OzBlog

The End

2011-01-04T07:48:00.000-08:00

It HAS been a long time since we've added an entry. We've moved back to the US in November. There are still a couple of entries to do to sum our journey, but this was just a quick note.

Darwin Show

2010-07-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks, Jenni's dad has been here for a visit. For his last day we went to the Darwin Show. Probably the equivalent to the Denver Stock show, perhaps on a smaller scale. There were, however, huge crowds as everyone had Friday off. Typically we would leave town, because it meant Litchfield or Kakadu were empty. Since this was our last chance, we thought we shouldn't miss it.

We got Cyrus outfitted in his best Darwin reg.

Safe for the whole family...

The infamous Australian Headless and Footless Table Pigeon.

French Chickens

Jenni's dad loved Cyrus's food

Cyrus was not happy about that.

Alternate sequence for Australians:

Cyrus is a big Doggies fan.

Then he heard about the bulldogs sacking Aker.

Cyrus was not happy about this decision.

Back in Darwin

2010-07-03T01:44:00.000-07:00

It HAS been a while since we've updated our blog. A lot has happened and it is hard to keep up. In April we went back for a visit in the U.S., so our families got a chance to meet Cyrus. Everybody had a good time, and Cyrus even got to experience his first snow. Overall he did pretty well on the flight, the last leg was always the hardest (for all of us).

Everywhere we went there was something to do with Australia...

The cats were really happy to see us when we got back.

Once we returned from our trip, Cyrus decided that it was important to completely immerse himself in Aussie culture before heading back to the U.S. later this year. He started out by grabbing his eskie (cooler) full of XXXX gold ("beer") and heading out on a camping trip.

He literally wants to take a piece of Australia home with him.

Next up, Cyrus wanted to partake in local delicacies, so this required a switch to solid foods. One of his favourites is the banger, mash, and steamed veggies puree (real). He did not like David's experimental meat pie, pavlova blend (fake).

This could actually be the camping photo. They are easily mixed up.

After that, we couldn't let him go home without seeing a Darwin sunset at the mindil beach markets. It was only after we let him eat the sand that we learned the beach had been closed because of an E-Coli outbreak.

What could be more Australian than swimming? When 90% of your population lives along the coast, it is a pretty important step in a young Aussie's life. Cyrus was very excited to try it out, and loves it.

Keeping up with our tradition, we were sure to be here on Territory Day. We didn't get fire crackers this year, and had to cut out early because it was way past Cyrus's bed time. Cyrus actually didn't even seem to notice the large bangs and pretty lights. He was more interested in playing in the dirt.

Finally, Cyrus wanted to watch a little original Australian television. He has since become hooked on Master Chef, and counts Matt Preston, the ascot-wearing food critic/judge, as one of his heros.

He wasn't too happy when we took his ascot away.

On a side note. Look at the size of this f-BEEP spider!

You know you're a parent when...

2010-03-17T04:07:00.000-07:00

You have detailed concerned conversations about poo without giggling.

You wake up in the middle of the night, change the baby, re wrap the baby, feed the baby and have absolutely no recollection of doing any of it.

You put on three clean shirts before getting out the door to work.

You no longer question what the hot liquid streaming onto you might be.

Your arm muscles are no longer just sore from going to the gym.

You find yourself breastfeeding while shopping at a scrap booking store.

You think that saliva and your thumb is an acceptable substitute for soap and water.

Bonus: You use your saliva and thumb on your partner's dirty face now. (You are just able to stop from doing this to your boss.)

You have conversations with adults while rocking back and forth, and you aren't holding a baby.

Your friends no longer ask how you are doing, just about the baby.

You go to rock your baby to sleep and fall asleep first.

Bonus: You know you're a parent when (in Darwin)...

Your baby has its own stubby holder for its bottle.

Your baby is 'dressed' to go out in only a singlet and nappy...singlet if it's a 'nice' place that is.

You and your baby's skin is so sweaty that you have to peel apart after a feed, like Velcro.

And finally - An empty can of light beer is a suitable toy for a toddler...it's just light beer after all.

'Cyrus and the book' or (De)Construction of the literate infant

2010-03-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

Mom: I know, I'll take some cute photos of Cyrus in front of a book.

Aw, that's adorable, he's looking at the picture.

Oh, cool, he's trying to turn the page!

Yes, you're amazing! We've taught you so much about books already!

Almost got it! Our little scholar, I'm so proud.

Good idea, get closer for better leverage.

Wait, what are you doing?

Cyrus, that's not how you read a book.

Dad: Do you think he'll get a paper cut?

A well-digested bit of literature.

Cyrus goes to the pool

2010-02-02T23:22:00.000-08:00

Today Cyrus went to the pool for the first time. He was really looking forward to wearing his over sized swim nappies and uv protective bathers.

Pre-swim sleep

At the pool we met Megan and Cyrus's best friend, Jayden.

Cyrus and Jayden

Cyrus continues to tolerate his mother's whims rather well. He cried when we first hit the water (even in Darwin, in the wet season, the water is cold to a 10 week old), but then he settled quickly. Still, he looked at me a few times as if to say, ''Why the hell are we taking such a cold bath?" After 30 minutes, a few reluctant smiles and several strong leg kicks (I'm convinced this is demonstrative of his natural swimming ability), we both tired. The fun was over when Cyrus lost control of his neck muscles and did a face plant in the water.

Wheeeee....

Post-swim sleep

A man with no country

2010-01-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

While the novelty and political freedom of being stateless were compelling reasons not to apply for citizenship, we figured Cyrus would have enough challenges spelling his own name. So last weekend we flew to the US Consulate in Melbourne to make Cyrus a US Citizen. Here are answers to the questions we asked prior to buying airline tickets, making the appointment and having David's mom overnight our 2005 US tax documents.

1. No, Cyrus was not automatically conferred Australian citizenship for being born in Darwin.
2. No, there is not a US Consulate in Darwin.
3. No, the forms cannot be submitted online or by mail -- they must be submitted in person.
4. Yes, the child must be present.

Seriously?

5. Yes, the child must be present.
6. Yes, we must detail our physical presence in the United States. This includes documenting Jenni's spring break trips to Cozumel, Mexico in high school.
7. No, Jenni did not remember the exact dates of the above trips.
8. Yes, we had to bring our marriage certificate (to prove Cyrus was not born out of wedlock?)

Of course we had other questions, but the e-mail response from the US gov't said, "Please do not respond to this e-mail."

So we shelled out the money for plane tickets, reserved a room at a hotel across the street from the Consulate, made the appointment and completed the paperwork for Cyrus's citizenship, passport and social security card.

And...

...a week before our appointment, the Consulate called to cancel. Apparently the "Secretary of State" (whoever that is) was going to be in Melbourne and this took precedence. But our anger won out and they agreed to keep the appointment after all. Turns out Hillary had to cancel her widely anticipated Australia-New Zealand tour because of the Haiti earthquake.

Cyrus was very excited for his first plane trip (even if it was operated by JetStar).

We promised to leave enough food for our cats, but this didn't pacify poor Hugh who wanted to come along. He even tried to disguise himself as Cyrus, but we weren't fooled.

We thought we were clever, packing everything the three of us needed into two carry-on suitcases -- but the flight attendant at the gate wasn't impressed. Apparently one of our carry-ons was too large. (If we'd cut off the wheels it would have fit in the strange metal cage that bears no physical relation to the overhead compartments.) So our bag was confiscated and put on the next flight to Melbourne and arrived at our hotel at 12pm the next day for our 3 day trip.

Cyrus slept through the whole flight to Melbourne. He was awake during most of the flight back to Darwin, but he didn't cry once. "He never does that at home."

Cyrus and Dad (who was less than happy about the confiscated luggage). Perhaps there will be a future blog solely about our hatred of JetStar airlines.

At the Melbourne airport, waiting for the shuttle bus.

The first thing Cyrus wanted to do was order room service.

Cyrus wore his favourite Darwin shirt to the US Consulate

Our cameras were confiscated by the first tier of security. Cyrus's bottle was taken at the second. I am surprised they didn't want to test my breast milk for nitroglycerin.

Continuing the tradition of going to the local Mexican restaurant. This one, called Fiesta, was actually surprisingly good, although poor David had to choke down the margarita.

Father and son at the art museum

It was so quiet in the museum, you could hear Cyrus sucking on his pacifier.

Melbourne skyline

Grandma Mary's Visit

2009-12-23T22:19:00.000-08:00

Here are a few updated photos of Cyrus after his first month in the "real" world.

He's usually completely incoherent till his first cup of coffee in the morning.

Gaining some control over those facial muscles.

Mom and G'ma
Swimming in his jammiesPost bath time.

Basil has had a hard time adjusting to no longer being our surrogate child

We've also been preparing ourselves in order to get Cyrus his U.S. citizenship. The process, like many bureaucratic dealings, would be comical if we were on the outside. Some of the fun steps include creating a list with exact dates of all the times we were not continuously residing in the States. That would mean remembering the exact dates of a jaunt to Mexico or the like. We also have to prove that we lived in the U.S. (tax documents, rental leases, etc.). Our personal favorite is that it is mandatory to demonstrate that we are in fact married, and show a wedding certificate. We really regret now having ordered our marriage certificate from that website we found. The crayon will be a dead giveaway. Now, no matter how you might feel about having children out of wedlock, it seems cruel to exclude illegitimate children from having any kind of citizenship.

China Signs

2009-12-01T20:43:00.001-08:00

These are some of the signs I saw in English while in China.

200 Yuan is 30 USD

China Notes Part V

2009-12-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

Day 11 - Beijing Forbidden City

By the time the lights turned on just shy of 6 am, the day had started to feel like three separate days given only yesterday morning I had been in Xi'an at the Terracotta Warriors and now I was in Beijing. There was a very long queue for taxis at the train station. Some people in the very back of the line (50 people behind us) jumped out of line as the taxis were arriving, and would stop them and get in cutting in front of everyone. No one said a word. China apparently is a land of contracdictions. The seemingly endless amount of patience to restore the historic bronze figures and wait to open the burial chamber went out the window when waiting in line for a taxi. No one yelled at the people jumping queue which falls in line with saving face, yet we witnessed countless loud arguments between individuals, again seemingly a contradiction. Our tour operator provided us with a little guidebook, and during times like that, waiting in an endless line with people spitting everywhere it provided a little mantra for us westerners "This is China." It also provided some explanation for the lack of respect for the queue (in my opinion). When you are 1 in a billion, you have to speak for yourself because no one else will. I can't help but wonder if there is a little more to it. After all there is an entire generation of only children coming of age, the apple of their parent's eye. Anyway, I certainly can't understand the intricacies of the Chinese culture after only a few weeks.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, and chucking the bags in a luggage lock-up (our rooms weren't ready) we headed to the Forbidden City. This is the place that is featured throughout the film The Last Emperor. We were given another local guide, who was knowledgable albeit a bit too quiet. She would have been fine, had her voice not been overwhelmed by the guides of the larger tour groups with their megaphones. I was amazed at how busy it was, but was told that it was actually a small crowd. You see these places in books, on television, or in movies, but I had no idea of the enormity of it. China is the first place I've been where I didn't think "Oh, it's smaller than I thought it would be", but instead thought "My God, it's massive."

The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty 400 years ago, and remained in use till the last Qing dynasty till the 1920s. It was built for the emporer, empress, concubines, and eunichs. It seems whenever you come across these sort of extravagant, ornate, royal palaces and residences, it is a signal the end is near, like Versaille in France. Not necessarily the generation that builds them, but the ones that grow up in their walls. The last emperor was actually the grand nephew of the empress dowager, who had started out as another nameless concubine, till she bore the emperor's son. With the deaths of the emperor\empress, the son was made emperor, but was too young to rule, so she came to power. This emperor dubiously died at 17 of smallpox and was replaced by her nephew, coincidentally, also, too young to rule. Finally, after that nephew also died dubiously, the grand nephew was enthroned.

Yellow is the official color of royalty and is everywhere in the city

This was the crowd cramming to see the Emperor's throne roomJust a few thousand of my closest friends.

Across from the Forbidden City was Tianamen square. We were asked by the guide well in advance, not to pose inappropriate questions to him about the square (e.g. the infamous tank photograph). There were a number of plain clothes security people lurking about. Probably doubled since the square was being readied for the 60th birthday celebrations of the People's Republic of China.

Our guide explaining things while two strangers listen in in the very back.

I'd stand as rigidly if the Chairman was looking over my shoulder.

Already getting the good seats for the show...

The Final Group Shot

The view back at the room.

That night a group of us went to see the Kung Fu performance show. No videoing or photography was allowed during the show, so I have nothing to show of it. It was the exact opposite of the acrobats in Shanghai though. Where the acrobats were rough around the edges, the kung fu show was extremely polished. It was interesting to watch the different techniques, but not as fun as the acrobats. Afterwards we took a taxi out to the Olympic stadium to look at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. They were really pretty neat to look at, very creative buildings. We got there just before the lights out. The power bill must be extraordinary.

Day 12 - The Great Rabbit Proof Fence

The next day we headed out extremely early for the Great Wall. We went to a section of the wall that was a 3 hour drive from Beijing, which mean there would be fewer tourists. As I understand, the one closer to Beijing is complete with McDonalds and Starbucks. The Australians in the group called the great wall China's Rabbit Proof Fence. The wall has existed off and on for several thousands of years, the first emperor Qin even being credited with building the original. The way it stands now, the way we see it on postcards, was actually built during the Ming Dynasty (what a surprise!). I actually am making all this up, and Ming is the only dynasty I could come up with. The section of the wall we went to had spectacular views, but it was hard going slogging it up the many thousands of steps. Luckily the yellow mountain had prepared me for the hike.

