I have been to Morrrdorrr

Yes, the "epic quest" has finally begun. I've tramped through Mordor and up Mount Doom.
I've scrambled through Emyn Muil. Here's a couple of photos.

Mount Ngauruhoe from the distance.

Climbing up the very steep slope of Mt Ngauruhoe - Mt Doom. Altitude difference between start and crater at top: 600m.

We found some snow! Yay!

Overlooking Morrrdorrr.

The Zorb - Rotorua

Zorbing - only in New Zealand.


The Zydro ride is described as a cross between a waterslide and a rollercoaster. The other option is Zorbit, where the zorber is harnessed securely inside the zorb. I decided to do the Zydro on the zigzag route - I was told that the zigzag is cooler than the straight run.

If you manage to stay standing during the whole ride you get another ride and a t-shirt for free. Dream on.
The only downside of the zorb was that the hillside was too short.

Swoop - Rotorua

New Zealand is the land of extreme adventures, or so they say. Well, we tried some. This is the Swoop, at the Agrodome complex in Rotorua. The Agrodome hosts sheep shearing shows, sheep dog shows, lamb feeding sessions and so on. Agroventures is the spot where the extreme sports - bungee jumping, swooping, shweeping and agrojetboating - take place.

For Swoop, we were hauled 40m up in the air in a special sleeping bag-like harness on wires that creaked.


Once up there, we had a few moments to admire the view: sheep, grassland, sheep, the Agrodome grounds. (Notice the sheep in the background in the previous photo?) Then I pulled the rip cord.


We were sent flying through the air. Free falling at first, we we're then slowed down as the cords tightened and we ended up in a giant sw
It was fun. Scary, but fun. And pricy. Oh well, for the thrill of the moment (and my parents paid)...

Hel... heck of a lot news

Yeah, sorry, farm vocabulary. And I don't mean the agricultural side of it. (Just an example of farm vocabulary: we were stacking hay, which is a very tough job, especially since the bales have thistles (-> thorns) in them, so another farm hand goes: "F*cking hell." To which I reply: "My sentiments exactly." And the boss laughs: "But you can't say it for yourself?")

First of all, tomorrow, Sunday, is my last day of work here. It's scary! I'm sad to leave, because I really, really like the place and like the job. But on the other hand, I'm ready for another adventure. I still haven't got a new job. I'm going to South Island in January and hoping that there will always be fruit picking available. I've been trying to call a horse farm for weeks now, but they're not picking up and are not returning calls either. I got their number from a horse breeder in Te Awamutu, not far from where I live at the moment. I'll keep trying, but if nothing comes out of it, I'll look for something else. There is always fruit picking, I'm told. I know I'm repeating it, but fruit picking is an important sector of the economy!

Second of all, I moved over to my boss' place four weeks ago. I had just come back from my weekend off and was going to bed, preparing to start work at 8am the next morning, then decided I'd text back to Hamilton to say thank you to the people who hosted me. And just as I opened up my phone again, the boss calls. "Could you come and milk tomorrow morning?" This was because another farm hand had twisted his knee and couldn't come to work. "Bloody h..." I thought, because for milking I should have gone to bed hours earlier. But I promised to come.

I milked for seven days in a row. It was exhausting, I don't understand how the others can do it every day for weeks (they normally have every other weekend off, but due to circumstances the herd manager hadn't had very much time off at all since September...). But I lived through, and actually quite enjoyed it, too. It's crazy, but milking is the kind of job where you can feel that something gets done, you do some real work, and see the results in the vat. And there's always a bit of a race to see whether we'll have cups off at 7.30 as we're supposed to or not.

My boss suggested that I might as well move over to their empty room to spare me the bike ride every morning. So I grabbed half of my stuff and moved over. 10 days later, the boss' wife offered that I could move over for the rest of my time here. Which wasn't very long to be honest, because my parents came over for two weeks and I was either away travelling with them or lived in the guest house behind the main house with them for that time.

We've been chipping weeds - thistles and ragwort - this week. It's a boring job, and lonely, but once you get into the swing of it, it goes fast.

