wpRaghav – Page 3 – White Rabbit Peaks

Philippines. Boracay

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Asia

Philippines. Boracay

Captains Log Day 8 - 01/02/13

After missing 2 different flights we have finally arrived in Hong Kong… We have left what i would deem to be one of the best Countries in the world…. They say, ‘Its more fun in the philippenes’ i can tell you they are right! My Minds blown…
As for the break between logs.. Too much has happened to put on this post, Its still one massive blurrrr with no sleep and loads of red bulls. The days are mushed into one.. highlights and near death experiances include winning Money at the Casino, injuries sustained from climbing and stacking (with war wounds) from a Cocunut tree, reaching one of the worlds prettiest islands (Barocay) – a treasure described as heaven on Earth, My first mate completing the 15 shot challange, throwing up on a Girl, hiring our own Private water park, having a band play our songs as we sit drinking all night till the sunrise, First mate throwing up all over the room, a massive Bar fight in which we knocked out one crazy dude as the cops take them away, catching up with my close friends from China after 2 years and spending time with them, smuggling goods into hong kong, eating corn flavored Icecream.. In order to survive we must find Water…. Signing off..

Philippines. Manila

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Asia

Philippines. Manila

Captains log day 3 - 25/01/13

I have survived the most intense 3 days of my life… I live but barely….the delirium is starting to kick in… I am on a random bus that has wifi.. None of us know where this bus goes…. In the last 3 days we have slept less thank 10 hours.. Every day seems like a blurr… We have photographs of events we dont remember.. The bon fire on the hotel room floor was a pretty heavy event…. To survive we must keep warmm.. Signing off.

An Uneventful Camping Trip This tale

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Oceania

An Uneventful Camping Trip This tale

Captain Log Date - 09/03/14

This tale begins with a decision to head on a Traralgon to attend the yearly Scouts theatre performance. A Work Colleague of mine has been involved in a theatre performance that involves children and adults, from 4 years old to 60 year olds.

Since Traralgon is about an hour and a half away from where I stay I invited Amit, Avi and Dinesh so we could make a weekend of it and go Camping. We booked tickets for the 2 PM show on Saturday.

Avi at first declined as he was busy and then at the last moment decided – you know what – ill come up just for Friday night. we decided that Traralgon was a bit far for him – so to call a compromise we decided for Friday night we will head half way – we google mapped and found a heap green land in a place called Bunyip

So Friday we night by the time we gathered the herd, had dinner etc. it was about 12-1:00 am when we left – and since Avrill had to be back sat morning he took his car and I took mine. Amit and Avi in Avrills car and myself and Dinesh leading in mine

At about 2:00 we had entered Bunyip State Park. At this point I don’t know if this place is hard to describe or easy to… There was nothing there….. Ok that was the easy description – here is the more detailed one.. think dirt road, single lane, no lights, just dirt and rock flying up as your car drifts, potholes invisible at night, as deep as your foot, wild life and trees.. trees everywhere. The place is a forest. And you drive, no going back.. you keep driving, slow very slow, 30 – 40 kmph since you have no idea what will come out, we see kangaroos alive and dead on the road, silence, we drive – 30 mins into the drive I hear Dinesh yell in the silence RAGGIE RAGGIE RAGGIE…. BANG!!!! The car drifts off road and I yell.. in the rear view mirror I see a Wombat walk away…. What I don’t see is a part of my car fly off…

I continue to drive – since the wombat is ok I assume that my car is too – and now we have been driving for about an hour, still dirt road, no camp sites in vision, nothingness is prevailing and the potholes are getting deeper, with Sticks and large objects on the road often to dodge.. Time is now almost 3 am, and I start hearing my car clicking and cluttering, I say to Dinesh lets stop.. we do.. my bumper is snapped, my rear mudguard is gone.. Avrill and Amit who were behind me tell me a piece of my car fly off and the wombat walked away.. there is some serious cosmetic damage to the car… we assess the situation, notice that none of us have reception and decide to drive on… the front bumper is broken – not much can be done about it. And atm we need to find a place to stay and some reception. We continue to drive and the nothingness continues.

