One Night In Bangkok!!!

Hey all!
I am in Bangkok right now, and everything is so cheap! I just bought a high quality Brazil Soccer shirt for 3 bucks american!!!Grit, Szymon (i couldnt find a way to say 'hey man, i wanna go on a date, leave me alone') and myself have been running around getting VERY VERY VERY lost in Bangkok since 2pm and its now 7pm. We shared a van ride into Bangkok from Laem Chabang with some passengers and it took 2 hours to get here. The cool thing was it cost us 10US each lol. We are all going to get a Thai Massage after this entry for one hour for 200 Baht, which is about 6 bucks US....I think I am in paradise! Then at about 10pm we are going to find (hopefully) our shopping center where we got dropped off, and meet back with the cool passengers and then make it back to the ship (even though its cheap, i dont want to blow my money on a hotel to stay here overnight....).... so I am having a blast right now and maybe tomorrow i will spend 4 bucks and go to Pataya, and see some traditional old places...if that makes sense....

OK I should go now, we are gonna run around Bangkok for a bit and take night shots and get our massages and blah blah blah...the life of a photographer ;)

See you all in the next cartoon!

M

Some Random thoughts of Nothingness...

Hey all! We are now officially in Thailand! YAYYYYY! Koh Samui looks amazing (at least from the ship it does lol). All my friends are out having fun, and I am walking around the ship looking for things to do. I have 3 hours left until I get ready for my 2nd crusade as a Pirate (yay!) so I thought I would run down here and throw some random thoughts on here. I had a few that I thought of but now...its all a blur (isnt that always the way? lol). Well here goes nothing:

1. "Beetlejuice" was just on in the crewbar. Such a good movie! Everyone sang "Shake Senora: at the end...it was kinda like a big karaoke party.....again....
2. Every single night when you see the sun set from the ship, you are always amazed. I have seen many crew photos but I have only taken a few myself, so you just have to take my word for it. There is a place up on the jogging track (highest place on the ship) that you can sit on this big platform and get yourself in frame with the sunset behind you, its so beautiful.
3. If you are good to crew, they are good to you in return. Its not about what you know in this line of work, its who you know. Be nice to people, and your life will be a whole lot more managable. There is this guy that sits at a table by the gallery once every cruise and has people sign up for wine tasting. We are always nice to him, so every time when he is done, the photog's get the grapes from his display. It sounds weird, but getting 2 bags of fresh grapes every week in a place where you mostly eat fish and rice ....its heaven. Things like that make the world go round.
4. I found out last night that the department that makes the most money on the entire ship is the crew bar. Now lets do some math here. I bought a Red Bull drink at the regular lounge...for 5 dollars!!! Thats not a drink, thats drink MIX, and its 5 dollars! I just wanted something to wake me up (its like Jolt if you dont know what it is...just lots of caffiene). In the crew bar, a tequilla sunrise is $2.50AUS. A Corona is $1.50AUS. Cigarettes in 25s (for the smokers) are $2.50AUS a pack. We arent spending a fortune per item here, and yet every single night 600 crew members spend more there than 1300 passengers at FULL price in any other bar on the ship....isnt there some safety regulation here??? And its not like its some big gong show every night. It may sound like it by the way I drag on, but really its just like a pub with casual drinking and music. Its like a BP Lounge. Weird.
5. Climbing 8 stories of stairs takes only 20 seconds or so, and no one is ever out of breath at the top (unless its a passenger). Going downstairs is just gravy. Thats right, I said Gravy.
6. We have a lifeboat #13. I just thought I would mention that.
7. I still hurt from waking up the other day and ramming my head on the roof. That was like...4 days ago! Still a very funny thing when I think about it lol.
8. Szymon, Kristen, Matt, and myself want to buy a helicopter. No reason.
9. I will be in Bangkok tomorrow :). As a matter of fact I might be there at night. One night. In Bangkok. (i will call anyone who wants to sing with me, just let me know haha)
10. Phuket (next cruise) has an island called James Bond Island. It was in a Bond flick (duh), and also if you have seen The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, the main scene looking off the beach where you see the two big rocks on either side and the big opening into the ocean in the middle.. Thats James Bond Island, and I will walk there with my own two feet next week!
11. I have gone to more countries in 4 days than I have in my entire life :)
12. I keep forgetting there is a New Zealand Ice Cream shop on deck 10...dammit!
13. No one here ever knows what day it is.
14. I am eating healthy but I wonder what I weigh.
15. I want someone to research for me on the internet places I will be going, so i dont have to spend money looking for things to do for free...if that made sense.
16. My boss Joel dropped $2300S in Singapore and bought a Canon 20D and all the trimmings. He lets me play with it. I love Joel.
17. I am trying really hard to nominate the dishwasher for employee of the month. Next time I can upload pics I will show you all a photo of him and you will see why. This guy works 16 hour days every single day and makes about $300 a month, and I NEVER see him without a smile. he literally makes my day.

