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OTP’s Guide to Street Art: London

Kyle — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:45:23 +0000

Next to being a drunk, pikey football fan, graffiti is up high there on the list of ways to piss off a bobby in London. Government officials have launched a massive crackdown to ensure the streets and tube trains are visually clean, but street artists are still slathering the town with colorful images and anti-establishment messages. Take a trip down tagging lane with OTP’s Guide to Street Art in London.

Brief History

Rewind to the mid 80′s to witness the goopy birth of London’s street art scene. It coincided with the hip hop movement, and both were “borrowed” from New York. As these things go, inner-city areas with less poshness, like Brixton and Westbourne Grove, saw peeps leaving their spray paint marks about town. “Robbo” and “Drax” were found on every tube line back then, but most notable was Mode 2, who created the Chrome Angelz graffiti crew. While the British Transport Police did their best to fight them off, the crew was capable of producing massive murals in short periods of time. Unfortunately, street crews started lining out each others’ pieces, which eventually led to violence and the disbandment of the most famous crews, including “World Domination”, “The Subway Saints” and “Drop the Bomb”. It all just got too dicey.

Currently, graffiti in London is becoming harder to find. They’ve issued a major crackdown and commissioned the same guy credited with correcting New York City’s graffiti problem to slap a cap on the street art. Although many of the 80′s art pioneers have gone on to paint commissioned pieces, they still play a major part in today’s street art scene.

Artists You Should Know

A household name that even your mom might recognize, Banksy pushed stenciling to the forefront of street art. An escapist technique where a stencil is made beforehand and sprayed quickly on-site, Banksy has gotten a lot of praise (and shit) for his elaborate displays of discontent with society. While his work is all over the world (in some of the most controversial places), he pops up every now and again in his homeland, most recently near the ForeignStudents.com office in Westminster. His satirical style and semi-secret identity (word has been spreading that he’s a middle-aged guy named Robin Gunningham) keep him in the street art spotlight.

The feud between King Robbo and Banksy runs deep, and neither seem willing to acquiesce. It all started in 1985 when Robbo painted a huge full color piece called “Robbo Incorporated” next to Regent’s Canal in Camden. It was only accessible by water, but people managed to cover it with graffiti anyway. In 2009, some suspiciously Banksy-esque stencil art turned up, covering most of Robbo’s work with a workman pasting wallpaper. That same year on Christmas, Robbo made it look like the workman was painting “King Robbo” in silver letters. Like a bad tennis match, a few days later, the letters “Fuc” turned up before “King.” The two continued to hassle one another, instigating a rather notable graffiti war. It wasn’t until 2011, when Robbo suffered a life-threatening head injury, that Banksy let it go…sort of. In an homage effort, Banksy created a piece that supported Robbo’s style, but also included his own commentary with a candle lit to resemble a ‘no fire’ emblem.

Ozmo is an Italian tagger who just recently put his mark on London’s facade, with his “Big Fish Eat Small Fish” slogan down near Shoreditch High Street. Ozmo took the idea from an old “Bruegel the Elder” painting and mixed it with an Ingres ‘Turkish bath’ painting. Inspired by all he finds seedy with London, Ozmo’s art focuses on the idea that people only think of money, business and fame.

Brazilian street artist, Tchais moved to London in 2001 to get his piece of the graffiti pie. His works emphasize shapes, color contrasts and textures, all through an abstract eye. Like a Picasso/Van Gogh merger, Tchais loves relating his tagging to nature, bringing a softer, more fine art, approach to street doodles.

Germans love to invade and EVOL moved into Smithfield Market to create a miniature city. Using paste-ups and stencils, EVOL has turned urban items like concrete blocks, tree planters and telephone booths into towers. Together, the clusters look like tiny city streets and are a total mind-fuck to look at as London bustles about.

Where to Find Street Art in London

Camden Town

A journey up the Northern Line on the tube, all along the canal banks of Camden Town (the setting for the infamous Banksy vs. Robbo feud), you’ll find countless street art expressions.

Finsbury Park

Just north of Camden, Finsbury Park is another place ripe for the looking. In Stroud Green to the west, the Parkland Walk tunnels have long been used as canvases. The walk follows a defunct railway that once ran between Finsbury Park, Crouch End, Highgate and Alexandra Palace. It was constructed in 1867, but hasn’t seen a passenger train for more than half a century, making it the perfect place for artists to express themselves undetected.

Shoreditch

For something slightly more central, take the tube to Shoreditch High Street station on the Central Line. Once outside, you’ll be hugged by street art. Bethnal Green Road and Great Eastern Street are both good bets.

If you’re feeling lazy and don’t care to devise a route of your own, street art walking tours are also available. Either way, grab a pint, a hoodie and your camera. With the new tagging fines, it’s best to be a voyeur and leave the sparkle spray paint behind.

OTP’s Guide to Street Food: London

sarahtg — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:00:19 +0000

Once upon a time, London’s culinary reputation consisted of boiled meat, mushy peas and soggy potatoes. These days, London is known not only for its Michelin restaurants and innovative cuisine but also for street food with amped-up flavor. OTP fondled the royal food jewels of London to bring you our guide on eating like the Queen, street-style.

The Scotch egg is the food version of Russian nesting dolls: an egg, wrapped in sausage, wrapped in bread crumbs. If the egg, sausage, breadcrumb isn’t enough to make you drool, it’s also deep-fried to seal the delicious deal. These puppies are cheap (no more than a couple of quid) and they’re portable enough to stuff in your pocket for a snack.

