The Tawny Frogmouth

We've seen a bird like this (possibly the same one) only one other time while living here in Brisbane. It was perched on a fence post in our backyard late at night, sitting perfectly still and blending in very well with its surroundings. This frogmouth's coat so closely resembles the large tree's bark in our backyard that I almost missed spotting it; at first I thought it was a nest up in the branches.

This was shot a few days after the big storms that took out our power and flooded parts of the city. Truly a rare and beautiful sight.

Christmas in Hanoi video

Can Tho, Mekong Delta

The Can Tho Floating Market starts at dawn and only lasts a couple hours. Most of the food sold goes to restaurants or inland markets. Some goes to the people who live along the river or in house boats.

Melons and child monk at the floating market. 

Most boats were selling fruit and vegetables. This is the only one I saw selling a full cooked meal: barbecued meat and soup. 

 Big boat of pumpkin-like gourds. Most boats tied whatever they were selling to a long pole so that you could see what was available from far away.

 The river at night.

Can Tho's quiet streets at night.

Drive to Mekong Delta

On Saturday we drove with eight other people from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho near the southern tip of Vietnam. The drive there took most of the day and went through the rice basket of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta. We stopped at a few places along the way, including a war memorial. 

 Memorial stone for "Ap Bac Victory" (Jan. 2, 1963) amongst the rice fields.

Shot down helicopter with Southern Vietnam's colors. 

The memorial's staff were cleaning it while we were there. 

Traditional Mekong meal. Whole fried chicken (feet and head included), wild river eel and fresh chicken eggs. The eel was good, but I wasn't a fan of eating the chicken with the skin on it.

Puppy cleaning up the bones at the restaurant.

Lotus in pond at rest stop.

School opening in rural Vietnam

The organization I'm interning with, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, built a school in rural Thai Nguyen Province with the help of the Boeing company. We went there today for the ribbon cutting ceremony. It took over three hours to get there by car and the last part was weaving through mountains and tiny unpaved roads. 

 A village baby I made friends with at the school opening. 

Note the blonde locks sewn into her bandana.

 Kids at the school.

 The official photo of school staff and VIPs. 

This is only a small percentage of the students at the school.

 The kids wore VVAF hats made for the occasion.

Boeing representative Kevin Heise and VVAF country director Thao Griffiths.

Around Hanoi

Tennis courts across the street from my house in Hanoi. 

People play between 5 am and 11 pm every day. 

 Drawing contest for disabled children at the International Day of 

People With Disabilities Festival in Hanoi.

Mural at Hanoi's Museum of History.

Around Da Nang, central Vietnam

 Dried shrimp at the market

Dried seahorses. 

(To use, soak them in white wine for a month and then discard seahorse. Supposed to be good for male virility.) 

 Wedding photos in hotel pool.

The view from my hotel balcony onto China Beach.

Moreton Island Trip

A couple weeks ago some friends and I went to Moreton Island (off the coast of Brisbane) for a "Driving Divas" day. We drove 4-wheelers around the sand island and took in the sun. The car ahead of us is our guide.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

We made the society page

At the QUT gallery.

Last Friday, we went to the opening of the Roy Lichtenstein exhibit here in Brisbane. After a few glasses of free wine, a society reporter for Weekend Edition asked to take our photo. We weren't sure if they were going to use it, but it was published today. Looks like we're finally in the "in" crowd!

Day off in the CBD

Mike arguing with a dinosaur at Queensland Museum. 

Watching the CBD skyline on Victoria Bridge. 

Ice skating at King George Square in the CBD. 

Fresh fudge at the Jan Powers Farmers Market in the CBD. 

Albert Street Uniting Church next to King George Square.

I took a day off from paper writing today and we hung out in Brisbane's downtown area, aka the CBD. We checked out the dinosaurs at the Queensland Museum, then got fresh produce and chocolate at the farmers market. Before leaving, we stopped by the Winter Festival at King George Square to get some free chai and watch the ice skaters. That's right -- ice skaters. It was in the 60s today, but if you have a spare $30 you could ice skate in front of the city hall in Brisbane. While it had its charms, I'll take the Chriskindlmarket over Brisbane's winterfest any day.

Rotary Fun Run... er, Walk

On May 27, we participated in the Rotary Club of Brisbane Centenary's Fun Run/Walk supporting a local breast cancer clinic. Since neither of us have been running lately, we decided to do the walk. But that didn't stop us from running though the finish line!

Tree planting with Rotary International President

Rotary International President Kalyan Banerjee visited Brisbane the other week to plant a tree in the University of Queensland's peace garden. Once I graduate, they'll engrave my name in one of those white bricks in the bottom picture. 

What you need to know about Australia

Think $129 is a little steep for a breathalyzer? Fear not, pay-per-use breathalyzer machines are available at festivals and outside of bars in Brisbane for just a few coins. 

Noosa weekend holiday

We took a mini vacation to Noosa this weekend -- the "hippest beachside destination in Australia" according to Lonely Planet. To get there, we rented a car and drove two hours north to the area. Mike drove and he said that it was like looking in a mirror the whole time. By the end of it, he was really good at navigating roundabouts but driving on the left was still weird. We made sure to take full advantage of the car and made a detour to a ginger factory on the way to Noosa.

