Rideforsmiles, Solo Australian to Africa Europe and Beyond, starting June 26th 2011.

[rideforsmiles]

Finished packing pretty early as I sort of wanted to make sure I got to Brno in plenty of time for some reason well I did set a time whether she got it or not is another thing but I didnt want to be the one not to turn up it would be just rude. I wasnt holding my breath about it though.

It was only 200 k's to Brno all expressway so a pretty non descript ride I saw a bit of nice scennary that might of been worth checking out but its pretty basically green field after green rolling field around here and the back roads seem to be pretty much straight through them as well so not that good a riding so you might as well be doing 160 rather than 80 with more chance of bumping into cops on the 80 road.
It took me just under and hour and a half to get to Brno and that was getting lost getting out of Brno and a stop for breakfast and petrol so made pretty good time just flying along the expressway.

I had booked a nice place i thought what the hell I had looked at the hotel where Zdenka went to the gym and said she was going to be but 190 euro a night fuck that mate so had booked into the Bercelo Brno Palace Hotel, hey why not it looked nice was up the road from the Freedom Square and it was only 110 euro ahahahahah that blows out the budget of some of the solo world travellers doesent it but hey this is my adventure ill blow as much as I like hahah. It does remind me of just how lucky I am to be doing this and at the level of comfort I can afford it really is great, im certainly very fortunate.

went down to the Freedom Square the first thing you notice about this place is all the bums man i feel right at home here I could of just pulled up a park bench for the night and saved the money but oh well im booked in now so i might as well use it.

So there I was sitting in freedom Park and Zdenka is a no show, ok she probably didnt get my email or whatever or maybe she couldnt distinguish me from all the bums in the square and no joke there everywhere I must of seen 10 guys come over and check the phone booth for money while I was there thought about throwing some money at them but I might be with them one day so stuff em, either way here I was sitting there sucking on a durrie having a beer probably not the best look when your meeting a chick in training for the Miss Olympia, the people that do that are either totally dedicated or stark raving mad, theres no way I could live that life on such a strict diet id prefer to be dead, which one Zdneka will turn out to be probably mad ahahah shes a female after all, gawd can you imagine that time of the month starving hungry probably get your head bitten off for farting ahahahah.

I was laughing to myself cause here I was on the other side of the world waiting for some chick who could hardly speak a world of English who I had met for 10 minutes ahahaha funny stuff, I really dont know what I saw in her in the first place maybe it was her eyes ahahahahahahahahahahah and double ahahahahah and yes the pic below is her, serioulsy the Czech girls are just amazingly beautiful but she certainly caught my eye, you can understand why I jumped off my bike and went back for a chat cant you though she wasnt wearing this pink bikini at the time but having xray vision certainly helped, but I have to say she is just a stunningly beautiful woman in normal every day clothes let alone this like this.

The stunningly beautiful Zdenka






Sometimes when your on the road you just have to make do with sub standard accomadation so you just have to make do as I have tonight.






The ol self inflating mattress lol






Freedom Square Brno Czech Republic. That would be right an artillery shell equals freedom over in the Eastern Bloc

[rideforsmiles]

Had a pretty good ride over from Brno to Oswiecim in Poland, it was only 250 k's so wasnt in any hurry to leave this morning from the nice digs at the Bercelo Palace hotel. Left at 12 or just after the check out time of 12 and by the time I finished packing the bike up and hit the road it was closer to 1.

It was sunday so the roads were pretty quiet which was good. Speeds of up to 140 + and still getting past so all good on the cop front. I wasnt to fussed and im not to fussed to ride on the lesser roads when im just heading somewhere it was just a matter of getting to Auswitz and relaxing.

Stopped off at some obscure service station for a drink and was sitting down on the table and chairs and this guy walks over so start up a conversation and it turns out he lives locally but has just been in Croatia representing the Czech Rep in volleyball. Had a good chat with him for about 10 mijutes about how they went and how they go in the national scene which on the grand scale not to good but on the local scene they just won the tournamnet they competed in but have a return comp in a few weeks to decide the winner. Obvioulsy theres no much money as he had just flown in and was waiting in this remote servo waiting for a mate to pick him up.

His friend arrived and we said out goodbyes and off he went and I jumped back on the bike to head into Poland just up the road. I have no paper maps and the tracks for Africa map on Gps I got off Julien the French guy I rode from Nairobi to Moyale with who had got the T4Africa world maps off the internet and they are so out dated its hardly worth using them, well I actually use the compass on the gps more so when I look at it as long as im heading in the right general direction its all sweet and I was supposed to be heading north east and was so all good.

Ended up arriving in Auswitz around 4:30 and took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the housing estate on the cheap side of town obvioulsy and i mean cheap, my immediate reaction was this is the eastern bloc I had pictured its a friggin dump, it certainly wouldnt be hard to pull the chicks here id pull up on my bike light a ciggie and id probably have some one chatting to me, the old go knock on a door yeah have a job, I like kids and if you get a knock back try a few doors up the road and soon enough you'd be in, so you guessed it i tried my theory by pulling over in the shittiest area I could find right in between a few of the big crappy looking apartment blocks and sure enough a girl wearing a nice pink skirt pushing a baby comes up to me and says hello. The body was ok but the head geez it was a two bagger ahahahah im shocking arent I, she was actually really nice and we chatted for about 10 minutes the she explained where I was to go and when her kid started screaming I thought thats it shut that kid up or ill give it something to cry about, but being the nice guy I am I just said goodbye and hit the road. 10 minutes later im on the other side of town in a little bit better neighbourhood.

