Due East (Part 2)

Technically, it should be due south since I last wrote (from Hong Kong) but it would ruin the theme. I’m now in Australia, Cairns to be precise, having travelled up from Sydney, for those of you who are trying to keep a track of my whereabouts.

We’ve just got some sunny weather which actually means I felt good when I awoke in my tent this morning. This may also have been helped by only drinking 2 glasses of wine last night. I now own a bottle of Jameson’s on the trailer (which was my demise during a poker session as I downed a few shots waiting for the last player to make up his mind. A few hands later I went all in on a pair of 10s which didn’t do so well against his straight. Poo. The Jameson’s was actually a thought to move away from beer as I thought I might get fat…

which probably would have helped a bit when we went rafting a few days ago. Now, I’m not a strong swimmer (see previous blog) so I get a little bit apprehensive in a swimming pool let alone being dragged along a white-water river. All was good in the end, although I gave my instructor a bit of a worry after I failed to resurface after going down a ‘water-slide’ which plummets you to 5m depth before you surface which most people did in 6 seconds. I took 8, which only adds evidence to the fact that I just don’t float like all you fat people.

Today I jumped out of a plane. Now, before you recite the classic line “you must be crazy to jump out of a perfectly good plane” you should note that there actually is very little space in it and it was quite a relief to jump in the end. I say jump, but it was more like I got thrown out before I knew any better. It all happens so quickly as you first feel happy that you haven’t hit the tail, then worry about how the parachute will open if you carry on tumbling and then somehow the instructor rights you and you hurtle to the ground at around 200mph for nearly a minute before he decides it’s about time to open the ‘chute and it turns out that you’re still attached to it. Then he asked me how I felt and I said “awesome, although my mouth is dry” and he went on to tell me about the side effects of adrenaline. It’s like med school all over again.

So yeah, that about sums up all the adrenaline-fuelled activities I’ll be undertaking for a while so mum and dad may be happy that I’m still alive. Bumped into Andrew (Monty) as I was walking back from the post office in a extreme spors shop. Apparently, he was buying a one-way ticket on a plane with a parachute. Good luck to him. As I said to some of the other guys on a plane. This will probably be one of the few times in your life where you’ll be happy that there’s a grown man strapped so tightly to your back.

Due East (Part 1) – Hong Kong

I woke up the other day and realised I wasn’t in the UK any more. Weird. It’s possibly because I didn’t have my mum to wake me up and tell me I’m late for uni/work/(insert other ADL). Or possibly because all the signs outside weren’t in English (although that could just as well have been New Malden).

Up to now, rain hasn’t so much stopped play, as hampered it somewhat. On the evening I arrived Soms’ took me for a drink facing out onto the mainland. It was lovely (the Tsingtao and the view) and then it started to rain and I remember saying that it was nice rain because it was warm… and then it really started to rain!

Yesterday, took me to Lantau for the legendary Buddha (the tallest sitting Buddha, outside, in the world). There are a lot of qualifying words in its claim to fame, which made me think its not actually that impressive, but I hear the view from the cable car is excellent. I couldn’t tell you though, as they shut the cable car. Nonplussed, I took the bus. This was, in itself, an experience. The driver didn’t appear to know that you need to drive in a low gear to get up a steep hill. Nevertheless, he made up for his lack of knowledge with a level of madness that made me grip the seat in front (and for those of you who’ve seen me drive, you’ll know that’s bad!): the visibility was about 10m (metres not miles) yet he still managed to get to a fair pace on certain downhill parts of the journey. The glory of the Buddha was, unfortunately, masked from my unenlightened self by a rather thick fog. This is not metaphorical speak.

Today’s escapades were somewhat similar. In what looked like a break in the clouds I made my way to the top of the peak via the tram (best described as a slow roller coaster without any upside down bits). I took a little walk around the peak which starts off with signposts every 100m which suddenly disappear. Seeing as the path keeps curving, you begin to wonder whether you’re still on the right track. Then the crazy birds start wailing (not catching whales) and you read the signs that say it’s snake season and it’s hot and you’re running out of water and there’s nobody else there and you start going crazy. Or at least, that’s what happened to me.

Back in town, the zoo and gardens were somewhat more tame (pun intended) and my stroll through random streets was actually fairly uneventful: no people kung fu flying out of windows or anything. I had previously seen some people practising some sword form outside so this wasn’t too much of an expectation, I think. However, there were lots of random antique shops and so I bought a whole new set of chairs for our house which I’ve arranged to be shipped home (Mum & Dad you’ll love it: it’s the perfect green to complement the walls).

So that leaves an evening and a day before I head to Sydney. Until next time…

Luke.

RSS feed: http://lukeyah.wordpress.com/feed/

Disclaimer: the contents of this note are entirely for amusement only. Whilst it is, on the whole, true, there is obviously some embellishment of the truth. Should you find any antique furniture arriving on your doorstep in the near future… it wasn’t me. Really.

If you wish not to be sent emails because you’re on facebook, because you get the RSS feed or whether you just don’t care, please let me know. I hate being spammed too.