Can you believe?

This city is experiencing a heatwave... AND ALL THE FANS ARE SOLD OUT!!! :( I've checked Argos and Robert Dyas. How is it possible for a city to run out of fans in a heatwave?? Have you ever walked into a store and noticed empty shelves where fans should be?!? Ridicurous!!!

Home Sweet(ish) Home

It's great to have our own place :) I love my new place. I will resist making complaints about the lack of building standards, broken appliances, dirtiness and psychotic/cheap oriental landlord. I love my new place!

The windows up the top are our apartment :)

OMFG

It's moving day today. That is, it's 1:30am now, and I'm moving in 7 hours. I'm packing all my stuff up. Holy shit. If only I knew 3 months ago what I'd have to lug with me all over the place (from the West to the East back to the West), I'd left half my stuff in Sydney. 9kgs of singlet tops. No, it's true, I really didn't need to bring that many over. 5kgs would've sufficed. Even if Rondon is experiencing a heatwave. Wtf was I thinking when I bought another singlet top from H&M the other day? I must resist those 5 quid sales!!! If you're moving countries, I also advise you to leave the rice cooker at home. It doesn't matter if your friend's work is shipping things over and you can sneak it in for free. Same goes for the doona/duvet. It's nice to have, but when you're having to lug things around, LEAVE IT IN SYDNEY. *Raaarh*... And if any friend tries to give you helpful things to take with you, REFUSE. Potpurri warmers made out of rice are a nice gesture, but RICE IS HEAVY.

I spy with my little eye, 6 mossies eagerly anticipating the taste of my sweet blood. They're roosting on the ceiling *shudder* And I hear one of them flying around. I'm not going to sleep tonight...

Inside every Fat Person

... is the Skinny Person that got eaten!

Mygawd, I've never seen such a nation of fatties before. I _am_ SCARED. I'm not talking about the Heathrow Injection syndrome. I'm talking about the grossly overweight people I see everywhere in Rondon! Scarily overweight. I think it has to do with the poor quality of produce here. People just don't know how to eat properly, or eat fresh food. So much stuff is pre-packaged. The first time I got a sandwich for lunch, I almost puked because there was sooo much mayo in it. I've avoided sandwiches ever since. On every main street, there's a Pret, an Eat, an Ask, a Pizza Express - all chain stores! Believe it or not, even Wagamama is popular here. I've been so spoilt for choice in Sydney, that I seriously have issues finding something to eat at lunch. It's really not hard to see why there are soo many ginormous people here. I've never worried about gaining 10 dress sizes before... until now. Hrm, think I'll get some weighing scales when B and I move out.

*Pant* *pant* *pant*... DozZze... Melt...

This heat... It's stifling and killing me. I can't escape it! The tube is the worst. I never understood why people hated the tube so much. That's because, before now, I was always in Rondon as a tourist! I never got onto packed tubes in 30 degree heat! Now every morning, I dread it. No ventilation, no aircon. The evenings are worse, everyone's trying to get home. Everyone squishes onto the tube. No room to move. My friend calls it "smelly armpit time" *yuck*.

You know how it's always freezing in Sydney office environments? How I wish that was the case here... No aircon in my office :( I have a -desk fan-... I'm in a heatwave, and there's no aircon. My lunch breaks are in a park, no aircon. I travel in the tube, no aircon. The only aircon I got today, was at Tesco. I didn't want to leave the refrigerated juice section :( So sad.

Space Invaders!

One of the first games I ever played... Ahh, back in the days of Atari :) I caught this on BoingBoing, it's amazing:

It's a project by a group called NOTsoNOISY, and they made a 3min video of human space invaders :) YouTube video here.

3 Months

3 months is:
... 1/4 year or
... 1 trimester or
... 1 work probation period or
... 1st milestone in a relationship or
... the time passed since I left Sydney.

Yes, I do have a job. Hrm, that's all I'm going to say about it. I really don't want to rant about work in this blog. The more time I spend in Rondon, the more I realise I didn't really come here for the work opportunities. It's more about lifestyle and travel for me.

It's been a hard 3 months. Made slightly easier by having close friends and PIMMS around. Everybody tells you it's easy. Finding a job is easy. Finding a place to live is easy. Money is easy. Wrong wrong wrong. I haven't found anything _that_ easy in Rondon. Even picking up my bankcard was hard. Getting my bankcard was like entering the Twilight Zone. You're told to go to a floor. On the floor, there's a room. Nobody's there. So you enter, and sit, and wait. Other people start filtering in, each instinctively sitting down in the room with you. You all wait together, not saying a word, remembering your place in the queue. Who's before you? Who's after you? Not really knowing what to do. Eventually someone comes and gets you. They give you a 5 minute fast-talking spiel about paying more to upgrade your card. You decline the offer, get your card and get out of there as fast as possible.

