Goan Adventures

hey peeps i know it has been an age since i last blogged and im sure the countless people who read this (yes you arnolds!) will be interetsed to know what has been going on in the time that has elapsed... well when i last spoke i was in anjuna all alone and being eaten alive by those pesky mosquitos.. they made sweet munching love to my ankles on both feet and were so itchy for ages until i came upon a medical store with a sleeping shop assistant who woke up and gave me special indian cream that cured me, no it wasnt instant cure but it was sweet heaven compared to what i was experienceing.. i mean 10 on each ankle in the space of a few hours, no fair!

so anjuna was quiet, im in palolem now. its beautiful here. but back to anjuna, first of all i decuided to stick around for the market, which itself was a huge dissappointment, i wanted to get loads of gifts but the prices were inflated for tourists and there wasnt anything special about it, lonely planet curse strikes again. i think that anything that has been in that book should be avoided by travellers! prices are always higher in real life and everyone has been there before so there is nothing to discover~ so there i was alone in anjuna hoping to meet people like everyone said they do... i clocked this pair of girls walking tiredly acrosse the beach on my second day and they spoke english!! so i kept an eye out for them and luckily they came back and i followed them (stalket i know) into my guesthouse, i started to talk to them and then directed them to the pkace that i was staying. they only had one room left so i let emily stay in with me, ultimate act of faith i know but it all worked out in the end. so that night i met jazz and emily who were travelling on their gap year, uh oh, teenagers, but they seemed pretty chilled, hung over and generally my kind of people and with them was evan jazz's holiday romance that she hooked up with in kerala on the houseboat, how romantic?! so that night we tried to find some form of a party but the place was dead and jazz and emily were not impressed with anjuna, so after dinner and some sheesha (flavoured tobacco) we all headed dejected back to the guesthouse and just went to bed. they decided to head north the next day so my new friends were gone and i was alone again :( but this did not last long, that evening i met bommer and marni this lovely couple who were at the end of their india trip and we spent a lovely evening chatting about everything and i got the distinct impression that they needed someone new to talk to.. couples travelling together must be tough! i tell you if the couple is on the rocks travelling in india will break them! so the next day i was back to square one but not really bothered about it.. i found a place that did movies an headed there for a quiet night, this is where i bumped into grant and shawn, 2 americans who were travelling together. grant is a dancer (and not gay i think) and shawn is indian american whose family are trying to set up a marriage for him shortly! so we hung out for the evening and i didnt think i would see them again even though i told them where i would be on the beach etc, we didnt exchange numbers, i dont know mine off by heart... so the next day i didnt see them although i kept an eye out but nothing. wasnt too bothered again, headed for another movie the night after and bumped into grant there, he said he had been on the beach looking for me but was not successful... yeah right, but i let him away with it cos he was damn cute!he invited me to dinner and then drove us both on his scooter to this super rosemantic place called sublime.. there were even freaking flower petals on the table and we were tucked away in a little nook under the stars, the restaurant was open air in the jungle! we talked freely and he seemed to good to be true, a little too nice american if you catch my drift, poor boy, i probably shocked him more times than i can count! and then the thunder and lightening started... how cool i thought but he was worried about getting struck or something so we made to leave and i was laughing as the rain came spitting, it was pityful i said, this is not rain.. i was to eat my words a little while later when he dropped me off at my bike, neither of us wanted the night to end so we chatted for a bit more and thenthe heavens opened.... i was wearing contacts so i had to pause under a tree and we talked some more, even though i was in a white tee his eys didnt dfirt once, fair play to him... or was he gay.. but no second "date" was organised or anything but he did say he would see me on the beach, but this was not to be and i havent see him since... sob sob... nah it was a perfect night of fantasy.. although the fantasy would have ended a little more dramatically than me saying... i bet you'll not make it to the beach tomo.. have a nice life!!

so that was that... then it was market day!!! jazz and emily contacted me to say they were day tripping down and we met on the beach and meandered about the market. as i said above it was not that impressive! but afterwards we had dinner and then it occured tome... hey guys when is your bus.. they said 8.30 ,... it was already 9pm! so they were staying at mine then! thus ensued a lot of drinking, dancing to our own beat, jumping over the bonfire on the beach and talking about men waaaay too much. so we made it back to the guest house to dump our stuff and drunkenly the 3 of us jumped on to my moped and weaved our way to the club.. we danced the night away for about 3 hours to crappy musice but with an entry of about 1.50 euros and all drinks were free what could we do.. about 3 am i was done and rounded up the girls to start the way home, it wasnt far infact we could have walked but i had the bike and on we jumped. jazz and i came to teh same conclusion at this point... that driving topless would be better so off we bounced naked from the waist up... unfortunately people were still awake and im surprise dwe didnt get done for indiecent exposure... best bit of that night.. jazz asking me... em becks.. should i "cup you" when we saw people on the road!!

the adventures of jazz and emily continue, they came back to anjuna once more to pick me up to head to palolem but first we had to find this rave... so the night started with me deciding not to drink and scoot and off we went to 9 bar in vagator.. this little rave scene was random as hell as it ended at 10pm.. on the dot i might add. bumped into aisling from sharjah! random... the world is tiny! then we started the quest to westend where the party wass. first to the bank link, i left the bike in jazz's hands and off i trotted when i got back she was traumatised cos some indian had arrive dnad kissed her shoulder etc, whilst she was telilng me this she dropped the bike on her leg and the exhaust burned her proper! she decied to soilder on... we finally made it to the rave about an hour later, we got lost many time etc but were pround that we made it. but it was such a let down. i have been to better ones in dublin! the music sucked and the indians kept getting too close, so about 2 hours in we were done and headed home, only to get stopped by the cops... uh oh... there were 3 of us on the bike (not allowed ) none had licenses (uh oh) so they fined us 1100 rupees... but eveything in india is negoitable so after some wide eyes and useing our feminine ways we paid him 500 rupees and were off again! it was some night...
the next day we were off to palolem, it is paradise here but the adventure continus... what about our room that smells like sewage? or the fact that our one and only night out so far resulted in my flip flops getting nicked adn jazz loosing her passport and traveller cheques and all her money?! this place is alot more busy than anjuna but not at the same time.. its absolutely beautiful and i think im goin to stay here until i leave for hom on the 19th ... (7days!)

so peeps expect more random stories soon, hanging out with jazz and emily has mad life a little more dangerous! they are leaving on tuesday though, but if jazz cant get her hands on some doc about the passport she might not be allowed home, oh yeah and she is only reporting it now, it happened about a 4 days ago! i was more mad about my shoes than she was bothered about her passport.. damn hippys i tells ya!
much love xxx

Mumbai under siege...

just realised that this blog will come first, how and ever.. i was woken on the night of the 26th by my father at 3am worried that we were in mumbai in colaba. i as confused as we hadnt looked at the news all evening so were none the wiser about the terror attacks going on. as im sure everyone will have seen the news by now i neednt get into it but my parents wanted me home asap! wally and i were really worried about the domestic airport as there were some reports that it had been hit.. but these were quashed by the airport staff and we were safely boarding our flight some hour later than scheduled. the kingfisher staff were really nice and tried to keep everyone calm. when we arrived in mumbai we could see that there was still a major ooperatoin underway so we had to decided where to stay out of the danger. we chose near the airport and were approached by an english guy in the airport asking if he could hang with us as he was supposed to go to colaba to see a friend but obviously couldnt now. his name is Rob and was an actor so himself and wally had a lot in common, it was wierd actually how alike they are! we headed to some hotel that the airport reservaton people made us see, it was gross so we headed to the place we wanted which was lovely, a little expensive but worth it but then the ladei or should i say bitch at reception said that they were,t taking in walk ins because of the problems so we were stumped again. but she pointed usin the direction of a nearby hotel and we ended up staying there, it was a little kitchy but wa s what we needed. after heading out on a booze expedition we holed up in the hotel for the night intermiddely watching the news and commenting on how shit the indian news was.i was under extreme pressure byt the parents and family to come home and didnt know what to do, eventually in the morning i decided to stick with my original plan and head to goa.. where i am now. its really quiet here, exactly what i needed after the stress of being in the danger zone! in in anjuna at the mo where a massive market happens every wed, im going to stay here til then i think, its chlled but i havent met any other travellers yet, althought the mossies have been great and have greeted me with open mouths, the bastards!

