So, last update i was about to leave Chiang Mai, which was great fun and met some really cool people there. I then moved onto Pai. I'd only heard good things about this place so was looking forward to getting there. The 3 hour minivan, was interesting. The guy was driving like an absolute nutter, with a full bus of people. Tyres screeching, the lot. It was a beautiful ride up there though. Twisty roads through the mountains with amazing scenery. We thankfully all arrived in one piece and I headed for my hostel called SpicyPai. It was basically a few bamboo huts in the the middle of a few rice fields. There was a common area in the middle with some hammocks and cushions. Very chilled, very cool. I loved it., even if it was a bit cold at night in my treehouse style bed! Felt like a lost boy in the film Hook sleeping there.
First night there was a charity reggae gig on so we all piled down there, the band played The Specials, so i was happy. Pai itself is a small little town and it is so chilled out! They fucking love Reggae there as well, maybe to the point i was getting a bit sick of it by the end. I was only planning on staying for 2 days but ended up there for 4 as i loved it so much. I hired a moped for the duration of the stay. Those who know me well enough will know what i mean when i say i made sure i took it easy! All was fine, literally like riding a bike!I One day we went on a little loop of the town on the bikes, fed some Elephants and went to a beautiful canyon for sunset. Also spent a day swimming at some waterfalls and by a pool just chilling out really. Met some really cool people here and was sad to leave. But after 4 days me Ali, Suzie and Tayla started the 3 day, 2 night trip to Luang Prabang.
The journey started with a 9 hour minivan to Chang Kong, which is right on the border with Laos. We got there around midnight and were all knackered, we had to be up at 7 the next morning so it was straight to bed, we were randomly in the next room to Dan, who was the 1st person i met in Pai, so he joined the group which was a cool! My morning started interestingly. Woke up at about 6 for a drink of water. Next thing i knew i was throwing it up everywhere. No water for me then that morning. I felt like absolute bollocks and i'd say the Thailand to Laos border crossing is pretty horrific at the best of times. It invloved getting stamped out of Thailand, a boat acros to Laos, then about 3 more q's for visas and visa fees and then finally getting stamped in the country. Jokes. Needless to say by the time that was all over all i wanted to do was get on the boat so i could lie down and sleep! Luckily we got on the boat last and managed to sit up the front with some locals which meant i could lie down and didn't have to cram in at the back with 'the masses'! By now i managed to keep some water down so started to feel better throughout the day and take in some of the beautiful scenery, it was truly stunning! We got to our overnight stop off at around 6 and managed to find our hostel. Again we had to be up early the next morning, so it was a relatively quiet one that night, and with me feeling like i did earlier in the day i laid off it for a night! I think the place was called Pabang, but it was literally in the middle of nowhere. Had a really good nights sleep and felt so much better the next day. Again by getting on the boat last we somehow managed to bag the best seats on a quieter boat, result! The day started off pretty quietly and then we got a bit tipsy throughout the day. We met a few people on the boat. Nathan and Jack, both from England and then two Swedish guys, Simon & Ulf (I fucking love that name!). It was a good day!
We got to Luang Prabang around 5 and headed to SpicyLoas. Not to be linked with SpicyPai in anyway, nowhere near as good! But alright, we managed to get ourselves our own little sectioned off room of 3 which was cool. 1st night we didn't really get up to that much it was my b'day the next day so we went to some place called Utopia for food which was a really cool little hidden Gem. Then headed to Lao Lao, again really cool little place, We discovered that they gave away free shots everytime you asked for them of this stuff called Lao Lao, made from rice, Red in colour and totally leathal! It became known as our 'medicine' and the waiter was the doctor! Nice work Jack, funny shit.