For their morning exercise routine, the local women follow the tourists up to the end of the section, carrying bags of books and trinkets for us to buy. There seemed to be two for every few people. I did my best to give no indication that I was interested in anything they had or wanted their help, choosing to ignore them for the most part. They generally respected this on the way up, allowing me some moments of peaceful introspection, tracing the spine of the wall along the ridges, seemingly going on forever. However, when we reached the end of the line, the books came out and the hassling began. The more adamant in selling something to me they became, the more adamant I was in not purchasing anything. A new woman, who had not followed us on the way up, appeared out of nowhere and became my shadow - "Look, your friend buy book, you buy." After following me down two flights of steps, I finally caved and bought something cheap. She was not happy with me in the least, and after a few more tries to get me to buy something more expensive, she gave up (mumbling what was probably a curse). Only to be replaced by someone else for the rest of the way down. I was even mid-step on a very steep bit of stairs and felt someone grabbing my arm - "Postcard?" I snapped back "I'm walking down the steps." After that I was left mostly alone, but still followed. That came close to ruining my Great Wall experience. Luckily the way up was quite enjoyable.

There were dozens of centipedes crawling along this section of the Great Wall, and I'm not entirely sure why. I could almost hear the laughter of ancient sentry men as they initiated new grunts by dropping them down their backs...maybe not, but some things rarely change.

Sometimes security guards are a bit like babies, they can sleep anywhere.

Not having gotten enough of salespeople, we stopped at the Pearl Market in Beijing on the way back. The sales people were pushy, and grabbed me as I walked past. I was tired of it by then, but the difference between these sales people and the women on the wall was I went to the market, and went there to shop. I went to the wall to see the wall, not to shop. I probably could have resolved it sooner, had I just bought a book at the end of the line. Or they would have tried to get me to buy more. I do feel bad, because it is how they earn a living, and while I'm by no means as wealthy as they probably think I was, I did travel to China. They probably had never traveled outside their province, let alone the country. This was perhaps my biggest struggle with China. I have never traveled anywhere where I felt more like a walking dollar sign (or yuan sign). I suppose in some ways it is to be expected. After all, as soon as any westerner had stepped foot in China, they've done nothing but buy their goods and wares. But, boy, are there some really persistent sales people, extremely patient. Maybe I should have just stood in a taxi queue.

That night was the last dinner, and we had Peking Duck. I had been waiting the whole trip for that meal, and was not disappointed.

Day 13 Imperial Gardens

Dan and I woke up the next morning to our 7 am call for "Massage." I answered the phone, and told them no thanks, being a bit surprised because the phone call usually came at 8 in the evening. Dan, jokingly said "Why did you tell them no, I ordered that for this morning."

We all met down in the lobby that morning to catch taxi rides to the Summer Palace. We had to split up into three different taxis. We all ended up in different entrances, so our overly ambitious plan to tour the gardens ensemble did not work out. Our taxi ride took almost an hour, with the taxi driver really angry that we didn't understand his Mandarin.

The palace brings a whole new meaning to extravagance and the phrase "Because I can." for example when someone asks - "Why would you have a boat made entirely of marble?"

"Because I can."

After wandering around the gardens for the morning, I decided to head to the Jinshang gardens directly across from the Forbidden City, providing a nice bird's eye view of the complex. Jinshang is perhaps the yin to the Summer Palace's yang, or vice versa, if I may permitted to use the metaphor. Where the summer palace is royal opulent indulgences, bordering on the insane, Jingshan offers peaceful harmony. While the crowds gathered at the top for the fantastic, although hazy, views of the Forbidden City and Beijing, there are many quiet corners to sit and listen to the crickets chirping, musicians practicing, or the occasional English-speaking tourist asking their guide if they eat snake. Still, yellow tiles everywhere give away that this garden used to be an exclusive one. The last Ming emperor, fled the Forbidden City during a revolt and hung himself at the top.

Day 14 - Beijing Capital Museum

I took a much needed sleep in on this day, and then in the afternoon headed over to the Capital Museum. This was a fantastic museum, including a brief history of the city of Beijing and its role throughout the centuries as city to capital city.

Day 15 - Attempt to See Mao

I woke up with the start of a cold, but determined to go see the Chairman Mao in all his formaldehyde glory. By the time I got there (7:30) a line had formed all the way around the building, filled with bus loads of tourists. I didn't bring my camera because you couldn't take it inside and it had to be locked up in another building. I weighed my options of not seeing Mao or stand in line for hours under the sun with a cold. I chose the former. I'm actually glad I did, because I went to a shopping area before the stores opened and found a place on the second floor so I could look out on the pedestrian mall from the window. As I sat there I watched about 20 or so store clerks file out of their store and line up. They started with what looked like patty cake which transitioned into a synchronized clap routine. Some of the clerks were a bit lackluster, but most were right into it, and all knew the routine. Then they marched, quite literally, back into the store.

Day 16 - Flight back home

I took a taxi early in the morning and watched the sun rise over Beijing as we headed to the airport. China was perhaps the hardest place I've traveled in, and am glad I went with Geckos. I'm sure my experience would be different outside the tourist areas. I can definitely say I have a fondness for Chinese art and architecture, and would go back given the opportunity.

China Notes Part IV

2009-11-30T20:32:00.001-08:00

While I could easily turn this into the "Photos of Cyrus doing Every Little Thing" blog, I thought I would try and finish up the entries from my trip to China. I left off with riding the train to Xi'an and trying to fall asleep.

Day 9 - Xi'an

View Larger Map

The lights came on automatically at 6 in the morning, and there was a mad dash to use the toilet for everyone in the train. They locked the bathrooms ten minutes before the train arrived at any station, so you had to time it right. We arrived in Xi'an a little late, and navigated our way through the train station. Xi'an is one of the oldest cities in China, and the only one with it's old city wall still intact. The city has around 8 million people, and they all seemed to be waiting for a taxi at the train station. Since we had a schedule to keep the guide made the executive decision to get a more expensive bus alternative. The salesman must have been really good when he said that he had two buses. Really it turned out to be two boxes on four wheels with a lawn mower engine hidden somewhere. In lieu of seats and seat belts there were benches that rivaled the adjustability of seats in any expensive minivan, given they weren't bolted to anything.

We stopped first at our YMCA accommodations. After cleaning up a bit we walked over to the old part of the town, making sure there was time to stop for a dumplings breakfast. Calling it the "old" part of town is a misnomer since it is now the main modern shopping area, where Walmart slums it with Prada. The old city wall encapsulates this part of town which sits next to the bell and drum towers in the middle of a giant round-about.

The wall in Xi'an has existed for thousands of years, but in it's current incarnation it is 'only' about 400 years old from the Ming Dynasty. A lot of the ancient parts of China that we see today are actually from the Ming dynasty, or repaired during then. On top of the wall we could rent bicycles to ride around the entire length of the wall on the top. About half way around I became the focus of a Chinese tourist's photos. I could see the camera pointed at me and then he waved, so I smiled and waved back. I could only imagine how I must have appeared to them - a hairy white man, too big for the bike with my knees coming close to hitting my chest, lumbering down the wall.

After the group split up, I went down to "paint" street. This was the artisan center of town, where you could buy everything from the paper and brushes to the finished product. Then I headed back past the bell and drum towers towards the Muslim Quarter. The towers were once used as timepieces - Bell for daytime, drum for night.

The Muslim Quarter houses around 100,000 Muslims, a small percentage of the 8 million people but one of the largest in this part of China. I meandered my way through the street market. The colorful sites of dried fruit and nuts mixed with the intoxicating smells of Middle Eastern spices - cardamon, cinnamon, turmeric - made it difficult to resist the barbecuing meats on a stick, but I heeded the guide's advice not to eat anything but dried fruit from there. Later I walked down a side street where I understood his reasoning. Unidentified pieces of meat sat out on counters in the midday foggy heat; some sat on blocks of ice, others cooled only by a fan, and yet others cooled by some creative device that looked like a spinning pole with rags attached. Yum! Large organs (kidneys? liver?) sat being guarded by hoards of flies. I hurried past, avoiding the smell.
As I left, cars vied for a way to enter the narrow streets of the quarter. A hierarchical game of honking horns began, starting with the little moped, then a car, and finally, the clear winner, the load thunderous horn of the garbage truck.

It was the weekend in Xi'an, and it seemed that the entire city, once having found a taxi at the train station, moved to the shopping district. No one seemed to actually go into the stores, just on the sidewalk. Xi'an is also very popular amongst Chinese tourists, and given that holidays hadn't quite ended, the swarms of people probably were a mix of tourists and locals.

Xi'an at night

That night we went out to the Big Goose Pagoda. This is an ancient pagoda that has been modernized with it's own water fountain show synchronized with music.

Day 10 - Terracotta Warriors

When I was young, not sure how old, the Denver Museum of Natural History held a traveling exhibition from China. It included many "wonderous things" as Carter might have put it. There were several of the Terracotta Warriors that I vividly remember, so perhaps it is the warriors more than anything that fuel my geographical imaginaries about China, a land of mystery and wonder. Even though I did see them before, nothing really prepared me for seeing where they sat forgotten for thousands of years till seven farm brothers decided to dig a water well. Even then it may have remained unknown if it had not been reported to an archaeologist (the brothers for their part content to ignore the find and continue with the well). The archaeologist kept relatively quiet on the matter, fearful of any remnants of the cultural revolution, himself being paraded around by zealous youths seeking to detach themselves from China's extensive history. Long gone, though, are the pastoral lands and dirt roads of when the warriors were discovered, made way for an expressway and massive complex complete with a market where those ex farmers can sell replicas of the army to the 10,000 daily visitors.

Pit 1 is to the left, pit 2 to the right, and pit 3 is not visible behind pit 2.

Our first stop was to a factory where they made those replicas, from small chess piece size to giant life size replicas. The local furniture store in Darwin actually carries two of these life size ones for only a few thousand dollars, but it was too late to return the one I ordered in China for the baby's room. The manufacture process is probably very close to how the originals were made. The bodies are actually all nearly the same, made from a plaster cast, headless and unarmed. The heads are a bit like a Mr. Potato Head doll; by using different noses, eyebrows, and facial hair, the artisans were able to create thousands of unique faces. The factory actually creates duplicates of existing statues rather than new ones. I couldn't resist getting a little copy, but couldn't find it's life size counterpart in situ.

Like so many ancient statues, that have survived the years, they were actually coated in a layer of paint. It's hard to imagine the white marble statues of Ancient Greece coated in bright blues and yellows, but they were. Same with the Terracotta Statues, and like it is difficult not to see marble as white it is difficult for us to see these statues covered in anything but mud. So you won't find any of the duplicates painted. They actually come out of the kiln black in color, and then they add dirt to the exterior for an "authentic" look.

Patiently awaiting their turn in the kiln.

Another 1/2 hour drive and we were at the entrance....the first entrance, then a cart to the compound.

A glimpse into my future tourist self.

Pit No. 1 is perhaps the most famous, with its rows of carefully restored soldiers standing at attention. I wasn't prepared for the size of the building, at least the size of an American Football stadium. The soldiers in this pit are primarily infantrymen, and were found not in the current state but in several pieces. Shortly after the First Emperor of China died, Qin, his tomb was raided for the real weapons the fake soldiers held. A fire was set, accidentally or on purpose, and the timbers holding the rammed earth roof collapsed crushing everything below.

Still many parts to be uncovered.

Built without tourists in mind, the design lacks air conditioning, and only has ceiling fans.

Standing watch.

Medical field evacuation.How they come out of the ground.

We were assigned a local guide for the day. While he did provide some of the facts above, most of them came from The Terracotta Army by John Man. The best parts of the book were the historical stories about the Emperor. The guide, as a matter of fact, was pretty useless, and calling him a salesman may have been more accurate. After Pit 1, he wasted a half hour of our time flipping through a book about the Terracotta Warriors describing the pictures. I kept thinking "Why are we sitting here when we could just go look at the actual bloody things?" Granted, not everything in the book is visible to visitors, and the reproductions are excellent, but the whole time it felt like they were doing everything in their power to stop us from actually visiting the different pits and more time trying to get us to spend money. I would have probably gladly bought the book (which I did not) had it been at the end of the tour after getting our fill of the actual army.

Next we were brought into the gift shop so we could purchase the book and get it signed by one of the few surviving farmers who discovered the warriors. You aren't allowed to photograph or speak to the farmer, and rumor has it the only characters he can write are his name. There was one story related by Man about the farmer which I found pretty amusing, but probably not true. Former President Clinton was apparently visiting the complex, and asked if he could meet one of the farmers. The officials decided to set up a quick photo shoot. The farmer of course could not speak a lick of English so the Chinese officials hastily taught him a few phrases. Clinton would say "Hello", the farmer would ask "How are you?" Clinton would then respond with "I'm fine," and the farmer would say "Me too." The big moment arrived, and the farmer gave his line, but only it came out sounding more like "Who are you?" Clinton responded to this by saying "I'm Hillary's husband." To which the farmer said "Me too."

Unfortunately there were no dignataries on our visit, but there was a 360 degree cinemascope feature film. Made, I think, before there was such a thing as dialogue and plot development.

Finally we were freed from the sales pitch and allowed to go check things out. I rushed over to Pits 2 and 3 to look at the crossbow soldiers (a particular favorite) and the charioteers. Again, the buildings were massive, and the restoration efforts really remarkable.

"No Touching" Glass Guarding the Guard

Then it was to the museum, which was a very large monumental building with a very disturbing entrance, and a very small collection. But what it houses is a model in craftsmenship and restoration abilities. As part of the Emperor's tomb, he made sure that he would be able to get around in style in the afterlife like he used to when he was amongst the living, so he had miniature versions of his carriage and chariot guard made of bronze. One could easily have spent an hour finding every intricate detail on each of these two pieces, from the bridle and bit on the horse to the charioteer's quiver filled with exact miniature duplicates of arrows. Again, they were crushed by the roof collapsing, and beautifully restored.

This scares me.

Sorry these didn't come out less blury. Should have bought the book after all.