Jodhpur :( Udaipur :)

i suppose everyone would like to hear about the excitment in Mumbai but first i want to blog about Jodphur and Udaipur. so wally an i took the train late in the night from jaisalmer into Jodhpur and arrive super early, at 5.20am!so we jumped into an over priced rickshaw too exhausted to care and he brought us close to our guesthouse that lonel planet had recommended. it was called the cosy guesthouse, it was anything but. first off it was up this tiny winding street that was so uphill im surprised i made it, wally got the driver to carry her bags (damn) but he r one was hugely heavy so i ddint mind. when we arrived we woke the slumbering people in the lobby area of the haveli and were shown a rom that was literally a small double bed with no where to walk around it, a tiny cabinet was in the wall and the walls were draped in fabric making the room seem smaller, oh and the sound of some bloke vomiting was a plus... then he told us that this room was actually 50 rupees more expensive that we were intially told.we though we would argue this out later but it was a stand off (then we conceeded cos it was only 6 euros for the room.. 3 each.. nothing!) so we passed out for a while and when we woke we headed to the roof top restaurant for some food.. jeeez was the service a shambles, orders were taken on napkins, or not at all and the food was barely passable, oh and as usual ice cold! this was not the cosy guesthouse experice that we were looking for, but the price was really good so we thought that we would spend the day sight seein and not come back till we were good and tired and then the room size would be of no importance. so we headed to the tourist info centre, that ofcourse was closed being a sunday :( we got a rickshaw driver to bring around for the day. whilst we were headin around we refused to look at his commission shops, spending our time at the sights instead. then in the evening we conceeded but bought nothing and made him drop us at the massive market in the old town. it was mental and brightened our spirits about the town, so much so that we headed out of the way to dinner to On the Rocks.. cool place, great food.. and we put away a bottle of wine between us! added bonus of the night was the enormous wedding gong on next door, we heard wails of a kid goat and tried not to think why.... then we had quite the time trying to get someone to bring us home.. but then he won me over when he let me driver the auto rickshaw for part of the way!!! remember that i was a little pissed... so he let me steer but took most of the control himse;f!the next day we headed to get a bus to udaipur deciding not to spend much time in jodhpu, it didnt have a great vibe, then the drama with the bus tickets started, first there was a bus at 2pm but when we paid it was at 1pm and already it was 12.2 , then the bus didnt leave from the ticket office but another ticket office and then not from there but a rickshaw brought us to it!! and then the rude dude form the bus tried to get us to put our bags in the back fo the bus! yeah right .. easier to stael, so wwe took them on board and started the worst bus journey of my life. i have a video of it... at some points we leaped 2 feet off the chair! it took 7 hours, mainly cos of the mountains and the fact that we kept stopping in every tiny town to cram more people in! but finally we were there in udaipur, some rickshaw overcharged us to get to our hotel and we arrived expecting the worst....

.. and were pleasantly surprised! our room was delicious, ensuite, flatscreen tv, 2 single 4 poster beds, the place had a pool and restaurant. oh we were delighted! so we decided to stay in udaipur for the 3 days and not do much! the bond movie octopussy was shot in the palace on the lake here and we were intending to go and eat there but soon realised that we had neither the money or the proper attire to fit in :( no worries we ate on the banks of the filthy lake in a lovely restaurant called ambrai and watched the sun set over the lake and the city came alive with european lighting! now the restaurant was prob lovely cos of the wine.... but how and ever it was a sucessful evening. the next day after lounging by the pool we headed to get pampered...oh so we thought. we went to the 5 star hilton hotel for some waxing, threading, manicures etc... they butchered my hands, and missed spots on my legs so in certain lights i look right wierd! wally had the same unimpressive experience, but she took the time to teach the waxist some new tricks.. oh yeah shouldve known we were in for something wierd when she spread the wax on my legs with a butter knife! but we didnt let it mar our day as we wandered slightly sticky from residue wax about the city. we had intended to go to mumbai on the 26th but thought that we would want more timein udaipur.. and im so happy we did!

Thank god i packed my sports bra

i survived the 12 hour train journey to jaisalmer! i took the bottom bunk in case of vomit emergency, although i realised that i was putting myself at risk for some groping and disturbance throughout the night! thank you julia for telling the story of how she was woken by a finger nail scraping the back of her leg as she slet on the train it really helped mnake me feel entirely uncomfortable! we got on the train at midnight and found our bunks easy enough, they were much smaller than they looked in the other train and we on the side which we though was the best option (the jury is still out on that front!) so wally took the top and i the bottom and we promptly passed out !! thank god for small mercies, i didnt puke throughout the journey and slept quite well considering! although some dude dide poke his head into my bunk at some godforsaken hour to just check me out (although if i had reacted he prob would have gone with the escuse that he was lost ..yeah right!@) so we arrived in jaisalmer, were promptly attacked by a tout and for 10 rupees let him take us to his hotle which was grotty and then to our own hotel.. hotel swastika! the guy in our hotel was laid back to the point of indifference, i think the write up in the lonely planet has done him a booming business so he no longer tries! although he didnt take it too badly when we didnt take his camel safari option. on recommendation of stef and steve from the tiger safari we headed to thar safari, the poor guy ther was up to his eye balls in wedding prep (he was to be married in 2 days!) so i think that was the start of our interesting camel safari experience. we were due to head out the next morning at 8.30am so we had the afternoon to wander jaisalmer etc. i loved that place! sure everyone tried to sell you something but it was a welcome relief from the stress of the capital city.it is small cosy, and the locals do try to engage you and are very friendly.. but ... what they dont do is service! getting food in jaisalmer was an extremly tough thing to do, mainly we waited 40 minutes for simple meals to appear and when they did come they were ice cold! its no wonder people here are forever eating of the street stalls.. atleast the food arrives hot (if toxic and tummy destroying) but i think all round wally and i loved jaisalmer especially since its wedding season in india right now and the small town went mental for one weding we witnessed just as we were leaving, fireworks, thje groom terrified on an adorned horse, loud pumping music,dancing.. and this was jut the procession to the wedding area!.... but wait..what about the camel safari???

so the next morning we headed off with our driver (who spoke really little or no english) to a few sights before meeting up with our faithful steeds. we went through the cenotaphs (given me some idea sfor how i would like to be remembered..) and then on to the jain temple (ladies who are menstrating are not allowed in... but how can they tell...) then it was off to meet rocket and simon the 2 camels who took us across the scrub desert.. poor rocket was my man and true to form was shooting poop rockets at simon and wally for most of the journey! so we headed out and immediatley i realised that the little minutes i spent on a camel in dubai had NOT prepared me for this! it was the wierdest gait ever but just as i was getting into it we stopped to wate rthe camels and then headede into the shade of a nearby tree for lunch.. all prepared infront of us by our guie, chapati and curry (what i was to live on for the next few days!) and then about 3 hours later (they dont do things fast in the desert!) we headed off to the desert. at this point my arse was SORE and i was happy for the trotting to start and then we were at our destination an hour later... but where was this destination??? well our guide dumped us at his brothers wife's place... shack.. in the middle of the scrub desert whlst he headed to town for some "camel food" yeah right.. he left us there with his family who hadnt great english for 4 hours! well after sundown! there were 2 girls and this other woman with a baby adn all hese boys, not to mention the goats and the baby goats and the cows and other camels,... it was like the desert version of animal farm! we headed into the dunes for the sunset which was rosemantic (but with me and cuz not so much) we battle dung beatles and fell about thge place trying to take artistic shots.. mainly trying to whittle away the hours until we could head to bed! so we headed back in the hear dark to the family shack place where we were plyed with more chai (i hate the stuff now) and amusaed by the baby goats (the kids) and generally sat silently staring at the star studded sky getting morte and more annoyed that we were stranded. when he finally returned he ignored us for a while and then about 8.30 fed us (more of the same from lunch) and finally set about heading into another dune to prepare our beds for the night. we opted for 2 campbed things (the dung beatles are HIUGE so i didnt want to be on the sand) and he left us be. i would love to say we stayed up all night chatting and seeing shooting stars, i saw one and then passed out, was wonken a couple of times what with the freezen temperatures and everything! but then we awoke to the dawn breaking over the sand dune and soon we were off to the desert again and then for another drawn out lunch and finally home that afternoon... dont know if my ass will ever be the same! i did love rocket and poor wally got landed with the slowest of the bunch simon. i just feel that if the guy frm thar had warned us about the amount of time we were to spend with the family i dont know if we would have gone./.. that and it was just us, no one else, i wanted to meet some other travellers but it ws not to be.

that night we returned we made it to our train for jodhpur (where this blog is coming frm) that trin arrived in on time!! remarkable! and as for the story of jodhpur.. at the moment im heading for the bus to udaipur so i'll have to share another time..but let me say this.. im happy to be out of here!

xx

internet difficulties

hey everyone! had a huge blgo written about my time looknig for tigers in Ranthambore park at 4.30 in the am but then Indian internet decided to go on the blink and it was all lost :( basically we set off 2 hours late from Agra to Sawai Madhpur and made it to the tiger reserve hotel, we somehow made it through the 4 hour train ride in second class with all the indian men staring at us and some street kids trying to kiss my feet at the station. then ofcourse there was the usual delay when some cows found their way onto the tracks and since that beast is sacred here they had to shoo him off gently, and this was time comsuming! but we made it to our hotel and the manger told us that the only way to get a jeep safari seat this late (there also are buses but they are crowded and nosier) was to head for the forestry office at 4.30am still dark and queue for the place to open at 5.30.... so we did and bumped into some other english speakers who had been queueing from about 3am! after some pointy elbowed indians trying to shove us out of the way our hotel manager came to the rescue and got us to the top of the queue and after some shouting we got our seats on the jeep! one of the only ones going apparently. so we had about half and hour to shovel in some food and away we went with stef and steve and another couple kelly and adam. we didnt see any tigers though :( but alot of deer and some owls and cute monkeys (anyone who has monkeys prob saw the photos already) so after the safari we were well knackerd, didnt get back until 10.30! and we had until 1pm to wait for the next train. so we headed to the station and tried to avoid the touts and made it (again late train) this time we headed for Kota.. and then from there on a Bus to Bundi... the bus toko only 45 minutes but after the uncomfortable train ride it felt like hours.. and even in the bus station they tried to get us on the wrong bus! what is it with indians and their lying?! we even had to pay for an extra seat on the bus becuse of our rucksacks that were taking up loads of room... this i didnt mind because the alternative option was to sling the bags on the roof and smoehow secure them!! for an extra 20cents it wasnt worth the hassle! so we made it to Bundi this idilyic little mountain town with a castle in the side of the mountain and plenty of havelis and friendly kids who just want you to take their pic and dont want any money for it! got all my laundary done for about a euro adn walked the town enjoying counting the amount of times we were greeted.. think hello is the most over used word in teh town! we spent out 2 days in Bundi quite restfully, we werent interested in partying (thankfully as Bundi is a dry town) and even though there was a festival on wally and i found ourselves passed out by 9pm! clearly we needed the rest!

