Due to the 'Great Firewall of China', I've been utterly unable to access the blog while travelling through mainland China. All 'mass mind movement' websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Blogger have been banned!
More posts have been written in transit so fear not - more are coming very soon!
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Monday, 18 April 2011
Poland
After leaving Amsterdam on the 3/4/11, Eloise and I flew onward to Riga (Latvia) to get our connecting flight to Warsaw.
Luckily the turnaround time for the connecting flight was only half an hour, and we only felt the bitter Baltic wind momentarily as we disembarked the plane onto a shuttle bus which carted us to the terminal. I've never been this far north before, and flying towards Riga, we could see that Latvia is still in the thawing out process from the harsh winter – snow and slush everywhere on the flat landscape.
The flight to Warsaw was effortless, again impressed with AirBaltic. Upon arrival at Frederick Chopin airport, we collected our bags and tried to get our bearings in the first country on our journey I thought we would struggle not speaking the native tongue. I could smell a strong aroma of alcohol, not an uncommon phenomenon when I'm involved – but this smell was all too familiar. Fearing the worse, I unpacked my main back and found that my precious, aged 10yr Talisker single malt whisky in my hip flask had leaked its contents all over my clothes and personal effects. (Any whiskey donations are greatly appreciated.) Passing the usual taxi touts, we managed to find the bus stop outside the front of the terminal for bus 175 to Warsaw Central train station. Luckily the bus was empty when we barged onto it with our bags on our fronts and our backs. What followed was a relatively relaxing journey to the train station with few bemused (but always stern), looks at two obvious tourists.
When the bus arrived at the train station, as to be expected we were utterly clueless as to where to go. We knew what time our train to Krakow was so we had a focus – all we needed to do what find the platform and secure two tickets. After much blundering and with the help of an English speaking youngster. we handed over 86 Zloty (PLN) to the grumpy ticket man and we were on our way.
No food had passed my lips for at least 2 hours and I was beginning to feel a bit peckish, as well and dreading the prospect of facing the full wrath of a grumpy Eloise if no food was consumed, we wandered around the underground network of stalls and little shops. We pointed at a bag of crisps to a woman behind her stall, 6PLN she typed on her calculator and presented it to me.. 'SIX ZLOTY!' I said, 'No way!' and walked off leaving the grumpy old woman, grumpier. We eventually coughed up for some salad and bread for our 3 ½ hour journey – We felt a bit better. Already I've noticed the distinct lack of English, both written and spoken. I know is a typically arrogant English thing to mention, but it's a new experience for us. I've never really been anywhere that doesn’t understand the core English basics; 'Menu' and 'Beer'.
The platform was rammed when we finally found it, each platform had two tracks, then each track had different sections, adding to the confusion. Suddenly after some garbled chatter on the tannoy, the crowd all hurriedly pushed and shoved to the other end of the track some 100 metres down. Playing it cool and taking our time, we loaded ourselves up again with our bags and slowly wandered down, thinking we could just hop onto the back of the train: leaving the masses fighting for seats. What a mistake.
The train rolled in and went well past us, and partly past the massive crowd. People were running all over the place, pushing and shoving to climb on board. Not even 100% sure that this was the right train to Krakow, we scrambled on and squeezed ourselves into a space right by the door. I was scanning around trying to find some sign that we were on the right train, looking for anything with a 'K' and finishing with a 'W'. Eventually I gave in and hoped that we were going the right way as nothing came up on the screens that I could read and I managed to relax a bit, thinking that it's highly probable that the other passengers were all heading back to Poland’s second biggest city. Soon we stopped, more people crammed on leaving us with no space whatsoever. An hour passed and our legs were killing. A group of students with bags produced 2 or 3 cans of beer I didn’t recognise and passed them round each other, all taking a sip and passing it on.
We were now suffering and like true English, started moaning at how sore our legs were and how much we needed to sit down. Looking around, the Pole's were just getting on with it, stern as per usual but not visibly uncomfortable as the two whining tourists, clearly not used to long distance intercity train rides. 3 hours past and finally a stop, some people disembarked and I managed to push a student out of the way and sit my tired behind down onto the dirty train floor.
We rolled into Krakow station, loaded up again and left the train. Eloise's Polish friend Ela and boyfriend Przemek had kindly said that we could stay with them during our stay in Krakow, we were looking forward to the comfort of a sofa and a hot cup of tea! Eloise and Ela met while working for Edwina Ibbotson, and then later at Misa Harada, both two of the worlds most respected milliners. They whisked us back to their apartment on the outskirts of Krakow. Ela said her cat had recently had an operation and was a bit delicate (she had been neutered). Their place was lovely and the warm hospitality really appreciated. Ela made us a massive bowl of pasta and fed us beers – perfect! All of a sudden, my eyes were drawn to the cat, sat there watching me wearing what looked like a funny green straight jacket; hiding one of it's front legs. Then it moved and was clearly apparent that it only had 3 legs! I couldn’t believe it, it keep cracking me up watching her hobbling around, totally unhindered by her disability- hilarious!
The next day after a solid 8 hour sleep, Przemek showed us where he worked; The highest point in Krakow overlooking the city. He works for RMF national radio and is a popular prime time DJ. It was interesting to see where he worked and listen to his funny stories about the famous people he's interviewed, particularly what a gentlemen 50 Cent is!
