6 Week Gap Year

Tuesday 15th January 2008 The Pyramids

2008-02-25T15:57:00.002Z

Tuesday 15 January

Pic. 1 Couple of old relics (& 2 Pyramids)

Pic. 2 Some of the old (King)Tut available from hawkers.

The day of the Pyramids dawns. We are collected promptly from reception at 4.20 and herded onto a bus for the airport. Through the airport to departure gate was easy but at the departure gate it is bedlam. They allow 2 or 3 flights’ passengers to go through simultaneously and only have 2 people checking boarding cards. So we have a scrum trying to go through 2 small doors and then confusion over which bus to get on to take you to the correct plane for the Cairo flight!
We arrive via the correct flight at Cairo airport and decamp to a waiting tour bus and our guide for the day. Mahmud is a well educated and qualified Egyptologist and so should provide us with plenty of information today. We make our way through the suburbs of Cairo including Heliopolis which is the wealthiest area, past the Mohammed Ali Mosque and Citadel and past the huge area of Tombs and Tombs of the Caliphs in which wealthy Egyptian families lay their dead. We cross the Nile and into the suburb or to be more exact, city of Giza and catch our first tantalising glimpse of mist shrouded El Ahram or the Pyramids through gaps in the buildings. Actually it’s not mist it’s the pollution smog of Cairo but it sounds more romantic and ethereal to say mist. DSCN4799
The Pyramids
On arrival to the entrance of the Pyramid site we have to alight from the coach collect our entrance ticket and pass through security and a metal detector then reboard the coach. We then take a long drive around the northern and western perimeter of the Pyramids to a purpose built viewing area which we are assured is the best view available of them. This may be so but they are enveloped in a grey blue pollution haze which completely ruins the atmosphere that should surround these fantastical monoliths. Everybody rushes off the coach and is immediately enveloped by a herd of local “businessmen” offering to be in or to take your photo with the Pyramids in the background. They all offer advice as to the best place to be or the best way to take your photo and then where to buy the best high quality souvenir of your visit. (his stall selling knick knacks with ‘Made in China’ on the bottom) I know this sounds like complaining but I’m trying to paint a picture of the reality of the situation. If you are firm with your ‘La shukran’ , no thank you they move on to the next vict….. Visitor.
Well here is the perception or feeling I got standing there and not the reality of my immediate surroundings. Ludy and I are standing before 3 huge structures, the tallest of which is 449 feet high and which date back 4,500 years. That is, they have been standing there for longer than before the birth of Christ than after! And scientists and archaeologists are both in agreement that the dating is only approximate and they could be slightly older. We are standing in front of ancient history and achievement, huge tombs, monuments commemorating the life and death of ancient Egyptian Kings or Pharoahs, built for them by their people with nothing more advanced in construction terms than stone, wood, rope, muscle power and brains. The Great Pyramid of Cheops alone took over 20 years to build. This is truly one of those moments in your life where your jaw drops in disbelief of the size and beauty of your view.
We rejoin the coach to be taken to the base of the Pyramids and to enjoy a couple of hours of free time wandering around the site. DSCN4839 It’s at this time I begin to realise how many people are here. There was about 20 or 30 coaches at the viewing point and there seems to be many more at the Pyramids themselves. By my reckoning there must be in excess of 4000 visitors milling around the site at any one time.
