World Tour

Lame is me

2007-12-21T00:11:00.000Z

Haven't updated in AGES. Been on a few trips, and have some draft notes and stuff; so will update as soon as possible. Busy with PhD etc.

ps i noticed my gallery was broken, for a while now. gotta reset it now. loses all comments and hits. lame :( let me know if it breaks for you

The tanghettos of Ljubljana

2007-05-25T19:34:00.001Z

I was super impressed with seeing Bajofondo Tango Club in London, so when I found out that Gotan Project were playing, I just HAD to go. Only problem was, that the London show had sold out. However, during my last visit Slovenia I noticed that there was also a Gotan gig in Ljubljana - so I decided to fly there and check them out. Rok wasn't going to be there, but my friend Mateja who is also from Slovenia is living there at the moment, and she said she'd also be keen to check it out + that I could crash. So I did the math, and after counting transport, ticket costs and pound->EU conversion, seeing the concert in Slovenia would cost only 9pounds more. Concert AND a trip. DO IT!

Yes I am a groupie

So I land in Trieste (Italy) where Mateja kindly picks me up. Having seen Ljubljana before, this time sightseeing involved some more of the natural wonders of the land of dreams. So she gave me a choice - coast today and mountains tomorrow - or vice-versa. I choose the coast, cos growing up near the beach, mountains are something different for me, so I'd want more time exploring those. So we start cruising around in this gorgeous summertime weather. Gawd I live in the wrong country. First stop was a 'surprise' - the salt mills. When I was in Slovenia last time I had heard so much about this salt, and bought heaps of it (that people thought I was strange), so as a 'treat' Mateja took me to the place were the magic salt thang happens. Actually quite a popular spot - lotsa tourist buses (from Garmani jaa!). It was nice, cos the area was really quiet and tranquil. But my favourite part was the museum, which is basically a room with a salt-field recreation, and a video with some information. Oh yeah, they also had this tourist thing which would email out touristic postcards with your head. So I sent some to random @cam.ac.uk email addresses. Fun. It is probably the worst museum ever, but I did meet a peasant lady who told me of the mystical secrets of the salt.

Enlightenment - the secrets of the salt fields revealed

After salt lost it's appeal, we hit Piran, which is a Slovene coastal town. Apparently it can be quite touristy, but is really beautiful. Nice beach, nice seaside weather. Man I miss the coast - not used to landlocked lifestyle of Cambridge. Place was quite crowded at the nice beach, and parking was hard. Walking around, we saw people sunbaking on the cement, and because it was quite hot, old ladies just taking off their shirts and walking around. Europe... The town was nice, and pretty with a very villagy like feel. We climb up a hill where there is a church and a nice outlook over the coast. Finish up the daylight enjoying pizza and beer by the beach. ohhhhhhhhh ja! So different to Cam...

Chillin' in Piran

It's hot - get off your gear and roast on the pavement

Next day was Sunday - mountain time. Road trippin' in Mateja's 'sports car' - dunno if you stretch the definition of a sports car to include a Peugeot 206; but it was still a sweet car for exploring. First stop - Lake Bled. I had heard a lot about this place, being one of _the_ tourist attractions of Slovenia. And for good reason, it's beautiful. We go up this mountain/castle thing (fighting through the masses of Spanish and Italian tourists) to find this amazing outlook over this church in the middle of the lake. The view was simply amazing, especially given that it was so hot - the blue/green contrasting colours. Awesome. The castle was touristy - they had an information video running on loop, but despite the place being packed, it didn't attract any visitors. Though I decided to pay my respects - for a few secs anyway. Also there was a 'print-shop' where you could have your name pressed onto various touristic style scrolls in the old traditional manner. Out the front there was a book with letters, postcards, and such that tourists had sent in thanking the master printer for his great skill creating their souvenirs. But when I went there was only some young trainee boy doing the business - I felt so disappointed that I took a photo which I am going to send to them saying how upset I was to miss out on meeting the famous craftsman himself.

Beautiful Lake Bled

SO disappointed!

After Bled, we went to a 'valley-walk', which involved walking along this path of this mountainous river through this valley. It was a great walk, nice scenery - fresh air, but with the promise of a waterfall at the end. After quite a substantial walk, we didn't find any waterfall, but merely a trickle. Nonetheless it was a really nice walk through awesome vegetation with a view into a clear stream. We stopped for lunch at a 'traditional' restaurant (Gostilna) - which from the sign offered beds, drinks, pizza, parking as well as bikers and a bus! Nice meal, though extremely salted. Oh and no male restroom is complete in Slovenia without a pornographic advertisement - yes, even in a 3-star tourist establishment.
Land of dreams? Depends on what you're into... Final bit of a the trip involved a long drive through the alps. This was amazing, mountains are so different for me. So climbing up the mountains you could feel the change in temperature/climate and even notice the vegetation changes. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries, so I couldn't get many pics, but the views were amazing. We drove around and found this waterfall area. We arrived just after this bus of Czech tourists, so we were kinda stuck behind them. But the hike up the mountain was no easy task. Well it was easy, maybe just a bit unsafe as often we had to strongly grip a rope to have any sort of chance of making it across. Didn't help that m y shoes kept coming undone :( Unforutnately the waterfall was kinda boring, but the hike was somewhat adventurous, so fun. Oh and at that shop I found out that my German is more easily understood than my Australian-accented English. On the way back I HAD to try Hot Horse - which is a burger joint that sells horseburgers. Was really tasty, I got all basically all the sauces, so it was hot. But the patty tasted a lot like beef; though perhaps a little more tender...

The AMAZING waterfall at the end

Alps

Slovene toilet entertainment

Monday - I hit up town and wondered around. Started off walking past an Interspar (supermarket) cafeteria which was absolutely packed. As in a queue almost outside of the complex. Cheap + nasty meals I hear. Then catch the bus into town, and wonder around a bit. Had an amazing lunch (more pork) but with some nice dark beer (pivo) made by a brewery Union. Though I am definitely a Laško boy (the rival brewer is Union - people say you drink Laško and piss Union, or vice-versa depending upon who you ask; though I think they're the same company now). Now my second time in Ljubljana, I started to get a feel for the place - the centre seems quite small. Granted it should, with only a population of 300k. It's still cool though with many cafes, bars and icecream places by the river. Very pretty, but maybe a boring place to live? I met up with Rok's mate Simon for a bit, and we walked around - bumping into many people he knew along the way. I'm guessing Ljubljana is kinda like Perth - with three degrees of separation between everyone in the city. Summertime is great - nice scenery (if you know what I mean :)). We walked past the venue for the concert (Gotan were playing that night) and it had a massive line for tickets. I was so happy Mateja bought ours in advance!

Sepia is sexy

So finally the concert night - we get there perhaps at the perfect time. Too late for the support act but in plenty of time before the main act. You could spot the venue a mile away, as many people were camped outside to hear the concert without going in. Mateja said that was common practice, though the organisers caught on and made the walls higher so people could only hear and not see in. Dodgy Balkans :) We line up for a bit, and just before entering I get told off for using my camera - apparently cameras (inc ultra-compacts) aren't allowed in this gig. Anyway, we go in - smash some Laškos, and after going to the toilet (where security let girls into the guys one because of the line) we push our way into the massive crowd waiting for the act. After finding a position, some guy tells me move cos he can't see (I guess). I just make some 'eh?' face. Once they started playing he says something again and I reply "I don't speak Slovene". He says "Oh ok that's fine" (in English). Weird. ahha. But yeh I was taller than most around me.

Mateja going crazy

Bravo!

The concert was good - although a little slow. Bajofondo I guess is more of a dancy electro-tango, where as Gotan Project were (arguably) more artistic. It was great music, many musicians and awesome singers - though the prescense/stage show wasn't as good as I had expected. Still an awesome concert, dancing (well, more accurately swaying) to the tunes. Not sure if many Spanish were there (I think I was the only one screaming OTRA OTRA) but apparently there are quite a few Argentines in Ljubljana. Anyway, the concert was great and I am definately glad I went. Although it finsihed a little late, I needed to try Burek - which is an Albanian fast food, but really popular in Slovenia. We walk ages to Nobel Burek (one of the most famous) were I am treated to this amazingly oily snack. Apparently Nobel's are more oily than the general ones. I think that three bites of that burek tripled my cholesterol levels :(

A segment of Epoca

Finally it was time to leave Ljubljana. It was a really hot day, which was easily passed with a lunch of Ćevapčići, Laško and icecream. On teh way to the airport the weather started to turn a little. Mateja promised me she'd keep the weekend sunny + warm for me, and she did; so it was only fitting that it turned grey when I left. I bid adeu and check into the airport. Though our flight is delayed by 1.5 hours. Why? Because just as our EasyJet flight was to arrive, a freak thunderstorm hit (it was humid as fk) and so the people wanting to land were in a holding pattern for 50mins! Nasty. Seems I got out just in time.

How could I not SMILE (pivo/beer) whilst on holidays

Though the smile might be bigger had I mad 80's bathers

Ahhhhhhh I'm SO pleased I decided to go to Slovenia for the concert - for only a bit more $$ I got to see so many tourist sights (thanks Mateja!) in addition to the concert. And not only that - sun on my skin!!!

I took many a pic with my new camera (Sony T100) - check them out!

Put on my raving shoes and boarded a plane....

2007-05-09T00:41:00.000Z

Almost too embarrassed to say - this trip was to Leipzig to see the one-and-only Scooter. Scooter is a German techno band from the mid '90s - peaking in popularity around the same time; though they just wont quit - even today still churning out the choones. Everyone I know that's heard of them seem to have their music associated with their younger/school days - personally, I place Scooter back to year 10 in high school. Now I'm not a massive techno boy; but the massive drawcard of Scooter is that they combine techno tunes (think Eurotrash) with amazingly philosophical lyrics (hah). The most known of the band is the MC, H.P. Baxxter - who has been around for a while. Just as I had to see Cuba before Fidel died, similarly I was on a mission to see Scooter before Baxxter dies :) Once news came out of a Scooter club tour - I was in! Actually a group of us were keen, but one-by-one they pulled out; leaving only Rok & I. Still, couldn't miss this opportunity. Laughs central.

Pushing the term 'OLD-skool' to the extremes.

OK so Scooter were big, but not so popular today. No Germans that I know are into them. When I told Jan he was like "Scooter - do they still allow them them play?", when mentioning the trip to another girl in Koeln she said "Scooter is crap. Are you silly?!", and I remember Doro banning me from using the 'S' word around her mates. Hhahahaha. Seriously though, how can anyone resist - the lyrics that they manage to work into their hardcore techno songs are simply amazing. We decided that if we were going, that we should do it properly. Somehow we came up with the idea to make T-Shirts with our fave Scooter line on the back (we might be crazy, but lots of other people at the gig also had custom-made gear). Choosing only one quote from the plethora of great lines written by these modern day poets was by no means an easy task. Some of the contenders include "The sky has changed, can you smell the sun" (re summer), "Respect to the man in the icecream van", "How do I get off the bus", "How much is the fish", "We are not the monkeys, but we've got the key", "Get off your shirts and wait for further instructions" ,"Does the fish have chips", "Starting the microphone business I've got one message for the next decade. Move you ass!". Whilst "here comes the chicks terminator" was appealing, I decided on my all time favourite "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice". SOOO deep. While Rok chose "Lass uns tanzen oder ficken oder beides!" (I won't translate that - but Scooter are becoming 'dirtier' as they get older). Gotta imagine these words used in techno songs! Shirts would have been more awesome had more crew joined us on this tour. Their loss. Scooter club tour - gotta do it!


We found these 'professional' pics on various websites a few days after the concert.

Before we left, I thought I might try and contact people 'in the know' - to find out more about the venue, concert, any after parties, etc. I've had pretty good luck with VIP stuff in the past :) So we logon to the official Scooter Techno forums and get in contact one of the moderators (bosses) of the message board. The moderator, is a professional lady, in her mid-forties, a mother of two and a die-hard scooter fan. We dubbed her 'Scooter Mom'. She was also flying over from the UK for Leipzig gig, and informed us that there would be a meet, greet & autograph sesh slightly before the show. Wow. Meet the legends themselves... Too funny. Sehr Schoen!

Finally the day arrived. Our flight was kinda early, but we were out really late the night before with some of the Spanish crew from BCN. Completely dead for the journey - thinking we were gonna die by the time the concert started. We land in Leipzig - and fall in love with the place, mainly because it was sunny and warm. Something you don't get often in Cam. Somehow the sun just gives you energy! After checking into our hostel, we debated about whether to make the trek out to where the autograph session was. It was either go get autographs. Or sleep. We (sheepishly) decided this opportunity was too much to pass up, and head to the outskirts of Leipzig to the mall where Scooter was appearing. We took our shirts, but were far to embarrassed to wear them out. Our idea was to bring them and get them signed - but we didn't want them to sign our chests hahaha. Keeping the shirts hidden was probably a good plan, as this mall was out in the middle of suburbia, in a rough area. Drunk/homeless looking people everywhere - surrounded by really old (obv. ex-communist accommodation) run down apartment blocks. Seemed like a German-ghettos. Redneck-esc people screaming, shouting, smashing bottles and stuff in this rundown area, with a fancy shopping mall smack-bang in the centre. So we finally find the place and the store where the signing is to take place. But we can't find any sign of Scooter. There were posters saying Autograph Session 5pm. It was 5.30 - were the Germans that efficient that they had already been and gone?! We wondered through every corner of the store several times - looking around at the crowd, wondering if they were there for Scooter or not; but FAR too embarrassed to ask. After quite a long time, Rok somehow musters up the courage to ask, and find out the signing was outside and around the corner. Phew. So we go out, Scooter hadn't arrived yet, but there was a massive queue of eager fans waiting for their heroes. What a bizarre crowd - a total mix of people, from typical raver types (as you'd expect) to old Eurotrash chicks, to German-versions of redneck/hicks; and every type of person inbetween. Despite our dislike for queues (livin' in UK...), we decide we only get one shot at this, so we line up. I get some beers to ease our nerves before we met our heroes (hahahaha). Finally we get to the front and show our shirts. I say I'm from Australia - and Baxxter was like "wow. what are you doing here" (think a higher pitched Arnie-style accent). Hahah it's all for you baby. "we should get out there soon". All good. We didn't have any witty retorts or cool lines. Probably cos we hadn't ate or slept the whole day and just downed beers. But none-the-less we got our tour shirts autographed by Scooter. Awesome...


H.P. Baxxter - givin' props to da whole EU posseeee	Smoothtalkin' Rok	Surprisingly I didn't faint...

So afterwards we go into the mall, and enjoy a free jazz concert and botomless champagne being given to the shoppers. Nice. Then down some German food & beers in this awesome cafe strip in Leipzig before heading out to the concert. This time we wore our shirts in public, and despite a few odd looks, somehow made it to the concert alive. Actually lots of ppl on the public transport were headed the same direction to the concert. The venue - Volkspalast was amazing. It was like a circular venue, DJ box kinda in the middle, with like massive roman arches around. A very classy joint, not at all like the warehouse I had expected. People at the gig were a lot more normal (I guess only freaks like us go to an autograph session). Armed with our shirts, we got approached by many professional photographers - and a few days later we spotted photos of Rok & I all over the websites of various Leipzig nightlife magazines. Not sure if that's good or bad. As for the concert - the atmosphere was amazing. People went bananas, and when Scooter played their own tracks, people went ballistic. MC Baxxter didn't disappoint, screaming out various lines - such as pointing to Scooter's new member (who actually people tend to dislike cause he changed the band's direction) who was Djg - shouting out 'shiny shiny shiny shiny' in the tune of "lager lager lager lager" from that Trainspotting sign whilst pointing at the guy's blinged up silver headphones. The concert was amazing - we jumped around like crazy for hours. Ravers unite! By far the best track was WEEKEND - so many awesome lines in that song, coupled with Baxxter's freestyling. Ohhh yeah. There were a group of crazy lads dressed in various raver gear, each one with a different Scooter track written on their back. Everytime there was a bit of silence they would scream DUP DAH DUP DA DA DUP DUP DUP - which is the call from one famous Scooter track called Maria - where people scream out that (in a downer-like voice). So it was fantastic when that song played. Other times, lotsa rave tracks mixed in, with Baxxter with some fresh lines such as "Rich bitch show us your tits". Hahah. Seriously though, the atmosphere was amazing, the Scooter trio blasting out tunes, lyrics and even airhorns. Crowd going bananas. So much fun. Absolutely exhausted at 3.30am when they finished. We left the place to see those same raver boys from before (dup dup dup) blasting old-skool Scooter tracks from their car. After dancing past them for a second we knew the night was over....


Check the vids...

The concert was on a Fri night, so we devoted Sat to sightseeing. I contacted some CouchSurfers to see if we could meet someone to show us around. We got up late so msg'd late, and I realised I got some phone numbers wrong :( One person said "oh now I am going to an apartment out of town where the wallpaper is peeling off the walls - I can pick you guys up on the way if you want.". As curious as we were about that offer, since we only had a day here, we decided it was better to see the city. Leipzig is a nice city, lotsa nice buildings, mixture of some old architecture with some ex-DDR buildings as well. Some of the ex-Commo-buildings were draped in 'happy' covers - I'm guessing to doll the place up for the World Cup. Blue pipes ran all over the city, wrecking the ambience. We were confused as to why, but then were told it was to do with drainage for the metro they were making. The weather was fantastic, so everybody was out and about. Rok had his super-duper new digital SLR camera, so he was out taking all sorts of pics, from classic tourist shots to inappropriate pics of cripples and girls-arses. All class. Everyone there was eating icecream. Like constantly. We did so too - amazing. Also, everywhere we went to eat was promoting their spargel dishes. Spargel is asparagus - one guy with a super strong & deep accented voice told us "I DONT KNOW HOW YOU CALL THIS IN UNGLISH BUT IT IS LIKE DAT WHITE THINGGG ON DA FRONT!") dishes. Seriously. Most restaurants had a separate Spargel menu. We had to try it - and it was sehr gut. Spargelriffic ja! Seriously though - people were going nuts for Spargel.

At night, we got in contact with Mia from CouchSurfing. She said that she was going with her friend Wiebe to some punk/electro mix party and that we could come along. Awesome. We totally got a taste of some of the Leipzig underground scene. So we met them at 23:50 (German precision) and caught the tram to some stop before walking to the party. They kindly brought us beers, but we didn't have an opener. We tried to crack them open against bricks when we saw a train/rail employee come over to us. I naturally assumed we'd be told off - it was an official after all; but instead he hands us his bottle opener. In case of emergency huh?! :) Garmany und bier! Mia and Weibe were totally into the alternate scene, with out-there cuts/styles, and they've even dj'd a few of their own gigs in the past. We walk for a while before following a group of American tourists towards the party. Mia/Weibe were concerned about the yanks going in the same direction, but then told them that the other party they were looking for was close but in a different area. Some weird place with reloving beds or something?! That was the one they were looking for - much to the relief of Mia & Weibe. So we go in and the band, MIT, starts cranking. Bizarre music - like moog synths, live drums and a person (he spoke like a guy, sang like a girl - though we couldn't tell the gender) screaming angrily in German into the mic. They were actually good. The venue was awesome too, very warehouse/underground like. Then the main band came on, "World Domination" - weren't as good (in all of our opinions) - but they had mad costumes etc. These guys were more Indy. Rok purchased a World Domination tank top. Farny. After a bit we run (literally) for a bus, but miss it. Eventually we head towards this other club. We walk down these random dark suburban streets, and then up this dark alley & path lit by candles. I make the joke "so this is where you rob us", though given the surroundings it was perhaps a possiblity:) Eventually we go through some curtains into this club playing lotsa bleepy-techno music. I was disappointed to discover that we just missed the main act which involved mixing in old Commodore 64 & Amiga computers to make various tracks. Doh! But the music was still great so we danced around for hours in this bizarre club, which seemed like a hollowed out house, with non-functioning toilets (think buckets of water). Big crowd, lots of people dancing like crazy for hours and hours. Close to 6am we call it quits, as our bus to the airport left in 3 hours - and we hardly slept the night before. We walk outside and it is sunny. Outside of the club looks like we are in some gypsy parkland - lots of caravans, gardens, couches, etc. Maybe more like some alternative art-space. I guess like city farm in Perth but more 'real' + full on. We had an amazing night; there is no way we would have found these awesome nightspots without Mia - super fun...

MIT - makin' noise....

Leipzig party crew

Pretty much died when we had to catch the bus, the flight, and then make our way through the hour long immigration queue - given the Non-EU line had only two booths open for 189481284198124 people. But we made it back. Alive - having met Scooter, dancing like crazy to some classic tracks, and checking out the Leipzig bleep scene. Mission accomplished. Over-und-out.

DER FOTOS

Rambla pa'qui Rambla pa'lla

2007-05-02T19:09:00.000Z

Back from Vienna zero hours sleep. Rush to Cam, repack, back to London to see an amazing concert - Bajofondo Tango Club; a group I saw when in Buenos Aires, amazing electro tango. Next morning - straight to Gatwick to head to Barcelona.

I've been to Spain many times, but never to Barcers. I was going as part of a language exchange with the Language Unit of Cam's Engineering Dept. and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). Basically the CompSci dept here funds some students to learn a foreign language, so I chose Spanish. Unfortunately due to the timing of the classes I missed many, though I somehow managed to squeeze-in a week away to hit-up Barcelona. Barcelona isn't the obvious choice for a Spanish exchange trip, given that the language is Catalan (kinda like a French-Spanish mix), though basically everyone understands espanhol. The trip looked great - all organised, visits to companies, tourist attractions, opportunity to stay with a student's family and all well priced. xk no!

So I land Sunday and basically sleep the day + night away, totally needed to recover from Vienna and London. It was easy to do cos we were put up in these sweet student rooms. Next day I met the other six students who came from Cam. As I do Computer Science, which isn't Engineering per-se, I didn't know anyone else from Cambridge. Actually we were meant be a group of 10, but 3 didn't show. That kinda sucked, because each Cam student was paired with a host student (whom we stayed with), which meant three Spanairds missed out on having a local Cam contact for when they came to visit. No big deal, but it woulda been nicer for them...

Cambridge possee

El grupo

The first morning we met up with the organisers from the Spanish Uni - Sandra, Jose & Lázaro, all of whom were super cool. They, along with the Lang Unit of Cam had preorganised everything. It is sooooooooo good to go on a trip where you don't have to think, where everything is organised - from transport, activities and also meals! I'm totally not used to stress-free travel - it's almost too easy... We were welcomed by the Uni and then introduced to our student hosts (who in turn would visit us in Cambridge). It was great, as everyone was awesome, and we quickly became good mates. As expected, all of the Spanish students could speak WAY better English than we could Spanish; actually my host, Enrique (Nicky), grew up learning English, and his whole family speak that at home! But it didn't matter, I still got to practice my Espanglish and even better it meant that we could have more meaningful conversations than otherwise would have been possible with my poor level of Spanish. Nicky's family was super nice, and quite large. Six kids total, though only a few were there at the time (they shipped one off to Madrid so that I could have her room :/ Incidentally, her boyfriend from Germany arrived that same week.. heh. I guess I'm a reasonable replacement. JA!). They were great - got on with all of them really well. And lucky for me they had this awesome piso (flat) quite close to the uni - which meant a few extra minutes for sleep after a hard night of partying BCN style.