He dropped Eloise, Ela and myself off in town and Ela showed us the sights of this historical city.
I've never been anywhere that has so many churches and pictures of Pope Jean Paul the 2nd! We sat in the main square, had a beer and went to a nice restaurant for lunch. I then managed to get my head around the Zloty / Pound conversion, roughly 5/1, and realised how rude I’d been to the poor woman when trying to buy my crisps!
It was really sunny on the Monday and we all got a bit sunburnt sat in the square, much to my surprise. Not for long though as it started to rain buckets a bit later on, a repeating trend for Polish weather I'd later understand. On every street corner there are ladies selling fresh bagels and pretzels – sesame, salt, poppyseed, chilli and linseed coated, all for about 25 pence – dangerously cheap when Stuart's around! The buses in Krakow are either the standard bendy buses one would see in London; or privately run mini-buses that take people to destination outside the city.
The next day we went by mini bus to Oświęcim where the Auschwitz / Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camps are situated. Being only an hour or so away we thought we should go and see it as we were in the neighbourhood. It was to be expected: Grim and depressing.
A lot of the parts our guide showed us were untouched and left in an original state. We then drove a few kilometres away to the Birkenau camp. I couldn’t believe how massive the place was. Some of the barracks (once stables intended for 52 German horses – then used to house 800+ Jewish prisoners) had been refurbished slightly to show the conditions the forced labours had to live in. The Nazis had blown up the 2 main gas chambers when they retreated but the rubble remains as it was. Nasty stuff!
The next day was a much more jovial affair when Eloise and I headed for Zakopane, the 'Alps' of Poland. The coach journey took 2 ½ hours to get there, working our way up to the mountains were saw mountain houses were built in a certain, quaint style under the shadows of the snowy peaks. The bus dropped us off and as expected, we were totally clueless as to where to go. We found a information centre and picked up the ever handy tourist map. These maps are fast becoming the single most helpful item I've had some far on our journey – without them we would have been ruined several times! After paying 2 PLN some drunk old boy to go to the toilet (a fee you must pay in most places I went), we headed into town and toward the mountains.
As Przemek had foretold, Zackopane was a bit of a tourist trap and prices were higher than that in Krakow – good job we have become proficient in the art of sandwich making! After having our home made snacks, we choose an entry path to the mountain and began working our way up to it. Standard procedure for me is to wind Eloise up somewhat, so I started telling her things to go if one spots a bear in the forest; scream and shout and run towards it – you know, the usual stuff. Then in the distance I see a massive Bear warning sign written n Polish! Great.
What followed was a good few hour walk up into the mountains, some lovely views and clean fresh air. Unfortunately we didn’t run into any mountain people Przemek said we would see!
We had to head back down the mountain to get our coach as it was getting late. We had some time to kill so decided to head into Costa Coffee (an English chain coffee shop). The place was empty, and with English price tags we knew why, but it was nice to sit somewhere quiet and familiar while we waited for our couch back to Warsaw.
I'm starting to get used to the distances involved now in foreign countries. With England being so small, and everything only ever being a few hours away; In a place like Poland all you can do is relax and look out the window and watch the world go by.
On our last full day in Krakow we relaxed in the morning in a café and did some much needed internet things like booking our Moscow and Ulan Bator hostels, also using Skype for the first time with Eloise's mum and dad – great program! We chilled there for several hours taking full advantage of the 1PLN Espressos before 12pm (less than 20p!), then wandered around the city, stopping off for a beer or two looking for some gifts to buy our kind hosts. Prior to coming to Poland, it never dawned on me to buy a phrase book. It was my thinking that we would chaperoned around Poland by Ela and Przemek and it never really entered my mind that we would need to speak any Polish. Stupid really. You can only get so far when all you can say is 'Yes' and 'Thank you'.
That evening we went to Ela and Przemek favourite pizza restaurant in Krakow, Ela recommend I tried the Diavola, the spiciest one! Being the red blooded man I am, I could not refuse such an offer. You'll be happy to know I was sweating buckets and bright red within minutes... Full of Pizza and beer we drove to the Jewish quarter of town. There are whole apartments that have been left as they were during the war when Jewish Poles were taken from their homes. Because of legal ownership issues they remain largely untouched.
Eloise and I felt well and truly out of the tourist areas now and doubted if we'd have ever found the bars we were taken too. The 1st place was only lit by candles, but was a excellent bar populated with kool Krakow kids. The rooms within were either decorated to imitate; or left untouched since war times, and one can drink beer and down vodkas in somebodies back room in a small house. The next place I was truly unsure about, I cant remember the name now, but it was a 3 level bar/club with blacked out windows and pounding music heard from outside.
Fearing a pummelling from Polish meat heads, we ascended into the darkness, past a mean looking bouncer and into a time warp. Old relics and trinkets lined the walls, old Polish communist party memorabilia behind glass – a blast from the past. We didn’t stay long, but any English stag groups who venture from the main town to this place are in for a treat – I've never seen so many girls dancing in one place! At the final bar, I had a glass of hot mead which made me want my bed more than anything.
