I know that i havent been updating this thing like i should be, i suppose that will change when i either stop having so much fun, or when lucy leaves, cos then i wont have anyone constant to talk to so i'll have to make internet fiends again... sigh.
and yes the last time i blogged i was entering china and should continue the story then but i wanted to pay hommage to a dear friend of mine who left this earth quite suddenly the other day. his name is Andy, he was diagnosed in Feb with terminal brain stem cancer. unsurprisingly he took it quite wll publically, who knows how he really felt. he was given 9 months to live, at 26 this must have been extremly hard to handle. yet andy took it with grace and even went so far as to comfort those upset for him on many occaison. since the cancer was in a part of his brain that has little vascular action, chemo wasnt an option. it was also imoperable. he underwent a serious bout of radiation which slowed downt the tumor growth but would never be able to stop it. brain stem cancer affects your speech, sight, balance and as time goes on most of your control over the smaller bodily functions you and i take for granted - ie breathing. after radiation the doctors were happy with the result and thought he had been given more time. they were wrong.
the last time i saw Andy was at Henley Rowing Regatta. the weather was beautiful, the pimms was plentiful, and he was full of the banter not associated with a sick person, but his glasses and cane gave him away. i loved that he was as comfortable chatting about the cancer seriously as he was taking the piss out of his crippled appearance.
Andy bumped his head not too long ago and became concussed, this along with the growth of the cancer put him in hospital. he died shortly afterwards and will be forever missed. i realise you never speak ill of the dead, regardless of how they lived - but andy was one of the better ones and deserves all the praise one can muster. i raise my glass to his memory and feel lucky to have met him. R.I.P
Monday 24 August 2009
Friday 7 August 2009
Leaving Russia :) - well hello mongolia
so the last time i left you i was a little drunk in irkutsk.. so the adventure continued. the lovely Julia gave us beds for the night for free which was sweet cos other than that i would have to spend about 10 hours in the train station in the long term lounge trying to get some sleep for god knows what price. so we tried to sleep but it just wasnt happening for me. so we set off at about 4am to the train station to make our train that would bring us to mongolia. the place was riddled with mossies and i think i killed about 5 of them in the half hour i was in the station. gross right! finally it was time to get on the train and meet our compartment buddies. this time it was 2 german boys, beautiful german boys as it turned out! they were florien and alex 2 law students head across russia through mongolia to their destinations, they both had semesters abroad in singpore and brisbane and were taking the long way to get there. at first they didnt say much, in fact i didnt think they had much english between them. but i was wrong, thank god, and they turned out to be a little fun. they were definitely used to the better things in travelling and this was their first time travelling less than first class. a little hilarious to be honest. we hit the border and then for 5 god forsaking hours we waiting... and nothing happened.. nothing. and the staff were not really forthcoming with the details on how long we would be there.. initially we were told 1 hour, but this was a lie! and since they had our passports there was nothing that we could really do to make the situation any better. to add insult to injury we had run out of roubles and the shop only accepted them. so no more wodka for us, and no way to pass the time. the boys bought some beers and were not exactly in the sharing mood. the ladies in the next compartment in the train offered us some food and boose and that made it a little better. finally it was time to get on the train and make the move to the mongolian border where we were to do the same thing again, or so we feared. but luckily the mongolians were mentally fast compared to the russians and we were out of there in minutes, well it was probably an hour but it felt like minutes. we stopped again in customs and out we popped looking for food and the ever popular alcohol.. ended up buying some random food from a lady and i think it was the most tasty thing we had ever tasted! turned out we were all headed for the same guesthouse, fancy that! so we all go out and were greeted by our driver who took us through the crazy traffic in ulan bataar to UB Guesthouse. this place was a hive of activity. people moving about the place even though it was only 8am! there were tours headed out to the steppe, the mongolian outback. and others coming bak from treks. we get settled in and then decided to go for a walk with the boys about the city. note to all lookin to travel to mongolia you only really need a day in the ciy to get around it, 2 at the most.. but we had loads of time. we hit the natural history museum and im not sure what we were expecting but it sure wasnt a random musty ol building with dinosaurs bones in it! there were plenty of other interesting things in the museam..not.but a p[ersonal favourite of mine was to see the random fish.. yawn! so the delish german guys and us found the nearest outdoor bar and got cracking in to the booze. what else is there to do in mongolia?! well... rain apparently! it started to rain a little..then alot.. then a hell of a lot! it was bucketing down in no time and with us cowering under an umberalla outside thoughtwe would do the prudent thing and make a break for it to the nearest bar.. indoor bar! so we sat out the rest of the afternoon and the evening downing the better part of a bottle of champers and bottle of mongolian finest wodka. we weretrashed! suddenly it became apparent why the guys were so young, they definitelywere really young and both taken with lady friends..awh :( it would have felt like cradle snatching anyway ;) so at the unearthly hour of 10pm!! we headedback to the hostel, and not a moment too soon, since on the door of the hostel there was a warning that it was not safe to be out at night after midnight!eeek! safe?! so we threw on a movie, x-men is awesome when drunk. we,well lucy put one of the german boys to bed, and then the other one disappeared... although we didnt notice this until the movie had ended.. priorities people!!! so yeah young alex disappeared..we went looking for him on the streets thinking maybe in his drunken state he had gotten lost/attacked/or run awaysomehow. butafter a while and some drunken stumbling we decidedthat he was a big boy and could take care of himself... and we also swore that we would not do that to each other EVER! off we trotted to bed with only fizzy water to stave off the inevitable hangover...
