AKA 

How to Have Too Much Fun / Embarrass Yourself / Go Crazy at a Festival

This is way overdue, but BANG here’s my post about my time at Wilderness Festival 2013, held last August in beautiful Charlbury near the Cotswolds. It was a rather last-moment decision to attend (like many of my big life decisions..) and omg it was THE best decision ever! SO here are about 50 photos and some accompanying text in an attempt to best share with you my experience at what I frequently describe to my friends as ‘The Best Festival Ever’ 🙂

The THING about Wilderness is that.. it’s not just a music festival. I like to say that it’s a festival that celebrates LIFE! Because there’s so much to see and to. It’s full of stimulating activities and experiences which enrich your life.

There’s fantastic FOOD, art, beautiful people, poetry readings, dance classes, cricket, circus shows, fire twirlers, wild swimming, archery, crafts, hula hooping, a BUBBLE STAND, night-time raves in the forest, lanterns, fancy dress, face painting, books hanging from trees which you can take and read, a SPA, science lessons, horse-riding, cooking classes, speed dating… there’s just SO MUCH that I get overwhelmed and excited just trying to recollect it all! Just imagine ALL THIS set upon rolling green hills and big beautiful trees..

I borrowed a Cath Kidston tent from my dear friend Hannah – and set it up ALL TO MYSELF. If there’s one festival camping tip I can divulge it’s HAVE YOUR OWN TENT. Having the space and privacy is amazing! Also I get to lay around naked without a care then the sun gets in and tries to burn me alive during the late mornings.

There were three of us in the group who were originally from Malaysia one of the girls actually brought a Malaysian flag to the festival! We were wondering if there were any other people there who were from Malaysia as well.. we concluded: probably not. They set up the flag at our campsite. How cute!

FOOD

2013 headlined by Polpo, Hix, and Ottolenghi – i.e. they catered the nightly banquets.

There was also food by Moro, St John, and J. Sheekey.

I had most fun eating throughout the day from the many stalls that served the festival all day! I have to say, it was rather refreshing not to see the usual crappy kebabs and other junk food that you’d usually find at other music festivals :p

^pulled pork meal

^freakin’ awesome cheeseburger.. drooling right now. RIGHT NOW.

^salt beef on fries topped with cheese

^edible flowers

Yeah, EDIBLE FLOWERS. From one of those health food thingies. Of course I had to at least try it, so up to the counter I went and collected my free cup of.. flowers and other plants. There was some kind of dressing drizzled on top but you know what? IT SUCKS. That’s the truth. So dry and.. tasteless..hmm.

Eating that enriched my life in terms of introducing to me what it’s like to be a wild grazing herbivore (one tick off the life-experience list!), but nothing more..

^a little teatime section complete with big red London bus!

^Having breakfast at the Moro tent

There were lots of haystacks to lounge on.. isn’t that so hipster cool? Hahaha

SUNSHINE / PLAYTIME

We were SO lucky. The sun LOVED us and showed itself all through the festival! Needless to say everyone was in a great mood. It was truly a festival full of love (fuelled and encouraged by sunshine).

During the day, people would just laze around on the grass. You’d never get bored because there’d be so many quirky people to watch. Art to see. Books to read. Music to listen to. Games to play. You just can’t be bored.

We were happy just to BE on the grass!

^Linda, Me, Aishah

We’d spend ages on this particular hill near the lake, soaking it up. Every day.

It was one of the quieter areas. I thought of rolling down the hill, but fortunately I had enough brains to restrain myself for fear of rolling all the way into the cold water.

SO, I went to a water-free zone to do my rolling and land-hugging instead:

^dry swimming here.

My friends were so embarrassed that they stayed away and used the camera to document my actions instead.

I did all sorts of rolls – forwards, backwards, sideways.
I was SO HIGH ON SUNSHINE. HIGH ON LIFE. I couldn’t stop!

I started talking to random people passing by, trying to persuade them to join me on the ground.
I crawled around like an animal. I felt like an animal. I slithered around like a worm.

It was one of the funniest/happies afternoons I’d ever had. You know when you can just LET GO and not CARE what anyone in the world thinks (they think I’m crazy).

But hey, look at these cool chicks:

Aishah later indulged in my madness (how could you resist really) and then got bitten by me.

^I also met a bee! And look how our colours match.

I’m wearing: Top from Malaysia // F21 shorts // Saltwater sandals

I thought it was a good idea to collect pieces of confetti from the ground in an attempt to recycle/re-throw them.

I thought wrong. Don’t try this. It’s not worth the effort.

