http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/thecrashpacker/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from thecrashpacker en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:22:14 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:22:14 +0000 ''Maybe this basement was bricked up in the War'' I suggested.The backstage area of the Social Club in the Montmartre is a oddshaped angledwalled tiny basement that would have been a useless place to store anything. Upstairs the club was pounding its stylish house music and downstairs escaping with me was American Benjamin with his thick artstudent glasses and the two girls from East Berli http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-447059.html England is a strangely backward place where people say ''Nice Day'' even if it is raining.The English invented the rules for every major sport yet rarely win any international awards football tennis even cricket.We despise foreign places even though we had an empire that circled the globe today the most popular dish is an Indian invention of Chicken Tikka Masala. The English never say wha http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Herefordshire/Hereford/blog-445453.html I don't have a crystal ball. But in ten years time I bet we won't be racing the world around on cheap flights.Lets all cross our fingers and hope that the price of oil goes back up and keeps going skyward.For the good of the world and our kids lets hope 'Budget Flights' are just a silly passing fad.'Pay peanuts and you'll get monkeys' is the old saying I paid peanuts for my flight and monkeys http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-425697.html Alcohol aids appreciation of art . We queued for 3 hours with a couple of cans of local cider it seemed appropriate as Bristol is the home of scrumpy and Bristol is the home of everyones favourite street artist Banksy.In the queue his name was in the air like tropical mosquitos'Banksy...buzzbuzzbuzz... Banksy...buzzbuzz... Banksy' The waiting crowd teenage students with backpacks little ki http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Bristol-County/Bristol/blog-425813.html 50 pence just bought me a copy of 'South East Asia on a Shoestring' by Tony Wheeler.Its not the original guide but a 1981 updateThe first thing that is striking is the limits of the book we're not going to Cambodia Vietnam or Laos these countries were all fighting at this time and were seriously offlimits. And Communist China No chanceIn Tony's words ''If you want to carry on towards Eu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-415796.html No you're not on the passenger list. said the checkin guy stuck his bottom lip out and leaned back in his seat as if he was going back to sleep.Zanzibar airport desks are little more than corroding wooden desks set against the side of the road with scruffy faded signs advertising defunct plane companies and a chalk board to list the departures. The board had yesterdays date at the top. And http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Mount-Kilimanjaro/blog-401375.html NoHo SoHo Tribeca NoLita New Yorkers love their geographical acronyms NoHo north of Houston SoHo south of Houston Tribeca the triangle below Canal Street NoLita north of Little Italy...Maybe it's because the rest of their city is boringly streetnamed we were staying on the corner of 1st Avenue and 1st Street... I mean come on Think of something more original So the little http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-399366.html I live in a country where if you drive in a straight line for 3 hours chances are you'll end up in the sea. England is a small island and we're not used long journeys in fact Brits are pretty suspicious of large distances because we don't have any The looks on people faces when i told them we were going to the Alps on a coach veered from a stare that said 'That will hurt you absolute fools' http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Rh-ne-Alpes/Chamonix/blog-395264.html Londons Burning Rioters close down the City Mob Smashes Bank This i had to see so I strolled up to the front of a line of riot police and asked the copper how i could get the 149 bus to London Bridge. Breaking through the angry mob wasn't hard a straggling line of scruffy students trendy looking folk and the odd outoftown hippie with dirty dreads and dull combat trousers. All standing aro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-387016.html Seasonaires are an odd bunch. Bright young things following their dreams to the mountians and spending six months of winter working in menial jobs so they can be there every day skiiing or snowboarding.How amazing it must be back home to announce to your friends and family 'I'm off to do a season eh' How great it looks to us as we arrive in our chalet and they tell us tales of 'last weeks http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Rh-ne-Alpes/Les-Arcs/blog-383899.html Last run of the day fading light a quick joint and then drop into untouched snow between dark green trees. Powder fizzes as your board cuts over it and we were riding fast snaking tight blind corners through trees.Fizz Turn Swoosh Cut my stomach was up in my throat gripped in concentration as me and Oli raced down the dense forest.Oli shot off to the left i took a right hand swerve a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-371464.html Hitting the peak of Kilimanjaro is a shock a relief and an ecstatic rush all rolled into one.The orange horizon burned my eyes after hiking for 6 hours in the dark my fingers were frozen lips ripped apart from the wind and sand. My boots weighed ten times what they did when we set off 5 days before my head was throbbing from the thin air up here.But still it was amazing. Having trekked through http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Mount-Kilimanjaro/blog-364874.html There she is. Standing firm through the thin blanket of clouds over the African planes a great big square chunk of rock dumped in the middle of Africa. Kilimanjaro viewed from my airplane window looks amazing.The cloud line is barely halfway up the slopes and she looks a barren lunar wasteland above with hardly any snow covering or vegetation.I'm going to climb that ME Am i sureSurely there http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Mount-Kilimanjaro/blog-359589.html Heaven had no ski lifts. Heaven had no piste maps queues or cafes.But Heaven did have a dull groaning grinding Bulgarian Army Tank. It was a roaring metal dragon that broke the silence of the dark green forest with its black smoke fumes and crunching tracks that clunked and bashed through the footdeep snow.Perelik Mountain March 1997part I part II Heaven lies on the border of Bulgari http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-354190.html part1 The map arrived on a cold dark wet London morning in January. The map was a glowing ray of adventure and mystery on a cold dark wet London morning.An Adventure that would see me facing death in a cold dark snowy paradise.Bulgaria March 1997They say that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one small step but that's not true a journey starts long before a shoe is tied bef http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-350455.html The shiny silver metal drill bit pushed against my right leg pressing into the skin just below my knee and the burly Bulgarian doctor turned his face to me and cheerfully said 'Radio Musica Yes'Bulgaria March 1997Looking around the room at the cracked paint the box of tools of on the floor and its wide window with a view of the crisp blue sky and the tops of the dusty mountains i was su http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-346811.html So I flew to a country that was Engaged in a border war with its neighbour Cambodia A terrorist insurgency in the south muslim extremists set off bombs almost daily httpafp.google.comarticleALeqM5h6FC576282bpOmKZwOXl25yEYGQ Has an opposition party causing riots in the capital and attempting to overthrow the government to instal http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-343227.html She sits there so refined and drinks herself halfblind She lost her youth and she lost her Tony Now she's lost her mind I'm staring into the face that sunk a thousand sailors.In this town pleasure is a 24hour business and Nikky is the Anita Roddick of the Pleasure Business. A wideeyed queen of capitalism whose shop 'Nikky Massage' http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Phuket/blog-342730.html This one isn't in your guide book.Strolling though the night market of Siam Reap passing over the bangles and tshirts that are the same in every market in asia and the smokey barbeque stands I spot a sign.'3D Cinema'This cinema is only a small building a room squashed in the corner with a straw booth outside and a woman holding a list of the shows. Hourly showings of ''the Horrors of PolPot' http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-340716.html Cambodia is boiling. On the dirty dusty Poipet border the heat rises in Siam Reap buildings are bubbling up from the jungle big shiny 5star palaces. Crowds steam and churn around the ancient towers of Angor Wat as the sunrises the noise is intense as voices from all over the world cackle and chat and click digital cameras at the sun brings its heat to the day.The TukTuk Touts in the town http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-340712.html