bomb hills, not countries

Few powder days

2010-02-03T23:30:00.000-05:00

Been enjoying some good snow these past couple weeks, trying to get in as many days as possible despite having some real world responsibilities holding me back...

Anyway, heading down to Vegas/Death Valley this weekend to see some old friends and work on some photography in the desert, until then...

View from Mt Judah

Hiking the ridge

January in the Sierra's

2010-01-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

Living in Lake Tahoe has been spectacular for the first month. Our house is tucked up on top of Tahoe Donner, sitting at around 7000 feet and gets tons of snow. We are about 3 miles east of Donner Pass, in the western part of Truckee, California. The month started out with a lot of snowshoeing trips up to Castle Peak and Mt. Rose (10,000 ft+) and a handful of ski days to Sugar Bowl, our local mountain. Katie tweaked her knee and has been out of commission for a couple weeks now, but after a visit to the ortho she is on track for a quick and speedy recovery.

Tahoe National Forest

Lake Tahoe

We've now had snow for the past 9 days, thanks to an El Nino weather pattern, absolutely battering our mountains with upwards of 7 feet of snow in a week. I'm lucky enough to be working in a school and getting some snow days, which allowed me to ski 5 out of 7 days last week, all amazing knee and waist-high powder, many times first tracks when the lifts fired up in the morning.

Emerald Bay

I haven't been able to branch out to many different ski resorts yet, staying pretty loyal to a couple hills. However, I've got a handful of visitors coming this weekend and will hopefully be hitting up some new spots.

Chute @ Sugar Bowl

Putting in Driveway Work

Westward expansion

2010-01-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

For the 3rd time since my college graduation, I'm switching coasts, this time taking up residence in Truckee, California on the Lake Tahoe border with Nevada. We packed up the car and drove 4 full days to our destination. The trip included driving through Massachusetts, across upstate New York and by Niagara Falls and the border with Canada, a little bit of PA, an over night in Sandusky, Ohio (where Tommy Boy sold his Callahan Auto Parts), Indiana, Illinois, overnight in Iowa, Nebraska, some bar-hopping in Rawlins, Wyoming, a quick trip through Salt Lake and Park City, Utah, a long way across northern Nevada and our eventual arrival in eastern California.

Ohio Sunset

maps

full car

car wash, Wyoming

I-80, Nebraska

Salt flats, Utah

I-80, Nevada

Happy New Year everyone..next post will have Tahoe National Forest photos

westward

2009-12-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

Leaving tomorrow, driving back to where the sun sets on the ocean. Been waiting for this day for a long, long time, couldn't be more excited. Merry Xmas everyone!

x-country travel pics to come next...

Manhattan Beach, California

Fall in New England

2009-12-12T00:16:00.000-05:00

Moving back to California in 2 weeks so I've been making an effort to take some New England photography before I leave.

Conservation land in Mass.

Conservation land in Mass.

Pedo-mustache + shotguns

video break

2009-11-16T21:23:00.003-05:00

more from oz

2009-11-11T06:46:00.002-05:00

List of current Australian trends:
1. Having a mullet or a rat tail.
2. Wearing jean shorts.
3. Having an arm sleeve tattoo
4. Wearing singlets, also known as tank-tops or sleeveless shirts with the spaghetti size straps.
5. Driving a half pick up truck/half car that looks like an El Camino with a hitch and hauling a trailer.
6. Saying "How you going?" what appears to be a mix between "How are you?" and "How's it going?"
7. Picking up and paying for your check at the front register, no matter how fancy the restaurant

I'm going to add to this periodically over the next week or so. For now, watch this wonderful video...

aussie aussie aussie! oy oy oy!

2009-11-10T03:13:00.003-05:00

Spending 3 weeks in Aussie...not my favorite country in the world but definitely has a few redeeming qualities, namely BEACHES. Lots of unspoilt, empty ones for 1000s of coastline-riddled kilometers.

Example 1: Booderee National Park

Evan and I started off in the official government capital, Canberra, located in ACT (Australia Capitol Territory) which is a small landlocked area in the middle of New South Wales, about 500 miles north of Melbourne and 200 miles southwest of Sydney. Canberra was developed about 50 years ago to become the governing capital of Australia when there was a battle of prominence between Melbourne and Sydney occuring. To keep both cities from feeling sleighted, they just created a new territory in between the two, based similarly on the United States' District of Columbia/Washington DC. The city is super empty and has a weird vibe. It's like a giant park filled with pockets of suburban areas, but somehow still maintains a population of a little less than a half a million people. We stayed in a "serviced apartment" in the city center and kept sane mostly by using the fancy gym in the mall and going out to crappy dinners. I can't say Australia really has much in the way of good food. We went to the National Portrait Gallery, which was cool because it had the Sheperd Fairey "Hope" posters, made famous by the Obama illustration he got in so much trouble for. I hadn't seen this exhibit in Boston, so it was cool to catch it on the other side of the friggin' world. There was a really nice black and white photography exhibit in there as well, although it was a portrait gallery and I can't say I'm familiar with many of Australia's finest historical figures. One thing I did learn is that it might be the only country with less western/european/civilized history than the United States.

