well... i haven't updated in a while and i guess i should have because quite a bit has been happening since my last post. and seeing as i haven't become any less lazy than i have been, i will not go into as much detail for each thing as i usually would :/
product one (zkiing in zakopane)
anyway i'll start off with new years. for those of you that don't already know, i went to zakopane on new years for some snow, skiing and drinking. zakopane is a town in the polish mountains down by the czech border. the people there are called the górale (hilanders) and they hold to the olden day culture and traditions of the polish people to this day. they do this more so than other poles as they rely on it to attract tourists to earn a living. profiteering aside, i think it's great and it is definitely worth seeing if you ever make it to poland.
as you can imagine, zakopane was quite full around new years but not so much that it was unbearable. we stayed in a decent lodging in harenda which is walking distance away from the harenda ski slope. mind you, it was quite far to walk after you've been skiing all day :) but after taking off those ski boots, you feel like you're walking on air (no matter how uncomfortable your shoes are), so it's an easy walk.
a few of us were not that great at skiing so we hired a ski instructor for a few hours which helped us to no end. the harenda ski slope was pretty daunting at first, but after a few days it was not so bad. just to make it clear, i didn't ski right from the top (which has about a 45 degree incline), but from what i guess is the easy to intermediate section.
on our second night we all went to town center for dinner at a traditional polish restaurant. the food was awesome and the vibe was fantastic. i guess the location was not decorated for vegetarians as they had various animals mounted on the walls and from what i heard, they also had meat drying upstairs. at one point (i think it was someones birthday), the waiters sang and banged on the metal part of the chimney in the center of the room to celebrate.
the next night we went on a kulig which is a horse and carriage (on sledges). we were taken up a mountian to a clearing were they already had a fire going. on the way we were drinking shots of wiśniówka (cherry flavoured vodka). around the fire we made toast (there was no sausage left at that point) and the group sang polish songs (all of which i did not know). on the way back, the driver went down a rather rough route and the carriage overturned. so all in all it was a very fun night.
on new years eve, we stay at the lodging for a party that they organised. very much a polish party, with loads of food and alcohol. there was some dancing downstairs and on the strike of twelve, everyone went outside to give new years wishes and to watch the fireworks (all private fireworks) which were going off everywhere.
on the last day we went to the town to walk a round a bit before our train was set to leave.
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
recently i also went on my first business trip. the initial plan was for me and daniel (another work mate) to go to china. we ended up getting the visas and everything, but in the end it was deemed not necessary. after that it was thought that we needed to go to korea, but in what was now starting to become an annoying trend, that was also deemed not necessary. but in the end we did go on a trip and this time it was london (well staines to be precise) to visit da west staines massiv</pop_culture_reference>.
before the trip i asked my boss if he could extend my ticket from monday-friday to monday-sunday. seeing as this had no affect on the cost he agreed. the timing could not have been better as rose was having a birthday celebration that exact weekend.
work was largly uneventful, but in the end we did accomplish what we set out to do. during the week we did some sightseeing during our lunches and on thursday we went for afterwork drinks with the london crew in the bar called "the town hall". i guess the building was infact the town hall at one point.
on friday daniel and i went back to heathrow (just a few days after the crash) and after i saw daniel off, i headed for the underground to make my way to london. while i was waiting to meet gareth, i did some traveling and took some night photos of some of the sights i had seen my first time in london.
after meeting gareth, we made our way to meet larry (a friend of gareths that i had not seen since high school). larry drove to woolwich where we went to have a few drinks at a local pub.
on saturday i had made plans to see asher. but on my way to london i stopped off at greenwich [en|wiki] first. this gave me a chance to head for the royal observatory [en|wiki] to see the gmt line. i didn't really plan my route this time so i just headed in the direction where i though the observatory is likely to be. i did however have my psp armed with gps and some maps (which i did end up using in the end) but during my random wandering i did find some interesting places along the way which i might not have seen if i gone straight there.
after seeing the observatory, i headed to london bridge to meet asher. we first went to the borough market [en|wiki] which was in the area and afterwards asher took me to south kensington [en|wiki] to see where he works. south kensington is a really nice looking area but i guess it would be seeing as it is quite a rich area and there was evidence of this as we saw several super cars on our way to asher's work.
later we met up with one of ashers friends and we went to the science museum [en|wiki] as it was quite close. the museum is huge (and the entrance was free which you might want to take a note of if you ever decide to go). they had loads of interesting stuff on display, but my favourate out of the lot must be the atomic clock and one of the original apple computers (the type that steve wozniak made in his garage).
after that i met up with rose, gareth and the rest of the gang for drinks to celebrate rose's birthday. it really does take some getting used to with the price difference. for example, a double brandy and coke that would cost you 9 to 13 rand in south africa costs about 7 pounds in that club. i'm not sure if it's just that club that is that expensive, or london in general (i'm guessing the latter).
|
|
|
free gift (the new place)
and finally, i ended up getting my own place. i'm currently living in a flat in kabaty. i am sharing the flat with the owner but he's my age and very easy to talk to. the location of the place is excellent with a 24 hour tescos [en|wiki] just one minute walk away and the metro [en|wiki] just 3 minutes. the whole area was only build up in the last 13 years, so all of the flats are very new (compared to the rest of warsaw). as a result of this, the flat is very clean and modern-ish. again this is all relative to the rest of warsaw. the internet is currently a bit slow, but we are getting an upgrade at the end of the month (yeah \o/).
also i finally got a new pc (desktop) and those of you that are actually interested can ask me for details later.
 |
| the new place |
2 comments:
lol @ all the polish folk going to the mountains and singing folk songs for new year's :D i suppose they do the same in switzerland (but opting to yodel).
not all of them were folk songs :)
Post a Comment