Roskilde Festival

My camp was young this year (well, younger than me) so they were mainly there for the socializing and the music just happend to be handy for those dead spots brought on by too much alcohol and not enough sleeping. So I was free to go to as many concerts as I wanted to - arrive when I wanted, leave when I wanted - I'm good on my own. With a few exceptions I managed to get to most of the stuff that seemed cool. There were no real big surprises this year, but lots of great music, a few good movies and people watching too.

The Motörhead concert made me smile a couple of times. Before the concert even started fans where lining up outside the pit hoping to get a spot up front. But another concert had to be taken care of first - a nice surfer dude called Jack Johnson. So two long rows of people waiting for very different kinds of music were peacefully roasting side by side under the summer sun - there was something strangely poetic about it.
When Motörhead finally did go on I had a flashback to last year when Judas Priest was playing: They are all around retirement age and were getting increasing more red and sweaty in the face as the concert went on. Those guys had so much leather and metal on that all of us were worried sick about them because it was boiling hot that day. The Motörhead guys are even older, but they look more sturdy and didn't have nearly as much metal on but they still had way too much clothes on considering the weather. Vanity comes before fall, heh.
There was a dancing guy in the audience who had taken the road in the opposite direction and stripped everything off. That in itself isn't an unusual sight at Roskilde, you see enough naked people there to last you a year or two, but what he was doing with said naked body was swinging it around and around and around and around and then a bit of headbanging and then swing around and around ... this dude was fairly tall and whenever he would swing, he would jump, and that jump put his crotch at most women's eye level. I kept staring at him for 15 min, just waiting to see if he was going to hit someone in the face! It came pretty damn close a few times, but apparently women are pretty good at dodging penile attacks.

During the week I realized one thing that made me a bit sad. You get dirty on a festival and I don't want to go through a whole week without taking a shower if I can avoid it (it's just so damn nice to feel clean). But on a big festival like Roskilde you have to slack on normal routines. There's no way I'm going all the way back to Copenhagen to take a shower and it seems silly to spend money on a hot shower that you could spend on food, so if it isn't too cold I jump in the cold showers. The cold ones are free, open to everyone and since it was hot it was a nice cool down too. But it dawned on me how much has changed since the 90's: I was the only one who got completely naked! When I started going to Roskilde over a decade ago jumping into the cold showers wasn't a big thing; everyone ended up doing it when it was really hot anyway and if you had a pair of undies on people thought you were a bit silly. If you were that worried about others seeing you naked then you probably should pay for privacy in the hot showers. I had noticed that it was getting more and more common to wear bikinis and shorts, but this was the first year that I was the only naked one. You can't get clean if you cover up, if you can't get clean then it isn't really a shower anymore and you are just showing off. It can't be that people have started lusting after each other more because we looked at each other back then too so what the hell went wrong?

After I got home I looked at pictures from the first festivals and compared them to what I saw this year: Roskilde has turned into another place where you have to be "pretty". Diversity in people is becoming extinct there. Well ... I'm sad that part is going, but it's still the best place for getting a wide range of music. So! I guess one thing hasn't changed: This was another year where I promised myself it would be the last time - and I'm already gearing up for next year ^^

Behind on updates O_O

A festival and a Scandinavian road trip to be precise. I've written posts for both of them and I promise I'll publish them one by one.

First of I can tell why I didn't write an ending for the Egypt trip: A sandstorm ... seriously.
Nothing worked with the sand flying around. It was interesting to experience first hand though. I was amazed at how the sand got in absolutely everywhere.


At least I finished the books I brought with me.
Just for your information: I had expected Soulless to be too easy a read but it actually made me laugh out loud several times; I enjoyed the humour.
The Golden City however wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. Hrmpf! The first book in the series was okay so I got the two others ... and I really shouldn't have bothered. Oh well ...

Uh look! Pictures! :D

Flying over Sinai

The cleaning dude has artistic flair and a sense of humour

Drinking gin and tonic to keep away the mosquitos :D

We're where the desert meets the sea

A desert walk into the ocean

My family and I are waterrats; serious aquaphiles. It's really hard to keep any of us out of the sea when snorkling or diving is ready available. The last time I was in Egypt I got very burnt because I completely forgot about getting out of the sun - I was snorkling along the reef for two hours in prime cancer hours! Autsch! >_< I'm more cautious now and try to refrain from jumping in between 12 and 15. It's so easy for me to lose track of time.

The Red Sea is still as great as I remember it. It makes me sad though to see all the damage to the corals, and I haven't found a single clownfish yet. I've stalked a few rays and said hello to a turtle so I'm fairly happy , but my sister hasn't come across a shark yet so her trip isn't made yet; I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her (and the red sea too).

