Missioning to the Snow

What a freakin’ ordeal!! I thought the French train system was  supposed to be one of the best in the world!

The plan was to take the train from Cannes to Grenoble, then get on a bus to Alpe d’Huez to visit Adam once more (he’s now cheffing up there). This is a three hour journey.

After a series of untranslated French messages and a whole lot of waiting I was in Grenoble, five hours later than I had expected. The bus station had closed. Grenoble doesn’t have a youth hostel. The cheap hotels are not exactly cheap but I stayed in one anyway (after walking around a lot trying to find a cheapest one).

The next morning the bus didn’t come, and I had to wait and wait for even longer. And finally I made it to Alpe d’Huez, twenty-four hours later than I had expected!

The view was looking great!

View from Alpe d'Huez

Adam was living in an apartment with eight other people, all from the land of Britannia. They were all on contract from a company called SkiWorld, and along with nine others, they managed and ran a small hotel and a number of chalets in the town which catered to British skiing tourists.

I was here to catch up with Adam and to hopefully snowboard! Little did I realise that 1) the weather wasn’t all it cracked up to be, and 2) everyone who works here is in a constant state of boozing. They get up to be at work at 7am, work ’till 10am, ski or snowboard ’till 4pm, work again until around 10pm, then  go out drinking to 3am almost every night! So the first night I was there I was whisked off to various bars around the village and everyone ended up frightfully drunking pretty fast – even though the beer was very expensive. That night ended with everyone eating these horrible takeaway dishes called the Americana which is basically a foot long b agette stuffed with meat patties and covered in fries, which in turn covered the floor of the apartment. Filth!

The following morning we awoke and after work, Adam and I set out to fix the bindings on his board so I could ride it. This turned out to be a right mission. We wandered up to, perhaps, the only place that does Burton gear to find just a single screw – they didn’t have it. We were able to, though, get a cool view of the ski field which is amazingly huge!

Ski Field

Soon it had become 2 o’clock and it seemed like no one had the screw and it wasn’t going to be economically viable to buy a daily ski-pass for just two hours. So we flagged it and headed back to the apartment to hang out. And that’s about how it was for the rest of the evening. I spent it watching Peep Show on DVD and the others went to work. One guy got 2nd degree burns from picking up a hot pan, another had ruined his ankle on the slopes! Horray! Hopefully the next day I would be getting out there!

The next day came, the weather was marginal to say the least. This was Adam’ss day off, too, but we just spend it hanging around again. I guess that it is nice to have a break every so often though. Later that afternoon I was getting restless, so I decided to make a break for it and walk down to Huez, the town lower down the mountain.

After walking down and around about 5 corners of the Tour de France hillclimb, I made it.

Tour de France!

Huez was a tiny little old fashioned town. Unlike Alpe d’Huez all the buildings were small, close together and old. The roads were snow covered and icicles hung everywhere. I was sliding all over the place, but was happy. It was an amazing place to explore around.

Huez Town

On my way back up (as it had taken about an hour to get down), I decided to take a shorter route. Jumping off the road I began to follow a path I found in the snow. Surely if someone else had walked up here then I could also. It started off okay but got increasingly deeper and less predictable so soon I had to get out of it and back onto the road.

Snow path!

That night it was back to drinking again. And there was hundred of people out. The craziest part was being in one bar and going to get a drink, being swallowed into the crowd of people on the dance floor and suddenly realising they were all mimes! There was about 100 mimes in full costume dancing away – so very strange!

The next day was beautiful. I was adament that I would get out on the slopes, so I flagged trying to get Adam’s gear to work and rented a board and boots, bought a ski pass and set off up the mountain with one of the girls from the hotel, Alice, who had her day off. And WOW what a mountain. New Zealand has nothing like this at all, it’s huge and the runs are perfect. We skied and boarded for a few hours then met up with Adam who was on his midday break and also his other friend.

Skiing the Mount

We had a few marvelous runs, Adam pushing me way too far, and then headed for the top of the mountain. The view was absolutely amazing, although the wind was out of control. It was like being in the snow version of a desert sandstorm!

