Journey to the West, Part 6: Amsterdam

My journey to the west ended where it started, back home in Amsterdam.  We've lived here for a year and a half, and this is the longest I've been away in that time.  There's a phrase written on the underside of a bridge near Central Station:

"Terugkomen is niet hetzelfde als blijven"

I've always translated that as "coming back is not the same as staying put".  I'm not sure if it has a double meaning in Dutch, but I feel it can either mean that the journey is worth it even if you end up in the same place, or that being home is something to look forward to as much as travel.

Even though I've had a great time getting to know my colleagues around the world (and seeing a few old friends along the way), I'm glad to be back in Amsterdam.  It's a great place to live even when the weather is bad (and it often is), and I returned to find that summer had finally arrived, the weather was only a few degrees cooler than KL.  It was literally a warm welcome, and perfect weather to walk off a bit of jetlag between fits of napping.

On the way home, I found myself with a little time to spare just as the Brazil-Netherlands World Cup match began.  I watched as long as I could (and probably a little longer), and then ran for my flight.  The Netherlands was still a goal behind when I boarded, I didn't get to find out until the next day that they'd managed to come from behind to win the game.  I'm not much of a soccer fan, but I think it's time to learn.  I look forward to watching the next game in Amsterdam, surrounded by teammates, friends who aren't also teammates and thousands of excited Netherlanders.

Of course, there are always things to look forward to here, which is one of the reasons it suits us so well.

Journey to the West, Part 5: Kuala Lumpur

The last stop in my world tour was Kuala Lumpur, where I spent a week with my colleagues at Customware. They work European working hours, so it was a college student's dream job: roll into work at 3, leave at midnight.  The team is a diverse bunch of smart, enthusiastic, and energetic people, and they went out of their way to be great hosts as well. We usually ate dinner together, and we managed a few lunches and (after midnight) suppers as well. It's hard to cover how amazing the food is in Malaysia, but among other things, while I was there I enjoyed:

• Nasi Lemak, the national dish of Malaysia.
• Roti Canai, a local interpretation of Indian flat bread
• Otak Otak, a seasoned fish mousse steamed in banana leaves
• Rojak, a sweet salad of fruit and vegetables in a thick brown sauce
• Assam and Curry Laksa, two noodle soups that are justly famous around the world.
• fresh Popia, tasty uncooked spring rolls filled with vegetables, a light brown sauce, and crunchy treats like peanuts.
• fresh Guava with a little bit of sweet and sour seasoning

The KL team are really active on Facebook, here's a good starting point to see what we were up to during my trip:

It was a great visit, long enough to get to know everyone a little, but short enough to make me want to come back and visit again.

Journey to the West, Part 4: Singapore

In transit from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, I stopped off to see some old friends in Singapore. It was a short trip, but great. I hadn't seen them in about four years, and it was great to catch up. We did a bit of touring, a lot of shopping, and had some of the best food I've ever had. Fresh Durian, Lamb Satay, Bo bo cha cha and Ais Kacang were among the highlights.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Journey to the West, Part 3: Sydney

My journey around the world continued in Sydney, where the home office for Atlassian is located. This was my first trip to the mothership, and it was a blast. I got to meet a lot of amazing people, put faces to names, and have a lot of face to face conversations that would ordinarily take place over blogs and email.

Although I worked most of the time I was there, I was lucky enough to take a little time to check out the Sydney Biennale and a great exhibit at the White Rabbit Gallery. My favorite pieces were the video installation at the Biennale in which a couple walk naked through a waterfall, and the installation at White Rabbit in which a van was reskinned with a carefully painted canvas, and hooked up to a pump so that it appeared to breathe in and out.

I also enjoyed visiting Manly Beach, where I read Walter Tevis' "Mockingbird" from cover to cover (review coming soon). I mistakenly referred to Manly Beach as "Manly Island" when purchasing my ferry ticket, and the ticket vendor corrected me. After a few seconds, I thought it over and said "I guess no Manly is an island". The ticket vendor thought it over for a second, and then made a little eye movement as the pun sank in.

Before, during, and after work I managed to have some great meals in Sydney. The highlights were the Vegemite and toast at the coffee shop just south of the office, the Laksa on Hunter Street, the pies at Central Baking Depot, the pulled pork sandwich at Four Ate Five, the Pho at the place under Wyndham Station and the Roti Canai at Mamak.


Here are a few photos from the trip:

Here's a video of the ferry trip to Manly Beach:

Journey to the West, Part 2: San Francisco, California

The next stop on my world tour was San Fransisco, where I spent a week with my colleagues at Atlassian. Most of them were feverishly getting ready for our annual Summit, but there were still plenty of opportunities to put faces to names and get to know the extended family of Atlassians and ex-Atlassians. There's a love, excitement, and drive common to so many Atlassians that at times it seems less like a job than a life philosophy. It was a blast to meet so many of them at a go, and I gather I'm in for an even bigger dose in Sydney.

In addition to meeting and talking with so many new people, I was fortunate enough to eat some nice sushi, a sausage biscuit (bliss!), and to have three really great burritos and a bit of Mayan food as well.

The last day of my visit, the Atlassian Support team in SF had a picnic in Golden Gate Park. Here are a few photos:

Here's hoping the rest of the trip is as much fun.

