Measure of All Things

Optimising your Airline Seat - by a TRAVELER

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:22:00 +0000

Having just read ANOTHER post expounding "insider knowledge" on how to get the best airline seats that did not teach me anything I have decided to share my own actual traveler experience on how to increase your odds to get an optimal seat. No, it won't guarantee a good seat and will not help you if the airplane is packed to the gills, but with a little bit of planning it may work. It can be summarised into two main points: 1) Understand your airlines seating model; and 2) Play the seating game once online check-in opens. As this is from my own experience and preferences which excludes bulk-head seats I am not going to address them in this post, except that the earlier you book your seat the better.

Understand the Airline's Seating Model

Or, work out how the Airline automatically assigns seats to people who do not request one. All airlines fill up economy from the front of the plane. The difference is whether or not they allocate the middle seats before moving to the next row, but what it means to the traveler is that the odds are that you're going to get better seating options towards the rear of the plane. I benefited from this on a flight from Islamabad to Bangkok (there were others, but I can't recall the specifics.) Economy was in 2 cabins, fore and aft. My friend and I selected seats in the aft cabin where on the red-eye flight we had 4 seats each to stretch out and get a good nap. I later found the other members of my party packed like sardines in a completely full front cabin.

Also be aware of other things when initially choosing your seat. Such as:

a certain airline that has it's AV system boxes under the aisle seats which can significantly reduce legroom;
seats with a solid wall behind them may not recline back fully; and
bulkhead and emergency seats may not have removable arm-rests.

Play the Seating Game

This game requires you to initially book the best seat for you, aisle or window, that is towards the rear of the cabin.

It works on the principles of no-one wants a middle seat; and the airline automated seat allocation program.

If you are traveling with another person, book the aisle AND the window seat - and not the middle one. This will significantly address the odds of the spare seat between you remaining unoccupied. If there is someone sitting in the middle seat and you want to give them the window seat to sit next to your partner... I cannot see them objecting to it!
If you are traveling solo, start by booking a seat in an all clear bank of seats - either 3 or 4 seats. Else look for a 3 seat configuration where the aisle/window seat has been reserved and then book the window/aisle seat respectively depending on your preference. In a 4-seat configuration look for places where the aisle seat on the other aisle has been booked. Don't stress too much if you can't find a seat at booking. The pattern will emerge...

Start checking if your seat is still optimal or should you change?

About 12-24 hours after online check-in opens go to online check-in and check how the plane is filling up ... Decide whether or not your seat is still optimal, which for me is a window seat with at least one seat next to me open. Now, here's the key: DON'T COMPLETE CHECK IN OR PRINT YOUR BOARDING PASS. By doing so you "lock in" your seat and it cannot be changed.
Repeat the above step about 12 hours later. By this time the plane is pretty full and you should be in your final step. DON'T COMPLETE THE CHECK IN PROCESS!
About 3 or 4 hours before your flight do a final check to see that your seat is still the best one available. If you want to complete the check in process; or do so at the airport ... your seat is your seat.

No-frills Airlines and Seat Reservation Fees

Unless I am booking a premium seat I refuse to pay a fee to reserve my seat as I can do this via the online check-in process for free! A couple of airlines have gotten wise to this loophole and will give you an allocated seat with a paid option to change. In this case, if you're allocated a non-optimal seat - exit the check-in process and start again in 10/so minutes when you will be allocated a new seat as other passengers have checked in. You will also be able to pick up on the automated seat allocation process used by the airline by repeating the check-in process a couple of times.

I hope that you have found this useful and relevant. I have spent way too many hours in the sky, both in the pursuit of work and pleasure, and I use this myself. If you have any useful tips, please leave them in the comments section and I'll include them at the foot of this post.

Stories from My First Offshore Race - Vasco 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 20:00:00 +0000

Animated Race Tracker from YB.TL

The 2015 edition of the Vasco da Gama race ran 400 nautical miles (741kms for the landlubbers reading) along the east coast of South Africa from Durban to Port Elizabeth along a piece of coastline known as the wild coast. It doesn't have that name just because it is sparsely populated, but because of its weather and the rough coast-line. It was along this coast that the Oceanos sank in August 1991 which I remember as we were just 100kms north at a holiday resort that day. But this was April ... it wouldn't be that bad ... it couldn't ...

Rocket at the start

I did the race on Rocket, a Simonis 54. She was the 2nd biggest boat in the fleet and I knew that we had a good chance of staying dry onboard. I was also very confident in our crew - of which I was the least experienced. The owner / skipper has completed every Vasco race he started (16 if I remember correctly); along with 3 members of another yacht who started sailing on Rocket after Rocket took out their yacht's mast. The navigator had done a Cape To Rio and a circumnavigation of Africa among other trips. I'd be in good hands. But we were short-handed and Anton arrived shortly before the start with 4kgs of popcorn, his boardshorts, flip flops and a jacket to help, leaving his kid behind with his sister-in-law for the 3 days we were to be away.

The start was a beautiful sunny day and we were glad to see that there was more wind than what was forecast. Our start wasn't that great and we were well behind the leaders when we rounded the buoy and set our course southwards but we quickly got into the groove of things and headed into the lead at 3:30pm (the start was at 12pm). We were flying along with the wind behind us with the big spinnaker (colourful bag sail in front) and although the wind was getting stronger and the waves a bit bigger we were looking forward to the race. Just before sunset we had our first mishap when a strong gust of wind and a wave resulted in the spinnaker tearing about a meter from the top. This was easily remedied as it was time to hoist the smaller spinnaker and we spent the rest of the race with the remnant flying from the top of the mast. Night came and it was time to drop the spinnaker, but we couldn't get it down. The halyard (rope from the top of the mast) was tangled up with the remnants of the torn-spinnaker and it was stuck fast with about 10m of the sail still flying. There was lots of shouting and screaming to get the spinnaker down and unfurl the genoa (big triangular sail in the front), but neither was happening. Eventually we lashed the spinnaker to the mast and untangled the genoa. At some point in the excitement I noticed that Brian was soaked and his lifevest had inflated. It turned out that while he was at the back of the boat a wave nearly washed him overboard, but for his lifejacket and being attached to the boat by a lifeline.

