International Mankini Challenge

My extended travel around South and Central America may have come to an end, but the International Mankini Challenge lives on and is going from strength to strength thanks to those who have picked up the gauntlet. As more people take up the challenge to wear a mankini in iconic locations in every country of the world, I feel that as the instigator of the madness I should continue to do my bit in achieving our goal. With this in mind the mankini took its rightful place in my backpack on a recent trip to Berlin, the capital of Germany.

For those of you who don’t know, the International Mankini Challenge started when friends challenged to wear a mankini in every country I visited. If the daunting fact of having to wear something that could barely hold a squirrel’s daily nut intake wasn’t enough, as a lone traveller I had to find willing people to take the pictures for me in the 17 countries I visited. I opted for the mankini pictures to be taken in iconic locations so I could prove their country of origin and disprove any alleged cheating. In some places I had the challenge of actually finding an iconic location, but in Berlin there was a wealth of alternatives, such is the variety of things to see in a city with so much history.

Having three days to explore the city started with the All in One City Bike Tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours. This would both give me my bearings and help me identify the best location to get the mankini shot. Having done a bit of research on the things to see and do in Berlin, thanks to SpottedByLocals.com, the bike tour seemed to tick off a lot of the major attractions that are a must do for Berlin.

Berliners are extremely broadminded and trusting people. There are no barriers or ticket inspectors on the underground train system, it’s assumed you’ll buy and validate your tickets from self-service machines. This trust extends to the bars and restaurants too. Fran Rosa is one of four locations where you can drink as much wine as you like, eat a three-course meal and decide how much you pay by dropping the amount in a jar on the bar. And all this from a city that is €84bn in debt. Every niche interest and type of person you can imagine is welcomed into a stirring pot of diversity, never judged or stared at. So wearing a mankini would be nothing out of the ordinary then!

Having enjoyed a great day seeing Berlin’s highlights and getting a great insight into German and Berlin history I decided that the Berlin Wall was to be the place for the mankini shot. Not only does it have Berlin in its title, but its collapse is known throughout the world to have freed swimwear god and Baywatch creator David Hasslehoff’s musical career and line in men’s leather trousers.

On the last day of my Berlin trip I went to the East Side Gallery, in the light rain, for the mankini picture. The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall still standing. On the side facing the old West Germany it displays recreated murals (painted and graffiti) that once appeared along the wall when it stood in its entirety. On the side facing the old East Germany it is blank, as it would have been when the two Germany’s existed (the Berlin Wall consisted of two walls with the so called ‘death strip’ in-between. People seen in the ‘death strip’ would have been shot if seen by East German guards).

I don’t take pictures in places that will offend people or where children are around and so I nipped around the back to the “deathstrip” to get the Berlin Wall mankini pictures you can see here in the mankini gallery.

I hope they put a smile on your face and that one day you make the time to go and visit the fascinating city of Berlin. Please find a list of places I’d recommend you visit while you’re there.

1. Checkpoint Charlie – One of the main checkpoints for going in and out of East Germany. The museum here is a little disorganised, but the free information outside where the checkpoint used to be is good

2. Topography of Terror – The free information at the site of the former headquarters of the Nazi ‘Gestapo’ and SS is interesting (but there is a lot of it)

3. Luftwaffe Ministry The old airforce building is now the German tax building (not the proudest building history), but is located by a good piece of Berlin Wall

4. Reichstag – The old parliament building is impressive and set by a nice park

5. Brandenburg Gate – Crowded but worth seeing as it’s an iconic part of Berlin

6. Arthouse Tacheles – An old bombed out shopping centre that is now home to numerous artists’ studios and is itself an interesting construction

7. C/O Berlin – A great photography gallery which is opposite a bar that serves over 300 different German beers (great for museum/gallery fatigue)

8. Unsicht Bar – A restaurant where you eat in complete darkness and are served by blind waiting staff

Following the great mankini pictures sent in by Flo Areal when he was in Antarctica, the word countinues to spread about the International Mankini Challenge and this week reached Milwaukee in Wisconsin (USA). JB Poplawski heard through his boss, who had seen some details on twitter, about us and sent in a few pictures of his own efforts.

