My annual, where-did-my-year-go post. Happy New Year all!
1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Saw more live theatre performances, that I wasn't working on, this year than ever before.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Honestly can't remember this year's resolutions so perhaps I'll just skip them for this year. Oh wait, I still can't juggle three balls.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully not this year.
5. What countries did you visit?
America, Macau SAR, Hong Kong
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More work!
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Saturday 7th Feburary because it felt like the city was burning down around us.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Working out what I wanted in life, what's important to me.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting sensible amounts of sleep.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not too badly this year. Except for slipping down some stairs and even that wasn't so bad.
11. What was the best thing you bought in 2009?
My Muppet!!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Clio & Zeus for being far more sociable than expected.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Can't think of anyone so it must have been a good year...
14. Did you do to any weddings?
Yes, three in fact.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My Muppet, my new camera, traveling and the amazing shows I saw, not necessarily in that order.
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
"I'm Alive" from "Next To Normal"
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
---happier or sadder? Much happier
---thinner or heavier? Heavier
---richer or poorer? My life has been more enriched this year
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Baking and reading. Can never bake or read enough.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Procrastinating
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Euro Christmas with my adopted family on the eve, Christmas Day at home with the pugs trying to learn how to draw, Christmas night
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
:)
22. Were you rejected by anyone?
Not per se
23. What was your favorite TV program?
I'd have to say Battlestar Galactica, but I'm a bit behind in my TV viewing.
24. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
Nope.
25. What was the best book you read?
The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doige, MD
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I still remember how to play the violin
27. What did you want and got?
A digital SLR
28. What did you want and did not get?
To go to the Merrell store in Hong Kong
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I enjoyed most of the films I saw this year. Maybe "Up".
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I had the day off work and I'm still 26
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nothing, it was a pretty good year all round.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Blue jeans, black top.
33. What kept you sane?
My wonderful friends. They know who they are :)
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one really.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Gay marriage.
36. Who did you miss?
My Mum and I still miss her.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
The lady in Washington Heights who showed me what berries to pick in the park.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Time is the most precious gift you can give.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Happiness is anyone and anything at all that's loved by you."
Showing posts with label travel bug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel bug. Show all posts
Friday, January 01, 2010
Friday, August 22, 2008
A Disjointed Catch Up
I can't help but notice that my lack of blogging seems to stem from just after Gene & I broke up last year. It's almost as if when we broke up I couldn't find any words to write. No way of really saying what I thought and I really didn't feel a need to share how I felt as frankly that would have been boring.
So almost a year on I guess I'm still trying to find myself. Not so much remember what it's like to be single, but discover my independence and learn to enjoy it.
Okay, random burst of self-reflection over (phew!).
Let's just say that there wasn't a great deal of reading in May & June... Combined reading list for those months include:
1. The Dragon Queen
2. Pardon My French
3. Growing Up Asian in Australia
If only event management plans counted in the list... but as thick as some of them were, they're not quite books.
June consisted of many weekend trips from Brisbane to Melbourne & Sydney. Visiting family, farewelling friends and celebrating a birthday. It's a good thing I don't mind flying really. After the last weekend away the Festival really started to ramp up production. Defintely my favourite part that's not the actual Festival.
July saw the start of the Festival. We worked hard, we played hard. There were many opening nights and closing nights celebrated. It was good. Was lucky enough to see some shows which was rather novel. It was all over in a haze of beer, gin & wine and before we knew it we were bare-foot bowling on a beautiful sunny August day.
It would be hard to believe that only a fortnight ago I was sitting in the sun watching people bowl... except that I landed back in Melbourne on Saturday. It was not sunny. Luckily it wasn't too cold either. I keep telling myself that it's "the same temperature as Brisbane at night... but brighter".
Right now I'm in Sydney enjoying the sunshine and 20˚C days... well I was, it's supposed to storm tomorrow. Still trying to work out what I'll do tomorrow... am thinking it could be a good day for a museum or possibly the aquarium. I may yet fit an antique fair in.
I must admit I'm in a bit of a strange mood tonight. It's been a bit of a odd day. I woke up with a migraine and feeling a bit out of sorts. Did a bit of shopping. Had a nap. Woke up when my phone rang. It was Dad. My grandma in Singapore has stage 4 cancer. I pondered the fact that my Mum's family has had and excellent health history until now when both my Mum & Grandma have cancer. I'm starting to think that my random (morbid) thought that I'll die in the water is possibly incorrect and that it's more likely to be cancer. Strangely I'd rather the water but I'm trying not to dwell on that as I don't particularly want to die at this point in time. When I get bad news that I can't do anything about I turn to depressing music to soothe my woes. So after a good hour of depressing tunes I headed out to have cocktails with a few friends. Dinner followed the cocktails (although perhaps it should have been the other way around) and I must say I'm in a much better mood having gone out.
So to summarise... I had a fabulous time in Brisbane and miss the lifestyle up there although it's still not really my city. Am restless, reflective and honestly I think I'm a little angry with myself. Akrasia, what can I say? Do better. Rocks. Anyhow, no point dwelling on that, just have to keep moving forward. Right?
Less disjointed post next time, I promise.
So almost a year on I guess I'm still trying to find myself. Not so much remember what it's like to be single, but discover my independence and learn to enjoy it.
Okay, random burst of self-reflection over (phew!).
Let's just say that there wasn't a great deal of reading in May & June... Combined reading list for those months include:
1. The Dragon Queen
2. Pardon My French
3. Growing Up Asian in Australia
If only event management plans counted in the list... but as thick as some of them were, they're not quite books.
June consisted of many weekend trips from Brisbane to Melbourne & Sydney. Visiting family, farewelling friends and celebrating a birthday. It's a good thing I don't mind flying really. After the last weekend away the Festival really started to ramp up production. Defintely my favourite part that's not the actual Festival.
July saw the start of the Festival. We worked hard, we played hard. There were many opening nights and closing nights celebrated. It was good. Was lucky enough to see some shows which was rather novel. It was all over in a haze of beer, gin & wine and before we knew it we were bare-foot bowling on a beautiful sunny August day.
It would be hard to believe that only a fortnight ago I was sitting in the sun watching people bowl... except that I landed back in Melbourne on Saturday. It was not sunny. Luckily it wasn't too cold either. I keep telling myself that it's "the same temperature as Brisbane at night... but brighter".
Right now I'm in Sydney enjoying the sunshine and 20˚C days... well I was, it's supposed to storm tomorrow. Still trying to work out what I'll do tomorrow... am thinking it could be a good day for a museum or possibly the aquarium. I may yet fit an antique fair in.
I must admit I'm in a bit of a strange mood tonight. It's been a bit of a odd day. I woke up with a migraine and feeling a bit out of sorts. Did a bit of shopping. Had a nap. Woke up when my phone rang. It was Dad. My grandma in Singapore has stage 4 cancer. I pondered the fact that my Mum's family has had and excellent health history until now when both my Mum & Grandma have cancer. I'm starting to think that my random (morbid) thought that I'll die in the water is possibly incorrect and that it's more likely to be cancer. Strangely I'd rather the water but I'm trying not to dwell on that as I don't particularly want to die at this point in time. When I get bad news that I can't do anything about I turn to depressing music to soothe my woes. So after a good hour of depressing tunes I headed out to have cocktails with a few friends. Dinner followed the cocktails (although perhaps it should have been the other way around) and I must say I'm in a much better mood having gone out.
So to summarise... I had a fabulous time in Brisbane and miss the lifestyle up there although it's still not really my city. Am restless, reflective and honestly I think I'm a little angry with myself. Akrasia, what can I say? Do better. Rocks. Anyhow, no point dwelling on that, just have to keep moving forward. Right?
Less disjointed post next time, I promise.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Playing Catch Up
Quite a bit has happened since I last wrote and although I've been meaning to write (and have often gotten as far as opening up the "create post" page), I just haven't found the words. I'm feeling a little despondent at the moment. Well, more than a little. Nick mentioned the Korean term Han to me yesterday and I think that combined with an overwhelming sense of ennui would be an apt description of how I'm feeling.
Anyhow. It's been a couple of weeks and since then Mum's come out of hospital and is going for a PET scan today to make sure that there's no cancer left. She has to go to a hospital in Moorabin for the scan.
Moorabin is where I flew a helicopter last Monday. (What a segue way!) Which was amazingly fun and I'd really like to do it again some time. Perhaps when I've stopped working in the crazy profession that I seem to have chosen? Who knows, but I was lucky enough to have a great instructor who took me up to the training airspace and once I was a little less wobbly with the controls he directed me from Carrum back towards Melbourne's CBD along the beach en route to the airport. Many thanks to Lisa & Dave for the opportunity to fly!
Stepping back a week, I finished up work on Summer Fun in the City with Set Sail which was a great three day event where people could book in for free sailing lessons. There's nothing quite as special as seeing a nervous five year old come back from the water all excited because they sailed a small two person boat! We were even lucky enough to try it out after the last group on the Wednesday. A perfect time to be sailing as some of the Sydney to Hobart yachts were still moored down at the Docklands.
A brief trip to Sydney to say hi to Tamsin at the opening night of Carmen and generally get away from Melbourne for a couple of days and I was back to watch the ladies finals of the Australian Open. Good grief it was hot! Good match though and there's nothing quite like the atmosphere in a stadium - or talking to the random people sitting next to you. I really should see more live entertainment...
Our family were down for the weekend and while I had every intention of taking my cousins to check out Australia Day celebrations we settled for Sing Star instead. Did I mention I should see more live entertainment...?
Which brings me back to the week that's just passed. Not much else to report. Had a small operation to remove and replace the implant in my left arm. I'm rather pathetic when it comes to needles and the local anaesthetic hurt more than the scalpel going in (and that was before we had to reapply the anaesthtic which for some reason hadn't taken).
Sunday was Dad's birthday so we had a feast at our place. Roast beef for 11, one baked fish (with lime and ginger), many many roasted veggies, a freshly baked loaf of bread and a sweet potato & green bean salad (with sweet chilli & balsamic vinegar dressing). Dessert was a stack of profiteroles (Dad's new favourite baked good) and a plum & nectarine crumble (made from the fruits from our backyard!). Given the number of profiteroles and cake that I've eaten in the last two days I should really stop writing and go for a VERY long walk.
Besides, it may help me sleep and perhaps think less... which would be nice. :)
Anyhow. It's been a couple of weeks and since then Mum's come out of hospital and is going for a PET scan today to make sure that there's no cancer left. She has to go to a hospital in Moorabin for the scan.
Moorabin is where I flew a helicopter last Monday. (What a segue way!) Which was amazingly fun and I'd really like to do it again some time. Perhaps when I've stopped working in the crazy profession that I seem to have chosen? Who knows, but I was lucky enough to have a great instructor who took me up to the training airspace and once I was a little less wobbly with the controls he directed me from Carrum back towards Melbourne's CBD along the beach en route to the airport. Many thanks to Lisa & Dave for the opportunity to fly!
Stepping back a week, I finished up work on Summer Fun in the City with Set Sail which was a great three day event where people could book in for free sailing lessons. There's nothing quite as special as seeing a nervous five year old come back from the water all excited because they sailed a small two person boat! We were even lucky enough to try it out after the last group on the Wednesday. A perfect time to be sailing as some of the Sydney to Hobart yachts were still moored down at the Docklands.
A brief trip to Sydney to say hi to Tamsin at the opening night of Carmen and generally get away from Melbourne for a couple of days and I was back to watch the ladies finals of the Australian Open. Good grief it was hot! Good match though and there's nothing quite like the atmosphere in a stadium - or talking to the random people sitting next to you. I really should see more live entertainment...
