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Memory Transcription Subject: Vichak, venlil school principal
Date [Standard Human Reckoning]: 2136-10-23
I told my vice principal that I didn't come to this predator planet for a vacation, so I need some knowledge or study results to bring home. Johan, my possible future brother-in-law, suggested that I could perhaps observe a human school. Keristian, the human coordinator for the refugee apartment, assured me that he had contacted an elementary school and came up with a schedule. For now, he told me to familiarize myself with the amenities in the apartment.
Besides their blocky design, human apartments had the same general functions as venlil ones. The staff provided us with a stepping stool to account for the larger dimension of the furniture, but other than that it has all that we needed.
Well... we could use a full-body dryer.
I found some alien features too in the apartment, such as the artificial pond, which humans use for recreation. They call this activity 'swimming', something that translates into "moving in water". Their First Contact package insisted that they came from arboreal lineage. Yet, their movements in water betrayed a hidden skill. After considering it, it made sense in a way. The water in their world is teeming with life, and they would benefit from aquatic hunting skills.
Adjacent to this 'swimming' pond, the apartment also had a gym. We have gyms back in the home world, but here on Earth, a wide range of humans frequented them, not just their armed forces personnel. They perform a variety of body movements such as lifting and putting things back down or running on a conveyor belt.
Does this dedication to simulated hardship serve as a means to channel their inherited predatory aggression? They didn't turn themselves from savage beasts into civilized people without some way to temper that excess.
We expected to meet a lot of gojids in the apartment, but it felt sparser than I had imagined. Keristian explained that the gojids here had entered into employment within the Capital. A large number had secured work on the farms. Some had brought seeds from their homeworld, which they planted back in the camp. After the human experts determined it safe enough for Earth, they transplanted the sprouts to one of the farms around the city.
I wondered if any venlil plant species had established themselves on this foreign soil. After Timür explained the concept of invasive species, I realized that I misinterpreted their cautious approach as predatory territorialism. On the other paw, the unspoiled wilderness that I witnessed on my journeys to and from the camp made me appreciate the inherent beauty of preserving such a wild landscape.
Some other gojids chose careers in logistics, serving the complex system that kept the goods in the region moving. Right now, humans directed most of their effort into alleviating the ruined cities. Some of the gojids had even volunteered to help the human, despite the presence of arxurs in the affected cities.
For our last meal of the day, we had gojid dishes made out of earth ingredients. I have to admit that I have not tried gojid cuisine before, but it grew on me just like human cuisine did.
The midday heat on Earth felt milder compared to the scorching intensity of a Deep Day in Venlil Prime's sunward section. Unlike our homeworld, where night temperatures could plummet beyond freezing, Earth's night felt comfortable.
I spent my first night on Earth sitting on the rooftop garden of the apartment. The blanket of darkness that stretched all around us sparked feelings of unease. However, the glimmering towers of the Capital provided a comforting backdrop, their lights twinkling like terrestrial stars. One of the staff members commented on how the city's light pollution obscured all but the brightest celestial bodies.
The staff member was a human after all and would do insane human things like complaining about their city not being dark enough.
Nevertheless, humans did appreciate the necessity of artificial lighting. As night fell, we could illuminate our room with the voice command, a comforting alternative to the deep night outside. I shuddered at the thought of enduring a night in such complete darkness.
Yesterday, I decided to explore the downtown capital to familiarize myself before I visited the school today. Mom insisted on tagging along and Keristian wanted Sukma, his aide, to guide us. We wanted a self-guided exploration, so as a compromise, the human equipped us with wrist-worn devices. These gadgets allowed him to track our whereabouts and also functioned as a means of payment. While the coordinator insisted we needn't worry about finances, he explained a rough price guide to prevent any possible exploitation.
Humans, in stark contrast to the lone arxurs, put heavy importance on socializing. While we waited in the station, the rhythmic cadence of Bahasa, their local language, filled the air. Thanks to Vani's provision of a language model, I could comprehend their dialogues, and snippets of human conversations drifted toward my ears.
"Do you see those domba?"
"Shhh... don't call them that. But yeah... I thought we had just one here?"
"Maybe Vani's relatives came to visit?"
However, even with the additional language model, my translator couldn't decipher all of their voices. Vani informed me that Bahasa serves as a trade language for the region and they had a plethora of other tongues that our translation device has yet to have the data for.
Once aboard the train, the humans adopted a collective silence. Being surrounded by humans aboard the train felt daunting, but this discomfort came from me standing out in this setting. I would feel the same on any other planet inhabited by a different species, carnivorous or not.
When we came to the downtown station, we plunged right away into an endless sea of humans.
Timür's unapologetic display of his face had acclimatized us to humans. We learned to perceive them not as threats but as just xenos with weird faces. It also helped that the humans in our vicinity maintained a respectful distance. However, they almost always locked their curious gaze onto us, averting their eyes when they figured out that I noticed them from my peripheral vision.
Distinguishing individual humans posed a challenge due to their similar appearance, but I soon learned to note the distinctive fabric of their clothing and the accessories they adorned.
The bustling capital of Nusantara presented us with new experiences and opportunities to learn about human culture. Mom and I took full advantage of our time there, immersing ourselves in the vibrant atmosphere provided by the city.
We first stopped at a local market, a bustling hive of activity that operated around the clock. Here, we observed humans haggling over the prices of fruits and vegetables, inspecting textiles, and purchasing a bewildering variety of cooked foods. The rich aroma of exotic spices and prepared meals filled the air.
We had a pleasant experience in the market until we stumbled onto the flesh section. Mom caused some embarrassing commotion when she vomited at the sight of the flesh.
So we decided to visit something less challenging and found ourselves going to museums and galleries. The tour guides in each institution we came to explained the history of this island while showing a collection of historical artifacts and artworks. It offered a captivating glimpse into the ancient human civilizations that once inhabited this region, and their struggles and triumphs.
We decided to have our last meal of the day in the city. With many of the buildings crammed in the city center, the place we had access to the open air lay at the top of the building. We watched the sun setting on the horizon.
As we ate through a platter of addictive fritters, Mom said that we venlil did construct similar dense settlements. Her explanation surprised me at first, as I almost forgot that Mom used to work as a civil engineer. She then explained that dense arrangements for habitats like this only made sense in colonies that lacked land or breathable air.
Humans seemed to have other motivations. They prefer gathering close to one another, creating bustling metropolises to allow for large swaths of untouched land for their wildlife.
So today, having learned to navigate the urban labyrinth of the Capital, I bid a temporary farewell to my mother at the outskirt station. Her exploration of this city would take her further out, where she would visit one of the human agricultural facilities. On the other paw, my destination lay at the heart of downtown.
Once I arrived at the downtown station, I switched on my visual overlay, allowing it to project directional instructions across my visual field. It painted a pathway to my destination through the tunnels and covered walkways. The direction landed me in one of the city's gargantuan towers.
The visual overlay translated the name of the school in venscript. Since humans write horizontally, the resulting translation turns a quarter circle. The sign above the entrance says:
"State Elementary School #1"
Number one? I suppose in a city this big, they did need more than one school. Under the sign, I spotted a human figure standing. She waved her arms and I could tell that she had waited for me. When I got closer, I made out the warm and inviting expression on her face
"Hi, I'm Andin, and you must be Principal Vichak?" Her voice sounded melodious and soft for a human. The human clasped her hands in front of her and bowed.
"Hi Principal Andin, nice to meet you," I replied to her with the same gesture. "I can't wait to see your school."
"Excellent! Follow me," she said. Her billowy one-piece dress twirled around her when she turned around.
Andin led me through the lobby and toward a balcony overseeing the heart of this educational facility, an internal atrium spanning three stories in height. The humans embedded the school inside one of their superstructure, and due to the lack of outdoor space, this architectural feature provided a simulated outside area where young humans could engage in physical activity and socialize. A synthetic material replicating grass covered the atrium's floor. Simulated sunlight streamed projected from the ceiling bathed the area in warm daylight.
An assortment of colorful play structures and exercise apparatuses dotted the periphery of the atrium. I presume they provided the students with ways to release those predator energies. Balconies jutted out from each floor, giving educators an overview of the bustling space and enabling effective supervision during playtime. The classrooms and learning spaces surrounded the atrium. As we walked past, I noticed that several of the glass panes had turned opaque.
"I read from the sign that this is an Elementary School. How old are your students?"
"Our elementary school caters to students from the first through fourth grades, so they are between six to ten years old. However, we sometimes admit older students. For instance, we have a few twelve-year-olds in the fourth grade."
Something felt a bit off from her answer. "What's next for them after this?" I probed.
"After completing their time here, students move on to four years of middle school, followed by another four years of high school. During high school, they can choose a specialization before they move on to university."
Her response left me flabbergasted. "Twelve years of education?" I said in disbelief. "It takes a full twelve years to complete education here?"
"Uh... yeah. That's pretty much the standard timeframe for education all over the planet. Just... how long does it take for you to finish your mandatory education?"
"Seven years," I responded. "By the age of thirteen, kids can start two years of vocational school and most venlils started working at fifteen."
Andin's eyes widened, "Wait, you have children working full-time at fifteen?"
"No, they're not children. They're adults." I realized that humans might have different lifespans. "What's... your age of majority here?"
"In this country, people can vote at the age of seventeen. But in our local culture adulthood starts at twenty." Andin explained.
"Alright, maybe we have a different lifespan?" Andin suggested, echoing my thought. "What's the typical lifespan of a venlil?"
"The average life expectancy hovers around ninety years, although many people live past one hundred," I explained. I wonder if perhaps humans live much longer? I didn't expect predators to live long, but humans tend to defy the norm.
"We had the same lifespan," Andin admitted.
"Wait... what?"
"Maybe we have a different education system?" She suggested again. Andin offered me her pad. "Feel free to observe any class that interests you. Here you can see the schedule for today." The contents had been translated into Ventongue. It presented a timeline of various subjects that took place throughout the day.
As my eyes skimmed over the list, one caught my attention. "Can you explain physical education?"
"In this class, we teach children how to exercise." she explained, "In fact, a PE class should begin now."
An adult human arrived on the field, followed by human children chattering and making all sorts of kid noises. They sounded just like venlil juveniles. At the command of the teacher, the students aligned themselves into a tidy grid pattern. A rhythmic melody started to play, filling the atrium with an energetic ambiance. The teacher at the front began to move in sync with the music, demonstrating a series of actions that the children mirrored.
"What are they doing?" I asked, intrigued.
"They're warming up to prepare for the activity ahead."
They performed various movements, the fluidity and synchronization of which appeared almost like a dance to my venlil eyes.
Once the 'warm up' concluded, several large, blocky objects rolled into the atrium. With a series of arm gestures from the teacher, these objects positioned themselves around the area. Some expanded to form rudimentary structures complete with roofs, transforming the atrium into some sort of tiny city.
The children gathered in a circle. Following a brief, excited chatter, they each presented a hand, some with palms facing upward, others showing the backs of their hands. According to some unspoken rule, those showing the backs of their hands stepped back, causing the circle to contract. This ritual continued and I figured out that the group with the most members excused themselves until one kid remained.
"Ah, it seems they're playing 'Hide and Seek' today," Andin commented, watching the unfolding scene with a warm smile.
"Hide and Seek? What's that?"
"One child plays as the 'cat' while the others will play as the 'mice'," she explained, her expression turning somewhat hesitant. "Ah... perhaps this wasn't the most appropriate activity for you to observe."
My translator didn't quite capture the nuances of 'cat' and 'mice', but I gathered they referred to Earth animals. The child designated as the 'cat' stood in the center of the atrium, standing near a pole with their eyes covered, while the 'mice' scattered, seeking shelter behind the fabricated structures and blocks.
The 'cat' began a loud countdown. Upon reaching zero, they removed palms hands from their eyes and commenced their search. A realization struck me as the 'cat' started prowling around.
"This... is," I murmured, taken aback by the implication of the game. "You're simulating a hunt."
From time to time, the humans can't help but remind me that despite their friendliness and civility, they had a history as predators.
"Well... yeah, when you put it like that…" she paused. "But, the children didn't see it as a hunting simulation. I mean… I doubt that none of them will become a hunter when they reach adulthood. Most of us nowadays don't hunt."
"I understand." I looked down and the cat had found a mouse, chaos ensued as the two of them rushed to the pole. The mouse touched the pole first and laughed. "You humans do need an outlet for your aggression to maintain a civil society."
"What? No…" Said Andin. "We have Physical Education to encourage a habit of fitness."
"So, you don't feel the urge to get violent, sometimes?"
"Most of us don't. Those with that kind of urge receive treatments so they don't harm themselves or other people."
I looked down at the human children below. Despite their concerning activity, they looked like they enjoyed it.
"But if this display makes you uncomfortable, we can see other classes."
I looked at the pad, where another class intrigued me.
"You have an art class? In elementary school?"
"Yeah, it encourages creativity… you don't have art classes?"
"No, those with the aptitude will go to art colleges after they graduate from school."
"Oh…" She gave me a look that I think signifies pity? "Are there other things you don't see in Venlil school?"
"The English class seems interesting. I noticed that most of your people can speak in English when needed."
"Heh, that one is contentious." She chuckled. "English is waning now, and people proposed that we teach our kids Chinese, Hindi, or Swahili for the foreign language class. I take it… you don't have a foreign language class?"
"We do, but… like art school, you learn it at the university level, usually as part of a Foreign Relation Studies. Because foreign languages are spoken by other species."
"Interesting." Again, she gave me that concerned look. "So, do you want to see the art class or the language class?"
"Art class. I think."
"Sure, let's go," Andin said, guiding me down the stairs toward the art classroom.
Upon entering the room, chaos greeted us. An eclectic array of children's artwork adorned the walls, showcasing vibrant landscapes, portraits, abstract shapes, and depictions of what I assumed were various earth creatures.
"Ah, Principal Andin," the art teacher greeted us with an inviting smile as we entered. "And we have Principal Vichak as well!"
"Meet Harta, our art teacher," Andin introduced me.
The moment we entered the room, a sea of young faces turned towards us. It felt like a forest of eyes scrutinizing us.
"Children, say hello to our visitor today, Principal Vichak."
"Good morning, Principal Vichak!" They speak in harmony. The children then refocused on their tasks, their hands returning to their brushes and colored pencils.
Some students here worked alone, while others collaborated in small groups. In one corner, I spotted a screen displaying 3D artwork, sculptures made from what looked like recycled materials, clay, and even intricate artwork made of folded paper.
"Today we have a free-form class," Harta explained. "With your visit, I asked them to make something about our two species."
Several children gathered around a large screen at one end of the room, using it to sketch out their designs before replicating them on canvas. They drew scenes of humans and venlils with a level of technical skill and creativity that amazed me, considering the young age of these kids. In one section, busy children molded a piece of clay, their tiny hands trying to create something that looked like a venlil.
"But how do you evaluate their work?" I asked, confused. "And for that matter, how do you grade students in the Physical Education class?"
"In this school system, we don't include art and physical education to determine if a student has what it takes to continue to the next grade," Andin clarified.
"We do give individual feedback to each child," Harta chimed in. "We aim to ensure their personal growth and development, not just their academic achievement."
"Indeed," Andin asserted, her voice reflecting a sense of profound conviction. "The role of the school has evolved over time. These days, we don't work just as a hub for academic instruction, but as a second home where children learn essential life skills. We work hand-in-hand with parents to nurture these young minds, helping them develop into thoughtful and responsible individuals."
This notion brought back memories of my own school back on our homeworld. People would often refer to our school as a "nursery" due to our additional class on socializing and communication. I remember Renata, the human psychologist stationed in our homeland, said that my school had the basis of a well-rounded education. Here I learned just how more "rounded" we need to be.
Throughout the day, we ventured into different classrooms, each offering a snapshot of the subjects covered in human elementary education. The STEM classes felt lackluster by my standards. However, I soon appreciated their teaching approach which encouraged students to arrive at their conclusions.
On the other hand, the social studies and citizenship curriculum appeared more intricate, which made sense, given the complex social structures of the human race, a species as varied and divided as the primitive yotuls.
Midday brought a meal break, during which I had the chance to mingle with some of the other faculty members. I learned that a significant portion of the adults currently abstained from food and drink, on account of what they called the "fasting month". Andin observed the fast as well, but she kept me company in the cafeteria despite her abstinence from eating.
"Are you sure it's alright for me to eat while you're fasting?" I asked, somewhat.
"Of course," she assured me, her face warmed by a gracious smile. "Self-restraint is a fundamental aspect of being human."
Self-restraint, a quality I found woven into the fabric of human nature. Despite the invasion hurling their world into chaos, humans displayed remarkable restraint, refraining from lashing out in anger.
Post-meal, our educational exploration resumed. The sheer number of classes devoted to non-academic skills struck me. For instance, they had a class dedicated to environmental education, where they instructed young learners on how to care for their planet. Another class, called Health and Wellness, focused on areas such as hygiene, nutrition, safety, emotional well-being, and mental health. My visit coincided with a session of "meditation", a peculiar human practice to calm themselves. When I observed the children sitting in tranquil silence with eyes closed and serene music enveloping the room, I realized that they do have a method of quelling aggression, by nurturing a peaceful disposition.
The complexities of human pedagogical methods began to dawn upon me. The length of their educational journey lasted longer than ours because of this multifaceted curriculum. They didn't focus just on the injection of academic knowledge, but they also introduced human development in theirs. Even their academic lessons went beyond feeding students with facts and figures. Instead, they encouraged a more gradual learning pace that fostered independent thinking.
Such an extensive approach to education daunted me. Could we even implement such a model in our venlil school? Considerable obstacles lay on our path, given the expectations of parents and our society at large, who were accustomed to a quicker, more streamlined education.
In any case, my day reached its conclusion, and my time to depart came. When I bid her farewell, Principal Andin provided me with a binder filled with artwork created by the students, along with personal messages for me and the students back at my own school.
I had time to reflect and consider as I walked toward the downtown station. I recalled how Andin and Harta viewed the institution not as a place of learning, but as a secondary caregiver, working hand-in-hand with parents to nurture the holistic development of their young ones.
On my way to the station, my mother called. She informed me she would be coming downtown so we could share a last meal of the day together.
"How did the farm tour go, mama?" I queried, eager to hear about her day.
"It was enlightening," she replied, leaving me curious about her experience. "And what about your day?"
"Oh, mama," I began, a sense of excitement rising in my voice, "I had an extraordinary day."
Afterwords: Humans with their 22nd century education.
Somehow this is the longest chapter I have ever written. Also note on my update schedule. I'm posting update on every date divisible by 3. That means some updates can appear 96 hours later when the last post is on 30th and the month ends in 31st,

A few things from my stay: Tokyo Disneyland Hotel - beautiful. Everything is clean and amazing. Highly recommend staying here if you can. The short walk to the front entrance is unbeatable.
June 5- Tokyo Disneyland -I arrived to the security line at about 7:15 and there was a pretty long line already there ahead. Most people were sitting while waiting so maybe bring something soft to sit on for entry waits and parades? -Employees asked people to not run at park open. They proceeded to run whenever they passed the employees lol -volume on all rides is on the loud side so prepare accordingly for those sensitive to loud sounds. -people WILL just walk right in front of you, no "excuse me" no "oh sorry". Just, walk right past and in front of you on the way to rides (note: we were power walking so its not like we were going slow) -book it STRAIGHT to the beauty and the beast ride. Prepare elbows if needed. It's easily the best dark ride Disney has ever made. Speakers were well hidden, scenery and music was amazing and each "scene" didn't clearly show where you were going next. I remember always thinking "where is the next room?" but it was always themed so well you couldn't tell. -poohs hunny hunt is cute and enjoyable. The bounce scene is my favorite part. -monsters Inc ride was enjoyable. The competitive part of me wishes they had some score or indicator who had the most flashlight reveals/points but still very great fun for all ages. -the staff were all proficient enough at English to help us out with ordering or paying anywhere on property. Most just knew to speak English by looking at us -my capital one venture credit card worked just fine through the park. Even the food carts accept card -papago app helped a lot with non-english menus -at most food places, there is a "pre-order" person that writes down your order on a paper that you take to the register to pay/receive your food. The paper has English on it so you could always just point to the paper if there is a communication issue. They get food VERY fast at all locations and are super nice. -people show up EARLY to stake a spot for parades(like, 2 hours). They are very worth it so consider setting up a bit earlier than you would think to get a good view. Don't panic if you are behind an umbrella, people put them away right before the show. The show music WILL get stuck in your head. -Plazma Ray's and Tomorrowland Terrace have outdoor seating areas that offer shade and a GREAT view of the parade thats out of the heat (hint hint). Get there early if you plan on viewing there. They also have AC inside so it's a great easy resting spot. -most food locations have a free water station with small cups next to them, so don't fear on the water front (you can refill your own containers too) -people straight up brought food and drinks through security. If you need a snack or morning coffee they will just let you take it in if its in the bag going through the security scanner (note: "officially" you are not supposed to, but...) -the pirates and haunted mansion rides seemed to have more "empty space" between scenes than the American counterparts but maybe I am remembering wrong.
June 6- Tokyo Disneysea -there are two security and ticket areas (north and south). If you have the early access pass, when exiting the disney resort line gates, GO LEFT to the Northern lot area (towards miracosta hotel if you follow the signs). There are no signs that tell you early access is this way and its not printed on the ticket. After going left to the security gates, go to the VERY FAR lane and be sure to line up early. Again, there were ZERO signs telling us this and we waited an hour on the wrong side just to see people on the opposite security side entering, and we had to ask a cast member where to go. By the time we got over there into the correct line, it was already enormous with every school child in a 70 km radius in the line. At that point, they were letting in everyone else before we even got to the security check point, making the whole point of the ticket moot. Morale of the story: GO LEFT -the line for soarin' was astronomical by the time we got in and never let up at any point in the day. -we went to journey to the center of the earth first and it was a walk on DESPITE our blunder at security. It was fun, but could be a bit intense for younger ones since it was very loud and had some scary animatronics. I also didn't expect it to be as short as it was. Enjoyable but a very quick ride. -20,000 leagues opened right at 9 and a short line already formed before open. -the seashell ice cream is sold at a large number of ice cream stands throughout the park for 400 yen (about 2.50 usd) It is very cute and yummy without being overly filling. Great for a small snack and photo-op. -Sinbad ride was cute and enjoyable. Similar to it's a small world but more of a storyline. -go in the single rider line for Indiana Jones. It saves a lot of time and there's a small chance you might wind up in the same car as your party anyway -Indiana Jones ride has incredibly comfortable seats? Weird detail but they were super nice lol -curry popcorn from the arabian coast cart is amazing. That and honey popcorn were our favorites. They are both sold in Disneyland as well -creme Brulee churro is amazing. Sushi roll at Port of discovery was a hard pass from us but YMMV -the Nemo ride was a slightly less intense star tours but enjoyable. -the afternoon show has similathe same music as the Disneyland afternoon parade. It's just the characters dancing on a boat so it's an easy skip if you would rather ride more rides.
Feel free to ask any questions if you have any.