Journey to the West, Part 1: Boulder, Colorado

The first stop in my world tour was a side trip to see my friend Antranig in his new home in Boulder.

The city is lovely and so warm after Amsterdam. We did a fair amount of walking around, which is always welcome after a long flight or three. The Boulder Creek was swollen with snow melt after a recent hot spell, it was both relaxing and exciting to experience the rushing water among the trees. Along the way, I was fortunate enough to stock up on books at the excellent Boulder Book Store on Pearl Street.
Afterwards, we went to the Taiko Summit and heard some exciting drum work.

We had our last meal together at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, shown here:



We talked a lot about Qin Shi Huang Di, the first emperor of China. I'd been taught that he unified the Chinese writing system. Fans of the film "Hero" will remember the scene in which a rival school of calligraphy is beseiged by the emperor's army. Thanks to Antranig's Droid and data plan, we discovered that Wikipedia does not share that view of history (although I've since figured out that the Qin Dynasty entry includes something about the topic). It still made for a good conversation, particularly given the backdrop at the Dushan Tea House, the interior of which was crafted in Tajikistan, disassembled, and shipped to the US.

Antranig and I have both studied Mandarin, during my visit he showed me the remarkable Chinese learning site Skritter on his new Lenovo tablet. It's a paid site, but you can see the amount of polish they've put in to justify the $10 monthly fee. You write a word and pick the right pronunciation, and you get feedback immediately. Words are repeated periodically based on how often you remember them correctly. The stroke recognition is amazing. The whole experience of using Skritter is almost enough by itself to make me go out looking for a tablet PC, iPad or the Android equivalent.

It was a great visit, and a good start to the trip.

My Journey to the West...

For the month of June, I'm traveling around the world on business, hitting the following ports of call:

• Boulder
• San Francisco
• Sydney
• Singapore
• Kuala Lumpur

I'll be posting from each of these places and writing about the absolute flotilla of books I'm reading in transit. Stay tuned!

A Weekend in Brussels

It was Elaine's birthday on Friday, so we went to Brussels for the weekend.  We've been to Belgium before, but never as far south.  Almost immediately, I was struck by the shift to French as compared to the Vlaamse-heavy north.  It was a perfect chance for Elaine to work on her French and for me to learn to embarass myself less in French, but we could still take advantage of our Dutch as well.

We stayed at the Welcome Hotel, which had a nice atmosphere, a good location, and set the right mood.  We stayed in the Silk Road suite (it was her birthday after all), and the jacuzzi was a nice way to relax after walking the soles off our shoes per the usual.


We ate a few notable meals, including frites and mossels (of course).  Our favorite meal of the trip had to be at Comocomo, a Tapas restaurant where the dishes come out on a conveyor belt as soon as they're made.  It reminded me of Frying Fish in L.A., good variety, good quality, and reasonable prices.  They have about 45 dishes on the menu, and we tried 15, I guess we'll have to try again at their Antwerp location.

We spent most of our time at three museums.  First, we spent an afternoon at the Koninklijke Musea, wandering through their ancient and modern art collections.  My favorites there had to be the statue of Father Damian (it hasn't been retitled since his canonization), Matthieu Kessels sculpture "The Deluge", and Paul Delvaux's "Crucifixion".  If you'd like to see more items from the collection, there's a large group of them on Flickr.  We also visited the comic strip museum, in a lovely Art Nouveau building, and caught a small but wildly popular Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Musee de Beaux Arts ("Bozart").

We took a few pictures while we were in Brussels, click Elaine's picture below to see the set on Flickr:

Paris Photos

Our photos from the 9th Sakai conference and our subsequent holiday in Paris are now up on Flickr. Enjoy!

Travel: Los Angeles

Following a conference in Newport Beach, Elaine and I are taking the opportunity to visit her mother in Los Angeles prior to heading back east for the holidays. Thus far, we've visited a number of old haunts, including the refurbished Griffith Observatory, Chinatown, and a number of other spots. We still haven't visited Santa Monica or the L.A. County Museum of Art yet, those are to follow soon.

Prior to moving to Virginia, I lived here for six and a half years (during college and immediately afterward). Elaine lived in L.A. off and on for most of her life prior to moving east. As she pointed out, it feels on some level like home for her. Although it's more like "a home" rather than "home" outright for me, I see her point.

Weather, cultural events, bookstores and beaches notwithstanding, the sprawl, the traffic, the unwalkability of it all makes me look forward to being back in Stornoway at the end of the month.

Travel: London

While preparing for our current trip to Copenhagen, I realized I hadn't put up the photos from our first trip to London, which can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elaineandtony/sets/72157602755780855/

Our first trip, we mostly hit the sights and a couple of museums. Elaine and I had wanted to visit the Tate Modern since its renovation in the 90s, it wasn't a disappointment.

We're planning another trip to see our friends in Cambridge at Thanksiving, and will have more photos from that trip soon.

Travelogue: Skye Tetra Meeting

Finally posted the photos from the Skye Tetra meeting:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elaineandtony/sets/72157600454941703/

Travelogue: Amsterdam

I've uploaded a bunch of photos from my recent trip to Amsterdam, you can find them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elaineandtony/sets/72157600454365814/