The NisbetDixon Adventures

The Invites are out!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:47:00 GMT

My first serious attempt at anything resembling print. 25 days and counting.

Adobe showcase award!

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:13:00 GMT

A website I’ve been recently involved in for Silverlining Furniture has won a prestigious Adobe Site of the Day award. It’s always nice to get some creative recognition from an industry giant like Adobe.

Working for The Roundhouse has its perks, most of which come from the team I work with – not to mention cleaning up at poker last night. Everyone has had some sort input into either the design or build of the site.

Paul Lewis
Tom Knowles
Mike Harris
Dan Pace
Gavin Dellbridge

Taking the plunge

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Finally uploaded my sky diving video from New Zealand! If you ever get the chance to be pushed out of a plane at 15,000ft I reckon you should take it.

Hong Kong

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:51:00 GMT

My time in Hong Kong was partially covered by the run up to a national Chinese holiday, it seemed like most of the population had headed straight for the HK. Take Oxford Street on a Saturday, spread it down every main / side street, mix with glug of stifling heat and have a good idea of the atmosphere in town. With so many people in such a small space it's no wonder that not one building is under 10 stories. In the distant skyline where the city gives way to the suburbs the high-rises continue unrelenting.

My hotel was on the 13th floor of a tower block slap-bang in the middle of downtown. It turned out to be pretty hard to find, with five different hostels in the same building with mine trading under three different names – slightly dodge.

The folks sharing my dorm turned out to be really nice. Heading out into the city we made a trip to see some local highlights including, the Goldfish Market and Tea Museum – better then it sounds.

The locals take shopping very seriously, in fact there is little else to do other then shop and eat. With no tax and small shipping cost – as just about everything is made in China there are some real bargains to be had. After a little hunting around for the best price I finally crossed the line and turned to the dark-side, I am now the proud owner shiny new Macbook. Sweet!

The Chinese invented the firework, they haven't lost their touch. The 'National Day' holiday arrived and was celebrated in style with a city-wide fireworks display. After the nightly skyline show, when buildings on both sides of the harbour burst into multi coloured neon, strobing, flashing – impressive enough! The fireworks exploded in the sky as we stood down the water front along with a thousand others.

I think I'm turning japanese

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:43:00 GMT

Turn right out of the station; through a red gate down past the market; look for a large temple, left over two small bridges to find a amusement park; turn right down a small alley; the hostel is the large pink building at the end. Directions to the hostel read like something from a 80's cartoon but to my amazement proved to be pretty accurate.

I love Ramen so, it was no surprise I had to sample some of the local goodness. Choosing my meal from a vending machine by the entrance, my selection was quickly dish up. Eating a soupy meal without a healthy slurp is regarded as quite an insult in Japan. Armed with this knowledge I was confident of not disappointing. Turns out I am soup eating school boy, clearly out slurped on both sides! Try as I might my British conditioning shined through. I was quite unable to reach those crucial extra decibels needed to equal the local par. This obviously takes years of practice, I intend to start improving my technique for my eventual return, be it a couple of years.

Have you ever seen the Tokyo underground map? Take the London underground, times it by ten, add three different companies – making transferring from line to line a mystery then make the most useful a hidden overland line… It's a little confusing to the novice traveler. Never the less at 5.30am I braved the ramen like mess to find Tokyo's fish market; proudly known as the largest in Asia.

Trying to avoid the countless motorised trollies ferrying shipments of fish at terrifying speeds – I feared for my life at one point. I watched a frantic huddle of men bid wildly for the next shipment of tuna. Amongst the live fish stalls, most of which displayed fish I've never seen before, I watched Tuna four the size as my dog was portioned up using a industrial sized belt saws. The atmosphere was electric, with so much activity you could find yourself quite easily overwhelmed by the daily life of a fish monger.

The rest of Tokyo proved to just as amazing, satisfying my hunger for ultramodern technology, neon lights, party nights out and vegetarian sushi. I was pretty gutted to find out that I'd missed the biggest Sumo tournament of the year by a day.

Kyoto

Speeding on the Skensian: read 'bullet train' I headed out of Tokyo. Built in the 60's you can see why it blew the world away, and still does in service, speed and leg room! I imagine it congers up the same feeling as flying on Concorde would have: a modern day classic.

Before I knew it, I arrived in Kyoto, a former capital of Japan. Greeted by a frightfully new and immense 13 floored train station – with the bonus of a 8th floor open air auditorium complete with a live performance. I desperately tried to negotiate the local bus system.

