Really Really Big Industries, Inc.

SO, usually the Kahunas post to this blog when we are traveling to far off locations, and we make mention of cultural and sensory experiences that we haven’t experienced before. Which is why it seems fitting to use this space to tell you about a 4 hour trip that Swank Kahuna and I took last night through the Grand Tour MOTO – 20 courses of molecular gastronomy at MOTO here in Chicago.First, if “molecular gastronomy” makes you think of food science to make sweeter tomatoes for Heinz ketchup let’s have a bit of a lesson from Wikipedia: Chef Homaru Cantu

The pics are a sad affair due to seriously low lighting and the desire not to hold up service with a real camera…Swank did her best with an iPhone to at least capture the plates as they came…

Our “trip” started with an edible menu customized with our party’s name and served on a plate with fresh ramps and a sauce that progressively got smokier in flavor as you worked down the plate.

With courses that included a liquefied Greek salad taken as a shot glass (resplendent with the finish of red onion), oil poached octopus with feta, a potato gnocchi that was “loaded” with flavors or essence of bacon and sour cream.

Faux-jito as a palate cleanser mixed table side from syringes, a white truffle custard brulee served with a single bite biscuit to die for, nitro prepared mac noodles, a caramel apple with bacon served with aromatic spoons and forks.

Then there were the desserts…and they would be desserts made by pastry chef Ben Roche that included a Carrot Cake soup that started as a perfect orb before deconstructing at our table side a Chili dog that was actually made of raspberry sorbet,and a Cafe’ con leche that was a slice of frozen coffee served with a cup of liquid biscotti….

Our group started to struggle with the quantity of food around course number 9….the portions were much larger than a tasting menu suggests.

The richness and intensity of flavors began to overload my senses early on. The impeccable and extremely comfortable and accessible service made it an incredible experience. I woke this morning with a bit of jet lag…or perhaps it was the three bottles of wine the four of us worked our way through. : )

I woke up this morning and thought about the last 2 weeks, and I had this ‘Great Googly Moogly’ moment. This one may be self-indulgent, but seriously….?

In the last 2 weeks, we’ve had video shoots in California, Mexico, China, Michigan, Florida, and Milwaukee, a photo shoot in Chicago, we’re in post-production on 9 videos for four Fortune 100 companies (one of which will be globalized into 25 local languages), and we have a composer in Japan working on 2 custom tracks for us.

So, we’d like to thank the Academy…

Mark here, on a quick gig in Yountville, CA, a delicate little foofy spa town type place about 5 miles north of Napa, CA. It’s like a gentle little enclave, so clean and tidy and manicured and “Capital of PC-fornia” feeling. I feel like I stumbled into that movie from a few years ago….what was that movie? Where the characters (whom I cared zero about) go touring wine country and have a whole lot of useless “adventures” (that I cared zero about)? It’s like that. Much ado about *yawn*. Anyway, quick shoot here tomorrow with nice people, then the red-eye back home from SFO so I can get back to the energy and springtimeyness of Chicago quick-fast! Oh, fun fact: Robin Williams has adopted the section of the 101 that leads from SFO towards city. I know because I saw his name on the “This Highway Adopted By” sign—-I wish it was because I saw him mowing the grass on the shoulder, or picking up empty In And Out Burger bags in his little orange vest or something, but no. I think he only does that when Mercury is retrograde.

Poll question: is it possible the reason I sound bitter with this post because I can’t drink? I AM IN WINE COUNTRY, IN A HOTEL ROOM WITH A COMPLIMENTARY BOTTLE OF WINE, AND I CAN’T DRINK?!? Yes, possibly…..but you decide.

Spring in Chicago is always a bit of a crap shoot… warm one day then blizzard the next. Right now if I look outside our living room window it feels like we are on the inside of a big snowglobe that some enormous child has shaken.

The last five weeks of travel (9 if you count the Super-Bowl and Pro-Bowl trips that took place right before the multi country trip) took us to some really amazing places, but mostly it was about the incredible people we met along the way.

I haven’t finished adding up all the miles we traveled this time, both by train and by plane. I do know that the combined totals of Mark and Ryan in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, my travel in the UK, Mark and my travels in Egypt, and France and then Mark going off to Eastern Europe while I trained it down to Spain really adds up.

We recently engaged in an audit of the entire Really Really Big Industries, Inc. impact on the environment. This included a tally of everything, from the bottles of water we drink to the distance our Really Really Big Team travels to and from the studio for work and certainly takes into account all of the travel for clients, hotels, electricity for all of our computers and the server rack that is humming away on the third floor, etc.

We have in the past purchased carbon credits directly from the airlines we fly with, but that system is pretty impersonal, and left us unsure about where the money was going or if it was really making any difference. The Really Really Big Team has also grown a lot in the past year or two.

So, we thought we’d share with all of you our plan to offset the Really Really Big impact we are having while we work to make changes to the studio and our work processes to reduce the impact in the first place:

Once our audit is complete and we have a finally tally of tons of carbon that can be directly or indirectly attributed to Really Really Big, we will be identifying a community project sponsored by Native Energy as an organization NativeEnergy has been coordinating projects to help bring farmers off the grid with wind energy, Hydro projects and Solar as well. The key for us when we choose them was the fact that the projects they target funds towards are all community based. It’s about sustainable economic benefits for Native Americans, Alaska Native Villages, family farmers and rural communities.

We’ll keep you posted about the project we choose to fund, and the changes we are making at the studio and in our every day lives to do at least our little part to make a difference.

We’d love to hear what you and your companies are doing, post your comments here or email us and well add them to the blog.

best wishes to you all!

Bobbi and Mark and the Really Really Big Team

Got a GPS with my rental car, and it must know me well, because the entire drive from Zilina to Ceska Lipa, Czech Republic was on 2 lane roads through the countryside. Very cool! Just one little town after another after another, then micro villages—some of them abandoned–, then mini-cities, and so forth. Lots of mountain passes, with alternating bright sun and blowing winds. Crazy! Beautiful area though, and people are a tad nicer. One big disconnect for me though—-I’ve never seen so many public Christ On The Cross statues, Mary And The Infant statues, etc. Each town had at least one at either end of it, then a bigger one in the middle of town. And they’re old, some dated as of the early 1700’s, which confuses me—I would have thought the Nazis then the Communists would have trashed them all, but no. It’s weird to see them all though, these outward evidences of a people who claim to be so very pious but who had to have helped Germany in reducing the Jewish population from 350,000 before WWII to just 20,000 by the end of it. I know there were untold numbers of heros too who hid their neighbors from certain death, but that number pales in comparison to those who, at best, turned their backs. Sorry for the downer, but when I pass through these areas, where the worst horror of mankind happened so recently, this is where my mind goes.

But my car still goes to Ceska Lipa. My hotel here is in the old town square, complete with very old church with very old and tired bell, and after a dinner of pizza and a very bad-for-me-dessert (followed by 100 pushups’ and then 100 situps’ penance) today I shoot in Ceska Lipa, then drive like crazy for Vienna and my flights home tomorrow.

It’s Tuesday, and Bobbi’s home from Spain, and I’ve got just a few more days to go before I join her—yay!! Pickin’ up where I left off… Sunday morning I diddled around the small towns near Bratislava, making my way to Devin, where there used to be a killer castle on top of a stunning, vertical pokey-outy of rock, where the Danube and the Morova rivers meet. They found evidence of if having been fortified in the Old Stone Age, about 5000 BC, and various groups came and went, further building it up, then around 400 BC the Romans grabbed hold and it was just about the furthest outpost of the Limes Romanus defensive network of forts. Over the centuries it played an important role in the defense of the area, then in 1809 Napoleon’s army destroyed it. Merde! There were attempts by the owners to build it back, but mostly it went into decline until they decided to make it a National Treasure and start with the archeology. The view across the Danube into Austria is very nice—it’s right there, a few hundred yards away. During communism this area was a popular spot for those attempting to escape to the west… most didn’t make it. There’s a monument nearby to those who were shot and killed while attempting the swim.