The one constant that's always made my day brighter, is my tech-savvy Mum :) When I was unemployed, she'd log onto Gmail Chat and keep me entertained for hours. Well, the hours outside of "Home and Away" anyway. I'll never regret teaching my Mum how to use email 6 years ago (I wrote her an 8 page document with step-by-step instructions and screenshots). Now she emails, Googles, SMS's and chats online constantly! Next step is to set her up with a webcam :)

I <3>

This evening B and I signed a lease and picked up keys. We move in on Saturday. One step closer to normality :)

Guess who, don't sue!

This sexy beast wanted to know the best way to package his package ;)

The Fattening

Time: 1230 - Ping Pong Dim Sum (it's not called Yum Cha here). This has to be the trendiest yum cha place I've ever been to. Where else serves cocktails at yum cha? The atmosphere was almost club-like, and it felt a bit odd being there during the day. The food was good, but a bit on the pricey side for yum cha. Gawd, I'm not converting because it's just crazy thinking about how much was spent on yum cha. Worth going because it's a classy place :) Although, we were more intrigued by the tea balls that unfurled into blossoms when left in hot water, than the trendy delicacies. Thanks for organising, Niffies! *muah*

Time: 1700 - Maison Blanc with Jamie :) I can't believe it's taken us 2.5 months to meet up in Rondon! I'm glad that I finally got to take Jamie to my fave cake shop. I was VERY relieved when the chocolate creme brulee cake met her high standards *grin*

Time: 1800 - We headed across the street to Pierre Marcolini! (Getting there took 30 seconds, figuring out where the place was took 5 minutes *grin*) YUMMO! Ganaches, pralines, cocoas, truffles... *drool* We split five chocs between the two of us - we had to save room for dinner after all ;)

The Venezuela 72% bitter was my favourite, followed by the Couer Framboise heart, then the Caraibe ganache, then finally the Truffe du Jour. From the counter, these sell at GBP$75 per kilo! Good thing it was Jamie's turn to treat! Hehe :)

Time: 1930 - Cantonese style roast duck at Four Seasons. Good thing we'd booked, because the place was packed out. At Four Seasons, if you don't share a table, you'll probably spend a couple of hours waiting to eat. The duck was a bit disappointing as it was the fattiest duck I've ever eaten. Although deboned, I spent a lot of time scraping off the fat between the skin and the meat :( I think I've hit the limit of fat my heart can tolerate. We all agreed that the sauce was great, but the duck itself needs work! I'd stick a picture of the duck here, but my photography skills made the duck look revolting :( If Steven has a better pic, I'm stealing it :)

I can't wait for our next outing Ms K! Hehehee :)

Edit 16072006: Here's Steven's roast duck pic!

Some things I just don't get

Topping my list:

Modern love stories

I really don't understand why this movie was raved about by so many. I've just wasted two hours of Super Mario Brothers Nintendo DS time on watching this movie. Yes, it's a love story, but it's so bland. Do people like it better because Audrey Tautou plays a meaningless part in it and it's in French? What kept me entertained was that part of it was shot in Rondon, so I was always trying to figure out where the locations were (it's like spotting Sydney streets in the Matrix :P). Nothing surprising about the storyline at all.

1) Man turning 30, can't find true love.
2) Sleeps around, finds perfect girl, but then cheats on her with a model *shock*
3) Perfect girl forgives man, the end.

And with those 3 lines folks, I've just ruined the movie for you and saved you some money/bandwidth :P Ugh.

Here's another movie that friends of mine have recommended as a "must watch" (you know who you are ;) ):

*Double UGH* I watched it on the plane mainly because I couldn't sleep and I had already seen Brad Pitt's nekid and buffed torso in Troy 3 times :D Friends who enjoyed Closer, couldn't understand why I hated it so much. The movie was apparently a very *real* representation of what relationships are like in real life o_O Let's not go there. I grinded my teeth in frustration through most of the movie and almost ripped the armrests off the plane in impatience.

Then again, those close to me have called me a Hater of all things *grin* And the same people have frequently mocked my retarded taste for Spaghetti Arms. But I guess, it's like my Wuv Muffin keeps telling me, "Taste is like an a**hole, everyone's got one".

