Wet'n'Wild

Today our mishmashed group went to a water park about 30 minutes from Surfer's Paradise. We spent the entire day lathered in waterproof SPF30, broiling under the hot sun. Slides, tubes and lazy rivers balanced out the $15 burger and $4 bottle of water. A couple of cute Canadian girls (Kelsea and Georgia) kept smiles on our faces.

A day to relax

Walked a few miles to buy some nokia Bluetooth speakers today. (check the spider video on YouTube) the rest of the day was relaxing. Tomorrow is a water park!

Surfer's Paradise

Took Greyhound to surfer's Paradise today with no idea what I was in for. I thought it would be a little town, but instead I am greeted with a taste of Miami. The world's tallest residential building is a block away and the beach was restricted to several small swimming areas because of the threat of sharks. No one was even surfing!

Bye Bye Byron

OK, I am going to make some time to say more than a sentence today.  For once I didn't stay up really late last night so I woke up relatively early and felt rested.  I haven't really been too hungover since the strongest beer here is 4.5% and the bars mix their wells very thin.  Today was my last full day in Byron Bay and the cloudy, sometimes-rainy weather of the last few days finally improved and there wasn't a cloud in sight and the temps were near 90 degrees again.  It is strange, because this place has the exact same vibe as Seaside and it is hard to swallow the fact that I am 13,000 miles away.  Becky noted that it is snowing in Seaside (and Portland) so I guess there is a measurable difference.

I hadn't surfed since our Mojo trip ended a few days ago, but today we negotiated our way into a couple of free board rentals from our hostel and spent most of the day chilling on the beach taking turns surfing the easy waves.  Our group is made up of nine guys from the Mojo adventure: me, one from Canada, four from England and three from Holland.  We also booked our next adventure today, which is really two different trips.  March 6th through 8th we are heading to Fraser Island, a long sand island, where we will receive some 4WD trucks and camping supplies and will take a semi-guided tour of the island's many features, such as freshwater-lakes, shark-infested beaches (no swimming!) and natural wildlife (kangaroos, koalas and dingos).  March 17th through 19th we are hopping on a three-level, 30-person Clipper sailing ship that will take our party to the Pacific and should include feeding and swimming with non-captive dolphins, playing games, chilling in the on-deck jacuzzi and ingesting more alcohol than is probably safe.

Between those dates I will be bouncing up the East Coast with an open-ended, hop-on/hop-off Greyhound bus ticket, with stops in Surfer's Paradise, Noosa, Brisbane, Hervey Bay and finally end up in Cairnes.   Tonight is our last night as a group in Byron Bay, and since it is a Friday night the local bars all have drink specials and ridiculous games planned so I am sure it will be tons of fun.

For the next few hours I'm just chilling in the hostel's patio as we finish out an impromptu ping pong tournament. 

Darren (sent from phone)

Just Chillin

Walked the beach today. Warm, but cloudy. Tomorrow we lined up free surf boards and the clouds should part.

Typical Beach Town

I've hopped the Twilight Zone Express and I've teleported to Seaside Oregon, only it's called Byron Bay and it is in Australia.

Byron Bay

My bus just arrived in Byron Bay, and we are currently unloading passengers at a hostel across from the town's main bar, Cheeky Monkey. We'll be heading there later!

Surfed our last session with the Mojo Surf guys this morning as it rained on us, but the water was so warm it didn't matter. A pair of dolphins swam about 50 meters from us as we waited for waves and it was pretty epic.

From this point on I'm making plans as they pop into my head, so stay tuned.

And Then There Were Two

Last night around 3am a great thunderstorm rolled through, with blasting winds and sideways rain. When I woke for surf lessons this morning the clouds were light and the beach was inviting.

Since the rest of our group took off yesterday, Robert and I were the entire class. Our instructor was someone that we had not yet met, and he was the genuine article. Tanned, grizzled and very knowledgable. I made some great progress. After the lessons I found out that John (the instructor) had a second place trophy in the Australian surf finals. Wow!

Robert and I went back out this afternoon for our last free surf, but the waves were pretty messy from the wind. Our last lesson (from John again) is in the morning and then we head to Byron Bay.

Here are some self-taken photos as I hopped up on a small wave. Not easy shots to capture!

Het Leven Is Mooi

I've met more Dutch people in the last few days than I have in my entire life. There have been a few Canadians as well, and a few Germans. Almost no Americans, but that's OK.

Surfing last night and this morning was just so-so because of winds that weren't optimal, but the perfect blue sky and 90 degree temps make trying to catch the messy waves enjoyable all the same. The weather turned tonight and a thunderstorm passed nearby, but the surf is supposed to be ideal in the morning. We might hit the beach at 5:30am to catch the smoothest water and watch the sunrise as well.

