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haveyouseenmypassport


28 Blog Entries
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Trips:

pre-trip... Trip
To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....

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Why doesn't this forest smell?

Vancouver, Canada


Easter weekend! For us that means four whole days off! For me anyways. Sadly for Sarah she only gets three days off. But after a somewhat same and dullish week I was absolutely totally ready for a four days of relaxation and general pottering!

Amber and Simon gave us a call Friday morning while we were recovering from hangovers and suggested that a trip to the wilderness might be the order of the day. We agreed and half an hour later we were on our way to the Lighthouse National Park. I've been pretty subdued in my attempts to get "out-doorsy" here, so when I came to the national park I was a little concerned that we were going to have to hike. While we weren't hiking as such, someone had the bright idea to go rock hopping!

Which was totally fun, if not a little bit scary. Sheer ledges and jagged rocks below are a good motivator to not fall off the rock you're currently hopping on. This lighthouse turned out to be a bit of a let down as it was on private property, but it is definitely a tourist attraction as we had to cue up to get photos of it. Not in an organised cue or anything, just polite tourists waiting their turn to have the photo. Ours turned out pretty well!
As entertaining as the Llighthouse was, we weren't even a third of the way through our day. Piling back into the jeep in the carpark we set out for Lynn Canyon national park. There is a suspension bridge there that is free to go across. Basically you're standing above a canyon (funnily enough Lynn Canyon) and below there are rapids and waterfalls and generally winderness like events.
Apparently some stupidly large number of people have been killed shile trying to jump off the waterfalls or swim down the rapids. That's sad. Many of them were in the 80's, or so I gather from the memorial stones.
Getting to the bottom of the canyon saw a break for lunch. Now I'm not sure why, but it seems that Canadians like to pop to the local national park to smoke a spliff. Why? I don't know wither. Everywhere we walked there was the extremely pungent smell of skunk being burned. Bizarre. But what's more bizzare is that the forest here has no smell. I didn't notice it when we were by the sea, but in the middle of the forest there was absolutely no smell. In the rare moments when the ganja wasn't in the air there was none of the wilderness smell that I thought there would be. But anyways.

So we had our lunch, did some more walking and had Amber, Simon and Mark over for a roast and a watch of the film Kenny. Kenny comes highly recommended to anyone who has not yet seen it. 2 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of Bacardi and a few beers later, we were all sufficients smashed to turn in for the night.

As if we didn't have enough excercise on the Friday, we decided to go roller blading around Stanley park with Sarah's friend Erika on Saturday. Now I'm a bit sad cause I finally came across some locals that I didn't like. Strangely they were both from the bike/skate hire places on Denman street in downtown Vancouver. Perhaps a life of hiring things to people who are clearly going to enjoy their day much more that you is enough to make anyone turn into a nasty pastie... Not sure. But these people are RUDE. Don't bother asking for your student discount either. The sign means that you just go in there expecting to get a discount. Skating was way fun despite the unpleasant people who hire out the skates.

I was trying not to get too aggressive about it, but Sarah kept egging me on and saying that she was a better skater than me. This could have resulted in disaster if I hadn't stopped just before the collision!

Overall a pretty active weekend. I am now exhausted.

And I have another day off.

I hope you're all well!

Cheers!



permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on April 8, 2007 from Vancouver, Canada
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
tagged Vancouver and LynnCanyon

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Mighty Ducks 4: Learning to skate!

Vancouver, Canada


While unrelated to the tittle of this blog entry, I think that this is probably the most interesting sight that we have seen this week. Sarah and I decided that it was time to indulge in some of the local recreational activities here in Vancouver. While we were hoping to pop up to the mountains for a spot of skiing, we thought that something perhaps a little more local was the order of the day. So we looked up our local ice rink, which happens to only be a 10 minute walk away! Brilliant! This car is actually a limo and was parked in one of the side streets on the way to the ice rink! We couldn't smell any BBQs going on, or hear anyone shouting about kangeroos, but none the less we were under the sneaking suspicion that there were some Aussies about. If we believed the rhetoric in this: http://blogs.theage.com.au/travel/archives/2007/03/new_yanks_and_j.html blog then we would have run as far as we could. But anyways, on to the ice rink!

If you've ever been to roller city in Eltham then you'll be pretty well versed in the ways of the skate. The general demeanour of skaters was very similar to that or the roller skate cousins of these ice skaters. In fact, I could have been at Eltham roller city if it wasn't freezing and there wasn't ice instead of concrete. We expected that we wouldn't exactly be fantastic at this new sport, but we were pretty sure in ourselves that we wouldn't receive compound fractures to our "tail bones". Okay, ice skating is HARD. Much harder than roller blading/skating. Our first tentative swooshes on the ice were hilarious for the locals I'm sure. But we continued and ended up going pretty good. We stopped short of triple spins and although I was keen to throw Sarah into the air, she was reluctant... I wasn't mad at the little kids that were better at skating than me. I'm just jealous.

