Groningen / Assen TT
As I sit here and think what to write about my last 3 days in Groningen and Assen there’s really only one thing that springs to mind. It has been a struggle.
I know I’m not supposed to say that about a holiday, while all you people are busy at work, or worse, not busy at work. But I’ve come to believe that holidays are a certain amount of fun compared to a certain amount of pretending to have fun. We all know that holidays are supposed to be to most fun ever but I think that holidays can never be 100% fun all of the time, so we go through the motions. We take the photos. We smile. We pretend, until the next actual fun thing happens. So the cycle continues, obviously with varying levels in the fun/pretend fun ratio depending on the person, the company, and of course, the holiday.
This is not to say for a minute that I regret any of my decisions. I am glad I left London so quick. I am glad I went to the MotoGP and I am glad that I am here alone. These decisions were the best decisions to make, they were not, however, the funnest choices.
We should probably start at the beginning. I got into Groningen at about 10pm on Wednesday night. I had not map and no idea where my hostel was. I had the address on my email but had not thought to print it out ahead of time. There are two things that made this error not such a big deal. Firstly, the visitor information office, complete with internet, is open at the train station until 11pm. Secondly, there are only 2 hostels in Groningen and once I said “simplon”, the visitor information lady told me which bus to catch. So I went and waited for bus 11 at gate D. Bus 11 was already parked there and there were some people waiting around, but no bus driver. So I waited around also. The first thing that struck me about Groningen that night was that I was completely and utterly on my own for the first time in my life. The second thing that struck me is that didn’t bother me too much, in fact, it excited me. The third thing that struck me is the sheer number of bicycles in this place. Everybody is riding a bicycle. They are parked everywhere, near the train station alone there would have been about 3000 of them. And people are still riding them around at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night.
The bus driver walked up the bus, got in and closed the door behind him. No one moved, so I didn’t move. He pottered around inside the bus. He stared the engine. No one moved, so I didn’t move. He drove away. At this point I am thinking “Is is a bad way to start my solo travels by running down the street after a bus crying for it to not leave without me and that I don’t know where I am”. But, no one moved, so I didn’t move. And, to my great pleasure, I had forgotten that in Europe cars drive on the right. It had done a U-turn out of the parking lot to pick us up on the road at the bus stop and facing the correct way. Step 1, complete.
The bus driver had to drop me off at Boterdiep. I had asked him to let me know when it was and had hence sat up near the front of the bus. I knew simplon was on boterdiep, but had no idea of how far along the street it was. Once out of the bus I walked up and down the street twice before I saw the vertical cursive neopn sign that signified the entrance to the hostel.
This hostel is, hmmm. I have no other hostels to compare it to, but I met up with some Irish lads the next night who had hostel’d it all the way through Europe for the last two months, and this was apparently the worst that had stayed in.
So I’m in a shitty hostel, but at least I have a bed. And once I put my earplugs in to block the noise of the dude two bunks over who has apparently shoved a V8 up his nose and it redlines every time he breathes, I get right to sleep.
I wake up very early as I am still running pretty much on Perth time, but that’s okay as it gives me a nice early start to go out and explore the city. Groningen is beautiful. It’s kinda like you would expect the creepy storybook villages of silent hill (it a video game for the non-nerds) to be if nothing creepy ever happened and they just continued in the new millennium. There is definitely modernisation, but the little cobblestoned streets and old churches and other buildings remind you of a time that Perth has never heard of.
I walked around Groningen all morning, taking photos of the typical touristy things and generally just being amazed with all of it. There was a few tones of beach sand in the town square, which had been set up for the national volley ball tournament which was coming to town on the weekend. There were people everywhere riding bicycles to work and I nearly got cleaned up a few times, due to me looking the wrong way, and them being so damn silent. I went back to the hostel at about 11:30am and got my stuff to head out to Assen to go to the first session of the MotoGP.
Getting to the circuit was really easy, however it was quite expensive. A return ticket to Assen was nearly 10 euro, and the return ticket to the track was 5 euro. I guess it’s not too bad. I must stop converting back to AUD. I got a seat in the main straight and sat down to wait for the show. Two things struck me. Firstly, the bikes are freaking loud, even the little ones. When they are at full noise on the main straight if you don’t have ear plugs in you actually get distortion, like when you play drum and bass too loud through crap speakers. Secondly, MotoGP, though it may look classy on tv is just a big piss up for the boys. They usually have a road trip where they ride here from all over Europe, they camp and they get drunk for three days, then they go home. This all sounds like a barrel of fun, but it definitely made me wish that my boys were here with me.
On the way back to Groningen from the track I had a look around Assen. It is also a gorgeous little town, with canals and cute streets filled with old buildings. It’s is also full of middle aged drunk Poms, which has its own sort of amusement. The TT festival is on in Assen over the time the MotoGP races are on, and while I’d heard there was a street party, I did not expect it to be this big. Five stages with different music and about fifteen different bars set up around the town make this the biggest street party I’ve ever seen.
I came back to the hostel and started chatting to two Irish lads who had got in during the day. They had slept the previous night at a train station on their way to Groningen, as they were on the last train somewhere hoping to get a connecting train to Groningen, but had no luck and ended up sleeping on the ground. Not the funnest night of their lives, but a story all the same. We went down to the supermarket to get some cheap food for dinner and then sat outside with these two Polish guys who were trying to get work here. They didn’t speak Dutch, and were quite amazed to find out that even for jobs such as peeling shrimp, their lack of the local language would prevent them from getting work.
The next day I was out to Assen quite early for two sessions of MotoGP action. While walking to the Groningen train station, I was passed by an old dude on a segway, as I was still laughing to myself about this I walked past a street where a young woman was sitting on a strep, she saw me laughing and smiled back. It was a nice way to start the day.
At Assen I chatted with a few old Dutch dudes as I couldn’t understand the announcer and wanted to know who was winning. They were quite friendly and gave me one of their dried meat things to eat, then were on their way. I walked the entire way round the track to check out all the different areas as tomorrow would be restricted seating and I wanted to see all of it while I could. Rossi ened up getting pole position, which made the crowd very happy and I think he would have had close to 100% support here.
Back in Groningen that evening, while walking back from the train station I found myself on the street where the girl who smiled at me was sitting and soon realized it was the red light district as women where seating at the window in their underwear. It’s quite startling when you’re not ready for it. There goes my confidence boost… The only Dutch woman prepared to smile at me is paid to do so. Awesome. It’s such a strange concept though, the women sitting at the window. Some of them are having cups of tea, reading the paper, watching the Simpsons. All the while nearly naked and in full view of the street.
