A.W. Gamble

Sorry James and Jill, I thought that I was 23 but as I’m told I’m only 22.  So now you are also 22, like me.  Happy Birthday anyway.

From Cairns Kar, Sara and I caught a 5:45am flight  to Sydney.  The flight was pretty uneventful for the most part, which is how I prefer them.  There was one moment just after take off when the attendants were just starting to move about where the captain came on the speaker and said, “All flight attendants be seated and buckle in immediately.”  He said it sharply as if there wasn’t a spare second so I thought something must be wrong, but it turned out to only be turbulence.  Needless to say I spent the rest of the flight listening to the engines and trying to gauge if the plane was level. 

We arrived in Sydney with no problems and from there caught our next flight to Shanghai.  We flew Qantas which I really recommend for International flights.  Each seat has its own television built into the  seat back which plays movies, television, music, and radio.  On demand.  It made the flight almost pleasant.  If anything it was a good introduction to being a minority.  At least the flight attendants spoke english, they would be just about the last english speakers we would hear in China.  For the most part we can just act things out and point to maps and they understand us pretty well. 

We arrived in Shanghai around 7 pm and were surprised to find that the Shanghai airport has no Customs.  It made getting out of the airport very fast.  From there we took a cab into the city which took about an hour to get  to our hotel.  Taxis are definately the best way to travel here because they are very cheap and they are direct.  Our hour cab ride only cost 150 yuan which is about $20.  And that is an expensive taxi here.  Most of our rides within cities are about 9 yuan which is less than a dollar.  After spending a low key evening in the hotel to get some sleep we only had one full day to explore Shanghai.  We started by heading to Nanjing Street which is full of shops.  Most of them were high class department stores but there were lots of side alleys with cool shops.  It was at these that we discovered two things.  The first is that people will try anything to get you into their shop.  Most people standing in a street are actually working for someone and they’ll try to talk to you and point you to their shop.  If you make the mistake of walking too close to a shop the workers will come out and yell hello and then ask, “Watch?  Suitcase?”  It’s hard to get them to stop but if you shake your head, smile and keep walking they eventually stop and look for the next white person.  We are definately targets and people also stare at us.  It’s strange to suddenly be the minority.  It’s very humbling.  The second was that you have to barter for the prices, which I had forgotten about, and you have to barter hard.  My strategy has been to counter their first offer with a very low one, then bring it up a little and if they don’t accept just shake my head and start to walk away.  They usually hand me the calculator which acts as translator and then I raise my offer just a little more.  This is usually accepted.  It can be fun bartering.  The hard part is figuring out if you barter in certain places.  Some have prices that are set but sometimes it’s not clear.   

We ended our day in Shanghai by walking along the main river, which I can’t name, but the modern downtown sits along it and it is very beautiful.  We were trying to get back  to the downtown but there are no bridges to get across it that we could see so we eventually found a tourist tunnel that crosses under the river and takes you to the tv tower.  We ended up going up it and it was very cool.  The only thing was that it was raining and very foggy so our view was limited.  But the fog made the view we did have that much better.

The next morning we hired a taxi to the train station, which one we weren’t sure, but we got lucky on our first guess.  From there two men came and grabbed our bags.  Apparently we had just hired them because they demanded money 50 feet later.  It worked out pretty well though because they bought our tickets for us which was easier than trying to figure that out.  Then it was a quick KFC lunch, also an adventure, and then our train ride.

The trains were very clean, efficient and orderly.  This last part we didn’t know.  As soon as the train came in and they opened the gate to get to the platform people rushed the door so we assumed it was first come first serve.  Once on the train we figured out that there were assigned seats.  That meant we had to quick dash up to our cabin which was at least 5 cars up.  We made it, but just barely.  The scenery along the train ride was interesting.  I’m not going to use the word beautiful.  It was interesting.  At times it was sad and depressing, but all the while interesting.  First of all, everything was grey.  The sky, the buildings, the landscape, even the people seemed to just be different shades of grey.  Within this grey landscape very little seemed to be maintained.  I’m not sure if it’s the result of demolition or just disrepair but the majority of structures we saw were slowly turning into piles of rubble.  A lot of these piles had some scattered people doing random jobs.  We couldn’t figure out what they were doing.  Two hours after leaving Shanghai we pulled into Nanjing.

