Será que o blog ficou chato?

Caros amigos e amigas,

estou achando que o blog ficou chato! Andei lendo os últimos posts e me deu até enjôo de estômago, já que o que eu escrevo reflete a minha vida. Portando somando 2 e 2 dá para ver que minha vida está chata!!!

Ultimamente tenho visto que as experiências que antes me enchiam de prazer hoje nao passam de rotina. Estava em Bangkok jantando ao lado do hotel quando entra no restaurante um indiano gordo igual a um rei Momo e com um chapéuziho azul royal igual ao dos Smurfs. Nem achei tao absurdo. Depois de uns 12 minutos comendo meu Thai Curry vi um elefante passando na frente do restaurante. Nada de especial, elefantes andam por todas as partes de Bangkok nesta época do ano. Nas férias até me choquei com um na saída do metrô. Estava de papo com um amigo, fiz a curva e dei de cara, corpo e alma na bunda do elefante. Normal.

Este mês eu bati o recorde de poucas horas de vôo (como tripulaçao, claro). Quem sabe seja isto, afinal quanto menos eu vôo, menos experiências eu tenho para contar. Num total foram apenas 30 horas, quando eu vôo uma média de 80 por mês. Significa que o salário do mês que vem vai ser igual de professor!

No vôo de volta para Dubai os dois casais de indianos, upgrades de econômica, sentaram na minha área! Claro! Tinha que ser... eles me perseguem. Isto porque os indianos meio ralé, que vem sentar na Executiva, acham que é chique ficar pedindo tudo o que vêem pela frente. Outra coisa estranha é que esta gente adora beber Perrier e ler um jornal aqui de Dubai chamado Khaleej Times. Se a água com gás nao for Perrier eles fazer um escândalo, como se a água da casa deles nos subúrbios de Calcutá fosse até mesmo potável!!! E o tal jornal é um lixo. Quem sabe seja por isso que eles gostam.

Pronto, já me vinguei (vingança do pipoqueiro, diga-se de passagem) dos mal tratos do último vôo. Agora é só preparar-me psicológicamente para o próximo, que sendo Zurique o destino vai estar cheio de gente do Sri Lanka. Viram como a Emirates makes sense???

Not really...

The Yemeni saga continues. I got home at 6am after being awake for almost 24 hours. So I decided to take a little nap before it was time to go to the consulate, which opens at 08:30 am. Do you think I had the energy to get up? Ended up staying in bed longer and decided to go to Yemen some other day. Better to stay in Dubai and visit some of my friends here, whom I have not seen in ages! However tomorrow morning I must wake up at 5 am to fly to Pakistan. Thank god it is just a hop on hop of flight to Karachi, the Sao Paulo of the region!

Sorry, not the Sao Paulo, maybe the La Paz, for the closest thing this area has to Sao Paulo is Bombay in India but even that does not get even close!

Monday in Bangkok

Today is Monday and very late at night I will be taken to the airport to fly back to Dubai. Get there at 5 am on Tuesday and will eventually try to get my Yemeni visa done than. If it all works out and I get a day of on Wednesday I will fly to Sanaa for 2 days before the end of the month.

Overdose!!!!

This post you have to read and keep in mind to remind me in a few year's time that I managed to get an overdose of... Bangkok!!! This is one of the cities that I most like but can you imagine I am here again, for the 3rd time in a month and there is nothing I feel like doing anymore.

So in a few years when I am complaining about my life in a boring 9 to 5 job saying that I need holidays just remind me to read this post before I shut up!

Tomorrow I shuttle to Hong Kong and on Monday I spend another full day here, wondering around under 35 degrees of sunshine, heat and humidity with my clothes packed for Europe!

Airport Standby

Tonight I have a 'lovely' airport standby from midnight until 3:30 am. It means I have to sleep during the day (have been trying to no avail) and be dressed, packed and ready to operate any flight, anywhere. So tomorrow morning I could wake up in Seoul, Osaka, London, New York or back at home, for another boring day in Dubai.

Danni Carlos

Recebi o CD da Danni Carlos pelo correio. Rock'n Road acústico. Sou fan!!! Adoro as baladas... O Felipe voltou de férias, estava em SP e Brasília! Que ciúme!!! Mas almoçamos juntos, batemos papo e agora estamos os dois na internet. Escutando Danni Carlos, of course!

Que feio!!!

Gente, hoje abusei de meus poderes de funcionário para exercer um dos direitos mais básicos do colarinho azul. Fiz o que em inglês se chama 'call sick', ou seja, nao fui trabalhar alegando que estava doente.

Doente de verdade nao estou. Tenho dor de barriga mas isso é meio normal depois de férias tao longas em lugares tao exóticos. O problema é que estava de stand by e no meio da madrugada chequei minha grade horária para ver que eles queriam me mandar para Bangkok-Sydney-Auckland. Me deu um arrepio!!! Voltar para tao longe e por tanto tempo, nao!!! Acabei de chegar de lá e nao teria nada de novo para ver e fazer. Nao conhecia ninguém da tripulaçao e além do mais é uma viagem de 8 dias, sendo que 2 deles sao num hotel ruinzinho nos arredores de Sydney. Estava com medo de ficar louco sozinho por mais 8 dias. Prato cheio para um 'sickie'.

Agora estou em Dubai e nao sei quando vôo outra vez. Sigo em stand by. Parece que minha vida toda está em Stand by, esperando que algo de novo aconteça...

Emirates 777-300 parked at the stand in Auckland.

Just a few minutes out of Auckland you get the most beautiful scenery! New Zealand is such a beautiful country!

There are so many options to choose from when in Rarotonga...

Another amazing sunset in the South Pacific. Rarotonga Cook Islands

Me enjoying the beach close to Avarua, the capital village of the Cook Islands.

Catching the Air New Zealand flight back to the real world! Rarotonga Cook Islands

Flying over Rarotonga. Really, this is how big the island gets. If you drive around it it takes only 32km!!! Rarotonga Cook Islands 09MAR06

My room at the Apsara. Luang Prabang Laos 15MAR06

How many temples are there in Laos??? Luang Prabang Laos 15MAR06

Luang Prabang Laos 15MAR06

The dome of yet another temple! By the way, forgot to say that the city is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Luang Prabang Laos 15MAR06

Me enjoying the balcony at the Apsara hotel in Luang Prabang. It is one of those Hip Hotels that feature on the books! Luang Prabang Laos 15MAR06

Inside of this cave there are thousands of Budha statues. Every person that goes visit the site leaves one as a 'souvenir'. You must take your shoes off to walk around the area and there is plenty of bat droppings on the floor to give you lots of diseases. Quite quaint! Pak Ou Laos 15MAR06

If you really need to go to the toilet somewhere in the middle of the Mekong river, this is your only choice! Flex your muscles!!! Pak Ou Laos 15MAR06

Temples are all over the city! Luang Prabang Laos 16MAR06

All around Luang Prabang there are dozens of monks walking up and down. I guess there are more monks than tourists. Luang Prabang Laos 16MAR06

Chillies drying under the scoarching Bangkok sun! It is the beginning of the hot season in Thailand. Bangkok Thailand 18MAR06

This is how the Pink Panther is advertised in Thailand. I love the Thai script! Bangkok Thailand 18MAR06

Another day at the Airport

Being forced to check out of the hotel in Bangkok at 13:00 oclock and having exhausted my energies going up and down the city I decided to come early to the airport, just in case. Got here almost 2 hours ago and the flight is due only in 3 hours. This is only if there is a space for me on the Thai Airways flight to Dubai. When I went to the counter the lady said there were 8 seats left, good luck!

It is really time to go home. I want my bed, want to wash my clothes, eat healthy and get on a routine again. Got fed up of holidays.

Living la vida

Two days ago I was on a small canoe going up the Mekong to visit some caves filled with Buddah statues. Two hours up river, me with my iPod, pretending I was on Apocalypse Now (well, the river was the same) waiting for some Vietcongs to start shooting... Than I stopped in a poor village so the boat skipper could see his relatives. I decided to buy a can of coke and mix some of the Jack Daniels I had with me. Needless to say that as thirsty as I was and with an empty stomach I got quite typsy and it freed me to go on a shopping spree along the village. I normally dont buy handicrafts because I hate carrying them, I have nowhere to put them at home and I am quite stingy. But after my drink I bought silk carpets, silver stuff, wooden boxes, etc. I was great! And I dont even know how much I paid for all of that as I cant really recall the bargaining process...

And here I am today in the centre of Bangkok, once again! I simply LOVE this city! However the hot season has started and it feels really HOT and sticky! And yesterday was a great day! As soon as I arrived and took the taxi downtown my phone rings. It is a friend from Manila, who is here in Bangkok on a business assignment for his advertising agency. Needless to say that it is also Bangkok Fashion Week so he found me on the internet and called. I was on the taxi, on the expressway into the city and we agreed to go for drinks in the evening! Tonight I am seeing Thai friends from Switzerland times... Great to be here!

