It's been a few months now since I've updated the website. So much has happened. I reluctantly came home to New Zealand to earn some cash, I picked up a job to earn me that cash at one of my old clients from DTSL, I passed my final MCSE 2000 Exams, to become an MCSE in Windows 2000, I saw Linkin Park play for the second time this year in Auckland, I met some of the Band members for the second time this year (and played Blackjack with them), and I started a business!!
So although I'm back home in Wellington, things certainly haven't been bad. Although the length of time it took me to get my job, was starting to worry me.
Anyway, all of that can be written up another day. I've just finished writing about the Linkin Park concert I went to in Auckland last weekend. Like in Prague, I can't really describe it, but to put a word to it, it was Awesome! Photo's are here so check them out...
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Linkin Park in Auckland, October 2007
Trip to Auckland 11/10/07 - 14/10/07
When I posted the details about seeing Linkin Park in Prague, I didn't say a hell of a lot. It was because I was so stoked to have seen them, that I couldn't really come up with the words to describe it. Well, this post will be very similar, because they played better than in Prague!!
When I met the Band in Prague, I got speaking to Phoenix (the bassist), who asked me if I would come and see them if they played in New Zealand. Naturally I said yes, and so would a whole heap more people. About a month later, I read that they were indeed coming to New Zealand, and I had already booked my flights home. So that sealed the deal. I was of course dead keen to get tickets to the show, and while waiting for the pre-sale date to roll around, I got a txt from Mark, asking if I was going (silly question) and that he'd be keen to go (of all the people!!). Anyway, I brought the tickets after hearing that Adam was keen to go as well, and spent the next 2 months, waiting for the concert. (A lot happened in between, but thats another story)
So the days counted down, and finally we left on Thursday the 11th of October. We drove from Wellington to Auckland, along the way stopping off in Taupo for a quick round of Hole In One, and arrived at around 18:30. After checking into the hostel (ACB XBase Backpackers), met up with Becs (who I'd met at Fort Minor in 2006), and headed to the pub for $7 jugs. By 9pm, when the $7 deal ended, we were smashed!! Eventually we ended up in bed, at around 4am, but thats only a guess.
I awoke the morning of the concert dying of thirst, as the hostel rooms were ridiculously hot. I headed for the Bathroom to get some water, and was 2 meters away, when I passed out. Purely from dehydration of course. Nothing to do with the massive quantity of alcohol I had consumed the night before. So there I am lying on the floor, carpet burn and a developing lump on my forehead from hitting the ground, when I hear the lift open. As I push myself up, a girl from reception steps out and asks if I am Ok. I put on my best 'perfectly normal, what are you talking about' voice, and reply that I'm fine. I take another step towards the bathroom, and fall straight back on the floor, this time on my back. The girl helps me up and into the bathroom where I drowned myself in water to rehydrate.
So all in all, a brilliant start to the weekend.
We went to DressSmart that afternoon in Onehunga for a look around, and headed back to the hostel for some sleep before the concert. Becs had managed to score a meet and greet pass, so she left earlier.
Mark, Adam and I headed down to the Vector Arena and arrived at around 20:00, in time to see Chris Cornell finishing his set. It was bullcrap!! The tickets said that doors opened at 19:30, but aparently it was supposed to be 18:30. Anyway, I wasn't there to see Chris Cornell.
Like I said at the start of this post, I am lost for words to describe the show. All I can say, is that they played 100 times better than in Prague. I would assume because the crowd was way more into the show. So thanks New Zealand for cranking out a good audience, to make it an awesome show.
After the show, and this is where this post gets really cool, we headed back to the Hostel, got changed, and headed up to the Casino. When Adam said, "isn't that the guitarist from Linkin Park", I almost didn't look, expecting it to be a joke, but sure enough, there next to a Blackjack table was Brad Delson, Chester Bennington (singer) and Phoenix. I could not believe it. After sitting at another Blackjack table and getting nowhere for 10 minutes, Mark saw that the dealer on the table that the LP guys were at was his 'lucky dealer', so he headed over and sat down. Not to be outdone, I headed over, and pick up a seat next to Phoenix and Chester, telling them that the show was awesome and better than Prague. The guys were brilliant, talking away to those of us at the table as if they were regular people and having a good time. Hell, they even loaned me some chips when I was almost out, just so I could carry on.
I kinda feel bad for the rest of the weekend, because even though it was nice and relaxing, it simply didn't compare to that night. And unless something massivly awesome happens in the near future, that night will be the most amazing night of my life... Ever!!
So there it is, our trip to Auckland. All I can say is "When's the next one!!"
Monday, July 9, 2007
Metallica at Wembly, July 2007
Metallica at Wembley - 08/07/07
It was Grants 21st Birthday about a month ago, and I was struggling to think of something to get him. Anyway, I got a txt from Helen asking if I'd like to go to Metallica. Naturally I said yes, and also thought it would be a pretty sweet present for Grant. Especially since he had never been to a Concert.
So I booked the tickets, and after a month of waiting, it was finally time for the concert!! Albeit a month after Grants Birthday... but who's counting.
Anyway, we caught the train into London, had a couple of Magners at Helens place, then headed to Wembly. As Wembly is a brand new stadium, it was quite impressive. The place is huge!!