A major part of the trip involved visiting various Engineering sites - from university departments to various companies. We visited the SEAT automotive factory, to learn of various design/manufacturing processes. They covered everything from general aesthetic design, shell construction, damage & safety testing to sound and pollution control. Another factory we visited was Dow Chemicals, where we got to visit a chemical refinery and learn of various chemical processes. It was very interesting for me, as I knew nothing about chemical engineering - even if we did finish with pig trotters for lunch :) Finally we visited the AGBAR Group - which manages various aspects of water, with the tour focusing on the architectural decisions (quirks?) of the Torre Agbar (building) housing the company's offices. The Torres Agbar is essentially the 'Gherkin' (per London) of Barcelona. This was really interesting, with things such as uneven + unconnected floors, all windows facing the Segrada Familia, etc. Definitely more to this pickle than meets the eye...

Engineers get all the chicks...

Torre Agbar, floors aren't level, nor touch the edge

As we were paired with students, much of our spare time was spent with them - checking out tourist sights. Barcelona is an awesome coastal city (though the beaches aint nufin on Perth beaches), with lots of crazy architecture, attributed to Gaudi (and his disciples). Very artistic - throughout the city you will see nothing but mad buildings (well, facades), sights, sculptures, etc. Lots and lots of jaw dropping sights. Y la Sagrada Familia. Increible....


BCN is VERY tourist friendly, though locals get sick of it. Some of our hosts were amused by some of the graffiti, but it ain't always easy to pick a local, huh...:)

Obviously we had to check out BCN nightlife. Nicky's sister Angel is like the queen of the BCN nightlife scene, so she managed to get some tickets to some VIP party with free drinks at some fancy club one night. Then a few nights later she arranged free entry for the whole group at another club - Pacha. Free IS the right price... We went out with the entire Cam-Bcn crew one Thursday (a good night for student parties apparently) - starting with dinner, then hitting various bars until we hit a club. Very messy night, especially since we had to be up bright and early for some company tours. I think the organisers expected us to go out on Thurs as they kindly give us a later start on Friday morning. All of us managed, to survive! One night I checked out a student party for a short while. I heard it was at the facultad de matematicas (Maths faculty). Maths students aren't usually known for their partying skills - but the party was great - people were there from every discipline (the faculty was just the host). Live bands, lots of people, a real festival atmosphere. Oh and a game where you get kisses in exchange for a sticker. Oye! :) I also caught up for a sheesha session with some buddies from Bcn whom I met in Ljubljana (they were touring around in a Caravan). Very cool. Oh - I was sad though when I found out that Manu Chao were playing at a festival near Bcn 5 days after I left. K puta suerte...

Party people....

Just like in Cam, keep off the grass in BCN...

I really enjoyed Barcelona, though I think I might prefer Madrid. BCN has that coastal feel, which perhaps I'm more used to - having grown up in Aus. I'm totally living in the wrong country - I should so be in Spain...

So the Barcelona students came to visit Cam a week later (poor things! hahaha), and we tried to reciprocate hospitality-wise. Us 'kids' were more in charge of social aspects. So our hands were tied, I mean Cambridge isn't exactly well known for its fun - _especially_ compared to Bcn. To make matters worse it was quite close to exams, so the streets (and hence, clubs) were basically dead. Though I guess some of the weird aspects of Cambridge are always are interesting to those unfamiliar - such as the chapel tower, punting, formal dinners. Wow as a grad student I had no concept as to the number of penny game variations were out there (i.e. drink before the queen drowns).

All-in-all was an awesome trip, and I'm glad they all came to visit. Made some good mates and was actually sad to see them go. Given that I am constantly going back to Spain, I have no doubt that I'll catch some of them again.

aqui estan las fotos

I think I'm turning Viennese I really think so

2007-04-16T22:34:00.000Z

I went to Vienna to attend/present at a conference related to my studies. The conference was over four days, and it was not only interesting, but reassuring to see that our thoughts are inline with (and in some aspects, maybe even ahead of) others in the field. I met people with a number of similar research interests and got some new leads to follow. A change of scenery in which to think - definitely helped to renew motivation in my work....

I won't talk about the conference, as it is slightly off track with what I usually write about, except to say my presentation went OK. I was there for almost a week - so in addition to the conference, there was also time for fun & touristic stuff. But nothing crazy like Iceland or Koeln. The conference organised various activities. On the first night, we got a guided tour, followed by a nice dinner at the Klosterneuburg Monastery. Very cool, extremely old, with a rich history, and of course with wine made in the Kloster. The next night the delegates were invited by the Mayor of Vienna to the amazing city hall for a cocktail and canapes evening. Lunches weren't included in the conference package, but instead they recommended various restaurants around the place, so I hung out a lot during the days with other delegates, indulging in various treats - such as schnitzels the size of my head, or a brauhaus with a pan full of some sort of deer casserole. Excellent.

Klosterneuburg Monastery

City hall reception
we in the VIP yeah yeah

The first day I arrived I stayed with Michael who graciously offered me his couch through Couchsurfing, as my accommodation for the conference was booked for the day after. He works in IT, and after taking me for a tour around some of the main touristy sights of Vienna (simply amazing city) we checked out The Metalab. The lab is what's known as a 'Hacker's Space' basically where people who are interested in technology to hang out and do things/be creative. Kinda stuff you see in the art-world, but this is with a tech focus. Was cool - they had just finished some competition to make a game, etc. I also enjoyed playing the Wii - I'm pretty good at boxing:)
Actually I spent lots of time hanging with the Viennese Couchsurfers - as they are a _very_ active community. The first night Michael & I met up with Christine, Spyro and Rachie - barhopping for a bit, starting at Chelsea's (a bar), quickly skipping through some bar for youngsters, before ending up at this place which is not advertised or with signs, you just open this blue door and suddenly there's some awesome bar with projected lights, music and bizarre ghetto toilets with graffiti. You'd never know it existed if you didn't know it was there. There was a Couchsurfing picnic on the long weekend - which I hit up late (after spending the day refining my speech, and then spending hours trying to find them in the massive park) - and hung out there a while, meeting a whole bunch more ppl over food, etc - before heading back to Christine's place to chill-out. Throughout the week I constantly met up with ppl at night. For example, one night I went to a Dancehall night (think Sean Paul). I was probably the whitest there (except for Ingrid) enjoying watching the set steps. Last night I was there we had a group dinner, then hit up some bar which was full of youngsters thrashing out to alternative music, followed by hitting the well known club Flex - which is by the water. Flex was a cool club, but it kinda reminded me of those clubs in movies, you know the type where the club is also the HQ of the evil European boss. Like that. Hhahah. We had good times - hanging out with a good group of ppl. Great fun.

Party people

Toilet action

Vienna is an amazingly beautiful city. Every building is impressive, like you see some buildings and find out that's a library, or a university - expecting more like a presidential palace or something. I went a bit street-scene crazy with my camera, but my mum asked me to, so I have an excuse:) Just look at the album and it's understandable as to why. As mentioned, Michael took me on quite a thorough tour on my first day there. I also met up with Anton, a mate from Cambridge who was also visiting Vienna at the same time. He was there with another friend from Cambridge, Anne and we met up with a friend he met in Belarus, Alena, who now lives in Vienna. So on my last day we charged around the city, checking out the sights, such as various parks, the Wien (hah), and generally being stupid/having fun. Actually we met up the night before, and hit up that same 'hidden' bar, where Anton and crew were taken by their host - again, pictures of the toilet were taken...

Beware of the mighty Wien

Penguin Molestation
Down 'n Dirty

I seriously can't believe the population of Vienna is the same as Perth. It seems way bigger - well, I mean it seems like a city. Apparently it's one of the nicest cities to live in, as it is a big-small city; all the advantages with good transport, etc; without the big city problems. I had a great time there - highly recommended!

Photos....

Big-ups to Bratislava

2007-04-11T19:28:00.000Z

I was due to present a paper at a conference in Vienna. As the conference was right after the Easter break, the flights directly to Vienna were stupidly expensive. Which meant that in order to get there affordably, I had to take a flight a couple of days earlier to Bratislava. The chance to check out Slovakia as well! Bonus!
Got to the airport on Good Friday - it was quite quiet. Things weren't going so well for the staff either. Over the loadspeaker we heard "RyanAir is pleased to announce the boarding of flight ...." blank. Then again. Then again. And again. The guy kept stopping and restarting when about to say the flight name/number. Then about the fifth time, he booms over the airport "RyanAir is pleased to announce the boarding of flight ...... OHHHH SSSHHIIITTTT!!". The whole airport starts laughing.

Despite the airport being empty, the flight is full. I spent the flight talking to an engineer from Slovakia working in the UK. He gave me good tips for the airport, such as making sure to get coins from the airport staff so that you can buy a bus ticket. The flight got in late, so I checked in and walked around town for a short while. The old-town of the city is really nice, pedestrian only, lots of nice buildings - and at night basically just full of tourists. I heard much Spanish in the streets, as well as American accents. I didn't stay out long - instead retreating 'home' to refine my presentation a little, and rest up for a big day.

I basically had an entire Sat - day + night, to check out the city. Bratislava is nice, but kinda small (from a tourist perspective). Lotsa nice buildings and street scenes in the old town, and even some work by Plecnic:)

Crowd Control

I deserved to be in this ad

I saw some random stuff in the morning. One thing was a string of police cars & officers standing around with batons in hand etc (in front of Tesco!). Lots of people screaming and wailing at each other. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be some sort of argument (war?) between two, well-dressed, families. People were screaming in each other's faces, with a big crowd watching to see what happened. The older female figures of each family were causing the problems. So many police for such a little thing! Nothing like a bit of morning entertainment... They were also filming a beer commercial in town, apparently picking people out of the crowd to join in. I worked out that I was too late by about 10 mins :( Which was a shame as they had hundreds of beers ready for consumption. God damn beer is well priced in Slovakia - one beer I like to buy costs 1.50(quid) in the Supermarket here, but around 15p in Slovakian supermarkets. BOOOO.

So around midday I met up with Suzy from Hospitality Club - who basically runs the Slovak hospitality club scene, constantly hosting people, organising meetings, etc, and we walked around the town, and up the hill to Bratislava Castle - which overlooks the city. Hmmm a castle on-top over-looking old-town - sound familiar? Some interesting architecture, like really old buildings with modern architecture like the UFO bridge. Back in town, we found this tower with people on top, and I wanted to go up - but we asked in shops, etc, and nobody knew how. Eventually we found the entrance and went up to get in. Suzy was talking in Slovakian whilst giving students cards, etc. Then the lady blurts out, quite slowly "plleeassee give me coins". She then laughs really hard, and kept repeating it. Then she wrote down the word "ISIC" (thinking that was the word for student card) so she could go home and practice her English. It was so funny cos she kept saying it over and over and over. Whilst cackling like a crazy person.

Castle

UFO Bridge

Hungry, we went to Slovak Pub. Which is probably the BEST touristy pub/restaurant I've ever been to. Each room is decorated differently to represent a different part of Slovakia's history. Was awesome. Good beer too. I asked for something traditional, so Suzy recommended some dumplings in a cream sauce with bacon. It was fine - kinda like pasta; but apparently it's "peasants food" hahah. Interesting, though not sure I'd order it again. Actually I got to try tons of traditional food. We went to one Slovak restaurant which was full, so they recommended another one. This one was really fancy. And funny. Tons of ppl working there, for not that many customers. One waiter commented that I had nice hair (in Slovak.. errrr. no discount either...). Anyway, the place was decorated really nicely/traditionally (I guess). Then these musicians came out, blasting their violins etc behind my head. Only tourists go to this place, so all these old Italians in the restaurant start singing along. Funny stuff. Got to try this soup served in hollowed out bread, and this massive plate of meat and other stuff. God damn I couldn't walk after. Such a random random place to have Slovak music being played right behind our heads. The waitstaff were characters also. Haha many laughs.

Suzy checkin out Slovak Pub

Enjoying my peasants food

Apparently most of the (good) nightlife happens outside of the main city (i.e. away from the tourists), but the buses finish around midnight, with taxis being unbelievably expensive (compared to everything else which is really cheap). All the things going on in old town are for tourists, and because Slovakia is relatively cheap, apparently some tourists have a bad rep (I was told to make sure I say I'm Australian, not living in England) because of going there for stag nights. There are lots of cool bars, restaurants, etc - very cosmo. Not sure if that's the influenced by the tourists or the EU generally.
I had fun in Bratislava, it was nice to visit - but really a day or two (if you go out + need to recover) is more than enough to do the tourist thing. I was lucky to have an awesome guide, but still it is the kinda place you could quickly explore on your own.

Pictures here

The Land of Dreams...

2007-04-04T23:35:00.000Z

Slovenia. Finally! My best mate Rok is from there and one conversation he was reminiscing about all the fantastic things of the country - so much so, that we dubbed it the land of dreams. I couldn't wait to go there, and it really is awesome - it's quite small, but has everything - nightlife, pretty city, and proximity to mountains, snow, beach, etc. What more do you want?!

So I went to go visit Rok at his place, but unfortunately he got his with this debilitating flu. So bad he couldn't really leave bed for long. Terrible timing - cos not only were we both on holidays, but it was also the week I chose to visit. But he went out of his way to hook me up with friends + family to make sure I had an awesome trip. So Rok's mum came to pick me up from the airport in Italy and drove me to their place in the capital, Ljubljana. Europe is so amazing, where you can fly into one country, and in no time at all you are in another, with a different language, culture, etc. Italy Trieste to Ljubljana is about an hour's drive, and is a great trip as you can see the change in the climate/vegetation from the Mediterranean to more Continental - from sun to fog, sea to mountains, all in a single trip! An hour in Perth and you can probably still be in (greater) Perth. His family are awesome, overly hospitable, so we spent the first night chilling - chatting & watching movies...

Family 'n Friends

The next day, Rok arranged for his good mate Simon to take me on a tour of Ljubljana. Man Simon knew his stuff, planned an entire route, giving a concise explanation of the history of each place along the way. Ljubljana is a pretty city, especially right in the centre where the city surrounds like a river/canal. It seems that almost every construction in the city (of note) was done by the architect - Plecnik. Apparently so popular is his work that the church actually wants to make him a saint or something!? Anyway, lots of cool sites (difficult to explain - see the gallery), though Simon seemed overly impressed/excited about the new H&M opening in the city centre. Actually lots of the big shops (like these massive massive shopping malls) are on the outskirts of town, much like you see in many European cities. Kinda good cos it keeps the old town/centre really nice. We were walking around and we passed this 'famous' store selling Slovene salt - yes they've been using the same procedure for 40 years! WoW! hahah actually they've been extracting salt for hundreds of years, but they changed the procedure 40 years ago. Simon thought I was pretty nuts when I went in and wasted so many Euros buying bizzarre salt related products. One of the highlights of the tourist trail is Ljubljana castle, which sits high up on the hill overlooking the city. Had an amazing view, and to get there you can either walk, or take a funicular. I'd call this a cable car, but Simon insisted the English word is funicular. Apparently it's in the dictionary, but I've only ever heard that word in Spanish. Anyway the view from up top is amazing. Though only slightly more amazing than the 3D film on the history of Ljubljana - where the Slovene version is blasted out so loud that you hear Slovene and English (Slovenglish?) at the same time :)

Downtown

OK Simon, you win the bet...

I was lucky enough to smash through some meat whilst there. Rok knew that I'd never tried deer, so he made sure I got to try it. His mum cooked it - super tasty. I also went with Simon to this traditional Slovene restaurant. Basically made for tourists, but very cool - even with it's own brand of (lousy) beer. Though I got to eat horse too. They have a fast food burger chain called Hot Horse (horseburgers), but I'll have to try that next time. Reason enough to come back, no? Apparently you can eat bear, though it's hard to get. Simon told of a story where the owner of the zoo was in trouble for eating bears there (he made Bear goulash), but everyone else we told the story doubted that happened. Hahah imagine - "honey, I don't have time to go to the shops, can you bring some meat home", "sure dear, I'll just raid the cage" :) Also ate some amazing dip/spread - made of raw, heavily spiced mince. Tasted great.

A little TOO happy to be eating horse. Tastes like beef

For Sat night, Rok hooked me up with another friend of his, Dragan. He came past and we picked up his friend/employee/slave to have some predrinks. They decided on going to a bowling alley - not to play, but just to drink. Different experience - not my usual choice of watering hole, but interesting nonetheless. They brought out beer in these massive cylinders with connected taps - 3L at a time. We smashed through one quickly, where another was ordered before I knew it. We spent the time time talking about Slovene life, business and technology whilst 'enjoying' the music. The music playing was TurboFolk. Kinda like electronic versions of ethnic songs - more Bosnian or Serbian or something rather than Slovene. Slovene traditional music is more Austrian-like apparently, where as some of the neighbouring countries sound more Eastern (makes sense given the history). Turbofolk is very new-school - it's best you see for yourself (MAKE SURE YOU DO) here and here.
Anyway. Digression. The other dude doesnt drink much and Dragan was driving which left me to finish more beer than I could handle. Messy. Anyway, re drink driving, Dragan assured me that once he hits this point, he doesn't become any more intoxicated and can drive perfectly. I still held on for life as we slid around corners. Our destination was a club - Global. Dragan has VIP entrance so we go through the back and go upstairs. Global is famous in Slovenia, it's kind of a pretty-person's/upper-class club. It located on top of a building, overlooking the city - quite stylish. Dragan says the drink of choice is the infamous Long Island IceTea - 6eu (which is apparently obscene in Slovenia) but super potent. Seriously. I was out of it in no time. Simon and Tinka (his gf) and one of her friends came as well, and had the pleasure of hanging out with us drunken lads... The decor/setup in Global was nice, but the music was pretty off. Lots of really old songs; though granted it was a 60s-70s themed night or something. But I mean, John Lennon's Imagine, whilst a great song, isn't exactly appropriate for a club:) After a while, we lose Dragon (as he said "every man for himself") and his mates, so Simon + crew decide to head to another club. I was completely mashed that it wasn't until we were outside that I realise I didn't have my phone. We go back in and _somehow_ Simon finds it on the ground. I totally owe him one. Then I can't find my ticket for the cloakroom. We go to another club, but I think the night was over. I then find my cloakroom ticket, so we go back (_again_) and get my jacket. Arrggghhh. Poor guys having to put up with me :S

Boozing and the bowling alley

Party people @ Global

Next day I went to the caves at Postojna. They were really touristy - a Disneyland-esc train takes you from the entrance to deep inside. But it was worth it, there were some amazing features and formations. They also have some salamanders in there, which usually live in the dark (as dislike light). Though some lucky critters had the pleasure of being trapped in a cave with bright lights on them, subjected to flash photography by eager tourists :) I enjoyed the tour despite a hangover. Rok's folks were kind enough to drive me to the caves, so whilst waiting for them to pick me up, I met some ppl from Barcelona who hired a caravan for their vacations, so I chilled with them for a bit until I saw Rok's parents standing out the front. Seriously, a caravan looks like the way to go for a European Adventure! On the way back, we went for a drive past a lake which apparently dries up in summertime, as well as through some marshlands and past (yet more) work of Plecnik. That night, we had a nice dinner with fam and chilled out. Later I met up with a friend from Cam, Mateja, who took me to a cool bar which resembled something out of some 70s club/porn den - think disco-balls, animal skin couches, etc. Hahah it had a cool scene.

Everyone I met in Slovenia was extremely nice and cool - made my trip awesome. Rok's family loaded me up with so many goodies, like pumpkin oil (amazing for salads), wine, honey, etc. So good. Hats off to Rok for arranging things (whilst sick) and his friends and family who went above and beyond to ensure that I had the best time possible in Slovenia. Land of dreams. Not far off! I will be back.

Check the pics here.

G'day from WA

2007-03-28T18:04:00.000Z

It was almost a year since being back home - and I was itching for the chilled out sunny lifestyle which I grew up knowing. Perth delivered. Awesome weather - 30-36 degrees on various days (though the odd day of 24 - seemed damn cold after 36). Was a great recharge of the batteries. Spent time lazing on the beach (I still have a wife-beater tan), and catching up with people. Planned to do work, but it didn't happen.

I arrived to some nice afternoon Sun after some bitchin' flights - 14 hours London - KL, a few hours in the airport then 5.5 hrs KL to Perth. Not to mention the 8hrs time diff.... Ugghh. Actually 10 days is way too short for a trip home - you basically lose 2 days from travelling and jet-lag; and I didn't get to see everyone I had planned.
Anyway, it was awesome to catch up with the fam. I surprised everyone by appearing at my grandma's 80th birthday dinner. She was totally shocked when I walked in last, hiding behind the people greeting each other infront of me. Good stuff. Caught up with the family a fair bit, went out for dinner+drinks with grandparents, beers with Rick and a big family bbq (I had Kangaroo - yes!) which involved eating and drinking until the early hours of the morning. Sweet.

Nana's 80th

Messy nights

I think if you look up Perth in a dictionary, the definition will read 'laid back'. After being to Europe, everything seems small. Can't believe the population is 1.5mil - because the city is so spread out, it seems sooooo empty. Seriously - it has as many people as Vienna! But the beaches are incredible, you can go there, in the heat of the day, on a weekend and still have space to yourself, and maybe even find your own secluded area. The nightlife is OK, but you really need to know where to go, as well as have axs to a car or taxi. But I enjoyed being back.
Caught up with some mates too, particularly Tim + Kelly, Joel and Frank. It's funny that they are all back only temporarily, all likely to head away again soon. Most of my mates I grew up with are scattered all over the place. Heh - the day after I arrived it was the going away party (to London) of a mate from high-school. Basically nobody's left in Perth!
Did a few things tho. They had these sculptures at a popular beach (Cottesloe) which I checked out with Gary Cruise (Joel). After we went to the institution known as The Cott for a Sunday Sesh. Wow having beers by sunset in the warmth with some great mid-90s dance tracks - aint nothing like it. I was there for St Patrick's day - so my sisters and I met up with Tim & Kelly - later Frank and Joel came, along with some of Richelle's mates, and we hit Northbridge. Jess hit it in a big way and needed the sobering effects of litres of water + chips. All good. We also hit a cocktail night which was kinda fun. Latin night @ The Deen is always great - a big international crowd, rooms of brasilian music, salsa and DJs, hit that up in a big way - having tequila bombs (beer with a tequila shot dropped in). Good times. Australians are known to be alcoholics. I can see why. Though it's diff to the UK :)

Only Venice Beach is good enough for Gary Cruise

Sunday Sesh at the Cott, overlooking the beach

I always used to complain about Perth - but I really enjoyed going back. Well first and foremost it is the people I miss, not so much the place. Having said that, I still feel tied to the place I grew up, and I can see why the property market etc there is going crazy - awesome weather, amazing nature, proximity to temperate wine regions as well as tropics, laid-back lifestyle. Sounds like I'm writing a travel brochure. Not sure when I'll be back next, but I think I'll bring some friends with me so they can check it out...

