Melbourne and Beyond

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Noel

Seeing as we are in Australia for only 3 weeks we almost left Melbourne off of the list. Luckily for us my long time friend Juliet and her son Ben were keen on having us come to visit so we jumped on a plane and flew down. When I lived in Australia way back when, I likely may have chosen to live in Melbourne over Sydney had it not been so far from the surf.

It’s great here because there’s a cool mix of European architecture and fashion mixed with a casual Australian vibe. Lots of great cafes, trendy boutiques, free museums, cool street art, easy to use train system and really friendly people. Juliet and Ben live in a trendy community called Yarraville which is just outside of the downtown core. While Juliet was at work Josi and I had fun eating out at cool cafes, shopping in the neighbourhood and exploring the city and taking photos for Orb Clothing. I find taking photos for Orb when we go to a new city I get to see it differently that I would otherwise. Cool buildings, interesting textures, light, street art all come to life in ways I might not otherwise have noticed.

One of the things I have noticed about Australia is that their packaging tends to be far cooler than it is in Canada. Everything from beer to yogurt mostly all have edgy and hip creative elements to them. It’s almost as though all of the old guys who create boring packaging here have died and that all of the young hip kids making cool art are running the show. Another campaign that’s super prominent at the moment is Dumb Ways to Die. It’s promoting stain safety and everyone from kids to their parents are singing the song. It’s print creative is quite fun as well.

After a few days in the city Juliet took us to Wilsons Prom, which is a national park on the open ocean to the east of Melbourne. We stayed at her friends cabin and had lots of fun exploring the park’s rugged coast, as well as chilling at the cabin. We also managed to have a great day of uncrowded cold water surfing. The waves were overhead and the winds were hard off shore which made for lots of fun and uncrowded waves. I surfed until I couldn’t feel my feet and then had to come in. I was impressed with Josi as she managed to surf for as long as I did and she did great.

Unfortunately our time in Melbourne was a bit rushed and we didn’t get to see too much, but we still had a great time. We are super stoked because we are going up to surf the warm waters of Byron Bay for 8 days.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Design, Photography, Surfing, Travel
Country: Australia

Good Living in Sydney Australia

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Noel

Coming back to Sydney was like coming home for me. Between 1995 and 1996 I spent a year living in Australia with Mike Cowie, Foozeball Dave and my brother Jed. We were young and mostly what I remember doing was surfing and skateboarding. I spent most of my time in the little beach community called Manly which is just north and a short ferry ride from Sydney’s downtown. It’s a mix between Vancouver and San Diego in that the vibe is super chill and everyone is really nice, the upside being that there are no junkies or bums asking for change here in Manly. Living in Vancouver, Kits to be specific, I guess I have become somewhat used to the sketchy drugged out dudes asking for change every time I go to Whole Foods to pick up groceries. 20 years ago this was never a problem in Canada. North American society, specifically me I guess, is becoming desensitized and such things have become the norm. What happened to people’s values and self respect that such things are accepted as normal?

The beachside community of Manly, and from what we have seen of Sydney, is somewhat void of such things. Much like Kits, everyone is super fit, stylish, happy and are loving life. The culture somewhat revolves around the surf and all of the healthy living that goes with being by the ocean. Cafes line the beach front and every second person is carrying a surfboard, riding skateboards, or riding bikes. The waves out front are somewhat crowded, but even I was able to get more waves as I could count on the best of the 7 days that we were here. Some of the surfers were only wearing board shorts, but I was happy to have a shorty as the water was a little cool due to it being fall now. To my surprise, the waves were really great with lots of overhead peaks firing down the line. I had a blast!

Best of all is that the day after we arrived my good friends Andy and Nick, who I knew from when I worked at Manly Blades, took us camping about 4 hours south of Sydney. The plan was to surf heaps, but a massive storm that dumped 200mm of rain in 24 hours made the surf less than perfect. It was so great connecting with them and meeting their new families. Even though it has been 17 years since I have seen them, it was like we had been hanging out non stop without missing a beat.

