Where in the world is Steven de Salas?

Lisboa

2008-12-19T17:44:00.000Z

I took a few days to go visit the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, arriving there on the overnight train from Madrid. Lisbon is a really cool little city, where the steep streets sloping down to the Tajo river are made of cobblestones and trams still run around the place instead of buses. The weather was a balmy 15 degrees, not bad for the middle of december.

I went out both nights there to check out the nighlife with the people from the hostal I stayed at. Bars and clubs seem come alive around 1am and generally stay open til 4am or later. My favourite was Lounge, a chilled out place playing a mix of 60s rock and roll and decor to go with it. I also noticed hordes of Erasmus students make up more than half of the nightlife this time of the year.

Aranjuez

2008-09-25T17:36:00.000Z

In September I went to visit the town of Aranjez just a short train ride south of Madrid. This place is where the spanish royal family used to go on holidays back in the days when they still ruled over spanish politics and the church was a force to be reckoned with.

I walked around the palace and royal gardens with my mum and took a few photos.

More Drawings

2008-09-22T09:04:00.008Z

I stopped drawing for a little while but now I've decided to take it up again, here are a few of the pics that I saw in my sketch book when I opened it again. I guess its not so bad hey?

The first pic is of my friend Vanessa, this is a friend from school. The drawing is of one time we sat down to drink coffee. I think its one of the best drawings I've done so far.

This other drawing is of my brother Javier, I make most of my drawings from photos and I took one the day we came back from walking in the mountains range north of madrid with my mum. He was carrying her back pack because she was tired.

Porto

2008-08-28T19:32:00.007Z

After visiting Santiago I went on a 4hr bus ride down to the beautiful city of Porto in the north part of Portugal. I really like it there, it has a South America feel to it, being relatively undeveloped (and cheap!) for a Western European nation.

I think Portugal has been part of the EU for just as long as Spain however, unlike its Iberian neighbour, Portugal seems to have been spared some of the indecency of modern real estate development. The addition of UNESCO protected status and dramatic river landscape means that Porto is a city that is beautiful to behold and it has some stunning architecture which is (sadly) falling to pieces from lack of restoration.

If you come this way dont forget to try out the beautiful PASTRIES, the best croissant I have eaten to date is in the main Square of Porto (Praca da Liberacion). The coffee is excellet too.

Jersey

2008-07-29T20:25:00.001Z

I took a long weekend in July to go and visit Jersey, a small island just off the coast of France that I've had my eye on for a while thinking that it might be a bit like Tasmania. I arrived on an easyjet flight and hired a bike and cycled all the way around the island, getting lost in the little country backroads and stumbling upon some gorgeous beaches.

The place itself is lovely, quite laid back and sedate with a very high standard of living and some stunning coastline good for snorkeling and fishing, the only thing missing are the rainforests of tassie and a university where to study and work otherwise this place would have it all.

This is a pic of a stunning sunset looking over Guersey and Sark. I was really lucky with the weather over the weekend as there was no rain and daytime temperatures round about 25 degrees. I even managed to get a bit sunburnt accross my shoulders.

Bananaman Triathlon

2008-07-20T19:49:00.002Z

And here I am taking part in another crazy triathlon, this time a little longer than last one and wearing tight superhero outfit (not spandex but close enough).

The venue was in Dorney lake near Eton and Windsor. We had to jump in the lake and swim 800 meters in open water, here is a pic coming out of the water looking a bit worse for wear.. Then we cycled 30 kilometers and ran 7.5 km around the lake.

The day was lovely but just a little windy, all in al I managed to finish the whole thing in a bit over 2 hours. Which isnt a great timiming but I enjoyed myself.

I also discovered a few things I never thought about about these sporting events, the first one being "What happens if you need to go to the toilet?"... I had no clue what to do... so after some excruciating minutes I stopped my bike, went for a pee in the bushes and jumped back in it to join the race. Aparently a little bird told me you're supposed to do it in your pants if you're a real pro (Ugh!). My second discovery for the day was realising that its possible and only marginally humiliating to be overtaken by a gramma twice your age.

More of Madrid

2008-07-18T19:36:00.002Z

Went to madrid again in July to visit my mum and Javi and spend some time with them for her birthday. I actually visited madrid twice in July but I dont have photos for both visits. Here is a photo we took during lunch on her birthday, with aunt Anne who came by to join us.

Also a few days later I went with Concha and Javier down to the Tajo river to join him doing some Kayaking, Javi spends most weekends during summer down there as a guide taking people down the river. So we tagged along and had a great time.

Have the Banks hit Rock Bottom?

2008-06-19T11:39:00.001Z

I just noticed Barclays PLC hitting an astounding P/E ratio below 5, where long term PE ratios sit around 16 and an undervalued company would be somewhere around 10. Given the price has sunk to historic lows of around £3 (used to trade around £8), this now means that if you buy a Share in Barclays PLC you will get around 10% of your money given to you each year in the form of Dividends. Thats 5% more than a savings account.

Major british bank at PE ratio of 5? Dividend yield sitting over 10%? Either the earnings are grossly understated or we have parted basic investment logic. And so one thing comes to mind: Is it that the banks hit rock bottom or is there more drops to come? Since economic fundaments change slowly this is probably due to investor irrationality. Under normal conditions I would say run to the nearest broker and buy. But market forces are not moved by pure rationality, from where I'm standing it seems unlikely but there may be further drops to come.

Santiago de Compostela

2008-06-12T09:38:00.004Z

Hola boys and girls, I've been spending a bit of time in Santiago (de Compostela) in Galicia lately. I kinda liked it after doing the Camino last month so decided to spend more time soaking up the student and backpacker atmosphere in the place.

Its a lovely place full of old buildings. I've even been thinking wouldnt it be nice to have a little apartment here to retire for a bit of "Ooohhmmm" in between freelance jobs, so I dipped my feet a bit in the real estate market to see if it made sense to buy and I could afford something small.

This is a shot of my breakfast view in a lovely old walled garden that must be at least a couple centuries old. Thankfully my cafe y tostas were freshly made and very cheap since the restaurants and coffee shops cater to poor pilgrims who arrive desitute at this beautiful destination.

Athena's Birthday at Kew

2008-06-09T09:43:00.002Z

Saturday was Athena's birthday, and its now been over a year since we met. I got back to London and we spent the day eating yummy food and drinking wine and then we borrowed an ice-cream van and drove it far far away into the horizon like they do in the movies. Well... nice thought but neither of us can drive so we had to walk far far away into the horizon instead, but we only made it round the Kew gardens river bend down to Richmond. It was a lovely weekend, sunday we had a picknic at Clapham Common too.

Fluoroman Cycles round London

2008-06-03T22:12:00.000Z

Hello! This is me standing next to Boris' office (London Town Hall). I came to see him about the appaling situation for londons cyclists, "HI BORIS!.. I loooove your hair! ;)"

In the meantime I've been taking to riding around the streets of london wearing my other superhero outfit: FLOUROMAN.

You cant see it in that photo but I have a tight T-shirt with a big "F" plastered in the front of it underneath my flouro cape and I fly around highlighting the streets behind me. If you dont see any more posts in this blog its probably because I plastered myself against the back of routemaster bus and I'm wearing leg and arm casts instead for the next 3 months.

Eton Supersprints

2008-05-22T22:15:00.003Z

Last Saturday I took part in the 2008 edition of the Eton Supersprint Triathlon. I had to dress up in fancy super-hero outfit and wear a number on my chest.

The race wasnt too bad, I had minimal preparation and managed to get in 105th out of 130 people in my age group. Thats not so bad, bottom 20% instead of bottom 5% that I did last year so I'm definately improving... well actually it could have been because this year I was competing on a racing bike.

Anyway, I signed up for the Bananaman Triathlon on the 20th July, that one's going to be a killer because its half as long as this one.

Camino a Santiago

2008-05-15T17:38:00.005Z

Last week, I set off with my brother Javi and my Mum in a cold morning to join the pilgrims on the last 100Km of the Way to Compostela in the province of Galicia in the North West of Spain.

We started off in Sarria a small town where we were dropped off by an overnight train from Madrid at 6.30am and started asking the locals for directions to Santiago.

Its amazing how far one can walk on foot if you do nothing else all day. Soon we left the little town and had joined the Camino Frances (French Way) the most traditional of routes for doing the Camino.

From then on we spent the following week on the road sleeping at Peregrino Hostels and eating proper food and breathing fresh air.

You meet a lot of people doing the Camino as well, both locals that are happy to stay and chat or by bumping into other pilgrims (mostly europeans) walking the road at the same time. I had an amazing time and got to see a bit more of my own country, which I have left neglected for so long because there were more exciting places to see.

Steven's Homemade Spanish Paella

2008-05-05T11:59:00.005Z

And since its the end of the world and you may still have some food left in the house, I think its time to celebrate our abundance before things get worse.

Here is a recipe for Spanish Paella that I put together:

Steven's Homemade Spanish Paella (feeds 4-6)

INGREDIENTS

Fish & Meat
- 250 g of mixed seafood (squid, mussels, prawns, etc)
- 200 g of king prawns in the shell

Stock
- 1.2L of fish or shellfish stock (should taste rich and salty), to be kept hot during steps 1-2

Veg
- 80 g of chopped green beans
- 10-15 snow peas (mangetout)
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 1/2 chopped capsicum
- 1 chopped tomato - 80g of butter beans (boiled & canned)

Rice
- 300g of Pudding Rice (Paella rice ok too but must be SHORT grain)

Condiment
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped and crushed
- 1/8 tube of tomato paste
- 1 pinch of saffron
- lots of olive oil
- 1 sliced lemon

Cooking Stuff
- 1 non-stick wide pan with a lid
(non-stick: very important or the rice WILL burn)
- wooden spoon

STEPS

Step 1) Fry the veg separately
Fry capsicum, onion, green beans and garlic in the paella pan with abundant oil over a low fire for 5-10 min or until soft.

Step 2) Fry the rice and garlic
Add some more oil and fry the rice (yes the rice) with the fire on high setting, stir constantly until the rice changes color from translucent to white.

