Trevs salsa travels

The End of the World (Travels) as we Know it...

2011-03-07T04:51:00.000Z

I'm not going to write too much this time...

Just going to share a video of some of the awesome people that I have met over the last 3 years of my life...

If you want to see what I have been up to this last month or so, just check out these two albums...

Leaving Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Pattaya and Pai

Mostly Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Also Burma

Australia day, Birthday, and back to Asia!

2011-02-08T09:28:00.000Z

Hey guys.

I feel like it has been a long time since I last wrote my blog! In fact it has been just over a month, but a lot has changed in my life since then...

My current life...

For a start I have left Australia for good! I can't say that I feel too sad about this. It is a great country, and I met many awesome people there, but two years is a long time, and I feel like I got my moneys worth out of Oz...

The last few weeks in Oz were mostly spent trying to find a few days of work to supplement my meagre resources. I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but the plan upon leaving Australia was to go to South America, see the carnival in Brazil, and to generally tear it up around South America for half a year or so...

Unfortunately this wasn't to be. Mother Nature, along with some girl called La Niña, scuppered my plans by blasting Australia with record amounts of rainfall! You may have heard about this on the news... Happily I wasn't caught up in the epicenter of the floods in Queensland; but we saw enough rain down south, at just the wrong time, to make the cherry season, normally very lucrative, into a washout...

This, combined with various expenses incurred in the course of the year, meant that my funds couldn't stretch to getting to South America. A one way ticket to Argentina from Australia seems to cost from $1800 upwards!

Anyway... back to the story... I eventually found a weeks work thinning pears near Shepperton. This was pretty good work, and I managed to add some much needed cash to my reserves. After this I made my way down to Melbourne to meet my sister and her boyfriend, and sell them my van. This worked out nicely a few ways. For me it meant that I didn't have to run around in the week before leaving Oz trying to sell my van. For them it had a similar advantage, as well as avoiding having to pay for a safety certificate... We found out that it is quite difficult to haggle with family members though!

I left Australia on Australia day... Which I thought was particularly fitting... During the day my sister arranged for us to go to the Australia day races... which were very nice, even though the races were called off due to kangaroos on the course! Very Australian!

From Melbourne I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia... I had been here before, but i was staying with a friend that time, so I didn't feel like I saw the city from a travellers point of view... The return wasn't disappointing! I stayed in a hostel near chinatown. The food was excellent everywhere i went, every meal was completely different, and I never felt the need to "cheat" and have western food. A particular favourite of mine was the roti, curry and sweet tea combination that was the normal breakfast for the Indian locals.

I also celebrated my birthday in Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say I got very drunk. Had an awesome time, in part thanks to Murry winning the semi finals of the Oz Open, and in part to two Norwegians called Kristin singing me a Norwegian birthday song!

Two Norwegians called Kristin...

Since then I have moved north into Thailand. I spent a few days in Bangkok, where I caught up with various people and enjoyed getting back into Thai food again! Thai food is great! Chinese New Year also fell on my visit to Bangkok, so I made my way to Chinatown to check out the festivities that were happening there...

Now I am on Koh Pangnan. An island paradise most famous for its full moon parties... I'm not really in a partying mood... so I am here when there isn't a full moon, and at the opposite side of the island to the party beach. It is very, very chilled out here. I almost like it as much as Koh Tao...

And that is it for now... In another months time I will be thinking about my return home, so the next blog will reflect that a little... be sure to check in for that one...

Happy New Year!!! Well... kinda...

2011-01-07T03:20:00.000Z

First things first, I'd like to apologise for the tone of this post... It should be cheery, but I think the overall mood is quite melancholy...

The second thing I want to do is to wish all of my friends out there in blogland a very Happy New year. I hope that 2011 brings you all of the things that you need. And some of the things that you want...

Next I will recount for you the tale of my New Years Eve celebrations...

I was kinda planning to spend my new years eve in Orange, have a few drinks with a few friends, and then maybe even go to work the next day. My need for money right now is that great!

Instead of that, I decided at the last minute to head to Sydney and experience the celebration there. "After all," I thought, "I'm only 250 kilometers away... and I'm not going to get the chance to see the fireworks show in Sydney again anytime soon..." (scroll down to see the video I took of the fireworks...)

There are a few places in the world that have world class New Years Eve celebrations... Two of the main ones are Edinburgh and Sydney... Having lived in Edinburgh for several years as a student, I am well acquainted with that celebration, and I felt the need to see this one, if only to compare the two events...

So, it was with a feeling of excitement in my heart that I set off from Orange at around noon on the 31st of December 2010. It was only a week since I had made exactly the same trip to celebrate Christmas in Sydney (see previous post). I made excellent time and arrived in Sydney at around 4pm. I was expecting lots of traffic, as everyone for 500km descended upon Sydney, but clearly most people were rather more sensible then me...

I parked my van outside Jo's house, and then went inside to prepare myself for the celebrations... This mostly consisted of mixing some rum into a coke bottle so that it would pass a minimal bag check, and putting on some shoes...

Jo herself was going to a party with some friends, and the picking her parents up from the airport at around 10pm. I have no idea why her parents chose that day of all days to fly.. but that is another story. I could have joined her friends, but I decided to go for the Sydney experience... after all, that is why I was there!

Little trev poses for a picture...

At around 7pm I made my way into the city, accompanied only by my travelling companion little Trev and a bottle of rum and coke. I took the train in. The packed state of the train gave me my first clue as to what the rest of the night would be like... That was nothing however to the sight that greeted me when I got off the train at Circular Quay! There were people everywhere! It took 20 minutes just to get out of the station!

Once I got out of the station I received some bad news! Circular Quay was full! They weren't letting anyone in or out of the viewing zone! I took action and walked up the hill towards the botanical gardens, only to find the same story here! You could get in here with a ticket, but not otherwise... Then I heard something on a loudspeaker...

"This area is full, ticket holders only will be admitted." no good news so far, "there is limited space in Circular Quay West and the Rocks. Accessible from George street"

No-one else seemed to be listening, but I jumped into immediate action! I made my way as fast as I could to George street, and headed to the north end of it, where I figured the entrances were likely to be... It was as I was walking up George street that I noticed a large crowd to my right... At the front of the crowd was a man, stood on a gate, shouting at everyone to get back. This looked promising! Eventually the crowd was stood far enough back to satisfy the man and he ordered someone to open the gate and in we streamed! I was in!! With alcohol!!!

Inside the area seemed pretty relaxed. There weren't too many people... yet... I wandered around the area to get a good idea of the lay of the land, and where would be a good place to watch the show from... It was about 8pm by now, and the place was rapidly getting more and more crowded. I decided to pick my spot for watching the 9pm family show. It was around this point that Edinburgh scored its first point (other then the fact that everyone can drink as much as they like at the Edinburgh NYE celebrations).

The thing was, it was very boring! There was literally nothing to do, or to see, while the fireworks weren't on. In Edinburgh they have processions, jugglers, clowns, acrobats, street performers... generally lots of things to do and to see. It is a party! In Sydney nothing like that happens. They don't even play any music (even though they could... They played music while the fireworks were going off...)! The most entertaining thing that happened was a sky-writer writing "Jesus" in the sky... What Jesus has to do with NYE I never found out...

Most people weren't even talking... There were some playing cards... I saw a few guys and girls playing on PSPs... In short it wasn't really a party atmosphere... more like the atmosphere in a very long queue...

The family fireworks went off at 9pm (preceded by a lone firework at 8.45... which made everyone stand up, quite excited, and make lots of noise). They were pretty good. Some impressive fireworks technology was on show, including some that exploded into a heart shape!

After the family show there was some general confusion, as some familys left, and they opened up the gates to let more people in. I took advantae of the brief extra space to have another wander arund. It didn't take too long to get crowded again though so I made my way back to my spot... This wait was even worse then before! The kids were gone, so their infectious joy wasn't around, just leaving all the adults, crammed into the little space, with nothing to do but wait for the next 3 hours!

It probably wasn't as bad as I have made out... Certainly if you were there with friends it wouldn't have been so mind numbingly dull (you'd have had someone to play cards with for a start...).

Finally the midnight show came... And how! This part was excellent. The fireworks were well coordinated, and for the fireworks they played music to go along with them. (why they didn't have music the whole time is beyond me...) I was slightly surprised how short the show was... but you can't have everything...

Once the fireworks were finished everyoe let out a loud and heartfelt cheer of "HAPPY NEW YEAR". This is the last time that Edinburgh beats Sydney hands down...

In Edinburgh (I won't even mention that the fireworks go on for much longer there), once the fireworks are finished there is a huge cheer, and then everyone spends the next 2 hours wandering up and down the street wishing everyone they meet a happy new year! Good times are had by all! In Sydney, there is the huge cheer, people wish the people they came with a happy new year, and then everyone heads for the exits as fast as they can!

I have never felt more alone then I did in Sydney, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people, at the new year... Not one single person wished me a happy new year! I joined the general exodus to the exits, and onwards to the train station. This was a little surreal... thousands of people, walking in the same direction, through the deserted streets of sydney... Kinda cool to see that.

I got onto my train (packed of course) and took the 10 minute train ride to Jo's nearest station. Once I got off the train... finally... I got wished a happy new year! I think 3 different people wished me a happy new year in the 10 minute walk to where the van was parked...

Somehow I felt kinda melancholy from all of the lonliness, so I wasn't in any mood to go to sleep... I decided to go to a local park, and sat there for a while.. looking out over the water...

Eventually my mood passed and I walked back to the van and went to sleep...

So in conclusion... Don't go to see the Sydney fireworks on your own! I'm glad that I saw them... It was an amazing show... But it is friends that make new years eve (or any party) worth celebrating...

I look forward to seeing some of you, my friends, in the coming year... And here is the video of the fireworks show!

:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010!!!

2010-12-24T22:53:00.000Z

First of all I'd like to wish all of the important people (ie, the ones that read this blog! ;) a very merry christmas, and seasons greetings for the new year...

And now for a quick update on my travels, as I know it has been a while since I posted.

To be honest I haven't done very much since the last post. I have been living in Cudal, in New South Wales. Just in case you haven't heard of it (and, lets face it, why would you?) Cudal is a tiny town, population roughly 400, that is about 30 kilometers west of Orange. It has a post office, a pub and a caravan park... It used to have a general store... but it closed down. Just about the only kind of shop that seems to survive are garage sales, which I assume sell all of the things that the other stores left behind when they closed down...

View Larger Map

What I have been doing in Cudal is mostly picking cherries. Let me tell you... If anyone tells you that picking cherries is an easy way to make a lot of money fast, then they are lying! To be fair, some people make a lot of money very fast... Maybe 5% of people manage this... the other 95% though make a little bit of money. I was one of those people. On a good day I could make around $120... which isn't bad I suppose, especially when my fixed expenses are so low...

Recently however I have started making real money! I am finally on supervisors wages! This means that I am responsible for checking the quality of the cherries picked, and in return I get $20 per hour! I think that with the exchange rate being what it is this is the most hourly rate I have ever had! (As a side note I recently found out that an 18 year old swimming teacher in the UK also makes more money then I was making as a university educated designer... but that is another story...)

So, now it is christmas. I have a few days off. Then I am going back to work for the next 4 weeks! If you have read my other blog, The Real Man Project, you will know that my plans have changed recently. I cannot afford to go to South America and do it justice, so after Australia I am going to hop back to Asia, before returning home to the UK. Once in the UK I am going to start up a business, and re-start my life. I am also going to get back into my salsa, as I am horrendously out of practice! I went dancing last night, and my available repertoire is a shadow of its former self!

Anyway, enough about me...

Merry Christmas to all of you out there once more!

Life in panoramic detail...

2010-11-09T01:32:00.000Z

Awesome views are like subtle aromas, or closer to home, they are like travelling. Easy to appreciate in person, but almost impossible to convey to someone else using words. It is almost impossible to capture an awesome view with a regular camera. They always feel like the view has been cropped, and much of the grandeur is somehow lost...

Anyway, back to me trying to convey the awesomeness of travelling using only words...

I think that the last time I posted I was in the middle of my New Zealand trip. I have to say... New Zealand is a beautiful place. The Kiwis are a friendly people that don't seem to be able to see a large cliff without putting a platform at the top for people to jump off!

In New Zealand I went scuba diving, sea fishing, shrimp fishing, climbing mountains, walking in forests, black water rafting, bungee jumping... in short... had an awesome time with my family!

But all good things come to an end. After returning to Australia I have paid for a new passport, paid to have my van fixed, driven about 800km, seen the blue mountains and waited for a job... At least the blue mountains were nice....

The good about waiting in Orange is the library. It has unlimited free wifi, and all the magazines that you could wish for... also free power!

I have used the time here to create panoramas of some of my pictures. I like panoramas... They capture a whole lot more of the grandeur of awesome views. Of course the problem then is to share this grandeur.

To this end I have decided to use Picasa. I chose Picasa because unlike facebook it doesn't shrink down your pictures, so they can be appreciated in their full glory. Here is a slideshow of some of the most awesome views I have seen in the past year. There will be more pics added regularly, so keep posted....

The Trails and Tribulations of Traveling...

2010-10-06T04:07:00.001+01:00

It has been a rocky couple of months since I last posted... I have experienced emotions from the deep depths of despair, to the red hot rage of anger and the exhilarating heights of excitement...

So... do you want the good news or the bad news first?

I guess I'll start at the beginning. My last few weeks in Gayndah were pretty uneventful... though I do look back on those times wistfully as a time when I was surrounded by good people, many of whom I hope to stay in touch with. All good times must draw to a close though so I left Gayndah on the 20th of September, planning to have a nice relaxing trip down the coast to Sydney, from where I would fly to New Zealand to meet my family...

My plan was destroyed after only two days when I left my van for an hour to use the internet at a MacDonalds in Surfers Paradise and returned to find that someone had broken into my van and stolen a bag containing, among other things; two hard drives, my speakers, all of my power adaptors and cables, some notebooks, and my passport! Obviously my passport was the most urgent issue, but the thing that hurts the most are the two hard drives... They contained ALL of my photos from over two years of travelling, a huge collection of ebooks, over 300 films, about 15 full TV series, a large selection of porn and various documents including the originals of all of these blog posts! As you can imagine this hurt tremendously... especially the photos... After all, most of that stuff can be replaced, but the photos were unique, and I'll never see a large number of them again... Luckily I have uploaded a large number to facebook, but the quality just isn't the same, and I was hoping to print out some of these photos when I eventually return back to England and use them to decorate my pad...

I cannot describe to you how losing all of this made me feel... There is a kind of internal dislocation that takes place when you lose something like this. Something that you have had for a long time, and that you have always assumed that you would always have... Your brain has to adjust its whole way of thinking, thoughts you never even realised you had will lead straight to anger as you realise that part of your world has been violated...

As for my passport... obviously this would just have to happen days before I was due to fly internationally! I reported the theft to the police, and they gave me the phone number of the British consulate. Speaking to them I realised that my plan of a leisurely trip down the coast was out of the window. I would have to race to Sydney and get to the consulate buildings by 10 am on Friday in order to get my emergency passport arranged. If I didn't make it on time there would be no way to get an emergency passport, and no way for me to make my flight on the Sunday! All I could do was hope that my van could withstand the 1000km+ journey that was required...

I set off down the highway, undergoing my own version of therapy... This mostly involved turning my music up very loud and singing along to it at the top of my lungs while shooting down the motorway... This seemed to work... After a couple of days I was more or less back to my usual, laid back self.

To cut a long story short I made it to the consulate on time, got my emergency passport, and made it to my flight... Next stop... New Zealand!

I've taken up a lot of space with that story, so I'll just give you a brief run-down of the New Zealand experience so far.

For a start New Zealand is beautiful... The landscape really does look like Hobbiton in the lord of the rings, with rolling hills and grass covering most available surfaces... While I've been here I've been sailing, climbed mount doom, jumped off a bridge (actually a cantilever... but who'se splitting hairs?), been scuba diving and been to some thermal springs. Check the links (click on the underlined words) for the pictures.

It is all as awesome as it sounds!

(Especially the jumping off a bridge, see my realmanproject blog for how that experience was.)

Two years on the road!

2010-08-22T08:58:00.000+01:00

This month marks two years since I left England to travel the world! So far the trip has gone pretty good I would say!

The map above shows my route as I have made my way to various locations. The yellow lines are the flights, and the red lines are the overland routes.

1. I started off in England. It was pleasant enough there, but travelling was something that I felt that I had to do. So I said goodbye to all of my friends, and set off to pastures new with Sharlene... My new friend who I met around two months before setting off!

2. My first flight took me to Cyprus! I have to confess that I wasn't really travelling in the pure sense of the word... In fact I was staying at my parents holiday villa! It was very pleasant all the same and I did some scuba diving there. I also got involved in the local salsa scene, and went to the Salsa Jam in Cyprus. I also took a boat over to Turkey from here, and spent a long weekend looking round Alanya.

3. Also from Cyprus myself and Sharlene took a side trip over to Egypt. There I met some very good friends, Alaa and Rero, that I knew through facebook! We went inside the pyramids, smoked a hookah and I went diving in the red sea... which was amazing!

4. Sharlene found herself a job in the Czech Republic, so I took my leave as well... only waiting to see my parents for the last time in a long time! I headed over to Nepal... I was trying to get to India... but no-one told me that I needed a visa BEFORE I arrived there... this led to a pretty exciting adventure... A pretty good way to start my proper travelling. In Nepal I went trekking in the Himalayas, met some people and saw some animals. The trekking was an amazing experience that I will never forget!

5. From Nepal I flew over to Thailand. I hung around in the north of Thailand for a while before meeting my friend Kathryn and spending a very pleasurable couple of weeks touring round Cambodia with her. We saw Angkor Wat, freshwater dolphins, a bamboo train and some awesome sunsets! Kathryn left for her home in Malaysia so I visited some of the Thai islands, did some diving, before meeting up with her once more in Malaysia. I spent a very pleasurable couple of weeks with her in Malaysia, celebrating Christmas there with Kathryn before...

6. ...heading south overland to Singapore and flying to Indonesia... Singapore was very clean, nice, anal, and expensive. The zoo there was pretty awesome! I met another good friend (from facebook), Elaine, there. Indonesia was a complete contrast to Singapore... Dirty, busy, hectic... I loved it! I went to a theme park in Jakarta, a volcano in Malang and chilled out in Ubud, Bali.

7. After Bali I flew into Sydney and the next chapter of the journey started. I had very little cash by this point, so a job was a priority. I tried to apply for the best job in the world... unsuccessfully! So instead I got the coach to Brisbane and found a job there selling electricity door to door. I met another good facebook friend here, Jan. I did this for three months waiting for Namrin to come to Australia. I had met her in Thailand at the Bangkok salsa congress. She had decided she wanted to come travelling with me and made it over by May. Together we bought a van and worked and travelled all around Australia. Fun times and good people... After a year of this however her visa ran out and she had to go back to...

8. Thailand! I visited her there for a month with my good friend Allan (not from facebook, from school!). We travelled through Laos, visited Chiang Mai (one of my favourite places), and took a trip over to Koh Tao (another of my favourite places). We also visited her second hometown of Ratchaburi...

9. Before too long though I had to return to Australia for the final time... I'm mostly working now, but will be visiting New Zealand soon for a mini family reunion! Life is still good. I'm hoping to collect enough cash together in the next few months to get to South America and spend some time there... but we will have to see how that goes...

Gayndah photos...

2010-07-18T05:10:00.001+01:00

Those of you that pay attention may have noticed that my last blog post was a bit off topic... in fact I didn't mention my travels at all! The primary reason for this is that I have effectively stopped travelling for now, spending all of my time in Gayndah, and working every hour that I can! This doesn't make for a very exciting travelogue...

I have taken some nice pictures in this time however, and I thought I'd share some of them with you... They fit very roughly into four categories. Those four are animals, people, views and things I've done...

