BOHEMOTH AWARDS 2006

The inaugural Bohemoth Awards - celebrating excellency in the art of travel and shenaniganism.

As 2006 speeds along to pass the baton to 2007, and i prepare to actually go home (!), it is a time for reflection. Here is the first instalment of some awards covering a variety of aspects of the past year's adventures.

The Gold Logie
for Best Country
(a 4 way tie)
- Cambodia
- Nepal
- India
- Turkey

The One way plane ticket Award
for the best cities
- Berlin
- Paris
- Barcelona
- Montreal

The One way bus ticket Award
for best small cities/towns
- Dharamsala and Dharamkot, India
- Sihanoukville, Cambodia
- Goreme, Turkey
- Cuenca, Spain
- Galway, Ireland

The Paradise Award
for the best beaches
- Butterfly Valley
- Sihanoukville

The You call THAT a beach? THIS is a beach! Award
for the worst beaches of the year
- Mui Ne, Vietnam - pollution, plastic bags, dead piglets in the water...
- Valencia, Spain - industrial ash tray
- Oludinez, Turkey - overrun by prune-like fat retired poms


The Broken Record/Mon, please stop singing Award
for the SONGS of the year!
Winner:
Spotlight, The Waifs

Runners up:
Rebellion (lies), The Arcade Fire
Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor, Arctic Monkeys
Ooooh La, The Kooks
Flame Trees, Sarah Blasko,
Yeah, Usher!
SexyBack, Justin Timberlake
When You Were Young, The Killers
Over and Over, Hot Chip
Steady as she Goes, The Raconteurs
Stuff and Nonsense, Missy Higgins
We Are Your Friends, Justice/Simian

oh there are more...!

The Honorary Spectrum Award
for the best spots to dance to above songs..
-Whelands, Dublin
-Angkor What?, Cambodia
-Heart of Darkness, Cambodia
-Gigantic, Galway
-the bar in Cuenca with no name and no address
-Metro, London

The 'You're backpacking? I'm backpacking! We can be BEST friends!' Award
for favourites met along the way
- Paul in India
- Bec and Karlee in India
- Malin and Sandra in Cambodia! and then in Laos! Then in Thailand (after i left)
- the Butterfly Valley crew
- Olivia, Joe, Elyse and Rose in Czech

The Locals Know Best Award
for the Best Locals
- Nat, Cambodian tour guide
- Nawang, Champa, Kalsang and Gyatso in India
- Babu, camel trek guide, India
- Mike, Paula, Rob and Stephen, Ireland
- Fensoms and Gerlinde, Germany
- May and fam, Canada


The Michael Award
For the worst people to share space with
- Michael, in the room next door in Galway. Ant and I woke to the sounds of Michael asking his friend, also called Michael, if he loved him and thought about him when he was doing the deed....then there was silence...then the immortal phrase of "Oh Michael, cover yourself up Michael!" ...then silence again...then the unmistakable sounds of an Irishman vomiting out the window (which was connected to our window and a few inches from our heads).
- The prositute in our dorm in Dublin
- the chronic farter in Cesky Krumlov
- The snorer on the train from Jaipur to Udaipur. He was an old man so i gave him some credit...then it just got too much.
- the spaniards!
- the artificially blonde, artificially tanned and artificially muscly Utah-ian Hillsong enthusiast on the flight from Istanbul to Munich.

The Mitchell Mafia Award
For running into people you know
- Dee in Turkey
- the guy in Athens who knew everyone in our journo class
- Steve in Prague
- Gill and Dave in Montreal
- the jewellery seller in Pushkar who had a photo on the wall of my old work buddy Georgia....and turns out is her boyfriend!!

The Livin it up Award
For the best accommodation
- Mango Lagoon, Bangkok
- Hut in the town in northern laos i forget the name
- Tent at Butterlfy Valley
- Hostel Elf, Prague
- Sughans, Killarney, Ireland

The 'I Can't Believe I am Paying Money for This' Award
For the worst accommodation
- the first night in Bangkok...no toilet seat, no powerpoint, no bedding, no toilet paper ('no you have to buy that yourself"!!). And we paid more than we had paid for any other hotel!!
- the first Hanoi Hotel....pay for the privilege of them trying to steal out things!
- the first hotel in Pushkar...HELL
- Abbey Court in Dublin

The 'Words Can't Describe' Award
for the best man made sights
- Angkor Wat
- Taj Mahal
- Eiffel Tour

The 'Maybe there IS a God' Award
for the most amazing natural sights
- Himilayas from the Indian side (it was too overcast to see them from Nepal but I hear that's a pretty view too...)
- SaPa, Vietnam
- Goreme and surrounding valleys, Turkey
- Arran Island, Scotland


MORE TO COME PEOPLE!!!