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crimethinc · 6 years

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Contribution to the Rupture in Progress: A Translation from France on the Yellow Vest Movement

The following text appeared yesterday on the French platform lundimatin; they describe it as the best sociological and political analysis to date on the yellow vest movement. Although we are no more optimistic about the supposedly “non-ideological” character of the first phase of the yellow vest phenomenon than we are about the antiquated tactics and methods of organization it supplanted, the movement itself has become a battleground to determine what form the next wave of opposition to neoliberal austerity will assume, and none can afford to stand aside. This text concludes with a cool-headed appraisal of the risks and possibilities before the gilets jaunes and all who will follow in their wake.

“I’ll end up becoming a communist . . .”

-Brigitte Bardot, interview with Le Parisien, December 1, 2018

“Beautiful as an impure insurrection”

(graffiti seen on a building façade on the Champs-Elysées)

Discompositions

If it might soon prove fragile, for now one of the principle merits of the current mobilization remains to have sent the rhetoric and the tactical repertoire of the left movements of the past century to the Grévin Museum1—all while demanding more justice and equality and without reproducing the anti-tax rhetoric of the post-war right and extreme-right. After the collapse of the Social Democrats signified in France by Macron’s election, we see the collapse of the communists, the (in)soumis,2, the leftists, anarchists, members of the “ultra-left,” and other class struggle professionals or spokespeople of radical chic: and a majority of them, after sneering or holding their noses, are running at full speed after the movement with their factions, unions, parties, media coverage, and blog posts. Welcome to the rearguard!

The delay is obvious, the protest is funereal. Everyone can foresee the calls, editorials, motions, petitions, the route from Place de la République to Bastille announced by the prefecture, their protest marshals and their black bloc, the committees coordinating and negotiating between representatives and rulers, the little theater of representativeness between the leaders or delegates and the “base,” taking the floor through the press or in general assemblies. In short, the final ruins of the welfare state, or rather, of its forms of protest, have gone up in smoke; they are not only useless, but above all obsolete and pathetic, the terms of a completely dead language that may still be spoken for a long time by the ghosts that come to haunt them. One can always count on bureaucrats, professionals, or trainees, and on the army of organic intellectuals of emptiness, to play the ventriloquist, to play the grand game of the Party, to imagine themselves once more in the avant-garde of a movement, for which they are in reality just sad street sweepers bringing up the rear.

Here they are proposing watchwords, soon to be constitutions, enacting rules of good collective conduct, exhorting the inversion of the power struggle, rambling on learnedly about the pre-revolutionary characteristics of the situation, infiltrating protests and meetings, calling for the convergence of struggles… These practices, these speeches were already hollow and incantatory last year during the movements of the railway workers and the students—they are hollower than ever today. For the novelty, the tenacity of the first successes of the “yellow vests” cruelly illuminate the series of almost systematic defeats that have taken place over the past several years in France and the general decomposition into which all the currents of the left, so proud of their heritage and singularity and always so stupidly heroic in their posturing, have sunk little by little over half a century. Far from being an obstacle, it’s precisely the much-disparaged ideological impurity of the movement that has enabled it to spread and rendered obsolete all the unifying voluntarisms of specialized organizations and activists. To the professionals of the leftist order and the insurrectionary dis-order, the movement of “yellow vests” only offers an invitation to travel, to a participation that will finally be free of the established collectivities, like so many ideological and material weights of the past.

Turning Point

The mobilization underway has no need of being inflated—or rather, competed with, if one knows how to read between the lines of the deposed little chiefs’ revanchist declarations—by existing or parallel movements. In the roundabouts and in the streets, by blockade or by riot, it is already bringing together forces that are heterogeneous, politically diverse, or even opposed (though often sociologically close) to encounter and to clash. Instead of using preexisting ideas or shared class consciousness or even videos and messages exchanged on social networks, the movement clings to local sociability, old and commonplace, to interactions outside of the workplace, in the cafés, groups, sports clubs, buildings, neighborhoods. Because the religious character of progressive ideology, with its hackneyed myths and empty rituals, is completely foreign to them, the “yellow vests” don’t appear in the first two weeks of the movement to carry assurances or pat interpretations of their common misery. With suppleness and adaptation, at the risk of division and dissolution, they take to the streets, advance on crossroads and tollbooths without prejudice, without imposed certitude, free of the pathological intellectualism and idealism of the left and of leftists and their fantasy of the proletariat, the historical subject, the universal class.

The movement is situated at the turning point between two periods of capitalism and the modes of government associated with them. In its content more than in its form, it bears the marks of the past, but leaves glimpses of a possible future of struggles or uprisings. The critique of the tax, the demand for redistribution, the correction of inequalities—all these are addressed to a regulating state that has largely disappeared. At the same time, the movement wants less tax and more state. It only attacks the state to the extent to which it has withdrawn from the urban and semi-rural zones. And though until recently the issue was a question of purchasing power, that was the case only as a consequence of ignoring the salaries that for the most part determine the general level of purchasing power even more than taxation does. A remarkable trait of the current period is that no one in the government has thought of blaming the bosses for their wage policies. This tactically incomprehensible restriction of focus demonstrates better than any discourse what interests the leading politicians of the current regime serve, even at their own peril.

Since it defies the parties and expresses itself outside of unions—and even, at the beginning, against them—the movement also confronts the entire system of representation of interests that dates from the Second World War and from the Fifth Republic: a set of mechanisms of delegation attached to the Keynesian administration of capitalism. In thus dismissing the left and leftists to ancient tradition, or better, to formaldehyde, the “yellow vests” complete for some the demands for autonomy that have been expressed since May 1968. But for the same reason, they are also in harmony with the program of destruction of union organizations and democratic institutions that has been implemented under advanced capitalism since the 1970s. Or rather, they are its irreducible remainder, the emergence of which some had prophesied. Keynesian, libertarian, and neoliberal by turns, or all at once, the movement brings with it, in its relationship to the state, the economy, and history, the stigmata of these dying political ideas and the ambivalences of our time.

Nevertheless, the movement proposes, albeit in a still paradoxical form, the first mass politicization of the ecological question in France. This is why one would be wrong to relate the mobilization only to the conditions of class, status, and profession, and to create an oversimplified opposition between the problems of the end of the month and the question of the end of the world. This old reflex is also a remnant of the old regime of regulation and protest. In the movement of the “yellow vests,” labor is not the epicenter any more than purchasing power really is. What the movement protests, beyond ecological injustices (the rich destroy much more of the planet than the poor, even while eating organic and sorting their trash, but the poor are the ones who bear the pressures of the “ecological transition”), is above all the enormous differences existing in the relationship to traffic, which have hardly been politicized until now. Rather than expressing itself in the name of a social position, in this sense the movement makes mobility (and its different regimes: constrained or chosen, diffuse or concentrated) the principal focus of the mobilizations, and, in blocking traffic, the cardinal instrument of the conflict.

The Three Vests

On the level of concrete mobilization, the chief quality of the movement will have been to have invented a new tactic and a new dramaturgy of the social struggle. Weak means, perfectly put into play, will have sufficed to create a level of crisis that has rarely been attained politically in France over the past several decades. The logic of numbers and convergence, which was part and parcel of the mobilizations of the Keynesian period, is no longer the decisive factor: no more need to count on high school and college students, on the unemployed and the retired, on their availability and on their time; nor to seek a central, mediatized, Parisian resonance chamber to give the movement its strength and legitimacy. The unique combination of a proliferation of small groupings in the spaces without spontaneous political life for half a century; of the practice of blockades; and of the obvious, natural, ancestral recourse to the riot, reaching to the very hearts of the local, regional, and national urban centers, has supplanted, at least temporarily, the repertoire of the strike with its imposing and well-established figure.

Beyond this common trait, three practical and tactical tendencies currently appear to divide the movement and determine its future. The first is electoralist in its heart, “citizenist” in its fringes. It already calls for the formation of a brand new political movement, for the constitution of candidacies for the next European elections, and it no doubt dreams of a destiny comparable to the Five Star Movement in Italy, or Podemos in Spain, or the Tea Party in the US. This is a matter of weighing in on the existing political game via representatives whose social characteristics are as similar as possible to the characteristics of their constituents. The most radical ones in this camp are not satisfied with the current political institutions and demand that these be completely transformed immediately: they want their referendum or their “Nuit debout”,3 but in the giant soccer stadiums where they imagine a new deliberative democracy will be invented and put into practice.

A second polarity within the movement is openly in favor of negotiation. It expressed itself in the press last Sunday by calling for discussions with the government and by accepting its invitations before those were retracted. A more or less rebellious fraction of the parliament members and politicians of the majority responded, with representatives of the opposition, the unions, and the heads or seconds-in-command of the party, by calling for a change in course: complete transformations of the Estates General [legislative assemblies], taxation, ecology, inequalities, and other burning subjects. This pole dominated the debates in the third week, but it is quite contested inside the movement, which doesn’t see how a new Grenelle Accords,4 a fortori without unions or legitimate representatives and probably diluted with time, could possibly address the rage. After a false start, the government’s principal advantage is now the time of year; they hope to drown the opposition in end-of-the-year parties and make the discussion last several months. We know as well that, in other circumstances, the Estates General could not dress the wounds.

The third kernel of the movement is dégagiste (oppositional), and in its margins, insurrectionary or even revolutionary. It expressed itself this weekend in Paris and in the prefectures, demanding the immediate resignation of Macron without any other program. It obtained results that are unprecedented for several decades in France by reaching the rich neighborhoods west of the capital and responding to the forces of order with an unheard-of enthusiasm despite the police repression, the numerous victims of violence, hands ripped off, faces battered. A few statistics offer an idea of the violence underway: on December 1, the police shot as many grenades in Paris as they had in France throughout the entirety of 2017 (Libération, December 3, 2018). It is possible that the very acute character of these confrontations has been, in part, the product of a governmental calculation aiming to disqualify the riotous fractions of the movement. This strategy failed last week. It has been the object of mass propaganda once again this week. Whatever happens, the best prospects of this segment of the movement are reminiscent of the Arab revolts of 2011, when a very heterogeneous political mobilization brought down several authoritarian regimes, but without succeeding in going further and affirming a revolutionary positivity.

This portrait wouldn’t be complete without recalling that the neo-fascist possibility spans the three camps of the movement. The extreme right is present in all of them. The identitarian and authoritarian tension is also a possible scenario for all of the tendencies: in alliance with (like in Italy) or by absorption into the electoralists; by disgust or its equivalent, if the negotiators win the day; by backlash or counter-revolution, if the putschists of the left or the insurgents triumph. The extreme right in ambush! All the good spirits are demoralized. Will that be enough to tarnish the movement? In reality, the neo-fascist possibility has been present in France since Macron’s election: it is its necessary double and the most probable consequence. The emergence of the extreme right is occurring everywhere today as the logical consequence of maintaining the neoliberal economic order and police state in conjunction with social crisis, witnessed by the authoritarian turn in many countries since 2008. The existence of this danger is not uplifting, but it is the obvious proof that we are at a crossroads in France, in Europe, and beyond. In critical times, history is always uncertain and molten; the purists and the hygienists of the mind and of politics are at a loss. If they are not yet illiberal, the “yellow vests” are already anti-liberal. But who can say whether they wish for new liberties?

Weak Links

By this measure, the insurrectional riot amounts to nothing, even if the ones that took place November 24 and December 1 in Paris and in some cities in the provinces were of historical scope. We sometimes forget that the French have violently risen up, most often against taxes and the concentration of powers, for nearly four centuries. Over the last hundred years, tolerance for destruction and street violence had considerably weakened. However, since 2016 and the new, fragile understanding between the “black bloc” and assemblies, the demonization of riots has receded. This trend has been reinforced over the past few days by ordinary citizens’ encounters with exacerbated police brutality. A tactical course of action could profit from this advantage, perhaps provisionally, in order to conquer the movement from within and sharpen the precision of its aims.

The storming of the Palace de la Republic will not take place. For the moment, there are still many mechanisms in reserve with which to defuse the situation: the dismissal of the government, the declaration of a state of emergency, the army, et cetera. Let us finish mourning all leftism: revolution itself, understood as event, is no longer a necessity, nor even an absolute horizon. Henceforth, the battle can only take place continuously: that is to say, by attacking, according to priority, the weakest parts of the strategic systems of the presiding power. The media and police, to begin with.

The media are effectively divided on this movement. Some media support the anti-tax position of the “yellow vests” to increase the class interests of their owners, all while fearing popular violence. Other media, ideologically closer to the government, in social affinity with the figure that Macron embodies, are nonetheless held to account by their consumers, who support the “yellow vests” even if they aren’t participating. In a fluid situation, representation is one of the decisive arms of war. However, social networks and various protest sites only partially correct the monopolistic tendency of traditional audiovisual media when they themselves are not won over by shameless counter-truths. We like to imagine a part of the “yellow vests” interfering as soon as possible with one or several radio and television stations, national ones if possible, associating with defecting journalists, thus enablng the historical developments underway to appear more clearly. At the very least, we must immediately expand the instruments of counter-information that we already have.

The police presence is paradoxically the other weak link in the presiding system. It’s a used up, overexploited machine, full of rusty parts and weapons, and whose human cogs experience socio-economic conditions very close to those of the “yellow vests.” This proximity could succeed in dividing the ranks of the police, their unions, if they are pushed where their pains have accumulated, softening the base. The task seems rough, difficult, perhaps impossible, but no uprising occurs without at least a partial reversal of the repressive apparatus. Temporality is tight. We can’t be sure that this Saturday, the plan decided by the Interior Minister will not be more insidious, avoiding frontal conflicts in favor of targeted arrests—in the German manner, as it were—in order to contain the tension to the point of breathlessness. But will that work when a mass radicalization has taken place over the last two weeks against the ordinary practices of the police? At Pau on December 1, the CRS [riot police] took off their helmets in front of the protestors. Didn’t a union (Vigi) already call for an unlimited strike after Saturday? Other unions of civil servants (teachers, fire and rescue departments, the entirety of public services) have formulated similar calls for the next few days and next week. The state apparatus is fissuring slowly.

Aim well, but also persist, above all. Paris is a riot, but Paris is also a trap. A spectacular showcase. The scale of the movement is local. We hope it will remain local and multiply its points of existence as well as the meetings held there. The generalization of the perspective of local “popular” assemblies, like at Saint-Nazare or at Commercy, that are able to draw together other groups beyond the already mobilized “yellow vests,” would head in this direction. This would take resources, energy, force, mutual aid. Locking boxes, both hardware and digital, could be put in place. Politically, the role of the supportive associations and even of sympathetic local elected officials is yet to be determined, like that of the turning of the new year.

All of these considerations, already excessive, are nonetheless small in the face of the questions the movement will face in the future, like those about business and ecology, which have mostly remained on the margins of the current commotion, whereas they are at the heart of all the demands. We will have to return to them. December 8 is only the fourth act of mobilization. All the best tragedies have five.