I have to go for  now, but I want to wish a happy birthday, in China time, to James and Jill.  Once again you’ve managed to catch back up to Brad and me.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  Happy 23.

We have made it to China and have enjoyed Shanghai and Nanjing.  Tonight we are off to Beijing on a night train.  I had hoped to add some pictures but the connection is pretty slow here so I’ll try again when we get to Beijing. 

After Brisbane we headed north to Cairns.  From what I’d heard the town was hot, humid, and expensive.  Upon arrival all of these proved to be true.  Fortunately we were not in Cairns for very long.  We only spent two full days in Cairns and on the first we went out to the Great Barrier Reef all day, and on the second we went on a guided tour of the Daintree Rainforest, all day.  In total we only spent a matter of hours in the downtown of Cairns, mostly looking for food.  The area around Cairns was amazing though.  I was shocked to find how green and lush it was.  For being on the second driest continent this did not feel as though it should be in Australia.  It reminded me a lot of Hawaii or Fiji. 

The first day we went out on the reef.  We went with a smaller guide boat that only carried around 30 people, as opposed to the largest tour group that took 450 people out to snorkel.  I don’t know how you would keep from bumping into people with that many in the water around you.  The water was warm and clear and the views were awesome.  I’m not sure what role color plays in marine life but you will never find as many colors in such a small area anywhere else in the natural world.  I sure hope that fish can see in color because if they can’t then they are missing quite a show.  The snorkeling was fun, but the highlight was scuba diving.  Because it was such a slow season with all the floods, the group was able to get an introductory dive thrown into the package for free.  This meant that for no charge we could actually go scuba diving.  It was very cool to be able to move freely underwater without having to worry about your oxygen.  Breathing into the regulators was very normal and took almost no getting used to.  What some of us did have trouble with was equalizing our pressure.  Every meter or so we would try to equalize it by pinching our noses and gently exhaling through our nose, but sometimes it was very hard to do because most of us had head colds.  It’s amazing how the smallest change in depth can really build up a lot of pressure in your head.  I know that going to bed that night I was yawning, not because I was tired but because I was trying to make my ears pop.  This also made the flight interesting because it can be dangerous if your ears don’t pop, but they did fine.  The reef was very beautiful and there was aquatic life everywhere.  Some people were fortunate enough to see a sea turtle, and even touch it in one case, and some even saw a small shark.  I was happy not to have seen the shark or any jelly fish. 

When we got back that night we had our review for our drawing assignments, and for the first time I was really proud of what I could present.  My second assignment was the best that I have ever done, but now my teacher has it and I won’t be able to get it back until school in the fall.  Oh well.  After our review we all went down to the water front and had our final dinner as a group in Australia.  After the  next day we would all split up again, say goodbye to our professor, and go our separate ways.  It was a good dinner and even better it was covered by the school. 