My thirst for seeing the army and objects finally quenched, I headed back to Xi'an a happy man. It is amazing that only part of the tomb has actually been opened, and only few number of the estimated 10,000 terracotta statues have actually been uncovered, let alone the burial chamber of the Emperor himself. It was written by later generations that the burial chamber contained miniature versions of the rivers of China made of mercury. They recently did some tests and discovered the burial mound did contain higher levels of mercury than the surrounding area. Personally, I think the most remarkable thing is the amount of patience at the dig. I would have torn into the burial chamber long ago :).

We had a couple of hours in Xi'an to ourselves before catching a night train to Beijing, so I headed out to get some supplies. It's funny how exactly similar Walmart can be in every part of the world, yet have something very distinct such as the strong odor of durian throughout the store.

The waiting room at the train station...not sure what to make of this.

One more night train.

For the second night train, we had bunks closer to one another. Except for Dan, who is in the very top bunk above a group of possibly Russian tourists who spent most of night drinking cheap wine and vodka. Dan looked a little green the next morning from the fumes and rocking. Next stop Beijing!

"from his mother's womb/ Untimely ripped"

2009-11-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

The story of Cyrus Elijah Wolgemuth-Lamb's birth (with pictures)...

I (Jenni) started feeling contractions around 7 in the morning on Friday 20 November, 2 weeks before my due date. I had my ''show" that morning and told David on our way to work that I suspected we'd be having the baby in the next couple of days. But I didn't tell him about the contractions -- they weren't that strong and I thought they could be Braxton-Hicks.

At work I started timing the contractions and, sure enough, they were regular -- every 6 minutes. I spent the morning wrapping up a couple of things and then went to have coffee with my friend Karen. On the way, I stopped by David's office, "Don't get excited, but I think I might be in labour."

During coffee I kept looking at my phone and, not wanting to appear rude, explained to Karen I was timing contractions, which, at that point, were getting stronger. So we quickly finished our drinks and went on a short walk. I think the reality of the situation still hadn't set in because I went back to my office and helped a co-worker do some data analysis and sent out a couple of final e-mails. It was then I told David we should probably leave. Of course this was my last day of work before my scheduled maternity leave and the office had planned an afternoon tea for David and I... so I discretely let a co-worker know I was probably in labour and David and I got in the car and headed home. We were both very excited and at that point the contractions were painful, about every 3 minutes, but definitely not unbearable.

"Yea, I'm in labour! This is going to be great fun."

The cats were excited too.

We laboured at home for a little over 2 hours. David and I had taken a couple antenatal classes together and one thing I kept stressing was that I would need him to do a lot of massaging. I even asked him to do hand exercises during the pregnancy and to practice often. So of course when the time came, I couldn't stand to be touched. So David timed my contractions and kept me company and distracted. The contractions were between 2 and 3 minutes apart and getting stronger. The hot shower really helped -- until we ran out of hot water. That was when I decided it'd be best to go to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital: "Ouch, ouch, ouch..."

The Birthing Suite: Still smiling
(ha ha ha... little does she know)

And about here is where the story changes from a nice tightly woven narrative to an indescribable escalating series of events and images that led to the single greatest moment of my life. Or, for those who would rater skip the details, after 7 hours of sheer bliss, Cyrus took his first breath.

Here are the highlights:

4 cm dilated when arrived at hospital at 2.30
3 hours later I was 7 cm dilated and the doctor said, "Your cervix is thinning nicely. I imagine you'll be pushing by 7pm."
Nitris oxide is my best friend, David starts rubbing my back (which now helps) and talks me through each contraction, f*#k is my favourite word
Midwife asks if I have an "uncontrollable urge to push" to which I respond, "I can't stop my uterus from pushing if that's what you mean."
Midwife inspects my cervix... "You are only 4 cm dilated and your cervix is still very thick. I don't know what the doctor was talking about. You still have a long way to go."
Baby shows no signs of distress, mother plenty
I request Pethadine
Pethadine doesn't help
I whimper, "Is it too late for an epidural?"
Midwife calls doctor who arrives way too late for my liking (the anesthesiologist will do the same thing)
Doctor confirms my cervix has actually become swollen and therefore is constricting, rather than dilating, but apparently this hasn't been communicated to the rest of my uterus that is trying to push the baby out of a 5 cm opening
Doctor says baby is stuck and recommends an emergency Caesarian Section to which I beg, "Whatever, just get it out of me!"
The anesthesiologist replaces the nitris oxide as my new best friend
Doctor wouldn't let me watch the procedure, but David put the camera above the curtain and took a couple photos:

And then David and I couldn't take our eyes off this perfect little one who stopped crying as soon as he was placed on my chest.

Our little Macduff.

Hello, Baby

2009-11-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

Cyrus Elijah was born on November 20th 2009 in Darwin Australia, weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces (3.1 kilos). Mum and bub are recovering and doing fine.

China Notes Part III

2009-11-14T03:05:00.001-08:00

Day 7 - Suzhou

View Larger Map

We left the next morning for Suzhou, taking the bullet train again. It was a short half hour ride to the city. Suzhou was Marco Polo's second favorite city because of the beautiful canals, losing out only to Hangzhou. I hadn't really intended to go to Suzhou, but it was one of the tour's pre-selected destinations. It actually turned out to be a really nice break from the rush and pressures of Shanghai, with its relaxed atmosphere and pleasant gardens.

Once we arrived, we struggled to find a taxi, so we split up into smaller groups. Otherwise, the taxi drivers would have come up with a myriad of excuses on why they couldn't take us - the distance is too short, you weigh too much and will waste too much petrol (errr...that is, our bags weighed too much). We did arrive at the hotel eventually, and checked into our rooms. Our guide took us to a little restaurant that had been featured on Japanese television, if any of you happen to watch. They were well known for their dumpling variation. It was all quite nice and well deserved after the morning of doing little.

Afterward we wandered through the narrow corridors of the old part of town. Many of the residents still live along the canals, sharing one communal public bathroom between several families. These families have 70 year leases from the government, but many of the next generation has already moved to apartments in the newer part of town. When the older generation moves on, these old parts will be demolished and replaced by some sort of hyper-real version of what was already there filled with designer shops and yoga studios. Some parts had already received this treatment. After our short walk, we took a tour on the canals and got an eye-level view of people's front doors.

Hope that guard dog can swim...

For the afternoon, some of the group went to the silk worm museum, but having seen the process in Cambodia, I skipped it and went for a walk instead. The newer CBD is everything the quiet narrow older streets are not. Clean, less fragrant, and modern with wide pedestrian paths and tall high-rises. In the outdoor shopping mall area, they had set up a large inflatable pool filled with water and kid-size paddle boats. All the little tykes trapped in this man made lake wore the same expression - "Why did my parent's stick me in this pool on this boat?" Some things are truly international.

What's left of the old city wall.

These were just sitting against a building

That night our guide took us back to the canals. It was really beautiful with the lanterns and lights reflecting in the water. For a place I never intended to go, Suzhou was one of my favorite parts of China.

Day 8

The next day was a free day. Dan and I headed to the largest of Suzhou's many gardens as recommended by the guide - The Humble Administrator Garden. With a name like that, how could I resist.

The garden was really nice with a variety of pools and pagodas. It too was several hundred years old, and quite famous. A number of dignitaries had visited it as shown in a series of photographs along one of the pathway's wall, including Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter although not at the same time.

The garden also included a separate section of just Bonsai trees, introduced to the garden in the 1950s. There must have been several hundred of the trees in this section. They are deceptive in their size and presence. As I reviewed the photographs I was taking in the garden, it was really difficult to tell that these trees were only a metre high.

After the garden, Dan and I walked around the corner to Suzhou's new modern museum. The museum is grandiose in its ambition, but small in its collection. Nearly every major town or province along the east coast of China acted as the capital at least once during China's long history. This was because nearly each province was in power during one dynasty or another. Suzhou was no exception, and the museum held most of their collection from that period. The few pieces they did have were extremely beautiful, especially their painted scrolls section.

I left Dan at the gardens and headed back. Our guide had given us instructions to purchase our food for the train ride, giving a variety of suggestions including instant cup of noodle soup. So I wanted to do my shopping, and cool off a bit in the hotel lobby.

Our guide cooling off in the hotel lobby.

We boarded our night train for Xian that evening. I was very excited for this, because I was looking forward to the next town where we would get to see the Terracotta warriors. We crammed into our sleeper carriage in "hard sleeper" class. There are two sleeping classes, hard and soft. It just means second and first class respectively. Third class have seats instead of beds. The carriage was divided into separate compartments with 6 beds to each. Three beds on each of the walls. There was no wall along the corridor of the carriage so it was pretty much completely open. There were two folding chairs next to each section along the corridor.

As we settled in and the carriage filled up, our guide gave us last minute instructions. "Take care of your personal belongings. You can hide your wallet under your pillow." To which I jokingly replied, "Why don't you just tell everyone where our wallets will be?" He laughed, but I'm not sure if he knew I was joking. Not one to back down from a joke that was amusing to at least me, I continued, "Why don't you just announce it on the PA and let everyone know?" Apparently he caught on and said "Don't worry they already know where your wallets are." Touche.

The group was all in the same carriage, but we were spread out in different compartments. Eventually we all congregated on the compartment that had the two lowest berths so we could sit and eat. We all discovered we had religiously followed our guide's instruction as we one by one pulled out our instant noodle soups.

Well before the 10pm mandatory lights out, I headed back to my middle bed, happy not to be at the very top. I laid there taking notes, watching the people below me in the corridor play games on their laptop. The man that was on the opposite side below me, played songs on his mobile phone, from rap to traditional Chinese, softly singing along to a select few
("My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard My Milkshake is better than yars"...just kidding).

Food carts passed through the corridor every 30 minutes or so, selling warm beer and instant soup, plus the occasional piece of fruit. The young woman across from me was so close I could have tapped her on the back while barely stretching my arm. Like me, she had lined the wall of her bed with her possessions. This was no small feat, given the bed was barely designed to fit one person. The lights went out at 10pm on the dot, and for the first time that entire evening everyone in my compartment decided to have a conversation. After about an hour, I finally got to sleep.

China Notes Part II

2009-11-10T02:25:00.000-08:00

Day 5 - On The Road

After a long day of hiking, we had the luxury of sleeping in, to prepare us for the 7 hour bus ride back to Shanghai. That's how I spent my 30th birthday, on a bus.

We arrived on the outskirts of Shanghai in the late afternoon. Surprisingly, even though there was traffic, it actually didn't seem too heavy. China still has a way to go before its traffic jams rival those in California. Unfortunately, it was back to the same Shanghai hotel, but luckily this time we were in the presidential suite and the bathroom had a wall.

After dinner, some of us went to the bar on top of the Hilton hotel to have over priced drinks and check out the view. Shanghai is spectacular at night.

Day 6 - Shanghai

On day 6 I woke up dead set on having a proper cup of coffee, rather than something questionable from a can. Coffee has not taken off in China, and Starbucks are rare sites, especially outside of Shanghai. Luckily there was one just down the street from the hotel. I had managed to avoid Chinese style breakfasts so far (noodles, dumplings and rice, oh my). I ordered my coffee and a fruit cup and sat down to take notes about the trip so far. The coffee was bitter, the fruit cup was mediocre, and as I was writing a shirtless construction worker kept staring at me through the window trying to read what I was writing (ironically, I was writing about him reading my notes). When you live in a city of 20 million people, or a country with a billion, you probably need to get used to the fact that you have no privacy...ever.

After breakfast, we met up with the rest of the group, 4 more people for the rest of the tour, while the other group went their own way. For the morning, we walked to the Yuyuan Gardens. They were originally finished in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty. It's amazing to think of a garden that is over 400 years old. The outside of the gardens is filled with shops and food stalls where Chinese traditional mixes with western haute cuisine. Walking through the shops felt more like a Shanghai Epcot center, a Disney China.

One of my fellow travelers had red hair, and was stopped by this family of Chinese to have her photo taken with their baby.

The garden themselves are a traditional maze of pools filled with golden carp that swarm the bridges anytime someone crosses, hoping, perhaps, for a pork dumpling...or some fish food.

View of the Pudong area from the garden.

Once we had finished with the gardens, we all went our separate ways. I headed to the Shanghai Museum, walking there in the humidity. It was a relief to get out of the shops of the Yuyuan garden - "No, I don't want an IPhone." "No, I don't want a watch." "I don't even know what that is." Funnily enough, the IPhone was finally released in China 2 months after I left.

As I got closer to the museum, I started to notice more young Chinese women, and more of them smiling at me, and faintly in the distance "where are you from?" I was stopped by two young women who gestured for me to use their mobile phone to take their picture for them. Happy to oblige when it comes to taking photos, I handed it back. Remarkably, one of the women had learned fluent English in that short few minutes and asked if she could take a picture for me. I turned her down, but then she asked "Where are you from?" I got out of there as quickly as I could, but no sooner had I turned around, there was another group of helpless individuals who needed a picture of themselves. Now, either they could recognize my vastly superior photographic skills from the five other people who had passed them, or a single male traveler was an easy mark for a scam. They followed the same routine, picture and then ask if they could take a picture for me, and then "Where are you from?" I'm not sure what the scam actually was, could have been wanting to steal my camera, but more likely they were hoping to start up a conversation and segue into continuing the conversation at a tea house. At the tea house, my new found friends would order for me, racking up a huge bill.

I find scams wearisome now. When I first started to travel I was naively taken in a bit, then I looked at the scams as a form of amusement, feeling superior for knowing. Who knows, maybe I gave the cold shoulder to someone actually in need, or someone who was truly friendly and curious about a foreigner.

Shopping mall..."So this is where everyone is."

Old meets new.

World Expo Construction.Shanghai at sunset.

The hilton is on the left-side.