Pics here

Travel Update

2007-03-05T15:20:00.000Z

Lotsa travel coming up. Australia (10 days) mid March, back to UK a few days, Slovenia for the weekend, back for a week, then Bratislava for Easter, Vienna for a couple of days (presenting at a conference), then back to London for a night before a week in Barcelona (Spanish Camp). Gotta get a lot done prontisimo!

Ugh - I lost my camera. On a night where I was the designated photographer for a friend's 21st. She is super-sad that all these amazing shots are gone :( Arrgh I feel so, naked, without my cam. Gotta get a new one before I go. Suggestions?

Performin' in the Land of ICe

2007-02-25T23:07:00.000Z

This time - Iceland. Most Nth I've ever been. I booked about six months in advance, because of some super 70quid BA special. About two weeks after booking it I wished I hadn't, because I did so on the same weekend as Karneval in Koeln. I heard amazing things about Koeln madness during Karneval from Jan, and it was the ONLY thing I had planned to do (in advance) for 2007! So I was a little sad. But looking back I'm totally happy I hit Iceland when I did - everything fell nicely into place.

The start was a bit rocky - especially on the sleep front. Somehow I thought that because the flight was early, I'd be better staying at my mate Allen's house in London the night before. Ended up taking about the same amount of time to go from London to Gatwick as it'd take going there from Cambridge, except costing about twice as much. Also, there was no power at Allen's house (the whole neighbourhood was out) which meant I couldn't use the net to find the best way to get to the airport. Damn. Also three days before I left my camera stuffed up - the lens wouldn't retract. This happened when in a club. I came home, disassembled the camera, detached the lens, shocked my hand, twisted and reseated the lens and got it working again. All whilst drunk! I was impressed. Though I didn't try the zoom feature until I got to Iceland, where the lens got stuck again. I freaked out, I needed a camera this trip, but somehow managed to massage it back into place. I have mad skills. Anyyyyyyyyway - after hardly any sleep we hit the airport and met-up with the group. I went to Iceland with Frank and a few of his mates from work, along with one of Allen's mates. Allen was supposed to go, but had to cancel at the last minute. Also, one of Frank's mates couldn't make it either, cos he drove to London to pickup his passport from his folks on the way to the airport, but his parents who were away at the time put it somewhere and he couldn't find it. So he missed out! Lame...Planned to catch some Zs on the plane because I was super tired after 4hrs sleep, but it didn't happen. Sat next to some cool chicks on the plane which involved gasbaggin' and smashing Gin & Tonics at like 9am. Gotta do it when on holidays eh?


The Church	Good place for tats

Got to my guesthouse, where two of the guys, Dave & Emilio, were also staying. After checking in I wondered around the city. Downtown Reykjavik is pretty small & compact. But it's got a really arty vibe, losta funky cafes, cool shops - like art, music, fashion (cutting edge as well as 80s-90s styled second hand stores), tattoo shops, etc. Very cool vibe. People are friendly, and everyone speaks perfect English - way better than in Germany, for example. I met some random people in the streets who gave me advice of things to see. Iceland only has 300,000 people, 200,000 of them living in greater-Reyk. Reykjavik is actually quite spread out, a bit different to the typical European style of people living on top of each other. I met a girl from Mexico who was working there. She spoke to me in Spanish off the bat, which was fun. I asked her whether there were many Mexicans in Iceland. She replied 23. Hahaha. Pretty exact! I guess when the place is small it's like everybody-knows-everybody. Maybe Iceland 2 degrees rather than 7 of separation. I was told that "people ask me if I have met Bjork. Of course I have, you see her around, shopping, etc"... Awesome. The Mexican chick described Iceland as "caro y frio" (expensive and cold). I could have worked that much out for myself :) Lotsa random stuff on the streets. Like streams of people coming out of nowhere. Motorists are super courteous there - the cars ALWAYS stop for pedestrians. Like even if you are just sort-of near the side of the road (not close at all), they will stop in anticipation of you crossing. Sure, almost every country in the world has to give way to pedestrians, but never have I been to a place where they anticipate someone coming onto the road meters and meters in advance. Heh, you hear people with stereos cruising the strip. One old guy was swingin' through the streets in this 4WD with blaring cowboy music (think country & western - ultra hillbilly), giving maximum thumbs-up to everyone he passed....

After checking out a bit of the town on Fri I was damn tired - so I caught some Zs before meeting up with Asta who is an awesome Icelandic chick who I met through Couchsurfing. She made my trip unforgettable, as through her I got to experience some totally random things I'd never have on my own. Her day job is dealing with some business aspects of IT, but at night she's a professional dancer. So that night, she got me tickets to a live Icelandic X-Factor show (ep 4) where she was dancing that night. She wasn't competing, but being a support dancer for the contestants. X-Factor Iceland!!! Awesome!

Where's Wally/Waldo (errrrrrrrrrrrr Jat)?!

I was way excited. Got there and Asta gets me in and seats me with the cheersquad for a contestant Jogvan, before going back-stage ready to perform. Jogvan is this super-gay looking (but apparently straight) hairdresser. He had a massive cheersquad, all with matching shirts. The girl I was sitting next to told me that he was her boss - so she was cheering extra loudly :) I saw the host of the show, Halla, giving out autographs to kids etc. Then the next minute I hear "Jat! Jat!". I look over and see Halla looking at me. Then I look behind me, thinking maybe Jat is some Icelandic word and she's calling someone else. Why would the much younger, and more attractive Gretel Colleen of Iceland wanna reach across a few rows to shake my hand? Hahah. Then I notice Asta next to her - Asta is good mates with her, so it quickly made sense. The person sitting next to me was intrigued as to how/why that just happened. Anyway so the show started, and with my vast knowledge of the Icelandic language I knew exactly what was happening ;) - all good fun. Asta was dancing in the first act, which was some Shania Twain cover, so she had to churn out some mad bootscooting moves. See some here. The acts were pretty good - it wasn't as random as I had hoped as all the songs were English covers; no crazy/different Icelandic music. It's much more amusing to watch performers in a language you don't understand, cos nothing makes sense you can focus more on the spectacle of it all. Especially trying to work out the judges reactions to stuff. Clearly it is the same formula as always, one girl, one bad-ass judge (this guy was hilarious, a gay ex-Eurovision star from 1997, Páll Óskar, who wore ultra tight pants and an historical military jacket - I thought he looked so much like a German soldier[though I might have been biased, having watched Schindler's List a few days before]). Only two songs had supporting dancers, and Asta was in both - the other song was a cover of Outkast's Hey-Ya - meaning crazy pom-pom action. The judges apparently said the dancers distracted from the singer. Maybe they were right, I thought the singer was ordinary - he didn't do much except sing badly and flex his muscles!! See for yourself. During the intervals and after the show I was admitted 'backstage' (it was in a shopping centre so backstage was some sort of creche), and all the performers and judges were back there looking stressed, etc. So the way X-factor works is that all the contestants perform, then people vote on their favourite acts via SMS/calls. Then the bottom-two scores have to perform again and then one act is voted off. So the two most rockiest songs, one performed by an old guy and the other by a pair of unattractive girls (singing AccaDacca tracks) had to perform again. Sure the guy was old, but he was good. But he got voted off. I couldn't help but feel sad - too easily caught up in the emotion; apparently tears were flowing back-stage. Especially since he was one of the best. Why couldn't the guy who absolutely killed "Karma Police" go?! Oh the drama!


Asta (right)	Jogvan - my hero!	Judges - Pall on left

After the show we go hit some nightspots. Reykjavik goes crazy on the weekends, but apparently this Fri is more quiet than usual because the next day was the big Icelandic Eurovision final so people were saving themselves to party then. Eurovision!! YESSS!! More on that later. Anyway so we hit some clubs. The first one was awesome, Vegamot. They had this really good hiphop dj, playing good hiphop (like old-skool along with Pharcyde/Roots style stuff etc - no modern RnB/JayZ schtuff). Amazing mixing and scratching, and they had a trombone playing along and stuff. Great tunes.. Then we hit up the Kaffibarrin, which is owned by Damon Albaran (lead of Blur/Gorillas), which is ultra funky (no photos allowed!) place, with bizarre electro (think a Commodore 64 bleeping away with heavy beats) blaring out of the speakers. Lotsa crazy dress & dancing. Afterwards we hitup some punky/rock bar. Early night that night, like 3ish, cos I had a massive road trip the next day.
Icelandic nightlife is interesting. All the cafes/restaurants transform into nightspots/bars/clubs in the night. And most places are basically located on (or just off) the same street, so you can literally crawl between them. Reyk is dead until about 1am when it goes crazy. By then, people are absolutely trashed. Basically people drink heaps before they go out cos drinks are goddamn expensive. Like a pint is about 5quid. I bought a magic(redbull)+jager and a bacardi breezer and it cost 1750krone (14quid or $35AUD!). So yeah, boozing before is a smart move. Saw people drinking on the streets, behind alleys and stuff. At 3am there were still queues everywhere. Also, there are no cover chargers in Reyk, I guess cos the drink prices MORE than make up for it. It was pretty cold. Actually I should say, despite the name - Iceland is not THAT cold. Was only a few degrees below the temp in the UK. I guess it was like 6-2 degrees max-min. Though I'm sure it dropped below 0 overnight. Still, there was a bit of sun on Sat, the day we went road-trippin'. No where near as bad as I thought. Oh yeah, Icelandic chicks are generally pretty hot, actually in my opinion, ones generally out and about seemed better than those in the VIP section. They're forward too - ask me for details re this random girl who only liked boys who spoke Japanese (don't worry - nothin' too excitin') ).


The Geyser	At the falls

Frank and his workmates organised a sweet 9seater 4wd. And because of the few cancellations I managed to sneak in a seat! So we hit the road bright and early to check out the golden-circle (tourist route). Our bizarre, unluxurious brick of a RangeRover would stop, immobilise and start the alarm upon a stall (leaving us stranded in the middle of the street). Finally it started behaving and we hit the road. I listened to Bjork (I'm cheesy I know) as we cruised around and admired the amazing scenery of Iceland. I mean, snow capped mountains, volcanic rocks, frozen lakes, waterfalls. Simply breathtaking. First stop was the Thingvellir national park, with some good outlooks. Next stop, the geyser, which performed very nicely - launching quite a few times, even spraying some of the boys with hot water. It's one of the biggest geysers in the world. Mind the sulphuric smell. Lunch involved this 20quid buffet of terrible food (apparently - I went the 'cheap' option next door) - laughs abound at the quality. Next stop, the waterfalls - Gulfgoss. Absolutely amazing. We walk down the slope to get to the falls. Well actually, we slid down the slope. Even guys with grip on their shoes were basically holding onto the rope sliding down the trail. The falls were amazing, check out the video I took.. Probably my highlight re nature. We stopped at various places on the way, taking photos here and there. The countryside is so scenic - pictures speak a thousand words, though given others had far better cameras than me, I left the scenic shots to them (guys if you're reading this, please send me some of your best pics). After the falls, I FORCED the rest of the group to drop me back in Reyk. They wanted to hit the Blue Lagoon. But I needed to be back, as Asta was dancing at the Icelandic Eurovision Final, and she managed to score me a ticket!!! I was SO excited. love Eurovision, and to be there watching Icelanders fighting it out for their chance to compete, I just couldn't miss it!

Gulfgoss - seriously amazing falls

I get home in time for a short sleep, before hitting the contest. Everyone sitting in my row had free tickets from ppl somehow associated with the contest. Seats were a little far back, but still great - the place was packed. Man Eurovision. Absolutely incredible - everything I had hoped for and more. Like crazy spectacle of sound, lights, dance and movements. Crowd going crazy. Icelandic acts going crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. I'm sure it was much more fun as I couldn't understand the words. So I was sitting next to two Sweeds, a couple, the girl didn't know much about Eurovision, but the guy knew everything: who performed what, where, etc. The whole history of contest... Asta was dancing whilst the voting was taking place, with Silvia Night. Silvia N is described as the Ali-G of Iceland, so she's totally provocative, doing crazy stunts, abusing people, etc. She engineered a campaign whilst there saying "Say NO to the Silvia Night show" - a publicity stunt appearing like a protest. She represented Iceland in Eurovision last year - with her song which is hilarious, saying stuff like how's she the best, how Iceland is lucky to have her, using a phone to call god and saying "Hi God, it's your favourite person", and of course the famous lines "no damn eurotrashfreak, The vote is in, I'll fuckin' win "etc. If you wanna know more check here, and see the post Athens Eurovision Controversy, where people didn't know her background and thought she was crazy. Or better yet, see it as it happened.
Anyway so I got to enjoy all the performances of the Icelandic Eurovision Final - where the winning act goes to Helsinki for the final. Lots of styles - everything from terrible country and western style songs, to heavy rock, to clubbin' tunes, to one cheesy song with equally camp dancers. Haha funniest thing for was some 'hot boy' who came up on stage, wearing a jacket without a shirt, showing off his muscles. As he was obviously trying to be a sex god, it was SO amusing when his biggest cheersquad was a bunch of pre-pubescent boys, who stood on their chairs, removed their shirts to display his name painted across their naked stomachs, screaming out his name in their high-pitched voices every time he was mentioned. Something dodgy goin on eh? A few acts went through, and then they brought on some past Eurovision stars whilst the votes were counted. The Romanian guy from the final last year (finishing #4) performed his quite catchy club song Tornero. Asta's act came on, which was probably the most polished of all acts. She's the one in black. The winner was this heavy metal singer guy. My favourite part was when the guy, all tough and stuff, is presented with a trophy and a MASSIVE bouquet. He's standing there, this old tough rocker lovin' these flowers. Classic.


Stud	Naked boys for stud	Tough guy getting flowers

After the show, Asta gives me her VIP pass, so I'm sitting backstage, enjoying some good food and drink, randomly talking to people (probably stars - I have no idea) while she does her backstage stuff. Then a few of Asta's friends - Halla and Heiða (from yesterday) and I get into her car for the after party. We are VIP in the club Nasa (hosting the afterparty) - which means free drinks (bad for Jat ;), but good for his pocket). There I formulate my story where I'm from Channel V in Aus and I'm scoping the Icelandic Eurovision Scene to see whether we want to cover it next year. But I didn't get around to using those top lines. So after boozing and hobnobbing with Icelandic VIPs and Eurovision stars, it's dancefloor time. Páll, the 'mean' judge from X-Factor (who I thought looked German), was DJg a mix of all classic Eurovision songs. So cheesy, so good. He even grabbed the mic and started MC'g to his old songs. Amazing stuff. I managed to grab a video of a bit of his set (see below). Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Danced like crazy for a few hours - it's awesome hitting the dancefloor with a pro-dancer. Burn' it up. Make the space. All this in between more drinks, such as Topas which was described as a drink of death by Quentin Tarantino. Good fun. I lost my scarf which made me pretty sad cos I had just bought it in Reyk about 28 hours earlier.

Asta (pro-dancer), Halla (host/actress), Heiða (Iceland Idol star), and someone I can't remember who performed a compilation of Eurovision winners earlier that night. At last AND least - me :)

At about 3.30 we hit the most famous drunk-food place in Reyk, called Nonnabiti. It had a massive line, where they made these awesome toasted subs. I was pretty hammered, and asked the staff for recommendations, which made sense for the sandwich, but not really for the drink. Imagine - soooo what do you recommend from your softdrink fridge? Appelsín (Fanta)... Haahah. Food was really good. But filling. And pricey (like 10 quid!). I get back to my guesthouse about 3.30 with Carl and Debby (from UK) just leaving the place after boozing there. I go upstairs and Dave & Emilio are still up. Being drunk, I don't feel like sleeping, so I drag them out. Not knowing where to go, I text Esther, another person I contacted from Couchsurfing, who suggests a place - so we head down. It's now 4.30 but people are still around. So hit up some place and dance around for a bit. Can't really remember meeting Esther. Smash a beer and then the place closes around 5.30 or something. So we get back around 6ish (I think - times are a bit hazy). I sleep in until 12, knowing I didn't want to go on a massive roadtrip the next day; unlike the other boys who had to be bright and early to head out. Nasty.

Páll Óskar showing us that 1997 Eurovision Songs just won't quit
The secret to fame is in smooth and skilled movements of the right hand. Take notes people...

Last day involved chilling out. I went to the Blue Lagoon - which is this geothermal swimming area. So surreal cos it glows like a flourescent blue. Apparently people with chronic skin conditions are sent there from all over the world for a week or two and thy get cured. It's really awesome, swimming in warm (to hot) water against a grey sky, knowing it's cold outside. Steam everywhere, and was even cooler when it started to rain a bit. They have saunas which are directly heated from lava beneath (massive trenches in the ground). I could feel my feet cooking. Best hangover cure in the world. Actually the water everywhere in iceland is so fresh and pure - prob a hangover cure in itself. Sun was very chilled - not feeling like mayhem after having such little sleep over the previous days, Asta asked if I wanted to go to her folks place for a traditional Icelandic family meal. I'm such a foody - I'm there! Her family were all really nice and accommodating, good convo about differences between Aus & Iceland. I was surprised that her dad and brother looked a bit like my Grandad - actually a lot more similar in real-life than in the photos. Strong resemblance - though I think Grandad is of slavic descent(?). They made some awesome food, like a nice leg of lamb - SO tender, was amazing, with some apple salad, another green salad (which even included grapes - obviously native to Iceland...). For desert we had like massive profiteroles/cream puffs with jam inside. Apparently I was the day before this once-a-year celebration which involves eating nothing but eating cream-puffs for the whole day. The tradition is that kids are given these sticks, and the more times they hit their parents the more cream puffs they are given!! Seriously - check it out here. The day after that is salted meat day, where people eat as much salted lamb as they can. Awesome festivals...Oh yeah, lots of people in Iceland believe in Elves and hidden people - and say lots of strange things happen. Not surprising, given the crazy geophysical nature of the land. I was searching to find out more about the tales of elves when I found this mental-chick's page. Pretty amusing - check it out here(18+). Scary thing is I got to that link from the Iceland Tourism Board homepage!


Infront of the Blue Lagoon	Asta's family

Bought more drinks for my 'crazy-drinks' collection. I have some drink known as black-death - Brennivin, some Topas and some Icelandic schnapps with like some sort of leaf or moss or something inside. Good stuff. Iceland is incredible. Just ask Mr Tarantino. Reyk is awesome. It's small and compact. But really arty. And the nightlife on the weekend is fantastic. People are fun and kinda out-there. Like you see people with crazy hair (one chick had one side of her hair curly, the other side dead straight, another just had a massive spike of hair coming out of her head).
Overall - this trip was amazing. I got to do so many random/incredible things - going to see Icelandic pop-culture with X-Factor, along with some of the craziness that Eurovision brings, enjoy fancy parties, enjoy some of the breathtaking countryside, sights, water, etc. Most of this was thanks to Asta, an awesome chick who went above and beyond the call of duty to sort me out with all these different experiences; and of course to Frank and mates for finding the cheap flights, organising the car, etc. So much fun. I will definitely go back - but maybe in summer, which averages like 13degrees! Too hot eh? Or maybe for New Year's - videos of that look so fun. Can't wait....

Check out the pics here.

Guten Rutsch - NYE Koeln!

2007-01-15T23:42:00.000Z

Germany, Spain, Germany, Spain. Seems I keep bouncing back and forth. And why not. Visiting friends is guaranteed good times. Germany this time was for Silvester (NYE) - back to Koeln to party with Jan, a good mate who I met whilst in Argentina. Joel, who I know from primary school, decided to come as well - flying into London in the morning from Amsterdam, and flying out to Koeln at night. It was a whirlwind run, but nothing that a cheap Marks & Spencer's Banana smoothie couldn't fuel (worst stuff in the world). We get there at a good hour, but our flight is delayed. It's no prob - hanging out eating quality 75p sandwiches purchased from a pharmacy (they tasted like air) and singing out loud to Belinda Carlisle tracks (from Joel's iPod, not mine:)) helped pass the time. Land in Koeln and Jan has some sweet wheels awaiting us. Cruise towards Jan's joint - seeing the Dom in the distance. This will be the only glimpse of anything 'touristy' on this trip. Too much mayhem. Not a big deal for me, I've been to Koeln before so I've seen the sights. But Joel..... well that's another story. Hah.


Jan picks us up in a nice Audi. He's a professional driver, so I felt half comfortable when he was driving at 225km/h whilst eating Subway

Jan's awesome cos his flat is really small but he's totally cool with us crashing there even though it meant stepping over us and our crap all same time. First night, we head out locally - Jan lives near Barbarossaplatz which is a super central/funky/student area. We decided to grab some chow, Turkish, and down a few beers where Joel gets his introduction to Jagermeister. I guess he fell in love with the stuff cos it definitely wasn't his last encounter with the black-gold. After a coupla Jagers we head out for a bit and grab a few more beers and walk home drinking them in the street. As Jan says about Germany - it's a Free Country. Kiosks rule the city, where every block you can buy some fantastic tasting Reissdorf Koelsch and walk around legally drinking beer. That would be sooooo good in Australia, given the weather, but I guess you'd just get drunks wondering the streets. Despite Joel's intense tiredness (he slept through the flight including the landing - apparently Amsterdam does that to you:)) we decided to hit a club - Ivory Lounge. I'd been there before, but didn't remember it all that well. I freaked out when we walked in and everything was reversed. I was like - uhhh I'm sure that the bar was against the other wall last time. I was much happier when we moved downstairs and found that the layout was as I remembered it. PHEW. The place is kinda upmarket, sorta like a 'pretty-person' place. So we fit right in - of course. Hah. Actually Jan got us on the guestlist cos he told them that we were friends visiting from LA. I asked Jan why didn't he say we're Australian - and he said LA people are cooler/more respected in Germany. JA! I put on my best valley-girl accent, which was mediocre at best. Little did we know that we could have totally pulled off the LA thing thanks to Joel... Once the pieces fell into place.
The music started off hip-hoppy - with some random guy from the crowd (we think) doing a bit of freestylin' whilst standing on a table. We looked good in our suit-jackets. Joel borrowed a shirt and a suit jacket, of course he looked super hot cos they were my clothes. Whilst I was at the bar Joel told me that some girl was telling Jan that he looked like Tom Cruise. Both Joel and I thought that was amusing and teased Jan. It wasn't until later that we found out that the chick actually meant that Joel looked like Tom Cruise. This was super hilarious cos one time when talking about Joel's Cambridge exploits with some crazy chick in Cam (I warned him about girls that worked at that bar...), Rok says with such passionate authority "C'mon man, he can have any girl he wants - he looks like Tom Cruise". Now at Ivory he got his 2nd Tom Cruise comment. Super smooth. Theme of the trip. We had a good time at the Ivory, jumping around, teaching various German girls the exquisite art of perreo- (heh, some actually wanted lessons). Get home at a usual European 5am. Good times.