Step 3) Add the stock and veg
Add the stock to the frying rice (if hot enough it will reach boiling point very suddenly, this is good) keep adding until it covers a finger or so over the rice. Add the fried vegetables, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, saffron, turmeric. Stir it in. Taste the broth, it should taste a little bit salty, add more salt if needed (dont worry the rice will absorb most of the flavour). If too salty add boiling water to compensate.

Step 4) Turn it down.
Turn down the fire to the lowest setting and wait to die down a bit. Put the lid on and cook for 10-15 minutes. Add more stock and stir occasionally if the rice gets too dry (add boiling water if there's no stock left but not ideal).

Step 5) Add the seafood
Put the king prawns and snowpeas aside to decorate with. Add the rest of seafood and stir in again one last time. Leave it to cook on low fire until rice is almost done. Place the snowpeas/prawns on top looking pretty and turn off the fire. There rice should be bubbling but only with a little bit of liquid at this point. Leave for another 5 minutes to finish cooking with its own heat. Add the lemon slices and serve.

Enjoy! :)

Intesting article from BBC

2008-04-25T23:57:00.008Z

A bit freaky, its not just me... See the following article from the BBC on the problem I was writing about in the blog entry below a month ago.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/7360479.stm

Slightly Concerned

2008-03-12T23:26:00.018Z

Without meaning to sound like a scaremonger: something I saw recently scared the living daylights out of me... You dont need an economics degree to figure this one out....

Is it me or is the shit about to hit the fan?

NOTE: That you see right there is a trebbling (3x) in the USD price of wheat for the last couple of years. Wheat is the staple food for half the world and much of our human diet is based on it, not just directly in the form of breakfast cereal and bread, but also indirectly in the form of stock feed for farm animals which produce our milk, egss and meat. Perhaps the effect is not so high in western societies where diet only makes up 10-20% of family incomes, but in poor countries or the majority of the world population food makes up closer to 100% of family income. Whats going to happen when they can no longer afford to feed themselves?

Been Drawing

2008-02-16T21:22:00.015Z

I've been giving this drawing business a try and I think I might have a bit of knack for it. Javi is doing a fair bit of it so I decided to pick up the pencil one day seeing as I had some free time while in Madrid.

The pic on the right is my friend Ignacio (Nacho), he's a dentist, one of the guys I went to junior school in spain with. We met one day for his lunchbreak and I took a pic of him which I later drew.

I never had any training before, was busy studying how to be successful and run a business when my schoolmates got their hands dirty with paint and artwork at school. I guess maybe I was picking the wrong subjects. Later on I did a fair bit of graphic design and maybe thats why its now easy to work with the pencil as my eyes are already trained to see detail and proportion.

The other pic (left) is a model from the easyjet magazine that I started drawing on the plane because I got a bit bored.

I've done a few more portraits and will keep at it, I reckon if I do about 50-60 of these I might upgrade and pick up the brush instead so I can give a try at some oil-paste business which is a lot harder than using the pencil.

Trujillo

2008-01-03T20:45:00.006Z

I headed off to trujillo with Athena just before the new year to spend a few days with my brother, mum and and my auntie Carmen. My aunt and cousin Candela live there in an old house in the city walls where I used to stay as a child when we went to visit the grandparents.

Trujillo is an old roman walled city perched on a hill of granite in the western part of Extremadura just next to Portugal. It was conquered by the moorish and became a frontier town with the around 1000 years ago so its still got quite a lot of features like a castle and old moorish buildings.

I had a lovely few days, it was a pity that Candela's daughter Alejandra was away for a few days, last time I came to visit was 4 years ago and she was pregnant then so I still havent met her little girl.

It was very cold those few days, had to rug up real well as you can see in the pic (right) with me standing in the Espolon just outside the city. I was cold during the evenings specially.

Mum and Javi also had a good time. I think she was glad to leave the routine and go and make a trip for a couple of days.

All in all a great time. I just wish I'd stayed longer as this place is pretty magical.

More of Madrid

2007-12-27T11:31:00.000Z

I'm going to Madrid more often lately. Been staying with my brother and mum and catching up with family and old friends.

My mother's getting a bit better with the help of Javier, who's now staying in spain for a while until she improves a bit more... He hasnt changed much though, looking as hippie as ever.

Here (right) is a pic of Javier and I in the kitchen at the flat in Madrid taken recently.. we are both looking a bit similiar to another photo Sara took ages ago back in tassie.. here (left) I just found it on Facebook.

And here is a pic of all of us having Xmas dinner, with me strategically placed next to the smoked salmon and Javi having done a good job with that tortilla.

Its been a while

2007-12-11T23:55:00.000Z

Since its been a long time since my last post here is a joke I read today:

A train hits a bus load of Catholic school girls and they all perish. They are all in heaven trying to enter the pearly gates past St. Peter.St. Peter asks the first girl, "Jessica, have you ever had any contact with a penis?"
She giggles and shyly replies, "Well I once touched the head of one with the tip of my finger."
St. Peter says, "OK, dip the tip of your finger in The Holy Water and pass through the gate."St. Peter asks the next girl the same question, "Jennifer have you ever had any contact with a penis?"
The girl is a little reluctant but replies, "Well once I fondled and stroked one."
St. Peter says, "OK, dip your whole hand in The Holy Water and pass through the gate."
All of a sudden there is a lot of commotion in the line of girls, one girl is pushing her way to the front of the line.When she reaches the front of the line St. Peter says, "Lisa! What seems to be the rush?"
The girl replies, "If I'm going to have to gargle that Holy Water, I want to do it before Tiffany sticks her ass in it."

Avenue Q

2007-10-05T12:52:00.000Z

Last week I went to check out this play in Leicester Square with my friend Theo from work and a couple of his flatmates.

This musical is full of rude and histerically funny muppets that interact with humans and between themselves. Its a brilliant show - expect to be shocked. A must-see specially if you're living in London (or another big city) as it talks about quite a few real life issues that young mobile people like me face in their daily life: finding work, parents, marriage, love, sex, friendship and more importantly the ones that are not so easy to talk about such as poverty, exploitation, homosexuality, racism, purpose etc etc, and does so in a clever way full of humour and witty insights.

So enjoy and remember - "THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN!".

Madrid

2007-09-04T23:57:00.000Z

HOLA! This is my crazy bro and me in one of those moments you just dont know what to do.. It took about 15 shots with the mobile to get us to look moderately crazy without getting too scary, a couple of cars honked at us too while we were at it.

Yep, so I've been going to Madrid a lot recently, it wasnt planned ... more like one day I found I was spending almost as much time over there as in London town. Easyjet have decided to make me "Customer of the Year" on the London-Madrid stretch. They named a plane after me and awarded me an autographed photo of Stelios.

This here on the left is a small town called Bustarviejo up in the mountains near madrid. I went over there last weekend with my little bro to check out some partying they were doing, and as we all know Spanish will come up with any excuse to have fun enjoy themselves. I think they were doing some kind of fire-theatre in the town square, cant remember very well.. the evening was kind of hazy.

And this is the reason why I've been going to Spain so much. You see my mums a bit down lately, well she's been so far down for so long now its gone way beyond depression into something a bit more serious. At least she is smiling a bit on that pic, her kids seem to have that effect on her.

Facebook

2007-08-16T09:15:00.000Z

So yea, I finally caved in and joined the craze after 1000's of people started knocking on my door saying: So why arent you on Facebook yet? ARRRGHH!!! :o)

WOW. This stuff is addictive, I just spent 3 hours solid on it last night when I really should have gone to bed at 11, the result... I think Im up to 25 friends, mostly people from Hobart I havent seen in ages.

San Sebastian

2007-08-15T15:36:00.000Z

HOLA EVERYONE! :)

Just got back from a brilliant weekend in San Sebastian, a beautiful little town in the north of Spain. Took 5 days to go and visit this place with some guys I met at work: Theo (second from right) and Karune (far right). We met up with Terry (the guy next to me), another work buddy, who had been taking a couple of weeks of catching some sun, eating beautiful food and going out every night like we were about to.

Once there I spent the first few nights going out in the Parte Vieja (the old town) where you rock up after some sun on the beach and your daily siesta and slowly start the night with either dinner or some pintxos washed down with a bit of tinto or the local sidra (cider). Apart from 3 amazing beaches, San Seabastian can also boast the best night life in the area, with lots of french and spanish people from the area flocking over on summer weekends and partying to open-air concerts. There seemed to be a lot of Aussies there too who'd just arrived after running the bulls in nearby Pamplona. This weekend was special too. The beginning of Semana Grande (the big week) with lots of fireworks and events put together by the Ayuntamiento.

The last couple of days I spent with my auntie Tina in her home up on one of the mountains around SS. The pic on the left is the view from her house.

Here are all the photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sdesalas/SanSebastian2007

Pues que le den!

2007-07-10T22:25:00.000Z

Feeling a bit like I've had a massive dose of 'keleden' today... I think you have to be Spanish to get the joke, some things you just cant translate...

:o)

Ball-buster race

2007-05-21T09:58:00.000Z

Last Sunday (20th) I took part in the Eton Supersprint triathlon, it was the first sporting event I ever took part in since I was, gosh ... 18? ... can't remember really, Im not a very sporty person but my friend Alistair was going and he asked if I wanted to give it a try.. so why not?

My preparation over the last few weeks had been pretty minimal, I was moving house so a big chunk of my free time was dedicated to that. In the end I think it was the last two weeks that I started getting a bit more serious but still, even the day before I wasnt sure if I was going to race at all.

The event was pretty fun, it was a beautiful sunny day with no wind, I had a go and did ok on the swimming and not so well on the cycling and running. I ended up 103rd out of 110 guys in my age group.. Not bad considering my only aim was to finish the race!! :)

Finding a new pad

2007-04-01T14:38:00.000Z

Im moving soon. Not sure where I'm moving to or what kind of place I'm after, I'm thinking of moving in with some cool flatmates so that I can have some company. Looking mostly around Clapham/Balham area in South London, I find that this is one of the best places to spend the summer as its pretty green all around. Putney is good too as you have the river nearby and there is a really nice bike-ride to Richmond park, the only thing with Putney is that its a bit further to cycle to work in the city... 20K each way.

