Cairo, 29th -31st October 2010

By the time I had woken up properly in the morning we were in Cairo station. Which was in a state of semi repair and basically had an open building site in the middle of it that you had to walk through to exit the station…no “health and safety gone mad ” in this country.

After ignoring many an offer of a taxi ride I got onto the metro system, that was surprisingly efficient and less crowded that the London underground. A couple of stops later I was in the downtown area and started looking for a cheap hotel. After 30 mins of searching and lots of help from people in the street I found one that was listed in the guidebook. A decent enough place with clean rooms and wi-fi. I also booked a driver to take me to the pyramids the following day with them.

By the time I had chilled out for a bit it was early afternoon and I set off for the Egyptian Museum that was just down the road. The heat of the afternoon was intense and so was the traffic in the streets. Crossing the road anywhere in Cairo is like the old school videogame “frogger”. People just walk out into the street in front of cars, the only rule seems to be that if you change your pace as a pedestrian crosser you are in more danger. Not easy to get used to.

Outside the museum building I was told by a well meaning local that the musuem was closed for “siesta” for forty minutes but that was the perfect amount of time to visit the last day of the Egyptian market …hmmm that old chestnut . I just laughed at the guy and told him I had already been to the last day of the market yesterday…he found this amusing and wished me a good time in Egypt ….

The museum itself was packed with tour groups and was more crowded at times than the Sistine chapel in Rome had been. There was plenty of cool stuff in there but the backing information clearly hadn’t been updated since the early 70’s and not long after getting inside I felt the last couple of days catching up with me….My legs were burning with pain after being cramped up on the overnighter and I felt generally exhausted. Forced myself to spend a couple of hours going round all the areas of the building and was honestly unsure afterward whether I had the energy to get back to the hostel.

I did make it back after stopping for food in the dreaded McDonalds. I was way to tired to try and find a decent meal and decided to opt for an evil I knew ( had been hoping my 2 cheeseburger meal days were behind me after being skint in Europe). On the plus side they still super size meals in Egypt so I got A decent fill at a cheaper than normal rate.

Back a the hostel I flaked out on my bed then soon realised that my general tiredness may be part of some wider plot of unhealth against me. A few trips to the toilet later I knew that I once again had the unavoidable 3rd world stomach problems. Spent the night in a state of semi fever with constant trips to the bog and an unquenchable thirst. Was praying I would be okay for the pyramid trip in the morning…….

My prayers must have been answered by Anubis ( Egyptian god ) as in the morning, after coffee and a light breakfast, I felt solid enough to make it out for the tour. I was met in the lobby of the hostel by my driver for the day who called himself “(Egyptian ) Bob “. My slight disappointment about being the only person on the tour ( hadn’t yet meet any other like minded travellers in Cairo and this seemed like a good opportunity) disappeared after Bobs car turned out to be a souped up Mitsubishi….ahh yeah drivin in style!

So we hit the highway on the way to Giza and the great pyramid/sphinx first. On the motorway the true madness of the Egyptian highway code became apparent. No lanes, some strange beeping as you overtake system, and pedestrians crossing the motorway in suicide gambles to get to work in the morning. The true size of the city became clear after a while .Cairo is the biggest city in Africa and Bob reckoned about 20million people lived there….mind boggling considering the conditions most of the population lived in. Soon we could see the pyramids rising above the urban slums of the city. Fairplay they were huge….. a lot bigger than I had been expecting.

On the way Bob had been trying to up sell me a tour round Giza by horse or camel…I had heard of scams where the camel driver takes you to the desert and then demands more money for your return to the site…I made it pretty clear I wasn’t interested and made my way from the “government “ stable car park to the entrance on foot.

Luckily I still had my 8 year out of date student card and managed to use it to get half price entry to all the sites. After a very Egyptian style security check on the gates I was inside the pyramid site and staring at the Sphinx! The pyramids at Giza are really mind blowing, the coolest place I have ever been to on earth as of this date! Despite the persistent touts and tour groups the site was magical…… right on the edge of the desert with blue skies as backdrop to the amazing constructions….spent about 2.5 hours walking around taking photos and refusing offers of camel rides, but easily could have spent a whole day there. There really was a lot to see…. even more impressive when you consider the age of the site.