^Yeah I know you can see a little something orange but it’s just a spot of my bikini, ok?

My dress was designed/made by Joyce. Shoes are Converse. Headband from Topshop.

FESTIVAL STUFF

We would pass this little breakfast section every morning when walking to the main festival grounds from our campsite (there are more unpictured).

Lots of great food to choose from AND free Innocent smoothies on your way out.

The camping facilities were all great – clean and sufficient to meet demand.

A hula hooping area! Too bad it seemed to be only for kids.
I for one happen to be pretty good at the hoop. Haha!

  

^Group/cooperative art to get your creative brain working!

You can also make your own festival headpiece using REAL LEAVES AND VINES AND FLOWERS! Nature! YES! No plasticky, gimmicky stuff! Hehe

Write your deepest wishes on a paper leaf and pin it unto The Wishing Tree! Or be really nosey and read what other people wrote (I chose this option).

^One of the random books you can find around the festival. Free for you to read! And full of love <3

^Happy swings for the kids!

Oh and then there was this weirdo playing guitar with a beatbox and singing weird stuff. And mad girls dancing. I loved it:

SUNSET / NIGHTTIME

A magnificent sunset presented above us every evening. Wait maybe I missed one evening. Not too sure there.

The headliners in terms of music included Empire of the Sun, Noah and the Whale, Rodriguez, and Tom Odell. I loved the first two most!

We decided it was most comfortable and warm to roam around after dark wearing our animal onesies from Kigu.co.uk.

^The Bubbles Inc Stand

OMG this was one of my favourites ever! It just blows bubbles ALLL DAY AND ALL NIGHT LONG. Small ones, big ones, smoke filled ones, etc.

Here’s a clip of the quirky umbrella dude spinning bubbles:

There was a nightly flying trapeze theatre/dance thingy going on.. it was amazing!! I forget the name of the company which runs it.

Oh and here’s a clip of Empire of the Sun performing one of their biggest hits, Walking on a Dream:

Making our way into the valley in the forest every night was an adventure in itself. You’d see scores of people in their crazy impressive fancy dress/costumes.. some draped in LED lights or smothered in paint and glitter. Lanterns and flags and other lights adorned the trees. A whole variety of music coming from different sources. People dancing. People rolling around on the ground (see? i totally belong).

You could feel a definite ENERGY. PARTY ENERGY! Haha.

Then you’d past certain areas, like the green one above, where people would be chilling out or milling about as others weaved between them, heading towards the parties. Somewhat like a pre-party drinking area.. I suppose.

^There are two pics of the same scene cos I couldn’t decide which coloured light was better? Haha

Who knew that partying at in the forest could be SO FREAKIN’ AWESOME? Well the festival organisers knew but anyway.

I was outta control! The music was so good! I ran up and down the hills. I jumped around till my knees hurt. We brought a shitload of glow sticks with us and shared them with strangers – who then became our dancing friends of course. I smiled till my face hurt.

And.. No festival is complete without a pair of Prizmeyez diffraction glasses! I take mine with me everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

On the last night, I decided I wanted to party the entire night until I was absolutely pooped. I ended up at some after-party somewhere. I shared a bonfire with some randoms. I made some new friends. We laid on the ground together atop a hill and watched the stars glow in the night sky above. We hugged. We rolled on the ground. We talked about serious things. Ridiculous things. About food.

Soon, I felt the sun starting to rise and I thought, ‘ok, time to locate my tent’.

It was a long walk across the festival grounds. BUT SO BEAUTIFUL! Everything was shut and empty; void of people.

I realised I had my camera with me. Why not use it, right?

I took some pictures of the festival emptiness. It was rather surreal.

Then I took a picture of my face.

I came across some haystacks under one of my favourite trees that I’d lay on to watch the fairy lights above the previous nights.

‘I’m coming!’, I said to the haystack, as I set the camera on self-timer.

^Result!

I also took this..

And then I made this video..

HOW did I think that it was a good idea to roll UP a hill???

All I know is.. if I was happy enough to have done that AND recorded it, it must’ve been a damn good night.

Oh yeah, thought I’d share this little comparison chart I saw in the papers following the festival, hehe:

It was my first time visiting Canada. Took this pic as the the plane was getting ready for landing. How GREEN, right? It’s like.. a garden of little broccoli tops.
^This was taken a bit earlier. I love it because it captures pretty much the full gradient of the sky from top to bottom.

I was so excited to be crossing the Atlantic again. I’d only been once before – in 2007 when I spent three weeks in wonderful San Francisco. Really I was just so RELIEVED that I was actually ON that flight at all, having received my visa only 12 hours prior… so much drama.