View from the top

This was the beginning of what I was told is the world’s longest pisted run. 16km of pure down hill (well, a little bit of annoying flat at the end). It just went on and on and on and it was oh so steep, but absolutely amazing! The weather was brilliant and once we got passed the windswept ice, the snow was lush!

Giving The Gogs a real sporting time

After this run we were all totally knackered and headed back to the apartment for another easy night of nothing. I sat around watching The Mighty Boosh, then the others came back and we watched No Country For Old Men. Then, amazingly, everyone went to bed.

The next morning I was up at 6:30am to catch the 7:30 bus back to Grenoble for I was off to Paris.

Goodbye Alpe d’Huez, I’ll miss you!

View of Alpe d'Huez

At last, warmth.

Off the plane I stepped onto Athenian soil, a balmy 18 degrees. The plan was simple enough. I was to make my way to the CouchSurfing meeting at the Barrio Cafe in the centre of Athens and act out the character of the traveller with the lost documents, appealing to the CS Ambassadors.

When I stepped off the metro in Athens Central, I got lost. All the tiny streets going in every which direction, disorientated me rather badly and I ended up wandering around in the night looking for streets which I was supposed to turn up. I sat Wedown on a wall to try and reorganise myself when I was approached by Mike, a Canadian and fellow CouchSurfer. He told me that he had been in Athens for about a week and also the year prior, offering to help me find where I needed to go. Unfortunately, he was just about as useless as the map I was using and it ended up being me who found the Cafe in the end. It was good to have someone to talk to, though – you never know how dangerous these places are at night.

Arriving at the cafe, I staged my act to the first ambassador I saw, Lena. She was much less stressed than I had hoped and the joke kind of faded into nothing. Basically she said that I could sort it all out in the morning. When she found out it was a joke, she kicked me repeatedly in the leg yelling “LIAR!!”. Soon afterwards, I found my host for the first two nights in Athens, Vanessa, and later we headed back to her place, a huge apartment about seven metro stops out of central Athens.

The following day I had agreed to meet up with Mike to check out some of the sights. The first stop was the western world’s most prominent historical place, the Acropolis. We began to walk up the hill and came to a place which had a pretty good view over the city.

View over Athens

Further up we walked, I had an arguement with the ticket office lady over my student ID which has no expiry date on it, and after paying more than I wanted to, we were inside the complex. The main structure which everyone comes to see in the Acropolis is the Panthenon, a huge columned building which was covered in scafholding, my new pet hate. I thought that maybe I had come in a bad time, being winter, but later found out that the scafholding had been on there for 25 years and they were nowhere near ready to take it down. This was confirmed through seeing a number of photos of the Acropolis which all seemed to have been taken in the late 70s.

Panthenon

Down below the Panthenon is the Theatre of Dionysus.

Theatre of Dionysus

After seeing these two amazing sights, we walked back down the hill and checked out some more crazy ruins which I can’t remember the name of.

Lunch was had, then Mike decided that he should probably get back to his hostel and start packing as he was going to head back to Israel (where he was working or attending school or something) that evening. So we parted ways and I decided that I was going to walk up to the top of the Filopappou Hill.

On the way up I passed the Jail of Socrates.

Socrates Jail

Soon I made it to the top. The temple was less impressive than it had looked from a distance (though still cool) but the view of the Acropolis was pretty amazing.

Filopappou Monument

View of the Acropolis

On the way back I walked down through Pynx and past the Ancient Agora, but unfortunately it was closed. That was first on the agenda for the following day. I headed back to Vanessa’s place and that night we hung out, chatting about classic cars (she drove in a Citroen 2CV rally across europe) and good music and such.

Vanessa had friends coming to stay for the next few days, so this meant I had to leave the following morning. But it was ok, I had arranged to stay with Lena, the woman who was kicking me, and her seven year old son, Angelos, so I headed out to her place which was on the opposite side of Athens. Once set up there, I headed back into the centre as the Ancient Agora was calling me. There I met a Chinese American guy who was also travelling alone. Once again I was asked for directions in a city I know very little about, but this time I knew where I was going as he was going to the same place.

We hung out, walking around the ancient ruins, with the most impressive part definitely being the Temple of Hephaistos and Athena.

