You're Eyes Without a Face

Postponing China further, I'm going to post about Jordan and Israel.  The title is a reference to the way some women in the muslim parts of this region dress (though that's not entirely fair as Jordan is probably the most liberal arab country and some young ladies don't even cover their hair).

I spent three nights in Amman, Jordan's capital that has gone from medium-sized town to rapidly-growing city of nearly 3 million in about 80 years.  I took a daytrip to the surrounding area to see ancient ruins.  First was a fortress that had been built by one of Saladin's relatives.  It was perfectly positioned on a steep hill to give scenic views.  After a buffet lunch, it was on to Jerash to see the Roman ruins.  They have a pretty impressive collection there, and in the restored hippodrome there's a show featuring Roman soldiers, gladiators, and a chariot race.

My next day in Amman, I walked around, which unfortunately has neither old architecture, nor the types of impressive modern buildings that I got to see in Dubai.  Most buildings are simple, 3-story utilitarian apartments, maybe with retail space at ground level.  The city does have some Roman ruins however, the remains of the city of Philadelphia (look it up).  The large amphitheater is most accesible.  An old man who claimed to be a tour guide started to walk me around, pointing out various aspects of the place, but since he refused to slow down, and did not respond to a single question I asked, I broke off the tour after a few minutes.  Instead, I met a student there who said she was studying to be an engineer.  We had a decent conversation about Jordan, muslim culture and American views of it.  She was very informative, like telling me that the headdress and concealing clothing are not a result of social pressure nor an edict from her parents, but rather her own free choice that her body is special, beautiful and will only be shared with people of her choosing.  She proved to be a better guide than the original guy as well, showing me where to stand on the floor to perfectly utilize the theater's accoustics.

The next day I caught the bus to Wadi Musa (literally "Valley of Moses") which is the town that has grown up around the gates of Petra.  Petra is now considered by many to be one of the Wonders of the World, and it didn't disappoint.  The site consists of dozens and dozens of structures and buildings that were born into the rock cliffs by the Nabataeans more than 2500 years ago.  Petra was the Nabs' capital, and grew rich by being a critical outpost on overland trading routes.  It is known as the Rose Red City, and if you stick around for sunsets, you'll see why as the rocks flare up in the fading light.  Just be mindful of the entrance fee.  If you go for just one day, it's $70 ($126 if you're not staying in a room in town, but this doesn't get checked it seems).  Additional consecutive days are $7.

From there it was on to Wadi Rum for a desert tour around the very areas that T.E. Lawrence rallied Arabs to revolt against Turkish rule.  The desert gets both very hot and very cold at that time of year.  But it's always great to just go and look at the rock formations of the desert; they grow differently because there isn't as much erosion from rain.  Those of us on the overnight tour stayed in a bedouin camp that evening.  A near full moon really lit things up.  My time in Jordan wrapped up with a visit to Aqaba, Jordan's Red Sea port.

I then walked across the border to Eilat, Israel.  Eilat is a resort town on the Red Sea.  They have nice beaches, and I took a snorkel and fins with me to the water which had fish, coral, and jellyfish.  I stayed for just one day before taking the bus to Jerusalem.  I had been here before, during last year's birthright trip in January.  I mostly set out looking for stuff that I hadn't seen before, though it was also fun to rekindle memories at places like Ben Yehuda St.  The Old City of Jerusalem is where action is (and contains the land coveted by the 3 religions).  I went in the Damascus gate to see the Muslim Quarter, which a bustle of activity.  Markets line the main roads (I use roads loosely as most of the Old City's streets are unsuitable for anything besides pedestrians), and you must walk through hordes of people pretty much no matter which direction you go.  The food markets are neat, while the stalls selling cheap toys or souvenirs are less inspiring. Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount are open to non-muslim visitors only during the longer break in between dawn and midday prayers.  I missed this so I passed into the Christian Quarter to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where (most) christians believed Christ was resurrected.  The place is packed with tourists but is short on details to inform them, unless you go in a guided tour.  Spins through the much less hectic Jewish and Armenian Quarters made it a complete day.

The next day I went to explore the West Bank.  I wasn't thinking though, and went on a Friday, which tends to be the one day of the week that muslims take off.  Thus there were almost no open businesses or attractions.  I did get to see one very crowded market in Ramallah and the midday prayers, which spilled out onto the streets as there was not enough room within the mosque for all worshippers.  I took a taxi to Taybeh so that I could visit the Middle East's only microbrewery.  The place is operated by Christians, explaining both why it was open (muslims must refrain from alcohol) and on a Friday.  I asked them how their business was, and the woman giving the tour said pretty good, but that they depend on peace.  When there's trouble, they have difficulty getting their product out of the West Bank and people don't feel much like drinking anyway.  Passing through Israeli checkpoints I felt confident because I knew that I had nothing to worry about, but it's unpleasant and I can see why the situation makes the Palestinians unhappy.

