TravelStream™ news feed for member markgemmell on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/markgemmell en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:43:31 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1225382400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1225382400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1225382400/tpod.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:43:31 -0500 Australia Life...

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia

My God it's good to be home!After what seemed like about 5 days of travel, I touched back down in Perth having travelled from Houston through Dallas Fort Worth, LAX and Sydney, crossing the international date line and having a body that is now completely confused about what time it's supposed to be!I made it back to the house after a ridiculously long wait for baggage at the airport - over 1/2 an hour before bags even began to come through the carousel - and then a long wait for a taxi as well... Grumpy?!? Moi?!? Nah!I got a hell of a welcome from Jasper who I was pleased to find out still recognised me and didn't think I was a burglar...We headed off to the Oval for a nice long walk and for once in his life he didn't want to stray too far away from me. I'm sure that'll change quick enough once he's used to having me home again.We had to wait until a bit later on before Sophie got off work for the day, but I'm pleased to say I got a great welcome from her as well! My body still wasn't sure what time it was, or where I was to be honest, but I managed to keep going until late evening before crashing out.The week has been flying by, with lots of work to do to catch up on the time I've been away travelling, as well as arrangements for heading off to China next week (yep - no rest for the wicked!)I've been well and truly back into the touch rugby, with games on Tuesday (UWA / Moto finals which we won!), Wednesday (Southern Touch / Beer Monsters, a narrow 7-5 loss) and Thursday (Rosalie / OAP's which we won I think 8-4) - gonna miss the UWA league as that's finished for now, but we have our traditional wrap up night out coming up on the 15th which'll be good!The weekend was excellent, with the Def Leppard concert on Friday night and then we (Sophie, Jack, Meike and I) travelling up to Lancelin on Saturday morning for Jack and I to enjoy our presents from Sophie of 'The Hummer Experience...'A chance to be learn about and be driven in original Hummers cars - at speeds of up to 150km/hour around the sand dunes there... Needless to say it was a real rush and lots of fun!Because of work travel, I'm going to miss the Beer Monsters game on Wednesday, but I'll be back for the OAP's game on Thursday (as long as my body lets me after all the travel!)The trip went really well, and despite being shattered, I made it back in time for the touch game on Wednesday night and we had a great on - winning 12-6, followed up the next night by a 12-3 win with the OAP's... A relaxing weekend was called for and now it's just time to get ready for Ross's arrival on Wednesday into Perth! Hopefully there'll be time for touristy things in between working and drinking! Heh, heh, heh...
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Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1220889600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1220889600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1220889600/tpod.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:50:24 -0500 Australia Life...

