Day 4... The flights...
Singapore, Singapore
You'll have to forgive the lateness of these entries... Internet access in Africa ≠ Very good.
Not a great deal on today... Flew Perth to Singapore, a pleasant enough 5 hour flight and not particularly eventful. There was a transit hotel there and, as I had a 5 hour layover at the airport, I thought I would use it to at least freshen up.
I chucked some of my bags into the dank, prison-cell-like dwelling and went out to grab a light refreshment. After 30 minutes of pointless walking around, I found O'Leary's Sport's Bar and knew I was in the right spot. I ordered a beer (all A$11 of it) and sat down to enjoy it...
“Bullshit mate!” I hear from the next table and realize what has happened. Even though the airport says Singapore, I was still in Australia. The boys at the next table were mostly from QLD and NSW, and one of the lads there was from Melbourne. The northern states lads talked about some World Cup related stuff mostly, but the boy from Melbourne about 3 minutes in talked about the one thing anyone from Melbourne would be panicked about going away for so long at this time of year... Supercoach... A few words were exchanged. At the time, I only had one player that had played, and that player had scored 188... Not a bad start...
Finished my 3rd pint and realised that Singapore airport was about to make me broke if I kept it up. Chose, then, to go to the room freshen up and get ready for the 10 hour journey on to Jo'burg. And journey was an appropriate term for sure... Other terms could have been, mission, ordeal, torture, all of these would have been fitting also. Anyone that has travelled with me knows that unless I smash down a heap of sleeping pills prior to flying, I can not sleep on planes. So a 10 hour overnight flight where I should be sleeping, becomes a 10 hour war of attrition. I lost... It was awful, but at the end, I arrived in Africa.
written by on June 4, 2010 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: World Cup

The day that didn't happen...
Osaka, Japan
I say this because I tried to wake up at 8:30 or so, sat down on the couch and felt the floor of the boat hit the roof... The day before, our friend Brian had called and said that there was a typhoon blowing off of Hong Kong, we of course paid no heed to this, but the next morning heed came and kicked us in the nuts...
Adam had said something about if you feel sea sick make sure you're touching a surface, well I tried that... No dice! The sea was angry that day my friends! So I gave up trying to be human and lay down... I went back to sleep and woke up again at 11:30. tried to go to the toilet, but each time I stood up, the inside of my guts started knocking on the back of my teeth... “Let me out” it would say. I would lay down again and the threat of vomiting would subside. I didn't eat or drink the whole time, yet I had to get up to go to the toilet 5 times. Can someone explain the science there?
Anyway, I lay in bed all day and all night and woke up the following day. When I finally woke up the storm had broken and it was as though the day before had never happened.
written by  Big_T on August 23, 2008 from Osaka, Japan
from the travel blog: Big_T's Travel Blog

Day 5... Deepest darkest Africa...
Johannesburg, South Africa
South-Africa/Johannesburg O.R. Tambo Airport was buzzing... You could feel there was an event going on... Japanese, French, Korean, German, could all be heard clearly around the airport as the tour groups and World Cup travellers started to pour in. Got picked up by a family friend (Nicky, 10 minutes late) and the first thing I wanted to do was take a nap as I hadn't really slept for a couple of days.
Met up with some people and then had a quick 2 hour power(?) nap. Not sure if it was a power nap... I am guessing it wasn't on account of me feeling like shit for the next half-hour or so, but nevertheless, it made me feel a lot better in the long run.
After awakening and having a quick bite, I decided to immerse myself in the local culture by watching some international Rugby (Wales v. South-Africa) with my hosts and pretending to care about enormous men smashing their heads together while kissing their teammates' behinds (otherwise known as a scrum). Watching the torment on my hosts' faces as South-Africa almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory was pretty good, though...
The evening followed and we had a traditional Braai... A braai was described by one of my in-flight magazines as “Meat grilled over burning wood coals, like barbecue, only done right”. I am not sure that it is much better than regular barbecue, but I enjoyed some good meat (including ostrich) and some good South-African wine with some good South-African people. A good night overall.
written by on June 5, 2010 from Johannesburg, South Africa
from the travel blog: World Cup

Day 6... Kruger...Day 6... Kruger...
Hoedspruit, South Africa
Woke up this morning knowing that it was the day to head up to the game reserve. The place is called Timbavati and is not actually within the Kruger National Park, it is a private park which borders the national park, but there is no fence or wall between the two, so the animals don't know the difference.
Timbavati is known for it's White Lions, as its the only place where they have been naturally born for 30 years or so. White Lion-ness is a recessive gene like red-headedness, but unlike the red-headedness thing, it is actually prized. It is totally different from albino lions too. So, I was hoping to see some of these white lions at some point.
Arrive at Johannesburg airport at about 9:30 ready for our 10:30 flight and get to the South African Express airline counter. Two guys walked over and started to help take the bags to the scale, which was in the line area and away from the check-in counter. They started talking to and I realised they were just looking for some cash. I hadn't asked for their help and they hadn't really done anything that I couldn't do for myself, so I told them I had no money. This seemed to work, and the girl at the check-in counter confirmed my suspicions and told them to take a hike in their language.
Arrive at Hoedspruit airport and the chaperone Tommy is there for the drive to Simbavati, that's the name of the lodge. The drive was uneventful except that white rhinos, zebra, giraffes, and a stack of other animals were visible on the drive in.
Had a chat to Tommy on the way in, and spoke about the tradition in Black South African families of men taking multiple wives. Jacob Zuma, the current president for example, has three. Tommy agreed with myself that outside the obvious benefits of more nookie etc. There was little benefit in this system. I was glad there was a consensus on this.
Arrived at Simbavati... Wow! Fucking wow!
The place was expensive when it was booked, but that didn't adequately prepare me for how lush this place is... Absolute lushness...
Arrived and a lady greeted us with a smile and we were told not to carry our bags any further as someone would be sent to grab them for us. Left the bags in the middle of the dusty path knowing that they would arrive in a timely fashion without us ever handling them again. Eliane (not a typo) sat us down, we enjoyed a welcome beverage, and she explained the rules of the place, pretty standard, food was all covered in the price, but the bar was not (beers are expensive compared to South African standards too, about A$2.50 a beer) , the daily schedule of game drives, etc. Oh, and the possibility of being eaten by lions or leopards, or being crushed to death by elephant, buffalo, hippo, or rhino if one ventured out of one's room at night... The usual stuff... Everyone has to sign an indemnity form (absolving the lodge of any responsibility in the likely and expected case of one's demise at the hands of the millions of beasts in the area), and you are led to your room. And, what a room... Anyone expecting a shack and/or roughing it would be sorely mistaken here.
The beds are absolutely lovely, although they had leaves and shit all over them... It was supposed to be decorative and admittedly, the next time I saw them, they were clean again. Someone says, “have a look over here, there are some elephants!” So, I have a look, and sure enough there were some elephants in the river just behind the kitchen area. That was pretty awesome... As I stood in my room, I realized that they were waking up the river, so I spot them walking right past the window. I had been in the safari lodge for about 20 minutes at this point. Just one of those moments when you stop to think about where you are...
An hour or so after arriving, we had lunch, and went on our first game drive. The vehicles that they use are open-topped Land Rovers with seating capacity for 12 including a driver/guide (Adam) and a tracker (Daniel). A tracker sits on the very front of the vehicle and looks for animal tracks, footprints, and/or any indication that there are animals in the area.
The first game drive was supposed to have 7 guests on it, but the party of 4 that were coming the same day were unable to make it. So there were 3 of us with Adam and Daniel. While the sun was still up, it was still pretty hot, but as soon as the sun set, it became cooler... Much cooler... Unexpectedly cool...
On the drive we saw a troop of baboons coming down the road towards us, a giraffe, a couple of crocodiles, a fish hawk (which was something recommended by the friends in Johannesburg), a squirrel in a tree, as well as plenty of impala. Enough animals for anyone really. Oh, I forgot the leopard that was feasting on an impala that it had killed the previous day. Fucken sweet! Seriously, anyone who likes Nat Geo, or Animal planet, needs to get there arses to Africa to do this... After the game drive, there was dinner, where we met the party of four that should have been on the same drive (they were actually 3 young Americans, Kim, Katherine and Geoff, Grant pulled out last minute) a couple of 2 buck beers and an early night.
written by on June 6, 2010 from Hoedspruit, South Africa
from the travel blog: World Cup

Day 20... Italy v New Zealand...
Nelspruit, South Africa
Woke up at 6:15 so I could get in my cab at 7... The cab was waiting for me as I headed outside at 7 am... I had given myself a lot of time to get there as I had been told it took ages to by the train ticket (got mine in 30 seconds) and I was told that there were massive queues to get on to the trains (there was no-one there when I arrived). I was also told there might be long delays for the train to run (I had to wait about 6 minutes)... So I was at the airport too early...
Sat down and did some web browsing and see what was happening in the world... Nothing really happening there, so I tried to upload some photos to the blog...Note to self airport wireless hotspot connections are not great for uploading photos...
Finally boarded and promptly slept for the whole 45 minute flight... Woke up at the other end at Kruger-Mpumalanga airport... If anyone has been to Koh Samui airport, you can kind of imagine what the place is like... Except there is more of an African motif rather than the South East Asian vibe of Koh Samui...
Came through the doors and there was a man holding my name on a board... Felt all fancy and that... He introduced himself as Rodney and he drove me to where I would be staying that night... The drive was about 25-30 minutes and the man didn't stop for breath that whole time... It was incessant... Giving his opinions about social matters and talking about the recent group of Chilean “Ratbags” as he called them...
Got to the place, met up with the folks as they had flown up the day before, and dropped some crap off and got a lift with Rodney to the Park and Ride... At the same place there were some Italians and New Zealanders going to the same game... The New Zealanders were three young lads who had obviously made it their mission to party pretty hard... They were doing their trip in almost opposite order including going to Simbavati (the same lodge we went to)... I told them that with that party hardy attitude, Cape Town would be a perfect match for them... They only had 3 nights there and I knew that would not be enough... But they'll find that out...
Get out of the van, and there is a line longer than the number of people that the stadium holds to get on the buses... We are waiting about an hour to get on one... And it is little more than organized chaos... And I am using the term organized very loosely...
We get off the bus, walk 20 minutes to locate our gate and walk the half an hour back round the other way to get to our seats... Even though we had left with what we thought was ample time, we arrived at our seats with a couple of minutes to spare...
The game's result and goings on are known, so I won't bother... But we were, of course, less than impressed with the performance of the team... Went back to the hotel, and had a good meal...
Plenty of wine and watched the Brazil v. Ivory Coast game with a mostly knowledgeable football crowd in the common room of the hotel... Once the game was over, more wine was consumed and then bed...
written by on June 20, 2010 from Nelspruit, South Africa