3 relaxing days in Israel's sin city, Tel Aviv hit the spot.  I went to the beach during the day and out at night.  Jordan and Israel both have similar food, at least on the budget end.  Portions were big, something that would continue at my next destination, The large Greek isle of Crete.

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Jordan
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Israel

Big City Nights, You Keep Me Burning

Before I begin, I want to congratulate my brother, Colin, on finishing his studies at The College of New Jersey.  Way to go Bro!

Now, I know that this violates the sacred order of time, and I really do want to discuss China (blocking of my blog site having prevented this when I was there), but now I want to tell you all about a place called Dubai.  You've probably all heard about it before, and possess some preconceived notions: "A city of extravagance", "Arabian Las Vegas", "A place that loves to hype itself but is probably soulless".  And these would not be completely wrong.  But Dubai is not merely a spot for rich Europeans to party away cold winters.  Behind the commercials that get shown to the Western World lies a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted city of diligent laborers and old-school merchants.  And that collection of attractions and modern architecture really is awe-inspiring anyway, so come on.

First a quick note about Dubai's airline, Emirates: Damn.  That's the best service that I've ever seen in economy class.  After the 8 hour flight from Hong Kong, I arrived at DXB, as good-looking an airport as you would expect, and found my way to the metro station.  Dubai Metro is a recent undertaking of the government, aimed at placating calls for ways alleviate frequently terrible traffic, save budget tourists from constant, large taxi fares, and lessen the city's considerable carbon footprint.  One line is open thus far, the Red, which goes from the airport out and along the city's main thoroughfare, Sheikh Zayed Rd.  A second line, the Green, appeared to me to be nearly completed, and should be open soon, with more lines being proposed.  The metro is fancy, naturally, with a first class cabin even, and though it costs more than some of its riders are used to paying, it's still a good deal.  My hotel was right by one of the stops.  I got a single room in a 3 star place (north of the expensive part of the city) on Hostelworld for $50 a night.  It was early in the morning, so I caught up on some sleep before starting my first day.

Deira, the section of the city containing my hotel, is seperated from most of Dubai by the Dubai Creek.  A few bridges and a tunnel allow cars across, not to mention the metro, but the traditional method for crossing the Creek is by abra, small flat motorboat.  I took one from Deira to Bur Dubai, the area on the southern shore, and back to somewhere further along the Deira side, each ride costing 1 dirham (pegged to the US Dollar at 27 cents).  This area of Deira, away from the hotels, is filled with old souks (arab for market), and lots of "real Dubaiers," who you may be surprised to know are mostly not Emiratis but immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, The Philippines, other Arab countries, Iran, and other places.  The spice souk contains a bevvy of tantalizing aromas.  Cinnamon is probably the easiest to recognize.  The eye-popping gold souk is just shop after glistening shop.  The perfume souk is another experience for the nose, though it made me wince more than once.  I also visited a preserved traditional home and a school.

My second day I went to look around Downtown Dubai, which is not a traditional district of the city but rather the name for the development area that contains the city's star attraction, the Burj Khalifa.  I walked around the outside of the Burj, which of course has tight security given the nature of the tower.  The Burj (Arabic for tower) is an astounding 828m (more than half a mile) tall, but my brain didn't seem to believe it.  When I looked up from the base, it's like my mind said, "Nothing can be that big.  It must be curled over your head, making it seem really tall."  I bought my ticket to go up to the viewing platform ($30), even though they were sold out until 9pm trips.  I then toured around the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world (by total space, it's behind several others in retail space).  They have a indoor waterfall, an aquarium with the largest acrylic panel in the world (this city loves superlatives doesn't it), a Sega video games theme park, 22 screen movie theater, and ice skating rink.  I indulged myself in that last one for a good 1.5 hours.  I had been avoiding American food like the plague over this entire trip, so I decided that it would be okay if I got dinner at Johnny Rockets just this once.  My time to go up the Burj came, and once I was past a few displays about its design, I was in the world's fastest elevator (59ft/s).  You only get to go up 452m, probably because the top of the building is sometimes in the clouds.  I liked that the viewing area is outdoors (tallest such in the world).

