Nudie Run

Boxing Day

2011-12-26T23:59:00.000+08:00

The night before we had planned to utilise the amazing rooftop and wake up early for sunrise. At 6:30 the alarm went off, it was still pitch black. Jon rolled over and muttered something, still half asleep, we unanimously agreed that we would skip sunrise and steal a couple extra minutes of sleep. We finally rose at 7:20. Sze Ji needed to be at school by 8 am and seeing that we were just around the corner we left . The house was abuzz, the mother and uncle left for their respective jobs and we said goodbye to the family and headed to school.

The kids had their routine morning exercises which we playfully partcipated in with them. After breakfast we wandered around the corner and must have walked no more than 500 metres before arriving at the Farm. This particular farm specialised in two harvests, sweet potatoes in the Winter and Dragon Fruit in the summer. Lily and gave a quick tutorial in the art of sweet potato harvesting. Hoe and mounds, dig. I can't help but feel we butchered a lot of this season's produce destroying a fair percentage of the crop. Still it was fun way to experience more local life it was nice to be in the sun. It was interesting, a lot of the group had lost interest in digging potatoes and had moved on to the photo taking and modelling. Lily continued to dig.

We arrived back covered in dirt and had another sharing session. It was interesting to hear about the different volunteer's experiences. The level of Cantonese was beyond me so Vincent was able to translate. It was a very moving experience, tears, laughter and prominent moments of silence were shared. We talked about the various distances kids had to travel to school, some leaving the house before sunrise. The different living conditions and varying levels of poverty. One thing that remained constant was the hospitality and generosity of the house holds. It spoke volumes about the simple lives that these people led and despite not having a lot to offer gave up more than was required.

Lunch was in the classroom and afterwards we joined the children during their lunch break. After 2 days interacting with the kids it was clear that they were more comfortable with us around. Punching, hitting, grabbing, hugging, jumping all over you. It was also the first time I interacted with some of the other kids outside of my group. It was obvious that there were varying levels of English, some kids getting stumped at "hello" others able to elicit my name and my age. The day was spent in the warm sun running around with the children - They would pinch and poke and run off, steal my beanie, steal my glasses.During this time, I forgot about all the troubles back home and almost lost track of where I was in my own life. It was just nice seeing the kids run around having fun.

The kids headed back to class and the School Principal addressed us and thanked us for our time and effort. He explained the kids situation and how much this simple 3 day trip would affect them. Our afternoon was spent in the classroom observing their interaction with the teachers. The final school bell sounded for the day and the kids exploded from their classrooms, most of them bee-lining for their bikes, the exit or the waiting relatives at the gates. There were a few who made straight for the bus and the group of volunteers. A small group of the volunteers headed off to one of the hospitals in Guangzhou to visit one of the students with cancer. We said our final goodbyes, photos, high fives, hugs before we finally made our way back onto the bus. The lights were turned off and almost instantly all members drifted off into sleep, it had been an exhausting trip and we started our 5 hour journey back to Hong Kong, a world with public transport, hot water and a sheltered view of the world around us.

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T22:10:00.000+08:00

Past Christmases have generally followed a standard recipe. That is, family and friends gathered together on Christmas Eve accompanied by an assortment of food and the traditional countdown to midnight. The clock would strike twelve, everybody would scream "Merry Christmas", open the gifts and lazily welcome in Christmas Day. The previous day was exhausting and last night's sleep was a welcome luxury, the alarm that broke my sleep was not. I honestly don't remember the last time that I have actually woken up on Christmas Day. It was a deep, re-energizing sleep that I emerged out of - Merry Christmas.

At 7:30 am we checked out of the hotel and lumbered back onto the bus that shuttled us straight to Yawen Primary school. Again we were greeted by waving kids as the bus pulled through the school gates. Pork Congee, Friends noodles and buns were served as breakfast and would serve as fuel for the morning session; I greedily ate as much as I could knowing that I would need the energy.

Today our group was in the Media Room with Millie the English Teacher. Jonathon another volunteer had prepared material and activities briefing the class about Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. The children were engaged and for a moment, I remembered what it was like to be back in primary school. Again, I assumed the role as Lead Caroler and sang "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer". We went through the lyrics and tried to help the children with their pronunciation. The addition of impromptu gesticulation helped and we had soon coined a dance routine to accompany the lyrics.

The difficult thing I found was communicating with the children, interaction wasn't so bad. But taking away the fundamental interaction like "Do you like singing?" or "What do you like to do?". It was challenging to gain any rapport with the children other than being that enthusiastic English Speaking Chinese guy. The next task for the children was to create a script for an on stage performance - this was to be done all in English. Mandy assisted with the directing and soon our group had a basic script. We had the narrator, played by Jimmy. Santa, played by Wendy. The three Angels: Ainne, Mary, Licy Rudoplh played by Henry. Reindeers played by Karsen, KoKo and Jacky and a invalid played by JoJo. Our story was as follows, Santa is really busy with his reindeers delivering presents and helping people that he has to employ the help of three angels to assist with his philantropy. The story ends with the three angels helping the invalid on Christmas Day. The story was the easy part, getting the kids to memorise the words and their lines was the difficult part!

Proceeding lunch all the groups were pulled into the large room were each group was randomly called out to perform their skit. There was a nervous energy in the air and with 10 minutes to go, not all the members in our group could remember their lines. The group went up and performed, it was shakey and the kids were constantly hiding behind each other as not to be in the public eye, some of the kids handled it better than others. At the end each child was presented with a certificate. We also gave them an opportunity to get them write cards for us. I recevied a handful of gifts, with most messages written in Chinese the underlying message being "Learn some Chinese, ya bloody Gringo". The afternoon we spent cleaning up the classrooms and meeting the members of our home stay groups.

The sun set over the playground casting an evening tinge over the school. With it the air became cooler as the kids made home either by foot or bicycle. The child whose family we stayed with was Sze Ji, a grade four student. She was nervously waiting for us at the front of the school gates and I'm sure the site of five grown males would have been intimidating. The school had nominated some of the kids to be foster homes for the volunteers with of course the permission of the parents. Sze Ji, out of all the kids lived the closest to the school and after a short 10 minute walk we were at her house. Her Grandmother and brother were waiting for her at the front of her house.

First thoughts, the home was massive! A garage, at least 5 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, a massive rooftop and plenty of space. It was a liberating sight especially given the meager quarters that I call home in Hong Kong. Despite the size it had a desolate feel to it, perhaps I'm just used to the furnishings and fixtures commonly found in western dwellings.

We were invited in and the mother asked if we would like to stay for dinner. Stay for dinner? There had obviously been some mis communication, we weren't only staying for dinner, we were staying the night! Despite the family only just finding out, their hospitality was supreme. Food was served and the mother rode out to buy extra Chicken for us to eat. We learned that the father lived away from home in one of the factories of the major cities to help support his young family. A banquet was served and I couldn't help but feel that the food that was served was not a regular feature on the dinner table. Fish, Chicken, Tofu, Beans it was a feast.

Immediately after dinner, we presented the family with gifts. This included an assortment of stationery, games and trinkets. Vincent, one of the members helped Sze Ji with her Homework, while Jon taught the brother and cousin the rules of "Snakes and Ladders". Both Derek and Michael sat and chat with the mother. I, well I was preoccupied, deliberating the best way to drop a deuce in rural China. The situation was as such, it was a squatter system bathroom, there was no toilet paper and I really needed to go. Suffice to say, 40 minutes later I emerged from the stall with a better knowledge of the challenges faced when using a squatter toilet.

The grandmother prepared our beds while the auntie boiled water for us to shower. None of us showered that night and we all retired early. It was cold, real cold. We were given a spare room, there was no mattress and my sleeping bag barely kept me warm, thank goodness for that extra blanket that we were given. The sky is incredibly clear and I've not seen so many stars in my life, I contemplate life here in rural China wondering if it's something I could get used to.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:52:00.000+08:00

My previous, albeit brief flirtations as a volunteer had kindled an interest to dedicate some time to philanthropy in Asia. In particular, volunteer work within China. Admittedly, I was resigned to the fact that this experience would probably take place a little later in my life. This was more because I lacked the critical tools to embark on such a program. Namely, a basic grasp of the language and more importantly time to facilitate a stint overseas. This all changed one week ago when I stumbled across House of Learning, a non-profit organisation whose energy is directed at helping the less fortunate in Hong Kong and China. Anita, the Project Organiser graciously invited me along for the trip.

The lead up to my adventure into Qingyuan, China was riddled with problems. I had enlisted three days before the start of the trip and had missed the relevant training sessions leaving me completely in the dark. Worse still, on the night before I was scheduled to depart I discovered at 10 pm that I had accidentally left my passport in the office. The next hour was spent convincing the security guard to let me into the building and trying to figure out the after-hours office door code. It was a great relief to finally have my passport back in my possession.

My six o'clock alarm does not agree with me. I immediately regret going to Lan Kwai Fong the night earlier for those 'Quiet Pre-Christmas Drinks'. Struggling on four hours of sleep, I find my house mate still awake from the night earlier. He still looks drunk, and immediately all inhibitions about forfeiting my Christmas in Hong Kong dissipate. After all, that would have probably would have been me all weekend. I dump a protein shake and make for Lo Wu.

At 7:40 I finally arrive at Lo Wu, I was supposed to meet the rest of the party at 7:30. It should have come as no surprise that I was running late, typical. I had throughout the train ride received multiple calls from the team leaders who were trying to solicit my whereabouts. "I've just arrived. I'll meet you there shortly" I pant as I dart through the early morning platform crowd. 8:00 I'm still lining up at immigration, another phone call."Whereabouts are you?" I hear. "Sorry, I'm almost there, I'm caught up at immigration" I reply. "Immigration? Wait, you've gone to far, you were supposed to meet on the Hong Kong Side of Lo Wu". This was not panning out as I had expected, and I questioned what I was doing at the Chinese border going into a country with complete strangers and zero language skills. I was almost tempted to abort this adventure and just return to Hong Kong with all the other expats and enjoy Christmas eating a truck load of food and getting drunk; then again, that's really just every other weekend in Hong Kong.

It was almost 9 am by the time I finally met the House of Learning group outside the Shangri la Hotel, Shenzhen . I was horribly late and despite not having met a single member of the party I was already infamously known as "Derek, the guy who was late". The first thing that strikes me is the sheer number of volunteers willing to help. Professionals of all ages, students, young families, the odd straggler had all voluntarily decided to forfeit their Christmas in Hong Kong.

I was immediately introduced to my team and for this weekend, Michelle, Mandy, Rachel, Kenny, Manic and myself would be known as 'Group Six'. We boarded the coach that would be our primary mode of transport for the next few days and settled in for the drive from Shenzhen to Quingyuan. Anita introduced the group leaders and talked us through the upcoming itinerary, this was of course all in Cantonese and I managed to understand the odd sentence here and there but the reality of the language barrier dawned on me. I spent the journey seated next to Pauline, although I wasn't much company as asleep for majority of the four hour commute, occasionally waking up to the sound of chatter and the sound of myself snoring.

I was absolutely starving by the time we arrived at our first stop, Ching Hing Hotel. After we emptied our bladders and then crammed into the dining area of the hotel where lunch was served. The warm food was welcomed by the group and almost immediately we were back on the road. I was well fed and well rested and my attention was drawn to the rural backdrop we were motoring through. Passed through areas of fairly dense vegetation and the simple local abodes we continued along the dusty road for another 10 minutes until the concrete walls of Ya Wen Primary school eventually crept up on us. The children gathered together as the bus slowly pulled through the gates of the school. There were looks of anxiety, curiosity and excitement, from both the children and the volunteers.

The kids were divided into groups and our group, Group Six had their first session with Anita in the Brain Enhancement session up on level four. Up until now, I still wasn't entirely sure what role I would be playing here, I knew there would be English involved but the interaction and contribution that I would be able to bring was still unknown. Anita pulled me aside and asked if I would be able to help with the Christmas Carols, in this case "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". There were no hesitations and I immediately agreed although I would have been lying if I had said I wasn't nervous. I was handed the microphone, the music started and soon enough I was singing solo in front of 30-40 students in a foreign language that they didn't understand. The only time I sing is when I'm blind drunk - I was completely sober and couldn't help but feel that this performance would end up on the outtake of an American Idol bloopers segment. The next 20 minutes we spent going through the lyrics and dance moves to the song. I would read out a few lines as I paced among the students while Anita explained the story in Cantonese.

After the open mic session I was a little more relaxed and we were given time to go through some activities with the children. The first task was to get the kids to write their name tags in both Chinese and English. The next activity was to help the kids create English sentences with the following prompts: Who, What, When, and What if. To wrap up the day's activities the kids created a Group Six team banner using arts and crafts.

The most challenging thing I found was the inability to communicate with the children. Each time I opened my mouth the children looked at me dumbfounded. The other volunteers were able to interact with Cantonese I found myself constantly muted and having to use basic body language as a form of communication. It was actually quite frustrating as I felt a sense of helplessness trying to find out what the kids were doing and thinking. One of the things that grabbed my attention was the amount of energy they possessed and how fleeting their attention span was at times. They were constantly doing something, one minute working hard, the next minute being distracted by something seemingly insignificant. By the end of the day I was completely exhausted and had a new found respect for primary school teachers.

Our day ended with a candid sharing session about our first day's experiences: the children, the work, their attitudes and the various difficulties and surprises. A delicious dinner was served downstairs and the volunteers again heartily wolfed down the food; famished by a combination of hyperactive children and the cooler than expected climate. Proceeding dinner we prepared the Christmas Bonfire for the ceremonial cooking of the potatoes and the exchange of our gifts. We checked into Ching Hing Hotel and a group of us wandered around town looking for provisions and the odd snack. We stumbled across a restaurant that served dog meat and unanimously continued our search. Buggered, I retired early and practically fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.

