bean on the road

The Mask

2007-08-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

Well, that was weird.

On my last day of bumdom, whilst waiting for my Ikea study furniture, I thought it would it would be a good idea to try a face mask. Well, for those blokes out there who haven't done it (I'm assuming you girls have) it is one hell of a weird experience. Like having your head in a condom... I guess. Like have it sucked by an elephant's trunk. Like having an alien try to suck your life force through your pores via an encapsulating goo. Like a giant fly has his proboscis attached to your camera-facing best. The thing they DON'T tell not to do is that you should avoid putting it on your eyebrows.

Luckily, the Ikea guys arrived after the mask was off. They ripped the shrink wrap off the sofa with the vigour of an animal in heat, installed it and left me within 5 minutes of having arrived, only then to find that there was a huge hole in the bottom of the sofa, and that the foot stool wasn't the right colour. I SWORE I would never buy Ikea stuff again. In fact, I think I've sworn that several times before. Damn, they're just so hard to say no to when you need to make a rapid furniture purchase. In this case, it was in order to avoid a domestic. Our designated study was 'requested' to be more comfortable so that we could both work in the comfort of air conditioning (without having to a/c the WHOLE house) and listen to the stereo (also a new purchase ). A request that was received via the suggestion box - admittedly some time ago.

In other news, I'm finally starting my new job on Monday. Head of Interactive. With a team of 6. My own team.... aaah! We're finally back on the wedding plans now too, which will mean some serious saving plans with it. Amidst this flurry of activity, Claire is thinking of quitting her job, which I would fully support morally. I would fully support it financially too. By choice! I would rather have her happy and healthy and paying for her to figure out what she wants to do over having her stressed, ill and unhappy. She's been working some CRAZY hours, and the ad industry isn't necessarily what she's looking for long-term. She's going through that unsure career patch that we all go through (I'm assuming) - so we'll see what happens.

Finally!

2007-07-26T01:12:00.000-07:00

After 98 days of seeing company after company, with misdirections, good networking, and losing out to other candidates, I've finally signed with Cheil. Now I'm just waiting for the employment pass (work visa) to come through and we're good to go! It should be about 3 weeks, but they applied for a temporary one so I could start earlier.

It's been kinda fun, the last few months - a lot of cooking at home, watching movies, going for rides - but I'm going pretty stir crazy. I was a lot less productive than when I was hanging around before my Mexico trip. A LOT less productive. But hey, I did do 3 weeks of contract work which brought in a nice little pot of dough, but with the wedding in March, what we really needed was some steady savings.

So, anyway, we're going celebrating Friday night with Jac and Bru. We were out last night with them too... Man, I really cannot do the drinking on a school night thing anymore. If I was working I wouldn't have made it in till this afternoon. It was Mumbo Jumbo night - good old cheesy music and even cheesier dancing.

where did the last few months go??

2007-07-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

After leaving Wunderman end of March, doing a 3 week contract at Proximity, going to the UK, we're suddenly in the middle of July??? Wow, that was fast.

This is going to be a fairly boring summary of my interview sagas I'm afraid!

I was supposed to sign a contract with Proximity when I came back from the UK, but they ended up bringing over a guy from their Malaysian office. One of the reasons is because they lost some business over there, and so instead of firing the guy they brought him over here. But, it's also fair to say that I was holding out on them because of another company I was interested in. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it's been a good 4 months of various other interviews, and I think it's finally coming to an end.

I just had a last minute round of talks over the past couple of days with ad agency DDB for a job as GM of Tribal (interactive) - to start it up and drive business. According to the MD it was a really close call between me and another candidate, but the other guy had more solid biz dev experience... which is fair enough, but I'm still looking for contract killers to take him out. I'll be staying in touch with them though - good bunch of people. So now it's down to the other company, Cheil, who do communications for Samsung, where I'll be Head of Interactive (or some such title that could include the words "Director", "Digital"...). I actually have an offer from them, but I'm just waiting to hear when to go in and sign the contract. Good package, fewer hours, uber-quiet-office-unlike-your-typical-agency (it's a place with Korean corporate culture)... A mixed bag of pluses and minuses, but, the wallet must be fed.

So, it's still a bit too early to celebrate, but at least now I've decided to cut off this interview period and there's a good offer on the table. Now we should be able to start up our wedding plans again!

"Coral Is Dying. Can It Be Reborn?"

2007-05-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Interesting story here about coral regrowth...

"Interviews... going... slowly..."

2007-05-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

"Interviews... going... slowly..." (said in that wounded and struggling super-hero-monologue, while reaching for that one thing just out of reach that could save his life).

I've been talking to Diageo (the people who own the brands Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Guiness, Bailey's, Captain Morgan to name a few) and some agencies, but the most interesting one that's come up is with a company called What If. They're a London-based firm that helps people with New Product Development (the industry acronym for it is NPD) but they get into a lot of other things too: they help companies train their staff in being innovative; they develop products themselves with entrepreneurs to release to the market; and they have a mentoring program where they take CEO's and senior management on a tour of world-class organisations, and introduce them to ideas and practices. It all sounds really exciting! Very much like a dream job, I'd say. Anyway, I've already met one of their senior staff who was here on business, and I'm going to Hong Kong next week to meet their APAC Director. It's still too early to know any details - right now it's just a matter of getting them interested - but it could be to set up a Singapore (aka South Asian HQ) office for them. Anyway, more news on that very soon.

Aside from that, all else going well: Claire has started her new job at Bates Asia, where she's working on Nokia; we've now got an invitation list of about 200 people for the wedding; we've got some ideas for the location here in Singapore and it's now looking as if it WON'T be a beach wedding now (as none of the locations were what we wanted)...

Roz sent me a recent article from the SF Chronicle on Mahahual:

Sunday, April 29, 2007 (SF Chronicle)
Yucatán's sleepy south/Once isolated coastal villages offer last of the
un-Cancún Caribbean Destination Mexico Once isolated coastal villages offer last of
the un-Cancún Caribbean
Spud Hilton, Chronicle Staff Writer