We camped at a small beach community called North Durras and the place was teaming with Kangaroos. They were absolutely everywhere and it was pretty cool to see them bouncing all over the place. It wouldn’t be Australia without a spider or snake story. While camping there was a HUGE Huntsman spider about a foot from my head. Josi spotted it and screamed and I jumped. Andy told me that it was a “friendly” spider and that it is Ok to pick it up. He hinted a few times that I should, but I thought skip that, I can’t stand spiders! The next day he tells me that one of the same spiders bit his daughter not too long ago and he decided not to send her to school that day to keep an eye on her. Apparently it’s only poisonous if you react funny to it and regardless they can pack a mean bite. My rule of thumb, never pick up a spider. Luckily it didn’t rain the whole time and we were able to enjoy a big open flame BBQ and lots of stories by the fire.

Back in Manly, we stayed at a little guest house/hotel a couple of blocks from where I used to work and a half block from the beach. I loved living here because I was able to fit surfing into my daily routine. The pic above is Andrew catching a early morning wave just before we went for breakfast.

We toured Sydney and some of it’s many beaches with Josi’s friend Stephen, who lives in Manly as well. He is a member of the Manly LIfesaving Club and prefers to surf on a lifesaving board. It’s big and he rides it on his knees and to my surprise he was able to control it pretty efficiently. When we fly out to New Zealand Steven has offered for us to stay at this house right on the beach which is really great.

It was also really great to catch up with Bill and his wife Barb. Bill was my my boss when I worked here at Manly Blades (now called Skater HQ), and it was such a great place to work. Bill was great because he was good with business, and a the same time super laid back and all good times. We also connected with Josi’s Ausi friend Chris from back in Whistler who also lives in Manly. So many friends are now living in the same area!

On one of the days without much surf we took the harbour ferry into the city. SItting on deck and and seeing the famous Sydney Opera House from the water with the city skyline behind it is always a cool sight. We checked out the Museum of Art, which is free, and the art exhibits were all really great. We also had fun passing the time by taking photos for Orb Clothing. Had we had more time here we would have liked to check out a lot more of the sights, but on this trip surfing took priority and we made the most of it.

While there aren’t many, the few downsides to Australia are the distance from home back in Canada and the cost of living. Eating out and buying groceries seems to be about 35% higher than Vancouver. Real estate in the most desirable beach side locations is also hyper inflated. I guess if you are living and working here you don’t notice it as much as we do being tourists. It doesn’t help that we just came from Bali where things are so crazy cheep.

The upsides here in Australia far outweigh the cost of living that’s for sure. It’s nice here because when walking down the street people smile at you and say “good day” and the overall vibe is super friendly. There are loads of cool cafe’s and shops and the surf is right there. I could easily move back to Australia as it’s such good living and to my surprise, Josi totally loves it here as well.

Our next stop is to visit our friend Juliet and her son Ben who live in Melbourne for a week of checking out the city and cold water surfing.

Posted in Adventure, Flights, Food, Photography, Surfing, Travel, Uncategorized, Wildlife
Country: Australia

Goodbye Bali, it’s Been Fun :)

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Noel

After our Blissology yoga retreat we went back to Seminyak with our new German friends that we met at the yoga retreat. Our plan was to stay here until Eoin left to teach yoga in Australia so that we could surf together, and after that Josi and I would go back to Nusa Lembongan for a few weeks to chill and surf. Unfortunately though, just when we were meant to go I came down with a bad flu. Deciding to not go somewhere remote when I was sick we ended up staying in Seminyak. I was out of the water for a week because of it and in doing so I missed the best swell since I have been here. It’s been over a week and today was the first day that I have been back in the water surfing. The swell has dropped considerably, but at least the sand banks out front have shifted and it’s breaking really nice and clean. I was a bit burned out, but I caught a load of great waves today and it felt great to get back in the water.

The last time I was in Bali it was pre Facebook and since then it has changed a lot. I’m partly to blame because after my first time here I told everyone how awesome it was. I would go on about the beautiful bright blue ocean with it’s countless pealing hollow and uncrowded point breaks, amazingly kind and wonderful Balinese people setting out offerings to their Hindu gods, the crazy hot temperature of both the sea and the air, countless ceremonies and festivals in the streets and how cost friendly and inexpensive everything is.

It’s still super hot here and there are still lots of waves but now it’s very crowded, so much so that much of what made it so special for me has gone. Yes, driving here was always a bit crazy, but there were never huge traffic jams everywhere you went. Things are so congested that I could walk down the beach for 15 minutes to get to the next decent surf break, or I could drive and it might take 45 minutes.