After our week in Canberra, we jetted down the coast on the 1 (AKA Princes Highway) to check out some of Australia's famous remote beaches. The southeast coast of the country has some of the most famous surf swells and is home to a ton of well known riders. There was actually a surf competition and event in Manly Beach on Sunday, which we came across in the rain, but unfortunately didn't stay long. . First leg of the trip, however, was to Jervis Bay, about 250km's south of Sydney. We grabbed a motel room in a town called Huskisson, which had one big pub, a beautiful beach and a real nice sunset cliff walk that Evan and I tramped along with a couple 22oz local beers from the drive thru bottle shop. The night ended up being way more lively than I would've expected. The pub got busy (can't say enough about zero competition for venues in town) and I woke up feeling not well enough to jump on a board, so we hit Booderee national park the next morning(questionable) and passed out on some white sand.

That night we busted up to Sydney and spent the next 24 hours in Bondi Beach. Finding little accomodation available on the waterfront, especially with parking, we went up the hill a bit and found an interesting little bed and breakfast run by a sweet, older couple. It was basically like putting up in someone's house, a nice break from living out of hotels and "serviced apartments" for the past few weeks. We went out to dinner for Evan's birthday, had a few drinks at some uber trendy cocktail lounges and then hit the beach the next day to dodge rain and clouds. Bondi is an interesting place. I had only been to Sydney CBD previously, seen the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but this was a totally different vibe, which reminded me a lot of my days living in Manhattan Beach. We skirted over to Manly Beach, on the other side of the harbor, which was a way cooler, down-to-earth, heady vibe beach, with tons of surf shops, cafes and breakfast joints. Manly is a super cool part of Sydney to say the least.

South Coast, NSW

Oh, somewhere along this trip I bought a pink, hannah montana beach towel.

sex, drugs, rnr

Anyway, splitting up with Evan and heading off to Darwin and Perth on my own to finish off the November survey quarter. Will update with some new photos in a week or so.

South Island, New Zealand

2009-11-09T02:07:00.002-05:00

Upon finishing the survey in Wellington, my coworker/amigo and I took a ferry over the Cook Strait to the South Island at night. We picked up a rental car in the morning and drove it 1200 km's (about 700 miles) down to the bottom of the island, Fjordland National Park, made famous by the stupid Lord of the Rings movies. Along the way we hit the West Coast, which is dubbed one of the Top 10 road trips by Lonely Planet's Blue List. After that were the glaciers in Franz Josef and Fox, where we chartered a helicopter and did a day hike on our crampons around in the ice and snow. The next day's drive winds past Mt. Cook and the Southern Alps, finally arriving in Fjordland National Park. We stayed the night in the coastal town of Manapouri and then embarked on a cruise of Doubtful Sound with a ton of senior citizens. Below is photographic proof of this trip/adventure/journey.

Ferry Map to the South Island

Franz Josef Glacier from heli

Franz Josef Glacier from cramp-ons

Farm/Mtns. South Island, NZ

Sound reflection, South Island, NZ

Sheep Crossing, NZ

Maori life in NZ

2009-10-26T18:33:00.001-04:00

This quarter of the year it seems to be a common occurrence to find myself surveying in the South Pacific. After my first exposure to the area, coupled with my ancestral background and interest, I have found it to be the part of the world I enjoy visiting most. The beginning of my trip leads off with New Zealand, the country where my grandmother on my mother's side originates from. Although New Zealand is most commonly known for geographic isolation, sheep and the Lord of the Rings, to me it is a country of cultural heritage for my family.

Wellington Cable Car

New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land masses, with a history even younger than the United States. New Zealand was settled by eastern polynesians 1000s of years ago, much like the North American Indians, but wasn't settled by westerners until the 18th century. At this time, there was an abundance of aboriginies living there, known as Maori's. The European settler's began to come in droves and after a short while, outnumbered the local people. After many disputes, they signed a treaty giving Maori's rights, but they have developed into a minority in New Zealand.

Due to the arrival of Westerners, the Maori culture was affected tremendously, similarly to many other indigenous people all over the world in the persistent forcing of Christianity upon them. The introduction to weapons and new diseases to their society is a major cause in their decline in population after the arrival of Europeans. In the past 50 years, the Maori culture has experienced a great revival due to agreed western assimilation and the introduction of education and some progressive Maori politicians. Now there are designated seats in the NZ Parliament and considerations and consultations with Maori officials have become the norm for government organizations.

Despite these social and economic advances, Maori still register low percentiles on many health and education statistics, as well as labour force participation. They register high in criminal and imprisonment figures and like many indigenous cultures, are affected deeply by institutional and direct racism.

