chopped pork

bad boys ina landahn, bad bwoys ina inglan

2011-11-15T20:29:00.000Z

kraków

2011-11-04T17:27:00.000Z

łódź

2011-11-04T17:05:00.000Z

przędzalnia cienkoprzędna henryka grohmana

2011-10-24T03:07:00.000+01:00

henryk grohman's spinning mill

łódź, poland

set up in 1888

one night in devon + one evening in wiltshire

2011-09-19T18:41:00.000+01:00

cornwall, pt. 5

2011-09-19T18:35:00.000+01:00

cornwall, pt. 4

2011-09-19T18:27:00.000+01:00

cornwall, pt. 3

2011-09-12T12:53:00.000+01:00

cornwall, pt. 2

2011-09-12T12:34:00.000+01:00

cornwall, pt. 1

2011-09-05T16:09:00.000+01:00

goats in hackney

2011-09-05T15:53:00.001+01:00

it's really strange how sad their faces came out in the photos in comparison to how they looked like in real life. anyways, goats are awesome!

afrika burn, pt. 4

2011-08-11T20:34:00.001+01:00

muizenberg, pt. 3

2011-08-11T01:02:00.001+01:00

afrika burn, pt. 3

2011-07-27T20:51:00.000+01:00

johannesburg, pt. 3

2011-07-27T19:53:00.001+01:00

afrika burn, pt. 2

2011-07-19T16:29:00.000+01:00

johannesburg, pt. 2

2011-07-19T14:55:00.001+01:00

cape town, pt. 4

2011-07-19T14:38:00.001+01:00

afrika burn, pt. 1

2011-07-04T13:24:00.001+01:00

johannesburg, pt. 1

2011-07-04T13:13:00.001+01:00

muizenberg, pt. 2

2011-07-04T13:04:00.001+01:00

by car, by train

2011-06-24T15:26:00.001+01:00

cape town -> ~6hrs by car -> afrika burn (karoo desert)

afrika burn -> 16hrs by car -> johannesburg

johannesburg -> 27hrs by train -> cape town

cape point, pt. 2

2011-06-24T15:01:00.001+01:00

tranquility cracks

2011-06-24T14:39:00.001+01:00

early morning hike on the table mountain. we didn't go to the 'proper' table mountain peak - the cable car is expensive (and what's the pleasure in that anyway?) and none of us felt like our knees are ready for the steep descent either. instead we took one of the paths on camps bay side, going up via corridor ravine, along the twelve apostle track for a while and then to the tranquility cracks, back down via woody ravine.

protea - south africa's national flower

camps bay, lion's head, signal hill and the top of table mountain seen from tranquility cracks

woody ravine

cape point, pt. 1

2011-06-06T00:27:00.001+01:00

cape town, pt. 3

2011-06-06T00:01:00.001+01:00

clifton revisited

2011-06-05T17:34:00.001+01:00

cape town, pt. 2

2011-05-06T13:51:00.001+01:00

lion's head full moon hike

2011-05-06T13:29:00.001+01:00

climbing up lion's head at full moon is a capetonian tradition. most people go to catch the sunset but since we had a good view of sunset anyway we decided to only start going up after dark. it was great - never seen so many people on a mountain trail! the moon just happened to be at it's closest to earth since 28 years which was a treat - like the weather, so warm that taking your t-shirt off was highly recommended... even on the top.

metrorail

2011-05-06T12:40:00.001+01:00

metrorail western cape - in and about.

cape town, pt. 1

2011-04-14T20:26:00.001+01:00

v&a waterfront

2011-04-14T19:56:00.001+01:00

one saturday we got to cape town bit late for coffee, all (good) coffeeshops close at 2pm on saturday. the only choice seemed to be going to the v&a waterfront which is pretty much one big shopping centre which happens to have one nice food shop / cafe (i was outrageously happy to see they were selling home made ginger beer as i used to make it myself). what we forgot about was that there was a big mountain bike race starting next sunday and there were a few events at the waterfront surrounding that - including some bike trial stuff. the guy on the slackline tho... yeah, he was good, but with the yellow t-shirt, sunglasses and a constant smile he just looked like an advertisment.

it was all just one big fucking shameless plug for the three stripes brand really, but i've been hanging out with some kids doing bike trials back in primary school and hopping on and off stairs and benches in the neighbourhood back then is my favourite bicycle-related memory.

clifton beach

2011-04-14T19:53:00.000+01:00

clifton beach #4. posh place. quite a few people with cameras (big dslr's that is) who seemed to be just taking pictures of random people on the beach, haven't seen that before...

