July 2004 Archives
Back home I occasionally enjoy a schweppes bitter lemon but not a big fan of soft drinks generally. whilst in London getting a craving for bitter lemon, I went to buy some soft drink in London and was disguested to find I could not buy any soft drink withought the artifical sweeteners aspartane or saccharin, which in oz are restrained to only the diet versions that I avoid religiously.
Whomever in the UK allowed such widespread usage of these artifical sweeteners needs to be crucified for the long term effect on the health of the nation. But they were probably in the pay of monsanto anyway.
Even the "kids" drinks like rybena come in sugar free versions here, my only question is why not use real natural juices that have sugars other than sucrose.
But they have 'OO' flour in the supermarkets so it's not all bad.
Making a few different breads over this trip, starting with the ultimate flavour crusty white loaf that takes a day to make, and usually less to eat!
Bored at Munich airport where as in Turkey I have had to wait ages for the check in counter for my flight to open I am at the local ripoff net cafe and already hacked it to upgrade to Mozilla Firefox (a practice that is rapidly becoming a habit as i see this as more of a beneficial gift, when the alternative is a pre IE6 browser!)
The second option is to see if I can extend the time limit as €5 an hour is quite hefty
Will be arriving in the UK quite late, so it wont be till after midnight when I stumble in to chris and nats pad.
Today was quite a bumper day, and I still think I could have fitted more in.
The visit to Toplaki palace was mentioned earlier with some pictures posted, there are plenty more but will be uploaded later tonight.
I got there relatively early (less than half an hour after it opened) and found the tour buses starting to arrive and the queues already full of idiots who should read the (a) signs and (b) guidebooks more closely.
There was this rather attractive but dismally informed woman in front of me in the queue. She was of Lebanese descent but living in French Canada so spoke French, English and a little Arabic (probably other languages as well) I'm not sure if she was using her feminine wiles to get a better deal or just plain lazy and stupid. Both guidebook (she had a French Lonely Planet) and signs said - Harem tickets were to be purchased at the entrance to harem. SO of course she asks for them there and then, and seems surprised when told they weren't available. The guy behind the counter clearly taken with her attempts at Arabic tells her where to get the tickets and informs her that if she mentions him to the other ticket sales guy, she can get the Harem ticket for 1/2 price. This is all happening whilst I am tapping my toes and watching the other line go much faster, knowing that the Harem tour started in 5 minutes, I had to hurry in purchasing my ticket for the main part (which of course is needed to get to the entrance to the Harem).
My turn finally came, and the guy had of course run out of change... more an excuse for him to have a break than anything as he stuffed around trying to get more change. Got my ticket and ran for the harem, to find I am behind the Lebanese girl again, who is trying to get her half price ticket but failing. As she can't get the (non existent) discount, she then further confuses the issue by asking more questions that a bit of sign reading would answer. She gets frustrated and takes off without a ticket, trying to join the line for the Harem tour anyway.
All ticketed up, I get into line and am frustrated led through a tour which soon breaks into two groups, those who want to hear the smattering of English info in the mostly Turkish tour and those who tag behind and try and photograph the lovely interiors before being herded along by a security guard who knows as much as the tour guide!
Exiting the harem and realising how much of a rip off the rushed ($10) tour was, I proceed to take the rest of the visit at a much more leisurely pace, although I am disgusted by the volume of tourists and their inappropriate behaviour. Particularly in the section that housed holy Muslim relics, including various items belonging to the prophet (such as his footprint!). The sign outside said, quite clearly - keep it quiet this is a place that is sacred to the Turkish people. It also said no photography or video, so what do I experience on entry, quite noisy and guards running after people happily taking snapshots!
The gardens and the covered seat where the sultan broke fast each morning, which overlooked the heart of Istanbul, were absolutely lovely.
Another highlight was a temporary exhibition about the impact that the Muslim world had on science, with some great displays of devices that had been either invented or improved on by the Islamic scientists. They developed near modern (accuracy wise) maps of most of the northern hemisphere, maps that were unashamedly used by the Portuguese sailors of the time.