Monday morning I bid farewell to Bratislava and made for the Slovakian Northwest interior. The first leg was 80km, through some beautiful countryside that is dominated by the Small Carpathian Mountains. They’re mountains, but….small. Passed by more very cool but crumbly middle ages castles, and made my way to my shoot in Trencin. Didn’t get to see much of the town, but it looks nice (hey, they have a big castle on top of a hill, whaddya know!). After Trencin it was onwards to Zilina, where my shoot had been cancelled but my hotel room hadn’t, so—what the hay, it’s only another 50km drive. Zilina is a cool old city (4th largest in Slovakia), on the Vah river, pretty close to Poland and the Czech Republic. The cool old town square from the 15th and 16th centuries has an arcade that runs all around the interior, and the buildings (other than the church) used to be houses for the burghers. Now it’s all shops and restaurants and an amazingly chill, cool bar called Jerry’s Bar, where the mojitos are as good as any I ever had in South Beach (the cuban cigar helped, of course). As I explored I found plaques on the walls like you see in Paris, honoring those who died in the struggle for the city during its liberation from the Nazis. There’s also a plaque on the wall of the Church of the Holy Trinity in the town square, honoring the sisters who risked their lives by hiding Jewish children during the war. I read that the Mayor during the Nazi occupation wasn’t nearly as kind, though. A priest himself, he was more than happy to let Zilina (again, very close to Poland) become a busy railroad transit point for Jews from all over Slovakia who were on their final trip to the extermination camps in Poland.

Anyway, today it’s Tuesday, and my shoot for this morning in Namestovo is cancelled (what a shock!), so I guess it’s time to begin the leisurely, 350km drive to Ceska Lipa, in the Czech Republic!

like a moth to a flame…. Giving up red meat was easy…but sweets? I set out for a walk this morning feeling all pious about my exercise regime..then I walked past the window of this pastry shop -

ok, maybe if I’m only bad for this one meal…but then it was manchego cheese and olives for lunch with more bread than any one person should eat…grilled veggies seemed like a smart choice, except of course for the plate of bread and more cheese and wine that came with it.

even the soap looks tasty in this city!

To top it off, Judith has unwittingly caused a major problem for me…she asked me to seek out a favorite local candy that she loves…I may have found it, but it is TASTY and now I’m sure if I’ll need to go back to the shop and get a second bag or there won’t be even one piece left for her when I get off the plane. My dentist is going to have words with her for certain.

Guess I better get back out there for some more walking…of course that will take me right past the tapas place and the churros y chocolate that have been calling to me…

Perhaps I’ll just focus on enjoying myself and plan to get back on track when I get back to Chicago. yeah, yeah…that’s the plan…

: )

Some pics for the Jamon fans and those that think giant fish heads in the window are a good sign for the food inside:

A “did I just see a guy in magenta tights walk past me? pic

The main room inside the westin palace hotel…5 stars for swankyness to be sure

A few shots from inside the Prado and the church next door:

Mark again, from Bratislava. Chilly again today, but the sun was happening….thank gawd! It sure seemed to brighten everyone’s spirits, especially mine. Spent the morning strolling all over Old Bratislava, which is full of much medieval fun….homes, buildings, churches, squares, a huge castle, microscopic pedestrian ways here and there with no right angles, outdoor cafes pushing Zlaty Bazant by the half-litre (the local 12% brew)—good stuff. Had the goulash for lunch—a little fatty, but tasty! Then it was back to the hotel for a quick nap before the journey to Vienna (only 60km to the west…Judith, stick a pin in that sucka!). Now Vienna is a cool place! Excellent people, very pretty and historic place (roman ruins and all that plus, you know, mozart). Dinner involved more beer (a local Vienna brew of some sort) that helped to wash down the “sausages” (in vienna, if it’s just ’sausages’ in the menu, does that assume it’s Vienna Sausage? I ask because in Paris they have ‘Onion Soup’, but of course what comes is French Onion Soup, so….) and the shnitzelly main course—both of which were quite tasty! Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain, so other than a quick trip to see another cool, old castle about 20km away it’ll be a day to office worky fun, then Monday it’ll be off of the swingin’ Slovakian burgs of Trencin and Zilina!

So, there’s nothing like getting up way before the crack of dawn, piling on the layers to keep warm, and then trudging your way down the center streets of Madrid, with 30 pounds of gear on your back, to find that the city has closed the parks in order to get ready for…wait for it…SPRING.

Seriously? I know my command of the Spanish language is infantile, but the attendant at the gate definitely told me they decided to close the gardens to prep better for spring. I’ve just gotten back to the hotel room and have confirmed, yet again, with the caretaker that I do have permission to be there today and can bring my tripod. So, a quick cafe cortado (mmmmmmm coffee…) and a re-bundle up for the trek back to the gate…

At least this extra bit of morning exercise means I won’t have to feel guilty about all the yummy food I’m planning to eat today. The Swank Kahuna dug through her memories and came up with a list of Veggie friendly places for me to check out, she even included addresses and reviews (seriously, we are going to have to talk about those plans for Medical School oh swank one…I’m keeping you.):

El Estragon
Costanilla de San Andres 10
Metro La Latina
Established local favorite, big taverny feel. Feels more traditional.

Chez Pomme
Pelayo 4
Metro Chueca
Home-cooked feel but the food is also fine at the same time, menus change often according to local ingredients/season. Very fab, very hip place.

El Granero de Lavapies
Argumosa 10
Metro Lavapies
Most popular veg restaurant among Madrilenos.

As the Spanish say, provecho!

Cold, dreary…and not just the weather. It seems these folks are pretty much fed up with the Brits who like to come here for stag party weekends and basically trash the city. So, if you’re looking for a place where a quiet, friendly, “do you speak english” question gets met with a cold, silent stare, come to Bratislava! From hotel staff on down, it’s sure to be a bummer experience!

Maybe tomorrow I’ll head to Vienna.

So, the sun in Paris wasn’t playing nice…and the weather person on the news was making big arm movements across all of Western Europe for the next week (she was swirling around to show how big the 100km gust of winds were..which would be funny except for all the people who have to ummm…fly in the sky on airplanes in that wind.)

So, after Mark left for the airport to get to Bratislava and the rest of his Eastern Europe schedule, I set off to test my French language skills and see if I could arrange for a train ticket to Madrid (seeking the sunshine for photos seems like a southernly goal.)

Thankfully my time in Señora Peña’s French class didn’t completely fail me…although I have no idea how, since her native language was Spanish, French second and English third – which left most of her students able to conjugate verbs on paper but mostly tri-illiterate when it came to using any of the languages she was yelling at us in!

It didn’t help me much with the taxi driver who was using a bluetooth headset for one mobile phone while holding two others (yes TWO) and texting and searching at the same time as driving the winding roads to the train station…but hey it’s Paris.

I love trains…especially overnight trips that whisk you from one country to the other for the price of the hotel you would have stayed in overnight before getting on a plane in the super windy sky.

The Elipso Trainhotel system stops several times along the way so it isn’t as fast as it could be, but you go to the Gare Austerlitz and have a cup of citron glace (which they pour vodka over without telling you – or maybe that is what it said in French and I just missed it?) Then you board a nice, clean, train car that has a tiny closet of a space with your name on it.

At first the space seems immposibly small, especially for those of us who have to carry an extra bag filed with camera bodies and lenses with them. But once you get settled in and figure out how to open and close all the kooky compartments they have hidden around the space, you realize that it is exactly the right size.

