My great adventure

Once upon a time in a land far far away there was a train traveller

matt_whitmell — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:59:00 GMT

ok I need to work on this theme some more.

The final leg of my adventure was to travel by train around a Europe. The land of fairytales shouldn’t come as a surprise as it was here that castles surrounded by moats, churches with robed monks, villages nestled into hillsides with bubbling brooks and stone bridges became the setting of all these tales. It is here that Knights of old and maidens fair first came into existence and even the odd witch and dragon all originated in this part of the world.

I arrived in London a little jetlagged after some 38hrs of travel from Buenos Aires but was happily greeted by grey skies, cool weather and some friendly faces to take me to the local pubs. After a few days in London I took the train to Paris to meet up with the some friends from Sydney; Gerard and Suz who last year made Paris their home. We had a great time visiting cool suburbs and tasting both the cuisine and famous French wines. Paris is an easy city to get around and aside from bus and train you can cover many famous sites on foot.

I had read about the French government making a concerted effort to convince the population to change the international reputation they have for being rude to tourists. I must say I was pleasantly surprised although perhaps it had more to do with most people confusing me for being local given the fluency of my language skills. On the Sunday afternoon, after a few hours wandering around a fun local neighbourhood, the 3 of us stopped at a very small local bar for a glass of something cool to whet our whistles. As we entered the premises it was clear the place hadn’t had a makeover since the 50’s and I was pleased to see an old photo on the wall of presumably famous French writer who in the mould of Hemingway spent his days in the bar. The photo showed a man undoubtedly aged through hard living with a grey beard and unkempt hair. I’m not sure why all great writers look like sweatytoothed madmen.

Suz and I found a table near the bar (in fact all the walls were only 3 feet from the bar so everything was near) and Gerard sidiled up to make the order. In front of him was a young attractive French maiden with her back to him dancing as she pretended to clean bottles in a micro pair of cutoff shorts, cowboy boots to the knee and a top that ... well let’s say she was provocatively dressed. Gerard being ever the gentleman waited for a while but eventually realised she wasn’t paying him any attention so he interrupted her... and at this point a chill came across us all as she turned and shot him a look that at best could be described as hostile.. I guess she never read the memo from the government about being nice to the tourists. We stayed there for a number of drinks and took turns being glared but loved every second of the place.

Eventually my liver told me to leave the McCords and jump a train to see more of Europe so I headed to Brussels. As I departed I felt assured that spending some time on my own travelling would a nice change as the previous few months had included some hard living of my own and I was looking like a sweatytoothed writer. Within hours of entering the Belgium capital I began to recall their specialities; beer, chocolate, waffles and fries with mayo.. god help me. The city itself is gorgeous but after a few days of sightseeing it was time to jump on the steel horse again. I headed a few hours north to the Netherlands and the capital Amsterdam. I was lucky enough to find a great little boutique hotel which was a converted cannel house and began exploring the city by foot and ferry. I was shocked to hear that 80,000 bicycles are stolen in Amsterdam each year which sounds like an extraordinary number until you realise just how many bikes are there.. <Note - speak with my broker about buying some shares in Melvin Star>

A few more days of life to the excess and I boarded my train yet again this time to cover a greater distance leaving Amsterdam and travelling through Germany from north to south and then east to west before jumping off in Munich.

Once again I was in a city of 1000 years old churches and medieval castles. I had eaten or drunk in establishments across Belgium, Netherlands and Germany all older then western settlement of my homeland. I took a short trip from Munich and visited the town of Dachau which is most famous for having one of the original and largest concentration camps during WW2. It was a somber experience and one I will never forget. War is such an evil thing and its ability to change men and allow them to do these things to each other is shocking.

I returned to Munich and began exploring the culture. I started in a beer garden and progressed to beer halls and in between visited local markets where German sausages are served with..beer.

I was falling into an endless cycle so departed Germany for the precision of Switzerland and her capital Zurich. You would not believe my surprise when I came across 1000 year old churches in the city centre and markets and alleyways that were hundreds and hundreds of years old. Zurich like those cities before her was easily covered on foot with a few stops along the way looking for a nice watch to buy.. I didn’t make a purchase in the end as watches like many other things in Zurich are ridiculously expensive.

The train ride from Zurich to Milan took me via Austria (check a map as that is odd) but it did mean I went directly through the Alps and at times was surrounded with beautiful snow capped mountains and small little townships made of stone and included babbling brooks and women twirling as they sung about doe eyed dear.

From Milan I headed directly to Venice. I was back in Italy again. Ahh the food ohh the wine and yes the city is pretty and romantic but when travelling by yourself you skip some bits. I must tell you though that the secret is out about Venice. The main section, Santé Marco is more like grand central station at peak hour then an old Italian plaza, fortunately you can walk about 10 minutes and be away from most of the tourist to find a quiet little spot to have an espresso or some penne and a bottle of Chianti, whichever is your preference.

Three days whizzed past before I was back on the train and heading to Nice in the south of France. The train ride was unbelievable as once we left Milan was started following the coastline of at first Italy and then eventually France with hundreds of little Mediterranean towns with sunburnt building facing the beautiful blue water. I was surprised that the train line followed the coastline all the way and in fact in many cases was less than 50 meters from the water and what would be considered the some of the most prime real estate in the world. I would look down from the train to see the clear water with boats bobbing in the distance and people (often sans tops) sunbaking on the beach.

Nice itself has a lovely promenade which runs the length of the city although it will take me a lifetime to refer rocks beside the ocean as truly being a beach.. they need to import some sand. I found the smaller and quainter townships within minutes of Nice to be much nicer (sic) and even spent a great day having lunch in the sun in Monte Carlo ogling mega yachts. I was disappointed to see it was bring your own super model day in Monaco and no one told me and it isn’t just the thing you can pick up there.

I am writing most of thing from my seat on train as I slowly head home to Hong Kong. In a few hours I will arrive in Paris for the last night with the McCords and then off to London for a day and a few goodbyes before boarding the big bird to Honkers.