Our family were down for the weekend and while I had every intention of taking my cousins to check out Australia Day celebrations we settled for Sing Star instead. Did I mention I should see more live entertainment...?
Which brings me back to the week that's just passed. Not much else to report. Had a small operation to remove and replace the implant in my left arm. I'm rather pathetic when it comes to needles and the local anaesthetic hurt more than the scalpel going in (and that was before we had to reapply the anaesthtic which for some reason hadn't taken).
Sunday was Dad's birthday so we had a feast at our place. Roast beef for 11, one baked fish (with lime and ginger), many many roasted veggies, a freshly baked loaf of bread and a sweet potato & green bean salad (with sweet chilli & balsamic vinegar dressing). Dessert was a stack of profiteroles (Dad's new favourite baked good) and a plum & nectarine crumble (made from the fruits from our backyard!). Given the number of profiteroles and cake that I've eaten in the last two days I should really stop writing and go for a VERY long walk.
Besides, it may help me sleep and perhaps think less... which would be nice. :)
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Shelter
I arrived, bleary-eyed in Sydney just after 09:00. After spending a good hour having breakfast at the airport and wondering how exactly to pass the five hours left until I start work tonight I decided to head into town. I figured that I could find a relatively sheltered park and sit there for a few hours with a book for company. As is often the case, the sun was shining and continued to do so long enough to convince me that the chance of rain might actually stay just that.
So right now I'm sheltering in Starbucks drinking an extra large coffee to make up for the hours of sleep I flitted away last night. Ever the optimist when it comes to the weather. Coming from Melbourne I should know better...
So right now I'm sheltering in Starbucks drinking an extra large coffee to make up for the hours of sleep I flitted away last night. Ever the optimist when it comes to the weather. Coming from Melbourne I should know better...
Late Night Packing
I'm leaving for Sydney in less than 5 hours, so I figured it was about time to pack. I keep telling myself on the bright side, I started to consider my packing list at the start of the week...
With nothing left to pack but my laptop I really should just bundle it into the bag and get some shut eye. Instead I'm sitting here tapping away. It's largely because I've actually gotten out of the house a bit in the last couple of days.
A trip with some friends to a rather cool beach for a brisk swim, via a winery with a dog named Bingo, capped off with an evening at Moonlight Cinema yesterday added to what has already been a fairly pleasant start to the year. Couple that with falling asleep before 02:00 yesterday and I'm doing rather better than I expected.
Today was good for other reasons. Another load of laundry done means I'm 70% on the way to a tidy room, with the remaining 30% more to do with finding storage (or even better getting rid of stuff). I've also got a few more days work lined up for early February which is great. Still many emails to write but at least there's something to look forward to!
Anyhow, I really must close my eyes as I'm exhausted. A day of domesticity combined with the Grand Designs marathon have rather taken it out of me...
With nothing left to pack but my laptop I really should just bundle it into the bag and get some shut eye. Instead I'm sitting here tapping away. It's largely because I've actually gotten out of the house a bit in the last couple of days.
A trip with some friends to a rather cool beach for a brisk swim, via a winery with a dog named Bingo, capped off with an evening at Moonlight Cinema yesterday added to what has already been a fairly pleasant start to the year. Couple that with falling asleep before 02:00 yesterday and I'm doing rather better than I expected.
Today was good for other reasons. Another load of laundry done means I'm 70% on the way to a tidy room, with the remaining 30% more to do with finding storage (or even better getting rid of stuff). I've also got a few more days work lined up for early February which is great. Still many emails to write but at least there's something to look forward to!
Anyhow, I really must close my eyes as I'm exhausted. A day of domesticity combined with the Grand Designs marathon have rather taken it out of me...
Monday, March 12, 2007
Travel Bug
Today is an Autumn cleaning day. We've got family coming to stay with us on Wednesday night for the rather big weekend that Melbourne is set to have. I believe that the Grand Prix is what's caught their attention.
So it's looking to be a day of sorting through clothes, doing laundry (potential secret to happiness?) and working out how to store our clothes temporarily. That is one thing that I miss about having a house. Admittedly we tended to store things on the floor but we did try sometimes!
Last night we caught up with Paul, Deb who we hadn't seen since we left for Doha which was great. Love their new place (which when I think about it isn't that new) and it made me think two things. Firstly - Gee it'd be nice to have a place again and secondly It is kind of nice not having a place in some ways too... The latter is due to my urge to travel again.
I definitely have a bad case of the travel bug! You'd think that two months traveling around Europe would have cured that. When I think about it though, it's not so much the traveling that I want to do (I could live without spending quite that much time in train stations on a daily basis) but more the being somewhere else. I think I really do want to move somewhere else for a while. Currently "somewhere" is the UK (which isn't a particularly original destination for an Aussie) because I really liked the small taste I got while I was there. In any case there's still a lot that I want to see over there.
While I've been trying to work out how I can get back there I discovered that I can also do a working holiday type thing in Ireland for a year. That covers me for being over there for three years if I add it to the other one... By which stage I'll probably have moved on anyhow because I don't ever seem to be in the same place (physically or mentally) for particularly long. Commitment you say? I like my freedom in most things.
Okay I really should get stuck into the cleaning if only so that we can get back to our DVD/Final Fantasy XII routine before we start work tomorrow!
So it's looking to be a day of sorting through clothes, doing laundry (potential secret to happiness?) and working out how to store our clothes temporarily. That is one thing that I miss about having a house. Admittedly we tended to store things on the floor but we did try sometimes!
Last night we caught up with Paul, Deb who we hadn't seen since we left for Doha which was great. Love their new place (which when I think about it isn't that new) and it made me think two things. Firstly - Gee it'd be nice to have a place again and secondly It is kind of nice not having a place in some ways too... The latter is due to my urge to travel again.
I definitely have a bad case of the travel bug! You'd think that two months traveling around Europe would have cured that. When I think about it though, it's not so much the traveling that I want to do (I could live without spending quite that much time in train stations on a daily basis) but more the being somewhere else. I think I really do want to move somewhere else for a while. Currently "somewhere" is the UK (which isn't a particularly original destination for an Aussie) because I really liked the small taste I got while I was there. In any case there's still a lot that I want to see over there.
While I've been trying to work out how I can get back there I discovered that I can also do a working holiday type thing in Ireland for a year. That covers me for being over there for three years if I add it to the other one... By which stage I'll probably have moved on anyhow because I don't ever seem to be in the same place (physically or mentally) for particularly long. Commitment you say? I like my freedom in most things.
Okay I really should get stuck into the cleaning if only so that we can get back to our DVD/Final Fantasy XII routine before we start work tomorrow!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Gong Xi Fa Cai
I've been in Melbourne for less than twelve hours and I've already settled back into relative normality. It's almost like I never left. Except the part where we drove down the Tullamarine Freeway and I noticed that they'd added bits. Or even when we were landing and the city skyline looked just that little bit different.
The flight was a little late but otherwise uneventful. I was grateful to have slept most of the trip home because the people sitting behind were being really obnoxious to the flight staff and it was starting to really get to me. It would seem that immigration has gotten a teensy bit scarier. I don't remember the second officer asking you lots of questions after you'd made it past the first officer. It's not particularly fun trying to explain why you've been in Qatar for four and a half months, what the Asian Games were and what a production asssitant did at 2am. I had trouble remembering what countries I'd visited in Europe too... Wasn't expecting an interview!
Anyhow, made it through immigration and for a brief moment didn't think my bags were ever going to appear on the carousel. They did and I headed to customs and declared my kueh lapis, Indonesian layer cake, then it was out the gates to see my parents for the first time in six months. It was great to see them and when I did I knew that I was home.
Upon arrival home there was a small exchange of random items that I'd picked up on my travels, the ones I could find anyhow then Dad brought out the long awaited char siew. Mmm BBQ roast pork. It was good. We started watching a bit of the Opening Ceremony before realising that it was 4am and clearly bed time for all.
I headed to my room, spilled open my baggage and then made the unwise decision to start reading the first book in His Dark Materials. After three chapters I forced myself to put it down and closed my eyes. A couple of hours later the sun was rising and I woke up and watched it through the bedroom window. There's something nice about coming home and watching the sunrise. It's not something that I'm usually up for!
More reading followed that and I eventually got out of bed at 9am to say good morning to my folks before they headed out. Now up I'm in the study with two snoring pugs behind me and all is well.
Tomorrow is likely to be a big day of getting paperwork sorted and applying for jobs but today is going to be a quiet one I think. Just settling in and enjoying being in one place before I disappear off again.
Oh and before I forget, gong xi fa cai to you all. It's my year this year and I'm hoping it's going to be a good one!
The flight was a little late but otherwise uneventful. I was grateful to have slept most of the trip home because the people sitting behind were being really obnoxious to the flight staff and it was starting to really get to me. It would seem that immigration has gotten a teensy bit scarier. I don't remember the second officer asking you lots of questions after you'd made it past the first officer. It's not particularly fun trying to explain why you've been in Qatar for four and a half months, what the Asian Games were and what a production asssitant did at 2am. I had trouble remembering what countries I'd visited in Europe too... Wasn't expecting an interview!
Anyhow, made it through immigration and for a brief moment didn't think my bags were ever going to appear on the carousel. They did and I headed to customs and declared my kueh lapis, Indonesian layer cake, then it was out the gates to see my parents for the first time in six months. It was great to see them and when I did I knew that I was home.
Upon arrival home there was a small exchange of random items that I'd picked up on my travels, the ones I could find anyhow then Dad brought out the long awaited char siew. Mmm BBQ roast pork. It was good. We started watching a bit of the Opening Ceremony before realising that it was 4am and clearly bed time for all.
I headed to my room, spilled open my baggage and then made the unwise decision to start reading the first book in His Dark Materials. After three chapters I forced myself to put it down and closed my eyes. A couple of hours later the sun was rising and I woke up and watched it through the bedroom window. There's something nice about coming home and watching the sunrise. It's not something that I'm usually up for!
More reading followed that and I eventually got out of bed at 9am to say good morning to my folks before they headed out. Now up I'm in the study with two snoring pugs behind me and all is well.
Tomorrow is likely to be a big day of getting paperwork sorted and applying for jobs but today is going to be a quiet one I think. Just settling in and enjoying being in one place before I disappear off again.
Oh and before I forget, gong xi fa cai to you all. It's my year this year and I'm hoping it's going to be a good one!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Homeward Bound
I'm on my way home at last. By the time I arrive in Melbourne on the 18th February I'll have been away for exactly 6 months.
Our travel arrangements of late have been rather interesting. We were hoping to be able to depart on the 18th February but were doubtful of getting seats. As a result we've been calling Emirates on a daily basis to see how we were doing. Today Gene called up and was advised that we'd all been kicked off the waiting list as it was too long and that the first day it reopened was the 20th Feb. They also mentioned that I should fly soon as the ticket that I was under the impression (due to the printed words at the top of my old ticket) was valid for a year from issue was only valid for six months according to their system. Not wanting to have to buy a new ticket to argue this later we took the one ticket back to Australia that they had. The only catch is I'd have to leave tomorrow.
So I'll be leaving Gene & Nick (again) and heading home first to pave the way for them. With any luck they may be able to get a flight on the 25th Feb but if not they're confirmed for the 28th February.
After recovering from the shock of having to leave tomorrow instead of in a few days or a week my first instinct was to pack everything that I wanted to do into my one day here.
First port of call after a fine breakfast of currypuffs was to take Nick down to Far East Plaza and Orchard Road to see the main shopping strip of Singapore.
