Mad Mondays

It has been about a month since I signed into the Asylum Backpackers Hostel and I think it is high time to discuss the big day of the week around these here parts. Mad Monday is the big pub crawl where most everyone in The Asylum rocks their Asylum shirts (properly graffitied with lewd phrases and nicknames as well as mostly all ripped and unruly) and hits up a few bars in Cairns. We get coupons for each bar where we can get free drinks plus a meal plus discounts on other drinks. Lots and lots of lots of fun times ten.



The night begins at a brisk 630pm. I usually have gotten back from the boat and had an hour or so to collect myself, run thru some emails and maybe get a small cat napper. Unless of course there is a theme for the Monday in which case I have spent that time sprinting to thrift stores or having some arts and crafts time making up something original for the evening. We all head down to out front of the hostel to have a few drinks and further defile each other's tshirts. Some like to get a new shirt each week while I prefer to continue to sport the insults and slogans on my shirt from previous weeks. Any virgin shirts are descended upon very quickly by the herd.

By 715ish we are shuttled off to the first bar, The Rhino Bar, where we get a nice little meal of moroccan chicken and rice or perhaps some spaghetti and meatsauce. Free drink coupon and then it is happy hour with cheap drinks. There are a few games played on stage. Most games are centered around lap dance competitions and pretty much just trying to get us inmates to make fools of ourselves. I vowed this last Monday to not take a step on stage (not in the first bar, not in the last bar, not in any bar). I was superclose to having my plans foiled right away at rhinobar when they had four females up on stage and needed four strapping fellas to team up with them. I don't know why but somehow I am always selected to be a strapping fella either by the guy with the mic or by all the other people in the crowd around me. Anyways I was getting manhandled up to the stage (not putting up too much of a fight) but before I got there four other fellas had eagerly volunteered. Suckers. I was safe.



Anywho after running the first bar for a couple hours we head across the street to The Heritage where there are more free and discounted drinks with more of a dance floor to boogey down on here. Games include finding items in the crowd like Jesse discussed when he was out in Byron Bay as well as a fun one where we get in groups of four and half to fit everyone on top of a single sheet on newspaper. Get the girls on the guys shoulders and you fit pretty easily. But then they fold your sheet of news in half and have you go again. Girls on shoulders and the guys pretty much hugging and we are ok and on to the next round. Fold the pape in half again and the other guy decides he can fit the other three of us on his back. Our game ended with the four of us entangled on the ground definitively not balanced on top of our tiny little paper.

An hour or two of Heritage fun and we are off to The Woolshed. Free drink, free slice of pizza and it is time for Mr and Mrs Backpacker competition. Guys first up on the tables dancing around for the crowds approval to move on to the next round. Generally you try and ration the clothing removal so you still have something to take off in the final round. I still haven't really figured out how to win this game. I try and predict who will move on to the latter rounds each week and cannot reliably predict the crowds whimsy.



Before you know it you are wandering out of the Woolshed at 4 in the AM. Great great nights. The only competition I ever won was a costume contest for the Costume Theme Mad Monday a few weeks back. My years dressing up weekly at Stanford had me prepared to quickly assemble an excellent nerd costume. I won a free trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling and diving. Hot Dog! I get to do that everyday already. So I gave the certificate away to my buddy who I considered runner up in the Costume Competition. Chaos Craziness and Monday's are one of my favorite nights of the week. Somehow I have been in Cairns for every Monday so far. It has worked out just so that work hasn't scheduled me to be on the liveaboard on Monday night yet. There are thousands of Mad Monday Pictures up on http://www.asylumbackpackers.com/ from the last couple weeks. I'm in a ton of them. People ask why I am still staying in a hostel rather than getting a flat here in Cairns. Events like this and that general atmosphere is something I am not going to get from hanging out by myself in my own little flat.

Bye
B