A crazy couple of days

Forgive me for my lack of blogs... I can admit that I haven't been on the computer for quite a while now.. I have good reason for this.

Upon the return of my American friend Seth from the islands, quiet days spent basking in the sun and working as an honest bartender in the evening have turned into the wildest couple of days of my life.

Where shall I begin... Ok umm... well... My facebook title is: "Matt Burgess' mum would have a heart attack if she knew what her son was up to in Athens.."

I think this is the easiest way to do it.

Day one: After work, I took Seth to the ice bar (which I get free entry and drinks for next time) and then we went to Skoufa street which was where all the locals go to party. After determining how hard it actually is to pick up Greek girls as tourists and at closing time (7am), we ran about 4k's to McDonalds where we picked up Big Macs before catching a taxi to the top of the highest peak in the area to watch the sun rise. How beautiful it was.

Day two: I had finished my shift at the bar and was overly keen for a good nights sleep. With this in mind, I brushed my teeth and slipped into my jammies.. This procession of events, however, was abruptly interrupted when my good old mate Seth began to nag me to go out.. After about half and hour of saying 'no', a 'yes' finally took shape and we went out to an Irish pub for a Jameson whiskey on the rocks and then to another local bar before gettting the idea to catch a 3 and a half hour bus ride to Delphi (the ancient religious centre of Greece, where all these pics are from) as the sun had once again began to rise. Sleep on the bus was good but what we saw at Delphi beat anything we did that night. The place was a scene from 'The Sound of Music' and lush fields of long grass and flowers were only interrupted by remains from the ancient world. This included the famed temple of Apollo and the miniature city which was built and devoted to his honour. When I saw this hill, a scene from a particular movie came to mind.

Day three: We were indeed exhausted from the past two nights but we had loosely agreed that a subtle Guiness at this other Irish pub we had heard about would be acceptable. Futhermore, we had promised eachother that one beer at the pub would be more than enough. I guess we didn't account for the group of people that we would meet at this pub. By chance, the night we went to the pub was karaoke night and after our subtle beer we had been beckoned up to the stage to perform 'great balls of fire' with some guys who turned out to be a tad queer. Needless to say, the pub closed early and here we were standing outside it being asked if we wanted to tag along to the next place. So, in the spirit of 'Carpe Diem' we split the cab fare to some place called "Backdoor Athens" (a gay bar) where we tried to act gay to the best of our ability in the interests of attracting the female gays that soon caught on to our 'straight as a arrow' dance moves.

So, that was my week... From a couple of days, I am able to sit here and tell you all that I have siezed the day in Athens. My 18th birthday is in two days time. God knows what Greece has in store for me.

One "coooool" place

Being a bartender is great. For one, you get all the girls but secondly, you are the hub for all gossip regarding cool places to go, good food to eat and crazy things to see.

On one particular night an American group of students came in for a couple of drinks. So, amongst talk of American sports and Obama, someone dropped the phrase "Ice bar". This caught my attention. One of the guys was saying that there was this bar located 5 minutes walk away from the hostel which was made entirely of ice. Needless to say, I was quick to close the bar and mop the floors before the big-hand struck one.

Once I'd closed the bar, we all headed out through Ommonia square and prime drug-selling districts to get to this bar called "Fresh Bar". I soon found out that it was part of a hotel but this must've been one rockin hotel because when we passed through the big black entrance we were struck by multi-coloured rave lights and euro-house music. We were told by the manager to take a seat in the lounge area whilst they prepared the ice bar. So we did. During this time, I noticed that the music was being relayed by the best looking Greek girl I've seen anywhere. She was the DJ!

About 10 minutes later and now keeping the beat with my feet, we were asked to chuck on these big polar jackets with eskimo hoods and gloves. We all knew it was going to be cold, but these things were huge. After everyone was kitted-up, we followed this woman into a prepatory room in which the temperature had dropped significantly. Here, we were told to keep dancing to keep the blood flow going and that in 25 minutes we would have to come out and defrost. Everyone was happy with the rules so before we knew it, the doors were opened to reveal this Greek guy wearing a bandanna and blowing a whistle to the beat. True to the stories, the room was completely made of ice. Everything from the bar to the walls to the lounges to the glasses was frozen! During the next 10 minutes of awe, we noticed that the ice walls acted as reflectors to these rave lights which didn't stop upon entrance. It was amazing..

