Day 3 (19/03/08)
Midnight: I couldn't resist it any longer.. My eyelids were heavy and I knew I was going to fall asleep at any moment. I only remember hearing Sze Nee reading out the phrases from our guidebook and I was reading along...
but when I woke up.. we were in San Sebastian already.
Sze Nee got out of the truck at the immigration point and asked if we needed to chop our passports.. and apparently, we need not have it chopped when crossing the border.. We were puzzled and a little wary.. but when we checked our passports, the immigration at France did not chop them when we arrived at Le Havre ferry port too..
Ta-Da~ We were at Spain by early Day 3. We were so proud of ourselves!
At some point, we stopped at a service station for a drink..
Sze Nee with a hot drink from the vending machine. It was a cold night!
Look at Jimmy's tired face! But still managed to pose~ :p
The next time I opened my eyes, we were about here already.. and I see..
Jimmy sleeping~
hehe, he must be really tired..
We agreed that only 2 out of 3 of us can sleep at any time when we were in trucks.. so at least one person is awake so if something is amiss, at least one of us is awake to realise..
I think out of 3 of us, I enjoyed travelling in trucks most.. coz I could fall asleep very easily and it was very comfortable.. hehe
Jose said he would stop in a town before carrying on. We still have no idea what is the name of the town. Maybe it was Zaragoza, or several stops before Zaragoza.. Nevertheless, we got out of the truck and he told us to meet him at the same spot in the evening..
So we got out and tried to find somewhere to rest and shower..
We looked at 3 places before finding an accommodation. It costed 10 euros per person for half a day.
Sze Nee and I took our nap in this room. Jimmy took a single room next to ours.
Sze Nee sleeping. She was awake for most of the journey..and she was v.tired by the time we reached this place
Walking towards Jose's truck..
When we woke up, it was sunset already.
The town looked so peaceful and beautiful during sunset.
I couldn't help but snap a few shots being getting on the truck.
There is just something very soothing and comfortable about that place~
Playing 'Red Dot'
There was still some time before the set-off time.. so in order to kill time, we taught him several card games.. It definitely wasn't very easy trying to explain the rules of the game. We had to show him and he got it pretty quickly!
We played 'Fishing' and 'Red Dot'. It was a lot of fun!
I think it was about that time when he finally told us what he was carrying in his truck. Apparently, he was delivering solar pallets~ hehe, not 'woof woof'!
We only left this 'random place' at 10pm that day.
We managed to see fireworks in Valencia, while we were on our way to Calasparra. That indicated the start of the Easter weekend! :) By that time, it was past midnight already..
Day 4 (20/03/08)
We stopped at a service station somewhere between Valencia and Calasparra for a short break. That was where Sze Nee had her 'patatas', potatoes in French bread.. It became her favourite Spanish food..
We attracted quite a lot of stares at the service station. People must have been thinking, "what are these chinese people doing here at this time?"
Jose said the bartender mentioned us and Jose tried telling him we were his 'amigo (friends)' but the bartender wouldn't believe him. Haha, who could blame the bartender?
We were there for about 45 minutes. Jose decided to play a little trick on Jimmy. While Jimmy was out getting water, Jose turned off the engine and told us to hide behind the curtain while he switched off the lights. When Jimmy got back, he thought we went somewhere else.. Needless to mention, we had a good laugh! With that, we continued the journey..
Jose had a hard time trying to get to Calasparra coz his TomTom showed him a wrong direction. He took a few wrong turns and I think he got pretty frustrated at one point he hit his TomTom a few times.. that was the only time I've seen him in a relatively bad mood..
Sze Nee and I were singing songs along the way and he even turned off the CD player and listened to us sing.. hehe
When we finally got to Calasparra, Jose told me and Sze Nee to hide behind the curtain at the passenger seat because he would get into trouble if people saw 3 passengers in his car. Only Jimmy was left at the front passenger seat with him.
Sze Nee and I fell asleep while attempting to hide.. When we woke up, Jimmy said the people at the factory gave him a weird look when they saw him with Jose while Jose was unloading the solar pallets.. It was as if they were thinking "What the hell is a Chinese guy doing here?" hehe, I don't blame them.. I would think the same way if I were them..
Our last stop before Granada..
No Entry?
I think Jose need not stop here at all.. but he did, because of us..
While we were travelling past this place, we 'wow-ed' at the pretty field covered with pink shrubs..
He must have heard us and decided to stop for a while for us to take a few photos..
Not long after this stop, we arrived in Granada! Jose dropped us at the service station. Before that, he promised he would come pick us up once he dropped off his truck and collect his car from home. You see, Jose lives in Granada! ^_^
I remember it was a rainy day, with a light hail shower.
We had lunch at the service station while waiting for Jose..
Delicious chocolate drink!
Our delicious and filling lunch~ Yum yum!
Jose finally came to pick us up at about 3pm. I was happy to see him! You see, he wasn't obliged to be so kind to us. He could have just dropped us at the service station and left..and that would have been very kind of him already.. But he took an extra step and drove us around to look for a place to stay.. I was extremely thankful for him..
We went around looking for hotels.. We found one near the petrol station but there was no room.. We tried another one and the receptionist told us it would cost 64.20 euros for 2 person and 74.10 euros for 3. We begged her for a 2 person room and said one of us would sleep on the floor with our sleeping bag.. We said we were on a tight budget and were doing this for charity..
In the end, she agreed and we promised to leave before 7a.m the next morning.. (because that's when her boss would come)
We paid for the room..and Jose told us he would come pick us up at around 8-9pm for a tour of the city!
Sze Nee & I slept on the bed..
Jimmy attempting to squeeze Sze Nee between the 2 single beds.. the start of their cat and dog fight.. hehe
We took a shower, a short nap..and we were ready at about 9pm.
By then, Jose was downstairs waiting for us already..
He said his car's backlight didn't work and hoped he wouldn't meet 'policia' along the way..
We couldn't help but laugh.. I have lost count of how many times he said 'policia' since we met..
Jose's car- backlight not working.. uh oh!
He brought us to a high mountain and we could nearly see the whole of Granada from there..
Then, we walked around and watched the 'fiesta'..
Everyone involved in the parade was wearing all black~ A little scary at first
Behind the crowd..
We stayed till nearly the end. The place was full of people. The fiesta was apparently a big thing for them. Even though it was already about 10/11pm, parents still brought their children out and there were several tourist buses...I think we were lucky to be able to experience this grand festival..
Jose dropped us back at the hotel at near midnight. That's when we said our thanks and goodbye. We told him to come visit us if he ever came to Coventry.. He had our address and we have his.. We promised to send him photos and with that, we bid him goodbye..
We were a little hungry so we decided to grab a bite at a nearby pizza place
Then we went back to our room and played a word game until we fell asleep~ zZzzz...
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