Matt has cleverly manifested a bunch of things in his life that have allowed him to travel a lot of the world in the last couple of years. At each place he has visited he has danced. He hasn’t danced very well, and is the first to admit it. But it just doesn’t matter as you’ll see.
Matt is not rich. Matt also doesn’t have some magical secret for traveling cheaply. He does it pretty much the same way everybody else does [apart from the dancing!?!?!!. Ed]
More from the back catalogue. This follows on from Bondi in 2005. We flew into Melbourne and visited with our good friend in Archies Creek before heading to Tribeadelic new years festival. These are a few of the pics before and after the festival. A few photos from the festival will be in the next installment.
- Eye of Sauron (Archies Creek, South Gippsland)
A reflection through a window onto the wooden floor. A little spooky, but not as spooky as talking about a book, Guns Germs and Steel, and then turning on the TV and seeing the documentary advertised. Funnily enough the same thing happened in the same house the previous year with Baraka, except it wasn’t an ad, it was the movie playing.
linkage: melbourne and south gippsland photos, main photography page
Well yesterday we did a border run. We had done a little research and using the Vancouver local buses it appeared that we could get nearly all the way to the peach arch, the border crossing, and sort out the last stage of my application for permanent residency. So we took a bus to White Rock town center and changed to another more local bus. The driver informed us that no the bus didn’t go to the peach arch, but he would drop us as close as possible. OK that sounds fine to us. “Head that away, turn right at the main road.” He says.
We get to the intersection which in reality is an overpass and the motorway to the states. Now what? There are no signs telling us how far it is and we can’t see the border. There is no footpath. We deliberated for a while, wonder, and then discarding, the idea of maybe getting a hitch from a passing car. I don’t know how many people would pick people up right near the border and give them a lift. It seemed a bit dodgy, so we decided to set off on foot. We headed down the side of the motorway, beside the ditch and then on top of a grass and blackberry strip. Thankfully we came to a “Border 800m” sign so realised that we weren’t so far away.
story continues with some photos after the jump
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The Juan de Fuca trail lies on the West coast of vancouver Island. Mystic Beach lies a 2km hike from the parking at the trail head and for most is the last leg of a multi day hike. For us it was the first camping sans car in a long long time. Carrying everything in on your shoulders makes for a different sort of camping and a different sort of camper.
We had a fantastic time wandering up and down the misty beach, foraging for elusive firewood, playing fire-tenders, reading books, lying in hammocks, cooking and eating stunning camp fare, meeting the other more experienced hikers and campers.
It was so good to be back in nature. Very life affirming. I can’t recommend enough to anyone to get out of the house, leave the car behind, hike in somewhere out of the way and do a spot of camping. Take some time to be with yourself and live in the moment.
Got a bunch of pictures up on the photography pages.
We set off on one of my longest road trips yet. I can see now why New Zealand can seem so tiny to those visiting from North America. Canada really is pretty immense. We stopped over around the halfway point and spent two days in a ‘cabin’ beside a lake. Wow did the temperature soar. Spent a whole day cooling off in the lake and even had a go wake-boarding for the first time in a few years. Ached for two days afterwards. All these specific muscles you just forget that you have.
On the trip to the Shuswap lakes from Vancouver we counted 5 Humvees . From Shuswap into the fat, oil rich province of Alberta we counted 7 more. A lovely example of the obscene wealth and mass consumption that is North America. I have been counting them on a daily basis while walking Vancouver and most days are a one or two hummer day. Shit I have even seen one in Olds, a town with a population of 7000! What a waste. These things have the worst fuel efficiency of any vehicle on the road.
Here is a link to an commentary on their obnoxious new ads.
linkage: whatever
Friday was a long day. The fifteen odd hours in a bus were ok – but probably hell if you hadn’t just come back from India. Frankly, padded seats and air con made it completely bearable. Heck, I even got some sleep. Probably during some of the nicest scenery. Was so beautiful coming through the Rockies. Green pines clinging to the sides of steeply rising mountains. So clean and pure with snow topping the higher peaks.
- Mountain Feight (Jasper, Alberta, Canada)
We had a brief lunch rest in Jasper that included Root Beer.
