You only need a heart.

The previous mesh ring was nice but it was too big. Pauline was a size 5 and not 6. Anyway, it looked a little too big for her when she put it on. I took Pauline back to Tiffanys to let her pick something out herself. I was surprised at the number of people in the store - still shopping. Pauline tried on the size 5. It fitted but it still looked very bulky. She asked the staff if they had the "Dragonfly" ring. The lady replied yes but it's at the front of the store. I knew the expensive rings were kept at the front. Nonetheless, she must have seen the ring before. The lady casually brought the ring out and placed it on Pauline's finger. It looked ok. Bravely I enquired about the price - $1170. Emm. Pauline removed the ring and handed it back and asked the lady to show here some alternatives. We ventured back to the rear of the store and next the mesh ring was on that had a heart on it. It was more refine. I knew it had her name on it. The lady brought it out and slipped it onto Pauline's finger and I knew that was what I should have given my true love - a heart.

My true love brought to me...

Her kindness and love. I could not ask for anything more. We said that we will not have gifts for each other. But all I can think of to give her this Christmas is a ring, made up of tiny little mesh links. I thought it represented the little things that I have often forgotten to do for her. This does not replace any of that but it reminds me each time I see it. I know only of one place that sells this ring. It's that place you go th have breakfast... tiffany. Merry Christmas.

Time to slow down...

At the beginning of November, I thought I was going to have an easy couple of months leading to Christmas. I thought wrong. It ended up with the PDA filling up with meetings and lunch and dinner appointments. There were so much to do and so little time. I nearly fell into the state of doing a little of everything and end up with having nothing done.
I reassessed my situation and drew up a priority list. Not sure about the priority as the projects were all required at the same time. Well the time of day seemed a good measure of which jobs ad to be attended to first. Emm, it's lunch time already. Have not received the changes to the alterations. I am uncertain if I am time poor of a just a poor chap who is desperately running out of time. I think the latter. nevertheless, it's Christmas time and it's a time to rejoice and be merry even though there's still a couple of jobs with crazy dead lines.
I am looking forward to the weekend when I can really slow down. Or can I? I have not bought any Christmas shopping for food. Well there's always 2007 when I can start again.
Merry Christmas to all my fellow bloggers and have a thought of those people who are displaced and lonely. My hope is for each one of us to take time to help those who cannot help themselves.

Why is it?

It is normal that whenever I am in Singapore, I am in my tee shirts and shorts. And I have always believed that people who wait for a cab or even a limo at the cab rank will get a ride. Historically, every time Pauline and myself wait for a cab and a limo turns up, we are always told they are busy. So we wonder why do they bother turning into the cab rank.

However, this recent trip to Singapore open my eyes to another facet to how we deal with fellow brothers and sisters.

It was a formal reception I had to attend at the Conrad Centennial, a pretty fancy hotel in the Marina area. I was staying in a hotel near Chinatown. Uncomfortably dressed in my Hugo Boss outfit, I ventured to the lobby and stood at the cab rank to wait for a cab. No cabs came. A Mercedes limo turned up and asked where I was going. I told him I was waiting for a cab to take me to the Conrad. The limo driver said he'll take me. I politely declined as I did not see the requirement of a limo to the venue. The driver continued to persuade me that the rates are same as normal cab rates. So I got in.

During the journey, I quiz the driver their choice of clientele. He naturally said that they are always busy and are on call. I said to the driver, there were times when I was casually dressed, going to a colleague's home for a lunch, willing to pay any amount because I was running late, and a limo would not pick me up. All of 8 times at my last recollection. Well may be they were busy but I love a good conspiracy. At the destination, I gave the driver a hefty tip and told him that if I was in my tee shirt and shorts, I would have triple that tip.

I hope my concepts are misguided and misinformed. Any way the dinner was sensational. But that's another story.

A whirlwind trip to Singapore

It wasn't too long ago I was a Tullamarine airport. Tomorrow I find myself heading out north to the isle of Singapore. It's a trip to catch up with old friends, attend a wedding, meeting clients and even get to vote in the Victorian elections at the Australian High Commission in Napier Road.

Napier Road - what memories it bring back having live opposite the Aussie High Commission for 5 years. It is unfortunate that my camera is at the camera clinic getting fixed. It will have to be the compact camera for this trip. Pauline has even given me a list of beads to buy for her. That will be a test. So it to that little bead shop in Arab Street.

All these activities in 3 days. But like I said, I only need a hour in Singapore and I would have bought everything I need. The tough part is having to pay for the items when I return.

May be the hawker centres may not be such a bad idea. After all, there is only so much food you can eat. The first order of the day is a kilo of "Long Yok" - sweet barbecue pork slice. Yumm. Sorry Sarah. Your turn will come in February.

Well have to fly.

God's grace - my teacher from the west

I like to share a couple of friends who have taught me what God's grace was all about. David and Jan Boan.
I am both encouraged and excited that a good friend, John is dragging the Boan's into the 21st century arena by starting up a podcast post for them.
Last I heard John has even invested in a couple of podcast books to ensure that this happens.
When it is up, no doubt John and I shall let you know both the website and the podcast details.

ipod therefore ipod

I have often wondered what was life like before the ipod. It was the CD players that played mp3 music. The CDs held a maximum of 80 - 100 songs (wow) depending on the length of each song. Then there were walkman players with cassette tapes. Then history begins to fade a little. I believe there was a void where mobile music was unheard of. (pardon the pun) There was the vinyl singles of the 60 and early 70s.

