There seemed to be a conspiracy on the part of every hotel and computer between Shanghai and Maitland to prevent me from posting in the last week of the trip.
We arrived in Ottawa yesterday after our 19th and final flight of the trip. In the last week we were counting things down... our last overnight train trip (24 hours, hard sleeper from Shanghai to Guangzhou), our last bus ride (4 1/2 hours from Guangzhou to "Kowloon"...read "somewhere in the middle of the city, blocks from the nearest subway...."), our last foriegn border crossing (into the USA for a simple 3 hour transit -- over an hour of which was waiting for customs and wondering if we would make the connection--Nicky said Switzerland was just as bad-- it REALLY ticked me off after countless other border crossings to watch them fingerprint the passengers and take their photographs), our last trip to the Spaghetti House chain in Hong Kong (favourite of the younger set, this one happened twice in as many days on our return to Hong Kong-- and we considered a final kick at the can in the airport..) Then the firsts.... Our first Tim Horton's--(in the Airport in Toronto--sadly a badly set up one that had a constant line around the corner which made us and every other returning Canadian plus the entire ground crew of the airport wait for ages for their fix). Our first look at the house (sadly still full of our crap). Our first trip to Montanas (for lunch yesterday).....
Just to fill in the last week. We arrived in Shanghai and took the Maglev train into town from the airport. It is the fastest I ever think I will travel on the ground. The speed you are travelling is displayed at either end of each compartment and it hits a top speed of 430 km/hr which is sustained for about 4 minutes of the 8 minute trip. As you slow down you think you are crawling along after the speed section. You look up to find you are going at 180 km/hr. It is a fun ride if you ever go to Shanghai.
We did the Bund in our overnight trip to Shanghai before taking the train south. The Bund is a concrete boardwalk along the riverfront. The buildings lining the Shanghai side of the river are all protected old buildings from the early part of the 1900's. On the other side they are building a skyline which will soon rival Hong Kong. They are building 5 skyscrapers at once and I don't think the others are all that old. It is turning out to be quite nice because the architechture on the set of skyscrapers is interesting. It is a really nice walk with the juxtaposition of the old and new sections on the two sides of the river. We went to a restaurant and hung around the area until dark to see it all lit up. It was worth doing to see the lights but I can't stand that much humanity crammed into the same place I am in so we left quickly.
In Guangzhou we didn't do much of anything. I found a book in a drawer in the hotel room (it was a dorm room) and pretended I was Jane on vacation for the day. The kids fought over the Nintendo DS and read books too. Alan was our only restless member and he took himself off a couple of times to do things no one else had much interest in. We all felt we had been there before and done all the good stuff.
In Hong Kong we went to the Ten Thousand Buddhas temple,which was the only thing we hadn't done last time which appealed to us. It is a really bizarre place. You walk up the hillside and the path is lined with these life size cartoonish plastic gold Buddha statues. There are a couple of hundred different ones and it makes you wonder who made them. Are they produced in factories and if so, where are the rest of the runs? Where is the market for life size plastic cartoon Buddhas? If they are the only copies, it makes you wonder at the effort that went into making the set.
We are home now and back to our boring lives for a while. I am really glad we went and I won't wait as long before I travel again this time.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Goodbye to Japan....
We spent the last couple of days in Japan doing Museums and Temples. On Thursday we went to the Kyoto International Museum of Manga. Which was, of course, Jacob's choice. He loved it. Alan seemed to quite get into it too. Heather was OK for several hours. The Manga Museum per se didn't do all that much for me. One thing they had, besides pretty much every Manga book ever published in Japan lining the walls, were black and white drawings by what must have been almost every professional cartoonist in Japan. They were in groups on all the walls as you went through the halls. Each one was a single female and the variety was amazing. There were all kinds of different drawing styles and the subjects ranged from kimonos to the booby outfits you often see in those kind of comics. We were all totally impressed with was the special exhibit on plastic figurines. When you see one plastic figurine, you often think they are tacky and stupid. When you see a whole room full of them displayed well, you realize they are a legitimate (sp?) art form. They had all kinds from the nature ones you see in science museums to cartoon ones. They had a nice set of Alice In Wonderland figures for instance. Many came from a museum devoted to plastic figurines and I would like to see their collection sometime. On Friday we went to the Kyoto National Museum which was very good. They had a room or two of each thing -- sculpture, ceramics, brass, textiles, etc. It was just enough to be interesting but not overwhelming. They apparently constantly rotate the collection so you would rarely see the same thing twice. It must be a lot of work for the curators but good for the audience. We didn't make it through all of the World Heritage Sites but we went to quite a few temples. I wondered aloud why one was on the list since it seemed similar to a lot of others and Heather said "Look Mum, I know from experience, you are templed out when they all start to look the same." We are back in Shanghai tonight and have to remember not to eat salad or ice and also you are not allowed to flush the toilet paper down..... DON"T ASK!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Continuing in Kyoto
Yesterday we went on a walk with a famous guide called Johnny Hillwalker who is an old Japanese man in his 70's who takes foriegners on walks to show them another side of Kyoto. Alan had found a pamphlet of his at the airport and the kids were really keen. He charges $20 per head (kids free) and had close to 30 people on the walk. It is probably a nice income for him. He is a very calm and fairly well organized person. He has been doing the walk for 12 years three times a week, 9 months a year, so he has had a lot of time to get it down pat. It was a bit long at 5 hours but I think on the whole it was a good experience. I think the kids got quite a lot out of it too.
We also managed to knock off another two world heritage sites yesterday but I fear many of the 12 we have left in Kyoto will not be seen by me in this lifetime. Jacob has his heart set on the Museum of Manga and I think everyone wants to go to the National Museum. We made an aborted attempt to go to this and several other closed places on Monday.
We had to move out of our first Kyoto hotel after two days because the room had been rented. We moved to this hotel for three nights, but we are having to go back to the first place tonight for our last two nights. There is someone else booked into the room we have here for tonight. We have decided to just stay in Kyoto for the whole week instead of trying to rush round it and any other city. There is plenty to see here anyway.
We also managed to knock off another two world heritage sites yesterday but I fear many of the 12 we have left in Kyoto will not be seen by me in this lifetime. Jacob has his heart set on the Museum of Manga and I think everyone wants to go to the National Museum. We made an aborted attempt to go to this and several other closed places on Monday.
We had to move out of our first Kyoto hotel after two days because the room had been rented. We moved to this hotel for three nights, but we are having to go back to the first place tonight for our last two nights. There is someone else booked into the room we have here for tonight. We have decided to just stay in Kyoto for the whole week instead of trying to rush round it and any other city. There is plenty to see here anyway.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
World Heritage Fun
We are desperately trying to make it through the World Heritage Sites of Kyoto. Actually I think we are going to give ourselves permission to miss a few. Yesterday we took a train journey to Nara for the day where there are another 8 and only managed to make it to two. The kids are really feeling like vacationing in Japan, so we are letting them. We went to two WH sites yesterday in Nara one was a big bronze Buddha at the Todai-ji Temple (this time it was the building that was the largest wooden structure in the world not the Buddha itself, he is only the largest in Japan at a mere 16meters). The other was the second largest (by a few centimeters) pagoda in Japan at the Kofukuji temple.
The main hit of the day was the deer they have wandering around town. There are apparently over a thousand deer wandering around the huge park there. There are people all over who sell some sort of deer pancakes to feed them. We bought a couple of rounds of pancakes ($1.50 for about 8 wafers) for the kids to feed the deer, then Heather invested heavily on her own behalf. It was a nice sunny day and there is lots of shade in the park (thank goodness because we accidently tried to take the sunscreen in our carryon to Japan and got it and the Crayola kid scissors confiscated--things find their way to the bottom of the bags--we thought we had taken all the contraband out...I actually got written up onto some sort of list because of trying to carry the scissors on).
The main hit of the day was the deer they have wandering around town. There are apparently over a thousand deer wandering around the huge park there. There are people all over who sell some sort of deer pancakes to feed them. We bought a couple of rounds of pancakes ($1.50 for about 8 wafers) for the kids to feed the deer, then Heather invested heavily on her own behalf. It was a nice sunny day and there is lots of shade in the park (thank goodness because we accidently tried to take the sunscreen in our carryon to Japan and got it and the Crayola kid scissors confiscated--things find their way to the bottom of the bags--we thought we had taken all the contraband out...I actually got written up onto some sort of list because of trying to carry the scissors on).
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Gotta love Japan
It is SO nice to be back in a country where you can actually RINSE YOUR TOOTHBRUSH UNDER THE TAP without fear of dire consequence. Yeah!! ... and where you can order icy drinks and salads with impunity... I had just been making a list in my journal of things I would be glad of when we got back to Canada. Heather noted this morning that Japan covers almost everything on my list which was funny because I had been thinking the same thing.
We went to both the Silver and Gold Pagodas as well as doing the Philosopher's Walk. This last was Jacob's choice and he tried to discuss philosophy along the way. The walk was a nice stroll beside a small canal. Apparently a philosophy professor used to walk there frequently. Now it is an actual destination. At one point we were sitting down for a rest and a group of AT LEAST 500 people marched by at a real clip.
The gold and silver pavillions were both very beautiful world heritage sites. They are only two of the 17 world heritage sites here in Kyoto so we had better get our skates on if we are going to see the rest in the week we are here.
We went to both the Silver and Gold Pagodas as well as doing the Philosopher's Walk. This last was Jacob's choice and he tried to discuss philosophy along the way. The walk was a nice stroll beside a small canal. Apparently a philosophy professor used to walk there frequently. Now it is an actual destination. At one point we were sitting down for a rest and a group of AT LEAST 500 people marched by at a real clip.
The gold and silver pavillions were both very beautiful world heritage sites. They are only two of the 17 world heritage sites here in Kyoto so we had better get our skates on if we are going to see the rest in the week we are here.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Origato: Greetings From Japan
Well, I guess it has been a while since I posted. We obviously put Japan back on the menu and we flew this morning to Osaka and took a train to Kyoto. We will be in Japan for one week and fly back to Shanghai next Saturday (the 9th) and head down on the 10th toward Hong Kong and our flight home leaving on the night of the 14th of June. We will touch down in Ottawa on June 15th for anyone who cares.
Jacob recovered somewhat by the next day and we managed to spend the afternoon at the Forbidden City. He was not 100% and it was still hot, so we took it a bit slow. Thank goodness lots is closed for renovation (more olympic prep I am sure--China HAS to win the prize for biggest countrywide effort toward impressing olympic visitors) or we would never had made it round. As it was we didn't go to everything that was open. I don't know how long it would actually take to get through the whole thing if it was all up and running.
The last day in Beijing was spent going to the Great Wall. We went to a section that was about 73 km out of the city (2 1/2 hours each way in that part of China). The pollution finally kicked in and I developed bronchitis and asthma the day before. My lungs were not treating me very well although the air was much better at the actual wall. There was no VISIBLE industry that you could see from that section of the wall. It was the first time in days we had been for that long in a car without going through a heavily industrialized section.
In deference to the condition of my lungs and the children's thrill seeking natures, we decided to take the cableway up, toboggan ride down option. The "cableway" was a sort of rickety chair lift but the toboggan ride was 1570 meters of German engineered stainless steel runway snaking back down the hill. They are quick to mention the bona fides of any European technologies to appease the tourist angst I think. The chair lift was a bit much for poor Alan who hasn't had the skiing experience of the rest of us, coupled with a hefty fear of heights. You could hear him yelping as it started up. He was not happy till he reached terra firma at the top. The children and I, on the other hand, were so enamored with the toboggan run that we took a second crack at it. In the morning, the woman had insisted that there was no children's tickets for the package (even though there was a children's price on her window. When we returned for our second trip, all of a sudden there were children's prices so it only cost $16 for the second trip. It would have been closer to $25 if she had stuck to her full price guns. I think she may have been hoping to squeeze a third out of me.
I was really glad we took the second trip because you have virtually total control of the speed of your sled on the way down. Unfortunately this meant the little old lady in front of me could go down at a - you guessed it -little old lady pace. I caught up to her and had to follow her down. On our second trip there were not very many people, and none ahead of us for quite a while. I let Heather go first since she has the most daredevil nature. She was giving it the whole way down and barely touched the brake. Jacob went next and chose a much faster pace than his first run too. I went as fast as I wanted and could feel the wind the whole way down. If we hadn't run out of time, I may have actually considered the third run.
I realize that I haven't actually mentioned the wall itself --oops. The wall was really impressive. They have restored about a 2 km section and it rolls up and down hills. It is as picturesque as all get out. It is just like all the pictures. I think they were mostly taken in this section. There is an unrestored bit at the end that has trees growing out of the top, so it is nice to see the contrast between how it had all probably become and the restored part. The kids were suitably impressed and Heather even bought the t-shirt (at least she got her parents to). She is getting really good at bargaining with the vendors. She has to get the most out of her tourist dollar since they only get $10 a week and she seems to have an insatiable appetite for gee gaws. She really beats them down a lot. I am not sure many adults would do any better. She bargained the lady down to $3 and came back saying that was it. I figured what the heck and only gave her $2 and told her to tell the lady THAT was it, so she got it for $2. I am sure at that price it won't last long in the washing machine.
The same evening we took an overnight train to Shanghai. We couldn't get a hard sleeper. It was my worst trip to the train station yet. It took me lining up at 6 different places before I at least got a train that was at a decent time. The ones they tried to put me on I knew from the internet got in at about 6 in the morning. The kids really don't like arriving on an overnight train before about 8 o'clock when they would be waking up normally. We took the soft sleeper option. Swish. The four of us had our own compartment with a door. We also had our own light switch which was great. In the hard sleepers you have to wait for 10 o'clock when they turn off all the lights. Another thing they had was our own electrical outlet so we could plug in things for charging overnight. The last (the piece de resistance in my opinion) thing was that one of the toilets in our car was a western toilet. Unfortunately it was locked by the morning but at least it was there. Did I mention that I think they have to clean the washrooms before their shift ends so they do it when they feel like it and lock them for the rest of the journey. Sometimes by the end of the trip it is difficult to find any that are not locked up for cars and cars.
In Shanghai we booked the tickets to come to Japan on our first day then wandered around and had dinner at Pizza Hut. We went for a walk on the main shopping pedestrian mall and ogled the fancy neon. I am pretty sure no one does neon any better than the Chinese at their best. The second day it was pouring rain so we just joined the rest of the tourists at the Shanghai Museum. Very good collection. Jacob said "I love museums" soon after we got there. I asked for it in writing....
Jacob recovered somewhat by the next day and we managed to spend the afternoon at the Forbidden City. He was not 100% and it was still hot, so we took it a bit slow. Thank goodness lots is closed for renovation (more olympic prep I am sure--China HAS to win the prize for biggest countrywide effort toward impressing olympic visitors) or we would never had made it round. As it was we didn't go to everything that was open. I don't know how long it would actually take to get through the whole thing if it was all up and running.
The last day in Beijing was spent going to the Great Wall. We went to a section that was about 73 km out of the city (2 1/2 hours each way in that part of China). The pollution finally kicked in and I developed bronchitis and asthma the day before. My lungs were not treating me very well although the air was much better at the actual wall. There was no VISIBLE industry that you could see from that section of the wall. It was the first time in days we had been for that long in a car without going through a heavily industrialized section.
In deference to the condition of my lungs and the children's thrill seeking natures, we decided to take the cableway up, toboggan ride down option. The "cableway" was a sort of rickety chair lift but the toboggan ride was 1570 meters of German engineered stainless steel runway snaking back down the hill. They are quick to mention the bona fides of any European technologies to appease the tourist angst I think. The chair lift was a bit much for poor Alan who hasn't had the skiing experience of the rest of us, coupled with a hefty fear of heights. You could hear him yelping as it started up. He was not happy till he reached terra firma at the top. The children and I, on the other hand, were so enamored with the toboggan run that we took a second crack at it. In the morning, the woman had insisted that there was no children's tickets for the package (even though there was a children's price on her window. When we returned for our second trip, all of a sudden there were children's prices so it only cost $16 for the second trip. It would have been closer to $25 if she had stuck to her full price guns. I think she may have been hoping to squeeze a third out of me.
