Yet more apologies for my slackness at updating this. I got round to installing tracker software last month so I can see if anyone visits and surprisingly someone did a couple of weeks ago, so hello to you. I'm updating now not because I have any massive new revelations to report but because I feel like the blog might die if I don't. I'm changing the tone of it though. So now there may be more reflection and less day-to-day, 'whatI did' diary type stuff. This means changing from the present tense, all-action style to a past tense, more thoughtful style. I hope you enjoy it. What am I talking about? It's not like anyone ever gets beyond the first paragraph.
It's been a busy month at work. I've been working pretty much non-stop on a website with crazy deadlines dictated by the Rugby World Cup final as the site is all about 2011 in NZ. If you are remotely interested in Rugger go here: www.newzealand.com/travel/frontrowrugbyclub.
Have got older and actually went to a pub quiz and drank ale. There are anti-smoking laws here so I couldn't sit at the back smoking a pipe in a tweed jacket, with a whippet lying by my feet and I think the moment was poorer for it. The first week we came second I think, although that may have been because we got the weakest team-member to do the adding up. The second week and we'd cut away the dead-wood and the three remaining brains won. It wasn't all celebrations though as the quiz master was Welsh and I took it upon myself to insult his heritage to his face leading to a swift exit by me as he warned my other team mates he was seriously thinking about smacking me in the face. So, no more pub quizzes for me, but that's probably a good thing.
Most weekends have been imposed quiet time, with the occasional brunch on a saturday morning. I have been getting more and more comfortable with the lifestyle here as summer draws in and the days get longer. I can't imagine living in London again now, which is a worry as at some point I think I will have to. But of the things that I miss, the big one is saturday/sunday afternoon sport on tv. No one follows football here so it's difficult to get excited about the game. And even if I had Sky TV it would be on in the middle of the night with no repeat. F1 is also on Sky. The only sport I've watched has been rugby and that has been at 8am which takes the edge off it.
I was invited to see Auckland take on Wellington at Eden Park in the final of the Air New Zealand Cup. It's surprisingly similar to what I imagine watching a rugby league match in Bradford must be like in that the rain was coming down a treat, a freezing gale was blowing in and there were some poor cheerleaders standing out in it trying to show enthusiasm for some of the worst rugby I've seen played since I was at school.
Of the time I've spent in NZ so far the highlight has to be a Hangi down in a place called Mango (that's a colloquialism - I can't remember it's proper name). A Hangi is a traditional Maori meal where the men dig a hole, cut a tree down, burn the tree to heat some rocks, put the rocks in the hole and add some meat, then cover in soil and drink beer for five hours. When suitably drunk you dig the food up and eat so much that all the alcohol in your system gets soaked up and you are ready to drive home. In amongst the food preparation are various things like kicking a rugby ball about (good), watching the mound of soil for signs of steam escaping (bad) and shooting potatoes over a kilometer with an acetylene powered spud gun (very very good).
The guys at Shift would like me to work permanently, which is something I need to think about over the next couple of days, That means getting a proper work visa which kind of leads the way down the path of a certain amount of permanence to my residency. It slightly concerns me since I had never planned to stay here forever and i worry about my ability to move on if comfortably settled. Think of me as London (that'll make sense if you watch the clip below) except that rather than moving on when I need to make a new friend I move on when I've pissed off most of the friends I've already made. It surely can't be long now before I have to leave NZ.
Well, it's half past two on a sunday and I've got the rest of the afternoon to try and understand how to manipulate google map data at the pixel level in flash. There is no reason for this, but in the absence of conversation I have to keep the brain busy. If anyone wants to write me an email please do, I've even removed my spam filters just so I have mail to read.
Decided against the cat idea. Chris at work got three kittens and whilst they are cute, there is the constant possibility they might die - I don't need that sort of worry.
Saturday, 3 November 2007
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Around Northland
Apologies that I haven't posted in absolutely ages. Convention would probably lead you to believe I've been too busy enjoying life to post but sadly, I've just been too lazy. With the new job sat in front of the laptop for eight hours a day the last thing I feel like doing in the evening is sitting in front of the laptop. I actually do sit in front of the laptop, but watching dvds.
Everyone from work is currently off galavanting around the tongariro national park. I am not invited due to the pretense that I am a contractor, but more probably because I bit the hand that feeds me in my last post (I'm sorry NZ Web Design - you aren't that out of date).
I settle into work pretty easily I think. It's good to be around code again after 6 months on the road. After losing touch with them Intellisense and Auto Event wireup are my two best friends again. I have some other friends too. They are work colleagues, but they still count. We go to pub quizzes together, play golf and meet for brunch occasionally.
I break the routine up by going to Paihia on saturday. It's in the Bay of Islands, about four hours north of Auckland. It's a beautiful part of the world and the weather finally is kind. I'm in a rugby obsessed nation and England win, the All Blacks lose and I suddenly want to go home so I can celebrate properly.
And I persuade work to let me take a morning off on Thursday for Expression, Around the Clock; a Microsoft event showcasing their latest bit of software. It's quite a promising bit of kit, but the presentations sadly don't do it justice. For a company with a lot invested in a piece of software targeted primarily at designers (there's even a Mac version) they consider it appropriate to show how it can add rounded corners and a reflection to video. Cue the stunned silence from the audience... or is that them just waiting for something good? I won't be giving up on it though, I spent half an hour working on it and made something much more exciting than a video player.
So with no work colleagues and, thus, no friends around for the next few days I am back in solitary. I have plenty of work to keep me busy so I can keep insanity from the door.
I may buy a cat.