The Full Monty

Denny’s and IHOP got nothin’ on the full English breakfast. This hangover care package won’t set you back more than £6 to £10 and will fill you up for hours (if not days). While variations abound, the most traditional version is bacon (the kind that Americans call Canadian bacon and Canadians call back bacon) poached or fried eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, toast, sausages, baked beans and hash browns. If you’re really lucky, you might get some black pudding (not Jello, but blood) thrown into the mix. The full English may cause cholesterol to take up residence in your arteries but your stomach will be impermeably insulated to any toxin your mouth decides to swallow.

In spite of rhyming with nasty, the Cornish pasty is anything but. A meat pot pie, wrapped up cozy in buttery crust and folded over for food on the go convenience. These are more prevalent in the West Country (what the locals call Cornwall), but you can find them all over London as well. Veggie options include broccoli and stilton (or just chewing off the crusty pasty part).

London’s best-known street food is the kebab, and there’s a shop on every corner just waiting to sell you the ultimate in slow roasted mutton, sliced and served in pita with a salad on top. Most of the kebabs are served doner style (rotating meat on a spit) and are generally for take-away only.

Sunday Roast

Nothing says love like a big Sunday roast. If praying to the porcelain gods emptied the Saturday night booze fest, you’re perfectly primed for a giant Sunday roast. Most pubs will have them and your options are generally a meat roast, pork shoulder, roast chicken and often lamb. It’s usually served with potatoes (some are fried in goose fat), veggies, gravy and the best English dough invention of all time, Yorkshire pudding. Yorkshire pudding is dough that’s baked in the drippings of the roast and it’s fluffy, salty, buttery, dripping with delicious and perfect for sopping up leftover gravy. Bacchus Pub in Hoxton has the best Sunday roast but it’s pricier than many (around £20). For a cheaper option, try The Thomas Cubitt Pub which serves all day for £12.50 Wash down your roast with a shandy (a mixture of beer and lemonade) and you’ll be lubed and ready to take the town twice.

Fish N’ Chips

Yeah we said it! As cliché as it is, a guide to English street food is empty without a giant newspaper filled with beer battered fish and hot chips (fries) smothered in vinegar. Every Londoner has their favorite but Fryer’s Delight is where the cabbies hang out and it’s as traditional as it gets, extra grease included. To mix it up, try Livebait which has a more creative menu including Cornish crab and lobster, playing the role of “fish”. Sea Shell of Lisson Grove is pricey but considered the most gourmet fish and chips available.

The pork pie looks a little bit like the American chicken pot pie except it’s packed with pork and surrounded by pork jelly, which is basically the leftover pieces (a bit of snout, an ear or two) of pork boiled until the gelatin is extracted to create jelly. This pig in a pillow of pig might sound bad but pork pies are tongue porn and great with a few pints of bitters to break up the meat party.

When the English do dessert, they are obscene. Why just have bananas with toffee in a pie, when you can smother it with cream and sometimes even chocolate and layer it on a buttered biscuit crust? The Banoffee pie is definitely worth whoring yourself out for if you’re short on cash. If bananas aren’t your bag, try strawberries mixed with meringue and cream, known as Eton Mess. It’s the dessert baby made when two angels fall in love.

London is a vast labyrinth of delicious just waiting to be discovered. As a general rule, the dodgier the place, the better the food. Check out ‘hoods that the tourists avoid and you’ll find street food fit for royalty.

What the F*ck is Kava?

biros — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:17:18 +0000

It’s not just their virgin clean water and powdery sand that keeps Polynesians smiling wide. Kava, a 3,000 year old elixir, is also the secret behind their chill. The crushed root of the kava plant provides a serenity similar to what you find in pill form, but can be enjoyed without a prescription and/or addiction. Kava is Polynesian utopia, of the mental variety.

Native to Polynesia, kava comes from (only!) the roots of the kava plant, which are crushed, mixed with water and strained into a large wooden bowl resulting in what looks like a muddy puddle. Islanders sit cross legged in a circle as a small coconut bowl is filled and passed around like a liquid doobie. It tastes like peppery dirt water with a Listerine tingle, but the resulting mild sedation is what everyone is here for. A soft mellow calm takes over and the epitome of chillaxation begins. The tranquility lasts several hours, or at least until the bowl makes it around again. A lack of hangovers, black outs, bar room brawls and health issues make it the Polynesian preference over our liquid drug of choice.

Hairy Tall Tales

For over three millennia, Pacific islanders have used every excuse to indulge in kava, from birth to death to just taking the edge off at the end of the day. Recently, international herbal suppliers began spreading kava to the rest of the world. Corporate pill pushers got their tighty whities in a bunch, worried that kava, with its anti-anxiety potential and non-addictiveness, could hurt the market for prescriptions like Xanax. Widespread studies were conducted, and one featuring a rogue manufacturer who used kava stems and leaves – a 3,000 year old Samoan-sized no-no – concluded kava caused liver damage. Pharmaceuticals and media began a blanket smear campaign and bans ensued in most western countries. These were eventually lifted when it was revealed that using just the kava root is pretty much harmless. Although kava is legal again almost everywhere, the damage to its reputation still lingers like an elevator fart.

OTP Fun Fact: The obligatory fucked up tribal tradition associated with kava goes like this: Rather than crushing it with a rock, virgin Polynesian boys used to chew up the root and spit it out, which would supposedly improve the taste and, since it was sloshed around in clean, delicious saliva, would make it cootie-free.

