The pace in Paris is quite different to the other places we have been, especially coming straight from Amsterdam. The traffic is absolute bedlam, and they are constantly sitting on their horns! Around the train station there are beggers and drunks everywhere and there is rubbish everywhere. They dont have bins as such on the roadside, just metal rings with plastic bags strung through them - and because there are dogs everywhere, the rubbish bags don't stay in tact for very long.
There are street vendors all around the stations on the outskirts with shopping trolleys full of corn,and make shift BBQs made out of metal drums - they have converted them into little BBQs and they grill the corn on them and sell it - there was one on almost every corner.
We have been really lucky with the weather as it has been really hot and brilliant sunshine the whole time we have been here.
We paid a visit to ChocoStory which is a chocolate museum. It takes you through the history of chocolate right back from the Aztechs and the original preparation of the cocoa bean. We had no idea the pods were so huge! The museum was really well put together and really interesting, and of course the highlight is the demostration of making french pralines and the tasting. At the end you also get to do a hot chocolate tasting and choose the floavour of chocolate, so we tried the original Aztech and Spanish recipies, they give you the hot steamed milk, and the chocolate is on an icecream stick which you stir around in the milk to melt......yum! Interestingly the Aztechs used Chilli with their hot chocolate, so it is not a new concept, but a very old one that has taken fashion now.
We went to the Moulin Rouge on Saturday night and unfortunately our seats were right at the front and off to the side so the view of one side of the stage was completely obscured. (we didn't realise the seats weren't allocated and the line to get in was already spanning 2 blocks down the road by 30 minutes before the show) The costumes were fantastic (2 million Euros) and it was very sparkly and showy, but for the price of the tickets we expected the show to be more polished. The theatre seats 1000 people at tables and the setting of the theatre was very nice. They had a massive pool rise up out of the stage that had snakes swimming in it that they did tricks with, ponies, a cute little dog, a great vantriloquist and a Russian duo that did a very impressive contortionist act. The dancers were topless and in g strings for the entire show as we expected, but after the intial number you really don't notice, it is just part of the costume.
On Sunday we managed a bit of a sleep in which was nice, as the show at the Moulin Rouge didn't finish til after 1am. Logan was sick of omlettes for breakfast so we decided to try a creperie. We had seen huge jars of Nutella everywhere in Europe (1kg jars) and Sara decided that this must be popular so had a banana and Nutella Crepe - highly recommend it!! We tried to get a train to Giverny for the day to look at the artists garden, but after being sent around in circles for an hour by some very unhelpful information desks we found that the only remaining train for the day wouldn't be back in enough time for us to catch our evening dinner cruise, so we had to skip it.
We decided instead to head back into the city and attempt to get up the Eiffel Tower. We ended up queuing for about 40 minutes to get a ticket and up to the first level, then another 20 minutes to get to the summit, but we made it. The view from the top was incredible and it shows the expense of the city - buildings as far as the eye can see in every direction. They have a campagne bar at the top where they sell you champagne for 10 euros a glass (around $18NZ)!
Our last evening in Paris was spent on a dinner cruise on the Seine. The boat was lovely, all nice old woodwork with side lamps, wooden flooring and big old fashioned rugs. The upper deck was open air and was great for seeing everything as you cruise past.....really felt like Paris should. Around the river is really pretty, and there is a level part way down along all of the sides that appear to be a popular hangout for locals to have drinks, jam sessions and picnics as everytime we were around the river the lower banks were full of people.
Sunday 25 September 2011
Saturday 24 September 2011
Bonjour!!
Well Paris is a mixture of things so far! When we arrived on the late train everythnig was closed including the tourist office to get a map, so after being greeted outside to the overwhelming smell of urine we found our way to a txi that took us to our hotel. We found out after getting a map there that the walk from the station was only about 500 metres. Ah well.
