Madeira: hiking in Rabaçal

I haven't been able to write a lot since we haven't stopped for a minute but I hope the pictures make up for it.

We went up to the Rabaçal area and did a short hiking until 25 Fontes and Boca do Risco.

It's an amazing area however we are all still exausted. For the first time in a long time I did a walking tour with a lot of tourists. I hope it's an exception.

The birds were quite social, that was a nice surprise.

Some trees and plants in this region are centenary. And the whole forest mostly only exists in Madeira.

This sooo makes all the walking worth it...

Madeira: Botanical garden

Despite the fact that the garden was only created in 1960 people had discussed it since the 18th century, perhaps all that discussion throughout the years gave them time to gather up all the plants and trees.



There is more than enough to see. You can spend a nice afternoon walking around in the gardens, enjoying the view and visiting the small museum. All this for 3e.

Madeira: details

This little volcanic island has a lot of rocks but the one that is used the most for roads, buildings and such is basalt. Below you can see a natural and typical Madeiran beach:

and some examples of pavements with basalt:



Notice the detail in this changing room at the Barreirinha beach:

Yep, I only noticed after I was butt naked...

We also found a lost puppy. So far it has no name (nor do we agree on the sex) so it responds to "dude", "no", "hey you", "awww" and "adorable".

Madeira: day 1

I can officially say it was an amazing day. Not only was the weather a lot better than we expected but the food too. I actually went to the beach on the 21st of December and it was warm (eat that Belgium!)
Now I am trying to digest an amazing amount of food so I'll just leave you with some pictures:

Above is the view from my room...
More photos and details tomorow.

How to kill time in airports

As based on my experiences today while flying from Brussels to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Madeira:

• Arrange for the taxi to show up before the time you had set up so you can spend the first hour in the airport checking what you forgot. (in my case it was my phone)
• Eat something bad so you can rush to the toilet 3 times in less than an hour.
• Go to the internet to update your blog.
• Look for an English/French translation of local writers. I looked for Portuguese authors in both terminals in Lisbon, books found? none.
• Buy a local magazine and try to do the crosswords.
• Watch people freak out when their flight is cancelled. Take notes.
  

Madeira here I come!

It's been a long time since I went back home. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Yes, I'm still going to Thailand

Just in case you're wondering if all the confusion in Bangkok - airport's closed, supreme court disolved the government - are making me change my plans. Only if there is a civil war or something like that... I still have two months, I'm hoping all will be ok by then.