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Bangkok: In Transit

January 8th, 2006

Well, I’ll be the first to admit that, given that this is a travel journal, Bec and I haven’t exactly done a lot of travelling over the past two months. Seven weeks in the Czech Republic, and three-and-a-half in Germany, with not a whole lot of travelling in between. But we’ve made up for that in the past five days, I can assure you.

Marr’y and Gab left Lubeck on New Years Day, leaving Bec and me, and Karen and Benno to spend a couple of quiet nights in town, which included a visit to Lubeck’s “Ice World”, featuring massive ice sculptures of the animal world. Very impressive these sculptures were, but a little hard to enjoy for too long when the temperature was minus 8 degrees celcius. You know something is not quite right when you have to go outside into the snow to warm up.

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Lubeck: And a super New Year

January 2nd, 2006

Vvvvvvwwwwooooooooooom!!!!
Vvvvvvvvwwwwooooooooooom!!!!
Vvvvvvvvwwwwoooooom!!!!

The sounds of rockets firing filled my ears. Smoke engulfed everyone around me in the narrow, snow-covered street. For as far as I could see in either direction, rockets were being propelled into the air amidst a shower of orange sparks, flying up into the dark night to explode in a colourful umbrella of more sparks. I crouched down in front of the plastic bottle standing in the street. In my left hand I held a small wooden stick, attached to which was a rocket with a short fuse. In my right hand was a cigar. I swung around a bit so Bec could get some footage of me, “Careful, careful,” said the man next to me whilst lighting his own rocket. Shit, I nearly had a rocket up the arse; not the best way to start a new year.

Cause folks, this was New Years, German style.

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Lubeck: Happy Christmas

January 2nd, 2006

Back in August, we organised to rent an apartment in the German town of Lubeck for two weeks, from December 20th rigth through to January 2nd. We were being joined by, at various times, ten other friends; including some of our best mates, Trickey and Sarah, and Gab and Marr´y, who have appeared in this journal before. Also coming along, in fact it was their original idea, were Karen and Benno, and their friends Andrew and Kristen, and Sam and Jane. Karen´s grandparents had been born in Lubeck, and she had always celebrated a German christmas as well as an Australian Christmas, so to be able to spend Christmas in Lubeck was especially special for her.

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Dresden: The Sound of White

December 29th, 2005

10am, and we walked out of the Dresden train station into a land of white. A good sounding hostel was located not too far away from the station, and we began walking gingerly through the snow to get there, despite not having a reservation. 15 minutes later, we arrived at the Lollis Homestay, with snow covering us and our heavy packs filled with Christmas presents.

“Hallo, do you have any beds available?” we asked the young receptionist.

She looked at her computer, “No.”

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Cesky Krumlov: Hello, Beardy

December 18th, 2005

rustle rustle……. silence

rustle…..

“Did you hear that?” whispered Bec across the pillow, through the darkness.

rustle…..rustle rustle…….silence

“Yeah. Is that…….is that a mouse?” I asked, hoping like hell it wasn´t.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Should I turn the light on?”

“Yeah, better.”

It was the middle of the night, our last night in Cesky Krumlov. To escape the mouse upstairs, the one that chewed up my headphones, and to get some much needed privacy we had moved downstairs into a double room. But it seemed it wasn´t as private as we´d hoped; it was sounding as though the mouse had moved with us. I leant over and switched on the light, rubbing my eyes in the sudden brightness. We both looked in the direction of the noise. It had been coming from Bec´s side of the bed, where our bags laid against the wall. Bec slapped the cupboard that sat next to our bags, hoping to scare it out. Nothing. She then lashed out at her own bag, giving it a mighty wallop near the base. As she did so, a little grey blob went flying across the room. Bec gave a shreik, and I jumped back, startled. Being blind as a bat and without my glasses, at first I thought it was, well, a bat.

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Cesky Krumlov: Minutiae

December 14th, 2005

I wake around 10am feeling lousy; a combination of the head cold that has taken hold of me the previous afternoon, and the beers I drank in spite of it. To sooth my head I reach for my headphones; some chilled out music for an hour will do me good. I pull the cord out of my bag, but it is broken; halfway along the cord has been split, it looks as though it has been severed. How the hell did that happen? Oh well, I go and stand under the hot water of the shower, letting the life run over me, holding my hand on the button continuously to keep the water coming. I leave the bathroom feeling marginally better, but must pick myself up, as today is Sam’s birthday. He’s the reason Bec and I have returned to Cesky Krumlov.

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Photos: Berlin

December 12th, 2005

I’ve put some photos from Berlin up on our Flickr page, which you can see here. But here’s a few more to keep you satisfied.

Ferris. With our new tripod, Bec and I have had heaps of fun mucking around. Here’s a shot that Bec took of the fairground in the middle of Berlin. There’s another, similar shot on Flickr as well. view image

Berlin Cathedral. As seen from across the River Spree.view image

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Berlin: And the Goblet of Fire

December 10th, 2005

In Berlin, the taxis are all Mercedes Benz. Just thought I’d throw that our there.

After two weeks in Cesky Krumlov, there was a mass exodus on Monday 28th November, as Bec and me, Casey and Aigin, and Simon and Alex all departed on a 3.17pm bus to Prague. Well, at least it was scheduled for 3.17pm. At about 3.25pm, after ten minutes of waiting in the freezing cold air, Casey asked a young girl also waiting at the bus stop, “Ah, are you going to Prague?”

“Yes, yes. But sometimes the bus is a little late.”

“Ok, there you go folks, the bus is sometimes late,” Casey informed us.

“And sometimes, it does not come at all,” the girl added.

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Photos: Cesky Krumlov, Part 2

December 9th, 2005

Time for some more photos from Cesky Krumlov, including some from Czech Idol. Ok, settle down there, you don´t get to see the movies we took, just the photos, plus a few other pics to help you put faces to names.

Like this. Giving Emily some lessons in air drumming, one of my favourite pasttimes, although it annoys the hell out of Bec. This is in the kitchen at the hostel, where we spent most of our time hanging out. Emily was going to spend Christmas with Bec and I in Germany, but unfortunately she was in a car accident just after she left Cesky Krumlov, when the car she was driving slid on the icy roads into the side of a semi trailer. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the car was a right off, and she´s had to fly home to Canada. To Emily´s right is young Alex.view image

Aigin and Greg. The very photogenic Aigin, from Vancouver, and Greg, who worked at the hostel.view image

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Cesky Krumlov: Czech Idol

December 1st, 2005

Wow. I spent two whole weeks in Cesky Krumlov, and all I´ve given you poor folks is one lousy update and a couple of dodgy pictures. My sincerest apologies. Maybe if I´d been busy doing crazy things every day I´d have an excuse, but the reality is that during our second week there we partied late every night, slept late every day, and did bugger all in between. The hostel had a refreshingly relaxed vibe during that week. Very few new people checked in, and the 12 or so people staying there all (well, nearly all) got along really well. It felt something like a school camp, just with less teachers, and more alcohol. Most nights involved a giant cook-up, where each person would make a dish and we´d all share; pasta, stir-fry, jumbalaya, salads, soups; we ate like kings. And whilst the details of some nights may have disappeared from my memories, ending up where-ever it is drunken memories go, one night will stick vividly in my mind (although, that´s mostly thanks to all the video footage that was taken).

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