The lightning is amazing here. Non stop thunderbolts, dramatic forks hitting the horizon and between clouds.
I've been in the Perhentian islands (north east Malaysia) for a week and its really nice, especially after the chaos of Kuala Lumpur (KL is the opposite of Singapore) and the run down disappointments of Tioman island.
The diving is super cheap here, and tomorrow I might actually do some - I've been a bit ill for a few days, the worst I've had in the whole year. Still, I've been snorkelling with huge sea turtles which was downright amazing.
i'm in Singapore. it's vibrant but at the same time very clean and well organised.
Also i've got this song stuck:
Looking forward to Night Safari followed by the Manchester Derby tomorrow night.
After that i'm heading north into Malaysia
Also i've got this song stuck:
Looking forward to Night Safari followed by the Manchester Derby tomorrow night.
After that i'm heading north into Malaysia
No point going to bed with a 1am flight out of Samoa, and then a 7am flight out of Auckland to get to Sydney. I did get two different free breakfasts though.
On the flight over from NZ i was sat next a race horse trainer who was coming over to bid on some new thoroughbreds in the Easter auction.
He then told me about how they constantly fly horses back and forth between Australia and NZ, and how he once flew to South Korea on a 747 jumbo transport plane with over 100 horses.
It never would have crossed my mind that there are all these horses at 30,000 feet every day.
The hostel i stayed at in Sydney was near the station in an area almost exclusively made up of hostels and travellers. But here most people seemed to be on working visas, and live in the hostels on a long term basis.
Nearby was the inevitable china town, and then the downtown was just full of tourists. I'm sure some ozzies live there somewhere though.
so my first concern in australia was actually to get a visa for America.
Thus i was printing off bank statements, qualifications, contracts, photos etc to support my application
it was a nerve wracking wait at the consulate on the day, since you could overhear all the other interviews during a 2 hour wait, and a lot of people were rejected
for either not demonstrating sufficient ties to Australia (despite having lived there for 5 years in some cases) or for benign convictions 15 years ago for drunk and disorderly or possession.
So i was a bit surprised when my own interview was all of short, sweet, and approved.
Sightseeing in Sydney, the city has its obvious landmarks which i dutifully walked around, and across, adding another famous bridge to my resume. It also has a nice layout and architecture.
The Botanical gardens were a nice surprise, full of parrots and bats, and some birds with big curly beaks. And there are some good free art galleries also, particularly with comtemporary art, which i was sceptical about going in.
Yes, some of it was bizarre, skill-less? crap with long explanations of how it represented some juxtaposed emotions or whatever. I guess the craft in that is convincing the viewer that their "work" is art
But a lot of it was excellent, more contemporary styles than "modern art" persay.
One exhibit was a realtime 24 hour film called The Clock, which consisted of lots of movie clips in which clocks featured displaying the current time, or the time was mentioned by actors. It was edited to be more engrossing and comical than the premise might sound
Some ozzies i talked to at an 'all you can eat pizza for $10' night recommended visiting Cockatoo Island in the bay, and it was worth a visit - a former jail, then dockyards, and now used as exhibition space, it was an interesting mix of old industrial and street art. There was a sense of silenced activity with all these huge cranes and sheds standing empty, and the empty ruins of the jailhouse up on a cliff.
Having a taste for street art i took a walk to Newtown and Darlington! to check out some notoriously graffitied streets, which was nice.
To get out of the city i took the very cheap train up to the Blue Mountains, staying at ????? to see the Three Sisters, some pointy pillars of rock petruding from a deep valley.
The viewpoints along the valley cliff top were swarming with Asian tourists and buses, but hiking down into the valley it was immediately tranquil and i then met only a few locals and europeans.
To get up out of the valley i took a ride on what claims to be the steepest incline railway in the world. It certainly was steep. The cars were designed so you were cushioned when you inevitably fell out of your seat.
The hostel had some guitars and bongos laying around, but a large sign ordered "please play, but NO WONDERWALL"
People kept telling me Australia is expensive. Everything is expensive.
Well, this is definitely at least half true. Beer is unbeliveable. $10 a pint is normal. Even in the bottle shops $5 a bottle is pretty average. However wine is also $5 a bottle. some disparity but an easy solution, just drink wine.
