dtraCorp

mexico 2008: campeche - xpujil, calakmul, and chicanna

dtra — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:54:56 GMT

we had a bit of an issue getting to xpujil (in the south of campeche), the bus we were meant to get on, never showed up, we got our tickets changed though, and got on the next bus. we arrived in xpujil about 4pm (on a saturday), which is pretty much just a town on the side of the highway. there are restaurants and hotels, but not much else, we didn't look too hard for a place to stay, and ended up spending the most for accommodation of the whole trip. that evening i went down and asked some taxi drivers about prices to get to calakmul (as this was the way i'd read to get there), they all quoted $800 pesos (even chatting amongst each other), so i'm not sure if any bargaining was possible. we didn't bother, we just wanted to get there.

the plan was to leave the hotel at 6.30am and get to the site by 8.30am. so a very early start (to get the best light and least tourists). up we got at the crack of dawn, and our taxi driver was waiting for us outside the hotel.

it's about a two hour drive from xpujil, about 45 minutes to the turnoff to the calakmul biosphere (west back towards escarcega), then another hour or so up the road to the entrance to the ruins (where you'll see dozens of wild turkeys, maybe some deer, a brown lemur-like animal, and other assorted birds). surprisingly, for such a big site, the entrance fee was only $39 pesos, unfortunately, there were no maps to be had there, and make sure to bring your own water, there weren't any hawkers either. only one other group of tourists showed up at the same time as us, a couple of small buses appeared about the time we were leaving, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves.

from what i could see, the site encompasses something like four sections, the main plaza (where structure ii is located), structure i, and two gran acropolises, of which we went to the one with structure xiv. it takes about twenty minutes to get from the entrance to the first site, the central plaza, walking on a cleared path, with trees to each side (and howler monkeys roaring, didn't see any though ). i decided that we should head straight for structure ii, the second largest building at the site. a massive pyramid with tall trees growing all around it, it's hard to take a good picture of it (for someone with my skills). it's a tough climb too, you get up to a certain point, then realise, you have to go down a few metres, then climb up another flight of stairs to the actual top. once there though, it's an awesome feeling, the view, the breeze, the sense of grandeur, it's quite remarkable.

like the pyramid of the sun at teotihuacan, there is a very pleasant breeze at the top that totally relaxes you. we sat up there for about 15-20 minutes before heading down to explore the rest of the plaza. only one other structure there has a view above the trees, that would be structure vii (it's a good one though). other interesting artifacts include stelae, and carvings, and all the signs in front of the structures have a spanish, mayan?, and english description, so that's not a problem.

we headed for structure i next, about 10-15 minutes away, past structure iii (which is not particularly impressive (not to me anyway)) and on the way to the gran acropolis with structure xiv. the biggest structure at the site, the top had a surprisingly small platform. maybe enough room for ten people, lucky for us, we were there by ourselves. again, a very nice breeze, and a great view (supposedly on a clear day, you can see the ruins at el mirador in guatemala, it was clear for us, but perhaps you need binoculars), not as good as from structure ii, but not bad .

after that, we headed down, and decided to see the gran acropolis closest to us (it had a structure that we could see above the trees from structure i). i think it was about a twenty minute walk, but the view was well worth it. we did see some other tourists there, but they didn't bother us , be careful at structure xiv, there is monkey shit everywhere (as ozzy learned) . it actually provides great views of structure i and structure ii (which i'll post in my gallery), and was our last stop before leaving. there are other structures in the vicinity, and also a whole other acropolis to visit, but we didn't want to jerk the cabbie around too much, so we left it at that.

on the way back to xpujil, we decided to go to chicanna (for an extra $100 pesos), a smaller mayan ruin about 12km west of xpujil. it's a pretty small site ($39 pesos entry, no maps, hawkers, or tourists) with only about six buildings, one of which has a very cool monster mouth doorway.

we only spent about twenty minutes there, and decided not to go to becan (another 4km back toward xpujil) as well as we were just too stuffed by that point. becan are ruins that can be seen from the highway, but you'll obviously need to go inside to see them properly.

we got back to the hotel around 3pm, and didn't do too much after that, there's not much to do in xpujil. i have to say, this was one of the things i really wanted to do, after reading about it in the lp, and on the web, and i have to say, despite being the most expensive part of the whole holiday, it was well worth it. i don't think i have the pictures to prove it, but it was my favourite site (possibly because there weren't any other tourists there), but also the setting is so serene. unfortunately, it's not the easiest place to get to (which probably helps keep the tourists away), and there isn't a lot to do in town, but don't let that hold you back, calakmul is very impressive. and on that note, i'll finish, and take off again in tulum, quintana roo.

pic of me (david tran) taking in the spectacle of structures i and ii from structure vii at calakmul.

