Archive for April, 2010

Check this little bit of Ingrish I found on the window of a Chinese Restaurant next to Pasha's (unbelievably awesome pizza's btw) in Glen Ashley, Durban, South Africa… "taken from my beloved iPhone"

Love it! and they had done it twice… identical hand written poster stuck on another window haha

- Marky Mark

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If you go down to the Moses Mabhida Stadium today, you're in for a big surprise… For anyone who is about to go on holiday to Durban I suggest you put this way up at the top of your list… because if you are like me who only found out about this two days after I arrived back in London, you'll definately be kicking yourself for not "taking the plunge" on the Big Rush Urban Adrenaline big swing!

While I was in Durban recently we decided to take a ride over to the new Moses Mabhida Stadium for a trip up to the top of the arch in the little Sky Cart, and take a few pics of the awesome view… and so we did… it was a nice very calm and peaceful experience, something you'd normally do on a nice family outing, well The Phreak was with me so I guess that does classify it as a family outing, not to mention the very large families that were going up there that day. However, and I'll say this in all caps to express my disappointment… IF I ONLY FRICKIN KNEW!!! what was going on on the other side of that blerrie arch, we would have found that that is where the party was at, because on the opposite side of the seemingly OAP/Family/Kiddie side of the arch is where you get to take a little ride on this little swing which is definately not for minors, or people with a heart condition for that matter… This little swing is known as the big swing, which is run by Big Rush Urban Adrenaline. This consists of a piece of rope attached to the top of the arch and you attached to the other end, leaping from a platform 106m off the pitch, swinging about 220m across the inside of the entire stadium at over 120km/h after a nice 60m free fall…. sound like fun? you fuckin right it does! 

The jump will set you back R595 which is roughly a mild £50 if you're taking the big caroonas over and another R150 to get it filmed… not to mention if you want your mates to sit in the stands watching you pull funny faces in absolute fear of your life, it'll cost them R30 each for the pleasure.

Fortunately for my good friend Andy Brown, he saw it on the BBC before heading over to SA and had it right at the top of his list of activities when he arrived… 

Check the video below of Andy's jump!… absolutely livid that I didn't get to do it!

Run Forrest Run! haha

Anyway, check how cool and awesome my ride down was

wah wah waaaaah! FAIL!

Andy 1 Marky 0!

For more info, check out http://www.bigrush.co.za/

- Marky Mark

If you digged this post, Vote for PharSide in the 2010 SA Blog Awards

You know, what is it with South African Hip Hop lately?… you'd swear we're being served with something new and excellent on a weekly basis… SA Music is definately on the rise with international proportions!

On my recent trip to SA, I popped into my usual Durban jol, namely Frankies in Hillcrest, which hosts my good friend DJ Sausage perched in what is quite well known as "The Sausage Box". I was having a chat to Sausage the one night and he told me to listen to this new track that is quite honestly taking the country by storm, I pretty much experienced this storm first hand from all the requests he was getting for it, even straight after he'd just played it…

The track is by an increasingly well known artist who goes by the name of JR who is fast creating a South African anthem which I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches the epic proportions of Mandoza – Nkalakatha as it was back in the day, not to mention it still is massive. The track is called "Show Dem" featuring HHP. Its frickin brilliant!

For those in SA who think they haven't heard the track yet, trust me, you definately have… for those of us in London who haven't heard it yet, this is about to burst into every South African stronghold club such as Joe Cool's in Fulham if not already…

If you wondering what the hell I'm talking about… take a listen to this!

There's a little joke going around SA at the mo…

During the stand off outside the courthouse where the suspects who murdered Eugene Terblanche were, whites stood on one side singing "Die Stem" while blacks stood on the opposite side singing "Kill The Boer"… and there right in the middle of the pack, were six coloured okes bouncing around singing… MAKE THE CIRCLE BEEGA! haha (thanks Lurie!)

