I'm in the UK for a few months at the moment, so naturally decided to do a wee spot of travel; first stop was Budapest for a night. I had forgotten how much I love this city. Dinner was at one of my favourite restaurants, Fatal, and then we wandered around checking out the city sights by night. The next morning we went to one of the famous baths and did the obligatory watching-bathing-old-men-play-chess. I had to leave when white castled - the obvious move was bishop to g5, mate in three. What an amateur that guy was. We had to make our way to Novi Sad in Serbia for Exitfest, and this was achieved via a delightful five hour train journey. I say delightful because we were lucky enough to reserve seats, so we had a very comfy air-conditioned compartment shared with a delightful Irish lass, a smashing lass from Manchester, an amusing French fellow and a sleeping Serb who took up two seats yet only had one ticket. Bitch. We with seats lived like kings . . . but the plebs in the corridor were treated like rats, the lowest of the low. Most of them were poms. Ha. Oh how we mocked them. "Look at the scum out there sitting on the floor, no better than tramps and beggars" we guffawed.
As for the music festival itself the setting was fantastic – an old fort on a hill with the dance arena in a drained moat. I had seen the line-up, but hadn't quite realised that it was mainly a dance music festival. Now I quite like dance music every now and then, but 80 hours straight is just a mite too long for me. Groove Armada were sensational, we managed to sneak into the VIP area to watch The Prodigy from relative safety, Basement Jaxx and Beastie Boys were very good but Snoop Dogg and Wu Tang Clan were shit. I think I'll call them Shite Dogg and Wu Wank Shite from now on. Muppets, the lot of 'em. And the reason it was 80 hours straight was that although the festival finished at about 8 am each day (for four days) . . . the after party at the beach kicked in straight afterwards. Plus there was constant doof coming from the food area, so escape was nigh on impossible. I just want some music with a guitar in it, dammit! Is that too much to ask, really??After the festival I headed off to Sarajevo in Bosnia, which is a great city. I spent a few days in Sarajevo wandering around and checking out war stuff. Sarajevo was very hot, about 40 degrees. We left Sarajevo for Mostar in Hercegovina and traveled by train, only this time we were the ones sans seats. Oh how we were mocked. "Look at the scum sitting on the floor, with their dreary faces and dirty clothes, no better than tramps and beggars" they sneered. Well, they didn't actually vocalise this, but I could see it in their eyes. Nevertheless, it was spectacular scenery and it's fair to say that Bosnia and Hercegovina shits all over Serbia.
Mostar was even hotter than Sarajevo. It was the hottest city in Europe in fact - 43 degrees in the shade, which equates to about a bazillion degrees when out of the shade. And just after lunch we decided that it would be a good idea to go for a wander along the former frontline. Quelle surprise, the former frontline is not a tree-lined paradise with shade and cool grass and bubbling water fountains and ice-cream vans playing Greensleeves and people laughing and having a grand old time. Oh no. It is an asphalt road with concrete footpaths lined with uninviting bullet-holed skeletons of buildings. And fuck me was it hot, I can honestly say I have never been hotter. Fortunately we headed to the river and went for a dip in the freezing waters that flow quickly beneath Mostar's famous bridge. I think that saved us, and was probably the highlight of the whole trip for me.
Split on the Adriatic coast was the final leg . . . and whilst I thought Mostar was hot, the crapper that was on the roof-terrace of my hostel in Split was unbelievable. I almost passed out (from the heat, not the smell). And after Split I split, and I'm now firmly ensconced in the shite weather of London. Yay.Hope all's well with you, and if you think you are jealous of what I've been up to, try taking a dump in a sauna and see how you like it. It ain't fun, let me tell you.