The next day was my birthday! Started of bright and early, went and got food and then headed out the Kuang Si waterfall. It was totally breathtaking. A series of turquoise pools where you can swim and jump in from rope swings or off the top of the waterfall, i got sung happy birthday at the top on my own by the gang, nice touch. Perfect way to spend the day. We got back, washed up and headed out for some festivities. Went and had an amazing Steak at Utopia, then headed for some medicine at Lao Lao. Got a couple of little presents and a card , then it's a bit hazy. The weird thing about Luang Prabang is everything shuts down at 11:30 and the only place open that serves alcohol late is a bowling alley about 10 mins out of town by tuk tuk. So basically everyone piles down there bang on 11:30 to go bowling till the early hours. So weird. But obviously we obliged and proceeded to drink some Lion King whiskey and bowl, badly. It was a top birthday and i can't thank Dan, Ali, Suzie, Tayla, Jack & Nathan for helping me celebrate.
The only other thing of any significance i did in LP was to get up at 5:30am to go and give the monks some sweets. It was pretty boring, i was wish i'd stayed in bed. Oh yeah we also played football with some kids on a beach by the river. They were cool, much better thank English kids. The main thing i'll take away is Lao Lao, Where are all the monks going? Who's touching the monks!?
I'm now in Vang Vieng which i'll leave till next time as i've not been here long. It's pretty mental though i can assure you of that!
Till next time! X
P.s. I still haven't seen a drop of rain since i've been here! Bye! x
Monday, 13 February 2012
Monday, 30 January 2012
Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Sukothai, Chiang Mai
So, i'm just over a week in. Seems like i've done a fair bit and I definitely want to keep this up to date so think I need to get started.
I left England on Friday 20th Jan in the evening and it was cold, wet, rainy & windy! Can't say I was sad to see the back of that sort of shit. The trip started with some good luck, they'd over booked our flight so at first I was offered 300 euros to go on anther flight an hour later, obviously I said yes! Basically I went away for a couple of hours and had to go back to the desk for 10 mins before check-in closed and they told me they could get me on my flight, but i'd have to go 1st class. SHIT! Got whisked straight to the gate and pretty much straight on the plane.
'Champagne sir? Errrrrr, it makes me go red but i'll have a gin and tonic, certainly sir i'll bring it to your seat' by seat she means, near enough bed! Honestly it was amazing, whole new world! Needless to say, I got suitbaly oiled on the plane and didn't really sleep that much as i was too busy taking advantage of the free stuff.
I got to Bangkok around 16:00 feeling pretty ropey and probably still a bit drunk. Managed to get through immigration and navigate my way to the hostel. I got dropped off on the Koa San Road, which was a bit of a shock to the system to be fair, it's MENTAL! Luckily my hostel wasn't on that street, it was about a 5 mins from there but I had to do the walk down it and by the end, I'd defo been offered about 6 suits, a ping pong show and a frog show!? WTF? Funnily enough after a long, boozy flight with minimal sleep and still carrying all my bags I wasn't really up for much of that.
After a couple of hours sleep I ventured out with a few people from the hostel and managed to not return till 6 the next morning, it was a pretty heavy night. The next day I woke up, got some food and then went back to bed for 16 hours! Think I needed that.
Monday, I went round a few temples and managed to stumble upon chinese new year in Chinatown on the way back which was amazing! Got loads of free food and had a few beers, but had to get to bed at a decent hour for the bus to Ayuttaya next morning.
Travelled about 1 1/2 hours to Ayutthaya and went between a few temples which were pretty cool, got told off for lying in front a giant Buddha, which i'll post a photo of. I now know the ettiquette and how to behave, reckon I looked like a massive idiot abroad though! Once again I managed to find the Chinese NY celebrations that night and had some amazing food, might have been dog!?
Sukothai was the next day, was there for 2 nights. Got a 6 hour bus up there and went to the historical park which invloved riding about on a bike for the day which killed my arse! The temples were worth it though. My hostel was in the middle of a really narrow street, tried to venture out in the evening and got chased by a pack of crazy, barking, snarling, dripping at the mouth dogs. I had to take refuge on a wall till they got bored, then went back to the hostel and get someone from there to give me a lift in on the scooter. First near death experience. Being pretty cautious around dogs now!