- Marky Mark

If you digged this post, Vote for PharSide in the 2010 SA Blog Awards

For those of you that live on the moon you probably haven't noticed (although you've probably had a pretty good view of it) but the skies across London have been quite empty over the last few days, it was actually quite weird to have a cloudless and jet-streamless blue sky on Saturday here in Lodnon, but just incase you do infact live on the moon and not noticed, there's a moerse fokken volcano erupting in Iceland of all places, which is wreaking havoc in the atmosphere above the UK and much of Europe…

Since Thursday last week and just my luck, the day after I get back from a 3 week holiday in SA, the entire UK airspace was shutdown with a flight ban that is said to be the biggest since World War 2. Now I say just my luck because I could be having a nice little extended holiday basking like a little lizzard on a rock somewhere in Durbs if I'd booked my flight just one day later. This is all due to huge amounts of volcanic ash which explode out of this little pissed off volcano with such a force that it reaches altitudes in excess of 60 000 feet… and then thanks to our awesome weather system in these parts of the world, the wind blows all this ash our way, strangely enough not actually causing much of a disturbance in the airspace above Iceland itself. Now you're probably asking yourself what can a little bit of ash which is as fine as baby powder do with keeping planes out of the sky… well quite a bit apparently.

It is said that although the ash is quite fine, it is quite abrasive like sand from a sand blaster or VIM (the stuff you clean with!) that it causes huge amounts of damage to the exterior of the plane to the extent that the front window of the plane would resemble a misted effect that you wouldn't be able to see through at all. Now if this wasn't bad enough from a financial perspective for the airline, jet engines run at a temperature in excess of 1600 degrees. When this ash gets into the engine itself, not only does it sand blast the rotor blades to shit but since its is a mixture of molten rock and glass it starts to melt again and clump up all inside the the engine. If enough of this stuff gets into the engine it can stop the engine completely and put out the flames which cause the thrust out the back of the engine which moves the plane forward. Not something that you want to happen at 35 000 feet since a Boeing or an Airbus pretty much glides like a brick. 

So its for these reasons that the UK airspace authority tjooned, No Go!…

Now obviously the problem this has caused is that people all over the world like many of our family and friends in SA are stuck and cannot get back to the UK. Now would you believe it, The Jen is one of those unlucky people who are stuck back in SA. She was supposed to arrive at Heathrow on Friday afternoon on a flight from SA on Egypt Air via Cairo, if there's one thing I am glad about is that the flight was cancelled before it left Joburg bound for Cairo, since she has family in Jozi that she has been staying while this all "blows over". Unfortunately not all my mates have been so lucky, I recently heard that my friend Monique is stuck in Libya of all places… EISH! not somewhere I'd like to be stuck to be honest. Melly, don't worry, I'm thinking of you too my boi haha

However, last night the big cheese of British Airways, Mr. Willie Walsh got a bit gatvol with keeping his planes on the ground and decided to take a test flight in a Boeing 747 up to 40 000 feet over the Atlantic for just short of 3 hours, landing safely in Cardiff where the plane and its engines were thoroughly inspected. What they found is that the plane sustained no damage from the ash and as of this afternoon the MET Office has reported that the eruption has virtually ceased which will cause a major drop in the amount of ash that is currently in the air. With this the airspace authority have decided to start lifting the ban in the north in Scotland from 7am tomorrow and hopefully lift the ban in southern England here in London by 6pm tomorrow.