mexico 2008: chiapas - san cristobal de las casas and palenque

dtra — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:11:35 GMT

we arrived in san cristobal de las casas at about 7.30am on a wednesday, very tired, but at least not sick from the bus ride (i don't know how ozzy got through it ). found a hotel that had a triple room (as well as free internet, thank you lonely planet), and settled in. i was ready to go, but ozzy needed to catch up on sleep (that's right, i'm calling you out ), so by the time we got out and about, about 11am, it was too late to get on any tours (except for one afternoon horse ride, which we declined). i was a bit tired in the afternoon anyway, but we wandered the streets, and checked out the markets and shops.

similar to oaxaca being very touristy, it has a similar vibe, which i have to say, i really liked. it was quite relaxed and chilled out, another good thing, the weather was the mildest we had, clear blue skies, and relatively cool weather (maybe 22-25 degrees). that's pretty much all we did in san cristobal, wandered around the cobbled streets and checked out the markets. it would've been good to stay there longer, but we had to get moving to palenque. so one night, and half a day, it was a bit of a regret after we saw some pictures of the canyon del sumidero, it looked pretty spectacular, a day trip would've been good .

about midday the next day, we got on a bus, and headed for palenque, home to some picturesque mayan ruins located in the middle of a jungle. we got there about 5pm, and felt the heat as soon as we got out, away from the chilled air and mountains of san cristobal, the steamy lowlands of palenque were a big shock. we wandered from the bus station down into town to check out some hotels. we were sweating bad, the first hotel didn't have a triple, the second a block further, did, so we went with it (more info when i do my accommodation post).

we got a colectivo to the ruins the next morning and arrived at 8am (opening time), slightly cooler in the morning and with decent light (an hour earlier would've been awesome, but obviously not possible) we wandered around the ruins for a bit less than three hours (a lot more tourists here than any of the previous ruins sites). i actually ran off at the start to take advantage of the light as much as possible, and pretty much looked around by myself for two hours (half looking for the other two). the ruins were really cool, nothing compared to teotihuacan in terms of size, but the setting and ambience more than matched teotihuacan's dimensions.

the main structures (the most photogenic anyway) were in the southern part, with smaller, less interesting ruins in group b, group c, and the murcielagos group, towards the north exit and museum. there are some nice little waterfalls there though. the museum, which we didn't get to (none of us could find it), was located just to the left as you leave from the north exit, i went out there, and didn't see anything, so went back in, and all the way back to the west entrance/exit (i needed to grab some pictures of the palace still anyway), and waited for alf and ozzy for about twenty minutes.

we got another colectivo back to town, and rested a bit, before heading out to misol ha by taxi, 20km out of town for a swim. the waterfall was pretty spectacular, i've seen niagara falls (but i was too young to appreciate i guess), we took some pictures, but the best part was having a dip in the pool. there are ropes across the pool so that those that aren't great swimmers () can get across to the other side. it was so refreshing, we got away from the heat of palenque for one hour in a beautiful setting, and just chilled out. there is some water than runs down on the opposite side from the entrance, where you can climb up, and just take a shower, or have a running water massage. unbelievably soothing, the water rushing into your back is quite powerful, but relaxing, better than any spa.

we had to leave though, and started sweating it up in the taxi ride back to town. we had an early bus ride the next day, 8am, on our way to xpujil and calakmul, and that's where i will continue next time. oh, and ozzy had finally started to recover ever so slightly by the time we got to palenque.

picture of the temple of the inscriptions (right near the entrance) at palenque, i stuffed this one up, iso 400 (which i left on for several other photos ), not climbable, but a good view nonetheless.

mexico 2008: oaxaca - oaxaca and monte alban

dtra — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:16:42 GMT

we arrived in oaxaca city on a warm, and sunny (though hazy) monday afternoon. the bus ride was pretty cool, through some mountainous, and rugged terrain; the arid, cactus-laden landscape that one would expect from mexico. unfortunately, we couldn't stop and take any pictures, so all those mountains, rock formations, and cacti will have to remain memories in my head . with just one day to spend in oaxaca, we were basically locked into seeing monte alban, and doing some shopping in the markets (i never got a chance to try a grasshopper either ).

we did a bit of wandering around town after we arrived, it's a pretty colonial town with lots of cobbled streets, and a nice big zocalo. it's touristy for sure, with lots of things to see in the region (too bad we didn't get a chance to see too much), saw the cathedral at least.

onto monte alban the next morning, catching the bus as suggested by the lp. monte alban is the only pre-hispanic site built on top of a hill (as far as i am aware), and provides some spectacular views of the valley around, albeit hazy. my understanding is that it was a zapotec ritual centre/settlement, which is what i read from the lp (we didn't have any guides). it's a pretty big site, although it took us less than two hours to get around, and has a nice breezy elevated platform (the south platform) at the southern end (obviously). climb up there and there are lizards, cacti, bugs of all sizes and shapes, and another largish structure which you can't climb. the bus to go back didn't arrive until 1pm i think, and we had finished by about 11.45am, so we had a chance to cool down in the shade (it was hot!!) for a while before our trip back.