Europe is truly a beautiful place full of rich and interesting histories. It looks, sounds and tastes just as you would expect in something from a fairytale and I have no doubt I will need to come back to have more.

South America – a truly diverse continent

matt_whitmell — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:01:00 GMT

I wish I could have spent more time in the countries I visited in South America and I also wish I could have made it to some others. From leaving Costa Rica I had decided to spend most of my time in Peru where I was going to explore the Amazon jungle and then make my way south to Cusco and finally Machu Picchu. A colleague I worked with in Hong Kong was already in Colombia after resigning from work last year to spend his days learning Spanish and his nights dancing salsa with Latino women. To protect his innocence I will give him the alias Shurley.

Once I mentioned my plan to spend time in Peru checking out jungles and lost cities Shurley jumped at the chance to join me. I decided to pop into Colombia to pick him up and check out Bogota. Colombia has a reputation for being dangerous, be it drug cartels fighting each other in the streets, rebels kidnapping foreigners or setting off bombs. either way that was the past, or so I thought until I was heading to the airport and an American couple in the bus said the Farc had set off a car bomb in central Bogota a month earlier..ohh well I don’t have a car anyway so they will need to perfect the thong (flip flop) bomb to catch me.

Bogota is an interesting city that has a real vibe to it when the sun goes down, although the city is somewhat run down and looks a little grotty the bars and restaurants come alive at sunset and the place rocks (technically I guess it would salsa or samba or shimmy shimmy...digressing). After a couple of days we made our way to Lima and the beachside suburb of Miraflores. Lima is a large city and from the outside it appears there is a large contingent of poor people within the city. I was surprised to hear it has actually overtaken Colombia from drug production and exportation and the citizens are the ones paying the price of addiction. Once you get past the poorer areas and towards the coast Lima metamorphosis to a tree lined modern city with a real charm about it. Again the real atmosphere begins with the setting of the sun.

Shurley and I joined a tour at this stage to navigate the Amazon jungle and ancient Inca sites finishing with Machu Picchu. There were around a dozen of us with the average age being somewhere in the 30’s. We had a few Poms and a Canadian but the rest were Aussies which made for a bit of fun. We flew to Puerto Maldanado where we jumped a bus for an hour and then had a 3 hour boat ride before reaching out jungle lodge. Here we spent the days checking out wildlife and the evenings acquainting ourselves with each other and with Pisco Sours. This was a true eco lodge with no hot water or even walls in most spots, but plenty of hammocks and great food. After a couple of days we headed back to Puerto Maldanardo and then on to Cusco in central Peru. From here we headed to the Sacred Valley and then on to Ollantaytambo and after 4 days we reached Urubamba. Finally we boarded the train to Agua Calientes and then Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu was an inspiring location and we were lucky enough to get there early before the crowds and watch the clouds lift off the city as the sun rose in the background. Eventually the tour was over and some of our crowd headed onto to Lake Titicaca (giggle) or other locations like the Galapagos Islands. Shurley decided he liked Peru and headed back to Lima to hang out for a while and I jumped a very expensive plane across the Andes to Argentina.

Buenos Aires is a large city which accounts for a quarter of the country’s population. It has a real European feel in the design and architecture but the years of failing economy have been taking their toll and it is visible. BA is like an aging beauty queen that still has all the pose and style and in the right light is gorgeous but unfortunately in the harshness of daylight her age and disrepair are obvious. That said Argentina is a country that prides itself on beef and red wine.. what more can one need. I was unable to find any Parrillas that opened for breakfast which is probably best as having a ribeye and vegies is not the generally recommended start to the day and I am sure some people would frown on the obligatory bottle of malbec.

My initial plan in Argentina was to head north to check out Iguazu falls but the gods of travel quashed this with a power outage in the domestic traffic control and all flights were cancelled. Instead I did a day trip to Uruguay which is just across the river from Buenos Aires. I spent the day wandering aimlessly around the quaint little town of Colonia de Sacramento and then got the ferry back to BA. The aging beauty queen that is Buenos Aires is completely worth the trip especially when enjoyed with great steak and red wine..

Beaches, Beers and Hammocks

matt_whitmell — Wed, 9 Mar 2011 14:47:00 GMT

Hank Scorpio: Uh, hi, Homer. What can I do for you?
Homer: Sir, I need to know where I can get some business hammocks.
Hank Scorpio: Hammocks? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Hammocks! Homer, there's four places. There's the Hammock Hut, that's on third.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Hank Scorpio: There's Hammocks-R-Us, that's on third too. You got Put-Your-Butt-There.
Homer: Mm-Hmm.
Hank Scorpio: That's on third. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot... Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; it's the hammock complex on third.
Homer: Oh, the hammock district!
Hank Scorpio: That's right.

From what I have learnt over the past few weeks the hammock district would be found in Costa Rica, in fact I believe Costa Rica is Spanish for ‘Rope Bed’. Never have I seen a country so in love with the simple beauty of the hammock and whilst I have always been a strong supporter of the afternoon nap (note to self; need to discuss this important requirement with the boss before I return to work) the Costa Ricans have taken this to a new level.

Costa Rica is an outstanding country for a lot more reasons than just their liberal use of the hammock in the middle of the day. It is more developed then I expected although it is clearly feeling the economic pain in the tourism sector with Americans not yet fully returned to travel. The country itself is quite small by Australian standards (but quite large by Hong Kong standards I guess) you can travel from the east to west coast in a day by bus. The country produces a number of cash crops including bananas, coffee, palm oil and coco although making computer chips has started taking over from many of these traditional crops. Some refer to the Costa Rican’s as the Swiss of central America as they haven’t had a national armed forces since the 1940’s and it is something they are very proud of even though there have been issues with their neighbour to the north, Nicaragua

When talking with Costa Ricans or Ticas as they call themselves, they are quick to tell you that by not having an army has allowed this country of only 4 million people to spend more money on education which has clearly paid off with some 97% of people being literate (that is better than my friends).