Transit only
Warsaw, Poland
Got off a flight, took the bus to the train station, bought some tickets and then rode the bus to krakow... from the window I was glad I had... Not a pretty city by any stretch of it, but that's mostly because it had the shit bombed out of it sometime in the late 1930s, you might have heard about it...
written by  Big_T on September 13, 2008 from Warsaw, Poland
from the travel blog: Big_T's Travel Blog

A sombre day
Krakow, Poland
Today we got our stuff together and went to a town called Oświęcim in Polish, or you might know it by it's German name, Auschwitz.
Wow... Not a great deal can be said about it... It is divided into 2 parts, Auschwitz and then about 3 kms away, there is Birkenau which was known as Auschwitz II...
Walking around the museum you see and hear and read about the stories of the 1-1.5 million people killed at that very place. They were often brought in under the illusion that they were going to find new riches in an Eastern country, and bought plots of land, and fake businesses from the Nazis. They were then loaded into trains to be taken to either work as slaves or to be killed...
Those who have visited can understand, those who haven't should. There is not a great deal more I can say...
written by  Big_T on September 14, 2008 from Krakow, Poland
from the travel blog: Big_T's Travel Blog

Day 1... and so it begins...
Perth, Australia
If anyone hasn't done it or been here, you can get a fair idea of how big this country is by flying across it. Melbourne to Perth is the shortest route from east coast to west coast of Australia between major cities. Almost 4 hours of flying and still within the same country.
Got in my seat with an empty one next to me and an almost naked girl in the next seat. I had heard her speaking to her friends in the departure lounge and she had an accent. She had obviously come from a Northern Hemisphere summer and wasn't really aware of the climactic differences. In my head I pondered “How long will it be before she asks for a blanket?”
6 minutes was the answer. She requested a blanket to cover up her modesty, and promptly slept. As usual the food was pretty bad. After the meal, and 2 small bottles of white wine (as I had gone for the chicken), I attempted to sleep myself. I outdid myself at failing at this task. It is difficult to explain just how badly I did at sleeping on the flight, but I think it can be imagined.
As we were about to land, the young lady next to me, all covered in blankets due to her coldness, started talking to me. She had spent the previous 40 minutes applying layers of make-up (not that she needed it, she would have looked better without all that shit on her face). She started telling me that she was here to visit her boyfriend who worked in Perth and that she had been on 5 planes, San Antonio to LA, LA to Melbourne and Melbourne to Perth. I know that's 3, and you know that's 3, but she seemed to think it was 5. Oh well, who am I to disillusion the young lady? I wished her a good trip and we went on our separate ways.
There are shuttle buses from Perth Airport to the city, but there was a 20 minute wait for the next one and they don't provide door-to-door service like my friend Oli the Bosnian Cabbie does. The cab cost $15 more, but the shuttle bus driver doesn't regale you with glorious stories about fleeing war-torn Bosnia in 1992 and coming to Australia with his young wife (who, by the way, is an excellent cook and if she hadn't been, he would have told her to fuck off). So, it turns out, the old ways are still quite popular amongst the former Yugoslav republics.
Get to the hotel and the room is small but clean. The TV didn't work and when I called reception, the girl told me that I probably hadn't held the power button down long enough. After holding it until my arm went blue, I went to the counter and she saw the blueness for herself and called a maintenance guy up. There was an issue with the power cord, so he sorted that and then I turned the TV off and went for a walk. It's my first visit to Perth and the city seems nice and quiet. I had always been told that outside of Melbourne and Sydney, other Australian cities weren't quite as expensive. This rule may be true, unless the word Belgian is in the name, as this adds $5-$10 to any beer price. I enjoyed a quiet beer at the Belgian Beer Cafe (about $300), and then continued on my walk getting back to the hotel at about .
Nanna nap time! I slept for an hour and went out to get some dinner. If you do this, please read the menu... I saw Bacon Burger on the menu and assumed that it would be a burger with some bacon on it... How silly I was... There was no burger... Just 6 slices of bacon and salad on a bun... The menu did say this, but I made an assumption that no-one would want a burger like that, but it was surprisingly not bad...
Tomorrow is Fremantle, and a personal Hajj to the Little Creatures brewery... I am looking forward to it immensely.
written by  Big_T on June 1, 2010 from Perth, Australia

Prague, a beautiful city if not overrun by tourists...
Prague, Czech Republic
We took the overnight train to Prague from Krakow. the train left at 10:20 and we got in at about 7:30 or so... Adam was clearly having trouble sleeping and my chainsaw-like snoring didn't help. He got angry at his lack of sleep and the bear sounds coming from the bunk below and he lost his temper at me a little. Entirely understandable.
We were told that we could check in to the apartment from 7:30 or so because there was no-one in the apartment the day before. Well, when we arrive it turns out that the guy here the day before went and got hit by a car, and needed another day's rest. Talk about inconsiderate! So we were told that we could check in at about 12:00 or so.
At 9 we left our bags at the agents office around the corner, and walked in to the centre of town. A nice 15 minute walk. The new town, especially Wenceslas Square is very nice, busy and active. Lots of young Czechs and foreigners walkinga round, but as we were both tired, and Adam wasn't talking to me, we decided to go to the apartment and have a day of doing nothing. We sat back and watched the 1008 channels of satellite... Every channel had shit on it... Adam went to bed at 10...
Next morning, get up and Adam is chipper again! Yes! Very pleased about that... We went out to do some sightseeing in town. Started with a pizza for lunch, went to the old town square... Millions and millions of tourists there, you couldn't move for tourists... But it was entirely understandable. Prague's old city square is absolutely stunning, and as it turns out, even more beautiful at night.
The same thing can not be said about the smell. The city square, particularly up around the Astronomical Clock smelling like horseshit, mostly on account of all the horses shitting there... The trams, also, smelled like B.O. or at least our one home last night did. It reaked of the two homeless people sat in front of me. Mostly on account of the fact that they needed a shower...
Dinner and drinks followed, and we went to a traditional Czech bar called Caffreys, to watch the second half of the Arsenal/Dynamo Kiev game. Drinks at this bar proved to be expensive, so I only had 2 more after the other 7 or 8 I'd had through the day, and went back to the apartment at 12:30 to play an online poker tournament... My KK came up against AA and I was out just outside the money...
Today, (our 3rd and final day in Prague) is another day of sightseeing. Heading to Prague Castle, and hopefully taking some pictures around the city. I will eventually add some more pictures to the blog and to Facebook. Hopefully I can get that done tonight... And, hopefully, I can survive the smell of horseshit...
I meet up with Mum and Dad tomorrow afternoon, so that's pretty exciting too...
written by  Big_T on September 18, 2008 from Prague, Czech Republic

Day 2... The Trek to Fremantle...
Perth, Australia
Woke up at 7:00 am... This jet lag is killing me... Had a shower and went down to breakfast... Standard breakfast buffet fare, rubbery poached eggs, cold sausages, toast, cereal etc. awesome... Loved it... Went back upstairs to tidy up, grab my stuff and head out...
Grabbed the sign on the door and popped it on the outside of the door and put it out so I could tidy up in peace... As I was heading out, I realised that I probably should have checked which side I had put facing outwards, and as expected, the side on the outside said “Please tidy my room”... The inside said “Privacy Please”... I might put that on the outside from now on....
Headed out and walked toward the station to get a train to Fremantle. The train was on time and clean, it wasn't overcrowded, the ticket machine worked and it was full of attractive people (myself excluded, of course), so it was the exact opposite of a Melbourne train.
Train arrived in 25 minutes and as I got out of the station I realised what kind of a place we were looking at. An attractive city with lots of old buildings (old in an Australian sense, so about 100 years), and a lot of cool restaurants and cafes. I called my brother Neil to wish him a Happy Birthday and discussed Supercoach... The sizeable Italian community in Fremantle was instantly visible too, in the names of the cafes, the sight of old Italian men sitting outside said cafes, and the abundant Italian flags in various spots around the city.
But none of this mattered to me. I was in Fremantle for mostly one reason...
And I got here... It is, in essence, my spiritual home, even though I had never been here... Let me explain... I love beer... This place makes my favourite beer on earth... Hence, it was a place I needed to visit. And visit I did. I sat down at the front in the outside, patio-type, area and ordered a beer, after drinking it, I waited for the slightly unfriendly waitress to come back and ask if I wanted another. She didn't for a little while, but she served the people on the table next to me and told them that there was a group of tables on the other side which faced the water, so I grabbed my beer glass, and my water bottle and menu and stuff and walked to those tables. “Probably got better waitresses over there too” I thought, and I couldn't have been more right...
Waitresses were pleasant, the beer was delicious and I could see the boats sailing through the harbour just as Australia II did on that day in 1983 when we won the America's Cup or some shit... I don't know, I was drinking Little Creatures Pale Ale and loving every drop... I also had one of the woodfired pizzas and it was delicious too... And then I had another couple of pints... And then I realised I had better do a bit more sightseeing...
I walked around a bit further and went to a couple more pubs and had some more beers... Saw a pair of bikies get into an argument in one and almost get into fisticuffs until they were stopped by another bikie... All-in-all, a cracking day...
I headed back to Perth and walked around endlessly looking for a restaurant in the middle of the CBD for dinner... I ended up eating at an Irish pub and had some pretty good fish and chips...
Back to the hotel for some rest and to prepare for my last day in Oz before the African adventure...
written by  Big_T on June 2, 2010 from Perth, Australia