The next morning was our last in Krakow and we spent some time packing our bags and finalising everything before our journey to St Petersburg (Russia). Heading back on the train to Warsaw was not something I was looking forward too. We knew we had a whole day of travelling ahead, so we said our final goodbyes to Ela, Przemek and Tosia the 3 legged cat and set off on the train once more. Securing a seat this time around was pivotal, and we only just managed to achieve this. It was a total miracle that Ela had taught me how to say 'Hello, two tickets to Warsaw please' quite literally minutes before we got on the train. This helped out loads when the toothless ticket inspector barked something at me!
Onto Riga once more for a connection to St Petersburg, the only excitement being that Eloise clocked Trinny and Susanna (English style guru TV presenters) at Fredrick Chopin airport. We would arrive in Riga at 22:30 local time, and catch our connection to St Petersburg at 06:30am – which meant sleeping at the airport. I was strangely excited about the prospect of this, but little did I know that it would be a nightmare...
Ella Gajewska is the only Milliner in Poland that creates couture, bespoke Millinery. Check her site out here:
Ella Gajewska Millinary
Luckily the turnaround time for the connecting flight was only half an hour, and we only felt the bitter Baltic wind momentarily as we disembarked the plane onto a shuttle bus which carted us to the terminal. I've never been this far north before, and flying towards Riga, we could see that Latvia is still in the thawing out process from the harsh winter – snow and slush everywhere on the flat landscape.
The flight to Warsaw was effortless, again impressed with AirBaltic. Upon arrival at Frederick Chopin airport, we collected our bags and tried to get our bearings in the first country on our journey I thought we would struggle not speaking the native tongue. I could smell a strong aroma of alcohol, not an uncommon phenomenon when I'm involved – but this smell was all too familiar. Fearing the worse, I unpacked my main back and found that my precious, aged 10yr Talisker single malt whisky in my hip flask had leaked its contents all over my clothes and personal effects. (Any whiskey donations are greatly appreciated.) Passing the usual taxi touts, we managed to find the bus stop outside the front of the terminal for bus 175 to Warsaw Central train station. Luckily the bus was empty when we barged onto it with our bags on our fronts and our backs. What followed was a relatively relaxing journey to the train station with few bemused (but always stern), looks at two obvious tourists.
When the bus arrived at the train station, as to be expected we were utterly clueless as to where to go. We knew what time our train to Krakow was so we had a focus – all we needed to do what find the platform and secure two tickets. After much blundering and with the help of an English speaking youngster. we handed over 86 Zloty (PLN) to the grumpy ticket man and we were on our way.
No food had passed my lips for at least 2 hours and I was beginning to feel a bit peckish, as well and dreading the prospect of facing the full wrath of a grumpy Eloise if no food was consumed, we wandered around the underground network of stalls and little shops. We pointed at a bag of crisps to a woman behind her stall, 6PLN she typed on her calculator and presented it to me.. 'SIX ZLOTY!' I said, 'No way!' and walked off leaving the grumpy old woman, grumpier. We eventually coughed up for some salad and bread for our 3 ½ hour journey – We felt a bit better. Already I've noticed the distinct lack of English, both written and spoken. I know is a typically arrogant English thing to mention, but it's a new experience for us. I've never really been anywhere that doesn’t understand the core English basics; 'Menu' and 'Beer'.
The platform was rammed when we finally found it, each platform had two tracks, then each track had different sections, adding to the confusion. Suddenly after some garbled chatter on the tannoy, the crowd all hurriedly pushed and shoved to the other end of the track some 100 metres down. Playing it cool and taking our time, we loaded ourselves up again with our bags and slowly wandered down, thinking we could just hop onto the back of the train: leaving the masses fighting for seats. What a mistake.
The train rolled in and went well past us, and partly past the massive crowd. People were running all over the place, pushing and shoving to climb on board. Not even 100% sure that this was the right train to Krakow, we scrambled on and squeezed ourselves into a space right by the door. I was scanning around trying to find some sign that we were on the right train, looking for anything with a 'K' and finishing with a 'W'. Eventually I gave in and hoped that we were going the right way as nothing came up on the screens that I could read and I managed to relax a bit, thinking that it's highly probable that the other passengers were all heading back to Poland’s second biggest city. Soon we stopped, more people crammed on leaving us with no space whatsoever. An hour passed and our legs were killing. A group of students with bags produced 2 or 3 cans of beer I didn’t recognise and passed them round each other, all taking a sip and passing it on.
We were now suffering and like true English, started moaning at how sore our legs were and how much we needed to sit down. Looking around, the Pole's were just getting on with it, stern as per usual but not visibly uncomfortable as the two whining tourists, clearly not used to long distance intercity train rides. 3 hours past and finally a stop, some people disembarked and I managed to push a student out of the way and sit my tired behind down onto the dirty train floor.
We rolled into Krakow station, loaded up again and left the train. Eloise's Polish friend Ela and boyfriend Przemek had kindly said that we could stay with them during our stay in Krakow, we were looking forward to the comfort of a sofa and a hot cup of tea! Eloise and Ela met while working for Edwina Ibbotson, and then later at Misa Harada, both two of the worlds most respected milliners. They whisked us back to their apartment on the outskirts of Krakow. Ela said her cat had recently had an operation and was a bit delicate (she had been neutered). Their place was lovely and the warm hospitality really appreciated. Ela made us a massive bowl of pasta and fed us beers – perfect! All of a sudden, my eyes were drawn to the cat, sat there watching me wearing what looked like a funny green straight jacket; hiding one of it's front legs. Then it moved and was clearly apparent that it only had 3 legs! I couldn’t believe it, it keep cracking me up watching her hobbling around, totally unhindered by her disability- hilarious!