Food, well, eating out is not cheap, even a takeaway. And the little pies that were the saviour in NZ are also $5 rather than $2.
In the supermarket though, prices are very normal and comparable to back home. I can only guess that this huge disparity is due to the miniumum wage for bar staff and shop assistants etc being about $20 an hour.
Yes, everything is relative to the higher salaries over here. So having any job and living in a hostel you could bank a fortune.
Anyway, then i took the train down to Melbourne to stay with Jamie and Nicci, who emigrated from the UK in October. I used to work with Jamie at Boots.
Melbourne is another very nice city, with the added benefits of having the Australian Open and the Grand Prix, but minus the famous beaches.
It has a fantastic public transport network of trams and trains, and also famous for its street art, graffiti and murals. Aside from that its not remarkable for anything in particular, apart from getting rich from the gold rush.
Whilst enjoying some great hospitality here i;ve been to the comedy festival, an AFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the biggest stadium i've been to (100,000 seats), and rugby league.
Most significantly i made the pilgrimage every fan of the TV soap Neighbours dreams of to Ramsey Street, and then to the outdoor sets at the studio, including Harold's Store, Grease Monkeys etc.
Even though Ramsey Street is just an average residential street, it felt so familiar being there and seeing all those famous houses. (it's a real street "Pin Oak Court" with real people living in it, they rope it off 3 days a week for filming)
I rented a car (turned out to be a bright red nissan micra. Nooooo!) for three days to drive down the Great Ocean Road, an entertaining piece of rolling, twisting tarmac along the, er, coast to the west of Melbourne.
The weather was unhelpful, being largely grey, windy and raining, but it made the see more interesting to look at i guess. I also saw wild koalas, clutching their trees as they slept, and some wallabies bouncing off into the woods.
The whole are has annoying strict "no sleeping in vehicles" rules which meant finding campgrounds to park in. There are some free ones but the first one i tried was closed for "controlled burning".
The coast is sandstone or something equally erodable, resulting in some famous outcrops, arches and towers standing in the ocean, including the "12 apostles" and "London Bridge" (which ironically fell down a few years ago)
On the way back to the city i popped into a creamery for some free chedder tasting and then detoured via a cattle station in Wensleydale. Melbourne is also another place with a prominent Richmond.
japanese meal where chef cooks on hot plate in front of you, throws stuff around, including throwing omlette in your mouth and bowls of rice at you.
very entertaining and range of tasty stuff. didn't enjoy scallop. ate fried prawn shell/legs, which tasted nice but could feel all the legs in your mouth, errrp
On the flight over from NZ i was sat next a race horse trainer who was coming over to bid on some new thoroughbreds in the Easter auction.
He then told me about how they constantly fly horses back and forth between Australia and NZ, and how he once flew to South Korea on a 747 jumbo transport plane with over 100 horses.
It never would have crossed my mind that there are all these horses at 30,000 feet every day.
The hostel i stayed at in Sydney was near the station in an area almost exclusively made up of hostels and travellers. But here most people seemed to be on working visas, and live in the hostels on a long term basis.
Nearby was the inevitable china town, and then the downtown was just full of tourists. I'm sure some ozzies live there somewhere though.
so my first concern in australia was actually to get a visa for America.
Thus i was printing off bank statements, qualifications, contracts, photos etc to support my application
it was a nerve wracking wait at the consulate on the day, since you could overhear all the other interviews during a 2 hour wait, and a lot of people were rejected
for either not demonstrating sufficient ties to Australia (despite having lived there for 5 years in some cases) or for benign convictions 15 years ago for drunk and disorderly or possession.
So i was a bit surprised when my own interview was all of short, sweet, and approved.
Sightseeing in Sydney, the city has its obvious landmarks which i dutifully walked around, and across, adding another famous bridge to my resume. It also has a nice layout and architecture.
The Botanical gardens were a nice surprise, full of parrots and bats, and some birds with big curly beaks. And there are some good free art galleries also, particularly with comtemporary art, which i was sceptical about going in.
Yes, some of it was bizarre, skill-less? crap with long explanations of how it represented some juxtaposed emotions or whatever. I guess the craft in that is convincing the viewer that their "work" is art
But a lot of it was excellent, more contemporary styles than "modern art" persay.