Maori culture is probably most well known for Ta Moko which is the permanent body and face markings that they seem to be heavily covered in. It differs from common tattoo art in that it is done with chisels, rather than punctured by a needle, leaving the skin with grooves, rather than a smooth surface. In the early years of Maori culture, it was a symbol of power or social status and they were received ritually to show passages into adulthood. This form of art has popularized in recent times, and Maori tattoos can be commonly seen on people who have no affiliation with the culture.

Maori Ta Moko

The Te Papa museum in Wellington is a wonderful place to check out information on Maori history and heritage, as well as all of New Zealand.

Later this week, my coworker and I are taking a ferry over to the South Island and renting a car to drive from tip to tip. Passing through the west coast, Fox and Franz Josef Glacier and heading down to Fjordland National Park to check out Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. Some links below on where we're headed, pictures soon to come.

Franz Josef Glacier - Glacier frontier with hiking, skydiving and tons of open space
Doubtful Sound - Cruise around Fjordland
West Coast - Lonely Planet rated this one of the top 10 coastal drives in the world

travel!....finally

2009-10-19T18:32:00.003-04:00

Sydney Opera House

Leaving tomorrow on a month-long excursion through New Zealand and Australia...been looking forward for this for a while now. I should be getting back to my roots of travel writing and photography so look out for some quality posts throughout the next month.

byron scott is helpful

2009-10-15T15:27:00.000-04:00

sound needed.

vids

2009-10-11T18:43:00.002-04:00

clowning on small rappers

Maine

2009-09-28T20:52:00.000-04:00

Spent last weekend up in Farmington, Maine for our annual Survey Team Retreat. Mostly just a lot of drinking and partying but we managed a day hike up Tumbledown Mountain on Saturday and caught some nice pics of the leaves changing.

google

2009-09-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

Really busy at work today so I started typing things into the google search engine to see what it autofinds..."why am i afraid of..." is my favorite starting point. Many things work like "Why am I.." or "Why are you.." or "I like to.."

2009-09-23T12:08:00.000-04:00

Iron Mike

2009-09-22T22:00:00.004-04:00

I watched Tyson today

It's a recent documentary on the greatest fighter of our time. It's mostly an hour and a half of him rambling mixed in with clips of his knockouts..meaning its super awesome. So I would definitely check it out. If you don't have time, then just watch these highlights below

More hyphy stuff to check out below

a good view point on the health care debate Complaining about Health Care

Not sure if I would call this art but its interesting Confluence

This guy travels more than me and it makes me jealous Where the hell is Matt?

Create and publish your own books Blurb

A tribute to the late and great Eternal Moonwalk

"real love"- mary j

2009-09-22T09:08:00.004-04:00

getting down in abidjan from doug reid on Vimeo.

events.

2009-09-21T21:01:00.003-04:00

today, the soap slipped out of my hand while I was having a shower. it slid down the shower curtain and down the side of the bath like a quarter-pipe. it then shot up the other side of the bath and I casually caught it with my other hand and continued showering.

2009-09-21T14:24:00.003-04:00

watched this video about 10x today, going to set aside 30 mins each night to practice, will let you know how it goes

sicky gnar

2009-09-21T14:17:00.001-04:00

couple movies to order, cant stop wont stop watching these trailers

2009-09-21T14:05:00.000-04:00

links!!!11one

2009-09-21T13:52:00.001-04:00

I'm heading to Australia and New Zealand on my next survey trip in October/November, with one of my survey destinations being Perth, the only major city on Australia's rugged western coast. As if Perth wasn't remote enough, about 1600 miles off the northwest shore lies Christmas Island, an Australian territory, closer to the islands of Indonesia. For years, I've been overly interested in this island, since I saw a documentary on their famous annual Red Crab migration. I'm hoping this might be my best chance to go, since my work will be taking me the majority of the distance, and the timing will be very close to the predicted migration period. There are some links here below with more info, definitely check out the video.

HD movie on Red Crab Migration
Wikipedia- Christmas Island
Christmas Island site- Red Crab info

Recommended reading:
Two amazing books about India, if you've ever been, you need to read these.

A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry (this book especially)
White Tiger- Aravind Adiga

Sirens of Titan- Kurt Vonnegut
Mother Night- Kurt Vonnegut
A couple of really poignant novels written by a famous author of the 1960s. He mixes satire, black comedy and science fiction in a really interesting way. If you want to get an idea of what they are like, check out this short story. It's probably my favorite piece of literary work ever written.
Harrison Bergeron- Kurt Vonnegut

excited for this new movie from the Bro Rape creators-

An interesting analysis of the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident:
it takes a socially transcendent moment to remind us what makes life worth living kanye west is a valuable member of society

These Gaspari exercise clips are great for some new lifting ideas-
Gaspari Shoulder Workout 1-

Gaspari Shoulder Workout 2-

hilarious bud light ad-

travel travel travel

2009-09-20T22:48:00.004-04:00

So I took a bit of a hiatus from writing unfortunately, but I'm making it a point to come back with some great new entries. Until then...here's some recent photos to keep you interested.

