The Internet is closed for Winter...

Yes that is a cat on his head

2012-07-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

I've been in New York for a month now. There is always something going on and everyday you see something or someone different. I was walking near Union Square on Friday and I passed a guy with a cat on his head. He was walking down the street with a cat sitting on his head. A few people stopped and stared, most people just acted as if it was perfectly normal. I turned around and got a photo on my phone!

A man with a cat on his head!

iPads in Times Square

2012-07-11T20:11:00.002-07:00

Here are some iPad photographers that I spotted around Times Square.

iPad Camera at Times Square

Another iPad Camera

and another iPad camera

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July 4th in New York

2012-07-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was July 4th, a national holiday celebrating independence day. The holiday is marked by a massive fireworks display on the Hudson river. Over 75,000 pounds of fireworks are launched from 6 barges and watched by over 2 million people.

We read online that the best place to see the fireworks display was actually from New Jersey. We took the Hoboken bus to Weehawken in New Jersey at around 6pm although the show wouldn't start until 9:20pm. Here we found a spot on the waterfront looking back over at Manhattan.

View of New York Skyline on July 4th with NYPD Helicopters overhead

Arriving early meant we could see the barges taking their positions on the Hudson river accompanied by the NYC fire department boats. The NYC boats became part of the show spraying red and blue water as they passed.

FDNY boat preparing for Macy's July 4th fireworks display

The fireworks were launched from 4 barges on the Hudson river and the show lasted for about 20 minutes. It was an impressive fireworks display especially with the New York City Skyline in the background.

Macy's July 4th fireworks over New York City

As soon as the fireworks were over everyone rushed to their cars. Traffic was crazy and appeared to be backed up for miles. Eventually our bus arrived and luckily we were near the front of the queue so we got on. We took a bus line and avoided all traffic and were back at the Port Authority Bus terminal in about 20 minutes. We decided to finish the evening with a walk around Times Square. I was expecting it to be busy I just didn't realize how busy it could possibly get.

Times Square on July 4th 2012

Today I learnt the Thai word for away

2012-06-09T20:08:00.001-07:00

Plans changed somewhat over the past few weeks. We canceled the India trip and I'm staying in Bangkok for the month. We're busy working regular hours during the week so have a bit a routine going. We rented an apartment with a kitchen expecting that we would cook but the street food around where we live is too good and too cheap to justify cooking. It would actually cost more to cook judging by Supermarket prices. By now we have our favorite street vendors for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For example we go to 'fresh fruit lady' and 'spaceship lady' for breakfast. Spaceship lady sell some things that look like spaceships. I'm not really sure how to describe them but they taste great.

We're far from the tourist district so most of the street vendors don't speak English and we don't speak Thai but we seem to get by ok. Anna learnt the words for vegetarian and no fish sauce and they are all very accommodating. One morning I went down for breakfast quite early without Anna and spaceship lady said madam and did a gesture of sleeping. Anna was actually at the gym but I didn't know how to say this so I smiled, nodded and said yes madam sleeping. The lady repeated the word sleeping, did the hand gesture and smiled. Everything returned to normal the next day until a week later when Anna went to India for a photographic assignment. Every morning I would go for breakfast alone and spaceship lady would say madam sleeping while doing a sleeping gesture, I'd smile and nod and say yes. After a few days of this I could tell she was really wondering what was up, why was madam sleeping so much.

With the help of google translate today I learnt the thai word for 'away'. Possibly I've used the word completely out of context but this morning when she said 'Madam sleeping' I said no 'Madam Pị'. I appeared to be understood, there was lots of smiles at my attempt at Thai.

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Yes people use the iPad as a camera

2012-06-03T00:18:00.001-07:00

I was visiting Wat Pho also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. I was surprised by the amount of people with iPads using them as cameras. I guess I was wrong in thinking people wouldn't use them as cameras.

You might look stupid using the iPad as a camera but people still do it!

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Who said people wouldn't use the iPad as a camera?

Super Mario is living in Bangkok

2012-06-02T02:34:00.000-07:00

I was out walking this morning near chulalongkorn university. I came across some street art that I quite like.

Super Mario lives in Bangkok

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Who said people wouldn't use the iPad as a camera?

2012-04-30T03:26:00.002-07:00

On our way to Sydney we were talking about the new iPad and how it would have a good camera. I made a comment that it didn't really matter as it is only useful for Skype and FaceTime as no one would actually use an iPad as a camera. The next day at the wedding in Sydney the lady sitting in front of me at the church was taking photos throughout the ceremony with her iPad.

Using the iPad as a camera

Inflatable fish

2012-04-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

We came across this fish when staying on Uzi Island close to Zanzibar. I can't remember what it was called but it was full of air!

Inflatable Fish!

Cheese from a can!

2012-04-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

I never knew you could get cheese in a can but we came across cheese in a can at the supermarket in Zanzibar. It actually seemed to be something that people were buying so we figured we'd try a can also. As expected it tasted like processed plastic cheese!

Processed Cheddar Cheese in a can

Looks like Cheese

The Miracle Safari - part 4

2012-04-07T20:19:00.001-07:00

Buffalo in the Masai Mara

After 4 days on safari it was time to make our way back to Tanzania. Turns out the lodge didn't take credit card and when they guy had said it wouldn't be a problem he had assumed we have our own vehicle. From what I gathered he was from Narok and figured he'd take a free lift home with us, we'd give him cash and he'd take it back the next day. He wasn't so keen to come with us to Narok when he realized we'd be hitchhiking back.
Our plan was to go to the park entrance and see if we'd get a lift from there. He sent a junior member of staff with us and arranged for us to pay him in Narok. After about a few hours waiting at the gate we got a call from the hotel saying that they had new guests arriving by taxi and that we could arrange for the driver to take us to Narok for a fee.
We decided to go with this and returned to the hotel A few minutes later one of the staff tell me there is someone at reception looking for us. I assume its the driver so I prepare myself for haggling over the cost of the taxi. I arrive out and the guys asks where I want to go, he says he can take us to Nairobi. I ask how much and he says 10 dollars, I was expecting him to say 100 dollars or more! Turns out he wasn't the taxi at all, just a guy who was returning after a delivery to a lodge inside the Masai Mara. The officials at the gate had seen us waiting earlier so they told him that there were two people looking for a lift. He took us to Narok, waited while we got cash to pay for the safari lodge and then took us back to Nairobi dropping us to the door of our hotel. It couldn't have worked out any better!

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Head up a tree

2012-04-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Our guide was always watching, listening and constantly spotting things that we'd generally miss. On one of the safari trips he spotted this. It took us a while to figure out what he was looking at. The head has been left up the tree by a leopard.

Leopard leaves a head up a tree

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Lions in the Masai Mara

2012-04-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

Early one morning in the Masai Mara we came across a pride of lions having breakfast. I'm not sure what animal it was but they'd killed it a short time before we arrived.

We watched intently, taking lots of photos. A few minutes later we spotted a male lion approaching slowly from the other side.

We weren't the only ones to notice, some of the lions stopped eating and started starting at the approaching lion.

A few more lions scattered as he approached leaving only a small group finishing their breakfast.

The male lion approached slowly. Check out the hot air balloons in the background.

With one powerful roar the male lion dispersed all of the lions. You'll need to click on the photo to see a bigger size in order to see the expressions on the lions faces.

The male lion dragged the caracas away and started eating while the rest of the lions looked on from a distance.

Then a jackal and a hyena started approaching slowly. You can vaguely see them in the photo below.

They slowly went to the original kill site to join the vultures and started eating the scraps.

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We didn't get stuck!

2012-03-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

We had an experienced driver who knew the animals and the terrain in the Masai Mara very well. This other group weren't so lucky and they spent most of their safari getting stuck!

4x4 stuck in the Masai Mara

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The Miracle Safari - part 3

2012-03-25T17:20:00.001-07:00

The plan was to camp using our own tent, cook our own food and pay for the game drives. We spoke with the owner of the lodge and he explained how their pricing worked. Taking their all-inclusive option was about 30 dollars more expensive but we'd stay in one of their 'big' tents, have all our meals in their restaurant and get two game drives a day. I asked if they took credit card as we didn't have enough cash to cover one night, they couldn't take card but they said we could pay from Narok when we were on our way back to Nairobi. We checked in for one night and ended up staying three.

Their big tent was a like a small house, multiple rooms and a proper bathroom with a hot shower, definitely worth the extra cash! It couldn't have been more perfect, the food, accommodation, vehicle and driver were all excellent. Within 5 minutes of our first game drive we came across a pride of lions, later a cheetah with cubs, then elephants, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffes, hippos, hyenas and the following morning a pride of lions having breakfast.

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The Miracle Safari - Part 2

2012-03-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

We were walking out of Narok town in the direction of the Masai Mara hoping to catch a lift. A few mini buses stopped but none were going where we wanted, eventually one stopped and said they'd take us to another town from when we'd find a bus going to the entrance gate to the Masai Mara. After a very cramped 20 minute bus journey we stopped at a major junction, said goodbyes and waited for the next bus.

Hitchhiking in Kenya

We wait for about 1 half hour before some locals approached us and explained that the next bus wasn't until 2pm. They suggested that we were better taking a bus to Narok and getting a bus from there. We explained that we'd just come from Narok! We ignored their advice as we didn't want to back track and soon afterwards a family in a 4x4 stopped. We took their offer of a lift but about 10 minutes in the journey we realized that the town they were going too was about 200km away from the entrance gate we wanted.

Soon we passed some people in training gear looking for a lift to the Masai Mara Marathon. At this point we decided it was a good spot to try get a lift so we said our goodbyes to the driver of the 4x4 and his wife. They gave us their number told us to call should we have any problems. We were closer to the Masai Mara but not quite there. A few more cars and busses passed but none were going where we wanted. Finally a minivan with only 3 passengers approached, we spoke to the driver and he'd take us for 100 dollars. We laughed at this suggestion and so did he. I suppose you can't blame him for trying! Then the lady who was sitting in the back surrounded by bottles of coke and junk food said we could have a lift if we wanted. We confirmed it was a lift for free and not for 100 dollars! She ran a catering business and had hired the van for the day and said we were free to come along.

Dirt tracks through the Masai Mara Conservation Area

Soon we were traveling on dirt tracks through the Masai Mara conservation area. The tracks were in very poor condition so it was a slow and arduous journey but quite an amazing way to make the journey to the game reserve. We passed small herds of elephants, zebras and saw herds of wildebeest migrating south to the Serengeti.

Wildebeest in the Masai Mara

A couple of hours later we arrived at the finishing point for the Masai Mara Marathon. The lady had hired the van to take supplies to sell at the end of the marathon. Somehow we were destined to attend the marathon. After helping to unload the supplies we chatted the lady and the driver of the minivan. They said we could stay at the marathon event as there was plenty of food, drink and room for camping or if we wanted the driver would take us to the park entrance.

Venue for the Masai Mara Marathon

We decided on the park entrance, we set off on the 70km drive to the park entrance. The driver was very interested in what we were doing at the Masai Mara and what our plans were and what we would do when we got there and how we would get back to Nairobi.
The conversation went something like this:

Him> Are you meeting people at the reserve?
Us> No
Him> Do you have friends there?
Us> No
Him> What will you do when you get there?
Us> We'll find somewhere to stay or we'll camp.
Him> Do you not have anywhere booked?
Us> No
Him> Do you have a vehicle? you'll need one to enter the park.
Us> No

The conversation continued in this manner, question after question eventually he started laughing and repeated the words "The Miricle Safari".

Talek Gate entrance to the Masai Mara National Reserve

About two hours later we arrived at the Talek Gate entrance to the Masai Mara National Reserve! To be continued...

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Sharon Shannon in Australia

2012-03-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

I was lucky to be in Adelaide during the summer months where there are a number of festivals and events over the space a few weeks. One festival being WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance. A wide variety of musical acts from all over the world. We managed to catch Sharon Shannon and her band who were headlining one of the stages.

Sharon Shannon at WOMADelaide

The Miracle Safari - Part 1

2012-03-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

Elephants at the Masai Mara

With a few days to spare in Nairobi we decided to attempt a quick trip to the Masai Mara. According to the Lonely Planet, Narok is the gateway town to the Masai Mara. We didn't have our own transport so we would be replying on public transport and hitchhiking. We took a local bus and arrived in the evening. We spent a few hours wandering around the town trying to find somewhere to stay, everywhere seemed to be a "Butchery and Hotel" yet we couldn't find a room. The standard of accommodation was well below average, pretty seedy especially the 3 places mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Eventually we found a place that seemed reasonably clean, secure, wasn't attached to a butchery and had the possibility of meeting some other tourists.

The next morning we planned to go to the Masai Mara so our attempt at meeting people traveling this way started with dinner at the hotel restaurant. This didn't work out so well then just as we were leaving we met a large group of Japanese tourists who had just arrived at the hotel. Our lack of Japanese and their lack of English made for an interesting conversation but after some discussion we determined that they had hired two vehicles, were leaving at 6am for the Maasai Mara. They had room for the two of us and they said we were welcome to join them.

In broken English they explained that they had registered on the website and were surprised that we hadn't done so. We didn't quite get what this was about but we figured we'd be able to pay at the park entrance as we had done in Nairobi National Park. We said our goodbyes and arranged to meet at 5:45am the next morning.
About 20 minutes later the only guy who spoke some English arrived at our hotel room with a laptop and a few cables that hooked his phone up to another gadget that connected to his computer. He was able to access the Internet using his Japansese mobile and and a satellite! He said that it would be easier for us to register now so we sat and waited for the page to load. Slowly row by row the page loaded and what we saw was a website for the Masai Mara Marathon and a photo of a group of tourists and Masai Warriors running through the Masai Mara with a herd of wildebeest in the background!!

These guys weren't going to the national park at all, instead they were going to run a marathon in the conservation area surrounding the Masai Mara game park, about 70km away from the entrance! I thanked the guy, explained that we had no desire to run in the Massai Mara Marathon and apologized for the confusion. At 5:30am the next morning we started walking out of town in the direction of the Masai Mara. To be continued...

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Wedding Car Combi

2012-02-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

Derek and Madeline had quite an unusual wedding car, it was a rather luxurious Volkswagen Combi. Big enough to take all of the wedding party and an eski (Australia word for an ice box) to store some drinks.

Volkswagen Combi

Sydney Harbor Cruise

2012-02-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

We were in Sydney for a friend wedding and had a few days to look around. It was my first time there so I was happy to do some sight seeing. We took a boat cruise around Sydney Harbor that reminded me of a similar cruise that I did in Hong Kong where people were almost fighting over floor space to take photos.
This guy had 4 cameras, 2 of which for DSLR and he was taking photos of everything! It was even funnier when his friends would get him to take photos of them so he'd be using their camera while he had his 4 cameras hanging off his Cannon jacket.

Sydney Harbor Cruise

Can we borrow your mouse?

2012-02-19T01:44:00.000-08:00

We were to be spending a few weeks working on an educational project in Boman G'ombe, a village between Arusha and Moshi in the shadows of Mount Kilimanjaro.

View of Mount Kilimanjaro

Our Swahili was non existent at this point but within the school community this wasn't a great problem, we could get by with English and a Swahili phrasebook. We passed our days helping out at the school, doing art and photography lessons. The school had a computer center but there were problems with some of the computers so I offered to try fix them.

Running a computer class in a village that has very unreliable electricity is very difficult. Most of the time there is no electricity and when there is, the power level is so inconsistent that the computers will regularly restart due to lack of power. The mouse didn't work on one of the computers, I concluded was a problem with the motherboard. If my diagnosis was right then a USB mouse would fix it, the problem was we were a 2 hour bus trip to the nearest town where I might be able to buy a USB mouse. If I was wrong I'd have wasted time and money on a useless mouse. It doesn't sound like a big deal now that I write it but at the time in the situation it was.