Everyone from work is currently off galavanting around the tongariro national park. I am not invited due to the pretense that I am a contractor, but more probably because I bit the hand that feeds me in my last post (I'm sorry NZ Web Design - you aren't that out of date).
I settle into work pretty easily I think. It's good to be around code again after 6 months on the road. After losing touch with them Intellisense and Auto Event wireup are my two best friends again. I have some other friends too. They are work colleagues, but they still count. We go to pub quizzes together, play golf and meet for brunch occasionally.
I break the routine up by going to Paihia on saturday. It's in the Bay of Islands, about four hours north of Auckland. It's a beautiful part of the world and the weather finally is kind. I'm in a rugby obsessed nation and England win, the All Blacks lose and I suddenly want to go home so I can celebrate properly.
And I persuade work to let me take a morning off on Thursday for Expression, Around the Clock; a Microsoft event showcasing their latest bit of software. It's quite a promising bit of kit, but the presentations sadly don't do it justice. For a company with a lot invested in a piece of software targeted primarily at designers (there's even a Mac version) they consider it appropriate to show how it can add rounded corners and a reflection to video. Cue the stunned silence from the audience... or is that them just waiting for something good? I won't be giving up on it though, I spent half an hour working on it and made something much more exciting than a video player.
So with no work colleagues and, thus, no friends around for the next few days I am back in solitary. I have plenty of work to keep me busy so I can keep insanity from the door.
I may buy a cat.
Saturday, 15 September 2007
A new life
It seems anyone with any skills leaves the land of the long white cloud as soon as they are old enough to get a passport. When I tell people I'm moving here they struggle with the concept and after I tell them I have some skills so getting a job should not be hard they assume I am insane. I am starting to wonder why I am here when everyone else is leaving. It feels like I missed a boat and now I'm a drowning rat on a sinking ship. I'm mixing analogies and seem to be on a boat having missed one - but Auckland is all about boats.
After just one week of looking around and going to quite a few interviews I get myself some employment at www.shift.co.nz - the premier web design company of NZ. It's a perfect set up for me and I start on monday. They are an interesting bunch of people. An international crowd with people from Israel, the UK, the US, France, Spain,China, Korea and of course NZ. It seems like they cherry pick the biggest geeks from around the world and then put them in an open plan ofice just to see how awkward it is. There are a lot of headphones and Burger king wrappers lying around and I don't mind it at all. I can walk to work in about ten minutes and my walk takes me through Albert park - a particularly beautiful public space that makes me feel a whole heap better about being here and knowing no one.
I get thrown in at the deepend at work since they are so busy. But the work is pretty easy given that it's all about two years out of date. That's the thing about New Zealand web design - since no one can get decent broadband there is no need to produce super-flash websites.
On wednesday evening I go to the Auckland web meetup with some of my new colleagues. It's basically a meeting for all of Aucklands web designers where they can talk about emerging technologies and showcase work. Auckland is a small town and their web industry, I assume, is small too, but about 150 people turn up and a bigger concentration of nerds you will not find. I actually forget for a few hours how super cool I am and laugh along at the jokes about the cool things flash 4 could do.
Friday night is drinks at work. Something I need to stay away from in future. And then the weekend turns up again for another 48 hours of alone time.
Plan for next week: Join gym, make friends. Or make friends first then join gym - don't want gym buddies.
Plan for following week: Cancel gym membership. Write book.
After just one week of looking around and going to quite a few interviews I get myself some employment at www.shift.co.nz - the premier web design company of NZ. It's a perfect set up for me and I start on monday. They are an interesting bunch of people. An international crowd with people from Israel, the UK, the US, France, Spain,China, Korea and of course NZ. It seems like they cherry pick the biggest geeks from around the world and then put them in an open plan ofice just to see how awkward it is. There are a lot of headphones and Burger king wrappers lying around and I don't mind it at all. I can walk to work in about ten minutes and my walk takes me through Albert park - a particularly beautiful public space that makes me feel a whole heap better about being here and knowing no one.
I get thrown in at the deepend at work since they are so busy. But the work is pretty easy given that it's all about two years out of date. That's the thing about New Zealand web design - since no one can get decent broadband there is no need to produce super-flash websites.
On wednesday evening I go to the Auckland web meetup with some of my new colleagues. It's basically a meeting for all of Aucklands web designers where they can talk about emerging technologies and showcase work. Auckland is a small town and their web industry, I assume, is small too, but about 150 people turn up and a bigger concentration of nerds you will not find. I actually forget for a few hours how super cool I am and laugh along at the jokes about the cool things flash 4 could do.
Friday night is drinks at work. Something I need to stay away from in future. And then the weekend turns up again for another 48 hours of alone time.
Plan for next week: Join gym, make friends. Or make friends first then join gym - don't want gym buddies.
Plan for following week: Cancel gym membership. Write book.
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Solitary confinement
It's been a week of solitary and rather than just sitting here bouncing my tennis ball against the floor and wall Steve McQueen style I have been settling in nicely.
I drop Amanda-Sue off at Auckland International on the wednesday, the same day I move into my new apartment in downtown Auckland. It's a weird feeling saying goodbye after two months in each others pockets. But that is the deal and you deal with the deal as best you can. So I head back into Auckland to drop the car off at Jucy - the bright green rental people with a stupid name - and walk to my new home. I have no broadband, so that's number one on the list of priorities. It gets installed the following day, but their idea of broadband is my idea of broadly crap. I don't really need super fast speeds until I get a job, but I feel I should have it out of principle being a digimon. But they tell me NZ isn't really set up for high speeds and that's definitely true. People will return your call after a couple of days with nothing more than a "Sorry, I've been a bit stacked" and the maximum speed in a built up area is 20kph - you can walk faster. I'm getting used to the pace though. I think I'll get a job in a couple of weeks.