Today when I surfed the ocean was a beautiful and clean just as I remember it back in the day. This is because the plastic bags and garbage that was there last week was washed away by the big swell that just came through and it hasn’t rained for a few days. For the last three weeks I was brushing by floating plastic or scooping up plastic bags every second paddle when surfing. On bad days there are dark brown patches of pollution that migrate along the shore with the currents. When the brown patches pass the locals all get out of the water to walk around it before getting back in. Many of the tourists on the other hand continue to play away as the brown slushy waves engulf them. I’m guessing that it’s a mistake they only make once because I have been told that if it gets on you skin you can get a bad rash, not to mention ear and eye infections.

The pollution in the ocean is bad here because the locals don’t have it in their culture to recycle or dispose of garbage properly. In the 80’s there was no power here and everything was from the land so their method of throwing everything in the rivers and streams worked because it all got digested by nature. Their trash is no longer all organic, but they still dispose of it just as they always have. The small streams are so thick with pollution you can’t see through it an inch and their banks are full of trash. Somehow there are still fish feeding on the surface and even fisherman sitting on the banks fishing for them. We watched for as long as my stomach could handle the toxic smell of the stream, but after 2 minutes we continued on.

Even the Balinese who used to radiate the most amazing positive energy seem to have somewhat lost their glow. Don’t get me wrong, they are still super awesome, it’s just that they don’t radiate as much as I remember. I would be pretty bummed too if my home country was overrun with tourists, pollution, traffic, over crowding, over development, the list goes on. The infrastructure in Bali isn’t designed to support as many people as there are here now and it’s showing the side effects.

It’s not that it isn’t super awesome here, it’s just that for me Bali is no longer a remote tropical paradise. Luckily there are countless islands with equally awesome surf that have yet to be discovered by the masses.

Josi and I had planned on staying in Bali for longer than the month and a half that we had initially booked our tickets for, but we have decided to continue on to Australia as scheduled which means that we fly out on April 17th. It’s going to be awesome to catch up with some of my good friends from when I lived in Sydney way back in 1996. I loved living in Manly and would have moved there for good if my then young company Cowie and Fox had not landed Westbeach as a client back in Vancouver.

We are on a bit of a milk run as we fly from Bali to Thailand where we stay over night and the following morning we fly to Sydney.

Posted in Adventure, Fishing, Food, Photography, Surfing
Country: Bali / Indonesia

Blissology Yoga Retreat

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Noel

Taking part Eoin and Insiya’s yoga retreat here in Bali was like going to summer camp, and as a kid I loved summer camp. Arriving at Desa Seni both Josi and I were super stoked to see how beautiful it is here. The cabins where the guest stay in are made of vintage houses that have been relocated from all over Indonesia. There is a huge pool with comfy chairs in the centre of the resort which was the perfect place to chill in the afternoon and the people that work here are so nice. Many of the guests at the resort are people who now live in Bali and come in the day to take yoga classes and hang out by the pool. They are mostly young new age affluent healthy types, some of who were super cool and others perhaps a bit over the top.

We started every morning at 7am with a fresh fruit and tea breakfast. From there we spent a few hours practicing and learning the fundamentals of yoga. After morning yoga we all enjoyed a delicious brunch consisting of amazing organic delights. Between brunch and our afternoon yoga was free time which Eoin and I used to go surfing at a local Cangu surf break which was a lot of fun. Then we did another amazing afternoon yoga session, followed by a great dinner, followed by hanging out with the rest of the people taking the retreat.

There were a few days where the routine was mixed up so that we could visit ceremonies at temples or to have dinner and watch the sunset at the beach which was really great as well. The people taking the retreat were all at different levels of yoga abilities and they came from all over the world.

Best of all Josi and I met some amazing people who we will continue to stay in touch with and see on future adventures. If you are interested in getting into yoga, or if you are a season professional looking to deepen your practice I highly recommend taking one of Eoin’s retreats. They are action packed, full of yogic knowledge and really a lot of fun.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Surfing
Country: Bali / Indonesia

Thanks Orb Clothing, You Rock!

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Josi

I want to give a huge shout out to Orb Clothing for being a such wonderful and important part of our world adventure!

Noel and I are forever in debt to Orb because without them we would have never met. Our meeting is a long and awesome story or true love that’s best told in person so the next time you see us ask us about it.