-Deposed agents of the Imaginary Party December 6, 2018

A wax museum. ↩

The Insoumis, the “untamed” or “not submissive,” is the populist democratic socialist party of Mélenchon. The parentheses in the original French text convey doubt as to whether it is more correct to describe Mélenchon’s devotees as tamed or untamed. ↩

Nuit Debout, “up all night,” was a French knockoff of Occupy that took place in 2016. ↩

The accord that effectively ended the insurrectionary events of May 1968. ↩

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jgfiles · 7 years

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Create your Joker Game Nendoroid for a JG Official AU setting (plus Emma and Yoru)

So, since I said I would make another post about it, here are some additional options to create Joker Game Nendoroids… be them Nendo in uniforms or Nendo for your AU (police AU, school AU, fantasy AU, restaurant AU) and little Emma (yes, little as in smaller in size compared to Amari as she should be) since in the past post I forgot about her. And well, since I’m at it I’m going to mention Yoru as well because… why not?

Mind you, I won’t repeat my suggestions to create the various Joker Game Nendo. Apart for Emma and Yoru who were included in the previous set, what follows are merely suggestions on EXTRA clothes you can put on your Nendo if you want to put them in other Joker Game official AU setting. In short if you need to create your Joker Game Nendo from scratch you might want to look back at my previous post for info on how to create the head.

Also, although I’ll be mentioning lot of Nendo and accessories and so on, well, buying them all would be EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE so I guess you’ll have to choose to buy only want you REALLY want. This is meant to help you to choose and give you ideas, not to tell you to empty your wallet in order to buy Nendo.

By the way, later I’ll probably add links to the official page. As of now I’m worn out by all I wrote already. Sorry about this.

Okay, let’s start with Emma and Yoru as they’re Joker Game character and I’ve completely skipped them in the past post.

Now… if you’re going to make yourself an Amari Nendoroid you might want to give him an Emma to interact with. Of course you know try and make her with other Nendoroids parts same as you made him… but then she would be as tall as him and this would feel weird, wouldn’t it?

What you should be searching for then is a Nendoroid petite.

What’s a Nendoroid Petite?

A Nendoroid Petite or Petit is fundamentally a Nendoroid that’s smaller in size (6,5 cm opposed to the 10 of an ordinary Nendo) and that therefore, if placed next to a normal Nendo, can give the impression of being a ‘younger’ character. They’re also technically cheaper.

Now… sad things first. As of now, among the Nendoroid Petite collection there’s not yet a character with exactly the same hairstyle as Emma. As usual as

Also, although Nendoroid Petite can be sold separately, often they’re sold in a single group by western sellers. So it can be a bit of a hassle because you might be forced to buy more than you strictly need. On the positive side this might give you more clothes and faces for your Emma.

Now… what you would find a decent approximation for Emma also depend by your personal taste but, if you want my suggestion I think it can help you look at this set.

Nendoroid Petite: THE IDOLM@STER - Stage 02 [RELEASED] [More info]

Beware, there’s more than one set with a name like this one so make sure to search for the one you’re interested in.

Amami Haruka has short hair with ribbons. You’ll need only one but it’ll do no harm to have two.

If you don’t like Haruka’s short hair you can opt for Hagiwara Yukiko who also has short hair.

And, since Emma had no fringe but her hair were pulled away from her forehead, you can use the frontal part of Minase Iori.

Mind you, I know that you can disassemble Nendoroid Petite so that its hair split in two parts (the front and the back) so it should be possible to put the back part of Haruka or Yukiko’s hair and the front part of Iori’s hair together, but as I’ve neither of them I can’t tell you for sure. Sometime you can’t combine Nendo X and Nendo Y together. No idea if this would be the case.

Also pieces might need a repaint job (Emma’s hair would be orange, I guess you can keep them brown but I’m not sure if the shades of brown match).

A downside of the set I’m showing you is also that it contains 11 pieces and while this is great because it gives you a good amount of clothes and faces (you can’t make Petite faces with facemaker yet)… well, it means buying 11 Petite if you can’t find them being sold separately so things get expensive.

There are many IDOLM@STER sets though, so you might find a cheaper one or one that has its pieces sold separately.

Another option is the Nendoroid Petite GIRLS und PANZER 03 set. [More info]

It’s a set of 6 pieces but if you buy them on the Good Smile Online shop they’ll sold to you separately.

In this set Isobe Noriko has the short hair back piece you might need.

Assam instead has the frontal piece that implies the hair are pulled back (you might want to cut her long bangs though).

They will surely need a repaint job.

If you’re wondering why I’m not listing also Sono Midoriko from this set…

…this is because I fear it’s highly unlikely her back piece will combine with Assam considering where’s placed the point in which the frontal part of her hair split with the back part. Maybe I’m wrong and, as before, I can’t insure you that Noriko and Assam will be a perfect fit. You’ll have to see it for yourself.

Another possibility is to give Emma a fringe even if she canonically doesn’t have it. If that’s what you want you’ll find many Nendo Petite that can fit among the ‘GIRLS und PANZER’ many sets or among the ‘THE IDOLM@STER’ sets. It’s up to you and how close do you want your Emma to be to the real Emma.

Are you a Yoru lover?

There are many Nendo (and even some Nendo Petite) that come with a cute kitten who’s already black or that you can paint in black.

Each of them is pretty adorable. The problem would be you’ll have to buy a Nendo to have them… which might not be worth it. If you find just a black cat from a toy store it will probably work just as well. Anyway for the sake of this being a complete list I’ll list them to you.

Nendoroid Hakase [More info]

Nendoroid Kenma Kozume [More info]

Nendoroid Shiki Ryougi (Shiki Ryougi didn’t come just with a cat but also with cat ears if you’re interested) [More info]

Nendoroid Tsubasa Hanekawa [More info]

Nendoroid Azusa Nakano (His face though is white) [More info]

Nendoroid More After Parts 02 (they aren’t black but if you’re interested in this set that gives cat ears and cat tails to your Nendo as well as bunny ears and bunny tails, you might consider them an acceptable compromise. We’ll talk about this set later though.) [More info]

So now we get to the customize your Nendo with clothes that aren’t suits parts.

Let’s start with Sakuma’s Army uniform.

To refresh everyone’s mind this is Sakuma’s uniform (well, the second picture it’s actually the Military Police uniform but, as you can see, the Army uniform is the same just with a red M instead than a black one and no tiny round insignia on the collar) or better the uniform he would have worn in 1938/39.

As of now I couldn’t find Nendo parts that come with the collar for this uniform but we can still give Sakuma an uniform he wore.

In fact, prior to wearing this one uniform he would have worn this other uniform which differs slightly for how the collar is and where the insignia are placed (the second picture is of when Sakuma was still a student and therefore didn’t have a rank but it gives you an idea of the uniform colouring).

No, sadly Nendo don’t come with Japanese ARMY uniforms. The only one who has a military uniform is Japan (from Hetalia) but he has a Navy Uniform.

Nendoroid Japan [Released] [More info]

The sleeves and the legs are wrong and there’s no hat but we can keep it in consideration for the jacket (remember you can remove and replace the arms). Of course it’ll need a repaint job.

Now what’s our next option?

Nendoroid KAITO Senbonzakura Ver. [Released] [More info]

He has the hat and the right legs. Of course he needs a repaint job and the sleeves need to be replaced but the jacket (minus the sleeve) although a bit upper class for our Sakuma (what with all those medals and aiguillette? And where are the buttons?) can still work if you don’t feel like buying Nendoroid Japan.

And, if you’ve bought the suit set I was talking about in the past post and aren’t using all the suits in it, you can replace the arms with some from that set, even the ones from the female suit should work.

Really, that type of sleeves aren’t so hard to find so replacing them shouldn’t be impossible.

Still, it won’t be a perfect replica but one has to make with what he has.

There’s something else about clothes I skipped in my previous post. The hat the boys wear.

Well, truth to be told there isn’t a hat set and anyway Nendo don’t have fedora hats but they can wear hat that look like one so, if you really want a hat I’ll list you 2 options:

Nendoroid Chuya Nakahara [More info]

Nendoroid May'n [More info]

Oh, if you want a Sakuma with really short hair Good smile company is about to release the pre-order possibility for a new Nendo

Nendoroid Giovanni [More info]

So now we’re ready to start travelling toward AU LAND

The first Joker Game AU was the police Au. Now, the cover of the cd showed that the boy dressed up the same as in the anime so you technically don’t need a police uniform but if you’re desperate for one you’ll have to make one.

In order to do so you can use the following Nendo:

Nendoroid Sakura Monden (She’s of the Police railway team to be honest but her jacket is the one you need. Of course you’ll have to remove her shirt and legs) [More info]

Nendoroid Minami Kurihashi (She’s actually a railway station assistant but has the right legs and with a repaint job you can also use her jacket) [More info]

Nendoroid Alice Kuji (She’s actually not a policewoman as she drives trains but her hat can work for your uniform and so her legs if you decided to go for Nendoroid Sakura Monden) [More info]

Too bad there’s no male Nendoroid police uniform already ready to use, isn’t it?

The next AU universe is the school AU, isn’t it?

In it Sakuma is very likely dressed up in his own suit so he wouldn’t really change but I know some like to depict him in gym clothes so you might want to look at this nendo.

Nendoroid Tobio Kageyama Karasuno High School Volleyball club's jersey ver [More info]

And now... you probably want a school uniform for the boys.

Nendoroid Ushio Aotsuki [More info]

You can also use

Nendoroid Koyomi Araragi [More info]

Another option, although not so good is:

Nendoroid KAITO: Cheerful Ver. [More info]

Last but not least there’s:

Nendoroid More: Dress Up Cheerleaders [More info]

Why this set? Because it includes a secret piece which would be the outfit Kaito is wearing above

Only well... unless you manage to buy ONLY THE SECRET PIECE, buying the full set would cost you more than buying a Nendo... so, unless you also want the cheerleader girls part that’s something I discourage you from buying.

Oh and you want gym uniforms for the boys as well? Try this.

Nendoroid Shoyo Hinata Karasuno High School Volleyball Club's Jersey Ver [More info]

The shorts will give them a younger feeling compared to the guym clothes I picked up for Sakuma... though of course you can decide to go for the long pants as well if you prefer.

Theoretically you could use Nendoroid petite to make the students... as there’s a student uniform among the Nendoroid petite and this would make them look younger...

Nendoroid Petite: Bakemonogatari Set #1 [More info]

As you can see it includes again Nendoroid Koyomi Araragi so you can use his uniform (which is in 3 different poses) and Tsubasa Hanekawa comes with two kittens one of which is black to satisfy your Yoru needs.

The problem is that so far you can only Make a Miyoshi Nendoroid Petite as he is the only one for whom I found fitting hair (you’re free to try and find them for yourself though).

Nendoroid Petite Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 1st Squad [More info]

See, there’s a petite version of Kashu Kiyomitsu so we can use that for Miyoshi’s hair... but remember, we’ll have to keep his faceplate as facemaker so far doesn’t make Nendo petite faceplates.

Of course a school AU is nothing without the right setting. I’ve talked previously of how Joker Game has setting we can use.

Nendoroid More CUBE 01 Classroom Set [More info]

Nendoroid More CUBE 02 Shoe Locker Set [More info]

Nendoroid Playset #01 School Life Set A & B (These are actually 2 set combined and the photo is not showing the door so as not to cover up the inside of the room, although it’s included in one of the two sets. You can see it below, in the next two sets) [More info & More info]

Nendoroid Playset 03: Culture Festival A & B Set (These are actually 2 set combined and the photo is not showing the window so as not to cover up the inside of the room, although it’s included in one of the two sets. You can see it above, in the previous two sets) [More info & More info]

And so that’s all for the school AU.

Next AU to come up is the fantasy one, isn’t it?

To be honest it wasn’t possible to find clothes for all the characters of that universe as they aren’t shown clearly.

Anyway we’ve:

Sakuma, the hero: Nendoroid Link Majora's Mask 3D Ver. [More info]

Miyoshi, the mage: Little Witch Academia - Nendoroid Lotte Yanson (It’ll be a good idea to replace her legs with some more manly though) [More info]

Don’t like Lottie’s skirt?

Nendoroid Kukuri (Her clothes will require a paint job though) [More info]

If you’re wondering about the other characters from Little Witch Academia for Miyoshi so far the other available are Nendoroid Sucy Manbavaran [More info] & Nendoroid Atsuko Kagari [More info]

... but Atsuko clearly has breasts and Sucy has female hips so neither would fit Miyoshi’s body.

Another option would be to buy:

Nendoroid Ryoko Asakura and Extra Parts Set [More info]

Why would this girl be connected to Mage Miyoshi? Due to the extra part set that comes with her and that includes a wizard hat and cape.

While all this is nice and fitting and comes with a cute kitten I’VE NO IDEA WHATSOEVER IF IT’LL FIT ON MIYOSHI as it was made to fit on Nendoroid Yuki Nagato (the one in the picture) [More info]. Some other Nendo can still wear it, some doesn’t. No idea if Miyoshi can... and I’m assuming you’ll let him wear the suit. Otherwise you’ll have to also get fitting clothes for him.

Oh and if you want a wand which resembles more the one Miyoshi has…

Nendoroid Riannon [More info]

Now...

Jitsui, the sage: Nendoroid Kazuma [More info]

Okay, well, he has a cape that resembles Jitsui’s. Sorry, I’ve no idea whatsoever on how to dress Jitsui apart for the cape. If you’ve suggestions I’ll love to hear them.

We’ll go to Fukumoto and Hatano. To reproduce their wings and horns you might want to use this:

Nendoroid More After Parts 01 [More info]

It’s a set of extra parts that includes, among other things, bat wings and horns. Nendo wearing it would look like this:

Sadly Fukumoto wears a single horn and there’s no such option as of now so I don’t know how to help this one. He also wear a Kappogi though and this one can be found.

Nendoroid Suzu [More info]

I’ll let you choose what to put on Hatano. He seems to wear a normal short shirt but I’ll let you the choice.

So next up is

Yuuki, the Demon Lord

Well, this one is a Nendo you’ve to assemble as well.

For the horns as previously suggested you can use:

Nendoroid Demon King [More info]

For the cape it’ll be great if you can try:

Nendoroid Melissa Seraphy Beast King Ver.

Or something simpler like:

Nendoroid More: Halloween Set Male Ver. [More info]

which comes with a cute black kitten for all your Yoru needs (I told you that there are many Nendo cats).

We’ve no info about the others so I’ve no suggestions for them.

I’m going to skip the zoo AU as we’ve no visual of how the characters look.

I’ll jump to the family restaurant AU

Actually we don’t know how they’re dressed in it either…

But, if you need a restaurant here it is:

Nendoroid Playset #05 : Wagnaria A & B Set - Guest Seating & Kitchen (These are actually 2 set combined and the photo is not showing a wall which is the same as the other wall with window so as not to cover up the inside of the room, although it’s included in one of the two sets.) [More info & More info]

I guess if we assume the boy were dressed like that:

We can use a Nendo we saw the past time:

Nendoroid Kagamine Len Harvest Moon Ver [More info]

If instead we want to go for something like this:

We can go for the boys wearing just the waistcoat of the suit set.

Nendoroid More: Dress Up Suits [More info]

LOL of course you could try to mix up things and use the skirt of the suit set pretending it’s actually an apron and attaching to it the legs of the male suit version. Just an idea. If you don’t look behind your Nendo it might work.

So now you might be wondering... what about the Chibi animal version?

Any chance to see it?

So far no. Japanese fans just sew clothes that reproduce it for their Nendo when they’re in Chibi animal version mood.

If it can help though you can put cat or bunny ears on your Nendo.

