Bedlam is Bedlam

No bother finding Bedlam for a change but that's probably more to do with the fact I'm quite familiar with Sydney now but in moving hostels i was changing from the central  downtown area up the famous coca-cola sign and infamous Kings Cross. The difference really couldn't be much greater in many ways, Base is a very professionally run, well staffed, corporate, well maintained and rule heavy unfun place whereas Bedlam is well....Bedlam. They're no rules really except don't overtly take the piss, it's incredibly sociable, parties are an occurrence every night, it has sky (foxtel) so all the sport is on and it's just mass insanity really. Kings cross is a reflection of that too, casinos, dive bars, yuppie bars, hotels, hostels, clubs, red light district, restaurants cafes and everything else all just splattered together in one area. It really is quite something. O h and i mustn't forget the crack heads running about with tourettes it seems, they're a lovely bunch too. One of them challenged me in a "karate stance" after i told him to stop walking with me while i witnessed another one sprint down a main road just after catching site of a convertible Ferrari and then attempt to jump in the passenger seat. The only response the driver had was to rev his engine as if that could somehow put him off, a mega fail that one was.
Checking in was as smooth as ever, finding that  Rich had only put me down for one evening rather than till January which we'd agreed prior, he wasn't around till the next day but i just imagined that he put me in a different room for one night as i'd originally planned to come on the Monday. My initial dorm had two French girls in it but one was actually from Melbourne i soon found out, they seemed rather nice and chatty which was a nice change from the week prior. There was another bed taken but whomever it was, wasn't around at the time. However on my return later in the day i found an Asian man just casually sitting in the dark, slightly unsettling, I popped in and out over the next few hours and every time he was just sitting doing nothing in pitch black. I don't think i've ever had such trepidation when simply asking someone if it was ok to turn the light on.
It wasn't much longer till i discovered what they actually meant by the term "party hostel", i guess the rock was one but the whole of phi phi was just a party island anyhow. On my first night anywhere i like to " get involved" but i was a bit wrecked and skint so i decided that hiding in my room just for one night was probably the best option and the only real way to avoid spending lots as one drink in these places always leads to many drinks. Well  i manage to avoid spending but that was about it, from 8 - 5 the place was absolutely banging, people screaming, falling over, glasses smashing, all outside my door and sound tracked to Nirvana (I never realized how much i loathed their studio albums until this point). The Korean kept storming out at various intervals to complain but i'd quite simply rather suffer for eternity with it then be the guy to say "can you keep it down a bit please, there are people trying to sleep here", it's pretty much everything i hate and would also make me a complete hypocrite. Inside the room things weren't much quieter either, the Korean while he wasn't storming about or sitting in the dark was also the loudest snorer in human history; now I'm aware I grind my teeth but I've done that for so long there's no noise left to make  but this guy was truly something else. It literally drove me "bat-shit crazy", i found myself sitting up with a pillow wrapped round my head and gave serious consideration to jumping down and punching him in the face. Obviously my methods were not sound. The girls came in and thankfully opened the windows which had a mechanism just too baffling for myself and the air conditioning was broke too, however this prompted Korean guy to jump up, slam everyone shut and then go back to bed shouting "too noisy". He soon reversed his position when i got up and opened them again while accepting my position of authority. The girls then explained to me he'd been there for for over two weeks and all he ever did was sleep or sit in the dark no matter what time of day it was; i'd been here 12 hours and picked that up already. The party still went on and i have to admit i had a bit of a feelong of i've moved into the wrong place, i couldn't here one English voice and a lot of people seemed like dicks to be honest.
I got up the next day to the aftermath of the party while the girls vacated for Melbourne, the outside of my door was pretty much like you'd find Leeds festival when you emerge from your tent on the Monday. Carnage. Met up with Rich and everything was cool thankfully, just as i'd imagined i'd be moving into another dorm and was praying it wasn't 1A with the nut jobs, there was much relief when the words 1d came out. Payment was another worry, a bank transfer would cost me too much in charges, the bank wouldn't allow me to withdraw large amounts of cash and the debit card refused to work at Base, not a problem here though as everything went through first time to both mine and Rich's shock so that was a sign of things turning around here at least! Paying up for a two month stay did however leave me rather incredibly skint but at least i was safe in the knowledge of having a home till mid January no matter what my work situation turned out to be and I wouldn't be spending cash i didn't really have.
