Wild Wild Wales Part Uno: "The Journey and the Hostel"

Hi, Family and Friends!

I have decided to break up my entry on the Wild West Murder Mystery bachelorette party in Wales because of the immense amount of pictures we took (you wanted pictures Leah and boy are you getting them! I wouldn't have taken so many amazing pictures if it wasn't for you so genuinely thank you for the suggestion). I sorted through almost 100 today and those were just the pictures I took. Phil took some great ones too.
I hate having to narrow it down but I have and I've divided them into three installments. I promise that I will get better at this and not inundate all of you with photos in the future, but for now get ready to see some kick ass shots! Part Uno will be called "The Journey and the Hostel".

Phil only knew the bachelorette (Liza), her sister, and one other person attending this party and I didn't know anyone. Liza arranged for us to ride down with her friends Becky, Bonnie, and Clara. The journey started with Phil and I catching a bus to Beeston where we would meet everyone. We get to Beeston and are told by Becky that she's not quite done packing yet, so Phil and I went into the pub across the street from the bus stop for a pint.
Yes, the Pub is called 'Nags head & Plough'. For some reason, England is overflowing with pubs named for someone or something's head. Phil told me that it is a tradition that dates back to when they would hang heads on the walls as trophies. Not all of the heads were strictly animal. Some bars are named for human head trophies. Crazy, huh? This particular pub had a lot of funny signs on the wall like this one:


It looks like Phil doesn't find that sign
amusing, but I do! Maybe he's mentally filing away the knowledge
that I read that sign. Or maybe he just doesn't know I'm taking a picture.

Before long, Bonnie showed up
and helped us put our things in the
boot which is what the English(and New Zealanders) call the trunk of a car. It was nearly dark when we set off from the pub, so there's not much to say about the ride down until we stopped for dinner at the White Hart Inn Pub in Llanddarog, Wales.

Don't let the quaint outer appearance fool you.
This self professed 'Best Pub in Wales' was just foaming at the mouth with character.

(no really, check out the site:
http://www.thebestpubinwales.co.uk/)

All around the outside there were sculptures of greek gods and fish and lots of other random stuff including a very odd playground. After Phil had a peak inside while we were getting out of the car, he wispered loudly "Its a bit weird inside". My thoughts were "inside?".

He wasn't wrong either. We were greeted at the door by a mini zoo. There was a large birdcage with about four parakeets in it, a larger birdcage with two Parrots in it, one of which was pink (the picture of that didn't turn out so great), two hamster cages with a hamster each in them, and last but not least a fish tank with the biggest Koi I've ever seen outside of a fish pond.

It just kept getting stranger (but cool strange, not creepy strange) from there!
There were jars hanging from the ceiling and all kinds of random stuff on the walls. In fact, this place redefined the word random for me. Everywhere we looked we saw something cool.


Yeah, I don't think there's anything I can say about this place that these pictures don't already. We spent about an hour and a half here eating and having a drink (all except our fearless driver, Becky of course). Then we were on the road again for another hour and a half.

We arrived in St. Davids, Wales around half past midnight. We were told via text that only two of the girls were in town already and that they had the keys to the hostel. After a very loud cell phone conversation, we tracked them down. They had gotten incredibly drunk at a local pub and apparently one of the locals was grabbing their boobs and another one was following them around. They said the boob grabber was a bit off but then a third local said it was fine so they weren't too bothered by it or something. GREAT first impression! We finally got the keys and headed towards the hostel.

We get there and its pitch black outside. There are a few lights on at the hostel but no signs of life. We try the keys at one of the building. No dice. We try them at another building. No dice. By this time I am tired and cold and all I want to do is put down my things and get warm. So of course I start to get a little grumpy. We finally find a door that opens with the keys, and its the main office. NOT the sleeping quarters. Anyway, we finally get the sleeping quarters open and all the beds are bunk beds. I am SO happy at this point.

Everyone else starts to arrive and I try to shake off my bad mood. We all start to drink and get to know each other and there's talk about walking down to the beach which sounds great but cold and far away. Drinking after the long trip and after I was already tired sent me over the edge so I went to bed the earliest.

It wasn't until we woke up in the morning that we got a good look at where we were (wow, that's a lot of 'w's and 'e's). Check out this amazing set up:

This is the living quarters with the kitchen attached (out of frame):

This is the main building:

This is another building someone said might be another living quarters:

And this is the Mountain behind the Youth Hostel!

Along with some other building I'm guessing is for storage.

So, that's it for this installment of Wild Wild Wales. Next time I'll write about climbing that mountain (which is really more like a big rocky hill since we tackled it in less than an hour but still a mean feat) and also our hike to two different beaches then town. Of course, there will be plenty more pictures but feel free to let me know what you think about these ones.

Thanks for listening, uh reading, or looking, or whatever!