Pienza

I've just come back from such an astonishing area of Italy, and the more I keep going there the more I'm sure one day I'll be living there. UNESCO World Heritage since 2004 has its most popular site in Pienza. From the first moment you enter the walls of this enchanting town you feel you've jumped back in time, and by the time you arrive in the main square Piazza Pio II you'll be sure you're in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The history and the sense of majesty you get from the impressive buildings all together in such a small area (in order of appearance coming from La Porta al Prato you'll have Palazzo Piccolomini, la Cattedrale dell'Assunta and the city hall opposite side of it) has nothing to envy the world famous Piazza dei miracoli in Pisa. The town is so tiny you can visit it in an hour or less, but after you got lost in the sweet alleys and visited the few shops selling the exquisite local products (the pecorino di Pienza and the deliscious wines are just some of them), don't forget to take a walk to "la passeggiata" and get an idea of what Val d'Orcia means. From here you can have a 180 degrees view of the underlying valley in a silent state of mind lulled by the birds singing and the cipresso trees...another symbol of Tuscany. It's useless to mention the places you could have unforgettable meals at. You can either sit in one of the "many" restaurants in town, or you can just have a sandwich made for you from the grocery stores filled with uncomparable tastes. One of my favourite wines to drink next to it is the one coming from the "Cantine Ripa d'Orcia", but as long as you stick with any wine coming from the surrounding areas you won't be disappointed...from the cheapest one to the most expensive.
(to be continued soon with more words and images...)

Assurdo [odrussA]

Supponiamo che io sia un muratore!
E supponiamo pure che mi sia costruito una mia casetta.
Ma dopo un tot di tempo mi accorgo che quel muro lì non mi piace più, che quelle pareti bianche non rispecchiano più il mio stato d'animo, che le tende non le voglio più perchè voglio che il mondo entri dentro la mia casa...insomma! Voglio ristrutturarla!
Così prendo in mano gli arnesi del mestiere e gli dò giu di cazzuola!
Ahhhhh!!!!!
Birrozza, cappelletto a barchetta in testa rigorosamente fatto con pagina del Corriere dello Sport, è lì a godermi i frutti del mio lavoro. Tempo 3, 4 anni (crescendo i tempi si dilatano) e quelle modifiche apportate alla casa non mi sono più congeniali, però.
Così mi rimetto a studiare la situazione e senza neanche accorgermene...di nuovo mi ritrovo sporco di vernice! E così all'infinito...
Ma dato che abbiamo ragionato per assurdo, e tutti mi dicono che devo costruire qualcosa nella vita,la domanda mi sorge spontanea...ma mica so un muratore!Dico io!

Badgiare [beggiare]

Credo a breve, se le cose non cambieranno, denuncerò l'azienda x cui lavoro. Da quando trascorro 8/9 ore al giorno lì dentro, dove il badge è la forma arcaica della scansione della cornea o del riconoscimento vocale, non riesco più a cagare nel mio bagno di casa xchè non trovo il lettore magnetico al lato della porta.

Bar [bbar]

Quale paesino o paese non ha il suo bar, punto di ritrovo per nulla facenti? Al bar, a meno che non sei uno di passaggio, la cognizione del tempo si perde come in un casinò, e tutti i personaggi che lo popolano generalmente prendono pian piano il loro posto sul palcoscenico ed iniziano a recitare qualcosa che va in scena da anni facendo sempre il tutto esaurito. O forse sarebbe più giusto il "tutti esauriti"?!
Vabbè.
Londra ha il suo "CATS" o "Les Miserables", noi i nostri fantastici bar.

Bipede [accezione negativa]

Essere umano che trascorre la sua esistenza x, inconsapevolmente, occupare spazio passivamente sul pianeta terra.

Bipede [accezione positiva]

Essere umano che trascorre la sua esistenza x, consapevolmente, occupare spazio attivamente sul pianeta terra.

Carota [karota]

Il bastone e la carota!
Una metafora a cui non viene data la giusta importanza.
A volte la vita ci infila un bastone nel culo, che non viene compreso perchè non si sa che poi viene la carota, che invece ci delizia con il suo arancione ed il suo sapore dolce e ci fa apprezzare tutto quello che di colorato c'è nella vita.
La carota è arancione, un colore composto, originato dall'unione del giallo e del rosso; rosso come il sole al tramonto, e giallo come il sole che ci da la vita e ci dà l'ardore che ci fa bruciare e sentire vivi.

