The Hole in the Head Gang Returns!

The Hole in the Head Gang has returned from our tour of Oregon and northeastern California. Meet the gang and stay tuned for a full accounting of our adventures.

Muizenberg, South Africa

Would I go back to South Africa? In a heartbeat, on a direct flight to the little surf town of Muizenberg. Read all about it in a four-part story, “How to Fry a Fish, Cape Town Style”. Part I – Surfing and haggling. Part II – The local word on clam-digging. Part III – Taking […]

Last Night in Cape Town

My last night in Cape Town was spent in the beach town of Muizenberg, with my workmate Jasper. I had deboarded at the Muizenberg Station thrice before, to meet my workmates for fieldwork on Silvermine and for a weekend surf trip. The town is sleepy, quaint and calm, populated with small independent cafes and surf […]

How to Fry a Fish — Cape Town Style, Part IV

Continue from Part III or start at Part I. That night, I descaled and gutted the silvery fish with my pocketknife and fried it up, both sides with ginger and garlic. I browned onions alongside the fish and warmed up a few slices of ciabatta, for which the Kalk Bay Olympia Bakery is famous. The […]

How to Fry a Fish — Cape Town Style, Part III

Continue from Part II or start from Part I. Jonathan and I returned to the City Bowl by rail. The Kalk Bay Station was initially sleepy. Three slender, glammed out coloured boys were catatonically entwined together on the platform. I wondered what combination of drugs and partying they were blissed out on. A fourth was […]

How to Fry a Fish — Cape Town Style, Part II

Continued from Part I. Dropping the fish into my rucksack, Jonathan and I walked down the pier. A light coloured boy, a bit swarthy already in his early teens, had caught a small mudskipper. His younger brother had just lost the bait off his line, which was weighted with a 10mm bolt and nut. Chatting […]

How to Fry a Fish – Cape Town Style, Part I

I learned to surf in Cape Town. Accompanied by Jonathan, an Israeli backpacker also staying at the Zebra Crossing Hostel, I took the train to Muizenberg, a little surf town on the southern coastal outskirts of Cape Town. I rented a board, wetsuit and surf coach at Gary’s Surf Shop. Fifteen minutes later, the guy […]

Just say no to bar parties.

I made one and only one Friday night foray onto the Cape Town bar strip. It was the weekend of Halloween and Kloof St was running rampant with pirates, werewolves and zombie hookers. They spilled from pounding purple blacklighted clubs and shouted from deck parties fenced with Edwardian-era wrought-iron railings. Along the length of the […]

Friday Night Skate

When my Dutch friend Renske learned that I would be in Amsterdam this weekend, she immediately turned to the computer and pulled up the Amsterdam weather channel. She enthused, “If the weather is nice on Friday, you have to go to Friday Night Skate! You should bring your rollerblades. You can even leave them there […]

Bike Parking at Amsterdam Centraal

The sheer tonnage of bikes in Amsterdam is best experienced at Amsterdam Centraal, the transit station in the heart of the city. From here, you can take train, trolley, ferry and taxis to all points. I took a train into the city from the airport and couldn’t believe my eyes when I debarked. For one, […]