we pretty much just spent the rest of the day chilling out, although alf and ozzy looked at some market stuff for a bit. we probably could've rested a bit more, as we had a tough overnight bus ride to get through in the evening, but it wasn't a big issue. personally, i would've loved to have spent more time in oaxaca, i really liked it, easy to get around, and lots of stuff to do in and around town, it had a real nice vibe (i liked it anyway) to it. and to finish, yes, ozzy was still feeling crap at this point, but at least good enough to take in monte alban's brilliance.

picture of a cathedral in oaxaca city, the church of santo domingo, it's north of the zocalo, just next to the botanical gardens (which were closed when we were there).

mexico 2008: puebla - puebla and cholula

dtra — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:35:22 GMT

we arrived in puebla on saturday evening, with ozzy still feeling like crap, alf wasn't a lot better, but at least wasn't bed-ridden. didn't do too much that night, went for a wander down to the zocalo (which has a pretty impressive cathedral on one side, though we didn't really have a look) for dinner, but not much else, it was busy, but by the time we went back to the hostel, it was quieting down pretty rapidly. we only had one full day in puebla, the options were cholula and volcanoes. the volcanoes seemed out of reach, so we (excluding the sick ozzy) just went to cholula to see the church on top of a massive pyramid.

the lonely planet said there were a lot of churches in cholula (as well as puebla), and it became apparent that it was correct pretty quickly. we eventually made our way to the base of the pyramid, this particular pyramid has such a massive volume because of it's width, moreso than it's height, so the climb up the stairs wasn't as steep or harsh as previous or future climbs. first, we went up to the church for a view of the town and surrounds, it's a pretty good view, and you could probably get a good sunset/sunrise as there are views all the way around the church (not 360 degrees). it was sunday, so we got into the archaelogical area for free, overeall though, the site isn't particularly inspiring, it's really hard to imagine, as the pyramid is pretty much completely overgrown. before we left town, we grabbed some tshirts at a tourist shop.

got back to the hostel, and ozzy was still lying in bed. we eventually got him out of bed, and headed up to cerro de guadalupe to try and get a long distance view. we went well past the stop, and had to walk a couple hundred metres back up the hill to get to the turnoff. according to lp, there are good views of the two massive volcanoes, popo and izta, as well as fresh air. i'm not sure how fresh the air was, but i didn't see two big volcanoes to the west, the view was pretty obscured by gum trees. we did see a big mountain/volcano to the northeast (according to my compass and the sun), which i think was la malinche, it wasn't a clear view though, very hazy. also, the fort (where the famous cinco de mayo battle was fought) was closed, so it was a pretty disappointing outing.

we went back to the hostel, did one more round of the zocalo for dinner, and left it at that for puebla, we had a morning bus ride to oaxaca. i don't think we saw the best of puebla, it would've been good to see the volcanoes closer up, as well as some of the other stuff around town.

picture of the church sitting atop the cholula pyramid, if you can imagine how far the base (and that's only a small section of it) is from the bottom of the church, that is a massive structure.

mexico 2008: transport

dtra — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:27:45 GMT

i was going to post this at the end, but have decided to do a double post tonight. this will be a review of the transport that we used to get to and around mexico. things didn't start off well though, we had an american airlines flight (run by qantas) to los angeles delayed by about eight hours (initially they said about six hours). to make up for this, qantas gave us $62 dollars in food vouchers to use at the airport (they had five $14 vouchers, and one of them was crossed out and changed to $6, a token of good will for us to get a bit more than $20 each ). we decided to hang around the airport (which, in hindsight was probably a bad decision, but it would've been expensive and time consuming to get out and back), and had some food, then found out that melbourne airport doesn't have a viewing platform.

los angeles airport (lax) is almost certainly worse, i never wanted to go to america because of their ridiculous finger print laws. unfortunately for me, i had no choice, their customs is so ridiculously slow, and unhelpful, we had to wait four hours at that airport before the flight to mexico city on mexicana. we had no issues whatsoever with mexicana, on time, efficient, and straightforward, and they spoke english too (even on the internal merida to guadalajara flight).

travel between cities in mexico is probably best done by bus, there is an extensive bus network, and it ran very smoothly for the majority. prices quoted in lonely planet are pretty outdated it seems, but trip times are pretty much right. here are the prices that we paid for first class buses on ado (comfortable and very secure for us), between cities, at the time, pesos to us dollars was about $1 usd to $10 pesos.