wasnt hungover at all the next day, might have been that i slept for the better part of 11 hours! mental. best way to avoid a hangover! so we were off on our next adventure to spend 3 days (well 2 and a half) out in the Steppe, the mongolian outback! we were dead excitedto meet the locals and do the native activities.. but when we got there we realised that this might not be the case when it came ot mongolia! basically we were dropped unceremonisly on the doorstep of the steppe and left there. we managed to figure out that lunch would be at 2pm and dinner at 8pm and that we could have meat or no meat, and that the meat would be cow..we hoped! but that was all.. we were supposed to have a pony ride that day 2hrs of it and then 2 hrs the next day...but after waiting around for the majority of the day we were told that the ponies (well horses but seriously i could probably carry mine) that they were tired from a long day and that we would have the 4 hrs the next day.. eek,my thighs wimpered at the idea! well that was a waste of a day! we managed one small walk upa hill and whittled away the hours trying to persuade giant ants that they did not need to be all over us... fun?! we did investigate a country club in search of some booze and a nearby camp. but they were not helpful at all and one of them wanted a crazy amount for a but then we were saved.. this guy called magic (well he was polish and spelt it differently than that but thats what it sounded like) he was all keen about climbing some rocks and seeing the sun set from the top of this mountain thing... i was up for it, lou not so much. but we both bravely went forward in our little converse and penny's best plimsols for an adventure.. thank god magic is a little bit of a parkranger cos it was a little, ok alot,dangerous. we first had to lift ourselves up a rock and lou backed out there and then cos she wasnt up for squeezing into tiny cracks in the rocks. but i soldiered on... we climbed across a gravel area that was seroiusly dangerous and the light was failing.. then we had to climb through a crack in the rock and slide on our bellies up the rock. it was awesome! when facebook is no longer banned i will upload the photos! so we got to the top of the rock after a bit of panting and funny photos.. and then the vertigo hit. it was immense, standing up there in the middle of nowhere. i watched the sun set over the mountains and just enjoyed conquering my fear of heights.. an extreme way of doing you might argue ;) after the sunhad set we headed back down through the crack in the rock and past the gravel area,.. i slipped and almost died, well not so dramatic butmagiccaught my foot as it was sliding along the gravel and planted it in an un natural angle behind me for some grip and we made it to our starting place. but then we explored some more... walked through wicked corridors in the rock and found a cave and came across an old camp fire, we decided there and then that we would have a wodka party the next night out there, weather forgiving and if it was allowed. we were staying in a natural park after all.... i came down the rock to find that the fire had been lit in our ger (felt tent) and it was toasty... yum! pity though during the night the heat disappeard and i woke shivering at 6am.. ah well not too bad! the next day was 100% better than the first. we hiked up a massive slope that was almost vertical at one stage and made it over the edge to the most wonderful view of sloping valleys. we headed on further still and climbed another high rock and i almost peed my pants at the idea of what i was doing, but magic wasnt having any of my fears and yanked me up on top of the rock!! aaaah that was a wierd feeling. we legged it back a safer way to be greeted with lunch.. it was the same food as the day before but arranged differently.. mainly salt, carrots, onions, cabbage and some form of meat.. yum! i tell you, if anyone wants to lose some weight then stay in a ger for a couple of days and do what the locals do. after lunch was the riding experience.. hilarious to be honest as the horse i was given was a midget! a total midget! i felt bad riding the poor thing. 2 of the group were thrown, and one fat finnish dude had a problem with his horse sitting down and preparing to role all the time.. yeah i dont think the poor animal was used to that sort of weight on its back!
that night we all set up a campfire on top of the rocks and partied like russians.. plenty of the bad wodka that the kids rode over to the shop for (and fleeced us in the process) there was the singing of the national anthems, thank god i know ours since lou hadnt a notion.. but i might have let the side down by getting a weensy bit too pished and then thinking i could get down the mountain without any flashlight! oops.. as you can imagine the trip back home to the hostel was not the greatest amount of fun i have ever had in a car, especially with the mongolian roads.. uncool! but i managed not to vom so i thought did quite ok. we spent the rest of our timein mongolia wondering why we had booked so muich time there.. there isnt a lot to see other than what we did. but on our last night we headed to a culteral mongolian evening and were amazing by what the locals can do.. if there was a show.. the world's got talent well the asians would whip the westerners asses! throat singing, crazy joint popping contortions you name it they did it, felt very inadequate after it though! headed to the required irish bar for one last bottle of chaampers to say goodbye to mongolia and were greated with some aussie minors who insisted in buying us all our drinks and carting us off to a club! there was a moment of panic when i realised i left lou in the cab with a random stranger but we all manged to get there together and started laying heavily into a bottle of whiskey the guys bought for us.. suspicious?? it was all fun and gmaes but when one of them proposed to me we made a hasty exit and were tucked up in our beds before anyone got into anything too dangerous! flew mongolian airlines into china... it was touch and go for a while but we got there in one piece only to start our next eadventure....stay tuned! x
