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Thursday, April 27th, 2006
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1:16 pm - The Last Natural Entry, and an Incomplete One at That
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28 January 2006
A strange if not exciting day, it began earlier than I would have liked with the usual sound of blokes moving about the room and stirring to their exciting new days in London. I never understand how anyone can be comfortable or live in hostels for extended periods of time as I have known some to do. At any rate I was roused by the moving of various people and lay awake thinking for some time. Eventually I got up and opened my bag and grew excited at the prospect of wearing warm and more importantly clean clothing, loads of which lay inside. I then got dressed, and realised that Marc, who was still sleeping, and I were the only ones who remained in the room. After a bit of consideration, I told Marc to wake up or we would miss breakfast, as it was a bit later in the day. We ended up missing it anyway, as he sought to sleep more first then take a shower. After we both cleaned up, by the shower, we went to Café Nero, where we looked at some funny things on the internet and checked mail and the like. When we did finish there, we walked back to the hostel to drop Marc’s computer off and then we continued further up to the Portobello Market, where we stopped at Saint’s Tattoo Parlour, and inquired about the tattoo I want to get. The bloke said it would be £89.00, which was too steep for me, and nearly £50.00 more than he had originally told me, for the same thing, or roughly the same thing at any rate.
(This is where the original entry ended, any updates made hereafter are purely from long term memory much later, and likely with far less accuracy to the actual events transpiring at those times than normal.)
current mood:  accomplished
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1:15 pm - The Return to London
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27 January 2006
It feels so strange to be in London again, and also to again have access to my old computer. Also it feels so strange to be back here and to be going home so soon, and with this day, I feel more confused than ever over what I should be doing when I do return, but that is the subject of a different tale. As for this day, it essentially began around 03:30 or so as I awoke on the plane, seeing as it is nearly impossible for me really to sleep on the plane. When I did awake, I watched the bulk of a film on the plane with Cameron Diaz, called “In Her Shoes” or something to that effect, which reminded me absolutely of Megan. Eventually we landed and I said goodbye to Katherine, and found myself waiting a while to get through customs again, but once I did, I quickly grabbed my bag, called my parents and went to the bus to get to the hostel. I got on, and from there got on the Piccadilly line and found myself quite cold, but went on to Earl’s Court and switched to the District Line and got off at High Street Kensington and walked to Holland Park Hostel. When I got there, I found myself slightly confused about where the entrance was, but eventually got in. I checked in, and found myself paying some sort of £10. 00 fee for a Youth Hostel Membership. I finally got to the room where Marc was asleep still, and I started to somewhat put things in order when he awoke and said hello and we whispered for a while until we decided to eat breakfast and figure out the plans for the day.
As we ate our full English breakfasts, we discussed our respective trips to Iceland and Africa somewhat and things to do around London, and England generally. I learned that Marc and Julie had broken up, and was somewhat embarrassed about finding this out on arrival. After we ate, we walked up to Ladbroke Grove and I showed Marc my old flat and we walked down Portobello Road. We stopped at one of the book vendors close to Cambridge Gardens and talked with him a while, when Marc purchased two books from him. We left there and I showed Marc the parlour, I intended to get things done at, and a few things along the way. We walked to Notting Hill Gate and caught the central line fairly quickly to Holborn, where we went to my school, and got my stuff, also checking the computers. I got some nice emails, but I also got one from Alyssa that was a bit upsetting, and I still don’t know how to react to it, but it certainly changed my perspective and willingness to return to Denver. Basically it said that she enjoyed being alone and that when I returned home she would want to see a lot less of me than I would of her, while she needed a huge amount of solitude for writing and also it said that she only fancied the idea of us being friends in the future as well. I showed Marc the pictures from my African trip, as he downloaded them from my camera (a task I have yet to do), and eventually we were off, carrying my luggage back to the hostel. Along the way, I could not help but think of the situation of Alyssa, and how that truly changed my desires and thoughts. I was in many ways disappointed, and realised then that things were far different to return than I had anticipated and hoped and that the true companionship I was hoping to find in my return home, I would not have for an extremely long time and that it was a matter of cultivation in the future how I would find it again. I guess what I truly found was that I was indeed destined to be ‘the Lone Wanderer’ for a far longer time to come. Home lost its charm and luster with this email, and it made me want to remain in London for a far longer time to come, as it is at least entertaining here and full of things to do, whereas Denver doesn’t even have that to mix with my involuntary solitude.
Moving on, after we returned to the hostel and put the things away, we went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street, and wandered about that some, we had a fellow who was to be Dr. Watson talk to us, who seemed like a hardy Englishman sure to fit the part. We wandered about the museum for some time, and afterward went to the Volunteer, the nearby put, eating some steak pies, and drinking Fruhli’s and Fuller’s London Pride. When we left, we went to the Tower Bridge stop on the tube, and wandered by the tower for a while, and over the bridge, we went to a nearby Starbucks and ate and drank there a bit, before returning to the station stop and catching a Jack the Ripper tour. Donald Rumbelow, the fellow who gave me the tour back in November was the man from whom we bought the ticket, but the group was immense so we went with his associate’s group instead. It was again entertaining, but not as much as the first time. About by this time, the lag of jet caught up with me, and I was starting to fall asleep standing up so after the tour, we went through Spitalfields and back to Liverpool Street station where we caught the tube back to High Street Kensington, and then to the Hostel. At the hostel we went down to the common room, and I started to type this, but was falling asleep at my seat so went to my room and went to bed.
current mood:  working
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1:14 pm - Nairobe and the Trip's End
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26 January 2006
Today I awoke to the sound of Jozef rustling and asking me when I would wake, I asked him what time it was, to which he replied quarter ‘til seven. After a bit of motivation I roused myself out of bed and got dressed and joined everyone for breakfast, taking my tent down beforehand. After this, we prepared the truck for travel and dropped off the first batch of people in Arusha. Before this everyone was in a rush to exchange email addresses, and we finally stopped off in the parking lot of a Shopprite, where we lost Oli, Gali, Naomi, Rod, Myoungsook and Kidae. At the store itself, I got some sodas, candy and chips. Along the way to the Kenyan border I read “Eye of the Beholder” in my Azazelle book by Isaac Asimov. We made it to the border and proceeded to be extremely hawked at. After promptly getting through immigration, I got on the truck and waited to leave again.