Yesterday we got out to see the city...it is absolutely massive! You get no feeling from a map just how big it is and after spending a solid 6 hours walking we experienced this first hand. Firstly had a look around our area - and decided best to stay away from it as much as possible! Very handy to the train station and metro though. Once we got into the main part of the city it was really nice - still pretty dirty as they throw their rubbish anywhere, but still a certain charm in the nice parts.
Did a walk by the Notre Dame - but the queue was massive so decided we need to do an early morning for that one. The building is amazing from the outside, and agani massive.
We then headed over to the Lourve and went to look at the standards...the Monna Lisa and Venus de Milo, but there are heaps of other amazing collections that are very well done, probably spent an hour and a half looking around. The building itself is beautiful without any of the artifacts in it, and the scale of it is mind blowing - you could easily spend 2 days there and not see everything.
After that we headed towards the Arc de Triumph down the Champs Elysees but it never got any closer so we decided to change direction to the Eiffel Tower. The structure of this standing underneath it is very impressive to say the least! After looking at those queues we thought it would be nice to go and have some dinner and go up it at night - when we went back we discovered everyone else had the same idea and the queues were worse, so settled for watching the lights come on from the Trocadero which was lovely. They light it up and then put twinkling flashing lights all over it so it looks like it is glittering!
The wine and cheese here are gorgeous....but we thought Amsterdam was expensive for food - it has nothing on Paris! We went for a wander to suss out where the Moulin Rouge is as we are headed there tonight, and went through the red light district (which it is in the middle of) and thought it was pretty tame - felt safer there than around our hotel!
We ate at a really classy Karaoke Restaurant listening to a group of Asians singing 'Braze of Grory'!
Enjoyed watching the ABs game this morning over breakfast with a pub full of French... and a couple of other Kiwis. They are definitely passionate about their rugby!
So far the people have been relatively nice, Sara has been giving her very pigeon French a go, and we haven't eaten anything we don't recognise so must be doing ok. They speak crazy fast though so we are doing a lot of nodding, smiling and saying Oui!
Au revoir for now!
Yesterday we got out to see the city...it is absolutely massive! You get no feeling from a map just how big it is and after spending a solid 6 hours walking we experienced this first hand. Firstly had a look around our area - and decided best to stay away from it as much as possible! Very handy to the train station and metro though. Once we got into the main part of the city it was really nice - still pretty dirty as they throw their rubbish anywhere, but still a certain charm in the nice parts.
Did a walk by the Notre Dame - but the queue was massive so decided we need to do an early morning for that one. The building is amazing from the outside, and agani massive.
We then headed over to the Lourve and went to look at the standards...the Monna Lisa and Venus de Milo, but there are heaps of other amazing collections that are very well done, probably spent an hour and a half looking around. The building itself is beautiful without any of the artifacts in it, and the scale of it is mind blowing - you could easily spend 2 days there and not see everything.
After that we headed towards the Arc de Triumph down the Champs Elysees but it never got any closer so we decided to change direction to the Eiffel Tower. The structure of this standing underneath it is very impressive to say the least! After looking at those queues we thought it would be nice to go and have some dinner and go up it at night - when we went back we discovered everyone else had the same idea and the queues were worse, so settled for watching the lights come on from the Trocadero which was lovely. They light it up and then put twinkling flashing lights all over it so it looks like it is glittering!
The wine and cheese here are gorgeous....but we thought Amsterdam was expensive for food - it has nothing on Paris! We went for a wander to suss out where the Moulin Rouge is as we are headed there tonight, and went through the red light district (which it is in the middle of) and thought it was pretty tame - felt safer there than around our hotel!
We ate at a really classy Karaoke Restaurant listening to a group of Asians singing 'Braze of Grory'!
Enjoyed watching the ABs game this morning over breakfast with a pub full of French... and a couple of other Kiwis. They are definitely passionate about their rugby!
So far the people have been relatively nice, Sara has been giving her very pigeon French a go, and we haven't eaten anything we don't recognise so must be doing ok. They speak crazy fast though so we are doing a lot of nodding, smiling and saying Oui!
Au revoir for now!
Thursday 22 September 2011
Holy Smoke - We're in Amsterdam!
