this sucks.. I hate feeling sick when traveling and alone.. i dont like taking my body for granted and not appreaciating simple things like swallowing and breathing.. with a sore throat and trouble breathing, no energy, feeling drained, its all adding up. not sure what happened.. it might be the change in weather here from cold to hot, or smoking and talking too much.. or drinking that shit in cesky krumlov that I dont know anything about besides that its called "fire water"... who knows, it could be a combination,. as long as its just that and nothing more, I just want it to pass.
going to dresden today for a night then berlin.
im behind with bloging but I have lots of notes down that I will revisit to fill the gaps.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
bad vienna, good vienna
it was really nice to see for miles picture perfect fields with wind turbines along the road from Bratislava to Vienna.. when I arrived it was freezing, I mean it was winter tempratures or atleast fall, overcast and gray, not very appealing. my mood was in the dumps. the guy at the hostel desk lent me a sweater because he noticed I dont have anything to dress properly for the weather. on my first day, I was striken with disappointment as I visit the city I was most excited about visiting.. the ringstrasse was disappointing, everything was not up to my very high expectations, even the secession building had a parking lot for tourist buses infront of it, making it difficult to take a good picture. I started walking and quickly reaized the city is pretty small, I was running into recognizable buildings left and right which made me think, wow this town is really kinda of a village. the otto wagner station at Karlplatz was turned into a mini museum for the architect and they charged an overpriced ticket for entry.. all in all I was not very positive about the place.. (I later learned that my disappointment and disatisfaction had much to do with the gray weather, and random rain showers, not with the city itself.)
I was walking in the small park by Karlplatz when I noticed a sculpture of a mother and her child (both nude, she appears to be squatting to give the boy a bath), someone had put a black T-shirt on the woman, covering her nude body.. it reflected the tension in the city amongst its inhabitnats.
later in the afternoon I stoped by Arena Club on the edge of the city. the club occupies a slaghter house and is now covered with graffiti and hosts hardrock and techno parties.. it was very early, I justwanted to see the place without getting myself in a bad situation (if I went at night when its full, who knows what can happen) the few people there with their shaved heads, and tattoos looked at me and then went on to finish their beers.. It seemed like a cool place, but probably not without a local or atleast a group of friends.
on my second day I started by visiting the hunderwasser buildings in the city including the garbage incinerator with a giant gold disco ball on the smoke stack, hunderwasser house, the apartment building that has become the most exclusive address in the city.. then I discovered my favorite place in the city, Nashmarkt, the city open air market.. what a great place.. I love city markets like the one in barcelona but this one was even better, it was bigger and instead of a square plan, it stretched like a long street.. there was everything from fresh produce, to stuffed peppers to nuts, to hundreds of variaties of olive oil, cheeses and wines, it was so good for the senses. I bought a bunch of stuffed things (peppers, tomatoes etc, all stuffed with yummy goat cheese..
the weather on this second day was great, and my mood was hence much better. I then went to Museum Quartier, the new museum district of the city and there I found my favorite public space.. it was a great courtyard in what used to be the stables of the king, now filled with boat-like sculptures to sit on and relax, with djs playing music for free, and the new modern art museum occupying the corner.
my second day here was 7/7/07 and what better place to be to watch the Live Earth concerts.. they had a giant screen infront of the City Hall broadcasting the concert with food venders and bars temporarily set up for what they usually do in that space over the summer months (a free film festival).. I sat there for over 4 hours, enjoying the weather, watching the concert and I met these two gay guys who couldnt stop kissing in public.
what was up with the beastie boys, they completly suck.. they do not give a crap about earth or even their backyard.. they were clearly using the event for self promotion, having had the opportunity to briefly see them at Sonar, I know they are full of crap.. the same goes for the pussy cat bitches.. what the fuck was that. they are so nasty.
my favorite part was definetly the metallica set and I really wanted to see the smashing pumpkins ofcourse but time different didnt allow for that.
the two gay guys directed me to a place called club Camera where a party called heaven was taking place that night..
the music was good, the club was small and I couldnt find my Austrian dream guy, but there was one cute indian guy there who approached me and we made out for a little .. the austrian dudes who were there, were not my type and some of them including the bar tender would drop their jaw once I say im egyptian.. not sure whats the reason, orientalism, fetish, I dont know.
I was walking in the small park by Karlplatz when I noticed a sculpture of a mother and her child (both nude, she appears to be squatting to give the boy a bath), someone had put a black T-shirt on the woman, covering her nude body.. it reflected the tension in the city amongst its inhabitnats.
later in the afternoon I stoped by Arena Club on the edge of the city. the club occupies a slaghter house and is now covered with graffiti and hosts hardrock and techno parties.. it was very early, I justwanted to see the place without getting myself in a bad situation (if I went at night when its full, who knows what can happen) the few people there with their shaved heads, and tattoos looked at me and then went on to finish their beers.. It seemed like a cool place, but probably not without a local or atleast a group of friends.
on my second day I started by visiting the hunderwasser buildings in the city including the garbage incinerator with a giant gold disco ball on the smoke stack, hunderwasser house, the apartment building that has become the most exclusive address in the city.. then I discovered my favorite place in the city, Nashmarkt, the city open air market.. what a great place.. I love city markets like the one in barcelona but this one was even better, it was bigger and instead of a square plan, it stretched like a long street.. there was everything from fresh produce, to stuffed peppers to nuts, to hundreds of variaties of olive oil, cheeses and wines, it was so good for the senses. I bought a bunch of stuffed things (peppers, tomatoes etc, all stuffed with yummy goat cheese..