On the truck, Alex, in his usual custom borrowed my MP3 player for most of the journey. We stopped for lunch in a pretty area near the border and I walked into a nearby curio shop, and nearly bought a knife but thought better of it. We left again on a straight shot to Nairobi, which took about three hours. Along the way the truck hit a goat and we stopped for a tortoise crossing the road. We also saw zebras, gazelles and ostriches along the road, no lions though :-( ! We finally made it to our site and I have to say, Kenya is an incredible country, rich and gorgeous, and a place I would certainly like to return to. Nairobi was a very pleasant and surprisingly modern city (from what I saw of it anyway), reminiscent to me in many ways of an American city. Anyway, after stopping, I charged my MP3 player and showered, a brilliant treat after such a long abstinence from it. After well grooming myself, I sat in the bar and chatted with everyone and really realized how sad I would be to leave them all. After a while, I proceeded to pack my stuff finally, and was all ready to leave. I requested we all get a group picture, and we did, then said our good-byes and parted.
Leaving Matt, I must say was by far the hardest part, and he was and is such a great person. In the taxi we saw some of Nairobi, which was amazingly modern. In the middle of one of the roundabouts stood an elephant, which was truly astonishing. We finally made it to the airport after some crazy traffic. I was dropped off first at the BA (British Airways) counter, which I checked in at quickly. When I got through, I searched around for Matt and Becca for a long time, but with no luck. I started feeling peckish, so I bought a tiny pizza and Fanta. I searched for them some more, but with no luck. They called check-in for my flight, so I bought a pith helmet, that had caught my eye earlier and checked into the gate. It was all a rigorous process through the search and I eventually made it in and sat down with my journal to begin this entry, when I saw Matt and Becca through the glass, but by then it was too late to try and get their attention.
So I sadly resigned myself to writing this when I noticed a white fellow pass by the window wearing a Masai tunic and clothes. As I was writing this, the fellow came up to me and asked about my journal and mentioned that he too kept one totaling about 40,000 words a week. As we talked he asked how I kept this and I offered for him to read this. This guy was probably one of the most extraordinary people I’ve ever met, later middle-aged originally from Bristol, but now living as a Masai amongst them. He was a professional journalist writing about the rampant corruption and social problems of Kenya. This man struck me as extremely bright and I was disappointed I didn’t get to speak longer with him. His name, by the way, was Graham Pendril and I think he dropped that he worked for the London Times. We finally boarded and after taking a my seat, I talked with a lovely primary school teacher from Australia named Katherine. Eventually I watched the Wedding Crashers, which was rather funny and afterward finished this entry and hopefully will have slept.
current mood: productive
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1:13 pm - The Ngorongoro and Return to Arusha
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25 January 2006
A rather long and busy day, but good by and large. It started at a freezing temp in my tent and an urgent need to urinate. After settling this need and consuming breakfast, we were off to the crater’s interior. It was a pretty but arduous descent and filled with promise of seeing a lot in a little area. We first saw flamingoes, hundreds if not thousands of them, and they were very noisy. It was splendid to watch them all flying away at once, rather overwhelming in fact. After this, we saw a family of hippos, which is always exciting. Then we saw another small pride of lions, which was great, as the male was actually active and walking. Then the true prize of the day came, two cheetahs. They were magnificent and passed straight by us. It was amazing because all eyes, 15 cars easily... and all animals: zebras, gazelles, wildebeests, etc, were on this fine pair. Following this, we again drove by the lions, then on to a pretty picnic area, by a lake.
Afterward, we caught sight of a rhino in the distance, but got no good shots of it unfortunately. We drove to get a better look but with no luck, as the rhino by then had knelt into obscurity from view. After this we tried to see another cheetah, which we did but from afar. We then set back for camp. When we arrived, Jozef had already taken down the tent, which was great. Some zebras showed up on the site quite close as well as a large stork, so I took some pictures of that. We ate lunch and left. We drove straight back to camp, which gook about three and a half hours or so. Once there, I erected the tent and talked to an English Czech girl who lived together in the UAE and were on holiday here. We eventually had our final night meeting, and got US$5.00 back from the kitty.
We then exchanged costumes for the fancy dress party. Kidae got me, and gave me a hideous, pink dress. We changed clothes and ate. Some of the outfits looked really funny. We then had Matt (the only one not dressed) judge our costumes and catwalk performances by strutting in front of everyone. I won first place for performance, starting it off with the nipple licking move. I also had a demand for an encore, which was strangely flattering. After this, everyone but me, Matt and Maria got drunk. I packed up my stuff and before writing this entry, had Alex come up to me and tell me (in an extremely drunken manner) that he told Erin what he thought of her. This was interesting and he proceeded to tell me of his spat with Jack that ensued (verbal). Eventually he went to bed and left me to write this entry.
current mood: working
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11:00 am - The Serengeti, and Olduvai Gorge etc
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24 January 2006
Another early day, I awoke freezing and remained so for a good long while, before warming up from the sun. Anyway, after eating some French toast for breakfast we went on a game drive through the Serengeti, where we saw many things including the usual zebras, wildebeests, etc and also giant vultures, a lion couple mating or apparently shortly thereafter, then a lioness on a rock. Also we saw two cheetahs lying beneath a tree in the distance, but it was still wicked awesome (I had to throw that expression in). We went back to camp, packed up and ate. We were off again where I had a happy time pondering all sorts of things, including starting a business, rules for success and future travel plans, including riding both the Trans-Mongolian Railway, Euro-railing through Europe, and taking the Orient Express back to Japan when I live there (in future retrospection I figured out the Orient Express part would not work out in this regard).