Day 3... More Perth...
Perth, Australia
My third day in Perth and in the glamorous establishment above, and not a great deal was achieved during daylight hours. In the evening I had plans to meet Scotty, Junko, Damo and Naoko, so a mini Japan reunion and I was excited about that. Scotty called me to discuss meeting up about 3 minutes after I woke up, so strictly speaking, I wasn't lying when I told him that he hadn't woken me up.
I had been told about King's Park and how I should go and see it. So I headed up there in the morning after the breakfast in the hotel. Rode the bus about 30 minutes and then walked for about 10 and realised that it was just a bigger version of the park near my house. Called Monty who had recommended it and he told me that it was my fault because I wasn't in touch with nature. We agreed to disagree and I headed back in to the city.
Jumped on a couple of free buses toward Northbridge where I had been told there were some places to eat lunch (as Central Perth has approximately nothing). As I was sat on the bus, I spotted Noriko (Damo's wife, the same Damo and Noriko that I had plans to meet later in the evening). I knew Perth was small, but I had no idea just how small.
After lunch, I did a little more walking around and sightseeing. Then I headed up to Leederville. This is where Scotty, Damo and their respective spouses live. Went to the pub and had a beer and something to eat and a good catch up. I also got in trouble for not telling them before I was coming to Perth, that I was coming and I could have stayed at one of their places for nothing. On the way back I have a night in Perth again, so I will be staying at Scotty and Junko's place.
After the pub, we went to a cafe and enjoyed a coffee... The cafe had a number of lanterns... How many you ask? Well, we had a little contest to guess how many there were. I said 250, Damo, 360 and the others weren't even close... As we were leaving Scotty asked the guys at the counter and was told that there were about 300... The boys have been set a task, to find out the exact number, because under 310 makes me the winner, where 311 and up would give it to Damo... I think I have it...
Back to the hotel and some kip... Tomorrow is the flight to Singapore and then on to Jo'burg, so I think I will spend most of the day getting tanked on planes and in airport bars.
written by  Big_T on June 3, 2010 from Perth, Australia

Day 7... What the f*** time do you call this???
Hoedspruit, South Africa
The morning wake up call came through loud and clear... 5:19 am... 5:19!?! I actually knew what the schedule was like, but it still doesn't soften the blow of a 5:19 am knock on the door.
The idea is you are all up for a coffee at about 6 and then go out on the morning drive at about 6:15-6:30. I am still a little jet lagged, so it was about 1:19 pm at home, so I got up a lot faster than expected and had a shower. Everyone was ready for the drive at 6:15, so all 7 of us headed out with Adam and Daniel leading the way.
I thought the evening was Antarctic... My goodness me... It was farking freezing... Brass monkeys would have struggled with this... As soon as we started moving it cooled down considerably too... Would have struggled to be any degrees at all... Maybe 3 or 4... Red noses were visible all round... But the sun was about to come out, and all was well...
More impala, kudu, waterbok, were the first things we spotted. Then we hit pay dirt, we headed out and spotted some lions... A couple of regular ones, and a few white ones. Absolutely stunning creatures. I had previously been impressed by the grace and elegance of the giraffes, but there is a presence that lions have that no other animal possesses. There were 2 lionesses and a total of 4 cubs. As I write this I struggle to come up with words to describe them. It is hard to know what to say. Just know this, I am thinking about coming back to this area just for a chance to see these mighty creatures again...
Someone looked over at the car next to ours and commented on the fancy video camera, without Adam hearing them... About 5 minutes later Adam says “I would follow them a bit closer, right now but there is a National Geographic crew filming them...” No wonder they have the fancy gear... We just thought they were a tourist showing off with their expensive equipment. The lions then went on to a private property that no-one could follow them on to...
Huge herd of buffalo, and a couple of giraffe followed, you know, all the usual stuff you see driving down the road...
During the night drive, as we had our sunset beers, there was one left, so Jeff decided to shotgun his... This resulted in him cutting his hand open and requiring urgent medical attention from Daniel and Adam, which they promptly provided once they had stopped laughing...
At dinner, Adam was set a challenge to shotgun a beer and as a brave man does, he ran away from the challenge... Showing just what South African men were capable of...
written by  Big_T on June 7, 2010 from Hoedspruit, South Africa

Day 8... Last full day at Kruger...
Hoedspruit, South Africa
The morning began with us laughing at Adam at about 6:00 am for not being able to live up to a challenge... He responded by not showing us many animals. We spent the morning looking for and finding millions of lion tracks, but no lions...
A quiet lunch, and a quick nap followed...
Evening involved driving around looking for stuff and hassling Adam for running away from a challenge... Again, it was a quiet evening for animals, but a pretty good one for sunset pictures, Braais and drinking...
This time Adam was up for the challenge and he had even brought his buddy that can drink to try and bring the young American and old Australian down... We all had plenty of drinks and plenty to eat and a great deal of fun... Shot-gunned a beer and Adam raised his hands in victory... Jeff, doubting the man's ability and integrity, picked up the can and saw it was half full... He tipped it up for all to see and the evidence was all too obvious pouring on the concrete...
“Another shotgun!” was the cry... Oh well, I am not a great sculler of beer, but why the heck not? I thought... The can's were prepared by Adam and, lo and behold, a dirty tricks campaign had begun... I started drinking mine and found out that they had spiked it with some South African spirit designed to bring a big man down... Needless to say, it was remarkably unsuccessful...
As the night wore on, I found myself the only one still up and drinking, so I made my way to bed... Another couple of victims in the bag...
written by  Big_T on June 8, 2010 from Hoedspruit, South Africa

The Goodbye Party
Tokyo, Japan
Adam kindly organised the venue for this occasion (a place called The Dog's Bollox in Ikebukuro) and we both went about inviting our respective and mutual friends. Somewhere in the vicinity of 60 people turned up to join in the festivities. As the night progressed, we got drunker and drunker and yet neither of us had had to buy a drink. As expected all of this drunken behaviour led to some drunken shenanigans, but no-one was hurt or arrested, so all was good.
Someone had the idea of doing speeches, an unusual event at a normal going-away party, at least for the ones I have been to. Some good friends spoke and explained to everyone there how wonderful we were and then I spoke, followed Adam. As expected, Adam started his speech with some toilet humour at my expense, as I had to go to the toilet quickly after finishing my speech.
As the speeches progressed it started becoming clear how much our friends thought of us, and hopefully our words in the following speeches demonstrated how important those people were to the both of us too. Although Adam did use the “C” word in his speech... Naughty naughty!
The night wore on, with some people going home on last train, people who lived close enough taking cabs, and the last few remaining drunks staying until the morning... All in all, a brilliant evening and a tribute to the great friends that have made my stay in Japan such a wonderful experience.
written by  Big_T on August 17, 2008 from Tokyo, Japan

Day 10... Cape Town first day...
Cape Town, South Africa
Woke up at about 7 to get this 10:00 flight... The driver came and we took about half of the expected time to get to the airport, so I was stuck waiting there for about 2 hours... I found a Wi-Fi hotspot, and did a little web browsing and waited for my flight...
Boarded, and the flight was uneventful... Sorry, I wish I could regale you all with stories of plane crashes, hijacking attempts, international drug dealers or some other excitement... But there was none of that...
Check in to a six-room dorm and find no-one and nothing in there... Check with the receptionist Naadia and find that there is no-one scheduled to move in for at least 3-4 days... Magic...
Walk around the vicinity for a bit... I am in an area called Zonnebloom which used to be called district 6. During the apartheid era, areas were zoned to certain groups and this area became zoned to Whites, so all the Africans and Coloureds (mixed race people, but usually of Indian or Malay descent who were descended from the slaves of those areas) that lived there were forcible removed from their homes and relocated to the townships on the outskirts of town... The old beautiful historical buildings were all knocked down and new ones were put up in their place... In 1996, 30 years after being moved out of the area, and just a few years after the abolishment of apartheid, the first black residents were welcomed back to the area... There is a museum explaining the area and I made sure it was the first thing I did... The movie “District 9” is also loosely based on this story, I am informed, but not having seen the movie, I can't make too much comment...
Back to the room to drop stuff off and I come downstairs and am introduced to a group of 4 young Aussie lads who had been staying there for the 4 days prior to me arriving there... They give me a run-down of the place and the people there and this information becomes invaluable during my stay... There is a pub (The Castle) downstairs from the backpackers place where I am staying and this becomes the local... A great group of customers, and staff and the place seems like a bit of fun...
Long Street is the main drinking location for this town, so after a few beers, I headed out there to see what was happening... I have been to NY and Tokyo, I have been to London and Rome, Bangkok and Beijing, but I have never seen a more crowded place than Long Street the night before the world cup started... The people were being turned away from bars due to overcrowding, the whole street was shut to make sure the bar overflow didn't get run over by idiot drunk drivers.
Needless to say, I wasn't going to enjoy most of these places, so I had a quiet beer at one of them and then I headed back to the hotel... Was in bed by 11... Woken at 4 by some loud lunatics coming in, turns out it was the other Aussie lads and a couple of Irish lads who also stay upstairs... Then back to a relaxing slumber...
written by  Big_T on June 10, 2010 from Cape Town, South Africa

Day 12... A quiet one...
Cape Town, South Africa
Nothing really happened today... Spent the day walking around the city and exploring...
Walked from the backpackers place through the City to the Waterfront and had a bit of a look around.
The V&A Waterfront is much like waterfront locations in many places around the world. Lots of shops, restaurants, bars, and all of them overpriced. I didn't bother photographing anything down there though as the crappy weather made visibility almost nil.
The weather had started to be cloudy, cold, drizzly and miserable for the first time. It made me think that I had been so lucky with weather until then.
As I had to be up and ready for a wine tour at 8:00, I decided that an early night was in order. I will try and go up Table Mountain on a day with better weather.
Got back to the bar and watched a game or two...
written by  Big_T on June 12, 2010 from Cape Town, South Africa