The Shahanshahi Adventure Park & Wellness Resort is a luxurious resort located in Dehradun that offers world-class amenities and facilities.
Here are some of the ways you can create unforgettable memories at the resort:

• Enjoy an exotic experience with the aerobics service, meditation room, and jungle safari.
• Stay in luxurious rooms with picturesque views.
• Take advantage of the resort's extensive grounds and biggest party lawn, suitable for marriages, parties, and events.
• Explore the beautiful surroundings of Dehradun and Mussoorie.
• Host a destination wedding or theme party at the resort.
• Relax and rejuvenate at the wellness center with spa and massage services.
• Play billiards, table tennis, and darts at the resort.
• Take a bike or car hire and explore the area.
• Enjoy Indian and Italian dishes at the restaurant or have a drink at the bar.
• Create unforgettable memories with pre-wedding shoot and videography in a picturesque environment.
• Stay in a good location, 12 km away from Mussoorie.
• Get practical advice on the area from the staff at the 24-hour front desk. Overall, the Shahanshahi Adventure Park & Wellness Resort offers a perfect blend of adventure, luxury, and relaxation, making it an ideal destination for creating unforgettable memories

Delhi, the vibrant capital city of India, welcomes visitors with its rich history, diverse culture, and bustling streets. Whether you're a business traveler or a tourist exploring the city's attractions, finding the right place to stay is essential for a comfortable and memorable experience. In this blog, we will explore some of the best places to stay in Delhi, ranging from luxurious hotels to budget-friendly options, ensuring that you find the perfect accommodation to suit your preferences and needs.

1. Connaught Place: Located in the heart of Delhi, Connaught Place is a popular choice for travelers seeking convenience and easy access to the city's major attractions. It offers a range of accommodation options, from luxury hotels to budget-friendly guesthouses. Connaught Place is known for its colonial architecture, bustling markets, and vibrant nightlife, making it an ideal choice for those who want to be at the center of the action.
2. Paharganj: Paharganj is a bustling neighborhood near New Delhi Railway Station and is famous for its budget accommodations and backpacker-friendly atmosphere. Here, you'll find a wide range of guesthouses, hostels, and budget hotels that cater to travelers on a tight budget. Paharganj is also well-connected to other parts of the city, making it a convenient base for exploring Delhi's attractions.
3. South Delhi: South Delhi is a popular choice for travelers looking for a more upscale and residential neighborhood to stay in. Areas like Hauz Khas, Greater Kailash, and South Extension offer a mix of luxury hotels, boutique accommodations, and serviced apartments. South Delhi is known for its upscale shopping malls, trendy cafes, and beautiful parks, providing a tranquil and stylish retreat after a day of exploring the city.
4. Aerocity: If you're looking for accommodation near the airport, Aerocity is an excellent option. Situated just a short distance from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Aerocity offers a range of luxury hotels and business-friendly accommodations. It is a convenient choice for business travelers and those with early morning or late-night flights.
5. Gurgaon: While technically not part of Delhi, Gurgaon, also known as Gurugram, is a rapidly developing city located in the National Capital Region (NCR). It is home to numerous multinational corporations and is a popular choice for business travelers. Gurgaon offers a wide range of hotels, including luxury properties and business hotels. The city also boasts modern shopping malls, restaurants, and entertainment options.

Conclusion: When visiting Delhi, choosing the right place to stay can greatly enhance your overall experience. Whether you prefer the bustling energy of Connaught Place, the budget-friendly options in Paharganj, the upscale neighborhoods of South Delhi, the convenience of Aerocity, or the business-oriented atmosphere of Gurgaon, Delhi has accommodation options to suit every traveler. Consider your preferences, budget, and proximity to attractions when selecting your accommodation, and get ready to explore the vibrant and diverse city of Delhi.

My name is Oliver Stubbs. My whole life and identity are all inextricably entwined with my camera, and to say that I make a living behind the lens would be a monumental understatement. Ever since I was a child, I've been fascinated by the power of photography, the ability to freeze time - to immortalise a moment. At an early age, I discovered a knack for capturing more than just images but stories, emotions, and life itself, though looking back, my pictures weren't all too impressive as a child. But, as I grew older, my fascination turned into a burning passion. I studied photography at the prestigious University of Arts London and became prominent for my evocative storytelling through images. I had the unique ability to capture the unseen, the unheard, the unspoken - the soul of a scene. My distinctive style was hailed as revolutionary.
My work spans a range of genres, but my underwater photography has become particularly renowned. The unseen world beneath the waves, teeming with life, captivated me, and I devoted myself to capturing it in all its vibrancy and mystery. My photos were acclaimed for their vivid detail and uncanny ability to transport viewers beneath the surface into the heart of the underwater world. My images graced the covers of National Geographic and Time magazines, and my exhibits were frequented by photography enthusiasts worldwide. And at the age of 30, I was awaiting the dreaded 'burnout' my friends had all complained about.
​
I was a natural choice when the renowned historical and marine research organisation, the Sea Past Society, decided to take on the ambitious task of finding and documenting Ravenser Odd, Britain's own Atlantis. They needed someone who could document the submerged ruins in a way that showcased their historical significance and captured the mystique of a town long lost to the sea. A challenge that I knew was perfect for me.Dr Katherine Howard, the head of the Sea Past Society and a well-respected marine historian, contacted me personally. She believed in my unique talent for visual storytelling and thought I could bring the sunken town's story to life. She felt my photos could inspire a global audience, stir their imagination, and allow them to connect with a past submerged beneath the cold waters of the North Sea. Naturally, I was thrilled and honoured to be selected for such a significant project. The chance to dive into the mysterious depths and uncover the secrets of a lost town was a dream come true, and although I had done similar projects - something just felt... Different.
My flat in London soon became a frenzy of activity, cluttered with new high-tech underwater cameras, powerful lights for illuminating the dark ocean depths, and all manner of equipment for preserving my gear against the corrosive effects of saltwater, all funded by the Sea Past Society. But amid the chaos, there was an undercurrent of palpable excitement. Beneath the exhilaration was a thin layer of anxiety, like a dusting of frost on an otherwise warm window pane. It lingered there, never once stepping into the light but ominously hovering in the room's dark corners. The task ahead was daunting. This was not a recreational dive into a well-explored reef but an expedition into a town lost to the depths six centuries ago. Unease did not overshadow my enthusiasm; it fueled it. The chance to tell the story of Ravenser Odd, to breathe life into its submerged and silent streets, was a thrill like no other. I relished the challenge. Before long, it was time to travel to Yorkshire. I was introduced to my dive buddy, a man named Callum, a burly Scotsman with a twinkle in his eye and a jovial demeanour. But beneath his light-hearted exterior was an individual of impressive expertise and meticulous attention to detail. Dr Howard had assembled a unique team of historians, marine archaeologists, and technical experts. Most of them were to say above the sea and watch through another camera broadcasting to the boat.
Callum was the Sea Past Society's Health and Safety Coordinator, a veteran diver with an impeccable track record. His task was to ensure the safety of the divers as they explored the undersea ruins, and I was to be his primary responsibility. Callum was hired not just for his expertise in dive safety but also for his ability to remain calm in a crisis. His warm personality put me at ease, making me feel safer about the dive.
​
In the days leading up to the dive, Callum and I worked closely together. We conducted practice dives, tested our equipment, and developed a dive plan. His attention to detail and uncompromising approach to safety impressed me. He was careful and cautious - but also open to the spirit of adventure that this exploration held. The excitement and nerves within me swirled like a tempest. The idea I was soon to explore a piece of history untouched for centuries, about to uncover stories that had been silenced by the sea, kept me tossing and turning in my bed at night.The day finally arrived. Our vessel was a massive, state-of-the-art boat stocked with all the equipment necessary for the dive, including cutting-edge sonar systems, robotic submersibles, and a plethora of diving gear. There was an undercurrent of tension in the air, a static charge that prickled the skin and raised the hair on the back of your neck. I noticed hushed conversations among the crew, quick, sidelong glances that hinted at concern. Was it the enormity of the task that caused this? Or perhaps they were wary of a new face? I shook it off; I had a talent for overthinking things, especially while stressed.
Callum meticulously checked my gear, ensuring every piece was functioning correctly. His diligent inspection was comforting, a touch of solidity amid a sea of anticipation. We ran through our final checklist - emergency signals, the navigation route, and ascent and descent points. As we finished our preparations, the moment we'd been waiting for was finally upon us. With one last nod of reassurance from Callum, we plunged into the icy embrace of the North Sea. The sudden chill was a shock, biting through the thick neoprene of my diving suit, but it did nothing to dampen my spirits. If anything, it heightened my senses, focusing my mind on the world we were about to enter.
As we descended, the remnants of Ravenser Odd slowly emerged from the gloom. The water had eroded much, but what remained bore a spectral reminder of the bustling town it once was. Buildings, streets, the outlines of what might have been a town square, all blanketed in a shroud of decay and encrusted with marine life. Intricate stonework, long worn away by the constant current, was now home to vibrant corals and anemones, creating an eerie fusion of man-made and natural beauty. The coral had claimed these structures, using them as foundations for their colonies, transforming them into organic, living artworks that swayed gently with the ocean's rhythm. It was a haunting sight, a tableau of life abruptly halted and preserved beneath the waves.
Statues stood guard over their underwater realm, their features softened by centuries under the sea, their stony gaze meeting mine through a veil of tiny bubbles that streamed from my regulator. A fish darted past, a flash of iridescent colour that stood out against the grey stone and green-blue water. I was caught between two worlds, the ancient human past and the teeming marine life of the present. It was simultaneously humbling and thrilling, a testament to nature's uncanny ability to reclaim and repurpose. With my camera at the ready, I eagerly started documenting this hauntingly beautiful underwater world. Callum and I navigated through the labyrinth of sunken streets. Each building was a monument to the past, offering a unique glimpse into the lives of those who once called Ravenser Odd home. While I concentrated on capturing the visual essence of these ancient structures, other team members avoided us and engaged in their own tasks. They meticulously scraped away at the encrusted stone walls, collecting samples to further understand how the sea had affected the material over the centuries. Though this underwater world was extraordinary, it wasn't entirely alien. I'd spent years exploring and documenting similar sites. Yet, each site had its own unique character, a singular atmosphere that made every dive a new adventure.
My previous major project had been an exploration of the underwater ruins of a Second World War shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea. That was a poignant journey, a testament to a grim period of human history. But despite the historical significance and the eerie beauty of the coral-clad wreckage, the experience was different, perhaps because it lacked the element of human life that Ravenser Odd held. Once a mighty symbol of naval power, the decaying hull now lay silent and broken on the ocean floor. Ravenser Odd was not merely a relic of an ancient era, but a snapshot of everyday life frozen in time and lost to the ocean depths. It had once been filled with people, their hopes and dreams, their daily routines. This tangible human element made this dive so much more thrilling. I felt like an interloper peering into a time capsule of lives lived centuries ago.
I was careful to capture every significant structure, every suggestive detail that hinted at the lives once lived here. I photographed the decay, the rich marine life, and the profound contrasts between human architecture and natural adaptations. Each click of my shutter felt like a tribute, a way to immortalise the town and its untold stories for posterity
.The underwater world has a curious way of warping one's sense of time. Minutes stretch into hours, and each moment is amplified in the silent stillness of the ocean depths. Before I knew it, our dive time was up, and the team began their gradual ascent back to the surface. As I started to swim upwards, I felt an unaccountable tug, like an unseen current pulling me back towards the sunken town. It was as if Ravenser Odd was reluctant to let us go, whispering silent pleas for us to stay and listen to its muted stories a while longer. Mistaking it for my thirst for excitement was a mistake.
​
​
A few days later, I found myself in the Sea Past Society's dedicated photography lab, surrounded by the familiar hum of high-end development equipment and the sharp, comforting scent of photographic chemicals. Developing photos was always a ritual of anticipation and discovery for me. The way an image gradually emerged on the paper felt almost like magic, a portal opening up to a frozen moment in time. As the first of the underwater images began to materialise, I was thrilled to see the haunting beauty of the sunken town coming to life once more. But as I went through the developing photos, unease started to creep in. I first noticed it in one of the shots of the town square. There was a shadow that didn't align with the underwater light refraction, a blur that felt out of place. I thought it might be a technical glitch, perhaps an equipment malfunction or an error in the development process.
But as more photos developed, the anomalies kept appearing. Patches of darkness seemed to move across sequential shots, undefined shapes lurking in the corners of the frame, and odd distortions that seemed to warp the scenery. They were subtle and could easily be dismissed as flaws or artefacts of the photographic process, but something about them made me feel uneasy. I reviewed the images over and over, trying to find a logical explanation, but the more I looked, the more the inconsistencies gnawed at me. It felt as though the images were hiding something, something that lurked just beyond the edges of perception. It was as if the quiet town of Ravenser Odd had secrets it was reluctant to reveal, secrets that I had inadvertently brought back with me to the surface.
In some sort of sicking denial, I laid out the images before me, my mind teetered between disbelief and fear. Something was wrong, but I couldn't discern whether it was a simple mistake on my part or something more profound. This was my work, and the anomalies, however bizarre, had emerged from my own camera. I wanted it to be my error. It had to be... Right?
Doubt seeped into my thoughts, creating a whirlpool of uncertainty. Had I overlooked something in the underwater conditions? Had I mishandled the equipment? Was there something wrong with my camera? I was well-respected in my field and known for my precision and attention to detail. A mistake like this felt uncharacteristic, but I couldn't ignore the possibility. And then, there was the question of whether to reveal these anomalies to my superiors. I found myself wrestling with the implications.
I was not one to be easily intimidated, but the thought of jeopardising my position unsettled me. Despite my accomplishments, the all too familiar feeling of imposter syndrome set in, and I found myself questioning my abilities and whether I really belonged here. Despite this, deep within me, a quiet resolve began to form. As much as the prospect of uncertainty unnerved me, the idea of not pursuing this anomaly felt even worse. I've always been driven by a hunger for truth and understanding. I had to find out if I had messed up; if not, what was causing the distortions? Ravenser Odd had presented me with a puzzle, and I could not resist the pull to delve deeper.
​
I approached Dr Howard with a carefully considered proposal. I had crafted an excuse, one that was rooted in genuine scientific curiosity and made to cover my arse if it turned out to be my fault the entire time. I suggested we needed a more detailed visual record of the site, a series of panoramic images that could be digitally stitched together to provide a 360-degree view of the underwater town.
"This could enhance our understanding of the spatial layout of the town, Doctor," I argued, maintaining an air of professional concern. "Imagine being able to virtually navigate through the streets of Ravenser Odd. It could reveal architectural patterns, structural relationships, aspects that we may have missed during the first dive."I had chosen my words carefully, knowing that the proposal would appeal to Dr Howard's keen interest in experimental archaeological techniques. The prospect of contributing a unique method of documentation to the field was too enticing for her to disregard. To my relief, she agreed.
"That sounds like an excellent idea, Oliver," she nodded, a spark of excitement in her eyes. "Prepare for another dive. And make sure this time, we document every inch of that town."
With the go-ahead secured, a new wave of anticipation swept over me. I was going back. I found myself relieved, yet something still sat deep inside of me.
​
In the days leading up to the dive, I found myself spending more time with Callum. Our shared passion for ocean exploration had naturally drawn us together, but our contrasting personalities solidified our bond. With his infectious enthusiasm and easy-going nature, Callum was the perfect counterbalance to my more focused and often intense demeanour. Callum had a knack for putting people at ease. He was full of stories about his adventures from all around the world - from wild encounters with marine creatures to the time he got lost in a coral maze off the coast of Australia. His tales were always told with a broad grin and a glint of mischief in his eyes, leaving anyone within earshot in fits of laughter. One evening, as the sunset bathed the sea in hues of orange and red, Callum and I found ourselves sitting on the company dock, just minutes from our temporary accommodations. He had brought two hot cocoa mugs, a comforting drink perfect for the cold evening. Callum turned to me as we sipped the sweet beverage and watched the sun sink below the horizon.
"You know, Ollie, diving isn't just about the adrenaline rush or the sense of adventure," he said, his eyes reflecting the dying light of the setting sun. "It's about connection. It's about understanding our place in the grand scheme of things and how we, as humans, interact with the world around us," he spoke, his words rich with his accent.
His words resonated with me. It was comforting to know that someone else understood and shared this sentiment. It was this shared sense of connection, this shared appreciation of the ocean's magnitude and mystery, that had drawn me to this profession in the first place.
As the night deepened and the stars shone brightly above, I hesitated, weighing my words carefully before speaking.
"Callum," I began, my voice barely above a whisper, "there's something about the last dive I haven't told anyone."
Callum turned to look at me, his usually cheerful expression giving way to concern.
"What is it, Ollie?"
"The photographs from the dive, there are... anomalies," I confessed, watching his face nervously for any sign of ridicule or disbelief."Anomalies?" He echoed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms."Yeah," I nodded, "Shadows that don't make sense, blurs that seem to... move. It's as if something was there with us."A silence stretched between us, filled only by the distant lapping of waves against the boat's hull. Callum's face was thoughtful; momentarily, I feared I had crossed a line.
Finally, he broke the silence.
"Ollie, we were diving into a sunken town. A place that held life, history, probably secrets too," he began, his tone measured. "And let's not forget we were deep underwater, where light behaves strangely, and visibility can play tricks on your eyes and the camera."I nodded, knowing his rationale made sense - but also knowing that my concerns weren't mere illusions.
"It's more than that. The photos, they... they feel wrong. I can't explain it, but it's like the town was trying to tell us something. Or warn us."Callum regarded me for a long moment, the lines on his face deepening as he processed what I'd just shared. Then, with a firm nod, he clapped a hand on my shoulder."Ollie, you're one of the best underwater photographers out there. If you say something was off, then it was off. We'll keep our eyes open on the next dive. Together."His reassurance brought a wave of relief, and I found myself smiling at his words. His support and willingness to believe in my concerns made me feel better about the upcoming dive.
There was a moment of silence as Callum finished speaking."Thank you, Callum," I finally said, my voice filled with gratitude. "I know it sounds...odd. I just needed someone to know. Just in case."
"In case of what?" he asked, his eyes searching mine for answers. I paused for a moment, staring out at the endless expanse of the sea.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "But whatever it is, I have a feeling it's tied to Ravenser Odd. This is different from my other dives. It feels like something more than just a sunken town."
Callum continued to look at me, his eyes reflecting concern and curiosity. It was clear that part of him didn't believe me, but he remained silent.
"Well," he said, after a considerable pause, "we'll face it. As you said, this is about more than just the town. Whatever it is."I nodded, feeling a sense of camaraderie in his words.
"Yeah." I agreed, taking a deep breath as I turned to face the sea again.
​
The following morning dawned bright and clear, the crisp blue sky starkly contrasting the enigma that awaited us beneath the surface. As we prepared for the dive, I couldn't help but feel a mix of anticipation and unease. There was a silent tension in the air, like the stillness before a storm. Callum, once again, meticulously checked over our equipment, his attention to detail a welcome source of comfort amidst my apprehension. Every buckle, valve, and gauge was inspected; every aspect of our gear was scrutinised to ensure maximum safety.
As we began our descent, the familiar coolness of the water enveloped us, and my senses heightened. This time, however, the thrill of the dive was tinged with an undercurrent of uncertainty. As the town of Ravenser Odd came into view, an odd sensation settled over me. It was as though the town was somehow aware of our presence. There was a whisper at the edge of my consciousness, a sense of being observed from the shadows. The closer we got, the more palpable this feeling became. It felt like we were intruders in this lost town, disturbing the peace of its long-forgotten inhabitants.
As we began our exploration, I continued to notice fleeting shadows at the edge of my vision. Faint movements caught in the corners of my eyes, seemingly disappearing as soon as I turned to look. My heart pounded in my chest as a chill ran down my spine, but I forced myself to stay composed and focused on the task. Determined to fulfil my promise to Dr Howard, I set about capturing the panoramic images of Ravenser Odd. I methodically swam from one building to the next, with Callum following close behind. I captured every detail of the sunken town. The remains of the harbour, the ancient sea wall, and the collapsed roofs of houses are all immortalised in my camera. Yet, with each shutter click, the sense of unease grew. It was as though the very act of photographing the town was disrupting something. And with each disruption, the uncanny sensation that we were not alone intensified.
It felt like the sea had a heartbeat, a thrumming rhythm that pulsed around me, seeping into my bones. The feeling of being watched became stronger as we swam through the main square, where a towering statue, ravaged by time and water, stood as a testament to the town's lost glory. As my flash illuminated the worn stone, I could swear the statue's gaze was locked onto us, the cold eyes of stone holding a cold glare. I shook my head, trying to dismiss it as a trick of the light, but Callum had noticed too.
The murkiness of the water seemed to thicken around us as we continued to the outskirts of the town, the once vibrant coral that adorned the buildings appearing pallid and ghostly under our torchlight. Occasionally, a fish would dart away, its silvery scales shimmering briefly before disappearing into the blue abyss, leaving us in solitude once more.
Examining the town more, I noticed each structure held its own tale of decay. Houses, once filled with the hum of life, now stood desolate, their skeletal remains encrusted with marine life. The town's church, with its toppled spire, lay half-buried under the sand. I captured the eerie beauty of the forsaken town etched in each frame.
As we neared the end of our exploration, the sensation of being watched peaked. The water around us seemed to ripple with an unseen presence. Suddenly, a gust of underwater current swept past us, an inexplicable chill that froze my blood. A dark form darted in the corner of my eye, but when I turned, there was nothing but the ancient ruins and the haunting darkness beyond. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched Callum signal our ascent, his eyes wide with fear.
A dark shadow darted towards him from the corner of my eye. A surge of adrenaline rushed through me as I turned to look, but it was too late. An unseen force struck Callum, pushing him with a violent current into the decrepit wall of a nearby building below. His regulator was knocked free, bubbles bursting from his mouth in a panicked rush, yet his training prevented him from breathing in water."Callum!" I screamed into my regulator, my voice muffled and carried away by the water. Frantically, I swam towards him, my heart pounding in my chest. His eyes were wide in shock, and his hands desperately grappled for the regulator as he struggled against the new, unusual current. I grabbed him, anchoring myself and fighting the force battering us. I swam down and, holding onto Callum with one hand, I grabbed his backup regulator and shoved it towards him. He took it, jamming it into his mouth. He purged the water out of the piece, and his panicked eyes softened slightly as the life-giving air flowed once more.
I turned to face the town, a sense of anger burning inside me. Whatever was lurking in the forgotten depths of Ravenser Odd had shown itself not just as an uncanny presence but as a threatening force. The water seemed to pulsate with sinister energy, the town's ruins casting ominous shadows in our torchlight. I could feel it watching us, pressing against us, making its displeasure known.
I signalled an ascent to Callum, who nodded, his eyes wide but resolute. We kicked upwards, each stroke taking us further from the menacing depths of Ravenser Odd. As we rose, the water grew lighter, the pressure eased, and the sense of dread began to dissipate.
Just as we thought we were clear, a sudden force pulled us back down, even stronger than before. It was as if the entire ocean had become an invisible hand dragging us back towards the malevolent town.
I screamed into my regulator again as I saw him get pulled away from me, his form disappearing into the murkiness. Desperate, I tried to swim towards him but the force was too strong. Then, suddenly, my grip on my camera slipped, and it began to sink, its attached lights flickering like a falling star into the watery void. I watched, horror-stricken, as it fell into a crack and deeper into the abyss.
I cried out, my voice lost in the aquatic emptiness. That camera was my lifeline, not just for my profession, but now it seemed, for our survival. It sank rapidly, swallowed up by the eternal darkness of the ocean
.Whatever was targetting us was weak, as if it needed us to be closer to the town to fully overpower us. As I was about to dive after it, I felt a hand grip my arm. I turned to see Callum, his eyes wide with fear and confusion, but alive. He shook his head. He was right. Going after it spelt more danger than either of us could imagine.
We ascended again with nothing else to do, hoping the loss of our evidence calmed the town.The effort was physically taxing, the cold seawater churning around us as we battled to ascend. Each kick and each push felt like we were fighting against a relentless tide. My muscles screamed in protest, but I forced myself to keep going, pushing past the pain and exhaustion. Callum was ahead of me, every sinew in his body straining as he, too, fought against the pull. Determination was etched on his face, yet he kept his eye on me.
Slowly, painstakingly, we began to gain distance, the pull of the town lessening. I could see the lighter waters above us, the sun's rays penetrating the deep blue, beckoning us towards safety.
We broke to the surface and found ourselves clinging to the side of the boat, our breaths ragged and our bodies exhausted. Our crew helped our heavy bodies aboard, their faces masks of concern and confusion. We exchanged no words. The terror of our experience had left us momentarily speechless.
​
As we docked back at the mainland, Dr Howard was there to meet us. She looked troubled, eyes scanning Callum and me, noting our bruised and battered bodies. We were a far cry from the enthusiastic team that had embarked on a journey to chronicle the sunken town.
"Oliver, Callum," she began, her voice a mixture of concern and something else, something I couldn't quite place. "What happened out there?"I
exchanged a glance with Callum before turning back to her. Taking a deep breath, I recounted the inexplicable experiences, the unseen force, the threatening shadows, and the attack.
Dr Howard listened, her face paling as we described our encounter. As I mentioned the loss of the camera, I saw a flicker of disappointment cross her face. But it was quickly replaced by a serious expression as I continued.
"I know this may sound... impossible," I concluded, bracing myself for her reaction. "But something is down there, Dr Howard. Something that doesn't want us there."
For a moment, there was silence. Dr Howard seemed to be processing what we'd told her, her gaze distant. Then, to my surprise, she nodded.
"I believe you, Oliver," she said quietly. "In fact, I owe you both an apology."She took a deep breath, and then began to explain. Teams before us had reported the same strange feelings, the same sense of being watched. But it was more than that. After their third dive, members started returning with inexplicable injuries. Those who were brave enough to attempt a fourth dive... they never returned at all. "I had hoped... foolishly perhaps... that capturing photographic evidence would help us understand what was happening," Dr Howard confessed, her voice wavering slightly. "I... I didn't want to believe that the town itself could be dangerous."While we were gone,
Dr Howard admitted she had examined the photos from our first dive. She also admitted to noticing the same strange phenomena I had. Ghostly figures, inexplicable shadows... things that didn't make sense. But she'd dismissed them, attributing them to lighting or damage to the camera. "But now, hearing your account... I understand that there's something more at play here," she admitted, her eyes reflecting a deep remorse. "I should have warned you, should have stopped the dives. But my desire for discovery overrode my caution."
Her confession left us shocked. The realisation that she had known, at least partially, of the potential danger but had not shared it... it stung. Yet, looking at her, seeing her genuine remorse, I could only feel a deep sense of sadness. I shook it all away. As Dr Howard's confession hung in the air, a deep sense of betrayal began to coil in the pit of my stomach. Anger, hot and quick, started to rise within me, searing away the icy dread that had gripped me since the dive.
I stared at Dr Howard, my mind a whirlwind of disbelief. My chest tightened, and my heart pounded in my ears. The woman who had entrusted us with an assignment of a lifetime, a woman we respected and admired, had knowingly led us into a trap. A trap that could have cost us our lives. We had trusted her, relied on her, and she had betrayed us. The pressure built inside me, a physical weight pressing against my chest, the corners of my vision growing red with rage. The sting of betrayal cut deep.
A flash of memory— the cold, unforgiving waters, the threatening shadows in the deep, Callum's terrified eyes, the invisible force that had almost claimed us— all came crashing down, feeding the fire of my anger.
"You knew?" My voice was low and harsh, carrying the weight of my brewing anger. "You knew, and you still sent us down there?"
Dr Howard tried to respond, her voice placating, but the words were lost on me. The anger was all-consuming now, blotting out any reason. "We could have died, Howard... Callum could have died!" the words tore from my throat, raw and furious.
At that moment, I felt a sudden urge to leave, to put as much distance between myself and Dr Howard as possible. To escape from the bitter taste of betrayal. But instead, I stood there, my fists clenched, my body trembling with unspent rage. My career, my love for the ocean, and the trust I had in those I worked with all felt like they were sinking. A shiver ran through me, a mix of anger and something else: a deep, echoing sadness as profound as the ocean itself.
I walked out after that. In a rush of adrenaline, I packed away my belongings, leaving behind the new equipment tainted by the darkness of the project, and left.
I hope whatever inhabits that town, stays there.