You have likely noticed that in 99% of the shots of me I’m wearing the latest, and super cutest Orb clothes. That’s because our good friends at Orb Clothing are supplying me with a full travel wardrobe for our adventures. It started from a conversation with Glen about how great Orb Clothing is for traveling. It always looks great, you can wear it anywhere, it packs easy, hardly wrinkles and is super comfy. We were talking with Glen about our upcoming world adventure and he came up with the idea of me blogging and Noel taking photos for Orb while on our adventures. Of course we said Yes, Yes, Yes!

Everywhere we go Noel and I take these amazing photos in some of the best locations in the world. Every week I’m sending both my blog posts and Noel’s photos back to Orb and in turn Orb is telling our story of love and adventure on their website. There is nothing better than working for and representing a company who you totally believe in and respect. Thanks Orb, you guys rock!

Once we have finished shooting all of the clothes that we have with us, they send a new batch to our next exotic location. Not only am I excited to be going somewhere new and amazing, I’m also super excited to see what new clothes they have sent me.

If you love what I am wearing in any of our blog photos, we invite you to have a look at their e-com website: http://www.orbclothing.ca Use our personal coupon code FREEBIRD30 and you will automatically get 30% off your entire order when shopping online!

Did I mention that Orb Clothing is totally cute, super comfortable, travels really well and it looks great when worn casually and dressed up. As you can see, I totally love Orb!

Noel Fox Photography

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Photography, Shopping
Country: Canada

Loving Life in Beautiful Bali

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Josi

While we had a great time in Vietnam, Noel and I were more than ready to trade the pho soup for some delicious Gado Gado and satays. Noel’s mom who has been travelling in Borneo for the last little while, decided to come to Bali a little earlier than planned, so as soon as we heard we did the same. A phone call later and we had our new tickets in hand and we were Bali bound. The first leg of our flight was only available in coach and we were ok with it, knowing that Bali’s tropical waters were around the corner. What worked perfectly was that the second leg of our flight was still business class meaning that we were able to enjoy our 3 hour lay over in the Singapore Air first class lounge. Of all the lounges that we visited this one was absolutely awesome and the best that we have experienced so far. The food and drink selection is over the top and the nice ambiance gave Noel and I a chance to catch up on a few emails.

Even though we are mostly visiting places where we had never been before, Bali is an exception. Both Noel and I had been before on separate occasions and we both loved the thought of experiencing this beautiful island together. Last time I was here was nearly 4 years ago when I did my yoga teacher training up in Ubud. Noel’s mom had gotten to Bali before us and had set up camp in Ubud so Noel and I headed straight there once we landed. I was expecting Ubud to be unchanged from when I last left it, but like most thriving tourist destinations in this part of the world, it had grew a little too much for my liking. The are definitely too many fancy shops and way too many taxi drivers harassing you for their business. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still lovely and I would recommend going for a visit, it’s just that it has lost a bit of it’s Balinese character. What I miss the most is that four years ago the Balinese would all great you using Indonesia Bahasa and now they all speak English. Even though it’s convenient, I think that it’s a bit of shame.

Noel and I are determined to get back into our yoga routine and with two magnificent studios in town, it’s perfect to get back into the grove. Our hotel is really close to The Yoga Barn which has a great yoga pavilion overlooking the rice fields and offers tons of different classes. Another studio is Radiantly Alive which is where I did my teacher training. They have since expanded and have a stunning studio right the heart of Ubud, just across from Bali Buddha for those who know the area. It was great to reconnect with one of my teachers, Daniel Aaron and take one of his perfectly challenging classes. Noel and I are hoping that a few classes will be a good kick start for our upcoming week long yoga retreat here in Bali with our good friends Eoin Finn and Insiya Rasiwala-Finn. They are friends from back in Vancouver and they now travel the world with their yoga company which they aptly named Blissology.

One thing that remains unchanged in Ubud is the Monkey Forest that’s in the middle of town. For only a couple of dollars per person, you get to explore this beautiful park that’s absolutely filled with cheeky little monkeys, really neat statues and walkways. These monkeys are not shy at all, allowing you to snap great photos and witness their cheekiness as they jump on tourists backpacks and steal their sunglasses and what ever else they can get their hands on. The babies are definitely the cutest of all, especially when they hang from the mom’s belly while she runs through the trees. It was all fun and games to watch until one the monkeys climbed on a girl and accidentally scratched and cut her back. Noel’s mom and I immediately started thinking about rabies which the monkeys have been know to have and we decided that it was time to go!