Staying in a sweet little Ryokan: A traditional guest house. The 100 year old building ran by a very friendly Japanese / French couple is the most charming place I've stayed in so far. Even better when I also found a equally sweet vegetarian / vegan restaurant next door, almost unheard of in Japan. Sleeping in a room with paper walls and an inside garden I recommend sacking off youth hostels and book Ryokan all the way while staying in Japan.

The parts of my first evening was spent riding the old streets of Gion. Hoping to catch sight of geisha that still entertain rich business man. I resisted the urge to join the tourist hunt, a really quite brutal affair – a thousand flashes and gawking faces as soon a painted face steps out the door, not relenting until they've shuffling to their next appointment. I made do with admiring glances while riding past on my rented granny bike.

Taking my new found fondness of the granny bike to new heights – I rented one complete with shopping basket, I set off the next day to the highlights of Kyoto. Zen gardens – although, not very Zen with that many tourists (repeat, you are one of their number), too many temples and a delightful sip of Japanese tea made my day. Capsule Hotel

Returning late into Tokyo for my flight to Hong Kong, I booked into a downtown capsule hotel. A place designed for the business man who's partied a little too hard and missed the last train home.

After paying at the obligatory vending machine, you check out your numbered locker, put on the PJ's provided and leave everything else behind. Walking down the corridor past encapsulated bunk-beds you hear the familiar sound of snoring behind drawn curtains. Inside is all a man could need, alarm clock; radio; cable TV, complete with pay per view channels! Not most comfortable nights sleep but, worth it for novelty value alone.

Sydney

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:10:00 GMT

I split my week in Sydney into two parts. The first four days were spent in a hostel Eva based in the backpackers haven Kings Cross. Turns out it’s quite popular with the Germans – I was surrounded 10 to 1 to any other nationality. The atmosphere was good although a little intimidating when everyone is talking Deutsch.

I struck up conversation with a girl called Elle together we agreed to catch the ferry to Manly the next morning. Not particularly blog worthy other then at the ferry port we got a little confused about which dock we needed to be at. Elle asked a man wearing a striking looking hat on where to go. It turns out he was the skipper of the boat we needed to catch! Walking us to the right dock he casually asked if we wanted to go up to the bridge of the ship. Of course we said YES – called me cynical but somehow I don’t think this would have happened if I wasn't standing next to an attractive blonde German girl. Following him through the ‘staff only’ barrier up to bridge, we sailed through Sydney harbor taking in the best view on the ship. Passing the opera house – more impressive then I imagined and the Tyne bridges bigger brother. Mid way through the journey he asked if I wanted to steer the ferry! Granted only for 5 minutes but, there is not many who can put there name to driving a 50 ton ship across the harbor – one of the more random things to happen on this trip.

Last year Helen got lucky and won the Grand National! She very kindly surprised me with a voucher to walk the Sydney harbor bridge with some of her winning before we left the UK. We have a white knuckled photo of Helen aged 18 gripping for dear life to the rail on our living room wall, this was one of the scariest things she had done – until the death road. On a beautiful sunny day I booked my trip for the next day what turned out to be the grey, rainy with a mean easterly wind, serving only to make my accent scarier!

Clipping onto the safety rope it takes an hour to walk up various wooden and metal walk ways dropping a 100 meters straight to the tarmac / open water. As the bridge levels out to the highest point you get the best view of the city and surrounding quayside; this where the picture I now proudly own was taken to join Helen’s on the wall.

I moved to a hostel to Coogee and lazed on the beach for the last few days. Walking up the coast to Bondi beach I had all intention of going for a surf, counted 70 people in the water and thought better of it.

First taste of the South Island

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:25:00 GMT

Crossing from Wellington on the ferry, the ship docked at Picton and I jumped striaght on a bus to Kaikoura for my first taste of south island adventure.

Kaikoura

Kaikoura is a pretty little town with an endless pebble beach framed by the start of the southern alps in the distance. It's also New Zealand's hotspot for whale watching – thanks to being near a deep sea trench called the 'Hikorangi Trench'. I settled into the hostel and checked into the Whale Watch HQ early the next morning. The boat set off through a pretty rough sea. Trying to ignore the French man throwing up beside me we closed in on a pod of feeding sperm whales. You'd be suprised how little you can see of a whale when they're on the surface. They sit floating like a log only giving away their position by blasting a spout of water into the air as they catch thier breath. This lasts for 5 minutes or so until the whale arches his back and with one last gulp flicks a mighty tail high into the air sending him head first down into the deep – allowing me to get the money shot!