We had a pretty crazed trip because two of the three bus drivers were closet Nazis. I think they both missed out on the police force due to height restrictions. The last guy suffered from a classic case of Little Man Syndrome. He didn’t appreciate my threat to his authority asking him to let a slightly tardy passenger onto to the bus that was doing 1km/hr. Cries of not being “their baby sitter”. Wow chill out dude. I’m sorry you aren’t happy with you life. 2 hours later he brought it up as we disembarked. I guess he had been thinking about it all the last leg. Poor guy. I just smiled and walked away. Pleased to be able to control my emotions more these days.
So we were collected at Vancouver by two new to me friends. So good to meet people who I can get along with again.
- Vancouver Nightline (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
The stunning rooftop view from an apartment over the pool across the beachfront to downtown Vancouver
A nice dinner and catch up session for the girls and and early rise to get to the house I mean kitten we are sitting. Yeah – sounds crazy but we now have a kitten. Didn’t see that one coming…
Have just added some pics from our time down at the family farm. It has been a pretty full on experience, I am used to such small family gatherings…
It has been nice to see the location of so many family memories (and teenage movie productions of “Shelock” the detective).
While here we let off fireworks, chased the dogs, broke springs on the trampoline, ate eggless cheesecake, went on a treasurehunt and spent the day yesterday doing a four hour float down the river in tubes. Good fun!
One more day here and then we jump on a Greyhound bus for a 16 hour ride through the Rockies via Jasper then down to Vancouver to house sit for a couple of weeks while getting our bearings. I expect the trip to be stunniung and a breeze after some of the bus trips we did in India! Until then…
linkage: home on the range
We’re on the road again. Leaving shortly for the family farm 3 hours North of Olds. We’ll be there for a week, playing in the river and soaking up some more nature. Sounds like it is a special place. Really looking forward to metting the other side of the family as well.
After that we are taking a Greyhound bus to Jasper and through what promises to be spectactular scenery in the Rockies before heading down to Vancouver for a couple of weeks. We’ll be checking out the lay of the land, the job front, where we might want to live and all those real life type things. We’ll be there for a couple of weeks before getting a ride back to Olds to collect our stuff and head back, for good, I guess.
We’ll be taking an old laptop and will try to check out wireless hotspots around the city to stay in touch.
As a belayed outing for Fathers Day we took off yesterday to Ya Ha Tinda in the foothills of the rockies, about an hour an a half from Olds. Breakfast consisted of coffee in those well insulated coffee mugs meaning I burnt my tongue.
A short walk upon arriving up to a waterfall. We crossed the river above the falls in really quite cold water and returned to the camping area lower down. It is obviously a preferred hangout for all the people with big dualies (double axel pick up trucks) and their massive – and I do mean massive – horse floats/gin palaces.
We got as colse as we could to the river and cooked up a storm of potatoes. Where cooked = charred. Yum. Read and snoozed off the late lunch and watched the gophers play in the sun. Great day out in nature. First of many I hope.
Put some photos up – a;though the gophers are too quick for my camera
linkage: ya ha tinda photos
Last minute changes to plans saw me changing tickets in Delhi to cancel our stopover in Frankfurt (and therfore Switzerland). Damn. Was looking forward to seeing that beautiful country, catching up with a good friend, sampling the fondue, playing some tunes in the forest etc. Switzerland – until we meet again.
London oh London. can it really be? 3 hours wandering the terminals passing back and forth infront of the tube exit at Heathrow like a caged tiger. So hard not to just grab a ticket and jump aboard a train to Portabello, Camden or any of a number memory filled destinations. Ah well they aren’t going anywhere I guess.
Standby came and went and I was on the next available flight to Calgary. Right up to two minutes to departure and I didn’t know if I was going to be getting on the flight. Standby is a strange way to fly. Sure is efficient though.
Delhi in the early hours of sunday morning. Frankfurt for breakfast. London for lunch. Calgary for afternoon tea. The long haul – but worth it in the end.