Cheers

Ipanema Beach, Rio De Janeiro

Freetown, Sierra Leone from Helipcopter

Maravagi, Solomon Islands

Sands Motel- Socorro, New Mexico

Night sky- White Sands National Park, New Mexico

Morocco

2009-02-21T11:22:00.012-05:00

I spent 2 weeks in Morocco with another surveyor, working in the capital city of Rabat and Casablanca. During this time we managed a weekend trip to Tangiers, the immigration point into Spain and the mountain village of Chefchaouen. Morocco has some very beautiful scenery, especially in the mountains and along its miles and miles of coastline. Almost all of the cities have a spectacular medina and kasbah, which are thoroughly protected by UNESCO. They are beautiful, old, walled cities filled with markets and shopping. Many of the crumbling walls have been protected since the 1500s and show off some beautiful ancient history that you can only see when you leave the US.

Plaza in Rabat, Morocco

That being said...Moroccans are BRUTAL. They are absolutely the worst people I've ever had to deal with in my entire travelling history, and almost enough to warrant ruining the trip. I apologize if you are reading this and Moroccan. Many of my everyday interactions with taxi drivers and street vendors ended in a lot of shouting and anger. Morocco seems to be one of those countries that is so overexposed to tourism that all of the inhabitants are used to haggling and annoying everyone who comes near them that might have a cent of money in their pocket. Most taxi drivers will chase you down the street for a fare, and if they are lucky enough to get you in the cab..attempt to charge you between 5x and 10x the normal rate for that trip. When you refuse, they argue with you like you are crazy. The idea of someone in Morocco helping you with a direction or simple answer to a questions is a ridiculous laughing matter.

"Excuse me, is ___ street this way or this way?"

"This way into my shop, I give you good price, cmon"

"Do you know where the bus station is?"

"There is no bus, but I can take you in my taxi.."

"Oh, I see it right across the street, thank you for being so helpful!"

This obviously isn't new to any foreign traveller but after a couple weeks it can start to drive you literally insane...

Rabat, Morocco

Morocco is located on the western side of North Africa, with Spain to its North and Algeria, Tunisia on the East. It is an important immigration hub for North Africans to migrate into Spain and Europe through the port town of Tangiers. Tangiers has long been famous for it's refuge to many cultural diversities. It was long an espionage center during the Cold War and a famous artist's enclave in the mid 20th century for the likes of William S. Burroughs, Henri Matisse and Jack Kerouac, who all drew inspiration from the uniqueness of the city.

King Hassan II Mosque

Further down the coast, the cities of Rabat and Casablanca (only an hour apart) are the financial and commercial capitals of the country. Casablanca is obviously famous for..well..Casablanca, "Here's looking at you kid." There is even a replica Rick's Cafe located near the medina (where I ate dinner and bought a t-shirt since I'm a good American.) Both of these cities are a bit rundown, however Casablanca owns the third largest moqsue in the world, the Hassan II. This is one of the only mosques in the world non-muslims can enter and I was lucky enough to latch onto a 1 hour tour of the place. Quite impressive!

Hassan II Mosque

The best part about the visit to Morocco was the mountain town of Chefchaouen. After riding a few different methods of transportation (bus, train, grand taxi) we reached this beautiful village perched above the Rif Mountains. There is a picturesque medina, set against the dramatic backdrop of the mountains. It is filled with white-washed homes with distinctive powder-blue accents. The call to prayer rings out here through several mosques during the day in chorus, and is quite peaceful. This area is really well-known for its huge production of marijuana and hashish, which supplies 80% of Morocco. My co-worker and I went for a day hike up into the mountains and just walked by acres upon acre of marijuana plantations. Many farmers and women were chugging along, doing their business and friendly enough for a wave or a picture.

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Medina in Chefchaouen, Morocco

Morocco has come a long way in the past 10 years. Their king, Hassan II, was a traditonal older man, who kept the country as a strict, muslim state. When he passed in 1999, his son, Mohammed VI took power and with him came a much more liberal approach to running the country. He quickly passed laws granting women the power to vote, attend school, etc. There are many more bars, and drinking and nightlife have begun to flourish, with the help of a strong tourism industry. Now, Morocco feels more a bit more like a European country than it's neighbors Algeria and certainly Libya.

Speaking of Libya..next stop! Should have a good post from there soon.

Algeria

2009-02-09T09:35:00.007-05:00

I spent a week in Algiers, doing a survey for the European Commission, a new contract we were awarded in the past month. This client brings us a bunch of new money and a bigger profile in the European community, but with it comes a new 180 page survey. The downside of these surveys is they are more than twice as long as the longest previous survey. The upside is you get to travel with another surveyor to get it all done, which means more entertainment opportunities and someone to have dinner and complain about work with...I did my first survey of this length, the previous week in New York City, which was pretty easy and a nice exercise in learning all the new items in the basket of goods.