Randomly in the middle of nowhere we see a PERSON staggering drunk on the dirt road.. The book of his car open! We dodge him and continue to drive, Dinesh and myself looking at each other going WTH was that! We drive on now with Goosebumps.. still nothing, no signs of anything. It feels at this point that we are in a horror movie. Darkness, serial killers, no reception, damaged cars.. The thoughts of doom and peril start creeping

Finally about 30 minutes later we see a sign for a Motorbike unloading area and a helipad. We follow this sign as this is the only hope we have.. it leads us down a path where trees are marked to be logged – and the potholes get deeper and shrubs are appearing on the road, as if no one has driven down it in YEARS. We follow it not knowing where it goes. To our avail it ends up in a desolate helipad. We decide at this point that we cannot go on any further. Next to the helipad there was a sitting area and a place we could start a small bonfire..– its almost 4 am and we need to rest.

We started a bonfire, cooked our food, ate and drank all till the wee hours of the morning; we even found had a pet spider. Avrill leaves around 9am and we have a nap for a few hours in the car.

After our 1 hour nap, we woke up and freshened up – we saw the helipad in all its glory, which to be honest wasn’t much, just a bunch of rocks in a circle with dirt everywhere – I look back and am soo grateful no helicopter actually landed.. I think there would have been a mushroom cloud of dust about 20 meters high.

So Amit, Dinesh and myself, freshened up brushed, cleared up, inspected the damage then headed back on the road to Traralgon, it was hot so we stopped by got some coffee and changed into cooler cloths.

Finally got to the show – YES WE MADE IT ON TIME (anyone that knows us won’t believe this) ok ok we were 10 minutes late – but we didn’t miss anything! The show was great fun! It reminded me of the school plays, the jokes were actually funny – I think both Amit and Dishesh were surprised at the quality and effort that went into the show, well planned, brilliantly scripted and a very catchy score. After the show our exhaustion from the night before had disappeared, we resurrected with a new found objective, and that objective was….To find our next Camping ground.

We did some research and found our next habitat for the night. Moondarra State Park.

Now if you thought the first part of this camping trip was interesting, funny and entertaining, this one may feel like Jerry Seinfeld on steroids and a few lines of speed.

We reach Moondarra State Park, to get into the camp grounds a deep decent is required, When we were driving down I was actually scared that my car would not be able to make it up.. with my foot on the brake I descend at 10 kmph slowly, steadily, finally we get to the bottom and the camp grounds. This place looks like nirvana compared to the last helipad we were staying at, there is people (big win), several camp grounds, fire barrels, a lake and cleared land amongst mountains. . we find a free spot – There are about 10 campsites and most look taken.

So we park the car and start setting up tent, D is busy setting up camp, I start unloading the car and we send Amit on a mission to find Fire wood. In the meantime I start talking to the campsite next to us, a very friendly couple from Netherlands, we chat, I borrow the axe and things are pleasant. I continue unloading the car and move to help Dinesh with the tent.

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This is when we see Amit walking down with a man carrying a MASSIVE LOG. I kid you guys not I do not see the man carrying it just the log – which appears to be about 5 feet long and thick as a stump. I run over to help the guy, I grab one end and it is ridiculously heavy and covered in Mud. I am barely able to hold it when I have a glimpse of this persons face.

The guy is about 21 years old, and man has no Neck… Just 2 shoulders and a head attached to it. He is about 4 foot 7, stocky and chubby he was wearing a wife beater and smelt like dirt mixed with VB and smoke. This man has no front teeth, top or bottom and the side of his teeth are yellow. The first impression and vision I had when I saw this guy was the guy on the right – later consulting with both Dinesh and Amit, the feelings were mutual and they too were reminded of the same characters.

