Pretty As A Picture of Something Pretty
A few hazy recollections from the last two weeks in Australia.
I spent most of my time there without the comforts of the modern world. My main gripe was the lack of internet anywhere. I know for a fact that there are internet connections to be had in Santiago, Chile, most of New Zealand and most likely the wild plains of the Serengeti, but not in Australia. One of the two occasions that I had to check email was on a public computer in Sydney airport that had what appeared to be diced lettuce from someone's sandwich lodged in between several keys on the keyboard. Spectacular.
It was a shock to go from the warmth of a European summer to an Aussie winter. The cold made many of us wish each other Merry Christmas because it just seemed like the right thing to do. It's a long flight from just about anywhere in the world, this time it was Glasgow to London to Bangkok...but eventually we got to Sydney with the sound of the airplane still roaring in our heads.
It was dark and slightly miserable, as you could have guessed. There was a foreboding look about the sky that was just a bit unsettling.
I did, however, have the butter chicken.
And watch the sunset out of my kitchen window.
Melbourne was the coldest by far. I spent most of my time wandering by myself. I found the time to see Pirates of the Caribbean and decided that I want those 2 hours of my life back. I also found a great Japanese place that served sake with gold flakes in it. Class.
This was the view from inside a shopping mall in downtown Melbourne. I wonder how many people never look up on their way to the sunglass hut, and miss out on this.
Aussies love a good crime. That's one of the many things that I've learned in my many visits there. Newspapers are filled with graphic crime stories; it sells better than tits, although the crime rate is surprisingly low. More than the crime, I think that Australians love the story, which could account for my inability to photograph the entire crime section of a Borders in a single frame.
This may also account for the continued commercial success of Mark 'Chopper' Read.
A rather obese man nearly flattened me in the grocery store today, and then managed to close the door in my face as I waddled out of the store with my arms weighed down with groceries. It is not altogether fantastic being back in NY right now. I am pretty stoked to not be in hotel rooms for a while though.
Even this one, in Perth (Perf to locals) which overlooked a Marina just outside my window.
and then...
I spent most of my time there without the comforts of the modern world. My main gripe was the lack of internet anywhere. I know for a fact that there are internet connections to be had in Santiago, Chile, most of New Zealand and most likely the wild plains of the Serengeti, but not in Australia. One of the two occasions that I had to check email was on a public computer in Sydney airport that had what appeared to be diced lettuce from someone's sandwich lodged in between several keys on the keyboard. Spectacular.
It was a shock to go from the warmth of a European summer to an Aussie winter. The cold made many of us wish each other Merry Christmas because it just seemed like the right thing to do. It's a long flight from just about anywhere in the world, this time it was Glasgow to London to Bangkok...but eventually we got to Sydney with the sound of the airplane still roaring in our heads.
It was dark and slightly miserable, as you could have guessed. There was a foreboding look about the sky that was just a bit unsettling.
I did, however, have the butter chicken.
And watch the sunset out of my kitchen window.
Melbourne was the coldest by far. I spent most of my time wandering by myself. I found the time to see Pirates of the Caribbean and decided that I want those 2 hours of my life back. I also found a great Japanese place that served sake with gold flakes in it. Class.
This was the view from inside a shopping mall in downtown Melbourne. I wonder how many people never look up on their way to the sunglass hut, and miss out on this.
Aussies love a good crime. That's one of the many things that I've learned in my many visits there. Newspapers are filled with graphic crime stories; it sells better than tits, although the crime rate is surprisingly low. More than the crime, I think that Australians love the story, which could account for my inability to photograph the entire crime section of a Borders in a single frame.
This may also account for the continued commercial success of Mark 'Chopper' Read.
A rather obese man nearly flattened me in the grocery store today, and then managed to close the door in my face as I waddled out of the store with my arms weighed down with groceries. It is not altogether fantastic being back in NY right now. I am pretty stoked to not be in hotel rooms for a while though.
Even this one, in Perth (Perf to locals) which overlooked a Marina just outside my window.
and then...
posted by L at Thursday, July 27, 2006
1 Comments:
If there is internet service in the wild plains of the Serengeti, I'm not going. There will be none in the bush of Alaska. Still interested?
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