world naked bike ride

2011-04-07T00:59:00.001+01:00

the first edition of world naked bike ride in cape town was great! got into some minor trouble with trying to go to the city centre with bikes - no, you can't take them with you on the train... fortunately after a few minutes of talking to security we managed to blag a blessing for our 'bulky baggage' additional tickets and got to prestwich memorial 10 minutes before the start.
more info on wnbc here (tacky rainbow coloured website - you have been warned)
and about the capetonian chapter here and here.

muizenberg peak

2011-04-07T00:44:00.001+01:00

muizenberg literally means mouse mountain. the peak was covered with a perpetual cloud for the vast majority of the time so after two days of clear skies over the mountains i decided to walk to the top.

woke up a little bit too late and the perpetual cloud was yet again on and off the top every few minutes but decided to go anyway. only realised how sunny it is (noon-ish) when i stopped for a short break and got blinded for a while by salt in the sweat flooding
my forehead :)

it was a good idea to hike regardless. i was wondering how does it feel from the perspective on the peak when you're in and out of a cloud every few seconds/minutes... the clouds did seem to fade quite a bit once i got to the top though (and were nowhere to be seen once i got back). one of the windiest places i've ever been to, little bits of cloud zooming past seemingly like past a plane that's just taking off.

nothing puts your local geography in order like a birds eye view too - public transport makes you feel like all the areas are more separated but it is one enormous city stretching from table bay to false bay. the long straight line you can see in the photo above is main road, stretching all the way to the centre of cape town through the southern suburbs for about 25km and then almost double that via fishhoek and simon's town all the way to smitswinkel bay where the road turns around and the gated southernmost part of the cape point section of table mountain national park begins.

boulders beach

2011-04-05T16:57:00.000+01:00

cafe closer

2011-03-29T22:26:00.000+01:00

yeah, believe it or not: a vegan cafe in south africa!

cape town pride

2011-03-25T07:43:00.000Z

pride was early, we were late. late for two trains... being a bit desperate we tried hitching for 3 minutes - but we knew it's just not gonna happen. called some friends, got a lift to plumstead, changed from the car to a bus on the traffic lights and enjoyed the ride on main road (which stretches all the way from the cape through muizenberg, retreat, plumstead, etc etc to the main station in the centre of cape town). from then on we got a taxi - which here is not a cab but a small private run minibus network. picks and drops you off anywhere on it's route. honks a lot. first time was a bit scary but i've learnt to enjoy the experience since :)

there was a counter 'protest' too, consisting of two groups with two-three people each. as close to a westboro baptist church experience as i ever got! nowhere nearly as entertaining though, a bit sad and boring to be honest.

the sun was unbelievable, making everything even more surreal than it was. sometimes it just felt like being in an aphex twin video (windowlicker anyone?).

there was a fairly big presence of "would jesus discriminate?" folks too, unfortunately no clashes with the wannabe-westboro kru - THAT would make for quite some photos, eh?

all in all it was pretty gay and pretty entertaining. we were thinking of being a two person black block but we couldn't find any pink material to make an anarcho-queer flag so i settled on taking pictures and drinking wine from a brown paper bag (which, like going to pride, was a first for me). after the march there was a party of sorts under the stadium - nothing special to be honest, felt like it wasn't flamboyant enough and a bit too flamboyant at the same time. i guess uniting under the flag of mainstream/pop culture will never be my cup of coffee.

muizenberg

2011-03-21T16:52:00.000Z

goodbye, london. part #2

2011-03-21T08:41:00.000Z

last saturday night in london started off in a fairly familiar way - there *is* some kind of party somewhere but it either gets cancelled, shut down or is in wembley, west of kingston or some other ridiculous place not really reachable via public transport.

'round 3am i get a phonecall... "what are you up to? there's a party in hackney wick"

"are you fo real? what kind of party"

"yeah, it's... weird"

"be there in 15 minutes"

after getting there we finally found out what kind of "weird" was it.

hipster party.

i'm not sure if it was a squat (doubt it really) but the entrance door was open and there totally was a party on the top floor, totally unlicensed (i guess even hipsters want to party and have a smoke without having to go outside). never seen so many people wearing glassess on the same dancefloor. despicable music. huge novelty value, but that runs out quickly... saved by good ol' homebrew we stayed a couple of hours.

around dawn we found our way out and headed home via victoria park.

two days later it was time to head off to the airport..

hello, suid-afrika

2011-03-18T17:50:00.000Z

there ain't no better way of starting a trip, especially on a very windy and cloudy evening after a hot sunny day preceded by a sleepless 12hr overnight flight, than buying a bottle of the cheapest local wine (R19.95 which is ca. £1.75) and drinking it on the beach with your friends.

drinking alcohol in public is illegal in south africa. especially on a beach (!), especially from glass (shock horror!).

security guards on the beach didn't really mind us drinking though.

"they probably don't care.
they're here so that you don't get mugged"

goodbye, london. part #1

2011-03-17T21:56:00.001Z