Thursday was my 30th and what a day! It all started with finding my bike completely wrapped in toilet paper, courtesy of Pablo and Cento, at 8 o’clock in the morning. Pretty funny and basically put a smile on my face all day. As I walked out, Pablo was there waiting to see my reaction and take photos. Was made even funnier by an old man standing in front of us on the other side of the road saying “Must of been some damn kids on the way home from the disco!”. Was a really full day as I went to work, had lunch with Cris and had three hours of music theory till about 10:30 at night. This meant I got home about 11 at night only to find 14 people jump out from hiding places (which is pretty hard in my flat) shouting “SURPRISE!”. Was a really good complete day and definately an amazing 30th. I had planned to do nothing! What happened was, of course, much better
Saturday was round two of celebrating my birthday (the day I had actually “planned” to celebrate, which was also a good one. Started off at one with some drinks and then lunch, and we were out and about till about three in the morning, which included a trip to Camp Nou which was great fun, especially since I hadn’t been there yet. I also got a really great present from everyone which was totally unexpected, just like the surprise party.
Thanks to everyone for making it a great birthday which will definately be remembered for many years to come!
Moltes gràcies a tothom per fer que aquest cumple hagi estat molt especial y per tots els regals : me’n recordaré de aquest cumple per molts anys!
Just got back on Sunday and still somehow adjusting to being back after the massive change of reality. The trip was amazing and two weeks were really not enough time. I definately want to go back and the next trip should be a whole month for sure. It was such a good experience and really makes you appreciate everyday things. The main thing I bring back with me is the approachability and general kindness of Indians in general. Met some really really cool nice people. Was the most diferent place I’ve been to in my life and I can highly recomend it. I’ll be back for sure. Its really mind-blowing the way people somehow make a positive out of any situation. Also being able to speak to anyone on the street is such a good thing. The next time I go should be even better cause I already know what to expect in terms of everyday things (half the trip was probably figuring out what the hell was going on in pretty much every situation!). India is an amazing chaotic harmonic place full of contradictions that live in relatively perfect harmony I can really recomend the book “In Spite of The Gods”, which I just finished, as a really good account of India’s current situation, culturally and politically. Its a really easy read for a novice on all things Indian and was a bit of a guide for me as I read it while travelling and answered a lot of questions I had as well as providing explanations for many things I was puzzled by.
I’m still writing up the trip in the previous blog entry to this one (Two Weeks in India) and hopefully I’ll finish it off this week and get on to all the photos and videos…
Was basically a crash back to reality since Monday I was back at work and Tuesday night back at class.
Getting back into class and music type things, I’ve just picked up some M-Audio IE-10‘s which are by far the best (and most expensive, although not the price quoted on the M-Audio page!) headphones I’ve ever had! This are to replace some pretty nice Creative in-ear headphones (EP-630) I had that got the plug bent by being run over by a bus (see entry about that) which I kept on using even though I had to constantly wiggle the plug around in the socket and sections of frequency would cut out every now and again (like no bass all of a sudden and stuff like that). They where really quite good, although they do suffer the usual exagerated bass (which can be good depending on what you use them for), and seriously cut out outside noise. They also replace some crappy cheapo big-ass cup-like headphones I got for like €9. Anyways, exciting headphones the new ones, if headphones can be exciting, and they even have a pseudo-leather carrying case which is really useful, firstly to protect them cause they’re worth protecting and secondly cause I’ll be carrying them around pretty much every day without using them all the time so its basically a sweet deal. They really do sound amazing : great definition and really clear depth resolution (something I hadn’t actually ever heard so clear in any other headphones). Also they seem to completely cut off outside noise which is great for working with although could be dangerous if walking around in traffic.
Been listening to the new Slightly Stoopid album and some Fat Freddys Drop this week with my new headphones off my mobile phone, which is a sweet setup and means I’e only got one gadget instead of two to carry around. Just annoying that Nokia are still putting mini-jack plugs instead of normal jack plugs on their phones as it means you have to stick an adapter on there to plug in normal headphones. Hopefully I’ll be making some more music soon as I’ve an exam next week and then things should get quite chilled class-wise till after xmas.
So I’ve finally made it over to India for a two week backpack trip. Got here on Saturday and its basically been crazy since the first minute : its so different that its a bit overwheliming. Good thing is we’re 5 people travelling together.
