Ap's Journey into Sound

Beautiful & Terrifying

2012-01-15T12:01:00.001Z

The Teahupoo break in Fiji being surfed in slow motion

My year in cities 2011

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. Running a startup, writing books and other trivia seemed to get in the way.

Aquaba - Petra - Cairo - Istanbul - Paris - London - Berlin - Rio de Janeiro - Ouro Preto - Reykjavik - Dublin - New York - Kiev - Brussels - Derry - Arranmore

Hot Rocks

2011-04-09T19:37:00.002+01:00

Entered a photo in an online competition on the fantastic Wired.com
And whatta ye know... My photo was chosen.
Click here

Here comes the hot stepper

2011-03-06T19:32:00.000Z

The view to the right was what I was greeted with arriving at Tower 42.

I settled down in the waiting room, trying to judge the fitness levels of my peers. I spotted some fat girls and a man well over 60, so I was heartened that "dead last" was not going to be an option.

15 minutes before the start and a lot of people started doing some weird stretching stuff. Sitting on the floor and doing the downward facing dog and all that. I didn't want to feel all left out, so I touched my toes a couple of times. Well when I say "touched" I mean I got down in the general area. I believe the scientific term is "ankles".

We were lead to the basement of Tower 42 given a brief pep-talk and introduction "No one has ever not finished, and please don't die, but if you feel like it there are first aid medics every 10 floors". Before I knew it the gun had sounded and we were filing our way into the stairwell.

The first floor went swimmingly. Full of energy I bounded up 2 stairs at a time. Floor 2 was just as delightful, I even gave some office bunnies a wave and a smile as I ran by. Floor 3 brought an inkling of doubt into my mind as I realised I was already out of breath. But hey, only 39 floors to go. Floor 4 turned the inkling into a giant ink stain of doubt as I ascertained that my pace was unrealistic. Down to 1 step at a time I made it to floor 5 before my lungs threw in the towel and I was brought to a sprightly walk.

By the 30th floor my walk had slowed and I was now using the bannisters for some gravitational assistance. I managed to pass one of the fat girls on the 35th floor (her bottom was obscuring any view of the way ahead). Shelter had kindly put some motivational posters on the wall and Winston Churchill's "Never, never, never, never give up." got me going again. The 42nd came in to view and I made sure to get a Rocky style finish in, bounding up the final steps. Tripping slightly on the way.

At the top we were greeted with a bottle of water and some fantastic views. The room was filled with pasty people and not one of us was able to stifle a cough. Stairs and lungs are not fond bed-fellows. Thankfully we were allowed to take the lift down, back to the reception room where we were handed a bucks fizz. I still had a thirst so I knocked it back and asked for another. The buzz was fantastic.

Up at the top of the room there was a screen with the finishing times. The winner had done the ascent in 4:24, a time which I think the lift would have trouble beating. One by one our times were listed and after an eternity my name flashed on the screen...

9:25... Fairly average to be honest, but with a fine head rush, some sore legs and a massive cough, I was content and made my [very] merry way home.

Thanks to all of you who sponsored me, so far I'm up to 310 pounds which is pretty good I think.

If you didn't get a chance to contribute, please feel free to do so now, sponsorship is accepted up until 1 month after the race!

Click here: http://www.justgiving.com/AP-White

Something for chaaaarity

2011-01-30T01:41:00.000Z

New year's resolutions are a dangerous thing and if not cemented in some way they are prone to fall by the wayside. Two of my resolutions were to get fit & to help out charities where I could (And you still haven't joined Kiva yet, have you?).

Ever the one to knock as many birds out with as few stones as possible, I jumped at the change of helping out Shelter - a very worthy charity helping the homeless.

So what am I doing? Well I'm joining the Vertical Rush and running up the stairs of the UK's 6th largest skyscraper. Lifts are for losers.

Would really appreciate any amount large or small, so click here to sponsor me

50 Places to see before you die (revisited #2)

2011-01-23T23:07:00.001Z

While looking through my archives I noticed the BBC "50 places to see before you die" list and noticed that I had posted about it before. I do feel like I've spent much of the last 8 years travelling and I've been to many unforgettable places, but obviously I haven't travelled nearly enough...

Visited 6 places in November 2002

Visited 19 places in September 2009

and as of today it's 23

Quite disheartening to be honest... Although 8 (Hawaii, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Florida, Niagara Falls, Canadian Rockies & Alaska) are in the US & Canada (invites anyone?)