The displays basically reaffirmed what I already knew that the Islamic world kept alive and improved upon the knowledge of the ancient European civilisations and that the renaissance owed a great deal to this Islamic information store.
Following that, I lunched on amongst other things apricots and figs and then ventured into the blue mosque, which was nice but again full of tourists who can't read signs or show respect.
In the evening I decided to wander around a bit, going firstly to the spice bazaar that had special duty/tax status for goods brought in from Egypt (and thus from the far east). Then to the grand bazaar that did little for me being cheap clothes, shoes and jewelry on a scale larger than one can contemplate.
Further walking took me to the rather impressive gates to Istanbul university (which I was informed was closed for the day) from there I decided to walk along the path of an ancient aqueduct, which reached about 18 metres high as it crossed a busy street where Peter Brock would have felt at home.
Near it's apex, I wandered close to get some photos and was immediately besieged by a group of kids who were offering to show me how to climb up onto the aqueduct for only $1 (for each kid, at times there were 8 or more clambering around me!). In addition the path they were trying to show me had a really nasty either drunk of drug addict perched halfway up. Looked quite dodgey (and some of the adults nearby agreed, as well as scaring off the rather persistent kids!)
Finally I wandered back to another mosque built by the master architect Mimar Sinan. Again it was too late for visitors, so I decided to go to the nearby baths also built by the same man.
The bath was a fun experience, and quite different to the one I experienced in Hungary. The (steep $37) price included a sweat/bath and a peel then massage. The massage was done using some kind of soap scented with oil, the signs said rose oil but the one I had smelt decidedly citrus - nearly citronella. The whole experience was quite lovely and I wandered back (via a quick bit to eat) feeling very relaxed around 11PM.
Some pics from the Ottoman palace
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Some photos of the two main historic religious buildings in Istanbul, the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya (byzantine orthodox church)
The main Ottoman palace Topkapi is closed for cleaning on Tuesdays, so I think I will be going to the Blue Mosque and a roman cistern today.
Orphaned Land - Mabool
Hailing from Israel, this band has been around for quite some time but never become very well known, partly due to an absence of new releases from the group over the past 8 or so years.
That extended gestation period has allowed them to give birth to a mature release which is well positioned to be one of the best of 2004 and potentially a long term genre classic.
Like many other releases in this style (concept album formed around extreme metal) Orphaned Land step well outside the boundaries of metal, integrating a variety of stylistic elements to ensure the album makes full and appropriate use of the dynamic offered by the musical spectrum.
Lyrically it is of course the biblical flood story, this in itself is somewhat a strange topic for a metal act from anywhere but the Middle East. This trend for Middle Eastern influence continues in the use of Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic in addition to English. Extensive use of Middle Eastern instrumentation and tunings makes the mid east aspect more than just a mere influence, instead it becomes an integral part of the music.
Vocally the death vocals are effective but not particularly powerful or brutal, opting for a somewhat more muted approach that melds better with the other vocal styles. Aside from death vocals; a panoply of other styles are utilised on Mabool from the powerful and melodic male lead vocal the plaintive Islamic styled female vocals of A'Solk and excellent use of backing chorus and quite effective spoken male vocals.
Production wise, the mix is quite modern but the engineering and recording effectively captures the variety of sounds and styles that are utilised across the album. As Mabool is so diverse, this is no mean feat!
Possibly the biggest criticism of the release is that the third quarter of the album (tracks 7 through 9) lack enough momentum to keep ones attention. As this release is a concept one and designed to be listened to in full, this may prove to be Mabool's single flaw.
With so many facets drawn from a large cross spectrum of musical expression there is a potential for Mabool to appeal to anyone with an open mind musically, particularly one that has studied music at some point.
I would not be surprised to see Mabool eventually take it's place alongside some of the classic 70's concept albums like "War of the Worlds" and "Thick as a Brick"
I have been trying to work out how to get from Munich to Stavanger and back for less than a fortune, it is possible via of course the infamous Stanstead airport famous for being nowhere near London whatsoever! The only consolation is that Chris and Nat live out towards Stanstead and there is a bus service that ends at Stratford which is on the right tube line and only 1 zone from their place.
The whole process is doing my head in and I am tempted to give in, the only thing that keeps me interested is price of AUS$138 each way from London to Stavanger which considering that it is (a) Norway and (b) not the major transport hub in Norway (c) costs about that much to take a train one way from Oslo to Stavanger. All things considered, not a bad price.
All the other options are three or four times the price but the flight times and days for this deal are extremely limited. As I said it's driving me nuts!
In the end i have decided to grab the cheap flight from London to Stavanger and back, so will be back in Norway for 1 week from 2/8 to 9/8 but still yet to work out if I stay in London for a few days before, or after this.
Made it to Istanbul safely today, am staying in a nice little place near the main tourist traps of the Ottoman palace complex. It's quite pricey compared to what I was paying in Cappadocia, but a lot nicer as well. That is if you discount the extreme friendlieness of the Dawn who ran the place in Cappadocia, her casual carefree approach transformed a pretty barebones place into something quite special.
First impressions of Istanbul is that it is huge, with two city centres separated by the Bosphorous and straddling Asia and Europe there is a potential for a lot of exploration, and my taste for the "sights" is starting to come back after a long absence since I got really over seeing similar stuff all through Europe.
This morning I got up early and took the pension/hostel's dog - Spotty for a walk, he likes to go to Rose Valley and I still hadn't been there so it was a good combination.
Spotty was a good guide, at least on the way there, but once there he just kept on wanting to head further and further into the valley, whilst I needed to get back to check out as I am heading for Istanbul by bus tonight.
Dawn ballooning over Cappadocia
Rose Valley
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Spotty the Guide
Spotty & I inside a rock church
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Don't they resemble sand dunes?
Very patient horse
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Lots of sunflowers around here an opportunity to play with macro mode
I have made no secret in the past of my deep love for the voice as an instrument. Much modern popular music focuses more on the lyrical content and the perceived "sweetness" of the vocalist. This is of course at the expense of experimentation, and encourages the unfortunate development of a procession of near-identical honey voiced singers who are primarily differentiated by their looks rather than voice.
This is precisely why I adore extreme vocals, as they stand in direct opposition to this trend, of course there are plenty of other modern directions vocally, vocoder and software processed vocals, the bass heavy, rough dancehall/reggae style of Jamaica or Mike Patton's experimental warbling to name just a few.
What I have long wondered though, is why I started to like extreme vox in the fist place. I can understand how many can follow the heady guitar rock of the early 70s into more modern hard rock and less heavy metal, but there seems to be a barrier at the extreme vox level where most people just are not willing to pass.
One clue I have found is a song by one of my dad's favourite bands, the Moody Blues. The song is "Don't You Feel Small" and features quite menacing whispered vox, which to my mind sound quite similar to a black metal singer attempting quieter passages. This is juxtaposed by a lovely melodic main vocal for great effect.
I still puzzle though why I reacted so strongly the first time I heard Morbid Angel or Cathedral and earlier with more gateway releases by Death, Sepultura and Bathory
This is a smattering of other pictures from my first day here in cappadocia mostly focusing on the wonderful rock formations that this place specialises in.
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Finally got around to uploading some pictures of Stockholm, none are particularly great, possibly reflecting my mood when I was in Stockholm!
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Last night I went for a brief walk, intending to head to a nearby valley called Rose Valley, but followed the wrong track and ended up in Swords Valley instead via some unnamed valley that seemed mostly private agriculture.
Here are some of the better pics from the walk.
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They reckon that part of Star Wars "A New Hope" was filmed here in the 70s, I find it extremely strange that such things are not further documented, local people must have been employed to help with filming. Regardless, it definitely looks like the setting for that famous early scene that culminates when Obi-Wan whips off his disguise and the audience gets their first glimse of him.
The incredibly phallic Valley of the Fairy Chimneys
A walk through Ilhora Gorge, which was lovely if too short.
The ruins of a caravanersi, which were built every 30kms or so along the silk road as a spot to rest and trade the wares they were carrying
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Underground City
(another place I would have loved a small tripod)
A sliding disc which when closed completely prevents anyone getting into the underground complex
Secret entrance by which the residents could (dangerously) come and go even with the front door locked.
Frescos from a 900 year old rock church
Dusk Photographs
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Briefly, I was not on that express train which crashed last night halfway between Ankara and Istanbul. Have had quite a few people contact me to ask about this.
Instead I was sleeping off a big day of tourism here in Cappadocia and the worst issue I have endured is the apparent loss of my quite expensive hairbrush which I must have left behind in Ankara, so the world will have to deal with Alex in a perpetually bad hair day!
Seriously though, this sounds like one of the worst Train crashes in Turkey, hope they use this as an impetus to check and upgrade the tracks before starting express services again!
Got seriously annoyed with Ankara this morning (bad experiences with hotel and rail station) and decided to get out of the place. Tried to grab a bus at 1PM but it was full, ended up killing 2 hours for the 3Pm one instead.
Headed to Cappadocia and the backpacker haven of Goreme which is oddly dead due to this being non peak season. Got a bed for about $7. After a bad nights sleep changed that to one costing $10 but with decent privacy!
This place even with all the over touristed town is amazing, with such natural beauty and unique landscapes...
Got here just at dusk and I experimented with long exposures on my digicam, some of which look to be quite nice but I really need a mini tripod.
With news like this - Livid Festival Cancelled, I am even more glad I have been overseas seeing so many bands instead. Australia is in a seriously sick position with regards to music even tenuously outside of the mainstream. As a destination for touring acts, it is a long way away and costs are extremely high. This is a pity as audiences really go nuts in Oz for good acts.
I worry that this will start to become a permanant trend and the days of anyone aside from the blockbuster artists visisting will become a distant memory.
Suprisingly I made it safely into Turkey, the plane flight was quite hellish and gave me a good idea of what to expect on other trips in Turkey. The plane was mostly full of people of Turkish descent but many of whom spoke fluent Swedish as they probably grew up there.
I was seated next to a bundle of energy that was female and about two. Her parents (although they tried) could not control this little one whatsoever and she was constantly fidgeting, crying, wetting herself or generally unhappy. The only time she was actually content was when she was out of the lap of a parent and off down the plane's corridor!
This gave me a huge headache and could not easily be drowned out by all but the most extreme of music (which I was not in the mood for). There were also plenty of other misbehaved young ones onboard, I have never flown on a plane with so many children! There is usually one or two babies and then nothing until the early teens.
Had to take a bus and taxi to my reasonably sumptuous digs, the problem with online bookings is that the stuff under about AUS$70 just doesn't appear in most of the booking engines. Turkey having no hostels I will need to start looking for pensions, but after feeling quite homesick and down in Stockholm, I need to spoil myself a bit, thus it's three star for a day or two
Well later today I am off to Turkey, I have almost entirely wasted my time in Stockholm as I have not felt 100% and been resting, this I think is a result of pushing my body too hard soon after recovering from a minor stomach bug that I had just before I left Stavanger.
I am a little concerned about Turkey, not so much the security side, but more simply a lack of preparation on my part. I am yet to get any form of guidebook or plan my time there, I guess I will be doing some serious reading on the plane later today.
As for security I think it will be okay, the whole political NATO meeting in turkey is over and that means attention will be diverted away from Turkey.
Too lazy to set up a proper poll CGI!
I have about ten days between returning from turkey and leaving for the USA
I fly in and out of Munich, so could do one of the following:
Explore a bit of Germany
Head to the UK to visit Chris and other friends
Head back to Sweden & Finland as I would like to go North in one or both of these countries!
Return to Stavanger and spend more time visiting Astrid
Go back to Slovenia, still possibly my favourite country
Explore the Baltic states that I breezed through on my 26hr bus journey
What does everyone think I should do??