Russian Dolls: 2 stars. Like I said, I could've better spent the time playing Super Mario Bros.

"proud owner of napisan"

You might've noticed that on my Gmail status yesterday :) You're probably thinking I'm nuts to get excited about Napisan. As one friend emailed me and said, "I know why I have a big 2kg tub of napisan in my laundry - but I don't think that you'd have a half-dozen wee and poo soaked nappies to wash each day . . . so why the importance of owning napisan?"

WELL, do you know how hard it is to get whites whiter in the UK? No household should be without Napisan! I have a coffee stained cream-coloured hoodie. It's been stained for weeks. I was finally able to soak it in Napisan last night :D Even though 1kg of Napisan set me back 6 squiddies (approx AUD$15), it's bloody worth it.

To all the Aussies out there, who live in Rondon and know where I'm coming from - you can get Napisan from the Australia Shop at Maiden Lane, Covent Gardens. To be honest, I stumbled upon the shop because I was lost trying to get to Longacre Road from Chinatown :P

*reenie hugs her 1kg tub of napisan* ^_^

Pissplona Part II

This is the city at approximately 6am, 2 hours before the run starts. Crowded already! We're waiting at the entrance to Plaza de Toro, where the bulls end up after the run. B and I scored a top spot, sitting atop a barrier.
Unfortunately, we're sitting on top of the wrong barrier. Nobody tells you these things. I really wonder why nobody's blogged much about what San Fermin is like. Or why there aren't many details around on what goes on, on the morning of the run.

Where to sit:
------------------
To the left of the photo, where the old man is sitting, is the first barrier. If we had thought about it more, we would've realised at the start that this is the wrong place to sit. Considering this is the barrier that leads the bulls to the stadium, and you could easily fall off into the path of the bulls, this is definitely the wrong place to sit. Which is a shame, because we had a great spot that had a view of everything. To the right of the barrier, where the person with the green hoodie is sitting, is the correct place to be. It's the second barrier, and where B and I ended up crouching at the dirty bottom, peering between muddy feet. Between the two barriers is a No-Man's-Land strip. Policia in shexy red berets actively patrol this area before and during the run to keep spectators out.

Spot the toro!

Yup, that's as good as my shots get of the bull run. My one picture of the running bull! And you can't even tell it's a bull, it looks more like a dairy cow! *lol*

Okay, so if you're not up for battling the crowds to watch the run, here are your other options:

Option 1:
------------
The afternoon before the run, you can buy EU$5 tickets from the ticketbox outside the stadium to be inside the stadium itself the next morning. You won't see the bulls run through town, but you will see the runners and the bulls finish the run in the stadium. From what I saw on the big screen, it looked like a good option to consider.

Option 2:
-------------
Go to the main square and watch the whole thing on the big screen. Not as exciting, but you'll probably get the best view of the entire run. Here are some pix of the screen when the replays were on:

Yes, people do get trampled during the run. Although from what I can tell, runners are given a good head start (there were plenty of people walking and standing around at the entrance to the stadium), it pays to take the run seriously. If you do fall, stay on the ground and cover your head!

Option 3:
-------------
Spend a bastard load of money, and get a balcony seat. Plenty of apartments overlooking the bull run. However, I'd hate to think how much it costs to be up there. We tried to look it up, but the agency was closed, so I can't tell you prices.

What else:
---------------
You can also get tickets to see a bull show (different from a bull fight). Tickets go on sale in the afternoon, at the ticketbox outside the stadium. It's definitely worth seeing. Competing teams from Navarra and Valencia score points by doing tricks with the bulls and trying to hook rings onto the horns. It's amazing watching them jump over a charging bull! Here's a blurry pic:
It's also amazing how stupid some people can be. What exactly does one expect to happen after getting down on all fours and putting on a full-faced mask infront of a snorting, angry bull?
Of course he got hit by the bull! Which just caused total chaos, as everyone jumps into the ring and tries to distract the bull from goring the guy to death! Well, I was entertained. Most of the time, I was cheering for the bulls.

Bull fight tickets:
-----------------------
Before I went to Pamplona, I approached one website and requested a quote for reserving a bull fight ticket. I was given a quote of EU$329.22 for ONE ticket. Errr, suuure why not, it's just spare change for me :P In reality, tickets to bull fights go on sale from the ticketbox at the stadium from 830pm everyday. The tickets are for fights scheduled for 6pm the next day. Tickets range in price from EU$20-EU$100+, depending on where you want to sit. Otherwise, you can also get tickets from the scalpers loitering around in the same area, for about EU$20 on top of cost price.

