Saints and Sinners

Second partying night in a row, before leaving Sydney -and Australia…

It was probably 4.30 AM. Malcolm went to bed after midnight. Jen and I were drinking whiskey and talking all night. She couldn’t sleep - and I was totally awake too.

Way too much whiskey.

Yet, we were no sinners, nor saints that night.
Talking to Jen felt like talking to an old friend.
At some point we were going through all my luggage… I could hardly stand straight.

Me: God, I'm not gonna make it, they'll not
let me in the airplane haha.
Jen: You'll be doing fine, don't worry.
Me: Do you think that along with a bit of good behavior,
this shirt is gonna do the trick?
Jen: No, not black one, take the white one.
Me: This white Armani thing? Are you sss... sure?
Jen: Yes, that one looks better.
Me: And on a top of it.... jacket oo, or the coat?
Jen: I think your black coat looks better with that white shirt.
Me: Cool. I think I should smell better toooooooo. *I pulled my Indian oil perfume
out of my pocket* .... so, how 'bout now?
Jen: You look definitely better now and you even smell good.. that should do the trick
I guess, haha.
Me: I hope so, and otherwise I'llllllllllllll be back -- and you'll have to party with me
tomorrrrrrow night too. :))

After I gave Malcolm a wake up call and he and Jen brought me to Sydney’s airport, I had to face customs affairs once again.

Quantas ‘check in’ lady didn’t make it easy for me.

Checking in

Her: When exactly are you leaving New Zealand?
Me: I don't know that from my head right now and it's 5.15am for gods sake. Why is it
relevant when I'm leaving? I'm not even in New Zealand yet.
Her: *being stubborn* Don't you know how long you're staying there?
Me: Two weeks I think, why?
Her: Blah blah blah.... blah blah blah....
Me: Lady, don't you have to collect some money from me in stead?
Her: What money?
Me: My Melbourne canceling flight money. According to One World rules I have to
pay for it and your colleague, I had on the pone two days ago, said I should pay
it right here, right now.
Her: Wait a minute please *calling someone* .......... *a few minutes later* ...well,
I don't know anything about that.
Me: How can't you know? It's your job to know that.
Her: Our network is down right now sir.
Me: Alright, fine with me. Are my ticket and my luggage fine now?
Her: Yes, they are.
Me: Nice. Good bye and have a nice day.

Coming to New Zealand is somehow refreshing. Cold, loads of fresh air and rain. It’s probably good for my skin.

Yet, some things never seem to change. Yeh, the customs. :)

The customs

When landing in Christchurch, there was customs guy on the airport with a dog. The dog was sniffing every single passenger. So, I said to this guy:

"Sir, I have to know if it's HE of SHE first!"

Boy, you had to see his face…. he eventually started to laugh and said “it’s him.”

From my work I know that making (good) jokes, makes people less nervous and in many cases even relaxed. Customs guys are always nervous. Back in New Delhi, an Indian guy who took a metro with me (they were scanning my suitcase on each metro station there! Very annoying…) made however a bad joke. “He has a bomb in his suitcase!”, that’s what he said to the officer.
Hmmmm… it made me pissed off a little, ’cause being a foreigner and having a suitcase opened and researched all the time, ain’t fun! Really… so, make no bad and/or stupid jokes like that when traveling.

After I passed Christchurch customs, the customs lady came after me. She started to question me (for about 5 minutes) after her colleague has seen my passport and let me through.

Her: Where are you going?
Me: New Zealand I guess. *I still had a bit of alcohol in my blood from drinking with Jen last night*
Her: Where to, in New Zealand exactly?
Me: Christchurch would be my first destination. I'm in Christchurch now, right?! *smile*
Her: Yes you are, *smile* ........and where will you be going after Christchurch?
Me: Oww... well, I'm not sure yet. I'll figure that out later. I think I'm invited in W... W... Winston?
Welli.. something. It begins with W..... F*ck.. what's the place called again? Help me out a little,
will ya.
Her: Wellington maybe?
Me: Yes, Wellington is the place. I'll be there within a day or two. First I need some sleep.
Her: And then?
Me: Miss, I'm too tired for this. And I need some coffee and a cigarette. Why such an
investigation anyway... do I look that bad this morning?
Her: I'd like to know when and from where will you be leaving New Zealand.
Me: Well, it shall be either from Christchurch or Auckland.
Her: Hmmmm.... When exactly?
Me: 1th of September I think. Not sure, have to check it in my papers yet.

She was bitching a few more minutes and then she asked me to go and have my luggage scanned.

After my luggage got scanned, she came behind the scanner with me and asked if I’d put my shoulder bag (which went through the scanner too) on the table so she could go through it manually once more.

Me: Miss, there is nothing interesting for you in there, except my laptop and loads of
bank receipts and you don't want to go through it, trust me..
Her: I guess your accountant would like to see them more then me, huh?! *laughing*
Me: Not sure about you yet, but I think my accountant won't like to see them at all, he's
probably gonna break my neck in stead.
Her: *laughing*

Me: (*to her colleague*) She doesn't trust me much, does she?! Maybe she doesn't like me either.
I hope you guys have good coffee here in New Zealand after all this, 'cause I badly need one..

Her colleague laughed too and said that they have “excellent coffee” in New Zealand.

Her colleague: Over there you go to the right, and just around the corner you can get yourself a coffee..
Me: Thank you, I love your country already... well.. maybe a little.

After I said that, they laughed again and all the investigation suddenly stopped, so they let me go.

Nice. Well, not sure if it’s THAT nice.. as I prefer to get through customs as fast as possible. Hong Kong customs guys are the winners so far. They are so fu*kin’ organized, efficient and even extremely polite! That’s DEFINITELY nice! That I know for sure.

Once in the city, I found myself in X Base hostel, 56 Cathedral Square. A room with 4 beds, shower and toilet. None of the beds was occupied yet. That’s good. Booked the bus and ferry to Wellington today straight away. Leaving tomorrow morning at 7 AM. Then I had to find some food. Boy, my a$$ freezed by the time I found some decent place where I could eat. So cold here. Brrrrrrr…. I think I might appreciate a day or two sweating in Mumbai right now, honestly. Who would even think I’d miss India’s 40+ heat ever again?!

Saint and sinners, bar

The bar under my room is called: “Saints and Sinners”.
I like that.

The drinks are called: St. George, St. Patrick, St. Peter, St. Paul….. eughm, screw saints! I ordered: “The Devil’s choice” hot shot and a beer.

It hurts a little, but it’s gonna keep me warm for now.
….. and otherwise I’ll keep staring at these Geisha pics for a couple of hours.

Go geisha

Photographer Marcus sent me some extra pictures material a while ago.
Mainly our Geisha pictures. Go Geisha! I would say. Keeps the heart warm… no mistake.

Go Geisha.

Geisha close-up.

Model Valerie.

Valerie.

Photographer: Marcus Sudjojo (www.modelmayhem.com/creatip)
Model: Valerie.
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia.