China - banned

We arrived in China after a few delayed flights, but we got here. This is a short entry just to say that in China a lot of web sights are banned, including the blog site. So there will be a more detailed entry on China soon. Watch this space.

Canada - winter wonderland

One of the cool things about Canada at this time of year is the snow. Snow is such a novelty that going out and playing in it is still fun and I dont think it will ever not be fun. There is something about he way snow makes the land look, and feel. To watch it fall and cover the landscape in a blanket, an it really does look like a blanket, its almost magical. A few years ago, I was living in England with some Canadians, Andrew and Angie. The last time we were in Canada we went to their wedding and since then they have added plus one to their family. They live about 3 hours drive from Toronto near a major Canadian air force base. Apart from that there is some wonderful scenery in the area. Unfortunately it was quite expensive to get there by train, for a return trip it cost the same as it would one way from Toronto to New York. It was a pleasant train journey though, arriving at around 8pm with a light snow falling. We spent the weekend with them and it was great to catch up with good friends. We went for a drive through the surrounding counryside, and it was nothing short of spectacular. One highlight was walking out on a lake that was frozen. It is an uneasy feeling walking on water, only one guy should be able to do it. It was fun though and a unique experience, well unique for us anyway. On the frozen lake there were a number of small wooden huts, used for ice fishing. I wanted to walk out to them but they were a fair way out on the lake, and apparently they guard their solitude jealously. One thing is for sure, I do like the winter here, snow shovelling and all.

Canada - Sports

Candians like sports and they actually acknowledge that there are more than 9 sports in the world too. There is a very small window where there is no basketball, ice hockey, gridiron, baseball, tennis, golf, soccer or NASCAR on, so you would think you ight get to see some sport from around the world. Wrong, women's college softball is what you get, followed by live 10 pin bowling on a specialy created lane on the beach. But not in Canada, they like most sports going around and are happy to talk/participate in them. Our first sporting experience here was a hockey game. Not NHL though, since tickets are above $200 and are impossible to get. So we went to the junior team in Toronto, the Marlies. It was really exciting and I think if I were here full time I would rather watch a Marlies game than a Maple Leafs game. They seem to care more about it and it was more intimate with a smaller crowd. Once in the arena, you could move seats if you wanted, as long as you dont take someone elses. Common sense, I like it. Moving around the stadium it gives you a different view of the game and how fast it is. At ice level you see how hard they hit and how fsat they skate, at a higher level you can appreciate the tactics that are similar to indoor soccer. A good game to watch and of course Toronto lost. Our second sporting event was a full NBA basketball game. Toronto vs Boston. Jade was so excited to share the same air as Shaq and although it was good to see someone of his caliber play before he retires, I think his air is over rated. It was another good game and although we were waaaaaaaay up the back (the wall of the stadium was behind us) you could still see all the court, if not the screen with the replays. The half time entertainment was really, well entertaining. They had the two opposing mascots 'battle' it out on the court with hilarious results. The Toronto mascot would pull other stunts too like rubbing the bald head of a security guard and driving around the court ina small clown-like car, very amusing. Considering we were in the last row, you would think that we wouldnt have to move much to let people through, but apparently its a rule that to get to any row you have to go through the last one. Still, another enjoyable evening. I will say that they need to speed the games up a little, the hockey too. The basketball game is 48 minutes long but with all the breaks it took 4 hours. The hockey is a 60 minute game that took 4 hours too. Enough "official timeouts" (read T.V ad break timeout) and get on with the game. The last sporting event was one that we actually participated in. Curling, its not something that is readily available in Australia so I jumped at the chance to give it a try. It is similar to lawn bowls, although obviously on ice. Throwing lumps of granite down an ice rink to aim at a big bulls eye doesnt sound too exiting but I have to say it was a lot of fun. In lawn bowls there is a weighted side to the bowl which makes it curve. With curling, when you release the rock you give it a little twist left or right which makes it 'curl'. I wanted to get down low to the ice and throw the rock down, but you need special slidee shoes for that, mine had too much grip, so I used a special pole. I was invited tere by my Father in Law who has been doing it for quite some time. He failed to mention the the sweeping you have to do is actually not easy. First you are walking on ice, which is slippery. Then you have to sweep hard when he says to while walking down the ice following the rock. When you sweep in front of the rock it makes it go further and in more of a straight line without curling. But the next day I was feeling sore in muscles that I didnt know were there. Its not often you sweep the hallway with such vigour and it can get quite physical (no curling injury jokes please). I would definitely try it again and really enjoyed having some competetive sport again, something that I have missed while travelling.