Temple of Hephaistos and Athena

From here I wandered down towards my last ancient site, the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

The following day I visited the Museum of Archeology which was pretty amazing, although you can really see only so many marble statues, no matter how impressive they are. They also had a pretty good Egyptian collection and a gallery of Greek vases, none of which I recognised from my 7th form Classics class. After this was my time to check out all the crazy markets and shops which Athens has to offer. A jersey and backgammon set were bought, then I headed home.

The night Lena, her son, and I attended a CouchSurfing meeting in a local park which included crazy games, moonlight backgammon, and a small party at Lena’s upon return. Wine was served from 1.5 litre plastic bottles which looked like they should have contained meths. I thought the Grecians would have more pride in their wine considering ethey had a god devoted entirely to it.

The next day it was time to leave, I was heading for Rome but the mission was long. At first I was ripped off by a taxi driver, not by much, to get to the correct bus station to leave for Patras. On top of my fair he charged me for luggage and for the fact that I called him to come!! At the bus station I ran around like crazy with not much time to spare, only finding my bus at the last minute.

After a three hour bus ride, I arrived in Patras, with enough time to get myself on the Superfast ferry to Bari in Italy. Now this was an ordeal. Firstly, I went to the cabin which my ticket stated. There were two guys in there who started yelling at me about “reception! Reception!”. I so went to the reception to find that my ticket was wrong (like everybody’s) and got given a new cabin. I was alone in a 4 bed cabin which was nice, until aout 1:30 am which a bunch of children busted in and woke me up. The guard then made me get up, pack my stuff and go back to the reception again, to which they sent me back to the room. Now around 2am, I was back in the cabin with no children, but had gained the loudest snoarer in history. I managed to get back to sleep, only to be woken two hours early by the other guy in my cabin going on about us almost being at Bari.

Two hours later we were at Bari. I got off the ferry, became comfused for a while, then took a taxi to the train station, but not after being accosted by a random guy who wanted to take me there for five Euro – not in your random car!

In Bari I had a few hours to kill, so I headed to the tourist information centre, got a map and decided to check out the Old Town. There were town walls which you could walk upon.

Bari City Walls

And a large church.They also had a castle which was pretty cool and had been rebuilt and extended many times over the years.

Bari Castle

Soon it was time for the train to Rome, so off I headed and by that evening, I was ready to sleep!

Farming and Hippies: Gothenburg

Arriving off of the train from Copenhagen, the sun was shining in Gothenburg and the afternoon was hot. I waited for Martin to collect me from the train station. Soon he turned up with his girlfriend Lisa, they were to be my fourth CouchSurfing hosts.

I was visiting Gothenburg City, but this time I wasn’t staying in the city – Martin lived on a farm about half an hour out of the city.  We boarded the closest train. I had no Swedish money and couldn’t afford the ticket but not to worry Matrtin told me, foreigners never get in trouble for not having a ticket because there is nowhere for the authorities to send the fine. And anyway, we might not even get checked.

We got checked.

I played my part like a historic shakespearian actor, denying Martin and Lisa as people I knew, acting confused as to where I was going (I really didn’t know the stop name), and generally just causing such a fuss that the woman  - who most probably though I was some idiot from New Zealand –  gave up and told me that “next time” I would need a ticket. Okay! After the train ride, we took a short bus trip which carried us out of suburbia and into the wilderness, forests and farmland of Sweden. From the bus, it was ten minutes of walking, in some of the most beautiful landscape that I had seen so far in my travels, and we had arrived at what Martin called “The Commune”. I was about to live the hippy dream!

Gothenburg Commune

First things first, I needed to check out the nature of the farm and it’s surroundings; I decided to check out the farm’s lake. Now this was beautiful. Martin had originally said that we could go swimming there, and as beautiful as it was, it looked freezing! I doubted I’d be taking a dip. I spent about an hour or so walking around before returning to the house, nay, commune. There I met another of the members, Thomas. This guy was crazy, he had a computer-science masters, worked for Volvo as an electrical engineer, and spent the rest of his time being a vegan, reading an assortment of books on psychedelics, and listening to crazy 60s and 70s music.