The post How to Get Tickets to MANÁ’s 2023 Tour appeared first on Consequence.
MANÁ have already launched their 2023 “México Lindo Y Querido” tour, but now the Mexican rock legends have announced tickets to even more dates for an expanded North American trek.
“Get ready, we’re coming with a brand new production and all our hits,” the band shared a statement ahead of their spring leg. “We’re excited to be back on the road and see all our fans in the US. This isn’t just a concert tour, it’s a celebration of life.”
Get tickets here, and read on for more details including pre-sale dates.
What Is MANÁ’s Next Tour?
Following an initial Latin American run in 2022 and an extended Los Angeles residency in early 2o23, MANÁ’s “México Lindo Y Querido” tour went into full-swing with a spring 2023 circuit that concluded in May. The “Oye Mi Amor” group will resume on September 1st in Houston, followed by two nights in Dallas and stops to Las Vegas, Denver, and more.
MANÁ open October at Chicago’s United Center before launching their latest batch of live dates in Philadelphia on October 21st. They continue along the East Coast to Newark, New Jersey; Orlando; and Hollywood, Florida, then hit Texas for two more shows between Austin and Edinburg in early November. Aside from a previously announced double-header at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum on November 24th and 25th, the “México Lindo Y Querido” tour now includes a new trip to San Diego and its new closing performance in Fresno, California on December 1st.
Who Is Opening for MANÁ on Tour?
There have been no confirmations regarding MANÁ’s potential openers or supporting acts, but the band has maintained their knack for surprise; their long-running LA residency has featured special guests such as The Eagles’ Joe Walsh and Panteón Rococó.
How Can I Get Tickets for MANÁ’s 2023 Tour?
Tickets to the new dates on MANÁ’s 2023 “México Lindo Y Querido” tour will go up for grabs on Friday, June 9th at 10:00 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster.
You can also browse for tickets to all of MANÁ’s upcoming live dates via StubHub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.
What Are MANÁ’s 2023 Tour Dates?
See MANÁ’s full list of tour dates below, and get tickets to all of their upcoming concerts here. New dates are in bold.
MANÁ 2023 Tour Dates:
09/01 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
09/08 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
09/17 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
09/22 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center
09/23 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
09/29 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
10/01 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
10/21 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
10/22 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
10/28 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
10/31 – Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
11/03 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center
11/04 – Edinburg, TX @ Bert Ogden Arena
11/22 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
11/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
11/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
12/01 – Fresno, CA – Save Mart Center
12/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ Besame Mucho