As Impressive as the stadium was, nothing was at the stadium was as good as Metallica were. They are just as good Live in real life as they are on DVD's ...and Albums for that matter. The supporting Bands were nothing in comparison, even though Machine Head were one of the opening acts.
They played all the classics... Master of Puppets, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, The Unforgiven, The Memory Remains, Seek and Destroy, Sad But True, ...And Justice For All and No Leaf Clover, as well as a couple of new songs from the upcoming Album. It's going to Rock when it comes out, as the new stuff sounded awesome. After playing for 2 and a half hours, we were a little disappointed that they didn't play Fuel, especially as it was the only song that Grant really wanted to see.
They put on a damn good show though, even though we were miles away from the stage. Definitely worth the 40pounds!!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Old Post 3
Well, here I am, updating the blog. Over the past month, I experienced a level of Excitement that I have never had before. As you may have read below, I was to meet Linkin Park in Prague.
Well, I met Linkin Park in Prague. First I was interviewed for the LPU TV, then I got my album signed, had a conversation with the Bassist, Phoenix, and watched them play a wicked set, that included 6 songs from the new album as well as some older stuff. The crazy thing is, that because I was so stoked, I really don't know how to describe it all. I guess all I can say, is that it was a dream come true, and I really hope I can see them again, this time in New Zealand.
Oh, on another, slightly disappointing note... I have booked a flight home to New Zealand. Basically I have got to a point where I need to get back into the IT world so that I can keep up to date with all the changes that have been happening this year, and no-one here in the UK will even get back to me about Job applications for IT work. So back to NZ it is, where I should be able to slot into something relatively easily, save some coin, and head back over for a holiday at some stage. So on that note... See some of you soon.
P.S. I leave the UK on the 7th of August, and arrive in Tauranga on the 9th.
Well, I met Linkin Park in Prague. First I was interviewed for the LPU TV, then I got my album signed, had a conversation with the Bassist, Phoenix, and watched them play a wicked set, that included 6 songs from the new album as well as some older stuff. The crazy thing is, that because I was so stoked, I really don't know how to describe it all. I guess all I can say, is that it was a dream come true, and I really hope I can see them again, this time in New Zealand.
Oh, on another, slightly disappointing note... I have booked a flight home to New Zealand. Basically I have got to a point where I need to get back into the IT world so that I can keep up to date with all the changes that have been happening this year, and no-one here in the UK will even get back to me about Job applications for IT work. So back to NZ it is, where I should be able to slot into something relatively easily, save some coin, and head back over for a holiday at some stage. So on that note... See some of you soon.
P.S. I leave the UK on the 7th of August, and arrive in Tauranga on the 9th.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Prague and Linkin Park, June 2007
My trip to Prague!! 10/06/07 - 13/06/07
UPDATE... I've gone through and put in some place names that I couldn't remember when I first wrote this, but have found out now, so it should all make a little more sense.
So anyway, Helen and I went to Prague last week, and saw quite a lot. We managed to see everything that people go to see in a day and a bit. The central area isn't really that big, and we were able to walk pretty much everywhere. It is a really beautiful city, and incredibly clean. When you compare it to the littered streets of England, it's great.
We saw a bunch of stuff, that right now, I can't remember the names of. But things like the Old Town Square with the Old Town Hall and Astronomical Clock, the Charles Bridge and the massive Cathedral (St Vitus Cathedral) up at the Castle are definately things that I remember.
On our last day there, we also took a day trip out to a small town (Kutna Hora), which was really cool. It was great to see some of the countryside outside of Prague. I wish that we had had time to take a guided walk around Prague now, just so that we could have learned more about the city, rather than reading it from a book.
Anyway, Prague was a really beautiful place, with a tonne of history that I would love to go back to. Especially for a piss trip with the lads!! Ha ha.
Oh, I also went to see Linkin Park play, and met the band and got my album signed. I don't really have to say how excited and stoked I was, because those who know me, know exactly how I would have felt.
Wooooo hoooooooooooooo!!!!!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Old Post 2
Ok, what did I say... it has almost been a month, and I'm finally getting around to updating the site.
So much has happened since the last entry above. I've been to Turkey, Barcelona, Newquay and Blackpool. Like I've said Turkey was awesome, and by far the best trip. Barcelona (06/05 - 09/05) was great, and was the beginning of 13 days of drinking for me (quite convenient that it was my birthday after we got back (10/05)). Newquay (13/05 - 15/05) was a laugh, especially having to look after Alex. He managed to down 15 500ml cans of Fosters on the road trip down there, then knock back 3 tequila shots and drink another 4-5 beers on arrival. After a few days of "I'm not drinking tonight, yeah right" I finally got some time off when Helen and I went to Blackpool for the weekend (18/05 - 21/05). That was great once the weather calmed down. Check out the photo's etc here for some pics and a couple of vids of some of the Roller Coasters at Blackpools Pleasure Beach Theme Park.
Anyway, now the countdown has begun for my trip to Prague and the Linkin Park concert!!! Only 17 days till Helen and I leave, and 19 days until the concert!!!