the weather on this second day was great, and my mood was hence much better. I then went to Museum Quartier, the new museum district of the city and there I found my favorite public space.. it was a great courtyard in what used to be the stables of the king, now filled with boat-like sculptures to sit on and relax, with djs playing music for free, and the new modern art museum occupying the corner.
my second day here was 7/7/07 and what better place to be to watch the Live Earth concerts.. they had a giant screen infront of the City Hall broadcasting the concert with food venders and bars temporarily set up for what they usually do in that space over the summer months (a free film festival).. I sat there for over 4 hours, enjoying the weather, watching the concert and I met these two gay guys who couldnt stop kissing in public.
what was up with the beastie boys, they completly suck.. they do not give a crap about earth or even their backyard.. they were clearly using the event for self promotion, having had the opportunity to briefly see them at Sonar, I know they are full of crap.. the same goes for the pussy cat bitches.. what the fuck was that. they are so nasty.
my favorite part was definetly the metallica set and I really wanted to see the smashing pumpkins ofcourse but time different didnt allow for that.
the two gay guys directed me to a place called club Camera where a party called heaven was taking place that night..
the music was good, the club was small and I couldnt find my Austrian dream guy, but there was one cute indian guy there who approached me and we made out for a little .. the austrian dudes who were there, were not my type and some of them including the bar tender would drop their jaw once I say im egyptian.. not sure whats the reason, orientalism, fetish, I dont know.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
wien ist ein dorf
yes vienna is a fucking village.
but first, to pick up from last time.. I went to Milano for one night (practically 15 hours total) to see Marco.. it was a very sweet reunion... we went to get something to smoke and his friend (forgot her name) told him to pick her up from the hospital (she broke her foot the day before) .. anyway, what a character.. you cant make this shit up, she is wack! the girl works at the airport and aparently goes to work with large blocks of hash and bags of coke.. married to a tunisian who beats her up and she likes it then goes out to parties and hooks up with 17 and 19 year olds (shes 32) the girl is nuts. anyway there is no hash so she suggests that we go to this "airport party" in some country club near the malpensa airport and there she goes with her broken foot hopping on the other.. it was kinda fun.. the place was pretty cool with tents set up everzwhere with different music and such.. good looking people, and one reallz fucking hot dude that I had my eyes on.. it was also cold. later went home with marco and had a very hot romantic morning with la traviatta playing in the background.. how hot!
i gotta be brief cuz no internet time.. but on the bus from milan to the airport there was a chinese guz flossing his teeth behind me.. whats wrong with these people.. oh and here in this internet place there is an american dude with a tufts shirt playing online poker! whats wrong with these people.
the Z and Y are switched on this german kezboard so I dont feel like sazing much more.
but first, to pick up from last time.. I went to Milano for one night (practically 15 hours total) to see Marco.. it was a very sweet reunion... we went to get something to smoke and his friend (forgot her name) told him to pick her up from the hospital (she broke her foot the day before) .. anyway, what a character.. you cant make this shit up, she is wack! the girl works at the airport and aparently goes to work with large blocks of hash and bags of coke.. married to a tunisian who beats her up and she likes it then goes out to parties and hooks up with 17 and 19 year olds (shes 32) the girl is nuts. anyway there is no hash so she suggests that we go to this "airport party" in some country club near the malpensa airport and there she goes with her broken foot hopping on the other.. it was kinda fun.. the place was pretty cool with tents set up everzwhere with different music and such.. good looking people, and one reallz fucking hot dude that I had my eyes on.. it was also cold. later went home with marco and had a very hot romantic morning with la traviatta playing in the background.. how hot!
i gotta be brief cuz no internet time.. but on the bus from milan to the airport there was a chinese guz flossing his teeth behind me.. whats wrong with these people.. oh and here in this internet place there is an american dude with a tufts shirt playing online poker! whats wrong with these people.
the Z and Y are switched on this german kezboard so I dont feel like sazing much more.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Gozo + dirty Europeans + nationalists + other random crap
dont have much time but I want to fit as much as I can.. I'm back in florence after a long ass travel day yesturday on two buses, a ferry, two more buses, a delayed flight and one more bus from Marsalforn on Gozo to Florence. last night I saw Richard and Jovi from Boston, they are here with architecture students for a month, we met at piccolo.. it was hilarious, I needed the laughter after being kinda alone in Gozo for three days, but I didnt need all the beer I drank.. I feel massive today.
I had gone to gozo after 4 nights on malta, everyone advised me that 3 nights is too much but lonely planet had given such romantic descriptions of it that made it seem like the ideal relaxing spot as the island it one third the size of malta with one tenth the population. there was a motive to stay one more night on malta and only go to gozo for two.. it was maltas biggest gay party happening in Rabat.. I would have normally camped out in anticipation, I mean its malta, men and gay.. right? Not really, I guess I was generally disappointed with the men, and most of the women are just scary. they get lost in the thousands of norther european tourists (who are so fucking dirty! leaving piles of trash everywhere!) and the few northafricans who have blended with the population.. a friend of mine brought my attention to inbreeding, aparently ultra orthodox catholics in malta means marrying into the family! well I notice a few funny looking people and one woman with a full beard. anyway, the better looking guys were clearly decendents of north africans ( I am not being biased, thats really what I saw) anyway, after one more night at Klozet with the crew I had met at Adams bar who all came down there and within 10 minutes took their shirts off, it was hilarious and slightly a sad sight. I then made the unusual desicion to keep to my original plan and miss the big all night gay party happening the following night. after a long day on the beach, which consisted of a giant flat rock where you sit reached by climbing up and down a steep sandy/rocky hill (the beaches here have been also slightly disappointing.. very small, not much sand and usually crowed with those hordes of blonds from frozen areas of europe. these beaches, although the water colour is beautiful, have nothing on the beaches in Egypt or Tunisia where miles of soft white sand give way to miles of turquize shallow waters) anyway, after the beach I went to catch the ferry to Gozo, missed the last bus and had to pay a steep 7 lira taxi ride (thats like fucking 22 bucks to go from midtown to downtown) I finally reached Marsalforn where I stayed for three nights.. oh my god holy family fuck me! so many families, so many kids and so much ice cream! no tourists only locals which is .. charming, but umm, fucking boring. I wasnt really in love but I thought I was doing something totally special since, well, how many people have been to a small town on tiny gozo for the weekend?