Don’t you dare take the sissy approach of ordering your kava on the internet! You won’t really experience it without sitting in a kava circle on a warm night with a gentle breeze, hearing only the sound of a distant reef break. Fiji is the most backpacker-friendly of the Pacific islands, and Nadi is your gateway in and out. Spend your first couple nights at Smuggler’s Cove or Horizon Backpackers for a proper introduction to kava. Most nights, “Tai & the Kavaholics”, an acoustic island band, will sing around a big bowl of kava on the beach. Settle into the circle and when they spot your new face, you’ll be invited into to join the Kavaholics. Chug a full coconut shell of kava (not an easy task) and they’ll play you a welcome song and give you a “Kavaholics Life Membership” card; a puke-free way to add merit to your ‘holic’ list.

OTP Tip: Most other Pacific Islands get skipped by backpackers, as those over-water bungalows run $500+ a night. But you’ll often find a cheap hut nearby that shares a lagoon with that honeymooners haven. Ask any of the resort grounds workers about kava and you’ll soon find yourself in a landscapers shack vegging out in a pillowy kava circle with some friendly locals.

Shut up about your anxiety issues and join the kava culture. While the Pacific Islands are notorious for beaten-path-following, knot-tying, young couples who sip $15 mai tais while applauding ‘authentic’ Polynesian hula shows and celebrating their upcoming monogamy, you can kick back with kava and get sideways with a local-like smile.

OTP’s Free Travel: Amsterdam

Kyle — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:39:20 +0000

Between the Heinekens, pay-to-play girls bathed in red light and the wide array of hash cafes, your wallet may suddenly appear a pale shade of empty. Believe it or not, a broke-ass like yourself can still be entertained in the land of wooden clogs and bikes. Get on the OTP’s trashy tram to ride out the tough waters of dead broke and travel Amsterdam for free.

You don’t have to blow your load–either of them–to experience Amsterdam’s Red Light District. A stroll around the narrow canals will put you face-to-face with floss. You’ll know you’re there when you see almost nothing but skin dancing by the glow of a red light. Push the subsequent boner aside and rent a bike to release the tension.

Waterlooplein Market

The stalls at the Waterlooplein Market are some of the best places to laze away a few hours in Amsterdam on the cheap. One of the city’s most beloved squares, with over 300 stalls, you’ll find all sorts of interesting shit you don’t need (and hopefully can’t afford to buy anyway). Play dress-up with the old army gear, browse the ancient relics, and score cheap spray paint if you get a wild graffiti hair up your ass.

Jordaan Neighborhood

The Jordaan area of Amsterdam used to be a working class (and pretty nastastic) neighborhood that has transformed into one of the trendiest parts of the city. Located just across from the Anne Frank House, while Jordaan is quiet, it’s rammed with art galleries, bars, shops and restaurants. Cruise the Nine Streets, a part of Jordaan made up of three-by-three blocks of roads interwoven with canals. Roam around, window shop in the unusual stores, take some photos and feel your wallet breathing a sigh of relief in your nerdy money belt.

Lots of canals means there is no shortage of bridges in Amsterdam and one of the coolest free things to do is find the Bridge of 15 Bridges. Head to the bridge where Reguliersgracht and Herengracht meet on the odd-numbered side. Facing away from Thorbeckeplein, you’ll have views of six arched bridges in a row. To your left, there are six more over the Herengracht, and to your right, two more. That’s only 14 bridges for you math whizzes, but the 15th bridge is the one you’re standing on, genius. Go at night when everything is lit up and go bridge crazy on that bitch.

Five minutes in Amsterdam and your life will probably be threatened by a bike. Keep your eyes up in Vondelpark, a public, 120-acre park west of Museumplein and Leidseplein where bikes zoom by and runners fill-in the remaining space. Take a breather on one of the grassy areas, or in the open air theater, The Vondelpark Openluchttheater. From June-August, there are music, dance, theater and cabaret performances (all free due to the theater’s subsidy from the city government.) If you’d like to keep things stationary, noteworthy statues in the park include: “Joost van den Vondel” by Louis Royer, “The Fish” by Pablo Picasso and “Mama Baranka” by Nelson Carrilho.

It took a train or plane to get to Amsterdam, but why stop there? Get your ass on a muthafuckin’ boat! Grab a ferry from behind Centraal Station across the Het IJ for free. Choose from three routes: two of them head across the river and a tad east, while the third is a more scenic north to west journey. All offer nice views of the industrial part of the harbor, and you can either make a quick round-trip of it, or hop off and explore the northern Amsterdam, a part of the city most tourists skip.

Evil Art Gallery

The Totalitarian Art Gallery is a curious place with all sorts of random propaganda from yesteryear. There are creepy paintings, signs, toys and other memorabilia collected from countries with little or no morals. Great for history fans, you’ll find the gallery in the Jordaan area at Singel 87. All of it is free to see and the gallery is open Thursday-Sunday, from 12:00pm-6:00pm.

That Old Nieuw

Nieuwmarkt is one of the oldest parts of Amsterdam. Look for the large castle with gates and turrets that seem ever-so-slightly out of place in contrast to the tits and nipples of the surrounding Red Light District. In Nieuwmarkt, you’ll find all sorts of funky bars, cafes, Buddhist temples and ironically, a convent. Go for the daily market, or if you’re in Amsterdam over the weekend, the organic food market on Saturdays and antique market on Sundays. The best thing do here is grab a drink and watch the freakshow roll by.

This sche-cret of the Amsterdams Historich Museum is located in a passageway between Kalverstraat and the Begijnhof. Here, you’ll find fifteen massive paintings of the Amsterdam Civic Guards from the 17th Century. Perhaps the only place in the world where paintings simply hang on display in the street (with only a glass roof to shield them from the elements.)

Since the US Department of Agriculture gets all bent out of shape if you try to bring back anything alive, your best bet is to visit the Central Flower Market and take pictures. The open-air flower market, right in the middle of the city center, is a full block along the Singel Canal and is lined with shops selling seeds, bulbs, flowers and, for the true renegade, grow-your-own weed starter kits.