So much has happened since the last entry above. I've been to Turkey, Barcelona, Newquay and Blackpool. Like I've said Turkey was awesome, and by far the best trip. Barcelona (06/05 - 09/05) was great, and was the beginning of 13 days of drinking for me (quite convenient that it was my birthday after we got back (10/05)). Newquay (13/05 - 15/05) was a laugh, especially having to look after Alex. He managed to down 15 500ml cans of Fosters on the road trip down there, then knock back 3 tequila shots and drink another 4-5 beers on arrival. After a few days of "I'm not drinking tonight, yeah right" I finally got some time off when Helen and I went to Blackpool for the weekend (18/05 - 21/05). That was great once the weather calmed down. Check out the photo's etc here for some pics and a couple of vids of some of the Roller Coasters at Blackpools Pleasure Beach Theme Park.
Anyway, now the countdown has begun for my trip to Prague and the Linkin Park concert!!! Only 17 days till Helen and I leave, and 19 days until the concert!!!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Barcelona, May 2007
A run down of the Saucy Tour to Barcelona, 06/05 - 09/05, 2007
Well, what happens on Tour, stays on Tour... So this will be fairly short and sweet.
We (Grant, Stingray, Duane and myself) departed Bath for Bristol at around 6pm on the 6th of May, and with bottles of Magners in hand, made our way to the Bristol airport. While we were queuing up there, Grant happened to spot Stacy Jones with his French Rugby League team, so we had a photo taken with him, which Duane managed to Fuck up by blurring it!!
Anyway, the drinking continued on the plane, with doubles of either Vodka or Bacardi. And once we arrived in Barcelona (having sobered up a little on the hour long bus ride from the airport) the drinking again continued at various fine establishments (otherwise known as strip clubs).
Each day began with a healthy pint or two of what ever we could get our hands on, whether it be San Miguel Beer, or to our surprise, Magners Cider!! Because of this healthy breakfast, we were simply topping up on the alcohol from the night before.
Due to the nature of previous Saucy Tours, we were all very surprised when we discovered that we had actually been to see quite a few things in Barcelona, such as the Barcelona FC stadium, various beaches and numerous Piazza's around the place. Hop-on, Hop-off buses are great for that.
Our final few hours were spent on a beach, sipping cocktails. It was during this time, that all of us decided that Barcelona/Spain would be a great place to live. And so began our dreams of opening a St Christophers Hostel in Barcelona. As Duane said, the day that one opens, is the day that he becomes a Janitor in Barcelona. I fully support that idea, and I will be right there with him.
Like I said, What happens on tour, stays on tour... but check out the Barcelona photo page here to see pics, and an awesome video of Duane at his finest.
P.S. Barcelona was seriously a great place, and I'm keen to see more of Spain. I can certainly understand why so many British people retire to Spain.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Turkey, April 2007
A run down of the time I spent in Turkey during the leadup to ANZAC Day 2007.
Well, here I am back in Bath, after having the most amazing time of my life in Turkey (of all places)!!!! As I mentioned earlier, I went to Turkey for the ANZAC Day commemorations at Gallipoli. It started with a 6 day tour around the western parts of Turkey before finishing at ANZAC Cove for the commemorations.
The annoying thing about the whole thing, is that words are really hard to come by to describe the trip. The fact the we did so much in the space of 8 days doesn't help either. I guess I'll just have to make this a big long spiel about everything, and see how I go.
Day 1: We (meaning Grant, Alex, Nigel and myself), left from Bath the night before we left and arrived at Luton airport to settle in for the night before our ridiculous 6:30am flight. We had the intention of Drinking at the airport, but we were quickly disappointed when told that alcohol wasn't being served until 5am. After checking in, we headed through security and found a bar in the waiting lounge, so we proceeded to start knocking back the beers. Eventually we got on the plane and headed to Istanbul. Once arriving, we cleared customs (Alex got held up for a bit but who knows why) and found the tour guide. We met a bunch of people who would be touring with us and got onto the bus. After waiting 1 and a half hours, we finally left the airport. There was some problem between the drivers of various buses. That really gave us some confidence in the whole tour!! Anyway, we got into Istanbul and to the Hotel, which was fairly average, but better than the Hostel. We left there and headed out to explore a bit. We managed to find Kebaps for 1.25 Lira (about $1.25) so got one each. We were all expecting to get ill, but here I am writing this, so they were all good. We ended up walking past a Mosque, so went in there and took some photo's. On the way out, a guy gave me a shortened copy of the Koran too, which I'm sure I'll never read, but hey, who knows. Anyway, after wandering around for a while we headed back to the hotel and met up with the Tour Guide, Tenar. We met all the people on our tour too. The whole group was awesome, and being amoungst some New Zealanders again was great too. After all that, the four of us decided that we would head into town, while all the others went out for dinner. On our way out, we met another guy, Hayden, who had come in late and missed the tour briefing, so he came with us. Well, what a night that was!! We started off being taken to a bar where they wanted to charge us 25Lira for a beer!! There was no way that we were paying that, so left very quickly. We found a better bar and paid only 5Lira for a beer. Much better. We started drinking and moved on to a few places. There were some real dodgy places, that wanted to charge us huge prices, and the atmosphere in some was just crap. We eventually ended up at a bar that had some good live music and reasonably cheap drinks. Oh, before that, Grant almost got into a fight with a Kebap guy because he wanted to charge him for a different kebap that what Grant had ordered. We were just lucky enough to walk out right as things were about to kick off. We ended up back at the hotel at about 3am I think, and the Taxi driver tried to charge us more than what we had agreed on. Eventually a guy from the Hotel came out and sorted everything out. I'm not sure if we ended up paying in the end or not though. Like I said before, this could be a really big entry, simply because we did so much.