Next stop was the oldest pyramid in Egypt , the step pyramid at Saqqara (only after I told Bob we could skip the papyrus “museum” though) . On the way my driver was clocking speeds of around 120km per hour on clear stretches of the no lane two way road and then pulling all kinds of crazy Manoeuvres in traffic… After narrowly avoiding what I though would be a head on collision he smiled at me with a thumbs up gesture and said triumphantly “ Bob Schumacher!!”…madness…

The step pyramid was almost equally as cool as Giza and also almost equally as full of tourist touts. I had by this point come to view the touts as cold callers who read from a pre set script ….they all had the same objection handling answers and could be annoying but effectively were just as easy to ignore as someone calling your home from an Indian call centre. The usual introduction went as follows:

Tout “where are you coming from ? “
Tourist/Victim “X ( insert country here)”
Tout “ah X…number one country ..me no like people from Y( insert another country ) X is nicest peoples”
Tourist/Victim “thank you”
Tout “ you want to take camel ride today its cheap price….“ etc

According to one of the corrupt guards I was talking to later that day “Have a Guess” was the number one country in all the world…hilarious!

After Saqqara I went to an open air museum at Memphis and then the pyramids at Dahshur. Here I could go inside for free ( was an extra tenner at Giza). The ramp down into the centre of the stones seemed to go on forever through a very low ceilinged passageway ….was pretty uncomfortable for someone my height. Once inside the air became acrid and hot. However the vault was impressive and inside you could see graffiti from other visitors going back hundreds of years …..pretty cool.

Took about a hour and a half to get back into central Cairo through the surrounding villages and rush hour traffic. Gave Bob a tip when we got back for not hard selling the camel tour and papyrus museum to me.

All and all I can say the pyramids are the coolest historical site Ive been to by a log way …not just because of the uniqueness of the monuments but also because of the amazing location and all the crazy locals running around the place. Its also surreal when you think about the amount of money they draw in for the government in light of the poverty of the surrounding towns.

That evening I got the metro to the old part of the city that was the Christian capital until the 11th century. Unfortunately the oldest buildings in Coptic Cairo were now all inside a closed for the evening museum so I had to make due with strolling around the site, saw the oldest mosque in the city and also talked to a few of the locals who were happy enough to chat. Even the taxi drivers were helpful once I had explained that their cheap price of a ride back into town could not beat the metro for value.

Spent the rest of the evening wandering around the street in the downtown area. Stopped off for a beer in a local bar that was showing Spurs getting beaten by Man U. I don’t know why I bother watching football on the road …..always seems to disappoint when you could be doing something more interesting. Should have learnt my lesson after last summers world cup debacle.

The streets of Cairo are vibrant pretty much all night long. It is definitely a lot more modern in places than I was expecting and there is something about it that I really like but its hard to describe exactly what that is after such a short time spent there …wish I had a few more days to get to know the city better. The vast majority of people I met were extremely friendly, honest and helpful.

Had an early-ish night again after deciding my stomach and wallet were not quite up to testing the nightlife out in more detail ….got a decent night of sleep and a rare lie in before catching the train the Alexandria the next day…

Luxor 26th-28th October 2010

Managed to sleep okay on the night bus after admiring some awesome desert views through the window at dusk. Had 2 seats to myself for about 85% of the journey. On an 18 hour ride this amount of space was unheard of! I awoke in the morning to see a very different landscape outside the window. We were approaching Luxor through the Nile Valley and the land seemed green and lush with farming villages and agricultural plantations along the way. Reminded me a lot of many parts of India I had visited.

The bus predictably stopped at a taxi rank short of the town station and I ended up sharing a cab into town with a Japanese girl while a tourist tout tried to recommend hotels to us…..

The tourists hustlers in Luxor were a lot more demanding than those in Dahab. As soon as we got to the central station they descended on us like a plague of locusts….

Luckily the hostel I was looking for was represented so managed to avoid most of the melee by agreeing quickly to see a room there . The “Bob Marley “ hostel had been reviewed well on the internet….upon arrival it didn’t quite live up to its reputation…no wi-fi, dirty, no bar etc…..I began to realise that nothing would live up to expectations in Egypt….had to hard bargain to get a cheap room price…worked out at 3 pounds (uk) a night for a private room…..not bad!

Met a nice Canadian couple from Quebec in the lobby and we all booked a tour of the west bank tombs( valley of kings/queens ) the following day.

I then set out on my own to check the town out….yep Luxor had that proper third world feeling I had been expecting but didn’t find during the previous summer in Turkey . Hot, dusty, traffic chaos, petrol fumes, various forms of rot along the main streets….made my way to the train station to be told that I couldn’t buy an advance ticket to Cairo for the following evening until the next day as the system had to update over night……..another thing I hadn’t seen on the European leg was the travel chaos caused when there are no legible signposts and everyone seems to send you in opposite directions to find things…..