Moving Days...
Tokyo, Japan
My friend and amazingly hardworking removalist Stephen Watson cleaned up the house, while I gave a small amount of assistance. Lane and Jon were also valuable in this process, thanks for your help boys! Much appreciated... I also had the chance during this time to say goodbye to some very important people in my life. They know who they are... Thankyou very much for being so important to me...
written by  Big_T on August 18, 2008 from Tokyo, Japan

The Second Last Day
Tokyo, Japan
Again Stephen was amazing today. He did most of my moving, I sorted everything out with the real estate agent and left the house at about 1:30.
I rushed as quickly as a fat man with a 20kg pack on his back can to the Mongolian embassy, and after the cab driver got lost (why does no-one know where this place is?) I made it there at about 2:40pm. The embassy official handed mine over immediately but when I asked him for Adam's one, he showed me the passport and application and asked “What the hell is this?” I said “An application and passport.” He said something indecipherable and then he complained that Adam never answered his phone. If your battery has no charge for 3 days and you had misplaced your adapter, your phone wouldn't work either, but the official was having none of that. I asked him if he could make the visa now, and he said that he could, and he went on to do so.
I then proceeded to head down to Osaka on the shinkansen and made it there by about 6:30, checked into the hotel (Hotel Shinosaka), got a call from Mum and Dad who are a week away from their own trip and then went out to get some food. Fell asleep at about 11. Never have I slept so solidly.
written by  Big_T on August 20, 2008 from Tokyo, Japan

Day 11... Ayoba!
Cape Town, South Africa
The day came, the World Cup started, and South Africa was ready... Heaving, in fact...
Woke up at about 10 and went for a walk around the Fan Fest. These are viewing locations that have been set up in each of the match cities that show every single game live and on an enormous screen. It opened at about 11 and as I walked past at 10:55, there was a queue of about 1000-2000 people waiting to get in. Took a few pictures there and went for a walk through the town.
It had the feel of a place waiting for something to happen... Most people were getting on with their daily business of work and other things, but there was an air of anticipation that something was about to happen.
Walked back toward the fan fest at around the 12:30 mark and the sign said it all. "Fan Fest Full". I knew this would happen, and for this reason, I planned to watch the game at the Castle Hotel, the pub underneath the backpackers place that I was staying at.
Got back to the Castle, and dropped most of my crap off and went down to the bar at about 1:45. The opening ceremony started at 2:00, so I grabbed a beer and began to not pay attention to it... There was too much else going on... The people started coming in, decorated and faces painted, and the gold of South Africa was ever-present... Seemed a little bit like an Australian sporting event in some ways...
Game started at 4:30pm. The pub was packed... Beer and football and an excited local crowd... 3 things a man lives for... The nervous anticipation was incredible, and the vuvuzelas were blowing (yes, even inside pubs)...
South Africa scored... Tshabalala hit an incredible drive that would have beaten any keeper in the world, and certainly had the better of Perez... The feeling was amazing, hearing all the pressure that the locals were feeling being released... There was a sentiment of the locals not wanting to be embarassed... They knew now, at least in the opening game, that it was not going to happen... The crowd went apeshit... People were jumping and hugging and blowing vuvuzelas, and jumping a bit more, and you couldn't help getting caught up in it...
The game continued... Mexico scored... Beer, beer, beer... The rest is history... Mother Africa was proud and I was so happy to be a part of it...
There was another game, I don't remember who played, I was over-refreshed, so I went to bed, content, happy to be a part of an historic moment...
written by  Big_T on June 11, 2010 from Cape Town, South Africa

Day 9... Morning safari, Johannesburg for dinner...
In the morning we head out on the safari, I felt pretty good, and the boys thought they'd be smart and offer me a beer... It amazes me how people underestimate me, and expect me to get hangovers... Will the world never learn?
Adam's mate, Matt, Dave, whatever his name was, was nowhere to be seen... Another victory for the foreign contingent... We start on the drive and head towards a report of 2 male lions... As we are driving, we spot a leopard crossing the road... Sweet...
See a couple of huge male buffalo... Scary looking buggers...
So we chase it and follow it up and over rivers and rocks and shit... All very exciting... We report this find to another van and they start looking for it, but they are unsuccessful... We thought the male lions had gone, but Adam thought he would head to the area anyway and we found them...
No wonder they are called the King of the Jungle by us foreigners (coz Africans think that the elephant is the king, and they don't even live in jungles anyway)... Seeing the lions lyin' down (hehe) you are just awestruck... We stayed and got some pictures and Adam turned around and asked what time we had to leave... In about 30 minutes was the answer... A phenomenal morning where we saw 2 of the most spectacular things you are ever likely to see...
Schumacher starts flying back to the lodge in a car with about 9 passengers with no seatbelts on over bumpy and sandy 3rd world tracks at about 140 miles per second... Needless to say, it was pretty awesome, and a bit challenging trying not to get thrown out of the vehicle...
We made it back and were then told that we had a further 30 minutes until the airport transfer car came... Everyone had a leisurely breakfast while I packed and got ready to leave... The transfer came, and we headed toward the airport... Boarded the hour flight back to Johannesburg and picked up our mobile phone sim cards, our world cup tickets, and then met up with the world's most expensive transfer driver... South Africa is relatively inexpensive, beer costs $1 in a bottle shop, a pint is $2.20 in a pub... This guy charged $80 to drive us half an hour... I found this out after I had booked him for the next day to go back to the airport to head to Cape Town... Oh well, you live and learn...
Got to the cottage that we will be occupying for the next couple of weeks and the place seemed to suit our needs perfectly... Had a glass of red, watched some TV and went to bed....
written by  Big_T on June 9, 2010 from Hoedspruit, South Africa

Nara and Osaka
Nara, Japan
Woke up at about 9:30 and repacked my stuff... Threw out some things that I knew I could probably live without and decided to be a lttle wiser about how to pack the bag. I realised that I had forgotten some things, most notably a plastic bag to keep my smelly clothes in. I need to pick one of those up on the way. I was in the room at about 11:05 when the man called and told me very politely that checkout time was at 11:00. I told him that I would be down in 1 minute. At 11:45 I got to the front desk and checked out, and then proceeded to get totally lost like a tourist heading towards Nara. Nara is the ancient capital of Japan and so it has... you guessed it TEMPLES! Unlike everywhere else in Japan, there are a lot of Temples, and by “unlike” I mean “exactly like”.
Nara park is an interesting place loaded with grass and trees, it is absolutely overrun by deer. These deer are not like Bambi though, they are more closely related to Cujo. These deer would frighten the Terminator with their out and out aggression. Walking through the park to get to Todaiji (the world's largest wooden structure), I spent the time avoiding deer, deer shit and people shitting themselves because of the deer. Screaming women and children were commonplace, particularly due to the availability of so-called “Shika senbei” which means deer cookies. Morons seemed to enjoy buying these cookies only to absolutely crap their pants when the deers come up to them and try to eat them, which is the reason for their existence.
Get to Todaiji. Fuck! It is massive! It is a very impressive building with a very large buddha statue inside it, and on this day it was jam-packed with Chinese tourists. I still manage to get a great view of the place as well as the inside statue of the Buddha which has him seated on some petals with his right palm showing which obviously has some significance, but I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that he is absolutely monstrous!
Trains back to Osaka and waited for the lads...
Tried to go to a small yakitori place but were told that even though there were no people in there, that there was no space for us. Sometimes I will not miss Japan at all. Telling us we can't enter because we are foreigners is just unacceptable...
Ended up in an izakaya, me, Adam, Dana, and Jeza. Good times with good mates. It is what life is about really... Another couple of bevvies up in the room, and then three hours sleep until getting up ready for the boat in the morning.
written by  Big_T on August 21, 2008 from Nara, Japan

Get on the Boat!
Osaka, Japan
Morning arrives, we eat the regulation free business hotel buffet, and then get a cab to the port. The cab was jam-packed with the 4 of us plus Adam and my massive luggage. The cab driver did not seemed best pleased, especially when the bottom of the car scraped on the gutter as we had overloaded his jaloppy.
Get to the ferry port very early expecting there to be issues with passport clearance and we had to stand around waiting. The port was a warehouse with a few people behind desks and a vending machine. Not a single shop.
While we were waiting Dana befriended a guy whose name we don't know, but my best guess would be “Child-bearing Hips”, or CBH... He was at the port 7 hours early for a ferry to Korea. He offered to take our picture all together which he did with everyone's camera except mine. After he did that he decided to hang around and become our friend... Well, after all, he had taken the picture.
Dana and CBH starting becoming as thick as thieves, so the rest of us retreated hastily outside and talked about how much we didn't want to talk to the other guy. A few more photos were taken and then it was time to board. Some sad goodbyes were said and I can not thank those boys enough for coming all the way to Osaka to make our send off even more special. Then we boarded the “luxurious” Su Zhou Hao. As we boarded we were impressed that our tickets said VIP on them as we had booked the VIP room, but no-one else seemed to give a crap. We ate lunch, sat around, ate dinner had a beer, shot the shit and then went to bed at 11pm... What a sad pair...
written by  Big_T on August 22, 2008 from Osaka, Japan

