Well, we're home at last. We've had a fabulous adventure, but we're ready to be home and get on with life.
Our "Beaches of the World" leg took us to:
- Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand
- Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island, Queensland, Australia
- Bondi Beach, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (albeit after dark)
- Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Dickenson Bay, Antigua
So I'm calling that a success! The "missing" beach would be Fiji, where we chose a resort on the coral coast at the south of Viti Levu island with a pleasant but not epic patch of sand. There were apparently well-known beaches nearby, but we were too busy relaxing to shift our bums that far.
Looking back over the whole time, it's impossible to feel other than extremely fortunate and lucky/blessed. From so many aspects, the way everything worked out has been perfect.
For example, we found ourselves in so many places at just the right time:
- Peru for the "rainy season", when there weren't many tourists but it didn't actually rain. A highlight was the Candelaria festival in Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, where it absolutely teemed down one evening, leaving us hopping through rivers on the streets with trainers that didn't dry for days.
- China (for example, Suzhou) where we strolled around in comfort being told we were visiting weeks after cold and ice, and a month before sweltering heat.
- Kyoto, where we managed to catch the very end of the cherry blossom season.
The three legs turned out to be in a perfect order, somewhat unintentionally. Leg 1 was anticipated as the most adventurous, with a month driving around. This had to come first, before the southern hemisphere winter closed routes around the Andes (although we didn't get as far south as originally planned). As it turned out, Argentina and Chile are extremely developed, and any European would feel very comfortable there. So it turned out to be more sightseeing and less "fearless explorer". It might have turned out rather different if I hadn't (somehow) retained a surprising amount of my schoolboy Spanish.
Peru was the leg 1 destination most different from home, and so most interesting to visit, although all the comforts of home are available there. We resisted the McDonalds and Starbucks in the main square of Cuzco without difficulty.
Leg 2 turned out to be the big adventure. The things we saw were quite interesting - Tianenmen Square, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Shanghai Bund, etc. However, it was seeing through those to society, economy, politics and people's daily lives which was the most fascinating. I feel that we Brits know very little about China, and the tour was a real eye-opener for me. Their development has come so very far, with modern tower blocks everywhere and roads busy with so many nice cars. China is so powerful. I don't think they're "expansionist" (per se), but they do feel that they should own places they see as historically theirs. I'll be keeping an eye on Taiwan and the islands in the South China Sea.
Japan was also amazing. As I expected, even more "developed" than the UK. It was so incredible being in settings so familiar, but unable to read a single word. It brings home how one "navigates" at home, even around a shopping centre, by picking up on a thousand little clues (in writing, colour, style or arrangement) without realising it. Such a learning experience.
Leg 3 turned out to be in the right order too. The China tour was so fast-paced, and Clare's poor health in Japan so sapping, that we were really ready for something more restful. The city-beach-city-beach mixture and rhythm worked well, with cities we really liked, three of which I knew from before and really enjoyed introducing Clare to. The beaches were all good too. We saw the Whitsundays in a poor patch of Aussie winter weather, which was a shame (but almost the only one during our whole journey). I was very relieved when we really liked the place in Antigua, as I so hoped to go out with a bang rather than a whimper.
Other aspects of planning feel like successes too. We prepared as well as we could for problems, such as crime, by splitting credit cards into three wallets, never kept in the same place and each containing enough so we wouldn't have to head home, with different bank accounts behind. However, the biggest thing we unintentionally parted company with was a beloved multi-year travelling companion mini shampoo bottle. INCREDIBLY fortunate.
A few of the things we took with us proved far more useful than we'd ever have foreseen:
- Whilst driving in Argentina and Chile, the SatNav that Clare bought me for Christmas and I filled with local maps (on the off-chance), turned out to be vital, and without it the month driving would hardly have even been possible. We'd have needed street maps for a different city ever night, which would have been very hard to get before arriving in the city itself. Mobile data (from my iPhone) let us down whenever we really needed it.
- Clare developed a profound affection for the Kindle which was her Christmas present from me, and the game of finding cheap ways of overfilling it.
- ZipLoc resealable plastic bags turned out to be really useful. I took a large bundle and we used them liberally, helping to organise things and keep them or everything else dry. We nearly ran out during leg 1.
- A luggage scale got used every time before we headed to the airport. In leg 1, with so many different climates, we knew we'd be fully loaded. However, we were right up against 20kg limits on cheaper leg 3 flights too, as the souvenirs started to accumulate.
- iPhones. Incredible. Hardly ever as a phone. Carrying copies of documents (itinerary, passport, emailled vouchers, etc.), booking hotels - particularly through the Booking.com app - and referring to confirmations saved as images, Skypeing with friends at home, researching destinations on websites and via Wikitravel (including the offline iTravel app), checking in to flights, and games and podcasts when there's time to fill. And blogging. Clare borrowed mine so much during leg 1 that we had to get here one before leg 2, and now they're inseparable.
Friends have asked what highlight(s) was/were. SUCH a hard question, with a deluge of new experiences in so short a time.
We keep coming back to Machu Picchu, and probably the Iguazu Falls.
As the Spanish swept across South America, with their superior military technology, Machu Picchu was abandoned. However, the Spanish never found it. Hence (apart from being lost and "found" amidst dense vegetation), the place is just as it was left - just minus wood-and-leaf roofs. A real insight into a fascinating civilisation, in a simply stunning location.
The Iguazu Falls are spectacular. Clare and I have both been to the Niagara Falls. I think Iguazu takes the edge - wider, higher, more varied and in a better setting, whilst Clare thinks the comparison of experience is more even. We really enjoyed our visit anyway.
Clare was blown away by the chance to cuddle a koala, and to climb Sydney Harbour Bridge. I remain fascinated by our insight into China, described above.
Our nearly-first and last beaches were the best:
- Ramon's Village, on the edge of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize
- Siboney Beach Club, Dickenson Bay, Saint John's, Antigua
Although a close runner-up is:
- Mövenpick Resort & Spa, Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand
Possibly the biggest lesson from the whole experience is how welcoming, helpful and kind the people of the world are. Obviously there's "bad people" everywhere, but we didn't meet any, and we received help well beyond the call of duty on many occasions.
The world is friendly - I think we'll go there again.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Much Anticipated Antigua
Another early flight leaving New York at 7.30 am for Antigua. However, it was a flight of just under four hours and there was no time difference from New York.
We landed just before midday and after collecting our luggage and getting some local currency, we went to get a taxi to our resort. This was only about 30 minutes from the airport.
The taxi dropped us off just outside Siboney Beach Club; there was a path leading into the resort, which led to the beach and to the left was reception. The first sight of the beach was amazing, white sand and turquoise blue sea.
We went to reception, and after the usual paperwork, we were shown to our room, which turned out to consist of a bedroom, bathroom, living area and a kitchen area. We were more than happy. Also our room was literally seconds away from the beach, but then again none of the rooms in this small resort are exactly far from the beach!
After settling in, we changed into our swimming gear and went to explore. The Siboney Beach Club sits next to the Sandals Hotel an adults only resort and both are situated on Dickenson Bay.
The beach was even better now we had chance to see it properly. There was also a swimming pool, which we sat by on one day, but the beach was so beautiful that it would have been insane to sit round the pool for more than just one day, even though it was set in a lovely garden area.
We found the local grocery store, a two minute walk from our resort, where we could buy snacks, bottled water and beer.
The weather on arrival was a bit overcast, but very warm and we also had a couple of short sharp showers.
There is a beach front bar / restaurant, which is operated independently of the hotel. The food was very good and we ended up eating there every night. We had breakfast here most mornings which they served up to 11am, such a civilised time!
We did toy with the idea of visiting the capital, St Johns, and perhaps hiring a small catamaran from the Sandals resort, but the beach was so lovely, the weather after the first day absolutely glorious that we decided that just chilling on the beach was just what we wanted to do after our hectic time in San Francisco and New York.
Sun loungers were provided, but shade was limited to the few trees on the beach - unfortunately, parasols were not provided - but we managed to get under the trees as the beach was blissfully not crowded and any other tourists on the beach seemed happy to sit out in the blistering heat. The temperature of the sea was like getting into a warm bath, fantastic!
Out of all the beaches on this third leg, Antigua has definitely turned out to be the most beautiful, romantic and idyllic of the ones we have visited and it has been a great way to round off the last part of our round the world trip.
We are both looking forward now to going home, seeing family and friends, watching the Olympics and getting back to normal life before returning to work.
We also need time to look back at all we have seen and done on our travels since January, as we did not really get to do this in between trips. There will also be the mammoth task of sorting through photos (we have taken a few!) and compiling albums of the best - what a task, but a great way to relive our experiences.
I feel so lucky and privileged to have seen and done so much in the last few months and to have shared these wonderful experiences with Dave.
We landed just before midday and after collecting our luggage and getting some local currency, we went to get a taxi to our resort. This was only about 30 minutes from the airport.
The taxi dropped us off just outside Siboney Beach Club; there was a path leading into the resort, which led to the beach and to the left was reception. The first sight of the beach was amazing, white sand and turquoise blue sea.
We went to reception, and after the usual paperwork, we were shown to our room, which turned out to consist of a bedroom, bathroom, living area and a kitchen area. We were more than happy. Also our room was literally seconds away from the beach, but then again none of the rooms in this small resort are exactly far from the beach!
After settling in, we changed into our swimming gear and went to explore. The Siboney Beach Club sits next to the Sandals Hotel an adults only resort and both are situated on Dickenson Bay.
The beach was even better now we had chance to see it properly. There was also a swimming pool, which we sat by on one day, but the beach was so beautiful that it would have been insane to sit round the pool for more than just one day, even though it was set in a lovely garden area.
We found the local grocery store, a two minute walk from our resort, where we could buy snacks, bottled water and beer.
The weather on arrival was a bit overcast, but very warm and we also had a couple of short sharp showers.
There is a beach front bar / restaurant, which is operated independently of the hotel. The food was very good and we ended up eating there every night. We had breakfast here most mornings which they served up to 11am, such a civilised time!
We did toy with the idea of visiting the capital, St Johns, and perhaps hiring a small catamaran from the Sandals resort, but the beach was so lovely, the weather after the first day absolutely glorious that we decided that just chilling on the beach was just what we wanted to do after our hectic time in San Francisco and New York.
Sun loungers were provided, but shade was limited to the few trees on the beach - unfortunately, parasols were not provided - but we managed to get under the trees as the beach was blissfully not crowded and any other tourists on the beach seemed happy to sit out in the blistering heat. The temperature of the sea was like getting into a warm bath, fantastic!
Out of all the beaches on this third leg, Antigua has definitely turned out to be the most beautiful, romantic and idyllic of the ones we have visited and it has been a great way to round off the last part of our round the world trip.
We are both looking forward now to going home, seeing family and friends, watching the Olympics and getting back to normal life before returning to work.
We also need time to look back at all we have seen and done on our travels since January, as we did not really get to do this in between trips. There will also be the mammoth task of sorting through photos (we have taken a few!) and compiling albums of the best - what a task, but a great way to relive our experiences.
I feel so lucky and privileged to have seen and done so much in the last few months and to have shared these wonderful experiences with Dave.
Friday, 20 July 2012
Noo Yoik
We had a 7am flight out from SF on Sunday morning (with added "please arrive two hours early"), and BART seems to sleep in until 8:30. Hence we decided to overnight in an airport hotel. A five hour flight, three hour time difference and hour on the subway into Manhattan swallowed most of Sunday.
After a quick rest we wandered out from the Park Central hotel and headed south in search of dinner. As we strolled past the bright lights, Clare went "tilt" again, just as she had early in our San Francisco visit, and needed pinching: "Wow, we're really in New York".
I have to say that I found that funny. We've hit South America and Asia pretty hard this year, but her head is turned by North America? Will I ever convert her into a proper traveller??
Clare says its the cumulative effect of everything catching up with her. I suppose I have to agree - after six months it does still seem unreal; I can't imagine what sort of dream it'll seem after a while passes.
We found dinner in a noisy sports bar, dimly lit and surrounded by big tellies on various channels. We were served by Irish-born Croydon resident Louise, who somehow seems to have managed to get a visa for a month's bar work. Good luck!
The next day was "Midtown day", apart from the fact that we started by strolling two blocks up and into Central Park. There I steered Clare toward Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon peace memorial garden area (successfully surprising her with it) and then stopped by Central Park Lake, where we spent a while watching terrapins swimming around until one climbed onto a rock so we could get a photo of more than just protruding nostrils. We left the park near the Dakota building, where Lennon lived.
Subway to Times Square, where I failed to find the exit directly up into the square to maximise the experience. Never mind - it's pretty great from any angle. A group of youths from Miami tried some soft evangelism on us, involving some photo-taking which happened to take place in front of a huge US flag shown on screens on the side of the Times Square US Armed Forces recruitment booth.
We grabbed lunch at a sports bar just off on a side street, where I had a corned beef reuben (when in Rome...). They had wi-fi and we booked online to go to the 9/11 Memorial tomorrow, something that hadn't worked several times last night. Flushed with success we looked at the various options to book Empire State Building tickets, with 86th & 102nd floor observation decks and "Express" (queue jumper super-power) an extra $22. Clare chose the full monty, which I wasn't sure we'd need on a Monday!
We walked there via Grand Central, which was well worth the stroll - a really impressive space. Arriving at the Empire State we were told there was a 1 hour wait. As Clever Clare had bought the Express on-line, we walked straight past at least five long queues, both up and down, that were no way as short as one hour. Wow!
The views were great, both from the 86th and 102nd floors, the latter much less busy and having a better angle, for example of Central Park. Win!
We renewed our Fijian late-afternoon ice cream tradition en route to our hotel for a teatime siesta.
I persuaded Clare to go for dinner down in Greenwich Village, and the subway outside the hotel got us there in no time. We strolled through Washington Park, beside people picnicking in the dark and a circle of people around the pool (fountain?), finding ourselves on a street of restaurants and bars with neon signs. We had an excellent meal, mine a seafood jambalaya.
We caught the same subway line just a few stops further the next morning; "Downtown day" in my mind, and a real scorcher at nearly 100F.
The 9/11 Memorial (logo colored so the 11 recalls the towers) is extremely impressive. The list of donors in the visitor center suggests a budget of hundreds of millions, but good taste has resulted in a solemn and moving monument, albeit one of the largest and most imposing I've ever seen. I suppose it's fitting, for the greatest shock to the American spirit since JFK's murder.
The water cascades beautifully down the sides of the twin towers' footprints, then moves gently to an inner chasm, where it slowly falls to eternity.
We went on, via refreshments and a spot of delayed blogging. Thence we headed toward Wall Street, via the picturesque graveyard of Trinity Church, where lots of people were enjoying their lunches in the tree-dappled sunshine.
Wall Street isn't, I discovered, named for the stone canyon formed by lines of skyscrapers, several in their day the highest in the city. In fact it's the line of the northern defensive wall of the old fort of New Amsterdam, which once filled Manhattan from here south.
By now we were hungry, but had to walk quite a few blocks north up out of the financial district before we found a salad bar to sit and eat. That wasn't far from Pier 17 where we saw moored tall ships. There we caught the M15 bus 56 blocks north so I could see the United Nations building, which I felt I'd missed last time I was here.
Well, I feel I missed it this time too - no flags flying and very plain. I'm guessing that flags only fly when the UN is in session, and only the flags of the nations in attendance. There were five minutes to go before closing, but there was a sign saying "no liquids". Since my shoulder had been breaking under the weight of the bottles we'd accumulated during the day, I wasn't inclined to finish by ditching the lot.
We eventually found the right bus back toward our hotel, where it was siesta time again ahead of dinner at a restaurant nearby. Strangely, my appetite deserted me completely after a moderate-sized bowl of over-herbed clam chowder - I don't recall feeling such a sudden change before. My linguine got a healthy shuffling around, but not much consumption.
We planned to use our final day in Manhattan to fill in some of the things we missed before, but it didn't quite go as planned. The day started even hotter, so the idea of strolling across the Brooklyn Bridge got shelved again. I looked into the Intrepid Aerospace Museum, on an aircraft carrier moored on the Hudson. However, Concord can only be seen on an extra tour and the space shuttle exhibition premieres tomorrow - those being the two things I wanted to see.
We did successfully get to the Rockefeller Center, where we had drinks and bought takeaway salads. We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral opposite, the beautiful face and twin spires of which were covered in scaffolding.
As we left, I could see dark clouds starting to appear from the west, already fairly close due to the skyscraper-restricted view. Nevertheless, we continued toward Plan B - a picnic in Central Park.
We headed for the great lawn, by way of the restrooms. We never got there. Rain started, and rapidly became heavier, and heavier, and heavier.
We were very fortunate to be close to one of the few buildings in the park, and even one with a wooden roof protruding around the side. We huddled under there as the water came down in stair-rods; truly tropical torrents, but prolonged.
The crashes of thunder included some of the loudest and sharpest I've ever heard. We had to put up our umbrellas to protect our legs as we sat on the ground, because we were gradually being dampened by raindrops splashing onto tarmac at least two feet away.
Eventually we made a break for the subway, fortunately only the equivalent of a block away. As we crossed Park Avenue West, Clare's umbrella turned inside-out as she had to run to recover her Sydney Harbour Bridge cap.
The downpour continued in midtown, as evidenced by the drowned and bedraggled tide of people pouring down into the subway as we fought our way up and out. We only travelled one block further before taking refuge in yet another Irish Pub. I watched the tense tenth innings of a Phillies/Dodgers ball game that went to twelve innings long after Clare's urge to get on had pulled us away.
Another early flight, so another airport hotel - this time at Jamaica, Queens where the subway meets the JFK Airtrain.
Around 8:30 I ordered an Indian meal and some drinks for delivery. A prompt an hour later yielded a 5-to-7 minute delivery estimate. It finally turned up at 11:30pm as we were just getting into bed, so was politely but firmly rejected. Fortunately some leftovers from our abortive picnic held the fort.
I guess it must be twelve to fifteen years since I was last in New York. The subway seems to have spread hugely. However, the biggest change (apart from the loss of the twin towers) seems to me to be in the New Yorkers. Last time I was here, I remember finding the subway quite a hostile place, where one studiously avoided catching anyone's eye. This time, on every single occasion when we were standing in a station looking confused or peering at a map, someone stopped and asked us if we needed help. Every time!