I spent my days in Gozo on the beach or hiking, I probably walked a total of close to 18-20 kilometers split into two different hiking adventures. the first day after seeing the mini city of victoria (the island's prime city) I wanted to go to the beach but the next bus was not for a while so a driver suggested I go to this other place on the coast and I agreed.. there was really nothing for me to do there since it was primarely for divers, so I started hiking east in the direction of the beach I wanted to go to. Now, there are no real roads, no marked paths and the landscape goes up and down with high cliffs along the coast that makes it difficut to know where I am.. It was a long and difficult hike, I felt like I was in the desert and that if I passed out from a sun stroke I would have probably laid their in my own skin and bones for the rest of Earth's existance. luckely after a couple of hours I thought I saw the village I wanted to go to in the distance but a great valley was between us so I would have had to go far inland to go around the valley.. along the way there was nothing, but kinda of a wasteland in some parts (maltese are terrible to the environment, I cant believe such a small country with such a tiny population can be so obusive to the land, as if they get paid to fuck it up!) the landscape here is very desert-like, its rocky, with no major vegitation, only the type of small plants that manage to grow out of the cracks inteh rock, and lots of lizards.. but after the fucking 4+ foot lizard I was living with in Ko Chang in Thailand, I was over prepared to deal with these tiny ones here. I also found a hourse. very cute, like a pony or something, I took his picture and moved on. well I never made it to my desired destination but I was headed in the direction of victoria so I kept going until I reached the main bus station and cought a bus back to Marsalforn and sunbathed on a rock there.
I had noticed this seemingly good looking probably north african guy on the beach. I later met him at night along the courniche with his Sudanese friend and his Tunisian friend, he was moroccan. they were pretty much drunk and the tunisian guy had gone for a swim in his underwear. maybe 10 minutes later the morrocan already asked me fo money so he can buy more beer.. it was awkward. they complained about how the maltese suck (and they kinda do) and how they hate tourists (however without tourist money they would seriously have nothing to eat) it is slightly true, especially on gozo which had a different feeling from Malta, the people were more family oriented and closed and didnt do much.. one cafe owner in valetta in malta said "they dont spend money, they only make money".. I wasnt alone when I met the three african guys, I was with Don, a South Korean also solo traveler staying at my guesthouse.. the drunk tunisian proceeded with typical asian jokes such as calling my new korean friend Chin Chung, Ping Pong! anyway we left.
I had tried the staple of Maltese food that night.. Rabbit! it was boney, but the meat tasted like a combination of beef and chicken..
before I forget, this is not a related topic.. on both ocassions I had a threesome on this trip, it was usually followed by a session of showing me pictures.. the couple in florence showed me pictures of their trip to brazil adn the couple of malta showed my studio pics with a million hairstyles.. I later learned that the maltese guy was a hair stylist.. its strange
I had gone to gozo after 4 nights on malta, everyone advised me that 3 nights is too much but lonely planet had given such romantic descriptions of it that made it seem like the ideal relaxing spot as the island it one third the size of malta with one tenth the population. there was a motive to stay one more night on malta and only go to gozo for two.. it was maltas biggest gay party happening in Rabat.. I would have normally camped out in anticipation, I mean its malta, men and gay.. right? Not really, I guess I was generally disappointed with the men, and most of the women are just scary. they get lost in the thousands of norther european tourists (who are so fucking dirty! leaving piles of trash everywhere!) and the few northafricans who have blended with the population.. a friend of mine brought my attention to inbreeding, aparently ultra orthodox catholics in malta means marrying into the family! well I notice a few funny looking people and one woman with a full beard. anyway, the better looking guys were clearly decendents of north africans ( I am not being biased, thats really what I saw) anyway, after one more night at Klozet with the crew I had met at Adams bar who all came down there and within 10 minutes took their shirts off, it was hilarious and slightly a sad sight. I then made the unusual desicion to keep to my original plan and miss the big all night gay party happening the following night. after a long day on the beach, which consisted of a giant flat rock where you sit reached by climbing up and down a steep sandy/rocky hill (the beaches here have been also slightly disappointing.. very small, not much sand and usually crowed with those hordes of blonds from frozen areas of europe. these beaches, although the water colour is beautiful, have nothing on the beaches in Egypt or Tunisia where miles of soft white sand give way to miles of turquize shallow waters) anyway, after the beach I went to catch the ferry to Gozo, missed the last bus and had to pay a steep 7 lira taxi ride (thats like fucking 22 bucks to go from midtown to downtown) I finally reached Marsalforn where I stayed for three nights.. oh my god holy family fuck me! so many families, so many kids and so much ice cream! no tourists only locals which is .. charming, but umm, fucking boring. I wasnt really in love but I thought I was doing something totally special since, well, how many people have been to a small town on tiny gozo for the weekend?
