The End of the World

Its not really, but it is the end of this blog. After another year of tapping away at various keyboards I have decided to put my blogging days behind me. Time to become an international man of mystery... an enigma if you will. So if you want to know whats going on un my little world youll have to email me, stalk me on facebook or look at my photos on flickr and take a guess at whats going on.

Currently Im in South America and loving it so I dont really have time for posting stuff. Especially because Im trying to see a lot of the continent in just a couple of months so my time is very precious and I should be spending it in other ways.

So there it is, the end of another era. Currently the plan is to return to Japan in December briefly before heading to Seoul for January to make some cash. Then hopefully get some work for a couple of months back in Tokyo so me and Eri have some time to get back to normal and possibly make preparations for her relocation to Australia. Its all in the air at the moment but I really hope it works out as planned. I look forward to returning to Aussie shores and settling down for a while to get myself sorted out then on to bigger and better things.

So thanks to everyone who left comments and for the support vaious people have given to continue doing this blog. Hopefully we can actually hang out in person and have actual human contact instead of digital. Now Ill leave it to others to carry the flag. Take care of yourselves... and each other. Respect.

All Me Baby

Anyone for Scuba?/Hasta Luego

For Bennos surfing pleasure we made a stop in El Salvador. Unfortunately Rich was ket out of the waves due to a rib injury. Due to the fact there was nothing else much to do there besides eat delicious seafood we kept it moving into Honduras to enter the world of scuba. Immediately before we even officially entered the border we were taken by the Honduran ladies beauty and friendliness. Our painfully long border crossing was made much less painful by the girls training and working there. For such a small country every day you see a large numbers of pretty girls. A good ratio indeed. Unfortunately there were not so many on the island of Roatan where we did our diving as it is the most touristy spot in Honduras. We had much difficulty deciding which of the two main islands to choose, the cheap and small one Utila which is known as more of a backpacker destination or Roatan the bigger and supposedly better island. In the end we went with Roatan because the diving is meant to be better. Utila would have had more backpackers to hang out with but which was the better choice? We will never know.

The island was pretty quiet due to the low season and recent hurricances. So we managed to score a sweet deal on a kick ass hotel room to relax in after diving. I was very pleased with our diving school and instructor. We had a funny German lady who knew her stuff but wasnt too serious. By the end of the first day we had done our first dive. Its a really weird sensation breathing under water, one that definately takes a bit of time to get used to. Once you become comfortable with it its good fun. Floating around underwater feels a bit like being in zero gravity on the moon. The coral landscapes on this reef were definately just as alien. By the fourth day we weer all pretty comfortable divers and we did a kick ass dive through a deep channel with lots of "swim throughs" and a huge reef swarming with big ass fish like groupers. Good stuff. The nightlife wasnt much to write home about but after a big day of diving in our awesome beds we slept like rocks.

After returning to land we backtracked to a small coastal town called Tela where we parted ways. Rich & Ben heading down further south to Nicaragua and I back north through Guatemala to Mexico city for my flight on October 5th. It was a great 3 weeks or so, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to the boys for letting me tag along and for all the driving you did. Good luck with the rest of your trips and hopefully we can do it up again in South America somewhere. Respect.

El Salvador/Honduras

Doin it up in G-Mala!

Fate works itself in funny ways. The day Eri flew out of Cancun I replied to an email from Mr B. Walker who walked into my hostel room a few hours later. He had just returned from Cuba with rich and was staying just around the corner in the hotel I checked out of that morning. After realising we had more or less the same plan for the next few weeks and he & Rich had a spare seat in their car we took off the next morning for Central America. We drove south down the Carribean coast and after a night in Chetumal crossed the border into Guatemala.

Not knowing what to expect we were all pleasantly suprised by the awesomeness of the little country. First up we checked out the famuos Tikal ruins early in the morning when the loal wildlife was most active. The howler monkeys were very vocal and a little creepy. Then we made our way to the awesome colonial town of Antigua which has some of the best food Ive had all trip at dirt cheap prices. Needless to say we indulged and frequently used the phrase "do it up" when making decisions. The highlight of our time there was definately climbing the active volcanoe where you can walk to within metres of flowing lava. Naturally it was damn hot.

After a pit stop for one night in lake Atitlan which was a cool spot. We headed on to Xela which is known for its cheap and good Spanish courses. Me & Ben enrolled at a school for five hours a day tuition and homestay with a local family for five days. Unfortunately my teacher was pretty shitty, he was a young dude who had also lived in Japan and just wanted to talk about it, usually in Spanish till I became confused then he would revert to English. He way over estimated my Spanish level and didnt bother teaching me the basics. So I changed teachers for the last two days which was a million times better. Our host family was very nice and the meals were decent but a bit bland. Im not as big a fan of beans as the locals. In our five days we did loads of stuff like salsa, visited hot springs, went to the local fair and on the Friday night we joined in the Independence Day festivities and got pretty loose. All in all Xela was good to us but it was too cold due to its altitude, a far cry from the beaches in Mexico.