after Bundi we had intended to head to Pushkar for a camel fair but to our annoyance it had ended already so we passed by pushkar and headed straight to the capital of rajasthan.. Jaipur! this is where this blog is coming from. wally and i got a place at the pearl palace hotel and the room was so so so small that i can almost touch both walls! but we didnt care! we headed across all the sights yesterday and even let our driver take us into some high priced shops so he makes commission! wally bought somethings but i wasnt in teh mood. the sales guys pretend to be your best mate and they are awfully good at putting out the bait but when it comes to the reeling in they fail and loose me everytime!they get defensive when you want to bargain and make the situation really awkward.. to offset this feeling we headed into the bazaar.. this is where everthing is negoitable! i prefer the upfront swindling!picked up a few things.. including a pair of ali ba ba pants that ended up dying me blue from the hips to the ankles.. sigh . TII (this is india!)
the only down point so far was that down points seem to come in waves.. like waking up last night at 3am needed to vomit, think delhi belly is trying to take me over, but i resisted, with wally's help (thank you dear for your cool towling adn calm words as i shivered against the outdoor step and babbled nonsense!) the rest of the down points was tryng to send some packages home (that took 2 hours!!!how is that possible) and then trying to steer our new rickshaw-wallah away from anyother commission laden shops, add that to the constant battle not to throw up and it hasnt been the best day...
oh and tonight?? well we head for Jaisalemer.. on a 12 hour train
may god have mercy

Stressed in Agra

i suppose nobody thought that i would be writing again on this thing so quickly but ... have arrived in agra and spent the day here. it has not been the best experience so far. wally and i arrived bright and early to the train station this morning in New Delhi at 5.30. our train was leavin at 6.15am so we had time to chill out and try to wake up properly. the train arrived early and as we were making our way to it some guy asked me for my ticket. ..which i stupidly gave to him thinking him an official.. well this is where the drama started. for one thing he said that we didnt have a seat on the train! we apparently were waitlisted, so we were ushered off to the waitlist board to check our status, i couldnt fathom the board what with the stress abnd everything so he "read" it for me and wally and stated that we were not on the train... so he told us to head upstairs to the tourist office to fix it and to do it fast cos the train wouldnt wait. i dropped my bag and was about to legg it when he told us that the both of us had to go together.. curiuos, espcially as the office didnt open til 8am, luckily for us (suspiciously) a guy stepped out of the office across from the hall and took charge, we were totally freaked out by this point. so he checked the ticket made soime calls and then said for 1500 rupees we could get on the train but we had to head across the street to the other office (it isnt there by the way) at this point wally lost her temper, yelled him and we both legged it to the train and thought to hell with it... the worst they can do is kick us off!so we made our way to coach 6 and there were people in our seats or so we thought, so we quickly sat in near seats and started to pray, these germans arrived and almost confirmed our worst fears. we told them what had happened and the nice lady told us that we were in the wrng carriage! so i crept along to the other carriage and there were our seats waiting for us and looking lonely ;) the dudes in the station were total scam artists! couldnt believe we almost missed our train. the letters on our ticket meant window seat and not waitlist! felt like a right retard.. but a smug retard cos i beat the tout!

so we got to agra and thought that the day could only get better and it did. we managed to get this amazing taxi guy to bring us to the first hotel mentioned in my book. they didnt have rooms but we had brekkie there with views of the taj and crossed our fingers that something would turn up. it did and he offered us a room for 900 rupees which in real money is like 15 yo yos for the room (7.50 each) but i felt this was a bit steep so i pegged it down the road to the shanti lodge and he had a room for 400 (6.60 for the rooom!) and took it. so we settled in and i called the helpful taxi dude and organised for him to take us to the ghost town nearby, it is the ruined capital city of india when the mougals were in charge. we met 2 lovely travellers when i was organising it and they came with, Gudu was the taxi and the entire trip (hour and a half out to the site and then he waited and then took us back, to the red fort and the taj) cost us onlu 250 rupees each! nothing! he even organised us a guide who was very helpful (if facebook ever fixes the photo thing thenyou will see what im talking about) after that wal and i decided to head straight for the taj, good thing too cos the queues were awful, the place closed earlier than the book said and ayou couldnt take in your bag! but at least i saw one of the wonders of the world!!

heading out tonight to the poshest place here and will dress up, have a rare glass of wine and try to enjoy it!
xx

Visa shenanigans & delhi belly in the middle east

so folks a lot has happened since the last time that i blogged. my god... where to begin, right so the last time i blogged i was safe in my mutrah hotel in oman, getting really excited about heading to india and after surviving staying at am omani's house.. well.... so i got a call from wallis late on the tuesday night, her in tears, saying that she was not going to india!! WTF!! well it turns out that sasha had not informed us correctly of our visa requirements, Irish travellers DO need a visa before entry is granted into the country. i had checked this out before and read somewhere that you could get a visa on entry (havent been able to locate the site again funnily enough) so the stress began, i talkd to the kind people at my hotel and they contacted the embassy but it was shut or the day. so i printed the form filled it and waited for morning. headed to the picture place the next morning and then made my way out to the embassy and crossed my fingers... i made a beeline for the only other white person in the place when i had my ticket and he told me he could get his papers for india in a day!! result?? but.. talked to the guy in an office and turns out cos im not a resident of oman i would have to wait a week for the papers to come through! i cried when i heard this and the man with the heart of steel didnt even react! so i stumbled out of the embassy and ran into the white man again who gave me a lift back to my hotel cos he felt so bad for me. so i had a choice.... stay in oman for 3 more days (someone at the hotel could pull some strings to make it happen faster) and spend 200 more on a hotel or head back to bahrain like i was going to adn stay with someone whilst i worked out the visa issues. i went with the cheaper option and ended up back in bahrain where the lovely shane stapleton and family took me in for the week. i am forever in their debt and something pretty from india is headed their way as a thank you.

shane was quite the host whilst i was in the kingdom for the week. but something about their house and he comfort of the compound meant that i was quite the hermit for most of my time! although my second night did happen to coincide with halloween... (cue hilarious drunken holiday
story) wll i hadnt bargained for a halloween party now had i, i was supposed to be in mumbai with wally. but i rolled with it and dressed up as something suitably tasteless.. a prenant chav - with a bloody knife in my belly!! the pics will be up in a while when i remember to bring my cable to the internet cafe!i certainly got a few wierd looks and it was a great chance to meet up with people who thought they had seen the last of me earlier in the month. a cute boy even took my number (but with the belly that seemed suspect!) revisted traders during the week for yummy coctails and headed to a club opening just befoire i left! so on the wednesday under the influence of shane's biast few of indian processes i headed into the embassy to hadn in my passport to speed up the process and make sure they hadnt forgotten me.. they took it and told me to be back the next day in the after noon. so on the thursday with some trepidation i headed in a cab to the embassy area, i needed some cash so the taxi driver took me to a drive thru atm.. and it promptly swallowed my card! my one and only card in the middle east!!! luckily this atm was on he side of a HSBC bank so i ran inside and left my cabbi waiting adn told them my sorry story. well they werent going to give me my card but i through a bitch fit about it not being my fault and i was leaving the country onward and needed my money and the send a technition to check it out and got my card for me... but then they wouldnt give me the blasted thing and had to take my details and check if it was a "red card" fraud or something stupid like that, and then she asked me for my id, which i didnt have cos i was picking it up from the india embassy .. and since the robbery of vegas i dont have a drivers licence... uh oh.. but some pleasding and she gave it to me telling me all the time how many laws and rules she was breaking. then to my surprise 4 other people arrived who had their cards swallowed by the same machine... i quietly backed away when she said that they would have to wait 3 days to get their cards back!!! so onward to the embassy with my fingers crossed that karma wasnt going to do anything further to me.. and to my delight i picked up the passport with visa intact, no problem!!!

the next morning i took a cab to the airport simply enough and made it through all the security without a problem, i was tying to take out money when the problems started agin. the card wouldnt work. i was really scared that the other machine had damaged it or i was over limit. so i spent a long time on the phone to AIB (not the best when you are travelling) and it turned out that a security block had been placed on my card (just for the craic) took that off, got some cash, changed it to rupees and headed for india.. phew!

arrived in mumbai and took an air conditioned taxi into colaba. none of my phones were working (all barred?!) so i couldnt tell wally i had arrived.. uh oh.. so i headed for the place i thyough we had agreed to stay at only o change direction when she finally got through to me. the ride took abouit 2 hours the traffic is awful and it was so hot! mumbai is full of poverty, its difficult to see. the kids on the street, filthy, naked adn hungry lookng. but unfortunatley very quickly ou become accustomed to it.i got my annoyingly lost cabbie to take me to the taj mahal hoteladn i met wallynearby! i have never been so happy to see a family member. this past 5 weeks solo have been a little tough, not gong to lie. we spent our first night at bentlys (cheap and cheerful) adn headed out for some overpriced (and under alcoholic) drinks and dinner. we met simon there (wally in the country for one day finds a fellow traveller!) he had a seriously gay vibe but at the same time was coming on to the walster. he bored me! so i faked being tired and we headed to bed! the next day we headed out to elephanta island to see the caves, the monkies and travel the 120 steps. an hour ferry took us there adn people didnt really stare at us too much. we met a couple of belgium travellers at the caves and had lunch with them. in the evening we headed around a walking tour of mumbai and went to a bollywood type movie in hindi called Fashion! it was a 4 hour EPIC thing, now i feel i speak hindi! after the movie we had a late night meal in cafe leopolds of chicken byriani and butter chicken adn sloped off to bed early. we were up at the craic of night (5am) to get to the airport for our flight to delhi. the cabbie tried (and failed to rip us off) adn instead tried his luck with the pair of us. funnily enough we were married!! i created quite the back stories for us, i was a teacher and maried to paul with 2 kids and wally a photographer with a husband she didnt name, and no kids i dont think! so we got to the airport and got checked in. there was a slight problem at security when they thopught my change purse might be a bomb but we got on the plane and got safely to delhi.... so in delhi now and managed to get this kick ass accomodation with this guesthouse. this family put you up adn take care of your everywhim, including onward train details and a hidden delhi tour. we took the tour this morning at 6am, saw old delhi had curry for brekkie, were talked through hinduism, went to the laundary,saw some traditional homes adn drank from a coconut! that was only today.. tomo we head to the markets and on friday to agra to see the taj... from there its through rajasthan...