My third day began with a trip to the beach.  Dubai has much beach space, though a fair amount seems to be privately owned.  The beach was in a park and cost 5 dirham ($1.40) to access.  There were 3 beaches to choose from, each with palm trees, several umbrella-like structures, fine white sand, and clear water.  We (those of us using the hotel's free transport) stayed for 4hrs.  The park had lost of other nice features like beach volleyball and soccer set-ups, grassy areas, playgrounds and a nightly carnival for kids.  In the evening I went to Bur Dubai, just south of the creek, to see more locals, like kids playing pick-up cricket games, parents shopping for groceries, and mosque-goers on their way to pray.

My fourth day I went to look at New Dubai, the area on the southern stretch of beach that was absolutely nothing just a decade or so ago.  It's now packed with skyscrapers, just like most of the city, and shopping.  I checked out the Dubai Marina, which had very few boats, so I guess most of the winter crowd packed them up in the last month or two.  One section of so many towers that I can't remember how many, right along the Marina, has an elevated walk to give the residents somewhere nice to hang out, and create more retail space for them.  I then went to the famous Palm Jumeira, one of a number of artificial island projects in the city, but the only one that is developed.  It was created by dumping sand in the ocean and dredging, and the island looks like a palm tree with a circle around its outside (the break-wall, which has several gaps in it).  I took the monorail which goes right up the trunk and across to the top of the break-wall, where Atlantis is.  The fronds are lined with houses, though they are tighter together than I would have expected for the level of luxury that living here is supposed to represent.  Atlantis is the only five star resort on the Palm, which I'm told is short of developers' expectations.  The Atlantis itself is very luxurious though, and it has a water park, which I skipped, and an aquarium that I walked around (it's not cheap though).  The centerpiece of the aquarium is a gigantic tank that is crowded with fish, rays, sharks, just an immense number of swimmers (several thousand fish I would guess).  I caught the monorail, metro, and taxi back to a mall near Deira that shows outdoor movies for free (it was The Mexican starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts).

My last day, I took metro out to Jumeira, just north of New Dubai, and I went to Wild Wadi Waterpark.  The park is a blast, with two permanent waves, two raft slides, one tall speed slide, kids area and wave pool.  There's also a long tube ride where you get shot uphill by high-powered water at numerous spots and there are a number of forks, so you can ride it up to 14 different ways.  The park is also in the shadow of the Burj al-Arab, which is the sail-shaped hotel that used to be the city's chief symbol before the towering Burj Khalifa opened.  Even though it's a great time, I can't endorse the water park on value though; at $70 per ticket, it's overpriced.  I walked over to the nearby Madinat Jumeira, a shopping/staying venue that inspires thoughts of Venice with its canals.  It also offers great views of the Burj al-Arab.  The Burj al_Arab itself is on an artificial island, and off limits to anyone who doesn't have a reservation to either sleep or eat there.  I hailed a cab and went to the Mall of the Emirates, home of the world famous Ski Dubai.  The slope is not particularly steep, but it's not just a bunny hill either.  Locals mostly just sit and watch through the windows, while tourists and Euros take on the slopes.  Experts are said to get bored quickly, so I left this one alone, though the snow is of very good quality because of how cold they keep the place.  The whole section of the mall has a winter theme to it, and a huge arcade.  I walked through the Arabian-themed part as well before heading back on the metro.  I was back at the airport the next morning for my flight to Amman.  The airport is very nice, and very top-end, but guess what?  At the other end of town the government is building the largest airport in the world, able to handle 160million passengers per year!  It's also a far more expensive project than the Burj Khalifa, costing some dozens of billions of dollars.

So that's Dubai in a not-too expensive nutshell.  As for food, shawarma is available from 3pm to 1 or 2am, but I tried to not repeat cuisines.  Lots of types are available, and I had food from: India, the Philipines, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Afgahnistan, China, Sri Lanka, America, and Turkey.  I give Sri Lankan food a tip of the cap.  I'm in Jordan now, more about that later though.

Facebook says this link should work for pics even if you don't have an account.  Somebody let me know.  Pictures 

Hikes, Hospitals, High Times

Some of the three weeks that I've gone without blogging is my own fault.  The rest, I think I deserve a break on.

First I should look back to where I left off, in Kuala Lumpur.  After my first fun day in the city, I got up early and headed for the Petronas Towers.  The line was very long, as it snaked around the waiting area a number of times.  When you first arrive, they ask you where you are from and write it down with your name on a slip of paper, probably to prevent queue jumping.  They were out of tickets once another 200 or so people got in line after me.  The ticket costs $3.30 and gets you up to the bridge between the twin towers.  It was a rainy day, so the view, while very good, might have been even better.  I checked out some markets and found plenty of food.  That night I visited one of the city's many big malls.  It had a theme park, bowling, and archery just to name a few things.  The next day, I just tooled around again until my rental car was ready, and off I went.