We were briefly distracted at Takashimaya where we had a Korean lunch and I bought traditional snacks like mwah chee which is a rice flour dough dipped in crushed peanuts (taste better than it looks and sounds) and some Japanese sweet pancakes (again with peanuts).
Once at Far East Plaza we took him to our favourite ever bookshop, Sunny, where Gene and I proceeded to purchase new libraries.
Nick left with nothing which was very restraint of him.
Having only just eaten less than an hour ago we trooped upstairs to have Hainanese Chicken Rice at the shop that I've gone to since I was a wee lass. You don't even have to order now. You just let them know how many people need a seat and as you sit down they roll out the rice, chicken, broth and off you go! Two serves for $5.60. Now that's what I love about eating in Singapore.
Next stop was Pan Photo to visit Doris where Nick made up for his lack of shopping at Sunny Bookstore. We walked out of there with one 80GB iPod (Nick), a set of in-ear headphones and iPod Nano case (Gene) and an iPod remote (mine). After that it was time for the boys to stop for a beer if only to interrupt our shopping.
We decided we'd spent enough money but should get some clothes for Chinese New Year's day (you're meant to wear new clothes). We hunted for red shirts for the boys but were unsuccessful. It's red t-shirts instead. I managed to find a lovely red skirt which is about a million miles too long for me but I like the hem (well bottom 20cm) of my skirt dragging on the ground... ahem.
If you think that's the end of the shopping then (to quote Captain Jack Sparrows), clearly you haven't been to Singapore. We headed to Bedok to find some shorts for the boys so they didn't melt. This was a successful trip where they found shorts and I found the world's most comfortable bra. Win win situation for all.
Finally it was time to head home for a rest before heading out for a meal of more local foods...
We're in the process of trying to introduce Nick to as many of the local foods that we love and crave when we're in Singapore. Needless to say we're all rather full.
So tomorrow I'll have some bak-kwa slices of marinated pork and whatever else that catches my eye before I run off to catch a plane back to reality. It's going to be a big day!
Our travel arrangements of late have been rather interesting. We were hoping to be able to depart on the 18th February but were doubtful of getting seats. As a result we've been calling Emirates on a daily basis to see how we were doing. Today Gene called up and was advised that we'd all been kicked off the waiting list as it was too long and that the first day it reopened was the 20th Feb. They also mentioned that I should fly soon as the ticket that I was under the impression (due to the printed words at the top of my old ticket) was valid for a year from issue was only valid for six months according to their system. Not wanting to have to buy a new ticket to argue this later we took the one ticket back to Australia that they had. The only catch is I'd have to leave tomorrow.
So I'll be leaving Gene & Nick (again) and heading home first to pave the way for them. With any luck they may be able to get a flight on the 25th Feb but if not they're confirmed for the 28th February.
After recovering from the shock of having to leave tomorrow instead of in a few days or a week my first instinct was to pack everything that I wanted to do into my one day here.
First port of call after a fine breakfast of currypuffs was to take Nick down to Far East Plaza and Orchard Road to see the main shopping strip of Singapore.
We were briefly distracted at Takashimaya where we had a Korean lunch and I bought traditional snacks like mwah chee which is a rice flour dough dipped in crushed peanuts (taste better than it looks and sounds) and some Japanese sweet pancakes (again with peanuts).
Once at Far East Plaza we took him to our favourite ever bookshop, Sunny, where Gene and I proceeded to purchase new libraries.
Reading List for early 2007
- His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
- The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: and Other Stories by Tim Burton
- The Science of Discworld II: The Globe by Terry Pratchett
- Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Gene bought this one)
Nick left with nothing which was very restraint of him.
Having only just eaten less than an hour ago we trooped upstairs to have Hainanese Chicken Rice at the shop that I've gone to since I was a wee lass. You don't even have to order now. You just let them know how many people need a seat and as you sit down they roll out the rice, chicken, broth and off you go! Two serves for $5.60. Now that's what I love about eating in Singapore.
Next stop was Pan Photo to visit Doris where Nick made up for his lack of shopping at Sunny Bookstore. We walked out of there with one 80GB iPod (Nick), a set of in-ear headphones and iPod Nano case (Gene) and an iPod remote (mine). After that it was time for the boys to stop for a beer if only to interrupt our shopping.
We decided we'd spent enough money but should get some clothes for Chinese New Year's day (you're meant to wear new clothes). We hunted for red shirts for the boys but were unsuccessful. It's red t-shirts instead. I managed to find a lovely red skirt which is about a million miles too long for me but I like the hem (well bottom 20cm) of my skirt dragging on the ground... ahem.
If you think that's the end of the shopping then (to quote Captain Jack Sparrows), clearly you haven't been to Singapore. We headed to Bedok to find some shorts for the boys so they didn't melt. This was a successful trip where they found shorts and I found the world's most comfortable bra. Win win situation for all.
Finally it was time to head home for a rest before heading out for a meal of more local foods...
Tonight's Menu
- BBQ Stingray - Gene's favourite
- Sambal Prawns
- Sambal Sotong (calimari)
- Fried Oyster with egg
- oyster omelette
- 10 x otah (fish cooked in coconut leaf)
- 30 x satay sticks (10 x beef, 10 x chicken, 10 x lamb)
- char kway teow
- another squid & veggie dish that I don't know the name of
- 1 x fresh coconut
- 4 x lime juice slushies
- 1 x fresh sugar cane juice
- 1 x grass jelly drink
- 1 x long neck of tiger beer
We're in the process of trying to introduce Nick to as many of the local foods that we love and crave when we're in Singapore. Needless to say we're all rather full.
So tomorrow I'll have some bak-kwa slices of marinated pork and whatever else that catches my eye before I run off to catch a plane back to reality. It's going to be a big day!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Doha Sweet Doha
We've finally made it back to Doha. It's been just under two months but it feels like an eternity!
Our flight from Paris to Dubai was delayed by 40 minutes last night while technicians changed the oil filter on our plane. This made us a little nervous as we had just under an hour to make our connecting flight to Doha. Luckily we caught a tail wind so we landed five minutes before we were supposed to board our connecting flight. Naturally the gate was at the opposite end of the terminal so we made our way up there at speed to find that there was "debris on the runway" resulting in what was to be a 45 minute delay. Once we finally took off the flight went smoothly and we had a great time chatting to the flight attendant who turned out to be a Melbourne girl too.
At the moment I'm sitting in our room at the Four Seasons. It's stunning. We got upgraded to an ocean view room and while there is a big dome blocking a third of the view it is still lovely overlooking the bay and the poolside bar.
Still no news on the flights back to Melbourne. Nick & I are going to head down to the Emirates office when it opens again at 1600 to see if there's anything we can do and also to double check we haven't missed anything important.
The weather is perfect here. It's 22˚C and sunny. A fine change from France. I have a feeling that we're going to melt when we land in Singapore though. It's going to hurt. Still there will be plenty of distractions like Chinese New Year so I'm sure we'll cope. Plus nothing could top the Doha summer.
It's funny being back in Doha. Most people think we're doing a visa run from Dubai. The city has changed ever so slightly. More of it seems to have been built which can only be good for it.
Same same but different.
Our flight from Paris to Dubai was delayed by 40 minutes last night while technicians changed the oil filter on our plane. This made us a little nervous as we had just under an hour to make our connecting flight to Doha. Luckily we caught a tail wind so we landed five minutes before we were supposed to board our connecting flight. Naturally the gate was at the opposite end of the terminal so we made our way up there at speed to find that there was "debris on the runway" resulting in what was to be a 45 minute delay. Once we finally took off the flight went smoothly and we had a great time chatting to the flight attendant who turned out to be a Melbourne girl too.
At the moment I'm sitting in our room at the Four Seasons. It's stunning. We got upgraded to an ocean view room and while there is a big dome blocking a third of the view it is still lovely overlooking the bay and the poolside bar.
Still no news on the flights back to Melbourne. Nick & I are going to head down to the Emirates office when it opens again at 1600 to see if there's anything we can do and also to double check we haven't missed anything important.
The weather is perfect here. It's 22˚C and sunny. A fine change from France. I have a feeling that we're going to melt when we land in Singapore though. It's going to hurt. Still there will be plenty of distractions like Chinese New Year so I'm sure we'll cope. Plus nothing could top the Doha summer.
It's funny being back in Doha. Most people think we're doing a visa run from Dubai. The city has changed ever so slightly. More of it seems to have been built which can only be good for it.
Same same but different.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Last Night In France
It's 01:15 and I really should be tucked up in bed asleep but having had three days of solid sleep care of the Arctic Measles I've found I'm back to my usual insomnia. I like to think it's a sign I'm getting better.
We leave for Qatar tomorrow, some would say to tempt fate in Doha, which I'm sure will be fine. Gene & I are looking forward to catching up with our favourite limo driver while we're there. The whole day spa thing is a little out of the question in light of recent events. A pity because we'd been looking forward to it for most of the trip.
Am feeling much better and made contact with the world again today (ie. started looking for work and called family & friends). That was lovely. It's nice to be back in the world even though the world is currently still a little sore. The paracetamol's looking after that though.
In answer to Nick's comment on my previous post I must admit I didn't feel particularly medieval during the chicken pox although I did spend some brief moments gazing wistfully out the window at the happy people outside before hiding behind the curtains incase they saw me. More fairytale trapped in a tower due to being a disfigured, misunderstood creature than medieval but an interesting description of the experience of chicken pox from your family. I'll have to ask other Nick how he felt about it... He did go sledding though so I doubt it was medieval. Sorry Rami I don't think the story will be illustrated any time soon. You'll have to use your imagination.
So here we are. We've made it to the end of our whirlwind tour of Europe. It's hard to believe that we've been here since Christmas Eve. Time seems to flow differently when you're on holiday. It's been great fun having gone through a variety of countries where we've all spoken the language, not spoken it at all, or had one or two members of the party speak the language. Norweigan was a tough one to pick up. We've come away with only one word takk which means "thank you". Still it was a good experience for us to muddle our way across borders with our phrasebooks and we're looking forward to doing it again.
Tomorrow we start the journey home navigating our way back through Asia. We're still on the waiting list to get back to Australia so we're making plans to show Nick around Singapore for a few days. This largely revolves around all the great places and foods to eat as well as a tour of the Esplanade. We're theatre geeks at heart, how could we not?
We've already started discussions of the first things that we want to consume upon our eventual return home.
Gene - large Aussie with garlic and chilli
Nick - Boags draught
Me? I just want some vegemite on toast. Some biltong too (although it's South African so not particularly patriotic and I had some in the UK anyway).
Having been away for a few months now I'm expecting the city to be, as they would say in Doha, same same but different. My Dad posted some pictures he'd taken around Melbourne and it was good to see the city sights again. It's not something that I've really taken much notice of until we went away. While we were flying to Paris from Oslo I was reading the inflight magazine and there was an article on Melbourne. The photo accompanying the article was an old photo though. The old Gas & Fuel buildings were still standing opposite Flinders Street Station with St Paul's peeping out from behind them. No Fed Square in sight.
While it will be good to see the city again it really is the people I'm most looking forward to seeing.
Almost home but not quite. No ticket back yet and our house in storage. It's a little odd but strangely liberating.
We leave for Qatar tomorrow, some would say to tempt fate in Doha, which I'm sure will be fine. Gene & I are looking forward to catching up with our favourite limo driver while we're there. The whole day spa thing is a little out of the question in light of recent events. A pity because we'd been looking forward to it for most of the trip.
Am feeling much better and made contact with the world again today (ie. started looking for work and called family & friends). That was lovely. It's nice to be back in the world even though the world is currently still a little sore. The paracetamol's looking after that though.