The greatest asset the country has is the natural beauty and diversity of the land. It timbered forests in the north and Rain forests in the central and southern region which often butt directly up against some of the most picturesque beaches. Wild life ranges from colourful birds including the infamous Toucans to Jaguars and of course the iguana. In fact I seemed to have a couple of large iguanas that enjoyed living on the steps outside of my hut in Manuel Antonio and I honestly don’t know who was more surprised most mornings when our paths crossed.

I arrived in San Jose and caught a bus the next morning to Guancaste which is in the north western district of the country. I based myself in Playa Tamarindo which is a cosy beachside town and spent my days hanging around the beach and any one of the many little bars and restaurants. I had wanted to catch up with a mate who was staying 2hrs up the road in Nicaragua but unfortunately it proved difficult to find any direct transport (next time Kyle). I did however catch-up with a couple of other friends that came to Tamarindo and heard some pretty wicked stories as they had both been in Latin America for a close to a year and it sounds like they may never leave. I on the other hand decided to pack by bags and make my way further south to Manuel Antonio where I got myself a funky villa which backed up against the national park and still had full water views. Unbeknownst at the time of booking my new residence included a pool with a swim up bar. On an unrelated topic I have limited recollections of dinners in Manuel Antonio !

In typical tourist fashion I took a full day rain forest safari tour which included a dozen zip-lines (think flying foxes strung between trees some +100 feet in the air), repelling down some waterfalls and even a tazan swing. Manuel Antonio is even smaller then Tamarindo with a single road that runs along the beach towards the national park. For more bars and restaurants there is a small town called Quepos some 6 kms up the road. I reluctantly left Manuel Antonio yesterday and after a back breaking 6hr bus ride I am back in San Jose. I spent the day today looking around the city which is a large sprawling metropolis for some 400,000 people and I must agree with the travel books in that it is an unremarkable place. I ventured out on the town last night and after numerous Imperials (one of the local brews and pretty damn tasty) I found myself in one of the dodgier local bars and quickly decided to call it a night…

Overall Costa Rica is an awesome spot and I have thoroughly enjoyed my weeks here. The countryside is beautiful and the people are very friendly and the food fantastic. This is definitely a place to while the days away in a hammock by the beach with a cold Imperial in hand. Anyone know where to buy a good hammock?

I love New York and other clichés

matt_whitmell — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:10:00 GMT

From the moment I landed New York was one big cliché. But while everything I saw and did felt like déjà-vu I still loved the place and I was excited about getting to the big apple. I checked the weather whilst still in Rome and noticed the daytime weather was around 20⁰ so I was pretty sure I was heading for perfect tourist weather and my limited clothing in the backpack would be sufficient. On arrival the penny dropped, damn it was 20 Fahrenheit not Celsius ! For those in civilised countries that use the metric system it is easy to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius you simply -32 and times by 8 and then divide by 5 and put you left foot in and shake it all about…

I spent my first day taking a good walk around the lower sections of the city and basically getting my bearings. I based myself on West 40^th street which is midtown Manhattan in the garment district near Times Square. New York is a simple grid design city with avenues running north to south starting with 1^st Avenue in the east and ending with 12^th in the west. Streets start with 1^st Street in the south and finish in the 200’s of the Bronx. The Subway is a very viable alternative especially for the longer distances and of course the venerable yellow cabs are on every corner and surprisingly clean.

More common than the yellow cabs are the street food vendors on each corner and of course their mainstay is the Hot Dog. Best eaten with the lot which includes ketchup, mustard and sauerkraut, the hotdogs aren’t large and therefore many people buy two at a time which I thought was just greedy given the carts are on almost every corner. I did follow one tradition which was to buy a hotdog at each vendor in central park as I crossed from east to west. This meant a simple 20 minute walk came with 5 hotdogs! All that hard work in Thailand is being undone by the food and booze in New York (and Rome too)

New York clichés don’t finish with hot dogs, there are the pizza (pie) shops also on ever block selling the thin pastry specialties with sausage, pepperoni and cheese being the local favourites.. Sorry NY but Rome beats you with pizza.

Whilst heading to the Metropolitan Museum (ain’t I cultured) I walked along 5^th Avenue past Sak’s department store only to notice the steam rising from the manholes in the road - New York you are the capital of clichés.

The New York delis are also just as I expected, I visited Katz Deli on Houston to enjoy a monster pastrami on rye sandwich served with just enough gruffness to ensure I was in the big apple. The New York diners have counters which even include the city’s finest having pancakes with their police radios on the table keeping an ear to what is happening.

One cliché that surprised me a little was the drinking of shots with beer chasers (or a ‘beer back’) again I had seen this again on television but it was normally being performed by old men or middle-aged construction workers, not twenty something business women.

I spent an afternoon in Brooklyn checking out some of the sites although was disappointed to learn that Coney Island is closed during winter. I also caught the subway to the Bronx and rather than do any planning I simply jumped off at a random stop.. And as luck and the clichés would have it I exited the subway into the middle of one of the typical hardcore gangster neighborhoods right down to guys selling crack on the corners. I resisted the temptation to run back into the subway and instead took a short walk and even bought a sandwich and sat at the window (half waiting to see a drive-by) before returning to my nice midtown hotel.

One thing that did surprise me and was completely against all known clichés was the friendliness of the new Yorkers. I was shocked by the ease in which people struck up conversations with me or how quick they were to apologise if you got bumped or even seeing people offering their seats on subways. I actually had a guy on the street handing out pamphlets say ‘sorry sir’ when I declined his voucher for half priced curtains.

So overall I think New York is an awesome city that not only lives up to all expectations but actually manages to exceed them.

I was ready to post the above but I feel compelled to have a little rant first.. America you are still a superpower although some of the kids from the east are catching you and there is no doubt you set the standard on many things world-wide including food, fashion and entertainment. But there are a few things you must fix. Firstly America as I mentioned at the start you need to get on the metric band wagon, stop using this silly Fahrenheit for temperature or just as confusing asking me what size drink I want using ounces.. buggered if I know just get me the big one.