Sadly it hasn't really been a terribly interesting week otherwise. Interestingly, perhaps on a social observation side is the labourforce here that would generally be made up of teenagers in Melbourne is made up of middle aged people here. At every Safeway supermarket I've been to here, the checkout chicks are generally between the age of 30 - 40. And that's interesting considering that I think it is likely that Safeway pay around minimum wage. Minimum wage here is $8.00 CAD per hour. So think yourself lucky at home when your're getting around 13 or 14 dollars as a minimum at home in Australia. Especially considering that the cost of living here is very similar to at home in Melbourne. Just a thought.

Otherwise, I hope everyone is well and having a good time! More pictures to come!

Cheers

Tom



permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on April 1, 2007 from Vancouver, Canada
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
tagged Skating

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Pole dancing AND killer penguins. Wait I mean seagulls.

Vancouver, Canada


So for a comparitively quiet week it seems some reasonably interesting things have happened. Now, as I am a filing "clerk" my days are boringly tame. I haven't been issued with a desk, or stationary yet. I'm a bit sad about that, but I guess you can't really put a desk between the two moving shelves of the file room, so that's alright.

ANYWAYS! Sarah and I decided that we should do something for the end of the week. We got a couple of people over for a few "quiet" drinks. By a few drinks, I'm pretty sure I'm refering the bottle of bacardi, 6 stubbies of beer, one bottle of wine that was consumed between us. Sarah is making drink lots Mum. It wasn't my idea I swear. I think the neighbours still like us though as we weren't having loads of people come and go all night. Unlike the people across the hall. I'm starting to wonder if it's a brothel or a drug den. Not sure yet. But will keep everyone updated on this page.

Saturday day morning for Sarah saw a hangover. As I am way more better at drinking and I drink a lot less than her too, I had no hangover. We decided that the best thing to do would be to go to North Vancouver. Not that we knew exactly what was there. But we got to go on a "Sea Bus". Not a bus at all really, more of a ferry. But these Canadians are strange sometimes. Sarah, in her hung over state thought that it was appropirate to be pole dancing in a childrens playground! Photo evidence is attached.

Now, there didn't really seem like a whole lot to do on the North shore, but we had a wander around a market and a bit of pizza. It was while enjoying my lunch that I was ATTACKED by a seagull. It swooped down, removed the slice of pizza that was in my hand (moving towards my mouth) and proceeded to crash into the ground where the clever seagull was set upon by his so called mates and the pizza slice was devoured in about 5 seconds. At first I was mad. but then I was kinda impressed by the ploy. That brave criminal penguin has his mugshot posted here.

Otherwise we had a very pleasant afternoon, generally wandering around and taking pictures of downtown from the North Van "Sea Bus" stop. Nice.

Sunday was rather quiet as once again we had a few "quiet" drinks with friends on Saturday night. But Sarah decided it was time she learn how to throw a firsbee. A quiet afternoon in the park with the frisbee was just what the doctor ordered after he ordered a two bottle of Bacardi weekend.



permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on March 25, 2007 from Vancouver, Canada
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
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Home away from Home

Vancouver, Canada


After my experience with the American border guard, and the subsequent flight to Vancouver I wasn't expecting much. Probably more to do with my attitude than to do with what I was arriving to... Amazing. That is the only word that I can use to describe the contrast between the Canadian and American border guards. Now I've heard that Canadians are nice people, and I suppose all the ones I've ever met have been nice, but really, it was amazing. They questioned me, at length, in a similar fashion to the Americans, with I suppose similar questions and yet they managed to not come across as... well... jerks. Lovely begging to my stay in this country! Easy to get my visa issued. Easy to get through the airport. Easy to get my bag. Pleasant taxi drivers.

So having been in town for all of about 40 minutes Sarah and I decided that we would definitely need a bottle of wine. I thought that I wasn't jet lagged. It turned out that I was wrong. Although, while we were making the trek between the bottle-o and our house we were given very stern looks by two local police officers who happened to drive past exactly as we stepped into the road to jay-walk... Ooops. Luckily I managed to avoid being deported on my first day.