In answer to Nick's comment on my previous post I must admit I didn't feel particularly medieval during the chicken pox although I did spend some brief moments gazing wistfully out the window at the happy people outside before hiding behind the curtains incase they saw me. More fairytale trapped in a tower due to being a disfigured, misunderstood creature than medieval but an interesting description of the experience of chicken pox from your family. I'll have to ask other Nick how he felt about it... He did go sledding though so I doubt it was medieval. Sorry Rami I don't think the story will be illustrated any time soon. You'll have to use your imagination.
So here we are. We've made it to the end of our whirlwind tour of Europe. It's hard to believe that we've been here since Christmas Eve. Time seems to flow differently when you're on holiday. It's been great fun having gone through a variety of countries where we've all spoken the language, not spoken it at all, or had one or two members of the party speak the language. Norweigan was a tough one to pick up. We've come away with only one word takk which means "thank you". Still it was a good experience for us to muddle our way across borders with our phrasebooks and we're looking forward to doing it again.
Tomorrow we start the journey home navigating our way back through Asia. We're still on the waiting list to get back to Australia so we're making plans to show Nick around Singapore for a few days. This largely revolves around all the great places and foods to eat as well as a tour of the Esplanade. We're theatre geeks at heart, how could we not?
We've already started discussions of the first things that we want to consume upon our eventual return home.
Gene - large Aussie with garlic and chilli
Nick - Boags draught
Me? I just want some vegemite on toast. Some biltong too (although it's South African so not particularly patriotic and I had some in the UK anyway).
Having been away for a few months now I'm expecting the city to be, as they would say in Doha, same same but different. My Dad posted some pictures he'd taken around Melbourne and it was good to see the city sights again. It's not something that I've really taken much notice of until we went away. While we were flying to Paris from Oslo I was reading the inflight magazine and there was an article on Melbourne. The photo accompanying the article was an old photo though. The old Gas & Fuel buildings were still standing opposite Flinders Street Station with St Paul's peeping out from behind them. No Fed Square in sight.
While it will be good to see the city again it really is the people I'm most looking forward to seeing.
Almost home but not quite. No ticket back yet and our house in storage. It's a little odd but strangely liberating.
Friday, February 09, 2007
The Arctic Measles That Never Were
A.K.A. WE’RE STILL IN DOHA, TA-NAH!
Once upon a time there were three friends, Tech Boy, the Little One and Ta-Nah! who lived in the city of the Four Season Days. Tech Boy was generally cheerful and enjoyed fixing things with one of his many purpose built matte-black tools. His smaller half, the Little One, spent more time shrouded in papers or when she wasn’t working in yarns of all colours and plys. Ta-Nah! was so called because of his happy disposition, and ability to point out things that should seem obvious but aren’t. (Possibly also because I’m terrible at nicknames and it’s the first thing that sprang to mind from the trip).
The three friends spent much of their time wearing large amounts of black while toiling in the hope of attaining the much prized black “crew” shirt from as many shows as possible. They were folks of simple wishes. The work was often hard with unsociable hours and they didn’t get to see many of their friends outside of this world. It was not without reward though. They often enjoyed the shows that they worked on and even when there was no t-shirt in sight, the pleasure of having a hard earned drink with workmates often made up for any aches and pains from the day.
It was having just returned from one such work trip that had ended in holiday resort Up North that the Little One heard a call from a desert. It was a crackly call but it spoke of unbearably hot days, slightly more bearable nights and a culture like she’d never experienced. It also mentioned a fabulous job and people who she’d enjoyed working with earlier that year and the promise of paperwork. Much paperwork. How could she resist? Maybe there’d even be another t-shirt…
One week after her return to Four Season Days the Little One packed her bags, bid her friends farewell and set off towards the Land That Will Always Be Free.
As the Little One settled into her new temporary home she sent home tales of the heat, the lack of pork products, the need for a license to purchase alcohol and the sole bottle shop in the country as well as the crazy drivers and roads.
Tech Boy was stunned and could not believe that such a place existed.
“What? No pork products?!” he exclaimed, “That’s crazy talk”.
So it was that two weeks later he joined the Little One in the place where the People of the Desert came together and joined hands with the People of the Sea.
Time passed and although the Little One and Tech Boy were enjoying their time, despite the food and drink restrictions, they missed Ta-Nah! greatly. He was part of their family and they felt lost without him.
More time passed before they found out that Ta-Nah! would be joining them in the desert in a matter of weeks. They were most excited. Days and nights were carefully counted and important preparations were made for his imminent arrival.
As a result Ta-Nah! was greeted at the airport by his two friends bearing gifts. One had brought him a stack of papers of varying degrees of usefulness and the other had brought him a case of beer.
After terrifying their friend with tales of road accident statistics, various ways to (by home standards) easily get yourself incarcerated and how easy it seemed to become severely dehydrated, Tech Boy retired to bed for a few hours rest leaving the Little One to look after their friend.
The day ran smoothly overall after the Little One had attempted to get them both run over on the way to lunch. After this, the days and nights started to run into one long day of show preparation.
The weather began to cool down and one by one the beanies and coats started to grudgingly appear despite it being 23˚C. It still seemed cold. There was also the welcome sight of a couple of drops of rain which rapidly became less welcome when it was discovered that the city was not particularly drainy.
As the temperature dropped the tension, stress and excitement grew until it culminated in a spectacular, albeit wet, opening ceremony. There were horses, a city of lights, another horse and a great big flaming cauldron. Just in case all involved weren’t wet enough from the show, it continued to rain through most of the night after the show with the exception of the half hour or so that it hailed. Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were beginning to think they’d seen it all.
The days passed quickly and before they knew it they were well into the closing ceremony. There were campfires to be lit, camels and horses to do as they do, thousands of little genies to get entangled with and a donkey. After the show there were a few more long nights of packing up followed by many nights of celebration before it was suddenly all over.
Friends parted, old and new alike, with promises of keeping in touch or visiting. This was not the case for the three friends in our tale though. They had decided to go on a whirlwind tour of the Continent, the Land of Tea and ultimately the Arctic!
So they did.
They spent Christmas in the City of Love in the Land of Wine & Cheese with an old friend while regaling some new friends with tales of camels and 1200 men with flares.
In the Land of Tea, Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! searched fervently for a decent cup of coffee while the Little One unhelpfully pointed out that this might be a lost cause as she sipped on her cup of tea. They kept searching and eventually found a decent cup of coffee by a museum.
Having achieved their coffee-finding mission the trio made their way back to the Land of Wine & Cheese where Ta-Nah! was twice crowned the King of Revelry.
A last minute decision saw them travel even further South to a city by the Mediterranean Sea where they discovered the long-lost secret to getting Tech Boy to smile in photos. There were human statues aplenty and more historical architecture and gardens than they could fit into the two days that they had and they agreed that they would have to return one day.
It was here in the city by the Mediterranean that the trouble started.
While Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were reclining on a pier by the Mediterranean, Ta-Nah! started to explain how it wasn’t really a sea but a big bay. He continued to explain a little of the Mediterranean’s history and his reasoning behind his statement. The Little One was doubtful that this was a good idea to be insulting the very body of water that they were reclining beside. The three of them made a few more flippant remarks about being dragged into the potentially offended Mediterranean before heading off for a little piece of home at the theatre.
The next few weeks passed uneventfully and the trio thought nothing more of their quips regarding the Mediterranean. They continued their journey to the Arctic through several countries stopping to sample their beers, wines and as much local fare as they could find.
On their journey they walked on the World’s Greatest Stage, visited the Little Mermaid and wandered through red light districts at the wrong time of day. The trip was going well.
Two days before they were set to arrive in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well. Not knowing how else to respond, Tech Boy and the Little one responded with encouraging words (“you’ll be right” and “have some spirulina and some paracetamol it’ll help” respectively).
They were sadly mistaken as when they arrived up in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! had not improved at all. The attractive Arctic doctor confirmed their fears. Ta-Nah! had Arctic Measles. Sadly the attractive Arctic doctor had no solution for Arctic Measles but the good news was that it wasn’t contagious.
Naturally the explanation for Arctic Measles was that the Mediterranean had been cunning in seeking to teach the three travellers a lesson in manners. As all bodies of water are connected in some way She had sent the Arctic Measles to them as a reminder that there was nowhere to run. Naturally.
So the trio continued with the activities as planned. Despite his protestations that he “didn’t do fun”, Ta-Nah! continued to partake in the night-time tobogganing, sleigh riding, dog-sledding and seeing pretty lights in the sky with Tech Boy and the Little One.
As the days passed Ta-Nah! improved slightly. By the end of the five day Arctic excursion he was well on the mend.
At this point the Little One parted from her travelling companions for a side trip back to the Land of Tea to visit more people and drink more tea. Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! continued on to the Land of Wine & Cheese where they passed the days eating good cheese and drinking varying qualities of wine.
Feeling refreshed after her trip the Little One rejoined her companions and spent the week relaxing with them. Tech Boy and the Little One celebrated their five years together in fine company as the Little Lisa had chosen to join the trio for the weekend.
The Little One was starting to feel rather fatigued. More so than normal and much more than she should as she was sleeping quite a lot during the day. She put this down to her usual stressing about life, the universe and everything and tried to put it out of her mind.
On what was to be their second last day in the Land of Wine & Cheese, the three travellers headed South to the coast to visit the Mediterranean to ensure that everything was good between them and the Sea. The Little One barely made it out of the car.
She had discovered a few little red itchy spots appearing over the last few nights.
By the time they arrived back in the cottage some of these had blossomed into blisters. They still itched but now they hurt too.
This perplexed the three travellers as they looked awfully like the non-contagious Arctic Measles but by the very nature of non-contagious Arctic Measles couldn’t be.
The next day Tech Boy kindly took the Little One to the doctor who cheerfully pronounced that she had chicken pox. Yes it was definitely chicken pox which is unfortunate in an adult. Yes it’s what Ta-Nah! had too, even if the attractive Arctic doctor said otherwise. Bed rest till the end of the week and try not to catch anything else as it could get complicated… and that was that.
Oh and dragons and unicorns and such. (for Nick)
So it’s now the end of the week. The blisters are slowly drying and last night I managed to sleep for more than four hours at a stretch for the first time in a week.
Gene & Nick are in fine health and are looking after themselves to avoid a relapse of chicken pox and have kindly taken over the travel arrangements while nursing me back to life. It’s my first time out of bed in three days and I may be heading back that way soon.
There are two points to the story.
Firstly, don’t insult any body of water. It always ends badly.
Secondly, the three of us will be home late. We’re not sure how late we’ll be yet as we’re on a wait list to get back from Singapore but I’m sure we’ll keep you posted.
For now, thank you for reading, have fun, be safe and we’ll see you soon.
- The Little One.
St Flour, France.
Once upon a time there were three friends, Tech Boy, the Little One and Ta-Nah! who lived in the city of the Four Season Days. Tech Boy was generally cheerful and enjoyed fixing things with one of his many purpose built matte-black tools. His smaller half, the Little One, spent more time shrouded in papers or when she wasn’t working in yarns of all colours and plys. Ta-Nah! was so called because of his happy disposition, and ability to point out things that should seem obvious but aren’t. (Possibly also because I’m terrible at nicknames and it’s the first thing that sprang to mind from the trip).
The three friends spent much of their time wearing large amounts of black while toiling in the hope of attaining the much prized black “crew” shirt from as many shows as possible. They were folks of simple wishes. The work was often hard with unsociable hours and they didn’t get to see many of their friends outside of this world. It was not without reward though. They often enjoyed the shows that they worked on and even when there was no t-shirt in sight, the pleasure of having a hard earned drink with workmates often made up for any aches and pains from the day.