The Apple ipod. I ought to be careful here lest this reads like a testimonial for Apple ipods. However, with a 80Gb capacity, I have loaded up my entire collection of music and more. My favourite is subscriptions to audio and video podcasts. Suddenly the world of information is condensed into a palm size unit and I love it.

I know Sarah too have just received her ipod. I must confessed previously I did have a 60Gb ipod. But since I convinced my best friend and soulmate, my wife to have one for podcasts, Pauline has taken the next step into this technology. (YES)

I tend to miss Andrew Denton's Enough Rope most weeks but the video podcast have saved the night. Now I have the entire series.

Aside from this, a mate of mine is working hard in helping a teacher of God's grace to post podcasts of his teachings. This will enable the world to have access to David's teachings. No more burning of audio CDs. (John Y will be happy).

I saw the launch of microsoft Zune. Emm it's not an ipod is it.

Plug in I say. (Yay, as Sarah would say)

Back in time for the back to go

It is incredible after almost a month in China, lugging camera gear along the Ancient Silk Road, every thing was fine.
The body has begun to get back into the work mode. Things seemed to be bobbing along until this Monday.

It was a corporate golf day organised by my client and I knew I couldn't play because of my bad right shoulder. I was commissioned to be the official photographer at the signature ninth hole.

The tripod was set and the camera in focus. The groups came past and I took photos of them. After a few groups had passed, I decided a change of lens would create a more dramatic image. I squatted, something I learnt in China, to change the lens. Suddenly I felt the lower back gave way and excruciating pain ensued. I was picked up by the groundsman who took me back to the club house and laid at the locker room for a couple of hours.

I managed to drive home and the decided if I should go the hospital. I had a couple of panadine tablets and went off to bed. I had a morning briefing which I could not miss.

I drove to the office and it took me 15 minutes to get up 2 flights of stairs. I had to see a doctor after that to make sure that it was not anything worse. By his prescription of panadine forte I was reassured that it was a bad sprain I had inflicted on my back. Just as well I am back in Australia and not in Keurle or Kuche or Aksu or Urumqi.

I think a few days on my back and starring at the ceiling will be good for the healing. So this looks like back to back rest.

The sorting begins

It is now the calm after the storm. A whirlwind of almost a month of exploration and learning the history of a civilisation that pre-dates the birth of Christ.

With around 3500 plus images (how can anyone take so many photos!) and 10 hours of video to edit, the pressure is on to have the album finished and the video completed by 19th November for a dinner show and tell. So far I have been through the first culling of images but as I wade through the images, I struggle to remember the location. Just as well I bought a book of the region.

I have to go through a second and third culling of the images before I feel I have the best images for the trip. Some of which are on my .mac website: http://homepage.mac.com/caseywong/PhotoAlbum5.html

Slowly, the body is getting back into work mode. But I cannot help but reminisce about the people I have met in Xinjiang. But I suppose life goes on...

The Terminal

We connected with the 3.40pm coach to Narita. On arrival at Narita, there were thousands of people. (people mountain, people sea in Cantonese). We were early and knew that our flight was not yet on the board. But most flights had the remark "Indefinite" next to their flight status. People were getting anxious. We were getting anxious. But the time our flight details were up, a red "Indefinite " was the status. One by one indefinite became cancelled. Only then I learnt that typhoon Yagi was hitting Japan from the north. The last time Narita airport was closed was in 1975.

We hastily went to look for accommodation but every hotel was full. In fact our flight was diverted to Haneda airport. Eventually over 1,500 people were stranded at Narita. Well, like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, we ventured off to secure some seats that we can sleep on.

We made the seats in aisle E and F our home for the evening. Later JAL distributed sleeping bags. The bags were nice. It had a JAL logo printed on them. So I had to have one to bring home. We felt quite safe with the police patrolling the terminal.

The next day I got up at 5.30am and found a Japanese family sleeping right next to me. Any way I went for a wash and sauntered up to the MacDonalds and waited for them to open.
After breakfast we secured seats on another flight for the following day. We booked accommodation at the Washington Hotel - an airline crew hotel. We were offered free coffee in the flight crew's waiting area.

We decided retail therapy would fix the night at the terminal. So we caught a coach to AEON department store. We spend the day there, doing most damage at Daiso - a $2 store. An early night was in ordered for all. The next morning, we went back to AEON. I was ready to come home.
The flight departed without any drama. Normally I can sleep in any position. But somehow I was very restless and I tossed and turned the entire night.

Sydney harbour bridge was indeed a welcome sight. We connected a Qantas flight bound for Melbourne. In flight, sitting at an emergency exit, I was able to narrate this story to Tania the flight stewardess. She asked me for my boarding pass and before I disembarked, she presented me with a bottle of red wine. What a homecoming.

Odayaku is near Odakyu

After a hectic number of days on the road sandwiched by the Gobi and the Taklimakan deserts the end was near as we arrived at Urumqi. I was looking forward to getting on to Tokyo.

The flight was uneventful albeit I took some photos of some beautiful cloud formations only to learn that it was the seed of Typhoon Yagi. On arrival in Tokyo, the body awaken to an environment of cleaniness. After checking into The Shiba Park Hotel, we ventured out to a ramen house and tucked in some delicious fresh ramen. With the body fed, a couple of us decided to take a walk around the environs. The Tokyo Tower was just behind the hotel. We walked passed a couple of homeless sleeping in large copier boxes.