That night both the Irish and Polish boys had moved on and I was now set with the task of making new friends. Here’s where the struggle really comes. I realized that there are two types of people at my hostel. The middle aged English lads whom I have a bit in common with, but am unlikely to go out for a night on the piss with. And the guys that are my age, but are there solely to get stoned the whole time, and do not desire a night on the piss, anymore than I desire to get stoned with people I don’t know in a country I don’t understand. I have lived my whole life with the motto “Fuck ‘em, I’ve got enough friends”. I now realize that this motto needs to change, and change fast. While I lamented this while walking around the city in the fading light of ten pm, I decided that this trip is not a holiday. At least not a holiday in the sense that Japan with Woo was a holiday where we were going out every night and getting written off, but really learning little about the people, the place, our fellow travelers, or more importantly, ourselves. This trip in contrast would not be about the big nights I would have (although I’m sure there will be some) but it will be how I deal with the moments of loneliness that may stretch into days, and the inevitable personal growth that comes with that.
I did however meet two Australian girls who were in Groningen to play in the Volleyball tournament. Alice and Louise are at the institute of sport and checked in at around the same time as the hostel worker was asking me if I was some kind of computer whiz kid and could fix their internet connection even though all the error messages are in Dutch and despite my mega computer skills, I would have little chance of understanding the problem.
He next morning was race day and again I was out at the track early. It was nuts. People were everywhere (mostly wearing yellow, in honour of Rossi, their god). The 125cc and 250cc races were exciting, tight struggles that were great fun to watch. The main race however was a bit of a precession as Rossi won by miles. Stoner got third and I was a little disappointed. I at least wanted it to be close. Oh well, I was there the day Rossi won his 100th race. That’s a little bit of history at least.
I went back to Groningen that night and went out to the town square and had some dinner. A WEINERSCHNITZEL (sorry, I have decided that anything that sounds the slightest bit German must be yelled) was quite cheap at around 10 euro. It was nice to have a good meal and be in the centre of town, even if it was all by myself (cue music from Bridget Jones). I had heard there was an ice bar in the town centre area and was determined to have a drink there before the end of the night. I spent the time waiting for the bar to open by walking around the city that I had not yet explored and at around 10pm made my way back to the town square. The ice bar was awesome. And cold. Duh. After a shot of vodka (I figured it was appropriate) and a shot of Jager for good measure, I made my way back to the hostel and got some sleep.
The next morning I got up and went down to the town square to watch Louise and Alice give some Dutch girls a lesson in Beach Volleyball. I wore my wife-beater to add that classic Aussie touch. Then it was farewell to beautiful Groningen and time to get Amsterdamned.
The train ride there was pleasant enough. Once there I went to the tourist office to get directions to my hostel, and after the tram let me out a stop late, it was only a hop skip and a jump to the Flying Pig Uptown hostel. There are already more people my age (and by that I mean UNDER 30) in this hostel than I came across in all my time in Groningen. And there’s a big party tonight. It’s all looking up. Taylor needs some friends.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
London – Some time on my own
Monday I headed out into London town with a few things to do. Originally I was going to go to Wimbledon with Marnie, but she had gone too hard on Saturday night and was not in any state to watch tennis all day. We would’ve struggled to get tickets anyway, so it turned out to be a good thing we didn’t go.
I needed a UK simcard, an Australia to Europe/UK adaptor and some security netting for luggage that Belle has apparently seen, but I’ve not seen before or after. I got the train into Charing Cross station and decided to walk to Oxford street without consulting a map, being as navigation is apparently so difficult in London. As I was born with an innate sense of direction (anyone know which awesome animated movie this quote is from?), this jaunt through the most touristy area of London proved to be quite simple, apart from slow walking tourists irritating me. I got my simcard and was now once again connected to the world of reasonable priced sms. I couldn’t find anywhere that sold the luggage netting stuff, not could I find the Aus to UK Euro adaptor I was looking for, but continued to walk around Oxford Street for a while.
After I grew tired of Oxford Street and the tourist fueled irritation I got on the tube and went down to Westminster for more tourist related madness. I came up from the underground right in front of Big Ben and then took quite a few touristy shots from Westminster Bridge. I stood on the bridge for a few minutes, one of the most tourist heavy places in the world and watched all of them take photos of each other with Westminster Abbey and Big Ben in the background. I was one of them, but it was not the photos that were important to me. It was just the fact that I was finally here. It had taken nearly seven years from the time I decided to come, to actually getting here, and most of the delays were my own doing, but I was finally here, and that felt satisfying.
I then walked along the Thames back towards Trafalgar Square. Along the way there are many war memorials to the various armed forces that battled in the first and second world wars. I like the Air Force memorial for those that died in the Battle of Britain the best. It’s not a high monument, similar to the Bali monument in Kings Park in a lot of ways, but has 3D sculptures of various war moments cast in bronze coming out of the side of the walls.
When I got back to Trafalgar Square, I decided in would be a dereliction of my duties as a tourist if I did not go to Buckingham palace. So I trekked down to the palace and walked around the gates out the front, taking photos as is the tourist way. At the Australia gate I took some photos and was very surprised to notice that the statue at the top looks to be a child hugging a kangaroo. Not what I’d expected. I then decided that I’d been a tourist long enough for today and headed back to Greenwich to have dinner with Jax and Belle.
The next day I had my only appointment of the time in England, and that was at the local job centre in order to get my National Insurance Number. I left later that I wanted to, but still got to Stepney on time for my interview. All went well with that, and I set out to do more exploring around London.
From Stepney I walked into the city. There is a habit of many people, including nearly all Londoners, to use the tube all the time, even though it might only be a ten minute walk. I like to walk, it’s exercise (I already feel weird having not been to a gym in over two weeks) and you get to see where everything is in relation to each other, rather than just popping out of a hole in the ground in front of it. Also, I could see the Gherkin in the distance and wanted to know if that was indeed the buildings official name, as Belinda had told me. To my surprise, it was. It is officially called “The Gherkin Tower”. It does look like a gherkin, so I guess it makes sense.
I then walked around the Tower of London for more snaps, and then made my way into Chinatown for a quick bite at a place that claimed to be the Dumpling King. The dumplings were excellent (they’d want to be for 5 pounds for 7 dumplings) but, alas, this was not the king. I’ve had better.
I continued on my way through Soho to the Borders, were I pulled up a chair and read through some travel books about The Netherlands. It was soon 2pm and time for me to have lunch with Jax and Bruce. It was great to see Bruce again, he’s always a cheerful fellow, and I won’t see him again for a while as he’s heading back to Perth before I get back from Europe. Jax, Bruce and I had a good chat before everyone’s lunch break was over and it was time to leave, as I had to get back to Greenwich to let Belle in after work.
I packed up all my stuff for the trip to Holland tomorrow and then headed out to meet Dima in Clapham for a few drinks. Dima did the typical bar hopping thing as Johnno, Scotty, Dima and I went had one beer at each bar before we moved on to another. It was a fun night with the boys, and I really like Clapham. It’s likely to be the suburb I’ll live in if I don’t get a job on the snow, and come back to settle in London. I made it home at just before midnight after sprinting for the train from Waterloo to Waterloo east train station. I think I may have pulled a hammie, but I’m sure I’ll survive.
