The rules are:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves
3. At the end of the post the player than tags 5 people and posts their names, than goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they done got tagged and to ask them to play and read your blog.
What was I doing 10 years ago (1998)?
1. I was in second year uni
2. I had no idea if i still wanted this degree
3. I was doing 25 hours of uni a week
4. I was commuting a minimum of 1 hour in the morning, each morning and at least the same in the evenings unless i had night lectures
5. headed to HK that year with whole family.
5 Things on my to-do list today:
1. Should probably sleep as its after 3:30 am
2. Help my friend pack stuff for his move back to Sydney
3. Eat my Marks & Spencer 4 min meal
4. Find a job
5.
5 Snacks I enjoy
1. Macadamias, cashews
2. chips and gravy
3. Sushi
4. Ramen
5.
5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Buy a small house
2. Learn to invest
3. Fly first class
4. Travel more
5.
5 of my bad habits :
1. Being lazy occasionally
2. Procrastinating
3. Mixing work and play
4. Saying things at the wrong time
5.
5 Places I have lived:
1. Sydney
2. Hong Kong
3. London
4.
5.
5 Jobs I've had:
1. Tutor
2. Research Assistant
3. Engineer
4. Lab demonstrator
5.
I tag
1. Anyone who bothers to read my blog
2.
3.
4.
5.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Damn me I'm behind
Yes yes yes I know I'm way behind on blogging about well anything. I just haven't had reliable service here in Marseille. The hotel wifi shows up but it refuses to connect. If you've noticed, I'm closer to being current with the pics than I am with the blogs. There's going to be a massive blog session when I can sit down for a decent length of time.
Just so you know, I've been keeping notes and what not so I can copy and paste. I would have done it here in this netcafe in Marseille, but the stupid PC won't let me connect up my USB drive, bastards. Not to mention the fact that it costs E3.80 an hour so I 'm not goign to do it all here. Bah!
Just so you know, I've been keeping notes and what not so I can copy and paste. I would have done it here in this netcafe in Marseille, but the stupid PC won't let me connect up my USB drive, bastards. Not to mention the fact that it costs E3.80 an hour so I 'm not goign to do it all here. Bah!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Random musing about food
I must say that London is pretty good. Today I'm staying at a friend's place in a little suburb called Teddington. Food here can be surprisingly cheap if you know here to go. Last nights dinner was a couple of roast beef dinners, for £2.50, and 2 salmon salads for about £6 from Marks and Spencer. The variety there is amazing!
Pub food isn't too bad for the most part. There's going to be the odd crap place, but with the sheer number of pubs over here, it shouldn't be too hard to find a good one. There is literally a pub every 2 blocks, especially in London central
Admittedly you have to get used to thinking in pounds.
Speaking of food I need food soon...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
May 8: Dover Castle
An amazing trip today. We visited the mighty Dover Castle, a citadel that has seen service with the United Kingdom for over 900 years. This fortress stands overlooking the famous White Cliffs of Dover.
A brief history (if you can anything I lecture about brief)
The original structure on this site was a an Iron Age fort. The only evidence of this fort was the earth embankment that surrounds the site and is now part of the defenses. The fort was long gone by the time the Romans arrived and built a watchtower on it, which still stands inside the castle grounds. There was a matching watchtower on the other cliff on the opposite side of Dover, but that one is gone. Later the Saxons built a church, St Mary de Castro, next to the Roman watchtower, which by now had lost the top 4 floors of its structure. In the 12th century, the keep and the internal curtain walls were built under orders of Henry II, using the original earth embankment to form part of the moat. After a French siege in the early 13th century, modifications were made to improve the defenses with towers added and gates modified. During the late 18th to early 19th century, massive modifications were made to the castle and the surrounding area because of fear of invasion by Napoleon. These modifications were made of changes to the walls to accommodate artillery and musketeers as well large numbers of fighting positions also accommodating cannon as well as a new fortified position where the other Roman watchtower stood, called the Western Heights.
The castle again saw service during WW2 where it was the headquarters for the evacuation of British troops after the Nazi army invaded France then it was used as the command centre coordinating the navy for the D-Day landings. In the 1960s it was the regional seat of government in case London was obliterated in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Obviously I've skipped over a large amount there, but this gives an idea on how much this place has seen.
This place is so large it's hard to do it justice with pictures.
A brief history (if you can anything I lecture about brief)
The original structure on this site was a an Iron Age fort. The only evidence of this fort was the earth embankment that surrounds the site and is now part of the defenses. The fort was long gone by the time the Romans arrived and built a watchtower on it, which still stands inside the castle grounds. There was a matching watchtower on the other cliff on the opposite side of Dover, but that one is gone. Later the Saxons built a church, St Mary de Castro, next to the Roman watchtower, which by now had lost the top 4 floors of its structure. In the 12th century, the keep and the internal curtain walls were built under orders of Henry II, using the original earth embankment to form part of the moat. After a French siege in the early 13th century, modifications were made to improve the defenses with towers added and gates modified. During the late 18th to early 19th century, massive modifications were made to the castle and the surrounding area because of fear of invasion by Napoleon. These modifications were made of changes to the walls to accommodate artillery and musketeers as well large numbers of fighting positions also accommodating cannon as well as a new fortified position where the other Roman watchtower stood, called the Western Heights.