I'm a Londoner born and bred, who thinks London is the best city on earth. However, I can't imagine a visitor receiving the unsolicited assistance back home that we've enjoyed here, and in so many other places on our travels. My faith in our crown is shaken.
New York, New York --
A hell of a town,
The Bronx is up and the Battery's down.
The People ride in a hole in the ground.
New York, New York --
It's a hell of a town.
(For the film version, the word "helluva" was changed to "wonderful" to appease the Production Code offices - Wikipedia)
After a quick rest we wandered out from the Park Central hotel and headed south in search of dinner. As we strolled past the bright lights, Clare went "tilt" again, just as she had early in our San Francisco visit, and needed pinching: "Wow, we're really in New York".
I have to say that I found that funny. We've hit South America and Asia pretty hard this year, but her head is turned by North America? Will I ever convert her into a proper traveller??
Clare says its the cumulative effect of everything catching up with her. I suppose I have to agree - after six months it does still seem unreal; I can't imagine what sort of dream it'll seem after a while passes.
We found dinner in a noisy sports bar, dimly lit and surrounded by big tellies on various channels. We were served by Irish-born Croydon resident Louise, who somehow seems to have managed to get a visa for a month's bar work. Good luck!
The next day was "Midtown day", apart from the fact that we started by strolling two blocks up and into Central Park. There I steered Clare toward Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon peace memorial garden area (successfully surprising her with it) and then stopped by Central Park Lake, where we spent a while watching terrapins swimming around until one climbed onto a rock so we could get a photo of more than just protruding nostrils. We left the park near the Dakota building, where Lennon lived.
Subway to Times Square, where I failed to find the exit directly up into the square to maximise the experience. Never mind - it's pretty great from any angle. A group of youths from Miami tried some soft evangelism on us, involving some photo-taking which happened to take place in front of a huge US flag shown on screens on the side of the Times Square US Armed Forces recruitment booth.
We grabbed lunch at a sports bar just off on a side street, where I had a corned beef reuben (when in Rome...). They had wi-fi and we booked online to go to the 9/11 Memorial tomorrow, something that hadn't worked several times last night. Flushed with success we looked at the various options to book Empire State Building tickets, with 86th & 102nd floor observation decks and "Express" (queue jumper super-power) an extra $22. Clare chose the full monty, which I wasn't sure we'd need on a Monday!
We walked there via Grand Central, which was well worth the stroll - a really impressive space. Arriving at the Empire State we were told there was a 1 hour wait. As Clever Clare had bought the Express on-line, we walked straight past at least five long queues, both up and down, that were no way as short as one hour. Wow!
The views were great, both from the 86th and 102nd floors, the latter much less busy and having a better angle, for example of Central Park. Win!
We renewed our Fijian late-afternoon ice cream tradition en route to our hotel for a teatime siesta.
I persuaded Clare to go for dinner down in Greenwich Village, and the subway outside the hotel got us there in no time. We strolled through Washington Park, beside people picnicking in the dark and a circle of people around the pool (fountain?), finding ourselves on a street of restaurants and bars with neon signs. We had an excellent meal, mine a seafood jambalaya.
We caught the same subway line just a few stops further the next morning; "Downtown day" in my mind, and a real scorcher at nearly 100F.
The 9/11 Memorial (logo colored so the 11 recalls the towers) is extremely impressive. The list of donors in the visitor center suggests a budget of hundreds of millions, but good taste has resulted in a solemn and moving monument, albeit one of the largest and most imposing I've ever seen. I suppose it's fitting, for the greatest shock to the American spirit since JFK's murder.
The water cascades beautifully down the sides of the twin towers' footprints, then moves gently to an inner chasm, where it slowly falls to eternity.
We went on, via refreshments and a spot of delayed blogging. Thence we headed toward Wall Street, via the picturesque graveyard of Trinity Church, where lots of people were enjoying their lunches in the tree-dappled sunshine.
Wall Street isn't, I discovered, named for the stone canyon formed by lines of skyscrapers, several in their day the highest in the city. In fact it's the line of the northern defensive wall of the old fort of New Amsterdam, which once filled Manhattan from here south.
By now we were hungry, but had to walk quite a few blocks north up out of the financial district before we found a salad bar to sit and eat. That wasn't far from Pier 17 where we saw moored tall ships. There we caught the M15 bus 56 blocks north so I could see the United Nations building, which I felt I'd missed last time I was here.
Well, I feel I missed it this time too - no flags flying and very plain. I'm guessing that flags only fly when the UN is in session, and only the flags of the nations in attendance. There were five minutes to go before closing, but there was a sign saying "no liquids". Since my shoulder had been breaking under the weight of the bottles we'd accumulated during the day, I wasn't inclined to finish by ditching the lot.
We eventually found the right bus back toward our hotel, where it was siesta time again ahead of dinner at a restaurant nearby. Strangely, my appetite deserted me completely after a moderate-sized bowl of over-herbed clam chowder - I don't recall feeling such a sudden change before. My linguine got a healthy shuffling around, but not much consumption.
We planned to use our final day in Manhattan to fill in some of the things we missed before, but it didn't quite go as planned. The day started even hotter, so the idea of strolling across the Brooklyn Bridge got shelved again. I looked into the Intrepid Aerospace Museum, on an aircraft carrier moored on the Hudson. However, Concord can only be seen on an extra tour and the space shuttle exhibition premieres tomorrow - those being the two things I wanted to see.
We did successfully get to the Rockefeller Center, where we had drinks and bought takeaway salads. We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral opposite, the beautiful face and twin spires of which were covered in scaffolding.
As we left, I could see dark clouds starting to appear from the west, already fairly close due to the skyscraper-restricted view. Nevertheless, we continued toward Plan B - a picnic in Central Park.
We headed for the great lawn, by way of the restrooms. We never got there. Rain started, and rapidly became heavier, and heavier, and heavier.
We were very fortunate to be close to one of the few buildings in the park, and even one with a wooden roof protruding around the side. We huddled under there as the water came down in stair-rods; truly tropical torrents, but prolonged.
The crashes of thunder included some of the loudest and sharpest I've ever heard. We had to put up our umbrellas to protect our legs as we sat on the ground, because we were gradually being dampened by raindrops splashing onto tarmac at least two feet away.
Eventually we made a break for the subway, fortunately only the equivalent of a block away. As we crossed Park Avenue West, Clare's umbrella turned inside-out as she had to run to recover her Sydney Harbour Bridge cap.
The downpour continued in midtown, as evidenced by the drowned and bedraggled tide of people pouring down into the subway as we fought our way up and out. We only travelled one block further before taking refuge in yet another Irish Pub. I watched the tense tenth innings of a Phillies/Dodgers ball game that went to twelve innings long after Clare's urge to get on had pulled us away.
Another early flight, so another airport hotel - this time at Jamaica, Queens where the subway meets the JFK Airtrain.
Around 8:30 I ordered an Indian meal and some drinks for delivery. A prompt an hour later yielded a 5-to-7 minute delivery estimate. It finally turned up at 11:30pm as we were just getting into bed, so was politely but firmly rejected. Fortunately some leftovers from our abortive picnic held the fort.
I guess it must be twelve to fifteen years since I was last in New York. The subway seems to have spread hugely. However, the biggest change (apart from the loss of the twin towers) seems to me to be in the New Yorkers. Last time I was here, I remember finding the subway quite a hostile place, where one studiously avoided catching anyone's eye. This time, on every single occasion when we were standing in a station looking confused or peering at a map, someone stopped and asked us if we needed help. Every time!
I'm a Londoner born and bred, who thinks London is the best city on earth. However, I can't imagine a visitor receiving the unsolicited assistance back home that we've enjoyed here, and in so many other places on our travels. My faith in our crown is shaken.
New York, New York --
A hell of a town,
The Bronx is up and the Battery's down.
The People ride in a hole in the ground.
New York, New York --
It's a hell of a town.
(For the film version, the word "helluva" was changed to "wonderful" to appease the Production Code offices - Wikipedia)
Fabulous San Francisco
We arrived late into San Francisco, getting to our hotel at about 11pm. After checking in, we - rather optimistically I initially thought - went in search of something to eat. The hotel receptionist, however, said that there should still be a few places open.
We found a busy diner open until midnight, so just made it at 11.45pm. I was actually quite hungry (a bit of a novelty for me) as Hawaiian Airlines do not serve gluten free meals, so all I had eaten that day was some fruit, yoghurt and a banana.
I had goats cheese salad and chips, Dave had a chicken dish. It was fun soaking up the atmosphere in an American diner.
We had arranged a tour around San Francisco, but that would not be until Saturday, so Friday was spent under our own steam walking around the city. As with Sydney after Phuket, we noticed the difference in temperature in San Francisco from Hawaii, it only being about 15 degrees compared to about 29 degrees.
We set off walking round San Fran, going to China Town, the largest outside China. Lots of different shops, I saw a t-shirt I liked and tried on an extra large, although I knew it would be tight just by looking at it, I guessed they might only sell to slim Chinese American girls! Shame as I really liked it.
We went onto North Beach, the Italian area, and found a nice restaurant for lunch, Dave having a pizza and myself having Parma ham and melon.
Prior to setting off on our walk, Dave had purchased two clipper cards which would enable to hop on and off cable buses, something you must do while in San Francisco.
We decided to do the two cable bus routes in their entirety. The hills in San Francisco are amazing, some 48 over an area of 49 square miles (a fact picked up from our tour the following day).
Its great fun on a cable bus, although a bit nippy if you are sitting on the outside! When we got off, we visited Grace Cathedral, built in 1928 and finished in 1964. It had a nice atmosphere.
After visiting the cathedral we went to get a cable bus going in the opposite direction. These turned out to be very busy, so we had to wait for a few to go past before we managed to get on one. This took us down to the pier, where there was an exhibition of boats, although we only walked past these. The pier also offered a good view of Alcatraz island.
There were quite a few stalls selling all kinds of things and Dave felt compelled to buy an Angry Birds woollen hat; although I mocked him, I ended up wearing it as I was so cold! Probably looked a twit, but I did feel warmer.
We then went to the Ghirardelli chocolate shop (we thought there was a factory there, but we were wrong) and Dave brought five different bars of their chocolate.
The queue for cable buses to go back was extremely long, so as our clipper passes were also good for buses, we caught a number 30, which took us back to our hotel.
That night, we went to John's Grill, literally just down the road from our hotel. It was heaving, so a popular place. Dave had clam chowder and a fish dish, I had a shrimp salad.
Up early next morning for our Urban Safari tour, which included tickets for Alcatraz. The vehicle was pretty amazing, black and white zebra striped, and where we sat was open to the elements in a sort of large trailer. Safari hats and blankets were provided!
Our guide was Eric, who was in his early 30s, and who obviously enjoyed his role as a guide. He was very chatty and knowledgeable. We went to another couple of hotels for pick-ups, although at one the group did not appear, even though one of them was there when we arrived. She disappeared to get the others and that was the last we saw of her. They did eventually join the group just in time for the Alcatraz trip.
Eric asked all the group (about 44 in total) their nationalities and there were a few, ranging from Brtish Columbia, Australians, Irish, English, New Zealand and obviously Americans.
Our driver, Mfalme, had the most amazing dreadlocks, which he has been growing for 30+ years. When not wound round his neck or piled on top of his head, they touched the floor!
Our first stop was the Palace of Fine Art, built in 1915 in the Greek style, looks like stone, but is actually made of concrete, although pretty impressive looking.
Our second stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, although actually painted international orange. Originally it was going to be painted grey or black with yellow stripes, I guess orange was the better option and apparently stands out better in the fog. A pretty impressive structure, although, I have to say I was more impressed with the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We got a chance to take lots of photos, and the weather had improved considerably from the previous day, so the view was pretty good.
We then went onto Twin Peaks (not where the tv show was filmed) which gave a panoramic view of San Francisco from a very high vantage point, views were quite stunning and by this time the weather was sunny. Again, lots of photos taken.
The next stop was for lunch. We stopped at a general store, that also sold soup, salads and sandwiches, we sat on wooden benches outside the store to eat. Dave was fascinated by Mfalme's dreadlocks, so I ended up with Dave taking a picture of me with him and his dreadlocks over my arm - I was not too keen to touch them, as not too sure how clean they were!
Mfalme also asked a friend of his to get him a coffee. This friend turned our to be completely naked, which was definitely different! He was completely at ease with himself and apparently it is not an offence to walk around naked in San Francisco.
After lunch, the next stop was to go to Alcatraz, this would also be the end of the Urban Safari Tour. Eric got the tickets and handed them out. We then said our goodbyes and thanks to Eric and Mfalme.
To get to the island is about a 15 minute boat trip and we were booked on the 2.50 pm boat. Once at the island and after a brief chat by one of the staff, we set off up the hill to do the audio tour of the cells, which is narrated by one of the guards who worked there.
Its a very stark place and quite intimidating, although because there were so many people there, this was a bit lost. Cells were 5 foot by 9 foot, really quite small, with just a toilet, bed, table and chair (only the bed was free standing, everything else was fixed into the wall.
The audio tour was essential and went through the history, including the story of three escapees, although whether they died while trying to swim to the mainland (their bodies were never found) or whether they did reach the mainland and got to South America is a mystery never to be resolved.
We spent well over two and a half hours there, and we got the penultimate ferry back to the mainland. In retrospect, going earlier in the day would have been better to allow us a bit more time to look around, but it was certainly worth the visit and very interesting. They do night visits, there are two ferries returning to the mainland around 8 and 9pm and I guess at night it would be very atmospheric even if there were crowds.
Once back on the mainland, we went to the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel. We had been there the previous day to enjoy the view, but it was a bit cloudy. The view was better this time, but not as clear as we thought it would be.
We decided to have dinner here before we collected our luggage from our hotel and make our way to the airport hotel prior to our early flight the next morning to New York.
On reflection, San Francisco has a quaint charm about it for a large city and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
We found a busy diner open until midnight, so just made it at 11.45pm. I was actually quite hungry (a bit of a novelty for me) as Hawaiian Airlines do not serve gluten free meals, so all I had eaten that day was some fruit, yoghurt and a banana.
I had goats cheese salad and chips, Dave had a chicken dish. It was fun soaking up the atmosphere in an American diner.
We had arranged a tour around San Francisco, but that would not be until Saturday, so Friday was spent under our own steam walking around the city. As with Sydney after Phuket, we noticed the difference in temperature in San Francisco from Hawaii, it only being about 15 degrees compared to about 29 degrees.
We set off walking round San Fran, going to China Town, the largest outside China. Lots of different shops, I saw a t-shirt I liked and tried on an extra large, although I knew it would be tight just by looking at it, I guessed they might only sell to slim Chinese American girls! Shame as I really liked it.
We went onto North Beach, the Italian area, and found a nice restaurant for lunch, Dave having a pizza and myself having Parma ham and melon.
Prior to setting off on our walk, Dave had purchased two clipper cards which would enable to hop on and off cable buses, something you must do while in San Francisco.
We decided to do the two cable bus routes in their entirety. The hills in San Francisco are amazing, some 48 over an area of 49 square miles (a fact picked up from our tour the following day).
Its great fun on a cable bus, although a bit nippy if you are sitting on the outside! When we got off, we visited Grace Cathedral, built in 1928 and finished in 1964. It had a nice atmosphere.
After visiting the cathedral we went to get a cable bus going in the opposite direction. These turned out to be very busy, so we had to wait for a few to go past before we managed to get on one. This took us down to the pier, where there was an exhibition of boats, although we only walked past these. The pier also offered a good view of Alcatraz island.
There were quite a few stalls selling all kinds of things and Dave felt compelled to buy an Angry Birds woollen hat; although I mocked him, I ended up wearing it as I was so cold! Probably looked a twit, but I did feel warmer.
We then went to the Ghirardelli chocolate shop (we thought there was a factory there, but we were wrong) and Dave brought five different bars of their chocolate.
The queue for cable buses to go back was extremely long, so as our clipper passes were also good for buses, we caught a number 30, which took us back to our hotel.
That night, we went to John's Grill, literally just down the road from our hotel. It was heaving, so a popular place. Dave had clam chowder and a fish dish, I had a shrimp salad.
Up early next morning for our Urban Safari tour, which included tickets for Alcatraz. The vehicle was pretty amazing, black and white zebra striped, and where we sat was open to the elements in a sort of large trailer. Safari hats and blankets were provided!
Our guide was Eric, who was in his early 30s, and who obviously enjoyed his role as a guide. He was very chatty and knowledgeable. We went to another couple of hotels for pick-ups, although at one the group did not appear, even though one of them was there when we arrived. She disappeared to get the others and that was the last we saw of her. They did eventually join the group just in time for the Alcatraz trip.
Eric asked all the group (about 44 in total) their nationalities and there were a few, ranging from Brtish Columbia, Australians, Irish, English, New Zealand and obviously Americans.
Our driver, Mfalme, had the most amazing dreadlocks, which he has been growing for 30+ years. When not wound round his neck or piled on top of his head, they touched the floor!
Our first stop was the Palace of Fine Art, built in 1915 in the Greek style, looks like stone, but is actually made of concrete, although pretty impressive looking.
Our second stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, although actually painted international orange. Originally it was going to be painted grey or black with yellow stripes, I guess orange was the better option and apparently stands out better in the fog. A pretty impressive structure, although, I have to say I was more impressed with the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We got a chance to take lots of photos, and the weather had improved considerably from the previous day, so the view was pretty good.
We then went onto Twin Peaks (not where the tv show was filmed) which gave a panoramic view of San Francisco from a very high vantage point, views were quite stunning and by this time the weather was sunny. Again, lots of photos taken.
The next stop was for lunch. We stopped at a general store, that also sold soup, salads and sandwiches, we sat on wooden benches outside the store to eat. Dave was fascinated by Mfalme's dreadlocks, so I ended up with Dave taking a picture of me with him and his dreadlocks over my arm - I was not too keen to touch them, as not too sure how clean they were!
Mfalme also asked a friend of his to get him a coffee. This friend turned our to be completely naked, which was definitely different! He was completely at ease with himself and apparently it is not an offence to walk around naked in San Francisco.
After lunch, the next stop was to go to Alcatraz, this would also be the end of the Urban Safari Tour. Eric got the tickets and handed them out. We then said our goodbyes and thanks to Eric and Mfalme.
