Just got back from two weeks in Sicily. Lots to see and food to taste. Was an interesting trip and its still not very overtly turistic which is always nice. We basically went round the whole island which is much bigger than it seems. Cannolo is the word! I’ve put together a map of our major stops : some routes have been altered to make the map look better! Photos up soon…
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!
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)
Went to Lisbon this weekend with Polete and Pablo. We were mainly there for the Creamfields one day festival. Was a funny weekend with some funny times. Not so hot was the constant waiting in line pretty much everywhere but some funny times were lived that will make the basis of jokes for months to come so all is well. Mostly hanging out with Seb, Melanie and Guilher. Must repeat soon but hopefully more beach and healthy stuff and not so much night time crazyness! Polete stuck some photos of the weekend up.
This weekend Cris and I almost made it to the end of our Padi Open Water Scuba Certificaiton, which we’re now finishing off with the Alpha diving school in Barcelona, but didn’t manage to finish it off due to a minor technicality : my trusty steed (a.k.a. Opel Corsa) looks like its finally given up on me. There was a general engine warning light followed by the engine stopping and refusing to start again. We were on our way back from Tossa, were we’d been doing the first two of four dives we had to do to finish it all off. Anyways, its not the end of the world as this way we get a rest before doing the last two, which we’ll be doing this Sunday, which might not be such a bad thing seeing as the week’s runup to the dives had been mental with long classes, an exam and several pool dives that left us, by the end of the day on Friday after the sea dives, completely exhausted and generally aching. Its quite a lot of fun but the amount of equipment and the weight of it all is pretty mental.
As far as the car is concerned, I’m still talking to the insurance to try and see what to do about the car. Its kind of at the point were if the repair is too expensive, it might be time to send the old Corsa up to the place were my turtles and budgies went, so now I need to find a massive toilet and…
The long easter weekend ended up being quite chilled in the end as lots of resting was done. Still been out on my new bike and getting more and more into it. Been getting a bit more fluid on the downhill tracks I’ve been doing and started getting into dirt jumps a bit, albeit small ones at the moment, and still trying to get my landings dialed proper. Its good fun though and the fact that catching the train and funicular gets you pretty much to the top of the hill makes it all that much easier to evolve as you can keep going back even with just a couple of hours to spare.
Been getting more and more into the home music making and hope to have some more tracks done soon. Still have my tracks pretty much split down what I consider electronic and analogue/acoustic which looks like the way I’ll be going for the time being.
This weekend I was in Occitania with Cris and, Dabintxi and Sofie. It was a really good idea and I definately had a good time. We stayed in a really amazing bed and breakfast in the country just outside a little village. The house was really cosy and we had breakfast on the table each morning with homemade jam, fresh bread and mandarines from the tree we could see through the window while having breakfast. The house was really big and we had it all to ourselves which was great. They also had some horses out back. Excellent place. It was actually really close to Barcelona witht the trip being about two and a half hours.
We spent the weekend visiting villages and sampling the eats and drinks of the area. We did a bit of walking and even ended up in a market on Sunday where I finally got myself a pipe. I got a small Ropp pipe from some fishermen types in the market and yesterday I got some Borkum Riff tobacco : Original and Cherry Cavendish. After a good clean out, I’ve been firing it up in the park near work. And then at home at the end of the day. Really good to just relax. Bring me my slippers!
What was obvious from the weekend was that I tend to get a bit “excited” behind the wheel and so I going to try and minimize car driving from now on! I’ll supply the car but some else will have to drive as of now. It’ll be better for everyine involved that way.
Anyways, excellent weekend and definately one to repeat.
Acabo de voltar de férias em Portugal. Fui com a Cris e dois amigos de Ibiza. Foi um espectâculo : alugamos uma auto caravana e fizemos a costa toda desde da fronteira com Espanha no Algarve até a Lisboa. Foi a primeira vez que tive numa autocaravana e vale mesmo a pena. Aquilo é um luxo : tomavamos banho todos os dias num duche normal, tems sanita e tems uma cozinha com forno e frigorífico. Muito fixe. E claro, a cena mais fixe é que podes dormir mais ou menos em qualquer sítio : várias noites adormecia com uma vista do oceano atlântico pela janela que estava aos meus pês. Brutal. Muito recomendado. Pro ano tou a pensar fazer uma cena parecida mas em vez de ser só Portugal e para baixo de Lisboa, fazer a peninsula iberica inteira! Quem curtir a ideia que diga qualquer cena.
Ainda tivemos ums dias em Lisboa em casa da Anne e ainda deu pra ver algums dos usual suspects. Até fui a um concerto de More Than Hate…parece que foi de propósito
Como sempre, é fixe tar em Portugal e ver a todos que chego a ver. Um gajo até fica com saudades de tudo e de todos!
Ainda não descargei as fotos da camara mas quando fizer uma escolha das melhores das fotos de todos, já meto aqui um slideshow.
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.
what i’m up to
