undangerman

2007-08-02T14:28:00.001-07:00

2007-06-18T08:54:00.001-07:00

2007-06-18T08:53:00.001-07:00

2007-06-18T08:50:00.001-07:00

2007-06-18T08:49:00.001-07:00

2007-06-15T03:23:00.001-07:00

2007-06-15T01:23:00.001-07:00

2007-06-14T07:17:00.001-07:00

2007-06-14T07:13:00.001-07:00

2007-05-30T05:51:00.001-07:00

prague river and wood

2007-02-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

prague river and wood, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Chinese New Year in London

2007-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

throwing bangers, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Chinese New Year in London

2007-02-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

boy and toy, originally uploaded by undangerman.

lanterns

2007-02-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

lanterns, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Chinese new year, london style

2007-02-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

2007-02-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Tdpt

2007-02-01T01:53:00.000-08:00

Temple Sun

2007-01-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

Temple Sun, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Sun setting in India.

Taj Mahal

2007-01-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Taj Mahal, originally uploaded by undangerman.

The Taj Mahal is without a doubt the most impressive monument I've ever seen.

Jimi

2006-10-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

jimi, originally uploaded by undangerman.

This guy kept shouting "Hey Joe" at me, so I turned around to tell him that that wasn't actually my name.

Stonehenge

2006-10-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Stonehenge, originally uploaded by undangerman.

This bad boy took 300 MILLION man hours to build.

Roman bath

2006-10-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Roman bath, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Ancient Romans use to play Marco Polo in these pools.

Roman Bath Musuem

2006-10-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

Roman Bath Musuem, originally uploaded by undangerman.

The Roman Bath Musuem

Segways!

2006-09-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Segways!, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Segways! I was really excited to see them in the wild.

On the Beach in Barcelona

2006-09-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Cartoon kid, originally uploaded by undangerman.

In Barcelona, if you get caught littering, they bury you alive, just as a reminder to others.

On the Beach in Barcelona

2006-09-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Cartoon kid, originally uploaded by undangerman.

In Barcelona, if you get caught littering, they bury you alive, just as a reminder to others.

Amsterdam Van Gogh Musuem

2006-09-02T01:14:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam Van Gogh Musuem, originally uploaded by undangerman.

Some very small people at the Van Gogh Musuem in Amsterdam.

Hanging kid

2006-08-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hanging kid, originally uploaded by undangerman.

A little kid hanging on a wire in Barcelona.

Umbrellas in Amsterdam

2006-08-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

amst_umbrella, originally uploaded by undangerman.

This was outside Ann Franks house.

Porno shoot

2006-08-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

Porno shoot, originally uploaded by undangerman.

I read about this japanese photographer who takes photos of wax models, and because it's a photo, some of the minor blemishes and inperfections are removed. So in amsterdam, i went to the sex musuem to have a bash at it myself.

Amsterdam

2006-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

amst_scene, originally uploaded by undangerman.

City Scene in Amsterdam

Crazy Stuff

2006-07-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Road rule 1: Stop on red.

This guy was a real spark.

I went to Windsor Castle. This guy comes out uh, maybe every hour (I don't really know). He then stomps around ignoring everyone.

Kid starting young.

Buddha! We hung out and had green tea and scones.

This was in the British musuem.

He has opened many a can of whoop-ass....

Science Musuem

2006-06-26T04:22:00.000-07:00

I went to the Science Museum in South Kensington. It's fun, with heaps of hands on exhibits as well as interesting tidbits. The day I went though, there were heaps of school kids and they kept hogging all the fun things. So I punched them and had a bash at Pong myself.

This is a uh, "Big Wheel". It does "Something".

Before it became cool to tackle complex computing problems with networked cheapo computers, people liked to build big ass Super Computers. Meet CRAY.

Don't know if you can see clearly, but this diarama has an older lady spewing toxic streams of plastic onto a little girl who's squealing in pain.

Oh! I spent ages on this thing. You stare into a camera, and it takes a photo of your face. You can then morph it to show you what you look like if you were a different age, or different sex. This is apparently what I looked like as a little tyke.

The Crash Test Dummies before their hit single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" made them household names.

Yeah, everyone's a snowflake.

"\/\/3 pw|\|3d _|00"

South Bank and Camden Markets

2006-06-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some more random pics from South Bank and Camden Markets.

Dali's Melting Clock vs The London Eye.

This guy DJs at a cool second hand clothing store in Camden Markets. He looks like Biggie Smalls, but when I was there, he busted out Vanilla Ice's seminal classic, "Ice, Ice Baby".
Word to your momma.

Another Dali Sculpture. There is a big Dali Musuem, which is firmly in the "Visit When I Get Paid" column.

London Eye again. I think everyone takes this shot.

Bouncing here and there and everywhere,
High adventure that's beyond compare...

This was from a uh, magic show. Honest.

If you look carefully, you can see a londoner hiding in this picture.

Try and find the local here too. This one's trickier.

This guy goes to work dressed in flares, hypercolour t-shirts, platform shoes and has a massive clock around his neck.

Natural History and British Musuem

2006-06-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm really into Dinosaurs now. I'm not quite sure why, but I've lost interest in music, books and instead, spend alot of time researching Dinosaurs. They are really interesting. Anyway, where does one indulge their Dinsosaur habit in London Town?