Tomorrow though it is time to fly back to the desert!

lost in Luang Prabang

can you imagine I got seriously lost in this small town? Was walking happily taking photos and thought I was two blocks away from the hotel. Well, big mistake. Now I had to come into this shop to ask them where my hotel is and they dont speak any English. So I decided to get online just to tell you that all worked well today. Got up really early in HK, the Thai Airways plane left on time (what a difference with Emirates which is always late) and I was on time in Bangkok. Therefore I managed to take the 11:30 flight to Laos. Am staying in a beautiful Hip Boutique hotel called The Apsara (check website) and the city is beautiful. Now I feel on holidays again. The best was to get two more pages of my passport used with all the stamps to get in here!!!

Well, will try to make it to the hotel and after dinner will go for drinks with two French guys I met on a temple!

Viajar sozinho e'...

um saco! Vou dar o Oscar de melhor viajante solitario para meu irmao, Raul, que conseguiu ficar quase 6 meses na estrada. Eu estou ha' uma semana e estou enlouquecendo! Quem sabe seja pelo fato de eu ser meio mumia e nao conversar com ninguem durante o dia... A cabeca vai fazendo curvas!!! Pode ser castigo! ha ha ha

Estou nas minhas ultimas horas em Hong Kong. Antes das ferias eu queria tanto vir para ca' mas agora que estou aqui e que esta' frio e nublado ja' nao e' assim tao legal. Pra ficar tirando fotos de predios com nuvens no fundo nao precisa vir para tao longe!

De todos os modos, passei a me sentir meio Mr Bean viajando solo. Agora que os chineses da China profunda podem vir para ca sem visto eles ficam olhando para os extrangeiros como se fossemos bichos de 7 cabecas! Foi no restaurante japones ontem que a menininha soh faltou gritar quando eu sorri para ela e hoje cedo no cafe da manha duas outras ficavam rindo de cada movimento meu. O que ha' de engracado num ocidental comendo ovos fritos e salsicha? Elas estavam comendo o mesmo...

Entrei num bonde lotado e tinha alguns lugares bem na parte mais legal, na frente, no segundo andar (bondes de 2 andares heranca da colonizacao inglesa). Achei estranho o povo todo espremido no fundo e aqueles assentos todos vagos na frente. Sentei! Nao deu nem 10 segundos notei que tinha um chines resfriado (diga-se de passagem, muito resfriado) que ficava fungando e espirrando. Acho que todos pensavam que ele tinha gripe do frango. E eu ali, de laranja para ver se o H1N5 me atacava!!!

Depois voi o meu guarda-chuva que arrebentou nestas rajadas de vento. Eu o tinha desde os dias de Barcelona e ele viaja comigo sempre que ha' previsao de chuva. E la' fui eu caminhando sem o cabo do guarda-chuva. Entrei no Outback Steak House bem devagarinho para nao chamar atencao e voila', as atendentes da porta abrem-nas de sopetao e gritam juntas: Welcome to Outback Steakhouse!!! Table for how many? E eu, sem graca levantando o dedo estilo pedindo uma Brahma! Table for 1! No meio do jantar veio o gerente falar comigo (eu era a unica mesa de apenas 1) e me deu um voucher para voltar e ganhar 10% de desconto.

Eu estive aqui com a Emirates em Janeiro (quando fiquei doente e tive que chamar o medico) e nao estava tao frio quanto agora. Eu nao trouxe nenhuma roupa de frio e tive que sair comprar. Banquei a Dona Niva (minha avo, mae da minha mae) que comprava tudo um numero menor para ficar apertado e motiva-la a emagrecer. Hoje foi o primeiro dia que caminhei com as calcas novas e estou em carne viva!!!

Amanha tenho que madrugar para pegar o voo para Bangkok que de tempo de fazer conexao para o Laos. Espero no Laos fazer amizades para nao acabar fumando opio para me distrair!

LAOS

Today is my last day in Hong Kong. Am enjoying my holidays but already tired of being by myself. Tomorrow early morning will fly Thai Airways to Bangkok and from there to Laos (Luang Prabang). On Sunday will be back in Dubai.

Contrasts and Contraditions

After a few days in a so called Paradise in Polynesia, I am back to the real world! And it could not get any more real than Hong Kong! After shaking for 11 hours on a Cathay Pacific flight from Auckland I managed to land safely and get to a nice hotel in Hong Kong Island.