Soon enough, everyone had gathered around the bar for their first drink of vodka and pulpy fruit juice (so it wouldn't freeze). But not me.. I was standing back from the bar trying frantically to bore a hole in the wall to see the DJ with my hostel key... Too bad these walls of ice were about 30cm thick.

The drinks that were included with the package went down nicely as I started to regret wearing my beloved havaianna thongs... Oh well... Whoever got frost bite in an ice bar? Or so I kept telling myself...

After about twenty minutes, we had finished our drinks and were still dancing to keep from freezing when the guy with the bandanna started stripping down! The girls were going wild but the guys were all checking their lonely planet guides for signs that we had come to the wrong ice-bar... Luckily, the 25 minute bell went off before things got too out of hand and we decided to dismiss it as a European thing..

What followed was 3 hours of defrost-dancing along to this whistle that the half naked European fella had brought along..

Don't worry fellas... I didn't pass up the opportunity to bring the 'sprinkler' and the 'hedge trimmer' back to turn some heads...

Life in Athens

I'm very happy with the deal I've got with the boss here at Easy hostel. The pay could always be better but I couldn't ask for better hours. Each day I open the bar at 7pm. Some days it runs till midnight, other days I have to kick people out to make room for the breakfast crowd. The best part however, is that every day I get all day to spend doing whatever I want. On days with good weather I go to the beach and when it's a bit cooler I can go out sightseeing. Over the weekend and during the past couple of days I experienced all of these.

I kicked off my sightseeing with another American bloke called Seth. One day when we woke up we decided to go check out what this big green patch was on the hostel map. It was called Lycabetus Hill. The night before I'd heard that from the top you could look down on all of Athens including the Acropolis, the first Olympic stadium and a vast sea of white buildings. They were right. It was beautiful up there. The weather wasn't the best but this didn't detract from the view which was easily come by given the flatter topography of the region.

A couple of days later after Seth had left, I visited the National Archeological Museum. Since Greek Easter is celebrated longer than my morning shower, the sight was free of charge like everything else. The preserved articles here were indeed very impressive and reflected aspects of traditional Greek pottery, jewelry, weaponry and sculpture work. Furthermore, the museum contained many pieces of interest to me personally considering I'd studied ancient Greece in some detail back at school.

Speaking of history, yesterday I spent the day at what could arguable be known as the icon of Greek history, the Acropolis.

To be honest, I was really waiting to visit the Acropolis on the first Sunday of May when all sights are free and a walking tour is held through the hostel visiting all of them with a guide but I just couldn't wait. It looked so good from the top of Lycabetus hill and I certainly didn't regret the climb up to see it. Once again, the weather wasn't anything special on this day but I could imagine how great it would look on sunset. Nevertheless, I will have another chance to visit it on the walking tour later.

It has indeed been an enjoyable couple of days but yesterday on my way back from the Acropolis I was reminded that not everyone is out to make your stay enjoyable. I was standing at the counter inside a favourite roasted chicken place of mine waiting for my food when I thought I felt my pocket move. I looked down and nothing had happened. I dismissed it as me thinking too much about the security of my wallet. After all, I do have a tendancy to think that my wallet is moving in my pocket when I think about it too much. So, after a quick check I looked back up at my chips cooking in the deep fryer. Almost right away, I felt the same thing happen again so I looked down to see two fingers in my pocket! The owner of the hand was wearing a suit and was with a woman who was using her purse to cover my pocket. Once I'd made sure he was going for my wallet, I shoved him away and took a couple of paces back from the counter shaking my head in disbelief and disgust. These two scum were quick to leave the store before I made too much of a fuss. Still shocked at what just happened, the man behind the counter handed me my meal. "Your chicken sir".

Bar-man Burgess

Last night was a very special night for me. It was my first time to work behind a bar as a bartender! It was so cool to be able to call the bar mine and to take responsibility for everything from the lighting to the music to how the drinks were made. I opened the bar at 7pm for the first time in a while for the 'Easy Access Hostel'. The guests were all quite excited that they could finally come back to the hostel after a long day of sightseeing for a cool beverage and a read of the paper.