The next day after a solid 8 hour sleep, Przemek showed us where he worked; The highest point in Krakow overlooking the city. He works for RMF national radio and is a popular prime time DJ. It was interesting to see where he worked and listen to his funny stories about the famous people he's interviewed, particularly what a gentlemen 50 Cent is!
He dropped Eloise, Ela and myself off in town and Ela showed us the sights of this historical city.
I've never been anywhere that has so many churches and pictures of Pope Jean Paul the 2nd! We sat in the main square, had a beer and went to a nice restaurant for lunch. I then managed to get my head around the Zloty / Pound conversion, roughly 5/1, and realised how rude I’d been to the poor woman when trying to buy my crisps!
It was really sunny on the Monday and we all got a bit sunburnt sat in the square, much to my surprise. Not for long though as it started to rain buckets a bit later on, a repeating trend for Polish weather I'd later understand. On every street corner there are ladies selling fresh bagels and pretzels – sesame, salt, poppyseed, chilli and linseed coated, all for about 25 pence – dangerously cheap when Stuart's around! The buses in Krakow are either the standard bendy buses one would see in London; or privately run mini-buses that take people to destination outside the city.
The next day we went by mini bus to Oświęcim where the Auschwitz / Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camps are situated. Being only an hour or so away we thought we should go and see it as we were in the neighbourhood. It was to be expected: Grim and depressing.
A lot of the parts our guide showed us were untouched and left in an original state. We then drove a few kilometres away to the Birkenau camp. I couldn’t believe how massive the place was. Some of the barracks (once stables intended for 52 German horses – then used to house 800+ Jewish prisoners) had been refurbished slightly to show the conditions the forced labours had to live in. The Nazis had blown up the 2 main gas chambers when they retreated but the rubble remains as it was. Nasty stuff!
The next day was a much more jovial affair when Eloise and I headed for Zakopane, the 'Alps' of Poland. The coach journey took 2 ½ hours to get there, working our way up to the mountains were saw mountain houses were built in a certain, quaint style under the shadows of the snowy peaks. The bus dropped us off and as expected, we were totally clueless as to where to go. We found a information centre and picked up the ever handy tourist map. These maps are fast becoming the single most helpful item I've had some far on our journey – without them we would have been ruined several times! After paying 2 PLN some drunk old boy to go to the toilet (a fee you must pay in most places I went), we headed into town and toward the mountains.
As Przemek had foretold, Zackopane was a bit of a tourist trap and prices were higher than that in Krakow – good job we have become proficient in the art of sandwich making! After having our home made snacks, we choose an entry path to the mountain and began working our way up to it. Standard procedure for me is to wind Eloise up somewhat, so I started telling her things to go if one spots a bear in the forest; scream and shout and run towards it – you know, the usual stuff. Then in the distance I see a massive Bear warning sign written n Polish! Great.
What followed was a good few hour walk up into the mountains, some lovely views and clean fresh air. Unfortunately we didn’t run into any mountain people Przemek said we would see!
We had to head back down the mountain to get our coach as it was getting late. We had some time to kill so decided to head into Costa Coffee (an English chain coffee shop). The place was empty, and with English price tags we knew why, but it was nice to sit somewhere quiet and familiar while we waited for our couch back to Warsaw.
I'm starting to get used to the distances involved now in foreign countries. With England being so small, and everything only ever being a few hours away; In a place like Poland all you can do is relax and look out the window and watch the world go by.
On our last full day in Krakow we relaxed in the morning in a café and did some much needed internet things like booking our Moscow and Ulan Bator hostels, also using Skype for the first time with Eloise's mum and dad – great program! We chilled there for several hours taking full advantage of the 1PLN Espressos before 12pm (less than 20p!), then wandered around the city, stopping off for a beer or two looking for some gifts to buy our kind hosts. Prior to coming to Poland, it never dawned on me to buy a phrase book. It was my thinking that we would chaperoned around Poland by Ela and Przemek and it never really entered my mind that we would need to speak any Polish. Stupid really. You can only get so far when all you can say is 'Yes' and 'Thank you'.
That evening we went to Ela and Przemek favourite pizza restaurant in Krakow, Ela recommend I tried the Diavola, the spiciest one! Being the red blooded man I am, I could not refuse such an offer. You'll be happy to know I was sweating buckets and bright red within minutes... Full of Pizza and beer we drove to the Jewish quarter of town. There are whole apartments that have been left as they were during the war when Jewish Poles were taken from their homes. Because of legal ownership issues they remain largely untouched.
Eloise and I felt well and truly out of the tourist areas now and doubted if we'd have ever found the bars we were taken too. The 1st place was only lit by candles, but was a excellent bar populated with kool Krakow kids. The rooms within were either decorated to imitate; or left untouched since war times, and one can drink beer and down vodkas in somebodies back room in a small house. The next place I was truly unsure about, I cant remember the name now, but it was a 3 level bar/club with blacked out windows and pounding music heard from outside.