JB told us that he “… wore the mankini for a Cancer benefit called Angel on my Shoulder and raised a little over $300 for the cause. Additionally (he) included a picture with the Milwaukee Police Department on Halloween of 2009.” Great effort JB. My experience of the US PD departments hasn’t uncovered a great sense of humour, but you certainly seem to have them laughing. 10/10 for bravery!

Inspired by the challenge set JB goes on to tell us that “we should have another entry from the UK coming as my co-worker heard of my antics and said he bought one. I’m not traveling overseas anytime soon, but I’m sure I can get some more sites in the US. ” Nice one. Hopefully others will follow your lead sir!

Check out JB’s mankini picture here.

When Robert Falcon Scott landed in Antarctica in 1901 and set out on his Discovery Expedition, I bet it never crossed his mind that 109 years later another Englishman, Flo Areal, would arrive even more unprepared for this hostile continent than him. With all that we know about Antarctica today and the advances made in extreme weather clothing, you’d think the fact that Flo turned up in only a luminous green Lycra Mankini to be madness. And you’d be right! But that ladies and gentlemen is a demonstration of the extraordinary efforts people will go to for the International Mankini Challenge!

Having heard of the International Mankini Challenge (IMC) from a client of his in Switzerland, Flo emailed the IMC to double check that Antarctica hadn’t been mankinied yet. With confirmation that the green lycra flag hadn’t been flown in the coldest of continents, Flo flew over to Argentina and headed to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, looking for a boat to take him through the treacherous Drake Passage (considered to be one of the most dangerous stretches of ocean in the world) to Antarctica.

The cost of such a trip can easily be in the region of US $5000 when booked in advance. But if you can be flexible by a few days, then the best way is to travel down to Ushuaia independently and see if you can get a last minute berth. As Flo says, you can then usually secure a spot for around US $3000 – not a bad saving! With the quota on the number of people being able to do this trip being cut for environmental reasons, these prices are only going to rise too.

Following Flo’s initial contact, the next we heard of him was on the International Mankini Challenge twitter page when @DodgyLodgey (a Kiwi backpacker) mentioned she’d seen a lad in a mankini while on a trip to Antarctica and was that anything to do with us. After telling her about Flo we established it was him. Sure enough a few days later Flo emailed us to confirm he’d become the first person to wear a mankini in Antarctica (and by doing this he’s completed the southernmost Mankiniing of a country). He then uploaded a couple of great pictures of him in the mankini by Wordie House (a British scientific research station) to the IMC Facebook Group as proof.

To see the pictures of Flo in a mankini in Antarctica, check out the Mankini Gallery.

Flo’s achievement has meant we now have mankini pictures from 24 different countries, covering six continents and involving eight different International Mankiniers. While this is a great achievement, we want more! We’ve yet to have a mankini picture from Africa (a World Cup one would be great) and with all the backpackers in Asia, I’m surprised not to see any more from there. So come on guys, it doesn’t take up much room in the backpack after all.

With St Patrick’s Day celebrated all over the world with the drinking of Guinness and the wearing of green attire, Australian Sean Lynch (Lynchy from The Shamble on The Circle TV show in Australia) thought it a great excuse to don the Mankini on Australian National TV.

Unfortunately it couldn’t be worn as designed. Lynchy told us, “I fought tooth and nail to try and wear the Mankini in its proper form (with ‘bulge’ and ‘pubic hair out the sides’ included), but the powers that be felt that ‘it would make the early morning crowd vomit in their mouths a little bit’.”

When we asked him why he wore it, he said “there are many good causes around the world – Hope For Haiti, Live Aid, etc… but there is one cause that goes overlooked, that of the Mankini and it’s effect on other humans eyeballs. Perhaps if George Clooney spent less time ‘being awesome’ and more time promoting important issues like Mankini awareness, this crazy old world would be a better place… and more spandexy.”