wasnt hungover at all the next day, might have been that i slept for the better part of 11 hours! mental. best way to avoid a hangover! so we were off on our next adventure to spend 3 days (well 2 and a half) out in the Steppe, the mongolian outback! we were dead excitedto meet the locals and do the native activities.. but when we got there we realised that this might not be the case when it came ot mongolia! basically we were dropped unceremonisly on the doorstep of the steppe and left there. we managed to figure out that lunch would be at 2pm and dinner at 8pm and that we could have meat or no meat, and that the meat would be cow..we hoped! but that was all.. we were supposed to have a pony ride that day 2hrs of it and then 2 hrs the next day...but after waiting around for the majority of the day we were told that the ponies (well horses but seriously i could probably carry mine) that they were tired from a long day and that we would have the 4 hrs the next day.. eek,my thighs wimpered at the idea! well that was a waste of a day! we managed one small walk upa hill and whittled away the hours trying to persuade giant ants that they did not need to be all over us... fun?! we did investigate a country club in search of some booze and a nearby camp. but they were not helpful at all and one of them wanted a crazy amount for a but then we were saved.. this guy called magic (well he was polish and spelt it differently than that but thats what it sounded like) he was all keen about climbing some rocks and seeing the sun set from the top of this mountain thing... i was up for it, lou not so much. but we both bravely went forward in our little converse and penny's best plimsols for an adventure.. thank god magic is a little bit of a parkranger cos it was a little, ok alot,dangerous. we first had to lift ourselves up a rock and lou backed out there and then cos she wasnt up for squeezing into tiny cracks in the rocks. but i soldiered on... we climbed across a gravel area that was seroiusly dangerous and the light was failing.. then we had to climb through a crack in the rock and slide on our bellies up the rock. it was awesome! when facebook is no longer banned i will upload the photos! so we got to the top of the rock after a bit of panting and funny photos.. and then the vertigo hit. it was immense, standing up there in the middle of nowhere. i watched the sun set over the mountains and just enjoyed conquering my fear of heights.. an extreme way of doing you might argue ;) after the sunhad set we headed back down through the crack in the rock and past the gravel area,.. i slipped and almost died, well not so dramatic butmagiccaught my foot as it was sliding along the gravel and planted it in an un natural angle behind me for some grip and we made it to our starting place. but then we explored some more... walked through wicked corridors in the rock and found a cave and came across an old camp fire, we decided there and then that we would have a wodka party the next night out there, weather forgiving and if it was allowed. we were staying in a natural park after all.... i came down the rock to find that the fire had been lit in our ger (felt tent) and it was toasty... yum! pity though during the night the heat disappeard and i woke shivering at 6am.. ah well not too bad! the next day was 100% better than the first. we hiked up a massive slope that was almost vertical at one stage and made it over the edge to the most wonderful view of sloping valleys. we headed on further still and climbed another high rock and i almost peed my pants at the idea of what i was doing, but magic wasnt having any of my fears and yanked me up on top of the rock!! aaaah that was a wierd feeling. we legged it back a safer way to be greeted with lunch.. it was the same food as the day before but arranged differently.. mainly salt, carrots, onions, cabbage and some form of meat.. yum! i tell you, if anyone wants to lose some weight then stay in a ger for a couple of days and do what the locals do. after lunch was the riding experience.. hilarious to be honest as the horse i was given was a midget! a total midget! i felt bad riding the poor thing. 2 of the group were thrown, and one fat finnish dude had a problem with his horse sitting down and preparing to role all the time.. yeah i dont think the poor animal was used to that sort of weight on its back!
that night we all set up a campfire on top of the rocks and partied like russians.. plenty of the bad wodka that the kids rode over to the shop for (and fleeced us in the process) there was the singing of the national anthems, thank god i know ours since lou hadnt a notion.. but i might have let the side down by getting a weensy bit too pished and then thinking i could get down the mountain without any flashlight! oops.. as you can imagine the trip back home to the hostel was not the greatest amount of fun i have ever had in a car, especially with the mongolian roads.. uncool! but i managed not to vom so i thought did quite ok. we spent the rest of our timein mongolia wondering why we had booked so muich time there.. there isnt a lot to see other than what we did. but on our last night we headed to a culteral mongolian evening and were amazing by what the locals can do.. if there was a show.. the world's got talent well the asians would whip the westerners asses! throat singing, crazy joint popping contortions you name it they did it, felt very inadequate after it though! headed to the required irish bar for one last bottle of chaampers to say goodbye to mongolia and were greated with some aussie minors who insisted in buying us all our drinks and carting us off to a club! there was a moment of panic when i realised i left lou in the cab with a random stranger but we all manged to get there together and started laying heavily into a bottle of whiskey the guys bought for us.. suspicious?? it was all fun and gmaes but when one of them proposed to me we made a hasty exit and were tucked up in our beds before anyone got into anything too dangerous! flew mongolian airlines into china... it was touch and go for a while but we got there in one piece only to start our next eadventure....stay tuned! x
Saturday 18 July 2009
Russia - Petersburg, Moscow...and the train!
Hey! so thought it was about time that i updated this thing.. i have been far too busy trying to cross the language and culture barrier here with Lucy in Russia until now.. on my 24th birthday, such a party animal, im blogging.
right so where to start... probably back in London for the Henley Royal Regatta that the ladies and I attended at the beginning of the month, jaysus it seems like years ago! so we headed over on some serious cheap ryanair flights, like a tenner each but it was to gatwick and we thought nothing of the geography of the whole thing, henley is WAY closer to heathrow, we are idiots! but managed to sort out our star car, the honda jazz and make it through rush hour on the M25 an get to Henley. the weather was out of this world, we intended on camping but had brought nothin but Mr Murphy and Mr Minors galliantly helped out so we didnt have any issues there, god i love playing the female card sometimes! didnt see too much rowing, was busy checking out the ridiculous blazers that all the rowers wear when off the boat, proper puky colours, there was plenty of Pimms consumed, amourous words exchanged and crap food eating.. basically major fun and im intending on making it an annual event! might even stump up for tickets to the posh enclosure next year... maybe, might just end up on the river bank having too much fun with all the rest of the common people!