A big THANK YOU to WeHostels again for the opportunity. And also thank you my lucky stars that this all ended up happening..

You see, the reason I even knew about the comp was because of a bouncy, happy, pink-loving, jetsetting girl called LOLA. We’d been internet-friends (is that a term) since earlier in the year – drawn together by our similar personalities: positive, optimistic, and FUN-LOVING. She encouraged me to enter the comp so we might have a chance to meet in Toronto.

“I’m gonna enter it, win it, and see you there!”

And I did! I couldn’t wait to meet her!

  

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Toronto was get a cheap eat from a hot dog stand.. I love that shit. ‘Street meat’, they call it.. hmm. Totally unglam. But for $1.50, fine. Haha! (Thank you Karla)

As soon as Lola heard I was coming, she arranged a place for me to stay: a room in an awesome four-storey townhouse on Bleecker Street (somewhere north-east of downtown Toronto). With a bunch of other travel bloggers. We nicknamed it the ‘Real World TBEX’ house, complete with our own hashtag (#RWTBEX). Social media geeks….. …

  
^Left: Outside of the house / Right: Bleecker Street

^Bay window in the top floor room, where I slept. It was a massive room that took up the whole floor. It had two queen beds and its own toilet.

The house was organised and provided by Flipkey, a holiday rental service not unlike Airbnb (the one I use most). I’ve been discovering more and more of such websites lately.. I should make a list soon as it’s such a fantastic alternative to hotels! And then there are higher-end options as well, such as renting luxury villas, amongst others.. these I’ll save for when I make more money 🙂

^Crossroads and tram tracks at the south end of Bleecker Street.

I sent Lola a link to the Build A Dream ‘Snack Shack’ a couple of weeks before the trip. Of course, that crazy mofo (I mean that in the most lovable, endearing sense) only went and BOUGHT IT. I think it was the knowledge of this fact that fuelled my determination in getting that visa and making sure I got my ass over there..

I mean.. A CARDBOARD PLAYHOUSE WHAT MORE COULD I WANT REALLY?? 
This woman KNEW ME before she even MET ME!

It wasn’t long before it was set up.. do you see all the bottles on the countertop? That’s how sturdy that thing was. Build A Dream Playhouses – not just for kids for sure! We turned ours into a bar, pretty much. And named it The Confessional (it wasn’t me – I just provided the toys and props, obviously).

Above pic is of Chris of Captain and Clark, and me in clearly the best hat ever.

The following pics are an accumulation of about three occasions of mucking around the house/’snack shack’:

  
^Left: Chris and Gerard / Right: Craig, Tawny, & Erin

  
^Sharpies! Needless to say, I did the majority of the doodling..

^Love my little drawing of Chris? Hahaha

  
^Right: Ted on the guitar. I decided to give him a kind of mohawk..

Ted was so drunk when he brought his guitar out and attempted to serenade us. I don’t even know WHAT he played.. or if it was even anything that was really music at all. Poor him, he kept saying that he didn’t normally sound like that. The next morning when he was sober, he sported the guitar again to show us that he REALLY COULD play and sing. Awh, it’s not like we didn’t believe you the first time! Haha 😉

^With Lola! She came bursting through the front door fashionably late. As you can see, I’d already changed into my sleeping t-shirt..

^I brought face paint, too!

  
^Lola of course brought moustaches.. or should I say ‘mustaches’.. / Erin appreciating the floor.

^Lola, Erin, & Ted. Ted can play guitar, don’t forget!

Now THAT is a moustache.. I have a particular friend in London *ahem* who keeps pointing out the tiny little baby hairs on my upper lip and making me conscious about it. So conscious that I actually looked up and considered laser hair removal (see, I even found a clinic near me!) for a while.

These stick-on moustaches were rather reassuring.

  
^Craig.. (whose hat was that?!), and Erin pouting probably cos she was craving poutine. Pouting for Poutine! 

^Moustaches are not limited to silly humans!

Lola brought a bunch of merit badges for us to assign to each other. We had a ballot box and everything! I can’t remember which one I got.. but I know I swapped it for one that depicted a shoe with a piece of gum stuck to it. It just looked funny and I felt it represented me rather well.. haha.

  

As you can see, The Confessional never stopped evolving! More and more dumb doodles started to adorn its exterior… (by yours truly..), and it even boasted a bed sheet roof. It was a bar. It was a glowstick-shop. It also smelt of Chris after a while cos he just WOULD NOT GET OUT OF IT.