I really should of taken a picture of the area maybe ill go back there it was a real dump, somewhere ic ould probably call home pretty easily, I probabkly paid 2 months rent in one of them last night in the Bercelo Palace.

Found the Villa Green pretty easily after that and checked in and had a nice chat to Ursula the lady who owns the place. I'll go do the concentration camp stuff tomorrow and then see where im going ill probably head over to Krakow then ill decide where to from there.

Krakow is only 60 k's from here or there abouts so its only up the road, I booked in here for 2 nights, im not in a hury to go anywhere but this town hasnt got much for me here other than Auswitz, I guess the only thing is that its so very quiet it was nice to walk out side this afternoon and all i could hear was a kid playing on a trampoline, the birds and the wind, it was a real Sunday afternoon, very nice.
A nice day a few nice people and now in a nice room relaxing.

[rideforsmiles]

Had a quiet mornign but then went over to the Auswitz concentration camp and well yeah pretty weird stuff, its really hard to just get a grip of the scale of the atrocity that occured there 1.3 million people so they think pretty horrendous ol Adolf certainly went a bit over board on that one. Look theres been plenty of atrocities perpatrated on out fellow man over the years but thats right up there with the worst of them. Being in the gas chambers and the furnace where alot of them were killed its just simply not a nice feeling but for me the worst was to be where Mengal experimented on the children and to hear that he went unpunished and lived in South america till the 1990's was jsut horrific there certainly been some real scumbags in the world at times hasnt there.

They showed us where Hess and his wife and kids lived during the war and while all this was goign on and when asked after the war what she thought about living in Auswitz zhe said it was like a paradise cause she access to all the clothes jewellery and make up and anything she wanted that was confiscated, geez thats just lovely, I dont know what happened to that bitch but hopefully she got a good punch in the nose what a fucken bitch.

What a terrible thing that happened and we have all seen in on documentries etc over the years but to actuallty be in there is something quite surreal.

Another place we were shown was where the trains came in fully loaded crammed pack and then they had to get off and form two lines and then in single file walk past the doctor and the phots of him pointing left and right left to your death and right to the camp was pretty sick and he was another one that went unpunished for lack of evidence. 80 % that went to the left line were excuted within a short space of time after reaching there and the rest were sent to the labour camp to work, man that was sick to see its nearly impossible to fathom.

The locals of Oswiecim were made to work there or them and their families were sent to the camps themselves. There's definaly a blanket of doom over this place and im not joking, I can sense it in the air its even when the sun is shining through, Ive actually decided im going to stay and extra day to just make sure its not just that ive been in Auswitz that makes me feel like that. i dont know sometimes when ive walked through a cemetery Ive felt something that sends a shiver up my spine but this whole area is just like its clouded in and its no shiver its like a dull sensation that smothers you, ill be fucked to know how anyone actually lives here to be honest i havent checked out the real estate prices but im guessing it wouldnt be to expensive. Brrr what a place I dont know if I want to come back here in a hurry when I leave, weird man just really weird.






The gallows where Rudolf Hess swing from one of the very few to pay the price for such a terrible thing.






The vent where the gas pellets were thrown in.







Up to a 1000 people were crammed in here an gassed at a time. Being in this room wasnt exactly comfortable.






One of the furnaces used to dispose of the bodies






A small portion of the ash remains recovered is still left as a symbol to the 1.3 million people that lost there life here






The wall of death, thousand died against this wall men women and children were all killed here by a single gunshot to the back of the head. This place is just one fucked up joint. seriously.






The girl on the right survived the camp and is still alive today and lives in Israel.





Sleeping quarters for 6 3 levels 2 to a bunk





Its just so hard to imagine the horrifying conditions when its a bright sunny day like today, other than the pall of doom that hangs over this joint you would never know one of the great atrocities mankind has perpatrated against his fellow man happened right here.





Luis from Portugal and me meeting out the front of Auswitz in Poland. As you can see im in all my safety gear riding around today bla bla bla tell someone that cares, gravel is easy to remove its called scotch and elbow grease lol

[rideforsmiles]

Oh nearly forgot after I was finished doing the tour through Auswitz I hung around for awhile out the front and got chatting with a nice American couple Tom and Anna and the Portugeuse guy Luis who was heading up into Scandinavia. Helped Tom start his bike he had gone on the tour and left the ignition on so he was charging it then we jsut decided to clutch it. Hung there for an about 45 minutes chattign then jsut hit the road and went for a ride to nowhere.

So here I was cruising along minding my own business and pass this gorgeous blonde chick in some sort of little Celica hatchback on a side street pulling into the traffic, we look at each other and just smile oh yeah ok that was nice . Well anyway im crusing up the road and shes pulled in behind me and she starts weaving a bit al over the road so I look in the mirror and throw her a wave. She comes past over taking me and looks over at me with a beautiful gorgeous smile with her long blonde wavy hair and gorgeous blue eyes and heads off up the road. Not to be out done I crusie up behind her and she flashes her emergency lights and then puts her blinker on to pull into a bus stop. Now im thinking theres no reason for her to stop there other than to speak to me so I pull in after her and pull up to her window.

