Burning Man 2009 (part 2)
This year, I used/enjoyed a lot of the services that Black Rock City had to offer.
As in any city, Black Rock City has all the services a city should have - Post Office, Hardware Store, Flea Market, Ice Cream Man, Bike Repair Store, Tea House, Diner, Movie Theatre, barber Shop, Massage Place, Waffle Place, Snow Cone Man, Discotheque, Fashion Boutique, Breakfast place, Bars, Pubs, Real Estate etc.. All these services are available within the city and I used quite a few of them this year. On the second day, I had a flat in my bicycle tire. It was a bummer as without a bicycle, it's pretty hard to do much (there are community bicycles, supposedly 1000 of them, which we should use only one way and then leave it for others to use, but it's very hard to come by). I looked around the city for a bike repair shop and found one at 3:00 and I. They were very nice and they fixed my tire - They replaced the tube with a brand new tube and asked me to spread the good and go and do something good for somebody else, rather than wanting to take anything from me. Every night, on my way back to my tent from the Esplanade (where all the party were), I'd pass the Black Rock City Diner.. yes a Diner. We'd get in line and they'd seat us in at assigned tables and all and then they'd serve us hot grilled cheese !! Nothing better at 3 o'olock in the morning ! These grill cheese sandwiches are the best ever. Not too far from them, there is the Skinny Kitty TeaHouse. They have a great lounge with live piano performances that you can listen to, while sipping your tea. Usually after the diner, I'd stop by there, have a tea or a home brew and listen to piano laying on their couches before heading home to sleep. For breakfast, there are quite a few places. There was the shady waffle camp very close to where I stayed that'd serve pancakes everyday, the Cereal Killers, that'd serve cereals all day and then there was a KFC -- they had decorated their booth in KFC colors and all and they served Fried Bologna on a sandwich bread with a shot of Bourbon (From Kentucky :)) For Snacks during the day, I got invited to many camps for food - I had PBJ sandwiches, Vegan Chocolate Coconut Icecream (yeah.. ice cream in the desert.. someone had brought a freezer with a generator), Snow Cones, Fresh Water Melons, Hot Dogs, Laddoos (I somehow found a hippie couple that was serving Indian Laddoos), and of course, all kinds of drinks. This one evening, while I was walking back , someone invited me to their noodle house. They were serving Japanese Soba Noodles and Sake in a japanese themed camp, with chefs dressed in japanese attire and we were even served in nice bowls with chopsticks and all. They also have a post office which I did not get to use. The post office would deliver mail to anyone living at an address in Black Rock City. I heard they also had a shower camp.. where they'd let you take a shower, but I could not find that one and they have a barber shop that specializes in Mohawks. Another service I used was the Fashion Boutique. Their motto was to dress you in something more questionable :) I did have time to prepare for costumes and all. So I went to the boutique and got all geared up in some costumes. Everything was free, but the catch is after you're dressed, you have to come out of the boutique on their catwalk :) Check out the part 1 of my burning man 2009 pictures.
