Friday 30 May 2008

Final Destination?

First and foremost, I am in the Mother Country, England. Word of advice, believe everything that they tell you about London: it's grey, it's miserable and it's exorbitantly expensive. The Sterling Pound is ruthless against the hapless Australian Dollar which stirs enough hesitation to think twice about that Kripsy Kreme donut. This aside, I don't mind it here, I can't exactly call it home yet but I can eventually see myself calling it home, if only for a little while.


I no longer introduce myself as a 'visitor from Australia' but now as an 'unemployed-homeless guy from Australia'. Which brings me to my next point. I have been for the better half of 2 weeks now, couch surfing my way around London. With this time I have been actively scouring the job sites looking for employment and browsing the classifieds for a new home. Both have been fruitless exercises, which also explains the lack of posts. This is where the real "nudie" or "nakedness" commences, which, from a reader's point of view will probably be very dry. Would you really want to hear about the countless number of terrible house inspections and the disappointing ends to job interviews?

Actually the etymology of the blog name Nudie Run was inspired whilst packing for my overseas adventure. A rule of thumb for traveling is, pack only what you need and pack items that will complement the lifestyle/type of travel. Every trip needs a pair of denim, but denim that does not require regular washing was obviously designed by a journeyman (or woman) or just spawned from the depths of shear laziness. So I decided as a little bit of novelty to wear my pair of Nudie Jeans to each and every destination eventually washing them ONLY once I had arrived back in Sydney.

So comes the end to my pilgrimage, the holiday adventure stops here but the test of adversity begins now. Ugh, I can't believe I typed that, it's all too cliched and/or something that would be plastered across a promotional movie poster. Stay tuned for my next installment, whenever or whatever that may be...

Friday 16 May 2008

Buenos Aires

In my opinion the city of Buenos Aires isn't a city with a lot of iconic sights. Now before I get slandered for this let me try and explain. Sure there’s historic monuments which the city holds dear but there’s nothing that screams out uniquely Argentina. My claim is (most) probably ignorance on my behalf but to the unsuspecting tourist, without doing too much research the architecture and city lay out has a distinct European feel and you could be forgiven for mistaking Buenos Aires for any other city within the EU.


Not to say that Argentina isn’t worth visiting, on the contrary I would recommend it to anybody thinking of a South American holiday. After being here for around 5 days I think that was probably enough time to do and see the things that I wanted. Majority of them being walking tours, with, I think, the main reason to experience the atmosphere that is Argentina. Be absorbed by the city life, share a coffee at a cafe, take a walk through a park or a local neighbourhood.


Buenos Aires is quite a lot different to Rio and is exactly the reason for my extension in South America. Aside from the fact that I may possibly never be around this side of the world again I figured I might as well make the most of my South American proximity. Also having traveled, then volunteered (subjectively speaking) without making excuses I probably wasn’t ready to head immediately over to the UK and resume the daily grind (euphemism for procrastination perhaps). That being said, I think my intentions of a vacation in Argentina was exactly what I wanted and needed: Eye-opening experience and a nice way to wind down my travels.


Food wise there were only really a handful of things that I gorged myself with. You can’t come to Argentina without (diet warranting) trying an authentic Argentina BBQ piece of meat.

Thursday 15 May 2008

Day trip

One of the problems with traveling alone is not being able to make comments about sights that you get to see. Sure, you can exclaim, whinge, protest out loud but with nobody to provide feedback to your observations things start to become slightly one-dimensional. The trade off to this is having complete freedom, you're able to dictate each day and each decision. If you want to squeeze in that extra museum before sunset, do it. If you want to go back to the hostel and rest your feet, do it. Despite this freedom, the complete isolation of lodging and sightseeing alone is a test of one's mettle. After only 8 days of traveling solo I have devised a method for maintaining sanity. I have (without consciously enforcing it) made an effort to talk to at least 5 people a day, it's amazing what complete solitude will do to you. Conversation sure beats silence.