I'm checking places mostly in Gumtree.. Everyone seems to be putting their place in there, I'd say its even more popular than the Loot, which used to be my first port of call when I first came to London. Anyway, I better stop writing and keep searching...

Faithless concert in Brighton

2007-03-28T20:34:00.000Z

I finished work early on Tue and headed to Brighton to catch up with Al, Jules, Karl, Elmy and the whole crowd from Imperial College. I arrived early on the train from London, which only took about 1hr, then walked around thinking 'damn this town is nice! small and laid back and yet its still got quite a lot of character and a pretty hip crowd and nightlife. Would it be cool to live here and commute to london?'

Anyway. So I headed down to the beach to have a drink and watch the sunset while these guys turned up, then everything happened really fast, everyone arrived in groups and we were heading to the concert hall to watch Faithless. I got an offer to stay overnight in one of the beds because someone hadn't turned up. And then after a couple drinks the main act started. Wow. Their music is good but they are much much better on stage. I took a pic of what it was like (right). Then after the concert we headed to a nightclub which was packed until 2 or 3 am... on a tuesday. Morning staggered out of bed to be greeted by the view of the sea and a hazy sky. Breakfast was bacon and eggs on toast with coffee by the pebble beach together with a couple guys. And then it was back to london at midday!

Tango in Holborn

2007-03-24T17:17:00.000Z

Friday night I went to check out Negracha, someone I met recommended this place in Holborn as the top venue for learning and dancing Tango in London. Its quite a small scene and when you go there you realise that most people who come for the open dancing that starts at 10pm already know each other.

Tango is very different to Salsa, for starters its a lot harder to learn, but its also more dramatic and amazing to watch. Negracha is not a pick-up venue which is a welcome change from the typical club in the City, so people there are openly friendly and genuinely warm. In fact its a real shocker to leave the tango venue and walk past a London bar at midnight on a Friday.

Concha (aka. Conchis)

2007-03-18T16:53:00.000Z

Here is a pic of me and my friend Concha at one of our year 8 school gatherings in Madrid. Concha is a pretty special girl, she is to me anyway. It feels a bit odd putting her up on my blog I hope she doesnt mind too much. She is a very good friend and has been so for a long time, we met in junior school when we were both 11.. more recently she's looked after me when I've been feeling down - always giving and never asking for anything back - and she has also delivered me the occasional kick up the backside when I really needed one. If it wasnt for her I would still be feeling like the mess I was after my last relationship. There is a big spot in my heart that is for her alone and if I could be with someone now it would be her. So yea, Concha if you are reading this: eres una chica guay! Muchos besos. Esteban.

Salsa at Bar Rumba

2007-03-14T14:12:00.000Z

Found a decent salsa venue in London at last..

Its small, has a crowded class with wooden floors and does dance lessons followed up by free dancing til late in the evening. The catch is it only happens on Tuesdays. The address is 36 Shaftesbury Ave and time is 7.30pm, £8 gets you in, lessons go til 9pm and free dancing runs until after midnight. There was about 30 or 40 people in class when I went there, divided up into Beginners-Intermediate-Advanced.. I went on the beginner class and the teacher was brilliant, learnt more in 90 minutes than I have in years. But I made the mistake of telling the guys when I got to work the next day... and so they went and gave me a new name... 'Ricky the Hips'. I hope that one doesn't stick for long.

Fencing in Finsbury

2007-03-11T17:22:00.000Z

Had my first fencing class on Saturday morning near Old Street with my friend Chris. We both cycled there from south london so I got a bit of a warm-up.

I have to say the class is a lot more physically demanding than I thought, you train with a practice blade called the Foil, which is thin and flexible and has a blunt end, although the blades are light (500g) what really takes it out of you is having to squat and move/jump backwards and forward while you are in that position for hours on end. It was a lot of fun, can't wait for the next class where we actually get to learn some parrying and counter-attacks.

Work work work

2007-03-05T20:50:00.001Z

And back into work full swing now.

Holidays are finished and I'm sitting in front of the computer and doing the hellish commute all over again. In a way I can't believe my luck, back from a 12 week stint travelling round the world and I've got into things again without missing a heartbeat. Just drop the bags on the floor, suit up, jump on the tube and go to work like nothing happened.. One productive little busy-bee all over again.

Back in London

2007-02-24T18:37:00.000Z

Just arrived in busy Heathrow airport... its my birthday and the Nth time I travel on such an occasion... had to get up at 6am on Saturday morning but I skipped the sleep and went straight to the airport after a night out with Jose and Concha back in Madrid.

I guess maybe coming home is the hardest part. Its cold and wet, but that kind of pales in comparison with the realisation that I went away and did lots of cool things, but my problems didnt go anywhere.. they stayed still and waited patiently for me to come back. At least Im feeling a bit better now, perhaps more able to deal with them. Or at least thats what I keep telling myself.

Off to Madrid

2007-02-21T21:35:00.000Z

Back to reality now. Another 9 hours stuck in an airplane and I'm in Madrid where the weather is rather balmy compared to Boston.

My mums at the airport to see me, we have lunch and dinner with uncles and cousins. I have a bed, familiar surroundings and I know the city layout and transport network, heck I'm even recognised by people walking down the street. Its weird all this familiarity.

Boston

2007-02-19T10:10:00.000Z

And so I made a little hole in the ground and kept digging until I popped out in a place called Boston Common, somewhere in the East Coast of USA.. Apparently, or so I've been told, the TV series Ally McBeal supposedly takes place in those buildings behind me on that pic on the right. If so they could have chosen a better place for a law firm, it was about -10 C, which was even colder than Canada, at least I had a warm jacket and my beanie to keep my head warm.

I met my friend Cristina there, or Quiqui - which she doesnt like being called, she was sliding in the snow and looking very funny so I took a picture. Quiqui is my crush from 1st year junior school in Madrid. Back then she was very mean to me (would tear my birthday invitations) but she's now turned into a very nice and clever girl, she gets paid to make things explode inside a lab in Harvard, where other clever people sit around and do things that are generally pretty boring unless you are also interested in the subject.

I got to have a read of her dissertation and even with my grade 12 chemistry all those NH4 and H2Os didnt seem to make any sense. I had to put it down when my head started to hurt. Designing interactive web services is way more fun.

After visiting Harvard we popped over to MIT where another altogether different set of people get paid to sit around in a lab and invent computer languages or come up with clever acronyms like W3C or X11. After walking around I got the impression that MIT students are way more freaky than the ones at Harvard, maybe there is something to the selection criteria scoring high points for wardrobe individuality.

And of course we got to go to have beers in John Harvards Brewhouse with her friends Sergio and Melanie who came over from the competition in MIT. All in all a brilliant 3 days.

PS. While brushing my teeth one morning I found out Cristina's secret, she's been keeping quiet all along, the guy she's sharing a place with uses Nivea For Men just like the last one we spotted her with. I think we are on to something - there is definately a pattern emerging here.

Getting the hang of it

2007-02-17T21:49:00.000Z

By the last day on the snow I was on my way to making this silly plank of wood do the things it was meant for. Cruising down the terrain park and cutting some powder down the black runs at the top of Whistler. I had to go on my own because Emerson was down with a cold so no chance for anyone to take a picture of my prowess.. which was not quite as good as the pic I downloaded off the web (left) but almost. Hee hee.. =)

Pity it was my last day, I would have enjoyed another week here now that I finally stopped falling all the time.

Breakfast for the Slopes

2007-02-14T19:02:00.000Z

These last few days snowboarding I've been
eating like a champion. Breakfast this morning was 3 pieces of frech toast with blueberries, maple syrup, lemon and bacon (i didnt take a pic but found a similar one on the internet).

Thing is you need all that energy when you're in the mountain carving the snow for hours and I love eating well so all the exercise and acrobatics are a perfect excuse for stacking up the calories. Here is a pic of me in action, this was the second day attempting some blue runs with Will. Third day I was sliding down proper powder with Emerson at the very top of Whistler mountain.

Boarder or Skier

2007-02-14T15:27:00.000Z

Thinking of going on the snow and you havent done it before??? Everyone you see on the slopes already have a preference. You are either a boarder or a skier. Skiers don't like boarders very much, boarders don't care much about skiers. Both have way too much fun.

So which one should you try? Personally I'd recommend snowboarding, why? because its a lot easier. Yep, you'll spend the first two days falling all the time either way, but at least with the snowbard you'll pick it quicker and wont kill your knees in the process.

Basically skiing is a bit more technical, a lot more can go wrong. Boarding is less refined but still just as much fun when you're powering down the hill carving left and right. YEEEE!

How do you do this shit again?

2007-02-12T22:32:00.000Z

Just got back from a pretty grueling 8 hours of stacking it again and again, and sliding downhill on my front or my back... all my back and arm muscles are groaning with pain from having to get up every time I fall, sometimes I just lay there because its so hard to get up again..

But slowly I'm getting the hang of it.. Will has come with us today so its been the three of us for a couple of easy runs in the morning, and then Emerson and Will have gone off to do some harder runs and left me with the easy stuff.. which is just as well because its taking me a bit of time to get used to switching sides on the snow and generally to remember what its like to control the constant falling. Talking about control.. there is little of that yet, but I'm starting to get a grip with the basics again, once I do this should be a lot more fun.

In the evening we all headed down to Merlins Bar and Grill, at the bottom of Blackcomb base. For a couple drinks with Will's mates, he's been teaching kids how to ski with a whole bunch of other instructors so he knows a few people in Whistler now. We went to check out the staff acomodation there and it looks like fun, basically like going back to university college all over again. :)

Whistler

2007-02-12T20:52:00.000Z

This is a pretty amazing place to come if youre after some quality snowboarding, definately even better than Mirabel and the 3 valleys I went to in the French alps last season.

Whistler village is perched in the valley between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, both are great places to go skiing and snowboarding. There is anything from green easy runs, to crazy double diamond black runs down a glacier, or if you're after practicing your jumps there is a terrain park full of them on each of the 2 mountains.

Here is a pic of me at Whistler getting ready for a day of action down those beautiful runs.

Arriving in Canada

2007-02-11T08:58:00.000Z

Hello!!!

