Tag Archives: clouds

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

by jose

A gigantic washing machine.

That is what got through my mind when I got down from the couch to the floor, just to ensure I would have maximum stability, while looking apprehensively at the shaking ceiling and the clinking photography frame on the wall. “I am sitting on a freaking gigantic washing machine.” No, there was not any table near me and anyway, I was too incredulous to move much more.

It turned out I was lucky. Again. I was CouchSurfing at the right place, in the Riccarton suburb.

In the city center, two kilometers east from me, people were dieing.

Continue reading →

Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

by jose

Yeah, Newcastle, but not the one in England. Several places bear the same name as others back in the United Kingdom, as if the founders of the towns had absolutely no inspiration at that moment, or maybe too much nostalgia for their homeland.

Because Australia, as some of you already know, was colonized (some would say stolen, conquered from the Aboriginals) by Captain James Cook, the first European explorer to reach the East Coast of Australia. It quickly became a jail, England sending entire ships of convicts there, on the other side of the world, for them to stay and live the rest of their lives in exile.

But the convicts flourished and thrived, on this land strangely harsh and full of resources at the same time – some would say resources stolen from the Aboriginals. And, in the end, they got their independence.

Continue reading →

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo) part 1: Mount Kinabalu

by jose

Freedom came back into my heart when I walked above the clouds.

No kidding. The fresh air (the coldness being intensified by the humidity of all my clothes, but well), the rocks, the climbers around me, the silence, the light of the dawn. My equipment. And this incredible landscape. Nothing above me but the dome of the sky. And under me, a sea of clouds.

A sea of clouds.

Welcome back, my friend.

Continue reading →

Blase

by jose

Pour une fois que je prends pas le CX260… Non, mon vol, c’est celui juste au-dessus : BA315 pour Londres. Première escale pour aller au Caire.

À vrai dire, je n’aurais jamais imaginé prendre un jour un avion entre Paris et Londres. Pour quoi faire ? Après tout, on a l’Eurostar… M’enfin vu que c’est compris dans mon billet tour du monde, je vais pas me plaindre, hein. Même si c’est pas trop ma tasse de thé de me comporter en privilégié. C’est donc parti pour une heure de vol. Une heure. Comparé à ce que je me tape d’habitude, j’ai l’impression de prendre l’ascenseur.

Continue reading →