15. November 2008 12:26
by Rene Pallesen
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End of October we moved settled and moved into the new house.
Not without a bit of of drama as the previous owner wasn't out of the house at settlement...but by the end of the day she was fortunately gone.
She was living there with three little boys (terrorists), so there was a number of smaller things that had been neglected and really needed some attention and there were a number of flaws around the place that needed fixing (it seems that the solution to every problem for the previous owners was silicone glue).
Most of this is under control now thanks to my dad helping out while here for the wedding (see next posting). Both Kim and I have now moved all our things and I've put kim in charge of selecting what colours she would like the walls to be downstairs before we go out and buy furniture.
We also need to get new lights downstairs as the ones there heat up and switch themselves off (cheap crap) so I may just as well do the ceiling now that I am at it.
15. November 2008 02:35
by Rene Pallesen
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My dad was in Sydney for our wedding and arrived on the 5th November just in time for us to also celebrate his birthday (We took him to his favourite steak house to get his favourite T-bone steak).
It was great to have him here for the wedding as it would have been empty to not have any family members from my side at the wedding. It was also really sad that my mum couldn't come.
We had just moved into the house week before so everything was still messy and there was a lot of things that needed fixing on the house. My dad was really helpful helping me out with a lot of the thing I'd never done before such as replacing tiles in the bathroom. He also changed the locks, fixed lights, painted walls, fixed doors, leaking taps etc.
It gave us something to do together which was great for bonding. I just wish he'd been there a bit longer...but maybe I can convince him to come back to help me build a pergola.
We also managed to do a bit of sightseeing around Sydney and it was great that he got a chance to meet Kims family.
The wedding was something different for him and I think that he was pretty frustrated that he didn't know what the asian customs were (not a typical Danish wedding).
He did give a really good speech at the wedding and I'm sorry to say that everything he said is true (although not everything was accurate).
23. September 2008 08:51
by Rene Pallesen
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This weekend we went up to Barrenjoey...a beautiful day. It was 31 degrees in Sydney but this time of the year the rocks here are mostly in the shade all day and there was a nice sea breeze running through the area.
We started with a couple of nice warm-ups and then moved onto one of my test pieces "Pillar of Mordor (19)". It is thin and sustained and really not very well protected so I have always back off leading it. Both Phil and I did lead it although not completely clean.
After this we did "Mescalito (19)" which is one of my favourite climbs there. Phil placed a cam in one of the breaks and it fell out and dropped down to the next bolt...fortunately he carried another cam to put in the break and eventually got up to the next bolt and through the climb.
The day was almost over and I had to go to the airport but Phil had his eyes on this climb "...Cab Sav (19)". The bottom bit of the climb is all protected by cams and the top bit is really thin and pumpy. Phil got up past the natural gear and clipped the first bolt. He then moved on and was struggling when clipping the second bolt but eventually got it. He then moved to the thirt and last bolt on the climb and as he moved up his foot caught the quickdraw and without him noticing the boltplate came off the bolt (He had clipped the botlplate upside down). He kept climbing up and got up to the third bolt, but because the previous bolt had fallen off it would have been a ground fall if he had fallen off. Phil was really struggling clipping it but we were so relieved on the ground once he did.
That was a really close one and it is the second time I've seen someone clip those types of plates wrong...bloody dangerous.
17. September 2008 02:42
by Rene Pallesen
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Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal
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There is a monastry on Mt Popa - a hill located 50km away from Bagan.
When I was there, it was a cloudy day.
I ran into a woman selling petrified wood - quite silly really, considering the place was covered with it.
They must think tourists are stupid! *laugh* I managed to pick up a couple of small pieces to take back with me.
As you can see, there are stacks of them around.
And no... this is not a tombstone.
This is actually a road sign.
You would be surprised how big some of these pieces are - this piece below was actually about a metre long and 40cm wide.
Actually what I found interesting were the toilets in Burma.
My girlfriend tells me that squatting over a toilet is quite common in Asia.
In many of the city areas, they would have toilets as we know them, and they would also have a carved hole in the ground, on which either side, one places their feet on.
Toilets in the rural area are more crude than that - a hole leading into a gaping pit.
However, what I found interesting about these toilets were that recycled running water was used to wash away any excrement. The water is first used for washing one self and then used in the toilets.
As there were a few toilet cubicles a row, sometimes you would see the excrement from a toilet uphill go beneath you! *laugh*
Very clever and environmental system, I think!
Trying to grab a snooze... *smile*
Like Schweddagon, most of this is real gold as well.
And yes, there is a monkey sitting near my head.
If you click to the next page, you will see that I have taken a series of photos of the monkeys.
28. July 2001 10:49
by Rene Pallesen
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I saw the most interesting puppet show, known as the “Mandalay Marionettes”
There were 2 or 3 puppeteers out the front, with a live band of musicians.
Unfortunately, it was more of a show for the tourists, rather than the locals.
It cost 1,000 chats or US$2 per show.
28. July 2001 10:49
by Rene Pallesen
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I decided take a 20-hour train-ride to Myitkyinã *laugh* it took 20-hours to get there by train because there was only one track.
It was definitely faster to run next to the train than to travel in it!
We had to wait for the oncoming train to return before we could travel north.
At one point, we crossed a bridge that was so rickety that I thought it would collapse any moment!
Locals working in the rice fields.
Locals using water-buffaloes to plough rice fields.
The train travelled along the Jrrawaddy River.
It would have been nice if I was able to travel to Mandalay via a riverboat down the Jrrawaddy River.
It was amazing to find out that people live “on” these lakes, by building houses on stilts.
This sort of housing is quite common in many parts of Asia, especially areas where monsoons quite frequently flood an area.
It is also very environmentally-sound, I think, and hurts the land less.
Most of the houses are made of wood.
Myitkyinã is pretty dismal in rain!
There is a huge drug problem in Burma, especially through the crossings into China.
I have scanned a copy of a recent newspaper article about this problem in Burma.