 (04-29) 04:00 PDT Mahahual, Mexico -- It was as much of a debate as can
exist between two people heavily sedated on Mayan sun and Caribbean ease.
Under the swaying hammocks, there were tracks in the powdery sand.
 Iguana, she said.
 Blue crab, I said.
 Nope, she said.
 It was a bet; the loser would trek a whole 30 feet up the beach to the
palapa for sunscreen. However, no one else was around to mediate -- no
T-shirt vendors, no sunburned yahoos on Jet Skis, no yokels from Idaho
complaining about "the natives," and no steel drum trio playing "The
Banana Boat Song."
 Just us, the gentle waves, the rustling palms and whatever made the tracks
in the sand. So much for sunscreen.
 That's the way it's been on this stretch of the southern Yucatán's
Caribbean coast pretty much since the days of stone temples and ritual
sacrifices. Unlike its neighbors to the north, this 80-mile stretch of the
Xcalak (pronounced ISH-ka-lak) Peninsula, kept isolated by its remoteness
and inaccessibility, remained largely unnoticed and undeveloped during the
decades that Cancún, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya went from quiet fishing
villages to sprawling resort regions, worldwide destinations for masses of
the rich and the drunk.
 In recent years, however, the solitude and crowd situation has depended
increasingly on the tide -- and the behemoth cruise ships that sail in on
it. A new-ish pier for large passenger ships just north of the tiny
fishing village of Mahahual is logging hundreds of arrivals per year, each
dropping a couple of thousand sightseers. Mexico's development agency's
has plans for major resorts along the coast and has branded the region
Costa Maya, a name invented by marketing people that, frankly, invites the
nickname "Accost a Mayan."
 It was the first trip to this corner of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo
for my wife, Ann, and me, and the plan was to spend a few days at the
crossroads of the Yucatán's slow-paced rustic past and its luxury resort
future, and to find out if it's still possible to indulge in the
laid-back, non-touristy charms of a place where ships unload as many as
8,000 tourists a day.
 Once a haven of fishing boats, dirt roads and no-frills, hippie cabana
motels -- buffered from the rest of the Yucatán coast by the Sian Ka'an
Biosphere reserve -- Costa Maya is now on the radar of upscale resorts,
including luxury giants Sol Meliá and Iberostar. A year ago, Mexican
tourism officials said they expected 3,000 new hotel rooms in the next
five years between Mahahual (population 200) and Uvero, which is barely a
wide spot in the beach road. They estimated an eventual 20,000 rooms on
the entire Costa Maya.
 Officials have said they don't want the uncontrolled growth and pollution
of Playa del Carmen, and want to make development low density and
eco-friendly. But it's difficult to imagine 20,000 rooms -- the equivalent
of four MGM Grands in Las Vegas -- not having an impact on this sleepy
region.
 Unless you arrive by cruise ship, getting to the Costa Maya requires some
effort. From Cancún, it's a 190-mile drive down Highway 307, a freakishly
straight road that runs from the top of the Yucatán to Belize. (Be
prepared to brush up on your iguana-dodging skills at 65 mph.)
 Just past Los Limones, 100 miles south of Tulum, we turned left at the
sign for Mahahual -- and promptly hit a drug checkpoint staffed by young
soldiers who looked as bored as they were heavily armed. Another 36 miles
toward the coast, past the outpost for the Mexican Navy (who knew?), is
one of only two or three spots on the entire Xcalak Peninsula large enough
to be called a town.
 The whole of Mahahual (also spelled "Mahajual" and "Majahual," and
pronounced "MAH-ha-wahl") would fit into a suburban mega-mall -- about a
quarter of a mile long and a city block wide. At its back is a tangle of
mangrove jungle and unspoiled marshlands that is unabated, save for a
single road, to the other side of the peninsula. At its front is the
bath-warm Caribbean in shades of cool mint and wintergreen that is
blessedly calm, courtesy of the reef off shore.
 Avenue Mahahual isn't so much the main boulevard as a wide, hard-packed
sandy path lined with coconut palms, grocery stores, trinket shops, a
sun-bleached hotel, rustic bungalows, funky restaurants and a dozen or so
open-sided beach bars selling bottles of Sol beer that begin to sweat
before they hit your hand.
 It is a postcard of a place that, until recently, was too remote to have
postcards.
 On days when cruise ships call at the Port of Costa Maya, Avenue Mahahual
buzzes with beach barflies, bargain hunters and sun-worshipers, but on
this afternoon, two-thirds of the business district was shut tight and the
sum total of gringos in town would fit in two yellow cabs.
 Lured by open-air seating and a menu that featured five kinds of ceviche,
we dropped into chairs at El Delfín. We bridged the linguistic gap with
the waiter by using the universal language of pointing at the menu and
licking our lips. Apparently our syntax was correct, because moments later
he appeared with fresh chicken and lime quesadillas, pork tacos and a
tractor-tire-size platter of shrimp and conch ceviche, a reminder of the
plentiful fresh seafood available from the waters 30 yards from the table.
 We sauntered the length of Avenue Mahahual, surveying the dining, drinking
and loitering options while fending off tempting offers from beach-bar
barkers. At the end of town we turned around, kicked off our sandals and
ambled back the way we came, this time through the soft, white sand and
gentle waves.
 It was easy to imagine what Mahahual was like before the pier and the
paved roads, although signs of the tourist-driven economy are abundant:
vendors selling Corona T-shirts and plaster versions of the ruins at
Chichén Itzá, next to closet-size booths for renting Jet Skis, scooters
and ATVs. At that moment, however, the village was a sleepy, serene and
inviting slice of the Yucatán, the way Cancún was 40 years ago.
 On a dirt road a couple miles south of Mahahual is Balamku, one of a dozen
or so ultra-casual, low-profile, eco-friendly cabana-on-the-beach resorts
on this stretch of coast, most of them started by free-spirited expats who
have been migrating to the region since the 1960s.
 The five palapa-roofed adobe bungalows are not more than 40 feet from the
ocean's edge. The rooms are spare and spacious, with tile floors and decor
of handcrafts from Mexico and Guatemala. Most of the resort's power comes
from solar panels and a windmill that at night sounds like bats -- which
would explain the ceiling fans instead of air conditioning. In part,
alternative power is part of the local effort to be green, but is also a
hold-over from the days before the area had an electric system, which was
installed just in the past couple years.
 At check-in, owner-handyman-bartender Alan Knight, who with Carol Tumber
bought the land on a whim in the 1990s and built Balamku, gave us the
10-minute orientation -- palapa, beach, kayaks, snorkeling gear and a
mini-reef about 50 yards out. "Make yourselves at home," he said, and
padded off to fix something. The cliche seemed to ring truer here than at
most places.
 Despite the menu of options, life at on this coast revolves around doing,
well, not much. Mornings I would ease out of bed, pull on shorts and wade
into the chilly wavelets not yet warmed by the sun. We considered using a
kayak to explore the mini-reef, but found we could walk almost the entire
way to it on tippy toes.
 Balamku's dining room only serves breakfast, so for dinner Alan pointed us
150 yards down the road to Travel In', a two-story home converted into a
New-Agey, Euro-style restaurant and boardinghouse with camping on the
beach. Justa, a Dutch expat who opened the place in 2003, brought us a
mountain of salty peel-and-eat shrimp covered in thick green curry, and a
spicy shoarma (that's the Dutch spelling; it's also spelled shawarma), a
traditional Middle Eastern dish with a decidedly non-Islamic touch.
 "The meat is very fresh," she said. "The pig was running around the yard
yesterday."
 Streetlights are years off (the "street" is still a dirt road), which
meant our after-dinner walk back to Balamku relied on moonlight, starlight
and a strong sense of denial about the hairy tarantulas lurking among the
mangroves. (Apparently, we were in town for "tarantula-crossing season." I
asked Ann to put that on our calendar for future reference.)
 Early one morning I strolled out to the water and noticed a ship docked at
the pier to the north. It was taller than any feature for 100 miles in any
direction, manmade or natural, and likely carried 10 to 15 times as many
passengers as the population of Mahahual.
 Five years ago, the government and Carnival Cruise Line built the pier for
passenger ships, allowing Mexican officials to explore tourism in the
region and cruise lines to offer an exotic-sounding new port to jaded
veteran cruisers. During 2005, large ships made almost 300 stops at the
Port of Costa Maya, more than stopped at either Puerto Vallarta or
Mazatlán -- which, it's only fair to point out, are actual cities.
 Since the pier was built, the port property has expanded into a cross
between a beach club, resort hotel and shopping mall, with most of the
facilities of a small city. Already a suburb-size development of homes and
apartments is going up around the port, coyly called "New Mahahual."
 We drove into town to gauge the ship-day difference. While it wasn't a
Mayberry-to-Miami transformation, the peaceful village from the day before
was suddenly a bustling resort town, with every business humming, radios
playing an iconic Caribbean soundtrack and scores of taxis dropping off
more sightseers every few minutes.
 We sat down to brunch at the Cat's Meow restaurant's covered tables on the
beach and munched happily on ceviche and fish tacos while watching the
town's other side: families frolicking in the waves; couples on Jet Skis
skipping over the surf; and shoppers in Calvin Klein and Tommy Bahama
haggling over pesos for handmade shirts.
 The Scottish couple at the next table, passengers on the Carnival ship in
port, said they couldn't believe the simple beauty in Mahahual, and how it
didn't seem overwhelmed by the day visitors. I asked if it that would be
the case with several ships at a time.
 "That," she said, "could get a bit much."
 Of course, many passengers never reach the town, choosing instead to stay
in the port or take one of the many excursions to ruins in the region.
 Just north of downtown, we stopped at Tequila Beach, a Señor Frog's-style
bar and beach club where day-trippers were soaking up as much suds as sun,
and reveling in the thumping music, the drinking games and the perfectly
groomed beach. It was an image out of a cruise line brochure.
 On the beach, two young women in bikinis staggered past (I'm guessing an
inner-ear problem) and saw my camera.
 "You want us to make out?" one asked.
 "Um, no. But thanks for offering," I said, sensing that beefy and equally
drunk boyfriends were not far.
 Compared to what we'd seen of Mahahual so far, the scene was an
out-of-place snippet of Cancún. But for how long would it seem out of
place?
 It was clear, however, that the place would be empty before sundown. The
secret of enjoying any destination that's a popular cruise port, it seems,
is having the place to yourself after the ships sail. I knew we could come
back into town later that evening and have our choice of tables at any
open restaurant and enjoy a quiet stroll down a stretch of beach all our
own.
 We steered back toward our beach, seemingly light years from the
Passengers Gone Wild, to relax for the afternoon -- which is how we came
to be vertical on the beach, debating tracks in the warm sand. Eventually,
we called it a draw, partly for the lack of a judge, and also because the
tide seemed to be telling us to shush.
 For a moment, I considered going double-or-nothing on what kind of palm
tree was hanging out over the water, but thought better of it: We were
already pink and it might have been some time before anyone else came
along.

If you go

 All locations are in Mahahual. Prices are shown in U.S. dollars. Most
businesses, including hotels, do not take credit cards and at press time
there was no ATM; bring cash.
 GETTING THERE
 From San Francisco, there are no nonstop flights to Cancún; a number of
airlines offer one-stop connecting flights. From Cancún, rent a car and
follow Highway 307 for 190 miles; watch for signs for Mahahual or Costa
Maya. Flying into Chetumal is more expensive and not likely to save time.
 WHERE TO STAY
 Balamku, 011-521-983-839-5332, www.balamku.com. Eight comfortable,
no-frills rooms on the beach; water gear and full breakfast included.
$75-$85 per night for two.
 La Posada de los 40 Cañones, www.los40canones.com. Comfortable, basic
hotel and restaurant on Mahahual's main street, close to the beach.
Standard rooms $60-$75.
 WHERE TO EAT
 To be frugal, ask for the menu "en español," which is priced for locals.
 El Delfín (across from the beach in central Mahahual). Mexican fare heavy
on the seafood. Lunch for two with ceviche appetizer and drinks, $18.
 Cat's Meow (across from the beach near north end of main street). Mexican
fare, friendly staff; lunch served on the beach on ship days. Lunch for
two with drinks, $22.
 WHAT TO DO
 Most beach resorts have water sports equipment. There is a generous supply
of excursion and equipment vendors offering ATVs, Jet Skis and trips to
the ruins. Shop around before you commit.
 FOR MORE INFORMATION
 Web sites for Mahahual and vicinity include www.locogringo.com/mahahual
and www.xcalak.info.

 E-mail Deputy Travel Editor Spud Hilton at travel@sfchronicle.com.

My bullet pointed life

2007-03-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Where would I be without the handy bullet point?