Day 13... The wineries of the Cape... and disaster in Durban...
Woke up at 8:00 as I had to be waiting downstairs and ready between 8:30 and 8:45. Was waiting down there and no-one came. I thought this would be a disaster and when Naadia informed me that he had gone to the wrong hotel and he was on his way, I had even less confidence. When the guide, Aubrey, arrived, and told me I was the only one on the tour, I thought “Can I get out of this now?”.
Could not have been any more wrong...
Price was the same and the tour would be unchanged, but I would get more say over what we did, so the going into old shops to look at old stuff could be bypassed, and we could head on to more wineries. Sweet!
First winery we visited was called Zevenwacht and it was in Stellenbosch (the Western Cape's most famous wine district)... There I tasted some pretty good stuff... Nothing to blow the mind or anything, but then there was a cellar tour... That was pretty cool... A big guy took us through the cellar and explained how the wine was made... He started salivating when he said the word “juice” too, which I thought was telling.
After the cellar tour, we moved on to a winery called Tokara. It is named after Tom and Kara, the owner's children. Tasted a few really special wines here, guided by a lovely young lady, but they were pricey and I didn't think I'd be able to lug them around South Africa for the next 3 weeks. So I decided (unwisely) against purchasing any.
After Tokara, there was a fair bit of driving through the lovely countryside with Aubrey explaining some bits and pieces of history and getting lost halfway through a story as he got distracted by something else. His genealogy stories became stories about South African history which morphed into a story about a particular flower as he would change mid sentence.
As always, the wine region countryside was quite magnificent and there were some lovely towns. We got to Boschendal which was where the tour stopped for lunch. This winery has claims to be the oldest in the Cape as it was established in 1685, and they have a range of wines named for this fact. First there were the tastings. 5 samples were allowed and you had to choose off a list with accompanying tasting notes. I picked the 5 that looked interesting and they arrived on a sheet of paper with 5 wine glasses and a glass of water. I chose 2 whites and 3 reds and some of them from the premium “1685” range. The “1685” Chardonnay was a gem as was the shiraz of the same range. The standard shiraz smelt of dog's arse and tasted like dog's arse juice, a point sadly neglected in the tasting notes. The Chardonnay was too good... I bought a bottle and headed to lunch.
Lunch was the only thing not covered in the cost of the tour, so I chose something to go with a white as they had the Chardonnay available by the glass in the restaurant. Lunch was delightful and then there was a chance to check out the Manor house. A lovely old home from the 17th century which had been preserved as a museum. Photography was banned here, so I only took one or two quick photos when no-one was looking... hehe...
Next was Vrede en Lust in Franschhoek. For those who don't speak Afrikaans the name means Peace and Passion as was explained to me by the extraordinarily attractive young lady that came and sat with me to explain the place and get me ready for the wine tastings. As I sat and waited, I had a brief look around and saw that even though the girl running through my wine tastings was a stunner, she was not alone in being pleasant on the eyes. She was also very knowledgeable about the wines, the estate and it's history and the whole Franschhoek region. I got to sample about 7 wines in this winery and there were a few absolute crackers. I bought a red and a white and wished I could have bought more.
Finally headed off to the last winery. A place called Fairview and was told that there was a 6 tasting limit. I asked the guy behind the counter what he would recommend to give me a good overview of the winery. He said OK, and started numbering them 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 etc... 11 tastings later and 1 bottle bought and an idea of where I can by more, we got back in the van and went home.
Received a text to let me know that Mum and Dad had arrived as the game was on the next day. The plan, was for Dad and I and 2 others to go to the games, but the 2 others had to pull out about a month before we left...
They invited me up to their place to watch the Australia v Germany clash... I went, Australia weren't good... Tim Cahill got the worst red card I have ever seen... Got a call from one of my friends from the bar... Had a few drinks... Got home at 4...

Day 14... The first game...
2 weeks in to the holiday to see the old country play at the world cup and I still hadn't seen a live game... Today was the day of the game...Italy v Paraguay...
I woke up at about 12, and had breakfast... The game was being played in the evening and there were 2 earlier games than that... I wasn't all that interested in the others (and I wasn't allowed to watch the early one as a Springbok game was on)... I was here to see one team play, and that's all I was interested in. I was in the bat early as the weather was awful... No chance to climb Table Mountain today...
Zaid asked me if I wanted to play him in pool. I haven't explained Zaid yet. Zaid is a 9-year-old pool shark. Naadia that runs the backpackers and the bar at The Castle. Zaid's Dad runs The Castle's sister hotel, The Kimberley. While Zaid is on school holidays, he has nowhere else to be as both his parents are working... So he is hanging out in the pub...
I had met him on a few occasions, but when I first arrived most of his attention had been taken by the Aussie boys that were there before me. Now they were gone, it was my turn to play him in pool. Of course, the first time I was challenged I didn't want to play him... Because I had seen him play... This kid is a bit special... He plays like a 9-year-old (he doesn't line shots up as well as he should, he doesn't really consider where the ball will end up etc.) but he can hit the ball straight and he can read the table well... We played half a dozen games and I crushed him... Admittedly I got lucky a bit, but I was happy not to humiliate myself as so many before me had...
Before I left the bar, Lionel recommended I buy some sachets of booze, so I wouldn't have to buy anything at the inflated stadium prices. For a pair of plastic sachets, with one shot of whiskey, rum or tequila in each, it was ZAR7.5 (or about A$1.20). Took some rum for me and some whiskey for dad...
Watched part of the second game and then decided that I would need to head toward the stadium... Got a lift to the bus stop and then got on the Stadium Shuttle Bus from the Cape Town Civic Centre... The buzz on the bus could be felt... Everyone was excited, including me...
Arrived at the stadium stop and the short walk to the gate... Flags and vuvuzelas were going crazy... Not only the flags of the participating teams either, but flags of all the participating nations, plus plenty of South African flags... Walked up to the stadium and found the gate (as usual, the furthest one from where I entered)... Walked in and found my seat. Lower level, Row 2 seat 7... The second row from the front... Sweet...
As I sat down, the rain started falling... So I got up and bought a 500mL Coke to mix my Rum with... Tasty! As the game neared I sat down and the ran became intermittent...
Of course, as the game started, the rain got heavier and heavier... Paraguay scored and Italy were playing like shit... I decided that I wasn't going to put up with getting soaked and watching a team play like crap, so I stood up at the back under the shelters...
It was much better there, I started to dry out, Italy scored, and all was well... At the end of the game, I did the fan walk which was marked out through the streets of Cape Town... It was a pleasant and, halfway through, incredibly soaking 25 minute walk... I was supposed to meet up with people for a drink, but when I got to The Castle, SOAKED, I grabbed a couple of beers and decided not to call the people I was supposed to go out with... A quiet night and straight to bed to warm up...

Days 15 and 16... Quiet days, and busier evenings...
As with every other day, I got up at 12 and had a breakfast... The Breakfast Special at The Castle is 12.50 Rand (about $1.75) and is a full breakfast... Even locals think it's cheap... It usually finishes at 11:30, but as I was staying there, so Naadia gave me some grace.
Played Zaid in a couple more pool games and grabbed my computer and did a bit of writing, as it was too cold and rainy for Table Mountain or Robben Island. The Cable car up the mountain was cancelled as were the ferries to the island on both days... I am loving this country and this city, but it's weather reminds me of Melbourne... Cold and wet winters... Summer is supposed to be quite stifling, but that doesn't bother me so much... As I was leaving Cape Town the next day, Zaid decided we had to play the Championship game... I gave him a 2 Rand coin and told him to hold on to it so we could use it to play the championship the next day...
Each of the days involved me watching some games either at the bar or at the fan fest and then making a call or getting a call to go out for some drinks... I was supposed to get a call from one of my friends to hang out on the day of the 16th, but the call never came, so I watched some games instead... It was good, I got to see the Spain Switzerland game on that day...
Each night I got home late after having a magnificent evening and woke up late again the next day... Before I went out on the 16th, we all watched the South Africa v. Uruguay game.
The feelings on the first day of elation were now cancelled out by utter the devastation felt by the whole crowd with South Africa's capitulation 3-0 at the hands of the South Americans. Some of the guys in the bar were proud of some of the efforts of the players, but a man in the airport on the 17th when I left summed up the feelings of South Africans best when he said “Bafana bafana embarrassed our country...”
Lionel, who ran the bar of an evening, said he wanted to go out for drinks with me after work one night... He didn't drink, but he wanted to hang out... That was cool, so on the night of the 16th he kicked everyone out of the bar early and we met up...
Again, had a few drinks, went to a couple of bars... Lionel had to go home as his wife was expecting him... I went to another couple of places and met some lovely people... Got home at 6 ready for my last day to pack up and go back to Joburg...

Arrival in Shanghai
Shanghai, China
Woke up the next day, the sea was calm, and it was though the gut-wrenching hell from the day before had not existed.
We ate breakfast and arrived in Shanghai at just about 12:00 even though we had thought arrival was at about 2:00pm. When we arrived, we spent an hour sitting around waiting to get off the vessel, listening to a group of extremely noisy Chinese kids chanting something that Adam assumed was “Let us off the damn boat!”. I thought it was just making noise for the sake of it. Either way we got off with no Chinese money.
It's an international entry point, right? Surely there is somewhere to change money... right? WRONG! Just as Osaka had been it was an abandoned warehouse, a scene from “28 Weeks Later” no-one there except a few officials. So we came up with our ingenious plan. Adam had a printout that would get a taxi to take us to the hotel we were going to pick up tickets from that night as we were leaving for Beijing the same evening. The Hotel was a no-go, so we had to use a bank.
We first decide to go and have a look at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, but going up the elevator cost $20. $20! In China! I can buy a house for that much! I can buy 50 cans of beer in the convenience store... There is no way I am going to pay that much to go up a tower that looks like a cock. Look over our shoulders and see two buildings far bigger. The first and biggest was the one I had come to see.
The Shanghai World Financial Center is an engineering masterpiece. It is the world's 3rd tallest building including unfinished buildings. The scheduled opening date was originally in April, or so I thought. It turned out that the opening day was August 30th. 6 days later than the day we arrived there, even though I had read about 3 different and earlier opening dates... Very disappointing.
Next door, though, I saw an absolutely monstrous building. It's the Jin Mao Tower. It is an 88 storey gem completed in 1998 with a magic observatory that cost half as much as the Pearl building, but was heaps higher! Win! We got a magic view of Shanghai, the skyline, and the soon-to-be-completed SWFC.
After looking at the view for a while we headed back to the hotel to meet the guy with the tickets. We sat there with a guy sat behind Adam, and we thought I hope that's not the guy. After 30 minutes wait, it turns out it was. We grabbed our tickets and jumped on the train. I met a nice Chinese guy, we ate prison food. We slept. We got to Beijing.
written by  Big_T on August 24, 2008 from Shanghai, China