I woke up the next morning with a slight hangover. I’ve really gotta get used to that, as I assume it’s only gonna get worse over the next 3 months of travelling around Europe. I went to work with Belle as this was the only way for her to have her keys. I left my bags at her work in Edgeware road and set off on a completely random morning around London before I went to Heathrow around noon. I jumped on a train without looking where it was going and decided to get off at the next stop that sounded interesting. That stop happened to be Notting Hill. Holy Jeebus, there is some money in that suburb. The place is gorgeous, but also has a fairly stuffy feel to it. I walked further through notting Hill to check out the Portobello Road market, which was pretty dead, but it was 10am on a Wednesday morning.
I then got back on the subway and went to Waterloo train station to check out some graffiti art Belle had recommended. There wasn’t much left of it, as it’s in a tunnel where graffiti is legal, so all the taggers had come in and gone over the top of the cool stuff with their useless and ugly tags. I then went back to Edgeware road, picked up my bags and took the first steps of my solo adventure through Europe.
Upon arrival to Heathrow, after checking in my bags, I learned two things about myself very quickly. I trust people too easy, and I have a habit of getting fleeced by a pretty girl trying to sell me stuff I don’t need. The first was after I was in a luggage store in the Airport, before you go through security. She told me no other shops in the airport would have the adaptor I was looking for, hence I bought a straight Euro adaptor off her. Only to walk through security and find a large electronics shop with every kind of adaptor I could need. Grrr
Secondly, there were some smoking hot cars on display and I went to take some photos of them. The cute sales girl started talking me into buying a raffle ticket and even though I didn’t want one and I needed that money, I still ended up buying one. I am a tool.
I got on the plane, and straight away started talking to the woman next to me who is one her way home to Amsterdam after 4 months travelling in Australia. She found it very amusing that I was about to do in her country what she had just finished doing in mine. We chatted the whole way to Amsterdam, which was the shortest flight of my life. I couldn’t believe it. We’d barely got to cruising altitude when the pilot was telling us to prepare for our descent. All those years flying into and out of Perth have made me forget that flights that last for less than one hour actually exist. I was in line for security longer than I was on the plane!
I write this now sitting on the train to Groningen. The Dutch countryside reminds me a lot of Victoria (when it rains). It is very flat and very green, with the occasional typical Dutch windmill thrown in to remind me of where I am. Its 9pm and still blazing sunlight. I won’t get to my hostel till after 9:30pm. I hope they haven’t given my bed away.
I needed a UK simcard, an Australia to Europe/UK adaptor and some security netting for luggage that Belle has apparently seen, but I’ve not seen before or after. I got the train into Charing Cross station and decided to walk to Oxford street without consulting a map, being as navigation is apparently so difficult in London. As I was born with an innate sense of direction (anyone know which awesome animated movie this quote is from?), this jaunt through the most touristy area of London proved to be quite simple, apart from slow walking tourists irritating me. I got my simcard and was now once again connected to the world of reasonable priced sms. I couldn’t find anywhere that sold the luggage netting stuff, not could I find the Aus to UK Euro adaptor I was looking for, but continued to walk around Oxford Street for a while.
After I grew tired of Oxford Street and the tourist fueled irritation I got on the tube and went down to Westminster for more tourist related madness. I came up from the underground right in front of Big Ben and then took quite a few touristy shots from Westminster Bridge. I stood on the bridge for a few minutes, one of the most tourist heavy places in the world and watched all of them take photos of each other with Westminster Abbey and Big Ben in the background. I was one of them, but it was not the photos that were important to me. It was just the fact that I was finally here. It had taken nearly seven years from the time I decided to come, to actually getting here, and most of the delays were my own doing, but I was finally here, and that felt satisfying.
I then walked along the Thames back towards Trafalgar Square. Along the way there are many war memorials to the various armed forces that battled in the first and second world wars. I like the Air Force memorial for those that died in the Battle of Britain the best. It’s not a high monument, similar to the Bali monument in Kings Park in a lot of ways, but has 3D sculptures of various war moments cast in bronze coming out of the side of the walls.
When I got back to Trafalgar Square, I decided in would be a dereliction of my duties as a tourist if I did not go to Buckingham palace. So I trekked down to the palace and walked around the gates out the front, taking photos as is the tourist way. At the Australia gate I took some photos and was very surprised to notice that the statue at the top looks to be a child hugging a kangaroo. Not what I’d expected. I then decided that I’d been a tourist long enough for today and headed back to Greenwich to have dinner with Jax and Belle.
The next day I had my only appointment of the time in England, and that was at the local job centre in order to get my National Insurance Number. I left later that I wanted to, but still got to Stepney on time for my interview. All went well with that, and I set out to do more exploring around London.
From Stepney I walked into the city. There is a habit of many people, including nearly all Londoners, to use the tube all the time, even though it might only be a ten minute walk. I like to walk, it’s exercise (I already feel weird having not been to a gym in over two weeks) and you get to see where everything is in relation to each other, rather than just popping out of a hole in the ground in front of it. Also, I could see the Gherkin in the distance and wanted to know if that was indeed the buildings official name, as Belinda had told me. To my surprise, it was. It is officially called “The Gherkin Tower”. It does look like a gherkin, so I guess it makes sense.
I then walked around the Tower of London for more snaps, and then made my way into Chinatown for a quick bite at a place that claimed to be the Dumpling King. The dumplings were excellent (they’d want to be for 5 pounds for 7 dumplings) but, alas, this was not the king. I’ve had better.
I continued on my way through Soho to the Borders, were I pulled up a chair and read through some travel books about The Netherlands. It was soon 2pm and time for me to have lunch with Jax and Bruce. It was great to see Bruce again, he’s always a cheerful fellow, and I won’t see him again for a while as he’s heading back to Perth before I get back from Europe. Jax, Bruce and I had a good chat before everyone’s lunch break was over and it was time to leave, as I had to get back to Greenwich to let Belle in after work.
I packed up all my stuff for the trip to Holland tomorrow and then headed out to meet Dima in Clapham for a few drinks. Dima did the typical bar hopping thing as Johnno, Scotty, Dima and I went had one beer at each bar before we moved on to another. It was a fun night with the boys, and I really like Clapham. It’s likely to be the suburb I’ll live in if I don’t get a job on the snow, and come back to settle in London. I made it home at just before midnight after sprinting for the train from Waterloo to Waterloo east train station. I think I may have pulled a hammie, but I’m sure I’ll survive.
I woke up the next morning with a slight hangover. I’ve really gotta get used to that, as I assume it’s only gonna get worse over the next 3 months of travelling around Europe. I went to work with Belle as this was the only way for her to have her keys. I left my bags at her work in Edgeware road and set off on a completely random morning around London before I went to Heathrow around noon. I jumped on a train without looking where it was going and decided to get off at the next stop that sounded interesting. That stop happened to be Notting Hill. Holy Jeebus, there is some money in that suburb. The place is gorgeous, but also has a fairly stuffy feel to it. I walked further through notting Hill to check out the Portobello Road market, which was pretty dead, but it was 10am on a Wednesday morning.