It made me think: Rotorua is an island in the Pacific. Hong Kong as well. But there is such a huge difference between the two islands! Rotorua has 1.000 people at most and to go around the island you drive a mere 32km circle. I stayed at a Backpackers Hostel (hate it, hate it, hate it) and it was quite a noisy place as the window had to remain open all night long due to the heat. I woke up every day with rain showers and the cock-a-doodle-doo once the sun came up! As there was nothing to do (for my taste) I was forced to stay at the beach all day long, listening to music, swimming in clear blue waters and thinking about life. It was nice but I am glad it is over as my mind was starting to drive me INSANE!!! And I needed a real coffee!!!

So now I am in an overpopulated island in China and the weirdest of the feelings is to be closer to home. No matter how westernized New Zealand is, it is still a very long way from anywhere! At least from Hong Kong I can go to Dubai by bus if necessary! :-)

Promise to write more tomorrow. Internet if free here at the hotel and I really need some sleep because going forwards and backwards on the time zones has made me just too confused!

Back to the Future, well, to the Past actually!!!

Lots of rain down in New Zealand. Rain, rain, rain, rain... But I am not going to change my plans due to drops of water. Have already checked out of the hostel, have my backpack on a locker and now need some breakfast. This afternoon I leave for Rarotonga in the Cook Islands! 4 hours away from here, almost in the French Polynesia!

The weather forecast for Rarotonga is not great but since I've come all the way here I can simply turn back and go home. At least it is warm and I can swim under the rain anyway. I can go snorkeling as the fish will be under the water, isn't it? Positive thinking!!! Positive thinking!

What is interesting about the flight today is that I leave Auckland at 16:15 on Wednesday 8th and get to Rarotonga at 21:05 of Tuesday 7th. Yes, yesterday!!! This is because I cross the International Date Line!!! Very exciting! So here I am, off to Polynesia!!!

Oakland or Auckland?

To fully understand how a passenger really felt after 24 hours in the same seat and after 5 airplane meals and 3 change of crews I set myself on the DUBAI-AUCKLAND flight, via Singapore and Brisbane. Not a funny undertaking!!!

As crew I get to stop along the way and adjust slowly to the time changes. I also get to exercise a lot during the flight and time goes by much faster. However yesterday but the time I reached Australia I felt like staying put. Or better, I wanted to be in bed, at home, only that it was all the way back, by plane!!!

Now I also understand why so many passengers faint during the flight. Before leaving Dubai I felt like going to the toilet but had no time and to think of seating in an aircraft toilet for number 2 was inconceivable! So I held tight! There was a point I could not breath and once the plane started shaking and shaking from Brisbane to Auckland (after 20 hours of light cramps) I felt short of breath and really wanted to faint. Thank god that once in the youth hostel I managed to secure a private room with my very own toilet and shower! By the way, I stay at the youth hostel to feel young!!!

So here I am in Auckland. First time on my own and it feels great. When I come here for work there is always the feeling that soon I have to leave, that I need to sleep and rest for the flight back to Melbourne and so on. However now I can do whatever, drink at any time, stay awake reading a good book and best of all, explore the city without being tired to the bones.

Today I have a full day here. Will try to see all the places I have not yet been to (and always wanted to go). Tomorrow I fly out to ... (another surprise) as I cant stay put for too long! Unless today I meet a nice group of people in the hostel and decide to join them on a tour around NZ! Who knows... but knowing me and my 'advanced' socializing skills it is very possible that I will not talk to anybody during the day!

Going on holidays...

For those who consider my life as cabin crew an eternal holiday, well, too bad. We actually get to have real holidays, like getting paid to be away on a beach without having to work our way there!!! And from tomorrow I have 16 of those days! Add to that the fact that we get to fly paying just 10% of what any other mortal would pay and off we go, accross the world in 16 days!!!

My backpack is ready, camera, iPod, books and even a bottle of mineral water! I know how stingy the cabin crew at Emirates can be at certain times so I will take my own.

Will do this as a surprise time. Will not tell where I am going. However, as soon as I get to a destination I will sit at a cyber café and write here, to keep you updated, informed and entertained!

So here I am at home, getting the final touches and soon going to sleep! Let's see who can guess where am I going first. The choices are:

a) Madagascar
b) New Zealand
c) California

what a difference 4 days make. On Saturday I was at a beach in the Seychelles, enjoying the sun at 35�C and on Tuesday walking in the snowy Vienna at -3�C!!! What a wonderful world...