The other thing we've been doing is making hay. The boss has driven the machinery around the paddocks (very steep paddocks, I must say!) and we others have piled the bales first on the tractor trailer or the truck and then unloaded and stacked them into the hay barn. We had five people doing that. It is very hard work. Most of the bales were light enough for me to lift alone onto a half-loaded trailer or truck, but some of them were almost too heavy for me to carry even a short distance. The guys just chucked them on like they were feathers. (Most of them anyway - most of the guys and most of the bales.) It does not help that the strings cut into your hands and the thistles prickle them. No, you'll find your hands full of thistle thorns the next day.

On Thursday we worked till quarter past midnight. That's right; we piled and stacked bales in the dark. I was not envious of the two who had to milk at five the next morning! On Friday we thankfully got the last bales stacked around seven, and then just stood around in a companionable silence, smiling, for a while. And then we left for home. I was the last to leave, because I had to wait for the truck and tractor to move out of the way and then chuck the trailer onto my quad. The herd manager, who has the weekend off, was the second to last, with his brother who'd been giving us a hand. Before they took off, he came to me and said: "I might see you on Monday, but if not, best of luck." And he smiled. And when the two of them took off, they left me to attach the trailer with tears in my eyes.

Yes, I'll soon be gone. But I do think I'll still see them on Monday, I hope I will, because I have to go say goodbye to the calves.

Piha in pictures

Obviously we had to visit the Piha beach. And tramp the Piha Valley Track.

Piha is one of New Zealand's most dangerous beaches. They ran a TV series this spring called Piha Rescue. It was all about life savers pulling out people who almost drowned at Piha!


Here we go; the first Piha Road sign that we saw.


Gorgeous view of the beach. Well, Piha Beach is actually hidden by the vegetation (just below the rock protruding from the Pacific). The beach you can see more clearly is Piha North. And Mr Piha in the foreground.


Seacreatures living off the rocks... Scary, but beautiful.

This is where we tramped.

Auckland sky-high

Dear all, I've been busier than busy. My parents were here for two weeks. They left today, and I'm still busy. By the way, I hope you all know that it's Finland's INDEPENDENCE day today (and NOT St Nicholas!).

So, we spent a day in Auckland, but three nights in the apartment we rented. The apartment was extremely well located, right at the harbourfront. Below is a picture of the view from my window. Below that, a view from my parents' window at night. Cool, eh? (The picture was made possible by the tripod that my parents brought me. Thank you, isa ja aiti!)

This next one is a very random picture of the carpet of... someplace. Can't remember. I thought it was, hmm, artistic? Yeah, "artiiiiiiste"... If you get my drift.

Auckland wasn't bad. It was a big city. The museum was interesting, but it took ages just to get through the first floor (maori artefacts and some random historical collections). So we didn't have time for the third floor (wars and wars and wars. The boer wars, WWI and WWII.)

I was tempted to "sky-jump" off the SkyTower, but eventually the price, NZ$170, around 80 euros, put me off. It would have been cool though. At least I think it would have.

I can't remember much else from Auckland, at least off the top of my head. Rangitoto Island and Piha beach and valley were much more memorable.

Pictures from Hamilton gardens

These pictures are from Hamilton, again. To be precise, the Hamilton gardens. Adorable gardens, I think. I've been there twice now, once alone and once with my parents. Oh, and I've found out the names of the birds in the previous pictures. The first is a pukeko and the second a coot. They're both native species.

Doves in the English Victorian garden.
The very orderly Italian Renaissance garden.
The mysterious Chinese scholar's garden.

Burnt leg, twisted knee, broken crutch...

First of all, happy birthday, äiti. Muutaman paivan myohassa, mutta koska toivotin hyvaa syntymapaivaa myos muutaman paivan etuajassa, nama kaksi toivotusta varmaan tasapainottavat toisensa ja keskiarvo on hyva.