We have a quick chat for a little while then we hit the road again. I thought I should of at least swapped details with her you never know and I hate wondering what if so here I am riding one handed getting my wallet out of my pocket extracting a card to give her. She slows up in traffic and I move up next to her and im trying to lean in and hand her my card we are both smiling and laughing ahahahah funny shit shes stretching one way and me the other all the while why trying not to crash into her so we both just come to a stop in the middle of the main road and the traffic is all banked up behind us and I hand the card say good bye and fook off ahahahahah what the hell is going on here, that was so funny, got to love the Polish girls lol

That was the first bright moment ive had in this town if only that happened more regulary it might not feel like dooms day around here. ahahah

You never know I swapped details with Zdenka and now we have been exchanging emails every day so you got to be in it to win it havent you. Im having a good run with the chicks latley, the old line, it must be that Pure Panther Piss after shave, 60% of the time it works every time. Along with all that im still enjoying Ewa's company even if it only online at the moment, theres definalty something special about my little Ewa but she's only 27 wants a family, kids and all that stuff gawd somebody shoot me if I get in that scenario again, but in saying that and even though im not interested in doing it I have to say she makes it tempting, I just said to her cant I just buy you a few African kids they are cheap and eat fuck all.

[rideforsmiles]

Spent and extra day around here in Osweicim just to get a good feel for the place well as good as you can in 3 or 4 days anyway. Its only a small town the main centre is under renovations so theres not mcuh to see or do in there but went for a walk around anyway.

Found a nice little sports shop and they had the boots ive been wearing for the last two years and they were bloody cheap equivaland to a 100 bucks aussie and as mine needed new laces i thought what the hell and lashed out ahahah ok ive basically had them on my feet for 2 years and they were starting to have seen better days and seeing them at that price when I paid 240 for them back in oz it seem to make sense to get them now.

Im still not a fan of this town its just really weird there is alot of geriatrics and weird looking people running around the streets so I guess that doesent help with the vibe of the place. Rode around for a few hours into ther surrounding areas to jsut have a look the weather has been so good its just nice to be on the bike riding to nowhere, well its nice to ride anytime but when your just in shorts and a t shirt and warm its actually good.

Met a nice crew of Polish who were staying in the Villa Green they are here in the area working on the roads so was nice to chat to them.

Just basically had a real relaxing day today ill leave tomorrow as much as its nice to sit still for awhile ill find somewhere else to do it i think.

[rideforsmiles]

Got up and packed the bike i wasnt in any hurry as Krakow was only 60'k's away so thoought id just leisurely cruise over. The road was pretty crappy big massive trucks lots of cars, I can see now why the Polish crew I met are in the area working on fixing the roads there pretty much crap. It probably would of been a nice ride if it wasnt so busy with trucks.

I was right though as soon as I got out of Oswiecim and Auswitz the mood lifted and the people were so friendly i stopped a couple of times to just grab a drink and had people come over for a chat and all the crews working on the road were waving and even a cop I passed just waved and smiled, I was actually thinking to myself its a bit like im back in Africa if that makes sense casuse its a little run down the people are really friendly so I was really enjoying the ride.

It ended up taking me a few hours to go the 60 k's as when I got to Krakow I just kept riding around town I sort of new where the centrum was and im staying near there so i though id just go for a quick squiz before I went and checked in.

Got to the apartment in down town Krakow its 60 aussie bucks a night so a little expensive but its really nice and right next to the old town so everything is within walking distance which makes it handy. It was one of them deals where you are supposed to ring to meet them with the key but as I pulled up the Darek came walking over to meet me that was lucky he saw the Australian number plates and put 2 and 2 together and relaised it was me. It had been a very freindly welcome to Krakow.

Got settled in it was still early so went for a walk up into the old town its a beautiful really large plaza with lots of cafes and restaurants surrounding it so was really nice walk. I can understand why this place is popular with tourist to come here to party. Came back and jumped back on the bike and went for another ride just buzzing around all the backstreets which was really good. You have to be a little careful it is a city and im on the wrong side of the road to what im used too and there are trams flying around everywhereif you get hit by one of them suckers where there moving along its night night. Im actually surprised how fast they go they dont muck around surely there must be a few people being hit by them.

It was looking like rain and it was getting dark so headed back to the apartment. There was a bit of a shower so after that I went up to grab some dinner and walk around the town. Stopped off and had a beer in one of the cafes surrounding the plaza and then as their kitchen had just closed I decided to walk on to another for dinner. As I was walking along I saw a nice little bar with a chick singing and a few dudes on guitars so went in to have a look see and yep you guessed it, dinner was a non event, well they do say theres a pie in every schooner so that was ok.

Well actually in the end I was on the Jacks pretty quick met a French guy Stephan who had been living and working in Gabon he was here on his holidays by himself so we got stuck into it together. Everyone was getting pretty pissed there was a few pommy girls sitting at the bar so we ended up having a bit of fun with them. There was a local Polish guy who we got chatting to us and he was saying we got to get into the vodka, he had a line of them on the bar ahahahah here we go.

