant, we grabbed my things at Paul’s, and then went back to Valérie and Dera’s home. Dera shared some photos and videos with me of his trip to Mauritius, and we enjoyed some nice scotch from his exceptional collection. We also talked about future business opportunities and parenthood. Thanks again Dera for the interesting conversation!

I got up early the next morning to have breakfast with Dera before he left for work, then I went with Valérie to her office for a couple of hours. Valérie has an off-shore call center called Ma Dactylo that offers solutions for data entry, accounting, administrative assistance, hotline support, and sales calls. Feel free to contact her on my behalf if you need any of these services!

View from the seminary

We both finished up some work, spoke to Fred in New Zealand on Skype about surfing when I'm out there in November, and then went for lunch with some of Valérie’s friends. It was very interesting to meet and discuss politics with a judge and Hérisoa, a JCI Senator and advisor to the Minister of Finance. Unfortunately, it was getting late and I had a plane to catch, so we ate and ran to the airport. Got there just in time!

Thanks to all the JCI members that met up with me. Another big thanks to Paul, Dera, and Valérie for hosting me a few days during my stay in Tana. Thanks also to Wordfast who will be buying a bednet for every trainee I train during the trip. That makes 8 bednets altogether, 8 more families protected from malaria for the next 5 years. Thanks to all of you and best of luck until we meet again!