Day 2: We were up pretty early, 6am I think to head off on the tour of Istanbul. We went to the Blue Mosque (one of the biggest mosques in the world), AyaSofia (an old Catholic church that was converted into a Mosque during one of the various invasions over the centuries), a massive Palace of the old Ottoman Sultans and into an area underground that was used as a massive water tank during Roman times. Everywhere was really amazing and interesting. Later that afternoon, some of us went and found a pub that had the Aussie v NZ cricket on, so watched that for a while, then had to leave to go on a boat cruise on the strait that seperates Istanbul into Europe and Asia. That was really cool, and was a really good to get to know the people on the tour. Once we got back, we all decided to go back to the Pub to watch the rest of the cricket, so headed back to there. We all got blind drunk as most of us skipped dinner. Eventually we left there and headed into another bar where we proceeded to drink more, and dance a bit. We also sampled some flavoured tobacco, which was great. Gives you a small buzz too. We ended up back at the hotel at some stupid hour and only had about 2 hours sleep before the wake up call to get ready for the bus to leave. I got a call just before that though, from Nigel saying he was on his way back to the Hotel, and had just been through some shit at a Russian Bar, where they tried to charge him 4000Lira for a few beers. Needless to say, he didn't pay it. I'm not really too sure what the whole story was, but he made it back alive, so it's all good.
Day 3: As I mentioned, we were up pretty early to get on the bus to head off on the tour around Turkey. Our first stop was Bursa, where we got an Iskander Kebap (Alexander the Great Kebab), which was really good. After that, we headed to another Mosque, which was different because it had a fountain in the middle to provide some form of natural air conditioning, and it had a Glass Ceiling to provide extra light etc. After that, we went to a Silk Market, where there were some amazing things. I got myself a Silk Tie for 20lira, ($20). It was supposed to be my only present to myself on the tour, but that all went out the window on Day 4. The majority of Day 3 was spent on the bus, travelling to Kusadasi. Once we arrived there at around 9pm, we had dinner, and kicked back next to the pool with some beers for a while. Most of us headed to bed around midnight or so.
Day 4: We were again up fairly early to head to Ephesus. It is an old city from 2000 years ago or something to that effect, but only 18% of it has been uncovered. It was really amazing to see, because so much of it is in really good condition. It was after that, that I began spoiling myself. We went to a Turkish Carpet Factory, where we saw a demonstration of how they are made, and how each type of carpet varies depending on what it is made from (ie Silk, Wool, Cotton etc). I was looking at some silk carpets, which for a small one, about 30cm x 20cm, cost about $6000!!! Obviously that was out. I ended up seeing some Wool on Cotton carpets though, which were made from undied wool, and looked really nice, and for $365 it was a bargain. So I bought one. Credit Cards are dangerous. Seriously though, to have a genuine Turkish carpet is cool. Far better than the cheap Warehouse Turkish Rugs that you can get!! Ha ha. Anyway, the next stop was a Leather Factory, where they made Jackets and the like. We were treated to a fashion show of some of their stuff which was pretty funny, just because we weren't expecting it. After the show, we were taken downstairs to the store, where although there was 'No Pressure to buy' most of us ended up walking out with something, including myself. I found a really nice Jacket, that is in the sort of style that is a bit longer (Down to my thighs) than most Leather Jackets. The price on it was 720 Euros ($1400), but 'just for us', we had half off (In the words of Chode "Thats almost 50% savings!"). So After talking to the guy for a bit, we agreed on 200pounds, which works out at around $550, on the current exchange rate. So I was pretty happy about that. The Jacket itself is made from Female Lamb Skin, so it is incredibly soft. They certainly made a killing off us. I think out of the 17 on the bus, 12 or 13 of us bought something. Eventually, we ended up back at the Hotel in Kusadasi, where we were told by Tenar, that he would be taking us out into town for a bit of a night out. Before that though, we had the option to go to a Turkish Bath. What an experience!! You strip down to a towel, and go into a big room that is heated by a huge Marble Block in the middle. It's just like a Sauna. After lying on this block for about 30minutes, a guy came in and got us to lie on another cooler block where he scrubbed off all the dead skin and other crap. After that, we move onto another block, where another guy washes us down and massages us a bit. After that, it was a quick cool shower then out of there where we were wrapped up in dry towels and handed Apple Tea. It was so good. Once we got back to the Hotel, we had Dinner and headed into town. We ended up at an Irish pub, where every other Kiwi and Aussie in Turkey had gathered. It was insanely busy, but was a great night all the same. The drinks were fairly pricy though, so it was just beer for most of us. Most of us ended up with free T-shirts too, which was a bonus. Eventually, we ended up back at the hotel, again at some stupid hour, but this time, we were lucky enough to be allowed to sleep in a bit, so we weren't up till about 9:30 the next day.
Day 5: We left Kusadasi at around 11am, and headed to Pergamom, which is again, an ancient city. It was quite interesting, because it was built on top of a hill, where they had to use Arches to support the huge Temple etc. We didn't spend too long there, I think because Alex, Nigel and Grant had been drinking on the way there, so Tenar was a little annoyed by their 'disruptive' behaviour. Ha ha. We got some good photo's though, and continued on to our next stop. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the place we stayed at that night, but I remember the hotel being pretty average, and the town itself being really run down and shitty looking. I think they were doing renovations everywhere getting ready for the summer, so it was just a bad time to be there. It kind of reminded me of Nice in France though. It was a beachside town, and as soon as you got back from the beach, everything started looking really run down. Anyway, we had a few beers and things at the hotel, and most of us were in bed at around midnight.
Day 6: We were up reasonably early and on our way to Troy!! Who would have thought, after hearing all the myths and things about troy that it actually existed. I certainly just thought it was a myth, but no, it is a real place, albeit in ruins, but again, it was quite exciting just to be there. It was bizzare to learn too, that it was actually 9 city's all built on top of each other, because of the amount of Earthquakes etc that happen in the area. After being in Troy, we got to Cannakkale where we had to catch the ferry over to the Gallipoli Peninsula. Before that though, we had really good kebaps. They were probably the best kebaps that I have ever had, but damn expensive. 14Lira ($14) for the 'special' kebap that I had. Anyway, after that, we headed over to the peninsula, where we arrived at the Memorial Museum. It was damn hot over there, and it was definately where most of us picked up our tans. After looking through the small museum, we walked around to ANZAC Cove and had a look around. It was a really amazing place to be in, and to think about how 15,000 odd men stormed the beach and cliffs 92 years ago. It was one of those places where you don't really know how you should feel. Anyway, we headed off on the bus again to the final stop, where we then had to walk about 30mins to the Commemoration site where we settled in on the grass for the night. It was perfect timing really, because after we arrived, the Grass had filled up, so people then had to start sitting in the stands, instead of lying on the grass. The night was a really great experience, and I'd recommend that every New Zealander and Australian did it. It definately makes you feel proud to be from New Zealand (or Aussie). The whole night they had small documentaries on about the WWI. Oh, and the entire night, was alcohol free, meaning that no alcohol was allowed into the site. It actually made the night really good, because you had to think about why you were there, instead of getting wasted.
Day 7: I woke up after getting about 2 hours sleep on the grass, just as things were starting to get ready for the Dawn Service. As soon as there was a spec of light behind the hills, the service began. It was amazing how quickly it all went, and was amazing again, at how proud you felt to be from New Zealand or Australia. I have to admit, that there were some teary eyed people around, including myself, espesially during the National Anthems. It's the first time ever, that I have been happy to sing the Anthem!! After the dawn serice, we headed back to the bus, got changed and began the 1 hour walk to Lonepine for the Australian Memorial. Most of us Kiwi's on the tour left about 30mins before it began to head up to the New Zealand Memorial at Chunuk Bair. We took our time getting there, stopping off at various Cemetries to take a look, and walking through some of the trenches and things. On the way, we also walked past the Turkish Memorial, which looked quite interesting, but they weren't allowing any foreigners in. We arrived at the Chunuk Bair to find a really crap seating arrangement. In the end though, most of the group ended up sitting of top of a bank, just above everyone else and watch the memorial on the TV. Grant and I though, went right up to the top and watched it in person. The 'Honourable' Winston Peters gave a speech, most of which was read directly from the paper he had. Pretty piss poor I thought. Again though, the whole thing was quite moving. After the service had ended, we all met up again, and after waiting for around an hour, met up with the Bus again, and began the trip back to Istanbul. This is where this entry could get really long... We got back to Istanbul at around 9pm. When we checked in, Grant realised that he couldn't find his passport. He swore that he had put it in a bag the day before because he wanted to leave it on the bus during ANZAC Day. Obviously he started stressing. We called up the embassy, and he was informed that he would have to go to Ancora (the Turkish Capital) to get a new passport etc. This would possibly take quite some time though, as he was already on an Emergency Travel Document from when he had his passport stolen in Nice. Once we had sorted all that out, he went to bed as he had to be up at 7am to get down to catch a bus to Ancora. I went down to catch up with the rest of the group, and had a couple of beers. Because I hadn't had dinner, they went straight to my head. A group of about 6 of us, plus a couple of guys from the Hotel, headed back to the area where we had watched the Cricket back at the start of the tour. Two of the girls from the tour though, wanted to head more into town. I ended up going with them and the two guys from the Hotel. We ended up at a Bar called Sin City, where it was decorated with scenes from the movie Sin City. It was really cool, and what made it even better, was that the guys from the Hotel paid for everything. Taxi fares, Drinks, everything!! Since it was a pretty cool, but quiet bar, we ended up staying there for quite a while, before heading back to the hotel. I'm not sure, but I think we got back there at around 4am, but I'm really not sure.
Day 8: I got up when Grant did, to make sure he was all sorted, and he got away fairly quickly to the bus station. About an hour after he left, I got a call from him, saying that the bus driver from the tour was waiting for him at the bus station, and had his passport!! All conspiracies aside, he was damn lucky, and had to leg it back to the hotel, to be there on time to get a taxi to the airport with us. Eventually, he got back, we were all packed, and then had to go through the drama's of finding someone that would take us to the airport for a reasonable price. At one stage, we had 3 people on the go, each trying to out do each other. We ended settling on 50Lira from one guy. After saying goodbye to everyone that was left from the tour (which was actually a really sad time), we set off in the taxi. And what a ride it was. Although it took this guy a while to get us onto the motorway because of traffic, once we did, he was flying along at 130Km/h. It was great!! We ended up at the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we ended up paying the guy an extra 10Lira, because it was such a great ride. Eventually, we got on the plane, and began the hua journey home. 4hours on the plane, an hour wait at Luton for the Bus, 1:20 to Heathrow, then 40minutes waiting, then another 4hours back to Bath. We were all so damn pleased to see the pub, although we were all really disappointed that it was over.