Road to Tipaza, Algeria

Algeria is the 2nd largest country in Africa and in the Arab world. It is predominantly muslim (99.5%) and an interesting mix of French and African. Algeria has had a long and sordid history starting with Ottoman and Roman rule, leading to French colonization, a terribly bloody independence war, and clashes between government and rebel groups killing 100,000's leading into this decade. Algeria has developed in leaps and bounds in the past 10 years and the economy is quite strong. However, in 2007 there were a few city bombings that killed and injured many; mostly targeted towards foreigners, and Al-Qaeda has a strong presence in the country.

Algerian bombings claimed by Al Qaeda

40 Terrorists dead in Algeria after exposure to Plague

Makam Echahid, Algerian Independence Memorial

Algeria has a booming oil reserve, thought to be the 8th largest in the world and this makes up for 95% of its export revenue; thus many major oil companies are set up here, and in turn bringing me to Algiers to conduct a foreign worker's cost-of-living survey.

"The White City"

Algiers is a beautiful mediterranean city, entrenched in white cement buildings donning it the nickname "The white city." Like many developing cities, it has an old town with a french architectural influence and a modern town which is more developed and arab looking, both of them quite nice in their own respect. Algiers is currently ranked lowest out of 132 capitals in the Economist Intelligence Unit's quality of life survey. This survey takes into consideration 40 different criteria including: stability, health services, culture and environment, education and the availability of basic services. Algiers was ranked lower than Karachi, Tripoli, Abidja and even Dhaka.

Algiers City Blocks

The Casbah is the most well known part of the city, a World Heritage site in the north part of the city. It is, however, not a very safe part of the city from pickpocketing, muggings and kidnappings. Our driver said he must walk with us when we visited, to feel much safer. This was appreciated of course. The city is full of beautiful mosques, small and large, scattered around the city.

Djemma Mosque

Notre D'ame de Afrique

90 km west of the city is the ancient Roman ruins of Tipaza, buildings from the 1st century are preserved here quite well, and our visit was my first to a Roman ruins site. Previously I had only seen Latin American ruins, and it was interesting to see the contrast. Commercially this was an important Roman hub and was also an Unesco World Heritage site. Along the way, we passed through some beautiful beach towns, stopped for some shopping and a fresh fish lunch on the harbor.

Tipaza Ruins

Papua New Guinea

2009-01-25T22:09:00.010-05:00

Papua New Guinea lies on the eastern coast of the island, New Guinea, split in half with a territory owned by Indonesia in the South Pacific. Papua is one of the rawest, most rugged spots on Earth, with thousands of indigenous people making up villages all over the country. The majority of the people live in traditional societies and practice subsistence-based agriculture. I was most excited about my trip here and scheduled it for my last stop on the survey. The city of Port Moresby is quite small and the airport consists basically of a landing strip on a flat bit of land. However, as you approach, you get a sense of the dense jungle and rugged mountainous terrain that makes up the country. This has caused it to be difficult for any type of transportation infrastructure to exist. To get anywhere, or even out of Port Moresby, you have to fly to one of the other small cities.

Crowne Plaza Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea has a big expat population due to oil companies and shipping yards scattered around Port Moresby. The country may be best known for its indigenous and tribal people living outside of the city, who most famously wear bones and other items pierced in their faces and some are still cannibalistic. A common response to "I'm going to Papua New Guinea" was met with "Don't get eaten." Port Moresby is also known as one of the most dangerous cities in the entire world; run by a gang of hoodlums known as 'Raskols' who carjack, rob and rape. In fact, Port Moresby has had the most rapes per capita of any country in the world, several years in a row. This is amazing to think about once you spend time there, as the general population appears to be the friendliest, gentlest people I have ever met. Everything moves extremely slowly (you sometimes have to ask your waitress for your drink or check repeatedly before you might actually obtain it) and everyone seems quite happy; a true south pacific island.

Port Moresby Homes

I had heard of some epic surf breaks off the coast of Papua, mostly on the north side, but I was desperate to find my way out to the ocean. I made friends with some locals at a pub in town, and they pointed me towards the local surf club, which was made up of a bunch of guys on some rundown old boards (a couple with donations from some Aussies and South Africans who visited on surf trips) who frequented the islands around the mainland to take in some surf. There wasn't much break, but I got to spend a day paddling around in the south Pacific with a bunch of Papua locals, quite the experience. We finished the day with snorkeling around the neighboring islands which captivates the south side of the Great Barrier Reef, a natural wonder.