Read Chapter 1 Here
Previous Chapter Here
My other SSB story, Writing on the Wall, Here
I was sitting here in the dark, pantsless and writing (as you do), and I decided to check how far my progress was going on a few things. Turns out I was way past my "release a new chapter" threshold!
Enjoy the continued adventures of our favorite fuckups.
*****
“...about those sculptures. I know we told the Aboriginal Art Institute of Karnif that they could hold onto them for another two months, but apparently they are part of some shrine and the Governess of the South Pacific is getting on my case about returning them before a holy day.” Jem’si looked to his right, where his wife Torel was walking alongside him. She was his partner in more than just his marriage, and he was a little surprised to see that she didn’t have a pad out to take notes. “Are you paying attention?”
“Not really,” Torel replied. She had been strangely subdued, quiet all morning. On his left, his wife Keller tried to match pace. She was so much bigger than both of them that it was difficult, but she had a lot of practice and the halls of House Chel’xa’s ancestral home were a familiar place.
“Now.” Keller’s word was punctuated by her left arm shooting across her body to grab Jem’si by the upper arm. It was a firmer grip than Jem’si had ever felt from his wives, and for it to come from gentle Keller was doubly surprising. Before he could comment, Torel grabbed his other arm. The pair lifted and Jem’si found himself being dragged along, feet barely touching the floor.
“Put me down!” He tried to wiggle out of their grip, but neither woman seemed to be in the mood to play nice. “If you wanted to have some fun this morning you could have just asked!” Neither Torel or Keller said anything in reply, just continued to drag him along as his commands to be let go turned into pleading whines. They wouldn’t even look at him.
Jem’si wasn’t scared, not really. Just confused. He trusted his family utterly, and even as they maneuvered him out of the corridor, down a hall, and into an empty dining room he felt confusion more than fear. The room was dark, curtains drawn, and Jem’si let out a small “oof” as he found himself practically flung into a chair. The door clacked shut and he was plunged into nearly complete blackness.
After a few moments of sitting in the dark, trying to figure whatever sort of madness seemed to be running in his wives, Jem’si had enough. He raised his voice, put in every bit of commanding tone he had learned through years of Noble intrigue and business with Humans, and called out to the darkness.
“Well?!”
Light flared suddenly from the chandelier, dazzling his eyes. Fear froze his heart as he realized he and his wives weren’t actually alone. It began to thaw right back up as he saw who sat across from him.
“Why were you all sitting in the dark?” Jem’si tried to keep his voice casual.
“For the emotional impact,” Samuel Forsythe-Painter replied.
“Obviously,” Sammi Painter-Forsythe added.
Flanking the pair of tiny humans sat Elera Heleum and Marin Elbruk. Elera reached into her lap and leaned forward, placing something down on the table. It settled on the ancient wood with a dull thunk.
“The same reason I brought this,” she added helpfully.
Jem’si vaguely recognized the pistol. It was a massive hunk of silver steel with a barrel so wide he could stick a finger into it. The same gun that played so prominently in the story of that whole adventure in the frozen north. He hadn’t realized it had survived the rocket attack at the hotel, or that it had been brought to Shil.
Now thoroughly spooked, Jem’si glanced up at Keller where she stood next to him. She had brought him here, but surely she would protect him from these lunatics.
Keller looked down at him sadly, dark eyes showing little more than disappointment. “Sorry, Jem, you’re on your own.”
Torel was no better. She wouldn’t even look at him. When he glanced to the other side of the table, Marin nodded at Elera. The spikey haired Marine leaned her bulk forward and steepled her fingers together, the spindly shadows from her hands falling across the gun on the table.
“Lieutenant Colonel Marin and I had an interesting visitor yesterday. We’ve both been promoted, retired from active service, and given an Imperial Writ to deal with. It’s a great deal, really; we have been ordered by the Empress Herself to protect our little Human friends here.” With that, Elera reached out and gave Sammi what was likely intended to be a friendly pat on the back but nearly knocked the much smaller Human clear of their chair. “And, if things don’t go well, we’ve been ordered to kill them both.”
“I don’t really care much for that part,” Samuel said quietly.
“Samesies,” added Sammi.
“We’ve also been ordered to ensure that nobody learns about the OTHER project. You know the one.” Marin punctuated her statement by placing her own pistol on the table. This one was much smaller, more modern, but at least as deadly. She looked down at it, then glanced at Elera’s. “These are a really poor representation of our orders. Orbital strikes were mentioned.”
Jem’si grasped in his mind for the swordfighter’s calm he had cultivated the last few years, but it wouldn’t come. He had his ass planted in an oversized chair, was surrounded by people who meant him harm, and even his wives had abandoned him. The best control he could manage was to pull in a deep breath, swallow, and try to hold down the sour, sick feeling twisting through his guts.
“I really didn’t know what to do.” Elera put her hands flat on the table, and Jem’si, hyper-focused now on potential dangers, watched as the fingers on her right hand twitched. “So I figured I’d call the only person I knew who might have experience dealing with this sort of thing. Someone who might know why we were suddenly getting orders from the Empress after working so hard to keep this whole thing quiet.”
Keller’s huge hand landed on Jem’si’s shoulder, causing him to jerk. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to.
“The orders make sense, but they leave something very important out. So I’m going to ask you, Jem’si. I’m going to ask you as a holder of an Imperial Writ, ordered by the Empress Herself to ensure the security of the Painter Research Institute and the Lone Caribou Survival Company.” Elera’s hands were fists now and the light from the chandelier reflected in the tears forming in her eyes.
“What did you tell them? What happened to Stace? Is he even alive out there?” The questions seemed to hang in the air, and Jem’si wondered if the wrong answer would kill him. He had never doubted Keller’s loyalty before, but if the Empress said he had to die, would she stop it? He hoped so, but she had been a Deathshead Commando long before she became his wife.
In the end, he only had one response he could give. He swallowed again, cleared his throat, and hoped that the truth would keep him alive.
“I don’t know what’s happening on Nix. I reached out through Iria Stolsk, who often acts as a scientific policy advisor to the Empress, and I gave her everything I had. Much of it was technical documents from the PRI’s research, but not much more than what was used for the investor’s meeting.”
Jem’si cleared his throat again, then jerked in panic as a loud thunk sounded next to him. If Keller’s hand wasn’t keeping him in place, he might have bolted. Instead, he nodded his thanks to Torel and picked up the glass of water she had found for him. A couple of sips did little to steady his nerves; he would have killed for some of that flavored bourbon Stace made.
“As for the… other project. When Stace started making preparations, I gave him access to a highly encrypted data archive. It contains all of the notes Demir Chel’xa made during her time on Nix, all her observations of the people there. Every bit of video we had, audio clips of their language, topographical and seismic scans of the planet… House Chel’xa kept everything, and I gave all of it to him.
“When he started working on his own plans to save Nix, he was linked to that server. I don’t know if it was intentional or just Stace not knowing how he set up his accounts, but all of his notes were backed up to the same archive. I gave the Empress all of it.”
“But you don’t know what She decided. If Stace is being left alone or if he’s in a blacksite prison.” Elera closed her eyes and a single tear slipped free. “If he’s even alive.”
“No. I don’t know, but if the Empress meant to silence this whole enterprise, you wouldn’t have a Writ. You’d have a smoking hole in your skull.”
Elera nodded. “And so would you. We all would.”
“Why don’t we?” Sammi’s voice was so innocent, so free of the pain and fear everyone else seemed to be wrapped up in, that it seemed to shatter the tension in the room. Shoulders slumped, hands unclenched, and Jem’si had the sudden hope that, just maybe, he’d finish this meeting without throwing up in his lap.
Samuel spoke next. “It’s obvious that the Empress, if she hasn’t exactly given us permission for the Nix project, is at least willing to look the other way. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I think we can count on Stace doing his thing.” He tapped his fingers on the table in a quick rat-tat-tat, blue-painted nails clicking on the wood. “The real question is why she would let us do it at all. Tons of risk with no real reward for the Empire, which is why we agreed to keep all this quiet in the first place.”
“My husband is a businessman.” Torel’s voice was surprisingly affectionate given the circumstances, and when her hand came up to ruffle Jem’si’s hair he relished the contact. It didn’t matter if his coiffure was ruined. “Even if he’s not the brains of the operation, he occasionally makes a deal.”
“The research you two have been doing; is it real?” Jem’si nodded at the two Humans at the table. “Can you really do that incredible line of turox shit you sold to the investors?”
Sammi let out a very undignified snort. “You have no idea. What the investors are getting is real, but it’s babytown frolics compared to what we could really do with it. We’re keeping the good stuff; I wanna see if I can turn a star inside out.”
“That’s… horrifying.” Jem’si felt on firmer ground now; the crisis had passed and he was going to live through this. “Well, I may have passed the word that the technological superiority you’re providing would put us decades, perhaps centuries ahead of the Consortium and the Alliance.”
He let the moment settle with a performer’s ease before dropping the punchline.
“And if we aren’t allowed to fix Nix it would turn out that you two didn’t actually know what you were doing. It would have destroyed House Chel’xa along with the two of you, but it would turn out we were huxsters all along.”
Samuel laughed bitterly. “And to think, if you actually told us your plan we probably would have agreed to it. Instead, we now have to deal with having two members of our family who have signed and sealed orders from the Empress of the Shil’vati to kill the rest of us. Not exactly something that makes it easy to maintain a relationship.”
Elera pulled herself to her feet before picking up the heavy Human handgun. She carefully checked it, then put it in her pocket. Marin followed her example and did the same with her own pistol, and the two Humans hopped down off their chairs.
“I am sorry.” Jem’si firmed up his voice, felt the old confidence start to pool in his chest. “For not telling you, I mean. I don’t regret what I did.”
“Of course you don’t,” Samuel said sadly as the group headed towards the door. “You’re Shil’vati. We’re leaving, by the way. Going home. It doesn’t feel right to be living off your charity. I’d tell you not to follow us, but we can’t realistically stop you since you own a third of the company.”
“Just know that you won’t be welcome,” Sammi added before slamming the door behind them.
Jem’si let out a sigh as he sank into his chair, feeling suddenly boneless. Keller and Torel moved around him, pulling up chairs of their own.
“That went better than it could have,” Keller said casually. She barely seemed bothered by the whole thing.
“Oh, really?” Jem’si really couldn’t see the bright side.
“We could all be dead,” Torel clarified. “According to the scope of their Writ, either one of those two would have been perfectly within their rights to have the entire Chel’xa compound incinerated.”
“....what.”
“Knowledge of Nix is to be limited to the PRI and Lone Caribou. House Chel’xa clearly knows about it, or this whole thing wouldn’t have gotten started.” Keller sounded too matter of fact, too calm. “You may be the one who got this whole thing going, but the Humans wouldn’t have even known about it if you hadn’t told them. You’re clearly a security risk.”
“You could make the argument that Jem’si is in the clear, as part owner of PRI. I do a lot of the clerical work, so I’m safe too.” Torel smirked over at Keller. “Sounds like you’re the odd one out.”
“Yep. It would have been perfectly reasonable, from a legal standpoint at least, if Elera had shot me in the face as soon as we sat down.” Keller smirked. “Not that she would. I think she kinda has a thing for me.”
“And what, you’d have let her do it?” The panic was back, bile sour and acidic in Jem’si’s throat.
“I’m not bulletproof, Jem. Couldn’t have done a whole lot about it.”
Jem’si pressed his hands to the table, slowly pulling himself to his feet. “I think…” He swallowed. It didn’t help. “I think I’m going to throw up. Then I’m going to talk to Iria and see if I can talk to the Empress in person. I need to get a handle on this before someone ends up dead.”
“Someone else, you mean.” Torel gave Jem’si a very unflattering glare. “On top of all the other deaths we’ve had so far.”
Jem’si bit down a retort as he turned away, walking towards the door. Oh yes. Couldn’t forget those.
–
When it came down to it, Lewis could admit that this was at least partially his fault.
He had left the grocery store with plastic bags in his hands and a spring in his step. The rusty minivan parked next to Lewis's SUV completely failed to get his attention, which was likely the whole reason it was chosen for the job. He had just finished putting the bags in the backseat when the van’s side door opened behind him, a bag slipped over his head, and Lewis was bodily pulled into the vehicle. He barely even had time to squeak out a panicked yelp.
Even with his head covered, Lewis knew at once who his captors were. The large hands, the ease with which they were manhandling him, and the sheer brazenness of the kidnapping left no doubt in his mind that he was in the hands of the Shil'vati. They pulled his hands behind his back and cuffed them together before he was plopped down in the middle seat. Meaty fingers stayed firmly grasped around his biceps as the van rumbled to life. They were on the move.
"So..." Lewis tried to keep his voice even. He wasn't a fighter, and if he started throwing elbows he would still end up at his destination. Just with a broken jaw. "If you're sex traffickers, you probably could do better than me."
There was no reply but silence.
As they bounced along, Lewis was surprised to find that he wasn't as frightened as he expected. After nearly a decade fighting the invaders in his own way, the idea of eventually being captured or killed had percolated through his mind for long enough that it was comfortable. In a way, it was a relief; wherever he was going, whatever was going to happen to him, Lewis was done with the fight. He could hang up his spurs, at least until the gallows called.
Instead of dwelling on the situation, he tried to follow where the van was going. It only took a few turns for Lewis to become hopelessly lost. His lack of a sense of direction was legendary among his friends, and thanks to the ubiquitous ease of GPS and smartphones he never really had to pick up the skill. He regretted his reliance on technology now, not that it would really change anything. The van rumbled on, its old and tired suspension creaking with every bump, and Lewis waited to die.
The van pulled to a stop with a lurch and Lewis jerked awake. He had been half-dozing, a fact that he took in with a bit of surprise. After the first hour or so, the anxiety of being captured had faded into a dull shock, which had turned into a stupor. Now he had completely lost track of time. The door to his right slid open and Lewis was pulled out with a sudden jerk. He tried to catch himself on half-numb legs, stumbled, was caught, and found himself being half carried and half marched on the rough gravel underfoot.
Even with the hood obscuring his vision, Lewis could still hear perfectly fine. He could still smell, too, and the rumble of a large diesel engine was accompanied by the smell of rancid exhaust. The gravel under his feet became a metal ramp and he stumbled again, letting his Shil'vati captors drag him up by his biceps. There would be some nasty bruises later, but for now the pain helped him regain focus.
The ramp leveled out and the metal clang was replaced by the dull thud of thin wood under his feet. Lewis was only dragged a few more steps before a quick shove threw him into a chair. It didn't move at all, evidently attached to the floor, and before he could really process the situation further a loud clatter behind him made evident that Lewis was now trapped. The smell of exhaust was even worse here, sour on his throat. Fear was finally beginning to settle in his guts as he tried to prepare himself for the inevitable torture.
"Ashley Lewis. Age twenty-six standard, degrees in psychology and philosophy, currently employed in an administrative capacity for a phone and 'net based therapy service. Being able to telework has made it easy for you to travel for your other job, working as a data courier and soft asset for the terrorist organization colloquially known as The Numbers.
"A few months ago, you were involved in an attack on a man named Eustace Grant that left him nearly dead and eventually led to a region-wide shakeup of law enforcement and the public execution of the Regional Governess." Lewis's head jerked forward as the hood was pulled off in a single sharp tug.
Black eyes with irises like gold rings floating in pools of ink stared at him from a face of purple skin. In the moment, the Shil'vati looked exactly as alien as she was, and the familiarization he had spent years building flashed away as if they were never there. The alien smiled, drawing attention to her tusks, then nodded once. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Lewis took in his captor. She was average height for a female Shil, though not as massively built as the majority of marines he had seen. Her hair was stark white and pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore a long coat of heavy black. Around him, all he could see was dirty wood and aluminum paneling. The rumbling of an engine continued, as did the stink of fumes. He was in the back of a small box truck.
And in front of him stood Investigator Jel’si Chel'xa.
*****
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This is a fanfic that takes place in the “Between Worlds” universe (aka Sexy Space Babes), created and owned by u/BlueFishcake. No ownership of the settings or core concepts is expressed or implied by myself.
This is for fun. Can’t you just have fun?

PSA: There’s no tolerance for racist, homophobic, discriminatory, troll or unhelpful comments. If a post about events in DFW triggers you, keep on scrolling. I have zero Fs to give so if you insist on commenting something unhelpful, you’ll never have to be subjected to these free, helpful posts again bc you’ll be blocked.
This is not a top things to do in FW (plenty of posts if you search this sub), these are events specific to this week. There may be mistakes/things change so do your due diligence & search more info online. None of these events are vetted, they’re just copied & pasted.
Join the Fort Worth discord to connect w/other folks in FW, chat & check out different meet ups: https://discord.com/invite/9KUdWdQVdJ
[Tuesday June 6th]
Art Aid 4:30-6PM The Pool, 1801 8th Ave Free This seminar will offer real estate advice for artists looking to purchase, lease, sublet, or partner for a creative space.
Free Yoga Burnett Park 5:30PM
Silent Book Club Hotel Dryce 6:30PM
Trivia Game Night 7p Old Chicago Join us for great food, fun & PRIZES!
Murf’s Trivia J. Gilligan's Bar & Grill 7PM Triple Play Trivia
NoiseROT Presents: Strange and Eternal Tour (2023) w/ MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE The Rail Club Live 7PM $20+
Omar Torres Hyena’s Comedy Club Free 7PM
Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night T&P Tavern Free 7:30-9:30PM
Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night University Pub FW 8-10PM Free
Toad the Wet Sprocket Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall 8PM $40+
[Wednesday June 7th]
Summer Arts Program Wed, June 7-Wed, June 28 1-2:30 p.m. Lenora Rolla Heritage Center Museum Free Explore Tarrant County’s rich African American history through art, conversation, & activities during a four-week workshop.
Lunchtime Music Series in Burnett Park 12-1P Free
Indoor Vendor Market Rahr & Sons Brewing 5-9P enjoy 25+ local businesses to shop, live music, food trucks, snacks, sweets, acrylic paint pouring class
Ronda Ray at Fort Brewery & Pizza 6-9P
We Run Wednesday’s The trailhead at clearfork 6:30P
NoiseROT Presents: Victim of Suffering live at Haltom Theater Sidestage 7-11PM
Tall Bearded Guy Trivia Funky Picnic Brewery 7P
STFU Open MicJun 7, 8:00pm - 11:00pm Twilite Lounge FW check out the longest running comedy open mic in FW! Free jokes, drink specials & delicious po' boys! Hosted by Claws Out Comedy w/featured performer Marissa Nieto
Karaoke HopFusion Aleworks 8PM
[Thursday June 8th]
Fort Worth Movies That Matter Modern Art Museum 7-9:30PM Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops (2019, 96 min., TV-MA) is an intimate portrait of two Texas police officers who are helping change the way police respond to mental health calls Movies That Matter is a FREE, bi-monthly film series that highlights important human & civil rights issues. Each event features a film screening, followed by a moderated discussion w/special guests. Register for free tickets on Eventbrite
Join us every second Thursday to connect with art through cocktails, conversations, & creativity The Carter 5-8PM
Beatles vs. Stones Ridglea Theater 6:30P Jam to a musical showdown $25+
Justin Tipton Fort Brewery Pizza 7PM
Greater Tuna Downtown Cowtown at the Isis June 8-10 8PM comedy show
Anand Wilder of Yeasayer The Post at River East 8P $25+
Midnight River Choir Live Rusty Nickel IceHouse 6PM $10+
Tribute Band Thursday: Local Yoakam Jun. 8 8 p.m. Fat Daddy’s, Mansfield Free live music, Happy Hour drink specials & $12 build-your-own jumbo pizzas
Evenings on Oak Street: Roanoke Austin Street Plaza 6:30PM After Party: Modern Dance Party Hits
Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night HopFusion Aleworks 8P
[Friday June 9th]
Friday on the Green, Magnolia Green Grab your lawn chair for live music from four local musicians 5-10P free
Kimbell Happy Hour 5-7P Kimbell Art Museum free music by Allegro Guitar Society
Dustin Massey w / Generational Wealth at Lola's Doors 8:00pm, Start 9:00pm
Brent Cobb Billy Bob's Texas 6PM $18+
Koe Wetzel Dickie’s Arena 6:30P $39
Kung Fu Vampire Black Heart Machine Tour Haltom Theater 7:30PM
Stockyards Championship Rodeo Cowtown Coliseum 7:30P $35
Neon Wave Pool Party Whiskey Garden 8PM
Jimmy Wallace at Twilite Lounge FW 9PM-12AM No Cover
FWSO’s Concerts in the Garden Festival Gates open 6:30 p.m. start 8:30 p.m. Music of the 80s
Dustin Massey (Band) w/ Generational Wealth at Lola's Doors 8pm Show 9pm $10 advance tickets, $15 at the door
Tab Benoit Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall 8P $40
REYES - Nuestra Fiesta Dedicada a la Realeza de la Música Latina Tulips FW 9P $15
[Saturday June 10th]
Drag Show & Brunch Pride Edition 11AM-2PM Funky Picnic Brewery Join Kiki w/the Kweens for our monthly drag show & brunch!
Glizzy Fest presented by Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs Martin House Brewing 12-5pm Family Friendly, Live Music, Craft Vendors, & all the hot dogs/corn dogs you could dream of. Tickets $15 if drinking = 4 beers + souvenir pint glass. Those not drinking do not have to pay.
Arlington Pride Celebration the Levitt Pavilion Arlington 6-11pm (doors open at 5) ft. performances from RuPaul's Drag Race Queens Angeria Paris VanMichaels, Symone & Kennedy Davenport, DJ Al Farb & a host of other entertainment on stage along w/a street fair full of vendors
FWSO’s Concerts in the Garden Festival Gates open 6:30 p.m. start 8:30 p.m. Star Wars
Wandering Roots Market Tanger Outlets 15853 North Freeway Shop local pop-up, live music, vendors, food trucks + kid-friendly 10AM-4PM
Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat LIVE Ridglea Room 7PM $25+
Live Jazz Performance Feat. The Rob Holbert Group The Warehouse 8P
LOCALS ONLY VOL. 3 Whiskey Garden 8P
Fenne Lily + Christian Lee Hutson Tulips FW 8P $20+
Dope City Comedy Tour FW’s Hyena's Comedy Club Doors 8:30P
Guttersluts perform Alice in Chains Unplugged w/ Garrett Owen Twilite Lounge FW 9PM-12AM No Cover
Live music HopFusion 7PM
[Sunday June 11th]
Farmers Market 10AM-2PM Funky Picnic Brewery
Giddy Up Drag Brunch Concrete Cowboy FW 1-4PM
Monthly Book Club Funky Picnic Brewery 3-4P We will be focusing on outdoor & adventure-themed books, & every few months will include an outdoor activity prior to meeting to talk about the book! Will be discussing The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Matt Hillyer & Kayla Ray at The Post at River East 6-8P $20+
LanceBattalion at Fort Brewery 7-9PM

I would love your help with figuring out my itinerary! It is me (46), my husband (46), son (18), and daughter (15), all in decent shape although my daughter is not very active but she loves nature and animals. We’re going July 8-15. Right now the tentative plan is this:
July 8 - land in Kalispell at 1pm, get rental, stock up at grocery store in Columbia Falls, explore Apgar Village and visitors center, stay at Lake McDonald Lodge.
July 9 - out the door by 6am, drive to Logan Pass, hike the Highline (haven’t decided if we’ll do it all the way to the loop or not), GTTSR stops & Lake McDonald later in the day. Stay at Lake McDonald Lodge.
July 10 - Trail of the Cedars/Avalanche Lake Trail, GTTSR. Stay at Rising Sun.
July 11 - Out by 6am to Logan Pass, Hidden Lake trail. Any GTTSR stops we missed. St Mary Visitors Center. Many Glacier boat tour at 3pm. Stay at Many Glacier.
July 12 - Out by 5:30am, walk to Grinnell Glacier trail (we couldn’t get boat reservation). Fishercap Lake that evening. Stay at Many Glacier.
July 13 - another hike near Many Glacier - possibly Iceberg Lake or Cracker Lake? Or we might just sleep in and drive to Waterton when we wake up, drive Red Rock Canyon, stay at Prince of Wales hotel. Might try staying up late to see Milky Way somewhere.
July 14 - Bears Hump trail or boat tour. Drive to Two Medicine. Boat tour and Twin Falls Hike at 3pm. Stay at Mountain Pine Motel.
July 15 - Try to see sunrise at Two Medicine Lake. Drive to airport.
Questions:
-Is Waterton worth it or should we try to stay at Many Glacier one more night?
-Does this seem doable for healthy but slightly lazy teenage girl? The waking up wouldn’t be a problem, but the hiking concerns me a little. She’s done lots of hikes in the past but no 10 milers.
-I would like to see the Milky Way one night and get sunrise and sunset pictures - not sure where to fit those in.
Any changes/suggestions would be very much appreciated! We’ve been to many national parks but I’m finding Glacier to be a challenging one to plan. Thank you!!

