DISCOMBOB'S BLOG

cuban textures

2012-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

This could be the last set of Cuban photos (maybe 1 more), so enjoy these close ups and interesting Cuban textures

Cuban Characters

2012-01-14T01:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the interesting characters we saw in Cuba.

Cuba Miscellaneous

2012-01-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well, our Cuban trip has come to an end, but fear not, more photos still to come!

Cuba might be behind the western world in technology etc, but one thing where it is leaps ahead of anyone is its traffic lights. They count down in seconds in green and red when the lights are going to change, so drivers know how much time they have. A great idea, I think all countries should do this.

Uno Perro loco!

Szupermodel Szilagyi!

Some of the local wildlife in Havana - swept over the barrier by the massive waves

Susan did lots of salsa dancing, which is hard to miss in Cuba. I did 2 lessons, and while I enjoyed the first one, thanks to my charming Manchurian partner, I am not a massive salsa fan - perhaos if I has Susans skills, I would enjoy it a lot more!

Our last day in Cuba, on the beach in Havana

Interesting map of Cuba

Cubans remind me a bit of South Africans with their handy craftmanship skills - they are also very partial to making tourist trinkets out of coke cans!

The band at our beach restaurant in Havana - there I had one of the tastiest fishes I have had in a long time!

Well done Susan for snappping this happy moment!

Cayo Guillermo

2012-01-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

From Cayo Coco, we took a short trip to Cayo Guillermo, which has what many claim to be Cuba's best beach. Sadly after the catmaran and snorkeling, there was not too much time left to relax on this wonderful beach, but we sure enjoyed it while we did, and Zsuzsi did some fine work in being a glamorous super-model.

Ghost Town

2012-01-08T03:12:00.000-08:00

After Trinidad, we had booked for 2 night in Cayo Coco. Cayo Coco is a super beachy style resort island, now connnected to the mainland with a 17 (or is that 27) km long road / land spit type thing.
As the island is protected, Cubans are not allowed to live there, so no Casa Particulars, only expensive hotels. We booked at the cheapish option, which turned out to be quite funny. Our hotel was pretty empty, expect for someFrench workers building other hotels.
So we were the only tourists in the entire hotel, and we had the place to ourselves as the workers would be out working.

Cathing a old fashioned taxo to Cayo Coco.

The road over to the island.

At the hotel at last!

The road over was very interesting, reminded me a lot of Salar de Uyuni, where you could not see the boundary between sea and sky.

Our local beach had a rough and wild type feel - really great to sit here in the evening and listen to the waves - had more of a South Africa beach type feel than Carribean.

Check out the camoflagued crab!

Goodness, what would Terry Pratchett say?

With our friend Jorge, in charge of our own private lunch buffet, and full of super tips about getting around!

Our cabana

We went for another catamaran and snorkelling trip. This was a much longer boat trip, as the reef was further away, so we got a good hour on the boat. We were advised to bring bread to attract the fish, but it seems the fish here know about this. When we jumped in, we were swamped by masses of fairly large and scary fish after the bread. It felt like being in a piranha attack, so we threw the bread to get them away from biting us - bloody bastards!
While the reef here is apparently part of the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world, the fish were better on the south coast, but we still saw some nice ones.

Of course, as the only tourists, we were the only ones with access to the free bar, so it was many mojitos, daquiris, pina coladas and coffee based drinks for us, with our own private barman :o)

Che

2012-01-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

Whats a trip to Cuba without a few photos of Che!

Casa de la Musica

2012-01-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

At night in Trinidad, part of the town square turns into Casa de la Musica, and there are bands doing some salsa music while everyone dances. They also put on regular free shows between the dancing, and the cobbled steps get full up pretty quick!

While Salsa is Zsuzsi's favourite thing in all the world, and the vibe is really great, the salsa rythmns don't really inspire me to dance, but when they did their african tunes, I felt inspired to dance, and Zsuzsi did not!

