W00t W00t! Yup, Dance Valley's still as cool as I remembered it 5 years ago :) At least this time, I made it to Armin's set *lol* And this time, WE WERE FLUFFIED UP! Don't ask where the fluff came from... (Nobody likes Bert very much anyway *grin*)
A couple of months ago, I received an email from my brother along the lines of, "Hey... I was back in Sydnery for New Year's, and watching a trance video clip (Armin, I think?) at a friend's place. Your face suddenly popped up onto the 1m widescreen TV!"
After that, I couldn't resist getting a copy of the Armin Only DVD *lol* So here I am in one of my fleeting dance moments captured on DVD :)
(Good thing my underarms were shaven)
It's funny, but I never thought that I'd reach the end of my must-do event list in Europe after only 5 years. Here's the list: :: Dance Valley (the start of it all in 2004); :: Global Gathering (my first UK festival, literally hours after I landed in Heathrow); :: Valkana Beach (where there was no beach but instead a mountain racetrack in a little village! If you want to know more, I can forward you the email I wrote up at the time); :: *deep voice* SEN-SA-TIONWHITE (back in the Ula&Wilco days :) ); :: VariousArminOnlyevents; :: PvD & GrooveArmada @ Amsterdam Dance Event; :: O2Wireless @ Hyde Park :: Space Opening @ Ibiza :: SW4 @ Clapham :: Nature One (Mine and B's first camping festival!)
The last and most recent on my list, Trance Energy just a couple of weeks ago :) That's when it occurred to me, "HEY! This is it! I've done all the events that I've wanted to do!" *grin*
Armin (who else?) @ Trance Energy:
On the 11th July this year, it comes full-circle as I head back to 15 years of Dance Valley with B. Join us! Join us! This is the festival that started me on the path of global DJ hunting :)
Today, I finally settled the bill. So, what's the approx damage per person?
Ticket for Burning Man = £168.00 Flights LHR -> SFO return = £692.70 RV hire = £292.42 Petrol = £42.38 Safeway groceries = £62.81 Misc stuff for RV & trip = £49.01 Biiiicycle, biiiicycle (BMX!) = £30.00 Headlamps = £9.82 RV cleaning/washing = £11.90 Misc glow-in-the-dark gear = £7.09
Grand Poobah Total of... *DRUM ROLL*... £1366.13!!
Worth every penny :) Honestly, I had such an amazingtime, and saw so muchstuff. It's done and I'll never regret it. I look back, and I still can't believe it. Can't put a price on that feeling.
Lets go back in time a bit. I remember about a decade ago, I use to snicker at the "old folks" in clubs. The weird ones who look like they should be at home watching the telly with a cuppa.
Fast forward to present day. I'm at an exclusive Brighton-residents-only festival thrown by Fatboy Slim :) The sun is out! I'm smiling as I dance. I accidentally catch the eye of a guy, so I do what I normally do when caught in a staring competition with randoms.
Me: "Hello!" *wave*
And I keep dancing.
That was the end of my peaceful dancing as every so often the guy comes back to chat. Which I would've loved if he was hot... and didn't look like a pimply 15 year old!!! That's almost HALF my age :(
Oooh yeah, Grandma's still got it baby. I'm a Cougar *rrr-eow* *claw* *claw*
The festival is all-ages. The security's so lax I spot 14 year olds (max) with beer exchanging drugs. Bit scary.
Throughout the day, Toy Boy returns to make conversation. Toy Boy: "Where are you from?" Me: "China." (Not really interested to go through the whole stupid scene of ignorant people disbelieving the possibility of orientals existing in a land of kangaroos and Elle Macphersons) Toy boy: "Which part?" Me: *uggh* "Guang xu" Toy boy: "Are you having a good time?" Me: *double uggh* *I stick my thumb up* gooooo away... Toy boy: "Why didn't you come and dance with me? I told myself I'm going to dance with you before I leave."
