Marc's Public Blog

I first did some land based diving with Ocean Junkies as soon as I arrived (2 dives in the afternoon after arriving and 2 more dives the next morning before going on the liveaboard). Those dives were actually surprisingly good:

so many eels in a hole

The next morning, I went back with Ocean Junkies for 2 more dives, and they were quite good too:

got lucky to see a tiger shark so close to town

I then went to Carpe Novo, we were supposed to get a checkout dive that day, but it never happened, so in the end we started diving the next day:

We did a couple of dusk/night dives:

we got to see a whale shark in passing

rally realy small octopus

this was really special, we saw 2 octopus having sex

poor shark went for a tasty lure

beautiful jelly fish

We definitely got to see a lot of eagle rays:

We also got to see a fair amount of nurse sharks, they are so cute. I found this one:

One of the highlights was this dive where we saw 8 or 9 mantas that stayed with us for the whole dive:

It's a good thing that I had two cameras (RX100M3 and RX100M7), as the M3 I normally used, ended up fogging up from how many pictures I took, and I was able to continue with the other one:

We got lucky with octopuses, plenty to see, one even went feeding for us

And that was it for the dives, 9 days, unfortunately not a lot of dives for that amount of time (only 25 dives), but apparently in Maldives, it's hard to get more for a variety of reasons (3 dives/day seems standard, and it's not allowed to boat at night if the weather isn't good, and it wasn't).
We had a fair amount of rain, and bad visibilty and low light most days, but all in all, we still had a good time and saw things.

We saw some nice islands from the boat:

The day before last, we got a covid test so that we could fly out:

'till next time:

If I come back, they recommended a south trip the 10 day trip coming back in April-May, or a north only trip (which they don't currently offer).

food was good of course

Singapore airport had all the cool attractions shut down or inaccessible for transit passengers. I ended up spending multiple hours at the nice lounge, waiting for my flight to Male/Maldives:

they also took security seriously

I did not starve at the lounge :)

Finally, after may hours in planes, arrived over Maldives:

Boats would pick up people directly at the airport to go to other islands, although in my case I had 24H on land waiting for my diving boat the next day:

A lot of people also take small planes to farther away islands:

I'm told this is called a beach and that people sit on it, while collecting skin cancers and looking at the waves :)

In my case, despite my hotel dropping my reservation, I got on a local dive boat with Ocean Junkies as soon as I could after arriving, and did a couple of nice dives, and then two more the next morning. The dives at the top of the page linked were surprisingly good.

lots of friendly cats

although I was super jetlagged, I hung out with the crew afterwards

I only spent limited time in Malai, but my impression was that all the people I interacted with were very nice and helpful, but it is still very mush a shariah law country, where a strict version of islam is mandated for all citizens, although apparently some allowances are made for foreigners, probably only because of tourist money. Obviously, I'm not a fan of that:

Virtually all my time was spent on the carpe novo dive boat though, so I didn't have to worry about land/country issues too much.

Nice pictures from the flight out:

woohoo!

so glad to be back

The Grounds:

On day #3, I went early (before sunset), I was able to talk myself into the big ferris wheel and got a special ride to the top when it wasn't opened yet. Got some great shots of course:

Too bad most people missed sunset due to the opening times:

the calm before the storm

I later got a ride on the 2nd ferris wheel as soon as it opened at 19:00:

this one

a few things moved, a bit more ground was used

this was a cute addition

favorite burning man art as always

firmament

always a crowd favorite too

nice parking job

sure, I went for a few rides, even more fun when you're not sober :)

Downtown EDC was well setup:

Lots of stores too:

great to see Pixel Forest again

unfortunately the pixel forest tunnel didn't have the fantastic music/visuals combo it had in 2019

Fireworks

Fireworks of all 3 days:

The People

kandi meetup

And great to see more LED totems, even if I'm still the only wearable LED outfit:

this totem was nice as it allowed taking pictures, videos, and replaying them

this was pre-made but really cool

And of course, got to meet an ever growing list of friends:

normally we have more folks. We will next time!

so great to meet trancejesus in person

Triode and Kifi

Mark Estes who wrote some of the animations (like this one) on my outfit

But let's not forget my friend Afik I first met at EDC, and turns out we live close enough to one another. We became good friends, along with all of Afik's friends, a dedicated group in TFSF and TFLA:

are there more beauiful people?

also met Rory first on the internet, helped him with some code now running his furret totem

And there are so many performers that get ready for us:

I feel so thankful that we were stll able to have some of my favorite DJs:

Fadi totally slayed, and he's such a nice guy. 'You again' indeed, 3rd time we met in a week :)

Lots more people of course:

damn, respect!