Lucky Draw

2011-12-09T00:14:00.000+08:00

I can't ever say "I never win anything" anymore.

www

2011-12-06T20:47:00.001+08:00

At this moment in time, my building, Grandview Gardens is being serviced by two Internet/TV providers. The notorious i-Cable and the expat-friendly PCCW/Netvigator/Now TV. The limitations are as such:

Options	PCCW/Netvigator	i-Cable
Price	Starts from 75 HKD/month	Starts from 218 HKD
Bandwidth	10 MB, 50 MB, 110 MB*	8 MB
Contract	18 months	18 months
TV	i-Cable TV - Has EPL	Now TV - more expat friendly
Others	Reputation for Bad customer service	Horrible Now TV UI

The main difference between the two providers is that i-Cable can decouple their Internet from their TV offerings, whilst PCCW you have to get both. The other difference is, the bandwidth, this is not as simple as comparing apples to apples. PCCW offer a dedicated ADSL line to each customer. Whereas, i-Cable offers a fibre service to the building that is shared among all i-Cable users within the building. The draw card is that there is the "potential" for a larger bandwidth.

So heeding the warnings and opting for the higher bandwidth service I sign with i-Cable hoping that I will never have to deal with their customer service. For those who are interested, I signed for 50 MB line with Cable TV, initial Hong Kong server speedtest.net results are above. Online! Time to clear that backlog of blog posts.

Update:

London server: Ping 632 ms, Download - 1.30 Mbps, Upload - 0.42 Mbps
San Francisco server: Ping 174 ms, Download - 1.94 Mps, Upload - 3.58 Mbps
Seoul server: Ping 91 ms, Download - 2.54 Mbps, Upload - 7.68 Mbps
Sydney server: Ping 345 ms, Download - 1.34 Mpbs, Upload - 0.65 Mpbs

Connection can be intermittent - still undecided if I made the right decision going with iCable ...

Curtains

2011-12-04T20:08:00.000+08:00

The impending news of having visitors and guests at my new place has prompted me to begin the non-essential furnishing of my apartment. Everything outside of Bed is qualified as 'non-essential' in that I don't really need it. The first thing that comes to mind is sorting out the curtain/blind situation in my apartment. For the longest period I have been flashing my junk to the world as I step out of the shower, so curtains in the bathroom. The second place is the living room and some kind of privacy and more importantly blocking out light.

Whenever I need to get anything done in Hong Kong I follow the common Google query, "Something something in Hong Kong" and voila! This Time "Where to buy curtains in Hong Kong" pointed me in the direction of Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. This particular stretch of Wan Chai has at least 10 different curtain stores, with consistent prices. I eventually ended up at a curtain store in Yau Ma Tei where prices were a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the Hong Kong Island stores. From there I ordered two sets of venetian blinds and a piece of material.

Piece of material I hear you say? Just the material I hear the Curtain lady say? So after ordering the two venetian blinds I figured I might as well inquire about the small 50 cm x 70 cm curtain that I needed made for my bathroom. 220 HKD, for her to run a piece of cloth through a sewing machine four times? I had just bought a 150 x 150 cm and a 80 x 120 cm set of venetian blinds for 1200 HKD. I usually have an instinct for getting ripped off, and this reeked of highway robbery.

"How much for just the material?"
"100 HKD"
"Good, I'll take just the material."
"Just the material?"
"Yea, I'll make the curtains myself?"

This was met by confused looks and what can be best described as shock. "Ok ok, two hundred". I look at the material lying on the floor wishing I had just paid the hundred HKD and wasn't so stubborn and begin to investigate how to "sew" things without a sewing machine. The answer is Liquid Stitching or Fabric Glue, both which are impossible to find in Hong Kong. Thankfully the arrival of my dad from Sydney also brought with him the required tools to assemble my curtain.

The best part is, with that fabric, I ended up making two curtains for a hundred HKD. Win.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T23:06:00.000+08:00

"I'm thankful for ..." her attempts to get the the "Give thanks" process under way was met by stiff resistance. It oozed thick, gooey sappiness and people were scared of the openess of the forum it was to be delivered to. After all, a lot of the people here had only met each other this evening and I could already see people diving into the recesses of 2011 searching for a list of items to be thankful for. In the end, we never gave thanks, I think this relieved the 20 odd person crowd. I was secretly kind of hoping to see how this cringe moment would unfold. It looks like I'll have to keep my 'thanks' private for at least another year. I had my list ready, I say list because the rule is, you're not allowed to repeat what somebody else has given thanks for.

I find it difficult to sit and type this entry. My breathing is laboured. I'm not drunk, although it is a similiar form of over consumption. I've eaten too much. My first Thanksgiving in Hong Kong, actually ever, anywhere in the world. This Thanksgiving was hosted by a couple of American friends and what a memorable Thanksgiving it was! Turkey, stuffing, gravies, sauces, pumpkin bread (oh, that divine pumpkin bread), pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, ice cream and brownies. It's an affair riddled with food, drinks and laughter. Bliss, I can see why it's such a big thing State side.

Anyways, my thanks would have gone a little something like this: Im thankful for the delicious pumpkin recipes, seriously you have to try the Pumpkin Bread. I'm thankful to be spending my very first Thanksgiving with such a great group of people. Sappy yes, true yes. I'm thankful to be settled here in Hong Kong, a new chapter and new adventures. Finally, I'm thankful for great friends old and new and family thank I now see more in Asia than I did after 3 years in the UK.

What I'm not thankful for is the really uncomfortable feeling from overeating. I've burped at least 10 times and each time a little bit of food resurfaces from reflux. Gluttony, we meet again. Happy Thanksgiving!

Dance Flashmob

2011-11-20T09:30:00.000+08:00

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. It's so true, the older you get, the harder it is to pick new things up. Sure there's those activities that simply lend themselves for adoption, Bingo, lawn bowls, Tai Chi, but seriously, they're not really new tricks. So at the tender age of 29 I take my first lesson in dance. I can genuinely say that I have issues learning how to dance especially in the contemporary format. It's a strange outer body experience dancing in front of a mirror watching the instructor, then watching yourself and your non-compliant body. Smooth, beautiful dancing. Rigid, disobedient moving. Learning to dance at this age is a strange phenomenon as you will your body to do things that is just completely foreign. Actually, it's probably more because I'm unco-ordinated but it has taken me two rehersal sessions to get the 4-5 second dance routine memorised.

You might ask why am I even going to dance school? Why? The answer is simple, to realise my dreams and feature as an extra in a Pop Music Video! That's right! Backup dancer, me! It's laughable but an enjoyable day with the highlight being apart of a mini flash mob in the middle of Hong Kong. We crossed one of the busiest roads in Hong Kong on a Sunday morning, only to break out into a choreographed dance routine.

9 am to 7 pm, those are work hours and for a lot of the film and stage crew this was work. All the filming, break time and retakes were an eye-opener to the industry. The chores of shooting and re-shooting, from different perspectives, with different lighting, and most importantly, different angles. It was a long day featuring three main shoots:

1). Flash mob Dance Routine outside Sogo on Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay.
2). Street scene, random dancing on a side street.
3). Club scene - typical Hip Hop club video, models, bottles and of course plenty of smoke.

No animals were harmed in the filming of this clip although the agenda for such a music clip is to promote the the upcoming 2012 movie, Supercapitalist. Watch this space, I'll try to find a cut of the final music video.

Can you tell me how to get ....

2011-11-07T12:04:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong is one unbelievably efficient city. The city's public transport system hums like a well-oiled machine with tires, tracks and engines purposefully pumping people around Hong Kong like blood through the arteries. I would go as far as saying that Hong Kong is spoilt with transport options. Trains, buses, mini-buses, private cars, ferries, trams, the trusty Crown Comfort Taxi and finally not forgetting that there's a bloody escalator pushing pedestrians up and down a mountain; like a factory conveyor belt. It comes as no surprise, that it takes less than 50 minutes from sitting at my office desk to be sitting outside the Gate 22 of Hong Kong International Airport waiting to board my flight.

My first time to Jakarta. Reminds me a little of Malaysia. The best thing about it all is that they have an abudnace of US food chains: Kenny Rogers, Krispy Kremes and Dunkin' Donuts; Junk food I've sorely missed.

Part of the reason to visit is because I've never been, but also to visit a close university friend and his young family. It's his daughter's first Birthday and all the Hong Kong uncles were making a stop over for the Sesame Street themed gig. As with most weekend trips, this would include the regulatory weekend nightlife exploration: Blowfish, Stadium and Immigration some of the local haunts we headed to. It's a strange feeling to have a friend tell you he needs to go home because he "needs to wake up early to look after his daughter" and it becomes more apparent when there's two of you sitting outside the hotel vomiting in front of the security guards. The real juxtaposition is the Saturday morning, balloons, cakes, giant cut out Seasame Street figures, mothers, screaming kids and us; a bunch of hungover uncles. That period of my life just seems so far away.

"Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Seasame Street?"

Moving day

2011-11-02T23:59:00.000+08:00

This apartment hunt has dragged me to all the nooks and crannies of Central Hong Kong. It has been an adventure that has led me down urine spilled alleyways, up the stairwells of nameless walk-up properties and countless journeys on the Mid-levels escalator. The upside is that I now have a familiarity with Hong Kong and the various stairwells, streets, buildings and shortcuts in and around Central.

My conversations have, for the most part followed a typical schematic. It started off with "Have you found a job?", eventually moving to "Have you found an apartment?" to finally "How's your new place?". It's funny, but you would think that after sleeping on a couch for such a long time I would have moved out immediately. This has not been the case. Despite having the keys in my possession for over a week I still haven't moved into my new place. The truth is that I have been waiting for the delivery of my mattress so I have a place to sleep (as opposed to a pile of clothes), but also deep down I know that I'm having stouts of separation anxiety. Anxiety derived from having to say goodbye to my friends and the living room that has been nothing short of hospitable over the last seven months. I take a look at the room that has housed me and say goodbye to the friends that I have seen almost every waking hour. There's a sadness and an appropriate slowness as I collect my belongings and leave.

I quickly snap out of this melancholic daze as it dawns on me that my apartment is not even a 10 minute walk away. I enter my new apartment block and take the lift up to the eleventh floor. I approach the door which has a lightly brushed oak finish, to be honest, I hardly recognise it, it's been some time since I was last here. I turn the key, there's no click, no chambers moving, I turn it the other way, still nothing. This leads to some frenetic jiggling. My bag slides from my shoulder and I use two hands to work the key into the keyhole. Just as I'm about to prop my leg up against the door frame the door opens. A head sticks out from inside "Can, I, erh, help you?". A reasonable question. Especially considering that I'm bent over with my key in their door. "This isn't Apartment C is it?" I ask. "Nope, C's that one." indicating to the adjacent door. That explains everything, "... Hi, I'm your new neighbour!".

In other news, my housemate this week found out that his company MF Global after 250 years has filed for bankruptcy. It's alarming that a company whose roots date back further than the discovery of Australia can be taken down in the space of a year. The 8th largest Bankruptcy in history and the first US casualty of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis. So as the the Greeks head into referendum and the world slowly falls apart I look forward to nothing more than sleeping in my own bed.

A spanner in the proverbial works

2011-10-25T21:16:00.000+08:00

Unimpeded views of one of the most famous skylines in the world. Close to the escalator. Swimming pool, basketball court and onsite Karaoke room. Enough room to swing a cat, a large jungle cat. As you may have guessed I am not talking about my new apartment but the in fact the three bedroom apartment sourced by my two mates. The irony is, they were shown this place 1 week after I signed my contract, it's like a cruel prank played by the Hong Kong Rental Gods. Yet another instance where I am faced with a dilemma, stick with the new one bedroom or go along for ride and live in the Mansion.

So I draw up a table, "Pros" on one side "Cons" on the others. Cheaper rent, pro of a shared household. Complete privacy, pro of living alone. Living with two very close friends, pro of a shared household. Feeling like a recluse, con of living alone. Need to buy furnishings, con of living alone. They won't move out until January, pro of living alone. Not having to worry about how I get home, pro of a shared household. Ability to walk around the house naked, I mean freedom, pro of living alone.

The repercussions of prematurely ejecting from my contract would be to forfeit my two months deposit. Which will probably will offset any savings made by sharing rent/bills. It's a tough decision. However, since they don't have plans to move out until January 2012 I have decided that for the next few months, I'll experience and enjoy my time being that naked recluse.

Bierfest 2011

2011-10-22T23:34:00.000+08:00

Exhibiting the same traits of many imitation products that roll out from the countless Chinese Factories it's similiar, behaves and feels the same but just lacks the tact and quality of the genuine article. The steins aren't quite the right size, nor is the fact that it's actually in October. Oktoberfest, Hong Kong style!

Leased

2011-10-18T23:11:00.000+08:00

Congratulations, they say. It's almost preposterous to think that I have seen over one hundred properties (84 single and 26 triple living arrangements). This isn't the first place that I've made an offer for, but it is the first place that the landlord has come back agreeing to my offer. One bedroom, unfurnished, open kitchen, oven, bright , modern and relatively central. I've met with the landlords, they don't speak much English, I don't speak much Cantonese. The contract, I sign. The deposit, 2 months rent for a two year contract with a one year break clause. Even then I still had hesitations, it's by no means my ideal apartment, I don't think I'll ever find that. But this little shoebox of a property will probably be as close as I can get with my budget and patience threshold. Congratulations, indeed.

First and foremost I need to buy a bed, once that's sorted I'll be looking to move out. I have most definitely overstayed my welcome, but it's been an excellent time living with two very close friends. Plenty of fun times, plenty of TV series and plenty of sport. Still I can't imagine how it feels to come home to me, the guy sleeping in the living room. Since I have started working, I've been helping out with the bills, chipping in for electricity, water, gas and the helper. Still, how do I even begin to repay these guys?

"Spend a little more on your bed and shoes, because that's what you spend the most time in" - Heng, quoting somebody.

Mainland

2011-10-08T17:16:00.000+08:00

Sneaky weekend trip over to China for the weekend. 1200 HKD Express China Visa and a short coach ride over the border to Shenzhen for an evening of spas and massages, followed by a day wake boarding at the Dongguan Water Park. The thing I look forward to the most about traveling is sleeping in a proper bed.

Level 8

2011-09-29T23:59:00.001+08:00

"What does that mean?" I ask, still half asleep. "It means it's too dangerous to go outside. There's no work or school today." my house mate says. "Really? Then why are you getting ready for work?" I quiz. "Just because Hong Kong is closed doesn't mean the rest of Asia is!" he shoots back. My first Typhoon Level 8. I had heard all about Hong Kong's infamous Black Rain and Typhoon warnings but I was really curious to see what all the fuss was about.