Computer class at Bomang'ombe

I found out that their was an Internet cafe at the other end of the village so figured I'd go there and see if I could borrow a mouse. We didn't really think more about it, that was our plan. On our way we came across a small restaurant so we decided to stop for some breakfast. We managed to order vegetarian food despite not speaking any Swahili. Just after we ordered the principal of the school entered, immediately she came over to see how we were doing. She was amused as to how we'd managed to go to the restaurant and order vegetarian food despite not speaking the language, she was even more amused or possibly worried when we explained our plan to borrow a mouse from the Internet cafe.
After breakfast we made our way to the Internet Cafe, it was a very small room with 2 computers. They also suffer from the same electricity problems as the school which makes it difficult to run an Internet cafe without a reliable source of electricity. In a combination of sign language, English and a few badly pronounced Swahili words from the phrasebook we explained that we wanted to borrow a mouse. We explained it was for the school, that we needed it to test something. We even mentioned the principals name but that didn't work as she didn't know her. The girl didn't quite get it no matter how many ways we tried to explain.

Eventually I said I would like to use the Internet for a half hour and paid for this time. Then I slowed disconnected the mouse explaining that I'd return it in a half hour. I'm not quite sure the girl understood what we were doing but she agreed it was OK for us to leave with the mouse. She wasn't losing money as we'd paid for the computer so she seemed content with that. We returned to the school, tested and confirmed them mouse worked then returned it to the Internet cafe. The girl at the cafe was quite pleased to see us return with the mouse. Strange how it seemed like a perfectly logical solution at the time but I wouldn't dream of walking into an Internet cafe in Dublin and asking them if I could borrow a mouse.

The Presidential Safari

2012-01-27T07:05:00.000-08:00

After visiting the giraffe centre we went to the main entrance to Nairobi National park to see if we could arrange a safari. The information desk said the best option for those without vehicles was to use a taxi and they could arrange one. We spoke to their suggested taxi driver but apart from it being very expensive we didn't really think we'd get to see much driving around in a taxi! We walked to the park entrance to see if there were any other options. Here's a sign from the near the park entrance.

Who has right of way?

Here we got talking to one of the park officials. He suggested that we could use the presidential vehicle, we thought he was joking at first but he explained that it was the parks vehicle and in absence of Obama coming to visit they've decided to make use of the vehicle. The cost would be 10USD per person, considerably cheaper then the 80USD taxi the lady at the information desk was try to sell us. We organized to meet them at the gate the next morning at 6:30am. We didn't pay anything at that point so we were still little suspect as it seemed a little too good to be true and extremely weird that such a service would not be advertised or mentioned at the information desk. We took a moto taxi back to the campsite and organized with the driver to collect us at 6am the next day.

6am mototaxi to Nairobi National Park

Next morning we arrived by motorbike much to the amusement of the security at our campsite and also the officials at the national park. We got there paid the 40USD park entrance and the 10USD for the vehicle and driver. The guy wasn't lying, we actually had the presidential vehicle all to ourselves for a morning safari in the national park!

Presidential Vehicle

We were driving for about 15 minutes through the park and so far hadn't seen any animals. I was starting to think this was the catch and then we spotted a lion! Our guide knew what he was doing and had gone specifically to where he knew the lions would be. One of the lions came quite close to our vehicle which made for some great photos.

A lion a few meters from our vehicle

Same lion, different view

After an hour or so watching the lions more tourists started to arrive. At some point the lions got curious and decided to investigate the cars.

A lion investigating one of the other vehicles

As it started to get crowded with tourists our guide suggested we leave the lions and go further. Next we came across a Rhino. This guy kept his distance from us so I didn't get a particularly great photo.

Rhino in Nairobi National Park

Mombasa to Nairobi by Train

2012-01-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

After spending more time than intended on Zanzibar island it was time to make our way back to Nairobi. We'd heard about an amazing but very unreliable train journey from Mombasa to Nairboi. We decided we'd go to Mombasa with the hope of getting the train from there to Nairobi. Worst case we'd take the bus if we couldn't take the train. You couldn't book train tickets online and when we got to the train station they were closed. Luckily they had a timetable posted on the wall so we found out that there was a train leaving the following day.

Mombasa Railway Station

We arrived the following day to find a queue at the station. It was January 1st so there were new prices for 2012 but the staff hadn't been given the full details. As a result they were not selling anything tickets, good news for us as we hung around and eventually got a ticket when they did start selling them.

Mombasa to Nairobi Train

As expected the train was late departing. We went for 1st class tickets which was a private compartment and included dinner and breakfast in the dining cart. I could see why some people are sometimes disappointed with the train journey as they probably have misconceptions as to what first class is! The train is from the 1960s and the compartments haven't been update since then. Almost everything was functional and it was clean just perhaps a little worn.

Compartment on the Mombasa to Nairobi Train

The train crawled slowly through Kenyas famous Tsavo National Park. We didn't spot any wildlife although it was still quite an impressive journey with some amazing views. We woke up to an amazing sunrise with Mount kilimanjaro in the background. I decided to enjoy the sunrise rather than scramble to find my camera but I got a shot of Kilimanjaro later in the morning.

View of Kilimanjaro from the Mombasa to Nairobi Train

Meandering through the Tsavo National Park on the Mombasa to Nairobi Train

Christmas in Zanzibar

2011-12-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

We were in Zanzibar for Christmas. After our work on Uzi Island we took a few days off to relax. For Christmas day we hired a boat and went snorkeling for the afternoon. Blue skies, blue seas, white sand and tropical fish, a great way to spend Christmas and somewhat different to a normal Irish Christmas.

Blue Sky, Blue Sea, White Sand!

Christmas Day in Zanzibar

Camping in Nairobi

2011-11-19T04:54:00.000-08:00

Originally we planned to travel south from Addis Ababa overland to Kenya but due to a combination of people advising us against it and a lack of time we decided to fly. The project we were working on in Tanzania was starting sooner than expected and while it was in Tanzania it was only a 6 hour bus ride from Nairobi. As we flew down we had a few days to spare so we decided to spend the time camping in Karen close to the Nairobi National Park.

After the time in Addis Ababa, Nairobi was a surprise, everyone speaks English and the city is very similar to most European cities although with an increased additional security presence. For the original overland trip from Ethiopia I had got the lightest 2 person tent that I could find in Dublin or London. Camping in Nairobi would be our first time to use it, the problem was our rucksacks were bigger than the tent. Luckily we were staying at a campsite so we were able to store our luggage securely inside.

Worlds Smallest Tent

Most people staying at the campsite had their own transport and the rare few who didn't took taxis everywhere. We planned on taking local transport but it took sometime to convince the staff at the campsite to explain where we could find the local buses (known as matatus). They got commission for the taxis and organised but none for public transport! The busses in Kenya are called Matatus, small Toyota hiaces that stop anywhere along the road to drop-off and pickup passengers. A typical journey costs about 20 shillings which is about 20cent. The other alternative to taxis is motorbike taxis, these are cheap, available on almost every corner and great at getting through Nairobi's traffic.

We spent a few days traveling around using a combination of both Matatus and moto-taxis. The first stop was the Giraffe center, a non-profit organization started in 1979 in an effort to save the endangered Rothschild Giraffe of which there were only 130 left in the wild. Today the population in Kenya is 300. The giraffe centre has a feeding platform where you can get close to the Giraffes.

Giraffe Centre at Nairobi National Park

Next stop was the elephant orphanage, getting here by matatu was more difficult. We took a matatu to the one of the park gates and from here we had to walk through the park to the sanctuary. The walk was great as we passed lots of baboons on the way, although later when we were at the park and there was a lion nearby it was a little worrying.

Baboons on the way to the orphanage

The orphanage is run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and open daily to tourists for one hour. I spent a few days volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand a few years back, during which time I was taking care of an elephant, getting up at 4am to feed and wash him. I had never seen African Elephants before nor had I seen so many baby elephants in one place!

Baby Elephant drinking

Elephants at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2011-11-12T00:48:00.000-08:00

At the end of the street where I was staying in Addis Ababa there was always a security guard sitting. One morning I was passing he had left his seat and gone to talk to someone. I took a quick photo of his chair that was missing 2 legs and was tied to a tree for stability.

Recycled chair in Addis Ababa