The first two nights we stayed in New Delhi which is possibly the most shocking and busy place we’ve seen so far. There are just so many people everywhere, its impossible to understand. The traffic is completely insane. So many cars, trucks, motorbikes, buses and rickshaws, all of them trying to get to their destination before each other. Everybody wants to go past first and the car horns are constantly blowing. Lots of rubish and cows and dogs and people. Its completely over the top as a first encounter. Definately a shock from the minute we stepped out of the airport. We stayed just off the main bazaar road, very near the New Delhi railway station, in the Paharganj neighbourhood. First crazy thing, after the insane taxi ride from the airport, was arriving and the reservation was for the day before so at 1 a.m. we ended up 5 in a double room with three foldable beds arguing about the price. It was really hot in Delhi so 5 in a room was like an oven. Second crazy thing was buying the train tickets next morning, with everyone telling you the ticket office is closed, its moved, etc. From day one its been a crash course in barganing and figuring out scams. Good fun once you get the hang of it though.
We went from Delhi heat to a cool and fresh Shimla in about 8 hours. Normal gauge train up to Kalka and then a short change to a narrow gauge train for the trip from Kalka to Shimla. The narrow gauge train up to Shimla, through the hills, is really worth it : amazing views and good snacks at the stops. We stayed in the YMCA (making a few jokes singing the YMCA song of course), which was actually quite clean and ok with breakfast included. We saw some amazing views of the Himalayas from a village called Fagu and even went to a middle Hindi government school to hand out pens (we’d brought about 50) which was a really good experience, especially seeing how a school is set up here. The kids all went completely crazy jumping around and laughing and the teachers were happy enough to have us there and very welcoming.
From Shimla, we caught a bus to Chandigarh. One word : insane. The driving was so crazy down the mountain side roads that we actually got off the first bus to try the next one thinking it was our particular driver. It wasn’t really. Crazy crazy crazy. The bus drivers drive so fast the bus feels like its going to topple over on every curve and most curves have no barriers and huge drops about 1 metre from the road. The first bus driver even ran over quite a big dog and just kept driving, without even slowing down. We started getting even more worried when we noticed even indians on the bus were looking at each other with worried expressions. Still, we made it down in one piece and it was quite an experience, although not one I think any of us want to repeat. Even made a video of one minute of the bus trip.
Chandigarh is the most organised thing we’ve seen so far. A city divided up in blocks. Its the Indian answer to a planned city. The whole city is made up of blocks with big roads bordering the blocks and huge roundabouts. Each “block” is called a sector and each sector sort of condenses certain types of services/functions. So one sector might have all the clothes shops and street lawyers, etc and then internet access points will be in another sector and so on. The sectors are quite big which makes walking around not really a viable option so its rickshaws all day to get around. We wanted a bit of a break when we got to Chandigarh so we ended up staying a couple of nights. We even went to the circus which was like travelling back in time to my childhood in Portugal. There were so many acts it was mental. It was so long, we left before it finished but it was definately a laugh, especially the constantly non-enthusiastic expressions of the “lovely assistants” which must all have been about 14 years old.
After Chandigarh, we stopped by Jalandarh on our way to Amristar. We went to visit a guy Xevi knew, one of the guys we were travelling with, and he received us at his house, which was great cause we got to see a chilled, normal neighbourhood. We were really well received at his house and ate like kings all afternoon! It was mental cause we were sat on his sofa for like 6 hours which consisted of eating followed by resting and then eating again and repeat… Very hospitable guy and his family were all really nice too. We ended up staying at his place quite a lot and by the time we made it to the train station to get to Amristar, it was quite late. The next day was Diwali, sort of the Indian equivalent of christmas, and the trains were completely packed! We saw the mental image of hundreds of people trying to pack themselves into an already fully packed train, including Sikhs with swords and things similar to axes. Turns out that one of those trains was actually the one we were supposed to get on but we ended up getting on the “upmarket” express from Mombay and getting a stern telling-off by the ticket inspector.