I then got back on the subway and went to Waterloo train station to check out some graffiti art Belle had recommended. There wasn’t much left of it, as it’s in a tunnel where graffiti is legal, so all the taggers had come in and gone over the top of the cool stuff with their useless and ugly tags. I then went back to Edgeware road, picked up my bags and took the first steps of my solo adventure through Europe.
Upon arrival to Heathrow, after checking in my bags, I learned two things about myself very quickly. I trust people too easy, and I have a habit of getting fleeced by a pretty girl trying to sell me stuff I don’t need. The first was after I was in a luggage store in the Airport, before you go through security. She told me no other shops in the airport would have the adaptor I was looking for, hence I bought a straight Euro adaptor off her. Only to walk through security and find a large electronics shop with every kind of adaptor I could need. Grrr
Secondly, there were some smoking hot cars on display and I went to take some photos of them. The cute sales girl started talking me into buying a raffle ticket and even though I didn’t want one and I needed that money, I still ended up buying one. I am a tool.
I got on the plane, and straight away started talking to the woman next to me who is one her way home to Amsterdam after 4 months travelling in Australia. She found it very amusing that I was about to do in her country what she had just finished doing in mine. We chatted the whole way to Amsterdam, which was the shortest flight of my life. I couldn’t believe it. We’d barely got to cruising altitude when the pilot was telling us to prepare for our descent. All those years flying into and out of Perth have made me forget that flights that last for less than one hour actually exist. I was in line for security longer than I was on the plane!
I write this now sitting on the train to Groningen. The Dutch countryside reminds me a lot of Victoria (when it rains). It is very flat and very green, with the occasional typical Dutch windmill thrown in to remind me of where I am. Its 9pm and still blazing sunlight. I won’t get to my hostel till after 9:30pm. I hope they haven’t given my bed away.
Monday, June 22, 2009
London – The Arrival
Belle arrived at Heathrow to pick me up just after 8:30am and we made our long and complicated way back to Greenwich. It was all a little complicated as I had no idea where we were, which way we were going or how far from our destination we were. By far the coolest thing was leaving Charing Cross station on the overland and going out over the river Thames with Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye all right there. Before that it was all subways and noise and people, but going over that bridge, it finally felt like I was in London.
Upon arrival at Belle’s flat, we pottered around for a few hours before heading out to look around Greenwich. It’s a nice little area, kinda like Mount Lawley as far as demographic goes, I think. We went up to the prime meridian, where I got a photo of me looking at all the tourists waiting in line to get a photo on the line that marks 0’0” on the longitudinal. I was not prepared to wait in line for that photo. We walked through Greenwich markets where there was heaps of really cool art and if I was settling here, there is definitely some stuff I would buy for my apartment.
After walking around most of Greenwich we went into the Gipsy Moth, a very cool pub in Greenwich that reminds me a lot of the Brisbane. We stayed there for a few pints before making our way home.
I was desperately trying to remain awake at this stage, as I didn’t want to go to bed too early and let my body clock wake me up too early. It still looked like about 5pm outside but upon looking at the clock I realized it was 9pm, and I promptly went to bed.
The next morning Belle and I got out of the house at a little before 11am and went to catch the train, however it was not servicing Greenwich that day, as there were track works going on. Belle decided we should cat the ‘clipper’ which is the ferry that goes along the Thames into central London. It was a nice ride and we got to see a lot of the landmarks such as Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.
We got off the ferry at the London Eye and walked back along southbank and crossed the river to get to Trafalgar Square, where I got the obligatory tourist photo, then into Chinatown and Soho for more touristy type stuff before making our way to Covent Garden to go to the Porterhouse where my “Welcome to the UK” drinks had been booked.
Some people were sick and some couldn’t make it, but it was great to see Scotty, Dimma and Teja again. It turns out Scott lives the next suburb over from Belle so I might get to catch up with him for a while before I go. We drank there for a few hours and then made our way through Covent Garden to another pub for another drink before we all went our separate directions.
Upon arrival back in Greenwich we met Jax for some noodles at the local noodle house and chatted about what she has been up to. She works for the football association here in London, which apparently I already knew, although I don’t remember knowing. A job with perks such as tickets to the FA cup sounds like something I would normally remember.
London has been quite overwhelming, with so much to process, and that is even with someone to show me around and prevent me from getting lost. It makes me a little scared as to how I’ll be in countries where English is not the dominant language and I don’t have a guide and I just have to wing it all on my own. I know it will be a challenge, but I wouldn’t have left Perth if I didn’t want to do something difficult.
By far the most difficult thing however, has been being around Belle and not being with Belle. I know that I had seriously underestimated how much this would affect me, and while this is not the forum I wish to discuss the complexities of this situation, suffice to say that as much as travelling around the European continent on my own will be hugely challenging and amazing, I am looking forward to it as a way to get my mind off Belinda as much as anything else.
Two more days in London town, which will likely consist of getting lost many times and cracking the shits at stupid tourists…
Upon arrival at Belle’s flat, we pottered around for a few hours before heading out to look around Greenwich. It’s a nice little area, kinda like Mount Lawley as far as demographic goes, I think. We went up to the prime meridian, where I got a photo of me looking at all the tourists waiting in line to get a photo on the line that marks 0’0” on the longitudinal. I was not prepared to wait in line for that photo. We walked through Greenwich markets where there was heaps of really cool art and if I was settling here, there is definitely some stuff I would buy for my apartment.
After walking around most of Greenwich we went into the Gipsy Moth, a very cool pub in Greenwich that reminds me a lot of the Brisbane. We stayed there for a few pints before making our way home.
I was desperately trying to remain awake at this stage, as I didn’t want to go to bed too early and let my body clock wake me up too early. It still looked like about 5pm outside but upon looking at the clock I realized it was 9pm, and I promptly went to bed.
The next morning Belle and I got out of the house at a little before 11am and went to catch the train, however it was not servicing Greenwich that day, as there were track works going on. Belle decided we should cat the ‘clipper’ which is the ferry that goes along the Thames into central London. It was a nice ride and we got to see a lot of the landmarks such as Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.
We got off the ferry at the London Eye and walked back along southbank and crossed the river to get to Trafalgar Square, where I got the obligatory tourist photo, then into Chinatown and Soho for more touristy type stuff before making our way to Covent Garden to go to the Porterhouse where my “Welcome to the UK” drinks had been booked.
Some people were sick and some couldn’t make it, but it was great to see Scotty, Dimma and Teja again. It turns out Scott lives the next suburb over from Belle so I might get to catch up with him for a while before I go. We drank there for a few hours and then made our way through Covent Garden to another pub for another drink before we all went our separate directions.
