On The Road Again.

I arrived in Auckland after a pretty non-eventful flight from Fiji. This was a good thing - any non-eventful flight is a good thing but even more so for this one. I was given the responsibility of operating the emergency exit should any 'bad shit' happen on the plane. The advantage of being a responsible passenger was that I got double leg room as the seat infront of me was taken away to allow full access to the the emergency exit. Result.

New Zealand immigration was by far the easiest and most friendly I have encountered yet. They actually don't mind you visiting their country, this is a good thing. I kinda got stung a little by catching a taxi from outside the airport to my hostel, the total trip cost $90 (£45) and when I arrived at the hostel I discovered that they offer transfers from the airport for $28 - bugger!

After freshing up I decided that it really was time to wash some clothes. I had an aroma about me that I really hadn't smelt before. Once all this was done and emails were caught up on I headed out in Auckalnd for a wonder around. I stopped in at a bar (it was 20:00 - beer o'clock) and got chatting to Cath. We had such a laugh and then at the end of the night we parted our separate ways without me getting so much as a phone number off her. Just my luck, I hardly ever meet red heads, who are actually good looking and it is a cold day in hell if they are actually interested in me. The one time I do, poof, they are gone!

So waking up on Saturday I went off wondering again. Saw pretty much all there is to see in Auckland. I went down to the harbourside which was pretty. Then I decided to go up the Skytower. It is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and is taller than the eiffel tower. It was pretty cool actually. The views are amazing. You can (if you are felling particulary stupid) bungee off the top. This is cool for the people who still have a brain cell because you get too see the bungee happening from the viewing platform.

I went back to my hostel and got ready for another night out. I was going to go to the comedy club in the town as they had a offer on that it was only $15 for entry to their 22:30 show. This didnt happen however as I met up with 2 other travellers who were living in Auckland and we chatted and drank until the early hours of the morning. I can't for the life of me remember their names but I know one was a rather attractive northern bird, with a sexy accent. Thats as far as my recollection goes!

Sunday was a hangover day. Which unlike San Fran I wasn't too pissed off about as there really isn't much more to do in Auckland. I went to the cinema to watch Men In Black 3. it was pretty good actually then went back to my hostel for a very early night. It was bliss. I had 10 hours sleep last night and I feel really good for it.

I am catching a coach to Rotorua in a few hours time and I am really looking forward to getting out and seeing 'proper' New Zealand. I have also decided that I probably am not going to India now. Finances have dictated otherwise. I need money for when I get back to the UK and it is the sensible thing. Plus I get to go to Beautiful Days festival this year and see Frank Turner! WOOOO!

Thats about it. I am about to go and 'bronco bust' the toilet facilities here in Maccy D's, wish me luck!

T

p.s. It would seem that I have used all of my data on Macdonalds 'free' Wifi so no photos this time around. For that their toilets are gonna get RUINED - this is WAR!

Another Day In Paradise?

Fiji. The whole point of coming away to Fiji was to relax and chill out and I am proud to say that it is most definatley mission compleate!

I have now been sat here, in the bar on the resort where I am staying for about 10 minuites. I really dont know where to start in describing this beautiful country. Its amazing. Lets start with the people., they are some of the most friendliest people that I have had the joy to meet. An example; when I first arrived in the resort everyone (and I mean everyone - from the electrician here to the painters) ask for your name. Then whenever you meet them about the resort then they say 'Bula Tom, how is your day etc.' Bula is the Fijian for hello. It just makes you feel right at home. Even though this is the furthest I have been from cold, wet, windy Caerphilly this is the most at home that I have felt in the 2ish months I have been away.

I arrived from the big L.A. (Los Angeles, not Long Ashton) at 05:30 Saturay morning. I had to wait for about 45min for my lift to my hostel. I was soon to realise that even though Fiji is +11 hours GMT it has its own timezone, this is known as 'Fiji time'. Basically Fiji works on whatever time the Taxi driver decides it is. This could get annoying if you are here with a purpose other than relaxing. But I wasn't.

Festival, Fiji style! Glastonbury it is not!

After getting to my hostel one scary taxi ride later I was informed that my room wouldn't be ready untill 10:00 and would this be okay? Are you joking? Check-in time of 10, YES that is fine! I was offered breakfast to compensate my hassle (Fijians obviously havent been to a Travelodge, because if they do, thier heads will probably explode with the shoddy customer service that hell-hole offers). After breakfast and aquaiting myself with a few other travellers I got into my room. It was okay, nothing special. Some of my fellow travellers then said that they were heading into Nadi town center for a festival that was going on and would I like to come along? It was cool, a real good introduction for my Fijian experiance. We hung around there for a bit, had some food. I ordered a BBQ special, it was a pork steak, a sausage, some noodles and lots of spicy sauce. When I asked the guy at the stand if I could have a fork he just smiled (more than he already was) and said 'welcome to Fiji'! I used my hands - Fiji style!