Once he drops the wood, which he once again single handily picks up and re-positions, he opens his mouth – this gents name is Andrew. He is there with his friend Brad.

SO we thank Andrew and his Companion Brad for helping us out with. They explain how they are from Lalor and Epping. Andrew does nothing, although I suggest you could just pick up buildings and move them. Brad is a lawnmower, who recently suffered an accident, as his 16 year old brother who is 6 foot 7 picked him up and dropped him on his shoulders. Conversation continues sand they walk off – at this point Dinesh, Amit and I discussed how we had just met the most Bogan Characters ever.

We go for a walk and then head back, start the fire and start to have a few drinks and relax. The sun is setting so we give ourselves a break and chill. At this point Brad returns with his other mate, Michael, another very stocky looking guy, who seems a little less bogan, riveting conversation pursues, about how was a manager at Mcdonalds, whether or not we fight (when we say no, they come over to check and feel our biceps), then question us why we don’t fight, then they explain all the fights they have had and how many people have had their heads bashed in.

With all this interesting conversation happening they call over a third member from there group.. I actually forgot his name, but he was referred to as Brad’s Boyfriend, over and over. Thinking this is a joke we laugh, this gent walks over.. and without saying a word Brad request a cigarette which this man rolls for him, to which Brad slaps him (no reason for this) the guy says nothing, he then kisses him on the lips and pushes him.. the guy says nothing.. ..Brad slaps him again. The guy remains to stand there – many words come to mind when thinking of this person much along the lines of slave, and a word that rhymes with Shrimp (starts with G)

Conversation then moves towards guns, and how much damage certain guns can do, about the Sudanese community, and finally it moves towards how Michaels gf burnt down his house the week before and how Brad has violent outburst due to his ADHD conditions.

At this point 40 minutes have passed and we are thinking how we run away from these crazy folk. I decide to walk off and Amit does too.. D remains there with these guys and when we come back they have moved on. *Phew*

So we are chilling and once again Michael runs over – we see a flurry of activity in the campsites to the right of us. Michael comes over and tells us a Bushfire has broken out. Some guy across the river got disgruntled with his landlord and burnt the house. Embers are in the sky and everyone has packed up.

We commence operation pack up and evacuate!!! As we are evacuating a warden drives in and with a light asks us to leave asap. We continue packing up – a guy then speeds down yelling “GET OUT GET OUT!” in a commodore with his window open – we later find out this is the guy who burnt the house and wanted to come warn people . We pack up in a hurry as we can clearly see the embers in the air outside. I notice that the others to the left of us (Netherlands couple are not packing up.. I go and warn them – they had not heard the warnings. The guy looks at the sky and realises the danger is real. We then commence and warn the other families trying our best not to scare the kids.

We load everything in the car, even though there are others that have just left everything, and we head to the entrance of the campsite – yes my car survives the steep climb 😀 we drove up as fast as we could because we could see the embers getting close

We get to the top where there are many others waiting and fire engines are arriving on the scene – we are told to wait with everyone until they figure out the threat. We wait and 3 fire engines arrive and enter the campsite. By this stage everyone has been evacuated.

We look for more campsites in the region and finally find one called Lake Narracan near Moe, this is a paid site – we get there around 11 and the reception looks closed. We ring the bell and about 1 minute later the man comes, this man has make upon his face and his eyebrows are taped up – Yes yes a cross dresser. We had interrupted his ritual with our hunt for accommodation. he gives us a place. We drive in and on the middle of the strip there is a Billy Goat just chilling. We drive around the goat since it looked pretty adamant that it was the owner of the campsite (possibly was with the rituals that were going on). We finally got to our site – set up camp cooked some amazing Chicken Saracha Tenderloins and roasted some veggies. Then slept!

