Salvador is the capital and largest city of Bahia state, Brazil. Salvador was Brazil’s first capital and a major historic destination for slaves, particularly from the region now encompassing present day Nigeria. These influences are reflected in the city’s historic Pelourinho district, named after colonial pillories used for slaves. I have previously blogged about a Salvadorian festival and the city’s golden Sao Francisco Church and Convent.
Seated next to me on the two hour flight from Rio de Janeiro to Salvador was an interesting French-Colombian woman. She had lived in three South American countries and recommended a diving school in Colombia, Peruvian cuisine and to take the bus from the Salvador airport.
One of my dreams was to see Pearl Jam play live in South America, the home of their craziest fans. After hearing the band play my favourite song (Rearviewmirror) for the first time at their 2014 Perth concert, my wish for this concert was to enjoy the moment and soak up the atmosphere.
Sao Paulo was the second of five Brazilian Pearl Jam concerts as part of their 2015 Latin American tour.
My Pearl Jam Sao Paulo experience began with an unofficial fan gathering the night before at O’Malley’s pub in central Sao Paulo. There I chatted with other fans, both Brazilian and foreign and shared our pre-concert excitement, including Cleide, a fellow runner and a passionate soccer fan. Coincidentally, that evening Brazil played Argentina in a world cup qualifier in Buenos Aires and loud cheers rang out when Brazil came back to draw the match 1:1.
The pub had an interesting payment system I had not experienced before. Upon entry each person was given a card. Food and drinks were put against that card like a tab. Prior to leaving, each person paid their bill in order to receive an exit ticket. No exit ticket, no exit. My bill totalled R$109 for two pints of stout (R$19 each), a grilled tuna salad (R$31) and the R$40 male cover charge. If I recall correctly, females paid R$30.
Thank you to Dimitrios, a fanatical Pearl Jam fan from Greece who found the venue and created the Facebook event. It was a great night except for the terrible news from Paris flashing up on the television screens.
With other Pearl Jam fans outside Sampa Hostel before going to the concert
The next afternoon I walked 10 minutes to Sampa Hostel to catch a specially chartered van taking fans to and from Morumbi, the concert venue (40 real). Cheers to Hostel Alice for reserving my place!
Morumbi, officially known as Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, is one of Sao Paulo’s major soccer stadiums and the home of Sao Paulo FC. My Piste Premium concert ticket gave me access to the general admission section in front of the stage. Arriving after 5pm, I had hours to buy a t-shirt (R$100) at the merchandise stand, enjoy the stadium atmosphere, chat with other fans and watch the crowd build.
The Piste Premium general admission section in front of the stage
Vendor carrying esky of water, soft drink and beer
Fans wanting to eat or drink didn’t even need to leave their spot in the audience. Both before and during the show, vendors wandered amongst the crowd selling either drinks (water: R$6, soft drink: R$8, beer: R$10) or hot chips (R$12).
Voucher for hot chips (‘potatoes in cone’) bought at a kiosk
More food and drink was available from kiosks. There, instead of paying cash directly, one had to buy a voucher and exchange it for the items purchased. “Pearl Jam” featured prominently on each voucher and I bet a few fans bought extra vouchers for souvenirs.
As the concert got closer, Mexican waves started in the stands and the sense of anticipation grew
The crowd roars as Pearl Jam enter the stage; the video ends with the first notes of Long Road
After 8:30pm the band entered the stage to a huge roar. Long Road opened the concert followed by Of The Girl and, as I predicted beforehand, Love Boat Captain. Prior to Love Boat Captain, singer Eddie Vedder read out a few words in Portuguese regarding the recent attacks in Paris. Drummer Matt Cameron’s bass drum also featured an outline of the Eiffel Tower.
Fans shine their mobile phone lights during Pearl Jam’s cover of John Lennon’s Imagine
The stage glows
Strong winds and rain hit the stadiums, causing some interruptions. Eddie sang a solo acoustic version of Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town and the first encore break was extended in order to secure loose items, allow the spotlight operators to come down and to protect the stage.
After the rain
The audience rocking to the Neil Young cover Rockin’ In The Free World – the couple dancing typify the crowd’s enthusiasm and joy
The lights are on for the end of the show
Yellow Ledbetter usually signals the end and after this song the band thanked the crowd and said goodbye. However, as it was such a great night the band came back for a final song and third cover, All Along The Watchtower.
Pearl Jam put on a magical night for the ~ 60,000 strong crowd, performing 33 songs over three hours and eleven minutes. It’s very hard to pick favourites from the night but my highlights included Hail, Hail, State Of Love And Trust and Rearviewmirror. The main highlight, however, was the wonderful atmosphere brought about by the crowd and band feeding off each other.
For the full set-list and further fanviews: http://community.pearljam.com/discussion/247890/sao-paulo-brazil-fanviews-here-11-14-15
The good news I have two more occasions to experience the Pearl Jam-Brazil magic: in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro. I can’t wait!
A few weeks ago I had an amazing 8 days in Vietnam. The people, food, sites andexperiences made it one my favourite trips ever.