So anyway, like I said at the start, going to Turkey was definately one of the most amazing experiences of my life!! As Alex said, none of us really knew what to expect, other than a potential 3rd world country. But this tour, and the overall experience put all those expectations out of our heads, and filled it with some of the best times of our lives.
Long Live the ANZACs
The annoying thing about the whole thing, is that words are really hard to come by to describe the trip. The fact the we did so much in the space of 8 days doesn't help either. I guess I'll just have to make this a big long spiel about everything, and see how I go.
Day 1: We (meaning Grant, Alex, Nigel and myself), left from Bath the night before we left and arrived at Luton airport to settle in for the night before our ridiculous 6:30am flight. We had the intention of Drinking at the airport, but we were quickly disappointed when told that alcohol wasn't being served until 5am. After checking in, we headed through security and found a bar in the waiting lounge, so we proceeded to start knocking back the beers. Eventually we got on the plane and headed to Istanbul. Once arriving, we cleared customs (Alex got held up for a bit but who knows why) and found the tour guide. We met a bunch of people who would be touring with us and got onto the bus. After waiting 1 and a half hours, we finally left the airport. There was some problem between the drivers of various buses. That really gave us some confidence in the whole tour!! Anyway, we got into Istanbul and to the Hotel, which was fairly average, but better than the Hostel. We left there and headed out to explore a bit. We managed to find Kebaps for 1.25 Lira (about $1.25) so got one each. We were all expecting to get ill, but here I am writing this, so they were all good. We ended up walking past a Mosque, so went in there and took some photo's. On the way out, a guy gave me a shortened copy of the Koran too, which I'm sure I'll never read, but hey, who knows. Anyway, after wandering around for a while we headed back to the hotel and met up with the Tour Guide, Tenar. We met all the people on our tour too. The whole group was awesome, and being amoungst some New Zealanders again was great too. After all that, the four of us decided that we would head into town, while all the others went out for dinner. On our way out, we met another guy, Hayden, who had come in late and missed the tour briefing, so he came with us. Well, what a night that was!! We started off being taken to a bar where they wanted to charge us 25Lira for a beer!! There was no way that we were paying that, so left very quickly. We found a better bar and paid only 5Lira for a beer. Much better. We started drinking and moved on to a few places. There were some real dodgy places, that wanted to charge us huge prices, and the atmosphere in some was just crap. We eventually ended up at a bar that had some good live music and reasonably cheap drinks. Oh, before that, Grant almost got into a fight with a Kebap guy because he wanted to charge him for a different kebap that what Grant had ordered. We were just lucky enough to walk out right as things were about to kick off. We ended up back at the hotel at about 3am I think, and the Taxi driver tried to charge us more than what we had agreed on. Eventually a guy from the Hotel came out and sorted everything out. I'm not sure if we ended up paying in the end or not though. Like I said before, this could be a really big entry, simply because we did so much.
Day 2: We were up pretty early, 6am I think to head off on the tour of Istanbul. We went to the Blue Mosque (one of the biggest mosques in the world), AyaSofia (an old Catholic church that was converted into a Mosque during one of the various invasions over the centuries), a massive Palace of the old Ottoman Sultans and into an area underground that was used as a massive water tank during Roman times. Everywhere was really amazing and interesting. Later that afternoon, some of us went and found a pub that had the Aussie v NZ cricket on, so watched that for a while, then had to leave to go on a boat cruise on the strait that seperates Istanbul into Europe and Asia. That was really cool, and was a really good to get to know the people on the tour. Once we got back, we all decided to go back to the Pub to watch the rest of the cricket, so headed back to there. We all got blind drunk as most of us skipped dinner. Eventually we left there and headed into another bar where we proceeded to drink more, and dance a bit. We also sampled some flavoured tobacco, which was great. Gives you a small buzz too. We ended up back at the hotel at some stupid hour and only had about 2 hours sleep before the wake up call to get ready for the bus to leave. I got a call just before that though, from Nigel saying he was on his way back to the Hotel, and had just been through some shit at a Russian Bar, where they tried to charge him 4000Lira for a few beers. Needless to say, he didn't pay it. I'm not really too sure what the whole story was, but he made it back alive, so it's all good.
Day 3: As I mentioned, we were up pretty early to get on the bus to head off on the tour around Turkey. Our first stop was Bursa, where we got an Iskander Kebap (Alexander the Great Kebab), which was really good. After that, we headed to another Mosque, which was different because it had a fountain in the middle to provide some form of natural air conditioning, and it had a Glass Ceiling to provide extra light etc. After that, we went to a Silk Market, where there were some amazing things. I got myself a Silk Tie for 20lira, ($20). It was supposed to be my only present to myself on the tour, but that all went out the window on Day 4. The majority of Day 3 was spent on the bus, travelling to Kusadasi. Once we arrived there at around 9pm, we had dinner, and kicked back next to the pool with some beers for a while. Most of us headed to bed around midnight or so.