Sunday – We woke up the weather was fantastic 28 Degrees, suns up – we headed to Inverloch and went to the beach– got there and the cool change was setting in, we had a quick BBQ, some ciders, enjoyed the view and took some snaps. Finally we then headed back to Melbourne.

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Hong Kong. Hong Kong

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Asia

Hong Kong. Hong Kong

Captains log Day 11 - 05/02/2013.

We have Docked at home! We return alive with a treasure chest full of gifts in a Mickey Mouse printed tresure chest, severe sleep deprivation, hairy beards, a few scars and wounds, over 2500 photos (most of which need to be filtered), about 150 videos and the hope we return with no diseases… The last few days have not tamed down one bit, we questioned Hong Kong and it has delivered. Once again too much has happened as a summary some events include, A huge night out in one of the best clubbing districts in the world, a pirate almost bottling me in the head, tearing up a suite at the Venetian Macau, walking in the hotel corridors with no pants or jocks on, winning money at the Casinos, eating Random street dumplings and Hot Pots local style, bargaining at local markets to the point of starting fights with shop keepers, facing the giant drop fear at Ocean Park, meeting and chilling with Mickey and Woody at Disneyland, tearing up as we relived our finest childhood memories while watching the most beautiful fireworks display ever and almost missing our vessel home.

This has been my lifes most, eventful, memorable, adventurous, dangerous (never feared for my life more) and best experience of my life.
The constant delerium, lack of sleep, laughing fits, randomness at every corner, escalation points, gosh I have the best mates in the world! The stories and adventures enough to write a book. I look forward to the next time i risk my life on a trip like this…
In order to survive one must have friends to live for….signing off till the next Adventure… Captain Raggie..

Prague. Czech Republic

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Prague. Czech Republic

City of silent beauty by day and blaring madness by night.

Captains Log Day 3 – 05/01/147:43pm. Location: Flight EZY3808.

The last 34 hours have been the most intense I have ever faced. I sit on the plane and try to recall the blur.. I struggle. I have resorted to using the photographic evidence that resides on my phone. I piece together the events that took place. As I do this my hand shakes, my teeth jitter and my heart skips a beat. I don’t know if it’s exhaustion, sleep deprivation the several litres of Czech energy drink coursing through my veins. A cocktail of the above is the means to my madness. It feels like days since I have slept and weeks have passed since I left home…

To summerise the points for my followers I will recap some of the events, skipping on the detail (as most of it is a blank to me) and try correlate the events with the images I post.

– Sight seeing on steroids as my Co-Captain and I clocked up 14 hours of walking. As we sit we can see our leg muscles twitch. Prague is the most beautiful city one could ever imagine. It’s magical.

– Places visited include:

The largest Castle in the world (72,000 mtrs sqrd) built in 870AD and is significantly larger than Mickies castle in Disneyland.

King Charles Bridge, Prague Old town, A Czech version of the eifel tower (1/5th of the size) but higher than the real one (figure that one out)

Climbing 306 steps to reach one of the highest points in Prague

Morror Maze

Wax house

Monastery with a brewery which uses a recipe that has not changed since 1237 AD .

Oldest operational hospital in the world – 1230AD

Einsteins favorite Cafe

– Avrill patting a horse

– Eating Trdlo (Google time)

– Meeting Orndrej our local hero that showed us how to play Czech style. #recommended

– Consuming pre-drinks with enough energy drinks to power an continent abs enough vodka to drown Putin.

– Clubbing with locals in a hidden club that you enter via a courtyard and go up 2 floors to get to.

– Dancing to the Sunrise

– Getting to the hotel 3 hours before check out.

– Typical Bonfires in the room ( this is becoming a tradition)

– Flooding the bathroom and ‘dampening’ up the room (Several puddles on the carpet)

– Fillng 16 kilos on cabin baggage and stealthily getting on the plane

– Finally a Side Note Co-captain believes his Skull is fractured.

An incident involving a lamp being thrown at his forehead had lead to some detrimental damage to his skull. More on this as news breaks….assuming it could be a painful bruise.