These guys were pretty impressive. Here you see them lifting this girl in the air, by biting on the corner of the table, and then lifting her up like that - impressive!

Getting ready to eat some glass. This guy came right up to me and chewed the glass so I could hear it grinding away in his mouth - crazy. He offered me a piece to try, but I must admit, it was a bit hard and flavourless!

Getting ready to chop his head off - no wait, I mean to break the bottle on his stomache with the panga.

Playa Ancon

2011-12-31T07:49:00.000-08:00

Playa Ancon is close to Trinidad, and we spent 2 days there.
The first day, we thought we would hire some bikes and cycle down - bad move!
Getting there was ok, mainly downhill, but coming back was a nightmare.
The bikes were way dodgy - one had the most uncomfortable seat in the world, and the other was so hard to pedal, so we swapped between getting a megasaurass, and dead legs. Getting back took so long, we were cycling in the dark and a bit lost for a fair while.

They have massive prawns in Cuba!

On the beach at last!

On our last day in Trinidad, we got into a bit of a pickle. We had nearly run out of cash, and we couldn't draw money, as the entire banking system seemed to be down in Trinidad. This meant we only had enough money for the bus to next destination, and not much else. Luckily, Remco and Mariette were kind enough to give us a lift to the beach to save some money, and we shared a small bottle of water for the day - hard going!
Sadly this meant I couldn't buy some paintings that I was really interested in, and were really cheap.
Here, Mariette and Remco show off their coconuts!

As does Zsuzsi

On the first day, we took a catamaran trip out to the reef to do some snorkelling - amazing, such fantastic fishes and coral here!!

The old man and the sea

Margarita and Canaria

2011-12-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

As we were now such big horse riding fans, we decided to do another days riding in Trinidad, starting off with a ride through the cobbled streets of the town outskirts.

We had to walk the horses down this steep hill, as their shoes would slip easily on the tar. My horse, Canaria, was particularly slippy and was not so keep to walk down.

Zsuzsi and her horse, Margarita.

We stopped off at a sugar cane farm on route, where me met this character. I think he must win the award as the most interesting / amusing chap we met on the trip, he looks so funny in his shiny shades, and had a pretty amusing voice as he serenaded us.

Susan took this video of our friendly guy singing. I will try upload a second one later (this one took so long!)

Squeezing the sugar cane for juice for us. Throw in a few limes, and it was the most delicious juice, and we wolfed down 2 glasses in super quick time - I really wish we could get that in London. CHEERS!

We also stopped at a local nature reserve, with a short walk to wonderful pool for a welcome swim. Sadly, none of the photos are that fantastic, but it was lovely.

It was possible to swim underneath this waterfall, and there was a cave behind it, with just enough room to breath, tilting your head back so your nose could stay above water, and you could go reasonably far in. At the end the roof became slightly higher so you could fit your head in comfortably. The colour of the water and rocks in there was amazing.

Yum, coconut!

Next we stopped at a familys farm for some lunch.

And they had cute rabbits on the farm!

The friendly family

Back home, our friendly guide Jose and his wife.

Music . . .

2011-12-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

It goes without saying that Cuba is the place to be for some funky music, and Trinidad is a good spot to enjoy some street music and night time entertainment.
We found this cool bunch of dudes playing in the streets.

. . . And Dance

2011-12-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

Of course, along with the music, there its lots of dancing. One of Zsuzsi's Jinetero's and dance partner took us to this dance rehearsal, which was pretty cool - some nice photo opportunities.

In Trinidad

2011-12-27T14:53:00.000-08:00

Here is a random collection of us stuffing around in Trinidad

Posing in our casa particular

Our dear friend, Pizza Amigo, makes us one of his delicious street pizzas, out of his homemade pizza oven - looks like he used an old oil drum or something like that - super ingenious!
His Pizzas were so great, I spent the rest of the stay in Trinidad trying to get more, but he always closed early and we missed him, or we couldn't find his place in the confusing streets, so we had to make do with low grade substitutes :o(

Buying a pawpaw for breakfast - hard to eat a whole one with just your hands!