Pop pop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is…to have found so many free things to do in the Venice of the North! Enjoy all of the freed up cash in your pocket, but use it wisely; mama doesn’t want to pick up a brain-dead stoner when your backpacking trip draws to a close.

Everyone Loves Blood: OTP’s Guide to Eating Blood Around the World

Erin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:41:04 +0000

Black pudding, blood pudding or blood sausage – whatever you call it, it’s bloody and the rest of the world thinks it’s crazy tasty. Usually in the form of a coagulated animal-juice filled sausage, its exact origins are up for debate. Rumored to have been invented by some ancient Greek chef around the first centuries AD, these things are nothing like the Oscar Myers you’re used to. Open wide and broaden your carnivorous horizons with our guide to world’s gnarliest forms of wounded culinary coagulation.

Black pudding goes with a typical full English breakfast like a couple of ibuprofen might go with yours. Pork-intestine lined and stuffed with a whole bunch of oatmeal to soak up the congealed pig blood, it’s about as British as having a jolly good shag before your afternoon tea.

Blutwurst

German bratwurst’s bloody cousin, blutwurst, is usually made with pork blood and fillers like barley. Some regions embrace the nasty and go even grosser by swapping pork for horse meat or pickled ox tongue. To warm up to the idea of some local wiener, try it with Himmel und Erde – or Heaven on Earth. Not to be confused with the extra service you got from that “masseuse”, Himmel und Erde is actually a plate of applesauce, fried onions, mashed potatoes and blutwurst. Bloodiness is next to godliness.

Spaniards: passionate about soccer and siestas, but also equally pumped about pig. When they’re not inhaling a leg of jamón, chances are they’re eating a dish mixed with dark chunks of rice- and blood-filled morcilla. Try it alone, on top of a French fries with a fried egg, or in stews with chorizo and other leftover pork parts you never considered edible.

The Belgians and Dutch will get you all hot and bothered with their girthy 4-inch diameter variation of what they call bloedworst. Eat it with apples and brown sugar, or at lunch, slap it on some bread as a sandwich. If that fatty version is feeling too PG, get some tongue up in your business with the more beefy and adventurous tongenworst.

Latin America

Morcilla Dulce

Along with Catholicism, a language and some whack diseases, Spaniards left a little morcilla in Latin America. If you’ve got a hankering for sweet sweet blood, hit up Uruguay for some morcilla dulce. It’s a barbaric trail mix of pig residuals with orange peel, walnuts, raisins, and sometimes even chocolate and other dried fruits. Eat your bloody heart out, granola bar.

Asia

Sundae

Before you graduate to Korean dog meat, grub on a little sundae. Forget the cherry and fudge; the only red and brown lingering in this street food are cow or pig innards. Often stuffed with cellophane noodles, if you don’t get off on the taste of the sausage’s congealed blood, then the mushy pasta should do the trick.

Dinuguan

When sucking down wieners loses its appeal, you can always curl up with a bowl of dinuguan, or “chocolate meat”, in the Philippines. Nothing says “comfort food” like a stew of animal parts served in a chocolate-colored gravy of garlic, chili, vinegar and pig blood.

Pig’s Blood Cake

The Taiwanese win the creativity prize with their nasty take on hot dog on a stick. Called “pig’s blood cake”, it’s a mixture of pork blood and sticky rice that doubles as a good gagging device, eliminating the need to shove your finger down your throat.

Chinese carnivores laugh in vegetarians’ faces by ditching the intestine casing and whipping up batches of pig or duck blood tofu. Steamed, fried or on a skewer, the snack should go nicely with that tabouleh salad, a glass of soymilk and recycling.

North America

Boudin Rouge

Apart from black-pudding loving immigrants, the Cajuns have traditionally represented stateside with their own special tribute to animal blood: boudin rouge. Unfortunately, the government got all anal about the sausage and pig blood action, so now finding legit Cajun black pudding will likely involve getting chummy with natives in the Louisiana backwoods.

Sick and wrong or not, the world is swarming with vampiric tendencies. Only gross if you actually think about it (or look at and/or taste it), no matter where you may find yourself in the world, a good bloody meat product is surely coagulating nearby.

5 Movies You Must Watch Before Going to London

sarahtg — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:01:28 +0000

Written By: Sarah Binion

London’s intricate canals, Victorian buildings and gritty winding streets have been the backdrop for hundreds of movies and nailing down just five pre-departure flicks is as hard as getting into the Queen’s knickers. We at OTP rise to the challenge to bring you the five best screenshots of London. Drink a pint of your favorite English bitter, munch on some bangers and mash and have a go at these great English films.

Watch the Trailer

This film is famous for summing up London in one line: “London, you know, fish, chips, cup ‘o tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary fucking Poppins.”

Guy Ritchie, we love you more than a pikey loves his caravan. Diamond heists, Benicio del Toro, fixed boxing matches, gangsters, guns, and a fast-talking Irish gypsy played by Brad Pitt, all make their way into this classic mobster flick. The accents are thicker than a bucket of marmite, so listen closely or turn on the subtitles. Plot twists, irony, and a movie title that doubles as lady parts, make for a can’t miss flick before you head to London.

Watch the Trailer

Only in England would an executioner wonder how to address a Duke before he hangs him the following morning (“Your Grace,” in case you were wondering). So begins Kind Hearts and Coronets, which was filmed in black and white but recently digitally re-mastered and re-released in 2011.