Next I made my way down to the banks of the Nile with the intention of walking the 2km or so to the Karnack temple ( one of the best Egyptian sites on offer). According to my guide book ( a piece of crap by the way inaccurate and crappy maps ) the tourist hustling along the banks of the river was meant to be among the worst in Egypt. Within seconds guys with offers of “ hello friend where are you coming from?”, “Ah number 1 country !” “U take boat trip good price for one hour”, “today is special day..last day of Egyptian market “….“my brother has shop”, …then more discretely “ u want to smoke some good stuff” etc etc etc…... Luckily my time in Morocco/India previously had prepared me for this and after engaging the first couple of offers with polite but disinterested conversation, I just began to ignore the offers altogether and eventually they left me alone…..

By the time I eventually got to the Karnack temple I was pretty exhausted..it was hot as hell! However once inside I felt rejuvenated….the columns of the temple were better than the Acropolis in Athens and the whole site had a magical feel about it as the sun grew lower and redder in the sky……spent about 2 hours exploring the complex and reusing requests for “baksheesh” (tips) from the local workers for crappy mini tours of certain areas of the ruins . Even the armed guards were in on the action…two let me onto a closed off bit of the external wall to take “ panoramic photo” and then asked for money when I came down a sincere sounding “ sorry I have no small notes but thanks for your help “ seemed to suffice.

After leaving Karnack my feet were aching so I managed to barter a cheap ride back to the town centre with a guy in a horse drawn cart who suggested I help him to entice other tourists for a ride

“ come my friend we can make good business together”…I reply ” im on holiday dude the last thing I want to do is make business”…disgruntled he dropped me 300m from my destination with some bullshit excuse about traffic restrictions…hilarious ! and worth the equivalent 30 pence I paid him just for the story alone.

Back at the Bob Marley hostel there was nothing afoot so headed out to see if I could find a beer anywhere…the pub listed in the guidebook turned out not to exist and my long hair ( by Egyptian standards), seemed to be gathering some unwelcome attention from some of the rougher locals….. so in the end headed back to my room for an early night …slept like a log!

Next morning me and the Quebec guys joined the tour of the west bank we had arranged….we were crammed into a mini bus with a few Russians, Koreans and Japanese and introduced to our guide Hammed who apparently spoke the best English in Luxor……( he didn’t )…could hardly understand him as he reeled off from memory the standard tour guide script that I usually would avoid….(In this case the price of the cab and the tour guide were low enough to make it worth it …but his disinterest in answering questions throughout the day was obvious.)

The sites themselves were well impressive first the Valley of the Kings and tombs painted with original frescoes from around 900BC, then a temple complex , then the standard trip to the “craftsman’s village” where we were touted ( all be it very good quality ) alabaster statues …including some that glowed naturally in the dark…..( actually the glowing ones were really cool had I had some more money may have bought them up …assuming the glow in the dark bit wasn’t done with a trick light ) .We finished by visiting a couple of colossal statues before returning to the hostel 2hours before we were meant to….needless to say the envelope passed round for tips for “Hammed the best englished (sic) speaker in Luxor “remained empty.

Later that afternoon I got my train ticket for Cairo, did some blogging, ate and watched the sun set over the river at the Luxor temple while the locals attended mosque alongside row upon row of parked tour busses…..despite all the hassle I love this kind of situation and once the touts realise that you know they are bullshitting you, you can actually have some good conversations with them…..

Was targeted with a few more choice comments on my hairstyle while walking back to hostel…..

man pulls up on motorbike and shouts at me ..”hey longhair, ….you look a gay “ …

I reply loudly :“ no you do “….

He replies louder ” No You”….

Me angrily …“NO YOU!”….

His response to this “Hahahahhahnah” ……

my verbal assailant then speeds off on motor bike and I notice he is wearing a tight pink T-shirt with two other dudes all snuggled up on the seat behind him looking pretty damn gay by western standards....kettle …pot!!

(actually its not uncommon to see male “friends” in Islamic countries walking down the street holding hands or with arms around each other….This is just a regular male blooded show of friendship according to the local culture …however having your hair longer than your ears is obviously taboo….ah well rock and roll man! sticks and stones init…..)

Back at the hotel decided to get a couple of hours rest before catching the 11pm train to Cairo…after a while was woken by a knock on the door and the hostel staff stuck another person in my private room ( had 2 beds in it ), he himself just being kicked out of a private double as a couple ,and the opportunity of more money, had arrived looking for shelter…..got the impression that this type of thing would be common throughout Egypt ….the Frenchman now sharing the room ( for 3 hours at least ) was cool enough and on a similar 6 month trip to my own….I eventually left the hostel at 10pm after getting 10 Egyptian pounds knocked off my bill for having to share with another person for 3 hours
( was I starting to get the hang of bartering again????)