We couldn’t agree more Lynchy – a call to arms to potential Mankini wearers of the world! Hopefully Lynchy’s editorial team will be more forgiving next time and let him wear the Mankini as it’s meant to be worn.

And finally … Lynchy will be appearing at the 2010 Melbourne International Comedy Festival in “The Shambles – Live At A Ballroom” from April 6 – April 18 at Trades Hall. Tickets are available from TICKETMASTER or http://bit.ly/shamlive

The relationship is not immediately obvious I hear you say. Ireland is known as the home of Guinness, liberal drinkers and happy friendly and outgoing people. The United Arab Emirates, better known by some of its member states (e.g. Dubai), is known for being a religious country where the drinking of alcohol is frowned upon (and therefore restricted to hotels in Dubai). So what’s the answer? They are, of course, the latest locations that have been mankinied as part of the International Mankini Challenge!

As a dare Mark Dunne was bet by his friends to run down busy Grafton Street in the heart of Ireland’s capital, Dublin. As the four minute video below shows, Mark won the bet! It seems he made some friends on the way too!

A great effort by Mark who is keen to mankini some other locations in Ireland and beyond. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of Mark in the luminous lycra dental floss!

Our first Middle Eastern mankiniing of a country has been achieved by an old school mate of mine, Stu Field. As Stu told me “the photos are taken on the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah in the Emirate state of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, with the famous Burj Al Arab 7 star hotel in the background, the world’s third tallest building. The others were taken at the top of the ‘Leap Of Faith’ water slide in the Atlantis Hotel Water Park also on the Palm Jumeirah. This is an almost vertical open waterslide that changes once you have descended 90ft, feet first, into a completely clear tube which runs through a tank of sharks and rays and out into a plunge pool.”

I haven’t see Stu in over 14 years and when I asked him why he did it he said “it was the first holiday that I’d had after you put the damn fool idea in my head! Seeing your pictures amused me! Though I have to admit it scared me somewhat to do this as this sort of behaviour is something that police arrest for in this Islamic state although they are slightly more relaxed her than in some other UAE states!”

Great work Stu. As you say, it takes a lot of guts to do something like this. Some people may think we’re exhibitionists, but the truth is that for the most part we’re scared to death. The attraction of what we all agree are unsightly photos at the best of times, that don’t really show any of your best side, is the amazing adrenalin rush from the danger and risk of it. I’d like to say it gets easier the more times you do it, but it doesn’t!

Click here to see Stu Field’s mankini pictures in Dubai.

Keep the pictures and videos coming everyone. That’s an amazing 23 countries in total mankinied to date. Great effort by all involved but I can’t help but suspect that there are more pictures and videos out there that haven’t yet been shared with us…

So with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (Canada) now upon us, could there be a better time than now to send in your own Mankini Winter Olympic pictures and videos? In the first event we have James Hurst entering the Men’s Downhill Skiing.

James was in Morzine, France, when the mankini video was taken and did the downhill in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. If you like and appreciate the bravery James showed in wearing the mankini to ski in, you can donate money towards Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research by going to James Hurst’s Just Giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/James-hurst-mankini-skirun. Well done James and good luck with the fund raising.

The last stop on my epic 13 month adventure around Latin and North America was Uruguay. Famous for… Well it was going to be hard to find somewhere in Uruguay to Mankini that the world would know by sight. So I decided to do it in a place that Uruguayans would know well – the beach and surf mecca of Punta del Diablo.

Uruguay is often forgotten by travellers to South America and without meaning to be nasty, I can see why. Don’t get me wrong, the quaintness of Colonia del Sacramento is appealing but wears thin after a day. Punta del Este is good if you want a St Tropez kind of feel (and can afford it). Montevideo… well, if you’re going to Uruguay, skip the capital as it’s as dull as it is grey! And let’s just say that Uruguay is far from being cheap, especially on a backpacker’s budget. In summary, neighbours Brazil and Argentina really put Uruguay in the shade.