It was having just returned from one such work trip that had ended in holiday resort Up North that the Little One heard a call from a desert. It was a crackly call but it spoke of unbearably hot days, slightly more bearable nights and a culture like she’d never experienced. It also mentioned a fabulous job and people who she’d enjoyed working with earlier that year and the promise of paperwork. Much paperwork. How could she resist? Maybe there’d even be another t-shirt…
One week after her return to Four Season Days the Little One packed her bags, bid her friends farewell and set off towards the Land That Will Always Be Free.
As the Little One settled into her new temporary home she sent home tales of the heat, the lack of pork products, the need for a license to purchase alcohol and the sole bottle shop in the country as well as the crazy drivers and roads.
Tech Boy was stunned and could not believe that such a place existed.
“What? No pork products?!” he exclaimed, “That’s crazy talk”.
So it was that two weeks later he joined the Little One in the place where the People of the Desert came together and joined hands with the People of the Sea.
Time passed and although the Little One and Tech Boy were enjoying their time, despite the food and drink restrictions, they missed Ta-Nah! greatly. He was part of their family and they felt lost without him.
More time passed before they found out that Ta-Nah! would be joining them in the desert in a matter of weeks. They were most excited. Days and nights were carefully counted and important preparations were made for his imminent arrival.
As a result Ta-Nah! was greeted at the airport by his two friends bearing gifts. One had brought him a stack of papers of varying degrees of usefulness and the other had brought him a case of beer.
After terrifying their friend with tales of road accident statistics, various ways to (by home standards) easily get yourself incarcerated and how easy it seemed to become severely dehydrated, Tech Boy retired to bed for a few hours rest leaving the Little One to look after their friend.
The day ran smoothly overall after the Little One had attempted to get them both run over on the way to lunch. After this, the days and nights started to run into one long day of show preparation.
The weather began to cool down and one by one the beanies and coats started to grudgingly appear despite it being 23˚C. It still seemed cold. There was also the welcome sight of a couple of drops of rain which rapidly became less welcome when it was discovered that the city was not particularly drainy.
As the temperature dropped the tension, stress and excitement grew until it culminated in a spectacular, albeit wet, opening ceremony. There were horses, a city of lights, another horse and a great big flaming cauldron. Just in case all involved weren’t wet enough from the show, it continued to rain through most of the night after the show with the exception of the half hour or so that it hailed. Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were beginning to think they’d seen it all.
The days passed quickly and before they knew it they were well into the closing ceremony. There were campfires to be lit, camels and horses to do as they do, thousands of little genies to get entangled with and a donkey. After the show there were a few more long nights of packing up followed by many nights of celebration before it was suddenly all over.
Friends parted, old and new alike, with promises of keeping in touch or visiting. This was not the case for the three friends in our tale though. They had decided to go on a whirlwind tour of the Continent, the Land of Tea and ultimately the Arctic!
So they did.
They spent Christmas in the City of Love in the Land of Wine & Cheese with an old friend while regaling some new friends with tales of camels and 1200 men with flares.
In the Land of Tea, Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! searched fervently for a decent cup of coffee while the Little One unhelpfully pointed out that this might be a lost cause as she sipped on her cup of tea. They kept searching and eventually found a decent cup of coffee by a museum.
Having achieved their coffee-finding mission the trio made their way back to the Land of Wine & Cheese where Ta-Nah! was twice crowned the King of Revelry.
A last minute decision saw them travel even further South to a city by the Mediterranean Sea where they discovered the long-lost secret to getting Tech Boy to smile in photos. There were human statues aplenty and more historical architecture and gardens than they could fit into the two days that they had and they agreed that they would have to return one day.
It was here in the city by the Mediterranean that the trouble started.
While Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were reclining on a pier by the Mediterranean, Ta-Nah! started to explain how it wasn’t really a sea but a big bay. He continued to explain a little of the Mediterranean’s history and his reasoning behind his statement. The Little One was doubtful that this was a good idea to be insulting the very body of water that they were reclining beside. The three of them made a few more flippant remarks about being dragged into the potentially offended Mediterranean before heading off for a little piece of home at the theatre.
The next few weeks passed uneventfully and the trio thought nothing more of their quips regarding the Mediterranean. They continued their journey to the Arctic through several countries stopping to sample their beers, wines and as much local fare as they could find.
On their journey they walked on the World’s Greatest Stage, visited the Little Mermaid and wandered through red light districts at the wrong time of day. The trip was going well.
Two days before they were set to arrive in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well. Not knowing how else to respond, Tech Boy and the Little one responded with encouraging words (“you’ll be right” and “have some spirulina and some paracetamol it’ll help” respectively).
They were sadly mistaken as when they arrived up in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! had not improved at all. The attractive Arctic doctor confirmed their fears. Ta-Nah! had Arctic Measles. Sadly the attractive Arctic doctor had no solution for Arctic Measles but the good news was that it wasn’t contagious.
Naturally the explanation for Arctic Measles was that the Mediterranean had been cunning in seeking to teach the three travellers a lesson in manners. As all bodies of water are connected in some way She had sent the Arctic Measles to them as a reminder that there was nowhere to run. Naturally.
So the trio continued with the activities as planned. Despite his protestations that he “didn’t do fun”, Ta-Nah! continued to partake in the night-time tobogganing, sleigh riding, dog-sledding and seeing pretty lights in the sky with Tech Boy and the Little One.
As the days passed Ta-Nah! improved slightly. By the end of the five day Arctic excursion he was well on the mend.
At this point the Little One parted from her travelling companions for a side trip back to the Land of Tea to visit more people and drink more tea. Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! continued on to the Land of Wine & Cheese where they passed the days eating good cheese and drinking varying qualities of wine.
Feeling refreshed after her trip the Little One rejoined her companions and spent the week relaxing with them. Tech Boy and the Little One celebrated their five years together in fine company as the Little Lisa had chosen to join the trio for the weekend.
The Little One was starting to feel rather fatigued. More so than normal and much more than she should as she was sleeping quite a lot during the day. She put this down to her usual stressing about life, the universe and everything and tried to put it out of her mind.
On what was to be their second last day in the Land of Wine & Cheese, the three travellers headed South to the coast to visit the Mediterranean to ensure that everything was good between them and the Sea. The Little One barely made it out of the car.
She had discovered a few little red itchy spots appearing over the last few nights.
By the time they arrived back in the cottage some of these had blossomed into blisters. They still itched but now they hurt too.
This perplexed the three travellers as they looked awfully like the non-contagious Arctic Measles but by the very nature of non-contagious Arctic Measles couldn’t be.
The next day Tech Boy kindly took the Little One to the doctor who cheerfully pronounced that she had chicken pox. Yes it was definitely chicken pox which is unfortunate in an adult. Yes it’s what Ta-Nah! had too, even if the attractive Arctic doctor said otherwise. Bed rest till the end of the week and try not to catch anything else as it could get complicated… and that was that.
Oh and dragons and unicorns and such. (for Nick)
So it’s now the end of the week. The blisters are slowly drying and last night I managed to sleep for more than four hours at a stretch for the first time in a week.
Gene & Nick are in fine health and are looking after themselves to avoid a relapse of chicken pox and have kindly taken over the travel arrangements while nursing me back to life. It’s my first time out of bed in three days and I may be heading back that way soon.
There are two points to the story.
Firstly, don’t insult any body of water. It always ends badly.
Secondly, the three of us will be home late. We’re not sure how late we’ll be yet as we’re on a wait list to get back from Singapore but I’m sure we’ll keep you posted.
For now, thank you for reading, have fun, be safe and we’ll see you soon.
- The Little One.
St Flour, France.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Adventures in Europe.
Norway can stay. While we've been travelling about we've been jokingly talking about bits of the world that we like and bits we think we could do without. Pretty much everywhere we've been can stay in our re-modelled world.
Norway was stunning. Tromsø was truly breathtaking. In the three nights that we were there we made friends with taxi drivers, Norweigan kids TV stars (and their film crew), went dog sledding, saw the Northern lights, went to the hospital, rode in a one-horse open sleigh (hey!), tobogganed at night, ate many random sausages and sat in what must be the only Irish pub that didn't serve Guiness.
The taxi drivers in Norway were wonderfully friendly. Our first taxi driver told us about the region as he took us to our hotel. Our second taxi driver asked us what had posessed us to come in the middle of Winter to the Arctic (in no uncertain terms) and our last taxi driver taught us some Norweigan on the way to the airport.
We were pretty lucky with the weather for our dogsledding. It snowed a fair bit initially but cleared up enough for us to catch the Northern Lights briefly. I say we were lucky because there were a couple of girls there on a Northern Light safari on the same night as we went sledding and they didn't get to see the Lights. The three of us felt a bit bad about being so heavy and making the poor twelve gorgeous huskies tow us around for 10km but we were advised that they were in training for a 1600km race. We still felt bad. After we thanked the dogs for hauling us about the hills we retired to a traditional-ish tent and had a rather rich reindeer soup. Gene maintains that his had a red nose. It was delicious, much like the chocolate cake at the end.
The horse sleigh ride was slow and fun and our host was friendly and informative. His wife told us folk tales of the relationship between the Vikings and the Northern Lights while we ate a home-cooked lamb stew. Dinner was followed with a fortified home-made wine with home-baked cinnamon cake. It was delicious. We passed the evening talking to the aforementioned film crew and TV personality as they had been filming an episode where the presenter overcomes his fear of horses. They were a great bunch and lots of fun. Then we were joined by a group of six Chinese government officials. My Chinese could do with some work... The Northern Lights were pretty faint that night but the company made up for it.
I should probably explain why we went to the hospital. Nick had what we termed Arctic Measles. The hospital was the only place we could get a doctor to see him so that's the first place we went in went Tromsø. Doctor said he'd be fine and it was just a reaction to a virus not chicken pox. We were happy about that.
After three days of freezing in the Artic we returned to Oslo overnight before flying back to Paris where we would split up for a few days.
Paris was a bit of an adventure considering I was there for less that three hours. When we landed at Charles De Gaulle we ended up in terminal 1 which doesn't have a train station there. On top of that it took us 20 minutes to exit the terminal and about as long to get to the station and buy tickets. By the time we got on the train I was meant to be checking into the Eurostar terminal to get my train to London. We made it to Gare du Nord 20 minutes before my train was meant to depart. I managed to sprint through the station and board the train 10 minutes before departure. Nothing like a run through a French train station to kick start a holiday!
Turns out that Gene & Nick had a similarly exciting day when our Eurail pass got pilfered out of Gene's pocket, they couldn't find the car hire place and it was a 15€ taxi ride from the station and it was snowing too hard for them to drive to St Flour where the cottage was so they had to stay in a hotel overnight. 25th January was a good day.
I arrived in London and headed to the tiny studio apartment that I'd rented for my stay. The apartment is in South Kensington near the Glouster Road station and while being slightly smaller than my bedroom at home was perfectly located for supplies and transport. The only down side was that 2 of the three lines that go to my station are closed for maintenance this weekend.
My first night was unexciting as I crashed out in bed at 8pm. My second day involved walking around the area and discovering that the lovely Italian place that according to Gene and Nick served the only decent coffee in England closed down. That evening I caught up with some of the gang from Doha for drinks and food in an Irish pub was a bit of a labarinth. After eating we walked to Trafalgar Square and then went to another pub before heading off home our separate ways.
Today being my last day I went to the Camden Markets. A goth, punk heaven in terms of clothing it was probably a good thing I hadn't gone there while I was on the hunt for a skirt earlier in the trip. There were a few amazing stalls there but just watching the people was great fun.