Amristar and the Golden Temple were great. It was full on run up to Diwali, the socalled festival of lights, celebrated in the evening of the day we visited the Golden Temple, so it was completely packed, seeing as it is particularly important for Sikhs. The Golden Temple was impressive and there is supposed to be something like 78kg of gold on the temple. People actually leave gold rings there when they visit and its all eventually metled down and added to the temple’s coating. We waited in a huge queue and actually went inside the temple were there was live music and signing : very intense. Everyone was really nice and quite surprised by our presence. People were constantly asking to take a photo with you. Mental. You can actually sleep inside the temple and there are free meals so it is quite a welcoming place and there really is a very calm feeling inside. We also went a Hindu temple which is a replica, although a bit smaller, of the Golden temple, where there was a Tibetan group playing music, singing and dancing.
After Amristar, we took a fast train back to Delhi and decided to get a car with a driver as suggested by a couple of people we had spoken to. It turned out to be a really good option and we were lucky to be directed to a semi-official place for bookings by a really helpfull reporter for the sports section of the Hindu times who we met while walking around comparing prices at diferent travel offices. Was really good to have met him as otherwise you basically never know what you’re likely to get. He insisted that as we were guests in his country, it was his duty to help us, no thanks necessary, and that who knew, maybe next lifetime he would be in Spain and then we could help him. From then on, the trip was much more relaxed and we ended up seeing many more things without the stress of dealing with trains, buses and taxis. Our driver Sanju was excellent : really friendly and patient and always ready with a smile and some tidbit of information or a plan for something to do.
From Delhi we went to Agra, to see the Taj Mahal. From Agra, we went to Jaipur and then to Pushkar, where we arrived just before the start of the yearly camel fair. More in a bit…
I’ve got two weeks of holidays coming up and I’m off to India. Leaving on Saturday and staying over there for the whole two weeks. It should be fun, although a little crazy. The plan so far is to stay in Delhi for a night or two and then go straight up to the Himalayas. After that we should meander down again until we end up in Delhi again. In the end, we’re five tavelling together and its a backpack affair.
Hopefully I’ll update my blog with some photos and blog posts along the way so have a check here if you want to see how its all going.
We’ve got a lot of advice from diferent people so it seems like we’re going reasonably well prepared for the madness. Should be fun : will definately be diferent!
Amazing! My gmail now has the IMAP option. Bloody amazing! I’ve set it up in my mail app and it works perfect. Really nice that all the labels show up as folders so I get to see my mail with all my filters applied and everything is in sync whether I’m checking my mail through a web browser or through my mail app on my laptop. IMAP really is amazing and it still surprises me that its taken so long to join the “mainstream” : now that google has offered it, everyone’s going to know about IMAP sooner or later. Excellent…
I’ve finally rerecorded Dreaming (of a better day) and My Friend. Have a listen over on my music page in the Dreamery album and let me know what you think…
Un exemple d’el que es pot fer a Lisboa : s’ha fet per uns amics que anaven i el poso aquí com referència!
1. Ruta por Barrio Alto :
Comences al Cais do Sodre(Estació de trens). Pujes per Rua do Alecrim. Passes per la Estatua de Eça de Queiroz i arribes a la Praça de Camões, dues estatues molt emblemàtiques de la història portuguesa.
A la plaça, a la dreta hi haurà el Cafè a Brasileira, amb una estatua de Pessoa(poeta molt famòs). Val la pena prendre un cafè a dintre ala barra perquè són molt bons, baratos i és molt típic.
Seguint aquest carrer hi ha moltes botigues més antigues i després arribes a la Baixa, que és una altre zona de comerç(Rollo Portaferrissa però antic).
Si a la plaça( Praça de Camões)tires per on va el tramvia, cap a la esquerra, la part que et queda a mà dreta són les botigues més modernes. O bé seguint el mateix tramvia una mica més endavant trobaràs el Restaurante Adega Dantas. Rua Marechal Saldanha num.15 Cal trucar per reservar. Telèfon:213420329.
Al final d’aquest carrer hi ha un mirador molt xulo per prendre unes cervesetes al sol o abans de sopar.
Aquesta zona és de marxa o sigui que es pot sortir per aquí . Zona de l’Elevador de La Bica 2. Ruta del Eléctrico num 28(tramvia):
Té una ruta molt xula, val la pena fer-la sencera. Podeu agafar-la des de Barrio Alto, o des de baix, al costat de la Praça Do Comerço(Rua de Conceição). Aquesta us pujarà al Castelo de São Jorge, que val la pena i té molt bona vista. A prop d’aquí hi ha un bar-escola de circ que es diu Chapiteau(Costa do Castelo num 1-7), amb paradetes a dins i bon ambient.El lloc és molt xulo però el Paulo diu que són inaguantables(a mí m’encanta!)…
Si voleu continuar la ruta, torneu a agafar l’eléctric i pujarà per uns carrers estrets fins que veieu una Esglèsia molt gran i trobareu el Mercat de la Ladra(Feria del ladrón), que només està els dissbtes i dimarts al dematí!!!!Comença molt d’hora al matí.Són coses de segona mà molt cutres però és molt xula.