ok thats it for now. I am sure i will think of one right when I hit "Publish" but if its important it can wait. Love you all, and when you hear from me next I will hopefully have some cool stories about my trip to Bangkok!

Ciao!

M

Singapore, getting into trouble, and IPM@KOHSAMUI

Ok...today was a sea day, tommorrow is Koh Samui, and yesterday was Singapore. Thats all I know. Time has flown in the past few days. One minute I am typing in a cafe in Malaysia, the next I am wandering aimlessly around Singapore downtown with Szymon for 6 hours getting lost every ten minutes but loving it, and the next I am stressing out over a Formal night and getting yelled at for the first time. The machines screwed up last night around 2am so I couldnt print off my flyers for the passengers (to let them know about our daily portraits), and so I called Will and he told me to leave it for him in the morning...it was he that was supposed to close the machines down, so when he started getting into sh!t I took the flack (hey, its better to be a new guy and take flack and make strong friends than to watch a guy thats SUPPOSED to know what he is doing get into even worse sh!t). So he got off scott free and I got a beating (they were dangling me over deck 11 and beating me like a pinata)....well not really, I just got told to make sure my flyers were all printed tonight and that was it. BUT, its now 2:30am (actually 330 am but we changed clocks back 1 hour again tonight thank God) and I have to be in the gallery for 7:30am...Ugh. "Will, turn your LOUD alarm on for me ok?!" "3...2...1...wake up!! wake up!! wake up!!" that thing still makes me laugh lol.

So ya, tomorrow we are in Koh Samui, which i THINK is in Thailand, not sure. I am In-Port-Manning so I have to stay on the ship (oh well, its just another beach apparantly) plus I get to see it 10 more times in the next 2 months...no biggie. But the day after we are staying in Laem Chebang for 2 days so I am doing a 12 hour tour with Grit (pronounced Gdit), my new friend. She is this amazing German gal who barely speaks english (which is why i think we get along...she cant understand me lol). Its actually kinda sweet: she stumbles upon sentences to me, i understand her more than anyone on the ship (other than the Germans of course) and she is teaching me German. (for the record, "Lick my ass" is Lech meeham ash....dont ask, its just better that way... its not literal, its how they say Kiss My ass...and I just had to laugh). Anyways, we are spending the day at an Elephant hostpital, and having a traditional Thailand dinner in Bangkok, and then watching a Thailand Dance....Ive seen pics, its amazing!

Ok I gotta go to bed now!

talk to you all later! Oh...actually, Aden left in Singapore and he wont be back for 1.5 months. I miss him, so for Aden's sake, I will once again say:

See you all in the next cartoon!

Oh, and Lech meeham ash! =)

Yo-ho-ho-ho A Pirate's life for me!

YARRRRRRR!!!!! finally you see what i mean! Don't we look like we just finished our run at the Gay Pride Parade?! This is Matt, Stewart, Morgan (An entertainer, he does Rodney Stewart, and very well too i might add!), Szymon, and some guy we dont know...but he is taking this a little too seriously!

K, Ali awaits! See you all in the next cartoon!