I will not get injured. I have decided. It seems like everyone working around here injure themselves somehow. Of course, the boss still has his foot in a plaster due to his Achilles tendon. The herd manager hit himself on the thumb with a screwdriver and had to have four stiches put in. The boss' son damaged his finger while driving in posts for a new fence. His hand is bandaged up to the elbow. Another farm hand twisted his knee. The mother-in-law's "tag-along" burnt himself while docking lambs. And what's going to happen to me? Nothing too serious, I've decided (and that's all it takes to keep me healthy, right?).

Oh, and a ewe broke one of my boss' crutches. Vicious animals, those sheep. It raced past him to get to the other ewes. Good thing it didn't break his leg! I started laughing when he showed me the crutch and tag-along said, "It's not funny, you know", and that just cracked me up. I suppose it was safe enough to laugh, since nothing worse happened...

Christmas. Everyone's talking about it. I have no idea what I'll do at Christmas, or where I'll be. It won't be a white Christmas; it's going to be summer. What on earth...? I'm very confused about Christmas at the moment.

Huge, beautiful rainbow out the back door today. I got it all on camera, but the colours were already fading, so the full picture doesn't look as good. The weather hasn't decided what it wants to be today. We've had alternating sunshine, warmth, rain, cold, wind, stronger wind... They had snowfall and hail on South Island. I cheated a bit and didn't bike home today, another farm hand gave me a ride (he was going in the same direction anyway).

Bird pictures from Hamilton

I don't know what this bird is called, but there are loads of them. Some of them got aggressive when I was taking pictures.

This bird is also very common, but I couldn't name this one either.

This is a very common bird, I'm sure you all know its name. Captain Jack.

Don't be a tall thistle

... unless you want to be sprayed.

We've been spraying weeds (that's spraying weedkiller on weeds, in case my expression's not entirely clear...) for weeks now. Some paddocks are very badly infested with thistles. There's hardly any grass to be seen. So we take the tractor with a tank of weedkiller and spray. Or I take the herd manager's bike (if he's not using it) with a small container of weedkiller and, guess what, spray. Sometimes if I only have a couple of minutes or I'm driving in a paddock and I see a lone thistle, I just chip them. And a lone thistle very often turns out to be not so lone after all...

They follow me everywhere. They grow on the roadside where I can see them when I'm biking home. I can see thistles when I close my eyes. If I have a dream about them, I'll consider it a nightmare...

Sweet dreams

I had a dream about the European school. It was very amusing.

Warning: this might sound disrespectful, but it is not meant to be that!

In brief, it went like this: In this dream, in order to get out of the school during the school day, it was necessary to complete a form saying why you wanted to get out of school. I had nothing to do and wanted to cause outrage, so I decided to walk up to the guards with a form. I filled it in with the reason to exit as "it is unnecessary for me to stay at school because my next lesson is useless and I won't learn anything" (sorry, teachers). Of course, the guards didn't let me out, but looked shocked at my mockery. Anyway, it did turn out that it was a good thing I had to stay, because the lesson afterwards was Chemistry, where I certainly did learn things.

Otorohanga - Hamilton - Cambridge - Hamilton - Otorohanga

I'm having a weekend off again. I caught the bus to Hamilton on Thursday and stayed with a couple I met at the genuine Kiwi party. Their friends had a netball match that evening, and they were short of a female player, so my hostess asked me if I wanted to play. I said yes.

Netball is a serious sport in NZ. Not quite as serious as rugby, but serious enough. And I'd never played it before.

The team members were very understanding, and I ended up not being too bad after all. I didn't even cross the middle line (I was playing defense and had to stay in my half) or pass to a member of the opposite team or make any other mistakes like that. And my team said it was the best game they'd played this season. I don't know if we won or lost, apparently it was a very equal game, but it was only a fun game. The team we should have played in the tournament didn't show up, so we won by default. Yay!

Yesterday I went to the inspirational Hamilton Gardens. Fantastic. Then I went shopping and bought some lights for my bike and a guitar. I'm very pleased with myself about that.

