http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqgmYp8Ftr8
this link is a youtube video that i put together which sums up three years of travelling... please take a look and let me know what you think!!
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Hands On Disaster Response.
This is a video of part of what i was doing in Sumatra. We pulled down houses, whilst removing any salvageable materials and then once the house was on the ground we would then remove any other reusable materials and give them to the family. With a clear foundation to build on, a temporary house was constructed to give the family a residence until they have saved up enough money to rebuild their lives.
A house like this only costs $1000 and can be used for several years by the family. In the event of an Earthquake, the house is designed to be very stable and any damages can be very easily rectified rather than having to rebuild the whole structure.
If you would like to help out this organization, either by volunteering and doing similar work or by donating money please visit www.hodr.org There is a lot of information on their regarding all of their past projects, defiantly worth a look!
They are doing a lot of good work in Haiti and need as much support as they can get.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
two picture links for you all!
this one is a photo of me in papua...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2412878&l=e9b12d7bac&id=277701121
and this one is an album from my travels in thailand....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=63008&id=277701121&l=1aa71f3daf
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2412878&l=e9b12d7bac&id=277701121
and this one is an album from my travels in thailand....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=63008&id=277701121&l=1aa71f3daf
Thursday, 14 January 2010
New years in sumatra!
I cannot describe enough the idilic scene that lay before me on new years eve.... not even pictures can show the full extent of bliss i experienced.
after working at this earthquake project for a while it was the perfect change of scenery. We had done some work with another organisation called the IBU Foundation and they had taken some of us on a fishing trip to this small island off the coast of Pariaman. I hadnt been able to go and was keen to get on the next trip. i suggested that we looked at going there for new years and everyone was instantly on board. we talked to some local fisherman and chartered their boat for about 200,000RPI each which is about 12/14 pounds.... penuts! they were going to take us to one of the four deserted islands off the coast, then they were going to sleep on the boat for the night and take us wherever we wanted on new years day.
the events unfolded gently as the sun began to set on new years eve! i was so excited! there are four of these pristine islands located off the coast of pariaman, they are visible from the shore yet are totally uninhabited. there is nothing but trees, sand and surf. behind each island is a semi circular reef facing out into the middle of the ocean. this creates the perfect opportunity to snorkle and do a bit of body boarding.
we arrived about half an hour after sunset and set up a big tent for people to sleep in and i pitched my hammock a little down the beach in a more secluded spot. we lit a nice big bomfire and took out the beers. everything was perfect, the fisherman came over with some freshly caught fish, i preceeded to everyones disgust to pry out their eyes and eat them (once the fish had been cooked on the open fire obviously!!!)
then we grabbed the beers and waded out into the sea. obviously as it was new years this had to be done nude. the beers were resting on the bottom and we just sat and watched the fireworks on the mainland from our secluded spot.
eventually, the festivities got the better of most people and we all drifted off to sleep. waking as the sun slowly came up over the sumatran mountains, one of the best sleeps ive ever had, i was ready to explore.
we jumped back on the boat and headed off to the smallest of the islands which was about 20mins on the boat. three of us opted to be towed behind in a dug out canoe. the thing was beautiful. carved from one solid tree by hand! we were doing a fair bit of speed behind the main boat and it got a bit choppy in places but this just added to the fun to be honest.
as we approached the island, the boat stopped short because of the beach. i climbed up onto the main fishing boat and jumped head first off the front and made a swim for it. i was quickly followed by the rest and it was gorgeous. the sea was pristine in colour and the sand was even better than it looked. even as i entered the water i could see fish. we immediately set off round the island to explore. it took no more than ten minutes and there was not a soul to be seen.
i grabbed my snorkling gear and ploughed on into the water. when i was floating, the reef was no more than 10cm from my body, quite nerve racking as it got pretty close when the waves went out!!! we tried round the opposite side of the island and it was perfect. the water was about 1.5mtrs deep and the coral was glorious. notable sights included a few neon purple starfish that were the size of hubcaps, a sea turtle and more fish than you can shake a stick at!!! it was heaven under the waves!!!