We head off to the Museum which houses the boat or Solar Barque which was to allow Cheops resurrection in the after life. DSCN4831 The Solar Barque was discovered in 1954 completely dismantled in a pit on the south side of the great pyramid. It has subsequently been reassembled without the aid of nails by means of ropes and pegs and is now displayed in a temperature controlled building and environment. We even have to wear special canvas sack shoe covers to help reduce sand and dust exposure inside! From here we walk again past the foot of Cheops and each block of stone has to be approximately 3feet high near the base. It used to be all the rage to climb the Pyramids to the top but this is no longer permitted due to erosion and health and safety.. All the original limestone casing which was used to give the Pyramid a brilliant white smooth finish has long since worn away but there is still a small cap of it on the second pyramid of Chephren (Cheops’ son) to indicate how it must have looked. Checking our watches we discover we now only have around 20 minutes left before we have to return to the coach and we haven’t yet been inside a pyramid. I was determined that we should do so as we might never visit again. Our guide had said that we could visit the inside of both the Great Pyramid and the middle Pyramid but the charge for doing so was EG£100 or EG£40 respectively. He advised that there was little difference between the two so visit the cheaper! As we were racing from one to the other we were approached by another purveyor of fine pyramid antiquities and genuine Bedouin headgear all for nothing more than his gift to us for visiting his most beautiful and maybe a small baksheesh from us to him for his generosity to us. Our need for haste was being impeded by his ability to act like a limpet to Ludy’s arm and his need to rearrange her also unique and genuine Bedouin headgear she was already wearing. I’m afraid after more than at least half a dozen La shukran’s I lost my temper and yold him to go forth and multiply. His reply ? “Yea, whatever! “ How very Vicky Pollard. We get to the entrance of Chephren’s Pyramid only to find the ticket office is 200 yards away so I sprint over and get 2. The security guard now says no cameras inside so I take the battery and the memory card out but he still won’t let us in. So reluctantly I leave the camera with him and he gives me a receipt to collect it on our return. (hopefully) Not hopefully we’ll return, hopefully a, the camera will be there and b, he’ll return it. Ludy goes first, reluctantly I think and we descend at a fairly steep angle along a sort of duckboard. As we proceed down the air starts to get a little ’thicker’ and then the passage levels out. Did I mention that the passage is only 3 feet high? No I thought not. The level passage allows us to stand up and then immediately ahead only about 40 feet or so is an upward slope, the same height as the downward one. This goes upwards for some distance and poor Ludy is now struggling. We reach another level passage where you can stand upright. The air is stale and she is still recovering from her bronchitis and has now become very breathless. She says she will stay here and try and catch her breath while I go on. So I press on not knowing how much further there is to go. We have been told that when you reach the centre you emerge into a largish chamber where the mummy and all the possessions he needed for his trip to and to survive in the new world were left. Obviously there is nothing there now as it was all looted hundreds of years ago. So after about another 20 yards I emerge into the Kings burial chamber and as warned it is empty. There is some large graffiti on the facing wall “G B Belzoni 1818” the date the Italian explorer entered the Pyramid and discovered the chamber. And that was it. So I returned and caught up with Ludy and we retraced our steps to the entrance and fresh (fresh as you could get with the Cairo smog anyway) air. We retrieved the camera and headed back to the coach just in time. From the site of the Pyramids we are now taken around to the front or eastern side of the site before the sphinx. DSCN4851 edited DSCN4855.
The Sphinx
The Sphinx or Abu Hol stands before the Pyramid of Chefren as its Guardian and a symbol of royalty. The Sphinx was not built of stone blocks like the Pyramids but carved from a rocky outcropping and has of course over the millennia been badly eroded and subjected to vandalism. Our guide informed us that she had been dug from the sand and restored several times during her vigil and was undergoing a new rebuild even now. If you look closely at her hind quarters you will see the new blocks being added and carved. Personally I think the Sphinx is the most beautiful part of the Giza site from whichever way you look at her. She has an enigmatic air about her, no doubt the result of witnessing 4500 years of change and being charged with guarding her kings from the ever closing encroachment of Cairo’s Giza suburbs.
Cairo and the Museum