I tried to say no but as if that is going to work so it was on for young and old. So here I am about to throw one of them into my guts thinking this is going to hurt and ready to dry reach, you know how it is, but when I threw it down it was so smooth, now im not sure if im just a piss head or there vodka is poop so I just shouted your kidding what have you given me water its like mothers milk, probably not the wisest thing ive done as he picked up another one and put it in my hand and down she went ahahahah Well there was a few more of them, many Jack Daniels and beers and the night went till at 4 am I think it was, ive really got no idea I was shitfaced. Was a really good night good music good company and good times.

I remember saying good bye to Stephan toward the end of the night, Im only booked into this place for 2 nights and then have to move so not exactly sure what to do whether to just find somewhere else or move on.

One thing that does shit me about this apartment is it has no internet now that fucken sucks why do places advetise that they have internet then not have it,oh well ther main squarte has it so its a good excuse to walk into town to check facebook and mails.

Im not sure where im going to go from here somewhere im not even sure if its north south east or west. ill have to give it some thought though

A really nice first day in Krakow I like Poland alot there peole here are really nice ancd friendly.
As you can imagine im doing this blog the next day and ive done sweet fa all day i actually didnt wake up till after lunch ahahahah its a tough life this travelling around the world. Its raining and looks like its set in so good excusew to be a hermit.

I had a walk around for awhile and found an open network over the road so thats handy not having to go up into the main mall to get on line.

Still havent decided where im going and im leaving in about 14 hours so im going to have to come up with some ideas ahaahaha


Krakow

[rideforsmiles]

Was up reasonably early as ive been on my ass recovering for the last day and was still thinking ok where the hell am I going. I thought id pack the bike up and ride over to maccas grab a bit to eat and use the internet to have a look at google maps before I made the decision. It did cross my mind to just ride till I saw a sign and head that way but that could be north and ive really decided against north for now.

Got into maccas mmmm maccas and started sussing out some different routes, 6 odd hours to Budapest 6 hours back to Prague Bratislava Vienna ahahahah I dont know so stuff it ill look in Krakow ive only been here a few days anyway and the weather is a bit shitty.

Ok i got a full tummy im already feeling like a nap so I just book a hotel on line and head back to pretty much next door to where I was an hour or two ago. Got booked in unload the bike relax for awhile and then do what any one would do and head for a bar in the old town.

Cruised over to the irish bar as you do and theres a few welsh guys in there having a drink friendly lot they were. We get chatting and as the day turn into night their mates who had been to Auswitz arrived as well, ny this time it was all becoming a bit of a swill fest.

There was quite a few people in the pub in the end it was a really good night met a nice couple from England and a good chat to them as well, Brittany I think it was had gone through an injury and had been dignosed with post traumatic stress its good to hear ohthers tales of how they dealt with there issues they had to go through.
Everyone was just being social it was a really good atmosphere as it should be when you have 30 or 40 people all on holidays having a good time.

A couple of the Welsh boys mentioned the Australia v Wales game in Cardiff on the 1st of December hey that maight be a good excuse to go back over that way, everyone keeps telling me how nice Wales is and the Welsh people ive met so far have all been really friendly. Ok it might not be the best time of the year to be in Wales but I had thought about going home to Oz at christmas time to see Logan so flying out of London would fit into that pretty good.

So anyway the night was getting messier and messier and then we all headed off down the road to another club. I had hooked up with an Austrian guy at some stage through the night and we were drinking these green shots of some shit fook me good shit. Matt was workig in Poland at the moment but had been all around the world working on different projects with osme pretty interesting stories of his own from Iraq to Mexico amoung others to now Poland
Went into the other bar for a few minutes but it was chockers with blokes on a weekend away so i thought id take off and find some other action where there was a little more talented company, ok by this stage I could of been cracking onto a gorilla for all I knew, but it had to have had tits for me to show much interest, even in the state I was in I was still capapble of making that detail out hahahah just.

Headed over to the live music bar where I was the other night and went in ok this is better a bit of music friendly people and ordered a double Jack when in walks this most gorgeous women, ok I was off my chops she could of been a bad nasty hooker for all I knew but to me at the time she looked good.

She came to the bar across from me and looked over and smiled and I thought to myself hello buggalugs ill give one of my best lines a throw " hey baby im a mechanic every time i look into your eyes my nuts tighten" so I go for a slash and shes out side having a ciggarette, nows my chance oh hang on im out of ciggies ill just duck down to the next shop 30 metres away and grab a pack beofre I start jibbering the bullshit, got to get my priorities right while im on the piss, you wouldnt believe it i come back and shes walking off up the road pffft I hate that oh well shit happens as they say in the good book NEXT!!!!! I got my ciggies anyway.