stay tuned xxx

UAE adventures

hey peeps, coming to you all the way from muscat in oman right now on a very snazzy computer in my hotel lobby! the ambiance music in the lobby here is enough to make you vomit but there you go, this is oman!
but wait... what have i been up to in the meantime in the UAE? well now children its quite simple. I arrived in the morning of the 11th and got through dubai passport stuff pretty easily, i mean this irish passport thing is gold! so then the taxi fiasco started.... the guy was a dubai taxi so he didnt know sharjah that well (where i was headed to stay with kerryanne) but finally after a number of phone calls and confused directions we made our way to the cricket stadium in sharjah to meet kerryanne in her school! yes kerryanne is ateacher out there in sharjah! now this is not some underprivildged thing, these kids pay big bucks to be taught by unqualified irish teachers ! she lives on campus so it was like being in a summer camp with the weather and the lovely little houses that they live in (for free!). so since kerryanne was working from sunday to thursday i took myself off to the UAE captial for a few days staying with a friend of kerryanne's for the duration. this is where paddy enters the story! he too is a teacher, but his kids run wild! i spent my days in abu dhabi checking out the very few sights and tanning on the beach! paddy took meout one night with all the school teachers (mid week i ask you!) we ended up in some place called rock bottoms (apparently its a chain) but i had such a laugh i couldnt care where i was! and par for the course paddy tried his luck... uh oh...but luckily i was on to his game early on and faked extreme drunkeness and feel asleep (solo) on the couch, we never talked of the incidednt so i thought he had forgotten it but no he texted Kerryanne about it! ah well! i bussed itback to sharjah, that was an experience, being the only white person on a bus.... but ihad no major incident until the bus nearly crashed into some crappy driver! but arrived safe and sound at the school... then it was the weekend, this was all about and all you can eat dinner, oh and the dinrks wer included (think back to the discription of the brunch and be very afriad) so wee annoyed the waitors for ages about drinks and suddenly we were all pissed as farts and full from random food and heading to the nighclub, which we had to pay into cos we werwe too late :( god i felt so ill! so much so that i headed into the loo and forced my fingers down my throat! but to no avail... so i tried the next best thing.. danvcing! i headed into the mass of puksing bodies near the dj adn started giving it socks!~ i soon gathered a crowd of men, and not in the sleasy way. it was awesome.. cos we were having a dance off! for about 3 hours! i sweated all the bad alcohol out of me and the best bit was that at the end of the night they all left me standing in the club without so much of sleasy word between them! the next week was a whirlwind of desert safari, waterparking and skiing! oh yeah you ski in the desert!
xx

Bahrain!!

so peeps i have arrived, marvelled at, and left the kingdom of bahrain. yes it was sweet, hot and humid but also a teeny bit boring (sorry locals!) so what went down??? arrived at 5.30 in the morning and was collected by the delicious rory skinner who really has only gotten better with age ;) a former model and trinity student (although he only managed to attempt trinity for 2 years) i met rory through tom murphy and he has been always asking me over. so he brought me for a trip around the island with the sun rising and the mist clearing, all the while trying to avoid damage to his wonderful bmw from crazy saudi drivers.for those of you who are not aware saudi is joined to bahrain by a giant bridge thing so over Eid (the holiday after ramadam) the place was over run by saudis hanging out, men and women together!!! this is not allowed in any shape way or form in saudi, we're talking no cinema together, no beaches,restaurants,queues..etc the list just goes on an on, but the result being that in bahrain they can be together so the place was jammed with them when i arrived and the bahraini's no like them! adn i can concur that they are just crazy on the roads but to be fair, the ex pat brats werent much beter with their driving under the influence etc! but thats another story. so i arrived and promptly fell asleep on the couch, it was a long trip! when i finally joined the world the rest of the house was up, rory lives with caroline and george, all english and lovely and kate, george's girlfriend is pretty much a constant guest as well. they have a pool and had set up a pullout bed in rory's room for me, but he mentioned that if i wasnt comfortable staying there that his parents were down the road, no such worries for me!!! although i was slightly grossed out by the amount of black ants about the place, i was told that they dont bite (a lie!!) so be warned! so my first night there was a bar bq at one of the guy's houses, and we all went and gorged ourselves and i met loads of people and managed to hold my own in a drinking game! the next day rory brought me around the new large mall that just opened... arabs do love to shop! it was just awesome, but shock shock horror horror im just notinterested in shopping right now!then the next night we all went out to this top class cocktail place called trader vics.. its a chain i think, well i was welcomed to bahrain with a rainbow shot.. i was quite scared as it involved many layers of alcolhol and a lighter... bu i finished it in one with a straw as required and didnt puke.. bonus! that was the beginning of the end for me there.. the night progresed with me meeting some reallynice people, mainly guys (the ratio is so in our favour ladies...) doing some midnight swimming in a pool with some of them, getting a lift (along witht the rest of the party) with 2 local bahrainis to a house party and then waking up at 11am!!! wasnt even that hungover till i got to the rugby club (an ex pat hangou that serves booze) spent the day there but had to head to bed early that night to pass out!!!

this was all well and good until on monday morning rory had to leave for dubai for work until thursday, now this was not as bad as it sounds because in the time that he was gone the others were working anyway so i hung out with Dave, his parents live in bahrain but he was just visiting, handy cos he drove me places during the day, like the portugese fort, the malls and passed the tree of life buti didnt see it.then it transpired rory intended to stay in dubai until sat night!! but didnt tell anyone!! just put it on facebook... so everyone was shocked and appaled for me and ralley around me even more. there was this rugby tournement on and i was taken to it and then to dinner another night and even to brunch.. so in the end he did me a favour! brunch was on my last day and it consisted of getting really dressed up and heading to the diplomat for an all you can eat 12-4 experience, with unlimited champers!!! Stef brought me there, lovely girl. then there was a bit of drama cos the guy she had been seeing for 2 months, who hadnt returned her calls for about 4/5 days turned up with a barbi look-a-like and didnt really talk to her! it was like being in the hills! after the brunch we all drunkenly meanderd down to the irish bar where i got to talking to this navy man, delicious but way to conservative for my tastes, so i just enjoyed myself shocking him! then there was more drinking adn about 8pm i headed back to traders for a birthday party! i managed to stay until about 11.30 before the tiredness took me and i got a cab home! quite impressed with myself to be honest, was even sober when i got into bed at midnight... got a cab at 5am to the airport for my 7am flight to dubai... gross... although bahrain air really dont understand the concept of low cost = no frills, it was very comfy. got out to Sharjah to kerryanne's ok where i spent the day hanging out by the pool at the english club, learning about what she does in her teaching role, its really fascinating....i might try it (although me.. teach??) then cos she works from sunday to thursday i have headed and arrive in abu dhabi to stay with a friend of hers! its exhausting but fun!

will be here til thursday being a tourist, then back to dubai.... then oman, then india with wally, phew am tired thinking about it! but will endevour to update this more...

xx

Getting robbed,returning home and jetting off once more

the title says alot i know but alot has happened since the last time i posted... i mean right after i last posted i was unfortunatley the victim of a robbery. oh yeah i had my wallet nicked right after i left the internet cafe that housed my last post! i needed to get something whilst in New York New York but found out that it wasnt there!!! Uh Oh!!! so i legged it back to the cafe only to find out that the counter lady didnt really speak much english, great... so i freaked out understandably. calls were placed to the parents who were all worried all the way over in ireland. the credit cards were cancelled and the money lost for good...then there were telling me to talk to the police. and wierdly enough in vegas during the day there is not really a heavy police influence.. so i had only the 36 dollars that i had one in the hard rock the night over the weekend. so i had to walk all the way back there in the 100 degree heat. probably wouldnt be as bad if i headed the right way but i walked the wrong way for about an hour! and then finally i saw it in the distance and was about to head hrough a contruction site when a kindly worker told me that there was no through road.. so he gave me a lift to the hard rock whilst i told him my sorry story. then he offered to take me to the airport for free... onloy after he asked me out for a drink! but given my luck that day i thought better to wait it out in the airport! so he took me there and then showed me his gun so i was happy that i turned him down! then i spent the entire day at the airport reading some books that i had luckily bought before i was victimised. then when i got home to la guardia there was a driver organised who took me home to brooklyn where i could lick my wounds in peace. then kevin came to my rescue the next day with cash (that i have yet to pay him back....)

i went out the day i got back with katie hogan and the lax crew. headed into marquee where missy elliot had her birthday the last time she was down! we went VIP free entry free drinks and free table.. the whole bash! met some fantastic people but basically headed about getting drunk for free and then heading hom on the subway and all in all i went out for about 4 dollars!!! i love NY sometimes!