Since I've stopped travelling and doing interesting things I have very little to write about. I have a drawer style dishwasher in my kitchenette. That's different. Not exactly interesting but I haven't spoken to anyone in seven days and it makes a noise when it's on so I consider it company. Television here is an interesting mix of all the worst tv from all over the world. They have Coronation St, but it's a year behind, and I haven't got that low yet. They have McLeod's Daughters from Oz and I know it's awful but that hasn't stopped me getting into it. They have a channel called Maori TV for the indigenous people that can actually afford a TV, but it's not in English and even if it were it would be a waste of airspace. Thursdays at 7.30 is "brand new Family Guy" according to the ads, but I definitely saw the one last week about a year ago. To sum up I am reading a lot.
In desperation I buy a couple of DVDs, but don't think about region coding at all. When I bought the mac it was region 1 which I changed to region 3 to watch a singaporean dvd. I then changed to region 2 to watch my own dvd and I have one change left. I'm not going to waste it just yet. So the dvds provide me just enough entertainment of reading their back covers.
The weekend in the center of Auckland is a quiet time. I walk around, but it's cold. I take a ferry across the bay to Devonport - a nice little village type place. I have a coffee on my own and climb a volcano on my own. It is grey and cold. Up at the summit of the volcano, through the drizzle I spot my ferry coming and try and race down to beat it. I lose. Half an hour later and soaked I do get a ferry and hole up in my apartment for the rest of the day. I'm working on my CV which is less appealing than working on my novel, but just as much fiction.
To get me out of the apartment I head up to Ponsonby for sunday breakfast to see my only existing kiwi friends - two fat cats. There are loads of kids there playing with the cats and they don't even see me come in or leave. Nothing else happens of note.
Monday turns up as you would expect and I head out to visit my old friend Wayne. It's great to see him, if only because it allows me to speak to someone other than the dishwasher. The rest of the week is job seeking and killing time waiting for people to return calls. Since no one else is unemployed they don't have the same urgency as I do so it's a frustrating week, but hey it's thursday and an episode of Family Guy that I saw last year will be on soon, so that's already twenty minutes of my evening taken care of.
I drop Amanda-Sue off at Auckland International on the wednesday, the same day I move into my new apartment in downtown Auckland. It's a weird feeling saying goodbye after two months in each others pockets. But that is the deal and you deal with the deal as best you can. So I head back into Auckland to drop the car off at Jucy - the bright green rental people with a stupid name - and walk to my new home. I have no broadband, so that's number one on the list of priorities. It gets installed the following day, but their idea of broadband is my idea of broadly crap. I don't really need super fast speeds until I get a job, but I feel I should have it out of principle being a digimon. But they tell me NZ isn't really set up for high speeds and that's definitely true. People will return your call after a couple of days with nothing more than a "Sorry, I've been a bit stacked" and the maximum speed in a built up area is 20kph - you can walk faster. I'm getting used to the pace though. I think I'll get a job in a couple of weeks.
Since I've stopped travelling and doing interesting things I have very little to write about. I have a drawer style dishwasher in my kitchenette. That's different. Not exactly interesting but I haven't spoken to anyone in seven days and it makes a noise when it's on so I consider it company. Television here is an interesting mix of all the worst tv from all over the world. They have Coronation St, but it's a year behind, and I haven't got that low yet. They have McLeod's Daughters from Oz and I know it's awful but that hasn't stopped me getting into it. They have a channel called Maori TV for the indigenous people that can actually afford a TV, but it's not in English and even if it were it would be a waste of airspace. Thursdays at 7.30 is "brand new Family Guy" according to the ads, but I definitely saw the one last week about a year ago. To sum up I am reading a lot.
In desperation I buy a couple of DVDs, but don't think about region coding at all. When I bought the mac it was region 1 which I changed to region 3 to watch a singaporean dvd. I then changed to region 2 to watch my own dvd and I have one change left. I'm not going to waste it just yet. So the dvds provide me just enough entertainment of reading their back covers.
The weekend in the center of Auckland is a quiet time. I walk around, but it's cold. I take a ferry across the bay to Devonport - a nice little village type place. I have a coffee on my own and climb a volcano on my own. It is grey and cold. Up at the summit of the volcano, through the drizzle I spot my ferry coming and try and race down to beat it. I lose. Half an hour later and soaked I do get a ferry and hole up in my apartment for the rest of the day. I'm working on my CV which is less appealing than working on my novel, but just as much fiction.
To get me out of the apartment I head up to Ponsonby for sunday breakfast to see my only existing kiwi friends - two fat cats. There are loads of kids there playing with the cats and they don't even see me come in or leave. Nothing else happens of note.
Monday turns up as you would expect and I head out to visit my old friend Wayne. It's great to see him, if only because it allows me to speak to someone other than the dishwasher. The rest of the week is job seeking and killing time waiting for people to return calls. Since no one else is unemployed they don't have the same urgency as I do so it's a frustrating week, but hey it's thursday and an episode of Family Guy that I saw last year will be on soon, so that's already twenty minutes of my evening taken care of.
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Final bunch of photos
So that's it. Journey's end. I've got an apartment in Auckland which looks very empty at the moment. I spend my days on the phone to my broadband provider because their service is so bad (and because I have no one else to talk to) and I've got myself an all blacks top for to wear for the next month.