Day 4: We were again up fairly early to head to Ephesus. It is an old city from 2000 years ago or something to that effect, but only 18% of it has been uncovered. It was really amazing to see, because so much of it is in really good condition. It was after that, that I began spoiling myself. We went to a Turkish Carpet Factory, where we saw a demonstration of how they are made, and how each type of carpet varies depending on what it is made from (ie Silk, Wool, Cotton etc). I was looking at some silk carpets, which for a small one, about 30cm x 20cm, cost about $6000!!! Obviously that was out. I ended up seeing some Wool on Cotton carpets though, which were made from undied wool, and looked really nice, and for $365 it was a bargain. So I bought one. Credit Cards are dangerous. Seriously though, to have a genuine Turkish carpet is cool. Far better than the cheap Warehouse Turkish Rugs that you can get!! Ha ha. Anyway, the next stop was a Leather Factory, where they made Jackets and the like. We were treated to a fashion show of some of their stuff which was pretty funny, just because we weren't expecting it. After the show, we were taken downstairs to the store, where although there was 'No Pressure to buy' most of us ended up walking out with something, including myself. I found a really nice Jacket, that is in the sort of style that is a bit longer (Down to my thighs) than most Leather Jackets. The price on it was 720 Euros ($1400), but 'just for us', we had half off (In the words of Chode "Thats almost 50% savings!"). So After talking to the guy for a bit, we agreed on 200pounds, which works out at around $550, on the current exchange rate. So I was pretty happy about that. The Jacket itself is made from Female Lamb Skin, so it is incredibly soft. They certainly made a killing off us. I think out of the 17 on the bus, 12 or 13 of us bought something. Eventually, we ended up back at the Hotel in Kusadasi, where we were told by Tenar, that he would be taking us out into town for a bit of a night out. Before that though, we had the option to go to a Turkish Bath. What an experience!! You strip down to a towel, and go into a big room that is heated by a huge Marble Block in the middle. It's just like a Sauna. After lying on this block for about 30minutes, a guy came in and got us to lie on another cooler block where he scrubbed off all the dead skin and other crap. After that, we move onto another block, where another guy washes us down and massages us a bit. After that, it was a quick cool shower then out of there where we were wrapped up in dry towels and handed Apple Tea. It was so good. Once we got back to the Hotel, we had Dinner and headed into town. We ended up at an Irish pub, where every other Kiwi and Aussie in Turkey had gathered. It was insanely busy, but was a great night all the same. The drinks were fairly pricy though, so it was just beer for most of us. Most of us ended up with free T-shirts too, which was a bonus. Eventually, we ended up back at the hotel, again at some stupid hour, but this time, we were lucky enough to be allowed to sleep in a bit, so we weren't up till about 9:30 the next day.
Day 5: We left Kusadasi at around 11am, and headed to Pergamom, which is again, an ancient city. It was quite interesting, because it was built on top of a hill, where they had to use Arches to support the huge Temple etc. We didn't spend too long there, I think because Alex, Nigel and Grant had been drinking on the way there, so Tenar was a little annoyed by their 'disruptive' behaviour. Ha ha. We got some good photo's though, and continued on to our next stop. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the place we stayed at that night, but I remember the hotel being pretty average, and the town itself being really run down and shitty looking. I think they were doing renovations everywhere getting ready for the summer, so it was just a bad time to be there. It kind of reminded me of Nice in France though. It was a beachside town, and as soon as you got back from the beach, everything started looking really run down. Anyway, we had a few beers and things at the hotel, and most of us were in bed at around midnight.
Day 6: We were up reasonably early and on our way to Troy!! Who would have thought, after hearing all the myths and things about troy that it actually existed. I certainly just thought it was a myth, but no, it is a real place, albeit in ruins, but again, it was quite exciting just to be there. It was bizzare to learn too, that it was actually 9 city's all built on top of each other, because of the amount of Earthquakes etc that happen in the area. After being in Troy, we got to Cannakkale where we had to catch the ferry over to the Gallipoli Peninsula. Before that though, we had really good kebaps. They were probably the best kebaps that I have ever had, but damn expensive. 14Lira ($14) for the 'special' kebap that I had. Anyway, after that, we headed over to the peninsula, where we arrived at the Memorial Museum. It was damn hot over there, and it was definately where most of us picked up our tans. After looking through the small museum, we walked around to ANZAC Cove and had a look around. It was a really amazing place to be in, and to think about how 15,000 odd men stormed the beach and cliffs 92 years ago. It was one of those places where you don't really know how you should feel. Anyway, we headed off on the bus again to the final stop, where we then had to walk about 30mins to the Commemoration site where we settled in on the grass for the night. It was perfect timing really, because after we arrived, the Grass had filled up, so people then had to start sitting in the stands, instead of lying on the grass. The night was a really great experience, and I'd recommend that every New Zealander and Australian did it. It definately makes you feel proud to be from New Zealand (or Aussie). The whole night they had small documentaries on about the WWI. Oh, and the entire night, was alcohol free, meaning that no alcohol was allowed into the site. It actually made the night really good, because you had to think about why you were there, instead of getting wasted.