However the small surf and beach town Punta del Diablo (Devil’s Point) is a little gem and so with a little over a week to spend in all of Uruguay I caught the ferry from Buenos Aires (Argentina) ticking off Colonia and Montevideo quickly on the way to some beach time. While in Montevideo I’d run into national hero Jose Gervasio Artigas, or should I say his monument in the main plaza. And so upon coming across another statue in honour of “the father of Uruguayan independence” in Punta del Diablo (and actually on the point itself), my decision was made for me as to where to take the mankini picture.

Punta del Diablo is a sprawling and unplanned sleepy town of sandy roads, cabins with sea views and no street lights or signs. It’s a chilled place where crime isn’t a problem and where all the local fisherman worry about is having enough money for a beer at the end of the day – so an ideal place to relax.

So it struck me as strange that with all this surfing and relaxing going on that people mustered the energy to wander out to the point to see, put plainly, what is a very average monument. Having myself fallen into the Latin American trait of “mañana” I kept putting off the mankini picture choosing to sunbathe and read instead (after a personal tally of 18 countries you can start to get a bit blasé about throwing on the lycra). So you can imagine how pleased I was when on my last day it was overcast and everyone in town decided to go see the monument (for some reason) and sit around drinking their mate (tea popular in Argentina and Uruguay – not a friend!).

Reunited with Abbey, veteran mankini photographer of 6 countries, we waited for the worst of the human traffic to pass before I shrugged off the boardies and climbed up on the plinth to join Jose. We tried to make the pics a little more interesting, whilst not wanting to offend any of Jose’s countrymen in the process, so I hope you like them.

See the Uruguay Mankini pictures here.

Until the next time …

It kicked off in the South of France and started to gain substance in South and Central America. Now, thanks to three more fine young men (bringing the current tally to six Challengers in total), the International Mankini Challenge (IMC) is gathering pace around the world.

It takes a special kind of man to cast aside conventional clothing, concern of what others may think or say and don the luminous green thread that is the mankini. We know it’s not big or clever and we know it’s unsightly, but in a world where far too many people take themselves and life too seriously and where in the last year or so there’s been little to smile about, we’re trying to raise people’s spirits.

So I salute you Nick Ferris who wore the mankini in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, after presiding over his friends wedding. I salute you Kevin Oliver who wore the mankini to a fancy dress party in Manly, Australia. And a big salute to you Andrew ‘Chicken’ Hunter who wore a purple version of the mankini in New Zealand whilst ice climbing the Fox Glacier, canyon swinging in Queenstown and zorbing and bungee jumping in Rotorua! I know what it takes and you have my admiration. I have a feeling we could be seeing more of your exploits in the mankini soon gentlemen as we continue our quest to mankini every country of the world.

I hope seeing these great guys step up to the challenge has inspired some of you to take part and send your pictures in to us. If not, then I hope at least it puts a smile, or maybe a grimace, on your face.

Click here to see Nick’s mankini photos
Click here to see Kevin’s mankini photos
Click here to see Andrew’s mankini photos

Remember, you can follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/mankinimalph and join our Facebook Group at http://tinyurl.com/lypvja, as well as follow my (Malph) exploits on STA Travel’s website. Please keep spreading the word.

The birthplace of the Mankini may have been in Sacha Baron Cohen’s head, but the place that made it famous is Hollywood and the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. For a Mankini, Hollywood is Mecca. It’s the closest it can get to its creator and is the spiritual home of green lycra. For the International Mankini Challenge (IMC) the pièce de résistance would be a picture with God Himself, Sacha Baron Cohen. But could he be reached?

When you travel you have the good fortune to meet people from all sorts of countries and walks of life. If you listen when people are talking about themselves you’ll also pick up valuable pieces of information that may not only be interesting, but may prove useful to you or a friend in future. And if you don’t listen, then posting a request for help on your Facebook status or on twitter account can often help you out. I tried all these avenues to try and get hold of Mr Sacha Baron Cohen and was lucky enough to snag a friend of a friend who knew him and a mate who knew his agent, manager and publicist’s names.