Fearing a pummelling from Polish meat heads, we ascended into the darkness, past a mean looking bouncer and into a time warp. Old relics and trinkets lined the walls, old Polish communist party memorabilia behind glass – a blast from the past. We didn’t stay long, but any English stag groups who venture from the main town to this place are in for a treat – I've never seen so many girls dancing in one place! At the final bar, I had a glass of hot mead which made me want my bed more than anything.
The next morning was our last in Krakow and we spent some time packing our bags and finalising everything before our journey to St Petersburg (Russia). Heading back on the train to Warsaw was not something I was looking forward too. We knew we had a whole day of travelling ahead, so we said our final goodbyes to Ela, Przemek and Tosia the 3 legged cat and set off on the train once more. Securing a seat this time around was pivotal, and we only just managed to achieve this. It was a total miracle that Ela had taught me how to say 'Hello, two tickets to Warsaw please' quite literally minutes before we got on the train. This helped out loads when the toothless ticket inspector barked something at me!
Onto Riga once more for a connection to St Petersburg, the only excitement being that Eloise clocked Trinny and Susanna (English style guru TV presenters) at Fredrick Chopin airport. We would arrive in Riga at 22:30 local time, and catch our connection to St Petersburg at 06:30am – which meant sleeping at the airport. I was strangely excited about the prospect of this, but little did I know that it would be a nightmare...
Ella Gajewska is the only Milliner in Poland that creates couture, bespoke Millinery. Check her site out here:
Ella Gajewska Millinary
Saturday, 9 April 2011
AMSTERDAM!!!
We arrived in Amsterdam on the 1/04/11 – the start of our travels! Just a brief 3 night stop over before heading off to unknown Poland. I've been to Amsterdam a few time before, either for lads holidays and even for Neweys stag doo... the previous week if you can believe that. On my eariler ventures into the Dutch capital, I have become very familiar with certain, more undesirable parts of this wonderful city. I was looking forward to a more 'cultured' experience this time around.
The Easyjet flight from Luton to Amsterdam was the usual cattle cart stuff, but still Eloise and I were very excited to be starting our world tour. We arrived at our first hostel,
Stay Okay Vondelpark situated right next to the main park in the city, and much further away from the usual action I've seen on previous encounters. I've only ever stayed in youth hostels en masse with the lads so I was unsure what to expect, concerned with potentially sharing a room with 8 large, Dutch nutters. We checked in and were talked through the usual procedures; I couldn't see any drug addled, dread lock wearing hippy beatniks chilling out to Marley in the communal area - So far so good! We headed up the stairs and located our room, also noting the important fact that the breakfast room was situated on the floor below. The room was what I think must be an international standard for shared dorm rooms – Bunk beds, sinks and lockers by the beds. Also two communal toilets and two showers, both really clean. The one slightly discontenting thing upon entering the room was the presence of a 6”5 Mohawk toting German lad. Pleasantry exchanged, we chucked our bags on the floor and after I lost scissor paper stone, started making my top bunk. Provided were some shrink wrapped sheets,duvet and pillow covers which was a nice touch. The rubber mattress would make a certain Welsh friend of mine extremely happy.
As we arrived quite late, we thought we'd just head out for a while just to get the vibe and see what was near by. The hostel is literally a 5 minute walk from the Leidseplein, a popular area for night-life rammed with bars, restaurants and plenty of tourists! I recognised the Dolphin's Coffee-Shop and popped in for a tea and a relaxing time. We started speaking to a well travelled English couple who'd settled over here. They told us some cool places to visit and explained about Holland's advantageous tax benefits to ex-pats which was quite interesting, and they also mentioned that on Fridays one can visit the Van Gogh museum later than usual, beating the crowds and also being able to walk around with beers! I was sold.
The next day we ventured downstairs for breakfast, an exiting moment for me! Breakfast runs from 7:30am to 10, so we joined quite a large queue of people who clearly had the same idea as us and had come down at 9. Buffet style serving was the order of the day, help yourself to as must as you want! The usual continental affair was laid our, ham, cheese, slices of bread, preservatives, crackers, eggs, cereals, yoghurt, juice and an excellent quality coffee machine pumping out free espressos and cappuccinos. Obviously my eyes were too big for my belly and I stuffed myself to bursting point, reassuring myself that now as an intrepid world traveller, that this glorious meal may be my last for sometime. I clocked that several people were making sandwiches to take with them for the day ahead, good tactic I thought, the next day I would follow suit.
Both clutching our bellies, we hit the Amsterdam streets for our first full day of being in a different country on the first day of our travels! We walked all day, stopping off in cafés, coffee-shops, pubs and bars getting the feel of the place – culminating with a tired walk around the Van Gogh museum late at night. Again, luckily the museum was just around the corner from the hostel – bed was much needed!
Arriving back at the dorm, the room now had more occupants, 2 Japanese girls and an older group of Russians with an English guy, who now lives in Germany, showing them the sights of the 'Dam. I wouldn’t have thought a hostel would be the sort of place for older visitors, but the place was very age neutral and mixed, again to my surprise.