Splashing water on my face, I lumber downstairs to the apartment foyer, I'm still wearing my PJs. I say good morning to the concierge and begin looking for any clues that might suggest today is no ordinary day. To my disappointment the glass doors aren't boarded up, there's no carnage outside, no Mary Poppins impersonators, no stash of non-perishable goods, not even a security guard to warn people about the perils outside. The sky is unusually darker, wait a minute, why is the concierge even in this early? Then I see it, the one difference. There, in the middle of the glass door is an A4 laminate sign confirming what I had heard earlier. Category 8 Typhoon.

So, back to my question. What does Level 8 Typhoon mean? Like with most things in society we rate weather conditions based on a scale. Rain in Hong Kong is done by colours (Black, Red and Amber) the typhoon system is a number between one and ten. One being good, ten being bad and eight being the level that deems it too dangerous to be outdoors. I stick my head the door. It feels a little breezier, perhaps even a little warmer than usual.

Deciding I had nothing better to do I head back upstairs, get dressed and head to work. People here in Hong Kong really take the whole "no work" thing seriously. It's like a ghost town. I peer down the street, there's not a single car and I cross the road without paying attention to the traffic lights. There's the odd person walking to work, majority of them are expats who are in walking distance to work. The atmospheric conditions aren't bad, the clouds are ominous and it's ridiculously dark but other than some wind it's fine. I guess the Hong Kong Government doesn't want to take any risks with Tropical Cyclone Nesat.

Work is just as quiet, only the traders, couple of the Middle Office and a few support guys sit in the office. I ask them why they've bothered to come into work. "I have nothing to do at home. I'd probably just sit in front of the PC, figure I might as well come in and do some work. Plus it's free lunch whenever there's a level 8".

Little Lion Man

2011-09-25T22:58:00.003+08:00

Oddly enough, I still look forward to work each day, which means one of two things, either I'm enjoying work, or, I'm not really working. Both are questionable but I really hope it's the former, then again it has only been 7 weeks. Now, as each day passes, the tag of being the 'new guy' slowly disappears and I can no longer plead ignorance or use the excuse of unfamiliarity. I'm expected to know.

The work learning curve exponentially surges on and there has not been a day when I've not learnt something new. Despite becoming more attuned to the processes and the mounting responsibilities I still find juggling it all a major headache.

Previously, my old company was very liberal in getting things done, there was freedom and if something needed to be done, you as an individual could go out and make the changes. Now being apart of management, there's a lot more (I don't want to say it) bureaucracy and process control. I am slowly becoming more used to the procedure and learning to let go of the fact if there's something that needs to be done, I need to tell somebody to do it as opposed to getting my own hands dirty. Still, it feels strange when I look at my business card. That's me, that's what I do?

"Take all the courage you have left. Wasted on fixing all the problems you made in your head" - Mumford & Sons

Absolutely Rental

2011-09-18T21:08:00.000+08:00

When it comes to the priorities of settling down in a new country I would say occupation or a steady income is probably the most important. Coming in at a close second would be accommodation. This is where I still feel very dishevelled or very uncomfortable.

Waking each morning from a couch and living from a suitcase is no means a settled lifestyle. In fact, I feel about as comfortable as I imagine the UBS Rogue Trader felt the moment he found out about the Swiss Franc ceiling. Not to say that the accommodation hasn't been anything short of first class. I've had a huge living room, a cushy leather couch, broadband internet, a custom-made sheep rug and a massive 55" TV at my disposal. It's just I feel I've over welcomed my stay. Overstayed by six months. I have been here since the beginning of April! April, that was almost 2 seasons ago! That has got to be some record of dossing. I can already see all the chiropractors salivating at the thought of my mangled spine. It's not just my spine, think about the actual people who I'm staying with, I've become apart of the furniture.

Which probably makes you wonder, why haven't I moved out yet? Well, that's a very good question. Which is probably summed up best by describing the current Hong Kong Property Market. Shit. Succinct and deliberate. The market is so inflated it has forced buyers back into the rental market, which of course is saturated with tenants and a huge deficiency of properties. Basic supply and demand suggest that the prices can only do one thing, that is go up. Properties will appear and disappear in the market within a matter of hours. I might receive a call in the morning "I have a place which I think is perfect for you, do you want to view it this evening?" only to receive a follow up call a couple of hours later "Sorry, it was just leased, I'll keep looking for you". I originally had had an idea of what budget and what I could expect in return based on friend's experiences in the last year. However, speaking with property agents it appears prices on rental market have increased in the last 12 months - in some cases more than 25 percent!

With a budget and a will I have engaged the rental scene, viewing apartments in the Central, Mid-Levels and Sheung Wan area. This region of Hong Kong is extremely popular with foreigners, with a huge proportion of expat tenants occupying the high density area. Three weeks in and I've seen a lot of places but nothing that I can comfortably call home. I didn't really experience this in London as I was always flat-sharing, but Hong Kong is a different beast. Price per square foot, space efficiency rating, club facilities and city views are all factors in determining how much you will pay. I've seen Studios, 1 bedders, 2 bedders, walk-ups, tiny kitchens with a 1 stove elements, Hong Kong style wet-kitchens and bedrooms that barely fit a double bed. It makes London look spacious, it makes Australia look wasteful.

It's hard not to feel discouraged after seeing so many incompatible places yet I continue to arrange viewings each night after work. According to agents an average person will see anywhere between 5-10 places before they decide to sign the contract. I have seen at least 40 different places and don't feel like I'm getting close. The agents always try the hard sell saying that my budget and requirements aren't aligned. I give a non-committed answer and tell them that I'll think about it knowing that a decision has already been made. I figured if I'm going to be there for a year I might as well wait.

Am I too picky? Am I looking for something that doesn't exist? Does the thought of commitment cloud my judgement? These are questions I often ask myself, usually directed at relationships as opposed to property - uh, at least I'm consistent. Until then, I continue with the viewings and get comfortable with the idea of sleeping on the couch for a little bit longer ...

Care Package

2011-08-25T23:39:00.004+08:00

Couple of familiar faces and familiar snacks passing through Hong Kong.

August: Week in review

2011-08-13T02:43:00.009+08:00

It has been a very interesting last couple of days. My 6 months of unemployment sadly comes to an end with my first week at work. It's nice to have a little routine back in my life and the difficulties of waking up each day slowly returns. Starting a new job is always the most tedious period. Learning about the different functions that each person contributes and the interaction they will eventually have with your role. Making first impressions and gauging personality types and of course just remembering people's names. I'm terrible with people's names and the problem with starting a new job is that you meet so many people in a short period of time. Thankfully I've been given a seating chart with all the names. Then there's the hassle of setting up email/access accounts and just getting used to the system. At the end of the first week I still don't have a computer. An IT professional without a PC, I'm good, but I'm not that good.

Work aside, I have finally opened a Hong Kong bank account and applied for my HKID. Still, there's so many outstanding things that I need to sign up for. This week also marks my very first live performance in Hong Kong, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Surprisingly entertaining gig and almost every single expat in Hong Kong made the journey out to Asia World Expo to see them live.

In other parts of the world, the UK has been hit by a ravaging gang of morons wrecking havoc through London 'burbs. Quite a surreal feeling hearing about areas in London and seeing images on the news. Meanwhile in the United States, America has had its Credit Rating downgraded to AA+, first time since 1941. This has rocked economic confidence which has reflected in the global markets. Quite an interesting start to the new role with a broker.

"Where I go I just don't know, I got to got to gotta take it slow" - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Cambodian Consumption

2011-08-08T05:15:00.006+08:00

We would ultimately get sick of eating Cambodian food. This was probably due to not having local intel of where and what to eat. That being said we indulged in our fair share of Cambodian delicacies.

Khmer Dipping sauces

Forgot the name of this lamb dish?

Amok Curry

Fresh Food Markets

Street Side Roast Beef with suspect fresh Vegetables

Khmer Curry

Beef Lok Lak with Fries

Banana Pancakes

Cambodian Baguette

Rice Noodle Soup

Complimentary Casino Congee

Local Brew

Last stop: Phnom Penh

2011-08-08T02:00:00.016+08:00

We were all slightly dubious about the estimated travel time between Siem Reap and Phnom. 'Around 6 hours' we were told. Around? Was this determined by the traffic? Dependent on the weather? None of the above, it was invariably down to the number of people climbing on and off along the way.

To our surprise the bus we had boarded was rammed with Cambodians and not the expected clientele of backpackers and tourists. Every now and then the bus would pull to the side and grind to a halt. Somebody might get on, somebody might get off. This explains why we were only given an "approximate" trip time. The drive itself was very enjoyable - the scenery was exceptional and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride through the countryside. Our bus finally arrived in Phnom Penh at 9 pm on Friday 5th.

Earlier that morning I had learnt that my Hong Kong Visa had finally been approved! As expected, this news disappointed me as I was secretly hoping that I could spend more time travelling abroad. I needed to be back in Hong Kong on the Monday to start work on the Tuesday. With a definite end point to this trip I braced myself for my final weekend on the road. Also after 2 weeks of glorious weather ominous clouds rolled into Phnom Penh and the heavens opened. Symbolic perhaps?

Phnom Penh Itinerary

Spent one evening around Sisowath Quay aka 'The riverside'. Plenty of pubs and restaurants although it didn't strike me as anything terribly exciting, again definitely geared towards tourists. While wandering the streets we saw a pretty brutal fight involving a couple of Antipodeans. For our only full day in Phnom Penh we hired Cheng a Taxi Driver for 40 USD who would drive us around to the various sites in town.

Tuol Sleng, the Genocide museum.

Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields.

Psah Thmay, Central Markets.

The National Museum of Cambodia and the Royal Palace as well as a sneaky meal of KFC

(The food is starting to get repetitive).

For an additional 20 USD Cheng was kind enough to entertain us in the evening. We were treated to a nice local restaurant, as well as a live Variety Show, complete with Cambodian Boy Bands and on stage dramas with transvestite lead actors and Platinum the local club scene. The end of the night we gave him an extra 10 USD so that he could find a place to stay the night instead of heading back to his village.

We left Cambodia the following morning with majority of the party heading back to Kuala Lumpur. It was at KL where I left them and headed back to Hong Kong. What an extremely fast two weeks. Hong Kong. Go!

1USD is all you need

2011-08-05T21:30:00.016+08:00

We arrived in Cambodia with low expectations and a tight budget. Poipet had been a pleasant surprise and we were still charged with enthusiasm when we eventually arrived in Siem Reap later that afternoon.

Here we met up with one of my friend's Brothers who would join us for the remainder of our trip. The three days were spent at the Frangipani Villa Hotel in Siem Reap, a very comfortable hotel for those on a budget. My only complaint was the angle of the shower head fixture and the lack of an elevator (In any case I probably needed the steps given the amount of food consumed since leaving Hong Kong). For the remainder of the first day we hired the services of Ken, a Tuk Tuk driver who brought us to the various markets and was responsible for one of the entertaining Karaoke sessions in my life.

Day 2 was spent exploring the Angkor National Park (20USD) the main attractions being Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. It was a long day spent wiping the sweat from our brows and constantly searching for shade from the sun. Consequently we retired early after a quick beer on Pub Street and a well deserved Cambodian massage.

We arose relatively early on Day 3 and headed to the Cambodian Land Mine Museum. Two days was more than enough in Siem Reap. I especially enjoyed the Tuk Tuk rides along the picturesque banks of the Siem Reap River and the lush gardens surrounding the city. Still, it feels like the city of Siem Reap is driven by tourism, everything here costs one USD dollar. I wonder if it will develop into an Egypt-esque setup where tourists reign supreme and the locals struggle - forced to the harass and swindle the tourists just to get by.

To get to our next destination our budget afforded us only one option. A public bus. For 8USD we climbed into the coach that promised to have us at the Cambodian Capital in 'around six hours'.

Border town

2011-08-03T20:05:00.015+08:00

The mid-90s Toyota Camry tears along the highway leaving nothing by a faint trail of dust in its wake. We sit, slouched and broken from sheer fatigue on what appears to be a seat that has been well used. Thankfully there's air-con. A muffled drone fills the car, a combination of the car's engine and the hum of our car moving at 100 kilometers per hour. Occasionally a car will overtake us but for the majority of the drive we pass countless trucks and motorbikes. We alternate between broken sleep and the clichéd gaze out of the car window. There's very little conversation, the Taxi driver is focused on the road and we each sit with headphones in our own head space. The music of Julia and Angus Stone keeps me entertained, I can only guess what the other two are listening to - Adele, Chris Brown, JJ Lin, who knows...

Our adventure into the Kingdom of Cambodia started a day earlier on the morning of Tuesday the 2nd of August when we casually checked out of our Bangkok apartments. Determined to get to Cambodia by road we unanimously voted against the ridiculously early 7:30am coach and agreed on a 2500 Baht private Taxi. Private taxi meant we decided to depart Bangkok at the more accommodating time of 2:00 pm. The drive from Bangkok to the Thai border town of Aranya Prapet took a little over three hours and was comfortable and I can say that I slept through most of the journey. We were abruptly awoken by the driver who informed us this is as far as he could take us. We had arrived at the Thai border town of Aranya Prapet. Almost instantly the taxi was surrounded by locals in green shirts each bidding for us to use their service, we hadn't even left the car but they could smell a tourist a mile away. The service of course was to help us cross the Thai/Cambodian border. In return for a small fee, they would fill out the necessary paperwork and show us where to get the Cambodia Entry Visa. Despite their pitches and desperate protests we decided to sort the Cambodian Visa out for ourselves and headed towards Cambodia.

Leaving Thailand was easy enough, pass through immigration, get your exit stamp and literally walk out of Thailand. The Cambodian Visa was slightly trickier, the Visa issuing office was separate to the entry point. Which means you buy the Visa (20 USD) take or provide a photo, wait for the Visa to be issued and finally walk to the Immigration check point. The confusion was quickly sorted by following the large number of backpacking tourists that were doing exactly the same thing.

