Purposeless Wanderings

Montevideo, Uruguay

2010-01-24T12:54:00.003+10:00

It turns out Montevideo is an awesome city. All the guidebooks call it Buenos Aires´ little brother and say it might make a nice side trip. This is the best city we´ve been to on the trip. The people are incredibly friendly - a far cry from Buenos Aires! - the food is great, the weather is better, the beaches are crowded but fun, the mate culture (more on that in a later post, I hope) is second to none, it´s very bike-friendly, and the streets are hopping at night. Unfortunately we´re here only for one night. But it´s incredible how much you can fit into a day. More pictures to come.

Pictures from the Paraná Delta

2010-01-24T01:40:00.006+10:00

Like I said below, no roads.

Pictures from Buenos Aires

2010-01-24T00:52:00.007+10:00

Recoleta cemetary. Evita Peròn is buried nearby.

Mate...

The ``Kentucky`` pizza.

Buenos Aires

2010-01-23T10:54:00.003+10:00

So far we've eaten more pasta than steak. Buenos Aires has such an Italian influence that even their Spanish sounds like it's spoken with an Italian accent. Argentina is a fascinating and beautiful and diverse and sad place. Once a leading world-class city an the economic capital of South America, it was then plagued by decades of dictatorship, then, after the return of democracy, a major currency crisis that the country has yet to recover from. That's resulted on a mix of beautiful, French-inspired neighborhoods, a modern but very cheap subway system, and abject poverty evident by four- and five-year-old children left alone to panhandle on the sidewalk or hawk knives with their mothers on major thoroughfares after dark.

But it's not been all depressing. We've biked the city, visited monuments, parks, and great neighborhoods, shared a mate with a local, had beers over live music in a plaza of San Telmo, an energetic bohemian neighborhood, and ventured northwest to the Paran'a Delta, another world where portenos escape for the weekend. The houses are on stilts and each have a small dock, but are connected only by narrow flagstone sidewalks. Much like a rural Venice, there are no roads in sight. For public transportation, only collectivo launches.

Last night we had dinner at the Kentucky Pizzaria. Seriously. Before I'm accused of abandoning my travel principles, Buenos Aires is famous for it's pizza and we were told by a local that the Kentucky was among the best. (And we'd had the other local specialty - steak - for lunch.) the Kentucky has been here since 1942 and didn't disappoint, but the pizza was not like anything I've seen at home: whole olives, large cuts of ham, and hearts of palm (try finding those in Lexington). the logo featured a jockey on a racehorse, though.

I haven't figured out a way to post pictures from here yet, but I'll add some eventually.

Last trip to the jungle

2010-01-21T03:56:00.003+10:00

Before leaving for Buenos Aires, we returned once more to the national park, this time avoiding the tour bus masses. While hiking a muddy but sparsely-traveled path, we encountered a troupe of about 15 brown monkeys playing in the treetops, including at least three mothers carrying their babies. Down the trail we ran into another, smaller troupe. Amazing what you can see when you're not on a trail with 3,000 other people. I got some pictures. Not sure if any came out well enough to see, but I can't upload from this computer anyway.

We had our first travel hiccup today. As we landed in Buenos Aires, we realized nobody knew the name of the hostel we had booked from Santiago a few days earlier, or had any idea where it was (other than knowing it was in Palermo - Buenos Aires' largest barrio. Fortunately, there was a telecom center with email access at the airport, and the day was saved.

Parque Nacional Iguazú

2010-01-20T13:45:00.019+10:00

We came here for a waterfall. A big one. Actually 275 distinct cataratas that form a giant falls that looks like something only Jon Landau or George Lucas could come up with, no picutre (or 100 pictures or 1,000 pictures) could ever do it justice. But I´ll try anyway. (Be sure to click on these pictures to enlarge them. Seriously.)

Just before the boat took us under the falls. At this point I´m still relatively dry.

The top of Devil´s Throat. You can´t see the bottom.

This is the same butterfly, wings open and wings closed. There are lots of butterflies.

We head to Buenos Aires this afternoon, but before then it´s supposed to rain two inches. The whole town already lost electricity for an hour this morning. It is a rain forest, after all.

