Two Very Different Tales
After a very nice flight over sitting next to a dude from Germany who roasted coffee for a living and taught me quite a bit about coffee I touched down at Franfurt's international Airport in Germany. Going through TWO seperate security searches including one that swabbed my guitar with something and analysed it in an explosives detection machine I made it to my connecting flight to continue on and land at Heathrow Airport. Petrified by reports of hardcore border patrol in the UK and knowledge of two friends who have been deported for making simple mistakes answering questions i nervously spoke to the customs lady who asked a couple of simple expected questions about where i'm going and where i've been and sent me on my way. *sigh* I get so stressed at these security points, it's so irrational but something i just cant let go of even without a shred of actual reason.
My visit to the UK, as it turned out, was divided into two distinctly different experiences that could not be further apart in description. After collecting baggage I boarded a bus to Bath.
Bath
A quaint and well preserved Roman town that hosts the UK's only natural hot springs refered to cryptically as The Roman Baths. This town was incredibly beautiful, all the buildings were made of stone and there exists local government policies to prevent any buildings of a modern nature from ruining the towns heritage.
My cousin Belinda and her husband James live in an amazing and huge house that they've recently renovated with their 3 gorgeous children all under 6 years old Joshua, Thomas and Alexandra. They generously allowed me to stay as long as I liked in their 3rd floor guestroom which will easily be the height of luxury that I experience for my entire trip. After the last month in Vancouver and especially the last weekend, relaxing and taking things down a notch was precisely what I needed to prepare for the journey ahead. Children are so humbling and grounding. I became good friends with her youngest Alex who is the cutest little girl you'd see, at 2.5 years she's at that age old enough to be very vocal and opinionated about everything, and young enough to not have developed any sense of inhibition or insecurity, so pretty much every thought is converted to speach. It's a hilarously beautiful age.
Whilst in Bath I was treated to lunch at old traditional pubs and nice restaurants almost daily, strolled the town a few times visiting hundreds of years old buildings like Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths, played tennis with James at the country club, helped make party packs for Thomas's Birthday, played Wii with the boys, watched Eastenders nightly, finished my the brilliant book i was reading Shantaram, it was an extremely relaxing week and I am very grateful to have had the chance to visit my cousin and her beautiful family.
I was also lucky enough to be there for Guy Fawkes night. My generation of Australian's aren't really too familiar this celebration as far as I know as it was effectively abolished in the late 70's when the sale of fireworks was banned.. Goes something like this: Some time in the 1600's a guy called Guy Fawkes was caught trying to blow up the house of parliament killing everyone sitting within it, but was caught before executing the plan. He and co-conspirators had managed to stash 800kg of gunpowder under the building but didn't get to light it... I've yet to work out whether the people are celebrating the attempt or the foiling of the plot, but in any case it's an entertaining event that is celebrated by the lighting of fireworks all over the place, seemingly over the course of a week, but culminating on both the 5th Novermber and the nearest Saturday night with a big show of fireworks, and (in the two cases I saw) a ridiculously granduouse bonfire. The Saturday night party was put on by the owner of an incredibly lavish mansion on a massive property with all the trimmngs.. All in all a luxurious and relaxing trip.
Bath Abbey
insanely huge organ inside the abbey
Royal Circus
Ridiculously Huge Bonfire
London, Brighton and the Astor Kensington Hostel
In as I said complete contrast I arrived by train to London on the 11th November by train, took the tube to Gloucester Road station and walked the few hundred metres down to the hostel I'd randomly picked known as the Astor Kensington. This place wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing of places i've stayed, but in a very short amount of time I was without doubt that I'd made a great choice. Run by extended-staying travellers who all seemed to be staying in the hostel, I went out on the first evening in a hostel organised trip to a local pub running a quiz night. Here I met a great crew of people which lay the foundations of a week of partying. I also met Jessica, who as it turned out was doing almost the exact opposite trip to me, starting with a journey around sth east asia, staying for a week in London then moving on for an extended working holiday in Canada. Naturally we had a lot to talk about, I gained a bunch of advice for the next leg of my trip and a buddy to do some sightseeing with.
The next day (wed) we ventured to Brighton down by the sea and witnessed some epic scenes of the old Brighton Pier which burnt down but the steel skeletal remains in the water, the nearby newly built Brighton Pier 2.0 containing a number of tacky casino type setups and a carnival. After that we cruised the town and visited Brick Lane, a famous area of Brighton where narrow lanes full of (mostly jewlery) shops intertwine, ate (Fish and) chips on the beach and strolled some of the town before catching the train back to
The old burnt down Brighton Pier
The new Brighton Pier down the beach
Jess walking down The Lanes (doesnt really do it justice..)
juices, all you can drink for 5 pounds) - a pretty entertaining evening.
Lauren at the markets in Camden Town
Friday I met up with Jessica again and we ventured to shoreditch in an amazingly disapointing attempt to view some of Banksy's street art in east london. Had a curry and generally just wandered the area. I said goodbye to Jess as she was leaving the following day and Jumped on a train out to Canary Island to catch up with a friend from highschool Cheryl and her boyfriend Ben at their flat. We drank some wine and ended up down at the local pub (who all turned in shock as we entered the door) and played pool with them and continued drinking throughout the evening.
The following day was pretty miserable and raining, hungover I woke up in Cheryl's spare bed and forced myself to do something touristsy. Not realising it was Saturday, The Tower of London turned out to not be the best choice. It wasn't just raining either - it was hammering down and occasionally sideways.. so windy my umbrella proved practically useless. I did find it interesting, and with a lot less crowd i may have spent more time but i have to admit i was out of there pretty quickly.
I packed all my bags ready on saturday afternoon as i had a suspicion the evening would be messy and i needed to get up and leave somewhat early. One of the hostel staff Stacey was leaving and a big party had been organised with a view to hit a bar in Camden Town afterwards. As this was my last night it did seem appropriate to celebrate with my new friends. It started off with a reenectment of thursday night's cocktail event and after that 'unlimited' source had vanished we did indeed continue onto a bar in Camden and I tell you, I havent hit it that hard in a long while. The bar closed at about 4 and after a dirty falafel from a street vendor waiting for what turned out to be a bus full of other drunkards trying to get home i think i eventually hit the pillow around 6am.
Bye London
Needless to say my 15 hour travel journey to Seoul the following day wasnt the greatest experience. Completely erasing the week of relaxation in Bath, London had ruined me. I'm sure now you understand these two sides the UK had to offer :)
Astor Fun
Paula, Christian, Myself and Jessica
The Crew at the Astor Kensington Hostel
After a very nice flight over sitting next to a dude from Germany who roasted coffee for a living and taught me quite a bit about coffee I touched down at Franfurt's international Airport in Germany. Going through TWO seperate security searches including one that swabbed my guitar with something and analysed it in an explosives detection machine I made it to my connecting flight to continue on and land at Heathrow Airport. Petrified by reports of hardcore border patrol in the UK and knowledge of two friends who have been deported for making simple mistakes answering questions i nervously spoke to the customs lady who asked a couple of simple expected questions about where i'm going and where i've been and sent me on my way. *sigh* I get so stressed at these security points, it's so irrational but something i just cant let go of even without a shred of actual reason.
My visit to the UK, as it turned out, was divided into two distinctly different experiences that could not be further apart in description. After collecting baggage I boarded a bus to Bath.
Bath
A quaint and well preserved Roman town that hosts the UK's only natural hot springs refered to cryptically as The Roman Baths. This town was incredibly beautiful, all the buildings were made of stone and there exists local government policies to prevent any buildings of a modern nature from ruining the towns heritage.
My cousin Belinda and her husband James live in an amazing and huge house that they've recently renovated with their 3 gorgeous children all under 6 years old Joshua, Thomas and Alexandra. They generously allowed me to stay as long as I liked in their 3rd floor guestroom which will easily be the height of luxury that I experience for my entire trip. After the last month in Vancouver and especially the last weekend, relaxing and taking things down a notch was precisely what I needed to prepare for the journey ahead. Children are so humbling and grounding. I became good friends with her youngest Alex who is the cutest little girl you'd see, at 2.5 years she's at that age old enough to be very vocal and opinionated about everything, and young enough to not have developed any sense of inhibition or insecurity, so pretty much every thought is converted to speach. It's a hilarously beautiful age.
Whilst in Bath I was treated to lunch at old traditional pubs and nice restaurants almost daily, strolled the town a few times visiting hundreds of years old buildings like Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths, played tennis with James at the country club, helped make party packs for Thomas's Birthday, played Wii with the boys, watched Eastenders nightly, finished my the brilliant book i was reading Shantaram, it was an extremely relaxing week and I am very grateful to have had the chance to visit my cousin and her beautiful family.