but all good things ahve got to come to an end so on the evening of the 25th i headed to JFK (nice and early) and set about getting checked in. it all seemed too easy and then reality struck and we were left on the runway for about 1.5 hours! that was not fun. especially as i was stuck with this fat guy beside me and he smelt bad and felt the need to talk to me all the time! finally i got home about 8am on the 26th of sept.

so that ends the story of NY but right when i got home there was a bbq (not int my honour) and another night in Tripod.. nothing like the familiar to get your feet back on home soil. so now to the next adventure Bahrain tomorrow at 3.30 in the afternoon. I arrive at crazy o clock in the morning and head over to skinner's house for a 10 day fun times on the island followed by 2 weeks or so in Dubai.

stay turned to see how i get on ..... im scared already~!

xx

Vegas Baby!!

so the last time i blogged i was stuck in a wierd little internet place in chinatown.. currently coming to you from Vegas Nevada..random i know but i stupidly missed my flight this morning (like by 6 minutes checkin lady was a right bitch!) so now instead of flying back to NY at 8this morning im still here and its 10.30.. oh and the best part... my flight doesnt leave this blasted place til 10pm!!! this time i will be in the airport from about 7pm just in case! god am so annoyed but atleast it got me a chance to play some slot machines in the airport and wonder of wonders i won 185 dolla on wheel of fortune! thank you kevin for introducing me to such a wonderful game.. but then i got greedy and it swallowd about 20 dolla more from me before i wrenched myself away from it! i love you wheel of fortune but you are not good for me!
so why am i in vegas?? well mr owens of the irish team fame convinced me that there would be lots of lax loving delicious men out here and what more reason did i need to visit this lawless place?! ofcourse there was lacrosse to watch and being a groupie for kevins team (wish i could remeber the team name though!!) i made all of their games. on the firday night there was the welcome party at the hardrock hotel pool which was not as exciting as i thought i would be but i got to know all the guys on the team and even went padddling in the pool for a while.. it was all pretty sedate until kevin tripped over a spotlight pole and smashed a few bottles of liquer.. they seemed ok with it though, i suppose they have seen a lot worse! there was this guy called Troy on the team (total hottie) who was the recipient of a becka face rape at the end of the evening. dont really know where it came from though, im a beast.. but he didnt seem to mind.. infact he was christened "nice guy troy" for the weekend for refusing to sleep with some random woman the night before. not sure if he liked it or not but it stuck! the next day the saturday i was feel well rough but made it out to the games to show my support and spent the day with the guys at the hard rock pool. it was such a fun day of staring and cooling off in the pool to survive the 98dfgree heat.. or did it hit past 100 that day.. can you imagine playing in that! hit the strip on the sat night but it was a little of a let down cos we were all so sick! got to see most of it though as we walked about and the highlight was the bellagio water fountain.. amazing! partied in the hard rock again that night and then i slunk off to bed in the comfort inn at some desgusting hour... not until i broke into my hotel pool and went for a swim though. i think i have a problem.. but sunday was amazing! it was a hard rock Rehab day where there is a massive party in the pool from 10am with pumping tunes and very expensive drinks! think i stayed in the pool for about 6 hours or something crazy! everytime i now close my eyes all i see is parts of the body! we totally crashed that night and i couldnt be bothered to even make it acrosse the road to my hotel (prob part of the reason that imissed my flight to be honest) watched a movie and just passed out! what a party group we were! although this is a bit of a bad end to a wicked weekend i atleast now get the chance to see more of the strip.. thinking today will be all about the rollercoaster and random attractions! this place is amazing. cheers kevin for inviting me.

oh and nice guy troy.. if im ever in Denver im SO looking you up ;)
xxx

New York!

so im here in new york solo and its not as scary as i thought it would be thank god! i arrived on tuesday and spent the day wandering around just being shocked and scared but then i met Mo at T Mobile who was the first person to hit on me here and i felt just fine! I met Daniel the guy who owns the apartment in brooklyn that im renting at 7pm. he is a lovely taiwan due who attends NYU and got a place in williamsburg, closer to campus. im staying at 96th street at the end of the subway line which is fine. thought it would be worse but am now using the subway like a pro!its not that hard when the line i have to take is the R line! So the first night was a little scary because i was convinced that Daniel was going to come back into the apartment with kung fu friends and kill me. but it didnt happen and i survived! so on my second day i took myself across the city and found this camera stor run by Jewish guys that did me a great deal on a camera, with that in hand i headed to the Top of the Rock at the Rockafeller Centre, it was unreal to be that high up. i have a serious fear of heights but being up that high made me feel just lightheaded! some say its better that the empire state for the view cosyou actually see the empire state building. so after that i took myself the long way to central park and it was lovely weather, i was in my pink dress with bright green bra, pink flip flops and electric blue zip up.. quite the colourful person then and this random man spotted me and started to talk to me about NY and fashion week. now i got this weird camp vibe from him so wasnt worried talking to him. he told me that he could get me into fashion week in NY if i turned up at 7pm at the tent with my breasts totally on display and wearing makeup etc. personally i took this as a warning signal but then he and i went our separate ways and i made my way to sephora to do my face for free and then met him outside the busy fashion week tent! he gotme in, and introduced me to many famous people that i didnt recognise, even a model from americas next top model!!!! the bar was serfinv free drinks adn there were flip flps going free, a competition for a blakberry and many wannabe models! but the guy howard was is name, was being very inappropriate with talk of needing 4 men in my life, a gay guy who will always tell me the truth, a latino who will teah me to dance, a black man to (and i quote "fuck the shit out of me") and a white man to marry... it was after this that i made my escape with Bee Cee a photographer out the side entrance, pretending i needed to puke (i did a little cos of the conversation!) i didnt get to see any shows! he was such a pretender! the Bee Cee and I had a little fun posing in front of the tent and then in Times Square cos i was heading out to Long Island to party with Elaine from the Lax team. she picked me up and we headed with her flatmate to the Nutty Irishman pub. it was alot of fun until this fat american dude thought he could pick me up.... he just talked about himself for ages.... yawn!

then it was Thursday! Sept 11th. the city was in a quiet respectful mood yestterday. i didnt head down to ground zero thinking it would be disrespectful to be a tourist on a day of mouring. instead i headed to cooney island. cooney island itself it really pretty,well at least the beach is. most if not all the amusements are shut for the season. but the place is in dire need of repairs, but has some sort of charm. ruined that charm for myself my having a nathan;s famous hot dog... the guide book said they are the best in the city, as a rule i dont like them and this was no different, infact i felt so ill!!! so i headed back into manhattan thinking i would catch some comedy or something when i was attracted to Madam Toussads for the wax creations and then to Ripely's believe it or not.... got home at 10.30pm and fell straight into bed, the effect of nathan's famous dogs was making itself known!!!

today is Friday and i have spent the entire day on foot walking through lower manhattan and shed many tears at the church at ground zero,it is so touching, really brought the tradgy home. mom will be proud that i was in a church!! and then to chinatown.. but then the rain came and i hid in an internet cafe....hence why the big post

until the next rainfall
xxx

Mooncup - EP 08

SO so sorry for the lack of blogging, i have a feeling that me apologising will become quite the regular way of introducing a blog..meh what evs.. in the voice of cloudy headon bovvd?!

so EP 08 was kindof the most awesome weekend of my existence thus far.. well maybe not as good as finland but that was 12 days versus one weekend. it all started when fanny and i came home from sweden at like midnight and ellie smellie very kindly picked us up and we all headed home, stopped off at Lido for some food for becka, mmm chips! but what with it being rush hour for the scobies the chips took ages and by the time i got back to the apartment it was almost 1am! cue much talking with lucy and claudia, who was alittle drunk, i finally fell alseep at 2am.. only to get up at 6am to start the trek down to stradbally for the weekend of all weekends! it was tough but we managed to get there finally at 9.30 (there was a bit of stalling at a garage as supplies were bought) we arrived and lugged most of our stuff through the mud to the entrance and got our bands and headed straight to charlie chaplin camping site. it was the bestest of all sites, mainly cos insider knowledge (thank you skinny) told me that it was the dryest. so there we trudged with all the bavaria stuff and set up a little bavaria base. it was brilliant and we even had room for all the late comers.. who do you think that was.. only wally and buster and the lovely andrew. the weekend was full of super fun activites beyond the music, there were the costume changes, the makeups and sparkles, the sneaking in of the booze and then the comedy tent (des bishop definite highlight), because i have more patience than the others wally and i ended up spending aload oftime together. it was a lot of fun to re connect and plus the girls were just being messy most of the time and i dont know if the new more mature me could handle it! bumped in to katy finnegan a few times and saw her rock on her finger... paul nice work! didnt see alot of people to be honest, there was just so much to do and i didnt even do it all... i never made it to tir na gcasca again but cloudy did, at least she thinks she did! a complete hightlight was the burning of the tower on the last night, although it was the only time on the weekend that it rained! im sure the firmen were happy. no one else was! especially wally who finally let the alcohol get to her and didnt feel that well. luckily for her i was in teh mood to head back to the tent cos i was soaked through. note to self pennys do not have waterproof jackets! when back at the tent we had visitors... lil lucy managed to snag a certain someone from fair city and the poor guy was obsessed that someone would recognise him and she was all... oh no there are only swedish people and aussies at my camp site only for them to arrive and me to poke me head out adn yell his real name! i went to college with him! hahaha! poor guy! this year did also baost the showers again and i had a blast being all naked with random women, especially as the water was warm this year! but then it was broken on the 3rd day, the day that most people need a shower.. so we all went dirty!mmmm and you wonder why there were no great romances at these things???? the highlights musically for me were duffy, franz ferdinand, gossip and kila. there were plenty otheres that i caught but for the life of me i couldnt tell you who they were! but they were awesome!