The program for the next morning was a half day tour of the city. We visited places like the Meiji Shrine, the Imperial Palace, the Diet (parliament) and ended up at Asakusa. The visit to the temple was short. It's the 100 small shops along an alley that took most of the time. Eventually we were dropped off at Ginza. The rain began to change the day. There were those who needed to change money and there were those who wanted to shop. We decided to take a train on the Marunouchi line to Shinjuku. This is a old haunt of mine when I was working in Japan. Pauline's mission was to find a particular craft shop there. Armed with a hand written transcript of Sarah's directions, I forewarned Pauline that I may not succeed in taking her to the destination.

Stepping out of Shinjuku JR station the instructions pointed that a large department store, Odakyu, was to be on the right and we are to be on the opposite of the road. There is an alley with a DVD store, a watch shop and an adult store. This craft store is opposite these shops.

When we surfaced onto Shinjuku, through 1 of the 16 exits, indeed the large department store was on the right. I thought I am on the right track. The problem was there were numerous alleys with either a watch shop, a DVD shop or an adult shop, but not the 3 stores in the same alley. We stop and asked 2 girls for directions and they thought we wanted to go to an adult shop. Eventually when they worked out that we wanted to go to a craft shop, they pointed us to Mitsukoshi. It was a compromise but a good one. At the store, I asked a guy for directions to this elusive craft shop that Sarah's been, but the said Mitsukoshi is it. Eventually in a typical Japanese animated gesture, he remembered that there was one - Odayaku. He drew me a map and with the correct orientation, I manage to find our way there and resulted in one very happy wife. I knew then that my trip to Tokyo was complete. We spent almost the entire day there.

The next day was the same. We took a train on the Oedo line and went back to Odayaku. You would think that it's easy to find now that we've been. We were lost again. After a couple of stops for directions, we were back at the store, waiting for them to open. After 3 hours and numerous selection of coloured beads, we returned to the hotel in readiness to go home. What a thought.

Kashgar to Urumqi, the relaxed way

After a trip to the Abakh Khoja (Apak Hoja) Tombs, the definition of the city name of Kashgar became clear. Kashgar was known for its tiles. They were made from their naan ovens.
Construction began in 1640 and houses the remains of several generations from one family, beginning with an Islamic missionary, one Yusuf Hoja. The tomb is actually a series of tombs, ranging in style from elegantly simple to simply over-the-top elaborate. We had lunch at the old British Consulate offices. Lamb was the order of the day. After a couple of visits to the compulsory stops, we headed to the Kashgar airport in preparation for the flight to Urumqi.
At the airport, the X-ray picked up a silhouette of a Leatherman penknife that I thought I had lost it in Xian. Nevertheless, the immigration and customs took my bag through the X-ray machine for five times to locate the penknife. Eventually they call me behind the monitor and ask me to identify the knife. Eventually, I took it out and I thought to myself, that’s it, the knife will be confiscated. The customs officer suggested that I took the penknife and put it into the checked in luggage. How I managed to negotiate with the airline supervisor in Mandarin beckons all of my skill or lack off. Eventually, a baag from our group appeared and I slid the offending implement into one of the checked bags.

On arrival at Urumqi, the plane did a wide turn and introduced Urumqi in the most spectacular manner. We landed at 6.40pm, Beijing time.

Urumqi is a big city is a welcome sight after a couple of weeks of moving around in the outback of Xinjiang. We headed straight to a restaurant and after dinner, a couple said that their sling wallet was missing. The had put the bag between themselves. To get at her bag, the thieves will have to move the bag back and bend to pick it up.
No one noticed any unusual commotion. Plans were made to prepare emergency travel documents in Beijing for Rob and Lynne so they can travel to Japan and eventually to Sydney, Australia.

Tomorrow we head of to the heavenly lake and enjoy the vista there.
I shall keep you posted in my next blog in Beijing.

Kind regards
Case

Every corner a postcard

I finally worked out the smell that was coming from my hotel room - ammonia! The staff here use ammonia to clean everything. It sure keeps me up at night! Well blog on.

Today China celebrates its 57th Anniversary since Chairman Mao came into power. So I thought it is appropriate to wear red.

Blurry eyed from the little amount of sleep from last night, we headed west 500km from the Pakistan border. The country walled by the Himalayan Mountain. The journey to and fro would take a good part of 8 hours. We also had to bring our passport to the first of three checkpoints. However, we did not have to go to the second and third as the lake is just before the second checkpoint. All along the way, with every turn of the bus, the scenery is picturesque and spectrum of colours truly astounds.

We stopped at the Ka La Ku Lake situated 4000m above sea-level. The air here is a rare and after a while, I felt a little dizzy. Worked out that I need to have my lunch any way. Camels, horses and donkeys are the means of transport. This makes walking quite treacherous - dodging camel, horses and donkey poo!

After a lunch break and 300 shots later, we journeyed back to Kashgar and visited the Ancient City which dates back to Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. The entire city is built on straw and mud and the odd adobe brick. However, the Uygurs who live here are happy and the children are happy to have their photos taken.
The narrow lane ways are no wider than 5 feet in the old measure. The fringe of this old city is dominated by stores and shops selling handmade pots, vegetables, door hinges and the like. But its the children that brought a smile to my face. As you walk pass their home you would hear "hello" coming from various directions. They are mesmerised by the digital technology. Bemused by the fact that they can see themselves a second or so after on the back of the camera.
Still with a little time, we ventured over to the livestock bazaar. Goats, sheep, donkeys, horses and camels are sold. A lamb costs around ¥150 or A$30 each. A strong donkey will set you back ¥800 or A$130. The cacophony of noises adds to the colour of the bazaar.