To get to the island is about a 15 minute boat trip and we were booked on the 2.50 pm boat. Once at the island and after a brief chat by one of the staff, we set off up the hill to do the audio tour of the cells, which is narrated by one of the guards who worked there.
Its a very stark place and quite intimidating, although because there were so many people there, this was a bit lost. Cells were 5 foot by 9 foot, really quite small, with just a toilet, bed, table and chair (only the bed was free standing, everything else was fixed into the wall.
The audio tour was essential and went through the history, including the story of three escapees, although whether they died while trying to swim to the mainland (their bodies were never found) or whether they did reach the mainland and got to South America is a mystery never to be resolved.
We spent well over two and a half hours there, and we got the penultimate ferry back to the mainland. In retrospect, going earlier in the day would have been better to allow us a bit more time to look around, but it was certainly worth the visit and very interesting. They do night visits, there are two ferries returning to the mainland around 8 and 9pm and I guess at night it would be very atmospheric even if there were crowds.
Once back on the mainland, we went to the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel. We had been there the previous day to enjoy the view, but it was a bit cloudy. The view was better this time, but not as clear as we thought it would be.
We decided to have dinner here before we collected our luggage from our hotel and make our way to the airport hotel prior to our early flight the next morning to New York.
On reflection, San Francisco has a quaint charm about it for a large city and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Happy, Helpful Honolulu
In all of the flights we booked, the hardest hop to organise was the one from Fiji to Hawaii. The One World Alliance round-the-world ticket planning website could only offer an insane route via Tokyo!
In the end, Lucy at Flight Centre found cheapest flights with Air New Zealand. Hence we had to fly south to Auckland and overnight there before heading north again and passing Fiji once more when well on our way.
As you might imagine, the Hawaiian islands offer a vast choice of accommodation. I did look at taking a short flight to one of the smaller airports on Maui and going to a secluded resort near there. However, any difficulties with the short hop back could have led to big problems with our next big hop - disastrous in a journey so complicated already. This was compounded by resulting timings on departure day. I also wanted to visit Pearl Harbor, just west of Honolulu.
So we took the simplest way out, and decided to stay on Oahu, where Honolulu and its airport are located. Following the "Beaches of the World" theme, we decided to stay on Waikiki Beach, which is in the southern part of Honolulu.
We chose a hotel (Aqua Lotus at Diamond Head) that has good TripAdvisor reviews. It is a 15-minute beachside stroll away from central Waikiki, and so avoids noise complaints common there. It has no restaurant and, we found on arrival, no bar either.
It all made me wonder whether the hotel is "gaming" the review scores by having nothing to review badly. Being behind other buildings, we had only a partial view of the ocean. The room was lovely, though, and reception very helpful (see below).
What made things work was the hotel next door, with a restaurant looking out over the beach from under the wide, low branches of a set of trees growing up through the floor. The menu was broad enough and well enough executed that we ate there every night and some lunchtimes. Symbiosis.
We started the week quite slowly, not going more than a few hundred metres from the hotel on the first day.
On the second day Clare woke with a headache. When this didn't clear with ibuprofen nor, an hour later, paracetamol (branded as Tylenol in the U.S.), Clare then revealed that she'd had a headache every morning since two nights with feverish symptoms in Fiji, but hadn't told me to avoid worrying me.
We went first to a traveller-friendly clinic, but they said they lacked diagnostic tools and referred us to the Emergency Room at their associated hospital. I was afraid that we were falling into the grip of the American medical system, and was worried how much this would cost us.
We were shown straight into a private room and samples were swiftly taken for tests. Clare was even wheeled up for a CT scan (which only showed a mild sinusitis behind her right cheek).
The doctor came to see us as soon as the test results were in. How different private medicine is from British public A&E! He listened well as we told the story of Clare's ailment for the fourth time. You could sense the subtle precautions against being sued, with only cautious statements and every test that might possibly be needed. The doctor even suggested a lumbar puncture to rule out possible side-infection, but there was a chance of side-effects worse than the original problem.
Ultimately, the doctor diagnosed something serious-sounding but which would clear up by itself in time.
When everything was done we headed out, braced for a grilling about our medical insurance. Instead the reception staff said they had what they needed and (when we prompted) said we should just ask our insurer to fax them a billing address. We were so surprised!
The hotel reception was brilliant when we needed to print out forms from our travel insurer and fax them back internationally. Full marks.
After such an exciting Sunday, we delayed our planned trip to Pearl Harbor to Tuesday and simply strolled into the edge of the built-up area for Monday lunch.
On our first morning I looked into visiting Pearl Harbor, and went online to try to book a slot to visit the memorial for the sinking of USS Arizona during the Japanese attack in December 1941. The first available time was just after our plane out departed!
Our hotel arranged a coach to Pearl Harbor for about a tenth of what a taxi would have cost. We saw all of the attractions except the Arizona Memorial, spending 3 hours on huge USS Missouri, the last great battleship, then lunch and a whistle-stop tour of the Aviation Museum, and finally an hour on the submarine USS Bowfin (which Clare sat out). Six hours flying past.
We took our last day quite quietly again, with another stroll into town for lunch and then time on the beach with a quick snorkel offshore with cheap masks from a convenience store.
We probably didn't make the most of Hawaii, but we did have a nice time and were close to excellent medical services when Clare wanted them. We had to visit as part of our round-the-world leg because the impact of the flights from the UK rules it out as a holiday destination at any other time. We might come again one day, but we'd go the extra mile beyond Oahu.
In the end, Lucy at Flight Centre found cheapest flights with Air New Zealand. Hence we had to fly south to Auckland and overnight there before heading north again and passing Fiji once more when well on our way.
As you might imagine, the Hawaiian islands offer a vast choice of accommodation. I did look at taking a short flight to one of the smaller airports on Maui and going to a secluded resort near there. However, any difficulties with the short hop back could have led to big problems with our next big hop - disastrous in a journey so complicated already. This was compounded by resulting timings on departure day. I also wanted to visit Pearl Harbor, just west of Honolulu.
So we took the simplest way out, and decided to stay on Oahu, where Honolulu and its airport are located. Following the "Beaches of the World" theme, we decided to stay on Waikiki Beach, which is in the southern part of Honolulu.
We chose a hotel (Aqua Lotus at Diamond Head) that has good TripAdvisor reviews. It is a 15-minute beachside stroll away from central Waikiki, and so avoids noise complaints common there. It has no restaurant and, we found on arrival, no bar either.
It all made me wonder whether the hotel is "gaming" the review scores by having nothing to review badly. Being behind other buildings, we had only a partial view of the ocean. The room was lovely, though, and reception very helpful (see below).
What made things work was the hotel next door, with a restaurant looking out over the beach from under the wide, low branches of a set of trees growing up through the floor. The menu was broad enough and well enough executed that we ate there every night and some lunchtimes. Symbiosis.
We started the week quite slowly, not going more than a few hundred metres from the hotel on the first day.
On the second day Clare woke with a headache. When this didn't clear with ibuprofen nor, an hour later, paracetamol (branded as Tylenol in the U.S.), Clare then revealed that she'd had a headache every morning since two nights with feverish symptoms in Fiji, but hadn't told me to avoid worrying me.
We went first to a traveller-friendly clinic, but they said they lacked diagnostic tools and referred us to the Emergency Room at their associated hospital. I was afraid that we were falling into the grip of the American medical system, and was worried how much this would cost us.
We were shown straight into a private room and samples were swiftly taken for tests. Clare was even wheeled up for a CT scan (which only showed a mild sinusitis behind her right cheek).
The doctor came to see us as soon as the test results were in. How different private medicine is from British public A&E! He listened well as we told the story of Clare's ailment for the fourth time. You could sense the subtle precautions against being sued, with only cautious statements and every test that might possibly be needed. The doctor even suggested a lumbar puncture to rule out possible side-infection, but there was a chance of side-effects worse than the original problem.
Ultimately, the doctor diagnosed something serious-sounding but which would clear up by itself in time.
When everything was done we headed out, braced for a grilling about our medical insurance. Instead the reception staff said they had what they needed and (when we prompted) said we should just ask our insurer to fax them a billing address. We were so surprised!
The hotel reception was brilliant when we needed to print out forms from our travel insurer and fax them back internationally. Full marks.
After such an exciting Sunday, we delayed our planned trip to Pearl Harbor to Tuesday and simply strolled into the edge of the built-up area for Monday lunch.
On our first morning I looked into visiting Pearl Harbor, and went online to try to book a slot to visit the memorial for the sinking of USS Arizona during the Japanese attack in December 1941. The first available time was just after our plane out departed!
Our hotel arranged a coach to Pearl Harbor for about a tenth of what a taxi would have cost. We saw all of the attractions except the Arizona Memorial, spending 3 hours on huge USS Missouri, the last great battleship, then lunch and a whistle-stop tour of the Aviation Museum, and finally an hour on the submarine USS Bowfin (which Clare sat out). Six hours flying past.
We took our last day quite quietly again, with another stroll into town for lunch and then time on the beach with a quick snorkel offshore with cheap masks from a convenience store.
We probably didn't make the most of Hawaii, but we did have a nice time and were close to excellent medical services when Clare wanted them. We had to visit as part of our round-the-world leg because the impact of the flights from the UK rules it out as a holiday destination at any other time. We might come again one day, but we'd go the extra mile beyond Oahu.
Fiji by Water
I'm afraid it falls to me again to allude to the influence on our plans of matters related to health.
After our time in Australia, the resort in Fiji seemed very clean and well sorted too. I'm afraid I let my guard down health-wise. I guess I assumed the resort would use bottled water for ice and table water in restaurants - don't laugh, some do.
I don't know if it was the glass of water in the fine dining restaurant or the ice the poolside bar cools glasses in. Something upset my tum from late on our fourth day in Fiji until well after we left.
At the same time and (as far as I can work out) for unrelated reasons, Clare's tum had a bad patch. This was a shame, because on day 5 we'd booked to go on a boat trip.
We were happy with the comforts and facilities of our Fijian-mainland coastal resort, but I did wonder what the resorts based on tiny islands would have been like.
We booked a trip on a tall ship, leaving from near the airport (a 90-minute coach ride each way) and passing several resort islands before stopping at a private island for snorkeling and relaxation.
Unfortunately, come the morning of day 5 we realised that neither of us were in a fit state. We turned up "not early" and then held the coach up while we tried to change the trip to day 7. Fortunately, we could.
It had to be day 7 because I'd booked my first scuba trip for day 6, following a trial session in the hotel pool, skimming along the bottom and biting people's ankles (and no, I don't confess to any other kind of sharking around the pool).
The dive was an interesting experience, but I don't feel compelled to do it lots more. I had great difficulty in getting my left ear to equalise to the pressure every time we went a bit deeper. Once equalised, I then needed to make sure I didn't float upward. This made it feel quite a "technical" experience, and really got in the way of focusing on the amazing shapes of the coral and the beautiful fish.
One thing to note is that the deeper you go under the water, the more bright colours get duller - and we went down over 12 metres on this dive. This dimming is especially true of red. About twelve years ago I went to Mauritius and maybe 50 metres down in a submarine. At that depth the bright red fire extinguisher beside me turned pure black.
Clare and I both love snorkelling, and we can do it together. It isn't technical and you can float around in your own time seeing beautiful fish at full brightness. I think we'll stick with that.
So, we reached day 7, our last full day, which we'd have preferred to spend idling by the pool, but we had the boat trip booked and paid-for. The trouble was that Clare had spent the last two nights with very hot skin but feeling cold in her core. We put it down to heatstroke (but see our future post from Honolulu). Hence Clare skipped the trip and stayed in the cool of the room for the day instead.
The boat trip was pleasant and interesting rather than fabulous. The transfers from our hotel to the boat were loooong - an hour and three-quarters there and nearly two and a half hours back. Fortunately I took my iPhone, loaded with This Week in Tech (TWiT) podcasts. The boat left from a marina on Denarau Island - an area of land only really separated from the mainland (Viti Levu) by a river, and dedicated to posh resorts (read: tourist ghetto).
The boat was a single-masted sailing ship, but travelled by motor the whole way. On the way back they hoisted the foresail, but it was only for show because I could see it was "backed" by the wind - making us slower rather than faster.
We passed some of the resort islands I'd looked at when trying to find somewhere to book. I found two things remarkable. Firstly that some of the islands were pretty small - one seemingly only a hundred metres across - I'm thinking: "stir crazy" stuck for a week in just that space (and that scope of facilities). Secondly, the islands were well in sight of the mainland, and so during your whole week there all you would see when looking out in one direction would be the mainland. I think that'd feel odd, particularly if the island's facilities were inadequate.
Mind you, in the past I have spent a week on a single resort island just 600 metres long and 180 wide in the Maldives which felt completely isolated, and that was truly wonderful.
The private island on which the cruise ended was also pretty small - maybe 250 metres in diameter - and treeless. The reef that was at one end stuck out of the water at low tide. I sat under the big thatched "canteen" roof most of the time, but others sunbathed and played volleyball.
I'm glad I went on the trip because I was interested by what I saw, but it didn't outweigh the inconvenience of the transfer journeys by much. The 7am to 9pm day was very tiring.
Weighing up our whole time in Fiji, we were pleased with our choice of a slightly larger mainland resort and were quite surprised when the total cost came to less than half of the price of our time in Phuket, with Hamilton Island more expensive still.
Money and, more importantly, time feeling well spent.
After our time in Australia, the resort in Fiji seemed very clean and well sorted too. I'm afraid I let my guard down health-wise. I guess I assumed the resort would use bottled water for ice and table water in restaurants - don't laugh, some do.
I don't know if it was the glass of water in the fine dining restaurant or the ice the poolside bar cools glasses in. Something upset my tum from late on our fourth day in Fiji until well after we left.
At the same time and (as far as I can work out) for unrelated reasons, Clare's tum had a bad patch. This was a shame, because on day 5 we'd booked to go on a boat trip.
We were happy with the comforts and facilities of our Fijian-mainland coastal resort, but I did wonder what the resorts based on tiny islands would have been like.
We booked a trip on a tall ship, leaving from near the airport (a 90-minute coach ride each way) and passing several resort islands before stopping at a private island for snorkeling and relaxation.
Unfortunately, come the morning of day 5 we realised that neither of us were in a fit state. We turned up "not early" and then held the coach up while we tried to change the trip to day 7. Fortunately, we could.
It had to be day 7 because I'd booked my first scuba trip for day 6, following a trial session in the hotel pool, skimming along the bottom and biting people's ankles (and no, I don't confess to any other kind of sharking around the pool).
The dive was an interesting experience, but I don't feel compelled to do it lots more. I had great difficulty in getting my left ear to equalise to the pressure every time we went a bit deeper. Once equalised, I then needed to make sure I didn't float upward. This made it feel quite a "technical" experience, and really got in the way of focusing on the amazing shapes of the coral and the beautiful fish.
One thing to note is that the deeper you go under the water, the more bright colours get duller - and we went down over 12 metres on this dive. This dimming is especially true of red. About twelve years ago I went to Mauritius and maybe 50 metres down in a submarine. At that depth the bright red fire extinguisher beside me turned pure black.
Clare and I both love snorkelling, and we can do it together. It isn't technical and you can float around in your own time seeing beautiful fish at full brightness. I think we'll stick with that.
So, we reached day 7, our last full day, which we'd have preferred to spend idling by the pool, but we had the boat trip booked and paid-for. The trouble was that Clare had spent the last two nights with very hot skin but feeling cold in her core. We put it down to heatstroke (but see our future post from Honolulu). Hence Clare skipped the trip and stayed in the cool of the room for the day instead.
The boat trip was pleasant and interesting rather than fabulous. The transfers from our hotel to the boat were loooong - an hour and three-quarters there and nearly two and a half hours back. Fortunately I took my iPhone, loaded with This Week in Tech (TWiT) podcasts. The boat left from a marina on Denarau Island - an area of land only really separated from the mainland (Viti Levu) by a river, and dedicated to posh resorts (read: tourist ghetto).
The boat was a single-masted sailing ship, but travelled by motor the whole way. On the way back they hoisted the foresail, but it was only for show because I could see it was "backed" by the wind - making us slower rather than faster.
We passed some of the resort islands I'd looked at when trying to find somewhere to book. I found two things remarkable. Firstly that some of the islands were pretty small - one seemingly only a hundred metres across - I'm thinking: "stir crazy" stuck for a week in just that space (and that scope of facilities). Secondly, the islands were well in sight of the mainland, and so during your whole week there all you would see when looking out in one direction would be the mainland. I think that'd feel odd, particularly if the island's facilities were inadequate.
Mind you, in the past I have spent a week on a single resort island just 600 metres long and 180 wide in the Maldives which felt completely isolated, and that was truly wonderful.
The private island on which the cruise ended was also pretty small - maybe 250 metres in diameter - and treeless. The reef that was at one end stuck out of the water at low tide. I sat under the big thatched "canteen" roof most of the time, but others sunbathed and played volleyball.
I'm glad I went on the trip because I was interested by what I saw, but it didn't outweigh the inconvenience of the transfer journeys by much. The 7am to 9pm day was very tiring.
Weighing up our whole time in Fiji, we were pleased with our choice of a slightly larger mainland resort and were quite surprised when the total cost came to less than half of the price of our time in Phuket, with Hamilton Island more expensive still.
Money and, more importantly, time feeling well spent.
Fantastic Fiji
Having arrived after dark, the next morning we were very keen to open the curtains in our room and we were not disappointed when we did, we were met with the sight of swaying palm trees, bright blue sky, and waves crashing in the distance onto the reef. So not a bad first impression!
The short walk to breakfast took us along the resort right beside the sea. When booking, the photos had made Dave wonder if there was a road between the resort and the beach, but there absolutely wasn't. The beach was a golden colour, not quite as spectacular as we had thought in terms of size, but nevertheless a beautiful setting. The tide was out, revealing a rocky bed and it appeared that you could walk a fair distance out while the tide was low, it also turned out that you could walk a fair way when the tide was in too.
There were two 'islands' just off the shore, one accessed by a causeway, the other one at low tide. We walked to the one over the causeway, which gave us a good view of the resort.
Our taxi driver had told us on the way to the resort from the airport, that it was midwinter, I was glad it was not mid-summer, as the temperature was 29 degrees! It was okay in the evening, not too humid.