How you guys doing?

All Kiva'd out

2011-01-23T23:05:00.000Z

31 loans available on Kiva. 31 loans are fully funded...

Wadi Rum & Aqaba

2011-01-07T22:18:00.055Z

The fun and games in Petra had to end as I had to be back in Cairo in a couple of days.

I'd heard lots of good things about Wadi Rum, but wasn't quite sure if it was going to spin my cogs. But it was on the way back to Aqaba so I decided to have a look.

And very glad I am that I did, as it proved to be the hands down highlight of the trip. It's hard to explain its draw, but the combination of mountains, valleys, canyons and the vibrant colours just come together to make it an unforgettable place.

We took in the sunset perched on a small mountain, surveying our domain. I threw in some Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy to heighten it all and hey presto, instant special moment (tm). Go there.

All photos of Jordan here

Bedouin Girl

2011-01-05T22:16:00.024Z

It has been statistically proven that 92.7% of the enjoyment of travel comes from the people you meet. You can stick all the Taj Mahals, Pyramids & Great Walls up your jacksy, give me a street side cafe and some locals to talk to and I'm happy.

My first real chat with a Jordanian came out of the blue. I was walking on a ridge high over the Monastery in Petra and this Bedouin girl comes out of nowhere and says in perfect English "Whatya listening to?", I ask her if the Arcade Fire means anything to her to which she replies "heh?". So she reaches out for the iPod and I duly hand it over. I thought she would have problems using it, but immediately she is sweeping her fingers across the screen like something out of minority report.

"Why you have no good music??". I apologise profusely and suggest the album Devotional Songs by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, which despite being in Pakistani, seemed to placate her. She started humming away and shouted "Where your photos??". I clicked on the appropriate Icon and she starts flicking like mad. She happened upon a photo of a girl. "Is that your wife?". "No", I replied. "Not married". "Why???" she asked. God, now not only is it my mother but a random 10 year old Jordanian kid quizzing me about my lifestyle. I tell her it's a long story. She raises her eyebrows and purses her lips, obviously unsatisfied with my answer, but there are more distractions to be had. Within a few seconds she is flinging Angry Bird at unsuspecting pigs and is giggling away to herself.

We're walking down the steps now back to the valley and in a moment of unfleetfootedness she slips in front of some Bedouin trinket sellers. They laugh and she shouts back some invectives that I'm sure would cause a Marine to blush. She then shouts "All your stuff made in China", which is obviously the ultimate denunciation in Bediouinese. She then repeated it in Italian to make sure that 99% of all passing tourists had understood. We walked some more and the conversation dwindled as the Angry Birds took over her attention. At this stage she was actually threatening to beat my high scores, but before she could do so we reached the bottom where her folks were waiting in a cave brewing tea.

She invited me in, but I declined as I had a hot date with a cold shower. I asked her if I could have my iPod back and she gave me the doeyist eyes and asked if she could keep it. I remained firm and told her I needed it. She let the doe act slip, started to smile and said "It's OK, made in China anyway...".

Petra

2011-01-04T22:09:00.119Z

Petra is one of those places that I had always wanted to visit. I guess it was bloody Indiana Jones that started it all. So when in Dahab it seemed like a jolly good idea to go up and visit it.

The only problem is how to get there. There is a boat from Nuweiba to Aqaba (in Jordan), but apparently it is about as reliable as an Irish boyfriend... Normally it leaves anywhere from an hour to 5 hours late and the journey takes somewhere between 40 minutes and 3 weeks.

This was all a little uncertain so I decided to cut through the promised land, despite warnings that I would be subject to all kinds of questioning and possibly a full body scan at the Israeli border.
Actually the possibility of some physical probing by a buxom Israeli border guard probably sealed the deal.

So early on new years day I made my way to Taba and said my farewells to Egypt. Some minutes later I was saying shalom & how's it going to the first [of many] Israeli border girls (yes, they were all female). She just checked I had a passport, no problem. Then it was time to queue up for a proper passport check. Again another fine lady asked me for my passport and asked what I wanted in her country. I told her I was just heading over to Jordan, which she seemed to accept. She asked if I had any weapons. I thought for a second and the devil and angel on my shoulders had a little tussle, the devil won out (yet again) and I said "Just my hands", trying to crack a nice grin. She was most definitely not amused and looked as if she was contemplating sending me in for a full body search as punishment. I survived and was sent on to the security check which I passed with no beeps. After this I was faced with yet another check, this was the proper passport check and yet again I told the border babe I was only popping through. Passport finally stamped I felt like I had won the world cup, I nearly held my passport aloft. Until I saw there was a final girl waiting to make sure I had my passport stamped.