After an 11.5 hour train journey from Munich we finally arrived in Amsterdam. It went pretty fast - our first experience of an overnight train was pretty good. We ended up sharing a bunk room with an Aussie and a German, but it was a good trip. Very well set up and we both had a pretty good sleep. You have toilets at the end of each carriage and a cafe down one end of the train. Definietly a good way to travel the long ones as you don't loose any city time.
Amsterdam is quite different to Germany - they all speak superb english which has made this leg fairly easy. Our hotel is cute - in an old canal house with the steepest staircase (and spiral) you have ever seen. All of the stairs around the city are the same, they are almost like climbing a ladder and you can't actually get your entire foot on the step.
The city really is designed for biking, although there are plenty of smart cars, buses and trams as well. By Central Station there is a bike parking building that can have 3000 bikes in it at any one time.
We spent our first day here having a bit of a look around, and then decided to head straight to the Heineken Experience. This was really well done, and they actually do a beer tasting at the end. We did get lost a few times the first day as all of the streets look the same, and the road each side of the canal have the same name, not to mention the streets curve around, so it took a bit of getting used to.
The people here are so laid back, a much slower pace of life which has been really enjoyable. Of course our next stop was a 'Coffee Shop', which you can't miss out of a trip to Amsterdam! Again very cool the way this works, and we have seen no trouble or agro since we have been here!
There are plenty of bakeries and chocolataries around - beautiful stuff in them, and there are even snack shops that have burger and hot dog vending machines!
We went for the compulsory walk through the red light district on Tuesday night - it is pretty much exactly as is is always described. The girls in the windows marked with a red fluro tube above the door, mixed with the 'closed curtains'. So many people around it is almost more of a tourist attraction than reality, heaps of tour groups walking around as they offer this area as a tour also.
Logan is happy we are finally in a place he can get an English breakfast every morning....and the coffee is the nicest we have had so far, although it is much more expensive here than in Germany.
We have noticed that all of the canal houses are 3 windows across, and above the middle set of windows on every house is a big hook - we are assuming this is to pulley furniture into the house as you would never be able to use the stairs, but every single house has one.
Yesterday we started the day with Anne Franks House - another really well done museum, the house or secret annex is much bigger than either of us expected for a hide out. We then moved on to a bit of a lighter activity and did the House of Bols Cocktail tour. They take you thought the history of Bols liquer and do some taste and smell tests with you before finishing with a cocktail made all with bols and some liquer tasting...yum. We may have accidentally had some Bols fall into our bags to make some yummy cocktails when we get home.
We finished the evening with a lovely candlelit wine and cheese cruise through the canals which gave a completely different perspective on the city. From the canal you get to see into the house boats - from the street they look fairly grotty but the inside of them is stunning. They are worth millions of dollars each and are done up as really upmarket apaertment with all of the modern european fittings! Good value too, we thought we were going to get a cheese platter and one glass of wine, but they just keep topping your wine up for the entire 2 hours!
This morning we went for a bit more of a wander around the city and decided to go in and have a look at Madame Tussauds - amazingly lifelike!
Just killing a few hours now before catching the traing to Paris but Amsterdam has been a blast!!
Amsterdam is quite different to Germany - they all speak superb english which has made this leg fairly easy. Our hotel is cute - in an old canal house with the steepest staircase (and spiral) you have ever seen. All of the stairs around the city are the same, they are almost like climbing a ladder and you can't actually get your entire foot on the step.
The city really is designed for biking, although there are plenty of smart cars, buses and trams as well. By Central Station there is a bike parking building that can have 3000 bikes in it at any one time.
We spent our first day here having a bit of a look around, and then decided to head straight to the Heineken Experience. This was really well done, and they actually do a beer tasting at the end. We did get lost a few times the first day as all of the streets look the same, and the road each side of the canal have the same name, not to mention the streets curve around, so it took a bit of getting used to.