Nendoroid More After Parts 02 [More info]

That’s how your Nendo will look.

They also made dog and Kappa accessories but...

Oh, also there are Nendo which comes with cat ears so of course if, in order to get Yoru, you’ve bought yourself

On a sidenote if you want wolf ears we have them as well, though you’ll need to buy a Nendo to get them.

Nendoroid Holo (She also have a tail but I doubt you can attach it to a male suit) [More info]

Nendoroid Shiki Ryougi [More info]

Nendoroid Tsubasa Hanekawa [More info]

You’ve cat ears already.

Another option, although still unsatisfying are

Nendoroid More Face Parts Case

This is a penguin [More info] but I guess you can do it a paint job and make it look like a roaster, especially if you add a crest with clay.

This is a bear [More info]...

A cat [More info]...

A bunny [More info]...

And this is supposed to be a fox [More info] (sort of) but I guess with a paint job you can claim is a dog.

Last but not least you might want some traditional Japanese clothes for your Nendo.

Sadly there are no Kimono or Yukata sets for the males but there’s at least this:

Nendoroid Nozomu Itoshiki 1.5 [More info]

Nendoroid Nozomu Itoshiki 1.5: Kouji Kumeta Color Ver. [More info]

Nendoroid Hozuki [More info]

Though of course you can use also these:

Nendoroid Co-de: Kashu Kiyomitsu -Hanamaru- Uchiban Co-de [More info]

Nendoroid Co-de: Yamatonokami Yasusada -Hanamaru- Uchiban Co-de [More info]

They’re Co-De, they cost less but they can’t really move, just swap parts. But I’ve both and they’re adorable.

Now let’s end with some useful links.

Official Nendoroid list

Official Nendoroid Co-de list (same size as Nendoroids but they are placed in a fixed pose so they have less parts to swap and as a result are cheaper)

Official Nendoroid More list (accessories for Nendoroids be they clothes, faces or animal ears and tails)

Official Nendoroid Petite list (They’re the same as Nendoroid but smaller, as in their height is 65mm)

Official Nendoroid Playsets (stages on which you can move/place your Nendo)

Forum for who’s searching Nendoroid specific parts

And that’s really the end.

Also, if, after this, you feel like making a Joker Game Nendo please let me know! I would love to see it and know I was of some use!

#Joker Game #Sakuma #Miyoshi #Kaminaga #Yuuki #Amari #Tazaki #Hatano #Jitsui #Odagiri #Fukumoto #Joker Game Merchandize

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loyallogic · 4 years

Text

19th century Epidemic Act’s efficiency during a 21st century outbreak

This article has been written by Madhavi Raje and Smera Sarnath Sonker, students of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow.

Introduction

The Epidemic Disease Act came into force in India in 1897, back when India was still a British colony. The Act was introduced before the Council of the Governor-General of India in Calcutta by John Woodburn to ensure better protection and prevention from the deadly and dangerous epidemic disease. The Act still is in existence even after 123 years like many other acts drafted by the Britishers back in time for British India. It was brought with a specific objective, to contain the spread of a bubonic plague that stuck the city of Bombay. The Act is a brief culmination of 4 sections.

Section 2 highlights “Power to take special measures and prescribe regulations as to dangerous epidemic disease.”

Section 3 provides for penalty in case any person disobeys any regulation or order that is made under this Act or the Act shall be punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code: the provision deals with the offence of ‘Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.’

Section 4 ensures and provides protection and immunity to people who are working under this Act from any legal action.

The object of this article is to study how successful is the century old Act to deal in the current situation of a global pandemic which has shook the entire world- COVID-19 or as more commonly known as CoronaVirus. The spread of this disease is quick, swift and very secretive because of which the governments worldwide are facing huge problems to control the spread of this novel virus whose vaccine or efficient medications are still not available. Though we are having acts which are much older than the Epidemic Disease Act, like Indian Penal Code and Indian Evidence Act, which are serving us good but they have undergone many amendments over the years. With the current threat of coronavirus, it has become very important for us to find out the shortcomings of this Act and make it more appropriate to use in today’s time.

The Epidemics Act in India increases government’s control over the people in order to contain the spread of the virus. It allows government to take special measures to defeat the epidemic such as inspection of people travelling through railways or other means such as roadways, by air or by sea. Segregation of suspected or confirmed patients of the infectious disease in hospitals, public places, quarantine centres, isolation wards or other places.

Moreover, if the central government feels that any part of the country or country is susceptible to any infectious disease and existing laws are not sufficient to prevent the outbreak, they might form rules and regulations to prevent the same which may involve inspection of any ship or vessel leaving or arriving at any port. It further authorizes to impose penalty on anyone disobeying any order or regulation made under this Act, under section 188 of IPC, however this recently has been challenged in a petition to Supreme Court by Dr. Vikram Singh who is a former DGP of Uttar Pradesh stating that FIRs cannot be lodged under article 188 of IPC as this might institutionalize as well as normalized police brutality which are quite evident in frequent inhumane lathi charges amidst the lockdown.

In his petition he says, “these FIRs are anti-thesis to Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), and thus violate the Rule of Law. Consequently, rights of persons under Article 14 and 21 are affected.” He further adds that in the plain words of Section 195 of CrPC no prosecution under article 188 of IPC can be taken into cognizance by any court. He further adds:

“Police action on an individual who is perhaps suffering from distress and lack of information as a result of the circumstances has ramifications which can extend beyond the corona virus lockdown, and cannot be good for a constitutional democracy.”

He further clarified that he is not promoting people to break lockdown he just wants a more humane treatment meted out by the authorities and to prevent misuse of power.

The last provision of the Act provides for legal protection of persons working under this Act by allowing no legal proceedings to run against them on their actions done under this Act.

Nevertheless, no law is essentially sacrosanct; they inherently have both merits and demerits or limitations as they were drafted by human beings who tend to make mistakes, this is the reason why amendments are very important to preserve the merits and eliminate the demerits with changing times.

Click Above

Limitations of the Act

This Act brought by Britishers in the of 19th century has many limitations. Its efficiency drops down steeply when put to use in today’s time. The biggest limitation of the Act being that it was made at a time when the demographic and the global situations were completely different. There are many features in this Act which indicate that this Act is not in consonance with the current time.

When this Act was enacted the major mode of long-distance travel was through waterways. This is why section 2A of the Act talks only about waterways as the most probable medium that might spread the virus and gives central government the power to take any measures or prescribe regulations to inspect any ship or vessel; however in the current times transport is not just limited to waterways we have other developed means as well such as airways and roadways both of them more or less are equally prone to be the medium of spread of the virus and therefore there is a need to incorporate them as well in the Act with waterways and allow the central government to prescribe regulations and take measures as required under the Act.

Section 2, of the Act gives immense power to the centre and the state while dealing with the outbreak. It gives the centre and state government the power to identify the suspect and segregate them so that they are not in contact with others. This helps in preventing the spread of the virus. The governments can further order ban on public gatherings, disinfection of places, evacuation of people from a virus prone place to a safer place. The government can further use it for forceful segregation of people and put restrictions on people’ freedom of speech, movement, profession and privacy guaranteed in ‘Fundamental Rights’ which has potential of being misused by the government officials. This is why some historians refer to it as a draconian law.

This Act talks about ‘dangerous epidemic disease’ but does not provide any definition for the same. It is not clear as what factors are necessary for an epidemic or a disease to be termed as a dangerous epidemic disease. Whether it is the case fatality ratio or the rate of spread of the virus or its severity or any other factor. There should be a proper scientific definition of terms used in the Act so that there is no scope for confusion.

Another lacuna in this Act that shows it is a outdated law and requires modification, is that it lays a lot of emphasis on tackling the outbreak through social vaccines like isolating people, which definitely helps in breaking the transmission chain. But recently we have gone through major technological advances, and scientific methods like developing vaccine and testing people play a crucial role in the times of outbreak. The Act should further make provision for those who cannot afford testing, this would in turn increase testing which is very important to prevent the virus from spreading.

Analysis of laws of other countries

In the wake of Corona Virus which is a pandemic, countries around the globe are trying to contain the spread of the virus. For this they are implementing their respective epidemic acts and where necessary, even making new rules. For instance, in South Korea after confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015 they reviewed their law which reinforced the power of Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) to command. Further, a legal basis to compensate for loss of patients with infectious diseases and fatalities was also prepared (Act No. 14316, Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).

Not just one, South Korea has several laws to deal with infectious diseases with a common aim to prevent and protect. It further provides a legislation which allows to get hold of private data of confirmed or potential patients without a warrant. One of the major reasons of flattening of curve for Corona Virus in South Korea is their intensive contact tracing. In USA, President Trump signed the CARES Act (The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) which was passed in the wake of Covid-19 on 27th March, 2020 by Congress. “The CARES Act provides fast and direct economic assistance for American workers, families, and small businesses, and preserve jobs for our American industries” and a $2 trillion economic relief package to support it, to protect the people from impact of the pandemic on public health and economy.

In U.K. the new law i.e. the Coronavirus Act provides the recruitment of recently retired medical professionals to increase manpower. As well as, allowing medical students who are about to graduate to render their services, the further provide indemnity to clinical negligence for those medical professionals who are working outside the area of their expertise in desperate times, it also allows law enforcing officers to arrest, isolate and detain people who might be a threat to public health.

In China, massive and rigid lockdowns, heavy fines for breaking quarantine and social distancing might have improved the situation. We can further take clue from Singapore which has an elaborate Act for tackling such outbreaks, Article 58 of the Act grants extraordinary power in relation to emergency method, the clause 2 states “Any person who wilfully neglects or refuses to carry out or obstructs the execution of any emergency measure formulated and implemented under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both”.

Suggestions

It is a very outdated Act and would requires major changes which can make it fit for use in today’s time. So, here are some suggestion for the amendments:

Recently, it has been seen how people having corona virus have been trying to hide themselves. Others who were tested positive for the virus and were isolated in the quarantine centres tried to escape the place. If this is not taken care of then the whole exercise of contact tracing, lockdowns and testing would succumb. This Act should put some responsibility on the citizens to report it to the health official if they think they or any other person is affected by the virus and should impose punishments and fines on those who knowingly hide suspects or infected persons.

Another section untouched by the Act is the spread of fabricated news in such times of outbreaks. Back, when the Act was made, technology was not so developed as it is today and therefore no one could even think about having cyber laws. But today, the whole world is driven by technology. With no doubt technology is a boon in such times, as we can easily communicate any new information about the virus in almost no time. But it has its ill-effects as well. In such times the markets of rumours also get hot. A lot of fake information about the virus or its spread or any misinformation about government policy or unproven remedies for the same, surface all over the internet. We have seen recently, how this led to panic buying or people consuming hydroxychloroquine without even consulting the doctor or gathering in large numbers and thus failing the whole purpose of lockdown. This should be a major concern and the Act should have stringent provisions to nip the spread of fake news in the bud.

While tackling with any epidemic, segregating and monitoring the affected people is very important. For this purpose, they are put in quarantine centres. Governments need to ensure that these quarantine centres are equipped with proper sanitation and medical services. Recently, the people who were kept at these isolation centres expressed their concerns about lack of basic sanitation and hygiene at these places. Most of the isolation centres were on the outskirts of the cities in some old building with clogged toilets, no proper ventilation, at some places there were no arrangements for food and water supply. If this remains the case then people might find it more tempting to escape the isolation centres or never get themselves tested. The Act should make provision for the government to ensure that these isolation centres have basic hygiene and sanitation and that they have proper food and water supply.

One of the major drawbacks of this Act is that it grants too much power to the governments which in turn can result to extreme brutality and human rights violation. Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights provides the right of freedom of expression and information, in current scenario of COVID-19 it is often evident that this as well as Article 19 and 21 of Constitution of India are violated. It should be checked that proportionate force is put to use to prevent any chaos and brutality.

Conclusion

This legislation is a colonial legislation like many other Indian legislations but the difference between epidemic Act of 1897 and other acts is, the latter have undergone various amendments post-independence from time to time making them more inclusive with the changing times. The Epidemics Disease Act not only requires major changes in its present sections, but further requires new provisions to be added. Today, we see how government has to come up with new rules for tackling the problems like, movement of migrant workers or attacks on health care professionals or policemen or ensuring distribution of food grains to the poor. All of this clearly proves that this Act needs to be repealed and a more inclusive, suitable and humane Act needs to be formed, which can deal with an epidemic situation in present time. The 21st century is marked by major developments in science and technology and lifestyle changes, which should be considered while making changes in the current Act.

The Act should include specific and clear provisions to deal with outbreak of an epidemic. It should be self-sufficient and not vague as it is today.

LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:

https://t.me/joinchat/J_0YrBa4IBSHdpuTfQO_sA

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newstfionline · 7 years

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Two Border Cities Share Russian History—and a Sharp European Divide

By Andrew Higgins, NY Times, Nov. 9, 2017

IVANGOROD, Russia--Little divides the Russian town of Ivangorod and its Estonian twin, Narva, but a fairly narrow river. That, and a vast cultural chasm.

If any more proof were needed, it came when the European Union decided to give the two Russian-speaking towns money to build promenades on each side of the river, with the idea of promoting cross-border harmony and tourism.

When the work was done Narva, which got about $830,000, had a promenade almost eight times as long as the one built in Ivangorod, which received nearly $1.2 million.

What accounts for the difference? Topographic challenges, say Ivangorod officials. Systemic problems, say those in Narva--and probably a little corruption, as well.

“It is a different world over there,” said Sergei Stepanov, the former longtime editor of Narvskaya Gazeta, a Russian-language newspaper in Narva. “You see and feel the difference as soon as you cross the bridge across the river--the roads, the bureaucracy, the mentality.”

The reason Ivangorod got a much smaller promenade for so much more money, he added, was “almost certainly” the result of corruption.

Viktor Karpenko, Ivangorod’s mayor and a former officer in the Federal Security Service, or the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic security service, said the difference was because of the difficult terrain and legal restrictions on the Russian side of the river--not corruption.

“On our side, everything was a lot more complicated than over there,” Mr. Karpenko said.

Narva, with a population of around 60,000, has five times as many residents as Ivangorod and, as a result, bigger and better facilities--including modern hospitals, swimming pools, shopping malls, a new university and free Wi-Fi access across much of the town.

All those amenities are absent in Ivangorod, though the Russian town is building a municipal swimming pool. The average salary there is around $500, barely half what it is in Narva. The gap in pensions is even wider.

Leonid Pelesev, an ethnic Russian who coaches Narva schoolchildren in chess, said that many of his fellow Russian-speakers in the Estonian town watch Russian state television and support, on an emotional level, the muscular nationalism promoted by Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. But, he added, no one he knows actually wants to live in Russia.

“We are all Russians, but we have a different mentality here,” he said. “We are used to European ways.”

The youth center in Narva where he teaches chess has three well-heated rooms set aside for players. Enthusiasts across the river in Ivangorod, mostly retirees, gather in a sports complex, which provides a small, frigid room three times a week for a chess club run by a Soviet war veterans association.

Ivangorod has seen some improvements. Only a few years ago, the city looked like a wreck, and there was little hot water and no sewage treatment. That is no longer the case. But lately, with Russia’s budget squeeze because of falling energy prices, the money has largely stopped coming.