August Maniaci Link: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=95092#relPageId=11&search=caminiti_rockford)
History of the Milwaukee Outfit
-Al Capone was a camorrista and an associate of Masseria and Capone had a large scale gambling and bootlegging operation
-Joe Aiello would gamble at Capone's places, but when he would lose, he would have the gambling operation raided and Aiello's men would take much more money than was lost
-Capone was paying protection to Masseria
-A dispute arose between Masseria and Aiello and Masseria than brought Capone in and made him a capodecina and told Capone to kill Aiello
-In 1926 or 1927, there was a "Appalachian type meeting" (Generale assemblea?) in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. The meetings purpose was to make peace in Chicago, but other families attended
-Tough Tony Capesio was one of the shooters in the St. Valentine's day massacre
-Jack Zutta, a Jewish Aiello associate, was murdered by Capone's gang
-The Milwaukee mafia banned people from helping Aiello.
-Sam Aiello, Joe Caminiti, and Migele Mineo were former Aiello members who fled Chicago to join the Milwaukee family
-Sam Aiello wasn't sympathetic about his brother. Sam returned to Chicago later and was in Jim DiGeorge's crew
-Carl Caputa left Chicago and went to Madison where he became boss. Joe "Joe Pizza Pie" Aiello (unspecified relation to the Joe Capone wared with) went with Caputa to Madison
-Milwaukee didn't try to extort any gamblers until Sam Ferrara
-Al Capone was Neopolitan, the next boss was Tony Accardo who was "Thelast Sicilian to be an important boss," Accardo was succeeded by a Neopolotan Sam Giancana (Pretty sure this info is wrong)
-Chicago outfit was a "Money grabbing operation" where only a few leaders profit "at the expense of the general membership" this had an effect on Milwaukee
-Chicago took over Milwaukee in 1952
-Sam Ferrara wanted to have a piece of the Ogden social club which was a gambling place that Frank Balistrieri had a piece on and Balistieri was Son-In-Law to John Alioto. Balistrieri said no to Ferrara and then Ferrara shelved Balistrieri. Milwaukee then asked Chicago to help them with all the trouble.
-A general meeting was held in 1952; Tony Accardo, Rocco Fischetti, and Sam Giancana attended. Sam Ferrara was taken down as boss and replaced by John Alioto
-Alioto reinstated Balistrieri and made him a capodecina
-While Alioto was boss, no gamblers or businessmen were extorted
-John DiTrapani was a capodecina who didn't like Alioto, so he said he would spend $90,000 and even was willing to finance some murders
-One of DiTrapani's friends "Pasternak" lost a lot of money gambling with the outfit and DiTrapani made it known he was very upset
-Furthermore, Alioto heard about Ditrapani's plans to become boss and this sealed DiTrapani's fate
-Chicago were the ones who ordered DiTrapani's murder, not Alioto
-DiTrapani and Frank LaGalbo (a member and DiTrapani associate) were called to a meeting by the Chicago outfit. The meeting was going to be in Milwaukee though.
-LaGalbo warned DiTrapani not to go. LaGabo himself wasn't going to go.
-DiTrapani went anyway and on March 16, 1954 he was murdered. the following day he was found shot in his car
-LaGalbo was very well connected to Chicago and he set up a transfer where he would be in the Chicago family in the decina of Frank LaPorte
-LaPorte was centered in Chicago Heights
-Jack Enea was also apart of the faction that wanted Alioto taken down as boss. he wasn't killed until November, 1954 (Chicago authorized it)
-In January of 1962, Joe Alioto retired and Frank P. Balistrieri took over, Alioto was upset about this. Alioto apparently felt it should've gone to an older man
-furthermore, Alioto was upset that Balistrieri had an affair with his wife's cousin
-Balistrieri began shaking down gamblers and businessmen
-Balistrieri was collecting $500-$600 from Bruno Ramazini and John Volpe who ran the Holiday House
-Despite not collecting from Frank and Jimmy Fazio who ran restaurants, there was an incident where a bomb went off. After this, Balistrieri went to Florida and when he came back he said that they had a piece of Jimmy Fazio's place in Fort Lauderdale
-Balistrieri was not liked by older members because he never consulted with anyone before making decisions and Maniaci even said it would not surprise him if Balistrieri was murdered. Maniaci said if anyone were to kill Balistrieri, it would be the outfit
II. Organization and Leadership -The 1957 Apalachin meeting was due to Albert Anastasia taking forcible action which affected other bosses without telling them.
-Anastasia was killed due to the disappearance of two unnamed men
-John Alioto and Frank Balistrieri were going to go to Apalachin but didnt at the last moment. Also, attendance was not mandatory at Apalachin
-Maniaci didn't know too much about the commission or its structure, but he said it had around 7 members and though he doesn't know if there is a "boss of bosses," if anyone was it would be Giancana (clearly shows his midwest bias)
-Giancana had control over Madison, Rockford, and Springfield
-Balistrieri went to Chicago periodically for meetings with Giancana, Battaglia, or capodecina Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio. These meeting were at the underboss Sam Battaglia's farm
-occassionally, Balistrieri would meet with Alderisio, Battaglia, and Marshal Caifano in a Milwaukee hotel
-Ralph Capone of Mercer, Wisconsin isn't connected with Milwaukee or Chicago
-At one point, the Pfister hotel manager Marvin Billet made a deal and Kansas City member Sebastian "Buster" Balestrere (who was "imported" to Milwaukee along with Joseph Gurera for the purpose of shaking bookmakers and businessmen down) found out and this led to Balestrere having leverage over Billet. Eventually, the Fox Head Brewery bought a hotel in Jamiaca and Buster made Billet manager. Balistrieri asked Giancana if he wanted to "take over a large gambling casino in the hotel." Billet lost the managorial position and their plan didn't work.
-Balistrieri is involved in the Continental Music Company.
-The chicago outfit may have 500 members (this is wrong as they may not have had 100 at their peak, though it shows how the smaller families saw them)
-Sam Giancana is the boss, Sam "Teets" Battaglia is the underboss, and the following are capodecina: Felix Alderisio, Marshal Caifano, Frank LaPorte, Tony Maccalucci (ph), and Ross Prio
-Ross Prio is a north side leader who was originally in Jim DiGeorge's crew
-Maniaci heard complaints that people are upset in Chicago that only a few are making money. Also, they are upset that Sam Giancana "is too much of a playboy." CI also advised that John Cerone may be Giancana's successor. Cerone is very close to Tony Accardo
-Frank Balistrieri is related to former Kansas City boss James "Big Jim" Balistrieri (It appears his real last name was Balestrere, though his fathers last name was Balistrieri)
-Joseph Cusimano and Joe Jellosa (or Jealouso) are two Kansas City members who have visited Milwaukee in the past
-The Kansas City import Joseph Gurera was said to have killed two politicians (clearly referring to the infamous hit that left Charles Binaggio and Charles Gargotta dead)
-Balistrieri made Gurera a capodecina and Buster Balestrere worked under him. Both members went back to Kansas City in 1963 after pressure was put on Milwaukee for Anthony Biernat's murder
-On April 18, 1964 Peter Balistrieri's (Frank's brother) daughter married Leonard Drewek, a non-Italian. John Molle, Buster Balestrere, and Jim Balestrere (Not made) all went to the wedding
-Peter Balistrieri is a capodecina
-Rockford's boss is Joseph Zummutto, the underboss is Frank Bucemi, and the consigliere is Joseph Zitto. (FNU) Caltegerone is a member who's old and used to be close to Milwaukee capodecina Pasquale Migliaccio. Caltergerone may be a reference to Carl "Charlie Vince" Caltegerone
-Madison, Wisconsin has 10-15 members. The boss is Carl Caputo and Joseph "Joe Pizza Pie" Aiello is a member. Both are wealthy with real estate investments.
-Benny DeSalvo was a capodecina in Madison, but died in February of 1964 at 84 years old. He was buried in Chicago
-The following is the boss succession of Milwaukee: Vito Guardalabene (Nicola Gentile reported Joseph Vallone was the underboss in 1915) Peter Guardalabene (Son of Vito) Joseph "Big Joe" Amato Joseph Vallone (Boss from mid 1920's-mid 1930's) Joseph Gumina was the underboss to Vallone (also says Gumina was capodecina, maybe he controlled a crew along with being consigliere) Charles Zarcone was the consigliere Pasquale Migliaccio was a capodecina Migele Mineo was a capodecina Tom Lucua (ph) was a capodecina Sam Ferrara (Mid 1930's-1952) Joe Gumina was the underboss (again lists him as capo too) Charles Zarcone is listed as consigliere Pasquale Migliaccio was a capodecina Migele Mineo was a capodecina Joseph Caminiti is also a captain (may have been captain under Vallone as well) John Alioto (1952-1962) Joe Gumina was the underboss (again lists him as capo too) Migele Mineo was a capodecina John DiTrapani was a capodecina until his murder in 1954 Pasquale Migliaccio was a capodecina Frank Balistrieri was a capodecina as well Frank Balistrieri (1962-time document was typed) appears he had no underboss Charles Zarcone would be consigliere if Balistrieri had one, Maniaci doesn't know if he actually was though John Alioto was a capodecina and had the older members in his crew Peter Balistrieri was a capodecina "who has active members under his direction" -Older members are displeased with Balistrieri for not consulting any members and making Joseph Gurera (Kansas City) a capodecina instead of a local member
-Older members blame Balistrieri for the publicity LCN is getting due to Anthony Biernat's murder also there's resentment because no one is making money
-Maniaci said he wouldn't be surprised if they killed Balistrieri one day
-On January 4th, 14th, and the 31st Balistrieri held parties at Gallagher's restaurant in an attempt to get the opposite faction to like him. He planned to have another similar meeting a month later. He also assured the members that jobs would soon open up and he gave Vito Aiello, John Aiello, and Maniaci himself jobs at gambling places.
-Balistrieri is very cautious in regards to his personal movements
-Another CI reported the meeting at Gallagher's was to fix the bad feelings between Myron Jennaro and Paul Bogosian who are both associates of the Milwaukee family
-the following is the structure according to Maniaci: capo: boss sottocapo: Italian not Sicilian term for underboss "consuleri": (see previous comment about spelling) the consigliere is the counselor who is usually an older member capodecina: heads a crew, means "head of ten", but members sometimes have 50 members in their crew (or in some cases zero members) No mention of soldiers
-the following are popular terms used by members: Amico Nostro: friend of ours; used by fellow members to indicate someones a member avugad: means lawyer, Maniaci said there's no significance as a term in Milwaukee, but it probably was just not for low level members. Normally the avugad is a representative on the commission. for example, Milwaukee's avugad would've been Chicago's boss cumpare: means godfather; used to show closeness to someone don: Italian term of respect, not a mafia term onorata: means honor, Maniaci said he's never heard the mafia called onorata society which many sources have reported omerta: Maniaci said it's to express any qualities in the word "manly" sagia: "chair, committee of boss, underboss, consuleri [sic], and capodecina [sic] Tourna: general meeting where all members attend; for an important reason
-the following are members of Milwaukee identified by Maniaci: John Aiello: made under Ferrara Vito Aiello: Made under Ferrara John Alioto: Made under Guardalabene, was boss then capodecina Albert Albana: Suspect in Biernat's murder and was made a month after in January 1963 Mike Albano: Runs Angelo's Pizzaria, long time member
III. Membership -John Alioto did not make any members, but Vallone, Ferrara, and Balistrieri did. (which must've happened when the books were closed either suggesting the midwest didn't follow this or he did it on the sly)
-To be made originally, you had to be Sicilian, but they switched it to just be full Italian
-Members don't have to kill, but this has been a rule in the past, to be made
-Associates are proposed by a made member who knows the associates potential. In the past, the name would go around to all members and if they objected, he couldn't be made
-the associate could cooperate with law enforcement to be made
-in the past, all members had to be present at the initiation ceremonies (Maniaci calls them "tourna" meaning a general membership meeting). They no longer do that though
-The Biernat murderers were alleged to be Steve DeSalvo, Dominic Principe, and Albert Albana. DeSalvo contacted Biernat before the killing
-during the making ceremony, both the proposed member and his sponser's fingers are pricked and their blood is mixed. Then everyone present joins hands and a picture of a saint is burned (presumably in the proposed members hand) and the proposed member takes an oath in Italian to put the organization over everything including family and religion
-Members must obey all orders under threat of death
-No members can deal drugs or they will be killed
-Members need permission before engaging in something that may affect another member
-In the past disputes between members were taken before the "Sagia" (This is also called the Seggia, consiglio, or the Sicilian term consignu)
-The "Sagia'' was composed of a boss, underboss, "consuleri", and the capodecina (the term "consuleri" suggests multiple consigliere, but the document has used the singular and plural terms interchangeably. traditionally, the consiglio had multiple consigliere though. Also "capodecina" suggests one captain, which wouldn't really make sense in the context so it can be assumed they mean all capidecina in the family)
-Balistrieri no longer consults anyone except Chicago and only for big issues
-Maniaci named the following as members of the LCN family in Milwaukee (these are just from memory): John Aiello: Made under Ferrara Vito Aiello: Made under Ferrara; John Aiello's brother John Alioto: Made under Vito Guardalabene; capodecina Albert Albana: Made in early 1964, after the murder of Anthony Biernat Mike Albano: Runs Angelo's Pizzaria; long time member Tony Albano: Mike's uncle; retired Frank Balistrieri: boss; made with John DiTrapani; in Joe Ferrara's crew?; Made capodecina under John Alioto Joseph Balistrieri: Frank's dad; longtime member Peter Balistrieri: Frank's brother; capodecina Joseph Caminiti: Secretary treasurer of Local 257; made in Chicago under Joe Aiello; came to Milwaukee during Aiello-Capone war; bootlegger during prohibition; capodeinca under Vallone and Ferrara; Balistrieri's closest confidant even closer to Frank than Peter; Married to John Alioto's daughter Harry DeAngelo: Ferrara didn't like him; made in 1963; works sanitation or garbage department; 55 years old Carl Di Maggio: long time soldier Salvatore DiMaggio: Carlo's son; burglar eith extesnive record; made under Ferrara Benny DeSalvo: Made in 1963; nephew of old Madison boss Benny DeSalvo who died in 1964; lived in New York for a while but moved back to Milwaukee and went into construction Steve DeSalvo: Close to Balistrieri; primary suspect in Biernat murder; made one month after the murder Sam Ferrara: former boss; operates liquor store; inactive Joseph Gumina; underboss and capodecina under Vallone, Ferrara, and Alioto; he was a boxer after coming to America; bootlegger and then worked at A.O. Smith corp.; capable of murder; his son married Ferrara's daughter August Maniaci: Long time soldier Santo Marino: Brother-in-law to Ferrara; not active; operates tevern Migele "Mike" Mineo: Made in chicago; came to Milwaukee during Aiello-Capone war; capodecina under Vallone, Ferrara, and Alioto; employed by Schlitz Brewery John Pernice: former bootlegger; unemployed; not known to hold leadership position Dominic Principe: Another Biernat murder suspect; made following murder; lives in Illinois Joe Rizzo: inactive; worked as bartender in multiple places Vito Seidita: inactive; 55 years old; works for city of Milwaukee, maybe in street department Joseph Spero: inactive; works for city of Milwaukee, maybe in garbage department Charles Zarcone: consigliere during Vallone, Ferrara, and Alioto; may be consigliere under Balistrieri, but Maniaci doesnt know
Maniaci also listed the following as members affiliated with other families that live in Milwaukee: Frank LaGalbo: runs Chico's restaurant; was supposed to be killed along with DiTrapani; transfered to Chicago under Frank LaPorte John DiBella: member from Italy; close to Joe Bonanno; head of Grande Cheese Company Ralph "bottles" Capone: Chicago member; no importance in the underworld James DiGeorge: operates stock farm; owns land in Adams county, Wisconsin; former capodecina of North Chicago; years ago he was supposed to be killed, but got a pass; lives in exile in Wisconsin (likely shelved)
-Maniaci said that even your immidiate family may not know your made and it's typical for people to keep their sons out of the mafia
Maniaci named the following as people not members of Milwaukee, but closely associated with Milwaukee: Walter "Walter Blackie" Brocca: worked forvarious businesses on behalf of Frank Balistrieri Tony Bruno: No member of Bruno's family has ever been a member Sam Cefalu: gambler; lives at 1606 North Jackson; employed by Balistrieri Sam Cefalu: lives at 3461 North Cramer; not related to the other Sam Cefalu; worked for Balistrieri in a gambling office Anthony "Sheriff Cefalu" Cefalu: Brother of Sam (doesnt say which one); employed as gambler Gus Chiaverotti: Working for Frank Balistrieri in Continental Music Co.; closely associates with Balistrieri Sam DaQuista: No other DaQuista family member has been connected Joe Dentice: No Dentice has been a member Dominic Frinzi: Lawyer for Milwaukee mafia Nick Fugarino: closely associates with LCN Ted Gagliano: Gambler Nick Gentile (Doesnt specify if its Nicola Gentile, the one who wrote a book): not a member, but associates with LCN Joseph Guarniere: not a member Dr. Vito Guardalabene: Son of former boss Pete; no living Guardalabene is a member of mafia Danny Lampone: No Lampones are made Tony LaRosa: associated with LCN, not member Sam Librizzi: Gambling LCN associate Tony and Tom Machi: gamblers John Mandella: not a member Vincent Mercurio: not a member John Percurio: creditor to Frank Balistrieri who he's related to Tom Piscitello: not a member John and Joe Piscuine: Gamblers; no Piscuine's have been members Bruno Ramazini: former operator of Holiday House Frank "Big foot Hogan" Sansone: gambler; runs a restaurant Joe Sardino: no other Sardino's are connected with LCN Tom Sorce: Gambler Frank Stelloh: Close to Frank Balistrieri and Steve DeSalvo; non Italian, so couldn't be made Nick Tarantino: "very close" and trusted by Frank Balistrieri; couldn't be made because he helped police in a burglary investigation, this was well known to LCN John Triliegi: LCN associate Sam Vermiglio: former head of a counterfeit cigarette stamp ring; deals drugs; murdered John Volpe: runs the Holiday house
-An informant, possibly Maniaci, advised in 1964 tht Frank Balistrieri has a share in William Covelli's gambling operation (CI doesnt say, but Covelli may have been made)
-Aforementioned informant said Balistrieri also has a share in John Rizzo's bookmaking operation. Al Albana is the one who brings the money from Rizzo and Covelli to Balistrieri
-Both Maniaci and another CI reported that Balistrieri, Rizzo, and Covelli thought about buting a Key Club in Park City, Illinois. Maniaci said that if Balistrieri was serious, he would have to talk to Chicago first since its their terretory
-On April 5, 1964 CI (aforementioned informant, probably not Maniaci) advised that he expected Buster Balestrere and Joe Gurera were expected to come back to Milwaukee before June of 1964. They are coming back to act as hosts in a big crap game. Nick Tarantino would be a treasurer in the game. Frank Balistrieri will own the game and Buster Balestrere will be pit boss and host. The reasoning for starting the game was it would make a lot of money and wouldn't violate a federal law.
-Sam Cefalu and Sam Librizzi run a gambling office recieving a line from out of state, this is the only out of state line. Sam Dentice is a runner for the operation. Anthony "Sheriff Cefalu" Cefalu used to be involved, but is inactive
-a CI advised that 70% of gamblers are represented by Dominic Frinzi. Frinzi has represented Anthony Cefalu, Charles Piscuine, Robert Pick, William Cole, Steve Halmo, and Harvey Wach
-A CI advised on March 7, 1964 members of "Chicago and Miami outfits" (maybe meaning Tampa) were trying to build a motel in the bahamas. Balistrieri was going to have a 5% interest in it
-A different CI advised that Giancana was interested in a casino at Cat Cay in the Bahamas.
-Ben Novac owned the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami and was a close associate of Chicago and New York LCN. He applied for a license to operate a casino in the Bahamas in April of 1964 and was denied due to his financial ties to gangsters
-a CI (probably Maniaci) reported on April 3, 1964 that Balistrieri and former capodecina, but current soldier Joe Caminiti had a meeting where they discussed the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). Balistrieri said he helped get cheif of police Harold Breter into office. Blaistrieri said he felt the MPD was trying to put heat on him by arresting young people who frequented Gallagher's restaurant and they surveilled LCN members. Balistrieri met with inspector Kremsreiter who was the number 3 man in the MPD. Kremsreiter and Balistrieri met at Fazio's and had lunch. At lunch, Balistrieri suggested that the MPD should stay away from his kind and that there are not enough police to be just focusing on him. Balistrieri told Caminiti that he was happy with how it went.
-Frank Ranney is a secretary-treasurer of Teamsters local 200 and is very close to Balistrieri even working together at Atomic Industries, a bubble gum company
-An informant advised on March 24, 1964 that Balistrieri, Frank Ranney, and Joe Caminiti met at Fazio's. The informant said Balistrieri had "some form of domination over Ranney"
-One CI stated that Balistrieri is connected to Jimmy Hoffa and could get a multi-million dollar loan to build a motel in Milwaukee.
-Tony Volpe is connected with Chicago and has access to the money from the welfare and pension fund of the teamster union in Chicago and that many Las Vegas casinos have been financed with the money.
-On April 3, 1964, a CI (or wiretap) reported that Joe Caminiti and Frank Balistrieri had a meeting where they discussed "the disposition of money supplied by the Teamsters to Frank Balistrieri for distribution to some of the candidates for Alderman in the City of Milwaukee." Caminiti told Balistrieri he'll advise the candidates that they are backed by the teamsters.
-During the same meeting Caminiti insuled Robert Kennedy saying he operated a gestapo. They also talked about a speech Congressman Alvin O'Konski gave talking good about Jimmy Hoffa. The Teamsters gave money to O'Konski and Senator Morse (ph) for political purposes
-Caminiti said Robert Kennedy infringes on civil liberties, this was after O'Konski told him about an investigation coming by the DOJ
-Caminiti also said that the Teamsters had trouble getting the poney to pay for Jimmy Hoffa's legal expenses. Out of 35 locals in Wisconsin, 20 wouldn't pass anything in support of paying. Because of this, they decided they would take the money out of the joint counsil, meaning every member will pay .05-.10 cents
-Joe Caminiti told Frank Balistrieri that Frank Ranney said to be careful giving money to Alderman Allen L. Calhoun. This was due to when Calhoun once moved districts, he came into conflict with Al Hass who was close to the Milwaukee LCN. Balistrieri already knew and met with Calhoun and told him that Hass is who they're most loyal too, but they will support whoever won. Balistrieri gave cash to Calhoun as an unreported donation
-Balistrieri gave a donation to Art Else, who's opponent was Henry Maier. Balistrieri gave Else the donation at Gallagher's restaurant.
-Angelo Provinzano was a member of the city service commission who was mobbed up. Balistrieri gave money to Provinzano who then donated money to mob backed candidates. Provinzano donated $995 to mayor Henry Maier. Provinzano also was used in the past to get Italians in positions in the city government and police department. Informant said Provinzano wasn't made
-On April 17, 1964, Dominic Frinzi (mob attorney) was going to run for governor and the mafia backed him. Frinzi himself wasn't confident he could win, but it would give him publicity which he could later use to become a judge
-Anthony Biernat was found buried in a cellar of an abandoned farm sprinkled with lime, but it wasn't the right kind which would disintegrate a body
-Frank Balistrieri partly owns The Pitch Specialty Co. Balistrieri's relative Peter Picciuro operated the business. His father John Picciuro also has a piece or co-owns it.
-Carl Dentice has a jukebox operation in his name for Frank Balistrieri
-Sam Dentice got a jukebox license under his name for Balistrieri
-Peter Sciotino's bakery was targeted in a bombing because of Balistrieri's shakedown campaign. Sciortino was personally connected to Joe Bonanno in some way and ended up not having to pay. Sciortino himself wasn't a LCN member
-Balistrieri's shakedown campaign began in the summer of 1962 with Joseph Gurera and Buster Balestrere shaking businessmen and gamblers down. Some people did resist so Balistrieri wanted to send a message. They were going to kill either Bill Cole or Bobby Pick, but when LE found out they stopped trying.
-An informant though Tony LaRosa might be killed because it was said the Milwaukee family heard he gave information to LE
-In may of 1964, an informant said that Steve DeSalvo and Frank Stelloh now operated as musclemen for Balistrieri. They even planned to murder someone who the informant didn't know.
-The informant thought the murder target may have been Izzy Tocco who was a booker for Sam Cefalu and got in trouble, but the informant thought that this would be too little a reason to murder someone
-A different informant supplied information suggesting the murder target may be Joe Beck. Beck was making complaints against the Continental Sales Co. Balistrieri made comments to the acting manager Gus Chiaverotti where he expressed his anger against Beck.
-An informant advised on April 10, 1964 that he heard a story about a Milwaukee gangster being offered $5,000 by the Chicago LCN "to make a hit" on a prominent businessman who was made. The reasoning was because the man owed the Chicago family between $18,000-$20,000. The man either stole the money or bet and lost the outfit's money