That night, four of us went to what will probably soon be known as the greatest show on earth. We had the option to attend a Chinese acrobat performance in Shanghai, so a few of us decided it was worth going. It was brilliant in all of its cheesy kitschy glory. The stunts and acrobatics were amazing in of themselves, albeit they were a bit rough around the edges. The choice in music alone made up for this, including but not limited to a 70s-esque hoola hoop extravaganza. I thought the show had peaked when nymphs in chiffon dresses were rollerskating to swan lake. But, oh no, right after that came the aerial silks to none other than My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion on a continuous loop. Now you might be asking - "How could they top that?" Well, why not include scenes from the movie Titanic at the same time?!? To finish 'spectacular spectacular' they brought in the 'Ball of Death,' featuring not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, but 5 motorcycles riding around inside a sphere. But wait! One was a woman! "A Woman?!" the crowd seemed to gasp in unison. "Surely she won't go in there?" the audience wondered aloud. Sure enough, she did. Ok, all kidding aside, the show was a lot of fun and I had never seen the motorcycle in a sphere stunt before. It is pretty amazing, although I could really just see the same type of driving on the streets of Shanghai. Here is the video and proof I didn't make this up. Star Wars fans will note the liberal use of the soundtrack. I'm sure George won't mind. Note - the woman is wearing the leather miniskirt.

Photo Competition

2009-11-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

I entered one of my China photographs in the Peregrine Photo Contest. It was shortlisted for the month of November, and you can vote for it here:

http://www.peregrineadventures.com/imagesoftheworld/vote.asp

It is the Terracotta Warriors photo. I haven't posted it on the blog yet. You can vote for it or one of the other really beautiful photos, but you have to give your name and information. One voter will be chosen each month and win a prize.

China Notes Part I

2009-11-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

For my trip to China, I decided on traveling with a tour group. Jenni and I had traveled with Peregrine for our trip through Vietnam and Cambodia, and despite some problems with group members it worked out alright. I decided to try Gecko's, because they seemed to allow a lot of freedom during the days, and also went by train for parts of the trip. I chose the East Coast Adventure, because it hit all the major spots that I wanted to see: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huangshan, Suzhou, Xian, and Beijing. I tried to book my flights through them too, but they wanted to route me through Sydney, which the only flight to Shanghai would have left at 8am, meaning I had to get there the night before. I even took a look at those automatic flight planners, which routed me from Perth (all the way on the opposite side of the country) then to Sydney. I think the flight time would have been 1 week. I routed myself through Singapore, leaving in the evening, and catching a midnight flight to Shanghai. The flight from Singapore to Shanghai was only about 5 1/2 hours, leaving little time for sleep. Sometimes faster jets are not the way to go.

Day 1 - Shanghai

View Larger Map

The plane landed in Shanghai just as the sun was rising, casting it in a yellow haze. I was immediately struck by the immensity of everything, from the 20 minute long taxi to the gate, to the cavernous halls of immigration. After clearing customs, and passing the swine flu screening, I stepped outside to the greeting area and felt the hot humid air at 8 in the morning. I'm disappointed, having swapped one hot humid place for another. A driver sent from the tour company greeted me, and we headed out to his car - a strange box shaped mini-suv/van that everyone who went to the airport seemed to own. Not long before leaving the airport, are we coated in this bizarre mist - a cross between fog and smog, thick and grey. We passed by giant concrete bridges, testaments to China's continued economic growth, seem to stretch on forever dissapearing into this ethereal mist.We quickly get deeper into the heart of Shanghai and more traffice. Road construction is everywhere, apartment buildings are going up, while old buildings are being taken down. I spotted a busload of construction workers, headed toward the site or from it, two of the workers still wearing their hardhats try and catch a few minutes of sleep, carefully balancing their heads on one another.

I arrived at the hotel, and struggle to check in. No one at the counter seems to care that I'm waiting to be served (gosh darn-it!), and other Chinese hotel patrons jump in front of me. THis was my first of many experiences with the lack of German like rigidity to their lines. This bugs me, probably because of my Swiss lineage. Eventually, I get frustrated enough and jump to the front. They seem confused as to what I want to do, but eventually give me a room. I tried my key in the lock, and it didn't work, so I knocked on the door and my new roommate opened it for me. He seemed surprised to have a hairy American knocking on his door that early in the morning, but we worked it out that we were indeed on the same tour. Dan is a soft spoken Canadian, and actually mistook me for an Australian initially. Probably because when I knocked on the door I gave a big Aussie grin and said "G'day mate, how ya going?"

The room left much to be desired, it was definitely budget accomodation for business travelers. The only thing that separated Dan and I from showering together or sharing the morning toilet trip are two slabs of frosted glass. The toilet and shower are separated by a sink with no wall. After cleaning oneself up, you had to delicately open the frosted glass door, keep it open and dry off behind it. Other than that, the beds are relatively comfortable, albeit the same width as me.

After a short nap, I decided to head out to The Bund river front area. This is the historic European business district, back when the colonialists were "still" around. It is still home to many global banks, now. It give views looking back on the shiny new Pudong area. Shanghai was selected for the 2010 World Expo and the entire Bund riverfront is now under heavy construction as everything is being prepared. China construction is not heavily dependent on technological innovations, given their massive workforce, construction can continue at a blinding pace of 25 hours a day 8 days a week. Having just read Devil in the White City, about the Chcago World's Fair at the turn of the 20th century, the importance of an exposition like this can't be understated. It will be Shanghai's voice to the world, has to out do all previous world fairs and, of course, the Beijing Olympics. It is hard to see what they are creating behind the dust and grime as I walked along the fenced off river front constructions. There are glimmers of what will likely be impressive architectural feats, though. Unfortunately, the route I took to The Bund made the impression that Shanghai was a city that screamed "Footpaths! We don't need none-of your Bourgeois footpaths!" This impression really came from my poor navigation skills, as on the way back I found where I was supposed to be walking.

Surprisingly Shanghai, the largest city in China with 20 million people, does not feel crowded. This sprawlling giant city compensates for the population by wide-open streets. Footpaths have few people, and traffic only seems heavy because of the road construction. It isn't till you are in a smaller space, like the queue of a supermarket around lunch time that you suddenly realize what a city of 20 million people feels like.

The Pudong

Day 2 - Hangzhou

View Larger Map

The next day we headed out to the city of Hangzhou. There were four of us on our tour, so we joined up with another group that had been traveling for over 20 days together. Their tour ended after the Yellow Mountains, and then we joined up with another shorter tour for the last part. After our tour ended, our guide had been gone for over a month.

To get to Hangzhou we took the bullet train from Shanghai. The train station is one of those places where you get a sense of how populated China is. Throngs of people tried to get through two metal detectors and2 x-ray machines. None-of-us were certain exactly what these security stations did, other than slow done the entrance. They were the same at every train station we went to. Metal detectors that were never on. X-ray machines that were monitored by teenagers in oversize security guard costumes. If you wanted to smuggle something on board, metallic or otherwise, wearing an oversize coat would and carrying it on your person would have sufficed.

Riding on a Bullet Train makes one hopeful of the fruition of President Obama's high speed passenger train network for the US. They are more comfortable and rival speeds of passenger airplanes. Although, these were only equipped with squat toilets. I have to admit to becoming a fan of the squat toilet, even though my legs weren't built for that kind of stretching, and the rocking of the train made it an even more difficult challenge. Don't forget your toilet paper though, no public Chinese toilets supply them for you.

Marco Polo found Hangzhou to be the finest city in all of the world. It is well-known for it's beautiful lake and the pagodas around the lake. The rest of the city feels like a typical industrial city, but maintains the wide streets of Shanghai. We walked from the hotel to the lake, where we were left by our guide to find our way around the lake and back to the hotel, while he went to purchase bus tickets for our trip the next day. Everyone from China seemed to join us there that afternoon. It was my first encounter with the outfits little kids (~2 to 4) wear, with the back open to the wind like a hospital gown. This makes it easier for the kids to squat wherever and use the toilet. Must save on nappy costs. It isn't very troublesome, because seeing a 2 year old's bottom hanging out of their clothes is more humorous than anything.

In Shanghai, people didn't stare much, a westerner tourist was not a novelty in a city used to business persons. However, while walking along the lake, several people would stop and stare at me. This wasn't so bad when little kids would giggle and smile. It was a little more disconcerting when a group of grown men did the same. I shared this with Dan later, and he said he didn't notice people staring at him. I suspect it may have had more to do with my facial hair than the novelty of a westerner.

It was windy along the lake, so kite affecianados were out in force. Kites ranged in size from tiny butterflies, in both size and shape, to large kites that cut through the air with a zipping sound.

For dinner that night, we went to a market and what our guide referred to as "snack street." Hangzhou is also famous for its tea, so many of the shops at the market sold tea in all shapes and sizes. One specialty shop, sold, as far as I could tell, only Ginseng. From Ginseng floating in wine (see video), to Ginseng that was hundreds of years old. I could almost hear a 1920's sidewalk seller hocking it, "Cures what ails ya!" But here is the shocker, the hundred year old Ginseng cost upwards of 70,000 yuan, roughly 10,000 US dollars. Sure, at first, Jenni was upset with me for spending our house savings on "some old dusty herb," but I think she is starting to come around. I'm even allowed back in the house.

Snack street was made up of different stalls that sold about every kind of food imaginable. See for yourself:

Day 3 and 4 - Huangshan (Yellow Mountain)

View Larger Map

The next morning we left early at 7:20 am to get to the Yellow Mountains. It was a scramble to find breakfast before getting on the bus, as the bakeries opened at 7:00 am. I don't know how the guide managed it, but the bus picked us up before going to the bus station to get the rest of the passengers. It was a long bus ride through beautiful scenery and massive tunnels. Passing by the mist covered mountain slopes, one gets a sense of how the unique Chinese Landscape paintings originated. As we continued deeper into the mountains, tiny villages nestled themselves in the tight fitting valley bottoms.

Eventually we arrived at a town that I never learned the name of. It was cold, and I felt it more than most having come from Darwin, and ill-prepared for the brisk mountain air. It was still refreshing after the stifling city air of Shanghai and Hangzhou. After checking in, we sat down for a family-style lunch. All the plates of food are placed in the middle of the table on a lazy suzy. It requires patience and courtesy as you wait for each plate to make its way around the table.

Not one to waste a second, our guide took us out to an area called Valentine Valley, where part of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed. The valley is a series of falls and pools connected by a footpath that wraps around. I broke off from the group as we all started to spread out, taking a "short cut" up .5 km of stairs. I was curious to find out what the next day would be like to as we went up the main mountain. It was possibly the wrong direction to go, as most people seemed to be heading the other way.

As I got to the top passing, near the Magpie Bridge, in the distance I could see something that looked like a bicycle on a high-wire. It turned out to be acrobats crossing. The timing worked out, because shortly they disappeared out of view.

Given the name of the valley, it would be expected that the valley was popular amongst couples. There were at least three couples having their photographs taken in wedding outfits. The costumes were all the same, which makes me suspect they were rented specifically for the photographs.

It was sad to be a spot meant specifically for couples and not have Jenni their to appreciate it with me. I could even hear her reminding me to put down my camera for a minute and enjoy it with her (thankfully).

The day ended with another family style meal. I warily tried everything. Having been sick in the last three countries we've visited in Asia has made me decide food is not my friend. Luckily I was alright throughout the trip.

I woke up the next day at 5:30 am to the sound of rain coming down hard; which did not bode well for our trip up to the Yellow Mountain. We walked to the bus station from our hotel, street sellers selling us ponchos along the way. This is something that has always amazed me - street sellers the world over always have a ready supply of whatever the unprepared tourist might need. At the station we were shuffled into the "foreign guest transfer channel" room. I'm not kidding, that's what the room was called. We didn't wait their long before we were put on the bus for the rough and winding ride up the mountain. Before you even ask, yes, I did get car sick. And luckily I didn't throw up.

Some of our group decided to walk up the 7.5 km staircase to the start, that is, the stairs before you get to the rest of the steps. I opted to take the cable car up, thinking it would leave more time at the top. Our guide said it would take them 2 1/5 hours, but they managed 1 1/2. At the top we did an 11km hike up and down steps, which did not include the extra 7 km up and 7 km down to the bus station.

The mountain was covered in clouds, and you could see little beyond a few hundred metres in front of you. Rather than detract from the experience, it enhanced it and added a bit of mystery to the place. I tried with the photos to imitate the style of some of the Chinese landscape paintings I saw, as it seemed so suitable.

After lunch we headed back to the stairs from our rest stop in small groups. Each of us as we went were acknowledged with a friendly "Hallo" from a group of Chinese hikers enjoying their reprieve in the same spot, showing off their English skills. Not to be outdone in a lack of bilingual ability, I responded to my "Hallo" with a light smile and a friendly "Ni Hao." They greeted this atonal attempt with polite laughter and applause. Mandarin is a tonal language, meaning different words might mean different things depending on which tone is used. So for all I know, I might have called them all horses.

On several occasions our progress was slowed by Chinese posing for photographs. It is usually entertaining to watch, as they are often very dramatic poses as if straight out of a silent movie or melodrama.

A tradition on the mountain, is for couples to place a padlock on one of the chains along the steps. Some of the locks had inscriptions on them, one was a bike lock. They are a symbol of the couple's bond and longevity....A cynic, of which I am clearly not, might call it a metaphor of the ball and chain...Had Jenni been there, you can guess that I would have put one there, but unfortunately, yet understandable, both members of the couple needed to be present.

There are a handful of, expensive, hotels and restaurants on the mountain. To get the supplies, from food, to pillows and sheets, they used porters. These porters ran up and down the stairs several times a day, carrying at least their own weight on their shoulders. Their calves were nothing but muscle, and possible could have carried the load by themselves.

We returned to the hotel by the bus, just in time for a nice hot shower.

Why our cat is now on Prozac and latest belly shot

2009-10-11T01:31:00.000-07:00

David has been gone a lot over the last couple of months and his family (i.e., me and our cats, Hugh and Basil) have dealt with his absence in different ways. Basil and I both prefer to whine -- me because without David here, who, oh who, is going to clean the litter boxes and solve my IT problems? Basil whines because my lap is shrinking and, regardless, he has always preferred David's.