At the Natural History Musuem of course. It's a really cool musuem. It was set up by a fellow named uh something or other, but it's because of him that musuems are so accessible. Before he set this one up, musuems were designed purely for intellectuals and uppercrust gentry. He fought to make musuems accessible for us commoners, pioneering things like explanation plaques and the result is this charming place.

These little tykes. They had pictures of Godzilla plastered all over the walls of their bedroom.

Most models and celebrities like to be photographed with the light directed from below. It reduces the impact of double chins, unslightly bags under the eyes and generally enhances one's appearance.

This guys was somehow able to repel pigeons with his mere presence!

The main hall.

I like this statue. It makes sense if you turn your head ninety degrees to the left too.

Also went to the British musuem. I spent ages taking photos of this bunch of school kids, trying to get that effect where they all look like ghosts as they run around.

A bunch of pillars just chilling out between tourists.

London

2006-05-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

So I'm in London now. It's kinda what I expected, alot of tradition and history but cosmopoliation at the same time.

The biggest guns I've ever seen not between my elbows and shoulders.

NHS.

The Tube! I'm living in Islington. It's upmarket-bohemian-ish.

What did the three headed english police officer say?
'allo 'allo 'allo.

English people, uh, all facing the same way.

Cool bridge near the Tate Modern. One of the best things about London is that most of the muesuems are free. Which is great, because everything else is so damn expensive.

London Eye.

I really like the way people talk here. I caught a cab once, and when I paid the cabbie, he said "much oblig'd guv'nr". They also say "you oo'right?" alot. And "quid". I love the world 'quid'.

There is so much happening at night. The freestylers and stratch perverts played at my local pub, which is about five minutes walk away. And for 3 quid.

La Paz and Uyuni

2006-04-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Finally finishing my time in South America in Bolvia. The tour has stopped now, and I'm on my lonesome again, which is kinda cool.

This stone faced fellow is from a pre incan civilisation, the Tiwanacu. They were around for thousands of years, and the Incas ripped off alot of their ideas, like the crazy stone work. I like these guys. They had another god named chichipuma or something, who was the god of war. Anyway, its this guy with a puma head holding a decapitated human head.

La Paz is the highest capital city in the world, and its situatated in a basin amongst some big ole mountains. Its pretty spectacular when you first see it.

La Paz at night. The whole city seems to be made of people selling stuff from under tarps. Like Paddy's Markets.

Anyway, I had hardly anytime in Boliva, so I thought I'd smash the Salar De Uyuni, mainly because everyone seems to rave about it. The Salar De Uyuni is a big salt flat, with a few other things to see around the area. It was such a battle getting there, my bus from La Paz arrived two hours early, so I was hanging out in Uyuni, which is without a doubt the world's worst town from three in the morning waiting two from some chick named Sandra to meet me at the bus station. Of course she didn't show up, and I had no other contact details.

Anyway, eventually spoke to enough people to work out that Sandra had a travel agency there, so it turned out ok. She was a lying she devil though, and I offically place a pox on her family.

After all the drama, the tour was amazing. The salt flats are basically a massive lake that has dried up and is just uh, salt now. It looked like snow.

The hotel made of salt.

Some crazy, random cactus growing out in the middle of literally nowhere.

We also passed through a whole lotta desert. Which was cooll, because it looked amazing.

Flamingos on one of the lagoons. The reflections were amazing.

Uh, more desert.
Oh. This rock is really famous because it apparently looks like a tree.

This is an actual lagoon. The red bits are micro organisms, the white bits are some chemical buildup and the blue bits are well, plain old water really. But together, they look amazing.

Close up of the red water.

Our guide / driver, Mario. I liked this guy, he went through bucketloads of coco leaves, and was buzzing around all the time.

Some geysers.

Back in La Paz. These little things are llama fetuses, which people buy from witches at the witches markets. They are suppose to help protect your house.

Real life witch. Seriously. She sells talismans, love potions and use to date Harry Potter.

Lake Titticaca

2006-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

Lake Titticaca, besides sounding a bit saucy, is notably for being the highest navigatable lake in the world. It falls within both Bolvia and Peru.

The lake was surprisingly massive. But being a lake rather than a shoreline, the edges tend to get a bit moldy, due to the lack of waves.

There are about 40 islands on the lake, some of which are inhabited by demons who sold their souls to the devil in return for ungodly knitting abilities. If you don't believe me, I'd like to see you make a beanie like the one this guy is rocking.

Ok, I lied. There are actually normal people living on the lake too. Like these two kids. And the beanies actually have a significance. The one the old guy in the photo above is wearing means he is one of the leaders of the island.

Oh, and its also cool because guys are the only ones that knit. Apparently, girls chose their mates based on how bad ass they are at knitting. A real stud was a guy that could knit a woollen beanie so fine (fine in both the queens english meaning as well as the way a black american would mean it) that it would hold water.

It was really interesting actually. They don't pay taxes to anyone, because they are pretty much self sufficent. The island is divided into four uh, quadrants, and each quadrant is responsible for growing one type of food, be it potatos or other grains. They also operate on a cooperative system, where the profits from products sold to tourists go directly back to the family that made them. I bought a bag from this dude, just so he'd bust out that smile.