Because whenever I am at a marina, I go to a
Shark free marina!

In the evening after I booked the resort for the rest of my time in Fiji, I just stayed at the hostel chatting to a Sweedish guy who had the strongest scouse accent about football. I have had wierder evenings!

Early the next morning I woke and went to the hotel next door to watch the Champions League final. I met a German from my hostel and because of the stupid league I ws naturally supporting Bayern. After the Germans threw it away I caught my transfer to the dock. From there I took 2 boats to get to my resort that would be home for the next 5 days. It took about 1hr30 in total to get to Malolo island and the Funky Fish resort.

What a place! So the resort has enough accomidation for 50 people, when I arrived there were just 5 guests staying here. As the days went on they all left and by the last night it was just me! In total I paid roughly £40 per night here, but for this I got 3 full meals per day and all the Fijian beer and/or Oz wine I could drink between 12:00 and 22:00. Bargain!

Did you miss me? I just stopped writing because photos had to be taken etc. etc. It is now a day later and I am sat in the departure gate at Nadi International airport waiting for my flight to Auckland, god knows where I will be able to get a WiFi signal to upload this blog!

The view from the resort bar.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yea, so in the afternoon that I arrived I took myself out snokling. It was the first time that I have ever done it and after a few 'technical' hitches (Breathing in underwater being the main fault) I got the hang of it. I took my underwater video camera (from Best Buy no less) and I gt some really good footage. In the whole time that I was at the resort I managed to see an Octopus, Seahorses, lots of amazing coloured fish and . . . . . . . . . a whole family of 'Nemo'/clownfish! Was well chuffed with that last one, I was so happy at the time that I forgot to breathe, which was a little tricky underwater!

One day as I was wading the 50m or so to get to the reef I noticed something unusual in the water. I put on the mask and put my head under the water for closer inspection only to become face to face with 2 sea snakes curled up. The most elegant way to describe what happened next was that I 'got the F**K out of there'! I ran, tripped, jumped, waded and even tried swimming in 30cm of water. I was so S**t scared. Not cool at all!

Err, it is safe to say that I kinda love this place!

So basically my time was spent snorkling, lying by the pool when the tide was out and attempting to do some line fishing on a sea kiyak. I took one of the Kiyaks out about a mile one day, just because I saw  white post in the water and challenged myself to do it. It was the most relaxing 5 days of my life. One evening I was strolling allong the beach (as you do) and I saw a coconut lying on the ground. Now I have seen a lot of Bear Grylls/Ray Mear and so I have a massive but seemingly pointless amount of knowledge on the art of survival. I therefore set myself a task of breaking into this coconut using the tools that I had around me (rocks, shells & a stick). The locals kept asking if I wanted a machete to break it open, I politely declined their offer (I wouldn't have one if I was stranded on a island) and continued my challenge. 45min later, having sweated more than the amount of milk inside the 'nut I got in. It was at this point that I discovered that I actually dont like coconut milk. But now I can sleep safe in the knowledge that if I was stranded, I could survive.

In the evenings I usually went up to the bar for dinner at 7 and then watched a few 'dodgy' (as in not fully paid for, not bam-chick-a-wam-bam!) films with the rest of the staff. It was cool just to chill out with them.

So that was my time in Fiji. I arrived back at the hostel where I arrived last Saturday about 17:00 last night and bumped into my sweedish/scouse friend who had also just got off a resort. It was cool as we chilled out and put the world to rights again. I met a couple from Dallas and they were cool and then a girl from Middlesbrough came and joined us. She was so so annoying, really arrogant, the kind that gives the England a good name, well I say England, what I mean is Northern England! Anyway I promised that I would write about her in my blog, there we go!

Cheers! I am starting to look more and more like a traveller!
'tis good!

Auckland awaits me. I have booked into a hostel for 3 nights in the city. I need to get some washing done (I am starting to whiff a tad) and also want to try to send a parcel home with some clothes to free up space (I mean who was I kidding when I took a gillet with me?). Apparently the weather in New Zealand is a little chilly at the moment but as I keep on telling people, I live in Wales, if its dry then its a good day!

Good bye and thanks for reading!





Tom

Drinking In L.A.

So its goodbye American and hello Fiji!