I just arrived in Whistler ski resort near Vancouver in the Canadian West Coast after a 10 hour flight into Dallas from Sao Paulo, 4 hours on the plane to Vancouver and 2 hours on the bus.

Met my friend Emerson at the airport and we are both off to do some snow-boarding over the next few days, kind of a combined birthday celebration, his is on the 20th and mine on the 24th. Our other friend Will should be joining us tomorrow, he's been here most of the season working on the slopes.

Alright not much time I'll fill in some more details later!!

Sao Paulo

2007-02-09T19:34:00.000Z

I spent another day in Sao Paulo before leaving Brazil, staying near Praca Republica and then going to see my friend Juliana in the morning..

Its funny I was talking to an Aussie girl at the hostal in Florianopolis and she said that having had a day in Sampa she decided to give town a miss and stay near the airport instead.

While I dont think that the security situation is so bad as to miss it entirely, its not a place where I would recommend a lot of walking around at night looking lost and jet-lagged. Best thing if you arrive here (Sampa is a stop-over for most flights in and out of Brazil) is to get some rest and then go for a walk early in the morning. Maybe spend a day at most to see Brazils most populous city and then move on to other bits along the coast which are far more beautiful.

Downing Caipirinhas

2007-02-08T21:40:00.000Z

If there is one thing you should do when you're in Brazil, its having a few caipirinhas while you're chilling out by the beach watching the sunset.

Caipirinhas are made with Cachaça, a sugar-cane spirit. A typical caipirinha is made by crushing limes with sugar, then adding the cachaça and ice and shaking it. Yuummmm. Here is a pic of me and the guys at the hostal in Barra da Lagoa having a few caipirinhas.

Beach time in Florianopolis

2007-02-06T18:44:00.000Z

And I finally arrived! Took an extra day to get my luggage in Sao Paulo (´Sampa´), but then loosing my bag meant I got to see my cute friend Juliana, a local ´Paulistana´who proved to me that even though Sampa is a big metropolis with 17 million souls in it, there are some really nice areas to go and visit. They´re just not that easily accessible unless you have a car.

And today, after a 10 hour bus ride to Florianopolis sleeping on a couch that could have beloged in first class section of an airplane, and then 1 hour trying to find this beach. I finally arrived in Barra da Lagoa to find that: yes, there is a gorgeous beach... A PRAIA E BEM LEGALE! it keeps going for tens of kilometers as far as the eye can see, and yes there is a really nice hostal on a hill called XXXXX (you really think Im going to tell!) overlooking the rain-forested bay with a little town and sea beyond. Damn its a nice spot. That 1.50 GBP of beer getting my friend drunk really did go a long way!

I just spent the last hour or so getting to know a couple of beautiful Israeli girls, Gen and Ruth (thats what it sounded like, not so sure how to spell) while sitting around soaking some sun on the beach.. They´ve both just finished their 2 years of military service and its a tradition to go travelling for a year before they start university.. In fact there are heaps of Israeli guys travelling all over south america.. They usually hang together in groups and rarely mix but when they do they are pretty fascinating to talk to.. they seem like people who´ve gone through some heavy shit and look at the world a different way. I probably would too if I´d just seen war first hand and then moved to paradise.

Ola Brasil!

2007-02-05T00:17:00.000Z

Just arrived in Sao Paulo airport in Brazil after making the connecting flight from Buenos Aires via Santiago.. I´m literally at the airport now. The airline (Lan Chile) LOST MY LUGGAGE! - ARRRGH CARALHO PUTA MERDA! - so I´ve gone online while waiting at the airport. I´m going to see if my bag arrives on the next flight, its 10.15 pm and the bags supposedly arrive at midnight..

I´m not sure where I´ll be sleeping tonight as I was supposed to be on a bus, but I reckon it´ll be ok. Been here before and things kinda work in Brazil - You just have to avoid walking into a favela (poor neighbourhood) with your camera and tourist looks because they are dangerous and you dont walk out again, otherwise its a cool place to come to. If things go well I´ll be catching a bus tomorrow and on my way to Florianopolis for a couple days of bumming around on the beach. Oh, managed to have some pao de queijo (cheesy bread) in the airport - YUUMMM!, so its not all bad.

Adios Argentina!

2007-02-03T22:53:00.000Z

Last day in Buenos Aires and I´m not so sure that I want to leave... I mean is it worth it to see Florianopolis?? Can´t I just do it some other time?? But then, I better grab the oportunity while I have it.. even if its just to check out that cool hostal in Barra da Lagoa my buddy Daniel from the Tango Backpackers told me about. One of those amazing places a stone´s trow away from a stunning beach that you only know about through word of mouth when you get a fellow backpacker drunk enough to tell you their secret spot. =) Hehe.

So anyway, yes I´m off. Its cruel but it has to be done. I met my friend Carolina from Tango class for dinner on the last day in Buenos Aires. She took us to one of those classic argentinian restaurants that the locals know and talk about fondly. I cant actually remember the name of the place but it was really good, and the bife de chorizo steak we had there was suberb. Soft and juicy and cooked to perfection...

Yuuuuummmmm.... I feel so sorry for all the vegetarians out there in the world.

San Telmo

2007-02-03T12:46:00.000Z

Went for a visit to barrio San Telmo both this weekend and the last one.. This is the historic center of the city of Buenos Aires. Its full of people, markets, bars, restaurants that have been around for decades and places to see some real Tango.

Plaza Dorrego is sort of the cultural centre of this part of Buenos Aires, its usually full of street vendors and performances and people chilling out in the bars around it, having coffee or Quilmes beer.

I think I´m melting

2007-02-02T00:20:00.000Z

Gee, its getting pretty hot round here... Buenos Aires today at lunchime was just like being inside an oven, combination of the heat (37º C) and high humidity which makes it sticky.

Was planning to go dancing tonight but its still boiling and I´m not so sure I want to die roasted like a pig on a spit. Maybe tomorrow...

Oh, while we are at it... I had the biggest albondigas I ever ate in my whole life today for lunch.. I think each one was the size of my fist. I mean, have you ever seen meat balls that size?? Well. I can hardly move now.. ate too much and I feel like I should have a rest today.. It´ll take a couple days to digest that much meat anyway. I think I´m going to turn into an albondiga myself if I keep going like this..

La Boca

2007-01-31T18:23:00.000Z

Went off to see La Boca on Tuesday morning, this is the poorer part of Buenos Aires just next to the river mouth however there is one interesting bit called the "Caminito" which has a bit of history to it.

Boca is home to the working class argentinians, its next to the docks and is relatively rough in comparison to the northern neighbourhoods. The argentinians here managed to repel an english invation in the 19th century by mounting an attack on the soldiers that were disembarking from the english vessels. Argentinians dont like the English very much, due to this and more recent Faulklands war and because England tends to side with Chile in international issues which they see as meddling.

I read on my guide that the reason why the houses are painted so coloufully in this part of Boca is because the residents asked of the passing boats that they hand over any spare cans of paint, which in turn they used to paint their houses. I also saw a couple of tango dancers performing in the street for passers-by and I took a picture of them, it struck me that the girl who was dancing Tango so well was Japanese (although she looked more chinese).

Tomando Mate

2007-01-29T04:06:00.000Z

Yea, I know that pic kinda looks like I´ve been caught under slightly suspicious sort of circumstances, but just in case you´re wondering: no, its not. I´m just drinking Argentinian green tea out of a funny cup with a metal straw. Honest. Thats what everyone does here.. The cup is called a "mate" and the straw is a "bombilla", and the green stuff you put inside is the "yerba mate".

Yerba Mate (say: mah-teh) is a very bitter green tea, high in anti-oxidants and a key ingredient of weight-loss pills and holistic medicines. In argentinian culture drinking mate is a thing that is shared, a bit like sitting down for a beer with a couple friends, only that you dont need to go down the pub to do it. You can sit down and sip away at home or do take-away with a hot water thermos and go sit down in the park and watch the world go by.

Just this evening a couple hours ago I was at a park in barrio Belgrano watching an open-air tango with two argentinian sisters: Carolina and Monica all sharing some mate. I´m a wimp and I drink it with sugar but you´re not supposed to.

Bailando Salsa

2007-01-29T00:58:00.000Z

Been going to these two dance venues quite a few nights last week. "Azucar" and "La Viruta", both only around 1 pound to get in and go to anywhere up to 5 hours of classes each day of the week except mondays. There is Salsa, Tango, Rock and Milonga (a faster version of Tango).

Needless to say I´m knackered, was rather, its now tuesday and I´ve been able to rest the last couple days. Had lots of fun and met quite a few people... most just turn up there with a friend of two but no dancing partner, you keep changing those all the time. Specially in the beginners class.

Going to see some real salsa and tango in action is quite refreshing, I mean Opera Bay is an amazing world-class venue, but why the hell do I want to listen to drum´n bass, house, or R&B - no matter how good the DJ - when I can get any of those back home??

Las Noches de Buenos Aires

2007-01-24T01:54:00.000Z

I´ve been living mostly in the evening and night-time the last few days. Buenos Aires is way too hot during the day (35º) to spend a lot of time out and about so my days start around 2-5pm.. I eat some food after I wake up, chat to people staying at the hostal and wait for the weather to cool down before I head off..

Lets see, of the 3 places I´ve stayed at so far the one with the best nighlife options is the Milhouse, mostly because it fits 400 souls, is almost always booked and there are so many young people in it at any one time that there is always someone who wants to go out, someone that knows a good spot, and several others like me that are happy to tag along.

The night scene in BA is good. Very good. Music and atmosphere to cater for just about every taste and everything at incredibly low prices. Someone said today that Buenos Aires has become the number 1 world travel destination - I think this might be a bit ambitious but I wouldnt be too surprised if its getting close.

Lets see now: Last Thursday was fairly quiet, just a massive dinner and drinks for a whole bunch of people at the Milhouse. Friday I met with a group of Brazilians (pic with red background) in the Recoleta YHA and had another massive dinner and went out to Club 69, one of those places that do good gigs fairly consistently and that you have to go to when you first visit Buenos Aires. Saturday I went out with a bunch of people from the Milhouse to Opera Bay and danced til sunrise over spanking modern Puerto Madero (which reminds me a bit of the docklands area in London), while I was there I met some cool Argentinian girls (pic) and some other various people. Took a few shots of the view from the club.

