Flat out like a lizard running...

To my lovely friends,

I have been slack and extremely busy and haven't kept the whole blog-thing as updated as I should've. I'm sorry! Forgive me? I hope you will!

The month of June has been NUTS! Birthdays almost EVERYDAY, Internet access being down because the Satellite was broken/down/broken, and having many special friends staying onboard [Cara - till 14th June, then Jessie, Emma and Michele from 13th-27th, then Liza and Mieke from the 20th-ish till the 4th] while doing many things i've never done before and having a blast in a city I was sure would scare my head off!

So - for those who get my newsletters, I am aiming to shoot one off any day now. But don't hold your breath [you might pass out].

But i'm still alive! And in 6 days we sail to Cambodia! Oh my goodness!

Pray for us! For the 5.5 day voyage [where i'll be working in the Engine Room - no injuries I hope!] and that we'll arrive safely in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

Love you and love your stuff! Leave some comments - I like comments! :D

The 11th day of June.. one not to be forgotten

I woke up on this day and had to be amazed. Why? It wasn't just because another day had begun, or that the birds were possibly chirping out side - only we can't hear them inside the ship. No. It was because I realised I live on a ship, I'm in Hong Kong and - its my birthday [well it was on the 11th anyway].

Then the excitement began. I would have to face the Mob [the Mob is the crazy Douloids I live with who - on someones birthday - make alot of noise]. I had barely stepped into the Dining Room when a roar of banging began [and when I say roar I am not exaggerating] as Douloids who were present in the Dining room began banging the tables before beginning to sing the Doulos "Happy Birthday"... it is like your usual birthday song, only with alot of "Woo!"'s involved. And everyone looks at you. And its just embarrassing.

So I smiled and thanked them and preceeded to get breakfast when I was 'presented' with a McDonalds bag [egg and bacon burger] from one of our STEPers [short termers onboard], and then after sitting for not even 2 minutes, was then presented with a plate full of French Toast from another STEPer. And then mobbed by others with hugs. Oh my LIFE!!!

Its actually quite hard to have a birthday onboard a ship with 300+ crew. Lots of people want to hug you and have a short chat but there are often people behind them who cut infront. Its a little awkward! Ha!

My big birthday was complete with a teaching session and working the late shift, but that was nice because it meant I got to chill in the afternoon for a couple of hours. The teaching session is for crowd control, dealing with situations onboard involving the general public, reporting hazardous things or suspect looking people and stowaway searching. Joy. But our speaker, Al White, was an entertaining man, full of random statements, a flying monkey intended to wake everyone up with its evil scream and complete with a few tattoos on his arms. Classy. He was great to listen to. And he was sly! He had a plan that involved me and I didn't know I was apart of...

About 3/4 way into the session he gets everyone to stand up, and after doing so he tells Gary, our veteran onboard, to 'take it away'. So Gary starts banging the table [sounding familiar, people?] and yes, begins another "Happy Birthday" sing-a-long! ACK! Embarrassing! Then the crazyness dies down and we get back to the REAL issue [dealing with frantic people who've lost a child onboard, dealing with drunks who wish to come onboard, dealing with people who act suspicious after leaving a room onboard]. Then Al says "We have one final thing left to do - Gary..." and no kidding, once again, Gary starts Happy Birthday. Oh-my-goodness!!!

So in seeing that the ship is full of crazy people at meal times, I was more than happy to get off the ship for Lunch - and I did so with my great mate, Jessica [Melb, AUS], who infact had her birthday on the 14th [there was SO many birthdays in June!!!]. We went to this cute little organic place called MIX and its SO delicious! We had a great time just chilling out and not seeing anyone else from the ship.

The MIX place is at a far distant end of the mall that we are attached to/next to here in Hong Kong. Infact, the place we are next to is called Harbour City, Tsim Tsa Tsui, Kowloon. And we are located at "Ocean Terminal" - so if you wish to come visit, please do!

Then Jess had to get back to work so I wandered through the mall just browsing in all the OVER expensive shops here. This mall is really for those who do the whole 'wad of cash in the pocket' type mafia type people thing. Not really but you must understand what I mean? You need a LOT of money to buy here! They see us walking through the mall with a hint of disgust at our attire as we look at their outfits and wonder what were they thinking. But its cool to walk past the stores when i've only heard of the lable. D&G. Versace. Calvin Klein. Yeah. WOW. So many...

