Exciting Eurovision

From the Baltic lands of Lithuania I will head onwards to the completely different Baltic lands of Latvia.
I first watched the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002, the year that Marie N. won the contest with 'I wanna' for Latvia. Clearly not the best song in the contest (Malta were, as they regualarly are, robbed), this did feature the singer dressed in a suit, taking it off as the song progressed to reveal a stunning red dress underneath. Gimicks and Eurovision really do go hand in hand. Nevertheless, the nest year (2003 if you can't do maths, toughest year of my life) Riga, Latvia's capital, hosted the contest in what was my favourite contest of all. Featuring an out of tune T.a.t.u, Belly dancers and one of the competition's oddest ever performances by Austria'a Alf Poier, it will always hold a special place in my heart. Sadly it's unavailable on DVD.
Have I digressed?
Always.
Nevertheless, this is where I will be headed after Lithuania, just for 3-4 days in Riga which by all accounts is a beautiful city indeed. Maybe a day trip....

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/latvia

there it is, knock yourselves out!
Well, I find myself needing to write up a 'to-do' list because I'm down to six and a half weeks and I feel that I still have a million and one things to do (it's that last 'one' that's a real bugger). I need warm socks, a jacket perhaps and I need to go see a travel doctor about medications and vaccinations.
So much fun fun fun.

Before I sign off today, I'm very happy to hear my friend Graham whom I'm meeting up with for a beer or three in London is safe and well, as he is presently in Peru which was rocked by an earthquake a week ago. Stay safe all travellers out there!

An Ethiopian Distraction

Well
It's August. Suddenly days are flying by and I realise I have to get myself into gear for preparations. So tomorrow I am sending off to the Russian Consulate for my visa for the country of the similar name. Somehow I have found myself thinking of my next trip rather than this one. Have I planned things too much and now I need to think of something else? Perhaps... But I am thinking of Ethiopia and the possibilities that lie therein. I was on my way there as part of my crazy 2004 trip before I changed me mind, not because I decided the place wasn't for me but because I'd been so sick through India and Pakistan I had decided to take it easy (the same reason I didn't go to other parts of Africa).
Anyways, despite all that I suddenly remembered why I wanted to go. Contrary to most people's preconceptions Ethiopia is a green country, not particularly hot with mountains and some of the oldest and most amazing Christian historic sites in the world. Travelling by plane is the most sensible way to do the country it seems as a 200-300km journey on the roads can take two days. Considering I know the quality of African buses already I don't fancy that at all.

And yet this post was supposed to be about Lithuania. I will be flying into Lithuania four days after my Stockholm arrival where I will spend some time in its capital Vilinius and perhaps a place called Klaipeda, out near the coast. There's an amazing area (apparently) called the Curonian Split which Klaipeda lives on and if the weather ain't too bad I might head out there. An old friend I met whilst travelling in Iran in 2004 is going to meet me in Vilnius (his name is Siggi) and we'll tramp around together from Vilinius to probably Riga. Should be a fun week, although I am really starting to think that trips should be started in hot climates on beaches. Well, that's just what i've generally done before. South East Asia is a wonderful stepping stone to Europe from Australia, and this is the first time I've taken a flight straight to Europe without a stop over. (Well, it's stops in Kuala Lumpur for an hour or two, but no proper stop over as it were.)
So it's late and I delayed my bedtime to bring any readers I may have (please is anyone out there?) this little update. Here's a link for Lithuania via my good friends at Lonely Planet. Not that they actually know me at all...

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/lithuania

Soon I need to do some ironing.

Yes... In half an hour or so I need to get into some ironing as there are a lot of unironed shirts in a box at the end of my bed that have been waiting just far too long. And some people wonder why I continue to travel as often as I can.
So the date to fly out of here is the 4th of October. That is just over two months away now. I have been foolishly counting down the days until i depart (67 for those who care) and boy does it make the days go slower. That and at the moment I am afflicted with a fluey-cold thing that refuses to go away. So is it any wonder I just wish to be out of here? Plus working six days a week is really starting to get to me as well. That's to be expected I suppose.