In Ivangorod, the town’s biggest attraction, aside from a fortress first built in 1492, is the newly renovated Church of the Holy Trinity, a charming cluster of spires and cupolas on the edge of a lake. It fell into ruin during the Soviet period but has been lavishly renovated with money from Russia’s state railway company.

The church, along with the fortress and various museums, make Ivangorod an attractive destination for tourists. But getting them to come is not easy: Russian law and its security apparatus have put Ivangorod out of bounds for all but the most determined visitors.

All Russians who live outside the border area and any foreigner who wants to visit must submit a written application in Russian and obtain permission from the Leningrad Region branch of the F.S.B., the successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B. It took a reporter for The New York Times two applications and four months to get the permits needed to spend time in Ivangorod.

Svetlana Valishvili, who edits Ivangorod’s only newspaper, teaches at a school and runs a center to help small businesses, said she had been trying for years to get foreigners to visit and to invest in her town but had been frustrated by the entrance restrictions.

Ivangorod’s mayor, Mr. Karpenko, acknowledged that the town’s classification as a restricted border zone “does not help us develop tourism.” It puts the town at a distinct disadvantage to Narva, which also has a fortress and museums but is open to anyone who lives in Estonia or is a foreign visitor.

Red tape and other complications also stalled the rebuilding and long-awaited reopening of a bridge for pedestrians between Ivangorod and Narva that has been closed since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and turned what had been a single city into two towns in two countries.

The walkway, crucial to the revival of a derelict district of Ivangorod filled with the ruins of grand 19th-century buildings, was supposed to open last year. But a state-run Russian company that contracted to erect a customs building on the Russian side failed to complete its work.

Other plans to lift Ivangorod’s fortunes have similarly stumbled, including a European Union-funded project that would have started a shuttle bus service to Narva. The project was abandoned after the Russian town demanded more than $4 million to build a bus stop, while Narva, where salaries are higher and construction materials more expensive, asked for $1 million to construct its bus shelter.

Russia’s difficulty in keeping budgets and work schedules under control has helped create the biggest, or at least most visible, difference between Ivangorod and its Estonian neighbor: the state of their infrastructure.

On the Estonian side, streets are generally clean and well-repaired, while many in Ivangorod are scarred by potholes and, in the fall, scattered with leaves and other debris. Each town has a large stock of ugly, Soviet-era apartment buildings, but while those in Ivangorod show their age, Narva’s have been given a face-lift and their grounds mostly cleared of weeds and garbage.

As each part of the sundered city went its own way after the collapse of the Soviet Union, both struggled with the same economic calamities as Soviet-era factories went bankrupt. A giant textile plant in Narva laid off more than 10,000 workers, while a printing machine plant and other manufacturers crumbled in Ivangorod.

Public discontent grew so severe that calls went out on both sides of the river for a redrawing of the border to make the city whole again. An opposition member of Ivangorod’s local council, Yuri Gordeyev, collected signatures for a petition asking that Estonia incorporate the Russian city.

That effort, begun in the late 1990s under President Boris N. Yeltsin, fizzled when Mr. Gordeyev died in 2012 of a heart attack and Ivangorod’s once-boisterous local politics gave way to a new era of lock-step loyalty to Mr. Putin.

When Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and began stirring up separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine, there was widespread concern in Western capitals that Narva might also fall prey to jingoistic Russian propaganda and, as happened in Ukraine, to separatist subversion by Russian soldiers and secret agents masquerading as local activists.

Tarmo Tammiste, Narva’s mayor, recalled how, when traveling abroad, he was constantly asked whether Narva might be next.

“Narva is not next and never will be,” he said. “Russians here do not want to go back to the motherland.”

Some people are moving across the border to set up new homes, but they are mostly citizens of Russia buying property in Estonia either as an investment or as a way to get access to Narva’s better health care and the security offered by the European Union, of which Estonia is a member.

Aleksandr Bogens, the head of a real estate company in Narva, said that around half of all property transactions in Narva-Joesuu, a nearby resort area on the Baltic Sea, involved purchases by buyers from Russia.

Even stalwart Russian patriots in Narva concede that, despite their support for Mr. Putin and their anger at Estonian citizenship rules that they say discriminate against Russian speakers, they have no desire to move over the river to Ivangorod.

“It is not really even a town over there--just a road or two,” scoffed Vladimir Petrov, the leader of the Union of Russian Citizens, a group that lobbies on behalf of Russians living in Narva. “Of course it is better here in Narva than in Ivangorod.”

#Russia #Estonia #Narva #Ivangorod

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pendragonfics · 7 years

Text

The Brightest Star

Paring: Credence Barebone/Reader

Tags: female reader, mentions of Ilvermorny, magic, some spoilers for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, set a lil’ bit after the movie too, 1920s setting, fluff, angst with a happy ending.

Summary: Napoleon Bonaparte might have said that “there is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed” but, for the Reader, coming along into the life of Credence Barebone is a more than magical occurrence.

Word Count: 1,971

Posting Date: 2017-01-21

Current Date: 2017-06-07

The first time you see Credence, his mother had called you a witch, and the crowd of No-Maj’s had descended upon you like healthy cells attacking the infected one. You wished it was a mistake, that they had seen a mole on your face, a stutter, a small limp, and cried wolf, but alas. You were a witch, a half-blood from the family of _______, with ancestors originally coming from Wales. You had been a lucky child, having gone off to Ilvermorny with the rest of your magic-blooded peers, learning the best you could about the world around you, the world you lived in. But perhaps, when after the mob had left you laying in the gutter, your dress in tatters, shoulder cloak soaked in sewer mud, when Credence Barebone, adopted son to Mrs. Barebone, that you were not magic in the slightest.

But life is what life is, and you were a witch in love with a No-Maj, and that was what it was.

---

The second time you see Credence, your dress was not in tatters, and your travelling cloak was left in the big closet where all the other cloaks were, and for one in your life, you weren’t thinking about the pennies you were scraping by to keep going, or the fact that your father was doing poorly. For a dancing hall is still a dancing hall, and perhaps in the era you lived in, dancing was purely a fun, frivolous activity you allowed yourself to live.

Credence was sitting by the door, knees knocking, watching his sisters sway together to a modest tune their mother would approve on. His small hat was left at home, feet crossed at the ankles, eyes keen on Modesty, and Chastity, almost hoping they wouldn’t stray too far from his gaze. You could not help it; your family had raised you to be a gracious witch, to pay debts even if there was seemingly nothing to pay.

So, you walked toward him, threading yourself between the couples on the dancefloor who were ebbing forward and back to the thrumming of the cello, toward the darkhaired young man who had encapsulated your thoughts.

“Thank you for helping me up,” you look to his eyes, seeing the colour as deep as a bottomless pool. “I know it’s a little forward for women to do this, but…can I repay you with a dance?” His eyes widened, glancing toward his sisters, and you nod. “I know you’re watching them, it’s nice of your mother to let you bring them out.”

His smile is small as he asks you, “Are you here with someone?”

You shake your head, and whisper into this silence between the songs, whisper into his ear, “I’m not. My family think I’m in my room, asleep above their heads.” You bite your lip. “You don’t have to dance if you don’t –,”

Credence doesn’t look to his sisters as he speaks; instead, he looks to you, and his face is not as solemn as it has been, and for a moment you swear you can feel the gift of your family flowing in you, because in the young man before you, you can see a perfect little future.

---

The third time you see Credence, it is so late that it is hard to see your own hand before your face, and the gas lamps have been turned off for the night in the streets to preserve the gas the city spends on its citizens. But nonetheless, the form beside you on the steps to his home is Credence, and his palms are sticky with blood, and roped with thick welts from being smacked with his own belt.

If you were not a witch, you would mind your own business, perhaps take him home if you felt plucky, and bandage his wounds like anyone would. But you were a witch, and that was what you were primarily in your life. You knew what the congress said about magic around No-Maj’s; that they couldn’t stand the complexity of it, the unknown. Credence’s own mother was a radical who condemned magic to its death. But your heart bled alongside his hands, and silently, you whispered the incantations which would heal him.

“What did you say?” he whispered back.

You shook your head, raising your hand to wipe the tears from his eyes. “I don’t think I said anything, Credence.”

Even though it is dark, and your wand is pocketed deep within your coat, you see a gleam of light weave over his palms, ebbing the blood, uniting the skin once more together. He notices, uncertain. But he isn’t angry, or fearful; not like what you were taught at school, that No-Maj people would always lash out against magic. Credence searches your eyes, shakes his head.

“You’re magic, aren’t you?” the words tumble from his lips.

Your face turns pale, as if you’ve died and become a ghost in one sitting. “I – Credence – please don’t tell your mother. She’ll have me killed, and the Congress will condemn me for affiliating with your kind…” you tremble. Stupid, stupid. Why didn’t you think with your mind instead of your heart for a change?

Credence shakes his head, nearing his face toward yours. “I won’t tell a soul,” he whispers, “You’re the brightest star in the heavens, ________, I won’t shoot you from the sky for being beautiful.” His voice is low, almost abashed by the pretty words he speaks. “I mean, I –,”

“I like you too, Credence.”

---

The fourth time you see Credence, you are on your walk home from work at the Homeless Shelter for Witches and Wizards in Need downtown. The sky is darkening with signs of a storm coming, the pavement calling for the pearly clouds to rain hellfire upon them with their need to water all the plants between their cracks. Businessmen rush with their newspapers home, anxiously holding them above their fancy new hats just in case. Mothers dash about with their sons in tow, their daughters nestled upon the hip. The elderly stroll by, aware of the sky’s behaviour, but aged well enough to know of the sky’s needs, and the secrets to returning home without a drop of precipitation upon them.

It’s in a backstreet alley beside the houses and buildings where you see him. He is small in comparison to the figure of Mr. Percival Graves, a high-up figure in the magical government, curved back into the wall where he stands, watching the other man carefully. Your feet stop their movement, or you stop them from walking off without you, but whatever you’ve done, you stay there, swaying slightly in the ghastly breeze, seeing the two men exchange words.

The last time you had seen Credence, he had said words that suggested he did not know magic, but now, you know better. He’s seen it before; that was how he recognised its touch when you cast it. Before he passes a petit necklace to the younger man, Mr. Graves disappears – disapparates, leaving Credence there, gazing at you, through where Mr. Graves had stood.

“_________?” he asks.

You turn, and as fast as your feet can carry you, you run home.

---

The fourth time you see Credence, it is dark, but not as dark as that night, and you are frightened, but not as frightened as you were the first time you had laid eyes upon him. You had been dragged into the train station, snatched from the sheets you laid within and brought into the underground subway in the middle of the city. Whoever had snatched you had to be powerful; they had placed you in clothes you hadn’t been wearing in a place you had never been.

Before you, Credence cowered in the side of the train tracks, his form low, eyes red. It had been a while since you had seen him, and now, seeing him with the tells of hysteria upon him, you felt like the worst friend in the world.

“Credence?” you reach for him, arm extended.

But before your feet can tread over the stones, he barks. “No! Don’t come near me! _________, don’t come near me, please, I’m a…a freak.”

Your eyes bulge, but before words can form upon your lips, you hear the screeching of feet nearing; sneakers that belong to a ginger-blonde with a blue coat, and a woman with short brown curls, and a pretty hat. A man follows in hot pursuit: Mr. Graves.

“Everyone stay back!” Credence shouts.

But you cannot. You’ve seen this young man for what he is, inside his soul, and whether by freak he means he is a werewolf or even a half centaur, you don’t care one bit. You can’t help it if you love Credence; especially for the love in his forgiving heart, the way he cares for everyone ever so much more than he cares for his own self. And if you cannot help him, well, be damned, you’d be the worst witch in the world.

“I love you Credence,” you feel a tear fall and splatter upon the rocks upon the railway rails. “I can’t just let you do something stupid, because I love you!” you sob, voice wavering with emotion.

But at that moment, something changed. Someone must have cast accio onto you, because you zoomed back, and smacked your head onto the edge of the platform, out dark. When you came to, the man who was Mr. Graves was not him anymore, and Credence was gone, and all you could see was the last of a wisp of black in the air, and the word obscurial stuck in your mind from the Englishman who wouldn’t seem to shut up.

“Credence,” another tear fell, but the only one to see it was the woman accompanying the Englishman, Tina. She wiped your cheeks, and walked you up from the subway, into the rain outside. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

She didn’t say.

---

The sixth time you see Credence, you were at the docks, thinking about what you could do in the world besides work at the homeless shelter in the city, and be a burden for your parents with their aging pay checks. But when a figure, wearing dark slacks and a coat, tipped his hat and sat beside you upon the edge of the wharf, you couldn’t help but glance to him.

“You – you can’t be real,” you declare, breathless.

He shakes his head, and holding his hat in one hand, he intertwines his fingers within yours. At once, you feel the heat from his fingers, the pulse from his thumb, the beats of sweat upon his palm from the upcoming summer, and know he is real. Not dead. Most certainly and completely alive.

“I survived, ________,” he whispers, glancing to the gulls swarming above in the sky, to the sun which is high, full of possibility for the day ahead. “I saw you, and I couldn’t die. Not when you felt the same way I did for you.” He assured you.

Your lips part, eager to hear. “How?” He lowers his head, the undercut shave growing back in, scruffy like a street boy, with his shy charm, and places a kiss beside your ear which you didn’t quite hear. “I don’t think I said anything, ________.”

You can’t help but smirk. “You’re magic, aren’t you?” you whisper back, remembering that night as if it had just happened the night before. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.” You beam.

Credence’s lips land once more upon your skin, this time upon your own lips. “Let’s get out of the city. Let’s travel. I want to go everywhere in the world with you, the brightest star.”

You lean your head against his shoulder, and murmur back, “I’d be lost without my moon.”

#credence barebone #credence fantastic beasts #credence x reader #credence barebone x reader #credence barebone/reader #fantastic beasts and where to find them fanfic #harry potter x reader #harry potter fanfic #chaotic--lovely #pendragonfics

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charlesandmartine · 8 years

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An Epilogue

It sounds a cliché to say Australia is a diverse country/ continent but that is exactly what it is. It is diverse, very very big and absolutely fabulous. It encompasses tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, dry arid desert, lush farmlands rich in fertile soil, and maritime climates similar to the UK. Its agricultural outputs are surprising; everything for making a beverage – tea, coffee, sugar. Everything you need for puddings; mangos, bananas, grapes, apples and much more fruit. And of course above the city of Adelaide, in the rich flat lands that used to be covered by sea, vines as far as the eye can see with so many household names in wine; wine that is second to none in the wine world.

I have said many times in this tome how BIG this country is, and Australia never ceases to amaze me. Do you know it took 5 hours of flying to cross it. You can almost get to the USA in that time from the UK. Half way, diagonally across the continent, we reached Alice and looking down on the dry landscape, we could make out lines that intersected others that were simple long ruler straight dirt tracks leading to somewhere, but even from 35,000 feet impossible to tell where. I had no concept of this amount of nothingness until we travelled this country.

Your Aussie has a bit of a reputation of, and is stereo typed as being a bit brash, loud, assured and certainly not shy and retiring. They can be a little loud, but they are big hearted, generous, very comfortable in their own skin and they are immensely passionate about their own very young country. When we left our ship’s first Australian port of call, Darwin, and the Voyager set a course for Port Douglas, the very loud female entertainer who heads the activities team on board, lead a misty eyed rendition of ‘I still call Australia Home’ The lyrics, designed to pull at the Aussie sense of home:

I've been to cities that never close down from New York to Rio and old London town, but no matter how far or how wide I roam I still call Australia home.

