So much for maintaining this blog...

I have failed yet again to keep this blog up to date... I am so glad I didn't try to start a new one dedicated to my cruise ship adventures.. that would have been just plain embarrassing!

Anyway, since my last post, most of the drama has died away, and I believe I have settled into ship life.. for now. I have to admit that Alaska has become really stale right now, especially considering that we're doing the same 7 day run every week. But, in 3 weeks that will all end and we'll be headed down south to warmer waters - Mexico and Hawaii, I cannot wait!

The Sapphire Docked at Victoria, BC, Canada

How long have a been onboard now? Looking at the voyage numbers, I started with the Sapphire on May 25, which was voyage H123. We are now on voyage H137. I joined on this exact day, same port (Juneau) 3 months ago. So this makes it exactly 14 weeks. 14 doesn't seem much, and it has flown by really fast, but it still feels so LONG at the same time. Absolute weirdness.

(btw.. loving the new scribe feature for posting.. so intuitive now!)

Anyway, I have not forgotten my promised series of posts on the 'pursuit of sanity'.. which I still reckon to be an interesting title if I say so myself, and there is ALOT to say - just getting round to putting it on 'paper' twill be the challenge.

One of the toughest things to adjust to is not having the people you could so easily talk to about things around to just.. talk. Though there may be 1100 other crew members on board, and you do bond easily and quickly since so many just come and go in the blink of an eye, they are still not the people you can so easily trust with the most important things close to your heart and soul.

And I have to say this sounds strange coming from me, who doesn't talk much about personal matters to anyone, not even those I have called my best friends since.. I can't remember. But there are a select few who I have confided in, especially from the past year, that I truly miss. I certainly hope that this distance between us is only temporary, and the shared confidence in each other has not, and will not, fade.

Enough of that talk now - it's whale watching time! Will attempt to upload photos here too now for all to see, not just the book of faces.

Laters!

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Greetings from the Far North + Obstacles to the Pursuit of Sanity Aboard the Sapphire Princess

Hey... whoever still reads this.

So I am now in beautiful ALASKA!

I have been here nearly a month now, and it has been crazy hectic, but still damn enjoyable so far.

For those who don't know (presuming anyone even reads this), I am working aboard the cruise ship Sapphire Princess as a Videographer.

When I left, I was a mixed bag of emotions. It hadn't struck me until just a few hours before my flight out what it all really means. 6 months, away from home, away from those I know, and those I (for the most part) love.

And now?

I reckon my mind is too overloaded at the moment to process everything. They said the first month would be a total mind fuck, and it has been. But I don't think most first contracts have that much drama packed into the first month alone. I don't feel like unloading all the details of the drama at the present moment (partially due to some perhaps misguided concerns of mine regarding the discussion of work issues and trade secrets in a public forum...), so I guess I may save that for another time, whenever that may be.

So what shall I talk about? My first impressions of Ship Life I guess.

The pursuit of sanity seems to be a strong force amongst the staff aboard this vessel, and I dare to say aboard any seafaring vessel. But one is faced by numerous obstacles in this pursuit, obstacles that seem trifling to most land lubbers and sea babies at first glace, but will soon grow, over time, into towering cliffs.

I have just decided that my blogging topics for the next month shall be on these obstacles. I know I should focus on the excitement and all, but at the moment, this is the best my cluttered mind can come up with, and it shall be my set writing tasks for this blog. I will intersperse all the gloom with some bright splashes of excitement every now and then of course, but then, that is presuming the discussion of these 'Obstacles to the Pursuit of Sanity Aboard the Sapphire Princess' will all be gloom and doom. We have yet to see, so we shall now delve into any assumptions right now.

Obstacle One: The Sense of Time prt 1
The first thing that struck me after a few days/nights on board, is that your surroundings in the crew area look exactly the same, no matter the time of day. Just outside the heavy wooden aqua coloured door of your cabin (the appropriate abbreviation of cabinet), is a network of musty corridors with green patterned carpets, cheap wood paneled walls, and muted fluorescent lights. Leading out from the cabin areas is the two toned sterility of the crew stairwell - solid blue floors countered by overpowering white washed walls, bulkheads and hand rails. And it all that stays like that, 24 / 7.

They only hint you may get is that faint hum of human activity, that ethereal pulse of life which one can only accurately detect through the development of an extra sense - a sense that one hopes will develop over time into an accurate gauge of the time aboard a ship without the aid of a watch or the need to look out a port hole. It is a gift I have not yet attained.

I am not sure how much this will affect me, but it was the first thing I noticed that I thought might affect me. Not sure how much, or if, but what I look forward to is being able to channel that feeling of being detached from 'natural' time into any stories regarding traveling in confined spaces, particularly deep space.

Well, thats all from me for now - I must get back to the ship if I am to maintain the schedule I have developed for myself. You may notice this is only part 1 of time - I put that in there in the chance that the extra, but currently undeveloped, things I want to say about the Sense of Time may grow into some worthy parcels of words to publish.