And finally I need to agree with the speech Mr Pink made in Reservoir Dogs. You need to get away from this idea of automatic tipping! If it is just expected because the person is underpaid then please don’t tell me the coffee is $2 if you are gonna add tax and then have an expected % tip that I need to figure out and add on top. Just tell me it is $3, pay your waiters a proper minimum wage and make it simpler on all of us.

Ok I have gotten that off my chest and I Love you again New York

Casablanca

matt_whitmell — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:09:00 GMT

In Rome I commented on my outstanding language skills and now feel compelled to retract that statement. After crossing the top of Africa I landed in Casablanca airport having done little to no homework on the place. Aside from Moroccan Arabic the next most common language used through Casablanca is French. After being gastronomically fluent in Italian my poor little brain was struggling with jumping straight into French. When the immigration officer said bonjour I replied with bonjorno and handed over an Australian passport much to his confusion. When people gave me change I said grazie or prego. Now it is time to leave and I have just started to find my French.

Morocco as a country is struggling for me after coming from Italy. Casablanca is a sprawled city of almost 4 million people on the western coast of Morocco. The nicest part of Casablanca (like most cities) is the beachside suburb of Ain Din which just happens to be where I based myself. The main road running along the beach is an eclectic mix of hotels, restaurants and bars all in a general state of disrepair.

I spent the first day exploring the Corniche area along the beach and ate at a local restaurant (lamb terrene). Winter obviously isn’t the best time to visit any beachside area but Casablanca seems to get the full ire of the Atlantic Ocean during winter. The see is angry like an old man trying to return cold soup. The waves are constantly rolling in as huge grey masses crashing into the breakwater.

The following day I walked in the other direction towards the port area and after an hour I reached the Hassan II Mosque. This impressive building includes a 200 meter minaret tower but when compared to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi it just doesn’t stack up.

On my final day I checked out a local souk (market) and wandered around the old medina before stopping for lunch as Rick’s Café.. you know Rick’s café right ?? from the movie… work with me people – Casablanca. Anyway it is a reproduction of the movie right down to piano player tapping out ‘As time goes by’.

On a disturbing side note. I watched my first anti-terrorism ad on television. Similar to the Australian drink driving ads which aim to show graphic images in an attempt to scare people. Fair to say I didn’t need to see the realistic effects of a car bomb in the city.

A friend told me that he visited Morocco recently and in his view Casablanca was the pick of spots, so either Pettica has no idea (possible) or Rabat, Marrakesh and Fez must really suck camels bal…well you get the picture.

In short Casablanca has been a little disappointing. Perhaps it is because I have come to a beachside location during winter or perhaps it is because I loved Rome so much or perhaps it is just a crappy place.. I am glad I came and I saw a little bit of Morocco but I think it fair to say I won’t be returning.

Don’t bother playing it again Sam…

Roma

matt_whitmell — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:57:00 GMT

A lifetime in Rome isn’t long enough as the saying goes. I have just finished a week in Rome and fell in love with the city. I said from the moment I arrived I could live in this place. The city is fantastic and it has a real individual vibe to it. The food is spectacular and breakfast was the only time I wasn’t offered wine. And you cant speak of Rome without mentioning the women.. ahh bella donna !

This leg of my trip I had Mr Trugdian with me as we were supposed to go to Egypt but there had been some problems there so we decided on a week in Rome. We stayed at Donna Camilla Stavelli Hotel in Trastevere… yeah that is a mouthful in Italian. It is a 400 year old monastery located in the old fashioned ‘Trastevere’ neighborhood of Rome. Trastevere hasn’t changed much over the years as the streets are cobbledstoned, washing still hangs overhead between the narrow streets and on every corner there are small shops selling food, wine or sweets.

Rome is a walking city as you would miss too much if you caught taxis or trains and it is so flat and easy to navigate we couldn’t get lost if we tried. Walking also gives you the opportunity to wander across sights and streets that perhaps weren't originally on the agenda.

Food was the priority throughout the trip, sure we saw all the important sites but at times I reckon that was just to kill a few hours until the next meal. We would be eating lunch and discussing what we were going to eat that evening and had to stop at each trattoria to check their menu in case we wanted to add them to our list. I have eaten some of the most remarkable meals of my life on this trip. We would joke at the silence of our table once the meals were delivered as both Trudge and I just got stuck into everything.

I was surprised at how quickly I picked up Italian, in fact my Italian could almost beat my English now. Of course I only know food and drinks but I know them extremely well, I was in fact congratulated on my Italian a few times.. We followed the Italian meal of always having Antipasti followed by Primi (pasta normally), Secondi (meat) some side dishes then desert and finally espresso. We tried not to do the full 4 courses for lunch and instead focused on Pizza and Panani’s normally.

One evening after a fantastic meal we headed to a little local bar for a night cap and after a few drinks were pleased to find the local derby soccer game between Roma and Inter Milan was on. It was one of the most exciting games I have seen. Obviously it was only soccer so I guess the excitement came from the noisy crowd in the bar screaming for their team to win. Like all great tragedies it didn’t work out that way in the end but we still had a great night.

Rome is certainly a city that everyone should visit once in their life and make sure you have sufficient time to not rush the city. It is supposed to be taken at a walking pace and even after a lifetime you still wouldn’t have covered it all.

Goodbye Dubai

matt_whitmell — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 02:58:00 GMT

Dubai is a city that continues to grow at a ridiculous speed even when the rest of the world has taken a breath. I had 4 nights in Dubai and was stoked to hear that Trudgy who is now living in London was going to join me.

We both arrived late on the first night and meet up downstairs the next day after a nice little breakfast. Day one we went to check out a few sights in the city from our list of recommendations. Firstly was Dubai Mall which was giant, I believe it had over 1000 shops and also had an Aquarium with the worlds largest single piece of Perspex… Rising out of the top of the huge shopping complex is the Burj Khalifa which holds the title of the tallest building in the world at over 800 meters or more then 160 stories… it is huge in any language.