so then on to tallinn... we were meant to fly bitch assed easrly in the morning so i managed to make my way accross london town at 3 am with my trusty co pilots fanny and lucy helping me with the written instructions (no sat nav for us!)made it with plenty of time to spare too... ut then disaster struck and our plan was delayed for about 4 hours.. damn easy jet! :( luckily i slept for most of it in the airport and it wasnt too long till we were in the sky on our way on our mental russian adventure! Tallin is BEAUTIFUL! its like a little piece of real disney.. Lucy and i stayed in some random hostel that was really comfy and had under floor heating.. well posh! booked our bus o Petersburg easy enough and were off the next night with some english guys from the hostel. we had all bought the delux bus ticket... nothing much delux about it to be honest.. but for an over night bus across into Russia it was grand enough. stopping at the border and going through customs... was not, what a waste of time!but with the english boys beside us it wasnt too annoying. wish i could remember both names, but Nick.. hope you are safe somewhere in eastern europe!
we were uncremoniously dumped in some random place at 6.30 in the morning in the middle of the gross part of petersburg the next morning... none of us had any russian, and the ATM didnt seem to like my card.. uh oh! but a giant Info board with a map of the city came to our rescue.. with out any directions from the hostel people we made it to the Cuban Hostel off Nevkksy Prospect (main street).. a minor miracle in itself... but the place looked well dodge, we were buzzed in and imagine a scene from the 'ghetto' oh yeah we didnt feel safe at all.. i looked at lucy and said.. we dont have to stay if we dont like it.. right?! we nodded... and we took our weary bodies up the 3 floors to a door... and a sticker saying cuban hostel.. oh and a serious smell of vomit...our home for the next few days!we couldnt check in until 12.. and we hadnt had any sleep.. so it was a little bit of a negative start to the day, what with it being 8.30 am! but not wanting to waste any time we headed on an adventure to the moscow train station, which invovled more giant info maps on the street and negotiating the metro (the deepest one underground in the world by the way - oh and all the stations are in cyrillic, just for kicks! but we made it, again patting each other on the backs. we somehow stumbled into a ticket area and with the help of 'petersburg in you pocket' and my trusty notebook and pen we managed to book ourselves on a fast train to moscow.. whoop whoop! she did initially give us the russian face as i like to call it, but with some perseverance and smiling you can get places with these people! so off it was back to the hostel to check in properly and see our place, we had booked the 20 bed dorm.. exciting.. but it was grand, if a little like a building site, when you didnt smell puke anymore, it was dust, but there was a common room and a mini bar and dj so it turned out ok, we fell on our feet, and evn got the registration thing sorted, for 7 yo yos, some places chare 30! then it was time to be super tourists! but this didnt work out so well on the first day as we stupidly napped and missed all the opening times.. but we found our way about and petersburg is pretty... we initally were not impressed but after moscow... its luffly! i dont want to bore you with the details of all the amazing things we saw, but to put it in perspective, i dont know what we irish were doing with our bungalows back in the day, these russians are gifted with the ol architecture and mosaics! pics to follow.. (if the internet connection allows me) think we have seen more art and churches in the past few weeks then ever before.. highlight?? stumbling upon the davinci's in the hermitage! mental lucky we are, how about seeing the church of the saviour of spilt blood where one of the tsars was shot.. the place is amazing,there are literally thousands of mosiac pieces covering the entire wall surface! then we were a little ripped off in the peter and paul fortress, but we did get to see where the last of the romanovs are buried, which i still find terribly sad. at night, left to our ow devices we spent the better part of a few hours trying to read lonely planet maps (not correct) to get to the irish bar.. where else! we had 2 bottles of our new best friend chanpanskoya and skipped home, but as the sun dont really go down in petersburg in the summer it felt like 8pm all night.. wicked! talk about small world though one of the guys in our hostel actually tuyrned out to know the guy we were staying with (well hoping to stay with) in moscow! claudia;s mate veronica was supposed to be in town and show us about but was having visa issues, so pete stepped in (after some gentle persuasion from us) and put us up! its all about being cheeky when you are travelling in one of the more expoensive countires in the world!
the train to moscow was uneventful.. this was to become a common theme...
pete met us at the station and we had our first gypsy cab experience, havent maanged one withouta man in the car yet, dont know if i want to. petes apartment is huge! helps that he is super well connected and an embassy buff too... the guy couldnt do enough for us! we went out every night, we partied with real life celebrities (news anchors dont cha know!) we didnt really act cool though... screaming, oh my god i saw you on tv doesnt really a cool person make, but she loved it! again pics to follow... pap shots etc!in moscow we mainly partied, we saw the required kremlin and red square, and pete took us out to a wicked market on the sunday, but friday night we hit the ex pat bar, and then the new wicked house party club, solyanka (yes like the soup) didnt make it home till 3 the first night after a serious tasty nosh up at an usbeki restaurant, but that was small fry, the next night we came home AFTER breakfast in the starlight diner in the park.. proper moscow behaviour! we loved moscow... thank you again pete (not that you will read this since i didnt give you the address t he he) again we defied the guidebooks and managed to book a ticket on the main trans siberian line on the monday to irkutsk... with 2 days notice. organised we are not, but its working for us so far... we were in different apartments though, added to the adventure!
so the train.... well.... they say taht you will party all the time, they say not to bring any books, well they are wrong! liars! think its some big in-joke among the lonely planet peeps! we brought 2 bottles of wodka, thinking that others would do the same and we would all share, yeah we drank that in the first night along with the required best mate champers!i was sharing with some dutch travellers and lucy with a crazy russian family somplete with young guy who wanted to learn EVERYTHING about ireland, but i think we didnt impress them when we didnt invite them to our first night wodka party in my apartment.. tough! oh yeah thing to note, russians dont really love the wodka,, its all about the beer! 4 days on the train were spent learning lonely planet off by heart, since we brought nothing else, eating noodles and crips.. and sleeping ALOT. we got brave on the 3rd day and started buying crazy russian food from the babushkas at the stations, but after a cottage cheese incident that was the end of that. nothing much more the say about the train, only that if i had to do it again i would pack nothing but wodka, everything else you can get at the stations, and its wicked cheap!