It's a really cool setup. The bar is a former kitchen, so it is quite big and there is also a TV and a lounge area. The room also has two big speakers which I can play my own music from.

At the moment, Athens is relatively quiet as the Summer hasn't quite begun yet. Despite this, I got the chance to meet heaps of new people and finished the night having earnt about 160 euros or AU$290. I also managed about AU$20 worth of tips. Not bad for my first night I thought.

Furthermore, the hostel looks after me by supplying my board costs and a free breakfast. Overall, not a bad little endeavour to stockpile up some cash for later on when finding work might get a bit harder. My Italian's not too flash.

First time in Europe

Ahh yes, my stay in Egypt farly exceeded my expectations. I thought I was going there just to see the pyramids. Turns out I learnt much more about religion, people, language and foreign affairs than about how many bricks went into the pyramids at Giza.

Happy about what I'd learnt but reluctant to leave, I boarded flight RJ502 to Jordan where I tranferred to another Jordanian Airlines flight to Athens. Everything went very smoothly in between airports (immigration and custom proceedings running a little too smoothly in the Greek airport) but this was no preface to the trip from the airport to the hostel.

After some initial confusion with which train to catch and what station to get off at, I arrived at Larissis station (a two hundred meter walk from the hostel). Check in etc ran very smoothly as the guy at the desk was an Australian. The hostel itself is a cool place. It's got comfy beds, a friendly staff, a good location and a fully licenced bar. No pool table :(

On the first day I didn't do much besides unpack and enjoy my free welcome drink but I did manage to meet some nice girls and guys from America. Hostels make it so easy!

So yesterday with these guys, I headed out by tram to check out the closest beach. The beach itself wasn't as picturesque as I'd imagined, but it was pretty cool for a capital city's coastline. Here, we made what we could of the dying light before heading back to the hostel for a chillout session in the bar's lounge area.

In regard to work, I've just finished talking with the owner of the hostel I'm staying at. He was a really nice guy and seemed to like the fact that I'm here for a while and that I'm Australian. So, he's been kind enough to hook me up with a trial tonight at the hostel bar with Hannah, the girl who works here now (who, amazingly worked at the Lounge Room in Melbourne, the same place I worked at before coming overseas).

Today, I'm heading out with a new mate of mine Seth, an American guy who is also interested to see Athens from a height. Lycabetus Hill (which is more of a mountain) will be the perfect place to do so.

Life in Cairo

I woke up the other day to Heidi, the only female hostel tennant who was sitting on the lounge in the reception area. Still half asleep, I sat next to her wiping the sleep from my eyes. She said: "You know what? .. You remind me of Jack from Titanic at the start of the movie when he wins a game of cards to board the ship to another part of the world... You don't have any plans or time limits, you just go out and have fun." Ever since she's just called me Jack.

True to her perception, on Thursday I decided to go to what the locals call "Old Cairo" with a cool Canadian guy (who I thought was twenty but turned out to be fourty) and a Mexican student both of whom I met the day before. This place was special for a couple of different reasons. First of all, the area is divided between Koptic Cairo (the Christian hood) and Islamic Cairo (where all the Muslims hang out). We went to Koptic Cairo first, where we stumbled across massive European style churches and a dominantly Christian crowd. Surprisingly, a large portion of the shop tennants here could speak Spanish. After we had a quick look at the market area, we were heading towards Islamic Cairo when one of the shop assistants asked the Canadian fella: "Hey do I know you?" He replied no, knowing about the local plots to get you in their shop. Then, with a rather witty response he came back with: "What about your mama?!" Luckily, the Canadian bloke had a light sense of humour.

After some time, we'd reached Islamic Cairo where everything from the architecture to the dress code had changed dramatically. Afternoon was approaching, so we had spontaneously decided that an Egyptian tea and some Shisha would go down nicely in a corner cafe overlooking one of the local mosques that was beginning to yellow in the dying light. Here, we somehow managed to strike up a conversation with this old man that was sitting inside enjoying his tea. After about 15 minutes, we had solved the world's problems, one of which included the West's perception of Muslims. I know that I for one learnt alot from this man and that if the whole world had the chance to share this, it would be a better place.