Bye for now,
wkw

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Delayed photos: China Trip day 1 - Perth

Hotel room - that's my new-ish Deuter backpack on the left that I got from Malaysia. Genuine, and paid for just half of what it costs here in Oz. Sis with obligatory Asian peace sign pose on the right.

Significant historical figure... was a drag?

Nice medieval looking street - ok medieval is not the word I'm looking for, but this reminded me so much of Munich, Germany.

An interesting way of tackling some public transport etiquette issues... there were a few nursery rhymes used, including Jack and Jill, but I didn't have time to snap them... it was such a rush! A rush I tell you! A rush!!

Your customary/obligatory Chinatown entrance gate - you'll be hard put NOT to find one in any city around the world.

I dunno, this amused me. So I snapped it.
It still amuses me.

Your obligatory modern street art funded by the local council.

Authentic Chinese Chick!?

Authentic Chinese Dude!?

This one's a much more authentic pose.

Authentic Chi! (Chee is my dad's name.. ;) )

Bubbles bubbles everywhere!

Yours truly attempting an artsy shot

Noogie the Gumnut baby!!

Local Space ship.

Local clock tower.

Look! It's a Monkey with a pint!

Go Perth for going green! And Gassy! (lame I know, but I just had to!)

The ultimate 3D experience! (Avatar pre-JamesCameron) 

I know what I wrote in the bracket makes NO sense at all... 

Classic-meets-modern Church

I wish these styles of posters would make a comeback - they're awsome!

White froth on brown liquid in a cup = $3.50 spent to make one feel culturally and socially sophisticated.

It's an upside-down Dome. Get it!

..... shutup

The circus was in town! We were the freak show, these guys were for the kids

"sup"

I dunno what I was thinking getting them to pose like that.. as if they didn't look touristy enough already

Oooh.. low angle perspective shot to emphasise the architecture... artwank douche ;)

A failed attempt at getting a nice shot of Perth's night lights... 

Stayed tuned for more photos later!

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Mid Year Trip - Day 1

So, day one of the trip is almost over, and we are now on our way out of the country.

For those who don't know, I am currently on  mid-year, 20-something odd days vacation with the family. Main country to receive our motley crew is the People's Republic of CHINA. I've been to China before, once back in 2006 as part of a uni summer exchange program. I was only Wuhan though, which is a central hub between the coast and in-land China - it's a fantastic city bustling with activity (economic AND social). I went clubbing for the first time there, and let me tell you it was absolutely AMAZING!! Ahh... such memories *nostalgic grin*

Didn't have the brains to book myself a flight to the other cities, nor the cash, so this time, Beijing and Shanghai are on the hit list.

The trip is centrally the brain-child (and "heart-child") of my dad, who really wanted to see the Shanghai Expo. We're spending a total of 12 days in China - the rest are a number of transits and a brief stay in Malaysia and Singapore to see family and friends.

Recap:
Left Melbourne last night to arrive in Perth for our first transit - flying cheap has it's disadvantages. The flight to Perth was strangely unbearable - I'm usually great on flights, but this time, I just couldn't sleep, and I was fidgety. Even the book I'm reading - Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles - isn't helping. Don't get me wrong it's a great intriguing thriller, but it just reads quite long. It's never taken me this long to read a 700 pager before, it's quite embarrassing. I'll just put it down to the fact that's it's a really nutritious read - in the sense that it's packed full of research and many many intersecting story lines.

Anyway, Perth was alright. It's quite small, and rather quiet - the fact that it's Sunday doesn't help either. The weather was great - not that much warmer than Melbourne but at least the SUN is shining here. Other than that, there's not much here - had Yum Cha for lunch of all things.

Anyway, have to get going - flight is calling

ciao

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Reflections prt2 + Asian-Australian Project

Part 2 of reminiscing.

In Malaysia, I stayed with my mum's family first. Whilst there, I shot a few videos of my Grandma preparing dinner. She was making Yeung Dao Fu, or.. the best way I can describe it is Stuffed To Fu.

Grandma in the kitchen.

I loved the natural light that the kitchen had, with the sun coming in through the back door. The wall int he above image is a little blown out, but I like that, especially in the videos.

This brings up something that I have noticed lately - I have noticed this general difference in preference of image quality between video and photography. When Changas was over, I showed him this awesome new plugin developed by the awesome guys at Video Copilot, called Optical Flares. This plugin allows you to add, yup you guessed it, Lens flares into your video footage so you can achive certain looks. The plugin is so comprehensive that it allows you to imitate flares from real lens irises, and even adding Chromatic Aberration, which Changas was quite surprised and impressed with. Changas is a photographer, and he says that most photographers go for the cleanest look they can, choosing lenses and photoshopping to remove any sort of Chromatic Aberration in their images, as well as removing grain. Whilst int he video world, you can find plenty of plugins that allow youto imitate certain film stock grain, and generally making the footage more dirty. I wonder where this difference of preference comes from?