My last few days in the land of the free kinda fizzled out to nothing to be honest. On my trip down to L.A. from the wonder that is San Francisco I felt a sore throat coming on. Not too much to worry about I hear you cry, however with my immune system shot to pieces with all the burgers that I have been stuffing myself with over here it turned into a bigger problem than the average man could handle. By the time I arrived into L.A. I had full blown man flu, of the killer kind. I checked into my hostel that resembled NYC (by that I mean that it had no soul) and proceeded to crash out in my dorm room. Lucky for me I was sharing my room with two of the worlds worse snorers (and yes, mother and father I include you!). This gave me the perfect nights sleep that my flu riddled body desired!

Determined to make the most of my last full day in the States I woke nice and early at 8 (I had no choice really sharing with the two elephants in the room) and stuffed myself with the complimentary continental breakfast - toast and coffee. I have always wondered about 'continental' breakfast's because whenever I have been to France - on the continent. I have often stuffed myself with delicious buttery croissionts, however over here it seems that continental means toast and fruit, how strange! I diegress,  I then caught up on emails, booked my accomidation in Fiji, phoned the parents in Saudi and headed out fully determined to 'do' hollywood in a day!

This never happened. I stood waiting for a bus to take me into West Hollywood for 1hr45. It was ridiculas. As always happens in these situations as soon as I walked just far enough away to not make it back to the stop my bus pulled up. After doing a comedy run to try and catch it (and failing, not in the run, but in the actual process of catching it) I gave up all hope of seeing a hollywood star (both on the ground and in person) and conceeed defeat. One my last full day the L.A. public transport system had beaten me!

I had a good long walk around Santa Monica instead. It was nice, the women were even nicer. I felt like a seaside town. Just a very pretty, hot and american seaside town. I found a bar and had a few beers to top off what was really a nothingness day. Back at the hostel (and while the two elephants were bathing in the nearest mud baths) I caught up on 4 hours of much needed sleep. Still feeling like death warmed up I headed out to the nearest restarunt I could find for some food. It was a little Italian place just round the corner. I had a meatball and spagetthi and I couldn't finish it. That how ill i was people. In the evening I just sat in the courtyard at the hostel chilling with a bottle of powerade (Rock and Roll lifestyle!) whilst helping a Brazilian woman get on the net, as soon as I did she obviously had a domestic with her boyfirend (or girlfriend) and started blubbering. Sensing that this was not going to turn out well for either of us I made my excuses and headed to the elephant enclosure for the night!

This morning I woke at the usual time after the appauling nights sleep and sat in the courtyard with a coffee untill 5 min before check out. This was because I had another 12 hours to kill before my flight and I wasn't going to let free wi-fi and free coffee go too early! I then walked to the cinema around the corner where I watched The Avengers (very good, although a bit too 'sci-fi' for a comic book film, watch it and you will see) and The Dictator (also very good, Sacha Baron Cohen pissed me off after 30 min but his speach on what actually is a dictatorship at the end was BRILLIANT, especially watching it in the States - no-one except me actually laughed in the cinema!). I then found a British pub where my final beer on American soil was a excellent pint of London Pride (I do have a feeling though that since I have another 5 hours before my flight it won't actually be the last, but don't let that spoil the irony!). L.A. public transport actually worked in my favour then as I caught a bus to LAX for just ONE dollar - bargain!

Which is where I sit now. I have 35min before my check in opens, and 5 hours before my flight departs. So I thought that this would be a good time to sum up my American chapter of the trip, I have done it city by city and give them a rating. Here goes . . . . . . .

NEW YORK CITY 7/10
Looking back my expectations for NYC were far higher than they should have been. However I felt that the place didn't really have and soul as such. It was fun and I know that I didn't see or do half the stuff that I could have done. I have taken that all into account in the rating. I know that a lot of people 'get' NYC, I just didn't. I felt like it was a american version of London, which is no bad thing because London is god country obviously, its just that it didn't have a personality of it's own, London does.

Worse Moment - Being let down by the city when I first arrived.

Best Moment - Central Park - that is amazing, a diamond (or big green emerald) in the rough

WASHINGTON D.C. 8.5/10
It was like a breath of fresh air. I loved this city. I have heard that there are some rough areas but there are in any city - right? I found the people all to be super friendly. I felt extreamly safe, well Mr. President finds it safe enough to live. I found the culture and museums to be awesome. The fact that most of them were free helps this a lot - you listening Britian? - FREE!

Worse Moment - Paying $10 for a subway ticket that I only used once because I walked everywhere.