With that above rant being said today's activities consisted of a leisurely 1 hour ferry ride out from the port of Buenos Aires to the small Uruguayan town of Colonia del Sacramento. It was actually upon the advice of a British couple that I convinced me to explore this UNESCO World Heritage Sight. There are two type of vessels that provide access from Buenos Aires across the river to Colonia, a 3 hour ferry or the Rapid 50 minute ferry. I of course opted for the second option, 184 $A Pesos ($60-ish AUD) for a round trip ticket.


The best way to describe Colonia, would be picturesque. Definitely a haven for those who love photography or just like saying "Wow, look! Isn't that pretty!". Definitely felt like I had been transported back a couple hundred years and enjoyed a relaxing stroll through the old cobbled streets. I wouldn't say that you go to Colonia to see one particular tourist sight, it's more to appreciate the atmosphere or to get another stamp in your passport. However the main points of interests would be the shore and piers, the main city bridge and of course the lighthouse. It's definitely worth the day trip out and I spent just over 3 hours walking around Colonia. Most of the local outlets accept Argentine Pesos although I didn't really purchase anything from the smaller vendors.

Finally on a side note, I have just experienced my busiest subway encounter, ever! After disembarking from the ferry I walked to the nearest subway (Catedral) to head back to the hostel. Shock horror, the station was packed, people were queuing up on the staircase to get into the station, to get through the turnstiles and to get to the platform. Thankfully, the trains in this part of town are quite regular so I had to only wait for 3 trains (15 - 20 minutes) to pass before getting onto the train. Immediately after leaving the station the train pulled up to the next stop, which is when the carnage began. People were pushing their way onto the already full train, I have never felt so little control over my body. I was wedged in what would be best described as a manual attempt at conjoined bodies en mass.

Let me try to describe the situation. I was chest to chest with an old man, he was so close I could feel his breathing on my neck. Since I was in the middle of the carriage I had raised my arm to prop against the train ceiling, in the space that was had created there was a young girl with her nose buried in my left armpit (I felt sorry for her the most). To the right was a man with his back against my shoulder. Behind me another old lady pushed up against my backpack and I joke you not there was a dwarf pushed up against my right thigh. Honestly I expected the New York of Tokyo metro to be this crowded but Buenos Aires? I desperately wanted to take a photo of this, but I couldn't move any of my arms to even retrieve my camera...

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Cravings

The latest from my end is that I have indeed arrived in Buenos Aires. I'm only here for a couple of days so I've unconventionally decided to draw up an itinerary for my short stay in Argentina. Yesterday was pretty much a write-off, spent the half day I had becoming acquainted with the Argentinean lifestyle, the local food, my neighbourhood, the public transport system and my hostel, Palermo House.

My morning began rather well, waking up on my own accord after having experienced one of the better sleeps all trip. However this was no ordinary morning, for this morning I had woken up with a particular craving for Asian Food. It has been almost been a month since I had Chinese food in New York; and its absence from my diet had dawned on my stomach this morning. It was then and there I decided to make it today's mission to find some Oriental Cuisine. With a new objective (coupled with my already planned day) I grabbed the complimentary hostel breakfast and caught the metro downtown.

Since I had gone to the effort to plan my daily activities I had borrowed some suggested Walking Tours from the Frommer's website. I managed to complete two of the walking tours around Historical Calle Florida and around San Martin. The main features of today's exploration around Buenos Aires were:

Círculo Militar, a historic building now owned by retired military officers:

Casa Rosada, where from the main balcony Eva Peron addressed the Argentinean workers:

After a juicy steak for lunch I strolled through the cobbled-streets of San Telmo which was littered with Tango clubs, cafes and bars. It was 4:00 pm and I had completed all that I the sightseeing I had planned for today. It was then I decided to relieve me of my morning craving and immediately headed for Barrio Chino or Chinatown. First and foremost, Chinatown in Buenos Aires is definitely pushing its stakes for the acclaimed title. The area stretches for the best part of 400 metres and has a couple of Chinese Grocery stores, a couple of (at the time) closed Japanese and Chinese Restaurants and a sprinkling of Asian residents. This place made Chatswood look like China and I'm quite sure my presence alone increased the Asian population by at least 10%!