The people here are so laid back, a much slower pace of life which has been really enjoyable. Of course our next stop was a 'Coffee Shop', which you can't miss out of a trip to Amsterdam! Again very cool the way this works, and we have seen no trouble or agro since we have been here!
There are plenty of bakeries and chocolataries around - beautiful stuff in them, and there are even snack shops that have burger and hot dog vending machines!
We went for the compulsory walk through the red light district on Tuesday night - it is pretty much exactly as is is always described. The girls in the windows marked with a red fluro tube above the door, mixed with the 'closed curtains'. So many people around it is almost more of a tourist attraction than reality, heaps of tour groups walking around as they offer this area as a tour also.
Logan is happy we are finally in a place he can get an English breakfast every morning....and the coffee is the nicest we have had so far, although it is much more expensive here than in Germany.
We have noticed that all of the canal houses are 3 windows across, and above the middle set of windows on every house is a big hook - we are assuming this is to pulley furniture into the house as you would never be able to use the stairs, but every single house has one.
Yesterday we started the day with Anne Franks House - another really well done museum, the house or secret annex is much bigger than either of us expected for a hide out. We then moved on to a bit of a lighter activity and did the House of Bols Cocktail tour. They take you thought the history of Bols liquer and do some taste and smell tests with you before finishing with a cocktail made all with bols and some liquer tasting...yum. We may have accidentally had some Bols fall into our bags to make some yummy cocktails when we get home.
We finished the evening with a lovely candlelit wine and cheese cruise through the canals which gave a completely different perspective on the city. From the canal you get to see into the house boats - from the street they look fairly grotty but the inside of them is stunning. They are worth millions of dollars each and are done up as really upmarket apaertment with all of the modern european fittings! Good value too, we thought we were going to get a cheese platter and one glass of wine, but they just keep topping your wine up for the entire 2 hours!
This morning we went for a bit more of a wander around the city and decided to go in and have a look at Madame Tussauds - amazingly lifelike!
Just killing a few hours now before catching the traing to Paris but Amsterdam has been a blast!!
Monday 19 September 2011
'Prost' from Munchen!
Well we survived Oktoberfest!
The festival is absolutely amazing - so much bigger than we thought it would be......the park is massive and the beer tents alone seat 100,000 people. Then there are fairground rides covering the place - and they are proper rides that put the Disneyland in Hong Kong to shame! Full on rollercoasters, side shows, horror trains, log flumes, ferris wheels, carousels, and every type of food stall you can imagine. We were really lucky with the weather as it has been raining ever since Saturday but we had brilliant weather for the festival.
We had to try quite a few tents before we actually got let into one, then kept getting moved on as we couldnät get a seat, but you have to be in the seated area to be drinking. There we some pretty young ones three as the drinking age is only 16 over here! But it is a real family affair, people of alls ages are there enjoying themselves and all of the locals come dressed in their traditional costumes which really adds the the atmosphere. The first tent we were in was a real party tent, and the band were playing more modern songs, so people were up on tables singing.....kind of like the Seven's party without the rugby.
It was 1L steins all round - thats the only size you can get, at 9€ a stein it works out about the same price as NZ. The beer here is lovely - even Sara has been drinking only beer, its around the same price as water!
After enjoying a few rides we went into the traditional part of the festival, and the traditional tent was quite different. They had the traditional Oom Pah Pah band playing, whip crakcing, and all of the beer was served in ceramic instead of glass.
The train ride here was a different experience, we figured out the reservation system about half way through the trip and ended up sharing a seat with an Aussie. They have a full bar/cafe in one of the carts and you can just wander up and down as you please. They even have bar leaners in the bar area so you can enjoy a beer for the journey!
Sunday was quite a change in mood, when we woke up to find it was dreary, raining, and freezing we though it was fitting for our trip out to Dachau. Unfortunately we couldnä purchase and umbrella or raincoat as Bavaria is a Catholic state so everything is closed on a Sunday!
Our trip to Dachau was different, our tour didn't take us in a tour bus, but hearded 30 of us through public transport in the way of trains and buses to get there. It is only 30 mins out of the city, so an easy journey.