This was really cool. I spent one night with a native family on Amantani island. The ladies on the island met us as we landed. They have funny expressions on because they were probably wondering who would get the funny looking tourist with slanty eyes.

The guys dress like matadors.

This was the family the kitchen of the family that I stayed with. Its pretty full on, they only got electricity a few years ago, and they cook their food by candle light. They were the NICEST people too, they were a really close knit family. The guy in the photo is the son, and he has a hot girlfriend apparently.

After dinner, we all got dressed up in traditional dress to bust a few moves with the mummies at the local disco. It was really fun, but each song went on for ten to fifteen minutes and required alot of handholding and running around. This was my mum for the night.

And this is her with her husband. It was a bit melancholy in a way. These people have lived like this for generations (without the tourists I mean), and I wonder how much longer they will maintain their traditional lifestyle, with all the gringos coming in and influencing the youth. It was a great experience though, it really made me appreciate growing up back home.

We also went to the Uros Islands. There is a whole society of people who live on islands they make themselves, out of reeds. They live on floating reeds, they make their houses out of reeds and they make boats out of reeds. They also eat them too, because they are good for your teeth.

Anyway, I loved this part of the trip. Staying with a native family, and just seeing how they live was amazing.

Machu Pichu

2006-04-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

While the rest of my tour was slaving away on the inca trail, I was having a great time in Cusco. Machu Pichu is the highlight in terms of Inca stuff to see, and its pretty much as good as it sounds.

Statue of an Inca in Agua Calientes, the town where I caught a train to Machu Pichu from. The statue is impressive, but in real life the Incas came in two flavours... the short peasanty ones, and the big royal ones with crazy heads (They were big because they got all the best food and they had freaky heads because they practiced cranial deformation). I went to a museum in Cusco were they had some skulls of Inca royalty... they looked like alien heads. When the royal incas were born, they had two wooden boards squishing their heads, so that it would elongate unaturally. Oh, and they were all inbred...

Little girl playing with her hoop.

I got to the first train to Machu Pichu to see the sun rise over the ruins. It was honestly amazing. there were hardly any tourists there at that time and it was dark. Then, as the sun rose, you could make out the outline of the ruins, and the city would appear from the clouds. It was really mysterious, and a vastly different feel to when it was bright daylight and the place was overrun with people.

The ruins as the sky cleared.

Wandering around the ruins.

Llamas just hanging out in the main square.

Spanktacular mountains.

My favourite people from my motley tour group. We're all looking a bit tired because technically we all finished the inca trail. Well, I just walked up the last little bit of it and walked back down to Machu Pichu which is still finishing it. Honest.

Tour week 2

2006-04-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

So peru is actually kinda cool. Went to the Colpa Canyon, which is one of the deepest canyons in the world. We were trying to see some condors, and we did manage to, but to be honest they are pretty shit. Like a speck on the horizon.

This is what the natives wear. This chick was dressed for tourists, but alot of the older people stil hang out in these clothes. Anyway, thats a llama she's holding - choking.

They do this really cool dance, wear everyone wears a dress (even the guys) and jump around a bit. Its fun to watch. Apparently the guys dressing as girls is based on some tradition where guys pretend to be chicks in order to inflitrate groups of girls and steal some away.

People selling stuff.

Muy Bonito!!

Old man. I told him that he was very good looking and that I wanted to take a photo of him. So he started preening and put on his best beenie.

Unhappy looking girl with her sheep.

Boy with his baby llama.
This was at the markets. This dude was carving up the heads of cows.

Man and his nuts.

Went to Santa Catalina convent. It's massive, and nuns have lived here for 500 years. Apparently, when it first started, it was a really party nunnery, like they could have guests and music and things. Then someone in charge heard about it and straightened them out. Some 400 nuns still live there... and never leave the convent.

A kitchen in the convent.

Actually, beyond having cool wall colours, like bright blue and pink, the convent was a bit boring. So ended up taking heaps of photos of flowers.

Tour week 1

2006-04-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

So I've started my tour now. It takes me from Lima to La Paz. Its been pretty cool, but a bit slow paced at first.

Went to a party in Ariquipa. At first the party was pretty dead...

But soon everyone was off their heads.

Everyone was skin and bones...

Its near election time in Peru. There are two main candidates in the running, one is this chick who supports businesses and wants to fix the economy, the other is an ex army general who wants to throw out all tourists, all foreign owned business and maybe even start a war with Chile. Its pretty interesting times for the country, but no one knows what will happen. The rich folk support the chick, but there is a strong macho culture which will make it harder for her to win. The poorer folk support the army guy, and theres more poorer folk.

There are heaps of parades in support of both candidates, this is a picture from one of them.

Big cactus or some such.

Tough guy.
Ballesta islands. Kinda like Ibiza for sea lions.

Apparently the biggest, baddest sea lion on the island is nicknamed Mike Tyson.

I got these kids to sing and dance to that Gasolina song at a petrol station.

Traditional Peruvian Potter.

Waves near Peurto Inca, where the Incas use to catch fish.