Then Sunday I had an early night in, just 2am after drinking beers with the guys at the hostel. On Sunday there was this canadian guy, Robert, who competes in fencing and he was telling me about the sport, which in reality is a martial art that originated in Europe and I decided I´d see if I can take up fencing when I go back to my normal life. Sounds like the kind of thing that would be good for me to do.

Couple days later: Sam (whose arm you can see in that pic) at the Tango Backpackers made an interesting comment, why do fencing when you can do yoga?... Duh!!! Way more women take up yoga classes! Momentary brain freeze I think - some might say its not like me.. whats happened to Esteban?? Hes been replaced with mild-mannered Steven, wheres he gone?? Puto gato por liebre - nos han dado trucho!

Tango

2007-01-22T21:29:00.000Z

Just been listening to some wicked tracks of Tango-Electronica fusion. Amazing sounds, I really liked the Paris-originated Gotan Project, and Bajo Fondo Tango Club some similar work made here in Argentina.

But what is Tango anyway? Tango goes way past a music genre in the context of Buenos Aires, Tango is musical expression born out of the desperate loneliness and harsh lifestyle for the scores of European immigrants that arrived here in the late 1800s. Tango is a mood. A mood felt by passionate men uprooted and lost in the dirty urban life of dockland Buenos Aires. Its deep sadness and melancholy, its danger and sex, pain, sorrow, betrayal and helplessness. Its tragic beauty at its best.

"Tango que me hiciste mal y sin embargo te quiero": Tango you did wrong to me but still I love you...

- Anyone who´s had their heart broken knows the feeling. That is the essence of Tango.

After many years of being side-lined as an oldies dance, Tango is now making a comeback in contemporary Argentina. More and more young people are going to the Milongas (tango ballrooms) to dance and enjoy themselves. And although Tango is more part of the soul of an older generation, young argentinians also display an extraodinary ability for sadness and melancholy.

Money Matters

2007-01-21T00:27:00.000Z

Money makes the world go around.. the world go around...

So this must be costing a lot hey? Well I guess it all depends where you come from and what you are accustomed to..

While I travel I´m budgetting about 30 pounds a day, not including plane tickets. Which is fine for Australia and New Zealand but its a hell of a lot of money to be spending in South America, so I just haven´t been spending very much since I arrived here. I stay mostly in hostels, which cost very little - if you can put up with the noise and the shared bathrooms then I definately recommend it - its a great way to meet other travellers and swap valuable information about where to go and what to avoid, or to have people to hang out with if you feel like company. I eat out most days (a chicken schnitzel is around 2 pounds in Argentina, a beer is 50p) and I make the occasional home cooked meal, I don´t really do much shopping because it would make my pack heavier to carry around with me, and I go out maybe 2-3 times a week but I hardly ever drink a lot and I avoid the places where very fashionable people hang out - "normal" people are a lot more interesting to talk to.. 30 pounds is more than enough for all that.

I´ve heard tales of people blowing around 10 grand in Ibiza over a couple weeks of heavy partying.. that sort of thing seems silly when you can party in a place like Buenos Aires and have an amazing nite for around 15-20 squidlets, drinks included.

Fernet con Coca

2007-01-19T15:46:00.000Z

Last thursday I met with Alejandro, an Argentinian friend from that Bar hopping nite in Auckland.. We went out for an asado (mixed grill with various types of meat) with some friends of his and then he said he´d introduce me to Fernet Con Coca, a more important though less well known Argentinian tradition than drinking yerba mate (pronounced: mah-teh, a type of green tea)..

At first I thought that Fernet was a brand of whiskey but it turns out that is a kind of bourbon made from mixing different herbs and spices. Its drunk with coke by filling up a container and sharing it amongst friends. I think that night I was up til about 3am talking with Alejandro and his friends from barrio Palermo, mostly listening about his trip to Australia and New Zealand and watching photos of the things he´d done on the trip spiced up with tales of success with the female gender. :)

Argentinian men are very friendly. In spain when you meet someone you only kiss them if they are a woman or your immediate family but here when anybody meets, be it even two males, they always kiss on the cheek, just once, not twice like in Spain. Even when you are being introduced its better to be over friendly, with a hug and a pat on the back, than reserved as the later can make you seem like a cold person.

Buenos Aires

2007-01-18T16:58:00.000Z

Hi Guys,

I'm in Buenos Aires. Capital of Argentina and home to Tango and Maradona's legendary soccer team Bocas Junior.. Its hard not to fall in love with this city. From the point I asked a man at the airport 'Como se coge el bus' which prompted instant laughter, its been one happy surprise after another.

This city is as European as you get outside of Europe, with 97% of population claiming direct European descent (mostly descendents of Spanish and Italian migrants in the 1800s) there is a distinctly cosmopolitan feel to the city. This could very well be Madrid, or Paris or Rome. The tall majestic buildings that line the Avenidas with their high ceilings and domed or tiled roofs are fine examples of french, spanish and italian architecture. There is some but relatively little disrepair, certainly a lot less than I expected after visiting other cities such as Sao Paulo or even Santiago. This city is vibrant, full of well-dressed Argentinians going about their business or sipping their 'cafe cortados' and 'media lunas' (croissants) at the cafes and restaurants along the streets. Its the middle of summer and the only people I see wearing shorts are the tourists and backpackers that are coming to this city in droves because of the low prices that make it such a special place to visit right now.

The food is absolutely amazing. As a Spaniard accustomed to good spanish food and who also loves italian cuisine I have to say that picking up a menu in a restaurant is like christmas has come every day. Not only the Parridas (Grilled Steak) that make Argentian beef famous are sensational. There is every type of less well known regional spanish cuisines represented (basque, catalonian, valencian and asturian to name a few), as well as all the italian favourites: pizza, raviolli, fettucine, lasagne, caneloni, milanese steak etc etc.. Or if you are into obscure dishes such as lamb kidneys, sweet-meats or calamari cooked in their own ink then they have those too.

The people are lovely as well. They are proud, yes. But so friendly as well that they wear their pride very endearingly. Ask an Argentinian man how they commit suicide and they'll say 'jumping off their own ego', laughing as they do it. Argentinan language is incredibly cute, so easy and fascinating to listent to.. It doesnt take long for the locals to work out I am from Spain when I speak to them, and as soon as they know they are very welcoming.

Anyway. I'm off, will write a bit more sometime later..

Pink Eye

2007-01-16T00:12:00.000Z

Had a bit of a problem with my contacts when I was in Santiago.. thats the thing with this monthly lenses, my eye has become so used to having discomfort that I no longer feel when I´m doing damage to myself. Woke up one morning with a bit of pain and a really dry eye and then looked in the mirror to find that some dust must have got below the lenses and was causing me a mild case of "Pink Eye".

So I´ve gone without lenses for a few days, Im now wearing my glasses instead until the redness goes away.

Santiago

2007-01-14T14:46:00.000Z

I´m in South America now.

Just arrived in Santiago de Chile yesterday, after flying accross the Pacific and along the Andes range. I left at 5pm on Saturday and arrived lunchtime on Saturday, the same day but 4 hours earlier - thats what happens when you cross the date line coming in from Asia..

Its summer here and pretty nice and hot.. very laid back indeed. Everyone seems like they don´t really have much of a care, and we are talking about one of the main cities on this continent. A man came up at the park this morning and asked me if I could buy a book from him, he was about 50 and looked like he could be a school teacher, he said he didn´t have enough money to buy food because the politicians were squandering all of it.. I said I was sorry I couldn´t help but that I wished things improved .. There is such a big difference between Asia and South America, in China for example you see people down on their luck but they hardly ever blame the government.. or if they do they would never tell someone from the outside as they don´t want to shame their country.

Also met a chap on the plane his name is Joep (we´re having a couple beers on photo here on the bottom) and he is Dutch.. He is off to climb Aconcagua a 6000m peak on the Andes range, bit of a hobby for him.. He shipped all this equipment from Schipol airport to the Cargo terminal in Santiago and it arrived on time for him to pick it up at the airport on Saturday. I went to help him out with the translation and it was a good experience because it helped me see the lack of organization in this place. Took about 1hr and 4 people to find where the parcel was. Then over there they told us we needed to go to the agents. After walking for a while in sweltering heat, we found the agent´s office was closed, nobody knew how to get hold of them. The parcel was sitting in the warehouse but we needed a special document to get it out and only the agent could provide it - "Mañana!", everyone kept telling us. Met again today and he´d called the agent - who was around but they said to go tomorrow because the customs officials aren´t around till "Mañana!"... surprise surprise.. hopefully one day he´ll be able to get his climbing equipment and head off.

Pool vs the Locals

2007-01-13T10:05:00.000Z

And a couple beers and some pool to kick back and finish off my last night in Auckland. It was the Latin team (Me and Alejandro the argentinian guy on the photo) versus the local Kiwis. No need to say that we kicked butt, 4-0 playing doubles. And we didn´t need ´la mano de Dios´ (Hand of God) to help us either.

Devonport

2007-01-12T22:35:00.000Z

On Friday I had a bit of spare time in the afternoon so I decided to catch the ferry across to the suburb of Devonport on the other side of the water.. It was a really nice place, a small residential neigbourhood with people sitting outside nice pubs, restaurants and cafes not doing much.

From there I climbed to the top of the Mount Victoria which has the remains of an old pa - indigenous maori fortification - and overlooks all of Waitehama Harbour, on one side the view looks out over Rangitoto Island which has an active volcano (see left) that erupted around 600 years ago, on the other side the view looks out over the rest of Auckland and the harbour bridge

On the right here is a photo of the stunning views from the top of Mount Victoria looking towards the center of Auckland, with the CBD on the left and the Habour Bridge which I would be bungee jumping from the next day...

And on the way back I stopped to have some dinner at one of the small cafes on the side walk.. It was time to fill my stomack with something other than sushi so I ate a really good seafood pasta (yummy - see on the left) while drinking coffee and writing stuff on my notepad.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (splat!)