Best Moment - Final night out with 2 Aussie girls OR Having the best burger of my USA experiance at Green Turtle.

St. LOUIS 6/10
I only had 2 days here, but that was enough. I wouldn't go back here and I treated it more like a stop over on the Greyhound before Dallas. I have since heard that there is more to see here than just the Arch, however I found no indication of this. It was just a small city in my eyes that is home to the Rams. I would almost class it as a town.

Worse Moment - Crack whore + truck driver on Greyhound. Say no more.

Best Moment - When I discovered just how good a Vodka Martini can me at the hotel bar.

DALLAS/FORT WORTH
I havn't given this place a rating as I am definatly biased. I love Texas and all that it holds. I wasn't visiting Texas as a tourist, I was there as a friend visiting good mates. I acted and was treated as a total local the whole time I was there and I have been there before.

Worse Moment - The morning after the night before and discovering I had a Texas tattoo

Best Moment - The morning after the night before and discovering I had a Texas tattoo

DENVER 9/10
I was ment to be going to Pheonix and Vegas after Texas and I am so glad I changed to Denver. I love this city, it was clean, freindly and safe (excluding the Nazi's outside the Greyhound station). It just had such a good vibe about the place and the view of the Rockie's was superb! If I had to move anywhere in the states, it would be here!

Worse Moment - Walking home through the most mental thunderstorm ever after the baseball.

Best Moment - Chatting for well over 2 hours with two Denverites in a bar downtown, by the end I felt like I was chatting to my best mates!

SALT LAKE CITY 8/10
For someone who isn't a Mormon (Mormon not moron - everyone knows I am one of those, see above!) I was suprisingly well suprised (shocking grammer I know, blame Mr. Parsons!) about SLC. I was clean and smelt really good. Was kinda small though. However it was pleasent enough.

Worse Moment - Chaffed nipples!

Best Moment - The price of the beer!

San Francisco 9/10
Ahh San Francisco! I loved this place. I spent just the right amount of time here, I felt like I saw a lot yet there is still enough to make me come back for another visit. You will always have a dear place in my heart. Amazing city!

Worse Moment - Writing a day off because of a hangover, damn you free beer, damn you!

Best Moment - Lots of contenders such as Alcatraz, Walking the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate park, Hippy district, Baseball, Pier 39 and free beer partys but the award goes to Paul the Magic Dragon. It was a totally once in a lifetime moment!

Santa Monica 5/10
Very mediocre. Let down by the public transport then it redeemed itself. It is hard to give a proper opinion because a) I was Ill and b) I didnt have much time there.

Worse Moment - Feeling like I was back home waiting 1h45 for a bus.

Best Moment - Feeling like I was back home sipping London Pride.

So there we go. One country down, Eight(ish) to go. Its been fun yet expensive. I have met so many different people just by chatting to then at a bar, from the American Itailian called Shaun on my first night to the Chelsea supporter as I drank my last drink. It has been a total eye opener. I am off to recover from a cold by lying on a beach sipping cocktails. That is what the doctor said right?

Tom

The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco

Insert your own captions about shrimp, fingers and
 inserting!

Dearest readers, What a great song title I found! I am sorry that I have been neglating you recently. San Francisco was just so so much fun. Let me explain why.

My first day in San Fran I decided to go for a walk and to explore what the place had to offer. I walked down from my hostel to pier 39. It is a famous pier amongst tourists and has lots of shops and restarunts on it that really define america. For instance there is a Bubba Gump restarunt there (from the film Forresst Gump). The best way to describe it is like a american version of covent garden as there are also street performers there. So I spent a good half day there haveing a look around. I then walked around to a nearby pier and saw a submarine that was involved in WWII and also a ship. Whilst I was there I brought my ticket for Alcatraz the following day.

San Francisco in all its glory!

I decided (stupidly) to walk back to my hostel. On the map it looked pretty straigt forward, only a few miles down one street. However this street was in San Francisco, a place that makes the great city of Bath look like a bowling green. It was so so hilly. By the time I got back to the hostel a pint was well needed. I had the 2 S's (S**t & shower - there is no shaving on THIS trip!) and headed down to the reception to ask about where was good locially to eat. Instead of just directing me to a place the biggest Korean man I have ever met said 'do you like Thai?', I replied that yes, I did and he just goes 'follow me' and walks out the door. After I have follwed him a few blocks we ened up at this amazing thai restarut. It tunrs out that he is the manager of the place. AWESOME customer service. When we get back it was time for drinks. Now there was a very clear reason why I chose this particular hostel. It was billed as a 'Party Hostel'. Oh, and it gave away free beer, every night!