To the jungle

2010-01-19T11:27:00.009+10:00

After a long day of travel (the taxi picked us up at 5:30 a.m. in Santiago today and we had to change airports during the layover in Buenos Aires) we arrived in Puerto Iguazú in time to watch the sunset at the river confluence where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay all come together. It would be a perfect setting for Heart of Darkness, except there´s barge traffic on one of the rivers.

The proprietor (actually, I think it´s the proprietor´s son) of our hotel here in the Argentinian jungle is an Italian-born, Venezuelan-raised man who went to high school in Wheeling, West Virginia. I couldn´t make that up.

A brief political aside: So far I´ve entered two countries. Neither one requires Americans (or most westerners) to have a visa. But because the United States requires Argentinians and Chileans to have a visa to enter our country, American travelers have to pay a $130 ~~extortion~~ reciprocation fee when we cross the border. That´s $260 of completely unnecessary expense I´ve had to absorb just to make this trip. Why on earth don´t we just let South American tourists travel freely to the United States as we do Europeans? Are you listening, Congress?

Here are a couple pictures from around town.

Pictures from the Andes

2010-01-18T13:05:00.014+10:00

Here are some pictures from the Maipo Valley today. Tomorrow we're off to Argentina and the jungle. I'm not sure whether the Internet has made it there yet.

La Politica nacional

2010-01-17T08:35:00.021+10:00

Sunday is the day of national elections here, and Chile is on the verge of electing it's first government from the right since Pinochet was deposed. How does that affect me, you might ask? All the bars had to close at midnight Saturday night.

Speaking of politics, the change in the mood toward Americans since Barack Obama was elected is unbelievable. I've seen it talking to locals and British/European travelers. Ever since the Iraq war started, the tension towards Americans has been palpable. (A drunk Polish guy once tried to start a fight with me in a bar in Prague just because I was American, before his friends drug him away.) Now, it's totally different. More people than I can count have gone out of the way to tell me how much their opinion of the United States has improved since we elected Obama.

But, some people out there are doing everything they can to undo the goodwill. On the bike tour we took of Santiago, our guide asked me if it was true that a U.S. politician said that the earthquake was God's punishment to Haiti. I tried to explain that Pat Robertson was a TV preacher and not a politician, and that he was crazy. I´m not sure that the message took, though.

Giant corn at the Santiago fruit and vegetable market.

The ~~municipal drainage ditch~~ Mapocho River splits Santiago in half. Notice the mural of prone Jesus behind us.

This is the ¨old¨ U.S. embassy. Apparently our envoys recently moved to a fortress across town.

Santiago, Chile

2010-01-17T00:07:00.009+10:00

Did you know it was possible for a baby to ~~cry~~ scream at the top of its lungs for nine hours straight? Neither did I until the plane ride here. The kid two rows in front of me only quit after we landed in Santiago and were getting off the plane. Actually, that´s not quite true. He did quiet down a few times, and his duties were immediately picked up by the baby three rows back. Needless to say, I didn´t get much sleep on the flight here. But it´s summertime now and the empanadas are great here (they´re HUGE, more like Calzones with far more stuffing choices), so all is better.

I was talking to a guy from Germany at breakfast the morning. He asked where I was from, and after telling him Kentucky but feeling like I should say more, I added, ¨We have fried chicken, horse racing, and bourbon.¨ To which he replied, ¨I met a girl from Kentucky at another hostel two days ago, and she said exactly the same thing. So it must be true.¨ At least we´re staying on message.

Speaking of message, here´s a note to any NBA manager/publicist who reads this blog. Last night I had a beer with a British guy who´s staying here. Turns out he´s a huge fan of Rajon Rondo and Tony Delk, but he´d never heard of Tayshaun Prince. Tay, your guys need to get step it up.

I didn´t get very many good pictures yesterday (I don´t recommend buying a new camera that you´re completely unfamiliar with the day before leaving on a big trip), but here´s a couple to get started.

Toledo

2007-10-22T02:02:00.001+10:00

Thirty minutes south of Madrid by high speed train, in Toledo, I
expected to step out of the station and directly into a bullfighting
ring. Alright, so the Toledo of old is no more; really, the town that
was once nearly the capital of Spain hasn't changed all that much. The hills sure haven't changed. Maybe in the 5th century A.D., it made sense to build the city high above the Targus River for defensive purposes, but now those steep cobblestone streets are simply the bane of weary tourists' existence. Now I really have found a city that's easier to get lost in than Venice.