Then I had to get ready for work and so... I did. And it was great. Work was just nice and I had birthday songs sung to me in different languages and I got hugged and smooched [no kidding! On the cheek of course!] and had my last position at Crane Deck also known as the Deal Deck, but it was SO quiet! We've really struggled with people visiting here in Hong Kong because of the H1N1 [Swine Flu] spreading around the world. Primary schools in Hong Kong have been closed for 2 weeks so far and during the day there are SO many people in the mall but not many want to visit the ship. Please pray for that!

So, as I was tying up the sides of the Crane Deck, one of the Port Workers popped his head up, signalling for me to come over. I thought "He probably just wants help taking the end of their gangway off our ship, I'll just have a look." So in no rush I walk to look over the railing to double check when I see James lying on the car-deck at the bottom of the stairs. I honestly thought "What is James doing? He's probably avoiding work and he's just lying there on the ground in protest!" and then my brain clicked in and I realised it wasn't James, it was Albi, but - what was he doing down this end of the ship, and, where are his glasses? Albi was the head cashier for the evening and should've been at the BookShop, not down on the cardeck.

A maze of thoughts rolled into my mind as I realised the Port Workers didn't call me over to help them, they called me over to help Albi. I got down to Albi to 'asses' the situation. A lot of the things I'd learnt when I was helping my Mum train to be an Ambulance officer came back into my mind, aswell as things I'd learnt from Basic Safety Training. Totally "Automatic Pilot" mode.

I asked Albi if he knew what happened, and some other basic questions like what day it is, what time is it, does he know where he is, what he was just doing etc. Then I asked where he hurt, and checked for bleeding, and when I realised he had a head injury, I asked if he could move his fingers and his toes/feet and checked his pulse. It was so surreal and still feels like I was doing some drama.

Then, I called our emergency number, slowly explaining - despite feeling like I was talking extremely too fast - what had happened, who was involved, where I am, and that we needed the Stretcher Party to come. Then I went back to Albi and just held his hand and talked to him. He was in and our of 'dream' state and 'current' state and he was okay [as much as you could be at that point] till the stretcher party was there and then he began to panic because every 5 minutes or so he would close his eyes and say "It's so strange... I feel so strange... like I'll wake up and this will all have been a dream" and then he would open his eyes and realise he was still there, but not remember how he got there and then we'd have to tell him again what happened and ask some of our questions again. It was such a bizarre thing. I've not ever seen someone have an injury to their head where they honestly cannot remember things.

Then we got him to the Clinic and I was told to get some things for going to the Hospital. To Hospital? Its my birthday! But of course I wasn't thinking of that. I guess I needed to go because I was the first to get to Albi but also because I was the one who was with him after he fell, something about keeping things familiar with him while he's confused. But i also had to find Albi's cabinmates to get some stuff for him. So I quickly [possibly ran a little bit] to find anyone in Albi's room, and because Prayer night was on, I managed to find one. I asked him without much details if he could get some things for Albi and then went to my room. My mind was buzzing on what to take and I was thankful that no one was there because I was a little freaking out. So i packed a shirt, my bible and notebook, pen, ID, and I think i may have packed a game or something to entertain myself with incase I stayed overnight and wanted to do something. Other things were thrown in like Albi's glasses and watch and then i went back to the clinic.

He was on the bed, still on the stretcher, and they were doing blood pressure tests and giving him oxygen. So many people were fussing over him and he was getting worked up so I [possibly pushed my way past people, but i'll say...] "made my way" to him and grabbed his hand and held it and just told him every thing i could to calm him. I told him about the accident, and where I found him, and that everything would be okay. He was crying [poor lad] and he was scared but for that time we just had to reassure him until the ambulance arrived.

And then it did. We got him out to the ambulance and... I get stopped and question by the police. Are you kidding? They need my Passport details so I hand my card over while organising the stuff to be taken to the hospital, and they ask me a couple of questions and I tell them what I can and then go about getting ready to leave in the Ambulance.

Side Note:
The police were actually more interested to know why in the span of 2 days, 2 people were seriously injured. On the 10th of June, one of our Engineer guys, Lukas [SWISS] was doing work on the lathe when the lathe snagged his item and propelled it at his head, fracturing his nose. He was SO lucky not to lose an eye, and he looked pretty beat up for a few days. The police were very interested to know what happened with his incident because he had alot of blood everywhere but all is good for him now.