Gold mining. This looks like seriously the worse job ever.

Chickens!

Gawd damn it hurt.

2006-03-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

I got a tattoo on Copacabana beach. I went to this tattoo parlour last time I was in Rio, called Helio. Its suppose to be the best tattoo joint in the area, Ronaldo got one here.

I wanted a Koi, or a Carp. Apparently the Koi swims up waterfalls or something, when it needs to breed, so for Japanese people, it represents perservence, and bravery. And apparently, when you catch a Koi, and are about to kill it, it doesn't squirm like a lesser fish would, but it takes it like a man, uh, or manly fish or something. Anyway, its all good.

Most people who get Kois get them in the traditional wood carving style. But I wanted mine to look like it had been painted on my foot with a brush.

Working out the final details.

In progress.

It really, really, really, really, really, really hurt. The foot is the most painful part of the body, because its all bones.

Yay!

I also updated the last page, CHECK IT OUT. Its from the favela tour.

favela tour!

2006-03-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

Finally got to do the Favela tour. I've been wanting to do this since the last time that I was in Rio. They take you to Rocinda, which is the largest Favela in Rio. It´s pretty much the wild west out here. Cops don't go in. I saw a guy with a machine gun and grenades. GRENADES. Other guys are perpetually posted at entry and exit points with these big flare shooting devices to warn the drug dealers, incase the authorities try and storm the place. Each Favela does about 3 to 6 million a month in drug trafficking. All in all, they have a pretty bad rep.

Favelas are generally on the mountain side, so the tour took us to the bottom of the mountain, and we caught a motortaxi up to the top. Motortaxis being certified lunatics riding motor bikes at stupid speeds up winding roads while dodging trucks...

Anyway, the tour was seriously amazing. Definately a highlight for me. Its truly a different world there. It is like a rabbit warren, paths everywhere. Noone pays for electricity there, they just rip it off the nearest power cord.

In the favela though, things are not what you imagine. The people are so friendly! and the kids! they love having photos taken, sometimes it was hard to get around, because little kids would grab you and beg you to take their photo...

If there was an asian in here, it would be a benneton ad...

These were the cutest little girls.

This is a wall they call the "wall of death" (or murder or something). Its where the drug dealers shoot people. The hole in the middle is a bullet hole. ADA stands for Amigos do Amigos, which Friends for Friends.

About a week before I went on the tour, some guys from the Favelas stole some heavy duty machine guns for the army! Understandably, the army wasn't so happy, so they sent their troops in. And the drug dealers tried to stop them. So all over the news, you would see pictures of favela dwellers standing on top of their buildings, branishing their machine guns.... which makes this pic kinda scary in a way.

Its not all drug dealers though. There are alot of people who hold steady, even good jobs and live in the favela because its cheaper.

There is fricking machine gun graffitti on the wall.

East Coast Brazil

2006-03-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so after Carnivale, decided to relax for a while. On a series of some of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil...

I went to Ittacare, which is a cool place that isn´t in the lonely planet. Ended up doing a private capoeria lesson on the beach! I also wanted to learn to surf (sick of being the only Australian that doesn´t surf), but ended up getting a body board and uh, pretty much just splashing around.

Then, down to Porto Seguro, which I liked. Compared to the other beach towns that I visited this one was not very touristy. Also smashed Arriel De Juda and Trancoso.

Fresh fruit on the beach!

Carnivale!!

2006-03-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

Salvador!

Salvador is big city up north, along the beach. Its the best place to spend carnivale, if you want to be in amongst the action.

We stayed in a massive apartment just on the beach, and right where carnivale starts.

People getting ready for carnivale.

Theres miltary police everywhere. They hand out in bunchs of up to a dozen, and carry massive batons.

For Carnivale, you don´t get tickets, you get these jersey type things instead. Then, you customise them. Ugs and I taking them for a test drive.
At the front of the blocco (the parade).

Carnivale was fun. Very fun.

Rio De Janerio

2006-02-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so yeah, Brazil rocks. Spent a week or so on Ipenema beach, didn´t run into the girl though. Also saw the Rolling Stones play in front of about 2 million people on Copacabana beach. Anyway, photos!

I think she had sand in her undies.

This is the view from Sugar loaf, which is a big uh, mountain. Its actually pretty cool, Rio itself is situated amongst a big bunch of mountains and beaches which makes from some pretty spectacular scenery.

Suage loaf is that rather phallic looking thing.

SHe´s prepared for anything.

Ipenema beach!

Same!

Hats! Loves his hats he does.

Street scene.

You hear alot about crime in Rio, especially with little kids robbing people and such. This guy though, he was ármless. Chortle Chortle.

I went to a football game at Maracana Stadium, the largest stadium in the world. it has a capacity of 200,000 people! I saw Botofogo play, which is one of the largest teams in Rio. It was fun.

A Favela. Seen `City of God`? Watch it if you get the chance. The favelas are the brazilian slums. It really interesting, the favelas and the rich, or normal areas are often side by side, and its quite easy to wander into the wrong place.

They run tours through the favelas, which sounds really, really interesting. I was dead keen to go, but when I was in Rio, there was a favela war on.