A quick cab ride through Eilat later I was checking out of Israel and into Jordan, the entry into which being a mere formality. At the Jordanian border there were some cabbies hanging out and doing what they do best (looking shady). It took a mammoth negotiation (involving 4 cabbies, an interested bystander and a lost donkey) but I finally struck a deal and got in a cab to Wadi Musa, the gateway to Petra.

The hassles of Israeli immigration proved worthwhile as I met some Japanese people in a restaurant that night who had spent 5 hours on the aforementioned ferry. They looked frazzled and kept asking how was it possible for the ferry to be that disorganised.

Spent two days walking around Petra, which was indeed amazing. What one doesn't realise is that the building that you see on all postcards etc. (the treasury) is actually one of many such "buildings" and is at the beginning of a long valley. So you're in for a long day hiking up and down stairs and mountains. The highlight for me was the Monastery which is pretty much the end of the valley and up a very long flight of stairs. One final push and you reach a lookout point with some amazing views, all the way over to Israel and down to Saudi Arabia. A fitting end to great day.

Dahab

2011-01-01T22:08:00.063Z

I was awoken at 5am on Christmas day by the local Muezzin, giving Allah his dues. The last time I was up at 5am on Christmas day I was six years old and had peed myself with excitement.

This time I stayed dry and instead of rushing to the Christmas tree I headed to Cairo Gateway bus station to get a bus to Dahab in the Sinai.

I arrived shaken & stirred many hours later and headed to Dive-Urge where I had organised a room at last minute. The greeting was warm and I was given some Bedouin tea (with sage) and told that there would be a Christmas dinner on the beach in a couple of hours. I skedaddled to the local bottle shop (imaginatively titled "Drinks") and purchased some Stella [sans Artois]. Safely back on the beach, the food was slowly served up and honestly [sorry mom] it was the best Christmas meal ever. It was like the Egyptian chef had taken a Christmas dinner cooking course. Succulent turkey, red cabbage, stuffing, crunchalicious roast potatos, bread sauce... The works.

Spent a week in Dahab, which is as relaxed as it gets. Diving, sleeping, eating, sleeping, diving, repeat until done. Dive Urge is a fantastic place, highly recommended. But after this it was time to get on the road again.

Complete Egypt photo set here

Cairo

2010-12-25T22:02:00.145Z

Airports around the world look remarkably similar. Duty free, cash machines, coffee shops and shite music. But once you leave the building you will quickly realise where you are. Either the climate will hit you (Moscow), or the smells (Mumbai) or the fact that there a chickens roaming around the arrivals lounge (Rangoon).

In Cairo it involves the fact that 20 taxi men will descend on you shouting various hotel names. I chose to speak to the least shady looking chap, a competition he won by virtue of being the only driver not wearing sunglasses (it was midnight). I said "Arabian Nights hotel". He says "Yes, Yes" before I'd even finished the "N" of nights. I asked him if he was sure. "Yes, Yes" he replied. I'm quite sure if I'd have asked him his mother's name I'd have found out that she was indeed named "Yes, Yes". But the man cunningly consulted his 19 colleagues and after a round of shouting, gesticulating and mocking each other my driver inclined his head and said "Come, Come". I was beginning to believe that he had a severe stutter. After some "Here, Heres" and "Sit, Sits" I was safely ensconced in his 1970's Lada and was hurtling down the dark highway, weaving madly through the other cars, Cairo bound.

Spent 2 days in Cairo, checking out the Egyptian museum, browsing round Khan el-Khalili and of course visiting the pyramids.

Getting to the pyramids was rather a chore. I jumped into a cab at 7am and said slowly & loudly (how one communicates abroad don't you know). "The Pyramids please".

"Yes, Yes" says the cabby, but this time I am confident of his skills. I mean what could possibly go wrong?
Half an hour later we pull up outside The Pyramids Casino...

"No, The REAL pyramids" I say, making an impressive attempt at forming a pyramid with my hands.