To give you an idea of the smallness of my lap, here is the latest belly photo (33 weeks):

Oh yeah, and I got a new haircut, which helps keep me cool during the build up (season in Darwin before the rains when every day is just a little bit hotter and and a little bit more humid.) Below is a closer photo for anyone interested in belly veins. I still have about 1/2 inch of indented belly button so David and I are guessing it'll remain an innie... sigh... I was so looking forward to finally seeing what the inside of my belly button looks like (literal naval gazing).

BUT this blog isn't about my belly, it's about our cat, Hugh. So while Basil and I are whining about David's absence, Hugh expresses his displeasure differently.

As a background for those of you who don't know about poor Hugh's sordid past, allow me this diversion. We got Hugh from the animal shelter when he was about 2 years old. No one knew who his previous family had been, or even if he'd had a previous family. His name at the time was 'Heffner,' named so by the shelter for his habit of flashing the staff. Understandably, I found this endearing ("I'll take that one!"). So we brought Hugh home and gave him a less obviously pornographic name, but the flashing stopped largely due to his recent neutering. However, Hugh did have another strange habit -- he liked to nurse himself on himself. He'd sit upright and bend over his belly and happily suck on his nipples loudly for several minutes. This was especially annoying because he most often insisted on doing it at 3am in between our pillows. An internet search revealed poor Hugh had likely been weaned too early; he'd never known a mother's love. And over time it became clear Hugh had probably been raised by a family of squirrels conducting a psychological experiment. Most cats run away from strangers, but Hugh runs up to anyone in the street (including cars) expecting to be petted. Most cats avoid eye contact (this is a sign of respect), but Hugh will stare at you for hours without blinking. And most cats whine when someone they love is away... but Hugh is special.

When David returned from China (blog in progress), Hugh was happy to see him -- similar to Basil, he was missing a good lap. One evening Hugh climbed up on David's lap and was happily purring away. David and I were having a good laugh about something and I stood up to take the dishes to the sink. The next thing I know, Hugh is no longer on David's lap but clinging to David's face, claws embedded on either side of his head and teeth sunk into his forehead. Here is a shot of the aftermath (for police records):

So the following week, after David returned from Cairns, we took Hugh into the vet who didn't even need the DSM-IV to diagnose Hugh as a 'willful cat' well beyond therapy. So now Hugh is on Prozac (or the feline equivalent) and he's feeling much better now.

David won't be pressing charges.

More Great Barrier Reef

2009-10-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

Unable to resist the temptation of visiting the reef again. We used up some of our free time with another boat trip to the Low Isles. This had a completely different experience. The visibility was a bit lower, given the proximity of the boats and the recent wave of dust storms, but it was still a lot of fun. There were a number of sea turtles about, and my colleagues swam with some sharks but I missed out on it. My colleague Bruce and I went haves on a digital camera that could be rented through Quicksilver. It was worth it, and the photos came out much better than last time.

These were taken by Bruce:

Great Barrier Reef

2009-09-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hi All. It's David. I'm in Cairns (pronounced without the R) for a conference with a few colleagues. And in order to focus on work, we headed out to the Great Barrier Reef. We took a tour with Quicksilver to the outer reefs east of Port Douglas (an hour north of Cairns). The reef actually stretches for miles along the Queensland coast of Australia. Quicksilver has a high speed boat that got us to the outer reefs in an hour and a half. They've also set up this amazing pontoon/station where you are based for any number of activities from scuba and snorkeling to a helicopter ride. We just did the snorkeling. The whole setup has been designed so that anyone would get a chance to see the reefs from 5 to 85 year olds. I have never really visited any type of reef before, let alone something as amazing as the Great Barrier Reef. I couldn't resist buying a little underwater camera. It still used film, and I amazingly found a place that could still print film. They also scanned it. So these pictures in no way do the reef any justice. The scans aren't very good, and I have zero experience taking pictures underwater. Just keep that in mind.

If you ever get chance to go here, it is by far one of the best sites in Australia. It definitely deserves a spot in the 7 natural wonders of the world.

Giant Clam

Patience...

2009-09-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

David is currently filtering the hundreds of photographs from his trip to China in August and September, and will be posting soon.

In the meantime...

On occasion we like to check out the stats of our blog. Search terms the blog appears in are typically very entertaining given the unique combination of words that appear in our entries.

This is a new favourite: "happy ending massage for women ho chi minh city." Apparently there was potential for a large readership opportunity for our blog had we surveyed all the massage parlors in Ho Chi Minh City while we were there. For some bizarre reason this mysterious searcher did visit our blog, but stayed for a mere 0 seconds. There did seem to be a trend though as there were 6 searches out of 50 related to "massages." We stopped looking as it was giving us a deeper insight into the web we were not interested in knowing.

Incredible Expanding Jenni Part II

2009-09-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

The last time I posted a belly photo I was 20 weeks pregnant. Apparently I've done a lot of growing in the last 10 weeks. The little one is still moving all the time, but the movements are more constricted. Yesterday I saw what I think was an elbow moving along the side of my stomach. Our obstetrician is an ultrasound specialist (read: technology geek) and so we get to see the baby at every monthly visit. As a side note I have to say those 4-D shots of the baby can be really creepy. Apparently I am giving birth to either a Picasso painting or Skeletor.

What we have learned from the ultrasounds is that the little one hasn't changed positions, despite all the wriggling and kicking: Head is still tucked into the right side of my pelvis and hips are just above my belly button. I think that puts the legs somewhere between my heart and esophagus, but I can't be sure. Anyway, without further ado... here are the most recent belly and other expanding parts photos. It's a bit perverse, but I'm still insisting on squeezing into my pre-pregnancy workout clothes for the photo shoot.

24 weeks pregnant

29 weeks pregnant

People are now saying I look pregnant, instead of 'getting chubby,' so that's nice.

Things to do in Darwin

2009-08-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

We've noticed this blog popping up in a few travel related forums (linked to it) and thought maybe we should include some information for people traveling to Darwin and the Top End.

Things to do in Darwin:

There are a number of places to visit in the city itself, but it really has oriented itself mostly to people just passing through on there way to Litchfield and Kakadu national parks. The Museum and Art Gallery of the NT is really pretty well done and covers a range of topics from local flora and fauna to Indigenous artwork and history. The Cyclone Tracy exhibit is perhaps the must-see of the entire museum. Might even be worth going to the museum last, so you can see all the places you've visited and how they've changed. The botanical gardens are not far from the museum and offer some nice walks, but it is pretty small.

Aquascene is a place to go feed some fish near the CBD, but we've only walked past it (closed when we there). There is an old fuel storage container near there that has been converted to a rock climbing gym.

We're all for seeing movies while on vacation, and the Deckchair Cinema has a great venue to do this. It's located just below the CBD, and is open during the Dry Season, and part of the build-up.Not far from the Deckchair are the old fuel tunnels from WWII, but we haven't visited them. We've heard the hours are a bit odd, so you might check when you get here if you're interested. There is a pearling exhibition down by the wharf, David has tried to get Jenni to go, but she doesn't seem interested.

East point is located outside the CBD, and is a nice nature reserve. There is a military history museum there, but we have never been.

You can catch a ferry across the bay to Mandorah from Cullen Bay (or ride your bikes like we've done). There really isn't much there besides the pub. We've heard there is a WWII plane wreckage, but not sure where it is.

Eating in the Darwin:
There are loads of restaurants on Mitchell street in the CBD. Beware, service can be terrible on some evenings, and fantastic at other times. Check out the Noodle House for Asian food, or Shenanigans for pub food. The Moorish cafe on Knuckey street offers pretty good tapas. A walk down to the wharf is worth the view, and the food is surprisingly good (most of the time at least :)). The Cornucopia restaurant is located in the Museum, open for lunch and breakfast, but you might need to make a booking if you're there during peak hours. There are a number of good (and more expensive) restaurants down in Cullen bay; which is also a nice place to get a coffee (and catch the ferry to Mandorah). On East Point there is a restaurant called PeeWees and that is supposed to be good but very expensive. Along the road to East Point there are three clubs: Jet Ski, Sailing, and Trailor Boat club. They allow visitors, and all offer a great view of the sunset. Last time we went the Sailing club had the best food of the lot, but it all depends on who's cooking.

There are several markets. Mindil Beach market is probably the most popular, and runs from the dry through the build-up Thursday and Sunday nights. Another good spot for sunset watching. There are plenty of food stalls (woodfire pizza is quite nice), and shopping. If you are looking to get some gifts for people, then probably do it there. The Parap market runs all year (closest to the CBD) on Saturday morning. There are some food stalls, and fresh food stalls. Nightcliff market is all year round on Sunday morning. It's sort of a hodgepodge of things, food, gifts, fresh fruit. Not far is the Rapid Creek market, same Sunday morning. There is more fresh vegetables and fruit here. If you are looking to make your own food, go there for the fresh stuff.

Quick Day Trips:
If you are willing to make a few hours drive there are a couple of places not far out of town to visit. If you read this blog, you know that we like to visit Fogg Dam. It's free and there are usually plenty of wildlife, albeit mostly birds. Not far is the Jumping Croc tour. Admittedly, this was fun. Look for the one next to the bridge with the tall croc statue. You can also go to the Territory Wildlife Park if you want to see more wildlife up close. It is well done, but expensive. The nocturnal exhibit is particularly good. Before getting to the Wildlife Park there is Berry Springs, if you want to cool off in some croc free springs (at least during the dry). It's easy enough to do Litchfield park in a day, but will require a lot of driving. Here's our entry.

Long Excursions:
Obviously Kakadu is a must. It is HUGE though, so expect to do some driving between places. It would take at least 3 hours to get to Jabiru at the northern end of the park from Darwin along the Arnhem Highway. If you are going to camp at the southern end, drive to pine creek and use that entrance along the Stuart Highway. Check out our entry on this for things to see and places to camp. Litchfield is great too, and some really nice camping spots.

You can keep going past Pine Creek and get to Katherine. Skip the town and go straight to the gorge. From here there are a multitude of options, from simple river cruises to longer excursions. You can canoe up the river, and camp along it, but they only rent canoes for a day, so you will need to find another means if you don't have your own. You can also start a 5-6 day backpacking trip along the Jatbula trail. You need to make advanced bookings to do it though. It's a moderate to difficult hike depending on your physical standing. David was able to do it, so you know it was too difficult.

Hopefully that provides some helpful advice for people coming up to the Top End...or down to the Top End.

Bali and Back

2009-08-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a little trip to Bali, Indonesia. Some of our friends called this a "babymoon," our last vacation as DINKs (double income no kids). We'd never been to Bali before, and it was little weird that we traveled to this exotic destination over a weekend. Many of the other tourists and visitors traveled there from Europe and Asia on very long flights. Our flight took less time than it did to drive to Kakadu (not too much difference in the cost of fuel and our CRV has far more leg room than JetStar). It's just funny that Bali is in our "backyard."
We had a really good time there, and hope that one day we will get to go back. It seemed like a family-friendly destination too.

We picked a great place to stay called Furama Village and Spa. Each private bungalow had its own pool and outdoor shower.

Jenni within an hour of waking up was asleep again...

View from Furama

The great cornfields of Bali

Jenni said that this was meant to be a relaxing vacation. David was, naturally, skeptical of this, and the first day after lounging around the pool Jenni suggested they go for a bike ride to Ubud. At the hotel they said it would be about a 40 minute bike ride, neglecting to mention it was an uphill bike ride. Yes, we grew up in Colorado, but we've been living in Darwin where we can count the hills on our thumbs. So it turned out to be a little more difficult than we planned. An hour later, drenched in sweat, we stopped at the art museum in Ubud and enjoyed some of the contemporary art work on display. On the grounds there were a number of roosters sitting in little cages. Apparently cockfighting is a very popular past time in Bali (maybe also in the rest of Indonesia). It is pretty violent, with the rooster having razor blades attached to their toes -- but it is part of the traditional Hindu ceremonies so it's been difficult to outlaw. The losing rooster has its foot cut off to make removal of the blades easier. Not sure why the museum had all of these, perhaps it was bring your rooster to work day.

Roosters

Downtown Ubud

Rice fields along the road

We decided to skip the monkey sanctuary, although we could see them right at the gates next to the banana sellers. We heard from other tourists that the monkeys will actually crawl on your back and comb through your hair. We weren't particularly disappointed we'd missed out on the experience. We took a back route through the winding roads, and got back to the hotel in time for a seafood bbq. We thought Australians had mastered the art of the grill, but they've got stiff competition. The next day we hired a driver for the day to take us around to a few spots. The first stop was the rice terraces of Jatiluwih.

After that our guide took us to a large Temple on a lake. Not sure what the name of this one was. It looked very beautiful in the fog coming off the lake. Even though Bali is closer to the equator than Darwin, because of the elevation it can be quite cold (especially if you are from Darwin).

We then asked our driver if we could do a short hike (still Jenni's idea of a relaxing vacation), and he suggested a walk around one of their smaller mountain lakes. In order to do this though, we needed a guide. It was not unreasonable since we had never done the walk before. Unfortunately there were no guides at the start of the walk. "Don't worry I know where he lives." So we turned off the main road and drove done a very steep bumpy road where they grew oranges. So we got a pretty good view of what local life was like. Turns out there was a bit of a conflict between guides at different villages, because of competition. So we needed two guides to stave off any guide-to-guide combat likely to erupt. They were both very friendly and the most English they knew was to apologize for how little English they knew...which was still better than our Indonesian. The walk took us around Danau Tamblingan. Where we visited several temples, including a large one in the village at the end. The large one reminded us a lot of Angkor, which isn't surprising given the Hindu and Buddhist influences throughout South East Asia.