The place has been really well set up as a memorial and our tour guide had a fantastic knowledge of the material so it was a very graphic but interesting trip.
The camp is exactly how the concentration camps are depicted in the mvies - of course they were all modelled of Dachau which was the original, but we had no idea there were around 20,000 camps! The photos don' really show what some of the livinging conditions were like, the beds just open bunks that they all piled into - with a person dedicated to blowing a whistle every 30 minutes so they coulod all turn over together, as there was no room to turn over individually!
All of the original buildings that the inmates were kept in have been torn down as they were remodelled for the refugees after the war, but they have built some replicas, and all of the main building with the punishment rooms etc are all original - all really well preserved. It is an awful place, and some of the images are very graphic and disturbing, but it is a great way to ensure the horrors that happened in that time are never forgotten!
We headed to the Augustiner Biergarten which was recommended by a friend Logan made at Oktoberfest. They brew their own beer on site, and it is the oldest in Munich - 1348 (we think). The place is huge! Would probably seat around 2,000 people out in the garden and another few hundred inside. The garden creates a canopy of trees so it has the feel of being inside almost - but the trees create the surrounds. Really hard to describe as we have never been to anything else like it!
We finally managed to buy an umbrella this morning, so the trip to the train station should be a little more pleasant - catching the over night train to Amsterdam tonight so this is our last day in Germany, so for now Lebewohl.
The festival is absolutely amazing - so much bigger than we thought it would be......the park is massive and the beer tents alone seat 100,000 people. Then there are fairground rides covering the place - and they are proper rides that put the Disneyland in Hong Kong to shame! Full on rollercoasters, side shows, horror trains, log flumes, ferris wheels, carousels, and every type of food stall you can imagine. We were really lucky with the weather as it has been raining ever since Saturday but we had brilliant weather for the festival.
We had to try quite a few tents before we actually got let into one, then kept getting moved on as we couldnät get a seat, but you have to be in the seated area to be drinking. There we some pretty young ones three as the drinking age is only 16 over here! But it is a real family affair, people of alls ages are there enjoying themselves and all of the locals come dressed in their traditional costumes which really adds the the atmosphere. The first tent we were in was a real party tent, and the band were playing more modern songs, so people were up on tables singing.....kind of like the Seven's party without the rugby.
It was 1L steins all round - thats the only size you can get, at 9€ a stein it works out about the same price as NZ. The beer here is lovely - even Sara has been drinking only beer, its around the same price as water!
After enjoying a few rides we went into the traditional part of the festival, and the traditional tent was quite different. They had the traditional Oom Pah Pah band playing, whip crakcing, and all of the beer was served in ceramic instead of glass.
The train ride here was a different experience, we figured out the reservation system about half way through the trip and ended up sharing a seat with an Aussie. They have a full bar/cafe in one of the carts and you can just wander up and down as you please. They even have bar leaners in the bar area so you can enjoy a beer for the journey!
Sunday was quite a change in mood, when we woke up to find it was dreary, raining, and freezing we though it was fitting for our trip out to Dachau. Unfortunately we couldnä purchase and umbrella or raincoat as Bavaria is a Catholic state so everything is closed on a Sunday!
Our trip to Dachau was different, our tour didn't take us in a tour bus, but hearded 30 of us through public transport in the way of trains and buses to get there. It is only 30 mins out of the city, so an easy journey.
The place has been really well set up as a memorial and our tour guide had a fantastic knowledge of the material so it was a very graphic but interesting trip.
The camp is exactly how the concentration camps are depicted in the mvies - of course they were all modelled of Dachau which was the original, but we had no idea there were around 20,000 camps! The photos don' really show what some of the livinging conditions were like, the beds just open bunks that they all piled into - with a person dedicated to blowing a whistle every 30 minutes so they coulod all turn over together, as there was no room to turn over individually!
