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Hola!

August 6th, 2005

Plans, even the flimsiest ones, are bound to change. I arrived at Jerez airport to be met by my old Australian friend Ingrid and her Spanish partner.
red van.JPG blue toes.JPG
These guys currently live in a diy revamped bright red old van with wooden floor boards, gas kichen, fold out bed, shower cubicle, and Ingridīs handmade jewellery on the fold out dining table. They have been living on the beach in Tarifa and selling lunch sandwich packs to tourists to get by. Unfortunatley the Levante (mighty wind) took hold there, making the daily sandy breeze into a painful sand storm and driving everyone off the beach. So we all needed somewhere else to stay.
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On holidays

August 4th, 2005

Just in case anybody notices my sudden and dramatic absence for msn messenger, I am officially on holidays on the continent. I fly to Jerez in Spain tonight, meet up with an old friend, and bus it to her (now) home town of Tarifa on the Southern Spanish coast – the tip just across the water from North Africa. I spend a week there, then a few days in Seville, before hopping back to go to Paris on the eurostar from London. I will be away 3 delicious weeks – so look forward to some succulent blogging.

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Don’t make plans

July 24th, 2005

The reason that London appeals is that it’s a place where you never need to make plans. In fact making plans in London is like putting yourself on a leash and connecting to a running ramp. You’ll have a much richer and diverser experience if you see what finds you. There are plenty of possibilities.
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A Contiki tour with a difference

July 8th, 2005

In Malaysia for the Tsunami. In London for the ‘terror attacks’. What’s next on my itinerary you might ask.
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More money than time honey

June 15th, 2005

This attitude affects how the majority behave here in London. People don’t clean, they pay cleaners. People don’t make coffee, they go to Starbucks. People don’t go to each other’s houses for dinner, they go to restaurants in central london that can be reached directly by one form of public transport. Anything that requires two or more forms of transport, like a tube and a bus, is just too expensive in terms of time.
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Glasgow certainly didn’t tart herself up for my arrival

May 25th, 2005

Grey skies, 10 degree winds, and drizzling irritation provided the backdrop for a humourless, grumpy people to resentfully show me around. Glasgow is like Dublin’s troubled teenage son: sullen and difficult to like.
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Smells like New Zealand

May 17th, 2005

I greeted Dublin from the confines of the airport coach. I descended onto the main street when, as if on tourist cue, a man began a lively jig on his harmonica. I heaved my pack on and jostled around chalk artists, acoustic guitarists, and clowns. Just another day in colourful, lively and comical Dublin. Every corner a pub. Every person a story-teller.

From Dublin we drove to Belfast through the rolling hills and green fields of the Irish countryside, dotted with stone cottages, ailing castles and sheep. Belfast’s recent and volatile political history was splattered on every wall and pavement in the form of murals, graffiti and rallying calls.

Off to Glasgow and Edinburgh next week. . .

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The passing of time. . .

May 8th, 2005

Travelling is on hold now.

I have a job again, for the first time in 6 months. The routine and responsibilities start to creep back, next the monotony will seep in. No its really not that bad. London has a lot to offer, if only you can afford the time and money to indulge.

I am focussing on work for the next 3 months before starting the wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms) touring of western europe that i’ve had planned. hopefully starting in south of france in august. But for now. . .

Out: sharing an unlocked grotty room with six people and a toilet with twenty
In: sharing an upmarket intimidatingly pristine creme flat in central london

Out: spending days wondering what it all means and sharing that wonder with whoever is close by
In: not speaking unless spoken to, lest I scare the poor English with my gregarious Australian turns of phrase

Out: haggling for everything under the sun
In: resignedly paying 5 times as much for everything and consoling oneself with an inner monologue on economic relativity (is that even a term?)

Out: locally designed and produced mutlicolourful flowing hippy garb
In: grey and black dreary work clothes

Out: oddly tanned dirty rough feet in sandals
In: scrubbed clean feet in fresh socks and closed in shoes

Its hard not to quote the Smiths at this point.

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Suffering from culturephilia

April 26th, 2005

London rocks. I have taken to the streets with my sister. We went to The Tate Modern Gallery and tagged along with the tour of different areas of 20th century art: body, landscape, history, still life, and an exhibition of degenerate art. Most well-known works are Rodin’s life size sculpture ‘The Kiss’ and Monet’s ‘Waterlillies’.
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Bangkok: 99.9% germ-free

April 17th, 2005

Touchdown
Arrived to the dawning sun over Bangkok and an assault of already thick oppressive heat. Met some fellow kids at the baggage claim and we shared a cab to khao san rd while we debriefed India and shared mutual awe at how EMPTY and CLEAN Bangkok is. Where are the people? the animals? the traffic? the rubbish? the life? Bangkok feels oddly sterile and dull in comparison to the frenetic pace of India.
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