What I wanted to say: "SHOOOOO CHILD! Go play with your wittle fwends!! I'm old enough to have given birth to you (and trust me, in this country it's a realistic scenario)."
What I said: "Look, I'm dancing with my mates. Do you mind moving on?"
Finally, he takes the hint and leaves me alone. I feel like I should be at home watching telly with a cuppa :P Then again, if Fatboy Slim is still throwing totally rockin' parties at 45, why should I give it up? :)
You know, there are so many things I could tell you about BM. I'm going to stop at this post. I entered with an expectation that I would find peace. I exited with a realisation that just because the desert's isolated, doesn't mean I was going to find it :) Even doing Bikram yoga at midday in the desert, didn't clear my mind *grin* So I'll tell you what I loved about it.
It made me look at the stars :) It made me think there was more to just slogging away day-to-day. It made me think that people are more accepting, with the clause that human nature always has a hint of seediness (eg: random guy walking up to topless girl and licking her). It made me think, if I could live in the desert for 6 days, what's it going to take to break me?
And now... The Burn :)
This is the morning of (partied all night with T and Carl Cox ;)):
I squeezed out one more. This is the morning after (partied all night with S and the Duck ;)): I leave you with what S said to me: "Keep smiling - burningman never ends"
(Note: If you can't see the slideshow in your reader, go to the post) There was a day, when it was sooo hot, I couldn't handle it. All I wanted to do was sleep. So that's what I did. It was like an oven in the RV, but my body (especially my sore ass), just couldn't function. So I dozed... woke up randomly, ate some packaged food... went back to dozing. I just wanted the sun to set and the breeze to begin.
My absolute favourite time of day at the desert, is dusk :) It's the most wonderful feeling cycling around just before the sun starts hiding behind the mountain. There's still some rays, yet the heat isn't stifling. One evening, we walked to the Temple - "Basura Sagrada"
It's the most beautiful structure on the playa. Sitting at 12pm to the Man, it's built mainly out of driftwood, stained glass, cardboard spires and structural lumber. Everything's burnable trash. Hence the name :) It's a temple dedicated to lost loved ones. I didn't realise this until I started reading all the messages scrawled and posted all over the structure... I watched sunset from the Temple and stared straight ahead at the Man.
You know what I miss about the desert? Sunrise. Surprisingly, I find myself wishing I was watching another sunrise at the playa when I'm at work. Watching it rise over the horizon, dancing, feeling warmth again. I didn't think I'd miss the desert. I remember teasing S as we crossed one end of the playa to another at dawn, "How could you miss this place?"
(Note: If you can't see the slideshow in your reader, go to the post) Day 5 BM: It's taken me this long to get used to the grime... And only because I've had to cycle through a full-strength SAND STORM o_O
View from inside our RV
It's like Mother Nature's way of giving you a pr0n star shower with DIRT. After that, I didn't care how dirty I was anymore. Every inch of me was covered in dust and for the first time, it felt natural :) It's an amazing experience cycling through a dust white-out. All I could see were silhouettes. "Why don't you take a shower in your fancy shmancy RV," I hear you say?
Well, I would have if the water pump in the RV was working :P No water pump meant I didn't shower for 6 DAYS (beating my previous record of 5 days at Machu Picchu). After the sand storm, I stopped wiping myself down with baby wipes. I also did a clean out of my nose for the first time during the trip. Holy moly! BIGGEST BOOGERS EVER! Everyone else looked at me oddly when I told them. Apparently they'd been cleaning out their noses everyday.
No water pump also meant less cooking as it was such a hassle to clean cutlery, pots and plates. I was eating chunky chicken soup out of a can. Just like back in the good old Uni days when I lived with T *grin*
Oh, I was cycling back from seeing my hypnotist healer Ché :)
Ché: "Tell me how I can help you." Me: "Make me a better person!" (easy answer) Ché: "Ok, what do you see a better person as being?" Me: "Hrmm, I'm already pretty good as a person *cheeky grin* Make me more relaxed and content instead!" ... Ché: "For the next few minutes, I want you to let your mind drift and think about anything..." Me: *thinking* "It's been awhile. Maybe the session's over, better open my eyes." Me: *out loud* "That was good, thanks for that!" Ché: "It's not over yet. That's good, you're always in control. Now close your eyes, and I'll count you back out." Me: *thinking* "Oops..."