Breakfast was a buffet, and they had gluten free muffins and bread, along with yoghurt and fresh fruit, so I was okay. We had gone for just the breakfast option and not fully inclusive, which turned out to be a good move, as the restaurants on site were not expensive and as it turns out, we would definitely not have got our money's worth. Ice-cream, which we had at the end of nearly every afternoon, was not included in the all inclusive package.
We had decided on a mainland resort, because most of the island resorts were booked (at the level of comfort we were after). We thought this was due to American holidays around the 4 July, but it actually turned out that it was the start of the Australian school holidays.
We ate in the buffet restaurant on our second night (we ate here when we first arrived). The food was okay, but nothing special. The next night we ate in another restaurant at the resort, and the food was much better.
In the evening in the bar there was entertainment. We went one evening and the staff who looked after kids during the day put on a show which was good fun, they also got most of the men to take their shirts off and dance to 'So Macho' - an 80s hit - I managed to catch Dave on my iphone camera strutting his stuff shirtless!
There was only one pool (we were spoilt in Phuket with a choice of three), so if you got there too late in the morning you were unlikely to get a lounger. However, loungers were also placed along the grass facing out to sea, and this was lovely, with no noisy kids!
Dave was interested in trying scuba diving, they were doing a trial session in the pool, and he tried to persuade me, but I was not keen, I would stick to snorkelling.
I loved Fiji and their people, who were so friendly and helpful. Definitely a bit of paradise.
The short walk to breakfast took us along the resort right beside the sea. When booking, the photos had made Dave wonder if there was a road between the resort and the beach, but there absolutely wasn't. The beach was a golden colour, not quite as spectacular as we had thought in terms of size, but nevertheless a beautiful setting. The tide was out, revealing a rocky bed and it appeared that you could walk a fair distance out while the tide was low, it also turned out that you could walk a fair way when the tide was in too.
There were two 'islands' just off the shore, one accessed by a causeway, the other one at low tide. We walked to the one over the causeway, which gave us a good view of the resort.
Our taxi driver had told us on the way to the resort from the airport, that it was midwinter, I was glad it was not mid-summer, as the temperature was 29 degrees! It was okay in the evening, not too humid.
Breakfast was a buffet, and they had gluten free muffins and bread, along with yoghurt and fresh fruit, so I was okay. We had gone for just the breakfast option and not fully inclusive, which turned out to be a good move, as the restaurants on site were not expensive and as it turns out, we would definitely not have got our money's worth. Ice-cream, which we had at the end of nearly every afternoon, was not included in the all inclusive package.
We had decided on a mainland resort, because most of the island resorts were booked (at the level of comfort we were after). We thought this was due to American holidays around the 4 July, but it actually turned out that it was the start of the Australian school holidays.
We ate in the buffet restaurant on our second night (we ate here when we first arrived). The food was okay, but nothing special. The next night we ate in another restaurant at the resort, and the food was much better.
In the evening in the bar there was entertainment. We went one evening and the staff who looked after kids during the day put on a show which was good fun, they also got most of the men to take their shirts off and dance to 'So Macho' - an 80s hit - I managed to catch Dave on my iphone camera strutting his stuff shirtless!
There was only one pool (we were spoilt in Phuket with a choice of three), so if you got there too late in the morning you were unlikely to get a lounger. However, loungers were also placed along the grass facing out to sea, and this was lovely, with no noisy kids!
Dave was interested in trying scuba diving, they were doing a trial session in the pool, and he tried to persuade me, but I was not keen, I would stick to snorkelling.
I loved Fiji and their people, who were so friendly and helpful. Definitely a bit of paradise.
Friday, 29 June 2012
Sydney Hop
We'd had a lovely, relaxing week on Hamilton Island, with just a glimpse of sun at the end to imagine what it'd be like in season. Now it was time to move on to Fiji.
Due to flight schedules and economical airline choice, our route from The Whitsundays to Fiji passed through Sydney and Auckland, with an overnight stop in the former.
Because the notional title for Leg 3 was "Beaches of the World", I had a hankering to get to Bondi Beach, which is indirectly between Sydney airport and the city centre. Events during our previous stop in Sydney hadn't permitted this.
As we were just overnighting between flights, we'd booked a very humble Formule 1 room, with shower, toilet, telly, and one double bed sideways underneath a single bed raised up bunk-style on a metal frame. Strange, but I suppose it maximizes the ways the room can be let.
Dusk had settled, and we managed to complete the 10-minute walk from the domestic terminal just as the very first drops of a rainstorm were falling. It was whilst sitting inside, looking out at the torrent, that I tried to sell the idea of taking a taxi to nighttime Bondi Beach to a tired Clare who would rather have stayed in the warm and dry, lying in front of the telly and grabbing a dinner from the McDonalds next door (people call them "Maccers" here, and the term is even used in adverts).
Clare acquiesced and, by the time the taxi came, the rain had stopped for the night. Dropped off on the road in the middle of the Bondi front, we walked away from the shops and restaurants, down the hill to the beachside promenade.
The first thing we saw was an ice-skating rink. What else do you want on a midwinter beach? Wonderful. Only the fact that it was closed for a private session saved Clare from having me try to drag her onto the ice.
Beyond, we could see the white lines of the famous breakers at the sea's edge, and we walked along the dark beach for a short distance before grabbing a pleasant dinner in a café called The Bucket List (appropriately for me, among so many others, I felt).
We'd had a very pleasant evening and Clare thanked me for persuading her to venture out.
Taxi back. Early start. Two one-feature-film flights, courtesy of seatback video-on-demand. Best ever transit in Auckland - the outgoing flight started boarding the moment we reached the gate, straight from the transfer security check. And we reached Fiji, again after a 6pm winter nightfall.
For our 90-minute taxi transfer from Nadi to the resort, we joined not only the driver but his wife. I imagined they'd taken advantage of the company car to pop into the city for for shopping. Anyway, it felt like getting a lift with friends, as we chatted the whole way, learning more about life on the island; floods, churches and hitch-hiking.
We finally arrived at our resort to a good first impression and a quick bite to eat. In the dark, we tried to work out what the setting was and what we'd be able to see in the daytime.
That was last night and, now I'm awake, I'm off to look out of the window and get a first proper view of Fiji.
Due to flight schedules and economical airline choice, our route from The Whitsundays to Fiji passed through Sydney and Auckland, with an overnight stop in the former.
Because the notional title for Leg 3 was "Beaches of the World", I had a hankering to get to Bondi Beach, which is indirectly between Sydney airport and the city centre. Events during our previous stop in Sydney hadn't permitted this.
As we were just overnighting between flights, we'd booked a very humble Formule 1 room, with shower, toilet, telly, and one double bed sideways underneath a single bed raised up bunk-style on a metal frame. Strange, but I suppose it maximizes the ways the room can be let.
Dusk had settled, and we managed to complete the 10-minute walk from the domestic terminal just as the very first drops of a rainstorm were falling. It was whilst sitting inside, looking out at the torrent, that I tried to sell the idea of taking a taxi to nighttime Bondi Beach to a tired Clare who would rather have stayed in the warm and dry, lying in front of the telly and grabbing a dinner from the McDonalds next door (people call them "Maccers" here, and the term is even used in adverts).
Clare acquiesced and, by the time the taxi came, the rain had stopped for the night. Dropped off on the road in the middle of the Bondi front, we walked away from the shops and restaurants, down the hill to the beachside promenade.
The first thing we saw was an ice-skating rink. What else do you want on a midwinter beach? Wonderful. Only the fact that it was closed for a private session saved Clare from having me try to drag her onto the ice.
Beyond, we could see the white lines of the famous breakers at the sea's edge, and we walked along the dark beach for a short distance before grabbing a pleasant dinner in a café called The Bucket List (appropriately for me, among so many others, I felt).
We'd had a very pleasant evening and Clare thanked me for persuading her to venture out.
Taxi back. Early start. Two one-feature-film flights, courtesy of seatback video-on-demand. Best ever transit in Auckland - the outgoing flight started boarding the moment we reached the gate, straight from the transfer security check. And we reached Fiji, again after a 6pm winter nightfall.
For our 90-minute taxi transfer from Nadi to the resort, we joined not only the driver but his wife. I imagined they'd taken advantage of the company car to pop into the city for for shopping. Anyway, it felt like getting a lift with friends, as we chatted the whole way, learning more about life on the island; floods, churches and hitch-hiking.
We finally arrived at our resort to a good first impression and a quick bite to eat. In the dark, we tried to work out what the setting was and what we'd be able to see in the daytime.
That was last night and, now I'm awake, I'm off to look out of the window and get a first proper view of Fiji.
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Whitsunday Clouds
There was only one cloud over our time in Phuket, and it had nothing whatever to do with Phuket.
Because we decided so late that we could actually go on Leg 3, we had no accommodation researched or arranged anywhere - we have to do all that as we go along. So whilst sitting by the pool in Phuket, we tried to find and book good accommodation in Sydney (very successfully), The Whitsundays (see below) and Fiji (a story for another day, which Clare introduced in the last post).
I read TripAdvisor reviews of every resort in the Whitsunday Islands. We feel we've acquired a reasonable skill in interpreting reviews by now, and I concentrate on 2* and 4* reviews - people for whom everything wasn't either all right or all wrong. Normally different views on the same shortcomings emerge, allowing you to apply your own weighting for what matters to you.
Having gone through that process for every Whitsundays resort, there didn't seem any that seemed a safe bet for our precious one-off experience - mostly rip-offs (beyond a reasonable "exclusive" premium) and/or awful service/attitude. Some of the reviews were a few years old, though.
We turned to Airlie Beach (the bit of the mainland that faces the Whitsunday Islands) and found a much more normal selection of hotels and reviews. Unfortunately, location seemed to be a problem for a lot of places. Some were a long walk up a hill. A couple of the most promising turned out to have a big land reclamation project going on in front of them.
Quite dismayed by now, we considered splitting our time between two places. The trouble is that both of us find "travel days" complete wipe-outs in terms of relaxation, so we gave up on that.
In the end we crossed our fingers and booked one resort, hoping the reviews had been unnecessarily jaundiced.
Hamilton Island is the largest occupied/resort island in the Whitsunday Islands, and the site of the Great Barrier Reef Airport. The whole island is on lease from the Oz government to Robert Oatley.
He's built three resorts (expensive, ouch and you-what???), plus various apartments and a marina area with various restaurants. There are shuttle buses around the island and you can charge to your room (almost) anywhere on the island by showing your key.
We landed and were swiftly installed in the Reef View Hotel (expensive) in a beautiful 15th-floor room with king sized bed and whole-glass-wall view across the bay and other islands. Not dirty at all, and certainly not in need of refurbishment.
Downstairs for dinner, we found £16 starters, £23 mains and £5 bottles of beer. We'd read a review warning to expect bills of £130 for a meal for two, and that's pretty much what we found - we feared we'd probably end up paying as much on food as the cost of the room.
However, those turned out to be the most expensive prices on the island apart from a couple of fine dining restaurants at the marina, so the non-accommodation costs eventually came to about 60% of the room, which isn't so unusual.
In any case, we'd found that Sydney was unusually expensive, so things aren't all that much higher here.
The other thing that bears saying, relative to the reviews of the hotel/island as that we found every single member of staff friendly, polite and very helpful. We'll be submitting a review of our own to try to correct the story.
Did I say view of the bay? Well, actually when we arrived there was quite low cloud, which closed in until we could see hardly anything out of the window - that'll teach us to bank on Aussie winter weather!
In fact, the weather forecast for the whole week involved clouds and some rain. Days 1-3 had a solid overcast with overnight rain, and on days 4 and 5 the rain intruded a little into the daytime.
We're not complaining. We've "won" everywhere else we've been this year - typical: "last week was really bad", so we can hardly complain when our luck ebbs slightly. In a strange way, it made the lovely place even more relaxing.
We did ask about a day trip to snorkel on the Barrier Reef, but apparently the wind was too high and looked set to stay that way for our whole week.
Day 6 was brighter, with maybe half an hour of the sun peeping through the clouds, which we celebrated by sitting beside a beachfront pool for the first time. In the afternoon I sailed Clare round the bay in a small catamaran. This was a little outside Clare's comfort zone, but she did end up enjoying it.
Our package included an afternoon boat trip to famous Whitehaven Beach on uninhabited Whitsunday Island. It became our daily ritual to wake, look out of the window, and re-book the trip for the following day whilst on our way to breakfast.
In the end, we reached day 7, our last full day, and had to go. It turned out to be the best day - a reasonable temperature and quite a few glimpses of the sun through the clouds. Whitehaven Beach is worthy of its reputation - a graceful 7km arc of pure, floury, white silica sand. Gorgeous!
Because we decided so late that we could actually go on Leg 3, we had no accommodation researched or arranged anywhere - we have to do all that as we go along. So whilst sitting by the pool in Phuket, we tried to find and book good accommodation in Sydney (very successfully), The Whitsundays (see below) and Fiji (a story for another day, which Clare introduced in the last post).
I read TripAdvisor reviews of every resort in the Whitsunday Islands. We feel we've acquired a reasonable skill in interpreting reviews by now, and I concentrate on 2* and 4* reviews - people for whom everything wasn't either all right or all wrong. Normally different views on the same shortcomings emerge, allowing you to apply your own weighting for what matters to you.
Having gone through that process for every Whitsundays resort, there didn't seem any that seemed a safe bet for our precious one-off experience - mostly rip-offs (beyond a reasonable "exclusive" premium) and/or awful service/attitude. Some of the reviews were a few years old, though.
We turned to Airlie Beach (the bit of the mainland that faces the Whitsunday Islands) and found a much more normal selection of hotels and reviews. Unfortunately, location seemed to be a problem for a lot of places. Some were a long walk up a hill. A couple of the most promising turned out to have a big land reclamation project going on in front of them.
Quite dismayed by now, we considered splitting our time between two places. The trouble is that both of us find "travel days" complete wipe-outs in terms of relaxation, so we gave up on that.
In the end we crossed our fingers and booked one resort, hoping the reviews had been unnecessarily jaundiced.
Hamilton Island is the largest occupied/resort island in the Whitsunday Islands, and the site of the Great Barrier Reef Airport. The whole island is on lease from the Oz government to Robert Oatley.
He's built three resorts (expensive, ouch and you-what???), plus various apartments and a marina area with various restaurants. There are shuttle buses around the island and you can charge to your room (almost) anywhere on the island by showing your key.
We landed and were swiftly installed in the Reef View Hotel (expensive) in a beautiful 15th-floor room with king sized bed and whole-glass-wall view across the bay and other islands. Not dirty at all, and certainly not in need of refurbishment.
Downstairs for dinner, we found £16 starters, £23 mains and £5 bottles of beer. We'd read a review warning to expect bills of £130 for a meal for two, and that's pretty much what we found - we feared we'd probably end up paying as much on food as the cost of the room.
However, those turned out to be the most expensive prices on the island apart from a couple of fine dining restaurants at the marina, so the non-accommodation costs eventually came to about 60% of the room, which isn't so unusual.
In any case, we'd found that Sydney was unusually expensive, so things aren't all that much higher here.
The other thing that bears saying, relative to the reviews of the hotel/island as that we found every single member of staff friendly, polite and very helpful. We'll be submitting a review of our own to try to correct the story.
Did I say view of the bay? Well, actually when we arrived there was quite low cloud, which closed in until we could see hardly anything out of the window - that'll teach us to bank on Aussie winter weather!
In fact, the weather forecast for the whole week involved clouds and some rain. Days 1-3 had a solid overcast with overnight rain, and on days 4 and 5 the rain intruded a little into the daytime.
We're not complaining. We've "won" everywhere else we've been this year - typical: "last week was really bad", so we can hardly complain when our luck ebbs slightly. In a strange way, it made the lovely place even more relaxing.
We did ask about a day trip to snorkel on the Barrier Reef, but apparently the wind was too high and looked set to stay that way for our whole week.
Day 6 was brighter, with maybe half an hour of the sun peeping through the clouds, which we celebrated by sitting beside a beachfront pool for the first time. In the afternoon I sailed Clare round the bay in a small catamaran. This was a little outside Clare's comfort zone, but she did end up enjoying it.
Our package included an afternoon boat trip to famous Whitehaven Beach on uninhabited Whitsunday Island. It became our daily ritual to wake, look out of the window, and re-book the trip for the following day whilst on our way to breakfast.
In the end, we reached day 7, our last full day, and had to go. It turned out to be the best day - a reasonable temperature and quite a few glimpses of the sun through the clouds. Whitehaven Beach is worthy of its reputation - a graceful 7km arc of pure, floury, white silica sand. Gorgeous!
Monday, 25 June 2012
Stunning Sydney
We flew from Phuket to Singapore, a flight of about 2 hours, with a 1.5 hour stopover in Singapore. We then caught our overnight flight to Sydney, journey time 7.5 hours. Fortunately, the flight was not full, so with plenty of vacant seats, we could stretch out and get a few hours sleep.
We landed in Sydney at about 10.30am on the 19/6, and after a short train journey to Circular Quay and a short walk (encountering steep steps on the way with our heavy luggage) we got to our hotel at midday.
We could not check in until 2pm, so we left our luggage and went to explore. We were literally minutes from the harbour and, for me, my first sight of Sydney Opera House, and the Harbour Bridge, truly they are magnificent sights. The weather was lovely and sunny with a bright blue sky, although the temperature was only about 18 degrees, somewhat cooler than Phuket, but not surprising as its mid-winter in Australia.
We walked around the harbour and decided to go up to an observation deck and to have lunch. We went to a Japanese restaurant and had a nice meal. We had left our coats and fleeces at the hotel and we got decidedly chilly, so after lunch we wandered back to our hotel and checked in; we were very happy with the room.
After relaxing for a few hours, we wandered out to find somewhere for dinner in the harbour area and also to see it at night, which was lovely. As I am still being careful with what I eat, we settled on a restaurant where I had an omelette and Dave had veal. We then went back to the hotel, after this gentle introduction to Sydney.
Next morning we went to book the Harbour Bridge climb for the following day, which we did for 11.05 am, but we realised that would leave time tight to get to the right point in the Botanical Garden to take the classic pictures of the Opera House and bridge. So after some discussion we decided to do the climb on the 20/6; back we went to the booking office and changed the climb date to that afternoon - staff were very helpful - the last daylight climb (price goes up for climbs after dusk). The climb was for 2.25pm, which left us with just about an hour to get something to eat and drink and to go back to the hotel to put our trainers on. This we managed with a few minutes to spare.