Canada - Niagara Falls

Winter has definitely arrived. Canada is the coldest place we have been to so far, an by all reports it will get colder. That's not to say its always cold here. Being here in summer a few years ago, it was quite warm and humid. Candians who live in the Niagara area tell stories of Americans who drive across the border, less than 100km, in summer, with skis on the roof of their car and look genuinely bewildered, asking "where's the snow?". Having said that, at this time of year there is plenty of snow, even in Niagara. There are two parst to the falls, one on the Canadian side and one on the American side. The Candadian ones are better. Fact. They are called the horseshoe falls and are the ones you see in pictures. The American ones are ok, and the good thing about them is you can walk right up to them, and you can see the whole thing from the Canadian side. The horseshoe falls you can walk behind and through specially dugout holes you can see the water falling. We visited the falls in the evening as night was coming and this gives you a different niew of them. At night they are illuminated with coloured lights, changing every 30 seconds or so. This does look quite good but taking a picture of them is dificult because they are moving. By this time, Jade had managed to get out of the U.K and had joined us in Canada, her first time here. Niagara is not only about the falls, its a continuous carnival too. There are houses of horror, wax museums, casinos and other assorted gimmicky places to relieve you of your money. Its well worth the visit and we enjoyed it.

2010 - The Year of the Scaffolding

More scaffolding pictures from around the world. Interstingly, I was recently watching a home improvement show and they used scaffolding to change a lightbulb. Scaffolding. Its the new black.


Budapest


Madrid


Skopje, Macedonia

Whale oil beef hooked

Aye to be sure, to be sure. Our arrival in Dublin was a breath of fresh air. The first thing we did was approach the information desk and ask how to get into town, and the guy actually told us how to get into town. This has not been our experience for a while. We get a lot of "there's nothing I can do" or "my hands are tied" when we come up agaisnt problems. But this guy was actually helpful AND nice. He directed us to the bus stops at the front of the airport where the bus driver gave us all the help we needed, without being even being asked. When the ticket machine gave us the wrong ticket, he got off the bus and told us the we can use that ticket to get back to the airport and showed us the right ones to use. Very nice people here. The bus driver then got out of his seat to tell us that we needed to get off at this stop and pointed us to the connecting stop. I could get used to this.
The main thing I noticed about Dublin, and Irish people are not going to like this, was how much like England it was. This was my first impression anyway. It has the same shops, the same type of streets, the same cars and similar weather, but the people are so friendly and willing to have a laugh. On our firs night we had dinner in an Irish pub. Now, normally I would avoid Irish pubs like the plague when travelling, but since this was actually in Ireland I thought I would make an exception. I guess you would just call it a pub, and it was just like a pub. The Irish pubs that are common around the world are a little over the top I think, with shamrocks everywhere and Whiskey in the Jar being played every second song. The people in the pub were friendly and the food was pretty good too. The only down side was the price. Ireland is quite expensive, another similiarity to England.
The next day we did all the touristy type things, O'Connell St, O'Connell St Bridge, Temple Bar, Trinity College, the Parliament buildings. If you watch the Movie Michael Collins you will see all the things I'm talking about. There are a few statues around the centre of town too, some are cool, some are just there. The only tourist thing we didnt do was go to the Guiness factory (I'm more of a fan of Murphy's anyway). The last day we were there it started to snow, which I thought was very cool, until I remembered all the trouble England had with airports closing. Sure enough, when we checked out the weather forecast, it was for more snow and the airport was closed. Fortunately for us it only closed for 3 hours and it opened again that night. Our flight was early the next morning and the weather bureau said it would be touch and go. After getting up seriously early to get to the airport, in very light snow, we got on our plane without any problems. There were two flights headed to New York at the same time, ours was first. When we arrived in New York we found out that our flight was the last to leave Dublin before they closed the airport again and the other flight to New York didnt make it. After a lengthy connection we finally arrived in Canada eh to stay with Tanya's family, eh. Oh, Canada.