Well, so a little preview. My first stop will be Stockholm, that illustrious capital of Sweden. Ok, perhaps that's not the perfect word. I mean, I was there in 1999 and remember things like the make-shift hostel (in a school) and getting my jacket dry cleaned for a wedding I was going to in Germany. And a wonderful place that served a buffet lunch for a reasonable price.
I was there in Summer and it was 35 degrees most days as they were in the middle of a rare heat wave, I even went swimming one day. The weather will not be so agreeable in October. I am well aware of this but I can't say, living through a Melbourne winter right now, I am as happy about that as I was when I booked my flights at the end of one of the hottest summers Melbourne has ever had. Still, four nights there and the main purpose of that is to counter any jetlag I am sure to experience after 22 hours in flight. Crikey!
I have picked out a hostel:
http://www.fridhemsplan.se/main.asp?lang=eng

It seems to be the best one in Stockholm. The plan is to pay extra money for a single room and really get some quality shut-eye. Also I want to see a couple of things around town, including the Skansen Amusement Park and the Royal Palace, both of which I somehow missed the first time around. Hopefully I can find that eatery too, although I fear that I will again be consigned to cooking for myself. Sweden ain't the cheapest place on Earth folks, in fact your standard dorm bed is at least $35 Australian. Double that for a single. Worth it I suspect for a few good night's sleep.
I'm planning on a little preview for each country I visit like this one. Can't promise anything of course.... but that's another little plan, so watch this space!!!!

MISSION: Dakar or Bust!!!

Time ticks away and things are in motion!!! A new passport is required as I have used too many pages in my old one... so a few days ago i sent that away.
This trip will see me take in many places indeed, and some extremes in weather. From the cold of Scandinavia and the Baltics to the heat of Africa... it's going to be one hell of an adventure. Visas will be an issue, and i will be sending off for a Russian visa when i get my passport comes back. The visa for Mali will be more of a challenge.
It seems that Mali consulates no longer have the power to issue visas, it must be done through an Embassy. Problem: No embassy here in Australia, only a consulate in Perth. I called the 'Consul' to Mali in Melbourne, and confirmed that the place to go to for visas is Tokyo. JAPAN.

Strike me pink Ailsa!

Well, I was sent an application form and it seems actually to be reasonably straight forward. For a fee they will even post it back. I will need to do this around the start of September. It can't be sent too early either - the visa needs to be used within three months.

So now plans begin in earnest. I want to save more so i can afford myself a few luxuries i didn't have last time in Africa (ie nicer hotels etc). I have 96 days until I fly out. so... woo-hoo. The other news is that my friend Paul from the UK is joining me for the Mali section of the trip. I also have Siggi from Germany coming along for Lithuania... and meeting up with someone special in St Petersburg. This won't be the 'solo' sort of trip i've known in the past it seems. Also will have heaps of friends to catch up with in London.

But the ultimate destination is DAKAR, Senegal. This will be the third trip with it on my itinerary, and I desperately hope it is third time lucky for me. Two failed attempts to make it to this city have made it my determined destination. It's my Timbuctu (incredibly ironic as Timbuctu is in Mali where I'm going... not to Timbuctu to though, just Mali). The 2004 trip was entitled 'Dhaka to Dakar'. I failed to give last year a title more than 'The 2006 Trip' but in 2007 it's definately

DAKAR OR BUST!!!!!!

May may may may maybe?

So like
tickets coming along and so is the year. but crikey, its still five months until i leave and it seems like a life time to me. And the world? How is it?

This new apartment I am in is nice. I have space and a comfy room and all the comforts I need. Even wonderful dial-up internet.
Lithuania looks like a very interesting place to visit indeed. I have flights there and out of Helsinki to London. Soon I will get the Africa flights. yipeeeeeeeeeee.
but does anyone care about my travel plans??? maybe...

Here in Melbourne we pray for decent rain and that teams from other states would stop beating Victorian teams at Aussie Rules. Neither are happening.
take care
next time!

... it's a plan

Here we are again. Posting. Sigh.
I have just done the moving thing, into an apartment about 20 minutes drive from where i was. It's nice here. good modern place. Work is having me tired and busy most of the time, and thoughts longingly turn to travel.

So the news is at the moment i have a return airfare to Europe, into Stockholm and out of london over october - november. I will be buying some more tickets soon that will get me to the baltic states. Then probably train to St Petersburg, to Helsinki. Fly to London, off to Africa (Mali and Senegal) and back home in time for tea!
yes well
its a plan

... and every so often comes a post

Hi all
yes
I missed February with no post there. News here is somewhat good though, I have completed the main bulk of my book, that is fourteen chapters. There needs to be an intoduction and probably a conclusion i suspect, but they wont be long and i will then have to go through the lot and edit to complete a first draft. From there I have no idea, i suspect i require a publisher of some sort.
Life here is ok, same old as they say. In February I went to the Flight Centre Travel Expo in Melbourne, where I nutted out different deals and finally decided I would take Malaysian Airlines over to Europe in October. These sort of flights are locked in early because they are so cheap, but I have to be happy because, well, Malaysian Airlines are possibly my favourite airline in the world. Emirates are great too, Thai up there as well. Into Stockholm and out of London, i still have a few flights to organise into the Baltics, over to London and of course the flights to Mali and out of Senegal to London. Whew, it should be quite a trip. Saving is going well, which is important obviously. Not much else to report! take care.