I had that car for a week, and driving in Malaysia is an experience, not such a bad one I should say.  They drive like most former British colonies, on the left.  Gas is cheap, about 60 cents per liter, and I had GPS to make sure that there would not be problems.  And I was amazed at how often I thought about driving back home.  In terms of the proportion of drivers that are in a big rush versus those that a cruising along, it's very similar to roads like the Garden State Parkway.  Now, what those hurried drivers are willing to do to get where they're going can be a bit more extreme (like making up their own lanes), but for most part there was just some speeding, some red lights being run, nothing too insane.  The least nice part would all of the drivers on motorbikes that follow hardly any traffic rules, and don't seem to care whether it kills them or not.  Road quality is not a problem though.

I started by driving north about 3 hrs. to Penang, a little island connected to the coast by one of Asia's longest bridges.  Penang's food is very good, with lots of Chinese and Indian influences.  Georgetown, the capital, is a city with a very multicultural background.  I saw locations of Chinese religion, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and even Judaism.  To think that one city had all of this history was incredible.  Other Penang highlights included: a fishing village with the smallest national park you've ever seen and eagles; an enormous Buddha up on a hill; the Snake Temple, which has some uncaged vipers (though they seem to be hardly able to move themselves) and a snake exhibit.  After leaving Penang, I drove to Ipoh, an inland town.  There, they have cave temples (Buddhists again) with impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations.  One cave temple had monkeys.

From Ipoh, I mad the long drive to Taman Negara, the National Park that's all rain forest.  I spent one night outside the park because of how late it was, then the next morning I rented some camping gear, got a permit for a hide, and headed off into the forest.  They had a canopy walk which was just great.  It consisted of 15 or so tree-to-tree bridges, each around 50 or more meters long, supposedly the longest in the world.  When I finished that, I took the path over a hill to get to the inland track to hide.  The climb up was great and from the top I could see many colorful birds.  I saw monkeys swinging away from me on the way down.  It was great.  Then everything went south quickly.  First I noticed my first leeches of the day.  Not too perturbed, I brushed them off.  But I had hardly taken 10 steps when I noticed that there were more.  This would continue without many pauses for the rest of the time in the jungle.  Then it began to rain.  My poncho handled it fairly well, but much of my stuff was damp any way.  Then the path was blocked in many places.  Elephants roam this rain forest, and when they're on the move they tend to flatten many trees, one of their many services to the jungle.  But this, mud, and leech checks all slowed me down, down to a minuscule 1.5km/hr.  Late, I finally reached the hide, a well-constructed building on stilts with a thin opening overlooking the salt lick.  The big animals often show up to these salt licks in the evening, which was why I and the other 12 young adults were there.  I removed the last of the leeches and washed the blood off of my feet.  Unfortunately, nobody showed up to the salt lick that night, so the effort was all for naught.  In the morning, I got out of the jungle as quickly as possible, taking a 2.5km path to the river, then waving to try and flag a boat that was heading downstream.

I needed a nice place to go as a retreat, and decided on Fraser's Hill.  The Hill is a getaway town from Kuala Lumpur, and being almost a mile up, it took many turns on the winding road to reach.  I found a nice hotel with a single room ($30), showered, and kicked back.  The night featured some impressive lightning.  In the morning, I decided that I needed to do something less strenuous, something that would allow me to forget about frustration.  I played golf.  The course at Fraser's is 9 holes, but you get to go around as many times as you want.  Including the clubs and trolley that I rented, the balls and tees that I bought, and greens fees, it came out to about $30.  The course was wet, and I had almost no form to speak of (not having swung a club in over a year), but it was very fun and I even managed to get par on the 3-shot 8th.  After one go-around I had to leave, as cars can only get out on Fraser's sole, one-lane road in even hours.  I had to get the car back to KL.  I did, and took a tour of Little India on my last afternoon in the country.

When I woke up and headed for the airport, I started noticing a problem on my left heel.  It was starting to feel tender like a pimple.  I got on my flight, not too concerned about it.  When we landed in Beijing and I stood up, it was obvious that things were much worse.  It hurt to walk on the foot, even with a sock on.  The medical people of China's border control pulled me over, noticing the limp.  They took my temperature and found a fever, which automatically triggers a hospital visit.  They stamped my passport and ambulanced me to Beijing Ditan Hospital, where I was to spend the next 8 days.  Yeah, a real bummer.  The heel was infected with a staphylococcus bacterium.  After lots of antibiotics, lots of Chinese sports television, and little English, I was finally able to begin my adventure in China.