All of the original buildings that the inmates were kept in have been torn down as they were remodelled for the refugees after the war, but they have built some replicas, and all of the main building with the punishment rooms etc are all original - all really well preserved. It is an awful place, and some of the images are very graphic and disturbing, but it is a great way to ensure the horrors that happened in that time are never forgotten!
We headed to the Augustiner Biergarten which was recommended by a friend Logan made at Oktoberfest. They brew their own beer on site, and it is the oldest in Munich - 1348 (we think). The place is huge! Would probably seat around 2,000 people out in the garden and another few hundred inside. The garden creates a canopy of trees so it has the feel of being inside almost - but the trees create the surrounds. Really hard to describe as we have never been to anything else like it!
We finally managed to buy an umbrella this morning, so the trip to the train station should be a little more pleasant - catching the over night train to Amsterdam tonight so this is our last day in Germany, so for now Lebewohl.
Friday 16 September 2011
Hallo from Frankfurt
We apologise for any spelling or grammar in this post - a combination of apple wine and a european keyboard makes for interesting blogging!
Well we finally made it to Germany after a very long flight! Lufthansa don´t have your own in flight entertainment and we were trapped at our window seats with a German man that spoke no english and can apparently do 12 hours without ever leaving his seat!
We had to tackle the public trains on arrival which was interesting as there were no maps to pick up at the airport, but we managed to find our way to the apartment after a very friendly German man offered us assistance at the station. Even immigration stopped to have a chat with us about our holiday on the way through - everyone here is so friendly.
The apartment is amazing - would highly recommend it to anyone coming to Frankfurt! We step out the front door, and across the road is the Main River, its absolutely beautiful. We decided it was best to stay up once we arrived to get ourselves into the right timezone so we dumped our bags and headed straight out to find some German beer....and stumbled across a really cute little pub very much like the old Roxy. None of the staff spoke any English but Logan managed to get us some beer regardless!
The city is not really what we were expecting - not as metropolitan. It is a big city with a little city feel, the pace of life is so much slower and the place is just a lot more liberal than we are used to at home. There are bicycles everywhere, people wandering and eating, people drinking beer anywhere and at any time of the day, you can pretty much smoke anywhere you want to - and thats not just cigarettes - and on every street corner is a bakery, and gorgeous food smells! Thats not mentioning the architecture and just the great feel of the city.
Can't believe the number of dogs here, everyone has their dog with them, and outside shops and supermarkets they even have dog staions where you can tie your dog up to wait. They even take them into restaurants with them!
Went for a wander this morning to get oriented and ended up in the 'red light' part of town.....definitely a 24 hour operation!
After wandering for a while in the hope of finding bacon and eggs for breakfast I think Logan finally conceded they don't do that here and finally settle on schnitzel and potato salad. Sara stuck to the traditional bread with ham and cheese....yum!
(A note to Caleb......Logan found one of the 'special' vending machines in one of the public toilets ;) )
There are pigeons everywhere around here, and every time you look up there is a pattern of jet streams in the sky from all of the planes flying over head.
They have little shuttles by the train station that are like the Thai tuk tuks but they are covered bicycles - and the parking in town is crazy.....I can see why they have smart cars, we found a man this morning trying to maneuver out of a parking space where the car front and back were literally 10cm away either end if you are lucky.
We managed to find a little pub on the way to this cafe that brews their own apple wine (these are pubs with the green wreaths outside the front door) so we had to give it a crack......yum! So off for mor apple wine it is.
Auf Wiedersehen
Well we finally made it to Germany after a very long flight! Lufthansa don´t have your own in flight entertainment and we were trapped at our window seats with a German man that spoke no english and can apparently do 12 hours without ever leaving his seat!
We had to tackle the public trains on arrival which was interesting as there were no maps to pick up at the airport, but we managed to find our way to the apartment after a very friendly German man offered us assistance at the station. Even immigration stopped to have a chat with us about our holiday on the way through - everyone here is so friendly.