^Tawny, Me, & Kieu

^With the most beautiful (not just on the outside!) Alex, who bunked with me on the top floor.

 
^Left: CALAN and one of my new toys! / Ted: Supposedly, he’s playing guitar.. you just can’t see it, ok?

Here’s a video I put together – it’s basically just all the Vines I took at the house..

From the video, you’ll notice a couple of things:

1. Flat Deej
I was confused about what ‘Flat Deej’ was at first. Let me explain to you my non-American readers.. First of all, Deej is actually a blogger. He was meant to come to TBEX but for some reason couldn’t, and was really bummed about it. So Lola created Flat Deej to make him feel like he was there. It’s based on the award-winning Flat Stanley Project, in which school children are encouraged to write letters to their friends documenting the whereabouts/activities of a cut-out paper character called Stanley (from a storybook called Flat Stanley).

2. Banana
Actually I just wanted to explain Flat Deej and nothing else.

^Our one group photo! Thanks Alex for this 🙂

I admit I hardly attended any sessions at the conference due to late nights etc – because this bunch were so much FUN to hang out with. It was the first time meeting each other for most of us. In fact I hadn’t even heard of half these people before I got there. But it was the best thing ever..

There’s something so amazing about meeting people who also LOVE to travel! I’d never met so many people who were entirely immersed and so passionate about exploring the world before. It was like MAGIC! Kinda like a special, natural connection. Everyone was so POSITIVE, receptive, EXPRESSIVE, encouraging, and socially adventurous. It was super awesome that I didn’t need to explain (unlike when I meet erm, ‘normal’ people.. for lack of a better word, please, it’s 2am..) my desire to travel and and make it my life’s priority – cos everyone shared that same desire. AUTOMATIC FRIENDS.

SO, at the house, there was:

Craig of StayAdventurous
Craig loves being on the road and his favourite country appears to be Mexico! He’s full of shit and will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. See the world! STAY ADVENTUROUS! And maybe you’ll end up in his imaginary (but one day hopefully real) Hall of Fame..

Erin of The World Wanderer
Erin is a sweetie who has an immense love for the Vine app, and poutine. She’s a teacher and travels as much as she can during the school holidays. Really she’s just so lovely that I can’t even call her a ***** for having so many days off in a year.

Chris & Tawny of Captain and Clark
Erm, only the most awesome couple ever! ‘Met on Kilimanjaro; Engaged at the Taj Mahal’. They’re both hilarious and witty and make fab videos. Why can’t I speak as naturally and smoothly as them on camera? Ugh anyway. Adventurous, energetic, and fun.. if we lived in the same country they’d be my best friends for sure!

Alex of CrazySexyFunTraveler
I truly admire Alex for her dedication and commitment to her cause. She’s been travelling full time for a few years now and she looks like she should be on a magazine cover! She’s so down-to-earth, helpful, and I love her honesty. She’s outgoing and adventurous.. and of course, a little crazy. My kinda friend!

Gerard & Kieu of GQTrippin 
Why are some couples just so cute? WHY? Recently (or not so recently) back from a year-long round-the-world trip, G & Q are now settling back to life in California.. or trying to I suppose. Haha. They are both SO NICE I wish I could shrink and squash them into a little ball, which I then toss to the ground, releasing them into full-sized human existence….. yes like Pokemon..

Ted of Traveling Ted
Ted’s passion is everything outdoors and adventure travel. He’s a camping expert (who packed some sort of miniature/foldable SHOVEL in his backpack.. haha) and of course, he plays the guitar. I would LOVE to go on a trip with him and do some crazy stuff! TED let’s go sea kayaking! Caving! Skiing! Snowboarding! Canyoning! Everything!

Carolyn of The Lazy Travelers
There’s only ONE pic of this girl in this post.. and it’s of the back of her head. Other times she was probably passed out somewhere whilst the rest of us smiled for the camera! She’s one-half of The Lazy Travelers.. ‘The Wino’
Then of course there’s Lola.. I love her. That is all.

THANKS FLIPKEY for housing us!

OK let’s start from the beginning. Three weeks ago, I left work early and boarded a flight to Rotterdam to attend TBU Europe, a relatively new travel blogging conference that takes place twice a year (the last one was in Porto. PORTO!!! I love that place. Can’t believe I missed THAT, but anyway..). I was really excited! It was to be my first conference. Of any kind. EVER. I booked myself a really nice place just across the conference venue, that I found on Airbnb.

^In my backpack: conference schedule, spare cardigan, iPhone charger (we all know just how shit the iPhone battery life is), Goliath the mouse, and Panda.