Upon arrival back in Greenwich we met Jax for some noodles at the local noodle house and chatted about what she has been up to. She works for the football association here in London, which apparently I already knew, although I don’t remember knowing. A job with perks such as tickets to the FA cup sounds like something I would normally remember.
London has been quite overwhelming, with so much to process, and that is even with someone to show me around and prevent me from getting lost. It makes me a little scared as to how I’ll be in countries where English is not the dominant language and I don’t have a guide and I just have to wing it all on my own. I know it will be a challenge, but I wouldn’t have left Perth if I didn’t want to do something difficult.
By far the most difficult thing however, has been being around Belle and not being with Belle. I know that I had seriously underestimated how much this would affect me, and while this is not the forum I wish to discuss the complexities of this situation, suffice to say that as much as travelling around the European continent on my own will be hugely challenging and amazing, I am looking forward to it as a way to get my mind off Belinda as much as anything else.
Two more days in London town, which will likely consist of getting lost many times and cracking the shits at stupid tourists…
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Singapore – The Exodus
Waking up boiling in the morning sun as I lay in a pool of my own sweat on Thursday morning, two things occurred to me. Firstly, I should make more of an effort to ensure the curtains are closed before I go to sleep. Secondly, Crispian’s air conditioner had stopped working. Hence, I got up, had a cold shower and watched some television.
A few hours later, Crispy awoke and we decided to go out for brunch. It was 2pm, but Crispy still preferred to refer to it as brunch. We met Sheue Yng there and afterwards she came back to Crispy’s house with us before we went out again.
Tonight would not be a repeat of last night. Crispy had very little money and I was happy to go to a restaurant where the total bill would be under $100. We went out for hawker food in Geylang, which is the red light district of Singapore. The food was mostly street vendors and hawker stalls, which is fine by me as they are the best food anyway, they’re mighty cheap.
We had a fantastic meal, the entirety of which was less that my share of the meal the night before, and then set out to stalk the mean street of Singapore. Luckily, the gorgeous Sheue Yng had the protection of Crispian and I. it’s not really any different to a red light district in any other country. The thing that struck me the most is the huge amount of hotels. There is a hotel chain called “Hotel 81” with charges $10 per hour for a room. They are everywhere. Usually two every block, which I thought was completely excessive as we are talking about 40 – 60 rooms per hotel. However Crispy made the point that it’s not just for the prostitutes, many couples use them for premarital sex, so as not to let their parents know what’s going on. I just used the back seat/ front seat/ boot/ bonnet of the car myself, but whatever works I guess…
We didn’t stay there that longs, because just like the shops, if you’re not actually planning on purchasing anything, it’s kind of retarded to continue looking at the product. We went home and had a fairly early night.
The next morning I woke up with plans to go to the gym, go for a swim, get packed up and leave the sweltering heat of Singapore behind me. I took things fairly easy in the morning and when I was about to head out to the gym, the heavens opened and it rained heavily for about an hour. I then took the short walk to the gym, which I found out was closed for renovations, so I went to the pool. It was really only a lap pool, and I was more going to cool down rather than exercise, but I figured as I didn’t go to the gym I should get some exercise. I swam a few laps in the warm water and realized that I was hotter now than before I got in. Apparently I am not suited to living in the tropics. I guess it’s a good thing that I am expecting to be spending much of my time on the snow over the next period of my life.
I went to the shops to grab a bite to eat and I thought I’d pick up some expectorant/decongestant to try to clear my chest and reduce my chances of being quarantined upon my entry to the UK. I asked the lady wearing the white coat in the pharmacy, and she replied that she would just ask the pharmacist. I thought she was the pharmacist, but whatever. She then gets on the computer and starts a video call with someone in another location. She then asks me to come and speak to the screen. I am now standing in a pharmacy in Bishan, speaking into a microphone, looking at my own face and that of the pharmacist on the screen. I say that I just want some expectorant and she asks me to speak louder. Her words come through via standard computer speakers next to the screen. So I am now effectively yelling my request into a screen at a crowded chemist, and all I can think is how glad I am that am not asking for something embarrassing such as treatment for genital warts or the like. She eventually says that she’s going to prescribe some Dimetapp, or similar and I finally get what I want and make my exit.
As it was my last day in Singapore, I decided to take one last wander around the shopping centre. On the top floor I find a hair dresser. As I walk past, having no intention of getting my hair cut, I notice that you get a haircut by placing your money into a machine, which then gives you a token, which you then give to the hairdresser to get your hair cut. I decide this is a little different and I might as well have a crack. I pay my money, I wait in the seat numbered 1 as I am then next in line for a cut. People not waiting for a cut themselves must wait outside, so that prospective patrons do not get an excessive idea of the wait time for a haircut. I know this because of the clearly displayed rules on the hairdresser wall.
The kid getting his haircut in front of me finished, and the hairdresser swept all his hair into a corner where she then flicked a switch and a vacuum sucked all the hair from the corner. She than asked me to sit, opened the mirror to reveal a storage space for me to place my bag, and I sat down for my hair cut. She was very precise, and quite fast. There was no chit chat, and she did not try to sell me a tub of wax for $50 when she had finished. She simply vacuumed my head and sent me on my way. I wish haircuts in Australia were more like this.
I arrived home, packed up all my stuff (forgetting my $160 worth of Vitamins, a fact I would not realize till somewhere over Turkey) and waited for Crispy to return home. Crispy, Rae and I all went to the airport to meet up with Sheue Yng, who was also flying out to Paris that night. We met in terminal 2, which Crispy mistakenly thought was the terminal he had picked me up from 4 days earlier. We then went to terminal 1 so I could check in my bag, and we all ate dinner together. I tried Popeye’s chicken. It was not as impressive as Chris Tucker would have led me to believe. We then dropped Sheue Yng off at Terminal 3, only after I got some photos of myself with the lovely lady in her Singapore Airlines uniform.
So, our unintentional tour of all terminals of Changi airport completed, we all walked to the furthest section of Terminal 3 to get a coffee and have a chat. The chat mostly consisting of me being unable to understand why Crispian didn’t absolutely love Terminator: Salvation. We may have taken that conversation a little too seriously as I realized my plane was boarding and we were possibly as far away from my gate as we could be. It all worked up though as I got to the gate, arriving just as my section of seats was being asked to be seated and found my seat next to a middle aged balding man. It seems that invisible sign that asks for me to never be seated next to an attractive female is still attached to my head.
The trip itself was brilliant. I slept for about 7 hours and had no major dramas. The only thing of any real note was that I was listening to my iPod as we were coming down for landing and LES Artistes by Santigold came on. The main line of the chorus seemed very fitting, “I can say I hope it will be worth what I gave up”.