From Saturday night through to Monday afternoon we had big seas (20ft) coming from both directions, strong winds and rain. the wild coast was living up to her name. After this point my memories of what happened on the trip are somewhat confused and I can't remember the exact sequence because when I wasn't helping do something specific I was generally lying down below as this was the best way for me to cope with the rough seas. I ended the trip with a bruised rib, but I cannot remember actually hurting myself and other than that had fewer bruises than I usually do on a race.

Sometime on Sunday evening (after dark) it was decided to put a reef in the mainsail as the wind was getting stronger. At this point the ever so sensitive steering decided it was a good time to break - so only one of the helms (steering wheels) was working and Herbie was in the back fixing it. As Anton rushed forward to the mast to help Simon and Franco with the reef Simon yelled at him to clip his lifeline onto the boat. I was waiting in the cockpit to lower the main and looked back at Herbie who looked at the guy on the helm and told him to watch the jibe, at which point the mainsail came swinging across the deck with the sheets (ropes) whipping through as well. Fortunately the boom is very high, but I instinctively ducked as it came past. My first thought was to look forward to the mast and I breathed a sigh of relief when I counted 3 heads (still attached to their bodies) up front. Simon says that Franco got lifted off his feet and was going overboard when Anton (with an attached lifeline) grabbed Franco around the chest and held him. Neither Anton nor Franco remember much - it was that quick and everyone was unhurt. Looking backwards I saw that the mainsheet had taken off the compass and broken the helm. Fortunately it was the broken wheel, but we finished the race only being able to steer from one side of the boat.

Koeberg Koekies

Food had not been a priority during the trip and after Anton's first batch of popcorn on Saturday afternoon we subsisted mainly on coffee, chocolates and biscuits until Monday when I think we were fed again. For some reason the crew taking the boat to the race decided not to eat the bright green biscuits pictured above and the general feeling of unease and sickness among the crew on the race was put down to the consumption of the koeberg koekies (Koeberg is the South African nuclear power plant). There were none left when I inventoried the food at the end of the race, but I suspect that they were fed to the fishes rather than consumed aboard. By Monday night the wind had dropped and the sea was flat so that evening's meal of fried tuna, onion and mayonnaise with potatoes went down like a special treat.

Would we do it again? "NEVER"

It's taken me a while to process all that went on in the race while also waiting impatiently for the rib to heal. There were some awesome moments - the phosphorescence behind the boat on the first night; a clear view of the milky way when the clouds parted during the storms or in the calm waters as we gently made our way into Port Elizabeth on Monday night. (The finish time was 11:30am Tues). The joy of passing Ray of Light; the downs of equipment failure and feeling ill and ill-equipped to do the task; the joy of thinking that the bad weather would be good for us (at least half the fleet didn't finish the race); and more equipment breakages. But overall it was a good experience. It didn't put me off ocean racing, but this time I'll have a whole lot more experience and know what I'm up against.

See you there in 2016!

Taking My "Toy" Off-Road

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 19:00:00 +0000

One of the benefits (or drawbacks) of living in South Africa is that having a car is a necessity. The lack of a vast public transport infrastructure means that for most people the daily commute cannot be avoided, but during the weekends having your own vehicle allows you to go out and explore the countryside. My chosen form of transport is the Suzuki Jimny. Its a small little car - only 2 doors and a 1.3l engine - but it packs a great deal of adventure into its size. My sister refers to it as "the Noddy car" and a 10 year old nephew is convinced that if he pushes it hard enough it'll roll over (which it will, but I'm not telling him that). Oh - and did I mention that it has 4x4 capabilities?
That it does and I was very keen to go out and test my driving ability with the McCarthy 4x4 Club in Cape Town.

The location was the Damon 4x4 Route around 200kms inland from Cape Town near Worcester. It had been raining and snowing on the mountains during the week, but it was bright and the sun was starting to emerge over the mountains and we were looking forward to a magnificent day.

Our first stop was the old Cape Dutch-style farmhouse where we let the air out of our tires (to increase traction) and picked up a good supply of wood for the fire to cook our lunch. We were also divided into 2 groups as there were 16 vehicles. As a complete novice I was just behind the leader in the first group. This was great in that I wasn't kept waiting, but it also meant that everything I did got seen by the column behind me. I didn't realise this until I was asked by the leader of the second group what happened that I was going down the hill backwards. I hadn't chosen the right line around the turn and could only reverse and try again.

We had plenty of opportunities to stop and admire the view

and the last remnants of the snow were just visible

My brief introduction to 4x4'ing came back to me and I was feeling a little more confident about handling my car until we reached the top of the downhill. The leader gave us all instructions - "Just keep the car in 1st gear and pump the brake. Remember to pump the brake." It was fine. I just went slowly. You can join me on the journey in the video below.

At the bottom was a Lapa (small hut / basic cottage) where we had a fire and braai'd some meat for lunch.

And after that it was a quick 10 minute drive (slowly, because of our deflated tires) to the farmhouse. There I got busy re-inflating my tires (with help) and found out that there are a couple more "toys" that need to go on the Christmas present list (my birthday had just passed) to make me a fully-fledged 4x4'er.

The route is named after Damon, a poacher, who roamed the area during the early 1900's. The Legend of Damon by Ben Mitchell can be found here (retyped as the photocopied version I have is barely legible).

My friends from www.awesomemoon.com joined me on this adventure and the picture of the farmhouse and the braai were taken by them.

Open Design Cape Town

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 11:30:00 +0000

Today is the first day of Open Design Cape Town at the City Hall. I'm working with Make Games SA at their stand which has a number of games from South African game designers available for you to play. Here are some images from the set up. Come by for a visit if you are in Cape Town. It is running until 23 August and there is free parking at Grand Parade for those attending.

7 May 2014 - The Rainbow Nation Votes

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 09 May 2014 16:23:00 +0000

On Wednesday (7 May) I made my mark in South Africa's general elections - 20 years after the first democratic elections in 1994. 2014 was not the first time I'd voted, but it was the first time I'd experienced the amazing togetherness of the Rainbow Nation that is our legacy. There are times when this amazing country of ours puts aside its history, past and violence and comes together as the great country that we are: the elections in 1994; the winning of the rugby world cup in 1995. After that it seemed that some of the magic had been lost but the country came together for the 2010 Soccer World Cup (which I watched with longing from abroad.) This week I had my chance to participate and saw that even after his death Madiba’s magic is still there.