WeTransfer

You don't need an FTP for tranferring big files. Through this site you can upload up to 2 Gb in a reliable way and enjoying an easy and good looking interface.
Click here and tell me what you think about it.

Espresso Yourself...Bologna

Espresso Yourself Bologna from flamingshoe on Vimeo.

This is the last chapter of my creature...the CG and some other fine tunigs must be done in a proper way, but you can defenatly get an idea of the potentiality of the TV format.
Don't you think the world needs more episodes of this freaking show?!?!?!?!
I'm just ready to take off anytime anywhere to make this dream come true, and I will risk my nuts to see more shows like this on air or on the net.
Come on guys let's cheer for "El campesino" and his sis Valeria!!!

Home Grown Videos

Home Grown Videos from flamingshoe on Vimeo.

This is not actually a company or a post production reality, it's just me freaking out with my crazy ideas about life and how it should be enjoyed.
This CG was created few years ago, and now that my existence is taking me where no one knows (I just love getting lost) I want to be ready for the next episode of my endless book called "being".
Contact me for any insane project you'd love to develope with me and maybe we could ride a bunch of mad hair pin bends together!

AirBnB

Holy cow!!!
This is such a cool site both for low budget traveler and people who want to make some money out of their appartments. Tha't the reason why I totally love internet...its potentiality is almost endless and if you use it in a smart and an honest way you'll get a lot of of it.
It's official this is one of my favourite site ever, along with CouchSurfing and RoadSharing (you can all find 'em in my blog under "my links").
Check it out and I hope you'll find it useful.
Cheers

Hong Kong 2011

When someone asks me to describe Hong Kong, the first thing that comes to my mind is an old lady in a very good shape. The skyscrapers and the architecture of the city is not old enough to be fascinating, but the downtown can be defined maybe a little bit vintage (not so much). The up and downs of the island reminded me of San Francisco, but the good taste of the californian city is not even close to what you get here. The materials and the shapes of the buildings (except some very new ones like the HSBC buliding) have that weird look that really don't impress but still you can tell they've been futuristics when they've been projected.
Walking around all you get is a massive quantity of shops and shopping centers and an amazing moltitude of people compressed in the narrow streets of H.K. Most of the times you'll find yourself going through building to go from one place to another, and guess what you get? Shopping centers. Some will take place in a couple of floors of a buildings, some others will have their own massive structure made of glossy iron and glass, but you can be sure you'll be able to find whatever you want. And if you're not satified with the fancy look (and prices) of all this you can still try to head to the heart of Kowloon. This is called "the jungle" by the people living on the island, but that's just because it's not as fake as the main part of the city. Here you'll finally run into the real people of Hong Kong, people attending the infinite markets and living the real cantonese culture.
Try to use the astonishing MTR to move around and get oriented with places, and on the red line from Sham Shui Po to Tsim Sha Tsui it will all be a blast. Here's where you'll find any kind of experience you were looking for, from the flee market and the big mess you'll run into, to the unbeatable smell of the cantonese cusine. Just try to stay away from Nathan road, a huge crowded road with no personality at all, and rather stick around Shanghai st and all the western side of that area. Kowloon park is a big green dot in the middle of the dominating cement, and if you're brave enogh to wake up very early in the morning you'll be able to watch people practice martial arts. But the park is a great way to escape the crazyness of this city anyway, so if you're looking for some quite and sense of nature...that's where you have to go.



Victoria's peak is another must if you really want to get an idea of the majesty of the island and its surrounding bay. If you're a big trekker you can either walk up there (and you'll be paid back for the effort), or you can go for the easy way and take the tipical tram.There's plenty to see around there if you don't just stick to the usual path. You can follow this link and click on the different trails available and you'll totally find what you're looking for.
Another way to enjoy the special atmosphere the bay can offer (especially at sunset) is to take a walk to the Avenue of Stars,and rest for a while right on the waters sitting on the many benches you'll find there maybe after visiting the few museums right behind it. I went to the Museum of Arts and I found very interesting the calligraphy section at the last floor of the building.It's very cheap to get in and right at the entrance you'll run into a fantastic shop where you'll be able to buy amazing books and prints of the chinese culture.
Something else funny and very interesting at the same time I experienced in H.K. is the Hong Kong Science museum. It's ment to be mainly for kids, but the interactivity and the curiosities in there are just for any open minded person, and if you belong to this kind of people be sure you won't get bored.
But let's go back to the unusual things to visit in this incredible city. I'm one of those persons in love with nature, and before coming here I took a look at the map to spot where the green areas were. It's not so hard to notice the New Territories and to realize that at the eastern tip there's plenty to see and visit. The coast is full of bays and islands, and after a quick research on the internet I finally found the right site for me...Enjoy Hiking and the THE MACLEHOSE TRAIL. This is a quite hard and long trail, but you can cut it in slices, if you don't have so much time, and get an idea of what I'm talking about. I really suggest you to take a camping tent with you, since there's planty of free cam sites where you can spend the night and take off the day after to keep living the dream.