I'm running out of time right now, and this post is long enough, but I will detail my adventures in Beijing (which I leave tonight for Xi'an) and elsewhere when I get the chance.  That chance might not be for a while though as Chinese cyberpolice prevent blogging (this hostel pays for a service that covertly routes their internet through Hong Kong, where the laws of the People's Republic don't apply).  In any event, I'm back to full-strength and as excited as ever to be traveling again.

Australian Farewell

Well the time has finally come for me to leave the land down under, but it has left quite an impression.

I'll pick up my adventure where I left off.  I took the overnight bus to Agnes Water/The Town of 1770.  My first day there I rented one of the hostel's old bike and went for a ride to the town's small cape.  In addition to great ocean views and a monument to Captain Cook's landing at what became the town on his 2nd voyage, I had the great excitement of spotting an echidna (or spiny anteater as some say) nearby the trail (above).  But on my way back, I got a flat.  The hostel came to pick me up and didn't make me pay, as the flimsy old tire was on its last legs to begin with.  My next day was jam packed.  First came surf lessons in the morning.  It took hours of work, and far more effort than someone who hasn't worked out in 2 months could plan to give, but I was able to catch a few rides before the morning was over.  Surfing completed, I was picked up for my ride on Scooteroo, a tour where we got to ride small choppers.  I put a tattoo on my cheek, got a leather jacket, and sat down on an American flag bike; pretty badass.  Unfortunately, most of the way into this trip, I contacted the back wheel of the bike in front of me while attempting an overtake, going 40+ miles per hour, and soon found myself curled up on the side of the road, with a bloodied left hand among other scrapes and bruises.  An ambulance was called for, since my head had hit the ground, but the paramedics found no signs of concussion, no break or tears, just minor injuries.  So I was cleaned and wrapped up, and I caught the bus to Hervey Bay the next morning.

I had been instructed by the paramedics to see a doctor the next day.  Unfortunately, I learned in Hervey Bay that all of the town's general practitioners are closed on Saturday, so I had to take a taxi to the hospital.  They examined the wounds and the doctor concluded that I had no infections, but risked one under my left pinkie and ring fingers if they remained.  So after that unfortunate business was done, I had new bandages and felt much more comfortable.  Back at the hostel I got ready for the tour to Fraser Island, along with the other 28 participants.  We were split up into groups.  I was placed in the non-drivers group.  I had been looking forward to getting behind the wheel on the world's largest sand island, but though I had not been rendered incapable of driving, I didn't trust myself in that state, especially with the shift being on the left-hand side.  During the ferry ride the next morning, it started to rain.  This proved to be prophetic, as most of the adventure was made under a moist sky.  Those who chose to drive had to learn quick, as we started by going to the other side of Fraser, and the inland roads all consist of big lumps of sand and puddles of depth that unknown until you attempt to cross them.  While we did see all of the sights, frequent rains spoiled much of the group's fun.  Instead, our most enjoyable moments probably came at night, under the open dining area's roof, playing drinking games.  I had to refrain from alcohol because of the painkillers I was taken, but we substituted larger quantities of water for all of my drinks in the various games.  We camped in tents overnight.  We did gel fairly well as a group.  I particularly liked Jess, an American Englishwomen who was travelling with 3 younger friends from Britain.  We all agreed to meet back up on facebook afterwards.

I caught the bus to Brisbane, and led myself on a 6 hour tour of the city.  The city made famous by catastrophic floods 2 months ago was clearly under construction.  I cross the Brisbane River on a pedestrian bridge and got looks of the city its South Bank.  The diversity of birds living within the city was striking.  A British couple that had been on the Fraser Tour offered me the book that they had finished reading.  Not having any reading material besides my guide books, I accepted, and so far it's been worth the extra weight.

My bus out of Brisbane was an overnight to Port Macquarie.  My cellphone alarm roused me at 6:15, which is when I learned of the birth of my niece (Congratulations Chris & Becky!), and with no businesses open and no accommodation booked, I went to the eastern shore of the town to watch the sunrise.  It was St. Patrick's Day.  Port is a pleasant, medium-sized town with some of the cheeriest people that I met in Australia.  My first day ended up somewhat washed out when a severe thunderstorm warning was posted and mother nature followed through.  Fortunately, I was well situated in a hostel by that point.  Besides, the wind and torrential rain were entertainment enough.  I met some of the other guests during the weekly pizza dinner that night.  It came with free goon (Australia's famous boxed, fermented fruit juices), so I was merrily telling the stories, trials, and future plans of my travels to all the young ladies at my end of the table.  I caught the bus the next day to the Billabong Koala Breeding Facility.  In addition to the koalas, I got to feed kangaroos, and see emus, dingos, and taipans one last time.  In the early evening, I was walking along the town's breakwall