The apartment is amazing - would highly recommend it to anyone coming to Frankfurt! We step out the front door, and across the road is the Main River, its absolutely beautiful. We decided it was best to stay up once we arrived to get ourselves into the right timezone so we dumped our bags and headed straight out to find some German beer....and stumbled across a really cute little pub very much like the old Roxy. None of the staff spoke any English but Logan managed to get us some beer regardless!
The city is not really what we were expecting - not as metropolitan. It is a big city with a little city feel, the pace of life is so much slower and the place is just a lot more liberal than we are used to at home. There are bicycles everywhere, people wandering and eating, people drinking beer anywhere and at any time of the day, you can pretty much smoke anywhere you want to - and thats not just cigarettes - and on every street corner is a bakery, and gorgeous food smells! Thats not mentioning the architecture and just the great feel of the city.
Can't believe the number of dogs here, everyone has their dog with them, and outside shops and supermarkets they even have dog staions where you can tie your dog up to wait. They even take them into restaurants with them!
Went for a wander this morning to get oriented and ended up in the 'red light' part of town.....definitely a 24 hour operation!
After wandering for a while in the hope of finding bacon and eggs for breakfast I think Logan finally conceded they don't do that here and finally settle on schnitzel and potato salad. Sara stuck to the traditional bread with ham and cheese....yum!
(A note to Caleb......Logan found one of the 'special' vending machines in one of the public toilets ;) )
There are pigeons everywhere around here, and every time you look up there is a pattern of jet streams in the sky from all of the planes flying over head.
They have little shuttles by the train station that are like the Thai tuk tuks but they are covered bicycles - and the parking in town is crazy.....I can see why they have smart cars, we found a man this morning trying to maneuver out of a parking space where the car front and back were literally 10cm away either end if you are lucky.
We managed to find a little pub on the way to this cafe that brews their own apple wine (these are pubs with the green wreaths outside the front door) so we had to give it a crack......yum! So off for mor apple wine it is.
Auf Wiedersehen
Tuesday 13 September 2011
Greetings from Hong Kong
Well, Hong Kong is hot hot hot!
We have managed to see a pretty good chunk of the city for only having been here one day so far. Started the day yesterday walking the length of Nathan Rd to find a tailor for Logan to have some suits made. Finally made it to the one we were looking for after being pulled into half a dozen other tailors along the way. 2 suits are on there way to us tonight ready for the cruise.
We then took in some of the city life finding some fascinating things along the way....apparently there are no limits to what you can dry and sell in this place including shrimps, mussels and some odd looking creatures which we haven't figured out - maybe bats? Photos to come for this one!
Sussed out the subway and buses and after a fair bit of waling in circles on Hong Kong Island finally found our way to Stanley. The public transport over here is crazy - you even have to get on an underground at the airport to get from the plane to immigration. All of the buses and trams are double decker - so that made for an interesting journey down the island to Stanley.....like taking the road to Coromandel on a double decker bus!
Stanley markets were a dissapointment - a lot more expensive than the shops on Nathan Rd, but we ended up having a lovely dinner and drinks on the waterfront which was away from the hussle and bustle of the city - much more of a resort feeling. The locals flock to the beach down there however they can, and they even have huge areas surrounded by concrete where they have premade firepits every 2 metres to cook food on and roast marshmallows. These areas were absolutley packed in the evening!
We can't get over the lack of OSH over here - or non existence, there scaffolding on buildings (and we are talking 30 storey sky scrapers) is made purely of bamboo! It is everywhere, even in the flasher areas, and piles of it on the side of the road ready to be erected.
We have taken notice Grant that there really are no flys here - even on the dried seafood and fresh meat sitting on the roadside we only managed to spot one.
Can't get over how clean it is. We were expecting it to be a little more like Bangkok, but there are huge signs everywhere saying you will get fines for littering, so the streets are really clean. It is really pretty at night all of the buildings have special ligts for show, and the main street is just neon everywhere.