We got into Noosa in the afternoon and were able to hit the beach before the sunset. Then we went to a bistro along the river and had some fresh fish. The next day we went hiking in Noosa National Park and saw a family of giant sea turtles and a few different types of lizards. Afterwards, we went to the beach again and had lunch at the Noosa Heads Surf Club -- which was voted Australia's best surf club a couple years ago. (Surf clubs in Australia are volunteer lifeguard programs that patrol the beach.) Then we swam on the main beach and checked out a second beach on the other side of the national park.

The next day we got up early and headed to the next town over, Eumundi, to see their famous Saturday market. While we were expecting more of a farmers market, the entire town center was covered with arts and crafts booths. We were able to get some artisan olives, bagels and a great bratwurst before leaving, though. All in all, not a bad weekend holiday.

"The Round"

Mike playing the uke at The Round.

This past Wednesday, Mike participated in the singer-songwriter event "The Round" in Paddington, near the city center. Unlike most shows that take place in bars, this event was all about listening and learning about the craft of songwriting. The audience remained quiet during the songs and didn't talk until the break. Mike said it was one of the coolest gigs he's ever played ... plus we got a free pizza and beers!

During the Q&A session Mike made America proud by being the only one of the singers who knew who the Muppets were. Come on, Australia! 

Aussie Rock

I guess it was only a matter of time before Nissa and I started getting Australian pop songs into our heads. The scene of the crime was the Caxton Street Food and Wine Festival, which sounds like a very formal and refined affair but reminded me a lot of the street fests that go on in Chicago -- warm, sunny and a bit crowded. The food was all right (I had my first ever canned whisky and soda), but it was the bands that were a real treat.

With the help of a couple friends from here who guided us along, we took a trip back in time to re-experience the best of 80's Australian rock. Don Walker, of the famed Aussie band Cold Chisel, was the first act we saw, and was fantastic. He had a great grizzled voice, his band was solid, and he told this one captivating story about a "bad bugger" named Harry. It gave me chills. Walker was clearly a guy with a lot of experience.

Don Walker (photo by Rhianna Patrick)

Next up was 1927, who had a much poppier sound and songs everyone seemed to know the words to. Songs like this one:

The biggest difference between the video and now is that now the lead singer is bald. Oh, the ravages of time. But our friend Rhianna insisted he was as good looking as ever. The lead singer for the next band, Boom Crash Opera, also turned out to be bald. Noticing a trend here? He was a true showman to the end, though, and they really got me with this tune:

The last band we saw that day was called The Jungle Giants. I really dug their energy and upbeat style. They were clearly the youngest band of the four we saw and it was really refreshing to see them after spending most of the afternoon reminiscing about the 80s. This was obviously a band from today. Being as they're from Brisbane, I'm looking forward to checking them out again:

The Butcherbirds

Well, our hydroponic experiment from last month sputtered to an end pretty quickly. We had problems with the pumping system after a few days and soon after that, the lettuce died. So much for our foray into futuristic home gardening.

After a few weeks of seeing the garden rig gathering dust and growing algae in a corner of our kitchen, I decided today to finally tear the sucker down. But since we might try growing herbs or something else again, I thought I would let the gravel pots sit outside on our patio and dry out before putting them into storage. To our surprise, a few large, black and white birds from the neighborhood came swooping in immediately, thinking the rocks were food. They seemed pretty bold, coming right up to our door and window, so I started taking some pictures of them up close. I even caught one eating a piece of gravel, to our dismay, on tape.



Turns out these are pied butcherbirds, which are native to Australia. I've seen them around the neighborhood quite a bit but didn't know their name until now. Apparently they are also known as the "most accomplished songbird in Australia", with one writer referring to them as the "magic flute". They do have a really unique and complex call; it's pretty rich and resonant. I'll try to get it on tape soon. Right now I'm just a little concerned about the "swooping" that is mentioned on this website, which also says you should "maintain eye contact" with the birds in order to prevent them from swooping you. What does that even mean? I hope it's not like that Hitchcock movie. The fact they are called "butcherbirds" is not very reassuring.

Sunshower in our backyard

Our Home Garden

Our apartment here in Brisbane is surrounded by lush forest and overgrowth, so I guess it was only a matter of time before we acquired some plants of our own. Last weekend, Nissa and I went to a free training seminar about home gardening where we expected to learn a few tips on growing herbs and small crops on a porch or in a backyard. So we were pretty surprised when we got to the class and the instructors told us we would be building and taking home a hydroponic gardening device. All for the price of... well, nothing.

Our kitchen garden.

The class provided us with all the tools and starter plants, as well as a small pump to drip feed water to the plants throughout the day. Actually, the pump was an air pump meant to oxygenate fish tanks, but with a little clever engineering we were able to transform it into a water pump that would normally be a lot more expensive. Really a brilliant way to save some money.

So as I write this I can hear the hum of the air pump from the kitchen and the light trickle of water coming out the feeding tube. Now to wait and see if this lettuce actually grows.