Got to get a new pair of shoes...

It is high time I upgraded my shoes so I opted for the ever fantastic R.M. Williams boots. There is only a single store in the Northern Territory, in Darwin, contrary to the rest of Australia. I went for kangaroo leather this time as I am in skippy country after all! And as often with R.M. it comes with lots of freebies. In the package they gave me a polo shirt, a cap and a pair of tickets to see the Baz Luhrmann movie 'Australia'. Fantastic!

Settled

Even though I am not yet sure of the duration of my assignment here I have moved into a house as in the end it will be cheaper and more convenient than staying in an hotel room. The minimum duration is for 2 months anyway. I found a lovely place 5 minutes from the city on a tranquil bay. The surrounding neighbours all seem to have a small boat or a yacht. Maybe I should start considering sailing if I am to stay here for a while. The view above is from my house's small deck.

Northern Territory

The picture above was taken from the plane taking me back from Perth to Darwin today. The four hours trip between the two cities flies over the red bush for most of the time. It can be quite boring after some time as it is pretty monochrome and flat. But arriving in the Darwin area things start to get greener and more interesting. It is nevertheless not easy to explore the area at ground level. The best options probably are by boat but I believe the best views can only come form the sky.

Perth City

Perth is often considered as being the most remote city in the world but it is a fine place to live in. Life seems easy, the weather is temperate, there is a great free public transport, the beach is excellent, the people seem happy. I di not get much time to check the city due to my workload but you can easily feel the good vibe emanating from its streets. The fact I am here in late spring in a cool beautiful weather with a perfect blue sky probably adds to my attraction to that place and it is a great contrast to the sticky hot weather I just left in Singapore and Darwin.

Perth taxis

My stay in Darwin is already interseded after only one day by a quick mission to Perth. I had already noticed last time all the warning signs in the taxi that somehow reminded me of Singapore. Except they are usually not accompanied by the mention of a fine. I am used to see in restaurents or businesses the mention claiming the 'owner reserves the right to refuse any person' but it usually remains only vague. In Perth, all the taxis bear a sticker saying the driver can refuse 'dirty and abusive' passengers. That is much more specific but remains somehow subjective.

Northern Territory News

Last time I landed in Darwin the headline in the newspaper was about a ship that capsized because of a shark. This time around, the cover page of the Northern Territory newspaper this morning was about a crocodile found in a swimming pool. Each time I talk about sharks or crocs to Aussie friends or family they always tell me it is just a cliché but how can I honestly believe them. Suffice to read the news. It is no cliché but the reality.

Record of the Week: The Smiths 'Singles Boxset'

Rhino recently put out a double CD compilation of The Smiths which Morrissey loudly refused to support inviting its fans to boycott the release (since he had no say nor involvment in the project). In parrallel they are re-issuing individually and every week the first ten UK-issued singles in their original artwork sleeves. Even better, all these singles are now collected into a boxset with the addition of two exclusive 7" ('Still Ill' which was eventually never issued as a record and the Dutch edition of 'The Headmaster Ritual') as well as badges and posters. How could I resist such a collector's item? In order not to feel guilty I will just take it that Morrissey's stand is only for the CD release.

Sayonara Tokyo

It is already time we said goodbye. I am in the A380 between Tokyo and Singapore as I am writing this. Most memorable of the whole Japanese stay will have evidently been the food. It is anyway always the case for any trip but there is nothing more intriguing and varied than Japanese food. And it is not all Sushi and Yakitori as many people who have not visited the place might think. From the highlights I will always remember the Hiroshima Okonomiyaki, the hour long queue to eat the freshest sahimi at the Tokyo Fishmarket but mainly that little boutique in Asakusa specialising in sweet potatoes. The baked apple with sweet potato and the sweet potato calissons (picture above) are something from another world! But there are also all those bizarre things (which I am also a fan of) like the White Pepsi drink sold in the convenience stores and that is actually Pepsi and Yogurt flavoured. And the quest for the endless choice of Kit Kat limited editions. It is as if Kit Kat had decided to scatter a different product in each store (Green Tea Kit Kat, Soy Sauce Kit Kat, Blueberry Cheesecake Kit Kat, watermelon Kit Kat, French Salt Kit Kat, Chestnut Kit Kat just to name a few).