We've set the wedding date at March 1, 2008 after consulting Master Neo, the geomancer. Apparently it's a good day to be buried too.
We set up a joint account which was strictly supposed to be our wedding war chest. We put it to work at Ikea. On necessities. S$450 worth of necessitites. Like matching towel sets, coloured cardboard boxes and ramekins.
Claire has decided to take another job after having just changed companies a month ago. It had seemed like the perfect company, with great benefits and a great client, but the work just wasn't there. In the end, if you can't do any good work because the client hasn't got the money, foresight or inclination to be innovative, then it's probably not a good idea to stick around.
I've been interviewing the past few weeks. It sounds like there are actually looking for people who have done a bit of this and a bit of that in all sorts of different countries!
We're going to Malaysia next week on a visa run since my employment pass runs out next week. Apparently the F1 is on too...

Some things that are making us laugh:

Assbax (the name I've given Claire's imaginary nag) but it's a bastardization of Asbak, which is "ashtray" in Indonesian and Dutch)
Claire's 5 mega ton showers
Making up conversations to our cleaner Margie in a Brooklyn accent: "Yo Muh-ah-ji, you gonna clean the luh-ij room or what?"
"That wedding thing", as in "Claire, we gotta get our invitation list together." "Huh, what for? Oh, you mean for that wedding thing?"
Ian's tendency to hoard: empty containers, paper, bags
"Sheddep"

Catching up...

2007-02-28T22:05:00.000-08:00

So let's see... since the last post, here's what's happened:

I finished up in Delhi, which went very well work-wise, and was also able to go to an Indian wedding where I learnt how to do the snake dance (I'll post a video somewhere...)
All that Indian food added a few inches around the waist line
Claire and I went to HK for Xmas and New Year's
I proposed to Claire on Xmas day, on granny's balcony. I had meant to do it so that she had a grand view of the harbour, but in the excitement of it all, she ended up facing inwards, with all the family looking at her wondering what was going on! I proposed with an ultra-gaudy stand-in engagement ring - and she STILL said 'yes'!! For all those old-school people, no, it wasn't done on one knee.
We came back to SG, I quit my job, and bought a proper ring for Claire (a very nice one, I might add). I even had it in time for a surprise Valentine's gift (along with a home cooked meal and flowers). This time, the ring was presented on BOTH knees, while she was on the couch watching TV.
Mum, Dad and Justin came down after Chinese New Year to meet the future in-laws. It all went incredibly well, with dinners every day, plenty of laughs (on both sides of the family) and I think a very healthy introduction!
Claire and I are thinking of getting married around March '08 now... there's a chance it might still be in October, but I think we'll need the time to plan and save some $$$.
In the meantime, we want to buy a car!! Right now, it's a toss-up between the Suzuki Swift and the Mazda 3...

It's been a bit hectic, since Claire also started a new job. We're just now starting to enjoy a normal life - it's quite a novelty to have dinner at home and watch a vid!

Delhi

2006-11-30T05:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I managed to get out of Seoul a couple of weeks early (I was there for 4 weeks instead of 6), but now I'm in Delhi until December 15th (and probably a little past that), then HK with Claire for 10 days at Xmas, then back to Delhi again for up to 4 months... Ugh!

It's going to be so hard, being away from Claire for that long, but like so many other people that get put in similar positions, we'll get through it. I don't want to do this for forever though, that's for sure - but my reasoning is financial (I need the money!), experience (learning a lot from one of the other guys that was sent here) and... and... er, I think that's it. It always seems like a list should have at least 3 things in it. It's a rhythm thing, I think.

O Seoul-o Mio

2006-11-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

Claire came to visit last weekend. She saved me from an almost complete disinterest I have of Seoul. It's a bit odd really; maybe it's because I didn't choose to come here, maybe because on the surface it's like any large city... but anyway, she passively forced me to get out to see some sights with her, and, not surprisingly, we had a great time.

We stopped a very nice man who spent a lot time trying to get a good picture of us (neither of us thinks we're photogenic... maybe he didn't either!). Anyway, it's a very ordinary backdrop, I know...! Oh well. It's the subject matter that matters. But just for posterity, this is just behind the Shinsegae department store in Namdaemun.

Seoul club and bar names are great, with names like "Giant Big Man Club", "Don't Tell Momma" (aparently a place where married women pick up younger guys), "Sexy Chicks", "Beer Angels"... The list goes on. And around our office, there are about 10 bars called 'sexy bars', but according to a co-worker, they're just normal bars. I don't believe it - just like Damien won't believe that I haven't already checked these out for myself!

The 7 Monkeys Coffee house looks like a nice place you'd find professionals, young couples and families... so what the hell is with this pen holder by the counter??

"Teenie Weenie"?? Taken out of context, you wouldn't have any idea it's a kid's clothing store!

"Matching Mole" - they even have 'diet salads'.

"Ambitious again! Guys, be ambitious!" If anyone has a good interpretation of this, I'd love to hear it.

There some protests going on in the area, which I gather is not uncommon. These riot police were all gone a minute after this was taken - we turned around and they were gone! Spooky...

I love this sign, which was on the inside of a revolving door. The picture in the middle with the guy banging his head whilst running full-pelt at the glass just cracks me up!

This is a boiling pot of silk-worm larvae. Aparently people love the stuff. I don't get it. I's an indescribable putrid stench; slightly herbal but at the same time with an undertone of feline faeces and urine. Blecch.

A street-side food stand - complete with live-octopus. You're supposed to put them in your mouth, live. The idea is that you have to chew these very quickly, otherwise it'll suffocate you by clinging to the inside of your throat. Mmmm.

Having a coffee and crowd watching in Myong-dong.

The weekend after Claire was here, I went to check out Insa-dong, where there are galleries, antique shops, arts and craft stores and a pretty large bar and restaurant area near-by. There was an Andy Warhold exhibition in a very funky gallery area called Ssamize. The building is rectangular, with shops and galleries on the four sides, each side sloping gently upward to the next level. Part of the installation were umbrellas, with the inside painted with blue sky and clouds.

I'm heading back to Singapore this Thursday, then leaving for Delhi on Sunday, where I'll be for at least 3 weeks. I've got a feeling I'll be back in Seoul shortly after new year and potentially in India for an extended period too. This isn't going to be easy on Claire and I... We had a long chat last night about how ordinarily we both don't believe in long-distance relationships: we both want to get our careers in order, save some money... but we're going to try to make this work. Wherever I'll be, I think we'll be able to see each other maybe every 2 or 3 weeks. Boy, this is going to be tough...

More mixed news!

2006-10-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

The not-so-great news: I'd booked my tickets to HK so that I could be with mum and dad, only to find out that I had to go to Korea for work straight from HK... and I'm going to be there for 6 weeks!!! Ugh. Well, it could've been worse - it could've been India for 6 weeks. (I'm dreading that that will be the next one...)

The great news: Well, I arrived in HK and went straight to the hospital. Jo, Si and Sandy were there, as well as dad and jus; all very cheery and apparently pretty chill. The surgery was all fine, though they're running some more tests which won't come back till next week, but so far so good. Mum actually came home this morning, looking fit and happy as though nothing had happened! She's even lining up a game of mahjong for Wednesday! Incredible. I'm going to stay until Wednesday so that I can be here for mum's b'day on the 31st, and then hop on a flight to Seoul.

Back to the not-so-great news: This trip is kind of a hassle - being away for that long is pretty disruptive, especially since I'd just started to feel settled in SG, and had just started seeing Claire. Thankfully, she's been a champ about it, and she's going to help me take care of a few things while I'm away. I'm going to try and get her out to Seoul in a few weeks. But, to be positive about the whole thing, I had a look online, and it gets down to -15°C (a bit of a shock) so I reckon I'll bring my snowboard and make the most of it... And, the other bonus is that the food is great. The other other bonus, the 'unmentionable' one, is that Korean girls are supposed to *kssst* hot. Hey, eye candy is eye candy right? You're always allowed to look... But, I'm going to be good. Claire is a really sweet girl and we have a lot of fun together - she doesn't deserve an asshole boyfriend! Luckily I'm not an asshole, eh?

Mixed news

2006-10-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

I found out on Friday that mum has been diagnosed with breat cancer. The doctors say it should be fine as it was caught early, and that treatment these days is nowhere as drastic as in the past. Still, it's very unnerving. After all these years I finally understand the sleepness nights, worry and anxiety that mum and dad have endured with me and jus. Worrying about our parents isn't something that we've had to deal with before - certainly nothing like this. We've been incredibly lucky that they've been so healthy. It's a sobering realization that they really are subject to the laws of nature. Well of course they are, but somehow you don't think about it until something like this happens. You know, they were always there for us, through all the crap that we've been through, always strong through their own parent's deaths and illnesses. How naive, at 35, to still think of your parents as infallible and invincible (ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration...). I'm so glad that I'm not too far from them - I've booked a flight home so that I can be there post-op and through till her birthday.

So now for the other part of the "mixed" news, though it seems so self-centred talking about it now. Ah, what the hell. Last night I had a fantastic first date with Claire. I'd met her at Bruno's birthday barbie a couple of weeks back, and then only twice in passing since then. She's fiesty, cute, and through no design or conscious targetting, at 27, she's 8 years younger than me. I can hear a couple of chuckles out there, but I'm telling you, I had no idea. And the other thing is, she's recently single! Apparently her last bf was immature and not experienced in the ways of the world - my crappy recollection of what was really said - but anyway, I obviously take it as a very, very good sign. Oh, AND she's got GREAT teeth and nice hands. What more could I ask for?