Loloatu Island

Islands of Papua

Singapore

2009-01-25T22:09:00.008-05:00

Singapore was a great stop on my 3rd world country tour of Southern Asia, as it is developed as any city in the US or Europe and boasts wonderful hotels, cuisine, nightlife, etc. I was able to recouperate here for a few days and hang out with an old roommate from Los Angeles before heading back out to the developing world of Asia. I ended up getting sick this week, possibly from eating too many dumplings and noodle bowls from 'hawker' carts around the city...but it was definitely worth it

Singapore is an island microstate, located on the tip of Malaysia, in southern Asia. What was originally a tiny fishing village has now expanded into one of the top economic and business hubs in the world. Singapore boasts a population of almost 5 million people, with a very diverse mix of people. Chinese Malay is the most common, with Indian, Japanese, American , British and many other cultures making up the rest of the state.

Clark Quay and Merlion

Singapore is an extremely powerful economic hub, and the world's 4th largest foreign exchange trading centre behind New York, Tokyo and London. There are thousands of expatriates working in hundreds of multinational corporations, making it an extremely business-friendly economy. Singapore is very much tied into the American markets, more so than the nearby Hong Kong, which has caused for it to weaken in the past year, similarly with our domestic US market. Less companies are moving and expanding, and this shows in the global recession and especially Singapore.

Singapore is well known for its criminal law, which is of the strictest in the world. Singapore still retains corporal (caning) and capital (hanging) punishment. Many things which would seem normal in our culture (such as chewing gum on the bus or smoking in public) are major offences in Singapore and can be punishable to fines of thousands of dollars. Drugs are also highly illegal in Singapore; possession of a small amount of marijuana will be punishable by death. Due to all this, it is one of the safest cities in the world with an extremely low crime rate. However, one way that Singapore law differs in the opposite way, is it's legalization of prositution. Licensed brothels exist in designated areas where health checks are mandated, much like Amsterdam. Street prostitution is not legal, but it is rampant all over the city and in bars. Orchard Towers is a famous "shopping mall" of sex worker bars and massage parlours that exist with an extreme in-your-face sex market. Being a tall, white man in Singapore is quite an invitation to get chased down the street in this city, but it is a rather interesting experience.

MRT sign

South India

2009-01-25T21:39:00.015-05:00

Things got really busy on this last trip but I wanted to at least throw up a few photos to check out...

India was fantastic! Beautiful country, Beautiful people, Beautiful food. One of the best places I've ever seen. Spirituality and Religion mixed with overpopulation and crowding in a 3rd world country..doesn't get any better for me!

I spent 2 weeks in Bangalore and Chennai, which included sidetrips to Pondicherry and Mysore; a nice little tour of Southern India. India is the 7th largest country by geographical area, the 2nd most populous country after China and the largest democracy in the world. It is made up of 28 states, all of them being totally unique and different in their own way. India holds an estimated 1.15 billion people, making up for 17% of the world's population.

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka, a much developed city with an infrastructure based on IT and outsourcing. Many tech companies are set up here and there is a huge business center. With this comes restaurants, hotels, bars, tourism, etc. There are tons of expats living here and a lot of beautiful housing exists in the city and neighboring suburbs.

About a 2 hour train ride outside of the city is the town of Mysore. Mysore is best known for it's palace which is luminescent with 100s of thousands of lights every Sunday.

Entrance to Mysore Palace

Mysore Palace

Chennai is the 4th largest city in India and the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu. This area of India is much more traditional than other parts of the country that have steadfastly developed. Alcohol is almost non-existent and traditional values are noticeably more important here. Chennai lies on the south-eastern corner of India. I travelled down the coast to many of the smaller towns and the effects of the tsunami that ravaged these areas of southern Asia is still quite visual and apparent. Many of the villages and beachside areas are still destroyed or in the process of being cleaned up.

Bangalore Bus Station

Further down the coast from Chennai is the former French colony, Puducherry, a beautiful seaside community with major French influence. Many of the signs remain "Rue de..." and most of the people speak both languages. The town is constructed with the same French influence and grouped into neat sectors and perpendicular streets. Not far from Puducherry is the unique community of Auroville , which is definitely worth reading into.

Chennai church

Dhaka, Bangladesh

2008-10-29T09:58:00.012-04:00

Dhaka certainly ranks as one of the most interesting, fascinating and thought provoking cities I have ever visited. Upon first sight, it is almost horrifying. The poverty and visual deterioration of the city, coupled with the chaos and hecticness is an immensely stressful sight. The city is filled with gypsies and beggars, many of them with horrible deformaties, that will openly chase you on foot and tap your car window to ask for money. Dhaka is an amazing example of what horrible pollution can do to people, and the affect it has on the population. Many of the people are missing limbs and have distinguished growths coming from their bodies. It is not uncommon to see people and children, laying unconscious on the side of the street, possibly no longer living.

