Because it is freakin’ hot and it’s a fully exposed walk from the carpark all the way to the viewpoint, with only one small shaded area (a little hut) towards the end.

Joyce and I borrowed the umbrella from our Airbnb host in Page. We did contemplate the idea for a good few minutes and it went something like:

“Hmm do we REALLY need it?”

“It’ll help so much not to be in the direct sunlight.. it’s 43 degrees out there”

“But then it’s mostly just a flat walk how hard can it be”

“But think of how much TORTUROUS it could be! Remember Angel’s Landing??”

“We might look stupid.. who hikes with an umbrella”

“Ok who cares if we look stupid”

In the end we thought it was better just to have it – after all the only thing we had to do was chuck it into our car.

When we arrived at the Horseshoe Bend parking lot, opened the doors and felt the weight of the hot air on our faces, we immediately knew that bringing the umbrella was A GOOD IDEA.

We took turns holding it. Turned out to be quite the arm workout in those temperatures.

Along the way we of course passed loads of other people, fully exposed to the sun and mostly sweating and dying.. looking at us with envy. Oh how they wished they had an umbrella! I can’t say that we didn’t feel just a BIT smug.

Looking back I don’t know how we would’ve survived without our umbrella. It totally saved us from a lot of suffering and allowed us to spend a bit more time dangling our legs over the edge and taking photos. The rocks were super rough, though, and made holes in the skin of our thighs/bums.

We later bumped into a park ranger, who eagerly came over to talk to us and stayed more than a couple of minutes, enjoying our umbrella shade. Haha!

There was a boat going by at one point, and we caught sight of tiny people looking like crawling insects down there.

We LOVED Horseshoe Bend. It was a spectacular view. It somehow reminded me of the Great Valley in one of my favourite childhood animated movies, ‘The Land Before Time‘. Definitely one of the highlights of our Arizona/Utah road trip.

So if you happen to go during the summer season – BRING AN UMBRELLA! You won’t regret it 😉

The post Surviving Horseshoe Bend in the Summer appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

It occurred to me the other day that it’s been over two years since I last went to Amsterdam. TWO YEARS!  I plugged into my external hard drive to look at photos I’d accumulated from previous trips there and damn do I miss it. I’ve been going a bit too mad with my love for Italy (in fact I’m in Milan again in two days hehe) and Portugal and I’d forgotten about my former haunt.

So here’s a quick run-down of a few things that made me think ‘I Loooooove Amsterdam’!

MARKETS

My absolute favourite market is Noodermarkt especially on the Monday, which I make sure to visit every time I’m in Amsterdam. This takes place in the beautiful Jordaan neighbourhood and has loads of vintage clothes/textiles, antiques, and even old children’s toys.

^I believe I was asking the price of a vintage swimming costume there

^Colourful strips of fabric! I got tempted and bought a few. They’re still unused, years later..

^View at Albert Cuyp market, the biggest one in the city and best-known in the country!

^Vintage food tins seen at Waterlooplein Market, held at the Jewish Quarter. I think it’s one of the oldest, if not THE oldest (market) in Amsterdam.

VONDELPARK

I can’t tell you enough how much I LOOOOVE this park! it’s beautiful! It’s huuuuuge! Sure I love the many amazing parks in London but Vondelpark definitely has a special, happy vibe to it. I’m not even sure what it is; perhaps it feels a bit less manicured than say, Regents Park or Hyde Park over here.

I remember talking to a friendly dude here and we ended up spending the rest of the evening together somewhere in the city.

^This is Wilson, Joyce’s pet golf ball. We brought him to the park and made him a sort of shrine.

^We shared many a happy moment. Vondelpark was also where I shared a special magical experience with my best friend from home.

BURGERMEESTER 

^One of the most damn delicious burgers I’d had at the time. I remember eating it till sauce was dripping down to my elbows.. ELBOWS!!! Now that’s something not to be forgotten.

Burgermeester
Albert Cuypstraat 48
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Amsterdam

(They’ve got three other locations in Amsterdam)

THE CANALS

My absolute favourite thing to do is buy crappy-yet-not-crappy takeaway food/drink and sit by the side of one of the maaaany canals with music.. with a close friend a bonus. Haha.