This weird guy had built a fake tv camera out of a box and water bottles, and was interviewing tourists in the sreet - a novel way of getting some tips!

Susan doing some more wheeling and dealing to satisfy her regular banana cravings.

The owners of our casa particular. What super kind and friendly folks they were, always laughing and joking - pity I couldn't understand most of her many stories!

We had a hammock on the roof patio - susan looks like she is enjoying it :o)

On the steps in the main square

At our casa particular we met this lovely couple, Mariette and Remco. Remco has one of the coolest names, Remco Oldebeesten - said in the correct exaggerated Dutch accent, it sounds a treat!

Dinner at the casa particular. we went for the Langoustine, which wasn't my cup of tea, but Zsuzsi loved it.

Also at the casa particular we met this interesting Canadian couple. They had just got married the previous week, and were here on their honeymoon. They thought that as their kids were grown up and out of the house, they might as well get married!

Sunset from our roof patio

Streets of Trinidad

2011-12-23T01:24:00.000-08:00

Don't get confused, besides being 1 half of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad is also a town in Cuba, where we spent 5 days. It is indeed a most charming and delightful town, one of the 7 original colonial towns in cuba, and was cut off from the rest of Cuba for quite a long time, I forget why.
The streets are mostly cobbled, and the buildings are largely charming old colonial sytle, with large rooms and very tall ceilings. They are all a wonderful collection of colours, and all starting to look a bit run down, to add to the charm.

This post is mainly just of the buildings around Trinidad, but I must admit, it is quite hard to capture the vibe of the place.

Our taxi to our casa particular. Fun on the cobbled streets.

This guy would be spotted on a regular basis, riding around on his donkey.

Dominoes is a very popular pastime here, and we spotted these guys playing in the street on quite a few days.

Inquisitive horse?

Cayo Justias

2011-12-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

We were only supposed to stay 2 nights in Vinales. However, after our long horse riding trip, we got back to realise it was Sunday, and there was no way to exchange money. We didn't have enough cash to pay our accomodation, so had to stay an extra night to change money on Monday.
This worked out quite well, as we got to take a trip to Cayo Justias, a lovely beach indeed, and our first of the trip, where we lazed around, and took a pedalo out to the reef to do some snorkeling.

The fish and coral were great, although I must admit, our typical ladies man guide pissed me off a bit - he was the typical guy you always see in movies, trying to use his beach hunk charm to steal whatever ladies he can from the hero of the movie! Shame on him!

Susan goes for a walk, and does some lounging around in the sea.

That sure looks like a comfy tree!

Interesting critters on the beach. Look at the eye on this dude living in his shell below!

We manouvred around the mangrove trees on one side of the beach to get to the beach on the other side. We had the whole big beach to ourselves, and got to do some funky posing by the fish trying structure (I think)

Nearing the end of the day :o(

Good bye dear beach, we love you :o)

Cuervo del Indio

2011-12-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

In the Vinales valley we stopped off at Cuervo del Indio, a smallish cave system, with a ride in a boat on the river running through the cave. A pleasant trip, although we did miss out on the more hard core caving in the area, including one you can swim in :o(

Jose!

2011-12-17T03:01:00.000-08:00

In Vinales we were met by Jose, a friend of Zsuzsi's contacts in Havana. He was such a super guy, took us right to his house for a delicious lunch (this is where I became a yucca fan!), then off to his sisters guest house (I think), and he helped us a lot during our 3 days in Vinales.
And what a lovely family he has too! Help, Zsuzsi, what was everyone elses names again?

Cubans are pretty good with grass weaving - check out this cool Grasshopper.

Bed time!

Jose plays some funky tunes while the kids dance.

Vinales moods

2011-12-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

Some black and white photos around Vinales - as you can see, I like taking photos of bicycles.

Vinales Miscellaneous

2011-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

On the way to Vinales, the bus made a detour for a short stop at these lovely cascades. Not that we saw much in the way of cascades.