I did manage to go to a Favela funk party on my birthday though. It was a Sunday night, and in a warehouse with 3000 big black guys and girls. It was also some of the most fun I´ve had on my trip.

This is a popular brazilian group we saw. They play really cool funk music, and all dress up. You can´t see him in the photo, but their drummer is like 80 years old.

Went to the muesuem of some guy how use to run Brazil. he got ousted by the milatary, and rather than go quietly, he wrote an open letter to the people of Brazil and shot himself in the heart. This is the room where he did it. Laid out exactly how it was when he died. Spooky.

Christ!

sao paulo

2006-02-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Thought I would spend some quality time with myself for a while, so jetted up to Sao Paulo. Its the biggest city in Brazil and the third biggest metropolis in the world. It´s a big boy.

It feels really dangerous, there are people just lazing around all day and at night, there are alot of shifty looking fellas just waiting to rob me (so I imagine). I spent my first day getting throughly lost a couple of blocks from my hostel.

I met these two Argentinians and we went to check out the art galleries together. The bulk of the exhibition was a retrospective of this Brazilian artist named Lydia something or other who made her name by combining art and mental therapy.

These masks she put on crazy people to make the concentrate on their sense of touch rather than sight.

This is the Argentinian chick that I met. In a bubble.

Water coming out of nipples!

Overall, I didn´t think much of Sao Paulo. It´s the type of place where you need to know where to go to truly enjoy it, otherwise its a bit intimidating in that funny way that all big, big cities are intimating.

But, one really cool thing was meeting the two Argentinians. It was really interesting just finding out how they live. In Argentina there is a small upper class, a larger lower class and a ´struggling´middle class, of which they are a part of. And the rich are getting richer, while the poor are hammered even harder. I hadn´t realised, but they have tough lives. They spoke eloquently of having to work two jobs just to survive, of having not enough money to take courses that would improve their career prospects, and of feeling like no matter how hard they work they will never imporve their lives. Higher education is free there, but alot of people can´t afford the text books and the transportation costs. The girl told me she had to save for five years, just to have enough for a holiday to Peru, which is the next country!

brazil!

2006-02-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

I´m in Brazil!

Immediately noticable is how much nicer the people are here. They smile much more and generally seem alot happier.

I´m at a beachy town called Floripolis, which is kinda on the south east side of Brazil. Its cool, a real laid back feel. Its awesome just lazing back on the beach and sipping caprinhinas and pina coladas.

The food is good here too, they serve massive servings, generally enough for two. Also scattered around town are juice bars, which serve almost every juice imaginable, from weird acai stuff to sugarcane and eggplant...

I think I´m going to like Brazil lots.

Soccer on the beach.

They have fricking basketball on the sand! I have no idea how the ball actually bounces, but there you go.

Its a pretty ideal town as far as beach towns go. It´s a bit like coastal Sydney, but with more porteguese I guess.

(also updated iguazu)

Iguazu

2006-01-28T14:22:00.000-08:00

Iguazu falls is one of the biggest tourist attractions in South America. Its basically a big bunch of 60 metre tall waterfalls that sit right between Argentina and Brazil.

They had and exhibition showing native wildlife of the area.

The waterfalls are pretty crazy. Because there are so many waterfalls emptying into the same area, the spray just floats up, and result in rainbows below the viewing areas.

Did some ninja camera work, slowing the shutter speed to give the water that sunsilk smooth look.

Theres millions of these little dudes running around.

Photos don´t really do it justice.

Ended the day with a quick swim in the lagoon under the waterfalls.

Rosario

2006-01-26T04:17:00.000-08:00

Spent the last few days in Rosario. Its a smaller city, about four hours away from Buenos Aries. Its mainly famous for being a bit arty, more laid back, and having the most beautiful women in Argentina. It really cool, I like Rosario more than Buenos Aries, although everything shuts much earlier, and they have a long ass siesta in the middle of the day.

Stayed at a reggae themed hostel called Roots. This is one of the staff there, she took us out to a gay club (twice) and smashed me at both arm wrestling and table tennis.

Army dude. Ugs was keen on his female companions, so I had to play wing man with him. It was tough.

Rosario is suppose to be a bit more arty and stuff than the rest of Argentina. We went to a musuem of contempory arts, this was my favourtie thing there.

View from the art gallery.
Che Gueverra was born in Rosario. There are a heaps of stencils of him all around the town, but no offical tributes, bar this mural.

Photo taken from the bus on the way there.

Same same.

Patagonia Torres Del Paine

2006-01-24T06:04:00.000-08:00

We only had one day there, so we decided to hop on a tour, just so that we saw the highlights.The other main highlight of Patagonia is a nature reserve called Torres Del Paine, in southern Chile. So we caught a six hour bus ride across the border to a sleepy town called Puetro Natales. I really liked this town, it was small and kinda arty. Compared to El Calefatte (both being tourist towns), Puerto Natales seemed to be a few years behind, the locals did their best to help out tourists but they were nice, rather than commercial about it.

That little thing in the middle is actually a five star hotel. There is nothing around it, expect for beautiful mountains and crystal clear water.

On the way to Torres Del Paine. It felt like we were hobbits on our way to Mount Doom, but on a really nice day.

A type of Lama. They just run around and try not to get smashed by pumas all day.