I now sit inside terminal 4 at Heathrow airport, having just eaten my first meal on British soil in over 20 years (and cinnamon scroll and a mocha from Starbucks for anyone that’s interested) as I now wait for Belinda to get here and guide me back to Greenwich, where the 2nd stop on the Taylorpalooza World Tour begins.
Laters
A few hours later, Crispy awoke and we decided to go out for brunch. It was 2pm, but Crispy still preferred to refer to it as brunch. We met Sheue Yng there and afterwards she came back to Crispy’s house with us before we went out again.
Tonight would not be a repeat of last night. Crispy had very little money and I was happy to go to a restaurant where the total bill would be under $100. We went out for hawker food in Geylang, which is the red light district of Singapore. The food was mostly street vendors and hawker stalls, which is fine by me as they are the best food anyway, they’re mighty cheap.
We had a fantastic meal, the entirety of which was less that my share of the meal the night before, and then set out to stalk the mean street of Singapore. Luckily, the gorgeous Sheue Yng had the protection of Crispian and I. it’s not really any different to a red light district in any other country. The thing that struck me the most is the huge amount of hotels. There is a hotel chain called “Hotel 81” with charges $10 per hour for a room. They are everywhere. Usually two every block, which I thought was completely excessive as we are talking about 40 – 60 rooms per hotel. However Crispy made the point that it’s not just for the prostitutes, many couples use them for premarital sex, so as not to let their parents know what’s going on. I just used the back seat/ front seat/ boot/ bonnet of the car myself, but whatever works I guess…
We didn’t stay there that longs, because just like the shops, if you’re not actually planning on purchasing anything, it’s kind of retarded to continue looking at the product. We went home and had a fairly early night.
The next morning I woke up with plans to go to the gym, go for a swim, get packed up and leave the sweltering heat of Singapore behind me. I took things fairly easy in the morning and when I was about to head out to the gym, the heavens opened and it rained heavily for about an hour. I then took the short walk to the gym, which I found out was closed for renovations, so I went to the pool. It was really only a lap pool, and I was more going to cool down rather than exercise, but I figured as I didn’t go to the gym I should get some exercise. I swam a few laps in the warm water and realized that I was hotter now than before I got in. Apparently I am not suited to living in the tropics. I guess it’s a good thing that I am expecting to be spending much of my time on the snow over the next period of my life.
I went to the shops to grab a bite to eat and I thought I’d pick up some expectorant/decongestant to try to clear my chest and reduce my chances of being quarantined upon my entry to the UK. I asked the lady wearing the white coat in the pharmacy, and she replied that she would just ask the pharmacist. I thought she was the pharmacist, but whatever. She then gets on the computer and starts a video call with someone in another location. She then asks me to come and speak to the screen. I am now standing in a pharmacy in Bishan, speaking into a microphone, looking at my own face and that of the pharmacist on the screen. I say that I just want some expectorant and she asks me to speak louder. Her words come through via standard computer speakers next to the screen. So I am now effectively yelling my request into a screen at a crowded chemist, and all I can think is how glad I am that am not asking for something embarrassing such as treatment for genital warts or the like. She eventually says that she’s going to prescribe some Dimetapp, or similar and I finally get what I want and make my exit.
As it was my last day in Singapore, I decided to take one last wander around the shopping centre. On the top floor I find a hair dresser. As I walk past, having no intention of getting my hair cut, I notice that you get a haircut by placing your money into a machine, which then gives you a token, which you then give to the hairdresser to get your hair cut. I decide this is a little different and I might as well have a crack. I pay my money, I wait in the seat numbered 1 as I am then next in line for a cut. People not waiting for a cut themselves must wait outside, so that prospective patrons do not get an excessive idea of the wait time for a haircut. I know this because of the clearly displayed rules on the hairdresser wall.
The kid getting his haircut in front of me finished, and the hairdresser swept all his hair into a corner where she then flicked a switch and a vacuum sucked all the hair from the corner. She than asked me to sit, opened the mirror to reveal a storage space for me to place my bag, and I sat down for my hair cut. She was very precise, and quite fast. There was no chit chat, and she did not try to sell me a tub of wax for $50 when she had finished. She simply vacuumed my head and sent me on my way. I wish haircuts in Australia were more like this.
I arrived home, packed up all my stuff (forgetting my $160 worth of Vitamins, a fact I would not realize till somewhere over Turkey) and waited for Crispy to return home. Crispy, Rae and I all went to the airport to meet up with Sheue Yng, who was also flying out to Paris that night. We met in terminal 2, which Crispy mistakenly thought was the terminal he had picked me up from 4 days earlier. We then went to terminal 1 so I could check in my bag, and we all ate dinner together. I tried Popeye’s chicken. It was not as impressive as Chris Tucker would have led me to believe. We then dropped Sheue Yng off at Terminal 3, only after I got some photos of myself with the lovely lady in her Singapore Airlines uniform.
So, our unintentional tour of all terminals of Changi airport completed, we all walked to the furthest section of Terminal 3 to get a coffee and have a chat. The chat mostly consisting of me being unable to understand why Crispian didn’t absolutely love Terminator: Salvation. We may have taken that conversation a little too seriously as I realized my plane was boarding and we were possibly as far away from my gate as we could be. It all worked up though as I got to the gate, arriving just as my section of seats was being asked to be seated and found my seat next to a middle aged balding man. It seems that invisible sign that asks for me to never be seated next to an attractive female is still attached to my head.
The trip itself was brilliant. I slept for about 7 hours and had no major dramas. The only thing of any real note was that I was listening to my iPod as we were coming down for landing and LES Artistes by Santigold came on. The main line of the chorus seemed very fitting, “I can say I hope it will be worth what I gave up”.
I now sit inside terminal 4 at Heathrow airport, having just eaten my first meal on British soil in over 20 years (and cinnamon scroll and a mocha from Starbucks for anyone that’s interested) as I now wait for Belinda to get here and guide me back to Greenwich, where the 2nd stop on the Taylorpalooza World Tour begins.
Laters
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Singapore nightlife....
Crispy and I went out for dinner at Boat Quay where we met Steve Wiley and was had some dinner. After we had eaten the regular (with Crispy at least) Singaporean shisha came out, so that was smoked for a while before we headed off the the Butter Factory.
Crispy was very excited to be showing me the Butter factory. It was part of his "move to Singapore" theme of good food, hot girls and clean clubs. But what we saw at Butter Factory stopped us all in our tracks...
In this shot you cant see the whole queue. It gets down to the river and then goes along the river to the right for about another 50m. This is at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night. We went and had a drink at the bar next door called Overeasy. Beers were $13 for a stubby. Cocktails were $16 so we decided to go a Long Island iced tea. When paying I realised that the slap the GST and service fee on top of the list price so they ended up being about $20 each. It was probably the strongest long island iced tea ever though. The dash of lemon juice would have been the only non-alcoholic thing in it!