Today, I went to Cambridge. It's a pretty town, I wouldn't mind living there for a while. I was supposed to go see the Horse Magic Show, but the show was cancelled due to a race, and so I just went on a tour. The Thoroughbred Lodge was 6kms from Cambridge city centre, so I - shock horror - hitchhiked there. The man who picked me up was very friendly; on his way to Taupo. I got a ride back to the city centre from some other people on the tour. Will go back for the real show one day.

NZ has a weak coach network, but I've found that Naked Bus works well enough and is - mostly - cheap enough. They sometimes have $1 fares, which is always handy.

Oh yes, and on Wednesday evening my boss' family (boss, wife and older son) drove to Auckland to see the Phantom of the Opera in the theatre and took me with them. We met up with their younger son and his flatmates, of whom one came with us to the show. The musical was brilliant. The music was dramatic and powerful, as were the actors and actresses, the decorations detailed, the costumes gorgeous, the singing voices 100 times better than mine (i.e. awesome), and did I mention that the music was powerful? Left me in a trance for the rest of the night.

And I've finished the diary I started on the plane from Brussels to London on the 3rd of September. Need to start another one. Now.

Black water rafting

I went black water rafting in Waitomo caves last weekend! Bloody freezing, but cool! Abseiled down, scrambled over rocks, took a flying fox, jumped into a river, floated down on a tube, then floated without the tube, saw glowworms, had hot chocolate, climbed a few waterfalls, crawled on hands and knees in the water... Amazing!

Then a hot shower and hot tomato soup and bagel. Mmm.

Photos from work

This calf had just been dehorned the previous evening. If you know where to look, you can see the hole where the horn should grow on the right side of its head.

Sign of affection? No. The calves just need to suck on something for a certain number of minutes a day. If my fingers are not around, another calf's nose, ear or navel will do.

Interested in the ATV? Its owner wasn't too happy.

What do I have to say? Look at that view.

Wonderful

I wanted to tell you something, but I've forgotten what it is now. My working week is over, I'm off for four days. We dehorned some calves, fed them every day, did a herd test, I milked three mornings (had to get up at 4AM, it was pitch black outside), weighed some calves, life goes on as usual, every day is different, and exciting.

But all this has been dimmed by the way I'm feeling. I'm feeling great. Relaxed. Free. Happy. I'm feeling accepted. More determined, more self-confident. Braver. Wiser. More competent. I'm feeling wonderful.

Bloody stories

Today, the boss decided he was hungry. He had a cow shot.

Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel disgusted, or faint, seeing a dead cow. But I did feel faint the day the vet came and dug a hole in the sides of six cows to take liver samples. I had to scoop up the sample into a test tube (I was wondering whether people did that in lab bio at school?). That wasn't too bad. But looking at the cows was. And the same afternoon a collegue cut two bits off each cows left ear, to distinguish them. There was blood all over the place. It was difficult to believe it wasn't a butchery.

Today, I didn't look that way when the butcher shot the cow and slit its throat. The shot gave me a fright despite knowing it would come (although my boss didn't tell me he was going to have a cow shot before we drove around to the other side of the farm. I would have taken my camera). Fortunately the butcher was very quick and neat. (And his number plate was "I CHOP"!) The dog licked up some of the blood, then licked my overalls. Yummy.

Tragedy on the other side of the world

I just have to comment on Finland. Even here on the other side of the world (literally as far as it's possible to go), we're hearing about it. I must say I was slightly shocked. I believe it wouldn't have happened if we hadn't had that other school shooting less than a year ago. What Auvinen, the first killer, did certainly fuelled Saari, the second killer. What has got into these Finnish young men's head? That killing cold-heartedly is cool? That it will bring fame? Well, what's the fame for? Killing young students and thus hurting thousands of people, then not living to see the rest of it? They're cowards. Like suicide bombers. They are scared of facing the world that they feel has treated them badly. But they won't achieve any improvement on the way the world is treating them by killing. Or will they? That's the scariest part: will killing be necessary to open our eyes to society's shortcomings?

