Beer. Booze. Baseball.

Camden Yards, Baltimore. Home to the Baltimore Orioles. A magnificent
sporting arena. I'm not gonna lie, I was super excited about my first
baseball game. I wasn't excited about our seats though. The nose
bleeds are fine, that wasn't the problem. It was the 50 pre-teen Jesus
camp kids that surrounded us. The red headed kid with braces who
shouted to his buddy "Are they lesbians?" as we took our seats made me
laugh but mad Sarah kinda grumpy at the world. I did want to shake his
hand and say "Yes we are and now you are too!" but Sarah wouldn't let
me. Instead we moved seats away from their judging eyes. And drank
expensive (and crappy) beers.

Baltimore. The city that feeds.

Who would have thought that the city mad famous by The Wire would
offer such culinary delights? Stoops sitting and drive by drug drops
are not the only things to do here.

A city rich in history like B'more it really shouldn't be a surprise
that you can fill your days (and your stomach) with a variety of
delicious culture and flavour rich snacks. The Lexington Market is
right in the heart of the city and Faidley's seafood can not be
missed. When ordering a Jumbo Lump Crabcake my friend (the local)
asked for cocktail sauce. The reply? "There is no way you be putting
cocktail sauce on my lump crabcake!" Damn! She was schooled on that!
And rightly so, those crabcakes did not need any imitation sauces.
Baltimore, Maryland, your crabcakes are devine.

Day two. More feasting. This time it's the almost century old Attman's
deli on our to do list. I love corned beef. I was in heaven. My corned
beef with mustard on rye was jammed with at least 400g of beef. Check
this shit out:

When beer and water are the same price...

I've been in Bangkok a while. I hang out on Sukumvit. I got used to paying well over 100 baht for a pint or a stubby. I had forgotten that as soon as you step out of the city and head up north, the beer gets cheaper and cheaper. Chiang Rai I hate your cheap beer. My head is a mess today because of you and your cheap beer. Your cheap and cosy guesthouses. Your walking streets. Your smiling faces. Your cheap as water beer. Damn you.

I had to rally this morning and get on a bus bound for Chiang Khong in order to get across the Mekong into Laos. Is a midday wakeup considered a rally? I was S.T.Rugglin this morning Chiang Rai and I blame you...

But I also thank you. A fucking awesome night.

Not an easy silence

Post redshirts Bangkok. A few days of unwelcome silence. For everyone. Yeah some folks thought of nothing else but the rubble of Central World. Some folks were still reeling at the government. Hopefully everyone was deeply saddened by the loss of life. There were still so many questions and too many opinions.

For most of us we just wanted peace back in our city. I felt for the redshirts who were desperate for a change and must have felt abandoned by their leaders but I also felt for the businesses and the employees who were already months out of work and months out of salary.

As the days crept by the traffic began to grow, the clean ups began and the signs of the redshirt city were starting to fade. For me, it just meant back to work. My seniors had sad their exams, my G11s had them coming right up. My task list was in chaos and my city (for once) was not.

No school for a week? I'm going to Mumbai my friends...

I wont say that I was over the moon about school closing for a week. The circumstances weren't exactly pleasent. But an excuse to head to Mumbai and spend the week with Sla, not an opportunity I am going to pass up, pending Indian visa application...


I've had troubles with the old Indian Visa application process already. It seems I visit Mumbai too frequently. Now, they only give me a 30 pass and I need to chat with a head moustache at the embassy. Pain. In. The. Ass. 


So, what are my chances of getting a visa issued in one day in Bangkok? Unheard of they tell me at the one stop visa centre. Mai Dai. No way. Don't even try. Well where is the fun in that? I gotta try right? A week in Mumbai with Sla, I gotta at least try. Let's not fail to mention how close the redshirt action is to my house - the view from my balcony was getting far too good to stick around.


Moustache and me, we had a chat. I kissed his ass. He lapped it up. He stamped 'URGENT, ISSUE TODAY'. Heart racing, cheeks smiling - I'm going to see my bird!


But let's not get too carried away, it's not a holiday. It's India for a start. And I had lessons to deliver each day - but heck, from a computer in an apartment in Mumbai, thousands of kilometres from RAMA IV... awesome. I'll take it.

Do you hear the people sing?