Unidentified Flying Objects:
---------------------------------------
When in the bull ring, beware:

I didn't get hit, but someone else did ;)

I guess there's just one more thing:
-------------------------------------------------
If you're an oriental girl, try to take a male companion with you on trips like this. It won't stop the "konichiwa" calls, but it will stop the guys from approaching you and hounding you for pictures. Either that, or learn real fast to swear in a foreign language and grow a thicker skin.

That's probably enough about Pamplona from me. If you want to see the full set of pix I took, go here.

Oh, here's what happens to you when you pass out on the streets and your friends hate you :)

Brought to you by the letter "PEE"

They might as well rename Pamplona to Peetown during the San Fermin festival. Imagine packing thousands upon thousands of rowdy tourists into one city. Add plenty of booze, and no public toilets, guess what you're left with?

I blame Hemingway for turning what could've been a well kept travel secret into a public urinal the size of a small city. El encierros are actually held across many towns in Spain during the fiesta period. What makes Pamplona special, and why everyone goes there, is because it's the setting of a famous running of the bulls scene in Hemingway's novel, "The Sun Also Rises". Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll break this blog into 2 parts, and try to make it as informative as possible for those considering going to the event. It's actually quite hard to find information on what to do, how to get there, etc.
When:
---------
San Fermin is on for 9 days every year. It runs from the 6th-14th of July. The actual running of the bulls event starts on the 7th July.

What to wear:
-------------------
Red and white are the theme colours. Whilst not compulsory, it's more fun to dress in red and white and be one with the community. I got to use my top from Sensation White last weekend :P Red scarves from roadside stalls and shops will set you back about EU$5 to EU$10. Don't pay tourist prices. We got ours from a supermarket for EU$1.95, and Zara was selling red scarves for EU$2.95.

Getting there:
-------------------
Getting to Pamplona is a lot harder than it looks. Most people take an Easyjet flight to Bilbao, then catch a bus or rent a car and drive to Pamplona. The driving takes about 4 hours. If you're looking at land travel from a major city, it's about a 4 hour train ride from Madrid, and a 6 hour train ride from Barcelona. B and I caught a flight from Madrid to Pamplona. The flight takes about an hour, but you have to fly Iberia, which is both expensive and never on time. Still beats catching a bus or train though. I guess it depends on your preferences. Catching a plane still means you have to wait around in transit a lot, but the getting to the destination itself is less painful.

Accomodation:
---------------------
I can't emphasise this enough - plan accomodation at least 6 MONTHS ahead if you're going to a Spanish fiesta. We were lucky to be able to score accomodation in Pamplona, even though we had started planning in May. There are not many hotels or hostels in Pamplona and every place we had called up was booked out. A lot of people camped out in parks and by the road. We ended up at the Holiday Inn Express, and I can't describe how deliriously ecstatic I was about paying EU$200 for a room when I saw the condition people sleeping in the park were in. SO, always plan at least 6 months ahead for accomodation at a Spanish fiesta. After La Tomatina fell apart on me a couple of years ago, I thought 1 month advance planning would be enough - it's not. Re: Holiday Inn Express, it's a nice enough 3 star hotel, but it's a bit far from the town centre. Buses took half an hour to get there, and only came every hour. I do suggest renting a car if you're going to stay there.
Itinerary:
------------
Plan your itinerary well. B and I overnighted in Madrid on Friday, then took the 625am flight on Saturday to Pamplona. By the time we got into the town centre, it was 8am, and the partying had stopped. People were passed out in the park, and the town smelt like an open sewer. The good thing is, the city expects this and spends the entire morning cleaning out the mountains of trash and hosing down the streets. The bad thing is, the pee smell still lingers and nothing's open at 8am in the morning. It was hard for us to find breakfast at that time. We did stumble across a delicious bakery called Taberna in an alleyway though. Thank gawd, good coffee and warm pastries made me forget what it was like just outside the door. I'm serious, the city isn't a pleasant place to be on a Saturday morning. It's not just the smell, it's also the numerous lecherous drunkards that bother you. Young oriental girls will always attract stares and comments from drunk European boys.

If I had to do Pamplona again, I would:
- Arrive in the evening (less smell and trash);
- Buy a ticket to a bullfight from a scalper (tickets normally sell out the day before and scalpers apparently only charge EU$10-20 more);
- Watch the bullfight at 630pm;
- Party a bit;
- Go back to the hotel and get some sleep;
- Watch the running of the bulls at 8am;
- Leave Pamplona.