Calfie picture

Here's me feeding the little cute calfie some electrolytes. Poor fellow's now dead :(

Rough riding and burnt horns

We burnt the horns of some of the young calves two days ago. The smell was disgusting, and the "moo" of the calves the saddest sound I've ever heard. The horns look nasty when they've just been burnt: white bone shining through. Some calves in the neighbouring pen, not knowing what was in reserve for them, were lying in the corner, heads on each others' backs. Possibly the cutest sight I've ever seen.

Yesterday we had to separate some bulls from the cows and calves. We had to ride over some very rough terrain, steep and muddy hills, in four-wheeled bikes. I was steering, the boss was sitting on the back of the bike with his plastered foot. We had to grab one calf that was too weak to walk fast enough and put it on the bike. The boss was holding it down. Then the ground tilted, the bike tilted, and my boss and the calf fell off! He managed to hold onto the calf, I don't know how... I was very impressed. Not at my driving skills though.

Another calf lost. It was probably caught on an electric fence yesterday and its nervous system was wrecked. It bent its neck backwards and wouldn't stand up. We left it out in the sun. When we came back from lunch, it was wandering around the yard. We locked it in the shed. By the evening it had deteriorated back to its original state. This morning it was dead. Very, very cute little calf. I'll post a picture of when it was still alive.

Cow and calf news

Sad news for today: one of our calves died, she'd been sick and weak for a while now. We'd been pouring electrolytes down its throat for days. Didn't help :( Two others are still being fed electrolytes, we'll see how they'll fare. Also, one calf was born dead. It was a difficult calving, since the calf had its legs bent backwards. The guys had to drag it out, but it was already too late. :(

Other news: We separated one calf from its mother. Grabbed the calf in the paddock and threw it on the trailer. Except I could never have lifted that kicking little creature, so I just lifted its from legs onto the trailer and pushed it in. The poor cow followed the trailer as we drove away; it mooed sadly. But that's the way it works; the only way we'll be able to produce enough milk for all our dairy products.

And here's another tactic the guys use for moving calves: drag them from the tail. Or even better, a back leg. I can do the tail thing, but not the back leg.

I was kicked by a cow that didn't want to be first in the milking row. Right wrist hurts a bit when touched, but there isn't a proper bruise and I can do practically everything I want, so it'll be fine. It'll heal.

Photos from MacRitchie

Here are some photos from the Singaporean rainforest. Read my previous post, "The paradise of Singapore", for reference.

This is the rainforest in Singapore. I adored it. So beautiful and green.

This might be my favourite photo. It might not be 100% sharp, because I was shooting on manual focus, but it's still pretty good.

This is the biggest lizard I saw. It was a very polite lizard, didn't move an inch when I was frantically shooting :)
This is the second lot of monkeys I saw. Adorable. That mother walked right past me, a metre away, with its baby hanging from its belly!

First photo from NZ

Ok, this is from New Zealand. I won't say this is New Zealand, because NZ is also much more. This is the view from my hosts' front door. Gorgeous, especially on a clear day.
(I managed to resize the image, so it didn't take so long to upload :))

A hell of a day - going back tomorrow

That was it. First day of work. I bloody work in Hobbiton! Except that the hills are dotted with cows. But it is wonderful.

I began at eight, so not too early. First we milked the colostrum cows (= cows that have just calved, and therefore produce milk, called colostrum, that has many antibodies in it. This milk preserves relatively well and is used to feed young calves). The other dairy cows were milked in a different shed and earlier in the morning.

Then we fed the calves their milk. Some of them have been sick and wouldn't suck on the fake teats. These were given electrolytes. (I didn't do that; you have to stick a pipe through their throats and pour the liquid down their throats.) The calves are really cute. The only thing they know is to suck. So, if you let them, they'll suck on your fingers. These things are greedy: give them your little finger and they take the whole hand. Literally. Some of them have teeth, too, and, ouch, that hurts (well, they all have teeth, but not all of them use them). If you don't let them suck on your hand, they'll suck on your clothes. There were about 160 calves to feed.