While in Ubud, we went to see a traditional Balinese show involving live music and dancing. What was particularly neat about this show was that all of the talent were local women. All of the musicians except for one man who we assume was filling in for his wife had been practicing together for several years and were proud to perform in their bright blue and pink traditional outfits. There was also a troop of great dancers who entertained us for nearly an hour and a half. It was impressive to see all the gestures they incorporated in their dances as well as the facial expressions and movement of the eyes bringing a cartoon like feel to their characters.

After a few fun days in Ubud, we are off to the little car free island of Nusa Lembongan for a week of peace, relaxation and surfing.

Posted in Adventure, Flights, Travel
Country: Bali / Indonesia

Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Noel

When people think of Canadians they think of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, polar bears, eskimos and igloos. Yes, we have them in Canada, but one doesn’t see them on a daily basis, in fact I have never seen an actual fur clad eskimo running past his igloo while being chased by a polar bear. When I was researching images of Vietnam the photos that show up first are those of people wearing funny cone shaped hats while working happily in rice fields and people riding bicycles through busy streets while packed to the tits with an unbelievable amount of heavy cargo. I figured that while in Vietnam we might see some of these touristy things, but the reality is that you can’t blink an eye without seeing such sights in every direction.

Everyone in Vietnam looks like they just came out of a 50’s postcard. Women going about their daily work while wearing oversized, cone shaped bamboo hats that are firmly strapped around their chins. The streets are absolutely packed with people riding motorbikes and bicycles whipping along in every which direction. The biggest surprise to me is how most of the deliveries, including water, beer, trees, you name it, are all done on motorbikes and bicycles. This alone is a mystery to me, let along the fact that they are delivering this heavy cargo through the traffic madness that’s everywhere.

Regardless of the blistering heat, the women all cover them self from head to toe so not to expose themselves to the sun rays. Hats, jumpers, long gloves and full face masks cover their skin. Here I am walking around in shorts and a tank top begging for the sun to shine brighter while thinking that they all look a bit crazy, but I’m sure that I look just as crazy to them, perhaps even more so.

Almost everyone here is self employed, each with their own micro business. Some people carry portable restaurants and set up shop on the first patch of sidewalk they that’s void of parked motorbikes. Their kitchens are carried over their shoulders, distributing their cargo across their shoulders using a long stick. They specialize in selling hot soups, grilled meats, noodles, fruit, etc. Their food is cooked over an open flame and they do their dishes next to them on the sidewalk. Nothing seems overly hygienic, but the locals seem to enjoy it. Other micro businesses/ walking sales people include selling illegally reproduced travel books, sunglasses, bracelets, cosmetics, shirts, sarongs, smokes, lighters, you name it, they sell it.

I found out the hard way that it’s not smart to purchase the $2.50 RayBan’s from the walking sunglasses guy. Once you do buy a pair, every sunglasses sales guy you pass on the streets, and there are lots of them, will ask you how much you paid for them. Then he will offer to sell you more of the exact same thing for about the same price. Secondly they look pretty good for the first 2 days, but after that the painted surface starts to boil and bubble and it looks like crap. Then they break in half.

Land taxes here are based not on the square footage of your home, but on the width of the front of your home. As such, all of the building here are disproportionately narrow and overly long in length. As you can see in the photo above, some of them are so thin you would have a hard time fitting a sofa width ways. Every corner of building free land, both in the cities and the country, has been transformed into a rice field and there are people wearing cone shaped hats working knee deep in the mud. I have a whole new respect for rice and the amount of hard work it takes to grow it.

We had to go to Saigon (also know as Ho Chi Min City) to get our visas for indonesia. had we been staying in Indo for less than 30 days we could have gotten Visa on arrival, but we are staying longer so we need to go to the Indonesian Consulate. We could have gotten it in Canada, but it’s only good for three months and we left Canada over three months ago. Initially we were thinking that we would fly to Saigon, apply for our visas, leave to check out somewhere else, and then come back to pick up our visas and fly out to Bali. Turned out that we found a pretty cool hotel in a decent area with a great roof top restaurant so rather than bouncing around we decided to chill and stay in Saigon until our visas were ready. Some people love to see everything when they are traveling and we have come to realize that we prefer to find somewhere cool and to just chill.