On the way to the ambulance, Albi was feeling unwell, and despite our effort to ask the Ambulance officers for a sick bag [complete with visual explanation to help them understand], poor Albi threw up. Wearing a neck brace makes it a little harder becaues there is a 'platform' to 'hurl' over. Poor Albi.

We made it to the Emergency Department where Albi went through a couple of examinations and had an X-ray an CT Scan performed, and it seemed that everytime he got moved, Albi got sick. His 'family' from the ship arrived to see him and that was nice for him but the girls who came were emotional and I was more keen for them to leave or atleast keep distance so they wouldn't stress him out and keep fussing over him, but in the end, he slept through most of it.

By 1am Albi's visitors left leaving just me and Silja [SWISS] - the nurse who came with Albi to the hospital from the ship. We were waiting to hear the results of the CT-Scan. Albi's Xray showed nothing but his CT Scan [which arrived at about 2:15am] showed a fracture and some bleeding. We couldn't confirm at the time but I contacted Yi-An [Adelaide, AUST] - our ships doctor, and he spoke to the On-duty doctor in all that fancy doctor talk. We made Albi comfortable and reassured him someone would visit the next day, then we had to leave.

We went back to the ship and called Albi's parents in Germany and let them know what happened. Then Yi-An, Silja and I were given permission to get Macca's and have a small break from the evening. Then I ended up sitting on the Quay-side till about 5am in a bit of a blah-state. I got perhaps an hour sleep and then needed to be up at 7:30am.

To let you know, Albi is doing fine. His results from the tests done on the 12th showed he had 2 fractures at the back of his skull and a bleed at the front of his brain. He was moved to Intensive Care for about 2 days before going back to a regular ward till the [not sure exactly] last Friday [25th June?]. It was so nice to have him back. He is still under observation and he may fly home but for now, he is as healthy as he can be. He had visitors for almost everyday he was in hospital, and now a guy that many people knew only by name is quite known by the whole ships community.

Happy Birthday to me...

Watch... and be challenged about your life

Imagine This... Views from abroad -- onboard

Hualien Day Out - Taroko National Park

It all began at 9:14am Sunday morning... in Hualien.


But before that, it actually all began a week before hand, on the Sunday night. If you haven't caught up on the goss, I kindly headbutted some steel in one of our holds that we store books in, and this was the day after. I hadn't been feeling up for conversation at all that day, and during my devotions I shared with my shift [SHIFT 2! YEAH!] that we should approach the day renewed, leaving behind our troubles and our burdens to focus not upon ourselves but on the people we meet. For good conversation to happen, we can't be thinking of the things that are bothering us, for we'll only go into the short but vital conversations already with an attitude.


I didn't expect my own words to impact me as much as they did, for after dinner that evening, I sat with one volunteer who expressed how much joy he sees within me - something I was amazed at not because of what he said, but because I didn't think I had been very joyful that day at all. So that got me thinking, and when I went to my next position which was at the Deal Deck, Amy called out my name. How she knew my name I have no idea. But she came up and was the most encouraging person to me. She said when she saw me the previous evening with the visitors and how I interacted with them, that I had a personal touch to my attention towards them, especially the younger ones. She was so blown away that a stranger would be like that. I was blown away that a stranger would boldly tell me this!


It really made me think


Myself and two of my random mates Riana [South Africa] and Batmunkh [Mongolia] were invited by one of the ladies working in the Christian Bookshop stand onboard to a day's outing around Hualien. Seeing as we'd mostly all looked at the massive mountains and hand't yet gone to visit them, all of us were pretty awesomely excited to have this opportunity. The plan was that she would pick us up from the ship at 9:15am Sunday Morning and take us out all day...


So here we were standing on the ship at 9:14am anticipating her late arrival when, scarily, at 9:15am to the DOT she arrived. We all bundle into her little red car and she turns and hands out some Taroko Gorge National Park flyers [in english for us and Mongol for Batman], then informs us that she needs to make 2 shorts stops before we are on our way, the first is to a shop.


In Taiwan, parking seems casual and easy enough - if you need to pull up infront of a place and the parking has been taken up, just park next to the cars already parked there. Of course to us, that actually blocks people in and I would anticipate some sirens firing up or an inspector slapping you with a big hefty fine. But this is normal. People park wherever they want, though they are more eager to move if you suddenly arrive to your blocked car - so that is nice.