Best photo I have take of my travels yet.
The 'bay mist' at Alcatraz!

So I head down to the nightclub that is in the basement of this place and drink. I met some awesome guys and girls. Specifically a aussie called Nige. He was a dude and shared the same taste in music. He was travelling alone and so very quickly became my drinking buddy for my time in San Fran.

The guarenteed hangover arrived on Friday morning. I managed to shake it off with a nice brisk walk to the pier for Alcatraz. That place was awesome. So many stories there. It was only $28 and for that you got your ferries there and back and as long as you want on the Island. I did the audio tour as well and what was good about it was that you could pause the tour and go off exploring and then come back to it. It was really intresting hearing all about the prison side of the island but also it was really good to hear all about the American Indian occupation that happend in the 70's as well. You can really see how it was near impossible to escape from it, but to quote a mate - we have all seen mythbusters! After Alcartaz it was back to the hostel, more free beer and staying up untill four in the morning chewing the fat and putting the world to rights.

. . . because if a Tsunami hit, I was thinking about going in
for a swim. Although by the looks of it, even higher ground
won't save that fella!

Saturday didn't happen. Well it did, I didn't do anything. I felt so rough that I took a 'rest day' and stayed in bed pretty much all day. Drinking happened in the evening though.

Feeling really bad at myself for the write off that was Saturday I decide that I would have to punish myself for the loss of a day. I decided to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Not just across it, but TO it. It was a 15 mile round trip, a 15 mile HILLY round trip. I am glad I did it. The bridge was amazing and I was really lucky that there was no fog covering it. It was a beautiful clear day. When I was halfway across it I noticed a cruise ship reversing (I know that isnt prper sailing terms) out of its 'parking place' at the marina in the city. I calculated that I could make it to the end of the bridge and back half way to see it go under the bridge. Boy am I glad that I did. It was such a experiance, those things are HUGE! Just as it passed under the Captain (got one term right) sounded its air horn. You could clearly see everyone waving. Really cool. So I walked a different way back, still hilly and I saw the crookedest street in the world and walked down that then back to the hostel. I felt like I became a man by walking so much and definatly made up for Saturday. My last night in the hostel was awesome. Me and Nige managed to get our iPods being played instead of the crap dance shit that was on and closed the night with Let it Be! Perfect.

I'm walking across THAT?!

So we head out for a ciggy and whilst we are avoiding the tramps that keep coming and asking for money/cigarettes/a good time we noticed this guy who has also come out of the hostel. He looks like a pretty decent chap, except he is dressed in a dragons costume. It looks like he has be sperated from a stag party. After chatting for a bit we discover that there is no stage party that is dragon-less. He just decided to quit his job on friday, take his savings and go travelling for 8 months, wearing a dragon suit. It was so bizzarr but honestly one of the best things that has happened to me here. He was really dead-pan. The americans just thought he was crazy, I know that he is a comedy genius. I asked him if he was going to see Alcatraz and he said no, as wild animals aren't allowed on the ferries. But then when I asked him his name, he said Paul! Thankyou Paul the Dragon. You were excellent!

T.A.R.D.I.S. - USA style!

So monday arivved and it was time to say good bye to the best hostel I have stayed in. I met up with Alex who I met at the hostel in NYC when she was looking for universitys there. She is from San Fran and it was really good to spend the day with a local. We walked the length of Golden Gate park. It is about the same size of Central park but seems more wild! After that we then caught a muni tram/bus/underground thing to the Baseball stadium where I STILL haven't seen the team that I am supporting win. The mighty Colarado Rockies were in town and having seen them before I had to support them really, much to Alex's disgust. The San Francisco Giants won 3-1 in what was really a pretty poor game. We then visited a few bars and then headed back to hers.

Today I woke, said my goodbyes and headed to the Greyhound station where I missed my coach by 15 min. I caught a later one, that was delayed, and also has no air conditioning. This is only a small inconveniance as we are heading through the most remote, dessert parts of California, where air conditioning is just a luxury!!! SO thankyou greyhound for making my last trip on you one of the best! (British sarcasm at its finest!) I will be getting into L.A. about 10ish now and then it another 20 min taxi to my hostel in Santa Monica.

GO ROCKIES . . . . . . I mean Giants Mr. Crazy Mexican
 Giants fan!!

San Fransico was awesome. I had such a good time. The city has a really cool feel to it that NYC didnt have. I think that I will definatly be back here. Next time though I will wear a flower in my hair!








1/6

Faith!

Let me tell you all a little story. . . . . . . .