After lunch, we moved some calves from the pen into the paddock, and some calves from one pen to another. I will never learn that. The guys (the farm has two full-time employees and one who's helping out now that the boss has his foot in plaster) just lifted the calves and threw them onto the trailer. These calves weigh as much as I do, or more. And plus, I'd be afraid to hurt them, the guys are so violent. I know, the cuties are very robust... but still! Poor calvies!

Then there was the afternoon milking. We milked about 300 cows, it took about two hours. I was watching the line of cows coming down the road from the paddocks over the hill (not the Hill, unfortunately). It seemed never-ending. Thankfully, it wasn't.

When I finished, it was already getting dark. When I got back to Malcolm and Alison's, it was dark. That was one hell of a day. Enjoyed it though, and I'm going back tomorrow :)


There are some things I won't get used to. Like darkness coming so early. Like driving on the left (the wrong side of the road). Like getting in the car on the left. Like spring. Like turning clocks one hour forward soon. Like school being halfway through the school year.

A hell of a day - going back tomorrow

That was it. First day of work. I bloody work in Hobbiton! Except that the hills are dotted with cows. But it is wonderful.

I began at eight, so not too early. First we milked the colostrum cows (= cows that have just calved, and therefore produce milk, called colostrum, that has many antibodies in it. This milk preserves relatively well and is used to feed young calves). The other dairy cows were milked in a different shed and earlier in the morning.

Then we fed the calves their milk. Some of them have been sick and wouldn't suck on the fake teats. These were given electrolytes. (I didn't do that; you have to stick a pipe through their throats and pour the liquid down their throats.) The calves are really cute. The only thing they know is to suck. So, if you let them, they'll suck on your fingers. These things are greedy: give them your little finger and they take the whole hand. Literally. Some of them have teeth, too, and, ouch, that hurts (well, they all have teeth, but not all of them use them). If you don't let them suck on your hand, they'll suck on your clothes. There were about 160 calves to feed.

After lunch, we moved some calves from the pen into the paddock, and some calves from one pen to another. I will never learn that. The guys (the farm has two full-time employees and one who's helping out now that the boss has his foot in plaster) just lifted the calves and threw them onto the trailer. These calves weigh as much as I do, or more. And plus, I'd be afraid to hurt them, the guys are so violent. I know, the cuties are very robust... but still! Poor calvies!

Then there was the afternoon milking. We milked about 300 cows, it took about two hours. I was watching the line of cows coming down the road from the paddocks over the hill (not the Hill, unfortunately). It seemed never-ending. Thankfully, it wasn't.

When I finished, it was already getting dark. When I got back to Malcolm and Alison's, it was dark. That was one hell of a day. Enjoyed it though, and I'm going back tomorrow :)


There are some things I won't get used to. Like darkness coming so early. Like driving on the left (the wrong side of the road). Like getting in the car on the left. Like spring. Like turning clocks one hour forward soon. Like school being halfway through the school year.

Genuine Kiwi party

I've been to a genuine Kiwi party. Malcolm's sister's birthday party. We partied all afternoon and evening, morning began with a walk on the Pacific shore and breakfast, then some tennis and lunch. Wonderful!

Most importantly, there was an All Blacks vs Australia rugby match that evening. (If you don't know the All Blacks, you won't survive in NZ. They're the national rugby team.) The host kept his speech for his wife very short, or else he'd be "talking through rugby". I didn't follow the match, I watched the fans (apart from the All Blacks haka - classic! Watch it on u-tube). Everyone was watching the match. They got really excited (but not violent, there's enough violence in the game already). "Come on boys!", "Mummy loves you!" and "Bloody Aussies!" And NZ won! Good on you kiwis!

I had a lovely, lovely evening, everyone was so friendly it brought tears into my eyes.

Tomorrow I'll start work! Calf rearing on a neighbouring farm. That should be an experience... I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

In the land of hobbits

In New Zealand! Yay!

I've been so excited and busy I completely forgot about my sister's birthday on the 11th (that's yesterday, at least here...)! Sorry, Aura! I wish you a fantastic, ballistic, optimistic and surrealistic birthday!