Next on the agenda is scuba diving in Honduras via a surfing pit stop in El Salvador.

Yucatan Peninsula/Guatemala

A Great Week

It was with much excitement that I entered Central America to begin the second half of my trip. Not only was I entering a new continent but I was meeting my girlfriend after a 4 month hiatus. After landing in Mexico city I beelined for Cancun following the direct path of Hurricane Dean more or less. To my relief the damage to the Yucatan was minimal, the only threat was of periodic clouds and rain. Needles to say it was great to see Eri again, just 4 months ago we were living together in Tokyo and I was an English teacher, it feels like a different lifetime now. After spending a night in Cancun we left as early as possible for a great week around the Yucatan peninsula. If I can be bothered later Ill write something but for now Ill let these pictures tell the story.

Day One - Playa Del Carmen















Day Two - Dos Ojos















Day Three - Cozumel















Day Four - Tulum















Day Five - Chichen Itza















Day Six - Isla Mujeres















Before arriving in Mexico I was tipping it to be the best week of our lives, I dont know if it lived up to that title but it sure was way up there. We have something special together and I hope that we can continue it in the future but its up to the gods now as my time in Japan is over. So thats it until December when I will briefly return to Tokyo before returning to Sydney for the long term. When I think about whether it is worthwhile having a long distance relationship I like to think of the quote: "life isnt measured by the number of breaths you take but the number of moments that take your breath away." I dont know if it is true but I like the sentiment.

True Tales of San Fransisco

After hanging out with Rick for a week I headed to the next city to see a few more friends I made in Tokyo who coincidentally all happen to live in San Fransisco. Gen a guy I worked with, Ishmael a guy I lived with and Yoni a guy I met through couchsurfing. I stayed with Yoni at his place in the Noe Valley which is a particularly nice area of town. You can tell its an area with money by the ladies at the park with their immaculate dogs as opposed to "Mexicans with pitbulls" as Yoni put it. He swiftly took me out to a house party in another part of the Bay Area which was being thrown by a plastic surgeon. It must have been interesting for him to see his own work on a girls chest walking around his party. Everyone was super nice and I got some dancing tips from a big group of Latino ladies who liked to party.

The next morning we headed out with Yonis girlfriend for some genuine San Fran Yum Cha! Man I was pumped, I figured that if great dim sum was to be found in the world it would be in Hong Kong or San Fransisco due to the giant Chinese population. It was all I hoped for as we hit up all the classics like the Sieu Mae, Cha Siew Bao and Fried Calamari and tried some new things too. I put it up there on par with Sydney. I have had better in Sydney but I only sampled one restaurant out of the literally hundreds that are available in San Fran. I must remember to move here one day. Later I caught up with Gen to hang out at the Mission District to check out the great street art, eat cheap Mexican and drink beer with all the trendy kids at Dolores Park. Then we went to a gallery opening for free booze and then met up with Ishmael when he finished work for a beer.

During the day when people were working or at school I did the tourist stuff, like see the sea lions, do a bay cruise past Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge and see the great neighbourhoods like the hippy mecca Haight street and one of the biggest Chinatowns in the world. But it was the evenings that provided the most entertainment. On Monday we headed to a screening of the Daft Punk film "Electroma"/Bang Gang party which would have been great except for the fact we couldnt get into the screening and the Bang Gang guys didnt play. Riot in Belgium played a great set of more or less the same thing but I got pretty drunk in preparation for a big night then they pulled the plug abruptly forcing me & Gen to go to Broadway (the strip club street) for lack of anything else to do.

On the Tuesday night we went to a $2 Mexican beer & tapas at a pretty funky bar in Soma. Then on Yoni's brothers recommendation, me & Gen took his Japanese friend Shoko to a gay bar called the Tranny Shck for a trans-gender show which was very entertaining. The show was a tribute to the 30's so a big group of she-males got dressed up in elaborate costumes & make up, then put on a performance (dancing & miming) to old showtunes. There was only one real woman who actually sang and her name was "Alotta Bootay" who more than lived up to her names image. Shoko had never seen a show like this before and loved it, I was happy to hang out with a real Japanese person since its been such a long time.

On Wednesday, my last night Yoni drove us down to Oakland to a legendary jazz club/Japanese restaurant called Yoshis to see a Blue Note artist whose name I forget (shame on me). He was a brilliant piano player accompanied by a drummer and bassist. His improvisation was brilliant as he mingled some classic tunes like "Everything in its right place" by Radiohead in amongst his own stuff. His drummer threatened to steal the show with his multiple solos and crazy symbol work but I think he over did it a bit always going nuts behind even the quietest of songs. It was a great show though, I have to remember to catch more jazz shows, especially from younger dudes who are influenced by hip hop.

So that was that, I had a great time in the great city. Even just hanging out in the neighbourhoods walking the dogs was pretty fun. As far as citys go this one is way up there. I cant be bothered doing anymore collages right now so for photos head to my flickr sets.