I’ve spent many an hour chilling out by an Amsterdam canal.. people-watching and such. It’s the best! Especially in such a quirky, creative city where there’s so much to observe and be fascinated by.
Which brings me to..

WEIRD STUFF

^What???

^PARK PILLOW. It also says ‘Do Not Remove’, mind you.

^Condom art

^A public private message… awww

^An upside-down baboon to put a smile on your face!  My friend is not smiling. She’s weird.

^The freakiest mannequins I’d ever seen.

^Coasters that tell you to ‘Be Starlight’. STARLIGHT! It’s amazing!

^Self-promoting messages on bicycle seats

TOY SHOPS

Amsterdam has many a cute toy store. I’ve bought quite a number of souvenirs and I love them ALL.

One of the best ones has to be A Space Oddity in Jordaan.

A Space Oddity
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1016 HD
Amsterdam

Of course, there are countless other things I looooove about Amsterdam.. oh the food, the trams (I love trams, alright?), the architecture and interior design, the parties, the CHIPS.. haha but perhaps the rest can be for another post.

Wanna go to Amsterdam?

It’s under an hour from London by plane (it takes longer to traverse London) ! Sometimes I wonder why I’m not there like, every month.

Check for flights using Kayak, my favourite, most trusted flight aggregator, and pick a hotel in Amsterdam by Accor here. Weekend break done!

The post Why I Freakin’ Love Amsterdam appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

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.

THANK YOU WILDERNESS FESTIVAL FOR A MOST SPECTACULAR WEEKEND! 

See you again this summer. And you guys, get your tickets HERE. 

The post My First Wilderness Festival! appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

I kinda miss wearing a light jacket. Or maybe this is my inner voice telling me how much I miss the Copenhagen-bought parka that I lost in Rotterdam. But this could be an opportunity to get a new, less-expensive one.. it’ll be handy for when I go to Wilderness Festival in two weeks! Was looking at this selection of parkas (by New Look) – I like the jade green elephant print one.. what do you think? If it were neon it would already be in my wardrobe.. obviously

It was so tempting to WASTE my money on these Beano toys and candy.. they had so much crap that I’d LOVE to stuff my picnic bag with!!! But I practised self-restraint and simply eyed them..

You could go into ‘Dennis’ tree house’ and doodle on the walls.. Admittedly I was too lazy. And if I did go in I’d just end up drawing rude body parts all over and get kicked out or something.

People doing art and craft! It looked so boring yet relaxing.. hehe.

Many of my friends got very amused by this..  I just saw the floor decal and couldn’t resist. What ELSE is it for, right??

Trying to get some of the London skyline in.. I miss my pink hair (that I had for 5-6 weeks – it’s a faded ash purple now).

If you’re familiar with London’s South Bank, you’ll know that there was a big petition to try to save the iconic little skate park that’s been there for years. To find out more, click here. I almost ALWAYS spend at least a few minutes watching the talented skateboarders/bmx bikers doing their tricks there whenever I’m in the area. I hope it gets to stay!

It’s my birthday today so I’m off to celebrate in the sun now.. !

Follow my daily adventures on twitter, instagram, and/or facebook!

The post OUTFIT – London Southbank & Beanotown appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

I was daydreaming about the sunshine while packing my bag.. at 2am on a rainy night. Sadly it’s not gonna be too warm where I’m going, but I wanna share with you some happy colourful photos from last August when the temperature rose to something like THIRTY degrees (centigrade). It’s almost mid March now and summer is a-cominggggg!

Anyway, my friends and I spent that ENTIRE day eating and lounging about next to the Thames in Richmond (if you know me you’ll recognise immediately that it’s a place close to my heart and about which I always talk).

^With Emma (L) and Zorro (R).. back when my hair was pink.

Yeah don’t die of shock.. it was ACTUALLY warm enough to hang about in a bikini.. 😉

^We had heaps of things to eat.. Will & Aysha came with one of those proper picnic baskets!

Now I’m going to tell you about THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED THAT DAY.

The water level rose SO HIGH that people were wading in the water on what was meant to be the walking path!