The castle again saw service during WW2 where it was the headquarters for the evacuation of British troops after the Nazi army invaded France then it was used as the command centre coordinating the navy for the D-Day landings. In the 1960s it was the regional seat of government in case London was obliterated in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Obviously I've skipped over a large amount there, but this gives an idea on how much this place has seen.
This place is so large it's hard to do it justice with pictures.
They didn't let us take pics of the secret wartime tunnels though.
This the view of Dover city from the top of the keep. In the distance you can see the hill where Western Heights was built. If you know what you're looking for you can still see the earth embankments that were used as the defensive wall of the fort. Now it is mostly overgrown bush.
This is the south east view of the castle. On the horizon is France. On the far left of the image in the background is the old Saxon church and on the right of the church is the Roman watchtower.
This the view of Dover city from the top of the keep. In the distance you can see the hill where Western Heights was built. If you know what you're looking for you can still see the earth embankments that were used as the defensive wall of the fort. Now it is mostly overgrown bush.
This is the south east view of the castle. On the horizon is France. On the far left of the image in the background is the old Saxon church and on the right of the church is the Roman watchtower.
I won't belabor this too much cos there are links to my photos on the main page. But this gives you a bit of an idea on how important this place was.
There were some underground tunnels leading to one of the moat defences and I went own there and it completely spooked me out even though it was broad daylight. No idea why. It was one of those cramped tunnels that the brits were so fond of back then. Lights had been installed but one of them was flickering and then a pigeon flew out. It was the setting for any shock flick. *shudder*.
That said, Dover itself kinda reminds me of Gosford. Lots of single parents roaming around. It's also the gateway by sea to France as the Calais to Dover Ferry puts in here, so there were a fair number of French roaming around. On the whole it's not a bad place, fairly quiet.
One particularly funny thing I saw was a sign leading out of a driveway. It said "To avoid damage, drive dead slow". This was from a drive way leading out into an alleyway. I can only imagine at the carnage that coming out into a little used alley must have caused such that a "drive dead slow" warning had to be issued....
Monday, May 12, 2008
May 7: Hampton Court
Well, this day was a nice little jaunt down to the Hampton Court Palace. A beautiful 16th century palace ordered by Cardinal Wolsey who served under the famous (Or rather infamous) Henry VIII. Pictures weren't allowed of the interior of the palace but were allowed around the gardens. Hampton Court Palace also has a garden maze nearby.
The train passes by Wimbledon on the way down there. The ride is only about half an hour from London, a pretty quick ride.
The palace lies on the bank of the Thames and is built on some fantastically beautiful parkland. Although I must say that as much as I love and orderly garden, having everything in perfect straight lines isn't very natural.
There was some sort of restoration work going on when we were there but enough was visible to see how lovely the buildings are.
This is the Clock Courtyard, so called because of the clock that was built on the opposing wall, which is a technical marvel. It shows the phases of the moon, what constellations are currently visible, and some other info which I have forgotten. Oh it also tells the time like all good clocks do, about all it doesn't do is bake cookies.
At this point we entered the palace. The palace is separated in to several distinct sections, Henry VIII's section, the apartments of King William II and Queen Mary II, King George II's apartments as well as the great kitchens and other halls. All of them house countless works of art, beyond the rooms themselves. All of them have chambers where courtiers waited surrounded by the King's guard and an inner chamber where the King received visitors and then there were their private rooms.
The gardens outside the palace are exquisitely beautiful. This fountain has been in the palace for almost 500 years.
Here are some pics of the outside gardens
I think I'll post most of the pics of the gardens, they're just that lovely.
And here we come to the maze. This was quite a lot of fun, Bink took a couple of wrong turns (no surprises there)
And here we have the centre of the maze and big metal plaque and a spinning metal needle. An express exit was off to one side so you didn't have to go back through the maze, and get lost again.
After the maze we took a fairly leisurely stroll through the remaining gardens, not too leisurely since it was getting close to closing time.
I'll put up some of the nicer ones now. I took way too many pics ;p
And with that I will leave my picture insanity. I have heaps more pics, nice ones silly ones etc etc. I'll put links to them on the main page.
The train passes by Wimbledon on the way down there. The ride is only about half an hour from London, a pretty quick ride.
The palace lies on the bank of the Thames and is built on some fantastically beautiful parkland. Although I must say that as much as I love and orderly garden, having everything in perfect straight lines isn't very natural.
There was some sort of restoration work going on when we were there but enough was visible to see how lovely the buildings are.