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Perth, Australia

Well, following on from the arrival of wee Jasper, my hospital experience and recover / puppy training, I've managed to get myself mobile again with a 'new' car and am getting ready to start the new job with Pumptools / RMS on Monday the 8th... The new car is a Mitsubishi Outlander with all the sporty additions, including a DVD player in the front... Not sure what good that is since it can't be played during driving (obviously so that the driver doesnt watch it, but surely it'd give the passenger something to take their mind off my driving?!?) - the GPS is fun though, especially with my sense of direction! Heh, heh, heh...My last weekend of freedom had me up early (ish!) on Saturday morning cleaning the inside of the car, since the folk selling it hadn't seen fit to bother... Didn't take long, and I then steeled myself for a night of drinking with the lads to celebrate Rob's 26th Birthday at The Paddo. We started in Fibbers in Leederville and 'crawled' our way up to the final destination of the Paddo. Was a really enjoyable night, up to a point - think my legs are well and truly still healing, and by 12am I'd had enough and had to wander back down the road - and I thought the alcohol would numb the pain?! Ah well! Sunday here was Father's Day so Soph, Jack, Meike, Chris, Annabelle, their Mum and Dad and I all headed to Kings Park for an afternoon in the sun. A beautiful day, and lots of fun for everyone with stalls and a stage for the kids to mess around with!Aprehension then started to kick in with day 1 of the new job about to hit me - sure it'll be fine...Starting work on Monday was a strange experience with no laptop nor email address for the company but I made my way to the AWT building to have my safety induction, meet the guys in the office and then get myself settled in. After a few hours of that it was back off home to start on my learning of all the products, checking of emails (still on my Hotmail account for now) and sorting out a few meetings to get started with contacts.The week went very quickly, first of all getting set up on the company email system, then meeting up with the guys at Centrilift, this time as a supplier - very strange feeling - think Dougal quite enjoyed it though! By the end of the week I had my laptop sorted out as well and was well and truly settled in to the new job - even if I wasn't exactly up to speed on everything... Sure it'll be fine!One more success of the week was my return to Touch Rugby, only 3-1/2 weeks after the operation!!! Obviously not at full fitness or strength (read: Speed!) but we all had a great time, coming out 2-1 winners again 'The A Team.' Luckily no 'B.A. Baracus' on the field as we started off and although I wasn't on the field for long (kept having to come off to recover!) we managed a 2-1 win and I even got a try! The result of all that was that I was walking a bit slowly for the rest of the week, but will hopefully be back to Boot Camp come Monday!The weekend couldn't come quick enough to be honest, not because I wasn't enjoying it (I was actually starting to see just how challenging and rewarding this could be!) but simply because I was shattered! 8 weeks away from work, with a trip back home and a big operation in there as well, had me more than a little bit worn out (although minimal sympathy from Sophie who has had to do it every week while I've been off anyway!).The weekend seemed to fly by, this some shopping (nothing fun, just essentials!) and a night out with the lads on Saturday followed by Chris' second birthday party on Sunday morning - more presents than he knew what to do with, but I'm sure they'll keep him entertained for weeks to come!Week two was even more work than then first with meetings arranged for most of the week, preparations for heading to Indonesia and back to the UK & USA in October to be firmed up as soon as possible. Oh, and along the way had to somehow become enough of an expert in RMS technology to confidently and competently present information to customers... Worry? Stress? Nerves? Me? Never!A very busy week, but on the plus side, I managed to do two sessions at Boot Camp without serious side effects (being unfit and knackered is more of a result of 5 weeks away from training than the effect of two light sessions)! so looking forward to getting more exercise in as I get stronger and heal up completely...The end of the week fast approached and I was determined again to have a nice quiet one - we'll see how that works out, eh? :o)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1222272000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1222272000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1222272000/tpod.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:48:53 -0500 Australia Life...

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Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Due to availability of flights at short notice, I had to fly FROM Indonesia North to KL and then after that fly South BACK over Indonesia to Perth...Makes no sense to me, but never mind! :o)Landed safe and sound in KL which has a stunning airport - very clean, well laid out and lots to see and do. I had a wander around the duty free shops and ended up buying quite a lot of chocolate - I'm sure Soph and I can ration ourselves - and then headed to the lounge.Lorn had told me about the 'open to all' lounge at KL and since I wasn't flying Qantas, I decided to look into it. The cost in minimal (maybe $30 total) which gives you 5 hours in the lounge, internet access, as much food and beer as you can cope with and they even throw in a free massage! How could I refuse, especally after all the travel!!!Fully fed, relaxed and shopped out, I headed to the departures gate - which turned out to be a train trip away, but luckily I had left enough time to get to the plane before it headed off!Now, just one more flight and my first Indonesian adventure will be over...Sure it'll be fine.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1225123200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1225123200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markgemmell/6/1225123200/tpod.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:59:05 -0400 Australia Life...

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Houston, Texas, United States

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Los Angeles, California, United States

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Dallas, Texas, United States

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia

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Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

