Detours

I took a short time out on my way home to do a weeks training in Montrose, Scotland. Its been a very interesting few days in spite of the weather being rather chilly. Ah the joys of high winds and freezing rain. The course itself has been very interesting and informative. Its also been a chance to visit some old colleagues who are now instructors at the company training centre and catch up on the juiciest bits of corporate gossip from the north sea world.

I found some time to take some photos along the way. Please enjoy.

Scotland, Or western Alberta?

Starting out from Aberdeen its about an hour to get down to Montrose on the train. Some of the countryside looks surprisingly like Western Canada come harvest time. One thing I like about the UK is that the trains actually work and are a convenience. The 2 hour round trip from Aberdeen costs about 17  pounds. The taxi from the the airport to the train station costs about the same.

High Street,  Montrose Scotland

 First off note the cut-off statue of the bloke on the right of the photo (try to ignore my lack  of photography skills). He is one James Graham, the  sixth Earl and first Marquis of Montose. The man lived a very interesting life and unfortunately experienced a most gruesome end in the time when  Oliver Cromwell was running things round here. Remember "Braveheart" and how they did in Mel Gibson at the end? Same story for this guy. Actually in light of his demise a cut-off photo is somehow fitting .

The church steeple is spectacular - it was built in 1832.

Montrose Public Library

I put this in because I like the building. The library was built in 1908 for "a grand sum of 8000 pounds" according to the local watchman. It just happens to be across the street from a takeaway joint that I frequented during my stay. Not much to do while the pizza is in the oven. The library is nice on the inside as well.

The Dog Park

Found this on the sidewalk. Until today I have never seen an urban parking spot just for dogs. What a great idea. I daresay you would need something a little bit sturdier for anything larger than a Jack Russel.

Medal Course At Dawn

Montrose does have a couple of nice golf courses. Unfortunately I did not find the opportunity to play!. It just wouldn't do to have a post about Scotland that does not have a golf photo in it.

Graduation Picture

I did go to Scotland for reasons other than getting photos for this blog. The course entailed the evaluation of Cased Hole Logs and was attended by a number or folks from various oil and service companies. The instructor (second from right- back row) was quite engaging and I found the lectures to be very specific to what I am doing now. Its a subject that is getting more attention especially since that BP disaster in the Gulf Coast. All in all it was a week well spent. Now its time to get home.

Backroads

I am cruising down highway 21 in central Alberta. Looks nice doesn't it. Or it could look lonelier than hell. Depends on your viewpoint. I'm a person who needs from time to time to get out on my own. You can't get more alone than this.

Some time ago I worked in this landscape. My job consisted of driving out to an oil rig, recording some data, and driving back home. Those oil rigs were all over the province so, as a result, I became very good at knowing the best roads, the quietest hotels, and restaurants with the best hot roast beef sandwiches. Typically we would work 2 weeks on 24-hour call followed by a much needed week off. At the time I enjoyed the flexible schedule as it gave me a chance to pursue other hobbies such as skiing and sailing. I also liked seeing the countryside even if it was out of the window of a pickup truck. The funny thing is I had always taken the scenery for granted. I suppose if you see this kind of stuff every day for 10 years it gets old. I thought that as long as I was on holiday I may as well do a little road trip to follow again my old stomping grounds just for the fun of it - without any particular place to go.

I had a destination in mind - Calgary. But instead of taking the direct route I took the backroads through the farm belts of Camrose and Stettler and the badlands of Drumheller.

If you can ever get out of the city you will see these giant hay bales sitting around all over the place. Before the oil boom Alberta was an agricultural province. There is still a very significant proportion of the population living in small towns and farm communities.

Also ubiquitous to the landscape are the grain elevators. Everything grown here is collected and shipped out to Prince Rupert by train.

The badlands near Drumheller. Its amazing how quickly the terrain changes here. The flatlands of that grain elevator were only 2 km away. I've seen similar valleys (wadis) in Yemen - particularly in Hadramout - we are just a bit greener here.

Drumheller is also well know for its dinosaurs. There is a spectacular museum called the Tyrrell Museum Of Paleontology. It's a visual treat. If I had kids I would surely take them there.

More of the same. The trip down here from Edmonton took about 4 hours. The roast beef sandwich that I had on the way in Stettler was just as tasty as it was 15 years ago.

I arrived in Calgary later that afternoon. Normally its only a 3 hour commute. But today with all the stops I needed 8 hours to make the trip. I should have been exhausted but I felt strangely refreshed. After all didn't someone say that for every journey half the fun is getting there. In a world that seems more virtual every day - shouldn't we do the real things every now and then?