And yes, people waited a long time!

And of course, the party within the party:

But anyway, let's get on with the festival:

Day #1

lots of busses waiting at mid strip to take happy ravers

no line when I got there around 17:45, but the busses weren't going yet

Happy to see Khromata, even if it was only for the last bit of her set:

Quantum Valley looked nice, but the atom bar in the middle blocked the screen for many pictures

So good to be back:

I spent most of my time at Quantum Valley, trance head that I am, but tried to see a few others too:

Ciaran Mcauley

So great to see Haliene live again

This was my beef about the atom look of QV, it messed up the screen and pictures:

Paul van Dyk

Paul Oakenfold was next, he was a complete mess, totally coked up, a disaster with the microphone when his buddy didn't take said microphone to make things worse. He even totally messed up a mix, reset a track from the start and played it twice, because 0 fucks given. So sad, he's such a pioneer and truly one of my idols. This is why you shouldn't do drugs, kids, or pick them carefully :)

so happy to be here :)

yes, I see you :)

but really, I'm bored out of my mind

I spent some time to check out Kinetic Field with special access just in time for seven lions:

I used my prototype code that lets me send custom messages from my phone

I then stepped back a bit for a better overview

it was then time to come back for some good psytrance from reality test:

she was nice to see her fans after her set was over at 05:30

Video Summary:

Day #2

Great to see Alessandra Roncone again

After randomly discovering Say My Name at the last EDC, I went to see him again:

Seeing Vini vici for the 3rd time in 2 weeks :)

I was excited to see Pendulum Trinity again after seeing them at Creamfields, good show.

Video Summary:

Day #3

Z-Trip did slay, so happy to have seen him in person. It's a shame that he played so early, which caused so many people to miss his set:

Z-Trip did slay, so happy to have seen him in person:

I also took the time before the main festival opened to see the calm before the storm:

And then the gates opened and everything else started:

And back to the trance stage for a lot of great sets:

Went to see Eric Prydz with my friends. Interesting visuals but too techno-ish for me:

So back to the trance stage to catch the rest of cosmic gate:

Holy shit did Aly and Fila's Fadi slay. It was funny, it was my 3rd time seeing him in 7 days, but loved it

Also had a bit of fun, took pictures, saw people:

nice view from the passport grounds

And I finished the last night with a B2B between Saymyname and 12th planet:

Video Summary:

It was literally my first time staying until the end of EDC (my flight at 08:15 was just late enough that I could stay until 05:30, catch a shuttle back to my room, arrive at the hotel just before 07:00 and take an uber to the airport to catch my flight out: The ending ceremony was underwhelming, not a big deal that I missed it in the past:

thank you, come again :)

From there, I went to the nearby mob museum which was detailled and entertaining enough:

When I got out, I went to visit the fremont experience I had never seen all these years. Nice lighting:

Then it was time to go to area 15 and meet Alvin and go to Meow Wolf a very interesting art installation/game:

the game starts in a store wtih lots of funny fake products

But the game really starts in the back, Alvin and I finished it in a couple of hours. He did most of the work at the end as I was getting tired with jetlag having just come back from Holland 3 days before:

The rest of the week was mostly spent at EDC and recovering from it. Thankfully I had a room with a nice view of the strip, so that gave a few nice shots:

On EDC Day 1, we went to Bellagio for their buffet that now closed at 15:00. It was still good enough with unlimited mimossas. Of course, went to see the conservatory which is always a delight to visit:

Two days later, after failing to get into the Cesar Palace's buffet the previous day (reservations only and even by going early, they didn't take walk-ins), we got in the the last day. Still a very good buffet:

And that was it for Vegas, of course most of my time was spent at EDC 2021.