Tokyo Art

Tokyo surely hosts its own share of galleries and museums. From the lovely and tiny Gallery éf in Asakusa to the bigger Museum of Contemporary Arts (MOT). The latter organises its collections quarterly and while we were around the exhibition on display was concentrating on its latest acquisitions. Japanese favorites Yayoi Kusama and Yoshimoto Nara were well represented but what intrigued and delighted me the most was the video installation from Julian Opie (remember that Blur cover?). A delight for the senses. And it is ironic the most Japanese influenced works of the whole exhibition space might be from a Brit.

新宿区

Shinjuku does not bring any surprises in the sense that it is exactly as per the image you might have of Tokyo if you have never been there. Shops and crowds and neonlights. It is also famous for being the busiest train station in the world and there is no denying the intensity and buzz that buzzes in the underground mazes at all time. Nevertheless it has a lot to offer for everyone and is a real pleasant place to live in. By the way, if you happen to go to Tokyo I can only highly recommend the fabulous Oakwood Apartments which have all the modern comfort that can help you enjoy a wonderful stay. It's a real find!

Hiroshima

It is difficult not to feel emotional while visiting Hiroshima. To even understand and feel things a bit better I branched at Kinokuniya to grab a copy of John Hersey's Hiroshima. It recounts the lives of six survivors in the days before, during and following the bombing. It brought a complete new perspective to the way I visited the city.

On a happier note, we could not be in Hiroshima without trying the local specialty. And as it is virtually impossible to get disappointed with the food in Japan we delected ourselves with an Okonomiyaki. It is a kind of Japanese pancake topped with shredded cabbage, bacon, egg omelette, mochi and noodles that is prepared on a teppan (hotplate).

Miyajima

Today we headed to Miyajima. It was quite sunny but bloody cold! Last time I came here the famous floating Torii gate was under renovation and hidden under hideous scaffoldings! I felt cheated. It is after all one of the three most scenic spots in Japan (with Mastushima and Amanohashidate). It is famous for its maples and November definitely is the busiest seasons with hordes of Japanese wanting to catch a glimpse of its delightful colours. Its culinary specialties include delicious oysters (on skewers, in batter, in croquettes, etc...) and most importantly the reknowed Momiji Manju (delicious cakes in form of maple leaves with different fillings). We went to the original baker and tried different flavours like custard, green tea, chocolate and soya bean paste.

Kyoto

I am just loving every single minute I am spending in Japan. It has always been my favourite country as a tourist since you just cannot help from being amazed at every single thing you see. A temple, a soy sauce flavoured Kit Kat, a kimono dressed lady talking with a pink coloured haired punkette. Everything is so different. Big cities all tend to be the same all around the world so it is good to be in a place where there is still a strong local identity. And I have not yet talked about the food! Mmmm... The food!

Kawaii!

After visiting Japan over the Cherry Blossom season some years back I thought that nothing could beat that glorious celebration of nature but coming back here in November proved me wrong. forget about the Canadian indian summer and come and feed your eyes amongst an array of colours rarely seen outside of this country. Such a natural beauty let us forget any bad feeling or stress we might have previously accumulated. Absolutely gorgeous!

いらっしゃいませ

Irasshaimase or 'welcome' in Japanese! There cannot be any better introduction than the fish head picture above. Welcome to the land of crazyness! I have always been in love with the contrasts and contradictions the country offers to the visitors. One of the first sights welcoming us in Japan has been this gentleman selling fish shaped donuts wearing this silly fish costume. And if we would have found this ridiculous anywhere else in the world, in Japan this excentricity can only make sense. There is no doubt the time will fly here. Let's enjoy every minute!