So there we found ourselves in the dusty Cambodian border town of Poipet. The change in scenery was a welcome sight. The main road was all dirt, there were people were pulling carts of loaded with fresh produce, traffic was continuous, both leaving Cambodia and leaving Thailand. There were beggars about and almost every foreigner was being approached by some local trying to sell something and every corner had a casino. It was raw and and very confrontational. The steady stream of tourists were all heading onwards to Siem Reap we wanted to be different, we wanted to stay the night here in Poipet. Since we had not arranged accommodation we wandered around town and inquired about walk-in rates at the various Casinos. We eventually decided to stay at Grand Diamond City. At 1000 Baht a night with a complimentary 500 Baht Casino Chip it was a no-brainer (we would later spend a lot more than 1500 Baht at this Casino).

Poipet is a strange town. It has a hauntingly, transient feel and yet there's a certain charm. During the day it's all hustle and bustle, there's always a backpacker on the main road, there's always a haze of dust at least 1 metre high and there's always noise. Yet, once night falls, the town shuts up and only local street boys roam the streets with the occasional street food vendor.

Our first night in Cambodia and for dinner we had the tasty Khymer BBQ. After which we met some local street boys would acted as tour guides and Foreign Exchange merchants who kindly took us out to some local party on the back of their bikes. As with most of the trip so far in involved a bottle of liquor and some soda water. We ended up at the Casino later that night and gambled the night away.

The following morning still half asleep we head to the Poipet Bus Depot to start the journey towards Siem Reap. The thought of catching a bus with backpackers for the next 3 hours does not appeal to us so again we opt for a taxi. After purchasing the 40 USD taxi voucher a driver approaches and motions for us to follow him to his car, a mid 90s Toyota Camry.

"Do you know mister, of this place?" - Julia & Angus Stone

Please do not disturb!

2011-08-03T05:54:00.018+08:00

Way back in 2005 Bangkok revealed to me the insanely hedonistic and almost contradictory spiritual side of Thailand. This year in 2011 Bangkok presented a completely different experience. There were no bustling markets, no seedy tourist trips, no pseudo-ladies, no Pad Thai, no boutique-filled malls and no blue skies. Due to the unaccommodating weather majority of our time was spent lounging about our Sukhumvit serviced apartments (4000 B/Night) occasionally leaving the comfort of our lodgings for some nearby street food. It's a different experience when you have no intention to sightsee.

It was a short two days in Bangkok but still managed to eat plenty of food, check out some new bars, take an excellent photo (MeltMe), listen to live Thai music and most importantly catch up with old mates from Highschool and London.

"I know you!" - Me

Malaysian Road Trip - Yeah (x3)

2011-07-28T18:15:00.008+08:00

With a couple of days to spare we decided upon a mid-week road trip. Armed with a car and an insatiable appetite we ventured north towards Penang with a customary stop through Ipoh. Ultimately, it would be a journey in search for for Chendol and Kuih sound-tracked by the likes of Ke$ha, Chris Brown and Pitbull.

As you can see, it was mostly driving and eating. I remember driving up to these parts of Malaysia when I was a child and eating a crap load and always wanting to go to Komtar shopping centre. Years later, happy to say, not much has changed. Thanks for the trips lad!

"Ain't no mountain high enough" - Marvin Gaye

Home Sweet Home (Part II)

2011-07-26T23:12:00.009+08:00

Departing Taipei with less than 2 hours of sleep and a belly full of delicious Din Tai Fung generally indicates a successful trip. With the bulk of the crew heading back to Hong Kong I was lucky to have found myself a travel buddy to keep me company on my AirAsia flight to Malaysia. Despite being afforded luxury of not sitting next to a complete stranger the majority of the 4 hour flight was spent sleeping. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur just after 8:30 am and I was generously offered a lift from LCCT back into Central KL as well as a quick snack in Petaling Jaya. It feels good to be back in Malaysia!

First two nights were spent at Swiss Inn just off Petaling Street which was convenient but not so comfortable. The final nights were spent at Furama, Butik Bintang and a customary night spent on my friend's couch (I've become a professional couch surfer). My time was spent catching up with old London faces, relatives and of course, eating periodically at every waking hour. Hawker food around Bangsar, Petaling Street as well as delicious sit down meals at Green View and Loong Foong. Unfortunately during our Malaysian Road Trip I had missed out on kuih which meant I obsessively spent my days searching for it around KL.

I definitely have an affinity with Malaysia. I wonder if I could live and work here for a while? In any case, I've probably put on 5 kgs in the last few days and need to get out of here ASAP! I miss the caramelised pork from Seng Kee already ...

It was all white, everything

2011-07-24T16:30:00.006+08:00

I don't think I'll ever tire of visiting Taiwan. Another weekend trip to Taipei to celebrate a friend's Birthday at the Godskitchen 2F White event.

Excellent weekend - although a little heavy on the partying. Pleasant surprise. Met somebody this weekend who also, by coincidence will be on the same flight with me to Kuala Lumpur. So begins the start of two weeks of travel. Bliss.

"We can make fast or we can make it last" - Lupe Fiasco, All Black Everything

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

2011-07-13T11:02:00.008+08:00

I sit in an unfamiliar, well lit conference room. The air conditioning unit humming in the background on full blast. The door opens and HR drops two ledgers on the desk. "I'll give you some time to read over the contract. Then if you're happy, please sign both copies". Momentary panic, I was about to give this company the next x years of my life. It's a strange feeling when you see a monetary figure on piece of paper. This figure is what this company values you at, this is how much you are worth to them on a yearly basis. I'm Yours!

There I sit, not completely enthused to sign the contract, I wonder if this will bear any influence on my time here. Despite the hesitation I am looking forward to starting work. I sign and leave the office that will soon become very familiar. Provided I pass the UK and Australian Background checks (I have no reason not to) I am now a Hong Kong employee!

I had wasted almost half of 2011! This was undoubtedly the period I was waiting for, to travel around Asia. I have a little bit of time between now and my tentative start date of the 8th August. Work has estimated a 3 week Visa turnaround, secretly I hope it's a little longer just so I can spend more time abroad. Flights booked. See you back here in August!

Tick tock.

2011-06-29T14:46:00.005+08:00

Who would have thought that being unemployed required full time attention. It has been a busy last few weeks. My interim time fillers of Yoga, Gym and Cantonese Lessons has been put on halt. I find it hard to catch my breath and despite not having a daily routine I find myself constantly busy. I have been helping my previous employee setup a Hong Kong client and in between part time work have been studying and attending interviews.

The weather here hasn't been so obliging. 'Amber Rain' warnings and high humidity makes wearing a suit uncomfortable and guarantees perspiration immediately leaving any air-conditioned area. That being said, I haven't been completely deprived of spare time and have finally started watching The Wire - I'll be in Baltimore if anybody needs me!

Macao or Macau?

2011-06-13T19:58:00.007+08:00

Hanoi

2011-06-06T14:54:00.010+08:00

This post has been sitting in the drafts folder for over a month which explains the inactivity of my Blog. It had been over 5 years since I was last in Vietnam - it was one of the more enjoyable sections of my 3 months around Asia. The details of this trip would be a little different. For one it would be significantly shorter, a weekend as opposed to an entire month. Secondly, the locale would be different. North Vietnam, Hanoi as opposed to Saigon.

Flying out on the Friday night we stayed two nights at the Hanoi Sofitel Metropole an exquisitely fashioned hotel with a French Colonial flavour. Food wise, I found Hanoi a little disappointing, especially compared to the delicacies of Saigon, Da Lat and Nha Trang. (Although, this was probably more a case of not knowing where to eat). Night life was good without being outstanding and we were overwhelmed by the multicultural representation at the local haunts: Press Club, The Red Room, Tay Ho Hotel and Phuc Tan.

Sour note, experienced dramas with (temporary) missing peoples and aggressive Taxi Drivers, other than that, an excellent trip where we managed to check out the following:

Snake Village - served King Cobra blood and meat.

Hoa Lo Prison aka The Hanoi Hilton.

Sofitel Metropole

Unfortunately missed out on the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum as well as Halong Bay - I might just have to go back!

Cheapest One Michelin Star Restaurant

2011-06-02T20:10:00.006+08:00

With so much spare time and so many regular visitors it was time to check out Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin Star Restaurant in the world!

Dim Sum was delectable. Pork Buns divine. 1 hour 10 min wait debatable.

Laptop dramas

2011-05-26T14:53:00.011+08:00

"You've had that laptop for ages! Get a new one!"

It's true. I have had this laptop for ages - Since 2004 in fact. Not to say that it's bricked and complete useless, it's just I haven't been bothered to load up a new Operating System. Actually, I was bothered, so bothered in fact that I requested that the external optical drive be delivered from Sydney all the way to Hong Kong. This consequently put a friend through an Airport Security nightmare only seen in glorified Hollywood movies, but that's her story, not mine (Thanks again Jen).

So back to my laptop, 12" LCD, 1.2 GHz Intel Centrino, 1 GB of RAM, 60 GB HD and Wireless 802.1b. Hardware prowess that would have made any geek from 2004 cream their pants. Unfortunately, as per Moore's Law these specs no longer command the attention of computing enthusiasts, in fact I'm pretty sure your kitchen fridge has more computing power than my old Dell X300. The point is, it serves me well and despite the frailties of the Operating System the laptop still lives on.

Whenever I encounter any issues, be it, Virus, Malware or sluggishness I simply format my PC, whack a fresh copy of Windows XP and Bob's yer uncle. Since 2004 I would say I have probably formatted this laptop anywhere between 20 to 30 times. Unfortunately this time around I decided to move over to Ubuntu and accidentally put the image on my backup/media partition instead of the 7 year old dedicated OS partition!

What this means is that I've lost all my media since 2004! Media dating back to my University days! Britney Spears' first hit album! Underground freestyle videos! My post-University trip around Asia! My 3 years in Europe! All those photos! Everything! Gone*! I'll be the first to admit that I was completely in a state of shock when I figured out what I had done. That being said, I've used recovery software before, so for the time being I'm just letting it sit until I have the resources to (hopefully) recover the last 7 years of my life.

It's a bizarre feeling reduced access to the Internet, I feel so naked. My "smartphone", currently on a Hong Kong Pre-paid plan has no data and my Laptop doesn't function so not being consistently connected to the internet 24/7 is a completely foreign experience. It's as if I'm back in some prehistoric period, some period, like the year 2004...

What do you do when you're free?

2011-05-11T15:33:00.010+08:00

The main differences between moving to London and moving to Hong Kong is that there's less expectations; both internally and externally. Externally there appears to be less concern from friends back home, not to say this is a bad thing. In fact the constant harp of "Have you found a job?" and "What have you been doing in your free time?" frequent my facebook and email account far less since making the move to Asia. It's not that they don't care, I suppose they know I've experienced it all before so it will ultimately work out in the end. Honestly, I prefer it that way.

Internally I feel less pressured to find a job, not to say that I'm not looking but if I were to look back at this period when I was in London. I remember entertaining the idea of working at a pub or KFC. This time 'round I know what to expect and am quietly confident. It doesn't hurt that I'm staying with two of my closest mates who have been nothing short of accommodating and encouraging.

With the job market slow I've become used to the unemployed routine. Unemployed routine? We know what you do in your spare time I hear you say? However, this routine is slightly different to the domesticated London Routine - I've made a conscious effort to make the most of Hong Kong away from the career. I mean, I might as well make the most of being overseas.

Yoga, at PURE Fitness

Studying, at the City Hall Library

Cantonese Lessons, at Wanchai

Eating, so much

Traveling, when I can ...

End Point

2011-05-02T20:40:00.012+08:00

I distinctly remember leaving Sydney with the mandate to try Hong Kong out until the beginning of May. By 'try' I had intentions to see if Asia required somebody with my skill-set. This seemed like a reasonable plan, and if after 6 weeks there was zero interest in my resume I told myself (and others) that I would attend the wedding and simply return to Australia and resume life in Sydney. I secretly knew that this wasn't really an option.

So, now it is May and I've not much to report. The market has been extremely slow. A far cry from my first few weeks in London where interviews were constant and consistent! I think this contrast is part of the reason why I still remain here, determined to set myself up in Hong Kong. To this date I have had zero interviews with companies and I'm starting to feel like I've outstayed my friend's couch. As strange as that sounds I find the lack of interviews re-assuring. The general feedback I've received from recruiters is that my resume will definitely provoke interest and that I just need to exercise a little patience as the market was "unusually" slow right. So enough about my situation and back to the main post topic, the wedding.

It has been over 5 years since I was last in Taipei and it still remains one of my favourite Asian Destinations. Friendly people, excellent food and an overall great vibe - not a lot has changed. Despite being here before I was secretly excited to spend the weekend in Taiwan. Firstly it would be the first family gathering since my Grandma's funeral and I couldn't wait to see Aunts, Uncles and immediate family from Australia. Secondly, the two getting married (my cousin and his fiancee) helped me a lot while I was in London and I owe them so much for the way my London Experience panned out.

The wedding itself was traditional, intimate and a lovely ceremony. I was, by default the best man, by tradition, the definition, an unmarried male from representing the Groom's side. Wonderful time, excellent food and a renewed vigor to get back to Hong Kong to set myself up!

Momentary Lapse

2011-04-22T22:22:00.009+08:00

ATM keys are arranged slightly different here in Hong Kong. I've become too used to remembering the movement my hands make over the keypad as opposed to consciously remembering the individual digits. 2 strikes and I'm out, not risking a third - I'd momentarily forgotten my PIN...

The Mole

2011-04-19T10:56:00.005+08:00

1 month into my Hong Kong stay and I've sighted a suspicious mole on my chest. The mole has been there for a while, as long as I can remember. Fact is, I'm quite a mole-y person. With in-excess of at least 50 moles on my body ( I can count at least 20 on my arms alone). So the fact that there is a mole isn't the concern but more what it's doing - at least as much as a mole can do.

Not suspicious like that chap on the bus with the unusually large suitcase, shifty glance and nervous mannerisms. Suspicious in only a way that a mole can be - Puffy and sore. I'm usually one for online self-diagnosis this time I figured it be best to check in with a GP. Thank goodness for travel insurance.

Update: Just an "infection" apparently...

The other side

2011-04-10T02:52:00.004+08:00

The most outstanding thing about Hong Kong is how easily accessible and affordable services are. Basic transportation, house cleaning, laundry, grocery delivery and even take-out delivered to your doorstep is readily available. There is somebody out there for every service imaginable - I'm sure I could even find somebody here to write/type up this blog entry for a small fee.