Heading into Vinales

Rush hour traffic in Vinales

Cock on a bike

Around Vinales (and all of Cuba) there are a lot of these Turkey Vultures flyinging all over the place - a lovely sight.

We did a hop on hop off bus tour around the valley - a pleasant ride indeed.

We stayed in a super lovely casa particular, which sadly had not been doing much business, due to so much competition. We did our best to drum up business for them as we travelled. Above is their lovely pooch, hanging out on the roof where I slept a good portion of the night on - I sure miss sleeping under the stars :o(

Every 2nd house in Vinales has wondeful rocking chairs outside, where people can sit and enjoy the afternoon smoking their cigars and watching folk walk past.

I think I look much better in black and white than in full colour - and I think my friend Fidel would agree.

I think Zsuzsi looks much better in colour than in black and white - and I think my friend Fidel would agree.

Yumm, the owner of our Casa Particular was a delicious cook, and she really piled on the food. We kept on telling her to not make so much, just a bit, but it kept on coming! This is a traditional Cuban soup, Potaje, made largely of black beans - doesn't sound nice, doesn't look nice, but sure tastes delicious!!

Cigar farm

2011-12-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

During the horse trip, we stopped off at a tobacco farm, to see how cigars are made.

Start off with some dried tobacco leaves (after Fidel has taken 90% of course!)

Rolling the leaves. Different types of cigars are blended with different variety of leaves in different amounts.

For a bit of extra flavour, sealing the cigar with honey.

Finished!

I have never had a puff of a cigarette in my life (thanks to all the bloody smoke on the school bus, I have never needed to!), but thought I'd better give the cigar a go. I stand by my theory, not an experience to be repeated in a hurry!

Zsuzsi seems a bit more at home with a cigar!

Despite the disgusting taste, I must admit, a big cigar in ones mouth makes one look good!

Zsuzsi succumbs to the deadly combination of Mojitos and cigars!

After the cigar, 3 mojitos were definately needed to get that taste out of my mouth! This chap made the tastiest mojitos in Cuba, and uses honey instead of sugar - good idea!
And they really helped with the horse riding home afterwards too!

Vinales - horse riding

2011-12-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

After Havana, we went to Vinales, a small country town where a lot of the tobacco farms are. Vinales is in an interesting area, covered with strage mountains, similar to the ones in Vietnam and Thailand.

One of the highlights was a 5 hour horse riding trip. At first it was a bit painful (especially on the bollocks) but once we got it right, when that horse moved up into canter mode, it was such a great feeling, zooming along in harmony with the horse!

Zsuzsi and Caramello

My dear horse Palomo.

A tobacco drying shed. The Cuban government takes 90% of the tobacco, and the farmers can sell the rest.

Our cowboy guide, Miguel.

Stopping at a lake for a swim

Moody Havana

2011-12-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

Last set of photos of Havana, some black and white photos for a bit of mood. Most of them were taken on the Malecon with the clouds and spray from the crashing waves creating an atmospheric mood.

Havana Misc

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Going through the rest of the Havana pics, it seems we do not have so many super great photos. Maybe because we were too busy getting pestered by all the jineteros trying to swindle us out of our money!
On the whole Havana was interesting, but I didn't completely love it, and even though we did not spend too much time there, I was glad to leave to go experience more of the countryside.
Anyway, here is a randon collection of photos around Havana.

Sancho Pansa

We stumbled across an orchestra playing in the town square, which was a treat, what a grand show they put on!

Cuban Cars 2

2011-12-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I think 2 posts are enough on Cuban cars, I hope you enjoy some of these beauties!

Probably my favourite car of the trip!

Coco taxis is 3 different settings

Where Cuban cars retire to.

Loved this!! Not actually a car, but what seems to be a home made bicycle (or is that quadricycle?)

Awww poor little guy :o(

Fun in Havana

2011-12-08T01:32:00.000-08:00

After struggling to find a good mix of photos to split Havana into interesting posts, I have decided to start off with some typical cheesy tourist pics of us.