The Farm Lake

The next thing I knew, I was part of an intricate sheep hurding operation to retrieve a small number of wayward sheep to had managed to remove a part of their paddocks fence and wander off into the dense forest. Running back and forth with a crook in hand, we slowly managed to get all the sheep back home, Thomas fixed the fence and we headed back inside.

Sheepy!

That night we just chilled out, listened to crazy music, talked crazy talk and slept a crazy sleep.

The following day I decided that I would leave the farm for a life in the city. Just one day of life in the city. I headed into Gothenburg city, found the tourist information centre, gained a map, planned my walking, and set off into the jungle. Lisa had given me a list of place to visit, mainly interesting shopping streets. I first visted an area of the city called Haga, this is the oldest district of Gothenburg and was complete with colourful buildings, cobbled streets, and interesting shops.

Retro Shop

The next place I checked out was not on my list. I had seen it from Haga, a large round tower up on the top of a hill which I figured would be a pretty cool view over the city. It turned out to be one of the oldest defense forts for the city which had, in the last one hundred years, been turned into the city’s military museum.

The Fort

The view was not too bad either!

View from fort

After leaving the fort, I checked out yet another European church. Yes they are all old, but in all honesty, they are all merging into one – except for the epic cathedrals of course. So I soon moved on, making my way to what Lisa had written on the list as “Big Park”. And it certainly was a big park. I am thinking that in New Zealand we would barely even call it a park, it was more like a forest with paths, and bang smack in the middle of it was a free zoo. Although it wasn’t really a zoo, more like a farm with viewing spots. I did, though, encounter this big guy:

Moosery!

He was snuffling at me in all his hungered glory. The zoo also contained sheep, goats, ducks, ponies, and peacocks. I walked around this park for quite a while, making the most of the beautiful sunny day which may have been one of my last and then headed back to the train station to meet up with Martin and head back to the farm.

The next few days I spent hanging around the farm:

• Eating awesome vegan food and organic stype apple cake
• Exploring the forest with it’s many varieties of mushrooms
• Walking around the local rural roads in search of the unknown
• Listening to crazy music

One evening we watched Wall.E which I thouroughly enjoyed. Another night we watched a documentary called Koyaanisqatsi. This film was an absolutely amazing look at nature versus the built environment with an exceptional soundtrack soundtrack by acclaimed composer Phillip Glass.

The other intersting thing about Martin was his interest in conspiracy theories, particullarly those of a certain man called David Icke. This guy is crazy, and you, my friends, will be watching one of his lectures with me upon my return. His content is so crazy that I can not believe that anyone actually goes along with what he is saying.  Check out his website!

So yes, for a few days I just hung around the farm. On the final day, just before I had to leave, Martin pulls out a  big bag of wild Swedish mushrooms which Lisa’s father has picked from the forest and proceed to make me a very tasty open-top mushroom sandwhich for breakfast. Yum!

Mushroom Breakfast

And after that, it was off to the train, and onward to Oslo!

Prague and all it’s wonderous tourists

Our first night in Prague was the last night we would be camping, well, that Willy and I would be anyway. It was proving more of a nuisence than anything else – most of the campgrounds were far from the city centres and the lack of facilities was becoming frustrating.

We stayed in a camp ground which had almost nothing. The showers were button operated which you had to press evvery 5 seconds to keep the water running, there was no laundry and the only computer which had the internet was taken over by the local cab driver, a huge man who spent all day playing starcraft waiting for someone from the bar who wanted to be taken home. Unfortunately for him I doubt that anyone would really want to go to that bar unless they were staying at the campground.

The morning after, Willy and I packed up our gear and said goodbye to the camping experience with Ollie and Xanthe. We headed into Prague town and after a confusing start to the public transport system and an encounter with a hotel receptionist who seemed like she was on speed whislt giving us directions, we found our hostel. For this leg of the trip we had booked a two bed room which was nice, although the beds were even less comfortable than staying in the tent. But oh well, sleeping wasn’t really the reason for this trip.

After we were all set up, we headed into town by tram. The first thing you notice about Prague is that it is completely overrun by tourists. You can barely even see any of the sights and attractions which you have come to see through the washes of people. I have never been anywhere like this in my life, absolutely out of control. Lunch was had and we headed towards the sights. The good thing abour Prague is that everything is pretty much in walking distance so we found the Astronomical Clock with ease. This is pretty awesome, it not only shows the time, but also moon phases, solstices, constelations, and even tells you what you should be doing on ach day of the year regarding crop havesting and such activities.

