Aeroplane

Clouds like strips of beaten egg in hot soup.

Amsterdam

City of wet turds
Grimy footpaths
Murky canals.

Kakadu

In Jaibiru they closed the only public pool in a thousand miles, after a turd had been discovered floating in its crystal-blue water.

At night, at the East Alligator river, I went crocodile-spotting. I stood at the back of a ute, pointing a torch-light into the darkness. You can tell you are looking at a croc when two burning cinders appear in the pool of aartificial light. They eyes look like cigarettes burning into the darkness.
Sometimes you can hear them too, they bark like puppys.

New York

The only time you ever got to see the stars above Manhattan, was when I was there, in August 2003. It was during the balckout.

In the diner on Lexington, the waitress refills my glass of water after every sip I take.

On the city bus, I listen to the busdriver's jiving - he makes the passengers smile. In the seat opposite me, there is a Latino who smells of too much Aqua Velva. And then I notice a Puertorican, standing. He crosses himself as we drive past St. Patrick's cathedral.

Out on the streets, the overflowing garbage bins and the stench of fermenting rubbish under the August sun.

The sidewalks of Manhattan are always crowded. It's like the Saturday shopping rush-hour every day. There are queues everywhere. In New York people patiently line up and wait their turn in good humour. You line up at ticket offices, at public phones, public toilets and even elevators!

The reception staff in our boutique hotel drive me crazy. I'm haunted by their marketing mantra: "Welcome to the W Experience!"

Uluru

At Uluru I discovered I suffer from vertigo, which forced me to renounce the climb to the top, following the chained path.
Thus I avoided the crowd of tourists in shorts and sandals who carried backpacks and bottles of water, their cameras straps swinging around their necks.
And so, I trekked the monolyth's seventeen-kilometer circumference undisturbed and in total silence.