From here we head to the Mall of Emirates which used to be the largest mall before the new Dubai Mall came along. It does however have an artificial ski slope inside which is pretty funky and undoubtedly a world first.

We then headed back to the hotel and stopped for a drink upstairs by the pool (I had a swim). Well one beer turned into more and that was the afternoon. After a shower and some sobering up we headed off to Raffles to check out their steakhouse. I have seen the inside of a few steakhouses and claim to know a decent piece of meat when I see it.. well the food here was outstanding, as was the wine and the deserts were out of this world. Not sure what the final bill came to and I am sure it isn’t the type of meal you’d want to pay for weekly especially if you don’t have an income right now as neither of us do.

The next day we had booked a full day with a car and driver. We headed up the highway from Dubai to the capital of the United Arab Emirates; Abu Dhabi. Here we saw the Grand Mosque which was a site to behold (I forgot to take a photo of the outside which was the best part), then on to Emirates Palace which is the 2^nd most expensive hotel in the world and finally the Sultans Palace no photo’s allowed and the guy in the machine-gun nest looked like he had a itchy trigger finger so I didn’t tempt fate.

On the way back from Abu Dhabi we went to Ferrari World at Yas Island. You’ll be surprised to hear but it is the largest steel structured roof in the world. Inside the entire theme park is based around the Italian fast cars with everything from museums to interactary games. The centre point being the Rossi roller coaster which is the fastest in the world. Like a fast roller coaster would worry a couple of hard Queenslanders. Well the good news is we didn’t scream, we wanted to but there was too much g-force and I couldn’t get the noise out when the ride was going more then 270km. I was honestly light headed and dizzy when it stopped and my heart rate was about 200bpm. We then went on some more rides but after that everything else felt too tame. Back to Dubai and dinner and drinks.

Final Day was had a different driver (and car) for an excursion to the desert for some dune bashing in a big land cruiser. This was awesome. We headed towards Oman and found some monster bits of sand before out driver started going nuts flying up one side and down the other. I was thankful we had a roll bar and promised to not mentioned the little squeal Paul made at one stage when we were going down a very large dune at great speed…sideways !

Afterwards we headed to the Aviation club for lunch with a plan to check out the Burj Al Arab building in the afternoon but like all best laid plans it didn’t happen. We stayed at the aviation club enjoying the outdoor beer garden and corona drinks special.

So what is UAE like.. it is like nothing I had imagined. The city is spread out along the coast line with some of the most amazing buildings you will ever see. But behind each one is nothing, there is no depth to the city it is simply one layer of buildings. There are so many more in mid construction and I understand even more again waiting to be built. This means Dubai will be 3 times larger in a few years. The place is sandy, very sandy which I guess needs to be expected of the desert. It also seems to be all about the expat with all services aimed at keeping them happy (just like honkers).

I enjoyed the trip and think it is a pretty amazing place, it would take a humongous package for me to move there but it was fun for a holiday.

My final observation is about the camels (they are imported from Australia!) but more importantly I couldn’t figure out how one got into my room each night and left that foul taste in my mouth….

Goodbye Dubai

Because it’s there...or.. Climbing to 5000 metres in a Himalayan winter.

matt_whitmell — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:33:00 GMT

The first title is from the English explorer George Mallory in 1924 who was asked why he wanted to climb Everest. They found Mallory’s frozen body on the mountain in 1999.

I arrived in Nepal via with New Delhi almost 3 weeks ago and it has turned my head every day. Kathmandu is a crazy city and not unlike Indian towns with the similar crazy traffic and load shedding of electricity meaning there is only power for 12 hours a day. Kathmandu was once part of the hippy trail and remnants of this are still very visible especially in Thamel where I am staying. I managed to squeeze in some quick sightseeing before I headed off to the mountains and now have a few more days up my sleeve to look around now I am back from trekking.

Let me start at the beginning of the hike, while I did take some notes throughout the trek I am not going to do a day by day account but instead simply describe the entire trip and some highlights.

Firstly we flew, myself and my guide Raj, from Kathmandu to Lukla which is where many people begin their trips in the Himalayas. I consider myself a good flyer and reckon I have racked up a few miles in all variety of planes but this was a new experience. I boarded the twin prop’d Otter seating a dozen people for the 30 minute ride. This bit was fine but the touchdown in Lukla where the landing strip is at a 15 degree angle to help the planes stop was a little worrying. Once we stopped Raj leaned over and was visibly relieved and he mentioned that Tara Air (our airline) lost a Twin Otter plane a month earlier killing 19 people…. Ohhh nice and that was one of three accidents in Nepal in the last 12 months which gives Lukla that title of one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Yipee !

Once we collected out bags we also met Himart our porter and started the trek immediately. Winter was in the mountains and I was cold. Within the first hour or so it began to snow and only stopped a few times for the next 16 days trekking from Lukla to Kala Pattar and back again.

Each day we would start the day with a hearty breakfast (porridge for me) and trek around 5 hours from one small settlement to the next. The track varies as we moved from the lower mountains to the upper sections. At times the track was up to 8 feet wide and in other sections as narrow as 1 or 2 feet. The ground is generally rock and dirt although in some sections stone steps have been carved to make it easier given the steepness. For our trip I would say we saw more ice and snow then the underlying rock or dirt as the track was frozen solid.

We began in the lower sections of Lukla at 2800 metres and climbed to the upper sections of 5000 metres, but unfortunately I didn’t make Base Camp (5365m) due to weather and illness, but more on that later.

The lower altitudes are beautiful trekking as we weave our way through big tree forests with the Dudh Koshi Nadi river running rapidly through the valley. We crossed this river using wire bridges a number of times in most days. I am thankful the old rope bridges have been upgraded as they must have gotten the heart racing. There are no straight lines in trekking and we spend our times climbing up over one ridge only to descend to the valley and then climb again. I have read that by the time you get to base camp you have actually climbed some 9000 metres.

