GBR done. Next, Nepal and India.

Great barrier reef was great, except for the ear infection that nearly killed me following said adventure. I’ve never been in so much pain. I was on codeine for days, laid up in bed, wondering if I’d done any serious damage. Nevertheless, the reef was incredible The temperature, the colours, the biodiversity … I’m starting to become quite the “greenie” after seeing what’s happening to the coral … nasty.

Visa is being organised for India and my flights are booked in and out of Kathmandu, so my little trip to Mt Everest base camp seems to be getting traction. I just have to figure out what I need to take and what I can leave at home – although I intend to hire a porter, carrying anything at altitude is like carrying a milestone around one’s neck … the camera has to come along though …

Otherwise, same shit, different day. Work is much the same, diving when I can, karate as much as I can discipline myself to do, trying a juice diet to improve my fatigue levels and sleep quality. Nearly finished painting the house – if you leave the spare bedrooms out of the equation …

In any case, I cannot wait to escape this western bullshit for a couple of months. Our lives are so clinical and regimented in this part of the world.

Dive Ticket

Passed the SSI open water ticket. So now I can dive to 18m pretty much anywhere. Looking forward to the Great Barrier Reef trip planned for November. Hopefully I won’t drown or get the bends …

Life is normal otherwise. Boring. Fixing the house up, trying to pay the bloody thing off. Taking photos when I have the time. Karate, swimming lots of laps, putting on weight despite all of this exercise …

Going for a dive on Sunday at St Leonards. Should be fun 🙂

Tiling sucks, diving is cool and so are Smith & Wesson pistols

Tiling the bathroom. Fucking horrible job.

Learning how to SCUBA dive. Awesome.

Getting back into pistol shooting with my new Smith & Wesson 686 357 magnum. Priceless.

Throwing shit out

I’ve been cleaning up and renovating the bachelor pad and I find it’s quite cathartic throwing out shit I simply don’t need nor use … bad memories being flushed down the toilet … feels so good 🙂

Sick of the same old shit, different day …

Been checking flights to Kathmandu. There was a great doco on ABC last night about the origins of the Universe, etc, focussing on where all matter has been derived … the presenter made a point whilst hanging out in Kathmandu how the Hindus [sic?] burn their dead, thus recycling their body – I thought that was quite poignant, given we are all carbon based life forms … originally formed from dying stars … all very mystical. So, I’m off to Kathmandu to check out this shit …

Back in Australia … two weeks later and still jet lagged …

Still coming to terms with the fact I’ve been over seas for three months and I’ve done some incredible things … now I’m back to boring old reality and find myself planning the next trip – Everest Base Camp. Sounds nuts, but it’s not that big a deal. It’s only 2000m more than Machu Picchu and that wasn’t too hard.

Berlin

Travelled up from Munich to Berlin. The train ride sucked. I had to wait for three hours in Mannheim for a delayed sleeper … three hours sleep – went nuts. Berlin on the other hand is a great place in Summer. Of all the cities I have seen, Berlin would be the most livable. I’ve heard other people saying the same thing. The East and West is still partitioned in terms of socio-economic terms. The rich tend to still be in the West, the less privileged in the East. Kind of obvious I guess. I’ll put some photos up shortly. I’m off to the zoo today – apparently it cannot be missed and I cannot be arsed walking around the city any longer. I am fatigued beyond belief. This was supposed to be a holiday, but it’s turned out to be nothing short of a marathon. I’ll need another holiday on the beach to recover. Off to Denmark tomorrow to meet up with a friend I made in Florence. Let’s hope he’s not a serial killer 😉 I’ve known him for all of two days, but he seems a really nice bloke. Just call the police if there are no further posts after a week or so …

Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Prague …

Auschwitz … even though I’ve read a lot about this place over the years, on visiting the site I was skeptical about how bad it really was; which is apparently quite common for ignorant people. However I’m becoming increasingly convinced that this place was very, very fucked up. The more I read eye witness accounts about the ghettos around Europe, the deportations and the testimony of those involved, the more I realise what I’ve just seen … I don’t understand how or why.

Auschwitz

Nationalist party skin heads ... antithesis to Auschwitz

Moiwa liked Prague, but preferred Krakow ... she's tired too.

Turkey

Turkey has been fun, but due to extreme fatigue I just haven’t seen that much of it really. The people are friendly, the food is great, the atmosphere is surreal. I especially enjoyed the Turkish baths and seeing Ayasofia. The Blue Mosque is just a big mosque. Nothing special. The Grand Bazaar was much the same – just a big shopping centre in a nice building. There was an interesting palace owned by previous Sultans that was quite good to see. Very cushy lives. Currently in Cannakale, just across the Dardanelles from Gallipoli. Six hour bus trip to Istanbul for a flight to Warsaw. Getting sick of all this travel. I need some rest.

Basilica Cistern ... underground ... awesome place ...

Grand Bazaar spices

Blue Mosque ... big on the outside, boring on the inside ...

Lone Pine memorial - Gallipoli

Kiev

Pripyat, Chernobyl and a lovely city. The weather is great, but I’m feeling crap. A little better this morning, so hopefully things will continue to improve. The shooting range was a lot of fun, but kind of surreal, as I was half asleep at the time. Still, I shot quite well, given the circumstances. The AK-47 was a lot smaller than I expected and the recoil not as harsh. The Dragunov on the other hand kicked like a mule – a light gun firing a heavy calibre. Turkey up next – another Muslim nation – it’ll be loads of fun 🙂

Dodgem Cars

Hopefully this won't make my health woes any worse ...

Downtown Kiev