Weeeeee...

Today I went bike riding. In Ecuador. On a volcano. From 4500m. Downhill. In the rain. And the snow. ...both ways!

Well ok, it only sprinkled at the begining of the ride and was only snowing higher up... and we only went one way, but other than that everything else is true.

I took a little tour from Quito to a volcano called Cotopaxi, climbed a little to 4800m, checked out it's glacier and then rode a bike down it. It was the first time I'd riden a bike for about 17 years, so I was a little shakey at first, but before long I was sliding around gravely corners, doing little jumps off random rocks and enjoying an amazing view. It was too foggy to really see the volcano, but the small glimpses we got were great and the poor visibility and thin air reminded me of diving, so I was still happy.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to Quito, which has been a great city to wander around even though I haven't been doing much. At 9PM I fly to Buenos Aires where I'll spend the month working on some game stuff and enjoying the wonders of Argentinian Steak (yes that's steak with a capital "S"). I'm still trying to track down a laptop to rent after realising I could buy a beefy Duo 2 Core machine in Sydney for the same price as the laptop I found here, plus the Xbox 360 is more than I expected in Australia, so I'm saving my fast disappearing pennies until I get home.

I'm really looking forward to working, relaxing and having a place to call home for a while, so Buenos Aires, here I come!

A Happy, Happy Day for XNA

Yay, Yah, XNA.

The XNA Framework and XNA Game Studio Express got released today. Just to remind you this is a C# based toolset for developing cross platform games for Windows and the Xbox 360.

For more info checkout Official XNA Site or the XNA Team Blog.

Two posts that are particularly interesting are:
What is the XNA Framework?
The XNA Framework Content Pipeline

It looks like Microsoft are doing some great work here and I can't wait to get to Buenos Aires and play with it.

Las Islas Galapagos - Las Otras Dias

The group changed halfway through the tour, with only Fabrizio and I staying onboard. The second group was, thankfully, far more interesting and we had four Spaniards, and Italian couple, two Dutch, a Irish girl, an Australian girl and an America girl join. Diving continued to be amazing and we got to see sea lions herding schools of fish, heaps of turtles, rays and sharks, one of who I chased for a while before realizing chasing a shark around probably wasn't a good idea and thousands upon thousands of fish. I'm a massive fan of flock and school behaviours, so watching how the schools of fish behaved was really amazing for me. At one point we were even in a school of tuna, fish everywhere you looked. All up I got in 8 dives all of which were great and really different even if we didn't get to see sharks or turtles every dive. I just love going down, hearing my breath and enjoying the way the ocean carries you around. The other dives we did were Punta Cormorant Reef, Devil's Crown, Rabida, at Cousin's Rock and La Punta de Bartulome. They were the hardest diving I'd done, in currents stronger than I'd experienced and I loved every minute of it.

The other great thing in the Galapagos is snorkeling, and we got to snorkel with fish, turtles and, of course, sea lions. I had both the scariest and most amazing moments in my life snorkel in the Galapagos and I'm hooked on it as well.

One day after a dive we went snorkeling in a small bay where there were some sea lions. There was a huge bull who I was keeping my eye on, but ended up swimming away from where he was and put him out of my mind. I was floating around enjoying the view when he swam directly under me, less than 10cm from my stomach. He was well over 2 metres long and, after having all the talk of how dangerous they can be drummed into me, had a very freaky "Oh Goodness Me!" moment, well actually I thought something else, but my nieces and nephew read this. I was still reeling from this when he came back and did the same thing again before swimming off. His point very well made I swam out a little and waited for my heart to slow down before heading back to shore, the ship and a nice hot shower.

The sixth day found me snorkeling with a sea lion again, this time a pup who swam and darted around a big group of us for 10 or 15 minutes before darting off. That was great, but nothing compared to the seventh day, when Kerri (Ireland), Lucy (Australia) and I went snorkeling after a dive and found some feeding turtles who we swam with for about 15 minutes before swimming with another sea lion for half an hour or so. She was so playful and curious, swimming directly at me, stopping 10cms in front of my mask for a few seconds and then darting off, around, over, under, back in front, under, around and then off for a while. We chased her around, diving up and over her all having a great time. Then another sea lion appeared and joined in the fun, then another and another and before we knew it we were playing with five pups, from half to just over one metre long. I was beyond happy and think it was one of, if not the, most incredible experience of my life. Looking into the sea lions eyes as they hover in front of you, seeing the interest and curious amusement in their eyes is amazing, and watching how gracefully they move in the water, absolutely captivating.