Nights have been fun. Our group from Sydney is full of cool guys and girls, and I've learned a new drinking game every evening. Most of the group left for Byron Bay a few hours ago, but my bunkmate, Robert, and I are both on the seven-day program so we get two more days of lessons before we hit Byron. Some of the group is going to wait for us in Byron and we are talking about going on a week-long boat trip to Fraser Island.

By the way, the title of this entry means "Life is Good" in Dutch.

Spot X

We are now in Arrawarra at a large surf camp called Spot X. Most of our group from Crescent Head moved along with me, so there are many familiar faces. The surfing here is much easier, and I am looking a little better everyday. Yesterday was beautiful, but this morning there is some light rain. The ocean is warm, though, so rain doesn't really put a damper on anything.

After surfing yesterday, our group snowballed into a larger group that ended learning some new card games, played pool and then held an informal ping pong tourny.

I will be here at Spot X for the next few days before heading north to Byron Bay.

Adios Crescent Head

We just got on the bus and left the paradise of Crescent Head. We had a morning and afternoon surf session yesterday, and last night the group of about 30 gathered around a campfire at the beach and drank too much.

We are now headed to a larger camp called Spot X. I plan to sleep the two hour bus ride, so good night.

One cell bar near Crescent Bar

Hiked a few minutes up a nearby peak to capture one bar of cell service. Crescent Bar is absolutely gorgeous. Our hosts and coaches are authentic surfer dudes and the water or about 80 degrees. It was cloudy and raining on us yesterday (not that it mattered) but today is blue sky and big waves. Will be leaving tomorrow morning for a place called Spot X and hope to post another update from there.

Surfin Safari

Just found out that I'll be out of reception for the next few days, so no updates from me. The bus picked me up at 6:00am and we are about two hours into hour six hour drive today. You'll hear from me again in a few days. Mojo Surf, baby!

Sydney

I swear I will write more when I have more internet. Walked about 10km so far today, Sydney is beautiful!

Two hours in Hong Kong

I got to see some fishing boats and high-speed ferries zig-zagging the bay as I landed in Hong Kong, but other than that my only experience is that of a modern airport, so I could be anywhere in the world.

I board my Virgin Airlines flight in a few minutes, and at noon Monday (Portland time) I will be Down Under.

This is my first experimental blog post using only my phone. Thanks for the tip, Seeborns!

Last Day in Shanghai

I'm going to try to blog shorter and more often for my expedition to Australia. As I ready my backpack for tomorrow, I am reflecting on the differences I have noticed between Shanghai and Portland, both good and bad.

Near the top of my list, I will miss the transportation system. Shanghai has the longest subway system in the world and it keeps growing at an astounding rate. In the next few years it is planned to double in length. You can hop on the subway from nearly anywhere in the city and get pretty much anywhere else for about a dollar. The cars come every 3-4 minutes and they are long and clean. Subway doesn't run there? Then hop in a taxi! There are taxis everywhere you look and they cost about $2 for short hops. There are also a million buses, but I never made it onto one of them.

The scale of the city is a double-edged sword. I will miss the vision of Shanghai, which is China's statement to be world-leading global power. Money is thrown into municipal projects and skyscrapers that almost reach the moon. No matter where you go there is a tall building with an interesting architectural feature, or a crane holding the promise of a new building soon. On the flip side, there are just too many damn people here. (It is the most populous city in the world, ya know) This leads to some behavior that gets a little old. People push and shove their way into elevators and subways without regard for the people who might have to exit. After having to get out of an overloaded elevator or missing a packed-to-capacity subway car I understand the mentality, but I don't have to like it.

I will miss riding my bike through Shanghai traffic. It reminds me of downhill single-track riding on Mt. Hood. You zip in and out, dodge to and fro, squirt ahead to get around a bus, then slam on your brakes to avoid a taxi. It is exhilarating and exhausting and adrenalin-pumping. At the same time, it sometimes was hard to get psyched up for a ride to the market to get supplies, but I always felt great when I did get out there.

There are small things that I will gladly leave behind. Light switches flip down instead of up to turn things on (I never could get this down) and many lights in my building are sound-activated but are either burned out or are just ignoring me. The buildings here are poorly insulated, not that it would matter because local culture dictates that most windows and doors are wide open at all times to "get the bad air out", even if the bad air is warm and the fresh air is freezing. The smog is easy to wave goodbye to, but it did make for some beautiful sunsets.

So much for keeping this short! I will mostly miss Troy and Sierra. They are experiencing their own adventure now and although I am sure that we will communicate just as often as we do now, via email, it just won't be the same.

Tomorrow at 3PM Monday China Time (11PM Sunday Portland time) I will be getting onto a plane that will take me from Shanghai to Hong Kong, then to Australia where I will land at 7AM Tuesday Sydney time (Noon Monday Portland time) with an entire day to explore the city. Farewell everybody!