We connect with our coach again and now head back towards Giza and a papyrus centre. Here we are shown the art of papyrus making, printing and hieroglyphs. Quite fascinating and not cheap to buy, but they did seem to be good quality in comparison to others we saw later during our Egyptian stay.
From here we went to the Grand Hyatt Hotel’s Hard Rock Café for lunch buffet style which also gave an opportunity to look over the Nile. Following the very good lunch we are taken to the Cairo Egyptian Museum and given the a three quarter hour tour with our guide Mahmood then given about an hour to tour the museum by ourselves. After Mahmoods tour we had arrived at Tutankhamen’s exhibition and this is where we began. This exhibition is extensive and contains just about every artefact Howard Carter recovered from his burial place, except for the few the Egyptian Government allowed to be sent to the UK exhibition in the O2 arena. The quantity and quality of items is exceptional. He was interred in a solid gold sarcophagus which in turn was inside 3 other sarcophagi like Russian dolls are. Each contained “trinkets”, bracelets, rings, necklaces, gold slippers, walking sticks, finger covers also in gold and so on. Everything was made of 24ct gold much of it beautifully decorated and painted. If you remember Tutankhamen was still only a boy when he died at 18 and was not a particularly effective Pharaoh as his reign was not long and blighted by an injury he suffered to his hip from which he eventually died. So if as a not particularly popular king he was buried with as much gold as we saw, what amount of treasure was interred with those well loved long serving pharaohs whose tombs were robbed millennia before. The mind boggles. And all that wealth was buried with them to help the king find his way financially in the new life after death. The sarcophagi were enclosed in 4 boxes the smallest of which was also made of solid gold. The 3 outer cases were made of wood but the outermost was decorated in gold leaf and the most incredible blue, much like the colour associated with lapis lazuli. After whizzing round this exhibition and unfortunately not being able to spend the time we wanted with it we made our way to the room containing the mummified remains of a number of pharaohs. A charge of EG£100 is made for entry and I discovered I only had 140 on me! We charged around like headless chickens looking for some of the people from our tour party to try and exchange some dollars for EG£ and eventually found the Latvian girls who lived in Bradford! We exchanged some dollars and at last made our entry to the land of the mummies. I’m afraid I forget how many mummies were in the room but it was absolutely fascinating. These are the well preserved remains of pharaohs from not hundreds but thousands of years ago and their features, skin, hair and nails are all highly distinguishable and intact. The bodies are all enclosed in temperature and humidity controlled glass cases for ongoing preservation and easy viewing by the public.
Souks and Mosque
Both of us could have stayed in the museum for many hours, maybe days more but time on this tour marched inexorably on and we had to force ourselves away and on to our next destination, a Souk or market place which our guide referred to as ‘hassle alley’. Ludy was really looking forward to this to practice her bargaining skills while I decided to visit the mosque next door. We had just three quarters of an hour here as our plane was due to take off at 7.30pm for Sharm so we had to be at the airport for no later than 7pm. Ludy set of round the Souk and I changed some money in the bank on the corner. The bank teller was sitting behind a counter with no means of security and a foul smelling cigarette on the go. I made for the Mosque DSCN4883 and as I approached I was daubed with pleasant smelling oil by a local and begged to pay for a small bottle of bouquet oil. I paid him a EG£100 which no doubt was way over the top and entered the Mosque having taken my trainers off first. Even when carrying them you have to remember to place the soles together as any form of open facing soles or feet is deeply offensive to the muslims. Be sure to not bare your soles when on holiday in Egypt! When in church, both protestant or catholic we are always entreated to show a certain amount of decorum and reverence not to mention quietness as we pray or visit. However the mosque is an entirely different kettle of fish. First things first. This