Street Beggars

Dhaka is a city of over 12 million people and growing rapidly, as is much of Southern asia and India. Dhaka is witnessing rapid growth and the city faces a number of challenges, including widespread poverty, hunger and corruption. It is a predominantly muslim state and deals with a lack of opportunities for women and much discrimination. Sari's are the only womens clothes available in stores, almost no western dress is obtainable. Dhaka is a hot, wet, tropical climate and was smack in the middle of a huge storm when I arrived with the addition of flooding right outside my hotel.

Old Town, Dhaka

Cycle and Auto Rickshaws dominate the overly crowded streets. It is stated that Dhaka has 400,000 rickshaws running daily, by far the most of any city in the world. Some of these are small, green automatic ones, but the majority is brightly colored cycle rickshaws that have no problem darting out in front of moving automobiles. Spending the day out in traffic in a taxi, or wandering around the markets of Old town Dhaka are activities that could never get boring. Every 10 seconds, you can see something that you have never seen before in your life.

Rickshaws, City Street

During the week I was surveying Dhaka, New Zealand was in town to play Bangladesh in an International test Cricket match. The first 3 of 5 days were rained out, but the 4th day was on and the city was abuzz in Cricket talk. The Bangladeshi's aren't well known for their skills but definitely for their passion of the sport. I mentioned to one of my business contacts that I wanted to try and head down to Mirpur Stadium and see if I could get a ticket to the match. I was lucky enough that he set me up with his friend, a Sports Journalist for Banglavision TV, and he got me a VIP seat in the press box. It was an awesome experience and I met a ton of locals that were all super friendly and loved to chat about politics, economy and the differences between USA and Bangladesh (of which there are a few). I was even invited on a Saturday fishing trip down one of their river deltas with a bunch of local guys. Unfortunately, I will have left for India, an invitation I am deeply saddened to have turned down.

Dhaka Stadium, Press Box

After my first day in Dhaka, I was almost mortified of the activity in the city and ready to head to my next location. By day 5, I've found Dhaka has really grown on me. Although it is a place

I would never want to live, it is still the most 'different' place I have ever experienced in my travels and a city I could never possibly forget.

Back in the Philippines...

2008-10-23T04:55:00.011-04:00

My new trip sends me back to Asia and for the first time in my survey career, I've repeated a location, Manila, Philippines. I actually enjoyed my first go-around in Manila, in part to some family friends living in the city and a couple of extraordinary hotels, both contributing to my entertainment while on survey.

Manila city scene

The Philippines is a gorgeous country, consisting of over 7,000 islands and many of the world's most beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, after 2 visits I still haven't been able to experience any of this. Due to the geographic lay of the land, it involves time, flights, boats and most of all, money to get out of the major city and into the more touristy areas of the Philippines.

All I can comment on is downtown Makati City, Manila, which most Filipinos tell me is a shame. Manila is a huge city with one of the highest population densities in the world. The majority of it is huge sprawling urban ghettos, including some of the most impoverished areas I have ever seen on Earth. However, the business center and downtown (Makati) is quite the opposite. Lots of 5-star hotels and endless stretches of mall make the city center very upscale. The survey is Manila is rather easy, thanks in part to the gigantic miles of attached malls. The filipino economy must be thriving because I have never seen so much commerce and shopping readily available in one city.

Filipino Dunkin' Donuts

Although the official language of the Philippines is Tagalog (which sounds a little like spanish) almost everyone speaks English. Manila has taken heat and some attacks from the mostly Muslim south of Philippines, it is a place basically free to practice whatever religion you so choose. Due to that, there are a lot of Roman-Catholic churches built around the city. Intramuros is the the closest thing to an interesting sight in the city.

Intramuros, Manila

I met up with some friends the night after I arrived and went to dinner and some drinks. Afterwards we went to a live music bar and I saw a band called Spongecola, which was basically interprative death metal.

All in all, it was a great show. Unfortunately, both times I've been to Manila, it's been the beginning of an Asia trip and I am usually fighting off jet lag the whole time, this one has been a bit easier.

Anyway, not much to report on Manila, maybe because it's a repeat but here's a few more photos to hopefully make up for this short posting. The rest of my trip includes:

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangalore, India

Chennai, India

Singapore

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

...and an overnight in Brisbane, Australia, so definitely check back for some more updates.

Jeepneys, common modes of transportation

Modern Art Museum

Cock fight in Roligon

Hyphy Records update**

2008-09-25T14:58:00.006-04:00

Check out the new site up www.hyphyrecordsmusic.com links to some new music

look for an album- end of novemeber 2008

new artists coming...

Also, new trip coming mid October- locations TBA announced next week

Arabian Sands

2008-08-27T15:13:00.003-04:00

*with pics*

I suppose I am getting this off to a late start, since I am on the last day of my last location on this survey, but Saudi Arabia will drive you to find anyway possible to entertain yourself. Unfortunately, the internet connection in my hotel (which blocks me from accessing any questionable websites or ones that discuss women's rights) is letting me upload pics about as slow as smoke signals, so I'll have to wait til I get home, and I'll put some up asap.

