After months of neglect, I'll be loading more stories and photos onto this web-log. But first, a barrage of photos from Sydney, Singapore, and Thailand. After finishing my term of service and leaving Vanuatu last November, I toured some neighboring countries for bit, wandering the Earth, and seeing what I could see. On with the show.
Finally. For years I've wanted to see the Sydney Opera House. It's even more impressive in person. It's a gleaming cross between a house, a beached crustacean, and flapping sails. And I'm not exaggerating when I say it's gleaming. You had to squint to look at it sometimes.
Sydney does coffee well. I suspected the Australian influence was the reason you could get great cappuccinos in Port Vila even if you couldn't buy marshmallows or toothpaste that didn't taste like pearl or ginseng.
If you look carefully, you'll see a series of white glass tires making an artificial ceiling above the practicing orchestra. We were told that this disperses the sound evenly throughout the hall.
The outside of the Opera House is covered in alternating matte and glossy ceramic tiles. Supposedly, they never need to be cleaned.
And now, the big event. After two years on a mostly dry island, a frosty Guinness with a guitar playing at a touristy art market in downtown Sydney. And no tipping!
I spent two years living on an island known for it's dugongs and never once saw one until visiting the Sydney Aquarium.
Okay, onto the next country.
Where else but Singapore will you hear four languages spoken on a given day and still be able to communicate with nothing but hand signs and cash?
Where else do you find Little Baghdad...
a short walk away from the a major, incense filled Chinese temple....
Which is down the street from a large Hindu temple?
I think this corner store in Little India sums it up nicely.
A man waiting on a street corner told me "you're the tallest man in Singapore!" Seemed true at the time. Diwali was coming up and the street markets in Little India were selling flower garlands and trinkets, all hanging right at the level of my face.
Singapore is more than a nation of banks, temples, and shopping malls. Every night, the street stalls opened and the area seemed to be perpetually bathed in the scents of incense and Chines five spice.
Frogs are delicious.
On to Thailand! On my first morning, I hopped in the back of a waiting tuk tuk and set off for the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
After that, it was on to Wat Pho, the temple of the Reclining Buddha.
The gates on the temple grounds are often guarded by carved giants. This fellow looked rather fierce and dapper at the same time.
Thailand is said to be the land of a million (billion? trillion?) Buddhas. I believe it.
Onto some music theory that I found fascinating, but I'll just let the sign speak for itself.
And it wouldn't be a trip to Bangkok without Wednesday night Kickboxing. These guys were surprisingly vicious.
And Surprisingly young. The man in red is the coach who was hurling what sounded like a string of Thai invective at his trained fighter.
The big goal of my trip was to get to Chiang Mai and ride the elephants. First, you have to get to know each other.
This is the baby training elephant.
Then they let you ride the real thing. The young Polish women behind me spoke just enough English to let me know how terrified she was. The claw marks she left in my sides helped get the point across.
After an a few hours, elephant and human alike were filthy. Time for a bath.
And that's it for now. I have two thousand photos to go through and two and a half years of stories. It can't all go on here so if you have questions, let me know. Next time I hope to be a little more organized and maybe say a few things about Vanuatu. Enjoy the photos.
-- Daniel --