The safety precautions, which includes being breathalysered, going through a metal detector and preparation for the walk is very thorough, they take safety very seriously. You have to wear overalls and a safety harness which is attached at all times and you have radio to hear your guide. You also have to use a simulator set of ladders before you do the real thing on the bridge.
There was 11 in our group, mostly Americans, three from UK (including ourselves) and one Aussie. From ground level the climb looks pretty daunting, but is actually fairly easy and the views on the way up are pretty stunning. We were also lucky that the weather was again clear and sunny. Our young guide, Kate, was fun and very informative. She also took photos at regular intervals on the way up and down, as you are not allowed to take a camera. Reaching the top was amazing and the sun was beginning to go down, so by the time we started the descent, we were able to see a most stunning sunset, with the sun setting behind the Blue Mountains.
Total time (including safety prep) is just under four hours. You get a group photo free, others you have to buy, we got three, as you definitely need to have a record of your climb. We also each brought a tee-shirt, not cheap, but we have realised that Sydney is not a cheap place and that Australia is probably the most expensive place we have been on our travels.
We again ate in a restaurant by the harbour and were pleasantly surprised that they had gluten free options, our waitress said that a gluten free diet is very fashionable in Sydney, being a lifestyle choice rather than a medical one. I opted for a chicken Caesar salad, but we did share a gluten free chocolate meringue with ice-cream! Although I don't know for certain if I have gluten and wheat intolerance, avoiding it, along with caffeine, alcohol, seeds, etc, (as advised by my GP) seems to be helping.
We were up early the next day to go into the Botanical Gardens to get the classic picture of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge before going on a guided tour of the Opera House at 10.30am. We were later leaving the hotel than planned as we had spent some time on Skype speaking to an agent about hotels in Fiji, which seems to be nearly fully booked, probably because we are there around the 4th July, we were unsuccessful in booking a hotel in Fiji at that point, so would have to continue looking later.
Anyway, we got to the Opera House on time for the tour. It is really an amazing building and we saw a video as part of the tour which showed some of the designs which were considered, none were as iconic as the one that was chosen nor were the designs as timeless. I was surprised to learn that construction started in 1959 with completion scheduled for three years later, in fact it was not opened until 1973, some 14 times over the original budget! The theatres are amazing and if we had more time in Sydney we would have loved to have gone and seen a performance.
Our tour tickets included an offer of a $10 meal at The Studio Cafe at the Opera House, our cheapest meal by far in Sydney!
After lunch we walked round the Opera House and through the Botanical Gardens where Government House is. This is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Unfortunately, this was Thursday, so we just walked around the outside.
We then walked into the town centre to Sydney Tower (also known as Centre Point and AMP Tower), where we went up to the observation floor which had stunning views over Sydney. It also has a revolving restaurant, and we decided to return for dinner later as it was our last night in Sydney. We opted for the buffet meal and booked for 8pm.
We went back to the hotel via Woolworths, a supermarket chain, to stock up on gluten free food.
We got a cab to Sydney Tower for dinner. You have 1.5 hours and you can eat as much as you want. They had plenty of gluten free options too, and the desserts I thought were particularly nice. We had our picture taken again (we had one taken on our earlier visit to the tower, which we did not purchase) we did buy this one. Everywhere you go there is someone taking your picture and the package is around $35. Picture taking is BIG business in Australia!
The meal at the Tower, was a lovely way to round off our time in Sydney.
We landed in Sydney at about 10.30am on the 19/6, and after a short train journey to Circular Quay and a short walk (encountering steep steps on the way with our heavy luggage) we got to our hotel at midday.
We could not check in until 2pm, so we left our luggage and went to explore. We were literally minutes from the harbour and, for me, my first sight of Sydney Opera House, and the Harbour Bridge, truly they are magnificent sights. The weather was lovely and sunny with a bright blue sky, although the temperature was only about 18 degrees, somewhat cooler than Phuket, but not surprising as its mid-winter in Australia.
We walked around the harbour and decided to go up to an observation deck and to have lunch. We went to a Japanese restaurant and had a nice meal. We had left our coats and fleeces at the hotel and we got decidedly chilly, so after lunch we wandered back to our hotel and checked in; we were very happy with the room.
After relaxing for a few hours, we wandered out to find somewhere for dinner in the harbour area and also to see it at night, which was lovely. As I am still being careful with what I eat, we settled on a restaurant where I had an omelette and Dave had veal. We then went back to the hotel, after this gentle introduction to Sydney.
Next morning we went to book the Harbour Bridge climb for the following day, which we did for 11.05 am, but we realised that would leave time tight to get to the right point in the Botanical Garden to take the classic pictures of the Opera House and bridge. So after some discussion we decided to do the climb on the 20/6; back we went to the booking office and changed the climb date to that afternoon - staff were very helpful - the last daylight climb (price goes up for climbs after dusk). The climb was for 2.25pm, which left us with just about an hour to get something to eat and drink and to go back to the hotel to put our trainers on. This we managed with a few minutes to spare.
The safety precautions, which includes being breathalysered, going through a metal detector and preparation for the walk is very thorough, they take safety very seriously. You have to wear overalls and a safety harness which is attached at all times and you have radio to hear your guide. You also have to use a simulator set of ladders before you do the real thing on the bridge.
There was 11 in our group, mostly Americans, three from UK (including ourselves) and one Aussie. From ground level the climb looks pretty daunting, but is actually fairly easy and the views on the way up are pretty stunning. We were also lucky that the weather was again clear and sunny. Our young guide, Kate, was fun and very informative. She also took photos at regular intervals on the way up and down, as you are not allowed to take a camera. Reaching the top was amazing and the sun was beginning to go down, so by the time we started the descent, we were able to see a most stunning sunset, with the sun setting behind the Blue Mountains.
Total time (including safety prep) is just under four hours. You get a group photo free, others you have to buy, we got three, as you definitely need to have a record of your climb. We also each brought a tee-shirt, not cheap, but we have realised that Sydney is not a cheap place and that Australia is probably the most expensive place we have been on our travels.
We again ate in a restaurant by the harbour and were pleasantly surprised that they had gluten free options, our waitress said that a gluten free diet is very fashionable in Sydney, being a lifestyle choice rather than a medical one. I opted for a chicken Caesar salad, but we did share a gluten free chocolate meringue with ice-cream! Although I don't know for certain if I have gluten and wheat intolerance, avoiding it, along with caffeine, alcohol, seeds, etc, (as advised by my GP) seems to be helping.
We were up early the next day to go into the Botanical Gardens to get the classic picture of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge before going on a guided tour of the Opera House at 10.30am. We were later leaving the hotel than planned as we had spent some time on Skype speaking to an agent about hotels in Fiji, which seems to be nearly fully booked, probably because we are there around the 4th July, we were unsuccessful in booking a hotel in Fiji at that point, so would have to continue looking later.
Anyway, we got to the Opera House on time for the tour. It is really an amazing building and we saw a video as part of the tour which showed some of the designs which were considered, none were as iconic as the one that was chosen nor were the designs as timeless. I was surprised to learn that construction started in 1959 with completion scheduled for three years later, in fact it was not opened until 1973, some 14 times over the original budget! The theatres are amazing and if we had more time in Sydney we would have loved to have gone and seen a performance.
Our tour tickets included an offer of a $10 meal at The Studio Cafe at the Opera House, our cheapest meal by far in Sydney!
After lunch we walked round the Opera House and through the Botanical Gardens where Government House is. This is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Unfortunately, this was Thursday, so we just walked around the outside.
We then walked into the town centre to Sydney Tower (also known as Centre Point and AMP Tower), where we went up to the observation floor which had stunning views over Sydney. It also has a revolving restaurant, and we decided to return for dinner later as it was our last night in Sydney. We opted for the buffet meal and booked for 8pm.
We went back to the hotel via Woolworths, a supermarket chain, to stock up on gluten free food.
We got a cab to Sydney Tower for dinner. You have 1.5 hours and you can eat as much as you want. They had plenty of gluten free options too, and the desserts I thought were particularly nice. We had our picture taken again (we had one taken on our earlier visit to the tower, which we did not purchase) we did buy this one. Everywhere you go there is someone taking your picture and the package is around $35. Picture taking is BIG business in Australia!
The meal at the Tower, was a lovely way to round off our time in Sydney.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Just Phuket
Although it'd always amused my naughty-schoolboy self to make "f***-it" puns about this place, someone burst my bubble before we came by explaining it was pronounced "pooket". Never mind.
Previously, I'd expected Phuket to have a negative "youngsters' party island" vibe. Hence it only got on our itinerary because Aussie friend and colleague Pat told me there were really nice parts too - like Karon Beach.
By contrast, Clare expected an exclusive, quite high-end destination - which is far closer to what we found.
After our usual fairly thorough, though last-but-one-minute research, we'd booked at the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach.
I knew the Swiss-run Mövenpick hotel chain from two periods of over a year when I was working in The Hague and staying there. Good quality without being pretentious.
Nevertheless, their Phuket hotel was quite large and I didn't expect an outstanding experience outside a small/boutique hotel. I was wrong.
Although we've thought quite hard, we can't fault it.
We arrived to a choice of rooms, and picked the one that was lighter and with a (far) better view, even at the cost of having separate beds.
There are three pools, one with a swim-up bar, one with almost no children and one too small and square (c/f 3 bears). Then there's the beach - long, white and quiet, with beautiful crashing rows of surf and hawkers easily urged on their way. The ice-cream guy was, however, eagerly welcomed. We couldn't work out how he kept our two Magnums nearly solid in his shoulder-carried cool bag, but we were grateful.
We've spent two days at the beach, one at the big pool and three at the middle pool, with beer arriving for me at a moderate rate, once I'd trained the pool staff ;-)
The hotel has the best buffet breakfast I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a few), with a very wide choice. There are three different dinner restaurants - all at reasonable restaurant prices. We did have room service twice, and it arrived bang on the 30 minutes they said each time. I guess that's the Swiss influence.
We've been very happy here. Only fear is that this'll be hard to beat, and it'd be a shame to have the best first, and downhill from there.
It has occurred to me that the blog posts from this leg might be less interesting than the preceding ones. They were real voyages of discovery, in various ways. This leg is a lot more like five pretty nobby beach holidays in a row. If we'd been taking them separately, then they wouldn't count as "adventure travel" and so wouldn't normally appear here. We will keep writing, but trying to concentrate on our experience rather than hotel reviews.
Sydney next :-)
Previously, I'd expected Phuket to have a negative "youngsters' party island" vibe. Hence it only got on our itinerary because Aussie friend and colleague Pat told me there were really nice parts too - like Karon Beach.
By contrast, Clare expected an exclusive, quite high-end destination - which is far closer to what we found.
After our usual fairly thorough, though last-but-one-minute research, we'd booked at the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach.
I knew the Swiss-run Mövenpick hotel chain from two periods of over a year when I was working in The Hague and staying there. Good quality without being pretentious.
Nevertheless, their Phuket hotel was quite large and I didn't expect an outstanding experience outside a small/boutique hotel. I was wrong.
Although we've thought quite hard, we can't fault it.
We arrived to a choice of rooms, and picked the one that was lighter and with a (far) better view, even at the cost of having separate beds.
There are three pools, one with a swim-up bar, one with almost no children and one too small and square (c/f 3 bears). Then there's the beach - long, white and quiet, with beautiful crashing rows of surf and hawkers easily urged on their way. The ice-cream guy was, however, eagerly welcomed. We couldn't work out how he kept our two Magnums nearly solid in his shoulder-carried cool bag, but we were grateful.
We've spent two days at the beach, one at the big pool and three at the middle pool, with beer arriving for me at a moderate rate, once I'd trained the pool staff ;-)
The hotel has the best buffet breakfast I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a few), with a very wide choice. There are three different dinner restaurants - all at reasonable restaurant prices. We did have room service twice, and it arrived bang on the 30 minutes they said each time. I guess that's the Swiss influence.
We've been very happy here. Only fear is that this'll be hard to beat, and it'd be a shame to have the best first, and downhill from there.
It has occurred to me that the blog posts from this leg might be less interesting than the preceding ones. They were real voyages of discovery, in various ways. This leg is a lot more like five pretty nobby beach holidays in a row. If we'd been taking them separately, then they wouldn't count as "adventure travel" and so wouldn't normally appear here. We will keep writing, but trying to concentrate on our experience rather than hotel reviews.
Sydney next :-)
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Slingless
(Because we were in Singapore but Clare was off alcohol, such as Singapore Slings)
Let me re-tell Clare's story from the last couple of posts from my PoV.
Having omitted to research it earlier, we sat using mobile data on our iPhones in the baggage hall of Changi airport (pronounced with a soft g - like Chang-ee). I found the address of the Grand Pacific hotel, then looked it up on a map to find the nearest subway station, then downloaded a subway map.
We decided to save a line-change and go to a slightly further-away stop, then got misled by a local-area map in that station. Hence we ended up dragging our cases along from the third-closest station in the sweltering morning heat after our long overnight flight. Fortunately, things improved from this point.
After feeling well enough for us to book leg 3 a couple of days before, Clare felt queasy throughout the long flight and too poorly to leave the hotel room once we'd got in and freshened up. She said that if she'd felt that way before, we wouldn't have booked to travel!
With Clare as comfortable as possible, she urged me to go out and see something of Singapore to make the best of our short time there.
I strolled out, past the closest and second-closest subway stops, then across a large sports field where I watched teams playing cricket against the soaring backdrop of the central business district (CBD).
Then I caught my first sight of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. This is an amazing sight, even though I'd seen it on F1 race coverage on TV. There's a 340m-long curved, vaguely boat-shaped top, complete with infinity swimming pool, perched 200m or 57 storeys up on top of three tower blocks. Amazing.
I strolled down to the Esplanade area, a promenade with shops behind by the side of Marina Bay, enjoying fabulous views of the Sands and the CBD across the water. I took a photo or two (hundred).
There was a bandstand on the promenade under a high-tech curved-steel-tube ...um... structure with taught sheeting ...um... roof. A pretty good band were sound-checking there, so I got an ice-cream wafer (the flavour of durian fruit, similar to guava) and sat on a big arc of steps running down to the water, enjoying the music and soaking in the view. Wow!
I walked back to our hotel past the Raffles Hotel, thinking about how to share this experience with Clare. I decided not to show her my photos, and even to hide my camera so she wouldn't think to ask, so that she could discover it fresh for herself the next day, when hopefully she'd be well.
She was, and we did. On the second day (our only whole day here) we saw everything I'd seen the first afternoon; still as stunning.
We sat chilling with drinks for an hour enjoying the view from the Esplanade, then crossed the bridge to look at the Merlion statue. This is an 8m-high white stone mer-lion (c/f mermaid) with a fountain spouting forward from its mouth.
Singapore means "lion city", since an early coloniser thought he'd seen a lion there, completely erroneously.
We then took a leisurely lunch. After that, we started trying to walk along the side of the Singapore river, long the heart of the city before continual land reclamation created the bay, the area where the Sands sits, and all the dock areas behind.
Unfortunately, the sun was just too fierce - probably the harshest we've encountered it anywhere (just 85 miles north of the equator). We had to retire to our hotel for a siesta.
That evening, with the sun gone but the heat of the air only slightly reduced, we returned (via Raffles, as Clare described) to the Esplanade for a lovely meal with fabulous night views of the CBD across the bay.
On our last morning we caught the subway to the middle of the CBD. On the train I read Wikitravel on my iPhone and learned an amazing fact:
"Granted self-rule in 1955, Singapore briefly joined Malaysia in 1963 when the British left, but was expelled because the Chinese-majority city was seen as a threat to Malay dominance, and the island became independent on 9 August 1965, thus becoming the only country to gain independence against its own will in the history of the modern world."
We went up the tallest building in Singapore, 1 Raffles Place. This has a triangular observation deck on its roof, just surrounded by chest-high glass sides. We relished the great views over the whole country, but only for ten or so minutes, because a siren sounded and we had to go down due to a risk of lightning from growing storm clouds. We escaped without lightning or even rain - never mind.
We returned to the airport via the subway. We used the nearest subway station to the hotel, but the doorman pointed toward the station we'd used when arriving. Turned out there is a cumbersome interchange half-way along between lines built at different times, so we probably weren't as far wrong as I thought on our arrival.
We arrived at the airport, checked in (getting away with 1.5 kilos overweight) and duly dumped our drinks before going airside. There was no security, which quite surprised us, so we went and bought new water supplies for the flight.
When we got to the gate, we discovered that the security was there - another of the irritating airports (like Shanghai) where they confiscate your water immediately before boarding the plane - leaving your hydration to the mercy of the airline. Grrrr!
Let me re-tell Clare's story from the last couple of posts from my PoV.
Having omitted to research it earlier, we sat using mobile data on our iPhones in the baggage hall of Changi airport (pronounced with a soft g - like Chang-ee). I found the address of the Grand Pacific hotel, then looked it up on a map to find the nearest subway station, then downloaded a subway map.
We decided to save a line-change and go to a slightly further-away stop, then got misled by a local-area map in that station. Hence we ended up dragging our cases along from the third-closest station in the sweltering morning heat after our long overnight flight. Fortunately, things improved from this point.
After feeling well enough for us to book leg 3 a couple of days before, Clare felt queasy throughout the long flight and too poorly to leave the hotel room once we'd got in and freshened up. She said that if she'd felt that way before, we wouldn't have booked to travel!
With Clare as comfortable as possible, she urged me to go out and see something of Singapore to make the best of our short time there.
I strolled out, past the closest and second-closest subway stops, then across a large sports field where I watched teams playing cricket against the soaring backdrop of the central business district (CBD).
Then I caught my first sight of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. This is an amazing sight, even though I'd seen it on F1 race coverage on TV. There's a 340m-long curved, vaguely boat-shaped top, complete with infinity swimming pool, perched 200m or 57 storeys up on top of three tower blocks. Amazing.
I strolled down to the Esplanade area, a promenade with shops behind by the side of Marina Bay, enjoying fabulous views of the Sands and the CBD across the water. I took a photo or two (hundred).
There was a bandstand on the promenade under a high-tech curved-steel-tube ...um... structure with taught sheeting ...um... roof. A pretty good band were sound-checking there, so I got an ice-cream wafer (the flavour of durian fruit, similar to guava) and sat on a big arc of steps running down to the water, enjoying the music and soaking in the view. Wow!