I wasn't going to do a trip write up at all, but I'm planning a return trip in the Fall and I realized some of the things I learned on my first trip might be useful for other people, so here we go! I don't often see post write ups from people who are specifically into rhythm games/ arcades/ anime stuff
 
Dates: March 8 - 24, 2023 Background: Planned this trip mostly for myself but one of my friends decided to tag along fairly last minute. I had planned to spend the whole trip in Tokyo but the one thing she wanted to do was Kyoto, so we added a side trip + a very pleasant day at a Ryokan. I used Wanderlog to plan (HIGHLY recommend, this site is amazing), and my basic daily itinerary was morning shrine > pick an area to explore and have 1-2 major things per day. The person I was travelling with ended up taking a long ass time to get ready each day, so most of my morning stuff got cut or rearranged. Costs: I will fully admit I did not budget for food/ shopping, 100% vibes. I simply do not acknowledge what I spent

• Flight: $1,500 (Delta from MSP > SEA > Haneda. Direct from MSP had not resumed yet)
• Hotels: ¥314,000 (Roughly $2,300 USD for all 3 hotels total) [¥205,000 (Tokyu Stay Tsukiji, 15 nights) + ¥30,000 (Tokyu Stay Kyoto, 2 nights) + ¥79,000 (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone Kyoto, 1 night)]
• Shinkansen: ¥42,000 for 2 round trip tickets from Tokyo/Kyoto and back. Roughly $300 USD, machine did not take foreign CC only cash

Highlights

• The Kingdom Hearts concert, I maxed out my luck on this trip and we were able to see this on it's last night in Tokyo. Absolutely incredible!!
• Sushi Yuu, Roppongi (omakase sushi for about ¥20,000 per person, we paid more with drinks)
• ShibuyaSky, the open air viewing makes the experience so much better, plus there's a bunch of different spots to hang out up on the observation deck
• Fushimi Inari, the whole shrine blew me out of the water, absolutely must experience in person
• TeamLabs Planets, so few things live up to the hype and this is one of them
• Golden Gai, the bars were so much fun, got the full experience of a salaryman pissing on the side of the konbini

Lowlights

• Caffeine- if you are addicted to non carbonated caffeine like I am be prepared to be disappointed. The monsters are only 40mg compared to America's 150mg+. I'm glad I brought caffeine pills
• Tsukiji market is really not worth going out of your way for, it's nice if you're near it but it's really just a fish market + insane lines for most of the food
• I'm still mad about how bad the food was at the Square Enix cafe is, at least we got coasters + placemats out of the deal. This was genuinely my only bad experience in Japan
• Everything on this subreddit told me that people in Tokyo don't really care about tattoos, however they do really seem to care about colored hair. I have very long, bright ombre hair and I was a bit of a sideshow attraction, including people taking photos of me in public multiple times. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip was being stared at constantly
• Japanese thrift stores love old American clothes, I was definitely let down by the majority of these

Goals:

• Buy anime stuff
• Play rhythm games
• Go thrift shopping
• See cherry blossoms
• Collect shrine stamps (goshuin)

Advice:

• TAX FREE SHOPPING: This has to be first because no one mentions it?? There are 2 types of tax free, discount and rebate. Everywhere has a minimum for tax free. Don Quijote you have to go to the separate tax free counter, and they will seal the bags shut. You're not supposed to use the tax free items in the country - I didn't know this and did it anyways? There seems to be no repercussions unless they open your bag and count every individual KitKat. I had to open the bags to repack everything anyways. The places that do rebates are generally malls, you bring your receipt + passport and they'll give you the 10% back in cash (minus a fee). When you get to the airport, you scan your passport after you drop your luggage, indicating you made tax free purchases. You do not need to keep your receipts anymore
• Don Quijote does sell luggage but Ginza Karen is cheaper
• Besides the standard things that every single trip report has (get a suica, you'll walk a lot, etc etc), the biggest thing I learned is not to go to an area without at least 1-2 specific goals in mind. For example, I had given us like a half day to go around Shibuya/ Harajuku, but because we didn't look into what malls or stores we might like to go to, we ended up wandering pretty aimlessly and not really enjoying the area. This happened a few different areas we went to, so I decided that in the future I would pin some stores on Google Maps and try to make it to those specific stores
• Install LINE and set up an account. It's crazy how much connects to LINE. For me the biggest thing was 1) making Sushiro reservations and not having to sit in the store for an hour plus waiting for our table and 2) being able to grab a chargeSPOT to charge my phone. I brought a battery pack but at this point it must be like a decade old, it took the entire night to recharge and died on me during the day a few times. I have a Pixel 6 Pro and was literally constantly charging my phone
• If you're coming from the Americas, don't try to do something on your first night. Get your Konbini dinner and go the fuck to sleep
• Getting from place to place can take longer than expected, you'll have to navigate the stations, find the entrances (sometimes hidden in malls) and exits (sometimes closed), don't make plans too tight together
• Navigating Kyoto was so much more confusing. At first our Suica cards didn't work because we apparently didn't tap out at a station in Tokyo, so we were buying day passes and paying in cash on the bus. Some of the buses have 0 English and 100% Kanji (navigation difficulty: extreme). Suica cards DO work in Kyoto so if you're having issues go to a gate with an attendant and they can help
• It can be weirdly hard to find bathrooms, most konbini have them but you're supposed to ask the cashier if you can use them. I speak very basic Japanese but hammed up the gaijin card here and would just ask to use the toilet in English, no one ever told me no Weeb specific advice:
• If you want to do pop ups (like the Jujutusu Kaisen Animation exhibit), a Japanese e-sim will be a lifesaver. You need a Japanese phone number to do SO much, they really make it extremely frustrating to make reservations without it. I did manage to make reservations for the Square Enix cafe though, the write-up is on my profile. (Was it worth it? Absolutely not, worst food all trip, -3/10)
• Prices are all over the place for figures, especially prize figures. There's a solid chance you might buy something and see it cheaper at the next shop, however going back/forth between shops in Akihabara can be a huge pain in the ass. I'd recommend 1) making a list of things you want the most and 2) setting a per item budget and a total budget. A lot of the anime stuff was cheaper in Kyoto as well
• You can find a ton of gachapon stuff at Surugaya, so you can just buy what you want and don't have to gamble. Surugaya bins are organized by series
• Use collabo-cafe.com to find cafes and pop up events you might be interested. Plan ahead because reservations can be hard to come by

 
Now on to the super detailed trip report! Here's the big album if you don't want to look through photos separated by day. Warning for flashing video
 
Day 1 (travel)

• Landed in Haneda around 3pm. Immigration + customs took about an hour (we did the visit Japan web ahead of time and had both QR codes ready). There was virtually no lines anywhere
• It took about an hour to navigate to the hotel. I chose to stay at the Tokyu Stay Tsukiji because 1) it was really cheap, 2) it was close to the Ginza line, and 3) it had a washer in the room. Although the location was slightly inconvenient for late nights, I'd say it was totally worth it for the ability to grab food in Tsukiji market, and the room was pretty large compared to some other areas of Tokyo. In fact, the room was so cheap that when we went to Kyoto, we opted to not check out of the Tsukiji room and just leave the majority of our possessions there. This didn't cause any issues and made travelling on the Shinkansen way easier
• I thought we were built different and could do some stuff this evening. We ended up walking to the Donki and being assaulted by sound in every direction. 7/10 didn't discover the 2nd floor until days later. At this point exhaustion kicked in and we got a Lawsons dinner and crashed

Day 2 (Akihabara, photos)

• Going to Akihabara on our first day in Japan sure was a choice. Thankfully neither of us suffered jetlag on the way in. Checked out like 10 different game centers and a ton of anime shops. Managed to find the only Monster Rehab of the whole trip here
• Konbini lunch + strong zero! That flavor was terrible :')
• Dinner at the Monster Hunter cafe (no reservations required). Expectations were low but my travel partner is a huge MH fan. The food wasn't bad but the drinks were awful. The ambiance is nice and there were definitely some regulars there playing MH on the consoles they had set up
• The new Namco game center had like 12 brand new Taiko cabs and all of them had phone mounts so you could film yourself playing! I was really intimidated by everyone there being extremely good so we didn't play any games here

Day 3 (Shibuya & Harajuku, photos)

• Breakfast at Tsukiji outer market since we were already there
• Went to Shibuya Loft for the Bravely Default pop up shop
• Checked out Tower Records
• Ate lunch at Japanese McDonalds
• Went to Takeshita Street. TBH this felt like in-person AliExpress, I'm sure the charm of the early 2000s is long gone
• Visited Hachiko
• Shibuya Sky Observatory

Day 4 (Asakusa, photos)

• Started at Kaminarimon Gate & went down Nakamise shopping street. It was very crowded on a Sunday but I enjoyed it immensely, you just need some patience to get where you want to go. I liked trying all the food, most of the food stalls here were cash only
• Senso-ji temple, bought Goshuincho to collect stamps
• Ate lunch and dinner in the area, there's a ton of food options
• We ended going all the way over to Yoyogi park as well but nothing was in bloom. Because it was overcast the park looked really sad

Day 5 (Shinjuku & Kabukicho, photos)

• Now is the time to come clean, I'm a huge Yakuza/ RGG fan. In the morning I had my Majima birthday cake delivered by PRIROLL. I pre-ordered it and chose the delivery day where we didn't have morning plans. It comes frozen and needs to defrost in the fridge. While we left Majima to chill, we made the pilgrimage to Kabukicho to see the iconic gate. It was raining in the morning so we hit up some arcades then went shopping
• There's a really cool mall that seems anime-centric (I believe it's called Shinjuku Marui Anex). It had a Godzilla store, Cinnamoroll Cafe, a JJK pop up, and best of all... A Surugaya. These stores have bins where everything is ¥100-300 and we ended up buying way too much in every one we came across
• Went back to Kabukicho and explored a bit, went to Golden Gai and drank at a handful of bars. Almost missed the last train because I drunkenly insisted on a final game of MaiMai. 10/10 staying in Kabukicho next time

Day 6 (Ikebukero & Rippongi, photos)

• The plan today was to check out Ikebukero and Roppongi, but we ended up spending so much time at the first mall that we didn't really do anything in Roppongi besides get dinner. Went to the Pokemon Mega Center and the cafe. The main cafe was closed so it was just take out, all the food was really cute but the waffles were kind of terrible
• Gashapon no Depato Ikebukuro was super overwhelming. A lot of the smaller gashapon stores are somewhat organized by what is in the machines, this one just felt chaotic, and it went on forever
• Sushi Yuu was incredible, I didn't take photos of every single course but I was so full that couldn't finish my dessert at the very end. The owner speaks some English and I made our reservations by messaging him on Facebook

Day 7 (Yokohama, photos)

• We didn't get to Yokohama as early as I would have liked - I took us out way into the suburbs to try to find this Yakuza plushie from the claw machines. I looked up the locations on the Sega website, unfortunately this machine was extra rigged and I couldn't win it >:[ On the bright side all the rhythm games had no one else playing them
• Took the cable car over and went to the Cup Noodle museum. Unfortunately we didn't have a reservation so we had to come back later. Found some cafes in the area and had a late breakfast
• The museum was really small, the main draw is making your own Cup Noodles. Entrance costs 500 yen and this is an additional 500. We had some trouble navigating this part because no one spoke any English
• Had dinner at a pie restaurant that was 10/10
• Explored a bit of Yamashita park (Yakuza 7, anyone?) I was kind of disappointed I wasn't able to see this during the day
• Walked around Yokohama Chinatown & visited the local Round 1 ;)

Day 8 (Kyoto, photos)

• I bought the Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the evening before, so we weren't able to get great seats. The machines are also a huge pain in the ass and don't take American CCs, so plan ahead here
• It took us longer than expected to figure out how to use the tickets and read the signage, so we weren't able to get food before and I had to have one of the train bentos. I knew it was going to suck and it was worse than expected :(
• You can bring a full sized suitcase and just put it in front of you, seeing other people do this was unexpected
• My travel partner was destroyed at this point so she rested in the room. I went to the National Garden and Imperial Palace alone. The sakura were just starting to bloom and the weather was great, loved it. The National Garden is SO huge that I only ended up walking up the west side before I tapped out
• Checked out Heian-jingu shrine + the giant torii, I went to another smaller shrine with a great view but I can't remember the name
• We did photoshoots at ESPERANTO Kyoto. There's basically no reviews from foreigners about this place but it was fantastic!! Their online booking form didn't work for me, so I emailed asking for a reservation. I emailed in Japanese and English and they replied in English. They gave me time options and I replied with what package and room each of us wanted (the website says they require a deposit but they told me they didn't need one). When we got there they did our hair and makeup, and then you pick your kimonos out. The photographer spoke pretty decent English and we didn't have trouble communicating with anyone else here. They had our photos edited and printed about 30 minutes after we picked which ones we wanted. The whole thing took about 3 hours (it was longer because we used the same set room). I don't want to include my photos but I did add a video of my hairstyle because she knocked it out of the park
• Ended the day with okonomiyaki, one of my favorite Japanese foods

Day 9 (Kyoto, photos)

• Fushimi Inari day! I ended up walking this alone, I did not realize how long it was going to take or the fact it was actually like 10,000 stairs. My knees were very upset on the way down
• It was not as busy as expected, I went at roughly noon on a Friday. Most people tap out before the actual mountain climb
• The Goshuin at Fushimi Inari are on paper, you can paste them into your books later. Even if you don't have a Goshuincho I'd recommend buying them because they are very cute!
• Shrine cats!!!! You can buy photos of them to help pay for their food
• After Fushimi Inari I somehow managed to walk to Tofukuji Temple (I did the garden but not the bridge) and Daigo-ji Gojunoto pagoda and garden. I wanted to cut my legs off after today

Day 10 (Kyoto, photos)

• I started my day at the Kyoto Round 1, I had visited it on day 8 as well. This one is ace because it was literally always empty 10/10
• Decided to explore Gion a bit, ended up at the Machiya Starbucks and had the best thing I ate all trip (a custard dorayaka, I regret not going back for another)
• Ended up at Kiyomizu-dera Temple totally on accident. It wasn't super impressive in early spring but the view was still fantastic
• Ended the day at the Ryokan (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone). Ended up picking one without an onsen because we are both covered in tattoos, and I didn't want to deal with finding a private one. The cypress tub was a great trade off, and the food was incredible

Day 11 (Tokyo - Concert, photos)

• Today we travelled back to Tokyo and went to the Kingdom Hearts concert. I ended up trying for the lottery for tickets back in like December 2022. Winners were announced the first weekend in January and you only had a few days to buy tickets. I have a friend of a friend living in Japan who did me the biggest solid ever and bought our tickets. I met up with her during the trip for the hand off. The seats are randomly assigned and we had AMAZING seats near the front. This was also the performance Nomura was at!
• We weren't supposed to take photos during the performance so I just have some before. Also, I made Organization XIII beads that attach onto my dress with magnets and I am very proud of it, so please excuse the bathroom selfie :D
• The concert was about 3 hours long and after all the travelling we were beat. We ate dinner, played our nightly games of Ongeki, and passed out
• Bonus video of the music box that plays Dearly Beloved

Day 12 (Ginza & Sumida, photos)

• We were really starting to tucker out at this point. We managed to drag ourselves to the Ginza art Aquarium in the AM and the Tokyo SkyTree in the afternoon. Today was the Equinox so everything was crazy busy, the line to buy tickets for the SkyTree was literally like 2 ish hours long so we bought them online and went shopping in the mall
• The Art Aquarium was really cool, but a lot of the fish were in really small tanks. I didn't include photos of those :(
• The SkyTree just let people up as fast as they could so it was extremely crowded at the top, and not super enjoyable imo
• I spent the evening at the arcades in Akihabara :D

Day 13 (Tokyo - JJK Exhibit, photos - flashing video warning)

• Today I went off in the am to see if I could buy a ticket to the Jujutsu Kaisen animation exhibit in person. The online site wouldn't let me buy a ticket because I didn't have a Japanese phone number. UNFORTUNATELY you couldn't buy tickets in person. I got super lucky again and 2 foreign exchange students from Europe were trying to do the same thing, however they did have a Japanese phone number and the site allowed you to get 3 tickets at a time. They were able to grab them for all 3 of us for that evening
• Putzed off to Hie Shrine, anyone that tells you it's a mini Fushimi Inari is lying
• Went back to Akihabara, found a Miku racing pop up!
• Went back to... Ginza? for the JJK animation exhibit, it took about an hour to go through. I included a ton of photos so just skip today if you're not interested in that show

Day 14 (Tokyo - TeamLabs Planets & SquareEnix Cafe, photos)

• TeamLabs was so cool! I didn't include many photos since it's 95% selfies. Make sure you explore a bit as the string light room had a couple of different areas that are easy to miss, and it's possible to accidentally skip the hanging garden, which was beautiful! TeamLabs took us about 2.5 hours but we were 100% those bitches taking forever to get a million photos
• Since we were staying in Tsukiji we ended up just slowly walking back to the room for a much needed nap
• Back to Akihabara yet again! More rhythm games, some awful food at SE

Day 15 (Shinjuku, photos)

• This was our last full day in Japan, we honestly didn't want to do anything but we managed to drag our asses to Shinjuku National Garden for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately it was sprinkling a bit, at least it kept the crowds away
• Managed to check out Meiji Jingu, but at this point my travel partner was sick of walking and tapped out
• I went back to Kabukicho, walked around a bit and ended up back at an arcade (bless Ongeki for having stools)

Final thoughts (Misc, photos)

• We were literally so annihilated by the trip that we took a taxi to the airport, it was about ¥8,000 from Tsukiji ($60 USD ish)
• I ended up buying a 24" suitcase from Ginza Karen for ¥6,000. It was 100% full of stuff I purchased. We also used one or those giant ¥500 bags from Donki as a carry on
• My Goshuincho was my favorite souvenir, I'm so proud of all the stamps I collected (I did get doubles at some shrines). I plan to bring this back late 2023 to try to finish it
• I have the old school GoogleFi plan and don't have to do anything extra to have international data. Lots of places & stations have free WiFi but you'll need to put your email in
• I don't really sleep that much and my schedule in the US is already busted, but it took me about 2 full weeks to get back on normal human hours. I'm tired again just writing this up and looking through all my photos
• My main regret is not trying more food, we ended up waiting until we were dying of starvation and ate at the konbini a lot (typical)

 
Edits for formatting

Valid theories as to why Nine Mile Hole was so very special to Forrest Fenn are out there, if one cares to look carefully enough. But nobody yet to my uncertain knowledge has pointed to hints in The Thrill of the Chase or other evidence that explain why Fenn might have been so emotional about his journey to the special place that he cryptically described in the poem. Yes, it was the place he wanted to die, and that alone would be a good enough reason for emotion. Yet the sort of sentimentality that Fenn betrayed about the place – for example when he read the poem out loud – suggests something even deeper and more sorrowful: a sense of loss that is larger than the man himself.
It so happens that there truly is a source of information that reveals why Nine Mile Hole was so sacred to Forrest Fenn: an emotional connection had been forged as a result of dual tragedies. It is contained in poetry masquerading as prose written by Ernest Schwiebert, an expert on flies and flyfishing, in his seminal Nymphs: Stoneflies, Caddisflies, and Other Important Insects including the lesser mayflies, Volume II (2007).
The existence of this text and its importance to the chase was originally revealed by Vertigo, who first shared it on The Hint of Riches forum. Later, Vertigo reposted the excerpt from the Schwiebert text on Medium here along with the other results of his excellent research. All the Vertigo entries are a must read if you want to try walking in the shoes of Forrest Fenn. I won’t repeat that portion of the Schwiebert text previously shared by Vertigo in its entirety although I will include a few of the most relevant excerpts to help tie everything together.
What I want to focus on here is the emotional and motivational parts of the tragic story that Schwiebert eloquently told in the paragraphs that Vertigo did not quote. This material is critical in my opinion to understanding the importance of Nine Mile Hole and what happened there to make it the place where Fenn wanted to die.
To summarize, the fires that devastated Yellowstone in 1988 were in part the result of government mismanagement of forest fires on Federal land, much of which was due to political games (e.g. to discredit members of the other political party). These fires created havoc and destruction in the Madison watershed and its fisheries that went largely unacknowledged by environmentalists and the public at large. Only those who had fished those flywaters in the decades before the fires could truly understand the extent of the negative impact on the river and its riparian ecosystem.
Among other casualties, the brown trout hideout at the famous Nine Mile Hole was spoiled, and the spring-fed pond secreted in the woods nearby was literally wiped off the map. Its crystal clear waters – a quarter mile up a cold rivulet from the legendary hole on the Madison – had once rewarded the most tenacious Brown with the perfect spot to spawn. Now there was only brown sludge in its place. To someone who had intimately known Nine Mile Hole, its matronly crystalline pond, or any other riverine wonder of the Madison watershed in Yellowstone, it was enough to utterly break their heart.
Forrest Fenn's feelings about the ordeal were very much in the same vein as those expressed by Ernest Schwiebert. The difference was that the latter man did not need to keep a secret and therefore could lay bare his emotional injuries.
Indeed, the 1988 fires must have devastated Fenn similarly if not more so. But this grand tragedy was not quite as catastrophic to him as being diagnosed with cancer and given slim odds of surviving it. The year 1988 was not particularly kind to the man.
Fortunately, the forests and rivers of Yellowstone always seem to recover from the worst tribulations that nature could manage to throw at them, and so did Fenn. But not without a profound impact. The battle for survival and the scars left behind had connected Fenn to his special place at a level so primal and emotionally raw that it was almost umbilical. How could there ever be another consideration when it came to the somber task of choosing the place to take his last breath?
And then came the FBI raids in 2009. The Feds had had a hand in destroying his Shangri-La in Yellowstone in 1988, and now it seemed they wanted to finish robbing him of treasure while desecrating his reputation and castle in Santa Fe.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, he said to himself through sublime gritted teeth and with a resolve that only the gravely aggrieved can muster. I'm going to carry out my plan. In Yellowstone Park, damn the consequences!
The following is taken from Nymphs: Volume II, starting on page 237. Unless noted otherwise, boldface is mine for emphasis.
I note that Vertigo excluded an important portion of the first paragraph of the story so I will re-quote this paragraph in its entirety. He then faithfully reproduced the next 7 paragraphs, which I won't repeat but will highlight a few excerpts. See Vertigo's Medium post for the full text of the 7 paragraphs, or "DYODD" and buy the book.
Schwiebert's account contains several additonal paragraphs beyond the 7 quoted by Vertigo that are just as important in my opinion, plus there is a footnote that helps enormously to shed light on things. I quote these in their entirety as fair use in order to support the theory being advanced in this entry.