On the Malecon, the Sea Point style promenade along the coast, which provides for quite a lot of excitement as the waves crash into the barrier, sending spray and splashes everywhere.

mmmmm, Pizza! Eating pizza off the street was a regular habit of ours when we wanted to save some money. Cuba is pretty confusing, as it has 2 different currencies, Pesos, and Pesos Convertible (CUP and CUP). CUC are meant to be used mainly by tourists, and for more expensive things like bus trips, eating out etc. CUP are mainly for the locals, but tourists can use them to buy street food and other very cheap items. There are 25 CUP to 1 CUC, and what gets confusing is that on price lists, they are both displayed with a $ sign, so you can't always tell right away if something is CUP, and thus really cheap, or CUC, and thus expensive.
Luckily, street pizzas were in CUP, and cost about 50p for a pizza!!

PS: Don't you dig my Che hat :o)

Our hosts for the 1st 2 nights. Zsuzsi had some contacts in Cuba, so we got to stay with some locals in their house, instead of a Casa Particular.

Zsuzsi dancing in the streets with a local Cuban Jamaican. What looks like snow is the spray from the waves crashing over the Malecon.

Outside El Floridita, one of 2 of Hemingways favourite bars.
Sadly, the timing was always wrong for us to go and get a drink, and we always planned to go back and get one, but it never happened.

More spray from the waves.

Our first taste of Cuban coffee. I am not a big coffee drinker, but enjoyed the Cuban coffee quite a bit, It comes in really small shots, and is semi-strong and really sweet. This particular cup cost us about 5p - bargain rate!

Zsuzsi posing in some of the grand old cars.

Buying fruit from the street vendors. Zsuzsi seemed to have a bit of a banana fetish!

Lazing in the sun

Another cup of coffee please!

Our Kiwi mate who we kept bumping into wherever we went.

Hanging out outside el Capitolio

Zsuzsi and her cigar smoking friends

Cuban Cars 1

2011-12-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

I have just got back from a fantastic 2 weeks in Cuba with Zsuzsi, and with 1800 photos to get through, it will be hard to plan the blogging structure! So I thought I would start with some of the classic Cuban old American cars, which are all over the place, and really great to see on the roads.
Makes one feel like you are living in the 50s!

Eastbourne Pier

2011-11-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went to Eastbourne for a board game weekend with my club. Some of those guys are pretty hardcore, and played until 6 in the morning. As I am not so hardcore, I only played until 3 in the morning.
Due to all the playing, there wasn't much chance to take pics, but I did manage to fit in a stroll along the beach and pavilion. I have decided that the Eastbourne pavilion is more charming and delightful that Brighton and Bournemouth piers.

Cosplay faces

2011-11-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

A tribute to some of the faces on show.

cosplay 3

2011-11-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, you guessed it, more funky outfits!

This guy was amazing!! His fur was so soft and fluffy, and so incredibly lifelike.
He had the mask custom made for him to mould onto his face, and so the jaw moves when he talks, like a real animal. And the teeth were so lifelike too, even when he bit down on my arm.

Deadpool from the XMen

Deadpool's stunt doubles relaxing after a hard day killing people!

Pretty boy!

Woah, Donnie Darko!

Amazing wings, not ideal in the wind.

Err, is this Gene Simon's wife?

Cool scythes, from another computer game I have not heard of.

Avatar.

FEEL THE WRATH OF MY JEDI DEATH GRIP MARCEL!!

Sith Lord Marcel, with his homies Darth and Imperial guard.

Ahhhh cute!!

Lengend of Zelda apparently

Smurfette

Free hugs seem to very popular at many of these types of events in UK. This wolf was super cuddly.

A perfect way to spend the day, walking around with a giant pyramid on your head - its no surprise this lady is called Pyramidhead.

Oops, seems poor death has been outdone in the scythe department here.

More Mortal Kombatters

World of Warcraft

HULK SMASH!!!!