the rest of the day was spent relaxing and taking some rather dubious nude photos involving coconuts.... then we headed back to the mainland late afternoon, safe in the knowledge that it was one of the best things ive ever done in my life and most certainly the best new years ever.
sumatra is the most underated place i have ever visited, if you havent been then go!!! you can live on less than 7 pounds per day, including accomodation and food and the scenary is gorgeous!!! and, most importantly, the tourist trail is practically non existant!!! what more could you ask for....
after working at this earthquake project for a while it was the perfect change of scenery. We had done some work with another organisation called the IBU Foundation and they had taken some of us on a fishing trip to this small island off the coast of Pariaman. I hadnt been able to go and was keen to get on the next trip. i suggested that we looked at going there for new years and everyone was instantly on board. we talked to some local fisherman and chartered their boat for about 200,000RPI each which is about 12/14 pounds.... penuts! they were going to take us to one of the four deserted islands off the coast, then they were going to sleep on the boat for the night and take us wherever we wanted on new years day.
the events unfolded gently as the sun began to set on new years eve! i was so excited! there are four of these pristine islands located off the coast of pariaman, they are visible from the shore yet are totally uninhabited. there is nothing but trees, sand and surf. behind each island is a semi circular reef facing out into the middle of the ocean. this creates the perfect opportunity to snorkle and do a bit of body boarding.
we arrived about half an hour after sunset and set up a big tent for people to sleep in and i pitched my hammock a little down the beach in a more secluded spot. we lit a nice big bomfire and took out the beers. everything was perfect, the fisherman came over with some freshly caught fish, i preceeded to everyones disgust to pry out their eyes and eat them (once the fish had been cooked on the open fire obviously!!!)
then we grabbed the beers and waded out into the sea. obviously as it was new years this had to be done nude. the beers were resting on the bottom and we just sat and watched the fireworks on the mainland from our secluded spot.
eventually, the festivities got the better of most people and we all drifted off to sleep. waking as the sun slowly came up over the sumatran mountains, one of the best sleeps ive ever had, i was ready to explore.
we jumped back on the boat and headed off to the smallest of the islands which was about 20mins on the boat. three of us opted to be towed behind in a dug out canoe. the thing was beautiful. carved from one solid tree by hand! we were doing a fair bit of speed behind the main boat and it got a bit choppy in places but this just added to the fun to be honest.
as we approached the island, the boat stopped short because of the beach. i climbed up onto the main fishing boat and jumped head first off the front and made a swim for it. i was quickly followed by the rest and it was gorgeous. the sea was pristine in colour and the sand was even better than it looked. even as i entered the water i could see fish. we immediately set off round the island to explore. it took no more than ten minutes and there was not a soul to be seen.
i grabbed my snorkling gear and ploughed on into the water. when i was floating, the reef was no more than 10cm from my body, quite nerve racking as it got pretty close when the waves went out!!! we tried round the opposite side of the island and it was perfect. the water was about 1.5mtrs deep and the coral was glorious. notable sights included a few neon purple starfish that were the size of hubcaps, a sea turtle and more fish than you can shake a stick at!!! it was heaven under the waves!!!
the rest of the day was spent relaxing and taking some rather dubious nude photos involving coconuts.... then we headed back to the mainland late afternoon, safe in the knowledge that it was one of the best things ive ever done in my life and most certainly the best new years ever.
sumatra is the most underated place i have ever visited, if you havent been then go!!! you can live on less than 7 pounds per day, including accomodation and food and the scenary is gorgeous!!! and, most importantly, the tourist trail is practically non existant!!! what more could you ask for....
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Hands On Disaster Response!
I did it! i finally made it all the way down to Pariaman in Indonesia. It took me a good seven days to actually make it all the way down via bus and ferry. lot longer than if i had flown and it actually ended up costing about the same. however, it meant that along the way i met a variety of interesting people and got to see a lot of things that i would have otherwise missed out on.
For example, one of the first places that i stopped was George Town in Malaysia, its an ex British colonay and obviously named after the king of the period. it is an endless maze of colonial arquiteqture with signs in cantonese, hindi and english. the population seems to be generally made up of hong kong chinese that were brought over there during the colonial era. This means that you can have english food for breakfast, chinese food for lunch and indian food for dinner. and most of the time you arent going to be paying a lot more than 5 ringit for your food and drinjk which equates to about 1 pound british.