Kids in Puerto Natales.
Hostel in Peurto Natales.

I made a spanish sentence.¨Me gustaria cervesa con heuvo, por fovor¨. It means ¨I would like a beer with eggs please¨. It was really sweet, didn't taste like eggs or beer, but more like fairy floss.
Crossing from Argentina to Chile.

Patagonia Glacier Moreno

2006-01-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

I decided to check out Patagonia, which is the southern most part of the continent. It's suppose to be a desolute land, characterised by beautiful glaciers (its near antartica), awesome wild life and some big ass mountains.

So, I caught a flight down to El Calefatte, a small town that swells during holiday season. The airport is situation right next to a beautiful lake, and when you hope off on the tarmac and look around, all you see are mountains, blue water and clear skys.

There are a bunch of glaciers in the area, the most famous being Moreno. To get there, we hired a little taxi driver, whom we paid to drive us, and wait for three hours. Nice guy.

Anyway, Moreno is famous for quite a few reasons, not least being that its 60 metres high, and that every few minutes, a MASSIVE CHUNK WILL BREAK OFF AND CRASH INTO THE WATER BELOW, PROBABLY KILLING SOMETHING.

The view on the way there.

Its seriously massive. The photos don't really do it justice. You can see people in this photo, and they are still about two to three hundred metres away from the glacier.

They also call these guys Rivers of Ice, because the glacier's path is dictated by the mountains around it, like a river to the banks.

I tried to get an action shot.

Being there was awesome. The whole glacier creaks and groans as the ice continually shifts. And when the ice breaks, the noise is tremendous, like a massive cracking sound then a roar as it hits the water.

Buenos Aires

2006-01-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hanging out in San Telmo, which is kinda the touristy area, we were approached by a camera crew filming a documentary on digital photography.

Went a really famous cementary where all the famous argentinians are buried. Couldn't find Evita's grave, but the whole place was a amazing, full of statues and awesome architecture. Its called 'City of Angels', just because there are so many statues of angels.

This is just one of the statues in a busy intersection on the main road.

They have a load of professional dog walkers, you see them with up to a dozen dogs following.

Us wandering around. They city is spectactular by night.

The main street. City scenes.

I'm a bit disappointed with Buenos Aries. Admittedly, I had sky high expectations, but I found the city folk really unfriendly, the shopping a bit ho hum and the music wasn't so great at clubs and things. And the service! Mon Cherie! We would walk into stores, and people would just stare at us. Or we would go to pay for something, and would have to wait for ages while the store keeper finished chatting to their friends. And I went to a clothing store, and got told off for touching the clothes. Seriously. On the whole, the friendliest, nicest people were other foreigners.

In all fairness though, it is a beautiful city and the powerpoint plug things are the same as Australia´s which is kinda cool because I forgot to bring an adaptor.

Battle at the Boca Game

2006-01-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

These dudes love their football.

We went to the stadium at Mar Del Plata for the Boca Juniors Riverplate game. In the cab there, there, the cabbie asked what team we support. Everyone said Boca (they are the most popular team here) except for me, as I apparently support Riverplate. Anyway, turns out the Cabbie is a massive Riverplate fan, so he pretty much made fun of everyone else in the cab and kept giving me conspiring looks and things. Onimiously, he told us that Boca fans are 'loco' (crazy), and that we need to be careful about our cameras and wallets and things.

The capacity of the stadium is about 50,000, and it was a sold out game. The fans of the two teams are spilt up and have to enter through gates on opposite sides of the stadium to avoid fights.

It was pretty crazy just waiting in line. Everyone was cheering and stomping their feet. You really felt part of a mob. There were at least 50 riot police with sheild and batons herding people around. Our tickets were for the nose bleed section of the stadium, where the most passionate fans are. We were starting to feel a bit worried about pick pockets. Guys would openly eye our cameras and watches and stuff in the crowd and we tried to look out for one another. We got in with no incident though. The security was pretty bananas, they check pockets and inside bags.

Inside was amazing though. It's clear football is a religon for these guys. For near the whole time, they cheered, screamed anthems and chanted.

The photos don't really do the atmosphere justice. It was really crazy, a noisy mob focused on cheering their team to victory. I wanted to take more pictures, but I was worried about pick pockets.

Just after half time, a big bunch of Argentinians came up next to us. It seemed a bit weird, but we thought that they were just moving to get a better view.

Suddenly guys started grabbing us. They lunged at our wrists for watches and at our bags. I had no idea what was happening, Sheree was next to me, and we both suddenly fell down three or four stairs. I ended up on my shoulders, with my legs stuck on the ledge above me. Sheree was next to me, and a guy was grabbing for her bag. I turned and fought him off her, when a guy appeared above me, grabbing for my belt, where he thought my camera was. I kicked him in the face, and he disappeared. I got up, and helped Sheree up.

A circle had cleared around us, but no one moved. I looked around the crowd, but it was impossible to tell who was going to attack and who was just watching, everyone was wearing Boca jerseys.

I picked up Sheree and helped her up the stairs to the exit. We climbed the fence, and saw the rest of the guys talking to a whole line of riot police. We ran over.

The police didn't give a #### about us. They didn't help, nor did any of the other fans.