Blood Rayne

Cosplay 2

2011-10-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Graeme for showing me how to add large photos to my blog, which has meant I had to change the layout. Hope you like the new one.
Anyway, back to some more cosplay outfits.

Not quite Batman, more like batwolf!

Gay Sinbad?

The less said about this guy the better.

Botched attempt at doing the YMCA

There were lots of these type of guys around, apparently from some cumputer game called homestuck.

The woman had amazing hand crafted wings and claws a lot of work going on here!

Kriss Kross will make you . . jump, jump!!

From some compter game called portal - never heard of that either.

The juggernaut from X-men. This guy makes these moulds as a part time business, and is hoping to crack into the big leagues - a very impressive headpiece it was!

Some "witches" from another computer game.

Hooray, we managed to find Wally at last!!

Miaow!!

Cosplay / Comic con 1

2011-10-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

Today Marcel and I went to a Cosplay comic convention type thing. I had never heard of cosplay before, but it is a type of fancy dress art which originating in Japanese Anime roots, and has now spread to rest of the world.

Sadly I didn't have a funky outfit to wear, but some were pretty impressive!

Cookie Monster

Check out the size of that sword!

Kitana and Mileena from Mortal Kombat

Ahhh, baby-loving stormtroopers!

A nightmare before Christmas

Final fantasy I think.

There was a lovely sounding woman inside this huge outfit!

Awww min-Vader and mini-Leia

Someone took 1.5 years to build this fantastic working model of R2D2

Mmm, its not often you get to see the Stig, Sleeping Beauty and Freddie Krueger hanging out together.

Jetty Moods

2011-10-23T02:36:00.000-07:00

By the lake

2011-10-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

It was sure beautiful down by the lake, but after the long hike, there wasn't much time for a swim, and the leader hauled us away before I could strip down and plunge in :o(

lake district - slate mine

2011-10-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Coming down the mountain, we found an old slate mine, which was really cool. As there is so much slate in the area, all the houses in the village are pretty much made from slate, and they are really charming!

Lake district - Day 2

2011-10-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Day 2 was much better, with some fairly tolerable weather, and we went down to the lakes, which was super beautiful. A much better day all round!

Lake District - day 1

2011-10-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

In August I joined up with a hiking club for 3 days of hiking in the lake district. I t was great fun, although sadly the weather was not great, with the first day consisting primarily of walking all day in the rain.

I probably had the least waterproof jacket, as I was using my 20 year old jacket which has certainly lost a good deal of its water resistance. I was smart enough to take my brolly along, and the other hikers thought it hilarious, as they had never seen a hiker with a brolly. Well, I got the last laugh, as I had something to keep my lunch dry while I ate it!

Good stuff, falling down in the group photo.

London Zoo - fish

2011-10-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

London Zoo

2011-10-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

Sadly I discovered my camera was set on low res pics when I got home from the zoo, so lots of photos came out a bit junk. Here are some which are ok.

This gorilla was amazing, I really felt so sorry for him. At least he had a nice big outside play area and jungle gym, but zoos can make me very sad sometimes.

ahh, yin and yang anteaters.
I think the animals I liked the best were the giant anteaters. I didn't manage to get a photo of them, but they were so cool with their amaxing patterns, long flighy tough, think rough hair, super long noses and giant claws folded up underneath them.

Wow, that is a nasty bite!

There were some really amazing critters in the bugs section. Uurrghhh!! This guy was no exception!

London Zoo - a feast of otters

2011-10-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

A while back Carmen and I went to London Zoo for an evening event. Sadly it rained quite a lot, but I managed to get some photos in before.
First up was the otters, who were diving down in their pool and retreiving the lobster like things from the bottom, and boy were they loving the feast!

Aurigny Air

2011-09-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Flying to Alderney is a super experience in itself. There is only one airline that flies there, and no ferries, so the only way across is in these tiny planes, which seem like they come out of the 60s.
There is no aisle, plane is too small for that, and this is the only plane I have been in where you can see the wheels while flying and landing.