This is the Clock Courtyard, so called because of the clock that was built on the opposing wall, which is a technical marvel. It shows the phases of the moon, what constellations are currently visible, and some other info which I have forgotten. Oh it also tells the time like all good clocks do, about all it doesn't do is bake cookies.
At this point we entered the palace. The palace is separated in to several distinct sections, Henry VIII's section, the apartments of King William II and Queen Mary II, King George II's apartments as well as the great kitchens and other halls. All of them house countless works of art, beyond the rooms themselves. All of them have chambers where courtiers waited surrounded by the King's guard and an inner chamber where the King received visitors and then there were their private rooms.
The gardens outside the palace are exquisitely beautiful. This fountain has been in the palace for almost 500 years.
Here are some pics of the outside gardens
I think I'll post most of the pics of the gardens, they're just that lovely.
And here we come to the maze. This was quite a lot of fun, Bink took a couple of wrong turns (no surprises there)
And here we have the centre of the maze and big metal plaque and a spinning metal needle. An express exit was off to one side so you didn't have to go back through the maze, and get lost again.After the maze we took a fairly leisurely stroll through the remaining gardens, not too leisurely since it was getting close to closing time.
I'll put up some of the nicer ones now. I took way too many pics ;p
And with that I will leave my picture insanity. I have heaps more pics, nice ones silly ones etc etc. I'll put links to them on the main page.
Friday, May 9, 2008
May 6: More touristy stuff in London
Weeeell today certainly had interesting things in store for me. A trip to the famous British Museum!! But first off there was a brief visit to a little shopping are called Leadenhall. This place is really quaint. Very Victorian. Any new shops that open keep to the victorian facade, it's quite a delightful effect. Stopped at a cookie shop and had a delicious lemon cookie and a dark chocolate cookie along with a great coffee, made my morning I tell you. Here's a couple of shots.
The cookie was thoroughly wicked.. sooo rich. Oh, that's Ingrid holding the cookie (Thanks for being the hand model, Ingrid ;p). The coffee deserved special mention for being as good as one I'd made myself.
I think the sepia texture suits the Leadenhall market. The colour image refuses to rotate properly, so I'll fix that later.
Once satisified we made our way to the British Museum, but not before I picked up a new sim card and Ingrid went to grab a laptop that her friend had given her to sell. So we went looking for a shop to sell it and lo and behold we came upon Tottenham Court Rd which just so happens to have a string of PC stores along it... fancy that...unfortunately, the stores here wouldn't take the damn thing because it was an australian machine with an Australian power cable not to mention the fact that the battery was dead. Thats what you get for being dodgy.
On to the museum!!
After a wrong turn and past a nice little garden, we made it to the museum!
I must say that the museum is one of the most amazing places I have ever been to. I got caught up in the first section I visited, a theme room named Enlightenment. Filled with artifacts from all lover the world displayed in such a way to show the period of enlightenment in the 18th century.
Got stuck in there for an hour and a half. So that I wouldn't spend my whole time in just one room, I also explored the China exhibition and the Japan one.
I took an incredible number of pics here. I'll post up a few of my faves with a few words about them, else you'd be here all day and nothing would get done.
This is the Enlightenment exhibition, the room is amazing rich in decoration. The upper gallery level of th hall is lined with book shelves which are inaccessible but lend the room at quiet dignity and library like atmosphere. The display cabinets were spaced by more bookshelves filled with old books and such.
This is one of favourite pieces. It's a nautilus shell which has been cracked open and the inner coils picked out so that it resembles a knight's helmet. It is a phenomenal piece of work. The outside of the shell has been painted to show a naval battle scene.
This is the inside of a nautilus shell where it has begun to turn into a fossil. The inside spaces of the shell have begun to fill with crystals.
This is a gold filigree case used to hold a Goa stone, a supposed cure for poisons or some such. The workmanship on this thing is exquisite.
This is a Ming Dynasty china plate. The glazing is incredibly delicate and it's really big, wider than my head.
This is another favourite piece of Ming Dynasty china. One of the things I love about it is the writing. This piece of china is about 500 years old and you can see that the written form hasn't changed in that time. Of course the entire writing system was standardised 2000 years ago.
There are many more and all are as interesting as these ones. I'll add a link to my photobucket account to the main page so that people can browse at their leisure.
Now in an adjoining chamber, there was a display of ancient clocks. I'll show a couple here.
This clock is amazing, especially given its age. It's about 2-300 years old. It was designed to roll slowly down a long dinner table and belch fire and smoke every quarter hour while some small figures move along the quarter deck. This is a true piece of art.
This clock ran on a brilliant system. A ball bearing rolled along a grooved track machined into a metal plate on the bottom of the clock. It took 30 seconds to go from one side of the metal plate to the other side. At each side a bar bounced the ball back and triggered the plate to tilt. On the seconds face, the hand would make a half revolution marking 30 seconds. According to the display, the ball bearing covers 4000km a year.
