Penang [Joshua Burke]

Penang 

Sea Glass is now anchored off Penang Island, Malaysia and we will be here for a couple days before moving up to Langkawi where we will be there for a couple days. Lots of stuff to do in town and we rented a car (which had nice air conditioning) and saw some local tourist attractions. When driving around town make sure to look out for people driving on motorcycles because they weave in and out of cars and cut in front of you. A lot of the people here are of Indian descent because the British brought them over as laborers. 

We drove to the edge of town where we took a steep tram to the top of the outlaying mountains. Up at the top the air was nice and cool with a bonus of a good look of the city. We could even see our boat from here, (a small white dot in the distance). In the British period wealthy British built these large mansions on the mountains, and when the Malaysians got their independence all of the British people moved away but kept the buildings standing. Now Millionaire Malaysians own the mansions (they call them bungalows) and have them as holiday houses. There are 44 on the island, but only 14 are accessible by road. I saw about six when we were taking a motorized guided tour.

The city (the other side in Peninsular Malaysia) 

Me and Jacob on the tram.

There was also a museum about Owls, which was very interesting. They had over 1000 different owl art pieces in their collection. My favorite piece was a huge painting of a close-up view of an owl eye.

The "eye"

Me with owl paintings

During the day we also went to the largest Buddhist temple I have ever seen. There was a man-made lake filled to the brim with turtles and lots of Buddhist deity statues. Since it was later in the day we didn’t get to see the large Buddha statue, which was kind of disappointing.

Some of the turtles.

Us under the arch

The large Buddhist temple.

Stay in touch

Joshua

Where is Sea Glass (2nd entry) [Joshua Burke]

Where is Sea Glass (2nd entry)

We have now at Singapore and we have been traveling for nine and a half days straight. We are going to put the boat in a berth in the Republic of Singapore Marina for about a week. The weather was mostly on our side and we sailed down wind for about 8 days at an average speed of 6 ½ knots. Luckily, there were no hurricanes that interfered with our traveling although there were two that were heading towards Japan. The weather was mostly sunny with a few clouds, but there were storm clouds as we neared Singapore. We saw lots of huge container ships, with the biggest being 380 m long. There were also lots of fishing vessels off the coast of Vietnam with no AIS, and the only way to avoid them was to look for the bright lights and make course adjustments. Speaking of Vietnam we were thinking about stopping there to break up the trip into halves, but we learned that you had to get all your stuff ahead of time and so we didn’t.

Coming into the Singapore area there were tons and tons of container ships just anchored up to wait for whatever reason. What was amazing is that I saw a military Singaporean submarine above the water with two Singaporean destroyers. Cool, Right? We identified them by using the AIS. Luckily were only staying here for a week otherwise Mom might put me in one of those super competitive schools.

The marina is very nice and has an awesome swimming pool with a glass barrier that you can look out while you’re swimming. It’s like being the fish in an aquarium.

The rate to the US dollar is horrible here, and it’s just as expensive as Australia.

I have pictures and I will update this post later.

Joshua

              

Causeway bay big pool party [Jacob Burke]

Causeway bay big pool party

Every few weeks there is a giant pool party at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Causeway bay. So far I have been there two times. The party fills up quite quick so you have to get reservations pretty fast. The pool party has one huge inflatable with a slid on it and, there are a lot of small inflatables. There is also huge buffet with an infinite amount of ice cream! The last time I went there was Saturday the 5^th. There were lots of kids and I even made friends with some of them. That time all the kids could bring inflatables on the giant floating plaything. In the beginning when most of the kids were around a lot of kids were running and jumping trying to get on the barge. So many kids did this that the lifeguards had to push the kids off. There plan kind of backfired because all the kids started pushing the lifeguards off. At the end of the party a lot of the kids had left so it wasn’t so crazy. The day was very fun.

            

Greek Half Bloods and Monsters [Jacob Burke]

Chapter 1 - I Beat the Bully
“Hi” my name is Charlie Thomas. I live in Seattle in an apartment with my mom Claire Thomas. I had a normal life until one day at the school cafeteria.
While eating my lunch, Buddy, the class bully said, “Catch this!” I turned and saw his lunch box flying through the air. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. Surprisingly, it didn’t hit me. When I opened my eyes, I saw buddy on the floor unconscious with his lunch box on his chest.
Just then, the math teacher Mr. Brian came in the room, grabbed me, and walked me out of the room and into the back entrance. Suddenly he hit me hard on the head. The last thing I remember was Mr. Brian dragging me out of the

school grounds.