After a few seconds of contemplation, we decided that it was a good idea to jump in for a swim.

^I love the pic on the left!! ’twas so funny to catch that boy throwing himself in.. and then there’s Will on the right who tried to dive in backwards..

The water was ICY COLD by the way. But I was so happy that I went in.. loads of people were swimming around and it was a nice escape from the heat. Everyone was so HAPPY in the sunshine.

Later on, I proudly told my friends about my little swim in the river.

“YOU WENT INTO THE DISGUSTING THAMES??”

Horrified by their reaction, I quickly went on Google to find out WHAT was so TERRIBLE about swimming in the Thames.. and ok, fine, my friends were right.. it IS a disgusting river full of disease and germs and dirty things. You should’ve seen my face when I read that article about comedian David Walliams trying to swim the length of the Thames for charity and then got struck down by some sort of parasite that laid eggs in his intestines (giardiasis) O_O.

In fact, they were so right that the following day.. I had a terrible stomach ache in the morning… but let’s not talk about THAT.

^Aussie babes Aysha & Emma.

We had a little contest to see how many cherry tomatoes you could stuff into your mouth.. it was soooo funny. I was a bit ambitious and the tomatoes ended up popping out onto the ground in various places. We scooped them back up and ate them. Well I did anyway. MAYBE this was why I got a stomach ache….

^Aysha, Emma, Me, Zorro

We hung around until it got dark and watched crazy people hurl themselves off the bridge into the river.  It was almost like being the audience in a circus, as everyone was cheering these guys on to jump.

Just a couple more months until summer.. I’m counting downnnnn! Do you have a favourite summer activity? x

The post Sizzling Hot Picnic in Richmond, London appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

London really comes ALIVE in the summertime and although it can be a bit depressing in all this darkness now.. we mustn’t forget the special ENERGY that fills the city just a few months ago! I don’t! It’s what keeps me going during those blah moments (winter blues?). I’m already in the midst of plotting out my festival itinerary 2013.

Here are some photos taken at the Southbank last year..

By the way, you Londoners will recognise this star flyer ride that’s rather a new summer installation on the Southbank. Last year, this ride cost £4 a go.. this year it went up to £7. Insane!

Below are pics of a suited street performer who, upon your monetary donation into his collection box, takes you and manoeuvres you into a certain position with himself to create a scene. It was super cool!!

Hmm. It feels weird to be blogging pics from so long ago.. but I’ve got LOTS to catch up on and it’s kinda nice to look back at old photos.

The post Do You Remember.. Summer in London? appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

I took the Carnival as an opportunity to wear some bright colours.

But.. I guess that sentence doesn’t really mean anything when I wear bright colours on an almost daily basis anyway.

Three different styles of cooking jerk chicken. I LOVE jerk chicken. I had two servings that day.. and also goat curry. I LOVE Caribbean goat curry..

In fact whilst typing this I had a short pause/moment of insanity in which I contemplated running out to find some of that delicious food. But it IS 9.30pm, dark, and cold out so NEVER MIND.

Me and my friend Kuha after some of those laughing gas balloons.. I LOVE THOSE THINGS. At least this time, I didn’t end up drooling on my own face.

All photos taken by Ryan; edited by Me.

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PS – A treat for all you MotelRocks fans, or even if you’re not a fan, you will be! Just CLICK HERE to shop and use the code above for £10 off on a minimum spend of £40.

While you’re at it, you can Like MotelRocks on their Facebook page

ENJOY

The post Notting Hill Carnival 2012 appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

We had the dreaded task of walking uphill to the church/town square to return our rented hiking boots, however. What was most dreadful about it was me having to stuff my poor feet back INTO those heavy things that morning (my sandals were left at the shop in exchange for the boots). Could almost hear my feet screaming ‘NOooooo!!!’. Well, I survived.. so never mind enough complaining.

Took a few photos along the way:

Look! It’s Francesca driving the Casa Del Sole taxi.. 😀

“Aperto” means “open” in Italian.

Joyce and I kept going on about how all the flowers on the island were just so PERFECT and VIBRANT. Many a time we had to touch and feel them just to be absolutely sure that they were real. Yup, all real flora there!