Now this is brilliant news however we can't get too excited just yet, because remember there is a 5 day backlog of passengers who need to fly on Wednesday including the people who had already booked to fly on that day, so it does mean that for a lucky few they'll get to fly straight away however for many, the wait is going to take a little longer. Here's just hoping The Jen gets on a plane asap… and all you other unlucky buggers too

Have you also been stuck and standed too? tjoon us about it… write a comment below…

- Marky Mark

If you digged this post, Vote for PharSide in the 2010 SA Blog Awards

You may have noticed a slight lack of posts over the last 3 weeks… well none to be exact. The reason for this was that I was living the dream in good old Durban, South Africa having a nice fat holiday… intentions were in place to post articles of events while I was over there however lets just say that not all went according to plan… remember the piece of shit phone I used to have before getting my beloved iPhone? Well it had the last laugh after all…

Just about the only good thing about that old X1 was that it had "internet sharing" on it where I could plug it into my laptop and have internet access via the built in 3G HSPA modem in the phone. So I decided to take the phone over with me to SA and purchase a new SA Simcard and load a data bundle onto it using it for internet access… as you do. Everything seemed well planned until I decided to get myself all set up and the piece of shit phone wouldn't even switch on… it must have heard my little rant I was having about it in this previous article because no amount of coaxing would bring the useless thing to life. I popped down to the Vodacom shop after that to enquire about getting a 3G USB modem and quite honestly almost passed out when the sales person advised that the modem would cost over a grand. I couldn't justify this for the 3 weeks I'd be out there so that was that. One thing I noticed is that in order to get a SIM card these days in SA you need to provide proof of address such as a utility bill etc… whats up with that? considering the World Cup is in a couple days time I reckon you're gonna have a lot of pissed off tourists who can't get a pay as you go SIM card for the time that they are there and being forced to use pricey international roaming. There's obviously some reason behind it such as to stop cellular networks in SA running out of numbers again if loads of tourists buy up all the numbers never to use them again after they leave. All in all it seems SA is still in the dark ages when it comes to internet access and consumers are being raped with the cost of it which actually quite frightening, during conversations on the subject, friends of mind virtually fell over backwards when I told them I have a 20Mb unlimited line at home that only costs me £8 a month where they are paying ten times that for access at a 20th of the speed, but I guess you've got to thank good old Telkom for that. Incase you're wondering why the iPhone couldn't come to the rescue after all this… well, it appears that an unlock for the software version that I have on my iPhone is not available yet, so didn't get very far with that.

Anyway, quite a bit went down over the 3 weeks that I was there such as Eugene Terblanche getting murdered, Julius Malema trying his best at Pop Idols with his "Kill the boer" songs, not to mention kicking a BBC journalist out of a press conference amongst other things, although on a more happier personal note, I decided to get my left knee dirty and asked The Jen to be my wife… thankfully, she said Yes WOOT! WOOT!  

There's quite alot lined up on PharSide over the next few days while I play catch up on your hunger for amusement, so keep an eye out.

- Marky Mark

If you digged this post, Vote for PharSide in the 2010 SA Blog Awards

A very good friend of mine by the name of Denzil Baynes, endured many a cold winter here in London… until one day he came up with a bit of a bright spark idea… he wanted to be a yachtie… and to cut a long story short, thats just what he did. For some time now he's been cruising the Caribbean and the Med… living the dream in every sense of the word… he also likes to keep us updated with his adventures, so from time to time Denzil gives us a little update on where his ridiculously awesome life takes him…. a little inside look at life as a yachtie… Check out the rest of Denzil's posts here

St Thomas, USVI (United States Virgin Islands)…

March 16th, I arrived at Crown Bay marina around 1400. After clearing customs I grabbed a day worker and washed the boat down from mast to hull. We had done 3 hour watches between the 4 of us which consisted of 3 hours on and 3 hours off so by the end of a 28 hour run our energy tanks were empty! The only positive light at the end of the tunnel was the thought of kicking back on the flybridge with a beer after a gruelling 36 hours of work.

That evening we headed over to the Fat Turtle in Yacht Haven Grande, St Thomas. We used a local Gypsy taxi as transport to get there which entails hopping on the back of a truck with fabricated "church pew style" seating with no doors. It almost looks as though people are being taken off to a cattle Market. It's the cheapest mode of transport around the Islands as well as being the most interesting.

