ISSUE #7
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INDULGED www.selfindulged.com
Photography by Sandra Herd
Buenos Aires A twist of tango! Camden Lock A little piece of peace Wroclaw Dwarves: Delightfully Delinquent ...and much more! +WIN Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography with “Where’s Dave?” TRAVEL - BUENOS AIRES - CAMDEN LOCK - GOING BALLISTIC - WROCLAW + MORE!
ISSUE #7
Welcome to Issue 7 of Self Indulged. We left our home in Perth nearly 12 months ago to start this whirlwind photographic tour and have been loving every minute of being on the road. As most of you know, getting the magazine out while we’re travelling is a challenge every time particularly as, in the past 6 weeks we’ve been trekking and camping in Patagonia with little or no internet access, but my little Dell laptop is still going strong and I’m proud to present to you (drum roll please) Issue #7. COVER PHOTO: One of the many murals on the streets of Buenos Aires Written by Sandra Herd Photographer: Sandra Herd Designer: Sandra Herd Editor: Sandra Herd Research:Sandra Herd Operations: Dave Goldstraw www.selfindulged.com www.shotsinternational.com sandy@selfindulged.com www.facebook.com/selfindulgedmag Self Indulged takes no responsibility for links leading to external content. By reading this publication you are agreeing to click on external links at your own risk. The links have been included soley as a source of information.
I’m calling this issue “The eclectic/eccentric Issue”. We’ve got a feature from Lithuania, firing semi-automatic weapons in an abandoned sports stadium (as you do!), a story about dwarves (no - really!), a feature on the peaceful parts of London and my feelings about the big bad city that is Buenos Aires. We also have 2 chances to win the Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography which I know I lot of you will be interested in reading. Just flick to page xx for your chance to enter. We’re still on the road...currently in Santiago, Chile and are hoping to bring more stories and photos in the coming months. As long as you keep reading, I’ll keep on shooting and writing. As always I’d like to say a huge thanks for the emails and words of encouragement I receive while I’m away. Ciao for now (see, I have learned something in South America), I hope you enjoy the travel tales inside and, as always, look forward to hearing your thoughts, reviews and comments.
Until next time. xx
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Wish You Were Here Where’s Dave? Gadgets, Gizmos & Goodstff Specialist Directory Parting Shots
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Wroclaw
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WISH YOU W
Dear Sandy, the time or Don’t know where you find but I’m glad energy to put this together the next isyou do...looking forward to sue. Pete - WA
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A little piece of peace... exploring the quiet and chaos around Camden Lock “Oh, to be in England Now that April’s there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England-now!” Home - Thoughts From Abroad by Robert Browning (b.1812-1899)
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Words: Sandra Herd Photography: Sandra Herd
The library/sitting room at Tromso Bed & Books Photo: About to exit the Maida Hill Tunnel...251m long SELFINDULGED 9 SELFINDULGED 11
Cumberland BasinHome to the Chinese floating restaurant. Maida Hill Tunnel: The bit where the blue line diappears on the map!
‘Blow-up’ Bridge
Little Venice & Brownings Pool
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f you’ve ever stood on London’s Embankment at 7am on a Sunday morning you’ll know that this major world Capital, soon to be host to the 2012 Olympic games, does have a quieter side. A peaceful Yin to the cities bustling Yang. The very wonderful thing about the centre of London is that there are little pockets of peace everywhere, often delightful and unexpected at the same time and just recently, I discovered a new one. I use the term ‘new’ loosely. It was newly discovered to me but the Regents Canal has been around for nearly two hundred since its completion in 1820. It links the River Thames at Limehouse to the Grand Union Canal Junction at Paddington and was named after the Prince Regent who later became known by a different name, King George IV. It quietly snakes through Hackney, Islington, Camden and Little Venice - the point where Regent’s Canal meets the Grand Junction Canal and the place where I would be boarding the London Waterbus for a 50 minute cruise up the canal to Camden Lock markets. 10 SELFINDULGED
The waterbuses are traditional canal narrow boats and they float serenely down the leafy canal corridor between Little Venice and Camden Lock. Beautifully decorated, complete with a traditional painted watering can on the roof, the narrow boats of the London Waterbus Company operate all year round with a truncated timetable through the winter months. We boarded at Brownings Pool in Little Venice, a picturesque opening of water where two canals meet with a small island in the middle. Brownings Island and indeed, Brownings pool, were named after the Victorian English poet, Robert Browning who lived in the area in the late 1800s and whose poem, ‘Home – Thoughts From Abroad’ could have been written for a spring day spent cruising the canals. As we set off towards Camden I was astonished as an entirely new face of London presented itself to me. There were dozens of narrow boats moored along the waterside. Mea Culpa, Little Pud and the dark Iron Maiden gently bobbed in greeting as we glided down the canal. There were people on their narrowboats quietly read-
Chaotic Camden Lock!