This they truly believe in a way that we, in the UK, do not seem to understand or view our own homeland. They are proud of their journey as a country and recognising it as being not much more than 200 years old, they have come a very long way from a tiny penal colony to an important independent state.

We loved this country and will undoubtedly try to return and travel to the west coast starting at Perth. We have visited five of the seven states; Northern Territory, Queensland, NSW, Southern Australia and Tasmania. We didn’t do Western Australia or Victoria and we feel beholden to the good people in those states to do this sometime in the future. Perhaps our favourite state has to be Queensland. The beautiful rainforests, the deserted areas with tiny townships with huge distances between them, the strategic history of Cooktown, the Great Barrier Reef, crocodiles, deserted beaches (because of the crocodiles most likely), the wildlife, especially the dawn bird song, and OF COURSE the fabulous sunshine and warmth of said sunshine on your skin. And not forgetting the beautiful city of Brisbane.

We loved behaving as Australians; believing we lived in Sydney as of course we did for what seemed quite a time. As we strolled around the city so often we felt a part of it, a member and so familiar with it as a city. As time progressed we no longer needed a map to guide us around the simple grid system of streets. The Rocks became our favourite area of Sydney, so pertinent to the development of the new settlement back in the 1780s and full of stories both of the suffering of the early colonials/ convicts and also the successes of some. And of course we never tired of taking photos of the Bridge and also the Opera House. The first time we saw the Opera House in all its glory was at breakfast on Voyager just before we disembarked for the last time. We went up to the top restaurant, sat down at a port-side table and there in front of our eyes, eye poppingly, just a couple of hundred metres away, was the Opera House; so iconic and representative of Sydney and for that matter of the entire continent of Australia.

On the subject of the Opera House, the locals were aghast when the city planners first suggested building an opera house. Do you know, they said, for a moment I thought you just said you were going to build an opera house! We are, they said. Why? They said. And when we heard that, we realised that opinion regarding the arts hasn’t really changed much. Maybe I am being a bit harsh, but there is no West End as such in Sydney and culturally speaking they seem a bit backward. They do like ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’ though. ‘Nuf said I guess. Celebrity?? Didn’t recognise a single one of them.

We like the way the Australians live. It is a more relaxed way of life; often a walk along the beach before work, or exercise along the grassy areas, or even time in the surf. Manly is very much split between an area Sydney dwellers use for relaxation (they come over on the ferry) and a dormitory town for Sydney Business workers, who I am told do get stressed but it doesn’t seem to show much to me. The myth of the Aussie bloke as an outdoor type, barbequing at every spare moment doesn’t seem to hold up. We did not see much evidence of this going on. Someone said there are too many flies to spend too much time eating outdoors. We had to hand our allocated fly over on departure. The advertising urging us to participate in a Foster’s Lager is another part of the Australian lie. There is no Fosters available. The beer in general is not good and more of a lager anyway. Hungry Jack’s is a very popular alternative to the Golden Arches and the Whopper is far superior let me tell you. People sadly don’t seem to say ‘g’day’ as often as you might believe, and I was only once called cobber, which was in Tasmania. I never met anyone called Sheila and the only Bruce was the hound where we lived. Bondi beach is often heralded as one of the best beaches in the world. The Northern Beaches from Manly upwards are better. People come for miles for the surfing and the jelly fish. It is fascinating to see schools giving surf lessons as part of the curriculum. What a way of life. Oh, did I mention the sunshine. You can actually make plans for outdoor activities, BBQs without the fear it will chuck it down. Mind you, when it does chuck it down, it really chucks it down.

We in the UK often seem to think everything is always better overseas and they have all the answers. Well, the Australian MPs are being investigated for fraudulent expenses at the moment. Sound familiar? Each State has its own assembly and then there is the all Australian Parliament made up of the Senate, the House of Representatives and then The Queen. (our one but normally represented by the Governor General) There is just as much bickering as in our own parliament. The state pension appears to be means tested and they are looking at including the value of your main residence to assess how much, if any, state pension you will receive. Nobody seem to give us a straight answer on health issues, but it would seem that you will get some amount of free health care, but you need to pay monthly into a Medicare system for the bits the government scheme does not cover. As in UK, there are petitions against closures of wards/ hospitals. There are at least three types of schooling; State, Private and semi-private where you pay some. They are arguing that standards are falling both locally and internationally. Martine has said that innovations are being proposed that were introduced to UK schools five to ten years ago! Then there are big issues with child protection. There is a Catholic order that apparently had possibly up to 75% of its number involved in child abuse! Then there are issues with immigration and refugees. Especially the people Trump has said he will not take from Australia. That is not to even mention the indigenous population problems. So there you go, on all levels the grass is always greener. It is always too tempting to compare one country with another and think they have bigger mountains, deeper lakes, better canyons than we have in the UK. We can’t change any of those things, but we can appreciate our own country for what it has. But it all seems much better when you have wall to wall sunshine.

We feel extremely privileged to have been able to spend this amount of time away in another continent and very grateful to our children for allowing us to spend their inheritance. We will take a vote on that one later. It has been the gap year that we never had in our youth. We have enjoyed this time immensely and it was worth every dollar of it. We have gained a real taste for railway travel from our time spent on the Ghan. Every single bit of the trip was fantastic we have fantastic memories. Our regrets were that we didn’t have another month to do the bits missed. It was good we made it to NZ. Unlike everyone else we know, we preferred Australia. We liked NZ but we loved Australia. It might well have been different if we had visited the south island instead of or as well. It has been so interesting to be in the land that we have heard so much about over the years; to see the place where the ten pound poms went from our class at school in the 1960s. In some ways Australia is a little bit of Britain but with sunshine: we share a Queen and a language, we both drive on the left, we have a common history prior to 1770, and we have a similar structure of parliament with the same royal standard above the buildings.

When we stepped out of Terminal 4 at Heathrow, sensed the cold, we almost turned around and got on the next plane back again. Australia is a very desirable place to be but it is so far away from anywhere and even the Aussies feel this I think. Those who have had links to the UK, if the truth be told, have a yearning for the homeland, but most say it is too cold and wet in the UK. We will strive to go back; we miss it already. It is good to be home and we will be meeting our new grand-son for the first time tomorrow and that we are most looking forward to and there is much to do ahead of us. The B&B diary is filling already and 2017 promises to be a busy year. So if you have, thank you for reading this. If you haven’t, well what can I say? What I can say is, if you haven’t been yet and get the opportunity, go see for yourself.

THE END

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vidovicart · 7 years

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How to Visit Québec City on a Budget

I’ve visited Canada many times but have always missed is Québec City. I’ve only heard great things from everyone who has ever been there. Luckily, my friend Pamela is an expert on the city. She runs walking tours there and even recently published a guidebook to the city. Given that fall is supposed to be one of the most beautiful times to visit, I thought now was a perfect time to have her share her expertise!

I fell in love with Québec City the moment I stepped off the overnight train from Halifax. The cobblestone streets, outdoor patios, European architecture, and delicious poutine (and French men!) tugged at my heartstrings.

A French colony founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Québec City was then known as New France. Over the course of its over four hundred years, the city went from being French then British, and then French again, creating a delightful mix of architectural styles.

While most are initially drawn to Québec City by its history and European charm, the people, food, and culture are why they inevitably fall in love with the city. The locals are a community very passionate about all things Québec and wants visitors to experience that same passion, regardless of one’s travel budget. I can’t preach the gospel of this city enough. It’s like a big little village and one of my favorite places in the entire country.

Though Québec City can be expensive, there are plenty of ways to visit this city on a budget and still enjoy everything this place has to offer!

Things to See and Do

Québec City has things to see and do for pretty much every type of visitor; it doesn’t matter what time of year you visit. There are, of course, a few things everyone should see and do:

Explore Vieux-Québec (Old Québec): While doing it on your own can be fun, make time to take a walking tour. If you’re on a tight budget, there is a free walking tour with Samuel Dubois, a funny local guide who lives off the tips he receives from travellers. His tour takes you through the Old City and is filled with humorous facts and stories. Samuel is also a craft beer connoisseur, so if you’re looking for recommendations, he is your man! If you have a little money to spend and want a historical walking tour with a costumed guide, Cicerone’s walking tours are highly recommended!

Visit La Citadelle & city fortifications: Québec City is one of the oldest fortified city in North America. Spend some time at the Citadelle (which is still operational and home to the Royal 22e Régiment). Admission is $16 CAD and includes entrance to the Citadelle, a museum tour, the changing of the guard (in summer), and the Beating of the Retreat.

Dufferin Terrace: The terrace is the oldest boardwalk in the city and runs along the front of Fairmont Château Frontenac. In summer, you can relax on the boardwalk, watch street performers, and buy chocolate-dipped ice cream cones from Au 1884. In winter, toboggan down the slope of the Dufferin Slide, one of the first tourists attractions in the city.

Climb to the top of Terrasse Pierre-Dugua-de-Mons: Capture a postcard-perfect shot of Château Frontenac and the Saint Lawrence River. There is a wooden staircase after the gazebo on Dufferin Terrace.

Ride the funiculaire: From Dufferin Terrace, take the funicular (inclined railway) down the cap (promontory) to Petit-Champlain (one of the oldest shopping streets) and Place Royale (site of the first colony). Rides are $3 CAD one-way. Tip: If you hate hills like I do, walk down the steep hill (Côte de la Montague) and take the funicular back up to the top of the cap.

Musée de la Civilization: Québec has many museums, but this is probably the best one for learning about the history of Québec. Regular admission is $16 CAD but if you are 18-30 years of age, it is only $10 (not including special exhibits).

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity: This cathedral was the first Anglican church built outside Britain, and it houses a silver communion set given by King George III. Be sure to take the guided tour for $6 CAD; it is offered by one of the best English historians in Québec City.

The Morrin Centre & Maison de la Littérature: Located across the street from each other, both of these buildings turned libraries are some of the funkiest attractions in town. The Morrin Centre started as an army barracks, then changed to a jail (where many public hangings occurred), then a college, and now a beautiful Victorian (English) library. La Maison de la Littérature is a French library housed in a converted church (which was once English). Both libraries are FREE.

Take a bus to Montmorency Falls: Skip the tours and take public transportation to Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls). While they are not as wide as Niagara Falls, they are 30m taller and are stunning, especially in fall when the surrounding leaves change color. From Place d’Youville, take bus #800 to the falls. A round-trip will cost $7 CAD.

Walk the stairs of Sous-le-Cap: Walk along rue Saint-Paul in Vieux-Port. When you get to the Savonnerie you’ll see a very small path between the buildings; follow it to rue Sous-le-Cap, one of the oldest streets in the city. The street is tiny, with layers of wooden stairs that stretch across the alley. This was once a busy shopping street back when the houses had a front-row view of the Saint-Lawrence River.

Amusement Park at Méga Parc: This is Québec’s version of Mall of America. Méga Parc has 19 attractions/rides, including a skating rink, an arcade with 60 or so games, mini-golf, and a rock-climbing wall. Unlimited access is $30 CAD per person. To get here, take buses #801 and #803.

The Plains of Abraham: Head into the neighborhood of Montcalm and walk around the Plains of Abraham, the site of the famous battle of 1759, which lasted 15 minutes and resulted in the British gaining control of the city. Today the Plains of Abraham is a large park with running and walking tracks, Martello Towers (small defensive forts built during the 19th century), busts of historic figures, gardens, and pretty views of the Saint Lawrence River.

Relax at Place des Canotiers: A new public space beside the Saint Lawrence River, this urban square has places to sit and relax, as well as fountains and mist you can walk through. A go-to spot on hot summer days, this is also where the cruise ships and tall ships dock.

Leave the tourists behind: In the middle of summer, when the Old City is bursting at the seams with tourists, you’ll find me in along rue Saint-Joseph Est in Saint-Roch, rue Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-Baptiste, and 3e (Troisième) Avenue in Limoilou, where I can enjoy the quiet, local side of life. Prices are generally a little cheaper in these areas, and there are plenty of fabulous restaurants, microbreweries, cafés, and boutiques to keep me happy.

Where to Eat

If you’re a foodie, staying on budget in Québec City can be a bit hard. But to save money, it is always a good idea to venture away from the Old City; by doing so you will find more chef-run restaurants and usually cheaper prices. There are also plenty of options for cheap eats like poutine, burgers, shawarma, etc. Here are some of my favorite restaurants:

Chez Ashton (Vieux-Québec, Saint-Roch, or Montcalm): Delicious gluttony made of fries, squeaky cheese curds and piping hot gravy. Almost every restaurant sells poutine, but the best traditional poutine in the city starts with Chez Ashton. A Québec institution, it serves up poutine in large, round foil containers. In winter the price of poutine fluctuates depending on the weather. For example, if it is -25°C (-13°F) outside, then your poutine at Chez Ashton is 25% off!

La Pizz: Located in Place Royale, La Pizz serves up fairly good pizza, which starts at $9 CAD for a small. (Once you’ve finished, walk next door for some pints at Pub L’Oncle!)

Le Bureau de Poste: This little gem has a yummy $4.95 CAD (!) menu, $6.50 CAD cocktails, and $5.50 CAD pints! Go forth and have fun, and be sure to enjoy the patio in summer.

Fromagerie des Grondines et ses amis: Embrace your inner cheese addict and go here for gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. So good and not too expensive. Sandwiches start at $7.50 CAD.

Marché d’Emma: Located across the street from the hostel, this small épicerie has a nice selection of Québec craft beers, wine, frozen pizzas ($5), gourmet foods, and non-perishables. They also have fresh baguettes most days.

L’Inter Marché: Located on rue Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-Baptiste, this small grocery store has a small selection of produce, meats, dairy, non-perishables, frozen foods, and breads. Prices are often better than at the épiceries.

The food scene in Québec City is ever-growing, and we now have a few options for vegans and vegetarians as well. As in other major cities, almost every neighbourhood now also has shawarma or kebab. There is also a sushi craze happening right now. Tip: Avoid the Chinese food in the Old City — it is not that good.

Where to Party

There are a few bars and pubs in Old Québec that can be quite touristy depending on the time of year, but try these:

Bar St-Angèle: A night of cheap beer, live music, and quirky locals. It is a must before venturing into the more “civilised” pubs and bars in the city.

Maurice Nightclub: While Bistro Plus (1063, Rue Saint-Jean) can be fun, the best nightclub in the city is Maurice on Grande Allée. Dance, drink, sweat, and then go eat poutine or shawarma before heading back to the hostel.

Le Drague Cabaret Club: A gay bar/nightclub with drag shows and karaoke.

Pub Nelligan’s: A lively Irish pub popular with locals. Rustic ambiance, live Irish shows from time to time, and a mix of Québec and Irish beers (and liquor).

Le Cercle: A bar and live music venue, Le Cercle is a local favourite. Indie bands sometimes play in a funky room in the basement.

Le Projet: An eclectic gastropub, Le Projet has roughly 24 microbrews on tap. Buy food on-site or pick up a poke bowl from Bols et Poké on your way and eat it there.

La Barbarie: By far the most popular microbrewery in the city. Beer is brewed on-site, there is plenty of seating, and while they don’t have a license to serve food, you can have a pizza, Chinese food, or whatever else you’re craving delivered to the bar.