I go back in and have a jibber for awhile and have one more drink but its gettimg late nearly 1 by this time and as I have to get up and check out of this hotel in the morning I decide to cut my losses and head on home for an early nigth ahahahah ok id been at the bar since 4 in the afternoon so i was pretty wasted. Lots of laughs lots of great people and another really good night in Krakow. I should go out more often and just hit the piss, but me being the sweet lovable christian guy i am Im not interested in partaking of the demon drink all the time ahhahaha

So walked around the plaza grabbed a kebab and was walking home and spotted ol blondie again, thought about going over for a chat and then looked at my kebab looked at her and theb looked back at my kebab with loving eyes and chose my kebab mmmm sorry honey you just couldnt beat a kebab at 1:30 am when im pissed as a maggot lol
Ive decided im not going to get to Budapest tomorrow so im just stay a few more days around here, its nice, everyone including the locals are really friendly and its a nice town, actually it reminds me alot of Byron Bay at home, its just a full on tourist town but a 100 times the size of Byron so it feels comfortable for me.

Thats it for me, burp over and out


Just one of the little cafes off the main drag

[rideforsmiles]

I decided after I had hit the sack that i was going to stay in Krakow for a few more days so jumped online and booked a nice apartment on the other side of the old town. Sorted it all out and then just went and packed the bike up at a real slow pace as the bike was out in the car park and my room was on the other end of the hotel so each trip to the bike was taking 10 minutes.

Got into a chat with one of the local guys who worked in the parking area, Mariusz has a dream of buying a Ducati and also of travelling to Australia one day, got to have your dreams to strive for havent you. Chatted to Mariusz for a little while as I was packing and then when I had finsihed went and had some breakfast, I thought why not I paid for it, im actually pretty slack with the breakfast included deal cause im never up in time though ive just never really been a morning eater either but this breakfast was till 11 oclock which is great and not the norm for brekafast service.

Headed over to the apartments where i was booked into for the next few days I probably should of asked them for longer earlier but oh well another 2 days will be cool around here even if it just to relax.

The apartment wasnt ready so just parked my bike and put some of my gear in the room and then went for a walk into town. Sylvia the girl who was organising it spoke good English and was really helpful got me organised to park my bike in the undeground car park so I could leave all my gear on it which made it all very easy.
I thought about a beer but nah just walked around having a look around this side of town which I actually had seen much of on foot its a really nice town and there is so much more to it when you venture away from the main square, as normal you tend to only see the main attractions and plazas of these cities when you are in them for such a limited time..

Came back a few hours later and relaxed in this really nice apartment I could actually see myself staying permantly in something like this it only works out at around 450 aussie a week and im sure if I got a bit tighter with the money i could make it work, I can hear all the people doing there trips on 30 dollar days saying shut the fook up mate lol
Speaking of budget travellers I actually got a message from Shin the other day the Japenese guy I had ridden with in north Kenya and hes scraping the barrel big time cant find a job and is wondering how he would go in Australia fruit picking.

Actually there is work over in Oz doing that sort of stuff but most of the crew are younger on 12 month visas where they are allowed to work for 3 months in rural areas which all the fruit farms are, now whether Shin fits into that catorgory im not sure being Japenese it might be a little different for him in Australia.
I hung around at home tonight had a chat to Ewa on skype which was nice we certainly did create a really good bond in Prague, im still really tempted to go back and spend some time with her, time will tell. Just get the next few days out of the way and see where I end up.


Krakow main plaza

[rideforsmiles]

Did sweet fa today just basically hung out in this nice pad and relaxed and researched where im going. Had a chat to jared he will be in Budapest on wednesday or there abouts so ive got a few days up my sleeve to hang out somewhere so ive biooked into a place in Hustopece where Zdenka had told me. I havent mentioned to her that im coming yet i Probably should but when I get there ill only be a few hours from Prague and a few hours to Budapest so I will definaly have a decions to make then Jared or Ewa either way it will be nice ot see either of them.

Krakow Poland

[rideforsmiles]

Had an easy morning check out time was 11 so was up and moving reasonably early the bike was already packed and in the secure parking which made it all a breeze. Ended up on the road at 10:30 and for the first time in ages id actually done some research on how to get out of the town which is always makes it a bit easier knowing where you are heading.

I just took the motorway route as it was just a different way to the way i came in so was easy riding and quite scenic too.
Stopped off in a few of the smaller villages to have a look they are really nice but fucked if i know what they do here for fun its nice to relax but alot of them are more like heavans waiting room then somewhere to live.
The few hundred k ride ended up taking most of the day and arrived in Hustopece at around 5 so all good found the Hotel where i had booked in 30 bucks a night including breakfast so pretty good value and really a nice comfortable space to relax for a few days.

Had a beer went and chucked my gear in the room and then got back on the bike for a ride around town which I did in about 5 minutes ahahahah yeah its that small but its ok they said there was 6000 people here so that will give you some idea and half of that live in a few big apartment complexes. Still a very nice optical though.
Jareds going to be in Budapest and then Bratislava in the next few days so theres a good chance ill catch up with him too which would be nice give him a chance to steal some money out of my wallet ahahah

This place is really quiet I guess it would grow on you and im going to enjoy it for a few days. The chick in the bar downstairs is a drop dead fox ahahahah another one that cant speak e English, fuck them and their non learning at school oh well another one bites the dust.

