Video of skydive over Lake Taupo, NZ

Finally...here's the video from my skydive:

Iceland in 4 Days - Nov 2009

Volcanoes? Check. Glaciers? Check. Lava fields? Check. Iceland is easily one of the most beautiful and dramatic countries I've ever been to. The island sits atop the Mid Atlantic ridge, the undersea volcano range which runs north-south from pole to pole. The geothermal activity has carved the landscape into what it is today.  The road from the airport to the capital Reykjavik is built atop a massive lava field and is the backdrop for a nice welcome to the country. Reykjavik is a beautiful city in the southwest of the island overlooking a harbour and backed by mountains in the distance. The city itself is small, charming, and very walkable. It's easy to walk the main bits of the city in one day since it's so small. It's totally worth it to go to the top of the Hallgrimskirkja cathedral where you can get 360 degree views of the city.

There are loads of adventure activities to choose from a several different operators. I chose to do a glacier hike and some iceclimbing. I was picked up from my hostel early in the morning and driven out to the glacier. The weather was pretty bad but thankfully I came prepared with thermals and waterproofs so I was pretty much unaffected. Despite the pounding rain and wind we suited up, strapped in our crampons and set our feet onto the glacier. Our guide started by showing us how to walk properly with the crampons and ice axe. After this brief lesson we hiked up the glacier, crossing crevasses, and stopping to take a sip of water from a small moulin. It was the best water I've ever had! We eventually reached a wall of ice on the glacier that was suitable for climbing. Our guide set up the climbing ropes and we took turn scaling the wall. Ice climbing is not easy at all. You need quite a bit a upper body strength in addition to technical skill with the axes and crampons. I made it to the top (really happy that I didn't spike myself with the axes or crampons!) then abseiled down. After the climbing we cautiously made our way back down the glacier and to the car park. There were delicious sandwiches awaiting us in the van which we all wolfed down on the way back to Reykjavik.

The other activity which is highly recommended is the Golden Circle tour. It's a day-long tour which takes you to some of the best sites around Reykjavik, including a visit to a geothermal power plant, the Þingvellir national park which is situated on the continental divide between the North American and European tectonic plates, and the famous geysers which erupt pretty regularly. I had a really cool guide who had the best accent and pronounced gigantic like "guy-gantic".

Friday and Saturday nights out in Reykjavik are awesome! There are bars and clubs everywhere and everyone is out partying and having a good time, or in other words taking part in the runtur. The runtur is not an official event, it's the weekend pub crawl that the locals do. Drinking on the street is legal and you can order beer to go from the bars. In fact, it's quite common to just walk out with your pint glass and then smash it on the street when you're done with it. There's a massive cleanup every morning to sweep away all the broken glass from the previous night. I'm guessing they have a good glass recycling facility somewhere in town.

I wish I could've stayed in Iceland longer and driven around the entire island. Iceland is a very expensive place to visit despite their currency collapsing during the recent financial crisis. A pint of week cost about US$8 at the time. Before the crisis, it was double that. Food prices are comparable with those in New York but everything else is considerably more expensive. That being said, Iceland is an amazing place and totally worth every krona.  

View from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

First World Country, Developing World Telecommunications

The telecom situation in Australia is appalling. Some things you can't help like the size of the country versus the population distribution. But seemingly simple things like setting up a landline are absolutely infuriating. I've done a bit of research and it's pretty obvious to me that there are 2 parties to fault for this sad situation, Telstra and the government. Telstra used to be the government owned national telecom company. Over the past 15 years or so Telstra was privatised in stages. The Australian government still owns a share in Telstra today. I can't say whether it was the craftiness of Telstra or the general failure of the government but today Telstra has a monopoly over all physical telecom lines. If you want a line setup, you have to call Telstra.