Ferry time. I took the ferry over to Medan (belawan) in North Sumatra. It was a good option in the end as the price is fixed at 200 ringit for a three month open return, which is about 40 quid. flights fluctuate regularly and can obviously mean sometimes that you are going to be paying a lot more.
I arrived at Padang Panjan which really has nothing going for it to be honest. the hotels were far more than i was willing to pay so i decided to go and sleep outside in a bus shelter. after a bit one of the owners came out and insisted that i wasnt allowed to sleep there and that he would give me the room for free. i reluctantly accepted as i dont like to impose on people. I had a good nights sleep and woke up nice and early to head off on my journey to the volunteer site. The owener again insisted that he took me on all the buses and actually paid for all of them as well as he was so grateful that someone had come out to his country to help out people less fortunate than us.
On arrival i was greeted by an australian called dave who was really friendly. Then i got plunged in at the deep end, i set my hammock up in the garden, as i didnt really want to sleep inside with everyone else; then headed off to work.
The devistation was something that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. We went past houses that were totally flattened and some that were just meerly damaged. but it didnt matter, i was overcome with emotion at the plight of these people. yet they were still smiling... waving... and retorting the usual "HELLO MR!!!!!"
The work was very tiring and the conditions were exceptionaly hot. i thought my blood was boiling at some points and of course on the first day, being so close to the equator i got pretty red on my arms, neck and face.
The work mainly involves two important stages. Deconstructing the damaged properties whilst trying to keep the majority of materials intact for reuse. the second stage is seperating all these materials out into useable and not reusables. i.e salvage.
salvage involved a lot of motar removal from brickwork and also moving around cement and riverrocks. Deconstruction involved making the house stable and then gently encouraging it to fall over in the dircetion and place that we wanted it whilst ensuring a minimum amount of damage.
over the months i was at this project i learnt a fair bit of general indonesian and also menung which is the local language spoken in west sumatra. i became friends with many of the local people and even went on a home stay with a fabulous woman called eti which i will go into at a later stage.
the local people were fantastically happy for us to be there and be helping them out with something that they didnt have the money or skills to accomplish. we were saving on average about 20-25% of the brickwork from a house and then also the majority of the tin and wooden structure from the roof. if you look at that in terms of a house in the uk that costs 400,000 quid, thats 100,000 we are saving them on the cost of rebuilding their homes. in terms of rupiah, we were saving them a few years wages.
the work that hands on disaster relief accomplishes is of the like that i have never seen before. the people there were relentless. the energy was fantastic and its definately something that i will never forget. please go and visit their website at http://hodr.org/
i am going to have to write a proper article about my experiences but for the time being i am going to post a video from their website so that you can all have a look at the work thats put into doing disaster relief and hopefully decide for yourselves that its something you will endevour to do at some point in your life.
http://hodr.org/2009/11/24/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-volunteer-project-sungai-geringging/
please watch it and enjoy!!! more to follow as soon as i get a bit more time and im not feeling quite so lazy!!!
For example, one of the first places that i stopped was George Town in Malaysia, its an ex British colonay and obviously named after the king of the period. it is an endless maze of colonial arquiteqture with signs in cantonese, hindi and english. the population seems to be generally made up of hong kong chinese that were brought over there during the colonial era. This means that you can have english food for breakfast, chinese food for lunch and indian food for dinner. and most of the time you arent going to be paying a lot more than 5 ringit for your food and drinjk which equates to about 1 pound british.
Ferry time. I took the ferry over to Medan (belawan) in North Sumatra. It was a good option in the end as the price is fixed at 200 ringit for a three month open return, which is about 40 quid. flights fluctuate regularly and can obviously mean sometimes that you are going to be paying a lot more.