Now i've moved onto Chiang Mai, in a dorm with 5 really cool people and we've been out a couple of nights. There's a cocktail tuk tuk which turns up directly opposite the hostel at about 8 every night, not convienient at all! Yesterday we went zip lining and abseiling throught the jungle, was so much fun, again will put some pics up of that. Going to get a massage and see some Thai boxing tonight, then heading to Pai tomorrow for a couple of days, which is supposed to be well chilled out, so looking forward to not doing much! Will be sad to say goodbye to Jenni, Amy, Mark, Chrtistin & Dennis though!
Plan is to, head to Laos on Saturday to get to Vang Vieng to do some tubing on my birthday. Don't forget to send presents, yeah!? Reckon my next update will be just after that.
Hope all is well with everyne at home and you're not too cold.
Love, Nikolass X
PS Will try and put photos on facebook, reckon it'll take too long if i try and include them in this.
I left England on Friday 20th Jan in the evening and it was cold, wet, rainy & windy! Can't say I was sad to see the back of that sort of shit. The trip started with some good luck, they'd over booked our flight so at first I was offered 300 euros to go on anther flight an hour later, obviously I said yes! Basically I went away for a couple of hours and had to go back to the desk for 10 mins before check-in closed and they told me they could get me on my flight, but i'd have to go 1st class. SHIT! Got whisked straight to the gate and pretty much straight on the plane.
'Champagne sir? Errrrrr, it makes me go red but i'll have a gin and tonic, certainly sir i'll bring it to your seat' by seat she means, near enough bed! Honestly it was amazing, whole new world! Needless to say, I got suitbaly oiled on the plane and didn't really sleep that much as i was too busy taking advantage of the free stuff.
I got to Bangkok around 16:00 feeling pretty ropey and probably still a bit drunk. Managed to get through immigration and navigate my way to the hostel. I got dropped off on the Koa San Road, which was a bit of a shock to the system to be fair, it's MENTAL! Luckily my hostel wasn't on that street, it was about a 5 mins from there but I had to do the walk down it and by the end, I'd defo been offered about 6 suits, a ping pong show and a frog show!? WTF? Funnily enough after a long, boozy flight with minimal sleep and still carrying all my bags I wasn't really up for much of that.
After a couple of hours sleep I ventured out with a few people from the hostel and managed to not return till 6 the next morning, it was a pretty heavy night. The next day I woke up, got some food and then went back to bed for 16 hours! Think I needed that.
Monday, I went round a few temples and managed to stumble upon chinese new year in Chinatown on the way back which was amazing! Got loads of free food and had a few beers, but had to get to bed at a decent hour for the bus to Ayuttaya next morning.
Travelled about 1 1/2 hours to Ayutthaya and went between a few temples which were pretty cool, got told off for lying in front a giant Buddha, which i'll post a photo of. I now know the ettiquette and how to behave, reckon I looked like a massive idiot abroad though! Once again I managed to find the Chinese NY celebrations that night and had some amazing food, might have been dog!?
Sukothai was the next day, was there for 2 nights. Got a 6 hour bus up there and went to the historical park which invloved riding about on a bike for the day which killed my arse! The temples were worth it though. My hostel was in the middle of a really narrow street, tried to venture out in the evening and got chased by a pack of crazy, barking, snarling, dripping at the mouth dogs. I had to take refuge on a wall till they got bored, then went back to the hostel and get someone from there to give me a lift in on the scooter. First near death experience. Being pretty cautious around dogs now!
Now i've moved onto Chiang Mai, in a dorm with 5 really cool people and we've been out a couple of nights. There's a cocktail tuk tuk which turns up directly opposite the hostel at about 8 every night, not convienient at all! Yesterday we went zip lining and abseiling throught the jungle, was so much fun, again will put some pics up of that. Going to get a massage and see some Thai boxing tonight, then heading to Pai tomorrow for a couple of days, which is supposed to be well chilled out, so looking forward to not doing much! Will be sad to say goodbye to Jenni, Amy, Mark, Chrtistin & Dennis though!
Plan is to, head to Laos on Saturday to get to Vang Vieng to do some tubing on my birthday. Don't forget to send presents, yeah!? Reckon my next update will be just after that.
