Part human, part animal embryos

I have just been reading what seems like an ongoing saga in the UK news. Gordon Brown wants to pressure the government into voting for a bill to allow experimentation on part human, part animal embryos. This conjures up a lot of strange images, not entirely unlike that mouse with an ear on its back. Personally I'm in favour of it, because it has been described as 'militantly atheist' by various religious groups, and I find it amusing that such a phrase is considered a negative comment in this day and age. But seriously, what experiments, what animals and what benefits could come from it? And why is Gordon so keen to do it? Does he have a disease usually associated with llamas that only a human-llama hybrid embryo experiment can possibly cure? Or is it so that the disappearance of educated, employable people fed up with high cost of living and miserable weather in the UK is balanced out by an influx of people keen to crossbreed babies and meercats?

Running before you can walk

In China, about 2 years ago, I bought a trumpet. It's a pocket trumpet, in a lovely case, with a bag to keep it clean and grease for the thingies, you know, all the moving parts. It's really nice.

Today I learned that I can do circular breathing while playing the trumpet. This means I can, potentially, make an infinitely long single note on the trumpet, without running out of air to push through it, and without passing out.

However, I cannot make the trumpet make a nice noise, circular or not, no matter how I try. I can, though, make an infinitely long, horrible, discordant, cacophonous sound. I'll keep practising.

Welcome to my travel blog!

Hi there - this blog is an account of my travels from London to Singapore and Australia, and wherever else I go next.The photos in the posts are just the tip of the iceberg - check my Flickr account for more photos of pretty much everything (many of which, I'm obliged to mention, are taken by Elissa).

At this stage, my travels have largely ended, but there's plenty to read, and no doubt there'll be more and more stuff about not-travel appearing on here as and when I feel I have anything worth saying.

Happy reading!

Imprisoned in Singapore, by my own clumsiness

Today I had planned to go to Pulau Ubin and Changi Village. Despite being right by the airport they're two relatively undeveloped areas of Singapore, and I had pictured wooden fronted shops, low-rise buildings, and maybe even the occasional wooden shack. I had planned to bicycle round the island and wave at the locals, and then stop for tea before taking the ferry back from Pulau Ubin to Changi, and casually drifting back towards Michelle and Alec's flat. Essentially it would have been my first trip to South East Asia, because there's something about Singapore the city that doesn't really count. It's too safe. It's too clean. It's too air-conditioned. Pulau Ubin wasn't going to be like that, I thought. It would be a taste of what I could expect while touring the rest of the region.

But I lost my key. I discovered this after Michelle and Alec had both left for work. I cannot therefore leave the flat, as I'm unable to lock the door from the outside.

Instead, I made another discovery, realising I couldn't even go out to fetch food from the nearby food courts and hawker stalls. A first in my experience and possibly unique to Singapore, I received a McDelivery. Within half an hour of phoning and placing my order, a McSpicy Meal and a list of additional items I'm too embarrassed to append here arrived right at the door, for just $3 more than I would have paid at the restaurant. The McSpicy is one of McDonalds' local specialities, like the McOz in Australia (sadly now discontinued). And it's spicy. I'm still feeling it now, three hours later, but I kind of like that. The fries were like twigs when they got here, but other than that everything was just as you'd have it in the restaurant (you can judge for yourself how good or bad that is).

I'll go to Pulau Ubin next time.

Broken Social Scene and Bass Fiction

So last night at Esplanade, I went to see Broken Social Scene. They were a bit like The Doors in a way - they seemed to lock into an idea and then keep playing it for about 7 minutes, then pause and have another idea. There were some great ideas in there, but I realised I really like my ideas to come thick and fast. You know, like Bohemian Rhapsody or Paranoid Android. I need an idea every thirty seconds! Or a gig that's 14 times as long as normal. And a fast forward button!

Some of the talking in between songs was pretty unnecessary. "Singapore! You're doing ok!" (1) and "Some people don't come here because they think it's a scary place. It's not a scary place!"(2). It all seemed to smack of someone who thought he was playing somewhere where people would have to spend a year's wages on their ticket price. And he kept calling us Singapore, and casually dropping it into the 'conversation', like he was down the pub, stood at the bar with his old friend, a city-state of four million people, stood next to him with a pint in its hand. It's something only rock stars can get away with, and then it's a matter of personal taste. But other than that he seemed to be having fun with the crowd. Towards the end he ran up to the back of the auditorium and stood on the top of something, gesticulating wildly at the crowd to get them to cheer a bit more. And the horn section managed to learn a few things in between songs, and then come out and play them, which was entertainment enough. Despite the comments on Singapore, I'd probably catch their show at a festival over some random band I hadn't heard, and I'd recommend it to fans of The Doors, especially when you've snorted a pile of marijuana pills and injected a bunch of crack. Naturally that's not an option in Singapore.

Bass Fiction was one man playing with electrical devices and decks, and one man standing defiantly in front of, and sometimes among, an audience of about a hundred people. There was more bass than one can comfortably concieve in a room of that size, and more stage presence from that one man than from the half dozen in the previous show. I really liked the idea of it, and it's the most unusual event I've attended in Singapore. But it was loud and repetitive, and I was tired, so I only caught about half of it. I'm expecting Alec or Michelle to tell me how great the second half was when I see them this evening.

(1) Singapore's economy is growing faster than Canada (where BSS hail from) these days, and GDP is actually likely to be higher in Singapore than Canada in 2008, and may have been in 2007. Singapore has incredibly low crime, no problems with drugs and an efficient public transport system, excellent cheap food, a wide range of culture, arts and entertainments events and venues. It is hosting a formula one race this year, it's building a new sports stadium I think, and has a casino on the way - there's anything you'd expect from a city of its size and more. I don't know if that was what he meant, but if it wasn't, it still smacks of damning with faint praise, or ignorance at the least. I doubt he would have described Melbourne, Barcelona, Hamburg, Montreal or Houston as "doing ok".

(2) Singapore, as I already mentioned, has practically zero crime. The streets are safe, all over town, at all times of the day. It's only scary if you happen to forget the pot/pills/powder you packed into your suitcase last time your band went on tour, and it's not like they don't warn you what happens if you do.

So, in conclusion...

This year has been very exciting. I've climbed the Harbour Bridge, chased a bull, swum with a shark, bar-hopped in Melbourne (and Sydney, and Darwin, and Brisbane for that matter), visited more botanical gardens than in my entire life before last March, helped chase a near-deadly spider with a flip-flop, seen a surprising number of British bands for some reason, watched opera in arguably the world's most famous Opera House, played my first round of golf, designed my first fully functional database, strolled through rainforests, camped out in the desert at least 200 kilometres from the nearest town, eaten kangaroo and camel, barbecued a fish that I helped catch (well, that I watched someone catch). I've caught up with friends I haven't seen in years and made new friends I hope I'll keep in touch with for years to come.

It hasn't really sunk in that I'm going home yet. I think I'll probably make it onto the plane from Singapore to London before it does. And I've no idea where the next few months will lead me, in terms of living arrangements, work and so on. But I'm looking forward immensely to seeing friends and family, and to feeling normal. I hope when I see people for the first time in a year, they will have the kettle on.

That's not to say you can't open a bottle of wine later though.