I took three trains to try and get to the National Theatre to pick up some things for Nick but it turns out the one day the bookshop is closed is Sunday. So I watched the London Eye for a bit before jumping on a train to head home. Tonight I'm catching up with Joe which I'm really looking forward to and then it's back home to finish packing so that I can make my train for France tomorrow to meet up with Gene and Nick again!
Turns out there's a new Tom Stoppard play on in the West End that I totally missed. I knew I should have dragged myself out on my first night instead of giving in to my fatigue!
Anyhow, it's been great seeing people and seeing more of London. I'm looking forward to a restful week and a half in St Flour now before we start the journey back home.
Norway was stunning. Tromsø was truly breathtaking. In the three nights that we were there we made friends with taxi drivers, Norweigan kids TV stars (and their film crew), went dog sledding, saw the Northern lights, went to the hospital, rode in a one-horse open sleigh (hey!), tobogganed at night, ate many random sausages and sat in what must be the only Irish pub that didn't serve Guiness.
The taxi drivers in Norway were wonderfully friendly. Our first taxi driver told us about the region as he took us to our hotel. Our second taxi driver asked us what had posessed us to come in the middle of Winter to the Arctic (in no uncertain terms) and our last taxi driver taught us some Norweigan on the way to the airport.
We were pretty lucky with the weather for our dogsledding. It snowed a fair bit initially but cleared up enough for us to catch the Northern Lights briefly. I say we were lucky because there were a couple of girls there on a Northern Light safari on the same night as we went sledding and they didn't get to see the Lights. The three of us felt a bit bad about being so heavy and making the poor twelve gorgeous huskies tow us around for 10km but we were advised that they were in training for a 1600km race. We still felt bad. After we thanked the dogs for hauling us about the hills we retired to a traditional-ish tent and had a rather rich reindeer soup. Gene maintains that his had a red nose. It was delicious, much like the chocolate cake at the end.
The horse sleigh ride was slow and fun and our host was friendly and informative. His wife told us folk tales of the relationship between the Vikings and the Northern Lights while we ate a home-cooked lamb stew. Dinner was followed with a fortified home-made wine with home-baked cinnamon cake. It was delicious. We passed the evening talking to the aforementioned film crew and TV personality as they had been filming an episode where the presenter overcomes his fear of horses. They were a great bunch and lots of fun. Then we were joined by a group of six Chinese government officials. My Chinese could do with some work... The Northern Lights were pretty faint that night but the company made up for it.
I should probably explain why we went to the hospital. Nick had what we termed Arctic Measles. The hospital was the only place we could get a doctor to see him so that's the first place we went in went Tromsø. Doctor said he'd be fine and it was just a reaction to a virus not chicken pox. We were happy about that.
After three days of freezing in the Artic we returned to Oslo overnight before flying back to Paris where we would split up for a few days.
Paris was a bit of an adventure considering I was there for less that three hours. When we landed at Charles De Gaulle we ended up in terminal 1 which doesn't have a train station there. On top of that it took us 20 minutes to exit the terminal and about as long to get to the station and buy tickets. By the time we got on the train I was meant to be checking into the Eurostar terminal to get my train to London. We made it to Gare du Nord 20 minutes before my train was meant to depart. I managed to sprint through the station and board the train 10 minutes before departure. Nothing like a run through a French train station to kick start a holiday!
Turns out that Gene & Nick had a similarly exciting day when our Eurail pass got pilfered out of Gene's pocket, they couldn't find the car hire place and it was a 15€ taxi ride from the station and it was snowing too hard for them to drive to St Flour where the cottage was so they had to stay in a hotel overnight. 25th January was a good day.
I arrived in London and headed to the tiny studio apartment that I'd rented for my stay. The apartment is in South Kensington near the Glouster Road station and while being slightly smaller than my bedroom at home was perfectly located for supplies and transport. The only down side was that 2 of the three lines that go to my station are closed for maintenance this weekend.
My first night was unexciting as I crashed out in bed at 8pm. My second day involved walking around the area and discovering that the lovely Italian place that according to Gene and Nick served the only decent coffee in England closed down. That evening I caught up with some of the gang from Doha for drinks and food in an Irish pub was a bit of a labarinth. After eating we walked to Trafalgar Square and then went to another pub before heading off home our separate ways.
Today being my last day I went to the Camden Markets. A goth, punk heaven in terms of clothing it was probably a good thing I hadn't gone there while I was on the hunt for a skirt earlier in the trip. There were a few amazing stalls there but just watching the people was great fun.
I took three trains to try and get to the National Theatre to pick up some things for Nick but it turns out the one day the bookshop is closed is Sunday. So I watched the London Eye for a bit before jumping on a train to head home. Tonight I'm catching up with Joe which I'm really looking forward to and then it's back home to finish packing so that I can make my train for France tomorrow to meet up with Gene and Nick again!
Turns out there's a new Tom Stoppard play on in the West End that I totally missed. I knew I should have dragged myself out on my first night instead of giving in to my fatigue!
Anyhow, it's been great seeing people and seeing more of London. I'm looking forward to a restful week and a half in St Flour now before we start the journey back home.
Monday, January 22, 2007
In a big nutshell...
It feels like ages since I last posted. I'm having blog withdrawls! Sad I know. Anyhow we're still on the move but I thought I should do a quick update... On a side note the European keyboards are driving me crazy so bear with the erratic punctuation.
We're currently in Tromsø, Norway. I've been lead to believe that this is within the Artic. We're most excited! It's only -6 degrees celcius so it's not too crazy yet. Much warmer than we were expecting so we're happy. We're up here to check out the Northen Lights (coinciding with the festival that's about to start up here).
In short since I last posted...
We made it back to London a few times and visited the Museum of Natural History which was not only an impressive museum collection wise but the building was also pretty spectacular. While we were there Gene & Nick found what they believe to be the only decent cup of coffee in England in a little Italian cafe near the museum. The barista was pretty cute too :)
Other exciting things we did in London included taking Gene's cousin Will and his wife Harika to see their first show in the theatre, The Phantom of the Opera. Nick & I were particularly excited as it was our first theatre show that we'd seen as kids too. Gene got us amazing seats in the Royal Circle and it was every bit as cheesy and wonderful as we remembered although they did change some of the lyrics. Some of the acting choices were interesting too but we still enjoyed it.
After Phantom we headed to the pub where I caught up with Dave briefly before we headed back to Guildford.
Some time after all this we headed back over to France. I had finally let my post-show cold get the better of me and spent three of the four days in France in bed. We went to St Brevin des Pins, to stay with Gene's French family, which is a gorgeous little town on the south west coast of France. It has many bakeries and a yarn shop. I could live in a place like that :)
It was interesting having a fever and having to speak in another language. I found that all my dreams were in French which is really hard work when your entire knowledge of French is based on Year 8 French. I found myself waking up exhausted thinking of sentence structures. When my fever broke my dreams were in English again and the first and only word that I thought of was "ameliorate". Appropriate but more complex than necessary.
After St Brevin we made a last minute decision to head to Barcelona. We took an overnight train there and stayed for one night to see Tap Dogs and catch up with Dave again. There's something surreal about sitting in a theatre and listening to Midnight Oil in the middle of Barcelona. We liked it a lot.
We also discovered that making Gene say "Barcelona" makes him smile for photos. Yay!
Barcelona was amazing. We saw Sagrada Famillia (ignore my spelling) which you simply have to do. It's the cathedral designed by Gaudi that they started building about two hundred years ago... they're still going. The postcards say something about 2010 for finishing... Aside from my wallet getting pinched (it's all good folks, cards are cancelled not much cash lost and my passport is with me). It was a fabulous trip.
We had a little time in Paris where we caught up with Lisa again and finally got to see the Eiffel Tower. Queues to go up were too long so we didn't.
We returned briefly to England where we regrouped, jettisoned excess baggage and saw Wicked. Again with the amazing shows... It just blew me away. Love the music and the set and costumes were visually stunning. I just can't say how much I loved the show.
Then we headed off to Brussels for a few hours where we drank good beer, visited the "world's greatest stage" at the Grand Place (which was pretty special), the boys ate mussels and chips while I had sausages and strøemp. Then it was back on a train to Hamburg.
It rained in Hamburg. It rained a lot. We were soaked but we chose to walk all around the city anyway. Pictures of grey Hamburg and a tour of a couple of churches (one was intact the other destroyed in WWII and left as an anti-war memorial) then it was onto another train to Denmark.
We spent two nights in Copenhagen. During the day we walked from the city hall to the Little Mermaid who was indeed little. It was a lovely walk which took us past the palace. Didn't sight Princess Mary although we were willing to converse about drop bears and Boags draft if it happened. Pity the Tivoli Gardens were closed when we were there. They looked pretty special.
After Copenhagen we headed on a train to Oslo where we spent a night and a couple of hours wandering the city enjoying the snow. After a quick photo taking walk to the Palace and National theatre in Oslo we boarded a plane and here we are now!
In a nutshell that's what we've been doing for the last 18 days. Tomorrow night we're going dog sledding and the night after that we're going on a horse sleigh ride to see the Northern Lights. It's been a big trip and we're starting to feel a little worn out but what a holiday!
Keyboard's driving me nuts so I'll finish here.
We're currently in Tromsø, Norway. I've been lead to believe that this is within the Artic. We're most excited! It's only -6 degrees celcius so it's not too crazy yet. Much warmer than we were expecting so we're happy. We're up here to check out the Northen Lights (coinciding with the festival that's about to start up here).
In short since I last posted...
We made it back to London a few times and visited the Museum of Natural History which was not only an impressive museum collection wise but the building was also pretty spectacular. While we were there Gene & Nick found what they believe to be the only decent cup of coffee in England in a little Italian cafe near the museum. The barista was pretty cute too :)
Other exciting things we did in London included taking Gene's cousin Will and his wife Harika to see their first show in the theatre, The Phantom of the Opera. Nick & I were particularly excited as it was our first theatre show that we'd seen as kids too. Gene got us amazing seats in the Royal Circle and it was every bit as cheesy and wonderful as we remembered although they did change some of the lyrics. Some of the acting choices were interesting too but we still enjoyed it.
After Phantom we headed to the pub where I caught up with Dave briefly before we headed back to Guildford.
Some time after all this we headed back over to France. I had finally let my post-show cold get the better of me and spent three of the four days in France in bed. We went to St Brevin des Pins, to stay with Gene's French family, which is a gorgeous little town on the south west coast of France. It has many bakeries and a yarn shop. I could live in a place like that :)
It was interesting having a fever and having to speak in another language. I found that all my dreams were in French which is really hard work when your entire knowledge of French is based on Year 8 French. I found myself waking up exhausted thinking of sentence structures. When my fever broke my dreams were in English again and the first and only word that I thought of was "ameliorate". Appropriate but more complex than necessary.
After St Brevin we made a last minute decision to head to Barcelona. We took an overnight train there and stayed for one night to see Tap Dogs and catch up with Dave again. There's something surreal about sitting in a theatre and listening to Midnight Oil in the middle of Barcelona. We liked it a lot.
We also discovered that making Gene say "Barcelona" makes him smile for photos. Yay!
Barcelona was amazing. We saw Sagrada Famillia (ignore my spelling) which you simply have to do. It's the cathedral designed by Gaudi that they started building about two hundred years ago... they're still going. The postcards say something about 2010 for finishing... Aside from my wallet getting pinched (it's all good folks, cards are cancelled not much cash lost and my passport is with me). It was a fabulous trip.
We had a little time in Paris where we caught up with Lisa again and finally got to see the Eiffel Tower. Queues to go up were too long so we didn't.