First pictures from Stockholm, mostly just me mucking around
Park where I waited for the hostel to let me check in
View from window in hostel
Self portrait
Some building, that caught my eye
Balloons at dusk
Images of Gothenburg
Canals form the city centre
Domkyrkan
Just a street that appealed
The fountain at the end of Kungsportsavenyn
Detail of fountain
Detail of fountain (2)
Another church
Another church
Pretty building and phallic monument
bad self portrait
Another Canal Pic
Detail from monument
Stately building
Stately building (2)
Pompous Statue
Relaxing by Canal
Transport central
More Elegant Statue
Another Canal
Beginning of Avenyn
Masthuggskyrkan
Statue in the middle of nowhere
Masthuggskyrkan (2)
Masthuggskyrkan (Detail)
View from Masthuggskyrkan
View from Masthuggskyrkan (2)
Journey's End
Unlike all the other pictures posted recently, this one gets an inline posting, for two reasons.
Firstly this was the first picture taken with my new S60 and secondly, it's so funny on many levels! Enjoy
And here are the pics for Kristiansand, keep in mind these were taken on an overcast morning after a night of metal @ Quart. So in general they aren't very exciting. Trust me Kristansand is much better in person than the pictures suggest.
waterfront view of Christiansholm Festning
waterfront view of town and main domkirke
Pennisula where Quart was held (1)
historic Christiansholm Festning
Harbourside Fountain
Pennisula where Quart was held (2)
Trendy Picturesque Kristiansland
Trendy Picturesque Kristiansland (2)
A solitary Swan
As I am at a PC that is barely locked down at all, this is my opportunity to post heaps of pictures that I have been unable to post previously.
Here are some pictures of Stavanger, which is a lovely little place that I sort of fell in love with over the time I stayed there.
Watchtower
Tower Views (1)
Tower Views (2)
Tower Views (3)
Tower Views (4)
Tower Views (5)
Tower Views (6)
Tower Views (7)
Tower Views (8)
Stavanger Domkirke (interior)
Stavanger Domkirke (exterior)
Stavanger Domkirke (exterior)
Stavanger Domkirke (exterior)
Nameless Statue
Streets of Stavanger
Central Stavanger
Central Stavanger (2)
Foreshore Walk
Foreshore Walk (2)
Waterfront at 7AM
Waterfront at 7AM (2)
Waterfront at 7AM (3)
Jellyfish, believe it or not!
More pictures from Preikestolen
So tempting to cool off here!
Another of the small pools about 2/3rds of the way to the top
A lovely fissure just near the lookout
Last night the local Swedish had 12 hours solid of heavy metal programming on TV, this is like rage squared and was a good opportunity to kick back with new friends and relax. Sure most of the content was very much the key influential old school bands, but it was good engaging content and I watched until after 4AM when realising that I had a train to catch at 7AM I should really get to bed.
Somehow managed to get up again and get to the train, where I slept for much of the 5 hours it took to transport me to Stockholm. Just arrived here and working on finding my hostel (which is brand new and thus not in the guidebook) but my initial impression is less positive than Gothenburg, which I loved. Will need to get away from the inevitable run down area that surrounds the main rail station in any well established city before I make more of a comment.
Last night caught up with some Swedish friends I made while in Oslo, thankfully in the interim one of them had given up alcohol as he was rather too drunk when we went out drinking in Oslo.
I was a bit annoyed to find out that the next night whilst they and I were both still in Oslo, they went back to a metal bar that we had all been at the night before and met amongst others Hellhammer, who I worship from a drumming perspective.
All these scandanavian countries have a hard rock or metal bar, something we seriously lack in Oz. It's not that the bars are that cool, they mostly play hard rock "classics" but it is really nice to hang out with people who take their metal seriously. In Australia, the closest we get are rough joints filled with biker types but the metal fans are much more intelligent here as is echoed by my conversations with Peter and the other guys I hung out with last night.
Correction I have been informed that Club 77 has a metal club, but as far as I know this is mostly boring gateway / nu metal / industrial and only one day a week. The scandanavian places are somewhat like the hard rock cafe style but more metal and not pretentious or ultra touristy.