After we saw a ton of animals, including a herd of giraffes, we went to the Olduvai Gorge, where there were evidence and discoveries of hominids by primarily the Leakey family. It was awe-inspiring to be in such a spot, especially since there seemed to be so little devoted to it. After that we drove up to the crater, stopping along the way to get firewood, stopping by some Masai shepherd children, who consistently requested money or pens saying that classic African line “Give me pen!” Following this , we continued up the crater which was just serene, green shining mountains, with golden sunlight behind. Also, in addition to numerous zebras, we saw a herd of elephants on the hill and afterward finally got back to camp. There we ate and an elephant showed up in camp by the kitchens. I talked with Matt about the Eskimo comments* and the American and French revolution finishing the night off by talking with Oli and Gali about foreign policy and traveling. Then wrote this and hopefully soon will sleep.
current mood: productive
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10:38 am - The Serengeti
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23 January 2006
I awoke earlier today than I wanted to, just lying and thinking on my mattress for a while, until finally getting up and with Jozef putting the tent away. We ate a little breakfast and got ready to board the Land Rovers, which we did and I rode shotgun in ours. As we drove out we had problems with the wheel and it was unmanageable for a long time, but eventually worked itself out. It was so splendid to be in these vehicles though, because it felt like and indeed was a real safari and I felt so good about it all. On the drive we stopped and got drinks and afterward talked about gossip, which was an interesting conversation. In our Land Rover, there was Kidae, Myoungsook, Matt, Maria and I, as well as our driver of course, but it was a great crowd to be with. Along the drive we entered the Ngorongoro Crater, which was simply amazing and I’m very eager to return thither. We saw many Masai villages, people and cattle including some herding camels.
We then left the crater (which means ‘cowbell’ by the way, from the noise it makes) and entered the Serengeti (unending plain). My God! I have never seen so many animals! Wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, impala, hartbucks. They say there are 1.5 million wildebeests alone here, which I doubt not in the very least, just masses of them all. Incidentally, we ate lunch in the crater earlier and saw some kite hawks. We also finally saw water buffaloes, heaps of them. The highlights of the day though, were seeing a leopard in a tree, and a pride of lions close up directly after the leopard. We finally settled in our camp, which is a fenceless place in the Serengeti. I took a picture of the sunset and about a hundred others besides, ate supper provided to us, thank God! And watched the stars, absolutely brilliant, never in my life have I seen the stars so well, as there is not a light in the sky to be seen here. I ended by writing this entry.
current mood: working
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10:35 am - Arusha
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22 January 2006
Today I awoke early as usual and just enjoyed the quiet serenity of the camp, as the weather was perfect and the other group cleared out, leaving a nice peace about the place. I basically just hung out for a while and talked a little to Jozef and wandered about. Finally breakfast came and I ate two pieces of French toast. Afterward I charged my MP3 player for a while and sat and talked to a lady who was a retired teacher from Oregon and was voluntarily teaching here in Arusha. I also wrote a little in my journal. I then walked around and looked at the snake park, which was very fascinating. At 13:00 we ate lunch, which was pasta salad, it was alright. At 14:00 we went to the Masai cultural museum and that was quite fascinating and also enchanting. Following that, we went to the shops and there were many. I purchased two necklaces, with elephant ornaments on them for 5,000 shillings. We then went to the actual Masai village, which was charming and it was funny to see a little kid run up to us, wearing one layer of the Masai tunic, and with the breeze, seeing his naked butt. He could not have been older than four. We saw the huts, which were quite cool, compared to the outside weather, which was fare but warm. In one of the huts, a chicken scared everyone by hopping out and making a fuss as she did. In that same hut, there was the tiniest and cutest kitten I ever saw or knew, but I only had a brief glimpse of it.
After this we walked to the school and clinic and there were actually all nice facilities, maybe being in Africa so long has lowered my expectations. Then Oli and Gali gave up their camels they rented to Alex and me, and we rode the rest of the way back, which was quite fun. We returned and sat at the bar for a while and then went to the snake park to witness feeding time, which was a bit harsh to watch, because they simply put some live chickens, and in some cases chicks into the cages. I saw the strangulation, or rather aftermath of one, of the snakes choking its chicken, another one poisoned its chick and then snuck up and ate, or started to eat it, which was very sad as the chick jumped a bit when the snake lurched forward (I thought it was totally paralyzed and nearly dead by that point). I could stand to see no more and promptly left when the snake was beginning to devour the chick. Following this, we waited a bit and ate supper. I packed a bit before that and supper was huge and I suppose as good as it could be. Following supper, I sat at the bar, charged my camera, befriended a puppy, and cute little dog, and wrote this entry.
current mood: productive
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10:34 am - Victoria Falls!
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6 January 2006
What a truly incredible day. I was still feeling ill, but not as bad as yesterday. It started with Matt waking me up at 5:45 and us going to the excursion office to switch our rhino walk to tomorrow, which we did, then came back to our tents and slept for another hour and a half. When I woke up again, I took a quick shower and rushed to have breakfast at the bar. It was okay, but there was too much of it. Afterward we got on the truck and headed for the Falls. It was incredible when we arrived, simply breathtaking. I took lots of photos and also of the gorge bridge, which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. I then tried to wander to the other side of the Falls, but two fuckers tried to get me to pay them US$25.00 to wade across, but I told them I didn’t have that much and abandoned the thought. So after that I sat looking at Victoria Falls for a while, then eventually left. I wandered into the museum across the way and looked around. One of the girls who worked there, having heard I was American, was very excited and asked for my address and then proceeded to give me hers... and she asked me to take her back with me.
After that we boarded the truck and entered a village of people. It was a truly amazing experience, they were so poor but happy. All the children were out with us and had toys consisting of wires attached to cans or things like that. I didn’t take any pictures, I felt bad enough being so voyeuristic anyways. They had a little market set up with dried fish, which looked far from appetizing. We played foozball with them, since they had a table in the town center. Following this experience, I was quite thoughtful and a bit shaken. We then drove into Livingstone and hung out, dropping by the grocery store. I got another bloody nose and used my shirt to stop it. We went back to camp, where I took a three hour nap and when I awoke, I just hung out talking to everyone until we went to bed again.
current mood: productive
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10:32 am - Needs Work
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10:30 am - Africa, day the second
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10:28 am - Arrival in Johannesburg
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26 December 2005
A very full day, but would you expect less? I suppose you could say it some ways it started when I awoke from a few hours sleep on the plane and discovered I crossed the equator unaware, so had a slight disappointment in that, but felt my earring tingling, not really but it sounded good to say. At that point I turned on ‘40 Year Old Virgin’ and saw a good chunk of it, which was very funny. Then we landed. After waiting a bit, we exited the plane and boarded a shuttle bus. We went through customs quickly and I tried to call my parents and after that left. And with a confused look on my face, a man came up to me, shook my hand and said “Are you looking for a taxi?” I told him I was and he said it would cost me 320 Rand (which is about US$53.00 or so). I asked him to let me go get some money from the ATM. He said that was fine, and I did, though I knew I was being ripped off, I just wanted to get to the hostel. We went to his car in the parking garage and were off.