As this plane reaches the Amsterdam runway, we say goodbye to a beautiful, culturally enriched picturesque city that turns from Jekyll to Hyde as the sun sets and the Czech’s come out to play.

PRAGUE: City of silent beauty by day and blaring madness by night.

Amsterdam. Netherlands

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Amsterdam. Netherlands

The City lost in a Haze.

Captains Log Day 7 – 09/01/14 Location: Flight EZY4568.

AmsterDamage Procedure complete

I have survived a week – I don’t use the word ‘Survive’ in any loose sense. Amsterdam has not only lived up to the expectations it has managed to blow them away, like a puff of smoke leaving a corner coffee shop.

The city is chilled – where everyone seems not to care about the things that keep them up at night. This may be because any form of intoxication is readily available, think any drug in existence and you’ll find it at your local convenience outlet, beside the crisps and the milk. Cigarettes are considered contraband as opposed to the herbs.

Aside from the many things I cant remember – this city is the city where I had my first Beer– and that too at the root – The ‘Heineken’ Factory.

We visited la museum erotica – in English – the Sex Museum. A very interesting place and one that needs to been seen and experienced. We encountered some Dutch delicacies – including but not limited to some great food – the winner from the lot would be the Dutch Donughts – amazing!

And what AmsterDamage tour could be complete without walking down the Red light Strip – I have to admit some of the most beautiful girls in the world.

Eating and Drinking needs to be balanced out with some daily exercise – When the sun sets the tourists come out – they play hard. Once we completed the Laundry we hit the town -The 3 night bender has a heap of blanks. We both Captains sit here and discuss the events that occurred over the three night period and decide that due to the incriminating nature of these nights we can only disclose events on a case by case basis – but for the log these nights involved, pirate boarding a large boat, being told by locals to “Go Home Please”, Meeting the worlds most high Cat, filling the bathtub with vomit, having a argument with a hobo, Doing a Pub crawl with a bunch of Americans that will never Forget Australia – all for the wrong reasons. Being called a knt by the eftpos machine and Leigh being Robbed at Knife point – loosing his cards and his Money.

Amsterdam has been a crazy blur to which our stomach churns as we say goodbye.

AMSTERDAM: The City lost in a Haze.

Krakow. Poland

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Krakow. Poland

The city of lost smiles.

Captains Log Day 14 – 16/01/14 1:23pm. Location: District 6, Budapest.

Breaking routine posts I will start this log entry with details from the end of Krakow rather than the start.

I also write this log from a different location as my regular logs. In the past are traditionally written and posted from a higher altitude, generally typed up on the flight. The reason for this discrepancy was because I was incapitated on the flight. A 6:30 am flight and our last night in Krakow could only mean one thing – sleep was for the weak hearted.

Being extremely hungover we hit the bars one final time, one thing led to another, shots, vodka doubles, uni bars, stroking furry walls… We found ourselves at 3:30 AM throwing Maccerz nuggets at a police van, soft serve ice cream at the castle walls and a terrible tasting Cranberry pie at a tree. Paranoid we would miss our flight we quickly had our final Zapienkanka (Possibly the best Street food ever!) @david whilst directing a random to the binand encouraging him to pee in it, stating that’s how locals do it.

In our final hours we unleashed final havoc on the city.

Then headed to the Airport, in which our straight faces and red eyes were mistaken for exhaustion. We stumbled to the gate and took shifts of passing out. Finally we boarded and slept once again on the flight. Since this flight route to Budapest had a 1 hour layover we had to get off and change at Berlin. We awoke again blood shot eyed and dehydrated and boarded the next flight. I think my Co-Captain and I have come to the consensus that this journey was possibly the most tough and painful we had ever faced, simply due to us being very drunk and the lack of any sleep.

Now rewind a bit to the days that proceeded in Kraków.