Disneyland was fun, but not as good as the one in LA. The only really good ride was Space Mountain, all the rest were pretty tame. We did go into a 4D show which was really cool - Disney of course with Donald Duck, and they did the normal animated 3D movie, but whenwater came towards you, they sprayed you lightly with water, when as apple pie went across the screen you could smell apple pie, and when you were riding on the magic carpet they had a breeze through the cinema. It was very well done, and they even used the surround sound differently by having a speaker in the back of every seat and making the sound come from different areas in the cinema depending on what seat you were sitting in. Another long flight awaits us tomorrow so we will update when we get to Germany.
We have managed to see a pretty good chunk of the city for only having been here one day so far. Started the day yesterday walking the length of Nathan Rd to find a tailor for Logan to have some suits made. Finally made it to the one we were looking for after being pulled into half a dozen other tailors along the way. 2 suits are on there way to us tonight ready for the cruise.
We then took in some of the city life finding some fascinating things along the way....apparently there are no limits to what you can dry and sell in this place including shrimps, mussels and some odd looking creatures which we haven't figured out - maybe bats? Photos to come for this one!
Sussed out the subway and buses and after a fair bit of waling in circles on Hong Kong Island finally found our way to Stanley. The public transport over here is crazy - you even have to get on an underground at the airport to get from the plane to immigration. All of the buses and trams are double decker - so that made for an interesting journey down the island to Stanley.....like taking the road to Coromandel on a double decker bus!
Stanley markets were a dissapointment - a lot more expensive than the shops on Nathan Rd, but we ended up having a lovely dinner and drinks on the waterfront which was away from the hussle and bustle of the city - much more of a resort feeling. The locals flock to the beach down there however they can, and they even have huge areas surrounded by concrete where they have premade firepits every 2 metres to cook food on and roast marshmallows. These areas were absolutley packed in the evening!
We can't get over the lack of OSH over here - or non existence, there scaffolding on buildings (and we are talking 30 storey sky scrapers) is made purely of bamboo! It is everywhere, even in the flasher areas, and piles of it on the side of the road ready to be erected.
We have taken notice Grant that there really are no flys here - even on the dried seafood and fresh meat sitting on the roadside we only managed to spot one.
Can't get over how clean it is. We were expecting it to be a little more like Bangkok, but there are huge signs everywhere saying you will get fines for littering, so the streets are really clean. It is really pretty at night all of the buildings have special ligts for show, and the main street is just neon everywhere.
Disneyland was fun, but not as good as the one in LA. The only really good ride was Space Mountain, all the rest were pretty tame. We did go into a 4D show which was really cool - Disney of course with Donald Duck, and they did the normal animated 3D movie, but whenwater came towards you, they sprayed you lightly with water, when as apple pie went across the screen you could smell apple pie, and when you were riding on the magic carpet they had a breeze through the cinema. It was very well done, and they even used the surround sound differently by having a speaker in the back of every seat and making the sound come from different areas in the cinema depending on what seat you were sitting in. Another long flight awaits us tomorrow so we will update when we get to Germany.
Monday 12 September 2011
We Are Off
Well a bit of a shaky start to the trip having to repack bags at the first check-in because Saras bag was 5kg over the limit :( Thankfully had the foresight to pack an extra roll bag in the suit case!
I have to say we are travelling in style so far - made it to the international terminal with a 5 hour wait between flights and we are experiencing the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge for the first time. This is how to travel in airports!!! Lovely atmosphere, comfy lounge setting, constant buffet and anything you want to drink...anything....all for free! Absolutely legendary, Logan even gets to watch RWC game replays :)
I think this will be our most pleasurable airport experience of the trip so we will enjoy it while it lasts.
Catch you in Hong Kong.
I have to say we are travelling in style so far - made it to the international terminal with a 5 hour wait between flights and we are experiencing the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge for the first time. This is how to travel in airports!!! Lovely atmosphere, comfy lounge setting, constant buffet and anything you want to drink...anything....all for free! Absolutely legendary, Logan even gets to watch RWC game replays :)
I think this will be our most pleasurable airport experience of the trip so we will enjoy it while it lasts.
Catch you in Hong Kong.
Wednesday 7 September 2011
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