Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
One last shot
Here's a seal pup we saw Saturday walking on Wellinton's south coast. Also, here are my pics from this weekend as a set.
South Coast of Wellington
This is what the south coast looks like. You can just see the snow capped mountains of the South Island in the background.
Workin' Man... again
I’ve finished my first week of work… and I’m having fun! I guess it’s the perfect formula: 6 months holiday, great company, cool colleagues, & in a beautiful foreign country.
Staying in a hostel with Whitney, though I still feel guilty for not showing her more of New Zealand while she’s here. 20 min walk through downtown Wellington to work - I’ll get myself a flat soon enough.
I work in an office where 8 hours a day is really a full day. We have tons of cool techie gadgets (big network, great developers, and a data center), the folks (not just guys) I work with are cool, dynamic people that actually see the sun rather frequently. In the 90 person office there are 6 nationally ranked athletes, a slew of mountain bikes scattered about that people ride in, groups that run at lunch, shower onsite for midday exercise, cappuccino machine, stocked fridge, dart board, old arcade game, X-box, and lounge.
Fridays conclude with a company wide meeting where I as a newbie stand up to introduce myself. Handed a beer, as is standard for Friday meetings, and shoved to the front of the room I enjoyed a little heckling (when was the last time your where in jail? or what’s your favorite sexual position? questions thrown from the crowd) and felt honestly welcomed by the fraternal atmosphere. Then we actually covered strategy and new plans – but it was interesting and brief. Lastly they finished up with the “hero of the week” award, folks are nominated for going the extra step – and I managed to somehow win? (whoo hoo!) After the meeting I met a number of the guys across the street at a pub, then Whitney and I were joined at a great French restaurant for dinner until midnight.
I must say I like this place so far. During lunchtimes with Whitney this week we visited parliament (Wellington is the capital) and Te Papa (NZ version of the Smithsonian). Then we were blessed with gorgeous weather this weekend. After a long Friday night with a group of South Americans, Whitney and I headed to the south coast of Wellington with Simon, a great English chap, where we did a fair bit of hiking along the south coast and saw a number of seals perched on the rocky beach. Later, another fantastic dinner, card games, and fast asleep nice and early. Today we were up to blue skies and the high 60’s, so Whit and I took the cable car up to the botanical gardens for brunch. Found a gourmet grocery store…sweet. Made a great dinner after which Whit joined some Canadians for a movie and I went wandering to find some lovely jazz at a café.
Something tells me I will survive my planned year plus here. I am still reminded constantly of how much I love Austin and the people that made my life the wonderful thing that is was at home. Nonetheless, the limitless of life’s possibilities is fun to test.
Staying in a hostel with Whitney, though I still feel guilty for not showing her more of New Zealand while she’s here. 20 min walk through downtown Wellington to work - I’ll get myself a flat soon enough.
I work in an office where 8 hours a day is really a full day. We have tons of cool techie gadgets (big network, great developers, and a data center), the folks (not just guys) I work with are cool, dynamic people that actually see the sun rather frequently. In the 90 person office there are 6 nationally ranked athletes, a slew of mountain bikes scattered about that people ride in, groups that run at lunch, shower onsite for midday exercise, cappuccino machine, stocked fridge, dart board, old arcade game, X-box, and lounge.
Fridays conclude with a company wide meeting where I as a newbie stand up to introduce myself. Handed a beer, as is standard for Friday meetings, and shoved to the front of the room I enjoyed a little heckling (when was the last time your where in jail? or what’s your favorite sexual position? questions thrown from the crowd) and felt honestly welcomed by the fraternal atmosphere. Then we actually covered strategy and new plans – but it was interesting and brief. Lastly they finished up with the “hero of the week” award, folks are nominated for going the extra step – and I managed to somehow win? (whoo hoo!) After the meeting I met a number of the guys across the street at a pub, then Whitney and I were joined at a great French restaurant for dinner until midnight.
I must say I like this place so far. During lunchtimes with Whitney this week we visited parliament (Wellington is the capital) and Te Papa (NZ version of the Smithsonian). Then we were blessed with gorgeous weather this weekend. After a long Friday night with a group of South Americans, Whitney and I headed to the south coast of Wellington with Simon, a great English chap, where we did a fair bit of hiking along the south coast and saw a number of seals perched on the rocky beach. Later, another fantastic dinner, card games, and fast asleep nice and early. Today we were up to blue skies and the high 60’s, so Whit and I took the cable car up to the botanical gardens for brunch. Found a gourmet grocery store…sweet. Made a great dinner after which Whit joined some Canadians for a movie and I went wandering to find some lovely jazz at a café.