after 4 days in the shaky box we called the train we were deposited in Irkutsk in Siberia, we STANK.. dirty man contestants had nothing on us. so we cut quite the swathe through the crowd in the station.. mmm stinky... we again beat the odds and sorted ourselves on a train to mongolia and then set about trying to find our hostel... we ended up in a library and she showed us this nasty grimy buildingout back and took us to the 3rd floor where there was a sign saying she would be bak at 11. we chilled in the library for a bit, but things got dodge when the librarian kept printing out notes to us in translated english that the place we had booked was not safe, that it was not registered, that the owner would scam us, that they had problems before, adn that unregistered ex serbians were living there... needless to say we were freaked out! but julia seemed lovely when she came to collect us, and even though i felt like i was part of hostel 3 we followed... there seemed to be others staying there.. good sign. so we dumped our stuff and headed into town to check out the scene (after an extensive de contamination shower ofcourse.) irkutsk is a tiny town, not much to do or to see but they did have this delightful cinema where you laounge in reclining chairs... we hit that place for a bit of russian harry potter (garry potter to his mates here) and then lucy took me out to dinner it being my berfday the next day.. we had a delish italian complete with our best mate (this is becoming a problem,... lucy just asked me what we are going to do without it) then we tripped off home hoping to find everything as it was and not some horror scene, and what do you know there was a little party going on! julia had done all our washing and hung them out! knickers and everything! thats dedication! these french boys were runing riot about the place losing shit and generally being gorgeous. and an english couple were drinking beer at the table, what a turn up for the books! we celebrated officially at midnight with a shot of champers and i cant say i wanted to be anywhere else at that moment... loves you luce (and everyone else who made me feel special!)
as for today we made the trek out to lake baikal to see the famed lake and the surrounding.. bumped into plenty of people from the travels so far and even managed to order a chinese meal in russian (result!) the lake is nice but the weather was a bit nippy so i think the majesty of the thing was lost.. whatever we saw the largest fresh water lake IN THE WORLD, and it happened on my 24th birthday. not something you forget quickly.. well with the amount of champers we are putting away.. maybe!
as for the next steop we are here in our wierdly quiet hostel drinking again and trying to convince china airlines to take our european credit card... its all in a days work! stay reading this who ever you are.... makes me feel special ;)
loves it
beckface xx
right so where to start... probably back in London for the Henley Royal Regatta that the ladies and I attended at the beginning of the month, jaysus it seems like years ago! so we headed over on some serious cheap ryanair flights, like a tenner each but it was to gatwick and we thought nothing of the geography of the whole thing, henley is WAY closer to heathrow, we are idiots! but managed to sort out our star car, the honda jazz and make it through rush hour on the M25 an get to Henley. the weather was out of this world, we intended on camping but had brought nothin but Mr Murphy and Mr Minors galliantly helped out so we didnt have any issues there, god i love playing the female card sometimes! didnt see too much rowing, was busy checking out the ridiculous blazers that all the rowers wear when off the boat, proper puky colours, there was plenty of Pimms consumed, amourous words exchanged and crap food eating.. basically major fun and im intending on making it an annual event! might even stump up for tickets to the posh enclosure next year... maybe, might just end up on the river bank having too much fun with all the rest of the common people!
so then on to tallinn... we were meant to fly bitch assed easrly in the morning so i managed to make my way accross london town at 3 am with my trusty co pilots fanny and lucy helping me with the written instructions (no sat nav for us!)made it with plenty of time to spare too... ut then disaster struck and our plan was delayed for about 4 hours.. damn easy jet! :( luckily i slept for most of it in the airport and it wasnt too long till we were in the sky on our way on our mental russian adventure! Tallin is BEAUTIFUL! its like a little piece of real disney.. Lucy and i stayed in some random hostel that was really comfy and had under floor heating.. well posh! booked our bus o Petersburg easy enough and were off the next night with some english guys from the hostel. we had all bought the delux bus ticket... nothing much delux about it to be honest.. but for an over night bus across into Russia it was grand enough. stopping at the border and going through customs... was not, what a waste of time!but with the english boys beside us it wasnt too annoying. wish i could remember both names, but Nick.. hope you are safe somewhere in eastern europe!