I waited for her at our corner table in PS Cafe, by floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the garden and ordered a vodka Martini, stirred, not shaken (haha HAHAHA - yes really). When she arrived a respectable 15 minutes late, I got up and bent to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head the wrong way and we ended up kissing on the lips. Not too a bad mistake to make on a first date, if you were going to make one, I suppose. We had a fantastic meal: we shared a sticky prawn salad (though they weren't sticky), then a mousaka and a beef/mushroom ragout and a crumble of some description. Then we had a bottle of wine 'round the corner at another bar. Nice place - a little chichi, but pretty chill. It was non-stop talk and banter through the whole night; good laughs through it all, and as we walked down a long, dark road to find a cab I held her hand, using the excuse, of course, that it was a long, dark road. I dropped her off at her house, kissed her, and got a commitment to see her this afternoon and tonight.

I can hear a couple of people out there (notably Dora, if she actually has time to read rubbish like this now) asking "SO, we want to know more about Claire!" So, this is what I know so that you will stop hassling me for at least a little while:

- she works downstairs from me, at Y&R for the Singapore Tourism Board account as an account exec.
- she studied photography and film studies in Toronto...
- she was in Toronto for 6 years
- her house is a REALLY long way from mine!
- she's about 5 foot nothing
- she had a 5 hour long hair do and colour treatment before last night's date, which is why she was a bit late
- she's sassy
- she's the youngest of 3 kids and she has something like 30 1st cousins
- she lives at home with her mum
- she has a schnauzer-beagle cross (didn't ask for the name, not really that interested)
- um...
- she chills at home, doesn't really go out that much
- she cooks (finally, a gf that cooks - not that she's officially a gf...)
- she could give you a good synopsis and critique of The Departed with a comparison of the original HK movie Infernal Affairs (even though she did film studies, she's no art-house snob)
- she believes that I should have a phone purse so that it doesn't get scratched. I flatly rejected this idea. I think she was joking.
- she's into the idea of taking me around the city.

Finally, life outside the office...

2006-10-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

Loula's 'back to school' birthday at Velvet.
There were poles, so it was obviously my responsibility to get the girls up there - leading by example, of course.

Check out how red the guy's face is on the left... Even Loula's shocked!

Who is that crazy man?

2006-09-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Hahahaha - Tania just sent some more photos from Mahahual and one of them was this gem:

This was a pre-meat fest during one of our trips to Playa del Carmen. Hilarious.

Things are beginning to settle down a bit at work, though I'm still pulling pretty long hours. I've been buying stuff for the flat - I've bought all the same crap so many times in the last 5 years (kitchen stuff, bedding, bathroom etc) I'm pretty good at it now.

There's a public holiday coming up on the 23rd - 24th of October and I was hoping to get away diving, but I stopped in at a travel agent today when I was at the shopping mall (buying afore mentioned house crap for the millionth time) and it looks like everything's booked out! I suppose it's not a bad thing - it'll give me a chance to explore a bit of Singapore, which I really haven't done yet. This'll be good too seeing as the fam + 3 aunts are coming down the following weekend for mum's birthday.

Going to a workmate-cum-client's bday barbie cookout/pool-side chill later in the afternoon. It's been pissing it down all day but I'm sure that won't dampen celebrations too much!

comments?

2006-08-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

I've just realized that there's a setting for reader comments... NOW you can leave a comment without having to register! Go on, say something...

Jet-lagged in Seattle (and sleepless too)

2006-08-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

The question I'm asking myself is "which inanities of my work life do I leave in?". The second question I'm asking is "if I'm writing about asking myself a question, should I leave the question mark, close the quote and leave a full-stop (or 'period' in American English if you prefer)?". It looks a little odd, doesn't it?

Well, work seems to be all about reports. Which report to use for what purpose and for whom. It's really quite ridiculous. Just yesterday I was given a schedule of what reports are required on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. This covers the official, 'global' set, but that doesn't include the additional, oh, 5, that my boss wants. Ugh.

A couple of weekends ago I started looking at flats. I saw 7 in total, and actually, those were the only 7 I saw before I signed a contract. When I started out, I was still very nervous about the situation at work, and thought to myself that if it was really as bad as I'd thought, maybe getting a rental place for 2 years (the standard in Sing) wasn't a good idea. Then I rationalized it and thought, well, the only alternative would be to stay at the serviced apartment, which was going to be double the monthly rent I was looking at. I also thought that if I committed to a place, then I'd be putting a stake in the ground and that I'd HAVE to make things work. We'll see if this turns out to be stupid or not.

Anyway, my first choice was a fantastic place: a quiet 2 bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of a low-rise building. Modern with a common swimming pool and grassy area, simply decorated but elegant and looking out onto trees with not another building in sight. My second choice was also a good option: a 10 minute walk to the beach; modern, shared pool; 3 (!!) bedrooms, all very new appliances (widescreen, surround, fancy looking airconditioners); brand new construction.

The offer for my first choice fell through unfortunately (after a bit of going back and forth), so I'm now, I believe, the proud tenant of a place that I don't believe has enough built-in storage space. Yes, one of the things I didn't check out properly when I was looking at the place - hey! I was overwhelmed by the comfy looking sofa, wide-screen and fancy LCD panel on the A/C! I say "I believe" I'm the tenant, since the agent had to meet me at Changi airport as I was leaving for the US so that I could resign the contract because of some minor additions to the contract: something about not allowing illegals to stay. Whatever.

So why did I rush through it and only see 7 places, considering that the last 2 times I went apartment hunting I saw 30 places each time? Well, my time at the serviced apartment is rapidly coming to an end, and there's no way I'm going to pay to stay there ($5000+ Sing a month!) and now I'm in Seattle for training and then in Italy for Roger and Vero's wedding... and by the time I get back to Sing, I'll only have 5 days (all during the week) to move out of the serviced apt.

So, last Thursday, after a hectic morning of back to back conference calls, last minute flight changes, picking up plane tickets, picking up Jessica's bike to bring to Seattle, rental contract resigning and slow airport security checks, I left for Seattle via LA.

Here's a definition for Seattle that I found on dictionary.com (I didn't expect to find a city there, so I thought I'd try):
"A city of west-central Washington bounded by Puget Sound and Lake Washington. First settled in the 1850s, it prospered after the coming of the railroad in 1884 and became a boom town during the Alaskan gold rush of 1897. It is now an important commercial, transportation, and industrial hub and a major port of entry. Population: 516,259."

You know when you have to fill-in the immigration forms they give you on the plane? I had no idea which state Seattle was in - had to ask some Brittish guy, who it turns out was an engineer who spent the last 3 months driling holes in the engines of container ships while cruising from LA, all the way over to Hong Kong then Singapore. The jobs people have eh? He was behind me on the plane and he snored like a bastard. Singapore Airlines business class is pretty good - seats that go pretty much flat... Way better than TWA business class (the only other I've flown) - how could you compare the two, really, eh? I was a bit disappointed by the lamb biryani though.

Seattle seems like a nice place - clean air, green, on the water... Jessica's house is great. The bedrooms are downstairs, upstairs the living/dining room and kitchen, and then they have a roof deck, with no other houses looking down or over it. From the living room they have an east-looking view of the water. Fantastically huge windows give an almost panoramic view of Lake Washington and this morning, sunlight beamed through the trees to chase away the unexpectedly chilly air. They have 2 grassy yards too, one was FILLED with crab apples that had fallen from the tree over-hanging one of the sets of stairs leading to yard from the upper floors. We had lunch with 2 of Jessica and Willem's friends - what's-her-name had just finished training for a sprint triathalon she's doing tomorrow; what's-his-name is part of a 5 member, 360 km fund-raising bikeride team, of which Jessica and Willem are a part. The immediate vicinity around our lunch table were 100 or so other triathletes, lunching with numbers proudly scrawled in thick black marker on shoulders. In my mind, Seattle is known for:
1) Microsoft
2) being the home of Starbucks (I saw the original Starbucks)
3) being the home of my ex-girlfriend Susie who I proposed to, who happens to work at Microsoft and if I'm really unlucky will wind up as a client, and who I haven't decided yet if I'll call or not (but I can make the excuse that I don't have her number)
4) Seattle grunge
5) being full of granola eaters

Item 4 was clearly demonstrated today.

In between sleepless nights worrying about work (which is stupid, close to being futile and unhealthy, I know) I've been thinking about starting 2 other blogs. One would be for my godson (I had to lookup whether or not 'godson' was one word or two... who knew?) and/or future children: a place to write Chau wisdom and all the things I think a young human might like to know about being an older human. The other would be random prose that I think about writing when I'm sleepless. Maybe it'll be a place for showcasing artistic projects like a painting I've been thinking about painting for about 16 years, or a picture of my bean stew from Mahahual that I've been meaning to recreate. Maybe I won't get around to it. Ha, but I bet it would be a laugh eh?

... and into the frying pan!

2006-08-11T03:43:00.000-07:00

What a first week.

I've had a nightmare trying to understand the client business and all the millions of acronyms they use. I even started creating a dictionary in Excel!

It turns out that people in the office hate my boss and the client doesn't like him either, which isn't good. Oddly enough, I get along with him fine - but then, there aren't too many people that I don't get along with. So anyway, because of him, 3 people are leaving the office at the end of the month, which is really going to stir things up, and others are looking around. On top of all that, I'm going to Seattle in the last week of this month. I think that when I get back there won't be anyone here! (You may be asking why I didn't have any idea of any of this before I signed... Well, I interviewed with other people, and I didn't do it in Singapore! There's something to be learned here...)

Well, given all of that, I'm thinking that it might be best to stay in the serviced apartment until things calm down. Signing a lease seems a little premature. I mean, I'm going to stick it out, but if business turns upside down because of the departures, then I'm kinda out of a job!