I was really glad we took the second trip because you have virtually total control of the speed of your sled on the way down. Unfortunately this meant the little old lady in front of me could go down at a - you guessed it -little old lady pace. I caught up to her and had to follow her down. On our second trip there were not very many people, and none ahead of us for quite a while. I let Heather go first since she has the most daredevil nature. She was giving it the whole way down and barely touched the brake. Jacob went next and chose a much faster pace than his first run too. I went as fast as I wanted and could feel the wind the whole way down. If we hadn't run out of time, I may have actually considered the third run.
I realize that I haven't actually mentioned the wall itself --oops. The wall was really impressive. They have restored about a 2 km section and it rolls up and down hills. It is as picturesque as all get out. It is just like all the pictures. I think they were mostly taken in this section. There is an unrestored bit at the end that has trees growing out of the top, so it is nice to see the contrast between how it had all probably become and the restored part. The kids were suitably impressed and Heather even bought the t-shirt (at least she got her parents to). She is getting really good at bargaining with the vendors. She has to get the most out of her tourist dollar since they only get $10 a week and she seems to have an insatiable appetite for gee gaws. She really beats them down a lot. I am not sure many adults would do any better. She bargained the lady down to $3 and came back saying that was it. I figured what the heck and only gave her $2 and told her to tell the lady THAT was it, so she got it for $2. I am sure at that price it won't last long in the washing machine.
The same evening we took an overnight train to Shanghai. We couldn't get a hard sleeper. It was my worst trip to the train station yet. It took me lining up at 6 different places before I at least got a train that was at a decent time. The ones they tried to put me on I knew from the internet got in at about 6 in the morning. The kids really don't like arriving on an overnight train before about 8 o'clock when they would be waking up normally. We took the soft sleeper option. Swish. The four of us had our own compartment with a door. We also had our own light switch which was great. In the hard sleepers you have to wait for 10 o'clock when they turn off all the lights. Another thing they had was our own electrical outlet so we could plug in things for charging overnight. The last (the piece de resistance in my opinion) thing was that one of the toilets in our car was a western toilet. Unfortunately it was locked by the morning but at least it was there. Did I mention that I think they have to clean the washrooms before their shift ends so they do it when they feel like it and lock them for the rest of the journey. Sometimes by the end of the trip it is difficult to find any that are not locked up for cars and cars.
In Shanghai we booked the tickets to come to Japan on our first day then wandered around and had dinner at Pizza Hut. We went for a walk on the main shopping pedestrian mall and ogled the fancy neon. I am pretty sure no one does neon any better than the Chinese at their best. The second day it was pouring rain so we just joined the rest of the tourists at the Shanghai Museum. Very good collection. Jacob said "I love museums" soon after we got there. I asked for it in writing....
Monday, May 28, 2007
Beijing -- getting ready for the olympics
On our way out of Datong, we whipped round to see the nine dragon screen. It is supposed to be the China's largest and oldest ceramic wall. It was made 600 years ago and I am sure the glaze chipped off and they painted it. If you look, there is a lot of turquoise background colour running down several dragons. In one instance there is a tile which has no business even having that colour on it that has huge streaks. There is no way any artisan that could produce such a beautiful work would make such huge errors in glazing and actually use the tiles in the finished project. My guess is that the glaze was looking worn and someone (a sloppy painter) decided to "fix" it. Too bad, I hope someone can restore it sometime.
We took a pretty decadent trip to the screen. We walked out of the hotel and into a taxi (who ripped us off by driving the long way round) and gave us a $1.50 ride. On the way home we took another taxi and only paid $1. I think it is ridiculous how little the taxis are being paid. Granted gas seems to be the equivalent of 50cents/litre, but I don't know how they can make anything with depreciation costs factored in. I would never think of jumping in a taxi at home to visit Parliament Hill for 15 minutes. It would cost 10 times as much at least anyway.
We took the train to Beijing during the day because the overnight train arrived at 5 in the morning again and we were pretty sure the kids couldn't handle that twice on the trot. Speaking of trot, Jacob is sick. He has stuff coming and going at once if you catch the euphemism. I am glad we are (a) in a big city (Beijing) and (b) almost ready to come home. This is only the second time one of them has been sick (thank goodness). It has been months since Heather got sick in India along with my sister Nicky and her sons, Sam and Jay. Perversely it didn't seem that bad to me then because (a) Surya speaks the lingo and (b) there was some wierd sort of "safety in numbers" thing going on in my head which is, I know, completely illogical, but there you go. We have postponed our trip to the Great Wall until the day after tomorrow and hopefully he will be recovered enough to visit the Forbidden City tomorrow. We got to the gates today but he didn't feel well. He actually started throwing up on the way home.
We have been in Beijing for 2 days and have not managed to accomplish much sightseeing. Yesterday we only managed to buy more junk than I think we will be able to carry (again) and find out that the proposed trips to first Japan and then Mongolia were not possible because in both cases the transport only goes once or twice a week and they are full up anyway. We were trying for a boat to Japan and a train to Ulanbator. We checked about flights to Japan and the price was just too exhorbitant for a week stay. We have decided to jump in and out of Hong Kong to fulfil our visa requirements and visit another few places in the south of China before we head home on the 14th of June. For those of you that don't already know, we have cut the last two months off the trip. There were two reasons: financial and burnout. Now that the end is in sight though, we are all thinking we will miss the travelling and seeing all the new and interesting stuff. All the time.
I went to a place today called the Lama Temple. It has another entry in the worlds biggest Buddha sweepstakes. This one is 18m high and carved from a single sandalwood tree. Now THAT was a huge tree. This Buddha apparently made it into the Guinness book of world records in 1990. It is at least our 6th worlds biggest Buddha so far on our trip...
We are staying in a fabulous 300 year old hotel. Apparently it was a family compound and converted to a hotel 50 years ago. It is two stories high and mostly beautiful wood construction. It has a central courtyard inside and two rings of rooms round it. There is a huge skylight covering the whole courtyard. It was taken over by the hostel Heather had picked from their posters (they say "c u in Beijing" with a cutesy happy face with a chinese hat...aimed at the younger set and hitting squarely on her mark). We were really lucky to have been put in the overflow hostel. It is much nicer than the real one.
Beijing is under HEAVY renovation (as are a lot of places we have been in China) to put on a good show for the Olympics. They are apparently evicting all the stores we went to yesterday so they can be demolished and rebuilt in time for next summer. There is a huge picture of what the area will look like on the billboards which are being used to close the streets off. All the ends of the streets leading into the area are being bricked up and they seem to just build the brick walls one block further out each time and knock the buildings down.
China will be impressive for the olympics but they will have to do something about the pollution. I think the main thing people will notice is the air quality. They have 16 of the worlds 20 most polluted cities right now and the countryside is almost worse. On the way to the Hanging Monastery the other day I counted 29 smokestacks at one time in front of the bus. Scary. After spending a few weeks in China it makes me wonder if there is any hope of Kyoto succeeding even if it is ratified. I think China will pick up any slack and carry on the warming for us.
We took a pretty decadent trip to the screen. We walked out of the hotel and into a taxi (who ripped us off by driving the long way round) and gave us a $1.50 ride. On the way home we took another taxi and only paid $1. I think it is ridiculous how little the taxis are being paid. Granted gas seems to be the equivalent of 50cents/litre, but I don't know how they can make anything with depreciation costs factored in. I would never think of jumping in a taxi at home to visit Parliament Hill for 15 minutes. It would cost 10 times as much at least anyway.
We took the train to Beijing during the day because the overnight train arrived at 5 in the morning again and we were pretty sure the kids couldn't handle that twice on the trot. Speaking of trot, Jacob is sick. He has stuff coming and going at once if you catch the euphemism. I am glad we are (a) in a big city (Beijing) and (b) almost ready to come home. This is only the second time one of them has been sick (thank goodness). It has been months since Heather got sick in India along with my sister Nicky and her sons, Sam and Jay. Perversely it didn't seem that bad to me then because (a) Surya speaks the lingo and (b) there was some wierd sort of "safety in numbers" thing going on in my head which is, I know, completely illogical, but there you go. We have postponed our trip to the Great Wall until the day after tomorrow and hopefully he will be recovered enough to visit the Forbidden City tomorrow. We got to the gates today but he didn't feel well. He actually started throwing up on the way home.
We have been in Beijing for 2 days and have not managed to accomplish much sightseeing. Yesterday we only managed to buy more junk than I think we will be able to carry (again) and find out that the proposed trips to first Japan and then Mongolia were not possible because in both cases the transport only goes once or twice a week and they are full up anyway. We were trying for a boat to Japan and a train to Ulanbator. We checked about flights to Japan and the price was just too exhorbitant for a week stay. We have decided to jump in and out of Hong Kong to fulfil our visa requirements and visit another few places in the south of China before we head home on the 14th of June. For those of you that don't already know, we have cut the last two months off the trip. There were two reasons: financial and burnout. Now that the end is in sight though, we are all thinking we will miss the travelling and seeing all the new and interesting stuff. All the time.
I went to a place today called the Lama Temple. It has another entry in the worlds biggest Buddha sweepstakes. This one is 18m high and carved from a single sandalwood tree. Now THAT was a huge tree. This Buddha apparently made it into the Guinness book of world records in 1990. It is at least our 6th worlds biggest Buddha so far on our trip...
We are staying in a fabulous 300 year old hotel. Apparently it was a family compound and converted to a hotel 50 years ago. It is two stories high and mostly beautiful wood construction. It has a central courtyard inside and two rings of rooms round it. There is a huge skylight covering the whole courtyard. It was taken over by the hostel Heather had picked from their posters (they say "c u in Beijing" with a cutesy happy face with a chinese hat...aimed at the younger set and hitting squarely on her mark). We were really lucky to have been put in the overflow hostel. It is much nicer than the real one.
Beijing is under HEAVY renovation (as are a lot of places we have been in China) to put on a good show for the Olympics. They are apparently evicting all the stores we went to yesterday so they can be demolished and rebuilt in time for next summer. There is a huge picture of what the area will look like on the billboards which are being used to close the streets off. All the ends of the streets leading into the area are being bricked up and they seem to just build the brick walls one block further out each time and knock the buildings down.
China will be impressive for the olympics but they will have to do something about the pollution. I think the main thing people will notice is the air quality. They have 16 of the worlds 20 most polluted cities right now and the countryside is almost worse. On the way to the Hanging Monastery the other day I counted 29 smokestacks at one time in front of the bus. Scary. After spending a few weeks in China it makes me wonder if there is any hope of Kyoto succeeding even if it is ratified. I think China will pick up any slack and carry on the warming for us.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
From Heather’s Perspective
I had to pay 20 ￥ （approx。 3 dollars）for the publication rights to this journal entry （all spelling is original-in more ways than one）
On the 22 we arived in pingyao， walked around the station and found that the doors had bycycle locks on them。 But we weren‘t the only ones。 there were at least six other people with us and all the officers inside did was lagh at us。 Some people walked up and down the doors looking for one without a lock， but there were none。 So it’s ten thirty， the guy from the hotel is waiting for us on the other side of the building， and we don‘t know what to do。 finally a conductor came and unlocked one of the doors for us。 When we finally got to the other side a guy with a sign saying “ALAWRITCHI” came up to us and brought us to a little electric cart he had waiting for us。 So we all squeezed into this cramped cart with our bags and after awhile we decide he’s not taking us to the hotel， He‘s taking us around in circles and that got my parents going all “are you sure this is the guy from the hotel” and “I thought you were following him”。 So my parents were geting all worked up until my brother said “of course this is the guy from the hotel， don‘t be stupid， I was following him” and at that moment， as if on qeue， we stoped and the taxi driver said “walk from here”。So we walked down the street to the hotel and were given a very warm welcome and some very warm tea by the owners。 We then had dinner， wich was quite good， and got our room where I fell asleep right away。
The next day we met the puppy， a tiny dog the colour of coffee full of milk。 He also had one white stripe that ran halfway across his shoulders。 He would sit and let you pet him for hours。（well，I bet he would， mum didn’t give me that long）。 after breakfast we climbed up and walked along the city walls。 When we were leaving we noticed a dog coming out of the hotel next door， a really scruffy dog that was supposed to be white but looked brown beacause of dirt。 When we looked off the wall we saw another dog like it。dad said “Look， it‘s the dog from next door， I didn’t think it would come this far” and so mum said “It‘s not the same dog， that’s just what dogs look like here” so the rest of the way Jacob and dad and I were looking for dogs that looked different， saying things like “that one is brown， not white” and “that one is huge， and black”。 That annoyed mum a lot。
On the 22 we arived in pingyao， walked around the station and found that the doors had bycycle locks on them。 But we weren‘t the only ones。 there were at least six other people with us and all the officers inside did was lagh at us。 Some people walked up and down the doors looking for one without a lock， but there were none。 So it’s ten thirty， the guy from the hotel is waiting for us on the other side of the building， and we don‘t know what to do。 finally a conductor came and unlocked one of the doors for us。 When we finally got to the other side a guy with a sign saying “ALAWRITCHI” came up to us and brought us to a little electric cart he had waiting for us。 So we all squeezed into this cramped cart with our bags and after awhile we decide he’s not taking us to the hotel， He‘s taking us around in circles and that got my parents going all “are you sure this is the guy from the hotel” and “I thought you were following him”。 So my parents were geting all worked up until my brother said “of course this is the guy from the hotel， don‘t be stupid， I was following him” and at that moment， as if on qeue， we stoped and the taxi driver said “walk from here”。So we walked down the street to the hotel and were given a very warm welcome and some very warm tea by the owners。 We then had dinner， wich was quite good， and got our room where I fell asleep right away。
The next day we met the puppy， a tiny dog the colour of coffee full of milk。 He also had one white stripe that ran halfway across his shoulders。 He would sit and let you pet him for hours。（well，I bet he would， mum didn’t give me that long）。 after breakfast we climbed up and walked along the city walls。 When we were leaving we noticed a dog coming out of the hotel next door， a really scruffy dog that was supposed to be white but looked brown beacause of dirt。 When we looked off the wall we saw another dog like it。dad said “Look， it‘s the dog from next door， I didn’t think it would come this far” and so mum said “It‘s not the same dog， that’s just what dogs look like here” so the rest of the way Jacob and dad and I were looking for dogs that looked different， saying things like “that one is brown， not white” and “that one is huge， and black”。 That annoyed mum a lot。
Friday, May 25, 2007
Heading for Beijing today
We have been to Pingyao and now Datong since the last post. In Pingyao we stayed in the guest house with the nicest hosts you could imagine. They kept giving stuff to the kids like drinks and peanuts. There was only one internet connection for the whole guesthouse so we couldn't really stay on for very long because someone else was always waiting. We are in one of the HUGE internet cafes you find in China. Actually this one only has about 50 computers (the other 46 people are smoking). We have been in internet cafes with up to about 200 computers.
Pingyao is a beautiful little city. They have an almost intact city wall that is about 6km (don't believe the link it says 64 km) in total. You can climb up and walk but not all the way round as a couple of places have caved in. They seem to be in the process of rebuilding it. It has a much more authentic look than the one in Xi'an. The guidebook had said that large parts were missing in Xi'an(3 yrars ago) and it is intact now. It is quite obvious that it is new construction in a lot of places. The one in Pingyao had bricks falling out of the facade all over so it looked old. Apparently Pingyao was quite poor so it didn't get torn down and rebuilt like so many other places. It has a lot of old buildings and has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO. It was well worth going to. We were there for two days and rented bicycles each day to cycle round the town. It is what you think of when you think of China. It is the only place we have been to that had old architechture over most of the old town. We took a side trip to the Wang family courtyard which was a walled enclosure for about 250 members of the extended Wang family built in the 1700's. The kids got tired after two hours but it would take 3 or 4 hours to see everything. We had the option of going to the Qiao family courtyard where they filmed Raise the Red Lantern but the guy at the guesthouse said the Wang courtyard was 5 times bigger and better. I think the kids would have been fine at the small one.
The night before last we took the night train between Pingyao and Datong. We arrived at 5.15 in the morning. The kids were still tired so we found a hotel and let them crash. The first hotel we went to had indescribably bad toilets. We would have had to share and I couldn't even look let alone think of using them. We went to another hotel across the square and it seemed great in comparison. It is still dirty (I will do another post on the pollution soon) and the plaster is falling off the walls, but what the heck, I don't feel like being ill when I use the bathroom. Actually, I am sure it was once a luxury hotel. It has really nice architecture with a grand staircase from the lobby to the second floor. It is just that it was probably a luxury hotel in the 50's.