London Zoo Avoid the queues and get off the waterbus here.
Google Maps ing on the equivalent of their ‘front’ patio as we, the tourists, sailed by on our voyeuristic voyage. One gentleman was cooking sausages on a small bbq at the front of his boat, sending the bouquet of brunch down the canal and making me wish that I, too owned my very own narrow boat from which I could lazily cook brunch and settle into a life on the locks.
“My newly found bubble of serenity was about to be burst in spectacular fashion as we were slammed, at 100+ decibels, back into the hustle and bustle (albeit a pleasant one) of Camden Lock Markets” We sailed (is it sailing on a canal?) past couples and families strolling along the walkway, through the long and dark Maida Hill Tunnel and
past the fringes of London’s Regents Park. We continued down the canal, under Macclesfield Bridge, otherwise known as ‘Blow up Bridge’ after the original was demolished by a gunpowder explosion in 1874. According to the British Waterways (the governing body of this slice of London), “At 3am on 2 October 1874, the boat Tilbury, carrying gunpowder to a quarry in the Midlands, exploded, demolishing the bridge and killing three people. Locals sprang from their beds, fearing an earthquake.” The Illustrated London Newspaper from the time also reported that, ‘The bridge was entirely destroyed; several of the neighbouring houses were half-ruined, their roofs and walls being greatly injured; and in hundreds of other houses, a mile east or west of the place, the windows were broken, and many fragile articles of furniture. St. John’swood and Camden Town were thrown into great consternation.’ The original pillars were used on the reconstruction of the bridge and you can still see the tow rope grooves on the ‘wrong’ side of the pillars. SELFINDULGED 11
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Photo: The Feng Shang floating Chinese restaurant in the Cumberland Basin...on the way to Camden Lock. SELFINDULGED 13
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Photo: Arriving at Camden Lock markets via the Waterbus. SELFINDULGED 15
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On the port side we passed the gigantic London Zoo aviary, designed in part by Lord Snowdon, the ‘Royal’ photographer (formally married to Princess Margaret) whose candid portraits of Princess Diana are well known but not often recognised as his. The waterbus also offers tickets to the London Zoo and will drop you off at the canal side entrance if you wish to visit and avoid the queues at the main gate. We pulled in and a handful of people got off before we slowly pushed off, continuing the peaceful pace all the way to the Cumberland Basin where we took a sharp (well, as sharp a turn as a narrow boat can manage) left as we passed the huge red, floating Chinese restaurant, the Feng Shang Princess. I would’ve loved to have kept going, through the lock gates at Camden and beyond to the ‘nearly a kilometre long’ tunnel at Islington but alas, my newly found bubble of serenity was about to be burst in spectacular fashion as we were slammed, at 100+ decibels, back into the hustle and bustle (albeit a pleasant one) of
Camden Lock markets. An immediate assault to the senses ensued. The sun was shining and the waterside of Camden Lock was packed. The market stalls spanned out into an endless maze of colour and movement, music and food. Ethiopian dishes, Mexican tacos, freshly made sushi, noodles and curries, roast pig on a spit or good ol’ fish ‘n chips - the choice was incessant. We opted for the spicy Mexican and washed it down with a cold pint of beer, bypassing the overpriced Bar Risa in favour of the cheaper Weatherspoons’ Ice Wharf on the opposite side of the canal. Satiated and refreshed we were drawn back into the markets to explore the plethora of stalls. Camden Lock Market somehow merged into The Stables, another market - so called because the horses that once pulled the barges along the canals used to be stabled there. The Stables was another labyrinth of over 700 shops and stalls selling everything from antiques to plastic kitty tat. The bronzed galloping horses made an impressive but frenzied SELFINDULGED 17
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Photo: Clouds over Camden Lock on the Regents Canal SELFINDULGED 19
Photo: Busker playing on the roof of the narrowboat bookshop. Camden Lock. 16 SELFINDULGED
Map: www.camdenlock.net
entrance as we fought the hoards of shoppers posing for a photograph in front of the rearing stallions. We wandered around the stalls and eventually spilled out onto Chalk Farm Road, it had been my intention to head up to Camden High Street to check out the Camden Market (yep...there’s more) but I was all ‘marketed’ out. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out my ‘return’ Waterbus ticket...I was heading back out the way I’d come in. The calm canal was calling. For more information on Regents Canal check out the links below. My advice would be to reserve a whole day to visit the canal and markets. Follow the market link for information on which days and times the markets are open...most of them are open all weekend. If you’re more interested in the canals than the shopping you can visit the London Canal Museum in Kings Cross and learn more about the waterways of London. Little Venice is also home to a floating art gallery and, delightfully, a floating puppet theatre - check their website for current performance listings.
FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT THE LINKS:
LONDON WATERBUS Co.
LONDON CANAL MUSEUM
PUPPET THEATRE BARGE
CAMDEN LOCK MARKETS
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Photography by Sandra Herd
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G ING BALLISTIC Words: Sandra Herd Photography: Sandra Herd
IN THE BALTICS SELFINDULGED 23
“I
s it OK for my face to be this close to the gun? There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear myself say but it’s the question that everyone should ask when they are holding a Kalashnikov, otherwise known as the infamous AK47, half an inch away from their right cheek. Thankfully the bit touching my cheek was not the ‘muzzle’ end. I was the one about to fire the AK and I was more than a little apprehensive. We were hanging out at a former KGB shooting range in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius. When I say shooting range I mean deserted sports stadium and when I say ‘hanging out’ I mean sitting in a room with over a dozen guns on the table (some of them automatic weap24 SELFINDULGED
ons) while the local constabulary walked through the room to reach their own training room next door.
“Curiously, I did find myself morbidly excited by the fact that I’d blown the top of his ear off!”
The best way to access this particular shooting range is via the company ‘Baltic Stags’ as the premises have no current web page of their own. They are located at Kosciuskos 7,
Kalnu Parkas Stadionas in Vilnius and we made an appointment directly through our hostel without joining a ‘tour’...I’d give you a number but unfortunately, I don’t have one. We’d passed through the other Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia, both offered the opportunity to shoot semi automatic weapons but on the advice of a Latvian local we held out for Lithuania...here, we were told, you have the option of shooting 13 different weapons in the one day. Living by the great Aussie motto of ‘go hard or go home’, we decided to go hard. At this point let me just explain how I got here with my ‘disclaimer’. I’ve never actually been into guns, I like to have a go at the odd fairground rifle
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range to see if I can win something stuffed but in general guns don’t really appeal to me. At the risk of sounding sexist I guess it’s more of a boy thing which is quite apparent by the amount of stag parties these ‘Eastern bloc’ tours accommodate. I can think of nothing worse than a gang of hung-over Brits out on their stag weekend firing semi automatic weapons....the testosterone alone would be too much to bare. A nightmare of gung-ho wannabes quoting lines from Clint Eastwood movies and to be honest, that’s exactly what I was expecting. A stag party novelty, a backpacker’s whim, our experience was neither. Initially I tagged along to take the photos of Dave doing the shooting but right from the start our instructor included me fully and divided the bullets for each weapon evenly. And so began the lesson. I felt a little embarrassed for pre-judging as our young instructor, Aidanas, began by pulling out each hand gun and quietly explaining its capabilities and calibre. He talked us through the safety protocol, eye and ear protection and how to check the chamber and fire a final safety shot just to check that there are no rounds left in the weapon before we moved on to the next one. Outside (we were firing through an open window) he pinned up the A1 sheet of paper, the target, an outline of a man who was to become our adversary. He showed us how to load the cartridge and handed over the weapon for us to load ourselves and then it was time to start shooting. First up was the Glock 17 pis-
tol. My hands actually trembled as I wrapped them around the handle. The anticipation of the kick back was worse than the kickback itself but as the weapons got bigger...so did the kickback...and so did the rush of adrenalin. The magnum terrified me with its ‘Russian roulette’ chambers, particularly as I got a shot (with the camera, not a gun) of Dave firing and the flame coming out of the gun.