we were uncremoniously dumped in some random place at 6.30 in the morning in the middle of the gross part of petersburg the next morning... none of us had any russian, and the ATM didnt seem to like my card.. uh oh! but a giant Info board with a map of the city came to our rescue.. with out any directions from the hostel people we made it to the Cuban Hostel off Nevkksy Prospect (main street).. a minor miracle in itself... but the place looked well dodge, we were buzzed in and imagine a scene from the 'ghetto' oh yeah we didnt feel safe at all.. i looked at lucy and said.. we dont have to stay if we dont like it.. right?! we nodded... and we took our weary bodies up the 3 floors to a door... and a sticker saying cuban hostel.. oh and a serious smell of vomit...our home for the next few days!we couldnt check in until 12.. and we hadnt had any sleep.. so it was a little bit of a negative start to the day, what with it being 8.30 am! but not wanting to waste any time we headed on an adventure to the moscow train station, which invovled more giant info maps on the street and negotiating the metro (the deepest one underground in the world by the way - oh and all the stations are in cyrillic, just for kicks! but we made it, again patting each other on the backs. we somehow stumbled into a ticket area and with the help of 'petersburg in you pocket' and my trusty notebook and pen we managed to book ourselves on a fast train to moscow.. whoop whoop! she did initially give us the russian face as i like to call it, but with some perseverance and smiling you can get places with these people! so off it was back to the hostel to check in properly and see our place, we had booked the 20 bed dorm.. exciting.. but it was grand, if a little like a building site, when you didnt smell puke anymore, it was dust, but there was a common room and a mini bar and dj so it turned out ok, we fell on our feet, and evn got the registration thing sorted, for 7 yo yos, some places chare 30! then it was time to be super tourists! but this didnt work out so well on the first day as we stupidly napped and missed all the opening times.. but we found our way about and petersburg is pretty... we initally were not impressed but after moscow... its luffly! i dont want to bore you with the details of all the amazing things we saw, but to put it in perspective, i dont know what we irish were doing with our bungalows back in the day, these russians are gifted with the ol architecture and mosaics! pics to follow.. (if the internet connection allows me) think we have seen more art and churches in the past few weeks then ever before.. highlight?? stumbling upon the davinci's in the hermitage! mental lucky we are, how about seeing the church of the saviour of spilt blood where one of the tsars was shot.. the place is amazing,there are literally thousands of mosiac pieces covering the entire wall surface! then we were a little ripped off in the peter and paul fortress, but we did get to see where the last of the romanovs are buried, which i still find terribly sad. at night, left to our ow devices we spent the better part of a few hours trying to read lonely planet maps (not correct) to get to the irish bar.. where else! we had 2 bottles of our new best friend chanpanskoya and skipped home, but as the sun dont really go down in petersburg in the summer it felt like 8pm all night.. wicked! talk about small world though one of the guys in our hostel actually tuyrned out to know the guy we were staying with (well hoping to stay with) in moscow! claudia;s mate veronica was supposed to be in town and show us about but was having visa issues, so pete stepped in (after some gentle persuasion from us) and put us up! its all about being cheeky when you are travelling in one of the more expoensive countires in the world!
the train to moscow was uneventful.. this was to become a common theme...
pete met us at the station and we had our first gypsy cab experience, havent maanged one withouta man in the car yet, dont know if i want to. petes apartment is huge! helps that he is super well connected and an embassy buff too... the guy couldnt do enough for us! we went out every night, we partied with real life celebrities (news anchors dont cha know!) we didnt really act cool though... screaming, oh my god i saw you on tv doesnt really a cool person make, but she loved it! again pics to follow... pap shots etc!in moscow we mainly partied, we saw the required kremlin and red square, and pete took us out to a wicked market on the sunday, but friday night we hit the ex pat bar, and then the new wicked house party club, solyanka (yes like the soup) didnt make it home till 3 the first night after a serious tasty nosh up at an usbeki restaurant, but that was small fry, the next night we came home AFTER breakfast in the starlight diner in the park.. proper moscow behaviour! we loved moscow... thank you again pete (not that you will read this since i didnt give you the address t he he) again we defied the guidebooks and managed to book a ticket on the main trans siberian line on the monday to irkutsk... with 2 days notice. organised we are not, but its working for us so far... we were in different apartments though, added to the adventure!
so the train.... well.... they say taht you will party all the time, they say not to bring any books, well they are wrong! liars! think its some big in-joke among the lonely planet peeps! we brought 2 bottles of wodka, thinking that others would do the same and we would all share, yeah we drank that in the first night along with the required best mate champers!i was sharing with some dutch travellers and lucy with a crazy russian family somplete with young guy who wanted to learn EVERYTHING about ireland, but i think we didnt impress them when we didnt invite them to our first night wodka party in my apartment.. tough! oh yeah thing to note, russians dont really love the wodka,, its all about the beer! 4 days on the train were spent learning lonely planet off by heart, since we brought nothing else, eating noodles and crips.. and sleeping ALOT. we got brave on the 3rd day and started buying crazy russian food from the babushkas at the stations, but after a cottage cheese incident that was the end of that. nothing much more the say about the train, only that if i had to do it again i would pack nothing but wodka, everything else you can get at the stations, and its wicked cheap!
after 4 days in the shaky box we called the train we were deposited in Irkutsk in Siberia, we STANK.. dirty man contestants had nothing on us. so we cut quite the swathe through the crowd in the station.. mmm stinky... we again beat the odds and sorted ourselves on a train to mongolia and then set about trying to find our hostel... we ended up in a library and she showed us this nasty grimy buildingout back and took us to the 3rd floor where there was a sign saying she would be bak at 11. we chilled in the library for a bit, but things got dodge when the librarian kept printing out notes to us in translated english that the place we had booked was not safe, that it was not registered, that the owner would scam us, that they had problems before, adn that unregistered ex serbians were living there... needless to say we were freaked out! but julia seemed lovely when she came to collect us, and even though i felt like i was part of hostel 3 we followed... there seemed to be others staying there.. good sign. so we dumped our stuff and headed into town to check out the scene (after an extensive de contamination shower ofcourse.) irkutsk is a tiny town, not much to do or to see but they did have this delightful cinema where you laounge in reclining chairs... we hit that place for a bit of russian harry potter (garry potter to his mates here) and then lucy took me out to dinner it being my berfday the next day.. we had a delish italian complete with our best mate (this is becoming a problem,... lucy just asked me what we are going to do without it) then we tripped off home hoping to find everything as it was and not some horror scene, and what do you know there was a little party going on! julia had done all our washing and hung them out! knickers and everything! thats dedication! these french boys were runing riot about the place losing shit and generally being gorgeous. and an english couple were drinking beer at the table, what a turn up for the books! we celebrated officially at midnight with a shot of champers and i cant say i wanted to be anywhere else at that moment... loves you luce (and everyone else who made me feel special!)