Datong is really a nasty place with two fabulous attractions. Yesterday we went on a bus tour to both. They are the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The tour was good but the two venues are in opposite directions from town so you are on the bus for a total of 4 out of 8 hours to see the sights. The grottoes were very impressive. They cover about a kilometer of cliff face but half of them are "under renovation". A lot of chinese sites are being fixed up for the olympics next year. I think that is why they fixed the walls in Xi'an. We were talking to a guy that had been to the terra cotta warriors in 2003 and he said they were surrounded by huts. They now have huge new buildings around all the dig sites. The half we saw were impressive enough to make the trip to Datong worthwhile. There were 20 caves open and about 7 of them had huge Buddhas or Boddhisatvas several meters high carved out of the rock. Some of the caves had elaborate carvings all round and a couple of them were painted as well as carved.
The Hanging Monastery was built by monks 1400 years ago by lowering themselves down the cliff on ropes. It was certainly a labour of devotion. When you are in it, you just hope it lasts 1400 and one years. It is obviously very old wood. Some of the passages are outside with just knee high rails and a drop of 20 meters off the other side. They have set out a route so you cover the whole thing but everyone travels in one direction. I am sure that in high season, you would have no choice of the pace you travelled in. There is probably just a slow shuffle all round.
We are catching the train to Beijing at noon today.
Pingyao is a beautiful little city. They have an almost intact city wall that is about 6km (don't believe the link it says 64 km) in total. You can climb up and walk but not all the way round as a couple of places have caved in. They seem to be in the process of rebuilding it. It has a much more authentic look than the one in Xi'an. The guidebook had said that large parts were missing in Xi'an(3 yrars ago) and it is intact now. It is quite obvious that it is new construction in a lot of places. The one in Pingyao had bricks falling out of the facade all over so it looked old. Apparently Pingyao was quite poor so it didn't get torn down and rebuilt like so many other places. It has a lot of old buildings and has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO. It was well worth going to. We were there for two days and rented bicycles each day to cycle round the town. It is what you think of when you think of China. It is the only place we have been to that had old architechture over most of the old town. We took a side trip to the Wang family courtyard which was a walled enclosure for about 250 members of the extended Wang family built in the 1700's. The kids got tired after two hours but it would take 3 or 4 hours to see everything. We had the option of going to the Qiao family courtyard where they filmed Raise the Red Lantern but the guy at the guesthouse said the Wang courtyard was 5 times bigger and better. I think the kids would have been fine at the small one.
The night before last we took the night train between Pingyao and Datong. We arrived at 5.15 in the morning. The kids were still tired so we found a hotel and let them crash. The first hotel we went to had indescribably bad toilets. We would have had to share and I couldn't even look let alone think of using them. We went to another hotel across the square and it seemed great in comparison. It is still dirty (I will do another post on the pollution soon) and the plaster is falling off the walls, but what the heck, I don't feel like being ill when I use the bathroom. Actually, I am sure it was once a luxury hotel. It has really nice architecture with a grand staircase from the lobby to the second floor. It is just that it was probably a luxury hotel in the 50's.
Datong is really a nasty place with two fabulous attractions. Yesterday we went on a bus tour to both. They are the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The tour was good but the two venues are in opposite directions from town so you are on the bus for a total of 4 out of 8 hours to see the sights. The grottoes were very impressive. They cover about a kilometer of cliff face but half of them are "under renovation". A lot of chinese sites are being fixed up for the olympics next year. I think that is why they fixed the walls in Xi'an. We were talking to a guy that had been to the terra cotta warriors in 2003 and he said they were surrounded by huts. They now have huge new buildings around all the dig sites. The half we saw were impressive enough to make the trip to Datong worthwhile. There were 20 caves open and about 7 of them had huge Buddhas or Boddhisatvas several meters high carved out of the rock. Some of the caves had elaborate carvings all round and a couple of them were painted as well as carved.
The Hanging Monastery was built by monks 1400 years ago by lowering themselves down the cliff on ropes. It was certainly a labour of devotion. When you are in it, you just hope it lasts 1400 and one years. It is obviously very old wood. Some of the passages are outside with just knee high rails and a drop of 20 meters off the other side. They have set out a route so you cover the whole thing but everyone travels in one direction. I am sure that in high season, you would have no choice of the pace you travelled in. There is probably just a slow shuffle all round.
We are catching the train to Beijing at noon today.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Hua Shan - scenic beauty spot extraordinaire
"Hua Shan - when you have seen this mountain you need visit no other". Jacob saw this on a travel poster somewhere in China. It is of course not quite the case, but it is fabulously beautiful nonetheless. It is another place with scenery that is a bit different than any other place I have seen. These are granite mountains - huge expanses of granite with small trees and other bits of greenery hanging on for dear life. Some emperor a thousand or so years ago wanted to visit the sacred mountain, so they hacked pathways and stairways all over - up the mountain and between the five different peaks. I would have hated to be either one of the stonemasons or (heaven forbid he decided to do this - the bearers of his litter). I wouldn't like to see it on a busy day, though. I feel horror when I think of what it would be like with thousands of tourists on top. Especially Chinese tourist who push all the time (apparently there is a campaign to train the tourists before the olympics next year and they all get stiff lectures from their guides on etiquette). I could just imagine myself or one of the children being nudged off the precarious paths.
It is possible to walk up to the top from the village below (if you follow the link I gave you it says it takes 10 hours to get up and between the peaks - these would be an absolutely gruelling 10 hours). Luckily for us there is a bus to the Austrian built cablecar. When you are in the cable car, you just pray that it is also serviced regularly by Austrians, or at least someone who knows what they are doing. It is the steepest cablecar I have ever seen and the pure granite doesn't make for lots of trees below you. There are some, but not so you get any false sense of security from them. You are painfully aware that you are hanging on by a thread (albeit an inch thick metal thread).
There are all these old men carrying loads up the mountain. One had two watermelons as well as a crate of drinks. They suspend two loads on either end of a pole and carry the pole on their shoulder. They all looked very old, but I expect it is like the Nepali porters. If you asked their age, you may be surprised how young they are because carrying heavy loads up steep mountains every day seems to take a lot of years off the end of your life. I am not sure how much they make from carrying their loads up, but I just hope beer and watermelon are really expensive on the far peaks.
From the cable car you can walk to the other peaks of the mountain. We explored the peak near the cablecar and went halfway to the second peak before we had the mutiny. Yesterday it was Heather's turn. If we had had more time, we would have probably spent a night up at the top and explored the peaks for another day. When we came to China, I thought we had a lot of time, but now we are having to be really stingy with the itenerary and feel we are running around and only brushing the surface. We could have easily spent another few weeks here to do everything we are finding we want to do. Some people seem to be trying to do China in two weeks which seems really crazy to me now.
It is possible to walk up to the top from the village below (if you follow the link I gave you it says it takes 10 hours to get up and between the peaks - these would be an absolutely gruelling 10 hours). Luckily for us there is a bus to the Austrian built cablecar. When you are in the cable car, you just pray that it is also serviced regularly by Austrians, or at least someone who knows what they are doing. It is the steepest cablecar I have ever seen and the pure granite doesn't make for lots of trees below you. There are some, but not so you get any false sense of security from them. You are painfully aware that you are hanging on by a thread (albeit an inch thick metal thread).
There are all these old men carrying loads up the mountain. One had two watermelons as well as a crate of drinks. They suspend two loads on either end of a pole and carry the pole on their shoulder. They all looked very old, but I expect it is like the Nepali porters. If you asked their age, you may be surprised how young they are because carrying heavy loads up steep mountains every day seems to take a lot of years off the end of your life. I am not sure how much they make from carrying their loads up, but I just hope beer and watermelon are really expensive on the far peaks.
From the cable car you can walk to the other peaks of the mountain. We explored the peak near the cablecar and went halfway to the second peak before we had the mutiny. Yesterday it was Heather's turn. If we had had more time, we would have probably spent a night up at the top and explored the peaks for another day. When we came to China, I thought we had a lot of time, but now we are having to be really stingy with the itenerary and feel we are running around and only brushing the surface. We could have easily spent another few weeks here to do everything we are finding we want to do. Some people seem to be trying to do China in two weeks which seems really crazy to me now.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Terra Cotta warriors -- very impressive
I finally have something to write about after slacking off a bit. Heather was talking to another traveller the other day and she said "sometimes I wish I could just be on holiday instead of having to be a tourist all the time". We decided to lay a bit lower for a day or two. It was my birthday on Friday and I got a chocolate bar and a packet of instant mocha drink which we added hot water to on the train. The first half of my birthday was still on the train coming to Xi'an from Chengdu. In the afternoon I decided that for my birthday I wanted to be alone and do whatever I wanted. Since it was 37 degrees, I went out VERY briefly and decided that whatever I wanted ran to nothing much.
Yesterday we went to see the terra cotta warriors. They are as impressive as would imagine they are. There are just so many of them and if you look, no two are the same. Each warrior has a slightly different set of clothes, hair and face. I can imagine how many potters must have worked putting the army together. Those emporers sure put on a show. It is possibly no wonder they were overthrown semi-regularly over history.
Today was really enjoyable. We took a taxi to the south gate of the old city and climbed up onto the city walls. At the top we rented bicycles and cycled around the rebuilt walls. The circuit is 14.7 Km altogether. It took 100 minutes, which, coincedentally is the exact amount of time they rent the bicycles for (without late fees). Jacob had a bit of trouble with his kickstand which made him less than blissful, but for the most part it was a highly successful outing. We had to purchase expensive drinks to keep everyone going but that is to be expected when you are actually doing something a bit active.
We had promised the kids we would rent bicycles some time in China and were beginning to think we had made a mistake. There is no such thing as a bicycle helmet in this country and the roads are a bit hectic to say the least. I think the only person I know that may be able to drive successfully in this country is my sister Philippa. All others would be mowed down in no time. The city walls were a perfect place to cycle because they are almost empty and flat all round. They are a bit bumpy, especially in the older parts. Heather said it was a bit like a computer game where you had to choose your path to avoid the hazards. I thought that was a particularly telling remark.
After the walls, we went for lunch (it had been at least 3 days since the kids had pizza so we went to that kind of restaurant) and on to the two towers of Xi'an. They are the bell tower and the drum tower . One was built to announce the beginning of the day and the other the end. A kind of city alarm clock. For a small fee, the children were allowed to ring the bell and strike the drum. At the end of the day Jacob said he thought we had done quite well as tourists, and Heather was thrilled we got to cycle, so a good day was had by all.
Yesterday we went to see the terra cotta warriors. They are as impressive as would imagine they are. There are just so many of them and if you look, no two are the same. Each warrior has a slightly different set of clothes, hair and face. I can imagine how many potters must have worked putting the army together. Those emporers sure put on a show. It is possibly no wonder they were overthrown semi-regularly over history.
Today was really enjoyable. We took a taxi to the south gate of the old city and climbed up onto the city walls. At the top we rented bicycles and cycled around the rebuilt walls. The circuit is 14.7 Km altogether. It took 100 minutes, which, coincedentally is the exact amount of time they rent the bicycles for (without late fees). Jacob had a bit of trouble with his kickstand which made him less than blissful, but for the most part it was a highly successful outing. We had to purchase expensive drinks to keep everyone going but that is to be expected when you are actually doing something a bit active.
We had promised the kids we would rent bicycles some time in China and were beginning to think we had made a mistake. There is no such thing as a bicycle helmet in this country and the roads are a bit hectic to say the least. I think the only person I know that may be able to drive successfully in this country is my sister Philippa. All others would be mowed down in no time. The city walls were a perfect place to cycle because they are almost empty and flat all round. They are a bit bumpy, especially in the older parts. Heather said it was a bit like a computer game where you had to choose your path to avoid the hazards. I thought that was a particularly telling remark.
After the walls, we went for lunch (it had been at least 3 days since the kids had pizza so we went to that kind of restaurant) and on to the two towers of Xi'an. They are the bell tower and the drum tower . One was built to announce the beginning of the day and the other the end. A kind of city alarm clock. For a small fee, the children were allowed to ring the bell and strike the drum. At the end of the day Jacob said he thought we had done quite well as tourists, and Heather was thrilled we got to cycle, so a good day was had by all.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Now that WAS a big buddha
Well we went to see the big(gest in the world?) Buddha near Leshan yesterday. He is one impressive sculpture. I am staggered by the dedication of people when I visit sights such as this, or the cave temples near Ajanta and Elora in India, or the great cathedrals of Europe. The vision of the end, not achieved within the lifetime of either the workers or the people that fund the work. This took 90 years to carve. Some of the caves in India or the cathedrals in Europe took hundreds of years from start to completion. Generations carve or build, the first entire generation probably seeing very little progress toward the goal they believe in. Today we cannot see even a few years ahead to help our polluted world.
We headed from the hotel armed with the name of the bus station we were supposed to leave from and arrive back to in Chengdu. We got to Leshan with no problem. The bus station here in Chengdu is much more formal than we have seen before. You actually buy a ticket for a specific seat on a specific bus. In the other places, we have just arrived near the bus station and been greeted by frantic people yelling the names of their destinations to us to see if that is what we are looking for. If you want to go there, you are rushed onto the bus and the bus continues. One person drives the bus, another herds the passengers. The conductor leans out the door as you are leaving town, constantly yelling the name of the destination at passersby. If someone is interested, the conductor jumps off and hurries them onto the bus. We rushed out of Yangshou the other day with only a handful off passengers. By the time we got to Guilin the bus was full and had been full for quite some time. Some people got on and some got off but the bus remained full. I am not sure how the contracting works on those buses, but the people really seemed invested in getting passengers onto their bus.
When we got to the bus station in Leshan, we were immediately set upon by touts and taxi drivers. I tend to get really anti being herded in those situations. My instinct was to get away and walk in the direction we believed the buddha to be. Too many people trying to pull you in their direction. Just then a city bus stopped and the driver obviously wanted us to get on. We decided to do it and for 4 yuan (a total of 65 cents) we all got a ride. We were not sure where we were going, but the driver seemed to enjoy having us on his bus. He kept passing other buses, honking and smiling and pointing us out to the other drivers. We figured that the worst that could happen was we went for his whole circuit and ended up back where we started. There was no language between us except gestures. It turned out he knew what he was about and he dropped us off at the gate of the park where the big buddha is.
They have built a whole thing around it and imported lots of other buddha statues to put in caves. They have also carved the worlds largest reclining buddha (we saw another world's largest reclining buddha in Thailand, but that one was free standing and inside and this one was carved into a cliff face). You walk through a very pleasant park and up and down hills, through a huge temple to get to the actual big buddha. You can climb right down beside him on the cliff face. Luckily they have installed a hand rail on the outside of the set of stairs. Centuries ago when the stairs were put in, you would have to be REALLY stout of heart to use them.
When we got out of the park, we had plans to maybe stay overnight in Leshan. We also considered taking a boat ride to see the buddha from the river. At the gates, another bunch of people were trying to get us into their conveyances. One said we could catch a bus back to Chengdu. Faced with trying to find a hotel and a restaurant there or returning back to the hostel we like (with a restaurant the kids love in the lobby and a washing machine we can use), we chose to come back. The first person that tried to get us on her bus admitted her bus was going to the wrong bus station in Chengdu. We were then going to take a taxi into town when a woman from across the street told us her bus went to the right one. We waited in her shop (buying snacks and water of course) while we waited for the bus. We were assured by 3 seperate people that we were going to the right place. When we arrived at the wrong bus station in Chengdu, I still wasn't really surprised. It so happened that there was a Chinese American from Boston on the bus with her husband. She wasn't willing to sit down and take it and she insisted that the driver make good. After a heated debate, he put us in a minivan and sent us to the other place. We would have just given up ourselves, which is what I am sure happens every day.
We headed from the hotel armed with the name of the bus station we were supposed to leave from and arrive back to in Chengdu. We got to Leshan with no problem. The bus station here in Chengdu is much more formal than we have seen before. You actually buy a ticket for a specific seat on a specific bus. In the other places, we have just arrived near the bus station and been greeted by frantic people yelling the names of their destinations to us to see if that is what we are looking for. If you want to go there, you are rushed onto the bus and the bus continues. One person drives the bus, another herds the passengers. The conductor leans out the door as you are leaving town, constantly yelling the name of the destination at passersby. If someone is interested, the conductor jumps off and hurries them onto the bus. We rushed out of Yangshou the other day with only a handful off passengers. By the time we got to Guilin the bus was full and had been full for quite some time. Some people got on and some got off but the bus remained full. I am not sure how the contracting works on those buses, but the people really seemed invested in getting passengers onto their bus.