The streets of Saigon are littered with crappy knock off products, especially North Face jackets and bags. While it was tempting to scoop up a backpack for a great deal we decided that the last thing we needed was to be way out in the mountains on a camping trip and have the thing fall apart. I did buy a tank top, a pair of shorts and a few other things for next to nothing, but that’s about it.

The restaurants in Saigon are all really great (no we did not eat at the restaurant in the photo above). Josi and I can easily buy a great meal, complete with appetizers and mains for less than $10. I have gotten hooked on the Vietnamese coffees which are a mix of strong coffee and condensed milk.

Things that I love about Vietnam are that the people are really nice, the food is great and restaurants cost next to nothing. The hotels all have amazing service and are dirt cheep, there are lots of interesting sights to see, and it’s nice to be considered tall for a change. Things that have been less than awesome are that our timing is such that it’s not as sunny and warm as we were hoping, most of the cool things to see are really far apart which means traveling on crazy busy roads, and the traffic in the cities is over the top nuts. All up I liked Vietnam and at the same time I’m not rushing to come back. Perhaps if there was epic surf I would love it a little more.

My mom and her friend were in Borneo and we just got news that they have decided to leave to Bali a week early. As such we have decided to change our flights as well so that we can hang out a little bit longer in beautiful Bali. We have a 3 hour lay over in SIngapore which is perfect because we are flying business class (if you are just following us now we got around the world business class tickets at a charity auction) and their lounge is meant to be one of the best.

We are looking forward to spending an extended time in Bali and it’s surrounding islands as it’s been a while since we have had much in the way of sun, surf and relaxation.

Posted in Adventure, Food, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized
Country: Vietnam

Searching for Surf in Vietnam

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Noel

Just so that I’m not misleading those of you who are hoping to read about epic surf in this post, I feel that it’s necessary to let you know up front that we didn’t score great waves. What we did discover was the really cool little town of Han Oi which is the perfect place to explore when the surf is small and crappy.

Watching Apocalypse Now as a kid, the scene that stuck with me wasn’t so much the violence of war but more rather the fact that they went surfing. While I don’t know anyone who has actually surfed in Vietnam, I do know of a lot of people who have been and they all have great things to say about it. As such we chose it as one of our many destinations on this adventure. When researching surfing in Vietnam all arrows point to China Beach which is right in the middle of Danang and Hoi An and is also in part where Apocalypse Now is meant to be based out of. Lots of the links mention a guy called Hoa who, with his wife, runs a small hostel/hotel called Hoa’s Place.

Being somewhat unadventurous we booked a third rate, somewhat rundown room in a resort on the beach for three nights. It was meant to be close to Hoa’s Place and I figured that if I could track him down he would help us with finding the best surf spots in the area.

The weather was much colder than we were hoping when we got there and the ocean was stormy. My first though was that at least it isn’t flat and that hopefully when the storm blows over there will be some fun waves to ride.

The storm did blow over and after a few days of searching we were finally able to find Hoa. Hoa’s so classic that he deserves his own blog post, and had we been staying at his hotel I’m sure he would have one.

Right when we got to his place I asked him if he knew where the good surfing was and he said to me in a thick Vietnamese accent “The surf is Shit man” followed up by “Sit down man, grab yourself a drink”. his broken english is part surfer, part hippy and part hard to understand. Like most Vietnamese, he’s slim, short and only weighs about 100lbs on a wet day, but he has a big personality. When I told him that he was loosing a lot of business because his place was really hard to find (all of online maps have his address on the wrong side of town) he said to me “If they can’t find me man, I don’t want them here”. He continued on by saying that he only recently got a phone and that in the old days you had to just show up. He liked it that way and being one with where he is at in life, he’s happy to keep it that way. I really enjoyed his quirky vibe . We stayed for lunch which was really tasty and it only cost about $7 for both of us. After the meal, we were going to pay up and he said to not worry about paying now, just to write our meals down in his note book on the counter and that we could pay later. We weren’t staying there, he had never met us before and he wanted us to pay another time. This guy is at one with things that’s for sure.

Hoa was right, the surf was “Shit” but the sun was out, the water was warm and our boards hadn’t been in the water in a while so we went anyway. After a short surf in soft little shoulder high close out wind waves in a sea that was full of jellyfish brought in from all of the onshore winds, I had had enough. We checked the surf report and talked to Hoa, and both had little in the way of good surf news in the near future.