My last day in Oz rainy (fittingly), and once I was off the bus in Sydney, I went about retracing old steps from 6 weeks ago, and stopping occasionally to people watch.  It's so difficult to tell who's a local and who's a tourist in this city.  Without thinking, I took the last train of the night to the International Terminal of the airport at 12:50am, where I found out that the airport is closed from 0:00 to 4:00, and that everyone is made to wait in an auxiliary room short on chairs, but rife with noisy cleaning machines and cold, hard floorspace.  The rain took away the option of going outside.  By 4:00 I had realized that my first flight of the day was to Melbourne, and should leave from the Domestic Terminal.  But there is no free transportation between these two places, and public transit was not to start until an hour and twenty minutes before my flight, so I had to take a $20 taxi.  Still it was good to get to see Sydney and Melbourne from the air one last time.

During the second flight of the day I got to see the Indonesia islands of Bali, Java, and (from far away) Borneo.  The Singapore Airport is a load of fun.  Security happens right at the gate area, which is walled-off from everything else.  So for every two gates in the airport, there are two metal detectors, and the security screening staff must constantly be moving around.  This allowed a sizable contingent of friends and family to be present right at the gate to welcome a handful of homecomers.  The main part of the airport feels more like a mall, with much shopping, and internet terminals, wifi, large tv screens showing soccer, 3D tv, 3D and Xbox gaming terminals, and children's playgrounds, all provided for free. 

I flew to the more normal, Kuala Lumpur airport, which is immense and and located a very long ways away from city center.  The first thing to strike any western tourist here will probably be the prices, which in most cases are a full 66 to 75% less than what I paid in Australia.  The next would be language, which officially is Malay, written with the Roman Alphabet.  KL (Peninsular Malaysians make acronyms for practically every geographic location in their part of the country) is certainly a city that was not designed with a plan.  Highways and railways are mostly located at street level, thus requiring footbridges, or daring dashes to get around.  My favorite part after one day has been food.  The Malays, Chinese, and Indians all can cook, and meals are cheap, small, and consumed 5 or 6 times a day.  My first day took an interesting detour when I met a local man of Chinese descent, and he asked if I could go to his home to meet his family.  I had told him that I was American and he wanted me to give advice to his sister who would be traveling to America in a few weeks.  I agreed and got in the car with his other sister and cousin, and we made the short drive to his place, one in a row of many attached homes.  The family was nice, and offered me a small lunch.  The sister was at the hospital to see their mother.  Meanwhile, a man that he claimed to be his brother asked me if I wanted to learn about his job in the casino.  I said sure, and we went into a small, air-conditioned room, where he taught me a blackjack-based game for two players, where the house only deals and takes a portion of the winner's earnings.  He was a dealer for the casino.  It was cool, but things took a turn for the uncomfortable when he asked if I wanted to use his position to play the game at an advantage.  He said that one player always sits next to him, and that when that player looks at her cards, he can always see them clearly and could signal to me what they had.  I politely declined, saying that I thought it was cheating.  He asked me if I was a Christian.  I laughed.  When I came out of the room, I was told that mother's condition was not getting any better, so the family was planning on going to the hospital to see her.  I was dropped off back by where this whole adventure began.  Comments?

I also visited the Islamic Arts Museum, which is quite marvelous, especially their exhibits on clothing and architecture, the latter of which features some 15 intricate models of all of the most famous mosques in the world.  The collection comes from the entire Muslim world, not just Malaysia.  What seemed surprisingly absent were the types of artifacts that you traditionally find in museums, i.e. paintings, sculptures, etc.  My walk back went through Chinatown, which is a huge bustle: shops crowding every square foot of space, attention-seeking touts, tantalizing to dreadful aromas.  This part of the trip is shaping up to be quite different indeed.

Oz Experience

My, a lot has happened since my last post.  The main event of course was the scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef.  First, it was a very exciting dive.  I spotted a large manta ray, there were two sea turtles, giant clams, and of course hundreds of fish and gigantic stacks of coral.  Visibility was about 10 meters, which is nice for the reef, but I had been spoiled by the 30 meters we had in the Cook Islands.  The thought that there could be something so close, just out of sight, bugged me.  One hour after the dive, during the boat ride back to Cairns, I started to feel uncomfortable in my chest.  I had experienced a similar feeling in the Cook Islands and was able to sleep it off, so I wasn't too concerned.  After I was back at Traveler's Oasis (my hostel where I ended up spending 10 nights) the pain escalated and I went to the medical center.  But they couldn't tell what was the matter, so I was ambulanced to the Cairns Base Hospital.  I was given oxygen and painkillers to deal with the matter, and they took an xray of my chest which revealed a pocket of air sitting outside my lungs and around my heart, likely caused by a pulmonary barotrauma, a pressure-induced leak of the lung.  The xray in the morning showed improvement, so I was discharged with some more painkillers, and all discomfort was gone within two days.  But the doctor said that I could not fly for 4 weeks.  That was back on the 20th, 5 days before my scheduled flight to Singapore, so as a consequence, there have been some changes to my plans.

After a few days of shock and resolving the problems created by the injury, I finally was ready to start travelling again.  I went on a two-day guided trip into the rainforest of the Atherton Tablelands.  The journey began with a long, uphill bus ride.  We were eventually wandering through rainforests, watching turtles and fish swim in lakes formed in the craters of extinct volcanoes, and wading into waterfalls.  The only bummer was how much it rained.  We went platypus-spotting along a creek, but none of the duck-billed creatures showed up.  The second day consisted of bikeriding, more waterfalls, and a canoe trip (we tried to take on some rushing water, but quickly capsized).

I was then in Mission Beach, the town that was closest to the eyewall of Cyclone Yasi.  That category 5 storm struck just over a month ago, so many businesses have not reopened, and numerous houses still have damage.  In fact, mother nature herself appears the most wounded.  Many of the trees have had all of their leaves and about half of their branches stripped.  Along the beach, palm trees are completely knocked over.  I volunteered for one week, which consisted of upkeeping facilities where workers were staying.

I've continued busing down the coast and am now in Airlie Beach, fresh from a sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands.  We were at sea for two days and two nights.  Obviously I was only able to snorkel, but the reefs and qunatity of fish were spectacular nonetheless.  We saw turtles and some of the scuba divers saw a stingray and some juvenile sharks.  There was also also a hike across one island to a beach where the sand is so old that it is fine like powdered sugar and almost as white.  We had great weather the second day and third morning.  The only problem with this trip was that visibility in the water was significantly down, on average about 4 meters.

Next stop is the Town of 1770.  I'll be continuing down the east coast, back to Sydney, where I have a two stop flight to Kuala Lumpur on the 20th.  Then on to China and the rest of the trip.

I See the Girls Walk by Dressed in Their Summer Clothes

Welcome to Oz and to the middle of what has been a stronger summer for weather than usual.
I first got to see Sydney out the window of my plane.  We came from the east but had to land from the west, so we got to do a picturesque flyby.  I stayed at a hostel that was like a hotel.  It had a pool, sauna, little movie theater, tv lounges, only you share rooms.  I quickly learned that Sydney is home to giant bats.  Yes that's right, really large bats that come out before twilight so you can get a real good look at them.  The beach at Manly is quite exceptional.  It was reminiscent of some Jersey shore beaches, but with a shallower grade, warmer water, and very fine sand that refuses to come off.  It was bright and sunny and warm, so essentially perfect for the beach.  I was surprised to see a Ben and Jerry's store right across the street.  The ferry ride to and from is well worth whatever I paid.  You get great views of the harbor and downtown, bridge, opera house, everything.

After my sunburn recovery day, I went to the Sydney aquarium, down on the waterfront.  They have many types of fish, a platypus, and a Great Barrier Reef tank.  Their highlight though is a pair of tanks that you get to walk under, through glass tunnels.  One has sharks and rays, the other has sea cows and big fish.  One strange thing that they did was have little displays for animals that don't exist, that could evolve from present species years from now.  The next door Wildlife World featured most of the big names on Australia's creature list: kangaroos, venomous snakes, and a huge saltwater crocodile.  I saw the big Chinese New Year Parade on my way back.

Watching the Super Bowl is an annual American tradition.  In Australia, not so much, unless you really want an excuse to skip work.  "Super Bowl Monday," as it is, is a Sydney tradition mainly limited to sports bars in tourist areas.  That said, the bar I was in got very crowded, as they ran out of seats and people had to stand to watch the game and halftime show.  The game was on Oz's ESPN (whereas it was on Fox in the States) and featured only generic Australian commercials.  This did, however, allow me to learn that ESPN here has an Australian version of Pardon the Interruption, and just hearing the guys argue in that commercial made me laugh.  In the end Green Bay had more supporters (though I did see a terrible towel), and I say it's because they wear yellow and green, the colors of Australia's national teams.