The Pretty Damn Good Wall of China
Beijing, China
“All in all you're just another brick in the wall”. I have no idea why I quoted that song except they have a name in common. Get to Beijing at 7:15, go to the hotel, leave our stuff, we are in a cab on the way to the wall at 8:15am.
It is a stunning sight. We arrived at the Mutianyu wall at almost 10 and started to walk. When we got there we realized that I had to ride a cable car or walk up 1600 steps. Adam, being the good man he is, and knowing my ridiculously unfounded fear of heights said that I could choose, but after walking about 1% of the number of steps, it was obvious that I couldn't climb, so I bit the bullet and rode the cable car.
After riding up (half the way with my eyes closed) we got there and saw one of the most stunningly beautiful sights I have ever seen. This is a formidable wall. The only disappointments were,
1.The bit we were on is reconstructed a few years ago over the ruins of the old one.
2.I got bitten by a bee.
3.Nothing, it was magnificent.
We then went on to hang out at the hotel for a bit, ate dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant that Mao once ate at, and then walked up to Tian An Men square where Adam got treated like a celebrity. Every girl wanted her picture taken with him... We got a train back and now we are in the hotel. We are off to see the Forbidden City, Olympic venues tomorrow, and then at night we fly to Mongolia.
written by  Big_T on August 25, 2008 from Beijing, China

Day 17... Last Day in Cape Town...
Johannesburg, South Africa
Woke up at the crack of half past twelve again to see the only good day of weather I had seen since my first day in town... It would have been a good day for Table Mountain or Robben Island, but I had no time for that kind of thing... I was flying out that afternoon at about 5:00, so I had planned to leave at about 3, giving myself an hour to get to the airport and plenty of time to clear customs and board my flight... I had heard that there was a MyCiti Bus that left from Cape Town station that would take me to the airport for 50 Rand rather than the 160 Rand it cost me to get from the airport to the city...
Zaid wasn't there... I asked his mum, Naadia, where he was and she said he would definitely be there before I had to go at 3. After breakfast, I went to the Fan Fest again to see what I could of the Argentina game before I had to head back to start packing up my stuff and head out toward the airport...
Zaid was in the bar with his Dad when I got there, and he told me that I was late... After discussing the fact that he should have been there when I got up and he wasn't, it was decided that we were both on time and I asked him if he had the 2 Rand coin I had given him the day before... He said it was in his mummy's purse, so he grabbed a coin out and asked if it was the same one... After a careful inspection I decided it was and the Championship was played... I thought it was best of 5, as this was all I really had time for... But when I won that, Zaid said that the Champion must win 5 games... I lost the next one and then won the one after that so I won the Championship 4-3. Zaid said that we needed to play more games to decide the true champion. I explained that I had a plane to catch... I am looking forward to finishing the Championship off one day... It will happen... I promised Zaid it would...
During the game I had received a call from Lionel, and he said that he was coming in with some paintings that he had done and he wanted me to choose one... He showed me a couple of them and I asked him to choose the one that best suited giving to me... He picked the one I liked... It was a special moment, and one that I won't forget...
After I had taken it and put it in my bags, Lionel offered to walk with me to the station to get my bus... Zaid heard this and offered to come down too, so each of them carried some of my stuff... When I made a joke to Lionel about him carrying my stuff, he explained that in Zimbabwe (where he is from), someone who is leaving for good or on a long journey never has to carry their own stuff... The people from the village will carry their stuff for them... Well, I wasn't in Zimbabwe, so I carried the heaviest stuff and they carried some of the lighter things...
Got to Cape Town station and looked around for an airport bus, but I was told that there wasn't one... Went to an information counter and they told us we had to go to another information counter and they told me that the bus went from the Civic Centre... Lucky I had Lionel with me, otherwise, I never would have found it... Lionel said that the Civic Centre wasn't far, so we started walking in the direction indicated by some newly placed signs...
Walked right through the newly-renovated Cape Town Station... A very pretty spot I must say, and kept following the signs to the Civic Centre... By this time it was coming up to half past 3, and I was getting worried that if it took much longer to get to the bus stop and then the bus was scheduled half an hour later, and it got caught in traffic, I might miss my flight...
10 minutes later I reached the bus stop... Bought a ticket and the lady said the bus was leaving imminently... Said my goodbyes to Lionel who thanked me, and Zaid who said he would miss me and told me he would say goodbye to his mum and dad for me, and boarded the bus... It departed at about 3:50...
Luckily Cape Town airport is not too far from down town and there were some bus lanes for when the traffic was busy... The bus trip took about 20 minutes, so I arrived at 4:10... Checked in and the lady asked if I had anything fragile in my bags, so I told her that I had the 4 bottles of wine... She said, that I need to check that bag in separately at the oversized check in... Cape Town airport is not that big, but the walk to the oversized check in was about 3 and a half miles... Once that was done, boarded the extraordinarily uneventful flight...
Got off at Joburg, took the Gautrain... The Gautrain is a brand new high speed train that runs from the airport to Sandton (near where I was staying and a 40 minute drive away) in about 15 minutes... Then from there I planned to get a cab to the guest house... I have only been there once and don't know my way around the city, so I needed a cab driver that knew where I wanted to go...
There were no cabs anywhere to be found... I waited in the cold for about 45 minutes and I decided that something needed to be done... I saw that there was a hotel across the road and thought that there must be a taxi rank or similar at the hotel... No such luck... I asked the guy behind the desk if he could help out and the guy said that he could arrange transport... Now, in South Africa speak, a taxi was 100 Rand and arrange transport was 200 Rand... As there was no other option, I agreed and took the transport, but committed to getting a taxi number from now on so I wouldn't be stuck like that again...
Finally got home, had some dinner, and relaxed... Watched the late World Cup game and went to bed...
written by  Big_T on June 17, 2010 from Johannesburg, South Africa

Forbidden!
Beijing, China
The next morning we wake up and have a lovely breakfast in our classy Hotel. A huge buffet which you can be sure I demolished.
After that we decided that it was time to do The Last Emperor thing and visit the Forbidden City. Another absolutely massive place that has been kept well intact for the last 600 years or so (although the paint job looks about 3 years old at the most). A stunning place and it would have been fricking sweet to have been the emperor and the only person allowed to live there. Although after about 10 minutes every building started to look and sound identical, The Hall of Heavenly Peace, The Hall of Earthly Harmony, The Hall of Glorious Constipation... etc....
Once done with that we walked the 45 minutes to the nearest subway station and tried to go to the Olympic Venues, but as we got near there we were told that unless we had a ticket we would only be able to see it from a long distance. We thought that the 40 minute walk to a bridge where we couldn't see the Stadium was a waste of time so we had a beer.
Back to the hotel taxi to the airport and ready for our 9:10pm flight to Ulan Bataar. 9:10 comes and goes as does 10:10, 11:10...
to be continued...
written by  Big_T on August 26, 2008 from Beijing, China

Arrival in Mongolia, the best of both worlds
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
So did 12:10 AND 1:10, finally at 1:40 or so we boarded, left at 2 and arrived at 3:30 am.
We got into a taxi to take us to our hostel, we didn't have any Mongolian money yet and at 3:30 AM there was no-one there to help us change it either. So Adam asks the taxi driver if we can use dollars. "OK" he says in proud English. We get to the hostel, it is now almost 5. The door is locked, the lights are mostly off and no-one is opening, plus we have a driver charging us 3-4 times the amount of the cab fare mentioned in the guidebook.
The driver suggests that he knows a place to stay, a guesthouse for $7 a night, Adam said, OK if it was included in the money that we had already paid the filthy rat thieving cabby... He assured us it was. We get to the place, it is an apartment building where the Wicked Witch of the West lays dormant, she lets us in and we sleep for 3 hour or so.
When we get up WWoW says that it would be $10, and Adam explains that we had paid the rat-weasel cab driver. She said she didn't know the cabby, and that she didn't care what we paid him. I have no US money, Adam has $9... She wants $10, we don't have it. She threatens to call the police for $1. Adam laughs at her and tells her to get her money from the rat-weasel cab driver. She does, we go and get some Mongolian money (which is called the Togrog, no shit).
Back to our hostel, it's nice enough and then off in a baus to the countryside and a Ger camp. Some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. Exquisite. Rolling hills, grassy fields covered in wild horses, cattle, sheep etc. Worst roads on earth!
The Ger is a felt tent and was very comfortable. A little cold at night but Adam went all primal and shit and made fire. The camp provided meals too... Big meals, Adam couldn't finish lunch and I left part of my dinner...
Adam freaked when he saw what the sky was supposed to look like without all the city lights. We could see The Big Dipper on the horizon, very impressive. I dropped my camera in a toilet, not good. Slept to get ready for the incredibly bumpy journey back to Ulaanbataar, our faith in Mongolia, Mongolians and people in general having been restored.
written by  Big_T on August 27, 2008 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Day 18 and 19... Nothing...
Johannesburg, South Africa
Italy played their second game on the 20th, so I had a flight to [[South-Africa/Nelspruit]] on the morning of the game... I had nothing on the 18th and 19th at all, so I enjoyed the nothingness of the days...
Watched a couple of games... Had a few beers... Did some grocery shopping... Had a nanna nap... Watched another game...
On the evening of the 18th, we went out to dinner at a family friend's place, so that Dad could meet another Sicilian who had emigrated to [[South-Africa]] fom the same city as him... Dinner was nice... And most of the company were good people...
Called the cab company number that I had cleverly sought ought the night before to book my cab for 7 am the next morning... The machine said that the service was suspended for 48 hours...
“Shit!” I thought... What the fark am I supposed to do now... I was lucky enough to find another cab number and they came through for me...
Went to bed early as I had a 6 am start the next day...
written by  Big_T on June 19, 2010 from Johannesburg, South Africa