Next day we get up, slam some Schoko-flakes for breakfast to give us the energy we need for an action packed day. After a bunch of indecisiveness (on the part of the Australians) we decide to go snowboarding. Thing is, there isn't usually much snow in that part of Germany, especially since this is the warmest European winter in 500 years. But no problem, they have this 'indoor' manufactured skislope about 45 mins away from Koeln. Jan kindly offers to take us - he didn't want to board; he said he was going to work, but instead spent his time taking embarassing photos of us. So we get there, and I almost break my neck before even entering, by attempting to stand on some ice posing for a photo in front of the place. Great start. After purchasing our slope tickets from the friendly cashier named "A. Bonk", we get our gear. Firstly the guy says something about shoes, so I give the guy my shoe. He's like I don't want that, stand over there (on this hi-tech shoesizin' machine). Boots take me about 2hrs to put on. Change my pants right there in front of everyone (couldn't be bothered going to the changerooms) and it was time to shred. Man. Snowboarding is hard. I thought it might be a bit like a skateboard, but no. Basically you just slide over the ice in all directions, so basically I spent the day bruising my arse. Most people I've spoken too say that it takes about three days to get the basic skills. I only had 3hrs. So I basically spent the time hurting myself. By the end, stuff started to make _slightly_ more sense, i.e. basically how to turn and get slight control. But basically I had nothing. Joel was shredding by the end. He has about 5 or 6 days under his belt, and by the end of our stint he was going great guns. At the end I saw him coming down the slope, but wasn't sure if it was him cos it was so controlled. I was so lame. You see these little weiner kids like 5 years old flying past you. And cos there's only one slope, every 5 secs you have to stop/get out of the way of someone, which for me meant throwing myself on the ground to avoid smashing them. Also, we weren't expecting the snow so we both only had these cloth knitted gloves. MASSIVE mistake. They just get wet and snow sticks to it - so we had massive iceblocks both inside/outside of the glove - my hands were blue by the time we'd finished. The 10secs I managed to shred I got a feel how boarding could be fun, but next time I think I need lessons, and maybe somewhere less crowded. Was a great experience though - first time with snowsports. Majorily sore the next day...


We looked the part	For about five seconds...

That night, Joel & I hit the town ourselves. We needed moolah, and were told about a billion different incorrect directions for a Deutsche Bank- if only it were on the Goethestrasse I could have asked in German... We went to this place which was meant to be OK, with "DJ Funky Mike" playing some funk, hiphop, rnb stuff. Joel goes to the bouncer "do you speak English", to which he replies a little forcefully "Yes, I speak English. I speak it very well". OK. We ask about entry costs and stuff and he's like don't bother cos NYE is tomorrow so everyone is being lame. Thirsty and tired we go for a beer (Koelsch - beer from Cologne). We walk into this bar near buy with a few ppl. But then we slowly piece together it's a gay bar - or at least a gay hangout. Not that this is a problem, but there was only one space at the bar where you could go up and order a beer. And this stereotypical gay guy with hat, moustache, straggly hair, lots of denim (think 'trucker') was sitting there with his legs spread, meaning if you want to get to the bar you'd basically have to straddle him. As this isn't the particular Koelsch we were searching for, so we decide to head out towards Paeff, which is a cool Koelsch bar that Jan took me to before. A funkster working in a Nordic Kiosk (totally out of place) gives us the directions, and we go there and smash through a few fine ales until closing time. People watching there was great fun, old weird dudes tryna hit on these young German chicks. Super smooth. As we walk away we see a sign for a perreo contest at the latin club next door - but unfortunately it was for the following week :(

Next day was NYE. Day of mayhem. We tried to start the day right looking for a solid breakfast. Like something to line the stomach - like yogurt + cereal. We hit up many a kiosk, only to find these stores on every corner ONLY sold alcoholic related products. We made do for a few hours until hitting this awesome Rodizio - which is a term for a Brasilian style restaurant where they constantly come to your table with skewers of meat and slap it on your plate. Amazing, but tough tough work on NYE before dancing. We go there quite early - we were REALLY lucky to get reservations. Jan rang up and they said "no way!". But then he sent an email saying he was from the local TV station and he wanted to bring some guests. Boom we were in. We're not sure whether they thought we were VIP. We came in suits, all looking kinda different - like as if we'd play different roles in a TV show or something. One guy working there accidentally dropped some pineapple onto the table and was like "damn, why did this have to happen on this table". Yes, respect the VIPs. All good. Actually over dinner we were reliving stories about Joel's Cruise-like past, where it was decided that he would be known as "Gary Cruise" - Tom's taller, younger and less-famous brother. This theme lasted the whole rest of the trick, with Joel taking his Cruise-like nature to the extremes throughout the weekend. At the rodizio, the food was amazing. We ate about 6 times our bodyweight in 1.5 hours. We start walking back to Jan's apartment (Joel was really keen on smashing LOTS of drinks before we hit the party). Jan walks around, looking a million dollars in his out, then starts throwing out explosives (well fire crackers) around the joint. Like everywhere. At cars. In the metro. Down the stairs entering the underground. Even at the bank when withdrawing cash. Actually that was bad cos he laid a cracker then left the sealed bank withdrawal room whilst I was taking out cash. Boom - really loud. Then the place reeks of gunpowder. More ppl come in to take out cash and look weirdly at me. Seriously though it was amazing, bombing everyone on the way home. Wind caught one of them and powdered a nice S-Class Merc. That'll learn 'em. We start smashing redbull-vodkas. Joel & I take turns DJ'g as Jan throws explosives out of his first floor apartment window at the street. A kid is down there (son of the Kiosk owner across the St) launching them back. People screaming abuse etc. Amazing to stuff.


Jan's paramilitary training camp. Choose your target. Light. Throw. Count the dead.. To see Jan in action wishing his neighbours a happy new year, check out this (listen to the screams) and also this

Finally we were (overly) smashed and head towards our destination - The Candy Shop. Explosives fly around on the way, and we eventually get there. We are about to go in, where Joel is insists on more drinks at a kiosk. BAD idea. Anyway, we do, get some beer which we decide to drink outside. Me and my immense strength crack the top off the bottle when attempting to open it. Joel was disgusted at this and insisted that we drink from the broken bottle. No way. He was forcefully insisting and eventually this turns into play fighting where I rehashing my non-existent kickboxing skills which I haven't used in like 8 years. This theme continues for the night. Great look for a classy party eh. Anyway, it's time to get in. Then Joel has a brainwave, and places two glass shot-sized bottles of Jager into the front of his pants, along with a can of redbull. Jan & I advise against this but he does it regardless. We walk in, Joel who was lagging behind a bit, but we could hear him - "clang, clang, clang". Hahahah. We get in - the place is pretty full, some VIP areas. Everyone dressed nice. It's a pretty upmarket party. It's not regularly a club, but like a once-a-month thing. The place is dressed up well, and people are all looking good. They had their own fireworks display which everyone enjoyed - except for Joel, who we deduce was either in the toilets adjusting his drink arrangement or dancing by himself to the song CandyShop by Fifty-Cent which we would have loved to hear played (given that was the name of the party, we kept referring to the place just as Mr Five-0-C would). We find Joel later, he comes out of the toilet with two yellow drinks in hand. Apparently ppl in the stalls were giving him weird looks. I think that was round two, or he didnt add the jager, cos they should have been black. I give my to Jan - he's like thanks mate. Then I tell him where it came from and he's disgusted. Rest of the night was pretty much a blur. Later Joel comes up and says "when's the countdown", Jan's like "that was like 2 hours ago man". Hahah. Damn we were in such bad form. Gary Cruise and I were basically stumbling around dancing + harrassing everyone in sight. I have spots of memories of Gary bounding around the place makin' moves on ladies. Just like he'd do in LA. I was either aggressively fighting or hugging Cruise. Perreo was in my mind and we decided that we should actively promote the dance by teaching it to unsuspecting German lasses... Oye! We were in such bad form. Poor Jan had to play babysitter looking out for us. At the end of the night this girl said bye to Cruise. She actually wrote her on paper with mascara, with the name HeiBe, but then I gave them my phone and she put her name in as Maike. Same number for both. We thought they were false names, but later when Joel met up with her she reckons she never would have written HeiBe - hmmmmmmm maybe we werent the only drunk ones.
We somehow get home, and wonder the streets for a bit. Cruise is on fire decides to wonder around a bit and check out the social scene at 6.30am. Eventually we all die.

In fine form @ The Candy Shop

Mad hangover New Year's Day. We go to this brunch (all-you-can-eat) and eat mountains of food. So much so that we feel stupidly sick afterwards. That night we all go our separate ways; Joel with his Candyshop girl, and I meet up with another friend I know in Koeln. Very chilled out nights due to behaviour of the night before. But it was interesting later to hear from Joel what that girl said about our antics, as our memories were shot. Apparently I was aggressive (beating up Joel) and Joel would keep coming up to her with the fantastic pickup line "your English is better than mine" or else speaking in Spanish. But we weren't the only bad ones. We have photographic proof. You can see in the back of some of the photos people in suits like sleeping, sitting down etc. Some guy talking to Jan bought a 500eu bottle of Vodka and the guy's friend lost it. Absolute carnage. The final night - Jan & I go for a schnitzel and beers (whilst Joel goes for a different sort of schnitzel elsewhere) and talk about good times. Later, I flippantly decide to go check out Dusseldorf. Why? I had msg'd some Couchsurfing ppl whether they'd tour us around, and one cool chick Jacky said she would. So due to the fact the train station has two different types of ticketing machines with no explanations, I purchase the wrong ticket which means I have to take a certain type of train. I get to Dusseldorf really late like 11.30pm. But it's cool - we have a whirlwind tour around town, I get to try some Alt (Dusseldorf beer - fierce rivalry with Koelsch, Koelsch being lighter) and hang out in this bar which had karaoke that night. My German exgf said Germans hate Karaoke. Obviously not - it was awesome to see tons of youngens singing there favourite songs - both German or English. J then gets her car and zooms me around the city pointing out the highlights. Couldn't snap many pics, nighttime and all, but all-and-all and awesome tour, and I get back in time for the 2.51am train back to Koeln. Actually it was weird, at 2.50am you can still buy waffles etc at the station. Nice. Yet another early night:) I get home and Jan has this massive street sign resting at his door. I wondered if that was big Jan's way of saying DO NOT DISTURB (with a tough Arnie-like voice) but that was pretty random. Sleep a coupla hours. Then shopping time for sauerkraut, bunter pfeffer, senf, mini dickmanns (my size?) and of course orange(cereal) balistos.


Jacky & I	I wanted a drink from a machine @ 2.20am	Instead, the machine labeled drinks was dispensing Ink Cartridges

On the way home Gary and I were overtired. We decide to smash a Koelsch on the GermanWings flight (beer is cheaper than water on that flight!). In the GermanWings inflight book, if you send a photo of you on your trip in, and it's published you win free double-flights somewhere. One of our entries is below. All good. Land in Stansted. Walk to the airtrain (inter-terminal monorail) to take us to the security entrance/baggage claim. Train was taking a while so I take out my security belt, get my passport in hand, and then decide to change the simcard on my phone back to the English one. Very smart. Train comes. Every pushes on roughly (most ppl were German on the flight, and I've noticed that Germans push aggressively through any line) when I hear something drop. I look down and see this black speck thing fall through between the train and the platform. The monorail/airtrain thing is really new/modern so its only like a gap of a few cms. I look at my hand - I have my passport, phone, sim cards, battery. So it takes me a few secs to realise that my security belt fell down. Ohhh shit. My credit cards, keys, money, etc are gone. The train takes off and I start freaking out - get to security and they say ask at information. I was SO lucky I took my passport out, or how would I pass immigration?! I go to infromation where some guy tries to explain the physics behind electricity and currents. OK so you have to stop the train before going down to get my belt. I get it. They said they'll look overnight. I ring up lost property - no sign. I sit on a switchboard so I can talk to infromation to make sure that they actually look for it before I cancel everything. After bouncing around I finally find one awesome chick Chris H who rings the engineers who say they found it and gave it to lost property. I contact lost property, they tell me to ring elsewhere. Nobody can find it. Eventually back to switchboard lady who chases it up for me. Thank god. Back to Stansted the next day and get all my cards etc. Stupid stupid stupid me for losing it. I swear to god, I remember thinking when taking out my passport whilst waiting for the train "wow it'd be really bad if you lost it here, like on the train/on the tracks etc". Must be psychic or something. buwhsefdijsafak


Jan's doorway - Do Not Disturb	This GermanWings snap is bound to win the free trip!

Anyway - had yet another amazing time in Koeln. OK so NYE was a bit out of control, but I think Jan found us more funny than annoying (I hope). Joel and I were interacting like the Odd-Couple or something bizarre. Germany seems always to bring good times; but SERIOUSLY i need to go somewhere different next time!

Some amusing pics - check em out here

Reflexions...

2006-12-24T19:34:00.000Z

Damn. Time flies. Already the end of 2006. Overall I'd say another great year. This year was much more stable than the last; at the start of 2005 I had no idea where I'd end up - 2006 I knew it would be Cambridge. Just the bits in the middle would form the surprise.
I've stuck to my rule of going somewhere once at least once a month. But it's kinda changed - rather than going somewhere different, I've been going to the same places quite a lot. Mainly because of events, or to visit friends - makes travelling so much more fun. And so far the only EU countries outside of England I've visited are Spain & Germany (too many times), oh yeah and a weekend in Italy. But hey, Cuba/Mex & the US involved major travels. And Brasil is #1 on the TODO list.

Poor quality map of places I've been. Must be software for this somewhere eh?

Socially things have been great. Throughout the first half of the year, I became really close with my housemates (and adoptees). Team Madingley - no doubt lifelong friends. I'm really sad that most were only here for one year, and now (since July) are scattered around the globe; but at least it gives me people/places to visit. Others are still kicking around; I'm glad Bene is occasionally next door, and others are in and out of town frequently. I'm also super sad that all my Spanish mates have left - they'd finished their language courses here in Cam and are all back in Spain. It was great knowing you could meet with them every Thurs and have a fantastic night. But again, I now have some lifelong friends, and it gives me yet more ppl to visit (some of whom I already have)! Ugh - I also sorely miss Trish and Andy who are great mates that I met right at the start of Cam 2005. But I've already been back to Madrid twice, and Panama is just begging for me to grace it with my presence.
This year has been kinda different; as I'm now settled, I've found myself both working more as well as partying more, and somehow managing the two. On the college front, seems to be some good crew there so I gotta crack the scene more, and lately been hanging with Thibaud a fair bit who is refined yet crazy at the same time. Rok is basically my brother, I met him probably my 3rd day in Cam, and we've been hanging out all the time since. More recently, Gab has joined the brotherhood, especially since this new term has started, where there has been MANY nights of absolute mayhem. Good times.....
I've had tons of visitors this year, especially since coming back from Cuba/Mex/US. Basically I've only had about 1-2 weeks total since October without a visitor. I love it, especially since most of them are old-school. My mum came up and, as expected, loved the scenery of the place - haha she took like 1000 photos, and only about 4 with ppl in them. Was great to see family in my 'new' world. Richelle came up and fit in perfectly well with my mates - many a good night out, and just cool to have her around. Other visitors - Frank G came up a few times (loved it too much, he missed flights leaving my house TWICE!), Joel, Brendan, Chris Stav, Tim, Matt R and Luke. It's so good to see old friends, and to realise that no matter what happens or wherever ppl go - they're still your mates and you still have awesome times together. What was even cooler was when these mates get on so well with my new mates, or even friends of friends (a good example - my buddies and Trish's mates in Madrid - awesomeness attracts awesomeness I guess. Hah.)

The weather changes so quickly in Cam.
These pics taken less than two months apart

In Cam I have a lot more acquaintances than friends, but all of the friends are super-tight. Also, this year I visited a lot of mates around the place - Tim & Kel in NY, Jan in Koeln, Fliss in Cambridgeshire, Guille in Miami, Tim from Phili, Jessica in NY, lotsa old-skool mates back home when back in Oz (inc James & EJ at their wedding(!)), old work mates (Frank, CK, Allen) in London, and of course family. Lovin it.
On the project front, things have greatly improved. Previously I was disillusioned, felt like I'd done nothing, and didn't like the team dynamic of my project nor where it was headed. My supervisors now realise the issues, and are taking new interest and providing better/more directed guidance. I'm guessing I'm about 6 months behind where I should be, but I am a sprinter so I'll be OK. At one stage I was so fed up I actually applied to re-enrol in law @ UWA (only takes me about 9 months to finish that damn Law degree I started so long ago), but now I know it won't come to that. Time to work hard/play hard.

Overall, it's been a good year. Next year, I will achieve ridiculous amounts of work, whilst seeing as much of Europe as I can. Gotta have fun whilst living. Time is flying, but I can't wait to smash 2007.

I've collated a few pics from over the year - can check them out here. I have about 10gigs of pics, so going through them is a chore. Don't feel bad if I miss out your favourite :)

Love you guys. Over-n-out. Jat

PS This was written whilst listening to Wim Mirtens - Close Cover (instrumental off Cafe Del Mar #5). Soppy but reflective, no?

Madrid - second down and goal

2006-12-22T19:46:00.000Z

OK round 2 for Madrid. But Jat, you've just been there - like a month ago! Right, but I loved it. So my mate Luke who I've known since age 12 was coming to visit me in Cam. Originally we wanted to go on the Uni Ski Trip in France - but once you factor in the cost of equipment, food, lessons, etc it was going to be WAY too expensive. As such, we wanted mayhem - so I decided that we should go somewhere. Madrid had cheap flights (38quid return - direct to Madrid, meaning no Valladolid bus) and cos I knew ppl there and was certain that we'd fun - we booked it. Rok was in as well, and later Joel said he'd be kicking around Madrid at the same time. So it was all on. Three AWSEstralians and a SLOWvenian ready to take on MADrid ((C) Trish).

Get off to a VERY rough start. Luke comes back to Cam the night before we fly off and we smash through Rum. Heaps of it. Gab + Rok come over and we head down to a club which was dark, bling and hostile. Not nice. So we come back, cook some eggs + avocado (well, I have green Mexican habanero sauce which solidifies against hot egg - so it looks like avocado but tastes like death). All this until like 4 am. Then we had to get up early to get the bus out to Luton. We were all under the weather. Luke had to punish a banho (toilet) before the bus - thought he died in there. Toilet punishing was clearly a theme for his trip. I felt soooooooooo bad on the bus, but nothing a Marks & Spencers yogurt drink couldn't fix. Finally hop on the plane only to be massively delayed. Why? Because two ppl on the flight had the same names, so the computer counted them as one person, meaning that the (human) headcount didn't match. This meant that we almost missed our flight timeslot, which would have meant 2hrs sitting on the ground. Thank god we didn't have to do that; sitting in a plane with a hangover of death for any longer than necessary ain't good.

Always lost in Madrid
Check into our apartment and head out. We stayed in Sol which is close to everything, but not itself a nightlife district. We found some place for tapas and beer - bienvenido a Espanha! We then begin looking for a club. We see this one club (Joy) with quite a few ppl streaming out. We buy some passes off someone in the street to save a few bucks and we get in only to find the place basically empty. The crowd was predominantly male, seemed many of the chicks had left; though that might be why they told us it was 'good' inside. Go to the bar to order Vodka/Redbull. 28Eu. WHAT!? for 2!? Ahfusfhuafsiafshasoijfa. Nasty. Luke makes up for it by buying lots of tequila shots (more affordable @ 5eu), before we all tear up the dancefloor for a bit. The music was good, and the club would have been good with lots of ppl. Later I find out it's a really expensive place where basically rich old guys take (or pickup) their hot young girls. Anyway, we make the most of it, get home about 5.30. Wake up about 2pm. After freezing cold showers it's time to go sightseeing. Stumble around the streets through Plaza Mayor, then down to the Palacio etc. Hit up a menu del dia and check out some cool shops down in the alternate area - Tribunal. All fun - quick siesta then smash some piss before trying to find this restaurant to meet Julian, Antonio + 2x Annas whom I know from Cam last year. We walk the streets for about ages looking for this place, several calls later we eventually get there. 1.5hours late. Pretty lame. I was disappointed with my Madrid navigation skills until I saw locals performing more poorly than I did the following night. The tapas just kept coming in this fancy place. Was super tasty, and our Spanish crew made sure us foreigners were looked after right. A few beers to wash it down and time to head to this bar next door. We buy a bottle there and rip through that, dancing around to cheesy tunes and posing for a bunch of photographs. Great fun, joking & jumping around, etc. Joel reveals his newly purchased Puta shirt (making fun of Puma) where he is educated that whilst it might be cool, it wouldn't impress ladies too much. But it seemed to work on guys. hahaha. (see the series in the photo album). It was 3ish when we leave this bar, my mates apologising for leaving early, but they had to work, go to class or catch a ride down south all at 8am (a few hours later). Spanairds like to party! We are on a guest list at this club - Kapital, so we go there but aren't let in - claiming the guest list that we were on didn't exist. Bullshit. Obviously they didnt like the look of four guys trying to get in. We could have paid to go in, but then were all angry and thought screw that. Caught a cab back to our place and walk into the Irish bar which is showing the 3rd Test match. Watch a bit of cricket, rib some Poms. I take some corn kernal snacks and try explaining the rules to Rok; we almost adopted him as Australian until he started eating the pitch. Some Jagerbombs (redbull with a Jagermeister shot dropped in) hit the spot, head back about 5.30am. Have a few drinks until passout time like 6 or 7am or something. After party drinks was a stupid idea, paid for it severely a few hours later...

mis amigos espanoles

Hello ladies...

Joel was the best DJ ever. He had his iPod with portable speakers, and so he'd always put on an appropriate song to a situation. I can't think of many examples now, but one that springs to mind is where Luke would snore so loudly and then I'd scream abuse or throw stuff at him. The next second the song SLEEP by The Dandy Warhols would play ("If I could sleep forever"). There were far better examples than that. But yeh, my memory is a shot after that weekend. Wake up rough as anything, and after another cold shower off to the only museum that we visited in Madrid, The Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham) for Lunch. Or breakfast. I guess at 3pm it's lunch. We were all severely shattered but still manage to get through a jarra (jug) de sangria and our greasy pig-ladened plates. Some idiot decides we should go for those thick choco-churros treats at this time. Disaster for severe hangovers, which everyone soon discovered, except for Hoel who, even though said he wasn't that keen on the choc, absolutely nailed it.