The two men who started it!

Back around 1860 there were two men. These men were christian folk who believed like most christians do in the bible etc, but their faith waivered. So they did what anyone would do in that situation, they went for a short walk in the woods. Now no-one really knows what happened in the woods that day but when the two men returned they claimed that they had been touched by John the Baptist and he told them to go forth and create a new branch of christianity called Mormon. Now, this might not be factually accurate (hence why I said at the start it was a story) but that I how I percieved the Mormon religion being created from my time in Salt Lake City. I tell you dearest Bleeders of that story for two reasons. Firstly you might have not experianced the Mormon religion before and so I hope I have enlightened you somewhat and secondly I find it quite scary/amazing/baffleing how and entire city can be created on the basis of what two men claimed to have happened in some woods 150 years ago.

This is the office building for the main
church here in S.L.C. An OFFICE building!

Having said all that Salt Lake City is a really cool little city. It is very clean, very well built (say what you like about the Mormons, they build good buildings) and also very safe. I spent the whole of yesterday just walking around and just marvelling at all the architecture that was on offer. Because it is all so new (in the grand scheme of christianity) it feels like canterbury has been dragged into the 21st century. The churches are all new and modern but with a classical twist on them.

In the afternoon (after a very helpful stop into the tourist information center) I decided to go visit Utah's state capitol. I was hoping to go see the sight of the 2002 winter olympic games but there were no busses to the venue and you could only go there if you had a car to drive, which I did not. The state capitol building was at the top of a very steep hill which I was assured by Mr. Tourist Infomation that no man in his right mind would be able to climb. I then told Mr. Tourist Information that I was most definatly not in my right mind and have a tattoo of Texas to prove this fact. When I got up to the top of the hill (it was steep, oh so steep) I was met with a very dominating building. I am getting this feeling that all state capitol buildings are loosely based on the one in Washington D.C. (domed roof, pillars etc etc) and as this is the second one I have been to outside D.C. I feel that I am becoming a bit of an expert on them. This one thou was amazing, perched right at the top of a hill and surrounded by very expertly mown lawns I was impressed.

A very impressive capitol bulding

I then headed back to the hostel as I still had to book accomidation for San Francisco. After I had done this I slapped on my glad rags and hit the town. Now many people had assured me that alcohol was different here in Salt Lake City and I might not like it. It was, and I did. After some research on watering holes in the city I opted for a bar called 'Cheers'. It was often reffered to as being a 'dive'. I thought that this sounded more like a challenge rather than a bad review and off I set.

It was amazing. I had to give over my passport details before ordering a drink (Utah state law). But they serve proper strength beer in MASSIVE glasses. Before I complained about the Americans definition of a pint. This was no pint, it was probably about a pint and a half in a huge pitcher/mug thing. I drank the night away in this place, chatting to a good few 'Saltys' - as they call themselfs. We put the world to rights and had a ruddy good time. When it became time for me to leave (as I was thinking do I remember how to get back) I asked for the bill. I had 5 of these pitchers. The total bill came to just shy of $15. I couldn't believe it! I left a healthy tip, the 'tip bell' was rung and on my way I went. It was a good 15min walk back to my hostel and although it was a really safe area the alcohol pumping through my body caused me to believe that I was being watched, I upped the pace and got back safely. However strangely I developed a mild case of nipple rash - bizzar.

Just a very beautiful and nice smelling city.

Today I walked to the bus station. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I could walk my hangover off and take one last look at Salty Lake City. I got lost. Eventunally, after walking for a hour with my life on my back I arrived at the station very sweaty. I hopped on the bus and away we went. I hadn't yet seen the Lake in question but today I caught a glimpse of it before I nodded off. I woke up about 50 min later AND WE WERE STILL CROSSING IT! That thing is HUGE!

I really enjoyed my time in Salt Lake. Was nothing like any city I have ever been too. I am not sure if I would go back but only bacuse I think I have done everything it has to offer. Glad I came here though. One thing I will say about the place is that it smells really nice. The architects and garden planners here have planted some really good smelling trees and shrubs. You could be walking down a street and get a whiff of a awesome smelling flower. This happened to me many times.

Now I am in San Francisco for 6 days and I can't wait to start exploring, have wanted to go to this city for so long!

Untill next time,

adios!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

The Rockies as viewed from down-town Denver. Mile high
stadium is in the fore ground.

Yes, hello blog readers (or bleeders as I would like to call you!) I am currently in Salt Lake City, and what a beautiful day awaits me.