The workers vary from budding students, overseas immigrants to even the unskilled elderly. It's a sad sight and yet the nominal fee that we expect no change from probably assists in volumes both economically and mentally. I could never imagine Hong Kong offering more than a society with low tax and a lifestyle filled with luxuries experienced by the rich. Yet, despite the craziness I was shocked and impressed by the natural side of Hong Kong.

A long (40 minutes, 260 HKD by Taxi) ride out out of Hong Kong Central. A 20 HKD speed boat journey followed by a 40 minute hike and we came to Tai Long Wan also known as Big Wave Beach. Unbelievable. My first dose of Summer and Sunshine since 2010, I could get used to this.

Springbreak

2011-04-05T01:31:00.002+08:00

Milestone #1. First Trip in Asia

Artjamming

2011-03-30T14:34:00.004+08:00

APAC

2011-03-28T02:32:00.001+08:00

27th March 2011

The culture shock here is enormous - I actually feel like an outsider here, especially compared to London. First interaction with the locals and I've already had issues with language barrier. Tried to catch a cab from the Airport Express Station to Caine Road, ended up being driven to King Road. Fear, excitement and anxiety - Cannot wait!

Nudie Run (Part 2)

2011-03-27T15:09:00.000+08:00

Time to do it all over again ...

The remainder arrives

2011-03-19T19:23:00.002+08:00

3 months later, the shipping has arrived. The contents of the package just goes to show how much of a hoarder I am. Time to visit the clothing bin.

Melbourne

2011-03-15T15:36:00.007+08:00

Visited an old mate down in Melbourne. Really loving this city, has a very trans-euro feel to it. Overall a very grounding and almost spiritual trip. I'm ready.

Sydney Baby!

2011-03-01T19:45:00.005+08:00

Gotta love this place!

Home Sweet Home

2011-02-26T15:18:00.008+08:00

The simple act of having somebody pick you up and drop you off at the airport is such a touching gesture. This is even more evident before or after a long trip. I'll always remember the people who saw me off at Heathrow and it was equally as nice to see my family at Kingsford Smith. It's a strange feeling of disconnect being back in Sydney. To be honest, the void has nothing to do with Sydney but more because of the sudden absence from London. No matter how bad or good the experience anything that occupies that much time in your life is going to have an lasting affect. After catching up with friends and family the reality of it all settled in. I was indeed having London withdrawals, I missed the conveniences and the lifestyle that had dictated the last 3 years of my life.

Since being back, I've come to realise how amazing the city of Sydney really is. The sights, the food, the people. Everything. There is one but...

Everybody here is so settled. I've lost count of the number of weddings, engagements, baby showers and house warmings. I can understand why people here in Sydney engage in these life choices. It, for me, feels like a place to settle down. Heck, even I went through moments where I wanted to get a stable paying job in Australia, save some money, buy property and find a nice girl to set myself up for the proverbial "and they lived happily ever after". So here I am, single, unemployed and with very little to show in terms of achievements over the last two years. Yet as I lie on the couch reacquainting myself with cable TV the memories and experiences from London flashback and make me feel over privileged and lucky to have experienced it all. It's for that reason I need to get out.

The Dirty Bit

2011-02-07T13:07:00.010+08:00

Up until recently my mobile phone provider would automatically save all sent and received text messages for my mobile number to an online repository. Think of it as an archive of all SMS communicated to and from your handset. So with the penultimate closing of my London Chapter, it's interesting to read through all the messages that I sent and received. They represent individual moments over the last two and half years. Starting with the initial messages introducing myself to my friends with my new +44 number, moving to the various dinners, catch ups, trips, birthdays, visitors, farewells, drunken text, random messages, congratulations and salutations. With enough thought I can recollect why I sent or why I received each message.

The question that comes up the most is "Why are you leaving?". I'm thankful to not be bound by ultimatums that many expats face, the most common being Visa issues and family commitments drawing them back home. The luxury of being able to decide to leave on your own accord is something that burdens many expats in London. From my experience there are two types of London Expats. The first are those who are in the UK to experience life abroad and dabble in European travel (2-4 years abroad). Secondly are those who have moved to the UK to establish themselves financially, these people usually get caught up with the appeal of Permanent Residence (> 6 years). Given that broad classification I fall into the former of the two.

To be able to travel all of Europe would require determination of epic proportions. For me, the idea of weekend trips no longer excited me and I was content with the amount of European coverage I experienced. The other factor was that of work and lifestyle, I needed a change that could only be satisfied by moving away from London.

With that being said it's only fitting that my final night in London would be spent surrounded by the familiar faces that have made my UK experience enjoyable. The night consisted of a trashy venue (Ruby Blue), cake, shots, conversation and of course, HK Diner. So with the 41 kgs (31 kgs luggage + 10 kg carry on) I left London with a small farewell party at Heathrow. Farewell London!

Bogans of the world unite

2011-01-27T07:59:00.002+08:00

Strange that I've never celebrated Australia Day in London. Although after last night I have a suspicion that it is just an excuse for Bogans to let loose, or more possible to let loose of our inner Bogan. Happy Australia Day!

Friday 28th Jan. Last day of work.

Rumspringa

2011-01-13T19:08:00.007+08:00

I speak from an almost wistful point of view. It's taken me somewhat unexpectedly, I always assumed leaving the UK would be a moment of anticipation, excitement and the reunification with all things Australian. The reality of it all is that I'm petrified and riddled with an insurmountable amount of anxiety almost to the point where I'm scrapping the bottom of the barrels for excuses to stay in London.

I fear the monotony of being back in Australia, an Australian in Sydney, that's nothing special. An Australian in London, well that's nothing special either but there was a inkling of uniqueness. Not even that, London was my haven from responsibility and all about living in the now. When I left Sydney I had the expectation of returning, it was an interim in life. Without sounding melodramatic, this could be the last time in London.

With this in mind I roam London with a certain sense of finality. I have limited amount of time and a list of things that I want to do. It's true, I've become a London Tourist! Deciding what to pack is another challenge stirring a lingering sense of nostalgia. Things that I want to bring home and those that I can safely toss out. Each item in my room represents a different time, a different encounter, a different moment. I go through the photos and SMSes since 2008. The LOL moments, outings, random adventures, relationships, work, travel. London was about redlining the human capacity for emotions. A maelstrom of excitement, doubt, laughter, love, appreciation, regret, sadness, betrayal, frustration, anticipation and happiness.

"I want to know if that place that I've been once before. Hasn't ever changed and remains the place that always will be there for me" - Boyz II Men, Flowers Bloom

Basement Affairs

2011-01-10T05:24:00.005+08:00

The beginning and end of many nights.

E'gipped

2011-01-03T17:12:00.017+08:00

Where do I even begin with Egypt? It almost feels like the whole country has collectively decided to siphon every bit of your hard earned cash. Whether it be the Pound, the Yen or the Greenback the locals share the common occupation of trying to get a hold of your money. Sometimes you're lucky to walk away with some advice, a photo or if you're lucky, a souvenir. I was shocked to see a police man spend 2 minutes of his time to show me one particular vantage point, only to ask for money for his generous time. It's not hard to see why, the main bulk of the population look to be living under the poverty line and a couple of Egyptian pounds here and there can make a world of difference. Still, nobody likes to feel cheated, even if it is only a couple of bucks.

Egypt. Where buffets reign supreme. Where there's a DSLR everywhere you turn. Where it feels like tourism is driving the entire economy. Where a truck breaking down on the side of the road is the norm. Where you feel like that you're a statistic within the number of tourists. Then you see the Pyramids and learn of the rich history and suddenly you realise that being a statistic is all worth it. That the early starts and the habitual bus rides were minor in the greater scheme of things. That the food, the quality of accommodation and the conditions are probably a million times better than what most local Egyptians will ever experience. It's a grounding experience, you feel selfish, insignificant and ungrateful.

Jewels of the Nile Tour with Travel Talk

Day 1 Cairo, Cataract Hotel, Aswan Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren, Mycrenos and Sakkara
Day 2 Aswan – Nile Cruise High Dam, Philae Temple, Unfinished Obelisk
Day 3 Abu Simbel,Aswan, Nile Cruise Komombo
Day 4 Nile Cruise, Edfu, Irish Pub
Day 5 Luxor, Balloon ride over west Bank, Donkey ride Disembark Nile Cruise,Temple of Luxor, Temple of Karnak NEW YEAR GALA DINNER IN LUXOR!
Day 6 Luxor, Cairo Valley of the Kings, Temple of Queen Hatshepsut,
Day 7 Cairo Egyptian Museum, Citadel of Saladin, Mosque of Mohamed Ali, the Hanging Church, Kahn El Khalili bazaar
Day 8 Cairo, 3rd January 2011

Currently reading 100 Years of Solitude.

Merry Crimbo!

2010-12-26T05:52:00.004+08:00

"He's making a list, and checking it twice"

Employment & Relationships

2010-12-20T05:24:00.006+08:00

One, finances the expedition known as life. The other, makes life worth living for. Yet despite the similarities, it becomes obvious that both definitions can be used interchangeably to describe either employment or relationships. In spite of this generalisation, many can go an entire lifetime without one, the other or even both. The thing about jobs and partners is that they occupy and consume a large percentage of our life. Knowing this, we tend to invest a considerate amount of time searching for what we consider our ideal. With this in mind the parallels suddenly become more apparent between both.

Recruiters and friends both play the middle man (or woman) in bringing the two parties to each other's attention. The application, the ice breaker. The resume, the initial conversation, or would that be the cover letter? Then comes the first round interview, the first date. The aptitude tests or meeting the friends and parents. Each challenge eliciting enough information to determine if a suitable fit has been found or if the chemistry is there. If all goes well, you receive a job offer thereby making it official, you're a couple. Three months down the track the probation finishes as does the honeymoon period and the relationship grows.

Similarly enough, just as it can happen in relationships, you can outgrow jobs. When this happens, no amount of negotiation, bargaining or promises can make you change your decision or your feelings. It's then when you have to let the other party know. It begins with a "When you have a spare moment, could we have a private chat?" or a "Listen, we need to talk". Ultimately, the end result is the same and then, it's over.

"It takes a few seconds to say 'hello', but forever to say 'goodbye'"

Israel

2010-12-06T20:46:00.016+08:00

Less than 72 hours earlier was I on the exact same Easyjet plane flying back from Austria. The human condition is strange, what sets us apart from most other animals is our ability to adapt and adjust to conditions and surroundings. Despite this phenomena, Easyjet flights remain an outlier that I simply can't get used to. I secretly like to consider myself a EU Discount carrier frequent flyer. Flying in excess of 15 times this year I still have found the right formula to flying comfortably. I'm sad to report that this 5 hour and 40 minute flight would be no different.

Our trip coincided with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the 8 day festival of lights. From our experience in Israel, this religious holiday lacks the commercial punch of Christmas but is still held dearly with the Jewish community. It's a stark contrast, the humble Menorah, Dreidels and the delectable sufganiyot, or Jewish doughnut. Then again, you can't really compare the two religious events.

I've had high expectations of Israel so much so that I feared disappointment, the Holy Land, a rich cosmopolitan of history, culture and nightlife. Our 4 day adventure would take us around the major tourist areas. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem as well as Masada and the Dead Sea.

Tel Aviv

Eden House, our accommodation base (well Eden Blue House on the final night). I screwed up the accommodation book a little by blindly booking double rooms as opposed to twins. Fortunately, this would not be a major issue as we would be disgustingly intoxicated and sleep would be a luxury of this trip. So, back to Tel Aviv. First impressions of the neighbour hood, quite dilapidated, I say this not with my nose turned high but as an observation. This run-down façade would later give off a romantic charm to the area. Another observation, why are there so many cats?

Food wise, very good. The produce we had was extremely fresh and tasty and the same can be said about most food throughout Israel. I've a new found appreciation of eggplant (or for you English, Aubergine) and the mixed Mezze. Spinaches, beets, cheeses, corianders, soft flat breads, hummus and the succulent meats, delicious, I could eat those as mains! We dined at two restaurants, one a local Cat Themed restaurant and the slightly finer dining Alma Beach based Manta Ray.

Due to our limited time in Israel, we only had Sunday as a free day to roam around Tel Aviv at our on leisure. With this, we decided that the Carmel Markets and Jaffa would make up our daytime agenda. Really, liking this city, such an electric vibe around the city. Most definitely consider coming back in the new year.

Party wise we managed to get to the main areas within Tel Aviv. Rothschild St, with plenty of nondescript bars, the slightly more relaxed Florentine with it's bohemian vibe and the traditional Port Tel Aviv, home of the super clubs. One of the few places in the world where a late night kebab and falafel isn't the sign of a bad night out.

As with most Middle Eastern countries, the weekend starts a day earlier with Saturday marking the start of the week. It was a nice surprise to find plenty of people out on the Saturday evening. We later found out that most people worked half days during Hanukkah. With that in mind, we headed down to Port Tel Aviv, Nemal the home of the super clubs. Feeling somewhat under-dressed and more importantly, old, we headed south to the bar-centric neighbour hood of Florentine. Excellent place to bar hop, each bar has different décor, unique atmosphere and the friendliest people you could meet. Our night ended in a convenience store with the store keeper desperately trying to persuade us to save our money and walk home. 10 minutes later we left the shop with precise instructions how to walk home, turned the corner and jumped into the first cab we could find.

The problem with Tel Aviv, is that there's so many small streets that most cab drivers aren't familiar with. Of course, our lodging's was no exception. Sure enough we found ourselves standing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Tel Aviv. One of us, in dire need of a restroom ducked into a local pub to use the amenities. Overcome by guilt she thought the least we could do is buy a drink. A round was ordered and the bar tender decided that it would free drinks for all in the bar. We stayed late into the evening, drinking and singing. Excellent night-life!