I walked back to our hotel past the Raffles Hotel, thinking about how to share this experience with Clare. I decided not to show her my photos, and even to hide my camera so she wouldn't think to ask, so that she could discover it fresh for herself the next day, when hopefully she'd be well.
She was, and we did. On the second day (our only whole day here) we saw everything I'd seen the first afternoon; still as stunning.
We sat chilling with drinks for an hour enjoying the view from the Esplanade, then crossed the bridge to look at the Merlion statue. This is an 8m-high white stone mer-lion (c/f mermaid) with a fountain spouting forward from its mouth.
Singapore means "lion city", since an early coloniser thought he'd seen a lion there, completely erroneously.
We then took a leisurely lunch. After that, we started trying to walk along the side of the Singapore river, long the heart of the city before continual land reclamation created the bay, the area where the Sands sits, and all the dock areas behind.
Unfortunately, the sun was just too fierce - probably the harshest we've encountered it anywhere (just 85 miles north of the equator). We had to retire to our hotel for a siesta.
That evening, with the sun gone but the heat of the air only slightly reduced, we returned (via Raffles, as Clare described) to the Esplanade for a lovely meal with fabulous night views of the CBD across the bay.
On our last morning we caught the subway to the middle of the CBD. On the train I read Wikitravel on my iPhone and learned an amazing fact:
"Granted self-rule in 1955, Singapore briefly joined Malaysia in 1963 when the British left, but was expelled because the Chinese-majority city was seen as a threat to Malay dominance, and the island became independent on 9 August 1965, thus becoming the only country to gain independence against its own will in the history of the modern world."
We went up the tallest building in Singapore, 1 Raffles Place. This has a triangular observation deck on its roof, just surrounded by chest-high glass sides. We relished the great views over the whole country, but only for ten or so minutes, because a siren sounded and we had to go down due to a risk of lightning from growing storm clouds. We escaped without lightning or even rain - never mind.
We returned to the airport via the subway. We used the nearest subway station to the hotel, but the doorman pointed toward the station we'd used when arriving. Turned out there is a cumbersome interchange half-way along between lines built at different times, so we probably weren't as far wrong as I thought on our arrival.
We arrived at the airport, checked in (getting away with 1.5 kilos overweight) and duly dumped our drinks before going airside. There was no security, which quite surprised us, so we went and bought new water supplies for the flight.
When we got to the gate, we discovered that the security was there - another of the irritating airports (like Shanghai) where they confiscate your water immediately before boarding the plane - leaving your hydration to the mercy of the airline. Grrrr!
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Singapore - 10 June 2012
We woke to sun and blue sky, a marked contrast from yesterday when we arrived to an overcast sky and rain, also (fingers crossed, touch wood, etc, etc,) tum feels better.
After breakfast, we wandered down to the Marina Bay, passing Raffles Hotel on the way, where we said we would go for a drink in the evening - more of that later. The weather was extremely hot and we had to use our umbrellas as parasols because of the intensity of the sun - temperature was 33 degrees, although it felt much hotter. Our hotel, which was recommended by Lucy at the Flight Centre, was really well situated and less than 15 minutes walk from the marina.
Singapore is a lovely city and like Japan, very clean. Signs are in English which is also widely spoken. Once at the Marina, we went into the Esplande Centre which houses shops and a theatre. We went up to the roof terrace to get a good view of the harbour. There is a hotel, The Sands, consisting of six separate towers, with what looks like a boat perched on top, an amazing sight. Coming down from the roof terrace, we stopped for a drink overlooking the harbour and did our favourite hobby of people watching!
We then walked over the bridge to another part of the marina and then followed the river, stopping for a light salad lunch on the way. The buildings in the financial centre are really tall and impressive, but too tall to get a good photograph.
By mid afternoon we were wilting in the heat, so we headed back to the hotel.
A couple of hours later after a rest and shower we headed out for dinner, but first a drink at Raffles in their Courtyard Bar. Dave decided to have a gin and tonic and, as I am avoiding alcohol, I had a diet coke. The surroundings were lovely and we joked that these drinks were not going to be cheap, so for a bit of fun we guessed the possible cost, I said £15 and Dave said £20. We were so way off, as these two drinks came to £35! The most expensive diet coke I have ever had. Needless to say, we did not have a second drink.
We continued on to the harbour, which looked lovely lit up, found a nice restaurant, where the meal and two drinks cost £25, significantly less than the two drinks at Raffles.
We wandered back to our hotel in the humidity, it's not much cooler than the daytime temperatures, such a pleasure to get to our air conditioned room!
After breakfast, we wandered down to the Marina Bay, passing Raffles Hotel on the way, where we said we would go for a drink in the evening - more of that later. The weather was extremely hot and we had to use our umbrellas as parasols because of the intensity of the sun - temperature was 33 degrees, although it felt much hotter. Our hotel, which was recommended by Lucy at the Flight Centre, was really well situated and less than 15 minutes walk from the marina.
Singapore is a lovely city and like Japan, very clean. Signs are in English which is also widely spoken. Once at the Marina, we went into the Esplande Centre which houses shops and a theatre. We went up to the roof terrace to get a good view of the harbour. There is a hotel, The Sands, consisting of six separate towers, with what looks like a boat perched on top, an amazing sight. Coming down from the roof terrace, we stopped for a drink overlooking the harbour and did our favourite hobby of people watching!
We then walked over the bridge to another part of the marina and then followed the river, stopping for a light salad lunch on the way. The buildings in the financial centre are really tall and impressive, but too tall to get a good photograph.
By mid afternoon we were wilting in the heat, so we headed back to the hotel.
A couple of hours later after a rest and shower we headed out for dinner, but first a drink at Raffles in their Courtyard Bar. Dave decided to have a gin and tonic and, as I am avoiding alcohol, I had a diet coke. The surroundings were lovely and we joked that these drinks were not going to be cheap, so for a bit of fun we guessed the possible cost, I said £15 and Dave said £20. We were so way off, as these two drinks came to £35! The most expensive diet coke I have ever had. Needless to say, we did not have a second drink.
We continued on to the harbour, which looked lovely lit up, found a nice restaurant, where the meal and two drinks cost £25, significantly less than the two drinks at Raffles.
We wandered back to our hotel in the humidity, it's not much cooler than the daytime temperatures, such a pleasure to get to our air conditioned room!
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Singapore 8/9 June 2012
We were at home longer than we intended due to my tummy troubles (which are not resolved even after two trips to doctor, and tests which were clear, I was advised to take probiotics and watch my diet. Therefore, on advice from GP, I am currently avoiding - amongst other things - wheat, gluten, caffeine, spices, any fruit or veg with seeds and strangely onions ........ and alcohol - so at least my liver should be healthy - all of which can apparently irritate the gut - have been eating peanuts as I thought these were okay (cannot eat crisps) but after looking on the Internet, they are a definite no no!
We, therefore, flew out to Singapore at 11.30am on the 8/6 on a 12 hour flight and, due to the time difference, landed at 7am on the 9/6.
We got a train from the airport to our hotel and after a bit of confusion about which stop we should get off at, we arrived at the hotel just after 9am, luckily we were able to get into our room straightaway (although twin beds, otherwise we would have had to wait until midday). Unfortunately, my tummy has not been good again today, so I stayed in hotel room and Dave went out for a couple of hours to explore Singapore. This is VERY frustrating as I so want to be able to fully enjoy this last leg of our once in a lifetime trip and to remember it for the right reasons. Hoping a good night's sleep (we both did not have good night's sleep before we left nor slept on the flight) will be beneficial.
So fingers crossed that I get to enjoy the full day we have in Singapore tomorrow and that my tum gets better for the rest of the trip.
I felt a bit better on Dave's return, so we ate in the hotel tonight, Dave from the 'all you can eat' buffet; I had lamb shank and mashed potatoes and veg (all okay foods!). We met a really nice Aussie couple who we chatted to, so it made a nice evening.
We, therefore, flew out to Singapore at 11.30am on the 8/6 on a 12 hour flight and, due to the time difference, landed at 7am on the 9/6.
We got a train from the airport to our hotel and after a bit of confusion about which stop we should get off at, we arrived at the hotel just after 9am, luckily we were able to get into our room straightaway (although twin beds, otherwise we would have had to wait until midday). Unfortunately, my tummy has not been good again today, so I stayed in hotel room and Dave went out for a couple of hours to explore Singapore. This is VERY frustrating as I so want to be able to fully enjoy this last leg of our once in a lifetime trip and to remember it for the right reasons. Hoping a good night's sleep (we both did not have good night's sleep before we left nor slept on the flight) will be beneficial.
So fingers crossed that I get to enjoy the full day we have in Singapore tomorrow and that my tum gets better for the rest of the trip.
I felt a bit better on Dave's return, so we ate in the hotel tonight, Dave from the 'all you can eat' buffet; I had lamb shank and mashed potatoes and veg (all okay foods!). We met a really nice Aussie couple who we chatted to, so it made a nice evening.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Away 3
After application of care and patience, Clare's tum is now in a fit state to travel (we hope), and we'll be going with it.
Here we are again at Heathrow, ready to leave on the third and final leg of our grand tour. This time it's a full lap of the world - travelling Eastward like Phileas Fogg so we get July 6/7 twice!
We only booked on Wednesday, and here we are on Friday, so Thursday was busy and I got the most stressy I have in ages. When you're going away for a month or more, there are some things where it makes a lot of difference whether you've packed them or not - adding up to a lot of inconvenience saved/suffered over the time.
The outline of leg 3 is as follows:
9-10 Jun - Singapore
11-17 - Phuket, Thailand
18 - Singapore (transit only)
19-21 - Sydney, Australia
22-28 - Hamilton Island, Australia
28 - Sydney (transit only)
29 Jun-5 Jul - Fiji
6 Jul - Auckland, New Zealand (transit only)
6 (AGAIN!!!) - 11 Jul - Hawaii, USA
12-14 - San Francisco
15-18 - New York
19-25 - Antigua
26 Jul - Home
As you can see, this is the "leisure leg" (well, more than the others). It was provisionally titled "Beaches of the World" and, while there's so many fabulous beaches we couldn't see them all, I feel like we're giving it a good stab. We'll make a point to hit famous Bondi Beach while we're in Sydney.
At one time this leg was going to include more places I've been before, but now it's only big cities (Sydney, SF, NY).
There's no problems with visas this time, all on arrival except the online Aussie ones we got yesterday and the U.S. ESTAs we have left from leg 1.
Here we go!
Here we are again at Heathrow, ready to leave on the third and final leg of our grand tour. This time it's a full lap of the world - travelling Eastward like Phileas Fogg so we get July 6/7 twice!
We only booked on Wednesday, and here we are on Friday, so Thursday was busy and I got the most stressy I have in ages. When you're going away for a month or more, there are some things where it makes a lot of difference whether you've packed them or not - adding up to a lot of inconvenience saved/suffered over the time.
The outline of leg 3 is as follows:
9-10 Jun - Singapore
11-17 - Phuket, Thailand
18 - Singapore (transit only)
19-21 - Sydney, Australia
22-28 - Hamilton Island, Australia
28 - Sydney (transit only)
29 Jun-5 Jul - Fiji
6 Jul - Auckland, New Zealand (transit only)
6 (AGAIN!!!) - 11 Jul - Hawaii, USA
12-14 - San Francisco
15-18 - New York
19-25 - Antigua
26 Jul - Home
As you can see, this is the "leisure leg" (well, more than the others). It was provisionally titled "Beaches of the World" and, while there's so many fabulous beaches we couldn't see them all, I feel like we're giving it a good stab. We'll make a point to hit famous Bondi Beach while we're in Sydney.
At one time this leg was going to include more places I've been before, but now it's only big cities (Sydney, SF, NY).
There's no problems with visas this time, all on arrival except the online Aussie ones we got yesterday and the U.S. ESTAs we have left from leg 1.
Here we go!
Where We Went 2
Mainly for our own memories, here's the full list of where we spent each night of Leg2:
6-9 Apr - Beijing, China
10 Apr - Sleeper train
11-12 - Xian
13-15 - Yangtze River Cruise
16 - Wuhan
17 - Nanjing
18 - Suzhou
19-22 - Shanghai
23-26 - Tokyo, Japan
27-30 - Kyoto
1-4 May - Hiroshima
5 - Kobe
6 - Tokyo
7 May - Home
6-9 Apr - Beijing, China
10 Apr - Sleeper train
11-12 - Xian
13-15 - Yangtze River Cruise
16 - Wuhan
17 - Nanjing
18 - Suzhou
19-22 - Shanghai
23-26 - Tokyo, Japan
27-30 - Kyoto
1-4 May - Hiroshima
5 - Kobe
6 - Tokyo
7 May - Home
Friday, 25 May 2012
So Much Nicer
Regular readers will know that this is our "travel" blog, and not for ordinary travel, at that.
This post is about one of the world's most fabulous of travel destinations - England on a summery day.
Today, Clare and I came for lunch at the John Lewis Partnership's country pad beside the Thames in Berkshire. We ate in the open and then strolled along the river under a cloudless sky.
It is a mayfly day. Two sat on my leg the whole time I was eating, and stayed there whilst I went indoors, answered nature's call, and returned.
The birds are singing and we're just off home, via a garden centre, for a barbecue in the back garden of our home. Bliss!
Health note: The tests on Clare's tum came back clear, so she's done a 3-day fast in the hope of shaking the last traces of her ailment. The original plan had us flying to Bangkok today, but now we have to make a different plan.
We'll stay home this weekend (the Monaco Grand Prix - my favourite F1 race of the year - is on anyway) and see how we are on Monday; maybe going away in the UK for a couple of days, with the hope of being ready to travel at the end of the week.
This post is about one of the world's most fabulous of travel destinations - England on a summery day.
Today, Clare and I came for lunch at the John Lewis Partnership's country pad beside the Thames in Berkshire. We ate in the open and then strolled along the river under a cloudless sky.
It is a mayfly day. Two sat on my leg the whole time I was eating, and stayed there whilst I went indoors, answered nature's call, and returned.
The birds are singing and we're just off home, via a garden centre, for a barbecue in the back garden of our home. Bliss!
Health note: The tests on Clare's tum came back clear, so she's done a 3-day fast in the hope of shaking the last traces of her ailment. The original plan had us flying to Bangkok today, but now we have to make a different plan.
We'll stay home this weekend (the Monaco Grand Prix - my favourite F1 race of the year - is on anyway) and see how we are on Monday; maybe going away in the UK for a couple of days, with the hope of being ready to travel at the end of the week.
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Quick Update
We got safely home on Monday and our body clocks have been gradually adjusting ever since.
I've now put our photos from legs 1 & 2 up on Flickr - see the link on the right.
Clare is feeling slightly better, but not cured, and awaiting test results (a whole week away). Our thanks to those who have sent best wishes.
We don't intend to leave the UK until Clare's properly well again (which would ideally be before May 25th).
I've now put our photos from legs 1 & 2 up on Flickr - see the link on the right.
Clare is feeling slightly better, but not cured, and awaiting test results (a whole week away). Our thanks to those who have sent best wishes.
We don't intend to leave the UK until Clare's properly well again (which would ideally be before May 25th).
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Heading Home
Dave's Tale: An Abrupt End
Clare's had an upset tummy since around the time we left China. The symptoms have been intermittent, but haven't really cleared up despite trying various approaches.This was really reducing Clare's enjoyment, especially of the bits we normally like best, such as chilling in cafés or bars and the whole culinary side of travel.
The key question was whether Clare would rather have a day in Japan in her current condition (now), or a day well in the UK (after she recovers). After some consideration, Clare preferred the latter.
We e-mailled ever-helpful Lucy at FlightCentre, who found out our options (changed dates for our Etihad flights via Abu Dhabi or new direct flights with BA). On the offchance, I checked on the BA website whether my Avios points were any help (they never have been before). Amazingly, reward flights were available - I guess nobody wants to travel from Japan to the UK on our bank holiday at the end of their Golden Week.
Initially we just booked for Clare to come home and see her doctor, while I gave Tokyo a better chance to impress and stuck with the flights we'd already paid for, a few days later. That was fine while Clare had a persistent but apparently not serious condition and was fed up rather than upset.
However, on Saturday 5th she woke feeling nauseous. She made it through the train journey from Hiroshima to Kobe, and felt just as bad at the end. As soon as I could get on the Internet I booked myself on the same flight.
My sister-in-law's sister lives in Japan with her family. Through the trip we'd been e-mailing about meeting up, and today was the day. Clare didn't feel up to it, but was keen that I go, so I took the necessary trains and about an hour later Maire met me at the station.
I had a tremendously enjoyable afternoon and evening with them, even though I'd meant to leave before the evening got a grip. It was lovely to be with a Japanese family, within a Japanese home, but with Irish-born Maire who could answer all my questions. Heated loo seats are, apparently, quite a consolation when it's winter in houses mainly built for sweltering forty-degree summers, and mornings are below zero!
I jumped on their wi-fi and walked Clare round the place and assembled faces over a video Skype session from her sick-bed.
I drank a lot of Kirin, sake and Italian red wine. I ate a variety of things including a squid biltong/jerky, netto (beans and fermented curd), plus the more mainstream sushi, barbequeued beef and toasted rice balls. Not to forget brie and camembert with Ritz biscuits :-)
I ended full and pleasantly tiddly. I really enjoyed making the acquaintance of (sister-in-law's niece/nephew) Shona and Aaron, and finding out a little bit about how they saw the world.
I got back to Clare far, far later than originally intended, but Clare was glad I'd had a nice day.
Tomorrow will be all about getting to the hotel near Tokyo Narita airport, and the following day about getting on the plane. Even though it's at a 12 hour 15 minute flight, we only land 4 and a quarter hours after we take off (due to the magic of time zones) and so will get to enjoy bank holiday Monday evening at home.
Clare's Tale: Tummy Troubles
The upset stomach which has plagued me on and off since leaving China and arriving in Japan, finally got the better of me and we booked an earlier flight home just for me onMonday 7/5, a direct BA flight into Heathrow. Flight time 12 hours compared to around 23 with Etihad, which on our return journey included a 4 hour stop over at Abu Dhabi.