Day 7: I woke up after getting about 2 hours sleep on the grass, just as things were starting to get ready for the Dawn Service. As soon as there was a spec of light behind the hills, the service began. It was amazing how quickly it all went, and was amazing again, at how proud you felt to be from New Zealand or Australia. I have to admit, that there were some teary eyed people around, including myself, espesially during the National Anthems. It's the first time ever, that I have been happy to sing the Anthem!! After the dawn serice, we headed back to the bus, got changed and began the 1 hour walk to Lonepine for the Australian Memorial. Most of us Kiwi's on the tour left about 30mins before it began to head up to the New Zealand Memorial at Chunuk Bair. We took our time getting there, stopping off at various Cemetries to take a look, and walking through some of the trenches and things. On the way, we also walked past the Turkish Memorial, which looked quite interesting, but they weren't allowing any foreigners in. We arrived at the Chunuk Bair to find a really crap seating arrangement. In the end though, most of the group ended up sitting of top of a bank, just above everyone else and watch the memorial on the TV. Grant and I though, went right up to the top and watched it in person. The 'Honourable' Winston Peters gave a speech, most of which was read directly from the paper he had. Pretty piss poor I thought. Again though, the whole thing was quite moving. After the service had ended, we all met up again, and after waiting for around an hour, met up with the Bus again, and began the trip back to Istanbul. This is where this entry could get really long... We got back to Istanbul at around 9pm. When we checked in, Grant realised that he couldn't find his passport. He swore that he had put it in a bag the day before because he wanted to leave it on the bus during ANZAC Day. Obviously he started stressing. We called up the embassy, and he was informed that he would have to go to Ancora (the Turkish Capital) to get a new passport etc. This would possibly take quite some time though, as he was already on an Emergency Travel Document from when he had his passport stolen in Nice. Once we had sorted all that out, he went to bed as he had to be up at 7am to get down to catch a bus to Ancora. I went down to catch up with the rest of the group, and had a couple of beers. Because I hadn't had dinner, they went straight to my head. A group of about 6 of us, plus a couple of guys from the Hotel, headed back to the area where we had watched the Cricket back at the start of the tour. Two of the girls from the tour though, wanted to head more into town. I ended up going with them and the two guys from the Hotel. We ended up at a Bar called Sin City, where it was decorated with scenes from the movie Sin City. It was really cool, and what made it even better, was that the guys from the Hotel paid for everything. Taxi fares, Drinks, everything!! Since it was a pretty cool, but quiet bar, we ended up staying there for quite a while, before heading back to the hotel. I'm not sure, but I think we got back there at around 4am, but I'm really not sure.
Day 8: I got up when Grant did, to make sure he was all sorted, and he got away fairly quickly to the bus station. About an hour after he left, I got a call from him, saying that the bus driver from the tour was waiting for him at the bus station, and had his passport!! All conspiracies aside, he was damn lucky, and had to leg it back to the hotel, to be there on time to get a taxi to the airport with us. Eventually, he got back, we were all packed, and then had to go through the drama's of finding someone that would take us to the airport for a reasonable price. At one stage, we had 3 people on the go, each trying to out do each other. We ended settling on 50Lira from one guy. After saying goodbye to everyone that was left from the tour (which was actually a really sad time), we set off in the taxi. And what a ride it was. Although it took this guy a while to get us onto the motorway because of traffic, once we did, he was flying along at 130Km/h. It was great!! We ended up at the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we ended up paying the guy an extra 10Lira, because it was such a great ride. Eventually, we got on the plane, and began the hua journey home. 4hours on the plane, an hour wait at Luton for the Bus, 1:20 to Heathrow, then 40minutes waiting, then another 4hours back to Bath. We were all so damn pleased to see the pub, although we were all really disappointed that it was over.
So anyway, like I said at the start, going to Turkey was definately one of the most amazing experiences of my life!! As Alex said, none of us really knew what to expect, other than a potential 3rd world country. But this tour, and the overall experience put all those expectations out of our heads, and filled it with some of the best times of our lives.
Long Live the ANZACs
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Old post 1
So here is my first entry on this here Blog page. I've finally got a decent amount of photo's up. The Google Gadgets don't work properly though, so to view them all, you have to go to my Picasa space. Would be nice to be able to display them all nicely on the photo page, but oh well.
Anyway, it's only two days now before a group of us head to Turkey for an 8 day tour ending at Gallipoli in time for ANZAC day. That should be awesome. So I'll be back in Bath on the 26th. No doubt it will take me another 2 months to get the photo's sorted and posted, and this will probably be my last post here for a while, since I've been consistently useless at updating this.
Anyway, it's only two days now before a group of us head to Turkey for an 8 day tour ending at Gallipoli in time for ANZAC day. That should be awesome. So I'll be back in Bath on the 26th. No doubt it will take me another 2 months to get the photo's sorted and posted, and this will probably be my last post here for a while, since I've been consistently useless at updating this.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
OE number 3
I'm sitting here in Auckland airport for the 3rd time getting ready to head off on my 3rd Overseas trip. I've just come back from Melbourne after spending New Years and Parx-e's place. It was a wicked time. I've put up some pictures in the photo section, and there will probably be more to come, once I get some more from Jaxon etc. I've got heaps to write, but not enough time at the moment to write it all. So I will update this once I get to the UK. Yes, I'm going to the UK!! So, this will be updated when I have time.
L8a
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