In the same room but on the other side was a display about the pacific island cultures. One particular display really caught my eye. This is a pacific island, I forget which one, sword of manhood. When a boy reaches manhood, his father makes him a sword such as this one. It's made from wood with shark teeth bound onto the shafts using hair and coconut fibres. An amazing piece of work. I certainly wouldn't want to be hit by this ugly thing.
I'll leave this one at this point. I'll write a part 2 for this day else it would be WAY too long.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
May 5: London at last
Sometimes first impressions are lasting ones, other times you have to look back over your first impression and revise you opinion of things. Such was the case when I stepped off the plane into pommyland. My initial response was to run to the nearest airline desk, buy another ticket and haul my arse back to HK. Immigration was very initimidating. Most places I've been to the border guards don't talk to you or at least minimally. Here it was like a brief interrogation, 'What are you doing here? where are you going to go?" things like that. Bink got stuck at the desk explaining how she'd screwed up a visa application as opposed to having one rejected as the border guard thought. An idiot Korean decided that he could start being touristy straight from the get go and whipped out his camera to take a few happy snaps at the airport..... in immigration, got himself yelled at by a fat brit lady. He had no idea what he was doing and had even less idea of what the fat woman was saying so the poor tour guide got yelled at too. Mighty fine start to a trip, wot.
The London underground was distinctly unappetising. It was a hell of a lot better than Sydney's poor excuse for a rail system, but it was a far cry from the incredible efficiency of Tokyo and Hong Kong's rail lines, not to mention the expense. The rail cars had manually opening vents as well as windows at the doors at each end of the car leading to the next car. These windows had a sign saying "Lower window for ventilation", which would have been fine except that meant exposing the entire car to the dust in the tunnel. I've been blowing fine grit out of my nose most evenings and early in the morning.
However getting out of the underground and onto the actual streets I felt a little better. It wasn't too unlike Sydney, just a whole lot more people. It was pleasant to walk through Mayfair and Soho. Lots of little boutique shops with exquisite products and lovely parks, not to mention the quaint houses. Got a brief guided tour of the area by our host, that was nice of him. The thing that struck me most was that it didn't smell too bad. So the first day was mostly doing the tourist thing, met up with Ingrid who just happened to be visiting Europe at the same time, 3 times in 2 years we've travelled with her now, but she's good value
Moving along, saw Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Green Park (original name huh), Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard at said palace. As a bit of an aside I had a pint of Foster's, that lovely beer that we aussies export for the pommies to enjoy because we don't want to drink it ourselves. Been a long time since I had one of those. Got busted at the Abbey taking surreptitious pics when I wasn't supposed to ^_^! , ah well.
Went and had a look a London Bridge, nice looking bridge but doesn't really compare to the old coathanger back home. Lunch/dinner (linner? dunch?) was at an italian chain restaurant along the river looking at the bridge, wasnt too bad. After the meal it was decided that we would walk to the very nearby London Waterloo a major station where Overground and Underground lines passed through. That's right they call them Overground trains here. Aaanyway, we managed to find the rail overpass and figured that it shouldn't be far away. Predictably we completely missed the station even though it was enormous and ended up at the rather unimportant station of Lambeth North whose only reason for existance was to link Waterloo and the ridiculously named Elephant and Castle station. Having reached Waterloo and realised our folly we walked back to the river and took a "flight" on the London Eye. Not too exciting bar the ridiculous picture taken by the London eye camera while we were looking in different directions, anywhere but at the camera, top stuff.
But anyway that capped off the first day
The London underground was distinctly unappetising. It was a hell of a lot better than Sydney's poor excuse for a rail system, but it was a far cry from the incredible efficiency of Tokyo and Hong Kong's rail lines, not to mention the expense. The rail cars had manually opening vents as well as windows at the doors at each end of the car leading to the next car. These windows had a sign saying "Lower window for ventilation", which would have been fine except that meant exposing the entire car to the dust in the tunnel. I've been blowing fine grit out of my nose most evenings and early in the morning.
However getting out of the underground and onto the actual streets I felt a little better. It wasn't too unlike Sydney, just a whole lot more people. It was pleasant to walk through Mayfair and Soho. Lots of little boutique shops with exquisite products and lovely parks, not to mention the quaint houses. Got a brief guided tour of the area by our host, that was nice of him. The thing that struck me most was that it didn't smell too bad. So the first day was mostly doing the tourist thing, met up with Ingrid who just happened to be visiting Europe at the same time, 3 times in 2 years we've travelled with her now, but she's good value
Moving along, saw Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Green Park (original name huh), Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard at said palace. As a bit of an aside I had a pint of Foster's, that lovely beer that we aussies export for the pommies to enjoy because we don't want to drink it ourselves. Been a long time since I had one of those. Got busted at the Abbey taking surreptitious pics when I wasn't supposed to ^_^! , ah well.