that I didn’t enjoy the ‘chckchck BOOM!’ of the reload and second shot. Feeling like Angelina Jolie in tomb raider I was ready for more but alas, 5 shotgun rounds between us was all that was included in the price. By the time we got to the rifles my arms were feeling like jelly and it’s here that the proximity of the weapon to my face started to worry me. Of course, they are designed to be shot this way as most rifles are (unless you’re an LA gangster, in which case you can just hold out the uzi at arms length and fire away...something which I now realise is a ridiculous way to shoot if you intend to actually hit a target). My target (which had been changed from the man to a more traditional round target and moved further away) wasn’t going anywhere and I still managed to miss it! It’s illegal to shoot on fully automatic but even on semi-automatic the chances of hitting the target beWhen it was my turn it took a come very slim. The kickback long time for my hands to stay kind of carries you away and steady enough to actually aim you end up shooting at the sky with some accuracy. After each as you try and control the powweapon was fired we stepped erful piece of machinery in your outside to check out the dam- hands. age and the poor paper man At the end of the two hour was perforated from his ears session we were exhausted right down to his stomach. but enthralled. We’d shot 13 Dave was going for ‘grouping’ I weapons in total including the was just hoping to hit the piece German WW2 machine gun of paper. Although, curiously, I of choice, the MP38. We also did find myself morbidly excited shot the American Thompson by the fact that I’d blown the top M1A1, aka the ‘Tommy Gun’, of his ear off! used by the Americans in WW2 As we shot through the selec- and a much heavier weapon tion on offer the weapons got to lug around compared to bigger and more powerful. The what the German MP38. It kickback from the Winchester was these small details – the Pump-Action shotgun caused history and the stories behind me to swear out load on video the weapons which interested (sorry Mum) but I can’t pretend me the most about the experi-
“I can’t pretend that I didn’t enjoy the ‘chckchck BOOM!’ of the reload and second shot”
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ence. For the equivalent of 95 Australian dollars we’d experienced something that would be nigh on impossible to do in Australia and possibly most of the ‘Western world’ largely due to a few small regulations called Health and Safety. Of course, in countries like Lithuania health and safety is pretty much still unheard of...as is the concept of suing someone else for, in most cases, your own stupidity. Refreshingly, in Lithuania, everyday living still mostly relies on having that rarest of commodities...a little bit of common sense. Certainly there are dangers attached when you hang around a firing range - not least of which is getting hit by the blank shell casings. Still... you pays your money, you takes your chances! Other weapons fired on the day included: Glock 17 Pistol Israeli Uzi SubMachine Gun H&K MP5 Laser-Sighted Machine Gun Winchester Pump-Action Gun MP38 (WW2 German machine gun of choice) Thompson M1A1 M4 (M16 short version) Kalashnikov AK47 Links to firing ranges in Vilnius: Baltic Stags Kalashnikov Shooting Saudykla SELFINDULGED 31
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Delightfully Delinquent...
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The Dwarves of Wroclaw Words: Sandra Herd Photography: Sandra Herd
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roclaw...I would write out how to pronounce it phonetically but I wouldn’t know where to start. Suffice to say if you are pronouncing it anyway near how it is written, ie: Rocklaw then you are way off the mark. We arrived to a city undergoing change; the landscape was dotted with cranes and potted with gaping holes, maybe due in part to its preparations as official host city of the 2012 European Football Championships in June of this year. With a population of over 600,000 people, it’s the fourth largest city in Poland. It’s charming mishmash of architecture is a result of a tumultuous past, spanning over 1000 years of rivalled ownership between the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Poland.