Here are some photos of the last legs of my journey:
Angkor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601516782118/
Koh Tao: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601517122816/
Sydney: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601646001758/
Melbourne: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601646094490/
Auckland (the first time): http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601652916549/
The rest of North Island: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601653228481/
Here are some photos of the last legs of my journey:
Angkor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601516782118/
Koh Tao: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601517122816/
Sydney: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601646001758/
Melbourne: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601646094490/
Auckland (the first time): http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601652916549/
The rest of North Island: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsouthgate/sets/72157601653228481/
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Home Sweet North Island Home
Well it's taken a little while to get here and the journey has taken it's toll on occasion, but I've finally reached Auckland to start my new life as a Maori. So it's Kia ora from me, etc.
As it turns out the weather in Koh Tao is unseasonably bad. The rains move in and the sea on most of the dive sites is terrible so I fail to get my night dive and deep dive done. I'm disappointed not to be able to call myself advanced simply because no-one else ever will but there's no time to dwell as it's back to Samui and perpetually southwards now. Samui has great weather and we probably should have spent the last week here instead of persevering in Tao. With just the one day I embrace the opportunity to get a McDonald's. I assume a double cheeseburger, fries and diet coke would ease me back into civilization, but there is too much cheese on the burger, too much salt on the fries and the diet coke is a can, not a cup. It's a minor issue, but I've already up-sized for 15 baht and all I get for that is ten extra fries and a smaler than normal drink size. I can't enjoy the meal with this budgetary excess hanging over me but I return for a McFlurry to try and forget it (that's shit too but I am expecting it this time). Amanda sensibly opts for local food instead, but the restaurant is a lonely planet recommendation and of course is shit.
Our next morning is pure indulgence at a spa. I go for a two hour massage and Amanda gets facials, massages, steam things and god knows what else. A lovely old lady washes my feet in scented water and gives me some elastic underwear to protect my modesty, then proceeds to work every joint and pull me in every conceivable way until I'm all straightened out. The old lady is far less concerned about my modesty than I and exposes my pasty white ass to the entire beach on a number of occasions (the one-size its all elastic underwear fit no-one and do very little to shield me from prying local eyes. In reality the only eyes are hers and I'm sure she's seen enough white mans ass to last a lifetime).
The flight to Singapore is your normal crap service. But on the other side of immigration suddenly everything is different. Prices are high, the buildings are higher and litter doesn't exist. The hotel is everything we have been dreaming about since booking it. White sheets, fluffy towels, proper, hot hot-water, pay-tv, internet access in the room and room service 24 hours. We are in in time for dinner, but I choose a place again and now, true-to-form, I find the worst restaurant in the vicinity within twenty minutes. It's $5 for a pepsi, but I'm too excited about buying a laptop tomorrow and the potential hours of haggling to worry. It's Funan digital life mall we head to. There is a mall for everything in Singapore. There is very little else apart from shopping to be done and on every street corner there is another mall. The digital life one, according to our receptionist, is the one to get a computer. It's a Sunday so the whole of Singapore and their dogs (those not on the menu) are here. It means bargaining is good and sales assistants are frazzled. Apple fix Mac prices (something that is supposed to be illegal) so the haggling is done on what they can throw in for free on top of the Mac. I start with a nano, but I have one so change to the Airport Express, before realising I don't need one. I settle on a memory upgrade and a neoprene case. All for about $1500 less that the UK price. And then I get slightly mac obsessed and spend the next couple of days glued to my new toy. I take it to coffee houses on the pretense that we can look stuff up while we are out and about but we both know it's just so I can see how great it's wifi features are. I carry it everywhere until the novelty wears off and my back starts complaining about how heavy it is. I don't have any software so I'm limited in what I do, but it looks so pretty I can't help using it.
After dragging Amanda around a digital mall for an afternoon we swap around as Amanda goes clothes shopping. It's not as much fun as computer shopping and I'm sure my input of "it looks ok" or "yeah, it's alright" isn't the most helpful, but I'm carrying enough bags by the end of the day so I think she managed ok. She is now in charge of picking restaurants so our meals are better, local cuisine.
And then it's Sydney and suddenly the temperature drops 20 degrees. I'm used to the warmth and I have just one light jumper with me, so it's an unwelcome change, but I battle on without complaining. We have just one day here and we cram it with the Aquarium and Wildlife World, followed by a split - Amanda heading to the Art Gallery of New South Wales while I head to the harbour. Then we meet up with a couple of friends for beers and food. The aquarium and wildlife place are your typical snap happy tourist places where I manage to get through 500 shots. I can't really face editing them but at some point I'll upload a new set. The harbour is exactly as I remember it - there is a bridge and an opera house. The beers are australian so not worth talking about.
On a hangover we fly to Melbourne. Supposedly more arty and cultured than the beach-bum atmosphere of Sydney. It's definitely colder. We are staying with Luke and it's amazing to finally be in a home rather than a hotel. It's a flying visit and Luke, bless him, tries to fit a lot in while all we want is an early night. So the run-down is sunset in St Kilda, BYO Pizza restaurant round the corner with some of Lukes red collection. Then up early and onto the Met-rail to go see the National Gallery of Victoria, some aboriginal art in the Ian Potter centre, back to Lukes for a home-cooked Aussie beef rib roast followed by Aussie-rules on the tele with some more wine. The gallery is nice (but pricey if you want to go to the Guggenheim exhibition), the Aboriginal art is interesting up to a point. St Kilda's is a young sort of happening area, the roast was a little taste of home-cooked heaven after so long on the road and Aussie-rules is like rugby for retards.