The next day most of us woke for a 7am departure to Daintree Rainforest.  Our guide George was was at the hotel with a small bus and then we were off.  We drove for an hour to get to Port Douglas where we had to make a change in vehicles for the more durable bus that we would be taking into the forest.  From there it was another hour and a half to entrance.  Entering meant crossing a croc infested river on a ferry.  The ferry was pulled along two cables and could carry maybe 5 cars.  Our first stop was for a walking tour through a small portion of the rainforest.  Our guide could explain to us what some fo the different plants were and how their designs helped their survival.  Some of nature’s defenses are unbelievable.  I was very on edge for this first part because of the mosquitoes.  Even though George gave us bug repellant, Cairns is experiencing an outbreak of dengue fever.  This is something that one would usually catch in India and can cause the worst imaginable pain.  Sufferers say it feels like your bones are cracking.  And of course this is transmitted through mosquitoes.  As it turns out the mosquitoes that carry the disease are found in areas with stagnant water in the suburbs of Cairns and not in the rainforest.  This piece of information could have been a great opener for George, but instead he waited to share that with us halfway through the day when most of us were just waiting for the symptoms to start showing.  Our rainforest walk ended with the highlight which came from George mentioning that if you catch a certain type of ant in this area and touch your tongue to it’s butt, it tastes like lemon.  I was a little bit uncertain about this until he tried it.  The ants themselves are sort of big, but they can’t bite you so that helped.  Licking those ant’s asses was the best part of the day.  Immediately upon contact it felt like you were licking a battery because it was so sour.  It tasted exactly like a lemon flavored warhead.  I only wish I could have brought some back for people to try, but I’m not sure if they keep.  I really do feel bad for the ants too.  I wonder if they know that their butts taste so good.  Talk about humiliating.  They must never be able to get stuff done whenver a tour group pulls up. 

After a brief taste of lemon we went and had lunch which George grilled up for us.  We had a choice of steak, lamb, sausage and fish.  I was still regretting not getting the steak the night before so I went with the steak.  It was good, but still tasted different than American steak.  After lunch we took a boat ride up a river trying to spot crocodiles.  I didn’t know that’s what we were doing until we were onboard, but it was fun.  The guide had just been out before us so he knew the general areas of two crocs, one female and one male.  The female was barely poking her head out of the water and looked more like a log than anything.  The male however was laying on the shore and in the water, but far enough up that you could see his whole body.  I would never want to have to negotiate with a crocodile in nature.  It was huge.  I was uneasy the whole time we were stationary watching him.  It didn’t feel right to me to be sitting in a fairly small sized boat 50 feet from an animal that our guide was explaining could move like a torpedo and propel itself 3 meters out of the water if it wanted to, while people were taking pictures with flashes.  Luckily he was content to just lay there and stare back at us.  He must know the tour’s schedule by now. 

After escaping certain death our guide took us to a watering hole that was privately owned by the tour group.  It was nice and secluded and the water was great.  The only downfall was the mossies(mosquitoes) which ate me alive.  I can barely keep from scratching while I write this.  We returned from the rainforest later that evening and then most of us had an uneventful night because we had to fly out at 5:45am.  I was able to do some very much needed laundry which I’m sure Sara and Kar appreciated more than me. 

Today we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  It is the world’s first and largest sanctuary for koalas but it also houses many other animals including many kangaroos which we were free to feed.  It was really amazing to do.  Many of us also paid to cuddle a koala, which meant that we allowed it to sit in our hands so we could get a picture taken.  It was pretty amazing though.  Koalas are for the most part very boring.  Besides being cute they just sit in trees and sleep, except for this one.  The kangaroos on the other hand were very active.  It was probably because we were offering them food.  They would eagerly hop up to us to eat out of our hands.  It was an experience I don’t think that I will ever forget.

We have now been in Brisbane for almost a week, although we left Sunday, your saturday, for Surfer’s Paradise where we spent Sunday and Sunday night and returned Monday morning.  Surfer’s Paradise was a pretty cool place.  It was nice to finally see the beaches that you would imagine when you hear the name “Surfer’s Paradise.”  The waves were pretty big though so maybe it should be called “Experienced Surfer’s Paradise,” but then it doesn’t have the same ring.  Also I read that the town received its new name after the residents wanted to attract more people.  The name itself came from a local hotel by the same name, which is no longer around.  So better yet the town should be called “Tourist Trap,” which does prove to be true. 