Well...I don't want to bore you any longer with lots of informations and tips. Things to do and see here are almost endless, so you'd better be patient, do your researches on the net and you'll go back home with a sweet feeling in your earth.
For those in love with the nightlife...well, you can't miss Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai. The first one is a bustling array of restaurants, eateries, pubs and bars and beer, alcohol and wine from a myriad of countries could be enjoyed here accompanied by chess, dart and music band. In my opinion this area is way too loud and the quality of the music is way cheap, but I noticed lots of people really enjoying all this. After a long walking and taking a look at the high level of low quality places, I decided to stop at La goccia, where an amazing dj from Serbia was playing some quality stuff following it with his trumpet in an exquisite live session!
Wan Chai is not such an icon like Lan Kwai Fong, but it's more for sexual turism lovers. Usually, I heard, people head to this area of the island when they're wasted enough to pick their choice from the many sad clubs hosting poor girls coming from all over south east Asia.
This is the first impression I got from Hong Kong during my short stay...for sure it takes longer to understand such a "complicated" city, and for sure I'll go back one day!
See ya soon H.K. and thanx to Francy (and the sweet Olivia) for hosting me in her wonderful flat facing the whole bay in Lai Chi Kok.

KICKSTARTER for fund raising

As my dream is to develope projects that give me the possibility to help the enviroment and to travel around the wolrd, I'm in a constant research of funds to make my idea and dreams come true. This site is just perfect for my goals, but unfortunatly they still have some restrictions for non U.S. residents...so this post can only be usefull to Americans, but at least you might be lucky to find some funders.
Kickstarter is the perfect name for such a site and I hope you'll enjoy it a lot.
If anybody knows about any similar site for Europeans or open to any nationality, please inform me through this site, or if you know know anyone interested in funding my project that would be even better.
Well, click here and take a look.
Cheers

La Digue, Seychelles

From La Digue 02

And there they were...from the sky in the frame of a plane window and the wing. The first island of the archipelago stars showing up way before the landing, but you still don't imagine how vast the territory is. Only at the end of the holiday Kiran will tell us that the most far island is Alhambra and it 600 nautic miles away from Mahe the capital (big ships have big pirates problems down there)


Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa
At the airport the CatCoco CatCoco bus is waiting for you to take you to the Jetty...how nice these guys!!! A free bus picking you up!!! Then you find out the one way ticket is 42 euros x person. A 40 minutes ride to take you to the Praslin jetty.
Ah, don't forget to bring cash euros, since lots of places will charge you that
Cat Rose is waiting for you to finally lead you to La Digue island.
A pearl in the blue sea. Elvis is the man!
His funny face shows up in the middle of a crowd with it big white smile.
Bikes rented and a ride to Pension Fidele, a sweet self catering at the end of a dirt road and deepen in tropical garden with fruit trees all over and a half barrel BBQ looking for us.
60 euros per room, with a whole kitchen available including a powerful fridge, a toaster and a microwave oven.

Josette is the sincere teacher running the place (with the help of sweet Babette for the cleaning), and she welcomes us with a bottle of just made passion fruit juice...she has a tree there.
Everything looks just perfect, so we throw our clothes into the drawers and we run to Grand Anse...actually we ride.


Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa
3.5 Kms on a lush little street taking you to what you were looking for. A quiet straight soft beach with blue crystal water and a cloudy sky dotted with celestials cyan spots. Huge waves hit the shore, surfers stoked to see all this, and the two of us stretching our tired bones floating in the warm waters.
HOW SWETT!
Don't forget to have lunch at the restaurant right on the beach!!! The atmosphere is chilled out, it's in the shade (very important on this beach since there's none).
For 20 euros you get a great buffet made of grilled fish, all sorts of vegetables, different kind of rice and few creol delicious meals. And don't miss the dessert!
Grand Anse is only one of the three enchanting beaches on the southeast coast. Petit Anse (no shade at all unless you bild up some kind of hut on your own) and the astonishing Anse Coco are the other two.