Sydney also has some great parks, including a large free botanical garden.  I spent almost a whole afternoon just walking through, stopping to read, watching guys play chess on the big board.  Many birds live in these places, pigeons of course but also parrots.  The old part of town, The Rocks, has a fun little charm to it.  It's at the southern foot of the Harbor Bridge and was the site of the original European settlement.  An old restaurant there named Pancakes on the Rocks serves some really fantastic pancakes dishes, both savory and dessert, including their yummy chocolate ones that I tried.

I'm in Melbourne now, which while being almost as big a city, comes with a noticeably different feel.  Sydney is very buttoned-up, very much about business.  Melbourne is more laid back.  It's the home to almost every major sporting event that happens in Australia, and to an indie film scene, and immigrant neighborhoods for the Greeks, Italians, and Chinese.  The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the most hallowed sports stadium in the country, let alone the city, but I witnessed my first Aussie Rules football game at the newer Etihad Stadium.  The roof was closed and 3 teams played 3 games in the first round of the preseason tournament.  Richmond got clubbed by both Carlton and Collingwood.  Then Collingwood outlasted Carlton to advance to the next round.  Things were very hectic inside the stadium, since all 3 of those teams are based in the Melbourne area, and 40,000 people (about half of capacity) came out to scream for their side.  Did I mention this was preseason?  I picked up on the rules fairly quickly, but I have to give some credit to the couple seated next to me, Deb and James, for clarifying some finer points for me (and for giving me a ride back to my hostel afterwards).  Thanks guys.

Just outside of Melbourne is the Yarra Valley, the Yarra being the river that runs right through the city.  The valley is very lush, especially at this time of year.  I went with a tour group to visit some of the wineries, like Chandon and Rochford.  The scenery is so beautiful here.  One place appropriately called itself "the shire."  Wines were plentiful and delicious.  Our guide made sure that we knew how to correctly assess each one.  Some chardonnays were a bit too oakey, but I generally like reds more anyways.  I think that a cabernet sauvignon that I tried at the place went to before Chandon was my favorite.  Sadly, I can't remember the name of the place (make your jokes now).  Rochford served us a fancy lunch.  I chose the trout on spaghetti.  Chandon served us cheese with baguette and, of course, excellent bubbly.  The one I tried had pinot noir grapes, so it was in fact dark red.  The tour came with nice people too, which fortunately is a common theme in this land.

Hot in the City Tonight

Well I've made it to Sydney, and it is damn hot here.  Today's high was 42, over 100 in Fahrenheit.  So of course yesterday I went to world-famous Manly Beach to stay cool.  But I did not show enough respect for the Australian Sun, and now my back, shoulders and face are pretty burnt.

Now back to some of the better times of these travels.  Snorkeling in the Cook Islands was good enough that I decided to try SCUBA.  I had to take the typical Discover Scuba course before getting out in the ocean, and it was all stuff that I remembered from previous times.  In the water, I had some trouble getting my buoyancy correct, so I had to work hard to avoid the reef.  It was enjoyable though, and there were many fish, including a lionfish that I spotted hiding in some rocks.  Since I know I'll be diving again on this, including here in Australia, I decided to go for certification.  I was back at Pacific Divers the next day for courses, skill work, and one more dive, and now I have the PADI SCUBA Diver certification.

After saying farewell, it was off to New Zealand.  Auckland is an extremely nice city.  Its actually built right on one of the hotspots in the Earth's crust, so there's a little bit of concern about where the next volcano will be and when it will go off, but for now the city is hilly, grassy, and beautiful.  Bus stops have digital readouts that display how long it will be until the next bus of each line will arrive there.  There are many parks, the biggest of which is the Domain which has tons of open space and fields for cricket and rugby.  Situated in the Domain is the Auckland Museum which had spectacular array of Maori (native New Zealander) artifacts and cultural items.  When I got lunch, there was a cricket game between the national teams of New Zealand and Pakistan.  When I went for dinner hours later, the game still had a long ways left to go.  The island of Rangitoto sits in Auckland's east harbor (Auckland is situated on the narrowest isthmus of the North Island and thus has a harbor on each side).  Rangitoto is the youngest volcano in the area, 600 yrs.  Hiking to the top makes for a great morning, and you get excellent views of the city.  I also walked around the rim, and through some caves that formed in the lava.

The only thing that didn't go well in Auckland was not having the key left for me at my hostel when I arrived.  It was late and all of the budget places' offices were closed, so I went looking for a place where guests could let me in.  I found one, and called their management and got the okay to stay over.  This may sound like a lot of mishaps for just couple of weeks in the trip, but that's just part of life on the road.