Tomorrow is our last day at Kashgar. We will visit a Uygur Mosque. The afternoon is spent at the tombs of the family instrumental in building Kashgar. Then we take off to Urumqi at 5.30pm Beijing time.

Blog soon from Beijing. Thanks for spending time here. Makes it worth the while blogging. The rest of my images can be found at: http://homepage.mac.com/caseywong/PhotoAlbum5.html

Blog soon.

Finally…Kashgar!

Our journey started at 8.30am. We lost an hour at the start as the local council decided to build height-detecting gantries on bridges. One road had a gantry and we had to turn back. Another had massive road works and we could not cross. We had to circle around the city to find a road west. Finally a taxi driver directed us out. It was a long journey that took around 7 hours. We decided to have a karaoke sing-along to pass the time.

The Uygurs, a minority group, lived in very spartan homes. The elderly are still cheerful and strong. The husk that contains them is slowly falling away. Their weathered faces tell a thousand stories. There are extremely shy people so the greatest respect for them is not to embarrass them by taking photos of them.

The journey was quite uneventful except for some stunning mountain range along the Gobi desert. Along the route, we caught up with the train going from Urumqi (Wulumuchi) to Kashgar (Kashi). The train ride takes 22 hours. From what we can see, the train was chocker block full of country folk going to Kashgar to celebrate China's golden week - National day falls on 1st October. The nation celebrates for a week. All offices and schools are closed. Shops are open though.

After checking into the hotel, we headed off to the biggest grand bazaar of central Asia. Nuts, carpets, musical instruments and the odd kitsch item were on sale. I hope to get to the live stock market on Sunday.

Tomorrow, we are heading 200km towards the Ka La Ku Lake located 4000m up the Karakorum Mountains. Oxygen is required for older travelers. As it’s going to be a long day, an early night is in order. Blog night for now.

Kuqa or Ku Che and Aksu are also big cities

I was pleasantly surprised when the coach trundle over the Tientsien Mountains to the city of Ku Che. We visited a couple of city ruins, all of which are older than 2000 years old. Later in the day we visited a bazaar where it was just as interesting observing the local minority Uygurs (Weegers) at work as they were interestingly starring back at us. Cost of living is incredible cheap here. When I took a taxi from the city back to the hotel which costs ¥5 (A$0.80) and tipped the driver an extra ¥5, he was so happy. It was great to see such a genuine smile.

At Ku Che, we hooked with a group of Italians travelling on the same route. An exchanged of notes only revealed that they were staying in cheaper accommodation. Anyway, they said their driver got lost leaving Kurle.

After an over night stay at a hotel, we had a 7am wakeup call for a start of our journey to Aksu some 380km away. The roads here are compacted desert sand. The government is desperately building highways to cope with the influx of tourists. It's ashame really as I believe the ancient Silk Road should be left as a tough journey as the pioneers did. Along the way to Aksu, we stopped at another grotto where the Muslims mutilated the Buddhist caves when they introduced Islam to Xinjiang. In these grottoes as in the one in Dun Huang, a German gentleman by the name of Stein, pilfered many relics and sold it to antique dealers. We then stopped at a 2000 year old beacon used for sending smoke messages to the various 'gates' informing them of impending danger. Pine needles were used as fuel as it gave off white smoke. It is incredible to see this beacon standing in the middle if the Gobi desert.

Aksu is similar to Ku Che albeit a larger city. The city is built with petroleum money. We visited an ancient ruin, which is at a very poor state. I am uncertain if it will survive another 5 years. All along the rough sandy track, we meet up with modern caravans (trucks) and odd groups travelling in the opposite direction. South of Aksu is the Taklimakan desert.

October 1st is China's national day so we have come up with an idea to wear a red top. One would think that it's easy to find a red top in Aksu, well, not so. Anyway, I might wear yellow and have Pauline wear magenta and those two colours put together make up red. Wohoo!

Tomorrow we head off on an 8-hour journey to Kashgar. I cannot wait to visit the bazaar.

Blog soon.

Dun Huang to Turpan to Kurle

At Jiayuguan, dramas unfolded with three in the group needed to be ferried to the local hospital for treatment. They were suffering from a local bout of gastro. The journey to hospital included Pauline. She had an intravenous drip. She came good after that.

We spent the day visiting some very ancient places: Wei Jin Dynasty tombs and Jiayuguan Pass. These places date back are thousands of years. The military strategies of centuries gone by are incredible. Food was the traditional Chinese cuisine which was too much and too frequent.

After Jiayuguan, we boarded a soft sleeper to Dun Huang. Arrived in Dun Huang at 5.00am! The railway station is 130km from the city! Dun Huang is very much a tourist spot these days. The famous Magao Grottoes feature a thousand buddhas. Too crowded for my liking. Most of the grottoes are the same. We later took a ride out to Yang Guan Pass and the Yumen Pass.

From Dun Huang, we travelled to Turpan (Tulufan). Here, we visited Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass. These two passes were customs out posts that controlled travellers from the west. Both passes are situated on an oasis on the Gobi desert. We ended the evening with had a dance with the minority Uygurs (prounced weegers) group. We went to the supermarket and bought $60 worth of food (filled 2 shopping trolleys) for the trip to Kurle. We knew very little of Kurle. On the map Kurle looked smaller than Turpan. We were really going rough heading to Kurle.