In 1994 I was just 18 and I voted for the first time along with millions of other South Africans, but my family decided to stay away from the queues and we voted in a quiet rural area followed by a picnic at a river. In 1998 I'd moved to Cape Town and we were required to vote at specified polling stations. Once again I thought I was lucky in that there was never a queue at my voting station, but this year I changed my mind. I was woken early on Wednesday morning by the sound of voices outside and when I looked the queue for the polling station stretched up past the end of the road. A little bit later I went in search of coffee and saw that despite the long queues – it was around a 2 ½ hour wait to vote – people were standing patiently, talking to strangers, taking turns warming themselves in the sun on the other side of the road. This was the first election that the “born frees” were able to vote in – those people born after 1994 – and some of them made a real effort – dressing up as if they were going to support South Africa at a sporting event. Others were dressed in traditional dress. It was these people who reminded me what it means to be able to vote. It is a privilege that we live in a country where we are able to make a change. Where leaders are able to be held accountable for their actions and cannot act with impunity. I cannot wait for the next election. Rather than hope there isn’t a queue I am going to get out there and experience the Rainbow Nation coming together.

The end of the queue was in sight at around 2pm

Thank you Wimpy for my complimentary post election coffee - it was a lovely gesture

Divemaster Internship Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:47:00 +0000

Its been a while since my last post (and way more than a week). This is because there were a number of things that happened during that week that I have had to take time to process and to come to terms with. It is my policy to be honest on this blog, but at the same time I want it to be upbeat and positive for the reader and usually I subscribe to the the mantra that if I don't have anything nice to say, then I don't say it. In this case, however, I feel that I need to finish the story of my Divemaster Internship.

There were some high points during the week. I completed two of the DM requirements with very good results. I got 90% for my theory exam and I got 92 / 125 for my skills demonstration tests. One of the requirements of the PADI DM course is to be able to demonstrate all the skills from the open water course in such a way that students will be able to understand and replicate them. Since it has been 10 years since I practiced some of these skills and others I just did so that they worked, it took some practice for me to get them up to demonstration standard. The video above was taken the morning before I did my skills test and I found it very useful to be able to "see" what I was doing. Little things like remembering to keep my fingers when counting closer to my face and trying to look relaxed like it was "easy" and I wasn't concentrating like hell on what to do next or what I'd forgotten. The good news is that I managed to convince the instructor who assessed me and I passed :)

But the undercurrents that I'd felt in the previous weeks finally came to the surface. There were 2 members of the instruction staff that I'd had difficulties working with and in 2 events that week things came to a head. The first was the last of my physical test skills - the tired diver tow. I knew that I had not done well in the previous tests and needed to do well in this in order to complete my DM. Unfortunately I didn't. I was upset at not having achieved a fast enough time, but the final straw was the instructor who turned around to me and said something to the effect of "you really need to decide whether or not you want this and if I were you I'd get out there and start swimming now". That was the final straw for me (I hadn't passed any of the tests above at that point) and I broke down. I'd really had enough of feeling like being treated (by this particular instructor) as a complete idiot and not getting my questions about how to do things answered in a civil manner. At that point I seriously considered packing up my bags and going home. Fortunately I was able to discuss this with one of the owners who was completely unaware of this. His response confused me. He said I was a customer (which I was) and I shouldn't be so unhappy. It then felt like rather than ensuring I was capable and competent in doing tasks management were trying to get me through the course and out of there as quickly as possible. It was not a pleasant experience.
I can only say a BIG THANK you to the Island staff for looking after me and out for me. With out you it would've been unbearable.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about what happened and what I could've done differently, but all relationships have 2 sides and it wasn't only me. I was seriously unhappy at the quality of the mentoring (which is what the DM course is supposed to be rather than skill teaching). The instructors weren't interested in what I did for a living or that I had 15 years experience in Risk Management. In their eyes that counted for 0 - even in the risk management section. I would gladly recommend them for straight skills training - like Open Water or Technical Diving. They are very good at making sure you can do the steps in the right order. DM training, however, contains a large number of softer skills which they were unable to explain or demonstrate adequately to me.

A Wedding in Enugu, Nigeria

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 19:05:00 +0000

I am currently in Nigeria, working in Enugu, the state capital of Enugu state – or the coal state – around 200kms north of Port Harcourt and was pleasantly surprised on Saturday around midday to find that there was a wedding celebration going on at the hotel I am staying at. On a previous visit to Nigeria I’d arrived at my hotel to find it full of people- notably the women – brightly bedecked in the beautiful dresses and headdresses that make up their formal dress, but I was too embarrassed then to go and ask if I could take pictures. Today, however I did and want to share the pictures with you and a little bit of Nigerian culture in the process.

Thank you very much to Oge and Frank for allowing me to share a part of your special day and I wish you all the best for your future.

For those who want copies of the pictures please click here and then you can download the pictures from the album - use "right click and save as"

Divemaster Internship Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:03:00 +0000

Evolution Divers as part of the Search and Recovery effort

picture from The Philippine Star

The BIG news on my 3rd week on the island was a plane carrying Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo that crashed into the sea just short of the runway for Masbate City airport (about 150kms north of Malapascua) on Friday afternoon and on Monday morning the Evolution Dive Team were helicoptered along with all their gear to assist in looking for the wreckage of the plane and hopefully survivors. Unfortunately the body of the plane was found with the 3 missing persons (Jessee Robredo and pilot and co-pilot) on the 2nd day at a depth of 65m. The shop was really quiet at this point and because my instructor was involved in the search and recovery operation I went on a couple of dives with clients, but for a while I had a pretty open schedule.

One of the highlights of the trip has been the people who've come to dive with Evolution. A large proportion are people who teach in either Korea or Japan and are traveling in the region, there have been a couple of people who have come through from Singapore and Hong Kong for a long weekend and some Europeans and American's on holiday. Since we all have diving in common, conversation around the bar is not a problem and there is a great deal of sharing of people's dive experiences. "The Attack of the Puffer Fish" definitely stands out as the weirdest story I've heard and amazingly enough they got it all on video (The fish went for the dive guide first and then the client.)