^I tried to get some ‘work’ done while waiting at Heathrow Airport. Was editing some more pics from Iceland <– this just NEVER ends.

^It was BEAUTIFUL in London as I left it. Clear blue skies.

^A Vine video that I made whilst on the plane.  Click to play.
(Follow me on Vine! the name is SMALLCRAZY).

  

And then.. I arrived in Rotterdam. GREY AND RAINY.

“Some holiday…”

But look at their luggage reclaim area! I found it so amusingly cute. It was so woody that it even smelt it.

A bus from Rotterdam Airport to Centraal cost me €3 (and the ticket is valid on public transport for one hour). By the time I arrived at the apartment late that night, I was looking rather like a wet and tired rat. My host, Jan, was super.. and so was my little top floor studio.

^Planted myself on the bed and began painting my nails in between blogging.. totally havin a party.

It was so much fun unpacking and placing all my stuff around the room the next day!

I missed the morning opening remarks and keynote talks at the conference. I was just SO TIRED.

TBU ROTTERDAM & THE MAINPORT HOTEL

TBU Rotterdam took place at The Mainport Hotel, a brand new (literally it opened ONE DAY before the conference began) five-star design hotel located in Leuvehaven, near the water. A lot of the attendees stayed there out of convenience.. but sadly it was out of my price range.

I WISHED I could’ve stayed there though, because it looked super cool and I heard that some rooms contained your own little jacuzzi and SAUNA.

^Awesome chandelier lights hanging off what seems to be a giant upside-down compass. Without arrows.

^The long white reception desk looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.

^I hung out here a lot.. mostly to use the free wifi. And to pretend that I was really busy.

When in fact, I was doing this… >>

Just capturing the mood!

ANYWAY

All delegates/attendees were greeted with a  goodie bag including lots of information about Rotterdam and a three-day public transport card. I was (just a little) embarrassed to have turned up so late.. but I really didn’t wanna be shuffling around like a zombie all day. I had to turn up looking GOOD.

So eventually, I made it to the main room for the ‘Creating Content for Travellers’ presentation by Gary Bembridge and subsequent panel discussion. I was particularly excited about the panel discussion as one of the speakers on it was Gemma of Retrochick. True to form, she turned up with the most amazing vintage style hairdo and she was great when she spoke.

^This photo was taken by Anja of The Curly Traveller, who was attracted to me because of all the colours and toys and stickers I had with me. Anja turned out to be a kindred spirit and a gem – you’ll see why in a later post.

My jumper is from Topshop.

  

I took the above pics during the couple of short breaks in between. My toys are balanced on my pink business-card holder…. my rather LAME card holder I should say, cos it barely holds ten cards at once.

  

^I sat next to Clare of Need Another Holiday, and we had lunch together too – this was provided downstairs. The drink on the right is actually a cold soup starter.. can’t remember what it was called but it was something with tomato.

Clare was super sweet and lovely and funny.. She lives up north and hopefully I’ll see her again too. She writes about how to make the most out of travel while keeping a full time job.

^I have to admit that the food served at the hotel was not exactly mouth-watering. But y’know what it was there and available.. so I simply reminded myself that at least I didn’t have to walk out in the rain to find my own lunch!

HOTEL BAZAR, ROTOWN, & NRC ROTTERDAM

Clare and I went to a huge middle eastern restaurant (part of a hotel) on Witte de Withstraat (one of the main streets in Rotterdam where all the bars and restaurants are) called Bazar, following recommendations from other people who had been.

The place was huge and full of LIGHTS! I was completely enticed.

We shared a bottle of wine.

Ordered a couple of main dishes to share, too. The food was amazing! I loved it all. Everything was tasty and juicy and satisfying.

The TBU Networking Event for the first night was at a bar/live music venue called Rotown.

^Goliath came along too, but he found it a little boring since he couldn’t drink.

I managed to stop by a coffee-shop on the way. Got some goodies and proceeded to befriend the naughty people of the conference who would indulge with me. Sometimes I think this is the best way to make friends.. (as I’ve said before.. this is an honest blog!)

^Buzzing Witte de Withstraat on a Friday night.

Upon leaving Rotown, Clare and I stumbled upon an EVEN COOLER scene at a place called NRC.

  

The music was fab, the ceilings were HIGH and they had a giant disco ball! And cherry blossoms inside.

We spotted a group of Dutch girls wearing bodycon dresses and all made up.. but on their feet, all were wearing sneakers or Converse shoes. Super awesome! I love girls who dress to DANCE.