It's also been a week of meeting after meeting, conference calls at 830am and 10pm - and most of it sounds something like this:

"We've got to get the SOWs going for all the BGs in subs, headed up by RHQs where appropriate. Everything's gotta go by the SLAs as determined by GRMG, and take note that metrics set by ROMI may need to be entered into CSTAR. Check for docs on MYKE or MYC."

"MQPs may be generated from either a BG (STB, MED, HED, IW, or MBS) campaign or for example a BDM/TDM campaign, such as OSYCI, APIO."

I could go on, but you get the gist.

But, I have to say that I'm enjoying it! Call me a masochist, or just plain stupid - whatever!

Singapore!

2006-08-04T03:21:00.000-07:00

So indeed, Singapore has become my new home (unofficially, as far as the authorities are concerned... ssshh!).

I arrived today, after a cancelled flight last night due to a typhoon that caused hundreds of flights to be diverted, delayed or canceled. I was at the airport at 10:30am for my 1:30pm flight, and waited until 7pm, which is when they announced the flight was cancelled. After nearly missing my flight this morning, I've now settled into my large, one-bedroom serviced apartment (for which the company is paying for the next month) and I'm rewarding myself with duty-free scotch!

I hopped into a cab at Changi International Airport and was nearly overcome by the driver's stinky feet - nice as he was, he really shouldn't take his shoes off to drive people around. The apartment is on the 22nd floor and has a large living room with dining area, a decent sized kitchen and a bedroom with ensuite. I reckon it's about 800 sqft. I'm facing south-east, with a view of trees, the sea and my office building!

I popped over to the office (the building's right next door, but it's at least 500m away) to sign a few things and to pick up my SIM card, which the company is paying for too. Hooray!

I was here about 2 years ago and liked it a lot, and I've got to say that I'm very ready to call this home for at least a few years. The food is great, it's close to great dive spots, close to [my other] home and, let's face it, the girls are pretty!

Alisha get's here next Friday. By coincidence (or divine providence), she's taken a job here after having just graduated from business school. We know each other from Beijing, where we'd met when I was helping her then-roommate move. When she answered the door, I was smitten. Just like that, I knew that I was going to try the hardest I'd ever tried to charm a woman. After about a month of intense, laser-guided wooing, she finally agreed to see-/go-out with-/become involved with- me. What on earth do you call it these days? I'm out of touch. Anyway, after 9 short months, we split up in light of her impending departure for b.school, though we stayed in touch and are still good friends. I'm looking forward to catching up and having a food buddy. You can always count on her for going somewhere for good food!

Well, it's now officially the start of my first weekend here so it's time to go and see what's about. Life is an adventure!

Tokyo

2006-07-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

The last stop, at least for now...

Or is it?

I met with Bill and Stephane last night, and it all went really well. The position has expanded from being a South East Asia Operations Lead to APAC Operations Lead, which is, obviously, a larger role, and I should be getting an offer this week. I could even potentially be starting as early as August 1, in Singapore!

I just sent them a list of things I'd like included in the package, something that, strangely, I'd never done before. If it all comes through, I should be a pretty happy little fella. I shouldn't jinx myself, but I think I've got a pretty good chance at getting everything I want.

So, it could be Singapore in 10 days... and I even told them about Roger and Vero's wedding in Italy that I'd like to go to end of August, which they were fine about.

Tokyo was just as crazy as I'd expected it to be, though it it wasn't as alien as I was expecting. Certain things were in English, and there was some level of spoken English too. There were more recognizable Chinese characters than I'd expected too. But, I was disappointed to not see vending machines for the wild and wacky (e.g. used panties) . Staying in Shinjuku, a red light district was just as colourful as Manchiu and Makiko had promised. Love hotels, 'gentlemen's clubs', aggressive touts, and curtains that hid kinkiness for sale from plain view. Girls in crazy gothic outfits with ghostly pale makeup. Punks with tatoos and piercings. Intricate hair-gelled dos all around, and plenty of cowboy boots. All this of course mixed with the ubiquitous suited and brief-cased salary-man.

It rained almost the entire time was there, but I managed to wander around Shinjuku as soon as I'd dropped my bag off at the hotel. I searched for ages for just the right kind of place to have some dinner; would it be sushi, deep fried goodies, noodles, tepanyaki, Japanese curry. You can see how making a choice was hard! Eventually, I settled for a little sushi place, nestled between a couple of nightspots for the lonely male. It was also interesting to see clubs where women go to talk to, and be flattered and flirted with, hosts: handsome young fellas that I couldn't help but call rent boys (the customers were definitely women though).

Well, I've only got a minute left, so I'll wrap it up.

Until the next stop, adios!

New York

2006-07-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

After 2 cancelled flights and plane swapping because of mechanical faults, I finally arrived in New York and headed to Manchiu's place; my crash-pad-of-choice when I'm in New York.

I almost didn't recognize the apartment: I couldn't believe how clean it was! This, I came to learn over then next 2 days was all thanks to Makiko, his very nice (and very clean and tidy) girlfriend. She's an installation artist - I've seen some of her work and it's a really interesting mulitmedia experience that mixes very soft, organic shapes created by fabric and fabric wrapped lights and forms, with patterns projected on and through them. Apparently it's all got to do with birth canals and wombs and things like that.

Anyway, Manchiu's sister arrived from London, and so I decided to check into a hotel, which for the week is costing an arm and a leg. But, considering that a friend of mine is staying with me, it was too much to ask of my other friends for us both to stay.

It's been a nice relaxing time, visiting old restaurants and a few old hangouts. It's amazing that they're still there after 6 years. There are still a few places left on the list, one of which we're going to hit tonight. I think it may actually end up being a bit of a celebration. Why? Well, I had my interview today, and I think it went very well. So well in fact that when I'm in Tokyo, I'll meet again with one of the interviewers from today (Bill, the global head of HR) and one other person who I believe is in charge of Asia.

Because the whole interview thing came up when I was already in Mexico, I hadn't packed any decent clothes. This gave me an excuse to blow a ton of money at Ted Baker (great clothes) and Kenneth Cole. The outfit was brilliant, thanks to my friend Claudia, who loves to shop vicariously through anyone willing to spend a lot of money. Although, the trousers were altered maybe a quater inch too short - something I'll have to get fixed once back in HK.

Anyway, I met with Lisa first, who was the Global Microsoft HR Director then with Bill and Joan, (VP of Talent Management... I think that was her title). They seemed to have heard some good things through Jessica, and so I really didn't spend much time talking about my past, but more about what I wanted to do. To be honest, it's all a bit vague - there are perhaps more than one position that may be a good fit, all the result of an organisational decision to restructure the whole of Asia for the Microsoft account, and part of the reason why I'm going to talk to them again in Tokyo.

In any case, it will most likely be operational, with possibly some client facing responsibilities. I think Bill was actually trying to get me to go back to Beijing but I was honest with him and told him straight up, no, I wasn't interested! I also told him that I wouldn't be as well dressed. Ha ha!

I'm heading off to Tokyo on Monday, which I'm very excited about. My friends have suggested Shinjuku because it's fairly central and pretty interesting - apparently because it's a bit of a red light area! The hotel is rated as a 4 star, but I'm a little dubious about that, seeing as I'm paying less than USD100 per night. I was going to book a capsule hotel, but really, it didn't seem very convenient at all, especially with my ridiculously heavy bags. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to simply wandering the streets having ramen noodles and gyoza in little streetside stalls and checking out all the whacky things you can buy in vending machines.

Calamitous Caye Caulker, Belize

2006-07-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

We crossed over the border into Belize by bus from Merida, via Chetumal, after a gruelling overnight journey.

Bad-luck-event 1: Right from the minute we even tried to get into the country, we started having problems. Rhi wasn´t allowed in because her son Mac was on her passport, and so the other 4 of us went through. The reason the fishing-hat-wearing immigration official gave was that the lady who dealt with those cases didn´t turn up until 6am: she´d have to wait for an hour. Unsurprisingly, she never did showe up (after waiting more than an hour). The fishing-hat-wearing immigration guy finally said "Oh, I can take care of that... for $50 US". As if that wasn´t enough of a slap in the cheek, she didn´t have enough money on her, and he told her that she´d have to go back to Chetumal (back the way we´d come) to get cash. I mean, this is 6am, Rhi is travelling with lots of heavy bags and she has a 4 year old. Give the girl a break!

Belize City was much poorer and less developed than I´d expected. To be fair, the area around the bus station wasn´t a good area anyway, but at 8am, all the rough edges were glaring, front and centre. It was grey and drizzling, the roads all seemed to be deeply pitted dirt roads and the station itself swarmed with fare-hungry cab drivers. Our Jamaican driver seemed friendly, only to add ridiculous charges for stopping at an ATM while we withdrew cash.

We crossed over an unbelievably murky river to the water taxi pier, which again was swarming with people looking to cash in on tourist confusion. Interesting characters though - white guys with Creole accents, Mennonites (kind of Amish, visually kind of cowboy), Jamaicans, Chinese, East Asian Indians and everything in between.

We arrived in Caye Caulker, which is an hour´s boat ride away (a boat powered by three-250 horsepower outboards) to be greeted by a rain storm that lasted half an hour and left the sandy streets with deep pools.

Bright spot event: After 2 days of saturation from rain and reggae we finally were able to dive the Blue Hole, the main reason for our going to Belize in the first place. This was a 3 dive trip, the first to the Blue Hole atoll, then Half Moon Caye and finally The Aquarium. All were spectactular dives: we saw grey reef sharks, eagle rays, turltles, plenty of Southern stings, file fish, blue parrotfish (and lots more I don´t know the names of) and lots of weird and wonderful coral formations that we didn´t see in Mahahual. There were sponges that could fit at least 2 small children into, some long ones 8 feet long... Simply spectactular diving. We went through some deep swim-throughs to pop out onto an amazing reef wall covered in coral larger and more dense than anything I´d seen. Ah, if only the whole trip was like this.