Now a friend of Sacha may have limited influence with a man with a profile as big as his, but a manager, agent and publicist… If you watch the US show Entourage then you’ll know how this dynamic works between ‘E’, Ari Gold and Shauna. The manager manages the day to day affairs for the client and pushes the agent to get the best deal and opportunities for them. The agent negociates with the studios in trying to secure the roles his client wants while trying to raise his client’s equity in the movie business. The publicist on the other hand tries to build a public image of the client through various media that makes him more employable. And so I dropped these guys emails, no doubt all bigwigs in their respective agencies, doubting I’d get a response.

Arriving at LAX after 11 months in Latin America I was braced for my own ‘Cultural Learnings of America’. Coming back into ‘the modern world’ was sure to be a shock judging by how overwhealmed I felt about my first Walmart experience in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. However I had the benefit of staying with a good friend from London who now lives in Los Angeles (LA) and with him we put our heads together for alternative LA picture opportunities as back up. The list read as follows:

As well as being a fountain of knowledge on LA landmarks, my friend also works and is connected in the entertainment business. Thus over the week of my stay he’d arranged for me to play football at singer Robbie Williams house, get VIP passes to Universal Studios and go to an LA Lakers basketball match. I supplemented this by speaking to a contact of mine (before traveling I worked in sport) to get us access to the five day old VIP Hyde Lounge Staples Centre at the game where, it turned out, a certain Mr David Beckham and his LA Galaxy teamates would be celebrating the fact they had reached the Major League Soccer (MLS) final!

After taking into account the fact I wanted something synonomous with LA, somewhere I wouldn’t risk running into kids or getting lynched by security or the cops and something relevant to the Borat film, as well as would make a good picture, I settled on the Hollywood sign!

Sure, a picture with Robbie on the pitch at his house would have been cool, but he was in the UK (the chances hey?) promoting his new album Reality Killed The Video Star. It would have been rude to do it without his permission. A shot with Becks would also have been awesome, but this wasn’t the right environment and to be honest I think he gets bothered enough. I wanted to let him chill and enjoy his night with his team mates. And so I found myself travelling up Beachwood, the best street to get a view of the Hollywood sign, one Saturday. It’s a pretty residential area and home to the rich, famous and private security firms! However after some expert navigation by H, we found the spot!

Unobstructed views of the Hollywood sign are hard to get, especially ones without the rest of LA’s tourist population at your heels. But we’d found such a place. With the light fading I slipped into the straps and we picked our spot. After a couple of trial shots I stripped off and we got the shots and 15-20 seconds after I got my kit back on a patrol car rolled by… phew. Upon checking the rear mankini pictures I noticed that the label was out. After so many shots I’ve become a bit of a perfectionist and so after a brief look around I whipped the gear off again and we got some more arse shots. Boom – done!

It may not be Sacha, Becks or Robbie – but nonetheless it’s Hollywood and I’m pleased to get a shot such as this with an icon such as the famous sign.

See the pictures here.

The beaches of Tulum, diving in Cozumel, the colonial towns of Merida and Campeche, the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza (one of the modern wonders of the world) and Palenque, the waterfall of Aqua Azul, Canyon Sumidero near San Cristobel, the Mexican pipeline in the surfing mecca of Puerto Escondido, the Day of the Dead festival in Oaxaca, the massive cactus fields near Puebla, Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling), Frida Kahlo’s House, Mexico City’s Zocalo and the Azteca Stadium were all good options to Mankini in Mexico. However the winner was the ancient Aztec city of Teotihuacan, home to the third highest pyramid in the world (after Egypt’s) and the most visited of Mexico’s archaeological sites.

Swine flu aside, Mexico has a lot to offer a traveler, be they backpackers or vactioners, with an array of both natural and man-made wonders. Unfortunately many visitors don’t get out of the all inclusive resorts in Cancun or Playa del Carmen. But those travellers who have enough gumption to do so will be duly rewarded.