We leave early for Auckland. Our cabin crew are kiwis and, as such, the nicest people we've met so far. The immigration woman wants to chat about our plans and recommends places to see as opposed to the UK attitude of assuming we are terrorists. There are free cups of tea while you wait for your bags to arrive and the beagle sniffing for drugs is frequently fed treats just for sniffing - paradise indeed.
This is my new home for the next couple of years so I'm apprehensive about it all. It's still a holiday for the next ten days while we travel around the North Island and see a few places, but on the horizon is the getting a job, getting a flat and which one do I get first dilemma. I'm nervous, but as it has been throughout this trip my attitude is to not think about anything until I can't not think about it.
As it turns out the weather in Koh Tao is unseasonably bad. The rains move in and the sea on most of the dive sites is terrible so I fail to get my night dive and deep dive done. I'm disappointed not to be able to call myself advanced simply because no-one else ever will but there's no time to dwell as it's back to Samui and perpetually southwards now. Samui has great weather and we probably should have spent the last week here instead of persevering in Tao. With just the one day I embrace the opportunity to get a McDonald's. I assume a double cheeseburger, fries and diet coke would ease me back into civilization, but there is too much cheese on the burger, too much salt on the fries and the diet coke is a can, not a cup. It's a minor issue, but I've already up-sized for 15 baht and all I get for that is ten extra fries and a smaler than normal drink size. I can't enjoy the meal with this budgetary excess hanging over me but I return for a McFlurry to try and forget it (that's shit too but I am expecting it this time). Amanda sensibly opts for local food instead, but the restaurant is a lonely planet recommendation and of course is shit.
Our next morning is pure indulgence at a spa. I go for a two hour massage and Amanda gets facials, massages, steam things and god knows what else. A lovely old lady washes my feet in scented water and gives me some elastic underwear to protect my modesty, then proceeds to work every joint and pull me in every conceivable way until I'm all straightened out. The old lady is far less concerned about my modesty than I and exposes my pasty white ass to the entire beach on a number of occasions (the one-size its all elastic underwear fit no-one and do very little to shield me from prying local eyes. In reality the only eyes are hers and I'm sure she's seen enough white mans ass to last a lifetime).
The flight to Singapore is your normal crap service. But on the other side of immigration suddenly everything is different. Prices are high, the buildings are higher and litter doesn't exist. The hotel is everything we have been dreaming about since booking it. White sheets, fluffy towels, proper, hot hot-water, pay-tv, internet access in the room and room service 24 hours. We are in in time for dinner, but I choose a place again and now, true-to-form, I find the worst restaurant in the vicinity within twenty minutes. It's $5 for a pepsi, but I'm too excited about buying a laptop tomorrow and the potential hours of haggling to worry. It's Funan digital life mall we head to. There is a mall for everything in Singapore. There is very little else apart from shopping to be done and on every street corner there is another mall. The digital life one, according to our receptionist, is the one to get a computer. It's a Sunday so the whole of Singapore and their dogs (those not on the menu) are here. It means bargaining is good and sales assistants are frazzled. Apple fix Mac prices (something that is supposed to be illegal) so the haggling is done on what they can throw in for free on top of the Mac. I start with a nano, but I have one so change to the Airport Express, before realising I don't need one. I settle on a memory upgrade and a neoprene case. All for about $1500 less that the UK price. And then I get slightly mac obsessed and spend the next couple of days glued to my new toy. I take it to coffee houses on the pretense that we can look stuff up while we are out and about but we both know it's just so I can see how great it's wifi features are. I carry it everywhere until the novelty wears off and my back starts complaining about how heavy it is. I don't have any software so I'm limited in what I do, but it looks so pretty I can't help using it.
After dragging Amanda around a digital mall for an afternoon we swap around as Amanda goes clothes shopping. It's not as much fun as computer shopping and I'm sure my input of "it looks ok" or "yeah, it's alright" isn't the most helpful, but I'm carrying enough bags by the end of the day so I think she managed ok. She is now in charge of picking restaurants so our meals are better, local cuisine.
And then it's Sydney and suddenly the temperature drops 20 degrees. I'm used to the warmth and I have just one light jumper with me, so it's an unwelcome change, but I battle on without complaining. We have just one day here and we cram it with the Aquarium and Wildlife World, followed by a split - Amanda heading to the Art Gallery of New South Wales while I head to the harbour. Then we meet up with a couple of friends for beers and food. The aquarium and wildlife place are your typical snap happy tourist places where I manage to get through 500 shots. I can't really face editing them but at some point I'll upload a new set. The harbour is exactly as I remember it - there is a bridge and an opera house. The beers are australian so not worth talking about.
On a hangover we fly to Melbourne. Supposedly more arty and cultured than the beach-bum atmosphere of Sydney. It's definitely colder. We are staying with Luke and it's amazing to finally be in a home rather than a hotel. It's a flying visit and Luke, bless him, tries to fit a lot in while all we want is an early night. So the run-down is sunset in St Kilda, BYO Pizza restaurant round the corner with some of Lukes red collection. Then up early and onto the Met-rail to go see the National Gallery of Victoria, some aboriginal art in the Ian Potter centre, back to Lukes for a home-cooked Aussie beef rib roast followed by Aussie-rules on the tele with some more wine. The gallery is nice (but pricey if you want to go to the Guggenheim exhibition), the Aboriginal art is interesting up to a point. St Kilda's is a young sort of happening area, the roast was a little taste of home-cooked heaven after so long on the road and Aussie-rules is like rugby for retards.