Couldn’t help but wander into one of the many souvenir/craft shops near the church square. The souvenirs on the island were tasteful and largely handmade by artists, unlike in big cities like Rome or Paris or Barcelona etc etc, where the souvenirs are tacky, plasticky, and overpriced.

I got myself a volcano magnet and a wall hook with a sailboat on it.

When I was in Rovinj, Croatia (oops, I haven’t written anything about this.. yet) two weeks prior to this trip, there were a few shops that sold handmade wooden boats too! I had gotten one there so I stopped myself from adding to the collection.. wasn’t too hard, as the prices here were much higher than in Croatia.

Lunch was at a place called Luciano’s – a tip from a local woman we asked.

We sat on a big balcony with a great view of the sea (of course). Joyce decided to do a photoshoot with our mice, her other toys, my ring, and.. half-eaten bread??!

The plan after lunch was to take the loooooonggg walk back to the beach that we were on the day before.

This proved to be quite challenging..because of how HOT it was that day. I think we distracted ourselves by taking lots of pictures.

This, by the way, is not Joyce simply taking a close-up photograph of a cactus. It’s her taking a picture of her PET GOLFBALL, WILSON, carefully placed in a little nook in the cactus plant.

Apparently, I was touching leaves and flowers a lot…. see, I had to check that they were real! Or maybe not.. cos these were quite obviously not plastic….

Joyce captured me in one of my ‘zones’.. (crazy zone, that is). I was somehow so fascinated by this man painting a little red star on his boat. He was delicately peeling off the tape he used as a stencil.. one by one..slowly. I watched for so long that by the time he finished, I clapped for him. I might have even said ‘yay!’.

This gave me the opportunity to get to know my new friend, so we started talking and guess what! He had one of those little buggies and so gave us a lift to the beach that we were MELTING towards. His name was Stefano and he had previously lived in Melbourne, too. I was like, “OH I miss that gelato shop on Lygon Street!”, to which he replied, “Yes Lygon Street… IL DOLCE FREDDO!“. Hehe.

We buried Maurice (Joyce’s mouse) and Goliath (my mouse) in the sand for fun.

Joyce tried to find Wilson a girlfriend.. also known as the most symmetrically round black pebble you could find on the beach = IMPOSSIBLE! So poor Wilson remained a bachelor throughout the trip.. oh well!

Strolling back to find food, we met a man called Frank who runs a small tour company from one of the colourful booths seen near the pier. As you can see, it was called ‘Frank International’. They were doing boat tours  for €15 that evening, at sunset, where you’d go round the other side of the island and watch the volcano hopefully erupt.

Having two hours to kill, we planted ourselves at what we thought was the most lively bar/cafe on the strip – Fronte Del Porto.

They played a really diverse range of music.. so sometimes I’d be happily bopping to something.. and then the next moment I’d be silently wishing my ears didn’t work (like when they played that super, super annoying Gotye song that I’d always hated from the beginning).

As the sun went down the sky turned a magnificent lilac shade and the water was so still it was GLIMMERING. Like a big flat mirror in the shade of lilac. At one point it was difficult to tell where the line between the sea and the sky was. Seemed like both were melting into each other.. like a painting!

Thought this photo was funny because of the family so obviously staring at me getting my photo taken next to a tiny yellow taxi with its nonchalant driver in it.

Boat Trip

I was super excited about the boat trip because it meant getting closer to that MIRROR-WATER. Just look!

By ‘look’ I mean look many times.. (lots of pics to follow). It’s just one of those things you repeatedly take pictures of because you keep trying to capture the beauty on camera even though you know you.. can’t. Anyhow I think these are some great shots.. ha ha

It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Just so beautifully calm.

We got permission from Frank to go for a quick swim.. the other passengers thought we were mad. But it was so much fun!

We’d already seen the volcanic eruptions during the hike the day before so didn’t pay much attention to the volcano this time. Well I didn’t anyway.

Once back on shore I treated myself to more pasta.. and peach juice! One my favourite things about Europe is the fruit juices. I’m not confined to apple/orange and can instead have pear, peach, or strawberry (my top 3 in random order).