During the peak summer season I have believe that as many of 700 trekkers enter the Sagarmantha National Park each day. I think the number was closer to 7 while I was there although the airport closed the day after I arrived and didn’t reopen for 14 days due to bad weather. I guess most people are worried about the snow and ice on the track and the overall cold…smart people.

Each evening we stayed in tea houses which are small family run places with a common dining room central to which is an old wood stove to provide warmth. The food is simple but tasty and generally provided in large portions given then long days of trekking. The buildings are not insulated which means that if you get more than a few metres away from the wood stove the temperature drops a lot. There is no running water (more than two weeks with just baby wipes to stay clean) and squat toilets. As we get higher the lack of trees meant the wood burning stove becomes a Yak Patty burning stove.

With each day we climb higher and higher in altitude, this means the views begin to change as we move from forests with huge old cider and pines into less and less oxygen. The trees give way to smaller shrubs, then horrible small spiky thorn bushes before all vegetation stops at around 4000m. This altitude and lack of oxygen also began to impact of me. Altitude sickness or AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) is common above 2500 metres and for me I started getting headaches at around 3500 metres. The symptoms were treated with Diamox along with ensuring we climbed to higher altitudes then we slept each day. AMS can prove fatal and I saw a lot of people impacted by it including one fellow that had to get helicoptered off the mountain.

I recall a conversation with a friend in Hong Kong who asked if it was sensible to climb in the Himalayas during winter and now after doing it I am please to say “no Nikki it is not sensible”.

Kathmandu had a minimum temp of around 1 degree when I left and each day with greater height came greater cold. By the time we reached TengBoche (see photos of Monastery) it was -16 degrees inside the teahouse. At LoBoche it to dropped to -20 degrees and finally Gorak Shep was lower than -25 degrees but by how much we don’t know as the gauge didn’t go low enough.

The Muay Thai training in Phuket paid off for my fitness as I kept a good pace throughout the trip and aside from my dodgy knee getting sore on the descent I suffered very little muscle soreness. This didn’t mean it was easy as some of the ascents were steep and took up to two hours of solid high step climbing to reach the top. The lack of oxygen means that most simple tasks results in me huffing and puffing as my lungs burst for more air. Sleep is often only a few hours as again you wake in the middle of the night struggling to breathe deeply enough.

As we got higher and higher my altitude sickness got worse and worse until the headaches were getting harder to handle. On top of that, reports coming through that base camp was around -30 degrees and iced in. We heard the Annapurna Circuit (to the west) had been closed due to the weather and perhaps the same could happen to EBC. We made the tough decision not to go to Base Camp and instead climbed to the Summit of Kala Pattar (5550m) and then began the descent to lower altitudes .

So after some 2.5 weeks of trekking the Himalayas in the middle of winter I have now returned to Kathmandu for a few days rest before I head to Dubai.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trek and think it was a once in a lifetime experience. I learnt a lot of things; especially about being cold (us Queenlanders that now live in Honkers have little snow and cold experience). I learnt that anything not put in your sleeping bag overnight will freeze. This including cameras, babywipes, clothing and simple things like sunscreen and toothpaste. Given the teahouses don’t have running water once things are frozen you are stuck like that until your body heat can thaw them out. I learnt you have to ensure the Yaks pass on the outside of the track so they don’t accidently knock you down a 1000m ravine. I know you have to walk carefully through ice as you end up on your end very easily even with the use of trekking poles. I know that once you get to -20 degrees even 3 pairs of wool socks, two full fleeces, plus thermals and a down jacket and gore-tex layer doesn’t keep the cold out. And finally for any proper trek you must have good boots. I invested well in a pair of North Face boots in Thailand and my ankles are thankful.

This was a once in a lifetime adventure and I am proud to have climbed to 5550m in a Himalayan winter.

Final installment of the Nak Muay (Fighter) series

matt_whitmell — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:01:00 GMT

I have finished my training with a fight last night and now will fly out to Nepal to start the next adventure- Trekking Mt Everest. I will go to around 6000 meters (just above Base Camp) which should take me a total of about 3 weeks… More on that later

It has been a strange few weeks. I stacked my scooter about a fortnight ago when riding up to Phuket town. A women on a bike came out a side street without looking and forced me to lay the bike down. After tumbling down the road I ended up with a nice bit of gravel rash, a few bumps and a broken laptop which was in my backpack.

This made training difficult until the wounds healed, difficult for me as hitting bags or pads with large bits of skin missing off your feet hurts and means they don’t heal. Ronee my trainer felt no discomfort watching it as he reminded me laughing numerous times each day.

It was a quiet New Years Eve as I trained until 8pm and then went home for dinner. I stayed up to see the fireworks but alas didn’t even have a solitary drink to welcome the new year. 5.30am New Years day is a time I have seen before but never sober and never in training gear running 10kms before a 3 hour workout. The camp closed for 3 days over New Year for everyone except 3 of us with fights coming up. Tuk the camp manager took over my training to get me ready for the final leg. It was brutal, the sessions went longer and longer and but I knew I was getting stronger.

I tried asking Ronee and Hehm a few times about my opponent but they wouldn’t tell me anything just to keep training hard. I guess the idea being that they would train me for the fight and probably wanted to keep my head clear…nothing hard about that

During week the fight posters came out and were plastered around Phuket, not a good photo of me (I looked crossed eyed). The fight was scheduled for Friday night in Bangla Stadium, Patong which is the biggest stadium in Phuket.

I started carb loading two days before the fight and basically just chilling and letting the muscles and joints heal up from training before the big day. On fight day I spent a few hours at the beach to relax and instead managed to get sunburnt…iggit.

I went to the stadium with Tuk in his pimped out Escalade fitted with disco lights and 1000w speakers. When I arrived at the stadium I find some 50 plus supporters from the camp and neighborhood, including the manager of my apartment, the guy I rented my scooter from and the lady from a nearby restaurant. The Stadium is a sellout and the queue to get in runs around the corner. As I walked in I notice I am top billing scheduled for the 9^th and final fight of the night…This is the last thing I wanted.

