blog.ben.clifford.org.uk

standby.

2009-06-16T15:33:00.001Z

standby for more!

a poem

2006-09-28T21:30:00.000Z

somebody wrote a poem. and then somehow found that I matched the description perfectly.

here.

though the photo came from photo.hawaga.org.uk, rw2 makes some claim for royalties.

T&D

2006-09-09T17:51:00.000Z

wandered into this
Training and Development exhibition last night whilst out on a jetlagged walkabout in Chicago.

photo of the day

2006-04-29T22:05:00.000Z

no more blogging here as I'm not travelling. however, I've set up a photo-of-the-day page, which should give you an exciting photo from my past, each and every day (until such time as I get bored of doing it). goto pdj.ben.clifford.org.uk. No RSS at the moment, but maybe eventually.

STOP.

2006-04-20T08:47:00.000Z

made it to guildford, to my parents' house. end of trip.

lost on subway

2006-04-19T17:00:00.000Z

went to 'Ciao!' vineria con cucina to meet forys.

This time, the barmaid (Влади) was from Bulgaria, instead of from New Hampshire (Noelle) and the third language of the bar was some eastern european babble instead of French. Other than that, the place was pretty much the same.

Then ended up tagging along with the bar staff to Le Souk, a night club with shisha pipes. Last time I'd been there, I'd got there the same way - following (a completely different set of) Ciao staff there. Much more empty this time (last time it was Christmas Eve or something crazy like that - this time it was Just Another Monday(?|)Tuesday night.

went home on subway. got on wrong line (that happened last time I tried to use the A,C,E lines too, I think). ended up in Queens or somewhere that was completely wrong. changed a few more times. got lost more. finally found myself at Times Square where I was able to get back on a line I knew. By the time I got home, it was morning and everyone was going to work.

slept 4h. now starbucks. soon JFK. then my trip is over. its been fun.

pics of last two nights of trip

2006-04-19T16:14:00.000Z

Here are some pictures of my last two nights of my trip.

note especially the seamless transition from bar in IL to bar in NY with no intervening fuss.

final days

2006-04-14T19:17:00.000Z

On thursday my trip will be over.

The plan from then to now is:

Friday 1645 chicago -> 1830 rockford van galder bus
Saturday 1200 rockford -> 1330ish madison van galder bus
monday afternoon -> chicago (bus or train)
tuesday 1300 chicago -> New York
wednesday New York -> LHR (arrives thursday)

then beers in guildford that night.

dump

2006-04-10T04:14:00.000Z

slang made me search my jacket pockets for a key, and I revealed: pirate eye patch, lemonade-coloured crayola, 53 pesos, a cocktail umbrella, disposable chopsticks.

hawaga.org.uk partially offlined.

2006-04-07T23:34:00.000Z

link upgrade elsewhere in the world means a bunch of hawaga.org.uk stuff isn't working :-(

nara!

2006-04-06T20:55:00.000Z

I was reminded today of when I visited Nara.

still in mountain view

2006-04-06T17:00:00.000Z

still in mountain view, hanging with people I know here.

maybe I should charge my camera and take some pictures.

MV

2006-04-03T17:48:00.000Z

Now in Mountain View, California (pictures from the last time I visited, at thanksgiving 2004). met up with Yosh yesterday - dimsum at lunch time, had gooood shabushabu / しゃぶしゃぶ at a restaurant here that has recently opened (shabuway - its a pun!) for dinner. then molly mcgees for some guinness to end it all.

whores

2006-03-27T14:13:00.000Z

Stayed in "the best budget travellers hotel in Caracas" as recommended by lonely planet, in Sabana Grande. Its also a whore house, or at least a per-hour hotel for use of the (men-who-dress-like-)girls who ply their trade in the street outside. I think I might splash out and move to a nicer district for my last two nights.

Puerto Columbia

2006-03-25T15:30:00.000Z

Now in puerto columbia, rather more backpackery than Colonia Tovar. Unfortunately last night I was down to my last 5000 Bolivars (one pound) so saved that in case I needed to get a bus back to Maracay (the nearest big town) and could buy neither dinner nor a goodnight beer. However today I discovered the hotel front desk would change money for me so now I have one hundred billion Bolivars to spend. Will spend another night here and head for Caracas around lunchtime tomorrow, I think.

one left

2006-03-23T19:13:00.000Z

only Antarctica left from the list of contents to visit. after that, maybe the moon?