Museo del Jamon
By far the best museum in Madrid
I hit an internet cafe to find out the paper for a conference I'd spent the last week working on (like all day and night) wasn't conforming to a certain format and that I had to fix this before the submission deadline, which was in about 4 hours. So I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Spain, downloading the programs to recompile my paper to the correct format. No simple MS Word stuff in this situation :(. An hr or two later, no luck, so I send an email saying 'please accept this regardless of the fact my font size is 1pt too small'. Although failing, I was impressed at my computer skills whilst severly hung over. On the way back, I was dying for sleep, but then convinced to go to the Irish bar to down some drinks and watch cricket highlights. We step in, sip a pint. Enjoy the highlights and lust after Perth; the third test is playing there, we see the clock say 7pm and it's sunny, warm, etc. We wished we were home. Later the we see some old chicks (mums) walking in and kinda looking at us. Next thing we know three shots of Jager are brought to us. We're like huh? The waiter says the guys on the next table bought them for us. Our initial thoughts it was a gift from the mums, but we look over to the table next to us where two rough looking guys are seated. They say 'Sorry' and point to the chair. One of them knocked over a chair and it hit Rok's leg and Rok looked kinda mad cos they didn't say anything. But we're unsure whether the shots were because of the chair or due to Rok's gaydar skills. Downed the shots and left. Anyway we leave to get a quick kip and prepare our bottles of booze (childishly disguised in softdrink bottles) for the train down to meet Trish and her uni mates for dinner.
We get there feeling a bit tipsy - back to another branch Museo del Jamon (another museum - how cultural of us) where some of her mates predrinking. We soon sober once we see the state of Trish's mates. They're in top form, one guy has his shoe off - using it as a phone. Then they see some ppl across the metro tracks and start throwing newspapers at them and screaming stuff about the papers, before poking holes in various pages to wear as clothes. They'd go up to any chicks and attempt to impress them with their shoe-phones, etc. After getting lost on the way to the restaurant (this time lead by several ppl from Madrid - not me, yay!) we eventually get there for dinner at like 12.30am. Actually the trip took so long involved catching the same metro route multiple times. Rok was soooooo busting for the toilet he went green and had this massive stomach. He later showed his respect for the Madrid metro system, as shown below. The dinner was for Trish's law class; so we meet the crew, enjoy the meal, down some drinks and food - ready to head out about 2am. We all hop into separate cars and race around Madrid - we all get lost but eventually find each other. It's cool checking out a city from a car window. Anyway we end up in this district where all the bars are full or something and we cant get in anywhere. After a bunch of walking around for an hour or two, but nobody can find a good place to go. So people disperse - and start heading back. We decide to do the same. We get near a major intersection and see this middle-aged lady walking really quickly holding this massive square traffic-diverting thing, with two young guys chasing her, taking pictures with their camera phone and screaming out "you're stealing from Madrid". Maybe it was her new house, as Victor suggests - "it has good views". Amusing, but more so the next day for reasons below. We end up walking back home, hoping to catch more of the cricket. But even our favourite Irish bar was closed - which was strange cos it was open later on a Thurs (the night before). We decide to hit the hay 'early' (like 5.15am) cos we knew Sat would be big.

Dirty Slovenes....

Lawyers dinner

Sat night was amazing. Must be in the top 10 nights out I've had. Or at least top 20. I'm surprised I can remember so much, my memory usually fades quite quickly when boozing that heavily, especially when run down after a week of mayhem. We didn't get up to much in the day - como siempre: woke up late, downed tapas and sangria (after debating on a restaurant), wondered around for a bit before smashing some cheap wine ready to go out. Actually, this wine was expensive - 3.50eu - a step up from our 1eu wine. Wasn't that bad really. Amazing. Anyway, first stop was Bar Casa de la Tortilla. Trish had told me about this place a million times before, so I couldnt wait to try it. Basically 12eu with unlimited food, beer and sangria. We had a good group of Patricia's friends turn up; and so we get there, and then carnage starts. The place is pretty funny, there is a sign up there saying "prohibido cantar" - meaning no singing. Understandably - bottomless jugs of cerveza/sangria can only mean singing. We actually started singing, but then decided to be more poetic and speak out the words. Dale. Dale Jat, Dale. The waiters wear nice clothes even though the place is far from fancy. And one guy is really strict about things like 'bags must go on hooks etc'. All part of the experience. But it was awesome - jarra after jarra of Sangria & Cerveza. Sangria tasted great but wasn't strong, so Luke & I dominated the cerveza. Rok was funny like "wow this is my 37878645th glass of Sangria". Everyone that knows Rok knows about his drinking skills- hence SLOWvenia:). After smashing the food & drinks, and after Luke finished making out with a mannequin in the street, we take off for a walk. We found a fountain and decided to take photos there cos apparently that's what the Patricias do. That's where we find some traffic-diversion equipment, exactly the same as the lady was running away with the night before. We were super excited (see the pic below), prob cos we were sorta pissy.

Maximum respex to: THE CHAMPIONS OF MADRID
The next stop was a surprise. A chupiteria - basically a shots-only bar. It was like going into a juice bar or something but everything on the menu was a shot of various flavours. All like 1-2eu each. Some shots were mixed in your mouth (0.60eu) some slammed down. We smashed through these. As imagined, things started to get crazy from there on in. And the best part was that all of Trish's friends were totally into it, just like us, so we all went crazy. Lots of drinking, posing for the camera, joking, dancing, hugging, etc. Great times. Cos we bought so many rounds, the bartender even gave us a couple of free rounds. Though he stopped short of giving us this Austrian liquor of 80% alcohol - so strong you aren't allowed to bring it onto a plane. The barman goes "you'll be too drunk, have Absynth instead". Bohhhh. Do it! Absolute carnage. After, we went to a club with the odd bit of Reggaeton playing. Loving it. Danced a bit of perreo. Then Hoel and I were near the dancefloor and started talking to some random chicks who bought us drinks. Love the foreigner appeal. Then we asked for advice on our next drinks and they suggested minis. A mini is like this MASSIVE cup like half (or more) full of booze. Goddamn. So strong. We get into our mini's and the dancefloor, but soon it's time to go. Trish and mates are off - this is about 3ish. Some of them had exams in a day or two, so they had to leave 'early'. Put in a top effort I reckon. What was awesome was that everyone got on so well, that saying goodbye was sad! I've invited EVERYONE to come visit Cambridge. And why not, tengo espacio...

Take the shot

Posssssseeeeee I need you on the floor
pablo(?), alvaro, luke, cristina, yo, rok, anna, pote, trish, susu (and hoel)

Anyway this was our last night, so we try to get into the biggest club in Madrid - the same one we weren’t allowed into last time. Finally find a cab, hop in, and the guy is like OK lets go then "Get out! Get out!". I'm like why? Cos Hoel didn't finish his mini he thought he'd take it into the cab. We didn't budge so the cabby flags down the cops. Joel puts the cup outside - ready to go, but the guy wants us out. Didn't seem like ppl knew what was going on, but the cops made it clear when they tell us to get out. We start arguing with them in Spanish, not understanding, saying we dont have the cup anymore, etc. The cops say they saw Joel put it down. Luke starts arguing a bit more (in English), but then we're like OK it's the cops now, lets leave it. Look for another cab, and jump in one. But the guy wouldn’t take us anywhere. Reason was cos he reckons that was his last job for the night and now hes going home. Yeh. Right. It's only like 4am. We hop out, and then are annoyed cos there are NO cabs around anywhere. Impossible. We decide to go back to that club with Rok where chicks were buying Joel and I drinks. Luke & Joel said they'd wait there while we checked it out to see if it's still any good. Don't remember exactly what happened - we couldn't find it or something. So we get back and Luke is still sitting in the same spot rolling stuff, and Joel is using a wall to support himself, with this sleazy-drunken-dazed grin and he still has that frickin' mini in hand. We start walking back and buy a sandwich off some street vendors. So good. Rok and I go ahead, Joel and Luke come back, then go again, then come back later. I crash out about 5.45, Luke & Joel approx 6.30. My alarm goes off at 8. Time for the airport. Joel is lying there awake, completely fried, staring wide-awake at his iPod with this cheesy grin plastered on his head. Luke is still sleeping with mountains of tobacco on his bedside table. Wake them up - throw together our bags and run for the metro. Joel was lucky enough to sleep in (cos he was staying in Madrid), though we were worried about whether he'd make it out alive, or at least in time to check out. Didn't hear from him for almost a week either! I was checking my credit card daily incase there was some damage surcharge or something :) Room stunk of smoke. Anyway, functioning on empty we somehow navigate the metro to the airport (actually better than some chicks who looked 'fresh as the morning', whom we initially followed though they later got lost on the way to the airport). Check in, get some more jamon filled rolls to stifle the hangover. Jamon really is the BEST. I would wed some if possible. Eventually get on the flight (we were the last ones to board, mainly cos we were punishing more banhos (Australians 2, banhos 0) - the EasyJet chick was very unimpressed). Flight gets in on time, I have passport issues when landing which later I'm told not to worry about cos the entry warning was against someone else prob with a similar name or b'day (pfft). Great to deal with when hungover, redeyed, 0hrs sleep etc. Our bags take ages to come, but we get to the bus with 2 mins to spare (saving us a 3 hour wait in Luton for the next one). On the bus Luke says "shit, my iPod is in the seat pocket of the plane". It's hard to function without sleep. Luckily someone turned it in, so he gets to waste a day going there and back to collect it. But it's so cool he got it back.

Hoel is fried

Early morning Metro fun

Madrid was fun, though definitely locals knowledge is the key. Everyone we met we got on well with, and especially that Saturday night, man that was amazing. All were cool - going crazy - it was just like hanging out with good mates; like a big old-skool reunion.
Check out the mayhem here

Madrid - round #1

2006-11-24T18:26:00.000Z

My mum & sister were up in Cam and we decided to go somewhere for the weekend if we found cheap flights. Madrid was good cos it was cheapish (flights-wise), arty (Prada gallery) + generally scenic, and also has cool nightlife - especially since i know crew there. We actually flew to Valladolid and caught the bus down (3hrs) to Madrid. Well, we JUST made the bus due to massive flight delays, but thankfully cos the airport was so small our bags came out quick so we got there in time. After the bus, we headed up to our apartments in Tribunal - which is the alternative/punk area. Great location for a family holiday, with crazy punk youth packing the streets. But our apartment was great. Spacious and it had a fridge so I could safely store the mountains of jamon I wanted to bring home! We walked around and ate some great tapas + sangria. Soooo good - English food just don't compare... Then 11pm rolled around which is time to begin thinking about going out. Antonio, a mate who was in Cam earlier in the year learning English, picked up Richelle and I and took us to a friends house. Flying around a city in a car is sweet - you can see so much. We go to his mates house which was such a random mix, one English dude (chavvy) was there with his Spanish girlfriend - they were so mismatched. But yeh, then everyone decided to play bingo. Totally random - we thought it was funny. Antonio was hating it! Bingo in Spanglish made the drinks go down that much faster. After that we headed to a mates house, Julian, who also learnt English in the UK, and downed some serious whisky with his crew. After a while we decided we should go to this club Andys. 3.30am, a reasonable time to go apparently. Head out and eventually get in for free due to connections. Was pretty fancy, and had hot hot girls. Weird mix of music, everything from spanish, to modern stuff, to Madonna. Running a muck for a coupla hours but then it was time to go because we had to wake up for sightseeing. We were told that we're leaving early by going @ 5.30am. hahah love it...

Tapas con mi madre

Richelle, Julian y Antonio

Next day, sightseeing. Weren't TOO hungover - thankfully. Just tired. Hit up the modern art museum which was cool, not just overloaded with Picasso & Dali for a change. It was good to go with Mum & Richelle who have art skills/knowledge - makes galleries better cos they can explain stuff. After we checked out Plaza Mayor, we were off to my favourite museum - Museo del Jamon for some Spanish delights. I'm totally addicted to Jamon. It's not really a museum but just a big ham shop and restaurant. After coming away with about 30EU of fine cured meats to take back to home, I napped whilst Richelle went off and hit the funky streets of Tribunal. Can't remember what Mum did. That night, we met up with Trish who was amongst the first of my friends from Cambridge - she was on exchange from Madrid. We met at the Tribunal Metro stop where hundreds of alternative-looking youth were congregated. We go to a bar directly across from where we were staying (damn our hotel location was hot) and down some Sangria with her mates before sampling some Madrid nightlife. There was this awesome cocktail place, with such a cool selection of drinks, a DJ and these nice sofas and beds to chillax on. Though they were all full and our plans to steal some comfort were soon thwarted. After downloading some flaming Absynth shots - (ouch) more of Trish's mates arrived - I knew some of them as they had visited Cambridge before, and we all got on amazingly well. Man Madrid is cool, in certain areas (tribunal/malasanha) it's just wall-to-wall of cool spots, like this awes Jazz club, right near this Australian(!) bar - Free Way (didn't check that out la proxima vez), not too far away from a famous punk club, etc. We only got a taste for the awesomeness of a place cos we were on a guestlist at this other club and needed to get there before 2am. Got there just in time, ready for an interesting mix of music, kinda 70s stuff, electroclash and techno all mixed. Jumped around like crazy for a few hours before walking home at like 5.30am. People were still paying to get in that time. Great night. There are all these (ethnic) street vendors around the streets selling 'cervecha un luero' as well as awesome jam & cheese rolls. Best 2eu ever spent.

Crew

Loving the Australian Bar (not)

Oye! Final day, VERY tired. Went back to Plaza Mayor only to find that most museums close early (if they open at all) on Sun. Buh boh. Wanted to check out the Latin American Archeological Museum, but couldnt. Instead, we found this nice tapas place near by and drowned our sorrows before doing a bus tour of the city. The bus tour is TOTALLY worth it - you get see everything with explanations (with a little too much emphasis on building heights and dates). Madrid is really scenic - cool architecture. Mum + sis went off to the Prado where as I went to catch some Zs. I knew I'd be back so Prado was up the list for next time. Met up with Trish for a quick city-centre tour and some choc + churros (that's the famous ultra-thick chocolate with doughnut like sticks) - Spanish tradition. Apparently you do it after clubbing and the place is open 24hrs. But it was still OK even 7pm. We then all meet up and go for some tasty chow + sangria in this nice restaurant street near Sol. I ate like a pig (and obviously ate pigs), Spanish food is soooooo good. Chorizo fried in Sidra. My god.

New logo for the best museum in Madrid

Bus back to Valladolid for the flight home means that the commute back basically sucks the whole day... but it was worth it. I got another taste for Madrid and I wanted more. And I got it only a few weeks later. Pics here

Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit

2006-10-02T13:41:00.000Z

Time for yet another European festival - Oktoberfest in Munich! Met up with my sister Richelle for some German mayhem. It's a bit of an expensive time to hit Munich. Best deal was with Lufthansa from Heathrow, with stopovers in Germany, leaving at 9am:( But it meant I hit London town on thurs night and caught up with good 'ol mates Bryan & Jill. Wow she is visibly pregnant. Congratz.

I don't know what the story is with Lufthansa, but their landings are terrible. Had the worst landing in my life coming into Munich. We slammed into the runway, seemed like the plane was going to crack. Everyone was all scared, surprised, etc. Coming back we landed in Hamburg, same thing, though not quite as bad. Seriously, these were the worst landings ever, and I've been on a few flights in my time... Having said that, it was nice to fly on a non-budget airline for a change. And I impressed myself by ordering stuff and asking questions in German. Seriously. I don't know where my skills German skills came from. Thank you Pimsleur.

Basically there is no (affordable) accommodation during Oktfest. Though I found some from this dodgy guy pimping out apartments on the internet. Well, his apartment was full, but he hooked us up with a family renting out a room. We took it because it was cheap and not too far away. It was totally bizare experience. First we couldn't find the guy, he said meet at the Service point, but we were a bit confused, especially since there was also an Info Point, Service Center and a SErvice point. Then he was all pissed off when I called him asking exactly where he was. Eventually we found him and he took us to our house. It was a young family, and I think we took over the room of the youngest son. My new-found invinciability in the German language was quickly shot down in flames, as the mum didn't speak English. But one of her sons, Thomas, did. But not that well - he informed us he was 'the class loser in Englisch'. Anyway we were all laughing at our broken communication skills. We decided to head out, and the mum told Thomas to take us to the train station. So we were chatting away to our young airian guide when it seems like he wants to come with us. What?! The kid was nice & funny, but we're not going with a 12y/o to Oktfest! We tried to thank him saying that we are OK and can understand the S/U Bahns, but he insisted on explaining. I tried to be a bit more direct - 'nicht mit ihnen'. He started slapping his head saying "Doh, my english is so bad" - we reassured "No your English is good, it's our fault - we don't speak German!". One guy on the U-Bahn was laughing at our conversations and helped us out a bit. Anyway, young Thomas ended up taking us to the Oktfest, but then going on home. Hahah he was a nice kid. So worried about the accommodation, trying to be a good landlord, all worried about us, asking things like 'what time will you come home', 'do you have the address', etc - asking the same questions thousands of times. It was pretty amusing, but it wasn't necessary as we'd manage to arrange things with the mum with gesutres..

Hating the lack of tent space...

Choc bananas easing the pain

Ok so the Okt fest - I went there with Richelle. Too bad my mate Benedikt couldn't get back to Munich for that weekend; he's probably out saving the world or something. It was pretty amazing to see the whole city crawling with people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls - everyone of all ages up for mayhem. Actually I was totally impressed with the quality of German chicks - not sure if it was because they were Bavarian, the dirndls (some versions are 'sexy') or what; but yeh, very nice scenery. Oktoberfest takes place in a park, and reminded me of a smaller Royal Show, with rides, food stalls, etc. All the action takes place in the beer tents, which are hardly tents, but massive venues with people consuming pork or chicken, standing on chairs with steins, prosting and singing. We hit it up Fri evening, but got there a little late because that's a busy night. So we couldn't get into any of the tents. We expected this, but were still a bit disappointed. However, we had some Okt snacks and then headed into the centre of Munich to eat and explore a bit. Had to go home early and sleep well, because apparently on Saturday you have to get there REALLY early to get in. And I had only one day for Oktfest mayhem, so I couldn't miss it!

About 9.15 we arrived and went straight to a tent (Spatenbrau festhalle) that looked pretty awesome the night before. People were strolling in greeting with 'Morgen' 'Morgen'. We walked up and kinda hesitated. THe bouncer said Morgen, and we stuttered out Morgen, then he said it was reservations only. We couldn't believe it, because everybody else was just walking right past him, without showing any wristbands, papers or reservations. Richelle asked him if all the tents were like this, and he was like "you can go to any other tent but this one". Maybe they didn't want obvious (Turkish-looking?) foreigners in there. Or maybe there were reservations but we just didn't understand the system. We purposely avoided the Hofbrau because it is apparently the most dirtiest tourist tent ever. Determined to get into a tent, we found our second choice - the Pschorrbrau. A small line, we get in and find there is absolutely no where to sit. The place is completely packed. Apparently you can't get served if you don't have a table, so we'd need one quick if we wanted to have fun. After several strong "NO!"s from asking people if we could join them, we stood around for a while. A beer wench (love that term) asked if we wanted beer - didn't we need a table? She said no, so she got some beers, but brought them to a table that we pretended to be part of for the transaction. Apparently the beer wenches make so much money in the two-weeks for Okt fest that they don't need to work for the rest of the year (students anyway). Not sure how they get the cash cos I've heard conflicting stories - either work only from tips, or buy beers from the bar and then sell them for profit. So anyway, we started downing our first beer probably around 9.30am. Earliest beer in a while! Actually I had heard that you have to go early on the weekend to get into a tent, say 9am, but that they don't start serving until midday. Clearly not in this tent, although the band didn't start until 12. The guys on our table said they lined up at 8.30am and had to run to get a table. Apparently the tent was 'locked' at 10am. So we JUST made it!!! Excellent

German + Aus crew.
"Germans are just like Australians who talk funny" - Luke Rogowski
I've heard that Oktoberfest is just a drunken tourist event. I'm not sure how touristy our tent was, but everyone we spoke to was German. Well, I think everyone except for one girl that I spoke to was from Bavaria, and except for a group of Jap guys. Actually the Jap dudes were standing on the tables and skulling steins at like 9am. I think they'd left (or died) by midday. It didn't take us too long to get seats. We saw a sorta-empty table and we asked them if we could sit down. They said people are coming, but then the guy recognised our accents and asked us "are you Australian?!" - in a thick Aussie accent. We talked for a bit and then they let us sit down. They weren't lying, they actually were saving seats for their mates, but they came way later. This was the best table (for us), because there were two Australian brothers, well Australian in that they grew up in oz, but they both have German parents and now live and work in Bavaria. So they grew up speaking German in Australia. That was awesome, 'cause they'd explain about the differences and quirks of both countries, tell hilarious stories etc, always relating stuff back in a way that Aussies understand. The rest of the table was German, but everyone was friendly and cool so we Sat there steining it up for several hours - starting at like 10am, next thing we know its 2pm. We then tablehopped for a bit, more random conversations etc. Things got a little bit blurry at times, we lost our jackets like a thousand times. ANd it's weird when you feel tired and drunk and then it's still so sunny and only 3pm! That's what you get when you start 6 hours earlier.

Tent mayhem

Steins are heavy. I am so impressed with the skills of the wenches carrying like six-or-so in every hand. I was told that apparently some girl can do 19 total. 19!!! Totally amazing. There has to be some trick/strategy. And the band was cool, playing all these different songs - some traditional German, as well as modern covers but in traditional German band style. They played "Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit" where everyone stands up and cheers/prosts. Though as it kept playing over-and-over it soon wore thin. Until of course, the beer kicked in again. I didn't actually purchase that many steins, because you end up table hopping and somehow there is always a beer in hand. As the day went on we met more and more people, and spent much time standing on tables singing and dancing with many randoms. Such good times. And although people are insanely drunk, there isn't much rowdiness or aggressiveness. I doubt this festival could work in either the UK or Aus. Though the first night we did see a girl stretchered away - apparently the hospital detox fee for non EU citizens is 450EU. But basically the vibe was good. Hahah we were at one table and most of the dudes spoke English except for the real drunk one. Some chicks came and sat with us and we were all hanging out. Then that guy (sitting to the other side of me) points to the girl next to me saying bitch, then pointing to the other chicks screaming out bitch! bitch!, but then "your sister not bitch", "German girls bitch". So random. His friends and brother were trying to get him to shuttup - and explained that he meant foreign chicks are better than German. But screaming it in their faces, and the chicks just sat there quietly taking it, the girl I'm talking to telling me 'ja he ist just drunk'. He wasn't being aggressive, more like it was a joke. The story sounds pretty bad when I type it, but really it was more amusing/weird/random event.

Mr Bitch & I
The night came to an end when I went to the toilet and then due to lines & the size of the tent I took a while to return. Meanwhile Richelle went out looking for me, and left the tent. So we didn't find each other until much later, because her phone ran out of credit. We finally met up, but by then it was 9.30pm, we'd had enough after 12 hours of mayhem. I didn't check my email that morning, but apparently Bene's bro got me onto a guest list for a good party that night, but it's probably just as well since it was an insane day and I prob would have died. The tents were pretty crazy at night - everyone was standing up dancing and having a great time. So fun. It would be good if you could start like 4-5pm rather than at 9am. Maybe next year:) Tell you what though, although sober before sleeping, my head was still very sore. Perfect for the billions of hours to commute back to Cambridge. Uuggghhh

I love Germany, it's one of my fave countries. But I've been there five times since December - once every two months! A bit overkill - but there's always something cool going on there. Seriously though I must start heading elsewhere, maybe take French at the Cam language school this year, as that's a country I gotta see. But all-in-all, Germany delivered some awesome times.. yet again! :)

Pics Here.

Blog Updates

2006-10-01T19:55:00.000Z

OK here are some of the stories from my recent Cuba-Mex-US adventures. I've probably written way too much about some things, and not enough about others. Well actually, I've written way too much - almost 16k words! But I don't care, this site is really for me - for my memories. If you feel brave enough trawl through it, feel free. Start at the bottom - reverse order.