I spent my days in Gozo on the beach or hiking, I probably walked a total of close to 18-20 kilometers split into two different hiking adventures. the first day after seeing the mini city of victoria (the island's prime city) I wanted to go to the beach but the next bus was not for a while so a driver suggested I go to this other place on the coast and I agreed.. there was really nothing for me to do there since it was primarely for divers, so I started hiking east in the direction of the beach I wanted to go to. Now, there are no real roads, no marked paths and the landscape goes up and down with high cliffs along the coast that makes it difficut to know where I am.. It was a long and difficult hike, I felt like I was in the desert and that if I passed out from a sun stroke I would have probably laid their in my own skin and bones for the rest of Earth's existance. luckely after a couple of hours I thought I saw the village I wanted to go to in the distance but a great valley was between us so I would have had to go far inland to go around the valley.. along the way there was nothing, but kinda of a wasteland in some parts (maltese are terrible to the environment, I cant believe such a small country with such a tiny population can be so obusive to the land, as if they get paid to fuck it up!) the landscape here is very desert-like, its rocky, with no major vegitation, only the type of small plants that manage to grow out of the cracks inteh rock, and lots of lizards.. but after the fucking 4+ foot lizard I was living with in Ko Chang in Thailand, I was over prepared to deal with these tiny ones here. I also found a hourse. very cute, like a pony or something, I took his picture and moved on. well I never made it to my desired destination but I was headed in the direction of victoria so I kept going until I reached the main bus station and cought a bus back to Marsalforn and sunbathed on a rock there.
I had noticed this seemingly good looking probably north african guy on the beach. I later met him at night along the courniche with his Sudanese friend and his Tunisian friend, he was moroccan. they were pretty much drunk and the tunisian guy had gone for a swim in his underwear. maybe 10 minutes later the morrocan already asked me fo money so he can buy more beer.. it was awkward. they complained about how the maltese suck (and they kinda do) and how they hate tourists (however without tourist money they would seriously have nothing to eat) it is slightly true, especially on gozo which had a different feeling from Malta, the people were more family oriented and closed and didnt do much.. one cafe owner in valetta in malta said "they dont spend money, they only make money".. I wasnt alone when I met the three african guys, I was with Don, a South Korean also solo traveler staying at my guesthouse.. the drunk tunisian proceeded with typical asian jokes such as calling my new korean friend Chin Chung, Ping Pong! anyway we left.
I had tried the staple of Maltese food that night.. Rabbit! it was boney, but the meat tasted like a combination of beef and chicken..
before I forget, this is not a related topic.. on both ocassions I had a threesome on this trip, it was usually followed by a session of showing me pictures.. the couple in florence showed me pictures of their trip to brazil adn the couple of malta showed my studio pics with a million hairstyles.. I later learned that the maltese guy was a hair stylist.. its strange
Friday, June 29, 2007
Maltissimo
I started yesturday with a trip south to the Blue Grotto. Although I initially just wanted to look at the natural rock arch from a viewing platform so I save money rather than take the boat trip, I ended up down at where the boats leave and so I just payed the 3MTL and did the 20 minute boat ride.. and it was totally worth it. the caves are pretty beautiful but the most impressive part is the color of the water in these rocky caves, a florecent blue! not kidding you when I say florecent, its like the boat is floating in a radio active chemical.. but as soon as you exit the rocky formations the sun bleaches everything and the amazing colors are gone.
after the Grotto, I went back to valetta (you have to go back there in order to take a bus to your next destination) then went on all the way northwest to Melieha Bay for the beach. it was a relatively long drive but really nothing longer than going from Newark to 33rd street on the Path Train. what a weird place, lots of scandanavians! oh and families with lots of kids. I thought Europeans dont have that many kids.. well the ones who do have alot of kids seem to come here for relatively cheap hot summer holidays. the water was is very shallow in the bay and very blue.. I took a swim, wrote my postcards and tried to get as much sun on my back to fix the big patch of relatively white skin that was exposed in the shape of an upside triangle on my back after I pealed the first layer of skin for the summer.
now comes the nightlife.. I didnt come to Malta expecting anything at all from nightlife, if anything i was expecting relaxation and sun and quiet nights. and it is like that if not even boring at night, there is not much to do besides strolling on the waterfront. however there is Paceville, St. Jullian which are next to Sliema and within walking distance. there is a nightlife ghetto, with bars, pubs and clubs. I had to see it, so I went and oh my god 'how cheeesy' was my first impression. first of all, there really are lots of kids here. the majority of tourists are families and package tours from Northern Europe. at night the teens of these families go out all dressed up and everyday as I come back to Sliema after my days out the bus gets stuffed with these teenyweeny things.. boys and girls. they go out as drinking age here is 16! oh and thats the age for consentual sex too... I just havent seen a 16 year old that turned me on, I guess I prefer men. anyway, when I finally made it to the ZONE, it was jam packed with teens.. then I tried to find Adam's, a gay bar and hotel, which was on a relatively quiet street.. oh man, the first thing that came to mind when I walked in was Japanese gay bars.. reminded me of those gay bars I found in Kyoto hidden on the third or forth floors of a buildings, and the bars consisted of a single tiny room half of which is occupied by the bar itself and the maximum capacity was under 10! well Adam's was almost like that. there were a few guys and here they come: Some English guy of atleast 50 years who was later revealed to be the owner (he later showed me pictures of his internet boyfriend from venezuela aged 18!), then there was Mario (a maltese bartender and partner in the hotel who later claimed to be a model and that he cant sleep during the days following the one big gay party in malta because the drugs wont let him, attractive but tries too hard o and the train already passed him) then this little Maltese guy (very horny, not very attractive and wants some bad), this irish guy (probably 27ish, bald, likes to travel and it was later revealed that he is very insecure about his appearance) and a couple of other guys that I didnt meet.