I loved Denver. It is probably my 2nd favourite city so far (behind D.C.) but if I had to live somewhere in the states it would be in Denver. The views from the city were amazing. It is also really clean and tidy.




On Saturday I found out that it was free admission day to Denver art gallery so I decided to take advantage of this. I don't normally 'do' art gallery's but this one was pretty cool. They had quite a lot of American Indian art and also a fair bit of modern art (the cool kind). I did see a Picasso and a Monet so not bad for free. Whilst I was at the art gallery I could hear a live band playing somewhere in the city. So after I had finished walking around the gallery I decided to investigate. . .and boy am I glad I did. You see Saturday was 'cinco de mayo'. Which means 5th of May in Spanish (not much thought went into that!). It is the Mexican festival of independence. It was a blast, there were loads of stalls selling EVERYTHING (did I mention that Denver has very lax drug laws, like Cali), there were a lot of very good looking latino women and the best part was when I was asked to take part in a chilli tasting competition for free. Free chilli - yes please.

Cinqo de Mayo festival

After walking around the festival and having a good look I stopped into a bar for a drink It was a really hot day and I needed something to quench my thirst! I met two Denver locals in there and we got chatting. They suggested that I should go to watch the Baseball in the evening and that if I wanted to I could join them for a few drinks after. I popped back to my hotel for a quick change and walked over to the ballpark. Unfortunaly I couldn't get a ticket for the section that they were in and with that my phone ran out of battery - bloody typical. Anyway, I till got a ticket for the bargain price of $15 and proceeded to watch the game. This one was far more exciting than the Yankees, I saw a 'Grand Slam' (second of the year, first one was the mighty Welsh rugby team in the 6 nations) which is where the hitter hits a home run when all the 'bases are loaded'. The stadium is pretty spectacular, the view I had was that the Rocky Mountains were a perfect backdrop to the game. It was rather exciting and the Colorado Rockies were 9-12 down going into the last 2 innings when the storm struck.

What a F-ing massive storm it was! Lighting, rain, gales and a handful of hail thrown in for good measure. I have been so lucky with the weather since I have been over here and this was the first american rain I had experienced, however just like the wonderful game of cricket, rain stopped play! I must have got a bit used to the sun as I now found myself stuck at 'Coors Field' with just a t-shirt and jeans and a good mile walk back to my hotel. I waited and waited and decided to risk it. It wasn't too bad as the rain eased off a bit!

Denver capitol building. If you sit on the steps - you are officially a mile
Above sea level!

Sunday I got up and had to get a few things from the shops. After I had done that I thought that I would give the History of Colorado museum a run for its money. It was $10 to enter and this did seem a bit on the pricey side. It had only just opened a few weeks ago and so there wasn't the huge number of exhibits that I am used to from other museums that I have been to. However I can see that once it had become established then it would be a very good museum indeed. I did get to see a winter Olympics medal! On the way out I got chatting to one of the women who welcomed you as you walked in, so at least I made a friend from it!

After that I headed back to my hotel and had a quiet night watching trashy american tele. Oh yea, almost forgot - I needed to get some cigarettes and so I asked a non-nazi looking person if they knew where the best place to buy some would be. He directed me to a pharmacy. I did think this was a cruel joke that the people of Denver play on unsuspecting tourists but I gave the man his dues. It turns out that yes, you can buy cigarettes from a bloody pharmacy here!!! Crazy!!!

Yes, there was snow!

So my coach was meant to leave at 11:30 on Monday and to leave plenty of time I checked out at 09:00 and walked to the bus station. It was raining (Denver weather don't like me!). I got to the bus station at 09:30 and the man behind the check-in counter said that there was a coach leaving in 5 min's to Salt Lake and I might as well get on that one rather than hanging around. Boy and I glad I did. This coach was going to take 2 hours longer to get into Salt Lake but it was going via the mountains and the view was ruddy spectacular! The rain turned into snow, lots of the white stuff. It was like a scene from the shining. So impressive. The coach only had about 8 people on it and it was one of Greyhounds newer ones with wifi and seatbelts (which I was thankful for when I saw some of the drops by the side of the road!). Further on the journey 'The Shining' country turned into 'Deliverance' as we drove along creeks in the blazing sun. Was the most breath taking trip so far.

I arrived into Salt Lake City about 22:00. Caught a taxi to my hostel and checked into my single room for the next two nights. Will just be a day of exploring the city today.

Until we meet again!

Tom

Is this the way to Amarillo?

Me and Thomas Wade Landry, something of a icon in Dallas

No, its the way to Denver, however I can now say I have been to Amarillo.