Got chatting to a couple of the local boys in the bar one of them could speak pretty good English so he taught me the important phrases like Grazi Nusi ,nice tits and all those sorts of things. We hung out drinking for a few hours they had to go to work in the morning so i asked where there was another bar and said my good byes to them and as I walked out the bar said good night and Grazi Kusi to Brona the bar chick which got a laugh from everyone.
Walk off in search of somewhere to drink its like a morgue here, ok its Monday night so not ideal to be looking to party but you never know when your in a big city or a little country town. Walked around for 15 minutes then found a casino went in no one there except Monika a pretty blonde so yeah ok ill have a throw, i mean a drink.

Get chatting to her theres fuck all machines, a casino my ass theres a few poker machines and a roulette table and if you have been around here the poker machines have so many flashing lights and plus them being in Czech I have no idea with them so i asked her to come and play with me so off we go and then to the poker machine too lol
We ended up winning 1500 krone what ever there money is which is about 75 aussie so not a bad hit and then took it out gave her 500 for helping so that is probably equal to a days wage or even more in this neck of the woods, i doubled my money anyway so thats all that matters.

Had a few more shots of some shit wasnt real strong they have a ban on any stronger spirits at the moment in the Czech Rep no JD, Bourbon no nothing strong cause 21 people died and 30 something hospitalized in Prague the other weekend sculling shots of some shit ahahahahah bloody classic hey i wonder if that makes the tourist papers, id imgine not.

Walked out of there and headed off in the direction of home and bumped into a German guy down here on work and he was looking for a bar so i said what the hell ill walk with you and have another look i did see one up here somewhere but that was an hour or so ago.

Yep theres this little divey looking club right up my alley I like em like that. it was run by a Czech Syrian dude a really nice guy so in we go and start playing some pool. I encouraged a game against one of the local boys and the bar owner so we had made friends pretty quickly. Im guessing the owner is the only other one to play pool in this part of the world, the table was small good the pockets big, so I broke and sunk all but one and then he got on and nearly did the same so the other two playing just sat there going wtf, we made it double the black to make it somewhat interesting and after a few tries and watching the other two just miss the ball altogether i put the black in the pocket and said you win lets start again.

We played another game then and Iet the others go first then got on and pretty much did the same thing though this time sinking everything and winning the game, seriously this table was the easiest ive ever played on, probably to easy. Went to play a decider but the table didnt spit the balls out so that was the end of that so we just joined a few of the locals at the table and started to jibber. They were younger so could speak a tiny little bit of english and Tomas the German wasnt much better with his English so it was a struggle to get anything across but there was a good juke box in there and we got some music happening so we could listen to different choices from local czech music to thre eagles.

Ended up staying there till closing time the guy was going to close at 12 but we kept him open for another hour as everyone was getting into it and having a lot of fun.
So left there and headed home was pretty spanked really well I guess I had been drinking pretty much from when I arrived at 5 oclock.

Good day and night lots of laughs and meeting good people again.


Some of the scenary closer to Hustopece is nice

[rideforsmiles]

Had an easy day and night today just went down the road for lunch then walked around town the bike didnt even come out of the garage so all good. Had a nice chat to Ewa this evening on skype very tempting to go back to Prague and see her but ill wait and see what Jared is doing and then go from there. So all in all recovery mode again today seems to be a few of them lately which is always fun.


Hustopece main Square

[rideforsmiles]

The weather was pretty shitty in the morning great excuse to relax and do sweet fa so that exactly what i idid. I had recieved an email from the starving model Zdenka but the translator couldnt make heads or tails of it and even the people at the bar werent sure but the gist of the email was she was busy getting ready for the competition on the weekend.

I had sort of put meeting her behind me and was in the bar with the guys fromt he other night as they were there for lunch. Mickel had said he could be our translator and I said yeah standing in the bedroom holding the candle going oh yes Zdenka yes sheldon probably wouldnt help with the mood. They headed back off to work and I walked outside to sit in the outside area and im sitting there minding my own business playing on the comuter and facebook and guess who walks in, its Zdenka hellllooo. Tall, slim, long legs and big tits oh ok ill be polite and look her in the eyes for at least a few seconds, yeah right. Its to bad Mickel had just left it certainly would of made it a little easier to have him there to help us a little.

She came over and sat down and straight away it was the communication thing fuck it shits me I know why id given up back in Egypt trying to talk to these chicks it doesent matter how hot they are if you cant say "i want to spank that candy ass of yours", its just not happening for me.

Anyway we used the translator on the pc and my phone and got out a basic conversation she will be learning English from next Febuary to late for me baby, but never say never you just never know what lies around the corner she is defintaly a beautiful women and from what time we had together a really nice natured women too as we were having a laugh sitting there touching leaning on each other the standard flirting crap.
We translated where and when her competition was on and if I came she woudl be nervous but I said id hide up the back and she just laughed.

Hung out for a while then she had to go so which was a shame but it was nice to meet her and as she walked off she turned and gave me a big smile and a wave with me standing there thinking romantic thoughts like, man id like to hammer that ahahahah

went and took my gear upstairs and came back down to the bar the boys had come back from work and we sat down and had a few beers and started watching the local ice hockey. One of the local guys that lives in the hotel has that local drink made out of the fermented plums id have to look up the name sykovski or something weird like that and the boys were trying to get me to have a shot with them but i was being a little ehsitant cause 21 people died the other weekend drinking the shit in a club in Prague and shitloads in hospital so as you can imagine im sitting there in the back woods of the Czech Republic ummmm arrrrr nah maybe oh ok lets go.

