Startup Weekend Perth

Posted on Sunday, 24 May 2015 by Joe

I have just returned home inspired from witnessing the culmination of 48 hours of creativity, teamwork and action at Spacecubed. Tonight was the final evening of Startup Weekend Perth. Tonight, teams formed only 48 hours earlier pitched their weekend creations.

As an Observer, I could attend the opening and closing pitches and presentations.

It is amazing to think that Friday night all of the applications and businesses were only ideas at most and the team members who collaborated on them were yet to even meet. On Friday, concept validation was promoted as by far the most important factor for the startup businesses and by tonight most startups had already received orders or gained clients!

The winning startup was EasyOT, an application that helps occupational therapists manage their client relationships. This has huge potential, not only for occupational therapists but for many other health and non-health applications. On Friday evening I was lucky enough to chat with Lain, the idea originator, and I was stoked when her team won.

Another startup, worked on by former colleague Karlo, matched personal trainers to customers. Other startups included:

Walk On By – an app that helps one save towards a goal by encouraging people to walk on by and not give in to temptation to make unnecessary purchases

Textie – crowd-sourced responses to anonymous text messages (check out the website)

Equipd – recreational experience and equipment rental

Happy Quokka – quokka selfie sticks and tshirts

Open Oceans – categorising marine images via a fun children’s game

Pitches for Stitches – an alternative to the boring corporate icebreaker activity

Wow! Seeing what can be achieved in a weekend was fantastic and I recommend that anyone with any entrepreneurial thoughts attend their nearest startup weekend.

Gili Islands, Indonesia

Posted on Saturday, 18 April 2015 by Joe

I recently visited Gili Air, one of the three Gili Islands (the others being Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan) close to the larger island of Lombok. Gili Air is a small island with a circumference of approximately five kilometres.

To get there I flew from Perth to Denpasar, Bali and then caught the Bluewater Express fast boat for the approximately 3 hours journey to Gili Air.

I had originally hoped to meet a friend who was giving yoga classes on the Gilis. Unfortunately, timing did not work out so we did not meet but I am very grateful to her for inspiring my trip. Thank you Emel!

I had a fabulous time on the island. My typical daily routine consisted of:

Morning:
Wake up before sunrise; go for a run around the island coast, admiring the stunning early morning light and reflections; return to Omah Gili Hotel for breakfast and shower; walk to H2O Yoga for a 90 minute yoga session.

Afternoon:
Visit restaurant Warung Lalapan, spend 20,000-30,000 IDR (a few dollars) on a delicious lunch and enjoy million dollar views; go to a cafe or my bungalow to read and think; return to H20 Yoga for another tough yoga class.

Evening
Enjoy dinner at a restaurant with other yoga participants or tourists I’d met; go to bed around 9pm.

On my final morning I hired mask, snorkel and fins and snorkelled just off the beach. Amazingly, there were thousands of fish across dozens of species swimming around the coral reefs. There were leather jackets, long and narrow fish, brightly coloured fish and various other combinations of shapes and colours. For several minutes a large school of small fish appeared to swarm all around me.

It was a fabulous trip and for anyone wanting a relaxing trip I can highly recommend Gili Air. Gili Meno is meant to be even quieter while Gili Trawangan has the most night life.

Gili Air is a very photogenic place and following is a taste of the island:

Meal: fried fish with salad and rice: AUD2.50; view: priceless; Warung Lalapan.

Paradiso outrigger boat in foreground, fisherman in background, Gili Air

‘Paradiso’ is an apt name for the outrigger boat framing the fisherman trying to net the morning’s catch. Lombok is the island visible in the distance.

Coconut palm trees at dusk.

The view of the moon and stars from my bungalow’s outdoor bathroom, Omah Gili Hotel.

Early morning reflection of Lombok from Gili Air.

No auto-mobiles except for the odd electric bike are allowed on the islands so horse and cart is the main form of carriage. Early every morning, horse and carts go around the island to collect the rubbish.

Lombok in the distance with a dining shelter in the foreground.

Lombok in the distance with dining shelters in the foreground.

The locals enlisted my help to push their outrigger boat onto the beach.