Hope all is well with everyne at home and you're not too cold.
Love, Nikolass X
PS Will try and put photos on facebook, reckon it'll take too long if i try and include them in this.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Shouldn't have gone to Specsavers
NEW SPECS! Finally after about a 6 months search, i've found and bought a well overdue new pair of glasses. The prescription in my old pair was about two years out of date so I can finally see again.
I splashed out and went for a pair of Ray-Bans, I thought my neglected eyes deserved them. I think the main reason I left it so long was basically because Specsavers range is SHIT! Within 5 mins of going into Optical Express on Briggate, Leeds (despite being slightly hungover) i'd found a new pair. Sure, I paid a fair bit for them but I reckon your eyes are worth looking after! I particularly like them with the tache, which you can donate to for Movember if you like at http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1582026/
Glasses from Optical Express, Leeds http://www.opticalexpress.co.uk/stores/leeds-briggate-53.html
Frames £115
Dodgy Tache £40 so far, help me out to make it a bit more!
I splashed out and went for a pair of Ray-Bans, I thought my neglected eyes deserved them. I think the main reason I left it so long was basically because Specsavers range is SHIT! Within 5 mins of going into Optical Express on Briggate, Leeds (despite being slightly hungover) i'd found a new pair. Sure, I paid a fair bit for them but I reckon your eyes are worth looking after! I particularly like them with the tache, which you can donate to for Movember if you like at http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1582026/
Glasses from Optical Express, Leeds http://www.opticalexpress.co.uk/stores/leeds-briggate-53.html
Frames £115
Dodgy Tache £40 so far, help me out to make it a bit more!
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Senna
This weekend I watched the docu film, Senna. It was amazing! Wanted to share a quick review with you to try and urge you to watch it.
Senna was a racing driver, made famous for his flamboyant, aggressive, exciting driving style throughout the early 70's, 80's and early 90's. In 1994, he met his match at the San Marino GP, hitting a wall and dieing from the impact. The film charts his rise from a go-kart racer all the way through to formula 1, where he was to become a triple world champion. Each championship was won in a completely different way, every one of them telling a story about the type of man he was; determined, ruthless and above all talented. Drawing on thoughts from people close to him and colleagues it pieces together footage of him both on and off the track from his ongoing feud with his main rival Alain Prost to his charity work with poverty stricken children in his beloved country, Brazil.
Whether you knew who Senna was or what he did isn't going to matter. Some would be put off by the fact they don't have any background on someone they're thinking about spending an hour and forty mins watching a story about. Worry not! This has it all, it's exciting, inspiring, humbling & sad. A tale of right versus wrong, corruption and a clear example of how sport can help start to help mend a broken country.
It completely blew me away, watch it!
Get it at Amazon, bargain for £10.99 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Senna-DVD-Ayrton/dp/B004PYD770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320778269&sr=8-1
Olééééééé, Olé, Olé, Oléééééééé Sennaaaaa Seeeena. Nikolass X
Senna was a racing driver, made famous for his flamboyant, aggressive, exciting driving style throughout the early 70's, 80's and early 90's. In 1994, he met his match at the San Marino GP, hitting a wall and dieing from the impact. The film charts his rise from a go-kart racer all the way through to formula 1, where he was to become a triple world champion. Each championship was won in a completely different way, every one of them telling a story about the type of man he was; determined, ruthless and above all talented. Drawing on thoughts from people close to him and colleagues it pieces together footage of him both on and off the track from his ongoing feud with his main rival Alain Prost to his charity work with poverty stricken children in his beloved country, Brazil.
Whether you knew who Senna was or what he did isn't going to matter. Some would be put off by the fact they don't have any background on someone they're thinking about spending an hour and forty mins watching a story about. Worry not! This has it all, it's exciting, inspiring, humbling & sad. A tale of right versus wrong, corruption and a clear example of how sport can help start to help mend a broken country.
It completely blew me away, watch it!