Prague's Astronomical Clock

Next we walked towards the river and headed over Charles Bridge. This was like a sea of tourists, buskers, portrait artists and other gypsys selling all sorts of goods. There is no way you can even take a photo of this bridge unless you move to a much further away location (which we did).

Charles Bridge

We followed the river side for a while and came across an incredibly steep street which for some reason we decided it would be a good idea to walk up. This was not a bad plan in the scheme of things, as at the top was the entrance to Prague Castle, and was was possibley the most disappointing castle of my trip so far. Again there were so many tourists it was out of control and it just didn’t really seem all that regal. It could have been easily built in the last 100 years. But inside it was not all bad, there was a pretty amazing Romanesque church called Basilica of St George. We went inside briefly but decided that we would return tomorrow to take decent photos and have a better look around

St. Vitus Cathedral

Other than this, the view over Prague was pretty amazing from up on the hill.

View from Prague Castle

We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the alleys and streets of the Old Town. That evening we met up with one of Willy’s old friends, Brendon, who had moved to Europe about 2 years earlier and Prague around a year ago. He took us out to dinner and both Willy and I had a pretty nice chicken spaghetti. Afterwards he took us to a street with a couple of bars and we spent the night hanging out at one which upon secondary inspection was incredibly seedy – there was even a group of drug dealers hanging out by the toilets totally known by the bar staff. After a few beers here we left and headed back to the hostel.

The following day our route of the sights was pretty similar. We saw the clock and castle again in the morning, we saw even more tourists than the day before and decided against going back into the Basilica of St George as the line was huge but we did see the changing of the guards which was very cool. We met Brendon again, this time for lunch. I had was turned out to be a ‘very Czech’ meal of potatoe, ham and onion dumpings on cabbage. After lunch we decided to head up to what can only be described as a giant metronome, situated on the hills next to the castle. We ascended the 200 or so steps and ended up in a place that obviously not many tourists make it to, it was all in pretty bad condition! Thankfully there was also a beer garden next to the metronome so we headed there and had a beer in the heat of the day.

Giant Metronome

That night we encountered something very interesting: the guy who wanders around trying to get people to visit the largest strip club in Prague. His speil went something like this:

“Hey guys, you like sexy girls? Come to our cabaret show! We have over 50 girls; African girls, Indian girls, Russian girls… girls from Slovakia, Czech Republic, everywhere. We have live sex shows, lesbisex shows, snake shows and even midgets if you like that. Maybe you like the big girls, 200 pounds plus, we have those too if you are into that. You can even have private dance, lap dance, table dance, dance in our limosine. And at the end of the night we can take you back to your hotel for free and if you like you can take any of the girls home with you. If you like your night and want to come back tomorrow, we can give you a number and we will pick you up from your hotel too.”

We politely declined and for the rest of the night checked out a few other bars and joked about how ridiculous that strip club was.

The next day we met up with Ollie and Xanthe again for our final car ride from Prague to Berlin!

Hong Kong – Day One

I arrive in Hong Kong’s new airport (which I have just heard is sinking!) after an 11 hour flight from Auckland only to discover that at 10pm, the temperature is still a balmy 29 degrees. If I thought I was going to have to wait until I got to Scandinavia to experience a sauna, then I was wrong. On top of the torrid heat, the humidity must have been the closest to 100 that I had ever experienced… and this was only the beginning.

I was picked up at the airport by Dad’s friend George’s younger sister named Vanessa (and some man who I can only assume was her boyfriend or husband). After an interesting drive along the brightly lit Hong Kong motorway we finally reached Kowloon Peninsula and the neighbourhood of Tsim Sha Tsui where I was to be dropped at the Ramada Hotel. It was nice enough, and the cool air was incredibly refreshing after being outside – I think this is why everyone in Hong Kong is constantly shopping, to keep indoors and stay out of the heat! By the time I got to sleep it was almost 4a.m. NZ time and I was exhausted.