Something tells me I will survive my planned year plus here. I am still reminded constantly of how much I love Austin and the people that made my life the wonderful thing that is was at home. Nonetheless, the limitless of life’s possibilities is fun to test.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Mad Dash South
Whit and I landed in Auckland after flying in the least sleepable planes in the skies, thank you Garuda Indonesia. Yet, their cheap!
12 hours of flying and 4 countries later, Whit and I stumbled bleary eyed around Auckland to see a few sights. Slept like babies at the wonderful City Garden Lodge and hopped into a hired car to cruise down to Rotarua.
Left hand driving is interesting enough, but why did they switch the sides of the bloody blinker and wiper? I'm still wiping my way into the left lane - I might break this habit in about a year.
Arrived in Rotarua in time to hit a hot spring spa, have dinner, and promptly pass out. Dragging our jet-lagged butts from bed at 10 am and filled the day with a park full of geysers, boiling mud, Maori dancing, then rode some Zorbs, and lastly went to an excellent Hungi (Maori food cooked in the ground, dances, and a hike in a sacred forest).
Today we scraped ourselves from bed at 9 and drove through beautiful mountains to Taupo and attempted to go sky diving. Yet, the weather foiled our plans so we continued through the rain to Napier where we whittled the rainy afternoon away with soup and movies.
W day is approaching with a drive to Wellington tomorrow and work the next morning... holy hell.
12 hours of flying and 4 countries later, Whit and I stumbled bleary eyed around Auckland to see a few sights. Slept like babies at the wonderful City Garden Lodge and hopped into a hired car to cruise down to Rotarua.
Left hand driving is interesting enough, but why did they switch the sides of the bloody blinker and wiper? I'm still wiping my way into the left lane - I might break this habit in about a year.
Arrived in Rotarua in time to hit a hot spring spa, have dinner, and promptly pass out. Dragging our jet-lagged butts from bed at 10 am and filled the day with a park full of geysers, boiling mud, Maori dancing, then rode some Zorbs, and lastly went to an excellent Hungi (Maori food cooked in the ground, dances, and a hike in a sacred forest).
Today we scraped ourselves from bed at 9 and drove through beautiful mountains to Taupo and attempted to go sky diving. Yet, the weather foiled our plans so we continued through the rain to Napier where we whittled the rainy afternoon away with soup and movies.
W day is approaching with a drive to Wellington tomorrow and work the next morning... holy hell.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
At a fine pace now
So our last 5 days or so in Koh Samui included more daily Thai massage along with a few other diversions.
Nights eating on the beach and playing cards. Going kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking on amazing islands that look like small mushrooms popping out of the sea surface. Meeting some great people and even going to a "Black Moon" party, basically a rave on the beach with about a 1000 people. Literally dancing until 8:30 in the morning, which had the effect of a profoundly harsh light on the cast of the party. Mopeding around the island, climbing through waterfalls, and more than a couple rides on jet-skis. All in all, one hell of a time on the beach for about 8 days. We returned to Bangkok for shopping in 8 story malls with what felt like 100,000 fellow shoppers. Thankfully, Tannie joined us to guide our way and barter in Thai - gotta love someone who can mid-sentence switch between any of 3 languages. Latter that night we caught up with Pop and Oak for a bit more shopping, lots of laughing, and great "Thai-Indian" food - a surprisingly fantastic fusion.
Finally we were off the next morning to a short flight to Singapore. A beautiful, clean, yet slightly sterile feeling city. Driving around, the city looks like the set from Robocop or any other cheesy, futuristic movie set. Crazy though, to see buildings like this in brick and mortar.
The first night we caught up with a British couple and went to a Seafood Expo, which was less than thrilling. Yet, Whitney and I got up on stage for salsa dancing with the carrot of "prizes". With only 3 contestants, we all won a six-pack of Tiger bear and $50 gift certificates to a seafood restaurant.
The next day was composed of more shopping, high tea at Raffles (150 year old British hotel). It was fantastic sitting where the old British "gentleman" explores used to - in the far east. Had a Singapore sling at the bar where they were invented – still too damn sweet. Last night we made it to the Singapore zoo for a "night safari", which was excellent. Driven around in a tram to see animals under artificial moonlight in pens with no fences. Much more active in the night time, the lions were awe inspiring when they roared. In the fruit bat cage Whitney and I hit the deck when one nearly landed on our heads - we felt the wind from its 3 foot wingspan on our necks! Finally a fantastic Singapore dinner of things in Chinese until 1 am with the Tony, the Singaporean hostel owner and our gift certificates. Later I ran off to tour the city until 3 am with Tony to take pictures of the skyline and enjoy my first late night prata, which I can best describe as an Indian-Muslim tortilla pancake.