From Dun Huang, we headed west along highway 314 or was 314 the distance from Dun Huang to Kurle. Any the journey was very pleasant. Took 6 hours to get there. Along the way, we made a toilet stop at a soon to be opened fuel stop. The toilets were incredible clean. We saw an old couple on cooking at the side of the toilet. We spoke with them and they told us that they were employed by the prefecture to keep the toilets cleaned. We decided to break for lunch at this spot. We had bread with corned beef and vegemite. We shared our fruits with the couple and gave them a can of preserved fish.

Back in the bus, I had a quick monetary collection for the couple. The reason being, most toilets in China now charge for usage. These people are more preoccupied with collecting money from us than keeping the toilets clean. However, this elderly couple did what they were employed to do, They could have collected money for the entry to the toilets and we would have paid them. This was a nice moment for us for the day.

What a surprise when we arrived at Kurle. Isn't a hole but a bustling city buoyed by an oil mining economy. The hotel we stayed had internet hence this blog. Dinner was magnificent. A western spread of food buffet style. Steaks were done before your eyes. One of the ladies commented that it was due to the good deed we did earlier in the day at the toilet break.

We crowded around the pianist and did singalongs at the restaurant. A great time had by all.
It's now time for bed for a early start to the next town (I bet it's a huge city) of Kuqa.

If they have internet, I shall write then. Take care.

Times fun when you are having flies!

The stopover in Tokyo 7 days ago seemed like a blur now. Suddenly we are into our 8 day of your trek through the ancient silk road. The places we have been to are truly breathtaking. The moment we touched down at Xian, the journey started with a visit to the Terracotta Warriors. I have seen the TWs on posters and post cards, but when we stood in the tomb with the warriors, we were in awe of the painstaking effort taken to create thousands of warriors, each different to the other. The food was magnificent. At Xian, there were many groups going along the Ancient Silk Road but as we ventured off the beaten track to places like Xiahe (pronounced "Jia her"), a Tiabetan Buddhist community, there were less travellers. At Xiahe, we spent some time at the Labuleng Lamasery - one the six greatest monasteries of the Gelupa Sect (Yellow Cap Sect). The Yak butter lamps had an aroma that took some getting used to. We ended the day with dinner at the Sangke Praire Camp.

The next leg of our sojourn was from Xian to Lanzhou, a city renowned for its hand pulled noodles. Naturally, I had my fair share of it. Lanzhou is situated along the valley. The mountains are incredible. We took a 60min speed boat ride to Bilingsi Grotto where a giant buddha is carved out of the mountain side. Today this is the largest Buddha after the one in Afganistan was destroyed by the Talibans. Dotted along the valley were thousands of little buddhas and wall inscriptions. The day ended with a trip to the White Pagoda Hill, however, the pagoda was far from being a white pagoda.

After dinner, we took a soft sleeper to Jiayuguan (pronounced Jia U guan). This is the actual place where emperor Nasi Goreng built the Great Wall (Jia Yu Pass) to keep the rabbits out.
Jiayuguan is flanked by the Gobi desert. (day temperatures get up to 30 degrees centigrade and night temperatures fall to single digits. We just returned from visiting the tombs of the Wei and Jin periods. The artifacts are incredible. Painting on the brich work dates back 1700 years. The group of people we are travelling with is great. They love to try every thing.

I took about 300 shots of the wall. God was shining his light on me as the evening light painted an awesome picture of the the wall. I would like to upload some images but the connections here are quite slow. The schedule is quite hectic.

Tomorrow we head off to Dunhuang (pronounced Doong Wáng). More of the picturesque Gobi dessert and Taklimakan desert. I shall see if they have a faster connection and I shall upload some images.

Blog soon.

110mins to go and the dogs are nervous

The bags are packed, the dog carer has been briefed, Don is ready to water the fish every third day and I am ready to jet off to see Emperor Nasi Goreng's ingenious wall that has kept the rabbits out all these centuries.
Yes, Clio and Zeus (our pugs) sense that we are up to something. Well pugs being pugs, they have decided to feel nervous lying down rather than pacing up and down the house.
The nervousness has soon given way to peace and calm zzzzzzzzz until the cab arrives at 2am!
ps: this is as nervous Clio and Zeus gets.

Picked up at 2am!

Bags ain't pack and not ready to go. Didn't the song go "All my bags are packed and I am ready to go..." That's John Denver hit. Boy am I showing my age!

It's just a couple more turns of the clock and we jet off to Tokyo and then to China for a 25 day sojourn tracing the route of Marco Polo. This has been a destination I have always dreamt of visiting. The best places in the world to enjoy are often the remotest. We start from Xian and head North-West to the city of Lanzhou. From Lanzhou we make our way to Turpan. Along the way we get to see some old Walls. To fully understand how and why emperor Nasi Goreng built this incredible wall to keep the rabbits out! (this is a story only current residents of Australia will understand) It is after this city where the journey takes on a different perspective: places like Kulca, Kuqa and Asku. These towns or cities are predominantly Muslims. Uygurs and yurts.
I hope to finish packing before the cab arrives in 20 hours time. 2am! Why bother going to bed. There is always something to do. Like blogging!