It is calm in the redshirts camp (at the moment) but I don't know how these folks are living there. The temps are meant to be peaking at just under 39 degrees but if you add 5000 people in close proximity, high rise buildings which limit air movement and then the car, motorbike and air-con fumes, the weather is well above 40 degrees. "Even the Thais are sweating" is how a friend of mine describes the heat right now. 

It's probably not great that Bangkok's redshirt city reminds me of a scene from Les Mis'. But seriously, check out those freaking barricades!
Maybe not a great idea to wander there, maybe not an excellent idea to whistle "Do you hear the people sing" while I walked. But you try to go there and not do the same thing...singing the songs of angry men...

(But, I am really not keen on the outcome being anything like Broadway's.)

As the shit storm flies into town....

Something isn't right in my city. The malls are closed. The malls. In Bangkok. Closed. I thought that the malls and their massive conglomerates (The Mall Group, Central people, Emporium/Paragon) were the real and true owners of this city. It saddens me that these malls are closed. It's not because I want to join the masses in search of air conditioned bliss during all non-working hours. It's that I know what it means to shut down a mall in a city of malls. Fear and danger. Sad day.

From the Philippines to India. Goodbye gentle, hello mental

The Philippines just shot straight to the top of list of places that I love to visit. I can't really put my finger on one reason why, but I suspect that it has a lot to do with the cheap beer, gorgeous beaches, amazing dive sights, lack of frustrations (a rare thing when travelling anywhere in Asia) and the cheap beer (not a typo, it deserves two mentions, it's that cheap). Unfortunately the food really does live up to the expectation that it wont be great. It wasn't. Although the Bicol delights that we enjoyed in and around Donsol and Legaspi were great, the coconut and chillis in the food reminded me of home (Bangkok, not Melbourne).

We squeezed a lot into our 10 days of island hopping but still managed to feel somewhat relaxed and beach bummed. If I had my time again I might skip Siquijor, although we did love The Kiwi Dive resort (and our fabulous DM Raul), and spend more time diving Apo Island. But both were great; white sand, clear water, all that the Philippines promises and never fails to deliver. Beofre heading over to Apo Island, at Malapatay, we stumbled upon the Wednesday market. A lucky treat for our early morning hungry bellies. Who would have thought that half a kilo of suckling pig would go down so well? Man alive I would love some more of that right now!

After some of the greatest and most enjoyable diving of my short dive history, J and I made the long trek from the southern point of Negros all the way to Donsol (some 33 hrs). The journey started with a picturesque coastal bus ride (think Great Ocean Road) and then an overnight 12hr ferry experience. J, myself and a few hundred Filippinos decked out on bunk beds across three levels of a huge, but sturdy, ferry. With fear in our eyes and hearts we drank beer. With beer in our bellies we slept. A half day on a sand bar a few kms from Masbate ended up being 3 hours of being stared at and secretly photographed (did I arrive in India already?). Then it was two hours on a fast boat to Pilar. One hour on a jeepney to Donsol. Where the hell are those sharks?!?

Exhausted but excited we arranged our whale shark adventure for the very next day...and the next... and the next...

With 5 days still to play with on Spring break I used my 6 hour stop over in Bangkok to wash and pack and then I set off on my mini adventure to Mumbai and Goa. I was trying to add things up, I think it might have been my 7th visit to the capital of Maharastra in about 18 months, not a bad effort really. Obviously my motivation for regular trips is a romantic one, but still, it takes a strong effort to intentionally put yourself through the India experience. Head down and frown on I strolled confidently to the pre-paid taxi rank and made my way to Bandra West. Gut instict got me to Sarah's house. Some cheeky preparations and secret messaging with maids got me inside. Then, I waited for Sarah to get home from work for the surprise to kick in. I never intended to leave the empty beer bottle out. I didn't expect Sarah to freak out and have visions of a beer drinking scary male intruder. Sarah, with Bhutanese bow and arrow in hand and ready to fire, wasn't the welcome that I hoped for! Disaster averted with a quick smile and a laugh. Phew! (Note to self, Sla Lewis is not good with surprises!)

A night in Mumbai and then a day to kill while the better half was working. I thought I might really do some sight seeing. I didn't. But I did find some great snacks at a new bakery cafe in the Bandra hood. Theobroma, your brownies I salute.