Part of the reason for the timing of our trip was we had a friend from work who was returning to Bali for his son and daughter's tooth filing ceremony. Ida is Balinese and living in Darwin with his wife and family. He invited most everyone from work, but we were the only ones who went as far as we could tell. We felt really luck to be apart of it and get to see first hand a ceremony that is becoming rarer and rarer. This is partly because it is a very expensive ceremony to host, costing upwards of 15,000 US dollars. Most of this is just to cover the cost of food. Unfortunately, we could never get a hold of Ida, and had no idea when was a good time to go or where he lived exactly. So we risked it and went to the village and our taxi driver was able to find the place. We had missed both his son and daughter's ceremonies, which was disappointing, but there were still a few others who were having it done. Here is a little video, including David and Jenni in Balinese traditional wear.

David plans on using this to show to the baby when it gets older and say "See your dentist ain't so bad..."

By the end of the trip David had caught a bit of Bali belly, so was feeling ready to head home. What better way for a send off and an upset stomach than a little bit of McDonald's? Hopefully the grease and hormones sucked up some of the bacteria.

Baby, Kakadu, and Litchfield

2009-07-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

Lots to report for this entry. Last week Jenni's mom came for a visit. It was a short ten days, so we decided to drag her around to everything possible and thoroughly tucker her out for the flight back. (Of course this failed miserably as she had enough energy to stop by Sydney for her last 3 days in Australia, seeing more of Sydney on her own than either of us had in our 2 weeks combined.)

The first stop though was to the Doctor's for our appointment. It was the big ultrasound where we find out what the sex is. And the big news is - WE'RE HAVING A HUMAN BIPED!!! If you want to know the sex you can look at the ultrasound video, we're sure it is as clear as day.

After that we took a couple days off and spent the weekend in Kakadu National Park. It is a beautiful area, and perhaps the reason people visit the territory. Jenni had been on a separate trip last year so this was David's first time there. We camped in Gunlom, which is in the southern end of the park. It said the road was 4wd drive access but our Honda CRV made it fine. It's another 40 minutes from the road, so it's a long drive. It is a great campsite right next to a swimming hole and good facilities. Driving there took the better part of a day, we went from Darwin through Adelaide River and entered the park just south of Pine Creek.

The next day we drove through the park and visited the Nourlangie rock art site (Anbangbang). There is some well preserved rock art there. They can provide dates for some of them based on the content like the rifle in the photo below. This is a few hundred years old because the earliest they would have seen a rifle in the area was with the arrival of Europeans. We also did a short hike up a steep hill to Mirrai Lookout.

A wallaby hanging out by the path

Rockart (Rifle in the second photo)

Hiking up to the Mirrai Lookout

On Sunday we packed up camp and stopped to do the Yurmikmik walk near Gunlom, which ended in a beautiful rock hole where we could have gone swimming had we brought our suits. That night we shifted camp to the Mardugal campsite. This would have also been a nice campsite, but the ants ate us during the day and the mozzies attacked us at night. We could hear them swarming around our tent when it got dark.

Start of Yurmikmik

End of Yurmikmik
Well, maybe we did tire mom out...

Our awsome Big Agnes tent made in Steamboat CO

Sulfur Crested Cockatoo hanging out by the camp.

Hmmmm...Wonder where all the mozzies came from?

On Monday we headed back into Darwin, but stopped to take the Original Adelaide River Jumping Croc River Boat Cruise...Extravaganza. Jenni has been wanting to do this for a while and having her mom here was a perfect excuse. David even didn't get seasick, so you know it was a pretty mellow boat trip. They fed the crocodiles, but also a couple of sea eagles, and kites that were in the area. All the animals know when the food is coming, so the birds start hovering and the crocs swim towards the boat.

Testing the waters...

"Small" Female Croc

5 Metre (16 feet) Male Croc

Smiling for the cameras...

6 Metre (19 feet) male croc

Sea eagle

Baby croc (12 inches) hidden in the mud

Kite feeding frenzy

We said a sad farewell to Jenni's mom on Thursday, and to keep up the momentum we decided to go camping in Litchfield over this 3 day weekend. We stupidly left Friday afternoon and by the time we got there we had to go to about 4 campsites before we found anything at the Litchfield Safari Camp. Not sure where the safari bit came in, but it was a decent campground. The next morning we woke up early and caught site of several wallabies hanging out along the road. Jenni wanted to do a long bushwalk (yes she is the pregnant one). So we tried going to Sandy Creek/Blythe Homestead but not even a 1/2 km in we ran across a deep (.7 m) creek crossing, and David said he wasn't going to cross. So we headed to the Lost City instead. This was a 10 km walk in one direction, so we loaded up with water and sunscreen and headed out. One person stopped and asked if we wanted a ride, but we turned them down. The walk wasn't too bad, but the last km wasn't shaded well so it got hot. Some nice people stopped as they were leaving and squirted us with their water spray, which felt quite refreshing. The Lost City is a series of rock formations, and it reminded us a lot of the Angkor and Bayon temples. After having lunch and swatting flies for an hour we started back, and again some nice people offered us ride. This time we accepted and drove for about 3 km, and then walked the rest of the way. Driving back to the camp we stopped to soak our feet at Wangi falls and then went to the tent for a feast of mac and cheese, mash, and peas.

This reminded us a lot of the elephant terrace

Reach! Almost there!

Cockatoos swarmed our campsite one afternoon

The morning we left we noticed hundreds of little spider webs covered in morning due. So naturally David had to spend his morning taking pictures in spite of his general distaste for spiders.

The Incredible Expanding Jenni

2009-07-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a month-by-month photo record of my (yes, this is Jenni blogging, not David) growing belly (along with the rest of me). I'm not sure how much longer I can squeeze into my old workout clothes, but I figure it's the best way to compare and will be increasingly comedic in the months to come.

6 weeks

10 weeks

15 weeks

20 weeks

I'm 20 weeks now and the most exciting part is feeling the baby move. It's really bizarre to be poked and prodded from the inside. For those of you who haven't been pregnant, you know that feeling when you fall off the playground swing or are tackled by a 250 pound linebacker and the impact makes you lose your breath? Well, it's sort of like that, except milder and very pleasant. Unless you're into that kind of thing. A good kick still makes me catch my breath. The baby moves most at midday, evening and middle of the night.

Territory Day the Sequel: This time its personal

2009-07-02T03:06:00.000-07:00

Yes it is that time of year again - Territory Day! We had so much fun the last time that we actually got some of our own. But first, as requested by family and friends, here is a shot of Jenni's belly which she claims is huge. For those that don't know Jenni is pregnant (18 weeks according to the doctor, 18 weeks 4 days according to Jenni), and not just eating meat pies and sausage rolls.

The fireworks box!

Watch those flaming balls!

Batman?

Here is our first cracker of the evening.

This should give a sense of the noise and chaos.

While we were sitting watching, and ducking, these ~~idiots~~ kids next to us were lighting fireworks about 5 metres from the scrub behind them. A firework either purposely or not fired back into the scrub and lit it on fire. Some volunteers started to put it out while the teenagers went back to lighting more fireworks and laughing. Some rangers came with a truck and water pump and put it out. Just as this happened they fired another one into the scrub and started a second fire. None of the rangers or beach patrol told them to stop. If fireworks get banned on Territory day it will be because of them.

Some shots from our traditional walk home.

Outback

2009-06-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

This past week I (David) went out to an Indigenous community at the mouth of the Daly River in Anson Bay called Bulgul. I went with a colleague who has been working with the community for the past 20 years, coming from the US once a year. I got involved in the project because of my Geography/Cartography background, and after getting certified as a trainer in the VET (Vocational Education and Training) system, I've started to design a course for the community. VET is sort of the equivalent of community college, focusing on work skills. This trip kicked things off with some GPS training. We are taking things slowly and just starting to mark places (waypoints) that they are interested in, and showing them how to find them again using the GPS. This is just the first step that will lead to some computer training during the Build-up (Septemberish).

Anyway, this was unlike any place I had ever been. Backpacking for 5 days is the closest thing to it, but even that is miles away. There are different groups that live in this area, and some have houses. The group I'm working with are living out of tents, but have at least one apartment in Darwin and split their time between Bulgul and Darwin. I'm not sure how much to tell about, and what photos I can put on the blog. I did take photos with permission, but I didn't ask if I could post them on the blog. However, I think some will make it up on the project website when that gets built. The first night we arrived late in the evening after taking off after work. They had some food waiting for us, including mud mussels, which are really salty clams. The main course was a choice between a tin of corned beef or tongue..."Ewwww oh God, gross...I'll take the tongue thank you very much." I did end up eating the tongue. It was either cow tongue or Kangaroo, I forgot to ask. It wasn't too chewey because it had been boiling for a good couple of hours, and had a bit of gamey taste.

The next day we went through the basics of turning on the GPS, recording a waypoint, and finding it again. It wasn't difficult stuff, just a matter of practice. Next we went out to a sacred site, and marked it and the path with the GPS units. On the way there, they pulled off the road, because the driver had spotted a large animal. He got out, took his gun and shot it. I haven't heard a gun shot in a long time, so it made me jump. He came back to the car and said, "We'll get it on the way back." Which we did, all the men hopping out of the truck to start to bleed it and carve it up. I went back with everyone else, and the truck went back to pick them up bringing the carcass back in the trailer bed. I got called over and had to claim my lunch as it was being detached. After grilling that up on the open fire and eating, I went with a couple people and dropped the carcass off the back of the trailer. Another group had gone out and caught some massive Tiger prawns, so when we got back I had one of those... by then I was pretty stuffed. After that, a large group of us went out to the beach and did some fishing. I got passed a fishing line after it had already been cast, and pulled in a Grunter...while somehow managing to tangle the line up into a giant knot.

My fish...

The next day we went out to one of the islands in the bay. Now those who know me, or this blog, know I don't much care for boats...or the seasickness that usually comes with them. I wasn't too enthused, but I also wanted to go and check these islands out. It wasn't too bad because the boat really just tore across the water. We got to one of the islands just as the tide was comming out and went as far into the mangroves as we could, then walked the rest of the way. We continued the training with a couple of the people who missed the training earlier. At lunch time they threw one of the mud crabs they had caught on the fire for me to try. I scarffed that down as quickly as possible, because of the group wanted to show me the spot where they get their mud mussels. The name is quite apt as we trapsed through swamp and mud to find these half buried clams. We spent a good part of the time waiting for the tide to come back, as the boat was now on land. I spent part of this time walking around the water with one of the kids playing fishing sting rays. They of course swam quickly away from us, but it was fun watching him play and learn. On the way out we went to the other side of the island and everyone threw their lines into the water and started reeling in the fish. My colleague asked if I was feeling alright given we were just bopping in the water which is the worst for seasickness... "I better be alright, I've taken 3 dramamine." In fact, I think I was a bit high. Don't worry, you're not supposed to take more than 8 in a 24 hour period, so I still had a few to go. That night when we got back to camp, they fried me up some salmon. The interesting thing about the salmon here is that the flesh is white, it's pink in the US because of their diet, but it tastes exactly the same...of course a million times better given it was caught and cooked in the span of an hour.

That night we came back to Darwin. I left with a lifetime's worth of experience and about 50 mozzie bites on my legs. When the project website gets built, we will probably put a donation page for people to contrbute to the community. I'll post that here, and I hope the readers will donate. It would go directly to the community and purchase necessities and probably petrol. But first the community has to apply for non-profit status.

Just Another Day in The Territory

2009-05-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

For Hiram's second excursion, we took him to Fogg Dam. We had never been there this time of year before, and the water was practically overbanking. We didn't realize how dumb it was to be walking across till we saw how high the water was, not to mention the two crocs and croc trap we could see in the water. So we walked on the opposite bank with less water. There were quite a lot of animals out and about...birds, crocs, and snakes.

On our way walking back to the car on the dam, we could see something off in the distance. Initially we thought it was a dog, but then it dawned on us that it was a feral water buffalo. They aren't native to Australia but were brought in, probably for the ill-fated rice paddies of the NT. You see that behind the buffalo - that's the exit. We walked back to one of the observation stands in hopes that it wouldn't come out there and just head into the wetlands. Water buffalo can be extremely dangerous and unpredictable.

It plodded its way down the road stopped and stared at us, must have decided we weren't a threat and moved on. Then it came upon a car, and eventually went off the road into the water. It was a little scary.

Then on our way back home along the highway, the car started to vibrate really bad. David looked in the rear view mirror just in time to see pieces of rubber flying back. Surprisingly the tire was still on, but the nearly the entire tread had "exploded" off taking the mudflap with it.

An exiting afternoon indeed.

First Visitor

2009-05-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

We've gotten our first visitor to Darwin - Jenni's dad Hiram. It's good to have an excuse to go do touristy things with him. Today we went and walked around the Darwin CBD and then to the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery. No visit to the gallery is complete without a stop at Sweetheart the 5.1 meter 700 kilo (almost 1 tonne) salty, and the Cyclone Tracy Exhibit.

They also have a neat maritime exhibit. Filled with a high with boats (ships?) from throughout Indonesia that have been confiscated because illegal fishing.

Here on the left side of the photo we encounter the migratory species extrarius salutor - more commonly called the "tourist." Distinctive plumage around the legs are typically khaki coloured with numerous pockets footwear include the labels Merrel or Nike, and plumage around the head typically is a large brimmed hat, sometimes made of a tough leatherous material called leather and rimmed with teeth from a crocodile made of plastic.

This is contrasted with the permanent resident - locus northern tractus or commonly known as "Territorian." Plumage around the chest is usually a white singlet, sometimes bare breasted, with short shorts, and typically carrying a stubby holder with a can of XXXX Gold Beer in it. The locus northern tractus has a carefree jovial personality and is usually harmless.

Hugh v Wrist Band

2009-04-24T20:30:00.001-07:00

Things I learned about Darwin...

2009-04-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

While travelling in the US.

1. There is no such thing as traffic in Darwin. It takes less than 10 minutes to get anywhere in this town.

2. We pay twice as much for poorer quality food. The vegetables are on there way out by the time they get to the supermarket. That is if they have any vegetables in stock.