The train ticket included dinner in the dinning car – an experience that always makes me think of Eva Maria Saint and Cary Grant in North by Northwest. Of course on this train my biggest problem was that the Spanish aren’t exactly known to be vegetarian – so I spent a fair amount of time switching from French to Spanish to the tiny bit of Catalan that I can speak trying to explain why it wasn’t alright with me that the listed vegetarian choice included the large stack of diced Jamon and Veal hidden inside the rice. In the end, the very very nice Steward came back with a plate of grilled vegetables and Fideo noodles that was probably one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

OH! and of course the best part is that the RIOJA is actually cheaper than the bottles of Agua con Gas…so naturally I did my part to keep costs down. : )

Madrid is an amazing city, I’ve only been one other time – and that was mostly to catch a train to Barcelona, so I’m really looking forward to the opportunities for great photos and squeezing a bit of touristic endeavor in during the low light times. I’ve been lucky enough to make contact with the head of the Jardin Botanical in the city center who is going to allow me to bring my tripod into the gardens to shoot at first light tomorrow (usually places like this won’t let you do that so you end up hand holding a 4.5lb camera rig while trying to keep any movement from causing photos to be blurry.)

Our Swank Kahuna, Judith has taken the time to list several key locations in Madrid that are must see if I have time…she’s one of those people that live life to it’s fullest, so a list like this from her is a treasure trove of options…it mostly makes me wish Mark was here to go through it with me, and of course that we had more time to do it.

Can you tell which of these two fellows is real and which is the carved foam one he carries around? Neither could these tourists…they screamed when he moved his hand.

A large display of sculptures being set up near the Prado…I don’t think the artist meant for this tree to be sticking out of the face he created, but then again maybe this is exactly what he was hoping for.

more pics soon…

best wishes to you all!

bh

What’s not to love? Outdoor ping pong tables; school field trips to Musee d’Orsay; the Louvre’s pyramid and gigantic viewing windows (and school field trips); Versailles and its gardens (and school field trips); fabulous table wines and baguette (and chaperones relaxing merrily after all those field trips!); entrecote and pomme frites; the Seine; the impromptu parade honoring War Vets up the Champs d’Elysee; café crème; our new friend Krikor, Armenian businessman from Dubai who LOVES the jazz at our hotel’s jazz club; sexy bars and yummy brews and discovering that Mark is back down to a 36 waist for the first time in MANY years!

Now, sadly, Bobbi and I divide and conquer once again, with me going as planned to Slovakia and Czech Republic, and Bobbi off to southern France, Spain, and everywhere else she can find sun and green and people and places for fab fotos. Au revoir!

Our second day off here in Cairo began with a morning at the Egyptian Museum. It’s just about the coolest collection of items you could ever imagine—TONS and tons of items pulled from burial sites all over Egypt; mummy-holders and heiroglyphic tablets and statues, crockery, tools, games, jewelry, clothes and more—and all pretty much looking like they hadn’t moved since they were discovered and placed there in the 1930’s. There’s a whole wing dedicated to all the stuff they found in King Tut’s burial site—absolutely the most stunning array you can imagine, and let me just say; these hip hop guys today have NOTHING on the Pharohs when it comes to the Bling Department…they’re just a bunch of amateurs. One of the coolest aspects of The Boy King Wing, I thought, were the photos of the insides of the tomb when they found it, when all the items were just stacked up the way they had been left thousands of years ago. The entire museum is like no other place you can imagine, but kind of weird….it feels more like a warehouse than a museum. Our new and most excellent friend Sherif said they’re going to build a new one, a modern museum more in keeping with, um, modern museums. One of the things that’s a drag about the place though is that, apparently, there is a warehouse below the main museum, and stuff gets stolen out of it all the time, but no one’s really sure what because it’s never all been completely catalogued. Not good. After 3 hours or so our heads were swimming with all that we’d seen, so we took the 2km stroll across Nile and back to our hotel. After a nap it was downstairs for a very late lunch, and an interesting lesson; never ever have shisha on an empty stomach (when I told Sherif I had done this he looked at me like I’d stuck my hand into a pile of bees, expecting everything to be fine and dandy. “Of course, you never do that. Never.”). Shisha was great, then lunch was great (more mezzahs, etc), then more shisha was great…until it wasn’t great anymore, and very quickly. A few hours nap, followed by a long night sleep, seemed to mostly cure the situation. Sunday it was off to do employee interviews at the Johnson Controls offices, and—truly, what very nice people, just wonderful. Sunday night, our last night in Cairo, found Sherif, his chum from childhood Alaa, and me and Bobbi out at Khan el Khalili, the old old old souq from the 1300’s, enjoying some tea and shisha (well, shisha for Sherif; I think I’m giving shisha a rest for the time being), then enjoying watching Sherif barter with a shopkeeper for some great belly dance, oud, and other middle eastern music for me. We finished off with a fine italian mean, back on the Nile at Sherif’s fave place, then it was off to the hotel for a nap before our 5am car to the airport and our journey to…Paris!

Hey, quick(-ish) postscript on the Middle East, since this entry marks the end of over 2 weeks of travel in this region for me. While I am, of course, nowhere near an expert on this place, I have to say I’ve learned a few things (many many thanks, again, go to Farhan, Josy, Tarek, Sherif, and others) and, like everything in life, there are subtleties in the human condition(s)–past and present–that very much need to be considered by those of us who would rush to simplistic judgement on what’s happening in the region and what “needs” to happen (and by whose hands it needs to happen). Suffice it to say that we in the US would never want people in Egypt, Saudi, Qatar, UAE or elsewhere to base their perceptions of us as a society upon whatever they might read in the press about the Moral Majority or similarly fanatical, single-minded, religion-based groups. I have met the nicest, smartest, warmest, most open-minded and most considerate people on this leg of the journey, and I know for a fact that if everyone in the US could come to this region and experience society in action, we would all see that there are so many more similarities than there are differences in the ways we live and think day to day. Make no mistake; there are plenty of extremists, on both sides of the pond, to go around but, like Democratic and Republican operatives during the election season, they like nothing more than to enhance a polarized view of everything—it’s what serves them best. But this is too easy; it relies on a lazy mind, and a complacent mind. We in the US did not get to where we are in 200 or so short years by being lazy and complacent, so why acquiesce to this now?

End of soap box speech; back ‘atcha soon from Paris.

Friday morning, everyone’s off to their prayers, so the drive from hotel A to hotel B was easy (except for the street sweeper guy we came within 1/2 inch of plowing into). Now we’re in much swankier digs, on the 22nd floor of the Sheraton Cairo, high above the River Nile, overlooking Zamalek Island and a city that goes as far as the eye can see. After a quick breakfast it was off to Giza with our driver Mohamad (who lives there, and can see the pyramids from his window). It’s so weird and unexpected; there you are, driving along a main boulevard for 20 minutes or so, chatty chatty chatty, looking at all the little shops and the music video shoot and scads of people and then….there they are. You see the big one first, and it’s the size of a mountain against the 2-story apartment buildings. A few short u-turns later and in we go to the tiny, choked streets of the bazaar that is the gateway to the pyramids. As we approach, Mohamad asks our preferred mode of transport to see the pyramids and sphinx; we choose camel, and he takes us to his friend. Who first introduces us to HIS friend, The Doctor, who extols the virtues of various flower oils to us. OK, we enjoy the smell-fest, and overspend like the tourists we are, but what the hell. Then, with our guide Abdullah’s help, it’s up and onto Fly and Sinbad for a first-ever experience. Funny thing about getting on and off a camel; you have to WICKED compensate for the way they stand up and sit down; lots of leaning waaaay back and trying to time the lean forward so you don’t wind up ass over teakettle. Gotta say, it ain’t easy! Then, there you are way up in the air, doing the hip gyration thing while fielding non-stop updates from your inner thighs—which are rubbing up against the formless, carpet/blanket “saddle” (a tip for the ladies from Bobbi: riding a camel=the world’s best Thighmaster®). We stroll out from the bazaar—myself and Bobbi Of Arabia—, go thru a gate (grease-the-cop incident #1), and away we go across the desert. Abdullah knows the best places to stop for photos, and he’s a pretty good shooter! We see all the 9 pyramids and Abdullah tries to explain who was buried where, but we lose track pretty quickly. We trek around the area for a few hours, going very close to these amazing, man-made mountains, then Abdullah greases another palm so we can climb up one of the smaller pyramids where one of the queens was buried, for a photo op (uh…against the law; the ungreased-palm law, I guess). At this point we are very hot and almost numb with excitement—we’re climbing a pyramid?!? From there it was back towards the gate area and the Sphinx. All those photos you’re used to seeing of the Sphinx are very misleading, because he’s pretty small (compared to the ‘rids). Don’t get me wrong; seeing a 7000 year old setting like this is stunning beyond belief, but the scale was way different that expected. Now we’re back at the hotel, chilling before our Nile dinner cruise tonight, which should prove fun; Egyptian foods and belly dancing, and maybe even some shisha!