Went and had a look a London Bridge, nice looking bridge but doesn't really compare to the old coathanger back home. Lunch/dinner (linner? dunch?) was at an italian chain restaurant along the river looking at the bridge, wasnt too bad. After the meal it was decided that we would walk to the very nearby London Waterloo a major station where Overground and Underground lines passed through. That's right they call them Overground trains here. Aaanyway, we managed to find the rail overpass and figured that it shouldn't be far away. Predictably we completely missed the station even though it was enormous and ended up at the rather unimportant station of Lambeth North whose only reason for existance was to link Waterloo and the ridiculously named Elephant and Castle station. Having reached Waterloo and realised our folly we walked back to the river and took a "flight" on the London Eye. Not too exciting bar the ridiculous picture taken by the London eye camera while we were looking in different directions, anywhere but at the camera, top stuff.
But anyway that capped off the first day
Hong Kong Day 3 and 4: Distended bowels and fond farewells
After Macau, I knew (much to my chagrin) that things are going to get worse before it got better. This rather hideous prophecy was fulfilled when my cousin, Dorothy (yes Dorothy) picked us up from Wan Chai. Incidentally, we went to the Wan Chai PC centre where I picked up 2 more microSD cards for my phone, because the ones I had bought on ebay arrived at home, in Sydney, on the same day that I left. That balances out with the fact that Bink's BritRail pass arrived on the day that she left, oh the bitter irony. Anyway, having been picked up in a wonderfull airconned car, it's mid spring in HK meaning that the temp is already climbing its way through the mid 20s and the humidity hit 95% so virtually every particle of dust that you walk past/through, can and will stick to you and there are plenty of those. So anyway, Dorothy took us to Kowloon to eat at a muslim restaurant which was big shit because it featured on a TV special, and celebrities ate there and gave it the thumbs up.
That's something you gotta understand about the hongkies. If your favourite celebrity goes to a restaurant, your brain is automatically wired to do the same thereby fulfilling your fan's duty of following your idol slavishly.
In any case, that meal was massive by my standards now. Also it involved sharing the table with 5 other people, a couple and 3 girls. I gotta say that the meal was damned good, again pics will be forthcoming. Unfortunately, the meal was at 3:30pm after which we went to Hiram district. A coastal suburb well known for being a tourist haunt where there is a whole stretch along the waterfront devoted entirely to seafood restaurants each with an aquarium display out the front, albeit one where you can eat the inhabitants. Tanks filled with mantis prawns, horseshoe crabs (never knew they were edible, confirms that cantonese will work out a way to cook just about anything), cuttlefish, eels, groupers, urchins, tube shells, abalone, crabs, etc etc etc. All of the maitre d's at each restaurant we passed tried to get us to go in an eat, which of course if we had would probably have caused fatal food poisoning, not from bad food, but just from too much food, I'd have had sauces replacing my blood.
Dorothy managed to convince us to go eat some dessert with her at around 5, easily done, all she did was say the word "durian" and I followed like a brainwashed puppy. And as was the case, it was delicious. The only trouble was that at 8 we had dinner at a seafood restaurant in Kowloon with some aunts. Luckily it was seafood and I made it through without exploding. Anyway, somehow I managed not to lumber on the way back to the apartment.
Day 4
The final day of my stay in hong kong started off with some more shopping. Not that I really minded. My stay in HK was really just a readjustment in preparation for my next leg to Europe. I gotta say that I really enjoyed HK, it's strange how much I missed it. I think it has something to do with the fact that previously I was either staying at someone else's place or at a hotel, but this time it was with family and so HK got to feel a little like home I guess. Not to mention that I do find HK girls strangely appealing. Some guys like girls with serious curves and a massive rack. Personally I really like the slight willowy frames of HK girls, not to mention that they're a whole lot less annoying than mainlanders.
But anyway. towards the end of the afternoon, after much shopping as well as lunch at Spaghetti House. I must recommend this place. If you're craving something western, this is a damned good place for it. Steak is seriously expensive in HK because it is ALL imported, primarily from australia, which is quite simply the best there is. British beef, well all I have to say is mad cows. American beef, if you can call it that, is so sodden in steroids that the Health Department had to issue a warning that expectant mothers should not eat any significant quantities of it because of potential effects on the foetus. At the end of the night was another dinner, this time with Dorothy, her sister Eva and their parents who just returned from Singapore. They're a delightful family to hang around with. In a way, they're like extra sisters. The dinner was at one of the renowned BBQ geese joints in HK. Damned fine meal quite promptly followed by being dropped off at a nearby bus stop for the shuttle to the airport for a midnight flight to the UK.
This is where things started to go sour.
First off, the take off time was pushed back because another plane was delayed by a half hour and there were passengers from that flight that were joining my flight. So while we waited, Bink and I started up a game of scrabble, great time filler that. Then the next load of bad news arrived. The chinese government had decided that due to severe weather, they would close their airspace. All of it. So we ended up stuck at the terminal until 1:40 an hour later than initially scheduled. At least it was in one of the newer Cathay 747s which had those newfangled seat shells where the seat within would slide up and down without the whole seat moving. Excellent idea I must say; I had plenty of leg room, but that didn't stop my sciatica acting up, damned legs.
