Free bike!

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Typically cloudy

Typically cloudy

I’m really starting to “get” Melbourne. The last time I was here, I was pretty much in a very depressed state – those who’ve followed the blog since it started will be fully aware of why. So even though I did a fair bit, I just didn’t get a feel for the city.

This time round, I’ve ditched most of the touristy nonsense and just hung out. As a result, I’m really beginning to see why people like this place.

On Sunday, walking down the street for breakfast, Shelly and I found a bike leaning against a shop front with a sign on it: “Please take me. I’m free but my tyres are terrible”. So I took it. And the tyres were fine. The rear one, if you take it off the wheel, does seem ever so slightly mis-shapen but I’ve been riding it for three days with no problems so I can’t complain. It even had a helmet hanging from the handlebars, which is handy as helmets are mandatory in Victoria.

So, what have I done that’s warmed me to Melbourne? Well, we had breakfast one morning in Retro on Brunswick Street – a very nice home-made muesli with fruit compote and at a pretty reasonable price. I’ve chilled, snoozed and read a book by the side of the Yarra River as waterskiiers whizzed past. I’ve cycled part of the Capital City trail around the outskirts (it needs better signposting or actual maps).

Darth Vader? Nice chap

Darth Vader? Nice chap

Monday was a public holiday here, and the end of the Moomba Waterfest. Essentially a 3-day carnival which takes place aorund the back of Federation Square on the riverside. There’s a lot of free entertainment running from early morning until around 11pm. It culminates with a parade on the Monday which I managed to catch most of. If nothing else, it shows off how multicultural Melbourne it. There were floats and marching groups from organisations as wide-ranging as the Japanese Club of Victoria, a belly-dancing school, cheerleaders (drool), anti-racism groups, the Australian Red Cross, and AusTrek – the Aussie Star Trek fan club (as well as the Star Wars club and the Doctor Who club). And cheerleaders. Did I mention the cheerleaders?

This thing was huge

This thing was huge

I’ve found the staff at the tourist information on Fed Square to be really helpful, too. It’s one of the busiest tourist info places I think I’ve ever been and they all seem to know everything. The girl who helped me with the cycle trail has done it herself umpteen times so knew how to spot some of the more awkwardly-signed junctions. A shame I only had time to do around a third of the trail, but what I saw was great.

Melbourne caters very well to the cyclist. Even those on cheap-ass free bikes the found on the street. All the roads have cycle lanes, signposting refers to them constantly and the trails outside the city are excellent. The Monash Freeway Citylink – a toll road which leads east out of the city – even has a bike track suspended beneath it. Fully paved, safety rails either side. And three climbing walls built into the motorway’s support structure which were all in good use when I went past.

Just a short cycle takes you to parks, gardens, a petting zoo, a farmer’s market, a skate park, far too many cricket grounds (I hate cricket). And this is just the one trail I part-followed along the river. This is where I was really blown away by Melbourne. By what’s just there, right on your doorstep.

Located <em>under</em> an expressway

Located under an expressway

Last time I was here was the AFL Grand Final. And that’s next weekend, so I guess that means it’s two whole years. Wow. My last host here was Ben who I met in Vietnam. Well, I caught up with him for drinks on Sunday evening not far from where I’m staying and it was great to see him again. What was supposed to be “a quick pint” turned into “a session” at the very nice Bar Nancy on the High Street in Northcote. Definitely a little place worth checking out. They have around 15 beers (Aussie and international) in a chilly fridge and some great rooms, plus a beer garden. I can just see the open fires roaring away in winter!

As to Ben – good luck in the UK later this year, fella. I genuinely don’t understand why you’d want to move there from Oz but if I’m home at some point I’d be more than happy to show you around!

The tyres were fine

The tyres were fine

So I have another two days here before I hitch to Wollongong. One (today) will be a little busy as I catch up with more people. The second is either going to be a lot of cycling, or a complete chill-out. It depends on the weather. Which is one thing I’ve learned that you can’t depend on in Melbourne!