Johannesburg seemed like a decently sized city, and my cab driver and I talked a lot along the way, about Boxing Day (which this day happened to be), and white South Africans, whom he did not have a great opinion of. We arrived at the hostel and I had a walk around, but at the front desk we had some dispute over the cost of me staying the night. I was very dazed but went downstairs and finished the Christmas entry in this journal. Afterward I laid in my unusual round room for a while. Then an extremely sweet Australian girl with the softest voice came into the room, I talked to her a bit and learned that her boyfriend had been in hospital for a few days. They needed to catch up to their tour the next day by airplane. I asked her if I could accompany them for some food, which she said would be okay. I met Christine’s (the girl) boyfriend Justin outside and we all got along famously and walked to the nearby BP and I got some beef flavored chips. We then went back and they made toast with cheese and put beans on it, giving me some.
We talked about everything from dietary habits to currencies. After a while I took a fairly long nap. When I awoke we went out to eat at a mall called Hyde Park Corner. We went to a restaurant there, where I got a carbonare dish and it was surprisingly cheap. After supper we walked back to the hostel, and they went to bed. I also wanted to, but instead tried to write this entry, which I began but ended up mostly watching Gods & Generals on television instead. Eventually just going to bed.
current mood: productive
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10:18 am - Africa!!
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Okay, so the remainder of these entries are transcribed directly from my journal, many of them I did not finish, nor did I come close to finishing some of them. For this reason at a later date (hopefully not too much later) I shall go back through and put in additional entries, elicited from my memory entirely for the entries I omitted altogether, and put in the missing information for the ones I began but did not finish. In addition, I hope eventually to put my general writings of Africa in this journal too but at the moment, I am simply putting in the journal entries, as I wrote them in Africa. If there are any requests for additional information, I am happy to tell anything I can, it may not be in the most timely fashion, but I shall get to it.
Jason
current mood: productive
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| Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
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9:35 am - The Lonliest Christmas I've Yet Experienced
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25 December 2005
A mostly relaxed day, generally, but strangely not a boring one. I awoke to the sound of my roommate leaving for the airport, but then returning as his flight was delayed. When he left I slept some more, waking up at about 09:30. I then got up and got ready. I went to check out and asked if the hostel would hold my stuff for a couple hours. They said they would at a rate or fee of 1.50. To that I replied it was ridiculous, so I left the hostel and headed to Hyde Park, for one glimpse of my beloved city before I left it for a month. There were surprisingly many people there. After a short visit to the northern edge of the park, I left to Paddington, but headed too far up Sussex Gardens, when I turned myself around and walked back to Paddington, there was a plaque that this was the place Ian Fleming discovered penicillin. It, what I discovered, was St. Mary’s Hospital.
I soon found myself at Paddington on the Heathrow Express. I didn’t need to wait long at all and the train was moving. We got to Heathrow very quickly and I was soon on my way through checking in and going through customs and so on. The airport was (and is, for thence I write) relatively vacant. Only about half the shops were open, with mostly Moslems and Hindi behind the tills. I bought some food and the enormous South African adaptor from WH Smith’s. I walked around and watched a few of the Simpson’s episodes and most of Shrek in a waiting area in the lobby. I also called my parents with my credit card to wish them a Merry Christmas. Afterward I wrote and sent them a letter. I also got my VAT receipt in to the post and bought a pocket guide to South Africa, again from WH Smith. Otherwise, I wrote this entry and intend to conclude it on the plane.
So this is actually written during and after the plane landed, but I’ll conclude this entry as well as I’m able for half the flight until I get a few hours sleep. After I completed the last paragraph, I called Alyssa and wished her a Merry Christmas, and then paced the airport at having been there for eight hours. Eventually they called the boarding number so we knew where the gate was. At the gate, I read my Jack the Ripper book until we boarded the plane. On the plane, take-off took longer than expected because the plane flew in through, or rather from Tokyo, and picked up ice on the wings. It was a 747-400 with individual seat monitors and quite comfortable. I had the whole row to myself (three seats anyway), and when we took off, had 18 tv channels to choose from. As it happened, I watched Tim Burton’s “Willy Wonka”, which was enjoyable, and later “Batman Begins”, which was also good, decidedly that, excellent in fact, and far better than the other Batman films. After this one ended, I fell asleep about at the southern edge of the Sahara, in my estimate.
Africa coming soon!
current mood: accomplished
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9:33 am - An Eventful Christmas Eve
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24 December 2005
This was a much fuller day than I expected, much to my delight. It start at about 09:30 with a gradual wake up. The maids actually knocked at the door twice and at long last I got out of bed to take a shower. After cleaning up, I finally met my puzzling roommate, who was a Brazilian. We talked for a bit and then I was off to Paddington. Once there, I caught the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus, and the Central line from there to Holborn. Thence I went down Southhampton Row to Great Queen Street, where the Freemason Library and Museum was, but today it was closed. I still got a photograph of the door though, after all, I’m sure to many this building is the capitol of the world, or was at one point in time anyway, as 34 level masons run it. At this disappointing state of not being able to enter this building, I wandered over to Covent Garden, where I came across the Royal Opera House, The Theatre Museum, and eventually the London Transport Museum. All of these, of course, were closed. I also naturally went in and through Covent Garden itself for the first time, where there was a busker and surprisingly large crowd.
After barely leaving this area, I found a mountaineering shop, where I bought two pairs of socks, bogo, for 8.00, a rip off, but I was simply happy to have some. After this, I walked along the Strand until I came to Charring Cross station, where I boarded the Circle line and went to Sloane Square. Hence the Chelsea bridge to the beautiful Battersea Park. I walked along in a mood of revelry and longing as I listened to the Verve and again found myself admiring the Thames. The park was great and this was in large part because of the radiant sun and clear sky. After walking languidly through the park and considering if I was happy about the way I am spending my youth, I finally came out the park on the other end over the Albert bridge and back up Royal Hospital Road over Tite Street, which I lost the hope of finding sometime earlier. Allow a brief explanation, I knew the rough vicinity of this street and knew it to be the place where Oscar Wilde lived. So I went on a brief detour after grabbing a quick lunch from a nearby Tesco, found the blue plaque of his house took a picture and was back on my way to Sloane Square when I discovered the Royal Hospital on the way and again took a picture.