I had a couple beers, tried Cisk (the local beer) and chated with the guys. later on went outside for a cigarret on their back terrace and the English owner dude made his first proposal, it was clear he has a thing for arabs. then he went on to tell stories of his "slut days" traveling in Morocco and Tunisia, he made a few not so subtle proposals for him to get on his knees infront of me, maybe to clean my shoes, not sure...
I thought I had enough and left with the irish guy to go to Klozet (a gay club or a bar with loud music) around the corner.. o and I think I saw the most heavinly perfect male creation ever born in the form of a bartender. words cant do him justice, he was fucking stunning and super nice ontop of it all.. Im going back tonight just to get a second look. there was nothing really remarkable about the bar except that it exists at all in a placethat reminds me of Egypt so much, i guess its possible.
about 15 minutes after we arrived and a couple of Cisks later I noticed these two guys standing near.. and in hopes to meet maltese guys I asked one if he was from malta, he wasnt but his boyfriend was.. five minutes later they both asked me to go home with them.. they were hot.. I said yes. aparently as I look out for hot maltese who I think are hot and exotic, they were thinking I'm hot and exotic.. funny how mutual understanding can just happen like that.
the maltese guy (21) was so hot or actually he just have a beautiful.. whats the word.... tool? his boyfriend was south african (27), also hot.. they warned me on the way that their apartment is small... ofcourse I didnt mind, all we need is a bed, a sofa or a floor, right? well, their place was fucking gorgeous!!! they are so spoild to think that its not the amazing asset that it is.. I would never dream of owning its equivilent in NY, maybe that doesnt make sense, but it was realy nice.. a restored typical maltese house with amazingly high cieling, bare smooth limestone, the livinspace is reached by a narrow straight flight of stairs from the entrance on street level, then the bedroom was on one side (with a typical projecting bay window made into a sort of office space) and the kitchen and bath on the other side of the living space.. another zigzaging flight of stairs in the back takes you up to the roof which is a terrace with views of the capital inthe distance! Ahhhmazing. enough about their place, the sex was hot. we had a session, slept for a couple of hours (it was like 5am at this point) then had another session at like 8am then slept for a good 5 hours... it was all very very hot, top notch stuff.
it was late in the day, so they drove me back to my hotel, there was no time to go to the beach so I just went to Marsaxlokk in the south known for its seafood and fishing boats.. oh what a funny place.. like the rest of malta it feels frozen in time, like nothing happened here in centuries.. its a small fishing village on the harbour full of fishing boats with a handfull of resturants along the water serving seafood. my entire experience of Marsaxlokk had the soundtrack of Bingo! not kidding you, they love Bingo in this country (there are alot of old people) but here in this village which was so small that you can hear the number calling (in both malti/arabic and english) over the microphone from any point in the town, it even echoes.. kinda hilarious.. so I sat at Pisces, a small resturant which had no one since it was an in between meals time and faced the boats with the sound of bingo and enjoyed a meal. I finally got to try the local staple of fish soup, which was very yummy, a tomato based soup with little rise, little fish and lemon, it was after i had a starter which consists of a fava beans patte heavy on garlic.. then came the main dish, I ordered a sword fish steak (grilled) which comes with a tomato/olive/capers sauce and is served with salad (heavy on olivs and capers) and the surprise of the day (baked slices of curried potatos!) I thought the yellow curry was out of context but apparently its a local dish served with fish. the yummy meal coasting all of 7MTL ($20)
I was supposed to leave to GOZO (Malta's sister island) tomorrow, but I am extending my stay here by one day so I can go to Golden Bay for a beach day tomorrow and then Rabat tomorrow night for the annual big gay party.. I am curious
after the Grotto, I went back to valetta (you have to go back there in order to take a bus to your next destination) then went on all the way northwest to Melieha Bay for the beach. it was a relatively long drive but really nothing longer than going from Newark to 33rd street on the Path Train. what a weird place, lots of scandanavians! oh and families with lots of kids. I thought Europeans dont have that many kids.. well the ones who do have alot of kids seem to come here for relatively cheap hot summer holidays. the water was is very shallow in the bay and very blue.. I took a swim, wrote my postcards and tried to get as much sun on my back to fix the big patch of relatively white skin that was exposed in the shape of an upside triangle on my back after I pealed the first layer of skin for the summer.
now comes the nightlife.. I didnt come to Malta expecting anything at all from nightlife, if anything i was expecting relaxation and sun and quiet nights. and it is like that if not even boring at night, there is not much to do besides strolling on the waterfront. however there is Paceville, St. Jullian which are next to Sliema and within walking distance. there is a nightlife ghetto, with bars, pubs and clubs. I had to see it, so I went and oh my god 'how cheeesy' was my first impression. first of all, there really are lots of kids here. the majority of tourists are families and package tours from Northern Europe. at night the teens of these families go out all dressed up and everyday as I come back to Sliema after my days out the bus gets stuffed with these teenyweeny things.. boys and girls. they go out as drinking age here is 16! oh and thats the age for consentual sex too... I just havent seen a 16 year old that turned me on, I guess I prefer men. anyway, when I finally made it to the ZONE, it was jam packed with teens.. then I tried to find Adam's, a gay bar and hotel, which was on a relatively quiet street.. oh man, the first thing that came to mind when I walked in was Japanese gay bars.. reminded me of those gay bars I found in Kyoto hidden on the third or forth floors of a buildings, and the bars consisted of a single tiny room half of which is occupied by the bar itself and the maximum capacity was under 10! well Adam's was almost like that. there were a few guys and here they come: Some English guy of atleast 50 years who was later revealed to be the owner (he later showed me pictures of his internet boyfriend from venezuela aged 18!), then there was Mario (a maltese bartender and partner in the hotel who later claimed to be a model and that he cant sleep during the days following the one big gay party in malta because the drugs wont let him, attractive but tries too hard o and the train already passed him) then this little Maltese guy (very horny, not very attractive and wants some bad), this irish guy (probably 27ish, bald, likes to travel and it was later revealed that he is very insecure about his appearance) and a couple of other guys that I didnt meet.