I have not really had a whole day eating normally for well over two weeks; food and drink are, of course, a major part of a holiday and I have found it frustrating and upsetting that I have not been able to enjoy this part of the trip or eat anything without it upsetting me; it's also not nice being ill away from home in a country where you don't know the language. Thank goodness Japan's public toilets are plentiful and clean - hurrah!
Today 5/5 I woke up at 3.30am again with an upset tummy - I only had a salad last night, thinking this was playing it safe, but hey ho here we go again. Think its best not to eat at all or stick to dry biscuits or bread which is all I seem to be able to tolerate.
We were to travel to Kobe today and also visit Dave's sister-in-law's sister and family who live not far away. However, I felt so rough during the train journey to Kobe that we came direct to our hotel, where I stayed and Dave went to meet up with them. I was very disappointed not to go, would have been nice to meet them and see a real Japanese home, but as I think there were a few trains to get to where they live, I felt it was better for Dave to go and enjoy himself and me to stay in hotel nursing my dicky tum.
We did, however, do a video link on our iPhones, so I got to 'meet' Dave's sister-in-law's family and it looked as though Dave was having a good time.
Dave has now also booked on the flight with me to come home. He was looking forward to spending the last couple of days in Tokyo, coming back when we were originally scheduled to, so I am disappointed for him, but have to say I am secretly pleased not to be travelling alone.
Dave is so one in million and I love him to bits.
Rob is picking us up from the airport on Monday afternoon and first job on Tuesday will be to get a doctor's appointment.
Friday, 4 May 2012
Hiroshima
The most important thing to say about Hiroshima (from the tourist PoV) is that it's a bustling, modern city and none of it is fire-blackened anymore.
Apparently, the type of radiation produced by the bomb had a very short half-life, so the radiation was down to a millionth of its original level after just one week. Plants even within a couple of hundred metres of (what the museum calls) the hypocentre survived - I've seen some of them - and green re-emerged within months. Nature is a lot more robust than we sometimes think, and will come out on top in the end (in some form or other).
The main symbol of the bombing is probably the wrecked building now known as The A-bomb Dome. This is brick-built rather than reinforced concrete. It isn't blackened, and it now sits in the middle of a lush lawn surrounded by beautiful azalea bushes (plus a steel fence and alarm system).
In 1945 the city was mainly comprised of wooden buildings, which were flattened and burned, leaving the few concrete buildings standing as isolated shells. Part of the destroyed area is on an island between rivers (the city was founded on a river delta) and the north end of this island is now a Peace Memorial Park, green with grass and trees.
I shall note without further comment that this includes:
Peace Cairn, Peace Bell, Peace Fountain, Peace Tower, Peace Clock Tower, Peace Memorial Mailbox, Stone Lantern of Peace, Gates of Peace, Statue of Peace, Flame of Peace and Pond of Peace.
On the first day we went in to the underground Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Near the entry we listened in silence to recordings of survivors' awful stories of dead and dying parents, siblings or children.
We walked down a spiral slope to the circular main room. I noted some phrasing from the plaques on this slope: "Japan walked the path of war" and "mistaken national policy".
Such phrasing annoyed me, and made me concerned about how Japan now sees itself at that time, bearing in mind Japan's role as aggressor and committer of war crimes (not least the "Rape of Nanjing", so fresh in my memory after our recent visit).
However, the following day I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, nearby in the Peace Memorial Park, where the signage was unflinching in giving a historically accurate account.
In the light of this, I moderated my view of the Memorial Hall wording. I suppose it needs to also allow grieving for the lost by people who don't regret any Japanese actions and still think they were in the right but simply lost the war.
The main thrust in Hiroshima, apart from pro-peace, is anti-nuclear. Apart from global annihilation, the principles underlying the use of individual nuclear bombs in war seem a bit muddy to me. Any Japanese argument against bombing of civilian populations seems to have been lost through their actions in China in 1938. Any argument based on scale should note that the second deadliest bombing of the war was not Nagasaki, but at Tokyo on 9-10 March 1945.
So, that's the "Elephant in the room" dealt with, now back to our normal narrative-based approach...
Several people we've spoken to (including the lady in the Hiroshima Tourist office) were surprised that we were staying in Hiroshima as many as four nights. Admittedly the last of those was just because it's Golden Week here, with three national holidays in the space of one week, and we couldn't find a hotel room anywhere else.
On May 1st we arrived on the Shinkansen around lunchtime and in the afternoon walked to the Peace Memorial Park, taking a rest at a riverside coffee shop mid-way. We caught a tram back.
Routes 2 and 6 run between Hiroshima station and the A-bomb Dome, with a flat fare of 150Y. Enter at the rear and pay the driver at the front when you exit, much like Kyoto city buses.
On the 2nd I went to the Peace Memorial Museum while Clare stayed in and rested.
The next day we headed for Miyajima Island, set in the inland sea. We caught the train, walked to the ferry and were on the island well within an hour of setting out.
I think anyone would have to be advised to ensure they visit Miyajima at high tide. We got there dead at low tide. The Torii (like a huge wooden arch) is built on the beach so that it appears to be floating when the tide is in. For us, not only was it not floating, but it was completely hidden in scaffolding.
We strolled across the sand, picking our way across wet patches, and spent a long time sitting on the far sea wall, chatting.
We planned to stroll back through the Itsukushima shrine, mainly a series of open-sided corridors, painted a tasteful bright orange, that would span out over the sea when it's in. Unfortunately, there was a sign saying "entry at other end only", so we decided to pass on the walkways-above-the-dry-beach, particularly when we got to the other end and saw the length of the queue.
We visited the "Hall of a Thousand Mats" instead. A tatami mat is around 0.9m x 1.9m (with regional variations) and room size can be expressed by the number of mats that would fit on the floor. Not particularly impressive, and undersized (I suppose the more accurate "Hall of 857 Mats" would sell less well) but built in 1587 so worth a nod.
May 4th was another public holiday, and also the second day of the Hiroshima Flower Festival, which apparently attracts 1.6 million visitors each year. We caught the tram to the A-bomb Dome amid sizeable crowds and queues. Nevertheless, the service was rapid and efficient.
We strolled through the Peace Memorial Park to see what the Flower Festival was all about. We weren't impressed. The flowers were still in their pots and just sitting on frames on the ground. There were about thirty oversized (2-3 metre) origami cranes next to them and some majorettes performing at the side. We've seen far better events and couldn't understand what the fuss was about.
We walked back up to the Central Park, featuring a large flat sandy area and failed attempt at an artificial stream feature. Then on to Hiroshima Castle, which follows the national style of moats and stone-faced banks. I paid to climb up the castle tower, rebuilt in 1958, only to find once inside that it was all made out of concrete with mocked-up exterior.
Ultimately, I suppose it'd be easy to see everything that's distinctive about Hiroshima in one day, with another day or half at Miyajima (at high tide). We took it easy, frequenting a certain coffee and cake shop just between station and hotel every day. Hey, we're on holiday!
Apparently, the type of radiation produced by the bomb had a very short half-life, so the radiation was down to a millionth of its original level after just one week. Plants even within a couple of hundred metres of (what the museum calls) the hypocentre survived - I've seen some of them - and green re-emerged within months. Nature is a lot more robust than we sometimes think, and will come out on top in the end (in some form or other).
The main symbol of the bombing is probably the wrecked building now known as The A-bomb Dome. This is brick-built rather than reinforced concrete. It isn't blackened, and it now sits in the middle of a lush lawn surrounded by beautiful azalea bushes (plus a steel fence and alarm system).
In 1945 the city was mainly comprised of wooden buildings, which were flattened and burned, leaving the few concrete buildings standing as isolated shells. Part of the destroyed area is on an island between rivers (the city was founded on a river delta) and the north end of this island is now a Peace Memorial Park, green with grass and trees.
I shall note without further comment that this includes:
Peace Cairn, Peace Bell, Peace Fountain, Peace Tower, Peace Clock Tower, Peace Memorial Mailbox, Stone Lantern of Peace, Gates of Peace, Statue of Peace, Flame of Peace and Pond of Peace.
On the first day we went in to the underground Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Near the entry we listened in silence to recordings of survivors' awful stories of dead and dying parents, siblings or children.
We walked down a spiral slope to the circular main room. I noted some phrasing from the plaques on this slope: "Japan walked the path of war" and "mistaken national policy".
Such phrasing annoyed me, and made me concerned about how Japan now sees itself at that time, bearing in mind Japan's role as aggressor and committer of war crimes (not least the "Rape of Nanjing", so fresh in my memory after our recent visit).
However, the following day I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, nearby in the Peace Memorial Park, where the signage was unflinching in giving a historically accurate account.
In the light of this, I moderated my view of the Memorial Hall wording. I suppose it needs to also allow grieving for the lost by people who don't regret any Japanese actions and still think they were in the right but simply lost the war.
The main thrust in Hiroshima, apart from pro-peace, is anti-nuclear. Apart from global annihilation, the principles underlying the use of individual nuclear bombs in war seem a bit muddy to me. Any Japanese argument against bombing of civilian populations seems to have been lost through their actions in China in 1938. Any argument based on scale should note that the second deadliest bombing of the war was not Nagasaki, but at Tokyo on 9-10 March 1945.
So, that's the "Elephant in the room" dealt with, now back to our normal narrative-based approach...
Several people we've spoken to (including the lady in the Hiroshima Tourist office) were surprised that we were staying in Hiroshima as many as four nights. Admittedly the last of those was just because it's Golden Week here, with three national holidays in the space of one week, and we couldn't find a hotel room anywhere else.
On May 1st we arrived on the Shinkansen around lunchtime and in the afternoon walked to the Peace Memorial Park, taking a rest at a riverside coffee shop mid-way. We caught a tram back.
Routes 2 and 6 run between Hiroshima station and the A-bomb Dome, with a flat fare of 150Y. Enter at the rear and pay the driver at the front when you exit, much like Kyoto city buses.
On the 2nd I went to the Peace Memorial Museum while Clare stayed in and rested.
The next day we headed for Miyajima Island, set in the inland sea. We caught the train, walked to the ferry and were on the island well within an hour of setting out.
I think anyone would have to be advised to ensure they visit Miyajima at high tide. We got there dead at low tide. The Torii (like a huge wooden arch) is built on the beach so that it appears to be floating when the tide is in. For us, not only was it not floating, but it was completely hidden in scaffolding.
We strolled across the sand, picking our way across wet patches, and spent a long time sitting on the far sea wall, chatting.
We planned to stroll back through the Itsukushima shrine, mainly a series of open-sided corridors, painted a tasteful bright orange, that would span out over the sea when it's in. Unfortunately, there was a sign saying "entry at other end only", so we decided to pass on the walkways-above-the-dry-beach, particularly when we got to the other end and saw the length of the queue.
We visited the "Hall of a Thousand Mats" instead. A tatami mat is around 0.9m x 1.9m (with regional variations) and room size can be expressed by the number of mats that would fit on the floor. Not particularly impressive, and undersized (I suppose the more accurate "Hall of 857 Mats" would sell less well) but built in 1587 so worth a nod.
May 4th was another public holiday, and also the second day of the Hiroshima Flower Festival, which apparently attracts 1.6 million visitors each year. We caught the tram to the A-bomb Dome amid sizeable crowds and queues. Nevertheless, the service was rapid and efficient.
We strolled through the Peace Memorial Park to see what the Flower Festival was all about. We weren't impressed. The flowers were still in their pots and just sitting on frames on the ground. There were about thirty oversized (2-3 metre) origami cranes next to them and some majorettes performing at the side. We've seen far better events and couldn't understand what the fuss was about.
We walked back up to the Central Park, featuring a large flat sandy area and failed attempt at an artificial stream feature. Then on to Hiroshima Castle, which follows the national style of moats and stone-faced banks. I paid to climb up the castle tower, rebuilt in 1958, only to find once inside that it was all made out of concrete with mocked-up exterior.
Ultimately, I suppose it'd be easy to see everything that's distinctive about Hiroshima in one day, with another day or half at Miyajima (at high tide). We took it easy, frequenting a certain coffee and cake shop just between station and hotel every day. Hey, we're on holiday!
Kyoto
We bought two Exchange Orders for Japan Rail (JR) Passes as the very last thing before we left the UK. With so much focus on getting into China, I'm afraid I didn't consider Japan as much as I should have.
On the morning of the 26th we went into the tunnels under Tokyo's Ikebukuro station and found the central passageway. We couldn't spot the JR Service Centre that the website had told us about, but Clare spotted an information booth and as we approached, we saw that they would swap our vouchers for the go-anywhere rail passes. This they did, with impeccable politeness and perfect English.
That done, we went into the JR ticket office, handed over my scrap of paper with the bullet train times we wanted to travel on and walked out with seat reservations.
We strolled away feeling very pleased with ourselves, but really it was like "kicking in an open door".
The following day we caught a train on the "outer loop" to Tokyo station and found the Shinkansen (bullet train) area. The only problem we had was that we'd arrived slightly too early and had to wait for the platform to be displayed.
Near the platform I spotted a snack stall and bought a lunchbox by looking at the pictures and signing the relevant number to the lady with my fingers.
The train came in to Tokyo, was turned round and went back the way it came in. I say "turned round" literally, because the cleaners went through and rotated every pair of seats to face the other way, just as we'd seen on the Narita Airport Express.
Once on the train, I unwrapped the paper round the lunchbox and found a wood-effect box (polystyrene if you looked closely enough), with a lid and divided into 12 compartments.
Some of the contents were various types of sushi or sashimi, which I love back home. However, quite a few I had no idea about, but ate them anyway.
I was just thinking that all I needed for perfection was a beer, when a trolley came through and even that was solved.
The train sped through the countryside even faster than the bullet trains in China. There are yet faster Japanese bullet trains, but our JR pass doesn't cover them.
So much of the Japanese countryside looked very much like England to me, except the buildings which resemble those in the suburbs of US cities.
Where we saw land under cultivation (I don't really feel I can call it farmland), it was in much larger parcels than we'd seen in China, reflecting (I guess) a far higher level of automation.
Clare has taken the role of hotel-finder, while I stick with transport. She'd chosen the hotel beneath the Kyoto Tower. This is right outside the station, sits on a 9-storey building and reaches up 131m.
As is our wont, we took the rest of the day at ease, venturing only as far as a convenience store and eating in the cafe next door to it. I ate something a lot like boeuf bourguignon with rice, very tasty and unctuous but I'm not sure how local. Clare stuck with noodles and veg.
Saturday the 28th started with me having a bit of a bluey. Kyoto only has two subway lines (N-S & E-W), and the guidebooks made it clear that these wouldn't get us near to many of the places we'd want to see.
That means we'd have to use buses, and in my experience they are an awful lot more work and how would I know where to get off if all the signs were only in Japanese characters?
We went to the Tourist Information Centre in Kyoto Station and asked for the maps, etc. recommended in our guide book.
The station is a sight in itself, rising from ground level in the centre to tenth floor or higher at each end up a single tall hill of escalators - quite a sight from bottom or top, all mirrored walls, and the subject of many photos that morning.
We went up to the very top, to a poorly-named Sky Garden (sky yes, garden no) to read our bumph. First we looked at the organised coach tours of the main sites, but worked out they were £88 per head so ditched those pronto.
Then I looked at a leaflet called "Bus Navi". That changed everything. The city is laid out in a grid, and this leaflet shows in a very clear and simple way which buses go along every major street, where each route goes, the name of every stop (in English/Latin letters) and hence where to change. I don't know if it's won any awards for information design, but it certainly deserves to.
I could immediately see how to get everywhere we needed to go and my mood soared.
We took the subway to the Kitaoji bus terminal in the north of the city and bought 500Y day tickets. The stops for major sights are well signed here, and we caught the bus to the Daitokuji Temple. Bus stops are mainly foot-square brown columns with their name printed in Japanese and "English". I followed the stops on the map to tell where to get off, but there are recorded announcements in English for the big tourist stops too.
Daitokuji Temple turned out to be a complex of sub-temples, only a few of which are open to visitors and charge an entrance fee. We went in one (no shoes, bags or photographs) and enjoyed the simplicity of the rooms and raked-gravel zen gardens (as did a swarm of bees).
No so impressed, we caught another bus to the Kinkakuji Temple, best known for its Golden Pavillion (covered in real gold leaf), beautifully reflected in the lake on which it stands. There was quite a scrum of people with cameras, all heading for the most photogenic vantage point, but a little patience paid off.
Next we went to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park. My friend Harpreet had told us not to bother and he was right. It was all quite plain. We used the hole-in-the-floor public toilets and were amused to see a lighthearted instructional diagram taped to the wall near floor level (fortunately laminated).
Eventually we found a small patch with some cherry trees still in blossom and a little stream. The few weeks of blossom are a huge thing here in Kyoto, and we were very fortunate to catch the tail-end of this, here and other places (even if I did get a bit sick of Clare's mantra "they're past their best").
We headed for Nijo Castle, but Clare spotted it was shutting soon, so we headed back toward the hotel. We spotted a little canal down beside the street and enjoyed a stroll on the footpath before squeezing onto a very busy bus home.
Many or most local restaurants have models of their dishes outside or in their window, apparently extremely well-made in wax. We saw one that would do Clare grilled chicken and a bowl of noodles (which I started eating by mistake) and for me another "lunch box" of even less recognisable things - don't tell me, I can enjoy them as long as I don't know.
We began Sunday the 29th by going up the Kyoto Tower on top of our hotel - pretty good views, even if the centre of the city is a couple of kilometres north. Then we took the subway to Nijo Castle, home to the first shogun. This has two compounds, each surrounded by a moat, one inside the other. The banks inside the moats are stone-faced and steeply sloping. We were amazed by the buildings, with so many walls (both internal and external) simply paper-covered lattice screen panels.
I'd booked by email for a Twilight Walking Tour, and we left even earlier than planned to catch the bus to the start point. Unfortunately, the traffic was appalling and we got later and later, finally speed-walking up a fairly steep hill to arrive at the last possible moment. Guide Cookie said she'd expected we might be late as today was a public holiday and very busy.
Cookie taught us many interesting things over the next couple of hours, as we wandered through picturesque old streets, including answering questions we'd built up:
- What are the food models made of? Wax.
- Are they for tourists? No, they're traditional.
- Can Japanese people tell Japanese and Chinese apart by sight? No, Japan is quite a polyglot nation.
- What are the thatched-looking temple roofs made of? Maple bark, which is harvested without killing the trees and reserved for this purpose.