We leave early for Auckland. Our cabin crew are kiwis and, as such, the nicest people we've met so far. The immigration woman wants to chat about our plans and recommends places to see as opposed to the UK attitude of assuming we are terrorists. There are free cups of tea while you wait for your bags to arrive and the beagle sniffing for drugs is frequently fed treats just for sniffing - paradise indeed.
This is my new home for the next couple of years so I'm apprehensive about it all. It's still a holiday for the next ten days while we travel around the North Island and see a few places, but on the horizon is the getting a job, getting a flat and which one do I get first dilemma. I'm nervous, but as it has been throughout this trip my attitude is to not think about anything until I can't not think about it.
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Scooby doo, Scuba done
Just a week left in South East Asia now. It feels like I'm winding down as we step up the comfort level by leaving Cambodia, heading south to the tourist destinations of Southern Thailand and then following that up with the luxury of Singapore. So the hard bits done and now I can really enjoy myself - except I won't - you know me.
We leave Phnom Penh after just a couple of days. It's a nice place, but limited for things to actually see. We bump into Gianna from Halong bay just outside some school / extermination centre (it would seem in Pol Pots time getting shot was an education). I'm still feeling colonial urges so we heads to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for some G&T's and home comforts served by a local pauper. And the next morning we head to Siem Reap by luxury bus.
Six hours later (remember - it's always six hours) and we pull into SR to be met by a bunch of tuk-tuks and local "guides" who would love to take us to a hostel for just a dollar. It's a real scrap. Their business model revolves around the dollar loss leader. They know you are here to see Angkor Wat and they know that you will need a tuk-tuk and guide to see it, so if they take you to a hostel they have a twenty minute journey in which to persuade you to employ them for the next three days. We randomly pick a young guy called Te. And sure enough on the way to our elected hostel he asks if we need a guide. I normally don't like this secondary sell, but in his case his English is so good and he is such a nice guy we both figure we got lucky and should take him up on the offer.
I'm the one picking the hostel and in the end opt for a non-air con room without cold water for $7 a night. I'm too delicate for the lack of cold water and Amanda-Sue is too delicate for the lack of air-con so we aren't in an especially good mood when we have to return to this sauna every evening.
The Angkor Wat admission ticket is not actually controlled by the government but some local petrol company. There is no reason for this other than the petrol company giving a fat backhander to a government official and now making $20 off a day pass, $40 off a three day pass and $60 off a week pass from every tourist. That's a lot of money for doing nothing. The temples aren't even maintained by them (and I wouldn't trust a petrol company to maintain a 1000 year old relic anyway). The Angkor archaeological group which does try and stop these things falling down gets just 10% of the admission fee. The government finance body (a notorious Cambodian black hole when it comes to Riels) gets 40% and the petrol company gets 50%. In a country where corruption and scams are the norm this still seems like a disgusting abuse of a national treasure. But what do I care; if it falls down now at least I got to see it first.
The three day ticket is what we go for. If you buy it after 5pm it starts from the next day and you get the evening to see a sunset for free. You can see a sunset every evening for free, but not overlooking Angkor. So we head to Phnom Bakheng along with every other white man for views over Angkor Wat and the Western Baray. Apart from the large crowds it's a great introduction to the temples of Angkor. Built on a natural hill and supposedly the first temple here, it's great to get an overview of everything else in the area. Of course when you stay to watch the sunset you have to descend in complete darkness and because these temples are representations of the mythical Hindu Mount Meru the sides are steep and the steps are huge (and often broken) so getting down without breaking a leg takes an hour or so.
The town itself exists purely for Angkor. There is little in the way of local authenticity. We eat at a Khmer kitchen and I leave my camera in our tuk-tuk who is meeting us tomorrow morning. Te, our driver, stands to make about $60 from us over the three days. My camera is worth about $2000 so I assume we will never see him again and our evening is spent in quiet contemplation over the loss.
But the morning arrives and so does Te with my camera, thus ensuring a big tip from me. It's our first full day and I can enjoy it again now I can take photos. We are saving Angkor Wat until day three. Building up to it gradually. So today is Angkor Thom; the big walled city with some incredible temples inside. Bayan, Baphuon, Wall of elephants, leper king thing and Phimeanakas are all worth seeing and all take a good hour to see properly. It's sensory overload as each temple is built by a different king in a different era and exhibits some unique feature. Bass reliefs are the big thing in Bayon whereas Phimeanakas is all about the tower (with trees growing all over). Food out here is local shack variety and when all the tour groups head back to SR for lunch we eat right outside Bayon, saving us valuable time and getting a start on the coach loads of japanese. So the afternoon is for Ta Phrom - a massive structure that the French Indochine historical society decided to leave untouched when they decided to restore all the others. This means, for the purposes of films like Tomb Raider it is the perfect backdrop with massive tropical trees growing all over the temple buildings. Highly recommended but expect a crowd.
Day 2 is more of the same. I don't mean to say that it isn't worth seeing since each temple is unique in its own way. But the differences have to be seen rather than described here to sound worthy of a visit. Take, for example, East Mebon in the middle of the Eastern Baray. Today it looks like every other temple (a representation of Mount Meru) but when it was built a century after the Eastern Baray (or reservoir) its second level was at the water level and it could only be approached by boat. the reservoir was 3km by 1km and about 4m deep where they built it. Just trying to imagine how they built a temple underwater impresses me. In my head I see some Pharaoh with a big whip and lots of slaves dying. Then there is Banteay Srei; a not very big temple built at differing times depending on who you ask. It's unique because it's small, but the best preserved in terms of bass relief carvings and you can easily spend a couple of hours admiring it. I am hungover so don't but that's not the point. Then there is Amanda-Sue's favourite Banteay Samre - small but quiet. It's far enough away that the day trippers don't bother with it which makes it all the more special. Or Banteay Kdei with it's apparent Greek architecture. I could go on and on. The one dissapointing aspect is that the Khmers, for all the grandiose ideas, never mastered how to build an arch. So they set about building five tiered structures and then bodge together some roof or doorway and expect it to last forever. They've not done badly lasting a thousand years with the jungle constantly trying to take over but I feel if they'd got a couple of Romans over to just oversee the architecture then the temples would still be pristine now.