To be honest, I think all Ché did was give me the capacity to remember bad dreams *shrug* I've had a few nightmares since I got back.
Now for some art installations and mutant vehicles. Mutant vehicles are awesomely done up rides that become an artwork in itself :) It was wonderful seeing them cross the playa. Suprisingly, I took more pix of people than art. I kind of got sidetracked. Besides that, I had limited battery and memory, and everything I looked at was art!!
(Note: If you can't see the slideshow in your reader, go to the post) It's strange, I've always wanted to go to BM because to me, there was nothing cooler than the concept of art in the middle of a desert. What I didn't expect, was the sense of open community and the outrageousness of it all. The only time I pulled out cash, was to pay for coffees (decent ones too!) at Center Camp. What surprised me was how giving Americans could be *grin* Free lemonade! Free iced tea! Free margaritas! Free bagels! Free snowcones! Freebies everywhere you go! People would pretty much walk to the middle of the street and say to you as you cycle past, "Hey, you wanna stop by for a *insert freebie here*?"
What I loved most, was the effort people made to dress up in costumes. Not just for a day, but for everyday and every night! :) That was amazing. It was surreal to be lying on a cushion looking at the blue sky with choons in the background, when suddenly first a Siberian tiger, then a Bengal crept past my vision :) You know what? In my shorts and singlet tops, I felt left out. The costumes were something I had not expected. I _did_ borrow Wazzz's vampire cape with the thought of wearing undies underneath. To wear that in the freezing desert night though, would've been NUTS.
The other thing I didn't expect was the massive club culture. It blew my mind. Kind of like an Ibiza without the water :) What I had trouble comprehending was how people had just come to the desert, and setup massive club arenas. Lights, speakers, decor, pyrotechnics, the works. Even an international DJ :) Carl Cox played for free one night. Tiesto played here in 2005. Dancing through to dawn on the desert, I kept asking myself, "What the hell am I doing here?" I felt like I was on a different planet altogether. Everything seemed so random, with independent theme camps dotted around the playa. Yet everything worked so well together. That was amazing.
As T and I cycled back to our RV, a guy stands infront of us and says, "Ladies! Free stripper!" T: "Maybe we should've gone in." Me: "Trust me, I've seen enough floppy p3nises to last me a lifetime already!"
(Note: If you can't see the slideshow in your reader, go to the post) *Blink*
It's dark... Vague memories... 200+ miles of being co-pilot with S, trying to guess which vehicles we passed were heading towards Burning Man too. S honks as we pass a blackly fuming combi van! "BURNING MAN! YEEEAH!" I grin like a lunatic as S puts pedal to the metal and tells me seriously, "This is to the floor and it's not going very fast eh?", as the speedometer flicks at 80 miles per hour. We stop at a gas station, helicopters, rescue engines - "Are you ready for The Burn?" Me, the naive n00b, "How did you know??" Twilight, we were at Gerlach... shouts from the outside about this being the last gas station before hitting the playa, yet the Garmin tells us there's a Shell station ahead. Would you have taken the risk? :)
*Blink*
D is driving the RV at a crawl... Our dusty compact home on wheels for the next 6 days. We have reached the desert.
Our initiation begins :) All out to taste some dust! We're instructed to hit the floor. S does an impressive forward headroll! T&D create some dust angels! I'm about to start flapping my arms on the dirt, when S goes, "NOO!!!!" and starts ROLLING ME around in the dirt!
Greeter: "Welcome home!"
We clang a bell loudly, each chanting, "I AM NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE!"