On the road again... briefly

Oh well yes...

I have been travelling. From the 13th to the 17th of January i really did some miles (I would say kilometres but it doesn't have the same ring to it).

Firstly i went to West Gippsland, based around Neerim South. I was with another four people and we were out making a little short film in the area. We stopped off in Noojee for an ordinary lunch in a very nice pub indeed. (although i can't say they liked us all that well) We were a pretty loud city group i guess, but nevertheless it was nice. We filmed under this amazing trestle bridge that one hundred years ago had steam trains rocketing across.

The whole area was not suffering from the drought that had stricken not just most of Victoria, but a lot of Australia too. It has been so dry here it's quite unbelievable. Then again, I have been to Niger.

ANyways

The next day i was off to visit relatives who live on a farm near Wangaratta. As the picture shows you it's far drier up there! Plus there was a lot of smoke from bushfires. Actually with the dry summer here bushfires have been raging a lot, and even in Melbourne we have had days when that smoke has drifted a few hundred kilometres down into our city making for some very eerie days.

Next to Kyabram, where i visited my grandparents and then to more relatives in Bendigo. DOing some filming everywhere i went. Not that much to report, Kyabram is not a major town really, and boy was it hot after the first two days. We are talking 40ish, that's real African weather.

All in all i must have travelled over 900 km in those five days. wowsers. That's a lot of concentrating on the road, believe you me!

Remembering someone met and gone

Hi there.
I have just been searching the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree (the best place on the net for travel advice) and after following a few links was shocked and saddened to find that someone I met whilst travelling had passed away from cerebral malaria back in June last year. Shocking more so because I only realised today in January even though i knew her blog address. How could I have missed this? I am really struggling with that. I must have logged onto her blog and just misread, or gone straight to other posts... It defies belief really. Not very happy with myself right now.

I met Kinga, from Poland, when I was in Ouagadougou, only a couple of days before contracting malaria myself. Kinga was on a long hitchhiking trip through Africa, and did it in such a free way that i felt rather unadventurous. She didn't like to stay in hotels, but stayed with locals whenever possible. She was the true example of the traveller who had thrown away all the restrictions of life and just did what she wanted, how she wanted. The day after i met her i headed to Banfora, she was going to Niger.

Please visit these two sites to learn a little about her, an amazing person indeed:
http://www.kingafreespirit.pl/kingaen/index.php
(her blog)

http://www.digihitch.com/tribute/kinga
(a tribute)

When travelling I have met loads of others doing it there way. Some are more restricted than myself, others far less (like Kinga). Whatever their path, it seems we are all ships in the night, and i rarely no much about those i pass once we part company. So something like this comes as a shock.
'Travelling really does broaden the mind' (TB, circa 1977)

Tikrit? techcrete?

Hey folks....
interesting business sign down the road has it's business name as 'Tech Crete'
i am trying to work out whether it's meant to be a play on words cos i guess if said in a certain way it sounds like 'Tikrit' (pronounced Tikreet) where Saddam Hussein, now no longer with us, was born.


I was just wondering

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and all that

Well, i nearly missed decemeber
thinking very seriously about doing at least Senegal and Mali next year for say 17 days, and completing all that i set out to earlier this year (except for the Burkina crossing, thinking about that)
Hope that everyone had a great christmas. I am two chapters off completing a first draft of my book too!

Obligatory monthly post

Hey one and all.
It is November. I have been posting once a month of late, so here it is. The year is slowly coming to an end, and my travel plans for next year are yet to firm in any way. The book is coming along rather nicely though, I have eleven chapters complete now. I am pretty happy about that!

For the first time since returning home bedragled and malaria-rised, I have had thoughts about returning (someday) to Africa. It is unlikely to be the next trip, but I regret immensely not getting to Dakar, as was the plan. It was the plan in 2004, and the plan in 2006, and it remains unachieved. I for one want to achieve my goal and get there, and that means flying (somehow) back to Ouagadougou and getting through Mali to Senegal so that I can say that i did the whole journey. A more realistic thing to do would be to fly back into fair Accra and make my way to Burkina Faso via Kumasi, a Ghanain town i never reached.