mexico city to papantla - $220 pesos
papantla to xalapa - $172 pesos
xalapa to puebla - $126 pesos
puebla to oaxaca - $270 pesos
oaxaca to san cristobal de las casas - $362 pesos (overnight is probably not a good idea, you get disoriented as the bus drives around and over mountains in the dark, at least one person threw up, i would've if i felt that it would make me feel better, i took deep breaths and sat it out, cos i thought if i spewed once, i might do it several times)
san cristobal de las casas to palenque - $122 pesos
palenque to xpujil (to see calakmul), this trip requires two legs, first we got a ticket to escarcega - $134 pesos (three hours), then we went from there to xpujil - $94 pesos (two hours)
xpujil to tulum, two legs here too, a ticket to chetumal - $78 pesos (two hours), and then to tulum - $152 pesos
tulum to valladolid - $70 pesos
valladolid to merida - $124 pesos

we had a snag in escarcega when our scheduled bus didn't arrive, and we ended up having to get our tickets replaced so that we could get on another bus that was heading our way, ended being about an hour later, so not a big loss.

second class bus trips and shorter bus rides were a bit more amusing and interesting. we used buses most of the time to get to ruins and other things outside the cities.

mexico city to teotihuacan - we just went to the north terminal and got tickets from a company that went there, slowish trip with many stops, on the return you should just get any bus that says it's going back to mexico city, but make sure it's going to the north terminal, if that's where you're heading. can't remember the cost, but it was more than what it says in the lonely planet.
local bus from papantla to el tajin, this is pretty funny, the bus has a set route, and it goes past the ruins entrance, before looping back, that was confusing, it's like 5-10 pesos or something.
puebla to cholula - listen to the lonely planet, and then coming back, ask the tourist information kiosk, and make sure to read the signs on the front of the buses that come by, dirt cheap.
oaxaca up to monte alban - we listened to the lonely planet, but some guy was trying to get us into his van for cheaper and less stops (so possibly a faster trip), we didn't risk it, but i reckon it might've been better.
palenque to ruins, same as lonely planet, get a colectivo there and back.
palenque to misol ha, we struggled with this one, it didn't help with our poor spanish, we couldn't work out if there would be colectivo's coming back, so we didn't risk it, and got a taxi to take us and wait for us for an hour or so, $300 pesos.
xpujil to calakmul - i didn't see any travel agencies in town, and i read on the web about getting a taxi, we asked two different guys, and they both said $800 pesos for about a three hour wait, and $100 pesos for each additional ruins on the way back, including chicanna, becan, etc. the cabbies were discussing the price amongst each other, so i'm not sure how much bargaining you can do, they seem to have a queue or something. our cabbie was a good guy though, stopped and pointed out some of the wildlife on the way there and back, too bad we couldn't have a chat in spanish (we felt bad). make sure to organise it the night before if you want to go bright and early the next day though, it's a two hour taxi ride.
we got a cab to the ruins the first time, it was like 20 pesos or something, we also rode bikes in the general direction, it's not very far.
colectivo to the beach, not sure, we had a free ride with our hostel, but i'm sure it would've been cheap.
tulum to coba ruins - $27 pesos, lonely planet says it is a bumpy ride, i didn't notice that, it cost $27 pesos on a second class bus, get on and off at the restaurant like the lp says.
valladolid to chichen itza - $20 pesos, there is a parador (bus station) in the chich itza car park, wait for colectivos back there.
merida to uxmal - $40 pesos, this is a 1.5 hour bus ride, so if you want to get to uxmal before the hordes, there is a 6am bus, we only got the 8am one , it's not clear how to get back in the lp, just go back out to the main road, and there is a bus stop across the road, wait for a bus there, and make sure it's going the right way, buses go to campeche and merida (despite what the sign says), one goes back to merida at 12.30pm at least.
guadalajara to tequila - $50 pesos i think, this is the slowest bus ride in the world, takes about two hours to go fifty kms, return from the same bus station.

in terms of buying these tickets, the first class ones, we bought at the terminals or ticketbus offices in the city, usually at least a day before leaving, the bus was only full once, but we didn't want to risk it. for the second class buses, the people at the terminals usually just told us to get the ticket on the day. colectivos, they'll tell you the price at the end, usually ten pesos or so. small, local buses usually just give the driver a ten peso coin, and he'll hand back some change.

from the airport and bus terminals into the city or to your hotel, there are usually set zones, where the price is set, just pay whatever they say, it's very cheap anyway (relatively speaking). if a taxi has a meter, you almost certainly want to use it, when we went from guadalajara to the airport, the guy said $170 pesos (that's what we paid, the authorised taxi from the airport cost us $200 pesos), the meter barely registered $90. otherwise, ask the driver before you get in for the price, and it's usually a pretty standard figure. but make sure that you are both in perfect understanding of where you are going, when we went to tequila, the taxi driver gave us a ridiculous first price, which we accepted, cos we didn't know what was going on (even though i specifically said the terminal name according to lonely planet, don't say antigua central, ask for viejo (old) terminal), then he went to the wrong terminal, and ended up charging us $100 pesos and getting us there late. i reckon he was dodgy, i don't know, we stuffed up when we accepted $70 pesos when we knew the bus terminal wasn't that far.

