It was mid November 2009 and we were in our first few weeks in Parramatta, Australia where I worked in the awesome PJ Gallagher’s Irish Pub. We lived with Ruben and Rebecca. Rebecca was working for the local government in New South Wales. When she mentioned she was organising a public conference in the last week…
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Live music often helps you have a good night – but this was an unexpected rock gig in the middle of The Blue Mountains – one that we didn’t even know about as we paid to get in. We were staying in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains Central Backpackers and had been out one night…
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On my last weekend in Taiwan, I ended up in the capital city of Taipei. We had spent the full day sightseeing (and also went to the thermal spas) and returned to our hostel for the night out. Jenny had gone back home after the sightseeing, so there was just me and Neil for the…
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Its amazing you know where and how you find things. This one was random – I found a “Beatles Bar” slap bang in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! It was by chance. I mentioned before how English traveler Niki Whitley spent a day with Natalja and I and helped us firstly by loaning…
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It had to be done. It was so obvious. There we were in Singapore, Asia and staying in a hostel just 25 minutes walk from the world famous Raffles Hotel. The Raffles Hotel is possibly the most famous hotel in Asia. It began life in 1887 and was founded by the Armenian Sarkies brothers. Monarchs…
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Friday nights in Shinying became “party nights”, where we would do something a bit different or special, all tied in with the Taiwanese culture and this gave us the opportunity to meet yet more local people. I’ll now comment on our first Friday night in Shinying, where we had a barbecue for dinner, went…
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One of the calm survivors of the “britpop era” happens to be the Bluetones. They are still going, having had their biggest hits in the 1995 – 1998 era, when British Guitar music and young bands were at the core of music popularity. Now the kids wouldn’t even have heard of Mark Morriss, or even…
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While working in PR in London, I often heard tell of new, trendy and different types of bars that were opening. There are so many cool and different bars in London, that we are spoilt for choice. During the year while I worked in London I enjoyed the night life there, some of my favourite…
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The only time I’ve ever worked in any sort of “museum” or, actually “heritage centre” was back in September and October 2001. I was employed by McMillens Bar & Restaurant at the time and they also did special wine and beer nights at the local heritage centre in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Bangor doesn’t have its…
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This is to date on my blog, the most nostalgic, inspiring and melancholic post yet and it warps your poisoned mind back to 1997 – when life was good, when “the smiles were genuine.” I’m not being deeply ironic, cynical, acting like an old man, I’m just appreciating that period of my life when everything…
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