Evolution Divers has a great policy of encouraging all their staff to become certified divers. In addition to the obvious benefit of giving the staff an opportunity to understand / share in the experience of the clients that come to the shop, the staff sometimes also play the role of "clients" for DM trainee's and I privileged to observe Evon (centre above) as she did a scuba review and then take her for a local dive around Bantigue. Jo Jo (on the left) is a dive guide and Elgin (right) joined us for a dive on a quiet day in the shop.

Towards the end of the week my formal training recommenced where I re-did my search and recovery segment and a scenario dive. I'm finding it quite difficult to assert myself over the group of divers as I tend generally to try and lead by building consensus, but in order to be a DM I'm going to have to learn to be more assertive and take control.

Divemaster Internship Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:41:00 +0000

Wow - it was busy, and then quiet and then busy again. I was very busy in assisting with an open water course with 4 people for the first few days. The first open water dive was quite an experience. We finished the confined water skills for the 4 open water students and a Discover Scuba Student (a single introductory dive for people who just want to see if diving is for them) and then headed off to deeper waters to take them on their first dive. So we had 5 students between the 2 of us. No sooner than the instructor would help one of the students start swimming underwater near the corals than another one (who'd previously been swimming quite comfortably underwater) would pop up to the surface (okay we were only at 3m) and then to make things even more fun 2 of the students got bored and decided to go off exploring on their own and I was banging my tank to try and get their attention to stay with the group. Fortunately the rest of the course went off pretty uneventfully.

Gato Island

On the last day of the course we'd decided that the last dive - OW4 - was going to start at 10am, so I walked into the shop a little later than usual (no 4am start fortunately!) when Matt came up to me and asked if I'd seen the changes on the board ... We had a day trip (2 dives) organised to Gato Island (about 45 mins north of Malapascua) and I was now going in 30 mins as one of the DM's was sick and the other was on leave. The kitchen staff were on the ball and asked me what I wanted for lunch - and then I looked at the sea. That sent me frantically running around looking for sea sick tablets as I knew I'd not survive the boat trip otherwise. The first dive at Gato was pretty uneventful and I took up the rear of the group. Fortunately our group consisted of the newbies and we finished after about 40 minutes and we got safely on the boat and waited for the 2nd group to emerge. While we were waiting in the lee of the island the sky got progressively darker and I watched as the rain came closer. At some point I wondered where the other group was and looked out to see that their red balloon (SMB) poking out of the sea - "good," I thought "they're coming up" but while they waited out their 3 minute stop the current took them away from the lee of the island and into the waves. It was pretty hairy watching the boat crash up and down while the divers were trying to get gear off and back on. We ducked back into the lee for lunch and waited for the storm to pass over, but decided against a 2nd dive on the island and made our way back to Malapascua where I was told that I would be guiding the dive on Deep Slope with Dave, an instructor bringing up the rear. Well, talk about having to be prepared for just about anything. This was a day where nothing went according to plan and it was all about adapting to the circumstances. The next morning I'd volunteered to accompany a fun diver to Monad Shoal to see thresher sharks at 5am (alongside the instructor who was running a deep adventure dive) and arrived to find that another 2 divers had signed up after I'd left the shop - more changes! But all went well, except that we didn't see any sharks (I've seen them on 4 of the 5 dives I've done in that location).

And then the dive shop got quiet. Slowly the clients were departing and we were down to 2 fun divers! Now I was able to start working on the requirements for my certification. Unfortunately it didn't get off to a good start :( with my scoring a 1 on the 400m swim and having difficulty performing the expanding square in the search and recovery exercise. As the dive shop was still empty (and the weather had calmed down) a 2 dive trip to Tapilon Wreck was planned (south west of the island). This was a scenario dive for me and I had 4 of the DM's acting like clients to see if I could manage them - it was quite an experience trying to look after 4 people who were deliberately doing stupid things to see if I could manage them. The wreck is a Japanese cargo ship that was sunk in 1944 and you can see some of the cargo lying scattered on the sea bed - including ammunition casings and what looks like a box of baked beans, but actually are grenades. At some point we heard a sharp explosion followed shortly by another and I wondered if this was part of the scenario, or if the grenades had gone off - but it was a local fisherman dynamite fishing in the vicinity. Too close for my comfort.

At the moment I'm finding the physical side of things - carrying tanks to and from the boat very tiring and trying and that is impacting my ability to focus on the other aspects of the course. The good news is that I'm getting stronger and am able to do more and more, although I'm still concerned about completing the physical stamina tests.

Divemaster Internship Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 09:28:00 +0000

I arrived on the island of Malapascua a week ago to start my Dive Master Internship with Evolution Divers I’ve had my Open Water certification since 2003 and have been diving pretty regularly since moving to Singapore in 2008 and have logged over 160 dives in the process and visited some of Asia’s most beautiful spots (with an infinite number left to travel to). I’d spoken to a number of fellow divers about where to progress to in my diving and had heard horror stories about DM courses where you are treated as a general dogsbody and put into the most extreme situations to find out how you react under pressure. Now as I like my diving to be as gentle and stress free as possible it has taken me a while to change my mindset to take on a professional certification where I am now responsible for the well being and enjoyment of others. On deciding to take the plunge I canvassed my friends to find a dive shop in a location with interesting diving that also had a strong commitment to safety and where I would be learning exactly how things should be done as well as getting a wide range of experience with customers from open water and discover diving courses to leading experienced divers on dives to explore the area and Evolution Divers seemed to fit the bill.

I arrived at the dive shop bright and early in the morning on seas that were slowly starting to calm down from the effects of typhoon Saola as it passed to the east of the Philippines where I met the owners Dave and Matt along with the rest of the staff. Shelagh, a staff DM, helped me find accommodation on the island and settle in after breakfast. My first order of business was to complete my Emergency First Response course which I did the following day, learning how to provide CPR and going through a number of emergency simulations. I also had the opportunity to go for my first dive. It was a gentle dive on the local “house reef” where I spotted a pair of sea mice walking along the sea bed in addition to a number of pebble crabs and sea horses. Nothing too taxing to start!