Following a 12 hour flight, with less than 6hours sleep, 3 and a bit movies (Cloverfield, Rambo, the Golden Companss and most of Aliens) the plane landed in the realm of the poms. That will be continued next time...
That's something you gotta understand about the hongkies. If your favourite celebrity goes to a restaurant, your brain is automatically wired to do the same thereby fulfilling your fan's duty of following your idol slavishly.
In any case, that meal was massive by my standards now. Also it involved sharing the table with 5 other people, a couple and 3 girls. I gotta say that the meal was damned good, again pics will be forthcoming. Unfortunately, the meal was at 3:30pm after which we went to Hiram district. A coastal suburb well known for being a tourist haunt where there is a whole stretch along the waterfront devoted entirely to seafood restaurants each with an aquarium display out the front, albeit one where you can eat the inhabitants. Tanks filled with mantis prawns, horseshoe crabs (never knew they were edible, confirms that cantonese will work out a way to cook just about anything), cuttlefish, eels, groupers, urchins, tube shells, abalone, crabs, etc etc etc. All of the maitre d's at each restaurant we passed tried to get us to go in an eat, which of course if we had would probably have caused fatal food poisoning, not from bad food, but just from too much food, I'd have had sauces replacing my blood.
Dorothy managed to convince us to go eat some dessert with her at around 5, easily done, all she did was say the word "durian" and I followed like a brainwashed puppy. And as was the case, it was delicious. The only trouble was that at 8 we had dinner at a seafood restaurant in Kowloon with some aunts. Luckily it was seafood and I made it through without exploding. Anyway, somehow I managed not to lumber on the way back to the apartment.
Day 4
The final day of my stay in hong kong started off with some more shopping. Not that I really minded. My stay in HK was really just a readjustment in preparation for my next leg to Europe. I gotta say that I really enjoyed HK, it's strange how much I missed it. I think it has something to do with the fact that previously I was either staying at someone else's place or at a hotel, but this time it was with family and so HK got to feel a little like home I guess. Not to mention that I do find HK girls strangely appealing. Some guys like girls with serious curves and a massive rack. Personally I really like the slight willowy frames of HK girls, not to mention that they're a whole lot less annoying than mainlanders.
But anyway. towards the end of the afternoon, after much shopping as well as lunch at Spaghetti House. I must recommend this place. If you're craving something western, this is a damned good place for it. Steak is seriously expensive in HK because it is ALL imported, primarily from australia, which is quite simply the best there is. British beef, well all I have to say is mad cows. American beef, if you can call it that, is so sodden in steroids that the Health Department had to issue a warning that expectant mothers should not eat any significant quantities of it because of potential effects on the foetus. At the end of the night was another dinner, this time with Dorothy, her sister Eva and their parents who just returned from Singapore. They're a delightful family to hang around with. In a way, they're like extra sisters. The dinner was at one of the renowned BBQ geese joints in HK. Damned fine meal quite promptly followed by being dropped off at a nearby bus stop for the shuttle to the airport for a midnight flight to the UK.
This is where things started to go sour.
First off, the take off time was pushed back because another plane was delayed by a half hour and there were passengers from that flight that were joining my flight. So while we waited, Bink and I started up a game of scrabble, great time filler that. Then the next load of bad news arrived. The chinese government had decided that due to severe weather, they would close their airspace. All of it. So we ended up stuck at the terminal until 1:40 an hour later than initially scheduled. At least it was in one of the newer Cathay 747s which had those newfangled seat shells where the seat within would slide up and down without the whole seat moving. Excellent idea I must say; I had plenty of leg room, but that didn't stop my sciatica acting up, damned legs.
Following a 12 hour flight, with less than 6hours sleep, 3 and a bit movies (Cloverfield, Rambo, the Golden Companss and most of Aliens) the plane landed in the realm of the poms. That will be continued next time...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Hong Kong Day 2: Macau
Well, today was fun. Visited the old portuguese colony of Macau. For those not familiar with the little city, it was ceded to the portuguese by the old empire as recompense for the losing some war, but has since been returned to the chinese government. Like Hong Kong, it holds Special Administrative Region status, ie the communist government hasn't run over its existing government with a steamroller. The reason for this is that Macau is the Las Vegas of China. Much of it retains its portuguese character. All signs have both traditional chinese and portuguese on it. There also remains many classic portuguese style buildings such as several churchs and a lot of old housing. Some of the old buildings have since been modernised to house stores, restaurants etc, but the exterior is mostly restored.