Talk is really cheap

I received a call from Sarah with an invite to a chat on Skype. I thought here I go, the supreme typist that I am hammering away at the speed of a very slow conversation. Sarah would have typed three sentences ahead while I am still looking for the tilde. So I rushed up stairs and fired up Skype. There is no microphone installed on the G5. But I can hear Sarah speaking to establish a conversation. Suddenly it down on me that I could spare my fingers battering on the keys. While Sarah's "Hellooos" were filtering through the Darth Vader speakers, I Skype a message to her that I will boot up the Powerbook instead. Down the stairs, leaping over the 2 sedate pugs lying across my path, I pulled out the laptop and plugged in a set of free headphones from Sanity. (That's another story). In no time I was speaking into my Powerbook. The voice of Sarah through cyberspace was loud and clear. There was so much to talk about. So much to share. So much to reminisce. So on and so forth. After 30 minutes, the Powerbook was handed to Pauline to let her have a go at speaking into a laptop. Many minutes drifted by and the Powerbook was back with me again. More conversation was had. We ended talking for over 90 minutes. The last time I can recall talking for so long on the blower was when I was making a case to Pauline to marry me. I think that was only 45 minutes and it was a local call.
A quick calculation of the 90 minutes came up to be around A$200 plus had I used a landline.
If I had used the land line, our conversation would have been 9 minutes instead and I would have missed out on that long chat with Sarah. The next conversation I will be having with Sarah is at the airport at 3am. After all the plane doesn't leave until 6am. Reason for the 2am pick ups is because the cab has to pick up from 2 other location.
So as long as Skype is available in the backwaters of Xinjiang, China, talk will always be cheap.

I bought a Porsche yesterday

It goes from 0 - 100 in a flash. It's ultra low profile and its metallic silver. I love it. In fact the reason for my acquisition is because I gave my previous Porsche to Sarah. stable and fast and I love it. As a matter of fact I like it so much it's coming with me to China. But as I fire it up I miss the roar of the flat six. Then I realised that I was driving my Porsche designed Lacie mobile hard drive. Well at least it is a Porsche. Emm.

RUSH... RUSH...And it's just the sound of jet engines!

It seems that time flies more quickly the harder we work. When we are in a hurry, it also seems that everyone else around is holding us up. Especially on the roads. Unfortunately, I have been in this state of work for many years. It's not something to be proud off. Nevertheless, it's something I've chosen to do. I enjoy what I do. Uncertain about what I really do but I enjoy it any way! Emm... I'll think about this later.

Today, I believe in working smart and playing hard. I enjoy travel too much to give it away. After all you never know when your time is up. What's is the point of literary working yourself to the ground and fall sick. Spike Milligan in Monty Python has a show where his epitaph read "I told you I was sick!" And there is always someone else to do your job. What brought upon this? Just look at Steve Irwin. A man at his prime can suddenly lose his life. So be all you can be and do all you can too. And enjoy it.

In 5 days time, the light at the end of my tunnel is not an oncoming train but stars in the sky as the plane lifts off at 6.00am to Tokyo on route to Xian, China, and the start of my sojourn on the ancient Silk Road. Suddenly, as I sit here blogging, waiting for markups from my client in Santiago, it doesn't seem so bad at all. Fasten your seat belts.

My name is not Earl

This is the next and final episode to the heater at my parents' home. A few weeks ago a couple of us had made an attempt to diagnose the condition of the heater but to no avail. Finally the tradesman had to be called in. The first company I contacted never returned my call. My parents were returning on the 9 Sept. With panic beginning to set in, not that it showed, I contacted another company. This company was referred by one of my church mates. So I made it a point to let the company know that I came recommended. Their charges were A$85 for a call out and A$25 per 15 minutes.
Last Friday, a young apprentice, 21 years old, arrived at my parents' home just as I pulled up. He checked the heater unit and gave it a clean bill of health. He suspected the thermostat. Armed with a 5cm sliver of insulated wire, he connected the terminal and concluded, yes, it was the thermostat. He said it is good news. I only have to change the thermostat - A$110. He left to purchase a new thermostat and returned 45 minutes later. Took him 5 minutes to installed it. We spent the next hour in conversation about his goals and aspirations. He had a girlfriend and they pooled their meagre income and rented a house. He intend to save enough and buy a house. I thought at 53 years old, I would have picked up some words of wisdom and I began to share with him. He was in his early 20s - building foundation, 30s - building a career and business, 40s - growing the business, 50s - consolidating the business, 60s - planning for retirement, 70s+ - his life to enjoy. Too many people squander their money when they are young and when they hit 30s, they have to make a real start. They were the same goals he had set. I could tell that he was inspired and encouraged. I was happy for him. In the end, I told him we should go our for dinner when I return from China in October. He passed me the bill and said to me he had taken $100 off the bill.
Well, good thing come to those who do good, my name is Casey

Bak Kua - a taste of the tropics

Those who have been to Singapore would have walked past some shops with smoke billowing out of a charcoal barbecue. It's a local delicacy - Bak Kua in Hokkien dialect and Long Yok in Cantonese. But it's delightful in any language. It's made from mince pork marinated in a mix of secret ingredients. The recipe is as sacred as the Coco Cola recipe. Of course my recipe is unlike the real thing but when you are 7,000 km from the shops that sell, this will do.
It's takes a long to prepare and make but extremely fast to eat. I know there are Aussies currently working in Doha salivating over this serve. Emm... I'd promise I make up for it when you guys get back.

To bee…

A couple of weeks ago, the Spring breath woke the hibernating fruit trees. Over the course of a week, fruit trees were full of blossoms. I have been a keen photographer. Emphasis here is on keen, I decided to log the events of Spring. While photographing a plum blossom, a bee (I don't think it's a wasp as wasp do not do the pollinating thing or do they?) flew on to one of the flowers. Busily scampering from flower to flower, I tracked the insect and took in excess of 40 shots to come up with a couple. I could have sworn that the bee looked me in the eye. Well that's what weekends are for.
I have always subscribed to view that to be the best in what we do, regardless of work or play, just be yourself and enjoy. Yay (to quote Sarah).