I had a fantastic first day both in terms of the conference and Rotterdam city. While it provided lots of useful content and an opportunity to learn lots of new things, I thought the best part was all the amazing travel-minded people I got to meet and play with. And Rotterdam was pretty cool.. I loved seeing all the tall buildings and modern architecture – being in Europe, this was rare.

More later! X

On the Saturday morning (the morning of our first full day), we loaded up on the hotel breakfast and hurried to the resort. We were overwhelmingly excited and couldn’t wait to get on the snow.As it was my first time snowboarding (I am a skier) and Reena hadn’t been in years, we booked daily lessons for five days. They were three hours per session and had a VERY KIND starting time of 12pm.

Arinsal Ski Resort, Andorra

The town of Arinsal is connected to Arinsal Ski Resort via two services – a gondola and a chairlift that connects to one of the hotels (I think it’s Hotel Crest).

The easiest one for us was the gondola, which was a mere 3-5 minute walk from our hotel – although the return trip isn’t that easy since it’s uphill and we’re either tired from snowboarding or drunk from partying..

^View from the bridge to the gondola

^View from our hotel

Our Snowboxx ticket included a 5-day lift pass., so we didn’t have to bother purchasing one separately.

^Gondola scenery

We had to collect our hire equipment first (one day I will have MY OWN) and because eeeeeveryone else from the festival had the same idea, we were stuck in a massive queue. We were late by about half an hour for our first lesson – like bad students.

  
Yep, the queue was so long that Reena planted herself on the tiles..

I compare the waiting experience to receiving a Christmas present early, but then having to WAIT till actual Christmas day to open it. However when the day finally comes, it’s freaking awesome!

^Our classmates and instructor on the baby/learning slope.

Our instructor was an Argentinian guy called Augusto. He was cool! He snowboards, skis, surfs, dives, and.. who knows what else. He alternates between being in Europe and South America / snowsports and beach sports. What a life!

He was really patient, and funny too.

On the first day we had to use this totally beginnerish ‘lift’ called the Magic Carpet. It’s like a walkalator with a very slight incline. It goes very slowly and gently, and takes you to the top of the learning slope, haha.

After a couple of rounds on the Magic Carpet, Augusto let us go up our first chairlift – a 4-person one.

One of the things I really love about skiing/snowboarding is the attire. Everything’s so bright and colourful. And for once, I don’t stand out like some crazy neon person. In fact, I felt rather.. DULL on the slopes during the days when I wore my boring ol’ white/pink ski jacket and GREY pants. How odd, as usually I’m one of the most colourful people in a crowd 🙂

^Reena, wearing my Billabong Boys’ size 12 jacket.. 🙂

Speaking of kids, we were rather impressed by all the tiny tots zipping around on their skis (snowboarding is not recommended for very young children).. they looked so cute and cool at the same time.

^OK This girl isn’t that young.. but I just didn’t manage to get a picture of the really SMALL ones.

There was even a girl of about five or six who was teaching her mom to ski. I overheard her giving her mom tips while helping lead her to the charlift queue 🙂

^View from one of the larger chairlifts, which we took on the second day.

Surf Restaurant/Bar/Club

I had to insert a section about Surf Restaurant  because it was where I consumed the largest burger I’ve ever had in my life.

  
A 300g patty. IT WAS SO GOOD! Look, it’s nearly the size of Reena’s head.

My friends and I are obsessed with these ‘paradise’ glasses at the moment..

  
^Goliath, my pet mouse, joined in the fun too.

Surf is reputed for its steaks and apparently has the ‘best steak in Arinsal’, although some beg to differ. I didn’t try it in the end, so I can’t really say, but looking at the grill on the way out made me wish I DID try it.

Retro Ski Day

^Zorro in a matching bright pink North Face jacket.

Despite my very AWESOME jacket, I wasn’t nearly as retro as many of the other festival-goers on the slope. There were groups of people in matching retro-gear, animal costumes, cowboys,.. in fact all sorts of random crazy costumes. It was so much fun just to watch!

^These penguins were in Zorro’s skiing class. We bumped into each other at a cafe somewhere up on the mountain.

^With Joe, a classmate.
Joe’s wearing an amazing women’s yellow zebra-print ski onesie. Haha 🙂

^With my beloved Reena.

After a productive day of learning to turn/connect turns, everyone headed back to Arinsal town for nighttime festivities, i.e. food, music, drinks.

  
^We kept our jackets and switched to leggings.

Aren’t these hotel lobby pics simply glam?