mosques’ beauty was external rather than internal as so many often are. However once inside it was fairly ordinarily decorated but it was what was going on that was quite amazing. I walked past a man having his dinner, being watched hungrily by a black and white skinny street cat. Another man walked by me, his mobile phone ringing, which he answered and began a conversation. There were a number of men sitting on chairs discussing heaven knows what in loud voices and further in and towards the far end of the mosque a man was lying on the floor sleeping! Oh and one or two people were actually praying. I retrieved my trainers, left the Mosque and went for a coffee with Mahmood at the café on the square and waited for Ludy to return. She duly arrived 5 minutes before the rendezvous time brandishing a small package and a triumphant smile! She explained she had walked around the 3 streets comprising Hassle alley and had negotiated not a price but a passage through over friendly shop and stall owners who entreated and pulled her into their premises with promises of ‘special prices’. However she had seen what she wanted and negotiations had begun at EG£350. She countered with an offer of 30 and during the exchanges she said that was when she some body squeezed her bum! Anyway she continued haggling and finished at EG£40 or £4. She then produced her purchase with a flourish and visions of Salome and belly dancing came to my mind! She had a black cloth scarf with little tassels and imitation gold coins on small short chains sewn to it in long lines across its width. Very alluring! I can see belly dancing lessons on the horizon.
We made our way back to the coach but were missing 2 of our passengers. After a 20 minute wait our guide sent the coach off to the airport and he disappeared into the early evening crowds to try and find our wayward couple. After a few minutes of squeezing the bus down small lanes and only knocking down half a dozen or so pedestrians our fugitives were spotted on the pavement and the coach driver was requested to stop for them to hop on. Sheepish grins were the only sign of contrition in answer to our clapping of their arrival. I don’t think I mentioned that our coach party was made up of English, Filipino, Dutch and Latvian. During the trip and subsequently we got to know and enjoyed the company of a couple from Utrecht called Peter & Ineke. By now of course we are getting late for our flight and we still do not have our guide onboard. As we negotiate the roads of Cairo (slowly) our guide reappears, running alongside the coach but on the pavement separated from us by iron railings. The coach slows down in the traffic & Mahmood leaps the railings, the coach door opens and he jumps in and up the stairs to us as if nothing has happened! I wonder aloud how many times he has done that as it seemed like a well rehearsed routine. We arrive at the airport with 5 minutes to flight take off time & find our tickets already waiting for us but without our names on. We are led to the departure gate which is a scrum of bodies everywhere, but mostly in our way and get waved through by some guy who may or may not be an airport official and out onto the waiting coaches to take us across the apron to the plane. And there we stayed. Blocked in by 2 other coaches who then started taking on passengers. They then left and as we started off also, a guy came running out of the terminal with bag, coat and hat toward us. So we stopped to collect him and eventually set off to the waiting aircraft……..20 mins late. We took off eventually 35 mins after departure time and eventually arrived back at our hotel at 21.40 in time to have a little dinner (what was best politely called leftovers!) and round off an 18 hour day.
Time travel
But what a day. Today we travelled 700 miles & 4500 years. We saw, touched and walked inside the only remaining one of the original seven wonders of the world. We viewed the mummified remains of kings, queens & princes dating back 2000 to 3000 years past. We gazed in awe & wonderment at the sheer beauty and opulence of the burial accoutrements & sarcophagi of the boy king whose reign was, by other Pharaoh reign standards, very short. We watched how to make papyrus, the oldest manmade writing medium in the world & we walked in one of the most populous & polluted cities in the world. And in this city of extremes and archaeological & historical antiquities we lunched in the Hard Rock Cafe !