Get it at Amazon, bargain for £10.99 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Senna-DVD-Ayrton/dp/B004PYD770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320778269&sr=8-1
Olééééééé, Olé, Olé, Oléééééééé Sennaaaaa Seeeena. Nikolass X
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Stooone fookin Roosssseees
So, it's now official The Stone Roses are reforming. What do we think of this? I for one am very very happy. Fair play to them I say, they missed their chance to make any serious cash way back when and it seems now they're back for the right reasons (Mani's mothers death being the thing that apparently brought them all back together) and actually want to come back properly, new songs and all. They even went to the trouble of playing together before they announced the shows to check they didn't sound shite.
Trouble is i'm not going to be in county to be able to watch what promises to be a monumental, historic gig at Heaton park in Manchester next year. Sure, you'll probably get piss on you and it'll have it's fair share of hooligans getting their melons well and truly twisted. But I have no doubt in my mind, the music and sense of occasion will make up for it. I will be keeping my fingers crossed the 'world tour' comes somewhere near me.
My main tip for anyone going would be not to stand too close that you're in 'the firing line' but close enough that you hear alright, the sound wasn't great last time I was there for an Oasis gig. Also try and arrange getting back to Manchester City Centre before or you could be in for a long wait/ walk. Finally don't try and squeeze yourself into the bus and get your arm stuck in between the two doors, only an idiot would do that.
Take care, have fun and bang drums x
Trouble is i'm not going to be in county to be able to watch what promises to be a monumental, historic gig at Heaton park in Manchester next year. Sure, you'll probably get piss on you and it'll have it's fair share of hooligans getting their melons well and truly twisted. But I have no doubt in my mind, the music and sense of occasion will make up for it. I will be keeping my fingers crossed the 'world tour' comes somewhere near me.
My main tip for anyone going would be not to stand too close that you're in 'the firing line' but close enough that you hear alright, the sound wasn't great last time I was there for an Oasis gig. Also try and arrange getting back to Manchester City Centre before or you could be in for a long wait/ walk. Finally don't try and squeeze yourself into the bus and get your arm stuck in between the two doors, only an idiot would do that.
Take care, have fun and bang drums x
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Berlin
Went to Berlin last weekend, with 5 friends from school. We've seen each other in bits over the last few years but it's the first time in a long time we've all been together in one place, and what a place! Berlin is, in my mind, a weird but wonderful destination, you really do get a massive sense of history here. It's amazing to think some of the things that happened and you do get the feeling that some of the ghosts from the past are still present, I guess that's what makes the place what it is, and the past is used in, overall, a positive way. Berlin clearly isn't proud of everything that's happened there but what I do think is important is that they've taken the time to explain it to people in a way that says, 'look, this happened, it was wrong, but we think it's important you know about it. This is what we are now, we've moved on, we hope you can too.'
The people there were overall friendly, it seemed like they really wanted you to like their city, they were very accommodating of my appalling German, although I did make the effort to learn a few pleasantries before I left. www.babbel.com was really useful for this.
We stayed at Pfefferbett hostel, www.pfefferbett.de/en which came highly recommended and it was perfect for everything we needed, We stayed in 6 bed dorm, with communal toilets and shower, we paid 82€ each. We didn't want any luxuries as we didn't plan on spending too much time there. However we probably ended up there more than we thought, due to the nice environment, activities on offer, free internet and cheap beer!
The staff were friendly for the most part, unless provoked by a drunken Ally Lloyd after a row over a glass of water, i'm with Tanya on that one.
Also they gave me 94€ off my next stay if I return in 12 months, shame I won't be returning within the next 12 months, nice one though.
Day one started early for me and Dan, we arrived in Berlin from Manchester at about 11am. We met up with Joel and got the 30 min train to find the hostel. We then mooched about for the rest of the day round Kreuzberg waiting for the others to arrive, just getting a feel for the place, we found the most amazing burger bar called Ketchup and Mayo and ate there.