I arrived at Padang Panjan which really has nothing going for it to be honest. the hotels were far more than i was willing to pay so i decided to go and sleep outside in a bus shelter. after a bit one of the owners came out and insisted that i wasnt allowed to sleep there and that he would give me the room for free. i reluctantly accepted as i dont like to impose on people. I had a good nights sleep and woke up nice and early to head off on my journey to the volunteer site. The owener again insisted that he took me on all the buses and actually paid for all of them as well as he was so grateful that someone had come out to his country to help out people less fortunate than us.
On arrival i was greeted by an australian called dave who was really friendly. Then i got plunged in at the deep end, i set my hammock up in the garden, as i didnt really want to sleep inside with everyone else; then headed off to work.
The devistation was something that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. We went past houses that were totally flattened and some that were just meerly damaged. but it didnt matter, i was overcome with emotion at the plight of these people. yet they were still smiling... waving... and retorting the usual "HELLO MR!!!!!"
The work was very tiring and the conditions were exceptionaly hot. i thought my blood was boiling at some points and of course on the first day, being so close to the equator i got pretty red on my arms, neck and face.
The work mainly involves two important stages. Deconstructing the damaged properties whilst trying to keep the majority of materials intact for reuse. the second stage is seperating all these materials out into useable and not reusables. i.e salvage.
salvage involved a lot of motar removal from brickwork and also moving around cement and riverrocks. Deconstruction involved making the house stable and then gently encouraging it to fall over in the dircetion and place that we wanted it whilst ensuring a minimum amount of damage.
over the months i was at this project i learnt a fair bit of general indonesian and also menung which is the local language spoken in west sumatra. i became friends with many of the local people and even went on a home stay with a fabulous woman called eti which i will go into at a later stage.
the local people were fantastically happy for us to be there and be helping them out with something that they didnt have the money or skills to accomplish. we were saving on average about 20-25% of the brickwork from a house and then also the majority of the tin and wooden structure from the roof. if you look at that in terms of a house in the uk that costs 400,000 quid, thats 100,000 we are saving them on the cost of rebuilding their homes. in terms of rupiah, we were saving them a few years wages.
the work that hands on disaster relief accomplishes is of the like that i have never seen before. the people there were relentless. the energy was fantastic and its definately something that i will never forget. please go and visit their website at http://hodr.org/
i am going to have to write a proper article about my experiences but for the time being i am going to post a video from their website so that you can all have a look at the work thats put into doing disaster relief and hopefully decide for yourselves that its something you will endevour to do at some point in your life.
http://hodr.org/2009/11/24/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-volunteer-project-sungai-geringging/
please watch it and enjoy!!! more to follow as soon as i get a bit more time and im not feeling quite so lazy!!!
Monday, 16 November 2009
jacking it in.....
i have always thought of thailand as a meca for travellers looking for something different.. i watched the beach on my ipod the other day and he sums it up perfectly! everyone goes to thailand searching for something different but end up doing the same shit as everyone else.....
i havent really been feeling thailand to be honest and its time to jack it in....
i know some people who are helping clear up after the earthquake in indonesia. so i have set off.
pai - chang mai. 4 hours in a bus
chang mai, 8 hour stop over
chang mai - bangkok, 8 hour bus.
bangkok 7 hour stop over.
bangkok - malaysia 22 hours in train! (thats where i am now, waiting for the train)
then finally i am going to fly from KL to medan in sumatra, then another 22 hour bus down to pedang where i shall find out exactly where i am supposed to be going!
so will post you all again when i finally arrive sometime at the weekend! laters!
i havent really been feeling thailand to be honest and its time to jack it in....
i know some people who are helping clear up after the earthquake in indonesia. so i have set off.
pai - chang mai. 4 hours in a bus
chang mai, 8 hour stop over
chang mai - bangkok, 8 hour bus.
bangkok 7 hour stop over.
bangkok - malaysia 22 hours in train! (thats where i am now, waiting for the train)
then finally i am going to fly from KL to medan in sumatra, then another 22 hour bus down to pedang where i shall find out exactly where i am supposed to be going!
so will post you all again when i finally arrive sometime at the weekend! laters!