Day 21 and 22... Back to Jozi and a vehicle...
The trip will now be centred around Johannesburg as the remaining games are scheduled in the Johannesburg and Pretoria areas...
Got to Joburg and rented a car... I had to wait for the folks as their flight down was scheduled to arrive 90 minutes after mine... Got to a bar and watched Portugal v North Korea...
Wow... What a bunch of bullies... Portugal wanted to show that they could beat a team of children and they did... 7-0... Teams that do that never win the World Cup... Last time I remember a team doing that was Russia winning a game 5-0 and one player scored 4... They didn't win the World Cup and neither will Portugal, mark my words...
Had a couple of beers, met up with the oldies... Rented a Chevrolet Cruze... Asked if we could rent a GPS... Were told that the cost of renting a GPS was almost the same as buying one... I told the folks I would buy it so that I could have it at home...
Now we have the care we can drive places, like to the Supermarket and shit... Drove to buy some booze... Bought more than we could have carried...
Got home to drink it and watch the late game...
Day 22 was much the same with watching games and relaxing... Not much else happened...
written by  Big_T on June 22, 2010 from Johannesburg, South Africa

Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Hmmm... Have you ever seen a war-ravaged nation on TV? That's what this city looks like.
We went to the hostel, saw a massive Buddha statue in a monastery... Huge.
Then we walked to town, saw the Natural History Museum... Dinosaur Bones... Then we spent 30 minutes trying to change money. We are in an internet cafe, but about to leave to have dinner and beer... Tomorrow is the first day of the Trans-Siberian railway... Very excited about that...
Will post when I can. Can you guys comment, so I know if people are reading this??? Thanks
...
written by  Big_T on August 28, 2008 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The Train Ride Ulaan Bataar to Irkutsk
Irkutsk, Russia
Thanks for your comments guys, I am glad that someone is reading this, and Stephen, the water was clean, but I did dry it a couple of times.
We went to the worlds worst supermarket to get supplies for the train ride. Luckily we did because there were to be no meals for 25 hours. They didn't put a dining car on the train. We didn't know this, so we walked up and down the train looking for it like a pair of idiots.
As we arrived in the train cabin we met our two travelling mates and settled in. One was a young man named Murat, a quiet 20 year old student on his way back to Saint Petersburg (6 days straight in the train) for university. The other man's name I can't remember, because I only called him Big Boss.
Russia has very high import duties on luxury items, e.g. Jeans, Denim Jackets, etc. Big Boss wanted to avoid having to pay those duties, so he brought box loads of these items on to the train and then during the ride, he distributed the jackets amongst the rooms and bags so that it looked like everyone on the train just happened to like denim. We were in the middle of an International smuggling ring... Fucking sweet!
They share Vodka with us, we meet his friend Olzod who used to be an Asian boxing champion and we watch him punch the shit out of any furniture he can find. We share Vodka with him, but it looks like he doesn't need any more.
We arrive at the Russian border at about midnight... The train slows... We are handed customs declaration forms, Big Boss sits there looking at his form and says something to Murat in Mongolian. We then wait, and as the Russian customs inspectors storm on in their boots and uniforms, Big Boss finds the head customs official and they chat, joke and laugh for about 20 minutes. Then our passports are taken away and inspected while we are asked to get out of the room, so walls and ceilings can be unscrewed so they can inspect inside them. They find something in Olzod's cabin next door, so Olzod comes into our room, talks to Big Boss, they get some money out to grease some palms and he leaves.
Altogether we are at the border for about 3 and a half hours. Although I am falling asleep once my stuff is finished. Adam can't as he needs the toilet but it is closed for 30 minutes before and after stations! hahahaha he had to wait!
Next thing I remember is waking up and we are in Russia. The countryside has changed from rolling hills and fields to thick forest. The train pulls in to the station at about 4 in the afternoon and we get to our hotel in Irkutsk, the Paris of Siberia...
Now comes the 3 day train ride! Will update a couple of days worth in Moscow!
written by  Big_T on August 29, 2008 from Irkutsk, Russia

Day 23... Soweto...
Soweto, South Africa
There is no place in South Africa which is more famous in the battle against oppression and apartheid than Soweto...
It is where Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived and live respectively... Mandela was not from there (he is from a village in the cape), but he moved there and lived there with his first wife, and then with Winnie, and Winnie continued to live there while Nelson was in prison...
The only way it is recommended to go to Soweto is on an organized tour... Our tour guide Fefe picked us up at 9... We were outside waiting and ready to go... We picked up a couple of fellow tourists on the way and drove through downtown Johannesburg on the way to Soweto...
The city of Johannesburg used to be the financial capital of the country, but it is no longer really the case... Sandton, the new city built for wealthy Joburgers to avoid the crime of Jozi has now become one of the financial centres and some other companies and government departments have moved to Pretoria, but downtown Joburg is now mainly a commercial centre...
Drove through and saw some neighbourhoods that were mainly wealthy white areas which have been inhabited by black South Africans... Fefe explained the changes in the areas on the way through and then we arrived in Soweto...
The name derives from South Western Townships... It was an area where black people were moved to from country areas outside of Joburg and came in to work in town... They were like labour camps where men (and men only, wives were not allowed to stay) stayed in dormitory style accommodation. This area expanded and people were not provided with government promised housing and so they moved in to the shacks and huts so often seen on the TV today...
Not all of Soweto is like this, though... As you come in to the township of Soweto, you see some quite nice houses... There are some people in the area, e.g. Winnie Mandela, who live in wealthy houses in Soweto... But as you move through, you see the informal settlements... This means the shacks...
We were led to a guide there who took us through the settlement and then we were shown through a house by one of the residents... The settlement had been in existence since 1994 and this family of 8 had lived in the same three-room house since that time and still had no running water or electricity... This girl could not have been more than 18, so she would know no other lifestyle... We gave her a small donation as well as the tour guide, and drove on to a museum...
The museum was about a student revolt by black students who were being forced to study in Afrikaans... A language entirely unfamiliar to them, and one in which they had no interest... The students started to march and peacefully protest about the fact that they had to study some subjects in Afrikaans... The Police, obviously, started to fire on the protesters and shot and killed a 13-year-old boy named Hector Pieterson... Hector became a symbol of the oppression and violence against a group of schoolchildren by the authorities, and so the museum was named after him...
It had a pretty good rundown of Soweto and some aspects of Apartheid... It was quite emotional too as there was audio and video from the people involved in the student protest, but not too much as many of those people had since fled South Africa, including the boy who picked Hector up and carried him to his family in this picture …
We left the museum and went to see Nelson Mandela House... Not Nelson Mandela's House, but the house which had now become a museum to Nelson Mandela or Madiba as he is often referred to... The house was small and humble and had been refurbished to look as it had when Madiba had lived there... The street it is on (Vilakazi Street, for the record) is the only street in the world where 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners had lived... Madiba at this place, and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who still lives on the same street... It's a bit harder to go inside that house...
Once we had left there, our Soweto tour was done, we drove back toward our guesthouse, but not without briefly driving past Mandela's current house (which is right around the corner from the guesthouse)...
Certain times in your life, you reflect upon how good you and most of those you know have it... No-one said anything, but visiting some of those places, really affected all of us in different ways... How this will affect everyone in the long run is yet to be seen...
written by  Big_T on June 23, 2010 from Soweto, South Africa

Day 24... Italy out of the cup...
Italy v Slovakia at Ellis Park was the last group game we had tickets for... Italy pretty much needed a win to qualify, or a multiple goal draw would have done the trick... Read the "Park and Ride" tickets and they said to park 4 hours before the game kicked off...
We arrived at the "Park and Ride" at 11:45 which was 4 hours and 15 minutes prior to kick off... As previous games had taught us, there is no problem arriving too early, but sometimes it can take up to 3 hours to get to a stadium... On this day, it took about 15 minutes...
So we arrived at the stadium 4 hours early like a pair of dickheads... Serves us right for doing what we were told... There were maybe 5 people there when we arrived and about 5000 security staff... I was sick and so in no mood to drink, otherwise the 4 hours could have easily been filled... Instead it was filled with nervous anticipation, boredom and quite a bit of walking around...
From about an hour before the game, the crowd started to fill up and we could get on with the business of watching Italy qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament...
We all know, now, that wasn't to be, and the Italian team served up the same shit for 75 minutes of the game... Then, in the last 15 minutes, scared of being humiliated, they decided to play... And play well they did... They scored 2 and if the referee's assistant knew his job it would have been 3, and a draw... They would have made it... But on the balance of play, they didn't deserve to go through...
The whole thing angered me also... If they were capable of playing like they did in the last 15 minutes, then why did they spend so much time serving up that awful crap... If they had played like that the whole time, they would have won each game about 3-0 and would have been feared by the rest of the teams... Instead, they were a laughing stock, and I spent a fortune coming all the way here to bring my Dad to the games...
I will have more chances to see World Cups (e.g. every 4 years), but the old man is over 60... Unless they play the World Cup in Australia (which looks increasingly unlikely with all the bribery scandals etc.) he may never get a chance to see the old country play again... His anger was directed at the disallowed goal, and it was much less than mine...
Oh well, there goes the 2010 World Cup for me... I had a TST 5 which meant that as Italy were out, I could follow the group winner, Paraguay... I decided immediately that I didn't want to go and see any more games live, but as always, I would watch every possible game on TV...
Left the stadium devastated, and get to a queue for the "Park and Ride" bus... 25 minutes later, we got on the bus... Couldn't find the car in the car park, that took about 40 minutes or so... So, overall, the getting home took an hour and a half...
Got home to watch Japan dominate Denmark and for them to show the rest of the World Cup how to kick the Jabulani properly...

Day 25... Piss off...
I just said on day 24 that Italy was out... Piss off... Did nothing today...