Sunday 13 January 2008 Egypt here we come!

2008-02-17T12:44:00.002Z

Sunday 13 January
DSCN4761 & 4760
4.15 am and here we go, 5.15 & Andy taking us to Gatwick, then Monarch at 9.30 to Sharm El Sheikh. Why do we book flights for these ungodly hours? To make the most of our limited time in the destinations we choose to go to. Even so with the length of the flight (5 hours) and the time difference of 2 hours we don’t arrive until 16.30 local time and by the time we arrive at our hotel the Rehana Prima Life in Nabq it’s almost dark!
Gatwick was its usual jumble of humanity jostling for a place in a queue but we seemed to strike lucky and found the 12 Monarch check in desks were catering for 3 or 4 flights but hardly anybody had arrived. We went straight to the desk checked in, said goodbye to the luggage (well we might never see it again!) and headed off to passport control. It never ceases to amaze me that despite all the advertising and big signs on your tickets and around the airport people still try to take sharp objects and liquids in excess of 100 mls through in their hand luggage. You have to run the gauntlet of airport staff holding clear plastic bags and reminding you to remove said items and dispose of them or smaller items of liquid to be placed in the plastic bags. And STILL people feign surprise when their hand luggage is x-rayed and they are made to remove all liquids from their cases and forfeit them because they “didn’t realise” or well when we travelled 4 years ago we didn’t have to” or we didn’t have this trouble in Sydney”. Also some people said they wouldn’t take their shoes off! They were asked to follow a member of airport staff security to a comfortable room for an “informal chat”! (I noticed the security guy had surgical gloves in his hip bag…ooooh) We went through and headed upstairs to the food court in Tax free area and the queus for food were horrendous. In the end we settled on the McDonalds queue as being the shortest and against my better judgement made our order. 15 minutes later I’m still waiting for bacon muffin thingy and Ludy‘s finished her bagel. I called the manager over and explained and said I wanted an extra one for having to wait so long. 1 minute later 2 steaming hot fresh bacon muffins were in my hand! Complain with a smile seems to work. We boarded Monarch MON4278 to Sharm on time and took off with only a 20 minute delay. Our flight was fairly uneventful and we were lucky enough to not have anyone sitting next to us in our row of 3 on the Airbus 300.
The descent into Sharm Airport is quite spectacular. We were flying down the Sinai Peninsular to the southern tip and passing over the mountainous central region. The rocks earth and sand are a slightly reddish colour but because the sun had begun to set it cast deep red colours and spectacular shadows over an already impressive landscape. The immediate reaction is to imagine this is probably how Mars must look followed by a feeling of almost spirituality as you remember that this area is also steeped in biblical history. I wonder how many of our fellow passengers realise this or are they mostly the typical English holiday maker looking for sun sand and a skin-full? At the airport we are herded to a number of desks where we have to have a Visa stuck in our passports. These are not obligatory if you only intend to remain in your hotel resort but if you are bound for the Pyramids or Mount Sinai or any other location requiring a journey you must have the Visa. They cost £10 each at the time of our visit. I was told prior to our journey they were US$15 but we were informed at the airport the payment was only accepted in GB£. So in fact day 1, hour 1 we got ripped off! Next time I will buy it before we leave the UK. A word of warning now to anyone visiting Egypt. Everywhere you go, everyone you meet, every step you take (apologies to Sting and the Police) someone will be expecting and will most likely remind you so, BAKSHEESH ! It is impossible to avoid in many cases and the best form of defence on this is to attack immediately with a smallish (to us) tip of around EG£10-20. Approx £1-2. This has a double effect. You immediately receive superior service and you are not bugged for money thereafter. However we did feel slightly guilty half way through the stay and made 2 more baksheesh to Sameh. Any way we queued for our visa for which we didn’t pay at that point then queued again to pass through immigration. From there the Olympus rep herded us to our coach and having checked us as all present & correct then proceeded to fleece us all for £10 each for our Visas! On toward our hotels stopping at the Sharm Hilton and one other then to the Rehana Prima Life. The hotel is very large with an open reception area and friendly front desk staff. Our room was allocated as twin