Dancing fish...

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...

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!

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...

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...

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...

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!

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...)