Sea Moth

The next day the work started. As much as I am going to be working with all the instructors at Evolution (Dave, Matt and Jamie), Dave is my main point of contact and we had a long discussion on the aims of the DM course, what it entailed, what I was expected to do and I was handed my bag of books that I would be using as references through the course (along with any other relevant material I can get my hands on) along with a couple of dive shop t-shirts emblazoned with DMT (Dive Master Trainee) so any other diving professional would know exactly who I was and where I belonged in the pecking order (at the bottom). We also went through the role of a DM/DMT in assisting the instructor during their various courses and things to be alert for. As there were currently few students in the shop Dave suggested that I “hit the books” and get as much of the knowledge reviews done as possible while they were quiet and I got to observe a Deep Dive Adventure briefing for a customer who was going to experience what Malapscua is famous for – Thresher Shark dive – the next morning at 5am. (Note to self – when next selecting a location to do dive training at, find out what time the first dive of the day usually is, because a 5am start means getting up at 4am to ensure that all the gear etc is on the boat). The next day an open water student arrived and I spent my time observing the instructor as she took the student through the briefings, knowledge reviews, confined and open water exercises. It has been 10 years since I did my Open Water, so it was a good chance to refresh the rusty memories of all my skills. I am now practising my skills because as part of my assessment I am going to be marked on my ability to demonstrate 24 of the open water and free diving skills.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet as I had to go back to Cebu to get the extension on my visa, but I arrived back at the shop late yesterday evening to find a number of advanced students and my diving timetable for the next week is going to be very full as we also have an open water class starting in a few days.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 05:12:00 +0000

Singaporean flags begining to make their appearance and F15's flying overhead ... you know its time to start preparing for National Day.

Unexpected Adventure to Lake Taal

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:54:00 +0000

"Just walk to the end of the road and there you can catch a bus. It should only take you 1/2 a day or so."

So duly armed with the directions above myself and another person I'd met at the hostel I set off on a journey from Manila to find and explore Lake Taal, a volcanic crater lake within a crater lake just south of Manila.

I was a little apprehensive about the brevity of the directions, but didn't get much more information on further enquiry and neither did my guidebook have any useful information on the topic. Perhaps it was just that easy - or not ... We hit our first snag at the end of the road - which bus, and going in which direction were we supposed to catch? We tried to ask some passersby, but they didn't seem to know where we wanted to go. What to do? Well, as the LRT (overhead rail transport line in Manila) was above us we decided to walk along it to find a station. Perhaps we'd find some-one there that could help us? Fortunately there was someone - and we got the directions written down ... LRT to Buendia, bus to Santa Rosa, jeepney to Tagatay and then I thought we'd be okay to make our way to Talisay. It seemed easy enough, except that Buendia bus station and LRT station are 2 different places, but fortunately we found this out only one stop past the bus station and it was easy enough to double back. At the bus station we had no problem getting a bus and the driver dropped us off at the jeepney station in Santa Rosa. So far so good :) My apprehensions about the journey were dissipating and I was beginning to relax a little. The jeepney ride was slow as well as the bench hard and after about an hour we arrived at Tagatay where we had the choice of paying a tricycle or waiting for the jeepney to fill up. The tricycle drivers however were not willing to bargain - the price was pretty much set - so we decided to grab some food and wait for the jeepney to leave. Unfortunately it went without us :( so in the end we gave in, paid the asking price, and took a tricycle down the sheer cliff sides that were once upon a time the inner wall of the crater. It was now 2pm and it had taken us a lot longer to get there than I'd been led to expect so was a little concerned about time as I didn't want to travel back after dark.

Finally we arrived at Talisay and were dropped off at a hotel where we had to negotiate our boat ride across the lake to the inner volcanic island (my best tip for negotiation ... always be prepared to walk away empty handed). So a choppy boat ride later we arrived on the island where we made our way on foot to the top of the rim of the inner volcano. We were able to hire some scraggly looking horses, but decided to walk. We explored the crater rim for a little while and then made our way back to the boat and a very choppy ride back to the shore. Back on the shore we decided to take a walk and explore as well as looking for the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology which we duly found and spent an interesting half hour or so perusing the displays. Shortly after that as we were walking back to Talisay a woman ran out into the street and invited us into her house for some food, which we did.

View Lake Taal Adventure in a larger map

Our return trip turned out to far simpler than the trip out. We caught a jeepney in Talisay that took us to Tanauan City where we were dropped off exactly where the bus to Manila picked us up. I returned to Manila elated at an unexpected adventure that involved 6 different modes of transport (and that excludes the horses), meeting local Fillipino's and sharing food with them, all shared with a new friend met on the road.

A Reader Freebie :)

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:13:00 +0000

30 May 2012 was a momentous event in the life of A Measure of All Things ... I attended my first ever media briefing and have my first ever reader freebie's to share with my readers from Singapore!

Foodpanda is a new restaurant delivery service that has recently launched in Singapore that currently has more than 130 restaurants (and still growing) on its books and is accessible through various online platforms or via phone. They have a 60 minute delivery promise for orders in the Singapore CBD and up until the end of June 2012 they are offering the first 50 readers who sign up a Free Delivery voucher (unfortunately only for those people based in Singapore). You can visit their webpage or Facebook page or follow them on twitter for more information and specials. So click here for your free delivery code and try out this new service.

Diving in Similans Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:48:00 +0000

In early March I spent 5 days on a live-aboard trip to the Similan Islands off the west coast of Thailand. I'm not sure how I feel about the trip ...

I had just recently joined the ranks of the unemployed and was faced with a great deal of uncertainty with regards to my future, but as I usually find dive trips very relaxing I thought that joining some friends on this trip would be a great way to give me space to wait out and see what the universe had waiting for me. But I found the trip disappointing.
The weather didn't play ball and it was uncharacteristically wet and stormy for most of the 5 days, impacting our comfort on board the boat and the visibility and general diving conditions. As the trip progressed I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of "interesting" sea life and the seeming inability of the guides to find it and when it was found you were in a queue with everyone on your boat along with divers from 3 or 4 other boats that were in the area to look at stuff, which frustrated me even more as I am still learning how to take pictures underwater and need time to sort out the settings and compose myself (and the picture) before rushing on.

