Z left Leiden and I am back to being damn lonely. For a traveler like me, who doesn’t stay at one place for long time, goodbyes are used more often than I would like. When I look back, I realize that the life of traveler is nothing but the series of goodbyes punctuated by good times that are shared with wonderful people in this world. The funny part is that, although I like traveling, I don’t want to lose those wonderful people. But, at the same time, it is only because I move that I meet new people. It is kind of weird,…isn’t it? 🙂
Forced by the weird missing-friend sickness, I decided to add something to the pending post of my Luxembourg trip. Where did I stop last time? Oh yeah… I had just talked about getting down from train at Luxembourg station when my patience ran out and I stopped writing. It was the first day of new year and, thanks to boredom in Leiden, I was there… cursing grey weather in Luxembourg. Nothing else was on my mind except the task of searching for some food.. I hadn’t eaten anything for 9 hours since I woke up and the low level of glucose was showing up as high level of anxiety… it was time to find a McD. Why McD? Because that place has highest probability to be present near main locations such as train station. And I was at a train station. I didn’t have to look for long because there it was… just 100m from station… a McD displaying special offers for new year. But who cares about special offers when the hunger is killing you so fast!!!
Fast forward to 20 minutes and I was walking back to railway station.Why back?? Oh come on… where else I could have got more information about the hostel I was searching for without any map? I should have asked the information center first… but I didn’t. No no.. I was not being adventurous and neither was I so stupid. The information center was closed because of new year!!! So I caught the attention of three old looking guys and asked them. 10 minutes later, I was more confused than I was earlier… those guys spoke French and I replied in English…neither of us understood each other!!
Youth hostel in a valley
Let me cut straight to the point now when I left bus and found myself looking down into a deep valley. I was on some sort of bridge that ran across the two ends of valley. There was no sign of road which I intended to take in order to reach my hostel. Armed with total ingnorance and a mind, full of optimism, I continued walking down. I had walked only 5 minutes when a sign board, hidden beind a awkwardly located building, pointed towards the downwards winding road. It was more a narrow alley than a road. This was fun… the road was steep and covered with ice. Two times… no three times.. I had to shift my center of gravity to avoid the slip. A nice lady, standing near the entrance of her house, confirmed that I was going in right direction. Walking, stooping, running… all helped me in making the trip to hostel slip-less!! The reception desk was occupied by a beautiful girl who helped me in filling the form. I was handed over my electronic key(nice touch for just a hostel) and a pack of linen sheets and pillow case. I was not expecting anybody in room at that time since it was late afternoon and people, generally, like to travel in the day time especially when day light is so scarce in winter. Just a cursory look around the room told me that I was alone. Yahooooo… I was paying for a hostel room even after living in a single hotel room!! Looks like it was good idea to travel on new year day!! Oh… I forgot to mention.. the room was not very big but it had a neat layout. Filled with 6 beds (3 two-tier beds), 4 chairs, six lockers with space to hang coats, and a wooden table, the room had enough space to walk around. Add to that a wash basin and big mirror… it was the best HOSTEL room I had ever lived in, The only let down was shower… it was just a hole in wall. There was no possibilty to change the direction of water flow. It was not all.. the weirdest part was its handle. Actually there was no handle or knob or anything that you work with normally… it was just a push putton type user interface… water comes out only for the duration you push that button. The harder you push the higher is pressure. I understand it was to conserve water…but not user friendly at all. Hostel guys, if you are listening, please change that!!!
Wu Li 