here is a short video of us riding the metro in mexico city, it's fast, the next train is never far away, and takes you pretty much anywhere you want to go, in the city. a couple problems exist though, it does get crowded (supposedly can be insecure, although we never experienced this, the insecure part), and the doors close very quickly, so don't waste time getting on or off. also worthy mentioning, it costs two pesos (20c) per trip (until you actually exit a metro station), so you could change trains several times till you reach your destination for two pesos, connex is shit!!

that's my transport review, inside mexico, it was all pretty smooth, the public transport system works pretty well as far as i'm concerned. pic of a beetle speaker car, though we never got in a beetle cab, there are still plenty around, but not as many as i thought (much less than 50% ), we also did a lot of travelling by foot.

mexico 2008: veracruz - papantla, el tajin, and xalapa

dtra — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:53:03 GMT

we left mexico city on thursday morning to go up (north west) to papantla in veracruz state, from where we would pay a visit to the el tajin ruins, and then onto xalapa to visit the anthropological museum there. we arrived in the afternoon and immediately found it warmer than mexico city (more tropical), wandered around and finally settled on a hotel, that was worse than we expected (more later). the plan was to visit el tajin on the friday, leave for xalapa friday afternoon, and do the museum on saturday.

that was the plan, and that was how it turned out, although alf and ozzy had some issues in xalapa. papantla was quite a nice town, smallish but with a nice vibe. cars (some of which were pretty cool) were driving the circuit after dark, and lots of people wandering around the square. it's a hilly town, seemingly higher in the south than the north.

after an amusing bus ride to the el tajin site arriving about 10am, we wandered around the site for a couple hours. there were some very impressive ruins there, it wasn't on my itinerary initially, but ozzy wanted to go, so i think i took a day out of mexico city or something, i certainly wasn't upset, it was a cool site. it was more popular than teotihuacan, but that could've been because there were lots of school groups there. after the ruins, we wandered out to see the flying totonac voladores, traditional to the area. these guys seemed to charge before performing, we each handed over twenty pesos.

after that, we weren't sure what to do regarding the bus back to papantla, we waited at the ruins entrance for a while, before walking out to the highway, eventually a bus came, it went down to the ruins before coming back to the highway. on the way, a bunch of school kids got on, and started hassling alf and ozzy, in broken english, and spanish, they loved it.

next was an afternoon bus to xalapa, it arrived around 8-9pm, in a very busy city (the capital of veracruz state). ozzy was to get sick, and alf was soon to follow, we didn't get up to much (friday night!!), but had a big dorm room all to ourselves.

the next day we went to the impressive (and fortunately not so big) anthropological museum, with a load of giant olmec heads, and other relics from the region, it was a pretty cool place (although it pretty much drained me of my museum visiting interest for the rest of the trip) despite not having anything (?) in english.

giant olmec head three is the near one, i'm not sure what the other one is, but alf is standing there for a bit of perspective, there were definitely bigger ones, i think there were seven total, plus one in mexico city.

ozzy was really feeling crappy at this point, and after the museum, we had a bit of a wander looking for a view of the city, but gave up cos we didn't have enough time before the bus to puebla. so a kind of rushed time in veracruz state, and xalapa especially, but i guess that's what happens when you add something to the plan later on, and also when people are sick.

a picture of the voladores sitting on top of their pole, ready to jump off and swing about upside down (tied with ropes) till they get to the bottom, the guy standing up plays a flute-like instrument while the others swing.

mexico 2008: federal district of mexico city

dtra — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:11:45 GMT

we arrived in mexico city at around 6am on a sunday, and headed for the hostel straight away (i'll post reviews on transport, accommodation, food and drinks as separate items when i have finished doing each region). we were able to get three beds in a dorm, two other people were sleeping when we got there. we slept straight away, to try and catch up a bit, and eventually around 2pm, we finally got out and about around the zocalo. sunday is probably the busiest day in town, as there were lots of people around, and stuff going on everywhere.

we were in mexico city from sunday till thursday morning, so four full days (although sunday was pretty much a write off). with our lonely planet and rough guides books handy, we managed to wander around different parts of the city, we were staying in the historical centre of town, so lots to see there. the main sights in the city that we saw were:

the zocalo obviously, with aztec performance
the cathedral, a massive and picturesque old building
the national palace, lots of great murals by diego rivera there
templo mayor, the ancient aztec temple
wandered through condesa, i'm not a coffee drinker, so this wasn't a great highlight for me
the anthropological museum, massive museum dedicated to mexico's ancient and modern history, too big to take it all in in one visit
rode the metro (more on this later)
watched the lucha libres wrestle it out, it's definitely not real, but fun as a novelty
hundreds of cops (of cadets)

the one thing we did notice was that there are basically cops at every corner, either directing traffic, or doing nothing . in the zocalo, there were a few dozen cadets just messing around doing nothing every day. there were also a lot fewer people speaking english than i expected , this was unfortunate, as it did affect the holiday a bit, i'll make sure that i am much better prepared on future trips.