After watching the line for Butter Factory for about 40min and it not moving an inch, Crispy called a friend of his who could get us in the VIP line, but wasn't planning on getting to Butter Factory for a while. She was at a club in Clarke Quay called Cuba Libre, where we decided to join her as there was some cool Brazillian style drumming going on and they had 2 for 1 Mojitos.
Clarke Quay is probably to most touristy nightspot in Singapore, and it was packed. We met some of Crispys other friends at Cuba Libre and tucked into the mojitos ($18 for 2). After the drumming and being well on our way to hammered at 1am, we decided to flag off Butter Factory and go to another club in Robertson Quay called "dbl 0".
Dbl 0 was a total spin out. We walked up the stairs into a room with a bar in the centre and some cover band bastardising Oasis. After walking through that room, we went past a clothes shop. Yes. A clothes shop. In a night club. Then a long corridor led into the nightclub area filled will singaporeans jumping around to truly horrible house music. Along the corridor was a long class cage similar to that in silence of the lambs, which held about 20 smokers. Like Australia there is no smoking in the clubs and this means they dont need to go outside. It's a little surreal to view it, as it's almost like a performance piece in it's own little space.
After having our free drink that we got with our $30 entry fee, we went downstairs to 'O bar", where you could get a jug of mix (ie bourbon and coke) for $14. and they dont skimp out on the pours either. Crispy and I were already hammered so this was now becoming a slippery slope to completely nailed. We met up with Crispian's girlfriend, Sheue Yng, and some of her friends at O bar and continued the drinking. We stayed at O bar until about 3am when we caught a taxi down to Zook, a club that Crispy had regularly talked about, especially their once a year outdoor beach party "Zookout".
We got out of the taxi in front of Zook and I nearly got into a fight. I dont remember it all that clearly, but some fat wasted white dude was being a fuckwit, so I pushed him off. A security guard then took him away and we walked off. About 20m down the road he started running back towards me as the security guard had let him go. I turned to face him and he stopped about 5m away from me. He asked what I wanted to do about it. I didn't (and still dont) understand this question, but replied with something along the lines of "I want you to walk away". At this point a security guard started ushering me away, and the one that had walked fatso off before came back for a second time to get rid of him.
It was nearly closing time at Zook so we didn't need to pay. It seemed like a pretty cool club, although the music on wednesday was all 80's and 90's pop hits. Not exactly my cup of tea, but the funny thing about it is that they pretty much play the same songs every week. every song has a dance that goes with it. This dance is available to view on youtube, so pretty much all the punters all know the dance moves, so you have a club full of people all doing the same dance moves! It's like watching a really drunk, full rock esteidford. (that might be a NSW thing....)
We then went upstairs to phuture bar, which was PACKED. It seemed like a really well set up club with walls of l.e.d's making for a very cool visual effect, but we had as much room to dance as one would have on a Tokyo train at peak hour, so we soon decided to bust a move and go get some food.
We walked about a km or two to a little restaurant that was full of people at 4:30am. The food was fantastic (mmmmmm roti canai) and very cheap. And after we ate we jumped a taxi and went home. Still drunk, but very full and quite tired.
Things I learned about myself today:
I do stupid things when drunk. I asked Crispy if he thought I could make it across the 3 lane road and back before the oncoming traffic would reach me. It was about 200m away at the time. For the record, yes I made it. Just. And deservedly got tooted by about 15 cars.
Budgeting while drunk is not a skill I have mastered. I started out the night wanting to spend $150. We'd only just got to the second club of the night and I was already taking out another $200.
Thats all for now. Today has been a much quieter day, filled with a lot of food and a lot of sleep.
Crispy was very excited to be showing me the Butter factory. It was part of his "move to Singapore" theme of good food, hot girls and clean clubs. But what we saw at Butter Factory stopped us all in our tracks...
In this shot you cant see the whole queue. It gets down to the river and then goes along the river to the right for about another 50m. This is at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night. We went and had a drink at the bar next door called Overeasy. Beers were $13 for a stubby. Cocktails were $16 so we decided to go a Long Island iced tea. When paying I realised that the slap the GST and service fee on top of the list price so they ended up being about $20 each. It was probably the strongest long island iced tea ever though. The dash of lemon juice would have been the only non-alcoholic thing in it!
After watching the line for Butter Factory for about 40min and it not moving an inch, Crispy called a friend of his who could get us in the VIP line, but wasn't planning on getting to Butter Factory for a while. She was at a club in Clarke Quay called Cuba Libre, where we decided to join her as there was some cool Brazillian style drumming going on and they had 2 for 1 Mojitos.
Clarke Quay is probably to most touristy nightspot in Singapore, and it was packed. We met some of Crispys other friends at Cuba Libre and tucked into the mojitos ($18 for 2). After the drumming and being well on our way to hammered at 1am, we decided to flag off Butter Factory and go to another club in Robertson Quay called "dbl 0".
Dbl 0 was a total spin out. We walked up the stairs into a room with a bar in the centre and some cover band bastardising Oasis. After walking through that room, we went past a clothes shop. Yes. A clothes shop. In a night club. Then a long corridor led into the nightclub area filled will singaporeans jumping around to truly horrible house music. Along the corridor was a long class cage similar to that in silence of the lambs, which held about 20 smokers. Like Australia there is no smoking in the clubs and this means they dont need to go outside. It's a little surreal to view it, as it's almost like a performance piece in it's own little space.
After having our free drink that we got with our $30 entry fee, we went downstairs to 'O bar", where you could get a jug of mix (ie bourbon and coke) for $14. and they dont skimp out on the pours either. Crispy and I were already hammered so this was now becoming a slippery slope to completely nailed. We met up with Crispian's girlfriend, Sheue Yng, and some of her friends at O bar and continued the drinking. We stayed at O bar until about 3am when we caught a taxi down to Zook, a club that Crispy had regularly talked about, especially their once a year outdoor beach party "Zookout".
We got out of the taxi in front of Zook and I nearly got into a fight. I dont remember it all that clearly, but some fat wasted white dude was being a fuckwit, so I pushed him off. A security guard then took him away and we walked off. About 20m down the road he started running back towards me as the security guard had let him go. I turned to face him and he stopped about 5m away from me. He asked what I wanted to do about it. I didn't (and still dont) understand this question, but replied with something along the lines of "I want you to walk away". At this point a security guard started ushering me away, and the one that had walked fatso off before came back for a second time to get rid of him.
It was nearly closing time at Zook so we didn't need to pay. It seemed like a pretty cool club, although the music on wednesday was all 80's and 90's pop hits. Not exactly my cup of tea, but the funny thing about it is that they pretty much play the same songs every week. every song has a dance that goes with it. This dance is available to view on youtube, so pretty much all the punters all know the dance moves, so you have a club full of people all doing the same dance moves! It's like watching a really drunk, full rock esteidford. (that might be a NSW thing....)