When we got to the bus station in Leshan, we were immediately set upon by touts and taxi drivers. I tend to get really anti being herded in those situations. My instinct was to get away and walk in the direction we believed the buddha to be. Too many people trying to pull you in their direction. Just then a city bus stopped and the driver obviously wanted us to get on. We decided to do it and for 4 yuan (a total of 65 cents) we all got a ride. We were not sure where we were going, but the driver seemed to enjoy having us on his bus. He kept passing other buses, honking and smiling and pointing us out to the other drivers. We figured that the worst that could happen was we went for his whole circuit and ended up back where we started. There was no language between us except gestures. It turned out he knew what he was about and he dropped us off at the gate of the park where the big buddha is.
They have built a whole thing around it and imported lots of other buddha statues to put in caves. They have also carved the worlds largest reclining buddha (we saw another world's largest reclining buddha in Thailand, but that one was free standing and inside and this one was carved into a cliff face). You walk through a very pleasant park and up and down hills, through a huge temple to get to the actual big buddha. You can climb right down beside him on the cliff face. Luckily they have installed a hand rail on the outside of the set of stairs. Centuries ago when the stairs were put in, you would have to be REALLY stout of heart to use them.
When we got out of the park, we had plans to maybe stay overnight in Leshan. We also considered taking a boat ride to see the buddha from the river. At the gates, another bunch of people were trying to get us into their conveyances. One said we could catch a bus back to Chengdu. Faced with trying to find a hotel and a restaurant there or returning back to the hostel we like (with a restaurant the kids love in the lobby and a washing machine we can use), we chose to come back. The first person that tried to get us on her bus admitted her bus was going to the wrong bus station in Chengdu. We were then going to take a taxi into town when a woman from across the street told us her bus went to the right one. We waited in her shop (buying snacks and water of course) while we waited for the bus. We were assured by 3 seperate people that we were going to the right place. When we arrived at the wrong bus station in Chengdu, I still wasn't really surprised. It so happened that there was a Chinese American from Boston on the bus with her husband. She wasn't willing to sit down and take it and she insisted that the driver make good. After a heated debate, he put us in a minivan and sent us to the other place. We would have just given up ourselves, which is what I am sure happens every day.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Chengdu and onwards by train
We did make the train and there were no problems. I had successfully procured the right tickets. The whole process of catching a train here is really quite fascinating. Each train that is going to depart from a station is given it's own space in a waiting room where everyone gathers, kind of like an airport. This space is assigned about 2-3 hours before boarding time. When the train comes into the station, everyone gets up together and goes to the train. For the first train we took, a guard led us through a warren of tunnels. The whole body of us had to stop at one point at the intersection of two tunnels until a few people ran past frantically, presumably to catch a train about to depart. After they had passed, we carried on in procession through the tunnels until we came to our platform. For the train yesterday, our train came in to a platform alongside the waiting room and we were let out like thoroughbreds from a gate to race out onto the platform to find our cars. It really felt like we were indeed racing, even though I am sure the train would never have left with people still streaming toward it across the platform.
We are in Chengdu and it is unbeleivably polluted. It makes New Delhi seem as the Swiss alps... This morning we went to the Panda Research Station. We had been told it wasn't a zoo but I am hard pressed to tell the difference, except they only have two species of animals in cages instead of a wide variety. The kids loved it. When we were about to leave the hotel for the car to take us there, I thought maybe someone had burned toast in the restaurant they have in the lobby, but I quickly realized it was just smog outside. You can literally see it in the air throughout the whole city. It is sort of scary. We are going to see the biggest buddha in the world (this one carved in a rock face). I am not sure how many biggest buddhas there are in the world, but this is the second one to make the claim in as many weeks. Actually we are also going to make a side trip to the largest RECLINING buddha as well....
We are going to Xi'an on Friday so I can spend all of my birthday on a train, just like mother's day. Actually the trains here are as nice as any I have been on, and I have always loved train travel. They run on time and are really clean (at least when they set out -- the asian toilets are scary after 25 hours - why IS the floor wet, I HOPE it is water, you think desperately). People come by collecting garbage and sweeping the floors regularly and the berths are really not bad places to spend time - although they are not exactly comfy - they make better seats than beds.
We have so far had what are called hard sleepers. They come in sets of 6 with a small table near the window. They are open to a narrow corridor which runs down the side of the train car and each set of 6 berths has a 15cm wide table with two fold out chairs beside it in the corridor. We have promised the kids that for our last journey we will get soft sleepers. They are sets of 4 berths with (presumably) cushier mattresses in closed compartments. We will have a compartment to ourselves instead of having to share with one or two others in the hard sleepers. Actually we have only had one other person both times and have pretty much had the run of the section by sheer volume of both numbers and noise.
We are in Chengdu and it is unbeleivably polluted. It makes New Delhi seem as the Swiss alps... This morning we went to the Panda Research Station. We had been told it wasn't a zoo but I am hard pressed to tell the difference, except they only have two species of animals in cages instead of a wide variety. The kids loved it. When we were about to leave the hotel for the car to take us there, I thought maybe someone had burned toast in the restaurant they have in the lobby, but I quickly realized it was just smog outside. You can literally see it in the air throughout the whole city. It is sort of scary. We are going to see the biggest buddha in the world (this one carved in a rock face). I am not sure how many biggest buddhas there are in the world, but this is the second one to make the claim in as many weeks. Actually we are also going to make a side trip to the largest RECLINING buddha as well....
We are going to Xi'an on Friday so I can spend all of my birthday on a train, just like mother's day. Actually the trains here are as nice as any I have been on, and I have always loved train travel. They run on time and are really clean (at least when they set out -- the asian toilets are scary after 25 hours - why IS the floor wet, I HOPE it is water, you think desperately). People come by collecting garbage and sweeping the floors regularly and the berths are really not bad places to spend time - although they are not exactly comfy - they make better seats than beds.
We have so far had what are called hard sleepers. They come in sets of 6 with a small table near the window. They are open to a narrow corridor which runs down the side of the train car and each set of 6 berths has a 15cm wide table with two fold out chairs beside it in the corridor. We have promised the kids that for our last journey we will get soft sleepers. They are sets of 4 berths with (presumably) cushier mattresses in closed compartments. We will have a compartment to ourselves instead of having to share with one or two others in the hard sleepers. Actually we have only had one other person both times and have pretty much had the run of the section by sheer volume of both numbers and noise.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Yangshou until tomorrow
We haven't done much today because it has poured with rain off and on all day. All the people that tried to sell us postcards yesterday were trying to sell us umbrellas and rain ponchos today. Give the people what they want... After the 5th person approached me, I dug the rain poncho out of my little pack and every time one of them held one in my face to try to sell it to me, I showed them mine. It seemed to keep them at bay. They just thought I was nuts for not having it on, I suppose.
The kids actually love it here, looking at all the trinkets and gee gaws. We also discovered a used book store and managed to trade in 5 books for 3 plus $8. I thought it was good to encourage that sort of store. It certainly helped Jacob. He gets really freaked out when he is down to less than 3 fat books in hand. He has actually not been reading much for a day or two, I think because he was worried that he might run out before he could replenish his supply. He now has 3 1/2 fat books and one normal size one to tide him over. As soon as he had the new books he started reading them while walking down the street again. Heather got a cross stitch kit and I am working on a crochet collar from Godey's ladies book. I hope with all these reinforcments we will be armed well enough for the 25 hour train journey to Chengdu tomorrow....
The kids actually love it here, looking at all the trinkets and gee gaws. We also discovered a used book store and managed to trade in 5 books for 3 plus $8. I thought it was good to encourage that sort of store. It certainly helped Jacob. He gets really freaked out when he is down to less than 3 fat books in hand. He has actually not been reading much for a day or two, I think because he was worried that he might run out before he could replenish his supply. He now has 3 1/2 fat books and one normal size one to tide him over. As soon as he had the new books he started reading them while walking down the street again. Heather got a cross stitch kit and I am working on a crochet collar from Godey's ladies book. I hope with all these reinforcments we will be armed well enough for the 25 hour train journey to Chengdu tomorrow....
Friday, May 11, 2007
Down the river to Yangshou
We are making a side trip to Yangshou today from Guilin. It is described in the book as a "tourist mecca". Why anyone would set themselves up for this much badgering, I will never know. We have not been accosted on this level since India and even that seems low key in comparison. You can't walk 5 feet without someone trying to sell you something and heaven help you if you try to stand still. Alan and Jacob disappeared and Heather and I did as you are supposed to, i.e. stay in the same place. Unfortunately, they were taking the opposite approach and looking for us far and wide.... Heather and I were sitting ducks on the street for all the hawkers.
Apparently this is supposed to be some promised land for people getting away from it all. You are supposed to ride bicycles in the surrounding countryside. I can only hope they don't try to knock you off your bicycles to sell you things.
Last night we went to see the performance of the waterfall hotel in Guilin. At 8.30 every evening, the facade of the hotel turns into a man made waterfall. A crowd gathers each night to watch the show. It is quite impressive. Before we went, I said to Alan that it would be too bad to miss something from the Guinness book of world records when we were so close (steps away). He said that was what made you coolest, when you didn't deign to put yourself out for these touristy things. I'm not cool. I once again embarrased my son by being too enthusiastic. I thought it was really good. After spending so much time in drought ridden Australia, it seemed really over the top, but I don't think they have water problems here. Not that we would know because we don't see any local news or understand it like we did there.
Apparently this is supposed to be some promised land for people getting away from it all. You are supposed to ride bicycles in the surrounding countryside. I can only hope they don't try to knock you off your bicycles to sell you things.
Last night we went to see the performance of the waterfall hotel in Guilin. At 8.30 every evening, the facade of the hotel turns into a man made waterfall. A crowd gathers each night to watch the show. It is quite impressive. Before we went, I said to Alan that it would be too bad to miss something from the Guinness book of world records when we were so close (steps away). He said that was what made you coolest, when you didn't deign to put yourself out for these touristy things. I'm not cool. I once again embarrased my son by being too enthusiastic. I thought it was really good. After spending so much time in drought ridden Australia, it seemed really over the top, but I don't think they have water problems here. Not that we would know because we don't see any local news or understand it like we did there.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Guilin -- beautiful, weird earthgrowths....
We moved on to Guilin last night and had our first experience with a "hard sleeper". The train was quite nice actually. It was quite clean, full of starched white sheets. The berths are stacked 3 high, just like the train we were on in India from Bubaneswar to New Delhi lo those many months ago. We had one side all the way up and the bottom teir of the other side of a set of 6.
I was very proud of myself today when I managed to get tickets for Chengdu in three days with hard sleeper berths when the ticket person didn't speak a word of English. I managed to point to Chengdu in chinese characters in the guide book, circle the characters for the sleeper bunks on our old tickets and write out the date. I pointed to each of my props in turn and was rewarded with the correct (at least this is what I sincerely hope and will let you know in a few days) tickets in 2 seconds flat. Who said you need to speak the language to communicate?
We went to a lovely cave today. Now we have been to caves in 4 different countries... This one had the most stalagmites and stalegtites yet and a chamber as big as a hockey rink inside. Apparently 1000 people can fit in that chamber at once. Judging by the size of the bus parking lot, I am sure that in peak season, they test this. I am REALLY glad I wasn't there to see that much humanity. Unlike the Australians, the people here have no qualms about "cave fantasy" (naming structures). We saw such things as "bumper crop of melons and vegetables" and "mountain city in the distance" amongst others.
Heather is back on display here big time. There were two ladies that were hugging her and holding her hand through the cave. I asked her a couple of times if she was OK with it and she said it was fine. I said to Alan that as long as we got her back at the end... It is like it was in Thailand when they realized she was a girl. They love her. It is a good thing she is so social, Jacob would be freaked out completely if they tried half of the stuff on him.
We later walked over to the Solitary Beauty Peak near our hotel. Climbing up it was my exercise for the day and we had a lovely view of the city from up there. The landscape around here is totally flat and then there are these bumps rising out of nowhere. This is one of the ones right in the city. From the top you can see many others all around the area. The one with the reed flute cave must be almost hollow to fit the cave we were in inside it.
At the top of the peak there were a bunch of inept security guards trying to get someone ready to rappel down and we think collect garbage from the face of the peak (he had a wastepaper basket attached to his back). They tried several times in vain to get the rope to work for rappelling but to no avail. At first I thought it would be really interesting to see someone rappel off the peak, but after a while I was scared of how interesting it might actually be. The guy in the harness actually lost interest and went back down after a while. I am not sure if they ever got things figured out.
I was very proud of myself today when I managed to get tickets for Chengdu in three days with hard sleeper berths when the ticket person didn't speak a word of English. I managed to point to Chengdu in chinese characters in the guide book, circle the characters for the sleeper bunks on our old tickets and write out the date. I pointed to each of my props in turn and was rewarded with the correct (at least this is what I sincerely hope and will let you know in a few days) tickets in 2 seconds flat. Who said you need to speak the language to communicate?
We went to a lovely cave today. Now we have been to caves in 4 different countries... This one had the most stalagmites and stalegtites yet and a chamber as big as a hockey rink inside. Apparently 1000 people can fit in that chamber at once. Judging by the size of the bus parking lot, I am sure that in peak season, they test this. I am REALLY glad I wasn't there to see that much humanity. Unlike the Australians, the people here have no qualms about "cave fantasy" (naming structures). We saw such things as "bumper crop of melons and vegetables" and "mountain city in the distance" amongst others.
Heather is back on display here big time. There were two ladies that were hugging her and holding her hand through the cave. I asked her a couple of times if she was OK with it and she said it was fine. I said to Alan that as long as we got her back at the end... It is like it was in Thailand when they realized she was a girl. They love her. It is a good thing she is so social, Jacob would be freaked out completely if they tried half of the stuff on him.
We later walked over to the Solitary Beauty Peak near our hotel. Climbing up it was my exercise for the day and we had a lovely view of the city from up there. The landscape around here is totally flat and then there are these bumps rising out of nowhere. This is one of the ones right in the city. From the top you can see many others all around the area. The one with the reed flute cave must be almost hollow to fit the cave we were in inside it.
At the top of the peak there were a bunch of inept security guards trying to get someone ready to rappel down and we think collect garbage from the face of the peak (he had a wastepaper basket attached to his back). They tried several times in vain to get the rope to work for rappelling but to no avail. At first I thought it would be really interesting to see someone rappel off the peak, but after a while I was scared of how interesting it might actually be. The guy in the harness actually lost interest and went back down after a while. I am not sure if they ever got things figured out.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
A bus trip to an ancient kiln
We almost made a real tactical error today. We were given directions to get to the ancient kiln in Shiwan, near Guangzhou. We did all the right things to get there. The desk clerk wrote out for us where we wanted to go in Chinese. She (luckily) wrote down the name of the bus station we caught the bus at. We took the subway, found the bus station, found the bus and took it to near the kiln site. We neglected to note the bus number or even the type of bus we were on. What weren't we thinking? Not much obviously...
We had a bit of trouble finding the kilns because they are in the process of building a HUGE tourist attraction around it. I mean HUGE. It has a really large "cultural center" which is more like a temple than anything else. There is a children's playground and a huge lake with paddle boats. There is also a whole new street lined on both sides with ceramic outlets, each selling slightly different sets of wares. They have every concievable kind of chinese ceramics represented. It is not really opening for a month, so no one was actually ready to have any visitors. Most of the stores had most of their stock but there was a lot of packing material around and a lot of stores were just finishing the shelf stocking. I can imagine the tour buses will be rolling up this time next month and forever after. It was sort of weird to see the infancy. If we had come in a month, we never would have known how new it all was really. They will end up employing hundreds of people when all is said and done I am sure.
They have had kilns going for 500 years in the same spot. The whole area around it for city blocks sells ceramics. Mostly industrial ceramics, floor tiles and toilets, etc. It is kind of interesting that they have a whole modern city that grew up around an anceint business. And now they will have a tourist attraction to boot.
Luckily, we retraced our steps as we left the museum and the first bus driver I asked recognized the name of the bus station that the desk clerk had written for me in Chinese so we got back to the hotel with no problems. We had been 20 odd kilometers away in an area where NO ONE spoke any english. We will be more careful from now on.... Didn't I say that already? Now I mean it.