Trans Siberian Irkutsk-Moscow
Moscow, Russia
77 hours on a train, and it all went smoother than clockwork...
We got on and spent an hour remarking how much better the train was than the Mongolia one had been... The "Baikal" is a gem amongst Trans-Siberian/Mongolian/Manchurian trains. Clean, spacious and comfortable are 3 good words to describe it... We got on and Natasha was getting her stuff ready with her daughter. The daughter disembarked before the train left and we ended up with 3 people out of 4 in the carriage but by the time we had woken up the next day a 4th member had been added... He didn't speak for 24 hours...
His name was Aleksei and lived somewhere near Moscow, that's all he said when Adam tried to engage him in a conversation.
We settled into a routine, we read, slept, ate, drank, visited the dining car, I watched a movie on the laptop (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, VERY GOOD!!!), and then all of a sudden 77 hours later we arrived...
We bumped into a couple of lads that we had met at the station in UlaanBataar, an English and a Hawaiian (Blonde haired and blue eyed, I didn't even ask him about Hawaii football as he didn't look genuine enough) lad... On the final night we had a few beers and a couple of shots of Vodka in true Russian style... They tasted like crap, but it was a great time...
We got off the train, Adam spent 25 minutes looking for the subway station, and it turned out that it was right next to where I was waiting for him... Oops!
We got to the apartment... Beautiful place, our landlady is a Russian lady that used to live in Sydney! Grouse chick, she really took care of us...
Went out to a bar (as it was Thursday night) called BB Kings, we sat next to where Faith No More had signed the wall, and all Canadians will be happy to know that BRIAN ADAMS ate at the same table as ME!
written by  Big_T on September 4, 2008 from Moscow, Russia

Moscow Day 1
Moscow, Russia
As we got up early, we decided to walk the 20 minutes down to the Kremlin and Red Square. We noticed the same as yesterday, Moscow is a stunningly beautiful city... Some amazing architecture, stunningly beautiful old streets and laneways, but the customer service throughout Russia is abysmal, but boys, you all need to visit Russia!!! BOYS! You NEED to visit this place...
We get to The Entrance for the Kremlin at just about 12:15pm and it is open until 5:00 for visiting, but we ended up waiting until 2:30 for entry tickets... That Russian customer service again... We had to take the audi tour things and have them back by 4:00, so the 5 hours we had have become an hour and a half, but we had also bought tickets to the armory where the Faberge eggs and the Czars collections are kept. These tickets are also good till 4:00pm... You see our problem? We ended up seeing both for about 30 minutes a piece...
Dinner was at a Georgian restaurant... You know Georgia, that place Russia recently attacked? That place... The food was phenomenal! A kind of Russian Mediterranean blend that tasted very good. Adam had chicken, I had veal, and we were all happy! Adam has had some toe issues for a few days and today it was causing him some problems, so we had an early night, and I had a few beers in the house...
I have almost achieved my mini project. That is, drinking all 10 varieties of Baltika (a great Russian brew...) I have drunk the #3,4,5,6,7,8,9. I have seen a 0 but I am looking for the #1, and 2... If you can get it, #8 is the best! It's reminiscent of some quality Belgian brews...
Tomorrow morning we are off to see the embalmed corpse of Lenin and see the rest of Moscow... Then in the evening, the train to Helsinki and some non-communist countries!
written by  Big_T on September 5, 2008 from Moscow, Russia

Moscow Day 2
Moscow, Russia
We showed up at the Red Square for the second day straight only to again see it closed up with heavy metal gates that reminded us of what the ter Iron Curtain meant. So no corpse viewing, this means that we missed out on seeing both corpses that we wanted to see (Mao Tse Tung in Beijing and Lenin in Moscow)... Very very disappointing...
So we sat down and discussed our options, and we decided that to try and get a sneak peak at the square from the back would be the best option, so we walked around until we found somewehere for lunch, ate and then continued walking around the square. Walked for about 2 hours and then went to a pub for 6.
Adam went easy on it because of his injury, I was uninjured so i didn't bother to go easy and we got to watch 3 games of soccer with almost no goals, but i didn't mind beacause I celebrated each 15 minute interval with a beer...
That evening at 10:50PM we boarded the train to Helsinki for a 15 hour train trip. A walk in the park after the last one...
written by  Big_T on September 6, 2008 from Moscow, Russia

Vegetable Lasagne
Helsinki, Finland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGWqtwhS2KY
Finland... Land of excitement, thrills, etc. Adam brought a guidebook (Europe on a shoestring) with a short guide on each country in Europe. It even has Andorra in it... The France section is about 30 pages long, Finland, a page and a half.
The 4th attraction listed for Finland is a Cable Factory (admittedly it is now used as an art space, but you get the picture). The one attraction they had which sounded pretty cool was a former fortress island, it was used to defend Sweden, Russia and then Finland after independence from Sweden and Russia. We took the ferry out there and walked all around the place and had a pretty cool time looking at old cannons, battlements and exploring a series of underground pitch black tunnels which led to more underground pitch black tunnels. I tired of these after a while, but Adam seemd to get continually excited about them.
Walked around the island for 2½ to 3 hours and then headed back up to the city to get something to eat. Went for a beer in the pub first (bottle of Stella €5 thank you very much...) The other thing that interested me about Finland was the wacky stuff they eat. I had already eaten Reindeer for lunch and when we got to the restaurant for dinner I chose the Elk and Venison casserole... Absolutely lovely... Adam had Buffalo for lunch and Reindeer for dinner...
All in all, Helsinki is a beautiful old city, with great architecture but there wasn't heaps to do if you don't love saunas... Kind of like that Seinfeld character Vegetable Lasagne (who was Finnish by the way)...
written by  Big_T on September 7, 2008 from Helsinki, Finland

The Boat across and Stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden
Mark, hope this one works better... It's appropriate for the Finland post only though
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=jgTyVkpJY3g
After hitting up the internet cafe for the previous entry we walked down to the port and jumped on our accomodation for the next 15 hours or so i.e. the boat across to Sweden.
We got on on the 7th deck, even though we were staying in the cheapest possible rooms on the 2nd deck... The boat was massive, it went up to about 13 decks... We knew that we would be safe from the seasickness of the Osaka to Shanghai debacle...
We were, we stayed up and had a few bevvies, slept and were awoken by the captain telling us we were an hour and a half from port...
We arrived at the hostel which was a former prison after following the directions (well written, but they underestimated the walking time by about 300%)... Of course, as we had arrived in the morning, we couldn't check in yet, so we had to leave our bags and do sightseeing as we were...
We visited the main sights of Stockholm, much like Helsinki a beautiful old city, some really cool museums and old buildings... I got frostbite as it was about -140 degrees... We walked around until about 5:30 when we went back to the hostel to check in... Smallest room ever!
I guess as it was designed for prisoners, there wasn't much chance of a suite at the Park Hyatt, but it was a real 8'x3' job... The 2 of us slept in a bunk bed, at the end of it there was a locker and on the side there was a small table and 2 chairs...
We decided to forego the guidebook for our dinner location tonight and walked around and see what we could see and we found a restaurant/bar in this cool part of Stockholm... The food was good and the service was really cool... I have started to appreciate that much more since Moscow, where if you ask for help, it is like you set their Grandmother on fire...
Next morning was Adam's birthday, and we were going to do 2 things from my 1000 places to go before you die book. First, we got up and visited the Vasamuseet... A museum that houses the Vasa a gigantic warship from the 17th century that sank after 1 nautical mile... It is 95% intact and one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen...
After that we ate for lunch what the Swedes are famous for, Smörgåsbord! We headed about 10Km north of Stockholm to a lovely country inn that is famous for it's smörgåsbord... Even the King of Sweden has been known to eat there, and we know he has a diamond car with platinum wheels (subtle movie reference there)...
The food was awesome, and again we ate reindeer! The Finnish reindeer was better, but that was specifgically prepared and much more expensive... This was on a buffet table...
We left, headed to the port again for the ferry to Latvia... This time, the boat was pretty big, but a rain started just as we got on and this was not a great sign... I felt OK most of the trip but at about 11PM we were having a beer on the top deck and the constant up and down of the boat started getting to me...
Adam could notice I was getting a bit green in the gills and suggested we head back to the room... We did and within 30 minutes we had both passed out... We would have the birthday dinner at another time...
written by  Big_T on September 9, 2008 from Stockholm, Sweden

Riga
Riga, Latvia
Get to Riga in the morning and the Hostel lets us check in early. The guy at the counter is very friendly and helpful... The room is very spacious indeed too...
We do the Riga walking tour, lots of 17th and 18th century buildings, most in quite good condition and then we arrived at the Occupation museum...
This is the place that explains the constant occupation of this country by foreign invaders from 1940-1991... USSR, Germany, and then USSR again... Pretty much had their way with this country and no-one did anything to help them... When the Germans came, the Latvian people thought that they had been liberated from the Soviets, until the Germans started exterminating people they didn't like... When the allies beat the Germans, the Latvians thought they would be independant again, until They were handed back to the Soviets and it took until 1991 to gain independance...
We left the Occupation museum in a cheerful mood and found a traditional Latvian place to have Adam's birthday dinner... Adam drank a local booze called Latvija Balzams... Looked, smelled and tasted hideous! (but a great treatment for Scruffula) He couldn't look straight after drinking it either, but he had a good time for his birthday dinner and that's all that mattered...
Slept and now we are awake, about to head to the bus station for our bus across to Lithuania... This will be the 4th country in 6 days, we are there for less than 24 hours before flying to Poland... Things start to slow down a little there...
written by  Big_T on September 12, 2008 from Riga, Latvia

Krakow! Stunning!
Krakow, Poland
What a stunning city! I thought I had seen some good places, but this one tops all of them...
Krakow is over 1000 years old, and it was Poland's old capital. Looking at the place it surprises me that is not currently, but according to legend, Hitler forbade the destruction of the city and that he may have been planning to live here after the Germans won WWII... Whether any of thats true or not I would say that he couldn't have picked a lovelier place to live...
Beautiful castles, the world's largest medieval square, churches, fortifications, streets, etc. Lovely, except for the fucking weather...
It has hardly stopped raining since we left Moscow, particularly in the Baltic States. It has been raining cold and miserable almost every day. Even on days like today when the morning was a little cloudy and about 15degrees, it starts raining in the afternoon... SHITHOUSE!
Well it's about 5 now, we have a train to Prague tonight at about 10:20pm... I am excited because my brother said he might be coming out to meet me and my family in Europe next week!!! Very happy about that, so me and Adam might go and get drunk before the train!
Will write again from Prague!
written by  Big_T on September 15, 2008 from Krakow, Poland