Saturday morning; Sandwiches made and stuffed in my pockets ready for smuggling out of the cafeteria, we planned to hire bikes today and tour the city in a bit more style. There are literally bikes everywhere in Amsterdam, and the road system and streets are so well thought through its very safe and quick to ride from one end of the city to another with relative ease. It was excellent fun riding around the streets and parks, especially after a Heineken or two with lunch! We went to Vondelpark and sat by the water, sun blazing, tucking into our breakfast sandwiches. It was so nice in the park that we decided to go and get more supplies and head back down to the park a bit later.
It appeared that every Amsterdamer had the same thought process, because when we returned from the supermarket with beers, and from a local coffee-shop – the park was rammed with people soaking up the sun and generally having a wicked time. Euro-dance music pumping from speakers, we had an amazing afternoon chilling out and getting burnt.
On our last day in Amsterdam, the sheer amount of bread consumption, along with multiple 'Chipsy King' visits was taking its toll on me. The Dutch love chips/Belgian fries plastered with mountains of mayonnaise and dangerous levels of salt clearly over the RDA of the largest man. Those who know me are all too familiar with my love for the eggy stuff! We couldn’t pass the tasty unhealthy potato snack vendors without buying a portion each. Suffice to say, my gut is expanding when I thought it would be increasing.
Prices vary massively I've come to learn. The previous weekend on the Stag doo, beer prices were astronomical. Further out of the main town they drop hugely. In supermarkets, Heineken and Grolsch bottles were £.0.40-0.50! I think I'll get used to the travellers budgeting food mindset quite easily. Bread, salad, crisps and beer all come very cheap.
Flying to Warsaw(Poland) via Riga(Latvia) on AirBaltic, it quickly hits home fast how shit EasyJet is. Its simple: EasyJet en route to Amsterdam – two spotty men looking very uninterested in what their doing. AirBaltic – a team of foxy looking Latvian chicks eager to help! Arriving in Riga, a quick transfer to another AirBaltic flight destined for Warsaw on a much smaller twin prop Fokker 50 plane. It was quite novel being on a plane like this as I’ve only ever flown on a jet. Much smaller, but strangely more leg room and a much smoother flight. The arm rests even had ash trays...
Next stop, Krakow!
The Easyjet flight from Luton to Amsterdam was the usual cattle cart stuff, but still Eloise and I were very excited to be starting our world tour. We arrived at our first hostel,
Stay Okay Vondelpark situated right next to the main park in the city, and much further away from the usual action I've seen on previous encounters. I've only ever stayed in youth hostels en masse with the lads so I was unsure what to expect, concerned with potentially sharing a room with 8 large, Dutch nutters. We checked in and were talked through the usual procedures; I couldn't see any drug addled, dread lock wearing hippy beatniks chilling out to Marley in the communal area - So far so good! We headed up the stairs and located our room, also noting the important fact that the breakfast room was situated on the floor below. The room was what I think must be an international standard for shared dorm rooms – Bunk beds, sinks and lockers by the beds. Also two communal toilets and two showers, both really clean. The one slightly discontenting thing upon entering the room was the presence of a 6”5 Mohawk toting German lad. Pleasantry exchanged, we chucked our bags on the floor and after I lost scissor paper stone, started making my top bunk. Provided were some shrink wrapped sheets,duvet and pillow covers which was a nice touch. The rubber mattress would make a certain Welsh friend of mine extremely happy.
As we arrived quite late, we thought we'd just head out for a while just to get the vibe and see what was near by. The hostel is literally a 5 minute walk from the Leidseplein, a popular area for night-life rammed with bars, restaurants and plenty of tourists! I recognised the Dolphin's Coffee-Shop and popped in for a tea and a relaxing time. We started speaking to a well travelled English couple who'd settled over here. They told us some cool places to visit and explained about Holland's advantageous tax benefits to ex-pats which was quite interesting, and they also mentioned that on Fridays one can visit the Van Gogh museum later than usual, beating the crowds and also being able to walk around with beers! I was sold.
The next day we ventured downstairs for breakfast, an exiting moment for me! Breakfast runs from 7:30am to 10, so we joined quite a large queue of people who clearly had the same idea as us and had come down at 9. Buffet style serving was the order of the day, help yourself to as must as you want! The usual continental affair was laid our, ham, cheese, slices of bread, preservatives, crackers, eggs, cereals, yoghurt, juice and an excellent quality coffee machine pumping out free espressos and cappuccinos. Obviously my eyes were too big for my belly and I stuffed myself to bursting point, reassuring myself that now as an intrepid world traveller, that this glorious meal may be my last for sometime. I clocked that several people were making sandwiches to take with them for the day ahead, good tactic I thought, the next day I would follow suit.
Both clutching our bellies, we hit the Amsterdam streets for our first full day of being in a different country on the first day of our travels! We walked all day, stopping off in cafés, coffee-shops, pubs and bars getting the feel of the place – culminating with a tired walk around the Van Gogh museum late at night. Again, luckily the museum was just around the corner from the hostel – bed was much needed!
Arriving back at the dorm, the room now had more occupants, 2 Japanese girls and an older group of Russians with an English guy, who now lives in Germany, showing them the sights of the 'Dam. I wouldn’t have thought a hostel would be the sort of place for older visitors, but the place was very age neutral and mixed, again to my surprise.