Our RV parks perpendicular to our companion RV (filled with 3 Canadian Frenchies + 1 American) at approx 7:15 Hummer Avenue. A blood red Mustang with an Italian and another Frenchie pulls up to close off our little residential area. We're here :)
My first sight - STARS! Millions of them. The last time I saw this many would've been at Mt Kinabalu... Those three stars on Orion's belt, I must've been in Oz the last time I saw those.
My second sight - Glowing bicycles!! :D
The old pros take us around the playa. I don't know what time we got here. I don't know what time we went to bed. We walked in the darkness till it was dawn. Who knew the dark could come so alive?? This wasn't something I expected. The Man glowed at us constantly from the centre.
Me and B? Pay EU$3 for a porta-shower? No way! We have BABY WIPES, thank you very much :) And deodorant, anti-bacterial hand gel, face wash, toothpaste, moisturiser and clean undies! We were prepped. So whilst waiting for the other girls to arrive from Rondon on Saturday afternoon, B and I spent quite awhile back at the airport, freshening up in the toilets *grin* Aaah, flushing toilets!! *Luxury*... I didn't think I was that skanky until I wiped every inch of myself down with baby wipes and they turned BROWN :P We can't have been too smelly though, the others were still willing to hang out with us :)
Though, Milli-san doesn't look too pleased to be this close to me *grin*
Super Di-skies! :D
Are you wondering who that random guy is in the pictures? He's a random guy down on his luck. Got pick-pocketed, had no money, only his iPhone and his tent. So we took him into our group *grin* Really cool guy actually. I'm hoping if I'm ever in the same situation, backpacker karma repays me and takes care of me the same way we took care of him.
I can't get enough of Armin. He totally r0x0rz these days. I still listen to him everyday. By the time Armin was done, it was 4am, and we had to find a cab back to the airport. Harder than it sounds, since Hahn is in the middle of NOWHERE. With the persistence of T, Babsy and Milli-san though, we made it to the flughafen in time for our flight. Believe it or not, we were back in Rondon by 8am Sunday. I was clean and sound asleep by 8:30am :)
Thanks B for camping out with me! I had soo much fun at our first camping festival. I'm really glad we did it :)
Thanks to the rest of the girly crew for flying out to party with us for just one night! It was worth it, right? ;)
After 4.5 days of R&R in Croatia, I was back in the "real world". Not that my brain was functioning very well. It took me awhile to remember some things at work :P So I tried to do more damage to my brain by partying for 3 days straight *grin*
First came Basement Jaxx with Milli-san on a Thursday night. I think I slept around 2:30am. Then on Friday, I got into the office at 7:30am and left at 2pm to meet B at Liverpool Street. We were off to Hahn for Nature One!! Wooohoooo!!
On a side note, there is something very wrong with Crapair's seats. _Everytime_ I fly with them, I get off the plane with my back aching :( I think the seat actually curves outwards, pushing your spine in a really awkward way.
We arrived at the campsite around 8:30pm, found a spot and pitched tent. I'm glad it wasn't raining, I'm glad we still had plenty of daylight, and I'm glad we practised tent pitching beforehand *grin* We picked a spot directly under a massive pole with a heavy-duty spotlight marked "F12", so we'd know how to find it in the mix of hundreds of other tents that were pitched there too. It was AMAZING. At first we thought the music we were hearing came from the festival, but no - the music was pumping out of people's tents!! Some tents were totally awesome, huge enough for people to stand in with proper sleeping areas. Some people had marquees setup. Plenty of Germans bbqing weiners over small campfires. It was just really cool to be amidst all of it :)
Isn't our tent lovely? :D
We were soo happy sitting in our tent people-watching, eating nuts and drinking duty-free vodka, we even contemplated missing the Friday night festivities! *lol*
However, we were here to see TIESTO! So off we went to the festival ground to check out how the Germans partied. The setup is quite different from anything I've been to before. The main tent is smack bang in the middle and at the bottom of several hills. On top of each hill is another tent! Mostly pumping out extremely hardcore German house music. We went inside one, and I felt like I was in a running club because of the way people were dancing :P Unfortunately, because the hills were fairly close to each other, the doof doof music started to clash against each other. The idea was pretty cool though. Those hills are pretty steep, so before we got ourselves more drunk, B and I decided to hike up the hill for an overview of the area :) Here's a pic of the main tent from the top of a hill.
