Tien Llung

So North I went, to Tien Llung.

3 TROPICAL ISLANDS/L$1,799 MONTH - 03

~VOTED THE MOST ROMANTIC SIM IN SECOND LIFE~

Owner (group): *-TIEN LLUNG-*

In spite of the similar name, and landscaping this sim is owned by a different group. Possibly it is a sim that has been sold to actual users, while Ti Lung is still just developed? For now, I will not probe into these doubts, but possibly as this transect evolves I end up doing just that.

So, coming from the Ti Lung pyramids, I get some nice relaxing Spanish guitar music, and an Arabian-looking palace on a small island of white sand.
Well, not so much a palace as a forum: it's an open courtyard, with an alcove inside each tower, and a large hollow default cilinder prim owned by Suave Andel, created yesterday, so, I'm assuming this is still a work in progress. Typical animation balls and pose balls: chillin', snugglin', relaxing, together, The Dip, skyduet, Sweptaway, swingin' Hot Salsa.

Since large-scale dragons don't work very well with these animations, I switched to my Beowolf avatar, and tried a nice narghilè or hookah. The hovering text said "touch mouthpart for a smoke", and a smoke I got, alright! Uhm... Shouldn't it look like I was inhaling? (By the way: in RL, I don't smoke, except cigars during weddings - I despise smoking as an habit/addiction.)
So, if you're wondering what a Beowulf avatar looks like swigin', here you go (oh, and that large cylinder I mentioned is clearly visible in the background):
There is also a nice hookah-looking element which is in fact a radio station selector:
Going out to a boat, I came across a teleport beam. This took me to several sky homes, not unlike the fantasy home I had found in Ti Lung, and combining several elements I'd seen before. For instance, here I'm playing a harp, but nearby is a net that is either identical or very similar to the one I had found in the Egyptian palace of Ti Lung. There were also the typical "Rest" poses on pillows.
There was also a large bed, with 5 (!) pose/animation balls: Relax F, Relax M, 3way 1 -M, 3way 2 - F, and 3way 3 - F. So here's my Beowulf avi with the 3way 1 - M pose:
Some nice touches. The second floor had another communal bed, but only with relaxing poses (including one called "Kickback", which basically is lying on your back with a knee up). And a pool/jacuzzi with controls for fog, bubble, and water level. Don't know what the car is for, though, up in the sky.
From here I took the teleport again, chose "Gardens", and found myself on a nice flying oriental garden. I think I'll report on that on the next post, some other time.

From Ti Lung to Tien Llung

As I resumed this SL MegaTransect, I remembered that SL doesn't just exists at ground level. So, before departing from Ti Lung to its northern neighboring simulator, Tien Llung, I decide to explore the skies. Instead of using my trusty Ninja Flight Feather, I felt I'd rather use my Seawolf Adult Dragon avatar:

And so up I went... Ti Lung seems to have several small floating houses, but not within the Egyptian theme: there's a typical Western house with courtyard, complete with Christmas decorations, and also a fantasy palace with Persian, Hindu, Arabian and Far Eastern elements.

Ti Lung

Quite unexpected. From the name I was expecting some Oriental theme.
But instead... here's the name and description of Ti Lung:

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PALACE/FULL SIM/TROPICAL/L$7,499 WEEK - Anubia

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PALACE FULLY FURNISHED W 3 ISLANDS TO ENJOY FOR ONE LOW PRICE. EXPERIENCE THE LUXURIOUS BUILDS, TROPICAL ISLANDS W OLD WORLD CHARM VOTED AS THE MOST ROMANTIC SIMS IN SL. ROYAL LIVING ON A CLASS 5 PRIVATE ESTATE WHERE PRIVACY RULES.

Owner (group): TI LUNG - ANUBIA

It seems, from the Covenant and the group logo, that this is some land owner called DRAGON'S LORE ESTATES.

My first image of Ti Lung:


After the initial surprise, Ti Lung is quite trivial. I confess that I tend to like all things Egyptian, so this is a nice" sim in that respect, but there's no much: the may element is a palace with two levels, sporting a pharaoh's bedroom and a pool (that somehow got empty while I walked around, but that's OK since it allowed me to see the nice bottom tiles).

Obviously, the pyramids make a cameo, too, albeit with the large one (Khufu's, I take it) being used as a tent or some sort of display area.
The available pose balls and animations were more or less expected: sitting on a boat, on benches, etc. There was a small area for sea-side leisure, sun bathing and cuddling, and a couple of perhaps more surprising dancing poles for concubines.

Not all is Egyptian here, as one can take it from the sea-side leisure zone, from which one can descend into the sea (only boulders there, I'm afraid) and climb back up.
Sure enough, flying around led me to an ordinary house, with usual modern furtniture. But I did find a nice set of food and even a guard dog.


And that's it for Ti Lung. Tomorrow I'll check the other sims nearby.

Day 1 - Ti Lung

OK, so here's my first location in this trek: three sims that are far to the South of the other sims. I'll start with Ti Lung, and then visit the others.

UPDATE: as I prepared to leave the Lung/Llung archipaelago, this map was much more detailed:

Planning the initial legs

I decided to change my original plan. I said in a previous post that I'd start from the northwesternmost corner of the map.
But looking at the map, it's funny how some areas to the South and East are somewhat apart from the overall map. So I'll go around for starters, visiting those areas before I reach the northwesternmost corner proper.
Since I will chat withe people on the way, possibly this will change, but here's the plan for the initital legs of my trek.

And using a map

Come to think of it, using the "full" map won't be of much use if readers can't easily track where I'm going and where I've been. And to be entirely honest, if I am to post large-scale maps of where I'm going and easily find myself on the map, I'm better off using the map that the SL client provides out of the box.
So, that's what I'll be using (at least for now). Here it is, as it is shown today.

Looking for a map

Well, it would seem like something easy to find a map of SL.
Not so. It seems that the map you get when using the client software doesn't show you the whole deal.
Perhaps I could use this large map from Wikipedia?

Before I set foot... looking for tools

OK, so I will start from the northwesternmost region of the Second Life world.
But how will I blog? Going back and forth to the browser is not my idea of fun. So I'll have to check which tools are available for that. What about pictures? Probably I will post them to Flickr and then link to them from my blog, but it would be nice to take screenshots directly from SL, too.
And lastly, it would be nice to link to sound sources, record some sound clips or videos to YouTube and link to them from the blog, too.

I probably will start without any of the above, but if you happen to know of tools for these purposes, feel free to let me know in the comments!

The SLMegaTransect begins!

In 1999, J. Michael Fay initiated a transect through the Congo Basin, which I followed with keen interest through the National Geographic Magazine: he called it the MegaTransect, and it lasted 455 days.
Today, I decided to initiate a long transversal trek of the Second Life® world, and in honour of Fay's epic effort, I have decided to call it Second Life MegaTransect - or SLMegaTransect (thus the blog address and name).
Will I have have the stamina, endurance, and resolve to pursue this, daily or at least two or three times a week, relentlessly? Only time will tell...

Marcha dos Marinheiros

Música de Carlos Calderón

Filme – Bocage – Leitão de Barros, 1936

Os marinheiros aventureiros

São sempre os primeiros

Na terra ou no mar.

Ao ver as belas

Pelas janelas,

Soltam logo as velas

Para as conquistar.

A navegar,

Sobre as ondas, desde Goa,

Nós viemos a pensar

Nas meninas de Lisboa.

Desembarcados,

Mesmo assim, os marinheiros

Vão ficar ancorados

A uns olhos traiçoeiros.

Salgadas pelo Mar

As nossas bocas vêm,

Vêm procurar o mel que os beijos têm,

Que é tão bom para as adoçar.

Largamos vela na ribeira de Pangim,

A pensar numa janela enfeitada de alecrim.

Entrando a barra,

Mal a nau chega a Belém,

O marujo deita amarra

À mulher que lhe convém

À mulher que lhe convém.