This city for me resembled a ancient historical gem that had been chipped away at by atrocities over the years but still had a glimmer of shine, after a short time you can see how much the city has to offer, both historically and with the amazing student population that reside there.

Starting off with the Salt Mines my Co-Captain and I went 365 meters underground to visit one of the oldest operational Salt Mines in the world. The mine was mind blowing. Carvings and salt structures detailed and articulate, all cut out of salt blocks mined. The mines also housing the biggest underground church in the world…

The place was breathtaking.

We then visited possibly the most depressing places in the world the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. A place where 1.3 million people were executed. I don’t want to say too much about the gas chambers, crametoriams or the cell blocks since it unsettles me thinking about it. Walking through the environment and the details learnt from the tour can send chills down anyone’s back. The 6 hour tour we heard enough to make us physically sick. We returned home feeling somber and upset. This place is NOT for the weak hearted.

Following our tour we needed to change our moods and we headed out to join the Krawkow Crawl! To me I think this was one of the best crawls I have been to! This majorly has to do with the fact that the guys that run it are friends and just get really into it! A group of 3 guys just out having fun with randoms (sounds familiar?) The night was one of the best nights out. Might have to do with the shot platter, the epic 4 clubs we hit up, placing bets with randoms on who can make the bar tender smile, making some life long friends, and ending up on one of the clubs websites!

We leave Poland to head to the next student Party city Hungary we be hungry for your vodka. Ready or not Here we come!

KRAKOW: The city of lost smiles.

Berlin. Germany

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Berlin. Germany

The Broken City where the music never stops.

Captains Log Day 10 – 12/01/145:49pm. Location: Flight AB8900

A Mashup of events has started to occur, a continuum of things have happened, the timeline is starting to resemble Mums spaghetti. Sitting on a twin propeller plane once again I try use technology to aid me piece together Das Germany.

Berlin. The Wall. The History. The most Hardcore clubbing scene in the world.

This city is a contrast of Modern vs. Historical, Old vs New, Staple vs Random with an emphasis on how these can work synchronously. The architecture gives you a deep feeling of admiration and overwhelms, whilst the modern art and ‘funkiness’ of the city gives a Melbourne feel. What ties this all together is the dark history and a repressed past (at one point 70% of the city was non existent due to bombings) – a war torn country which has been cut deep every time it starts to heal.

Visiting attractions like the Brandenburg gate, the Bundstag and Alexanderplatz highlight the sheer size and amazing architecture of this city, at that point my Co-Captain pats another horse.

The historical eye openers such as Checkpoint Charlie gave a depressing look into the war time atrocities it endured.

Then Night falls and the echos of drum and bass music whistle through the entire city, although no long lines or flashy clubs can be seen. We are to later discover that this is due to pop up clubs, places that are something different by day and when the sun goes down they metamorphosis into something where wild things live.

At the top of this entertainment food chain is the Berghain. A 24 hour Club that is set up in a abandoned power station.

Known as one of the best clubs in Europe – This is a Gay Club where the most imaginative things can happen, whether it’s men requesting to watch you while you pee or the mysterious ‘Dark Rooms’ which we don’t speak about. Unfortunately/ fortunately we had been knocked back from this venue. We carried on heading to find Matrix Club, after a sneaky abs messy pre drink session, everything became game. Many friends from around the world were made. The club had 3 dance floors one of which are covered by a CoCaptains sea sickness. With a heap of missing scenes life went on. Painfully… After a blur of a night out it and a long recovery including sleeping till 5pm it was time to make the most of our final night. Shuddering we had our first few drinks. This the turns into a game of ‘let’s work down the cocktail list’ 12 cocktails later things are on heat again! What follows includes finding 2 random locals, making friends, following them to a random Salsa club, a bus ride 30 minutes out of the city… 4 Dance floors, double shots, dancing on broken glass, borderline punch-on and a heap of dancing later – 6 am struck n we decided to leave.. We head to a bakery and decide bread is the cure to a ailment we don’t yet know – a sneaky 6 am beer goes down like a bag full of stones. Check out was a mere 4 hours away… We crawled into bed. It was time to leave Berlin. Red eyes we cleaned the room. It was time to say goodbye to a city with so much and so much lost.

