After a long delay and some grim family matters I finally managed to set "sail" on my voyage to Spain. It is actually a challenge to me... it would be my first solo trip backpacking to a country where English won't get you too far... perhaps people would ask me: 'Why Spain?' If you know me well you probably know that I have been murmuring about going to Egypt for the last century and still have not been there yet... There had always been deterrents keeping me to this place. First the 9-11, then terrorists attack, then broke up with my gf, then more terrorists attack, then my partner is finally tied up by his newly wedded wife, then more attacks, then more crashes: plane crashes, coaches got turned-over, trains got derailed or hit head-on, ships were sunk... you name any transportation and the Egyptians all managed to do something that can hit the news headlines!

But life must move on and annual leaves must be spent on, so I must pick another place before I finished rotting at home ... after my (used-to-travel-with) partner has found his new life-long partner *applause*, I need to finding a "good" substitute, which was not easy. At the end I decided to travel solo this time... This would also be a trial to see if I can 'do it myself' before I take on Egypt next time!

After all these BS, still, why Spain? To be honest, I picked it because it is in Europe and I haven't been to. Also at that time it was the old Germany World Cup thing so it is a good idea to sneak as far away as possible... Spain, in fact is a country that has been overlooked... Historically it is very interesting, it had different Bosses before... besides the usual Romans gang, it was also occupied by the not so well-known Moors (Muslims) before for a while. As a result, you can see many Muslims cultures and influences in a European country. Perhaps because of the long-term occupation by others before, the Spanish also liked to send people abroad to bully others. Traces of Christopher Columbus was found everywhere and so as references to the Spanish Armada. The Spanish Inquisition was also very famous in the history book so was Mr. Franco's governance and the civil war.

Culturally it has produced many great artists and their left behinds... Picasso, Miro, El Greco, Dali and of course Gaudi's works can be found in Spain. Today many street performers flock to Barcelona in the hope that their talents can be discovered... Besides these people, Spain also had masters who couldn't draw: Cervantes, whose famous Don Quixote de la Mancha also received nation-wide attention in Spain. His characters (the tall and the short) can be seen everywhere in Spain (actually, mostly in souvenir shops)

Besides the arts, literatures and histories (ie the boring stuff) Spain is packed with action-thrilled events... it has many unique festivals (e.g. the experience of a lifetime of being chased by the bulls (and possibly some rear-mounting afterwards ) and the chucking of tomatoes at each other so you are lucky you should have enough that you won't have to go to big M and asked for ketchups anymore... )

Since these unusual festivals only happen once a year, I would probably take a look into other regular events like: the much criticized bull-fighting and the flamenco dances. (to which i interpret as "dances performed by ladies with beautiful legs but not so beautiful faces")

While I was in UK I missed out the chances to visit the Man Utd FC, Liverpool FC, etc (who would go to Liverpool and Manchester just for them?), maybe I would pay a visit to the famous Football Club in Barcelona and Madrid (at least they are conveniently located)

Food-wise, I have decided to leave the cup noodles behind (in fact it was a wise choice as my hotels did not have hot water!) and would rather try out the good, the bad and the ugly Spanish paellas and tapas.

So it really seems there is a lot to be done and seen in Spain and I don't think I will be bored.... let's see if this 10-day trip can really make me thrill!