Otherwise, you can see the pics here:
Mex & US
Cuba

Yorkie - its not for girls.

2006-10-01T19:52:00.000Z

Flew into NY, and after being completely molested by customs (buh I went through Cuba) I hopped on the train. After taking an incorrect subway train and ending up in Harlem close to midnight (which wasn't so bad, but didn't look so friendly for some obvious tourist with a massive bag on his back), I wound up at Jessica's apt. Jess was(is?) part of Team Madingley, my upstairs neighbour from Cam, who's now doing a PhD at Colombia NYC. She's got a totally sweet flat and let me crash her couch for (too) many days. Awesome. On arrival she treated me to the biggest slice of pizza I've ever seen. Bigger than my head! And apparently the NY way is to fold it in half to eat it. When in Rome.... Her apartment is cool. Although in the middle the views are on this desolate looking internal courtyard. It looks like a jail. Very depressing. And there's a door down the bottom but we didn't know where it led. So we climb down the fire escapes, perving into peoples apartments on the way, when we get to the lower level but the fire escape ladder release (for the final descent) is jammed. So if there's a fire - she's dead. Seriously, because we later find that even if you could get into the courtyard, the gate leading to the road is locked multiple times. Despite an inappropriate fire safety regime, her apartment was totally awesome - just near the north end of Central Park, and a block and a bit from the subway. Oh and the Seinfeld restaurant (well the outside) is at the end of her block - I highly recommend 'The Lumberjack' breakfast...

It's pretty big, I guess...

Fire escape ackshon.

The plan was to meet up with my mate Tim from Spanish school in Argentina (who lives in Philly) and Andy, a mate from Cam who's off to complete his PhD in Panama (bitch!) and roadtrip. That was the plan. We met up in a cafe in NY and discussed where we were gonna go over some egg-cheese-and-ham-ariffic bagels. We were talking about Toronto, but 7hrs each way seemed too much... So we decided to cruise around, maybe check out Woodstock etc, and then hit Tim (Aussie Tim) & K's cabin in CT, cos they were having a curry night there. First we had to get Andy's stuff - he was staying with an ex-Cam politics PhD grad who now works for the UN. She had this awesome flat right near the UN, with an amazing rooftop view. Then we went to get my stuff. The problem was that we just couldn't get out of the city. It was close to peak-hour on Fri night. Madness. We couldn't find the exit onto the damn highway. Even after asking people, like the Latin mechanic Junior who gave very clear directions and kept barking IT'S EASY IT'S EASY. We did, however, find a massive wholesale liquor barn - you know the typical buy-in-bulk consumer warehouses - but this was basically just liquor. It was pretty awesome. We actually lost each other inside there. And I love the 'sections', like there was this one corner, bigger than a house and full of Heineken. Anyway we stocked up big time for the road trip. Not sure why, because we couldn't get out of NY. And in the US it's illegal to have an open bottle of booze in the car, yes, even if the driver is clean and not drinking. Several hours later (literally) we finally found our way out of the city. Now so late, we had to abandon our Woodstock plans and decided to find a beach. We cut into CT, which is apparently the richest state, where it seems all the NY big-wigs have their holiday homes. Man it's scary out there. Cookie-cutter homes, plastic smiles. We just wanted some snacks, but the place recommended to us sold lobster and only allowed valet parking. We asked about the beach, it was all private. This was a small town! We drove on and on, past excellent sights which we'd love to have seen had it been earlier (and open), such as the Garbage Museum. We found another sign to a beach - though when we got close we saw nothing but signs like "Do not pass", "Beach Closed" etc. It didn't look like a beach, but like it was a national border or the entrance to Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility or something! After driving on and getting some poor directions, we find that we are near an ocean but couldn't get to it. So we pull over and just run down the grassy mounds and find a horrible rocky beach. I guess it's like Pebble Beach. But with massive pebbles. We were so thirsty after that much driving that we downed a few along with some nuts and cranberries and headed down to Westport for some cabin curry fever.

Art geeks

The only thing that helps pass the time away, is knowing I'll be back at Pebble beach some day

Tim, Kelly, Mike, his wife were there, along with one of their friends, Rory, Tim's mate and business partner from Perth. They'd been into it for a while, so some were a little hammered. On arrival, the friend of the couple - who looks, acts and apparently has a similar life to those ladies from Desperate Housewives, asks us some random question about caskets. Anyway there was this bet, something about whether the casket is burnt with a body during cremation, or whether the body is taken out and burnt with a cheap box substitute. Tim won the bet, so I'm not sure exactly how this works out. But apparently if he went swimming in the creek behind naked he'd get $1000. The bet was settled earlier - so she rips out this wad of Franklins - yep $1k. Tim comes out in Wellington boots and a towel saying lets go. The chicks and him go out. None of the boys were into it, but we could hear the commotion outside. They come back and Tim counts his 1k. Far out $1k. And that chick who paid was like "Wow that's so worth it" laughing her head off. Was it really?! Andy goes "damn I would have done it for $10". Pretty random night. Out the front they had a whole stash of boards and spraycans, so we tested out our graffiti skills. Many a beer went down, just chilling out in the Cabin, yarning, with good (? – Crazy) music etc. A good night.
Next day we went exploring - the Cabin is out in the woods, and although it looks like it's in the woods, it is surrounded by mansions. We went out 'trekking' (if you can call it that) on this trail for a bit, checking out some of the woodlands. Was really nice! We saw some rich guy and his kid walking through - we say hi, but he ignores us, which Tim says is typical for the area. We see him later speeding off in his black BMW, without his kid - dumped the body? The mansions are so American Pie they look scary. Especially funny is one house that has like a grave for their dog, with a big picture of the dog hanging on this flag type thing. Totally whack!

When I die, I want a grave like this

This photo belongs in an album cover

We head back to the city for a night out - hook up in Chinatown. Whilst waiting for Andy we find the most un-Chinese bar in the world. I think the guy was Russian and it was for old people. Weird. So many characters in NY. Once we all meet up - time for some awesome Chinese food. They didn't have green/Chinese tea (wtf?!) but lady had a secret stash of beer which she runs to the back and eagerly serves us. Andy didn't finish his in time, so they give him a brown bag. I don't understand how drinking out of an inconspicuous brown bag makes it legal!? Apparently it doesn't. Hit up Little Italy and people watched for a bit – every second group was part of a hens night. Then we try to walk over to Greenwich Village, particularly looking for Cafe Wha?, where apparently Hendrix, Dylan and various other famous people have played. So we go there, and it's weird, cos it's a bar with a massive cover, but with table service, and you have allocated seats, etc. The band was actually bizarre - such a mix of ppl, someone from every genre, from old time rockers, to the weird death-metal types, to the Cuban percussionist, a Lenny Kravitz clone, a hip-hop style guy, an afro chick with an awesome voice, etc. Their skills were great, but the atmosphere wasn't. So many hens-night groups etc (yes, here too!), and it all seemed a bit contrived. Was fun though. Was also fun making my way back through the subway at 3am – ignoring various people screaming at me. Man that pizza place near Jess' had a massive line. Dohh I was so hungry that I went to the 24hr chemist and bought a bag of raisin/peanut mix. Just not the same as a slice of pizza bigger than my head.

Got up early on Sunday. So the plan was to head into Harlem for some fried chicken and waffles. Can you think of a better way to start the day? Yes they are served together, with the deep fried chicken on top of the waffles. You get cornbread at the start too. It was pretty much the best fried chicken I've ever had. I went to this famous restaurant with a line out the front. I was the only person in there that wasn't coming straight from the Baptist Church donned in the finest of threads. Such a mix of people in there, some people talking about their law studies, one guy talking about his pharmacy course but using so much slang/accent that you wouldn't guess that they were talking about something academic, and some other chicks talking about dat fine boy and then saying I aint tippin nufin i dont have no money for dat. It was the best people watching experience ever. And wow, some of the suits people wear to church. The best one I saw, but didn't get a proper photo of was this guy in this electric blue suit walking into church. So awesome. Superstylin'
I then cruised around Spanish Harlem - and Williamsburg - wow some of those places look EXACTLY like parts of Mexico City - I mean, everything is in Spanish, the people, the shops, the markets, etc. Haha man New Yorkers are tough. I walk into this liquor store in Harlem cos I wanted to buy a thank-you gift for Jess. There was an Asian guy running the store, and the store is completely behind bullet-proof glass (it says so). So you can see all the bottles, but you have to tell what you want. So I'm in there looking around and this old lady comes in. She starts screaming at the guy - where's the brandy give me brandy. I don't know where she was from, obviously not a native English speaker, but she wasn't understanding the Hispanic customer who was in there helping her to translate. She's like CHEAP BRANDY give it to me. The guy working there starts screaming which one, what do you want! She's like 'Brandy Brandy!!'. She leaves and comes back later with someone else who starts screaming - 'I bought it yesterday. $6 Brandy. What's wrong with you". The guy is screaming "I wasn't working yesterday". Then they start screaming Shutup at each other and yelling more. "Which Brandies do you have", "Lots of them, look" (pointing at billions of bottles), then more abuse is hurled. "Get out of my shop", "Shuttup, shuttup". Situation escalates, the insults become worse. Eventually they leave without brandy. It was pretty intense. But then the guy comes up to me and says in the most polite voice - 'can I help you'. Like that is normal practice. I was expecting him to call the cops or something. Hahah - sheltered Jat.

That night I headed out with Tim (Arg Tim), Andy, Jessica and Mel (her housemate) to Williamstown to try and check out this Brasilian party that was meant to be going on. It wasn't.. It was totally lame, and had some bizarre arty guys moving like they were in some sort of interpretive dance class. Weird, but no mayhem. So then we tried to find some happenings in the city that never sleeps, but didn't really come up with much on a Sunday night. However, our expedition brought us to some places for some taste adventures (as I typically love to do). Like we had some egg whip (some disgusting bizarre milkshake thing), and some peanut butter & jelly sambos from a VERY japanese \-like vending machine (coin operated food), topped off with GreenTea icecream. Finished up in some late night bar near home, where I got carded but my ISIC card sufficed as id. Sweet beers to say goodbye to old mates.

Last day was Sept 11th - 5th year anniversary. Great day to fly home huh? So I went down to the WTC site to check out what was going on. Tons of people everywhere. In the plaza in front people were ringing massive bells etc. Closer to the site, there were heaps of people around talking about stuff, like memories, issues, etc. Lots of people were there with "Investigate it" shirts, holding up signs saying the collapse/incident was dodgy. Then there were other people with pro Bush & war signs (stuff like 'when the left say peace they mean surrender'. And lots inbetween. There were banners, signs, shirts and police everywhere. Probably the most over-the-top display was the tribute truck – check it out below – some pretty graphic images.

911 tribute truck

Liberty bells

Leaving was surprisingly easy. Immigration wasn't any harder than usual. Though again, about tough New Yorkers - I was about to go through security when this Asian lady was there with her parents. The guy told her to take of her jackets. She said ok and mumbled something about why. And so the guy flared up - "cos I told you to - so hurry up!". She says "my parent's are old, give them time". Then they start screaming at each other. She asks for the supervisor and she says "He's being rude and screaming at me", "no he's not" is the supervisor's reply. Far out. Anyway she goes ahead and the first security guy grabs her tray and rather than putting it on the long conveyer; he throws it across the place so there's this massive crash and stuff falls out. My turn, I go through and after passing the electronic-cloth-sniffing procedure my bag is to be searched. Not surprising. I was sick and had terrible sinuses, so I was going to try and bring my nasal spray on the plane so my head wouldn't explode during the descent. So they take my passport and I'm made to stand back behind some line for a bit. Then they ask about my other stuff (like wallets etc) and I point to the tray so they're like you can get all that stuff. Anyway, the guy says that my bag's clear. So I pack up all my stuff and ask for my passport. He's says "look buddy I gave it to you", I disputed this, it was taken off me and then I had to wait, and now I'm picking up my stuff. He tells me to check my bags and pockets. I do this in front of him. Nope. Then he gets annoyed "look I gave it to you, even if I kept it I can't use it to fly on, so why would I take it". I explained that I wasn't accusing him of stealing it, just that it was taken from me and now I need it so I can proceed. He's like "not my problem, I don't care". I told him to call the manager then - cos I need to find the thing. He started shouting at me saying that I have it. After a while some of the trays are lifted and it was under there. And he's like look at that. I'm like ahh that's good, not caring about the situation, just happy to have the passport. He's like see I gave it to you. I was getting pissed off now and started explaining how it was impossible because the procedure is to take my passport at one point, and it ended up in a place I wouldn't have been able to get to. He screams "I don't care - apology accepted". I was like "that is NO apology, what's your name', he's like "have a nice flight".. Seems like people just like to fight there. All good - arrived in the UK, greeted by ultra-polite English. What a contrast.

Photos Here

Viva Mexico

2006-09-27T19:54:00.000Z

I already mentioned the hardships I had in leaving Cuba. I eventually flew back into Cancun, and then took the bus to Playa Del Carmen - arriving several hours later than I intended. Luckily the hostel was right opposite the bus station, so it took no effort to find. Playa is like a mini-Cancun. One of Doro's friends told her that Playa is amazing - saying that Cancun is like Miami and Playa is like Venice. Well I haven't been to Venice, but that info must be 10 years old because Playa is tourist central. I mean, you can pay for everything in dollars - i.e. prices aren't displayed in pesos, you have to ask them to convert the prices. And all the shops around are selling touristy stuff, from handicrafts to overpriced tequila to generic drugs (e.g. Viagra). I used Playa as a base to check out some of ruins. I've wanted to see the Yucatan ruins ever since my last trip to Mexico. So the town served its purpose - good transport links, it's still a town so you can walk a couple of blocks and be in (a more) authentic Mexico, and as it's smaller, there are fewer places where people can go out => more fun. This is different to Cancun where the action takes place in and around the monster hotel strip. So it was OK. The hostel was cool though, on the rooftop you would overlook the beach, so many a night was spent up there downing Mexican beers whilst watching the sunset with various random tourists. After a few days of going out in Playa, I seemed to know lots of people. Actually it was really quiet then apparently (it was busy enough) - because peak season had just finished. Apparently it was absolutely insane two weeks earlier. I rearranged my trip so that I would be there in off-peak times, because I'd planned to be hoteling it up. Had I known I'd be in hostels, I probably would have gone during the more 'fun' times (as people described it)

Bienvenido a Playa (Golden Arches and Beer)

Hostel rooftop - early morn

I checked out some cool things. The first day I hit Cozumel, which is an island off the coast with the world's second largest barrier reef (we all know who gets first place). I went on a snorkelling tour there which was awesome. The guides took us around in a glass bottom boat, and we'd go in, check out some awesome marine life, get back out, have beers, and move on. There weren't THAT many fish, I mean I've seen more back home, and in Thailand. But apparently after the devastation of hurricanes the reef is only now starting to attract life again. It was still awesome, especially when you see the pier that was destroyed in the storm. An amusing story, the pier withstood a hurricane, so it was awarded a prize for being so awesome and strong. Then it was completely destroyed by the next hurricane. The water was soooooo blue.

I went on a tour to the amazing Chichen Itza, if you could still climb up/go inside it, it might have pipped my favourite ruins ever - Teotihuacán. But apparently some lady died up there, and people were defacing the structure so they closed it only six months prior. Although a large complex, the main feature was the pyramid as below. It was all setup so it would amplify noise by reflecting sound off the other structures (you can clap and hear it ricochet). Apparently on the solstice, the light hits the pyramid in such a way to illuminate it such that a snake's body appears on the side. I've seen some photos of it, looks really cool. Mayan culture is interesting, and the guide went for some time, explaining all the stories and rituals. Probably you've heard about the ball game, well there is debate as to whether it was the captain of the winning team, the losing team, or some political prisoners (fighters from warring groups) that were sacrificed at the end of the match. Chichen was well worth it. The tour also involved a trip to a cenote, which are basically underground water-holes which were developed by water trickling through the limestone ground above. So it's like a natural underground reservoir, with lots of stalactites stalagmites etc. Pretty amazing. You can swim in them etc - and if you scuba, you can actually dive in them, between them etc. I so need a dive ticket!

Breathtaking Chichen Itza

Cenote - roots of a tree into the water

I also went to the place I'd wanted to see for so long - Tulum. This is a set of Mayan ruins on a cliff overlooking this amazing tropical beach. Simply breathtaking - my photos don't do it justice. I really wanted a tour, but the price was per group, so I tagged along with some dorky old Americans. Towards the end of the tour they mentioned they were Mormon. Unbelievably, the guide (who's Dad was the first guide of Tulum, and now she runs the family business) was Mormon too, so they went on talking about how the Mayan culture fits perfectly with the book of Mormon. Haha I didn't get converted (they've already tried once and failed - thanks Smudgieeeeeeeeeee), but their ideas were interesting. But that took up so much time that I think we missed out on some of the actual tour. Also the Americans were too fat and wanted to stop early cause they couldn't walk much I don't care - Tulum is amazing, standing on the beach and looking up at the ruins, very cool.


Ruins on the beach - Tulum

Playa del Carmen was really fun. I met up with a mate of Kelly's Arturo. Kelly did a English teaching course in Playa, and met Arturo whilst over there. He is a journalist for the local paper there, and an awesome guy. He's such a ladies man, muy suave - and in typical latino style telling me how he loves women, but how in Playa they always leave. Oye amor!  Also, kinda randomly, many people said that we look like brothers. It doesn't really look like it in photos, but in real-life I could see it, maybe even dress wise etc. As he lives there, he knows tons of people. I met quite a few of his mates, many of them working on the strip. He also knows ppl at clubs so we managed to get into a few places for free, or at least some discounts. So we checked out a few places. The first night we were both already smashed before we met up, but I think he was worse cos he got escorted out of the club by security (much to the shame of his mate working there who got us in for free:). He doesn't remember it but it was funny, like a glass smashed and everyone was freaking out. Other nights we had a blast. One night we downed some beers and then went to a salsa club - though I can't salsa, especially not like these guys. Actually some German guy was sad cos his sort-of girlfriend & travel partner was getting wooed by some Mexican guys, AND it was his birthday and all! So he gave me a wad of cash and goes - "ahhh go buy some beer!". Yes sir :) Good times. Most nights, I ended up at the main 'popular' club there, the Blue Parrot, which is a club right on the beach, complete with sand and rope swings. It's pretty cheesy - but fun. Well, fun enough. It seemed everyone went there - like I'd bump into people I knew from the hostel, and even caught up with some awesome Sicilians who I met on tour.

Crew @ the Blue Parrot

Arturo y yo

The beaches are pretty amazing. Warm water and tropical. I dunno - Perth beaches are probably a bit nicer, but the water is warmer here. I spent lots of time this trip chilling out on a coast - something I miss so much in landlocked Cam.... Oh and Mexican food tastes SOOOOOO good after a couple of weeks of bland Cuban cuisine. I had pozole like 3 times that week. Sooo good. Damn Playa was a sweet way to end the trip.

Photos Aqui

mmmmmmm entonces, q hicieron?

2006-09-27T08:57:00.000Z

OK enough background - what did we do? We bounced around bits of Cuba, trying to get a taste of the place. We started in Havana, went down to Trinidad, up to Cienfuegos, skipped through Santa Clara to Varadero, back to Havana (Vieja), bitta nature out west (Vinales way), and finished back up in Havana. Where we went was pretty much dictated by the routes of the tourist bus - Viazul. Next time, I'd try the Astro bus, which is meant for locals - there are tricks to get on them. But with two of us, it makes it a bit harder. Astro buses are supposed to be less reliable, though our Viazul bus had to stop for a while on the way to Vinales due to a leaking fuel line (!!!). I'm sure a local bus would be an experience in itself. The only place I regret not going to is Baracoa, because every single person I spoke to rates it most highly, saying it's almost like a different country. Next time eh.
So obviously we did most of the touristy sites in each place, so I won't talk about them all here or these posts will never be completed. Instead, I'll just talk briefly about some of the highlights of the various places

Havana is a really beautiful city, especially cos it has the mix of old school architecture and old- buildings about to fall down. Our first night in Cuba was spent in Havana Centro - which was in a pretty boxy, ghetto like area, but was kinda convenient. Later we stayed in Havana Vieja - which is this awesome area with old colonial type buildings etc. Really nice to just walking around the streets. Although this, like I guess the whole of Cuba, is becoming super-touristy right now. It seems that Hav Vieja is now setup basically for tourists, with few places to use national currency. We spent many a night walking around the streets of Havana, soaking up the atmosphere - people chilling, playing dominos, the scenery, etc. There's always something interesting to see. Transport there is amazing. So many people moving devices. People standing in the back of trucks, some are like massive dump trucks (the cabin actually says 'dump truck') with converted into buses, many old yellow american school buses drive around (to capacity). We saw this one lady almost get crushed, as she tried to jump onto an already over-crowded bus(well, truck) and almost fell out. Luckily people grabbed her and hoisted her up. A few tourists (Italians) around were like woaaahhh. Locals were like, eh big deal. Taxis aimed at Cubans, which we had no luck in flagging, are the really old beaten up American cars, which pour out smoke and look as though they're about to explode. Anyway, these are generally jammed to capacity, with like one-and-a-half people per seat. Then there are rickshaws, and these motorbikes with a fibreglass shell with seats, and horse-drawn carts. We caught a horse-drawn cart in Cienfuegoes, which actually went down some back streets, which we found out was to avoid police because it was illegal for them to take us.


Sweet wheels

Probably the stupidest tour I've ever been in my lifeon was in the Havana Club museum. Still, I recommend going for a laugh! Basically the guide makes a few corny jokes, and walks you around the museum, which explains the rum making process. The irony is, he doesn't explain the process, instead only saying a few words and then showing some tacky displays. You could learn a lot more just from reading the signs. Anyway, the highlight was this model railroad train which I guess was to show the movement of the sugarcane to the refinery or something. Rok was the 'lucky-tourist' who got to operate the train. The guide was like 'look at this everybody' and then we all watch this toy train going around a track. Hahaha it was so funny. Basically it was just like walking around a toy store, though at the toy store you could probably learn more about rum :) There was this good model in another small museum of the whole of Havana - made out of balsa wood etc, marking out all the buildings etc. That was pretty cool, though Rok got busted before he could snap a shot.