So we sat awkwardly in the car, engine still running, next to other cars while Amy [lovely Amy] dashes into a shop to get some goodies. Goodies...ahh... Then we drive to her place, so she can get some protection from the sun - those sleeves things that Asian people are fashionable for because they actually don't want to be darkened by the sun, unlike most of us Australians who don't say no to a bit of colour. She also brought a massive hat and umbrella - which she never put fully up [so it would always slowly fall down and sit more on her head than anything].


When she had collected her stuff from her house, she asked us if we had tasted the drinks she had brought. We just assumed they were for up at Taroko, so we didn't touch it. Plus we were too busy laughing and being all giggly [mostly Batman]. So she turns on us with eager eyes as we all reach for a cup. Taking the first sip in I... screwed my face up in disgust! The flavour!! Ack! It tasted like medicine - the one you got as a kid that tasted so horrible you wished you weren't sick to have to have it. Ack! And I felt so bad! I tried so hard to hold the face and show that despite the taste, it wasn't so bad, but the next two following produced the same reaction. And not just from me, Riana kept doing a gag-reflex reaction and Batman's face would screw up followed but an outburst of "That's crap!". Needless to say, we all laughed quite a bit about this while we were driving to the National Park, kindly slipping the cups back into the bag so we could pretend to forget about them.


So while driving [and still laughing about the drinks and how rude Batman was], we started our way into Taroko. My goodness. I mentioned this in an earlier post but Taroko National Park is simply amazingly beautiful. The whole time of driving had us all leaning our heads on the windows to get a better view. With many tunnels to drive through, they only really existed to get us more excited for what we would see out the other side.


Our first stop was at the Jiucyudong [Tunnel of Nine Trails] where we donned hard hats and strolled down along the cliffs where you can hear and see the water rush over the boulders and rocks down below, through the tunnels hand carved into the mountain, gaze up at the gorge face that towers over you and see the massively huge moths flutter around. It was beautiful.


Jumping back into the car we drove to Yanzikhou [Swallow Grotto] where we strolled the whole length down, taking in the amazing scenery. Batmunkh took this opportunity to do the manly thing and walk off the 'beaten track' [its paved haha] and climb down the embankment to have a photo or two on this perched rock. He took pictures and Riana took pictures of him. Then as we continued, she continued to freak out as the railings were literally 'on the edge' of the cliff and walking path, and everytime Batmunkh and I would lean over them to see how far down it was etc, she would flip out. Haha. Sorry Riana. But it was funny. She was brave. While walking down, we saw our host Amy, who didn't see us approach her so she began to drive off. Luckily, we stand out being foriegn.


We had a banana break when Amy drove us down further and showed us the Indian Chief in the rock. None of us could see it. She took a photo and showed us and then we could see it, though, my question to her was to ask why there is an Indian Chief in the wall - did Indians ever live there? No. But hey, its a tourist thing, the tourists love it.


Then we had lunch at the Toroko Gorge National Park Information Center, which is rather beautiful and well informed. The greatest thing about the centre is that from a distance, you can't tell its there. It in no way spoils the beauty of the place, not at all an eyesore that sticks out like a sore thumb. I was impressed. Here we had lunch and desert provided for by the lovely Amy. We also managed to skull the drinks we'd been given when Amy would go off to the toilet. We could've easily said that we really didn't like them, but we were told not to refuse what we'd been offered when hosted by others. So since the taste wasn't exactly to our liking, trying to drink them as fast as we could brought out several fits of laughter, which only confused Amy i'm sure. We are so thankful for her hospitality. She really gave us a sample of what Hualien food is like and we really appreciate that [though we know now what not to order!].


After an hour or so of chilling at the Centre, we made our way to the Shakadang Trail. At first, you only on a bridge, but then you go down what seems to be a million stairs [all my stair training onboard the Doulos helped this be no problem at all] and before you lies a very old looking path, etched into the side of the cliff [where even I had to duck sometimes, so think of a 6ft Mongolian having to walk along here]. I felt so at peace here. Many people were also on the path, but all were busier taking in the beauty of the crystal-clear blue-green waters, exotic foliage and sweet serenity to disturb it for others. Unless your a bike-riding worker riding along it. We walked and the path wound up, around, over and through amazing places, always following the gorge river. Amy stopped at one point where we saw people down by the water, some swimming, and when we were all there, she told us that despite this place being beautiful, there was too many people, and she knew a better spot. After a couple of bends in the road, we were clambouring down the embankment, over the rocky dry river bed, boulder-hopped over the river and ended up on the other side. We were in the shadow of the mountain so it was very cool, and we had an amazing view - with no people invited. When the images get put up from Batmunkh and Riana, I'll share some with you...