Zaijian Shanghai!

Zaijian (Zie Jhen!) means goodbye in Mandarin, and I am officially saying zaijian to China. One week from today I will be getting on a plane with nothing but my backpack and a three-month Australian visa. China has been a real adventure in the true sense of the word, but I realized that I just didn't want to be in a large city no matter what language is spoken. I long for sunshine and warm temperatures.



In the last month we've gone pub crawling, maintained mediocre standings in a weekly trivia competition, survived a Shanghai blizzard, toured Shanghai's sushi scene via bicycle, survived the Chinese New Year's fireworks celebration, braved Spring Festival crowds in the Shanghai Aquarium, retreated to Tongli Watertown and hunkered through a second night of Spring Festival explosive celebration.



This past week has been the first half of a two-week celebration of Chinese New Year, which is called the Spring Festival. This year is the Year of the Rabbit, and vendors have been going crazy selling tiny little bunnies from bicycle stands on the street and even over the internet. Unfortunately, the coldest temperatures to hit Shanghai in a decade have not treated the adorable little rodents well. Many people who have ordered their bunnies via internet get a next-day package containing bunny popsicles.



On the bright side, the experience of Chinese New Year was possibly one of the craziest sights that I have ever seen. Our friends, Chris and Flo, invited about 30 people to enjoy the evening of Chinese New Year at a potluck on their balcony at the top of their high-rise apartment building. We arrived at 7:30pm and the fireworks that we could see around us were about equal to what you might expect on the evening of Independence Day in the states. The photos and video that I took at that time were deleted by the morning, because what happened at midnight was completely so overwhelming that those early hours meant absolutely nothing. It was as if every single adult (and some of the kids) in Shanghai spent their month's salary on fireworks and lit them off at the same time across the city. Un-FUCKING-believable. Times ten. And it didn't stop until nearly 3:00am! But the Chinese also seem to burn down a major landmark every New Year as well. Last year it was the CCTV building and this year it was a five-star hotel. Oops. Check out the view from our party in this VIDEO.



All of China seems to have the week off for Spring Festival, and Troy and Sierra are no different. We spent a day exploring Shanghai, something which I have had many opportunities to do but they have not. On our checklist was the Shanghai Aquarium, the largest aquarium in all of China. We thought that with most of the city being gone for the festival (most go home to family during this time) we could enjoy the aquarium quietly. Oops, the place was so packed that we saw almost nothing during the first half. Fortunately, once we made it past the bottleneck things opened up slightly and we got to enjoy some pretty awesome aquatic life via a moving walkway that slowly wound us through the longest underwater tunnel in the world. Sharks, stingrays and tropical fish swarmed around us. Most impressive was the jellyfish exhibit which featured several different tanks all lit by color-changing LED panels that made the alien-like creatures even more foreign. Check out the VIDEO.



To celebrate the Seeborns' time off, we joined a travel group and headed out to Tongli Watertown about two hours west of Shanghai. The entire trip was 1000 RMB, which is about $150 and included four eat-til-you-explode meals with open bar, rooms at a brand new five-star hotel and explorations of a 33-acre private garden, a full day at the ancient watertown and a boat trip to Hanshan Temple which is located on a small island in the middle of a lake. The highlight of our trip was actually exploring Tongli late at night with Felix and Elaine and a bag of beers. Even though the group's plan was to visit the town the next day, the five of us taxied our way to the town and spent more than an hour wandering through the dark alleys full of closed stores and quiet residences. It was great to see the town in a natural state before seeing it packed with tourists the next day. Overall it was an outstanding experience that we could have never planned as successfully ourselves (thanks Josie!) and we met many other travelers who were living in Shanghai from places around the world. Want a taste of true Shanghai? Check out this traditional music being performed by a woman who is wearing the same jacket is approximately 50% of all Shanghai women in this VIDEO.



We arrived back home last night and had no idea that Shanghai was preparing to explode yet again. The first night of the festival uses fireworks to scare away bad spirits from the previous year, but the fifth night is all about welcoming the gods of wealth and good fortune. So yet again, the entire city (and a forest in Eastern China) went up in sparks, smoke and echoing kabooms for several hours. In fact, as I took video down on the street Troy was on his balcony dodging flaming fragments of large fireworks that were lighting up the sky right near his apartment balcony. In the following video you can see a few of the fireworks near his apartment when I pan to the right in this VIDEO.



And so I leave Troy and Sierra to pursue their adventure in China. They look pretty sad, don't they? In one week I hop on a plane and land in Sydney, where I will get on a bus and spend the next week surfing up New South Wale's east coast under the hot Summer sun. I'll end up in Byron Bay, where I will find my next adventure.