Evening update: dinner cruise up and down the Nile was hilarious, like being in a bad monty python “Dinner And A Show” sketch. The entertainment started with a dude in a Member’s Only jacket playing songs like “A Wonderful World” and “Help Me Make It Thru The Night” on a tricked-out casiotone. Oh, and he sang, too. He was then joined by the Cheesy Singer Sisters, who continued with renditions of Celine Dion and other fabulous artists. Then the real band came out, many men with different size drums and a few flutes—these guys were amazing—, and we were treated to a whirling dervish performance that whirled on too long. Finally, a Nefertiti-like belly dancer was carried out to the stage by two king-tut types….I swear, this is like a campier version of what I expect you get at the Luxor in Vegas….and then she went to town, kind of. At this point the meal is done so we head out and enjoy the last few minutes of the cruise, watching our police boat escort watch us. Then it was back to the hotel for tea with mint and more shisha. Shish-ahhhhhh…..

Dude…. It’s Cairo, for cryin’ out loud; what’s NOT amazing about this place? 22 million people hovering around that most awesome of rivers, the Nile. Want to drive a car here? What are you, Nerves Of Steel Man?! You better be if you want to survive here on the roads. Our most awesome client host Sherif, a native of Cairo, has the skillz–and the lack of dents and dings and scrapes to prove it. We’ve been shooting for 2 days now, meeting some truly gracious customers, and it’s been a joy. Tomorrow is Friday, and we’ll be off to the Pyramids….can you believe it?!? And the big stone puddy cat, The Sphinx.

Jeddah. Cool. It’s so funny how seaside towns and cities the world over are just…so similar. That sun-baked, everyone-moves-a-little-slower thing. We hit the ground running in Jeddah, got a lot done in our two days there, and got a great tour of the city from local awesome client-man Tarek. Day One started with a look at the local paper. Uh…..WHAT?!? Very bizarre way to start this leg of the trip (we understand from Tarek that the guy who did the deed, the child’s uncle will, upon conviction, be publicly beheaded…unless the mother steps in to forgive him—any bets anyone? BTW, that supermarket reopened 4 hours later. Ug.). After that initial shock we really started our day, with a drive down to the Red Sea, and a tour up and down the Corniche (all the cities in the region that have a seaside street+pedestrian way call them Corniche) as we made our way to the Al Shallal Theme Park. No seriously, this is a customer of the client for whom we’re working here. During the day it was Ladies only in the park, so we couldn’t go inside, but we went back in the evening and got a look around, and Ryan took a ride on the roller coaster (and a howdy-do greeting with the little blue elephant greeter and Tarek). After an excellent lunch of many mezzahs, we hit the local Johnson Controls office for some employee interviews, including a group interview with five ladies who work there in the office. This is significant, as there are not many ladies in the workforce in the Kingdom (though this is changing, which is of course a great thing). They had interesting, insightful things to say, and it helped us to, ever so slightly, begin to grasp what it’s like to be a woman in this society. The next day we headed out of town towards the airport, and the Al-Salem York factory. Cool operation! (sorry—they make air conditioners and related make-cold-air-now-please! stuff…like, systems that cool the two Holy Mosques, in Makkah and Medinah—not only the insides but the OUTSIDE AREAS of the Mosques, where tens and hundreds of thousands often are praying, when it’s 120 degrees out!). With some good interviews and b-roll, and a Pizza Hut lunch under our belts, it was, for me, off to the airport and the flight across the Red Sea, to Cairo. Interesting thing about the airport in Jeddah… It’s only a little over an hour to the Holy city of Makkah (Mecca to you and me), so during the Hajj it gets wicked busy—so there’s a HUGE terminal at the airport that is only there to serve the pilgrims who come for Hajj. The 2 to 3 million pilgrims. Who come and go in the course of a week or two, something like that. Amazing. Anyway, this is where Ryan—the supremely awesome Ryan, co-shooter and helper-outer-of-old-man-Mark dude extraordinaire—and I part ways; he off to home for a few days before heading to Dominican Republic and an amazing sailing/video trip, me off to Cairo where I meet up with the lovely and talented Bobbi!!

First of all, to all you guys in UAE and Qatar who spooked us about clearing customs here into the Kingdom…that was kinda mean! Actually it was fine, no hassles or anything—except when the head of the Riyadh customs unit thought my portable hard drives were radar detectors (it’s the wedgy shape). Also when we filled out our entry forms, the tops of which are emblazoned with DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS!! The flight on Saudi Arabian Airlines was uneventful, although here’s some cool things… You know when you’re flying, and on the video screens they have the map where they show your progress, and the airspeed, and arrival time, and those different screens? Well here, all the flights ALSO rotate in a screen showing you the direction to Mecca. The other cool thing was, last night, as we were taxiing away from the Doha airport, we were treated to a dramatic recorded reading (complete with added reverb) of a supplication that the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) said prior to traveling. When we got to our hotel last night—-the drive in was like driving from DFW to downtown Dallas—we had a funny whiplash moment….seems that Motorola is having an event at our hotel that they were in the midst of prepping, and the MOTO4YOU signage was everywhere. Yikes! Today, Sunday, was a bustly one in Riyadh. It’s a huge city, like 11 million people we’re told (we can believe it too, based upon a view we got later in the day). First we zipped out to the Community College building project, which is part of the sprawling King Saud University area. Interviewed the Project Manager there, and when we finished I said “cut” as I made my usual signal: drawing my hand across my throat, left to right. Here’s the thing; since the authorities here behead criminals, that motion is not so much appreciated. But, he laughed when I did it and said “please, no!”. Kinda funny, and yet…. From there we drove in to the heart of the city to our next destination; the Kindom Centre. This is I think the tallest building in the city, owned by one of the Princes. It’s a very cool design from the outside—sort of resembles the Tower of Morder, actually, and the three pick-up truck-mounted machine gun emplacements add to the effect—and inside there is a shopping mall (careful guys: third floor is for ladies only!), a Four Seasons hotel, schmancy apartments, and the like. Sultan, the head of security, took us around then up up up to the top; 99th floor. This leads you out to the bridge that spans between the two high points of the tower, and the view is stunning, and goes on and on and on, until the buildings on the horizon melt into the sandy ether. The windows are angled outwards at the top, and he let us go under the railing and sit in them…and you can look straight down, which is both cool and spooooooky at the same time. Anyway, it was amazing, then we walked all around the outer perimeter of the property, getting cool shots (and, using hand signals, we promised each of the three machine gunners that we wouldn’t photograph them…they seemed to appreciate that, but of course if they didn’t, well—they have guns), and enjoying the 90-degree warmth. Now we’re back out at the King Khaled International Airport, chillin’ as we await the flight to Jeddah.