bed and when I requested double we were asked to return in the morning for a change of room. Taken to our room by a helpful porter (baksheesh Eg£20) then we returned for dinner in the restaurant. Large room with all the food laid out buffet style at the far end. Approx 14 choices of main dinner, vegetables and potato or rice. Good choice of starters including soup, salads or cold meats and cheeses. Desserts were mainly Chefs dolce cake selections and to be honest most were pretty tasteless. Occasionally there was jelly or crème caramel also. After dinner we returned to reception and I asked for a room change which was given promptly and without fuss. The new room 540, was same size but with double bed and much larger balcony overlooking the pool area. Much nicer! So to a little unpacking and bed.

Egypt & Food, Food, Food!

2008-02-17T12:31:00.003Z

Monday 14 January
DSCN4773
A new day in a new country destination. As Ludy said yesterday, “I can’t believe I’m in Egypt!”
Looking out of the balcony doors it ‘s a bright sunny day but awful windy. I venture out on to the balcony and return inside immediately - it’s freezing out there! We have a 10 am briefing from the Olympic rep so we shower and go to breakfast first. The breakfast is in the same restaurant with a wide selection on offer. Rice, tomatoes, hash browns, cold meats and cheeses eggs in all their forms and fresh cooked omelettes. Sausages which are the small frankfurter type and were pretty disgusting, toast, bread, rolls, fruit, cereals, orange or pineapple juice and coffee or tea.
We meet our rep Jenny in an upstairs room which is also the Mongolian Barbecue restaurant. She is very very professional and knowledgeable and a joy to listen to. In her own words she would rather give us the facts, good and bad and let us make up our own minds. She has been in Sharm for 7 years knows what’s what, and in her experience clients prefer the truth not the sales patter. We immediately booked the trip to Cairo and the Pyramids for Tuesday and also one to St Katherines Monastery in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsular for Thursday. The choice for Cairo was by coach for a 300 plus mile journey for 6 to 8 hours leaving at 1.30 am and returning approx 24 hours later or by plane leaving at 4.30am and taking an hour and returning at 9pm! Hmmmm let me see. Also the price difference was less than £50 extra each. By the time we’d finished it was nearly midday so we decided to try and brave the wind and find a place around the pool to relax and sunbathe. Even round the pool there are staff to attend your every whim, collect your towels, find the best remaining sun beds in the most advantageous place for the sun and talk to you about their country and their hopes and ambitions. All for baksheesh of course. We found a reasonably sheltered spot and immediately repaired to the restaurant in search of lunch (well we are on All Inclusive you know) Next to the restaurant there is a little wooden hut containing the Creperie which I have to admit we couldn’t resist. Lunch is very much a smaller version of dinner and whilst we could not fault the quantity some of the quality with all services, breakfast, lunch and dinner, fell a little short.
The hotel has a Spa resort which offers sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, massage, various body treatments and mud and seaweed wraps and a hairdresser and beauty salon. We decided to avail ourselves of the Cleopatra treatment for EG£210 which included unlimited sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi & full body massage & booked for Saturday.
That evening we decided to try the Mongolian Barbecue only to find that it is a reservation only affair. However with Ludy fluttering eyelashes and saying we had only just arrived Muhammed Ali ( I kid you not ) squeezed us into a little table by the window. We then are shown out on to the first floor balcony and are given a small side plate to fill with our selection of ingredients from a chiller unit. Shredded chicken or beef, shredded cabbage, red cabbage, onion, grated carrot and sliced green peppers. You hand your selection to chef with your order of normal medium or hot spicey preparation and he puts it on the hotplate and adds soy sauce, sesame oils and a pot pourrie of spices and herbs. We return to our table inside which is a great deal warmer than outside and await the result. It takes about 10 or so minutes and we collect our food and are shown to the side table where you can add fried rice or flat noodles (or both!) to your meal. This meal was seriously tasty and cooked just right. We will return. Any way early to bed tonight as we have to up at 3.30 for a pick up at 4.20am for Cairo. We can’t wait to see Pyramids, the only remaining wonder of the original 7 wonders of the world.