Great to be welcomed into the in-laws house and life. Lovely to meet the family after hearing about them all for the last 4 years. A big surprise and it took a while to convince them we were actually at the airport. It has taken a few days for it to really sink in for them.
Well after a long period of silence I have found myself in Delhi, at the end of a 5 month tour of duty across India. Wow. Can it really all be over? So soon?
So much has happened it is hard to know where to start. So I think I will came back at a later date and fill in the blanks. In the mean time here is a quick summary.
Did a big push up the centre plains of India in the blazing heat. 40 degrees was not uncommon so by the end of four weeks we fled to the mountains in the foothills of the Himalaya’s.
On the way we took in Aurangabad and the Ellora caves. We spent a day looking in and around 30 odd caves that mark a progression of monastaries carved out of solid rock into a cliff face. The start small and simple and get more and more complex over the years. Interesting to note the religions changing over the years but the same iconagraphy from Buddhist to Hindu to Jain represented throuought.
Beautiful Omkareshwar was next on the list, complete with Bombay Baba experience. When it got weird we headed to the quiet town of Sanchi. A world heritage site with some stunning Buddhist temples covered in some of the most detailed carvings I saw in India.
Some of the temples date back to when the Buddha was not depicted directly – instead was represented by different images depending on the stage of His life, footprints for early years and the Bodhi tree after gaining enlightment. Nice ideas.
Next stop Orcha. Another small sleepy town off the main tourist trail as well. Chilled for a few days and wandered around old an ruined fort and temples.
Khajuraho followed and wasn’t much fun. Another world heritage site and probably the best preserved temples we have seen howerver the draw card was the erotic carvings that adorned them. Good spot for repressed Indian honeymooners etc who come to catch a glimpse of sex in a society that hides from their previously more liberal days, but not so much fun for us. The town was filled with end of season desperation so we fled aiming for the mountains to escape!
We ended up in Agra, almost accidently so decided to see the Taj Mahal. Good to see it – as it is a nice piece of architecture, and nice to think that it was built for love. Pity the matching one in black was never built on the other side of the river!
That heat was still on our backs so the stay was short. We had been following a suggested itinerary from a nice guy we had met in Gokarna and the last stop was in the Eastern foothills of the Himalayas in a small town called Casa Devi. Ah so nice to be out of the heat! A nice temperate climate again. feels and even looks a bit like New Zealand.
A month or so in and around the area chilling out did wonders for us. Relaxing, smoking, reading and generally doing nothing apart from working out what to eat next. Just what the doctor ordered.
Two days ago we got here to Delhi. Having a good time in Parah Ganj shopping for small bits and pieces. Our plane leaves early tomorrow morning for Frankfurt. If all goes to plan we will jump some form of transport to Switzerland to stay with a friend for a couple of weeks before heading on to London to do the same again before landing in Calgary maybe early July.
The are so many things to look forward, and so many things to say goodbye to. Life is change. I love it
Hampi. Hampi. Oh so hot Hampi…
A couple of days in the ruined temple city at 40 degrees. Up at 6am to see some sights before it becomes impossibly hot. Siesta’s. Many laughs with the postcard mafia (troupes of young boys eeking out a living from selling individual postcards and stickers), stunning ruins in a world heritage listed site that stretches over maybe 10 kilometres. It was a city that was sacked 16th C and eventually people moved back into the town. So strange to see peoples homes amid the ruins.
Our first postcard mafia friend took us back to his banana leaf and dirt hut that he shares with his brother and sister and parents. 2m x 3m. Heartbreaking to learn that his father works the banana plantations manual labour for 20 rupees a day (about 70c New Zealand). We were able to give him a little bit of extra money so that he could take his sick brother to the doctors and get some medicine. Such a small gesture but tears in all our eyes…
Monkeys roaming the rooftops and even looking in our barred window. Chased them away before they stole our peanut butter!
Sunset chillum session in a Ram temple with the sadu who made it his home. Shiva blessings bestowed on us.
Hindi movie filming with a hundred brilliantly dressed dancers and drummers was so surreal infront of the 500 year old ruins and made for some great photos.
Salty Lemon sodas at every possible moment.