These thoughts are reminiscent of the way I first felt about India in 1999. I left the place sick, bedraggled and so forth after surviving bad bowels for ages, earthquakes and even a car accident on my way to the airport. I swore i was never going back! However, i developed some sort of resolve afterwards and was back there in January 2001, 18 months later. hmmmm... anything could happen.

Time passing, writings, life update. Musings in general

Well it's now mid October, and yet again it's been ages since i posted. What should one post about? Well at the moment I am working busily on a book. This book is an account of my travels in 2004. For those who don't know what I got up to that year, I flew from Melbourne to Malaysia, then on to Dhaka in Bangladesh. From there I made my way overland to Europe. After Europe I had a couple of months in North America before heading home. This was a ten month journey, and I my biggest trip (like, ever!). I always wanted to write a book about it, and since returning home from Africa this year it's something I have really dug into. In fact I hope to have a draft completed by the end of the year, or maybe end of January is more realistic. Perhaps I should post extracts here? What do people think.
Well, life is rolling on otherwise with work and Theatresports. Yes I do Impro with the esteemed company Impro Melbourne, something I have neglected to mention to this point. I think. I mean... sorry but I don't have the will or energy to check previous posts to see if I have or not.
Getting a new job this year and working with people with disabilities has been a challenge, but a good one nonetheless. 2006 has turned out to be a strange year indeed. I feel rather like I am floating at the moment. Nevertheless things are moving on alright.
Here are a couple of pictures from Iran, the chapter I am presently working on. The first is Persepolis, ancient ruins near the town of Shiraz. The second is a bridge and river from the amazing Isfahan, one of the more beautiful cities in the world. Enjoy!

Status Report

September in Melbourne
spring is in the air
work is busy and so am i....
planning on travels next year, the book has ground to a (temporary) halt.
Maybe Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Estonia next year...
well thats a plan in my head
if i cant wait so long
laos and thailand in january
later world

And here is me when i was in Ghana

Burkina Faso Photos

Here are some pics I took in Burkina Faso... 'bout time I published them don't ya think???


Here's a termite mound down in the south... quite an impressive one at that!

Here's some ladies dancing at a cafe in Ouagadougou and having a great time!!!
Here's the trusiest animal around, the ever present mule!!!
Here are two mosques, one in Bobi Diolasso, the other the Grand Mosque in Ouagadougou.

An African Conlusion, A conclusion (Part Five)

This part doesn't really take place in Africa.... hehe

Well, getting through the airport in Paris, Charles De Gaulle, was pretty easy. In Australia, if you have come on a flight from any plce you are under intense scrutiny, in Paris i didn't even need to open the passport. Everyone seemed to be let through without any serious sort of passport examination.
I waited a little while for my baggage, and then I set out to book a flight home and to find a bed for the night. Having only one hours sleep, and still nowhere near 100% fit, i needed some serious rest. I went to find the Emirates office to book a ticket, which took forever to find and in the end was closed. Of course!! So in the end i found a computer terminal and tried to book a flight home for the next day.
Eventually I did, much to my relief, and got a very cheap price too - around 700 EUROS.... thats darn cheap, especially for a flight booked for the next day. Then i hopped a bus to an airport hotel. I should mention that the temperature was about 1 degree celcius, and there was snow falling all around the huge Charles De Gaulle airport. What an incredible contrast to the 40 degrees i had been experiencing only a day before.
I checked into a hotel that was comfortable but well overpriced for the size of the room. Thats airport hotels i guess, and to be expected. I considered taking the metro into Paris but decided i was far too tired. In the end I slept the afternoon, went down for a pretty nice meal, and returned to the room where i fell asleep again for the night.
I awoke to find I had missed breakfast proper and would have to survive on the after 10am breakfast which was basic at best. Still, I had a croissant in France. At the terminal there was a mazzive queue already for the flight to Dubai, and it took an hour to check in, possibly more.
The flight left a few minutes late, and finally I felt like was heading home. I met a very nice girl - Pia, from Brisbane on this flight. At the Dubai airport we both had a few hours to kill, so we spent them singing and reminiscing about the Buffy musical episode.
We parted ways too quicly though :( and I was on my way home. The flight stopped for an hour in Singapore... and felt like it would never end. My stomach developed pain which was not good, and sleep didn't really some. after around 25 hours including stops in airports from paris, i was touching down in good old melbourne.
But it wasn't over... after waiting an age for my baggage, i was then subjected to thorough searches as were most people on the flight. It was now 2.30 am when i got out of the airport. Perhaps the authorities were just bored as it was the only flight in at the time... im not sure...
but home in australia i was....
and three days later back in hospital for tests and observation. The stomach remained bad, anxiety bad too...
but that was back in early march, and life now is on the up. oh i promised pics.... will be up soon i promise you!