I have also changed my plans. Out of the window are Phoenix & Vegas and say hello to Denver & Salt Lake City. I was shorter to get to Denver, it seems a nicer city than Phoenix and It works out well logistically by doing it this way.

So, my last day in Dallas was interesting, Mike took me to see the Dallas Cowboys new stadium, this thing is HUGE! It is obvious that Jerry Jones (the owner of the Cowboys) has just a little bit of money! From there we went to say bye to Tony. I had said bye to everyone else the night before and Me, Laura, Krystal and Mike all went for some ace Mexican food.

Artistic shot of Cowboys Stadium

After saying goodbye to Tony, we headed to Fort Worth Stockyards for my last night. I have to admit, I really dont remember too much about it. These are the things that I am certain happened - I drank a lot of beer, I also drank a lot of shots. I was going to sing the Beatles with Mike, but ran out of time. Oh, and I got a tattoo. Now I am certain I got said tattoo because I look down as I am writing this and it is there, I cannot remember how much it cost, when I got it done, or why the hell I decided to get a outline of the state of Texas on my arm. I do love this state, but not as much as Tottenham Hotspur, and I haven't got a spurs tattoo, yet!

Thursday was just written off with a fluffy head and me feeling rough. I caught my coach at 19:50 from Fort Worth. It was due to arrive in Denver at 11:30ish on Friday. So a nice, fairly short coach journey awaits (or so I thought). Whilst we were travelling throughout Texas I saw the most amazing lightning storm I have ever seen. Over here they don't have thunderstorms with rain etc. They have heat storms, so its still lighting bolts, just no wet stuff. As we travelled throughout the night I could see this storm in the distance and we just got closer and closer until we were effectively travelling right next to the thing. The bolts were striking about a mile away, very impressive.

Yes, its the state of Texas!

We kept travelling throughout the night and at about 01:00 the coach started slowing down. I couldn't see any obvious coach stop or greyhound station in sight, but these Americans slap them anywhere so you can never be sure. It then transpired that we were actually being pulled over by the police. Now I was under the impression that the driver must have been speeding, hence the '50 getting involved. It wasn't until one of the officers came onboard and started shining a torch in everyones face. This (as you can imagine) went down really well with the sleeping section of the coach. After he left, and as I was sitting fairly near the front (made the mistake of sitting near the back before) I asked the driver what was going one. Turns out that a bomb threat had been phoned in against Greyhound. I asked was it all Greyhounds, she responded, calm as you like with a 'no, just our route'. GREAT! As if I needed any more issues with trying to sleep.

Best picture I could get of the 'feds covertly.

So we arrived into Amarillo and was told that our bus was going to be leaving in a hours time. This hour turned into 2,3 and eventually 4 hours later. They couldn't find a driver (in all fairness I would wanna drive a bus that has just had a bomb threat on it, I didn't really want to travel on it!). Eventually they got a driver from El Paso to come up and drive the bus however this wasn't his normal route and as such it was a case of  'Is this the way out of Amarillo' as it took him 3 attempts to get out of the town. But at least we were travelling. I slept most of the rest of the way. The views as we came through New Mexico were outstanding and I tried to get a few pictures of the snow covered mountains.

We arrived into Denver about 14:30. I walked out the front of the Greyhound station for a well deserved cigarette, it was my last one (genuinely) but I thought that I would get some more on my way to the Hotel I was staying out. I was approached buy a 'rough' looking fella and just as I finished my cigarette he asked me if I had and left. I did explain to him that it was honestly my last one, he then lifted up him shirt, showed me a swasticker on hist chest (american history X style) and said 'if I had my mate with me then I bet you would have some'. I just explained that no, I wouldnt as I had none on me and made a VERY swift exit towards my hotel. I did notice that as I did he went and asked two black guys for a cigarette. Baffelled doesn't even begin to explain my thoughts.

Outstanding views of New Mexico.

I got to my Hotel in the end. Checked in and was given my room number. Went to my room to discover that it was a single room. Quite impressed as I have only paid for a bed in a 8 bed dorm, not complaining at all. The bathroom is down the corridor, but that is about it. It is very basic, but will do the job. After the nightmare of a journey last night I decided to have a well deserved drink. I found a British Micro Brewery Pub (yes I hate people who just go away and don't experience local culture too, but after bomb threats 4 hour delays and Nazi's me and local culture aren't on good terms.) I had rather a few Blackthorn ciders, It was glorious and went back to my room for a early night.

Today I am thinking that I might go to the art gallery and then maybe tomorrow I might go to watch some more baseball if I get stuck for things to do.





Tom