After we had contacted Obama, we headed out to check out the markets of the area. After strolling around a bit, we had noticed that the people out this way were indeed more genuine than the people that work around the touristy areas. Instead of "Hey where you from? You like my shop? Get out of here" it was "Hey where you from, you like my shop? Have a nice day sir". I found this particularly refreshing. The Egyptian people on the whole, are definitely a very friendly and hospitable race. It's just a matter of where you are and sometimes who you are.

During the time we'd spent in the markets, the other two blokes had bargained down some sachets of spices and even little souvenirs. They were looking at some other stuff when I ventured a bit further along to check out another shop. I stopped outside the shop for a quick squiz but when I turned around, I saw this cute little Egyptian kid with his hand approaching my pocket. Once he'd noticed I'd seen him, he quickly snapped his hand away and smiled like a 6 year old who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Overall, this was a very enlightening day. If every day on the road can be half similar to this one, god knows what sort of man will come back home.

'Culture Shock'

The Wangfujing Youth hostel had indeed served me well for what I wanted to see and get done in Beijing. On the 6th, I checked out of there in preparation for my long series of flights bound for Cairo. First, I caught a plane from Beijing to Hong Kong where I transferred to Dubai, before catching another set of planes from Dubai to Jordan and then on to Cairo. It was quite a day. I didn't get much sleep on any of the planes, so I was indeed feeling quite sluggish upon arrival in Cairo. This all changed when I met Ahmed (the hostel's airport pickup guy). He seemed like a nice enough bloke, but when we got in the car I'd noticed that there was about 2 inches of dust on each indicator. On the way to the hostel, I quickly learnt that this was typical of an Egyptian car (as was the need to go 100 through a 50 zone). You see, in Egypt, the roads have lanes, but they, by no means, suggest you should drive between them. Furthermore, an Egyptian driver drives the car with one hand on the wheel and one on the horn. This is because the horn is used not only to tell someone where to put it, but to let other drivers know that you're about to radically pull out in front of them. You know that little red triangle on the dashboard? In Egpyt, that's used if for some reason, you feel like pulling over in the middle of a highway (which is perfectly acceptable).

When we arrived at the hostel, I opened the door, dropped to my knees and kissed the ground. After that, I was led up to the 7th floor of an Egyptian metro building where the words "Wake Up Cairo Hostel were printed above a wide doorway. This hostel is awesome! The beds are comfy, it's reasonably priced, it's got a guitar and a cool lounge area overlooking the Nile but best of all, the staff don't try to rip you off!

Yesterday afternoon was pretty cruisy. Once I'd unpacked my stuff, I had a chat to all of the people staying here at the time. From that, I worked out where to eat, where to take photos, where to try a local beer and even where the belly dancing clubs are. I also got a chance to organise what I did today.

That night, an English Premier league soccer game was on. Manchester United vs. Porto. So, with a bloke from Bristol England, I went to a real Egyptian Shisha bar to watch the game. For those who don't know, Shisha is like a type of herb that has been infused with different flavours. At this particular place, we ordered Apple (the local favourite). Don't worry, it's not hallucenatory.

With a slight change of pace, this morning at 9 o'clock, I headed out to the pyramids with a couple of other Australian backpackers from the hostel. Upon arrival and after 10 minutes of intense bargaining, we'd secured ourselves three camels and a tour guide to check out the site. It was very impressive. These things are huge! The camels were also quite the experience. Hang on, I still smell like one...

An exciting couple of days

To cut to the chase, yesterday turned out nothing like I said it would. I didn't visit Tiannamen Square, I didn't go to the Forbidden City and I didn't explore the area.

Yesterday morning, I thought I would have a quick breakfast before setting out to do these things, so I packed my day pack and headed down the stairs to the reception. For some reason, at that time, I decided to ask around about how to get to the wall for the day after. The woman at the counter shoved a couple of brochures in my face, all laden with heavy prices with a big grin on her face. This made me feel slightly hesitant at first, but before I knew it, a group of American University students showed up in the lobby and mentioned to me that they were visiting the wall and that there was a spare seat on the bus they had hired. As I was an extra head, the ride became cheaper for everyone involved. How lucky!

The American students were roughly 20-22 years old and were a funny gang. So, after a quick breakfast of meat dumplings, we boarded the bus and headed off to the wall. Fortunately, we were booked to head to the older, more original part of the wall which was indeed a bit further out from Beijing than Badaling (the most popular part = all renovated). Nevertheless, a sore bum at the end of a long bus ride was very much worth it for the pictures and the experiences that we encountered upon arrival.