You would think that since the government owns a part of Telstra and the fact that Telstra has a monopoly the government would implement some oversight and regulatory authority over Telstra but that hasn't been the case. It seems that Telstra merely does whatever it wants when it wants. And due to this situation, Australia is extremely disconnected due to Telstra's monopoly and exorbitantly high rates. The government here has authorized billions of dollars to build out a national broadband network (NBN) with one of the big mandates that it connect over 93% of the Australian population. Telecoms were invited to submit proposals to win the bid to participate in creating the NBN. Telstra's proposal only included 90% of the population so they were not included in the final list of proposals that were accepted. Ever since then Telstra has been making moves to stall the NBN and screw over customers further by raising rates.

Telstra is known throughout the country for charging outrageous rates and having very poor customer service. They also have the most reliable service and best mobile coverage, however this mainly due to their monopoly and never-ending efforts to make it extremely difficult to use other service providers who are forced to use Telstra's lines since there is no other option. I really can't see why the government hasn't broken up Telstra's monopoly already.

I've been trying to get broadband access in my flat for weeks now and finally was able to one setup without having to contact Telstra. The order was put in on 12 Apr, our provider then requested Telstra to setup our phone line. Telstra didn't respond till 18 Apr and said the earliest they can setup the line is on 28 Apr. 6 days till Telstra responded only to say that they couldn't come for another 10 days! WTF! The fact that this is standard practice in Australia is downright appalling. I know people who live in developing countries who got their broadband lines setup in half the time.

Telstra, thank you for screwing over the Australian public and leaving the country's telecom infrastructure in a very sad state. 

Overland from Chiang Rai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos

Getting a ride from Chiang Rai to the border is very easy. The are many local buses that depart from the bus terminal in the centre of town. The bus ride takes about 2hrs. At the border town Chiang Khong tuk tuks are waiting to take people to the border crossing for a fixed price of about 60 baht.

At the border it takes no time at all to get stamped out of Thailand so long as you have the proper documents and didn't overstay your visa. For about 30 baht per person you take a small motorised boat across the Mekong river to Laos. The ride only takes about 10 minutes. If you go to the Lao immigration on a weekend or after 4pm you'll be charged an additional fee of 1usd. At this borderyou can get a visa on arrival after filling out the immigration forms and paying the visa fee (30usd for most nationalities).

The Laos border town doesn't have much to offer other than the very highly rated Flight of the Gibbon eco-zipline experience. The weather wasn't good when we were there so we skipped on it. Most people take the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, we took the overnight bus. It left from the bus park at about 5pm and took about 15hrs to get to Luang Prabang. The roads in Laos are in pretty bad shape and wind up and over mountain passes. It's almost impossible to driver faster than 50kph due to all the twists and hairpin turns.

There's a common scam at the the border where people say the boat isn't running and you end up spending night after night at the border. Don't be fooled!

The Hong Kong Sevens

The Hong Kong Sevens is the biggest sporting event of the year in Hong Kong. It draws visitors from all over the world into town for big weekend of rugby and partying. The official main event is the special 7 person rugby format, featuring teams from all over the world competing in matches consisting of 7 minute halves and culminating in the final on Sunday evening. The unofficial main is the rampant partying in the stadium and in various parts of the city. While the matches are taking place the place to be is in the south stand in Hong Kong Stadium. Beer jugs aren't allowed in this section but you can purchase 1 litre cups of beer for HK$100. The south stand fills up quickly and is definitely where to go if you want to party and wear a costume. Oh, and occasionally watch some rugby too, the view of the pitch is quite nice from the upper reaches of the south stand.

Lan Kwai Fong

After the day's matches are over everyone grabs some food somewhere between the stadium and Lan Kwai Fong. LKF is usually very busy on weekends but on the weekend of the Sevens you can barely walk through the packed street. It's a massive street party and everyone is on the piss!

Tickets for the Sevens can be bought in advance or on the way to the stadium on match day. There are loads of scalpers right outside the MTR station at Causeway Bay. One would think the scalpers would be a bunch of old Chinese guys but surprisingly they're all Caucasian. The face value is about HK$400, seating is not reserved. Costumes and strong livers recommended. 

View from the KL Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The best views in Kuala Lumpur are from the KL Tower, which itself sits on top of a hill in a forest preserve right in the middle of the city. It's at least 100m higher than the view from the Petronas Twin Towers' Skybridge and you don't need to queue very long to get to the top.