^Fancy dress peeps.. and a suspicious-looking blow-up doll..

When I saw this lot pass by I couldn’t help myself from stopping them in the middle of the street for a photo.

This was unfortunately one of the LAST pics on my phone for the night.. which ended up being kind of a blur..

Monday – Main Event at Panoramix

Nevertheless, we still got up eventually and managed a couple of hours practising on the slopes by ourselves (sans our instructor, Augusto).

Reena’s wearing my blue Billabong jacket (as in pic earlier) because she LOST hers the night before. But to her credit, she did find it in the end.

Monday was special because the gondola was going to be running special services through the evening and night to take people to/from the Snowboxx main event, which was being held at the outdoor Bar Panoramix stage at Arinsal Ski Resort. There was going to be a party on the slopes!

We stayed in our ski attire because we didn’t have enough time between dinner to get changed. This turned out to be good because it snowed non-stop that night.

The lineup from the night included Roses Gabor, Pedestrian, and The Other Tribe. The music was a mix of dubstep, electronic, garage, maybe some dance. Admittedly, I really am not a fan of dubstep.. but the combination of an amazing party location and a young, fun crowd made the night AWESOME.

^Zorro, me, Reena

  
It was pretty much blizzard-ing all through the night.

Imagine – dancing on a mountain with lights and music plus fast, angry snowflakes rushing at your face. It was crazy fun!

The finale had the team of snowboard/ski instructors coming down the slope with torches of fire. Our instructor, Augusto, was somewhere in there!

^Here is a compilation of some rubbish clips I managed to get that night.. You can spot me dancing like a moron at the start.

^This poor guy lost a bet with his friends and his punishment was to wear a PLASTIC BAG over his head during the whole party.

^Another poor dude who probably lost another bet and is paying the price by having to do push-ups on the snow. LOL!

This is the second instalment of my second trip to Porto (March 2013), and a continuation to this post, which told the story of the Saturday morning after an all-nighter on Friday.The Ribeira district/riverfront (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is one of my favourite parts of Porto, not only because it’s simply picturesque but because I have such fond memories of goofing about with my friends by the Douro River on our first trip, during which we also stayed at an apartment in Ribeira itself.In this area you can see ancient houses, cafes, restaurants, shops, and some cool (or perhaps dodgy-looking) laneways..  and on the river you’ll find colourful traditional boats and cruise boats floating around, as if placed there just to be in your photographs.

^Ponte Dom Luís I (Dom Luís I Bridge) – my favourite of the six main bridges in Porto.

On the left side is Porto and on the right is Vila Nova De Gaia (or just Gaia), where you’ll find the ever-so-popular port wine houses.

Combined with those that I took last October, I must have a bazillion of photos of the SAME PLACE stored on my laptop..

^It’s not a great pic (out of focus/awkward pose), but I’m wearing:

 
My spiky bangle, which my fashion friend Kristabel loves, is in fact from Primark!


More Goofing Around

^ Me with Flo, who’s from Valencia. I call her my little Spanish uva (grape).

The temperature that day was about 12-14 but with the sunshine, it was warm enough for us to lay down on the concrete and stare into the sky for a while.

^Izan & Flo

Reena was missing because she was too hungover/dead and so she stayed in the apartment.

^My ring is by H&M. The hand on the right is Flo’s.

^I love this group photo of us!

I used the timer on my camera and this was the first shot. Naturally, we tried to do a second take, but this is what happened..

^AN OLD DUDE taking a picture of our bums?? Hahaha!

Adega São Nicolau

 
If you’ve been to Portugal, you’ll identify that one of their staple dishes is salt cod – known locally as ‘bacalhau’.

Adega São Nicolau is a family run restaurant set up in one of the lanes of the Ribeira that serves traditional Portuguese food..  we went there in October and decided we would go again this time!

Izan is absolutely in love with the Bacalhau à Lagareiro, which is salt cod with onions, potatoes, peppers, and lots of olive oil. Understandably, because it’s freaking delicious.

 
^My mama says I should smile with my teeth more.. I think I’ve done her proud 😀

^Credit to Izan for the above two food pics (edited by me) – see, she’s so in love with it that she made sure to photograph it well!

Adega São Nicolau
Rua de São Nicolau 1 
 4050 Oporto, Portugal
+351 222 008 232

Dinner & Saturday Night

  
^This was us for a good few hours after returning from Ribeira.

We were so knackered from lack of sleep the night before (up till 6am). We just laid around the apartment surrounded by food and music. Kind of like pigs, really.