The different security staff that day had a quick look at my stuff, but again was nice enough to let me in without issues, although they didn't allow people to come in with even an empty bottle of water.

Back at Panama, Panama, I missed you, and your 20cl glass bottled municipal water, as well as 2 euro fee to go use the toilets (but they are nice, you only pay once per night, and I didn't first have to exchange my money for worthless tokens, so it could be worse, haha. That was my fee to go refill my bottle of water)
It's not a huge venue and it was packed to the brim, so it definitely gave for a more intimate feel. Everyone was having a great time. Actually I wondered if anyone was sober at all, and by that I don't mean beer, haha. The crowd vibes were just amazing:

the VJs did a good job with lighting and lasers

Paul Thomas opened at 15:00:

The Thrillseekers was next, Steve did another enjoyable set again:

Factor "I can't believe I'm getting paid to have this much fun" B was next, OMG, he was on fire:

bring it on!

Good to see John O Callaghan next, as always he's more calm and composed, but that didn't stop him from another great set too:

Did I mention FactorB was having a lot of fun? :)

Aly and Fila was back again, and we didn't mind :)

FactorB went to enjoy that set in the crowd with us

The studio had Road Kahan and then Suncatcher & Exolight, happy to see them again after Untold in Romania:

Back in the main room, Bryan Kearney was next, and played trance that was less hard as usual. I enjoyed it more as a result:

And Manuel Le Saux closed the night:

It was also great to see the newlyweds Robert and Nadine Nickson for a group picture:

Manuel nicely played a song for them:

And after 9H the night was over, so much fun, one more picture with Suncatcher & Exolight, it was cool to meet again after Untold:

Video summary:

Panama was not as full as the next day, but still pretty packed

Fadi was super nice with the crowd as always

Video summary:

the T-Shirts were ready :)

I did my best to represent TFSF

The show started at the ASOT studio and was migrated live to AFIS:

Mark Sixma was next:

Then, Armin took over for a 2H set, I had my outfit ready for him :)

we even got some live singers

great to see Susana again, singing her new single with Armin

The last hour was Vini Vici, both of them this time (so funny that I literally was with one of them a few days prior in SF):

While it was only 5H and really a warmup for the real ASOT 1000 rescheduled to feb 2022, given that we were all hungry for parties again, it was great to have this night:

It was also cool to be on the official stream quite a bit, like here:

Full Stream, I'm visible during these offsets: 3:07:45, 3:17:09, 3:40:21, 4:07:59, 4:09:39, 4:20:06, 4:20:17, 4:23:37, 4:39:51, 4:48:29, 5:04:48, 5:13:44, 5:21:40, 5:47:11, 5:50:54, 6:16:27, 6:18:58, 6:25:08, 6:25:57, 7:14:01, 7:14:57

My Video summary:

nice weather in SFO

After Turkish Airlines nicely cancelled my flight, I ended up with Luftanza to FRA and then AMS. Service was decent1108*

Eventually arrived in Amsterdam, despite the connection (no direct flights during covid)

The first day, after unpacking and a quick meeting in my hotel, went to AFAS Live for AMF DJ 100

The next day, I took my bike on the train and went to Den Hagg to meet my cousin Frank during his lunch break. I then used the remaining time to see other things I hadn't seen in Den Hagg yet (the car museum is world class, and so is the Eischer museum):

I kind of half randomly picked Museon, a science-ish museum which was ok-ish, but was nothing to write home about:

so happy that I got to see some of those in real life

I was done quickly enough that I had time to see the Kunstmuseum next door, and that was much better, including works from Mondrian:

Mondrian:

Then I just had time to bike back to the main train station to get back to AMS in time for my 2nd evening show, ASOT 1000 special at AFIS. Sadly I got to the train station just a bit too late for bikes to be allowed (they are not allowed during 'rush' hour), so getting back was a bit tricky. Biking through Den Hagg is always fun, it's a pretty town:

They should have a remake of 'dude, where's my car' but with 'where's my bike'

Day #3, I decided to go check out the NXT Museum which was hit and miss. Not a must do, but a fun way to spend an hour or so:

Since I had a bit of time left over, I looked around on google maps and randomly found the 'WONDR Experience', also a bit out of the way in some hangar. I only had 45mn or so, which was a bit rushed, but it was just enough for a reasonable visit:

That evening, I went to Panama for Aly and Fila OTC, which was of course well enjoyable.