2007-01-12T14:45:00.000Z

And a bit more hopping tomorrow.. This time I'm going bungee jumping morning of the Saturday at 9am from the Harbour Bridge... I'm thinking that about now is the only time I'm likely to do something like that, so might as well. BTW: Was told to bring a spare set of clothes just in case (I get dunked in the water). Tell you about it later. And if this is my last entry then I hope you all remember me well.. (snif!) :P

----- Day later: Just updating this post with the image of me jumping.. if it looks a bit funny its because its a photo of a photo. The adrenalin rush is pretty good. YEEE!! Scary but it all happens so fast and then you´re dangling above the water.. hehe. Next time I´ll dress up in a Superman outfit complete with tights, underpants worn on the outside and a red cape. =)

Bar Hopping

2007-01-12T13:39:00.000Z

Feeling a bit rough today... Two cute girls came up to me on the stairs at the hostal and asked me if I wanted to go on a bar-hopping tour of Auckland that nite for about $40 so predictably enough, I said yes 'of course'. What else could I say? There is only one answer you can give in times like that - I reminded myself that I'm a guy and its ok to think with my second brain.

Iotta (top right) from NYC and Iffa from Dublin had only been around New Zealand for about a month and this was their second bar-hopping nite in Auckland.. Met some cool people there. Including two argentinians: Alenjandro and a guy that reminds me of my cousin Xabi (left), Leon - a crazy brazilian guy from Rio, two cute german chicks and for some reason, lots and lots of Danish girls. There was a big purple bus and lots of drunk travellers getting carried from bar to bar.. All in all, it was a good evening.. The kind of thing I normally avoid when I go travelling somewhere because it seems like fabricated entertainment for the city backpacker, but for some reason made sense to do it on my first evening in Auckland when I didn't know a single person.

Auckland

2007-01-11T17:56:00.000Z

To be honest.. I think this place is a bit disapointing.. I was imagining Auckland to be a spitting image of New Zealand, clean and green and jaw-dropping but the main commercial city in NZ has more of an icky feel to it, this place is just a city - nothing special to it - its just a place you find yourself when you are either going somewhere or on your way back from somewhere. So much for high expectations.

Maybe it just feels that way because its summer and the place is overrun with adrenalin-seeking backpackers and its hot and muggy and nowhere as beautiful as Sydney.

I'm heading off tonight to what seems to be a big nite.. Guess I will regret it tomorrow morning.

Leaving Australia

2007-01-11T17:50:00.000Z

I was thinking about this on the plane... Just how many times have I left Australia since I first arrived when I was 14 years old? 8? 12 maybe? Not really sure I haven't been counting.

Manly

2007-01-10T22:21:00.000Z

Had a really nice evening hanging out in Manly but I can't really be bothered writing much about it. Maybe I'm just too tired from running around all day...

I missed the boat coming back and then met a couple peruvians at the pub in Manly wharf - Ernesto and Diego - while I was having a beer waiting for the next ferry.. And the return journey was simply stunning, watching sunset over Sydney harbour from the ferry is a truly amazing experience. Pity my camera only had enough battery left for 1 photo. And that was pointing in the direction of Manly, not the sunset.

Where in the world is the South America handbook?

2007-01-10T21:14:00.000Z

What a mission! It took 6 bookshops until I found somewhere that stocks the LP handbook for south america. Apparently its sold out everywhere... does that mean Santiago and Buenos Aires are going to be full of Aussies? Anyway happy ending: the travel bookshop had a copy.. Thats what happens to me for trying to cut corners to reduce the weight of my luggage, I end up spending 5 hours trekking through the Sydney CBD looking for a book.

Beers in Sydney Harbour

2007-01-10T11:52:00.000Z

Met up with Conrad, friend of mine I used to go to school with and who is now in Sydney working as a developer with Thoughtworks (Emerson, you might know some of the people that he works with)..

Had a couple drinks sitting by the stunning opera house and chatted about life the universe and everything.. It was good to catch up with him. We talked about the Friends' 10 year reunion and the people we'd seen there and about our work and many other things. Apparently he reckons I should be doing a bit of dancing again.. No better way to meet girls, and more important, to realise that there is plenty out there, in fact so much its worth being single out of conscious choice. So we had a bit of sushi for dinner and another beer and then it was time to scoot because he had a flight to catch to Beijing the day after. Which was just as well as I was pretty tired from a big nite out the day before in Byron Bay.

Sydney

2007-01-09T19:03:00.000Z

Hello!! Just arrived in Sydney by plane from Ballina near Byron Bay. Passed a pretty cool surf town on the way to the airport (Lennox Heads) which is probably worth a look next time. Not much time now, I just checked into the hostal and off to see a friend now - bye!!

On Pain

2007-01-09T11:25:00.000Z

UUGHH! Pain..

Not good... Couple drinks at Cheeky Monkeys with the guys from the hostal last night turned out to be a pretty big nite. Oh no, ?? was that really me dancing on the table last night with the two british girls ?? to Justin Timberlake ?? I don't do that sort of thing. It could at least have been some other music.. Dios mio que verguenza!

I guess maybe I just dreamt it. No photos or evidence of the occasion thank god. But hold on, here is one taken a bit before... It was the canadian guys that thought it'd be fun to buy 10 jugs of beer. At least the hostal was just across the road.

On the plus side.. I gave surfing a try again yesterday and managed not to break the board. Almost stood up too. Hehe.

Byron

2007-01-08T02:19:00.000Z

Just arrived in Byron Bay... Place is alright but not as chilled as I thought it would be..

Off tomorrow so not much time to hang around here.. Anyway its almost impossible to find accomodation, this is a very small town and it gets chockers during the summer..

I guess most people who come here are after the surf and partying. There is quite a surfer/hippie atmosphere in this town which I guess peaks to party central around new years... and its full of interesting shops and things to do.

I'm staying in one of the local hostals. Its across the road from a bar called the Cheeky Monkey and has quite a laid back atmosphere, plus they loan surfboards for free... I'll try and have another go and hopefully not bust it this time round!!

I'm off to check out the babes on the beach. C ya!

Another night in Brisbane

2007-01-07T23:02:00.000Z

Its Sunday and I guess I would have had to sleep at the beach in Byron if I hadn't made a last minute call to find some accomodation before cathing the bus there.. Turns out the only thing I could get in all of Byron is an apartment for 120 bucks, and even that was gone when I called again.

A word of advice.. This time of the year (Christmas/New Years) is the worst time to be looking for accomodation in Sydney and Byron, specially now with the Ashes its all full of English/Canadian and US backpackers. The guys I met in Straddie told me of the horrors of arriving in Byron at 5pm and not being able to find anywhere to stay and having to camp and get rained on, etc.

So instead of heading down to Byron I checked myself into a Brisbane hostal next to the bus station and called my friend Kat to see if she had some free time to catch up for a drink later. Got a ticket to Byron and reserved accomodation there for the next day, even that was hard, most places were booked ahead 3/4 days but I finally managed to get myself a bed by giving out my credit card number over the phone (which I hope I don't have to do again).

Playin Texas-Holdem by the Beach

2007-01-07T02:28:00.000Z

Played a game of poker with the YHA guys last nite after taking the day off doing some internet and cooking, eating, watching the 80's classic Ghostbusters with the other restful souls of the backpacker hang-out in Stradbroke Isle.

I've played a few times and I wanted to write down the rules so I dont' forget again so I pencilled them this morning on my notebook and I'm passing them to the diary today (BTW: right now I'm in the spunky Tinbilly hostal in Brissie, leaving early morning to go to Byron).

Anyway, here goes:

The game is one of the many variants of poker. Basically every player uses the highest combination of any cards in their hand or facing up up the table and the score as follows (from lowest to highest cards). 1) Pairs, 2) Two Pairs, 3) Threes, 4) Straight, 5) Flush, 6) Full House, 7) Poker, 8) Royal Flush.. If two people have the same high-scoring set then you look at the non-scoring cards to see who has highest (ie if the winners have both a pair of Queens - one queen in the hand and another on the table, the one that has an Ace left in the hand together with a queen wins the round).

The pot on this game was 5 dollars a person, to be split by the winners after 3 hours. There were 6 guys on the table. Next me to was Ross: a scary tatooed dude, then Jamesy: the manager of the diving centre, Ralphie: the manager of the YHA, Robbo: a local electrician, Pierce: a scottish backpacker and me (a crazy spaniard). Chips were handed out to each player, the winnings (a grand total of 30 bucks) going to those with some left at the end.

The game rotates anti-clockwise with a different 'hand' every time (player who shuffles and deals the cards) and a typical round goes as follows:

1) Hand deal 2 cards per player
2) Next player after the Hand puts 1 chip down (called 'small blind') the next person puts 2 chips down (called 'big blind').
3) After looking at the cards the next player after the 'big blind' will either 'see' (meet the highest bet - 2 chips to match the big blind at this stage), 'raise' (put more chips down), or 'fold' (quit the game) and then same with the next one until everyone has had a chance at this with the 'small blind' going last.
4) Hand throws out 1 card, and deals 3 up (for everyone to see).
5) Players either see, raise, or fold going one by one around the table.
6) Hand throws 1 card, and puts 1 card up on the table.
7) Players see/raise/fold (when someone folds they have to leave their bet in the pot).
8) Hand throws out 1 card and deals 1 up making a total of 5 cards on the table.
9) Players see/raise/fold.
10) When everyone has had a turn and only the highest stakes are left the players show their cards
11) Highest cards takes the pot.

Notes: Only a max of 3 raises are allowed per round. Bluffing, heckling, peer pressure, and drinking are all part of the game.

Maybe Surfing’s not my Thing

2007-01-06T03:40:00.000Z

Hmm… I think my surfing career hasn't really got off to a flying start...

I set off early this morning for a surf at Cylinder Beach with Celia and Mary, two girls staying at the local YHA. Celia’s from Norway and she’s just been for a surf course in NSW and bought her own board in Byron so she volunteered to teach us the basics.. So there I was thinking maybe, just maybe, I found my calling in life.. It was al going great, waves about 5-6 foot high and me making my first steps towards standing on the big soft-top surfboard I hired at the hostal. Its just like snowboarding only that you have to jump and land right… Until a big wave comes and I fall off and next thing I know the board’s split in half… Busted. Oh shit. 280 bucks on my credit card that I’m hoping the insurance will cover… and a similar dent on my ego. Needless to say I’ve taken the rest of the day off… Bad luck comes in waves so I better keep my head down, its been a hard morning already.