Bad-luck-event 2: After a night out, one of the girls, Kirsty (she was actually a staff intern in Mahahual) broke her arm. Interesting circumstances, but I´m afraid I can´t divulge them here. She had to go back to the mainland to see a doctore, who told here that she´d need surgery to fix a damaged nerve. Scary news, especially when you´re away. To add to the bad luck, Kirsty had already organized to do her diving intructor´s course in Honduras, but she now has to fly home to properly set her arm, which was broken in four places.

The third piece of bad luck was the most serious. Bel, who had gone to Mexico City while we were in Merida (and so missed out on our Blue Hole dive) booked herself to go a couple of days after we´d been. Some other GVI folks who happened to be there at the same time were also booked to go, all of them set to leave at 6am. Meanwhile, the rest of us were in bed, only to be woken by the most frightening lightening storms I´d ever been in. It turns out that while we were in bed, Bel´s boat was struck by lightening, knocking out the radio and the engines. All of them were thrown several metres and when they came round, the captain and one of the divemasters were unconscious. One of the other divemasters swam 400m to shore to get help, the rest took it in turns to do CPR. Luckily, a British army helicopter was nearby - still an hour and a half away - all the while they performed CPR on the captain and the divemaster. I can attest to at least the physical aspect of how tiring this is: I can only imagine how traumatic it must have been to do it in a real situation. The helicopter took them to a nearby resort, those with less serious injuries returned to Caye Caulker with stitches, bruises, torn eardrums, and scorched skin from metallic jewellery, while the captain of the boat and the other seriously injured crew member were taken to a hospital.

We found out the next day that the captain was fine, but couldn´t see out of one eye due to a splinter. The other crew member didn´t make it. It may sound like an abrupt way to say it, but I suppose that´s the way it must be, especially for a second-hand account.

I´m now in Playa del Carmen, again, and even simply recounting the story of the lightening strike seems surreal. Tomorrow I fly to New York. And on a brighter note, I have an interviews lined up for July 12th with the global HR people in New York. Time to make some money again.

Merida

2006-06-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

From Holbox, we took a 5am ferry to the mainland to catch a bus to Valladolid. We just had time to grab some pastries before our bus to Chitzen Itza left. Chichen Itza was once a thriving Mayan city and then for reasons unknown, was abandoned in around 900 AD - my guess is because it's so damned hot! The ruins there are impressive and extensive... here´s a good little summary of the site.

From Chitzen Itza we went to Merida, which is the capital of the State of Yucatan. It was a nice change from the beach, with it's buildings, culture and sand-free beds. One afternoon we went to the zoo (ostensibly to entertain Rhi's 4 year old Macallan, but we had just as much fun!). On the walk back to the hotel I got separated from the group; lost in my own little world of taking pictures of the colourful buildings (and hailing a cop car when I thought it was a cab). It was late afternoon, the streets were deserted and for a good 20 minutes, there wasn't a single car. Siesta is such a pragmatic, and civilised, thing.

From Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, the area around the central square is closed to traffic and there are live bands, food and souvenir stalls and a lot of local men looking to give travelling women a dancing lesson. On Sunday afternoon, the flag is lowered by an out of tune and, it's got to be said, a little lackadaisical, police brass band and traffic is rightly restored to the streets.

Whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins and flamingos

2006-06-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, that's a whale shark right there - one of about 10 we saw today. WOW!

We left Holbox by boat at 6:30am to go to an area an hour and a half north of the island. This area is very rich in plankton from May to September every year, and during this period, over a hundred whale sharks come to feed and mate. According to the guide, Elvis, the whale sharks only became known to the general public 4 years ago when a diver from Playa came up and talked to local fishermen who mentioned huge 'domino' fish. The diver suddenly realized that they were talking about whale sharks: the spots on their skin looked like a domino's spots.

Each of us swam with a whale shark 3 times, each time for up to 5 minutes from it's head to tail. The smallest we saw today was about 8m, the largest about 10m long.

It' s an absolutely awe inspiring thing, to swim with such a huge fish, first seeing it's huge gaping mouth, then gazing into one of it's eyes and then watching bubbles come out of it's gills, then keeping pace for as long as you can as it glides along, feeding on plankton as it moves, then finally trying to avoid being side-swiped by it's enormous tail as it sweeps past you. Of course, you try to keep a respectable distance away, but you can't always tell which way such a huge thing will go and if it wants to, it can swim much faster than your feeble fins can take you. Having said that, they were very gracious and allowed us quite a lot of 'face time'. Bel took some underwater shots and a short video, which I'll get my hands on later, but we were also really lucky to have a chance for shots from the boat as some swam right alongside the boat and one right under the bow.

Another amazing sight today was a 2m manta ray (no pics unfortunately) that also came up right alongside the boat, and then later, one flew out of the water some distance away. The 2m one (from wing tip to wing tip) seemed gigantic as it breached the water not 4 feet away but the guide said they grow to 4m, an unimaginable size.

As we approached the northeren end of Holbox island, to stop at a bay to see flamingos, we saw a couple of dolphins in the distance: it's something that always makes you feel good.

Some of the colourful buildings in Holbox.

Goodbye, Mahahual

2006-06-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

The last week on base was an intense and frenzied rush to finish the divemaster course, site monitoring and base clean up, and all of those things interrupted by stormy weather. The storms did, however, provide quite a bit of wind which successfully drove away the mosquitos but unfortunately not the sand flies.

Our last morning on base started at 6:30am as usual, and we had to pack, clean and scrub the dorm with bleach, all done as quickly as possible so that we could catch a 10:30am bus. We rushed to the bus stop on time, but that didn´t leave us any time to say goodbye to any of the friends we´d made in town as we´d hoped we would. We waited a frustrating 45 minutes (though I´ve waited an hour and a half for the same bus before), then Doug, who runs a bar just down the road from the base, turned up and told us that the bus company that runs that particular bus route wasn´t operating for a couple of weeks. We all piled our bags and ourselves into the back of the ute and drove up the road to the other bus station, getting stopped by the police along the way (making it the second time I´d been stopped with Doug (though this time we didn´t have to go to the police station, and nobody stayed in jail for the night - another story for another time). Anyway, this all worked out perfectly, because now we had 2 hours and could say goodbye to our friends Gustavo and Esperanza. We had a couple of michelada´s (a kind of bloody mary with beer - a surprisingly good combination and something I learned to love early on, along with lime with salt) and some food between us, and said our goodbye´s. Gustavo and Rhi were quite teary, which was very sweet and we went back down the road to the bus stop. I asked the bus driver to toot the horn on the way past Gustavo´s and as we were coming up to the restaurant, we found them standing outside waiting and waving, wearing sunglasses to hide (I like to think) the tears.

We arrived in Playa del Carmen on Monday and had 2 days of relaxation, final paperwork and then we said goodbye to half of the group. These goodbyes, though sad, weren´t as hard to say as we´d thought they might be (at least for those of us continuing on) but we´ll definitely miss them in the coming weeks.

The remaining 6 of us are now relaxing in Holbox and we´ve booked ourselves on a boat tomorrow to see whale sharks. We´ll hopefully see manta rays and dolphins too. Holbox is a relaxed, colourful and quiet island that seems like a great place to relax for a while. We only got here yesterday, so I haven´t seen much yet but each of us had the same first impression: "ÿeah, I could live here"!

Some pics from the previous week that I thought I'd posted about...

Another amazing meal at Gustavo's. Ostensibly, Nell and I went up to make tortillas but really it was more about eating. Enchiladas at left rear; mole chicken front; machaca at right; all with homemade corn tortillas. There are different types of machaca - this one is a breakfast dish with eggs, tomatoes and a little chili, but essentially it's slow cooked beef and quite dry but very tender and very tasty.

Making homemade tortillas with Esperanza.

Our final meal at Luna de Plata, our very friendly and very good Italian joint just up the road from us. They have wine, cold beer, spirits AND LIMONCELLO!!! Rhi and my favourite place to get away from the gang for a while and forget about the 3 beer limit on base. From left: Joel, Sophie, Nell, Bel, Mat.

Dolphins, turtles and tests

2006-06-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Today, one of the boat groups swam with a pod of 10 dolphins... wow! That reminded me of my swim with dolphins - I can't believe I forgot to mention it a couple of weeks ago! We had just finished a monitoring dive and were heading back to base, when a pod of 6 dolphins crested and started playing in the bow wave. Our boat is only about 4m long, so seeing them right there was just amazing. What made it even better was that the captain stopped the boat so we could jump in and swim with them! There were 2 adults with 2, um, babies (what do you call them - pups?) and 2 adolescents and they were pretty curious about us; swimming around and below us, checking us out. We spent 45 minutes with them, after which they figured out that we weren't as interesting as all that!

A group just came back from a turtle nesting project. They were about 4 hours north by road, and for 4 nights from 9pm till 4am, they relocated eggs that were laid too close to the sea and surveyed the turtle species (there were green, loggerhead and hawksbill) and the number of eggs laid, which is done by putting your hand right under the turtle as she's laying.

We've seen a lot of turtles in the water lately, which is great because for a period of about 3 weeks, we hadn't had one sighting. The other day on my photo specialty dive, one of the staff members videoed a turtle that was 3 feet from us. It doesn't matter how many times you see one; they are amazing.