Luckily we found some vikings. But that is another part of the story. Anyways, to give you an idea, here it is really interesting when you look for a job. The service and hospitality industries here are amazing in the standard that they require. Looking for work as a bartender was quite daunting as most bars require that you have EXCELLENT cocktail skills. As much as it hurts me to admit that I'm actually not that savvy when it comes to cocktails, I managed to get over it and got hired in a Malaysian restaurant as a bartender. Amusing first night. The place's website is here http://bananaleaf-vancouver.com/ . It was fun and the people there were really nice, but I was wanting a day job cause I don't like working opposite hours to Sarah... It sucked. But it was only a couple of days anyways!

Now I am a "filing clerk" translation: general office bitch. It's good though. I'm working in the south of the city, just near a place called Richmond actually, but it's a nice mix of people. I am possibly one of the younger people there.

But everyone seems really nice and while I'm doing my filing every now and then I get to go and make a coffee and generally chat to people. Like I said, they are all really nice, so it's going to be a good place to work. Sadly I don't think it's going to be a place to work like the Doot, but it's still going to be a bit of fun. I take two buses to work and I still get there in around 20 minutes and I get to wear my jeans to work so it's a pretty good little deal. Can't wait for a paycheck though! CRIKEY!

Sarah and I decided that it was time to do some walking around and seeing stuff today instead of just gathering dust on the sofa. By the way, our apartment is really sweet, but that's another story. So we left home around midday, which was just after we woke up and headed around to a place called Granville Island. This place is famous for it's local brewery (Surprise Surprise that we ended up there), it's not a big brewery and I am led to believe that they only service Vancouver, but I'm not sure. Either way, we are planning a return visit for next weekend. I suspect we will be tasting some beer then as well.... But who can tell these days?

Well, I guess this is getting a bit long, especially for those of you that are sneaking internet time at work and stealing from the company... But briefly, this place is amazing. When we walk out the front door (as long as it's clear) we can see snow capped mountains, and the ski runs on them. The people here so far (touch wood) have been absolutely lovely. Even the beggars here seem to be nice. Not that I have spent


permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on March 18, 2007 from Vancouver, Canada
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
tagged Vancouver

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Going to US? Read for your own convenience, you might not know...

Los Angeles, United States


Ok. Planes, however large they look when you're standing next to them are actually pretty small. So when there is a group of less than *how to phrase this without sounding offensive*... intelligent, loud mouthed over bearing individuals who insist on shouting at each other from 6 inches apart for the duration of a polite conversation it's kinda hard to escape. Someone needs to invent a life jacket that you can remove from it's cover under your chair, inflate by pulling the red tab or using the mouth piece and all of a sudden you won't hear these annoying people. But really the flight, despite that it was 14ish hours, was fine. But... and there's always a but, here is the kicker, border control there is HARSH, if you EVER travel to the states, please follow:

Step 1)
ENSURE that you RUN as fast as you can to the front of the line, push people out of the way if necessary, particularly if they are infirmed or elderly, these people will only hold you back. Remember, in America only the strong survive anyways so you don't need to feel too bad for too long.

The reason for Step 1 is because the immigration "officers" are SO slow, the amount of crap they have to do is huge, so it follows that it takes a LONG time.

Step 2)
Despite being at the front of the line it'll still take FOREVER because unless you're a US citizen there will probably only be a couple of booths open. If this is the case fill in your GREEN and WHITE forms. Double Check them. QUADRUPLE TUPLE CHECK THEM. Do not get anything wrong, they will send you to the back of the line, they aren't joking!

Quick story:>

Now it might just be me that answers questions that are asked literally, but when the question reads: "Where will you spend your time in the US?" and the answer to that question is "At LAX because I'm in transit to Canada" it follows that you would write "LAX" in the answer box. NO NO NO NO NO. ARE YOU SO STUPID (or should I say STOOPID?) THAT YOU THINK THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE GOING the man asked me... I simply said "Oh, sorry, I'm jet lagged". Of course in my brain I'm thinking, well, I answered the STOOPID question, so aren't you the jerk bag? But I didn't want to be sent home, so I complied.

Step 3)
Don't bother looking for a sign. That tells you anything. There aren't any.

Step 4)
If you're not planning on staying there to see all the wonderful stuff that I'm sure is there behind a curtain of rude, arrogant and generally unhelpful airport people (I'm sure past the iron curtain of the airport there is plenty of nice things and people... well, it looked like that in Borat) then enjoy your stay :)

Oh and don't leave your laptop in it's case when you're going through the gates, they'll draw their guns and I don't mean draw them with Crayola crayons on scrap paper.

I never thought I'd star in a teen movie, or even be an Extra, but it seems that LAX is EXACTLY like the movies, and the general population of the airport was EXACTLY like the movies. "Pledgers" on their way to Spring break, "Soccer Moms", "Jocks", "Nerds", amazing! It was kinda cool in a really odd sorta way. Of course there were plenty of foreigners too, but in general it was everything that I thought was TV, and nothing that felt real.