Jerusalem + Bethlehem (Day 1 of tour)
6:45 am. Well rested with 2 hours of sleep, we checked out of Eden House and trudged over to the Mecure, to be picked up for the start of our mouth watering 2 day tour. There was no shortage of tour companies around Israel but we opted for Egged Tours which we had booked online back in London. Not 10 minutes into our journey did we have to travel to realise how rich in history and how much culture was on offer. We passed the field were David allegedly fought Goliath, learnt about the Bedwins and the significance of Olive Oil and Trees to the Israelis. Our first major stop was Jerusalem which in all honesty was a fair bit to take in. Sites included, Dome of the Rock, The Wailing Wall and the Crucifixion site, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Amazing tour, yet so strange walking through the three different quarters, Christian, Muslim and Jewish quarters. Unbelievable.

For lunch we were herded to a falafel bar, we weren't the only tour group eating here and the food was unsurprisingly crap. Immediately after lunch we were again, pushed into a gift store where we were encouraged to 'shop around' while the tour organised the tour guide within the Palestine grounds of Bethlehem. Sure enough, the store was filled with tourist and paraphernalia only a devotee could imagine. The wait took nearly 1 hour which was apalling! Finally we were allowed to cross over into Bethlehem.

The Israeli security was strict with passports required to be shown upon entry and exit. Crossing over, you could tell you were in a different place, kids harassed you to buy gum and postcards and there was a heightened sense of activity and alertness. The main drawcard of this part of the tour was the Church of Nativity, better known as the birth place of Jesus. The first day ended spending a night back in Jerusalem checking into Park Plaza, indulging in the hotel's buffet and passing out due to sheer exhaustion.

Masada + Dead Sea (Day 2 of tour)
Last evening's attempt to explore Jerusalem by after sunset was a failure. The trade off to this was the indulgent 8 hours of sleep we were treated to and the not so good movie, From Paris With Love. At 8:45 the following day we embarked on our tour towards Masada and the Dead Sea. We had exchanged our mini van for a fully fledged tour bus and a new tour guide. Within 30 minutes we were driving along the coast of the world's lowest point, 418 metres below sea level. Not surprisingly, we were pushed into the Dead Sea gift store and were soon caught up in the novelty and fever of dead sea products.

The UNESCO site of Masada was something else, the ruins of what was once fortress and hide out of Herrod sounded impressive back in its hay day and 2000 years later did not disappoint. Ambitiously we tried to climb up the 90 metre accent in thongs but were denied and forced to take the cable car, good call. The tour was well conducted and treated to historic recount of the great siege of Massada. Immediately proceeding lunch we started for The Dead Sea.

Armed with the knowledge of the Dead Sea and my budgie smugglers we headed down to the shore of the world's saltiest body of water. The water, if you can call it water itself was so viscous it resembled oil more than water. We had been cautioned into entering the Dead Sea gracefully and gently. There was a science to it. Slowly step in, avoiding all the sharp objects by the shore, in fact wear thongs if you can. Then, ease yourself down into the squat position and sit down on you backside. The high salinity would take care of the rest. Sure enough, feet, body were floating on the water, this provided entertainment for the best part of 20 seconds. The nutrient, rich mud proved to be more of a novelty than floating and soon we were covered head to toe in the mud. The salt was ridiculously painful in the eye not even the accidental rub of chilli in the eye comes close to the excruciating pain of having 38% salinity in your eyes.

So there it is. Israel, an amazing trip! I decided that 4 days was nearly not enough time and I've already decided this is one of the few countries I would return to.

The high level of security was also something else. On the way in we were cautious of the risks of having an Israeli stamp in the passport. On the way out we were shipped off to terminal 3, and interrogated at the airport, countless scans, particle samples and passport quizzes. The stamps of Malaysia, Dubai, Morocco and Indonesia raised some eyebrows but after convincing them that I was nothing but an Australian traveller I was granted my seat on the flight. We boarded the flight with minutes to spare and were soon flying back into London. Flight back was deadly long and uncomfortable and we arrived back in London well after midnight. Still, it was a lot earlier than the previous weekend.

This is me in ...

2010-12-01T21:04:00.005+08:00

My passport, my backpack, my thongs, my toiletries these are the no-brainers that I blindly grab before each trip. Clothing is slightly trickier, dependent on the destination, type of trip and climate this can vary. There are however some staples that almost always feature in travel ensemble.

My well worn jeans, my comfortable elastic band pajama slacks and more recently my multi-layer, waterproof jacket. The problem with Winter is that since you wear the same clothing, the photos start to look the same and start to become quite repetitive. The big jacket, the scarf, the beanie and the same pale face peeking through the familiar attire.

"Never explain yourself - Your friends don't need it, your enemies won't believe it."

Austria! Well then, G'day mate!

2010-11-30T05:28:00.004+08:00

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I may have sweet talked our way through to the front of queue. Could I kindly ask that you please return to your seats and turn off all electrical items". Followed shortly by "Sorry folks, as usual, my ability to talk to women has failed and we are again sitting 4th in the queue". The last piece of commentary, courtesy of our pilot brought an ebullition of mirth that rippled through the plane's cabin. My first snow for the season had proved more of a hindrance than anything. Snowflakes clumsily tumbled to the ground throughout the evening and created a backlog of flights looking to depart. So there we sat delayed on the tarmac as the snow continued to fall steadily.

Despite being delayed by almost 3 hours it was the captain's charm that had appeased the restless passengers. The groan of disdain was in unison when the delay was announced. People whinged and complained when they were made to stand outside on the tarmac in the falling snow, yet when the pilot stood at the front of the plane looking disheveled and tired, he assured the plane that he wanted nothing more to be back at home with his family than stuck behind a line of planes. This simple act of showing that he was human lead to the unscrunching of faces as the crowd prepared themselves for the long night ahead. It may have been the charismatic nature of the pilot but the mere act of informing the people of the situation and his own desperation reveal that showing a little humility goes a long way.

Vienna, Austria. I write this, half asleep, half awake. Undecided which state is more prominent, yet I know, that sleep is the only thing on my mind. I would, at this moment in time trade my liver for sleep or possibly my first new born. Up until now I had a routine for weekend flights. It ran like clockwork, like a finely tuned machined in a Japanese factory, well a non-Toyota factory. A procedure so refined that it detailed the intricacies from waking early, to double checking documents, knowing what to pack, knowing what to charge, where to catch the bus, put simply, I had weekend travel down to a tee. This trip would not follow that procedure and be the mark of many firsts.

Saturday 4:30 am. My clothes, reeking of Korean BBQ from last night's dinner. My breath, smelling like a suspicious mix of tequila and Sambucca. My backpack, looking dangerously under packed slung over my shoulder. Me, a picture of lost youth, I collapse like a bag of old clothes on the train. It lurches forward into the darkness as I drift in and out of sleep. At this moment in time my biggest fear was not missing my flight, but waking up in Brighton at 6 am. I dreaded the weekend ahead, I dreaded the Monday. I finally arrive at the airport, it comes as no surprise that the flight has been delayed. Gatwick Airport, I'm greeted by 2 familiar and obviously under the weather faces. One gurgles before vomiting in the recycling bin before boarding the plane. I wasn't the only one feeling rough.

As planned, this trip to Vienna was to re-kindle the love of the festive season, to huddle around with steaming cups of mulled wine, ginger bread biscuits and to be dazzled by all the offerings of the Viennese Christmas Markets. The group dynamics of this trip would also be different, we had fresh faces in London and their enthusiasm and desire to travel the cities reminded us of past trips and previous vigors. I looked at myself, no longer the fresh faced traveller, it was refreshing and alarming at the same time. We were dragged through freezing winter conditions from Christmas Market, to restaurant, from palace through to the trails of Mozart. I say dragged but deep down I was secretly glad the motivation was there. In total, we managed to make it to three markets. Schnonbrunn, Rathausplatz and my favourite the charming Spittelberg.

So as I sit here and type, my focus lapsing from the meager 2 hours of sleep the night before. I force myself to finish this post. Wondering if there were any glaring omissions from this recount as well as entertaining other questions. eg. Can you die from a lack of sleep? 9:30 pm Monday evening, completely exhausted and signing out. My bed calls for me, I call back...

"I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death" - Nasir Jones, New York State of Mind

Friday Food

2010-11-26T19:58:00.005+08:00

We've moved from emails to webforms.

Bah Kuh Teh

2010-11-21T04:10:00.002+08:00

Lovin' London

2010-11-08T06:32:00.009+08:00

I am, without a doubt thoroughly enjoying my time here in the UK right now. Not too sure, if it's the impending depature date and my incessant need to make the most of my remaining time but everything right now is fitting together. Weekends, will always be weekends but it's the weekdays, musicals, live sport, gym, sports, mid week catch ups. There's so much going on, I fear the routine that awaits me back in Sydney.

The English eat and breath sport and there's nothing more they love than giving it to the Australians. Nothing beats being an Australian living in the UK during the Ashes - I cannot wait.

Whack it in a Tangine (Part 2)

2010-11-03T16:00:00.011+08:00

The pleasant surprise was the food. The quality of the Moroccan cuisine was delicious, interesting and cheap.

Spiced tea and cinnamon sweets.

One of the countless food stalls in Djemaa el Fna to open for supper. This is where we had our last meal, sheep head and brains.

Deep fried fish.

The Moroccan staples, Kebabs, Couscous, Tangine and flat bread.

Desert breakfast. Traditional bread, jams and mint tea.

Road trip snacks of the South East Asian variety.

Sweet and savory. Moroccan Pigeon Pastilla with nuts and cinnamon.

Dried nuts and fruits. They're mad for dates.

Fresh juices, Orange, Grapefruit and Lemon Juice! Sweetest I've ever had and SO CHEAP (~30 pence a glass).

Morocco (Part 1)

2010-11-02T08:52:00.026+08:00

A bloody outrage! It still amazes me how a trip was booked over the Halloween weekend. Unfathomable, one of the more enjoyable holiday dates in the UK was to be spent plain-clothed, civilised and sober. The inquest finished and we forlornly prepared ourselves for our four-day trip to North Africa. There would be no fetish-derived ghouls or trick-or-treating but rather an eye-opening experience that would reignite the love for travel.

The adventure begins at 2:30 am on the Friday, 29th October. This, hands down, is the earliest I've had to wake up to travel. A quick bus ride down to Vauxhall and we were soon speeding down the M23 bound for Gatwick Airport. It should come as no surprise that the flight was uncomfortable, sleep was hard to come by but these are usual traits of budget airlines. We had boarded what would appear to be some kind of Venga-plane. People were talking boisterously and joking, smiling and having copious amounts of alcohol. All the while the three of us sat, pinned up in the last row with blood-shot eyes and a longing for sleep. 3 hours into the 3 and half hour flight, it was announced that the plane had run out of beer. It was 8 am and people were getting drunk. It would be a long trip with unbearable, draining transits.

9 am, arriving in Marrakesh, we were picked up at the airport by our Riad owners and taken into the city. The drive itself was an eye-opener, camels, donkeys, motorbikes, dust and authentic North African Architecture greeted us as we entered the Medina of Marrakesh. We met with the riad owner who showed us around the exquisitely kept riad. Unanimously we agreed to get some sleep before exploring the city. Waking a couple of hours later with a mighty appetite we headed to the main Square. Our accommodation, a brisk walk away from the centre stage for all things Moroccan, Djamaa El Fna.

Of the four days, two were spent on a desert tour the with the majority of our time in Marrakesh spent in the main square exploring the Souqs and trying to find our way into the blasted the palace.

The striking thing about Djamaa El Fna is how it changes through out the course of the day. During the day there's the faint smell animal waste, all the while, hash dealers, orange juice vendors and beggars all vying for your attention, or more importantly for your coin. Motorbikes zip through the bustling streets ducking and weaving in between pedestrians. The assortment of henna artists and Snake charmers mashed in with the perpetual dusty haze. Come sunset and the place transforms. All the zaniness of the day remains however this is the time when the locals come out and the food stalls open, smoke from the grills and the steam from tagines fill the air.

It really is a sensory wonderland. The sights, the smells, the animals and the people. The locals will grab you and demand money for anything and everything under the sun. You want a photo of that, you have to pay for it. The thing is you can't brush them off with the usual lie of "I'm just taking a look" or the"I'll be back later" because they remember and they'll confront you about it "You said you would come back".

With help from our Riad owners, we signed up for a 2 day trip into the Moroccan desert for a tidy fee of €72 per person. The details of the tour were unknown to most of the tour group with the idea of camping in the desert the only intel. The drive was testing and our Berber guide aka driver wasn't particularly informative. Every now and the berber would turn to the group

"Do you want to stop and take photos?"
"What is this place?"
* incoherent ramble *
"No, let's keep driving"

This conversation took place countless times and not once did we stop aside from the occasional toilet break or leg stretch. Thankfully we had been lucky enough to have a good group on tour. The three Australians, 1 american and 4 canadians made up the group. Plenty of laughs and banter which kept the 8 hour journey bearable. Our two day drive would take us from Marrakesh to Zagora passing through the Atlas mountains, with stop overs at Quarzazete and the Draa Valley and passing a traffic causing car accident.

This brings us to the actual "desert" experience. Despite not being the Sahara, there were still high expectations of the desert, unluckily for us we arrived at the camel rendezvous point after sunset, the next 1 hour was spent riding a camel. The novelty of riding a camel wore off 2 minutes into the 1 hour camel ride. Camels are such awkward creatures, passive and rhythmic. Three things I've learn about camels, you can't fall asleep while riding a camel, camel riding leads to camel chaffing and camels can defecate while on the move. So we plod into the darkness, the longer we trekked the more remote our surrounding became.

At last we arrived and alighted the camel caravan, it was pitch black and only the faint outlines of the Berber tents could be made out at the camp site. Our epic journey had come to an end, there was sand beneath our feet but we couldn't see anything. This was until one of my friends said "oh shit, I lost my phone riding the camels". So with our berber the two us jumped into the Van (the Van drove into the desert with our luggage) and started to backtrack our way back. Two problems with this plan. 1. The Berber tour guide had no sense of direction. 2. A phone was lost in a desert. A desert! We were looking for a phone in the desert, in the middle of the night. It must have been the fatigue or the lack of food which clouded rational thinking.

For some reason during this period of driving slowly through the desert our berber coincidently forgot all English. The driver went the wrong way and ended up lost in the dessert. Not only were we lost, but the van was blogged down in sand. Lost and stuck, so we got out and started walking, after 20 minutes of walking in darkness with the flashlight of my phone the only light. Seeing this as futile exercise we were sent back to the Van (the lights were left on so we could easily identify it's location). With that our Berber disappeared into the desert night (with my phone) leaving us in the van. Mentally we prepared ourselves for spending the night in the van. Thankfully we had food, water, our possessions and hashish - perhaps why we were so blase about this predicament.