The post Mini Eurotrip: Seeing More of Stromboli appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

It was this volcano climb that really made me want to go to Stromboli when Ana was talking about it.. but unfortunately Joyce didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it at first :p

But I was sure she would enjoy the REWARD at the END so I simply said to her, “You can thank me LATER” as she buried her head into her arms and actually TOOK A NAP while waiting for the guide at the square!

Since we were ill-equipped (somehow we had the ridiculous idea that we’d just waltz up this volcano in our colourful clothes and a tote bag (joyce)/sandals (me)), we each spent about €10 extra to hire proper hiking shoes, one backpack (we already had one between us), headlamps, and we were given helmets too. Each person was advised to bring a jacket, food and 1.5 litres of water…. yup, those bags were HEAVY.

At 6.30pm, we were off!

Five minutes in….. and I was sweating like MAD. There were so many steep steps to climb, in 35 degree heat, and for a brief moment I did think ‘why.. why did I do this to myself..’.

I was sweating so much that I had to use my H&M scarf as a sweat towel..

At least, the views along the way were all breathtaking. Though it was hard to concentrate on your footing while trying to take in the scenery AND take pictures at the same time.

Rest stops were once every 30 minutes and never long enough. It takes an estimated 2.5 hours to get to the top (but I think it took slightly longer.. really).

The sea and the sky was so beautiful to look at a we ascended higher and higher up the volcano. Also, when we were about halfway up the sun was no longer directly upon us = the difficulty of the climb was suddenly reduced by half! It was such a relief.

The line between the sky and the sea was a creamy orange blur.. and as the sun sank even deeper into the horizon, the colours became more and more spectacular to watch. It was just SO AMAZING!

Me eating an APPLE at the halfway point.

It was a challenge not to look like absolute shit on that volcano! I mean.. come on. Sweaty matted hair + red face.. haha.

The main reason why I thought this climb was rather tough was because of the terrain.. I’ve never hiked up a volcano before. It was so sandy! Imagine walking on a sandy beach, but going uphill. With every step I took my chunky hiking boot just SANK halfway back downwards.

We became quite good at taking 2-second-pictures (so as to not get left behind by the group/hold people up!)

Hmm.. just realised the photos are quite repetitive. But it was hard not to want to document the sky every time we got to higher ground :p

I still remember how relieved we both felt when planting our bums on the black sand to rest our super-sore legs!

Another group of people going up nearby.

While watching them, I remarked to Joyce that they looked like ants.. or rather, slaves (I was picturing donkeys carrying wood up a mountain, like in Disney’s Small One)..

As we got closer to the top, we were able to see puffs of smoke emerging from the other side of the volcano, where the active craters were.

The pinkest hiker.

Here’s a short video I took while struggling up the volcano. Have to just say it was quite an achievement to get this video as it was so steep and we were all in single-file, no stopping. Had to reach behind my back, unzip it, pull out my camera, turn it on and switch to video mode, and record the bloody thing all whilst taking care not to trip over and keep up the pace!

And a few moments later…………….

WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT

I felt so goddamn good about myself (at this point I didn’t know about how shitty the descent was going to be yet..) and was just so HAPPY to be up there. Standing on top of a mountain. A VOLCANO.

I WAS STANDING ON A VOLCANO!

It was quite dark by the time we were up there, so excuse the poor quality of photos.

Jacket by H&M
Neon shorts by Topshop

Haha, never thought I’d be writing about what I wore on a volcano ;p

After having a quick bite (I think we had those mini chocolate croissants), everyone lined up on the edge of the mountain overlooking the two active craters.. and waited. We were all just staring so intently as though WILLING it to erupt.

There was even a girl next to us who kept talking to herself, going, “ok just one more eruption.. please.. yes.. just one more..come on” when we were waiting for one last KABOOM before starting the descent.

We were lucky and managed to see at least four eruptions (I lost count.. too excited).

Was so AWED. FREAKING AMAZING.
The sound each time was so powerful. A huge ROAR from the core of the earth.