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TIP – Nationwide bank card changes… for the worst

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Nationwide Building Society

Nationwide

For some years now I’ve been harping on about how great Nationwide are as the only UK bank with a debit card you can use abroad for no fees. Likewise, their credit card is one of only three (along with Abbey National and the Post Office) with the same no-fee deal. I even changed my regular current account to them to take advantage of these.

But – you guessed it – no more. From 6 May for its credit card, and 1 June on the debit card, you’ll pay an added 0.84% on spending outside Europe, jumping to 1% in July. Their wording is that they themselves are not adding a fee. They’re simply no longer going to “absorb” the fees that Visa charge to the bank. It’s still – I believe – less than virtually every other bank’s existing charges.

I got the first warning of this from the excellent Money Saving Expert site, though full details can be found (if you dig…) here at Nationwide.

So, without doing a huge amount of research it seems that changing the credit card could be worthwhile but that the debit card (for ATM withdrawals) is still a better deal than any other.

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Adelaide then Melbourne

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Another quick roundup as I’ve not done a lot of touristy stuff, just hung out and travelled.

I ended up going for the redeye flight from Perth to Adelaide. Mel very kindly dropped me off at Perth International Airport. Then realised this wasn’t much use as I was flying domestically and even more kindly drove me the extra ten minutes to the Domestic Airport. Thanks, Mel!

It had been a good, smooth flight with Tiger Airways. We even took off late as there was a tailwind. The flight time was reduced and we were dot on time for landing. Craig (Mudcrab) picked me up at a little after 7am after I landed in Adelaide. He dropped me at his place where I caught up first on email and then on sleep.

Dinner was from the Adelaide Burger bar on O’Connell Street. This is heartily recommended. The chips are slight crispy, but I don’t know what they put in the batter. Whatever it is it tastes delicious. This was followed up by an exceptionally good slice of fruit crumble from the 24 hour bakery over the road.

Our home for the evening was to be the Crown & Anchor (if I remember correctly) where we chewed various amounts of fat and drank far too much and until far too late. Or early. They really don’t do “chucking out time” here.

Thursday was a bit of a blur until Craig came home. Just about recovered, we went to the Grace to see about 5 local bands each doing a short set. The final act, Raw Ether, were playing their last set for several months. The bassist is heading to Germany for some reason I didn’t quite pick up. All three members are 19 years old and annoyingly talented. Great set, and thanks for the free CD!

As the pub closed we relocated back to the Crown & Anchor until they did actually throw us out. A steak and pepper pie and a cake from the bakers on the way home and we crashed out around 5am. No worries. 2½ hours sleep would do us fine for the next day…

Only we had nearer 4½ hours. Craig was late for work and I was late to start hitching to Melbourne. However, Craig got me to the outskirts just before the M1 route begins and set me down around 10:00 for my trek to Victoria.

Almost 45 minutes later I got my first lift off a lady heading just outside of Adelaide to see a relative. A 20 minute drive, but it was a start. Next up – after 30 minutes – were two guys finishing work for the day. They both had beards as good as mine! They dropped me off after around half an hour with instructions on how to get to a really good truck stop if I was struggling.

Maybe 15 minutes later, I was picked up by Geraldine and her two dogs. They kept me company for 4½ hours as we stopped for a beer and headed deep into Victoria. 300km to go and I was picked up by Rick, a truck driver heading back east in his 4×4. He left me around 2 hours’ outside of Melbourne at a roadside café. I’d barely put my bags down when Jason, a young IT guy who works for a large financial company, picked me up and dropped me off right near Shelly’s place. Almost 12 hours to the dot since Craig left me in Adelaide.

However, by this time Shelly had caught a tram into the CBD. Cue a farcicle attempt to locate each other which we finally did. We had a quick meal (it was after 11pm by now) in Red Pepper on Bourke Street. This was amazing – only $5 for a small but filling and very spicy dahl dish with two nan bread. Just about the right amount for me at that moment.

We sat and talked for about an hour until Amy and her sister Emma picked me up to take me to their place where I’m typing this up now. The two girls are Vietnamese and if I remember correctly I got talking to Amy as she’s also a big sponsor of the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Hanoi.