Hotel room view

I woke early to discover that the view from the hotel room was not the prettiest. But that was cool, I wasn’t there to stare out the windows naked. The first thing I did was to explore the local area. I was amazed at the sheer number of both neon signs and indian men chasing me down the street, trying to measure me up for a suit which I ‘could not travel without’.

The day was hot, in fact it was the hottest day that Hong Kong has recorded so far this year. Not only did two people die from heat exhaustion, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why it seemed to feel like it was raining. Then I discovered the source. Water all over the ground was puddling up as a result of the constant dripping of apartment air conditioners which were attached high upon the sides of buildings.

I decided it was time to get out of the heat, and after a short walk I found myself at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

 

Hong Kong Museum of Art

I had found my refuge from the inferno outside and was glad to have a seat as well. All that walking (in jandals by the way) was beginning to put a strain on my precious feet. Along side an international exhibition there were galleries showing the history of Chinese calligraphy and also of the importance and evolution of the figure of the horse in Chinese art and culture. Unfortunately I did not not spend much more than 2 hours here as there was much more to be seen and I only had two days.

 

Hong Kong Island

 

My next stop was Hong Kong Island, and to get there I decided to ride the famous Star Ferry across from Kowloon.  After a ten minute sea voyage to rival only Fullers, we were docked at Hong Kong Island Central, Hong Kong’s playground for the rich shopoholic. Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton were all in direct eye view, along with hundred of other shops selling items which I could neither afford nor wanted. None the less, I decided to explore the area and was pleasantly surprised that these super-shops disappeared after a short walk up the hill. Behind this expensive shopping area was the complete opposite, an area full of rich-smelling restaurants and colourful street vendors selling everything from fruit and toys to key cutting and boot polishing services.

 

Street Vendors on Hong Kong Island

Following this hike amoungst the back hills of Hong Kong Central, I decided that I would venture into the subway. I was sweating like something that shouldn’t sweat, so lucky for me the subway stations were air conditioned. With quick decision on the mind, I bought a ticket to Wan Chai, a suburb only a few minutes down the line. May I say here that the Hong Kong subway is the most efficient and easiest public transport system I have ever used (not that I have used many). The main reason for this trip was to visit Golden Buahinia Square and after a short trip and a lot of walking by the means of following signs that did not exist, I was lost. Luckily for me, a woman who worked in property services for a large building was able to direct me in the right direction and in fifteen minutes I had found the square which was built to commemorate the handing over of Hong Kong from the British to the People’s Republic of China. There in the centre stood the Golden Buahinia, and behind it; two red flags, none of which I really took notice of. I think the heat was starting to get to me.

 

Golden Buahinia Square

I had killed enough time now, and it was about time for me to do what I had come to Hong Kong Island for in the first place – to ascend The Peak. The Peak sits high up in the hills behind the bustling city of Hong Kong Island. Home to a small number of serious mountain climbing enthusiasts, The Peak first gained public access in 1888 when some Scottsman by the name of which I can remember decided to run a tramline up to the, well, peak. I decided that there was no better way to experience life as it was than take this tram. The visitor information says that the incline is 27 degrees; it felt to be much more, reminding me of the initial climb of a roller coaster before it launches into madness. Unfortunately for the speed demon inside me, once the tram met the peak, it stopped and everyone got off.

 

The Peak Tram

The next step was to climb to the top of the observation deck. From here you could see what felt like the entirety of Hong Kong city. The view was amazing, and as night fell and I ate an expensive and poorly made Thai red curry, that amazing turned into spectatular – even if I had to purchase a second observation deck ticket.

 

Hong Kong from The Peak

 

Hong Kong from The Peak at Night

I had seen what I had set out for. Hong Kong from above both at day and at night. It was time to call it bedtime for me, and after a short walk to the Central station, followed by a swift subway ride, I was back in Tsim Sha Tsui. Then I was lost. Again. Nevertheless, after almost walking back to the ferry terminal I found my hotel. I was sunburnt, my jandals were as thin as paper and were killing my feet and I was tired as a sloth. The slumber calls.

P.S. If anyone is actually going to read this, don’t expect everything to be that long. I’ve just been killing a day relaxing after being awake an uncountable number of hours. In future I might just pull out the exciting stuff!