The rest of the them arrived around 6 at the hostel and we ventured out in search of a restaurant Ad had discoverd, after a questionable random walk through a stadium and predictably, a visit to an Irish Bar, we ended up in a place called White Trash Food (not where Ad wanted to go), best way to describe this is a a Tattoo Parlour, Restaurant and Live Music Venue all rolled into one www.whitetrashfastfood.com. It was alright but we ended up in 8mm bar which was pretty cool, no windows, www.8mmbar.com. By about 3 it was time for bed.
Friday involved a walking tour of Berlin from a friend of a friend, which was really good, saw what i would call all the main tourist attractions, my favourite being the Holocaust memorial.
We were out for a while and then had a bit of downtime at the hostel which invovled a mammoth table tennis tournament, think me or Joe we the overall winners (obvs). Then some beers and Dobble, Dobble is a new game to me but what a game, i've ordered it already. Think the best way to describe it is a more complicated version of snap, actually that might not do it justice, it's amazing just get it! Best £12 you'll ever spend, good Xmas present too.
This was followed by dinner at thebirdinberlin.com (this is where Ad wanted to go on the first night|) where i had one of the best steaks i've ever had in my life, amazing!
Then drinks in Kreuzberg (white russian for Ally) and then dancing to some indie disco classics at www.lido-berlin.de must've been alright because we didn't get home till getting on for 6am. The tunes were defo not up to Nick Bennett, Dan Parkes and Piet Berlyn standards though.
Saturday, was literally spark out till 2pm when me Dan and Ally got up and got back on it. One of the strangest things about Berlin is that they seem to have more beer shops than what we would call newsagents and they're open 24 hours a day. Basically you go in, buy a beer, they open it for you at the counter and then you can drink it on the street. Ace. So basically, Saturday consisted of walking around Berlin, drinking on the streets, ending up in Kreuzberg, trying to find a fountain in a park, which we got very close to but didn't find. Then watching the football in an Irish Bar, having a very drunken Italian and stumbling home at some point. Classy, but lots of fun verbally sparring with Ally Lloyd, I also stole Joel a fridge magnet of a Cow licking it's lips, I think he liked it.
Sunday we were back on the 'tourist trail' we walked to the typography of terror museum which basically documents all the horrific things that went on before, during and after the war. Promised a lot, but I don't think any of us were prepared for the amount of reading involved. We were all expecting more 'things to look at' rather than having to read our way round. In a different frame of mind it may've been great. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong state of mind.
We rounded off Sunday with a trip to a local flea market which I can only describe as a mini Glastonbury, all sorts of weird acts/ stalls in a local park. It was alright, again maybe we were all a bit tired! The day concluded with watching the Tottenham game (2-2 draw with Newcastle, fair result) and some Dobble. Me and Dan had to be up for a flight at 7 so drinking was kept to a minimum and we were in bed by 12.
That was the end to a beautiful, action packed weekend, with amazing friends that I don't see enough. We all agreed at the end of it that it should become an annual gathering which i'm v happy about.
So, yeah, thanks to everyone involved, thanks to me for semi- organising the whole event. Berlin comes highly recommended, go, enjoy, walk, learn, drink on the street, talk to people but most importantly; Dobble!
Coming up: Why I love Vans. The Stone Roses reformation. The Coolhunter. Something advertising based. None of which will be as long as this. Oh and when Scott Cramner gets his act together, a new look.
Peace and love. Nikolass X
The people there were overall friendly, it seemed like they really wanted you to like their city, they were very accommodating of my appalling German, although I did make the effort to learn a few pleasantries before I left. www.babbel.com was really useful for this.
We stayed at Pfefferbett hostel, www.pfefferbett.de/en which came highly recommended and it was perfect for everything we needed, We stayed in 6 bed dorm, with communal toilets and shower, we paid 82€ each. We didn't want any luxuries as we didn't plan on spending too much time there. However we probably ended up there more than we thought, due to the nice environment, activities on offer, free internet and cheap beer!
The staff were friendly for the most part, unless provoked by a drunken Ally Lloyd after a row over a glass of water, i'm with Tanya on that one.
Also they gave me 94€ off my next stay if I return in 12 months, shame I won't be returning within the next 12 months, nice one though.