Typical train station chaos as I was given multiple train and carriage options by the well meaning locals…eventually found my seat in a first class cabin ..was sharing with an Egyptian, 2 Japanese and a French lady….no one was really talking so put the I-pod on, read for a while and then struggled to fall a sleep as the AC was so high…like seriously cold ,student flat in winter, chill….ended up wearing jumper, jacket and zipped up sleeping bag before I could finally drift off . I wasn’t expecting to use them for a while so had to successively struggle them out of the bottom of my pack in the dark and cramped cabin during the night …had broken sleep and crazy dreams as the train made its way slowly north to Cairo….

The return of MDSU +Dahab Oct 21st -26th 2010

The return of MDSU……….

Well its been a while…… two and a half months back in the UK saw MD working as a part time festival organiser, performer and painter/decorator…all and all pleasant enough, but largelt without incident. Come Oct 21st and the coldest day of Autumn so far, it was time to set sail again for sunnier skies…first stop the Sinai peninsular in Egypt. After enduring itchy feet since my return from Scandinavia I was hoping this next leg was going to be more intense than Europe…..


Dahab Oct 21st -26th 2010














The morning flight from Luton to Sharm-el-Sheik airport entailed a stay in a travel lodge near Luton airport the night before, and a 30 min walk from the train station through the cold and dark estates of the town to get there . I had been staying in London for a few days before hand and the changing of the seasons was apparent in the faces of the local population ….stress levels seemed higher on the tubes, people were layered up and suffering from the first waves of winter illness … dark by 6pm …a bleak scene…..I was ready to get out, and the night walk through Luton somehow felt like the last lap round the track at the end of an Olympic marathon……..

The next day a quick frost covered drive to the airport lead to a typically long queue at the easy jet check in …. after a 20 min wait in a huge line the staff tried to up sell “speadycheck in ” for a price of £19 pounds to the disgruntled “ regular check in “ customers .. This caused a round a blasphemous laughter as the speedy check in line was clearly in view and was just as backed up and understaffed as our own ….Rip off Britain in all its finery……..

5 hours later I was descending into Egypt along with members of my family, who I would be joining on a dive holiday in Dahab for the first 5 days of the trip before heading off to start solo adventures….a good way to say goodbye as I would be on the road for the following 6 months after leaving them.

The first sight of Sinai was inspiring. I had been reading TE Lawrence during the flight and the dark shapes of the Desert hills at dusk seemed ultra real as we flew closer in.

After coming through customs and buying a visa that none of the staff at the airport seemed to care or know if I should have, we met our with some other people from the dive group and formed a party of Seven. The next step was an hour cab ride from Sharm el; Sheik to the “Red Sea Relax Resort” in dahab…..

Two minutes of highway code madness made me remember how people drive in the developing world….I was sure by the end of the ride that if our driver was to take the UK theory test on Hazard perception he would have ended up with a negative score despite this being theoretically impossible…..ah back in the danger zone again!

The next few days consisted of mainly relaxing by the beach, doing some light snorkelling ( I wasn’t participating in the diving ) and regaining some of the colour in my skin that had faded since the end of summer……felt a bit strange having a relaxation week at the start of a big trip but you have to get the chill time in when you can. One late night drinking session in towns only Karaoke bar with an ex US special forces man, a Land rover enthusiast from Norfolk and a Gas worker from Newport was about a crazy as it got that week ….
Overall a good introduction to Egypt. Dahab was a very relaxed town and the accommodation I was staying in was likely to be the nicest on offer until I hit Australia the following summer… Also gave me a chance to brush up on some bartering skills that had not been called into use in almost a decade. The first few attempts on my part reminded me that one of the best tools in the 3rd world travel case is anger. Safe in the knowledge that my patience would be well an truly be tested by some of the worst tourist hustlers in the world in the following week, I allowed myself to relax as much as possible for the time being …even at inflated tourist rates Egypt was dirt cheap compared to Europe. Ironically though being a Moslem country the temptation to drink was not as prominent. There were less night spots meaning that I was likely I would be drinking less anyway …..I guess it all evens out in the end.

