One day I woke up after being dragged out of bed by the hostel manger and two German officers as I was in the middle of a happy dream, bouncing around in candy land like Homer Simpson. I was shaken up by someone as I was not able to hear them because I tend to not sleep with my hearing aids on. It gives me the advantage to avoid the sleep-talkers and loud snoring guest in my dormitory room. SLAP!
Forced out of bed, onto the dirty wooden Amendion floor painfully hard, suddenly my eyes were wide open completely confused and hangover from a 2 day bender and I looked up at 2 strangers & two cops, glancing at me as if I am guilty of something. "What the FUCK!" I yell back in anger.
Berlin was a destination on my travel bucket list. People in general only spoke and expressed good vibes of their opinion about Berlin. Full of attractions with rich histories circling the Brandenburg Gate & Checkpoint Charlie. My Spanish amigos from Chile, explained to me about the famous Currywurst. A hot sausage cut in slices with ketchup and curry powder. Invented in 1949 by Herta Heuwer in Berlin, it’s Germany’s most popular fast food. The East Side Gallery has always brought an interest to me and physically see the 1316m Berlin Wall, which is possibly the largest and longest lasting open air gallery in the world. More to the reason why to go to Berlin - The Nightlife. The club culture is a life style and the music is basically a religion. Pumping 120 - 180 beats per minute inside abandoned factories and commercial buildings, underground clubs & small nightclubs mostly located in the eastern part of the city. Once I read somewhere, "Berlin's nightlife is Disneyland for grown ups."
At one time, I was sitting in the hostel lounge room during my trip in Berlin, just chilling at 9am, drinking a Berliner & cooling off from mdma cap while collecting deep meaningless thoughts after a night tagging along with mixed nationalities from the hostel and had just come back from clubbing at the "Tresor Berlin" - which was in an abandoned power station. Also known to be one of the legendary early clubs, with never-ending pounding music of Techno. Anyhow, there were two guys sitting opposite me, chatting away passing jokes backwards and forwards. Taking about art and exchanging their drawing books, given themselves a chance to show off their artwork and calibrate new ideas from different views."Yo, mine if I can have a look at them?" I struggle to ask as my voice cuts out due to having a dry throat after chain smoking. I took a sip of my Berliner and asked again "Sure man" Salvador Dali replied back to me with his happy Argentinean accent. I don't know if it was the drugs that was still bubbling around my bloodstream that made their artwork very interesting or just the fact their art attracted me naturally quickly. One guy was from Sydney,Graffiti was very much into street art. He was a 20 year-old skinny kid who was living in a city under the grey skies, London. We clicked fast due to we came from the same area back in Sydney. His new mate, Salvador Dali" was a very abstract painter from Argentina who was living between Berlin and Rome. He briefly explained that he was working a few art projects in Berlin after I asked him what his purpose of his trip. He had a moustache like the famous Spanish artist - Salvador Dali, but with a goatee. This 30yr old guy was such a genuine person, always smiling and feeling the vibe that he was a positive character. After introduction, one of the boys had a long green broccoli, ready to be burned up and all three of us agreed to spark the owl. Out at the back of the hostel I see a buddy from Ohio, Daytona who I had briefly meet two days ago. I introduce him to Graffiti and Salvador Dali. He just fitted right in the group as he was a photographer who happen to have over 500 Instagram followers on his page at that time. He's solo mission was to travel around Europe and capture everything in every possible angle on his iPhone for 2 months.