Luckily, noone lost anything, but it was clear they had been targeting us since we got there. They obviously knew who had what on them.

It was seriously crazy. It was a crowded stadium, halfway through a massive soccer game and these guys simply attacked us. They didn't even try to pick pockets, they just came swinging.

Anyway, heading back up to BA tomorrow.

It doesn't matte.

2006-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

Met the rest of the guys down in Mar Del Plata, which is cool. I haven't seen some of them in ages.

We went a native resturant where they serve a drink called "Matte", which is kinda like a complicated tea.

Ugs.

Stef.

Planning stuff.

uh. Dame.

Gee. I asked him to pose 'natural'.

Everyone.

The Fun Crusade. Mar Del Plata

2006-01-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

Got a flat tire on our way to Mar Del Plata. We pulled over, and searched the car for a spare, in the boot, under the passenger seat and under the car.

Luckily Ugs remembered who to call for help like this, so we gave them a call. They needed someone who could speak spanish though, so we flagged down these street kids. Watching them like an eagle (so they couldn't run off with the phone), they sorted stuff out for us.

We ended up waiting for ages.

Ugs sorting stuff out.

These are the two street or flag kids that helped us. There's lots of them hanging out on streets with flags and they kinda stand there and wave when there is a parking spot. But right next to the spot itself, so I'm not sure why they were born.

Kev helping the situation by standing around and plucking his nipple hairs out.

Eventually the dude turned up. With much angst, we explained the situation. He smiled popped the bonnet and there was the spare.
broken down car.

Mar Del Plata is a big city built around a beach. Argentinians flock to this place during the summer, and apparently the beach is one of the most crowded in the world.

There is a massive soccer game on Saturday night too, between the BOCA JUNIORS and RIVERPLATE. These are the two biggest teams in football crazy Argentina, and long time rivals. It´s suppose to be a friendly game, but apparently tensions between the teams means it'll be anything but. We drove to the stadium to find tickets but it's 50,000 capacity was sold out. We ended up finding this crazy local guy who was scalping tickets. We bought seven from him, for about $10 each.

I wanted to take a photo of him, so I asked him to pose for me.

I'm excited about the soccer game. Apparently every single match here is like the NRL grand finals, but times 100.

In Argentina, there is a famous brand of chocolate called Alphajora. Which is pronounced "Alpha w-h-o-r-e"... Clearly this is asking for trouble..

Ugurs licking his Alpha w-h-o-r-e.

Kev showing off his Alpha w-h-o-r-e.

The FUN Crusade. Pinamar.

2006-01-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

Pinamar, Buenos Aires.

A Fiat is a really small car, when you´ve got three guys and four back packs. It was a nice drive down though.

For the early part of the journey, I sat in the back seat, so I could take photos of people. This gumpy looking kid tried studiously to ignore me, until his mum came out. I yelled out "Ola!" and waved. The little kid was still a bit surly, but then his mum smacked him, and made him wave.

We also thought of a fun game. We would pick a random person, usually an mama cita on a bike, and whoever was driving had to follow her, while the rest competed to see who got the best photo - celebrity stalking style.

Kev pissing.

Ugur pissing.

Uh, Jesus just standing there.

Two horses cuddling after making sweet, sweet horse love.

Argentina is famous for steaks. I crept into a farm along the way, to take some pictures of these bad boys. I figured it was safe because they were chica cows, I wasn´t wearing red, and even if they do stampede, I do kick boxing.

Pinamar itself is kinda cool. It´s a small place a bunch of bars and restuarants nestled amongst, rather unexpectedly a bunch of car dealerships. Kinda what the fruit of the loins of Parramatta Road and Byron Bay would look like.

At about 11, we went out for dinner. I had a Beeftec, (a steak). It was nice, really cheap, but not mind blowing.

We went to a bar called ¨Blue Mango¨, where they were having a promotional party for KENT cigerettes. It was cool, the people were trendy, the music was good and the drinks were free. We thought of a fun game here too. We would say each say something to the locals in english, which sounds easy, but when you´re allocated phrases like ¨Can you smoke a cigerette through your ass?¨ it becomes much harder. Especially if you don´t know exactly how much english they understand.

After that we went to a club called KU. It was big.

All this foam started dropping from the ceiling.

Me and Ugs with and some how some chick got her ass in the photo too...

We told everyone that we were professional surfers from Australia.

It´s kinda weird being Asian here. The Argentinian population is very homogenous, you hardly see different nationalities around. It is especially weird being of Asian appearance, but from Australia. Most people don´t know what to make of you. Both Kev and I feel that people look at us funny here. Sometimes, they´ll even say ¨chino¨(chinese) to their friends as we walk pass. I don´t think it´s a racist thing, just different. I´m used to people looking at me funny, so I don´t mind, but it annoys Kev.

We left Ugur with his new senorita friends and Kev and I left KU at about 5 - 6 in the morning. As we were walking back, we heard some guy say ¨chino¨. So we stopped and turned around. It was this Argentinian guy, which about five of his friends. The guys here though, they are happy to say stuff, but won´t back it up. Or they are used to saying stuff to Asians who just let it slide.