Friday in Doha, and it’s a welcome day off. Ryan and I take a leisurely start to the day, arriving at the Corniche area of the city—the waterfront—about 11:30a. Bright, sunny, windy day. We stroll out towards the dhow harbor, checking out all the boats, and watching as the Class 1 World Powerboat Championships boats get lowered into the water for the first round races of the Qatar Grand Prix. The juxtaposition of the old boats and the new boats bobbing alongside each other was interesting. The bay is huge and green, lots of construction happening on the opposite side. We depart towards the Souk Wafiq—the old bedouin souk (marketplace) that has been redone to resemble its former self. It’s extremely cool, with amazing shops and people-watching, and I had my first sheesha (as Ryan has his first taste of camel)….and then later I had another—both apple-flavored. Delicious! Foods were also wonderful. After souk round 1 we went back down to the Corniche to watch the boat races—-fast!! Both visits to the Corniche for us had a weird element, though. There are many laborers that are here—men, building all the buildings and roads and so forth—from all over the sub-continent and elsewhere. They are the laborer class, and Friday is their one day off. So, lots of them were wandering about, heading towards the Corniche to watch the races and generally stroll about. Nope. The police lets us pass without incident, but as these guys started to come towards the area the police waved them off and would not let them pass; not welcome. It was a new experience, and not a pleasant one. That said, once the races were over (we missed Sheik Hassen flip his boat on turn 4!) we went back to the souk waqif and saw a cool concert (Al Jazeera was on location, reporting on all the goings-on), did some more shopping, then—beat tired—it was back to the hotel.

Saturday wasn’t much different—more exploring at the souk (only this time we spent some qatari riyals), a fine lunch at an Iraqi place, then off to our shoot. We spoke with some great gents, then it was off to the airport for the flight to Riyadh. Now we’re here—clearing customs was much easier that expected, yay!—and it’s sleepytime.

Well, not completely indoors, but the KEW Royal Botanical Gardens does have several large glass green houses (actually one of the largest all glass houses in the world.) The scene here in London is sad…windy/rainy/cold. One of those days straight of a movie where every one is fighting against the wind with their brolly (that’s umbrella to you kids back in the states.) and then WHOOSH it turns inside-out.

With my new found sense of direction I figured it couldn’t hurt to venture out a bit beyond our normal zones and pubs. Took the Tube about 10km outside of London (12 or 13 stops on the District Line from the center of London) and then walked a bit along the south bank of the Thames river to get to 300 acres of botanical gardens. Even with the blustery weather, I couldn’t have picked a better place to be.

The whole gardens is strewn with massive Henry Moore sculptures! I think 30 of them. I’ve always liked his work, I think it may go back to when my sister attended Trinity University and I got to see several of his larger works (at least I think it was him…Susan will have to confirm.) Anyway, he does this ongoing series of pieces that are all about negative space and separate but connected forms and I really like them. Every time I see one I just want to climb it. 30 of them in one location was a true test of will power…but honestly since it was raining I think that climbing would have been more about sliding. (It would have been a ton of fun though!)

This is the aptly named “Large Reclining Figure”

And this one is “Draped Reclining Mother and Baby”

So, I stayed out in the wind and rain for as long as I could stand it. Managed to get a couple of shots off before the rain really started coming down…after that I just wandered with the camera safely inside my bag and enjoyed the wide open space filled with nature.

If you want an idea of how cold it was, this little tyke is dressed just right…don’t you wish they made those bunny suits for adults?

The daffodils are in bloom, Kew’s Narcissus, so we’ll call this pic “hope of future spring…” I’m hoping that by the time Mark and I get back to Chicago, the winter will be a distant memory…

This is the small side of the Palm house, which, oddly enough, is indeed full of tropical rain forest environment and palm trees. Once my glasses stopped fogging up I really enjoyed it. No pics from inside, my poor camera was pleading to be left alone away from all that condensation.

The Kew is huge. 13 buildings and 300 acres of plantings and research. It’s a bit of a schlep from the city, but if you are here and have the time I highly recommend it. Perhaps a bit further into the spring season though..

Anyway, the weather man swears that tomorrow the sun will come out and trusty assistant/fixer Lauren and I will be able to take the two cars, 5 models and untold number of props to the Isle of White for our photo shoot. Keep your finger’s crossed for us!

Excellent day Thursday! Our local JCI host Josy met us in his Honda CR-V (all these guys have production-friendly vehicles….fabulous!). Met some very nice guys who are channel partners of our client, and afterwards they took us to a scrumptious lunch of traditional Iranian food. Lots and lots of it. Our main host kept prodding Ryan to eat more (have more lamb! have more prawns! eat the bread before it gets cold!). Oh, the bread! Made in a very very hot clay pit thing, it was delicious. As was the mint tea at the end of the meal. After our shoot we chilled for a bit then strolled out in Doha in search of dinner. While Bobbi’s navigational skills enhance in London, mine decline in Doha. After heading the wrong way on Suhim bin Hamad St., Ryan spun us around and got us to Al Miroab street…kind of a 53rd street of the area. Lots of shops and restaurants. We checked one place out, decided against it, and as we walked out a local guy walked out behind us and in nicely-accented English we hear, “This is the best arabic food in Doha.” We chatted and joked for a sec, then decided—with an endorsement like that, how could we say no? So up we went into the 2nd floor dining room of the Al Sultan Restaurant, and he was right. Awesome hummos, awesome matoubal, incredible yogurt-with-cukes, terrific falafal…best I’ve ever had….with very subtle, delicious tahini sauce. Judith, you would love this place! After that we walked it off back to the hotel. Now it’s Friday, for many the only day off of the week (some get saturday off as well), and I’ve had another nice breakfast at the Hyde Park Coffee Shop here in the hotel (yes, seriously), now Ryan and I prepare to head to the Corniche area of the city to enjoy the souks, watch the parade of dhows and perhaps the racing boats, and like that.

So, I know this will surprise all of you…but the weather here in London is rainy and gray. I know! Who would have thought?! : )

Ok, so we knew this was a great possibility, but we still have good hope for the weekend shooting scheduled for the Isle of White.

Since shooting in gray rainy weather is pure rubbish and produces crap photos I put my camera back in it’s safe case and took myself out into the weather (which is warm, but yucky) to go grab a bit of culture.

Those of you who know me will be astonished to hear that I’ve actually managed to get my bearings here in London (it only took about a dozen visits) so today was all about walking. I believe I covered about 10 miles square worth of the city and including taking the tube to meet up with our great friend Mike for a really tasty Turkish dinner I didn’t get lost or turned around once. Spooky eh?

So, I have a smattering of odd photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and the city itself:

Ever wonder how those Tupperware containers your mom used were made? You can learn all about it at the Science Museum next to the Victoria and Albert. It’s pretty kooky actually this is the same company that made gas masks in world war II… got to love chemical engineering.

So, going with the plastics theme (a whole section of the Science Museum was dedicated to it) this is a fairly large chandelier made out of Bic pens. I can’t for the life of me explain why… I suppose this falls to the “because they could” category

At the Victoria and Albert Museum (a dizzingly laid out building meant to confuse your sense of direction at every turn) tucked in amongst the antiquities, the 16th century sculptures, the ancient china textiles and the art of the masters are strange and wonderful three dimensional displays hanging in the little nooks and corners and over the head of people on the floors below. This is a set of real instruments that have been crushed flat and hung from thin wires so that they move around with the air flow…it’s much larger than it appears in this iPhone pic. I liked that people were walking below it being very serious as they “admired” really really hard to interpret paintings from many decades ago.

So, you ask yourself; what’s it like doing business in the Middle East? I’ll tell you two interesting stories.

1. Remember that company in Abu Dhabi I blogged about that runs the District Cooling plants? They supply cold cold water to a number of buildings in an area, then each building basically converts that cold water into air conditioning. If the water ain’t cold, neither is the air. In the summer it gets very very hot here. One time, the district cooling plant supplying the military hospital had some problems, and the air started to not be cool. The guy in charge of the plant gets a call from the man in charge of the hospital; fix this problem in 24 hours, or my next call is to the Emir.

