My trip began on Thursday 16 December, when I flew from New Plymouth to Auckland. That flight was chiefly notable for the Asian gentleman sitting in front of me who couldn't leave his hair alone. At first I thought he was rather fond of smoothing down his slightly oily mane , but I slowly noticed he was doing some light scratching every time he ran his fingers through his hair. Over and over. It became hypnotioc to watch. Ten minutes, then twenty ... I was reading as well, but it was hard to believe how itchy his hair must have been. What is it - trichotillomania, compulsive hair pulling. This guy had the itch-and-scratch equivalent.
At any rate, I got to Auckland, and my best friend, Rohan, picked me up. We tried a nighttime yum cha. The shrimp dumplings were nice, the rest a little borderline.
On the Friday, Rohan was having some friends to lunch - Simon and Ellen. Sadly his wife, Selina, couldn't join us for she had to work (Rohan has more holidays than anyone I've ever met - I added up his time off one year and it came to seventeen weeks! Admittedly he'd been saving up his leave and took a little of that without pay, but not much). I hadn't seen Simon for around seventeen years, so I was looking forward to this. First, however, I had to be Rohan's kitchen bitch, and sorted out the chopping and cutting. Needing to protect my clothes for flying, I got to wear the good apron, while Rohan ended up in the little pink frilly number. Let's see if I can upload my first photo ...
This whole digital technology thing has been a bit of a stress. It took me about a week (several hours a night) to work out how to use my MP3 player. That so took it out of me, my new digital camera stayed in its box for weeks until a friend, Kelly, took it out and charged it for me. I have slowly worked out how to use some basic functions. It's obvious they try and idiot proof these things for people like me.
So Rohan was preparing some masala fish, a long bean dish, a dhal and a salad. It all ended up being splendid. I'm not normally a fan of snapper, but this was superb. I think the trick was Rohan kept it moist. I think I have a picture of this too ...
As usual, his dhal was superb. At the risk of giving away one of his secrets, he puts in some dried mango, which gives it a depth of flavour a slight sweetness that makes it quite special.
The meal was a great way to begin a trip. I hadn't even left the country and I was eating exquisite, exotic food.
It was great to meet up with Simon again and to meet Ellen. Simon talked about this massive fetish party held in London each year - 2000 people or thereabouts. It's called Torture Garden - isn't that a great name? Normalising the forbidden. It's a festival of latex, spanking and dark-corner intimacy, though it sounds like your level of participation is up to you. Simon, who works at a high level in the UK health sector, is as gentle and smart a person as you're likely to meet, so the whole thing didn't have the sense of depravity one might suspect. It certainly made for interesting lunch conversation.
After lunch, Rohan took me out to the airport for an early check-in. I like to get the exit row window seat, which involves checking in a good few hours before the flight. On the way out, I couldn't help but snap this sign (occupational hazard):
After checking in and getting my exit window seat, it was back to Rohan and Selina's place. They live quite near the airport and Rohan refers to their place as the Rosella Lounge (after the street they live on). Certainly the service was pretty high-level. I often marvel at my luck in having Rohan as a best mate. Among the many facets of our friendship, he's a born host and I'm a born guest. Here he is behind his bar making me a Thai rum and Coke while I wait for my flight ...
Sometime in the late afternoon, I asked what the time was seeing as I don't have a watch and had posted my phone home. Rohan responded, "I don't have a watch, and my phone died. Let's try the TV." Obviously another bond is neither of us are overly fussed about time. Incidentally posting my phone back was too tempting to resist. Two years ago I tried this on the eve of my India trip. Unfortunately some kids intercepted my mail before my landlady, Val, could bring the package inside. They toted up more than a thousand dollars in texts (that's a lot of texts!). It took me about three months to get out of the bill with Telecom, who finally admitted they should have done something about the unusual usage. This time, however, my phone is a prepaid one (after that experience it always will be), and besides, I kind of want to tempt fate. I mean, what is the statistcial likelihood of it happening again? Of course, being rather poor at maths, this may be a fatal mistake. Certainly quite a few people balked when I said I was posting this one back. But one of my resolutions for this year was taking more risks, so let's see how it turns out (I'm going wandering in a National Park in Borneo soon - without a guide - so that might make the phone fiasco look like a cake walk - incidentally, what exactly is a cake walk? I mean, who does cake walks?).
So around six in the evening I got on my Emirates flight to Melbourne. When I first saw the seat I thought, Oh my God you have to be kidding. It seemed smaller than the Thai Airways one, and the wall jutted out a little as well. But I really must have lost a lot of weight this year because I fitted it fine. I love the exit row - you can stretch out and pretend you're in business. Even better, every now and then another passenger will wander by and see how comfortable you are and think, WTF?
The food on Emirates is very good. Admittedly I probably wouldn't have guessed what I was eating was tandoori chicken, but it was incredibly succulent and very tasty all the same. They're also incredibly generous with the alcohol. As usual, I asked for a double ruim and Coke. As far as I could tell, the hostess had emptied two of those small bottles into a plastic cup and then handed it and a small can of Coke to me (does Coke make those little things for the airlines?). There really wasn't a lot of room for the Coke. Not being a regular drinkier, I was well on my way to being drunk after that.
I watched some of the onboard entertainment. What a system they have - probably the best I've seen. I actually chose to watch a new and well-regarded American sitcom. It's made by the creator and one of the writers of The Office (US). It's called Parks and Recreation. It was good to watch in an inebriated state. Like Modern Family and 30 Rock, it has wit and sophistication, just not enough of it. Still, with the aid of alcohol it's very funny.
Another thing I'll add is that the Emirates seats recline so far it's ridiculous. Mine must certainly have been in the lap of the person behind me, but luckily I'd drunk too much rum to care. Oh, nod of thanks to Chris - that airline headphones adaptor is brilliant, so thanks for putting me on to that. Using my own headphones is way more comfortable.
I love checking the news updates on the entertainment system. This caught my eye: 69 prisoners were accidentally released from UK prisons last year. You can picture it ...
"Right, Jimmy, pack your things. You're leaving us today."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yep, orders just came through."
"Ah, right, I'll grab my stuff then ..."
I think I had another rum and Coke and watched some comedy. At some point I managed to marshall the sorbriety necessary to retrieve something from my bag, though that took a while.
I like looking at the airline map too - seeing whereabouts you are on your journey. Apparently there's a town near Melbourne called Moe. What a great name. Like a town being called Hank or Bud.
Well that's enough for now. I'll write about Mebourne and the next leg shortly.
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