We returned briefly to England where we regrouped, jettisoned excess baggage and saw Wicked. Again with the amazing shows... It just blew me away. Love the music and the set and costumes were visually stunning. I just can't say how much I loved the show.
Then we headed off to Brussels for a few hours where we drank good beer, visited the "world's greatest stage" at the Grand Place (which was pretty special), the boys ate mussels and chips while I had sausages and strøemp. Then it was back on a train to Hamburg.
It rained in Hamburg. It rained a lot. We were soaked but we chose to walk all around the city anyway. Pictures of grey Hamburg and a tour of a couple of churches (one was intact the other destroyed in WWII and left as an anti-war memorial) then it was onto another train to Denmark.
We spent two nights in Copenhagen. During the day we walked from the city hall to the Little Mermaid who was indeed little. It was a lovely walk which took us past the palace. Didn't sight Princess Mary although we were willing to converse about drop bears and Boags draft if it happened. Pity the Tivoli Gardens were closed when we were there. They looked pretty special.
After Copenhagen we headed on a train to Oslo where we spent a night and a couple of hours wandering the city enjoying the snow. After a quick photo taking walk to the Palace and National theatre in Oslo we boarded a plane and here we are now!
In a nutshell that's what we've been doing for the last 18 days. Tomorrow night we're going dog sledding and the night after that we're going on a horse sleigh ride to see the Northern Lights. It's been a big trip and we're starting to feel a little worn out but what a holiday!
Keyboard's driving me nuts so I'll finish here.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Another speed post
Apparently I like to post in a hurry at the moment... If my laptop had better battery life I would have more time... 33% left... I should get on with it.
We finally made it up to London yesterday and we spent the first couple of hours marvelling at how close everything was.
Our first stop after Waterloo was to walk to South Bank where we were immediately side-tracked by the National Theatre. Wow. I ended up in the bookshop within about 10 minutes of arriving and 20 minutes later exited the proud owner of Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett and Darkness Illuminated by Robert Butler about the staging of His Dark Materials at the Olivier Theatre through the production process. It sounds like an amazing show. I wish I'd gotten to see it. I must read the books now. They sound pretty amazing too.
After that we explored two exhibitions at the Tate Modern until our brains hurt and we needed some water and a quiet debrief about the art on display.
The evening was passed watching our first show on the West End, Chicago. We'd originally planned to see Spamalot or Wicked but they'd sold out. It was entertaining as expected and an easy way to ease ourselves into theatre again.
I love the greyness of England. I woke up this morning and spent the first 5 hours of my day on the window sill of the flat writing in my journal (almost finished it...) and sketching the upper part of the street with my fountain pen. It was very restful and a wonderful chance for me to just daydream and well, be.
We had lunch with Aunt Jackie at the Guildford Institute which was a quaint little tea room. I had the mushroom lasagne which was delicious. Gene's feeling somewhat under the weather after the big nights out of late and is still a bit feverish. So we've tucked him up in bed.
Tomorrow I'll be catching up with some friends in London which I'm really looking forward to. We might even fit in the British Museum with any luck...
19% battery left so I should go!
We finally made it up to London yesterday and we spent the first couple of hours marvelling at how close everything was.
Our first stop after Waterloo was to walk to South Bank where we were immediately side-tracked by the National Theatre. Wow. I ended up in the bookshop within about 10 minutes of arriving and 20 minutes later exited the proud owner of Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett and Darkness Illuminated by Robert Butler about the staging of His Dark Materials at the Olivier Theatre through the production process. It sounds like an amazing show. I wish I'd gotten to see it. I must read the books now. They sound pretty amazing too.
After that we explored two exhibitions at the Tate Modern until our brains hurt and we needed some water and a quiet debrief about the art on display.
The evening was passed watching our first show on the West End, Chicago. We'd originally planned to see Spamalot or Wicked but they'd sold out. It was entertaining as expected and an easy way to ease ourselves into theatre again.
I love the greyness of England. I woke up this morning and spent the first 5 hours of my day on the window sill of the flat writing in my journal (almost finished it...) and sketching the upper part of the street with my fountain pen. It was very restful and a wonderful chance for me to just daydream and well, be.
We had lunch with Aunt Jackie at the Guildford Institute which was a quaint little tea room. I had the mushroom lasagne which was delicious. Gene's feeling somewhat under the weather after the big nights out of late and is still a bit feverish. So we've tucked him up in bed.
Tomorrow I'll be catching up with some friends in London which I'm really looking forward to. We might even fit in the British Museum with any luck...
19% battery left so I should go!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Hallas 2006, bring on 2007!
Last year was amazing. It was so fantastic that I can barely believe how well it went!
I'm not sure if I mentioned this at the start of 2006 and I'm not online so I can't go back and check but I started the year with two resolutions.
1. 2006 was going to be a better year (than the last 22)
2. Be able to juggle three balls comfortably
I can say that I well and truly achieved resolution one. Resolution two? Well, there's always 2007! I can vaguely juggle three balls... just not very long...
It was a rocky start to 2006 for me as I saw then New Year in through teary eyes but things only improved with each passing day. 2006 saw me travel to Japan & England, two places that I've dreamt of going since I was little. In fact I'm still in England as I type this. I was lucky enough to work on and watch four ceremonies in the space of eight months not to mention the incredible people I've met along the way.
My last day of 2006 was spent visiting Stonehenge with Gene & Nick. Gene's Aunt Jackie kindly drove us there despite the weather forecast for galeforce winds and allowed us to roam about the fields observing the rather ancient stones. My brain is still struggling to comprehend how old everything is over here. I took several photos but was distracted at one point by the rather stunning road that was just over the hill from Stonehenge. I was momentarily transported to my childhood weekends spent driving around regional Victoria hunting good roads for filming (preferably no powerlines). This was an awesome road. I mentioned this to Gene and he pointed out (rightly so) that he was more fascinated by the big rocks in front of us that had been there much longer than the road and that we'd just paid six pounds to see. Did I mention I was struggling with how old things are over here?
Actually, I think my brain is just struggling in general. I can't even remember what I posted last. I'm dying to write something and share how fantastic this trip is but I'm just lost for words. It's a little sad because everytime I manage to find Internet access I totally lose the ability to write anything. Typical!
Anyhow, after Stonehenge we had lunch in a pub and I started to send my first round of New Year well wishes via SMS to some of the folks in Australia. Not sure if all the messages made it though as I did get a couple of error messages but the thought was there! It was really great to hear back from so many people. Sending the messages made me miss home a bit. It made me realise how many people were back in Melbourne who I wouldn't see for quite some time.
After lunch we went back to Aunt Jackie's house where we were kindly allowed to use the Internet and laundry facilities. We all checked our emails and most importantly finances while making sure that we had some clean clothes for the New Year. Multi-tasking is a beautiful thing!
Once we were sorted out Tom drove us back to Guildford with Jamie and we had dinner at Dragon Phoenix. At long last we were able to enjoy the delights of char siew. We've only been searching all of France and most of Aldershot/Guildford for the last two weeks for this BBQ pork dish. It wasn't as good as Dad's cooking but it'll tie us over until mid-Feb! Along with our other Chinese restaurant staples (salt & pepper squid etc) we sampled some of the wine... Great Wall of Peking was less palatable than we thought it would have been but the slightly cheaper muscodet was an improvement.
I headed back to the flat after dinner because I didn't really feel up to a big night. I just want to knock off this stupid cold that I've carried here from Paris. Didn't think a long night of whiskey in a smokey pub was going to help things. Gene & Nick headed back with Jamie & Tom to a pub in Aldershot where they apparently saw the New Year in and made sure of it by celebrating until 8am.
My last couple of hours of 2006 were spent curled up in bed with my journal for some last minute musings before leafing through Fragile Things. The next thing I knew there were fireworks being let off and the cries of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... OI OI OI resounding in the street below. Apparently we're not the only Australians in Guildford... It was a quiet night but just what I needed. The rest of the night was passed in bouts of sleep interjected with listening to my iPod.
I woke up today and had a relaxing morning of stretching, reading, a bit more knitting (I'm making Gene a scarf so he doesn't have to pay thirty pounds for a bought one) and then a trip to the shops to check out the sales. I achieved my mission of finding a skirt. It's amazing how four months in steel caps, high vis vests and hard hats can make you want to wear a skirt and knee high boots. Maybe that's just me.
At about 4pm I got a message from Nick saying that they'd made it home and were wondering where I was so I headed back armed with some wine, cheese and bread to see how they were faring. Nick was well if a little sleep deprived. Gene was a little... fragile. The rest of our night was passed over a game of Scrabble before the lads decided it was bed time.
Right now I'm archiving my files having just sorted through about five years of photos on my computer. My laptop is screaming for more memory at the moment so I'm rather appreciating the hard drive that Dad sent me.
Transfer's almost complete so I should finish here.
We're (finally) heading back up to London tomorrow. If all goes to plan we'll be seeing Wicked tomorrow night. There is talk of seeing the Tate Modern tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
Plenty of photos to be uploaded when I get the chance of Paris and Stonehenge. Will try and ramble less in the next post... maybe that should be part of this year's resolutions list... I'll work on it.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this at the start of 2006 and I'm not online so I can't go back and check but I started the year with two resolutions.
1. 2006 was going to be a better year (than the last 22)
2. Be able to juggle three balls comfortably
I can say that I well and truly achieved resolution one. Resolution two? Well, there's always 2007! I can vaguely juggle three balls... just not very long...
It was a rocky start to 2006 for me as I saw then New Year in through teary eyes but things only improved with each passing day. 2006 saw me travel to Japan & England, two places that I've dreamt of going since I was little. In fact I'm still in England as I type this. I was lucky enough to work on and watch four ceremonies in the space of eight months not to mention the incredible people I've met along the way.
My last day of 2006 was spent visiting Stonehenge with Gene & Nick. Gene's Aunt Jackie kindly drove us there despite the weather forecast for galeforce winds and allowed us to roam about the fields observing the rather ancient stones. My brain is still struggling to comprehend how old everything is over here. I took several photos but was distracted at one point by the rather stunning road that was just over the hill from Stonehenge. I was momentarily transported to my childhood weekends spent driving around regional Victoria hunting good roads for filming (preferably no powerlines). This was an awesome road. I mentioned this to Gene and he pointed out (rightly so) that he was more fascinated by the big rocks in front of us that had been there much longer than the road and that we'd just paid six pounds to see. Did I mention I was struggling with how old things are over here?
Actually, I think my brain is just struggling in general. I can't even remember what I posted last. I'm dying to write something and share how fantastic this trip is but I'm just lost for words. It's a little sad because everytime I manage to find Internet access I totally lose the ability to write anything. Typical!
Anyhow, after Stonehenge we had lunch in a pub and I started to send my first round of New Year well wishes via SMS to some of the folks in Australia. Not sure if all the messages made it though as I did get a couple of error messages but the thought was there! It was really great to hear back from so many people. Sending the messages made me miss home a bit. It made me realise how many people were back in Melbourne who I wouldn't see for quite some time.
After lunch we went back to Aunt Jackie's house where we were kindly allowed to use the Internet and laundry facilities. We all checked our emails and most importantly finances while making sure that we had some clean clothes for the New Year. Multi-tasking is a beautiful thing!
Once we were sorted out Tom drove us back to Guildford with Jamie and we had dinner at Dragon Phoenix. At long last we were able to enjoy the delights of char siew. We've only been searching all of France and most of Aldershot/Guildford for the last two weeks for this BBQ pork dish. It wasn't as good as Dad's cooking but it'll tie us over until mid-Feb! Along with our other Chinese restaurant staples (salt & pepper squid etc) we sampled some of the wine... Great Wall of Peking was less palatable than we thought it would have been but the slightly cheaper muscodet was an improvement.