They poured the first shot still thinking fuck what am i doing people go blind from drinking this home brew shit oh well im already wearing glasses to work on the pc so what the hell. Ok that had a bite to it not like the vodka i was drinking in Krakow foook me knocks ya ahead off I would think 5 or 6 of them and you would be shitfaced ok so ill have three instead as ive still got a few beers to have.

As you can imagine by now we are all jibbering madly doesent matter we cant understand each other we are just laughing carrying on like idiots. A few more beers and me and Mickel decided to head off into town to find a bar and see if there is any action happening. We got to his favourite joint and hes going nahh its dead but I saw a few chicks in thee smiling and carrying on a bit with one bored lookign dude and thought nah lets go in and have one. 10 minutes after getting there we are at the tbale with the girls jibbering on, they couldnt speak english but the daughter whose birthday it was could and Mickel could so they were doing the translating if I wanted to say something so all good.
We got on really well dont ask me their names Michelle Mish and Miska or something like that.

Lots of laughs lots of drinks and in the end im arm wrestling mishka and everyone is pissing themselves laughing. was a classic, at one time I asked if the bloke with them was her boyfriend and she gestured like he had a little dick, nice chick and then smiled and gestered that she likes them that big you know hands about a foot apart so I told Mickel to tell be fucked if im folding my cock in half for you ahahahah so that sort of was how it went all night bloody lots of laughs lots of drinks and again meeting really freindly people. Mishka rides a bike some touring type i couldnt work it out what it was. She has invited me back on the weekend for a ride and to go to some party but whatever I was thinking of Prague thinking of going to watch Zdneka compete or seeing where Jared is and seeing him, Ill decide when I have to.

Ended up smashed that local drink hits ya hard and im sure you would have to make a point of not getting into to hard but we had just the right amount and the party was great.

Ended up partying till 1:30 then called it a night, well we were falling over ourselves so I think it called a night for us. got home and crashed and didnt surface till after lunch so this blog is taking in two days. As you cam inagine ive felt better i dont know how Mickel would of gone at work today poor bugger but he is alot younger so you tend to bounce back a little quicker than i would.

Walked down the road and bought some lunch in the nice little cafe again there ladies in there a really smiley and friendly even if we cant understand a word each other say so its point at this point at that for choice.
Came back and got the bike out and went for a ride into some of the surrounding villages still a little shakey so I was being extra careful on the bike as you do making sure the road was clear as when i walked down before i looked the wrong way again as I was crossing the road only to turn the right way and see a truck right there. Went and took a few photos around town and bumped into the Czech Syrian guy and the other local dude fromte little bar the other night so had a small chat with them they invited me in for a beer but I wasdnt in the mood for more drink so said goodbye and got back on the bike and continued on my merry way. Was nice to see them again though and say thank you for the fun and their friendly welcome.

Rode for a few hours all over the place up and down the side streets of Hustopece and surrounds there is actually some really nice places up in the back of the suburb and from what I could work out on the real estate wall fairly reasonably priced.

Got back and came up stairs and had a chat on Skype to Ewa she was off for a walk and I was going down for dinner beef steak and pepper sauce and beer mmmmmm and just under 10 bucks so pretty good value in my eyes.
Back in my room looks like the hotel is booked out tomorrow so im moving somewhere Jared is Bratislava Zdenka is here at home but relaxing cause she doesent do anything i think shes down to 1 litre of water on Friday and a massage and no food, fuck how they do that shit is incredible its called Miss Olympia and body sculpting but from what i can see it has to be the most unhealthiest sport in the world even if you are pumping weights all the time.

I'll wake up in the morning and decide which way im going ill probably go see Jared its only an hour or so away and i know Bratislava so it shouldnt be hard to find him.

Waiting on Ewa to call and then its off to sleep im still pretty tired from last night over and out for another day. Adios


The guys from the bar the other night

[rideforsmiles]

Well ended up riding over to Bratislava to see jared ,was a short ride over just over and hour from Hustopece and found the hotel I had booked us pretty easily so all good, I had a really nice time in Hustopece its a nice little town and the people were really nice and of course I got to spend some time with Zdenka who is really nice but with her lack of English its probably just in the two hard basket being the lazy prick i am doesent matter how stunning she is.

Jared was already checked in and came down to meet me and help unpack the bike then we headed up to the room for awhile. After id unpacked the bike we went back downstair to the bar for awhile and had a beer each then we headed into town for a look around. walked around the old town its not that big so didnt take long then headed over to the Danube for a look over the river which is pretty nice.

While we were walking through the town there was these two guys busking one on a guitar the other on some electronic double bass looking thing and they were brilliant. we watched them for a about 10 minutes then they had a break so I went up and chatted to one of them and they were having a gig up the road tonight, great excuse to go out.

Went back to the hotel for awhile, poor old Jared was getting a bit tired the old thing he is ahahahah hes not much of a party animimal as it probably cuts into his sleep but dragged him kicking and screaming and off we went back down to the bar where they were playing.

Spent a few hours down there there wasnt much happening its hard to imagine that musicians so good dont have a place full but there is either great musicians everywhere here or they just dont like live music either way both times ive seen live music in Bratislava its been dead as a dodo. They were brilliant musos though so didnt really matter if there was people around or not.