Dejected and disappointed I headed back to the hostel to freshened up and research tomorrow's activities. Couple of hours later I set out to find some dinner. It was then as I walked through the streets of Palermo that I stumbled upon this greasy Chinese restaurant, Asian nonetheless.


Now anybody that knows me, knows that my Chinese is terrible. Terrible being an understatement. In order of preference of linguistic ability it would be: English, Cantonese, Mandarin and finally Spanish. The only time I would speak Chinese would be to humour the people who had to listen to me or if I wanted food. This was clearly a case of the latter. So I tried Cantonese, they were mainlanders that didn't understand English, so I brought out some ad-lib Chinese and managed to order the MOST stereotypical dishes on the menu: Take away Fried Rice and Won-tons. Mission accomplished.

You can see my take away fried rice above. It was served in a take away container (without the lid), a piece of plastic over the rice and then wrapped in butcher's paper. This goes to show that Chinese takeaway containers have yet to reach the shores of Argentina.

Sunday 11 May 2008

Iguazu Falls

I boarded the Kaiowa bus at 11:00 am on the 8th May. At 11:15 am the bus roared out from Rio de Janeiro Riodoviara and started its journey towards Argentina. What was “supposed” to be a 22 hour bus ride ended up being a monster 25 and a half hours. Now you might say “what difference is 3.5 hours on top of an already long 22 hours?”. Not much, but when you’ve mentally prepared yourself (and your ass) for 22 hours worth of sitting down each extra seated moment is amplified.


The bus from Rio to Sao Paolo was quite empty with a total of 3 passengers (inclusive of me). Only 2 other people were crazy enough to take on the monster bus trip. I had no problem with this, traveling alone on a bus is one thing but the less people on the bus meant for a smoother trip. As the bus made its way south of Sao Paolo more and more people boarded and soon enough the bus was at least 50% full. Every 3 or 4 hours the bus would stop and pull over for a refreshment stop at the local diners. Funnily enough the two people who started the journey with me didn’t make it to the end, I was the only person with enough patience to last out the trip!


The bus was actually quite comfortable. Also known as a “sleeper buses” the seats are capable of reclining almost 170 degrees; it was the king of coaches, all that was missing was an in-bus movie. Having the option to recline as well as plenty of space to stretch out and move about it sure beats flying (if only it weren't so slow). I remember constantly checking the time and breaking the trip into eighths, then thirds, quarters, then remaining hours. Here’s the breakdown of my bus ride activities: Sleeping (At least 50%), listening to music (30%) and reading (20%).


A major portion of time was spent daydreaming, I admit it. There were periods where I sat staring out at the Brazilian country side just thinking about nothing whilst bopping my head to music. Ask me now what I was thinking about and I can’t remember but for some extended chunks of time I was admiring the landscape that I had taken the bus trip for. It was quite impressive and rivals that of my bus ride through the hills of Takayama.


So at 12:45 pm the next day I finally arrived at Foz Do Iguacu Brazil. I had survived the longest commute of my life and was eager to get to the hostel. I grabbed a taxi and for 50 Reals he agreed to take me across the border to Argentina to the town of Puerto Iguazu. Once we had past the Brazilian/Argentine border he pulled up next to a fellow cabbie and asked directions in Spanish. We drove around for around 20 minutes and he must have asked at least 4 people for directions, a young boy, another taxi driver, a business man on the phone and finally a shopkeeper. Finally he pulled up next to my accommodation Timbo Posado, funnily enough it was here where he had asked for directions only moments before.


