Pelly Bay

I spent a week up in the high arctic, here are some pictures from Pelly Bay.

Barrens

Kyle went up with a whole bunch of teachers, students, and elders to hunt some caribou on the Barren Lands. They didn't get many, but the trip was still a good photo-op. (And, on the plus side, nobody was eaten by bears).

Big Hill Lake

Big Hill Lake is a nice hike about six kilometers long, pretty close to town.

London Pictures

Here are a few pictures of my return to London. It was nice to have a few days to check out the sights. And of course, the picture of Matt and I. I still can't believe we ran into each other.

Improbability Drives

More time in London. I had to wait in Banjul to see if I could get on the flight, as it was a standbye deal. (That meaning, I stand and wait to say bye). Actually maybe it's standbuy, because I was also standing waiting to buy the ticket. Hmmm...

The guard tried to get me to give him my MP3 player on the way out. I just kept saying 'no thank you' in a really friendly way. I think he was getting pretty annoyed, but I kept it up with the 'no thank yous', allowing for the difference in communication to annoy him until he passed me through.

London has been fun this time around, I've been walking around the city or hours on end looking for museums. Fortunately, there are many in this city so it has been fruitful hunting.

The second most weird thing in my whole life happened to me yesterday. I was in a theater just North of the Thames, waiting for the movie to start, when I looked to my right. 'That guy looks an awful lot like Matt Voytill' I thought, and after a few seconds I realised, it was. My old roomate from Yellowknife. Through some strange twist in fate we had both ended up in the same theater, in a city of some 4 million people, on the same day, same show, same time... very strange. It got me thinking o the 'improbability drive' of Douglas Adams.

I'm heading home to Canada tomorrow bright and early, and I'm REALLY excited to be home.

The week in pictures

I was through Keneba and Farafenni last week. It was a lot of driving, one day almost 10 hours worth. There is a lot of bumping around on the roads, and a lot of waiting for the ferries. It provides a good oppourtunity to see the country though, and it is very beautiful.

There is a picture of the boboa trees (spelling?). They are quite large, and usually have the large monitor lizards (a couple of meters long sometimes) living around them. I'll try to put up some pictures of the monitors later. They're sort of inbetween the crocodiles and the geckos. There's a picture of Victoria surrounded by kids aswell. They are used to 'toubabs' throwing out candy or pens, so when we drive by, kids will come high-tailing it out of their houses screaming 'toubab, toubab' hoping for sweets. I have some good pictures of the children I'll post later.

MRC Biomed Shop Photos

Here are some pictures here from work. Shauna is showing us how to use the new database she is setting up. There are a couple of pictures of an ultra-sound I'm trying to fix. There's also a picture of a circuit board from one of the radiographic units here.

More Croc Picts

Crocodiles are so cool looking, I had to put up some more pictures. Don't they just look like dragons? Considering some sea-water crocodiles (or are they aligators?) in Australia grow to be 10 meters long, it's no wonder people used to believe in dragons! Can you image something like this chasing you? Their skin is really hard, like a tourtise shell, which surprised me. I wonder if you could have one as a pet...

Bitey The Gator

Ok, it looked a lot bigger in real life. In the picture that is all green, how many Crocs can you see? Can you see the mother protecting the baby? When we first came across this pond (which has at least 100 crocs in it) I couldn't see any. However, once you start looking closer, you can start to see the bits of rubbish on the surface start to resemble eyes, snouts, and the occasional tail. The crocs are well fed and thus relaxed, but I wouldn't test their patience! 

Random Gambia Snaps

Here are some photos of normal life here. The porch picture is at the residence where I am staying, the lizardy thing is one of the many geckos, the Ultimate Frisbee match is one of the many sport matches that happen in the evenings, and of course the daily trip to the beach.