Day one started early for me and Dan, we arrived in Berlin from Manchester at about 11am. We met up with Joel and got the 30 min train to find the hostel. We then mooched about for the rest of the day round Kreuzberg waiting for the others to arrive, just getting a feel for the place, we found the most amazing burger bar called Ketchup and Mayo and ate there.
The rest of the them arrived around 6 at the hostel and we ventured out in search of a restaurant Ad had discoverd, after a questionable random walk through a stadium and predictably, a visit to an Irish Bar, we ended up in a place called White Trash Food (not where Ad wanted to go), best way to describe this is a a Tattoo Parlour, Restaurant and Live Music Venue all rolled into one www.whitetrashfastfood.com. It was alright but we ended up in 8mm bar which was pretty cool, no windows, www.8mmbar.com. By about 3 it was time for bed.
Friday involved a walking tour of Berlin from a friend of a friend, which was really good, saw what i would call all the main tourist attractions, my favourite being the Holocaust memorial.
We were out for a while and then had a bit of downtime at the hostel which invovled a mammoth table tennis tournament, think me or Joe we the overall winners (obvs). Then some beers and Dobble, Dobble is a new game to me but what a game, i've ordered it already. Think the best way to describe it is a more complicated version of snap, actually that might not do it justice, it's amazing just get it! Best £12 you'll ever spend, good Xmas present too.
This was followed by dinner at thebirdinberlin.com (this is where Ad wanted to go on the first night|) where i had one of the best steaks i've ever had in my life, amazing!
Then drinks in Kreuzberg (white russian for Ally) and then dancing to some indie disco classics at www.lido-berlin.de must've been alright because we didn't get home till getting on for 6am. The tunes were defo not up to Nick Bennett, Dan Parkes and Piet Berlyn standards though.
Saturday, was literally spark out till 2pm when me Dan and Ally got up and got back on it. One of the strangest things about Berlin is that they seem to have more beer shops than what we would call newsagents and they're open 24 hours a day. Basically you go in, buy a beer, they open it for you at the counter and then you can drink it on the street. Ace. So basically, Saturday consisted of walking around Berlin, drinking on the streets, ending up in Kreuzberg, trying to find a fountain in a park, which we got very close to but didn't find. Then watching the football in an Irish Bar, having a very drunken Italian and stumbling home at some point. Classy, but lots of fun verbally sparring with Ally Lloyd, I also stole Joel a fridge magnet of a Cow licking it's lips, I think he liked it.
Sunday we were back on the 'tourist trail' we walked to the typography of terror museum which basically documents all the horrific things that went on before, during and after the war. Promised a lot, but I don't think any of us were prepared for the amount of reading involved. We were all expecting more 'things to look at' rather than having to read our way round. In a different frame of mind it may've been great. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong state of mind.
We rounded off Sunday with a trip to a local flea market which I can only describe as a mini Glastonbury, all sorts of weird acts/ stalls in a local park. It was alright, again maybe we were all a bit tired! The day concluded with watching the Tottenham game (2-2 draw with Newcastle, fair result) and some Dobble. Me and Dan had to be up for a flight at 7 so drinking was kept to a minimum and we were in bed by 12.
That was the end to a beautiful, action packed weekend, with amazing friends that I don't see enough. We all agreed at the end of it that it should become an annual gathering which i'm v happy about.
So, yeah, thanks to everyone involved, thanks to me for semi- organising the whole event. Berlin comes highly recommended, go, enjoy, walk, learn, drink on the street, talk to people but most importantly; Dobble!
Coming up: Why I love Vans. The Stone Roses reformation. The Coolhunter. Something advertising based. None of which will be as long as this. Oh and when Scott Cramner gets his act together, a new look.
Peace and love. Nikolass X
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Living for the weekend...
...Bit cliché...but certainly seems that's exactly what i did this weekend. Action packed to say the least, one of those where you go to work on Monday morning and feel like you need a weekend to recover.