Having paid up that meant my next priority was getting a phone sorted, pointless applying for any jobs if they can't get in touch with you. One of the perks with my visa was that i got a free sim card which i could pick up from a hostel named Legend has it.....on George street. George street is easy enough to find but actually one massive road that's probably at least a couple of miles long, i walked from one end to the other and back again and just could not find the hostel anywhere. It's such a relief how nice Sydney is and that i enjoy walking about or i'd be miserable with the amount of hours I've seemed to have wasted wandering in the wrong places. I went back to Bedlam to double check i had the correct name only to find it was actually called "Legend has it...Westend" once i went back i found it instantly and low and behold it just had Westend written in massive lettering, constant name changes are incredibly common in Australia it seems. On popping the Vodafone sim into a Vodafone handset i was informed that it wasn't suitable with this phone....super more cash to spend and a visit to a phone shop which i despise. It's a very well known fact the biggest cunts in the world work in phone shops. After again much wandering i found the Vodafone shop where he informed it would be 40 dollars to get unlocked elsewhere or i could get a handset for 49 with 10 free credit so i thought i'd may as well just go for that then although Vodafone are on my list of people who i have a personal vendetta against so it was rather begrudgingly. I soon remembered why this was as when it came to pay all the usual add ons appeared....."you need to pay 40 to unlock the free ten blah blah blah".....this is why i hate these places, they must think everyone is a complete moron. Anyway i told him since the handset had just instantly shot up to 90 then he could stick up his arse and i'd just get it unlocked elsewhere. Onward to the Sydney repair shop it was then, they seemed like a rather professional bunch so i was more than happy to pay the 40 and get it back in an hour, that's what they told me anyhow. I came back after an hour an was told it would be another fifteen minutes so i sat down and watched bad boys 2 for a bit (it was on a constant loop on a wide-screen TV in the shop, cleasrly a lot of waiting occurs here i thought), after getting through about half an hour of that they came to tell me they need to keep it overnight. Ok then, so i came back the next morning and sat down for a "fifteen minute wait" and watched more of Bad boys 2 only to be told again to come back in the afternoon. And i did and i waited again for "fifteen minutes" and i again watched Bad boys 2 but thankfully this time i actually got a working phone back. I reckon i've probably seen bad boys 2 about 2 and a half times now and never in the right sequence. I was happy to find they threw a free telstra sim card though meaning that my vow for the fuckers at vodafone to never get any more of my dollar was still in tact.
During these ever so tedious escapades i did manage to meet my new dorm mates for the next few month and everyone seemed cool, there was an Iranian, Taiwanese,  Turks and a guy from England who was at the pub while the girls who previously were in the room had left in Rich's words as "they just couldn't take it anymore". It turned out the turks were from Istanbul and massive Fenerbahce fans, i took massive delight in asking there thoughts on when Graeme Souness planted the Galatasaray flag in the middle of the pitch after the cup final. The mood turned to anger instantly, speaking now in turkish to each other clearly agitated before finally turning to me shouting " we hate this thing very much and we hate him as well, he shall never come back there!". You really do have to admire the tuks ferocity when it comes to there football, it was exactly the reaction i'd hoped to provoke mind.
The rest of the hostels seemed incredibly multi cultural to put it mildly, Serbs, French, Swedes, Italians, Dutch and a mass of Irish; i've actually been suprised with just how little English i've met outside the islands in Thailand. It did turn out the English guy in my room was actually called "Guy" and he was from Boro which was cool a girl from Whitley Bay and another from Durham were stopping here too. One suprisng thing i've encountered is how big the north south divide actually is, it's not apparent when they're one or two of each but if theres a group of people from London and you're the only northerner then it can be difficult as they just become repulsive and start all the old "The North" bullshit as if you're a second lass citizen. Its an understatement to say northerners are incredibly more laid back, obviously there's exceptions to every rule as i've met some really good people from down there but it is apparent.. Bedlam was going full steam ahead with the partying, getting more and more like the bigg market with every day, from my room arguments were heard every night so i decided to keep out of it till Thursday when Loaded and Teenage kicks were on which are basically my surrogates for Jukebok back home. One of the things i got stolen in bangkok was my usb drive that had my c.v. on, this meant i had to write a new one from scratch and it aint the easiest thing to do with a blank piece of paper. I finally managed to get up to standard though and registered with agencies and applied for a few jobs. This was pretty muchh the end of all the "stuff i needed to get sorted" so i could get back to having fun again.
Thursday nicely coincided with Guys birthday too so the whole hostel got together and had a mass party with actual cake and decorations which was like luxury here. I also had my first experience with the infamous goon and also just why Matt referred to VB as vomit bomnbs due to the fact it was absolutely disgusting. I couldn't handle listening to any more Irish folk songs or dirty dancingesque music so i took upon myself to do the djing and i think i did a pretty stellar job myself, it's no bad craic actually having taste. I'm not one for staying in so i trotted off to loaded and teenage kicks where i managed to have another of those random nights meeting some people from Yorkshire and having to walk back from my starting point of Edgecliff at 5am. Bad times, especially when the hostel was locked on my retun and i had zero clue how to get the door open. Jerome came storming out at half past luckily so i could get back and straight into bed. On waking up i realised that i left my iPod on the speakers since everyone was staying in, mild panic set in once again but i managed to find a Japanese guy had took it for me and then he passed on to Rich. Luck again, some tit did pinch my top though while i was sleeping....unless i walked home semi naked....hmm surely i'd have realized though and i'd have at least gotten a dirty look. Who steals sweaty clothes though?
Due to phone bills, bank charges and Sydney being really expensive i spent the next couple of days in book reading mod while applying for jobs. It was good to see that not everyone was crackers on the hostel and as soon as i get a job it will be a complete 180 and I'll be laughing. In the meantime I've been having some rather intense philosophical discussions with the Iranian on everything from sport, conspiracy theories (all his), history, religion, culture, energy and anything else, it is hard to get away sometimes like. The parties are still going and on Friday night i got a feeling it was all about to blow up big style......well that prediction turned out to be all too true.