The plot line is simple: Louis Manzinni is 8^th in line to inherit the title of Duke of Chalfont and the only thing standing in his way, of course, are the other heirs. So Louis sets out to remove the obstacles to his inheritance and thus ensues a dark comedy set in Edwardian England with scenes filmed around London and the English countryside. Watching the Alec Guiness (you know, Obi Wan-Kenobi?) play all eight of the Manzinni heirs he has set out to murder is brilliant.

Watch the Trailer

Match Point is Woody Allen’s take on a modern film noir laced with subtle characters and grainy musical scoring. Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a former tennis pro, befriends Tom Hewett and is set up with Tom’s sister, Chloe. Tom, at the time, is engaged to Nola, an American actress played by the hot ass Scarlett Johansson. Chris and Chloe begin dating but Chris has a secret boner for Nola and they start a scandalous hook-up that continues even after Chris and Chloe are married. We don’t want to ruin it, but shit gets real sleazy.

This film touches on the English undercurrent of classicism, as Chris comes from a working class Irish family and the Hewetts are a rich English family with a large country estate. London appears in the details with pub settings, black cabs, a flat (the cooler English way to say “apartment”) with a coveted view of the Thames and scenes in the Tate Modern. Match Point is a good film to catch a glimpse of the daily lives of Londoners, with an adulterous twist.

Watch the Trailer

In the decade of Mad Men and the Beatles, Blow-Up revolves around Thomas, a talented but chronically bored and impatient photographer, who accidentally captures a murder while taking pictures in the park. A young Vanessa Redgrave makes an appearance, as do the Yardbirds (Eric Clapton, before his solo career) who perform “Stroll On” in the latter part of the film. Heavy on English innuendo and suspense, this film often leaves the viewer to fill in the blanks.

London’s architecture has changed little since the 60’s and Maryon Park, where the eerie park scenes were filmed, has also remained almost entirely the same. Also, if you like movies that feature three-somes with models, mary-janes, murder, sub-plots and the streets of London set against a mod backdrop, Blow-up is your film.

Watch the Trailer

Love Actually showcases some of the best of London (even Wandsworth, the dodgy end) and is cleverly written and directed, by Richard Curtis of Notting Hill fame. There are 10 character plots, some of which overlap, that all lead up to Christmas in London. It’s an easy on the eyes rom-com with a superstar cast of characters including Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman and, English essential, Hugh Grant, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Getting mushy for Hugh Grant is not a crime.

Watch the Trailer

It just wouldn’t be a list of London movies without a Bond film. Back in the days when Pierce Brosnan was Bond, this film had one of the best chase scenes in London. Bond drives a still-experimental boat off the back of MI-6 and into the Thames where he, naturally, pursues a beautiful assassin eastward from Vauxhall, past Parliament, through the Docklands, finishing the chase with a hot air balloon scene over the O2 Arena in Greenwich; a London geography lesson of sorts. Guys will love the gadgets, girls will fantasize about Pierce Brosnan and everyone will be just a little more badass post-viewing.

After a few hours in front of the tube, you’ll be schooled on London from every cinematic angle. Now, go find a dodgy pub and strike up a conversation with a local about your newly acquired London knowledge. If you can find a diamond to heist while you’re at it, then we’ve done our job.

Bootleg Drinks Around the World

Lorenzorob — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:39:24 +0000

Booze can be damn expensive, hard to come by or downright illegal in some parts of the world. But as they say in the brewing community, “where there’s a still there’s a way”. To help you understand the extent some people go through for their buzz, OTP’s cooked up some of the funkiest, dangerous and tastiest bootleg purple-drank from all over the globe.

This drink abounds in local stores, churches and livers, but the better (and stronger) shit is only found in the private pantry. A number of fruit–even walnuts, biatch!–can be used to make this spirit, but the most common mixes involve plums or grapes. Your point of entry is at a funeral, where everyone takes a cup of it, pours a nip for the dead and kicks the rest back. They also serve it as Christ’s blood in church (who knew Jesus cured Sunday morning hangovers?)

Brazil: Maria Louca (&*wtf%?!)

Translating to Crazy Maria, this stuff’s a swig of sheer willpower. Depending on the ingredients, which can vary from fruit peels to candy (and perhaps prison-bitch tears), your cup might taste of jolly-ranchers or bittersweet horror! It’s the drink of choice for starved (yet resourceful) Brazilian prisoners, so don’t go looking too hard for it. Instead, make your own next Halloween; nobody eats those damn strawberry-wrapped things anyway.

Bum wines (see also: ‘Night Train’, ‘MD 20/20’ and ‘Cisco’) were made for one reason, and that’s to get hobos drunk and warm for little to no cost. Thunderbird’s the most famous for its 70’s ad campaign–what’s the word?–and smells/ tastes like fucking fossil fuel mixed with toddler-nuggets, with the added bonus of dying your tongue a mysterious shade of black. Finding the stuff is a classic American snipe-hunt, as it’s only found in select liquor stores, often in the worst parts of town. See if you can get some without getting shot up with bullets or meth. Luckily, drinking the stuff isn’t said to make you homeless–immediately.

The street slang for this shit is ‘pétrole’, whatever that means. When scoring your Lotoko, make sure to ask what’s actually inside of the oil barrel (if you like to live or whatever). This moonshine’s either made from corn, yucca or plantains, and the corn stuff can kill you (or at least fuck you up the wrong way). Methanol–which is toxic–will be floating around in the corn cob barrels, so make like Food Inc. and say no to corn.

India: Tharra (90%)

When you’re a migrant laborer in rural India, there’s only one way to feelin’ good. Tharra is a nasty-smelling sugarcane brew that’s so putrid, it needs to sit in the fields to air out (and that’s coming from people who sometimes cook their food with cow dung). To steer clear of the stink, rock your body with some Toddy. It’s a palm wine that South Indians drink to get schwayze when the weather’s nice and the day’s long.

