Webby
Thu 24 Aug 2006
You know when you arrive in some place new and you take an immediate liking to it. Well I have certainly found that here in Madrid like I did in Melbourne earlier in the year.
I think that sometimes a really good first impression of a city can have the rose-tinted spectacles effect for the rest of what you uncover about a place. Similarly the opposite applies when you don´t like somewhere first off and you remain negative about it no matter what.
I think the more you travel the more you take places at face value and become more willing to give somewhere a second chance at the first impression. I never liked Bangkok when I first went there (who does!) but it did grow on me when I made the effort to discover more of it.
The village where I am going to be next week only has one creaky internet connection so you will not be hearing much from me for a few days. A break from the online world is just what I need to be honest 
August 24th, 2006 at 11:52 am
I know what you mean. I liked Bangkok from the start, but it was loy kratong festival and there was a carnival atmosphere in the soi right outside my hotel the first night I arrived. What a way to start!
I didn’t like Phnom Penh much, but I couldn’t get Toul Sleng prison out of my head as I went there & to the killing fields on my first day, which set a president too.
I would like to go back there & give it a second chance, because the rest of Cambodia I absolutely loved.
Rob
August 24th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
i can associate with that to some extent - a recent trip to berlin, i’m pleased i went to the berlin wall and the war museums on my last day there, as it gave plenty of subject for deep thought - i’d probably not have enjoyed the rest of my trip anywhere near as much if i’d had that on my mind the whole time.