One exhibit was a realtime 24 hour film called The Clock, which consisted of lots of movie clips in which clocks featured displaying the current time, or the time was mentioned by actors. It was edited to be more engrossing and comical than the premise might sound
Some ozzies i talked to at an 'all you can eat pizza for $10' night recommended visiting Cockatoo Island in the bay, and it was worth a visit - a former jail, then dockyards, and now used as exhibition space, it was an interesting mix of old industrial and street art. There was a sense of silenced activity with all these huge cranes and sheds standing empty, and the empty ruins of the jailhouse up on a cliff.
Having a taste for street art i took a walk to Newtown and Darlington! to check out some notoriously graffitied streets, which was nice.
To get out of the city i took the very cheap train up to the Blue Mountains, staying at ????? to see the Three Sisters, some pointy pillars of rock petruding from a deep valley.
The viewpoints along the valley cliff top were swarming with Asian tourists and buses, but hiking down into the valley it was immediately tranquil and i then met only a few locals and europeans.
To get up out of the valley i took a ride on what claims to be the steepest incline railway in the world. It certainly was steep. The cars were designed so you were cushioned when you inevitably fell out of your seat.
The hostel had some guitars and bongos laying around, but a large sign ordered "please play, but NO WONDERWALL"
People kept telling me Australia is expensive. Everything is expensive.
Well, this is definitely at least half true. Beer is unbeliveable. $10 a pint is normal. Even in the bottle shops $5 a bottle is pretty average. However wine is also $5 a bottle. some disparity but an easy solution, just drink wine.
Food, well, eating out is not cheap, even a takeaway. And the little pies that were the saviour in NZ are also $5 rather than $2.
In the supermarket though, prices are very normal and comparable to back home. I can only guess that this huge disparity is due to the miniumum wage for bar staff and shop assistants etc being about $20 an hour.
Yes, everything is relative to the higher salaries over here. So having any job and living in a hostel you could bank a fortune.
Anyway, then i took the train down to Melbourne to stay with Jamie and Nicci, who emigrated from the UK in October. I used to work with Jamie at Boots.
Melbourne is another very nice city, with the added benefits of having the Australian Open and the Grand Prix, but minus the famous beaches.
It has a fantastic public transport network of trams and trains, and also famous for its street art, graffiti and murals. Aside from that its not remarkable for anything in particular, apart from getting rich from the gold rush.
Whilst enjoying some great hospitality here i;ve been to the comedy festival, an AFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the biggest stadium i've been to (100,000 seats), and rugby league.
Most significantly i made the pilgrimage every fan of the TV soap Neighbours dreams of to Ramsey Street, and then to the outdoor sets at the studio, including Harold's Store, Grease Monkeys etc.
Even though Ramsey Street is just an average residential street, it felt so familiar being there and seeing all those famous houses. (it's a real street "Pin Oak Court" with real people living in it, they rope it off 3 days a week for filming)
I rented a car (turned out to be a bright red nissan micra. Nooooo!) for three days to drive down the Great Ocean Road, an entertaining piece of rolling, twisting tarmac along the, er, coast to the west of Melbourne.
The weather was unhelpful, being largely grey, windy and raining, but it made the see more interesting to look at i guess. I also saw wild koalas, clutching their trees as they slept, and some wallabies bouncing off into the woods.
The whole are has annoying strict "no sleeping in vehicles" rules which meant finding campgrounds to park in. There are some free ones but the first one i tried was closed for "controlled burning".
The coast is sandstone or something equally erodable, resulting in some famous outcrops, arches and towers standing in the ocean, including the "12 apostles" and "London Bridge" (which ironically fell down a few years ago)
On the way back to the city i popped into a creamery for some free chedder tasting and then detoured via a cattle station in Wensleydale. Melbourne is also another place with a prominent Richmond.
japanese meal where chef cooks on hot plate in front of you, throws stuff around, including throwing omlette in your mouth and bowls of rice at you.
very entertaining and range of tasty stuff. didn't enjoy scallop. ate fried prawn shell/legs, which tasted nice but could feel all the legs in your mouth, errrp
just heard an American woman ask for a Hawaiin pizza without pineapple
every vehicle in Fiji has after market stereo, even if missing 2nd and 3rd gear and windows
and the speakers are always hifi speakers or large home made wooden boxes, stuck awkwardly
also amazing industry in car upholstery, seats, dash, walls, even ceiling wallpapered
and seats usually covered in protective plastic (fair enough) but funny like old folks, buying nice furniture but never daring to sit on it
Samoa
fales fales fales. and lots of imposing churches in contrast.