After an hour or so of just talking and spending time together, throwing rocks into the water and taking photos, we made our way to the end of the trail and then back to the car. We then drove into the heart of Hualien, [some of us having sleeps in the car], before going to a really cool discount centre. After a browse and a purchase of some goodies for back on the ship, we headed further into the heart of Hualien and to Amy's friends resturant: Korean food. Now if you have heard of Kimchi, you will know that there is some spice involved. But I picked a delicious meal consisting of the freshest lettuce I've seen in months [sorry Catering staff!], stir fried marinated steak [sorry Catering staff! Again!] and a fabulous satay sauce. Can i just say, the others were eye balling my meal. It was delux!


Then the day was over. Amy needed to go home, and we were so glad to be back on the ship for we were quite literally worn out. I felt such an over flow of refreshment from the day off the ship, from the time in nature, in the wild slightly touched park, with friends who always make me laugh - even if i'm annoyed with them! - and mostly from the hospitality of Amy, who was so willing to show us around.

Comings and Goings

So, Keelung being our last port in Taiwan, we're soon to head somewhere new!!

"Where are you going next?" you say? Well, let me tell you...

After 2 weeks being open to the public followed by 1 week of rest for the majority of the ships company [known as Sabbath week: 28th May -3rd June] we will sail for 2 days [and 1 hour] to Hong Kong. If you saw my previous map of Taiwan, you would note I made a slight boo-boo and put Keelung just a little bit south of where it should be - oops!

We are only open for 2 weeks in Keelung, so that is 2 weeks of intense craziness. The weekdays will likely be quiet and as of this week I'm working the evening shifts. Did I mention that I'm no longer in my old shift? No, now I'm in what we are calling "Shift 3" - Shifts 1 & 2 have now changed together to create Shifts 3 & 6. Yeah, don't know why it couldn't be Shifts 3 & 4 but the boss said we now have Shifts 3 & 6. Ha.

Want to know what craziness I'm talking about? Today, Sunday, we had over 4,000 people in 3 hours. THAT is a lot of people! Thankfully, I was off, but next weekend I will have the pleasure of doing that in our shift!

SO - that is where I am going... for you to know!

Hualien, Taiwan

Have you ever pictured a place where mountains reach up to the sky, green and fully of life and that seem to roll unendlessly on one side of you while an ocean of aqua blue sea and white sand greet you on the other? If not, picture that now. You have just pictured Hualien, Taiwan.

The greatest and most breath taking image I have of Hualien is us slowly getting closer to shore after our 10 hour voyage from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and being greeted by mountains that go so high the clouds block the view of the top. And there isn't just one mountain, there is a whole country of mountains.

We were so blessed to have such a calm voyage. We departed Hualien at about 4pm Tuesday afternoon and arrived at about 9am Thursday morning. The voyage wasn't long but it kept many people in bed due to us sailing from the South China Seas into the Pacific Ocean. The South China Seas are amazingly rough!!!

Then we see her; Hualien County. No matter where we looked, mountains surrounded us. There was a coolness in the air as the overcast weather reminded us that we are travelling north. It's kinda weird, but for Taiwan, we've been chasing Spring, arriving in a port to experience the lovely cool weather then after a few days, the heat turns up. So strange considering that I come from Australia - currently sneaking up to Winter. But they did say, we' basically have Summer for atleast a year onboard the big MV Doulos.

As you can see from my picture above, Taiwan is not big. On the west coast is where most people live - its flat there. Kaohsiung lives on the edge of suburbia in a sence. Then we sailed around the Hualien, where not as many people live. The mountains fence around Hualien and really help create the calm atmosphere. Then we sailed north, to Keelung. If you picture Fremantle, Keelung is alot like that. Keelung is like the port of Taipei, like Fremantle is the port of Perth. All through the middle of the country is mountains. I was so blessed to be able to go to Taroko National Park - the main attraction for Hualien...