Burj Al Arab, Dubai

I spent my first two weeks in the Middle East between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, getting acclimatized to weather (110 degrees) and the customs of the Muslim people. Dubai is a fairly international city as you can imagine, so it wasn't nearly as intense as everyday life in Saudi Arabia. You only hear the music play out of the mosques a couple of times a day in Dubai and life doesn't seem to miss a beat during prayer hours. One of the first things you notice is the gold signs pointing to Mecca in every building, hotel room, restaurant, even my hotel gym had one near a weight bench...However muslim it may feel, Dubai is still 90% immigrants and 60% of those are from India. The idea of the United Arab Emirates local is almost non-existent in two cities that were basically built out of the desert in the last 10 years. You can still order alcohol in restaurants and nightclubs sound off until the wee hours of the night. It is definitely a city designed for business and tourism alike.

However, its neighbor to the west, Saudi Arabia is unlike any country in the world and a definite "trip" to experience. I boarded my Saudi Arabian Airways flight to Jeddah at 10pm. My visas were checked several times, I listened to a nice soothing prayer over the loud speaker, and we were on our way. Saudi Arabian Airways has 3 rows in the back of the plane designated for a "prayer room" surrounded by a curtain...I was hoping to get away with a nap in there, but I thought better of it. Instead, I stared at the video monitor in front of me, which had a little arrow pointing which direction off the plane Mecca was at all times...Thanks Saudi Arabian Airways!

Upon my arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport, I was pulled aside at passport services and asked to show my Passport and Visa to group of different customs agents, who asked me where I was coming from possibly 150 times. An hour later, I had my bag and was heading into the city

Mosque, Musandam

Jeddah is the second largest city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after it's capital Riyahd. It is considered the "cosmopolitan center" of Saudi Arabia, where you are free from attacks of the religious police and some pools and beaches have areas where women can bare their shoulders. How 21st century. Jeddah is also the prinicipal gateway to Mecca, which is about 10 miles outside of the city center. Millions of people make the Haj to Mecca, a birthright trip, and every year the Saudi government deals with the issue of immigrants staying illegally. Saudi Arabia is an immensely wealthy country with free healthcare and schooling. It is primarily better off economically then the majority of its neighbors. Interestingly enough, the government built a road curving around Mecca since non-muslims are forbidden from entering. Stretched above the highway sit long, green signs that state "muslims" and "non-muslims" so you can continue to travel accordingly. I suppose it is similar to the fork at I-95 and I-495 to Providence but with larger consequences for veering to the wrong direction. The only westerners rumored to have entered are characters such as Thiesger and Richard Burton, who travelled with the Bedouin tribes through the empty quarter for years, wrote novels based on their experiences and were allowed to convert and visit the holy land of Mecca.

Port town, Oman

Jeddah is the arabic word for "grandmother" and was given that name as the tomb of Eve is said to be buried here (widely considered to be the grandmother of humanity). The city recieved prominence in the 600's AD when muslim pilgrims started arriving to find Mecca. Today, it is considered a major trading port due to it's location on the Red Sea and a tourist destination for diving around the coral reefs and sunken ship exploration.

Al Balad Coral Houses, Old Town Jeddah

On my first day in Jeddah, I hailed a cab outside of the hotel and headed off to the mall to collect some prices. Almost immediately, distinguishing the differences in Saudi and the past muslim areas I had been in, was obvious. Five times a day, music blares from the mosques around the city and immediately everything shuts down. Shopkeepers usher you out of their stores and the metal grates go down. The whole city's life ceases to exist for the next 20 minutes while everyone prays. All stores then close from 1pm-5pm every single day as an imposed religious law. Thus making work impossible to be done in the Kingdom. I don't really understand how the Saudi residents get anything done. The other complaint is it is a city full of cab drivers trying to take you for every cent they can get out of you. This is to be expected in most places around the world, especially as an American. However, the amount of time I spend with hired drivers starts to drive you nuts when you have to argue with every single one over the price of a fare...especially when they, all of a sudden, forget how to speak the english they knew 15 mins ago.

As far as sights go, Jeddah boasts the tallest water fountain in the world, measuring in at over 350 meteres. There is also a great market/old town to wander around. Other than that...no alcohol...enough said.

Tomorrow, I am heading out back to the USA, via Amman, Jordan and into NYC.

2 observations of my time in the Middle East-

1. As much as the mosque music and prayer times can be a nuisance for work, if you can find the time to stop and listen, it is a beautiful experience. It's serene and calm and invokes a definite feeling of mystery to a westerner.

...with the possible exception of the one that goes off at 4am outside my hotel window.

2. "It is illegal to serve a muslim alcohol." In the UAE, alcohol is legal in hotels and to be served out of these dark warehouses if you have a permit. But the law states "it is illegal to serve a muslim alcohol." Shouldn't he just not want alcohol if he takes his religion that seriously? I don't get that one yet.

Pics coming in a few days when I get home...