Animals...

No farm work in Australia would be complete without seeing some large spiders, and this was no exception! I found the spider on the right curled up in a leaf. It is a huntsman spider and as such is perfectly harmless..

The frog on the left is more obviously harmless... isn't he cute...

People

The people of Gayndah are very friendly, and people in the camp site are no exception to this. We have a group and we while away the long Gayndah weekends together, doing such exciting things as having fires, listening to music and getting drunk!

Views

As you can see, Gayndah can be very beautiful. Unfortunately most of the time this happens very early in the morning, and is accompanied by freezing cold weather!

Things I've done.

My van died at work one day, and Investigating I found that one of the terminals had completely dissolved! This disaster had a silver lining however, because the work involved in getting to the battery to replace the terminal gave me a chance to fit a hinge on the far side of the under bed area, making it much easier to take things in and out, and allowing much easier access to the battery in future.

Finally I've been working on a new project this last week or so. I'm not really sure if it is ready to go yet, but I'm going to launch it now anyway, and you can see it evolve and grow as I discover for myself what is involved in it!

The Real Man Project is an ongoing excercise in personal growth. It looks towards making the best of my life, and becoming the best that I can be. It also involves collecting resources together to help other people to achieve the Real Man ideal in a simple to understand, step by step, process...

In order to achieve this I have launched a "Real Man Project" page on facebook (follow the links on my profile to access it) and I'm also launching a new blog that will chart my progress and hopefully help other people to achieve similar results!

I'd love to see you all over at the other blog, I have provided a link here and if you click on that it will take you straight there!

The Real Man Project

2010-07-12T06:42:00.000+01:00

I've been hearing a lot about “Real Men” recently.

“I want a Real Man” and “Where have all the Real Men gone?” are phrases that most women seem to have said at some point. Women seem to know exactly what this means, even though they often have trouble articulating clearly exactly what the image is that is evoked in them by these two words...

Most men on the other hand don't have any clear idea what women mean when they say these things! The words “Real Man” mean as much to most men as the offside rule in soccer means to most women!

I have put a bit of thought into figuring out what women are getting at when they say these words, and here is my list of what a “Real Man” is...

What makes a Real Man is split up into two sections. The inside stuff and the outside stuff. First the inside...

A Real Man is calm, collected and confident. He is comfortable in his own skin, whether he is spending time alone, hanging with his friends, or meeting new people. In fact there isn't a situation that you can put him in that will make him uncomfortable. This isn't to say that he doesn't get nervous or scared, but he doesn't let the fear effect him, and acts in the face of it.

A Real Man is a leader. He is decisive. When it is time to make a decision, or take charge, he is willing to step up to the plate and do what needs to be done. He doesn't worry about making the wrong choice, or agonise for hours over which of two choices he prefers, when the time comes, he makes a choice and sticks with it. And if it turns out to have been the wrong choice he holds up his hands, takes responsibility and sets about making things right.

A Real Man has high self esteem. He respects himself and others. He is confident without being arrogant, and rightly so, because he knows that whatever situation is thrown at him he will handle it as best as he can, and even if he doesn't handle it perfectly he knows that he will have learned a lesson and the next time he handles the same situation he will handle it even better.

A Real Man takes action. If he sees something that needs doing he does it. If someone needs help and he has time and energy to give he will help them. He knows that the only true path to learning is through doing and doesn't sit around gathering knowledge and trying to be perfect before he tries to do anything.

A Real Man is motivated. He has a mission in life. He knows what he wants, where he is going and what to do to achieve these goals. He sets up smaller goals along the way, and congratulates himself every time he achieves one of these smaller goals on the way to the greater goal.

A Real Man is positive. He knows that people create their own reality and so he makes his reality a positive one to live in. He doesn't bring himself down with negative self talk. He may sometimes have days, when life throws him a curve ball, when he isn't on top of the world but when this happens he doesn't wallow in his self pity and he doesn't cling to his grief. He allows himself to feel it, allows it to wash through him, and then allows himself to get on with his life.

A Real Man is always learning. He recognises that life is a lesson for us, that all experiences, good and bad, are learning lessons. He knows that he is always changing, and strives to make the change a positive one all the time.

On the outside...

A Real Man has strong body language and posture. He carries himself all the time as if he has just won a gold medal in the Olympics and his national anthem is playing. He has a steady gaze, and is confidently expressive.

A Real Man speaks clearly and confidently. His voice carries as far as is needed without him having to shout. It is clear from his voice that he is in control. His voice comes from deep in his body and is rich and expressive.

A Real Man is well dressed and well groomed. He recognises that his personal appearance is the first impression that he gives to the world, and knows that this is very important. This doesn't mean that he is necessarily the height of fashion, but he pays attention to his clothes and takes care of them. Similarly he takes care of himself. His personal hygiene is impeccable and he makes sure that his nails are tidy and his hair is well styled.

Finally, a Real Man has a good balance in his life between work and leisure. He fills his life with activities and would never be content to live a life of routine. He may watch TV from time to time, but he chooses what he watches, and when the thing that he wants to watch is over, he will turn off the TV and do something else...

These are just a few of my thoughts of what constitutes a real man. I'd be very interested in your feedback. What have I missed? What have I gotten right or wrong? If you know me, how could I live up to this ideal better?

My mission in life is to move closer and closer to the ideal above, and maybe even to help others to get to this place, all with the intention of making the world a better place.

The road to glory... 2010

2010-06-26T06:58:00.000+01:00

The title is of course a reference to the world cup. Some of you will be avid supporters of your teams, some of you couldn't care less... I fall somewhere between these two extremes...

Don't get me wrong, I'm an England fan first and foremost (well, that and a Leeds fan!). If the national team does well, I'm in a good mood. If they perform badly (Algeria anyone?!?) then I am flung into a tiny little pit of despair... So on the whole I'm glad that England have gotten through to the knock-out stages of the tournament, if slightly fearful of the upcoming opposition...

Back to my story though... My last blog left off in Koh Tao. Which was just as I remembered it... a tropical paradise... I saw a bit more of it this time, chartering a boat to take us round the island to some of the more remote beaches and snorkelling sites...

Myself, Namrin and Allan all had a great time there. Even after Allans adventure of having his wallet stolen and then the next day managing to drop his phone underneath the floorboards of a beach-side restaurant!

All good things must come to an end however, so eventually we had to leave Koh Tao and make our way back to Bangkok.

Bangkok is big! And smelly! Well, parts of it are. We spent a day there checking out the temples and palaces had some excellent meals, and then before we knew it Allan had to head home! We slightly nervously put him into a cab heading for the airport and hoped like hell that he would be able to make it back home all by himself!

I was only in Bangkok for a couple of days after this. We did a bit more sight-seeing, went to visit Namrins second home town of Ratchaburi and saw a bat cave there. We ate some more excellent meals with some of my friends from Bangkok. We even found time to fit in a bit of salsa! Then suddenly it was my turn to head back to Australia!

I won't go into it, but the goodbye was long and teary... On the plus side we got to travel to the airport for free on the test run of the new airport connection train!

Back in Australia I stopped for one day in Sydney, and then started heading north... I was heading towards Bowen, via the Blue Mountains national park when I realised that I was passing very close to a small town called Gayndah.

Gayndah is little town in the middle of Queensland, remarkable mostly for the citrus fruit that they produce there. It is also the little town where myself and Nam had our first picking job last year when we were just starting our travels...

I figured that I may as well pop in and see what was happening there, and within a day I had a job to start tomorrow!

So that is where you find me now! I missed the first England game against the USA because I was on the road, but once I got to Gayndah I haven't missed any of their games (though it seems that the England players missed one!).

Gayndah is mostly full of French people, Germans and Koreans (apart from the ozzies of course). The French are of course the but of many jokes right now regarding their team... We go up against the Germans next, which should be interesting. I have a place to watch it arranged and a German to watch it with. If we loose I may have to have a one man riot! We English have a reputation to protect you know!

Or I might just go to bed....

Re-visiting the past...

2010-05-26T05:13:00.000+01:00

Do you believe in déjà vu? It seems to be happening to me more and more these days. And especially this past month... It seems like everywhere I go I recognise parts of it, and sometimes I even know what is going to happen...

This is probably caused by the fact that I have indeed been to most of these places before... A very unsettling experience for someone that has been thriving on novel and unknown places for the last two years almost...

On with the story anyway....

So myself and Allan did our little road trip, heading north to the Gold Coast (been there before) via Giraween national park (been there before...). We met up with some of my friends and some of his friends in Brisbane, and generally had a good time... We then headed south back to Sydney via Byron Bay (been there... you get the idea...).

Road trip over we spent a couple of days in Sydney, most of which I spent repairing the van from Allans over zealous driving, and then flew over to Bangkok...

I like Thailand... I like it a lot... We didn't spend very long there though. One day in Bangkok (where we saw no sign of the troubles that are so widely reported in the news), then a train to Nong Kai, one day in Nong Kai; we went to the statue park there, which hadn't changed much since the last time I was there (before and after). Still well worth a visit though. Then we crossed over the border into Laos.

In Laos we spent a couple of days in Vientiane, which was nice. They have some nice temples there, and we got to see a buddhist monk baptism... or something like that. What I like about Laos (well, one of the things) is the baguettes, a hangover from the French colonisation, so we ate lots of sandwiches here.

After Vientiane we travelled north to Vang Vieng. This is a traveller mainstay on the Laos circuit, and as such hadn't changed even slightly in the 4 years since the last time I'd been there. Even to the extent that all the bars had exactly the same identical menus and even had the same Friends DVDs running on loops... One thing that was different was that my sister was there!

Another thing that had changed was the tubing experience... This is an essential part of the Vang Vieng experience (except for Allan who missed it due to feeling "a bit ill"). When i did it 4 years ago it was a simple experience, drifting down the river, visiting a few bars, enjoying the scenery... Now the top end of the river has turned into a resort style place! Bars either side of the river, pumping out music, and huge swings and slides for drunken travellers to abuse... It was quite fun, but I can't help but feel that part of the point of floating down the river has been erased... Here is the before and after pics...

After the hedonism of Vang Vieng it was quite nice to visit Luang Prabang again. Not much had changed here (before and after) but it was still a beautiful city, and a nice place to spend a couple of days... Worth noting was the Royal Palace, which I hadn't visited before...

After a couple of days in Luang Prabang it was time to move on. We took the slow boat to Huay-Xai on the Thai border. This trip took two days, with a stop-over in Pak Beng. Pak Beng was exactly as I left it 4 years ago (before and after).

One night in Huay-Xai and we crossed the border into Thailand. Some immigration checks and we were free to find our bus out of there. We took a bus to Chiang Mai from the border. A six hour journey, which was reasonably comfortable. It was nice being back in Thailand again, and able to go into 7-11 and buy snack foods without being ripped off.

Of course Chiang Mai is the biggest source of déjà vu. I have spent over 6 weeks in Chiang Mai, all told, and really like it here. If there is one place that I could see myself living outside the UK it is here. We vsited my friend Jangiraj, and discovered that I am used as a model in her advertising! We bumped into an old friend that Nam and myself knew from a farm in Australia, and had some drinks with him.

We also visited an elephant camp, and Doi Suthep (before and after).

Which brings us pretty much up to date. The next plan is to head south and re-visit Koh Tao, where hopefully I will find it similar to how I left it (one of the most beautiful places I have ever been).

Until next time....

One door closes, another one opens...

2010-05-02T06:31:00.000+01:00

I write this from Sydney, having just said goodbye to my travelling companion for the last year... But I get ahead of myself... How did I get here?

The last post finished with me working on the potato harvest in Tasmania. That continued for another week, with a little gap for the harvest machine to break down and be repaired...

On the downtime caused by the machine breaking we did a loop round the west of Tasmania. We headed overland to the great lakes, then on to the Lake St. Clair national park, west to Nelsons waterfall and then onwards to Strahan. The next day we went north to Cradle Valley National park (very nice). In Cradle Valley the weather got a bit chilly, there was even a bit of snow!

Just after this we noticed that our tyre was deflating, with us miles from civilisation, and our spare tyre being the one that we had had to remove only one week earlier! We decided to call off the rest of our trip and head towards Devonport to sort out our van. We managed to make it with the help of a friendly Australian whose door we knocked on...

Once we had fixed up our van it was time to go back to our last week of work...

After the work was over we gave ourselves another week to tour Tasmania and headed south towards Hobart, stopping off at Mount Fields national park... Then we climbed (or more accurately drove up) Mt. Washington, and visited some waterfalls...

Next we headed to the East coast. We passed a spiky bridge and Swansea then continued north to St Helens. We visited the Bay of fires up here and a lagoon.

Then we headed back inland and returned to Launceton and Devonport. On our last day of touring we headed up the North west coast past Burnie, Wynyard. We visited the Gunns Plains caves and the Stanley "Nut". We also visited the most westerly point on Tasmania!

Then we headed back to Devonport and caught the ferry back to the mainland...

We took an overnight ferry, arriving at 7am, and the original plan was to take two days to drive the 1000km back to Sydney... At the last minute i decided to change the plan and we drove the entire distance in one day!

We spent most of our time in Sydney with Nam packing during the day and meeting up with various people at night... I also got to meet up with an old friend, Allan (more on him later).

Yesterday was Nams last day. The night before I cooked her her last good stake (stakes in Thailand aren't worth eating), and she spend most of the day cooking a huge pile of sushi! Then I took her (and her many, many bags) to the airport, where we had our fond farewell... not too teary, after all, I am going to go over there to see her in 11 days!

In the meantime myself and Allan are going to go on a road trip. I'm going to push his comfort zones. I'm not sure if he is fully prepared for the time ahead... you'll hear all about that in the next post...

A devil of a time in Tasmania...

2010-04-12T22:58:00.002+01:00

Hi Guys...

Its been a long time since I last posted I know... but I do have an excuse...

It's Tasmanias fault... Not that I'm saying that Tasmania is backwards or anything, but it is certainly more difficult to get onto the information superhighway here... Add to that the fact that I'm working 7 days a week (weather allowing) and you can understand the predicament that I'm in!

(Note: I've been forced to post this blog without having all of the photos uploaded (damn Tasmania), but keep your eyes on this album for the rest of the pictures...)

However.... I've made it online now, so here is my story...

We left you last on our way out of Wentworth, having just finished working on a grape farm, and heading south towards Tasmania. Before we went to Melbourne we visited Wilsons Promontory for a couple of days, stopping off at Happy Jacks rest stop on the way... As we headed south we could feel it getting colder, and it seemed that this led directly to a proliferation of millipedes the further south we went...

Wilsons Promontory was very nice, with lots of beautiful views, walks and beaches close by, and absolutely loads of wild life including bright red parrots, a kangaroo called "dude" and wombats! Also giant mushrooms...

We stayed in Melbourne for a couple of nights... on the first night we met up with Phil and Ffion again (see last post), and on the second day we met up with one of Nams friends from her university days… we also saw a fashion show and went back to the museum of moving images and played with all of the displays, including making a rotoscope video of me knocking Nam about Matrix styleeee!

Early on the morning of the second day in Melbourne we made our way to the ferry terminal and prepared ourselves for the 8 hour ferry ride over to Tasmania! The ferry was pretty huge and comfortable, and we kept ourselves amused pretty well, apart from Nam feeling queasy for the majority of the journey!

The first couple of days in Tasmania we went around all of the job agencies that we could find looking for jobs. We were slightly apprehensive about this as we had been told by many people that it was difficult to find a job in Tasmania… Figuring that we had a few days to spare before anything showed up we decided to take a small tour of the island.

We drove to Port Arthur (very nice area of Tasmania with crazy rock beaches and a chocolate factory!) and promptly got two phone calls from different agencies offering us jobs! So much for work being difficult to find!

We took a job on a potato harvester and have been doing that ever since, with a couple of days of for bad weather and a couple off for Easter, one of which we spent picking broccoli instead. We were told that the smallest acceptable size for broccoli was "about a C cup"... so I spent the whole day groping broccoli... My psychiatrist may hear about this in the future...

Worthy of note in this time was staying in Poatina resort village, which sounds like it would be an expensive place to stay, but which turned out to be very cheap, and to have all sorts of additional bonuses including a maze and a Thomas the tank engine that you could ride round the village on!

The plan for now is to work for another few days, and then to tour round Tasmania and see the sights before heading back to the mainland and Sydney for Nams flight home… more on that in the next post…

The Rhythm of Life.... Mildura...

2010-03-05T04:11:00.001Z

In the spirit of fairness I feel that I should add that I don't really like Guinness... But I do like this advert...

On to the matter of my travels.

This last month I have been settled down in one place, working once again. This month has been one of changes... watching the seasons change, watching some things grow up, and some things fall apart...

It doesn't seem like a month ago that we moved to Wentworth. The memory is still fresh in my mind. We had visited the farm where we would be working just the day before, and found that the nearest camp site was in a sleepy little village, about 10 km away, called Wentworth. So we arrived in the mid afternoon and started setting up camp.

The cast for our next month of life was already assembled. In the camp spot next to us were a Welsh trio, Ffion, Phil and Dave that immediately introduced themselves; one camp spot over from them was a French guy called Maxim, who we later found out was to be working at the same farm as us; paddling about were some tiny little cute ducklings; and though we didn't know it, sleeping in the tree just above our tent were a whole family of possums... the scene was set!

We enjoyed our time in Wentworth very much. Our neighbours were great. Phil and Ffion were a lovely couple... Phil was a very chatty guy whose twin passions were rugby and fishing. In fact he would spend up to 8 hours a day fishing on his days off... in spite of the fact that all that he ever caught were carp. Ffion was a bubbly girl who only ever stopped talking when she was reading or being artistic. Dave only stayed for a week, but in that time we came to enjoy his chat very much. As for Max... Even though he was French we found him to be a modest, inteligent, warm guy who was quiet at first, but really funny when you got to know him.

Every day the ducklings would come round, guarded by their mother, begging for bread; and then later on, around dusk, the possums would venture from their tree and get among us. Taking bread from our hands, and taking any other food that we were foolish enough to leave lying around overnight!

As for the work we were doing... We were both working on a grape farm, producing sultanas and raisins. Nam was doing the picking side of things (not too difficult work, though not very well paid) and I was a cart-man. My job basically involved riding around on the back of a tractor, picking up all of the buckets of grapes that the pickers had produced, and piling them onto the back of the tractor. We then had to tip all of these buckets of grapes onto racks so that they could dry.

The best thing about my job was that I got to drive the tractor! The worst thing was the bees that liked to hang out on the drying fruit, and don't take too kindly when we had to spread out the fruit so that it could dry better... I got stung 4 times! Luckily I'm not allergic! As well as the bees there was the usual assortment of spiders, flies, spiders, lizards, wasps and spiders... some of them deadly!

Now our job is drawing to a close... we are in our last week of picking... The ducklings have grown up and been replaced by new ducklings that are even smaller and even cuter... our neighbours have started moving away...

All in all it feels like things are winding down in Wentworth... I guess that is all part of the rhythm of life...

Zen Rock

2010-02-20T10:35:00.001Z

The instant that I saw this rock it sent me into a kind of zen trance.

The first thing that it made me think of was impermanance... After all, the rock has the look of something ancient. It has clearly been in existance for millions of years. And long after I am gone and forgotten (barring human intervention, or barring sudden breakthroughs in longevity treatments in my lifetime) it will still be sat there, in the sea, being battered by the waves in much the same way...

On the other hand... the rock is clearly being battered by the sea. It isn't hard to imagine it being broken down into sand in just a few millenium. It just made me very aware of the impermanence of all things, and especially myself...

The second thought that came to me was how everything changes, but everything stays the same. For maybe hundreds of years the water had been splashing over this rock in much the same way, filling the pool at the top, and then running out of the pool back into the sea below. Unchanging for hundreds of years...