bring on next year.. wait,where will i be?? will i fly back for it???stay tuned
xx

Sweden...then the picnice maddness

so fanny and co. put me up for the week in sweden just outside of stockholm. it was awesome! she took me out on the town, introduced me to a load of really cool swedish girls and gals.. and then unfortunately when i was really getting to know one she felt the sickness and we had to leave.. only for her to puke in the taxi!! uh oh! the taxi driver went mental at her in swedish and i tried to stand up for her in english.. it was quite like a candid camera moment! we had gone over to her friends house for dinner and drinks and a box of wine later we were quite the pissed ladies! it was the start of the problems that night for fanny me thinks... from that night out we spent the weekend at her summer house and did everything from go karting to swimming.. and even got in a bit of water sports, her family are like the disney of swedish people! i loves them... i do not love the bugs though. there were SO MANY mossies!then the plan was to go to a fun fair but unfortunatley the summer season opening times were over so we had to spend the time doing other things like seeing the city, it was so pretty. then fanny dropped the bomb.. her birthday present to me was to take me on a booze cruise to finland! the boat was called the Cinderella adn seemed to be the It place to go if you were a senior citizen! fanny and i wrecked the gaff and somehow managed to find the nightclub on the ferry.. oh yes a night club!! there were 10 floors on this beast of boat. we were in the lowest level and it was so random the room was for 4 people and there were only 2 of us, thank god! it was tiny and by 9pm we were hammered on cheap bubbly. the next morning the sea sickness was awful! but fanny's parents gave me an illegal anti-sea sickness pill for such an eventuality....so i was fine! we flew home right after the ferry to head into a field to party for the weekend.. but more on that later

xxx

From Finland to Sweden

hey peeps coming to you from Fanny's house in Sweden. yes thats right i have swopped one scandinavian country for another! but this week trip will have nothing to do with Lacrosse i think!

first a round up of events from the last few days in Finland. Ireland ladies won our group and went on to face scotland for a bronze medal. now scotland were one of the countries that decided that we shouldnt have a chance for a medal or infact to win anything so the tension was thick in the air. we faced them bravely with much music and shouting. and for a long time we were matching them goal for goal. it was tense it was brave and it was exremly emotional. in the end a combination of the politics, the refs being unfair (and i stand by my description of this) and a tougher game inall, the scots beat us 15-7. this doesnt depict the strength of our team. we came together very strong and we left it all on the pitch. there were tears after the final whistle and we as a team sang irelands call one last time. dan was so proud of us, we did exaclt what we set out to do regardless of the result. we had fun, we made our mark and we made history... GO IRELAND!

obviously we had to celebrate that night, alcohol was bought and consumed as the tough lax ladies washed away the hard game edge an became all soft and feminine once more. suddenly we had boobs again (speaking mainly of myself here cos 2 sports bras does nothing for ones chest size)we hit the club at about 10pm with game lanards for free entry. i have never seen so many lacrosse players in one sport before, it was crzy. the drinks were cheap, only 3.80 for a vodka +juice...crzy. but the annoying thing was that it was the norm to do shots and then crush on the ground, the place was a walking courtcase!it was so hot that soon everyone was throwing the drinks into themselves and making eyes at randomers. the two dutch guys that had been showing their interest in me took me dancing, great ego boost, but there was no kissing... i just wasnt in the mood! mental i know! after giving a very married kevin a suspicious bruise on his neck i thought it best to call it a night! i think that the experience of Finland is sonething i will take with me for the rest of my life, it was amazing and i miss everyone already!

so now i am in Sweden! am here for a week to hang out with Fanny, and see Stockholm, and hopefully also her summer home on the lake but the weather has been crap so fingers crossed. the idea is to have the week here and then come home to dubling in preparation for the electric picnic next weekend.. its all go go go here in becka land. for after the picnic i think i will be in New york, that is if the trials are in new york... there is talk of a lax thing in vegas...god it never stops!

Finland

Super apologies for the lack of blogging recently but i have been p to my eyes in lax activities here in Finland. if you havnt been paying attention then i ought to remind you that i am in Finland representing my country in the european lacrosse championships...at the same time that the olympics are going on unfortunately.. so no one really knows that we are here!

the irish based players started their trek in dublin airport at 5am on the 5th of august. we took a flight to finland that brought us into the country at 12pm their time only to find that the american girls had been waiting on the bus for hours poor things. and that is the last time i will be referrin to them as the american girls.. there are 18 girls on the irish womens team and in my eyes we are all irish, and im sick of telling people this! an hour and a half later and the bus pulled into Hotel Salpaus, my home for the next 12 days. we were roomed together at random and i drew skip our goalie and our room is on the second floor, not a problem since the restaurant is on our floor but no one else from our team is here :( dont know how it happened but we have gotten over it as it seems that the men are causing a bit og havoc on the 3rd floor...more on that later...

so we as a team havent played alot together at all... and we were given only 3 practises together berfore the games, not good enough for us so we were clever and got up at 6.45am for 7am practises in all weather conditions, ouch.. it has made the trip seem extra long so odd! then there were the uniforms to be concerned about.. i think that gibby might have chosen kiddies sizes or something..aerodynamic is a word that has been tossed about ;) im wearing 13 and so far it has done me proud. yesterday we faced Austria, our first match. we beat them 15:1!! the best part for me was that i scored my first ever international goal in lacrosse, actually i scored my first ever goal!! yeaterday was the first time that i played in the middie line and i was bricking it before i went on, but once on the pitch i settled and enjoyed myself, all until i pulled my quad, whilst i scored!karma?! the goal itself was beautiful, and i think it was caught on tape... if it was i will post it (how big headed)

today we face Sweden, fanny.... who will you be supporting?!?!

Home at last... but not for long!

hey peeps, coming to you from Cork in the south western tip of ireland today!its about 9pm and my father has already been put to bed after an enthusiastic evening in thepub awaiting our arrival from Offaly. I say our.. cos i drove down with me ma an my god ma. 2 of the worst back seat drivers EVER!! but im getting off topic, im just home from Ios and it was quite the journey...

lets see, how about starting on my last night on the island.. headed out for dinner and then to the CAvan girls house for some drinkies.. got stuck into the wine and then we hit orange bar for their amazing shots, mint aero anyone?? after that it was on to the red bull bar for some dancing, met some aussie with questionable hair and we jived for a good 45 minutes i think.at this stage my bag had burst and i was keeping my stuff in aoifes bag. but then we go spilt up and i had the bag!uh oh, but did i think of this ... NO. hit shramrock bar, then on to Coo and then flames.. yummy barman told me tonight was my night(yawn that line got so old) i took that time to check my phone and an hourearlier i had gotten a message from aoife saying she was heading home uh oh.. ran home and she was in bed and was so annoyed with me. but we got over it. i think i owed one evil experience...the next day my head was pounding, but i made the ferry, wish i didnt though, the four hour ferry was a disaster...puked (from sea sickness i might add) 4 times!!! then i navigated the tube for about an hour adn finally got to the airport. had about 3 hour to wait before the flight left. but the funiest thing happened on the plane, we couldnt take off cos of a hole on the engine!!! but it was grand.. apparently, he reved the plane and we were off.. if very scared at the thought that we were about to explode! we were an hour late getting hoe and then mum picked me up and headed straight down home... finally at 3am i got into bed in wraymount stud.. so hapy to be there,
but it was not for long...drove the whole way to cork today and it took forever....why have i not figured out how to fly yet???

iced tea etc

i dont know how im going to smuggle an entire crate of liptons iced tea into ireland but i have to figure it out somehow dammnit!! this stuff is better than water here.. well i say that with reservations ofcourse as nothing is as good as the clear stuff but in this heat where you sweat out more than just H20 Liptons comes to the rescue! i think i have atleast one can of the stuff a day, along with about 3 litres of water.. and thats without even trying, anyone who knows me from home knows how i tried to be all healthy for Finland by forcing myself to drink 1.5litres a day and all that resulted in was me taking way too many toilet breaks.. ah well its all exercise at the end of the day isnt it.. (oh dear god i have started to talk with sports person vocab... this finland lark is clearly getting to me) on that note you will be happy to know that i have recieved the schedule of events for the matches and the like and on the 11th of August Ireland ladies face Austria.... my god it is actually happening!

wait how did we get on to this.. from liptons iced tea? well theres a stream of conscience for ya~!