Saturday morning; Sandwiches made and stuffed in my pockets ready for smuggling out of the cafeteria, we planned to hire bikes today and tour the city in a bit more style. There are literally bikes everywhere in Amsterdam, and the road system and streets are so well thought through its very safe and quick to ride from one end of the city to another with relative ease. It was excellent fun riding around the streets and parks, especially after a Heineken or two with lunch! We went to Vondelpark and sat by the water, sun blazing, tucking into our breakfast sandwiches. It was so nice in the park that we decided to go and get more supplies and head back down to the park a bit later.
It appeared that every Amsterdamer had the same thought process, because when we returned from the supermarket with beers, and from a local coffee-shop – the park was rammed with people soaking up the sun and generally having a wicked time. Euro-dance music pumping from speakers, we had an amazing afternoon chilling out and getting burnt.
Unfortunately this lovely event was ruined at the end of the day. I could smell dog shit for quite a while when we were sat down, but I could see a nice little pile a few meters away so convinced myself that that was the source of the smell. To my horror (and to Eloise's great amusement) I had in fact been sat an a massive pile of dog shit for three hours... I had to hand scrub my trousers, pants, belt and t-shirt in the hostel sink!
Prices vary massively I've come to learn. The previous weekend on the Stag doo, beer prices were astronomical. Further out of the main town they drop hugely. In supermarkets, Heineken and Grolsch bottles were £.0.40-0.50! I think I'll get used to the travellers budgeting food mindset quite easily. Bread, salad, crisps and beer all come very cheap.
Flying to Warsaw(Poland) via Riga(Latvia) on AirBaltic, it quickly hits home fast how shit EasyJet is. Its simple: EasyJet en route to Amsterdam – two spotty men looking very uninterested in what their doing. AirBaltic – a team of foxy looking Latvian chicks eager to help! Arriving in Riga, a quick transfer to another AirBaltic flight destined for Warsaw on a much smaller twin prop Fokker 50 plane. It was quite novel being on a plane like this as I’ve only ever flown on a jet. Much smaller, but strangely more leg room and a much smoother flight. The arm rests even had ash trays...
Next stop, Krakow!
Monday, 28 March 2011
Backpackers Travel Packing list
I thought I'd compile a travel packing list to help out would-be travellers and backpackers on their quest to packing perfection (and for experienced backpackers to quaff at).
I hope I haven't over done it, but some of these items I think are indispensable. ...and no I'm not taking hair curlers or a travel iron.
Clothing list:
1 pair of travel trousers - lightweight, fast drying, zip off.
1 micro fleece
3 t-shirts
1 lightweight long sleeved travel shirt - reasonably smart
1 pair shorts
1 pair swimming trunks
4 pairs of pants
3 pairs socks
1 pair walking socks - thermal
1 pair thermal trousers
1 long sleeve thermal top
Trainers/Walking shoes
Sport sandals
Flip-flops
Waterproof poncho
Lightweight waterproof jacket
Travel towel
Hat/Gloves/Neck warmer
The trousers, micro fleece, trainers and lightweight jacket are high quality. My thinking is that I'm going to using these items a lot and I want them to be reliable. Items like t-shirts, trunks, shorts can be replaced in situ with cheap stuff. The thermals and hat etc, I'm just going to throw away when they're no longer needed. Or swapped for something. Then again who'd want some stinky thermals that have been next to my skin for weeks on end...? I digress - Now the other items.
Toiletry list:
Hanging wash bag
Toothbrush/tongue scrapper/Floss
Toothpaste
Contact lenses
Razor and 2 spare blades
Nail clippers and file
Shower gel
Nail brush (scrubbing clothes etc)
Deodorant
Universal sink plug
Miscellaneous items:
Silk sleeping bag liner
Duct tape
Marker pen
Cloths line
Superglue
Strong thin wire
Candles
Waterproof matches
Lighter
Aluminum mess tin - Cooking etc
Fork/Knife/Spoon
Thermal mug
Hexamine block burner stove
Hand warmer - Solid fuel type
Spare charcoal sticks
LED head torch
Maglight torch
Multi-tool/Pocket knife
Universal power adaptor
Cables/Chargers for camera and phone
USB Memory stick
Spare SD cards
Alarm clock
Travel pillow
Hip flask - Complete with Talisker
Earplugs
Padlocks - Combination and solid core
Wire rope - For anchoring bags etc to things
Spare glasses and cases
Sunglasses
Zip lock bags
Elastic bands
1 Litre water bottle
Waterproof stuff sacks
Foldaway bag
Daypack
Camera
First Aid kit:
Tupperware box to hold it all
Plasters
Rehydration sachets - essential for hangovers
Tube bandage
Compeed blister things
Lidocaine cream - Bites and stings
Antihistamines
Hydrocortisone cream - rashes and skin irritations
Aspirins / Paracetamol
Laxatives
Anti Diarrhoea tablets
Water purification tablets
Iodine
Thermometer
Tweezers
Scissors
Vaseline
Antiseptic wet wipes
Tiger balm - For nasty toilet smells and sinus problems
Sports tape
Malaria medicine
And that's it! It sounds like LOADS of stuff, but it fits nicely in my 60L bag and weighs in at 10kg.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Final days in England
Monday, 14 March 2011
Travel Visas and Tran Siberian tickets have arrived!