Not to mention that we witnessed the recreation of a hanging at the Cathederal Square. Apparently, that's how Toledan's celebrate festivals.

Thomas Friedman was right

2007-10-22T01:38:00.000+10:00

When I can sit in an Irish pub in Madrid and watch the Kentucky – Florida football game on the big screen TV, the world really is flat. This was American football, mind you, not that namesake sport the rest of the world is enamoured with. Played by Kentucky, hardly a powerhouse and definitely not an international fan favorite. Granted, the outcome didn't make the effort as worthwhile as last week's, but the story is equally amazing.

Madrid is a lively, warm, beautiful, warm, energetic, warm, and cultured city. Did I mention that it's warm? As lucky as I've been with the weather in Brussels (most of the time), the sky was always blue and we could walk the streets in short sleeves even at midnight. ¡Que Bueno!

So I jinxed myself

2007-10-18T18:13:00.000+10:00

As I predicted, after all that talk about the beautiful weather... Yep, you guessed it: it dropped about 15 degrees and rained yesterday. But this morning is sunny again and we're leaving to Madrid for a couple days this afternoon, so no complaints.

Probably no posts for a few days while I soak up the central Spain sunshine, if there is such a thing.

The Fields of Flanders

2007-10-17T09:30:00.000+10:00

The United States didn't get involved in the Great War until late, and the whole thing happened a long way away. So it's easy to overlook the cost of that war in sheer numbers of lives lost. Until you've stood in the middle of the 12,0000 graves of the Tyne Cot Cemetery, or driven through the countryside of northern Belgium and looking out the window to see plot after plot filled with rows of sparkling white, carefully manicured slabs of portland stone, or peered upwards at thousands of names carefully etched on this inside and the outside of the Menin Gate. There's nearly one WWI cemetery per square mile here, and most of the dead were never found or identified. The impact on the landscape (and the conscience) is stark, even though these graves represent only a small fraction of the loss of life on these bloodiest of fields in this bloodiest of wars.

War is hell.

The Venice of the North

2007-10-17T08:57:00.000+10:00

They call Brugge the "Venice of the North" ostensibly because its network of canals is reminescent of the city in northeast Italy. I submit it deserves that moniker, but for another reason entirley: because it is nearly as easy to get lost in Brugges as it is in Venice. I'm pretty good at reading a map, but I could hold it right in front of my nose and still miss the turn into some narrow, cobblestone street that opens into a major square. The additional hazard in Brugges, of course, is that the streets have cars, unlike Venice, where you may see the occasional motorbike. So, if you want to get run over while you're lost, there's no better place to be.

I'm beginning to think everything I've heard about the low countries being cold, overcast, and rainy all the time is just a myth created to keep tourists away. Just look at my pictures. I've hardly seen a cloud the whole time I've been here, and the temperature is what I expected in Madrid, not Brussels. Add to this observation my last trip to the area - The Netherlands in 1995 - when it was 80+ degrees and sunny for 13 of the 14 days I was here, and I call foul.

Having said this, now it'll probably rain tomorrow.

Lots of beer.

Brugge at dusk.

I almost missed two planes because of a football game!

2007-10-15T03:40:00.000+10:00

Here's the scene: I'm sitting in the only sports bar in the Philadelphia airport that's showing the Kentucky game. Never mind that it's in a different zip code from my departure gate and took me a solid 20 minutes to get to this place - the game will be over in plenty of time for my 7:50 boarding call and 8:35 departure.

I've been here since halftime, when the bar wasn't crowded and I was able to get perfect seat directly in front of the TV showing the game. But word of a potential upset has spread through the airport, and the place has filled up; the crowd spills out four deep into the concourse. Most are fans of other highly-ranked teams with something to gain if No. 1 loses, and are cheering for UK. There's a nice couple sitting behind me who don't know much about college football, and I've got them rooting for the Cats, too. My neighbor at the bar - a former Penn State player - has to leave, but not before predicting a last-second UK win as vengeance for 2002. One or two guys are cheering vocally for LSU.

Seiber hits a field goal. Tie game with four minutes to go. This is getting good. And it's only 7:00. A few good UK stops, and LSU misses its last second field goal attempt. Overtime. But I still have plenty of time. UK scores seven, but LSU matches. Second overtime. I still have plenty of time to make the gate, but I'm beginning to get nervous. It's a long way back to the gate; we need to end this soon. I pay my bill at the bar in preparation for a quick getaway. LSU is on offense now. They score three. Then we do, too. Third overtime.

Now its quarter til eight. Five minutes til boarding. UK is on offense, and moving the ball. They're inside the 10 yard line. Brooks calls a timeout. Now it's past boarding time. I have to go. I implore my new friends to cheer hard, grab my stuff, and start jogging down the corridor. Friends at the game are sending me text messages responding to what's happening. Obviously they think I'm still in front of a TV. (I mean, what fool would leave at this point in the game?) I call Christie, who's the only person I know who's watching the game but not at the game, hence I can get through on her cell phone: "Tell me what's happening!" I find out we got our touchdown, but blew the two-point conversion. LSU's got the ball.

Now I'm to the moving sidewalks. It's after 8:00. The signs above the sidewalks tell you to "stand" on the left and "walk" on the right. So I figure you have to run right up the middle. And I do, pushing people out of my was as I go. Politely, of course. Three moving sidewalks later, Concourse A comes into sight. I round another bend, and I can see my gate. I hear that LSU is moving the ball. No time to look for another TV; the waiting area is empty and there's no line to get on the plane. I show my boarding pass and head down the jetway, confident that Christie has promised to text me the outcome when there is one, and hoping that there is some resolution before the airline makes me shut off my cell phone and I go into nine hours of radio silence. By now I've heard it's fourth-and-two, LSU.

I find my seat, by a window, and crawl across the other people already sitting in my row. I try to explain why I'm out of breath, but they don't seem too interested. Almost as soon as I sit down, I get another text from Christie. We stopped them! UK wins!! Woo hoo!!! Let me tell you, that plane ride just got a lot easier...

(I mentioned in the title that I almost missed two flights. The game started while I was still in Charlotte. Kickoff was at the same time my plane boarded. The sports bar there was in the same concourse as my gate. I stood otside the glass, determined to watch the first drive. But Miles calls a timeout. Commercial break. Then Brooks does the same. Another commercial break. Who's ever heard of two TOs in the first minute of a game. So as soon as UK gets stopped on third down, I turn and dash to the gate. I'm the next-to-last person to get on the plane, but I get on. I guess it was a good warmup for Philly.)

Oh, and Brussels is great. More on that later. Here are some pictures for now:

See ya, Sydney

2006-08-27T09:13:00.000+10:00

Australia isn't a place you come to see (like the great cities of Europe), it's a place you come to do. And we did Australia. In three weeks I've cruised Sydney Harbour, sailed the Whitsundays, sea kayaked at Long Island, rafted the Tully, been diving on the Great Barrier Reef, trekked through The Olgas, base walked around Ayer's Rock, climbed Devil's Marbles, slept under the stars at a cattle station, swam in nearly every plunge pool, thermal spring, and swimming hole in the Northern Territory, bush-walked to the great waterfalls of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, hiked the Blue Mountains, and surfed Bondi Beach. Not to mention we've traveled over an area half size of half the U.S. to do all of this. And there was a little biking and city walking in Singapore to start it all out. I don't think we could have done any more in the time we had.

It's been a heck of a trip. In the process I will have crossed the equator four times, earned tens of thousands of frequent flyer miles, and only twice slept in the same place three nights in a row. And in all this time, I've only seen Foster's beer for sale at one bar in this entire country.

But now it's time to go home. See you soon.

"Have you seen this silly game?"

2006-08-26T23:59:00.000+10:00

For our last night in Sydney, John and I went to an Aussie Rules Football (here they just call it 'football') game at the Olympic Stadium. What a sport it is. If you can imagine a game combining the rules of American football, soccer, and basketball, played for four thirty-minute-plus quarters without timeouts, you begin to get the idea. Actually, according to a very patient Australian gentleman sitting in front of us who helped explain what was going on, there aren't really any rules at all. It's pretty much a free for all. Not a bad way to spend our last night Down Under.

Nothing beats the surfing

2006-08-26T16:02:00.000+10:00

During the sunny interval between morning and afternoon rains, John and I got in a couple of hours surfing at Bondi Beach, just around the corner from our hostel. Though we were beginnners, I must say we excelled. I expect a call from Billabong asking for my endoresement any day now.

Unfortunately, the surf school didn't let us bring our cameras to the beach, so this view of south Bondi from the hostel will have to suffice.

Flashback
As promised, here are yesterday's pictures from the hike. At left is John on one of the easy parts of the trail - there was a ladder to get up the rocks here. Check out the vista from Sublime Point at the top though. It was well worth it.

Into the wild blue yonder

2006-08-25T22:07:00.000+10:00

I drug John hiking to the Blue Mountains today. He wanted to do another tour, but I explained that I didn't earn my Eagle Scout by riding a bus, and he saw things my way. Or got tired of arguing. Either way, it turned out to be a great hike (more like a climb, actually), though we're still not entirely sure whether it was legal to be on the trail we hiked. The view at the end was great, though. I have some pictures to put up, but I can't do it from here. I'll try to add them soon.

Farewell to the top end

2006-08-23T16:40:00.000+10:00

I know that my loyal readers (both of you) are getting tired of seeing sunsets. Yes, I've confirmed it - the sun does set every night in Australia! But this is my favorite one, from Darwin last night.

Litchfield National Park
I've also been swimming at more waterfalls. Florence Falls, on the left, looks like it was designed for a movie set, or a picture on a blog. Wangi falls was nice, too. And John finally got in.

Here's John scared that the water is too cold at Florence Falls.

Crocodiles everywhere!

2006-08-22T15:20:00.000+10:00

We just got into Darwin (which is sort of like being near civilization again) at the very north end of Australia. Finally, it's warm! Here are a few more Outback highlights.

Jim Jim Falls gorge
The 220-meter waterfall at the end of the river here was barely running, and will be dry in a week, but the scenery is incredible. It took two hours in a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to the trailhead.

The determined few of our group who got up at 6:00 am to make the double trek to both Jim Jim falls and Twin Falls, stopping for a photo along Jim Jim Creek.

We saw this guy (and quite a few more like him) this morning during our boat ride on the South Alligator River. There aren't any alligators in the river, though, because saltwater crocodiles like this one would eat them!

Heading north

2006-08-22T15:14:00.000+10:00

Outback Fuel Stop

Edith Falls
Most of my new British friends thought the water was too cold here (how ironic is that?), so I was the only one from our group who made the swim att the way to the falls and back. Not a bad lunch stop.

Deep into the Outback

2006-08-19T17:44:00.000+10:00

We crossed back into the tropics yesterday, and it was a good thing, since we camped under the stars at Banka Banka cattle station last night. The stars, incidentally, were brilliant.

Here are a few more pictures.

Devil's Marbles
Sunset at Banka Banka

The toughest part of driving on the left side of the road...

2006-08-18T07:53:00.000+10:00

is the turn signal. It's on the right-hand side of the steering column, where you'd expect the wiper to be. So every time we got to an intersection, our windshield got a good washing. Fortunately, there aren't very many intersections in the Outback, and, despite my ineptiude shifting gears with my left hand, we survived our road trip through the Red Centre. Ayers Rock is an amazing sight, but it's quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Just outside the "resort", heading west toward the rock, we passed a sign warning that there's no gas for the next 845 kilometers. That's the distance from Cincinnati to Macon, Georgia.

Ayers Rock (Uluru)

Sunset... John reading a book as we walk around the base of the Rock.

The Olgas (Kata Tjuta)

Seven domes rising out of the desert, the walk through the Valley of the WInds (appropriately named) here was better than the base walk at Ayers Rock.

To get from Ayers Rock to Alice Springs, we took Lasseter Highway to Stuart Highway (roads in the Outback don't have numbers - there aren't enough of them) for 400 km. Stuart Highway is a respectable if lightly traveled two-lane road. Lasseter Highway is what I'd expect a main highway to look like in a third-world country - paved, but narrow with only a faded center line for marking. The shoulders were broad and dusty and morphed into the paved roadway with no clear boundary. The bus drove on pavement but left tracks in the sand that covered to road. The sunset along the way was beautiful, though.

Oh, and John lost his jeans.

Last pics from Cairns

2006-08-15T17:37:00.000+10:00

Rafting the Tully
Yesterday John and I rafted about 14km on the Class III & IV Tully river in the rainforest south of Cairns. The only trip available around here that's any longer requires being helicoptered in with your raft. It isn't running this month though. It was a good all-day ride. No one got wet, I promise. (Our guide appears a bit bored, though.)

Here's our raft. The couple to my right is Lorna and Neil from London (England, not Kentucky, folks), also on our tour. Lorna was my dive buddy at the Great Barrier Reef, too, making them the coolest people in our group.

Great Barrier Reef
Here are some pictures I took during the dive Sunday. Amazing what 1-hour photo processing can do now, huh?

Tomorrow morning we head to Ayer's Rock in the heart of the Outback. I have no idea what access to the Internet will be like for the next week, so forgive me if the posts become less frequent.

In the jungle

2006-08-15T16:17:00.000+10:00

There's nothing like driving through a tropical rain forest and looking out at the crystal clear sea, which is what we did this morning. Except maybe whitewater rafting through deep rain forest gorges, which is what we did yesterday. Oh, and yes, that is a koala in my arms to the left.

A bit of the jungle near Karunda.

The last drop of a waterfall. The whole thing had to be far more than 500 feet down.

Koala mom with her baby at Karunda.

Oh, and if anyone has ever doubted my strength, here's a story. Tour buses in Australia are quite a bit bigger (both longer and taller) that we have in the United States. We had a really nice, modern coach on our tour, but just as we got to our last hotel here in Cairns Saturday night, a blockage developed in the fuel line. So after we unloaded our luggage to the rooms, a few of us guys got behind the bus and pushed it right into its parking space for the night. So yes, I can move a giant tour bus with my bare hands, thank you.

Swimming with the fishes

2006-08-13T20:23:00.000+10:00

We spent all of today on the Great Barrier Reef. I did two dives and saw three sharks (I don't think any of them saw me). I'd been skeptical - was this reef really beter than others, or just longer than others? - and my skepticism wasn't hurt by the fact that conditions were only fair. But the reef exceeded all my expectations. It was huge and amazingly diverse and would at least equal what I remember of the Caymans if only the water was a little clearer and sunnier, which usually it is.

John and I heading down...

The longest boat ride I've ever had to a reef was about 20 minutes. The Great Barrier Reef is 2 1/2 hours off the coast of Cairns. Here we are on the deck of the catamaran Passions of Paradise with our new Austrian (yes, without the 'L') friend Sabine.

Some of our tour group on Michaelmas Cay, really just a sandbar and the only dry land for miles in every direction. This is where we snorkeled between dives.

Club Crocodile, Long Island

2006-08-12T12:13:00.000+10:00

We're back on the mainland (stopping for lunch in Townsville, ironically enough, for regular readers), so I can post pictures again. Computers are just so primitive out in the Whitsundays. Here are some shots taken around our resort. Scroll down to Thursday for sailing - I'm not sure how to bring the new pictures to the top.

John is on this trip, for those who've been wondering.

Wallaby: n. A giant rat that hops. They were all over the island.

Here's a flashback to the Bird Park in Singapore. Are you happy now, Mom?

Is anyone keen for a tale?

2006-08-11T15:11:00.000+10:00

So John and I are the only Americans on our tour. Of the other 20, there are two Canadians, a German and an Austrian, and the rest are British, mostly English. How ironic will it be when we return from Australia talking like we've been to England? Cheers.

Ahoy, sailor!

2006-08-10T16:50:00.000+10:00

The Whitsunday Islands - I spent our first full day on these islands in the most appropriate way - on a sailboat. The water here is as clear as the Carribean if not quite as warm, but the scenery is much prettier, and most of the islands are national parks, so there's virtually no development. We spotted two humpback whales - a mother and her calf - on the way to Whitehaven beach this morning.

Our ride: the retired 80-foot racing maxi Ragamuffin, a champion in her day.

Afraid the sharks wouldget me? This water is home to the deadliest jellyfish in the world. Only one guy on our tour got stung. (That's Whitsunday Island - the biggie - in the background.)

Deja vu

2006-08-10T16:38:00.000+10:00

Driving through northeast Australia reminds me of driving through Umbria, in Italy. The traffic is lighter, and the trees are different, but the forests are the same: scrubby, well-spaced trees, vast stretches of flat land fronting distant, low mountains on both sides of the highway. Who would have expected to find a slice of Italia on the coast of Australia?