It was a pretty good day seeing Jared again is always nice as much he probably could do with out his old man having a go at him for looking a bit scruffy, his hair every where like he has just woken up his jumper and clothes are filthy and of course being the father and telling him to clean himself up never goes down well.

[rideforsmiles]

Had a slow start today I was thinking of what I was going to do and which way i was going to head from here, Budapest is only a few hours away and so is Prague and Ewa. Hungary and Budapest means the adventure continues onwards back to the Czech Republic Prague and Ewa means the adventure will be having a break for awhile which is never a bad thing, I really enjoyed my travels through Africa as I did spent time in places instead of just blowing through like ive been doing alot of places in Europe.

When we walked down to breakfast there was another gs 800 from California so thought id try and catch up with him later so for now just left a message on his bike and wentand had breakfast/lunch in town then just walked around for awhile. Got back to the hotel and asked them at the desk what room was the guy that owned the other Bmw out the front and they gave me hsi room number so went up and tried to ring him. Ok no answer ok must be doigna walk of his own.

Somehow Tina's name came up in conversation the English girl I had spent sometime with in Egypt, I still think of her a lot, weird I know. Jared has her on his friends list in Facebook and mentioned that she was somewhere I cant exactly remember where he said now but he handed me his phone to stalk her profile as I have her deleted and as soon as he did the internet dropped out ahahahah my little angels really dont want me to see her or know what she is up too do they, still there looking out for me.

I still havent decided which way im going so hanging out here for another night with Jared his bus doesent leave till Monday so ive still got a decision to make but im leaning towards Prague and Ewa for awhile.

We hung out for awhile jsut relaxing around the hotel its pretty flash for these parts and im sure jareds enjoying it after back packing around for the last few months living in dorms etc its been nice to jsut hang out and chat to him about where he has been and share travel stories.

Headed down to dinner I stopped at the American guys room who owned the other Gs and knocked on his door he answered back from inside the room and I shouted out its Sheldon from the other Gs mate and then I waited thinking ok he will come to the door but no he didnt so after a minute of two i slipped a card under his door and walked away fucken rude prick. You get that some solo travellers are just weird cunts, but everyone to their own just cause I tend to like to meet people and be social doesent mean he has to be. Must admit it was a bit weird id left a message on his bike, id tried to ring him a few times, knocked on his door and got a response only to be fobbed off, oh well fuck him i thought if hes like that, rude prick lol but really weird, sometimes I think your better off not meeting some people and maybe this was one of those times and I was just being protected again.

We went down to the Irish pub and had a few beers and dinner but it had started to rain and it was really quiet so we decided to call it a night, ive decided im going to go back and see Ewa in Prague where that will take me who knows shes such a great girl only 28 but really intelligent and pretty dam sexy to, plus the fact she will do anything I ask of her helps too ahahahahah and get your minds out of the gutter its nothig like that ahahahah oh ok it is maybe she was impressed by my promise of the best two minutes of her life , some of us are just guns some of you are flops lol
Back in the hotel now at around 11pm Prague is only about 4 hours away max so not a big day for me tomorrow Jared will head back to the hostel and then jump on his 24 hour bus ride back to London, its been really nice to see him its a shame we dont have a few more days im actually not sure when Ill see Jared again out paths do take pretty different tracks from here for awhile but with everything being so close, well within a few days im sure we will catch up somewhere along the line.

[rideforsmiles]

So im back in Prague, pretty uneventfull ride but got the bike up to around 200k's an hour again so a nice little work out for the baby, she handles a straight line ok like that but as soon as i came to even the slightest of bends ahahahahah that about covers it, nothing like having the throttle fully opened up on it though i could do with a little better handling and a tad more speed to really have fun, but fully kitted and a little wind always makes for a little faster heart beat, it kept me awake anyway its so boring riding expressways.

Stopped at Maccas had a bit for lunch and then jsut rode the last hour or so into Prague had osme idea where i was going knoing the town from a few weeks ago so helped in me finding this joint prettymuch rode straight to the Emporio apartments with only a handful of going up one way streets, you know the standard wave no no no wrong way, i just wave at them and keep going, as if i give a rats ass some random back street in Prague give me a ticket and ill just leave the country lol id probably be able to talk my way out of it anyway.

The Emporio apartments are really nice two bedroom place I picked up really pretty cheap about 50 or 60 euro a night I think it was I dont really take to much notice of that sort of thing which I probably should be a bit more aware of I know, its reasonable anyway. Im here for a few days and then i'll decide what to do after that. Ive got my bike parked in a garage just down the road which is secure but im sure it would be fine but for the 8 euro a day extra i know its safe.

Met up with Ewa on the Charlse bridge not long after I arrived and that was really nice, I like Ewa a lot she is intelligent and nice looking and really great company even if a fair bit younger than me but thats ok who am I to complain ill struggle through.

Back in this nice apartment relaxing Monday tomorrow Ewa has to work so ill go for a ride to nowhere as I like to do or then again I might just do sweet fa and hang around here all day.

Pretty nice day all in all was nice to spend a few days with Jared down in Bratislava but im happy to be abck in Prague and seeing Ewa, I like it here even if it is really touristy.