I'm staying with family friends' friends, on their small sheep and young dairy cattle farm, near to Otorohanga. They've been very friendly, helpful and welcoming. They've done a lot for me, they've been calling all over the place for work opportunities. Their house is absolutely stunning. Well, not the house, although it is comfy and above average, but the VIEW. Perfect V-shaped valley with interlocking spurs just out the front door. Looks rather like Hobbiton, a bit rougher though. STUNNING. (But the internet is really slow, the coverage isn't Finnish standards in NZ...)

I'm also going to be milking cows today. Yes, that's right, I'll be milking cows. I tried that yesterday for the first time, on a neighbour's farm. He has 130 cows that have to be milked (and some calves, that don't have to be milked). It takes about an hour. The milking itself is straight-forward. You just have to learn to dodge kicks, wees and poos, since you'd be standing behind the cows. The neighbour is a very easy-going, talkative guy, and I'm grateful that he'll teach me :)

Yesterday night I went to the local rotary meeting. It was very interesting, even the long speech, which gave me an idea of what the rotaries have been involved in. I also met a 16-year-old Danish exchange student, whose home is in Greenland. He's going to school in Otorohanga for a year and staying with four different rotary host families during that time. Then there was a 26-year-old French university student, Simon. He's studying the maori culture, or something along those lines. We spoke a bit of French :) He seemed pleased to hear someone speak his own language. He also told me to keep up my French; apparently there are some French people here I should meet.

I opened myself a bank account with KiwiBank today. The current balance is 0.00 dollars. Soon to change I hope. I haven't found work yet, but there are opportunities around, just have to keep talking and asking...

The paradise of Singapore

I walked in a rainforest yesterday. It was heaven.

I was very badly prepared, in slippers and with only half a litre of water. I hadn't realised, as I looked at the brochure, that the Tree Top Walk in MacRitchie Nature Reserve was 5km from the bus stop.

There was loads to photograph. Plants, trees, flowers, butterflies, birds... I saw two small lizards and one medium-sized one. The medium-sized one was sitting in the middle of the road and I didn't notice it before it escaped to the undergrowth. I crept nearer; there it was, sitting peacefully on a log. It's body was at least 30cm long and the tail another 30. I took out my camera and shot like a maniac.

Birds were impossible to capture. They were impossible to see if they weren't moving, and if I did see them they didn't stay still long enough for the camera to focus.

My favourite were the monkeys. The first lot was sitting on a fallen branch right beside the road. They were literally four metres away from me, and I wouldn't have noticed them if they hadn't made so much noise. There were three grown-up ones and a baby. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen and it made everything - the trouble of finding the place, tricky to get to by public transport - worthwhile.

The second lot was sitting some 10 metres away when I noticed them. There was a female with a baby dangling from its belly fur and a male (I presume) hanging about in a tree. As I was shooting frantically (camera, of course), the female gracefully got up and walked past me - barely a metre away! I was astonished, couldn't move. It was the best thing that happened to me in Singapore.

I was frustrated that I only discovered the existence of this nature reserve so late. I can't believe I spent a whole day on Sentosa, instead of wandering in the rainforest! Now I only had half a day to explore, when I could have spent an entire week there.

Then I met someone who seemed like the nicest person in the world at the time. He was driving one of those golf cars (the trail edged a golf court towards the end), laden with ice-cold drink. "You very thirsty? This is for you." And he handed over a water bottle. For free. No payment, nothing. I drained half a bottle immediately.

Sydney airport, 6AM

I feel dead.

Well, that's an exaggeration, but I do feel knackered.

By the way, what did I say about 20 shopping malls in Singapore? There were twenty in Chinatown's vicinity alone. I counted all the malls on my map: 119. A shopper's paradise, they say. Well, I'm not a shopper, so it wasn't paradise for me. Apart from the rainforest I walked in yesterday (on my last day). That was paradise.

First photo

This was in Sentosa Butterfly Park. New camera! This computer is so slow I can't be bothered to upload more. And I know, I don't look very fresh in the photo. It's bloody I don't know how many degrees hot here!