Always confirm your ticket

2006-08-09T09:50:00.000+10:00

This morning at 6:50 am we joined the crowd at the Townsville bus terminal to catch the 7:05 to Brisbane, which would take us to Airlie Beach. Forty-five minutes later after two other buses had come and gone, we were the only people left at the terminal. So John went to investigate. Turns out the 7:05 to Brisbane is actually the 6:20 to Brisbane. Appatrently there never was a 7:05, despite what our e-ticket printouts clearly say. Fortunately, there's another bus at 10:45 and we'll still get to Airlie two hours before we have to meet our tour. But we could've at least had a shower at the hostel this morning after all. I guess when Greyhound says you should reconfirm 24 hours in advance, they mean it.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Townsville:

Local dining:

We still can't figure out why there's a giant spider hanging above the main street.

Last shots from Sydney

2006-08-09T09:41:00.000+10:00

Spent our last morning in Sydney wandering through the Royal Botanical Gardens, where, unlike the bird park in Singapore, the animals are there by choice.

G'day Mates

2006-08-06T19:04:00.000+10:00

It's odd changing seasons in the length of a plane ride, but that's exactly what I did last night. I woke up this morning in the dead of winter. Here are a few pics from today. (Be sure to scroll down to see the ones I added from Singapore yesterday.)

Australian driving directions...

Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again...

2006-08-05T21:01:00.000+10:00

For such a densely-populated, highly-developed city, Singapore has an enormous amount of greenspace, and most of the trees are obviously older than most of the buildings. I spent today with Ankur and his friends at the Singapore Bird Park (which really is moe impressive than it sounds). I've got pictures ready to post, but I can't do it from the airport internet kiosks. I'll try to get them up in the morning. See you from Sydney.

A day in the Jungle

2006-08-04T20:54:00.000+10:00

So today I took a bumboat to Pulau Ubin, rented a mountain bike, and spent the day riding around the island. With only 100 residents, it's apparently much like Singapore was before modern development. I also learned that when the Chinese stir-fry fresh fish, they remove neither the bones nor the heads. Not to be culturally insensitive, but the heads stayed on my plate. I wouldn't know how to eat them with chop sticks anway.

Here are some pictures from the Island.
Bumboats on the jetty at Pulau Ubin.

The Chinese Temple on Ubin.

An old quarry - no swimming allowed.

The Universal Language

2006-08-03T21:26:00.000+10:00

There are Mormons in the subway here! I'm not making fun of Mormons - I respect their dedication to what they do. But it struck me as hilarious to see them on a subway train in Singapore, in their white shirts and ties looking exactly like you see them at home (though these guys weren't Americans, judging by the accents).

Ankur says he could walk from one end of this city to the other without ever leaving a shopping mall, and I think he's right. Orchard Road takes it beyond the extreme, though. I thought it was bad that every mall had a Starbucks - even when they're right next door to each other. That didn't seem so bad, though, when I went into one mall and saw a Burberry store on the fourth floor, then went down to the second floor and saw another Burberry store. I've decided they shop too much here.

Here are today's pictures: The skyline from the Harbour (with the Merlion on the right), shophouses along the river at Boat Quay, and a Buddhist temple in Little India.

August didn't have a 1st

2006-08-03T01:28:00.001+10:00

Forty hours and five flights (not one of which was on time) later, I'm finally in Singapore. Somehow in the process I lost Tuesday. It just didn't happen this week. The sun will come up tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have pictures of Singapore to share.

The coast of Bali from the plane, as we were taking off from Denpasar earlier today. The picture doesn't do the white beaches and blue water justice, but note the volcano sticking up above the clouds.

Welcometothisworld

2006-07-19T13:46:00.000+10:00

Well, here it is. My first, tentative foray into the blogosphere. This blog is intended for one limited purpose: to share pictures and perhaps brief anecdotes as I travel through Singapore and Australia next month. Hey, I've got this fancy new digital camera. Might as well use it, right? And this has got to be more reliable than mass emails that – let's be honest here – probably would never get written anyway.

So here it is. Whether it lasts beyond August is to be seen. Whether the trip posts will happen is a good question as well, but I promise to try. Take it for what it's worth...