We had a late dinner at Adega do Carregal, which was a recommendation by our awesome Airbnb host, Tomás. It was literally around the corner from our apartment, in the downtown/historic centre of Porto.

This must be a place frequented by locals as I could barely find any info on it on Google and we were probably the only non-Portuguese people in the restaurant. The prices were low and the food was really good!

^The girls with sweet Paulo, a new friend we made on this trip.

He had hung out with us at our apartment as we lazed around and caught up on some rest before dinner.

^My little uva and I

^Upon Paulo’s suggestion, Flo and I ordered Frango de Cabidela / Arroz the Cabidela (frango = chicken / arroz = rice).

Arroz de Cabidela is a Portuguese dish made with poultry or rabbit, along with its blood. This is what gives the sauce a greyish/brown hue. It had a bit of a sour taste to it but I LOVED IT.

It was EVEN BETTER after I ordered a side of fried egg (with runny yellow) to have with it – to Paulo’s disgust and disapproval..  😉

Adega do Carregal
Travessa do Carregal 102
Oporto 4050
Portugal

After filling our tummies, it was time to PARTY! We love partying at the Baixa (downtown), which was a mere five-minute walk from the restaurant.

I don’t have many pics from the night.. but here’s what I could find:

^Reena in our overused ‘paradise glasses’. I don’t remember what this bar was called.. there are too many in the area!

^This I do know was from Plano B, one of the bigger and better known bars/clubs.

It has an art-gallery feel and really high ceilings. I was mesmerised by the colourful lights and giant mirrorball in the upstairs area. There’s also a downstairs where they have DJs and live bands.

^Reena, Me, & Luis

Luis is a friend we made on our first trip in October, as a result of wandering around aimlessly on a Monday night. We had gone to ask for recommendations from the nearest bar, where he happened to be working. He gave us some really good ideas and we ended up partying with him and his friends.

So of course.. we did it again! This time he took us (Reena & I) away from the Baixa to a club called Pitch.

I don’t remember how it began, but my nickname for him is Frog. Or Sapo (frog in Portuguese).

It was a large part thanks to him that our trip was so awesome (heaps of fun) even though we missed The Color Run. So THANKS LUIS!

In March this year I attended my very first ski festival, Snowboxx! Snowboxx is like a very much smaller (and more affordable) version of Snowbombing.. and it’s also new. Held in the resort of Arinsal in Andorra, 2013 marked its inaugural year.Reena and I booked our package through their website AGES ago in December (to me, planning three months ahead is super early). The great thing about the Snowboxx booking system is that you could book your place by simply paying a deposit of £50 (peanuts).

Depending on which hotel you selected, you could get six nights’ accommodation, five-day lift pass, plus the festival wristband for £199pp. Ours was about £250pp. You only pay the balance sometime at the end of January, and then you still have until March to pay for optional extras, such as transfers, ski/snowboard school, equipment hire, or extra nights at the hotel.

After adding on snowboard hire, lessons, transfers, we had spent about £475pp. I thought it was superb value for ONE WEEK of fun and music on the slopes! In comparison, attending Snowbombing would’ve cost me double for the SAME things.

We booked a very-early-morning flight via Easyjet to Toulouse, France on the Friday (return ticket = £110).

In my excitement – and lack of organisation – I didn’t sleep at all the night before. We were at Blackfriars station waiting for our train by 4am! Can I just say that Blackfriars is an absolute shit station. It’s got NOTHING and it’s freezing cold..

We were walking around the whole place looking for somewhere to shelter from the chilly air and ended up in some sort of construction-materials room.. so we hid there for 15 minutes. A totally unglam start to our holiday.. haha

But once we touched down in Toulouse, all memory of crappy ol’ Blackfriars station were burnt away.. by the brilliant sunshine that greeted us as soon as we stepped out of the plane!

We had a bit of time to kill before our coach transfer to Andorra so I took out my GoPro to test it out.
It’s my new toy 🙂

^Me and my pink Timberlands.. still can’t believe I survived the whole festival in that ONE pair of shoes.. -_-

 

In between packing the night before, I did at least manage to add some fresh dye to my washed-out hair.

 

 

It was when we were queuing for the bus that we made an observation. Tactlessly, I said to Reena, rather loudly, “Wow there are a lot of [male body part]s here!”.

I was just on the last word when someone cut me off, affirming my thoughts with, “Yeah it is a sausage fest isn’t it”.

Haha! So yes.. there were a lot of boys attending the festival (not a bad thing).. and barely any girls!

 

Enjoying our duty-free goodies on the bus.

Driving From Toulouse to Andorra