On my second last day I took a trip with my mom ( another non diver )to St Catherine’s protectorate , a Christian monastery at the foot of mount Sinai that pre dated Islam. The drive across the desert was spectacular, the ground changing from a rocky volcanic mars type landscape to a sandy lunar one straight out of Lawrence of Arabia. The monestary itself was typically crowded with tourists, this time Russian orthodox pilgrims rather than Japanese pensioners ….( .” hey anyone here like electric eel…errrh …Leningrad cowboys?”.

The chapel museum was the highlight. It contained various texts and paintings that dated back to the 6th century. The most impressive being a supposed original copy of the decree of protection Mohamed was said to have given the monastery during his rise to power in the area….the bottom section was said to display his hand print……okay maybe not entirely plausible but certainly more believable than the “original burning bush “ ( located outside) that Moses was said to have found on his way to discovering the 10 commandments ….hmmm didn’t seem even slightly singed to me ……

Spent the final morning in Dahab doing some last minute snorkelling on the local reef and saying goodbye to family ….next thing I knew I was on a bus leaving on an 18 hour night trip to Luxor and the valley of the kings …..Monkey Dolphin’s voyage was about to begin again in earnest…..

European Leg Summary ( May 19th-Aug 10th 2010

Flew into Heathrow through a rain cloud and then had to wait 25mins to get a gate to exit the plane…ah back in the UK alright! As I sit this morning drinking coffee in a London flat the last three months seems a bit like a dream. Covered a lot of ground, from the plains of Iberia to the Swiss alps , down the coast of Anatolia and back up to the Fjords of Norway, every area had a different vibe and offered different experiences. Met some amazing people along the way, locals and fellow travellers, you all know who you are… thanks for helping to make the trip an experience of a lifetime! Overall I score the European leg of my voyage across the universe at 11 out of 10, far outweighed my expectations…so here are the top 5 lists I’ve been compiling….. look out for Evstival update next month and then the return of MDSU proper when I start the Asian leg of the tour later in the year. Many thanks to anyone who has been reading or has posted comments…..MD

Top 5 countries:

Ah the toughest to call…. it was close but Spain has just managed to hold onto the lead… maybe due to it being at the beginning of the trip (with Prima Vera Sounds included,) or maybe because I have always really loved the Spanish lifestyle, Turkey was a close second though…

1. Spain
2. Turkey
3. Italy
4. Switzerland
5. Norway/Germany joint


Top 5 Cities

1. Rome
2. Prague
3. Stockholm
4. Berlin
5. Paris/Budapest joint.

Most Friendly Locals.

1. Turkey
2. Germany
3. Netherlands
4. Switzerland
5. Bosnia H.

Top 5 Nights out

1. Berlin (folk gig then minimalist techno club)
2. Amsterdam ( minimalist techno cub)
3. Granada ( all night Balearic nightclub)
4. Barcelona ( Wichita Records Prima Vera Sounds warm up party)
5. Oslo ( Indie pub then rock club)

Top 5 Kebabs ( appropriately following top 5 nights out)

Germany took it right at the end …. a great Kebab in terms of portion and price…surprising that Turkey didn’t finish near the top …the price was great but no sauce and rarely spicy enough.

1. Germany
2. Spain
3. Switzerland
4. Greece
5. Turkey


Top 5 Hostels

Judged on comfort, facilities, atmosphere and price.

1. Funky Backpackers (Granada , Spain)
2. Mandela Hostel ( Budapest, Hungary)
3. City Backpackers (Stockholm, Sweden)
4. Hostel Santa Rosca (Venice, Italy )
5. BackPax (Berlin, Germany)


Worst 5 Hostels

1. A to Z ( Prague, Czech Rep.)……. Stank
2. Sarajevo Hostel (Sarajevo , Bosnia H.)…..Battery Hens
3.Aloha ( Paris, France )…..Bible Camp
4. Hotel Jacobsen ( Copenhagen, Denmark )…..Bathroom from “Saw”
5. Anil Hostel ( Cordoba, Spain ) …Hobbit hole


Most Amazing natural landscape

1. Cappadocia (Turkey)
2. Lake Geneva ( Switzerland)
2. Geilo area + Fjords ( Norway )
4. Fethyia to Olympos Coast ( Turkey )
5. Central Highlands ( Bosnia H )

Most attractive women (maybe a bit politically incorrect to produce this list ..but hey I’ve got eyes haven’t I?)