Blogged and off.

Washed Out… maybe Not

It was planned a week ago that a group of us from work would arm ourselves with a digital camera and venture to the National Gallery and experiment with some night photography. The weather forecast last night was for rain. But knowing Melbourne, maybe the rain would cease by night fall. But it was not to be. It rained the entire day. This was good as Victoria's reservoirs are only averaging 46% full, or 54% consumed one way or another.

The day panned out to be just another day where one job led to the next and the next. The body was crying out for some much needed sushi. It seems to be doing that a lot - crying out for Japanese food. I've been having Japanese food for the last month!! I can even recognise if I get the same bowl when I get served. It's rather sad. But the food is good. Well it's that Omega-3 oil that is good for the body.

I was very happy to connect up with Sarah in Doha via Skype. I looked a little silly trying to speak into my laptop. Must remember to buy a head set. Fortunately, Sarah couldn't hear me and we ended typing our conversation at 40 words a minute. After trying to match Sarah's typing speed, my fingers were cramping and it was then I decided to pick up the phone. It was just great. My fingers were happy joy!

With the evening washed out. Plan B was to get to Pacific Seafood Restaurant in Richmond for a roast duck for dinner. Why they sell roast duck at a seafood restaurant is another story. I ended out buying more than just the duck - roast pork and "Char Siew" barbecue pork. I walk past a butcher shop and ended up inside buying 2 kilos of mince pork to make my special Singapore 'bak kua' or barbecue pork (no not Char Siew). I can never make enough to share. I eat as I cook them and by the time I finish making it, it's also finished.

The evening was quiet and peaceful. so peaceful that I fell asleep in the study. I was woken by Pauline to give her a hand to take some photos of her latest stuffed critters (bears and echidnas and seal pup)

In the end, everything fell into place. I did get to do a little photography, taking shots of little bears and the state's reservoirs got their fill albeit a couple of cc! The catchment areas always seem to be in the wrong place when it rains.

Tomorrow is frantic Friday. A couple of frantic meetings and hopefully it unwinds into the weekend. May be the 'Heating serviceman" for my parents house may call. May be not. But one thing is for sure. When my eyes opens and the clock says 11am, yay it's slowly starts… super Saturday.

Logging off the blog for now.

Living in Doha time

Got up very early this morning… if we were in Doha - 5.00am.

Having spent most of Saturday looking at Doha time on my ipod, Pauline and I ended up going to bed at 9.oopm Doha time. But we are in Melbourne, Australia! Just as well it's the weekend. It gave me a quiet time to finish my work and have more time to look at time on the ipod.

The plan for the day, Sunday, is to help Pauline dye some fabrics. This could be fun not having done this before. May have to sacrifice a Scanpan pot! There goes dinner.

Yesterday the fishes were happy when I went to feed them. The filter boxes needs cleaning though.


The "Heater Report"
I went to pick up Beng-Poh, a good friend our family and Gene and we ventured over to my parent's house, (they are still in Canberra) and look at the problem with the heater. I was in good hands. Beng-Poh is an engineer, Gene his technically minded and I am the driver.

We spent a few minutes prodding the control unit but everything seemed to be alright. We went out to the heating unit and opened it. Except for some well established spiders and their web strategically anchored around the pilot light, everything looked alright. As we were thinking about what could be wrong with the unit, Beng-Poh suggested that it could be something very simple, like a flick of a switch. One would think that switches abound but there is only one - manual or auto. I suggested it could be the pressure switch. (a highly technical input without any knowledge of what it is) We all scratched our heads. We read a label "Only to be opened by qualified person" and a 24oV and a lightning symbol. Aside from Beng-Poh, I thought this was a no go zone and it was time to pull the pin. i suggested we should all go home and I will call the professional tradesman to come and flick the switch and part with a couple of hundred dollars! So it was time to go home and look at the time on the ipod. It was 10.00am in Doha.

I have to get back to my Melbourne time sleep pattern or I will be working the night shifts! Well since I am still awake, its time to fire up the pot and start dyeing the fabric.

Blogging off for the moment. (6.00am in Doha!.)

Blossomed

Every journey to the airport always has its dramas. Ours was traffic. When we were on the way to Tullamarine to send Sarah off to Doha, news came on the radio that there was a bad accident on the freeway. A 40 min journey was looking like 2 hours. This gave me a lot of time to reflect on this journey.

It took me back to a time when I as a student going to London to pursue my tertiary studies. Similarly, my parents took me to the airport in their 1957 mission brown volkswagen (that's another story) It was my first journey to a far distant country and be on my own for the first time in my life even though my sister and brother were there. I was leaving the comfort and security of my parents. I remembered I had a T-shirt printed "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" Filled with trepidation. I moved on.

Yesterday evening, my mind was having a cerebral party. I felt so happy for her, so proud of her, so privileged to have her and so on and so forth. It is settled in my heart that this was indeed a milestone in both Sarah and our hearts. The child has indeed blossomed. What a spectrum of colours in her life! One undoubtedly she will never forget, even though we did miss another Char Siew rice dinner, on route to the airport, and settled for a Double Bacon meal at Hungry Jacks.

More shopping was to be had at the airport. An OS adapter and A short history of everything for Sarah to read during the 14 hour flight was good prescription. As I type this, it's around 6.10am in Doha and it's lunch time here. This reminds me to feed the Koi fish. They must be starving.

