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Technorati Tags: Australia, Perth

First, how many of the characters from Winnie the Pooh are edible?

Obviously, Piglet and Rabbit.

I think they eat bear in China.

I didn’t know this until tonight, but it turns out that you can also eat kangaroo.

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I had kangaroo this evening at the Old Swan Brewery. It took a few minutes for my dinner-mates to convince me that this wasn’t some trick they played on foreigners. But other than making me feel a greater kinship with gonzo carnivore Ted Nugent, it’s pretty good. It reminds me of buffalo.

This leaves donkey, owl, and tiger, all of which I suspect are inedible.

Now the other big question: if the children ask, “Did you see any kangaroos?” what do I say? If I say “I ate some kangaroo,” they’ll think I’m a barbarian. If I say, “In a manner of speaking,” they’ll ask for details, and I suspect “On a plate, garnished with lettuce” won’t go over well. I should probably say no, on the grounds that you don’t see a cow every time you go to Burger King.

The tiger shrimp and squid were pretty good, too.

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Technorati Tags: Australia, food, travel

It’s created, though there’s not that much in it yet.

Client just called. Must hop in a cab.

Technorati Tags: Australia, Perth, travel, work

I’ve made it!

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Technorati Tags: Australia, Perth, travel

I’m still at the airport, which is a bustling but not very high-tech affair: I haven’t walked on the tarmac from my plane to the terminal since, roughly, my trip to Tobago. I’m now in a shuttle bus that’s seen better days, but as long as it gets me to the hotel, I’ll be happy.

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The bus, which is left on and running, with the (weak) air conditioning going, is playing Mix 94.5, a radio station that were it not for the announcers’ accents could be a Clear Channel station anywhere in the U.S..

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I wonder what this city is like. So far, my sense is that Perth is the world capital of sundresses and men ‘s hats, but I’m eager to have a fuller impression of the place.

[To the tune of The Blue Nile, “She Saw The World,” from the album “High“.]

I’m on my connecting flight to Perth. The rest of my flight to Sydney was fine, though we got in a little late, and I spent 40 minutes in customs and immigration, and took the wrong bus to the domestic terminal. Live and learn.

When I got to the domestic terminal, I was told I could go ahead and check my bag to Perth, rather than put it in a locker for a few hours while I made my little pilgrimage to the Sydney Opera House. So I got in the check-in line. When I got up there, confusion resulted. They couldn’t find me on the 1:25 p.m. flight, even though my ticket clearly said that I was on it. For some reason, I HAD BEEN RE-BOOKED ON THE 9:55 A.M., WHICH IS LEAVING IN 5 MINUTES YOU’D BETTER HURRY TO THE GATE.

So no Sydney Opera House for this architecture buff.

I did in fact make it, and even got a decent seat. An aisle seat, anyway. This being a low-fare airline, there’s no business class, so I’m stuck in coach for the next 4 hours, and have to pay for my Diet Coke (which tastes subtly different from American Diet Coke, but a lot like English Diet Coke).

However, it means I get a few extra hours in Perth, and it also has the real virtue of eliminating any possible distractions and forcing me to focus on my work. I’ve flown too far to do merely a good job. I want to blow them away.

Technorati Tags: Australia, flying, travel, work

I’m on the plane, a few hundred miles east of Hawaii. And I’ve got power. After a mad dash this afternoon, I got an adapter that will work with my Powerbook on a plane. (Business class offers power at your seat, but you need a special adapter to draw any juice. Kind of a pain.)

It’s too cool.

I watched The Departed, which is a loose remake of one of my favorite movies, Infernal Affairs (in fact, I have IA in my backpack, ready for viewing after my meetings are over. It turns out that in many small and some substantial ways, The Departed is pretty different from Infernal Affairs: lots of details have been changed, some of the scenes have been scrambled around, the pacing’s different, and the female character is more substantial. So it’s a different movie, and very well-done: Gangs of New York was an exuberant mess, but this is tight, intense storytelling. The incredible violence, the amazing performances by Dicaprio and Damon (and yes, Jack is great, but he’s always great), the nonstop profanity…. It’s fucking poetic. If it doesn’t score several Oscars, including the long-elusive best director award, I’ll be really, really disappointed.

I miss my family, I know flying isn’t good for the environment (carbon ton per carbon ton, it’s considerably worse than driving). Still, I love to travel. But I also get to go home, which makes it the best of all worlds.

[To the tune of Fleetwood Mac, “What Makes You Think You’re The One,” from the album “The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac“.]

Technorati Tags: Australia, flying, movies, travel

We’re near the international dateline, about midway between Sydney and Hawaii.

Some bits of the flight have been choppy, but overall it hasn’t been bad. I slept some, but my internal clock now thinks it’s now 7:30- time to get up and make breakfast for the kids, and finish packing up their lunches (I do some of it the night before).

Having power on the plane is a good thing. I was getting pretty tired of the classic rock station on the airplane radio, and need to tweak the scripts for my presentation.

[To the tune of Yes, “Machine Messiah,” from the album “Drama”.]

Technorati Tags: Australia, flying, travel

Ten hours into the flight. I can see deep red on the horizon to the east.

For the last couple hours I’ve been sitting on the floor, with the laptop on the seat or tray table, depending on how I need to stretch my legs. The person sitting beside me probably thinks I’m nuts, but I can’t sit in a seat for 13 hours. It’s just impossible.

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I did one very smart thing this trip: I brought my travel mug. This means the number of trips to the galley for coffee are cut in half, and if we hit choppy weather, I’m less likely to spill my drink. After a couple bad experiences having to sit for a couple hours on coffee I’d spilled, I’ve become very fastidious about my seat space. Nothing makes you pay attention to where your drinks are than having had to wear one across the Atlantic….

I could get used to this whose business class thing. Too bad I probably won’t have that chance.

[To the tune of Fleetwood Mac, “Big Love (Live ’97),” from the album “The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac“.]

Technorati Tags: Australia, flying, travel

So I’m sitting in the lounge, typing away on my Powerbook, with my Adium and Entourage windows open, listening to my iTunes. I decided to bring my travel mug with me this time, as it’s nice and big, and well, good for travel.

Essentially, I can talk to everyone I normally talk to, listen to the music I usually listen to, do the work I usually do. I even packed some of my favorite movies.

Could it be that we’re becoming too good at constructing these bubbles around ourselves? People complain about being able to go to a Starbucks anywhere in the world. But are we now creating personal versions of this phenomena?

One change for me: I’m not wearing my totemic all-black outfit, because it’s the middle of summer in Australia (what’s that about?), and my black 511 Tactical shirt would give me heatstroke. So I’ve switched to the lightweight khaki model. It’s still the same shirt, with the awesome pockets that hold absolutely everything. I wouldn’t get on a flight without it.

[To the tune of Yes, “Siberian Khatru,” from the album “Close to the Edge”.]

Technorati Tags: culture, travel