Highlights included:
– After 3 flights including a couple of delays, finally making it to Jaspas in Hanoi for the last minute of Port’s win against Freo; also saw Port’s epic loss against Hawthorn at Game On in Saigon
– The Indochina Junk cruise of Halong Bay in the Dragon’s Pearl boat; the food, crew, fellow passengers and sites were all first class
– Wonderful conversations with Nga, Lan and Isabell
– The massages given by blind/visually impaired at Omamori Spa, Hanoi
– The hospitality provided by the staff at the Paradise Boutique Hotel, Hanoi
– Catching up with Flic and Min in Saigon
– The acrobatics and rhythm of the A O Circus, Saigon
Here are some photos of the trip:
Crossing the road in Hanoi
The view from my room on the Dragon’s Pearl boat, Halong Bay
The Dragon’s Pearl Junk, Halong Bay
Sunset, Halong Bay
Fruit and vegetable carvings and a crab, Dragon’s Pearl Junk, Ha Long Bay
Getting rowed around the bay, Ha Long Bay
A lady using her bike as a fruit cart, Hanoi. The Women’s Museum in Hanoi had a video documenting how hard many women work to support their families.
Unsure what makes this brand saner than the others, Hanoi
Chat and Date Cafe is near the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. I hypothesise that there wouldn’t be a cafe named “Chat and Date” in Vietnamese because it wouldn’t appeal as much to the local hipsters.
Was great to catch up with fellow AIESEC alumnus from Perth, Min at Saigon Grill
Game On sports bar, Saigon, prior to the Port-Hawks preliminary final bounce down
I didn’t see any other people with Port gear at the preliminary final, Game On sports bar, Saigon
With Flic and her friend at the brilliant A O Circus, Opera House, Saigon
With Flic at one of the night bars, Saigon. This one served just about every type of offal. I ordered “Frog Stomach (Burned with Garlic, Fried with Sour Cabbage)”.
After a few false starts, I finally caught up with Cara and Mike last night along with several of their friends. Dinner was a whole barramundi and another cocktail 🙂
The Kamala Beach sunset through the eyes of a Mai Tai cocktail
After dinner we bumped into Mum and Dad shortly after they had arrived. Following drinks at Smile Bar, it was time for a foot massage. To my surprise, a guy (with an Istanbul t-shirt on) came up and spoke Turkish to the Thai massage parlour manager. I find out that the manager had lived in Antalya for 8 years so it was good to practice my Turkish with her. I will be back there for my next massage, hopefully later today.
I was again up by 6am for another long walk. This time I went a different way, past Phuket FantaSea. After buying a local sim card, I had chicken and rice along with coriander flavoured soup for breakfast at a menu-free place. Judging by the clientele, it was one frequented by local Muslims. When I first arrived, I was surprised at how many Muslims lived here. I shouldn’t have been as I knew Thailand’s south has a large Muslim population. There are many head-scarfed ladies and my taxi driver from the airport displayed Arabic calligraphy.
Resort Pool Reflections
Come here to eat all sorts of carp
You want cable?
An old dilapidated longboat reflecting on life
Thankfully, single and group dating are okay
Catching ALL types of crabs is prohibited at Kamala Beach, not just the crustacean kind
A Kamala Beach Resort swimming pool reflecting coconut palms in the early morning still
I arrived here yesterday after an overnight flight from Perth via Singapore. One of the first things that struck me about Phuket (besides the throng of people waiting at the airport) was the amount of electricity and other cabling lining the streets.
I’m not used to staying in a resort, but I’ll manage to survive 🙂
From observation, the majority of resort guests are from the European continent. The spiciness of the restaurant menu reflects this with few dishes having a ‘1 chilli’ rating, let alone the hottest 2 chillies level. Yesterday I ate a 2 chilli Thai basil and pork dish rather easily (and the waitress wanted repeat assurance when ordering that I wanted it hot). At least Dad’s mild preferences will be well catered for when he arrives with Mum.
The weather is hot, overcast and very humid with intermittent showers – it is the low season for tourists. I can see how some people from cool climates are happy to come here and not even leave the resort.
After 24 hours in Phuket I’ve arrived to the conclusion that best part of the day is the early morning. Today I woke up before 6am and went for a walk along up and down Kamala Beach and along the main street. Following are some photos from this walk.
Kamala Beach in the early morning
Once you have taken 50 baths you can enjoy a 6 hour happy hour
Reflections
Monument commemorating the 2004 Tsunami disaster
Thai long boats
Cables everywhere – Kamala’s main street
The purple team on the way to work
The Thais take their fish sauce very seriously – filling up 3 bays of a supermarket
So far on my trip to Istanbul, Izmir, Kusadasi, Ephesus, Sirince, Cesme, Afyon, Mersin and Adana, I have bravely fought against but ultimately succumbed to the onslaught of delicious Turkish food. Following are the dishes that have not escaped the camera:
This is the fourth and final set of photos from my Bali holiday. The other photos can be found here: Bali I, Bali II and and Bali III.
Above the Ayung River, Sayan-Ubud.
A worker tends the stepped rice paddies near the Ayung River, Sayan-Ubud.
The Balinese calendar is complicated enough without the addition of other calendars and languages. If I’m not mistaken, the writing to the right of and below the calendar consists of explanations for the importance of each day. The calendar advises Balinese which days are best to do many things, including harvest rice and have sex.
The Jimbaran Bay seafood meal at one of the many beachside restaurants on my last evening in Bali.
Grilled corn sellers, Jimbaran Bay. There was a corn seller every 100 or so metres along the beach. Throughout the evening locals walked along the beach, picking up fish that had washed up on the shore.