Anyways... OFF TO CANADA!!! WOOHOO

permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on March 10, 2007 from Los Angeles, United States
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
tagged Us, LAX, Border and Control

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Leaving home again...

Melbourne, Australia


Time to leave the safety of the Ivanhoe nest once more.... I'm going to have to do a Deery and go to Canada then Europe, so it should be most excellent, in the words of Bill and Ted.

Airports suck, but they're the beginning and the end of so many people's journeys I guess it's hard to think they're a bad thing! I used to think that Australian customs were unusually and unnecessarily brash and rude... But I guess they're here for a reason and we need them and if you're going to look like the Crack Addicted alcoholic that I look like then you're going to get some scrutiny... But hey, that's good for all the Mum and Dad drug smugglers who hide their stash in their kids pram and walk straight through customs with a smile on their face and a wave of their hand.

It's all good. Screaming babies on aircraft? Yes please. But that's for installment NUMBER 2.

permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on March 9, 2007 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
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Return jaunt, air-sick-bag please

Melbourne, Australia


Now, back in Melbourne, it's kinda hard to not feel lucky. Now it could be that I simply feel lucky to be alive because the turbulence on the place was horrific, or it could really be that now I've seen KL three or four times it's finally sunk in how lucky we are here.

Stop panicking, I'm not going to go on a high horse rant about how no one appreciates anything that we have here!!! Comparing KL to Melbourne is like comparing uhmm... One thing that you think isn't as good as another and the thing that you think is better... But SO much better. Better beyond words even. The photos from KL that I've got on here are pretty typical tourist type photos, and not really representative of KL as a whole, but they're pretty fun.

As I was getting on the plane at KLIA I had to have a chuckle to myself, the adverts for "Visit Malaysia 2007" were all on the screens everywhere, but I didn't manage to experience half of the culture that was depicted. Let alone the beaches and tourists type places like Penang and Langkawi. But hey thems the breaks I guess. Now just looking forwards to getting to Vancouver!!! Sarah has unfortunately suffered a delay getting home, but the nice people from the airline fixed her up with a hotel, so that's all good!

Well, time for a few last beers and good byes I suppose. Here's a few of my favourite Melbourne sites anyways. Well.... Two.




permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on March 6, 2007 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: pre-trip... Trip
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Culture Vulture... I only eat culture that's already dead

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


WOW! Ok, say this to yourself (don't feel silly, just say it) "Putra Jaya". Now, if you sat there and said anything like "Poo-tra-jai-ya" you're half way there. I'm now making fun of the extremely Occa and Aussie way that I mis-pronounced what is actually this really amazing and almost surreal place where Kimboss' Aunt took us this week. It's where the government have their offices and where the national Mosque is. Here are some photos:


So you can see that it is rather a beautiful place to spend some time. It's kinda spooky that you forget about the large amount of poverty and the wage of RM1000 (about 350 AUD) that people earn here as a norm. But still, popping to see this was rather interesting. I've not been a huge fan of mosques until recently, the architechture is so different to anything at home that it's very refreshing to see and stand near. People take their shoes off to go in these (I think not in all places, but some) So that's pretty cooll. The large man made lake around the Putra Jaya area was pretty cool too! We saw some rather large fish in it, although they were not convinced by my promises of a swift and honourable death should they wish for me to eat them, hence they stayed in the water and did not leap into the net that I found in my pocket.

We were lucky enough to be treated to lunch by Kim's aunt, which was lovely of her. Kim, Sarah and I were so full of satay, fried chicken and udon noodles that we simply had to smash some beers.

My favourite photo that I have taken on this pre-trip trip so far occured that evening of beer smashing.


That's it! Yeah, it is low resolution and blah blah, but read the words! PILLS AND POTIONS! Now, that is the kind of place that you would not expect to have gypsy ears... and they didn't. So lucky Borat already has some. But anyways, this place that we were in is called "Sri Hartamas" The brilliant thing about Malay places is that they are all spelled how they sound. So I only mis-spell the words that I should already know. But we had some beers and I had a nice big beef pepperoni pizza, followed up with some more beer smashing! Not really very cultural I know, but I have had many noodles this pre-trip, so I gave in... I know.

This blog is getting a bit long, I know, but this is the last paragraph. This picture is me in a car at the golf course where we had lunch. Do you think I should keep the beard?


permalink written by  haveyouseenmypassport on March 1, 2007 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
from the travel blog: pre-trip... Trip
tagged KL, Malaysia, Putra and Jaya

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