We arrived by ferry from Hong Kong, a trip of about 50min, not a long trip but one which takes you to another country and all the bureacratic rigamorale with immigration and customs. Quite a pain, got stuck in a queue with hundreds of other people for what seemed like forever, but was only about 25min. Mainlanders can be such a pain. Having breached immigrations and customs, we wandered out to the bus terminus. Here there are only a handful of public buses and they have to fight their way through the dozens of casino shuttle buses that block the area. There are at least 5-6 buses for each casino here all waiting to whisk you off to lose your hard earned cash. We jumped on to the shuttle to Wynn's casino, which I might add completely blows Star City out of the water and into orbit for sheer elegance and grace. The lobby to the side entrance of the place is very understated, with a pair of angelic statues fronting the entrance. It's the chandelier that is amazing. Wandering around to the main entrance and lobby to the casino itself is a display of incredible size. In the middle of the room is a dome easily 10m across. Above it is a domed roof about 15m across. The dome on the ground is engraved with the twelve constellations, Aries and the others, but also with the images of the animals super imposed on it. The dome about is even more amazing. The twelve animals of the chinese zodiac are...how can I say...emerging from it. They're not flat but actually erupt from the dome. The truly amazing thing is that both domes are designed to open. The upper dome is designed in 12 "petals" so that each petal retracts into the roof while the lower dome retracts into the floor and some show is exhibited, unfortunately, the domes were under repair today (bugger!) I'll save further comment until I upload the pics.
Next were the new and old Casino Lisboa. The old one is probably the oldest casino in Macau. The new one is across the road from the old. Nothing too impressive either one, if anything the new one reminds me of a shopping centre. The lobby looks very cheap, but it did have some interesting antiques.
Lunch came up, and we went to one of the most respected noodle shops in the city. So respected that the Singapore government issued a special invitation to the owner to travel there to perform their noodle making techniques. Pictures and descriptions of the food to follow. A stroll through the, thoroughly packed, streets and alleys of Macau we sampled such things as the local almond cookies, which I might add, are deliciously light and powdery. As well as some fresh made pancake like treats and some local durian and some sort of odd fruit that looks like garlic in a passionfruit shell but tastes like yakult. Odd yet deliciously refreshing. No pics on these since we scoffed them too quickly.
Following lunch, we took a stroll (or a hike if you ask my sister) up Fortress Hill part of the original defences of the city. Visited the museum there, lots of interesting stuff and antiques there. I learned where the english pronounciation of "tea" comes from. Yay for me!
After another little stroll, followed by a quick trip back to the ferry terminal to catch another casino shuttle we arrived at the Venetian casino. The largest casino in Asia. Within lies a replica of Venice, an enormous arcade filled with shops, bridges, walkways and a replica of the waterway replete with gondola and gondoliers, all westerners to keep in the theme and some of who can sing! Lots of entertainment to see, such as statue impressionists, jugglers, stilt walkers as well as a little song and dance show with some nice operatic performances. After an hour or so here, it was dinner time. Rather than describe the dishes, I'll upload some pics and comment on them then.
After the rather filling dinner, another nice stroll to another casino for a brief respite. I lost HK$40, but my sis won some. Then back on to the ferry for another 50min trip back to HK and a 15min wait in immigration. Some stupid mainlander had something wrong with his passport or entry permit or some other piece of bs paper work, the customs officer gave him a talking to, while i was stuck waiting. I even jumped to another queue but by that idiot officer was finished the equally idiotic mainlander so I went back to that queue...idiots... Leaving the terminal, we dived 3 floors underground to reach Sheung Wan MTR terminus for a 20 min ride back to Quarry Bay.
Tomorrow, shopping... then lunch with cousin(s) [someone's probably gonna make a comment about the vast numbers of cousins that I have] followed by who knows what the hell.
We arrived by ferry from Hong Kong, a trip of about 50min, not a long trip but one which takes you to another country and all the bureacratic rigamorale with immigration and customs. Quite a pain, got stuck in a queue with hundreds of other people for what seemed like forever, but was only about 25min. Mainlanders can be such a pain. Having breached immigrations and customs, we wandered out to the bus terminus. Here there are only a handful of public buses and they have to fight their way through the dozens of casino shuttle buses that block the area. There are at least 5-6 buses for each casino here all waiting to whisk you off to lose your hard earned cash. We jumped on to the shuttle to Wynn's casino, which I might add completely blows Star City out of the water and into orbit for sheer elegance and grace. The lobby to the side entrance of the place is very understated, with a pair of angelic statues fronting the entrance. It's the chandelier that is amazing. Wandering around to the main entrance and lobby to the casino itself is a display of incredible size. In the middle of the room is a dome easily 10m across. Above it is a domed roof about 15m across. The dome on the ground is engraved with the twelve constellations, Aries and the others, but also with the images of the animals super imposed on it. The dome about is even more amazing. The twelve animals of the chinese zodiac are...how can I say...emerging from it. They're not flat but actually erupt from the dome. The truly amazing thing is that both domes are designed to open. The upper dome is designed in 12 "petals" so that each petal retracts into the roof while the lower dome retracts into the floor and some show is exhibited, unfortunately, the domes were under repair today (bugger!) I'll save further comment until I upload the pics.
Next were the new and old Casino Lisboa. The old one is probably the oldest casino in Macau. The new one is across the road from the old. Nothing too impressive either one, if anything the new one reminds me of a shopping centre. The lobby looks very cheap, but it did have some interesting antiques.