3. It isn't "normal" to store all your pantry foods in large plastic containers so ants can't get to it. One bit me while we fought over the last granola bar. Luckily the house gecko intervened. On a side note don't try and feed a gecko cockroaches, you'll traumatize it.

4. No where else in the world do you get a chance to say "We got our first toilet frog the other day." It's true, we did. We put it outside before the cats saw it. We have no idea how it came in, but gave it a spare key for anytime it wanted to come back and eat the cockroaches.

5. And finally, one really shouldn't sweat that much when just vacuuming.

Vietnam Singapore and Malaysia

2009-02-28T14:50:00.000-08:00

For the last day of our tour (if you remember we left off in Siem Reap) we headed out towards some older ruins on the bikes. Along the way, we stopped at a little roadside stand, and learned how they make palm sugar. If you've never tried palm sugar before, it has a nice flavor.

David also finally got a chance to see some water buffalo out in the "wild."

After all the biking David decided to catch the bus back, while Jenni road back. Since David got back before her, he had some time to kill and went to the central tourist part of town. He took a tuktuk and literally got taken for a ride.

Before we all split ways the next day we went out for dinner at a "local" restaurant. We believe our guide phrased it like this: "Ladies and Gentleman further information please. For dinner tonight, would you like to eat where local people eat." "Oh yeah sure, yeah we're knowledgeable sturdy travelers." Well the food was quite questionable, and the largest dog in the world was running around the kitchen, and might have been the cook. The different soups were clearly just sitting in large pots, for however many days. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, except if your stomachs aren't used to it. Luckily no one got sick that night or the next day. This is probably because of the large amount of alcohol that was consumed due to it being New Years Eve. A few of us headed down to the tourist strip to have a few drinks. They basically cordoned off the whole area to contain all westerners and turned it into a giant rave. He managed to get a spot on the second floor of a restaurant and look down at the masses. It was good fun.

The next day we were free from schedules and routines, left to the our own devices...unfortunately, without that rigid structure we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. So David watched movies in Cambodian and Jenni took a nap. Actually, we went out to the very new, very modern museum. It was actually a really nice museum, but the way they broke it up into themes, it became quite repetitive. They talked about the Hindu influence in one room and discuss the kings and then talk about the kings in another room.

The next morning we packed up and headed to the airport via tuktuk, with our packs barely strapped to the seats. About halfway there, Jenni realized that she had left her wedding ring in the hotel room (we were shocked, it is very unlike Jenni to forget things). We decided to just get to the airport and get the flight settled and see how much time we had. We got there and the security guard asked which flight we were on, "Siem Reap airlines to Ho Chi Minh City." Never heard of it...So we go inside to the terminal. No Siem Reap airlines. We then decided Jenni would go back to the hotel, and David would figure out how we were going to leave the country. Here's Jenni's harrowing tale:

"I hurried out the airport, assuming I had little time to get back to the hotel. The taxi, tuk tuk and motobike kiosk advertised fares back to the city: $10 taxi, $8 tuk tuk and $4 motobike. The choice was obvious, not only were motobikes cheapest, they could easily weave in and out of stalled traffic. And the teenage boy driving the bike was more than happy to turn a tourist ride into the city into a grand high speed adventure. He was obviously very concerned I lost my ring as he dodged cars, sped through red lights and took a back alley full of pot holes to avoid a traffic jam. I laughed the entire way to the hotel -- mostly out of fear. But we made it safely and I ran back up to the room and the ring was right where I knew I'd left it... on the floor next to the bed... where I always leave my ring... ahem. I ran back out and popped back on the young Cambodian's bike. The trip back was equally thrilling. What probably should have taken 40 minutes round trip took my young friend only 20 minutes. He dropped me off at the airport and, with a gesture of triumph, said, "Yes! We made it!" I am not sure whether he was celebrating the time or that we had, indeed, made it alive. So that's how losing my wedding ring became the highlight of my trip to Cambodia. David, however, had less fun waiting for me at the airport."

While Jenni was speeding down the highway, clinging to the back of the motobike, David drug our two backpacks to the domestic terminal on a miscommunication (read, David doesn't speak Khmer) where he was turned around, "You're on an international flight, not a domestic flight." He returned to the international terminal hoping our airline and flight had somehow materialized in his absence. No such luck. By this point Jenni had come back and after a lot of pleading we finally got somebody to listen to us. Turns out our flight had been canceled for over a month, and we had, luckily, been moved to a later flight. Our idiot travel agents at Flight Centre didn't notify us of this. Notification of changed flights is pretty standard, at least we thought it was. So we lounged around the terminal for a little while, sorely tempted by the Dairy Queen.

Once we were on the Vietnam Airlines flight, we were greeted by the pilot "Hallo there folks..ahhhh...we'll be taking off shortly...ahhh...we should have you in Ho Chi Minh City in about an hour and a half...ahhhh...the weather is..." and so on, in a perfect Midwestern American accent. We were back in Ho Chi Minh City, and it had lost its allure and mystery. Now it was just a big city with a lot of people.

We had a free day the next day, and then we were headed to Singapore. We walked around the city some more and went to the art museum. While a lot of the paintings/sculptures were contemporary, they really didn't challenge the current system/government. A lot of times in western museums it is common to see some sort of social critique. Actually, there were even heroic looking sculptures and paintings from the Vietnam war. From there we went to the history museum where we learned many things. For example, "In 1930, the Indochinese Communist party was founded, it proposed the correct revolution platform." Then, "Everywhere, peasants rose up against the oppression of monarchy system." Finally, "After 1975, developing socio-economic requirements resulted in the movement of members of Northern ethnic groups to Southern Vietnam." Every museum is certainly nationalistic, but we just liked the wording.

From Ho Chi Minh we flew to Singapore. We just were using Singapore as a jumping off point to go to Malaysia, but we planned to stay a night to catch up with some old friends - the food. Luckily neither of us were packing durian (for those of you who don't know, durian is a fruit that apparently tastes good... if you can get paste the odor of blue cheese that's been sitting in the sun for 3 weeks).

You can see our earlier post on Singapore for some different info. For the evening, we just went out to eat and then back to the tiny hostel. The next morning we got up early to catch the train to Kuala Lumpur. The stomach bug that David had been fighting off quite successfully finally won, and it made for a rough train ride and couple of days. It was long too, almost 7 hours.

Kuala Lumpur is a modern beautiful city. Anyone interested in an easy introduction to Southeast Asia would really enjoy it. The public transport was easy to use, and we just hopped on the monorail to our hostel. We wandered around for a bit and grabbed something to eat (David could hardly touch it), then back to the hostel. At some point in the night the main water pipe for the whole street was shut off for some reason we never really knew. This meant there was no running water at the hostel so we thought it best to leave, rather than brush our teeth with the toilet water. David was still not feeling well, so we really didn't want to go too far. Our first stop was to get tickets to visit the Petronas (pronounced pet row nass) Towers. They are the second tallest buildings in the world, but the tallest twin towers. It's free to visit, but they only allow a certain amount of people a day. Then we went across town to perhaps the best made museum (Malaysian history museum) either of us had been. Really top notch exhibits that kept our interest the whole time. Then back across town to visit the skybridge that connected the two towers. After a short propaganda film about Petronas (en brief it is a Malaysian Oil company) we and twenty of our closest friends crammed into a freight elevator to visit the bridge. It is actually a double decker bridge, one floor is for tourists, the other floor is for people who work in the building. It makes things easier so that people do not have to go to the ground floor to access a floor in the opposite building. You can get a good view of the city, as well as inside the offices.

The towers are actually built on a giant mall. Which is where we spent most of our time, because of the "facilities" we were lacking in our hostel. We spent our evening at the movie theater, and came out shivering. It reminded us of the Antarctica simulation exhibit at the Antarctica museum in New Zealand. But it was a dry cold...

David was still sick the next day as we clamored onto the train for another 7 hour ride. We were nearing the end of the trip when they began to hand out the custom cards. Jenni woke David up, and he incoherently mumbled "I don't have your passport." This triggered something in Jenni's brain that said "I don't have my passport either." Thus began the final leg of our trip. It was determined that the passport was probably still at the hostel, so we checked with the train personnel and they told us we could catch a train back to Kuala Lumpur at the next station. We disembarked there and made a call to make sure it was back at the hostel then waited around for the next train. Luckily there was also a train the next day early in the morning, and our flight back to Darwin didn't leave till that evening.

Wanting to preserve the moment for posterity, David caught it on video.

Twice...

Amazingly everything went very smoothly and we got back to Singapore in plenty of time. So ended our trip through Southeast Asia.

Wet season casualty

2009-02-10T00:13:00.000-08:00

It brings a whole new meaning to use it or lose it. Apparently leaving a bag in the closet for a few weeks during the wet season has repercussions - mold.

David keeps encouraging Jenni to make some home-made penicillin, and Jenni keeps telling him she's not that kind of doctor...

Vietnam and Cambodia and then Vietnam Again Part 5

2009-01-29T16:48:00.001-08:00

This post will probably contain more information on the Angkor temples than you ever wanted to know, but you can use it to wow your friends at dinner parties with comments like, "Did you know that Angkor Wat is actually just one temple of many?" or "Did you know that some of the temples they leave the vegetation growing over them because the tourists like the look of the overgrown jungle?" And when they ask if you've been to Cambodia, do not reply with "No, I just read it on somebody's blog."

It was a long bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, with a few detours along the way. The first stop was at a small little highway rest stop where they served local delicacies. These delicacies consisted of roast duck, fruits, deep fried tarantulas or crickets, and a variety of beverages. We were still full from breakfast, and didn't feel like eating.

The next stop was at a small little workshop where they grow silk worms and process the silk to turn it into scarfs and other clothing items. Turned out to be run from a guy who was from Denver, Colorado. He had worked in Cambodia for a number of years, and then eventually retired there. Now he is starting up this little business employing only local women, which keeps them from going to the sweat shops on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. It seemed like a good cause to support, and was positively impacting the small village, so we bought as many scarves as we had money.

Finally we arrived in the modern town of Siem Reap. You can still see remnants of what the town used to be like with small shacks nestled along the river, but now it is being developed as fast as development can take place fueled by the tourist economy. Most of the construction though isn't going to make the lives of the residents any more comfortable, but building luxury hotels, and a modern airport. Once settled into our "luxury" hotel (which wasn't a brothel this time), we climbed on to our bikes to stretch our legs a bit and rode out of town to the Tonle Sap lake for a boat tour. The Tonle Sap is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and feeds the Mekong river. Each year in May, the Mekong delta cannot handle the amount of water flowing through it, so it reverses direction, backing up the Tonle Sap which expands and floods the area for about three months. At Tonle Sap we got onto boat for a sunset cruise along a tributary that feeds into the lake.

"You're getting on that boat?"

There's bound to be a metaphor in this photo...

People live along the river their entire lives. Some were equipped with generators, and on the way back in the dimly lit evening we could see the glow of television screens.

Tonle Sap sunset with a few hundred of our closest tourist friends.

The next day we got riding early and headed out to the Angkor temple site. Our first stop is nicknamed "The Jungle Temple," because they leave a lot of the vegetation on the temple and clear just enough for people to get around.

Riding bikes is probably the best way to see Angkor, because you are out in the open and riding next to these temple walls that were constructed thousands of years ago. It is pretty amazing all of this is as well preserved as it is given the hot humid wet climate. SOME tourists just don't appreciate all this majesty....

The next stop was the Terrace of the Elephants (see photo for why it is named this) and the Terrace of the Leper King (not sure why it is called this, but David developed a strange rash since going there).

Elephant Terrace

Leper King Terrace

Tuktuk might be the 2nd best way to get around:

The next stop was Bayon. This perhaps is the second most well-known spot in Angkor, with it's 40 some 4 headed towers serenely surveying the land.

These guys were fishing...not sure for what.

One thing to keep in mind is that these temples were converted to Buddhist sanctuaries for hundreds of years and are still religious centers, so it isn't rare to see statues of Buddha like this one.

The Elephant and Leper Terraces and Bayon are part of a larger complex called Angkor Thom, and it is surrounded by a moat, with massive bridges that serve as entrances. Along the bridges are representations of a Hindu story called the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. To our untrained eye it looks a bit like a tug of war using a giant multi-headed (hooded) cobra with gods on either side pulling causing the mountain in the middle to "churn". This motif also appears as a large relief on the inner temple of Angkor Wat. Actually, you see it almost everywhere you go. The cobra is also an important symbol in Cambodia, and see it everywhere. Naga is a multi-headed cobra deity, and is usually associated with water; in Buddhism there is a story where it once protected the Budha from the rain. You'll see several seated Buddha statues with the hooded Naga overhead. When you see how heavily dependent Cambodians are on the river system and Tonle Sap for pretty much everything, you get an understanding why Naga is so appealing. Here are some photos of the bridges of Angkor Thom.

While the rest of the group headed back into town for lunch, we decided to ride around and get as much time as possible at the site. We headed back to a temple we had passed earlier called Ta Keo. Jenni saw the hundreds of 55 degree steps, and said "That's the place for me."

The group returned quickly and for the rest of the afternoon we wandered around Angkor Wat.

Entrance to Angkor Wat, crossing a moat.

Outer wall.

Looking from the outer wall to the inner temple.

Naga.

Looking back onto the outer wall.

The jungle not so far away.

Seated Buddha statue.

One of the 5 towers.

Detail of a relief.
Detail of Churning of the Ocean of Milk. Deity in the middle.The five towers.

Group photo in front of Angkor Wat.

We ended our day with another sunset over the jungle, this time with a few thousand of our closest friends.

It offered a nice view of Angkor.

And one last time before we went back to town for dinner and sleep.

Vietnam and Cambodia and then Vietnam Again Part 4

2009-01-19T03:13:00.001-08:00

Sihanoukville is a beach resort town located in the southern part of Cambodia. We spent two nights in this town and that was probably two too many. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it wasn't our cup of tea. The full day that we spent there, a small group of us took the bikes out and rode almost the whole way around the town. We went through the middle of town and visited the large market, then headed out to the outskirts and spent an hour at the beach before heading back to the hotel.

