Floating 37,000 feet above somewhere I’ve never heard of, ending in ‘uan’.

12^th August

Or so the backrest display says, only 5,147 miles from Heathrow, heading homewards at 552 mph.

My favourite bird is the pelican, ungainly on the ground but magnificent in the air - just like a 747; the problem in following the analogy to its logical conclusion, is that Mum, Laura and I, ensconced in its belly, would then be half masticated fish, and it all gets pretty disgusting. I do like 747’s though, their first flight coincided with the release of ‘Can’t Buy a Thrill’ - my era, a dream of mass, affordable travel, uncomplicated by questions of carbon footprints and sustainable ‘eco-tourism’. Ah well, that was then, and this is now…or at least as near as damn it to whatever now the time zone we’re in says it is. - 1.54 Friday morning in Hong Kong, 6:00 the previous evening in London…God knows what time up here in the clouds, but I’m feeling pretty mellow thanks to two small bottles of really terrible Spanish wine kindly provided for free by B.A.

Talking of now, it is odd to read in the local TV news of London being described as a war zone, all the places we’ve visited seem so well ordered, Hong Kong especially, no litter, no graffiti, no police on the streets. Hong Kong came as a complete revelation to me, it’s like having a futuristic version of the familiar played back to you - the same fashions, the same pop music, the same Japanese cars, familiar street names like Gloucester Road and Victoria Park, but transformed into a Sci-Fi film set, part ‘The Jetsons’ part Bladerunner.

Nothing quite illustrates this better than the world of tee-shirt slogans - Hong Kong citizens, young and old, do like their emblazoned tee-shirts. Cartoon characters, from Disney, through ‘Hello Kitty,’to the Smurfs are popular - but not as popular as the art of the random English phrase. Older adherents like the aphorism, from the uplifting, but trite, ‘BE YOURSELF’ to the thought provoking, if slightly sinister, DESIGN IS THE MOTHER OF EFFICIENCY. However, it’s the younger enthusiasts of the phatic that help you realise that most of the time the fashionistas sporting these phrases have little or no idea of what the words actually mean, nor one supsects do the designers. How else can you explain ‘ASPIDISTRA COOL’ or the word SUBURBAN singing out in a flame red and gold ‘death metal’ font in the front of a 5’ 2”, bespectacled skinny kid. Than there are the strange adoption of corporate or institutional tees - like SHEFFIELD HALLAM, or, the even more esoteric - AEROSPATIALE 1987 - I mean just what was it about the late 80’s activity of the Toulouse based subsidiary of Airbus Industries which make it so cool in HK in 2011?

And of course, what is happening is the signs and symbols which have meaning in one culture get adopted in another for quite different reasons and take on new connotations. The English words have lost their original meaning - now they just mean the West is cool and trendy and can be adopted as a simple fashion accessory.

Ironically, as the youth of Hong Kong voraciously consume designer goods, - more Gucci shops than Mcdonalds.- marauding mobs in Manchester loot and burn the very same designer shops.

I’m left thinking of how, in the First Century BC the Greek Cities of the near east, Persepolis, Alexandria, continued Greek Art, Architecture and style, but ditched all those tricky issues to do with Democracy, and Athens itself became a mere trinket in the Roman empire for rich Romans to become paying consumers of Socratic discourse - is that the future for the West? To be absorbed into a corporate, globalised world where having a cooler mobile than your mate becomes a primary aspiration. Goodbye the Enlightenment and dreams of individual freedom - I mean who needs to be enfranchised when you could have Lincoln’s Gettyburg Address printed on your tee shirt.

It’s goodnight from Dad, afloat now over Ulam Bator - and see you both tomorrow - big big hugs!!!!

xxxxxx

Hong Kong…what can you say?

August 9th

Imagine a string of tree covered mountains tops poking out of the South China Sea, a medley of peaks and inlets. Then stretch out Manhattan around the shoreline - a forest of glass towers reaching almost 1000 feet in height, below traffic choked highways and neon lit shopping malls teeming with traffic and people - Hong Kong is astonishing.

Whereas Tokyo was cool and corporate, Hong Kong is mercantile and sassy. People are stylish, but in a very individualised way, it feels very Western and familiar compared to Japan.. And my god - do they shop! 

In amongst this polished consumer paradise small patches of old Hong Kong survive, narrow alleys with pawn shops, massage parlours and Chinese herbalist and acupuncturists rubbing shoulders with Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger and Bvlgari franchises.

Is this the future for the ‘haves’ -  a consumerist, designer filtered Utopia? What will become of all the ‘have nots’ who work for subsidence wages across the globe to keep the dream alive for the few?

All that being said it is impossible not to gasp in astonishment at this powerhouse of a city, part Bladerunner, part Gotham City, part post-modernism personified. Amazing, alluring, and discomforting.

That’s before you mention the food…I am getting better with chopsticks, and am now only slightly more messy than the local three year olds.