Lunch came up, and we went to one of the most respected noodle shops in the city. So respected that the Singapore government issued a special invitation to the owner to travel there to perform their noodle making techniques. Pictures and descriptions of the food to follow. A stroll through the, thoroughly packed, streets and alleys of Macau we sampled such things as the local almond cookies, which I might add, are deliciously light and powdery. As well as some fresh made pancake like treats and some local durian and some sort of odd fruit that looks like garlic in a passionfruit shell but tastes like yakult. Odd yet deliciously refreshing. No pics on these since we scoffed them too quickly.
Following lunch, we took a stroll (or a hike if you ask my sister) up Fortress Hill part of the original defences of the city. Visited the museum there, lots of interesting stuff and antiques there. I learned where the english pronounciation of "tea" comes from. Yay for me!
After another little stroll, followed by a quick trip back to the ferry terminal to catch another casino shuttle we arrived at the Venetian casino. The largest casino in Asia. Within lies a replica of Venice, an enormous arcade filled with shops, bridges, walkways and a replica of the waterway replete with gondola and gondoliers, all westerners to keep in the theme and some of who can sing! Lots of entertainment to see, such as statue impressionists, jugglers, stilt walkers as well as a little song and dance show with some nice operatic performances. After an hour or so here, it was dinner time. Rather than describe the dishes, I'll upload some pics and comment on them then.
After the rather filling dinner, another nice stroll to another casino for a brief respite. I lost HK$40, but my sis won some. Then back on to the ferry for another 50min trip back to HK and a 15min wait in immigration. Some stupid mainlander had something wrong with his passport or entry permit or some other piece of bs paper work, the customs officer gave him a talking to, while i was stuck waiting. I even jumped to another queue but by that idiot officer was finished the equally idiotic mainlander so I went back to that queue...idiots... Leaving the terminal, we dived 3 floors underground to reach Sheung Wan MTR terminus for a 20 min ride back to Quarry Bay.
Tomorrow, shopping... then lunch with cousin(s) [someone's probably gonna make a comment about the vast numbers of cousins that I have] followed by who knows what the hell.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Day 1: Hong Kong
At long last the trip begins, but not with the best of beginnings. First I had only about 2hours sleep since I absolutely had to check everything over again. I had a 7:30 flight so I ended up at the airport at 6ish, checked my bags in and pretty much went through the gate after farewells to the folks and my bro. I'm gonna miss that lad as he's off to kimchi-land, Korea. To start the trip off, my flight is then delayed by another late arriving flight so we didn't take off for an extra 45min. And as it turned out, it was one of those old airbus A330s. I like airbuses but this one was due for retirement.
Food was surprisingly good, had an omelette for breakfast with a sausage, lunch was a selection of some sort of fried chicken, hake and a vegetarian pasta dish, so I went for the hake. The inflight entertainment was crap. It completely didn't match what was written in the guide, so I gave up on that and had a series of catnaps repeatedly broken by my sciatica in my left side acting up constantly, not pleasant at all. After lunch watched some stuff on my laptop hoping to while the time until landing, but ended up using all of the battery instead with an hour and a half left before landing, shit...
Finally landed! I've often complained that hk is only good for 2 things, eating and shopping and that's true, but landing back in this muggy city I've come to realise that I actually did miss the chaos and oddities which make this city what it is. The people who sleep in short snatches, the constant noise, the crowded streets. The other bonus is that it's spring time here. Today was a balmy 27 degrees (or 81 degrees Fahrenheit for you americans out there) and thoroughly humid so I was sweating enjoyably wandering around the streets looking for food. Unfortunately, having found and consumed said food my severe lack of sleep has caught up to me and I must to sleep. Tomorrow -> MACAU
P.S will have to post pictures at a later point since I'm borrowing someone elses internet....
Food was surprisingly good, had an omelette for breakfast with a sausage, lunch was a selection of some sort of fried chicken, hake and a vegetarian pasta dish, so I went for the hake. The inflight entertainment was crap. It completely didn't match what was written in the guide, so I gave up on that and had a series of catnaps repeatedly broken by my sciatica in my left side acting up constantly, not pleasant at all. After lunch watched some stuff on my laptop hoping to while the time until landing, but ended up using all of the battery instead with an hour and a half left before landing, shit...
Finally landed! I've often complained that hk is only good for 2 things, eating and shopping and that's true, but landing back in this muggy city I've come to realise that I actually did miss the chaos and oddities which make this city what it is. The people who sleep in short snatches, the constant noise, the crowded streets. The other bonus is that it's spring time here. Today was a balmy 27 degrees (or 81 degrees Fahrenheit for you americans out there) and thoroughly humid so I was sweating enjoyably wandering around the streets looking for food. Unfortunately, having found and consumed said food my severe lack of sleep has caught up to me and I must to sleep. Tomorrow -> MACAU
P.S will have to post pictures at a later point since I'm borrowing someone elses internet....
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