We spent almost an hour standing, waiting, watching the incredible natural fireworks in front of us. That’s it! They’re Earth’s fireworks!

Even now looking back at these photos, the whole experience seems surreal.

Standing there, I looked up into the sky and said my thanks to the stars to express gratitude for how lucky I was to have that opportunity. For my sight, for my mobility, for good health, and of course for the means to take myself to such a beautiful place.

(thanks Joyce for the above pic!)

Now I’ll write a short note about the descent, which took about an hour and a half.

We were all given masks to put on our face because we would use a different trail going down where it was very sandy and incredibly dusty as people’s footsteps unsettled the ground. Actually, ‘incredibly dusty’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.. it was more like being in ‘The Fog’ but with dust. The sand was soft and so walking down was hard on the knees after a while.

We all walked in a single file in pitch darkness using our headlamps. The WORST thing was getting a bazillion small rocks and stones trapped inside our shoes and not being able to get them out until the next rest stop! We also got erm.. detached from the rest of the group towards the end as Joyce needed to empty her shoe (otherwise I think she might have died).. it was rather scary trying to find our way back to the square ourselves (because it was just SO DARK and a bit creepy) but we made it – sweaty, dirty, and completely knackered. Our feet were battered and bruised.

Treated ourselves to a big oily pizza and more Spritz for me, at a restaurant in town.

If only we didn’t have another 1+km to walk to get to our room after. But after climbing a volcano, that was super easy-peasy..

The post Mini Eurotrip: Climbing Mt Stromboli / AN ACTIVE VOLCANO appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

Getting of the plane at Napoli Airport and feeling the bright HOT sun on my face was like stepping into HEAVEN! Trust me, coming from a long-time-summerless place like London, you’d feel the same too. My love-affair with Italy was immediately rekindled.. and it was so obvious on my grinning face as I waltzed through passport control. Yeah, you just walk past an officer who’s busy chatting with his colleague but pretends to look at the details of your passport, which you hold up in your hand.

Transfers between the airport and Napoli Centrale (main train station) cost €3 one way on the Alibus. I had 1.5 hours to kill before Joyce’s train got in, so I had one of my favourite things in Italy – gelato nocciola (hazelnut ice cream). It was soooo gooood!

Taxi from Napoli Centrale to Porto di Mergellina – €25.

When we arrived, the island was bathed golden from the sun that was setting behind it.

I loved it so much and thought to myself, “wow, I’m here.. i’m actually HERE! I MADE IT!”

Last year when I got kicked out of that farmhouse in France and ended up travelling alone in Europe for two weeks, I met an Argentinian girl in Florence. I was determined to try the local specialty, ‘Bistecca all a Fiorentina’ (Florentine steak).. which is served in 1kg portions, and so I recruited Ana and another Brazilian girl to share with me. Ana told me she had just come from a beautiful place, where she only intended to stay for 3 days but that became 10 because she simply couldn’t leave. She said she would only give me the details of this place if I promised to go. Me being impulsive and adventurous, I says ‘yes, of COURSE!’.

And so.. that’s how we ended up on the little island of Stromboli (it only has a resident population of 400 or so and frequented mostly by Italian tourists).

Hydrofoil operated by SNAV.

Thinking we should save some money and walk to our accommodation rather than hire a taxi, we lugged our bags along a lonnnggggg path. And boy was it LONG. I think it took us over 30 minutes in total, and we arrived panting and sweating from the heat (it was at least 30 degrees).

But on the plus side, it was rather interesting to walk through the very narrow lanes and look at cute little buildings, flowers, and colourful things.

That little islet on the left side is Strombolicchio (please excuse the typo in the pic! I was sleepy!), a volcanic sea stack. Don’t know what a sea stack is? An popular example of sea stacks is the 12 Apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia (though the last time I was there, in 2006, only nine were left standing).

‘Strombolicchio’ in Italian actually means ‘Little Stromboli’, but in fact, it is a remnant of the original volcano that Stromboli island was built upon. Apparently its eruptions stopped some 200,000 years ago and volcanic activity moved 3km south-west. With the rising sea level over time, the current composition of Stromboli was born.