Boy am I glad i did not go to this festival! I was contemplating attending the Greek music festival "Athens Open Air" as I knew i would be in Turkey shortly after, however decided against it due to not wanting to pay ripoff prices due to the upcoming Olympics!
From the sound of it the festival rapidly became a farce before finally being cancelled hlaf way through due to the total lack of capability by the organisers, one wonders how they managed to get the big names in the first place!
In other luck, I was extremely lucky to get a bed at the first hostel I tried in Gothenburg, at the reception I met a number of people who had gone to 5 or 6 hostels looking for beds. I was amazed to find the reason for the severe lack of accomodation is that Gothenburg plays host to a worldwide junior soccor championship during this week, this year is something like the 30th anniversary of the competition which accepts kids from about 9 to 19. There are 90, yes 90! swedish in one group at my hostel who are either competing or parents/coaches!
Doesn't look like I will be so lucky in Stockholm though, and the austere clinical hostel trend of Norway continues unabated here.
Well I finally did something about my half dead camera. I am now the proud owner of a brand new Canon S60 digicam, it is one of the few tourist sized digicams that can take my existing IBM Microdrive which is a CompactFlash Type II card. Most small cameras use Sony's crap memory stick, or the ultra tiny SD or XD card formats. All of these formats are not very forward compatible and mainly aimed at storage less than 200MB, my investment four years back in a 320MB microdrive still leaves most of these formats in the dust storage wise.
I get to do the tax discount for tourist thing so when I leave the EU (which will be when I leave Sweden) I get a couple of hundred dollars refund. This will make up for the slightly higher prices and not so great exchange rate in Sweden.
I had decided a while back that the S60 was the camera for me, however it was so new at the time that no stores stocked it! In fact this is the first non online store which has had the camera in stock, thus prompting my immediate purchase.
Still though many net cafes are locked down so I have more pics i'd like to upload but cannot!
Well my first impression of sweden is shopping mecca, things are a bit cheaper than in Norway and there is a better range. Found a local metal store in Gothenburg and for the first time, it passed one of my "does it have good stock" test as it had a copy of an album by Blut Aus Nord, a band which until recently lacked decent distribution.
Gothenburg is home to an entire metal subgenre, named for the city and spawned by the explosion of swedish melodic death metal in the early 90s. The founder of the sound was the now long defunct band "At the Gates", nowdays the style is perpetuated by In Flames who have brought the sound to near mainstream ears in the US by touring with nu-metal bands extensively there.
At the Gates were before their time, but in my opinion the most unique metal band from this area was/is Dissection, who are unfortunately recently reincarnated. Dissection seamlessly melded Black and Death styles and left such a strong mark on the scene that few have even attempted to emulate their sound. However the singer/guitarist was recently released from a too short jail sentence and is working to reform the band. Although he is a talented musical genius he really needs to be kept locked away as he has learnt nothing from his incarceration.
Need to find a place to stay though!
Getting quite sick of the clinical hostels in Norway, I contacted my friend Mike, the brother of Pete who I work with back in Oz. I'd stayed with them in April, and had caught up with Mick for a coffee most times I'd been in Oslo.
Mike and I went to the cinema, to the Collusseum which is a lovely dome shaped building that I think was always a cinema. We saw Spiderman 2, which was an interesting choice as I had been quite scathing about the previous film.
Many times Spidey 2 looked sure to completely blow away the first film, which was ruined mostly by the costume for the bad guy which had an awful mask that prevented him from actually acting. However each time Spidey 2 began to shine, the plot, editing and direction let it down.
The good in this film came from the non superhero elements, where the actors could really shine, despite having to stumble over some godawful dialogue in parts. Kirsten Dunst is an amazingly talented actress and not suprisingly did a great job. Toby seemed to have a much tighter grasp on the essence of Peter Parker as well.
The action scenes were overblown and under whelming, my particular gripe being how often Spidey was shown in costume sans mask, even in a large crowd.
Maybe I just strongly dislike the bad guys in the Spider Man canon, but Doc Ock was better than his predecessor in that there was genuine acting and the casting was good but still not great direction and the plot was extremly lacking. The film should hav