Montserrat

Arriving back in Barcelona we decided to take a tour to the monastery at Montserrat, just outside Barcelona. It was early in the morning and because it is a the top of a mountain, it was quite chilly. Monasteries are common througout the old world, most of them are now defunct. At some point or other in history, they have become obsolete, either by force or naturally. The few that are still in operation exist for mainly charitable reasons, or pilgrimage reasons, as in the case of Montserrat. The story goes that someone found a black Madonna in the hills around the monastery and so people come to see it. Im sure there is more to it but to be honest I wasnt really paying attention, besides that is what Google is for. I was interested in the magnificent views from the mountainside where the monastery is situated, which gave us a very nice sunrise. Someone once told me that if you want a picture of the sunrise, take one of a sunset because no one will know the difference. Well, this was a sunrise, one of the few that I have taken pictures of legitimately. Inside the monastery was some interesting architecture and statues, the ubiquitous stain glass windows and of course the black Madonna herself.
She was housed in a small chamber at the top of the chapel, which was accessed by a narrow staircase going in, and exited by an equally narrow staircase going out. It was designed quite like an IKEA building with only one way and you had to go through everythin to get to the Madonna. It was an enjoyable morning. In the afternoon we did the usual Barcelona tourist bit, checking out the Sagrada Familia cathedral (still not finished although recently concecrated) and La Rambla, the mall famous for street performers. We had a nice tapas dinner, our last all together as each of us was to head in a different direction the next day. We were off to Dublin, mum, Sarah and my Uncle were off to northern England and Jade was off to New York via London for a few days. That was until the snow.
It amazes me how every year in parts of Europe, when it snows the country stops. Its as if they are totally surprised by this strange cold, white stuff that falls from the sky. England shuts down with 5cm of snow, France is the same as are some other countries. On the day we were to leave it started snowing in England, and actually they got a lot of snow. All flights in and out were cancelled for a few days. They closed the airport at Heathrow, the busiest airport in the world, and didnt even let people in the building. It was fair chaos really. Good thing we were going to Dublin and had no problems getting out of Barcelona or in to Ireland. The others however, ended up staying in Barcelona an extra 60 hours. Chaos indeed. But for us, Dublin it is

The not so Brilliance of the Seas pt 2

We were so excited to be on the ship. We were doing all the cruise ship things to do, including what became our staple, the quizzes. It was Jade's first time on a cruise so I was hoping it would be a good one for her and it was a good start.
Our first port of call was Sicily. Sicily has been taken over so many times throughout history by so many peoples, Sicilians have learnt to roll with the punches. When the Carthaginians came in, they yelled 'yay', when the Romans kicked out the Carthaginians they yelled "yay", when the fascist came to power "yay", when the fascists were kisked out "yay".
When asked about this and old man replied "it's survival, Sicilians are in the crossfire always so it is necessary for us to not take too much of a side, one way or the other". Sicily is famous for the mafia, which only trusts the family and this may be a reason for that. One other consequesnce is the mix of cultures evident in Sicily. Many different types of building and statue, including one who looks like he is giving the finger, to who I dont know but maybe to all those past invaders. As with a vast majority of western Europe, there are some wonderful markets in Sicily, not only for food but clothes, nic nacs and other things you dont need.
But on this occassion, not having any luggage, some of us did need them and so my Uncle bought himself some clothes since the airline could not say when his luggage would be returned, code for 'oops'. The food markets, as always, were awash with colour and adventurous organisation. They are almost like a work of art, designed to entice you to buy their wares. I particularly like the use of a Swordfish as a pole for a price list.