BERLIN: The Broken City where the music never stops.

Budapest. Hungary

May 23, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Budapest. Hungary

City of Bars, Baths and Battle scars.

Captains Log Day 20 – 20/01/14 7:43pm. Location: Senator Apartments Ukraine.

We have beaten Budapest, however not without the city winning a few battles. Nothing less could have been expected from a city which has the most number of bars per capita the world, one every 10 meters #alarmbells.

This city in Hungary will hold a special place in my memory and my heart, along side the hospital and the doctor that treated me for my collapsed lung. Being admitted to the hospital after I felt a tight chest, coughing, sore throat and blood in my phlegm. Not to worry, A few hours and a few doses of drugs I was off again hitting the bars – the resistance to the city continued.

This could of been the karmic revenge to the previous night in which my Co-Captain and I made an American on the pub crawl only make it to the second bar before passing out and vomiting (dropping vodka shots in his beers #neknomination), making the pubcrawl host pass out in his hallway, cutting the bartenders hand enough for it to be bandage and hanging out with a guy that looked like David Guetta -See if you can spot him.

In any case post hospital visit i was dosed up and ready to take on day 2 in Budapest. I was able to join my Co-Captain manage to break into Buda – Castle and explore the places that I am pretty sure were restricted. The amazing buildings did not cease to amaze with the Church in the rocks, Heros Square, Chain Bridge, Liberty statue and Fisherman’s bastion. We even made a pit stop to the local markets as both of us were fighting Scurvy and craving fruits.

Sights had been seen and apples had been eaten, now began the second rendezvous, as we followed up a hospital visit with a counter attack on the bars. We headed out again. This time local style, drinking Pelenca, a local Hungarian Fruit Brandy ranging from 40% to 70% alcohol content. We visited Ruin bars, these are huge bars set up in ruined buildings.

One of which was “Instant” a 26 room maze and 6 Dance floors. Soon we made random friends and together took on a local at fooseball and beat him which really seemed to enrage the local. Laughing and having shots I soon lost my Co-Captain, who was on his own mission to survive. We reunited in the room hours later, when he arrived and scared the living daylights out of me and reduced my life span by 5 years. We exchanged stories, including him meeting locals that took him to a shut bar and drank every Hungarian shot on the menu to celebrate the 30th Birthday of a friend. He explained this as he went and passed out in the wardrobe (we both are unclear on why he slept there – one of life’s mysteries).

Our last night in the mighty Budapest we went caught up with the new friends we had made and went to Budapest Trap. Basically a place where you get locked in a room with clues and we have 1 hour to escape, solving puzzles and piecing together clues! We escaped and had a blast.

Exausted we made our way to one of Budapests many fascinating Mineral baths. On the way in which we almost died by a guy testing out Tokyo drift style of driving and almost drifting over us, once the stress levels had been restored the baths were such a relaxing experience with 35 different mineral baths including, the outdoor baths temperatures at 37 degrees whilst the outside air temperature a mere 1 degrees. Also being the place where Hitler had bathed years ago. On the way to the baths we were able to make new Canadian and American friends including a guy named Mr Joe Murphy. Feeling rejuvenated we braced ourselves for our last battle before the flight. Thinking it will be an early night we headed out… Only to return 2 hours prior to checkout. A Nana nap n off to the Airport we went! Feeling the wounds of battle sting we boarded the flight, saying bye to a tough opponent.

BUDAPEST: City of Bars, Baths and Battle scars.

Kiev. Ukraine

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Kiev. Ukraine

The City Torn for Freedom.