Good news - Qantas have traced Laura’s bag - it’s still in Brisbane - they’re flying it to Hong Kong overnight tonight and delivering it to the hotel tomorrow - 

See you both soon - Sarah, we need to work out how to pick you up on Friday - I’ll try to give you a ring tomorrow morning - Tuesday evening, UK time.

Bye for now,

Love

Dad, Mum and Laura

xxxxx

Au revoir to Oz

8th August

It’s early morning here (Sunday) in Trinity Beach, a few miles north of Cairns. Yesterday we drove 400 miles from Airlie Beach to here - a bit of a marathon - 9 hours on two lane roads. North Queensland is surprising, wide expansive plains of either sugar cane farms or lightly forested scrub land punctuated by two-bit settlements with names like ‘Home Hills’.

If Home Hills community radio is anything to go on, then I suspect littering attracts a mandatory life sentence and offenders caught outside without a regulation four inch brim on their bush hats are lynched on the spot. I suspect someone voted for the Labour party in rural Queensland in 1958...but they have not been heard of since.

Although the coastal plain is essentially flat, punctuated with lots of dried up creeks with names like Pink Lily creek, Frenchman’s Creek (Daphne must be popular here) or more literal names like Scrubby Creek., there are big 6000 foot granite outcrops - often conical in shape (old volcanos) covered in dense forest. These appear in the distance as a smoky blue colour; up close as dense dark green enclaves of rain forest. It’s really quite beautiful.

Airley Beach is big on the backpacker trail, lots of studenty type bars and shops selling ‘resort wear’ (swimsuits and bikinis) and surfer/skater type clothes - I like the Ozzy term for wide patterned swim shorts allegedly used to surf in - they’re called ‘boardies’.

Our apartment there was on the hill above the town and was really a beautiful, stylish place with patio doors taking up one wall opening onto a big balcony overlooking the bay. At evening flocks of white cockatoos gathered on the trees nearby to squawk raucously a swoop and glide from tree to tree in the evening light. If you left some peanuts on the table they would join you on the balcony - but feeding wildlife is discouraged as they can become a nuisance and eating unnatural food makes them ill.

Later this afternoon we catch the plane to Brisbane and then on to Hong Kong. Exciting - but it’s sad to leave Australia and know that we’re into the final phase of the trip. It’s certainly given me much to think about. I’m not sure which of you the book belongs to, but I took the Faber anthology of Utopias with me as holiday reading. It has excerpts of Utopian writing from ancient Egypt, the Classical Era, China as well later writers from the Medieval period up until now - I’ve just got up to around 1820.

Broadly speaking the various Utopias either envisage some kind of shangrila, garden of eden type existence or highly ordered societies where people have been ‘improved’ by eradicating possessions, money and private property - but often through quite puritanical means which strictly limit individual freedom. Thinking about all of this at the same time as visiting Tokyo’s urban machine, then visting Queensland’s empty outback does give a broader perspective on the ideas in the book. I do think I have left Australia greener than I went in…especially given the backdrop of world financial systems having a bit of a wobble - how do we create more human scale structures which are progressive without wrecking the environment?

One thing's for sure, I don’t think Hong Kong will provide an answer - but I do like skyscrapers and I really like bright neon signs - and it is part of China - so, it should be fascinating.

It will be great to be able to see you soon - but be warned - we are likely to go on and on about the trip.…

Matthew, have you been abducted by aliens? We have not heard from you since Tokyo. If you have not been abducted, then do drop us an email to say hi; if you have been abducted, then maybe you can report on the nature of alien existence and I can add it as an epilogue to the Utopias anthology.

Love to you both,

Dad, Mum and Laura. xxxxxx

Close encounters​, magic islands and minor glitches.

August 4th

Hello once more from the upside down ones....

Last time I emailed I think we were going in search of wild Koalas - that was three days ago on Magnetic Island. And, yes, we DID find them including (cue: high squeaky over-excited voices) a baby Koala up a tree right by the footpath...it WAS outrageously cute. 

Next day, stirred by this David Attenborough moment, Mum and Laura went to a local wildlife centre -we have photos of Laura - hugging a Koala, wearing a live pylon as a scarf and one of her holding a four foot Croc...I was not there, I took the opportunity to throw myself in the sea for a...refreshing...swim.

Since then we've moved down to Airlie Beach - the apartment is mega posh - two bedroom, two bathroom, big balcony, ocean view - very Sunday Supplement! 

Yesterday we took a boat trip today to Whitehaven Beach - it really did live up to it's reputation of being one of the worlds top ten beaches, despite showery weather. Whitehaven Is. is quite big, a large granite lump, a few square miles in area covered in jungly rain forest with a pristine white sand beach running 6km across the seaward side. 

There are no permanent residents on the island and access by tourists is strictly limited. We went on a guided walk through the forest up to a lookout over the other Whitsunday Islands - the sun came out at that point and it was so beautiful, a small pocket of unsullied nature - quite idyllic. 