In Malaysia!!

hey all, everything is going really well! I have spent the last 2 hours on my own in Melaka, Malaysia trying to find an internet cafe and taking tons of photos and soaking up the local atmosphere.....and i think this time around the photos will work! I will give this a try...but i have to hurry...there is a man on a bike with a sidecar (i forget the name of the bike, but the drivers name is Ali lol)...he is drivin me around the town showing me stuff...all for basically 5 bucks US... it is so hot here but it was raining so much and on my way to the mall here, i had to wait under a canopy with some guy i dont know...but i got his picture lol...

OK the photo works! this is a photo from a few days ago of some of the photogs and shoppies.. from left to right: Szymon, Emma, Anna, Anna, Stewart, Amber (from Vancouver!), Aden (irish guy lol), Kristen (from Vancouver!), Matt, and finally my roomie Will!

Ok I will add another photo here...and then I should run outside. Ali awaits!

The Burial of Kelvin and Maud...

Sunday: First of all, why me? Why come up to me and ask this? Is it because I am the new guy? Was I destined to do this? Did the universe know this and then chose me to be the first to do this? The answers are all Yes. I swear to you, as I am sitting here right now, the answers are all Yes.

When my boss Joel came up to me tonight as I stood there in my tuxedo by my backdrop, he asked me "Mike, do you want to photograph something special tomorrow?". Being keen on "First impressions are everything" I said "Yes....but what is it?"...something that has never done before.....then he told me: "There is a request by the family to photograph a burial at sea".

I immediately took an indescribable honor to what I had just heard, although I hate to admit that I still joined in on the jokes at the crewbar later on. "Wait! Squeeze in around the urn folks! now smiiiiiiiiiile!" the laughter stopped (at least for me) when it actually hit me: there is a corpse on this ship. My ship. Less than one month into my first contract and I am acting as if its MY ship, yet I laugh at the jokes. Then something else hit me: Sure, there is a corpse on this ship, but there are people here grieving. This isn't a vacation for them. This is a mission. Thats why they are here, no other reason but to bring a loved ones last wish to truth. And I will be there. And I DO take it to heart. And I am honored. Deeply.

Monday: How exactly do you photograph a funeral again? I figured I wasnt really supposed to get amazing angles or anything like that, they just wanted someone to document it, and so I did. Plain and simple. Oh, I also had a feeling the funeral was for a man. Well its not. I soon saw the photo of a woman that could have easily been my grandma's twin. And now, there this woman was, her ashes divided up into three little blue boxes, one for each of her children. The captain of the ship, Stefano Rivera, gave a few words and spoke from the bible, and then stood at attention while the ashes were emptied into the sea.

At the Gallery a few hours later, I was feeling kinda empty, almost like I knew this woman and was grieving as well. I am not afraid to admit that when the ashes were spread, and some people started to cry, I was among them crying too. One of the gentlemen looked up at me and smiled through his own tears. These are people that I have only known a week, and have seen them many times on the ship, but now I almost felt like family. Having said that, when one of the gentlemen came into the gallery later on, I had to ask for the woman's name. "Maud Nielson". I told him that the service was lovely, but I was under the impression that it was for a man until I saw Maud's photo.

"It was, Michael. Her Husband, Kelvin, died twenty years prior and was cremated. Maud and Kelvin had promised each other to be buried at sea together, and so she held onto his ashes for twenty years so that they could forever be together"

Life is a fragile thing, but True Love always holds it together.

Pirates, and then PIRATES

Hey everyone! Just a quick recap on the past few days here on the mighty "Pacific Sky - my Home away from Home"... the night before last night was "fright night", so everyone (passengers and crew) dress up as ghosts and ghouls etc... (yes, 1 Halloween every cruise...just no candy...). Having said that, there are also photos taken as well, but this time around, we dress up as Pirates and jump into the photos with the passengers....guess who was a pirate this time?! YARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! We're talkin a full blown pirate costume: triangular hat with a skull and crossbones, a black curly "I'm Rick James, Bitch!" wig, a red and black and gold jacket that would make Elton beam with jealousy, white tights (a Freddy Mercury joke should go here), and even a sword, parrot on the shoulder, and golden earrings to match.....but the icing on the cake: the beard....we take a cork from a wine bottle and light it on fire. Then we blow it out and smear it on our faces... I will update everyone with a photo soon (seeing as now there are about 500 photos of me as a pirate on this ship)....Picture Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in "Hook" and that was me....hell ya :)