as for today we made the trek out to lake baikal to see the famed lake and the surrounding.. bumped into plenty of people from the travels so far and even managed to order a chinese meal in russian (result!) the lake is nice but the weather was a bit nippy so i think the majesty of the thing was lost.. whatever we saw the largest fresh water lake IN THE WORLD, and it happened on my 24th birthday. not something you forget quickly.. well with the amount of champers we are putting away.. maybe!
as for the next steop we are here in our wierdly quiet hostel drinking again and trying to convince china airlines to take our european credit card... its all in a days work! stay reading this who ever you are.... makes me feel special ;)
loves it
beckface xx
Thursday 2 July 2009
travellin part 2!!
so keep a heads up peeps im leaving the country again and will be heading across russia in a bit... stay tuned for updates!
5th place!
so god, dont really know where to start with this blog, although what i do know is that no matter what i write i will defo miss out some bits so im sorry in advance! im just back from prague from the lacrosse world cup, i was banging on about it a while back... hope you remembered! the amazing news is that we came 5th in the world!! it is the best result for an irish lacrosse team yet in an international competition! we are so chuffed. the team was made up with 9 US based players and 9 Ireland based. initially there was some hesitation with the bonding but that didnt last long at all. we spent the weekend before in UCD with a training camp getting to know each other and playing a hell of alot of lacrosse. we stayed in the student accomodation and having not gone to UCD myself it was such fun. the team from the US side was made up of some serious ringers, coaches, members of team canada, US reserve team, etc... so we were , well i was scared at how they might view my ability.. but they were brilliant (a word they also happen to love co the yanks dont use it.. who knew?) so off we went to prague to what we thought was going to be a 4 star hotel... the entire trip cost 2k let me tell you, ate into my travelling fund something rotten! we arrived in the night time and were shocked to see the state of our hotel slavia... right down the way from the swanky place but defo not swanky!there were many emo,s smoking in the lobby, no lights in the corridors and generally an air of soviet distress about the place... the amerians who had not been to surope before were not best pleased!
our first match was against the koreans and we took them apart 22-0! then followed the dutch where we beat them, then the native americans.. bye bye, then it was the home country and this was a very tense match but we beat them too! so our toughest match approached, against the USA! they were the only other unbeaten team in the tourney. we played our hearts out and at one stage were beating them 4-3 but it was not to be and after a bolloxing from their coach we were beaten soundly 21-5.. but all i can remember is that moment when they called time out first cos they were worried! then that put us against the japanese, little machines! they just didnt get tired, or seem to sweat at all... but we bested them after a heart in mouth game of very close scores. so we found ourselves playing for 5th position against the welsh... i do NOT like the welsh supporters at all by the way. meanies! we were beating the welsh until a lightening storm called off the game for a while and we had to take refuge under the stadium.. mental! then it was back on an hour later with 8 minutes to go! we took them down and disney would have been proud, my dad was so happy ... but wished that he hadnt gone home with mum after the first 2 matches! i have an avid fan base now at home which i love!
so the last night came and much drinking and generally fun times were had by all... many athletic women together in the one club would make you think of messyness, but it was cool, well the bits that i can remember.. woke up drunk the next day! but the trip was left on a slightly sour note when we were delayed in the airport for 4 hours!
slavia i will miss you!
our first match was against the koreans and we took them apart 22-0! then followed the dutch where we beat them, then the native americans.. bye bye, then it was the home country and this was a very tense match but we beat them too! so our toughest match approached, against the USA! they were the only other unbeaten team in the tourney. we played our hearts out and at one stage were beating them 4-3 but it was not to be and after a bolloxing from their coach we were beaten soundly 21-5.. but all i can remember is that moment when they called time out first cos they were worried! then that put us against the japanese, little machines! they just didnt get tired, or seem to sweat at all... but we bested them after a heart in mouth game of very close scores. so we found ourselves playing for 5th position against the welsh... i do NOT like the welsh supporters at all by the way. meanies! we were beating the welsh until a lightening storm called off the game for a while and we had to take refuge under the stadium.. mental! then it was back on an hour later with 8 minutes to go! we took them down and disney would have been proud, my dad was so happy ... but wished that he hadnt gone home with mum after the first 2 matches! i have an avid fan base now at home which i love!
so the last night came and much drinking and generally fun times were had by all... many athletic women together in the one club would make you think of messyness, but it was cool, well the bits that i can remember.. woke up drunk the next day! but the trip was left on a slightly sour note when we were delayed in the airport for 4 hours!
slavia i will miss you!
Friday 15 May 2009
cake-eaters & diet-men
so myself and my mate Kt email alot, generally cos we like each other and our jobs are not that time consuming (eek hope the boss isnt reading this!) anyway throughout the course of the emails we discuss everything and mainly our love lives. its like sex and the city but we are not as sophisticated and our wardrobes are more realistic. recently i coined the phrase - CAKE EATER.
what is a cake eater you ask? well its surprisingly simple to be honest.. the men that want to have their cake and eat it too.. well they dont just want this, they expect it! these are the types of guys who want the stay at home long term girlfriend (the 'one') and should she be out of the country, they want to play away..citing that they have an agreement/ understanding with the girlfriend. these guys are dangerous, they are charming, dangerous, unattainable therefore utterly attractive. they make you feel like a million dollars and then in one breath can take it all away from you, even if you know their situation, you get pulled into it, cos you cant help it, these guys are master's at their craft. these are the guys that dont show you off to their mates, but tell you its that they want you to themselves so you dont suspect. these are the guys that somehow get you to break the girl code and intentionally hurt one of your own. these are the guys that deep deep down are lovely guys, but they are scared of being men.