Colonia Tovar

2006-03-23T19:07:00.000Z

¡Gutentag! I'm Colonia Tovar, a German town in the mountains. It looks like the alps, but everyone hablos español. On the bus some of the Venezuelan girls tried to talk to me in español, but that did not work very well. Perhaps I can find someone to shout «waß» at later. First I must find a hotel (likely a cabaña) and wash and poo (vital functions I have neglected in the 54 hours that I have been travelling since Oaxaca, a continent away).

Carcacas.

2006-03-23T13:17:00.000Z

In Caracas. ¡The women are gorgeous! I have not been mugged yet, but I've only been in the city 15 minutes. Trying to get to Colonia Tovar now, which is less urban and more german. First I need to work out where in Caracas I am - I just got a bus from the airport and it dumped me in a road in the city. hmm.

D.F. again

2006-03-22T18:52:00.000Z

overnight bus back to Mexico D.F. was not as fun as the other bus trips of this week, because I had to sit next to a snoring dude rather than cute swedokorean chick. oh well. have been wandering around the city some today - the alameda (near belles artes metro stop) (I always think of Alameda as being pronounced with a dodgy russian accent as my first exposure to it was, I think, Checkov saying it in Star Trek IV). Then walk down paseo de la reforma (?) to Calle Genova, which I´d read a bit about in somebody else´s Lonely Planet yesterday. Its a nice shady pedestrianised street in the Zona Rosa with cafes and bars and shops. A little bit americanised, though -- subway, baskin robbins, starbucks etc. (the toilets in starbucks are decidedly non-mexican - they have seats, and are clean).

oaxaco to mexico to caracas

2006-03-22T03:09:00.000Z

checked out of hotel this morning as my travel companions suddenly decided they wished to move on today rather than tomorrow. overnight bus to Mexico in an hour or so, then wander round Mexico city again for a day, then overnight flight to Caracas which sounds very dangerous and crime ridden. wish me luck.

Puerto Escondido

2006-03-18T18:02:00.000Z

in puerto escondido. last night found scorpion crawling round in my belongings. today i wake with terrible stomach cramps. tonight will get a night bus to Oaxaca with my three travel companions. plane ticket booked for Caracas on Tuesday night from Mex. DF.

Mexico City

2006-03-14T23:52:00.000Z

Mexico City was fun. Lots of tacos and tortas at cheap prices. Hostel I stayed in (Hostel Amigo) had a fun bar to hang out in. Went to see some mexican wrestling, but it turns out we went at the wrong time so didn´t get to see any. I tried drunkenly to bribe a police man with USD10 but don´t remember if it worked. I´m not in gaol so it must have at least partly. Last night in the city was spent in some square where the mariachis gather to play to the crowd in exchange for money. We sat and drank large bottles of beer (not as big as 40s though...) and got one group to play for us. Interesting mix of instruments that some of the bands had - mobile harp, electric bass, accordian.

going loco

2006-03-14T23:46:00.000Z

Flights to Cuba turned out to be too expensive. cheaper to fly via Canada than mexico by a lot, it seems. so instead I have hooked up with a group of other backpackers and find myself now in Acapulco. I felt a bit bad because I´d told one of them that it was around Spring Break time and that he´d have plenty to look at, yet when we got here, there appeared to be no drunk college girls around at all.
However today we walked down the beach to the resort area where we found loads, including two who got the five of us free beers on the beach (their USD100 per night resort package included unmetered alcohol - hurrah). only tiddly little cups though. was funny to see their jaws drop when we mentioned in conversation that our hotel in the non-tourist part of town near the Zocalo was only costing us USD40 for all five of us. was funny to see our jaws drop when they mentioned in conversation that USD15 for a 20 minute cab ride (we´d paid USD4 yesterday for about the same) was Good Value. They told us about a club thats only MXN400 to get into with unmetered alcohol, but at MXN15 for a beer by the Zocalo thats would be challengingly high drink:admission ratio to achieve.

mmm string

2006-03-14T23:43:00.000Z

after 55 weeks or so of travelling, with only 5 more left, I´ve finally purchased some string, something I´ve been intending to do for a long long time.

Having got the string, I´ve washed and hung up to dry my smelly underpants (at this point, you are to misinfer that I haven´t washed them for 55 weeks).

The Argonaut

2006-03-07T22:14:00.000Z

Discovered today that I am in the centre page pictures in the local newspaper 'The Argonaut', in amongst the dressed up mardis gras crowd. ooOOOoo.