To reach Anse Coco you need a little effort to climb up a couple of steep slopes in the middle of a jungle (we actually got lost once risking to spend the night with giant crabs and scary spiders), but what you see once you get there you'll wonna walk everyday for 40 minutes. You're gonna be mostly everyday maximum 6 people on the beach and there's good trees you can hide under when the sun starts hitting too bad.
Beside the infinite colorful fishes, I spotted in this bay many eagle rays, a little white shark and an enurmous yellow manta at least as big as me...so be prepared to see amazin stuff down there!!!




Leaving the jetty and going left, you join the road leading you the north west coast. This is probably the wildest and non developped side of the island, and if you follow it till the road stops you'll run into some nice spots. The mighty reef out there doesn't allow to swim since the water is to shallow, but still you get a nice pool to relax in and refresh a bit from the arsh sun. The northern tip is the only worth place to really stop and lay on a nice tiny beach right below the Patatran hotel and the colors of the deep ocean are just bright enough to wear sunglasses. Just before the paved street ends there's a small house owned by Jules...you'll notice it for sure since it's the only place selling drinks and coconuts. If you book in advance he will fix a special creol dinner for you with tables facing the shore and lulled by the sound of the waves.

One day we also had a trip to the small islands around there. Coco island and Felicitè are just awesome for the snorkling (we saw 3 smal black tip sharks and two sea turtles), whereas Sister island is good for a bbq and some relax on the private beach of the island (be ready to pay a lot of money to do this kind of excursions).

Last but not least, we have the unbelievable Anse Maron. I suggest you not to risk and go with a guide for the first time, since the path to get there might be tricky and too much depending on the tides. The walk starts from the only wonderful park of the island (10 euros ticket per person), and before you get to Anse Surce d'Argent you might need a 5 minutes ride on your bike. Once at a small restaurant next to the shore, you leave your bike and you start the real trip, going through postcards beaches and colors you can't believe are real. Sometimes you'll have to walk in the water some other in the middle of the jungle and others...in the middle of huge granite rocks. Don't get scared...if you're a bit overweight to pass through you might be able to climb them!
But let's talk about the aiming point. Good chance you'll be the only person on Anse Maron, and even if you might be a bit tired you won't regret what you've done and how much you swet your ass off...this is something will never, ever gonna happen to you again! The pictures following are gonna talk instead of me and maybe you'll get an idea of what I'm trying to say.



Concerning places to eat, I totally raccomend chataux Sant Claud (fare price for good food and cozy enviroment), and Zerof (at dinner they have a fixed menu, but cheap and tipical). Don't ever go to Chez Marston...they rip you off for a dinner is not even special and you wait for hrs even if the restaurant is half empty.
But if you're staying over a self catering forget about all this, just enter one of the many little supermarket and you'll find almost everything you need. A bag of fresh fish for 75 Rupees (16 rupees equals 1 euro) is available around the jetty when the fishermans come back from their hard day of work...you'll see a lot of people riding their bikes with fishes hanging from their handlebars.
For fresh, juicy and tasty fruit there's a hand made shop on the way to Grand Anse where we use to buy mangos and local delicatessen for our fruit salads in the morning.Speciality of the house...fruit shakes made in front of you!
Well, enjoy this unbelievable island and don't forget to train a bit before reaching it...you'll have to ride or walk a lot anyway (but it's pleasant).

Untitled from flamingshoe on Vimeo.

P.S.
I wonna spend few lines about Pralin and Mahe.
The gratest attraction reguarding Pralin is the Val de Mai park, where the world known Coco de Mer grows and where is totally worth spending the 25 euros for the entrance (get a guide so you won't just be looking at plants and assuming you're understanding what you're seeing). Anse Lazio is the other "big" thing of the island...it is nice, but if you've been to La Digue already it won't be enough for your satisfaction. Great snorkeling next to the rocks and big shady trees on the beach.
We spend just one day on Mahe, and we rented a car to do a round trip of it to get a general idea. It is a big island and it has a lot to offer actually, but not speaking of nice beaches. The only amazing place (I'm saying amazin!!!) is Anse Intendance, where you can also enter (and have lunch at a reasonable price) one of the most beautiful (and expensive) resorts I've ever seen in my life...the Banyan Tree Resort