1. Sweden
2. Spain
3. Germany
4. Greece
5. Serbia

Norway ( Oslo, Geilo, Bergen ) 6-10th August 2010

Fell asleep fairly rapidly on the overnight train from Stockholm and woke in the morning to see the fields and lakes of Norway passing by the window…. The hostel check in wasn’t until 3 so I had about 5 hours to kill when I got to Oslo. Went straight to the Viking Ship museum and arrived just after a bus load of Japanese tourists ( “ arghh anyone here like electric eel shock !!!” ) The ships themselves were impressive but it was hard to fully enjoy them with the amount of people taking stupid photos all around….some were taking photos of the signs displaying opening times and price!!??….come on man?… what is that all about??? Apart from that small gripe was a good experience had been wanting to see the ships for a long time….

Next stop was the Vigeland sculpture park in the north of the city. I arrived just as the skies opened and spent the next hour and a half in an over priced café waiting the rain out ( had stupidly come out in just shorts and a t- shirt that morning) When it did stop raining the sun came out though, and I spent a good hour in the park looking at the impressive Vigeland sculptures that explored human form….next I wandered through town back towards the hostel. Oslo has a good vibe to it, not as large in scale as Stockholm but enough to keep you interested for a day…..

For food I debated several options and then decided to go to Pepee Pizza , “Norway’s largest Pizza chain” where I purchased 3 slices of pizza and a coke for the bargain price of 96 Kronas ( about a tenner) the food was gone way too quickly….bought 2 cans of Carlsberg for a fiver on the way back to hostel ( ooouch!) and stopped at the cathedral on the way.

The ceiling of the Cathedral in Oslo is one of the coolest things ive ever seen in a church. The usual bible depictions are shown but the style and colours used could be straight out of a Marvel comic book …awesome! all churches should use superhero graphics …(there was some pretty good stained glass in the traditional style too. )

I checked into the hostel to find my room to be fully occupied… however no one was there …after a couple of hours of hanging around in the lobby ( filled with A- level students and families on holiday ) I decided to start the night solo by drinking my vintage Carlsberg….an hour or so later still no one in the hostel room so decided to hit the town on my own and search out some fun.

The first area I went to was called Gronland and it reminded me of Peckham in London. Norway seems to have a much higher ethnic population than Sweden or Denmark. This allowed me to get a decent Kebab…..the bars in the area seemed a bit quiet so I headed into the main area of town….this was full of expensive tourist bars…..eventually I found a cool pub playing good Indie music and drank there for a couple of hours before heading to another place round the corner that seemed to be where the alternative crowd hung out. Got talking to a Norwegian girl at the bar who had been living in the states and then hung out with her and her friends for the rest of the night…eventually ended up back at their apartment. Norwegians, I was informed, are very shy people but once you get to know them they are fantastically friendly ….This certainly seemed to be true in my experience that evening…… got back to the hostel about 9.30am ( this has become a familiar pattern for me it seems. )

When I went into the room expecting to finally see my room mates I was surprised to find that they had all checkout already ….A truly strange hostelling experience, never saw my room mates and didn’t even sleep in the bed…..Ah well….. had a quick shower and got straight on a train to a place halfway between Oslo and Bergen called Geilo.

I had met a cool guy called Jermyn in Turkey who was originally from the Philippines, but had been working in Bergen for some time. A dedicated couch surfer, when I mentioned I was planning to finish my trip in Bergen he instantly offered to put me up for a couple of days …a top man! ….In addition to that he had use of a cottage near Geilo that we could use as a base to go hiking for a couple of days over the weekend. So I was met at the station by Jermyn and his housemate from the UK called Owen ( Owen had lived in Newtown, Mid Wales of all places…I swear Newtown is the centre of the Universe….keep meeting people from town all over the world). Booth cool guys who were super into travelling.

The use of the cottage promised me my first decent home cooked meal ( bbq… ah yeah!! ) and use of a private bedroom for the first time in ages…despite the lack of sleep the night before, got stuck into a bit of hiking as soon as we were set up . The hills around Geilo are amazing …..ski slopes in winter…in summer they look similar to Snowdonia but much greener….with grass roofed cottages scattered along the ridges…really impressive….

That night after a great meal and a couple of beers had the best nights sleep I can remember and woke the next morning feeling like a new man. I went out on a solo hike the next day to a lake in the middle of nowhere….Had to cross some marshy land to get there but it was well worth it. The felling of isolation, calm and the unusual colours surrounding the lake made for a unique experience.

That afternoon we drove to Bergen through some of the coolest natural scenery I’ve seen. Rocky cliffs, mountain lakes and glaciers at first ….. then we cut down through the fjords…deep glacial lakes surrounded by forested hills…something Id wanted to see for a long, long time …the perfect way to finish the European leg of the voyage. Got back to Jermyn’s place around 9 and had another home cooked meal and sleep in private room…wow I was really moving up in the world!