I was a little happy to return to Brisbane after that day away.  I’m not exactly sure why, but it’s a comfortable city.  We were left to explore it on our own, which I enjoy because you can go at your own pace.  This is critical when going to a museum or a gallery.  One day we went to Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art which is in a very cool buiding, and a lot of the work was pretty cool too.  This may give me away as not being a true art aficianado, but my favorite exhibit was one that showed local australian television clips.  It felt strange to turn off the tv at my room in order to go to an art gallery just to watch more tv there.  But I was in the company of intellectuals meanwhile so I’ve never felt smarter watching Kath and Kim.

Art museums are funny to me because there seem to be a lot of akward moments that most people might not pick up on because they’re pretending to actually like the stuff.  They act like they understand all of the pieces of art and so they go on nodding with a very serious look on their face as if they can feel the artist’s aguish.  When i move on to some pieces I have to look around for a hidden camera because they could not be real art.  I think museums must get bored and bring in some of the worst artwork they can find and then take bets on how many people will love it. 

Another thing about museums that I love are the benches.  I don’t know what it is about any building that offers the possibility of learning, but as soon as you walk in you suddenly feel 20 pounds heavier and your legs stop working.  I am always glad to take advantage of a well placed bench. 

Kar, Car.

This picture was actually taken in Christchurch, New Zealand, but I couldn’t let that title go to waste.  We are now in Brisbane(Brisbon), Australia.  The city is much smaller than Sydney but it is Australia’s fastest growing.  The city seems less impressive on the whole but I think that is only because it is not on the coast.  They have a river, but you can’t compete with Sydney’s ferries, bridges and of couse, opera house.  For starting with this obvious disadvantage the city is still very cool.  The scale of the whole place is brought way down and city is very walkable.  In the center is a broad pedestrian mall which seems to be the social center of Brisbane. 

Yesterday we went on a walking tour led by the former head of the school of architecture here.  The tour started out by us meeting in a conference room with large windows on the 16th floor of Brisbane’s municipal center so that he could talk to us and we could get a feeling for the orientation of the city.  It was really cool to get off of the street and to see the place in a new perspective. 

Today our plan was to go to a koala sanctuary, but because of rain we decided to do it later this week.  Earlier this evening Kar and I decided to go out and try taking night pictures of the city because I had purchased a new tripod earlier.  The rain had stopped for a little bit, but by the time we got back we were pretty wet.  It didn’t make for good pictures either because we had to be so careful with our cameras.  Hopefully the weather will improve later this week so we can get some good pictures.  This is another reason I went with the picture on this post, because I don’t really have any new ones.

Tomorrow we’ll try again for the koala sanctuary, otherwise we probably have the day to ourselves.  One thing on my list is a museum across the river that looks promising.

Oh and Chris, technically the most most posts were made by someone named Sledgehammer, probably just somebody overcompensating,  but yours were much more coherent.

On our last day in Sydney the weather was rainy so Kar and I went wandering around Darling Harbor.  Because of the weather we took our time inside the Maritime Museum which I had visited previously but because it was free was willing to go to again.  The museum was done very well.  My only complaint was that one of the major exhibits was a focus on the history of souvenirs and travel mementos.  Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty interesting, but this is the National Maritime Museum of Australia and I would think that they could fill it with some more relevant relics.  The museum did employ full-time model ship builders so that you can watch them work.  As a fellow model builder and admirer this was interesting to see.  Some of the finished ones were amazing.  I have a picture of one of the larger ones that was on exhibit in the museum, but I’m not sure if it was built by the volunteers. 

After the museum we wandered through a mall right on the harborside where I was shocked to find an outdoor store called Colorado.  Apparently this is a brand of clothing here and so I had to buy one of their clearance shirts.  It’s orange, but I think I pull it off. 

Today we flew to Brisbane, which I was not looking forward to very much, but I really didn’t know what to expect.  As it turns out the city is very cool, and although it is not on the coast, the river that runs through town is very picturesque.  Tomorrow we will have a walking tour with an architecture professor who teaches here in Brisbane.  Then tomorrow night we are all going to a reception at the professor’s house where there will be other faculty members from the school, so I’ll have to  report back on how akward that is.  Apparently one of them was awarded the top prize for Australian architects last year.  At least we’ll have a conversation starter. 