When I told him that we were going to leave Vietnam early to go to Indonesia to surf he said “I totally understand man, you gotta go because you gotta surf”. I’m not sure if he’s actually a surfer himself, but either way, he gets it.

The best thing about going to China Beach was discovering the small and romantic town of Hoi An. My pictures don’t do it justice, but I can say that it’s super cute. Roads actually closed off from the traffic was enough for us to love this town more than any others in Vietnam, but this was only one of it’s many charms. Amazing restaurants, lots of cool shops, a little river that runs through town, lots of brightly painted boats with eyes painted on their stern’s, bright Asian style lanterns that light the town at night, the list goes on and on.

Our next stop is Saigon so that we can apply for our 60 day visas for Indonesia.

Posted in Adventure, Surfing
Country: Vietnam

Bangkok, City of Contrasts

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Noel

Bangkok looks far scarier than any of the big cities we went to in South Africa yet when walking the streets here, I feel no fear of being robbed of my camera or of being mugged.

Bangkok’s dark and dirty streets are packed full of log hanging power lines make shift shops, consumers, vendors, food stalls, tailors, you name it, it’s there. The pollution’s so thick that it stains the buildings, blocks the stars at night and stings your eyes at the end of a day in the city.

Most of the locals wear face masks over their month and nose when riding bikes or working on the streets. The day we took a Tuk Tuk (a three wheel motor bike meets taxi) to one of the temples we quickly found out why as we had to cover our faces with the scarf that I use to cover my camera. I use a scarf rather than a camera bag because it opens quickly for fast shooting and it disguises it so that it doesn’t look like I’m carrying $5.5k around my shoulder.

In sharp contrast to the grey and dirt, Bangkok is also packed full of friendly people, amazing temples, ceremonies, great food, flowers and all sorts of visually vibrant settings. We were there for a public holiday dedicated to Buddha and the temples were all full with people giving offerings of flowers, prayer and food.

Towering over old and decrypted low rises are clean and shiny towers covered in advertising for luxury goods that only a minuscule percentage of the population could actually afford. One of the tallest tower offers a pretty cool view of the city and it’s traffic from a rotating platform on the 82nd floor. When cruising around town on foot a favourite pastime of mine is spotting the motor bikes that are piled high with more cargo then would fit in my car. Everything from river boats to taxis are painted in bright happy colours and are dawned with ornate flowers.

Had I been into drinking and going out all night this post would be a lot different than what it is. I’m sure that if you love to party there are all kinds of amazing things that you would love about this city. On this trip, I enjoyed my time in Bangkok, but it’s not on the top of my list for places one really needs to visit. This said, if we had more time it would have been nice to explore some of the less touristy areas in Thailand that have all of the amazing and none of the bad that comes with a big city.

We are super stoked for our next stop, Vietnam!

Posted in Adventure, Photography, Travel
Country: Thailand

On Safari in Africa

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Noel

The highlight of our adventures in Africa is the time we spent on Safari at the Mosetlha Bush Camp in the Madikwe Game Reserve.

Often when going somewhere totally new I end up having pre determined visions of how things are going to be when I get there. When we booked our safari I was expecting that there would be a big gate around our camp and that cabins we slept would be fully enclosed just in case a hungry lion managed to break through the aforementioned big gate. I knew that there wasn’t going to be power so I was expecting it to be rugged and bare bones. Given there was no power for cooking I also figured that the meals were going to be mostly cold plates of which I’m not a huge fan of. What I was super stoked for was going out into the wild and seeing all of the amazing animals that I had only seen either in books or on TV.

Driving into the camp I quickly came to realize that there’s only a single cord of electric fence about 7 feet high that circles the permitter which is used to keep out the elephants. This means that every other man eating animal in this reserve, excluding the giraffes, are free to come and go as they please. Even more surprising is that our cabin has huge open air windows and the front door uses a cloth gate, about half the height of a normal door, that one can easily step over. If it had been made of wood it may have at least kept out the local honey badgers which have been know to frequent the camp. The owners of the camp told us about the time there was a honey badger in their kitchen making a real mess of things and none of the men who worked there would come to help get it out out because honey badgers are know for attacking ones genitals. They are already crazy fierce and attack pretty much anything, the last thing I wanted to know was that if I do happen to find one in our cabin it’s likely going to go straight for my private bits.