I was also lucky enough to be there for Guy Fawkes night. My generation of Australian's aren't really too familiar this celebration as far as I know as it was effectively abolished in the late 70's when the sale of fireworks was banned.. Goes something like this: Some time in the 1600's a guy called Guy Fawkes was caught trying to blow up the house of parliament killing everyone sitting within it, but was caught before executing the plan. He and co-conspirators had managed to stash 800kg of gunpowder under the building but didn't get to light it... I've yet to work out whether the people are celebrating the attempt or the foiling of the plot, but in any case it's an entertaining event that is celebrated by the lighting of fireworks all over the place, seemingly over the course of a week, but culminating on both the 5th Novermber and the nearest Saturday night with a big show of fireworks, and (in the two cases I saw) a ridiculously granduouse bonfire. The Saturday night party was put on by the owner of an incredibly lavish mansion on a massive property with all the trimmngs.. All in all a luxurious and relaxing trip.
Bath Abbey
insanely huge organ inside the abbey
Royal Circus
Ridiculously Huge Bonfire
In as I said complete contrast I arrived by train to London on the 11th November by train, took the tube to Gloucester Road station and walked the few hundred metres down to the hostel I'd randomly picked known as the Astor Kensington. This place wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing of places i've stayed, but in a very short amount of time I was without doubt that I'd made a great choice. Run by extended-staying travellers who all seemed to be staying in the hostel, I went out on the first evening in a hostel organised trip to a local pub running a quiz night. Here I met a great crew of people which lay the foundations of a week of partying. I also met Jessica, who as it turned out was doing almost the exact opposite trip to me, starting with a journey around sth east asia, staying for a week in London then moving on for an extended working holiday in Canada. Naturally we had a lot to talk about, I gained a bunch of advice for the next leg of my trip and a buddy to do some sightseeing with.
The next day (wed) we ventured to Brighton down by the sea and witnessed some epic scenes of the old Brighton Pier which burnt down but the steel skeletal remains in the water, the nearby newly built Brighton Pier 2.0 containing a number of tacky casino type setups and a carnival. After that we cruised the town and visited Brick Lane, a famous area of Brighton where narrow lanes full of (mostly jewlery) shops intertwine, ate (Fish and) chips on the beach and strolled some of the town before catching the train back to
The old burnt down Brighton Pier
The new Brighton Pier down the beach
Jess walking down The Lanes (doesnt really do it justice..)
Thursday I caught up with a friend Lauren and checked out Camden Town and markets, great tasting cuisine and botique shopping there, we also looked at Oxford and Regent streets, the heart of materialism in london. Left very quickly. Then walked the length of Hyde park before heading to Portabello St. and back to the hostel, where I met Paula another frined from Melbourne and we joined in on the weekly hostel 'cocktail night' (5 bottles of rum poured into a trough off ice and topped up with pine, orange and tropical
Lauren at the markets in Camden Town
Friday I met up with Jessica again and we ventured to shoreditch in an amazingly disapointing attempt to view some of Banksy's street art in east london. Had a curry and generally just wandered the area. I said goodbye to Jess as she was leaving the following day and Jumped on a train out to Canary Island to catch up with a friend from highschool Cheryl and her boyfriend Ben at their flat. We drank some wine and ended up down at the local pub (who all turned in shock as we entered the door) and played pool with them and continued drinking throughout the evening.
The following day was pretty miserable and raining, hungover I woke up in Cheryl's spare bed and forced myself to do something touristsy. Not realising it was Saturday, The Tower of London turned out to not be the best choice. It wasn't just raining either - it was hammering down and occasionally sideways.. so windy my umbrella proved practically useless. I did find it interesting, and with a lot less crowd i may have spent more time but i have to admit i was out of there pretty quickly.
I packed all my bags ready on saturday afternoon as i had a suspicion the evening would be messy and i needed to get up and leave somewhat early. One of the hostel staff Stacey was leaving and a big party had been organised with a view to hit a bar in Camden Town afterwards. As this was my last night it did seem appropriate to celebrate with my new friends. It started off with a reenectment of thursday night's cocktail event and after that 'unlimited' source had vanished we did indeed continue onto a bar in Camden and I tell you, I havent hit it that hard in a long while. The bar closed at about 4 and after a dirty falafel from a street vendor waiting for what turned out to be a bus full of other drunkards trying to get home i think i eventually hit the pillow around 6am.
Bye London
Needless to say my 15 hour travel journey to Seoul the following day wasnt the greatest experience. Completely erasing the week of relaxation in Bath, London had ruined me. I'm sure now you understand these two sides the UK had to offer :)
Astor Fun
Paula, Christian, Myself and Jessica
The Crew at the Astor Kensington Hostel
1 comment:
Wow! A great read Dan. Sounds like an amazing time. Not surprised by the comparison of UK adventures. Looking forward to the next installment. xo
Mum
Post a Comment