Stewart, Matt, Szymon, and myself had a total blast that night, by the end of the photos, we were hoisting up grannys on our shoulders and making the guys wear our hats....and the funny thing? They loved it. I am proud to say that I was even in a swordfight with an 80 year old man with a cane. Boy, did he surprise the hell outta me! A wooden sword versus a titanium cane? And the reach on that thing, my God! We all felt like kids again, it was such an experience. The biggest Gong Show on this ship yet. I mean, c'mon.....how many people can say "hey, I work as a Pirate sailing through the Indian Ocean"....

Now for the other part....of the real Pirates... The next few days we are approaching Asia, and there are threats of Real Pirates boarding the cruise ships. See, what they do is this: they tie two of their ships together with a long rope that floats on the water.....then our ship goes in between them, undetecting the rope, and as we keep going, we basically pull the two boats right alongside us....sounds kinda cool, but really....I dont want to be here if they come around.

However, having seen how that man and his cane fight...I feel pretty safe ;)

Finally, in closing...I will leave you all with a little something Aden (irish guy) says to all of us at the end of every night...

"See you all in the next cartoon!"

Happy Valentine Day!

So today, I was in Albany. I did my first tour (for free). Valentine's Day, and I was on a tour bus with 80+ old people and my camera. Didnt bother me any, I kinda liked it. For the record, Google "Albany Natural Bridge" and see if you can find pictures. I consider it now, my 2nd wonder of MY world. 1st being a tie with the fact that there is 1km or so of water under me and I am finally doing what I wanted to do my whole life, and the fact that my sunburn (and peeling) is finally gone.

So once I got back to the ship, I started thinking a lot about Valentine's Day. Typical "i am alone and no one loves me in that way and blah blah blah blah"..... so I thought "hey, I cant do anything about that right now, so what can I do to make me happy?". Then it occured to me... what should I be in love with today? not who, but what should be my valentine today? I took pictures all night of other people in love.... then it hit me (many things hit me out here...):

I am in love with....love.

Every single couple I took photos of today were easily pushing 70...and every single one just as much in love with each other than the next. No bickering (well, very little), and everyone had a smile (well, most). I over heard a couple saying this was their 27th cruise, and another couple said it was their 19th. They are still goofing around and flirting as if they were 16 years old. It was such a warm feeling to see everyone smiling and in love through my viewfinder, that I didnt even care that I was alone or yadda yadda yadda.... to hell with it. I dont need it. I want love, but I have it, its all around me. Its all around everyone, and if you dont see it, you are being selfish. If its not the love you are lookign for, its still love. Love is love. There are folks on this ship, sleeping right now, and when they wake up, I imagine them kissing each other, one maybe walking slowly to the door and getting breakfast for the other, and then bringing it back to bed to share it with the ones they love. Valentines day doesnt even matter. Love for these folks (and most I hope, eventually) is every day.

Happy February 14th everyone. To hell with Valentine's Day. Spread it throughout the year, and if you cant for some reason, just listen and watch it around you. Its there.

Glowsticks, a fellow Canuck, an Irishman, and a Drum

You know those moments in life that are so amazing and surreal that you are in complete disbelief even as its happening? Therefore, you can almost be nostalgic about it while its still going on? Last night I had one of those moments.

