rantlust

Posted by anupcs on August 15th 2007 in Europe, Travel
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The first time I went to London Heathrow was in 1994 and at that time, I thought that this was one of the world’s best airports (and it probably was). That was a transit trip and I had a four hour layover. There was enough to keep a novice traveler occupied for that duration and while I remember it as being definitely crowded, it wasn’t overwhelming. Subsequent trips in 2000 and 2003 were to the U.K. and I still found the airport good (but not great like Incheon or Changi). A few months ago, I had the misfortune of going through Heathrow again (transit) on a trip to Europe. I realized to my dismay that Europe’s busiest airport had descended into the dirty, chaotic mess that fits a developing or under developed nation rather than “Great” Britain.

The airport, which is now owned by a Spanish firm, handles close to 67 million passengers yearly even though it’s designed to handle only 45 million [source: The Economist]. The security lines snake for hundreds of yards and even if you have gone through excruciating security (”Spread ‘em Mr. Tafkap“) in other airports and you are just transiting, you still have to go through another humiliating check here. This means that any liquid you purchased in JFK (after clearing the security there) has to be thrown out before going through Heathrow security. People were clearly frustrated with this and I saw piles of discarded beverage containers next to the security line. The passengers were cursing in various exotic languages. The cost of buying anything after going through security is just preposterous here. A black coffee cost me around US $5 if I remember correctly. I didn’t even bother checking the prices on the Single Malts at the Whisky store. The toilets were crowded, stinky, and not well maintained (trails of toilet paper was all over the floor in the toilet close to the security check area).
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Posted by anupcs on June 20th 2007 in Europe, Music
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I love to hear rock music (especially the hard variety) sung in languages I don’t really understand. I never understood what Ozzy, Dickinson, or Hetfield were gabbing about anyway. So why not enjoy the feeling of exotica listening to hard shit sung in languages all over the tower?

A relatively recent favorite such find is Noir Désir, a French rock band that’s been around for a while. I love their electronica/punk tinged hard rock sung in the loveliest of languages with hard guitar riffs. I have a couple of their albums and am trying to find more though Amazon carries only imports. I guess I’ll have to convince the wife why I have a sudden need to go to Bordeaux. Random iPod plays of their music recently have brought out interested eyebrow raising reactions from some fellow bloggers. Unfortunately, they may not be making more music for a while as their lead singer, Bertrand Cantat beat his girlfriend Marie Trintignant unconscious during an argument in a hotel room in Lithuania. She died a few days later. A Lithuanian judge sentenced Cantat to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of manslaughter. A true rock star!

I have tried to educate y’all about Mallu rock before but I should also mention some other international superstars in the genre of rock music that I really dig (all music links below courtesy of youtube.com):

• Ciu Jian from China whom I was fortunate enough to see live (opening for Deep Purple no less!)
• Pappo - the blues rock legend from Argentina
• Manu Chao - the former frontman of Mano Negra and bi-lingual superstar from France and Spain
• Charly Garcia - the Argentinian icon famous all over South America
• Rodrigo y Gabriela - the Mexican up-and-comers who have an acoustic bend for metal
• Beyond from Hong Kong who also have a tragic end

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Posted by renéejo on June 18th 2007 in Europe, French-Surrender
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Vive le Gaul. The latest incumbent of the Elysée palace has been caught drunk at the G8 summit. French surrender or not, I say we should give the man a break. He might have had a few too many of his country’s fine wine. Who can blame him for that? Or did he really have some Vodka with RasPutin?

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Posted by anupcs on April 29th 2007 in Comics, Europe, Language, Travel
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Like most other cultures (with the glaring exception of the French), the Czech are very appreciative if you at least try to speak their language. After a week here in Prague, I have picked up a few useful “phrasebook” words. Czech or čeština belongs to the Western Slavic language family along with Slovak and Polish. The phonetics is not hard to learn and there are hardly any exceptions to the rule (same as German). There is one sound that I find almost impossible to pronounce correctly and that is the one marked by ř (that is r with a diacritical mark above it called haček). The closest sound to this according to the language guides is a rolled “r” followed by the “zh” sound (like the s in pleasure). Even the Czech spend years of their childhood (complete with special training) to get this particular sound right. Why make it so tough?

Apart from that, I have been able to pronounce Czech without much difficulty. Last night, this even got me a free appetizer at a fancy bar (where the wait staff spoke fluent English). For them, it was a pleasant surprise to hear me greet them with a dobrý den (”good day”) when I entered the place and say děkuji (”thank you”) whenever they poured me a Scotch. Their normal customer base of crusty old British blokes don’t bother with such niceties, I was told. While the pronunciation is one thing, learning the grammar is supposed to be quite difficult as words are modified at will with the gender and case. I am not even going to try learning the grammar.

The above two photographs are of the crude Czech language cartoons found in a popular local pub called Pivnice U Pivrnce (in the Jewish Quarter).

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Posted by anupcs on April 26th 2007 in Europe, Travel, Women
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I am currently traveling in Prague in the Czech Republic. While it hasn’t replaced Buenos Aires (yet) as my favorite city in the world to travel to, it’s doing a good job at trying. Truly, one of the world’s great cities, Prague or Praha to the Czechs, has been around for a very long time and a lot of the buildings you see here date from more than 1000 years ago. Among the most impressive among them is the Prague Castle whose foundations were first laid in 870 A.D. More on that in a future post. There are numerous other structures including the famous Charles Bridge across the Vltava that command one’s attention in what Time Out calls “a symphony in stone.” The cobblestone streets add to the magnificence of this ancient city.

One thing you notice as soon as you clear customs at the ultra modern Ruzyně airport is that the Czech women are spectacularly beautiful. I was escorted by one of these beauties to my taxi from the taxi counter at the Arrivals hall. Nowhere else have I seen women of such beauty from all walks of life. And all over the place. I wish I could say the same for men too. The roadside cafes here are meant for people watching more than any other city I have been to. The fact that they dress stylishly every day as I observe on the daily Metro rides, adds to the oomph.

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Posted by renéejo on April 20th 2007 in Europe, Sex
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A Dutch (who else?) escort agency has announced a service just for virgins. Computer geekdom is the target market. They will provide a three hour (minimum) service during which the participants will explore each others body, take baths together, massage each other, etc. At the end of the sessions, the virgin geeks will come out knowing how to pleasure a woman. Tall order.

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Posted by renéejo on March 16th 2007 in Africa, Europe, Music, Raves, Video
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Césaria Évora is the singer that comes to mind when people think of the Cape Verde islands. Now, after seeing her live late last year in Cape Verde, I believe Suzanna Lubrano can give Évora a run for her money. The music styles are very different. While Évora sings a type of music called morna (a type of blues), Lubrano sings a more upbeat type of music called zouk. The music is infectious and great to dance to and Lubrana has a distinctly sexy voice. Her smouldering looks don’t hurt either. I am proud to say that she calls The Netherlands home (she moved here with her parents when she was four).