Goodbye and see you again!

Over this trip we have been blessed by a constant beautiful weather oscillating between 20 and 30 degrees (celcius). The skies have shown their best colours and we incredibly witnessed the first snow of the season over the Grand Canyon during the only cold experience of the trip. We witnessed the most amazing fire red sunset over the Colorado valley in Blythe and yesterday evening the sun waved us goodbye over Venice Beach (above picture). The West Coast definitely is an enjoyable place to live in (if you can forget about the earthquake threats ans raging fires).

The Getty Museum

The Getty museum is just an 'out of this world' place. I had never visited it before but you really have to witness it to believe it. Despite the controversy on the ownership of some of the Art pieces on display (after the previous curator was arrested for trafficking) you can only be impressed by its collection of European Arts and Antiquities. But what can be even more amazing than the pieces themselves is both its location overlooking Los Angeles and offering a 360 degrees view over the city and the incredible ingenuosity of its architecture where you can clearly feel that every single detail has been carefully studied. It is particularly glowing white under a blue sky (even though the city below is not glowing because of the constant pollution as you can see above).

L.A.

It really is not difficult to guess where we are today. It is also amazing to think that a few hundred miles from here and a couple of days ago we witnessed the first snow of the season since today the weather has been particularly hot and sunny. It is like being in summer again. And those 28 degrees Celcius (82 degrees Fahrenheit as they say here) do not feel anything like 28 hot and and sticky Singapore degrees. They are just perfect! We surely had to do the touristy things from the Chinese Theatre to the Walk of Fame and from Beverly Hills to Malibu. But no celebrity spotting!

Mojave and Joshua Tree National Parks

The first time I heard of the Joshua Tree was thanks to U2 when they issued their timeless masterpiece 'The Joshua Tree' twenty years ago (see the picture here). I then drove through the Joshua Tree National Park on my way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas a few years later. A classic ride. I will be crossing the same park again today but I was amazed to go through a forest of Joshua Trees on my way from Vegas yesterday. I did not know that the biggest 'forest' of joshuas was actually in Mojave Desert. A weird and beautiful sight.

Las Vegas

It is difficult not to be impressed by Vegas. That said, if you are not a gambler, you might find the place boring after 24 hours but you should at least see it once in your life. By day but mostly by night. We could not resist a ride on that crazy rollercoaster at New York New York. We are not too familiar with fairground rides so we definitely thought that it was worth every second. That said, some of those seconds seemed very long and we were happy the ride did not last for hours.

Picture of the Week

Usually Monday is the day where I post my record(s) of the week. If I had to choose some tracks this week it would actually be the trio of singles that have been in my head lately: Flobots 'No Handle Bar', Ladyhawke 'My Delerium' and Esser 'I Love You'. But as I am in the bay area vicinity - and instead of purchasing my usual fix from Piccadilly Records online - I thought it would be more appropriate to post the picture of the great Californian institution that is Amoeba Records. If you find yourself in San Francisco or L.A. please do yourself a favour and visit those places before they disappear...

Snow

After all those past days filled with sun who would have thought so much snow would fall within such a short time. The picture above is not a black and white picture but exactly how it looked like this morning when we woke up. Needless to say that the snow was already starting to melt when the sun decided to appear and while hitting the road we quickly found ourselves under blue skies and autumnal heat again.

Grand Canyon

As Grand as the name suggests! It was impressive the first time I went there some long years back and I continue to be gobsmacked by the majesty of the place. The hike down the South Kaibab trail led us to encounter the famous mule train at the aptly named Ooh-Aah Point. The sun eventually showed its face and we were in for a treat during the whole trek. It is amazing how things quickly changed and it was only a matter of minutes before the first snow of the year decided to fall over the park. It was a magical and sublime moment.