We stayed three nights in a private double room at Casa Del Sole, also a recommendation by Ana.
Francesca, who runs the place, is really friendly.. although she does tend to disappear into her big house next door sometimes and can be difficult to track down!

There is a roof terrace upstairs. After leaving our luggage in our room, we clambered up and noticed that the sun was setting.. so we RAN DOWNSTAIRS, grabbed our cameras and rushed back up. Even though by then the sun had JUST gone under the sea line, it was still so pretty.

Dinner was had close to the port. Stromboli does not have any street lights installed, and so after sundown, people walk around with flashlights, otherwise it would be almost pitch dark.

I had a popular Italian aperitif, Aperol Spritz, followed by calamari linguine. Joyce had shrimp pasta – the shrimp caught around the island were a type I’d never seen before. They’re tiny – about the size of a 20p coin – and cooked with the shell on. The shell is so soft/thin that you’re meant to eat it altogether. I found it quite tasty!

After dinner, we endured the 25-minute-or-so dark walk back to our room with the aid of an iPhone flashlight. I’m certain this walk took a lot longer.. because the night sky was absolutely MAGNIFICENT. We couldn’t walk for two minutes straight without craning our necks to look at the stars and we wondered how it might be possible to see ALL the stars at once. I wished I had eyes on the sides and the back of my head. 

When Ana told me about Stromboli, she said she often stared at the sky. And now I know why! The sky was so incredibly dark/clear that you could see just how bright the stars REALLY are. They were so bright that there were illuminated patches in areas where the stars were more concentrated. It was truly the most beautiful night sky I had ever seen in my life. 

At the Casa, we spent a good half-and-hour lying in the deck chairs up on the roof terrace just to stare at the sky some more. It was so surreal that I almost felt as if I was floating in space, surrounded by glittering stars. Oh yeah..we saw three shooting stars in a row, can you believe it?

I really loved the place where we stayed. It was like a big happy house with different types of rooms spread over two levels/two buildings connected by the outdoor common area/dining area, kitchen, and communal bathrooms (each unit had its own sink, toilet, and shower).

The next morning – me after having caught up on some SLEEP – we had a simple breakfast in the kitchen and went out to explorrrre.

I think we were only two minutes out of the Casa and we were already stuck taking photos of everything around us. Everything just looked too pretty. The sky was bright blue without a sign of any cloud.. there were flowers and strange plants all over, and it was so very quiet and peaceful.

There are no cars in Stromboli (they simply wouldn’t fit into the narrow lanes). Instead, they have these tiny three-wheeled things that look like big toys, or golf buggies.

Oversized top/dress from a Malaysian online store called Beautiful Disaster.

Many of the buildings in Stromboli have colourful painted tiles on the outside to display their names. Naturally, the volcano is a popular and recurring theme!

On the way to the beach, we came across a hotel called Villaggio Stromboli with a terrace cafe/restaurant overlooking the sea. Still hooked from the night before, I had another Aperol Spritz – amazing in hot weather! Joyce and I played with her little pink kaleidoscope and…

…ended up with this funny photo of my eyeball. Amongst others.

Undoubtedly the most colourful person on the island that day.. luckily most people had their sunglasses on when they saw this human watercolour palette.

If you look closely just above the horizon, you can see some faint pink lines. Isn’t it pretty!
We spent the afternoon at the beach. Obviously, the terrain is rocky and composed of black sand as it’s a volcanic island.. making it rather tricky to find a comfortable spot!

I am completely in love with my new SaltWater sandals. I ordered them in the States and was so lucky to have them brought to me in London just in time for my trip. They’re the most comfortable pair of sandals I’ve owned so far. I’m hoping to get them in hot pink and lime green next…!

Sometimes we would hear something rumbling/roaring quite loudly.. no biggie, just that VOLCANO  erupting behind us, you know..

My bikini is by H&M.

One of my fav beach activities is throwing rocks into the sea! Thanks Joyce for this great photo!

If you’re wondering why we always had our footwear on.. it’s because stepping on the sand was like stepping on HOT LAVA.

NEXT: Climbing Mt Stromboli… 

The post Mini Eurotrip: First Day in Stromboli appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.