Graffiti & Salvador had this idea for the day to go out and visit a well known abandoned factory full of graffiti pieces and painting from famous Street Artists around the globe. They were already and set to go. They had two backpacks full of spray cans. "You guys wanna come?" Graffiti asks me and Daytona. I pause for a minute,"Well I haven't slept yet..fuck it. Let's do it. I need food and more beer on the way" Everyone agrees on the food and beer. Daytona pulls the portable charger out of his backpack to connect to his iPhone, "Sounds good, I am ready to go"
From Alexanderplatz station, we travel about an hour and half by train to our destination. It looked like a sketchy, shady area. Everything was dirty and broken in the station, a few Skinheads hanging around doing nothing but staring at us. I was a little scared to be honest. We grab some snacks and some beer at the store, then we march 30 mins to the abandoned factory. Once we get there, I had noticed I stepped on dog shit and it stunk like a motherfucker, everyone finds it amusing, then I heard Salvador say with enthusiasm "Man, that's beautiful, it must mean good luck man or something, it's ok man" I thought he was taking a piss out of me but in fact, he really was so positive about it. After I clean my black'n'white nike Airmax shoe we slid our bags under the 3.5 metre steal fence then climbed over it. As you walk out towards the open space, you come to find yourself surrounded by huge factory buildings with missing gaps in the walls and shattered windows, half logos & signs in German still hangin loose while observing burnt rotten cars as you imagine the fire of the scene and how it must have been like at the time standing on charcoal patches on the ground, you oversee the collage of strange colours with never ending paintings and variety of different graffiti styles on the walls and every object. We tour the factory capturing every interesting piece of art to our eyes and shaping away the camera lens on our phones, Until the art brothers find a spot to paint their work. While they express their minds and spray colors over the old faded tags on the wall, Daytona was trying capture a photo of a water reflection from a puddle of a guy who looked like Hando (Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper) big and fucking scary looking along with his German Shepherd. Afterwards, Hando comes over to us and says something that I couldn't make a word of and take a mouthful of my beer because I was afraid of him without reason. Daytona, shows Hondo the photos taken of him, Hondo is pleased, gives thumps up and smiles. After 2 hours, the factory generates more people slowly in groups, some crew was doing a photo shoots of fashion, a few kids create a bonfire and drinking away. More people come to create new portages of paints from their Ironlak spray cans. It seemed overall interesting in Abandoned Arts Heaven after maintaining to drink on and off over 15 hours, consuming 2 heart logos mdma candy tablets, lighting up 3 broccolis and little water. On the way out, we found an easier exit rather than having to climb the jail steal bars.
7pm we arrive back in the city, four of us gobbling down pizza as if it was an eating tournament and drowning 2 pitchers of refreshing German beer at the hostel bar along with some female travellers from Liverpool & two guys from Sao Paulo. At this point, my body was feeling absolutely fine, confused why after having to been awake nearly 33hrs or less. I decided to push it since it was a Saturday evening and I had to fly back to France in 3 days time. The girls gave out the news that a group was heading out to the one of the famous clubs in Berlin, The Watergate.
Salvador Dali, Graffiti and myself agreed to adventure on with the group, Daytona decided to drink locally with some other travellers. 10pm ticks around, I go back to my room to suit up for Watergate. I do recall there was three other people in my room, a girl sleeping, an Asian guy and some bloke was in the washroom, so I had no choice but to get change in front of the little Asian guy siting on his bed looking at me nervously. To myself, I thought he was an inexperienced traveller and was not used 6 strangers sleeping in a room from his body language that I was able to read from him."What's up man ?" I asked politely, "Nothing nothing" Quickly he responded and got up walked over to his locker. "Cool" I stated and left the room reconciling with the "Watergate crew" in the hostel lobby to begin another wild night in this club raving city.
Watergate is a one of the hotspot for those who want to enjoy a great night. From the outside it looks like nothing special and very plain but once inside it will blow your mind and la musique is intense. I found the crowd very friendly. At one point dancing with a group of unknown people and my temporary friends from the hostel, feeling the beats on the huge LED panel on the dance floor. I was rubbing close to some girl for a few songs, she was an absoulutely stunnting thing, about the same height as me and had straight blonde hair with average jugs. We pull aside together. She dips a bit of dust on her pinkie finger tip from a little bullet look alike object then holding at mid air and her eyes meets mine with a smile. I dip my nose into the tiny white powder and smile back right back and requested another sample. She feeds me a second scoop and we kissed passionately not long after we relocted back onto we left off.
After moving around from dance floor to dance floor for lost hours, I began to feel the desperate need to get some air and space. My head was spinning and when I looked at someone their head would shift side to side, feeling less weight around my body, feeling of coldness draining slowly down my body losing my balance with a demented look on my face and just got very paranoid all the sudden. My body was barely holding it together. Seconds later, I some how pull myself up and walked out of the club ignoring everything but focused enough to flee without stopping, building up the speed gliding through the crowd to get away from everyone and accentually bummed into one of the girls from hostel at the exit and I think she had fallen over badly because I hit her. I did not give a shit about anyone during 'my life or death situation' and just kept strolling on.