Sis and dad are on a dive today. I don't have the certificate to go with them and I'm a teeny tiny bit jealous ... teehy tiny being the understatement of the year. I really should get my arse in gear and earn the certificate so I can go - since I say it every summer -_-

I had an allergic reaction to ... erh ... something, and turned fire engine red and well as woozy so I had a bit of a lie-in where I watched bad tv (highlights being Dr. House in arabic and Spongebob in italian; as well as watching the danish football team give the dutch team a goal (see, I'm watching sport, it's bad)). I missed out on a trip to Petra in Israel. Oh well ...

As far as going to the pyramids: My mom talked me into skipping Cairo and the pyramids because she wants us to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday on a trip down the Nile next year. So she really had to twist my arm on that one, hehe.

This desert dweller is gonna go back to the sea and next time throw up a few pictures ^^

Ma`as-salāma

Hello mother land, here I come.

Check list:

1. Books -The Golden City, Soulless and a book on animal and plant life in the red sea.
2. Respectable clothes - Just being polite.
3. Medical aid for the weak stomach - I usually do okay no matter where I am, but never say never.
4. Sunscreen - It's Africa!
5. Sunglasses - See previous point.
6. Money - Makes things a little easier.
   
7. Diving gear - Got to say hello to the Nemos of the Red Sea.
8. Passports - Well, I want to get both in and out.
   
9. Tickets - It's a long walk otherwise.
10. .... there's a ten!? Erm ... toothbrush? Anyhoo ..

My sister and I were a little disappointed the last time we were around Egypt that we didn't manage to see the pyramids, so we're going to try harder this time ^^

Later
مع السلامة

This is a TRAVEL blog

Hence there is no activity on here when I'm not travelling. And at present I'm stuck in one place (very much against my own wishes).

Anyhoo, the activity will begin again in june. First stop is Egypt!

All's well that ends well?

I've tried to write a finishing post for this trip but it's a lot harder than I thought it would be - mainly because the end seems wrong.

I've been on danish soil for a few weeks now. And until now I've been surfing friends' couches; just hanging out with people I like, and I've been drunk as many times here as I've been for the 2½ months I've been travelling.

My base of operations is now my parents place and it will be until the middle of december. My birthtown is pretty, historical, peaceful ... and if it wasn't for my parents there would be nothing for me here. Don't get me wrong, my childhood was great and the town does bring back those memories but there is also a reason why I moved to another country at 17 - this place drives me nuts. I love it here but I can't stay for too long at a time. Also, today none of my friends live here anymore so they can't help with the nuttyness O_O I'm self-medicating myself with books, movies, series and painting.

I also have time to revisit memories of my trip to two very different countries.

When thinking of the states I can think back to my inspired "length of Manhattan" walk (man, did I hurt >_<) that got started by me seeing that there was a comics and cartoon museum in the south end, and how when I finally got there just stood and looked at the building for 5 minuttes saying: "Typical" because they had closed the museum the previous month. Typical for my luck.

I can think of the dissapointing day in Washington that ended with me draging my butt back on a bus to go to Nashville, and how that bus ride was the best that I had because of Dennis the driver that told jokes and said that all you needed to make a day perfect was a smile; also because of the sweetest pixie woman at McDonalds in the Viginia mountains who made me a vegetarian burger despite it not being on the menu. I love the accent too :)

And I can think back on how disturbing the poverty in the states where; and how weird it was to have someone come up to me and ask for money when they had nicer clothes on than me and only picked me to ask because I was the only white person present.

I can think of the very nice indian woman at a hotel in Memphis who gave me a room with a kingsize bed for a dormroom prize because she didn't want me to walk through a bad area to get to a hostel.

I can think of how typical it is that Texas has one of the driest, hottest summers and when I got there it started raining.

And I can laugh to myself for noticing that fire hydrants are different colours in different states and sometimes in different cities: In Asheville they are clown coloured fx ^^

When thinking back on Japan my internal movie shows me the most beautiful pictures of mountains, castles, woods, sea, temples, wildlife and traditional arts and crafts *sigh*, as well as very kitshy things in an overkill way that only the Japanese can get away with.

I can remember sitting under one of the bridges in Kyoto talking to a couple of the homeless people living there after I had offered them some food; they only accepted the food on the condition that they could be hospitable to me and offered me a seat in their home.

Also, I can think back on how much it amused me that a school on Okinawa had their very orderly morning gymnastics to the beat of the Imperial March from Star Wars; cute little stormtroopers they were ^^

I can remember the panic I felt after a big 5cm bug bounced of my sunglasses because I was afraid my allergy wouldn't be able to take it if it was one of those huge hornets I've seen on tv.

And I can remember how funny it was that none of the Japanese women could walk properly in high heels (probably has something to do with the lack of hips and junk in the trunk); and that even though a lot of people rode bikes it looked like they all learned it the previous day (I have no theory as to the reason for that! I got nothin')

I am grateful for every encounter and experience that I had.

... travelling is probably the only thing I am really good at that I also really enjoy. I miss it.