Thursday, November 4, 2010

Flood in Jamaica

Hello all,
Around early October we had torrential rainfalls in Jamaica. It actually rained for 2 weeks straight non-stop. So you can imagine what kind of damages it caused. Here are some pictures I took while driving around.



Thats what I call "team work" :)



Closed until further notice.....





Church service may be delayed for the rest of the week....





The water you see on the right was a 2 lane highway going into Kingston.



It needs no comment. Next up .... Fishing in Jamaiaca.

Pigeon Island

Hello all! I'm back! Sorry I took soooooo long to update my blog. Its only been 5 months :). I should get an award for procrastinating. I have lots to post from pigeon island, fishing of the cost of Rocky Point, the heavy rainfall in October and Hurricane Tomas.

Lets start with Pigeon Island (May 2010)



Pigeon island is a small island off the coast of Rocky Point in Clarendon. Its about 30 min by boat to get there. Its about the size of 2 foot ball fields end to end. Its not known to everyone usually fisher men and locals use the island for recreation. BTW thats uncle Stan on the left. He couldn't move out of the way in time :).












A jelly fish I caught while swimming. I placed in the bucket temporarely until we left. I didn't want the kids to get stung by accident.







Some of the guys I went with brought their dogs. At frist they didn't get along but after some "encouragement" they were best buddies at the end of the day.





A few last pictures I took before we left the island. And for those who were wondering .... yes there are no washrooms just bush, coconut trees and beach, so use your imagination :).

Next up flooding in Jamaica.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Accident on Hwy 2000

Hello folks,
Sorry I have not blogged in awhile. I was going to post pictures of pigeon Island (its a small island off the cost of Rocky Point). But I thought I might post pictures of the accident I was in few weeks ago.
Well it all started when my father wanted me to tag along with him to Kingston to pick something up. Its was about 7 pm the sun was just going down. So off we went in his X5 to Kingston.

So as we were driving along the Hwy 2000 (its a toll hwy) going towards Kingston. It was already dark by then and if you know Jamaica there are no street lights. So was were driving I saw a bright light in the distance. As we got closer it looked like a bike or a car going the wrong direction on the Highway. So I told my father to watch out for the light. My father motion the car to the left, (Jamaica drives on the left side) toward the shoulder of the road and towards the light! And then before he could do anything we saw we heading right towards the rear end of a tractor trailer. We were going too fast to stop. So after screaming like a little girl (lucky I didn't pee my-self), the only thing we could do is brace for impact.

Everything was just a blur after that. We hit the trailer so hard that half of the X5 was under the trailer. Luckily we weren't hurt (note: seat belts saves lives). But the X5 was a wright-off. The only way we could get the X5 out was to let all the air out of the front tires and the trailer had to drive up on a make-shift ramp and as the trailer drove off my father had to hold the brakes down in the X5. Then after some ripping and sounds of metal tearing off and what was left of the radiator the X5 was free. Damn it was a mess. But at least no one was seriously hurt. And that light we saw was a working light. The tractor trailer had a flat and the driver was using the light to fix the flat. But they had no warning lights on. No parking lights. Nothing but that damn working light. Surprisinly there was no damage to the tractor trailer. So after police investigation and getting a tow-truck I got home 3 hrs later. And of course I didn't bring my camera to record this experience. Here are some pictures I took after the accident.



So what did we learn here kids:
1. Don't listen to your father when he says "don't worry we will be right back, you don't need to change". I was wearing a tank top, shorts and sippers. We were stuck out there for 3 hrs and I was bitten by mosquitoes on every exposed part of my body.
2. Always bring your camera you never know when you will need it.
3. Seat belts save lives.
4. Always remember to have a working flashlight and a first aid kit (with mosquito repellent) in the car.
5. You don't see your life flash before your eyes when you think your life is going to end, but you do hear your self scream like a little girl. At least I was man enough not to pee in my pants.
6. Be thankful of every moment of your life you never know when it will be your last.
7. When you see a light on the highway this is the only time you tell someone (if your not driver) not to follow the light.

Next post: Pigeon Island....

Friday, April 23, 2010

Interesting Pictures


I guess they ran out of nails...


Watch that frist step!


He might need to change the tire ....


This was taken at a bar .... They actually dont mind smoking :)

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Gah-San

Today (April 11) was Gah-san or Chinese cemetery celebration of the ancestors (http://www.cbajamaica.com/chinese_cemetery). Its when the Chinese community in Jamaica goes to the Chinese Cemetery (yes.. its actually called the Chinese Cemetery) and pray to their ancestors, burn incense sticks and fake money (I guess so that dead could have something spend on in the afterlife). I attached a couple of pictures:

The Chinese Cemetery


Great great Grandfather..


Great great Grandmother...


Great Great Aunt


Great Great Uncle


Next post ... Interesting photos....

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

For all the golf fans....

OK. For all you golf fans. I played golf at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club over the long Easter weekend. Its a par 72, course rating 69.4 and 6223 yardage (white tees). I played a round on friday (shot 99), then on Sunday shot 98 and on Monday I played 2 rounds, 36 holes! (shot 94 and 95)..

Here are some pictures I took:

This is a elevated view of the 12th par4 hole:


This a view of hole 5 when I hit left on a par 4:


Just a note on this course, due to the hot dry weather putting on the greens (if you can call it green) is like putting on concrete. Many-a-time I actually putted off the green... AHHHH!

Thats it for now until the next round...

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Pictures of May Pen

I guess by now your wondering where I'm working here is a picture of the store. Its the one on the lower far left corner.



Here is a photo of a view of May Pen on top of my Grandparents building. They live right across the shop where I work. As you can see its not all palm trees and beach.


Here is a native dish in Jamaica, Pumpkin soup (or dumpling soup as my family likes to call it). Its made up from Jamaican pumpkin, yams, potatoes, stew beef, salted pig tail (mmmmmm...), spices, a scotch-bonnet pepper (very hot)and very large hand rolled flour dumplings the more the better (hence the name). Lets say if you want to lose weight don't eat this soup. My grandfather made it when he heard I was coming down. He knows its one of my favorite dishes.....



Here is view of traffic in May Pen.



Well that's it for now. Until the next post.....