Our first overnight train bring us to Hyderabad at 6am today. It’s even hotter here. We’re only here until our overnight train departs for Aurangabad and Ellora caves tomorrow in time for the full moon.
So we arrived in Gokarna on the rebound from sickness and what better place to recover than lying in the sun in a super shanti temple town? Well nothing as it turns out. The feeling of walking about on a movie set was hard to shake. The streets are narrow and winding and the small small village is really a collection of temples and old old houses with guest houses, quaint shops and restaurants.
The streets are a red clay and periodically doused with water to keep them cool. Magnificant Rangoli (chalk designs for good luck) adorned the streets in varied patterns changing on a daily basis.
We arrived a couple of days befroe the Shivatari festival where a massive wooden chariot (egg shaped, and maybe 10m tall) is pulled down the street by hand while people throng the streets throwing bananas into it. The chariot is filled with Brahmin (Hindu religious types) and punters can get much good luck for getting banans through the 1000’s of flags adorning it. I don’t know if the luck holds for sconing a Brahmin in the head.. but it’s worth a shot. I think it is really a chance for the Hindu people to throw bananas at the fat Brahmins – but what would I know?
So we caught up with a good friend and moved into a beachside huts in a guest house with restaurant. We purchased hammocks, lungis, charas and spent the next six weeks doing some serious meditation, life evaluation, reading, swimming and working on our tans. Fantastic. Such a great learning experience. What a different way to live. The realisation dawns on us after seeing other long term ‘residents’ of India that this can be a way to live. Imagine that? Escape from the first world bullshit. Permanently. It hardly seems possible until you meet people who are actually doing it.
We reluctantly set a course out of town after 5 or 6 weeks to slowly make our way to the mountains before our visas expire. A week in Bangalore with friends complete with home cooked meals, brown German bread, a salad and some great instructions on music production. Looking good on that front! Many thanks :)
We arrived in trichy and wandered around for a fairly frustrating hour trying hotel after hotel. You start to get a little paranoid when they tell you they are full before you even step through the doors. Apparently a popular Indian tourist location and a place of “many many weddings on weekends”. Damn those weekends keep getting us. What day is it?
Eventually we checked into an appropriately cheap lodge as the sole foreigners in the place, alternately a comforting and alienating sign. It was ok as we weren’t staying long…
We saw the obligatory temple and climbed to the top of the rock fort temple as well and met some nice local lads keen to practice their English. Refreshing to say the least as we had noticed a huge differance in peoples ‘friendliness’ coming from Kerala state, possibly due to significantly fewer English speakers and a lower general education level coupled with more very poor. This all equates to more people seeing you only as a $ sign. The boys asked us not to talk to them on the way out otherwise the temple officials will think they are “tourist guides” and go through all sorts of hassle, in what is to become a sadly familiar story.
We arranged a day trip across to see Tanjur with a nice older temple and big fort in town. The temple is a World Heritage site and in pretty good order. We were shown about it by a teacher from Kerala studying Socail Work in Tanjur. So nice to learn a little bit more than seeing it blind. After leaving the temple with him we were stopped by a policeman on motorbike and proceeded to try to explain that our friend was not a guide, no money was changing hands etc. Hmm a real dis-incentive to get talking to locals as we just seem to bring them trouble. No worries all resolved and the obligatory photo of the fat bastard, with cheesy moustache on his chrome steed followed. “Sure we’ll send it on to you”. Ha. Not bloody likely.
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed that no matter where you go in the world, the police and politicians are all fat bastards?
So we arrived back at Trichy and spent the next 5 days in a small form of India hell. This has probably come out with a bitter edge in these last posts – all written around this time, but that’s life. We both got sick as dogs and had this compounded by our shitty hotel room I am sure. We were above the tandoori kitchen so got wafts of curry all day – and let me tell you this is as bad as it gets when you are sick! We resorted to shoving Tiger Balm up our nostrils every trip to the bathroom in an effort to avoid tossing up our already empty guts!
After enduring 5 days of ringing the door bell before 7am twice to ask if we wanted a chai, and once more to ask about cleaning our bathroom, accompianed by obnoxious Indian tourists buzzing for the room boys incessantly to service their every whim, we managed to escape.
We crawled onto a train heading back West in Kerala again. We managed to get back to Kannur where we had stayed in the fantasticially quiet Palm Grove Heritage Retreat. The lovely owner welcomed us back, and treated us like sick children come home. It was wonderful. After a night of the highest fever I have ever had and another day of stomach cramps we were whisked off to a good friendly doctor accompanied by our chef/translator. We got a [nother] series of medicine to treat our Gastro Enteritius (spelling?) and within a few days of restricted eating – “No sir. You can’t have that. No good for stomach” we were well enough to move on.
Wow what a trip. I learnt a lot about myself in that week in bed. And got closer to my partner. I have learnt some more about energy levels, sickness, and medicine (it is great being able to go and get essentially whatever you like from the pharmacy) a little about foods and digestion but realised that I need to learn a whole lot more. We have had some minor relapses and my partner is just today back on food after another 3 day fast, but signs are looking good for being back to full strength! Ah what a relief it is to be well again. So strange as neither of us have been sick in a good few years. Bring on the food!
A long long couple of bus trips down from the mountains. Dehydration is the norm because it is more comfortable than needing to go to the toilet when you just have no idea how many hours until you’ll next get a chance. Guys have it easier, as the bus drivers ocasionally stop in random places for a samosa or something.
Arriving late at night, dehydrated and tired makes for a hard slog. We eventually got a cheap room in a semi dodgy hotel that as it’s one redeeming feature was the tallest building next to the big temple we had come to town to see. A nice rooftop view convinced us to stay. We paid for the view in other ways, bug bites, room next to the incessant lift, etc Thems the breaks.
Back into city life was hectic. Tamil Nadu seems to have a different atmosphere to Kerala for sure, although staying on the beaten track to the temple probably didn’t help. Leaving the room encouraged a steady barrage of auto rickshaw, pedal rickshaw, “tour guides”, tailors, “tailors” aka. dealers, all crying. “Hallo. Hallo!” incessantly. Still you learn to blank or avoid them with practice.
The temple was stunning. Well the view from our roof was for sure. Actually going into the temple was a bit of a different story. It paints a different picture somewhat. You can’t help but be anything more than a tourist – and at a temple I have found that is plain uncomfortable. Sure it was nice to se inside some of it was stunning but was also depresing in ways I hadn’t imagined. The 16th C gopuram’s (gate towers) N,S,W, and E are amazing. The tallest buildings as far as the eye can see (bad karma I bet building higher!) adorned with over a 1000 fully painted and shaded statues of Hindu deities. They positively oozed energy. You can just about see them shimmering. The conecting walls and a lot of the internal structures are obviously built at a later time without the same care or attention to detail complete with ugly concrete things slapped together. What happened? At some point did they just stop caring? I can’t quite understand.
Then there are the temple elephants. Poor creatures taken from jungles and now living in stone temples. What fun. All for “religious purpose”. I can understand that they were the cranes and tractors that allowed the temples to be built in the first place, but miss the spiritual advancement gained but keeping them there now. Unles of course you consider the blessings they give pilgrims for a coin donation. So sad.
Then there is the rubbish. Even in a temple there is rubbish, sure it is not as much as outside but c’mon guys – what are you thinking? It is just more evidence in the reinforcement of the hindu caste system – and I have to say I don’t like it. The belief that someone else, some low caste invisible cleaner, will clean it up blows my mind (although it isn’t like bins are provided – again why?).
It is these low caste, dark skinned, hard working, humble (to an extreme) people who I seem to asociate with most. The smiles they give are so wide and genuine when we give notice to them with a wave and a head woble, it nearly breaks my heart. The true stength of India lies here I think.
Only fitting that we visit the Gandhi museum while here. A fascinating (if dilapidated) insight into independence form British rule and Gandhi’s life. As the icon of India so many of his beliefs have been taken up while others have been convieniently brushed under the carpet (caste, women, discrimination, environmental concerns, sustainability, etc, etc) all I can do is shake my head [again].
So Madurai was simultaneously impressive and maddening. A short stop in Trichy beckons… (or does it?)
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