Performin' in the Land of ICe
This time - Iceland. Most Nth I've ever been. I booked about six months in advance, because of some super 70quid BA special. About two weeks after booking it I wished I hadn't, because I did so on the same weekend as Karneval in Koeln. I heard amazing things about Koeln madness during Karneval from Jan, and it was the ONLY thing I had planned to do (in advance) for 2007! So I was a little sad. But looking back I'm totally happy I hit Iceland when I did - everything fell nicely into place.
The start was a bit rocky - especially on the sleep front. Somehow I thought that because the flight was early, I'd be better staying at my mate Allen's house in London the night before. Ended up taking about the same amount of time to go from London to Gatwick as it'd take going there from Cambridge, except costing about twice as much. Also, there was no power at Allen's house (the whole neighbourhood was out) which meant I couldn't use the net to find the best way to get to the airport. Damn. Also three days before I left my camera stuffed up - the lens wouldn't retract. This happened when in a club. I came home, disassembled the camera, detached the lens, shocked my hand, twisted and reseated the lens and got it working again. All whilst drunk! I was impressed. Though I didn't try the zoom feature until I got to Iceland, where the lens got stuck again. I freaked out, I needed a camera this trip, but somehow managed to massage it back into place. I have mad skills. Anyyyyyyyyway - after hardly any sleep we hit the airport and met-up with the group. I went to Iceland with Frank and a few of his mates from work, along with one of Allen's mates. Allen was supposed to go, but had to cancel at the last minute. Also, one of Frank's mates couldn't make it either, cos he drove to London to pickup his passport from his folks on the way to the airport, but his parents who were away at the time put it somewhere and he couldn't find it. So he missed out! Lame...Planned to catch some Zs on the plane because I was super tired after 4hrs sleep, but it didn't happen. Sat next to some cool chicks on the plane which involved gasbaggin' and smashing Gin & Tonics at like 9am. Gotta do it when on holidays eh?
Got to my guesthouse, where two of the guys, Dave & Emilio, were also staying. After checking in I wondered around the city. Downtown Reykjavik is pretty small & compact. But it's got a really arty vibe, losta funky cafes, cool shops - like art, music, fashion (cutting edge as well as 80s-90s styled second hand stores), tattoo shops, etc. Very cool vibe. People are friendly, and everyone speaks perfect English - way better than in Germany, for example. I met some random people in the streets who gave me advice of things to see. Iceland only has 300,000 people, 200,000 of them living in greater-Reyk. Reykjavik is actually quite spread out, a bit different to the typical European style of people living on top of each other. I met a girl from Mexico who was working there. She spoke to me in Spanish off the bat, which was fun. I asked her whether there were many Mexicans in Iceland. She replied 23. Hahaha. Pretty exact! I guess when the place is small it's like everybody-knows-everybody. Maybe Iceland 2 degrees rather than 7 of separation. I was told that "people ask me if I have met Bjork. Of course I have, you see her around, shopping, etc"... Awesome. The Mexican chick described Iceland as "caro y frio" (expensive and cold). I could have worked that much out for myself :) Lotsa random stuff on the streets. Like streams of people coming out of nowhere. Motorists are super courteous there - the cars ALWAYS stop for pedestrians. Like even if you are just sort-of near the side of the road (not close at all), they will stop in anticipation of you crossing. Sure, almost every country in the world has to give way to pedestrians, but never have I been to a place where they anticipate someone coming onto the road meters and meters in advance. Heh, you hear people with stereos cruising the strip. One old guy was swingin' through the streets in this 4WD with blaring cowboy music (think country & western - ultra hillbilly), giving maximum thumbs-up to everyone he passed....
After checking out a bit of the town on Fri I was damn tired - so I caught some Zs before meeting up with Asta who is an awesome Icelandic chick who I met through Couchsurfing. She made my trip unforgettable, as through her I got to experience some totally random things I'd never have on my own. Her day job is dealing with some business aspects of IT, but at night she's a professional dancer. So that night, she got me tickets to a live Icelandic X-Factor show (ep 4) where she was dancing that night. She wasn't competing, but being a support dancer for the contestants. X-Factor Iceland!!! Awesome!
Where's Wally/Waldo (errrrrrrrrrrrr Jat)?!