so i have 3 proper days left on this island. last night we all went out, some of the crew are heading home tomo and they didnt want to go out mad tonight cos hangover + ferry = :( or so i have been told! it wasnt as mental a night as they had planned i think, the other 12 nights on the trot may have caught up with them, and me.. well im just not good at staying out later than 4am when i get it into my head that i'm sleepy (dublin peeps take that smile off your faces!) so that night started amusingly enough with Aoife and Keith wandering off up the hill to see the village at night leaving the rest of us to shower and moisterise (currently a favourite thing of mine to do) when they arrive back with an almost empty vodka bottle we knew their night had already started~! so the booze from other magically available bottles of vodka were poured and a half hearted game of truth or dares began...mainly instigated by aoife who wanted to share ;) then buzzy got a bit awkward answering things infront of emma the gfriend so he left us to it. some time later we all headed to Fun Pub to pick up Clare and let Aoife sing in the kareoke... she chose the cheeky girls song (touch my bum?) who knows why... then it was on to my fave place on the island.. Coo...the music there is awesome and the aircon is delicious~ after Coo it was Dream, for free of course but i was lagging at this spoint.. it was 3am... i nipped off for some food and when i got back we were leaving for Circus. now im so happy i made it there at last. the 2 barmen are not only terrible attractive but are really talented as they displayed by lighting 2 bottles of booze each and proceeding the toss them about to the tune of firestarter and the like!!! amazing!! even if it did raise the temperatures when they ate the fire and then breathed it out.. how they still have eye brows i will never know! but at this stage it was past 4am and i was over it, i sauntered my way home thanking god that we live in the centre of the town, bumped into a few heads along the way but even their company wasnt enough to convince me to stay out later. still managed to gt down to the beach for 11.30 this morning though.. thats dedication for ya~ ;)

i honestly dont know if i will ever be comfortable in a full set of clothes again! tonights festivites will be in Lord Byrons restaurant where the girls tell me you can get a massive delicious steak, im so looking forward to it cos im certain that the burgers i have eaten whilst here have not been beef but dog meat (there are really no strays in Ios and i'd say thats why)

xxx

Ios observations

here are some ios observations ... for anyone thinking of coming here ihave noticed a few things... the buses run on their own schedule and charge 1.40 for the pleasure of brining you down to the beach. but they are not normal buses.. oh no they range from mini buses to huge coaches all driven by local greckos, oh and they dont have a regular ticketing machine.. you get on the bus and then someone manages to squeeze through the crowds (they pack about 80 people into a 52 seater at least) and this person collects money from you and gives you a ticket... such a waste of paper!

you do not put your soiled toilet paper down the toilet on this island... EVER! bad things happen when you do (now is not the time to go into the "pooing in the bag" story)

there are sea urchins EVERYWHERE (although previous postings may have already suggested this)

the burgers here are not worth the effort, the meat is odd and seems to be watery or something.. perhaps i am eating dog ?? hope not! so stick to the local fast food of gyros (so so tasty) think i may have mentioned them before but again, they are chicken or pork mainly in a toasted pitta with tomatos,onions,lettuce, chips, tzaziki and mustard (yummmm) there is a place on the island called porkies ( i kid you not) and they do the BEST gyros on the island in my opinion.

there are about 30 beaches on the island, and although i have not seen even a good portion of them you should atleast break away from the main beach and try to find theodoti (you might be the only people there.. brilliant, but bring supplies in a cooler), everyone should go to manganari at least once (i have been there twice... driving really is the only option although there are buses..) i have yet to hit kalamos but word on the beach is that is beaut!

there is this old local (well he is english but has been here for 16 years) and he wants to take me around the island. but he is getting a little too attached and although he is married i dont want to tempt him with my topless sunbathing activities, plus i might bring on another heart attack!!

on the exciting news front, my roomate who had sex with a girl whilst i was in the room has gone home and im not afraid to say that i am very pleased! he bugged the crap out of me, using everyone's stuff and just being an ignorant dirtbag, dont think he washed his clothes once in the 7 weeks he was here .. gross! and to add insult to injury i have just found out that he used my towel... ALOT.. its going to the laundary in the morning, just hope im not too late and havent caught anything from it ... gross again! but in his place a couple have moved in , they are Buzz and Emma. very cute people. she is a kiwi with a crazy cork accent and he is from cork. they met in oz and are heading around the world together, how rose.. mantic?!

thats all for now folks, think im having an early night tonight if possible, just saw Hancock and was very impressed if a little saddened, everyone should see it. will smith is a legend.
xxx

happy birthday to me!

so yesterday was a very important day... i was born yesterday (23 years ago... obviously) although if you ever ask my mother she will tell you it was the 17rh.. although i have checked and the 18th is my true birth-date.
so as you know yesterday started with the sea urchins episode... luckily it got progressively better throughout the day (not hard) but bad things happen in 3's so its not really a surprise that my phone got soaked by some over-zealous indiviual last night and when i took it apart this morning to dry it out (air con did not help this process last night) and i put it outside the door.... i was 10/15 minutes dressing and when i came back out it was gone! now let me stress... NO ONE is awake on the island right now except for the greckos (the greeks) so me in my innocence thought one of the owners had picked it up during the cleaning process minutes before but no one is owning up. and its not like the area by me is super clean now (oh i live tucked away from the street in an alcove, you would have to know i was there to nick stuff) so basically i got the sea urchin attack, then a soaked phone and then that phone got nicked so thats the 3.. it had better be :( so anyone who is reading this, send me on your numbers and the numbers of your mates that are good looking. i hate this process... im an old hat at it though cos im a devil for going through phones.

back to last night, we went for dinner in Pomodoro (italian... yummy) jus the 3 girls. me aoife and clare. after ireland day we all wanted to just chill out. so after we went down to Fun Pub for the pool competition where i regaled the masses about my tackle with the sea urchin, nice! after there clare went home (aoife couldnt even make it this far) i went with the boys into the village... we hit all the hot spots and i was loved and adored by all. i even partook in a 'lay-back' where you lean back over the bar and the barman pours straight into your mouth, yeah its not as sexy as it looks though cos the bright spark used sambucca which i cant even stand the smell off... it came straight out my mouth and nose and into my eyes... a great look. but apart from that episode the night was alot of fun, and this morning i feel pretty alive, if a little annoyed about the phone but am a proud owner of a new samsung. this one had better last the holiday!

xxx

Sea Urchin attack on Ireland day :(

so gentle readers yesterday was Ireland day on the fantastic island of Ios. it was absolutely mental. apparently it started at 8am in the nightclub Dream followed by a breakfast at the restaurant beside the club then back in to the club (it was pitch black inside when we arrived at the respectable hour of 1.30pm) after the club kicked everyone out at about 2pm we all headed en mass down to the beach, yelling, singing and mainly drinking... love being a paddy sometimes! i would say a modest estimate would be about 400 irish parading through the streets ... we had a police escort down the hill (in case anyone fell and got trampled im sure) then when we hit the beach we stomped our way down to far out beach resort and started the hard partying. most of us bought alcohol in the mini market on the way for ridiculously cheap prices and set about drinking in a side alley.. the term 'panic drinking' was coined!! i will upload photos later when i get the sand out of my camera.. the music was pumping, everyone was in green white and gold and the craic was mighty. that is until i took it upon my self to go for a swim.... cue the nightmare.... i stood on a sea urchin!!! oh yes (the reason for the previous blog is becoming clear) i didnt think much of it tobe honest, couldnt see it in the water and thought i had scratched my foot on a barnacle or something (damn alcohol dulling my senses) anyway when i cameout of the water and couldnt walk it was pretty clear what had happened. so i tried to find my mates, they were ratarsed sitting around a table talking crap, i told them what had happened adn that i needed to go to the hospital.. no one moved (so much for mates) so i limped to the bus in my ireland underwear and 'kiss me im irish' teeshirt (i kid you not this is what i went to the hospital in) the bus dropped me off near it so i hobbled down the road and almost cried when the doc on call told me that there wasnothing he could do and that i just had to soak my foot and apply olive oil (random) that didnt go down so well so i called my parents in tears (sorry for freaking you out dad) managed to get on another bus into the village and limped past a really sweet italian guy i only know in passing who sat me down, got me a tweezers and tried to get the spines out of my foot... he counted about 25 all in all....!!! but he couldnt get any out cos he hated hurting me, so i twas up to me..a trip to the pharmacy later and i was equipped with a blade and determination. i got home eventually and dipped my feet into a hot salty bath and tried to get down to business. i thought i was hard core and would be able to slice into my feet, and i managed to get one out, but it was so so so so painful that i thought i was doing it wrong. so i tried to go to bed to wait til morning.

my flatmates had other ideas though... it was still ireland day for them so they satyed up til 5 am, yelling shouting, playing music and trying to get me involved. i was not a happy camper. might have to seriously think about moving or something. and after last night i dont think that will be really a choice since there is a really good chance that we will get kicked out. will keep you poisted on that one though.

so finally morning comes and i limp down to the doctor. i am his first customer of the morning after the aftermath.his name like everyone else on the island is Yanis (i think its like the greek alternate to the irish patrick/john) he takes a look and is impressed that i knew to get a blade last night. then the worst thing happens (how could it get worse you say) well he had to take a blade to my foot but it was so painful that he had to numb the area first... that actually was the worst part to be honest. but once that was done (5/6 injections over all... have you ever tried to inject your foot... im never getting a tattoo) with a blade and an hour of his time he managed to get all of the bastards out of my foot. i love him forever. although think he is a little shady cos he charged me (well Bupa will cover it) 250 yo yos, but he billed me 350 to claim ( today is my birthday afterall!!)

happy birthday to me....

How to Treat a Sea Urchin Injury

Step1

Don't panic (I did)! Sea urchin spines and venom (released from seizing organs called pedicellaria) are not lethal. The injury is very painful but the spines are made mostly of calcium carbonate, so they can be dissolved in the body over time. Different sea urchin injuries are more severe than others. Some spines can be very deep and some can be more superficial.

Step2

Start by applying an antiseptic (I frequently rinsed my foot with hydrogen peroxide) and pull out protruding spines with tweezers. The spines are very brittle and most will break off at the entry point to the skin- thus making it hard to fully remove them.

Step3

Soak the affected area in a bucket of very warm water with Epsom salts. You should continue doing this several times a day for the duration of the injury. This helps with the pain and also softens the skin for spine removal. It may even encourage the spines to either dissolve or be expelled from the skin.

Step4

After soaking, I found the best device for removing the thinner, more superficial spines was with a STERILIZED pin (safety or sewing pin). This is because the spines seem to dissolve into small soft fragments and meld with your skin.

Step5

Dry off affected area and apply antibiotic ointment. Take some painkillers/anti-inflammatory medicines to help with the pain and swelling. Elevate the wound if possible.

Step6

Do not worry about any purple/black dye released into the skin, it should disappear in a few days. If you're injury is less severe, the spines will probably dissolve or your body will eject them in 3 weeks. If it is more severe like mine, continue to the next step.

Step7

If the sea urchin spines are larger and deeper, they may remain in the body longer and there is risk of infection. Keep a close watch on the injury and see a doctor right away if there is chronic swelling and redness. Sometimes you will see and/or feel a hard lump called a 'sarcoidal granuloma', which is the body's inflammatory response to a foreign object (the spine).

Step8

My doctor prescribed me antibiotics and x-rayed my foot to view the deeper spines. She recommended surgery for some very deep spines, but I waited 2 more weeks and suddenly they were ejected by my body naturally!

Step9

Sea urchin injuries vary widely, and there is no definite time frame for the spines to either dissolve in your foot and work their way out. I was picking out some minor spines 6 months later, and I have reason to believe there are still some in there over a year later. As long as the site is not infected, or causing you chronic pain, it should be ok to leave the spines alone (as mentioned earlier they are made of mostly the same components as human bones). Good luck, and remember I feel your pain!

Personal Development

Hey everyone back home, i have some really startling news... on this crazy island of Ios I, Rebecca Headon, of lightweight drinking ability and famous for her slogan knickers is considered a responsible and sensible individual.... riddle me that?!perhaps its because i dont get absolutely shit faced every night (or even once since i got here to be honest) maybe its becuase i refuse to stay out super late so the hot barman might give me points for effort and come down off his high horse to give me the time of day (or of dawn) or maybe its becuase i seem to be pretty happy being chilled out and doing activities during the day... this definitely sigifies that i have not been hitting it hard as the beaches are empty until 2pm most days... i couldnt do that, its so beautiful here that staying in bed even with a ragin hangover seems just rude!

the girl i live with aoife is a scream. her step sister came over for 2 weeks yesterday. clare (her sis) was all talk about chilling out taking it easy and not going mental. so imagine my surprise when i came upon them at harmony (super chilled out mexican place over looking the bay) totally hammered on thailand style buckets of booze, they had 6 over the course of the evening and were completely written off by 11.30pm when i had to guide them towards the bus! it was a fun evening though, i ticked another thing off my list... jumping off the rocks at sunset at harmony and going for a swim... the water was like a lake and you could see the bottom.... 30 metres down.. beautiful, and it was so warm...the only thing disrupting the water were the watersports staff taking one of their own out water skiing, but that was nice, you could get the fear pretty easily.. swimmig alone etc..i watch too many horror movies, but apparently i got lucky getting out of the water, there are hundreds of sea urchins there and the locals even swim with sea shoes on cos if you stand on one of those bad boys you will be limping for weeks... not a goo look for finland!

today i have been on the beach for ages and the girls are dying, even more of a reason not to go too mental on this island! although that said tomo is Irish Day... cue the maddness., and the day after is my birthday - may god help us all (diving will have to wait another few days!)
xxxx

Here today.. gone tomo

so i quit my job!!! after 2 nights! well i had my reasons i swear. the chirpy nature i had with my previous post wa replaced with the knowledge that i would have to go back to that dump every night and deal with charlie( who is actually a bit of work and not so cheeky when he doesnt have skinny blondes hanging off him') and the 2 yannis lack of speed almost killed me. now i dont consider myself to be up myself but after 2 years of working m,ainly 2 jobs at the same time forgive me for not wanting to put in 8 plus hours for 25 yo yos. initially it seemed like fun but my god was i wrong! on my second night it was so so dead until 4 am adn then we had maybe 2 tables and they stayed until past 5.30, im not joking when i say that i came home at dawn, tired, cold and jobless. i have developed the "Ios cough' its a problem with all workers on the island because of air conditioning and standing in the draughty doorways etc. its gross, i didnt come on holiday to cough up a lung! so im again out of a job. but at least i got one anyway. ;) mainly i got a job so that i coul meet people and not have my housemate Aoife think that i was stealing her friends but after me and her trekked down to the beach the other day and had a big chat its all cool and the gang now i dont feel that i need one anymore.

today is the wet teeshirt competition down at far out beach... i thought about entering last weekend but i decided aginst it after i went down to check it out, its far too sleazy with all the men with their cameras, camera phones and even video cameras out! give me a break. the prizes are good however but im worth more than 125 yo yos and 125 yo yos of drink vouchers thank you very much! mom you would be so proud!

last night it was Jenny's birthday and we al went for dinner in Ios Club and watched the most glorious sun down ever. but that was the best part of the dinner, the food took about 2 hours to arrive and i only ordered a salad that ended up looking like a punit of cherry tomatoes and mozzerela.. think i will be making kethcup internally for some time!

day after tomo will be starting my open water divers cert (PADI) cant freaking wait!
xxx

Ios Blue

So readers last night i started in Ios Blue (funnily enough one of the many bars i did NOT mention in my previous post) it might have taken 8 days to find this little gem of a job but im under no illusion that its the best i could get on the island. i dont want to say this outloud or anything but heaven forbid that i actually admit to being a little bored with the constant partying all night, dealing with aresholes of barmen and then sleeping all day and missing the beautiful sun (not something i have actually done, the guilt is too much so even if im in bed at 7am im out of it at 11 am at the latest) so sssshhhh! but the secret is i have been yearning for my own crew to bum about with. its kind of like living in a version of dirty dancing but its an island and XXX rated! all the staff have their own special type of bond and have the craic with each other and have some sort of respect for eachother. but holiday makers??? fair game, both male and female it would seem! but sprry ladies but there is no "Johnny" character in Ios to fantasize over. just a bunch of self centred semi goodlooking barmen who have the gift of the gab and freedom or giving free drinks!how cynical am i?

so last night at 9pm I started in Ios Blue, the bar is situated in the square in the village of Ios on the hill. It competes with about 3 other bars in this tiny space, all pumping out the same music but at different intervals. we have Charlie, this cheeky english bloke who starts at 11pm and stands outside the bar encouraging women to come in and get the special offers, he is cute so he does quite well. i worked last night with a Finnish chick of only 17 years called Kaiser( drop dead beautiful), the 2 greeks who run the place are both called Yannis (can get a little confusing) and then there is Lisa the swede who is not allowed make cocktails but can serve beer and look pretty, plus she is a complete doll. so thats the crew. from 9-11.30 the place is dead, then it picks up and K and I only have about 7 tables outside to look after, way below the amount i am used to taking care of in ireland but everything moves so SLOWLY here that you need 2 waitresses to keep everyone calm when their drink doesnt arrive! the 2 greeks are notoriously slow, its like pulling teeth sometimes!drinks for workers are free but im not in the boozing mood at the mo so red bull keep me going till 5.30am when we closed (harsh i know) but at least i start at 11pm tonight so its not that bad, although... for 25 yo yos a shift its just above slavery. all to meet new people.. im mad!

on other news today was australia day on Ios, and i apologise to all the travelling ozzies out there but man oh man do i hate ozzies on tour.. more update on that tomo

xxx

activities in Ios

One would think there is not much to do on this island beyond drink at night and sleep on the beach during the day. but if you care to delve just a little bit deeper you will see the island has a lot more to offer. apart from the 30 beaches on the island waiting to be discovered there are cultural sites such as Homer's Tomb, activities from kayaking and snorkling, to proper diving and sailing. the thrill seekers amongst you might want to try out the banana or the dougnuts.. but be warned the guys who drive the speed boats dont take no prisioners!! i havent yet tried the speed boat activites but will be on that as soon as i know the guys well enough to get a discount...

ofcourse the nightlife on the island is amazing. it requires a bit of training to really get the hang of it. luckily the years i have spent in tripod/redbox and pod have stood to me. in order to get the best out of the island you have to nap from about 8-10.30 and aim to be leaving the house by 11 to head to dinner (crazy late for ireland i know) so ideally you finish up with dinner at 1.30am when things are just heating up on the island. then its over to somewhere like the blue note that has a distinctly swedish feel, then hit orange bar for some of the most amazing shots i have ever tasted.. mint aero anyone?maltesers?twix.. i kid you not, unfortunately the music attracts the rock wierdos so the place is always quiet. then on to the village to frankies for a frozen lemon margarita..yum, although you can only have one cos of the sugar content! then the redbull bar beckons for some dancing (dont even bother trying to get to the bar here,if you want redbull that badly either get a table outside for the waitress to serve you or go to a mini market.. its mental busy in there with the dancing, then at this point it should be about 3am, about the right time to hit shooters bar for a flaming lamborgini and sex on the beach for 5 yo yos (they all do crzy deals) after some pop music there head along to Coo where the barmen are delcious, the cocktails very grown up and the music is hip hop mix (a personal fave) plus they have a savage aircon system there! if you are feelin brave head down to flames bar to try for the shots record.. currently it stands at 7 shots in 6 sec 79...you get the 7 for free and a teeshirt. i tried and failed :( then onward down the hill to rehab a bar cum club with very tasty doorstaff and house music, and wierd foam rain every so often! they close up around 5am. if you are still standing trip along dowwn the village with the rest of the hard core peeps and the satff that have just finished up and hit Kandi the club until 7/8 in the am.....ofcourse this is just a sample of what a night could be like here, i havent even mentioned the shamrock bar,astra,slammers,disco 69,barmacy, satisfaction,pegasus, dreams... the list goes on and on..but its all about starting later than you think you should and pacing yourself. seeing the dawn is definitely worth the headache later in the day!

oh and on the job front i might have something sorted.. watch this space..
xxx