Where to Sleep

Auberge Internationale de Québec is the best hostel in the city. With a superb location in Vieux-Québec (Old Québec), this hostel is large with a bar, common rooms, and communal kitchen. In high season beds range from $27 CAD to $30.50 CAD per night. In low season, beds range from $22 CAD to $30.50 CAD per night.

Couchsurfing is quite popular in Québec City, which has a very large Couchsurfing community with over 10,000 hosts. Always look for hosts with good ratings and reviews, and bring a small thank you gift for your host (it could be a bottle of wine or craft beer) as you are being invited into their home, for free! (Matt says: Speaking of Couchsurfing, we are hosting a Q&A with Couchsurfing on September 28th, so mark your calendars!)

If you want to experience the local vibe of the city, I suggest mixing things up a little: stay a few nights at a hostel to explore the historic areas, then Couchsurf or rent a room on Airbnb in another neighbourhood to get a true feel for what everyday life is like in Québec City.

10 Ways to Save

Québec City is one of the more expensive cities in Canada but there ways to save money on your visit. Here are ten high impact ways to save money on your visit:

Take a FREE walking tour of the Old City.

Eat poutine (under $10 CAD) at Chez Ashton, one of the cheapest places in the city.

Buy food at a neighbourhood grocery store.

Eat croissants for breakfast, they are only $2.50 CAD! Paillard on rue Saint-Jean (to the right at the bottom of rue Sainte-Ursule) are the best.

Buy a bus pass. A 1-day bus pass costs $8.50 CAD, the equivalent of 2.5 rides. A day pass gives you unlimited travel for 24-hours.

Go to Méga Parc, an indoor amusement park and shopping mall, after 5pm and get in for half price ($15 CAD).

Walk along the city fortifications and atop the city gates. Its FREE!

Visit the churches and libraries as they are FREE and quite beautiful.

Visit Bar Sainte-Angèle for cheap beer!

Couchsurf for most of your visit and save money on accommodation (plus meet amazing and friendly locals).

Getting Around Québec City

Québec City is a walking city. It is very easy to explore the main neighbourhoods (Vieux-Québec, Petit-Champlain, Place-Royale, Vieux-Port, Grande Allée, Montcalm, and Saint-Jean-Baptiste) by foot. The outer neighbourhoods of Saint-Roch, Saint-Sauveur, and Limoilou can be reached by bus.

A single bus fare is $3.50 CAD, unless you go to an authorized seller and buy a ticket; then the cost is $3 CAD. You can also buy passes that cut the cost, especially if you want to venture out to places like Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls):

A day pass is $8.50 CAD

An unlimited weekend pass is $15.50 CAD

A 5-consecutive-days pass is $29 CAD ($24 CAD for students)

Download the RTC (Réseau de Transport de la Capitale) Nomade mobile app to check routes while you’re out exploring. The app gives you information on schedules, as well as the closest stop to your location and when the next bus will arrive.

*** Come explore this lovely city, sit on a patio, eat poutine, and drink with the locals, and marvel at the beauty of Château Frontenac as it looms over the lower city. Sit at the top of Terrasse Pierre-Dugua-de-Mons to watch the sunset and snap a picture-perfect shot of the château, Old City, and Saint Lawrence River.

I came to Québec City because I love the architecture, the culture, and the history. I stayed because of the food, people, and the big-village vibe. Québec City has a charm and magic about it that is infectious. It is a Northern paradise of food, culture, and architecture – and I hope you come and visit soon!

Pamela is a Canadian travel writer and blogger who left her job in 2010 to travel the world. While Southeast Asia and Scotland rank among her favourite destinations, she fell head-over-heels for Québec City and now calls it home. While travel is still a big part of her life, Pamela runs Urban Guide Québec City and has recently published a guidebook on the city that focuses on local artisans, producers, and businesses. If you’re going to the city, it’s a must buy!

Photo Credit: 2, 6

The post How to Visit Québec City on a Budget appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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bornomadic-blog · 7 years

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Official Blog: www.bornomadic.com

Isn’t it true that everyone wants to travel? Yes, but money plays an important role in making this decision. Therefore, I’ll am sharing my journey how you can travel cheaper, longer and safer in Sri Lanka 🙂

How to travel Sri Lanka under 500$?

Trust me! You can travel even cheaper. I focused primarily on three things.

(a) Accommodation: If you chose the right accommodation. You would save a good money which can be used tor food or transport. So, I used websites like www.airbnb.com, www.booking.com, and www.agoda.com for places to spend the night. Keeping the expense as low as 10$ at most of the places. However, there were a few places where I had to pay 15$ but not beyond that. Also, I searched for homes that provide free breakfast, free Wi-Fi, and free laundry.

(b) Food: Make sure that your accommodation provides a free breakfast. Then, you would have to just focus on lunch and dinner. I chose inexpensive restaurants but decent ones. Being an Indian I thought that I would be able to get accustomed to Sri Lankan food. But it turned out to totally different. I was unable to develop the taste for the food. However, there were certain dishes that I did like. (i) Rotti – very similar to India chapatti (bread) but with filling. The stuffing could be chicken, banana, pineapple, egg and the list goes on and on. (ii) Kuttu – it is a mix of chapatti with vegetables, chicken (iii) Hopper – is a bowl-shaped pancake-like dish. It’s made of rice.

Suggestion: 1 Litre Water bottle in Sri Lanka costs around 80-100 LRK (approx. 1$). So, what you can do is a carry a water bottle or two always so that you don’t have to buy one. I re-filled them from places where there were water purifiers installed. It saved good 50$ or so for me during my entire trip.

(c) Transport: The whole country is very well connected through its bus and train system. You may have to change a bus or two to reach your destination at times. But it would definitely save some cash. The Auto-Rickshaw’s (Tuk-Tuk) charge is pretty high. So, I avoided this medium. However, I did take an Auto-Rickshaw (Tuk-Tuk) once as I had to leave early to climb the Adam’s Peak and I had no other option. For trains, I would suggest taking a second class ticket as it is reasonable and the seats are fairly comfortable.

Note: Purchase a SIM from a local shop outside the airport. I made a mistake by purchasing it from the airport costing me 1300LRK (250 minutes international, 500 minutes local, 3GB of data). Later, I got to know you could get a similar deal for 300LRK (500 minutes local, 2GB of data. This is a better deal in case you don’t need international minutes.

I travelled as an “unplanned traveller” without any itinerary. However, I was able to cover as much ground as I can in these 15 days.

My Journey

I carried a journal during my trip to keep the notes of the trip and also a count of my daily expenses. I would share my entire trip here including the expenses occurred. Hope this would provide you with a fair idea on how you can travel cheap, safe and long.

Day 1 (New Delhi – Bangalore – Colombo – Chennai)

My flight’s scheduled departure from New Delhi was 8.35PM but it got delayed by the half-hour. This delay caused another problem for me. It was a connecting flight. I had to board another plane from Bangalore to Colombo and go through the immigration and security checks. All this was time-consuming I felt I would miss the flight. The boarding time was 12.30AM and I reached the queue for immigration clearance at 12:20 AM. Thankfully, the JetAirways executive expedited the process, sorting the issues with airport authorities. And finally, I was in the place.

Took a moment to capture all the commotion in the plane after the drinks were served

I was all relaxed and wanted to take a nap. But my luck was not with me. I have never seen such a scene in an aeroplane. There were around 90 odd people travelling together for some kind of a meeting in Colombo. After the liquor was served the plane completely turned into a cheap club. I cannot describe the scene but reminded me of this movie ‘Soul Plane’, if you haven’t watched it – Please do!

Anyways, I looked forward to my amazing trip. I was eagerly waiting for the plane to land at Colombo. I was just an hour from the foreign land. Once the place flew over, my eyes experienced a mystical view from the aeroplane window. The whole city glittered by the deep blue sea, it seemed as thousand stars in the sky and our plane was flying upside down. All this anticipated my excitement. We were getting closer to the ground, preparing to land. When suddenly, the captain throttled the plane flying us back above the clouds. Everyone started looking at each other in amazement.

And, an announcement happened “There has been a technical problem at the Colombo Airport, so we are going back to Chennai”. Now, you can image how happy I was.

Day 2 (Chennai – Colombo – Kandy)

In an hour we were at the Chennai Airport, refuelled and flew again for Colombo. The plane landed around 5 AM and I was sure that no way I would be able to catch the train for Kandy for which I had made an advance payment. Yes, I did miss it. Immigration and baggage collection took another hour. Finally, I was out of the airport around 7 AM.

Suggestion: The best way to reach Colombo Fort Railway station is to take Bus No. 187. It takes an hour to get to the fort and charges only 120LRK. If you opt for a tuk-tuk it may charge a hefty sum like 1000LRK or more.

Bus E3-187 from Airport to Colombo Fort

It’s a decent AC Bus. But, it will not move until all passenger seats are full. So, one has to wait for a while. In my case, the bus left within 30 minutes. I reached Colombo Bus stand around 8.25 AM, from there the Colombo fort is just a 10 minutes walk.

I reached Fort a late as I had planned. Therefore, I could only get the ticket for the train which was scheduled for 10:30 AM (Kandy Rajdhani). It was a 2nd class ticket costing 190LRK. I had to wait 2 hours for this one. So, I roamed around the station appreciating the beautiful architecture laid by the British, still standing strong. Clicked few pictures of the trains passing by.

The 4-hour journey from Colombo to Kandy is breathtaking. The rides take you through the lush green foliage of the banana and the coconut trees, symmetrically step farmed paddy fields, petite settlements, and massive tunnels, providing the view of the hills that is too incredible to imagine.

Any traveller would love to experience this enormous exhibition of the countryside. I was tired and deprived of sleep but I deliberately kept myself awake so that I don’t miss this abundance of beauty. The only drawback is that the train stops every 30 minutes or so.

Finally, I reached Kandy, around 2.30 PM. I had booked a place to stay for 2 nights which was at a walking distance from the railway station.

After walking for around 15 minutes I was at the ‘Clock Inn, Kandy‘. I chose to stay in these capsules as this was something distinct that you don’t get to see every day.

Thinking, I have few hours in hand before the sunset. I thought of visiting places nearby. I could see this huge ‘White Buddha’ statue from my capsule. So, I took a shower. I picked a map from the reception and started walking towards this Buddha Temple.

Enter a caption

I reached the Big White Buddha temple after hiking for 45 minutes from the hotel. The temple is beautiful and one gets to see the whole city and the lake from this elevation. However, there is an entry fee to the temple (250LRK). You may also be asked to provide donation by different people within the premises ( I ignored those guys). However, I did pay 20LRK to this shop owner who took care of my shoes when I was in the temple.

I walked down the hill and sat on a bench by the Kandy Lake to see the day end. It was beautiful.

By now, I was starving so I hopped into this local restaurant and requested for an authentic Sri Lankan cuisine. The owner suggested me to try Hopper – Plain and Egg. And trust me “it was delicious”.

Day 2 Expenses – 4265LRK (28$) (a) Local SIM – 1300LRK (b) Bus from airport to Fort Colombo – 120LRK (c) Train to Kandy – 190LRK (d) Snacks in the train – 140LRK (e) Water Bottle in the train – 50LRK (f) White Buddha Entry Fees – 270LRK (g) Water Bottle – 100LRK (h) Dinner – 350LRK (i) Accommodation – 1745LRK

Day 3 (Kandy – Sigiriya – Pidurangala – Dambulla)

Suggestion: To visit all these places in a day, you would have to leave around 7 AM. Second, if you leave early you would find the places less crowded.

My day started with a hefty breakfast. I was not sure when I’ll be having my next meal. Therefore, I stuffed myself as much as I could. I was sure that I would be commuting by buses or trains. Thus, I headed towards the Kandy Bus Station, which was not far from the hotel. I wanted to visit the Sigiriya Rock and Pidurangala Temple first and then the Dambulla caves. I took a bus for Dambulla.

What lovely people we meet when we wander! During my commute to Dambulla. I met Julia, she was from Germany and was also travelling solo. Sitting by her made my journey more compelling as we talked all our way. We shared our experiences about the little big island. She has been travelling solo for some time now, covering a good number of countries. I told her that I would love to be her host cum guide when she comes to India.

Nice and beautiful people kept coming 🙂

To reach Sigiriya Rock, we’ve to change the bus from Dambulla and get on the one heading towards Pidurangala. The bus dropped me at this deserted place with a sign board stating Pidurangala leading to the woods. I followed my instincts and started walking towards the forest.

After walking for almost a kilometre I saw the Pidurangala Temple. Prayed to the Lord and starting walking the incline. The hike is brief but exhausting, however, once you reach the summit, the view is captivating. I could also see the Sigiriya Rock and I now wanted to visit the rock. Initially reluctant to visit it as the entry to it was 30$.

After reaching the Sigiriya Rock, I realised that it’s not a rock but a fort in the shape of a lion, whose head has dropped off somewhere. This massive piece of architecture makes you spellbound. One has to climb some 300 stairs to reach the top and again the view of the surrounding is astounding.

Now, I had to run to the Dambulla caves. Hence, I walked to the near Bus Stand. There was a bus there for Dambulla but no driver and passengers. Upon checking with some people around, I got to know that this bus was not going in my direction. I wanted to reach my destination before it gets dark, so I raised my thumb at a car coming to my direction. Thankfully, it stopped and offered me a ride till Dambulla. It was around 6 PM and I wanted to reach the cave temple as soon as possible as the entry closes after 6.30PM.

God Bless this gentleman for offering me a ride!

After getting off the car, I boarded a bus to the Dambulla Cave Temple but I was late. It was already 6.30PM. Still, I ran towards the entrance considering that I would somehow slip-in but the authorities did not let me. I desperately wanted to get in, so I offered the authorities a donation, to which they agreed and they let me in.

Delighted was I to go around the temple with these little monks, who excitedly showed me the entire place. It was astounding to roam inside these caves at this hour.

I came out of the temple and walked towards the Bus Stand near the temple. Lucky was I, the bus to Kandy just arrived. I got a seat.

After 2 hours spending in the bus, I finally reached Kandy. And, slept like a baby as I was dead tired from all the walking I had done.

Day 3 Expenses – 6982LRK (46$) (a) Bus to Dambulla – 94LRK (b) Connecting Bus from Dambulla to Sigiriya – 60LRK (c) Entry to Pidurangala – 300LRK (d) Entry to Sigiriya – 1250LRK (e) Bus to Dambulla Cave Temple – 10LRK (f) Entry Donation at Dambulla – 1500LRK (g) Bus to Kandy – 98LRK (h) Dinner – 180LRK (i) Accommodation – 1745LRK

Note: Entry to Sigiriya Rock is for 30$, however, if your country is a member of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and you are carrying your passport then you are eligible for a 50% discount i.e. 15$.

Day 4 (Kandy – Nuwara Eliya)

I was suggested by a fellow traveller Logesh to visit Nuwara Eliya. So, I decided to change my plan, instead of going north I changed my direction to south. But before I could start my travel to Nuwara Eliya. I had to visit one more place in Kandy – The famous ‘Temple Of The Tooth’. I had a lot to do today. Thus, I woke up early had a heavy breakfast as always and headed towards the temple. I was told that the entry fee to the temple was 1500LRK for the foreign nationals. Thinking of the amount, I thought I would stroll around the place and will not enter the temple.

