Pics from Europe 2007

Here is a quick link to some pics from the trip... I'll post more and some stories afte some sleep (and golf).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56093&l=a12f0&id=666980653

Praha 1

Back in Prague, 2nd time in 2 years (I think, the first time is a little cloudy). Not much has changed, it's a lot busier here this time with it being high season... Jagr's bar is closed, it's now an Irish pub/sports bar. The other change is I'm staying at a full-on hostel this time too, which we did a bit of in Krakow but never shared a room with anyone. This time we are, 2 bunks out of 6 in 1 room. How come the more money I make the cheaper places I stay?? Haha, so far it's alright and has been a good way to meet a couple younger people. We'll see what I say tomorrow after listening to 5 other donkeys snore and toss and turn. It's friggin' cheap tho, I'll give it that.

We're thinking of Berlin in a couple days, we're thinking we'd like to see "the wall" since Munich is likely going Oktoberfest crazy with drunken brits, which we also experienced in Poland. No complaints though, just sayin'.

Anyways, enough key clackin', back to the streets!

Poland

Poland has been an amazing surprise. Before this trip I thought that it would be cool to come here one day, almost as a novelty, and now that I've come I can say that I'm sure glad I did. The country is beautiful, full of history and tragedy, and has still managed to not be fully engulfed in western commercialization. This isn't to say that it's not here, but of all the places I've been in Europe Poland has so far resisted being fully converted. This is probably also a result of it only shedding communism 18 years ago... The people are friendly, the sites and people are beautiful, and there is a definite festivity in the air most of the time. There is also an abundance of young people, mostly here on school trips, learning the history and respecting the past.

After 4 or 5 nights of being up until 5 am we had a sobering day today. We went to Auschwitz, which is everything you imagine it to be, and worse. It is just not fathomable what humans do to humans, even in times of war. I can only hope that we've learned from our mistakes.

More touring is planned tomorrow, and then we're heading to Wroclaw to visit a friend of Mike's who is from Poland. Then we're not sure where exactly, probably Prague...

See you around, Ryan.

Stats

Here's a chart of hits on my blog... I guess most people surf on over on Sundays, but not too many during the week, while at work. But the few I do get I should give a shout out to: Nads, Amish, the Colombians, mom... who else are work-time visitors?

We lose a good one

Last night was the going away of one of the waiters/bartenders at the pub in our hotel... he found a better job eslewhere. We smoked cigars and drank cognac in his honor.

Waleed was Rick's favourite (Rick in red):

Me and Waleed (and cognac):
The afterwork pub gang:

More Colombia Pics II

Mucho Aguilas:
Torture table at the Spanish Inquisition Museum in Cartegena:
Museum again, outside at dusk:
Playa Blanca, 45 min boat ride from Cartegena:
Lime anyone:

More Colombia Pics

The three best men:
Three best women:
Bride and Groom, post nuptuals:
Mud bath on the lip of a dormant volcanoe (I hope), that's me looking at the camera:
The Pinzon-Heinz clan looking at wedding photos:

pillow vs pillow = wicked awesome

Had a good weekend here with the Peck's visiting me in Ain Sukhna. They were supposed to arrive Wednesday evening but they were 20 minutes late getting off their boat and subsequently missed the government convoy that is required to drive up the coast from where they were to here. This annoyed them royally, as us westerners aren't used to being told we can't go somewhere without a government escort. So they ended up arriving Thursday afternoon. We enjoyed dinner at the beach and then went to a friend's villa for some beverages on their rooftop patio. It was a great night with some mild debauchery, but the company was the best part.

Friday was spent making quick work of 9 holes and then heading to the beach. I was a little under the weather (and still am) but as usual the weather was perfect and it was good to relax for a little while. The Peck's enjoy telling stories, so they filled the air recounting their dive trip and other adventures for my co-workers and friends here! But the visit was short and sweet as they had to leave this morning to head back to Rome before travelling to Zambia for their 2 months of volunteering.

Next week I'm off for 2 weeks to galavant around Eastern Europe with a friend from Fort McMurray. We were housemates there (actually he was my landlord) and he's decided to quit his job, sell his house, and go travelling for awhile. So we meet in Warsaw, Poland on the 14th and will be training our way through Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany for Oktoberfest.

It's a hard knocked life.

Silent film

Quick vid from the top of the Nile Cruise boat...

Roots

Three posts in one day, not too shabby.

It seems like I'm going on a lot of vacations lately, which is alright with me. My next "rotation/home-leave" is 14-Sep to 27-Sep. But, I'm not heading home quite yet. I am meeting Z who was my roommate/landlord in Fort McMurray in Warsaw and doing an eastern European tour ending up in Germany Oktoberfest, which I know is a tourist thing to do but we don't care. I'm flying to Poland and then have to make my way to Frankfurt for a fligth back to Cairo by the 27th... we're training it all of the way, which will be cool. The main goal of this trip will be to buy new golf shoes and maybe some WWII shtuff.

Colombia, get off my back already!

Seems like so long ago already! But here it is... Like I said, Facebook is to blame, there are like 50 pics there of Colombia.

Cruizin'

My posts have been infrequent in the past couple months... you have Facebook to blame for this. Picutres are easy to post there, just click and they upload/shrink automatically. But whatev.

So, since 11-Aug I've done a bit... the Peck's are in Egypt visiting... I joined them in Cairo and for a cruise down the Nile from the 23rd to 28th. That was great, my first visit to the pyramids in the 7 months I've been here, not bad! I wasn't in a hurry tho since they're not going anywhere. But it was a great time, good to see close friends overseas. They're due to my resort here tonight, spending a couple nights before they head off to Zambia. Should be a couple days of beach fun, golf (of course), and good times.

The cruise was great as well, pretty much the best place I've been in Egypt so far is the Nile. Sitting by the pool on the roof-top watching the Nile drift by was soothing and enlightening, especially after the hustle and caos of Cairo.

Last night we had a celebration for our project reaching 50% complete for construction. A good milestone, and a glimmer of hope that one day we'll be finished and get to move on! There is already talk of the next project here in Egypt, but I think my first choice will be to go back to Brisbane for the PNG project which is gaining momentum as an LNG job... my fingers are crossed.

Hope all is well in your part of the world!