I was way excited. Got there and Asta gets me in and seats me with the cheersquad for a contestant Jogvan, before going back-stage ready to perform. Jogvan is this super-gay looking (but apparently straight) hairdresser. He had a massive cheersquad, all with matching shirts. The girl I was sitting next to told me that he was her boss - so she was cheering extra loudly :) I saw the host of the show, Halla, giving out autographs to kids etc. Then the next minute I hear "Jat! Jat!". I look over and see Halla looking at me. Then I look behind me, thinking maybe Jat is some Icelandic word and she's calling someone else. Why would the much younger, and more attractive Gretel Colleen of Iceland wanna reach across a few rows to shake my hand? Hahah. Then I notice Asta next to her - Asta is good mates with her, so it quickly made sense. The person sitting next to me was intrigued as to how/why that just happened. Anyway so the show started, and with my vast knowledge of the Icelandic language I knew exactly what was happening ;) - all good fun. Asta was dancing in the first act, which was some Shania Twain cover, so she had to churn out some mad bootscooting moves. See some here. The acts were pretty good - it wasn't as random as I had hoped as all the songs were English covers; no crazy/different Icelandic music. It's much more amusing to watch performers in a language you don't understand, cos nothing makes sense you can focus more on the spectacle of it all. Especially trying to work out the judges reactions to stuff. Clearly it is the same formula as always, one girl, one bad-ass judge (this guy was hilarious, a gay ex-Eurovision star from 1997, Páll Óskar, who wore ultra tight pants and an historical military jacket - I thought he looked so much like a German soldier[though I might have been biased, having watched Schindler's List a few days before]). Only two songs had supporting dancers, and Asta was in both - the other song was a cover of Outkast's Hey-Ya - meaning crazy pom-pom action. The judges apparently said the dancers distracted from the singer. Maybe they were right, I thought the singer was ordinary - he didn't do much except sing badly and flex his muscles!! See for yourself. During the intervals and after the show I was admitted 'backstage' (it was in a shopping centre so backstage was some sort of creche), and all the performers and judges were back there looking stressed, etc. So the way X-factor works is that all the contestants perform, then people vote on their favourite acts via SMS/calls. Then the bottom-two scores have to perform again and then one act is voted off. So the two most rockiest songs, one performed by an old guy and the other by a pair of unattractive girls (singing AccaDacca tracks) had to perform again. Sure the guy was old, but he was good. But he got voted off. I couldn't help but feel sad - too easily caught up in the emotion; apparently tears were flowing back-stage. Especially since he was one of the best. Why couldn't the guy who absolutely killed "Karma Police" go?! Oh the drama!
After the show we go hit some nightspots. Reykjavik goes crazy on the weekends, but apparently this Fri is more quiet than usual because the next day was the big Icelandic Eurovision final so people were saving themselves to party then. Eurovision!! YESSS!! More on that later. Anyway so we hit some clubs. The first one was awesome, Vegamot. They had this really good hiphop dj, playing good hiphop (like old-skool along with Pharcyde/Roots style stuff etc - no modern RnB/JayZ schtuff). Amazing mixing and scratching, and they had a trombone playing along and stuff. Great tunes.. Then we hit up the Kaffibarrin, which is owned by Damon Albaran (lead of Blur/Gorillas), which is ultra funky (no photos allowed!) place, with bizarre electro (think a Commodore 64 bleeping away with heavy beats) blaring out of the speakers. Lotsa crazy dress & dancing. Afterwards we hitup some punky/rock bar. Early night that night, like 3ish, cos I had a massive road trip the next day.
Icelandic nightlife is interesting. All the cafes/restaurants transform into nightspots/bars/clubs in the night. And most places are basically located on (or just off) the same street, so you can literally crawl between them. Reyk is dead until about 1am when it goes crazy. By then, people are absolutely trashed. Basically people drink heaps before they go out cos drinks are goddamn expensive. Like a pint is about 5quid. I bought a magic(redbull)+jager and a bacardi breezer and it cost 1750krone (14quid or $35AUD!). So yeah, boozing before is a smart move. Saw people drinking on the streets, behind alleys and stuff. At 3am there were still queues everywhere. Also, there are no cover chargers in Reyk, I guess cos the drink prices MORE than make up for it. It was pretty cold. Actually I should say, despite the name - Iceland is not THAT cold. Was only a few degrees below the temp in the UK. I guess it was like 6-2 degrees max-min. Though I'm sure it dropped below 0 overnight. Still, there was a bit of sun on Sat, the day we went road-trippin'. No where near as bad as I thought. Oh yeah, Icelandic chicks are generally pretty hot, actually in my opinion, ones generally out and about seemed better than those in the VIP section. They're forward too - ask me for details re this random girl who only liked boys who spoke Japanese (don't worry - nothin' too excitin') ).