I was in Mexico for 5 weeks and missed a lot of what it had to offer, such is the vastness of the country and the diversity of activities it offers. Eleven months into my trip I have to be honest and say I was a little travel weary. I had volcano, waterfall, hot spring and ruin fatigue to mention a few, so spoilt have I been. But Mexico surprised me and revitalised my enthusiasm by offering things that were different to what I’d seen and done before in Central and South America.

With so much to see and do I looked for something fresh to add to the Mankini gallery. Arriving at my final destination in Latin America, Mexico City, and seeing the Lucha Libre adverts and the people’s love of the sport I knew it had to be this. Mankini in a mask Nacho Libre style, Jack Black would be proud. And so it was on a Friday night that and my merry band of men and I set off to Arena Mexico having purchased an array of suitable masks to get into the evening. Following the mask-clad masses we had no trouble finding the stadium and posed for pictures before climbing the stairs to the arena that was to witness a Lucha Libre outfit that the world had never had the pleasure of experiencing before. But then disaster struck ….

Security in all of Latin America tends to be heavy on the vision, but light on the action if you get my drift. However this was all about to change. Upon getting the pat down at the entrance the Federal Policia found my camera. Pulling it out and sealing it in a plastic bag they gave me a ticket explaining I could collect it at the end of the show – no pictures here sir! Nooooooo!

Feeling a sense of despair it was relieved when my Aussie mate Mei said they hadn’t found the camera in her bag! Joy oh joy! That was ’til she tried to turn it on and the battery immediately died! The Mankini God who had looked down so fondly on me now seemed to be frowning. However with little lycra to wipe the tears away I put a brave face on things and resolved to find something even better than pantomime wrestlers to grace the Mankini with.

After a long weekend of walking tours, bakery visits, museum viewings and a couple of cactus based beverages with NotInc Tours I decided to take on the biggest of Mexico’s archaeological sites (both in size and the number of visits it receives, which is saying something considering the number of ruins in this region) – the pyramids of Teotihuacan, an ancient Aztec city (though they didn’t build it, but rather they found it. No one really knows who constructed this impressive city). The only issue was who was going to be my photographer? All the people I had met had left, and I was leaving on Wednesday!

I had two choices, fail at the penultimate hurdle and my 18th location, or grow some balls and hit the site solo and convince some generous soul that taking a picture of a strange skinhead in a small piece of luminous green lycra really was a good idea and that I wasn’t weird at all! Really this was no choice, I had to go and see what happened!

Teotihuacan is known best for its two big pyramids, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun (the third largest in the world at 65 metres after those in Egypt). For me it was go big or go home! There’s a great view from the Pyramid of the Moon over to the Pyramid of the Sun. The only problem with this was that there was also a man from the Federal Policia who had a handgun and who looked pretty angry with how cold and windy it seemed to be. However what this view also afforded me was the luxury of scouting some other possible locations, and from what I could see there may well be another option!

Having met an artist collective called The Black Heart Gang from South Africa, who were over in Mexico to talk at an art conference before heading to LA to shoot a commercial, I broached the requirement I had. After wiping the tears from their eyes (I’m not sure if that was because of the wind or my request) they agreed to use their keen professional eye to help me complete my challenge – awesome! And so craftily using a couple of temples as shields from prying eyes, we got the shots required! While it was pretty damn cold and late in the day, this probably worked for me by minimising the number of other tourists. Let me tell you though, relieved is not the word as to how I feel and I can’t thank the guys of the The Black Heart Gang enough in helping me get within reach of completing my challenge!

So 20 hours later and I was headed to the airport for my final destination, and the home of the Mankini, Los Angeles! Would Sacha Baron Cohen’s agent reply to my email request of a picture with Sacha?

You can also follow my exploits on twitter by visiting http://www.twitter.com/mankinimalph

See the Mexico pictures here.