Chapter 2 - I Fight Cyclops
When I returned to consciousness, I was in a dark cave with lime stone ridges and watermarks. It looked like it was thousands of years old. I was bound in rope near a girl that looked a couple years older then me.
I asked her what she was doing here and why my math teacher attacked me. All she said was “You’re a half blood”. “A what?” I exclaimed. “A hal”- she was interrupted, “Where’s my lunch!” roared a booming voice.
Just then a giant humanoid entered the room. It was hairy, 7 feet tall, and had one big eye with a red pupil. The girl next to me said “of course. A Cyclops.” I thought about the name and realized that Cyclops meant ‘kuklōps’ in Greek.

The Cyclops interrupted my thoughts by picking me up
and throwing me across the room. I hit the cave wall with a crash and got dizzy but fortunately didn’t black out. It hurt and I got pretty mad at the Cyclops. The anger caused a tugging sensation in my gut. I heard thunder and saw a lightning bolt blast a hole in the ceiling, then hit the Cyclops on the head with a loud thump. That was obviously too much energy for the Cyclops because he instantly disintegrated forming a big mound of dust on the cave floor.
The girl had somehow gotten out of her binds and untied me. We ran out of the cave and walked in the forest. I asked her a lot of questions and she gave me an assortment of yes’s, no’s, and wait till we arrive at camp’s. After I gave up on getting a clear answer from her I asked her what her name was. She said “Sophie”. “What’s yours?” she asked.
“Charlie” I said.

After walking over a couple hills, around a swamp, and through a lake we reached the end of the forest. We went through the last of the trees and I could see a camp across a large field in the distance.

Chapter 3 Camp Half Blood
When we arrived at the camp I noticed a lot of kids about my age. I followed Sophie into a large farmhouse she called The Big House.
When we were inside the building I saw two people playing a game with cards. One of them was in a wheel chair, had a long white beard, and looked ancient. The other person had a tropical themed t-shirt and pants. The guy in the wheel- chair said “How was your quest Sophie?”
“Can we talk about this later Chiron?” she answered. Chiron looked at me, “I see you found a new demigod”. “Yes, his name is Charlie,” Sophie informed.
Chiron pointed across the room and said, “Charlie, can we

please talk in my room?” “Sure” I answered.
We went to his room and Chiron started “Charlie do you only have one parent?”
I was startled but answered, “Yes, how did you know?” Chiron looked at me “You’re a half blood”.
There was a pause then I said, “what’s a half blood?”
“A human that has a godly side and a mortal side” Chiron answered.
“Let me guess, Greek mythology is real?” I asked.
Chiron looked at the mini stuffed animal hydras in the corner and said, “Yes you are correct”. After a long silence Chiron said, “Go to Sophie, she will show you the camp.”
Camp half blood was made up of teenagers. There was a basketball court and a whole field of growing strawberries. There were 12 cabins each standing for a separate major god. There was archery class, swords class, canoeing races,

and more. After touring the camp Sophie showed me the weapons shed. I found interest in an axe and kept it.

Chapter 4 - I Get Claimed
After three days at camp I learned a couple things. First, that I could read Greek easily. Second, I liked fighting with an axe and third, you got to fight real monsters like giant scorpions, hydras, big bats, and more.
I lived in the Hermes cabin with all the other unclaimed kids. Chiron got me some belongings of a mattress, a toothbrush and paste, a light, and some other stuff.
One night at the campfire after eating the dinner of a BBQ, shepherds pie, a line of pastries, and more a camper gasped and said “look!”
All the campers stared at me. I realized I had a bright glow above my head. I swatted at it but it didn’t go away. The mark stayed for a moment but disappeared after a while. “What was that?” I said. Chiron answered by saying, “all hail son of Zeus”.

Chapter 5 - Lightning

After the songs from the Apollo cabin we all went back to our cabins. Sadly, I was all alone in cabin 1 with a big statue of Zeus staring at me. Miniature lightning storms circled the room with lightning coming out of the clouds making thunder sounds. There were no bathrooms, beds or any thing you needed to live with so I put my belongings on the floor and went to sleep.
While I was sleeping I had a dream. There was a flash of gold as a creature 40 feet long crushed a building. It had long iron sharp claws and two glowing red eyes. Its teeth were bright white and were so sharp it looked like they could poke a hole in metal, as a needle would do to a Balloon. Its scales were harder then titanium and were blocking everything that hit it. My fellow campers were hacking away at the thing with all their weapons. The massive destruction machine turned toward me and blew fire.

I woke up with a start. I heard a tapping sound on my door so I got out of bed and opened it. There was a cat outside. He had a yellowish tinge to his fur. He had blue eyes and was quite cute so I let him inside. I gave him some of my beef jerky from my belongings and made a miniature bed for him. After doing this I went back to sleep.
*
Next morning when I woke up I fed my hungry cat some more beef jerky and thought of a name for my cat. I decided I’d name him Lightning.