Anyway, we stood there, amongst of crowd of Argeninian holiday makers and pointed at him and laughed. Loudly. And just yelled things directly at him while he looked rather embarrassed and studiously avoided eye contact. It was only until we were pointing directly at him (there was no way he could even pretend that he didn´t notice us) and yelling ¨YOU. COME HERE.¨that he even looked at us.

Mucho Gusto!

2006-01-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

I´m in Argentina!

Over the last few weeks, all I´ve heard from my friends have been how crazy this city is, and how stupidly fun going out is, so I was pumped and primed to do some serious damage...

After a fairly god awful flight, I arrived at Buenos Aires airport, to meet Kev and Ugur. They have been staying at the Milhouse, a hostel recommended by the Lonely Planet. Full of travellers, I ended up staying in a dorm room with seven strangers. It´s a cool place though, they have big tango lessons in the common room and every night, the notice board is filled with notes telling you what´s on. Kev and Ugur have been here a few nights, and they´ve befriended almost everyone here, and established a reputation for Australians. When I was signing in, they hesitated when they saw my Australian passport, and the calibre of people I was travelling with...

Buenos Aires itself is a beautiful city. The Spanish influence is apparent in the buildings and statues. The people are generally good looking and things are cheap.

That night we left the hostel at about 12 to go clubbing. We went to a place called Asia De Cuba, which is a upmarket sushi restuarant by day, but club by night. It was a private function though, and we were barred. Apparently this has never happened to them, and it was a harbinger for the rest of the night, which was spent wandering around, we would get somewhere, and it would close, or we wouldn´t like it or something.

(photo)

Anyway, Kev and Ugur were a bit shocked that the night had turned out like this. Apperantly though, during summer, all the locals head down to the coastal towns for the beaches and sun and the nightlife follows.

And so we decided to too. Tommorow, we would drive 400 kms through Argentinian country side in search of the perfect night out.

Leaving tomorrow

2006-01-10T05:44:00.000-08:00

I'M LEAVING TOMORROW AND I'M SO EXCITED I'M ABOUT TO MELT.

Fond Farewells

2006-01-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

So, spent the last few days saying good bye to friends and family. Here's some pics. I'm in every photo, but dammit, it was my farewell.

Alia, me and Lady Boshington.

Dom and Ninja Turtle.

Me and Lena.

Chicki Chan and Skippy.

Shaneez and me

Peeps.

Me and Phil, friend, world traveller and Chartered Accountant.

I'll miss everyone!

Lewd, Crude and Tattooed

2005-12-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Nicola spent 3.5 hours bent over, with a finger almost up her bum.... as she was getting her lower back tattooed.

It's a funny story but I'm also quite well chuffed because I did the design for her. Well, she gave me a series of Chinese characters that she wanted incorporated into her tattoo, and so I designed this:

The tattoo artiste though, had to change it so that it would "work on the body". This is what it ended up looking like.

Here's a detail pic:

If I don't say so myself, this is one of the coolest tattoos I've seen. I can't take all the credit though, it was a joint production between me, the tattoo artiste and Nicola's ass cleavage.

It's fun designing tattoos. I did one for Ivan a month ago. This is the final version of his:

I'm also rather keen on getting another myself. I went down to Inner Vision, in Surry Hills with a design I made. The tattoo guy however, was concerned that the lines were too close together and that over time, it would blur into a circle of ugliness.

I want the one in the middle, but it'll have to look more like the one on the left for it to work well.

Dunno. Still undecided. Rather uncharacteristically, I'll think about it a bit more before doing it.

Office Staff Party! Lawn Bowls!

2005-12-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

We had our staff Christmas party last Friday and we spent it playing barefoot lawn bowls. It is probably my last office CNET work function thing and like pretty much anything CNET related, it was lots of fun.

Nicola and Bosh.

We formed teams for lawn bowls. In a fit of unbridled creativity, I thought of the name "UnbelievaBOWL". Gold. And, I made hats for the team. This is Christian, the guy I sit next to everyday modelling.

Mun, Ella and I.

First up was UnbelivaBOWL versus some random team led by Haverty. After much trash talking, we pretty much embarassed them. Somehow, I got the black ball dead close to the white ball to help cement the win.

Diogo and I midway through a dance pose off. He's European...

Round the World

2005-12-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

So anyway, I decided a couple of weeks ago to go on a round the world trip...

Since then, I've quit my job, told my family, booked a ticket, bought a camera and a whole host of other niggly little things.

I'm leaving Sydney on the 11th of Jan and flying into Argentina to meet a bunch of friends. From there, I'll travel overland, via Uraguay, to Brazil and spend Carnivale in a little place called Salvador. Apparently is a much better place than Rio for Carnivale, cheaper, less commercial and more fun. After that, I'll be on my own, heading down to Peru, to see Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and then down to La Paz in Bolvia.

From then on, I'm not really sure what's happening, but I've booked a ticket to London where I'll try find a job and travel around Europe.

After that, I've got a ticket to Spain, Egypt and back to London. Then, as a grand finale, I'll touch down in India and South Korea before making my way back to Sydney...

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. Mildly apprehensive, it feels a bit like jumping off into the ether, but I figure I just have to trust that things will turn out well. It'll be an adventure in any case.