"Yes, Yes" affirms Mr. Cabdriver and we both laugh this off as if we are sharing a joke.

10 minutes down the road and we roll to a stop outside the New Pyramids Hotel. At this stage I'm questioning my sanity. So I redraw the pyramids with my hands and actually do a mummy impression (hands outstretched and head bobbing from side to side, I'm a natural). I'm not sure if that freaked him out, but whatever it was he hit the gas and sped off south.

Running out of options we actually arrived at the REAL pyramids about half an hour later, but in the meantime a smog/fog/low cloud mix had descended and obscured any sign of the 'mids.

I paid my pounds and entered. I had heard that the touts were quite aggressive so I had brought my iPod. This proved to be a sound decision (boom boom) as within the first 60 seconds I had been approached by 3 postcard sellers, 2 camel drivers, a donkey driver (with serious animal envy, I'm sure he was saving up for a camel) and a partridge in a pear tree. I smiled graciously at them and walked on.

The misty mix was still hanging low, so I found a rock, sat down and had a banana. A couple of minutes passed and in the distance a grey dot appeared. The dot grew larger and within a couple of seconds something vaguely pyramidal appeared. A few more seconds passed and lo-and-behold this beauty to the right loomed on the horizon. Quite spectacular and all heightened by a fantastic playlist on the pod. Couldn't even be ruined by the snotty nose kid shoving some grubby postcards in my face...

Istanbul

2010-12-23T22:04:00.069Z

Snow was not present on landing in Istanbul, in fact it was positively balmy once I walked out of the airport into the night air.

Spent a night in a lovely hotel and after a leisurely breakfast I revisited the sights of Istanbul. The Blue Mosque & Hagia Sophia were as impressive as ever and after a walk through the university I headed down to the Bosphorus to watch the lads fishing and to get a killer fish sandwich.

A quick beer under the bridge (in a restaurant, not like a down and out (although I have done that too)) and I had reconfirmed what I knew before: Istanbul rocks.

A couple of hours later I was back the airport. En route to which the taxi driver tried to overcharge me - "special route". I laughed and told him to forget it and gave him a 50 Lira note (still too much for the ride). He then tried to pull the 5/50 Lira note trick (the 5 & 50 Lira bills look very similar). I told him his mother had a beard and jumped out of the cab. Travel advice #450: Keep your luggage with you in a taxi & #451: Have the correct change to be able to throw at them and leave the car - not cool to tell a taxi driver to rot in hell when your luggage is being held captive, nor it is easy to refuse to pay a fare when you need change out of a 50 euro note). Not the best end to Istanbul, but like Arnie, I'll be back.

Couple of photos here

London-Amsterdam-Istanbul

2010-12-22T20:37:00.083Z

Snow, ice, cold, plum pudding, brussels sprouts are not things I particularly like. So a couple of days into December a Christmas & New Year getaway was planned. Wanting to dive & get a bit of culture I decided to flee London for Egypt.
Unfortunately direct flights were already way over 500 quid. So with some Kayaking and map consulting I found a cheap flight to Istanbul (with KLM via Amsterdam) and then a flight from Istanbul to Cairo the next day

A couple of days before I was due to fly the skies broke and snow descended en masse. It was beautiful - deep and crisp and even, people skiing by me in north London. But the airports seemed to struggle, but hey, what's the worst that could happen with a couple of dozen cm of snow on a runway?

Well as we know now, the worst that can happen is that the busiest airport in the UK (and Europe for that matter) ground to a virtual standstill for 7 days. I tried to contact KLM the night before my flight, but was politely told that they were busy and to feck off. Not happy letting some frozen water ruin a holiday I searched for alternative routes. Boat to Holland? Nope, would have had to leave 12 hours ago. Eurotunnel? Booked out. Swim? Too cold. Damn this living on an island malarkey. But somehow the snow Gods smiled upon me and at 1am a flight from Gatwick to Amsterdam magically appeared.

I normally arrive at an airport about 59 minutes before departure but on this day I left about 4 hours before - British transport being notoriously susceptible to "wrong" weather. My choice was wise, as the tube was delayed and the train to Gatwick also. But despite all I got to Gatwick to find a fully functioning airport, with minimal snow cover and few delays. Finally proving that the authorities at Heathrow are just incompetent nitwits.