One of the questions I constantly asked myself during the trip was whether or not my expectations were realistic and if it was not my emotional state and the weather conditions (neither of which were the fault of the operator) that were causing me to feel disappointed or was it really just that the Similan's just were not a great dive location. I don't think that I'm a fussy diver - expecting the world from all locations. In fact, some of my favourite spots are scorned by others as "being too difficult to find stuff" and "too boring" as I'm happy to just poke about under every rock to see what I can find, but in a new location it is useful when the guide helps to show you the "resident" sea-life (a great deal of the macro - small - sea-life doesn't move far and you'll find them in the same neighbourhood dive after dive after dive) so you can cover more ground during the dive rather than constantly hunting. The Similian's are also known for seeing the big-stuff - manta's and whale sharks, but I consider seeing those creatures a special treat and am content to hunt around for the small stuff (and I will admit it's because they're easier to photograph as they don't move as quickly as fish!).

Manta in the distance with divers waiting around at Manta Point

I felt more justified in my "poor guide" assessment at Manta Point on the 3rd day. I was one of the first people to descend and arrive at Manta Point where we waited for the mantas to pass by. Fairly shortly thereafter a manta came into view and I got the opportunity to watch as it effortlessly glided through the waters, albeit at a distance before it turned and went back out into the blue. We waited a while and then we started to make our way back to the boat when I heard someone banging their tank furiously. I turned in the direction of the sound and there it was effortlessly slicing through the water. It was an amazing experience, but despite having spent 5 or so minutes with this gentle creature and all the noise the divers had made to attract the attention of others - one group on our boat didn't see it. They said the guide "was doing something else". We went back down for a second dive an hour or so later, but although we caught another glimpse of the gentle creature - it was nowhere near as close or intense as on the previous dive.

Manta and Jack*

But the trip did have its highlights - unexpected, which probably made them more special. After the disappointment at Manta point we made for Koh Tachai Pinnacle where we heard there'd been a whale shark 2 days earlier. I wasn't expecting anything and it was very dark so taking pictures was not easy. So I was just swimming along when I heard a scream - yes, sound does carry through water - and I looked up and there it was a manta. I picked up my camera and just shot as many pictures of it as I could. After a while it disappeared and we started ascending when it came around again. Click, click and click until our air was running low and we had to surface. Later, when we were back on the boat I looked at the timestamps on the pictures we had spent 8 minutes with the manta, but it seemed way longer than that.

I was still on a high from our amazing encounter with the manta the next day when we descended for the 2nd last dive of our trip at Boonsong Wreck. The visibility was poor and I looking forward to a relaxing dive, just enjoying the sensation of floating and the heady rush of breathing O₂under pressure when after the sighting of a beautiful blackspotted moray the guide (same one who missed the manta's above) started swimming away from the wreck and beckoned for me to follow and there, a short distance away was a feeding frenzy. A needlefish had died and fallen to the ground and the other fish were taking full advantage of this sudden windfall. When we came down about 2 hours later for our second dive there was no sight of the fallen fish.

Reef Octopus "sunning itself" as we swam by

One of the amazing things that I noticed about the diving was how the fish life just ignored you. There were heaps of parrot fishes and I even had the opportunity of swimming past one at a cleaning station. Usually the sound of bubbles and the sight of a "big black" unknown thing is enough to make all the fish dash for cover, but it ignored me completely and I watched in amazement as the cleaner wrass ducked back into its gill as if I wasn't there. In hindsight, I did get some good pictures, although in my mind nowhere near as good as those that I took in Bali or Lombok.

* Picture taken by myself with post processing by Doug Kofsky

Climbing Gunung Panti

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:31:00 +0000

This is my first attempt at a video blog as I felt that the pictures would tell a better story of my climb of Gunung Panti in Johor, Malaysia than a whole bunch of text from me.

Thank you to Katherine Goh for organising the trip and Calvin Cheng for the kind use of some of his pictures.

Scattered Diamonds

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Photo: Cн¡aяa D. ƒσtσgraf¡e's

As a scattered diamond sparkles in the sand

So do you my dear, such a rare find

In a recent conversation I was reminded of this poem that was written by someone who I went to university with. Sadly I don't remember the name of the poet, but the simple beauty of the poem has speaks for itself. Happy Valentines Day.

Getting My Shoe Mended

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:52:00 +0000

While rushing to appointments one morning my shoe decided to come apart. I managed to tape it back together, but was relieved to stumble across this shoe repairman as I came out of Somerset MRT on Orchard road. After 15mins my shoe was glued back together and still is....

Traditional Japanese Art With a Twist

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:52:00 +0000

Over the weekend I stumbled across this amazing artist ... Kim Yong Soo creates what looks at first glance like traditional Japanese art, but on closer inspection the images are created with electronic components. All is not what it seems.

Product Review: Solar Powered USB Charger

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:16:00 +0000

I've mentioned in a previous post about the concerns I'd had around keeping myself occupied on my trip to Pakistan. Usually I take my iPod (no, I don't own an iPhone!) when I go travelling as it compact and contains music, games, videos and spoken books which can keep me occupied for hours. It seemed like the ideal thing to bring, but there was one teeny tiny little catch - we didn't have access to electricity for 17 days of the trek and once the battery went flat it would be dead weight. It seemed like the most logical and weight efficient option, but for that small catch of what to do once the battery had run out!

I'd seen solar powered chargers before, but apart from a really expensive iPhone only charger I wasn't able to find anything thing suitable in Singapore. Fortunately I found one on Amazon for US$30 and arranged to get it sent to me in Singapore. The reviews for the product on Amazon were not particularly complimentary, but for the price I reckoned that all it had to do was to work for the trek and I'd be happy. Well, the good news is that I'm happy. Actually, no, that's an understatement, I'm ecstatic about the charger as it completely exceeded my expectations. When it arrived I noted that it had a tiny LED attached (had I read the full product description I might actually have noticed this) and I found it really useful to use, rather than waste the batteries of my torch, when fussing around the tent at night. It is about the size of an iPhone and slightly larger than my iPod and doesn't weigh much at all. The unit can be charged either via a USB cable or the sun so it functions as a very useful "spare battery" and has a USB-out connection that allows any device to be charged this way, rather than just limited to an iPhone or iPod. The battery holds enough charge to charge 2 iPhones completely. It is possible to both use the charger and charge the battery at the same time. Towards the end of the trip I had a bit of a "melt down" and listened to music for the better part of 2 days to try and calm myself down (it worked). I would not have been able to do this without the charger which was attached to my backpack to absorb the sun whilst simultaneously charging up my iPod! The one thing I realised from this event is that I need some new music. The last time I put new music on my iPod was in 2008!