ment of the 1980’s and became the catalyst for a dwarf invasion. It was becoming obvious that, without an official ‘dwarf’ map we were going to have some trouble locating all of them but even with the map many of the mischievous midgets still managed to evade us. The old market square was a great place to start. Word on the street is that some of the local businesses in the city pay the little guys to stand guard outside their place of business, a good gig if you’re guarding a posh hotel where we found one of the dwarves outside, tucked up in his bed sleeping the day away. Not such a good gig for the pizza shop patrol dwarf who’d scoffed down so much pizza that he couldn’t get up from the plate from which he’d gorged himself. His pants
The Orange Alternative (Pomarańczowa Alternatywa) is a name for an underground anarchic movement, which was started in 1981 in Wroclaw, a city located in south-west Poland, by Waldemar Fydrych, known as Major (Commander of the Festung Breslau). Bearing some traits of Provos, and strongly influenced by dadaism and surrealism, it organized ‘happenings’ and painted absurd graffiti dwarfs on city wall which became its symbol and was one of most picturesque element of Polish opposition against communism. Source: Click here It doesn’t share the dark recent history of Warsaw, it doesn’t have the beauty of Krakow but what it does have is intriguing...over one hundred little bronze dwarves hanging out in the city and outskirts. Some of them in the unlikeliest of places and, although you can buy a map at the tourist centre of where they all are, chances are you’ll never, ever find them all.
were burst open to reveal a shiny stomach where tourists had rubbed his bulging belly but had failed to help him back up onto his feet.
Outside the bookshop in the main square were three holes on the step, proof that there was once a dwarf here (and indeed our map said he should be) but he’d vanished. I asked the ladies inside the bookshop but they could offer no explanation Initially we’d started our search with cameras in for his disappearance and couldn’t recall the exhand and a ton of confidence. We intended to act date he’d gone missing. We darted around find every one of the dwarfs even though no-one the square like kids hunting for Easter eggs, the seems to have a definitive number as to how two of us in fierce competition trying to add to our many of the little critters have actually made Wro- tally of ‘spotted and tagged’ dwarfs. We stopped claw their home. We had no problem finding the for a coffee and to write a few postcards which ‘original’ dwarf on the corner of Świdnicka and were then deposited into the post-box which was Kazimierz Wielkiego streets. This rather ‘giant’ dutifully guarded by the Postal Dwarf – another dwarf was officially placed in this spot in 2001 one to add to my tally. to commemorate the Orange Alternative move36 SELFINDULGED
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We’ve travelled a fair bit over the last few years and I have to say I’ve never spent quite such a pleasant day in an ordinary city. At one point I found myself talking out loud, unabashedly, to a small bronze figure who was relaxing on a sofa in the middle of the street as though it was perfectly normal to be there. But it wasn’t perfectly normal...according to my map, he shouldn’t have been there at all.
that these little guys had the clandestine run of the entire city. Quietly taking over, scattering throughout the streets and alleyways, going about their business largely unnoticed by the lethargic locals and inattentive tourists. They eat, they sleep, they climb lamp posts to survey the city, they ride Harleys, fight fires, canoodle in corners, read books, spread happiness with flowers and the bad ones serve time behind bars. Or maybe that too is a ploy and he sits behind bars “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed as just another sentinel at his post....watching to be here. Shouldn’t you be standing in front and waiting. Maybe they stand sentry over not of the bookshop instead of lazing around on the only the local businesses but the city as a whole, couch?” covertly carrying on the work of the original Orange Alternative. He didn’t answer. In fact he completely ignored me which I thought was rather rude. I took the “There is no freedom without dwarves.” obligatory photo as he posed without flinching and moved on to find the others. Maybe he was the dwarf from the bookshop, maybe he’d just moved on in search of a cuppa or a change of scenery. Some of the little guys did like to get around with rumours of dwarves being stolen in the night - it was hard to know if they had been pilfered or if they’d just up and left of their own accord...it was quite clear that no one in the city really had any control over their movements. By nightfall we’d given up on catching the one who spent the day riding the tram. Outside the old movie theatre we wandered around like fools in the dark looking for the ‘projector’ guy (and this was with the map) until eventually I caved in and asked the girls on the ice-cream counter where he hung out. He was hiding in plain site on the traffic island, sitting on his bike atop a movie projector. We found one poor little chap having his tooth pulled in a back alley…it was obviously a last minute appointment as neither he or his dodgy dentist friend were on the map, in fact we only stumbled upon them as we took a shortcut down a back street to our hotel. We were quite astonished to see the two figures there at all. And it’s then that it dawned on me. There could possibly be hundreds of dwarves dotted around the city. The tourist office has maps –yes, but, reminiscent of the passive resistance from which their ideology was born, it was becoming obvious Photo: The ‘original’ fat dwarf. SELFINDULGED 43
Where’s Dave? Every issue we show you a photo of Dave and it’s up to YOU to tell me where in the world he is. Have a look at the photo opposite and email your answer along with your name, full address and contact number to
wheresdave@selfindulged.com
All correct answers will be collated and winners will be drawn on the 10th of July 2012. Two winners will be drawn & notified. Please note the prize will be the ‘English’ version of the book. shipped from the Australian Lonely Planet office!* 2 TO E GIV Y! A AW
CLICK HERE FOR TERMS & CONDTIONS
WIN
ELY LON T’S E PLAN TO E GUID EL TRAV APHY OGR T O PH
ISSUE 6 Answer: Dave was at Kjerag Bolt, near Lysefjord, Norway. Winners have been notified.