We then went upstairs to phuture bar, which was PACKED. It seemed like a really well set up club with walls of l.e.d's making for a very cool visual effect, but we had as much room to dance as one would have on a Tokyo train at peak hour, so we soon decided to bust a move and go get some food.
We walked about a km or two to a little restaurant that was full of people at 4:30am. The food was fantastic (mmmmmm roti canai) and very cheap. And after we ate we jumped a taxi and went home. Still drunk, but very full and quite tired.
Things I learned about myself today:
I do stupid things when drunk. I asked Crispy if he thought I could make it across the 3 lane road and back before the oncoming traffic would reach me. It was about 200m away at the time. For the record, yes I made it. Just. And deservedly got tooted by about 15 cars.
Budgeting while drunk is not a skill I have mastered. I started out the night wanting to spend $150. We'd only just got to the second club of the night and I was already taking out another $200.
Thats all for now. Today has been a much quieter day, filled with a lot of food and a lot of sleep.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Taylorpalooza - World Tour
Well I have now been away from Perth for just over 24 hours. What could have possibly happened in that time?
Plane delayed for over an hour. Not the largest problem in the world, but it was made worse by the couple sitting next to me that couldn't stop making out and were making slappy smacky kissy noses the whole time.... grrr
Once on the plane it all went pretty quick. I watched The Watchmen (which was awesome) and a few episodes of family guy and viola, I'm in Singapore!
After going through the swine flu heat cameras and acting as relaxed as possible I was out of customs, buying a bottle of duty free vodka as tax for Crispy's housemates for my accommodation and out the doors to find Crispian waiting with a can of beer for me. Awesome.
We taxied back to Crispians flat and when I got out of the taxi at about 10:30pm, it was still at least 30'.
After meeting crispy's housemates, and having a chat the Chan man, he needed to go to sleep so I retired also.
Upon waking up, I decided to make myself some breakfast and I accidentally exploded an egg in crispy's microwave. Awesome.
After cleaning up the egg I sat down and with my first morning of my world tour, I did my TAX. Oh joy. That took about 3 hours. Oh well, it needed to be done. At least now I wont be sitting in an Internet cafe in Germany, surrounded by receipts!
The tax sorted, I had a shower and headed out into Singapore to catch the train to the the shopping mecca of Orchard rd.
I got some lunch at a food court near the train station, whose banner said "It's chow time now! In the basement" hmmm.... Why does that make me think of Josef Fritzl?
I bought my food at sat down at what I thought was the common area of the food court, but after being told off for eating my food there I realised that it was dedicated seating to the establishment nearest. And where I bought my food had no seating at all. So, I packed my food up, and went outside and sat on the steps. At least the crispy chicken rice was excellent and only $4.50. Yum.
Orchard Road is like St Georges terrace if you bulldozed everything that's there and replaced every single building with a giant shopping mall. Which normally, would be quite fun, but I'm already right on my weight limit for baggage to get to the UK so i cant buy a thing. I spent most of the time just walking around and window shopping. I found a pair of red tigers that I'm pretty sure Woo would cream his pants over, and he's always wanted red shoes, and he loves tigers. but who knows. Maybe after the red shoe issues in Japan he's now over that...
I found this advertisement for the new burger king burger. Do you get the not so subliminal message?
A random sign/poster on a wall. It seems a little bit Nazi to me?? Dance muthafuka, Dance!!
I then spent a few hours in Borders, reading the lonely planet guides for Austria, Germany and Czech republic. I'm looking forward to going there even more now, and have a few more ideas of things that I want to check out.
Things I have learned about myself today;
I should pay attention to how I am walking. I tend to drag my feet. Today that resulted in me tripping up stairs and tripping up an escalator.
I would drop stupid amounts of cash if i lived here and had money. I found a pair of Nixon headphones that I would have happily paid the $250 for if I hadn't bought a pair of sennheisers a week ago.
I still LOVE Asian women. Dammit. Crispy keeps telling me to flag off Europe and move to Singapore. He might have a point. hmmmm...
Anyway, that's all for now. Catch you on the flipside.
Plane delayed for over an hour. Not the largest problem in the world, but it was made worse by the couple sitting next to me that couldn't stop making out and were making slappy smacky kissy noses the whole time.... grrr
Once on the plane it all went pretty quick. I watched The Watchmen (which was awesome) and a few episodes of family guy and viola, I'm in Singapore!
After going through the swine flu heat cameras and acting as relaxed as possible I was out of customs, buying a bottle of duty free vodka as tax for Crispy's housemates for my accommodation and out the doors to find Crispian waiting with a can of beer for me. Awesome.
We taxied back to Crispians flat and when I got out of the taxi at about 10:30pm, it was still at least 30'.
After meeting crispy's housemates, and having a chat the Chan man, he needed to go to sleep so I retired also.
Upon waking up, I decided to make myself some breakfast and I accidentally exploded an egg in crispy's microwave. Awesome.
After cleaning up the egg I sat down and with my first morning of my world tour, I did my TAX. Oh joy. That took about 3 hours. Oh well, it needed to be done. At least now I wont be sitting in an Internet cafe in Germany, surrounded by receipts!
The tax sorted, I had a shower and headed out into Singapore to catch the train to the the shopping mecca of Orchard rd.
I got some lunch at a food court near the train station, whose banner said "It's chow time now! In the basement" hmmm.... Why does that make me think of Josef Fritzl?
I bought my food at sat down at what I thought was the common area of the food court, but after being told off for eating my food there I realised that it was dedicated seating to the establishment nearest. And where I bought my food had no seating at all. So, I packed my food up, and went outside and sat on the steps. At least the crispy chicken rice was excellent and only $4.50. Yum.
Orchard Road is like St Georges terrace if you bulldozed everything that's there and replaced every single building with a giant shopping mall. Which normally, would be quite fun, but I'm already right on my weight limit for baggage to get to the UK so i cant buy a thing. I spent most of the time just walking around and window shopping. I found a pair of red tigers that I'm pretty sure Woo would cream his pants over, and he's always wanted red shoes, and he loves tigers. but who knows. Maybe after the red shoe issues in Japan he's now over that...
I found this advertisement for the new burger king burger. Do you get the not so subliminal message?
A random sign/poster on a wall. It seems a little bit Nazi to me?? Dance muthafuka, Dance!!
I then spent a few hours in Borders, reading the lonely planet guides for Austria, Germany and Czech republic. I'm looking forward to going there even more now, and have a few more ideas of things that I want to check out.
Things I have learned about myself today;
I should pay attention to how I am walking. I tend to drag my feet. Today that resulted in me tripping up stairs and tripping up an escalator.
I would drop stupid amounts of cash if i lived here and had money. I found a pair of Nixon headphones that I would have happily paid the $250 for if I hadn't bought a pair of sennheisers a week ago.
I still LOVE Asian women. Dammit. Crispy keeps telling me to flag off Europe and move to Singapore. He might have a point. hmmmm...
Anyway, that's all for now. Catch you on the flipside.
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