Next stop, Goa. (Is this post too long? I'm not feeling super creative and perhaps I am boring you?)

Whale sharks are our friends

There are no words (in my vocab anyway) that describe the fear, excitement and joy that J and I had swimming with the whale sharks of Donsol, Philippines. These guys are freaking giants of the sea, the biggest we saw tipped the metre stick at about 12 and it had me completely speechless. Imagine being just a few metres and swimming alongside something that long? Not only long but huge! The tails on these guys are instant reminders that they are sharks and not whales and they are instantly obviously super effin strong. A gentle side swipe from one of these guys would have you rocket propelled to shore (or to the sandy bottom of the ocean). Lucky for us, these guys are as gentle as they say and they are just out for a feed. For the most part they aren't too pissed off with the human presence but the occassional douchbag does get in the way so the mammoth fish just start diving for the bottom like a submarine avoiding attack. It's still kinda surreal that we spent the better part of three days swimming so close to these guys. There were hesitations and some frustrations. Often we felt that we weren't acting in the best interests of the sharks but it was important to remind ourselves that only ten years ago the boat captains were spotting these fish for dinner and not for the pleasure of tourists. There is an interest in maintaining some long term eco friendly tourism in this little town and they are trying hard to find a balance between the good and the bad. I'm not sure they have found it yet, many of the sharks were crowded with snorkellers (the maximum 6 rule rarely obeyed) but they are getting there. And the numbers don't seem to be falling. Just avoid it on the weekends, that is when it gets nasty busy.

Boats, bikes and beach hunts

J and I set off on our hike in search of the White sandy beach. We found churches and confirmations a plenty. We met drunk men and baby goats. We nearly crashed into puppies and chickens. But no White sandy beach! We think the tide might have been against us. Oh well. The water was blue and inviting enough.

It's 11am, that's beer time right?

Motorbikes, cock fights and sunburned knees

J and I rented ourselves a little 100cc battler today and ventured south of Dumaguete in the hope of seeing some white sands along the coast and possibly some waterfalls inland. We saw neither. But, we did manage to stumble into a cockfighting stadium and were lucky (or unlucky) to witness some serious sport in action. First they size up their cocks, the get them out and compare them, then they make a deal and they prepare their cocks for fights. Seriously. The preparation involves some fluorescent tape, giant stainless steel spurs, and a little Thai style foot massage and knuckle cracking. At the end of the fight when all the bets are done and some folks are happy and others not-so-much you can witness the resident cock doctor doing a little surgery on his lap. I mean he has the cock on his lap and the medical tools and he is sewing that little thing back up again. They say that after a month or so the cocks are ready to fight again. Poor little fellas. (Note: All puns intended)

Coffee and cramming

Having done a very limited amount of pre-planning, J and I spend our
first 5 hours in Bo's Coffee shop trying to decide on our next move.
Each coffee sparks another brain cell and clear idea. It's destination
Apo Island and the rumour of an annual Fiesta!

Chocolate Easter Egg Hunt

Woo hoo I found a sign of Easter hiding in BKK. The Landmark hotel is keeping the chocolate secrets, at reasonable prices too! (Rumour has it that there will be hot cross buns on Friday!)

Uncle Madi - greatest taxi driver of all time

Frustrated that the oldest taxi in the world was the next one coming down the road I jumped in and asked him to U-turn. Thirty seconds later, the familiar sound of a flat tyre. Just under my ass. I probably turned a shade of red thinking (ridiculously) that my frame had caused this blow out! Obviously, it hadn't. "I got the puncture because I hit the curb back there!" he told me in perfect English. I stayed around and helped him change the tyre. We bonded and talked about his worldly travels, his education background and his worry about the future of Thailand. "It's all money, dirty money" again, perfect English.

I am sorry that I judged Uncle Madi's cab before I even got in, it was the greatest ride home ever. Take a minute to talk to your driver today, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Creative juices are dripping

So I found this thing called flavour.me and it appears that I can create a kind of hub for my social networking addictions and my rarely updated blogs. Will this new hub get the juices flowing? Maybe?

My last visit to the Philippines was right at the height of my blog writing phase/craze, I'm back there again in a week. Perhaps I can rekindle the love and enthusiasm that I lost to the simplicity and brainlessness of facebook. But again, if I wrote, who would read? I guess you are here.... thanks