I thought I had the nerves under control but once I realize the amount of people here to watch me the butterflies start and having to wait for 8 other fights first doesn’t help. I wanted to fight early on the card so I can have a beer while watching the rest. It takes about 2 hours for all the other fights to complete. Time which I spend in the locker room watching them on TV and do some stretching. I then get my hands tapped. They look and feel like I have knuckled-dusters on as in Muay Thai it is standard to created hard taped knuckles which you then slip into these tiny 8oz gloves ( I spar in 18oz gloves so I don’t hurt people). The younger guys in the fight camp are my entourage, they cover me in Thai boxer liniment (like deep heat) and help with stretching in warming up. This is where one of them makes a small mistake. Pom is about 10 years old and while he is chatting with me he lets slip that my opponent fought professional in Bangkok for 10 years and has had hundreds of fights. Damn that is a lot more experience than I expected. Pom must see it on my face and says “don’t worry he lost Lumpinee belt” great my opponent had a Thailand title fight in the past….

As I make my way down to the ring I again see the size of the crowd and I start to steal myself that I don’t give a crap about his experience as I trained hard for this and I can win.

I did a condensed version of the Wai Kru as the crowd had already seen this 8 times that night and I just wanted to get to fighting and winning… When I finish the crowd starts with “aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi” which I enjoyed.

I don’t intend doing a round by round of the fight as a video is coming out. Short to say that while I won I was somewhat disappointed with my performance. Nerves got to me and my form was poor. I let my head go down a number of times and could have gotten knocked out by a knee to the head. My clinch should have been stronger and my hand combinations were poor. But I knocked him out and took the win so I am stoked about that. I knew my first pro fight would be a tough affair but damn that was hard work.

My body took a few good shots and I woke today with good bruising and plenty of swelling. It will be soft food for today as the jaw is sore, the legs are battered and the ribs are bruised and tender.

I achieved all of my goals and in fact surpassed a few. I trained like a Thai, with the Thai’s in Thailand. I got fit and lost weight to get down to cruiser weight division. I fought a far more experienced (but out of shape) opponent who I over came to collect a win. I need to keep going with my training and continue to drop more weight, perhaps a long walk up a steep hill will help

I have a few days off now before the next adventure.

On the 12^th January I fly from Bangkok to Nepal (via India) and will spend 3 weeks in the Himalayas where I will climb Mount Everest to approx 6000 meters (the peak is just over 8000). I will trek to Everest Base Camp and continue on to Kala Pattar peak before trekking back to Kathmandu.

The next blog will be about a walk up a mountain.

It is fun to be a little retarded

matt_whitmell — Tue, 7 Dec 2010 00:15:00 GMT

It isn't a holiday but it is fun. I have been in Thailand now for over a month and I am thoroughly enjoying myself but perhaps not in the traditional holiday sense. I dont know about you but a fun holiday for me includes a number of different ingrediants most of which have a measure of excess. In the past holidays have included sailing with my mates which in reality was just a fun way to get north or south (or west right Phil) from Sydney and then have a few days of fun. I believe holiday fun should include a beach, afternoon cocktails based on rum and evenings of good food, wine and friends. You can catchup with old friends or seldom seen family, perhaps a round of golf, seeing some sights or even shopping. These are all traditional fun holidays.

This isnt what I am doing right now. I wake at dawn and spend +6hrs a day getting seven shades kicked out of me. I focus on my food intake as I require a lot of energy (but also trying to get trimmer), I need to make sure I am well hydrated which means getting through upwards of 6 litres of water a day. And I need to tend to my little cuts, bruises and strains.

It is currently 8pm as I write this and I got home about 30 odd minutes ago. I have showered and put my training wraps and ankle guards into my bucket of detol as they don't need to be sent to the laundry each day. I have had my protein shake and am currently watching law and order and I feel the pain in every muscle and joint start to come to the surface. My trainer has to my astonishment stepped the training up a level and now I am being pushed harder then I thought possible. For example at the end of each session I then go to the heavy bags and now snap out 300 knees and 400 front kicks before going to the incline benches for 200 crunches. I got so many kicks to the thighs that I can't tell which part is sore and the shins blocked a few hundred kicks and now have shooting pains up and down. Time to cover myself in deep heat and comtenplate a few pandols before bed.....

But strangely I find ths fun. Perhaps it is the challenge of pushing myself. Perhaps it is setting goals and seeing myself achive them, perhaps I am retarded ...... The more I think abotu this the more the latter seems closest to the mark. I am enjoying this like Rain Man enjoyed counting and Forest Gump liked to run. But once this is finished in January the rest of my holilday will be closer to the traditional fun holiday - clearly I am not a Full Retard.

A day in the life...

matt_whitmell — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:40:00 GMT

I wake at 5.45am and eat a large breakfast; ceral, fruit, yoghurt and baked beans on toast before I hit the road by 6.45am. I run down via the beach and up through Nai Harn to the camp which is about 6 km's. This gets me to the gym at around 7.15am and for some skipping for 15 mins before wrapping my hands and getting ready for training.

The gym has all the expected facilities including numerous heavy bags, speed balls, free weights and 4 full size boxing rings. The gym is open air with a wall only on one side and some small ceiling fans to move the hot air around.

Rawai caters for everyone from beginners looking to get fit and try a new sport through to intermediate and advance students. The final group are the fighters, both Thai and Farang (foreingers). They have about 10 trainers working each session most of whom used to be fighters themselves and have now retired to become trainers. Many of the Rawai trainers have fought at the top levels with +100-200 fights each.

After the run and skipping we start with some stretching before doing a little shadow boxing. The beginners and intermediate go into separate groups for some technique training and the advanced group and fighters start doing pad work with trainers. After 30 mins of pad work we then move into sparring with the trainers. Next we move to work with a partner on one particular technique ie Monday is clinching, Tuesday is boxing etc etc Finally everyone comes back together for a warm down and stretches. The fighters then have to do 200 teeps (front kicks), 200 knees all on the heavy bag and then finish up with 100 situps.