OTP Bonus: Feni is a popular underground drink in Goa made from cashews that has recently taken a turn toward the tourist circuit.

They call this stuff ‘kill me quick’ on the streets. The corn or millet-based liquor is nothing short of a gang bang for your insides. While the alcohol content is high, the real danger lies in the post-fermentation junk added by vendors. Battery acid’s a local favorite, and jet fuel comes in for a close second. Even the locals know, Changaa’s often a last resort, so dangerous that the government legalized it just so they could stop the havoc.

The ‘water of life’ these days is a high-class digestif on dessert menus, but its history goes all the way back to the French boondocks. If wine’s weak brandy, brandy’s weak Eau de Vie. Anyone who’s tried it before (and likes their eyebrows) knows not to breathe near open flames as its so freaking strong, your eyeballs will evaporate. For something similar with the extra twist of illicit-ness, find some Tsipouro while packing through Greece. Same stuff, different context.

Consider yourself informed: if the beers are too pricey wherever you might be, there’s always some liquid love bubbling in someone’s backyard. Moonshine is a global phenomenon, anywhere you go will have its stories, and some characters to tell them to your over a drink. Just don’t go chugging liquid poison of the actual killing kind.

Top 10 Things to Do in Rio on a Backpacker’s Budget

biros — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:48:33 +0000

Crazy costumes, thong bikinis, sugary lime cocktails, beaches, mountains and sexy Brazilians partying through the night are images that have put Rio on the tourist radar. But with fame, comes fortune and Rio’s wow factor now carries an increasing price tag. Hang with OTP as we show you how you can still live it up without giving it up.

Catch any intra-city match up of Rio’s four teams to watch fan lunacy at its peak. Grab a cheap ticket (starting at $15) to sit with the rowdies, but head way up top to elude the showering of drinks turned projectiles after a shitty call. The drums, songs and sea of giant flags up there are just as good as the show on the pitch. While you’ll still find the same crazed carioca fans at every stadium, the legendary Maracanã stadium is unfortunately undergoing a $600 million Joan Rivers-esque face lift and won’t see soccer again until 2013.

OTP Tip: Flamengo is Brazil’s Yankees, so you already have a team to either love or hate. Warning: Away team fans are physically distanced from the locals, get police escorts out of the stadium and bring a change of clothes to avoid trouble outside. So check team colors beforehand to avoid actual nosebleeds in the cheap sections.

Rising from Guanabara Bay like a pair of titties in desperate need of augmentation, Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf) and the lesser Morro de Açucar (Sugar hill) are on every Rio postcard. The cable cars that herd tourists to the top were made famous in the James Bond film Moonraker. Make Bond look like an Octopussy by skipping the cars and climb that shit instead. Unless you’re an expert climber, you’ll want a guide (about $35 bucks) or experienced local to lead you and rig up the ropes. Dodge the midday heat and start in late afternoon to summit by sunset. At the top, watch the sky fire up as the sun dips behind Christo Redentor and sets Rio into motion for the night. Cable cars down are free after 7 pm.

Get Schooled
Carnaval is Rio’s most famous party, but the million tourists that pack the city leave little room for a backpacker on a budget. You can still get a taste of Carnaval at a weekly samba school rehearsal starting up to six months before the main event. For $5 – $10 at the local favorite Mangueira school, you’ll sample what others will be paying hundreds to see at the sambadrome during the festival. The show gets more polished and extravagant as Carnaval approaches, but the drinks stay cheap and the people are always welcoming.

Where art galleries, restaurants and bars occupy century-old mansions, Santa Teresa is a great place to wander. The tram is out of action indefinitely after a deadly derailment, so cab it to the top and trickle your way down on foot. Stop for a late dinner at Bar do Arnaudo where a huge $20 dish of carne de sol will make you dream of stretchy pants. Afterward, waddle out to the street and let gravity guide you to the world famous Selarón steps (as seen in Snoop Dogg’s “Beautiful” video). At the bottom of this forever evolving masterpiece of tiles and international ceramics, you’ll be in Lapa, where evenings quickly turn to all-nighters.

On Friday nights, young cariocas and tourists head to the arches in Rio’s Lapa neighborhood for a raging free street party, where vendors hawk cheap drinks and drunk food. Get your fill of liquid courage on the streets, head inside one of clubs lining the arches and bust out your gringo dance moves.

OTP Tip: A fancy-looking hole in the wall (next to the Rio Rock & Blues), the tiny Drinkeria Express com Coelho, is the spot to hit for an endless array of caipirinhas and caipifrutas for only 5 reais (about $3).

So You Say You’re an Ass Man?
Rio is dominated by a coastline of beaches, with sights that range from bronzed and beautiful to god awful prune and sag. Copacabana beach became famous in the ’50s, which still draws the nostalgia crowd from that era (prunes). Ipanema beach is much easier on the eyes. At posto 9, make-you-jeaous dudes kick around soccer balls while damn-gurl ladies sip from coconuts. If Ipanema is too crowded, venture west to the 11 mile beach in Barra da Tijuca where you’ll find an equally sexy collection of cariocas at Pepê – between Posto 1 and 2.

OTP Bonus: The remote Prainha and hidden Joatinga, both only reachable by car, are the closest to beach solitude you’ll find around Rio.

On Sunday nights, the brothel turned nightclub of Casa Rosa is miles from the touristy zones in the Laranjeiras neighborhood. While $20 will no longer let you drop your pants here (or anywhere), it will get you two Brazilian favorites – entrance to see a live samba band and a heaping plate of feijoada. This national dish of Brazil piles a heavy stew of black beans and reject pig meat on a bed of white rice with sides of collard greens, farofa and orange slices. After your feast settles, join the locals dancing samba in the courtyard or pop into one of the other rooms for a DJ, live local band or capoeira show. Don’t think about the unspeakable acts that took place here in the past. Instead, warm up to a carioca and work on getting the goods for free.