The Dive Master training has been pretty tough, though I passed all my written exams. Now, I have some underwater skills left and the swimming stamina/speed tests which are a bit scary. I haven't swum 400m since high school, and i have to now do it in 11 minutes or under, without a mask or flippers. This may not sound difficult, but in the sea, where there are waves waiting to flood your every breath, it's 2 and a half minutes that I have to cut off my current time. I also have to shave 3 minutes from my 21 for the 800m snorkel (with fins). Anyway, we've been getting up at 6am for the last 3 days in an effort to get fit enough to pass. The next test is next week sometime.

If the swimming were not enough to deal with, the mosquitos now at this time are just scary. They swarm on you as soon as you step outside. The sea is only 10m from our dorm, but in that distance you'll gather at least 50 hungry mosquitos. Even when we kit up for diving and we have wet suits on, they still manage to bite through a 3mm and needless to say, any exposed skin is just covered. And this isn't even the worst it gets!

Not related to the Mexico experience at all, i have a request from Australia for a custom onebean cartoon for corporate use! I'm still finding out what the details are, but that could be exciting! Gabrielle, the lady who made the request said she came across it "just from surfing around" - it's amazing how these things happen.

Birthday Fun

2006-06-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a birthday. To start the day, I had a fantastic dive at a really nice spot with beautiful coral. Then, I completed my training for Rescue Diver with underwater searches and 'unconscious diver rescue'. Later that day, one of my English students gave me a 1 ounce, solid, pure silver coin for my birthday (I wasn't allowed to refuse it: my Mexican buddy Joel said it was rude to refuse - what's a guy to do??), followed by a fantastic meal at Gustavo's. That's him in the photo with his wife Esperanza. She's promised to teach me how to make a mole sauce: I think Sunday might be the day! Thanks all for the birthday emails, and see you all end July!

SVL

2006-05-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post... we're all sadly realizing that there's only 2 and a half weeks left, but I've put off the inevitable by delaying my flights - just by a little bit. After the program finishes, the plan is to go to Playa for a couple of days partying with the group, then north to Merida for a few days, Chichenitza to see ruins, maybe to Uxmal to see some more (my friend Daniella from Merida says that these ruins are in the jungle, which could be a little "Indiana Jones"... cool), Holbox (pronounced Holbosh) to see whalesharks, then south to Belize for more diving (mainly the Blue Hole, which Jacques Cousteau created by blasting a hole in the reef to get his boat free - a little controversial really) and rain forrests, possibly Panama to stay at a friend's B&B, then all the way back to Cancun for my flight to NYC!

In other exciting news, today we witnessed deadly Squirrel Vs Lizard treetop fights, which resulted in mummy squirrel tumbling 14 ft to the ground while defending her treetop nest from the mean and scaly iguana. She lay dazed and motionless for a good 5 minutes before stumbling off into the mangroves (where she'll probably end up getting munched by bigger and meaner lizards). Meanwhile, daddy squirrel tried ninja-speed darting attacks at the lizard, but that didn't really work, and so now the baby squirrels are probably lizard poo.

And of course tomorrow I turn 35. It would be nice to be home with friends and family, but really, I think this is a pretty damn good alternative. After teaching tomorrow, we're going up to Gustavo's restaurant. He's putting a little party on for me and a few of the gang. We became friends with Gustavo just a couple of weeks ago, and as it turns out, he had only must moved down here with his wife a few days before we'd met him. Anyway, he's a really nice Mexican guy whose wife grills some mean arracherra (marinated flank steak) and she makes an awesome mole. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's feast - we're promised some special dishes! Mmmmm.

Haircut fun

2006-05-22T15:54:00.001-07:00

Well, I seem to have bad luck with haircuts when away, and this trip has been no exception. I asked Alice to do my hair with the clippers: number 5 on top and 3 round the sides. We set up a chair in the sand with a 5m extension cord and got things going. There was a small hand mirror, which I checked for the first few passes just to make sure that she knew what she was doing. Seemingly, she did. Things went swimmingly, with the sides done to the appropriate lengths, and all that was left was to even up the top. And then the comb fell off. Alice failed to notice and kept the ciippers pressed close to my scalp, thus leaving a 3 inch by 2 inch bald patch in an otherwise pretty good hairdo. I suppose that's all you could expect when you ask a complete novice to do your hair! Thankfully I've got 4 weeks until my interview in NYC.

You'll also note from the photo that it seems holding up two fingers behind someone's head in pictures is a global phenomenon. Oh joy. That's Arturo, mi amigo Mexicano, by the way.

What else has happened... Playa over the weekend was great, but I didn't manage to do any kiteboarding. But the cenote dives were awesome: the water was incredibly clear (the visibility was at least 50m) but really, really cold. In some places, the passage was only large enough for a single diver to pass while at other points, the cavern extended to maybe 50m wide, with stalactites and stalagmites punching up and down all over the roof and floor. There wasn't too much in the way of life, but there were shrimp, and lots of bogie eating Tetras.

I did my first Divemaster Trainee (DMT) dive today, which meant going on a deep dive with the 4 new 5 weekers. I had a few responsibilities: buy eggs for an underwater demonstration (more on that in a bit), make sure that everyone kitted up properly, lead the buddy check, make sure there no problems with descents/ascents with the group, make sure that there were no wanderers, lead a mental acuity test at depth test and crack an egg and float the yolk around to people. The mental acuity test is to show people that at depth, motor skills are slightly impaired because nitrogen blocks neurons. The egg yolk demo was just to show that pressure acts upon an object at depth from all around it, so that the yolk is spherical and you can bat it around like a ball. Kind of fun, actually. Anyway, the main part was to make sure that the other divers didn't have any problems. But right off the bat, as soon as we started the descent, one girl had equalising problems (pain in the ears) and one girl had a mask full of snot and seawater and she had mask squeeze. Anyway, all problems were sorted out, and I felt like a real, proper diving dude!

The half-way point

2006-05-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Wow. The last 5 weeks have gone by so quickly and I'm fearing the next 5 are going to be a countdown for a return to the 'real' world. But, at least we have another R&R weekend in Playa starting now!

It's been a pretty fun week, even though we weren't able to dive for 4 days due to rough seas. On one of those days I went out for a snorkel and saw a 2m Southern stingray just 2m away, which was the highlight of the week. Although, driving the Hummer comes a pretty close second.

The army regularly patrols our little road, going up and down the coast looking for drug smugglers. Anyway, because they do this at least several times a day, they've become at least pretty familiar with us and us with them. They are pretty relaxed guys and pretty good guys. So good in fact, that I drove their Hummer from town back to base. Oh yes indeedy. And it wasn't just a boy thing - the girls loved having a go too... or maybe it was the Army guys who were more interested in letting the girls drive around in their bikini's.

Also at the top of the list of this week's activities was kite boarding. I went up to Tulum last weeeked to see Jessica and Willem and did an introductory session, which was only an hour an a half, as I had to catch a bus to come back down to Mahahual. Fantastic stuff. I think it's going to be the summer activity of choice for 2006. I'm going to do some more in Playa this weekend and if I can, squeeze in another one in Tulum on the way back from Playa.

The main reason for stopping in Tulum (as far as the rest of the group is concerned) is to do a cenote dive. A cenote is a landbased, freshwater sinkhole with an extensive underground network of tunnels that eventually join up with the sea. They're full of stalactites and stalagmites pitch and black inside, so I'll finally be able to use my dive torch! Jessica was telling me it's amazing to all turn your torches off to see the light playing through the water and casting shadows of fish and underwater structures onto the cavern walls. It also sounds like a nice little adrenalin hit!

Just to round out the week, someone dropped off a 5 inch baby hawksbill turtle to the base this afternoon. They found it on the beach, and it looked as though something had tried to take a bite out of it: there was a piece of the shell missing, though there didn't seem to be any flesh wounds directly underneath. It was obviously tired and in shock, so we put it in a tank of seawater and some rocks for serveral hours to let it rest before taking it out to sea to be released. I was surprised that it was released so soon, but it was done on staff instructions: they should know what they're doing!

Onwards, Upwards

2006-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

There have been sightings of turtles mating, turtles being chased by a lemon shark, another shark sighting today, schools of squid, dolphins, giant barracuda... and what have I seen? A turtle head 100m and 4 squid (which were actually very cool).

But, I am pleased to say that I was the first to attempt and finish a real monitoring survey for one of the sites, and I've now started on the Coral Communities part of surveying. What we'd learned before was called Point Intersect. I won't go into the details, but essentially it's a different way to survey coral and the method includes information on size, predation, disease and tissue death. It's good fun and interesting but pretty hard work: for a given site, doing a Coral Communities survey means recording a lot of data over the typical 30m transect line. And being a coral dude, heads are down and so we miss out on all those other cool sightings.

The buddy pair that spotted the shark today came across an eerie 'Patch of Death': a partially eaten, huge eel, half eaten lobster and fish, dead coral... Just to be safe (but really just being geeky), I brought the dive knife out for the first time. Of course, the fact is that sharks aren't very likely to attach humans... But hey, why not bring it if you've got it? Who wants to be a shark's dinner, anyway?

I made a wicked bean stew with spicy chorizo the other day, which was a bit of a hit. The cookies I tried to make, however, weren't so much of a hit, unless you wanted extra dive weights or something to fend off large predators with. The meals have been pretty good on the whole, a few people have more than half a clue about what to do in a kitchen. But, the biggest bane of everyone's breakfast continues to be porridge. I'm so glad I'd bought the Honey Bunches of Oats in Playa.