On the way back in the backseat of the taxi, my arms started shaking like jackhammers in short movements while the body shivering sideways as if my body felt - 10 degrees. Once I arrived at the hostel, I was struggling to get out of the car, so the driver had to help me and leaned me against the wall then left. Due to my phyical state and trying to scan the keycard on the pad to enter the building and it was the most challenging experience I've ever had to do to get a door to open. After the fight between electronic pad and myself, I finally win and made it to my room. The aids comes off my ears to lay them inside my shoes and out cold I go blank.
Blacked out, mind is dreamily numb and lost in translation until your body feels an incredible impact. I wake up to find myself shocked and on the dirty floor with the bedsheets half across between the bed and my body. I look up cursing non stop and went crawling over to my shoes semi blind then suddenly, two officers take grip of me. I started to yell out the words "I can't hear! Hearing Aid! I need my hearing aid in my shoes!" Four people looked at me confusingly bizarre. A female officer, sees my shoes under my bed and looks into them. Not gonna lie, she was smoking hot, a Tomb Raider with blonde hair. I think we would be very exotic in the bedroom with her police cuffs. After they let loose of me and I was able to find a sense of reality but thrown into being questioned by the hostel manager, asking me where the Asian guys money was. I had no fucking idea what he was tripping about. A male officer who was shorter than Tomb Raider, informs me that he had the right to pat me down and search through my belongings. Too much, too fast to really know what was happening, still in total chaos, I snapped and raved on some more.
"I'm in my fucking shorts man, only she is patting me down. And you're not touching anything, until I know what is really going on cause I still don't know. FUCK. I have not done nothing; I've been asleep as far as god knows for how long. Fuck man!"
The officers eventually calmed me down and explained to me that Mr Wong had a large amount of money stolen from his locker and backpack.
Mr Wong believes that I am the criminal and thief due to his evidence was the fact that I happened to be only one in the room most of the day, even though I still haven't seen the time and had no idea how long I had been asleep since Watergate. I explain everyone that I didn't take the money. I been away for two days straight and now I am afraid because maybe somebody has taken my belonging as well or stashed the money in my gear. Apparently Wong told the officers that I got up at some point during the day and acting strange and did some weird shit 'as if I was on drugs'. Mr Wong had been counting his money by the locker at the time when I was my dreaming candy land and I walked around took my pants off then crashed out on bed making humming sounds. I do not remember that at all.
Once my bags were opened and matching pairs of socks was separated. I was ordered to open my locker. They come to find my Australian passport with work permits for Canada and France, my visa for Jakarta and Brazil including over 700 euro of cash and immediately everyone turns to me and questioned me about the money. I explain to them that it is my back up cash and Mr Wong calls out claiming that is some of his cash. I snap again and I push it a little more hasher to detailed my personal opinion of Mr Wong four feet away from me -
"You dumb fucking little yellow prick, that's my fucking money so don't make me come over & beat your ass, I swear you are so fucking retarded. What kinda of moron travels with large amount euro in cash on him, haven't you heard of plastic cards? That is only 700 euro of MY money. You dumb fucking Dim Sim, you've obviously been picked pocked & blaming it on me for nada, to also add, I bet ch'ya don't even remember that last time you actually had the money in your procession, do you!?"
My tone of voice grows with aggression and the hostel manager is trying to keep the distance between me and my bullshit artist roommate apart from one each-other while the cops started to pull me further back in the room ...
Due to no hard evidence. The police officers filed up a report. Nothing was resolved because I didn't do anything. In the end, I hope Mr Wong will travel smarter in the future and not carry all his money on him in cash. A day later I saw him at the hostel bar sitting with someone and felt a bad what I said, but he deserved it at the time. I offered to buy him a drink. He declined and I don't blame him for rejecting my offer.
Funny enough the manager didn't even bother to separate us from the room after all that tension & beef but he did however ask Graffiti, the Liverpool girls as well as Salvador Dali to watch over me and see how much money I spend over the next few days. They were surprised. I was pissed off how the manager dragged my friends into something that had nothing to do with them and confronted him about that.
Left Berlin and returned back to Paris two days later. I still had a pretty good time in Berlin with unforgettable memories. Two years went by and out of nowhere, I bummed into Daytona on the streets of Toronto. He was still traveling and capturing shots through out the lenses on his updated iPhone. We drank some beers on a roof top bar and hit a few hotspots in Kensington's hipster town with my friends. We managed to have a little recap of our adventure experience in Europe. I would like to revisit Berlin again and hit the clubs but stay in a private room next time.
Fin.