While I was surprised by the lack of resources that went into keeping the guests at a same distance from the wild animals, I loved that it was exactly as it was. Having it wide open to everything made it that much more of a real adventure. They more than made up for not having electricity by lighting up the entire camp, including the guest rooms, with oil lanterns and the delicious meals were all cooked on wood burning ovens and stoves. To add to the awesome the family who own the camp, and the rangers who took us on our game drives, were all super knowledgable and full of great stories which always kept things interesting.

For me the highlights were too many to list out so I will pick only a few. The first time we spotted a lion I was shocked when we pulled up to within only a few meters. This cat was huge and in one easy leap she could have launched herself straight into our open air game viewing Land Rover. We didn’t have doors or windows to close if things got harry. We were right there, up front and personal with nothing between us and real life wild animals. Within minutes the lion was then greeted by one other big female and about 12 younger cubs. We were told that they don’t take much notice of the vehicles as long as the people inside don’t stand up or get out. If we did either there was a good chance that we may be in some trouble. On another drive we saw a pride of lions eating a wildebeest which was pretty cool as well.

Our entire vehicle had a good scare the day a huge male rhino decided that we were in his way. He was walking in front of us when out of no where he decided to take a charge at us. I braced the truck with one arm and kept taking photos with the other. Lucky for everyone our guide pulled forward and the rhino pulled away just a little. If you think that rhinos look huge in photos, I can tell you that they look twice as huge when they are charging at you.

Another day we came across a huge heard of elephants that were making their way to a watering hole that we just happened to be at. One of the big bulls happened to walk right in front of us and with out warning turned and charged toward us. Once again our guide slammed it in gear and backed up just in time. I’m not sure what was going on that day, but the normally peaceful and slow moving elephants were all a bit on edge. After they quickly drank from the watering hole they all ran off leaving a huge trail of dust behind them.

The giraffes were also really fun to watch as they are both graceful and awkward at the same time. Their long front and back left legs move in tandem followed by both of their right legs. They are graceful when roaming from tree to tree, but as soon as they are spooked they run with awkward movements looking as though they could topple at any time.

It was really cool to see packs of wild dogs as they hunted. We never saw them make a kill, but it’s meant to be a bloody mess. The skinny dogs we saw were always running while on the hunt and dogs fresh form a kill were all fat and bloated and were usually just sleeping or relaxing.

We saw a heard of about a hundred impala grazing along with zebras and wildebeests. You often see the three of them hanging out together as they use each other for early detection from their predators. Safety in numbers.

On our way home one night we spotted a huge leopard drinking from a watering hole that was only about 800m from our camp. Our driver had a spot light which was used for the evening drives so we were able to have a great view of the magnificent cat.

Seeing these animals up close and in the wild from a open air convertible is both super cool, and a bit strange. I could never imagine driving up to a grizzly bear, moose or a cougar and observing it from so closely from a open vehicle.

In the night We hear hear wild animals in and around the camp including lions, hyenas and even a buffalo. If it was super late at night we would use a bucket in our cabin for going to pee in the night rather than making our way to the outdoor toilets. I’m sure that it would be fine, but the buckets are in the rooms for a reason so why not use them. Night time is dinner time for the big cats so we figure it best to play it safe.

During the day, between the morning and evening drives, there’s a big gap where you can either read, nap, or in my case wander around and take photos of birds and such. Being right in the middle of the reserve we were told to not wander off for safety reasons. Having seen rhinos, elephants, hyenas, leopards and a bunch of other animals within a few hundred meters of our camp I can see why. Every time my photography finds me wandering away from the camp I start to feel like a snack for a pride of lions or wild dogs, or more likely upsetting rhinos or elephants. Within short order I always found myself quickly retreating back to the camp…

Josi and I love every minute of being on safari. Every and every day was exciting with new and amazing things to see at each and every moment. Equally as wonderful was being totally offline and not having to worry about checking your emails. While I live an incredibly free lifestyle with all of the opportunites for adventure that one could ever imagine, but with that comes a dependency with technology and being connected with the team at FreeBird Agency. It’s more than than just being online for work, when you are connected you end up spending unnecessary time being online. Taking 5 days to be fully offline was a great break.

The next stop in our adventure is being Rob’s guest for Sabbath and then to dinner at his home in Johanisberg before flying out to Bangkok Thailand tomorrow.

As a side note, if you are a regular reader of our blog you may be wondering why we are posting so many posts only a few days apart. We were without a solid internet connection for some time so we are just catching up now.