The tickets for the tran-siberian and all three visas needed arrived over the weekend. Its the first time I've had anything 'exotic' in my passport as I've only ever been on holiday in Europe - so its quite exciting!
Anybody who is planning a trip on the tran-siberian railway, we bought our tickets and had the visas arranged through Real Russia, and I cant rate them highly enough. Excellent customer support dealing with my no dount highly annoying questioning regarding the complexities and red-tape with the notorious 'Russian Visa'.
Obviously they make a mark up arranging the visas and booking the tickets. With each visa they charged £20 extra on top of what you would pay if you were to go to each embassy and apply in person.
A small price to pay considering they do all the leg work of arranging dropping off and collection of your passport to the different consulates. Very pleased!
Anybody who is planning a trip on the tran-siberian railway, we bought our tickets and had the visas arranged through Real Russia, and I cant rate them highly enough. Excellent customer support dealing with my no dount highly annoying questioning regarding the complexities and red-tape with the notorious 'Russian Visa'.
Obviously they make a mark up arranging the visas and booking the tickets. With each visa they charged £20 extra on top of what you would pay if you were to go to each embassy and apply in person.
A small price to pay considering they do all the leg work of arranging dropping off and collection of your passport to the different consulates. Very pleased!
Friday, 4 March 2011
Travel credit card sized emergency contact details
I've knocked up a little credit card sized, erm credit card on Photoshop earlier with crucial personal information and emergency contact details to take traveling with me. The idea being you print it, stick your handsome passport sized photo taken of you before you became a dirty sweaty traveler, laminate it and carry it in your wallet in case of emergency's. On the rear of the card it simply states:
My name, passport number, nationality,
emergency contact information,
details of insurance policy
and blood type.
In Spanish, Urdu, Hindi, Mandarin, Thai and Russian.*
The geeky part is that the total dimensions for the card are the ISO standard 85.60 x 53.98 mm and the passport photo is the EU standard 350 x 450 mm size.
I've made the .PSD file totally idiot proof and editable with multiple folders for personal modification. Just mail me if you'd like the file or just leave a comment.
* I'm not responsible for a possible international incident due to miscommunication or possibly causing offense resulting directly from my total failure with the grasp of the English language. **
** I'm joking.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
The first leg of the journey!
View Route in a larger map
Here's a map of the initial route we're taking. Starting with a flight from Luton to Amsterdam, then flying from Amsterdam to Warsaw, then by train from Warsaw to Krakow, followed by a train back from Krakow to Warsaw!
Then back on the plane from Warsaw to Saint Petersberg (8 hour stopover at Riga) and finally train it from Saint Petersberg to Moscow! All in 12 days. Stressful much?
On the 12/4 at 21:30 local time we board the Trans-Mongolian bound for Ulan Bator!
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Food for the Tran-Siberian train and survival food in Mongolia
The idea is that we can cook something quick and easily on a stove in Mongolia or utilising the Samovar on the train. Not the most nutritious offerings but no doubt quite tasty when only eye-balls and testicles are on offer by a kind nomad. Or we haven't eaten anything all day!
Said nomad-person might be quite delighted with the taste of 'Curry' flavour Instant Noodles!
Here's what I picked up:
- Instant Noodles - Curry, Bacon and Chicken
- 'Pasta & Sauce' - Tomato, onion and herb flavour
- 'Savoury Risotto Rice' - Tomato, red and green peppers and onion
- 'Couscous' - Hot and Spicy flavour with raisins, sunflower seeds, dried peppers and herbs
- Sunflower seed Rye bread - expires in Nov'11. Must be good.
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Garlic, black pepper and sea salt grinder - Will jazz up borsch no end.
- 'Moser Roth' Finest Dark Chocolate - 5 individually wrapped bars in each. 70% and 85% cocoa content respectfully.
Sampling starts this weekend!
Friday, 18 February 2011
Visa Applications submitted!
Visa applications have landed! Fingers crossed that my passport is back on time for my mates Amsterdam stag doo.
Leaving the UK traveling on the 31/3/11, 16:35 flight to AMS! Amsterdam in twice in as many weeks!
Any travelers going to be there around that time fancy a beer? "Schmoke and a pancake" as Austin Powers would say.
Leaving the UK traveling on the 31/3/11, 16:35 flight to AMS! Amsterdam in twice in as many weeks!
Any travelers going to be there around that time fancy a beer? "Schmoke and a pancake" as Austin Powers would say.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Russian ph(r)ase book - Lifesaver?
It's got some very useful phrases in there I will no doubt need(All phonetic):
Ya na pil sa. - I've had one too many.
Ya mirt vyet ski pya nih - I'm pissed.
Plus this life saver when I'm rotting in some distant Siberian jail with just Boris for company:
Ab ni mi min ya. - Hold me.
Top marks Lonely Planet!
Monday, 14 February 2011
6 weeks and 3 days to go...
Well, not long to go now. All getting very exciting! Going to start getting my clothes and equipment together soon to see if my bag is too big. I've got a Berghaus Jalan 60/15 we shall see!