Sunday 17th June 2007 - Filipino hospitality :- unrivalled!

2007-07-19T20:45:00.000Z

Mandaluyong street. Singapore airport

Sunday 17th June 2007
3am, we’re up and saying our final goodbyes to people we only met 24 hours previously but feel we’ve known for years. The hospitality we received was second to none and genuine and we truly appreciated it. At Ninoy Aquino International Airport we sit and wait for our flight details to appear on the board and when they do we begin queuing. However, Filipinos and other Asian races are not very good at a peculiarly British institution and so pockets of people start appearing in random places near the check-in. We check with the couple in front of us that they are queuing for the London flight to which they agree. However an Airport worker starts to organise everybody into a line for the Singapore flight and he informs us that this area of the “queue” is for Taiwan flight. So we go to the back of a rapidly lengthening queue! Then the check-in desks put up a new sign for E-Ticket holders to check-in. Result for us as we have e-tickets. So we queue and another check-in desk worker comes to see our ticket. “This not e-ticket sir” “Yes it is, I booked it on the internet and it says Electronic Ticket Booking.” “yes sir but you do not have a printed e-ticket” Give me strength, I am about to have an argument with him when Lu intervenes in Tagalog. We now go straight to the check-in desk an get booked on the flight with the seats we had already pre-booked 5 months ago. He is very helpful and helps carry our bags and fusses around until we are sorted. She has never told me what she said to him!
When we board the Singapore Airlines 767 we take our seats and the flight to Singapore begins without incident. On arrival at Singapore, Changi we have 50 minutes to disembark and connect with the 747 flight to London, which should just give me enough time to nip in to the Duty or Tax free shopping area and buy some drink. As we approach the embarkation lounge for our flight they have already loaded most passengers and we are some of the last to arrive! Well at least we have less time to sit in the cabin. We are lucky to find that there is an empty seat beside us so it gives Lu a little more room to stretch out and sleep. This flight is almost full so we were really fortunate. The food was again, really good. We were served a lunch with plenty of wine and Lu had another Singapore Gin Sling which the flight attendant managed to spill on my white shirt! But she went and got a cloth and some soda water and after a few minutes dabbing all the rather fetching pink colour had been removed! So handy tip, keep soda crystals at home for nasty coloured wet stains. I think I watched 3 or 4 films during the flight and after about 4hours from having had lunch we were served with dinner, more wine and then some more wine. I was unable to sleep on this flight but Lu seemed to have no problem, she seems to be able to go to sleep at the drop of a hat! Some things just aren’t fair.
The flight arrives only a few minutes late at Heathrow which is pretty impressive when you hear of so many flights being late and delayed. I would most definitely recommend Singapore Airlines to any one who is taking a flight on a route which they cover. http://www.singaporeair.com/ The Flight Attendants are attentive, polite and courteous all the time, with nothing seemingly too trivial for them to attend to. The food is outstanding and prepared (I think they mean designed, because I can’t imagine one chef producing all the meals for one airline) by an Internationally renowned chef who I’ve never heard of! All the meals are offered with a choice of dishes, usually a fish, choice of 2 meat and some vegetarian but you are required to specify vegetarian when you book the flight. The meals are served with proper steel cutlery and drinks are served in glasses not the nasty plastic things offered on charter flights. All seats in economy are the second largest size available from airlines so you do have a little more leg room and seat width than normal. I especially liked the head rest which had little bendy wings on the edges which you could turn in so holding your head a little more snugly whilst you rested. Well we are back in chilly old England having missed all the good weather you had while we were gone and as usual it doesn’t feel good to be back! I only half mean that really as a destination like the Philippines is a real assault on one’s senses and sensibilities. So the familiarity of home is reassuring but does also highlight the differences in the way of life experienced in both countries, the infrastructure of our towns and cities and the high standard of living we generally enjoy. However the unfailing cheerfulness, hospitality and desire to make your stay happy, of Filipinos is inspiring and sometimes a little overpowering. I have also found that a Filipino will say yes to almost every request you make of them because they find it most difficult to say no. I think this is in some way because they think it reflects badly on them personally and they will not be thought of well. But to a westerner it means that you are sometimes disappointed because an arrangement was made that your Filipino friend has no intention of fulfilling because he felt he couldn’t say no to your face. I do not mean that in any way as a criticism, merely be aware that a cultural difference such as that is not so important to the Filipino as to us. When it happens to them they just shrug and move on. I suppose it’s all about being a little more laid back and relaxed. Filipino Time is also another big cultural difference. We arrange our lives around fairly exact timings, “meet you at 9” and so we do meet at 9. Filipino time “meet you at 9” means meet you at whatever time I am ready after I’ve done this and that, been shopping, had dinner and phoned a few friends. And nobody minds when you arrive 2 or 3 hours later than arranged!! Finally, getting the full story or all the information needed to make a decision from a Filipino is nigh on impossible. You need to be a master inquisitor to drag the information from them, they will not volunteer it willingly, not from a malicious sense but because they genuinely believe you can read their mind and know exactly what they are arranging. For example, when we travelled to North Luzon we were being driven by Dodie and we were to stay at 3 hotels during the 4 days. I knew I was to pay Dodie for the journey, diesel and his time and I obviously knew I was to pay for Lu and my accommodation. What nobody had told me was that I was expected to pay for everybody’s accommodation and food. I didn’t mind, especially when you consider the low cost associated with the Filippines and that we were being accommodated at Hotel Encarnacion for free, but if someone had just said at the beginning that was the arrangement we wouldn’t have had our embarrassing moment in Vigan and Pagudpud. Having said all that the trip was absolutely superb and my companions were all good fun