As a kid, I often imagined myself climbing the Great Wall of China. I used to think about how exciting it would be to walk upon the same bricks that ancient Chinese guards walked on, hundreds of years before me. I was not disappointed.

Something I noticed, whilst climbing the wall, was that the higher and further you climbed, the more original the wall became. Short, neatly-cut bricks soon turned to large slabs of stone and modern day mortar became a thick clay-like substance as the view became better and better. After we'd spent 5 or so hours walking the wall, we piled back into the bus as tired as we've ever been. I will forever remember that day as the day I walked the most stairs in my life. I'm still feeling it.

When we got back to the hostel, we all had a quick shower and changed into some better smelling clothes before heading out for dinner. As you can see in the pictures, this so-called dinner wasn't by any means your average weeknight feed. Scorpians!!!

Today, with an upset stomache, I got a chance to visit the Forbidden City which was indeed very impressive. The problem was, I was, at this time, quite keen to rush through the city in order to get back to the hostel. Reason being that public toilets in China consist of a hole in the ground with no toilet paper. This is of course a problem for poor little Matty who is under threat of dirtying his freshly washed jeans. With this in mind, we passed through the city at a reasonable pace before catching an express motorbike rickshaw home for WW3 in the mens room.

After my bowel was relieved and I had become 20kgs lighter, I quickly caught a train out to the 2009 Beijing Olympic grounds. It was cool to walk in the footsteps of athletes from around the world.

Overall, it's been a very productive couple of days in China and I hope I will be able to mimic to some extent, my success in Egypt, which I depart for tomorrow afternoon.

On to China

So here I am, sitting in a Beijing Youth Hostel, paying for internet...

I want to open by saying that Beijing is nothing like I expected. During the little time I've spent in the big smoke (literally), I've decided that it's nothing like Japan. The people are different, the food is cheaper and there are 10 times more people shoving pamphlets in your face.

I was lucky enough to be picked up from the airport by the cousin of a friends PA (Mark Samlal = friend). It's funny how far association trees stretch.. She helped me catch a train to my Youth Hostel, where I checked in and familiarised myself with the facilities. It's a pretty cool place. It's got a pool table, large screen tv, full bar and lounge, showers, toilets, a proper reception and AU$2/hour internet.

The actual hostel is located to the west of the Imperial City and Tiennamen Square, a big tourist hub. Speaking of which, I was lucky enough to see "the lowering of the flag" this afternoon which is a big ceremony performed every morning and afternoon by a full brigade of armed Chinese soldiers.

Tomorrow I'm looking at exploring the area a bit more. With any luck, by nightfall, I will have visited the Imperial Palace, Tiannamen Square, the Olympic grounds and whatever else I come across in the process.

My first hostel stay

I'm gunna make this brief. Partly cause this keyboard is driving me nuts and partly cause everyone here at the Narita hostel has already hit the sack.

I arrived at Shinjuku this morning after my second night bus adventure! All jokes aside, I actually got some sleep this time. Probably because I starved myself of sleep the day before for this purpose.

From Shinjuku, I made my way via the JR train system to Narita Airport where I was kindly picked up by Yama-san, the hostel owner. Mr Yama is a popular man in the hostel world. Known for his friendly nature, he offers free airport/sightseeing highlight drop offs and pick ups. What a champ.

Staying at the hostel with me tonight are a German fella, an Irish chick (who I got along well with) and a Vietnamese/American bloke. We all had a good chat together about places we've been, places we're going and favourite destinations.

As everyone here is catching a plane for their onward journey tomorrow morning, everyone has knocked-off early. After a quick shower, I think I might join them.

The hostel is a cosy little place in Narita, which is the rural area surrounding the Narita Airport. I actually had quite a nice day of sightseeing before unpacking in my tatami mat room this afternoon. I've also got yonks of pictures which I intend to share with you all sometime during the next couple of days. Hopefully the Wangfujing hostel in Beijing offers cheap/free internet.

Until then, I'm off to get some sleep before heading off, in the morning, to the land of Bruce Lee, Dim Sims and one big-ass wall.