North Stradbroke Island

2007-01-05T13:08:00.000Z

Last minute change of plans at Brisbane Transit centre: instead of heading off to Byron as I originally planned I caught the train and ferry across to Stradbroke Island or 'Straddie' as its known to the locals over here.I called in to the local YHA to book a bed but forgot to ask them how to get there so it was only after the bus dropped me off at Point lookout (3km from the hostal) that I talked to someone and realised that I'd gone right past it and would have to either wait for the bus or walk all the way back.Up on the right is a pic of Frenchmans Bay taken from point lookout while trekking back with my 12 kilo pack..

Apparently you are not supposed to drink tap water on this island… I guess the locals have a sense of humour, either way I can’t be bothered buying bottled water and I guess if the fish really do crap in it they're just adding local flavour, the water tastes wonderful in any case.. far better than the council juice I get in wandsworth.

And fancy that: You can actually see the stars in Australia. Here is a shot of Orion (if you can spot it in that pic). Just left of the centre those three little starts are Orions Belt. Its amazing that in the last 4 years living in a big city maybe I’ve seen this about… uhm.. twice.

Friday nite ended up being fairly mellow.. Imagine how mellow: the hot spot for a nite out on this island is the local Lawn Bowls Club, which I went to with a couple ppl I met at the hostal.

West End to Surfers Paradise

2007-01-04T12:28:00.000Z

Thursday I woke up at 'Somewhere to Stay' a hostal in the laid back West End area of Brisbane and headed off to a bookshop on Boundary Street. It was cloudy but perfect temperature around 25-30 degrees... Had my brekky and got a book for the journey which I read on the way to meeting up with my friend Kat (who reads philosophy at the local uni) for a trip to Surfers.

From Brisbane its pretty easy to get to Surfers, you just catch the train and a bus. Thankfully its now January and Schoolies week is over otherwise we would have been swamped by hordes of kids out on schooltrip.

By the way 2 things: Surfers Paradise IS just a kitsch name to make the place sound good. Its really a beautiful beach with nice waves but the high-rises japanese tourists and the tacky bars spoil the scene, the real surfing paradise is all around the coast of Queensland and NSW. And the second. Yes, that is a truckies tan on that semi-naked body. Thought you'd all appreciate it.

Brisbane

2007-01-04T10:57:00.000Z

Hello!! Had almost no time to sit down and upload my pictures so I'm just putting a stub here.

I'm in Brissie, Planning on heading down to Byron soon.. cya!!

Life in Tassie

2007-01-03T23:38:00.000Z

Maybe I’m idealising things a bit, but life over here is damn good, at least the summers are beautiful on this island. Its been a steady 10-25 degrees over the last couple weeks.

The country over here is green and beautiful with lots of local fruit and wines. The locals are great, friendly people with a few fruit-loops here and there.

Woudn’t it be nice to have a little farm in Tassie to spend the summers when its dark and cold in Europe?… well I guess life is made of dreams hey..

Couple of Goodbyes

2007-01-03T22:08:00.000Z

Last day in Tassie, I’m flying off at 4pm and my brothers dropped me in town at 10am because he has to run a few errands.

So I go to meet Jane who drives me off to their place and then to Amy's. Amy looking gorgeous and shining with confidence as always (are you really a capricorn Amy? Maybe there is more than a fair share of Leo in there too), with her parents Damian and Jane behind.. I guess that together with my own family these guys have had a very profound effect on my upbringing as I was a kid when I first met them and slowly grew around them to become who I am today.

And of course dear sister Emma my first girlfriend..

Fishing near Kettering

2007-01-02T03:49:00.000Z

Miggie, Jav and I headed to the local pier for a bit of a fish see if we could catch the first course of tonight’s meal..

Caught 3 flatties and an aussie salmon. But they were all teeny.. way too small to eat… oh well. I guess that the roast lamb will have to be enough for all of us tonight.

De Salas Coffee Roasting Co

2007-01-01T23:44:00.000Z

How do you roast the perfect beans? Well the answer is surprisingly simple according to Miguel, who has now perfected bean roasting to the second pop (called the Continental Roast – I think). You guys thought I was a bit nuts about coffee, well apparently it runs in the family.

All you need is a heat gun (about 50 bucks in your local hardware store) and old or second-hand breadmaker from you local tip (around 10 bucks), a metal stand with a clip and a bit of knowledge you can easily find on the web..

The thing with coffee beans is that so long as they are green they will keep almost indefinately but as soon as you roast them they lose their flavour fairly quickly, about 3-4 days out in the pantry and they’ll be out of date.. you can put them in freezer like I do but everytime you take them out water condensates on them and they get more oxygen so they degrade slowly …

Here is Miguel showing us his the roasting process he uses to make sure the beans are perfect every time.. Kids: if you do this at home make sure its OUTSIDE as the peelings from the coffee beans will start flying everywhere.

Step 1) Drop the green beans into the breadmaker (no lid) and turn the timer for about 20 minutes so they start going round and round.

Step 2) Switch on the heat gun on max and point at the beans.. The hot air comes out at about 650C so in a few minutes the colour will start changing from green to yellow and then darken slowly into chocolate.

Step 3) First pop. The beans make a popping sound when they are roasting.. this first pop is louder than the second pop which is more of a crackle..

Step 4) Second pop.. By this time the colour will be dark brown. Switch off the heat gun and drop the beans out to a tray so that they cool down.

Step 5) Grind, press and run them through the espresso machine… Preferably with a bit of full fat milk heated to 60C to make the perfect cappuchino or single shot espresso with milk (my fave).

Step 6) After all that TLC you put into making a cuppa better take some time to sit down and ENJOY!

By the way: Fuzzbutt says to say MEEOW.

Snorkeling with Miggie

2007-01-01T22:44:00.000Z

Monday Javi and I went off to stay with my brother Miguel for a couple days after seeing mum off at the airport. Miggie is a marine botanist at the local uni and lives on the coast south of Hobart near Bruny Island.. He’s got a fishing licence and goes diving, snorkeling and spear-fishing often looking for abalone (see pic left), atlantic salmon, crayfish, squid etc.. The water was freezing cold (about 10 degrees) and I saw a couple of sting-rays, lots little fish and sea urchins, even spotted an adult abalone about the size of my hand but I wasn’t carrying a diving knife to get unstuck from the rock so I lost it. :(

New Years Eve

2007-01-01T03:27:00.000Z

Woke up on New years after a nite out in hobart where the town seemed really quiet for this time of the year.. I guess half the young people here have gone off to the Falls Festival and getting tickets is pretty hard – its pretty popular so gets booked out fairly soon.

So I met up with mum and Javi for a late lunch at Salamanca and then hung around doing a few things waiting for the fireworks display at the Hobart Marina. Nothing much else to do and had to wake up early the next day so headed off to bed fairly soon after a few drinks.

Sydney to Hobart yatch race

2006-12-29T13:06:00.000Z

I was down at the docks having a few drinks at T42 on thursday night. See the little white sail in the middle? Thats the winning yatch 'Wild Oats' crossing the finishing line just in front of the Hobart marina after 2 days sail across the Bass Strait from Sydney.

And here is a couple more photos of Elisabeth St pier I took earlier that day.. One from inside the bar.

And another one of a couple of boats up front.

A few more buddies

2006-12-27T14:12:00.000Z

Boxing day I met with Liam and Chris, here is a pic of us having (liquid) lunch at salmanca square. The mid-day sun is so bright in Tasmania the shade is hiding half my face and all of Chris'

And a cute photo of me and Katerina down on the docks catching up quickly for a couple drinks on christmas eve as she was flying out to Brisbane on the 26th.

Hellooo!

2006-12-26T03:29:00.000Z

Yep still around, not much time to sit down and write anything, maybe I'll be able to do it when I'm at a hostal with free access to internet but at the moment I've been staying with mum and Javier. Catching up with lots people who are also down in hobart for christmas. There was a Friends' School 10 year reunion last Saturday and managed to see a whole lot of faces I hadn't seen in a long time. Josh and Oddie are going to be in Whistler in february, thats in addition to Will and Emerson, so it'll be quite a few guys from school there I really have no excuse to miss out (even if I'm having too much fun in Buenos Aires). Anyway, I'll write some more when I have some time to sit down!!... Happy X-Mas and News Years!!

Christmas Eve with Miggie and Kiwi

2006-12-24T22:34:00.000Z

We had some lunch on Christmas eve with my brother Miguel and his wife Kristy who both life in tassie and work at the uni, here are some pics of the family reunion...

And another one. Smile!!

Friday Nite at Salamanca

2006-12-23T11:53:00.000Z

Salamanca was packed with people out on the piss this last Friday.. here is a shot of Knoppies fairly early in the evening with the big fence to contain the party.. This is before things started getting messy.

One of Javi and Tessa at Maldinis.

And another one of the hairy bushman with me and Kirsty (and the crowd behind).

Some things never change... like a stop at Mikonos early in the morning to quash the munchies.

The Fam & Friends

2006-12-22T01:02:00.000Z

Here are a few more pics I've taken the last couple of days. Its been fairly hard to find time to sit down at an internet cafe.. And I haven't taken many pics either because I've been busy catching up with friends and forgot to bring my camera.. Just seen Courtney, Wacky, Emma & Jane Brown, Julia who I bumped into in Sandy bay, Pablo and Cesar at the Queens head last night listening to a Cuban band, and various others - oh Scott who I saw at Retro's (almost forgot) .. Maybe I can start remembering to take my camera with me.

Up there on the right is my mum who is down in Hobart for a month. She is tucking into some spanish tapas at Franciscos in Battery Point. We've all coincided in Tassie this year for Christmas but coming and going at different times.

There is also one of me and hairy brother Javi, and him sitting down with a coffee over a game of cards. He's been in tas for about a month chilling out with friends and is going back to Europe (me thinks) sometime in February when the visa runs out.

