Visiting the Googleplex

It was not possible for me to stay in Palo Alto, home to the Silicon Valley, and not visit a couple of the local ’shrines’. One of these was Google HQ, known as the Googleplex as it is a conglomeration of separate buildings on a couple of blocks. Strictly this is in Mountainview, which is just south of Palo Alto itself. I took a couple of panoramas from there, which can be seen by following the links to the Googleplex HQ Panorama and the Beach Volleyball at Googleplex. In the latter one you may just about be able to make out the Google Dinosaur, a model of a T.Rex skeleton (or is this now the G.Rex). One wonders whether this is a warning to all the workers never to stand still and thus become extinct, or a subversive view that Google has of it’s competition.

The other is the Hewlet-Packard Garage, which stands on Addison Avenue, not far from Stanford University. The garage was set up by a Stanford Professor, Dr. Frederick Terman, who conceived the ‘Silicon Valley’ concept as a means for graduates to set up their own hi-tech companies in the area instead of leaving to go elsewhere. Little did he know…Or perhaps he did.

To Surf a Couch

2 months on the road so far and only 2 hotel nights used. Quite amazing really. Some of this has been through friends, but a lot has been with total strangers through www.couchsurfing.com – a site that links travellers with people who open up homes and allow them to stay. This is an amazing travel resource, and can lead to quite amazing experiences. Here are some of the highlights I have had:

* Staying on a farm in the Hunter Valley region of Oz where the ‘roos came onto the lawn at dawn and dusk, there were fantastic night skies and a barbie was duly turned on and a bear opened on my arrival. Great place to relax and unwind at the end of a day.

* Staying with a marketing manager in Hong Kong who is also a stand up comedian at nights in the middle of Central, a fantastic way to get a taste of this highly paced city. To get there took 20 minutes on a series of escalators to ‘Mid Level’ which only go down in the morning and then up in the afternoon.

* A wooden hut on a hillside in North New Zealand with a self sufficient family with almost 10 children who had built their own home, were upgrading to another they were in the midst of building, had built their own hydro dam and to practice a stone wall building method, made a swimming pool. Another world. Kept ‘company’ by a possum that insisted on dancing on the corrugated roof for the night.

* A gypsy caravan on the west coast of South Island owned by a couple from Cambridge (UK) who had moved out to set up their own self sufficient area. Shared with dogs, cats, chickens and other assorted. Fantastic place.

* A home made sailing boat built by hand by the person living on it over a 2 year period in Lyttleton harbour. What a great  last night on South Island. Would love to have had the time to spend a few days there.

And that is just a few of the fantastic shows of hospitality I have received over the last 2 months from various people in various places. So, with all my limbs still intact I am about to finish New Zealand and head for Fiji.

Escape from London

T has finally arrived, and the trip has begun. First of all was the final watering of the plants and final check, for the nth time, to make sure all the documents were in place before finally walking out the door. It is a bit odd, to take one more look around the bedroom I won’t be using until April. And then to step into the steely outdoors, one last walk in the autumnal cold towards the tube station. There to find that the Piccadilly line is partially shut so please use the Heathrow Express from Paddington. And the Circle line had severe delays due to staff shortage, so my last journey through London was by bus.

Heathrow, actually a far more pleasant experience than expected to check in. Security check was easy enough. A poor man rushed back and forth pushing trays around in a Mr. Beanesque manner adding a little entertainment to the event. And now I sit in a surprisingly relaxed departure lounge with blue Christmas decorations illuminating the hall. So the next step is a 12 hour flight.

This is the point to introduce you to my travelling companion. A little shy, but a caring creature. Here is a picture of the huggosauras who will join me in the trip. Caught sat atop the luggage (which sadly has no feet and will not follow me wherever I go) just prior to watching it disappear down the Black Conveyer of Opportunity, hopefully to be reunited in Hong Kong. Let the flight begin.