The flip-side of this is that no two waves, washing over this rock, will have ever been exactly the same... Hundreds and tousands of waves, all breaking over this rock, and each one slightly different from all of the others... Possibly due to the different timing, size or direction of the wave, or down to slight changes in the shape of the rock, or maybe even due to the presence of sea life on the rock, altering the wave slightly, making each one unique...

Melbourne to Sydney and the Sydney week! (Including my birthday!!!)

2010-02-06T01:33:00.011Z

The last I wrote was to tell you about my day in Melbourne... Well, we left Melbourne shortly after that, but not before performing the obligatory pilgrimage to the place that every British ex-student in Australia has to visit... We went to …. the Neighbours Street!

It was exactly as awesome as you would imagine. The outside shots of Neighbours are actually filmed on Pin Oak Court. I made the pilgrimage early in the morning, and was rewarded by managing to catch the end of a tour that some people had paid to go on! The tour also brought a “Ramsay Street” sign with them! I of course took full advantage of this!

After that we headed north and east, towards Canberra. It took two days, of pretty uneventful driving, to get there. Freeway all the way! We made one stop-off at Glenrowan, which is apparently the birthplace of Ned Kelly.

Canberra was nice. Quiet... but nice. We arrived the day before Australia day, which seemed pretty fitting! We visited the War Memorial, which was very interesting, and then headed over to Parliament House for the free Australia Day concert that was being held there... The concert was fun. Lots of Australian bands that we had never heard of... but we chilled out for a while, and then headed to the front, near the stage to do some bouncing....

The next day we made the long trip to Sydney. Actually... it wasn't that long. We arrived there around 11am and as it was Australia Day we proceeded to do the most Australian thing we could think of... We had a picnic in the park! After this we headed to North Sydney to Josephine's house, which would be our residence for the next five days.

The next day we pretty much chilled out in preparation for the next day.... My Birthday!!! For my birthday we did touristy things! We visited Paddys Market, and Darling Harbour and then we went to the Sydney Aquarium... This was amazing and we saw... duck billed platypuses, turtles, sea-horses, octopusses, jelly fish, eels, penguins, sharks, rays, crocodiles, dugongs, many many fishes and corals and other small sea dwelling animals!

After this I had my birthday meal! Which was a lasagne which I prepared personally... and it was excellent... if I do say so myself!

On the 29th of January we did more tourist things. We walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge, and took a stroll around the city. It was at around this point that I started experimenting with more artistic modes on my camera!

That evening we went out into Sydney with Jo and some of er friends. We went to a few bars (including a very expensive one on a 47th floor that rotated!!) and ended up in a bar playing pool. Nam and Jo proceeded to wipe the floor with a couple of guys that challenged them to a game!

On Saturday we went into the city to meet some of Nams Thai friends for lunch, and then Jo came and met us and we went for a little walk from Bondi Beach to... Tamara Beach, a few kilometres up the coast. This was a very nice little walk. After this we had to rush back to Josephines to prepare for the Sydney salsa congress that we were going to that night.

We arrived at the congress just in time to get a seat near the front and to the right of the stage. The shows were amazing as expected, though it seemed like there wasn't going to be any salsa for a while! The videos are all on my youtube channel here...

After the shows was the salsa party. This was lots of fun, as I don't get to salsa too often any more. I met up with some old friends, and danced the night away. We didn't end up getting home until about 4am, and didn't get to sleep until even later!

Sunday was a restful day. We mainly did some shopping and prepared for leaving Sydney. We got an early night and said our goodbyes to Josephine.

The next morning we got our stuff together and finally left at around 11am. We headed West, towards Mildura...

That pretty much brings us up to date for now. We reached Mildura... stopping off along the way to put our names in to various job offices. We now have a job to start tomorrow. I am going to be lifting buckets, and Nam will be picking grapes. This will occupy us for most of the next month, so don't expect too many updates in that time.

Hopefully I'll see you in a month, a bit more tanned, slightly healthier, and a lot richer!

Laters

Trev

Adelaide to Melbourne... Featuring The Great Ocean Road!!!

2010-01-23T10:45:00.004Z

What a couple of weeks it has been... We have driven more then a quarter of the way round the coast of Australia, seen some amazing sights, experienced weather from 47 degree sun to 15 degree driving rain.

The last stretch was the drive from Adelaide to Melbourne which, though it is not so long in distance, more then makes up for it with the sheer density of things to see and beautiful sights...

The first day after leaving Adelaide we drove down the coast to Robe, where we stayed in the Little Dip Natural Park... Robe was very nice and felt very peaceful.

Leaving Robe behind us on day two we travelled to Mount Gambier. This was a very interesting place, being built on an extinct volcano, and having lots of sinkholes, craters and lakes... one of them a striking shade of sapphire!

The next day we crossed the border into Victoria. We went for a walk in Portland, all in the cause of seeing seals... we saw them, but they were very far away. It was a nice walk regardless... We finished the day in Port Fairy... Not a name I'd imagine the sailors liked very much, though it is one of the oldest ports in Australia!

Day four saw us arrive onto the great ocean road. It was going to be hard for this road to live up to the hype... but it somehow delivered... in spite of the intermittent rain. I also managed to get sunburned in site of the intermittent rain!

On the great ocean road we saw the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, London Bridge, The Arch, Loch Ard Gorge (featuring the Blowholes, Thunder Cave and Razorback Ridge) and finally the Twelve Apostles...

We stopped the night at Lavers Hill and set off for the rest of the great ocean road... There were many amazing views on this day... though they didn't have names like the ones the previous day... We continued driving after the great ocean road, through Melbourne city, and all the way to Phillip Island... Phillip Island is mostly famous for Penguins...

Fairy penguins to be precise. They are the smallest penguins in the world, being mostly less then 25cm tall, but they still walk in a very amusing fashion. We saw the penguin parade and then headed to San Remo for the night.

The final day of our great drive we re-visited Phillip island to see the Nobbys... worth visiting for their funny name if nothing else. They also had a boardwalk over the cliffs with many interesting sights to see... including some seagull chicks!

After this we headed for Melbourne to our place of rest for the next few days...

And that is the tale of our trip from Adelaide to Melbourne... I hope you liked it...

Trev.

Epilogue...

I feel that it would be wrong to leave you without telling you about our day trip to Melbourne.. We set of early in the morning, in spite of Nams protests as I dragged her out of bed!

We took the bus, and then the train, into the center of the city, getting off at Flinders Street Station. We wandered around the city almost at random for a while, stopping off to check the internet and find things that caught our interest...

We ended up in the North of the city, near the Victoria Market.. so we decided to pay it a visit.

Victoria Market is a wonderful place. The non food section was ok. Just what you would expect from a market, but the food section of the market was a like a dream for me, with a vast array of food, from all over the world, all freshly prepared and smelling amazing. The only problem was that I was visiting it with literally zero cash to spare! If I had had any money, or if I lived in Melbourne, I could have spent a fortune in that place...

Leaving the market wistfully behind we resumed our wandering. Seeing one of the free tourist trams riding past we decided to take a ride round the circuit of the city. We saw many interesting sights around Melbourne on this before getting off pretty much where we got on...

We walked back south from here, down Swanston street. We visited Chinatown, which was less exciting then we thought it would be, and made our way to Federation Square, which was right next to where we set off...

Federation Square was filled with people watching the Australian Open tennis on a huge screen, and was backed by a huge striking building. This building turned out to be the Australian Museum of the Moving Image, so of course we decided to wander in and take a look...

This museum was lots of fun. Our only regret was that we hadn't spent the whole day there! We only had about an hour to wander around and play with all of the interactive displays (including some “classic” computer games!).

We left the Museum and headed back to the train station... satisfied with the day and thinking that we would definitely have to visit Melbourne city again some time... ()

After New Year... Perth to Adelaide

2010-01-21T10:23:00.003Z

Hey Guys

I know... the last message was far too long... and I know... I'm still over two weeks behind on my posting! In this message I'll give you the bare essentials, and catch you up on a weeks travelling... with any luck I'll be able to give you another weeks worth in a couple of days and we'll be bang up to date!

So... when I left you last we had just finished New Years eve in Perth... The next week or so was dedicated to getting to Adelaide as quickly as possible, while still seeing a few sights along the way...

The first day we visited Rockingham, had lunch in Mandurah (and viewed a $1M apartment) and stopped the night in Bunbury.

The next day we headed inland. We visited Gnomeville, climbed a massive tree near Manjimup, visited Denmark (not the country) and stopped in a little caravan park between Denmark and Albany...

On the third day the first stop was Albany, which was very nice, then we headed inland again in a massive 300km detour to see the wave rock. I was a bit grumpy at all this extra driving, but it was worth it in the end...

Day four saw us head back to the coast and we finished the day in Esperance. Esperance is well worth a visit if you're in the area, and it has some exquisite beaches. The next three days were as if we were back on the outback. We headed north to Norseman (not much here, we went to the swimming pool), then set off along the Nullarbor Highway. This is notable partly for having the longest stretch of perfectly straight road in Australia... It ia also notable for a 200 km stretch of road, containing a few roadhouses, that has its own unique time-zone, completely separate from anywhere else in Australia!

After 3 days we finished this long stretch of outback and arrived in Ceduna. Ceduna was... nothing too exciting... The next day we headed down the coast. First of all we passed Smokey Bay... then Streaky Bay... All of this of course made me think of bacon! Streaky Bay was mostly notable for having a massive shark hung up in the petrol station...

We spent that night in Port Lincoln, and the night after that in Whyalla. Both of these places were notable for a lack of caravan parks, in spite of there being loads of tourists!

The next day, and only a few hours from Adelade now we decided to stop off in Crystal Brook and spend a night. It was a nice little town, and a nice little camp site.

Finally, after over a week on the road we arrived in Adelaide and settled ourselves down for a few days here...

That's it for now, look forward to the next instalment, Adelaide to Melbourne, The Great Ocean Road!

Bye folks

Trev

Christmas and New Years Shenanigans...

2010-01-06T14:17:00.002Z

Hey guys...

Here as promised is the update on my festive season from this year. The last place I told you about was Carnarvon. I have one more thing to tell you about that place... The fish and chips are great there! If you ever happen to be in town then I recommend going to the fish and chip shop in the main shopping centre...

Now I've got that out of the way I can tell you about the next stage in the journey. From Carnarvon we drove south and west to Denham. This is in Shark Bay, which is a world heritage national park. We arrived in the caravan park pretty late, and proceeded to do our usual taking over of the camp fridge-freezers. We did an especially good job this time as we had gone shopping in Carnarvon to stock up for Xmas...

The next day (the 23rd) we drove the 25 km north to Monkey Mia. This is a resort in the national park itself and boasts gorgeous beaches, panoramic views, and most importantly.... dolphins!

We arrived in Monkey Mia just in time to catch the second dolphin feeding of the day (they only feed the dolphins 3 times a day, and even that only if the dolphins show up!). Namrin was lucky enough to be picked to feed a fish to the dolphins ... I wasn't! It seems that only women and children get picked to feed dolphins!

Once the dolphin shows were over we went snorkelling... After the amazing experiences at coral bay and Exmouth it was quite disappointing... mostly we saw sand and sea grass...

After Monkey Mia we drove back to town. We tried a little bit of fishing, but for the second time were hugely unsuccessful in catching anything!

The next day was xmas eve, and as early as possible we moved into our accommodation for the christmas period. It was a little cabin, nothing special, but after 6 months of living in a van it felt like luxury... Nam especially liked the TV!

Having our new facilities I proceeded to make some cheesecake, to an old family recipe... And then got nicely drunk...

The next day was Christmas day!!! Wooo!!

We woke up pretty early, and of course proceeded to open our presents! I got a shirt, a bottle of wine and some socks; and Nam got some jelly sweets, a giant bubble wand, an mp4 player and some headphones! Everyone was very happy, and we proceeded to wear our santa hats. These didn't come off for the rest of the day!

After the grand opening we decided to go and see dolphins again at Monkey Mia. Again we were just in time to see the second feeding (about 8am). This was lucky as the dolphins never showed up for another feeding. Obviously some fish gave them a better offer. They did show up with a baby though!

After the dolphins we wandered along the beach for a while, and met Santa Clause! Obviously taking a break after a heavy night! Then we had our xmas picnic on the beach... The picnic consisted of crackers, cheese (4 types), olives, sun dried tomatoes, smoked salmon, grapes, cherries, blueberries and to finish it all off... some of my cheesecake!

After eating our fill (christmas is after all mostly about eating as much as you can...) we headed back to the cabin for the second round of eating...

For dinner I made roast chicken breast, stuffed with blue cheese, sun dried tomato, and sage and onion stuffing, and wrapped in bacon. We had this with roasted potatoes and carrots, mashed potatoes, green beans and broccoli... and of course gravy. This was finished off with some more of the cheesecake...

I was by now unable to move from having eaten so much... so my xmas duties performed I proceeded to lie down and digest my food!

The next day we set off pretty early, much to the disgust of my hung over head... That will teach me to drink goon on xmas day! We travelled south to Kalbarri. Stopping off on the way to visit shelly beach, which is a massive stretch of coast consisting entirely of shells!

Kalbarri is very nice. It was possibly the closest to being picturesque that I had seen from a town in Australia! There was also an amazing sunset while we were there!

South from Kalbarri we saw a most unusual sight... It was a lake... quite large... and the colour of it was an unmistakeable pink!

South of here we arrived at Geraldton. Geraldton was fairly nice. It had cheap fish and chips, and a war memorial.

The day after Geraldton we visited the pinnacles... This was an almost eerie sight. In the middle of the desert were rows and rows of rocks, pointing towards the sky! From what I read geologists aren't sure how they formed, but the best guess is the petrified roots of a forest...

After the pinnacles we continued further. We decided to have lunch in a small town called Dandaragan. As we arrived here we saw nothing out of the ordinary. We made our lunch... taking maybe an hour... and drove out of town the same way we drove in... It couldn't have been more different! In the hour or so it took us to make and eat lunch a fire had started in one of the fields adjacent to the road, it had burned all through that field, crossed over the road, and proceeded to burn as far as the eye could see on the other side of the road! As we were driving through there was still lots of smoke, so we couldn't even see further then a couple of meters!

Leaving this hell-scape behind us we finished the journey to Perth, and appropriately enough found our camp site, which was in the grounds of a seven day adventist church! This was all very well, apart from the no alcohol policy that they had! This meant that I had to disguise my drinking over the new year period!

Perth was nice, and was quite a nice place for to spend new year... The only problem was that Perth had cancelled all of the free public events for new year as last year there was “a bit of trouble”...

Facing a new year without any party, or any alcohol... myself and Nam decided to fall back on eating! We made full use of the kitchen at the church, and made some new years treats... We made some home made kfc, some thai style fish-cakes, and some chinese style dumpling things... I also secretly drunk quite a lot of alcohol... very secretly!

We also visited Fremantle while we were in Perth. It was also very nice. In fact all of the area of Perth was very nice. But you really need money to appreciate it properly. Lots of shops, lots of boutiques, lots of expensive restaurants... Not my kind of place right now then... Maybe later on in my life...

I think that is about enough for now... I'll tell you the story of how Nam and Myself started our journey back East, and all of the adventures that that involved...

Laters

Trev x

Happy New Year everyone!

2009-12-31T10:55:00.001Z

As I look back over 2009, I have to say that it has been a good year. In fact all of the years seem to be pretty good at the moment!

First of all a bit of news! I have decided to move to weekly updates... I'm sure some of you are bored enough of monthly updates, never mind weekly ones, but this way I feel I can keep the length of the posts down, without having to skip over any of the interesting details of the things that happen to me in my travels...

I was going to make this post about the last week of travelling, over christmas and the lead up to new year, but it seems fitting to do a little review of the year, looking back over 2009, and looking forward to 2010!

It has been a funny old year. At the start of the year I was still in south east Asia, in Singapore, officially the most anal city in the world!

For most of the rest of the year I have been in Australia. I have travelled around 3/4 of Australia. Met some old friends, and made some new ones! I have had many different jobs. The first one was in sales... Not something I'd expect to excel at, but what do you know... it turns out that I can do any job that I set my mind to... It took a good 2 months to get any good at it, and i can't say that I'd recommend it as a job for travelers. Especially if you are wanting to save up any money at all... On the positive side, it came with a built in social life...

The other jobs this year were all farming related. Sometimes hard, sometimes unrewarding, but I managed to enjoy even most of these jobs. I especially enjoyed meeting people from many countries (mostly Germans,French and Koreans).

Aside from the work I have seen lots of stuff. I have been diving and snorkelling in the great barrier reef, an unforgettable experience. I have seen many interesting animals for the first time, and even (accidentally) run some of them over!

Apart from that I have of course been in a (semi) long term relationship of over 6 months... a first for me, and I have to thank Nam for putting up with all of my nonsense over the last year... I think she enjoyed it all really though... ;)

All in all it has been a fantastic year, and as we leave the noughties I realise that I couldn't have had it without all of you, so thank you.

Have a great 2010, and keep on keeping on!

Trev

PS, next week I'll update you on my Christmas and New Year shenanigans... not to be missed!

Merry Sunny Christmas 2009!!

2009-12-21T22:20:00.003Z

First things first...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

That is to all of those of you that are following my travels. Thanks for your support. It means a lot to me whenever one of you tells me that you are reading this stuff...

So, on with the travelling update...

At the end of the last update I had just started work in Kunnunura. I liked it in Kunnunura. The people were friendly, the work was not too difficult and easy to find, and though the weather was very hot, and very sweaty, it didn't rain too much... We also saw our first wild snake here!

Pictures of Kunnunura can be found here...

Eventually we had to leave Kunnunura and head west... again! We left on the 4th of December... I think... Whenever it was, we left just in time. From what we hear, it started raining in Kunnunura just after we left, and hasn't stopped since...

The journey west was fairly uneventful. We arrived in Derby 2 days later and made ourselves comfortable. There wasn't too much to do in Derby. We got some fish and chips, and checked out the sunset. We also checked out the jetty, which was pretty around sunset...

Broome was next after Derby. Broome was mostly about Macdonalds... Our first Macdonalds in over a month, and we were mostly interested in te free wifi... In fact we spent over 5 hours in Macdonalds, eating only an ice cream and an apple pie...

Broome also had a chinatown, and Roebuck bay... It is somehow the most popular tourist resort on the west coast... but I'm not sure how....

Heading furter south we came upon 80 mile beach... The name is a little misleading, as the beach is actually 220 km long... It was absolutely exquisite. There were very few people around, and the beach was also a turtle hatchery... In fact we saw turtles laying eggs there the night that we were there! Very cool!

The next place we stayed couldn't have been more different... Port Hedland was a dump... It had 3 caravan parks. All of them more expensive then we were used to paying, and all of them without the facilities that we were used to... There were flies everywhere... all the time... The peak of Port Hedland was the Kmart as evidenced by this job advert we saw...

We left Port Hedland as early as possible (about 5am) and headed onwards to Point Samson. This was fairly nice, with some historical sites nearby (historical by Australian standards anyway). I liked honeymoon bay as well. It had some crazy rock formations in it, as well as one rock in particular that sent me into a little zen trance. There might be more to follow about that on my blog...

It was also near Point Samson that I had my surgery! I had an infected sucutaneous cyst which had to be sliced open. I only had to wait for 3 hours in hospital, and they dealt with it there and then! Very efficient...

After the eventful Point Samson we headed south to Exmouth. This is in te Ningaloo national park, and is mostly notable for the snorkelling. The coral reef comes right up to the beaches here, and we took full advantage of this. The pictures of this snorkelling will have to wait though, our underwater camera takes films, so we have to get them developed somewhere...

Coral bay was next. This is a beautiful little town also in the Ningaloo national park, and also with excellent snorkelling. Highlights here were seeing a sea turtle and also some rays. There is also a reef shark nursery in the shallow water just offshore, so we got to see sharks as well!

It was in Coral Bay that we heard about the cylone that had been following us down the coast! Cyclone Laurence is a category 5 storm and had visited Darby, Broome, and 80 Mile beach less then a week after we left. It is currently heading inland, so we managed to out-run it, but if we'd have set off even a week later it would have caused us lots of trouble.

That brings us to where I am now. We are currently in Carnarvon. It has some cool beaches... of course, but we are mostly here for the shopping. We are currently stocking up on food and presents in preperation for christmas. Later today we are setting off to Shark Bay, which is where we plan to spend christmas. It is also supposed to have great beaches, and awesome snorkelling. We have a cabin booked for a couple of nights over xmas, so we will be very comfortable.

I'll let you know how it went next time, but until then, have a very merry christmas, wherever you are... and be sure to let me know how it went... :)

Trev x

Monthly travel update :- November, The Wild Wild West...

2009-11-21T02:12:00.002Z

Hey guys.

Its time for another update on my travels. In the last one I had just left Kakadu national park and was thinking of heading towards western Australia... The good news is that we made it!

After Kakadu we spent a couple of days around Darwin, mostly checking to see if there were any jobs in the area. Finding no jobs available we decided to head south towards Katherine with it in mind to travel on westwards from there.

So waving a teary goodbye to the last K-Mart and Macdonalds for 2000km we headed south.
The trip to Katherine was uneventful enouagh, except that our van started to make strange squeaking noises as we were driving... Thinking it would be better to get that sorted out before we traveled any further we made the decision to stay in Katherine and fix this problem.

By visiting all of the garages in Katherine (six) and all of the parts shops (three) we managed to get our van fixed in 5 days and for less then $300! For these 5 days that we were forced to stay in Katherine (honestly it isn't a very nice place) we mostly checked for jobs (unsuccessfully) and hung out in the tourist information center... mostly because of the free air conditioning there...
As soon as it was physically possible we left Katerine and set off west, towards the border of the Northern Territory and Western Australia... It was 2 days drive to the border, and the place that we stopped off overnight had a crocodile show every evening. I got to feed a crocodile, which was kind of exciting. After the show we found out that this was the last show for this year as the bridge had to be raised for the wet season! As ever our timing was excelent!

We stayed around after the show to watch the spectacle of te bridge being raised. This mostly seemed to consist of Aussie guys standing around, drinking beer,and offering each other such advice as "try hitting it with a hammer" and "last year we got it up much faster...".

The bridge raising was pretty entertaining, and culminated with the camp owner's son being stranded on the other side of the river, throwing his shoes across, and then jumping in to croc infested waters and swimming across. As if this weren't enough, one of his shoes ended up in the river and the owner of the camp site also jumped into the river, compete with his mobile phone and wallet in his pockets!

The next day we knew we had to cross the border into Western Australia. This is easy enough, but you aren' allowed to carry any fresh fruit or veg over the border... Luckily we knew about this in advance and all we had to give them were a few cloves of garlic and a pot of honey...
After adjusting our watches (there is a one and a half hour time difference between the NT and WA), we continued on to Kununnara. We arrived very early, mainly because of the time difference, and immediately found a job! Before noon we had our new home, a camp site called "the Hidden Valley" a new job, picking mangos, and had re-stocked our fruit and veg. Life was looking good!

It became quickly apparent that life in WA has a slightly different pace to life elsewhere in Austraia... or anywhere else in the world. We got a break every hour and a half, then a bigger break every 3 hours. The pace of the work was steady, and the people were friendly. I was going to like it here!

Our two work mates were english and were nice fellas. One of them was from somewhere near Birmingham, and the other one was a true cockney geezer... Unfortunately they didn't heed the advice of everyone around them and decided to pick in short sleeved shirts, and one of them even picked topless!!! The regretted this soon enough as the mango rash struck! Within a few days neiter of them could work, and one of them even had to go to hospital!

We are still working at that farm now. We have been transferred to sandalwood, which is not too tricky, and have made loads of new friends.... most of them Korean! It seems that WA farms, like the rest of australia, are full of koreans. Less Germans and French here though... I think I've found where all of the English people are... for some reason we are all in WA!

Anyway... that takes us up to the present day. Did I mention we only work 5 days a week!?! I like WA... :p

Pictures of all of this can be found here

Take care people.

Trev x

October 2009... Mango Madness!

2009-10-25T06:07:00.003Z

Hi guys,

Time for another update on my traveling progress.

Not too much to report this time. I have spent most of the last month attending one of the worst mango harvests in living memory! It wasn't my fault... promise...

So I spent about 4 weeks on Tous Garden mango farm, in the Northern Territory, about 100 km south of Darwin... (That is in Australia for Americans and other geographically challenged people out there ;)

I did one day of picking, but most of my time was spent in the packing shed. I had the most important job in the shed (so my boss told me). I was in charge of pouring mangos into the sorting machine and making sure the correct mix of chemicals got sprayed onto them. Luckily this meant that I didn't have to take any responsibility for the grading of the mangos (very tricky and boring job), or for the packing the mangos into boxes (even trickier and boringer).

The photos from this time can be found here...

Apart from the farming I pretty much kept my head down on the farm and took advantage of the air conditioning in my room. I didn't get involved with any of the scandals in Tous Garden in this time. Not too much to tell really... just some people getting drunk and rowdy... The usual...

The problem with this being one of the worst seasons in living memory was that there wasn't too much work. In a normal season once the season starts properly the work is full on, ten plus hours a day, six days a week, until all the mangos are gone. This season the work was very start-stop, with some half days, some days off and some days when we were working sun-up to sun-down, and beyond. This all also meant that we didn't make quite as much money as we would like. Thus we will have to search for another job sooner then anticipated... never mind.

After leaving the farm we spent a couple of days in Lichfield park, seeing magnetic termite mounds and swimming under beautiful waterfalls... pics here...

So... the plan over the next few days is to get my van looked at, and then to do a loop through kakadoo national park, and from there head south to Katherine and then West to Western Australia... and maybe even find a job there...

Until next time guys...

Trev

An update on the last month of travelling...

2009-09-22T02:55:00.000+01:00

Hi guys.

Its time for another update on how my travels are going. At the time of my last update I was just finishing up in Munduburra and waiting to set off on the next phase of traveling... (at least thats where I think I got up to...)

Anyway, eventually we successfully set off on the road again. The last few of my farming pics went up ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107687&id=673491291&l=fe0b06808b ), and a whole new album was started!

The pics from the new album are here ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=120860&id=673491291&l=3ca85267a9 ) though I haven't finished uploading them yet (the internet is a bit patchy around here!)

So the first couple of days were a bit of a slog. We travelled over 1200 km over these 2 days! Skipping over large parts of the middle of the coast of queensland. Our first major destination was Airlie Beach. From here we took a cruise to the Whitsundays. This was expensive, but worth it! And it also warranted an album all of its own! ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116649&id=673491291&l=54f9fd2d1b )

After this we took it fairly easily... heading up the coast until we reached Townsville. We took a couple of days out to explore Townsville... and also took a diving trip to the SS Yongala shipwreck, which was an amazing experience all of its own. There were huge fish down there (as big as a car), rays, sharks, turtles, sea snakes... pretty much anything you could wish for!

After this we continued our journey North along the coast... stopping off at various beaches along the way. There are some beautiful deserted beaches to camp on along this stretch of the coast.

The next major stop off was Cairns. This is a glitzy place, and very expensive... so we didn't stay for too long. We did stop for long enough to check out a jazz concert in the botanical gardens though...

North of Cairnes was Port Douglas... we stopped there, but only briefly. It seemed very nice, but time was pressing by this point so we continued north to Tribulation Point... We travelled as far north as you can get with a 2 wheel drive car, so we decided to head back south and start the journey west...

The atherton tablelands is the first place that you arrive at. This seems like a very nice area. Very green and lush, with lots of waterfalls dotted about the place. We had a day when we saw 4 waterfalls in one day!

Past this things started to get dryer and less populated. The towns that looked big on the map turned out to be a few houses and maybe half a general store. The economy of these small towns seemed to be supported mostly by the petrol stations...

Worth mentioning on this route is Gregory Downs. The official camp site here is not too impressive, but down by the river is a beautiful place to camp and go for a swim. People kept on talking about the crocs... but we didn't see any.

Another couple of days saw us cross the border into the northern Territory. The first impression of this place is of nothing... as far as the eyes can see... in fact we passed an information board that said that what the place was notable for was that nothing had happened there geologically for over 500 million years!

ding North once more the landscape became slowly lusher and lusher. The camping here was amazing. It seemed like every day we were camping near a thermal spring and daily swims seemed almost normal!

Finally we approached civilization again. Katherine was a bit of a disappointment. We were so craving a Macdonalds! If only for the free internet there! There was a thermal springs, so that kind of made up for it.

We took our time to the next few places, travelling a couple of hundred km a day, visiting places of interest, slowly making our way to Darwin.

That was a couple of days ago... now we are living on the mango farm... waiting for the season to start properly. Life seems pretty good here, and I'm certain that we will be EXTREMELY busy pretty soon... but that is all for the next update (and photo album)

Thats you all up to date now. Take it easy y'all.

Trev x

PS. If you haven't recieved your post card yet it is on its way. If you haven't requested one yet... then feel free to send me youre address, but it might be a while before I have enough time to sit down and write cards....

Update on the last 6 months!

2009-08-22T03:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys.

After a long time of neglecting my travelling group, I've decided to keep you up to date on what I've been up to recently.

I've now been in Australia for the past 6 months. It has made a refreshing change from Asia. Much as I love South East Asia, and spending time there, it was only when I arrived in Australia that I realised how crowded, dirty and, to be frank, smelly much of Asia is! Arriving in Sydney was like returning home, but returning to a much hotter home. :)

I attended the Salsa Congress in Sydney ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74878&id=673491291&op=18 ) which was lots of fun. Then after a couple of weeks of trying to get a job I gave up on Sydney and deciced to head up the coast to Brisbane.

I was excited to arrive in Brisbane because it ave me a chance to finally meet the infamous Jan, a girl that I had spoken to a ridiculous amount over the previos year, but never actually met (due to living on the other side of the word...).

In Brisbane I picked up a job inside one week. It wasn't the most glamorous job ever, but it got me out in the fresh air, gave me plenty of excercise, and allowed me to improve my people skills. I was door to door selling electricity around the suburbs of Brisbane. ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79336&id=673491291&op=12 )

I was doing this for around 3 months, in which time I found myself a flat to live in. It was a great job, and I met lots of interesting people, and even sold them some electricity.

At the start of may I was pretty excited because Nam was coming to Australia for the next phase of my travelling. We first met (in Australia) at a Latin Dance Camp in the Gold Coast. Loads of fun, and it was fun to be finally dancing again. :D

Then Nam came up to Brisbane and the last half of May was mostly taken up with trying to find a camper van to take us around australia!

We finally picked up this little van ( http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2327753&l=b3184bd13c&id=673491291 ) and it was time to start our adventure.... Well, it would be if it wasn't for the little matter of getting the van roadworthy and transfering the registration over to our names. Australians are crazy for red tape! It took us almost a month and a half to sort out these little bits of paper!!

Once we were finally free to travel we were just about running out of cash, so we decided to head north and start doing some fruit picking. And that brings us pretty much up to the present. We spent a month in Gayndah, picking and packing oranges. Then a couple of weeks in Mundubbura, thinning peaches.

Over te next few weeks we plan to head to the Northern Territory an do some mango picking. The weather will be even hotter, and sweatier, and the work will be hard, but it should be fun, and of course I will be taking lots of pictures to show you all what I'm up to.

Anyway, I really must be off. I hope you are all enjoying your lives as much as I am enjoying mine. :)

All the best.

Trev

PS. I will be sending out some post-cards soon, so if any of you want one then can you mail me with your address and I'll send one out to you as soon as I can.

Teddy bear orgy...

2009-08-16T01:33:00.003+01:00

When we got back to the van one time Trevor was hanging with his bi@ches...

What can I say? Naughty Trev!

Strawberry fields forever.

2009-07-14T04:32:00.003+01:00

I went strawberry picking the other day. it was a fun experience and it made me think of going strawberry picking when I was a kid. Sunny days, school holidays, all that stuff.

It occured to me while I was there that going strawberry picking is a bit like an all you can eat buffet... with only one course. In fact you could buy a kilo of strawberries for $10, or pick your own, for $11... So of course you have to make it worth your while.

Another realisation that struck me while I was there is that strawberries are much like people. In that the really tastey ones are often the ones that are shaped slightly strangely, wheras the perfect looking ones are somehow bland tasting and hardly worth picking in the end.

Just thought I'd share those insights with you, and also let you know that if I see another strawberry in the next few months I may throw up/explode/eat it... one of the three...

Trevors Travels

2009-07-14T04:18:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure if you guys are aware but I have been sharing my travels with someone very close to me. He has been at my side the whole time, climbing up mountains, flying in planes, riding on trains, camping in jungles... in fact, he has seen it all.

This little guy is the same age as me, and remarkably he also has the same name! Here is little Trev.

Integral awards night...

2009-04-10T00:41:00.005+01:00

Last night was the Integral (or Smart group) awards night.

For those of you that don't know this is the company that I am currently working for, doing direct sales, door to door, selling electricity.

There was a huge bar tab laid on, so obviously everyone there got pretty drunk. The pictures can be found here.

As you can probably see, a good night was had by all... Unfortunately I didn't get an award, but as I pointed out, if I was to win an award then it would be a pretty poor lookout for the rest of the company, baring in mind my average sales at best!

What I did get was thrown out of the bar! I think this is the first tie this has happened to me since my uncles stag party in Glasgow. And this time, like that time, I was thrown out for being with the wrong person...

At my uncles stag party the wrong person was my uncle! He got himself into some trouble (I think he threw a drink over someone) and the bouncers saw and threw him out. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately, because if I hadn't been with him we would have had no idea where he was), I was with him, and so I also got thrown out. It would be more accurate to say that I followed him out, but of course the bouncers wouldn't let me back in to the club once I was outside. My uncle managed to get himself arrested that time! I had managed to stop him from attacking the bouncers, and turned my back for a split second to try and get a message passed inside, and my uncle had thrown himself at the bouncers once again! Idiot! So I had a fun night waiting in a police station trying to get him out before his wedding started!

Anyway, back to last night... I was with one of my friends (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty), and he was totally wasted! I dunno how much he had had to drink, but he was attracting attention inside the bar from the barstaff and security. I managed to persuade him that it would be a good idea if he stopped drinking and probably left the bar, and was walking withh him to the door, to make sure he got out safely.

However, when I was within about 3 meters of the door one of the bouncers, grabbed my arm and told me that i was to leave as well! I can asure you that I wasn't THAT drunk... I was drunk, sure, but certainly not to the level of being too drunk to be in a bar. You try telling that to a bouncer though. He manhandled me to the door, and as I was stepping outside he gave me a shove on the back so I missed my footing and ended up twisting my ankle! My friend (the nameless one) wasn't too impressed with the way i was being treated, so he started to have a go at the bouncer. Luckily my experience all of those years ago payed off, and I bundled him away, across the road, and round the corner. Never argue with bouncers... it is pointless...

After various shenanagans in the center of town, I decided that i would walk home. A decision I've come to regret since waking up in the morning with my foot in complete agony, and looking like it has been through a mangle!

I'm really hoping that it gets better quickly! I'm supposed to be going to a theme park tomorrow, and I don't fancy limping around all day!

Thats not to mention if it is still bad next Tuesday, work will be no fun at all!

So... does anyone know if it is a bad sign if your twisted ankle brings out bruising?

All about myself...

2009-04-05T02:22:00.005+01:00

I found these interesting. Various web sites trying to tell me all about myself based on the most tenuous of evidence...

This one is "New Astrology", which is basically combining Western and Chinese astrology to create more detailed predictions...

The Aquarius/Goat

Vibrant and enchanting, these Goats are able to convince great crowds of people of their usefulness in politics, the arts or even in big business. Unlike most Goats, these people carve out their own destinies. They are likely to marry early and often. [sounds good so far]

Detailed Description
THE INVENTIVE FUTURIST
Aquarius weds the Goat. Clarity and sensitivity, knowledge and whimsy. This solid marriage of complementary signs is rich with possibilities. Aquarius brings a dowry of independence to the inconsistent Goat, whose byword is dependency. Goat carries emotional depth with him to the wedding. This Aquarius can feel more profoundly than most. And his Goat identity benefits from an electrical charge of true Aquarian autonomy. This person will be gifted for futuristic planning, oblivious to social criticism, and capable of maddening individuality. Invention belongs to this person. He or she can imagine novel solutions to common problems and work through weeks night and day getting the concept on its feet. And Love? The poor Aquarius/Goat never seems to get enough of it. He gobbles sex. He is known to be fickle and further not to understand why his mate is jealous. He's not jealous. He's openhearted and free thinking. Marriage for this person is iffy at best. [Also scarily accurate!]

Detailed Description

THE INVENTIVE FUTURIST

Aquarius weds the Goat. Clarity and sensitivity, knowledge and whimsy. This solid marriage of complementary signs is rich with possibilities. Aquarius brings a dowry of independence to the inconsistent Goat, whose byword is dependency. Goat carries emotional depth with him to the wedding. This Aquarius can feel more profoundly than most. And his Goat identity benefits from an electrical charge of true Aquarian autonomy. This person will be gifted for futuristic planning, oblivious to social criticism, and capable of maddening individuality. Invention belongs to this person. He or she can imagine novel solutions to common problems and work through weeks night and day getting the concept on its feet. And Love? The poor Aquarius/Goat never seems to get enough of it. He gobbles sex. He is known to be fickle and further not to understand why his mate is jealous. He's not jealous. He's openhearted and free thinking. Marriage for this person is iffy at best. [Also scarily accurate!]

Positive Traits
VISION	WHIMSY
ORIGINALITY	INVENTION
INDEPENDENCE	PERSEVERANCE
INDIVIDUALITY	GOOD MANNERS
CHARITY	SENSITIVITY
TOLERANCE	TASTE

Negative Traits
THOUGHTLESSNESS	WORRY
ECCENTRICITY	PARASITISM
CRUELTY	TARDINESS
NEUROSIS	LACK OF FORESIGHT
SEPARATENESS	PESSIMISM
DISOBEDIENCE	IMPRACTICALITY

My Chinese Element

EARTH
Earth's favorite color is ochre which represents the equanimity between beginnings and endings. The weather of Earth is mild or temperate. In the human body, Earth influences spleen, pancreas and mouth. Earth's two opposite but equal forces which need to be kept in constant balance are impovement and meddling. In general, Earth gives care and allows for growth and improvement. But, Earth may also seek to control, hence snuffing out progress. Earth people are gifted for fairness and have the ability to commit themselves to protracted projects and complete Herculean tasks with ease. They must struggle against a penchant for worry. [This sounds good, like the sort of thing I'd like to believe]

To be honest I quite like this one (apart from the negative traits!). It seems reasonably accurate. Comments welcome.

As for the next one, you'll have to thank Jan for this one. It is based on Numerology, which can be reliably used to predict anything about anything!

How they figure out these number isn't worth going into. But here is what mine said about me...

What Does Your Life Path Say About You?

Many number ones stumble early in life because they have a habit of biting off more than they can chew....

Trevor, your Life Path of 1 ...

Your life path number is number 1, and so you are probably also blessed with a great drive and burning desire to be "number one" at whatever you do. Unfortunately, your competitive spirit sometimes gets you into trouble with friends and family, as work and ambition take precedence over emotional relationships. [Anyone that knows me knows this is clearly bollocks]

You have a great faith in yourself that often achieves result despite great odds ... yet at the same time, has you often accused of having an enormous ego. However, in your defense, it is that enormous ego that gives you the daring and courage to change everybody's life for the better. [Sounds good, I'll go along with this]

You have probably been born into one of two life paths. Either you have been born into wealth and privilege and coddled by lucky circumstances into becoming "great" in some way or you are thriving despite great challenges such as poverty and war. The number 1 is the number of the hero and this is why you find many disabled as well as super achievers (such as military leaders and business magnates) born under this life path number. [sounds good, like the sort of think anyone would want to agree with]

You are also usually blessed with good health, vitality and endless inspiration. Your number is very connected with the divine and you often feel especially connected to God or your subconscious mind. However, as you are such an individualist, this insistence on listening to your hunches often make you appear irrational or even insane to others, that is, until the direction of your gut instincts pays off and all benefit. [Another one that 90% of people can agree with]

Although you are capable of rising to great heights when it comes to career or athletics, you are also capable of great falls. However, as you are also an innovative and resourceful individual you have the uncanny ability to "make lemons out of lemonade" and start again from scratch. [again, probably applies to anyone]

Despite your main personally blessing, you might also feel as if you face more challenges or obstacles in life than others do. Karmically, many number 1's spend their early years learning not to be dependent on others as fate throws difficult relationships and situations their way. If you feel cursed or that you have a bad luck, that is very characteristic of number ones whose life lessons are usually about "letting go", "releasing control" and "overcoming great odds." [Another universal quality... can anyone say that they didn't face challenges when they were young that they had to overcome...]

As a number 1 you may also need to watch a tendency towards arrogance or over confidence. Many number ones stumble early in life because they have a habit of biting off more than they can chew. Often you are perceived as odd, controlling or self-centered by others. However often these are traits are forgiven as others also recognize that your talents outshine those of the ordinary mortal. [I think some may agree with this one :^p]

Of all the numbers, you are the one that values individuality, privacy and ethics more than anything. This is why so many of you become business, political and spiritual leaders. You tend to have faith in yourself, more than you do others, and make a better leader than a team player. You are best suited to occupations that allow you to work on your own or be the big boss. [maybe]

Being a number 1, you are also likely to achieve some measure of fame in your life. This is because you are destined to be "the one that is loved by all" as opposed to "the one that is loved by one other." It sometimes takes number ones a lifetime to realize that being adored by many is not such a bad thing. [sounds awesome... must be true!]

What a Number '6' Expression Says About You

You are naturally full of vitality and enthusiasm. You exude a personal charisma that makes members of the opposite sex consider you to be a "catch."... [hahahahahaha...]

Trevor, your Expression of 6 ...
Your Potential Natural Talents and Abilities

You are a peace loving, harmonious individual who is a natural born diplomat. You detest conflict and will bend over backwards to make others happy. The ultimate height of your personal self expression is healing. Nothing gives you more satisfaction then knowing you have corrected a situation that was whirling out of balance. [Yup, well, maybe making a good meal gives me more satisfaction...]

You express who you are by caring for others. This is why so many sixes are doctors, healers, counselors, psychologists, policeman and therapists. Your philosophy usually relates to the idea that the world can be healed of all its ills if we heal one person at a time. [i always knew i should have been a doctor... pfft]

You have a brilliant, creative mind and many different talents but chances are you will forsake a career in the limelight to work in humble, yet helpful occupations. You are quite philosophical and believe that one should sacrifice oneself for the good of all. [no idea about this]

You excel at making others feel good about themselves and have the ability to instill new hope in lost hearts with a kind touch or wise words. You are also a very affectionate person and comfort others with your easygoing nature. Others are attracted by your empathy and your friends often seek you out for advice.

You make a wonderful parent and teacher and have a way with children. At some point in your life you may find yourself coaching, mentoring or adopting a child or a teenager.

You are naturally full of vitality and enthusiasm. You exude a personal charisma that makes members of the opposite sex consider you to be a "catch." Once you are caught you are usually loyal to that one person for your entire life. [note how this contradicts the top section...]

Honesty and openness is very important in your relationships and if someone breaches your trust you are not likely to speak to them ever again. You consider yourself to be a very ethical and moral individual and are deeply pained by any situation that falls into a moral gray area. [nah..]

You are also deeply spiritual and have a great faith in a higher power. However when that power seems to let you down you have the power to spiral down into a deep depression. As you are all about balance, you are a nightmare to be with when life knocks you out of balance. You may express your bitterness at being let down by God with addiction, codependent or destructive behaviors.

Sometimes you may also mistakenly believe that your mission on earth is to set things right. This can lead to a fanatical need to prove a point or get revenge on the individuals or organizations that you think are causing the disharmony for yourself and others in the first place. Many activists and cult leaders are number 6's who have succumbed to this kind of black and white thinking. [wtf?]

On a less extreme level, your concern for others may be perceived as interfering or meddling as you just can't help yourself when it comes to helping others. One of your life challenges is to let others make their own mistakes rather than trying to save them from themselves. [*shifty eyes...*]

You often dress conservatively and are humble in your appearance. This is because you spend so much time focusing on others rather than yourself. Ironically, you may be good at caring for others but not so good at caring for yourself. If you are a six it is important for you to take time out to pamper yourself every now and then as your tendency to overwork yourself can lead to health problems in the future. [about as wrong as it is possible to be!]

Trevor, your Soul Urge of 6 ...

What You Desire To Be, To Have, and To Do In Your Life

Your soul urge is to nurture and take care of others. You love people and believe the greatest expression of your inner divinity is through teaching and guidance. Many of you are very maternal or paternal at an early age and are often regulated, by default to the role of advisor or therapist in your social life.

Unfortunately your willingness to take on other people's burdens threatens your romantic relationships. This is because you are often perceived as a friend or a helper rather than as an object of desire. The result is that many sixes end up with broken hearts simply because others simply could not recognize their empathy as being an expression of love and desire.

Part of your challenge in life is to learn how to make yourself more sexually attractive to others. Often this means learning the brutal rules of the game of love, which in courtship often mean practicing a certain kinds of power plays and being mysterious. The mistake that you often make is letting yourself be too available to the person you are trying to attract. As the object of desire realizes that you are willing to be there for them no matter what, they take it for granted that you will settle for less. It is often a six who will spend a year comforting someone they are attracted to in the hopes the person will recognize their good heart, only to be dismayed when they are thanked for all their kind support and the person moves onto a romance with someone else.

Your candidness and forthright manner is also a drawback romantically as others are turned off by your dogmatic approach. As you tend to discuss everything about yourself with a member of the opposite sex, there is little mysterious or sexy about you. Spilling your guts does not help you professionally either, as it encourages others to steal your ideals. Part of your inner struggle might be fighting your urge to connect so intimately with every single person you meet. One way to combat this is to make an effort to be a little more stand offish and play your cards close to your chest, especially when it comes to romance.

As you are a very sensitive and compassionate person you tend to take things very personally. When others let you down you have a tendency to retreat from society and nurse your wounds. Often when a six decides to play the victim in a relationship he or she is met with very little sympathy or help. This is ironic as sixes are so eager to help others and comfort them when they are down and out. The cosmos presents you with this type of situation so that you are forced to heal yourself with the same type of focus and devotion that you use to heal others.

If you feel yourself succumbing to a tendency to isolate yourself or find yourself succumbing to addiction or depression your best course of action is to forget about yourself entirely and go out and make an effort to help someone less fortunate than you. This teaches you to be helpful to people you are not attracted to as sixes have a way of only making themselves useful to individuals that they find attractive or desire.

The very highest calling of your soul urge number is to renounce sex and relationships altogether and devote your life to a religious or spiritual practice. [actually.. this all sounds about right... apart from the last bit!!!!]

As far as I can tell this is about as wrong as it is possible to be while making up a load of random statements and trying to apply them to someone..

So, the moral of the storey; Astrology is ok, i guess (and can be found through my profile on facebook)... Numerology is bollocks... but feel free to check it out..

Working to live, or living to work?

2009-03-25T11:54:00.003Z

The observant among you may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a long time...

The last post was in support of my application to the best job in the world. I have long since discovered that I failed to get that job, so my continued lack of blogging isn't down to that...

So, I hear you ask, "Why haven't you been blogging then?"

Well, the clue to that question is in the title of this blog. I found a job eventually. It wasn't the best job in the world. It wasn't even the second best... I suspect it may be among the worst jobs in the world in fact....

So, the reason that I haven't been blogging is mostly because I have been working 6 days a week until 8pm every night. So this brings me to the point of the post. I've always been the type of person that works to live, meaning that work isn't the most important thing in my life. It is something that I do so that I can have enough money to get on with the real business of living... Spending time with friends, spending time with myself, appreciating the world generally.

The problem with this new job that I've found is that it is taking over my life It is the type of job that makes itself into a job that you have to live for. If you aren't giving it your life it makes you feel like you should be, and because it is in sales, the people that are running the job are extremely good at convincing people of what they should be doing/feeling/saying...

Luckily I'm a very strong character. I'm resisting their attempts to brainwash me into a sales machine. I think I'm going to give them a portion of my life for a month or so, then I'll get out of their and hopefully I'll never have to sell anything again. The training has been useful though. Once I was considering paying good money to have the sort of training they have been giving me for free (OK, so it wasn't the same training, but effectively the same...). Always finding the up-side, that's me.

Maybe there is even an up-side to giving your life up for a job... If there is, for sure I'll find it!

Best Job in the World

2009-02-07T12:00:00.010Z

Ok, so now I've applied for the best job in the world. The video is here. This blog is a little post in support of my application.

This is for the things that i couldn't show you in the one minute of video that I was allowed!

First a little bit of my history. I'm from a town called Guiseley, in the north of England. I've lived there for most of my life, though I've had stints of living in Wales and Scotland as well as travelling round the world.

I got a degree from the University of Edinburgh and I've worked in many roles from selling candy in Edinburgh Zoo to delivering post for Royal Mail and designing things for a design consultancy firm.

I have many and varied interests. My most recent passion is salsa dancing, and Latin dancing generally, though I have always loved any kind of dancing... Apart from the dancing, I love to scuba dive, reading is a real passion, though i struggle to fit it in these days. Also all of the usual stuff, movies, TV, socialising with friends, and seeing the world.

I love to travel, and I love the outdoors. There is nothing more rewarding to me then climbing up a mountain in the middle of the night to see a sunrise (one of the reasons I loved living in Edinburgh), or even sitting by the sea watching a sunset, or trekking through a jungle to find an unspoilt village, or finding some new, possibly insect, delicacy to eat. I like to spend as much time with the locals when I travel, I find that it gives me a much better time, and allows me to find things that I'd never find on the usual tourist trails.

I like pushing myself to try new things. When I was younger I tried abseiling and rock climbing, also as an air cadet I got to fly both two person planes and gliders. Other things I have enjoyed have been canoeing, kayaking and white-water rafting. And surprisingly... bamboo training!

There are many things that I haven't tried yet that I'd love to give a go. I'd love to have a go at parachuting. Also bungee jumping, though I think it would be scarier then the parachuting. Going for a dive with sharks sounds fun as well... with or without a cage! I was thinking that some of these activities may be available around the great barrier reef somewhere....

If so, bring it on. As you can see I am ideal for this role, I even have previous media experience! I can't wait to hear back from you all!

Sydney Salsa Congress!

2009-02-03T03:29:00.004Z

I have to say that the Sydney Salsa Congress was definitely the biggest one that I've ever been to. In some was it was the best as well...

The shows were excellent, the quality of the teachers was amazing, and there were lots of other people there to meet and share the salsa with. On the other hand it was almost too big. The classes were very large, so you didn't get the close attention that some people needed. The shows were amazing, but unless you had bought a VIP pass you weren't going to be very close to them, and you weren't allowed to take videos of the evening shows... which I thought was a bit tight...

I don't want to sound negative though. Overall the event was amazing. The venue was superb, with the largest dance floor I've ever seen for a salsa venue. There were over 80 shows on over the 4 nights, 75 workshops over the 3 days, 2 salsa bands and thousands of people from all over the world... I even met a few from the UK!

After all of this, by Sunday night I was happy that it had come to an end, salsa fatigue had set in and all I wanted to do was to sleep for 48 hours straight! Unfortunately this wasn't an option as I had to check out of my hotel the next day, but resting I have been, and I might even be able to go out for some more salsa towards the end of this week!

There were also other styles of dance represented at the congress... In addition to the usual salsa and bachata, there was cha cha, and zouk, both of which I tried for the first time. Zouk is particularly interesting, as I had never heard of this before I left England. Zouk is a Brazilian dance and seems to be very big in Australia, so I think I'm going to pursue this new style of dancing, and maybe take it back to England with me...

This video gives a good idea of what zouk is all about. As you can see it is a very passionate dance, and flows beautifully...

Bali on a shoestring...

2009-01-25T10:37:00.003Z

For the last few days I've been in Bali. Well, I was here for 2 days before Malang (where my laptop was stolen), and have come back here for a few days after.

I first stayed in the Kota area, which is the main tourist area. It is packed with bars and clubs that stay open until the early hours, catering to all tastes. It is also full of loud Australians. I get the feeling of a more chilled out (and much cheaper) Asian version of Ibiza or something. But without the drugs...

They have market stalls selling everything that a tourist could need, from sunscreen to large wooden penises...

I have no idea...

When I returned from Malang I went to Ubud, also on Bali. Ubud is much more chilled out. My room, while right in the center of Ubud looked out onto a rice field and you could hardly tell you were in a settled area...

There isn't too much to do in Ubud. Unless you like shopping and eating. The shopping there is very varied. All very artistic, locally produced stuff. In many ways Ubud is an interior decorators dream location. All kinds of art, from paintings to sculptures are to be found there. Also lots of clothes and local cloth and things like that.

The food in Ubud is awesome! I ate somewhere different for every meal, and was never once disappointed at the quality of the food. The serving size leaves a little to be desired, but I guess that is good for me! ;^)

The only real tourist attraction in Ubud (apart from all of the art galleries) is the monkey forest. I went there, it was cool. Lots of monkeys running around. You could feed them bananas if you wanted. Lots of photo opportunities to be had. The atmosphere of calm in the forest was also quite touching. Even with the shrieks of the monkeys all around...

I'm sure Bali has much more to offer (I haven't even mentioned the massages yet), but my funds have been running too low for me to take full advantage of the options available to me...

I'd quite like to come back sometime, possibly with a friend, and probably with a lot more money....

The aftermath of being robbed...

2009-01-21T02:47:00.007Z

In my blog from a few days ago I mentioned that there were reporters present when I reported my laptop missing to the police. Rumour has it that I was featured in 3 papers, with my picture in 2 of them. However this was the only one that I saw, and I made it on to page 2! Pretty big news in Malang!This is quite handy. All I have to do now to get slightly cheaper prices from the locals is to show them this news-paper report...

On a slightly related matter I bumped into the guy that was sat next to me on the bus on the way to Malang when I had my laptop stolen. He told me that he had had his camera stolen as well! Seems like there were thieves operating on the bus! Bastards! Unless he was lying and he actually took the laptop and told me that to hide the fact... He was quite forthcoming about his details though... I took a picture with him just in case...
Does this look like the face of an honest man?

PS. Could any Indonesian speakers translate what the news article says for me?

I got a translation... The transcript is as follows...

trev says:
you should do a full translation
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
lol
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
u want every single line translated?
trev says:
erm... will it take long?
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
i suppose not
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
but the rest are not that funny
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
ok here goes
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
malang
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
be careful when u take long range bus
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
just like trevor howland, 29, an english tourist who lost his laptop which was kept in his bag when he went on a intercity interprovince bus
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
his case was reported to the police in malang, daytime yesterday
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
to Radar, the guy who works as an Atm machine designher, he confessed that his laptop which was bought in his home country was stolen when he was on his way from denpasar to malang on the bus po restu mulya
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
interestingly
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
the thief only stole his laptop which was an Asus type eoc 901
trev says:
lol, they got that wrong
[It is an Eee Pc 901]
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
the case which was made of thick cloth was replaced with lipatan kardus
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
i'm not so sure what that means
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
mayb mag or something
trev says:
it was a magazine
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
from the outside it looked as if his laptop was still there
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
but actually it wasn't a laptop but a mag
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
he suspected that the person who sat beside him at chair no 7 was the thief
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
the guy with "cepak" ( idk what) hair seems to be very suspicious
[That is the guy in the photo above... I don't remember saying he looked suspicious! Funnily enough I showed the guy the newspaper report when I met him... lol]
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
"he didn't talk much and when i woke up, he wasn't there anymore," said trevor
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
The brown haired alien said that during his journey, he slept from around 1am-3am
trev says:
brown haired alien???? lmao
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
i realized that my laptop was already gone when i reached terminal arjosari, this morning" said trevor in a not so smooth indonesian.
[This is just a lie.... There is no way I was speaking Indonesian!]
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
lol
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
yea
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
bule berambut pirang
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
pirang is brown
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
rambut hair
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
bule means alien
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
as in someone not from the country
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
lol
trev says:
lol
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
His girlfriend in malang sent him to the police station
trev says:
lol
[Desy will be annoyed about this one, no wonder she was embarrassed at the article!]
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
The laptop which is estimated to be around Rupiah 5 million was kept carefully in the bag and put under the seat when he was on his journey
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
the moment he stepped down from the bus and looked inside the bag, he started suspecting becoz the shape of the laptop was not as flat as the surface of laptops
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
after opening the bag, it was proven that there was a mag inside the black laptop bag
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
the problem is not the price of the laptop but the photos of his journey and his notes/journals of his journey around asia
[I definitely told them that I had all of my pictures separate from the laptop, but they made it sound worse then it was, so it is all good!]
٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶yingoying٩(●̮̮̃●̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃ •̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ says:
the end

Some of my core beliefs

2009-01-20T06:12:00.003Z

Weird things happen all the time.

You can't explain all the weird things, so probably best not to try.

Anyone that thinks that they have all the answers to why the weird things happen is wrong.

People are often happy believing their wrong beliefs... leave them be.

Unless they try to convert you to their weird beliefs, in which case it is open season.

You reap what you sow.

We all create our own private versions of heaven and hell with our lives. It is a choice which we live in though.

We are all changing all the time (in fact everything is), so any attempt to keep things the way they are will fail, often with very bad results.

Bearing in mind that we are all changing all the time, we can chose on a moment by moment basis whether we will change for the better or worse...

As long as we are changing for the better more then 50% of the time we will be ok in the end.

If life throws us an opportunity we should seize it with both hands. We never regret the things we do, but we do regret the things that we don't do.

I think that is about it... I may update this as I go on...

The Truth...

2009-01-19T04:18:00.000Z

I'm a big fan of the truth. It infuriates some of my friends. I insist on telling people the full truth, even if it will hurt them in the short term. Well.. this isn't absoluteley true... I do have some tact...

However, the fact remains that I prefer to know the truth in situations, and I also prefer for other people to accept the truth in their situations... I truly believe that the truth will set you free...

I have no problems with people believeing all kinds of crazy things, I'm fairly open minded in this respect. In fact one of my core beliefs is that weird things happen sometimes, that are either unexplainable, or not worth going to the effort of explaining. However, when someone believes in something that can be proven, with physical evidence, to be true... I have very little patience for this.

I also see the truth as being a challenge to us all... Like when people don't want to tell someone something bad about themselves. I see the truth in this case as being a challenge to the person to step up and take responsibility. Sure, someone may be hurt by the truth, but I see this as being preferable to them continuing to delude themselves. An example of this might be telling someone that they have bad breath... It may hurt someone to hear this in the short term, but in the long term... if they step up to the plate and do something about it (rather then just licking their wounds and feeling sorry for themselves) then they can become better people in the long run...

So come on, be truthful... what do you think of the blog? I can take it.... ;^)

Losing my.... laptop

2009-01-18T12:50:00.006Z

Have you ever felt an absolute rage that you just couldn't do anything about?

I have...

My story started last night when I got on the bus from Bali to Malang in Indonesia... The bus set off at 6pm, I didn't think too much about it. I had my usual setup of 2 bags with me, one full of books, and the other containing miscellaneous stuff, as well as my laptop. There was some random guy sat next to me. I didn't think too much about him either, apart from wishing that I had a pair of seats to myself.

I set myself up for the journey, read my book for a while, slept a bit, and then woke up at about 10pm. I thought I'd write a few blogs while I had some time, so I got out my PC and got to work, typing away to myself. Then I watched Anchorman. I love that film...

I was always slightly weary about getting my laptop out on bus journeys at the start of my travels, but time, and repeated journeys without incident made me a bit laissez fare about the whole situation.

Anyway, we stopped at about midnight and had some food (free buffet... travelling in Indonesia is pretty cool), and then got back on the road again... I blogged a little more and then thought I'd get some sleep, so I packed all of my things away, including my laptop in its case into its bag, then tried to get some sleep. This was at around 1am.

The next thing I know it is about 3.30 and someone is shouting "Malang, Malang..", so I get up, using my superior sense of intuition to detect that we are at my destination, pick up my bags and get off the bus. I get my backpack from under the bus, and then start going through my bags to check that everything is there. As I'm doing this the bus is pulling away...

It doesn't take me long to discover that my laptop case, instead of having a shiny white laptop in it, has an old magazine...

To say the least I'm pissed off. The bus is driving a few hundred meters down the road... probably with my laptop still on board in someone elses bag, and here I am powerless to stop it.
My first thought is to call the police and get them to stop the bus at the next town somehow. This hope is dashed when one of the people I befriended on the bus informs me that the police are closed until about 7am....

I call my Malang contact and tell her the news. In the meantime I'm sorting out a taxi to my hostel, and saying goodbye to the acquaintance from the bus....

Eventually I get to the hostel, wake them all up because I'm 2 hours earlier then I thought I would be. And tell them what has happened. They tell me the same as the girl from the bus. The police are not available until 7am, and any thought I have of trying to track down the bus myself and exact some vigilante revenge are soon put to bed... as well as me, as I try to get a some sleep with all these thought of impotent rage flowing through my head...

Surprisingly I managed to get some sleep somehow, and woke up to the news that my friend was at the hostel (it is owned by a friend of hers). We plan out the day... including a visit to the police station and set off.

After the mornings activities it is time to go to the police station, so we head there, myself, my friend (Desy) and the owner of the hostel who is her best friend. The whole reporting the incident to the police turns into a bit of a circus... First of all it is just us 3 and 2 police guys, with my 2 friends translating for me...

Then, suddenly 2 guys turn up and start taking loads of photos of us, and especially of the laptop bag with the magazine in, which I kept for evidence... Then one of the new guys interviewed me, another guy showed up and also started taking photos... The upshot of all of this is that I am going to appear in a local paper... It seems that a foreigner in Malang is big news, especially when he has something stolen! I made sure to give the reporter my blog address, so hopefully I will get some publicity in Malang, and he has already commented in my cbox! (see left)

One of the police guys is clearly trying to get in the action, and we end up with lots of photos being taken of him and me and the magazine. Finally I decide to get my camera out and take a picture of everyone there... like it is some kind of family outing or something...
From left to right we have the main police-man, the reporter that didn't speak English, the reporter that turned up late, me, the police man that loved the camera, and the reporter that could speak English...

Queuing...

2009-01-16T08:23:00.003Z

I had a realisation recently... Maybe even an epiphany... Or maybe it was just a thought.

Anyway, whatever it was it had to do with the humble queue. It seems like the British are obsessed with queueing up. It is almost an automatic reaction. We see a queue, we get to the back of it...

I think this had a lot to do with the collapse of the Northern Rock (a building society in the UK). As soon as a few people panicked and wanted their savings back a small queue formed, and then the British, being the British just joined on the end of the queue, and before you know it you have queues round blocks and a run on the banks... I bet if you asked the people in the queue, half off the didn't even have Northern Rock accounts!

But the British obsession with queuing isn't all bad. You see, I think it lies at the very heart of out democracy. You see; in a queue everyone is equal, implicitly. If you arrived last, then you get served last. It doesn't matter how rich you are, or how important you think you are, in a queue you just wait your turn...

So the equality of everyone in Britain (as in a Democracy, one man = one vote), is enshrined in the very attitudes of the population. I have a suspicion that those countries that don't really understand queuing, and we've all been in one (as British people we are infuriated when we see someone cut in the front of the queue and also as British people we politely don't say anything for fear of offending someone...), have a weaker grasp on democracy and the idea that everyone should be equal then those fellow countries where a queue is sacred...

Actually, on reflection, I think it was just a thought...

Chocolate & Cinnamon Edible Body Scrub

2009-01-14T13:37:00.003Z

I found this recipe for edible body scrub... Can't think why anyone would want that, but I thought I'd share....

6 tsp cinnamon
6 cardamom pods
1 vanilla pod
6 tblsp good quality cocoa powder (Charbonnel et Walker or similar)
3 tblsp honey
1/2 cup apricot or almond oil
2 cups brown sugar

mix cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla in a few teaspoons of water and heat. stir in cocoa, honey and oil until smooth and glossy. add brown sugar.
massage into skin all over, leave on for 5 minutes, rub and rinse. smile!

Or I'm sure that if you don't have any water you could find some other way to remove it...

Dancing fish...

2009-01-13T03:59:00.006Z

I was at Seaworld the other day, and they played some music just before they fed the fish...

I'm not sure how the fish knew, but they seemed to be dancing to the music...

Check it out...

Incidentally, I thoroughly reccomend the Jakarta Seaworld to any visitors to Indonesia... If you can find it (they don't seem to be strong on signs here) it is a very good afternoon out, and located in Ancol park, which has lots of other attractions to see...

Becoming a thrill seeker...

2009-01-12T16:58:00.006Z

I'm not sure quite when it happened...

When I was a younger chap I was never the type to take a risk. That's not actually true... But if I decided not to do something, then I wouldn't do it...

And I often decided not to do things.

I was watching Yes Man the other day, and it suddenly occurred to me... I say yes a LOT now! At some point in the last couple of years I have become the kind of person, that not only embraces new experiences, but seems to seek them out! If I go to a theme park i have to go on the scariest rides, I seem compelled to find new experiences, and have new adventures in all the parts of the world that I go to.

I can't even walk into a mall with a 7 storey slide without feeling a sudden and compelling need to slide down it!

I guess that the challenge is to find bigger and bigger thrills... Paragliding, surfing, sailing, scuba diving, parachuting, bungee jumping.... just to give me that adrenaline rush...

Seems like Australia could be quite an exciting place....

2009.... a whole New Year!

2009-01-01T01:49:00.002Z

Ok.... It seems like everyone is blogging some deep and meaningful new years blog... so like the sheep that I am I thought I'd write one of my own!

First of all I guess that I should look back on the year that has just passed...

I always had a strange feeling that 2008 was going to be a good year for me. 2007 was kind of a transitional year, (I have to admit that this was at least in part down to facebook,) I was chatting to lots of people through facebook, started going out a bit more, meeting and dating women (something that had never really happened in my life before), I gave up weed for a large part of the year (before one of the aforementioned women got me back onto it) and towards the end of the year I started approaching women in bars (something which I had never done previously, and which is still a pretty daunting prospect for me).

So with all of these things coming together in my life I felt a real buzz of energy coming up to 2008, and had a really good feeling that things were going to continue to get better...

With the new year last year I made some changes to my life. I stopped the pot pretty much, I started dancing salsa (why did I wait so long?), I started going out even more, and I started planning the next phase of my life... I call this phase Traveling...

The stopping pot was essential I think. I have nothing against the drug, and I know people that if they didn't have it would be unable to relax, but for me it just sapped my motivation to leave the house and talk to people. This also enabled me to start going out to various salsa nights, and going out to see my friends more often. The sociability that this gave me also let to me getting more dates, and enjoying myself even more!

The other part of the awesomeness of 2008 was of course the setting out around the world to go travelling. The fact that I had my salsa to give the travelling some shape, and a network of people around the world to meet from facebook gave me further purpose and has helped to make my travels unique and always fun. I have seen some amazing things in the last 6 months of 2008. I dived the Xenobia off the coast of Cyprus, I saw the Pyramids in Egypt from the back of a camel, I hiked in the Himalayas wearing a pair of beat up trainers, I saw Angkor Wat, I've dived off Koh Phi Phi and I've seen some awesome citys and met a really cool bunch of people while doing it.

Now as for 2009... I'm also feeling pretty good about that. And my hunches often turn out right... I'll be spending most of it in Australia... back in the world of work, as my cash will run out soon... I have a few people to meet there... as well as one special girl that i can't wait to meet in real life... you know who you are...

All in all i think my life is going to get better and better. I told Kathryn that life seems to be like a perabola these days, for her 2008 was the bottom point... for me I think it was 2007, but the line keeps on getting steeper and steeper, and life keeps on getting better and better...

So here's to 2009. May it bring you all happiness, and everything that you need...

The curse of self suffiency...

2008-12-17T12:44:00.003Z

One of my strengths, I think, has always my ability to cope with most situations on my own...

This is partly historical... when I was a young lad and my parents moved around a lot my main tactic to make friends was to keep myself to myself, and when someone came to talk to me, to befriend them... This tactic was mostly successful, and as a by-product of it I am quite happy on my own, left to my own devices 90% of the time.

There are 2 main problems with this tactic. The first is the 10% of the time when I really need someone to chat with, or just to be social... I can talk to people if there is some excuse to do so... a shared activity, close proximity for extended periods of time, or an introduction by a mutual friend... And occasionally someone will come and talk to me... which I can cope with just fine...

The second problem is when it comes to meeting women... Because on those occasions when someone comes to speak to me, it is always, without fail, a guy that comes to talk to me.... This left me in the position of having lots of guy friends, and very few female ones.... Now when I started doing Salsa this evened out a bit, but now I'm all alone on the wrong side of the planet, and suddenly both of these problems are thrown into sharp relief...

Sometimes I think it would be simpler if I was the kind of person that feared being alone more then I fear the prospect of trying to start a conversation with a stranger.... Or maybe the kind of person that can't help but say whatever random thoughts pass through their mind...

Who knows...

On a sandbank on the Mekhong...

2008-12-06T11:56:00.002Z

Picture the scene...

Myself and Icecream in a boat on the Mekong river, looking out for freshwater dolphins....

The peace and solitude is only broken by the presence of one other boat, contaning 2 people... but the scene is pretty quiet, very special...

Then suddenly the peace is broken by a shout from the other boat "Hey... Is your name Trevor Howland?"...

I was slightly puzzled, kinda shocked... Who was this guy? How did he know my name? Was it someone from university or school that had changed loads? Am I being followed by the FBI for some imaginary crime?

Then he explained, he had seen my name on the register that we signed when we got on the boats, and he was John Howland from Australia... This was pretty crazy... I have NEVER met someone that shares my surname before, and yet here we were,the only 4 people in sight (apart from the local drivers of the boats), and one of them was a Howland! I suddenly got an insight into how Dave Gorman felt when he met another Dave Gorman...

So we pulled up onto a sandbank, shook hands, he took a picture. I would have, but my camera ran out of batteries just before... And that was that.. Another Howland. He seemed pretty cool, so the family name was in good hands. Then we went back to the guest house...

Oh yea, the fresh water dolphins were pretty cool as well!

High speed travel...

2008-12-02T04:32:00.002Z

Travelling with Icecream is kind of opening my eyes to how most people travel...

You know, you go to some place, see all of the things that there is to see, and then you go to another place...

I personally like to spend time in a place doing nothing... the surface reason is that it gives me a better feel for a place, for the people, gives me time to explore a city at my leisure... I suspect that the real reason is that I'm too lazy to immediately go on any tours that a place has to offer, and then pack up all of my stuff and move onto the next place.

Not that I'm complaining. The last week has been lots of fun, I've probably done much more stuff then I ever would have if left to my own devices, and having someone to do it with makes things all the more fun!

I think I'm going to need a couple of weeks holiday after this traveling...

Thailand!

2008-11-17T02:53:00.003Z

Wow!

Its been a long time since I posted anything!

I can only blame Thailand for being so entertaining that I haven't had time to post...

This is only partly true; I have had time, but somehow being in Thailand makes even doing nothing into a pleasurable experience! Thus my addiction to 2 hour massages!

So first I think I'll tell you about leaving Nepal. I have found that travel in Nepal is always a fraught experience. Buses breaking down, and being transformed into saunas as water is poured over the extremely overheated engine. Traffic jams that seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, and are made constantly worse by people trying to overtake, and blocking the little traffic that is trying to come the other way...

So anyway, I kinda hoped that the plane journey as i left Nepal would be less... incident packed. After all, if the engine starts smoking when you're 8000 meters up, it isn't a simple case of stopping in a lay-by and pouring water on it until it cools down... Nepal had one last surprise though.

As we waited in the departures lounge (I was only slightly worried that our flight didn't appear on the departure board), the shuttle bus parked up outside, ready to take us away from the lounge and towards the plane. People started filing on board. I waited, knowing that we would all be seated eventually, and having gotten to a good point in my book. So the first bus filled up, the doors closed, and it pulled away, and waited 10 meters down the road. Another bus pulled up, and much to every ones confusion... including the airport staff... it promptly pulled away again without letting anyone on board.

Confusion reigned for a while. The airport staff got into a little huddle, before pointing at the plane that was 50 meters away on the tarmac, and telling us to walk to it... the result being that we arrive at the plane before all of the people that had been packed onto the bus. Why we couldn't have all just walked to the plane is beyond me... I think they like to spice up travel in Nepal!

Since then I have been in Thailand. I have to say that I love it here. The people are so friendly. The women are so consistently hot. The scenery is so beautiful. The food is great. Just like the last time I was here, I am considering my options for moving here....

On the subject of the hot women. There is something very refreshing about the way that the Thai people are comfortable with being good looking. They don't seem to be overly self conscious about it. It starts at a young age... the children are almost without exception cute. And if you point a camera at them they will quite happily pull a little pose making them even cuter. The school kids are dressed sexlessly, and this is accepted without question. It is only once people leave school that they start to dress sexy. This makes a refreshing change to back home where young children are sometimes dressed in adult sexy clothes.

I have lots more to write about Thailand, but I may just leave it at that for now... there seems to be a darker underbelly to the country, that you don't see on first inspection. The ex-pats that live here seem to be split into those that still love it and wouldn't go anywhere else, and those that constantly grumble about undefined things, generally drinking every night. You find at least one of these grumbling ex-pats in every bar, but they are never that clear about what is wrong with the place... maybe it needs further investigation....

(I suspect that the grumbling ex-pats are those that have taken a "bar girl" as their partner, and been disappointed when she turns out to be only after the money...)

Moonlit procession

2008-10-18T12:04:00.004+01:00

This is the view from the top of Poon Hill which is near Ghorepani in Nepal.

For a start the name is a massive misnomer... I didn't see a single poon up there! Probably because it was far too cold for that kind of nonsense...

Getting this photo involved waking up at 4.30 and trekking up a hill for 1 and a half hours.

Of course, this is a pretty famous viewing point, so I wasn't the only person to think of doing this. In fact it seemed like there were hundreds of us, all trekking up the side of the hill, all wearing the standard issue LED head-torches, trudging in single file in complete silence.

It was a kind of strange experience, almost like watching some medieval pilgrimage, it was easy to imagine that all of the lights shining up the hill were from flaming torches, all the hooded and swaddled trekkers were monks.

In fact it reminded me of a scene from an old game that I used to play at my mates house on his Amiga 500. The game was called moonstone, and was basically a glorified fighting game, the highlight of which was the ability to slice off your enemies head from time to time...

Aaaaaaanyway, the point was that in this game there was a scene with a load of monks going up a hill all carrying torches, and the sight of the procession up the hill reminded me of that.

Nice sunrise though.

Hail to the Addidas...

2008-10-16T05:08:00.005+01:00

I just got back from trekking in the Himalayas, and I just have to take this time to praise my trusty footwear.

As you can see they aren't really designed for the task of climbing mountains, but they coped admirably...

For 2 weeks they handled everything that the Himalayas had to throw at them, going up to an altitude of 4130m, over high passes, mountain streams, rickety bridges and all manner of surfaces and slopes.

To be fair they are slightly the worse for wear now... the right one has a hole in the side of it, the left one has a huge hole in the base where it looks like my heel is going to fall out...

In spite of all of this I can't seem to bring myself to throw them away now... we have been through a lot together, maybe i will send them back to England where my mother can keep them (in an odour proof box) for posterity, and when I am famous they can be a site of pilgrimage for the faithful to visit....

Kathmandu part 4

2008-10-15T09:03:00.002+01:00

Ok, I realise that I have left you all hanging for the 4th part of the story, and this is mainly because I have been trekking in the Himalayas. That post is still to come, but for now I will finish the Kathmandu part...

So I just came out of the airport, only to find that the taxi driver that had lent me the money for my visa was missing...

Of course another taxi driver grabbed me pretty much sraight away and stated pulling me towards his taxi.

I tried in vain to tell him that I had a taxi driver already, but he fobbed off my objections saying "My friend, he lent you money? It is ok, he told me to take you.."

I didn't see much of an alternative here either, so I follow this guy to another taxi, where he gives me to ANOTHER guy and explains that I owe 2000 Rupees (it was actually 3500) and that I can give it to this guy, it is ok...

Well, this guy takes me to a hotel, that is different to the one that the first guy wanted to take me to, and I get my room and everything seems to settle down for a while.

Having my tea later that evening I am approached by some guy who claims to be a travel agent (actually, he was a travel agent) and offers me various trekking offers, I decline them all, but agree to go with him to his office the next day. In the course of this conversation he mentions that the 3500 Rupees that I owe can also be paid to him (what kind of weird syndicate do they operate in Kathmandu anyway?).

I still have no money, so it is immaterial, and he soon leaves me alone. Shortly after this the second taxi driver appears, and offers to walk me to an ATM, where I can finally get some Rupees and pay SOMEONE back what I owe. This mission is accomplished reasonably easily, but instead of then taking me back to the hotel, he takes me down a small alley, where he says his friend can lend him a bike....

Thus begins a very short, a very hair raising, and an awakening experience of riding pillion through the streets of Kathmandu... If you read my post about Egyptian driving a few months ago ( http://trevssalsatravels.blogspot.com/2008/08/egypt-is-also-crazy.html ), well, the driving in Kathmandu is similar... slightly less manic, but on roads which are at the most one lane wide. It was surprisingly fun....

We eventually made it back to the hotel, where my new friend (who i haven't seen since) bade me goodnight, and I went to bed.

The next morning, true to his word, the travel agent took me to his offices. We walked there, a 10 minute walk. Who should appear in the crowds of Tamel but the original taxi driver, the one that lent me the cash in the first place for my visa.

He seemed to be a mix of shocked and delighted to see me. At any rate he rushed over and started asking me where had I got to, did I have his money, what hotel I was staying at, etc, etc... Between myself and the travel agent we calmed him down, I explained that I had paid back the cash to another taxi driver (this was, he claimed, the first he had heard of this). This wasn't helped by the fact that I couldn't give a name, or any contact details for this other driver....

He insisted on coming for breakfast with myself and my travel agent, where he had only a beer. And then left us....

This was pretty much the last I saw of this guy, except that he came to my hotel later that evening and sat with me for a while. But he left pretty much straight away when it was apparent that I was with someone else...

This was pretty much the end of my adventures in Kathmandu... A couple of days later I left to go Trekking (which I purchased off the aforementioned travel agent)... but that is another story...

Kathmandu or bust...

2008-10-03T05:12:00.001+01:00

So I finally arrived in Kathmandu, after various ups and downs, and having managed to snatch half an hours sleep (making it at least an hours sleep in the previous 24 hours).

The first trauma was getting a visa. Luckily it is possible to attain a visa upon entry to Nepal without too much trouble. I say that... It wouldn't have been too much trouble if I had any money at all on me... Well, any dollars, pounds, euros or other major denominations on me.

I asked where the nearest ATM was and was told it was downstairs, past the visa control. was slightly nervous about this after the impossibility of getting past customs in India, but I needn't have worried... The ATM machine was in fact outside the airport, so I had to go through the visa control, down an escalator, through a security check, past the luggage carousel, through customs, and out of the airport. I did this without any hassle whatsoever, and in fact the police were very helpful the whole time in helping me to enter the country illegally...

My first major problem in fact was to get through the throngs of taxi drivers that were trying to take me to their hotels. I said no firmly to them all, and looked around for the ATM, which was luckily very well signposted. One of the taxi drivers tagged along with me anyway, and "showed" me where the ATM was...

Second major issue was discovering that the only ATM for about 5 miles was out of order...

The taxi driver offered to take me to a bank which was just around the corner. It was closed...

Then the taxi driver offered to lend me the money I needed to get my visa. I realised that I had little choice in the matter and agreed to his proposal then headed back into the airport clutching the cash and paperwork that I needed. Back through customs the wrong way, past the luggage conveyor, through a security check... the wrong way, up a down escalator (a bit like being on the travellator on gladiators...), past the lift which i saw that i could have taken up to the first floor, back through the visa control area, and to the back of the queue for visas.

With my newly stamped visa in mt passport I headed down the escalator again, through the security check, only to discover that my luggage hadn't arrived...

I shouldn't have been surprised really, I hadn't seen my backpack since I left Cyprus... Even if it had made it to Delhi I only had the words of the staff at Delhi that it had been picked up, that it had been kept safe, and that it had gotten on the flight. One of the last things that the staff there had done was hand me a label which was supposedly the ticket for my luggage. And bearing in mind that I hadn't even known that I was getting the flight until 20 minutes before it took off it wasn't too much of a surprise that my luggage hadn't made it onto the plane... Besides, the way my travels were going so far it would have been bucking the trend for my luggage to have arrived straight away...

I found out from someone that there would be some luggage on the next flight from Delhi, which was due in about an hour, so I went outside the airport (through customs again!) and told the driver the bad news. He wanted me to go for a cup of tea with him, but I decided to stay at the airport and wait for my bags, so I told him to wait outside for me and headed back inside (past customs again!!).

To cut a long story short my bags did finally arrive,not before most of the other people that were waiting for bags had left. I can honestly say that I have never been more relieved to see a bag in my life!

So I made my way past customs (for the 5th and final time!!!) and headed out into the (relatively) clear air outside the airport, only to discover that the taxi driver that I owed the cash to had vanished....

I think I'll save the finale (i hope) of the story for another post...

Lost in Transit...

2008-10-02T05:16:00.000+01:00

So when I left you on the last post I was in the arrivals lounge in Delhi airport, unsure of my fate.

Well, now I am writing from the comfort of my bed in Kathmandu, but lots of stuff happened between the two states...

First of all the airport security agreed that I could fy on to Kathmandu... but I would have to wait for the next day as all of the flights that day were full... I agreed to this seeming to have little choice in the matter. There was still the little issue of how I was to pay for the flights, as their machines still refused to take my visa debit cards, and the only atms were on the wrong side of all of the security...

So I was taken up to the transit lounge, which wasn't a very luxurious place. It basically consisted of a lot of sun lounger type chairs, or 3 more upmarket type places where you could pay extra to stay for a few hours... I managed to get one of them down to 4500 Rupees to allow me to stay for as long as it took for my flight to come (this was complicated by the fact that I didn't actually have a ticket yet...) Even after this there was the small matter of having to pay them, as I still had no rupees. We got round this by the manager of the lounge basically smuggling me past security, I think possibly by promising them free drinks.

So here I was... at last, actually in India... I briefly considered the option of doing a run for it, but without my passport, and most of my possesions I didn't think i would last long. I was never really cut out for a life on the run.

Five minutes later I was back behind the security cordon, proud owner of 6000 rupees. If I'd had my wits about me I would probably thought to get the money I needed for the flight as well, but then things probably wouldn't have turned out so nice as they did...

I was back in the transit lounge, trying to make myself comfortable, availing myself of the free food and drink. Every so often the airport staff would come to find me, and we would make another effort for me to pay for my plane ticket. This incidentally included an effort by them to get me past security again. However all the efforts of two airport employees couldn't do what some lowly waiter in the transit lounge had managed to do a mere hour earlier... Interesting eh?

Anyway, back in the transit lounge I had just discovered that the internet didn't work (which was one of the main reasons I had agreed to pay the price) when the airport staff rushed over to me, slapped a ticket on the table and said, "you have to board now, this flight leaves in 10 minutes!!".

I quickly gathered all of my things together and ran after them, through the security that led to the departure lounge, through all the duty free, back up to the security so that they would give my bag a tag to prove that it had been checked (security in India is a bit anal like that), and finally to the boarding area where I was bussed, along with some other passengers, to the plane.

It was only when I sat down that I realised that they hadn't asked me to pay a penny for my flight ticket...

You may think that the story is over now, but there is still the adventures that occured once that I arrived in Kathmandu... I'll leave that for another post...

The Joy of Travelling... part 1

2008-10-01T14:07:00.001+01:00

Stuck in Delhi Arrivals Lounge...

I guess this is one of those things that makes travelling worthwhile... One of those things that I will laugh about as I tell people about it when I'm finally home (I guess I'm kinda missing out on that treat as I'm telling you right now, but at least you get to call me a dumb-ass...)

To be fair things could be worse... but this doesn't bode well as the first leg of my asian adventure...

You see... it isn't possible to get a visa on arrival in India! I know! Who knew?? I certainly didn't! The first hint I had was a few minutes after I arrived and the guy was giving me a puzzled look when I told him I didn't have a visa. The fact that he immidiately called over some security guards also didn't inspire confidence...

At first it was looking like they were going to force me to fly back to Cyprus... This would have been... embarassing, to say the least... Also very counter productive... Setting me back to square one, and wasting over £350 and about 3 days!

I have managed to convince them that they can send me on to Kathmandu. So I am at the moment sat in an Executive lounge, that set me back much more then a hotel would have (though the drinks are free... I've resisted so far, but I can see this getting messy later on...) Did I mention that they couldn't get me on the flight today? So I am in this executive "luxury" for 24 hours, at least.

I was planning to go to Kathmandu eventually anyway, so in a sense I have saved myself a few days, spent a bit of extra money, and made a minor fool of myself... So it wasnt a total waste!

There are still some issues with paying for my airline ticket, namely that they are refusing to accept my Visa Debit cards, and the only ATM is on the wrong side of the security that seperates the airport from India. So look out for updates, and I'll try to keep you posted.

If this goes on much longer i'll be like that guy in the film where Tom Hanks is living in an airport for some reason...

To be continued...

Dilemmas....

2008-09-23T07:30:00.002+01:00

It is hard travelling...

I have a decision to make. Do I stay in Cyprus for another month. Go to a salsa festival in Greece, and another one in Cyprus, and skip India and Nepal altogether.

Or do I stick with my original plan (with abit less time in India), and get to Nepal and check out the Himalayas...

On the one hand lots of salsa... and i could check out Nepal next year some time...

On the other it kinda defeats (part of) the point of staying for longer, ie so I can leave the villa keys with my parents...

And the salsa option will definately cost more money... and I will probably have to start watching my cash soonish...

I think I'm going to check out the mountains... they are calling me...

My Strengths and Weaknesses

2008-09-20T09:48:00.002+01:00

Strengths

Friendly guy
-----
Good voice and posture
-----
Outwardly appear self confident
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Good cook
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Intelligent
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Love to dance (and maybe good at it...)
-----
Good (I mean excellent) at sex
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Strong
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Honest
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Good will power and self control
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Like of new experiences
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Curious
-----
Generally a happy person
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Love to learn

Weaknesses

Fear of approaching strangers
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Not very chatty (even with friends)
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Tendency to retreat inside my head when faced with a social situation in which I might have to be social.
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Lack of self control when it comes to food
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Tendency to over analyze
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Can be (very) lazy.
-----
Sometimes like to annoy people
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Not musical
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Tend to look for problems rather then solutions
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Don't show emotions
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Addicted to facebook...

I'm sure there are more, anyone can feel free to add to the list!

Ignorance is bliss?

2008-09-18T17:28:00.002+01:00

Small talk is one of my weaknesses. I find it very difficult to fill a silence with chatter. If talk isn't of supremem relevance, or plumbing the very depths of human experience, then I really feel I have very little to say...

I sometimes wonder if it would be great to be a bit stupider. I have observed that... less bright people... often have no problem making inane talk. And often, I've observed, this is because they will say the most monsterously stupid things! However, these inane observations and questions often lead to fascinating conversations as people try to clarify some point or another, and then they go off at a tangent and suddenly an animated conversation is happening!

So maybe it would be nice to be stupid, to not have the answers to reasonably simple problems just "appear" in my head, leaving no need to open my mouth to communicate about it...

Maybe...

Transport in Cyprus

2008-09-16T12:31:00.003+01:00

Whose great idea was it for all of the public transport to stop at 7pm in north Cyprus?

Apart from that it is very easy to get around in Cyprus... The public transport is, while erratic, plentiful and cheap. But there is this weird curfew at 7pm, after which it is necessary to get around by a private car, or by taxi!

Because of this anomaly I had to spend about £30 getting home last night, instead of the £3.50 which it would have cost had I arrived 10 minutes earlier!

For fucks sake!

(Note to self.... try to borrow Chris' scooter)

I'm jammin'... And hope you like jammin' too...

2008-09-15T11:56:00.002+01:00

So I'm just coming to the end of my first salsa congress, which was the excellent Salsa Jam organised by DJ Salsero (otherwise known as Mehmet Aslan). The experience is really over far too quickly. I've been waiting for months for this, and here its over in just a weekend!

I think that a better length for a salsa congress would be a week! It would give more time to get to know everyone, would give a much better grounding in salsa, allow you to build on lessons learnt already and hopefully remove the feeling that everything is over far too soon!

Another thing that has become apparent is that I need a personal cameraman! Normally I am happy to takee the occasional photo when the opportunity presents itself. However, it is very difficult to take any pictures when you have your hands very full with dancing with a girl. It is as a result of this that I have managed to come out of the Salsa Jam with only a handful of photos, and with even fewer of me dancing!

I did however take a lot of videos (to be found on my facebook), mostly of the shows, which were absolutely mind blowing! I think I'll upload a video here... if I find the time...

A tale of two cities (Egyptian nights & days)

2008-08-25T15:47:00.000+01:00

This is more a tale of 2 days. Our first 2 days in Cairo to be exact.

The first day was our day as tourists (also known as marks, or possibly mugs). Everyone saw us coming, we were taken on a "tour" of the city (that we purchased in the airport). This tour basically consisted of taking us to various shops to try to get us to buy various overpriced items. They also took us to see a man about a camel ride around the Pyramids. We went on it, but it was hugely overpriced. We still had fun of course, it was an unforgettable experience, but ever since we have had to endure the laughs of any Egyptians that we told about how much we paid for it...

The other day was our second day in Cairo. I'm lucky enough to have friends in Egypt. We met up with one of them on the second day, and she brought some friends who are locals of Cairo. These guys showed us a local side of Cairo that most visitors don't get to see...

We had some local style fast food, a river cruise in the Nile, a visit to a ridiculously large and shiny mall, a trip up a nearbye mountain (it was well past midnight by this point), and then a visit in the early hours to a local style shisha cafe to try this local delicacy. We were eventually dropped back at our hotel at around 7am.

The other notable contrast of this as compared to the first day was that these guys insisted on paying for everything, i guess because we were their guests in the country. Even when they left us for an hour in a local internet cafe, they left some money with the owner to cover our bill...

There was something that both days had in common, which was the phrase "Welcome to Egypt". It seems like every egyptian that speaks even a little English knows this phrase. But it somehow felt like on the second day they really meant it...

Egypt is also Crazy

2008-08-25T15:44:00.000+01:00

Psychotic.

And probably sociopathic.

The first car ride we took was a perfect example of this... All car rides really, but especially the first one...

It was the taxi ride from the airport to the Hotel, and the driver ws what in the UK would be called a boy-racer. This combined with the rules of the road in Egypt meant that it was a ride I'll never forget. Sharlene on the other hand had her eyes closed and one of my hands in a vice-like grip.

A brief note of the rules of the road, Egypt stylee. It basically seems to be a combination of the rules "Every man for himself", and "Who dares, wins". So effectively any cubic foot of free road space is instantly moved into by someone. Be it a bus, a truck, a car, a bike, or even a pedestrian. The rule for who gets into a space seems to be that if you can get into it first, and you thing everyone else trying to get into it can stop in time, then you go for it. They do have lines in the road, but most people seem to ignore them. And the horn is used as a kind of "look at me" so that all of the other people trying to get into your square foot of road space know that you are also trying.

Surprisingly this all seems to work with relatively little mis-hap. As long as everyone knows the rules it is kinda safe. I've not seen any accidents yet, and the only damage done was to my poor clamped hand...

So yea, the sociopathy thing. I guess I mean that everyone is out for themselves, regardless of the consequences.

Thoughts of Cyprus

2008-08-25T15:37:00.003+01:00

It is a crazy place...

Schitzophrenic.

The Northern part of the island is like no-where else. This is because technically it doesn't exist. It is unrecognised by the international community (apart from Turkey), and yet through some creative interpretation of international law it is counted as part of the EU.Its renegade status means that there are NONE of the large international businesses there (1). It must be one of the only countries in the world without a Starbucks, a Macdonalds or a Wallmart (or whatever the local re-branding is).

On the other hand the south of the island is full of all of the conveniences of western civilization. All of the stores and resteraunts seem to be there (even Nandos!) It is a comforting feeling, but slightly sad that the center of the southern half of Nicosea is just like the center of any large European city.

I think Cyprus is possibly the only place in the world where you can step from the Middle East, to the middle of Europe in the space of 100 meters...

(1) Apart from coca-cola of course... I suspect that you could visit tribes of remote amazonians that haven't had contact with the outside world for hundreds of years, and there would be 2 constants. The first would be coca-cola, and the second would be that they all supported Man Utd...

Now I'm in Egypt...

2008-08-24T16:37:00.003+01:00

Ok, I'm in Egypt now. I have much more to say on the subject, but first I will have to find a place where I can check the internet, and have my journal with me at the same time...

So, the brief version...

I've seen the Pyramids, and the Spynx, I've riden a camel, and endured a terrifying car ride. There is much more to tell, but like I say, It's all in my journal...

I'll be back...

A serious lack of time....

2008-08-16T11:47:00.002+01:00

One thing that I seem to be finding is in spite of the fact that I do next to nothing most of the time, I still don't have enough time to do everything that I have to do!

I think the fact that the I have to move in order to do anything, and the temperature outside is so high that I don't really want to move far, is the main contributing factor.

For example, in order to write this blog I had to first of all have a shower, then get dressed, then apply sun block, then walk through 40 degree temperatures to the local hotel with the internet. After all this I will have to apply sun-block again, walk back through the searing temperatures, then when I return home I will have to shower, in order to remove the sticky combined feeling of sun block and sweat, and then put on new clothes...

So you see how a seemingly simple task turns into an ordeal.

If I want to do any shopping things are even more complicated. I have to get one of the fantastically erratic local busses, get off at the shop, then get back on the bus (probably after half an hours walk down the road waiting for the bus), and finally walk from the bus stop to the villa. If i want to get to a bank then i will have to get on another bus (for some reason the banks don't seem to be anywhere near the shops).

Not that I'm complaining about any of this. I don't want to appear negative. This is more in the way of being an excuse for not blogging more often.

I really love doing nothing...

;^)

In Da Lobby.... Will there be T.P.?

2008-08-10T13:19:00.000+01:00

So here I am. In Cyprus. On the first stop on my world travels. I've given up my job and my life in the uk. I won't see any of my uk friends for over a year. Unless they come out to visit me of course. And now I have started on my life of luxury, my retirement...

I somehow feel like i should feel something more. A palapable sense of relief perhaps, that I've escaped from the rat-race. Or some measure of trepidation at the vast wide unknown that I have thrust myself into.

Somehow I'm not feeling any of that. In some ways I guess it is a good thing, it shows that I am confident that I can handle whatever life and the world can throw at me. Perhaps it is symptomatic of a void of imagination, without the ability to even think of all of the things that could possibly go wrong. I'm kinda wondering if my ability to take things in my stride, without allowing them to affect me too much, is somehow limiting my appreciation of life...

I guess in the meantime while I figure that out I'll just have to continue to enjoy myself, and the awesome sunshine, foood and hospitality that I continue to find myself surrounded by...

PS. The title is partly because I am typing this in the lobby of a near-by hotel, which has wireless internet, and partly because I watched the Beavis and Butthead movie the other day. If you haven't seen it, I can thoroughly reccomend it!

Stuff has started arriving!

2008-07-10T15:10:00.004+01:00

Some items arrived for me yesterday at work. It was very exciting. It also makes me realise how close I am to going away.

For the sake of completeness I have taken a picture of the things I have recieved so far.

these are (clockwise from the top right) my travel bag (duh), my lantern/torch, my imitation leatherman, my wind up headtorch, my travel towel, my universal adaptor and my money belt!

Which means that I am still waiting for my travel shoes, travel alarm clock and solar charger...

I think I still need to do more shopping...

Wooo!

Shopping!

2008-07-08T09:22:00.003+01:00

I did some shopping last night, making full use of my mothers NHS discount! (Thanks mum :^)

Here is a list of the things I bought.

710069	Worldwide Travel Adapter	1	£ 8.50	£ 8.50
410447	U/C Passport Money Case	1	£ 7.22	£ 7.22
400002	Orient Express (Travel backpack)	1	£ 119.00	£ 119.00
710219	Microfibre Trek Towel L	1	£ 15.30	£ 15.30
620266	Cyba-Lite Stretchlite (torch)	1	£ 11.05	£ 11.05
680984	Suspension (Leatherman imitation thing)	1	£ 28.00	£ 28.00
620002	Ozone II Wind-Up Headtorch	1	£ 8.50	£ 8.50
680080	Time Traveller Alarm Clock	1	£ 5.95	£ 5.95
690026	Solar Charger	1	£ 25.50	£ 25.50
330197	Sieve (Walking trainers)	1	£ 42.50	£ 42.50

				£ 271.52
				£ 5.00
				£ 276.52

A bargain I'm sure you'll agree! (and no, I don't want to know that you can get the same things elsewhere for a fraction of the cost!)

What Pisses me off?

2008-07-07T10:05:00.002+01:00

The Eee pc is being delayed, with no word from the supplier! It was supposed to be released on the 1st of June... So far it is entirely awol...

On the plus side I have less then a month until I go away! Only 3 weeks of work to go! That is 15 days! And then indefinite leave!!! Wooo...

This means that I really should start getting things ready... I have yet to buy anything, apart from the Eee pc, which might not arrive before I go anyway... I think I'll be making some purchases tonight, get online and do some serious shopping (with my mothers NHS discounts of course ;^)

Oh, and another development... It looks like I will have a travelling companion for at least part of my journey! This always seems to happen! I plan to go away on my own, and then about a month before I go one (or more) of my friends decides that they would like to come with me! Not that I object, it is nice to travel with someone, at least at first, to ease myself into the whole thing...

Things are looking good. :^)

(I'm still pissed off about the Eee though!)

What makes me excited?

2008-06-23T20:21:00.005+01:00

In a massive change of heart I have decided to take a laptop travelling with me!