I finally got to Sloane Square and caught the Circle line to Paddington, where I bought another sandwich, chicken caesar, and vegetables. Also, beforehand, I took my malaria pills, so #3. When I returned to my room, I found my Brazilian roommate was gone, replaced by an Australian by the name of Michael We chatted briefly and then he left. I ate a bit of food and dozed off for some time. I woke up at about 17:30 and studied my maps for a bit when a new roommate entered. We talked a while and I learned this bloke was a homosexual Indian from Dublin, flying home to Delhi for a fortnight. Eventually I left, got on the internet, checked a few things, found the hostel in Holland Park was reserved and so on. I then returned to my room, got my journal and came downstairs watched a Father Ted show, wrote this entry, distractedly and met a Canadian guy who was raised in Manchester, he was a bit flaming but rather sociable, then I went to bed.
current mood:  curious
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9:28 am - Rule Britannia!!
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23 December 2005
Another eventful day, it began in being aroused from idle slumber, and waking up to discover my roommate apparently did show up and I believe he was sleeping in my bed the day before I arrived, because he was in the bottom bunk of one of the neighboring beds. Well, I showered, shaved, dressed, ate some fruit and after brushing my teeth I was off to Paddington station. When I arrived there I purchased my Heathrow Express ticket for 9.00 because of my Young Person’s Rail card, so that was nice. I then got on the Bakerloo line and switched at Oxford Circus to the Victoria line, where I rode until Pimlico station where I got off and walked to the Tate Britain. When I entered this museum, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I figured it would be to some extent like the Tate Modern, which is an awful and unattractive collection of rubbish, in my opinion. Well I was certainly far more impressed with this one. It had so much great art, in it was many lovely statues and wonderful painting including Waterhouse’s Lady of Shallot and Malais’ Ophelia. Both of these were breathtaking to see in person and it made me more than glad that I went. Strangely enough, as I walked into a particularly British room ‘Rule Britannia’ came on my MP3 player, it seemed so very appropriate. Also, when I arrived there it was funny because they have maps of recommended tours for various sorts of people including the: “I’m Hung Over”, “People Who Like the Colour Yellow”, “First Date” etc tours. They had several paintings by Hogarth and so forth, and mock Nazi propaganda pictures, presumably by a contemporary communist named Heartfield.
After the Tate, I walked along the Thames, towards Paddington and finally got a picture of Big Ben, I had always forgotten to do this before. It was actually very nice scenery along the way and I almost always feel at ease near the Thames. I eventually went into Westminster station and up to Bond street via the Jubilee line. Once there, I searched for a map of Johannesburg, first at Waterstone’s, then Borders but to no avail. They had much on South Africa generally and Cape Town, but oh well. It seems the dreads of this city from the few descriptions of it I did read will be confirmed, such is life.
Well, I eventually caught Oxford Circus’ Central Line to Holborn and entered the house of Sir John Soane. A very wealthy and extremely eclectic gentleman who lived from 1753 to 1837. There were more sculptures, vases, paintings, antiques, furniture and everything stuffed in this most awe-inspiring house than I would have thought possible. It was a true hidden gem of London, I barely knew existed. It is surely something I’d recommend to anyone coming to London. They had there two serial paintings by Hogarth with descriptions and I felt they were absolutely brilliant. In fact, I think it is safe to say that William Hogarth is my favorite painter. He is a great moralist and stuffs his illustrations with so much wit, I adore it.
Well after this lovely visit, I went to Sainsbury’s to buy some food. There I got some hot chicken legs a baguette of French bread, cheese and lemonade. I planned to eat them at school. When I came there, however, the gate was closed, so there was no chance of that. I went to a nearby children’s park and ate the chicken and cheese, and of course drank the lemonade. After this I went back to Holborn and caught the Central line back to Oxford Circus where I switched to the Bakerloo and back to Paddington. When I got back to my room in the hostel, I noticed my roommate again switched beds, but again no sign of him. I ate some more fruit, meat, cheese and bread and dozed off for a long nap after a while. Around 19:00 I woke up and wrote my letter to the Pott’s in the common room near the reception desk. The problem was this was difficult because music was blaring and some bloke near me was blaring different music, making discord and concentration difficult. After finishing the letter, I dropped it off in my room. I then walked by a pub I was intending to eat in, but was turned off to it after hearing ‘La Bamba’ coming thence.
I decided to go see, as now would be the best time, the Volunteer, a pub two houses down from 221 b Baker St. So I took the Hammersmith from Paddington to Baker. Once there, the atmosphere was not as good as I expected, loud music and dark lights filled the air, but such are all pubs. I ordered a steak and mince pie, and fr ti beer. I waited a bit for the food to come, and sat next to some common English parties, but didn’t bother to engage them. The food finally arrived with my final bill coming to 12.70, I figure it better be damned good, and luckily it was, still I wish I hadn’t paid that much for it. Well after this, I set off back to Paddington, via the Bakerloo. When I came near the window I noticed “Dead Again” was on the television, so after I came inside, I watched that, but after the first commercial began, whoever had the remote control changed channels, and settled on a station playing the ‘year in review of British politics’ which was fascinating. After this program concluded though, I realized that ‘Dead Again’ would not be coming on again, so I left. At my room, I met a new roommate, from Australia I’m guessing, fetched my writing materials, came to the common room and wrote this entry.
current mood: curious
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9:24 am - 22 December 2005, half the second
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Second Half Continued, 22 December 2005 since 17:00
So I left the school catching the Hammersmith to Paddington and back to the hostel. When I arrived here I worked my way through the maze of the hostel and back to my room, where I found it free of any sign of lodgers save the bed I took and the bunk above it. I sat down and pondered my strange situation of being left with nothing pressing to do, save finding wool socks, for on my way back from the school, I dropped by and said good bye to Charine and purchased two emergency cameras (disposable) and a one gigabyte memory card for my digital camera. That said, all I really have now left to do is get a Heathrow Express ticket and socks and food for Christmas Eve and Day in case the stores are shut, which I’m sure they will be.