While enjoying a wonderful Scooperific gelato, a boat arrived nearby and ladies started unloading what appeared to be heavy bags, possibly building material. I expect the boat came from Lombok, the Gili Island’s major supply base. Most Gili Air women did not wear head scarves.

The wave approaching a sea urchin shell on the Gili Air shore. Note the coral pieces on the beach.

Many of the cafe and restaurant signs were humorous: Free wifi fast like Ferrary but sometime slow like ferry.

Gili Air sunset over Gili Meno.

Another fantastic sunrise to begin my final day on Gili Air.

The End Of An Era: Farewell Supa IGA Dianella

Posted on Monday, 2 February 2015 by Joe

Farewell SUPA IGA Dianella

The only independent supermarket within 5 kilometres of my house with reasonable prices and a wide variety of stock closed at 6pm tonight: SUPA IGA Dianella. All the other independents in my area of Perth either had the prices or the variety but not both.

SUPA IGA Dianella was quite eclectic with a decent international section and I am sad to see it go. Even sadder is that it is being replaced with another generic Coles supermarket.

A new Coles supermarket is just what I wanted. If I were to consider shopping at Coles and the closest Coles Inglewood store didn’t have what I required then I wouldn’t bother visiting the Coles in Maylands or the Coles in Morley or the soon to be Coles in Dianella because they would not have it either.

Coles (like Woolworths) is all about maximising profit per centimetre of shelving space. Considerations like supplier sustainability, sourcing locally and providing real choice within product segments have fallen by the wayside.

The oligopoly powers that the two major supermarket chains have in Australia are not good for Australian growers, not good for Australian suppliers and not good for Australian consumers. If the major supermarket chains were broken up, Australia would be a better place.

Hanoi, Halong Bay and Saigon, Vietnam

Posted on Sunday, 5 October 2014 by Joe

A few weeks ago I had an amazing 8 days in Vietnam. The people, food, sites andexperiences made it one my favourite trips ever.

Highlights included:
– After 3 flights including a couple of delays, finally making it to Jaspas in Hanoi for the last minute of Port’s win against Freo; also saw Port’s epic loss against Hawthorn at Game On in Saigon
– The Indochina Junk cruise of Halong Bay in the Dragon’s Pearl boat; the food, crew, fellow passengers and sites were all first class
– Wonderful conversations with Nga, Lan and Isabell
– The massages given by blind/visually impaired at Omamori Spa, Hanoi
– The hospitality provided by the staff at the Paradise Boutique Hotel, Hanoi
– Catching up with Flic and Min in Saigon
– The acrobatics and rhythm of the A O Circus, Saigon

Here are some photos of the trip:

Crossing the road in Hanoi

The view from my room on the Dragon’s Pearl boat, Halong Bay

The Dragon’s Pearl Junk, Halong Bay

Sunset, Halong Bay

Fruit and vegetable carvings and a crab, Dragon’s Pearl Junk, Ha Long Bay

Getting rowed around the bay, Ha Long Bay

A lady using her bike as a fruit cart, Hanoi. The Women’s Museum in Hanoi had a video documenting how hard many women work to support their families.

Unsure what makes this brand saner than the others, Hanoi

Chat and Date Cafe is near the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. I hypothesise that there wouldn’t be a cafe named “Chat and Date” in Vietnamese because it wouldn’t appeal as much to the local hipsters.

Was great to catch up with fellow AIESEC alumnus from Perth, Min at Saigon Grill

Game On sports bar, Saigon, prior to the Port-Hawks preliminary final bounce down

I didn’t see any other people with Port gear at the preliminary final, Game On sports bar, Saigon

With Flic and her friend at the brilliant A O Circus, Opera House, Saigon

With Flic at one of the night bars, Saigon. This one served just about every type of offal. I ordered “Frog Stomach (Burned with Garlic, Fried with Sour Cabbage)”.

Ouch Ouy, Dentist: Early Contender For 2013’s Name Of The Year (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

Posted on Saturday, 18 May 2013 by Joe

Hello, I’m Ouch Ouy, your Siem Reap Dentist. Ouch, that hurt!