The best attractions are free

Went to Sentosa island - the Singaporeans' chilling-out island and rich tourists rip-off attraction - yesterday. That was a disappointment. As a German guy in the hostel said, it's more "plastic" than Singapore itself. The attractions are expensive and overrated. The butterfly park was the best, I got to use my new camera :)

Sentosa is definitely a place to go with friends. I felt very alone, walking along the beaches. (Gosh, I hate sand.) The helpful English blokes and the friendly German guys had left that morning, and I felt almost deserted. I couldn't even go for a swim, although I wanted to, the water was so WARM, because I couldn't leave my stuff (camera!) behind.

The (free) Nature Walk & Dragon Trail was the best. Wandering in a secondary rainforest... Among dragons, they try to convince us... I didn't see any birds - their camouflage is brilliant - but I heard them. One of them sounds so monotone and artificial that I thought it was an attraction screeching (although I could hear those too, all the time). Then I was told it was a bird. On my way back I saw a squirrel scurry into a tree and across the path on a branch. That made my day.

Some guy from DNA (a Finnish network company) called me today: "Do you know about our new promotion...?" No, and do you know how much answering this call will cost me...?

The MRT (local metro) reminds me of the tube. No wonder people get paranoid about terrorism, when they show you videos of someone blowing the train up! “The threat of terrorism is real!" They also tell you to "Please mind the platform gap". Hilarious。

Now this computer wants to write in Chinese again，so I'll just try uploading some photos。

Goods for free?

I have just spent an awful lot of money on a new camera and additional equipment. Singapore is dangerous!

First, I was going to buy a Canon EOS-450D with a standard lense and a 75-300mm lense. And a 4GB high-speed memory card and a card reader. They would give me a camera bag for free.

Then I was convinced to buy a macrolense, a spare battery and protective filters for my lenses. I would also get a smaller camera bag, "for the field".

After that I was told that the 75-300mm lense was an old model without an image stabiliser. Switching it to a newer, 55-250mm lense would cost some money. Quite some money, in fact. But I would get a 2GB memory card with it.

When I was walking through Little India I missed someone who would sing with me in the street and stop me from buying expensive camera equipment. Ale* would satisfy the first criteria, but not the last. Although just someone who would satisfy one of the criterias would be awesome.

As I was walking through Little India it started to get dark. A middle-aged Indian man shook his head at locals walking at red lights, then glanced at me and started following me. I was thinking to myself: "Remember, don't panic. Even hitchhikers to the galaxy know that. Smile. And walk faster." So I did. And he stopped following me after a while. Situation over.

I'll try to upload some photos now with my brand new card reader...

Confusingly Singapore

Right. I found an internet cafe where I did manage to log onto Facebook. And this computer does not insist on writing in Chinese.

This place is very confusing. The streets are confusing, the buildings are confusing, the people's English is confusing. It takes getting used to, maybe more than what I have time for. I'll do my best in five days. On the other hand the metro system (or MRT as it's called here) is very clear, effective and easy to use.

The air is very hot and humid. Not at all my climate. Everywhere has air conditioning, and everywhere air conditioning is cold, which is comfortable. I sense a shock every time I walk outside again.

So far I've only managed to walk around Chinatown and eat. "Fried rice" was delicious, and it cost three dollars. That's about one and a half euros for a meal.

It's true when they say Singapore is the shopper's paradise. There are about 20 shopping malls on my map, which shows the city centre. I went into a smallish street shop and asked for camera prices. Canon EOS-450: 1000 dollars. But "I give you 20% discount". Are you sure it's Canon? Anyway, I will keep comparing.

I will also keep posting. From time to time.

The birth of the blog

Hi all

I'm in an internet cafe in Singapore at the moment. I'm still finding it hard to believe I've actually moved away from home! I'm on my way！And this bloody computer wants to write in Chinese letters！I won't promise to update my blog often, but I'll try to put some photos on from time to time. By the way，I couldn't log into Facebook，will try again somewhere else.

Plan for today: get over jet lag. Plan for tomorrow: flexible.

Plan for the 9th: leave to New Zealand!