It all started off with Claire mentioning that she had just got a new laptop to go travelling with...

- "I'm not going to take one" I breezily typed "far too bulky"

-"Not this one" she replied "its tiny, its called an eee, look it up"

Well, apart from the name instantly reminding me of my childhood friend, who I'm afraid will never be able to use one of these computers without bursting out laughing (eeeeeeeeee), I was kinda intrigued. So I looked it up!

Ever since then I have been in a kind of frenzy of excitement that only a guy that has discovered a new gadget can achieve. I started off thinking "Oh, I'll just get the cheapest one...". This is the Eee 700. And at £220 it is hard to say no to. But once I'd decided I couldn't say no to that... well... I may as well get the Eee900, with a whole 1024x600 (instead of the 700s 800x480) allowing most pages to be viewed without horizontal scrolling...

Then imagine my excitement.... A whole new Eee machine coming out in 8 days time! Woooo! This is the Eee901. All of the advantages of the 900, but with twice an much battery life, and some extra features...

So I think I'm going to get one of those. At £320 it is about £100 more then I was originally envisaging, and I am going to have to buy a 2.5 inch external hard drive to store all of my files, and maybe a new mp3 player (the eee runs linux, so iTunes is a no-no)... Of course there are a slew of similar micro-laptops coming out as well, but I've read the reviews, and I think I'll stick with this for now...

Of course a lot can change in 8 days...

How to fall in love...

2008-06-19T20:31:00.004+01:00

Something strange has been happening recently. In fact I suspect it has always been happening, but I have just never spotted it before...

In fact I think this could explain a lot of very strange things in life,. Phenomenon that I have been puzzled by in the past, all of a sudden seem to make sense...

So, what am I talking about I hear you ask? Well, it is to do with falling in love with someone, and why we always seem to fall for the wrong people. It especially applies to women, though i suspect that it applies to guys as well, just I am more likely to observe it in women. Bearing this in mind, the tale I will tell is from the female perspective...

It goes like this. Girl meets guy. He clearly isn't right for her. She knows this right from the start. The reason for this unsuitability can be one of many reasons. Maybe the guy is taken. Maybe he is gay. Maybe is the wrong culture, colour...... it could be almost anything. The important point at this stage is that it renders the guy utterly incompatible for a long term relationship.

The logical part of the womans mind knows this to be true, so it allows the woman to flirt with the guy. She does this knowing full well that she won't fall for him, because he is totally incompatible. She thinks it is just some harmless flirting and fun. However, the human is a complex beast. And the emotional side seems to operate on a completely different level from the logical side, often without the logical side knowing or suspecting what is going on...

So what happens is that the logical part of the brain knows that she isn't interested. However the emotional side doesn't listen. It responds to the flirting as it has been programmed to through millions of years of evolution; and proceeds to fall in love...

Love may be a strong word, lets say that the emotional side forms an attachment. The logical side often doesn't realise this, and certainly won't admit it, at least that is until there is the chance that the guy could be taken away...

And so heartbreak is born.

I think that this explains why women always (ok, not always) fall for the asshole, why it is easier to fall for someone on the other side of the world, then someone down the road. And why nice guys have such a hard time. After all, if a guy is "logically" ideal for a relationship, then all of a sudden there is tension (on both sides) and the naturalness of the interaction is suddenly ruined. Wheras if there is no expectation, everyone can relax, and everything "just happens" (how many times have I heard that?).

Black and white "Cash for Kids" Charity Salsa event

2008-06-19T12:57:00.003+01:00

I went to a charity salsa event in Leeds the other day (on Tuesday the 17th of June 2008). Seeing that there was a theme to the event I of course dressed for the part. As shown in the picture on the right. ;^)

There was loads of advertising blurb about the event, so to save me repeating all of that I'm just going to copy and paste it...

"Black and White Salsa Charity Night

We would like to invite you, and as many guests as you wish to bring, to a charity salsa event at Quid Pro Quo, Greek Street, in the heart of Leeds city centre.

The night will begin with a fun salsa class designed for absolute beginners starting at 7.30pm. Followed by an intermediate class at 8.30pm and then music and dancing for everyone until late.

Each class is only £5.00 and all proceeds from the salsa classes will be donated to Cash for Kids.

The theme for the night is ‘black and white,’ so have fun and get dressed up!"

The night went very well. And you'll be glad to hear that I got my mojo back, salsawise! I think just having a few days off, between friday night and tuesday night, helped me to integrate some of the things i have learned. I seemed to pick up moves quickly, do them (more or less) correctly, and most imporantly when it came to the free dancing, I was having lots of fun again! Ok, so maybe a lot of the moves i was doing weren't strictly speaking salsa, or any good, but I was having fun, I was reacting to the music, and my partners were having fun. And I think that is the most important thing!

I might restrict myself to 2 salsa events a week from now on... which is going to be tricky I think. But it will be worth it to keep me motivated. (plus it will allow me to do other things, that don't involve dancing!!!)

My after video.... honest ;^)

2008-06-15T20:52:00.005+01:00

Salsa, after!

2008-06-15T20:25:00.007+01:00

This is the real after salsa video. Not quite as exciting, but on the plus side, I'm in it!

The one above was Lee and Shelly. London, 2007 champions & voted UK’s top dance act. There is no way I can do the splits like that!

Overdoing the salsa...

2008-06-14T03:22:00.001+01:00

I just got back from The Engine Shed. There I saw some amazing dancers, and did a bit of dancing of my own...

But I think I might have overdone it...

I heard tales of people plateauing in their salsa experience. They say that you get to a level, and then you can't learn any more. I think I was reaching that level anyway, but the last week of dancing really pushed me over the edge.

There was the Salsamatazz Masquerade Ball on Saturday, followed by Viva Cuba. About 7 hours of salsa (and a bit of tango and some bachata)...

Then the usual 2 hours of Bachata, and 1 of La Rueda on Sunday...

2 hours of salsa, and one more of free dancing on Tuesday...

An hour and a half in Guiseley on Wednesday...

The usual 2 hours of salsa (plus some free dancing) on Thursday.

Then this salsa night at the Engine Shed tonight. About 5 hours...

Which by my calculations equals about 21 hours of salsa (or similar dances) in the last 7 days....

That is enough for anyone! I am giving up for at least a week I think... or I would, but I have the Black and White Charity salsa event on Tuesday, which i definitely have to go to...
And a salsa Ball next Saturday, which I will also have to go to....

But apart from that I'm putting it on the back burner.... We'll see how I feel after that!

Friendship...

2008-06-13T07:34:00.002+01:00

You're going to have to wait for the after video, at least until I can figure out a way to shrink down a video to less then 100 Mb.

In the meantime I read an article in New Scientist last night that touched my heart! It goes a little something like this...

"Making It Less Of An Uphill Struggle

Having a friend at your side can turn a mountain into a molehill.

Simone Schnall at the University of Plumoth, UK, and her colleagues asked students to estimate the steepness of a hill by tilting a board to match its slope.

Students with a friend nearby assessed the hill at 10 to 15 per cent less steep compared with those who were alone during the test. The longer the friends had known each other and the warmer their relationship, the less steep the hill appeared.

Schnails team also found thatjust thinking about a close friend or family member - as opposed to a neutral person, or someone you dislike - made the hill appear up to 20 per cent gentler (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, DOI:10.1016/j.esp.2008.04.011)."(New Scientist 14th June 2008, pg 15)

This seemed like a simple yet elegant proof that it is good to have friends, they make life seem that little bit easier! So everyone, take care of your friends, be there if they need you, and one day they will be there for you, ready to make your life that little bit easier...

:^)

Before

2008-06-12T00:01:00.005+01:00

To show everyone the extent to which my dancing has improved I am posting my before and after dancing videos.

This is the before, and shows me dancing at a friends wedding...

(on the plus side you can clearly see that I was enjoying myself...)

The Salsa Masked ball and being Molested in Bachata!

2008-06-09T15:54:00.007+01:00

I had quite a busy weekend of dancing this weekend, in roasting hot temperatures. Pretty good preparation for my travels really...

There was a Salsa Masked ball on Saturday night. For some reason the hosting Hotel had its heating on at the start of the night. This on top of the naturally hot ambient temperature, the candles all over the place, and a room full of vigorously exercising people added up to a sauna-like atmosphere. But still, a good time was had by all. And I learnt my first bits of Tango... It was ok, but not as fun as salsa!

I was attending with the lovely folks in the picture* , who shall remain un-named, in order to protect the innocent... We had a great time, and I met some excellent people, some of whom had travelled the whole length of the country to get there (you know who you are...)!

We also had a bachata class in at the ball (always fun) in which the teacher (a big fat black dude who was hilarious) made a point that the guys shouldn't thrust while dancing. I don't know if you're familiar with bachata, but it is performed very close to the partner, and there is a hip flick at the end of every step. This hip flick is supposed to be to the side, but apparently some guys (and one in particular) had turned this sideways flick into a forwards thrust.

I thought this was fairly harmless and at worst an amusing story until i came to my regular bachata class on Sunday. At this there was one, slightly older lady, who was doing exactly this! After every single step she would do a little *thrust*...

Not only was this painful and potentially debilitating (luckily I was a fair bit taller then her), it just felt all wrong. I couldn't wait to finish dancing with her, I felt used, and molested...

I think it maybe gave me a bit of an insight of what it is like for a woman to dance with a guy that is "copping a feel"!!

I'll never behave inappropriately at dancing again (not that I did anyway...)

*Just to clear things up... I'm not in the picture!

2 months to go!!!

2008-06-06T09:05:00.003+01:00

It is two months from today untill I set off on my journey...

I can't believe the time has passed so quickly...

It seems like only a few days ago that I was merely contemplating this trip, and work were hassling me to see if I could give them a more definate time scale...

I know that the weeks are going to pass faster and faster up until the point that I go (and probably right up until the time that I return, but that is a long time away, no need to think about that!). It is starting to sink in now. Only 8 or 9 of each of my dance classes before I go. Only 9 more weekends. Only 7 more Monday mornings at work. The time is running out on my normal life!

Of course I have oodles and oodles of things still to be done before I go. I need to buy essential equipment. This includes, but isn't limited to a new backpack, a new mp3 player, a travel towel, some fold up salsa shoes, a hat (very important), some shorts, a leatherman, plasters, and other things too numerous for me to remember them all.

I also need to look into getting some foreign currency (the sooner the better given the way the pound seems to be going), get some insurance, possibly buy a ticket onwards from Cyprus. I need to book my salsa conventions, resign from work, possibly get a new bank account sorted, finish getting my innoculations and have a blood test.

Then there are the things I'm leaving behind. My friends. I need to say farewell to them all. (I still need some of their phone numbers after my last phone died!) My flat, I'm giving it up, but I need to pack away those items I want to keep, and find a place for them to stay (thanks to my Mum and Dad), and do something with all of the things I don't want any more...

I'm absolutely certain that there are numerous other things which I need to do before I go, I'm far too disorganised to think that I have remembered everything, and I'm sure that as the weeks go on I will find numerous things that I have forgotten. (If any of you can see anything, just leave a comment).

I was going to finish this post with a conclusion, but I can't think of one, so heres a quote instead...

"For my part I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for
travel's sake. The great affair is to move, to feel the needs and
hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off the featherbed of
civilization and find the global granite underfoot and strewn with
cutting flint." Robert Louis Stevenson

Sunburn!

2008-06-05T10:24:00.003+01:00

I went walking in the Yorkshire Dales this weekend, and the picture on the right shows the results....

I am starting to wonder what 18 months of tropical sunshine will do to me if that is the effect of a single afternoon of Englands anaemic sunlight.

Better pack the factor 50!

I'm kinda hoping that when I return I will have bronze skin, and blonde hair, but given my previous track record I'm suspecting my normal "off-white" colour, and maybe strawberry blonde!

Inventory

2008-06-05T08:50:00.004+01:00

This is a list of the things I think I'll need to take with me. It is work in progress at the moment, so any thoughts of other things I'll need let me know...

Backpack (one of those with a smaller backpack that zips onto it.)
Couple of t-shirts
Few pairs of pants/socks
Couple of pairs of shorts
Couple of pairs of jeans
Wide brimmed hat
Long sleeved cotton (top) shirt
Footwear (Trainers, sandals, fold up salsa shoes)
First aid kits
Condoms (lots)
Money belt
Padlock
MP3 player
Travel speakers
Mobile Phone
Couple of books
Sun glasses
Bathroom stuff (Shower gel, shampoo, hair wax, toothbrush/toothpaste, deoderant.)
Sunscreen/ aftersun (this item added after a recent walking trip in the Yorkshire Dales!)
Antibacterial Handwash (Thanks to Angela for advising this)
Malaria Tablets
Towel (travel)
Pens
Notepad
Leatherman
Torch (head torch)
Passport
Travel documents
cash/american express...

Innoculations

2008-06-04T09:45:00.000+01:00

I went for some innoculations last week. The nurse who gave me them seems to be an inverted hypochondriac...

That is she assumes that other people will get ill. It is quite a good quality for a nurse I guess, but as I sat there listening to her worrying about me getting diseases that had never even been found in a region, and reccomending that I get the innoculations "just to be on the safe side", I found myself wondering. Is it worth living your life in fear of imaginary events that might not happen in any case.

Sure, it makes sense to take precautions, like getting injections, but I wouldn't let the fear of diseases stop me from going travelling... So why would I let the fear of rejection stop me from doing other things in my life? Especially when rejection is so much easier to take (if approached properly) then... well... life threatening diseases....

I dunno, I'm not changing my life overnight (not yet anyway), but maybe I can stop letting fear run my life, at least a little bit...

Travel Itinerary

2008-06-03T09:50:00.000+01:00

Thought that I'd post a rough itinerary of where I will be, and when.

If anyone reading will be in roughly the same places, at roughly the same times, we can see about maybe hooking up...

August 6th I fly to Cyprus. This is the only date that is set in stone at the moment.

I will be spending roughly 2 weeks in Cyprus (mostly in the Northern Turkish part). I plan to do lots of diving here. And lounging by the pool, and other such things...

Then I will fly over to Egypt (or possibly get a boat over), and spend 2 weeks in Egypt. In this time I will be visiting the Pyramids, possibly doing a bit of salsa, going to the Red Sea to do more scuba diving, and meeting up with some good friends I have over there...

After all of this excitement I will fly back to Cyprus, and do more diving,
and hanging by the pool, and whatnot, until the 12th of September when there is a Salsa convention starting (http://www.salsajamincyprus.com/).

Once the dancing has all finished I will be flying on to India. I'm not sure where I will be, but I plan to have a kind of flying visit of India, taking in a couple of towns for a couple of days and then moving pretty swiftly onto Nepal.

In Nepal I will be doing some trekking. I want to see the Himalayas from close up, and maybe I'll find a Buddhist Monastery or something and do some meditation on the top of the world. Nepal could take up to a month, and is one of the places I'm looking forwards to seeing the most...

After my calming time in Nepal I will be flying on to Thailand. Really there is too much I want to see in Thailand. I could probably spend 6 months just there, but among the locations I would like to get to are Chiang Mai, Pai, Bangkok (to visit some friends I made last time I was there. You know who you are ;^), Koh Tao, and a couple of other islands.

Somehow I have to fit all of this in before the 13th of November, when there is a salsa convention starting in Bangkok (http://www.salsabangkok.com/).

Once this is over I will be meeting a friend, and travelling with her to Cambodia. There I'm mostly interested in seeing Angkor Wat. But it will be interesting to see the culture and all that, and see how it contrasts to Thailand.

I'll probably pass back through Thailand after this, and on to Malaysia. Take in Kuala Lumpur and visit some good friends I have over there. Then check out some of their beaches (and maybe fit in a bit of salsa while I'm here).

Then on from Malaysia to Indonesia, where the plan is pretty much the same as in Malaysia. Visit some friends, see Jakarta, and then Bali, check out some beaches and just see what happens. It will be Christmas around this time, so I will either be spending Christmas and new year either in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. I'm not sure where yet, I'll just have to play it by ear...

Anyway, I have to fit all of this in in time to get to Sydney in time for the 29th of January (in fact, probably the 28th in time for my birthday!), which is when and where the 3rd salsa convention of my travels kicks off (http://www.sydneysalsacongress.com.au/). I'm hoping a good Australian friend will join me for this.

I think Allan will be joining me sometime about here, and we will travel around Australia, possibly doing a bit of work here and there (i already have my work and travel visa, and an Aussie phone number!). My Australian Visa lasts for a year, so I will take full advantage of this, and then depending on funds, I will see what I want to do next....

(But if I do have lots of money still at this point New Zealand looks nice, then South America for Mardi Gras and finally South Africa for the world cup. But we'll have to see about that...)

Travelling companion application form

2008-05-30T19:54:00.000+01:00

It has come to my attention that other people are interested in travelling the world, and seeing as how I am doing that it makes sense to have a couple of them along with me for parts of the trip. To this end I have drawn up a quick application form to weed out the wheat from the chaff.

The process couldn't be simpler, just print out the form below, fill it in with your answers and send it to me with a stamped adressed envelope to yourself...

Anyone with a succesfull application will be asked back for an interview...

Basic information

1. Real name ( first + last ) :
2. Age :
3. Height : (cm)
4. Weight : (kg)
5. Measurements (cm) :
6. Country of Origin :
7. Eye colour :
8. Real hair colour :
9. Current hair colour :

Contact information

10. Address :

11. Post code :
12. Country :
13. Email :
14. Mobile phone :
15. Home phone :

Getting to know you

16. Are you a travel virgin ? Y N
17. If no, how many past travel experiences have you had ?
18. Do you smoke ? Y N
19. Do you use any illegal substances ? Y N
20. Do you have kids ? Y N
21. If yes, how many ?
22. Do you workout ( fitness ) ? Y N
23. Do you currently have a source of income ? Y N
24. If yes, what is it ?
25. Do you live on your own ? Y N
26. If no, whom do you currently reside with ?
27. What kind of car do you drive ?
28. Furthest level of education ( ex : high school, college... ) ?
29. Do you like to read ? Y N
30. Do you cook ? Y N
31. Do you have any siblings ? Y N
32. What is your religion ?
33. What is your political persuasion ?
34. How many piercings ( not including ears ) do you have ?
35. How many tatoos do you have ?
35. What is your current favourite movie of all time ?
36. Do you like South Park animated series ? Y N
37. List your favourite genres of music in order of most favourite to least favourite ?

Reasons I should pick you

38. What is your idea of a perfect holiday in three sentences or less ?

39. Explain why I should pick you as my travelling companion in one sentence:

40. List any special skills that you may have that are relevant to this position:

41. What are your hobbies and interests ?

Travelling background

List the details of your past three travel experiences starting with the most recent.
Start date :
End date :
What countries did you visit?
Places of interest that you saw on the way:
Were you in trouble with the law at any time in your visits?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List the details of your past three travel experiences starting with the most recent.
Start date :
End date :
What countries did you visit?
Places of interest that you saw on the way:
Were you in trouble with the law at any time in your visits?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start date :
End date :
What countries did you visit?
Places of interest that you saw on the way:
Were you in trouble with the law at any time in your visits?

ReferencesPlease supply three references and their phone numbers or email addresses.

If there is anything else that you think will be relevant, please use the space below to tell us what they are.

Introducing............ Trev! :^)

2008-05-30T19:17:00.000+01:00

Hello avid readers! (all 2 of you!)

This is my first attempt at blogging, so please bear with me while I find my feet. Oh, wait, *checks in shoes*, yep here they are!

The primary purpose of the blog, as you may have guessed, is to document the lead up to, the preperation for, and the actualisation of my travels around the world! It will stand alongside my facebook group that is serving the same purpose for the denizens of facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15237024747

While I'm here I might also post any random thoughts that I have on life, the universe, food, the price of eggs and tv shows...

That will have to do you for now, more updates to follow!