* Image for illustration purposes only. Competition open worldwide however, the guide book will be in English. 44 SELFINDULGED
WN A DR THE Y ON F JUL TH O ER 0 1 T EN W!! NO
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Buenos Aires:
A twist of tango!
Words: Sandra Herd Photography: Sandra Herd
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PRELUDE:
On our first day in the city we hopped aboard the ‘hop on hop off’ tourist bus, something we’ve RECIPRICAL PAYMENT AGREEMENT done before in many European cities to get an overview and ‘feel’ of the city. The service has Bang! ‘Welcome to Argentina.’ only been running in Buenos Aires since 2009 I’d just received my very first stamp...ever...in my and yet already the headsets are broken and trying to find a seat with working commentary is British passport. tough if there’s a crowd. The bus route took us As dual citizens we travel to most places on our through the main barrios (neighbourhoods) of the Aussie passports firstly because, well, we’re city and passed by the famous pink presidential Australian and secondly because, like most palace, Casa Rosada and the famous balcony geeky travellers, we’re collecting the stamps and from which Evita (Eva Perón, the second wife want them all to be in the same passport. Each of Argentine president Juan Perón - the ‘First new country we visit we gleefully await having a Lady of Argentina’ in 1946 – check out the movie new stamp to add to the growing collection and, starring Madonna if you don’t know who I’m talkeven though I’m on my second UK passport, I’ve ing about!) addressed her adoring fans in the never had a single stamp banged into it. We’d late 1940s. When we arrived at the ‘hop off’ point landed in Buenos Aires and bypassed the snak- for the soccer stadium, most of the bus alighted. ing customs queue for the empty ‘Australian and Brightly painted in the team colours of blue and New Zealand nationals’ line. As we approached yellow, this stadium is home to Argentina’s prethe counter we were informed that to enter the mier soccer team, the Boca Juniors – the Argencountry we would need to part with a ‘reciprocal’ tine equivalent of Man. United and known to the fee of $100 US dollars...each! I’d checked the locals as La Bombonera. Like the rest of the La visa situation before we left and was sure that Boca neighbourhood, the club was founded by one was not needed. I was right, this wasn’t a Italian immigrants in the early 1900s. The stavisa fee this was a ‘you charge us so we charge dium walls are painted with murals of labourers you back’ reciprocal agreement. In under two and shipyards, highlighting the history of the port seconds we had denied our Australian citizen- area and recounting its working class heritage... ship, pulled out our UK passports and proudly and working class it is to this day. A poor neighdeclared that we were British. ‘Fine’, said the of- bourhood and one which the guidebooks recomficial... ‘it is free to enter but you must join the mend is best vacated by the tourist after dark. other queue.’ We looked over in dismay at the now two planeloads of people patiently waiting in We continued on to Caminito, the best known althe ‘nationals and everyone else except Austra- leyway in La Boca and an explosion of colour lians’ queue and humbly wandered over to take and corrugation...this was our stop but not quite yet, we stayed on the bus to finish the tour and our place at the back of the line. Dammit! later that afternoon we headed back to Caminito to take some photographs and enjoy a cold beer. Touristy, yes, but it was a delight to the I’m not going to lie; I was confused by Buenos senses after being driven around the main shopAires right from the moment I stepped foot on ping streets of Buenos Aires for most of the day. the cracked pavements of the cities ‘microcen- People were dancing the tango in the streets tro.’ I’ve heard it described as a cross between and outside the cafes, artists sold their colourful Paris, London and New York, a bustling city with wares, Evita and Diego Maradona (life-sized figtrendy boutiques and lively bars. I’ve been to ures) looked down upon the alleyway from a balLondon and New York but could find no trace of cony above. By the time we’d settled in to have familiarity. Lonely Planet describes it as having a beer we noticed the place had started closing ‘the charm of an unshaved Casanova, the mind up around us and it was only 6.30pm. Where is of a frenzied lunatic and the attitude of a celeb- the electrifying hustle and bustle? The all night rity supermodel’...I was definitely missing some- party, the celebration....the ‘frenzied lunatic?’ thing! Was La Boca so dangerous that they cleared 48 SELFINDULGED
Photo:Street performer at San Telmo...wanna take a photo? “Show her the money!”