So day 3 is for Angkor Wat. The biggie. It's a 4.30am start so we can see the sun come up from the East gate. I can't do it justice in a blog. It's just one of those places that needs to be visited and seen first hand. Obviously going for sunrise means sharing it with a couple of hundred other tourists but in a temple this size two hundred can easily disappear. As it is most of them wait on the west gate looking at the temple with the sun behind, meaning all the shots will be silhouettes. We head straight through to the central tower and climb in the early morning light. And then we sit for half an hour as the sun makes it's ascent. There is just us up here at this time and the entire temple complex stretches around below. Suddenly, when I assume the sunrise is bad, we get a break in the cloud and the whole place is covered in a warm, red light. It's one of those moments that you try really hard to remember exactly because you don't get very many of them. And then it's another couple of hours looking around and taking it all in. Amanda-Sue draws, I take photos and we both quietly look around in awe of it all. I can't heap enough praise on it - go while it's still there.
That's the end of Cambodia for us. We fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok and then plan to bus down to Koh tao. But I messed up the bus reservation assuming it is for 9am when it's actually 9pm so we fly again, this time to Samui. From there it's a 2 hour ferry ride to Koh Tao where we have no reservations, but with typical luck stumble into a nice looking dive centre and get a room. This is supposed to be a mini-holiday for us; staying in one place for a few days, unpacking and enjoying a bit of luxury. But luxury is difficult to find on our budget and this place has been full every day since so we feel pretty lucky to get anywhere.
I sign up to the PADI open water course and get diving. I'm not naturally buoyant and feel like I'm pushing my luck every time I get in the water, but it's about the only thing to do here and occasionally I forget I'm moments away from death when I see a pretty fish. Four dives later and I'm a certified diver, but I'm hooked now and like every man I want to go deeper and for longer. So I sign up on the Advanced course. It's deep dives, night dives, propulsion vehicles and navigation. I'm diving with two dutch guys and they buddy up for the first navigation task - swim away from us for a bit and then find your way back. So away they swim and ten minutes later when they don't return we give up waiting. Without them I have to do the nav tasks on my own and the visibility is down to 4m. It's disorientating as soon as I get midwater and can see nothing, but I've been trained well, rely on my compass and find my way back. I'm a proper diver now: tonight is my first night dive and tomorrow we drop to 34m to induce a bit of nitrogen narcosis. Apparently the nitrogen dissolved in your blood is narcotic and can lead you to do certain things like take out your regulator (not recommended) so before you are an advanced diver you need to know what this feels like in order to avoid it.
After that it's straight to Singapore. We are booked into a nice hotel and it's time for me to buy a macbook so I can gradually get back into the world of workers (or at least avoid internet cafes).
We leave Phnom Penh after just a couple of days. It's a nice place, but limited for things to actually see. We bump into Gianna from Halong bay just outside some school / extermination centre (it would seem in Pol Pots time getting shot was an education). I'm still feeling colonial urges so we heads to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for some G&T's and home comforts served by a local pauper. And the next morning we head to Siem Reap by luxury bus.
Six hours later (remember - it's always six hours) and we pull into SR to be met by a bunch of tuk-tuks and local "guides" who would love to take us to a hostel for just a dollar. It's a real scrap. Their business model revolves around the dollar loss leader. They know you are here to see Angkor Wat and they know that you will need a tuk-tuk and guide to see it, so if they take you to a hostel they have a twenty minute journey in which to persuade you to employ them for the next three days. We randomly pick a young guy called Te. And sure enough on the way to our elected hostel he asks if we need a guide. I normally don't like this secondary sell, but in his case his English is so good and he is such a nice guy we both figure we got lucky and should take him up on the offer.
I'm the one picking the hostel and in the end opt for a non-air con room without cold water for $7 a night. I'm too delicate for the lack of cold water and Amanda-Sue is too delicate for the lack of air-con so we aren't in an especially good mood when we have to return to this sauna every evening.
The Angkor Wat admission ticket is not actually controlled by the government but some local petrol company. There is no reason for this other than the petrol company giving a fat backhander to a government official and now making $20 off a day pass, $40 off a three day pass and $60 off a week pass from every tourist. That's a lot of money for doing nothing. The temples aren't even maintained by them (and I wouldn't trust a petrol company to maintain a 1000 year old relic anyway). The Angkor archaeological group which does try and stop these things falling down gets just 10% of the admission fee. The government finance body (a notorious Cambodian black hole when it comes to Riels) gets 40% and the petrol company gets 50%. In a country where corruption and scams are the norm this still seems like a disgusting abuse of a national treasure. But what do I care; if it falls down now at least I got to see it first.
The three day ticket is what we go for. If you buy it after 5pm it starts from the next day and you get the evening to see a sunset for free. You can see a sunset every evening for free, but not overlooking Angkor. So we head to Phnom Bakheng along with every other white man for views over Angkor Wat and the Western Baray. Apart from the large crowds it's a great introduction to the temples of Angkor. Built on a natural hill and supposedly the first temple here, it's great to get an overview of everything else in the area. Of course when you stay to watch the sunset you have to descend in complete darkness and because these temples are representations of the mythical Hindu Mount Meru the sides are steep and the steps are huge (and often broken) so getting down without breaking a leg takes an hour or so.