The next mornign was Day #4, I had a bit less time, so I just went for a bike ride a bit outside of the city center to a street that had art outdoors, and saw a few things on the way, and accidentally bought $100 of cheese, ooops ;)

my cheese being wrapped up

weather was surprisingly good for october

found a few street markets

finally made it to the art street

didn't do the museums again, had seen them already

That evening was really the afternoon, the much longer Luminosity's This is Trance

Day #5, the last day, there weren't any compelling ADE parties (no music I was likely to really enjoy, and besides after 4 days in a row of partying, I was a bit partied out too :) ), so I looked for day trips out of Amsterdam, and Leiden won. It's a charming town about 30mn away by train:

I started with Boerhaave, a medicine/science museum:

Next, I did the Volkenkunde museum, which had an extensive collection of art from different civilizations:

I finished with the small Observatory and Botanical garden:

I had no idea that Holland had a wild population of parrots

Leiden had more museums than I was able to see in one day, so I did as many as I could fit before the day was over (18:00):

It was time to back to Amsterdam, buy some groceries (mostly stropwafels) and get ready for the early flight home the next morning (with another detour via FRA)

AFIS Life was nice enough to let me in with my outfit without issues, overall the Dutch are more pragmatic, so I wasn't overly worried (except for that Luminosity incident in 2019). I was there 15mn before it opened, so I got in quickly, but made the mistake to take a few pictures before heading for the rail, so I never made front row during the night, but I still had a great time :)

security was quick and painless

The lineup was 6H and very varied:

I had never seen Christina before, she played some good trance

Mariana Bo was also full of energy, good show

Armin won the 'highest trance award', haha

Then came the top 10 DJ results:

Armin got #3 again, not bad

And David still at #1

AFAS Live was a pretty big venue:

they had lasers, but they were fixed, could be a better setup I think

from a distance, it looked nice though

It was a good night. The only downside was AFAS had pick pockets, which thankfully would have struggled to get things from my weird pockets, but that's not cool. That was a first good night, 3 more to go :)

Video summary:

I got a slightly better camera 15 years later, so the shots were a bit better. It was cool to see an airliner flying so close to the ground/water:

yeah for energy management, cool that the flight by wire allowed this

low enough to buzz the boats

coast guard

damn, that's a lot of control authority

Outside of driving through San Francisco and terrible parking (had to park a long ways away and bike in), it was fun :)

Pretty Pink started at 18:00:

It got dark, went to see friends for pictures:

Andrew Bayer took over after an hour:

And by 20:00, Above and Beyond took over:

It was a bit short (only 4h), but a good night. Definitely a good night:

good crowd on saturday

Video Summary:

It was 3 hours of triplet bliss, thanks to all!

Video:

Bright at early in the afternoon due to a 02:00 curfew

friends from arount the world, re-united

nice TFSF kandy :)

Hi Ryan :)

And it was picture night, woohoo!

great to meet Somna

I recently added that for Sean Tyas :)

so nice to finally meet GO, he's a bit crowd shy :)

even M.I.K.E. and Sean at the end

Time to party :)

did I say the lineup was stacked? yes, it was

vynil classics

So many sets happening at the same time. I saw a good part of Somna's set, but wish I had done the entire set

Findtherabbit doing an excellent job with visuals, Somna's set was so much better with them

Jumping back and forth between stages:

Sean Tyas, great set too

Somna then handed over to Alessandra Roncone, I think it was a first for her in SF

But there was more, things just didn't stop:

Did I mention lasers?| Life is better with lasers, isn't it?

But it wasn't time to stay in one place, if you did, you missed out:

fuck you MF :)

M.I.K.E. finished the night on mainstage:

And that was it, the night was over, so much good trance, absolutely the best event TFSF has ever had. Ulrich, you outdid yourself, thank you!

Ulrich and Sony

Video Summary:

And after party at Afik's, thank you;

By 05:00 it was finally time to go home, after such a great day, thank you to all.