the big thing we saw was out of town, we got a bus out to see teotihuacan, the ancient mexican city, home of two beautiful pyramids, and several other magnificent ruins. it's a massive site, and took us about five hours to cover it all, there weren't as many tourists as i expected (which was a good thing). the refreshing feeling at the top of the pyramid of the sun is so awesome. unfortunately, the pyramid of the moon could not be climbed the whole way, but despite that, the view was still good. it was a warm day, not overly hot, but walking around a big site like that will make you sweat. a gentle breeze blows at the top of the pyramid of the sun, making it extremely tranquil and pleasant. definitely a must visit location, lots of pictures to post, although probably not as many good ones as i hoped.

the weather was very pleasant, probably mid to high 20's during the day, and cooling down to low teens (or cooler) over night. smog and haze is a problem though, only one morning after it rained the previous night was the sky reasonably clear, otherwise, you'll most likely see hazy blue or overcast skies. the only time i ever felt vulnerable in mexico city, was once on a packed metro train with little breathing room, other than that, the city was extremely pleasant, and the people no different (in terms of attitude towards others) from any other place i've been. a great experience, and would definitely want to go back sometime and see more of the city and it's surrounds.

not sure why the picture is so hazy, but there was a friendly protest going on near the zocalo the day we came in, police were out and about (more than usual) and people were chanting.

back home again

dtra — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:33:25 GMT

oh, it's been a month, and now i'm finally back at home in melbourne. got back this morning, and really should be sleeping as i haven't had much in the past two days, but thought i'd put in a quick update as the site has been stagnant the whole time i've been away (obviously). we left guadalajara about 9am (melbourne time) yesterday, waited at the dreaded lax for three hours (i watched the spurs take game three ), before leaving on a painful and tiresome 15 hour flight to melbourne, arriving this morning just after 8am. gonna have about 1400 pictures to sort through, and expect to post between 100 and 200 pictures to a mexico 2008 gallery (i'll try not to upload stuff just cos i have it). i'll be using a different format to the past, where all pictures will be in the one gallery, and the end user should use the tags to drill down into categories further. the new scheme will require some code changes, so i'll hopefully have that all done by the time i start posting the pictures. i'll be posting all the news items first, which again, i've decided to do a little differently than in the past. i'll not be doing a daily diary type of post, rather region by region posts (in more of a dot point form), and add some reviews at the end.

needless to say, the trip was a lot of fun, a great experience, and despite some negatives (nothing major), a great month away. the biggest flaw of the trip i found, was that we overestimated our spanish skills, and underestimated the english skills of the mexicans. of course, this did help us improve our spanish, but the trip would've been a lot more enjoyable if we spoke better spanish. i'll leave it at that for now, and will probably start posting news tomorrow or the next day.

picture taken from the balcony of our dorm at the guadalajara hostel, about an hour before we left for the airport yesterday.

adios muchachos

dtra — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:18:15 GMT

time to fly tomorrow morning, four weeks in sunny mexico, chasing spider monkeys and aztec warriors. good to get away, cos my projects at work are just starting to get a bit busy . they should manage without me, otherwise, i'm asking for a big pay rise . unfortunately, i won't have the kit that i was hoping to take with me, but i will have my da21 and the dfa100, so good landscapes and portraits hopefully, as well as everything else. it really just comes down to what i can do with the camera, that low life scum wasn't able to spoil my holiday, so hopefully i take some really good photos, and have some crazy fun.

anyways, that's the last from me for a month, i don't think that i'll be posting anything while i'm away, but it may happen. if i don't post anything, i'll definitely be having a good time, laters .

pic of one of the many silica gel sachets that i now have taken with my dfa100, they took the lenses, but not the sachets, so i got heaps of extra ones.

ross noble at the melbourne town hall

dtra — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:35:39 GMT

another quick one, went and saw ross noble perform last night at the melbourne international comedy festival. i've only seen him a couple times on tv, so i wasn't sure what to expect, pretty much it seems like he just makes it up as he goes. has a bit of interaction with the audience, which starts him up on a heap of stories and jokes. it's amazing, the show went for three hours, and it's just him walking around on stage and going off into his own little world, (which included about thirty minutes lost cos some guy had an epileptic fit), it was an eventful show.

it was pretty funny, i wasn't crying with laughter as i do sometimes when watching scripted stuff, but it was a good show, well worth the price of admission. value for money, $35 bux for three hours, it's kind of hard at the comedy festival. there are so many comedians, you don't know who to see. pretty much you just need one person to make a suggestion, and go with it.

pic taken from wikipedia is not him last night.

dtraCorp crashes dreamhost!!

dtra — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:24:40 GMT

so i got an email this morning from dreamhost saying that a query in my database has been causing extreme load on the mysql server. i was wondering my site was so unresponsive , it turns out that my timezone checking query (which uses an 800 000 record table, and up to reads up to and over 600 000 records to ascertain your location) was causing the issue. i tested running the query, the guy sent me, and indeed, it took seven seconds to run. i wasn't too happy though, they basically disabled the table, and my site was inaccessible overnight.