Slept in late, packed our bags, and now we await our flight to Auckland (a mere 15 hours of traveling later). Two weeks in SE Asian heat, and soon we'll land in a proper Winter. Damn - I must say that I'm having fun.
I'm starting work - that dreaded word - in 6 days. I will have been traveling for 6 months the day before I start, so I'm bummed to see an end to it - or more likely an extended pause. Nonetheless, the job looks like a blast with great people in a cool city and hey, I'm going to be a freakin' ex-pat after all. So I'm really going from one lifestyle I enjoy and aspire too, to yet another - so I should be slapped if anyone catches me whining.
Nights eating on the beach and playing cards. Going kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking on amazing islands that look like small mushrooms popping out of the sea surface. Meeting some great people and even going to a "Black Moon" party, basically a rave on the beach with about a 1000 people. Literally dancing until 8:30 in the morning, which had the effect of a profoundly harsh light on the cast of the party. Mopeding around the island, climbing through waterfalls, and more than a couple rides on jet-skis. All in all, one hell of a time on the beach for about 8 days. We returned to Bangkok for shopping in 8 story malls with what felt like 100,000 fellow shoppers. Thankfully, Tannie joined us to guide our way and barter in Thai - gotta love someone who can mid-sentence switch between any of 3 languages. Latter that night we caught up with Pop and Oak for a bit more shopping, lots of laughing, and great "Thai-Indian" food - a surprisingly fantastic fusion.
Finally we were off the next morning to a short flight to Singapore. A beautiful, clean, yet slightly sterile feeling city. Driving around, the city looks like the set from Robocop or any other cheesy, futuristic movie set. Crazy though, to see buildings like this in brick and mortar.
The first night we caught up with a British couple and went to a Seafood Expo, which was less than thrilling. Yet, Whitney and I got up on stage for salsa dancing with the carrot of "prizes". With only 3 contestants, we all won a six-pack of Tiger bear and $50 gift certificates to a seafood restaurant.
The next day was composed of more shopping, high tea at Raffles (150 year old British hotel). It was fantastic sitting where the old British "gentleman" explores used to - in the far east. Had a Singapore sling at the bar where they were invented – still too damn sweet. Last night we made it to the Singapore zoo for a "night safari", which was excellent. Driven around in a tram to see animals under artificial moonlight in pens with no fences. Much more active in the night time, the lions were awe inspiring when they roared. In the fruit bat cage Whitney and I hit the deck when one nearly landed on our heads - we felt the wind from its 3 foot wingspan on our necks! Finally a fantastic Singapore dinner of things in Chinese until 1 am with the Tony, the Singaporean hostel owner and our gift certificates. Later I ran off to tour the city until 3 am with Tony to take pictures of the skyline and enjoy my first late night prata, which I can best describe as an Indian-Muslim tortilla pancake.
Slept in late, packed our bags, and now we await our flight to Auckland (a mere 15 hours of traveling later). Two weeks in SE Asian heat, and soon we'll land in a proper Winter. Damn - I must say that I'm having fun.
I'm starting work - that dreaded word - in 6 days. I will have been traveling for 6 months the day before I start, so I'm bummed to see an end to it - or more likely an extended pause. Nonetheless, the job looks like a blast with great people in a cool city and hey, I'm going to be a freakin' ex-pat after all. So I'm really going from one lifestyle I enjoy and aspire too, to yet another - so I should be slapped if anyone catches me whining.
Monday, July 04, 2005
The tuff life...
With a little Cipro Whit was back to 110%, yet arriving on a sprawling beach that is mostly a serious of sandy restaurants & cabanas in nothing less than paradise didn't hurt.
Checked into our cabana and walked 20 yards to the beach for a stroll the first day. As the sun set we found a place barbecuing fish that was swimming that afternoon. I pointed at the red snapper, but Whit ordered the tuna. Upon seeing the woman grab the tail of a 4 foot fish from beneath the ice and whack at it with a cleaver to cut off 1/2 pound fillets, I had to change my order. Fantastic fish at a table in the sand with the lights around the beach reflecting from the silky water - it was perfect. After dinner we went for Thai "foot massages", they're an hour long include your full legs & some pressure points in your shoulders for about five bucks.