The town itself exists purely for Angkor. There is little in the way of local authenticity. We eat at a Khmer kitchen and I leave my camera in our tuk-tuk who is meeting us tomorrow morning. Te, our driver, stands to make about $60 from us over the three days. My camera is worth about $2000 so I assume we will never see him again and our evening is spent in quiet contemplation over the loss.
But the morning arrives and so does Te with my camera, thus ensuring a big tip from me. It's our first full day and I can enjoy it again now I can take photos. We are saving Angkor Wat until day three. Building up to it gradually. So today is Angkor Thom; the big walled city with some incredible temples inside. Bayan, Baphuon, Wall of elephants, leper king thing and Phimeanakas are all worth seeing and all take a good hour to see properly. It's sensory overload as each temple is built by a different king in a different era and exhibits some unique feature. Bass reliefs are the big thing in Bayon whereas Phimeanakas is all about the tower (with trees growing all over). Food out here is local shack variety and when all the tour groups head back to SR for lunch we eat right outside Bayon, saving us valuable time and getting a start on the coach loads of japanese. So the afternoon is for Ta Phrom - a massive structure that the French Indochine historical society decided to leave untouched when they decided to restore all the others. This means, for the purposes of films like Tomb Raider it is the perfect backdrop with massive tropical trees growing all over the temple buildings. Highly recommended but expect a crowd.
Day 2 is more of the same. I don't mean to say that it isn't worth seeing since each temple is unique in its own way. But the differences have to be seen rather than described here to sound worthy of a visit. Take, for example, East Mebon in the middle of the Eastern Baray. Today it looks like every other temple (a representation of Mount Meru) but when it was built a century after the Eastern Baray (or reservoir) its second level was at the water level and it could only be approached by boat. the reservoir was 3km by 1km and about 4m deep where they built it. Just trying to imagine how they built a temple underwater impresses me. In my head I see some Pharaoh with a big whip and lots of slaves dying. Then there is Banteay Srei; a not very big temple built at differing times depending on who you ask. It's unique because it's small, but the best preserved in terms of bass relief carvings and you can easily spend a couple of hours admiring it. I am hungover so don't but that's not the point. Then there is Amanda-Sue's favourite Banteay Samre - small but quiet. It's far enough away that the day trippers don't bother with it which makes it all the more special. Or Banteay Kdei with it's apparent Greek architecture. I could go on and on. The one dissapointing aspect is that the Khmers, for all the grandiose ideas, never mastered how to build an arch. So they set about building five tiered structures and then bodge together some roof or doorway and expect it to last forever. They've not done badly lasting a thousand years with the jungle constantly trying to take over but I feel if they'd got a couple of Romans over to just oversee the architecture then the temples would still be pristine now.
So day 3 is for Angkor Wat. The biggie. It's a 4.30am start so we can see the sun come up from the East gate. I can't do it justice in a blog. It's just one of those places that needs to be visited and seen first hand. Obviously going for sunrise means sharing it with a couple of hundred other tourists but in a temple this size two hundred can easily disappear. As it is most of them wait on the west gate looking at the temple with the sun behind, meaning all the shots will be silhouettes. We head straight through to the central tower and climb in the early morning light. And then we sit for half an hour as the sun makes it's ascent. There is just us up here at this time and the entire temple complex stretches around below. Suddenly, when I assume the sunrise is bad, we get a break in the cloud and the whole place is covered in a warm, red light. It's one of those moments that you try really hard to remember exactly because you don't get very many of them. And then it's another couple of hours looking around and taking it all in. Amanda-Sue draws, I take photos and we both quietly look around in awe of it all. I can't heap enough praise on it - go while it's still there.
That's the end of Cambodia for us. We fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok and then plan to bus down to Koh tao. But I messed up the bus reservation assuming it is for 9am when it's actually 9pm so we fly again, this time to Samui. From there it's a 2 hour ferry ride to Koh Tao where we have no reservations, but with typical luck stumble into a nice looking dive centre and get a room. This is supposed to be a mini-holiday for us; staying in one place for a few days, unpacking and enjoying a bit of luxury. But luxury is difficult to find on our budget and this place has been full every day since so we feel pretty lucky to get anywhere.
I sign up to the PADI open water course and get diving. I'm not naturally buoyant and feel like I'm pushing my luck every time I get in the water, but it's about the only thing to do here and occasionally I forget I'm moments away from death when I see a pretty fish. Four dives later and I'm a certified diver, but I'm hooked now and like every man I want to go deeper and for longer. So I sign up on the Advanced course. It's deep dives, night dives, propulsion vehicles and navigation. I'm diving with two dutch guys and they buddy up for the first navigation task - swim away from us for a bit and then find your way back. So away they swim and ten minutes later when they don't return we give up waiting. Without them I have to do the nav tasks on my own and the visibility is down to 4m. It's disorientating as soon as I get midwater and can see nothing, but I've been trained well, rely on my compass and find my way back. I'm a proper diver now: tonight is my first night dive and tomorrow we drop to 34m to induce a bit of nitrogen narcosis. Apparently the nitrogen dissolved in your blood is narcotic and can lead you to do certain things like take out your regulator (not recommended) so before you are an advanced diver you need to know what this feels like in order to avoid it.
After that it's straight to Singapore. We are booked into a nice hotel and it's time for me to buy a macbook so I can gradually get back into the world of workers (or at least avoid internet cafes).
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