I was unsure quite if it would be Robinson Crusoe or Johnny Depp and Kiera Knightly who were going to appear out of the undergrowth. Actually, just to keep us all grounded in the here and now a small seaplane swooped in, chugged up to the beach and deposited small wedding party to do the tropical island nuptual bit...Hello magazine has a lot to answer for.

Just one more night here, then a 400 mile drive back to Cairns on Saturday to catch a plane to Brisbane then on to Hong Kong. Much to reflect and muse upon...knowing me, I'll probably not keep it to myself....

love to you both from all of us

Dad, Mum and Laura

xxxxx

PS. - the minor glitch involved booking the dates incorrectly on these apartments - the receptionist was great - that got sorted - then I lost my walllet and had to cancel credit and debit cards using a mobile phone on pay as you go to UK call centres - that was stressful...but got sorted too.

Welcome to Arcadia

1^st August

Hi,

Another email drafted out of reach of a wifi hotspot, but written ‘in the moment’, as it were. Actually, ignore that last comment, I seem to have hacked into a local unsecured wifi network belonging to something called the Tropical Palms Apartments, but, hell, if you can’t hack it as a hacker on Magnetic Island…it is, as we ALL know (of course), the unlikely birthplace of Mr. Assonge - founder of Wikileaks.

Anyway, it’s morning here in Ascot Cottage, an outrageously romantic tropical hideaway, about 150m from Picnic Bay’s typhoon wrecked beachfront; the house is set in a tropical garden that looks like Pavilion Gardens hothouse, without the walls and roof.

Ascot Cottage itself was built in 1938, it’s a low wooden bungalow with a verandah at the front, a big shady terrace at the side, where Mum and I are having breakfast of toast and mango jam. (morning Laura) she’s just got up - short conversation about Wikileaks…on goes the TV now competing with the cacophony of tropical bird calls. The cottage is nicely restored and prettily decorated in a slightly ‘retro’ manner, all drifty curtains and throws and carefully nuanced colour schemes in burgundy and cream - going in some way to explain, when we found it on the internet, why it featured as runner-up in an award for top Queensland gay hideaways!

Magnetic Island has it’s attractions….terrible pun, but irresistible…it’s a big lump of granite covered in forest about 5 miles off the coast opposite the city of Townsville. Now Townsville’s an interesting place, part military town, part university town, a place on the Australian Backpacking itinerary, full of hostels and Micky O’Flynn Irish Bars. Judging by the plant and machinery on the seafront it’s also a major mineral exporting port.

Now all of this gives Maggie Island, parked just offshore, a particular vibe. Port Douglas, where we stayed last week is very much the manicured, purpose built, up-market, slightly grey-haired tropical resort. Magnetic Island could be all of that, it certainly has the necessary Kuomi looks. The wildlife is spectacular too - possums sitting on the terrace table and bouncing about on the metal roof half the night, screechy, but invisible birds and minature wallabies hopping down the road in the twilight. Add to that Australia’s biggest colony of wild Koalas - which we going to track down today hopefully - and you have an extraordinary place.

What makes it so different is that as well as being a holiday destination, it’s also an up market-suburb for Townsville - people catch the ferry to work from here - the cottage itself is on a road with other bungalows with local families living in them - when we arrived the guy across the road was playing catch with his kids. Added that, the place also has a small ‘club scene’ with a big backpacker orientated resort featuring monthly ‘full-moon’ raves attracting - apparently- international DJ’s. Then there’s the weather- the temperature which plunges as low as 25 degrees in Winter (now) rarely rises above 29 degrees in Summer - 320 days of sunshine per year; it does not surprise me at all that someone decided to call one of the small bayside villages about 7km from here - Arcadia - it is Arcadian here, I like it, I like it a lot…

Bye for now - love from Dad, Mum and Laura. xxxxx

Refuge of the Roads

31^st July

Just a short update.

It's Saturday night here in Townsville. We catch the ferry from here tomorrow to go to Magnetic Island for 3 days. After the simplicity of camping in the outback, the Holiday Inn seems almost overwhelmingly luxurious.

The last few days have been amazing, we've been right up close to - kangaroos, wallerroos, minature wallabies, kookaburrahs, lorikeets and a small flock of emus.We've climbed extinct volcano cones, walked along bush tracks, drank fizzy wine and watched the sun go down with a mixture of Belgians, Kiwis, French Canadians and Swiss people - them trooped off together to watch microbats muster in the pitch black of a lava tube...

The size of outback Queensland is unimaginable, we drove 468km from Undara to Townsville today on empty, at times barely surfaced roads. Some idea of the size of the place can be gleaned from one sign - it said next petrol 248Km. I counted 45 minututes in the middle of the day when I did not see another car.

I think the wilderness slightly freaked Laura, as we got within 20km of Townsville we passed a small collection of houses, 'civilisation' Laura exclaimed, then counted us back into the known world...'lamposts! a roundabout, traffic, a supermarket...and so on.

Anyway, we'll keep in touch one way or another.

Love

Dad, Mum and Laura