This has us finishing at around 10am. I then walk back to my villa where I sit in the shower for 10 mins just trying to cool down. I then have a little lay down and read while my muscles start to seeze up. I then normally head to the beach for a swim and get some lunch. It is often 1pm when I return home and again watch a little tv or read before heading off at 2.30pm to do it all again.

We do this 6 days a week (Sundays off), although Saturday morning we have a pure cardio session which is based on us running to the beach from the camp and doing nasty sprints and pad work in the loose sand and some leg work in waist deep water.

I love the training and feel my fitness is improving every day. I know I have many more weeks of training before I get close to the levels I want. I have all the normal nagging injuries including cut-up feet from the canvass flooring and muscle soreness that just couldnt be believed. Most of the pain comes from sparring as once the trainers know you are preparing for a fight they mercilessly beat you like a red headed step-child. Yesterday I sparred 8 rounds with Hehm (ex Lumpinee and sth Thailand Champ) and today just walking was a real effort as I have bruises up both legs from checking kicks and some on the ribs where I didnt get the block up in time.

I need to ensure I am getting a good healthy balanced diet as it would be impossible to keep this up without the right fuel. This was a big part of the reason for moving to my new villa as it has a small kitchen which allows me to make basic pasta etc for dinner and good breakfasts. I still get to enjoy thai food for lunch and the occasional dinner. I havent had a drink since I arrived almost 3 weeks ago although I do have some friends in town this weekend and we are meeting Saturday afternoon to rectify that.

At this stage I am focussed on my training and getting as fit and strong as possible. Once this starts looking good I will then begin to focus more on my first fight. We havent set a date for this yet as it is all dependant on my fitness.

Photos: Thailand

matt_whitmell — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 00:53:00 GMT

Training injuries

Getting Around

matt_whitmell — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:23:00 GMT

I seem to be constantly on the move each day since I arrived at the beginning of November. Phuket Island is larger then I recall and a simple trip which appears only a few centimeters on the map is actually 20 kms and takes half an hour on the bike.

Speaking of the bike I am racking up a lot of miles just getting food, dropping and collecting laundry (lots of smelly traing gear) and sight-seeing. I still dont like the local drivers and I find I have to concentrate quite hard on what is happening around me. It is commone to round a corner and find someone coming towards you in YOUR lane or just trying to avoid the guy in the van that just stopped on the left from opening his door and collecting me and of course the bikes, cars and dogs that come flying out of some small laneways (soi).

Having lived in Asia for a few years now the lack of road rules isnt new to me, but the Thai's take it to a new level (they still sit second to the Vietnamese when it comes to crazy drivers). One favourite road rule I have noticed is using the middle line ie the bit of road dividing opposite travelling lanes). This is some sort of 3rd lane which I like to call the Katoey (look it up, that was hillarious when I told some mates from training the other day). I believe direction, speed and traffic lights are to be considered suggestions at best and only applicable to cars as most bike riders ignore them completely.

I was going to try and tie in the road story above with my thoughts on the future (get it?) but I have very few thoughts right now. Even after my detox in which I attended meditation sessions, I think I was the only person that didnt truly reflect and instead kinda snoozed. Perhaps I am already enlightened enough.

The Detox was a great kick start although I did constantly find it funny that when they spoke of the bad western diet, aside from fast food the next common example meal was going to a steak house and having a big tbone, potatoes, gravy and red wine which is kinda the meal I had 3 times in the lead up to going there. Once with my folks, then with Ross, Ally and Kingy and finally with my friends from Hong Kong (ok that was a lamb shank). We had another guy that is going to be training at my camp do the detox and after one session where the steak dinner was discussed a few times I spoke to him as when headed back to camp. We were both trying to be sensible about the detox but eventually he asked "is it just me or do you get hungry each time they mention the steak dinner". I agreed.

So the detox is over and the training has started and I am loving it. Sure I walk like a 90yr old and today for example I am in pain if I look left (an hour of clinch work will do that to your neck). I'll talk more about training next time.

Arriving in Phuket

matt_whitmell — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 22:09:00 GMT

After a 3 hour flight from Honkers I arrived in Phuket on Friday at lunchtime. It took about 30 minutes from the airport to get to the bottom of Phuket Island, my destination and home for the next couple of months is an area of Phuket known as Rawai. The southern part of Phuket is very different from where most have holidayed in either Patong, Kata or Karon. Rawai is semi rural which is obvious each morning when I look across the road to the large vacant field filled with palm trees and cows.

Rawai Muay Thai camp is made up of a number of buildings in a grassy surround. They have the main training building with a number of heavy bags and full size rings. There is a separate dormitory building which makes up about 6 shared rooms. Further back are the bungalows where I am staying. My bungalow has a queen size bed, tv, dvd, air-con and private bathroom. I will stay here for now although I think a kitchenette might be useful given the length of my stay.

I have rented a Honda Click 110hp scooter to get around the island and I can fill it up for around $3 aud. It does seem strange to pull up on the road side and buy petrol from reused 1 litre bottles rather then go to a petrol station. I also need to find a decent road map as the lack of English road signs has already had me a little lost a few times.

The small street the camp is located in has a number of small cafes, a mini-mart and a few houses. There is a laundry about 100 meters down the road which today quoted 100 baht ($3 aud) for wash and dry a bag of clothes.

After some earlier discussions with the camp manager I have decided to start off on a one week detox before commencing my Muay Thai training. It is probably a pretty good idea as there is little doubt I have enjoyed the fruits of my labour over the years and living with Hong Kong, with it's abundance of great food and drinking partners has only added to this.

The detox has come at quite a surpise and I am sure it will do me some good. I am however super keen to start training. Rawai Muay Thai has a number of very experienced trainers and some current and ex world class fighters. I have no doubt that the fighter training will be tougher then anything I have done before. It starts with a 10 km run at dawn and is then followed by 3-4 hours of hard training. I then get middle part of the day off (as it is too hot) before a 2 hour session in the afternoon. This is the routine 6 days a week with Sunday's off.