The last two days have continued on par. Met up with an English couple we flew in with from Bangkok, tanned (in Whitney's case) or burned (in my case). A little jet-skiing, a massage a day, great food, and fun shopping - bargaining is practically a sport here. "Cheap Cheap" "Good for you, good for me" "Give me best price"
After our full body afternoon Thai massage today (on the beach, looking over the water), a down-pour settled in - which couldn't dampen our spirits if it wanted to.
Tomorrow we have to decide between tanning, private guide around the island, or kayaking the lagoon where "The Beach" was filmed. These are problems one likes to have.
We're working on our Thai, getting a kick out the Heinz ketchup label in Thai, and appreciating that even in this town where any excuse for a party is executed there is not a single reference to the 4th of July - in other words appreciating that we are on the opposite side of the world, lucky enough to see things that very few Americans ever do.
Checked into our cabana and walked 20 yards to the beach for a stroll the first day. As the sun set we found a place barbecuing fish that was swimming that afternoon. I pointed at the red snapper, but Whit ordered the tuna. Upon seeing the woman grab the tail of a 4 foot fish from beneath the ice and whack at it with a cleaver to cut off 1/2 pound fillets, I had to change my order. Fantastic fish at a table in the sand with the lights around the beach reflecting from the silky water - it was perfect. After dinner we went for Thai "foot massages", they're an hour long include your full legs & some pressure points in your shoulders for about five bucks.
The last two days have continued on par. Met up with an English couple we flew in with from Bangkok, tanned (in Whitney's case) or burned (in my case). A little jet-skiing, a massage a day, great food, and fun shopping - bargaining is practically a sport here. "Cheap Cheap" "Good for you, good for me" "Give me best price"
After our full body afternoon Thai massage today (on the beach, looking over the water), a down-pour settled in - which couldn't dampen our spirits if it wanted to.
Tomorrow we have to decide between tanning, private guide around the island, or kayaking the lagoon where "The Beach" was filmed. These are problems one likes to have.
We're working on our Thai, getting a kick out the Heinz ketchup label in Thai, and appreciating that even in this town where any excuse for a party is executed there is not a single reference to the 4th of July - in other words appreciating that we are on the opposite side of the world, lucky enough to see things that very few Americans ever do.
Friday, July 01, 2005
On the road again....
Started out this most recent journey in a bit of a rush. I was writing a recap of the weeks with my Dad and my down week between their trip my trip to Bangkok, uploading pictures, and packing when I got on the phone with my Mom. So... in our mutual gregariousness I got half my photos uploaded, didn't finish the recap (will past that when I'm back in about a week and a half), and finished packing as my airport shuttle arrived.
Off to the airport for a 14 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok from Auckland to meet my sister Whitney. A stop in Brisbane, Australia for refueling and I slept about 2 hours. Two movies on the Thai airway flight that thankfully were in English, yet I'm nearly positive they never made it to US movie screens. Then arrival in Bangkok at 5 am.
So I only needed to wait a mere 6 hours for Whitney's flight to arrive; I passed the time trying to sleep and trying to make a phone call (never successful). Whitney on the other hand traveled for about 40 hours straight, on her first trip outside of the country, she would impress even the harshest critics. 16, first time out of the country and she had to change planes in Dallas, then into the international terminal at LAX, then again in Hong Kong, and finally arriving in Bangkok where she had to just hope I would be. Damn, I'm impressed.
So we leave the airport at about noon and the culture shock hit me like a brick wall, again. I can only imagine what Whitney was thinking. In one cab, then had to jump out because he wouldn't use the meter. Second cab and into the unimaginable Bangkok traffic. Arrive our hostel, and I think I'm more tired than Whitney despite the fact she is dealing with a 12 hour time difference and I only have 5. We go for our first walk to Koh San road to eat some food that isn't so scary and I hear "Hey Trey". This is my first time for the international travelers run in, and I'm thrilled it happened in front of my sister - but I run into a great British couple I met in Indonesia in Feburary. I love how small the world is and I really love showing my Whitney at 16 what I'm just now getting at 26.
Meekly we eat our western food (I'm just to damn tired to worry about Thai from a food stand at this point) and we take the express boat up and down the river. The express boat is basically and bus service and the best way to get out of the noise and smell of Bangkok that I have found. Head back to the hostel, eat dinner at the attached restaurant with 50 year old Thai men singing karioke, and crash as soon as it's dark as we try to push our bodies into GMT +7.