So here I am again at McDonald’s writing a blog.  Sorry that I haven’t been writing for a little bit, but I was able to put  up some more pictures from New Zealand.  There’s a bunch so hopefully you can get a better picture of what this trip is about. 

Today we all started our projects which were all of a sketching nature but we had the option of a few different assignments.  I chose to do two separate watercolors that were related somehow.  It was hard to start.  I’m not a very good artist, so I’m extremely self conscious about my work.  I also have a phobia about drawing in public, so today was huge in terms of getting over that.  It was a good day to draw though because it finally cooled down.  The day was overcast the whole day, which meant that I didn’t wear sunscreen, which means I’m as red as the shirt I’m wearing.  Mother Nature can be very deceiving.  The rain here is cool though.  I had read that when it rains in Australia, it rains hard.  But today was more of a mist than a rain.  On the walk here we couldn’t tell we were wet until we saw how wet our backpacks were. 

Tomorrow I’m going to watercolor my drawing, which will undoubtedly make it worse.  So we’ll see how that goes.  Otherwise tomorrow is our last day in Sydney, and I have to say that I’m very impressed with the city.  I only hope that Brisbane will offer as many opportunities. 

This isn’t just to Chris, but he wanted a post to him so maybe he’ll stop bothering me now. 

Tonight is our last  night in Sydney before we head out to the Blue Mountains.  They are a two hour trip by train and I have no idea what to expect.  From the tourist pamphlets at our hotel they look pretty cool, but the weather said that it was supposed to be 98 degrees there for the next couple of days.  We’ll see how much hiking we can do in that kind of heat.  I think we were all hoping to escape the heat by leaving Sydney, but that sounds like wishful thinking now. 

The day before yesterday we all took a walking tour of the city that started around 9:30am.  Listening to our guide Eothan say that we would be ending up at the opera house by sunset seemed a bit off, but he was right on and  our tour ended at around 8:00, which made us all exhausted.  But even though the tour was exhausting it was very interesting throughout.  We started out at Sydney’s library where they have a 1:500 scale model of the entire city, very well done so that our guide could show us where we would be going and also explain how the city grew from its convict beginnings into the thriving metropolis it is today.  The tour was very insightful and provided a broad history of the architecture as well as the city itself.  All of us were very impressed by how knowledgeable our guide was.  Our tour took us through many neighborhoods showing us some more notable examples of Australian contemporary architecture.  Capping off the tour was our guides favorite piece of 20th century architecture, and the icon of Sydney: the Opera House.

The opera house is something seen on every post card and travel guide for Australia, but none of us were aware of the controversy surrounding it.  First they hired a no-name architect for the job and construction was started before they even knew how to build the shells.  In the end the architect ended up leaving the project and it was completed without him for a cost of over $90 million over budget.  But the most interesting thing I learned was that the roof structures are not sails or shells, but are instead clouds floating above a sandstone base, which is the main ground material in the Sydney Bay area. 

Following the tour we had a free day to try to stay out of the sun because we were all so tired from the tour.  Sara, Kar, Sean, Brian, Eric and I all went to the Wildlife World and the aquarium.  It was fun to see all the fabled creatures that you hear about but never see.  However there are some truths you would rather not know.  For example, koalas and kangaroos sleep.  A lot.  Not one of the koalas so much as opened an eye while we were there, and most of the kangaroos layed around in the shade.  I was a little envious. 

Today we wasted by going to Parramatta, which is home to the oldest buildings in Australia, but they turned out to not be very interesting, and it was extremely hot.  Heat can make anything uninteresting.  Because of that tonight is going to be slow.

If people are having trouble finding pictures, they should all be in the Gamble Gallery link to the right of this post.  Let me know if you have trouble viewing them.