Sitting right behind the pilot.

view over Alderney

PKR offices are in the warehouse in the middle of the photo.

Approaching Southampton.

Views over Southampton

Alderney

2011-09-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

A while back I went to Alderney on a work trip for a few days, as we have a small office there.
Don't be fooled by the nice blue skies in the photos, it rained most of the time :o(

A funky take on the traditional red London phone booths.

All the streets are nicely cobbled, and as you can see, not too much traffic. No traffic lights on the island makes for relaxing driving!

The island is full of world war 2 fortifications. John took me on a drive around the island to see most of them, but no nice photos due to the rain!

Some more fortifications and look at that funky squash court by the sea. Coolest spot for a squash court I have seen!

The PKR offices are right near the beach and harbour, allowing for lunch breaks sleeping on the beach - I think I should apply for a transfer there.

John, the South African in charge.

The island has 13 clay balls hidden around in different places. These are all made with a soft clay and have local bit and bobs in, so as the balls disintegrate, the bits inside get revealed.

Spelbound

2011-09-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

Last week Carmen and I went to see Spelbound in concert - yes, it's one "l", no idea why. Spelbound were the winners of Britains Got Talent last year, and are the holders of the world record for the highest throw of a person - 14 feet over a pole vault bar. They also won 6 gold medals at the world championships.

Err, how do those girls do that?

Eh, how do those girls on the right do that?

hmm, how does that guy do that?

Here are some videos of them in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49cU7gtPIzM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs9NHOeSF9k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8KgpOnPcx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWdmyjZR8N4

The performances were interspersed with various other acts from Britains Got Talent, and surprise guest stars Stavros Flatley rocked the house with their show, including some pretty impressive singing. For those who don;t know Stavros Flatley, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tu0PAbW75A

Lazing on the sea cliffs

2011-09-17T01:54:00.000-07:00

Rock patterns in Angle

2011-09-13T00:13:00.000-07:00

Angle - on the rocks

2011-09-11T03:03:00.000-07:00

After the beach we headed to a lovely little spot, with a tiny church built into the crevice heading down to the sea, and very nicely camoflaged amongst the rocks it was. To get to the sea, you had to go through the church, as it was built right up against the cliffs.

Angle Beach - sort of

2011-09-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a stroll down to Angle beach - well, not exactly Angle beach, but close by. It was a lovely walk through some wooded area with lily covered ponds. Sadly, it was a bit windy and chilly for any swimming.

angle yachts

2011-08-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Angle has a lovely little harbour, with many boats which seem to be stranded in the mire.

One one of the days we took Brian's boat out, and got pulled behind the boat in a canoe - pretty exciting stuff at high speeds!

Labradoodle

2011-08-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

At last, I have internet back at home, so can upload photos from my most recent trip to Wales, even though it was about 2 months ago!
We went down to a lovely little town, Angle, in Pembrokeshire. Joining us with the lovely pooch, Harry the labradoodle - a cross between a labrador and a poodle. What a friendly and smart pooch he is!!

Tower of London lions

2011-07-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

Tate Modern

2011-07-23T00:12:00.000-07:00

Alison, Colin and I went to the Tate Modern, because with all the darn rain this summer, what else can one do!

Ah no, someone has sliced my canvas :o(

Put your hands up in the air, and wave those . . . like you just don't care

Mutant blob from outer space?

Warning, may cause epilepsy!

Andy Warhol

Boom Boom Pow!

This was a really coool painting. When you looked at it your eyes went completely squiffy and everything in the painting started to move. Super funky!

Is it a mirror, or is it art?

A woman's work is never done.

This was great, an inverted staircase in a lovely reddish ambiented room.

Bullseye!

What was the most fun in the museum, although I don't have a photo, was a large chess board like thing in the middle of the floor. You are allowed to walk on it, but many people would walk through the room looking at other things and not even see it. So Alison and I would pretend to be looking at the paintings, and when some victim would walk over the chessboard, Alison would jump out at them with a concerned look on her face, telling them to get off the art. They would all be supersurprised, and leap of in a startled mannner, while we chuckled gleefully. I could have done that all day, even the Tate guard didn't mind when Alison leapt out at him, not knowing he worked there!