had to do some rush job to fix it up this morning temporarily, and have since updated it so now all users will see the times in australian est and not the local time. unfortunately, i don't see a way around it, other than making the country to ip table really small, and pretty much saying everyone is from america, so wat eva, i pay $10 bux a month, i can't expect it all i guess.

i took this picture yesterday of an oil lamp my dad got, taken as a raw in-camera, and processed it as a jpeg in-camera, some slight rotation and resizing with the gimp. i can't think of how it is relevant to this post, but just wanted to post the picture somewhere.

semi-pro: review/synopsis

dtra — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:06:55 GMT

the most anticipated film of the year , semi-pro starring will ferrell is a film based in the 70's at the time of the aba merger with the nba. jackie moon (will ferrell) is a pop singer that also owns an aba team (the flint michigan tropics), he is also the head coach, and starting power forward. the teams in the aba are told that there will be a merger with the nba, and that only four teams (spurs, nuggets, pacers, and nets) will be moving. jackie moon successfully argues that the top four teams should be the ones to merge.

jackie moon makes a splashy trade for ed monix (woody harrelson) which turns the team's fortunes around, moving them up the standings and giving them a chance to snatch fourth place in the last game. unfortunately for the tropics, the aba commissioner informs the team that economics won out, and the four teams proposed earlier would be the ones to merge. the tropics still go out and win their last game for the team, the fans, and the town, and everyone lives happily ever after.

a typical will ferrell film, filled with silly antics, and extreme stereotypes, that's not a knock, cos that's exactly why i love his films. probably the best scene is the poker game, and the craziness that ensues, and pretty much all the basketball scenes are funny too (probably more so for me cos i play bball).

pic taken from wikipedia.

world pentaxium day

dtra — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:31:29 GMT

just remembered today was world pentaxium day, i was out busy all day, so i couldn't take a decent picture (not that i can anyway ), but in the spirit of the day, i took a picture at least. anyway, this is my submission (same as the uploaded pic), nothing special as i said (unfortunately), but when my confidence grows, and i can wander out and about to take pictures, hopefully, i'll get some better pics. this picture actually had dust in it , i've now used the dust alert and dust removal system, so we'll see how it works.

once again, using wireless bounce flash (i can't get enough of it ), and the da16-45 obviously.

fujifilm f50

dtra — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:58:25 GMT

this was the other little item that i was able to get from michaels this week. it's not quite the same level as the f30 (in terms of low light performance), but i'm sure it's daylight iq will be at least as good. the 12mp sensor was a concern, but i didn't really have a choice, there are no f30's or f31's going around anymore. it's a fair bit smaller than the f30, and looks nicer, but a big part of the cost is the battery capacity, less than half of what the f30 could do. i wasn't even going to take the charger for it to mexico, but now i guess i'll have to with the f50. one annoying thing, with the f30, the battery was charged in the camera, with the f50, you have to take it out, and then when you put it back in, the time has reset .

it has image stabilisation, how effective that is, i don't know (it's been dumped on by reviewers though). the menu is pretty similar to the old f30, and the controls are similar, so that's a good thing. it's got aperture and shutter priority, so fuji didn't skimp there. so nothing to write home about, but certainly, it should prove handy when taking pictures of night beers , and also candid video . it uses both xd and sd cards, and michaels replaced my xd card with a sandisk ultra ii, so that was nice of them .

pic taken with the k200d, using wireless bounce flash, all these pictures were taken as jpegs straight from the camera, some resizing using the gimp.

pentax k200d with da16-45

dtra — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:42:22 GMT

ok, so this is what michaels had for me this week, not the whole collection, but a start. i decided to dump the old fuji s3500 (well, the replacement they were going to give) and upgrade the k100d to a k200d. it's a fair bit different from the k100d, bit bigger and heavier, the new menu system is a bit easier to read, and also adds new functions. there's a raw button and a green button, which i'm not sure how much use they'll get, but i might be able to customise them. it's got weather sealing which changes the shape and feel of some of the latches and body. i have to say, the k100d felt better in my hand, but i'm sure i'll get used to this. not sure how effective the weather sealing is with a non-weather sealed lens, or flash, but it's better than none i guess.

there's still no light on the status lcd , but i do get wireless flash enabled now . also, a dust alert system (not sure how effective, hopefully i won't have to use it too often, and dust removal, same as the previous line. the sdm, again, i'm not sure if i'll get to use that, as the sdm lenses are pretty expensive at the moment. the shake reduction is improved suppsoedly, so that's good, and also the lcd screen does seem clearer too. it also has an optional battery grip, so can fit four more aa's in, could be interesting. i'm not sure what the extended dynamic range function is (extra sensitivity in low light i guess), but i'll have a play with that in time. plenty more new features, but too many to go through, so i'll leave it at that, and hopefully i'll take some really cool pictures in the future. the camera was definitely brand new too, started at IMGP0001.PEF, but that was a test shot, so it's gone.