I tried to figure out what to do with myself tomorrow as it is the last day of a normal and open schedule in the city, and my real last day to explore it alone. After a while of this, I went to the Sainsbury’s at Paddington and bought some raw veg, grapes (red and white), clementines, caesar chicken sandwiches, an Irn Bru soda, which I always wanted to try... and brought these all back to the hostel and ate most of them in the basement’s dining room. I talked to a French English teacher (French being his nationality and English being the subject at school he taught), who was proud of himself that he correctly guessed me to be an American (which actually made me happy too) and I watch some British show about the top 100 films of something or other (corniness I think).
After a few movies into it, I came back to my room and dozed into a long series of thoughts and daydreams. Eventually I awoke from these and read my trop dossier very thoroughly and thought a lot about Africa and my expectations thereof. That at some point I named all of the countries I could think of that I should like to visit within my lifetime and wrote them all down. This didn’t include countries I’ve already been to, or the ones I’ll be visiting soon. All in all if I do visit all of these, I will have visited at least 65 countries in my lifetime, so I say bring them on. Well, following that I checked the time and realized just how late it was 23:00! And began to write this entry and ate some more fruit. Now let me explain, I’m trying to change my diet to be healthier, so hence forth, more raw fruits and veg. Also I wanted to go to a pub tonight, but I thought it too late. So with that, I conclude my first entry, with still no sign of my phantom roommate. Oh well, frankly I enjoy the solitude.
current mood:  anxious
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9:20 am - The African Adventures (and London sine computer)
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The African Adventure
(and London sine computer)
Because I am computer-less, it is necessary to keep track of my daily routines and experiences by hand again. This means less efficiency, correctness and legibility, but it is better than nothing. In time, I hope to copy this journal verbatim to the computer, and post it on a blog, presumably my LondOdin one. I stress to myself that I must keep this up daily, especially in Africa, as it may cue memories long lost many years hence. Also I would like to fill this with as many details as possible, they can later be omitted but may be lost against my will otherwise. I shall in theory be keeping this journal by hand from today 22 December 2005 until 27 January 2006. I would like to keep this in my usual custom of writing my location (city and country now) followed by the date, then the day’s details. The first entry will only take place from 17:00 today, onwards, as I’ve already written before that’s entry on the computer. So besides saying I would like to write everything before bed, light allowing, the use of pictures to compliment the entries is extremely encouraged too.
current mood: accomplished
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| Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
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4:51 pm - Peace Out!
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22 December 2005 (Half of it or so anyway)
Okay, so today is kind of a big day for me, and one of great change. To start I was freezing in my bed, because the blanket itself was missing and all I had was the blanket liner, which is all well and good, but not when everyone deems it necessary to ‘crack the windows’ on the Winter solstice at a place with the latitude of 52 degrees North! I don’t care how warm London is supposed to be for how far North it is, it is still cold at night in the dead of Winter. Well, that said, it was pretty nice because I think the cold helped me wake up and get going on things. I awoke too, to the sound of Seamus rustling around at around 7:00 and my alarm clock. I finally convinced myself to get out of bed after that to wish everyone goodbye and good luck in life. Well, apparently Seamus was the last one out, so that only happened with him. By the time I did awaken though, he was nearly out. I went and saw that I still had a slight amount of work to do, but I just tried to get everything together and such, and worked pretty hard on that. I took my last shower in a private bathroom for a long time to come, and shaved the rest of my goatee off so that I would not need to worry about that either. Then I got dressed, took care of as much as I could in the flat and got half my stuff ready to bring to the school, and my backpack to the hostel near Paddington. Well, I got to Paddington and found my hostel, after taking a little while to get ready they gave me my room which was through a very windy and difficult corridor, which I would not normally point out, save to say that I was carrying some rather heavy stuff and it was hard to navigate at times. I finally found the room and dropped off my bag and went to the school to store my other bag.
I got there around 10:45, and had to be out of the flat by 11:00 so that wasn’t going to happen, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I did get back to my flat to find Sharon, the housekeeper there and she seemed okay with everything and said that it looked pretty good so we should be getting our money back. So that was good. So now I had the task of taking all the rest of my stuff back to the centre, and it was easier than the first batch, but believe me I knew I would be happy when it was resting peacefully not on my back. Anyway, I went through and had to use the luggage gate, but at King’s Cross had some trouble until some bloke working for the Underground came and opened one of them for us. After this, I took the bags to school, and dropped them off. I rushed out to buy a sandwich and came back and updated my journal and emailed everyone I could to let them know I would be absent for a long time. Well, I also tried to work with my sleeping bag and everything, and concluded that it was really too hard to do or at least to get it to stay, so over the next few days I’m hoping to rig it right. After some time, while I was waiting to upload some pictures, I went out and bought the rest of my malaria tablets, eight in all and there was a £30.00 with a Gul Darn prescription fee of £5.00 which I had the last time, so they are really making money off me even though they just said just come back and refill. Oh well, I’m not happy with STA and don’t intend to use them again, at least not from Britain. After I got back, I updated the rest of my journal and wrote this, talking a little to Kevin and Brandon, and I’m out! Look for the rest in my written journal tonight!
Peace Out, Yo!
Jason
current mood: pleased
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1:24 pm - Last Few Days Living in London! Holland Park, London Zoo, Cleaning and Shaven Head!
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18 December 2005
Today was not too busy, but of course very full. I woke up very late this morning, but not as late as I anticipated waking, and the time I did wake was 11:00. Well after this late awakening, I got up and talked to our good Swiss friend Tom, who has the peculiar mix of a Swiss and Scottish accent, and Jeremy, a genuinely nice fellow and of course Jessa. Erika went to Heathrow to pick up her parents and everything. Soon enough, they left and I was about to take a shower when Erika’s clan returned and prevented the ability to take a shower in an empty house. Soon enough they went out and explored the city and I was free to shower. After this I got ready and concluded my journal entry from last night. I then decided to finally make it to Holland Park before it closed, and it was beautiful I walked down Ladbroke Grove and made it to a nice walking path that eventually entered the park. I think it truly would have been a sight to see in the summertime, and I agree that it probably is the most beautiful of all parks in London or at least all that I’ve seen which is definitely most if not all the main ones. I walked through and took many pictures I walked around the orangery, and the Holland house, which was quite attractive really. There was a good use of classical style and tons of arches too. I also walked by the Kyoto Garden which was quite dulcet too, and inside of that bit I took many pictures of the cascade including one at the top of it. After a while I strolled home, stopping by a Pret d’Mange or whatever its called and grabbed a lox sandwich, which wasn’t bad. I caught the circle line back to Notting Hill Gate and went home that way. When I got closer to home I dropped by Tesco’s and bought some food, cooking it at home. When I returned home I basically hung out with everyone there and eventually found my way to sleep.