Death Valley

It was a long drive down to the Death Valley but it was worth every minute. We spent the night on the outskirts since the weekenders booked out the only few rooms available in the area and had to return early this morning to make the most of this very unique park. It is the driest and hottest valley in the United States. It is also the lowest with its bottom reaching 85 meters below sea level. This season is probably optimun as the highest we got today was 24°C. In summer the average for both July and August is 46°C which means that you can easily have some peaks well over the fifties. Actually, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was 56.7 °C at Furnace Creek, during a sandstorm in July sometimes in 1913.

yo-SEM-it-ee

Over 4 hours drive from San Francisco, we reached today the northern tip of the Sierra Nevada. The Yosemite park is gorgeous in all seasons but I admit that it is really enjoyable to take advantage of less crowds, cooler temperatures, beautiful blue skies and autumn colours at this time of the year. We did not see any bears as we did not stay long enough to explore the park anyway but we could still feed our eyes and memories on the glorious and classical views over the valley, the Half Dome and El capitan as you can see from the picture above.

Golden Gate

I remember the emotion that ran through my veins the first time I saw the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco over a decade ago. It was like a dream come true. This bridge gloriously stands over the San Francisco bay and its International Orange colour particularly makes it stand out loud and clear against a perfect blue sky. It was an intense pleasure to have the opportunity to return here today and it just confirms the position of this corner of the world in my Top 5 of cities I'd love to live in if I had the choice (up there with Barcelona, Manchester, Tokyo and New York).

Cable Cars

If there is an image that identifies automatically with San Francisco (apart from the Golden Bridge of course) it is the Cable Car coming up or down its steep streets. Even though it is more of a tourist attraction than a public mean of transport used by the locals it remains highly iconic. The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system in the world.

04 November 2008 (historical)

We could not have picked a better day to land in San Francisco. And what a long day! Crossing the dateline made this very special day last for nearly 48 hours! Unlike France where you have an official projection result at 8 PM revealing the face of the new President on TV, here things are more uncertain and gradual. Therefore, expectations build up and you do not have an immediate explosion of joy but we could feel the happiness growing in the streets. The picture above translates this emotional and blurry moment after that long day that lead us to live such an historical event.

Record of the Week: Various Artists 'Veros Artis Volume 2' (Dissident)

What's new this week? Aeroplane's remixes of Grace Jones? Pet Shop Boys produced 7" for Sam-Taylor Wood? Arctic Monkeys Live at the Apollo lavish Box Set? Even though I already own all the records featured in this CD on 12" vinyl I will pick up the Veros Artis Volume 2 compilation from the ever amazing Dissident label. A great way for all of you, who do not own a turntable (or two), to finally lay your hands on The Invicible Scum remix of that instant classic from Binary Chaffinch ('Flase Energy') or Ali Renault.

It's Dim Sum day!

Today is Sunday. In Hong Kong it is Dim Sum day. If Cantonese sunday Dim Sums have exported well as far as Melbourne for example, good ones are still difficult to come by in Singapore. Some weeks ago we enjoyed Crystal Jade at Takashimaya, but for something a bit more 'real' we discovered Victor's Kitchen at Bugis today. It has the usual Siew Mai (steamed minced pork dumplings) or Har Gao (prawn dumplings) and also steams some lovely custard buns as the close-up in the picture above shows (like in the Moon cakes you even have a piece of yoke in the middle). And everything is cooked on demand to add to the freshness.

Victor's Kitchen at Sunshine Plaza, #01-2191 Bencoolen St, Singapore

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-9pm

Chef's Special

Despite the fact Singapore Airlines screen up to 500 inflight entertainment possibilities I usually never use it since I spend most of my flights sleeping. I might also be picky but there always is at least one or two movies I wouldn't mind watching. From their latest selection I was pleased to see a Spanish movie called 'Fuera de Carta' from Director Nacho Garcia Velílla starring Javier Cámara. It is a perfect Spanish comedy playing with clichés as only spanish can without being boring or too vulgar and remaining very witty. I am not sure which countries this movie has been screened at but if your local cinema happens to screen it you will definitely spend a very enjoyable hour and half.