the lens is the same old, same old, but it's a beauty, so definitely no complaints there. let's hope our new security system keeps those mofo's away, and my gear safe.

pic taken with my new fuji f50 (i thought it was in blog -- 640x480 -- mode, but it was taken at 12mp).

more dtra update

dtra — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:34:58 GMT

just another quick one, i'm not sure if i mentioned that i clipped my right big toe playing basketball a few weeks ago, but i did. so i've had a black big toe on my right foot like the one i had on my left foot a few years ago. anyways, here's a picture of my big toe now, and with the toe nail on my second toe, pretty gross ai? i think the little white part is where the new toe nail is growing from (i hope). pretty much just pulled it up to about 90 degrees, and it didn't hurt, so i pulled it back, and turned it, and it sort of just peeled off.

picture was taken with the pentax k200d (with da16-45 attached), using the af540 flash wirelessly, i definitely still need to work out how it works normally, as well as wirelessly.

stay tuned, plenty more news to come over the next few days.

dtra update

dtra — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:30:37 GMT

yeah, i haven't been posting much stuff lately, mainly cos i don't have my camera, and don't feel like it. i don't like posting stuff without pictures, and i can't be stealing pictures for all my news. anyway, i've been hassling the insurance company for the past couple weeks, and now finally have got my answer, i'll be picking up some gear today, getting some more next week, but will have to wait till after my holiday for the rest. so get ready for a plethora of news and views with my new toys. i've been wanting to post some stuff, but haven't because i didn't want to post news without a picture or two. will post something tonight for sure, stay tuned...

pic taken from wikipedia.

phillip island

dtra — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:50:58 GMT

well, everyone at work (well, just the it team) went to phillip island (i'd never been before) for the weekend, as part of team building exercises. we stayed in some pretty posh accommodation, silver water resort in san remo, just across the bridge from phillip island. the weather was pretty ordinary, cloudy and wet the whole time, but it did clear a bit today. everyone got a room/apartment to themselves, two big ones per floor, and two smaller ones. the big ones had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, two balconies, couch, washing machine, and they all had foxtel and lcd tvs (ordinary ones). we did work, played wii and xbox, a game of no rules basketball (my team won and got $50 jb vouchers). we went go karting at phillip island today, before coming home.

i got second (no prize though), a few of us hung around and had a second go at the gokarts, and saw our times improve again. that was fun, as the track is a replica of the actual phillip island grand prix track, although the carts didn't seem too fast, they did get over 50km/h, probably just the straight where it was like they were at top speed at the top of the straight, and you didn't get any faster all the way down to the turn.

sorry, i haven't posted much news in the past week or so, but it's a bit depressing not having my camera gear at the moment.

picture taken from the phillip island go kart site.

fuckin' low life scum!!

dtra — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:59:39 GMT

that's all i can say, i know i'm mincing words (thanks to the cms), but the time to vent is here, some low life fucking scum has broken into my house, and stolen some really valuable stuff. we'll start with my beloved camera(s) and lenses. that's right, my k100d and the five lenses that i had were stolen, along with my f30, and some other stuff that belonged to my parents.

i don't know what's worse, the fact that someone broke into our house, or that i am going on a holiday to mexico in three and a half weeks, and now have no camera to document the trip at all. we have insurance, so i'm hopeful that i will get back what i have lost, but that doesn't make up for the fact that i will be spending four weeks in mexico, either on a borrowed, or new (untried camera) that will most likely have shutter lag and too big dof, etc, etc.

this is just a pain to deal with, now i gotta handle all this insurance shit, and all this repair stuff, and what to do about security in future. just before easter too, i believe in karma, so the people out there, they'll get their comeuppance, but i don't really see what we did to deserve this.

the picture attached is the last picture i downloaded from my k100di was playing with my da21, the souvenirs saw everything, unfortunately, they don't have cameras in them.

his x1050: new graphics card

dtra — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:01:17 GMT

i've been having some issues with my computer crashing lately (what else is new?), but these ones seemed to stem to the graphics card (from what i understand anyway). i'd be watching some tv show, and the screen might just black out for a moment, then if i kept watching, the computer would freeze. i'd have to manually turn it off, and start up again, but the monitor wouldn't come on unless i left the computer off for a while (must be the vga overheating (5 year old leadtek ti4200) right?). anyways, so i went to msy last night and just picked up the bottom of the line card for $47 bux (well, there was a cheaper nvidia card, but i thought i could do better than that).

it's got a passive cooler on it, so it is a bit quieter than the old card too, i don't know what the specs are, probably about the same (i hope at least), it is a generation or two newer, that's how things advance. meh, i don't play games, and even if i did, this computer wouldn't handle them very well, so the card wouldn't be the bottle neck. now i just need to passively cool my cpu as well .

one other note off topic, in exactly four weeks time, i'll be on a plane heading for mexico !!