Speaking of Playa, we're back there next weekend for the end of Week 5 party. Some people in each group (called Phases) sign up for 5 weeks and not 10, and so those people leave, and we get a fresh batch... and this is an excellent excuse to have a party in a place that includes all the running water you can shake a stick at and food ANYtime you want without you having to make it or wait for a cruise ship to pull into town for. Ah, civilization.

It was great to see Jessica and Willem here in Mahahual, and I'll be seeing them again this weekend, when I'll go up to Tulum to hang on the beach and see some ruins with them. I shouldn't say anything before there's more solid info, but if you know me, I don't tend to keep my mouth shut about interesting news... anyway, the company I was working for in Beijing, Wunderman, is looking for people for the Microsoft account. Jessica, who is in charge of operations globally for the Microsoft account, is recommending me for an Operations Lead position in Singapore, and I'd mainly be looking after Korea and India (yeah, it'll be a challenge). I'll pop into the New York office for an interview when I'm there at the end of June and we'll see what happens after that. But, that's all back of my mind right now - right now, it's all about the coolest thing you can see on your dive. I saw a very cute Manicina areolata today with a weird oblated growth. Yay!

End of Wk 3

2006-04-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a great week - lots of turtle sightings (a 1.5m one was 3m away), spotted sting rays, Southern sting rays, huge black groupers and of course, the usual run of coral, though I did see a fairly rare Dendrogyra cylindrus with it's polyps out!! (keep your hair on, folks, I know it's exciting stuff...). Turtle egg-laying season starts around May 1st too, and hopefully we'll get involved in the turtle projects. I'm not too sure what we'll be doing, but essentially the eggs need protecting from humans, dogs and birds until they hatch. Because it's a developing area, people also need to be educated that bright lights confuse the turtles (who navigate by starlight), making them head back to sea instead of laying their eggs,

We're all getting the hang of monitoring now, which has taken quite a few dives. For coral people like me, it means laying out 30 meters of tape along a certain bearing, hanging upside down (head down, feet up) to read and every 25 cm marking down what lies underneath it. This is called a point intersect transect. It sounded easy enough when we were briefed on land, but believe me, the first time was much harder than expected! Anyway, after 3 practices, we're able to do 2 transects a dive now.

Tonight we've got a "G" party (i.e. dress up in something beginning with G). I'm not a big fan of fancy dress, but it wouldn't really be team spirit to NOT go... Anyway, the trouble is what to make the outfits out of. "Gonorrhea" would be mustard and honey mixed up and smeared all over, "Greek" would be the cop out bedsheet- I decided on "(Papua New) Guinian Gigolo" and I even made a palm frond skirt.

One of the other volunteers, George, just had his 19th birthday, and I was ecstatic to find out that if you have a birthday during a phase (i,e, the period you sign up for), you get sausages, eggs AND pancakes for breakfast!!! And even though the sausages were cryptically described as "bird" sausages, they were a great, meaty treat as opposed to the standard morning fare of porridge. Indeed (don't you get really bugged by sentences that begin that way? I do...) , all our meals are vegetarian except for the Saturday beach bbq and fend-for-yourself-Sundays.

We also started teaching English to some of the locals. I have a beginner group, all of them artisans. It's actually quite fun, although it's a bit taxing to prepare for 2 lessons per week in addition to all the other things that we're doing, We should be starting with the school kids next week I think, though the other adult students won't be coming to class as there are no cruise ships in town (basically, if there are no ships, the town is deserted, and it also means that there are no tourists riding around on ATV's, making a racket out front of our nice, sleepy little beach front base). 3 classes a week will be draining, but the upside is that while we're teaching, one of the staff, Tim, cooks up a veritable feast which is hoovered up in under 5 mins as soon as we get back to base.

It's Saturday afternoon, and I don't have to work for an entire day and a half. What's more, Jessica (my friend and ex-boss from from BJ) and her husband Willem (I think) are arriving today, so we'll be having a few beers I'm sure.

On that note, I'm going to sit in a deck chair in the water and finish my beer. I'm sure that'll be followed by another.

R&R in Playa

2006-04-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

We're in Playa del Carmen this weekend for a little R&R. The other camps in the region should also be here, so it's going to be a pretty huge GVI party weekend by the sounds of it!

The last week was busy with lectures on Emergency First Response training, turtle identification, reef threats and we started learning how to actually do the monitoring. I started my course work for Rescue Diver, and have pretty much decided to do the Dive Master course. That course is going to be A LOT of work!! But it'll mean that I can work professionally in the diving world, so it should be worth it.

While in Playa, we've each got a list of supplies to bring back with us. On my list: Tabasco, Tabasco, Tabasco, dive watch. Yes, the dive watch that I've had for 20 years has finally succumbed to old age, although it was completely my fault. The doo-hicky, turny knob (which does actually have a correct name; something like capstan or turbonkinator...) wasn' screwed in tightly and so now I've got salty condensation inside. Amazingly, it's still going, 2 days on from the water intrusion, but I just know that it's going to give up the ghost any day now.

That's it for now, we've got a busy day ahead!

More sun and beach, anyone?

2006-04-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well I'm glad to report that Rob wasn't suffering from decompression sickness, but he's going up to Playa del Carmen tonight for more tests. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to do any fun stuff at all since the fit, but of course that's to be expected.

Meanwhile, I've completed the first of 2 coral tests - the next is underwater spot testing, which basically means that a member of staff takes me down, points to a coral, and I have to get it right... and I have to pass without error. And we've been given more coral to learn. And we're doing Emergency First Response training. And I'm thinking of starting my rescue/dive master training.

On today's dive, we saw a whale shark, albeit from the surface (we were in the boat heading to our dive site) but it was right on the surface! Amazing site. At the end of the dive, we saw a small green turtle - it was popping it's head up for air when it spotted us, and as soon as he did, dove back down with a big splash: really cute! The dive itself was pretty cool - I saw some intersting grow patterns of agaricia agaricites, a nice mycetophyllia lamarckiana... really big colpophyllia natans. Excellent. Yes, I'm a coral nerd. Hah - you should hear the fish geeks!

Daily life starts at 6.30am, and you're assigned to one of three camp duty job groups:
1) Ground (raking the sand to prevent sand fly larvae from hatching and to make the place look neat)
2) Boat (kitting and unkitting the boat; making sure that the rinse tanks are clean)
3) Kitchen (cooking breakfast lunch and dinner for 18 people)

It's not too bad, as there are 4 or 5 people in each of the 3 groups, which rotates duty daily. It's kinda fun, in a totally nerdy way. Oh, there's also compressor duty (filling up tanks) which is quite boring, but it's free time to read or study. And today is my lucky day: I'm on bathroom duty, so I've got to clean out the 2 bathrooms, top to bottom. Mmmmm.

You very quickly get used to the constant dampness - and 2 minutes after a shower (or more often a bucket shower) you're already dirty in some way. And the same clothes are worn day in, day out (I only brought 3 pairs shorts, 4 tshirts, jeans and 2 shirts, which are more for NYC than Mahahual) but most of the time during the day I'm in boardies anyway. I've attempted hand-washing once, and I think I'm going to find an alternative solution for the bed sheets; washing all that fabric in a small plastic bucket couldn't be too much fun.

The town is very much a frontier town. It's one, sandy road with ramshackle bars and restaurants, and many tsirt and souvenir stalls to cater to the cruise ship tourists. There are 2 cruise ships a day, and they want to increase it to 4, and in conjunction with a 250% increase in the number of hotel rooms, this town is going to change radically in the next year. On top of that, they're building a road through the mangroves just behind us, which will not only facilitate the 'Cancunization' of the area but will degrade the ecosystem. (We had a lecture yesterday on how mangroves prevent errosion and how it scrubs the water clean - something like that. Hey, it was at the end of a long, tiring, hot day!)

All in all, I'm loving the expedition and the people in the group. There are always laughs to be had, stories to be told - but given the duties and the length of the day, there are moments of blank stares around the dinner table or at a briefing.

Right, best be off back to camp to clean out the loos! What fun!

2006-04-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's been such a busy week, this first week of a little adventure to Mexico (ostensibly to do some volunteer marine conservation, but more like avoiding getting a job).

I arrived in Cancun on Saturday and got straight on a bus to Playa del Carmen, which is an hour's bus ride south along the coast.

OK, I've got to admit that I'm really struggling with writing much... we had a beach party last night, and let's just say that doing anything that requires brain input is proving to be very, very challenging. It's taken me 10 minutes just to write this!

Anyway, it's been great so far - I've been diving 3 times: the first two were underwater skills tests, the third a coral spot, where a member of staff, Mads, took John and I to a coral bed to test us on our coral knowledge. Of course, it was a lot harder 'in the flesh' as opposed to photos in the book, and I got roughly 75% right.

And just to freak us all out, on of the expedition members had a fit yesterday. We're still not sure if it was decompression sickness, epilepsy or something else, but they took him to Playa where there's a hyperbaric chamber. I was right there when it happened - one of the girls held his head so that he didn't smash it on the tiles. He must have bit his tongue, as spit and blood came out of his mouth while his face turned purple, effectively scaring the crap out us. But, everyone kept their cool as oxygen was supplied and pillows placed under him (and I've just got to add that I did my little bit by wiping up all the blood and spit). Anyway, the army and police came and they whizzed him off. I have to say that it all went smoothly, and that the response was rapid: a good thing to know.

There have been a lot of ray sightings, lobsters, rare fish, and people have heard dolphins - I've seen, well, a lot of coral. And what fine corals they are.