Lasers, yay!
Ferry Corsten was very very MEH. He didn't even play his signature Digital Punk :( I was disappointed by how bland his music was that night.
Tiesto was really really REALLY GOOD :D I had forgotten how awesome he was :) It's been two years since I had seen him live. I'd love to see him again.
At 5am, after about half an hour of Dubfire from Deep Dish, we decided to hit the tent. Pitching under that massive spotlight was a brilliant idea *grin* I was a very very tired and happy oriental :) Sleeping on the ground took a bit of getting use to with all the lumps. At least I have a knack for sleeping anywhere though. Poor B couldn't sleep. Mainly cause of the doof doof music that was pumping out from nearby tents *grin*
I had so much fun camping out at Nature One :) My only distressing moment, was facing the portaloos the next morning *shudder* I won't go into how gross it was *shudder*....
Last year I hit the O2 Wireless Festival twice. Once to watch Faithless with SH (miss ya hunny :(), and the day after to watch Daft Punk and break Wazzz's festival virginity *grin* This time round, we caught Fatboy Slim and introduced two more members to the festival crew :) He was *awesome*! At 45, he can still rock the crowd!
Even better, it didn't rain on me. AND, it was even warm enough for a few hours for me to dance in my singlet top :D Summer is *almost* here...
Check this guy out with his dragon tattoo and giant fanny pack. I was trying to be like him with my backpack strapped to my butt :P
For the first time in a week, the sun finally peeked through, and the rain clouds disappeared. Thank gawd. I was about to spend the day outdoors at SW4 :P As much as I love Paul van Dyk, it really wouldn't have been that much fun if it was raining on me during his set. The pic above is of the massive line to get into SW4. Single file, people pretty much circled the park to get into one entrance. I think I stood in it for at least half an hour!
SW4 reminded me a lot of my last Field Day actually :) Just with a lot more DJs.
Bosom buddies *grin* Wazzz with the munchies: Bonding with my tattoo buddy:
Pierre, I will never forgive you for not inviting me to Faithless in Sydnery. How could you? Fck me. I'm now more in love with Faithless than the Chemical Brothers. Thank gawd I'm unemployed and was able to make it to the O2 Wireless Festival on Friday. It was a last minute decision, and after some scrounging around, I even managed to score SH a ticket for 20 squids. Pretty good deal considering I paid 40 squids for my own ticket!
I'm quickly finding out I've been missing out on a lot when it comes to live gigs. I've always been a fan of Faithless, just never seen them live. To be really Engrish, "I'm GUTTED that I didn't see them when they were in Sydnery!" *grin* We made it pretty close to the front of the Main Stage, and it was practically a mosh pit. Loads of fun, and the vibe was great :)
I also saw Kelis bring the boys to the yard with her milkshake :)
After 4 hours of festival goodness, I headed off to meet T&W at Fix for more dancing. Imagine my surprise when J&D were there too! *lol* But I quickly set them straight, and sent them off packing with their cousins to the more RnB friendly, Cafe de Paris. By that stage, I was also well and truly pickled by multiple Smirnoffs and mojitos :P And I still made it to Pacha! Can you believe Pacha is only the third club I've been to in Rondon? Gawd, I poked a guy right in the eyeball on the dancefloor *cringe* At 3am, SH and I left the club (after she had finished beating up the bouncers), had a late night falafel pita with chips, and headed home.
20 hours later, it's time to do it all over again with Daft Punk back at the O2 Wireless Festival :) Only it's raining at the moment :(