Long story short, an hour later our berber appears out of the darkness with help, a robbed man with a huge shovel. Who in turn, clears the sand from the tires and points us off in the right direction back to camp. Our hero! Enjoyed some Tagine and some singing and chatting around the camp fire.

The experience itself was amazing, no showers, no free running water. It was roughing it out at its very best. Woke up at 5:30 and it was freezing! Sunrise was amazing and it was a pleasant surprise to fling open the tent flap to reveal sand as far as the eye could see. It was spectacular. Breakfast was served as the sun rose over the mountains the dessert started to warm up, soon we were back on the camels making our trek back to the van. The drive back was tough, we were tired, dirty but the drive through the rural villages, a sandstorm and the Atlas Mountains was something else. Arrived back into Marrakesh just after 5 pm and checked into our new riad and immediately booked ourselves into Hammam and massage. So clean, so fresh. Caught up again with the tour gang for a late night meal.

London feels so foreign and regiment since getting back. Definitely one of the few countries I would return to! My camera is on Struggle Street.

Tag it, tag it real good

2010-10-28T06:32:00.005+08:00

And with that the 2010 Finsbury Park Tag Rugby Autumn competition draws to an end. The two juggernauts Jugs in Motion and East End Paddies, clearly the best two teams of the season finished first and second, respectively. However, special mention goes to the third place team, Lord of the Wings.

8 weeks ago, 2 Poms and a handful of Australians (mostly from Melbourne, AFL heartland) got together for some social, after-work, sport. For a lot of them rugby was a foreign concept. Calls of "play the ball", "take the tap" and "offside" were met with raised eyebrows and clumsy attempts. Their season opener exposed their lack of fitness as well as lack of game knowledge and with that were soundly defeated 13-0.

The dire conditions coupled with the previous week's flogging was not enough to dampen spirits as they came out with proper boots and posted their first try and more importantly, first win of the season. With the change in result, came a change in name, Lord of the Wings was born and on the back of flat, one in, one out attack, solid rush defense and individual flashes of brilliance saw them finish the regular season 4th on the league table. The first week of the semi finals saw them line up against the competition favourites, Jug in Motion and were simply outclassed.

With a near full strength squad they entered the Bronze medal game against the same team they had drawn against 2 weeks earlier. This game, was no different. Once again, they found themselves down 6-1 at the half, only to come back at 8-8 at half time, winning the game in golden point after a run away try to the team's leading try scorer. Excellent season to the rookie team - congratulations!

Oporto

2010-10-18T16:40:00.014+08:00

The consensus with budget airlines was unanimous and simple, "Avoid Ryanair at all costs". Heeding this, I had for over a year, managed to comply with this caveat. It was only until early 2010 that I booked myself into my first Ryanair flight. Pisa, was the destination and I had braced myself for cranky staff, yielding flight times and to be charged for everything under the sun. As with all expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, they didn't have seat pockets or in flight magazines and that annoying audio-byte at the end of each "on time" flight. Overall, Ryanair is bearable and only marginally pipped by Easyjet. Saturday was slightly different. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9:20 but had been pushed back to 11:05, normally this wouldn't irk me at all. However, an extra hour of sleep on morning weekend flights makes the world of difference! Excellent way to start the trip, not.

It still amazes me that after being here for almost 2 years I still hadn't set foot in Portugal. It's not that the desire wasn't there, it's just there was always somewhere "more interesting" to be sacrificed at the expense of a weekend. With my penultimate departure on the horizon we rounded up a small group (of 3) and headed over to Porto, Portugal. As previously mentioned, I had low expectations of Portugal, in fact my predetermined criteria for a good trip was as follows: Nice weather, drink Port, try some authentic Portuguese Charcoal Chicken and eat as many egg tarts humanly possible.

I can happily report that it was an excellent trip with all of the above points successfully completed (some checked more than once). The weather was a few degrees shy of being perfect but with 22 degrees blue skies it was always going to be better than the sub-10 degree Autumn currently plaguing London. We visited a couple of Port Cellars on the Vila Nova de Gaig and (for me, the first time) sampled locally produced Port. It was a complete mission to find Chicken with Peri-Peri but we eventually found it, each time we asked "Do you know where you can get Portuguese Chicken?" it was always received by a "you can get chicken from most restaurants in Porto". Another case of lost in translation. I must have consumed at least 5 eggs tarts over the two days, a little short of what I had expected still, they were delicious!

Saw an old man vomit on the street from excessive alcoholism. For some reason unknown, I had an affinity with this (approximately) 80 year old man. He slowly pulled a handkerchief from his tweed pocket and proceeded to wipe his mouth. Two older ladies were at his side rubbing his back while cleaning his face. Magenta waste spilled all over the pavement, the customary carrots also featured and in the middle of the mess were his dentures, just sitting there. You're never too old to get blind drunk.

Since 1982

2010-10-11T02:38:00.007+08:00

Celebrating 10 years of legalised hedonism

NRL Grandfinal

2010-10-04T05:12:00.004+08:00

Temple Walkabout. 6 am, plenty of Dragons and Rooster's supporters out early morning in London

London Rat Race!

2010-09-27T01:34:00.010+08:00

What are you doing tomorrow from 3pm to around 7pm? There’s this challenge race that’s on and my friend is looking for a team member – would you be keen?

So I agreed. Come 2 pm Saturday I found myself surrounded by hundreds of competitors who were about to embark on London's Mean Street Rat Race. The rules are as follows. Each team is a series of challenges that must be completed within a certain amount of time. A map and a list of clues are given to each team one hour before the start of the race where you have to decide which route and which tasks you can complete. Failing to get to the finish line by 19:30 would result in a penalty.

So for the next 2 and half hours we ran around London. We decided to take the route down from Tower Bridge, down to the Bermondsey Tank, Imperial War Museum, up through Waterloo and through the streets of Soho, up to Farringdon, via Monument. We sung, danced, played pool, foozeball, climbed, jumped our way through the challenges. We must have covered at least 15 miles in the 150 minutes. Both my quads cramped up and my legs and body feel absolutely ruined. Don't think I've had quite so much fun in some time and managed to see so much of London. Placed 25th out of 125 teams! Not bad for a last minute call up.

"I'm coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine" - The Killers, Mr Brightside

Oktoberfest: 2010 release

2010-09-20T16:10:00.009+08:00

It was billed as the rematch. 12 months ago I had passed out after a gruelling 6 hour drinking session. I had become another statistic of the 16 day event known as Oktoberfest. This time round I was determined, experienced and better prepared and I had grand ambitions to last out an entire day of drinking. Confidence is one thing, being delusional is another.

I, like many, suffer from the common problem of Asian Flush. This enzyme deficiency leads to the embarrassing situation of turning bright red after a handful of drinks. I decided I would attempt to remedy this problem at the world's most famous beer festival. Again, this was unsuccessful.

The Opening Ceremony of the 200th Anniversary of the most famous beer festival was exactly as I remembered - Plenty of drinking, the price of a stein had jumped to €9. Plenty of eating, it still amazes me how they manage to churn out quality food for the masses. Plenty of shenanigans, ass pinching, tobacco snorting, Europeans with yellow fever. Plenty of causalities. Plenty of memories, managed to catch up with my old Dragon Boat coach from Canada. Excellent times! Prost!

End of Summer. Go.

2010-09-06T03:10:00.013+08:00

A tapestry of stamps and visas litter my passport like tattoos. A catalogue of my travels, over the last few years. Certain pages, resemble what appears to be the outcome of an infant with ADHD and a stamp; indiscriminate and purposeless. Others look more orderly and less interesting. The EU entry and exit stamp make regular cameo appearances, some bold with fresh ink, others starting to fade with time.

I have roughly 4 whole pages left in my passport. Hopefully, I can fill my passport by the end of the year. There's still so much out there that I'd like, nay, want to see. It's time to start finalising the remaining Europes trips for 2010!

Dubai

2010-09-01T05:20:00.012+08:00

The Emirates Airline website states, 'Pets are not permitted in the cabin, with the exception of falcons between Dubai and certain destinations in Pakistan'. Strange yet true, this is one of the traditions that remains true in the present day; falcons allowed in aeroplanes. My visit to the United Arab Emirates, or more specifically, Dubai has been one of the more enjoyable trips this year. This is a somewhat partial comment as the agenda was to visit my sister on her last weekend in Dubai.

Not reknown for the sites, it was drastic change in scenary and culture which made this one of the more memorable trips of 2010. I have been meaning to swing by Dubai but given the nature of her job and the unpredictability of her whereabouts it's always a challenge to be able to meet her. The August long weekend proved to be ideal, she had no passport and I had nowhere to go. So with my stand by tickets in hand I headed to Heathrow after work in hope to catch a flight into the Middle East.

Arrived at Dubai International early Saturday morning, the flight had been comfortable but sleep was hard to come by. Greeted by my sister in the 'meeting area', also known as the pavement outside the Airport. It was hot, insanely hot. I could feel perspiration developing on the top of my feet. A short 30 Dirham cab ride and we were soon signing into one of many Emirates crew lodgings in Al Garhoud.

Plenty of activities to keep me busy. Lunch at Pier Chic, accessible by a simple cab, a gondola ride and a golf buggy down the wooden pier. Sister was cunningly encouraged by the restaurant to make the lunch time agenda my birthday which meant I had to pretend I was celebrating my special day all while enjoying the wonderful view of the Burj Al Arab. Being Ramadan, meant that majority of restaurants were not able to serve food until after sunset.

Managed to see most of the sights. At The Top - Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (100 AED). Ski Dubai the indoor ski slopes at The Mall of Emirates (180 AED) . Dinner at Atlantis at the Palms and the dancing fountains of the Burj. Plenty of international food: Bobotie, Sushi and the traditional Iftar buffet.

Great trip overall. Don't think I've experience such a culture shock in a while. From the rules governing Ramadan. To the way people present themselves outside of the walls of their houses. Public Displays of affection aren't a common site, where even married couples don't hold hands. Yet you'll see grown men holding hands as a sign of friendship. Then there's the mash up of old and new. Men will sport the traditional Thwab or Dishdash, but you can't help but notice the Rolexes, Ipods and Blackberry accessories. The women are far more influence by western trends. Burqa clad women women littered with the latest array of Jimmy Choos and Chanel handbags - the only form of visual individualisation. Then there's the transient lifestyle of Flight Attendants, remarkable. Had to leave Dubai early, but the trip was definitely well worth it. It's opened a new desire to explore more Arabic/Middle Eastern destinations - there's so much out there!

Airplanes

2010-08-29T00:57:00.005+08:00

My suspicions lie with the pressurised cabins, the high altitude, the overly nice cabin crew and my appetite for aeroplane food. Whether it is specifically, or a combination of the afore mentioned, there's something about long haul flights that causes my penis to detach and become replaced with a massive vagina. It's only a theory, but the more I fly, the more I subscribe to the idea that airlines are pumping some kind of hormone-laced sedative into the cabins. My perceived estrogen levels sky rocket and I'm reduced to what can only be described as a Spider Woman experiencing her periods (I can only imagine). Spider senses tingle!

There's something about flying that makes me react to the following scenarios in the same manner. A young infant with no desire to sleep but to make as much racket as humanly possible. An elderly couple sitting together holding hands on take off. Or even the simple smile of a stewardess. It makes me smile and think. So with this hypothesis, I decided to test this out. I sat through the following: How I Met Your Mother, Date Night and She's Out of My League just to see how I would react to each. Sure enough, each and every one managed to make me tear up; much to my own resistance. The conjecture being, that two of the three were Rom-Coms, but How I Met Your Mother? C'mon now!

The sample space is hardly warranted and you could easily argue that this is far from conclusive. It could have benefited with perhaps a different genre of movie. Unfortunately, I don't have the attention span or the willingness to concentrate on anything more than a comedy. Especially when an action or thriller would only be dealt an injustice on the 6 inch entertainment unit. Perhaps it's a coincidence - business trips, my initial flight out from Sydney, my flight to Singapore, my flight back to London. One thing for sure, I can honestly say I've welled up at some point in time to something insignificant and probably less stimulating on the ground.

It must be noted, this is not a symptom exhibited by short flights through Europe. The early morning starts, the group of familiar faces and the excitement of a new country coupled with the sheer fatigue of traveling weekends overwhelms all emotions. Invariably, it is the trips between home, family and old friends. Perhaps it's not the actual flight, but the transient nature of flying from point A to Point B. Where at some point there is an emotional attachment to the destination. It reminds us of who we will see, or alternatively, who we are leaving behind.

"Can we pretend that air planes in the night sky, are like shooting stars, I could really use a wish right now." - Hayley Williams

Long weekend: Flame on!

2010-08-27T18:46:00.007+08:00

Departing London with the 4 day weather forecast of:

To hopefully, something a little toastier:

Screen shots courtesy of BBC Weather (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/).

Wee!

2010-08-24T02:49:00.008+08:00

Continuing with the theme of things to do in London, I finally decided to register with an NHS doctor. First things first, I need to fill this cup with urine. This is not as easy as it sounds.

I tried to get a photo of the finished result, but somebody had walked into the bathroom and I didn't want to look like a weirdo. The good news, there's no sign of diabetes or kidney failure (yet).

Is that it?

2010-08-22T00:09:00.010+08:00

After 2 and a half years, I've decided to go a head and complete my London bucket list. First thing's first, Green Park, Buckingham Palace and the traditional Changing of Guard.

This also marks two years of working in London.

Same, same but different

2010-08-05T20:06:00.012+08:00

The artificial glow emanating from the TV blankets the front of my face. Slouched, I reach for another Mint Slice. Crunch. The biscuit breaks, crumbs falling from my mouth onto my belly. Blindly my left hand pats the couch like the Adam family's Thing. The movements can best be described as haphazard as I desperately search for the remote. My eyes fixed on the TV. Crunch. Still my hand searches, it passes a half eaten packet of Oreos, through a litter of Caramello Koala wrappers before my fingers jam unexpectedly into the missing remote control. Crunch. I flick through the channels. Friends, Big Bang Theory, Holly Oaks. I feel an itch on my toe, but the laze overwhelms me. I sit, with an itchy toe, and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm a slob, at least I feel like a slob. Crunch.