I was finishing up some developing in the lab by myself around 1:30am or so (casually, on my own time, its really not like work at all...lots of music playing), and after I was done, I thought I would jump down to the crew bar to see who was there. I knew I didnt want to drink anything but I thought I'd take a looksee before bed. Just a few people, Aden (a cocky Irish man, who really is an amazingly nice man at heart), Amber (new giftshop girl from canada...amazing gal, free spirit...vancouver lol), Ben (One of the head guys from the bridge..29 scottish, great funny guy), and myself (hi.). We got to talking about tons of things, but nothing fantastic. After 30 min or so Aden suggests to go to deck 6 aft and play the drums. I stared at him blankly, but then we all followed. We arrive in the back of deck 6: wide open balcony at the very back of the ship, roughly 20 feet above water....noisy, cold, slight wind, but a 'crew only' area and there is a picnic bench for sitting. Aden has a drum case and when he opens it up I am brought quick memories of Great Big Sea concerts in Canada. its a Barron (sp?). An Irish drum that you hold sideways in one hand and twiddle a little stick on it to get those celtic jig type sounds. (The only person I know that plays it is Shawn McHahn from Great Big Sea...sounds amazing). Then he plays us a tune, and as he does Amber starts a little groove to it on her own (like i said, free spirit). I made a comment to her earlier about dancing like a Rave girl, and so when she came up to the dck 6 with us she must have stopped off at her room and got these two glow balls on chains that you swing around your body like firesticks....my guess was right....Rave Girl. She smiled. Canadians are always right. Unless they are wrong. Then, they might as well be called "Americans". Anyways, she starts to pull them out and swing them around to the beat. So there we are, three guys drinkin beer, one with a Barron hammering out a very earthly beat, and watching this girl paint these movements in the air as if she were creating life itself. She summed up the moment shortly after by saying "when you dance to a drum in moments like these, its Intoxicating". Then ben grabbed the sticks, and I grabbed the barron. We looked like two retards in the middle of a mating ritual. After about 30 min or so of playing around, Aden said "In the 5 years I have been on this ship, no one has EVER come as close to playing the Barron as well as you do, Michael. Good on ya. You make me proud."

By 4:30 am i was in bed, drunk with pride, freedom, and intoxicated by the moment. As I fell asleep I moved up and down with the ship, and remembered how we talked about how certain beats can be summed up as Earthly, and how they make you feel part of the Earth. Then I thought about how the entire ship and everyone on it, is moving the same with me right now. Then I though of how the ocean was dancing with us as well, followed by the rest of the world. Soon, I drifted off to dreams of home and old friends whom I have lost contact thru the years. We are still moving as one.

Adelaide!

So, we went to Adelaide yesterday. Before this cruise I had never even heard of the place, so I had very low expectations. When I got there, though, my opinion changed. I fell in love with the place. Nothing fantastic about it really, (other than the fact that its in Australia, and everything is new to me), I just loved absolutely everything about it. The trees are different, the birds are different, there are amazing buildings and parks and everything just...fit. Its somewhere where I would be proud to call home. (dont get ideas, I am just making a happy observation).

I found an internet cafe while travelling (and knew I would, so i brought a CD with photos to email), and when I got there, my blog was down for maintenance, and my photo site wouldnt recognize my password....BUT all was not lost, for I emailed myself the photos, so if anyone wants the ones I had at the time (Lifou, Ouvea, Isles of Pines, etc) let me know in the comments here, or email me and I will be more than happy to send them to you.

Today is a sea day, and tomorrow as well, and then we arrive in Albany. Then its another sea day followed by (i think) Fremantle or Exmouth. Then the latter, and then 4 sea days til Asia. This will be an amazing chapter. In the next 3 months, I see Singapore 10 times....ask me a year ago if i would have ever been to Singapore in my entire life and I bet I would have said no. Now I can build a time machine and show myself the photos I will take :)

On to Cruise 2! Singapore here we come!

Hey everyone! My first cruise ended yesterday in Melbourne at around Noon! It was a blast! This next one is a 16 day cruise going the other way now (west) to Adelaide, Albany, Freemantle, Exmouth (i think), Perth, and then finally crossing the equator up into South East Asia (Malacca, Thailand, Singapore...etc). Its going to be amazing, there are a few reports that since we have a few days overnight at certain ports (check P&O cruises' website for the Pacific Sky's itinerary...I have no idea, I just take pictures lol), some of us are taking the train and heading into Bangkok (it costs like $2US dollars to take the train there....um....ya). Oh, and yes...I will be singing that 80's Bangkok song. I still sing. Lots. The boat rocks continuously, and everytime I run up stairs I feel like I need to act out the ending of Grease (Olivia and John singing "you're the one that I want" in the fun house)....seems like only I get the point....wasted jokes... lol

So, yesterday I shot the embark photos (people walking onto the ship stop for a photo).... Oh, and seeing as how I was the first person to see the passengers, it was NOT surprising to have a male crew member come up to me every 5 minutes asking "hey mike, any hotties this cruise?"