The next day Owen showed me around Bergen , Norway’s second biggest city….Began has some great wooden houses and is surrounded by mountains and Fjords. Really impressive location. Unfortunately it rains the most in this part of Norway meaning there was no view off the top of the mountain we climbed. It was still good to get the exercise in though ..That evening went out to a restaurant for a proper Norwegian meal and a couple of highly priced pints ….35 quid was gone in a flash so decided to have a quiet night and save the rest of my money for the next week in London.

I got to say Norway looks like a good place to live…high standard of living, conscientious social policy and high wages….would be a great place to build up travel money if you could land a job…. I’m seriously tempted!

Spent the next morning ( today ) getting my stuff together for the flight back to the UK….ahhrrrg return to ( semi) reality??!!!….ah well trying not to think about it until I’m back so will save the trip summary until later in the week…..

Scandinavian Summary

Well I’ve been wanting to come to Scandinavia for a long time and its lived up to expectations….just wish I had a bit longer to get to know the locals better and get into a bit more of the wilderness. Copenhagen was cool ..Stockholm was amazing and Norway had a charm all of its own.. Each country had its separate vibe though…the Danish people were outspoken and opinionated but enjoyed a laugh….the Swedes were friendly and outgoing (and really good looking ) and the Norwegians were more reserved but highly dependable once you got to know them….The Norwegian leg provided my first taste of couch surfing and its def something I will do again…big thanks to Jermyn for putting me up, driving and arranging the hiking trip, and to Owen for showing round Bergen and passing on some local knowledge…..All and all this leg was a great way to finish the trip ….was cool to see some impressive natural scenery and have some recovery space after partying hard in Northern Europe, and the lack of sun and increased rain will make the transition back to UK weather more bearable…..

okay time to catch the airport bus soon ….European trip summary and top 5 lists to follow in the next couple of days….

Copenhagen + Stockholm 2nd- 5th August 2010

Arrived In Copenhagen in the afternoon and hiked about 1km or so to the hostel. Hotel Jorgenson was cheap but hadn’t got great reviews and I could see why. The security was terrible, windows opened straight onto the street outside and the bathroom with communal shower looked more like something out of the movie “Saw” than even the most basic of hostel bathrooms. Spent the afternoon doing my washing in the local laundry mat to avoid the rain. This gave me a chance to experience how expensive Denmark is after buying a few bits and bobs form the local shop to get change for the machines, and doing a load of washing I had spent about 12 quid…ouch. That eve met 3 French guys who were staying in the same dorm and had a few cheap cans of beer and a few games of pool in the hostel. Later we hit town to find some bars…..

Walking round town you got the impression that Copenhagen was a special city. Canal lined streets with interesting buildings, a bit like Amsterdam but not a quirky. Found a cool park with lots of statues and some of the ornamentation on the older buildings was amazing. The nerd in me especially liked the various bronze busts of dragons around town.

We started of in a pizza joint and ordered too much pizza , came to about 40 quid between four of us and we struggled to finish. Afterwards feeling extremely bloated we looked round town for a happening bar. Mon nights in Copenhagen aren’t the liveliest and the best place we could find was a small smoking bar called,( appropriately given the company ) the Eifel bar. After three quarters of a beer the smoke in the bar became unbearable…an had to get out of there . I was really missing the smoking ban. Another 45 search failed to reveal a better bar and ended up having an early night to sleep off the pizza excess.

The next day after using the facilities in the torture chamber set out on my own to explore town. The weather was a bit better. I toured the red light district that had none of the charm of Amsterdam and was basically just a seedy skid row. Then went to the national museum. Easily the best pre-history exhibit Ive ever seen. The amount of flint tools and stone axe head was impressive. The boggy conditions in Scandinavia have meant that the preservation rates are high, and considering the museum was free Ive got to conclude it was one of the best ive ever been to.

After that I went to an area of town called Christiania. Basically a large park of old workshops that had been taken over by hippies in the 70’s and declared a free country.
No photos were allowed inside due to the amount of drugs that were freely available and tolerated by the law. The vibe of the place was more that of a festival than one of vice, and there were plenty of artist workshops, restaurants and bars inside. Strange to see families on days trip amongst the hard core hippies and burn outs living in the commune. A really surreal place. When you walked out you passed through an archway that said “ you are now entering the EU”

That evening headed out with the French dudes again to try and find a more happening drinking spot. The first 3 bars we went to were equally as dead as the night before. The highlight being one of the French guys being hit on by a woman old enough to be his grandmother who didn’t speak any English….hilarious! We did manage to find some action in the end though in a student bar round the corner. Saw some of the best table football players ive ever seen and had a good chat with some of the local Danes who tried to give us pointers on how to drink…..wish I hadn’t listened ……was out until after dawn with chrissy-bado making a rare appearance…remember dropping a pint glass in a random bar at some point and not much else of the evening….the next day had to get up quick fast and get a 10.20 train to Stockholm was still feeling rough when I woke up on the train at 2pm in Sweden.