I was still trying to contact KLM to tell them that I would be taking the Amsterdam-Istanbul flight and not to give the seat to someone else. Their service line was still disconnecting me with teutonic robocop efficiency and they were not answering their emails. In a final fit of desperation I check their twitter account and see that queries are being answered, so while sitting on the plane ready to taxi I had to f*cking tweet to KLM to save my seat... When we landed a tweet alighted from my Blackberry informing me my seat was kept and to enjoy my flight.

Where would we be without modern technology, eh?

Saner. I honestly needed those 3 pints in 40 minutes at Schipol airport. Just for the nerves.

Extreme sports extremely artistic

2010-11-20T01:56:00.002Z

Most "extreme sports" videos seem to revolve around tattooed dudes doing impressive stuff with an accompanying soundtrack of west coast punk music.

This video seems to break the mould. Beautiful music, fantastic cinematography, amazing scenery and yes a guy who is an absolute genius on a bike. But the video conveys more than just his skill.

Check out the HD video in full screen.

More of this!

"

Things everybody thinks

2010-11-09T14:41:00.001Z

Not normally a fan of internet lists, but this list of Things Everybody Thinks is rather accurate...

The New Escapologist

2010-09-22T21:36:00.005+01:00

My new favourite website - The New Escapologist

Somewhere between the 100 item challenge, the four hour workweek, vagabonding, extreme early retirement, technomads, free and minimal living there seems to be a bit of a meme evolving here.

Reducing consumption & possessions, living ecologically and optimizing time spent doing what you really want to do rather than sitting in a fattening pen / open plan office waiting for retirement, does seems like a smart plan.

Oh and have you joined Kiva yet?

Social networking #101, Day 1

2010-08-24T11:45:00.005+01:00

Welcome to the 21st century.

You've finally found your way on to Facebook and maybe even LinkedIn too, but in your rush to have as many connections as possible, please bear these 3 really, really simple rules in mind:

1. Just because we once worked together, doesn't mean we are friends. Now we might have actually had a chat in the cafeteria, or I might have even told you they were nice shoes, but honestly that doesn't make us buddies, so don't try to befriend me on Facebook. I don't want to see pictures of your cats, bicycles or get asked to buy you a pig for your farm.

2. We might have spent the night shooting tequila in a bar in Kathmandu and in a moment of weakness I might have befriended you on Facebook, but please don't try and become a connection on LinkedIn. I don't even know what an "Oyster Floater" does, nor could I comment on your abilities in said profession.

3. If we had a business relationship AND by some fantastic coincidence we spent a fair amount of our free time, socializing together. Then yes you may tick both boxes and collect $200.

If you're still having problems with the rules please ask for assistance.

$1000

2010-08-19T13:40:00.002+01:00

How far can you travel on $1000
15 days in Japan or
71 days in India
Hmm... Let me think about that one.

Progress

2010-08-16T22:01:00.000+01:00

I'm actually starting to believe that my little apartment in Brazil might actually become a reality one day.

Here's the latest construction pic:

A man after my own heart

2010-08-16T21:49:00.004+01:00

A chap in New York who has distilled his life down to a laptop, iPad, Kindle, clothes and bedding.

Cult of Less Blog — Is it possible to own nothing?

But honestly why the iPad & Kindle??

On a similar note, an interesting article in Time about the so called "100 Thing Challenge". An attempt by people to live with 100 items or less.

I'm doing pretty well on 55 (underwear counts 1 though!)

TagGuru

2010-06-12T17:46:00.002+01:00

Well, while practising for my motorcycle test and generally avoiding too many bars, I have created TagGuru.

An all seeing application for making sure your music collection is in shape!

Probably only of interest to people who are fairly anal about having their music collection in order, but I guess that is 10% of the population :)

Republicans block oil spill liability bill

2010-05-24T02:34:00.000+01:00

Quite unbelievable in light of the catastrophe unfolding in the gulf of Mexico that the Republicans have blocked a bill to increase oil spill liability from 75 million to 10 billion.

So rather than get a multi trillion dollar business like BP to pay for the damages it has caused, the US tax payer is left to foot the bill. Just another case of shameful, cowardly politicians sucking up to big business and not actually serving the best interests of the people that voted them into office.

Stonehenge

2010-05-23T23:11:00.003+01:00

Some pictures from my recent motorbike trip to Stonehenge

Ryanair - A golden oldie

2010-05-18T12:37:00.000+01:00