I headed back to the flat after dinner because I didn't really feel up to a big night. I just want to knock off this stupid cold that I've carried here from Paris. Didn't think a long night of whiskey in a smokey pub was going to help things. Gene & Nick headed back with Jamie & Tom to a pub in Aldershot where they apparently saw the New Year in and made sure of it by celebrating until 8am.
My last couple of hours of 2006 were spent curled up in bed with my journal for some last minute musings before leafing through Fragile Things. The next thing I knew there were fireworks being let off and the cries of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... OI OI OI resounding in the street below. Apparently we're not the only Australians in Guildford... It was a quiet night but just what I needed. The rest of the night was passed in bouts of sleep interjected with listening to my iPod.
I woke up today and had a relaxing morning of stretching, reading, a bit more knitting (I'm making Gene a scarf so he doesn't have to pay thirty pounds for a bought one) and then a trip to the shops to check out the sales. I achieved my mission of finding a skirt. It's amazing how four months in steel caps, high vis vests and hard hats can make you want to wear a skirt and knee high boots. Maybe that's just me.
At about 4pm I got a message from Nick saying that they'd made it home and were wondering where I was so I headed back armed with some wine, cheese and bread to see how they were faring. Nick was well if a little sleep deprived. Gene was a little... fragile. The rest of our night was passed over a game of Scrabble before the lads decided it was bed time.
Right now I'm archiving my files having just sorted through about five years of photos on my computer. My laptop is screaming for more memory at the moment so I'm rather appreciating the hard drive that Dad sent me.
Transfer's almost complete so I should finish here.
We're (finally) heading back up to London tomorrow. If all goes to plan we'll be seeing Wicked tomorrow night. There is talk of seeing the Tate Modern tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
Plenty of photos to be uploaded when I get the chance of Paris and Stonehenge. Will try and ramble less in the next post... maybe that should be part of this year's resolutions list... I'll work on it.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Speed posting due to poor battery life
What a Christmas! After the long hours spent in Dubai airport we arrived in France's Charles De Gaulle airport and waited in the long queue to get through passport control. There was a loud cheer as another officer joined the sole person who had been processing the plane load of passengers.
All of our luggage arrived safely with us and we were off to catch the RER B train to Gare du Nord which is our closest train station. The Hotel Magenta where we're staying is about a block away from the station and we rapidly discovered that even with our culling of random luggage we've still got too much stuff...
We had our first meal at Hippopotamus which is like a French fast restaurant chain (Sizzler without the buffet). The wine was lovely.
Christmas day was spent with some of Lisa's friends who kindly took us in, fed us and allowed us to share in their Christmas meal.
Yesterday my post-show blues/cold sank in. That was less good but was helped by my brand new lined boots which are much warmer than my other shoes and Gene's purchase of cold/flu tablets for me today. We also checked out Montemarte, Sacre Cour and Notre Dame. Plenty of pictures taken. Mulled wine is a definite favourite over here.
Tonight we'll visit the Champes Elysees and enjoy dinner with Lisa again.
Must run as my laptop is running out of battery rapidly... must fix that at some stage. Off to bed to rest a little before re-packing gear for our train trip to London tomorrow.
Gene's Aunt Jackie has kindly offered to put us up in a place in Guildford which is where we'll be basing ourselves for the coming weeks until we journey to Norway & southern France.
A bientot!
All of our luggage arrived safely with us and we were off to catch the RER B train to Gare du Nord which is our closest train station. The Hotel Magenta where we're staying is about a block away from the station and we rapidly discovered that even with our culling of random luggage we've still got too much stuff...
We had our first meal at Hippopotamus which is like a French fast restaurant chain (Sizzler without the buffet). The wine was lovely.
Christmas day was spent with some of Lisa's friends who kindly took us in, fed us and allowed us to share in their Christmas meal.
Yesterday my post-show blues/cold sank in. That was less good but was helped by my brand new lined boots which are much warmer than my other shoes and Gene's purchase of cold/flu tablets for me today. We also checked out Montemarte, Sacre Cour and Notre Dame. Plenty of pictures taken. Mulled wine is a definite favourite over here.
Tonight we'll visit the Champes Elysees and enjoy dinner with Lisa again.
Must run as my laptop is running out of battery rapidly... must fix that at some stage. Off to bed to rest a little before re-packing gear for our train trip to London tomorrow.
Gene's Aunt Jackie has kindly offered to put us up in a place in Guildford which is where we'll be basing ourselves for the coming weeks until we journey to Norway & southern France.
A bientot!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Three Ships
I saw three ships a sailing...
and I was glad. It meant that the show was going on! I was lucky enough to see the show from the field and watch the final fireworks with Gene beside me.
The load out went well despite the rain. I've decided that rain is a definite event during a load out. Interestingly the bin-liners lasted longer as rain protection than the plastic rain jackets that we'd bought by the hundreds.
Several nights of celebration have since passed and before I knew it I was sitting outside an Irish pub with Gene & Nick in Dubai airport wondering how to pass the seven hours before our flight. Blogging, shopping and looking up accommodation for the UK. Not sure when we're going to be there yet but figured it'd be good to start looking anyhow. Wish the exchange rate was a little friendlier but hey, who's counting... ahem.
It was a little crazy today. Doing the final packing up of our villa and saying goodbye to Fred (after the character in Angel) the cat who'd started to call our villa home. We picked up our tickets for our final return leg today at the Emirates office before having dinner in the Old Souq. Then it was back to the villa to pass an hour before the car came to pick us up. At the airport we bumped into the last of the skilled crew who were on their way home that night. There were hugs and kisses and then we were off.
So now we're in Dubai airport. I've picked up my Christmas shopping for Gene & Nick and now we're just passing time until it's time to board our flight to Paris. It hasn't even come up on the departures list yet...
I had grand plans for a well thought out and written post but it would seem that last night's final hurrah at Garvey's has taken more out of me than I expected... there was much whiskey & beer had by all.
There is one more thing that I will say though and that is that Doha has been an amazing experience and I've met some incredible people and learnt more than I could have imagined. Today while we were at the Souq a guy came up to me and asked if I'd been working at Khalifa. He was one of the many hundreds of local crew who we'd been working with over the past few weeks just wanting to wish me a safe travel as he'd finished working with us. Experiences like that are just the tip of the iceberg of how amazing this experience this has been.
It's going to take me awhile to remember to introduce myself as "Sarah" and not "Swong" because that's how it's been for the last four and a half months. Can't wait till the next one :)
Stopping this post now before I fall asleep typing. May join in the game of uno going on beside me. I'm sure that Nick & Gene say hi...
Catch you all from France!
and I was glad. It meant that the show was going on! I was lucky enough to see the show from the field and watch the final fireworks with Gene beside me.
The load out went well despite the rain. I've decided that rain is a definite event during a load out. Interestingly the bin-liners lasted longer as rain protection than the plastic rain jackets that we'd bought by the hundreds.
Several nights of celebration have since passed and before I knew it I was sitting outside an Irish pub with Gene & Nick in Dubai airport wondering how to pass the seven hours before our flight. Blogging, shopping and looking up accommodation for the UK. Not sure when we're going to be there yet but figured it'd be good to start looking anyhow. Wish the exchange rate was a little friendlier but hey, who's counting... ahem.
It was a little crazy today. Doing the final packing up of our villa and saying goodbye to Fred (after the character in Angel) the cat who'd started to call our villa home. We picked up our tickets for our final return leg today at the Emirates office before having dinner in the Old Souq. Then it was back to the villa to pass an hour before the car came to pick us up. At the airport we bumped into the last of the skilled crew who were on their way home that night. There were hugs and kisses and then we were off.
So now we're in Dubai airport. I've picked up my Christmas shopping for Gene & Nick and now we're just passing time until it's time to board our flight to Paris. It hasn't even come up on the departures list yet...
I had grand plans for a well thought out and written post but it would seem that last night's final hurrah at Garvey's has taken more out of me than I expected... there was much whiskey & beer had by all.
There is one more thing that I will say though and that is that Doha has been an amazing experience and I've met some incredible people and learnt more than I could have imagined. Today while we were at the Souq a guy came up to me and asked if I'd been working at Khalifa. He was one of the many hundreds of local crew who we'd been working with over the past few weeks just wanting to wish me a safe travel as he'd finished working with us. Experiences like that are just the tip of the iceberg of how amazing this experience this has been.
It's going to take me awhile to remember to introduce myself as "Sarah" and not "Swong" because that's how it's been for the last four and a half months. Can't wait till the next one :)
Stopping this post now before I fall asleep typing. May join in the game of uno going on beside me. I'm sure that Nick & Gene say hi...
Catch you all from France!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Ways to Wait
Currently waiting for our booking confirmation for our tour of Norway in late January. I discovered that up in Tromso they have the Northern Light Festival from 22nd January for about a week. I was pretty excited so I’m hoping we’ll get to spend at least two days of our tour exploring the festival before heading back down to France.
Things are getting busier at work (if that’s at all possible) but it’s going well.
I’m amazed that we’ve managed to stay on top of our laundry needs during this period. I tend to bake cookies and have dinner while waiting for the washing machine to finish it’s 35 minute wash cycle before hanging it out and passing out in bed. At least I have clean clothes and cookies. Add a cup of tea into that mixture and anything is possible!
Things are getting busier at work (if that’s at all possible) but it’s going well.
I’m amazed that we’ve managed to stay on top of our laundry needs during this period. I tend to bake cookies and have dinner while waiting for the washing machine to finish it’s 35 minute wash cycle before hanging it out and passing out in bed. At least I have clean clothes and cookies. Add a cup of tea into that mixture and anything is possible!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Able to Fly
Flights have been booked! We’ll be departing Doha on the 23rd December to arrive at around midday at Charles De Gaulle airport on Christmas Eve. What a Christmas present! I’m feeling much happier about the trip knowing that we’re actually going to get there (and back again) and that it’s all confirmed. That’s one less thing to keep me up at night. Now all that remains is finding time with both the lads to talk Eurail passes while they’re still on sale... getting our youth cards organised etc
Gene’s still trying to find time to call his French family but due to work hours and time zones it’s pretty tricky!
Life is stressful at the moment but I’ve discovered the joys of video podcasts. Now I can enjoy some relaxing meditation & yoga in the half hour before I fall asleep at night. I am definitely a bit fan of the audio book as it means that I can keep my eyes closed and still enjoy the story. I’ve always loved being read to. There’s just so much out there! I love my iPod
Gene’s still trying to find time to call his French family but due to work hours and time zones it’s pretty tricky!
Life is stressful at the moment but I’ve discovered the joys of video podcasts. Now I can enjoy some relaxing meditation & yoga in the half hour before I fall asleep at night. I am definitely a bit fan of the audio book as it means that I can keep my eyes closed and still enjoy the story. I’ve always loved being read to. There’s just so much out there! I love my iPod
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Confirmations
Accommodation for the last two weeks in Europe as been booked. Just about to pay the deposit and we're all set for the end of the trip!
Didn't get much sleep last night. Not much of an appetite today either. Busy day though which is good. Will definitely try and make my bus tonight and get some sleep. Am finding it a little hard as the only person in the villa who's not on night shift. C'est la vie.
Four Seasons booking confirmation came through today too which was great. I can't wait :)
Didn't get much sleep last night. Not much of an appetite today either. Busy day though which is good. Will definitely try and make my bus tonight and get some sleep. Am finding it a little hard as the only person in the villa who's not on night shift. C'est la vie.
Four Seasons booking confirmation came through today too which was great. I can't wait :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