As you may know from City of God, life in these shanty towns isn’t all peaches and sunshine. But passing up the favelas during your stay in Rio gives you a sheltered look of the city that fails to consider one-fifth of Brazil’s population. Get the full picture by spending some time down in real poverty. While a lone day walk through a favela will not land you in a stack of gasoline-soaked tires, a guide is useful to learn some history and avoid getting lost in the concrete jungle. The favela residents from Carioca Free Culture will walk you through Rocinha, the granddaddy of Rio favelas and home to several hundred thousand cariocas. This zero-overhead, intimate tour through life on the broke side of town is the most authentic and reasonable you’ll find in Rio.

Take a Hike
You don’t need to leave the city for a break from the Rio’s bustle and heat. Jardim Botânico, located just across the lagoa from Ipanema, is a lush, peaceful garden escape for about $3. More adventurous options exist a bit further away in Tijuca National Park – the largest urban forest in the world where you can hike endless trails through waterfalls, caves and mountain peaks while exotic birds and monkeys taunt you from above, all for nada.

Are you loving the new Sony Cybershot you bought just for this trip? So is that shady guy watching you from across the street. Rio has historically been a dangerous place for tourists, but recent attempts to clean up the city for the World Cup and Olympics have raised safety levels some. Common sense worth printing:

Keep valuables in your front pockets and keep your hands on them or over your purse zipper when walking through crowds.
Wear the camera wrist strap when taking a picture to avoid a snatch and dash.
Carry a wallet or purse but only keep a small amount of cash, passport copy and a single credit/debit card.
Avoid dark or deserted streets at night and jump in a taxi if needed.

Hey look, you’ve got all your shit. You’re welcome.

The best of Rio can be yours for cheap or less. Throw your hips on samba mode and see why cariocas call their city the best in the world.

OTP’s Guide to Street Food: Chiapas, Mexico

Astar — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:57:32 +0000

Written By: Bianca Rappaport and Anna Starostinetskaya

Way more than the bastardized burritos and nachos you pick up at window #2, Mexican food is such a big deal, the cuisine was named by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of mankind. Suffice it to say, Mexicans don’t fuck around when it comes to food. Spicy, tangy and full of rich soul, the Chiapas region is also the cheapest in all of Mexico, making all its edibles available to you at street food prices.

In Chiapas, it all starts with corn, a sacred crop deeply embedded in Mayan culture and considered a gift from the gods. Elote (corn on the cob) is a major street food and is usually grilled, then super-slathered in mayo. To layer flavor on your natural stick of Mexican food history, other topping options include chili powder, butter, salt, grated cotija cheese, salsa picante and lemon or lime juice. If picking corn out of your teeth on the streets gets grueling, check out elote’s loose cousin, esquite, which is corn cut off the cob into a bowl with a mixture of the above ingredients and eaten with a spoon. Add some corn to your corn by chugging down disease-curing pozol, a drink made of corn dough and water (pozol blanco), or mixed with cacao (pozol de cacao), and popular during Mayan ceremonies and believed to help the Indígenas make long journeys through the jungle. When your corn baby fully matures, flush and don’t look down.

Nucú

Why yes, those are curled up ant legs on your plate. Nucú (aka chicatana), a Chiapas specialty, are essentially delicious, oversized queen ants filled with thousands of eggs. Usually roasted and salted, served with lime juice and chile, and sometimes in tacos (if you like an extra crunch). Wash the Chiapas caviar down with some posh, a local sugar-cane based liquor. Nucú mate in swarm orgies every June, after which all the males die leaving bloated females to sit around until dinnertime. Best to take off their head and direct your bite straight at their fat asses.

A healthy street treat, jicaleta is a slice of refreshment on a stick. Jícama (also known as “yam bean” or “Mexican turnip”), is the edible root of a highly poisonous plant and is commonly used in soups, fruit bars, salads, salsas and other cooked dishes. Street vendors stick a slice on a skewer and you can either crunch on it au natural or dip it into flavored powders.

If your own tongue just ain’t cutting it anymore, Chiapas is your mouth’s chance to get real personal with beef tongue. Rubbing taste buds with a cow may sound almost cannibalistic, but the meat is chewy, with a dense, smooth texture and not half bad. You can find a lickin’ in burritos and tacos, or on its own with a sauce. Try it with saffron sauce (lengua en salsa de azafran) to make you, and your new beefy friend, salivate.

Instead of giving you our gringo taco banter, while in Chiapas, OTP was lucky enough to meet Jesús Catalán, the self-proclaimed Taco King, and he’s here to give you the deep insider view of Mexico’s favorite sandwich. Catalán is legit: Born in Del Valle, the taco epicenter of Mexico City, he has consumed millions of tacos around the world and, after 17 years, still holds the record for eating the most Tacos de Canasta (63 of those bad boys!). So, what makes a good taco? Catalán says it’s all about “tortillas, beans, chile, the fresh ingredients of a salsa” and the essential squeeze of lime. He’s willing to get on an airplane for his Chiapan taco fix: DIY taco joints (puestos) at the shore of Lago Pojol in El Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello, “…there you’ll find home-made fresh cheese wrapped in banana leaves, that will be grilled and topped with black beans, fried chorizo and avocado slices. Ask for tortillas and make tacos, those are really authentic.”Catalán swears that, “God is a taquero, life is a puesto, love is the salsa and you are the taco.” To Catalán, tacos are serious eats and he’s ready to wage war on anyone trying to mess with his favorite street eats. In fact, he “…dare[s] all Off Track Planet readers who have a passion for tacos to bring it on and steal [his] crown.” You hear that? BE the taco.