Anyway going back on topic, I filmed my Grandma preparing dinner, and the footage I got was quite extensive and looked great. I am currently editing it into a short doco that I am making as part of my Honours project on finding Asian-Australian stories. I am intercutting the footage with footage of my mum cooking Chinese New Year dinner. The doco is currently titled 'Tastes of Home', and is just an exploration of my mum and her cooking. Themes I'm looking at exploring are generational influences, senses of home, how cooking is used by displaced peoples to recall home, whether it actually means that to the older generations of migrants, etc. I have the style already, just need to do a few more interviews, and I am considering introducing my sister into the story, so that I can explore the themes from 3 generations of Chinese-Malaysian women.


Changas was over to help me film some things on his newly aquired Nikon d3s. The above image was taken by him, me and my mum as subjects.
My k7 is currently non-funcitonal because I damaged my lens on the last day of the trip. It's in Japan now, getting fixed... I hope. But yes, Changas' d3s is a beautiful piece of equipment. Check his stuff out on his blog here: http://iamchangas.blogspot.com/
Thus I am stuck using uni gear, though the z1p is still a very ncie camera. But I'm waiting to test out the newly acquired z7p.

Back to Malaysia. Below are pics of the end results of my Grandma's cooking, and the relatives consuming the fruits of her labour. *note the box of roast duck was brought from take away :) *

Resting after the meal.

Getting all artsy... but i quite like the photo. I love the light.

Since my Grandma was already there, decided to do a kind of portait.
Shopped one in b&w for kicks.

Not sure if they're good though, seems way too dark in her face. What do you think?

Some more photos from my first stay in Malaysia.
This beautiful, succulent sambal sting-ray. My god I miss it...



Stay tuned for more next time

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Reflections

Sorry for the long silence... I've just been trying to recover from the trip - both mentally, and financially...
Anyway, it's time for the long awaited recap on my trip, and the uploading of the many photos that I snapped. My memory of the start of my trip is fuzzy as hell, but going through the photos really helps.

DAY 1: Departure



I was given a farewell dinner the night I left. Mum made a nice potato thing, I can't remember what it was, as well as a fish salad.

For dessert we had some sort of yoghurt ice-cream thing made by my sister. It was a really great "summery" meal and the weather held out pretty well - it was a really nice way to farewell Melbourne.

We then bundled my luggage and ourselves into the car and headed out to the airport for my midnight flight.

Some last farewell snaps.


DAY 2: Arrival in Malaysia

Arrived at KL LCCT. The flight was... one of the worse I've had so far. Mainly because I couldn't get to sleep, and the seat was... it didn't recline! I can usually sleep anywhere but I reckon the mix of excitement, and the economically fitted out seats of AirAsia, combined to create an atmosphere where my body and mind just refused to get some rest.

Anyway, whilst on the plane, I looked through the ticket for my connecting flight to Penang, and I had assumed it was at 7:30 when in fact it was 6:30. I began to get a little worried as I saw that I was scheduled to arrive just before 6. I couldn't get my eyes off the time that was displayed on our personal screens - yes AirAsia has personal screens now, but you gotta pay to actually utilise its full entertianment value.
As soon as the plane landed I was outta my seat, and I literally ran to the luggage belt. I was hoping and hoping that my luggage would come out first, as it usually does, but fate seemed to be having fun with me this time round.
I waited. And waited. And waited.
Luggage after luggage trundled past, none of them mine.
The time ticked on... I began to panic.
The crowd grew smaller and still... nothing.
FINALLY, a familiar black case emerged through the plastic drapes. I reached down, grabbed my bag and ran off. As i crossed the hall I rememberd to double check the suitcase to make sure it was mine. It was.

At the checkin counter, I had to pay RM20 (20 Rinngit-malaysian dollars) becuase mysteriously, my bagged gained an extra 2kg during the flight. I was in rush so I just paid it. As I ran off, it crossed my mind that it was a little suspicious - I just hoped that it wasn't anything sinister.
I passed through the security gates and emerged in the Domestic Departures hall.
It was empty for the most part. And it got me worried... did I miss my flight?
I checked the time again, and for some reason... I actually still had about 30 minutes left till the flight. All that rushing for nothing! Clearly, I overreacted...
Anyway, I spent the next few minutes taking some photos.

This was where I snapped the photo I posted earlier with the kid and his dad/gramps. I'll post the 3rd photo I took of them here.

Soon after, my plane arrived. Hopped on and 45 minutes later was heading out the terminal doors and into the hot humid air of Penang. Cousin picked me up and took me to a PC fair where I got a 4gb m2 card for my phone for about... $15AUD. BARGAIN.

The stadium where the PC fair was held.

My cousin and his girlfriend. The umbrella = sun protection.

Inside the PC fair. This was the inside - there were a whole bunch of other stalls in the hallways outside the main arena.

Inside one of the many malls that seem to spring up everywhere all over developing Asia.

One other thing - I had bought over chocolates for my cousins and my friend's cousins. I left them in my Aunties car when I went to see some things... I am still not entirely sure but I think those choclates were melted.. just a little. They felt soft when I returned to the car. Either way, my little cousins ate some anyway.. even if it wasn't for them...

More refelctions and photos coming soon.

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