But the entire Yellowstone was ravaged by a series of wildfires in the drought of 1992, and one of the worst of these fires had crossed into the park from Bridger National Forest in Wyoming, just north of Grand Teton National Park.⁶ The great lodgepole forests of the Bechler and Firehole watersheds had become a tinderbox, and vast acreages of primeval timber were surrendered to the fire. Magnificent stands were transformed into fire-blackened cemeteries of snags. Entire mountainsides were utterly scorched as steep timber-filled ravines became incandescent chimneys filled with fire. Slopes of unstable volcanic soils were stripped of their trees and rendered vulnerable to the erosive impacts of winds, rains, and melting snowpacks. Frightening shrouds of talcum-fine soil and ash were carried aloft as storms worked across the Yellowstone Plateau. Gullies were quickly cut into unstable hillsides, and large alluvial fans of gritty clay and ash were formed at many places along the Madison, Gibbon, and Firehole. Such fans were visible immediately below Seven Mile Bridge on the Madison, and there was much worse damage at its famous Nine-Mile Hole, which had been the most popular pool.

Schwiebert makes an error here: the great drought and fires were actually in 1988 as he correctly states in Footnote 6; see near the end of this post.
The next 7 paragraphs are faithfully reproduced in full by Vertigo … I highlight a few key lines. Following this, I start to quote the paragraphs that are excluded from Vertigo's work.

Nine-Mile lay just below the highway, in a beautiful corridor of primeval lodgepoles and ponderosas …
It was a striking place with secrets. There was a crystalline springhead pond across the water, about a quarter mile beyond the river, and completely hidden behind a dense screen of intervening conifers.
Large brown trout were known to enter this minor lodgepole tributary in October to mate and lay their eggs …
I once caught a good fish in the little pond itself … a handsome five-pound hen that had apparently spawned and wintered, and then elected to stay.
The cold spillages of the crystalline creek entered the river in the uppermost shallows at Nine-Mile …
It was a spring-hole worth knowing. Large trout often gathered there in hot weather, basking in its cool temperatures where the ledge rock shelved off into a secret pocket. I could usually count on at least one good fish there, because most anglers simply fished the primary currents of Nine-Mile without covering the pocket below its aquatic weeds.
The fate of Nine-Mile, however, was a terrible surprise.

Compare to page 141 in TToTC with the following words bolded and in red: "Cancer is a terrible word." Boldfaced and redlined text is used within the memoir in only four places, twice in reference to cancer and twice to suggest a warning that something is scalding hot: "DO NOT TOUCH!". The reason for this editorial oddity should be obvious: red for fire, and the red boldface connects cancer to fire.

The fish-filled secret below the weeds was smothered with silt and trash, and the spring-hole itself was gone. I became curious about the fate of the forest pond, and forded the river to inspect it. Dour rivulets of slurry came spilling through the trees, and I was astonished when I reached the tarn.
Its crystalline shallows were completely filled with slurry and trash. A tiny paradise had been destroyed. The outlet was clogged with refuse and silt, and the barrage of trash had raised the water in the lake until its overflows were forced into several braided channels farther downstream. No trout could ascend such gritty rivulets to spawn, and no freshly hatched juveniles would use its spatterdock riches to reach smolting size. Nine-Mile itself had been irrevocably changed, and after dutifully suiting up, I found myself angry and unable to fish.

Compare to "There'll be no paddle up your creek, Just heavy loads and water high."
Consider why Schwiebert was "angry": the full extent of the devastation was perhaps preventable if Forest Service management had actually cared about the ecosystem within their purview instead of trying to score political points.
Schwiebert continues the story as follows, not quoted by Vertigo.

Some ecologists have argued that postfire impacts have largely proved beneficial because natural lightning-strike fires are obviously implicit in our natural forest ecosystems. The science of such truths remains clear. Lodgepole cones do not surrender their seeds without exposure to hot temperatures associated with natural fires, and the argument that ancestral fires have played a substantial role in the ecological history of such forests is sound.
Such apologists further contend that once-dangerous thickets of deadfalls and dry tinder in these lodgepole forests had healthily been purged, and argued that these Yellowstone fires had cleansed its historic forests. The new grasslands created were alleged to have improved bison and elk habitat because both are grazing species, but both bison and elk lacked major predators then and had become much too plentiful before the fires. The ecosystem did not need more bison and elk. Other apologists waxed poetic about the beneficial impacts of the fires on avifauna and their prey within the boundaries of the Yellowstone, but none mentioned their horrendous impact on the famous Yellowstone trout streams.
Some fishing writers have written pieces echoing the doubtful thesis that everything had been improved through the purging of the fires, and that the fishing had also been helped. One reported unusual numbers of larger fish in the Firehole. This was irresponsibly wishful conjecture on the part of observers who lacked a fifty-year perspective on the Yellowstone and its fisheries, and were not competent to pass such judgment. The truth is much less felicitous. Several key tributaries had become so choked with postfire sedimentation, ash, and charred debris that their fish, including large trout that had never seen anglers, had been displaced from their headwaters to find refuge in the Firehole itself.
Such fish were not a happy portent.

Compare the above paragraphs to Fenn on page 141 of TToTC where he follows up the redlined and bolded "Cancer is a terrible word" with "The disease it defines represents nature in its most repellent form."

Fires also ravaged the hillsides along the lower Gibbon. Steeper slopes had quickly eroded, forming labyrinthine networks of raw gullies and wounds leaving the narrow highway below Gibbon Falls buried under great alluvial fans of mud, gritty precipitates, and trash. Heavy equipment had cleared the right-of-way, leaving great windrows of marl in many places, and the Gibbon became choked with waist-deep strata of raw sediments and ash. The great beauty of the box canyon below the Gibbon Falls had been charred and scarified by fire, leaving a river littered with postfire trash and mud winding through cemeteries of charred lodgepoles. I did not attempt to fish, and decided to investigate the fire damage along the Firehole.
The fires had decimated its remarkable lodgepole forests in many places between the Cascades of the Firehole and the Fountain Flats above Nez Perce Creek. I turned south on the old freight road toward Ojo Caliente, and found more fire damage there, but worse burns had overwhelmed the shores of Goose Lake. Its trees had been killed in fires of such temperature and intensity that their fire-seared trunks looked like they had been coated with shiny black lacquer. Fire had smoldered in the great mattresses of dead needles that once carpeted the entire forest floor, and when I used a tire iron to root deep into the burned earth, I found that fire had festered into its thick mattresses of pine needles to depths of eight and ten inches. Goose Lake was now encircled with skeletal lodgepoles that had been killed and charred by fire, although damselflies were still emerging from its shallow margins, swimming ashore to climb the blackened deadfalls and split their nymphal skins.
The scars were much worse beyond the lake.

Compare to cancer as above and to the poem words "Tarry scant": the word tarry could also mean covered by tar in addition to its more common interpretation of delay.

I reached the river and simply sat in the car, staring at its crippled forests with tears in my eyes, remembering the circling seasons I had enjoyed in these uncommon meadows. There were decades of happy memories from this place. I had shared a number of wonderful picnics at Feather Lake with old friends like the late John Hemingway, the late John Daniel Callaghan, and Bud Lilly. I particularly remember awakening from a post-lunch nap on the lodgepole bench at Feather to find Hemingway looking upstream toward the geyser plumes at Midway.
"Know what's wrong with this place?" Hemingway said with a sigh.
"No," I confessed.
"We don't own it," he said.
The narrow trace and cul-de-sac were no longer sheltered in a theatrical corridor of lodgepoles and big ponderosas, and a place of remarkable beauty had been utterly sacrificed and lost. The Firehole still flowed under the fire-blackened bench, a glittering necklace of bright water, with great billows of steam still rising from the geyser basin upstream. I had shared this place with a long parade of people across more than fifty years, and the morning was filled with echoes. I left the car and was surprised by the silence. There were no birds, no brash camp robbers arrived to beg for table scraps, and no skittish chipmunks scuttled across the forest floor. There was nothing for buzzards to scavenge, and no voles to interest circling hawks. The pale September sky was empty. Wind stirred in the blackened snags, which groaned and creaked. The meadow had offered some remarkable sport over the years, and I had hoped to fish, but there was no thought of fishing now.
I drove slowly back along the washboard trace toward Ojo Caliente, through its fire-scarred mausoleum of trees, as a big storm was starting to gather and build along the Pitchstone Ridge. Its conifers had also been ravaged as the wildfires crossed into the Firehole watershed, leaving its summits a raw wasteland of charred earth and gritty ash. The sun had quickly surrendered to an ominous gunmetal sky, and as the storm finally broke along its battlements, immense clouds of loose soil and ash billowed high into the darkening gloom. Such spiraling squalls of silt and windmilling ash would eventually reach the little Firehole itself, and further despoil its hyaline currents. I suddenly understood how profoundly its watershed had been changed.
And it utterly broke my heart.

😪
Footnote 6 on page 735 is revealing. It reads:

There is much credible evidence that these fires had begun outside Yellowstone Park, in the Absaroka headwaters of the Yellowstone in the Shoshone National Forest, and in the Teton National Forest north of Jackson Hole. The fires were fought on national forest tracts, but firefighters were withdrawn once the fires entered the national park itself. The fires were permitted to burn inside the national park for short-term political purposes, because 1988 was an election year. Our natural-fire policy had actually emerged under Presidents Nixon and Ford, and was based on sound forest science, but its application became a regional political issue when both Nathaniel Pryor Reed and Cecil Andrus refused to extinguish a number of controversial fires on federal land. Political opponents fought the Yellowstone fires aggressively outside the national park because the blazes had apparently begun in campfires and lightning strikes on the national forests. Firefighters had been deployed while these fires were still burning on tracts of commercial saw timber, but were stopped once the fires had crossed into Yellowstone. Some of the worst damage occurred on the Firehole and Thoroughfare, and these fires were not fought until they threatened park installations at Canyon and Fishing Bridge, and the historic art sauvage hotel located at Old Faithful. Andrus was no longer Secretary of the Interior when I met him, but during an interview in his office at Boise, I sought his opinion of the Yellowstone fires. Andrus still believed that the bipartisan natural-fire policy had been supported by good science, and pointed out that more than twenty petrified forests within park boundaries suggest that Yellowstone had survived worse destruction, although that perspective is little comfort to anglers who will never again enjoy the pristine Madison and Firehole of recent memory. He agreed that Yellowstone itself was not large enough to protect its aggregate ecosystem, and further conceded that a zealotry that had continued to advocate natural-fire policy in the worst drought summer in recorded history had perhaps been unwise. But he shook his head over the political tactics of appointees in the Forest Service, who had protected tracts of commercial saw timber while later permitting the Yellowstone itself to burn, and had further attempted to discredit the Carter Administration during the election of 1980.

From TToTC page 26: "One day my father gave me a spanking at school for running across some stupid desks, then that night he gave me a spanking at home because I got a spanking at school. The more I thought about that the more I felt put upon. When I explained to him that I'd been double jeopardized he told me that those things didn't count in a dictatorship. That's when I started to mistrust governments."
From TToTC page 147: "Now I feel that my father is sitting on the edge of a cloud somewhere watching. If he knows everything about me he's pretty busy lighting candles, some of them on both ends. But I hope he knows that I've been sometimes guilty only by innuendo, and that's why I wrote my epitaph with such profundity: I wish I could have lived to do, the things I was attributed to."
In 2009, the FBI raided Fenn and several other art dealers – and alleged looters – of Native American artifacts in the Southwest. The raid resulted in the confiscation of just four items from Fenn (none of which could be proven as having been obtained by him illicitly).
https://www.sfreporter.com/news/coverstories/2009/08/19/stealing-the-past/
This was more than just a nuisance … Fenn's reputation had been impugned and two other dealers who were arrested after the raids committed suicide. These guys were likely people he knew or may have even been his friends. A third man arrested in the case also committed suicide; he was a government informant who essentially helped the federal agents entrap the Four Corners dealers.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/dealer-blame-fbi-for-seller-suicides-in-four-corners-looting-case/article_f8613507-1b71-513a-ba21-43a6b0622c0b.html
Fenn was supposedly very angry and threatened Tony Dokoupil with legal action when the reporter spoke with old "pothunting" acquaintances and revealed some unsavory information about Fenn's artifact-collecting past, for example: "... Fenn wasn't just taking a treasure or two but returning to caves and stripping them clean …" In the end, the publicity of appearing in Newsweek magazine at such an early stage in the treasure hunt must have overridden Fenn's desire to keep some of those things that he "was attributed to" under wraps.
https://www.newsweek.com/forrest-fenn-wants-you-find-his-treasure-and-his-bones-64427
The FBI raids – based on purchases of artifacts by a government informant using government money to entice dealers to specifically sell him contraband, and which were conducted by multi-agency SWAT teams – were highly controversial for many locals. No doubt Fenn was pissed off at the Feds more than ever at that point. Despite the epitaph he wrote for himself, he certainly did not want to be remembered as "the old guy in Santa Fe raided by the FBI".
Less than a year later, he published his memoir with its treasure hunt poem. Little chance the timing was just a coincidence.
Finally, does anybody find it intriguing that Fenn rarely if ever talked about the 1988 fire in Yellowstone? It happened the same year he got cancer (or did it?), and he talked plenty about that personal ordeal. The fire and its aftereffects utterly destroyed some of his most cherished places where he had fished for trout and melded with nature since he was a young boy, including his (probably) favorite fishing hole at TOP SECRET "Nine-Mile" and not to mention the magical wood on the far bank of the river with its secluded crystal pond to which he would have gone alone and sat under pine trees, napping, daydreaming, watching wildlife, marveling at the mountain and river vistas, and writing poems or love notes to his wife. Yet not a peep from him about the conflagration that ravaged all of that? Curious.

In just under two weeks, ARMYs will descend upon Singapore to see SUGA! Help an ARMY out and let them know about safety, how to get around, where to eat, tourist attractions, BTS-related things to do, or anything else that you think someone should know when they visit! (Special thanks to the mods for your input and feedback for this guide!)

BTS' Past Visits

Red Bullet Tour (2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II) at the The Star Performing Arts Centre (13 Dec 2014)

• Fancam
• Official photos by Hallyu Singapore
• Official photos of Hi-Five session by Hallyu Singapore. Session was for all Cat 1 VVIP ticket holders ($268), who got a Hi-Five Pass and Concert Poster. The first 100 VVIP ticket holders also got to go up on stage to get a "Dark & Wild" album autographed by BTS.

Music Bank performance (4 Aug 2017) at the Suntec Convention Centre

• Fancam
• Quiz game video
• Outing at the Merlion statue and Singapore flyer: Photos Set 1 Photos Set 2.

Love Yourself World Tour (19 Jan 2019) at the National Stadium
This made history as the first time a K-pop group held a concert at the venue (largest concert venue in the country) and tickets sold out in about 3.5 hours! (45,000 audience)

• Concert review
• Witty notice from the Singapore Police Force abt avoiding ticket scams (it uses the BTS song titles!)
• Bonus: Jimin picked Marina Bay Sands as his special spot in the BTS x Street Galleries collaboration with Google revealed on ARMY Day (July 9) 2022

Concert Venue

Do note that it’s currently the June school holidays too (26 May-26 Jun), so the Sports Hub and surrounding areas may be crowded with many other visitors besides the concert-goers. Please be mindful!

• Singapore Indoor Stadium, right next to the National Stadium (both are part of the Singapore Sports Hub) where BTS performed at their last concert here in 2019. In fact, the Indoor Stadium was then used as the waiting zone for the standing zone ticket-holders.
• Concert guidelines been posted yet (will update here when they are), but here are the general guidelines for events there (links opens a pdf)
• The nearest MRT station is the Stadium station, on the Circle line - here is a train map (with Stadium MRT circled out in light purple). You’ll know when you’ve arrived as the station design is quite unique! Go up the elevator and follow the signage - the path is sheltered.
• You can find Kallang Wave Mall right next to the venue, for a spot of shopping and dining before the concert (opening hrs:10am-10pm daily). There is another smaller mall Leisure Park Kallang located next to the carpark, which houses an ice skating rink, bowling alley and cinema alongside more food options. The open space in front of the MRT station and the two malls is where ARMYs are likely to gather to exchange fan support and stuff
• The nearest hawker centre (i.e the affordable street food) is Old Airport Road Food Centre, one of the oldest and largest hawker centres in the country. It is about 20 mins walk away from the stadium, or you can simply alight at the Mountbatten/Dakota MRT stations (one or two stops away from Stadium MRT station respectively); both are about a 5 mins’ walk away from the food centre. Here is a list of recommendations (unfortunately, not a lot of Halal food stalls here. Let me know if you need those).
• There is also a McDonalds’ & KFC near Mountbatten MRT if you want something more familiar, or potentially try whatever new promo is currently going on at these places.