Taco King Tip: “Always look for the crowd, which not only indicates deliciousness and hygiene, but also a good price. Ask for tacos ‘con copia’, which means two tortillas instead of just one per taco. Deep-fried tacos and quesadillas are not only tastier but will fill you up better.”

Tamales

These are not your freezer section logs of awful. Chiapas’ nutty version, called tamales chiapanecos, are a regional creation, filled with pork, raisins, tomatoes, almonds, onions, spicy herbs and come wrapped in banana leaves. The dough contains chipilín, an herb native to Chiapas, that gives these tamales a little extra flair. The juacanes version reminds you of Chiapas’ coastal access by incorporating dried shrimp, along with black beans and pumpkin seeds, into their tamales. Hot off the grill (and not wrapped in plastic), tamales bring the sweet flavor of the southernmost state of Mexico straight into your mouth. Purchase yours from any guy peddling them from his bike.

Cacao was first discovered in the Chiapas region of Mexico and Guatemala 4,000 years ago and was used as currency until its crack-like qualities were revealed. All coffee in Chiapas is organic, shade-grown (which is better for you, the environment and the farmers) and off-the-hook delicious. Cacao is also cultivated to make chocolate and in Chiapas, they like it spicy. Buzz on a cup of coffee from just about anywhere and check out Kakaw, the cacao and chocolate museum, in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Order the sensaciones prehispánica for shots of hot chocolate in achiote, vainilla, amaranto and cacahuate varieties.

Super-agriculturalists since before America was “born”, you best believe the people of Chiapas know their shit when it comes to food. The Taco King will tell you: “In such a diverse country as Mexico, food is perhaps the strongest element that ‘glues’ us all. Old and young, rich and poor, religious or not.” Combine that with the “mi casa es su casa” mentality and you got yourself a street feast worth a trip way south of the border.

Sex in Buenos Aires: Guide to Getting Laid for Girls, Guys and Gays

sarahtg — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Buenos Aires is a hotbed of sexual experiences just waiting to be discovered. The romance of Paris mingled with fiery Latin culture guarantees an explosive roller coaster ride in the bedroom (or if you feel like taking the Jesus roller coaster, they’ve got that too). Let OTP supercharge your libido with these tips (and not just the tip) to getting laid in the Paris of the South.

To whet your sexual appetite, make your way to La Boca (Spanish for the mouth), a neighborhood where you can catch street tango performances–perfect for a little pre-bang voyeurism. If you need more titillating tango, put on your fancy pants and visit a milonga (dance salon) to ease into getting friendly with the locals. For some manly action, La Marshall milonga is exclusively gay, so throw a rose in your mouth and an “I mean business” look on your face.

In Da Club

Nightlife in Buenos Aires is renowned worldwide and clubs are a good place to start your search for a horizontal tango partner. Porteños love to party until dawn, so take a siesta before you hit the town. On Thursday nights, Club Niceto transforms into Club 69. Anything that turns into our favorite number is sure to bring the heat – expect things to get sweltering at around 2:30 am, when the performers arrive. For a more casual boliche (nightclub) experience, head to the Roxy where you can rock out to everything from Guns N Roses to the Beach Boys. Most guides ignore the Roxy, so it’s a great place to practice your pick-up lines on the locals. Maintain your stamina after a hard night of dancing in the streets and stumble over to Caix for the after party, where you can hit the floor until Sunday afternoon (9 am to 3 pm.) Gays, shimmy over to Glam, a crowded space that will have you sword fighting in no time. If you need more room to showcase your moves, Amerik is the biggest and wildest gay disco in town.

In Buenos Aires, male machismo is as plentiful as steak. Picking up a hunk of Argentine man meat, means stroking his ego before anything else. Taking girls home is a bit more challenging, since Argentine women are expected to be sweet and virginal. The good news is: according to a recent study by Axe body spray (a very reputable source), Argentine women like sex more than women in any other country. This same survey indicates that chocolate was a close second. What have we learned? Lure that virgin kitty into the bedroom with a Snickers bar and watch her transform into a horny tigress.

Once all that Quilmes secures your beer goggles, you’ll be ready for some sloppy, drunk sex. Argentines are far too classy for rolling around on your hostel bottom bunk, so pay a few pesos for a telo – by-the-hour hotels where politicians regularly commit their carnal sins. Identified by the words “albergue transitorio”, telos are the ultimate no-strings-attached facilitators. Themed rooms like spaceships, Roman ruins, or Egyptian pyramids– in case you want to get on all fours and play the Sphinx- let you act out your fantasies without committing for the entire night. Hotel Pink has rates as low as $70 pesos ($15 USD) for one hour. Need more than 60 minutes? We don’t buy it.

If the only meat you’ve managed to secure in Buenos Aires has grill marks, then head to Plaza de Miserere, or “Prostitution Plaza,” where you can pay to ride like a gaucho. Prostitution is legal in Argentina, so you won’t have to worry about raising bail after splurging on that hot honey. Porteños are welcoming and friendly folks – own your tourist status. Argentines value family so show off pictures of parents and siblings back home to reduce your creep factor.

Play your cards right and you may find it takes three, or more, to tango in Buenos Aires. Just remember not to be a fool and wrap that tool–unless of course you’re ready to start a family, or excited by the idea of STDs. It’s not that hard to get Porteños to spread eagle but it does require a little proper etiquette. Brush off your dancing shoes, dress to impress and start mingling with the hottest Argentine locals in very intimate ways.

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