With less than half a day left I settled into my new room and immediately caught a cab back over the border to explore the Brazilian side of the Falls. Iguazu Falls is a series of 275 waterfalls along the Iguazu River, the falls are shared by both Brazil and Argentina. Most guide books and people say that the Brazilian side should take no longer than a couple of hours so I thought this would be the perfect way to get some sightseeing done. The price of admission was 20.5 Reals in total, funnily enough me being Australian made some impression on the final ticket price.



I won’t try to describe the falls as a list of adjectives or any number of photos will to do this place justice. Put simply, it was pretty amazing! I spent a total of just over 2 hours in the National Park.


For some reason there’s a power problem at this Hostel. The lights in my room keep flickering on and off. Actually for a period of time I was typing in complete darkness with only my laptop screen running off battery power providing light. The concierge then comes running in after 20 minutes of blackout. “Hey, I think there’s something wrong with the power”. I couldn’t help but laugh and agree with his astute observation. Went out and grabbed some chow and headed to bed early. First impressions of Argentina? Things are cheaper, place feels safer and they have Australian compatible powerpoints!


3:00 am (10/5). I am awoken by Spanish Dialog, I can’t tell if it’s two people having a conversation outside my door or if somebody is watching a Spanish TV show. I forgot to mention that my room is adjacent to the hostel lounge room, with the TV less than a metre away from my window. In fact, I can hear most of the TV shows that they watch. I drowsily drift back to sleep.

Woken by the alarm clock on my mobile phone, which seems to be the only function of my phone these days. It’s bloody freezing here in Argentina, a far cry from the tropical weather that I had gotten used to in Rio. Ducked around to the hostel kitchen and grabbed some complementary breakfast; it’s nice to have something a little more continental for breakfast.


Having bought my bus ticket to the Argentinean National Park and picked up a tour package I sat at terminal 9 waiting for the bus. A small crowd had gathered that must have also been waiting, majority of the people had long trousers, denim, walking shoes, runners and long sleeved tshirts. There I sat in a t-shirt, boardies and thongs, I felt like I had missed the group memo on what to wear. Soon enough we were at the Park, I won’t bore you with the specifics, but the tour package for 120 Pesos included a 4WD ride through the national park, pretty boring.


The next part of the tour was a boat ride down the Iguazu River. I was looking forward to this and I had invested in a waterproof poncho as I had heard “you get absolutely drenched” (Which was the reason for the flip flops and board shorts). The people on my boat all had jackets and waterproof gear, all except one, he had definitely missed the memo. Shoes and socks were instructed to be taken off and put into a waterproof bag along with our other belongings. The boat sped down the river with the driver deliberately getting as close as possible to the waterfalls. The poncho had served me well as I disembarked from the boat almost complete dry, except my face. Spent the rest of the day checking out the falls from Argentinean side.


Just finished packing, having problems with the LAN web-check in, mostly because it's in Spanish. Off to Buenos Aires tomorrow, I have a sinking feeling that it's not going to be a smooth check in at the airport...

Saturday 10 May 2008

Brazilian Food

One of the highlights of my stay in Brazil was the food. I don't think there's been more times I've been bloated or had stomach cramps in such a short period of time (Perhaps Malaysia). I would officially like to add Brazilian food to one of my favourite ethnic cuisines. So without further ado here's the food that I managed to experience and photograph!

Firstly the dish which I consumed the most, Feijoada. This is considered to be the 'National dish of Brazil'. Feijoada is a bean broth which is generally served with meats, chopped up cabbage, powdered cassava, rice and orange pieces.


KFC with Feijoada:


Another common style of eating is the Kilo restaurant, which offers a wide selection of food through buffet. The end plate is weighed and charged per kilo, the average price per 100 grams is around 2.80 Reais (~$1.80 AUD).

1 kilo of food:Brazilian BBQ (Churrascaria):


All you can eat Pizza:

Grocery shopping:


Sweets and Desserts:

Tapioca, coconut and condensed milk:

Tapioca Pancakes: Churros:
Sweet Gooey stuff:
Wafers (I know these aren't Brazilian, but they tasted dam good):
Açaí:
Drinks: