Category: General

Here are some photos and notes from my most recent travels around Melbourne, Bangkok, and Singapore.

Melbourne

House-sitting in Melbourne was interesting. It felt more like we were living there (rather than visiting) and I got a pretty good feeling for what I liked and disliked. In summary:

• Liked: Food. Chinatown. Footscray. Walkability. Urban art. Visiting family.
• Disliked: Public transport. Police “crackdowns”.

We pretty much trained and walked everywhere. I ate nothing but Sichuan for a few days. Taking the morning train was horrendous! The first day we didn’t get on the first train because it was full (and late). The second day, they stopped and evacuated the train because someone passed out. Despite this, transport is expensive! $3.70 for a 2 hour ticket!?

Apparently J-walking is a major problem. While rushing to make an appointment (due to late trains) we ran across the road while the “red man” was flashing. A cop called us over and issued $58 fines (one each) while noting “Western Australia? I imagine that you have traffic lights over there.” I should have noted that we live in Albany and there are no traffic lights here (only roundabouts)… or not.

Bangkok

I was in Bangkok for my brother’s wedding. I won’t post many pictures from the event (it’s up to him what he wants to post on the Internet), but I will say that it was beautiful despite the amazing heat (44 degrees Celcius!).

We initially stayed at the Grand Tower Inn Sathorn since that’s where everyone else seemed to be staying. It was a charming hotel with a distinctly Thai feel (fairy lights, friendly staff, random gaudy decorations) but there was only one non-smoking room. After the wedding we moved to a Wotif mystery hotel… which was amazing.

Heidi has worked out (by matching descriptions) that the mystery hotel was Maduzi (Thai for “come have look at this”). The suites were huge and each featured (amongst other things):

• An entry way with illy coffee machine
• A full-length bed that was also wider than it was long
• Full-height windows along one wall
• An infinity edge bath that fills with water from the ceiling
• A printer-fax and wireless Internet access for complementary use

So that was pretty special. I’d stay there again… and so should you! Tourism has (obviously) taken a very hard hit with the recent protests in Bangkok, and a lot of small businesses (eg. clothing stores) will need support in order to stay in business when things calm down.

Singapore

My impressions of Singapore may be slightly skewed because:

1. We’d just stayed at one of best boutique hotels ever
2. We were both kinda sick, probably having caught a cold during the wedding
3. We were looking forwarding to returning home (to fresh home-cooked food and our cats)

Anyhow, here is my summary:

• Liked: I didn’t look too out of place (there were a lot of mixed-race people). Food. Singapore Slings. Red Dot Design Museum. Singlish. Public transport.
• Disliked: Expensive hotels (compared to Thailand). Pushy people in touristy areas (Night Safari). Very commercially oriented. Humidity. Being sick.

I can understand the commercialism in Singapore (no natural resources, so they have to rely on human resources and the financial services industry) but by this point in the trip consumerism was frustrating me. It feels like no matter where you go (in the world), people are preoccupied with eating, drinking, and shopping. I enjoy eating, and  I partake in drinking on occasion, but I don’t get shopping for stuff as a pass-time.

I guess that we could’ve done other things if we had planned ahead (eg. taking cooking classes in Thailand in 2009 was a great experience)… and despite my apparent dislike of shopping, I did pick up a few DS games while in Singapore (Picross 3D and WarioWare DIY; Picross is great, but I haven’t tried WarioWare yet).

There were some interesting things in Singapore though. Such as an escalator in a park so that people didn’t have to walk up a hill. There are obviously nice people too; Heidi lost her wallet at the Night Safari, but was later contacted via Facebook by someone who had found it (and was sending it to us forthwith and post-haste).

Came across this charming animation via 4cr:

Crater Face from Skyler Page on Vimeo.

I just got back from Thailand (via Singapore and Perth) yesterday.

It was a little tense while I was there, but it looks like it’s gone nuts since I left. I haven’t been able to get through to family (maybe the mobile phone network is overloaded), which is a little concerning. However, I’m confident that they are well outside of the dangerous areas.

Here’s a map outlining the danger zone and sites of various events:

View Bangkok Dangerous – Red Shirts Rally March-May 2010 in a larger map

Thanks to Kathy for posting this to facebook. Hopefully someone else finds it useful.