Highlight of the Havana Club Tour

OK my top five recommendations for Havana:
Museo de la Revolucion - all about the struggle for Cuba Libre - everything for characterisation of the 'hereos', weapons, stories of the takeover, explanation of policies, propaganda, CIA sabotage attempts, etc. Rok described it as Fidel's trophy shelf. Very interesting
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (the Collecion Cubano) - very interesting art gallery full of a whole bunch of Cuban art. Everything covered from old times, the revolucion, current life, very interesting propaganda pieces. One of my favourites was this green land mass, with a hole in the middle, and to the side that another small green island the exact shape of what's was missing – symbolic eh. Yep, it's full of propaganda. You could easily chew up many hours here!
Museo de Tabacco Partagas One of the more expensive tours, but very interesting. You get a very detailed description of the whole cigar making process, from the importation of the leaves to the final product. Most interesting is that you see people actually working, and get a feel for the work and conditions behind one of their biggest and most famous exports.
Tropicana Cabaret Probably the most famous cabaret in the world, it's expensive (skip the pre-dinner), but it's a once in a lifetime thing. We did the deal and we got the show with a bottle of rum and some mixers. Actually we went for dinner first - which was OK, but completely unsuitable for two straight lads. Way too romantic- I really wanted to stop the violinist from serenading us! Bit dodgy… But the cabaret itself was entertaining - all the feathers, glitter and scantily clad people dancing up a storm. It was quite a spectacle - reminded me a lot of some sequences from The Simpsons. At the end they got random people up from the crowd to join in, Rok got picked. Awes...
The Streets Just walking around you see heaps of interesting things, from the Malecon at night, to the line for the icecream parlour, from hustlers, to transport, to police, etc. Like we heard some explosions and then the streets were absolutely covered in smoke. We though it was some sort of attack or demonstration; but Rok later found it was mosquito bombs. There's just weird stuff to see. Constantly!

Ron, puros y chicas. Q quieres mas?

Security concerned with an overexcited Rok

Trindad is a cool little cobblestone town, of course it's pretty - a UNESCO heritage town and all. Wondering the streets there is also cool (Havana Vieja is like a massive version of the same). Some cool little music places around where people congregate - there always seemed to be a crowd around, from the salsa club to a more live music venue. We decided to rent a scooter (SCOOTER, back in the housee... yeahhh) and cruise down to the local beach (Playa Ancon). That was cool, cruising through the countryside on a moto. Really awesome scenery. We arrived at our first Cuban beach. There was a resort there, but lots of Cubanos as well. We came well equipped, with a box of Rum - which made the dip in the overly salty, warm water that much better. Wow I'd forgotten how much I'd missed the coast. So different to land-locked Cambridge. Cuban beachlife is different to that of other places. Nobody chills on the sand - instead everybody is in the water, and if not, they're far removed from the sand under some trees or at a bar.

The Motorcycle Diaries

DIY Cuba Libre. Box of Rum. Cola.

Cienfuegos is where we checked out that bizarre Raggaeton party which doubled as a support group for those with spinal deformities. The highlight of Cienfuegos was going to the nearby botanical gardens. We caught a cab out there, it was so worth it. Basically this big reserve of all different sorts of trees, and when we started there was nobody else in the park. Went around exploring some bizarre trees, walking through grass way bigger than us, admiring trees that built their own supports, trecking through undefined paths etc. We also had a mojito with a difference, with a different sort of rum - actually it wasn't rum, maybe like a rum liquor, and some pineapple flavoured mixer. I should've brought some of that stuff back with me - can't remember the name.

Primal instincts take over

What the fk!?

Varadero - like I said, the Canadian Cancun, with a bunch of Italians, Germans and a handful of Spaniards. This place is terrible. Massive hotels, everything so touristy, made only for the tourists. Most hotels are all inclusive, so people just stay there - life of hedonism. I mean, sure no problem with going away to relax, but Cuba is just so damn interesting - they should totally get out there and see it! A lot don't. The beaches are amazing though.

View from a Varadero hotel

Vinales was way cool. It's kinda this small town (a couple of blocks/streets) in lush surroundings. Basically you come here to get back to nature. It is totally the base for tourists, given that as soon as you get off the bus you are overwhelmed with an onslaught of people offering casa particulares. They all have to wait behind a rope while people get their bags out off the bus. So everyone leans over the rope, screaming for your patronage.We had this little house with this amazing back yard - which basically meshed into the countryside. I spent about two hours talking to the gran about her garden, her pigs, the fruit trees and her house extensions which is so that more people can be accommodated. She said the tourist boom is only recent, especially in Vinales, and that the town is now overrun with tourists. But she likes it cos she gets to meet lots of foreigners (well, those who can speak Spanish) and talk about differences and her life experiences etc. I went on a hiking tour one day, whilst Rok went to Maria del Gorda which is renowned for its awesome reef - he saw a barracuda and some other cool stuff I think. The hiking tour was great, walking around the tobacco farms, our guide just went up to random farmer families or people passing by and we'd all just talk to them and see what they're up to. They took us to a tobacco farmer's hut, who was a bit of a character, telling about how he harvests the tobacco and keeps the best stuff for himself. Apparently fewer and fewer farmers still use the old school techniques like this guy. Went through a cave, and later to another cave on a boat. That sounds cool, but was actually lame & touristy. Our tour guide was a character, he was like the croc hunter, picking up snakes, grabbing a lizard and attaching it to his ear. Some German chicks and I were laughing at this French dude who stole maybe a 20ft bamboo pole to take back to France to make musical instruments. After lugging it around for ages, he decided it was too big and asked some local guy to cut it up. Random. The scenery around vinales was incredible, you see lots of coffee & tobacco plants, lots of cool vegetation - like mojotes which are like free standing mountains (hills) covered in various trees, and also farmers working the land with the help of various animals. We also went to this cave which was pretty cool. I didn't take my camera thinking it would be more hardcore than it was, but it wasn't too rough. It was awesome though, going into unlit caves with only headlamps, climbing backwards down some ropes, and just appreciating the rocks (soooooo old) as well as the darkness and the silence right down below. Good farn.

Pretty eager...

Chillin after a hard day on the field

Cuba is non-stop. A bit of a sensory overload. Well not really, nothing like India for example. But there's still always something to see that's new and different. Like I said, it's more interesting than fun, but I suppose it depends on what you want to do, see and experience. Having said that, I highly recommend you go - the sooner the better!

Pics here

Vamos a bailar... Cuban Nighlife

2006-09-26T21:24:00.000Z

As mentioned, Cubans tend to hang out. Sit along the Malecon in Havana any night of the week (especially weekends) and there are thousands of people sitting along the coast, chilling out with some rum. Similarly, Cienfuegos (the pearl of the south) attracts a big crowd of people to the wall that runs along the bay. The popular clubs in Havana manage the local/tourist thing in an interesting manner. From around 4-9pm they have one club session, which is payable in local currency and is affordable for locals. Then 9.30-late is tourist time. Now it's not officially tourists only, but the cover of a couple of CUCs makes it that way. So if you meet a local in there, they're most likely Cuban, female, and a prostitute. One place we went to had this awesome band playing - great live music. But then, the chicks come up and grab your arm - 'oye papi'. Amazingly overt. I guess working girls are the only people who could afford to get in, though I'm sure they have some arrangement... Actually the first day we were there we met some random girls in the st (non-whores) whom we asked about some hip-hop festival (which didn't exist) took place. They said try 4pm Friday at a certain nightspot. We didn't believe them. 4pm?! Really? Was it some kids event or something? But towards the end of the trip it made sense. The 'locals' party is early...

Salsa band at a club

You couldn't describe Havana as a city that never sleeps. OK some places are open late, but there is no real entertainment/nightlife strip similar to you get in other capitals in the world; though not that you'd necessarily expect one. Well there are areas with more places than others, but really, things are spread out. This is in contrast to smaller towns such as Trinidad or Vinales which appear to have better (or easier to find) nightlife because basically there's nowhere else for people to go. Though I get the feeling that 'clubs' are more for tourists; locals just seem to hang outside their house/on the streets. Having said that - music is everywhere. You literally hear live musica (Cubana) all the time, the more touristy the area, the more likely; though around the Malecon people are singing along with guitars, etc. The musicians in Cuba are absolutely amazing, everyone with an instrument sounds great. I guess music is one of the main past-times!
The newest craze at the moment is Raggaeton. Think Gasolina... I thought this music was from Cuba, but someone was telling me it was from Venezuela, another told me it's from Puerto Rico. Not sure, but the Cubans SURE can move to it. In Cienfuegos we somehow ended up at this outdoor club sorta thing. Though judging from the age of people (mid-late teens) we guessed it was some underage party. Anyway, they had this Raggateon section of the set which got the youngens out there dancing to it. Oh my god. I have NEVER seen such movements. They were gyrating their pelvises (pelvii?!) so quickly. Like a jackhammer. Like they had no spine, or one made of jelly/rubber or something. Think the most booty-shaking R&B video you can think of and speed up the intensity by a factor of 10. They were shaking like machines. It was incredible. And it wasn't just one girl, there were tons of them around the place gyrating like there's no tomorrow.
Ohh let's not forget Varadero - one ugly place. Think Cancun, but for Canadians (with a handful of Italians, Germans and Spanish thrown in). Basically it's a tourist area, where locals aren't allowed (they're not officially disallowed, but just hassled if they enter - according to Lonely Planet). Mega resort all inclusive hotels right on the beach. People go there and just chill out. You wouldn't learn anything about Cuba by staying there. Hell you wouldn't even leave your hotel, except maybe for the beach. Went to clubs there, and they were open bar for 10CUC. Just a bunch of rich filthy youth out partying the night away... Not too impressed.
Party in a cave

One interesting club we went to was in Trinidad inside a cave. We went to the entrance, and couldn't hear any music or anything. We saw some people going in and asked whether it was worth it. They assured us it was. Rok asked the doorman if anyone was inside - he was assured us it was full. We couldn't believe it, but anyway we descended several levels into this 'rave in a cave'. Well it wasn't a rave, just typical Hispanic music, but it was a pretty crowded club in there. Tons of foreigners. And locals - who seemed to have no problem with pimping out their girlfriends. Seriously. We saw it happen. Amazing...

I'm not sure what I expected from the nightlife in Cuba -I guess I thought it would be a bit more partytown. But I guess it's hard for people to go out and get down if it's so damn expensive. Trick is to find the happening local places. Unfortunately we weren't there long enough to discover them?

Cociname algo! Comida cubana

2006-09-26T00:02:00.000Z

The food in Cuba is pretty boring. Basically it consists of some sort of meat, rice+(black)beans, and maybe a side of some vegetable or thin fried plantains (like chips but from savoury bananas). Maybe it was far more obvious after the overly flavoured/spiced food of Mexico - but Cuban food is extremely bland. Basically dinner consists of either pollo frito (fried chicken, usually pan friend cf deep fried) or cerdo (pork steak). Usually there is no flavouring other than salt, although sometimes you can get some slices of lime or some salsa to spice it up. At least they use salt though (unlike the UK). My favourite Cuban food by far is ropa vieja (but is it Spanish?)- basically shredded beef in some sort of flavorful tomato-based sauce. It's called ropa vieja because the shredded beef apparently resembles old clothes. I didn't see much beef there, but seafood lovers would be in heaven, as lobster is damn cheap there, as are prawns etc. Doesn't do much for me :)
So where did we eat - basically the restaurants are government owned, and Havana has quite a range of international restaurants (which you do pay for); and some aren't that bad. One Italian place was pretty incredible (we were sick of the rice + black-beans). But in Cuba they have these things called paladares are similar casa particulares, where someone basically sets up a restaurant in their house. So that's kinda cool, cos you get to try food straight from a local's kitchen. The quality is variable, but we did have some fantastic food in some places. Another option is to eat is in the casa where you're staying, where the hosts are more than willing to put on a feast. These give better bang for the buck with more stuff, though the selection tends to be the same. Unfortunately we didn't get any mama's special recipes. We often ate breakfast in the casa, usually heaps of tropical fruit, eggs, bread, ham, cheese. Great way to start the day... Probably would have become way fat had I not walked billions of kms a day in intense heat.

Rok's entree at a paladar. Yep, someone family's backyard

Snack wise - anything with ham, cheese & bread seem to be the go. Basically ham 'n cheese sandwiches or pizzas. These are generally sold in local pesos, so lunch is quick. Actually take away hamburgers and hotdogs are pretty popular too. But NOTHING tops the popularity of pizzas. Despite being one of the best combos ever, I was SO sick of ham and cheese by the end. More often than not the pizzas were just cheese, sauce and bread. Every now and again some ham. There is one 'fast-food' takeway (again pizzas) called El Rapido. It's appropriately named, cos it rapidly kills you. We tried it one night after going out and boozing. I ordered a torpedo, kinda like a pizza sub, and Rok had a pizza. We both got cained by food poisoning. I have never had it so bad in my life. Rok wasn't quite as bad, but still damn sick. Diahorrea, vomiting, what more could you want. And perfect just before you take a 5hr bus trip. Woohoo. But I made it.

Anyway, back to the food - people often sell snacks just from the windows/house. THe best sight was these people ordering pizzas, where the pizza would come down from a window about 8 stories up, coming down via a pulley system. Basically people write down their orders (or maybe they're shouted up), and then the cash is sent up, and the pizzas dropped down. Frkn awesome.

One time, sick of the Cuban food, we hit Chinatown. It's not really Chinatown any more, I don't think we saw more than three Chinese people, but is kept like that for tourists. We were enticed into a restaurant by a guy who looked Chinese and spoke with a Chinese English accent ("Chinee foo"), so we were sold. The guys working the tills $$ were Chinese, but nobody else there was. I had chow mein, which after dumping on loads of soy sauce (it wasn't soy, but similar) it wasn't half bad. Rok ordered Cantonese chicken. It was so funny - because out came the chicken. Guess what. It was pollo frito. Exactly the same look and taste as every other bit of chicken we had in Cuba. He was so sad. He ordered another dish. Chop suey. Apparently it was really bad as well. I did try a fancy cocktail though - called a Dragon - a shot of rum in red wine. It actually worked well. Something to try!

Obviously you can't be too picky, I guess if none of the spices are grown locally it would be hard to get a hand on them (but Mexico is close and they have awesome chilli - can't it grow in Cuba too?!). I went to one store which was a CUC store, i.e. all imported stuff, and they had tons of different spices. Oh yeah, and they even had Aussie wine - Jacob's Creek - and it wasn't much more pricey than Oz!

Red slushies, fresh from the cart

Stuff to cool down is pretty popular there. Icecream is really popular, and you can get some funky metallic tasting soft serve for like 1MN - basically free.
They also have this crushed ice/slushy thing with some red stuff. I'm not sure what it is, but lots of carts are there selling it. But Coppelia's icecream has got to be 'the-place'. Apparently that's where people go on dates or to hang out. Basically it's a state run ice-creamery which is really cheap (3 pesos a scoop) and not too bad. Our first day in Cuba we tried to walk in and the guard kept telling us to go away. We didn't understand why - maybe it was a tourist only place? Then later we realised, outside there was a HUGE line. Like outside and around the corner - for this ice cream! Not wanting to wait two hours, we left. But every time we passed it, the line seemed to get longer. I eventually got my chance on my last day, but amazingly there was NO line. As I was walking I heard some teens talking and they couldn't believe there was no queue. I asked the waiter and he said that he'd never-ever seen it so quiet before. The process is kind of, well, communist... There are three or four different entrances for different sections. Some are like sitting at a bar-style thing. Some upstairs. Some alfresco. At the start of the line for each area there is the flavour(s) for that section displayed. The queue isn't one-in-one-out, but instead a whole section enters and is later cleared. I asked the server to bring me the special, so out came this bowl - which wasn't dirty, but actually had dirt/marks embedded into the bowl, with five scoops of mango icecream with some biscuits dotted around. The icecream was pretty good. Not up to German, Argentinan type standards, but for the price (a few cents) - amazing. I was looking around - such a range of people, from couples on dates, to families, to a school group (I'm guessing) to people eating on their own. Coppelia really is an institution. I'm kinda sad I missed out on the whole queuing process - I think the wait and anticipation would have made it that much better.

Drinks are of course part of Cuban culture. Rum is everywhere, and is cheap in bars. Though buying bottles, it's only maybe 3-4eu cheaper than buying the bottles of rum in Spain. I actually already owned bottles of some of the more random/rarer Cuban rums. And the cigars are mostly exported, so I had a few of those already, they're just quite a bit cheaper in Cubes. Mojito is very much the drink of choice - and one of the better, and more expensive ones, was at the famous La Bodeguita del Medio - an ol' Hemmingway hangout. Man Cuban's are crazy for anything Hemmingway. Cuba Libres are slightly different in Cuba, in that they are without lime. After my first trip to Mexico, I got lime fever - wanting lime with EVERY food and every drink. But it's really good to have real, proper aged/barrelled rum - over the really young crap you tend to get elsewhere. The tourist beers are Bucanero, Cristal and Bucanero Max (mas fuerte) - oh and Heineken... The 'local' beer, only available in local currency is Muyabe - which we thought was better than the rest. Though it was still expensive given the price in local bucks.

If Hemmingway says it's good...

Cuisine wise, Cuba isn't that fantastic, but you can enjoy hearty meals - as long as you can tolerate unspiced meat. Though who needs food when you have access to all this fantastic rum.

I don't know whatchya heard about me

2006-09-24T23:01:00.000Z

Biggest thing a tourist faces in Cuba is the hustlers (jineteros). I was wondering whether we copped it worse because Rok stood out a bit more as he's blanco. But speaking to a Chilean friend last night who had also just visited Cuba, commented he didn't like the Cuban people much. I asked why - he said in South America everyone's friendly - like they'd just come up to you and chat etc; but Cuba is different, he said, in that they are friendly but just because they want something. He thought it worse for him because he spoke Spanish, so EVERYONE tried to get $$ off him somehow (i.e. no language barrier)... Some people are definitely more aggressive then others. Some just try, but not too hard, and then are all friendly about it - having yarns etc. The worst we encountered was a guy who said 'Taxi', we replied 'No gracias'; 'Cigarros' - 'no quieremos nada'; 'cocaine' - 'NO'. So he screams out 'YOU FAUCKING GAY YOU FAUCKING GAY' as we walk away. Hahaha. Oh that reminds me, one time when we were at a beach some Cuban kids (early teens) were screaming out at us "FARRRRKKKKK QQUUUUEEEEE". Pretty amusing. Ahh yeh one other aggressive incident was late at night and some guy was sent out from his boss to get us in, trying to sell pollo frito (of course). We went away, when he snatched the cigar out of my pocket - saying he wanted to see what type they were. We snatched it back and started walking off, when we realised he still had the cap. He was quick to return it (seems they don't want trouble)...

The jinetero opening line is generally 'friend, where you from'. That was always a fun one. If they had to guess - it was Germany for Rok. One time in a club Rok was wearing the English cross on a shirt, and one guy came up to us - pointing at Rok saying Swiss, picking me as Brasilian. Nope... close though, the Swiss flag has inverted colours:) As the hustling attempts are constant, it becomes 'fun' to play games, so we threw a few curveballs in here and there, e.g. pretending to be from Bulgaria. Often you'd get the comment that they don't meet many Bulgarians, though some say they have a Bulgarian friend they met last week, or commenting on the volleyball prowess of the country, or something else random like that. It's kinda childish to play games given the conditions that lead them to hustling, but when the onslaught is relentless, you gotta do something.

Bargaining is more than possible. Rok became a bit of a master of it. I didn't get into it, and I don't know why! I usually get right into the 'zone' when I go to places like Asia, and even in on this same trip in Mexico. Maybe I just couldn't be bothered with it. I guess it matter as I didn't really buy anything. Though it was more for negotiating the prices of services, like taxis, etc. I let Rok handle it. Jeez I'm slack.

Que quieres? Cigarros? Ron? Chicas? mmmmmmm Helado?

There is this icecream parlour there called Coppelia, which is a peso priced ice creamery courtesy of el gobierno. I'll write more about it later, but basically it is THE place to go. There is always this massive queue to get in. Seriously massive - like 2hrs (in the Havana branch)!!! Anyway, the one in Cienfuegos also had a massive queue when we were heading back one night. So a hustler asked if we wanted anything. So we reply - ice cream! He looked kinda confused, but then his eyes darted around looking for the closest store that might sell icecream. We explained we meant Coppelia, and he said he could get us in without lining up. I wondered if he could really do that, and even if he could (cos we'd be paying CUCs), I could imagine everyone lining up would be really pleased to see these tourists walk straight in ahead of them. Just an example that they'll try and get anything for you. Another example is one bar where we ordered mojitos. Mojitos weren't on the menu, but that didn't matter – they ran next door to somebody's house to get the ingredients. Classic.

Unfortunately we didn't really get to hang out with many Cubans, I'm guessing because we were only a couple of days in each city - so we didn't meet many locals that weren't after the buck. It's not so bad, and it doesn't take long until you get thick-skinned about it all, where you don't give saying no a second thought.

"I don't know what you heard about me. But YOU can't get a dollar out of me"

No puede pasar

2006-09-24T20:48:00.000Z

Even getting to and from Cuba involved hassles. First of all, I was travelling on an around-the-world ticket, with many of my flights being routed on American Airlines. As such, I couldn't use that ticket to fly to Havana (using a diff airline, e.g. Iberia), because AA won't accept any ticket that has a Cuba routing. So the plan was to fly to Havana from Cancun by purchasing a separate ticket. I decided on Mexicana, which was slightly more expensive but apparently much more reliable (and safer) than Cubana. So it's the night before I'm due to fly and I'm all stressed out trying to sort last minute things. I go to do my reservation online, step through the whole process, but my credit card is denied at the payment phase. "We cannot accept this Visa for a flight to Cuba". Why not? It's an Aussie issued Visa.. Ok try again, this time using my UK issued Visa Debit card - same deal. Cmon - this comes directly from my UK bank account! No US interests here. I look around and find out, ironically enough, that because of the US embargo I can only use a Mexican issued credit card OR an American Express card for Cuban bookings. That's right - ONLY American Express! I was lucky (well not in retrospect) that Richelle came to visit me, and she brought with me my Amex Gold Card which I was given when employed but had never used/activated. So I go through and book the flight. All good, but rather than debiting me directly, instead it says "Payment in process", where apparently they manually verify the payment or something. Fair enough. So after a few days, the status of my booking hadn't changed, so I go to a local Mexicana office in DF and tell them the story. After a while on the phone they tell me that the charge has been made, here's your ticket. OK, easy enough. When I'm NY I check my credit card. I'd been charged twice (slightly different amounts). Great. So I ring up Mexicana which is a free-call US number. Some obviously Mexican guy answered the phone, and could hardly understand my Aussie accent. After explaining the situation and being on hold for a while he's like, sorry, cos the flight is to Cuba we can't deal with it in the US. What!? I'm not booking a flight, I just want the money back that you overcharged me! And to make matters worse, the international customer service desk is based in the US. They gave me a number to ring in Mexico. I do so, nobody there speaks English, so I fought my way through in Spanish and they were like deal with it when you come to Cancun to take the flight. OK OK OK. I ring Amex saying I want to refute a charge and they bounce me around to different call centres globally, in the end telling me to tell Mexicana to contact Amex Australia. Urggghh. I rang back the Mexican # but my Spanish was failing me (especially as I got more angry), so I dropped it. No puedo hablar de cosas tecnicas. In Miami when killing time at the airport before Cancun, I tried again. The guys were fighting with me saying no, the two charges are different so you must have booked two tickets on the same flight. I said no, and insisted they check. Then they go talk to their supervisor who said, yeh we can't give out cash here, ring this number. I ring it, it's the US help desk. I talk to the guy, who was all confused and said email the customer service helpdesk. OK. It was a US email address. I asked for the Mexican customer service, and they said if it's a ticket bought internationally better to deal with the US helpdesk. Then I mentioned it was a Cuba flight and he was like, uhhh I dunno, just try. Great. I land in Cancun, hit up the Mexicana desk where the guy was a doofus. He wouldn't believe I was charged twice, then rang some numbers and was on hold to the accounts department where he hung up and said - "I can't do this. I was only helping you cos there were no customers, now there are some so I have to deal with them". Hangon. I'm a customer too! After bitching for a while he gave me the direct numbers for Mexicana web sales, accounts dept, etc. I asked him if they spoke English, he replied "if I was lucky". What a dick. OK so I look up the office where I got the ticket in DF and email the office manager bitching to the max. Soon I get a reply from the jefe de ventas (boss of sales) saying she was all sorry and to check my accounts, there should be a refund. No refund two weeks later, I send her another email, she says check back in 5 days. It's there. Yahoo!! But all this hardship just cos of the probs of embargos with Cuba.