The World In A Day

What do you talk about when you get home from a trip? Well sometimes you talk about the food you tried. Often you talk about some unique item that you picked up at a local market, marche, souk, bazaar, or pasar. You might even mention a local dance or cultural tradition that you witnessed. Now wouldn't it be nice if you could get all those experiences at one place, without the hassle of airports, bad taxis, smelly hotels, greasy touts and crappy toilets?

Well you can.

But only in Canada eh.

And only in my home town.

The Edmonton Heritage Festival has be running now for 34 years. I'm not sure who thought of it but what a brilliant idea. Basically the organisers went around to all the ethnic communities and asked them to each set up a pavilion in a park for 3 days. The pavilion could have handicrafts unique to that ethnic group or culture as well as food treats. Later on the pavilions were allowed to set up stages to present music, dance or well...whatever. Hundreds of thousands of people show up to this event every year, making it one of the most successful summer festivals in the country.

I just arrived here on Sunday. So I only caught the last day. Still we were lucky in that the weather gods were favorable (sometimes it snows here in August) and we were able to enjoy a perfect day. It would be really tough to see everything in one day - there were 62 pavilions representing everyone from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. I did manage to get a few pics of the pavilions we managed to visit. Please enjoy.

What cultural festival in Canada would be complete without an Indian Teepee? The First Nations pavilions featured some spectacular local artists.

Scandinavian pavilion complete with longboat. Why am I reminded of Beowulf?





The Japanese pavilion put on a kendo display

The Indonesian community has had a pavilion here for the last 3 years now. Unfortunately they had some trouble with the sound system today but the kitchen was open. They served up some very passable beef rendang as well as sate ayam. They were sharing the stage with the Dutch contingent - check out the skirts on the stage.

The Dragon from the Chinese pavilion In addition to china proper, Hong Kong and Taiwan also had pavilions. The Chinese were probably the first asian immigrants into Canada and were instrumental in the building of the national railroad.

I saved the best for last. The Arabs put on an awesome display in their pavilion. I think they won first prize (again) this year. Everything here from spices to jewelry to clothing to hubbly bubbly (water pipes - my favorite) is here.

I really can't think of too many better ways to kill a day. After a few hours of tromping about we got home stuffed and exhausted. Edmonton has a well deserved reputation as a cold and dreary place in the winter time. However on a day like today I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be.

The Open Road

Every now and then you just have to escape the daily chaos that is Kuta and get out on the road. I can't think of a better way to to do this than hopping on my bike and heading into the hills. Imagine, only 50 km from my front door you can sit by the lake and contemplate the effects of mass tourism on Bali. Welcome to Puraluhur Beratan, in Bedugul!

Its nice and cool here.

There is even a beringan (banyan) tree to sit under. This tree has to be the mother of all beringan. According to the temple guards it is about 150 years old. I'm sure there are lots here that are older but this one was easiest to get a photo of. These trees are huge!

You can get boat rides on the lake but this runs a bit on the pricey side - the outriggers look OK but the powerboats look a little dodgy to me. The restaurant was another shock. 24,000 Rp for the warmest orange juice in Bali. Glad I didn't try the food. There are plenty of restaurants on the way back to Kuta that offer good food at much more reasonable prices. Most come with rice terrace views.

A roadside warung just past Mengwi. Lunch here will run you 3000-5000 Rp.

After a few hours driving here I needed a break.

Finally just a note on driving here. The idea of defensive driving has yet to be fully embraced by the Balinese. Expect to be cut off, to see oncoming traffic in your lane, to see vehicles without brake lights, to see vehicles turning without signalling, to see vehicles entering the carriageway without checking for traffic, and so on. Use of the Bali Brake (the horn) is mandatory at intersections, approaching traffic, and passing. This can be stressful at first, but you will either to learn to live with it or stay off the roads. I try to take my time and usually try to stay either well ahead or well behind other vehicles. Night driving should be avoided as much as possible. If you have the patience for it, driving yourself is a much easier and cheaper way to see this island.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

RDX and Ice Cream

Its a scientific fact that ice cream, if it gets on your hands will instantly transfer itself to all parts of your body, your clothes and any items and articles that you may be carrying with you. What I recently learned is that this strange property is also shared by RDX.



RDX is a type of explosive. I used to work a lot with the RDX during my years in the middle east. Hah! I know what you are thinking but I had a license to handle the stuff. See? sez so right there (in arabic).