(I’ll post more about my trip tomorrow. Thankfully, it’s generally good times!)

Update: Just got a call from my sister. Everyone is fine.

Driving to Perth then flying to Melbourne for a week. Then onto Thailand for my brother’s wedding (I hope the protests don’t escalate). Holidaying in Singapore after that. Finally, back to Albany via Perth.

It’s going to be a busy month.

Possibly all soon followed by a trip back to Perth (for a Let’s Make Games event and hanging with Simon before he heads to the US) and a trip to China. Yay travel… although I dislike flying.

I should get packing… and cleaning (for our house sitter).

So yesterday Heidi and I totally owned Bluff Knoll, the highest point in the south-west of Western Australia. True story.

When we were on our way down, I was all swift quick-stepping like a ninja. Heidi mistook that for shaky-legged tiredness (as if) and we had this witty repartee:

Heidi: Are you alright? You seem kinda jumpy.
Me: Yeah. I’m more stable like this. It’s called… dynamic balance.
Heidi: Hmmm, I’m more of a plodder.
Me: What are you plodding?
Heidi: Descent.
(Pause)
(Knuckle punch)

Here are some pics:

(Click on the images on the image pages for full-size images… image image image.)

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

That quote is attributed to Siddhartha Gautama (aka. the Buddha). It’s very progressive thinking from around 1500 years ago.

I admire Buddhist philosophy for its focus on personal responsibility (for knowledge and actions). This contrasts greatly with Abrahamic religions‘ philosophies, which tend to focus on faith in external sources (eg. texts, organisations, a god).

However, (given the above quote) I find it strange that Buddhist religions tend to include supernatural aspects. Chiefly a belief in reincarnation, which I doubt would satisfy independent and objective scrutiny.

I’m making this assertion assuming that you are likely:

1. currently residing in Perth
2. into things that are awesome

In which case, you should make it to the Mythology Exhibition this weekend.

Here’s the facebook event page and a flyer:

It will make your life immeasurably better in all possible regards. Do it.

Simon wrote:

The second pic’s great. Bit of optical illusion action going on there.

You should Photoshop in a shadow so it looks like you’re floating!

After some quick GIMPing:

Hmmm… it’s not a very good looking shadow actually… (it looks like an oil stain…) but it gets the idea across! 😉

The Hitler-finds-out meme is getting old, but it’s still a great mechanism for humorously communicating insight into topical issues when done well.

Case in point, here’s one about Apple’s amazing assertions that it can dictate not only what people make, but how they make it:

What next? An Apple user agreement that states that you must wear designer clothes while using your iPad?

In related news, I’d recommend not buying an iPad. Aside from issues of media and software freedom, there will surely be a flood of cheap Linux, Android, Chrome, and Windows 7 alternatives coming out later in the year (like this one). Just like netbooks: Don’t buy the first lot that come out; wait until they have nice screens, stable software, good battery life and are available at Coles for $399 (review here).

(via Reddit)

Update: Wow. There a lot of link spam in that last paragraph.

As Simon correctly noted on Facebook, the app that I used to draw this picture is called Harmony by the amazing Mr. Doob.

I’ve made a few more. I love the look Harmony’s nearest neighbour stuff gives, but I have yet to really master it (although I have just ventured into colour). Finely detailed areas (such as eyes) are particularly difficult.

As always, click on the images for full-size versions (images below are only small sections of the originals):

Black and white is nice and all, but now for some colour! (I previously made a few other colour images, but they didn’t turn out so well…):

I like the sketchiness that Harmony gives. There’s no undo, but the lines are so thin that it’s more an exercise in either: getting it right (or close enough) the first time, or slowly accentuating what you would like to present.

It kinda matches the style of pencil drawings that I have been doing recently (when I watch online videos, like this – pretty bad – interview with Paul Krassner):

I’ll keep playing around with Harmony, but I want to work in colour a little more… but with nice gradients. Maybe I’ll have a look at the source code. More likely, I’ll just export a grey-scale image and then colourise in GIMP.

Update: Adding one more. Different approach.

I found that a good way to work is to start sketching in a light grey and then sketch over areas with increasingly dark greys (until hitting black).