I decided that to break my bus journey down to Queenstown (which was going to be my most southerly point on my RTW trip) by stopping in a random town preferably with a funny name and a little off the gringo trail. Looking at at the map I traced my finger down the bus route and found a town called Twizel, it fitted the bill. This turned out to be a mistake and manage to escape quickly the next morning.

Queenstown

I heard alot about Queenstown, various stories about how obscenely touristy it is others praising it's beauty and exicting atmosphere. Both opinions fit: imagine Keswick on speed! Instead of sweet little OAP's enjoying their afternoon tea and a tasty scone, you'll find a town boiling over with young trendy kids prepared to do anything for a double shot of adrenaline. You get a cheeky hint of this as you arrive, greeted by people launching themselves off a bridge next to a large sign boasting 'Queenstown – the home to the first commercial bungy jump'.

The more you talk to people in town/hostel, the more you feel a certain amount of peer pressure to do a jump. It feels almost like a NZ rite of passage – this could have very well just been in my head. Never the less, I'm not one to let these things go so, I booked myself to jump off the 'The Ledge' the next afternoon.

The build up to the jump is the worst. You stand there being strapped into vairous cables, harrnesses and gismos while you watch people in front of you willingly drop off a perfectly good, solid platform screaming. Why would you want to do this you may ask and I asked myself the very same question repeatedly, because basically I was shitting myself.

Turns out the drop and bounce isn't all that bad – you could say almost fun. The biggest buzz I reckon comes from knowing you've overcome something that your body is screaming outright not to do – that is not to jump off a ledge with a nasty 50m drop on the otherside.

Carving up the slopes

10 years ago I went on a snowboarding with school and haven't touched a snowboard since. My travel insurance specifically says NO winter sports. So I was a little surprised to find myself at the top of 'The Remarkables' (The mountain range surrounding Queenstown and it's lake) clipping myself onto a board with no idea whether I could still ride. In fact the scariest part was getting off the chairlift; with the board clipped to one foot and a fear of what would happen if I couldn't stand up on the sodding thing. It turns out riding a snowboard is like riding a bike: you don't really forget. By the end of the day I'd managed to re-master all the edges, started to carve smootly down the slope, had a pretty sore arse but, had a blast and thankfully no broken bones!

Dan goes Kiwi

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:07:00 GMT

In my first week in New Zealand I've found myself rolling down a hill in a "Zorb", catching some fresh Snapper for my dinner (killed & gutted ethics watchers!), cruising down 90 mile beach in a 4x4 tuck, eating grit as I sand-boarded down a massive dune, chucking myself out of a plane at 15000ft, abseiling 100m into a "Lost World" and squeezing my way out again – my friends, New Zealand kicks ass!

Waitimo Caves – Two Swedes, a German and an Englishman get dirty in a cavernous cave

Waitimo looks like a delightful country village (in fact not far from where the Shire scenes in the Lord of the Rings were filmed) complete with it's own small town tourist trap, New Zealand's ONLY angora rabbit shearing show. However, beneath the surface there lies another world full of dark water and false stars.

There's not many things worse then putting on a damp wet suit and this one smelt of cave – a big one! After a all too brief training session we strapped on our helmets and clipped ourselves onto a rope that dangled unnervingly over a 100m vertical drop: notice my shamefully white knuckles in the photo! We descended for around 20 minutes taking in an almighty view. You can see why they call this cave 'the Lost World', ferns lined the cave walls and the light takes on a other worldly tone.

Over a couple of sandwiches at the bottom of the cave I was introduced to a very fat but friendly eel – it must have been about 4ft in long and it's stomach was at least twice the size of it's head. You could feed him by hand and had an obvious fondness for sandwich meat. Apparently, the cave river was full of them – good to know when your swimming up stream in the pitch black!

We descended in the cave, turned our head lamps on and took the first plunge into the dark icy water. Clambering up underground waterfalls, over rock ledges and jumping blind into deep pools of water was the order of the day. There was a few tight 'squeezes' – technical term where crawl though gaps barely bigger then your head. I thought I might get a bit panicked with there being 100m of rock crushing down on me but, I took it like a man and squirmed my way though.

We took a break towards the end of the trip, turned our lights off and was dazzled by a unfamiliar starry night – courtesy of some hungry glow worms attached to the roof of the cave, very cool.