The following day we headed over to the other side of St Thomas, a place called Red Hook. We had 4 days off here in Red Hook starting with our first night out falling on St Patricks Day! This location was carefully chosen for the crew time off as it had 6 bars within stone throwing distance of each other, just as many restaurants if not more and a ferry port with the ability to Island hop. We did 3 out of 3 main attractions which included: the Irish Bar for St Patricks, the Caribbean Bar and restaurant for food and the ferry trip from St Thomas over to St John’s. Once we docked in St John’s we caught a Gypsy taxi up and over the hilly Island to a little Bay called "Trunk". Well known for its snorkelling it had crystal clear water and a snow white beach. We spent the whole afternoon wading in the calm cool water in between baking on the warm soft sand.

A little before sunset, the three of us caught another Gypsy taxi back to the ferry port and visited the famous "Woodys Seafood Saloon" for happy hour. Too many "happies" down we decided that food was next on the agenda and so fell through the door of a Spanish Tapas restaurant. Once propped up at the bar counter we ordered everything on the Tapas menu including a 1989 bottle of red.

On the Monday, March 22nd, we moved the boat from Red Hook Bay on the East side of St Thomas to Charlotte Amalie on the South side of the Island. The owners were arriving the following afternoon so we needed the day to tie up, wash down and detail the boat for their arrival. The day after they arrived I was asked to join them on their day’s activities.

We took a Gypsy from the Yacht Haven Grande marina to the centre of town, Charlotte Amalie. We walked the quaint stone alley ways and streets. The main street caters for all the cruise liners of which 3 visit on a daily basis. All the Gold, Diamonds, various other jewellery pieces and Liquor are sold at Duty Free prices. My owners picked up a beautiful Baccarat crystal vase which as part of the service got delivered to the boat. Since our hands were still free we then caught another Gypsy taxi over to the Sky lift. This is a cable car that travels at a 70 degree angle to a viewing platform, Bar, Restaurant and shops overlooking Charlotte Amalie, the Marina, Town and the Caribbean Sea. It’s possible to see for miles up there!

Once we returned to the boat I was invited to join the Island Tour. A private hire van with tour guide drove us around the island of St Thomas with a verbal introduction to all the interesting places and sights that St Thomas has to offer. The tour guide drove us into the Ritz-Carlton for a viewing and we enjoyed a complimentary drink on the balcony overlooking the magnificent hotel pool which compliments as well as competes against the turquoise, emerald and as it shallows, crystal clear water of the ocean.

As we drove along Skyline Drive, we stopped at a viewing point to overlook Magens Bay. This Bay has been rated in the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world by National Geographic. I can't tell you at what number but I can definitely agree that it should be right up there!

Puerto Rico…

We left the dock in St Thomas at 10am and had very pleasant seas to Puerto Rico arriving on the dock at 2pm. The Marina was huge and we had the very last dock at the very end. The only way to and from the main gate or dock masters office was by Golf cart.

I was very lucky again to have been invited the following day with the boat owners to join them on the Islands Rainforest tour. We were picked up by Manny, a local who moved to Puerto Rico when he was only just a young boy from the "Big Apple", New York City. He was incredibly intelligent, knew so many facts about the Island and filled our heads with interesting Puerto Rican knowledge on our 45 minute drive up to (Rainforest)***

St Croix, USVI…

The next morning we departed for St Croix around 10am. There are 3 major Islands that make up the United States Virgin Islands. These are St Thomas, St John and St Croix. My personal favourite of these 3 is St John. The beaches are beautiful, the town of Cruz Bay is quaint, festive and friendly, the Island is not too big and everything is easily accessible. St Thomas is the main Island, it has an airport and is generally the major stop for cruisliners. I was not particularly impressed with St Croix. It appears to be the Industrial Island of the 3. Its home to the Cruzan Rum distillery and a Venezuelan Oil refinery.

We left St Croix on Sunday March 28th and have anchored in Magens Bay over night. Today is March 29th and we're headed over to Red Hook before planning a trip to the next Island. Most likely to be in the BVI's.

- Marky Mark

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