Frank and his workmates organised a sweet 9seater 4wd. And because of the few cancellations I managed to sneak in a seat! So we hit the road bright and early to check out the golden-circle (tourist route). Our bizarre, unluxurious brick of a RangeRover would stop, immobilise and start the alarm upon a stall (leaving us stranded in the middle of the street). Finally it started behaving and we hit the road. I listened to Bjork (I'm cheesy I know) as we cruised around and admired the amazing scenery of Iceland. I mean, snow capped mountains, volcanic rocks, frozen lakes, waterfalls. Simply breathtaking. First stop was the Thingvellir national park, with some good outlooks. Next stop, the geyser, which performed very nicely - launching quite a few times, even spraying some of the boys with hot water. It's one of the biggest geysers in the world. Mind the sulphuric smell. Lunch involved this 20quid buffet of terrible food (apparently - I went the 'cheap' option next door) - laughs abound at the quality. Next stop, the waterfalls - Gulfgoss. Absolutely amazing. We walk down the slope to get to the falls. Well actually, we slid down the slope. Even guys with grip on their shoes were basically holding onto the rope sliding down the trail. The falls were amazing, check out the video I took.. Probably my highlight re nature. We stopped at various places on the way, taking photos here and there. The countryside is so scenic - pictures speak a thousand words, though given others had far better cameras than me, I left the scenic shots to them (guys if you're reading this, please send me some of your best pics). After the falls, I FORCED the rest of the group to drop me back in Reyk. They wanted to hit the Blue Lagoon. But I needed to be back, as Asta was dancing at the Icelandic Eurovision Final, and she managed to score me a ticket!!! I was SO excited. love Eurovision, and to be there watching Icelanders fighting it out for their chance to compete, I just couldn't miss it!
Gulfgoss - seriously amazing falls
I get home in time for a short sleep, before hitting the contest. Everyone sitting in my row had free tickets from ppl somehow associated with the contest. Seats were a little far back, but still great - the place was packed. Man Eurovision. Absolutely incredible - everything I had hoped for and more. Like crazy spectacle of sound, lights, dance and movements. Crowd going crazy. Icelandic acts going crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. I'm sure it was much more fun as I couldn't understand the words. So I was sitting next to two Sweeds, a couple, the girl didn't know much about Eurovision, but the guy knew everything: who performed what, where, etc. The whole history of contest... Asta was dancing whilst the voting was taking place, with Silvia Night. Silvia N is described as the Ali-G of Iceland, so she's totally provocative, doing crazy stunts, abusing people, etc. She engineered a campaign whilst there saying "Say NO to the Silvia Night show" - a publicity stunt appearing like a protest. She represented Iceland in Eurovision last year - with her song which is hilarious, saying stuff like how's she the best, how Iceland is lucky to have her, using a phone to call god and saying "Hi God, it's your favourite person", and of course the famous lines "no damn eurotrashfreak, The vote is in, I'll fuckin' win "etc. If you wanna know more check here, and see the post Athens Eurovision Controversy, where people didn't know her background and thought she was crazy. Or better yet, see it as it happened.
Anyway so I got to enjoy all the performances of the Icelandic Eurovision Final - where the winning act goes to Helsinki for the final. Lots of styles - everything from terrible country and western style songs, to heavy rock, to clubbin' tunes, to one cheesy song with equally camp dancers. Haha funniest thing for was some 'hot boy' who came up on stage, wearing a jacket without a shirt, showing off his muscles. As he was obviously trying to be a sex god, it was SO amusing when his biggest cheersquad was a bunch of pre-pubescent boys, who stood on their chairs, removed their shirts to display his name painted across their naked stomachs, screaming out his name in their high-pitched voices every time he was mentioned. Something dodgy goin on eh? A few acts went through, and then they brought on some past Eurovision stars whilst the votes were counted. The Romanian guy from the final last year (finishing #4) performed his quite catchy club song Tornero. Asta's act came on, which was probably the most polished of all acts. She's the one in black. The winner was this heavy metal singer guy. My favourite part was when the guy, all tough and stuff, is presented with a trophy and a MASSIVE bouquet. He's standing there, this old tough rocker lovin' these flowers. Classic.
After the show, Asta gives me her VIP pass, so I'm sitting backstage, enjoying some good food and drink, randomly talking to people (probably stars - I have no idea) while she does her backstage stuff. Then a few of Asta's friends - Halla and Hei?a (from yesterday) and I get into her car for the after party. We are VIP in the club Nasa (hosting the afterparty) - which means free drinks (bad for Jat ;), but good for his pocket). There I formulate my story where I'm from Channel V in Aus and I'm scoping the Icelandic Eurovision Scene to see whether we want to cover it next year. But I didn't get around to using those top lines. So after boozing and hobnobbing with Icelandic VIPs and Eurovision stars, it's dancefloor time. Páll, the 'mean' judge from X-Factor (who I thought looked German), was DJg a mix of all classic Eurovision songs. So cheesy, so good. He even grabbed the mic and started MC'g to his old songs. Amazing stuff. I managed to grab a video of a bit of his set (see below). Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Danced like crazy for a few hours - it's awesome hitting the dancefloor with a pro-dancer. Burn' it up. Make the space. All this in between more drinks, such as Topas which was described as a drink of death by Quentin Tarantino. Good fun. I lost my scarf which made me pretty sad cos I had just bought it in Reyk about 28 hours earlier.