19 December 2005
Well, a decidedly uneventful day, but an interesting and worrisome one all the same. I awoke a bit later than I wanted, waiting for the mass of people to leave the house. After they finally did, I did not do much save for work on the computer and try to get a few things in order. I basically talked to Jessa a lot as we both somewhat took the day off together. We discussed many things and had a delightfully open series of conversations. This interfered with her reading her book, but hopefully she enjoyed it. Other than that, not much really happened, this of course was save to say that a great bout of depression overcame me about how much more of a camping trip my expedition to Africa was going to be and such. It hit me that I needed to buy supplies and things and I was still waiting for my package to arrive home from my parents but it never came, at least not that day. Also, because of this depression about the prospect that I wasn’t sure I could do this, a great urge to sleep off the pain overtook me, so I did, but I suppose it was necessary. Besides this, I eventually felt a bit better, but still depressed and everything. I resolved to work all of the points out in the next few days. I did watch the beginning of Zulu too, which was great, and an inspiring combination of where I’m going and where I was.
20 December 2005
A cool day, and I did something I am glad that I did, and that of course is to go to the London Zoo. Now mind you, this zoo is the oldest in the world, set up by the Duke of Wellington after he expelled all the animals that lived on his estate, believe it or not the Tower of London, I hear. So anyway, yeah, the oldest in the world at Regents Park. So to begin I woke up a bit later than I would have liked and after seeing everyone else off, I decided I wanted to go and see this attraction and took the Hammersmith and City to Baker Street, which is probably the most fun street to get out of the Tube at, besides Westminster station. After that, I walked up to Regent’s Park, and walked through there taking notice of all the pretty flowers, even in Winter and everything. After walking for a while through here, I came upon the Zoo, which I had actually been near before, but today decided to go inside. I did so at the low low student cost of £12.00, plus I bought a guidebook of it for an additional £3 something. Well I figured it would be worth it to do once. Now I can recall having been told once that Winter was the best time to go to a zoo, and besides the fact that it was cold and some of the normal attractions were closed for repairs, I think that statement is fairly sound. For one thing there were not many people there at all, and those who were almost all of them foreign. The other great reason to go during this time is the animals are definitely out more, so as to keep warm I figure. I took many pictures of many animals and it was great.
Of course the strangest part to me was seeing the domestic or farm animals on display, and it was great, there was this one point where the chickens escaped their pen. They were running wild for sweet sweet freedom. It was really quite amusing, but I must confess to see cows and chickens in central London like this was something unusual to me. I saw almost all exhibits and it was a good zoo, but I don’t think worth the entry fee it cost to go in, save for once perhaps, as it was the oldest. The other cool thing about this was that there was a tribute to Winnie the Pooh, as the inspirational bear for him lived in this zoo for several years back in the teens and twenties. The bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh was from Canada, and an army officer of some Royal Canadian Force brought him over from Winnipeg, Canada (I always thought there was a connection), and he called him Winnie because that is whence he came. Anyway, the guy brought him to the zoo and in 1926 or so it inspired the authoress to write a book about him. One thing I might mention about this day was that my package from my parents finally arrived and I was so relieved and excited to find some great things in there, ah my parents love me so much! Well, after the zoo, I went home and worked on a few things but basically didn’t do too much. I let Erika burn a good deal of my music, but I think there was just too much, and the computer was being less than cooperative. Before that, I finished Zulu, which was very inspiring, especially with the song “Men of Harlech” at the end. After a long time of this, Erika burning my music that is, I eventually drifted off to sleep, nervous about the next day.
21 December 2005
Well, this will be my last entry in the computer for a very long time indeed (until the 27th of January in fact), let us hope it covers what I need it to. I awoke today later than I wanted, because I wanted to go with Jessa to the London Eye at 9:00 but we didn’t make it. It probably was just as well anyway because it was cloudy in the city today and the view would not have been magnificent as I would have hoped. Anyway, I got ready for the day and simply resolved to get everything to go. I went to the Elgin to work on the internet for a while, because it was out at my flat. After this, I came back and called and talked to Natalia for a bit, and then after that, I really got going on putting things away. I did a load of wash and it was all good. I got everything more or less packed throughout the course of the day. After a while Seamus came home and we talked a bit, and he seemed extremely eager to be out of here, so I could not begrudge him that feeling though I felt it amusing. I also cleaned a ton, but so did everyone else, it was actually a good way to end our stay together, everyone working in harmony to make this place as clean as it will get. After a while, Erika, Jessa, Erika’s parents and I all went to the Elgin and ate fish and chips and such, I tried an IPA from Green something, which was okay, but not my favourite meal. After we came back home, we worked some more and everything really took off. I eventually called and heard Alyssa’s sweet voice for the last time, and my parents too. That is the gist of the day, but believe me it was compact to the full. One thing I forgot to mention was that shortly after waking I went down to the barbershop on Portobello Road and got my hair buzzed to about a quarter-inch, so that is extremely different, but good.
current mood: calm
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| Sunday, December 18th, 2005
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1:13 pm - Down House
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17 December 2005
A long and difficult day on the one hand, but a very well worthwhile one on the other. Today, I spent a good many hours waiting for or going to Down house, the house of Charles Darwin. So, I woke up at about 10:00 an hour or so later than I wanted to. I think if I had woken up that hour earlier, it would have been a far easier day. As it was, the night before I made the decision to go to Charles Darwin’s house, in spite of my earlier rejection of the idea of going there at all, especially this late, as it was far out of the way of central London, being in zone 5, but not anywhere near the Underground. The decision to go there was based on the idea that Charles Darwin, by my estimation is one of the most important and influential men of our time. The house apparently closes from Monday, 19 December to sometime in very late January, and Sundays are hell to get the buses to work, many don’t run at all. I figured, therefore that this would really be the last opportunity I would probably have to see it, and it seemed like a good idea. So, I awoke an hour late for what I wanted, with the intention of giving myself two hours travel time there and an equal amount for the return too. As it was, my original intention turned into something of a nightmare or at least was quite altered by the circumstances of the day.