Friday began straight after work with drinks with workmates and ended up going on till who knows what hour. Highlights included one of the girls hair extensions catching fire whilst having a picture taken with me. SOZ. (she was ok by the way, more of a singe) Finding a fat friend lookalike & a rapper that really looked like he shouldn't be able to rap. Standard.
Saturday, against my better judgement started early, we'd organised a trip to Blackburn to watch them play against Man Citeh for one of my mates birthday's who is a City fan, so i was up for 9 and out and about for 10:30!
Blackburn is a strange place isn't it!? Like stepping back 20 years in time? Football was alright in the end and it was a beatuiful day. The Citeh fans were pretty good as well, Poznan is amazing, if you don't know what this is, watch this, basically what they do every time they score.
Major error of the day was managing to find probably the roughest pub in Blackburn on the way back and deciding it would be a good idea to have a drink, only to literally be stared out of the pub and not being able to get a taxi. My q to leave was being confronted with this when i went to the toilet:
We were then back out and about in Leeds after just making the train home. Had to take myself home just after midnight. Tired. Emotional.
Sunday, up laaaaate. Obvs. But still managed to catch Spurs SMASH the dirty gooners and finish up with a roast. Bang tidy end to a top weeekend.
Just about managed to get myself back to normal now, work has been pretty busy this week, so v little time for bloggage. Berlin next week, mazers, can't wait! Need to get some plans in place.
Last but not least i've made my 1st traveling pruchase, obvs a pair of board shorts and what a pair they are. I picked them up from Asos (after a little arguement, but we won't go into that). They're by Billabong and i love them. Obviously i've got the stomach to go with them. Also started to compile a list of traveling tasks that need to be performed before i depart, it's long and scary, but WILL be worth it when i'm there.
Off to a shop opening tomorrow night for a mooch and no doubt some free booze. It's my flat mates work leaving do on Friday but the rest of the weekend is free for serious blogging and Berlin planning. Aces. You should start to see some design updates coming soon to make this more 'me' and make it a bit more exciting for you. It's about giving and receiving.
Peace and love. Nikolass x
Friday began straight after work with drinks with workmates and ended up going on till who knows what hour. Highlights included one of the girls hair extensions catching fire whilst having a picture taken with me. SOZ. (she was ok by the way, more of a singe) Finding a fat friend lookalike & a rapper that really looked like he shouldn't be able to rap. Standard.
Saturday, against my better judgement started early, we'd organised a trip to Blackburn to watch them play against Man Citeh for one of my mates birthday's who is a City fan, so i was up for 9 and out and about for 10:30!
Blackburn is a strange place isn't it!? Like stepping back 20 years in time? Football was alright in the end and it was a beatuiful day. The Citeh fans were pretty good as well, Poznan is amazing, if you don't know what this is, watch this, basically what they do every time they score.
Major error of the day was managing to find probably the roughest pub in Blackburn on the way back and deciding it would be a good idea to have a drink, only to literally be stared out of the pub and not being able to get a taxi. My q to leave was being confronted with this when i went to the toilet:
We were then back out and about in Leeds after just making the train home. Had to take myself home just after midnight. Tired. Emotional.
Sunday, up laaaaate. Obvs. But still managed to catch Spurs SMASH the dirty gooners and finish up with a roast. Bang tidy end to a top weeekend.
Just about managed to get myself back to normal now, work has been pretty busy this week, so v little time for bloggage. Berlin next week, mazers, can't wait! Need to get some plans in place.
Last but not least i've made my 1st traveling pruchase, obvs a pair of board shorts and what a pair they are. I picked them up from Asos (after a little arguement, but we won't go into that). They're by Billabong and i love them. Obviously i've got the stomach to go with them. Also started to compile a list of traveling tasks that need to be performed before i depart, it's long and scary, but WILL be worth it when i'm there.
Off to a shop opening tomorrow night for a mooch and no doubt some free booze. It's my flat mates work leaving do on Friday but the rest of the weekend is free for serious blogging and Berlin planning. Aces. You should start to see some design updates coming soon to make this more 'me' and make it a bit more exciting for you. It's about giving and receiving.
Peace and love. Nikolass x
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