Cardiff

i decided that on the way to Cardiff i would stop off in Bristol because i'm a big fan of the street artist, Banksy. he is from here and you can see a number of is work around town (if you haven't heard of Bansky before click here to check out his website which displays some of his work). before i came here i got told that Bristol is a really rough place, but i didn't find it like that at all, it kind of reminded me of Liverpool a little bit, of course, like anywhere there are bad parts, the Stokes Croft area where a number of Banksy's was a bit rough around the edges but apart from that i thought it was quite good with many cool and creative things happening around town. in some ways i was a little bit annoyed at myself for buying a ticket to cardiff, it would've been nice to spend a couple of days here.

the thing i like about Banksy is his appropriation, the place he puts his work and the stuff designed for the space is very clever and, i think, makes you think. for instance this piece is one of the many i saw in Bristol


i think its quite clever on its own, but the thing that adds so much more to the piece is that its painted on the side of a sexual health clinic.
another thing i like about his is he has change peoples opinions on street art. before him, a number of people felt that it was mindless and a plague on society, and to be fair there is some aspects of it that aren't that good ie: tagging. but now Banksy's work is admired throughout the world and his work is highly sort after, for instance some people have even taken insurance out on the wall his work was painted on. people here seem to be really proud of his work too, i asked a number of people where i could find some of his stuff and they were more than happy to point out stuff to me even the little old lady in the tourist office showed me where to find a couple.

at some train stations that i've visited throughout europe i've been able to leave my backpack but in the UK its a bit different, they are a bit paranoid about terrorism, which i can understand, these are the times we live in, its kind of surprising that other places throughout europe offer lockers for bags come to think of, anyway, this meant i had to lug my backpack around for the day but i think it was well worth it.

anyway, on to Cardiff. i got off my the train and found my hostel which pretty easy to find, it was right near the big rugby stadium and a short walk from the station. when i got there i thought i got the wrong place, the hostel was more like a hotel! the best part of all is they made a bit of mix up and they put me in a 4 person dorm with a TV, lounges, an amazing view over the river and an ensuite but most importantly i got the room all to myself so i caught up on some much needed sleep, i stayed in that room for a couple of nights before they realised and then they moved me to a dorm, which was still pretty good. i met a guy from Sydney called Byron, top bloke, him and i had a similar sence of humour and got on quite well. We pretty much hung out together the whole time i was here.

one night we went out with a couple of people we met from the hostel. one of the girls we went out with turned out to be a HUGE liability, she said that some guy threw a drink at her so she grabbed a drink and threw it all over him. Byron and I didn't see it happen but obviously the guy was rather annoyed and it was getting pretty heated so we made the decision to get the group together and head off. problem was, the guy who had the drink poured over him, followed us out of the club and kept egging us on to try and make us fight him, Byron and i didn't really give a shit about what the guy was saying, we knew what he was trying to do, but the girl just made it worst, by giving the guy the finger. By this stage Byron and i were pretty sick of this chick, becuase if there was going to be a fight i'm pretty sure it wasn't going to be her that was going to get a knuckle sandwich, it was going to be us, so we told her to pull her head in. i think they must have a few problems with fighting and other drink related stuff becuase on the Saturday i was here they totally shut down the main street of Cardiff off to traffic so that the police and the ambulance can get through. and i dunno what they feed the guys here but they are all built like german tanks, they are massive so there not the kind of people you want to get on the bad side of. anyway, the moral of the story is, don't party with girls from far north Queensland.

Something that was fun was Wales played Italy in the rugby, i wouldn't say i'm not a huge sports fan but i figured that watching a Rugby match in wales is probably a 'must do'. so Byron and i went to a little pub and watched it on the big screen. the vibe in the pub was brillant and funnily enough, a little less troublesome than the previous night. the game didnt start off too well, italy scored first and it wasn't looking good for a while there but they came back and won the match.
to be totally honest, Cardiff is a little bit on the boring side, its not very big and there isn't really a lot to do here. they have a castle here but i'm a little bit castled out having been in europe 6 months now, i think i've seen enough castles to last me a lifetime, but there is a really big park right next to it which was nice to walk around in.
i went out to Cardiff bay which was quite nice, it was a nice day weather wise so i think that helped. it looked like they had pumped a hell of a lot of money into the area, with heaps of new buildings around and the older ones being renovated. probably one of the more interesting of the newer buildings is the Wales Millennium Centre, which got the nick name 'the armadillo' because it has copper plates all over it that resemble the animals protective armour. apart from that there aren't too many sights, i suppose you could add the National Museum which had a number of big artist hanging in there.

anyway, i think i was quite lucky i to have met Byron, he made my stay here bareable. having said that i haven't given up on Wales quite just yet, i'm looking forward to heading up north towards the Snowdonia mountain range, which is meant to have some beautiful sweeping country side, so don't expect an exciting action packed blog when i get around to writing about it i think it will be for my viewing pleasure rather than your reading pleasure. more when i get around to writing more i suppose. bye for now!