Captains Log Day 24 – 24/01/14 5:34pm. Location: Conti hotel Vilunius.

Once again we challenged time and reached the airport 4 minutes before check in closed. I guess the act of rebellion we had witnessed on the streets over the few days settled in our hearts, or it could simply be the bottles of vodka we drank till 3am the night before.

Kiev felt like a forgotten city, in which when you walk the streets talk to you, the grandeur and the historical significance of the city yells messages that only your eyes can hear. The beauty lay in the churches and the castles of this magnificent place.

This is the first city my Co-Captain and I arrived which was covered in snow. The temperature dipped to minus 20 degrees during the night, safe to say our drinks were kept cold.

We arrived at possibly the worst time to visit. The streets filled with rioters and civil tensions at peak. My Co-Captain and I had to explore. We walked the streets which to our amazement were barricaded everywhere by protestors to keep the Military out. There were people everywhere, some on the barricade out posts, preparing food and supplies in tents and others simply chopping wood for fire, they all had tasks in this revolution. We walked to a point and stood there, after 5 minutes of standing there a local asked us where we were from, a conversation ensued, in the end we discovered we had been loitering at the area which was most prone to Military attack! It was then very kind of him to take us to where the actual fighting had been occurring.

At this point we saw things that resembled a movie, Molotov cocktails being thrown, fireworks being shot at police, raging citizens, fire, chanting and finally Tear Gas being unleashed. We carried on observing. I joined the chanting. We saw the home made catapult brought in, that thing was insane. It was fun and games till the Tear Gas hit, after coughing our lungs out we decided to head back home.

What surprised us was that aside from these crazy protests it was business as usual, you could walk the streets safely and go about your daily activities, people were even carrying batons and baseball bats in shopping centres. A fascinating sight. However a heap of places had been shut due to this. We carried on and bought rabbit skin hats (haters going to hate) and fit in with the locals.

The following day we visited one of the scariest places in the world. The Chernobyl Nuclear plant. Words can not describe the utter eeriness of this place. As you walked around the abandoned town (previously home to 50k people) you could see how lives were shattered when they had been given 2 hours to evacuate never to see the homes again.

We had several radiation checks throughout the tour to ensure our radiation levels were safe and asked not to touch anything (which I admittedly broke several times). My Co-Captain also decided is a good idea to pee on the plant which I didn’t disagree with. We left this place which now had urine on it, deeply disturbed and decided to head out later.

That day happened to be the first day the law was going in action. It was also the independence day. People were going crazy. 3 protesters have been shot and 2 NBC reporters have been shot at point blank range. It was crazy the streets were filled with people. Even the bus didn’t drop us home. Reception has told us not to go out anywhere.

As an executive decision and it being our last night in Ukraine we decided against common advice. My Co-Captain started getting ready and I went to get cash out. As I walked to the ATM I heard a gun shot. I hurried back to find out another protestor had been killed. Fearing death the executive decision was reconsidered and revised.

KIEV: The City Torn for Freedom

Philippines. Boracay

Philippines. Boracay

Philippines. Boracay

Philippines. Manila

Philippines. Manila

Philippines. Manila

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Hong Kong. Hong Kong

Hong Kong. Hong Kong

Hong Kong. Hong Kong

Prague. Czech Republic

Prague. Czech Republic

Prague. Czech Republic

City of silent beauty by day and blaring madness by night.

Amsterdam. Netherlands

Amsterdam. Netherlands

Amsterdam. Netherlands

The City lost in a Haze.

Krakow. Poland

Krakow. Poland

Krakow. Poland

The city of lost smiles.

Berlin. Germany

Berlin. Germany

Berlin. Germany

The Broken City where the music never stops.

Budapest. Hungary

Budapest. Hungary

Budapest. Hungary

City of Bars, Baths and Battle scars.

Kiev. Ukraine

Kiev. Ukraine

Kiev. Ukraine

The City Torn for Freedom.

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