so fales all different shapes sizes. basically a hut or house with no walls.
you can see right in, right through. often no furniture, maybe a fridge and a tv.
outside toilets and showers away from fale
evidently its pretty consistently warm and doesn't rain much
incredible neatness. like the whole island is a best kept village competition
immaculately mowed lawns and verges, ornamental hedges, strategically planted colourful shrubs and flowers along the roadsides
fautau beach fales lalomanu beach
all dead coral due to 2009 tsunami. saw a turtle though!
massive shame cos awesome beach and perfect lagoon for swimming at any tide
never mind destroying villages etc, they've already rebuilt. the coral will take forever
locals shocked at my plans to walk 10k. hate to brand them lazy but wtf.
I guess normally they don't need to go anywhere further than the next village unless they're going all the way to apia
bus that stops for driver to top up radiator and for people to get stuff from their house
bus is cheap, taxis relatively expensive unless shared between five
buses run when needed- to work, home from work. end of. nothing Sundays or holidays, like this Fri good Friday
tourists ripped at every turn
they love rugby! and sometimes volleyball. its the south pacific thing
lava blow hole - seawater forces air and spray up. I guess the principle applied in wave elec generators
chickens crossing the road. why, why
lots of kids and people waving and saying hello
lots of people work in fields with machetes
outdoor naked showering large lady
kids playing sticks and hoops
did that old woman spit in disgust ?
gets dark like THAT. quick
hitch from afon barca shirt. has usb stick mp3 sound system. same shitty music. all buses pump music loud, can hear them a mile off
they changed from driving right to driving left side last year. now all cars wrong side steering wheel.
i guess its to align more with nz and oz trading partners like the dateline change
woven leaf baskets awesome
drunk nz mum Susie theory on usa backwardness -
that country settled before age of enlightenment 1800s (whereas nz and oz after so more civilised)
recommends another Socrates about nature and environment and how we fit
as sea levels rise, the surface of earth will become closer to a uniform sphere
any implications? aerodynamics?
how is sea level so level anyway, within the few feet of tides. is one side of pacific really same distance from.centre of earth as the other?
a circle or sphere is the ultimate shape to tend towards. yet also infinitely divisible
its fia fai island night with the usual grass skirts and drumming
but with terrible samoan pop music
why do Polynesians only make music with drum machines and yamaha keyboards that sounds like primary school disco
or listen to shitty American rap
so I made a cunning escape before the audience participation bit and am now sat on beach with waves, cloudy sky, some sand crabs
the resort is mainly full with 2 week holiday makers from nz. and Swedish bizarrely. and today some English. annoying!
nz kids and their trendy 80's haircuts. wait no I'm gonna say they ate stylish, we're the boring idiots in western 2010's for all looking the same
express yourself (its one on one)
rumours are that Fiji is getting an actual cyclone.
so I got out just in time. near missing another natural disaster
feel bad for the locals and friends still there but also jealous I miss another experience. for what, nothing, just sat on a different beach
craziest bus journey ever, squeezing extra people on like the tube in rush hour
stories of people sitting on strangers laps, true. four men in the stair well
meanwhile the driver steers one handed whilst changing to a new ear splitting dj crazy cd
passing some dwellings it appears the people have almost no possessions. but what do they need? they have adequate shelter and abundant food, everyone is healthy and fed.
tombs in gardens - but in use as beds, drying clothes etc, not exactly revered in respect!
cars have extravagant home made hood ornaments, like rolls royce but with half a barbie
talking to a guy who settled here;
1. feudal system, villagers have to give stuff to chief. pigs, daughters, it discourages entrepreneurialness!