Another Day At Kamala Beach, Phuket

Posted on Sunday, 5 May 2013 by Joe

After a few false starts, I finally caught up with Cara and Mike last night along with several of their friends. Dinner was a whole barramundi and another cocktail 🙂

The Kamala Beach sunset through the eyes of a Mai Tai cocktail

After dinner we bumped into Mum and Dad shortly after they had arrived. Following drinks at Smile Bar, it was time for a foot massage. To my surprise, a guy (with an Istanbul t-shirt on) came up and spoke Turkish to the Thai massage parlour manager. I find out that the manager had lived in Antalya for 8 years so it was good to practice my Turkish with her. I will be back there for my next massage, hopefully later today.

I was again up by 6am for another long walk. This time I went a different way, past Phuket FantaSea. After buying a local sim card, I had chicken and rice along with coriander flavoured soup for breakfast at a menu-free place. Judging by the clientele, it was one frequented by local Muslims. When I first arrived, I was surprised at how many Muslims lived here. I shouldn’t have been as I knew Thailand’s south has a large Muslim population. There are many head-scarfed ladies and my taxi driver from the airport displayed Arabic calligraphy.

Resort Pool Reflections

Come here to eat all sorts of carp

You want cable?

An old dilapidated longboat reflecting on life

Thankfully, single or group dates are okay

Thankfully, single and group dating are okay

Catching ALL types of crabs is forbidden - not just those of the crustacean kind

Catching ALL types of crabs is prohibited at Kamala Beach, not just the crustacean kind

Hi From Kamala Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Posted on Saturday, 4 May 2013 by Joe

Kamala Beach Resort swimming pool reflection

A Kamala Beach Resort swimming pool reflecting coconut palms in the early morning still

I arrived here yesterday after an overnight flight from Perth via Singapore. One of the first things that struck me about Phuket (besides the throng of people waiting at the airport) was the amount of electricity and other cabling lining the streets.

I’m not used to staying in a resort, but I’ll manage to survive 🙂

From observation, the majority of resort guests are from the European continent. The spiciness of the restaurant menu reflects this with few dishes having a ‘1 chilli’ rating, let alone the hottest 2 chillies level. Yesterday I ate a 2 chilli Thai basil and pork dish rather easily (and the waitress wanted repeat assurance when ordering that I wanted it hot). At least Dad’s mild preferences will be well catered for when he arrives with Mum.

The weather is hot, overcast and very humid with intermittent showers – it is the low season for tourists. I can see how some people from cool climates are happy to come here and not even leave the resort.

After 24 hours in Phuket I’ve arrived to the conclusion that best part of the day is the early morning. Today I woke up before 6am and went for a walk along up and down Kamala Beach and along the main street. Following are some photos from this walk.

Kamala Beach in the early morning

Once you have taken 50 baths you can enjoy a 6 hour happy hour

Reflections

Tsunami Disaster Monument, Kamala Beach, Phuket

Monument commemorating the 2004 Tsunami disaster

Thai long boats

Cables everywhere – Kamala’s main street

The purple team on the way to work

The Thais take their fish sauce very seriously – filling up 3 bays of a supermarket

Fried Rice, Awesome Style

Posted on Sunday, 7 April 2013 by Joe

Put together the following in a hot wok:
– sesame oil
– Thai shrimp, garlic and chilli mix
– fresh hot green chilli
– garlic
– ginger
– shallot onions
– sweet chilli sauce
– soy sauce
– cashews
– thinly cut bacon
– carrot
– cabbage
– green capsicum
– pineapple
– mushroom
– steamed rice
– tofu
– bean sprouts
…stir, and, voila!

Fried Rice, Awesome Style

Where is Joe in?

The Travel, Photo and Video Blog of Joe Taheny

Startup Weekend Perth

Gili Islands, Indonesia

The End Of An Era: Farewell Supa IGA Dianella

Hanoi, Halong Bay and Saigon, Vietnam

Ouch Ouy, Dentist: Early Contender For 2013’s Name Of The Year (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

Another Day At Kamala Beach, Phuket

Hi From Kamala Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Fried Rice, Awesome Style