2. Here in Doha, a contractor installed an A/C system incorrectly. They contractor placed the blame on the A/C equipment company; our client. Shortly after, our client got a call about it; the problem home in question happens to be the palace of the princess, and if it doesn’t get fixed soon, for free, His Highness will throw them out of the country.

So…nothing like a little Royal pressure to place one on pins and needles….eh?

Man—ok, so, if Dubai is amazing, Abu Dhabi is TRULY amazing. The growth here has been unreal. Check the pic of the little seaside village….that was Abu Dhabi in the mid-1960s. Now, there are well over something like 5000 towers (and our client’s stuff is in, like, 65% of them). But whereas Dubai is huge, spread out, wide streets choked with traffic and very car-oriented, Abu Dhabi is much more of a pedestrian-oriented city, and it’s generally cleaner and more laid back (and less hazy; Abu Dhabi the city is on an island and so the sea keeps the air much cleaner). And more wealthy…MUCH more wealthy. All the local guys we met with said it’s more relaxed here because Abu Dhabi has the oil, so they have the money and they are more easy-going/less concerned with puffing themselves up by being The Biggest—-because they are The Baddest. But there’s not enough hustle and bustle here for Farhan; he prefers Dubai. Hey, whaddya gonna do?

Day 1 we were inside one of the District Cooling plants, repleat with our client’s gigantor chillers, then we were off to see the places to which they furnish chilled goodness, so we got a nice tour of the city, had a great seafood lunch with the help of food-picker-outer Mini (note to those who will host Farhan someday: crabs, and possibly scallops, do not agree with him). We didn’t get inside the Emirates Palace Hotel, but one of our awesome JCI dudes Anil promises to take us there next time (apparently there’s so much 24k gold in the place it’s even on the washroom fixtures).

Day 2 was busy busy busy, interviewing some customers (though, not as many as we thought. We got to one customer location and they had to cancel on us on the spot. They told us that Sheik Sultan showed up unannounced—he’s the brother of the President of the UAE—and everyone had to scramble. Boy, if I had a dirham for every time I’ve heard THAT one….) and some employees—fascinating people, really. Lots of them are from India, however we spent some time with Taher, Palestinian by birth, carrying a Jordanian passport, who cannot go back to his native Jerusalem to do anything about their three homes there; Yasser, a Syrian by birth who grew up in Germany, and so many others….all very cool, very friendly people from far and near.

In fact, note to all my American pals who will read this: you gotta come here and visit (maybe not in the summer). The UAE is so nice, so clean, SO safe (when we went inside the Sheik Zayed Mosque—third largest in the world, THE largest in the world to allow non-Muslims to visit without some pre-arranged invitation,—we could bring still cameras, but not video. So I left my video camera on the floor of the car, and I think Taher only locked the doors so we’d feel better, because there is virtually no crime at all here..and I felt totally secure about it). I mean, not once did I feel anything but welcome here. English is very widely spoken, and…you see people who look very different than you, people who look like all the bad guys we see on our evening news at home, but they are just—people. Very proud, very successful, with wonderful, and deep traditions.

So, the Sheik Zayed Mosque. He was the founder of the UAE, very much beloved by his people (he’s the guy at the top of this blog entry, and his picture is everywhere we went), and he’s buried there. Anyway, it is more beautiful than it is huge. Chandeliers unlike any I’ve seen, and semiprecious stone inlays everywhere; on the pillars, on the floor of the massive courtyard, amazing. And of course, there was a surreal moment… We take off our shoes and walk in the door (Farhan tells us to roll up our pants a little, then they will think we are true Muslims), and as we step in two guys–light-skinned like me and Ryan–in traditional attire walk past, and one they look over as one says “hey guys, what’s up?” in a clear, southern california voice. Then they stand there just a little behind us, complaining about the attention to detail inside! “Dude, did you see all the gaps between the marble and the stones? Man, they gotta kick it up a notch and deal with that soon. Not cool.” At first we thought they were joking, but nope–they had issues! It took all we had not to explode in laughter at them. Anyway, we got a great look around, Farhan and also Taher explained the significance of some of the details we saw, and how the prayer service works….and it was fascinating, but it was also clear that these guys really enjoy their faith, they gain a lot from it, and it shows in how they live their lives.

Anyway, it was a great day, and the visit to the Mosque was an ultrahighlight (thanks in no small part to Farhan’s wonderful explanation of what we were seeing), and I hope you enjoy the pics.

I have to give a very special shout-out to Farhan Qureshy, an absolutely delightful, professional, wonderfully insightful and knowledgeable gent who steered us through all that the UAE had to offer us. Great working with you Farhan, very much looking forward to seeing you in Chicago in August!

Our nighttime flight to Doha brings us to another country, another culture, another set of adventures, and after our shoot today I think there is a Qatar Cultural Festival that begins tonight we might have to go and check out.

So, there I am…finally getting settled into my hotel room at the lovely Chesterfield Mayfair after a much delayed flight to London (nothing like snow at O’Hare to bullocks things up eh?)I sit down to take off my shoes and suddenly the building starts to rock and roll. It’s a strange form of motion – not that there is a normal form of motion for a building to be making. Only lasted for 6 or 7 seconds and here in London it was just strange, not dangerous. Honestly, I imagine that if I’d already been asleep I might not have even woken up (might have caused strange dreams of being aboard a boat perhaps…)

But seriously? Earthquakes in London? very very odd. I sent off a message to Judith, who reported back that Barack rocked the debate in Ohio…I prefer to think that was what we felt here instead of the earth shifting itself around underneath our feet.

For the next week Mark will be posting from the ME and I’ll be here in the UK, London proper and then the Isle of White to shoot lifestyle images of people with cars out in the real world. We’ve arranged to use the BMW 3 series convertible and a 5 series sedan. I’m certain that my sister and brother-in-law will approve of the choice. But more importantly they’ll be perfect for the shots. What a shame that I’m too much of a dope to be able to drive on the opposite side of the road so I can’t take either car out on my own… Oh well, being a passenger in one on the way to the shoot will be pretty good too.

Last day in Dubai today, and it was amazing. First part was essentially a scavanger hunt; traveling around the city to grab images of as many customer buildings as possible…which is quite a task, as the city is quite spread out. So we saw a lot (from the car, anyway), and the scale of everything is unreal…or so I thought. Because in the afternoon we traveled south towards abouut 20 minutes to another part of Dubai—passing the Burj Al Arab (the giant 7-star hotel that looks like a sail), which is so huge and stands out in a way that I’ve never seen captured on the TV shows that have shown it—and we got to an area called Dubai Marina. It’s like being in a New Building dealership. Well over a thousand brand new buildings, no two alike (many in the final stages of construction), each at least 30 stories high. The American University is out there, as is one of the two Palm Islands developments (The Palm-Jumeirah). These are the island arangements created through reclaimation, formed in the shape of a palm tree. It is just massive, containing business buildings, hotels, condos and homes for 300,000 people. The customer we visited provides the district cooling for a large part of the development (this is when very cold water is pumped thru underground pipes to converters that turn it into cold air), and from their 36th floor offices on the mainland we could just barely make out the shape of the palm tree. As the sun was setting we wrapped it up and made for Abu Dhabi, about 100 km away. Mostly we had deset on either side of us, and it took about 2 hours (Farhan said we could have driven through the desert, but that would have taken about 6 hours). Now it’s morning and the sun is just barely illuminating the beach below my hotel room window. I’m tired, but excitied, in that “New Emirate Experience” way!