Photo: ‘Checking on his motorbike?’ One of the many olourful murals on the streets of Buenos Aires 46 SELFINDULGED
Photo: Reflection of the Green domed Palacio del Congreso modelled on Washington DC’s Capitol Building SELFINDULGED 47
The small fishing village of Skarsvag.
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the tourists out before dark every day? By 7pm Caminito was largely deserted, save for a few stray dogs and the day’s rubbish. Certainly we were the only two tourists about so we asked one of the local vendors where ‘the place to be’ was. On his recommendation, we headed over to San Telmo main square but were scared off by the ridiculous price of beer - 50 pesos for one bottle! 35 is expensive but acceptable, 50 was taking the proverbial. We settled instead for a meal at El Federal, a well known pub on Carlos Calvo in San Telmo. The service is terrible but the ambiance is great in the ‘faux glamour’ that is Buenos Aires. We sat by the window and watched the streets outside. Around 9pm the pub started to fill with people coming in for their dinner and before long the place was full. There were pockets of life around but the streets on the way back to our hostel were still largely deserted. On Sunday the city was a ghost town until we headed for the San Telmo market, we hopped on the metro (subte) for the few stops to San Telmo. The girl on the ticket counter averted her eyes away from her phone just long enough to issue our tickets and we arrived in just a few minutes. Afterwards we were warned by other tourists that riding the subte could be dangerous but it was the middle of the day and I felt safer down there than wandering the deserted streets above. After three days of wandering aimlessly around the city we’d finally found some of the bustle and bohemia that the guidebooks and backpackers bang on about. Granted, it was ‘tourist’ central but, after days of searching for signs of life it was a welcome relief for us to discover Feria de San Telmo, the Sunday antiques market. At last! Life. Colour. Action...it was a street photographers paradise. Aside from the main square, the markets ran all the way down Defensa, San Telmo’s main street. There were artists carving tiny tango dancers into matches – yes, matches. There were buskers and antiques, dancers and street performers. It was wonderful. We sat outside one of the many cafes on the square and soaked up the ambiance. I ducked off to take some photos and discovered a little old lady SELFINDULGED 53
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who was her own ‘one-woman’ band. She saw me with the camera and held up a table tennis paddle with a dollar sign on it. I nodded, yes; of course I’d leave money for the photo. She turned the paddle around – the other side said “Show me the money!” A little further down the street I watched as an older gentlemen quietly danced a soft, solo tango. Smartly attired in his suit and hat, with an unlit cigarette in his hands, eyes closed and a soft smile on his face. At the time I wandered who he was. A fallen star perhaps? A one-time tango pro? The wall behind him was covered in posters of himself and a younger version of him... it turns out the ‘younger version’ was a poster of Carlos Gardel, arguably the most prominent figure in the history of tango and this gentleman, Carlos Lujan was his alter ego, a lookalike. He gave me a wink as I took his photo and then took the hand of a passerby as he led her into his tango.
ets. The crux of Buenos Aires seemed to be constantly eluding us. What was the appeal that so many others saw in the place? It was difficult for us to find. Maybe we’d find it at one of the ‘must do’ professional tango dinner shows. But I don’t like tango, it was my least favourite bit in the movie Dirty Dancing. Maybe Spanish classes would help, that seemed to be the other ‘thing to do’ or a visit to Recoleta Cemetery – not the best place to search for hustle and bustle, true, but it is another ‘must do’ on the list. Maybe I’m just not cultured enough for Buenos Aires. To me was just another city with a cool Sunday market and disreputable taxi drivers. A hop-off point from which to enjoy the true beauties of Argentina, El Chalten to the South and Iguassu to the North. I did enjoy my time there but wasn’t moved by the ‘romance’ or ‘rustic beauty’ of the place. Either way, I left Buenos Aires with the feeling I was missing something that everyone else could see and maybe I was...but I probably won’t be returning to find out.