We had a bit of trouble finding the kilns because they are in the process of building a HUGE tourist attraction around it. I mean HUGE. It has a really large "cultural center" which is more like a temple than anything else. There is a children's playground and a huge lake with paddle boats. There is also a whole new street lined on both sides with ceramic outlets, each selling slightly different sets of wares. They have every concievable kind of chinese ceramics represented. It is not really opening for a month, so no one was actually ready to have any visitors. Most of the stores had most of their stock but there was a lot of packing material around and a lot of stores were just finishing the shelf stocking. I can imagine the tour buses will be rolling up this time next month and forever after. It was sort of weird to see the infancy. If we had come in a month, we never would have known how new it all was really. They will end up employing hundreds of people when all is said and done I am sure.
They have had kilns going for 500 years in the same spot. The whole area around it for city blocks sells ceramics. Mostly industrial ceramics, floor tiles and toilets, etc. It is kind of interesting that they have a whole modern city that grew up around an anceint business. And now they will have a tourist attraction to boot.
Luckily, we retraced our steps as we left the museum and the first bus driver I asked recognized the name of the bus station that the desk clerk had written for me in Chinese so we got back to the hotel with no problems. We had been 20 odd kilometers away in an area where NO ONE spoke any english. We will be more careful from now on.... Didn't I say that already? Now I mean it.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Guangzhou -- Starbucks still possible
We arrived in Guangzhou yesterday and we are staying in a youth hostel in a lovely neighbourhood on the river. Boy, do the chinese ever love neon. At least in Macau and here anyway. They have beautiful patterns all over the outside of the casinos in Macau in all kinds of colours of bright neon. Here in Guangzhou, we could see two huge buildings (20 storeys high) with neon facades from the restaurant last night. One building was made into a huge TV set by its neon and the other just had patterns which kept changing. There were also huge numbers of tour boats going by on the river with neon all over them. The opposite bank of the river had a retaining wall of which we could see at least 500 meters, all of it with travelling ribbons of neon running along it.
This could be any western city with a modern subway system. There are no more bicycles here than in Ottawa or Toronto. We had a rube's experience on the subway yesterday. We failed to notice the signs which indicated where we should have gone to change lines on the subway. We ended up going upstairs in the wrong place on an escalator which meant we would have to exit the whole subway system. The only way back down would be on the escalator we had just come up on. We gesticulated at the map on the wall to the security guard and showed him where we wanted to be. He actually stopped the escalator for us with a key so we could go downstairs and try again. Now that is service. It was all I could do to hold in my laughter till we got out of range.
We went to a really good museum today. Apparently they unearthed this tomb of an emporer of this region from about 100 BC when they were going to build something in 1983. It turned out to be a huge archeological find. They found 15 people who were sacrificed with the dead king. He was important enough to be buried in a 2000 piece jade suit which was impressive in itself. There were apparently several rooms packed with all sorts of common household stuff, musical instruments and treasures which were buried with him for the afterlife. Because it was discovered so recently, the archeological team was obviously top notch and the government protected everything and has displayed it really well in a beautiful purpose built museum around the original site.
The kids are happy that western food is still very much on the menu here and I have said that we really must quit going to every Starbucks we see. Actually we passed one before we went to the one we did this afternoon...
This could be any western city with a modern subway system. There are no more bicycles here than in Ottawa or Toronto. We had a rube's experience on the subway yesterday. We failed to notice the signs which indicated where we should have gone to change lines on the subway. We ended up going upstairs in the wrong place on an escalator which meant we would have to exit the whole subway system. The only way back down would be on the escalator we had just come up on. We gesticulated at the map on the wall to the security guard and showed him where we wanted to be. He actually stopped the escalator for us with a key so we could go downstairs and try again. Now that is service. It was all I could do to hold in my laughter till we got out of range.
We went to a really good museum today. Apparently they unearthed this tomb of an emporer of this region from about 100 BC when they were going to build something in 1983. It turned out to be a huge archeological find. They found 15 people who were sacrificed with the dead king. He was important enough to be buried in a 2000 piece jade suit which was impressive in itself. There were apparently several rooms packed with all sorts of common household stuff, musical instruments and treasures which were buried with him for the afterlife. Because it was discovered so recently, the archeological team was obviously top notch and the government protected everything and has displayed it really well in a beautiful purpose built museum around the original site.
The kids are happy that western food is still very much on the menu here and I have said that we really must quit going to every Starbucks we see. Actually we passed one before we went to the one we did this afternoon...
Friday, May 4, 2007
This is all in chinese....I hope I remember what the symbols mean
Hi
I am in an internet cafe in Macau and some other blogger has been using this computer so the page is being presented to me in chinese. I hope I can remember where all the appropriate hot spots are on the page so I can actually publish the post when I finish typing it. I think this may be shades of things to come in the next six weeks as we enter our Chinese (and final) leg.
My typing is actually improving from this blog, I think. I now sound more like the other typists in the internet cafes who type like the dickens (or Ann Mikula). I know I am a bit of a pollyanna when it comes to travelling, but now I love Macau. It is very European in its architecture. As we were walking through the alleyways yesterday, it reminded me of when I lived in Basel, Switzerland and I thought I could be there if it was a bit cleaner and full of Swiss instead of Macau people. It is still western in it's varied restaurants. We decided to stay tonight as well because it is still Golden Week in China and we wanted to be sure of being able to find a place to stay when we arrive.
When we got to Macau, the taxi driver could not understand where we wanted to go. We had several phone calls to a mysterious friend who spoke some english and had to consult several maps before we got to our pre-booked accomodation. It is like being back in India where you can't even resort to writing it down because we can't write chinese. I didn't expect it as soon as Macau. I thought we had one more shot before we had to worry so much about communicating. We have to be careful from now on.
Jen and Shunji came home on Wednesday and we went out for a dim sum lunch with them before we caught the ferry to Macau. They have ferries between Hong Kong and Macau every 15-30 minutes all day. They are really fast and the trip takes an hour. Apparently people come here from Hong Kong for the casinos. Since two of our party are not even teenagers yet, we are giving those a miss.
It was really nice to spend time with Jen and Shunji (especially, I think, for Jen and I). She is so easy to talk to, just like Aunty Pam and the rest of the Fergusons. We will be going back for a few days before we head home. Hopefully we will also be able to see her when she comes over in the summer with the kids if we can make it down there. Heather especially really enjoyed playing with her kids (as predicted before we went). We left some stuff there so we could lug less around China. I am not sure where we put it all because somehow our packs are still full and we left so much there.....
It has been raining both days we have been in Macau. As they said in Cairns, that's what you get for coming in the rainy season. We didn't really have much choice. It doesn't really matter because it is so warm that even if you get wet, you don't get cold.
I am in an internet cafe in Macau and some other blogger has been using this computer so the page is being presented to me in chinese. I hope I can remember where all the appropriate hot spots are on the page so I can actually publish the post when I finish typing it. I think this may be shades of things to come in the next six weeks as we enter our Chinese (and final) leg.
My typing is actually improving from this blog, I think. I now sound more like the other typists in the internet cafes who type like the dickens (or Ann Mikula). I know I am a bit of a pollyanna when it comes to travelling, but now I love Macau. It is very European in its architecture. As we were walking through the alleyways yesterday, it reminded me of when I lived in Basel, Switzerland and I thought I could be there if it was a bit cleaner and full of Swiss instead of Macau people. It is still western in it's varied restaurants. We decided to stay tonight as well because it is still Golden Week in China and we wanted to be sure of being able to find a place to stay when we arrive.
When we got to Macau, the taxi driver could not understand where we wanted to go. We had several phone calls to a mysterious friend who spoke some english and had to consult several maps before we got to our pre-booked accomodation. It is like being back in India where you can't even resort to writing it down because we can't write chinese. I didn't expect it as soon as Macau. I thought we had one more shot before we had to worry so much about communicating. We have to be careful from now on.
Jen and Shunji came home on Wednesday and we went out for a dim sum lunch with them before we caught the ferry to Macau. They have ferries between Hong Kong and Macau every 15-30 minutes all day. They are really fast and the trip takes an hour. Apparently people come here from Hong Kong for the casinos. Since two of our party are not even teenagers yet, we are giving those a miss.
It was really nice to spend time with Jen and Shunji (especially, I think, for Jen and I). She is so easy to talk to, just like Aunty Pam and the rest of the Fergusons. We will be going back for a few days before we head home. Hopefully we will also be able to see her when she comes over in the summer with the kids if we can make it down there. Heather especially really enjoyed playing with her kids (as predicted before we went). We left some stuff there so we could lug less around China. I am not sure where we put it all because somehow our packs are still full and we left so much there.....
It has been raining both days we have been in Macau. As they said in Cairns, that's what you get for coming in the rainy season. We didn't really have much choice. It doesn't really matter because it is so warm that even if you get wet, you don't get cold.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
A "pilgramage" to see a great big buddha
Happy May day to all. How many of you Morris Dancers greeted the dawn? Anybody dance round a maypole? Around here it was Labour Day. We had forgotten that when we set out for a major tourist attraction.
Apparently on a regular Tuesday morning we might have had the great big Buddha almost to ourselves, but it was full of holiday makers today. To get there we took 2 trains, two ferries and two buses. It is in the village of Ngong Ping on the island of Lantau (the one with Hong Kong airport on it). To get home we took a cablecar, 4 trains and a bus. Actually the journey, especially the ferries and the cablecar were some of the best parts of the day (not so much the subway trains and buses which we have taken everyday already but are getting to be old hands at now).
The statue, the world's largest outdoor Buddha, is at the top of a biggish hill (as are all good Buddhist sites it seems) with 260 steps leading up to it. It is a modern deal, built to open in 1993 and financed by some rich local Buddhists. It is impressive in it's magnitude. There is one of the nicest tourist trap village attached that I have ever been in. I usually hate them, but this one was exotic enough to win me over, I guess.
Apparently on a regular Tuesday morning we might have had the great big Buddha almost to ourselves, but it was full of holiday makers today. To get there we took 2 trains, two ferries and two buses. It is in the village of Ngong Ping on the island of Lantau (the one with Hong Kong airport on it). To get home we took a cablecar, 4 trains and a bus. Actually the journey, especially the ferries and the cablecar were some of the best parts of the day (not so much the subway trains and buses which we have taken everyday already but are getting to be old hands at now).
The statue, the world's largest outdoor Buddha, is at the top of a biggish hill (as are all good Buddhist sites it seems) with 260 steps leading up to it. It is a modern deal, built to open in 1993 and financed by some rich local Buddhists. It is impressive in it's magnitude. There is one of the nicest tourist trap village attached that I have ever been in. I usually hate them, but this one was exotic enough to win me over, I guess.
Monday, April 30, 2007
The world's longest escalator
Today we went back to the visa office and picked up our passports. I just love having a passport full of visas and stamps from different countries. I feel so worldly...
After the visa office we walked across town to the world's longest escalator. The kids were losing it a bit by the time we got there. As a charter member of the bad mothers club, I bought them sugary drinks and ice creams to keep them going at intervals over the course of the day. It changed the tone a couple of times.
The escalator itself is really a series of travellators and escalators. Each section moves downward in the morning and upward in the afternoon so people who live in the "mid-levels" of Hong Kong can use it to commute downtown to work. The kids felt kind of ripped off when they saw it wasn't just one long escalator stretching in one unbroken line up to the clouds, but by the time we got to the top half an hour later, they were suitably impressed by the magnitude of it. It would be a real rip off for all the restaurants and shops along the route if no one could get off to frequent them. I saw my first Krispy Kreme outlet in Asia on the escalator route as well as restaurants of all kinds. We ate Mexican.
We walked back down, passing through the botanical and zoological gardens on the way. Alan had his heart set on a ferry ride, so we took one across to get back to the Kowloon side to catch our commuter train home. They are dirt cheap. It cost $1 canadian for the four of us to take the ferry across the harbour. The same trip by subway is about 4-5 times as much.
Tomorrow we are going to see a big buddha.
After the visa office we walked across town to the world's longest escalator. The kids were losing it a bit by the time we got there. As a charter member of the bad mothers club, I bought them sugary drinks and ice creams to keep them going at intervals over the course of the day. It changed the tone a couple of times.
The escalator itself is really a series of travellators and escalators. Each section moves downward in the morning and upward in the afternoon so people who live in the "mid-levels" of Hong Kong can use it to commute downtown to work. The kids felt kind of ripped off when they saw it wasn't just one long escalator stretching in one unbroken line up to the clouds, but by the time we got to the top half an hour later, they were suitably impressed by the magnitude of it. It would be a real rip off for all the restaurants and shops along the route if no one could get off to frequent them. I saw my first Krispy Kreme outlet in Asia on the escalator route as well as restaurants of all kinds. We ate Mexican.
We walked back down, passing through the botanical and zoological gardens on the way. Alan had his heart set on a ferry ride, so we took one across to get back to the Kowloon side to catch our commuter train home. They are dirt cheap. It cost $1 canadian for the four of us to take the ferry across the harbour. The same trip by subway is about 4-5 times as much.
Tomorrow we are going to see a big buddha.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Did I forget to mention the hungry escalator?
Yesterday we had to buy Heather new Crocs (spongy clog like shoes for anyone who by some freak of chance doesn't yet know what a Croc is). On the last day in Australia we knew we had to "see" Sydney, but no one had much energy for touristic pursuits. We took the easy "double-decker-bus-tour-of-the-city" route. Every major commonwealth city seems to have one and Sydney is no exception.
After the bus tour was a visit to the Powerhouse Museum. I am not clear as to whether or not their escalators are unique in their apparently insatiable hunger for Crocs. Heather was on the escalator when it literally ATE her Croc. Luckily the back strap was not done up and she got her foot out without injury. Nothing was left of the Croc but shreds. The man at the information desk said that they "were aware of a problem with that type of shoe" indicating that Heather's Croc was not the first hapless victim. He suggested we buy new footwear and send the bill to the museum. He was not sure if we would be reimbursed. As I say, I am not sure if this is unique to those particular escalators. Anyway, I would say take care on escalators if you own Crocs....
Yesterday we went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It must have one of the most spectacular views in the world, not to mention a fine art collection. If I lived here, I would have a membership to the museum and regularly go to the 4th floor to stare out the windows. I was torn between looking at the art and the harbour. The museum is built right on the edge of the harbour so that once you are on about the third f'loor, it seems as if you are right in the water. You can no longer see any ground in front of you. It is a particularly beautiful piece of skyline on the other side and there are no end of interesting boats and ferries shuttling about in front of you.
I had not realized how beautiful Hong Kong is before I came here. The architecture on so many buildings (including the art museum) is fabulous. I guess you could say "duh" because the same thing happened to me when I visited the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. I knew about the leaning part but not about the architectural beauty part. I knew Hong Kong was going to be huge and busy and interesting, but I have been really pleasantly surprised by it's beauty. I could happily live here (if I could find some way to make a living).
After the bus tour was a visit to the Powerhouse Museum. I am not clear as to whether or not their escalators are unique in their apparently insatiable hunger for Crocs. Heather was on the escalator when it literally ATE her Croc. Luckily the back strap was not done up and she got her foot out without injury. Nothing was left of the Croc but shreds. The man at the information desk said that they "were aware of a problem with that type of shoe" indicating that Heather's Croc was not the first hapless victim. He suggested we buy new footwear and send the bill to the museum. He was not sure if we would be reimbursed. As I say, I am not sure if this is unique to those particular escalators. Anyway, I would say take care on escalators if you own Crocs....
Yesterday we went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It must have one of the most spectacular views in the world, not to mention a fine art collection. If I lived here, I would have a membership to the museum and regularly go to the 4th floor to stare out the windows. I was torn between looking at the art and the harbour. The museum is built right on the edge of the harbour so that once you are on about the third f'loor, it seems as if you are right in the water. You can no longer see any ground in front of you. It is a particularly beautiful piece of skyline on the other side and there are no end of interesting boats and ferries shuttling about in front of you.
I had not realized how beautiful Hong Kong is before I came here. The architecture on so many buildings (including the art museum) is fabulous. I guess you could say "duh" because the same thing happened to me when I visited the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. I knew about the leaning part but not about the architectural beauty part. I knew Hong Kong was going to be huge and busy and interesting, but I have been really pleasantly surprised by it's beauty. I could happily live here (if I could find some way to make a living).
