gbazz

Ok I never though I’d say this, but here goes:

I wish our stopover in the Hong Kong airport was longer. =(

That’s weird right? I mean, who in their right mind would want to stay in an airport? Every traveller knows that an airport is almost hell on earth, at least if you’re an economy passenger and don’t have access to the lounges that business and first class gets. There’s nothing to do, the seats are uncomfortable, and the food is crap.

Hong Kong airport though, I would be lying if I described this airport like that. It has stores! (The stores!) It has a food court! (The fast food!) and it has free internet! (Love the speeds!) All that this place lacks is a cinema and a swimming pool, and they’d be set.

It’s a pretty sweet setup though and I wouldn’t mind being stuck here for a day or so. Hopefully that won’t happen any time soon though, because I do want to get back to Australia. ^^

written by Brian \\ tags: airport, hong kong, travel

Ah… There’s nothing quite like air conditioning.

Imagine travelling to one of the more rural areas of your country, where temperatures are constantly higher than 30 degrees and the humidity causes every pore in your skin to drip sweat like a constantly leaking tap, eventually drenching your hair and clothes with fluid that you really should be keeping inside you.

How would you get away from the heat?

If I talk to you regularly on MSN or Skype, you’d know that I’ve spent the past weekend in Mindanao, the southern section of the Philippines. You know, the bit with the mad cow disease and the terrorists? Ok, maybe not the mad cow, but the terrorists yes. At least they’re further south than the places we visited.

We have a loose routine that we follow whenever we’re down here, and it usually consists of visiting my dad’s brothers and sisters (he’s the youngest of seven children) and going a few hours south to visit the school where my dad graduated from college. Incidentally it’s also where I also spent Grades 8 and 9 before going to Australia, so while he visits his classmates, I get to visit mine.

Anyway back to the topic, which is the heat they have over here.

Sometimes it’s unbearable, sometimes it’s breezy and almost comfortable but it is always humid. If you’ve been to Indonesia, Thailand or any South-East Asian country, then you’ll be familiar with this kind of heat. This heat is actually more common in the cities, where the roads and buildings trap and reflect heat, and since most of the Filipino population is packed in cities in coastal areas, it stands to reason that the people we visit would live in those areas.

And there’s really nothing you can do to escape the heat, if you’re unlucky enough to be staying with relatives who don’t have air conditioning. Your only course of action would be to lie down, turn an electric fan up to its highest setting and stay absolutely still. Of course, there’s always the more fun option of catching an air conditioned taxi and going to the nearest shopping centre.

I’d have to say that the best times I’ve had over the past weekend, besides the time I spent with my cousin Nikka, were the times I was in a place that was air conditioned. Taxi, shopping centre or ship, the air conditioning always seems to make everything better.

And now I’m going to lie down in my bunk in an air conditioned room in a ship that I got to by riding an air conditioned taxi, and watching the Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 DVD box set that I bought in an air conditioned shopping centre.

Life’s tasty.

written by Brian \\ tags: air conditioning, hot, travel

Well here I am in the Sydney International Airport, it’s 7:23 in the morning and I’ve had 4 hours sleep in the last 36 hours. Why? Well, between rushing around getting my things ready for putting into storage and going over to Auntie Joy’s house to have dinner, I seemed to run out of time to do the last of my cleaning up. By the time that I finished doing that, it was so late that I was faced with choosing between sleeping for 3 hours and waking up feeling all manky, or staying awake till 4 when we would leave.I ended up staying awake which wasn’t too bad, since I was able to get an early start on straightening my hair. However after straightening the lot so that it was all smooth and soft, I went and put product in it! Who does that?

(9 hours later)

Anyway I’m writing this in the Hong Kong airport, which is probably my most favourite airport of all time.

It’s just so huge! And it’s like a mini shopping shopping centre with a food court and all. But most importantly it has lots of stores with cool little gadgets in them.

Speaking of gadgets, I’m still due for a graduation/Christmas present from my parents, and they said that I can pick it. Which is great, no complaints from me, but at the moment I just don’t have something that I desperately want. Got any ideas of what I should ask for?

written by Brian \\ tags: airport, tired, travel