After sorting my head out a bit and arranging a night train to Oslo the following evening made it to the next hostel, which thankfully turned out to be one of the best of the trip so far. Had a nap and a shower and headed out for a bit of sightseeing around 6pm……Wow Stockholm is amazing like a Nordic version of Prague but built on various different islands. There are some amazing views over the bays and the northern sun seems to intensify the colours…..That evening was too spent to go out and regrettably missed my only chance to see some Swedish nightlife on this trip…cursed myself for overdoing it in Denmark but a good nights sleep was had, despite someone’s alarm clock playing the first 8 bars of ode to joy repeatedly between 5and 6 am ….thank god for earplugs…..

The next day spent the whole day sightseeing in Stockholm was even more impressed with the city. The architecture was almost a beautiful as the local women . Went to the Swedish history museum and saw an impressive Viking exhibition and then toured the old town a winding block of medieval streets on an island in the centre of the city. . The sun was out all day but was at a bearable intensity at the northern latitude we were at ….and the prices were cheaper than in Denmark …a really good day.. Stockholm is in the top 3 best cities now hope the photos can do some justice….wish I had longer to stay, another night would be good but having decided a full day in Oslo was in order ( just staying there one night) pressed on and caught the night train so as to arrive in Norway at 9.30am the following morning………

Hamburg 31 July - 2nd August 2010

It was raining when I got to Hamburg and raining when I left. However in between had a really cool time. First person I met in the hostel was a musician from London with similar musical interests called Steve. He had been gigging in Hamburg so knew some cool places to go drinking. Despite the previous night in Amsterdam near draining me of all energy went out to see a Saturday night in Hamburg in all its glory.

Started at this cool little venue up the road from the hostel ( in the bohemian Schanze district). It was basically the back of a lorry inset amongst some trees with tables and lights surrounding. Inside was a small bar and a small stage where musicians played. A cool scene. After that we hit a few more bars and then went for a walk down the infamous “reaperbahn”. A Benidorm style street with countless strip clubs. Was pretty lame to be honest, tonnes of stag do’s and as crowded as a busy festival thoroughfare....got out of there after spending 10 mins moving 40meters down the road.

After hitting a few more bars it got to 1am and I was flagging. Despite the prospect of meeting some locals, called it a night and passed out instantly in the hostel.

Next day I got up early and headed into town to check things out. The town hall was impressive and the German market outside was what I was expecting. Ate a bratwurst that was heeeellllll of good. After that I went up the bombed out church spire at the Nikolaikirche. The view from the top was impressive though I had to that admit Ive begun to suffer from vertigo a bit in my old age on the way up in the glass elevator.. At the top of the tower there were photos on display that were taken just after the war, so you could see the damage and then compare it to the modern city scape…again a sharpe reminder of the scale of the bombing suffered in Germany.

That evening I headed out for a Donner near the hostel … And Germany is now at the top of the Kebab poll!!….. The size of the roll was what did it, great value for money. After walking round for a bit longer it started raining heavily so headed back for an early night….Feel like I could have got a lot more out of Hamburg party wise but am feeling extremely burnt out at the moment…definitely a destination to come back to in the future on fresh legs…Was most impressed by the music scene…. may follow Steves example and set some gigs up before hand if im there again.

Northern Europe Summery( Austria/Czech Republic/Holland/Germany)

A great section of the trip for me. Beginning with Vienna being as good as it was it would be hard for me to be disappointed overall….. Vienna was special, Prague was even more impressive architecturally than I had hoped, Berlin was a revelation, Amsterdam was crazy as ever and Hamburg was bang on the money music wise….. Had some great nights out and met some amazing people, both locals and other travellers. The thing that impressed me the most about travelling in this part of the world ( apart from the uber-efficient rail system) was the friendliness of the local people. Always smiling and helpful and happy to talk. It has to be said that although I loved Spain to death the people here were more personable and have pushed northern Europe right into the top spots for best area travelled. It gonna be hard to compile the final polls at the end of next week…..But before that its time for Scandinavia, somewhere I’ve wanted to go for ages. I left Germany feeling surprisingly refreshed ready for a new ( and financially challenging ) environment…………….