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Hong Kong
NOTE: unfortunately, I don't know how to cut and paste for the links today....
Well, we have been in Hong Kong for a few days now and have made three separate forays downtown. The first was to set the Chinese visa application process in motion. We had to take a bus, a train and 3 different subways lines to get there, but we are slowly figuring out how to get places with fewer connections. At first, you just try to get somewhere, but after a while you start to understand the lay of the land better.
Yesterday we went downtown on Hong Kong Island. We visited Hong Kong Park with its aviary but we missed the museum of Teaware. We will be returning to rectify the omission...
After the park, we took the Peak Tram (worth googling - peak tram Hong Kong ...) up the hill to see the vista. The tram ride is VERY impressive in it's steepness. Jacob was a bit worried about the downhill section, but you face uphill on both journeys, so you aren't really aware of the true horror of your situation. The view from the top is great. You can see all the skyscrapers of the downtown with the harbour behind. The hill itself is all woodland and there was a hawk circling above the forest beside the building you are in.
They have more skyscrapers here than I have ever seen (including Manhattan). Some of them are really works of art. The Hong Kong Bank building (ultramodern) and the old skyscraper from the mid 1900's right next door were worth the trip downtown alone.
Today we went to the Kowloon side of downtown Hong Kong and visited the Space Museum. It proved captivating for several hours for the kids. Apparetly stars are on the science curriculum Heather is missing, so -- bonus points. We went to a pasta restaurant for lunch. By the time we left the museum it was 3 o'clock. At the end of the meal Jacob said "who ever heard of lunch at 4 o'clock" and Alan said "no-one, thats why we will call it supper". So we are home, full of pasta and ready to plan tomorrow....
Well, we have been in Hong Kong for a few days now and have made three separate forays downtown. The first was to set the Chinese visa application process in motion. We had to take a bus, a train and 3 different subways lines to get there, but we are slowly figuring out how to get places with fewer connections. At first, you just try to get somewhere, but after a while you start to understand the lay of the land better.
Yesterday we went downtown on Hong Kong Island. We visited Hong Kong Park with its aviary but we missed the museum of Teaware. We will be returning to rectify the omission...
After the park, we took the Peak Tram (worth googling - peak tram Hong Kong ...) up the hill to see the vista. The tram ride is VERY impressive in it's steepness. Jacob was a bit worried about the downhill section, but you face uphill on both journeys, so you aren't really aware of the true horror of your situation. The view from the top is great. You can see all the skyscrapers of the downtown with the harbour behind. The hill itself is all woodland and there was a hawk circling above the forest beside the building you are in.
They have more skyscrapers here than I have ever seen (including Manhattan). Some of them are really works of art. The Hong Kong Bank building (ultramodern) and the old skyscraper from the mid 1900's right next door were worth the trip downtown alone.
Today we went to the Kowloon side of downtown Hong Kong and visited the Space Museum. It proved captivating for several hours for the kids. Apparetly stars are on the science curriculum Heather is missing, so -- bonus points. We went to a pasta restaurant for lunch. By the time we left the museum it was 3 o'clock. At the end of the meal Jacob said "who ever heard of lunch at 4 o'clock" and Alan said "no-one, thats why we will call it supper". So we are home, full of pasta and ready to plan tomorrow....
Monday, April 23, 2007
In the departure lounge...bound for Hong Kong
We had a pretty ropey night last night. We left it too late to book into the transit hotel in the Changi Airport by e-mail and it was all booked up when we got here. We found the "Oasis" Lounge across from gate E11 and spent the night there. We didn't really have enough time to go into the city and back out between our flights last night and this morning.
They had these sort of chairs that were half reclining. I chose the floor option. Everyone else, the chairs from (I thought) H.E. double hockey sticks... The kids did seem to doze which is more than I can claim, but we are not exactly the most happy, functional family on the planet today. We could be worse, I suppose but then I wouldn't want to see that. It wouldn't be a pretty sight.
We are off to see Jennifer Ferguson and her family this afternoon in Hong Kong. She says she has a socially maladjusted kitten. I think it will do just fine for Heather's much needed pet fix.
They had these sort of chairs that were half reclining. I chose the floor option. Everyone else, the chairs from (I thought) H.E. double hockey sticks... The kids did seem to doze which is more than I can claim, but we are not exactly the most happy, functional family on the planet today. We could be worse, I suppose but then I wouldn't want to see that. It wouldn't be a pretty sight.
We are off to see Jennifer Ferguson and her family this afternoon in Hong Kong. She says she has a socially maladjusted kitten. I think it will do just fine for Heather's much needed pet fix.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Sovereign Hill - Gold Mining Village of the 1850's
This is a separate post, as promised, about Sovereign Hill. It is about the closest thing we have seen to Upper Canada Village while we have been away. For anyone who is not as interested in costumed historic villages as me, feel free to skip this one...
Sovereign Hill is a recreation of the town of Ballarat, Australia in its gold rush boom days of the 1850's and early 1860's. From what I could see of the fashions sported by the interpretors there, things were VERY similar to Canada in 1866. The back story of the village is the boom days, so they have a very impressive village. They have a full main street of shops as well as residences of varying income levels from a tent encampment (near the stream where the visitors can pan for gold) through modest homes. They don't seem to have much in the high end of homes (at least that you are allowed through), but they do have an old bank and a theatre. The village is built on a hill, and has two different gold mines that you can tour (one free with entrance, the other you pay extra for). The hill itself makes the physical appearance of the village interesting. You are constantly going up and down hill as you make your way around.
Like Upper Canada Village, they have a costume department which is theoretically responsible for authenticity. The village has full time and part time staff as well as up to 500 volunteers. The job of the costume department must be huge to keep that many people going. I was told by an interpretor that they have 4 full time people in costuming as well as another 3 or 4 "costume police". Apparently they can be sent home if they turn up with inappropriate hair (a purple streak was mentioned). I am not sure the police were out in force the day we were there because I noticed (1) one boy with a full costume except for the black converse sneakers, (2) a young man with dreadlocks and (3) a woman with hooped skirt and sunglasses (I am willing to concede the sunglasses if our costume department says so, but I have never heard they had them... I am absolutely positive that converse sneakers and dreadlocks were not common fashion items in the mid-1800's).
The whole village is run as a non-profit self funding proposition. There seems to be a real focus on money making. Every building had things for sale. They had school kits for sale in the school and souvenier horseshoes you can have your name punched onto in the blacksmith shop. The whole main street was full of stores which had victorianesque items for sale. The problem with this is that the lines between history and present become very blurred and the educational aspects of the whole venture are seriously compromised. There doesn't seem to be any real focus on presenting authenticity to the visitors and workers happily carry plastic handled screwdrivers in their costume pockets. In the wheel making building, they opened a modern fusebox which obviously ran the belts driving the various machines in front of us and stood there discussing it amongst themselves.
Most of the people in costume are working in the stores and the ones that were wandering around did not seem to talk to anyone outside of costume. In order to find out about the various trades and buildings, there was a schedule of presentations you could go to. You would have to plan a visit very carefully to find out about the different trades as some only had one or two demonstrations a day. I spoke to an interpretor about this and he said it made it easier so as an interpretor you didn't have to say the same thing a thousand times a day. I guess he has a point if you are a volunteer but it is really hard to find out about the place if you want to as a visitor. I know Heather (our 10 year old daughter) was frustrated. She wanted to take the extra gold mine tour. When we asked her why she wanted to so badly she said "at least that way someone will tell us about something".
I think they may have been able to get around the lack of oral interpretation if they put some written information up in the various buildings. Or maybe it is just us and the other visitors don't want a lot of information....
Having said all this, we did buy a two day ticket and return the next day to finish the village. We did really enjoy ourselves. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Some of the women are wearing really fancy clothes on the street, presumably because they represent the successful gold miner's families.
Sovereign Hill is a recreation of the town of Ballarat, Australia in its gold rush boom days of the 1850's and early 1860's. From what I could see of the fashions sported by the interpretors there, things were VERY similar to Canada in 1866. The back story of the village is the boom days, so they have a very impressive village. They have a full main street of shops as well as residences of varying income levels from a tent encampment (near the stream where the visitors can pan for gold) through modest homes. They don't seem to have much in the high end of homes (at least that you are allowed through), but they do have an old bank and a theatre. The village is built on a hill, and has two different gold mines that you can tour (one free with entrance, the other you pay extra for). The hill itself makes the physical appearance of the village interesting. You are constantly going up and down hill as you make your way around.
Like Upper Canada Village, they have a costume department which is theoretically responsible for authenticity. The village has full time and part time staff as well as up to 500 volunteers. The job of the costume department must be huge to keep that many people going. I was told by an interpretor that they have 4 full time people in costuming as well as another 3 or 4 "costume police". Apparently they can be sent home if they turn up with inappropriate hair (a purple streak was mentioned). I am not sure the police were out in force the day we were there because I noticed (1) one boy with a full costume except for the black converse sneakers, (2) a young man with dreadlocks and (3) a woman with hooped skirt and sunglasses (I am willing to concede the sunglasses if our costume department says so, but I have never heard they had them... I am absolutely positive that converse sneakers and dreadlocks were not common fashion items in the mid-1800's).
The whole village is run as a non-profit self funding proposition. There seems to be a real focus on money making. Every building had things for sale. They had school kits for sale in the school and souvenier horseshoes you can have your name punched onto in the blacksmith shop. The whole main street was full of stores which had victorianesque items for sale. The problem with this is that the lines between history and present become very blurred and the educational aspects of the whole venture are seriously compromised. There doesn't seem to be any real focus on presenting authenticity to the visitors and workers happily carry plastic handled screwdrivers in their costume pockets. In the wheel making building, they opened a modern fusebox which obviously ran the belts driving the various machines in front of us and stood there discussing it amongst themselves.
Most of the people in costume are working in the stores and the ones that were wandering around did not seem to talk to anyone outside of costume. In order to find out about the various trades and buildings, there was a schedule of presentations you could go to. You would have to plan a visit very carefully to find out about the different trades as some only had one or two demonstrations a day. I spoke to an interpretor about this and he said it made it easier so as an interpretor you didn't have to say the same thing a thousand times a day. I guess he has a point if you are a volunteer but it is really hard to find out about the place if you want to as a visitor. I know Heather (our 10 year old daughter) was frustrated. She wanted to take the extra gold mine tour. When we asked her why she wanted to so badly she said "at least that way someone will tell us about something".
I think they may have been able to get around the lack of oral interpretation if they put some written information up in the various buildings. Or maybe it is just us and the other visitors don't want a lot of information....
Having said all this, we did buy a two day ticket and return the next day to finish the village. We did really enjoy ourselves. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Some of the women are wearing really fancy clothes on the street, presumably because they represent the successful gold miner's families.
Continuing to catch up...
After the Dog on a Tuckerbox, we headed up to Goulburn, city of the Big Merino sheep. It is a really strange 3 storey high concrete merino sheep. You can climb up inside the sheep past displays about wool. It is obviously a MUST SEE for any spinner. We only bought 3 postcards and now we are arguing over who gets to send them to whom....
The next day, we headed for the Jenolan Caves. Apparently one of them, the Orient Cave, is rated as one of the top 10 caves in the world decorationwise. As I said in my last post, I am really glad we have been to the 5 cave systems we have visited in the order we have done them. We are getting quite fond of cave systems and they just seem to be getting better. If the kids are required to do projects when they get home, they are definitely going to do them on caves. I realized how much you learn about things when you hear it in 5 different places.
We actually spent the following morning back at the Jenolan Caves to do the self guided tour of one cave. It had an audioguide which really explained things we had been getting peicemeal as we visited the other cave systems.
That brings us up to date. We are going to spend the day trying to get ready to take off for Hong Kong and maybe do a bit of Sydney sightseeing.
The next day, we headed for the Jenolan Caves. Apparently one of them, the Orient Cave, is rated as one of the top 10 caves in the world decorationwise. As I said in my last post, I am really glad we have been to the 5 cave systems we have visited in the order we have done them. We are getting quite fond of cave systems and they just seem to be getting better. If the kids are required to do projects when they get home, they are definitely going to do them on caves. I realized how much you learn about things when you hear it in 5 different places.
We actually spent the following morning back at the Jenolan Caves to do the self guided tour of one cave. It had an audioguide which really explained things we had been getting peicemeal as we visited the other cave systems.
That brings us up to date. We are going to spend the day trying to get ready to take off for Hong Kong and maybe do a bit of Sydney sightseeing.
We are in Sydney...
We are in Sydney now getting ready to return the car in the morning. Unfortunately it looks like we have lived in it for a month (which we have) and I am hoping we can either (a) find a car wash or (b) get away with returning a car sorely in need of a vacuum cleaner. It has been wonderful to have our own transport around Australia. We had a bit of a scare last night when the fuel light went on in the middle of nowhere, but we managed to make it back to civilization on fumes. We were not far from Sydney at the Jenolan Caves. It has a REALLY windy road in and out. If we had actually run out of gas on that road we would have been really S.O.L. They actually close the road in one direction for two hours every day so the buses can come in. There is no way they could do it with oncoming traffic.
Catching up, for those of you who may care about what we are doing....
After Bendigo and "Australia's premier underground attraction"-- aka the Central Deborah Mine, we headed up to Echuca. It was going from the city of old trams to the city of old paddle steamers. In Echuca they have saved old paddle steamers from the 1800's and early 1900's and they run tours up and down the river on them. We went for a nice little ride. They kids got to try and steer. It was on the Murray river which is a really winding river. It must be 2-3 times as long as it would be as the crow flies because of all the twists and turns.
We camped about 6 km out of town at a free campground (from the Camp Australia book). It was really nice on the banks of the Murray river. Just as we were in the tents getting ready to go to sleep we heard an almighty crack and a branch fall to the ground. People from neighbouring campsites started wandering around with searchlights trying to see what had happened. I am really glad I didn't know then that it was only about 10meters from our tents. It was a branch that was probably about 8" across at the point where it had been attached to the trunk. It would have caused some serious damage to anyone's head it happened to fall on.....
After Echuca we headed toward the Kosciuszco National Park and the Yarrongabilly Caves. This was our fourth cave system of our trip so far. I am really glad we have done them in the order we have, because each on seems to be better than the last. We managed to camp overnight at another free campground just up the highway from the caves. It was a nice little place with a creek running through. The kids had a lot of fun collecting firewood before it went dark and had one of the campfires they have been dreaming about for ages. I am a little worried about the fire danger in this drought-ridden area, but there was a fire grate so it turned out OK. The news here is full of the lack of water issues facing this part of Australia.
The attractions of the next day included the "Marble Masterpiece" or just simply "the Masterpiece" as it is referred to by the locals of Gundegai. It is actually impressive. It is made up of more than 20,000 pieces of 20 different kinds of Australian marble by an Italian-trained craftsman. Just down the road is another attraction by the same artist called "dog on a tuckerbox". It is a really bizarre attraction. While we were there, we saw two groups taking pictures and one group in the wings with the mother combing her little girl's hair waiting for their turn.
Running out of time, more later
Catching up, for those of you who may care about what we are doing....
After Bendigo and "Australia's premier underground attraction"-- aka the Central Deborah Mine, we headed up to Echuca. It was going from the city of old trams to the city of old paddle steamers. In Echuca they have saved old paddle steamers from the 1800's and early 1900's and they run tours up and down the river on them. We went for a nice little ride. They kids got to try and steer. It was on the Murray river which is a really winding river. It must be 2-3 times as long as it would be as the crow flies because of all the twists and turns.
We camped about 6 km out of town at a free campground (from the Camp Australia book). It was really nice on the banks of the Murray river. Just as we were in the tents getting ready to go to sleep we heard an almighty crack and a branch fall to the ground. People from neighbouring campsites started wandering around with searchlights trying to see what had happened. I am really glad I didn't know then that it was only about 10meters from our tents. It was a branch that was probably about 8" across at the point where it had been attached to the trunk. It would have caused some serious damage to anyone's head it happened to fall on.....
After Echuca we headed toward the Kosciuszco National Park and the Yarrongabilly Caves. This was our fourth cave system of our trip so far. I am really glad we have done them in the order we have, because each on seems to be better than the last. We managed to camp overnight at another free campground just up the highway from the caves. It was a nice little place with a creek running through. The kids had a lot of fun collecting firewood before it went dark and had one of the campfires they have been dreaming about for ages. I am a little worried about the fire danger in this drought-ridden area, but there was a fire grate so it turned out OK. The news here is full of the lack of water issues facing this part of Australia.
