Its not really possible to explain how good my week was in Belarus. Thanks to Red Catz (Andrew and Alex), Zeb, and everyone I met over there for giving me quite simply the best holiday ive ever had.

Who could ask for more highlights in 5 days... a set at a club event, on the main stage at the biggest dance music festival in Belarus, a huge radio show on KRISISDnB, appearance on another Belarus radio station, a trip to the radioactive forests around Chernobyl, some of the best food ive had in a long while, more russian vodka than I would normally drink in a year, and tours around Minsk from the Red Catz crew.

After a sleepless thursday night to get up to Heathrow in the early hours of friday morning it was a smooth trip over to Minsk to meet up with Andrew and Alex. After a joke and a laugh with passport control and the visa office it was a short drive to Red Catz HQ to drop off my luggage.

No time to rest however as we had a 4hour drive down the country from Minsk to Pinsk for the first event. Communicating with everyone was always going to be hard but Alex and Andrew (Red Catz) were there to help me speak to everyone. We got to Pinsk at around 11pm with Red Catz headlining the night with me following on after. It was so good to see everyone there having a good time, and I hope I brought a little bit of the uk style of DnB to Belarus for the night. Cheers to everyone there for getting my trip off to the best possible start!!

It was a long drive back to Minsk as the sun was coming up and I knew there wouldnt be much time for sleep in the day as there was lots to do before the festival in the evening. T-Shirts needed to be printed, tunes needed to be organised, but we still found time to meet up with Zeb and his wife for dinner at a huge old style wooden restaurant in the middle of the forest outside the town before heading off to the festival.

Located in an old military base in the forests, we saw the lazers reaching for the stars as we approached up the disused track. First mission was to find a suitable location for the krisisdnb banner which was sorted by Alex and Andrew. I was immediately impressed by the massive soundsystem and lighting rig surrounding the main arena. In 3 hours time I would be playing on this in front of the biggest crowd I had ever performed in front of. Nervous? Too right i was!! I was well aware that most of the DJs on the lineup were from Russia, and that they tend to play some darker or jungle vibes. How would everyone take to an Engligh DJ playing something that they dont have much exposure to? After a massive set from Red Catz I started on a more liquidy flow, to keep the crowd jumping, and as i could see everyone enjoying it i blended into my more usual jump up style. I came off the stage handing over to DJ Look from Russia. Cheers to everyone bigging me up next to the stage after my set, i hope I got a pic with you all as you made me feel so welcome.

Time to drink!!! I had gained a friend behind the bar who knew what I was drinking which made things easy for me, although the flow of people buying me drinks was also appreciated. It was good to speak and drink with everyone throughout the night. The sun was up so time to sleep in the car for a few hours before heading back to Red Catz HQ. I should be dropping to the floor in need of sleep by now but the buzz of the whole trip had taken over and i was running on adreneline.

Live on KRISISDnB at 4pm (Belarus time) with Zeb as well was my first chance to play on the station from a different country. It was a special moment for me, and just by being there has given me more ideas to integrate our international shows into the station better. Red Catz are a massive name in the DnB scene in Belarus and as I saw at the festival, they have a lot of support from the surrounding countries as well. The DnB scene in Russia is huge and ive encouraged Red Catz to build on there exposure in Russia by speaking in not only English, but also Russian/Belarusian on there shows which will promote themselves even more, as well as making KRISISDnB an international-friendly station.

We left Zeb in control on KRISIS as we had a quick dash across town for another radio show on a local station. It was hard for me as the program 'Hit or Shit' was spoken in Belarusian, but it was a good laugh to do.

More drinking in the evening into the early hours ready for the long drive to Chernobyl. Everyone had there passports ad we arrived at the border control into Ukraine. How the smallest number 1 can make a huge difference... My visa only allowed me into Belarus 1 time and if they let me cross the border into Ukraine I could not get back without another visa. We tried a differet border control office but the chances were slim. Either way we passed through a ton of radioactive signs in the forests and towns of southern Belarus which are still almost abandoned since the events at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986. The radiation levels are still much higher than anywhere else around the world but at a relatively 'safe' level (around 8 times normal radiation levels). I was disappointed not to get to the reactor but it was still very eerie to be so close to it and see the effect it has had on the surrounding area. Its even more clear now that Belarus was an innocent country to something that happened in Ukraine. Blame for the incident should not lie with anyone, but the effect on both of these close countries is massive even now 23 years after. Im now even more determined to go back with the right visa to get me right up to Reactor 4 and Pripyat town.

Back in Minsk that night and I had spotted a go-karting track in the town so it was time to show who the F1 racers were !

Just one more whole day left in Minsk and my heart was sinking thinking about coming back to the UK. The choice for tuesday was a trip to some of the old castles in the countryside, or to have a proper wander around Minsk. Zeb and Andrew had done far too much driving around in the last few days plus I wanted to go on a tram, train, the underground and a trolleybus !!! The camera was out in full force as we visited all the major sights from there war museum which holds nothing back with graphic images of jews being hanged to human bones, as well as military equipment from the past wars of the 20th century. It was interesting to see it all from a different countries point of view. A trip on the 'Minsk Eye', a characature drawing of Red Catz and myself, and a visit to the parliament building made it another fantastic day.

Time to pack my case and get to the airport on wednesday morning. Andrew and Alex both took me there as well as Zeb who took a long lunch break to come to the airport to see me off. With a bottle of Minsk Vodka in the bag to take home it was good that Alex, Andrew and Zeb could be there, as they all made this week something I will never forget. Cheers to you all for an amazing first trip to Belarus, cheers to everyone who heard me play and supported me at one of the events over there, cheers to the barman at the festival for sorting my drinks out, and cheers to everyone I met and spoke to over there. You have a truly beautiful country, a fantastic capital city, and the most friendly people ive ever met. You should be very proud of your country.

Dont worry, MX will be back not only to finally get to Chernobyl but also back to Minsk very soon !!!