Dan's girlish screams

Were very loud when I jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft! I been wanting to do this for a very long time and couldn't think of a better place to do it – the three lakes of the north island below me and mount doom in the distance. A surreal and amazing experience. I paid for a DVD of the jump, you can hear my girlish cries for yourself when I get back.

Mighty BA

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:45:00 GMT

After a narrow escape from being stranded in Uyuni – the literal definition of "the middle of no-where". We boarded the overnight train to the boarder and hopped on a bus to take us the rest of the way – slightly stressful as we'd run out of money, all the Bolivian cash machines had gone down!

8 hours later we arrived in the beautiful colonial city of Salta. Checked into a nice hostel and had the first proper sleep in 5 days – I particularly enjoyed taking a hot shower without the fear of being electrocuted. The next two days we're taken up with checking out the many Argentinian delights (quite a culture shock after Bolivia).

We decided to forget the idea of a 20 hour bus journey and fly to Buenos Aires – a wise decision i think you'll agree. The domestic airport in BA is slap bang in the center of the city, as you land skyscrapers scream past the windows – pretty impressive, but I'm not sure you would get away with back home. We were met at the airport by Diego (a friend from when I was traveling the states almost 7 years ago!). Diego had a exhibition for his new bike video (what kicks ass! you should check it out www.jamboxteam.com.ar) over the weekend and wouldn't be home. It was decided that we would book into a hostel in the center of town and stay with Diego for our the last few days in BA.

After we settled in what turn out to be a pretty sweet hostel, we climbed into a taxi and scooted over to lively Palermo Hollywood to meet Alice's brother Aman and his girlfriend Lucy. After a good meal, a game or two of Jenga and few more cocktails we rocked a night club until 5am. We had a riot and both felt pretty rough the next morning – thanks guys!

The next couple of days was spent checking out the city. Helen got viciously mauled by pigeons, we both got tempted to take tango lessons in San Telmo but got cold feet and managed to spend far too much money shopping in town. One of the highlights was the gloriously over the top catholic cemetery: where the rich and famous come to rest. Each tomb does it's best to out do the others, grand architecture and grander statues make each stand apart. Peaking through the tomb windows – yes, windows! You could catch a quick glimpse of several generations of coffins stacked up on shelves. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so no photos… gutted!

Diego picked us up in the evening he showed us round the old harbor, we walked over the stunning Puerto Maderno bridge before heading back to meet the family Parisi. We both got a little over keen with his dog Agatha – aka Agatha Christie! I get the feeling we were both missing Harvey a little too much. Spent the rest of the night chilling with Diego and watched the film '300': what a great movie! Makes me want to have a Scottish accent and shout more… I'm working on the beard!

The next morning we spent a hideous amount of money in the small Über cool shops that are dotted around Palermo Soho. On the night Diego, his lovely girl friend and parents treated us to an amazing meal at a super plush restaurant next the city race course – I don't think Helen will have such a good steak again! A BIG thank you to all the Parisi's for taking us into their home and making feel so welcome! Argentinian hospitality at it's best! We hope you can all make it to the wedding next year.

So the sad day arrived… Helen was leaving for home and I was continuing onto New Zealand. I won't bore you with the details, but leaving my wife to be at the airport was one of the most heart wrenching things I've done. New Zealand excepted a very lonely Dan into their country at 4am the next morning.

p.s I'm having trouble getting photos off my camera at the moment, photos will follow when I find a different internet cafe!

Salt Flats

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:54:25 GMT

After a long night bus ride. We arrived in Uyuni bright eyed and raring to go. After the tour operator finally opened their doors – we climbed into uour 4 x 4 jeep and hit the open road.

Skipping through a train graveyard and onto the vast Salt flats. We climbed up salt piles and marvelled at how the locals used a spade to pick up all the salt. Stopped briefly at the salt hotel and made our way to the fish island to see the most amazing cactus.

Took some interesting yet thoughtful photos. I really can push that coke bottle over. Explored an inca graveyard – bizarre burial rituals. Chilly night sleep but beautiful stars compensated for it.

Next day hit some multicoloured lagoons and caught sight of our first flamingo and tried to make friends. Fun game of cards in the evening – thanks girls. However the Italians told us of for being noisy! The coldest night ever known!

Early to rise for a dip in the hot springs- possibly the worst photo ever of Dixon! Was really hot – although getting out was another matter. Hence Dixon was wearing her hat again! Long Drive back to Uyuni – followed by long cold wait for train to the border – Villacon!