Up around 4 for whit and 6 for me we leave the hostel and head to "the tallest hotel in the world" for breakfast and a view of Bangkok from the 87th floor. Back on the street we stroll through clothing markets that are just waking up and see designer jeans for the equivalent of $5. We have to wait for things to open up so I recommend seeing a movie in MBK (a nine story mall) to get out of the noise and pass some time. As we get through MBK, which is empty as the doors only opened 15 minutes ago, I realize I'm having to yell for Whit to hear me over the sounds of advertisements and music. I'm not sure if I can express how loud Bangkok is, I've decided my one piece of advice for a tourist is earplugs. We see a movie, but half way through Whitney finds out she has gotten sick from something. She is unbelievably sweet about the hole thing, but end up spending the rest of the day recouping back at the hostel (probably not a bad idea anyways). That night I snuck away to catch up with a German friend of mine I met in Auckland for dinner, and really missed being able to introduce Whitney to Anita so that Whit could see how possible it is for a single female to travel on their own for 6 months to a year - despite what we hear back home.
Slept better, but Whit's still a bit shaky this morning, we are at the National Library using the free internet and waiting for a Thai Cooking class to start in about an hour back at the hostel. I'll be able to introduce Whitney to Tannie, a great Thai girl I met here in January. Then we're on a plane to Koh Samui for a week on a beach in a lovely resort.
Always an adventure and fantastic to be able to share it with my younger sister.
Off to the airport for a 14 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok from Auckland to meet my sister Whitney. A stop in Brisbane, Australia for refueling and I slept about 2 hours. Two movies on the Thai airway flight that thankfully were in English, yet I'm nearly positive they never made it to US movie screens. Then arrival in Bangkok at 5 am.
So I only needed to wait a mere 6 hours for Whitney's flight to arrive; I passed the time trying to sleep and trying to make a phone call (never successful). Whitney on the other hand traveled for about 40 hours straight, on her first trip outside of the country, she would impress even the harshest critics. 16, first time out of the country and she had to change planes in Dallas, then into the international terminal at LAX, then again in Hong Kong, and finally arriving in Bangkok where she had to just hope I would be. Damn, I'm impressed.
So we leave the airport at about noon and the culture shock hit me like a brick wall, again. I can only imagine what Whitney was thinking. In one cab, then had to jump out because he wouldn't use the meter. Second cab and into the unimaginable Bangkok traffic. Arrive our hostel, and I think I'm more tired than Whitney despite the fact she is dealing with a 12 hour time difference and I only have 5. We go for our first walk to Koh San road to eat some food that isn't so scary and I hear "Hey Trey". This is my first time for the international travelers run in, and I'm thrilled it happened in front of my sister - but I run into a great British couple I met in Indonesia in Feburary. I love how small the world is and I really love showing my Whitney at 16 what I'm just now getting at 26.
Meekly we eat our western food (I'm just to damn tired to worry about Thai from a food stand at this point) and we take the express boat up and down the river. The express boat is basically and bus service and the best way to get out of the noise and smell of Bangkok that I have found. Head back to the hostel, eat dinner at the attached restaurant with 50 year old Thai men singing karioke, and crash as soon as it's dark as we try to push our bodies into GMT +7.
Up around 4 for whit and 6 for me we leave the hostel and head to "the tallest hotel in the world" for breakfast and a view of Bangkok from the 87th floor. Back on the street we stroll through clothing markets that are just waking up and see designer jeans for the equivalent of $5. We have to wait for things to open up so I recommend seeing a movie in MBK (a nine story mall) to get out of the noise and pass some time. As we get through MBK, which is empty as the doors only opened 15 minutes ago, I realize I'm having to yell for Whit to hear me over the sounds of advertisements and music. I'm not sure if I can express how loud Bangkok is, I've decided my one piece of advice for a tourist is earplugs. We see a movie, but half way through Whitney finds out she has gotten sick from something. She is unbelievably sweet about the hole thing, but end up spending the rest of the day recouping back at the hostel (probably not a bad idea anyways). That night I snuck away to catch up with a German friend of mine I met in Auckland for dinner, and really missed being able to introduce Whitney to Anita so that Whit could see how possible it is for a single female to travel on their own for 6 months to a year - despite what we hear back home.
Slept better, but Whit's still a bit shaky this morning, we are at the National Library using the free internet and waiting for a Thai Cooking class to start in about an hour back at the hostel. I'll be able to introduce Whitney to Tannie, a great Thai girl I met here in January. Then we're on a plane to Koh Samui for a week on a beach in a lovely resort.
Always an adventure and fantastic to be able to share it with my younger sister.
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