Asankya carrying the offerings

Fortunate was I that I bumped into Asankya. I local from Galle. After a chit chat about where I was from and where I am heading to. He told me that he can get me into the temple without paying a penny. It sounded like a plan and my mind I was happy that the amount that I paid as a donation at Dambulla Cave Temple would get compensated.

He asked me to stay mum till we pass the entry gates. And I did. Once I was in the temple a feeling of advantage came over me. I was happy.

We offered the gifts to the Lord. Then, Ashankya showed me around the temple and the museum. I was grateful to him. He told me that he would try to meet me again at Galle when I go south and parted our paths. I returned to the hotel to pick my stuff. It was around 10.45 AM and the train to Nuwara Eliya was about to leave in the next 10 minutes. I was sure I would miss it and wait for the next.

Luck was on my side today. The train was running late and it arrived at around 12 PM, a few minutes later after I reached the railway station. I got the window seat and couldn’t be more thankful as I got to know that this route was the most beautiful one in the entire country.

Hakeem and I sharing the lens!

Next to me was this gentleman named ‘Hakeem‘. Once, he got to know that I was from India, he started narrating his experiences of his travel to India. I was good to hear good things about my country. I saw the ticket checker approaching so I put my hand into my pocket to get the ticket. I realised it was not there. Probably, I had dropped it somewhere. I ran to the ticket checker and told him that I’ve lost the ticket. He calmly responded suggesting me to buy one from the next station. Hakeem helped me get the ticket from the next station. Also, when he dropped off at his destination; he got me some snacks too so that I don’t have to get down at any station if I was hungry. I had no clue how to thank him. Before I could say anything he was gone.

Beautiful Nanu Oya Railway Station

Reached the beautiful town of Nanu Oya but this was not my destination. So, I boarded a bus to Nuwara Eliya. I liked the weather, it was raining and it was cooler here as compared to Kandy. After reaching the Nuwara Eliya bus station. I used Google Maps to locate the hostel I had booked online. Maps showed me that it was 10 minutes walk from the station. I started walking, making my way through the woods.

I booked a dorm bed at the hostel for 2 nights believing I would be able to cover as much as I could. It was around 5 PM and I wanted to see a couple of places before it gets dark. I decided to visit the ‘Ashok Vatika’; today’s ‘Seetha Amman Temple’ as everyone back in India had suggested me to visit the place.

There was no one in the temple. I was the only person at this hour. From my childhood, we’ve heard stories about Ravana’s Lanka and places associated with Ramayana like any other Indian. I sat near the Feet imprint of Lord Hanuman for a while. The place made me feel a deep connection and I got hysterical.

I wanted to stay longer but due to the brevity of time. I had to leave. The bus stand is opposite to the temple.

While I was waiting for the bus, I met these two gentlemen from India. We talked about the food, the people, the places. They were kind enough to give me company till I boarded the bus. I reached Nuwara Eliya bus station around 8 PM, went to this restaurant on the opposite side. I ordered Masala Dosai and a glass of milk. Once done, I walked back to the hostel. In less than 15 minutes I was in the hostel; good that I was carrying a flashlight because the path to the hostel turned dark.

Day 4 Expenses – 2060LRK (13.50$) (a) Snacks – 130LRK (b) Train Fare Kandy to Nanu-Oya – 160LRK + 150LRK (for the new ticket) = 310LRK (c) Hostel/ Dorm Charges – 1330LRK (d) Bus to Nuwara from Nanu-Oya – 25LRK (e) Bus to Hakgala (Seetha Amman Temple) – 30LRK (f) Bus to Nuwara Eliya from Seetha Amman Temple – 30LRK (g) Dinner – 205LRK

Day 5 (Nuwara Eliya)

I got up around 6 AM. Freshened up, had breakfast and left for Lover’s Leap Waterfall. I was told by the caretaker that the waterfall was just 3 Kms walk from the hostel. Within half an hour I was at this beautiful waterfall. I immensely enjoyed the walk as it provided me with a beautiful view of the town. You get to see trails of beautiful flowers along the route accompanying you.

There was no one here at this hour of the day. So, I sat near the waterfall listening to the harmonica of the water splashing on the rocks. I was a marvellous feeling – Mother Nature and her child.

Realising that there were other places too that I had to see. I scuttled down the slant and luckily met Mr Nazim Zubin who offered me a ride to the bus station. It did save some time.

I took bus No. 311/1 which dropped me off a location leading to the Single Tree Hill. It’s a 2 Kilometre hike and every bit of it worth it. Firstly, You tend to see the whole town from another level of elevation. Secondly, you get to meet the locals collecting tea leaves from the tea garden. Also, there is a beautiful stupa on the way up.

After reaching the summit I realised that there was no tree named ‘The Silent Tree’ instead the hill that I had just climbed was called the ‘Silent Tree’. I was not disappointed I sat there for a while and let the cool breeze lower down my body temperature.

After climbing down the hill. I boarded a bus heading towards the Ramboda Falls. Within 30 minutes or so I was at the Ramboda Waterfall. People were clicking pictures and leaving the spot. But I observed a narrow path leading to the up the source. So, I climbed all the way up and found the real fall. Water was falling from a height of 390 meters and the view was mesmerising.

The view was so compelling that it urged me to take a dip under the waterfall. But there was a problem, there was no defined path to reach the fall. Anyhow, I removed my shoes, tied them to my bag and made my way through. I did stumble in between due to the presence of algae on the rocks but somehow I reached the point of bliss. I removed my clothes and jumped into the pool, feeling the love of nature. Once done, I came back to the highway from where I started the climb for the Ramboda Waterfall and asked a local for the direction to the ‘Hanuman Temple’. He said that I need to walk 2 Kilometres straight and I would reach my destination. And so I started walking….

This walk was not exactly 2 Kilometres. It was far beyond that. Initially, I did not realise that but now it did not matter to me because the charm it offered me was priceless.

I walked through tunnels, saw beautiful waterfalls, lush green pine trees. The pure air filled my chest and I walked along the artistic road.

There were no cars on the road. Just a few locals selling vegetables and fruits besides the highway. They smiled when I walk passed them.

I walked for good 5-7 Kilometres until I reached a small restaurant. I was starving, so I asked the waiter to get me 2 glasses of Avocado Shake and noodles. After regaining my strength, I asked the restaurant owner how far the ‘Hanuman Temple’ was. He replied “it’s just 2 Kms from the restaurant” but he suggested that I take a bus, which I did. It took 5 minutes for the bus to drop me near the temple.

I bought offerings for the prayers from a shop near the entrance of the temple. And walked the 500 meters incline towards the temple.

It was at the entrance of this beautiful temple. Photography was prohibited inside the temple so I was unable to click more pictures. I was taken aback when I was told that I had to pay for the prayers. This was unusual, anyhow I did pray the priest.

This was my final destination for the day. It was getting dark so I decided to return back to the hostel. I boarded the Bus heading to Nuwara Eliya and reached the hostel around 7 PM. While I was lying on my bed, these two guys (a Chinese and a Korean) come to my room and asked me if I wanted to join them for dinner. I accepted their invite and we headed to a local restaurant. The Sri Lankan food we’d ordered was pathetic, we told the owner of the restaurant that the food was bad and left the place. Then, we headed to this Chinese restaurant where we were well fed.

Day 5 Expenses – 2252LRK (15$) (a) Bus to Silent Hill – 20LRK (b) Bus to Ramboda Waterfall – 50LRK (c) Lunch – 300LRK (d) Offerings for the temple – 100LRK (e) Prayers – 20LRK (f) Bus to Nuwara Eliya – 52LRK (g) Dinner – 380LRK (h) Hostel Charge – 1330LRK

Day 6 (Horton Plains National Park – Maskeliya – Ella)

I was suggested to leave early morning for Horton Plains and The World’s End as it gets really hot during the day. Therefore, I got up around 4.30AM and left in an hour. I pooled up for the taxi and entry to the park with 3 other travellers in the hostel – 2 Chinese girls and an English man.

We stopped at a small eating joint before entering the park for a quick bite. After entering the park, we realised that it was crowded though we reached the place quite early.

We started walking towards the Mini World’s End initially and reached the location in good 30 minutes or so. Others got to see the Sri Lankan Sambar, some wild birds, and monkeys but I was not that fortunate. However, I enjoyed the walk though.

Mark and I walked along the narrow path sharing our travel experiences, of people, places, and food. He had been travelling from the south of Sri Lanka towards the north and I was doing the opposite.

Mark helped me get some great pictures of the Mini World’s End, the World’s End and the Baker’s Fall. It feels marvellous to meet nice people and sharing cultural differences.

After returning from the Hortons Plain. I started packing to move to my next destination – Adam’s Peak. Initially, I was not planning to visit climb the Adam’s Peak but after learning from Mark and Julia about it I added it to my itinerary.

I took a bus from Nuwara Eliya to Nanu-Oya Railway Station. I was about to miss my train to Hatton but I ran like a horse towards the ticket counter, got a ticket and hopped on the train.

I reached Hatton around 1.30PM and it was pouring. But I was fortunate that a bus was waiting just outside the Railway Station. It was heading to Dalhousie. During my commute, I was searching for an accommodation in Dalhousie but all options were out of my budget.

I dropped off at Maskeliya for a cheaper accommodation. I found a place to spend the night but it was really far from the bus station and a good 5 Kms from the Adam’s Peak. Anyhow, I walked towards the “Madhusa Rest” house. Somewhere in between, I felt that I was lost but there some these school kids who helped me find the place.

I told the caretaker not to disturb me until the dinner was ready because I really wanted to rest before the excruciating hike. The caretaker also arranged a tuk-tuk for me who would take me to Adam’s Peak at midnight.

I had a typical Sri Lankan dinner. It looked great but I was not accustomed to the taste, so I left in between and slept. Around 1 AM I heard the sound of a tuk-tuk arriving, I freshened up and left to the climb.

Day 6 Expenses – 7004LRK (46$) (a) Taxi to Horton Plains – 1250LRK (b) Breakfast – 190LRK (c) Horton Plains Entrance Fee – 2900LRK (d) Bus to Nanu-Oya – 24LRK (e) Train to Hatton – 60LRK (f) Bus to Maskeliya – 70LRK (g) Snacks – 120LRK (h) Accomocdation and Dinner – 2390LRK

Day 7 (Adam’s Peak – Maskeliya – Ella)

I underestimated the climb. But soon realised that it would get tough as I go further. I wanted to grab a perfect point to view the sunrise from the summit so I walked as fast as I could without stopping anywhere in between.

Somewhere I between I looked at the sky. It looked beautiful, it seemed as if the stars looked at me guiding me through the deserted path. I wanted to stop and stare at the sky but due to the brevity of time, I kept walking.

By 4.30 AM I was at the summit. The hike was gruesome and it tested my endurance and agility at all levels. But every bit of it was worth it. I took a seat at a seating area near the temple and meditated till dawn.

The sunrise was too majestic to describe. I looked it until I had completely grasped the beauty of the moment. I roamed around the temple for few minutes and then started running down the stairs. I took 45 minutes to come down.

I took a bus from the Adam’s Peak bus station to Maskeliya. Within 20 minutes I was at the guest house. I took a shower, packed my stuff and headed towards the Bus Station to take a bus to Hatton.

Though I left early for Hatton, I missed the 11.30 AM train. So, I headed for lunch and returned to the railway station around at 1.45 PM to catch the 2 PM train.

During my commute to Ella, I met Vicky from China. We talked about the countries we’ve travelled. Shared our experiences. She wanted to know more about India like why certain people wear turbans and why the married women wear vermilion on their forehead. I explained her as much as I could and it was fun to talk. Around 6 PM, we reached Ella and bid farewell to each other.

I had booked a bed at the ‘Sleep Cheap – Ella‘ guesthouse, which was not far from the railway station. While I was walking towards the hostel it started to rain and I had to take out my poncho and hurried.

Once, it stopped raining I left for the Ella market. During the evening hours, Ella seems to become a different place altogether. You see people walking, hear music from the pubs and happy hour boards placed outside all bars. Without any delay, I stepped into a restaurant and offered ginger beer and pineapple roti. Once done, I went back to the hostel.

Day 7 Expenses – 3070 (20$) (a) Tuk-Tuk from Madusa Guest House to Adam’s Peak – 700LRK (b) Bus from Adam’s Peak to Maskeliya – 40LRK (c) Bus to Maskeliya to Hatton – 45LRK (d) Snacks – 110LRK (e) Lunch – 200LRK (f) Train to Ella – 160LRK (g) Dinner – 320LRK (h) Accommodation – 1500LRK

Day 8 (Ella – Little Adam’s Peak – Ravana Falls – Ella Rock)

Next morning during breakfast, I met Quan and Aines from China. They were in Sri Lanka for a week. I was planning to climb the little Adam’s Peak, so were they. So, they tagged along with me.

We walked through this path exhibiting us the beautiful landscapes, talking about the similarities of China & India. Our education system, people, government, etc. The places we want to travel and not get married soon enough.

Aines shared her story, how laboriously her parents worked for her education. At one point, she really got emotional. At that instance, I realised for similar people are though we are from different worlds.

Aines and Quan had to catch a bus so they left. I bid farewell to them and I moved to the next peak. Little Adam’s Peak is an easy trek. So, it did not take us long to reach the peak. The view was amazing and in front, I could see Ella Rock, which I had to climb before the end of the day.

The view was majesticI so I clicked few pictures and sat there for a while. Then, I walked down the hill for the Ravana Waterfall.

Google Maps showed me Ravana falls at a distance of 6 Kms from my location. To save some time, I thought of hitchhiking. So, I raised my thumb high. I could see a motorcycle approaching, it stopped and offered me a ride.

The rider’s name was Sumit and he came to know that I was from India. He told me how big a fan he was of the Indian Cricket Team. His favourites were Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.

While we were lost in our conversation, we saw a police barricade ahead and I guessed it that we were in trouble. I was not wearing a helmet. The policeman on duty stopped us. He asked me to leave. I tried to give an explanation but I was waved-off. Even Sumit asked me to leave the spot. Feeling guilty, I left. I walked a few hundred meters and could see Sumit coming towards me. He stopped and said that the police gave him a verbal warning and let him go. The policeman was a nice man, he made him think of a scenario where a foreigner meets with an accident then what would consequences he would have to face. It was thoughtful for me too. Anyhow, Sumit did leave me till Ravana Falls.

I didn’t find this place amusing. Just a waterfall by the road with few people getting pictures clicked.

My last attraction to cover in Ella was the “Ella Rock”. Therefore, I boarded a bus to Ella and started walking towards the rock.

One has to walk along this railway track for good 2-2.5 Kilometres first. Then, there is narrow passage along the forest leading to the Ella Rock. During my walk along this wonderful foliage by the track, I met a lot of hikers returning and they guided me through.

I was lost somewhere in the forest. But by God’s grace, I met Anil, a villager from Ella Village. He walked with me till I was back on the trail. I gave him 100LRK for helping me out.

In total it took good 2 hours for me to reach the rock. I sat on the edge of the rock enduring the cool breeze. The view of from the rock was thrilling. One can see the Little Adam’s Peak in front, the petite village at the bottom and enormous ranges all around.