The answer: no.

Last time: over 800 hot people (guys and girls) were 19-29 years old. This time: well, lets just say over 95% of the passengers are...um....great great great great grandparents. Nice though, dont get me wrong, its just more fun with people your own age.

Anyways, had fun last night, brought in the new inventory with the gang and Joel bought us a case of Corona (which was polished off in about 3 hours....thats 6 each by the way). Then we hit the crew bar (15 steps away from the lab....convenient?). Then when the crew bar closed at 1:30am, Joel thew us his cabin keys and said "grab anything you can drink, take it up to my room, throw on some tunes, I am going to get us all pizzas and I will meet you all there".

Guess who woke up at 8am with zero hangover? *insert applause here*

If it wasnt for the fact that we all walk up and down stairs all day (we're talking 8 flights continuously), we'd all be some seriously fat photogs.

Tomorrow is Adelaide, and I am shooting gangway shots at 7:45am, and then I have until 8pm to run around. I am going for a run on the beach (somewhere) and also going to find an internet cafe. I have some banking to do, and I want to upload the www.michaelwachniak.com site with photos (cant do it here on board).

Also, getting lonely here. I have more contact with my friend Julie from Citi Financial (car loan) than most of you. You know exactly who you are. A simple "mike i miss you" or "mike, Adobe (my dog) is or isnt pregnant" or "hey, um....hi....well...bye" would do lol.

ok folks talk to you soon! Wam-bam-ala-kazam! ;)

Almost in Melbourne

I am waiting for my pizza to be made so I thought I would run down to deck 2 to check my email. The bar is crazy tonight, last night on the ship and everyone is awake. There's even a hundred or so old people running around the ship and its 2:30am lol. Will's beside me checking his email, he gets to see his woman tomorrow in Melbourne (translation: Mike....dont come back to the room for a few hours). Good thing I am shooting embarkation photos tomorrow (everyone coming on the ship for the next cruise. I dont have to do anything until 3:45pm tomorrow so I can hang out all night, but there is a rumor going around that there will be random breathalizer tests tomorrow morning, so I cut myself off after 3 drinks (not taking chances on this....its just too good of a lifestyle to !$#& up on something as silly as that).

I miss everyone. I'm not homesick yet, but I miss everyone. Its a good life out here, so much to do, so much to see, but I sometimes I just want to go out and hang at BP's with a coffee and the gang and see how many people I can make choke by making them laugh lol. I also miss my family. A day doesn't go by where I don't wonder what Kaia (my niece) is doing that very moment. My watch has two time modes, and I have set one mode up as Vancouver time... I am always thinking of everyone, so never feel alone ok?

Happier times now lol... my pizza is almost done (meat lovers....and its greasier than anything I have ever had...its not even that good, but it makes me feel at home (I bet no one has referred to pizza as home before lol)..

Well I think thats it, I just wanted to say hi. There is about 85 phillapino people behind me singing karaoke and its beginning to get on my nerves (at first its cute how much they get into it, but now its just.....wrong.)

Goodnight Neverland. (or good morning, its 7:30am in Vancouver)

Ouvea, Lifou, Isle of Pines...

Hey everyone! I have to be brief (I have $1.03 left on my internet card lol)... We were at the isle of pines today which is amazing (look it up...i wandered around it all day with Anna and Szymon..feet hurt).. we did Lifou yesterday, Port Vila the day before (I was IPM - In Port Manning - meaning I had ot stay on the ship for Port Vila so I couldnt see it), and Ouvea the day before that.... all of these: picture the typical "post card" sandy beaches with palm trees and coconuts and clear blue waters.....and then picture me..with my camera...lol..

Thats my office. I work there.

And now we are starting a 3 day trek back to Melbourne where we will start our 3 month run around Asia :)

I will update you all further...when I have more internet money.... and when I can update with photos too! email me @ ike1@hotmail.com everyone ok?!

now if you will excuse me, I am gonna go run and grab some food, then head up to watch us wander around the islands..ciao!