- Isn't it cold with paper walls? They slide solid wooden panels across at night or in case of rain, but it can still get pretty cold.
- These buildings don't look very old? Most are 100-150 years old, but have to be kept in good repair because they're made from fragile materials (one exception being the silvery glazed roof tiles, which always seem to look new).
She also explained the world of Geikos (not Geishas, which now has unfortunate connotations) and Maikos, who are apprentice Geikos but may be doing it for interest over a few late-teenage years (a bit like au pairs) rather than as a career.
At the end of the tour, we went to catch a bus home but the queue was huge, so we travelled on two separately-owned subway systems instead.
We got back to the hotel for our planned Skype session with Clare's son Robert and girlfriend Louise. The video was excellent, over our tiny wi-fi router plugged into the hotel room's Ethernet point.
For dinner we treated ourselves to delicious McDonalds meals (one of the nicest McD's I remember). Unfortunately, this set off Clare's recurring tummy problem quite badly.
On Monday 30th I went just across from our hotel to join a few-hour walking tour. Clare stayed in the hotel room for a rest. Five of us were waiting, but eventually we worked out it was a public holiday so the tour wasn't running.
Later on, Clare and I set off to do the "Philosopher's Walk". Again by subway to Kitaoji bus terminal, then a bus to Ginkakuji Temple. This had a nice enough garden but we couldn't see anything silvery about the Silver Pavillion - definitely a poor relation to the Gold one that impressed us the other day.
The Philosopher's Walk (as helpfully tipped by Harpreet, or "Path of Philosophy" on maps) is a trail by an old canal, which runs at the edge of the built-up area and below steeply wooded hills. We wandered along, very much enjoying our own pace and the few trees retaining their blossom.
Between the south end of the Path of Philosophy and the subway station we found the Nanzenji Temple. This had two features that interested us. The first was a huge gateway-cum-elevated-temple, a substantial building raised up on huge pillars and with a balcony all around.
The second was an aqueduct, brick-built in a European style and over a hundred years old. First we couldn't work out why someone had gone to so much trouble, and then why so much water was flowing toward the hills, rather than away. Out of curiosity we followed the water, only for it to disappear into a tunnel. Subsequent googling indicates that, despite the vintage, it's part of a hydro-electric scheme!
Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a thousand years, so it has quite a few things to see. Many of them are temples, and after a while they do get "samey". Anyway, I think we've given Kyoto a fair look round and can move on with a clear conscience.
On the morning of the 26th we went into the tunnels under Tokyo's Ikebukuro station and found the central passageway. We couldn't spot the JR Service Centre that the website had told us about, but Clare spotted an information booth and as we approached, we saw that they would swap our vouchers for the go-anywhere rail passes. This they did, with impeccable politeness and perfect English.
That done, we went into the JR ticket office, handed over my scrap of paper with the bullet train times we wanted to travel on and walked out with seat reservations.
We strolled away feeling very pleased with ourselves, but really it was like "kicking in an open door".
The following day we caught a train on the "outer loop" to Tokyo station and found the Shinkansen (bullet train) area. The only problem we had was that we'd arrived slightly too early and had to wait for the platform to be displayed.
Near the platform I spotted a snack stall and bought a lunchbox by looking at the pictures and signing the relevant number to the lady with my fingers.
The train came in to Tokyo, was turned round and went back the way it came in. I say "turned round" literally, because the cleaners went through and rotated every pair of seats to face the other way, just as we'd seen on the Narita Airport Express.
Once on the train, I unwrapped the paper round the lunchbox and found a wood-effect box (polystyrene if you looked closely enough), with a lid and divided into 12 compartments.
Some of the contents were various types of sushi or sashimi, which I love back home. However, quite a few I had no idea about, but ate them anyway.
I was just thinking that all I needed for perfection was a beer, when a trolley came through and even that was solved.
The train sped through the countryside even faster than the bullet trains in China. There are yet faster Japanese bullet trains, but our JR pass doesn't cover them.
So much of the Japanese countryside looked very much like England to me, except the buildings which resemble those in the suburbs of US cities.
Where we saw land under cultivation (I don't really feel I can call it farmland), it was in much larger parcels than we'd seen in China, reflecting (I guess) a far higher level of automation.
Clare has taken the role of hotel-finder, while I stick with transport. She'd chosen the hotel beneath the Kyoto Tower. This is right outside the station, sits on a 9-storey building and reaches up 131m.
As is our wont, we took the rest of the day at ease, venturing only as far as a convenience store and eating in the cafe next door to it. I ate something a lot like boeuf bourguignon with rice, very tasty and unctuous but I'm not sure how local. Clare stuck with noodles and veg.
Saturday the 28th started with me having a bit of a bluey. Kyoto only has two subway lines (N-S & E-W), and the guidebooks made it clear that these wouldn't get us near to many of the places we'd want to see.
That means we'd have to use buses, and in my experience they are an awful lot more work and how would I know where to get off if all the signs were only in Japanese characters?
We went to the Tourist Information Centre in Kyoto Station and asked for the maps, etc. recommended in our guide book.
The station is a sight in itself, rising from ground level in the centre to tenth floor or higher at each end up a single tall hill of escalators - quite a sight from bottom or top, all mirrored walls, and the subject of many photos that morning.
We went up to the very top, to a poorly-named Sky Garden (sky yes, garden no) to read our bumph. First we looked at the organised coach tours of the main sites, but worked out they were £88 per head so ditched those pronto.
Then I looked at a leaflet called "Bus Navi". That changed everything. The city is laid out in a grid, and this leaflet shows in a very clear and simple way which buses go along every major street, where each route goes, the name of every stop (in English/Latin letters) and hence where to change. I don't know if it's won any awards for information design, but it certainly deserves to.
I could immediately see how to get everywhere we needed to go and my mood soared.
We took the subway to the Kitaoji bus terminal in the north of the city and bought 500Y day tickets. The stops for major sights are well signed here, and we caught the bus to the Daitokuji Temple. Bus stops are mainly foot-square brown columns with their name printed in Japanese and "English". I followed the stops on the map to tell where to get off, but there are recorded announcements in English for the big tourist stops too.
Daitokuji Temple turned out to be a complex of sub-temples, only a few of which are open to visitors and charge an entrance fee. We went in one (no shoes, bags or photographs) and enjoyed the simplicity of the rooms and raked-gravel zen gardens (as did a swarm of bees).
No so impressed, we caught another bus to the Kinkakuji Temple, best known for its Golden Pavillion (covered in real gold leaf), beautifully reflected in the lake on which it stands. There was quite a scrum of people with cameras, all heading for the most photogenic vantage point, but a little patience paid off.
Next we went to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park. My friend Harpreet had told us not to bother and he was right. It was all quite plain. We used the hole-in-the-floor public toilets and were amused to see a lighthearted instructional diagram taped to the wall near floor level (fortunately laminated).
Eventually we found a small patch with some cherry trees still in blossom and a little stream. The few weeks of blossom are a huge thing here in Kyoto, and we were very fortunate to catch the tail-end of this, here and other places (even if I did get a bit sick of Clare's mantra "they're past their best").
We headed for Nijo Castle, but Clare spotted it was shutting soon, so we headed back toward the hotel. We spotted a little canal down beside the street and enjoyed a stroll on the footpath before squeezing onto a very busy bus home.
Many or most local restaurants have models of their dishes outside or in their window, apparently extremely well-made in wax. We saw one that would do Clare grilled chicken and a bowl of noodles (which I started eating by mistake) and for me another "lunch box" of even less recognisable things - don't tell me, I can enjoy them as long as I don't know.
We began Sunday the 29th by going up the Kyoto Tower on top of our hotel - pretty good views, even if the centre of the city is a couple of kilometres north. Then we took the subway to Nijo Castle, home to the first shogun. This has two compounds, each surrounded by a moat, one inside the other. The banks inside the moats are stone-faced and steeply sloping. We were amazed by the buildings, with so many walls (both internal and external) simply paper-covered lattice screen panels.
I'd booked by email for a Twilight Walking Tour, and we left even earlier than planned to catch the bus to the start point. Unfortunately, the traffic was appalling and we got later and later, finally speed-walking up a fairly steep hill to arrive at the last possible moment. Guide Cookie said she'd expected we might be late as today was a public holiday and very busy.
Cookie taught us many interesting things over the next couple of hours, as we wandered through picturesque old streets, including answering questions we'd built up:
- What are the food models made of? Wax.
- Are they for tourists? No, they're traditional.
- Can Japanese people tell Japanese and Chinese apart by sight? No, Japan is quite a polyglot nation.
- What are the thatched-looking temple roofs made of? Maple bark, which is harvested without killing the trees and reserved for this purpose.
- Isn't it cold with paper walls? They slide solid wooden panels across at night or in case of rain, but it can still get pretty cold.
- These buildings don't look very old? Most are 100-150 years old, but have to be kept in good repair because they're made from fragile materials (one exception being the silvery glazed roof tiles, which always seem to look new).
She also explained the world of Geikos (not Geishas, which now has unfortunate connotations) and Maikos, who are apprentice Geikos but may be doing it for interest over a few late-teenage years (a bit like au pairs) rather than as a career.
At the end of the tour, we went to catch a bus home but the queue was huge, so we travelled on two separately-owned subway systems instead.
We got back to the hotel for our planned Skype session with Clare's son Robert and girlfriend Louise. The video was excellent, over our tiny wi-fi router plugged into the hotel room's Ethernet point.
For dinner we treated ourselves to delicious McDonalds meals (one of the nicest McD's I remember). Unfortunately, this set off Clare's recurring tummy problem quite badly.
On Monday 30th I went just across from our hotel to join a few-hour walking tour. Clare stayed in the hotel room for a rest. Five of us were waiting, but eventually we worked out it was a public holiday so the tour wasn't running.
Later on, Clare and I set off to do the "Philosopher's Walk". Again by subway to Kitaoji bus terminal, then a bus to Ginkakuji Temple. This had a nice enough garden but we couldn't see anything silvery about the Silver Pavillion - definitely a poor relation to the Gold one that impressed us the other day.
The Philosopher's Walk (as helpfully tipped by Harpreet, or "Path of Philosophy" on maps) is a trail by an old canal, which runs at the edge of the built-up area and below steeply wooded hills. We wandered along, very much enjoying our own pace and the few trees retaining their blossom.
Between the south end of the Path of Philosophy and the subway station we found the Nanzenji Temple. This had two features that interested us. The first was a huge gateway-cum-elevated-temple, a substantial building raised up on huge pillars and with a balcony all around.
The second was an aqueduct, brick-built in a European style and over a hundred years old. First we couldn't work out why someone had gone to so much trouble, and then why so much water was flowing toward the hills, rather than away. Out of curiosity we followed the water, only for it to disappear into a tunnel. Subsequent googling indicates that, despite the vintage, it's part of a hydro-electric scheme!
Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a thousand years, so it has quite a few things to see. Many of them are temples, and after a while they do get "samey". Anyway, I think we've given Kyoto a fair look round and can move on with a clear conscience.
Tokyo
We left Shanghai at 6am on the morning of the 23 April, for a 9am flight to Tokyo, being taken to the airport by On the Go.
The flight time was just over 2.5 hours and once we landed it was relatively easy to buy rail tickets and we were pleasantly surprised that we could get a direct train to Tokyo's Ikebukuro station, where our hotel was. This journey was just over 1.5 hours and the hotel was situated within walking distance of the station. Our room was small, but suitable for our needs.
We went to the local 7-Eleven supermarket to stock up on 'provisions' and as we were getting into the lift back at the hotel, we heard a querying voice say 'Dave?', and much to Dave's surprise the voice belonged to Harpreet, a chap he worked with in Reading a few years ago. There was then spent a few minutes of them catching up and also arrangements made to meet Harpreet for dinner the next evening. Amazing to meet someone you know halfway round the world!
After the surprise of this meeting and settling in to our room, we went to one of the restaurants, where Dave went for the buffet option and I had a pizza.
On our first day we went to Sunshine City (a large shopping centre), and we went up the Sunshine 60 Tower to the 60th floor observatory. This gave us a magnificent view of Tokyo, which again is a very large city, and with very few green spaces to be seen.
One of the problems we have, surprisingly, encountered in Japan is the total lack of free wi-fi in hotel rooms or lobbies. This has proved frustrating, particularly for Dave, so while out in Tokyo we decided to find an electrical shop to see if we could find a wireless router for access to the Internet and Skype wherever we stay in Japan. The first place we went to did not have what was needed, but walking further down the street we came to a shop called Lab1, a very large electrical store, so in we went.
Dave spent a lot of time looking in the relevant section (to be honest I did not have a clue what to look for!) but what was there was either too expensive or too large. However, when it seemed that we would not be able to get anything, I suggested to Dave that we look in the next aisle just in case they were any routers there and luckily there were and for the relatively small sum of £20. Dave was very pleased.
Back to hotel to set up our new gizmo and it has been working a treat; I have to say I am very pleased to have internet access too. We rang my Mum on Skype and the connection was brilliant, the same when we rang Dave's parents. We also rang Robert and Louise from Kyoto and did the video link, which was also great, so all in all £20 well spent.
In the evening, as arranged, we met up with Harpreet and went to the restaurant on the 25th floor of hotel, which offered stunning views of the city at night. Both Harpreet and myself had pasta and Dave had steak. Dave and Harpreet reminisced about their time working together and Harpreet also gave us his views and experiences on what to see and where to visit in Japan; he was travelling back to the UK the following morning after having been in Japan for 17 days. A very pleasant evening.
On our second day we set out for the Imperial Palace gardens, a short metro ride away. The Imperial Palace is only open twice a year, one of which is the Emperor's birthday. However, it was a warm sunny day and the East Gardens turned out to be a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. After this we went back to the metro and as Dave was hungry, we went into a food hall and he brought some sushi.
We went back to the hotel and in the evening found an Italian restaurant next to the hotel, which was a bit expensive for basically two bowls of pasta and a couple glasses of wine, but enjoyable nevertheless.
The next day dawned overcast and damp, but we decided to go to the Meiji-Jingu shrine, a short metro journey away. This shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken and after their deaths in 1912 and 1914, the people wanted to commemorate their memories, so 100,000 trees were donated from Japan and overseas to create the forest where the shrine sits.
The shrine itself was large and very tranquil, as have most of the shrines we have visited, a pity the weather was not nicer, but it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours.
We went to the restaurant in the park where Dave had a sushi lunchbox - I just watched! Then we made our way back to the hotel.
In evening we found an 'Italian Cafe' where we both had pasta dishes which were lovely and a lot cheaper than the previous Italian meal.
My overall impression of Tokyo is of a too big a city, lacking in green open spaces and too many people. However, saying that, it has been been an amazing experience that I would not have missed for the world.
The flight time was just over 2.5 hours and once we landed it was relatively easy to buy rail tickets and we were pleasantly surprised that we could get a direct train to Tokyo's Ikebukuro station, where our hotel was. This journey was just over 1.5 hours and the hotel was situated within walking distance of the station. Our room was small, but suitable for our needs.
We went to the local 7-Eleven supermarket to stock up on 'provisions' and as we were getting into the lift back at the hotel, we heard a querying voice say 'Dave?', and much to Dave's surprise the voice belonged to Harpreet, a chap he worked with in Reading a few years ago. There was then spent a few minutes of them catching up and also arrangements made to meet Harpreet for dinner the next evening. Amazing to meet someone you know halfway round the world!
After the surprise of this meeting and settling in to our room, we went to one of the restaurants, where Dave went for the buffet option and I had a pizza.
On our first day we went to Sunshine City (a large shopping centre), and we went up the Sunshine 60 Tower to the 60th floor observatory. This gave us a magnificent view of Tokyo, which again is a very large city, and with very few green spaces to be seen.
One of the problems we have, surprisingly, encountered in Japan is the total lack of free wi-fi in hotel rooms or lobbies. This has proved frustrating, particularly for Dave, so while out in Tokyo we decided to find an electrical shop to see if we could find a wireless router for access to the Internet and Skype wherever we stay in Japan. The first place we went to did not have what was needed, but walking further down the street we came to a shop called Lab1, a very large electrical store, so in we went.
Dave spent a lot of time looking in the relevant section (to be honest I did not have a clue what to look for!) but what was there was either too expensive or too large. However, when it seemed that we would not be able to get anything, I suggested to Dave that we look in the next aisle just in case they were any routers there and luckily there were and for the relatively small sum of £20. Dave was very pleased.
Back to hotel to set up our new gizmo and it has been working a treat; I have to say I am very pleased to have internet access too. We rang my Mum on Skype and the connection was brilliant, the same when we rang Dave's parents. We also rang Robert and Louise from Kyoto and did the video link, which was also great, so all in all £20 well spent.
In the evening, as arranged, we met up with Harpreet and went to the restaurant on the 25th floor of hotel, which offered stunning views of the city at night. Both Harpreet and myself had pasta and Dave had steak. Dave and Harpreet reminisced about their time working together and Harpreet also gave us his views and experiences on what to see and where to visit in Japan; he was travelling back to the UK the following morning after having been in Japan for 17 days. A very pleasant evening.
On our second day we set out for the Imperial Palace gardens, a short metro ride away. The Imperial Palace is only open twice a year, one of which is the Emperor's birthday. However, it was a warm sunny day and the East Gardens turned out to be a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. After this we went back to the metro and as Dave was hungry, we went into a food hall and he brought some sushi.
We went back to the hotel and in the evening found an Italian restaurant next to the hotel, which was a bit expensive for basically two bowls of pasta and a couple glasses of wine, but enjoyable nevertheless.
The next day dawned overcast and damp, but we decided to go to the Meiji-Jingu shrine, a short metro journey away. This shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken and after their deaths in 1912 and 1914, the people wanted to commemorate their memories, so 100,000 trees were donated from Japan and overseas to create the forest where the shrine sits.
The shrine itself was large and very tranquil, as have most of the shrines we have visited, a pity the weather was not nicer, but it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours.
We went to the restaurant in the park where Dave had a sushi lunchbox - I just watched! Then we made our way back to the hotel.
In evening we found an 'Italian Cafe' where we both had pasta dishes which were lovely and a lot cheaper than the previous Italian meal.
My overall impression of Tokyo is of a too big a city, lacking in green open spaces and too many people. However, saying that, it has been been an amazing experience that I would not have missed for the world.
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