While I was grasping the beauty around. I saw Priyantha and Pradeep approaching. They were curious to know where I was from and what I was doing here all by myself. I told them all and it clicked well. We talked about all kind of stuff from Cricket to Buddhism to how we are missing good things in our lives of hectic work schedule.

While I was returning back, I met Mark and Eleonora. I’ve been bumping into them for a while. First, I met them at the Nanu-Oya Railway station then the Little Adam’s Peak and now the Ella Rock.

On my way back, I lost my path. Thankfully, my phone had enough juice to guide me though. I finally reached the hostel before dark. For me, the most memorable part was walking along the track.

In the evening, the town turned hazy. Looking at that I went to this pub playing some great music and ended my day there.

Suggestion: When visiting Ella Rock, keep track of the path and continue asking the locals for the route. Don’t take a guide, it’s not required.

Day 8 Expenses – 2825LRK (18.50$) (a) Accommodation – 1500LRK (b) Bus to Ella from Ravana Falls – 25LRK (c) To Anil – 100LRK (d) Dinner – 1200LRK

Day 9 (Ella – Mirissa)

After breakfast, I left for the Ella Bus stand to catch a Bus to Mirissa. But, there is no direct Bus. So, I boarded a bus to Matara. It’s a four-hour journey from Ella to Matara. And, Mirissa is 30 minutes distance from Matara. I reached Mirissa in the afternoon. It’s a beautiful town, with a lot of restaurant and shacks by the beach.

I stayed at the ‘Sun Vivanta Resort’ which was is and managed by a cute couple. I was offered a king coconut, freshly cut, from the tree to quench my thirst, when I arrived at the resort.

Though I had booked a single-bed room, they offered me a comfortable double-bed room. Laundry was not a part of the amenities offered but they allowed me to use their washing machine.

The owner suggested me to go for ‘Whale Watching’ the next morning. I agreed to it. He made all the arrangements. Later in the evening, I thought of taking a walk by the beach. And I met this lovely couple from Czech – Mark and Eleonora again. I sat with them for a while and told them that, there was kind of power that was making us meet every now and then. For dinner, I had cheese roti which had a stuffing of eggs, cheese and vegetables; it was delicious.

Day 9 Expenses – 2590LRK (17$) (a) Accommodation @ Sun Vivanta Resort – 1500LRK (b) Bus to Matara from Ella – 400LRK (c) Bus to Mirissa from Matara – 40LRK (d) Lunch – 250LRK (e) Dinner – 400LRK

Day 10 – Mirissa

Early morning around 5 AM, the owner of the resort, woke me up. He had arranged a tuk-tuk for my pickup from the resort to the harbour. I got ready and reached the place by 6.30 AM. We left for the ocean at 7 AM.

Exhilarated was I, as the boat sailed on the sea in a harmonic pattern. I felt a profound connection to my soul with the deep blue water of the ocean. It took good one hour or so to reach the spot where the big mammal is spotted.

We had to wait for some time to see the big blue whale. Our boat stood still in the blue water, all of us waiting to see a glimpse of the creature. The captain said that the whale comes every 15-20 minutes to the surface. So, we were waiting patiently.

We did see a couple of whales. After which, we headed back to the port. I fell asleep and got up when we were about to reach the harbour. I was famished by then, I headed to this restaurant near the resort for lunch. As it got too hot during the day, I stayed at the resort and relaxed.

In the evening, I left for the beach. The blue water and the blue sky complemented each other. I got into the shallow water and while I was enjoying myself two mammoth size waves hit me. First, I tumbled into the water and as soon as I tried to get on my feet, the second wave pushed me to the ground. I felt an excruciating pain on my right knee. I sensed something bad has happened. Somehow, I came out of the water, changed and headed for the resort.

I knew deep down that I may not be able to continue my trip with an injured knee. So, I stopped that thought from getting into my head. Rather, I thought of enjoying the moment.

I went a little off my budget. I took a seat at a table by the beach and ordered few beers and barbequed chicken. There was no one around and even in pain, I was content.

Day 10 Expenses – 5510LRK (36$) (a) Accommodation @ Sun Vivanta Resort – 1500LRK (b) Whale Watching – 2000LRK (c) Lunch – 560LRK (d) Dinner – 1450LRK

Day 11 (Mirissa – Galle)

Next morning, I got up a bit late. I was unable to bend my knee, the pain had worsened. The owner of the resort gave me some kind of ointment but it didn’t provide any relief. I made my mind and thought of continuing my journey. I had breakfast which the owner’s wife had cooked, it was some authentic Sri Lankan food; it was exquisite.

I boarded a bus from Mirissa to Galle around 11 AM and reached Galle in an hour. It was getting really hard for me to travel. I met this English couple on the bus who gave my some painkillers by looking at my state. I wish I had clicked their picture but I was not in the right state.

It took me good one hour to walk 1.5 Kilometres to reach my hostel from the bus station. It was painful and the day felt really hot. This became the most memorable day of my trip for me. I stayed at the ‘Pilgrims Hostel’. Thankfully, it was not far from the Galle Fort, Lighthouse and the beach.

I was exhausted from walking in this state and wanted to rest. Moreover, it was too hot and humid during the day. So, I took a nap during the day after having the pain killers.

Around 3 PM, it rained and the weather got pleasant. I took a seat at the balcony and looked at the sky as it rained. By this time, my pain had reduced or I would say, I got accustomed to it. Once, it stopped raining, I thought of taking a stroll around the fort.

As I walked around the fort, I saw couples walk holding hands, school kids clicking pictures, pedlars selling toys and candies. People swimming at the beach, some girls collecting seashells. Everyone seemed gleeful. I took a seat at a corner and saw the sunset steadily.

Day 11 Expenses – 2654LRK (18$) (a) Accommodation Pilgrims Hostel – 1800LRK (b) Bus from Mirissa to Galle – 54LRK (c) Dinner – 800LRK

Day 12 (Galle – Anuradhapura)

I left for Galle Railway Station after having an awesome breakfast. My knee continued to hurt. I was thankful to this doctor in the hostel who gave me few painkillers. It helped me for a while. I planned to travel the north before I leave. So, I purchased a ticket for Anuradhapura.

It was a long tiring journey. To add more to this torment, the train took multiple stops. Though the journey was tiring, it was not monotonous as I got the company of Joshua and Michael; they were from Canada.

The train was crowded and we did not get seats. Thus, we stood by the door, talking all kind of stuff. They got off at Colombo and I got a window seat. I reached Anuradhapura at 7 PM. It got dark so I took a tuk-tuk to the hostel.

I stayed at this place called ‘Lion Rest’. An average place, with minimal amenities but it served the purpose. I went to a local restaurant, had noodles, returned and went off to bed.

Day 12 Expenses – 2490LRK (17$) (a) Accommodation Lion Rest – 1500LRK (b) Train to Anuradhapura – 310LRK (c) Snacks & Water – 200LRK (d) Tuk-Tuk from the Railway Station – 100LRK (e) Dinner – 380LRK

Day 13 (Anuradhapura)

My injury had made me weak and to some extent killed my enthusiasm. I woke up a bit late. I was running short of cash. So, I walked around few ATMs and finally found the right one. It was the Commerical Bank ATM that read international cards. Anuradhapura was different from all cities/towns I visited in Sri Lanka. Everything was pretty scattered here. So, I took a tuk-tuk and asked the driver to take me around the city.

First, I went to see the Sri Maha Bodhi tree. One has to remove their shoes/slippers before the entry. After which you have to walk into the temple from any of the four gates.

The Sri Maha Bodhi is said to the oldest and longest-surviving tree in the world. It was planted in 288 BC. It grew from a branch taken from the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment and became known as Buddha more than 2,500 years ago.

One gets to see a huge number of devotees coming to the place with offerings. Several of them tend to spend hours sittings by the tree and its whereabouts.

Suggestion: Carry a pair of socks, you would be requested to remove your shoes. The floor gets really hot and it’s very hard to walk barefoot.

After the Bodhi Tree, I asked the driver to take me to Mahiyangana Stupa, is believed to be the site of Gautama Buddha’s first visit to the country.

Then, I went to a temple which had some 500 statues of monks meditating with Lord Buddha. There was no one there as it was too hot at this hour of the day.

I roamed around the place. It was very peaceful. Even the tuk-tuk driver clicked pictures of the place. And we sat there for a while.

We then headed to the Isurumuniya Temple. There is an entry fee to it. It is one of the oldest Buddhist temples of Sri Lanka. I was not wearing socks which made it really tough for me to roam around.

I was hopping around the place with an injured knee. Also, it was extremely hot. But, I did tour the complete temple.

I also climbed to the top from where one can see the whole city. It took me good 10-15 minutes to reach the top but I loved it there. I stood there for a while till my body regained its strength.

While I was getting down, there was a family climbing up. Looking at my agony, they asked me why I was limping. I narrated the whole incident. They asked if they can see my knee. I said yes. Later, I found that 3 people in that family were orthopaedics. What Luck! They checked my knee movement and the prescribed me some medicines. They believed that I had suffered a ligament tear. I thanked them and headed to my last destination of the day.

The tuk-tuk driver left me outside the Royal Park – Ranmasu Uyana. This place gave me shade from the scorching heat of the sun.

This place has a rich history of the Senegalese empire. The ruins were once an ancient play area for the kings who ruled the country. Depicting the luxurious facilities and technology used in that era.

If you are really keen in knowing the history of this place. I would suggest you take a guide.

After all the roaming around the ancient city. I asked the tuk-tuk driver to drop me at a pharmacy near the hostel. I purchased the prescribed medicines and returned to the hostel.

In the evening, I left for the Anuradhapura Railway station to purchase tickets for my travel to Jaffna and a return ticket to Colombo from Jaffna. The ticket counter operates from 4 AM till midnight.

While returning from the Railway Station, I went to this Chinese Restaurant for dinner. Had noodles and ginger beer. Returned to the hostel, did packing for the next day’s travel. Then, went off to sleep.

Day 13 Expenses – 2850LRK (19$) (a) Accommodation Lion Rest – 1500LRK (b) Tuk-Tuk for going around the city – 1000LRK (c) Entry Fee Isurumuniya Temple – 200LRK (d) Dinner – 150LRK

Day 14 (Anuradhapura – Jaffna)

I left the hostel around 9 AM. There was bus stand nearby, boarded a bus to the Railway Station. Sat at the station waiting for the train for a while.

Thankfully, it was an AC train. But there were hardly any people on the train. It seemed not many people were inclined to see this part of the country. Yet, it did not kill my zeal.

While I was on the train I booked a room at the R&B Guest House, they were providing accommodation at a moderate price and also it was pretty close to the Railway Station. After a 3-hour journey reached Jaffna around noon.

I was picked from the Railway Station by Subraj, the caretaker of the guest house. On our way to the guest house, he told me all the places I can visit. Also, showed a great place to eat.

When he got to know about my knee injury. He offered me to take around Jaffna. As the bus service and other mediums of transport is not as good as in other parts of Sri Lanka.

In the afternoon, first, we went to the Mantri Manai or Residence of the Ministers. I am sure this place had its relevance in the past but now it was in ruins. And none was done by the Archaeological Department for this monument. There was scribbling on the walls and the whole structure was wearing off.

Then, we went to the ‘Jaffna Public Library‘. It opens from 4 PM to 6 PM for visitors. Due to the brevity of time, I did not enter the library. From outside, I could see this beautiful building between the Jaffna Fort and the city centre.

Now, it was the turn of the famous Nallur ‘Kovil Temple’. It is considered as the most sacred temple for the Hindus in Sri Lanka. I was asked to remove my shirt before entering the temple and was not allowed to click any pictures inside the temple. One gets to see the impressive architecture, interesting history and significant devotion. I was on time, so I attended the puja.

It was almost evening and the sun was about to set. So, Subraj hurried to the Jaffna Fort before it got too dark. He had to leave me at the fort as another traveller had arrived at the guest house. In the meanwhile, I roamed around the deserted fort.

There was no entry fee fort. I roamed around the whole fort. It was sad to see this colonial masterpiece in such a miserable state.

Later, I sat at a corner near the fort waiting for Subraj and also to witness the setting of the sun.

Subraj returned in an hour or so. By this time, I was starving. I asked him to take me to some Indian Restaurant. Thankfully, there was one – Mangoes India Veg.

After all the tripping, we went to Mangoes. The food was delicious and inexpensive. Subraj then dropped me at the guesthouse and left for his home.

Day 14 Expenses – 4170LRK (27$) (a) Accommodation Lion Rest – 1750LRK (b) Train from Arunradhapura to Jaffna – 1000LRK (c) Lunch – 500LRK (d) Snacks in the train – 120LRK (e) Dinner – 800LRK

Day 15 Anuradhapura

Next morning, Subraj came with a plan. He wanted to take me to few places. I was dead asleep and woke up when he started banging my room’s door. He told me that he would be taking me to a beach and a U-shaped sacred pool. I got ready and we headed for the day trip.

We headed for the beach first, it took good an hour or so to reach the spot. During our ride, I saw Sri Lankan military keeping guard. One could sense the place still recovering from the civil war.

Finally, we reached the KSS or Kankesanthurai Beach. It was the most beautiful beach so far. The water was so clear that I could see the stones at the surface. Another good thing about the place was that there were no people. I was overwhelmed.

I swam at this clean salty water until I was exhausted. Even my knee pain was reduced due to the upthrust of the water. After a while, few school kids came and we started playing Volleyball with them. I couldn’t understand their language but I knew what they were saying.

We had spent almost half of the day at the beach. I was all tanned and I skin started to itch, I had suffered a bad sunburn but it did not concern me at all.

Then, we headed to the U-Shaped – Yamuna Eri. The U-Shaped pool is made of carved stones and it is also one of the neglected attractions of Jaffa. There are two similar pools, one of the men and other for the women.

I did swim at the pool but came out of it pretty soon. The place was not maintained that well. I was not comfortable staying in that water. There were huge rocks under the water with algae on it which made the water stink and it was hard to find ground to stand.

It was almost evening and we both were dead tired. Also, we were famished by now. So, I asked Subraj to take me to Mangoes again for dinner. After returning to hostel, I went off to bed and slept like a baby 🙂

Day 15 Expenses – 2550LRK (17$) (a) Accommodation Lion Rest – 1750LRK (b) Gasoline for Bike – 300LRK (c) Dinner – 500LRK

Day 16 Jaffna – Colombo – New Delhi

In the morning I left around 9 AM from the guest house to the Railway Station. Subraj came early to do his regular chores with that he wanted to drop me to the Railway Station.

It was a long tiring journey. And, there was no one in the train compartment in which I was travelling, therefore it turned monotonous too. It took good 8 hours or more to reach Colombo from Jaffna.

After reaching Colombo. I boarded the bus No.187 for the airport. I reached airport around 10 PM which was too early. My flight was scheduled for 4 AM, I had good 6-7 hours in hand. I wanted to sleep but there was no place to sit. So, I laid on the floor and slept till I was woken up by airlines officials.

And finally, I reached New Delhi at noon 🙂

Hope you guys enjoyed my journey. I have made a video of my travel. If it interests you please like, comment and subscribe to my channel. Would really appreciate it!

Soloed Sri Lanka in 15 days under 500$ Official Blog: www.bornomadic.com Isn't it true that everyone wants to travel? Yes, but money plays an important role in making this decision.

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