Chapter 6
The Golden Drakon
Two days later.
I woke up in the morning and I heard a lot of noise outside. I jumped out of bed, opened my window, and looked. There was the terrifying dragon-like thing of my dreams fighting my friends. I strapped on my armor, grabbed my axe then went outside.
My cat Lightning was raking the creature with his sharp iron like claws while Sophie and her friends from the Athena cabin attacked it with their daggers, swords, axes, and more weapons. Everything that hit the creature bounced of it.
I ran in and started slicing at the thing. An Ares sibling shouted, “die drakon!” but got silenced as the drakon blew a column flame at her. I summoned a few lightning bolts but they did nothing but irritate the drakon. After smashing the Hera cabin the drakon roared and ran away. When I went back to my cabin to get out of my armor I realized I was missing something, my cat! 

Chapter 7 Lightning goes Lightning
I decided I’d go get Lightning. I’m pretty sure the golden drakon took Lightning somewhere in the forest. I kept on my armor and followed the drakons’ huge footprints into the forest.
Its footprints lead through the wreckage and went to a cave. When I went inside the cave, I saw a pair of blue eyes as a creature zipped past me.

After a moment I saw a pair of big red eyes that belonged to the drakon in the distance and quickly decided I’d follow the creature with blue eyes. After I was out of the cave I realized that the creature with the blue eyes was my cat, I said to him “Quick lets get out of here” He seemed to understand me but the drakon came out of the tunnel and blocked our path. We were trapped!

I took out my axe ready to fight and Lightning unsheathed his claws. I charged at the massive drakon and started looking for cracks in its armor where I could stab while my cat was clawing the drakon like crazy. The drakon was too powerful and was gaining on us.

The drakon was about to smash my cat when Lightning did the most amazing thing. He turned into lightning. Lightning the lightning zapped the drakon over and over while I summoned some lightning bolts to help him. The drakon started to weaken from all the power and with a last agonizing roar crumpled to ash.

Chapter 8 The End
I made my way back to camp. I was sweating and real tired. When I came to the front of the big house I collapsed. When I woke up I was in the big house with my cat snuggled up to me on a bed. Chiron came in the room and said, “I see your awake Charlie.”
“Yes, I am” I said.
“Do you know who your cat is?” said Chiron.
I thought about it then with no answer said “Who?” Chiron said, “Your cat was Zeus’s pet a long time ago”.
I questioned him “why are you telling me this, does my cat have to go?”
“No, just telling you that your cat is an immortal indestructible beast that was made to protect Zeus when he was young.” Chiron explained.

I frantically said “But he is my friend too!”
Chiron looked at me with a serious stare “Do you want to keep him?”
There was a long pause, then I answered him, “Yes”.
Chiron ended the conversation “Then you may”.
“Can I take a look outside Chiron?” I asked him.
“If you are able to you can, and remember to defeat a drakon is a heroic thing, ” he told me.
I went outside, there was a cool breeze cooling me down on the hot sunny day. The boys from the Apollo cabin were playing basketball with the Hermes siblings while the Ares cabin members battled a giant spider that strayed out ofthe woods. The Hephaestus siblings were in the forge and Hypnos’ children were sleeping. I guess I will be in Camp half blood for a while.
THE END (for now)

The Greek Glossary
DRAKON: RELATIVES OF THE DRAGONS BUT OLDER AND BIGGER.
CYCLOPS: BIG HUMANOIDS THAT HAVE ONE EYE.
LIGHTNING: A CAT THAT HELPED ZEUS WHEN HE WAS YOUNG.
HYDRAS: THESE GIANT SNAKE LIZARDS HAD HEADS THAT WOULD GROW MORE HEADS IF CUT OF.
CHIRON: A CENTAUR (HORSE-MAN) THAT BECAME IMMORTAL WHEN HE STARTED TRAINING HALF BLOODS.
HYPNOS: THE GREEK GOD OF SLEEP.
ZEUS: THE GREEK GOD OF THE HEAVENS AND SKY. ALSO THE KING OF THE GODS.

HERA: THE GREEK GOD OF MARRIAGE. ALSO QUEEN OF THE GODS.
ARES: THE GREEK GOD OF WAR.
ATHENA: THE GREEK GOD OF WISDOM AND STRATEGY.
HERMES: THE GREEK GOD OF TRAVELLING, COMMUNICATION, AND THIEVES.
APOLLO: THE GREEK GOD OF THE SUN, PROPHECY, MUSIC, AND HEALING.
HEPHAESTUS: THE GREEK GOD OF FIRE, CRAFTS, AND OF BLACKSMITHS.
HALF BLOODS (ALSO DEMIGODS): HALF BLOODS HAVE A GODLY SIDE AND A MORTAL SIDE. 

Ocean Park [James Burke]

Ocean Park is a fun amusement park with lots of rides and fun things to do. We went there five times. One of my favorite rides is the Artic Blast. It is a fun rollercoaster that I can do. There is also a whole kid section called whiskers harbor. Halloween is coming up so they’re adding a lot of Halloween stuff in like pumpkins, skeletons and more.

Me in front of the Arctic Blast with penguins

Me with the pumpkins

Blackjack update [Jacob Burke]

Last blog picture

This blog picture

Blackjack is again in my blog. I've been finding a lot of new pet shops that sell dwarf hamsters and tons of materials. They sell lots of chew things like shrimp, fish and even chocolate. I thought hamsters only ate seeds. I guess I'm wrong. Anyway I have bought a few things that Blackjack likes. In these two pictures above there is one difference. Its not the water container. Here is a hint: look where Blackjack is in the older picture. Have you guessed? The answer is the new chewy banana. The first one I got was in Kota Kinabalu and the second one I got here!

Ball without stand

Ball with stand

 Look at the new ball Blackjack got. I can put him on the floor while cleaning his cage or just for fun. It is a way to let him run free without making a mess or losing him.

 

I see you!

 The coconut house, home of tropical paradise. Blackjack loves the coconut. He can chew on it without getting sick and he likes to stick his head out the holes. The coconut also resembles a rocket ship and that means: the first step of rodent-kind!

Hamster bathing sand

My tube collection

The last thing I got for him is the tubes. The only thing that connected to the tubes was the bathroom which, unluckily came with special sterilized rose bathing sand. I will be buying new tubes for Blackjack as time goes on here in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Museum of Costal Defense [Joshua Burke]

Hong Kong Museum of Costal Defense

The Hong Kong Museum of Costal Defense explains about the history of Hong Kong and China. The Lei Mun Fort was built in the 1880’s to defend the eastern approach to Victoria Harbor. The arrangement of the Fort consisted of 18 casemates, two six-inch breech-loading guns mounted on disappearing carriages. Additional batteries were also built. 

Me with a 1887 64-pounder rifled muzzle loading Mark 3 gun which had a range of 3,600m .

The Relics

I started with looking at all the old relics of the fort that the British had to defend the island from the 1890's to WW2.

At the entrance of the Museum there was a huge cannon, British vehicles consisting of a small British reconnaissance vehicle, a troop transport, and a medium tank from the late 1900’s.

Side view of the British reconnaissance vehicle 

Me with the British reconnaissance vehicle in front view. (Notice the smoke grenade launchers.)

Me with the troop carrier in front view. 

Side view of the troop transport. (Notice the flaps that can fold down so the troops inside can give covering fire. 

The troop transport can carry 12 solders and the crew of two.

Side view of the medium tank.

 The arrangement of the medium tank is one main cannon and three machine guns.

All the vehicles. 

What I thought was very interesting was they had a land based Brennan torpedo station that was finished in the 1894. The Brennan torpedo was invented by Louis Brennan, an Irish immigrant to Australia and was believed to build the first guided torpedo invented in 1877. In the museum they only had a replica of the torpedo, the last original Brennan torpedo is in the UK.

The oil tanks that were used for lubricating the Brennan torpedoes.

Me in the entrance of the Torpedo station.

A replica of the Brennan torpedo.

The part of the station were they launched the torpedo. 

Diagram of the launching of the Brennan torpedo.

 What was also cool was the six-inch disappearing gun. These guns were put into action in 1890 and had a range up to 8,200m. Each gun was concealed in an emplacement beneath its armored shield, and had to be lifted to the firing position above the armored shield. The force of the recoil caused the gun to disappear beneath its in placement allowing very little time for the warship to fire upon the battery.

  

Me with the six-inch disappearing gun.

Notice the excellent firing position from were the six-inch disappearing gun is. 

 The Exhibit

Inside the museum there were galleries about the costal defense from the Ming Dynasty (1369 – 1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911) through WW2, and the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China and the PLA (People’s Liberation Army). My favorite Gallery was Gallery 8: The Battle for Hong Kong (1941), of course.

 The WW2 History  

The first wave of bombing of Hong Kong started just 30 min after parliament declared war. However the British remained confident. After the commander of the Hong Kong Regiment heard from parliament that Hong Kong was not a strategic position he made an agreement with the Chinese forces that if the Japanese attacked with ground troops, the Chinese would attack from the rear to take the pressure off. To delay the Japanese troops from crossing they scuttled all the transport ships, all except the junks and sampans. Dumb. The Japanese troops crossed from the mainland to the island using the junks and sampans under the cover of darkness. They took control of the island in just 18 days, not long enough for the Chines troops to mobilize.

A British artillery piece used during WW2. 

An anchor that was on a scuttled ship when the Japanese attacked.

That’s It for now

Any comments posted would be greatly appreciated

Keep In Touch

Joshua