So now to bed. I have a couple of plans for tomorrow (after sleeping very heavily) and then will be meeting up with Shelly, Amy and her boyfriend for a couple of drinks (oh, no…).

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Myanmar… so should you go?

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The 14 states and divisions of Burma.

Myanmar... or Burma?

I meant to pop this up after I left, but was so busy posting the regular diary entries I forgot. Myanmar’s a tricky country to decide whether to visit mainly due to the way it’s run. The dictatorial government are sat at the top of the pile because they’re rich and to get richer. The actual population lives in relative poverty. Any time you visit you’ll be giving the government (usually referred to as The Generals) some of your hard-earned.

Thing is, you will also be giving cash to the locals with any luck. And depending on how you run your trip you should be able to ensure that the vast majority of your cash goes to the real people and not to the filth sat at the top of the pile. Gone are the days where you had to convert your cash into FECs upon entry to the country thereby ensuring further cash flow to the establishment. Unless you’re an NGO. They have to convert dollars to FECs and then these into Kyat so that they actually have money they can spend.

While there are a fair few beggars, hustlers and rip-off merchants they’re genuinely far less prevalent than in surrounding countries. The vast majority of people are open, honest and most definitely hard-working. They’re also happy to see a foreign face and to chat to you or help you out.

The day I got there, a fairly well-dressed man walked up to me and the chap I was walking with and shook our hands. He thanked us for visiting his country. To see their borders opening means this much to the people of Myanmar.

For the non city-dwellers, it’s even more of a novelty. Despite being on commonly-used hiking trails, the children and adults around Kalaw and Inle Lake never seemed less than delighted to see some foreigners. As is often the case, people who have little are more likely to offer to share what they do have with you than the rich and wealthy. A lot of these folk are subsistence farmers. They live on what they reap or can trade. The occasional person passing by who can drop them off some painkillers, toothpaste or whatever will be warmly welcomed.

I enjoyed Myanmar. It opened my eyes to how wonderful people can be even though they’re living under very poor rule. As far as I was able, I gave my dollars and kyat to the working people and not to The Generals. Don’t use the ferries, don’t use the train and don’t use the national airlines. Don’t pay the taxes, don’t pay the “entry fees” and don’t make their lives easy for them. Where you can, push your luck. You’ll find in Myanmar that unless you do something incredibly stupid the worst you’ll face is a telling off or a night in a jail… with the staff sat with you sharing their dinner (happened to someone I know when he entered an “off limit” zone without a permit).

Ignore the bleeding hearts who tell you not to go. The reaction of the “real” people when they see you is enough to tell you that you’d be doing a lot more good than harm by paying them a visit.

Check it out. It’s hard work getting round by bus, but it’s rewarding. Let them know that the world hasn’t forgotten about them. And if you see one of The Generals, spit in his face and steal his wallet.

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Blue Dragon – keep it rolling in!

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Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

I may possibly be heading to Vietnam again later this year and of course, if I do, one of my priority stops wil be Hanoi to see the kids at the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation again. I’ve been chatting to Michael there recently (we’ve had a couple more generous donations via the 1000 Mile Walk page), and he’s currently in Australia doing some much-needed fundraising.

Thing is, as everyone worldwide pretty much has to tighten their belts as the money dries up. People can’t afford to give cash away. Sadly, though, the need for this money doesn’t abate. Children still need help, education… rescuing.

Mike recently posted the following video on the VietnamStreets blog. It shows a young boy who has just been rescued from a sweat shop. He simply didn’t believe that Michael and the team were there to free him from the slave-driving filth who were making him work 16+ hours a day for nothing. They handed him a telephone so his mother could explain herself.

Now you tell me. Isn’t his reaction – the tears, the relief, the knowledge he was once again free – worth a few pounds, dollars, yen, euros or whatever? Please, please, please – spare a few bucks. I know times are tight. But the price of a couple of pints can make a huge difference to these children.

Donations can be made via this page on the Blue Dragon site.

Thanks.

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