The attractions of the next day included the "Marble Masterpiece" or just simply "the Masterpiece" as it is referred to by the locals of Gundegai. It is actually impressive. It is made up of more than 20,000 pieces of 20 different kinds of Australian marble by an Italian-trained craftsman. Just down the road is another attraction by the same artist called "dog on a tuckerbox". It is a really bizarre attraction. While we were there, we saw two groups taking pictures and one group in the wings with the mother combing her little girl's hair waiting for their turn.
Running out of time, more later
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Great Ocean Road and beyond
We left Melbourne almost a week ago and this is the first time we have found internet access. I must admit we haven't looked really hard...
We left Melbourne and took the Great Ocean Road which heads west along the coast. We enjoyed the drive but I must admit that we have seen A LOT of amazing coastline on this trip in other parts of Australia as well. The highlight of the trip was the 12 apostles. For those Canadians who have been to the Bay of Fundy, they are like the Hopewell Rocks except yellow instead of red and you can't walk down around them. Impressive nonetheless. After the 12 apostles, we headed north and ended up for two nights in the town of Ballarat. I will devote a separate post to Sovereign Hill, the living gold mining museum in Ballarat.
After Ballarat, we continued on the gold trail and stayed overnight in Bendigo. We went for a ride on the Talking Tram and then went down into the Central Deborah Goldmine. This day solved two previous dissapointments for Heather who had felt unjustly deprived of both a tram ride in Melbourne and a gold mine tour in Ballarat. Nice when you can solve all the world's problems for your child within the week, don't you think? Heather had the extra bonus of a little girl with whom she was as thick as thieves for the morning. It was actually hard to drag them apart when the families had to go separate ways. It is nice for her to have some social interaction with kids her own age because that is the one thing she is missing on this trip (besides her cat Domino of course). She has had two lucky encounters with her second cousin Craig on the gold coast and Sohkiak's son Yann in Melbourne. She enjoyed her time with both of those boys immensely.
I have to give up this computer now. Will fill in the rest another day.
We left Melbourne and took the Great Ocean Road which heads west along the coast. We enjoyed the drive but I must admit that we have seen A LOT of amazing coastline on this trip in other parts of Australia as well. The highlight of the trip was the 12 apostles. For those Canadians who have been to the Bay of Fundy, they are like the Hopewell Rocks except yellow instead of red and you can't walk down around them. Impressive nonetheless. After the 12 apostles, we headed north and ended up for two nights in the town of Ballarat. I will devote a separate post to Sovereign Hill, the living gold mining museum in Ballarat.
After Ballarat, we continued on the gold trail and stayed overnight in Bendigo. We went for a ride on the Talking Tram and then went down into the Central Deborah Goldmine. This day solved two previous dissapointments for Heather who had felt unjustly deprived of both a tram ride in Melbourne and a gold mine tour in Ballarat. Nice when you can solve all the world's problems for your child within the week, don't you think? Heather had the extra bonus of a little girl with whom she was as thick as thieves for the morning. It was actually hard to drag them apart when the families had to go separate ways. It is nice for her to have some social interaction with kids her own age because that is the one thing she is missing on this trip (besides her cat Domino of course). She has had two lucky encounters with her second cousin Craig on the gold coast and Sohkiak's son Yann in Melbourne. She enjoyed her time with both of those boys immensely.
I have to give up this computer now. Will fill in the rest another day.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
One in the Butt and away!
We finally got back on the tourist trail yesterday after a beautiful long weekend of doing absolutely nothing. We ventured out into Melbourne to Scienceworks--continuing on the science theme we picked up last week it seems. It was a nice science museum, albeit full of families with their vacationing children. They had an excellent display on "How to make a movie monster" (at least I was told it was excellent by the other three who went. They were so impressed they purchased the movie, which I will watch as my contribution).
We all went to another presentation on whether or not there is life elsewhere in the universe. The movie itself was a bit AMERICAN -- produced by NASA, narrated by Harrison Ford, but the theatre was impressive with its 360 degree ceiling/screen and comfy chairs which tilted right back for viewing purposes. After the movie they gave a little talk on the night sky. It is quite funny because all the constellations are upside down here. I had known about Orion because I had noticed that myself but everything else is standing on their heads as well -- Taurus, Gemini and the rest of the gang.
I am doing a bit of a happy dance right now. The doctor just called and Jacob is getting his sixth and FINAL rabies shot at noon today. He is taking one last jab in the butt for the gipper. I have learned a bit about health care around the world and the fact that for some things it is almost easier for the consumer to not have a beautiful health care system in place. In India and Thailand, you just show up (after purchasing your own rabies vaccine without a prescription at a pharmacy) at a hospital and have it injected for you (or if you have a brother in law handy who can speak the language, it can be done in the comfort of your own home or hotel room). Actually, it wasn't much more difficult for us here in Australia. We went to Sohkiak's family doctor and they ordered the vaccine from the health unit for us. It took a couple of days, but it will be done. I can only guess at the price it will be here. It will be considerably more than the $10/shot in India and $25/shot in Thailand, of that I am sure. I will be glad to have this saga finished and not have to keep track of when and where we will get the next installment. My advice -- don't let your children feed wild monkeys.
We will probably be wending our merry way toward Sydney (and Hong Kong) as of tomorrow.
We all went to another presentation on whether or not there is life elsewhere in the universe. The movie itself was a bit AMERICAN -- produced by NASA, narrated by Harrison Ford, but the theatre was impressive with its 360 degree ceiling/screen and comfy chairs which tilted right back for viewing purposes. After the movie they gave a little talk on the night sky. It is quite funny because all the constellations are upside down here. I had known about Orion because I had noticed that myself but everything else is standing on their heads as well -- Taurus, Gemini and the rest of the gang.
I am doing a bit of a happy dance right now. The doctor just called and Jacob is getting his sixth and FINAL rabies shot at noon today. He is taking one last jab in the butt for the gipper. I have learned a bit about health care around the world and the fact that for some things it is almost easier for the consumer to not have a beautiful health care system in place. In India and Thailand, you just show up (after purchasing your own rabies vaccine without a prescription at a pharmacy) at a hospital and have it injected for you (or if you have a brother in law handy who can speak the language, it can be done in the comfort of your own home or hotel room). Actually, it wasn't much more difficult for us here in Australia. We went to Sohkiak's family doctor and they ordered the vaccine from the health unit for us. It took a couple of days, but it will be done. I can only guess at the price it will be here. It will be considerably more than the $10/shot in India and $25/shot in Thailand, of that I am sure. I will be glad to have this saga finished and not have to keep track of when and where we will get the next installment. My advice -- don't let your children feed wild monkeys.
We will probably be wending our merry way toward Sydney (and Hong Kong) as of tomorrow.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
The Melbourne Vortex
We have managed to find a vortex in the southern hemisphere to be sucked into for the Easter weekend. We arrived at Sohkiak and Rachid's house in Melbourne on Good Friday at about 5 pm. We have been out briefly, once to the "bottle shop" (read liquor store) and once to the supermarket since we arrived. Other than that, it has been all about sitting around chatting, eating and doing various things on the computer. We had an Aussie barbeque last night which involved several kinds of sausages as well as lamb and kangaroo meat. We also barbequed eggplant, zucchini, giant mushrooms and onions. Needless to say, we are heating it all up again for supper tonight. It has been just what our family needed after two weeks in the car. We will probably try to force ourselves to make a foray into the city tomorrow, possibly to a museum or something....
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Heading inland, but continuing south...
It is school holidays here starting today and we have been warned about the lack of accomodation we will be experiencing. Last night we stayed alone in a free campground in a National Park. In the morning we were surrounded by kangaroos and a few different kinds of parroty birds. We went to an Information center in a small town the day before yesterday and were told about a free campground just down the road. We went and stayed there and were told about the Australian campers bible which shows every campsite, including hundreds of free ones all over Australia. We have been haunting every newsagent since trying to find a copy. We have paid nothing for accomodation two nights in a row. This is good for the pocketbook, but please, don't get too close to us (showers and laundry facilities DO NOT come free...).
We have been doing quite a lot of driving since Brisbane and not really all that much else. We did just stop off at the Parkes Radio Telescope. It is a huge (64 meter across) parabola which searches space for radio signals for astronomers from all over the world. It is a really impressive structure. We are trying to put a bit of science into the kid's diets to go along with the math and journals they are doing in the car (finally). They spent 6 happy hours at the science center in Brisbane. I am sure SOMETHING in those hours must have been on either the grade 5 or 7 science curriculum (hopefully both). Jacob also just begged us for a book about the great discoveries in science at the Radio Telescope, so maybe that will have something relevant....
We did go visit a cousin of Alan's called Kevin on the Gold Coast. We had met him in 17 years ago on our last big trip in Scotland. It was his son's birthday and Heather and Jacob went to the birthday party then we stayed for an Aussie barbeque. It was an excellent lamb and chicken affair. Heather got along with Craig (the 9 year old birthday boy) like a house on fire. I think she must be a bit trained up on that age of boys living next to John with no other playmates on the street all these years.
That's all for now
We have been doing quite a lot of driving since Brisbane and not really all that much else. We did just stop off at the Parkes Radio Telescope. It is a huge (64 meter across) parabola which searches space for radio signals for astronomers from all over the world. It is a really impressive structure. We are trying to put a bit of science into the kid's diets to go along with the math and journals they are doing in the car (finally). They spent 6 happy hours at the science center in Brisbane. I am sure SOMETHING in those hours must have been on either the grade 5 or 7 science curriculum (hopefully both). Jacob also just begged us for a book about the great discoveries in science at the Radio Telescope, so maybe that will have something relevant....
We did go visit a cousin of Alan's called Kevin on the Gold Coast. We had met him in 17 years ago on our last big trip in Scotland. It was his son's birthday and Heather and Jacob went to the birthday party then we stayed for an Aussie barbeque. It was an excellent lamb and chicken affair. Heather got along with Craig (the 9 year old birthday boy) like a house on fire. I think she must be a bit trained up on that age of boys living next to John with no other playmates on the street all these years.
That's all for now
Friday, March 30, 2007
Brisbane and beyond...
Today we are in Brisbane. Alan has taken the kids to see the science center and I am here at an internet cafe without them. Yeah...
We could not camp last night, the Caravan park was full to bursting. It appears that we are back in CIVILIZATION. and lots of the cheap accomodation was booked out by the time we arrived in Brisbane last night. We are staying in a pretty nice place. We have a big room with two single beds and one double bed. Luckily for us we have a small fridge, a kettle and an ensuite bathroom. Breakfast is included. Tomorrow morning we are going to hook up with Alan's cousin Kevin for his son's birthday party. He lives about an hour south of here.
Catching up on the travels... We left the Capricorn Caves area and headed south. We went to a place called Mon Repos which is a turtle sanctuary/caravan park. We had a campsite right on the dunes (think Sandbanks by the sea with very few people...). There are apparently several species of sea turtles which nest on the beach at this park. We went out at sunset and walked along the beach and back, but didn't see anything. In the morning, Heather was making a sandcastle on the beach and a park ranger asked her if she wanted to see a baby turtle. Apparently a nest of Loggerhead turtles had emerged not 10m from our tent in the night. You could see all the little tracks leading down to the sea in the sand from the nest, so many you couldn't count them. The rangers check for any that get caught in the nest and release them every morning. She had found 4 and let Heather touch one of them. She then released them from the nest site and watched them as they walked to the sea. Jacob luckily made it back from his shower in time to see the last two as we cheered them on into the surf.
We left there and headed for Hervey Bay. Apparently in the spring (our fall) they have 3000 humpback whales which visit. I would really like to see that sometime. We were out of season for the whales but we visited a place called Fraser Island for the day. It is a huge sand island and a world heritage site. Last night I was trying to figure out how many world heritage sites we have visited on this trip. Lots is all I came up with. The whole island is only accessible by 4wd vehicles. All the roads are pure sand. The ones through the forest look a bit lethal to drive on, but the beach itself looked like a blast. We were in a 28 seater bus cum assault vehicle. Our driver looked like he really enjoyed his job. He really opened it up along the beach. We read in the paper that they are thinking of closing the beach to vehicles because of the shorebirds. Looking at all the tire tracks, I can see that the shorebirds would have a 1,000,000:1 chance against making it through an incubation period with the vehicles roaring up and down the beach. It would make it a lot less fun for the tourists and guides if they were only allowed to drive on inland roads. I wonder how it will turn out.
We took an extra option of going in a small plane which took off from and landed back on the beach after flying around the island for 15 minutes. Alan and I really enjoyed it, but the kids didn't. There was another family of 4 and us who took the plane. There were only 7 seats. I think they didn't want to send two planes up, so they offered us 2 for one if the kids sat in one seat. It all happened really quickly and we agreed. They were kind of squished and Heather didn't have a very good view out of the windows from where she sat. The kids were less than thrilled. Way less.
We had a buffet lunch and then went for a walk in the forest. It was only about 2.2 km along a creek but it was really peaceful. Jacob was again less than enthusiastic -- "we come by plane and boat and bus half way round the world for what - to walk on a TRAIL." It was not our day for cooperators. They had fun by the end when we got to swim for an hour in Lake Mackenzie on the island.
Yesterday we left Hervey Bay and had plans to stay the night in Noosa. It is a famously NICE place to be. Too many people think it is a nice place to be. It is a real tourist town. We ran away. I hope we have not run out of beaches that are unspoilt. We were kind of getting used to them. We have really enjoyed the whole camping thing here in Australia. It is nice to have our own rented car and to be able to go off the beaten track and stay in the national parks. I think if we had to stay in the "popular" places, it would not be nearly as enjoyable. I think we may be in for a bit of dissapointment. Looking at the map, there seems to be a lot more people in the areas we are going than the areas we have been but we will see. Alan seems to be getting used to driving on the left side of the road and hardly ever makes mistakes anymore!
We could not camp last night, the Caravan park was full to bursting. It appears that we are back in CIVILIZATION. and lots of the cheap accomodation was booked out by the time we arrived in Brisbane last night. We are staying in a pretty nice place. We have a big room with two single beds and one double bed. Luckily for us we have a small fridge, a kettle and an ensuite bathroom. Breakfast is included. Tomorrow morning we are going to hook up with Alan's cousin Kevin for his son's birthday party. He lives about an hour south of here.
Catching up on the travels... We left the Capricorn Caves area and headed south. We went to a place called Mon Repos which is a turtle sanctuary/caravan park. We had a campsite right on the dunes (think Sandbanks by the sea with very few people...). There are apparently several species of sea turtles which nest on the beach at this park. We went out at sunset and walked along the beach and back, but didn't see anything. In the morning, Heather was making a sandcastle on the beach and a park ranger asked her if she wanted to see a baby turtle. Apparently a nest of Loggerhead turtles had emerged not 10m from our tent in the night. You could see all the little tracks leading down to the sea in the sand from the nest, so many you couldn't count them. The rangers check for any that get caught in the nest and release them every morning. She had found 4 and let Heather touch one of them. She then released them from the nest site and watched them as they walked to the sea. Jacob luckily made it back from his shower in time to see the last two as we cheered them on into the surf.
We left there and headed for Hervey Bay. Apparently in the spring (our fall) they have 3000 humpback whales which visit. I would really like to see that sometime. We were out of season for the whales but we visited a place called Fraser Island for the day. It is a huge sand island and a world heritage site. Last night I was trying to figure out how many world heritage sites we have visited on this trip. Lots is all I came up with. The whole island is only accessible by 4wd vehicles. All the roads are pure sand. The ones through the forest look a bit lethal to drive on, but the beach itself looked like a blast. We were in a 28 seater bus cum assault vehicle. Our driver looked like he really enjoyed his job. He really opened it up along the beach. We read in the paper that they are thinking of closing the beach to vehicles because of the shorebirds. Looking at all the tire tracks, I can see that the shorebirds would have a 1,000,000:1 chance against making it through an incubation period with the vehicles roaring up and down the beach. It would make it a lot less fun for the tourists and guides if they were only allowed to drive on inland roads. I wonder how it will turn out.
We took an extra option of going in a small plane which took off from and landed back on the beach after flying around the island for 15 minutes. Alan and I really enjoyed it, but the kids didn't. There was another family of 4 and us who took the plane. There were only 7 seats. I think they didn't want to send two planes up, so they offered us 2 for one if the kids sat in one seat. It all happened really quickly and we agreed. They were kind of squished and Heather didn't have a very good view out of the windows from where she sat. The kids were less than thrilled. Way less.