Ok, perhaps that was somewhat melodramatic. It's been an entire 3 weeks free of physical activity. Physically induced elevated heart rates are but a distant memory although the mere act of climbing three steps leaves me short of breathe. The last three weeks have been spent eating out, I must have consumed 90% of all Chinese dishes known to man. It's time to break this unhealthy lifestyle. First thing's first, it's time to re-vamp the diet.

I am a Weetbix kid and have been consuming this cereal since I was just that, a kid. I still remember the day Brett Lee came out and advertised the Australian Public with his 7 Weetbix a day. "How many do you do?" he queried. I accepted this has a challenge and immediately set out to beat him. 10 Weetbix in one sitting is still my record, eaten with almost 1 litre of milk and out of a punch bowl. I remember, I skipped lunch that day and only regained my apetite come late afternoon. That's besides the point, suffice to say, Weetbix has been a staple breakfast fixture in my life for the best part of 20 years. That was until I got to the UK. You see, the English don't have Weetbix, they have something similiar. Weet-a-bix. Crazy, I know!

To the untrained eye, it's the same thing. However, you come to realise that Weetabix is nothing but an inferior imitation of Weetbix.

The consistency and texture in milk is different, the taste is different, it's not the same!

If only Brett Lee would challenge me to eat Weetabix. Currently reading: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Croatia Sun or Croatian Sun?

2010-07-26T07:51:00.012+08:00

Dubrovnik

"Wow. How hot do you think it is?" were the first words that escaped from my mouth as we exited Dubrovnik International Airport. The change in temperature from Stansted was noticeable and this was presented more as an exclamation than a question. 2010's Summer break had arrived and we were instantly greeted by warm weather. This was unanimously well received with the praise continuing well after touch down. That was, until we boarded the transfer bus. With no air-conditioning we were soon all flushed red with beads of perspiration developing around hairlines and irritation painted across our faces. It was hot, bloody hot. This would be the one of two most repeated observations over the course of the next 9 days.

Dubrovnik credits itself to being "one of the most beautiful cities in Europe". The city had charm and we collectively agreed that "beautiful" would be the word to best describe the capital. Beautiful, the second most used adjective/remark on this trip. The strange thing was, the city was filled with Australians and Americans. Not just a handful, but thousands! Every quip of English either had a thick American twang or a Bogan Aussie sling to it. Our accommodation for the two nights was just off the main street above a seafood restaurant. This also would be the trip I got sick of eating seafood.

After what can only be described as a failed attempt to go out at night we woke the next day for a boat ride out to a remote Island; the name escapes me. Other events probably took place on the second day, it it will be forever remember as the day my thongs broke. Second only to my passport as the my most traveled item this particular pair of thongs had served me at least 4 years of constant use. The helpful Cabana boy managed to temporarily fix my thongs so I could make it back to the main land. Strangely enough, after purchasing a new pair of thongs, we spotted a girl making off with my old discarded pair which had been dumped in a pedestrian bin.

Split

Croatia's primary mode of transport is bus or boat. Consequently, we would endure up to almost a days worth of domestic commute. It was a grueling 6 hour ride from Dubrovnik to Split (via Bosnia). Again, the bus had no air-conditioning, feeling agitated would have been an understatement, especially for some of us. To make matters worse upon arrival into Split we were told that out accommodation had mistakenly been issued to another group with the same booking name. Eventually this was sorted with the apartment company treating the Birthday girl to free alcohol and accompaniment to the local bar. On a side note, I've noticed that Croatian toilets have a strange bowl design where the waste pipe is located at the front of the bowl which embarrassingly leaves skid marks to anybody with a high fiber diet. Leaving for Hvar, two members would also return to London, reducing the party size to five.

Hvar

From split we caught a 2 hour passenger ferry across to Hvar. It's hard to speak positively of the accommodation, but this must have been one of the least enjoyable stays throughout Europe. This was compounded by the landlord who constantly hawked us during our stay.

The town of Hvar itself is a gorgeous sea side town with a relaxed beach atmosphere. Spent a day out at the Blue and Green caves. For birthday #2 we dined at a restaurant who claims to have recently served the likes of Tony Parker and Eva Longoria (see my Chocolate Steak below). We couldn't have been happier to check out of our accommodation the following day, only to be told the keys were missing to the transfer car and we had to make our way down the hill to the bus stop. We boarded the early morning ferry and greedily occupied a significant area for 2 hours of sleep. Bliss.

Zadar

3 hour bus ride from Split to Zadar. We stayed just outside the main town of Zadar, still there were plenty of tourist, but this time, all English. We couldn't have been more happy to check into out hotel. Proper hot water showers, proper beds, proper climate control. Don't we sound like travel princesses? Our remaining three days were spent touring the city of Zadar along with constant taxi rides to Petrcane for the Soundwave Festival. Amazing sunset and great party vibe, aside from the 3 hour taxi wait on the way home it was definitely worth it. Last trip of summer. Stansted immigration line, non-existant. Win!

Oxegen

2010-07-12T17:54:00.005+08:00

Around this time last year we found ourselves among the frenzy also known as San Fermin, The Running of the Bulls. At the time, I never in my wildest dreams imagined to find a better combination of filthiness and fun. So, almost a year down the track I find myself covered in mud again longing for a hot shower with a smile from ear to ear.

I've become somewhat jaded in my approach to sight seeing. Gone are the days of wanting to see and experience each and every cultural offering of the country. Obscure churches and random squares no longer interest me. Not to say that I have become a slave to traveling the globe without absorbing culture. I'm not shallow enough to say that content is found with a passport full of stamps and to be able to chime in with a "I've been to that country". On the contrary, I'm still taking enough away from each country to leave a lingering feeling.

Take for example, my recent trip to Dublin. I, experienced Irish weather, spotted a leprechaun, asked a local to repeat themselves because of the Irish accent and got drunk in the mud. OK the last one really isn't Irish, but was still fun!

A familiar face, a familiar smile, an unfamiliar relationship.

Alcoholic Paranoia

2010-07-04T18:15:00.004+08:00

Came home last evening in a drunken frenzy and I could have sworn I saw a mouse run through the kitchen. Better safe than sorry.

Chk, chk, boom!

2010-06-14T17:07:00.008+08:00

Riga, Lativia

Sushi, the "national dish".

Bed bugs!

2010-06-09T06:02:00.003+08:00

What in the world!?

Andalucia Road Trip

2010-06-01T19:48:00.013+08:00

I'm starting to wonder if I've developed an obsession to travel. I wrote, not so long ago, that traveling and "seeing the world" was my justification of being abroad. Now I find myself scouring maps of Europe for unchartered destinations. Browsing through the budget carriers, Easyjet, Wizz, Germanwings, Ryanair looking for the next stamp in my passport. The May second long weekend was a little bit of a struggle, I've noticed that there's fewer places to travel and even fewer people willing to travel with! The proposition, a Southern Spanish road trip from Malaga to Jerez de la Frontera through Andalucia.

Landed in Malaga only to be greeted by a terribly-mannered goldcar car rental clerk. "These are not options, this is the information!". Possibly the rudest customer service experienced you could make a sitcom based purely on his character. We threated to take our custom elsewhere but succumbed to laze and the deathly stares from the queue behind. Tired, not fussed we were scooting from Malaga Airport in the goldcar rental Ford Focus towards Malaga town centre.

Managed to cover a far amount of the district driving along Coasta del Sol with 3 of the four passengers taking turns to drive. The weather was excellent and the drive as spectacular. We made our way from Malaga, Marbella, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Vejer and to Cadiz before flying out of Jerez.

Missed out on Ronda but managed an afternoon trip to the Pueblos Blancos town of Vejer de la Frontera. Last long weekend for some time. Ugh. I'm getting sick...

Reunions in Europe

2010-05-26T02:19:00.006+08:00

Excuses, the currency of life. Where each unmet expectation or failed obligation can be exchanged for an excuse. It's a barter system where the more plausible an excuse the smoother the transaction. "I couldn't come into work because I was sick" Bear in mind it has to be worth wild, otherwise people simple won't buy it. "I couldn't come into work because my dog ate it". So here I am bartering the reasons for my tumbleweed-excuse of blog activity.

#1. Work. There has been shock exodus of employees at work over the last couple of weeks, suddenly I find myself overwhelmed with the amount of work and the reduced amount of bludge time (proportionately correlated to blog time).

#2. Lifestyle. Despite being a somewhat unconvincing welcome of summer (unless you consider those two days of 26 degrees a season) the months of May through to July historically are the busiest for travel and out-and-about-ness.

#3. Familiar faces. Most importantly, I've been lucky enough to have a wealth of visitors from Sydney coming over to London for holiday. Those included, close high school and university friends and most importantly my family. Good times.

So, where's my change?

Spectator's weekend

2010-05-17T04:44:00.006+08:00

The crowd rouses, the deafening whirl of the F1 car pierces the air, my ear drums only preserved by the supplied ear plugs. Through the branches you momentarily catch the colours of the car. Blue. Yellow. Red. Then muffled chatter and once again the focus returns the gray asphalt. The view, for €50 was expected, the street race track had thousands of people clambering on top of each other trying to squeeze that extra 1 cm of peripheral.

Monaco, one of the few circuits to offer General Admission had spectators spying the race from any vantage point. For the majority of the people, then would have seen a total of maybe 20 minutes of race action but the hype and atmosphere was electric! F1 paraphernalia, country colours, festival environment and gorgeous wo ... weather. As the race winds down, the laps tick into single digits, there's a heighten sense of anticipation. Oblivious to the safety cars and crashes they reveal to the crowd that Red Bull cross first and third. Mark Webber, Monaco Grand Prix 2010.

Coincidently, the weekend of the F1 also happened to fall during the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. This was slightly less planned out, our accommodation in Nice warranted a short and yet enjoyable train ride to Cannes. The small port city was alive, and despite the somewhat lacklustre weather people had amassed and the city was buzzing with the not-so recognisable celebrities. Reporters were interviewing unfamiliar faces, street performers were cashing in on the hype and occasionally an instant congregation of photographers would scramble around an individual and what would proceed would be a frenzy of flashes only to pique the curiosity of nearby tourists. Unfortunately, I didn't spot any celebrities, but then again, I wasn't too sure who I was looking out for.

Malta

2010-05-04T01:25:00.007+08:00

If this is a precursor to summer, then I cannot wait! Feeling slightly lazy, not really bothered putting together any form of detailed post. Current read: Rusty Young's Marching Powder.

Pros versus Cons

2010-04-26T20:47:00.007+08:00

Undoubtedly, the hardest thing about being overseas is being away from friends and family. Not only that but those moments that you aren't there to share with them. The various rites of passages, graduations, birthdays, ground breaking news flashes and anniversaries. It can be somewhat depressing to hear about front page news through written text, an SMS, an email, a Facebook update. It's almost as impersonal as reading about the escapades of a celebrity on the front page of Entertainment Weekly. In the end you can only congratulate them or share your salutations and express with deepest regret that you weren't there. In the end you just hope that these momentous sacrifices are not all in vain.

Ruing the fact that I am due to miss two upcoming weddings I made it a mission to make the most of being overseas. Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull had wrecked havoc on EU flight paths potentially derailing this trip. Also, it would be my first Ryanair experience. I desperately wanted to get on this flight if only to justify why I was overseas.

Finding people to travel with to this destination was a mission in itself. Majority of people that have been to Europe, let alone those living in Europe have toured through the Tuscan region of Florence and Pisa. Keeping it short, managed to tick off all the iconic items. The Leaning Tower, Pasta, Gelato, Florentine Steak and Michaelangelo's David. The highlight would be riding a bike through the narrow Florence streets and the Sunday Lunch consisting of take away pasta eaten on the steps of an old church.

Kicking the bucket

2010-04-23T05:18:00.007+08:00

Of the 12 available settings only one worked. In its hay day it would have had the godly status of being a superior piece of Washing Machinery. Unfortunately it suffered the plight of being the communal flat share equipment. Thousands, perhaps millions of cycles later the trusty Hoover had been reduced to an all or nothing setting. There was no option for a spin , no delicates-only cycle it was Synthetics Tumble or nothing. 55 minutes for a load, no more, no less.

During my stay here I've seen the washing machine flirt with death on countless occasions. Each time a technician has come by and given it a new lease of life. Unfortunately, this time around nothing could be done - it had seen its last wash. So now I wait with bated breath for the replacement. Bated probably because I had over a weeks worth of dirty laundry and a weekend trip ahead.

So out of novelty I headed down to the local Coin Operated Laundromat. It was everything I expected. A distinct early 90s feel, with washing machines ranging from small loads to extra large loads. It was filled with the characters you expected to find in a laundromat, not the ones you hoped to see (no attractive females). The old yuppie with the bright coloured shirt and thick rimmed glasses. The ethnic in a wife beater and his suitcase of bed sheets. The weird smelly guy from the subway. The backpacker with the Lonely Planet and me, the guy with a fistful of change and not a clue in the world.

Currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.

Trashbaggery

2010-04-19T06:14:00.003+08:00

That was the worst sleep in the world. I roll over, my back aches. I blink, my eyes dry, my vision clear (the consequences of sleeping with contacts). My head throbs and it takes me a few moments to gather my bearings. I'm not used to waking up to the artificial lighting of the fluorescent lights. It's only then, that I realise the looseness of my night. I had passed out on the stairs outside my apartment door. Peeling myself off the steps, I wonder how I managed to even sleep on the series of right angled steps.

Standing, I'm overwhelmed with vertigo, I'm still drunk. How long was I passed out for? Looking at my front door I see coins scattered on the floor. I must have been fishing through my pockets looking for my keys. Then in dejection, reluctantly passed out. There's vomit at the base of my feet. I check my pockets for my keys, they're not there. Further frisking reveals that my wallet and phone are no longer with me either. I plod down the flight of stairs, my phone and wallet lying on the landing, my keys another flight down. Lucky this all happened within the confinement of the secure apartment.

Started off at the Dutch Festival and then ended across the road at Zebrano. I want to die. But I can't help but laugh.