Sightseeing/Activities

Non-exhaustive list (all prices are in SGD)

• National Gallery Singapore. There is a special Namjooning Tour as part of the Gallery Wellness Festival. Slots are fully booked for the guided tours on 25 & 30 June. You could try the self-guided tours instead, which start on 17 July. Gallery passes for general admission to the permanent galleries (needed to access the tour) cost $20 for non-Singaporeans aged 13-59. Closes early (by 3pm) on some weekends in June and July (see dates on website).
• National Museum Singapore. Has very interactive and engaging exhibits. Highly recommended (I used to be a volunteer docent there for abt a year). Tickets cost from $15 (for access to permanent galleries only)
• Singapore Zoo & adjacent parks (Bird Park, River Wonders, Night Safari). We have one of the best zoos in the world! Single park tickets cost $50. Multi-park options also available. .
• Gardens by the Bay. Pretty gardens with outdoor sections and 2 indoor air-conditioned conservatories - you may have heard of the supertrees that have been featured in the movie "Crazy Rich Asians" and K-drama "Little Women". Provides a welcome respite from the heat. It’s free to visit the outdoor areas, but it’s really worth it to pay for entry to the conservatories. There are various pricing packages, so best to check out the website yourself.
• Singapore Botanical Gardens is our first UNESCO World Heritage site, the first and only tropical botanic garden on the list. Admission is free.
• The Merlion and the Marina Bay area. I personally recommend going at night to see the famed cityscape of Singapore all lit up (the temperature’s cooler too!). Marina Bay Sands Mall has a light and water show every night. There is also the iLight Festival going on now until 25 June with artistic light installations (mix of free and paid attractions). Bonus: Yoongi wore a Merlion Singapore t-shirt in a travel-themed Lotte Xylitol ad!
• You can also ride the Singapore Flyer for an aerial view of our city like the boys did! Admission costs $40.
• Visit our ethnic enclaves, Chinatown, Little India, Kampung Glam and Geylang Serai to see old shophouses, shop for souvenirs and try ethnic food
• One of the fanbases here, BangtanSG, has teased an ARMY event from 11-13 June. Will update when more details are released.
• Sentosa & Universal Studios Singapore theme park - you can access the island via various modes of transport with varying admission fees. Transport within the island is free.
• If you don’t want to think too hard, the best airport in the world for 12 years running is also an attraction in itself! See its dedicated section below for more information.
• Singapore is also located in the centre of Southeast Asia - if you’ve never been in this oft-forgotten region of the world, take the chance to check out our neighbouring countries as well! Malaysia can easily be reached via bus, and Indonesia via ferry.

(Note: You may want to check out Klook for discount tickets/passes)

Dining

Singapore is a food paradise with various cuisines from the local ethnic groups, as well as international ones. For Muslims, there are a lot of Muslim-owned or Halal-certified options around (look for this certificate, or the label “Muslim-owned”), including most of the fast food chains like McDonald’s/KFC/Burger King/Subway.
Carrying some cash with you (~$10 per pax) is a good idea, especially if you’re venturing out to hawker centres; while many places now have an electronic payment system in place, cash is still king in terms of versatility, and anecdotally most stores prefer cash or will charge a credit-card payment surcharge.

Where to eat?

• Most of the malls have a good selection of dining options, ranging from the (relatively affordable) multi-stall foodcourts to fast-food restaurants, cafes, and more upmarket restaurants.
  • It can get crowded during lunchtime (12-2pm) as office workers come out for their break, so try to avoid those hours if possible, or make advance reservations.
  • If you are staying/shopping in Orchard Road, Far East Plaza (level 4 & 5) and Lucky Plaza (multiple levels) have relatively more affordable food options for the area..
  • There’s a myriad of other malls in the suburban areas outside of Orchard to be explored.
• Hawker centres: A “hawker” in Singapore refers to a street food vendor, and in Singapore they’ve been centralised into food centres to create an iconic Singapore dining institution. These places are generally not air-conditioned, but they are the most affordable dining option. If you see an item on a table even if it’s something innocuous like a tissue paper packet or name-card, it means the seat's been reserved (“chop-ed” in the local slang) by people who are off queuing for their food.
  • Look for stalls with the longest lines (the most popular stalls will have long queues all day long), but most stalls should have decent food.
  • Newton Hawker Centre (near Newton MRT station) and Lau Pa Sat (near Telok AyeDowntown/Raffles Place Stations) are probably the most well-known to tourists, but beware of touts and over-charging, especially at Newton.
  • Taking the MRT out to slightly less central areas like Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Kallang, etc. should bring you to other hawker centres that cater to locals.
• Order in: GrabFood and Foodpanda are the two most popular food delivery apps with extensive coverage all around Singapore. Deliveroo is also available. Just be prepared to pay upwards of $5 delivery fee during peak periods, and the listed online prices are usually higher than in-store. The apps also have pick-up available if you’d simply like to order in advance.
• The ethnic enclaves like Kampung Glam (Malay/Muslim), Chinatown and Little India have a higher concentration of the respective ethnic cuisines, but most places in Singapore have a good mix of different local and international cuisines

What to eat?

Breakfast (These are generally very affordable options that should cost you below $10 per person, particularly if you go to food courts/hawker centres)

• Tea/coffee with kaya toast and half-boiled eggs. Available at most hawker centres (usually at the drink stalls), and chains like Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Killiney Kopitiam in malls. Order tea/coffee like a local by referring to this guide.
• Among the fast-food chains, KFC offers the more local option of chicken porridge (congee)
• Roti prata, a south-Indian flatbread (also known as paratha in India, or roti canai in Malaysia), available at most hawker centres and Indian coffee-shops
• Nasi lemak, coconut milk-flavoured rice with a variety of side dishes (usual ones: omelette, fried chicken wing/fried fish, fried anchovies).
• Beehoon, rice vermicelli with a range of toppings like fish cake, luncheon meat (spam), chicken wings, veggies etc.
• Chai Tow Kway (“carrot cake” - it’s actually radish cake), Tau Huey (soya bean curd pudding) + Youtiao (chinese fried dough)
• Mee Rebus, a Malay noodle dish with thick & spicy potato-based gravy topped with hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts, fried shallots, tau kwa (fried beancurd) and spring onions

Lunch & dinner

• Chilli crab: I don’t have any personal recommendations, and it could be costly because the crabs are usually charged by weight, which may vary daily. The link gives a run-down of some popular places
• Hainanese chicken rice: Again, no personal recommendations, but you can find this in most foodcourts and hawker centres. You should be able to find one of these for $5 or less.
• Murtabak/Briyani: My favourite is ZamZam Restaurant (est, 1908) at North Bridge Road in the Muslim enclave of Kampung Glam, but there is a whole row of Singapore-Indian restaurants serving a similar menu there
• Everything under the sun :) Google maps & data coverage generally works well in most parts of Singapore, so search & explore! Some sites you can start at include Chope & Burpple.

Snacks

• A must try, it’s sold by any ice cream man you see roaming around with a popup like this
• We have a ton of bubble tea (boba) stores if you’re craving it, you’d probably find a bubble tea store or two within 20mins of walking anywhere. Koi/Gongcha/LiHo are quite standard options, and then there’s others like Playmade/Chichasansen with their own unique points. Here’s a list with 61 of them...
• There’re plenty of 7-11s and convenience stores around, as well as “mama shops” around public residential housing.

Getting Around

Singapore has a great public transport system. It’s really easy & cheap to get around on the MRT (mass rapid transit trains) and buses. Use Google Maps or the City Mapper app to navigate yourself and get route recommendations (the latter also has transport arrival timings and fare estimates. It also works in many cities globally, so is very useful for tourists). Various transport passes are available for tourists, but you can also use your contactless credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) to pay for the fares (no registration required).
In general, using the Circle Line (yellow) or Downtown Line (blue) should get you to most tourist attractions. Orchard Road (main shopping belt) can be accessed via the North South Line (red), between Orchard and Somerset MRT stations. Map for reference, with links to versions in Chinese/Malay/Tamil available for download.
Taxis and ride-hailing cars: We have Grab and Gojek in place of Uber.

• The largest local taxi fleet - the blue Comfort Cabs - also have their own ride-hailing app to compete, although they can also operate via the traditional meter & can be booked via phone call/flagged down as usual. Fares can be paid via cash post-ride or credit card for all these private car options.
• Ride-hailing tends to be very expensive. At peak periods, ride-hailing services could be even more expensive than taxis, but at least you know the price beforehand. All malls have a taxi stand where you can stand in queue and hop on the next available cab. Queues can be long at morning and evening peak periods, so avoid taking cabs then if you can.

General navigation
All signs are in English, and the locals - esp the younger generation - are able to speak English fluently. If you’re really lost, feel free to approach others to ask for help! People are generally friendly and helpful despite initial appearances :)
As a side note: in general, if Google Maps is asking you to circle around a building to get somewhere - don’t. You can cut through most places on the ground floor quite easily, even the residential buildings (unless they’re private properties like condominiums/landed housing). MRT stations are connected to a good number of places via sheltered corridors if they’re nearby enough. Enjoy the aircon & shade instead of walking outside in the heat if you can.

Shopping

• Orchard Road is our main shopping belt, running from Orchard to Somerset MRT stations. You can find many shopping malls there, with collections ranging from upmarket to fast fashion. Check out Design Orchard, a retail space for fashion and lifestyle items by Singapore designers.
• For an old-style emporium experience drop by Mustafa Centre. It used to be open 24 hours but this was disrupted by COVID19 and now it is only open until 2am (best place for late night shopping!). It's not a glitzy mall, but has crowded aisles chock full of all manners of things, including snacks and souvenirs (avoid going on Sundays when it gets super crowded with migrant workers on their day off).
• Already mentioned above are the ethnic enclaves Chinatown, Little India, Kampung Glam and Geylang Serai with smaller standalone shops. Special mention for Haji Lane in the Kampung Glam area, a small street with cute boutiques.
• The many, many other malls scattered across the country - a brief list. For example, Paya Lebar alone (just another station up from Dakota!) is connected to several malls like Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ), PLQ 2, PL Square, Singpost centre, and a couple more within a 5-mins’ walk (Tanjong Katong Complex, City Plaza, KINEX etc.).

Weathewhat to wear

The weather is especially hot these days (max temp of up to 35 degrees celsius, or 95 Fahrenheit), with possible spurts of heavy rain at certain times of day, so dress light and carry an umbrella (most places do have sheltered walkways between buildings and bus-stops/MRT stations though, so don’t worry too much about getting around in the rain). Mall air-conditioning can be cold, so hv another layer (e.g. cardigan/wrap/scarf) on hand. Remember to hydrate frequently & avoid staying outdoors for too long!

Airport

• Singapore Changi Airport is often voted by travellers as the best airport in the world, with lots of shopping, dining and leisure options in the various terminals. BTS (except Jin who took a different flight) stopped over at Changi Airport on the way to New Zealand for Bon Voyage 4 (airport lounge scenes shown in Episode 1)! While you may not have access to the business class lounge like them, there are various other options to rest and hangout, like the many gardens (some even accessible from the public areas) and even a free 24h cinema (Terminal 3 transit area).
• Jewel Changi Airport which is attached to Terminal 1 is an attraction in itself. It's worth arriving 2-3 hours earlier than your flight check-in time to grab a meal and have a look around Jewel. A particular highlight is to take the skytrain between Terminals 2 and 3, cutting across the centre of Jewel, to get a spectacular view of the indoor waterfall. There is also shopping aplenty (Tip: NTUC Fairprice supermarket in Jewel has a nice selection of food and non-food souvenirs which are pretty affordable).
• There are various transport options for getting to the city from the airport. Public transport like MRT is convenient if you are travelling light, else there is a shuttle service to selected downtown hotels. Taxis and ride-hire cars can be expensive, especially with the airport surcharge.
• Sort of related, Yoongi gave a shout out to our national airlines (Singapore Airlines) for its great seat and amenities in business class in BV4! (He said: let's always fly Singapore Airlines in the future!). The airlines must have taken notice, because they recently announced that they would be adding BTS content like songs, MVs, LY New York concert, and Break The Silence docu in their in-flight entertainment system to commemorate BTS' 10th anniversary. An ARMY also spotted a write-up abt BTS in their in-flight magazine.

We’ve tried to achieve a balance between being succinct and informative, but certainly the above info is not exhaustive. So do feel free to ask in the comments below if the info you need is not here! Fellow SG ARMY, or those familiar with Singapore, feel free to chime in!

This case has already been covered, but I felt the write-up was a bit bareboned and could’ve gone further in depth. That write-up was around 500 words, my one has over 1800 words. I have linked their original reddit post, and I recommend you check it out, as they covered this case first.
https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/dipz9h/karen_louise_wilson_missing_from_albany_ny_since/
Karen Louise Wilson was born on February 10th, 1963, to Taylor and Jennie Wilson. She was a popular student in high school and a cheer leader. She was then a full-time senior political science major at the State University of New York and an unpaid, full-time intern for state Assemblyman Samuel Coleman. She aspired to have a career in the foreign service.
On Wednesday the 27th of March 1985, the 22 year old vanished without a trace.
THE TIMELINE:
On the 27th, Karen went to the Colonie Center and bought a red t-shirt and a blue t-shirt to take with her on an upcoming spring break trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She may have also gotten a tan at the Tanning Hut; she had booked an appointment that day but no one at the tanning salon could remember seeing her.
She was last seen in the 1600 block of Central Avenue in Colonie, New York at approximately 7:20 pm. She also called her roommate around this time, and said she was on her way home for dinner.
It was initially believed that Karen got on a bus near the Butcher Block restaurant on Central Avenue and took it to Fuller Avenue, but it was later determined that she couldn’t have gotten on the bus and probably walked instead. 3 credible witnesses would later tell authorities that they had seen her on Fuller Avenue shortly afterwards.
THE LAST 3 SIGHTINGS:
SIGHTING 1: The first witness told authorities that she saw Karen traveling southbound on Fuller Rd after she turned from Central Ave at 8:15pm.
She stated that as she approached a gas station on her left (believed to be the Workingman’s Friend Gas Station), she passed a very slow-moving vehicle, also traveling southbound. She could not recall any specifics of the vehicle's description, except that the driver was a white male in his forties with an intent look on his face. The male had a beard, brown hair with a reddish tint, and a long nose and face.
The witness then saw a female believed to be Karen, walking near a guide rail along the west side of Fuller Road near Sysco Food. By the time the witness reached Fuller Rd at Railroad Ave, she had already driven past the female.
SIGHTING 2: The second witness saw someone they believed to be Karen on the west side of Fuller Road. This was between 8:10pm - 8:15pm.
She stated that the female was walking south of the entrance of Six Mile Waterworks (also known as Rensselaer Lake) near the construction road leading west off Fuller Road. This area is located just north of the I-90 underpass. The female was walking on the grassy portion of the sidewalk, with her head down.
A smaller person of unknown sex was walking along the female’s right side "almost shoulder to shoulder" seemingly urging her up an embankment or incline into the Six Mile area. The smaller person was described as between 5'5 - 5'8 (165-172cm), and between 120-140lbs (54-64kg). When the female turned her head to the left, the witness thought she appeared nervous.
The witness also described a white male following 50 to 100 feet behind the two subjects. He was walking at a steady pace, not seeming to be gaining on the two. He was described as about 5'11 (180cm) with a slim build, in his early 20's, wearing dark pants and a waist length jacket which may have been beige. He had light colored hair (gold to red), and a beard or some other type of facial hair. The couple then returned to the sidewalk and began walking in a normal manner southbound on Fuller Road.
After the witness stopped at the red light at the I-90 ramp, and then continued southbound, she saw the couple past the dirt construction road on the right, just out from the I90 underpass.
She also stated that she saw a stopped or disabled small unoccupied black vehicle at Fuller Rd at Washington Ave Ext. The vehicle had a New York plate bearing partial plate 239 with unknown letters. The car was sedan style and believed to be about five years old. The driver's window was down about 6" and the passenger window was down about 2". She thought this was odd because it looked like it was about to rain. Also noted on the driver's side window was a hole about ¼" in diameter with cracks radiating from it. She thought that it looked like a bullet hole.
SIGHTING 3: The last sighting of Karen was by a third witness at approximately 8:20pm as he left work at the SUNY Albany Campus, and was waiting at the traffic light on Washington Ave and Fuller Rd.
He was waiting for traffic to clear so that he could turn right, proceed north on Fuller Rd and access the I-90 entrance ramp across from the Six Mile entrance. The female was reportedly seen standing on the northwest corner of Fuller Road for about 10 seconds while the witness was waiting for the traffic to clear. He believed that the female appeared to be waiting for the traffic light to change.
When he made the right turn onto Fuller Rd, the witness saw a male crossing Fuller Rd from the west side to the east side, just south of the I-90 underpass. He took a few steps up the driveway where the construction trailers were on the east side of Fuller but seemed to change his mind. He then walked south on the east side of Fuller Rd. The male subject did not appear to be looking towards Karen.
He was described as a white male with "sandy or light brown, messy or curly" hair, with a couple of days growth of facial hair. He was of average height, about 18 - 25 years old, and was wearing a jean (denim?) or aviator type jacket, jeans, a flannel shirt, and high tan construction boots.
As the witness turned right onto the I-90 ramp, he saw a lime green Volkswagen Rabbit (estimated to be a 1981 or 1982) parked along the road. There was no one around the vehicle. This appears to have been the last sighting of her, and she hasn’t been heard from since.
Due to these witness accounts, authorities believe Karen likely walked south on Fuller Avenue towards State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. They concluded she was likely abducted somewhere near Six-mile Waterworks, the entrance ramp to Interstate 90 westbound and the Northway. The night was not well lit, and the road was not heavily traveled, making it possible for someone to pull her into a vehicle within a matter of seconds without leaving witnesses.
DESCRIPTIONS & BELONGINGS:
Karen was a Caucasian female listed at 5’3 (160cm) and 114lbs (51kg) with brown hair and brown eyes.
Investigators were unable to locate the personal belongings she had with her when she disappeared. These included: A gray cloth notebook, a blue nylon wallet with a Velcro closure, a green and white plastic bag from Ups N Down, and possibly a blue knapsack containing a yellow dress.
She was wearing a Cream-colored raincoat, a light blue short-sleeve pullover, faded blue Levi jeans and white sneakers. She also had a 14k gold ring, size 5 ½, with a turquoise zircon in raised setting along with 1/5 carat diamond on each side, a Seiko watch with a black face and gold numerals and white plastic earrings. The ring was approximately 40-50 years old.
Her dental records are available.
SUSPECTS:
1. A strange man was seen in the area around the time Karen vanished. He has never been identified and authorities have sought him for questioning, at least as a witness or possibly even a suspect.
2. Authorities announced that another suspect in the case was killed in an accidental house fire in 2013. He was never able to be conclusively linked to the case, and it’s thought he couldn’t be the perpetrator as he had reported to work at 4:00am, just a few hours after Karen vanished.
(On a personal note, this conclusion makes little sense to me. Karen’s last confirmed sighting was at around 7:20 pm, leaving nearly 9 hours in between her last known sighting and the time he clocked in to work. The last witness reported seeing her at 8:20pm which still leaves slightly under 8 hours.)
3. Authorities investigated the possibility that convicted murderer and suspected child-serial killer Lewis Lent Jr may have been involved in Karen's disappearance, but determined it was unlikely since Lent's previous victims were all children. He has not been ruled out.
THEORIES:
1. Police did investigate the possibility that Karen traveled to Florida after her disappearance as she had planned but found no evidence that she had ever left New York.
2. Her case has possible links to Suzanne Lyall’s abduction. Both were young, dark haired SUNY students abducted in the same manner. Authorities have investigated a possible link between the two. Both cases are unsolved.
The general consensus is that Karen was abducted and murdered.
PERSONAL THEORIES:
1. Due to Unresolved Mysteries not letting me add photos to this write-up I am unable to provide a sketch of the strange man seen in the area at the time. However, he has an uncanny resemblance to convicted serial killer John Bittrolff. It might be possible he is linked to the case, but this is simply an observation.
2. 2 young women were found murdered and floating in the river close to where Karen disappeared at the same time she vanished. It might be possible that the cases were linked.
CONCLUSION:
During the first year after her disappearance, Karen's family, who now live out-of-state, mailed thousands of letters pleading for information and advertising their $10,000 reward for new details about her disappearance. They have now given up hope of their daughter coming back alive, and simply want to find her body, so they can give her a proper burial and finally know what happened to their daughter.
I don’t have much hope of a conclusion for this case any time soon. It seems clear she was abducted and murdered, and without a body there is no evidence that could lead to anything. Unless her body is found, or someone comes forward, I see this case being unsolved for years to come.
Karen Louise Wilson has been missing for 38 years. If she is still alive, she would be 60 years old.
If you have any information about Karen's disappearance, please contact New York State Police at 518-783-3212.
SOURCES:
https://oag.ca.gov/missing/person/karen-l-wilson
https://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/family-pleads-for-details-in-1985-disappearance-of-their-daughtearticle_36801912-fb94-5152-894d-fd9de58c0502.html
https://www.timesunion.com/7dayarchive/article/Cold-Case-UAlbany-student-still-missing-after-32-11820083.php
https://troopers.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/03/karen-wilson.pdf
https://troopers.ny.gov/missing-wilson-karen-louise
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/5695/details
https://charleyproject.org/case/karen-louise-wilson
https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Karen_Wilson