Asta (pro-dancer), Halla (host/actress), Hei?a (Iceland Idol star), and someone I can't remember who performed a compilation of Eurovision winners earlier that night. At last AND least - me :)
At about 3.30 we hit the most famous drunk-food place in Reyk, called Nonnabiti. It had a massive line, where they made these awesome toasted subs. I was pretty hammered, and asked the staff for recommendations, which made sense for the sandwich, but not really for the drink. Imagine - soooo what do you recommend from your softdrink fridge? Appelsín (Fanta)... Haahah. Food was really good. But filling. And pricey (like 10 quid!). I get back to my guesthouse about 3.30 with Carl and Debby (from UK) just leaving the place after boozing there. I go upstairs and Dave & Emilio are still up. Being drunk, I don't feel like sleeping, so I drag them out. Not knowing where to go, I text Esther, another person I contacted from Couchsurfing, who suggests a place - so we head down. It's now 4.30 but people are still around. So hit up some place and dance around for a bit. Can't really remember meeting Esther. Smash a beer and then the place closes around 5.30 or something. So we get back around 6ish (I think - times are a bit hazy). I sleep in until 12, knowing I didn't want to go on a massive roadtrip the next day; unlike the other boys who had to be bright and early to head out. Nasty.
Páll Óskar showing us that 1997 Eurovision Songs just won't quit
The secret to fame is in smooth and skilled movements of the right hand. Take notes people...
Last day involved chilling out. I went to the Blue Lagoon - which is this geothermal swimming area. So surreal cos it glows like a flourescent blue. Apparently people with chronic skin conditions are sent there from all over the world for a week or two and thy get cured. It's really awesome, swimming in warm (to hot) water against a grey sky, knowing it's cold outside. Steam everywhere, and was even cooler when it started to rain a bit. They have saunas which are directly heated from lava beneath (massive trenches in the ground). I could feel my feet cooking. Best hangover cure in the world. Actually the water everywhere in iceland is so fresh and pure - prob a hangover cure in itself. Sun was very chilled - not feeling like mayhem after having such little sleep over the previous days, Asta asked if I wanted to go to her folks place for a traditional Icelandic family meal. I'm such a foody - I'm there! Her family were all really nice and accommodating, good convo about differences between Aus & Iceland. I was surprised that her dad and brother looked a bit like my Grandad - actually a lot more similar in real-life than in the photos. Strong resemblance - though I think Grandad is of slavic descent(?). They made some awesome food, like a nice leg of lamb - SO tender, was amazing, with some apple salad, another green salad (which even included grapes - obviously native to Iceland...). For desert we had like massive profiteroles/cream puffs with jam inside. Apparently I was the day before this once-a-year celebration which involves eating nothing but eating cream-puffs for the whole day. The tradition is that kids are given these sticks, and the more times they hit their parents the more cream puffs they are given!! Seriously - check it out here. The day after that is salted meat day, where people eat as much salted lamb as they can. Awesome festivals...Oh yeah, lots of people in Iceland believe in Elves and hidden people - and say lots of strange things happen. Not surprising, given the crazy geophysical nature of the land. I was searching to find out more about the tales of elves when I found this mental-chick's page. Pretty amusing - check it out here(18+). Scary thing is I got to that link from the Iceland Tourism Board homepage!
Bought more drinks for my 'crazy-drinks' collection. I have some drink known as black-death - Brennivin, some Topas and some Icelandic schnapps with like some sort of leaf or moss or something inside. Good stuff. Iceland is incredible. Just ask Mr Tarantino. Reyk is awesome. It's small and compact. But really arty. And the nightlife on the weekend is fantastic. People are fun and kinda out-there. Like you see people with crazy hair (one chick had one side of her hair curly, the other side dead straight, another just had a massive spike of hair coming out of her head).
Overall - this trip was amazing. I got to do so many random/incredible things - going to see Icelandic pop-culture with X-Factor, along with some of the craziness that Eurovision brings, enjoy fancy parties, enjoy some of the breathtaking countryside, sights, water, etc. Most of this was thanks to Asta, an awesome chick who went above and beyond the call of duty to sort me out with all these different experiences; and of course to Frank and mates for finding the cheap flights, organising the car, etc. So much fun. I will definitely go back - but maybe in summer, which averages like 13degrees! Too hot eh? Or maybe for New Year's - videos of that look so fun. Can't wait....