We had a buffet lunch and then went for a walk in the forest. It was only about 2.2 km along a creek but it was really peaceful. Jacob was again less than enthusiastic -- "we come by plane and boat and bus half way round the world for what - to walk on a TRAIL." It was not our day for cooperators. They had fun by the end when we got to swim for an hour in Lake Mackenzie on the island.
Yesterday we left Hervey Bay and had plans to stay the night in Noosa. It is a famously NICE place to be. Too many people think it is a nice place to be. It is a real tourist town. We ran away. I hope we have not run out of beaches that are unspoilt. We were kind of getting used to them. We have really enjoyed the whole camping thing here in Australia. It is nice to have our own rented car and to be able to go off the beaten track and stay in the national parks. I think if we had to stay in the "popular" places, it would not be nearly as enjoyable. I think we may be in for a bit of dissapointment. Looking at the map, there seems to be a lot more people in the areas we are going than the areas we have been but we will see. Alan seems to be getting used to driving on the left side of the road and hardly ever makes mistakes anymore!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Rockhampton and counting...
We are in a place called Rockhampton. We just stayed overnight at and visited the Capricorn Caves just north of here. A woman there is part of some sort of wallaby/kangaroo rescue deal. She had a 3 month old wallaby she was rearing whose mother had been hit by a car. There were tons of pretty tame kangaroos around. The kids loved it.
We stayed in a cabin on the grounds of the cave complex which had two bedrooms, full kitchen, living room with TV (5 whole channels) and couches. It was LUXURY for all of us. We haven't had that much personal space for 3 months. In the morning 8 of the resident kangaroos came by to graze in an open patch across the road from the cabin. Two of them were obviously males and they had a boxing match. It was fun to watch. They poke at each other and balance on their tails and kick each other. They also have an aggressive behaviour which involves scratching their sides. One did it, then the other, then they got right into the kicking.
It seems that every day is a new wildlife adventure for us. I think I mentioned on our first camping night, the niche of the chipmunk was taken by brush turkeys. The night before last we were staying in a place called Rubyvale and the chipmunk niche was filled by a huge flock of Rainbow Lorikeets. They were really beautiful to watch. Alan fed one from his hand (bad boy, encouraging the wildlife like that). Running out of time will explain more later....
We stayed in a cabin on the grounds of the cave complex which had two bedrooms, full kitchen, living room with TV (5 whole channels) and couches. It was LUXURY for all of us. We haven't had that much personal space for 3 months. In the morning 8 of the resident kangaroos came by to graze in an open patch across the road from the cabin. Two of them were obviously males and they had a boxing match. It was fun to watch. They poke at each other and balance on their tails and kick each other. They also have an aggressive behaviour which involves scratching their sides. One did it, then the other, then they got right into the kicking.
It seems that every day is a new wildlife adventure for us. I think I mentioned on our first camping night, the niche of the chipmunk was taken by brush turkeys. The night before last we were staying in a place called Rubyvale and the chipmunk niche was filled by a huge flock of Rainbow Lorikeets. They were really beautiful to watch. Alan fed one from his hand (bad boy, encouraging the wildlife like that). Running out of time will explain more later....
Friday, March 23, 2007
Down the Coast in a Rented Car...
We spent almost a week in Cairns and now are headed south. We rented a car for a month. We had to wait 2 days to get the car, so we rented another one for 2 days and went to the tablelands near Cairns. It POURED with rain most of the time. The kids enjoyed swimming in waterfalls and we saw duck billed platypusses (well, we saw ripples and brown backs which the guide ASSURED us were duck billed platypusses, so I GUESS we saw them). Al and the kids also saw huge lizards called river dragons.
We spent our last morning in Cairns buying camping equipment. At Woolworths we bought 2 tents for $34 each and two sleeping bags for $22 each. We also got an air mattress the size of the floor of one of the tents for the Queen of Everything (in case you are not in the know--that would be me!). Heather really wants one for the other tent. People have to take turns using the clunky old thermarests we brought with us. She is also angling for one when we get home for the big tent.... I figure that 3 nights of camping will recoup the investment of the tent, sleeping bags, campstove and air mattress. We have spent 2 nights so far. I must say the air mattress REALLY improves my outlook on camping. I have spent a lot of time in my life in tents, but I am getting too old for the cold, hard ground thing.
The first night of camping was fabulous. A little buggy, but there you go. We had the whole campground to ourselves and the red headed Australian brush turkeys that seem to fill the niche of the chipmunk in that park. One was really bold and stole the buns right off the table! We also saw our first kangaroos -- a mother and a baby -- as we drove into the campground. It is the kind of isolated camping experience that I remember from my youth (lo, those many years ago).
Yesterday we went to Townsville and went to a place called ReefHQ. It was really good. I wish I lived in Townsville so I could get a season's pass and go and stare in the windows. It has a part of a reef in a huge tank of water. It has hundreds (maybe thousands) of individual corals and thousands of fish in the tank. There are tons of different species of corals and fish. The tank is about 20 meters by 15 meters at least and about 4 meters deep with viewing windows all around. It wasn't quite as good as snorkelling, but it was really nice. We were there for 3 hours and Heather and I could have stayed longer. She made us go to every lecture (there was on every half hour while we were there). Jacob said to me at one point "you know, three months ago I would have thought this place was unbelievably good" I asked him why he didn't feel that way now and he said "I guess I am just jaded". At the tender age of 12.... what have we done!
Last night we spent in a caravan park. Lots of people and, sadly, very little wildlife. We did see kookaburras and crested cockatoos. Not special for here, but special for us.
We spent our last morning in Cairns buying camping equipment. At Woolworths we bought 2 tents for $34 each and two sleeping bags for $22 each. We also got an air mattress the size of the floor of one of the tents for the Queen of Everything (in case you are not in the know--that would be me!). Heather really wants one for the other tent. People have to take turns using the clunky old thermarests we brought with us. She is also angling for one when we get home for the big tent.... I figure that 3 nights of camping will recoup the investment of the tent, sleeping bags, campstove and air mattress. We have spent 2 nights so far. I must say the air mattress REALLY improves my outlook on camping. I have spent a lot of time in my life in tents, but I am getting too old for the cold, hard ground thing.
The first night of camping was fabulous. A little buggy, but there you go. We had the whole campground to ourselves and the red headed Australian brush turkeys that seem to fill the niche of the chipmunk in that park. One was really bold and stole the buns right off the table! We also saw our first kangaroos -- a mother and a baby -- as we drove into the campground. It is the kind of isolated camping experience that I remember from my youth (lo, those many years ago).
Yesterday we went to Townsville and went to a place called ReefHQ. It was really good. I wish I lived in Townsville so I could get a season's pass and go and stare in the windows. It has a part of a reef in a huge tank of water. It has hundreds (maybe thousands) of individual corals and thousands of fish in the tank. There are tons of different species of corals and fish. The tank is about 20 meters by 15 meters at least and about 4 meters deep with viewing windows all around. It wasn't quite as good as snorkelling, but it was really nice. We were there for 3 hours and Heather and I could have stayed longer. She made us go to every lecture (there was on every half hour while we were there). Jacob said to me at one point "you know, three months ago I would have thought this place was unbelievably good" I asked him why he didn't feel that way now and he said "I guess I am just jaded". At the tender age of 12.... what have we done!
Last night we spent in a caravan park. Lots of people and, sadly, very little wildlife. We did see kookaburras and crested cockatoos. Not special for here, but special for us.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Great Barrier Reef
We went out to the Great Barrier Reef on a boat called the Passions of Paradise. It took about 2 hours to get out to the reef. The crew was nice and tried to make the time pass. They gave Heather some colouring to do. Jacob was quite offended that he was offered some too. It was St. Patrick's Day so the crew had their hair spray painted green and were liberally applying green face paint to all and sundry.
The snorkelling at the reef was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. I could not count how many different fish and corals we saw. We had gone to a lecture the night before called Reef Teach. It was done by a marine biologist. It gave us a lot of information about the kinds of fish and coral on the reef, so we had a context for what we were seeing on the reef. It was well worth doing, especially for the kids. I think the whole experience was a lot more educational for them that way. Heather was with me for the day and she was very excited to be able to name the kinds of fish and coral. We even saw several clown fish in their anemone homes. Heather and I also saw a stingray. On the way home on the boat, Heather saw a shark.
We had about 2 hours snorkelling off a small cay(=island) then they served lunch and gave us another hour in the water at a more open water spot. It was good that we went first in the lee of the island because it eased us into the whole thing. In the open water there was a lot more swell and the current carried you along. I could have stayed for a lot longer, but the trip back was 2 hours. You can stay overnight on huge boats out at the reef, but we didn't take that option. You probably get a lot more swimming time that way. On the way home they gave everyone who had anything green on a free drink. If you didn't have any green clothing, they applied face paint and gave you the drink anyway.
Yesterday we went on the Skyrail cablecar above the rainforest. It is a 7 km cable car in three sections. It goes above the canopy of the rainforest, which is a world heritage area. In between the first and second sections you can stop at a boardwalk through the rainforest. We had a little 20 minute lecture by a forest ranger. At the second stop there is a lookout on Barron Falls. It has been raining a lot so the falls were in full flood. They are impressive but the water is very brown. I think they must have a real problem with erosion somewhere upstream. I haven't seen water that full of silt since I was in Nepal where whole mountainsides regularly fall into their rivers. There is also a small interpretive center about the rainforest.
The cable car ends at a tourist trap village called Kuranda. It is the kind of place that I want to leave as soon as I get there, if not before. Luckily our bus back to Cairns arrived about 5 minutes after we had marched through the village. Apparently there is usually a craft coop that is good, but it was closed. I may have had a different outlook on the town if it had been open.
Hopefully we will be able to put some pictures up again soon but it is difficult to find a place with the software needed for uploading....
The snorkelling at the reef was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. I could not count how many different fish and corals we saw. We had gone to a lecture the night before called Reef Teach. It was done by a marine biologist. It gave us a lot of information about the kinds of fish and coral on the reef, so we had a context for what we were seeing on the reef. It was well worth doing, especially for the kids. I think the whole experience was a lot more educational for them that way. Heather was with me for the day and she was very excited to be able to name the kinds of fish and coral. We even saw several clown fish in their anemone homes. Heather and I also saw a stingray. On the way home on the boat, Heather saw a shark.
We had about 2 hours snorkelling off a small cay(=island) then they served lunch and gave us another hour in the water at a more open water spot. It was good that we went first in the lee of the island because it eased us into the whole thing. In the open water there was a lot more swell and the current carried you along. I could have stayed for a lot longer, but the trip back was 2 hours. You can stay overnight on huge boats out at the reef, but we didn't take that option. You probably get a lot more swimming time that way. On the way home they gave everyone who had anything green on a free drink. If you didn't have any green clothing, they applied face paint and gave you the drink anyway.
Yesterday we went on the Skyrail cablecar above the rainforest. It is a 7 km cable car in three sections. It goes above the canopy of the rainforest, which is a world heritage area. In between the first and second sections you can stop at a boardwalk through the rainforest. We had a little 20 minute lecture by a forest ranger. At the second stop there is a lookout on Barron Falls. It has been raining a lot so the falls were in full flood. They are impressive but the water is very brown. I think they must have a real problem with erosion somewhere upstream. I haven't seen water that full of silt since I was in Nepal where whole mountainsides regularly fall into their rivers. There is also a small interpretive center about the rainforest.
The cable car ends at a tourist trap village called Kuranda. It is the kind of place that I want to leave as soon as I get there, if not before. Luckily our bus back to Cairns arrived about 5 minutes after we had marched through the village. Apparently there is usually a craft coop that is good, but it was closed. I may have had a different outlook on the town if it had been open.
Hopefully we will be able to put some pictures up again soon but it is difficult to find a place with the software needed for uploading....
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Cairns
We are in Cairns staying at a place called Tropic Days. It is a nice place. They have 38 beds and a pool. It has a small pool that the kids have spent a lot of time in already. We are going out on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef to go snorkelling. It was raining yesterday and the kids swam in the rain in the pool. We are going to explore town a bit this afternoon.
We are tossing around the idea of renting a car for a month here. I think we would like the freedom of going at our own pace after being on Magic Bus time in New Zealand. They don't seem to have any equivalent here, so we can't really do that anyway.
Will post again when I have something worth saying...
We are tossing around the idea of renting a car for a month here. I think we would like the freedom of going at our own pace after being on Magic Bus time in New Zealand. They don't seem to have any equivalent here, so we can't really do that anyway.
Will post again when I have something worth saying...
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Leaving New Zealand
Tomorrow morning we leave New Zealand at the obnoxiously early hour of 7 am. We have to be at the airport by 5. We leave the hostel at 4 am. I am not looking forward to spending the day with Heather after she has been woken up at that time. I think it is cruel and unusual to put an international flight on at that time. Virgin Blue, "discount" airline. That should have been the clue....
We have been in Christchurch for 2 days. Yesterday it was pouring most of the day so we all sat around and read books in the hostel. I think after whirling around New Zealand like the proverbial dervishes, we were all ready for a lazy day. Heather was bugging everyone to play cards with her, so I struck on the brilliant plan of teaching her solitaire. She played quite a bit yesterday and is at it again today. She is her grandma Jean's grandaughter for sure.
Today we went to Singapore airlines and moved our flight out of Australia back 2 weeks. We felt rushed in New Zealand and didn't want the same to happen in Australia. We will now have a little over 5 weeks there instead of 3. It also gives us less time in China. We were going to be in China for over 2 months, which is probably more than Heather (and the rest of us) could take. She may be back to a plain rice diet there. Although we can probably find some stuff that is not too spicy as well, I hope.
We posted a package of brochures and maps, etc. to Richard and Martina to hold on to for us. We picked them because Alan had bought a t-shirt for Richard in Cambodia (Richard-- you can just take out the t-shirt and hold onto the rest if you don't mind). I also mailed a present to Ruth's friend Laura who was so nice to us in Nelson...
We went from there to the Canterbury museum. It was a nice museum. Not huge, but some interesting bits. The kids went into an interactive part and were gone for well over an hour (you had to pay extra so the cheapskate adults just waited for them). There was an exhibit which had been a New Zealand/US base that had been dismantled after being used for international explorations in Antartica. There was also one of those pretend old streets from the turn of the century. They had both a penny farthing bicycle and a fiberglass horse you were allowed to ride. We discovered that even 12 year old boys can get a kick out of getting on a fiberglass horse if they are 10,000 miles from anyone they know...
If we survive the wake up call at 4 am, the next post will be from the (other) land down under.
We have been in Christchurch for 2 days. Yesterday it was pouring most of the day so we all sat around and read books in the hostel. I think after whirling around New Zealand like the proverbial dervishes, we were all ready for a lazy day. Heather was bugging everyone to play cards with her, so I struck on the brilliant plan of teaching her solitaire. She played quite a bit yesterday and is at it again today. She is her grandma Jean's grandaughter for sure.
Today we went to Singapore airlines and moved our flight out of Australia back 2 weeks. We felt rushed in New Zealand and didn't want the same to happen in Australia. We will now have a little over 5 weeks there instead of 3. It also gives us less time in China. We were going to be in China for over 2 months, which is probably more than Heather (and the rest of us) could take. She may be back to a plain rice diet there. Although we can probably find some stuff that is not too spicy as well, I hope.
We posted a package of brochures and maps, etc. to Richard and Martina to hold on to for us. We picked them because Alan had bought a t-shirt for Richard in Cambodia (Richard-- you can just take out the t-shirt and hold onto the rest if you don't mind). I also mailed a present to Ruth's friend Laura who was so nice to us in Nelson...
We went from there to the Canterbury museum. It was a nice museum. Not huge, but some interesting bits. The kids went into an interactive part and were gone for well over an hour (you had to pay extra so the cheapskate adults just waited for them). There was an exhibit which had been a New Zealand/US base that had been dismantled after being used for international explorations in Antartica. There was also one of those pretend old streets from the turn of the century. They had both a penny farthing bicycle and a fiberglass horse you were allowed to ride. We discovered that even 12 year old boys can get a kick out of getting on a fiberglass horse if they are 10,000 miles from anyone they know...
If we survive the wake up call at 4 am, the next post will be from the (other) land down under.
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