Back at the hostel we’d got chatting to Alexander over a beer. She’d live in BA fourteen years ago and lamented how things had changed. “Back then it was good,” she said “Now it’s pretty dangerous.” And that was something else that confused my about Buenos Aires. It’s listed in one of the safest cities in South America and indeed I felt safe enough but the locals seemed to constantly be reinforcing how ‘dangerous’ it is. Don’t get me wrong...we didn’t have any problems but it was all the little things that struck me as either overly cautious or maybe I was oblivious and these precautions were absolutely necessary. At the travel agency we had to be ‘buzzed’ in, something we were unaware of. We tried to open the heavy black door but it was locked. We could see people inside. An old man waiting for the bus giggled and said...you must knock on the window, they keep the door locked for safety! We tapped on the window for attention and the huge black door was opened...we could have been the robbers! It seems their security is warranted as only cash transactions are accepted for bus tickets which is rather inconvenient given that the daily withdrawal limit at the ATM’s is just 1000paesos, something you should be aware of if you intend to purchase onward tickets. We were happy to be purchasing onward tickSELFINDULGED 55
gizmos, gadgets & good stuff! According to Bobble, each year roughly 50 billion plastic water bottles end up in U.S. landfills alone. Aside from the environmental benefits, these bottles are great for travelling with...change the colour of your filter for a new look. www.waterbobble.com
Just a rumour? I have to admit I’m not 100% sure, but it seems that IKEA are about to launch the world’s cheapest digital camera. I’m intrigued...don’t know about you but, if it does appear on the shelves, I’d love to take this quirky cardboard creation for a test drive! www.ikea.com
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An oldie but a goodie. These Reef Fanning thongs have been around for years but some people still don’t know they exist...I feel it’s my duty to inform them. They come with a bottle opener in the sole. Do you know how many times I wished I had a pair of these with me on my travels? Just watch out for any doggy doo on the streets!! www.reef.com
Bring some colour to your life with these funky iPad bags from Outcased. The more I travel the more I see fellow travellers using iPads as cameras...it seems kind of strange to me that for years we’ve been wanting smaller phones with cameras and now we’re using iPads instead. However, there’s no denying that iPads are a great ‘gadget’ to take travelling....and now you can protect yours in padded style. Blue, pink, green and orange available! www.outcased.com
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PARTINGSHOTS
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WHAT - WHERE - WHEN - WHY WHAT London Skyline - one version of! WHERE Embankment... directly across from the Australian Walkabout Pub. WHEN Great view anytime of year but to catch the place at sunset can be magical. WHY How many more icons of London can you see in one place? The London eye on Southbank, Westminster and Big Ben incidentally Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the tower. This section of London is particularly close to my heart. This view is free and, if you’re an Aussie you can pop across the road for the local brew... leave early before the ‘drunk abroad’ Aussies turn up though. Take a stroll across the bridge to Southbank where a variety of pubs and restaurants await.
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PARTINGSHOTS
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WHAT - WHERE - WHEN - WHY WHAT The Natural History Museum. WHERE London. UK Cromwell Rd, SW7. South Kensington is the nearest tube station. WHEN Monday to Sunday 10:00 - 17:50 The Natural History Museum is open every day except 2426 December. Last admission is at 17:30. WHY Firstly, it’s FREE to enter and secondly they have a giant animated t-rex...need I go on? The Natural History Museum is a great place to spend a rainy day in London and the interior is fabulous for photos if you can dodge the crowds for long enough. www.nhm.ac.uk
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Issue 8 China’s Zhangjiajie: A Photo Essay UB or not UB? A Glimpse at Mongolia’s Capital During Nadaam A ‘Dear John’ Letter to Prague “Wicked” Wanderings...Part 1 ...and more!
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.� - Douglas Adams