Check out the pics here.
The start was a bit rocky - especially on the sleep front. Somehow I thought that because the flight was early, I'd be better staying at my mate Allen's house in London the night before. Ended up taking about the same amount of time to go from London to Gatwick as it'd take going there from Cambridge, except costing about twice as much. Also, there was no power at Allen's house (the whole neighbourhood was out) which meant I couldn't use the net to find the best way to get to the airport. Damn. Also three days before I left my camera stuffed up - the lens wouldn't retract. This happened when in a club. I came home, disassembled the camera, detached the lens, shocked my hand, twisted and reseated the lens and got it working again. All whilst drunk! I was impressed. Though I didn't try the zoom feature until I got to Iceland, where the lens got stuck again. I freaked out, I needed a camera this trip, but somehow managed to massage it back into place. I have mad skills. Anyyyyyyyyway - after hardly any sleep we hit the airport and met-up with the group. I went to Iceland with Frank and a few of his mates from work, along with one of Allen's mates. Allen was supposed to go, but had to cancel at the last minute. Also, one of Frank's mates couldn't make it either, cos he drove to London to pickup his passport from his folks on the way to the airport, but his parents who were away at the time put it somewhere and he couldn't find it. So he missed out! Lame...Planned to catch some Zs on the plane because I was super tired after 4hrs sleep, but it didn't happen. Sat next to some cool chicks on the plane which involved gasbaggin' and smashing Gin & Tonics at like 9am. Gotta do it when on holidays eh?
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| The Church | Good place for tats |
Got to my guesthouse, where two of the guys, Dave & Emilio, were also staying. After checking in I wondered around the city. Downtown Reykjavik is pretty small & compact. But it's got a really arty vibe, losta funky cafes, cool shops - like art, music, fashion (cutting edge as well as 80s-90s styled second hand stores), tattoo shops, etc. Very cool vibe. People are friendly, and everyone speaks perfect English - way better than in Germany, for example. I met some random people in the streets who gave me advice of things to see. Iceland only has 300,000 people, 200,000 of them living in greater-Reyk. Reykjavik is actually quite spread out, a bit different to the typical European style of people living on top of each other. I met a girl from Mexico who was working there. She spoke to me in Spanish off the bat, which was fun. I asked her whether there were many Mexicans in Iceland. She replied 23. Hahaha. Pretty exact! I guess when the place is small it's like everybody-knows-everybody. Maybe Iceland 2 degrees rather than 7 of separation. I was told that "people ask me if I have met Bjork. Of course I have, you see her around, shopping, etc"... Awesome. The Mexican chick described Iceland as "caro y frio" (expensive and cold). I could have worked that much out for myself :) Lotsa random stuff on the streets. Like streams of people coming out of nowhere. Motorists are super courteous there - the cars ALWAYS stop for pedestrians. Like even if you are just sort-of near the side of the road (not close at all), they will stop in anticipation of you crossing. Sure, almost every country in the world has to give way to pedestrians, but never have I been to a place where they anticipate someone coming onto the road meters and meters in advance. Heh, you hear people with stereos cruising the strip. One old guy was swingin' through the streets in this 4WD with blaring cowboy music (think country & western - ultra hillbilly), giving maximum thumbs-up to everyone he passed....
After checking out a bit of the town on Fri I was damn tired - so I caught some Zs before meeting up with Asta who is an awesome Icelandic chick who I met through Couchsurfing. She made my trip unforgettable, as through her I got to experience some totally random things I'd never have on my own. Her day job is dealing with some business aspects of IT, but at night she's a professional dancer. So that night, she got me tickets to a live Icelandic X-Factor show (ep 4) where she was dancing that night. She wasn't competing, but being a support dancer for the contestants. X-Factor Iceland!!! Awesome!
Where's Wally/Waldo (errrrrrrrrrrrr Jat)?!