Cubana Air up to their tricks

Arriving - immigration was crazy. It literally took 1.5 hours, with the time taken to process each person taking at least 10 minutes. Some guy was almost in tears of disbelief, when he got to the front of the line the immigration guy at the counter just left. So the whole line for that counter were left standing there with nobody processing them. Everyone was going crazy in the line, complaining to people 'in charge', etc. But nobody cared. That guy in the front tried to skip into our line where there was someone manning the counter, but nobody was having a bar of it. Ahhh gotta love socialism.

The worst experience for me was leaving. Basically they wouldn't let me. Firstly arriving at the airport two hours before my flight I started freaking out. Why? Because flights are listed until 10pm that night, but mine isn't on there. I check my ticket, the date is right. Go to the Mexicana desk, and they're like wait. So I wait. Then I go back and say why isn't it on the monitors? They direct me to the office, where they confirmed there is that flight today. But nothing more. I go to airport information and the girl explains (looking and her HAND WRITTEN list of flights) that my flight is delayed by 2hrs. OK fair enough. After about 2.5 hours finally there opens a counter check in for my flight, but the monitors don't even mention it. Actually then the monitors start stuffing up with some flights giving departure times as 88:88 etc. Whatever. I check in, and then you take your boarding pass to pay special Cuban airport tax. You can't pre-pay this airport tax, it has to be paid there. So I pay my 25CUC (huge) and they put a sticker on my boarding card. Then I hit immigration. The guy calls me forward, stares at me, flicks through the passport, sends me back to the front of the line (away from the window) whilst he scratches his head and starts punching the computer keys really hard. Then he leaves and gets someone else in. They all start messing with the computer, pulling out cords etc. Crashed obviously. Anyway I come back up, he does his thing and I'm through into the waiting area. Tons of people arguing with officials about where they purchased cigars and artwork. I bump into an Aussie guy I met the day before who was going to Venezuela. I was like, uhhh, weren't you meant to have gone (his flight was 2 hours earlier than mine). He told me he was sitting at his gate, and the sign changed from just the information re the flight to boarding. Then the next minute it went blank. Now he wasn't sure if he'd missed his flight or what... Madness. I go sit at my gate with a bunch of others heading to Cancun. Another guy came past asking if this was the flight to Caracas - I told him to talk to information cos my friend was in the same situation. Anyway, we sit there, and watch the flight status change to boarding. We all laugh because there is no plane nor crew in sight, and the flight is really delayed. Then our gate status goes blank. WTF? Someone runs upstairs and checks, OK we are now at a new gate. We all run there and boarding eventually takes place.

An old (US$) Cuban airport tax stamp
I give the boarding pass and the security guy looks at me and says 'no puede pasar' (you can't pass). I ask why not, and he said do you have anything else with stamps. I say no, I don't think so. And then he's like well you can't leave then. Suddenly I drop all Spanish and pretend I don't understand anything going on (a smart play I think). I could hear the guys talking, apparently when you pay your 25CUC to leave, they put stamps on your boarding pass as well as the sticker. I had the sticker (which was authentic as it broke in the appropriate manner), but no stamps. So here everybody has boarded the plane, sitting there waiting, while these guys are talking on their radio whilst flipping through my passport a billion times. I just sit down there and wait. I understood what they were saying - a guy from Mexicana comes up fighting for me – saying 'look he's paid the 25 CUC, look at the sticker', but the military guy goes well the stamps aren't there so we need authorisation to let him pass. I guess people must have fraudulent stickers or something? Land of bureaucracy. I decide to sit on the ground and wait this out - feeling like a criminal. About 25 mins later the guy writes down some number on the back of my boarding card, and tells me OK I can go now. WTF. Haha so I delayed the already delayed flight. Maybe they just didn't want to me to leave - I seem to have this effect :)

As you can see, relatively standard/simple things are just so complicated. That's why I mentioned that travelling in Cuba is tiring, it's because everything involves extra work!

Cuba Primer...

2006-09-22T16:34:00.000Z

I spent just over two weeks bouncing around Cuba, spending a few days in various cities to get a flavour of the place. My best mate from Cambridge, Rok, came with me, and boy did we experience a lot. Cuba is very different, but is definitely worth seeing. This post is to give an overview of the place and some of my personal impressions...

The only way to describe Cuba is interesting... Fun was had, but I think that things were more difficult than fun. Of course, there are the mountains of bureaucracy that come with being socialist. Cuban citizens (or those looking Cubano) have to put up with constant police 'papers-checks'. There is no such thing as efficiency, and it was awesome to see how things would have run in the 'old days' - e.g. everything done with paper files and stamps (e.g. bus reservations) - no computers (except for banks, airports and over-priced Internet in hotels for foreigners [$8US an hr, and then it's filtered]); it's basically like seeing a country from the past. People line up everywhere, for everything. It's part of the way of life. The tourist trade has had such an impact on this country. The average wage of a Cuban is approx $10-20US a month, in local currency about 250-500 pesos (MN). However, given the embargos and price fluctuations in the primary resources markets, the government turned to capitalise from tourism - and why not, the country is beautiful. The government is explicit about tourism being a major income stream, as described in the Museo de la Revolucion en La Havana. The CUC (Cuban convertible currency) was introduced as the currency for tourists - currently worth a bit more than the US $. Tourists exchange their foreign dollars for CUCs, to pay for tourist-like luxuries (i.e. everything). A CUC is worth 26MN (local currency) and there are some things which can only be purchased with CUCs: 'luxuries' such as toothpaste, perfumes, chocolates, some types of alcohol, etc. So not only is a single CUC worth heaps, it is also a ticket to (or essential for) a better life-style. I was told that each family receives rations every 3 months, including rice, meats, other food, one tube of toothpaste, one toothbrush, etc. Basically, people need to get their hands on some CUCs. What does this mean? It means that basically everyone (well heaps) are prostitutes. And not (necessarily) in a sexual sense, but in that everybody is friendly and tries to help you out in hopes for something in return. More about this later. The reality is that those with access to CUCs are necessarily richer. Thus, the tourist currency has brought about a class structure that the revolucion sought to abolish. A good example was the tour of the Partagas Tobacco Factory, which is where all brands of Havana cigars are manufactured (just with different leaves/recipes for the different brands). They have a whole floor devoted to 'training' people to become cigar rollers, with those passing the difficult tests being promoted to make top-quality cigars for export. The cigars made by students are allocated to Cuban families in their ration-packs. The professional rollers are expected to make at least 110 cigars a day, that's about one every four minutes, with bonuses being paid if they make more. Everyone was busy hard at work, all working under a massive banner of Che and a 'Viva Cuba Libre'. Although the work environment appears stressful, the conditions weren't bad - 8hr working day, musica cubana playing, etc. But the real pressure would be making the daily quota. Only a few students make it through to become professional rollers, yet so many people try. Why? Cos the salary is $50CUC a month. Hard work, but a massive salary!

The famous Three-Peso note (MN) - mint condition for a CUC
Basically, everybody tries to get a CUC or two from you, because they need to. It's easy to get into the 'I'm being ripped off' mindset, and some people are intent on paying local prices. The attitude which I tried (but often failed) to adopt was to ask 'is this worth it to me?' - i.e. am I willing to pay this much for that right now. I think that's a healthier attitude than 'well locals pay X so why should I pay more'. Maybe cos you're not Cuban?! Though it is easy to fall into that mindset, and I did so frequently – especially when the bucks were going straight to the government instead of a family. I did get my hands on some local currency, including the infamous 3MN Che note. Local cash was great for buying things like snacks, icecream, etc. But anything 'real' was paid for in CUCs. I guess I'd better write a disclaimer - my comments are based on my experiences as a tourist visiting each town for only a few days. I'm sure spending time and/or living in Cuba you would meet tons of people not after anything. Cubans were generally friendly, and humorous. I spent many an hour conversing with owners of casas, for instance about three hours with a grandma from one of the casas where I was staying, telling me about her garden, and the tourist trade in Vinales. But overall people seem relatively content.

The government has done well in the tourist sector. They own (or at least get a cut from) all the tourist establishments, including hotels, restaurants (of all types/varieties), tourist drinks (bottled water), etc. So they make a killing by receiving income directly from all tourist services. Hotels are expensive. However, now you can stay in casa particulares, where you stay in the home of a family for a fee (somewhere between 15-30CUC a night). These casas must be registered with the government, and the owner of the house needs to take the passport details of the people for record keeping. Interestingly the price per night was often left blank, so I'm sure the figures are fiddled a bit there. Casa owners will do anything you want (for a fee), e.g. wash clothes, cook breakfast, dinner, etc. The quality between various casas differs amazingly, but the prices are usually the same. Some recommend eating casa particulares (like a host family/B&B type thing) rather than a restaurant, because the money goes straight to the family rather than the government body running the restaurant. Having said that, those that have a house good enough to use as lodging for tourists are far better off than the standard Cubano!

No prizes for guessing why it's a tourist hotspot
General society is pretty interesting. Police are absolutely everywhere in tourist areas, further out in the back streets there are less police, but still tons of them. If you look foreign, they won't say anything to you, but if not, your papers will surely be checked. I heard that because tourists are so valuable, that they are well protected, with stiff penalties for messing with tourists. But I also think that in general as well, the police presence is strong and penalties are harsh, so there isn't much crime. It's pretty cool that you can walk around late at night without fear of problems - and you see people do it - people of all description out and about, just hanging out. And hanging-out is what they do best. You walk along the Malecon in La Havana, which is like this big street running along the coast, and there are thousands of people sitting down, singing, laughing, dancing, coupling, etc. But just hanging around outside. Similarly in Cienfuegos, there was a long strip next to the water, with people just chilling out there. Kinda cool - you know where to head at night. And I guess that's a good thing, since few have mobiles so it's not like you'd text them where to go. Nightlife differs as well, with a club generally having a session from say, 4-9pm in local currency, and then 11 onwards in CUCs. But I'll talk more about nightlife later.

Asking people about the politics, people seem pretty proud. One taxi driver was asking why Australia is blindly following the US policy line, to which I explained because we're so small and isolated and close to Asia that we're scared so we need to suck-up to strong countries for protection. He understood, but said look at us Cubans, such a small country, beating the US, the US are scared etc. Some (youngish) hustlers who dropped the game after they realised we were savvy, and just wanted a yarn told us that Fidel is great, it's just the people around him that cause all the problems. They didn't elaborate exactly who or how, but yeh. I didn't find anyone actively speaking negatively about the situation, though I did hear complaints about the ration system being a little old and outdated. Though the education system is apparently excellent, with high literacy levels, and the healthcare system is supposed to be quite good as well...
Fidel was sick when I was there, but we were always assured that nothing's going to happen or charge – that he's fine. Propoganda is everywhere. Some of it is historical - about the revolution, some signs write off the US/capitalism and some talk about how good Cuba is - like 0% child labour in Cuba, cartoons 'punching up' the US, or signs saying stuff like "gracias Bush, pero ya vivimos en Cuba" (thanks, but we're already living in Cuba), stuff like that. Also, very popular is re the Cuban five, being detailed - with Volveran (they'll return) signs everywhere. Che is clearly the party's pinup boy. Can't go a few blocks without seeing his head. Lots of stuff about Fidel as well - like live 80 years more. Actually in front of the US embassy (OK not an embassy as such, but the closest thing to one in Cuba), there is a whole bunch of black flags with white stars, and a big shrine as pictured below – acting as a very in-your-face reminder to the US.

Bush's plan is to stop your happy family life

What can I say, Che

It's really cool to not see a nice countryside that is not littered in advertisements, such as Beer (think Mexico) or Pepsi (think India) or Coke (everywhere); instead just having the odd political sign here and there. I didn't get to watch much Cuban TV, only about 30 minutes, and most of that focused on the hurricane that was hitting the East (whilst I was west). Though I did get to listen to Radio Reloj - which counts down the time on top of news broadcasts with a time pulse. Any Manu Negra/Chao fans? Listen out for it. Cuban cinema is amusing too. One time it was raining so we hopped into the nearest cinema. The lady laughed when we asked to go in late. It was some terrible kids movie, dubbed in Spanish, but clearly some cheap cartoon from the 60s. We stayed only a short while, but long enough to see the bizarre cinematic layout - where toilets are placed just to the side of the screen. So when anyone goes, the light comes out and blinds everyone in the cinema. We also went to a 'real' Cuban movie, on a famous Cuban singer - Benny More. Although cinema here is regulated, it sure isn't censored. Like explicit sex scenes and references, aggressiveness, violence and issues such as alcoholism (glorified?), depression, fidelity etc. And this was for the midday matinee with people there aged 6-90. I was quite surprised to see such themes so graphically displayed, especially at such an hour. The bizarre thing is, people would laugh at things like reverse prostitution (like fans paying the star for sexual favours, etc). Things which didn't seem funny as such. Very interesting.

Cars

Rum & Cigars

How about the stereotypes - cars, rum, cigars, dancing, music? Well stereotypes tend to be based on something! Cuban music is amazing. Almost every bar or reasonable sized restaurant in Havana will have a band playing. Go to a salsa club and everybody is going crazy. Cubans can move. REALLY move. There were a group of French salseros on a tour and they showed the tour guide a video on their camera of them dancing. The guide was like oh that guy forces the turns too much, this girl swings her left hip too much, etc. And this wasn't in salsa school, it was on a nature/hiking tour! Proof everybody knows how to dance. Seriously though you see little kids on the street already moving. I remember in this local art fair in Havana there was this cutest little girl, who was walking around the stalls with her mum. In the background some upbeat salsa music was playing, and she was dancing her way around the shop. She was damn good, and she couldn't have been more than 3 or 4. Amazing. Raggaeton is way popular in Cuba (is it from there?). That's a story in itself (read later). Cubans are also amazing musicians- though in the tourist traps you tend to hear the same songs over and over (I am SO over Chan-chan). Music is everywhere, walking down the Malecon on Fri night people are playing guitars etc. Havana is insanely polluted, and I guess that's because of the cars. OK you see the awesome pictures of the old 50s cars. But they're not so cool up close. Fixed with whatever parts were available at the time, totally hand hammered panels etc. All the old cars pour out thick smoke (were catalytic converters were invented in the 50s?). But it still gives a fkn cool vibe seeing these old bombs driving around, especially in the picturesque streets of Havana Vieja. Rum is everywhere, and people drink it everywhere. Shots are cheaper than softdrinks and (bottled) water in bars. And bottles of rum themselves are still pretty cheap. We bought a couple of bottles, and were drinking in the bus, on the streets, everywhere. Not because we were trying to be 'cool', but that's what everyone does. Our best dodgy rum experience has to be drinking rum out of a box - like those fruit juice boxes (tetrapak), but full of straight rum. Cheap, and surprisingly it wasn't too bad; well it's probably bad, but bad rum from Cuba is still good . Cigars are part of the culture, though it seems to be what every hustler tries to sell you. "Quieres cigarros" is the call. Apparently they sell lots of fake cigars. Fake as in made from banana leaves, or at least a cheaper cigar given a different label. One guy explained that they wait until a tourist throws away a stub of a Cohiba or Montecristo and take the label off. Every hustler knows someone who 'works at the factory and can get you a box for an excellent price'. But you get checked at customs (sometimes) and asked for a receipt of where you bought the cigars (if taking a lot). I was told this is both to ensure that the govt gets their cut, as well for maintaining the name/quality of the Cuban cigars. You can also take some bought of farmers, so that might be a good way to smuggle some.

Rum on the bus

Cuba is obviously tropical. And we went at a terrible time - not only was it hurricane season, but it was also damn hot. The Cuban solution is fold your t-shirt up so that your stomach is showing. Kinda like a midriff top - except more popular with the guys. Why not just take off this shirt? I'm not sure, maybe the like attention being drawn to their guts :) It's everywhere, you can't avoid it. So many times it's like 'I dont wanna see that'. Heh. Apparently you can even buy some pre made with the stomach cut-out, like midriffs for men. Random. As for the weather - a hurricane hit when we were there, but on the opposite side of the island, down Santiago way. Luckily we weren't directly affected, but it did mean I couldn't go on a snorkelling tour cos they weren't sure where the hurricane was headed. Once we found out the hurricane was going to pass, it was too late. Buh boh.

Wow there is just SO much to say about Cuba, but I'm gonna leave this post as it is. I'll get onto stuff – both experiences and actual stuff I've done/saw pronto.

Pics here

Yeah I got on sneaks but I need a new pair

2006-09-13T13:15:00.000Z

So I flew into LGA airport NY. Couldn't believe the delays! Why? Because this was the day after the terror scare so it was the first day for not bringing liquids, numerous extra security checks for US flights, etc. Despite all the hype, the security wasn't overly insane – just mandatory shoe checks. Though maybe I just didn't care. But arrived all good - smooth sailing. Found Kelly waiting at the airport, and after an hour of waiting for the bags to hit the conveyor, we headed out. We decided to buy beer in NY because they can't sell alcohol after 8pm in CT. Land of the free, huh?! Stopped at this dodgy little kiosk thing. Man everyone there was rough etc. Tough America. Actually I thought I was still in Mex City - maybe just some dodgier part I hadn't been to before. Speaking of US beer, what the hell is with the light (lite) beer. In Oz that means less alcohol, but this means less calories, and someone told me it also means it is carbonated by machine (not brewed). Have you tried a Coors Lite? Horrrrrrrrrible! I tried one in an all-American country diner. Certainly not the drink to welcome you to the U S of A.
Anyway, it's a long story (hah - unlike my usual, short tales) but Tim was living out in a cabin in CT owned by a partner(?)/investor in Tim & Co's company. Their company, SoupToys, make toys for the computer – they're awesome, check them out. And so they're staying in this sweet log cabin painted blue, surrounded by forest, which didn't have water for a while, but has wireless internet and a ton of laptops (Mac's ahoy)! The cabin seems like it's out in the woods, with big trees and a creek behind; but there are actually mansions of rich folk hidden away in there as well. I visited there again towards the end of my trip, so I'll talk more about the country side later. It was cool hanging out in a really tranquil area (cf Mex City), but after a night of tranquility it was time to check out NYC. The train seemed pretty rough: the US is out there - people are NOT shy. We hit the city to be greeted by an endless procession of NYPD cars.

'NYC Cops, they ain't too smart' - The Strokes
We cruise the city, East Village was awesome, hit up Chelsea and the Meat Packing District - went into this fancy schmancy hotel (they're doing up the area) for some overpriced rooftop cocktails with some elites at the pool bar. It was very cool - overlooking the city. It was awesome chilling out - we hit up a Mexican restaurant for some good ol' margaritas. That restaurant had strongest hand drying machine EVER. I have a video of it - I'll get it online pronto. After some drinks, we headed to Brooklyn for some funky French cuisine. All ‘n all a cool night hanging with friends...
Next day was cool. Mike, the investor in Tim's company (owner of the Cabin, a statue of David and a Ferrari) invited us around, and we cooked up some meat and downed some beers. Then it was time to launch the rubber chicken. They got some rockets, mounted them to the butt of a rubber chicken, hooked up a battery charger and fired a charge to launched the chicken (like a rocket) into the air. It was amazing. There was some serious height there! The difficulty was afterwards trying to find the chicken with the burnt out arse somewhere in the forest in time for the next launch. Amusing! And totally random! I've got videos of that too – I'll get them up soon. Later we just chilled in the cabin with a pizza (which was MASSIVE) and watching the movie Mystic River which was filmed really close to where we were staying.

"Hanging out" with Dave

Chicken launch - T minus 5..

After NY I was flew to Miami on my way down to Cancun. Was a random flight - I was sat in the middle of this baseball team from some 'burbs of NY State. Wow those girls were hyped. They were all african-american mid-late teens, singing along to (well, actually performing) songs, telling off the stewardeses like they owned the joint, etc. Very cool. Oh yeah, and American Airlines is crap. Trying to get out of JFK took ages cos there were like 30 flights in front of us. Then it was our turn, but we move onto the runway and track down it so slowly. Then the captain comes on the mic again. Uh oh, he had already apologised 4 times for the delay, and we were already 1.5hours just sitting strapped in but not moving. This time he said that they didn't complete (forgot?) the necessary paperwork required before they could take off. So back to the end of the line, which had grown substantially since before. They estimated another 1.5hours until take-off! ARRRGHHH. Da girlz wernt be takin nun of dat sheit. Luckily the control tower let us skip the queue, so we eventually got to Miami...
Bienvenido a Miami... I met up with Guillermo again, a good mate from last time I was there. I got in at night and we barhopped for a bit - not much happening given it was a Mon night just after the peak summer time. It was pretty quiet, but amusing - enjoying the antics of forward & rude bar staff, hassling me about my pen using skills. It was cool having the Miami Hispanic experience again, checking out the whole latino mix down there. Like going to a popular Argentine pizza place that sells beers, from an unlabelled and unadvertised draught tap, in disposable coke cups - so that you don't get busted for street drinking, and they don't get busted for serving. Only those in the know ask for it. In the day - Guille got the next day off work, we chilled on the beach for a bit. Then, living it up in true South Beach style, we went to an ultra fancy Jap restaurant and enjoyed some fine cuisine, sake and descuentos. South Beach was SO quiet in comparison to the last time I was there. Last time I arrived was near some holiday weekend, so everyone was out cruising around, showing off etc. Think the song Will Smith - Summertime. This time it was practically deserted, but awesome nonetheless. We then hopped in the car to check out south Florida, past Palm Beach with all the millionaire beach mansions (making us sick:)). It was cool cruising around checking out the scenery, enjoying good tunes & yarns. Getting hungry, I asked Guille where we should eat. He is totally the king of finding awesome, off-the-beaten-path places for fine regional food. We decided to have some renowned Haitian ribs at this dodgy little out-there shack (we were certainly the only non-Haitians there), but they had just ran out of ribs :( As everything else was fish Guille took me to this Nicaraguan place. It was like stepping into a teleportion machine. There was absolutely nothing to hint that we were in the US. The beer, the menu, the decor, the waitress, the jukebox, old guys singing along to their favourite songs at full volume - screaming - it was all good. Fantastic food, well priced. Great fun.

It was awesome to hang with some good friends for a couple of days. Arriving in the US was the real start to this trip, kicking off a week later than anticipated!

Pics here