Nice clear day (low winds, much less sand), delicious breakfast here in the room, flip on the TV, and….unexpected Live Academy Awards coverage moment:

Windy today, with more sand in the air than we’ve seen before. But it’s still better than snow! We went to the Burj Dubai today–alas could not go up into it–but up close and personal you see what a truly massive tower it is. A great day, beat tired, so letting the pics speak for themselves. Last day of Dubai is tomorrow, then in the evening we drive to Abu Dhabi. Cheers all–

Seriously—it’s no so much a city than it is a shopping theme park. Close to something like 50 malls, I think Ryan learned. And our awesome local client contact Farhan mentioned this afternoon that it’s coming to the end of the monthlong Dubai Shopping Festival. About the festival (from the world wide surfnet interwebby wire thing that Al Gore invented):

“Dubai is trying hard to rival Hong Kong and Singapore as a shop-til-you-drop destination. They’ve made shopping largely tax free and allowed merchants to import products from other countries with very few duties or tariffs. The result is that everything from gold chains to Ipods, Gucci purses to Persian rugs can be found in the malls and suoqs of Dubai at rock bottom prices. Whether you’re looking for a new Ferrari or a new fly rod, chances are good that it’s cheaper in Dubai.”

Anyway, Ryan got out and experienced some of this while I toiled on an edit in my hotel room for the day. I’m hoping he’ll do a guest-blog on his experiences today…his photos were amazing; from the older local men sitting on the sidewalk fixing their shoes to the interior and exterior pics of Ski Dubai, the world’s largest indoor ski resort (400 meter ski runs, 6000 tons of snow, housed within the Mall of the Emirates), to the Burj Al Arab hotel—the one that suggests a 300+ meter tall version of a dhow (local sailboat), and more.

Speaking of crazy buildings and the building frenzy here, a factoid from Ryan: 17% of the world’s cranes are in this emirate, which is all of 1.6 million people contained in an area a bit more than half the size of Greater Chicago.

We shot some good interviews early Saturday evening, then hit Al Tannour, a nice Lebanese restaurant in our hotel, where there’s a woman seated over a sajj making lebanese bread for our meals. We had the traditional meal, which was like 20 courses of cold and hot foods; foods with which Ryan and I are both familiar, but amazingly fresh and tasty versions…like, someone’s grandma is back there keeping an eye out to make sure those cooking it keep it real. A band was onstage getting busy with somewhat traditional Lebanese music—Mahmoud Ray Vaughn on lead guitar—then the bellydancer materialized and began doing here thing, and our food got cold (go figure!). This woman was amazing. Even from our table we could see that she had unreal tummy muscle-flexing abilities. At some point an important looking, traditionally-dressed older man (in his Dishdashah and shumagg…oh, just go and google it!) cruised in and hunkered down in the back with a big hookah and got an eyeful of the dancer. Meanwhile Ryan and I, we think, unintentionally insulted the restaurant by eating maybe half of the food we had been presented. I tried to explain that, though it was all excellent, it was much more than we had anticipated, and I think (I hope) by the end the waiter wasn’t gnashing his teeth behind that Here’s Your Check smile.

Now it’s midnight and I’m back in my room backing up the interview footage while Ryan’s out capturing shots of buildings flooded with colored lights in honor of the Shopping Festival.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the official start of the work week here, so we’ll be off to the Burj Dubai to do a customer interview and hopefully to go up to the top of the building and get some footage. If the Burj Dubai sounds familiar it’s because it’s the tallest building in the world (currently at just over 1900 feet, with 159 floors completed—that’s already over 1/3 of a mile, and they ain’t done yet!; the express lifts to the top will go 40 mph. I call it “vroom with a view”).

The view above is from my window… That’s the Gulf at the top of the picture, and if I had Superman’s eyes I could see Iran across the water.





Flight from London was uneventful. I read, studied my Arabic language instruction, while Ryan kept track of our progress, looking out his window and gazing down on Fallujah and Baghdad as we passed over them. Ryan says there were fires in Baghdad–bummer. I was on the other side of the plane, so I think I saw Baghdad suburbs (Schaumburgdad?). I looked out my window a few times after it got dark, and amongst the miles of blackness that must be desert there were bright bright flames—quite a lot of them, from the oil fields I imagine. The airport in Dubai is humming at 1am. After a few interactions with large uniformed security guys wanting to inspect our bags (please don’t confiscate; please don’t confiscate!) we got to the meeting point for our hotel car. For all the hotel cars, actually. Then we went out and Hameed got us bundled up and so now here we are! We slid up to the hotel just as some stereotypical, middle-aged western businessmen were loudly, laughingly negotiating with a couple of asian ladies of the evening. They decided one was enough. Nice, eh? Makes you proud! Now it’s just about 2am, and i’m a tad tired–go figure! It’s not like I left my house 24 hours ago….oh wait, I did.

Mark here. Ryan and I are chilling in British Airways 1st Class Lounge (i love being exec platinum/emerald!), listening to LOUD MEN ON CELL PHONES!! Crikey—it’s a bit much guys. Flight over was quiet, and the night was clear. As dinner arrived we got nice blinky-light views of Toronto and Montreal. When the cognac course was done the flight attendant man came and closed all of the window shades and then it was nap time. We awoke to a bright London morning–above the clouds that is–then descended into the usual gray. It’s very hot everywhere–in the plane, in the general areas of the airport, in the lounge now… We’re a pair of sweaty bettys here. Since we are transiting through Heathrow we had to clear security again with our carry-ons, and the header of this blog entry is what Ryan heard the screener say when my bag went through (translation: Weird! I can’t see nothing!). So, that’s a camera, 5 batteries, 6 hard drives, 4 camera cards, wireless and shotgun mics, monitor, two computer power supplies, and a few other misc cables.

It hasn’t hit us yet that when we deplane after the next 7 hour flight we will be deposited into a part of the world that is so compelling and interesting and…we just can’t wrap our minds around it. But stay tuned, because if there ever was a blogworthy journey, this one is it; Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah (from which Ryan heads back, rests and reintroduces himself to his wife Patty for 4 days, before he heads to HIS next shoot in the Dominican Republic), Cairo (where Bobbi will be joining me for the rest of the trip–yay!!), Nersac (France), Bratislava and Trencin (Slovakia), and a few smaller places in the Czech Republic….then back in Chicago about a month from today. Zowie! Stay tuned yo–

Last trip of the year for Mark and I…we jetted over the pond to London for a four day break from computers and phones (well, sort of), a chance to see some good friends–and to visit the REAL Hyde Park, where there happened to be a winter festival happening!–, and to work our way through the pubs and wine lists of a town we love. Also to pay homage to Harrods (note to self; NEVER ever visit Harrods during their post-Christmas sale. Mayhem abounds.)

We hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year celebration! We’re back in Chicago now, enjoying the warmth of the fireplace and all the puppy love coming our way from Rosie and Napoleon (the best reason to come home that we can think of.)

It’s been an amazing year for us, and we are grateful to have been fortunate enough to have met so so many wonderful people who we now consider friends and family all around the world.

Our best wishes to you all for the coming year!

The Kahunas – Mark and Bobbi

The last days have been getting up before dawn and driving up towards the face of Mount Cook to shoot the early light on the snow topped peaks and then spending the day driving from one amazing view to another then staying out late to shoot the setting sun on the glaciated waters. This equals days that start at 4 am. and finish around 10:30pm Those of you who know me are chuckling right now at the idea of me being coherent in any way at 4 am. (not exactly known as a morning person) The whole routine makes for a sleepy Bobbi way to early at night, and with the days lasting longer here it is really strange to be ready for PJ’s when the sun is still out.

I have to say, that there are some pretty funny things in this country. Like, I bet you never saw this on the local Sub Way menu:

And even though every one warned me that there are quite possibly more sheep than humans in this country, I NEVER expected to meet one named Shrek…who grows such thick wool that they can’t keep up with keeping him trimmed.. There are pictures of him looking like a giant stuffed animal, but I’m here to tell you that a big woolly animal that gets wet smells way way worse than an old wool sweater!

And then there are things like this, a super old Ford that we saw stuffed inside a wooden shack at the back of a little garden/shop we stopped at to have yummy hot black currant juice…

and the really really big dog that helped serve us dinner last week…who wears a sign that says not to feed him.