I was way excited. Got there and Asta gets me in and seats me with the cheersquad for a contestant Jogvan, before going back-stage ready to perform. Jogvan is this super-gay looking (but apparently straight) hairdresser. He had a massive cheersquad, all with matching shirts. The girl I was sitting next to told me that he was her boss - so she was cheering extra loudly :) I saw the host of the show, Halla, giving out autographs to kids etc. Then the next minute I hear "Jat! Jat!". I look over and see Halla looking at me. Then I look behind me, thinking maybe Jat is some Icelandic word and she's calling someone else. Why would the much younger, and more attractive Gretel Colleen of Iceland wanna reach across a few rows to shake my hand? Hahah. Then I notice Asta next to her - Asta is good mates with her, so it quickly made sense. The person sitting next to me was intrigued as to how/why that just happened. Anyway so the show started, and with my vast knowledge of the Icelandic language I knew exactly what was happening ;) - all good fun. Asta was dancing in the first act, which was some Shania Twain cover, so she had to churn out some mad bootscooting moves. See some here. The acts were pretty good - it wasn't as random as I had hoped as all the songs were English covers; no crazy/different Icelandic music. It's much more amusing to watch performers in a language you don't understand, cos nothing makes sense you can focus more on the spectacle of it all. Especially trying to work out the judges reactions to stuff. Clearly it is the same formula as always, one girl, one bad-ass judge (this guy was hilarious, a gay ex-Eurovision star from 1997, Páll Óskar, who wore ultra tight pants and an historical military jacket - I thought he looked so much like a German soldier[though I might have been biased, having watched Schindler's List a few days before]). Only two songs had supporting dancers, and Asta was in both - the other song was a cover of Outkast's Hey-Ya - meaning crazy pom-pom action. The judges apparently said the dancers distracted from the singer. Maybe they were right, I thought the singer was ordinary - he didn't do much except sing badly and flex his muscles!! See for yourself. During the intervals and after the show I was admitted 'backstage' (it was in a shopping centre so backstage was some sort of creche), and all the performers and judges were back there looking stressed, etc. So the way X-factor works is that all the contestants perform, then people vote on their favourite acts via SMS/calls. Then the bottom-two scores have to perform again and then one act is voted off. So the two most rockiest songs, one performed by an old guy and the other by a pair of unattractive girls (singing AccaDacca tracks) had to perform again. Sure the guy was old, but he was good. But he got voted off. I couldn't help but feel sad - too easily caught up in the emotion; apparently tears were flowing back-stage. Especially since he was one of the best. Why couldn't the guy who absolutely killed "Karma Police" go?! Oh the drama!
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| Asta (right) | Jogvan - my hero! | Judges - Pall on left |
After the show we go hit some nightspots. Reykjavik goes crazy on the weekends, but apparently this Fri is more quiet than usual because the next day was the big Icelandic Eurovision final so people were saving themselves to party then. Eurovision!! YESSS!! More on that later. Anyway so we hit some clubs. The first one was awesome, Vegamot. They had this really good hiphop dj, playing good hiphop (like old-skool along with Pharcyde/Roots style stuff etc - no modern RnB/JayZ schtuff). Amazing mixing and scratching, and they had a trombone playing along and stuff. Great tunes.. Then we hit up the Kaffibarrin, which is owned by Damon Albaran (lead of Blur/Gorillas), which is ultra funky (no photos allowed!) place, with bizarre electro (think a Commodore 64 bleeping away with heavy beats) blaring out of the speakers. Lotsa crazy dress & dancing. Afterwards we hitup some punky/rock bar. Early night that night, like 3ish, cos I had a massive road trip the next day.
Icelandic nightlife is interesting. All the cafes/restaurants transform into nightspots/bars/clubs in the night. And most places are basically located on (or just off) the same street, so you can literally crawl between them. Reyk is dead until about 1am when it goes crazy. By then, people are absolutely trashed. Basically people drink heaps before they go out cos drinks are goddamn expensive. Like a pint is about 5quid. I bought a magic(redbull)+jager and a bacardi breezer and it cost 1750krone (14quid or $35AUD!). So yeah, boozing before is a smart move. Saw people drinking on the streets, behind alleys and stuff. At 3am there were still queues everywhere. Also, there are no cover chargers in Reyk, I guess cos the drink prices MORE than make up for it. It was pretty cold. Actually I should say, despite the name - Iceland is not THAT cold. Was only a few degrees below the temp in the UK. I guess it was like 6-2 degrees max-min. Though I'm sure it dropped below 0 overnight. Still, there was a bit of sun on Sat, the day we went road-trippin'. No where near as bad as I thought. Oh yeah, Icelandic chicks are generally pretty hot, actually in my opinion, ones generally out and about seemed better than those in the VIP section. They're forward too - ask me for details re this random girl who only liked boys who spoke Japanese (don't worry - nothin' too excitin') ).