Next stop on the cruise was Athens. The minute we stepped off the ship we were inundated with touters, mostly for a taxi. They followed us for almost 10 minutes, right up the street. All I can say is they are persistant and must be hard up for a fare. We caught the bus in to the centre, heading for the Acropolis. Considering it is only 6 years since the Olympics in Athens, you would have thought there would be some evidence of it.
I didnt see any, apart from a subway stop called Olympus, but that could be something to do with the mountain or the ancient Greek gods. We arrived at the Acropolis which has undergone restoration for at least 30 years, but this is Greece so it looks like they are still on their first coffee break. Having been through Turkey and seen so much of antiquity, the Acropolis was just another ruin to us, and not a great one at that. Turkey has much better ruins, in much better condition. So there's a tip, if you are after ancient Greek ruins, go to Turkey. The view of the modern Athens, from the top of the Acroplis, was pretty good though.
Its unfortunate that the inventors of democracy should have turned into a huge sprawling metropolis with only a few pockets of its former glory left. I say give up the SUV and go back to the chariot, who needs a computer when you have an abacus. Progress, pfft.
Rhodes was the next port. Another ancient Greek city and home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Colossus of Rhodes. A giant bronze statue that straddled the harbour entrance and looked somewhat like the statue of liberty, holding a flame aloft (doubling as a lighthouse).
Rhodes is similar to Sicily in that it has been taken over afe times. This is evident by the mosque built next to a church. There really wasnt too much to Rhodes. Obviously the Colossus was gone, and the memorative statue to say where it was, was very hard to find, so much so that we didnt find it.
There was a curious looking sculpture of some dolphins though. The best thing about Rhodes was the street Souvlakis. They were the best ever and really cheap. Ignore the restaurants lining the main streets touting you to come in (this is still Greece and what would it be without a few touts), go for the hole in the wall street vendors, the small shops that only sell Souvlaki or Yiros. You wont be disappointed.
So, this is where the fun began. As the day went on in Rhodes, the sky began to grey over and then the rain came. It wasnt heavy, although there was some lightning but we didnt give it much mind. Our next stop was to be Alexandria in Egypt, home to another wonder of the ancient world, the Great Lighthouse, and since we were there overnight we had a trip to Cairo planned, to see the Pyramids which is the only wonder of the ancient world left standing.
As we left Rhodes, it was clear we were in for some rough weather and the seas were getting big. We were to arrive at Alexandria in the early morning. So, very early in the morning, for some reason I was awake. It was roughly 3am when the ship started to roll quite a bit and then it rolled a lot. The whole room was moving and anything not bolted down was trying to escape. After the first roll, hanging on to the bed with one hand and Tanya with the other, I could see that everyone was ok and there was no danger. Then the second roll came which was to our side of the ship and since we had the balcony I opened the curtain to have a look. All I could see was water, from top to bottom and when the ship rolled back the other way I saw the water disappear to be replaced by stars. I thought that was actually kind of fun, something you dont see everyday. The ship went through at least five rolls before she righted herself. Apparently what happened was when the ship tried to turn to enter the harbour, she turned beam on to the waves, so that they were hitting the side of the ship instead of the front. This is not good, especially in 70 knot winds. The ship took 16 degree rolls which doesnt sound like much but in a ship that size, it was enough. The next day, we saw some of the damage, broken windows, chairs and tables. The gym was out of action, the video arcade, one of the dining rooms, the casino and the shops. Given that most of the passengers were American, you would have thought this was the end of the world. I heard a number of people talking about near derath experiences and post-traumatic stress already. We werent in any danger really, the ship can handle over 45 degrees before tipping over, but people do like to dramatise. Withing hours, people were contacting newspapers and then it became apparent that some people nearly died, there were many cases of extreme injuries and the ship was extensively damaged and taking on water. Like I said, dramatise. It wasnt really that bad. I think three people had some cuts and all the damage was superficial. The TV in mums rooms landed on her bed, which was typical of the damage. The worst result was that we were now not going to Egypt as the storm did not suside for two days. I saw on the news that much of the eastern Mediterranean coast was battered by the storm and there were huge sand storms in Egypt that blotted out the Pyramids, so even if we did get there we wouldnt have seen much. You cant control the weather, which caused the problems on the ship. You can cotrol how you deal with it though and it has to be said, they didnt deal with it well. A day after the rolling, everyone received a letter saying that we would receive $200 shipboard credit. Someone found out that the people in the suites were receiving $400 and this didnt go down well. Cruise passengers at the best of times will try to get things for free, anything really, so when they actually have a case for compensation, they did everything except stamp their feet. In the main central area of the ship, about 1000 people had gathered to 'demand' to see the captain, the boss, THE PRESIDENT!!! It was a mob and was not too far from a riot. After much 'debate' and poor handling by the ships hierachy, and a day of consultation with the head office, it was announced that all passengers would recieve a full refund. That made people happy and so back to the buffet they went. We would also stay in Malta overnight as a 'replacement' for Egypt. Malta is actually quite a nice place and I would like to go there for a week. Valetta is the capital and the place we docked. It is another old town made of stone. Narrow streets and since it is built on hills, lots of steps are the norm.
Being an island in the Mediterranean it has that island feel to it, like everyday is a holiday, and it runs on island time. Even though there was a lot to see here, in terms of architecture and culture, after the events of the last few days on board, we walked around almost in a daze. We covered the whole city and we were going to catch one of the ancient looking yellow buses to a town on the outskirts, if it hadnt gotten dark, clouds yet again coming over.
This time is was only a rain shower and not a full blown storm, but it did put us off going on the bus. The clouds started to evapourate and a magnificent sunset replaced them. Most people in Malta are used to tourists and the first question they ask is where are you from. When you reply Australia, they always comment "oh, are do you have family here". After WWII, a lot of Maltese emmigrated to Australia and so there is a string link between the two.
So, people were always somewhat more friendly to us than to others, which maybe only extended to not getting upset when we didnt give them money or buy their wares.
After being in Malta for two days, we headed back to Barcelona. The day before we arrived, we foud out that because we were on stand by and because they could, we would not get the $200 shipboard credit and we would not get the full refund, or any refund for that matter.
Because we were 'family and friends' of an employee, they felt that they could, no they had the right and obligation, to screw us over. So they did. Given that we didnt get to do to the same places everyone else didnt, and didnt get to use the ships facilities that the others didnt, we think this was poor form on Royal Caribbean's part. It wouldnt have cost them much more in the scheme of things and it has cost them in bad word of mouth and PR. So, we arrived in Barcelona and would spend one night there before we headed to Dublin.