I had a couple beers, tried Cisk (the local beer) and chated with the guys. later on went outside for a cigarret on their back terrace and the English owner dude made his first proposal, it was clear he has a thing for arabs. then he went on to tell stories of his "slut days" traveling in Morocco and Tunisia, he made a few not so subtle proposals for him to get on his knees infront of me, maybe to clean my shoes, not sure...
I thought I had enough and left with the irish guy to go to Klozet (a gay club or a bar with loud music) around the corner.. o and I think I saw the most heavinly perfect male creation ever born in the form of a bartender. words cant do him justice, he was fucking stunning and super nice ontop of it all.. Im going back tonight just to get a second look. there was nothing really remarkable about the bar except that it exists at all in a placethat reminds me of Egypt so much, i guess its possible.
about 15 minutes after we arrived and a couple of Cisks later I noticed these two guys standing near.. and in hopes to meet maltese guys I asked one if he was from malta, he wasnt but his boyfriend was.. five minutes later they both asked me to go home with them.. they were hot.. I said yes. aparently as I look out for hot maltese who I think are hot and exotic, they were thinking I'm hot and exotic.. funny how mutual understanding can just happen like that.
the maltese guy (21) was so hot or actually he just have a beautiful.. whats the word.... tool? his boyfriend was south african (27), also hot.. they warned me on the way that their apartment is small... ofcourse I didnt mind, all we need is a bed, a sofa or a floor, right? well, their place was fucking gorgeous!!! they are so spoild to think that its not the amazing asset that it is.. I would never dream of owning its equivilent in NY, maybe that doesnt make sense, but it was realy nice.. a restored typical maltese house with amazingly high cieling, bare smooth limestone, the livinspace is reached by a narrow straight flight of stairs from the entrance on street level, then the bedroom was on one side (with a typical projecting bay window made into a sort of office space) and the kitchen and bath on the other side of the living space.. another zigzaging flight of stairs in the back takes you up to the roof which is a terrace with views of the capital inthe distance! Ahhhmazing. enough about their place, the sex was hot. we had a session, slept for a couple of hours (it was like 5am at this point) then had another session at like 8am then slept for a good 5 hours... it was all very very hot, top notch stuff.
it was late in the day, so they drove me back to my hotel, there was no time to go to the beach so I just went to Marsaxlokk in the south known for its seafood and fishing boats.. oh what a funny place.. like the rest of malta it feels frozen in time, like nothing happened here in centuries.. its a small fishing village on the harbour full of fishing boats with a handfull of resturants along the water serving seafood. my entire experience of Marsaxlokk had the soundtrack of Bingo! not kidding you, they love Bingo in this country (there are alot of old people) but here in this village which was so small that you can hear the number calling (in both malti/arabic and english) over the microphone from any point in the town, it even echoes.. kinda hilarious.. so I sat at Pisces, a small resturant which had no one since it was an in between meals time and faced the boats with the sound of bingo and enjoyed a meal. I finally got to try the local staple of fish soup, which was very yummy, a tomato based soup with little rise, little fish and lemon, it was after i had a starter which consists of a fava beans patte heavy on garlic.. then came the main dish, I ordered a sword fish steak (grilled) which comes with a tomato/olive/capers sauce and is served with salad (heavy on olivs and capers) and the surprise of the day (baked slices of curried potatos!) I thought the yellow curry was out of context but apparently its a local dish served with fish. the yummy meal coasting all of 7MTL ($20)
I was supposed to leave to GOZO (Malta's sister island) tomorrow, but I am extending my stay here by one day so I can go to Golden Bay for a beach day tomorrow and then Rabat tomorrow night for the annual big gay party.. I am curious
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
five cities in a day?
only in Malta can one see five full cities in one day.. Practically saw the important urban centers of the country in less than 10 hours.
but what a place! first of all its very charming, aged, a little messy but in a nice way, HOT! I was actually melting today, limestone-colored (the whole country), vintage, cosmopolitan (it reminds me of egypt circa 1930-1945, based on old black/white egyptian films).
so there are these odd little things like: 2 Maltese Lira bills, old big yellow vintage public busses, the language is a thing of its own (a semetic language, follows the grammer and structure of Arabic with over 80 percent of the words actually arabic or derived from arabic, however written in latin letters with some special letters to make up for the arabic sounds that are not represented in the latin alphabet, add a sprinkle of italian/french and some english words, add salt water and mix and you've got yourself an odd language that only exists in this tiny island country in the middle of the sea) conterary to popular belief very few people know italian, they only learn Malti and English in school.
its a very urban place, everyone lives in cities, mind you these cities are all very walkable in their entirety. they all kinda look similar, the more historic parts are more charming obviously but over all it just looks like a palestinian village with a sprinkle of baroque churches (only the interiors are baroque, the exteriors look very ostere and fort-like). everything is pretty much out of big blocks of limestone, there is no brick and not much concrete. almost everything is 3-5 storeys.