just this morning i open another email from Kt and in it she has coined another phrase - DIET-MAN/MAN-LITE
now what is a diet man? well not some guy on a diet thats for sure!Kt wondered what a man-lite looks like or even does of a day? For some reason she pictured him in lots of beige and sandals, like a piece of ryevita with flora spread all over it....maybe he'd be like a super food, blue-green algae?....na....maybe granola with honey and yogurt, smooth, sweet and a little bit nuts?!But she begged the question, in a world becoming over-run by cake eaters where would we even know where to start to find a diet man? a diet man is the guy who treats you like a princess but isnt a sap about it. i like to think of him as a fruit salad (please excuse the gayness there...) all fruity, tangy, sweet and a little sharp therefore he would be into bright things and be all loud and confident - oh i like fruit salad guy! he is the guy who keeps you in line but never bruises you. the guy who calls you. the guy who leaves you alone when you've spent too much time together. he is not clingy. he is the guy who wants to be someone, but doesnt neccessarily know what that is, he doesnt need a concrete plan, just a feeling that he is going places. he is the guy that your mate's like. the guy that goes out with the guys, has a great time and doesnt even see the other girls in the room.
what is a cake eater you ask? well its surprisingly simple to be honest.. the men that want to have their cake and eat it too.. well they dont just want this, they expect it! these are the types of guys who want the stay at home long term girlfriend (the 'one') and should she be out of the country, they want to play away..citing that they have an agreement/ understanding with the girlfriend. these guys are dangerous, they are charming, dangerous, unattainable therefore utterly attractive. they make you feel like a million dollars and then in one breath can take it all away from you, even if you know their situation, you get pulled into it, cos you cant help it, these guys are master's at their craft. these are the guys that dont show you off to their mates, but tell you its that they want you to themselves so you dont suspect. these are the guys that somehow get you to break the girl code and intentionally hurt one of your own. these are the guys that deep deep down are lovely guys, but they are scared of being men.
just this morning i open another email from Kt and in it she has coined another phrase - DIET-MAN/MAN-LITE
now what is a diet man? well not some guy on a diet thats for sure!Kt wondered what a man-lite looks like or even does of a day? For some reason she pictured him in lots of beige and sandals, like a piece of ryevita with flora spread all over it....maybe he'd be like a super food, blue-green algae?....na....maybe granola with honey and yogurt, smooth, sweet and a little bit nuts?!But she begged the question, in a world becoming over-run by cake eaters where would we even know where to start to find a diet man? a diet man is the guy who treats you like a princess but isnt a sap about it. i like to think of him as a fruit salad (please excuse the gayness there...) all fruity, tangy, sweet and a little sharp therefore he would be into bright things and be all loud and confident - oh i like fruit salad guy! he is the guy who keeps you in line but never bruises you. the guy who calls you. the guy who leaves you alone when you've spent too much time together. he is not clingy. he is the guy who wants to be someone, but doesnt neccessarily know what that is, he doesnt need a concrete plan, just a feeling that he is going places. he is the guy that your mate's like. the guy that goes out with the guys, has a great time and doesnt even see the other girls in the room.
Tuesday 5 May 2009
addicted
ok i am addicted, i dont know how it happened but i am.. and its luckily nothing as dangerous as smoking crack or anything like that, its the longer more silent and ugly killer... sugar! i love the stuff. i think that i get sad when i dont eat it.... yummmy yummmy sugar snacks! there is this guy in my office who makes tasty treats all the time and then just gives them out at work. if i had to buy them perhaps i would be more hesitant to munch away but since they are free its digusting how fast and how many i can put away!todays attendants to the mouth orgasm are caramel squares, gluten free brownies, gingerbread and ginger biscuits... i have a weakness for ginger biscuits because somewhere in my head i am convinced that ginger makes your belly happy... !! so yeah today i had to have one of each and then i had about 3 more ginger bikkies.. danger danger, step away from the tupperware! this wouldnt be so bad if i wasnt working my ass off in the gym everyday trying to get fit for prague, it seems like for every one step forward there are about 3 sugar steps back. and a sugar step is way more dangerous than a normal one, dont ya know!
then to add insult to injury i think that if i dont buy the stuff then i will be eating healthy, i have frozen brocolli and spinach in my fridge, i have veggies in there too and a fruit bowl that is almost full and yet somehow the natural sugars are not enough when rob's treats are in the work canteen. generally it is a rush to the kitchen when word gets out that he has brought them in but today fiona stayed put and i really admire her strength. if only i could be so good! its jsut with getting up at 6.30, working out twice a day and eatin all the right stuff its so easy to feel the need to treat yourself every once in a while, even if that once in a while seems to be comng around more nd more often.
so next time you see me, try not to look to surprised when all the working out im doing is just keeping my head above obesity :(
then to add insult to injury i think that if i dont buy the stuff then i will be eating healthy, i have frozen brocolli and spinach in my fridge, i have veggies in there too and a fruit bowl that is almost full and yet somehow the natural sugars are not enough when rob's treats are in the work canteen. generally it is a rush to the kitchen when word gets out that he has brought them in but today fiona stayed put and i really admire her strength. if only i could be so good! its jsut with getting up at 6.30, working out twice a day and eatin all the right stuff its so easy to feel the need to treat yourself every once in a while, even if that once in a while seems to be comng around more nd more often.
so next time you see me, try not to look to surprised when all the working out im doing is just keeping my head above obesity :(
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