Gene is feverishly filling his forms for his travel to Doha in September and I this he is going through the same emotions. Have to remind him to get back to his home and have some time and a meal with his parents.

Now it time for me to put on my heater tradesman hat and get over to my parents house and see why their gas heater is not working. I think this tradesman wilprobablele call a rea one and fix the problem.

Well, I'd better go and feed the fish and myself.

A full inquiry and report of the heater problem will be made available soon.

Blogging for now.

Friday is flagging day

Isn't great to come to the end of the week where you know that the weekend is just another working day! Emmm not sure about that! All the jobs are like ducks in a row ready to be flagged off. More change, more flagging, for changes and more flagging. I hope some one is on top of this.

This Friday is also a flagging day – to flag Sarah off to Doha! Ha ha. Why am I happy I hear you ask? She's not going anywhere else except to a DO work at a HAppy place. Gees this sounds really bad. So bad I ought to have erased it, but then no one else ould know.

Opps more changes are coming and I have to flag them off.

so I shall flag this blog off for now.

Dragged into the 21st Century

I have always thought that I am an early adopter of all things new. But after today I discovered that the more I know, the less I really know. Which proves a point about learning. When we learn something new, we will discover that there is much more surrounding what we've just learnt. Hope this makes sense. It did in my head. Not sure when it's typed out.

Today I have discovered how to Skype. This is not new by any measure but it is new to me. It sort of contradict my 'early adopter' mentality. Maybe now I am a not so early adopter. Well I suppose I have also discovered that need is more important than want. So I needed to be able to communicate with Sarah in Doha and wanted it to be FREE. Skype is good. BUT in the back roads of Xinjiang in China, I am not too confident in getting internet. I can always carry a satellite dish and a generator or maybe I just have to pay and use the cell phone.

Tough day ahead with a pile of work to complete and ensuring I get home in time to take Sarah and Pauline off to Pacific House in Richmond for some great tasting Char Siew (roast pork) before Sarah leaves for Doha. Char Siew is not available in Doha. Not even vegetarian style.

Well the sun is about to rise and this bat better get back to the roost and hang up his glasses and get some zzzzz.

Blogged out for now.

While I was waiting

Why am I waiting? Just did another round of author's corrections. I did tell the client that I will be ready as soon as I finish the changes to the corrections to the alterations to the author's changes!!

It's going to be a long day. I can see the clear sky outside my window but I do not know if it's blowing a gale. Well, I could look at the trees. I am not where I wish to be.

Better blog off for now… changes beckon.

I could have blog all night

Just cannot leave the blogging bizo alone. It's 2:10am and I have just finished a financial report. I should be in bed but I am just too happy to learn that both Sarah and Gene are going to Doha. I am happy not just because I will have my house back, ok may be a little, but more so (the truth) they are doing something they are passionate about and in Doha! Could be in Footscray and I'll still be happy, but not as happy as in Doha.

Well I suppose that it is all happenning and all we can do is go along for the ride except for the Koi fish, Zeus and Clio the pugs and Herman the rat!

It's really late now and I really ought to be in bed.

So blogzzzzzzzzzzzzzz for now

An addiction

I find myself a day after setting up this blog that I am addicted to this. Positive side is it may improve my typing speed. Down side is I am not doing any work. That is bad. However, I think it is therapy for me and also let my friends know my weaknesses. They may help me with the work!

So blog for now

Marco Polo made a head start

"When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason -falling asleep or anything else - he gets separated from his companions and wants to rejoin them, he hears spirit voices talking to him as if they were his companions, sometimes even calling him by name. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again, and many travelers have got lost and died because of this. Sometimes in the night travelers hear a noise like the clatter of a great company of riders away from the road; if they believe that these are some of their own company and head for the noise, they find themselves in deep trouble when daylight comes and they realize their mistake. There were some who, in crossing the desert, have been a host of men coming towards them and, suspecting that they were robbers, returning, they have gone hopelessly astray....Even by daylight men hear these spirit voices, and often you fancy you are listening to the strains of many instruments, especially drums, and the clash of arms. For this reason bands of travelers make a point of keeping very close together. Before they go to sleep they set up a sign pointing in the direction in which they have to travel, and round the necks of all their beasts they fasten little bells, so that by listening to the sound they may prevent them from straying off the path." ---- Marco Polo

After all these years, today we have air travel, experienced guides and travellers cheques and 4 stars, well 3 and a bit stars, accommodation.

Pauline and I will be traveling from Xian to Kashgar from 13 September to 6 October. We will be travelling on a route steep in history and a community that has no need for the internet and blogging! We'll soon know when we start to look out yurts (stone huts, see above) with satelite dishes. But I know that Pizza Hut is opening its 148th store in China's westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. They must have a phone line. More when we actually arrive. Now it's just speculation. They may have a great big shopping town in every village.
So blog for now

I hear the question… why?

Well, my daughter, Sarah, talked me into blogging. As she heads off to Doha and Pauline and myself to the Silk Road, communication between Xinjiang and Qatar is going to be a challenge, albeit, the mobile is always an easy option.

As I type my first post, I am still struggling with your question why me blogging I didn't know what blog stands for until I found the courage to ask Sarah. Now I know - it's short for weblog. Somehow I believe it will all fall into place and everything will look slick and professional…one day. By then the world and its technology will have moved on. But history is good.

I will have to learn how to post images and spend night tapping out words to form sentences that mean something. Given my typing speed is at a meteoric 40 minutes, I will be relying on the good 'ol bullet point.

So until I have someting relevant to write, so blog for now.