I left for the train station, after getting ready and finishing yesterday’s journal, around 11:30. First I took the bus from Ladbroke Grove to Victoria station, this was about a half longer ordeal than I thought it would be, as I arrived there very close to 13:00. I went and bought a ticket from an auto ticket machine (the queue for the live agents was terribly long and the one for the machine was much shorter though still quite long). I then caught my train to go to Bromley South, notice it was a train ticket and not a Tube one, for 13:11. Now the fact that it was so late frightened me, I wanted to give myself at least three hours there, but as it was going I had far less time, or so it seemed, since the house shut down at 16:00. I caught the train, and it was a pleasant enough journey, and once I got to Bromley station I went to go buy a ticket for the bus (as mine didn’t work in zone 5) but was a bit stunned to find the cost at £2.90, a little steep for just a bus ticket in the same zone, but oh well. Also, it was written with the wrong destination on it, and I wasn’t sure that the bus driver would accept it. When I went to the stop, I saw I had just missed the bus, and it only came by once an hour, I was a bit miffed by this, and considered more than once just turning back and admitting it was too ambitious for this day and time of year. I thought better of it, and walked down to a Waitrose (a grocery store chain here) and thought of eating, but never did until I got back to the flat. I then came back, and eventually caught the bus. The bus ride was pretty and took us out of anything recognisable to me as London, though mind you we were only in the second to last zone of it, so it was strange to be sure.
I finally got there, but didn’t realise that I was as close to the house, by bus as I was going to get. I sat in the bus waiting for it to take off and come closer to the house but looked out the window and noticed a little brown sign in an arrow shape that said ‘Down House’. So I walked this path, which was not paved may I add, convinced I had the wrong area, but finally figured out where I was going. I took the footpath there, through fields and such, and it was exquisite, I just wasn’t sure I would make it in time for the house to remain open. I got there about a quarter after 15:00 and the lady there I think pitied me, (realising I believe how far and hard it was for me to get to the house) so she gave me free admission, which helped soften the blow a bit. As I walked through the house with the audio guide in hand, I felt the house was huge. Each room was just enormous, especially for England. The house was great and furnished very well. They had the original desk that Darwin wrote “On the Origin of Species” at, and his chair and all sorts of things. I thought I had a bit less time than I did so I rushed through the house a bit. It was amazing to be in a place where such an opus was written, and it very much inspired me to get a similar place of my own someday. The top floor was basically workshops and dioramas and everything. After this, I returned downstairs and walked along his gardens and sand walk, which was absolutely incredible and positively inspiring, it showed me a great deal of why Darwin could be so brilliant in his theories to have such access to nature and all the goodness of it. I walked along this route and took many pictures.
I finally left after closing time and walked back to the bus stop to catch the bus. I found out that when I got there it had left about five minutes since and would not be back for an hour or so. This was disappointing as it meant finding something to do in a tiny village for an hour. There actually was an attractive looking pub by me called the George and Dragon, but I didn’t want to have myself sit inside for the time, so instead I went back to a trail I found when I was looking for Down House. This trail was quite gorgeous, especially at this hour as the beautiful sunset was taking place, I took as many pictures as I could and enjoyed it immensely, I listened to the Ludlows from Legends of the Fall, which seemed most appropriate for the occasion. It was so tranquil and serene that I thought I could be most happy there, in fact I was. This was the setting I figured I wanted to spend most of my life in, or at least one like it. I figured Darwin chose an exceptionally great place to live, to be out of London but close enough to get there quickly if he needed. What amazed me was how rich he must have been, for how large the house was, and furthermore, how much land he owned additionally. His sand walk was a very long expanse of land but how truly great and useful such a thing must have been. Then to have these public right-of-way trails near at hand to inspire him further with the beautiful setting of nature surrounding him without the likelihood of running into another soul while having time to search his own for answers, what a true blessing. Well, after sometime of wandering this trail I returned to the bus stop, took a few pictures, albeit extremely blurry ones, and waited for another 25 minutes or so.
Finally the bus arrived, and I went back to the station, once there the train did not take long to arrive luckily and I came back to Victoria. Thence, I took the Victoria line up to King’s Cross then the Hammersmith over back to Ladbroke Grove. When I got there, I went to a local fish n’ chips shop and bought some cod and chips and went back home. Once there, the Jessa’s other guest, Jeremy had arrived, and he seems to be a nice chap, a little quiet but like a good fellow, and I know that Jessa adores him. He was by the way also from St. John and apparently had travelled around the world from sometime this summer, going from the US to New Zealand to Australia to Thailand all around Europe and now from London back to the US. Extraordinary and I must confess my jealousy for where he’s been, but I’ll get there eventually. I ate my fish n’ chips somewhat rushed but I hadn’t had anything to eat all day until that point. I then took my malaria tablet too. After a bit, the others left and I was left alone to do as I pleased, strangely enough I watched two episodes of Star Trek Voyager on television, even though it is quite rare for me to turn on the television voluntarily. I changed to UK: TV History, where they talked about innovations by the Stuarts and then moved on to a show about the Williamites and Jacobites fighting at a battle near the Boyne river in Ireland as William III ousted James II from power in 1690 or so. I took a nap between this, as telly usually sends me to sleep, when I awoke I began the task of writing this journal, and I talked to Natalia a bit online, as she finally returned from days of exile, much to my delight. Besides that, I stayed up til quite late in the morning and finally went to sleep. Also, may I mention I watched Legends of the Fall, as I was inspired by the day’s trip.
By the way, I finally got my pictures put up in the order they were taken, so notice that, as they almost always are put up the wrong way otherwise.
This last picture I took because I could not believe there was a L1,000 reward for a cat, that is just insane to me, but I guess that is what some people's cats are worth to them. Well, I do hope they find the little guy, but still I would think anyone would be willing to return these people's cat for much less, but oh well, maybe its just more a reflection of how much this feline is worth to them.
current mood: peaceful
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londodin's journal