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| The Geyser | At the falls |
Frank and his workmates organised a sweet 9seater 4wd. And because of the few cancellations I managed to sneak in a seat! So we hit the road bright and early to check out the golden-circle (tourist route). Our bizarre, unluxurious brick of a RangeRover would stop, immobilise and start the alarm upon a stall (leaving us stranded in the middle of the street). Finally it started behaving and we hit the road. I listened to Bjork (I'm cheesy I know) as we cruised around and admired the amazing scenery of Iceland. I mean, snow capped mountains, volcanic rocks, frozen lakes, waterfalls. Simply breathtaking. First stop was the Thingvellir national park, with some good outlooks. Next stop, the geyser, which performed very nicely - launching quite a few times, even spraying some of the boys with hot water. It's one of the biggest geysers in the world. Mind the sulphuric smell. Lunch involved this 20quid buffet of terrible food (apparently - I went the 'cheap' option next door) - laughs abound at the quality. Next stop, the waterfalls - Gulfgoss. Absolutely amazing. We walk down the slope to get to the falls. Well actually, we slid down the slope. Even guys with grip on their shoes were basically holding onto the rope sliding down the trail. The falls were amazing, check out the video I took.. Probably my highlight re nature. We stopped at various places on the way, taking photos here and there. The countryside is so scenic - pictures speak a thousand words, though given others had far better cameras than me, I left the scenic shots to them (guys if you're reading this, please send me some of your best pics). After the falls, I FORCED the rest of the group to drop me back in Reyk. They wanted to hit the Blue Lagoon. But I needed to be back, as Asta was dancing at the Icelandic Eurovision Final, and she managed to score me a ticket!!! I was SO excited. love Eurovision, and to be there watching Icelanders fighting it out for their chance to compete, I just couldn't miss it!
Gulfgoss - seriously amazing falls
I get home in time for a short sleep, before hitting the contest. Everyone sitting in my row had free tickets from ppl somehow associated with the contest. Seats were a little far back, but still great - the place was packed. Man Eurovision. Absolutely incredible - everything I had hoped for and more. Like crazy spectacle of sound, lights, dance and movements. Crowd going crazy. Icelandic acts going crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. I'm sure it was much more fun as I couldn't understand the words. So I was sitting next to two Sweeds, a couple, the girl didn't know much about Eurovision, but the guy knew everything: who performed what, where, etc. The whole history of contest... Asta was dancing whilst the voting was taking place, with Silvia Night. Silvia N is described as the Ali-G of Iceland, so she's totally provocative, doing crazy stunts, abusing people, etc. She engineered a campaign whilst there saying "Say NO to the Silvia Night show" - a publicity stunt appearing like a protest. She represented Iceland in Eurovision last year - with her song which is hilarious, saying stuff like how's she the best, how Iceland is lucky to have her, using a phone to call god and saying "Hi God, it's your favourite person", and of course the famous lines "no damn eurotrashfreak, The vote is in, I'll fuckin' win "etc. If you wanna know more check here, and see the post Athens Eurovision Controversy, where people didn't know her background and thought she was crazy. Or better yet, see it as it happened.
Anyway so I got to enjoy all the performances of the Icelandic Eurovision Final - where the winning act goes to Helsinki for the final. Lots of styles - everything from terrible country and western style songs, to heavy rock, to clubbin' tunes, to one cheesy song with equally camp dancers. Haha funniest thing for was some 'hot boy' who came up on stage, wearing a jacket without a shirt, showing off his muscles. As he was obviously trying to be a sex god, it was SO amusing when his biggest cheersquad was a bunch of pre-pubescent boys, who stood on their chairs, removed their shirts to display his name painted across their naked stomachs, screaming out his name in their high-pitched voices every time he was mentioned. Something dodgy goin on eh? A few acts went through, and then they brought on some past Eurovision stars whilst the votes were counted. The Romanian guy from the final last year (finishing #4) performed his quite catchy club song Tornero. Asta's act came on, which was probably the most polished of all acts. She's the one in black. The winner was this heavy metal singer guy. My favourite part was when the guy, all tough and stuff, is presented with a trophy and a MASSIVE bouquet. He's standing there, this old tough rocker lovin' these flowers. Classic.
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| Stud | Naked boys for stud | Tough guy getting flowers |
After the show, Asta gives me her VIP pass, so I'm sitting backstage, enjoying some good food and drink, randomly talking to people (probably stars - I have no idea) while she does her backstage stuff. Then a few of Asta's friends - Halla and Hei?a (from yesterday) and I get into her car for the after party. We are VIP in the club Nasa (hosting the afterparty) - which means free drinks (bad for Jat ;), but good for his pocket). There I formulate my story where I'm from Channel V in Aus and I'm scoping the Icelandic Eurovision Scene to see whether we want to cover it next year. But I didn't get around to using those top lines. So after boozing and hobnobbing with Icelandic VIPs and Eurovision stars, it's dancefloor time. Páll, the 'mean' judge from X-Factor (who I thought looked German), was DJg a mix of all classic Eurovision songs. So cheesy, so good. He even grabbed the mic and started MC'g to his old songs. Amazing stuff. I managed to grab a video of a bit of his set (see below). Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Danced like crazy for a few hours - it's awesome hitting the dancefloor with a pro-dancer. Burn' it up. Make the space. All this in between more drinks, such as Topas which was described as a drink of death by Quentin Tarantino. Good fun. I lost my scarf which made me pretty sad cos I had just bought it in Reyk about 28 hours earlier.