Part Four

Oh so it's been a while since i wrote about the end of Africa, I suppose it is time to continue the saga.... the question will be, what will I write about now?? My future plans?? Perhaps i will relate the occasional story from other trips. Then i could post a few photos and the like....
how is everyone anyways??

I returned to a comfortable house in the suburbs of Ouagadougou, where i stayed with a couple doing missionary work in Burkina Faso. It was nice to be staying in a home enviroment for a change, especially in an African setting. I was able to watch dvds and relax, and we visited a restaurant/club exclusively for ex-pats that even had a pool and played English-language movies.
Soon I went into town and organised a flight to Paris that evening, and also found some nice material to take home with me. I returned to the house and tried to organise tickets from Paris to Melbourne with Emirates on the net, but had trouble completing the transaction, so eventually failed.
I had to pack and prepare that afternoon, the flight was due to depart at 11.30pm, getting into Paris in the wee hours of the morning. Pack I did, and soon was ready to leave. I was taken out to dinner with some others my new friends knew (that can't be good English!), and we had my bags in the back of the car and took off for some sort of community with lots of houses inside.
Just when i felt things we're going alright, i tucked into the chicken and suddenly discovered I was eating something with peanuts.
When departing Australia, as I may have mentioned, I was deeply worried about the abundance of peanuts in Africa and in African cooking. But I was there, three hours before flying out, having an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts when I thought I might survive Africa without one at all. We hopped into the car/van and drove straight to the Doctor who was surprised to see me again, that's for sure.

This might be where I'd leave you.... but I am not in the mood for a cliffhanger today.
I was a bit sick from the peanuts, but suddenly felt fine. I was worried that I was staying in Ouagadougou again, but the Doctor said I was free to leave, so we drove to the airport from there where check-in took an inordinate amount of time.
It all seemed to take forever, I missed out on converting back my local currency as the exchange booth closed at 10pm, and then I thought I had lost my phone and my friends left (ever so kindly and without my asking) to look for it. Then I found it and was so embarrassed.
Slowly we moved from one procedure to the next. My passport was checked six times, the plane was going to be full and it seemed to be taking forever.
I spoke to a couple of Air France hostesses taking the flight about all the checks and they told me it was important and gave an example of an Air France jet that was blown up in Chad. This did not help me at all.
Despite being on the more comfortable Airbus it was quire cramped, and I was lucky to get an hour or so's sleep. I woke during turbulence over Algiers, and at 5.30am or so in the morning we descended on Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris...

World Cup fanatics

Well the world cup fever is here in full in Australia. Tomorrow morning they will probably be knocked out.
This world cup debuted a couple of nations i visited in west africa. Togo didnt win a game in the World Cup, but toiled well. Ghana plays Brazil tonight after australia and Italy. So i wish them luck.. but also luck to brazil as i have a couple of friends there!
I remember watching the African Cup of Nations whilst in West Africa, and seeing the response from the locals... the Ghanains must be absolutely ecstatic with the way they have played.
Cote D'Ivoire managed a win in the group stage in the world cup but didnt make it through to the second round. They were in the final of the African Cup of Nations losing a penalty shootout to Egypt.
so it all brings back memories
hope everyone is well
andy

An African Conclusion Part Three

My week in hospital was, well, relaxing at times, at others not so relaxing.
That was when i would wake up having an axiety attack as a reaction from Mefloquine intially used to treat the malaria when i was in Banfora. The clinic was clean and some of the staff friendly. One nurse on nightshift wasn't though which didn't help my anxiety. I felt i was about to burst at one point.
My new american friend came and visited me as did a couple of other i had met, and they found i had an infection on top of the malaria and began to treat that as well. a week on a drip = fun fun fun.
Eventually i was let out told i was totally better. The stomach was still very delicate though, but at least i was able to eat now. I had dropped some twelve kilos since i left Australia (and ive only put four on since which im happy about).
The person i met from the US took me in and i stayed with her and her husband, they are missionaries and really nice warm friendly people. I was lucky again. Eating wasn't so great, but i got to visit the 'American Club' where lots of ex pats visit for a good meal.
I sorted out a flight to Paris but couldnt book online paris to melbourne as the connection was too darn slow. I decided to go to Paris and see what happens from there to go home.
I went shopping too and bought some material, but i was quite exhausted and returned back to the house.
I started to get my belongings together - i had booked a flight out that night!!!!!

and yet again to be continued...