It's really not a town that's nice to spend too much time in. It's honestly the skankiest town I've been to in Europe.

Here endeth Part I. Tomorrow, more details on tickets, where to stand, what the bull run is about, and what else there is to do in Pamplona.

*yawn*

It's 3:19am... Left Pamplona at 6:20pm, arrived in Madrid at 8:30pm, arrived back in Rondon at 12:30am, arrived at Victoria station at 2:00am, arrived home at 3:00am... Now I'm wondering, where's my dang pillow? :( Having been sleep deprived since Friday, I'm a bit irritated that my pillow is missing :(

New Posting Rules

Due to crappy spammers and cowardly anons, I'll be moderating comments on my blog from now on. If you're posting a comment, make sure you leave a name. Otherwise, I'm deleting it :P

Here today...

Netherlands the next :) Can you believe the flight to Amsterdam only takes 45mins? Not even enough time to drink a hot hot chocolate, that's for sure. Sadly, it's probably the last time I'll get to hang out with Ula and Wilco in Delft for a looong time :( I'm really going to miss you guys. After all, who's going to take me to eat...

... anus flavoured ice-cream? *GRiN*

Thanks for all the great Dutch memories guys ^_^

SEN-SA-TION!

A Sold Out event. When I say "sold out", I'm not referring to how tens of thousands of tickets were sold out in a matter of hours. I'm talking about:
- Charging people 50EU cents for the toilets. What? I paid EU$60 for my ticket! Why do I have to pay for the toilets? At least the toilets stayed clean throughout the night, I guess. And I did manage to get out of paying for the toilets by ignoring the ladies who stood outside demanding money.
- Refusing people to let them keep the water bottles after forking out EU$4. Disgraceful! Events in Netherlands seriously need to re-think the way they do things. Water should be supplied for FREE after you've bought the initial bottle.
- Then there's the blatant marketing worked into the theme of the night. The theme was "Dreams" (well, I think it was, the narrative was pretty irritatingly dumb), and what flashed up on the giant screens was a "dream" of a lady seductively licking a popsicle. Minutes later, people from Streets are selling the same popsicle on the dancefloor.

Pros: Seeing thousands of people in a stadium all dressed in white was amazing. Having space to dance on the dancefloor was wonderful.

Cons: To be honest, I didn't really like the music, or the theme that much. Although the sound system was good, something about it was wrong. All I could hear was the backbeat, and if that's all you hear, it makes the music boring. Then there's the annoying MC dressed as the joker... *UGH* He spoke absolute crap all the way through, and put fish bowls on random people's heads. Gawd, they must've spent a lot of money on the pyrotechnics and didn't have much left for hiring a better MC :P

It was worth going to Sensation just for the experience, but, I don't think I'll be back. Here's a tip for those who want to go next year. If you miss out on a ticket, there are plenty of people with spare tickets outside the stadium on the night. Including myself. I was lucky however, and managed to sell my ticket at cost price. If you're thinking of earning big bucks by selling Sensation tix at inflated prices, don't. There's too much supply and not enough demand for tickets. Here's some pix from the night:

Just outside Amsterdam ArenA

First glimpse inside the stadium... And that's only half of the stadium in the photo!

Topless chick in a bathtub

Dawn in the stadium. If you look closely at the tiny figure in the middle, at the top of the massive podium, that's Ferry Corsten!

Fuerza Bruta

"Brute Force"

The people who did De La Guarda, have put together a new performance called Fuerza Bruta. It's fantastic! I really regret not having seen De La Guarda when it was showing in Sydney, as friends say it is the better show. However, I was still impressed by Fuerza Bruta. Here are some pix I took from the website:

The only thing I didn't like was having to crane my neck to look up for the majority of the show. If you get the chance, make sure you watch it.

Entertainment: 5 stars.
Originality: 5 stars. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it before.
Music: 4 stars. Live DJ playing groovy beats. Couldn't help but bop along.
Overall: 4.5 stars. I wouldn't mind going again, just to stand closer to the middle and get a better view of things.

Rondoners, you can get your tix from here.

Don't you wish...

... your DS was HAWT like mine?

Dontcha! ;) It's very stealthy. Turn of the lights, and you won't see much besides the awesome glowing screen... Black baby, only available in Europe!

"Ma-ri-o!"

It's my first real treat to myself since I've been here *happy sigh*