Asta (pro-dancer), Halla (host/actress), Hei?a (Iceland Idol star), and someone I can't remember who performed a compilation of Eurovision winners earlier that night. At last AND least - me :)
At about 3.30 we hit the most famous drunk-food place in Reyk, called Nonnabiti. It had a massive line, where they made these awesome toasted subs. I was pretty hammered, and asked the staff for recommendations, which made sense for the sandwich, but not really for the drink. Imagine - soooo what do you recommend from your softdrink fridge? Appelsín (Fanta)... Haahah. Food was really good. But filling. And pricey (like 10 quid!). I get back to my guesthouse about 3.30 with Carl and Debby (from UK) just leaving the place after boozing there. I go upstairs and Dave & Emilio are still up. Being drunk, I don't feel like sleeping, so I drag them out. Not knowing where to go, I text Esther, another person I contacted from Couchsurfing, who suggests a place - so we head down. It's now 4.30 but people are still around. So hit up some place and dance around for a bit. Can't really remember meeting Esther. Smash a beer and then the place closes around 5.30 or something. So we get back around 6ish (I think - times are a bit hazy). I sleep in until 12, knowing I didn't want to go on a massive roadtrip the next day; unlike the other boys who had to be bright and early to head out. Nasty.
Páll Óskar showing us that 1997 Eurovision Songs just won't quit
The secret to fame is in smooth and skilled movements of the right hand. Take notes people...
Last day involved chilling out. I went to the Blue Lagoon - which is this geothermal swimming area. So surreal cos it glows like a flourescent blue. Apparently people with chronic skin conditions are sent there from all over the world for a week or two and thy get cured. It's really awesome, swimming in warm (to hot) water against a grey sky, knowing it's cold outside. Steam everywhere, and was even cooler when it started to rain a bit. They have saunas which are directly heated from lava beneath (massive trenches in the ground). I could feel my feet cooking. Best hangover cure in the world. Actually the water everywhere in iceland is so fresh and pure - prob a hangover cure in itself. Sun was very chilled - not feeling like mayhem after having such little sleep over the previous days, Asta asked if I wanted to go to her folks place for a traditional Icelandic family meal. I'm such a foody - I'm there! Her family were all really nice and accommodating, good convo about differences between Aus & Iceland. I was surprised that her dad and brother looked a bit like my Grandad - actually a lot more similar in real-life than in the photos. Strong resemblance - though I think Grandad is of slavic descent(?). They made some awesome food, like a nice leg of lamb - SO tender, was amazing, with some apple salad, another green salad (which even included grapes - obviously native to Iceland...). For desert we had like massive profiteroles/cream puffs with jam inside. Apparently I was the day before this once-a-year celebration which involves eating nothing but eating cream-puffs for the whole day. The tradition is that kids are given these sticks, and the more times they hit their parents the more cream puffs they are given!! Seriously - check it out here. The day after that is salted meat day, where people eat as much salted lamb as they can. Awesome festivals...Oh yeah, lots of people in Iceland believe in Elves and hidden people - and say lots of strange things happen. Not surprising, given the crazy geophysical nature of the land. I was searching to find out more about the tales of elves when I found this mental-chick's page. Pretty amusing - check it out here(18+). Scary thing is I got to that link from the Iceland Tourism Board homepage!
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| Infront of the Blue Lagoon | Asta's family |
Bought more drinks for my 'crazy-drinks' collection. I have some drink known as black-death - Brennivin, some Topas and some Icelandic schnapps with like some sort of leaf or moss or something inside. Good stuff. Iceland is incredible. Just ask Mr Tarantino. Reyk is awesome. It's small and compact. But really arty. And the nightlife on the weekend is fantastic. People are fun and kinda out-there. Like you see people with crazy hair (one chick had one side of her hair curly, the other side dead straight, another just had a massive spike of hair coming out of her head).
Overall - this trip was amazing. I got to do so many random/incredible things - going to see Icelandic pop-culture with X-Factor, along with some of the craziness that Eurovision brings, enjoy fancy parties, enjoy some of the breathtaking countryside, sights, water, etc. Most of this was thanks to Asta, an awesome chick who went above and beyond the call of duty to sort me out with all these different experiences; and of course to Frank and mates for finding the cheap flights, organising the car, etc. So much fun. I will definitely go back - but maybe in summer, which averages like 13degrees! Too hot eh? Or maybe for New Year's - videos of that look so fun. Can't wait....
Check out the pics here.
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