Man to tell you how inflation and demand has allowed promoters to assrape people into buying tickets for this fete! Over the year the price of Moka tickets has skyrocketed!!!

• 2004 : $300
• 2005 : $400
• 2006 : $600
• 2006 : $750
• 2008 : $800

This fete is exactly the same thing over the last 5 years. The food is the same, the people are the same. Seriously the people are all the same, this fete has gone down in quality over the years. Previously, it was good times, good food and decent music. This fete is now the networking fete and family fete, where the rich businessmen send their kids and family to congregate and look around!

I personally didn’t really want to go when I heard the price of the tickets, but Sal has heard so much about this fete over the years, that it would have been a shame not to go with him!

So this year, the entertainment was actually better than it normally is, since it would be a crush of Chutney and Indian entertainment!

Roy Cape and his band played, of course the usual Machel rumor was within the fete, but Machel NEVER plays Moka. Kees and his band with the Robot guys were there, but once you have seen the Robot routine once, it gets a bit old. One would figure that a lot of the same people going to the same fetes that they would have developed more routines, but then again this is Trinidad! The first time I saw the routine, I was thrilled! The second time I saw it, it was good, the third time it was on, I actually yawned!!!

Yes really!! I went to Soca Monarch in the Queen’s Park Oval. But we had Richard to guide us and give us the lay of the land! It was sooo funny though, since among Beena, myself and even Sal, we were a bit intimidated by the whole mass of humanity! So Richard gave Sal the following rules, since of course as the requisite white boy in the posse, yanno he was the obvious target!

• Toe Stepping : Anyone steps on your feet, shake it off and do not look anyone directly in the eye. In fact, do not engage anyone directly. Who knows what they are carrying on them, in term of a knives, bottle etc
• Jewelry : Take all bling off. No exceptions! Chains can be ripped off easily by someone walking into the crowd. Money and cards should be in front pockets. Better yet, all money should be in the footware and socks. It is the most safe there!!
• Walking through the crowd : avoid all coolers, posses of people, touch people gently and don’t barge through the crowd. It is quite easy to get an icepick in your side, doing stuff like that.
• Cellphones : Don’t be using your cellphone in a crowd, since it draws attention to you. Especially if you have a good phone. Hence my iPhone drew much attention in certain places!
• Lining up : Follow Rishi and Richard! I personally felt like I got to know many women with the proximity of them to me. In fact, I know some girls could tell my religion with the crush of people! Check out the mass of people!!

That being said, once we got through the total sham of security, people climbing over scaffolding, people pressed up against you like a second skin, the lack of deoderant on some people, people trying to climb over you, keeping your hands in your pockets while pushing through the crowd, we had a good time especially seeing that we got a great viewing location of the festivities.

One of the great things about feteing in the Oval though is the food being cooked in huge pots in tents for sale. This is one thing you would never really see in a fete in Toronto or anywhere else in the world.

Of course with our VIP seating in the Camera booth overlooking everything, we didnt have to worry about any crowds or any of the rules outlined about, hence making sure there was no incident and my parents wouldn’t be worried!!!

So really when you get to Trinidad, there are a couple things we Trinis are amongst the World Experts in. Some advanced Trini topics would be

• Liming / Feteing
• Carnival
• Wining
• Food
• Learning to drive without dying while going at 190 km/h on a potholed road

Anyways so after a long, long drive all day to Manzanilla Beach in bad weather, Sal and I decided to head over to the Tribe band fete. Now a fete in Trinidad, involves a couple things

• Live stage music : hence Machel Montano, Kees and the Band, and some other people who I dont really care about
• Massive bars : By a bar we mean a bunch of tables separating the liquor from the patrons. NO martinis and fancy drinks but rather plastic cups with a liquor and some juice or soda, but lots of it.
• Girls in questionable clothing : Anything short or too tight would be fine. In fact, there are some girls who do not understand the concepts of visibility vs invisibility. In their houses, they think that their 10 tons asses are invisible because they don’t see it, but outside in the lights and strobes, the ass becomes a force of gravity and black hole of eyesight physics! You want to look away but your eyes are pulled in with an unstoppable force of the universe!
• Food : sometimes questionable and sometimes not, but no matter what, it is usually always tasty as hell and flavorful!
• Posse : Meaning your crew of friends going to the fete. This of course was the usual : Richard, Beena, Sal, Me and everyone else!

So first strange thing tonight was seeing a Digicel girl walking around in a plastic bubble! Like seriously, in the hot sweltering weather, you see a girl slowly asphyxiating in a plastic bubble!

Next was walking around through the 10,000 person crowd and observing from the Heineken booth atop the stage provided some great vantage points!!

And some craziness by my compadres!! Of course, this is really before everyone got drunk and the usual shenanigans occurred!

The view of the stage from the ground level…

Well when a fete is properly organized with the right people and what not, you have a fete like Eyes Wide Shut! So to start, Sal and I were properly hydrated from the beginning

Fete was good throughout, then Machel came on and the rain came down too.. what can I say, that is when it got great!

So between the lovely ladies, Sal getting a wine down from Indra….

Me getting a wet down pose with some lovely ladies

Some super fantabulous models and drinks girls

And Beena and I sharing a good time as usual, one cannot really complain at all

I would defintitely say this was a A++ fete especially because of the rain and all!!

So Sal and I finally got to Trinidad from Toronto and Cancun respectively. Of course, his flight gets in on time and my flight is about two hours delayed. Long wait for those guys so of course my dad and the persian get acquainted. We got home and had a nice dinner : Sada roti, Bodi and Aloo with Curry Chicken! 

After starving myself all day from Mexico with the frigging frijoles… but now I’m having problems uploading pictures dammit! Arrggghhh im pissed!!

So anyway to lunch we had …

White Rice
Curried Pigeons Peas
Stewed Red Beans
Pepper Chicken
Curried Chicken
Tomatoes Choka with Saltfish
Curried Bodi with Potatoes
Salad
I would upload a pictures but TSTT sucks!!!!!

they fucking suck!!!