Me holding the charger in my hand

My only suggestion for improvement is that the windscreen suction cups are great if you have a vehicle in which to mount it, but I had to fashion a way to attach it to my backpack or to hang it from the tent from cable ties.

As far as I am aware, it is not possible to charge cameras or larger sized batteries (can someone please design an electric toothbrush with a USB charger), but the photographer on our trip brought a solar panel capable of charging camera batteries. Doug's focus on getting every last drop of energy from the sun became a standing joke of the trip (especially as the 1st week was overcast and cloudy). It got so bad that at Broad Peak Base Camp a very ill Doug delayed his departure back to camp because the batteries were charging!

Sunday means Ultimate Frisbee

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:02:00 +0000

Nearly every weekend we get together (usually at the Botanic Gardens) for a game of Ultimate Frisbee, followed by dinner at a local food court. Its a great way to end the weekend. If you want to join, you can find the Facebook group here.

Product Review: Monopoly Deal Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I, and I'm assuming most of you, have great memories of playing Monopoly. Hours of strategy, highs when you win, disappointments when you lose and for some people winning was all that mattered - no matter what it took to achieve this goal. So I was very excited when I stumbled across a set of Monopoly Deal Cards at the checkout of my local supermarket before I departed on my trip to Pakistan. I had been very concerned as to how I was going to keep myself occupied during the trek (limited weight and no electricity for 3 weeks) and this seemed like a great idea.

The essential elements (owning property, charging / paying rent, having cash, chance & community chest cards - called Action cards) of the board game have been replicated in the card version, but there are some differences. In my mind the biggest of these were the no jail and no banker. And yes, the Houses and Hotels haven't been forgotten! The goal of the game is slightly different too as the winner is the first person who collects 3 sets of properties irrespective of how much money the others have.

Playing the game is actually really easy. We started playing with the quick start cards as I'd left the (unread) instructions behind, but with a little knowledge of the board game and some discussion amongst the players we managed to work out the rules. The recommended number of players is 3 - 5, but usually there were around 7 of us playing. Later on we played with 3 or 4 players and I found the game extremely tame in comparison to the larger number. The reason for this is the Action cards. Each player gets the opportunity to do "3 plays" during their turn. This could consist of putting property cards on the table (any cards in your hand are not playable at any other time, but you can only hold up to 7 cards in your hand) or playing an Action card. The "Its My Birthday Card" is a great way to get cash - all other players give you $2m (no change is given) and with 3 of these cards in the deck it is possible to have to pay over $6m before its your turn again! This is addition to the "Deal Breaker" (allows the holder to steal an entire property set from another player), "Debt Collector" (collect $5m from one player), "Forced Deal" (steal one property) cards and of course the Collect Rent card. All of this means that your fortunes can take a serious reversal in the course of a turn with a large number of players. Fortunately there is the "Just Say No" card that allows you to negate the card that has been played against you. The game can take 30mins to over an hour depending on the number of players.

I was really chuffed with the game and it seemed a hit with my fellow trekkers because no sooner had we arrived at our camp than I would be asked for the cards! It is compact and lightweight (5.6oz) and way easier to store & transport than the board game so meeting up at a cafe / restaurant is perfectly doable. I'm definitely keeping this one although had I known about it I would also have purchased the Monopoly Deal Shuffle Shaker as a safe place to keep the cards (currently they are being held together with an elastic band).

The creators of the game, Hasbro, have created a cool flash player introduction to the game that you can view here.

Views from Singapore Flyer

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 07:51:00 +0000

Marina Bay and the CBD

Looking North over Kallang River

Dressing Appropriately (or Not) in Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:09:00 +0000

The slutwalk movement began in April 2011 when a Toronto police officer suggested that to remain safe "women should avoid dressing like sluts^1" and even as recently as 4 days ago an official in Jakarta said a similar thing². I have mixed feelings on this matter. On the one hand I agree that no woman "asks for it", but on the other I have wondered what some women were thinking based on how they were dressed. And when you add "what is culturally acceptable" into the mix what is appropriate to wear becomes a very subjective question.

As I walked down the streets of Chilas, a town on the KKH, my companion kept on remarking on how much attention I was attracting from the men (there were no women to be seen). I wasn't, by western standards anyway, showing much skin, just my arms and my head were uncovered and my shirt could be referred to as figure hugging, but in comparison to the attire worn by the local women it was extremely revealing. It brought to mind a question that I'd been pondering since as early as packing for the trip - how should I dress? I was well aware that Pakistan was a Muslim country and therefore I should dress conservatively, but how conservatively - okay, no strappy dresses, but are short sleeves okay? While I was trekking on the glacier I was fully covered - even camouflaged with the scenery (can you spot me in the landscape above?) - either as protection from the cold or the sun, but once we'd finished trekking, or during an impromptu game of frisbee and rocket ball (at the same time!) I was tired of being completely covered from head to toe and wondered if I could "show a little skin" without being disrespectful of the local culture and being thought of as a "slut"?

But as I also experienced, sometimes behaving in a way that is acceptable to the culture makes the people more open to your presence. One of the things that struck me on the trip was how little I saw of the women. All along the roads you could see the men, but unless we happened to pass by a field in which the women were working I rarely saw them. From Askole we took a short walk to the village of Hushe (made famous by Greg Mortensen in his book Three Cups of Tea) and visited the school there. As we arrived the boys of the village rushed out to meet us and show us, but the girls and women were nowhere to be seen. I had picked up a local woman's outfit in Skardu (Salwar kameez) and was wearing it along with my scarf. When I tried to approach the girls they ran, so I thought that covering my head may make me less threatening and proceeded to do so. In trying to forge a connection with the children I wandered off in the opposite direction hoping they'd be intrigued and come after me - which didn't work - and heard voices from within one of the buildings calling me. When I turned and looked there were some women waving at me from the window. I waved and smiled back and a while later they came out and I was allowed to take the picture above. I believe that my willingness to cover my hair and dress in local costume made them feel safe enough to reach out and make a connection. Unfortunately I didn't manage to win-over the little girls before we had to leave.

So how should one (a woman) dress when traveling in a way more conservative environment than one's home? I'm not sure what the answer is, but in my mind it is important to be true to myself, while still taking into account the sensibilities of the people around me. I'm not sure as a western woman that I could have avoided the comments (I'm assuming there were) and looks by dressing differently (short of wearing a chador and hiding myself completely) and have had to learn to ignore the looks and stares (sometimes leers) when I travel in parts of the world where the women are usually fully covered. I asked my companion whether he thought I was reinforcing the so-called stereotypical-western-slut image or showing that it is possible for a woman to be respectfully dressed, but not fully covered. His answer was the latter, but I don't know - and after some thought, don't really care as I feel I need to do what I feel comfortable with.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave your them in the comment section below.

Accident on Baltoro

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:38:00 +0000

How do you describe a trek through one of the more remote places on earth for 13 days; seeing the worlds 2nd highest mountain and 48 hours driving on a road that has been referred to as the 9th wonder of the world? Awesome, amazing, awe-inspiring, an experience? How would the description change if during the above experience 3 people died and another 2 were seriously injured?

This is the conversation that has been playing out in my mind since I returned after a 13 day trek up (and back) the Baltoro Glacier. I had signed up to do the K2 & Gondogoro La trek in Pakistan. It was billed as a strenuous hike and along with geo-political risks of travelling in Pakistan I knew that there were a number of risks (acute mountain sickness, stomach bugs, accidents) involved in the trip, but it wasn't the first time that I had ventured off the beaten track (although ensuring adequate insurance coverage was a non-negotiable).

Before

The accident occurred while we were enjoying a rest day at Urdukas Camp (4,130m) on the 6th day of trekking. Around 2:30pm we were playing cards in the mess tent while outside there was a light drizzle. There was a loud crack, followed by a second at which we rushed out of the tent. What we saw was surreal - a huge chunk of rock (the size of a truck) had broken off and made its way, seemingly in slow motion, down the slope. A number of the porters of the two expeditions that were camped at Urdukas had set up their camps beneath the rock and were sheltering there from the rain. We stood in shock as we watched the rock roll over and over down the hill, leaving in my mind an indelible memory the frightened faces of 3 people as they ran out from beneath it.

After and a memorial to the right

Very quickly the group jumped into action as the injured were brought to safety and the mess tent was converted into a make-shift hospital. We had a veterinarian, an ER nurse and a podiatrist in our group who took charge of caring for the injured, but the question remained - was everyone accounted for? Initially we heard that 4 porters were missing, but it was finally determined that 3 had died. Fortunately we were able to manage the injured, although 2 were assessed as serious and needed evacuation as soon as possible. Our tour leader got in touch with the head-office in Islamabad via satellite phone and through them a helicopter evacuation for the injured was arranged (the first time this had ever been done for porters). The bodies of the dead were also to be picked up by the helicopter and returned to their villages for burial, but first the helipad on the glacier had to be extended - the work that was done by the porters and members of our group.

MI-17 helicopter landing

The day after the accident dawned bright and clear - it was the first cloudless day since we started walking - and the conditions were perfect for the helicopter to come. We (westerners) expected it to arrive about an hour after sunrise, but various stories kept coming our way - the helicopter was coming from Islamabad (not Skardu - the nearest base); they were waiting for parts; another 2 hours - so we were taken a bit by surprise when around 11:30am we heard it coming up the valley. The extended helipad was big enough (just) for the MI-17 and the injured and the dead were taken aboard the helicopter and we returned back to the camp for lunch, after which we would know whether or we would continue with the trip as a number of other porters had indicated their desire to return to the villages to be with the families. A short while later we got the message - our trip was over - all the porters wanted to return home. We would start walking back that afternoon, but then we started talking among ourselves - what options do we have as this is a long way to have come and the difficulties in arranging to do this sort of trip again. How much of the gear that we had did we really need? Mess tent, the tables and chairs, the wide range of food, single tents for some? So we put our bags away and there was more negotiating with the porters. Fortunately after an impassioned speech by one of the guides some porters changed their minds and agreed to an additional 4 days which allowed us to walk to Concordia camp before returning. There was hope that once at Concordia they would agree to an additional day which would allow the group the opportunity to walk to K2 and Broad Peak base camps (which did happen), but along with the inclement weather that we'd experienced and spending an extra day at Urdukas it was extremely unlikely (although one member of the group wouldn't let this rest) that we would be able to go over the Gondogoro La and back via the Hushe Valley. Most people seemed happy with the compromise and we started walking the next day. The weather once again was cold and overcast and I was grateful for that one clear cloudless day that enabled the injured porters to be flown out the previous day.

Baltoro Glacier

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully and a couple of days later the weather cleared completely and we were able to see the mountains along the Baltoro in all their glory (although another member of our group took some amazingly emotive pictures with the clouds. You can check them out here). I didn't make it over the Gondogoro La, neither did I make it all the way to K2 Base Camp (these are in opposite directions from Concordia camp), but it was the journey, while eventful and tragic, that was the important part of trip for me, and one that I'll remember for a long time - both the good and the bad.

The good news is that when we arrived back in Askole about 10 days after the accident we met one of the injured porters who'd been evacuated and got news that the 2 seriously injured porters were still in hospital, but were okay.

So, to answer the question I posed above - how does the description of the experience change when there is a tragic accident? I still don't know the answer and that is after trying many variations on answering the question "how was your trip?". My first message home was "safely back after an eventful trip". I didn't want to raise unnecessary concerns before I had time to actually explain what happened, but "an amazing experience" just seemed wrong. How would you answer the question? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Following the accident everyone in the group contributed what they could - jackets, shoes, t-shirts and other items were distributed to those who lost their belongings in the rock fall as well as monetary donations for the families of those porters who died, and other people who heard about the accident have also made contributions. You can read the official trip report here.

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:50:00 +0000

It has been a while - I know. I've been travelling in Pakistan and Indonesia for the past 6 weeks and its taken a little while to get used to staying in the same place (and organising photo's and writing the posts - which is happening so watch this space...) In the meanwhile, please enjoy some pictures from the amazing views that we experienced on our trek up the Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan.

View of K2 at sunrise from Concordia

Shigar river looking towards its source - Baltoro Glacier

Avalanche across Goodwin Austen Glacier

Village child bringing in the harvest

Balti woman in traditional dress