Alison!

2011-07-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hooray, Alison and her brother came over from America to visit for a few days before their big Euro trip! It was great to hang out with them, although sadly it rained every day they were here!

Even sadder, I never got to visit them in Budapest or Dubrovnik, as it was just too late to get things sorted. Bloody SA passport!!!

Fun on the tube

Fun in picadilly circus. Afterwards we went off to leicester square, where we were lured into a budget comedy club. It was in the basement of some dodgy hotel, and there were 2 rows of chairs , 5 chairs per row. Even then the show was not fulll, so a total of 7 people in the audience! With us being in the front row, and the comedians standing on the floor right in front of you, you sure do get picked on a lot! Bu it was super fun, a really great but weird way to spend the evening.

Animals!

Fun on the train!

St Pauls

Embankment War Memorial

2011-07-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

spring flowers

2011-07-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Cardiff Animals

2011-06-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

We saw some funky animals in Wales, some real, and like these dudes here, some fake.

Awwww bunnies!!!!!

This is the crazy llama that decided to spit all over Kim - Hilarious! Pity I couldn;t get that on video.

Some weird cousin of the capybara

Dan Yr Og Caves

2011-06-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

The Dan Yr Og caves are in the Brecon Beacons, and consist of 3 different caves. The first one was basically a long tunnel with lots of twists and turns and different levels, with some nice formations.

Brian, myself and Kim

I liked the pattterns on these rocks - reminded me of a Bev Doolittte painting.

The gang!

Next up we headed into the Catherdral cave, with some spectacular yelow lighting, and some interesting Martianesque scenery.

Walking alongside the river flowing through the cave

Kim silhouettes

Cool, that ring looks like the dogs eye!

The main cathedral itself was incredibly spectacular, but without a good wide angle lens, its hard to get a decent photo. It has 2 waterfalls flowing into the cave from the roof, falling into the river. This cave is a popular spot to get married so you can listen to Pachabels cannon while walking through the cave - my favourite piece!

Kim and I at the marriage altar

With all the moisture in the air from the waterfalls, this is how the photos came out if I tried to use a flash!

Hundreds of tiny stactites.

The final cave was a very small one, in which 47 human skeltons were found. It was beleived the Romans used to hang out in this one when they were in the area. Being typical nanny state UK, you are advised to wear helmets, but it really was not necessary, but Kim seems to like hers!

Cave Drawings

2011-06-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

In the caves were some fantastic cave drawings, probably at least 20 years old!

Wait, thats not a drawing of a bear, its alive!! - RUN!!!

Dan Yr Og Dinosaurs

2011-06-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

Next day we went to the Dan Yr Og caves, which i have been wanting to go to since my first visit. At the caves, we have to get through a bunch of dinosaurs first to get to the entrance - oohh, scary!

Aaah cute!

Woah, a vegetarian velociraptor?

Yep, that looks pretty dangerous to me!

Unlucky guy!

Frogosaurus

Aah, a peaceful happy day out at the watering hole with dinosaurs

Oh wait! I was wrong, those bloody veliciraptors are chewing on thhat poor triceratops!

Cardiff - a trip to the park

2011-06-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

2 months ago I went to cardiff to visit Charline - finally managing to add the pics!
First day we went to visit some big country park outside of cardiff with some of charline's friends.

Wow, this croc has a gnomes head in its mouth - vicious!

Edvard Munch's "The scream" done in wood!

We were in luck, they were setting up for a war renactment spectacle for the next day, so we got to see some interesting sights, including the army strorming the castle.

Nazi youth alert!

Big gun!

Nice - Polo shirts, souverniers and swaztickas!

Charlines housemate, the lovely Kim.

Ai, not more nazis!

Playing hide and seek down on the rocks

Superman!