Allí podeu baixar caminant pels carrerons i busqueu el barri d’Alfama, un barri molt antic i que s’ha de fer caminant peruè és tot molt estretet. Allà, podeu sopar i alguns restaurants tenen Espectacle de Fado, que és molt maco, però si no ho coneixes poder t’estafen una mica amb el preu, molt autèntic, rollo tablao flamenco pero a la portuguesa.
3. Ruta cap al Monastir de los Jerónimos:(Tramvia num 15)
Des de Praça Do Comerço l’agafeu i tireu cap al Monastir, Z ona de Belem. Allà heu de provar els pastissos típics a una Cafeteria que es diu Pasteis de Belem. Podeu veure el Monastir, zona de costa, el Museu d’Art Contemporani de Belem….
4. Un dia podeu anar a Sintra, aquell poble que et vaig dir. Crec que has d’anar a Praça do Rossio i baixar a Sintra. Allà el més recomanable és anar a Informació per saber entrades a Palaus…Nosaltres vem, disfrutar molt a Quinta de Regaleira(allò de les coves que et vaig explicar).
En general:
Transports: el més recomanable és la tarja Siete Colinas que et serveix per bitllets d’un dia, de tres o el carregues en viatges sueltos i serveix per els tramvies i pels autobusos. No per al metro! Bueno això és un rollo, potser pregunteu perquè no hagueu de comprar molts tiquets. Ojo al bolso: als tramvies s’hi fan la temporada, en serio, especielment al numero 28, super al loro!!!! Algunes paraules: Obrigado(si ets un home), obrigada(si ets dons), que vol dir gràcies i somriure molt que és el llenguatge universal Menjar: al Dantas o altre val la pena provar la picanya(carn tipus brasilenya) , sardines a la brasa, marisc, peixet….A Alfama també es menja bé… Begudes: Proveu el Vinho verde, la ginginha(tipus patxaran) o Super bock(cervesa)
Aquest Diumenge vaig fer la caminada de Queralbs fins al Vall de Núria. El paisatge va ser molt impactant i vaig aprofitar per fer moltes fotos. Molt recomanable!
Back from holidays after a couple of weeks in Ibiza. Was going to go a few days to Marrakesh before but ending up just doing two whole weeks in Ibiza. The holidays were excellent and managed to completely disconnect from the “city-life”. Basically went to the beach almost everyday, did some snorkeling in some amazing coves and ate well, really well. Definitely some excellent holidays and for anyone who’s up to date with Ibiza news, the oil spill reports were greatly exaggerated : it was almost all cleaned up in less than a week. As always, there are some funny sites and contrasts in Ibiza as the summer months attract all kinds of non-indigenous human fauna and over sized nautical vehicles but, also as usual, we mostly managed to steer clear of all this. Also went to Formentera for a couple of days which is really amazing and still relatively unspoilt. Hung out with Cris’ friends loads and managed to see a lot more of the island than on previous visits which was great : there are some really good trekking and biking routes out there. I didn’t take too many photos (as is becoming usual lately) but I did get some which are up in this set. What I do have is an ever growing collection of photos of Eivissa and Formentera.
Back in Barcelona, August is a great time to be in the city as it seems to literally empty itself of people and cars. Work is very quiet at the moment and I’m taking advantage to look into some music courses : I’m between MicroFusa and SAE Institute at the moment but really want to do some sort of audio course.
This week is crazy for a calm August with plans all the way up to Sunday! Hoping to go up to Illes Medes soon for a dive which should be amazing : its a protected area where you pay a supplement which goes towards the maintenance of the area and has all kinds of restrictions (which should mean its not annihilated by building and development). Also ended up not doing any dive in Ibiza due to extreme holiday relaxation (although did get some snorkeling done which is pretty amazing round there anyways)!
Anyways, enjoy the August calm if you’re stuck in a city!
what i’m up to
