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Floridia / Tour de Florida / Uncategorized

Day 1 – Daytona to Rockledge

11:15 - Daytona (photo courtesy Dumps) 2:16 PM– Scottsmoor the old boy in the gas station seemed pretty excited about the forest fire. ‘Outta control’ he said, with blue eyes glittering. ‘That’s why I’m stocking up.’ He had a 24 case of Coor’s Light under one arm and asked for a carton of cigarettes when he got to the till. "Good thing you ain't riding north! !" He chuckled as he walked out. "Be careful now!" We had both just finished listening to a rather sizable lady explain to the counter staff that her husband had been complaining that she was getting too thin. ‘He’s told me I look like a crack whore,’ she cackled. The counter staff nodded sympathetically. I couldn’t see her face throughout this exchange, so I held back on passing judgement. ‘an that just ain’t no fair.’ Despite dropping the Southern double negative, she sounded fairly well satisfied with the situation. This being my first stop, there’s already a few lessons to be learned. 1) I really am going to have to do something about my saddle. After two hours, it has started to feel like I was sawing at my perinium with a loop of barbed wire. That, or I have somehow managed to sit on the bike chain. 2) a quart-sized water bottle is inadequate. Mostly because 3) Florida is fucking huge. No matter how much you think of the place as being wall-to-wall crowded with Publix, Walgreens and the like, there are still these huge empty bits in between, containing just the odd trailer (not even trailer park), fishing hole, Church of the Nazarene or closed down marina. There seem to be a shit load of those, leading me to think that 4) the economy here is still on its ass. I have passed many desolate scenes worthy of Stephen Shore. Beautiful and empty in a sort of post-apocalyptic way. Perhaps that’s not far…

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March 2, 2011
Floridia / Tour de Florida / Uncategorized

Heading Orff…

well, it seems that only road travel elicits anything like regular blog contributions, hence the plan to see a fair swathe of Florida using that most unconventional of vehicles (in the US at least): the bicycle. at 1000 miles, the proposed route could be called a tad ambitious, and i am reserving the right to tailor the course to prevailing mood and circumstance (likely to be driven by the size an insistence of the saddle sores). but let's just see how we go. i've been fiddling with the bike setup for about a week now, and am well pleased with the Batavus i spotted while in Bali and kept on hold for a rainy day. although it's fairly clear that it hasn't exactly been designed for touring -- a fact underscored by the many raised eyebrows on the part of the fine gents from Orange Cycle in orlando when they fitted the rack. my other essential bit of kit is the all-in-one hammock, which meets the weight criteria but possibly not the security or stability criteria that have been stipulated by the missus. thankfully Florida is the land of the cheap roadside motel, so i should hopefully be able to credit card my way out of any unsavoury or unlikely camping scenarios. It all sounds a bit like folly, but i guess there's only one way to find out. As ever, i'm grateful to the Missus, and to her dad Farouk, for doing the parental bit while i get to go and have 'fun'. I will be on standby, and have promised to be back within two days of any emergency. will also be travelling with the essentials: laptop and broadband stick, so, in a way, it will be like i never left. Hoping to document a fair bit of it here, but will turn off the email notifications so everyone can carry on with their lives in peace. hasta…

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February 28, 2011
goa / India / Uncategorized

salvation from a dangling cable….

following last week's appointment with the good folks at (un)Reliance, an internet cable has been run from our landlord's house through the trees of the yard, and now hangs, tantalisingly, outside of our window. when will someone be along to hook it up? God only knows. if you're reading this in 2010 then it has happened sooner than expected. but if it does happen this year, we will also suddenly be seriously connected. more so than at any other point on our trip, since there is no transfer limit on our 512kbps. so folks, who's up for some serious menage-a-quatres video conferencing? or maybe some live gaming while catching up on the new alan partridge (this no joke. there's a new series apparently. thanks again Uncle Chancey). heck i might even do a spot of hosting on the side... update: we are now installed and online! the final step involved uncoiling that cable and pushing it through our open window (which we can now no longer close). with nothing permanent than a treebranch securing the cable between here and the road (about 70 meters), we may find ourselves back offline soon enough. but for now, let the games commence!

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November 13, 2010
Kuala Lumpur / Uncategorized

KL revisited

Yesterday completed our 5 month Balinese time warp. It took eating the same breakfast in the same hotel with the same irrepresible two small people to feel like the circle had been completed. This may, in part, be because Egg has been going on about the breakfast at this hotel almost daily since we left. And so it was with a building sense of anticipation that we dragged ourselves out of the first real airconditioning we've had since leaving here last May, and down to the poolside breakfast room that offers such Egg-friendly fayre (as we were to discover, precious few other places would meet these exacting standards). Prior to this, we spent a week at with 'Uncle Timmy' and 'Auntie Brenda' across town in the shadow of the Menara KL. Theirs is a lovely, spacious flat, in a great part of town. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there, although we might have been just a little on edge owing to the unpredictable playing habits of two energetic boys under six. Still, it was great to catch up with Tim, who was our first first flatmate(and BFF) after we got married in 1996, as it was to meet Brenda and get a my ass whipped in squash (although yesterday's rematch has us back at evens, and me staggering around on stiff legs and groaning like Homer's dad) Continued visa wrangling looks to be the forecast for the rest of this week, then we will be back on Goan service with Uncle Chancey from Friday. bing bong! Three Imaginary Boys wreak havoc with one hose (called the Bum Blaster, apparently) Tash sporting the latest Two Ringgit timepiece chic Uncle Timbo and his skyline. One of these three kids still finds Toy Story amusing Caught wet-handed Water fighting is exhausting work The deep sleep of the very naughty My new camera has smile recognition. struck dumb by my first pint of real…

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October 20, 2010
Bali / Uncategorized

From the top rung of Mount Agung….

I was lucky enough to be let off the leash for a night and a day last weekend to go and climb Bali's highest mountain - the sacred Gunung Agung. four days later, i'm still mesmerised by the experience...and my thighs have only just stopped abusing me at every step for cranking them up and down 2000m worth of hill . i went with some friends from the East Bali Project, ten of us in total: half Bule and half Balinese. i confess, i was a little paranoid about not having the right footwear, and so splashed out $30US on a pair of indonesian-issue hikers, only to see some of the group turn up in battered old converse cut offs. As it turns out, i was very needful of the heavy duty boots, especially on the way down when my knees conked out and it became more of a plunge than a descent. Only one of my converse-wearing friends made it, although all of us were fully shamed by the old women who passed us on the way up at about three in the morning, carrying a basket full of offerings and going barefoot! after failing miserably to get any sleep at Pura Pasar Agung on account of the local arak that was making the rounds, we set off at about twelve thirty...in the morning. we were the first group to really get underway on the mountain, and given the pace we managed, this was a sensible move. our 'guide' was Ardika, a friend of a friend who claimed to have made the climb four other times. within an hour of leaving the camp, his sandal broke in two pieces, and, when we couldn't fix it with some electrical tape, he decided to turn around and head back down.. it took another four and a half hours to reach the summit after that, with the last hour and a half…

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September 2, 2010
Bali / Uncategorized

Happy Phoniversary

trying to keep the signal to noise at a minimum, here are three semi-related news items. Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife, who has put up with me a good deal longer than i would have done (given a choice in the matter): 14 years in a conjugal capacity, longer if you count the years of prior goofing. to celebrate we had a slap up, six course dinner at what must be the nicest restaurant in Bali and are now completely cured of the need for food, wine, or exotic citrus fruits for the foreseeable. Happy Anniversary to those in my family that share the same date as Tash and I. Mom, Dad, Jeff, and Cyn: selamat ulang tahun pernikahan! and, on a slightly more upbeat note: i've lost my bloody phone. it bounced out of my pocket yesterday while riding the bike somewhere between here and there. here's my new number: jay-indo:+62 852 1358 0578 deliberately starving yourself before a big meal is not necessarily the greatest plan: 1) you can look a little too keen beforehand 2) you're drunk after the first drink and 3) your stomach gets the pregnancy treatment as you require it to triple in size and workload in the space of a couple of hours drunk on fumes: the deleterious effects of a chocolate martini Tash finds the transplanted monkey brain hilarious (it's actually a lime, dear)

5 Comments
September 1, 2010