Welcome to Miami

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What a welcome change it was when we got out of the airport and drove to Miami Beach. Hot sun, palm trees and a wide beach that stretched for miles. I'd been a bit put off by stories of crime before arriving - we even considered - changing dates to spend less time there - but now we were here I was glad to have the best part of four days to kick back and relax.

And that's mostly what we did.

The hostel we stayed in was in real need of a refurb, in fact it's the only place I've stayed so far that I could have any gripes with. The room was manky and the mossies swarmed around the stairwell and made their way into our room each time the door was open. Most of them became well acquainted with the underside of my shoe, but some of the buggers fed on me. We had a constant flow of room-mates, from a guy from Leeds who was a good laugh to Paulo, the campest person I've ever met (and that's no mean feat when you consider that I've worked in the music industry!). Paulo didn't stay the night (thank god!!) - his constant innuendo was leading him ever closer to meeting the same fate as the mossies that I'd managed to catch up with. We also met a guy called Warren who was either a conman or a successful businessman that chose to stay in manky hostels when he came into town. He said he ran a tradings option company that was doing really well. I actually believe him, but I'm not prepared to trust my money to anybody but myself right now.

So, back to Miami. The temperature was mainly mid to high 20s and we were a stone's throw from South Beach. I'm not able to rank the beach as I haven't been to many, but Dan, the guy from Leeds, reckons it would be in the world's top ten. The only problem was the sand, which was nice, but a little too grainy to run around on comfortably (an essential part of any amateur frisbee player's day). As I'm not a sunbather, this only left swimming in the lukewarm water and checking out women in bikinis, which I am, of course, far too much of a gentleman to do. Ahem...

We explored a fair bit of Miami Beach on foot and the Deco District is nice, if not spectacular. We walked the length of Ocean Drive, (which you can't actually see the Ocean from) and I 'impressed' Arf and James with my lyrical prowess when we realised that Collins Avenue was in fact A1A - BEACHFRONT AVENUE! Ice Ice Baby.

The downside of Miami Beach was the prices. Everything was as dear as London, especially the drinks. We also didn't manage to find a good bar or club where we could go without being charged astronomical entry prices or the place being dead. Perhaps it was time of year or not knowing the best places (although I did ask the locals). There is wealth in Miami Beach and I think that the nightlife there is the domain of the Gucci crowd, not the (by now manky) backpacker.

Arf and I went for a 3 mile run on the beach. A bit of exercise was good, but with all the walking before then I've given myself some lovely blisters. This was the perfect excuse to plot up in an Irish bar and watch the Chelsea v Liverpool first leg end 0-0. Not the best game and not the result I had predicted. In fact, I'm so far behind with this travelblog that I know that Liverpool have gone through and Chelsea are champions. Arthur is made up about Liverpool and we now have to find a place that will be open at silly o'clock to watch the final, when we get to Hong Kong.

The last thing to let you know about was the Florida Everglades. For $39 we got transport to and from the place, as well as a 45 minute airboat tour and an alligator show which was good fun. I wanted to wrestle the big alligator, but he wouldn't let me. There are photos here which do the talking much better than I can. Enjoy.

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