Mtorcyle Diaries
My original intention was to walk from Pai to Mae Hong Son. its only about 108km, so easily a feasable trek. however the heat during the day was just too much for me to bear and it soon became apparent that i would have to carry more water than was reaslistically possible to complete something like that.
quick change of heart and a look at some maps. i discovered that there was a route over the mountains that wasnt by road. it was dirt tracks and it passed all of the major hill tribe groups apart from the long necks. someone suggested it sounded like a good offroad adventure. i sourced a honda 250xr and discussed rental. worked out about a tenner a day. so i took them up on it!
yet theyd already rented it out... and despite me asking them, and them agreeing to reserve it, on a daily basis, they did this to me for three days straight! if you go to pai/chang mai, DO NOT use AYA motorcycles, they screwed me over on a few things and ended up costing me time and money! not impressed!
anyways, i finally got the bike and set off around 6/6.30am for the village of Wat Chan. This is a supposedly tarmacd road, however, most of it had been washed away by the rain and the bridges were all out. so it proved quite a challenge but nothing compared to what i was to come accross later on in the journey.
the roads were simply exhausting, i am fairly confident at riding motorbikes but this was a real challenge. one 5M/8KM stretch took me over an hour alone!!!!
during the trip i saw many tranditional villages and a lot of women in bright colours, very reminiscent of the andean colour schemes that im so used to. most of the woman seemed to be smoking pipes and were much darker than the thai population in pai. pictures to follow of course!!!
the paddy fields were sometimes endless, with store houses on stilts in the middle. these also housed workers when the midday heat became unbearable. when i left pai it was totally freezing but as always, between about 10am and 4pm, the heat shoots from 10 degrees up to about 36! ARG!!!
anyways, i completed the 200km+ round trip in a little over 6 hours and 40 mins! i was told by everyone i met that it was either going to take all day or was impossible to acheieve in 24hours. i admit there were times when i was driving a little fast... but it was necessary to skip over the enormous bumps and troughs in the ground!
it was def one of the most exciting things i have done in thailand and it showed me that tourists havent yet managed to penetrate all of the hill tribes, there are def some real ones left. they barely spoke thai, there were no stupid shops selling wooden statues and there was no tourist infrastructure whatsoever! something i will remember for a long time to come!
quick change of heart and a look at some maps. i discovered that there was a route over the mountains that wasnt by road. it was dirt tracks and it passed all of the major hill tribe groups apart from the long necks. someone suggested it sounded like a good offroad adventure. i sourced a honda 250xr and discussed rental. worked out about a tenner a day. so i took them up on it!
yet theyd already rented it out... and despite me asking them, and them agreeing to reserve it, on a daily basis, they did this to me for three days straight! if you go to pai/chang mai, DO NOT use AYA motorcycles, they screwed me over on a few things and ended up costing me time and money! not impressed!
anyways, i finally got the bike and set off around 6/6.30am for the village of Wat Chan. This is a supposedly tarmacd road, however, most of it had been washed away by the rain and the bridges were all out. so it proved quite a challenge but nothing compared to what i was to come accross later on in the journey.
the roads were simply exhausting, i am fairly confident at riding motorbikes but this was a real challenge. one 5M/8KM stretch took me over an hour alone!!!!
during the trip i saw many tranditional villages and a lot of women in bright colours, very reminiscent of the andean colour schemes that im so used to. most of the woman seemed to be smoking pipes and were much darker than the thai population in pai. pictures to follow of course!!!
the paddy fields were sometimes endless, with store houses on stilts in the middle. these also housed workers when the midday heat became unbearable. when i left pai it was totally freezing but as always, between about 10am and 4pm, the heat shoots from 10 degrees up to about 36! ARG!!!
anyways, i completed the 200km+ round trip in a little over 6 hours and 40 mins! i was told by everyone i met that it was either going to take all day or was impossible to acheieve in 24hours. i admit there were times when i was driving a little fast... but it was necessary to skip over the enormous bumps and troughs in the ground!
it was def one of the most exciting things i have done in thailand and it showed me that tourists havent yet managed to penetrate all of the hill tribes, there are def some real ones left. they barely spoke thai, there were no stupid shops selling wooden statues and there was no tourist infrastructure whatsoever! something i will remember for a long time to come!
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