2. church power. churches demand large donations which are then publicly read out - from people with no income in subsistence lifestyle!
education is prohibitively expensive, partly because no jobs available for educated people. and farmers don't need it
but the fact remains that samoan culture is sleep all day, do nothing, and still comfortably stay alive due to abundant free food
every vehicle in Fiji has after market stereo, even if missing 2nd and 3rd gear and windows
and the speakers are always hifi speakers or large home made wooden boxes, stuck awkwardly
also amazing industry in car upholstery, seats, dash, walls, even ceiling wallpapered
and seats usually covered in protective plastic (fair enough) but funny like old folks, buying nice furniture but never daring to sit on it
Samoa
fales fales fales. and lots of imposing churches in contrast.
so fales all different shapes sizes. basically a hut or house with no walls.
you can see right in, right through. often no furniture, maybe a fridge and a tv.
outside toilets and showers away from fale
evidently its pretty consistently warm and doesn't rain much
incredible neatness. like the whole island is a best kept village competition
immaculately mowed lawns and verges, ornamental hedges, strategically planted colourful shrubs and flowers along the roadsides
fautau beach fales lalomanu beach
all dead coral due to 2009 tsunami. saw a turtle though!
massive shame cos awesome beach and perfect lagoon for swimming at any tide
never mind destroying villages etc, they've already rebuilt. the coral will take forever
locals shocked at my plans to walk 10k. hate to brand them lazy but wtf.
I guess normally they don't need to go anywhere further than the next village unless they're going all the way to apia
bus that stops for driver to top up radiator and for people to get stuff from their house
bus is cheap, taxis relatively expensive unless shared between five
buses run when needed- to work, home from work. end of. nothing Sundays or holidays, like this Fri good Friday
tourists ripped at every turn
they love rugby! and sometimes volleyball. its the south pacific thing
lava blow hole - seawater forces air and spray up. I guess the principle applied in wave elec generators
chickens crossing the road. why, why
lots of kids and people waving and saying hello
lots of people work in fields with machetes
outdoor naked showering large lady
kids playing sticks and hoops
did that old woman spit in disgust ?
gets dark like THAT. quick
hitch from afon barca shirt. has usb stick mp3 sound system. same shitty music. all buses pump music loud, can hear them a mile off
they changed from driving right to driving left side last year. now all cars wrong side steering wheel.
i guess its to align more with nz and oz trading partners like the dateline change
woven leaf baskets awesome
drunk nz mum Susie theory on usa backwardness -
that country settled before age of enlightenment 1800s (whereas nz and oz after so more civilised)
recommends another Socrates about nature and environment and how we fit
as sea levels rise, the surface of earth will become closer to a uniform sphere
any implications? aerodynamics?
how is sea level so level anyway, within the few feet of tides. is one side of pacific really same distance from.centre of earth as the other?
a circle or sphere is the ultimate shape to tend towards. yet also infinitely divisible
its fia fai island night with the usual grass skirts and drumming
but with terrible samoan pop music
why do Polynesians only make music with drum machines and yamaha keyboards that sounds like primary school disco
or listen to shitty American rap
so I made a cunning escape before the audience participation bit and am now sat on beach with waves, cloudy sky, some sand crabs
the resort is mainly full with 2 week holiday makers from nz. and Swedish bizarrely. and today some English. annoying!
nz kids and their trendy 80's haircuts. wait no I'm gonna say they ate stylish, we're the boring idiots in western 2010's for all looking the same
express yourself (its one on one)
rumours are that Fiji is getting an actual cyclone.
so I got out just in time. near missing another natural disaster
feel bad for the locals and friends still there but also jealous I miss another experience. for what, nothing, just sat on a different beach
craziest bus journey ever, squeezing extra people on like the tube in rush hour
stories of people sitting on strangers laps, true. four men in the stair well
meanwhile the driver steers one handed whilst changing to a new ear splitting dj crazy cd
passing some dwellings it appears the people have almost no possessions. but what do they need? they have adequate shelter and abundant food, everyone is healthy and fed.
tombs in gardens - but in use as beds, drying clothes etc, not exactly revered in respect!
cars have extravagant home made hood ornaments, like rolls royce but with half a barbie
talking to a guy who settled here;
1. feudal system, villagers have to give stuff to chief. pigs, daughters, it discourages entrepreneurialness!
2. church power. churches demand large donations which are then publicly read out - from people with no income in subsistence lifestyle!
education is prohibitively expensive, partly because no jobs available for educated people. and farmers don't need it
but the fact remains that samoan culture is sleep all day, do nothing, and still comfortably stay alive due to abundant free food