It’s been a hectic few weeks with uni and work, but I’ve finally found the time to put up some more photos. These ones are from our trip to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We flew in from Bangkok after coming back from Pai in the North, so the immediate poverty we saw after landing was quite a shock. The Cambodians can be quite friendly, but they’re also very keen to sell you stuff. I’m glad we made the trip though, and although it wouldn’t be my first choice in the region, I’d like to go back someday.

Clouds on the flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh

Bit of a temporary diversion from the SE Asia photos for the moment. There’ll be more later.

I took a week-long trip to Melbourne two weeks ago to visit my girlfriend, V, over the mid-semester break. I had a really good time catching up with some friends while I was over there, and found out a lot more about the food and drink in Australia’s ‘most liveable city’.

For instance, there’s a fantastic beer store (titled ‘The Beer Store – Australia’s Largest’ – we do have a thing for names in Australia) on Acland Street in St Kilda which sells practically every beer you could ever want or need. I only wish I’d had time to try a few, but apparently they deliver interstate!

There’s also a restaurant called Spicy Fish on Little Bourke Street in Chinatown which sells amazing Szechuan cuisine, if you’re keen on chilis. I had my first encounter with the traditional Szechuan pepper, which numbs your tongue in addition to being spicy. It’s not cheap, but it’s delicious.

If you’re looking for something a little cheaper, the Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant is a great alternative. It’s on Tattersalls Lane, just off Little Bourke. Get there early – we arrived at 6 and it was busy, left at 8 and the line was stretching down the stairs and along the alley. You can get a plate of 15 dumplings for $5-$7, which is pretty good by my books. We shared 5 plates between 4 along with two bottles of BYO wine, and it cost us $12.50 each.

On the last day I was there, V and I took a trip up to the Yarra Valley, near Healesville (coincidentally where my sister was born) to check out some wineries. It was overcast and a little stormy, but the cold weather and broken light made it really atmospheric and beautiful. I got some photos of the area which are below.

Nice overcast lighting on the chairs on the winery deck

At approximately 23:40 on the 16th of April, Adelaide experienced a small earth tremor. It was my first! Fortunately there are no collapsed buildings that I know of, but unfortunately I can’t show any media to prove it happened.

Twitter is abuzz though – within 3 minutes of the tremor, there were more than 300 tweets about the adelaide earthquake. A Facebook group was up within 5 minutes, and as of this post twenty minutes after the quake, has 3000 fans.

What does all this tell us about our survival instincts in the face of a natural disaster? Just that people gravitate to the most comprehensive and accessible information source. It’s a nice way of confirming suspicions, and I doubt that people at the epicentre would continue making Twitter jokes about ‘something interesting happening in Adelaide’ if it turned out to be a more serious quake.

Personally, I can’t wait to see the inevitable sensationalist headlines in the Advertiser, and it’s interesting to see how many people really hang out on Facebook on a Friday night (I was working, I have an excuse).

• Updated: Apparently 5AA have reported the Earthquake to be 3.2 on the Richter Scale. Nice.

The extremely rapidly established Adelaide earthquake Facebook group

Time for a photo update! This lot is from Pai, Northern Thailand. Cheap scooters, warm weather, cool rivers and good times.

This was the view from our guest house in Pai in the evening

I’m in a three-piece band, and we’d like to make it a four-piece. We have guitar, bass and drums, but we desperately need a singer to make us whole and get us through the long winter. If there’s anyone from Adelaide reading this who’s interested, check out the Field Studies MySpace here, and contact us on the email address on the poster below.

I’d love to describe the sound of the band, but it’s pretty difficult for someone who’s involved! Have a listen to the sample tracks on the MySpace (we haven’t recorded the bass lines yet) to get an idea of what we’re going for.