When you work with RDX there is always some powdery residue that gets on your hands and clothes. From there it may get on to your laptop computer and your luggage. Once it gets into your luggage its never coming out. Its quite happy to remain their for months or even years. And if you are travelling out of Israel and they decide to swab your luggage you are in a world of shit. These boys/girls swab EVERYTHING. Imagine their surprise! It took me 2 hours to explain that I work with the stuff so its perfectly normal for traces of explosive to turn up in my rig bag. It helped that the rig was in the news over there so the police at least knew what I was talking about. Still you are always a little bit uncomfortable around airport police no matter where you are.


I'm so glad to be home.

PJ in Jerusalem?

Yup

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago (before the present rukus got going) to spend the day in Jerusalem. Work was kind of slow so four of us chartered a guide and did the tourist thing. Starting in the morning it was about a 2 hour drive from Haifa to Jerusalem.

The first place we stopped was the Mount of Olives. There is an excellent view of the old city from here.

The Golden Mosque is of course the Dome Of The Rock. Could say that the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions got their start here. This is the place where Abraham was supposed to sacrifice his son but God allowed him to sacrifice a sheep instead (at the last minute). We were not allowed to get too close to this Mosque or the Al- Aksa Mosque so this photo will have to do. The shiny roof was donated by the King of Jordan in 1994

Next stop was the garden of gesthemane (hope I got the spelling). For Christians this was where Jesus was arrested. Some of the olive trees here are well over 1000 years old!

Going down the hill and across the street we finally got to the old city itself

The old city is pretty much in a constant state of reconstruction/excavation.

The western wall - ladies on the right, men on the left. This is apparently all that remains of the 2nd temple of Solomon after the Romans got through with it.

The Via Dolorosa. This is the route that Christ took to his execution. The Christians have helpfully broken it up into several (14) stations with souvenir shops and a small chapel at each one. My hand is in an impression of the rock created where Jesus apparently steadied himself by placing his hand on the wall. Jesus must have had really really big hands.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Doesn't look like much from the outside but the inside is something else again....Much like a tartus unit. I was curious about the ladder(upper right) and later on I found out that it had been sitting on that ledge for over 150 years! How cool/retarded is that? The keys to the door to the chuch have been in the same family since the time of Saladin.

The same church from the inside. My camera can't really do justice here. The whole interior is domes and arches.

Whats this you are wondering? Its the crux of the biscuit imho.

This is apparently a scale model of the planned 3rd Temple. And the small print on the left says: "Buy now before the temple is rebuilt and the prices go up". And guess where this temple is planned to be built....Won't that stir up the Anthill? Can't see this happening anytime soon but there is an element of the population of Israel that wants to see it happen.

Jerusalem as seen from the Old City. Its really quite amazing to see how all of this was built in such rugged country. And its more than a little ironic that a place with such religious significance of three major world religions is such a source of contention between them.

Hope you enjoyed the show.

PJ

A (pseudo) message from the ministry of tourism

Dear Potential Visitor

Please come to Indonesia. Didn't you notice that we are having a special visit "Indonesia Year 2008"? You must have missed the 2 day advertising blitz. Whats so special you ask? For starters we will be hitting you up for an extra 25 bucks coming in and 15 bucks leaving. We really really really need the money and we figure that anyone coming here can certainly afford to be nickle and dimed. Besides, just because no other tourists spots in Asia have a VOA is no reason why we shouldn't. We're mavericks you know - who wants to run with the crowd? Moreover, as any accountant will tell you, its always best to get your money up front.

Hope you like our beer. Sorry about the lack of hard stuff. On the bright side even if we had it you probably couldn't afford it. Actually our lack of booze its your fault. Wasn't it you guys who told us to clean up corruption? Drinking is bad for you anyways.

By the way we have a new porn bill but don't worry - our panel of experts have determined that you will not in inconvenienced in any way - maybe - we don't plan to trot it out except for special cases.

See you soon!

Your buddy

Jero

PS
Helpful tip...come in an airplane. Don't sail your own boat or we just might confiscate it. You could be smuggling alcohol for all we know.

Somebody really should have told the rest of Indonesia about the Tourism Ministry's little promotion plan. Didn't they get the memo?

5 Airports

5 Airports
4 security checks
2 baggage checks
5 crap airline meals
innumerable queues
2 hotels
2 departure/arrival cards
1 taxi

And I'll be home

Leave a light on.

Pj