Some highlights from the bike ride and market.

Last stop at the beach.

The next morning we got up early and started riding right from the hotel. It included some grueling (David's word) uphill battles. David was partially hindered, because he began to have a morning stomach problem that lasted through the trip and got progressively worst. It wasn't too bad, but after 15km we hopped on the bus and drove out to some flatter locations so everyone got a chance to ride. It was another 15km and then back on the bus.

On the way into the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, we delved into darker waters on the outskirts stopping at Choeung Ek, one of the many Killing Fields. The location is now a memorial/museum with a Buddhist Stupa built over the sight. It is a heart-wrenching place to visit. The location was used solely as an execution center for political prisoners during the Pol Pot / Khmer Rouge reign of terror. Approximately 17,000 people were executed there between 1975-1979. The location is a series of unearthed mass graves that contained at least 8,000 people. The bones of that were discovered in the graves were placed inside the Stupa. There are a number of graves that have not been excavated. Visitors carefully make their way through the open pits. Clothing and bits of human bones still sit on the surface of the paths. Choeung Ek is a controversial site, some criticize it because they feel it dishonors those that died there by turning it into a tourist destination (some in the tour group expressed the same sentiment). Cambodia is still coming to terms with the last three decades that have included civil war, war, and genocide. A number of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge are still in power, having changed parties. And in most cases, those blamed for the genocide have not been brought to justice; Pol Pot himself dying in his own bed under house arrest in 1998. But, recently an international tribunal has been put in place to deal with this time period.

From there we silently made our way into the heart of Phnom Penh to our hotel. It was clear that the hotel catered mostly to Chinese businessmen (and other Asian nationalities). On the "karaoke" floor there was a display window set up, where young women were assembled in a bleacher like fashion. Each wore a simple bikini top and shorts with a number attached. The color of the bikini determined the nationality of the women. We were not too happy that the tour had booked us in what was essentially a brothel. While prostitution is said to be illegal, it was also clearly being ignored.

Jenni felt a bit tired after the long day of bike riding, bus riding, and draining tourist activities, and decided to stay in the room for the evening. David joined the rest of the group for dinner at the Foreign Correspondents Club along the Saigon river. To get there we took some tuk tuks; which are little three-wheeled motorcycle taxis with benches in the back. Typically about 6 or 7 hover around the front of the hotel yelling at you before you have even stepped through the door - "Tuk Tuk sir?" They didn't really reach a maximum speed with 3 giant Westerners in the back, though. The food was the most expensive we had to date, but was very tasty.

The next morning we were scheduled for a bus tour of Phnom Penh. The first stop was at the royal palace. It was built in the 19th century with cooperation from the French. It is a mixture of Buddhist pagodas, ornate pomp and circumstance buildings, and the living quarters of the King. The current king went to university in France where he later taught ballet, and is now 40, and unmarried "because of his devote Buddhism."

Model of Angkor Wat

After that we stopped at a Buddhist temple.

Offerings of raw meat and raw eggs.
This monkey is playing with a piece of mirror, absolutely fixated on it.
Bats...

After the temple we made another visit into the tragic past at Tuol Sleng prison. This former high school was converted into a prison during the Khmer Rouge era. Prisoners were tortured in an effort to identify traitors to the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and then eventually sent to Choeung Ek. This was another tough place to visit, but worth seeing.

After Tuol Sleng prison we went to the Russian Markets, then were given a free afternoon. It was certainly a day of extreme contrasts; from the ornate royal palace to the tragedy of Tuol Sleng to shopping...For our free afternoon, we started off having a bit of lunch, but Jenni engrossed herself in her book so David headed off to the museum. The museum was very enjoyable, despite its lack of any apparent organizational system. It was really a mixture of museum and religious center. The Khmer (the name of the Cambodian people, from which Khmer Rouge [red] originated) were heavily influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism, and while the country is officially Buddhist there is still a strong mixture of the two. Walking through the museum you could easily have a statue of Vishnu next to a statue of Buddha, but not necessarily from different time periods. Many of the Buddhist statues had flower offerings that could be placed in front. It wouldn't be surprising if people went there to worship at times. In fact, a number of monks were there when David was. One was friendly and started to chat with David, asking where he was from and such. Eventually he asked David to help him buy a book, when David responded truthfully that he didn't have any money on him, the monk left as soon as possible.

That night we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Friends. The restaurant is non-profit and worked with street youths, training them how to work in a restaurant, pretty much doing everything from cooking to management. It is tapas themed, so they (and we) got to experience different foods. It was all really excellent.

The next day we headed to Siem Reap and Angkor...

Vietnam and Cambodia and then Vietnam Again Part 3

2009-01-19T03:10:00.000-08:00

We arose at the home stay at about 6:30 in the morning to the sounds of roosters greeting the morning sun. It sounds so pleasant when phrased like that...Having arrived at night, we didn't have any real sense of where we were, so Jenni and David went for a quick walk along the path before breakfast. We were just in time to see the school kids dressed in their uniforms and off for their morning session. If you are thinking of doing a home stay in Vietnam, we recommend this place. The contact info is in the photo.

After breakfast we got back on the boat, and they took us across the river again to a brick factory. Again they use the rice husk to fuel the kilns' fire.
Then we hopped on our bikes for another 50-60km ride to a ferry that took us across the Mekong one last time. Then it was a few hour bus ride to Chau Doc near the Cambodia/Vietnam border. This was our last stop in Vietnam, and it was Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, during that day's ride one of the members of the group was cut off by a motorbike and she fell over. Thankfully she was not seriously injured, suffering bruises, scrapes and achy bones, and a pretty good fright. After checking into the hotel in Chau Doc, we all went out for Christmas Eve dinner at a floating restaurant out on the river. It was definitely sitting on pontoons and rocked up and down whenever a boat passed. Not David's idea of an evening out...but it was unique.

Highlights of the ride from the Mekong to Chau Doc:

The next day we started riding directly from the hotel, and it was about 30km to the border.

Sunrise Chau Doc

The day's riding was really good. We rode along rice paddies almost the whole way. It also included our first uphill ride, which had a nice long downhill. We arrived at the Vietnamese border and left the bus driver, truck driver, and "The Mechanic" in Vietnam. Linh came through with us all the way to the end. As we later found out, Linh left a few well-placed tips to ease the transition. We weren't allowed to photograph on the Vietnamese side, but as soon as we crossed over, "No problem." That really points to the differences between the countries.

Rice Paddies in Vietnam

Cambodian Border

We had purchased our visas before leaving Australia, but some members of the group had to buy them on the spot. The visas themselves only cost 20$, but in reality they were 25$. Part of the 5$ went to the guards, and then the rest went to the bigger fish so that the guards could keep their lucrative positions...We rode for about an hour to an hour and half along some very beautiful scenery even if it was along the highway. The rice paddies seemed to defy the border, running up against the mountains in the distance. David noticed while riding that the pedal felt like it was coming loose, and then about 20 minutes into the ride the whole pedal came flying off. Luckily nothing serious happened.

Welcome to Cambodia. You can hear the pedal squeaking in the background.

After riding we took the bus to a place called Sihanoukville. We stopped for lunch on the way at a dingy little restaurant in Ta Keo. The food was questionable but they did serve us free desert. It was sweet but the presentation was lacking. They tried to keep us entertained on the very long, very bumpy bus ride by at times playing 3rd generation copies of DVDs that skipped a lot and at other times playing the local radio (which was mostly European Christmas songs). There was even a music video that was possibly in Khmer (language spoken in Cambodia) and possibly filmed in Spain (a country in Europe).

Mmmmmm, may I have some more sir?

Sing along if you know the words!

To be continued....

Break

2009-01-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Still working on the blog entries of the trip, but we took a little break to see some of the statistics of the blog. We started tracking who was visiting in about March, and since then we've had 700 unique visits, and 1,500 total visits, from 49 countries. Perhaps the most telling is the search keywords that people have used and that our blog has returned in the search list. Doesn't mean that anybody has actually looked at the blog though. Here are some of our favorites in no particular order:

1. Australian crabs
2. 20% humidity what is good for humans
3. david lamb boxer
4. dr martin shoes singapore
5. how do you know when something is humid?
6. keeping frogs out of toilet
7. light a match on an unshaved man
8. picture of a man in little shorts
9. pretty girls in man-shorts
10. why do humans love bananas

Those were actual things people have searched for...

Vietnam and Cambodia and then Vietnam Again Part 2

2009-01-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

The 22nd we set out on the bus to the outskirts of Saigon. Our crooner (video later) of a guide, Linh, shared a little about his history. Apparently, his father was a captain in the South Vietnamese army. When then North took control, they sent all members of the South Vietnamese army (and probably police) to "reeducation" camps. The higher up in rank, the more time in the camps. Linh's father spent 8 years doing manual labor. Linh also told us that because his father was a captain, Linh is not able to join the communist party. If Linh has children, they too will not be able to join the communist party -- three generations removed is the rule. So in spite of his university degree he isn't able to easily get a government job (as most are in Vietnam). Hence why he is a tour operator and not a chemist.

When the bus stopped we met our bikes as well as the truck driver, and a man who would only be known mysteriously as "The Mechanic" like in some sort of Sergio Leone spaghetti western. We would ride for about 20km to the Cu Chi tunnels and get to short tour of that area. The short ride was mostly to get fitted for our bikes. Despite being on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, there was still an abundance of traffic, mostly motorbikes, but the occasional person on a bicycle. Our first and only break on the ride was at a rubber tree farm. They basically shave off a piece of the bark and the rubber (white in colour) slowly oozes out of the tree filling up a cup.

We arrived on our bikes at what looked like a theme park with many large air conditioned buses parked out front. These were the Cu Chi Tunnels, at least those open to the public. There are over a hundred kilometers of tunnels in the area, consisting of three levels, each going deeper. The Americans tried to bomb and destroy the tunnels, but they were extremely difficult to find. After a brief indoctrination video that looked like it was produced in the 1960s with a camera from the 1920s, we were taken to the different exhibits. Some demonstrated the boobytraps that were set up by the Viet Cong, others the entrances to the tunnels. In true Disney-fashion they even had exhibits with animatronic Vietnamese soldiers working as blacksmiths extracting gun powder from unexploded bombs. The coup de grace of course were the tunnels that have been reinforced for the tourists to enter. The first stage has been enlarged for westerners, the second stage, only slightly enlarged, and the third stage was just the way it was. Jenni went through all three, but David dropped out after the first stage. Even though they had been enlarged, it was all on hands and knees for David. One cannot help but admire the ingenuity and tenacity that went into buidling and maintaining the tunnels.

For ventilation they used termite mounds, simply punching a whole in them.

Trap door with spikes at the bottom.

Jenni getting into the tunnel.

You could pay to go fire an M-16 at the "National Defence Sports Shooting Range."

Video inside the tunnels.

After a fast-paced 10km ride after the tunnels, suggested by none other than Jenni :), we headed back to Saigon. The rest of the evening/afternoon was free for everyone. We went to a dingy little Indian Restaurant that had dingy Indian food that wasn't too bad.

Last view of Saigon traffic:

The 23rd we left Saigon for the Mekong Delta. We drove for about two hours before biking, stopping at a Cao Dai temple. Cao Dai is a religion that was established in 1926 in South Vietnam. It is a mixture of a number of different religions including Christianity and Buddhism, and Victor Hugo is considered a saint. So there you go...We're sure Caodaiists appreciate the detailed summary we have just given their religion. Don't be alarmed by the Swastikas. You see them all over Buddhist countries, and were an important symbol long before the Nazis ruined it.

While the roadside duck was a tempting offer, we had a schedule to keep and 50-60 km to cover on the bikes. This was perhaps the busiest day of the tour. Our biking crossed terrains that varied as widely as busy paved roads to roads made entirely of sand. We crossed many tributaries of the Mekong either by bridge our little ferry boats. Eventually, we loaded our bikes onto a diesel powered boat that took us along the Mekong for lunch.

"The Mechanic"
Lunch was a 4 course meal that included Elephant Ear fish.

After lunch we got back on the boat, and did a short tour along the Mekong to a small stretch of land where they make coconut candies, and poprice. Poprice is just like popcorn, only with rice. When the rice has been "popped" they mix it with caramel, and it is sort of like a rice crispy treat. They use the rice husk to fuel the fires for both the coconut candies and poprice. We then took the boats past the floating market, which was a cluster of various sized boats. Each boat had a particular item hanging on the outside which designated what they sold.

Poprice popping...

Along the Mekong and the floating markets.

Each house had a TV Antenna sticking out of it.

At the end of the floating market we met three row boats that took us through the narrower and shallower channels of the Mekong. There are thousands of little islands in the mouth of the Mekong. As we boarded these tiny rafts, we were give the traditional Vietnamese conical shaped hat to wear and keep the sun out of our eyes (at least that's what we were told). The we were taken along the little channel past people's homes. Our guide, Linh, serenaded us with traditional Vietnamese songs about the Mekong as we jerkily navigated the river. It lasted a bit too long for David, given his aversion to boats of all sizes, but he survived. And as we got back into our larger boat next to the bikes, the friendly rowboaters pulled out their engines and sped back through the channel.

Much to David's relief we finally left the boats behind and took our bikes on to one of the islands. This was probably the best biking we did on the whole trip as we navigated through the back roads of these little houses, barely wide enough for a person let alone 7 bikes, crossing small arched bridges. In a shocking turn of events, David was cycling in front of Jenni (a rarity) when we hit a steep slope where Jenni came off her bike. David turned to see Jenni standing there having nearly been dunked in the Mekong. We eventually reached our Homestay in one piece as the light had just faded away. It was a lovely little place with one big communal room. Dinner was excellent and well-received, and slowly we all left the table at different times and fell asleep on our cots.