The Galapagos Islands are an absolute treasure of this world and I highly recommend that you visit them if you get the chance. Diving and snorkeling there are amazing, as is just walking around the islands. It's hard to know what else to say about a place so amazing, but I've got plenty of photos to help me do that. You can check them out at the usual place.

Las Islas Galapagos - Dia 3

During the night we sailed to Isla Española, starting the day at 6:30AM with a dive in Gardener Bay. The 6 of us went down together this time, with the exception of one of the Spanish guys, whose ears were giving him problems, and a a pretty good dive, seeing plenty of fish and some other cool stuff. The dive got off to a good start as a hammerhead shark swam by about 3 metres away. The highlight of the dive for me was watching a school of seven Golden Cowrays make a slow, ghostly march in front of us. They looked completely otherworldly slipping silently through the water that it sent a chill through me and brought a smile to my face.

After the dive we landed on the beach and were met by another big sea lion colony. After a quick sun back, I snorkeled over to some rocks where I found thousands of small fish being chased by a hungry sea lion. It was absolutely amazing watching her dart around and through the fish that I couldn't help but giggle. It was the first of many magical experiences with sea lions that have well and truly placed them in my heart as my favourite animal.

After lunch we made our second dive, again in Gardener Bay, this time seeing lots of Marine Turtles and Galapagos Sharks, and rays of various types.

Unfortunately I started getting sick every time I tried to write down what I'd been doing after that, so this is the abridged, post-cruise version.

Las Islas Galapagos - Dia 2

The day started with a visit to Isla Santa Fé, a dry, rocky island where we saw more sea lions, this time with suckling pups and some blue footed boobies, which are sea birds the Islands are famous for… plus they allow people to go around saying "I Love Boobies", something that refused to get old no matter how many times you say it. We also saw Land Iguanas and Frigates, which are another type of bird named after the type of pirate ships because they steal everything they can, food, nest and even mates… just like us but they can fly, which is way cooler.

After lunch, we headed to Isla San Cristóbal where 6 of us made our first Galapagos dive. A quick descent ended with 2 Spaniards and I sitting 20 metres below the surface wondering where everyone was, including the dive master. After 10 minutes we went back up and was the others 300 metres away, so much for the introductory dive with a gentle current. A quick ride holding onto the side of the dingy got us over to the others, who had had problems equalizing on the way down. We tired again, this time without any problems, and were taken by a strong current past thousands of beautiful fish.

After the dive we went snorkeling and got to swim with a huge 2 meter bull sea lion. He was totally at ease with us which was good, because the bulls can be very aggressive as they protect their group of 30 or so females.

I felt a little queasy at night, but some fresh air (and a sea sickness tablet) got be back to normal, which was fortunate as there was a dive waiting for me at 6:30 the next morning.

Las Islas Galapagos - Dia 1

A 6AM wake up got me to the airport and onto Isla Baltra in the Galapagos Islands where I met our guide, Andres, and the rest of the passengers for the cruise around the Galapagos, a cool German guy called Tom, an Italian called Fabrizio, 3 Spaniards, an older American couple and a tour group of 8 Dutch, all ready to board the yacht that would be our home for the next 4 or 8 days.

My first glimpse of the Islands came as we were flying over them. Their green-blue waters peeking through the clouds long enough for me to make out waves crashing upon volcanic shores and cliffs. The islands looked surprisingly desolate considering the amount of wildlife they host. I was expecting lush greens but it turned out we'd come during the dry season, when the trees shed their leaves to conserve water. You can see adaptation in every plant and animal here and it's no wonder Darwin conceived his theory of evolution on these islands some 170 years before.

I didn't have to wait long before I was face to face with the Islands fearless wildlife. On the wharf where we boarded the ship there were a few sea lions lazing on wooden benches that I'm sure weren't meant for them. There was an impressive smell of wet dog surrounding them and they didn't bat an eyelid as the latest load of tourists, two planeloads full, staggered past, mouths open and cameras snapping.

Our yacht, the Floreana, was built for 16 passengers plus crew and was a good size for seeing the Islands. Most of the 100 tour boats working here are a similar size, though there are some that handle 80 passengers.