A nice relaxing weekend was the plan after my second week back into the workforce, and how I needed it. I think parts of my brain have forgotten how to work, and the rest is having to do double time to make sure I get through the day without falling over! Friday was nice and quiet, after a long walk with Jasper and we settled in for the evening with a carry out and a film.Jasper was back up at day break wanting his walk, so off I went to the park to run the legs off him (or rather get the other dogs to do that for me!) and a relaxing day was followed by the two of us (Sophie and I, not Jasper!) heading to ESS Bar in Subiaco for a lovely meal and bottle of wine (with the help of a voucher from the Entertainment Book!) Sunday was another lazy day, although we managed to enjoy an hour or so at the Birthday party for Paula and Nick's wee girl (friends of Sophie!) in the morning and then off to the Queens in the evening to meet Jason, Dougal and Ally for a drink and a catch up. Then it was time for a bit more work, believe it or not, to Week three of the new job, and I'm still madly trying to learn enough to be able to speak to customers and more importantly be prepared for the trip on Monday to Indonesia. Presentations to potential customers there as well as meeting our local contacts had me a bit worried that I maybe should have been spending 24 hours a day, rather than just 10 - 12 every day learing what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. Ach, sure it'll be fine - hopfully - maybe...The flight from Perth to Jakarta was actually really good! I had NO expectations from booking a flight with Garuda, probably coloured by recent and not so recent news reports, bt also that they were a bit of a budget airline... But the flight left pretty much on time, we were extrmely well looked after on board with drinks and good food, and there was even a movie (although it was some kind of 'art house' effort so my book got a good work out instead (and I managed some shut eye having found on take off that I had three seats to myself on the plane - luxury!I'd of course had to put on the compression stockings with my operation only having been a month ago, but that wasn't too bad in the cool air of the plane, I was just a bit concerned about how it would feel on the other end in Indonesia... Arrival was pretty much on time as well although I then had to spend aver an hour waiting for a 7 day visa and then to progress through immigration before getting my bag.To top all that off, it turns out Optus hadn't switched my phone on for roaming, so no signal, not texts and no email services to the Blackberry... Typical!Exiting the terminal was like walking through a rugby scrum, with everyone offering taxis into town. I'll sadly admit that I was 'sharked' and without having any local knowledge, agreed to go with one of these 'taxi drivers.' Aside from the terror ride into town (I will NEVER complain about Australian drivers again!) with hundreds of near misses and literally thousands of mopeds weaving in and out of the traffic with not a care in the world, ended up being charged double what the rate should have been. Still not ridiculously expensive, but a lesson learned for sure.After light speed accelleration and heart stopping braking we arrived 'safely' at the hotel in South Jakarta where I met our contact and got ready for the business meetings. Early start the next day so I had a few hours sleep before jumping in another taxi (recommended by the hotel!) and was back off in the Jakarta traffic for a Batavia flight to Pekanbaru.Monday evening Sophie was off to training with Jasper - now we get to find out how well he's getting on after his first 4 weeks with us. Sadly according to the trainer he's a pretty badly behaved wee boy, not good on the lead, not good around other dogs (too submissive) and needs to be controlled more... I must admit that I was quite disappointed about this as I thought he was going really well, but thinking about it she probably is comparing Jasper to the perfect dog as opposed to the rescue dog that he is, with a tough start to life. We know he'll get better with time and a bit of training as we all get to know each other better.He did get full marks for being behaved when told to sit etc, which is a start, but we obviously have our work cut out for us as we raise the wee man.Back to me on my trip!The evening in Pekanbaru saw us heading to a local restaurant to try some of the local specialities. Extremely spicey food with everything either being covered in chillis, or actually just being a whole dish of chillis... To top that, etiquette was to eat with your fingers, so I did my best to forget all the manners my Mum spent years teaching me and dug in. Absolutely fabulous food, although the fish did tend to be very much lacking in the 'flesh' department and watching my colleague it seemed that skin and bones were also a very nutritious part of the diet! I managed to try, and enjoy everything, with the help of plenty fluids and also the finger bowl to occasionally clean my hot fingers.I'm quickly finding out that apart from sticking out like a sore thumb because of my skin colour and hair (although that's quicly either receeding or going grey!) I'm also one of the tallest people around - quite a nce feeling, although people do tend to stare... Is this how you feel all the time Jason?!? :o)We then went for a local wander around, taking in some of the shops and also a club called MD's - karaeoke etc - so not for me (at least not sober!) so after enjoying some of the local sights and sounds (as well as being stared at for being the only white man in what seemed like the whole neighbourhood!) it as back to the hotel and time for a bit more work and emails before bed.More meetings the next day, coupled with a 4 hours drive through the bad lands of Indonesia... Shacks as far as the eye could see (where there wasn't swamp land!) and unsealed roads at times meant our little people mover struggled at the best of times. I prayed (yes prayed Mum!) for us to avoid flat tyres and pretty much every other vehicle on the road who seemed to want to occupy the same little bit of road that we were on! Ah well, all part of life's rich tapestry, eh? :o)Meetings all went well, and after a couple of days exploring the outer reaches and experiencing the driving 'styles' of Indonesia, I was more than ready to get on a flight back to Jakarta, spenda quiet night in the hotel and then make my way back to Perth on Thursday with the help of Malaysia Airlines!No photographs of this trip - to be honest it was all a bit overwhelming and I didn't get much of a chance to stop and stare but there'll be many more trips and I'll share some shots of the madness that is this country!Bring it on!Back home for a nice relaxing holiday weekend, the AFL Grand final between the Cats (Geelong) and the Hawks (Hawthorne) down with Jenn and Darren in Bridgetown and then who know's what else... At least it'll be in an English speaking country where I'm once again one of the 'little people!'
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