Well its friday and I'm going off to Knoppies tonight and sit out on the lawns with Courtney and Wacky and some other ppl, everyone in Hobarts going to be down there so lets see who else has come home for X-mas.

Bush-fires around Hobart

2006-12-20T20:30:00.000Z

This is a photo of Mt Wellington I took from Battery Pt (Just opp Jackman McCross bakery) the day I arrived. There's been fires all around the east coast because of the heat (As any australian knows gum trees burn very easily in dry weather because of the oil in the leaves). Haven't heard of any homes in Hobart that have burnt down but I think the small towns around the east coast of Tassie haven't been so lucky.

Arrive in Australia

2006-12-20T20:25:00.000Z

Hello!! Finally arrived in Sydney airport after a 10 hour flight. Couldn't help myself to some twisties just off the plane. He-he.. This is the only place you can get the little bastards.

Back in Hong Kong

2006-12-19T00:44:00.000Z

Sitting at a cafe in Nathan road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Its about 18 degrees here, sunny, green, clean and really beautiful. I arrived yesterday morning after a 12 hour journey on the slepper bus to the China/HK border and had a really long siesta asleep in my hotel. I decided to stay in Kowloon peninsula instead of the Island proper.. I think I kind of prefer it here than Hong Kong island.

Met some dude on the bus who's from London and been staying in china for 3 months taking Kung-Fu lessons. Other than that it was pretty uneventful journey away from Yangshuo. I though I would regret travelling all the way into rural china and then all the way back into HK but I had a lot of fun and I think it was definately worth it. HK is ok but it gets boring pretty fast, there is not much to do here other than shopping for stuff I don't need, and eating yummy wonton noodles and chicken congee (see photo on the right, looks like baby food, actually it probably IS baby food, oh well tastes great so who cares about the strange looks), and (I guess) going out to the local bars and meeting the expats who live here. Still its pretty expensive compared with mainland china and it sort of feels a bit shallow I guess.

Off to Australia on the 8pm plane.

A visit to the chinese hospital

2006-12-17T01:56:00.000Z

Ed fell in the bushes while we were cycling yesterday. I only realised this when we were all having dinner last night at Drifters back in Yangshuo. He had a swollen finger with some sort of nasty spine stuck inside and he couldn't get it out.. so we left the Danish girls at dinner and headed over to a pharmacy to find something to give to him and then we were told to go to the hospital instead. I think Ed must have been shitting himself, I mean its only a spine but the finger looked infected and you don't really want to have any problem like that in the middle of rural china and have to chop it off because its gone nasty.

So we went up to the hospital to see a doctor who could get the spine out of his finger I was the interpreter as I was the only one who could speak chinese. Once we got to A&E at the hospital we got taken to a place with a sign saying "Handle the room" (I think this means the patient Handling Room) and he had a mini-operation with a sterile sringe and tweezers to get the spine out. The doctor wanted to put him on a drip with antibiotics and give him an injection but we managed to get away with just a course of oral antibiotics and a visit the next day to see how things were going.

Its now the next day and the finger's looking a bit better, not quite so swolen, the doctor just said to keep taking the antibiotics two more days and have a shot for tetanus but Ed's already been vaccinated so didn't need to have an injection afterall. I'm heading off back to Hong Kong tonight and I think he'll be staying a few more days with the Danish girls looking after him to see how the infection pans out.

Cycling along the paddy fields

2006-12-16T12:16:00.000Z

Morning on Saturday and I'm meeting up with Edward, this Irish dude who's come overland across Siberia and been riding the grasslands in Mongolia who I met the night before having dinner at Drifters in XiJie and we stayed up until 2am drinking beer and swapping stories abou life. So Ed and I go off to have some chinese breakfast: doujiang & youtiao (Hot soy milk with fried pastry and sugar) at one of the small stalls that line up the main street of Yangshuo. We then set off with two montain bikes from the hostel where I'm staying to go and see Moonhill Mountain, which is kind of like one of the many jagged peaks that line the landscape around this town but this one has a hole like a doughnut in the middle of it. Here is a photo of me cycling though the country on the right.

Anyway so we meet these two Danish girls Ira and Anya at the top of the mountain taking photos of the scenery and then we all set off to find an alternative pathway back to Yangshuo but going via the villages and paddy fields as opposed to using the main road. Up on the left is me taking a photo of Anya, Edward and Ira getting lost on the way (as you do).. And if you are wondering why the girls are both wearing crowns of flowers - its quite a normal thing to be backpacking and meet smiling girls wearing flowers on their heads. Its all just part of the adventure.

Here is a photo of us once we eventually found our way across the paddy fields and managed to make it back to the main road.

Yangshuo (China)

2006-12-15T01:03:00.000Z

Helloo!!! Just arrived in Yangshuo... my god what a mission to get here.. its 8 am and freezing (0 degrees).. if I'd known I would have stayed nice and warm in hong kong and stuck to shopping instead of coming over to this place. Have to say the landscape is pretty staggering though, just what I remember.

Hong Kong to Yangshuo

2006-12-12T17:37:00.000Z

I didn't get to stop in Hong Kong, pretty much went straight from the airport to Hung Hom train station and then up to the border crossing at Luo Wu on the KCR. Its a pity because the weather is so nice, Hong Kong in winter is just the perfect temperature (15-20 degrees) and I sort of regretted not staying, but I figured if I was going to spend a day or two in Hong Kong it made more sense to do it AFTER going to into mainland china so that I don't have to rush my way back in to catch a plane and miss it because of something silly like roadworks in China or a train being suspended on the way back.. which I could see happening fairly easily.

My first impression of PRC after 4 years since I last came here was being buffeted by THE SMELL emmanating from the river at the Luo Wu crossing. Welcome to China. :)

Shen Zhen was just the same, chaotic and smelly and people are rude, not very genuine and its full of cheap and nasty things. And this is the city with the best standard of living in all of China apparently.. I went to the Bus station and booked a sleeper ticket for the 12 hour journey to Yangshuo (Y220 which is about 18 pounds). Only to realise that it was 10 am and the next bus wasn't leaving til 8pm. So I had a whole day to do nothing in Shenzhen. Before a grueling 12 hours stuck in a bus on the way up to the middle of nowhere... greaat.... remind me again... why do I do this?

36 Hours

2006-12-11T02:38:00.000Z

Wow... I'm off in just one and a half days... its 2 am and I'm trying to sort out my backpack see if there is anything I need that I forgot to put in there..

Basically its a pretty small bag. Single small backpack, fits as hand-luggage so I don't have to risk some airline losing it. I'm trying to keep it below 10kg, as I'm going to have to lug it all the way round the world. The heaviest items are my 2 guides, I'm taking Lonely Planet for China and (budget) Australia and NZ. I'll get the South America guide at some bookshop in Sydney just before I go, there is not much point carrying it around for the next month as I'm not going to use it. Other than that its just 1 raincoat, 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shorts, some t-shirts, bathers, toiletry, underwear and a camera and mobile phone, oh and a sleeping bag. Then the essentials: Passport, Money & Tickets (PMT - the list you never forget). I'm taking a maestro and visa card for money. A printed round-the world ticket and my spanish passport with its Chinese visa stamped in it. Don't really need much more than that - Australia only needs an electronic visa application (Done) and I don't need visas for South America or New Zealand travelling on a European passport.

Scratching with Tapiador and Karim

2006-12-10T12:01:00.000Z

Saturday night Tapi, his girlfriend Chis and I met up with Tapi's friend Karim that he met in Belgium. Went off to his place in Fulham where we had some yummy Osso Bucco for dinner followed by a scratching session using Karim's Decks mixing some of Tapi's music, and then some drum n' bass and hip hop. Here's a photo of Tapi on the left scratching away happily then Karim's checking out some stuff on his laptop as well.

After scratching we headed up to a Chelsea bar and another one in Clapham for a couple drinks and then ended up at my place til 4.30 am listening to music and copying Karim some mp3s of funky chinese rap I had lying about (MC HotDogg - Ha Gou Bang) so he could mix it in with his drum n' bass.

DJ Tapi @ Kings Lynn

2006-12-09T16:11:00.000Z

On Friday there was me and my spanish friends Concha and Jose (Tapi) from EGB (junior school) plus his girlfriend Chris who were all staying at my place, heading out on a rental car on the way up north to Kings Lynn to hear Tapi play at a drum and bass gig there. After almost smashing the car to bits on the south circular trying to get out of london on a busy friday night.. and then travelling out to the arse end of nowhere we finally got to this guys place and had a cup of tea with some fig rolls before going off again to hear Tapi mix some of his vinyl at this party with a wicked MC (and I didn't like MCs much but now after hearing this one sing I'm starting to believe that maybe they have a place in the world afterall - drum bass and breaks gigs.. cant have an MC at a trance rave it just doesnt go).. Here are some pics of the party.

Researching my Travels

2006-12-06T15:17:00.000Z

Tuesday night I went off to Borders bookshop in Oxford Street for a bit of research.. The have a whole floor area with 3 sections dedicated to Travel and its full of lonely planet and other guides, plus there is a cafe in the store as well, so its perfect place to do a bit of reading before heading off...

I was trying to find out answers to the following two questions:

1) What do I do for a whole week in China?... I really want to go to Yangshuo again but will I have time to visit my friend Steve in Shanghai? Is it possible to do all that AND be back in HK to catch my flight on the 19th? Hm.... Looking at bus/train routes and timetables... Looks like I might have to choose one or the other, crap.. Oh well Yangshuo is too good to miss out on, and I need to get away from big cities I think. I'll have to visit Steve some other time it seems.. Damn.

2) Uruguay is between Argentina and Brazil and I'm flying into one and out of the other: Is it worth visiting the place? Is it a nice country? Do I need a visa? Is there anything interesting to see? Basically Uruguay is one of those countries that its almost impossible to get any travel information on. The guide for it was out of print in 2002 and there is none left.. I could find a chapter on the South America budget book for LP and it basically says: Yes - its worth it. "the switzerland of South America" apparently (does that mean its a little boring maybe?).. So its got all the nice bits of Argentina but its more chilled.. good Horse-riding, plus there is a bit of a Ibiza-like night spot in Punta del Este I might want to go and visit. Seems like I might be crossing Uruguay on my way to Brazil..