The not so Brilliance of the Seas pt 1

We arrived in Barcelona without any hassles. We found our hostel without any hassles but when we arrived, there was no sign of the family that were supposed to be there before us. We assumed the Spanish air traffic controllers strike got them too. The manager of the hostel wanted to charge us for them not turning up, talk about sympathy. We knew that our friend Jade was there, since she arrived the day before so we went to find her and to call my mum and get an update as to her situation. After checking a few times at her hotel and just missing her, we eventually caught up with Jade. When we called mum she said her flights were cancelled and they couldnt get another flight for 2 days. She had arranged to catch a ferry, thinking it would arrive in Barcelona at 6am, but as I was on the phone with her she found out it arrived at 6pm. This did not go down well. We all had a stand by booking for a cruise that would leave at 5pm the next day on the Brilliance of the Seas and we were all looking forward to seeing Greece, Sicily, Malta and Egypt. At this point it looked like only three of us going. Back at the hostel the managers had found people to fill the beds and so graciously didnt charge us. Since we had to be up early we went to bed straight away. At 2am one guy came in drunk and started snoring so loudly it vibrated my bed across the room and woke up the whole dorm. Nice. The next morning we made our way to the port, myself, Tanya and Jade. Since we were on stand by we had to wait until most of the passengers had arrived before we coudl find out if we had a cabin. So we sat in a nearby cafe and waited. Around mid morning we received a phone call on Jade's mobile from mum. They managed to get a flight, including my Uncle from England, and should arrive around lunch time. Things seemed to come together for them which was great and they arrived at the port, albeit without luggage since the airline had lost it. It was good to see family again for the first time in four months. Now we needed to wait (again) to see if we had a cabin. The lady looking after the bookings, Monica, was awesome. She went out of her way to get us on the ship, which she did. We managed to get two cabins, one with a balcony which is almost unheard of for stand by. So we were on and looking forward to a nice 12 day cruise. Or so we thought. To be continued.