The first day was very relaxed and we went to Black Turtle Cove, where we saw Marine Iguanas, Flamingos, hundreds of bright red crabs and thousands of Boobies in a flock diving into the waters as they fished for… fish. All of the animals displayed the same nonchalant attitude of the sea lions, considering us with a passing interest at best. That is the real beauty of the Galapagos Islands, being so remote the animals weren't really hunted by man and so have no concept of fear. I feel a little sad seeing what animals were like before we started hunting and killing them. As I learnt during the following days, I'm writing this from Quito after the cruise, that that lack of fear, combined with the animals curiosity, gave me some of the most incredible experiences of my life, that I will never forget.

Dis-Connexion-ed

Well I'll be, Boeing are stopping their Connexion service.

Many years ago I helped start a company called Tenzing who were the pioneers in inflight email and passenger communications. We were all about narrow band and using existing hardware in the aircraft while Boeing were about their big, new and very expensive antennae. Somewhere along the line we grew from 2 to 160 people, moved from Sydney to Seattle and had big investors like Airbus. I laughed, cried and sweated blood from working so hard, having the best time of my life. Crunch time only lasted 3 years and there were many late and crazy nights coding, testing and riding scooters at breakneck speeds; jumping off ramps made from anti-static mats and beanbags over, and inevitabley into, stacks of empty watercooler bottles. Yes, we were all business in the dotcom days.

Seeing an announcement like this is a big shock as Boeing were our main competitor (and boy did they play dirty) and looked like they would be around for ever. It also brings back a lot of good and bad memories. I learnt nearly everything I know about the software development at Tenzing and I was lucky to have a good view of the amazing successes we had and the stupid mistakes we made, of which there were quite a few :)

So... what does this mean for Tenzing or OnBoard or OnAir or what ever they're called now? Mike, Hans, anyone... what's going on?

La Viaje de Cali a Quito

Montañas 3
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

16 hours was plenty of time to enjoy the magnificant landscapes between Cali, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador.

It turns out taking photos through a the dirty window of a bus driving over 100km/h is a great way to get HDR lighting effects :) ... Incidentally I'm not a nerd.

El Parque Zoológico de Cali

Mono
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

More photos, this time from the Zoo in Cali, which despite cramping 3 pumas in a little cage was generally really nice with big cage for the animals.

The monkeys were, as usual, particularly fun.

Los Fotos de Cali

Bailando Sobre La Calle
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

I didn't take many photos in Cali, but there are a few. This one is a rondom street corner when there was a live Salsa band playing and people dancing. Ahh Cali, the home of Colombian Salsa indeed.

A Busy Day

Phew... What a day. Turns out it's a little hard to find a boat to the Galapagos that leaves the same week during the high season, but I managed to get on a 8 day cruise where I'll be able to do lots of diving on a boat that looks pretty good. It ended up being usd$1300 plus usd$392 airfare to the islands plus usd $100 national park entrance fee which was less that I was expecting to pay, so I'm pretty happy with it. The cruise starts on Sunday but I'm going to get there a day early to wander around a little.

I was also running around organising my flight to Buenos Aires and having more fun looking for apartments. I've found that's available September and October, that I'm in the process of renting, so hopefully tomorrow everything will be sorted and I can relax a bit.

I've also been thinking more about the whole laptop thing and am thinking about getting a lower spec machine as money is getting pretty tight. That or renting one through the real estate agent in Buenos Aires. So far they have successfully ignored that question, but I feel my persistence shall win out in the end.

Not too much else to report. Right now life is great and I'm the happiest I've been for a while, which is saying something as I've been over the moon nearly all year. The Galapagos are going to be great and I can't wait to get to Buenos Aires. Hmm... there must be something in the air.

Have I Finally Found True Love?

When I was looking at laptops today I came across a 17" monster from Toshiba for about the same price as I was going to pay for the Asus W3J. I had a look at the spec's of the video card tonight, which is my main concern at the moment, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. It's got an nVidia Go 7900GS in it, which out performs the ATI X1600 I was looking for, being about twice as fast as the 6800GT I have in my desktop machine back home. Speedy indeedy!

Some may say that a 17" laptop is a little excessive for someone backpacking... and I'd totally agree, but I was a nerd long before I was a backpacker :) I'm going to have a closer look tomorrow and run some apps on it to test out the performance. The only concern I have is the speed of the hard disk, at 4200rpm it's pretty slow, but it's not going to kill me.

There's a good review here... and it actually seems a tiny bit cheaper here than in the US! It's strange enough that they use US dollars here in Ecuador, 10 cents never bought so much, but that's just crazy!

Oh, in other nerdy news, it looks like Java is finally going Open Source... Double yah! Pity it's, I think, too late for them in the game arena. C# has a big upper hand there, no surprises though considering it's Microsoft. I wonder what ever happened to Java on the PS2?

Happy, Happy

The trip from Cali was a little crazy, including a 5 hours wait for the bus due to the drivers being lost in La Zona Cafertera... for 5 HOURS, hassles at the Ecuadorian border since we we 5 hours late and it was closed... though magically open if we paid a measley USD$15, yeah right, they eventually let us cross for free. It was a long trip, we didn't stop for food because we were so late, but I met a cool Colombia family and chatted with them.

I finally left Colombia on the last day of my 90 day visa and am in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. I've wandered around a little and it's an awesome city. I even had Indian food, as in from from India not indeginous, for lunch which was weird but cool. I kept looking for the deep friend banana and yuka but they managed to ellude me. I also took a peek at laptop prices and they look very reasonable, cheaper than Colombia or Argentina, so I think I'm going to buy one when I get back from the Galapagos Islands.

Speaking of which, I booked a flight to the islands for Thursday and am going to organise the dive cruise when I get there.

One strange thing happened during the bus trip. The further away I got from Colombia, the closer I got to Bogotá and by the time I got to Quito I was ready to spend the rest of the year there rather than Buenos Aires. My plans were foiled however when I spoke to Aura and found she's going to Buenos Aires for the rest of the year so... BA it is. The jacuzi, I mean apartment, I had my eye on isn't available so it's back to the drawing board on that front which is a hassle, but not a big deal.

To top things off, there were a string of XNA announcements today, the gist of which is that you'll be able to build games for the XBox 360 in C# and distribute them to other XNA users for the low low price of $99 per year, which is a lot cheaper than the $10,000 you normally need to pay for a dev kit and the $10+ million budget for a game these days. Yah! A "pro" version of XNA Studio comes out next year that lets you build "real" games which I'm equally excited about. Oh, XNA titles run on Windows as well, so porting pains should be a thing of the past and you anyone can run them. Actually, with the first release of XNA Studio Express (August 30) games will only run on WinXP, which is pretty good for free.

I was thinking about doing the rewrite of Elevation in C# and Managed DirectX, to get ready for XNA, but I think good ole C++ and DirectX is the best way to go for what I want to do with the game. I'm still debating whether I should use an existing framework like PopCap or Torque though. Ahh, decisions, decisions.

Chao,
p.

Fairwell Colombia, Hello Brave New World

Tonight I make the final step of my "Free Me Colombia, Free Me!" program and jump on a bus bound for Quito, Ecudor. The last few days have been really relaxed and I've been wandering around the city, spending lots of time reading on the net, visiting the Zoo and buying lots of music.

Mike, who I went paragliding with in Medellin, has been here with his girl friend as well and it's been nice to have people I know to hang out with. We've hit a few bars, drunk a fair bit of Aguadiente and even got in some salsa which has been fun. It's been great to have a few days in Colombia but not Bogotá to just relax before leaving, which I feel ready for now. I am really looking forward to getting to Quito, the Galapagos and going diving before heading to Buenos Aires. Though there's still a slim possibility of going via Bogotá... well there's not really, but I can't bring myself to say it :)

I've also been having fun looking for apartments in BA and think I've found where I want to stay. It's in split level loft in Recoleta, looks really nice and has a great area to work on the first floor. Oh, and a jacuzi... but that is a complete coincidence and has had absolutely nothing to do with my decision making .

¡Viva Colombia!
Felipe.

¡La Música, La Música!

As you may have picked up, I love Colombia and South America. One thing I love in particular out here is the music, which is absolutely everywhere. You can't have a drink, grab something to eat or buy a pair of socks without something blaring out. I thought I’d string together a Top 5 while I was going crazy buying CDs before I leave so here it is. These are in no particular order and obviously five becomes six, becomes more pretty quickly, but here’s a shot.

Incidentally, I’m a seasoned techno warrior and while it may not be immediately obvious, mushy pop love songs only serve to make me tougher… honest.

Julio Miranda – Egoismo
(Ego)
Música Llanero, a style of traditional music where the men wear hats and set the harp alight. Many great nights were spent drinking cold Aguila beer, Aguadiente and embarrassing myself dancing to Música Llanero.

Marc Anthony – Tu Amor Me Hace Bien
(Your Love Does Me Good)
Some things just don’t translate well into English, and I think Marc Anthony is one of them.. I also think the name of the song may not translate well, but that's totally my fault. It’s impossible to go a day without hearing this massive salsa hit a few times, twice as I was writing this, and that’s ok by me. My favourite song of the year.

Julieta Venegas – Me Voy
(I’m Going)
Another ballad to swell though militant techno hearts out there.

Juanes – Para Tu Amor
(For Your Love)
Can’t… Stop… Crying… The biggest thing to come out of Medellin since Pablo Escobar.

Sin Banderas – Suelta Mi Mano
A totally manly ballad to make even the most underground of us cry like a little baby… aren’t all babies little?

Il Divo – Regresa A Mi
(Return To Me)
4 Men, 1 Remake… Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak My Herat”. It’s like an all nighter in a dirty warehouse with Surgeon, Oliver Ho and James Ruskin in the height of the Burmingham days of the late 90’s.

Reik – Noviembre Sin Ti
(November Without You)
Admittedly all their songs seem to be “ Sin Ti”, but these Mexicans know how to rock an acoustic six string.

Soda Stereo – La Ciudad De La Furia
(The City Of The Fury)
Great Argentinean rock group from the 80’s and 90’s who released. This is a damn fine song from some damn fine musicians. The version from their farewell concert is my favourite.

¡Que! ¿No Estoy En Bogotá?

It’s been a long time coming, but I have finally left Bogotá. At the moment I’m enjoying the sun in Cali, where I’ll be for a few days as I make my way to Quito and the Galapagos Islands.

My time in Bogotá was great and it’s one of the few places in the world where I could see myself living. The weather is cool but not cold, perfect for working, there are some amazing mountains surrounding the city, which has a very modern and sophisticated feel to it. Bogotá has amazing nightlife and I had many brilliant nights there, too many of which started at the Bogotá Beer Company on Calle 82 in La Zona Rosa. I was lucky enough to meet some great people through Manuel and Aura and heck, I even felt some tremors in my long dead heart, which felt like the first time in years.

I spent a lot of time with Aura and her family in Bogotá, Funza and Villavicencio and everyone made me feel at home… to the point where I was calling her mum “mami”, which may or may not have been wise considering the direction that our conversation were taking.

Staying with Manuel (from Maracaibo)’s grandma was also really cool and having my own space added to the “at home” feel I had in Bogotá. Somewhere along the way I started thinking about buying an apartment there, so I’ll have to see how that ends up. Considering a nice apartment in a good area in Bogotá costs less than the bathroom in my nice-but-small one bedroom apartment in Sydney, it may not be a bad idea.

The luxury and relaxation of Bogotá has come to an end though, and I’m back on the backpacker circuit, sharing a hostel dorm with 3 other guys, one of whom is playing guitar in thongs and ripped jeans complete with shaggy beard as I write this… Oh the stereotype kills me! I’m not as much as a sourpuss as I make out though and I’m really looking forward to getting to Quito and organizing my trip to the Galapagos. That said I’m equally excited about going to Buenos Aires and working on games again.

Por Fin...

Well, this is my last day in Bogotá. I'm leaving for Cali tonight, on account of buses for Quito only going Tuesdays and Sundays, where I'll spend the weekend before going to Ecuador.

Time to run and pack my bag!

Chau,
p.

Still in Bogotá... Mas o Menos

Here's the deal...

I was all ready to leave Bogotá, meet some friends in Cali for the weekend then hit Quito, but... well I'm still here. I spent the last couple of days in a town south of Bogotá called Villavacencio with more of Aura's family and am heading back today for a few more days. Being out of Bogotá could be a good idea since it's the 4th anniversery of El Presidente, Uribe, taking power and there are some problems with guerillas, bombs and major cities at the moment. There were two in Bogotá this week and one in Cali today. It's absolutely crazy to think that these things are going on, but I guess a lot of people live with it every day.

Ironically Villavacencio is in guerilla country, though they're in the mountains, which I should say are beautiful, rather than the town and it's nice and safe there. On my way back to Bogotá today I noticed a big increase in the number of police and soldiers around, and our mini-bus got stopped a few times to check papers and bags, but there were no hassles.

My plan today (today) is to come back to Bogotá on Tuesday, leave for Quito on Wednesday night and fly to Buenos Aires after that. A friend told me it was down to 3C in Buenos Aires, which I'm a little freaked by. I like to work when it's cold and all, but that's just ridiculous!

Chau,
p.