Of course there is a whole lot of amazing too….The lakes near Mount Cook are fed by glacier water and snow melt so they are the perfect color of cyan..not blue, not sort of green.. cyan.. The blogger version of this image won’t show it well, but this is a KRAZY color for water.

Oh, and just in case you can’t tell how big the glacier blobs in this picture are, that tiny yellow thing is a raft big enough to hold twenty people in it.

We got to take a helicopter to the second highest peak next to Mount Cook so that we could shoot from the snow patch we landed on… seriously one of the greatest things I’ve done in a long time.. the space and views are just glorious… that really is the only word I can think of to describe it.

The Lupine are all blooming, so the landscape smells and looks amazing. We are fighting with the wind to try and get some good wide shots for clients to use, but even just trying is great work. To be honest, I may never want to see another Lupine again after this trip!

The next two days are wrap up days and travel back up the coast to Christchurch. I’m sorry to be leaving, but really glad to be getting back home to Mark and the puppies! As soon as I can, I’ll post the real set of pictures for you all to see if you’d like .
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Holiday! I watched Women’s Net ball (which is a really strange form of basketball with no backboard and girls that don’t dribble the ball.) but even without pumpkin pie it was easy to spend time thinking of our friends and families and missing them a BUNCH!

best,

bh

long long day…. I hope it will be alright if I just post some quick selects of images taken recently. The bird shots aren’t exactly my area of expertise, but just getting a chance to see them in the wild is enough to be worth it to me. so, please, forgive the snapshot nature of some of these…

In the last 7 days I have traveled and shot in Christchurch, Oamaru, around the entire Otago Peninsula, the cities of Dunedin and Portobello (yes they grow the mushrooms there) and around Te Anau – Milford Sound.

I have gotten up at way too early and to sleep way to late on a regular basis to get to some locations prior to sunrise and then lay in wait for fog to lift off of mountain peaks and hiked about in amazing mazes of hides to see elusive creatures like the yellow eyed penguin (there are estimated to be less than 24 breading pairs in all of New Zealand, less than 1500 in the world) spent hours waiting for fog to lift from the top of Mitre Peak, shot dozens of images in vain trying to capture an albatross in flight (they may be big, but man are they fast!) and most recently driven 3 hours before dawn to catch morning light on waterfalls that feed Milford Sound.

Those of you who have enjoyed the visuals from the Lord of the Rings Film series may be able to appreciate this: The scenery is amazing.. the old growth rain forests are lush and the animals (Kea birds, Seals, Oyster Catchers, Sheep, Deer, Albatross, Penguins) are abundant… but the trade off is that the world that made up Middle Earth for those films…is not so internet friendly. All this is to say, sorry for taking so long for my next blog post. I’m sitting in a nice little motel room in Mildford Sound after a 17 hour day of early driving, shooting, waiting, shooting, swatting at the scary little black biting flies and more shooting. Tomorrow we get a “late start” and drive out at 8a.m. to See if Lake Manpouri has any pastoral scenes worthy of our clients.

I’m exhausted but happy.. too tired to really pull any images to show, so I’ll just include two low resolution versions of the yellow eyes penguins that we waited in a blind at a special reserve to see if we could capture a glimpse of. I’m told there are less than 24 breading pairs in this country. In addition to some shots of a parent keeping an egg warm near a man made safe space, we managed to capture two more wild adults returning from the sea with food in their tummies to bring to recently hatched young. The pictures I’m posting here are of a single adult that waddled his lovely little fat body up from the beach and then after we watched him preen for quite a while he finally moved his way up from the sand and right past where we where hiding on his way to his little family. I was hoping to just be able to see one from far far away… this little man walked past us and then stood with his back to us contemplating his long waddle home and then trudged his way across the grasses to his spouse and new born to trade places and watch the nest.

I hope to be able to post more soon. We should have access to the internet for the next couple of days.. then we are on our way to Queenstown. so there should be some shots of kingston flyer railway line (this is all in the remote area where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was actually filmed…

Mark and I love it when you guys add comments to the blog ( you don’t have to register or anything…just click on the comments link below this posting and let us know how you are and or say Hi etc. it makes us feel like there are people we know out there when we travel!

best regards from Middle earth!

bh

Breakfast this morning was at a little place next door to the motor lodge…how very Route 66 of them. Except of course for the menu itself, I don’t think Marmite and 14 grain toast with passion fruit filled yogurt was ever served to people with white wall tires on their rides. For those of you who haven’t tried Marmite, it’s a salty sort of brown paste made from yeast that turns out to be pretty tasty on toast…they swear it is good for you, but it does make me wonder if I’m turning the wheat from the bread I just ate into some form of beer in my tummy with all that yeast.

It took me a moment to decide if I wanted any after being offered a pot of “plunger coffee” maybe it is the jet lag, but my first thought was of scary use of plumbing equipment and not what basically turns out to be a French Press. I’m sure the waitress thought I was daft when I had to ask “so, the plunger coffee, it’s made here?” The best thing about this place is also the most strange: The Bee Gees are blaring through the place…not just a single song from a play list, but whole albums now I have the song “tragedy!” stuck in my head and indeed it is one…

Yesterday was “cup day” (this is part of the week long horse racing and shows going on here in Christchurch.) So, besides the obvious racing and horse shows, there is apparently a contest for things like best hat and best dressed people.. with outfits that would have made Eliza Doolitle proud (as well as the Queen Mum!) But the best part is this: one of the prizes goes to a category titled “Edge Dress” which would appear to be whatever outlandish costume a person is willing to show up in.. the winner? A woman wearing only a hat and skirt with the rest of her outfit painted on. I’m no prude, a full salute to anyone daring enough to go for it…my issue is that it was less than 60 degrees yesterday and this poor woman was using pink paint to keep warm!

It’s raining in a way that only New Zealand can conjure…now I know how this place stays so middle earthy green! But we can see the sun trying to burn through on the horizon line so this afternoon’s shooting should still be a go. We are 18 hours ahead of central time here so the whole today/tomorrow thing won’t make any sense, but Wednesday morning we are leaving Christchurch to Grab shots near the Selwyn River and then over to the Pacific Ocean to a town called Oamaru. Looking forward to lots of beach and Moeraki boulders to shoot there.

Mark got back home from Bulgaria this afternoon, Tbilisi is still under a state of emergency so the decision to postpone that leg of the trip was clearly a good one…   The puppies are so glad that he’s back that the two of them are piled on top of him while all three take a much deserved nap.

INDIA ADVISORY: When you travel out of the country, beware: though they seal your checked luggage after it goes through security, it’s meaningless; some bastard broke the ziptie I watched them place on my bag, opened it up, dug thru and stole my trusty leatherman. Grrr…

Anyway, on to Sofia… What a cool place! We had a nice sunny day under the watchful gaze of the snow-capped mountains, which the local ski buffs are no doubt eyeing with anticipation. Magical MotoMaggie, and our very cool drivers Latchezar and Spas, took us all over this compelling city. It’s quite interesting; there’s a deep history—Roman ruins and all that–and very fabulous old buildings (especially the old Communist buildings, like Party HQ)….but they’re not all that old, as the city was bombed heavily during World War II (Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Axis…oops!). But the parks and the fountains and all the very nice people were just a treat. Passed a fun flea market, in the shadows of the cathedral, that seemed to be dominated by old wristwatches and very authentic old Nazi stuff. I must say, I was very tempted by a Nazi-issued Leica M2 camera, but…nyet for me. Bulgaria in general, and Sofia in particular, is yet another place I very much want to explore again—especially knowing that Sofia überambassador, the lovely and very well-connected Maggie, is here to help. But for now, it’s 5pm on Friday, and in about 12 hours our client Paula and I leave for the airport and flights home. Suffice it to say, it’s been ANOTHER truly amazing global adventure, and it’ll be wonderful to see Bobbi—even if only for half a day—before she goes on HER solo adventure, to New Zealand. Be sure to stay tuned to the blog, as Bobbi hits the keyboard with her adventures starting next week!