I cant help it but think other places when trying to understand malta, its like Port Said (there is this architectural element in all homes all over the island, its a sort of bay window but very much resembles a edited version of a mashrabiyya which can also be found in port said, it might be an english invention to deal with the sun and allow air [malta was british for about 150 years about the same time Egypt was british and many egyptians were exiled here]), Alexandria (especially Sliema where I'm staying, which really looks like alexandria complete with the corniche but on a smaller scale of course, meaning no 8 lane highway along the waterfront only one lane for each direction), Havana (there is a frozen-in-time element here with old buses and store fronts that have been out of business since Malta was no longer a british colony, you can actually walk down streets and forget that its 2007), Tunis (with its windows again, doors, and the character of the streets) and probably some other places, maybe Palermo or something but thats probably a stretch. Malta definetly resembles a north african city more than it does a European city. I think this is the obvious and natural answer to the search for a place that is a bridge between east and west (or north and south), its a very catholic place where everyone speaks a derevative of arabic and the lifestyle, culture and cityscapes are truly a blend of arab and european.
much of the history of malta revolves around defending themselves against the turks, and so in St. John Cathedral (the main church of capital Valetta and the country) there are many symbols such as an angel crushing a turban under his foot or and alegory of St. James driving the arabs out of Spain in addition to a few others. its a very baroque church on the inside, but very nice, worth the 2.50MTL ($7.50) entry fee.
Valetta is Europe's first planned city! meaning it was planned and built (1566) in one shot with a regular grid and fortifications.. I loved it, its gorgeous and antique and tiny. thats where I started the day then I took one of the big old yellow buses to Mosta where there is Europe's third largest unsupported dome after the Pantheon and St. Peters. the dome was hit and punctured by a bomb in 1942 when fell throgh into the church but never exploded.. of course catholics love that and concider it a miracle. then i waited an hour waiting for a bus to Mdina. during that time i people watched and it was pretty interesting, boys here are very... juicy? and develope early. anyway, finally got to Mdina and oh my god this place is fucking gorgeous!!! very well restored and taken care off, it is, like the name suggests, a walled city on top of a hill, its also referred to as the silent city, all you can hear are birds and trees in the wind, the streets and buildings are perfect, I cant believe people live there. from Mdina I took a bus to an area near Valletta called the three cities, and only visited two of the three.. Senglea and Vittoriosa. both off the tourist radar so people were a little confused seeing me wander the streets with my guide book. at the tip of Senglea there is a fort (there are so many forts here its funny, what are they protecting? and from who? was it that bad?) I stopped to roll a cigarett as I was alone with a handsome maltese.. I used his lighter and in a quick look I made an assessment, he is angry, frustrated, horney... fucking hot! he was making a joint, the first i've seen in malta (alright ive only been here 24 hours) but I wasnt sure if I should talk to him, he seemed to be one of the few who didnt pay attention in english class or maybe he rebelled against school all together, I like that type. then i took a long walk around the dockyard creek to vittoriosa, also a nice city with a fort at the tip and lots of wealthy english families.. the fort had a sign reading (closed for restoration) but the door at the top of the ramp was open. did they think a sign was gonna stop me, I went a head, and it was awesome. me alone at this massive fort with the sun setting over four different cities in the grand harbour.. i got a boner. I dont know what it is about fortifications and solidarity that makes me horney, so I dropped one. it was magnificant.
anyway, boys here are hot, I should take a shower and try to make some maltese friends or possibly go back to this waterside cafe and have a shisha as I did last night.. I am too excited to just go to sleep even after 10 hours of walking.
but what a place! first of all its very charming, aged, a little messy but in a nice way, HOT! I was actually melting today, limestone-colored (the whole country), vintage, cosmopolitan (it reminds me of egypt circa 1930-1945, based on old black/white egyptian films).
so there are these odd little things like: 2 Maltese Lira bills, old big yellow vintage public busses, the language is a thing of its own (a semetic language, follows the grammer and structure of Arabic with over 80 percent of the words actually arabic or derived from arabic, however written in latin letters with some special letters to make up for the arabic sounds that are not represented in the latin alphabet, add a sprinkle of italian/french and some english words, add salt water and mix and you've got yourself an odd language that only exists in this tiny island country in the middle of the sea) conterary to popular belief very few people know italian, they only learn Malti and English in school.
its a very urban place, everyone lives in cities, mind you these cities are all very walkable in their entirety. they all kinda look similar, the more historic parts are more charming obviously but over all it just looks like a palestinian village with a sprinkle of baroque churches (only the interiors are baroque, the exteriors look very ostere and fort-like). everything is pretty much out of big blocks of limestone, there is no brick and not much concrete. almost everything is 3-5 storeys.
I cant help it but think other places when trying to understand malta, its like Port Said (there is this architectural element in all homes all over the island, its a sort of bay window but very much resembles a edited version of a mashrabiyya which can also be found in port said, it might be an english invention to deal with the sun and allow air [malta was british for about 150 years about the same time Egypt was british and many egyptians were exiled here]), Alexandria (especially Sliema where I'm staying, which really looks like alexandria complete with the corniche but on a smaller scale of course, meaning no 8 lane highway along the waterfront only one lane for each direction), Havana (there is a frozen-in-time element here with old buses and store fronts that have been out of business since Malta was no longer a british colony, you can actually walk down streets and forget that its 2007), Tunis (with its windows again, doors, and the character of the streets) and probably some other places, maybe Palermo or something but thats probably a stretch. Malta definetly resembles a north african city more than it does a European city. I think this is the obvious and natural answer to the search for a place that is a bridge between east and west (or north and south), its a very catholic place where everyone speaks a derevative of arabic and the lifestyle, culture and cityscapes are truly a blend of arab and european.
much of the history of malta revolves around defending themselves against the turks, and so in St. John Cathedral (the main church of capital Valetta and the country) there are many symbols such as an angel crushing a turban under his foot or and alegory of St. James driving the arabs out of Spain in addition to a few others. its a very baroque church on the inside, but very nice, worth the 2.50MTL ($7.50) entry fee.
Valetta is Europe's first planned city! meaning it was planned and built (1566) in one shot with a regular grid and fortifications.. I loved it, its gorgeous and antique and tiny. thats where I started the day then I took one of the big old yellow buses to Mosta where there is Europe's third largest unsupported dome after the Pantheon and St. Peters. the dome was hit and punctured by a bomb in 1942 when fell throgh into the church but never exploded.. of course catholics love that and concider it a miracle. then i waited an hour waiting for a bus to Mdina. during that time i people watched and it was pretty interesting, boys here are very... juicy? and develope early. anyway, finally got to Mdina and oh my god this place is fucking gorgeous!!! very well restored and taken care off, it is, like the name suggests, a walled city on top of a hill, its also referred to as the silent city, all you can hear are birds and trees in the wind, the streets and buildings are perfect, I cant believe people live there. from Mdina I took a bus to an area near Valletta called the three cities, and only visited two of the three.. Senglea and Vittoriosa. both off the tourist radar so people were a little confused seeing me wander the streets with my guide book. at the tip of Senglea there is a fort (there are so many forts here its funny, what are they protecting? and from who? was it that bad?) I stopped to roll a cigarett as I was alone with a handsome maltese.. I used his lighter and in a quick look I made an assessment, he is angry, frustrated, horney... fucking hot! he was making a joint, the first i've seen in malta (alright ive only been here 24 hours) but I wasnt sure if I should talk to him, he seemed to be one of the few who didnt pay attention in english class or maybe he rebelled against school all together, I like that type. then i took a long walk around the dockyard creek to vittoriosa, also a nice city with a fort at the tip and lots of wealthy english families.. the fort had a sign reading (closed for restoration) but the door at the top of the ramp was open. did they think a sign was gonna stop me, I went a head, and it was awesome. me alone at this massive fort with the sun setting over four different cities in the grand harbour.. i got a boner. I dont know what it is about fortifications and solidarity that makes me horney, so I dropped one. it was magnificant.
anyway, boys here are hot, I should take a shower and try to make some maltese friends or possibly go back to this waterside cafe and have a shisha as I did last night.. I am too excited to just go to sleep even after 10 hours of walking.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
oversexed and overdone
Oh My God, I had mosquito attack for the last two nights, my skin is pealing all over my back and I can't believe the Smashing Pumpkins CD comes out next week but I probably wont be able to hear it until I'm back in the US!!
Thank God I am only in Florence for one week, unlike last year when I stayed a month. Marcelo is officially the most single track mind I've ever encountered. The guy thinks about his next fuck while he is fucking ( not with me, we are only friends) but seriously he is such a sex addict.. a bit of an alocoholic by my standards, in the tradition that we have, on my first night in florence with him we drink wine and catch up and of course I vomit.
I thought Florence was going to be relaxing after the action in Barcelona but NO. I did hook up with Marcelo (very unusual, since we really are only friends and the last time we had sex was the first time we met four years ago), then there was this really nice guy Rocco, he was something!! he had all the features I look for: beard, wide shoulders, big eyes and amazing kissing. marcelo had to spend the night on the sofa. and then I spend sunday with Marco, a friend of Marcelo's, and his boyfriend of 14 years who in all their 14 years together only had 4 threesomes.. they just had their 5th on Sunday. it was a very cultural day for me, I spoke lots of italian.
marcelo on the other hand is rediculous, me him and marco went to the beach on saturday and then stayed for the beach parties when at 5 in the morning he gives me his car keys to drive myself back to florence since he met a boy he wants to fuck, ofcourse the boy has an older boyfriend who only agreed to the deal if he gets some too! there was no way I will drive after a long night of drinking and dancing for the first time on a road in tuscany for one hour, so I went back with Marco, hence my sunday.
oh my god, gay people in italy gross me out. its like new jersey circa 1995 and as if nothing has happened in the music, fashion or whatever else for the last 12 years. people still actually have blonde tips on their hair, wear tight stretchy shirts and well, undermine their masculinity as much as possible. what a contrast with Barcelona. when I got into florence last week it was after 1 am and it was relatively quiet, then a car passed with a bunch of probably straight italian dudes blasting terrible music, thats when it hit me that I am back in italy, where the guys dress terribly and everybody listens to the worst music possible.
last night went to a Verdi opera and marcelo and his guests joined. so Friday Marcelo's freind Antonella (35ish) and her husband (65ish, with a ZZtop/Gandolf the white look) and their two friends from California arrived and they were to stay at Marcelo's of course. thats why for the last two nights I've been staying at Armando's where I have been attacked by mosquitos. anyway, the California 4 are a very nice group, very interesting for me though, I never actually met anyone who actually does the whole Renaissance Fair business, meaning they live in trailers and travel to fairs where they sell stuff. AMAZING! who would have thought I would finally get to meet such people in Florence, home of the Renaissance. needless to say their company was very pleasant... I learned alot. :)
The video here is from one of my last nights in Barcelona, very tense. Me, Yanis and Freddy hung out all day at the post Sonar beach parties, then were met with two of Freddy's freinds, two older guys. anyway, we finally go to Freddy's Friend's apartment, also an architect like me and Freddy, so its naturally very nice, but the guy seems to be sexually frustrated, the other guy however just keeps smiling at me hoping I would give him some.. anyway, the who night passes and nother sexual happens (thank God) since I would have wanted it to only involve Freddy, Yanis and me not the other two. the video I think captures the tense and strange atmosphere at like 5:30 am at this point, slightly high.
I'm off to Malta in a few hours, really excited.
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