Saturday 16th June 2007 - Our last day and Ludy smuggles diamonds

2007-07-10T21:37:00.000Z

Typical Jeepney, individually decorated. Sunset over the Makati, Manila skyline

Saturday 16th June 2007
Patrick, Ate Matilda’s eldest son came to collect us at 8 and after some teary farewells with Ate Bever, Kuya Guy and Tita Del we were on our way to Saint Jose Street, Mandaluyong to see Marivic and family. This is where Ludy used to live with her mother before they moved to Binanongan and where she became an elected council woman representing the residents of the Barangay of Sta Jose. We arrived around 9.30 and we and our cases unloaded and were shown to Ate Matilda’s house. We were made very welcome by Nanay (Grandma) who is Ate Matilda’s mum, Marivic, Ate M’s daughter and 2 of her 3 children Xandra and Belle, her youngest, Alex being somewhere else at the time. Later we met Freddie whose birthday it was today and his family, Fe his wife and Angel their daughter. Still later Patrick’s wife Melanie and their children arrived. Patrick took us out to visit the local market and for me to take my first ride on a Jeepney. We walked to the end of the road and basically stuck a hand out and stopped the first one going in the direction we needed. Don’t ask me how they know if they’re going to your destination because I haven’t a clue. You jump on at the rear and pass the fare down via the other passengers to the driver and by the same route for your change. When you want to get off you shout and the Jeepney stops! It would be satisfying to say that Jeepneys cause traffic chaos with their constant stopping and starting but it doesn’t appear to be the case. The traffic is so bad and slow their progress is barely discernable! If it wasn’t so hot and humid it would be quicker to walk! Disembarking from the peculiarly Manilan mode of transport we wander through the market which unbelievably seems even hotter than outside! We cross the street passing a number of “senior” citizens sitting at tables with cups of drink maybe tea, maybe coffee, maybe something else and passing the time of day and eyeing me curiously. As I pass them I smile and say “madangang umaga” and they all chuckle and return to their drinks and conversation. (good morning in Tagalog) We decide to buy Freddie a birthday cake for his birthday and hop on another Jeepney. This one is obviously owned by the young driver as it has been stylised to his own tastes which includes flashing l.e.d. lights built into wood panelling and a sound system you would be proud to have in your house! Speakers all round and a huge bass box under the front passenger seat, reverberating intense bass notes through the Jeepney and our bodies. Patrick shouts above the music that in the evenings many of the younger people only jump on the Jeepneys with the music and many have no destination for their journey but stay on just for the music! We jump off near a Jeepney rank (like a taxi rank but for Jeepneys) and head for the bakery, part of a well known chain in Philippines, called Goldilocks. Lu orders a rather large and chocolaty beast of a cake and has some appropriate wording iced on to it for Freddie and we then make our way back to “Hotel Marivic”. By Jeepney of course.
Lunch is ready when we arrive and we have many dishes all of them really tasty and beautifully cooked. More people arrive including Freddie’s wife Fe who is about to go and live and work in Singapore as a Staff Nurse in a hospital not far from Changi airport. She can earn more money in Singapore as a staff nurse than in Manila which will help support her family. This is an option that many Filipinas take to enable their family and extended family to live a little more comfortably than they otherwise would by doing the same or similar job in their own country. There is a truism that no matter where you go in the world you will meet a Filipino there working hard for his/her family back home. I think they are slowly but surely infiltrating all countries in a clandestine bid for world domination. One day we will all wake up and find we have been taken over by smiling Filipinos all apologising profusely for the delay but assuring us that “Merienda will be served shortly”. In Filipino time of course!
Lu has seen an advert that offers a “2 for 1” Diamond facial scrub and face massage and tells me that would be good for both of us?! So we decide to got to the Mega Mall in Mandaluyong and Marivic and her 2 daughters, Belle and Xandra accompany us. We take a Jeepney and then a taxi and we literally crawl our way through the traffic to the centre. It is a huge centre, nicely cooled and contains not only the usual mix of designer retailers and food courts, but cinemas, 48 lane bowling centre and an ice rink. We find the beauty treatment centre which offers the “2 for 1” amid many other boutiques offering dental treatment, various augmentation and reduction packages and health and hospital plans to name but a few. I book the facial treatments and tell Marivic it is for her and Lu and I am pleased to report the surprise on her face is beautiful. I sat down to wait for them and an hour and a half later they appear with huge smiles on their shiny and deeply refreshed faces. So that seems to have gone down well ! I wonder to myself if they now have diamond particles embedded in their faces and idly wonder if you could get arrested for the illegal export of diamonds! We continue walking round the Mall but it is too big to see it all so we take a look at the bowling centre and the ice rink and then wait for a taxi in the stifling heat, to take us back. Dinner is served not long after we return and is again a delicious mix of dishes and every one tucks in. I go to the top of the house, the fourth floor which is open and used as a roof top clothes drying area but which has some interesting and impressive views across the city in the direction of Makati, the main business district and one of the more wealthy suburbs. I took a few photos showing the houses in the street Sta Jose and across the city and fortunately the sun was beginning to set. I managed to take a few beautiful sunset shots which have a slightly different background of the city as opposed to, say, the “normal” beach or palm tree shot you might associate with it. Any how make your own mind up, I have included some at the start of this entry.
Our sleeping accommodation is at Freddie’s house just down the road and we take an emotional farewell from Marivic’s and walk a few hundred yards to our bedroom! We pass a house where they are all out on the street under an awning playing cards and talking and drinking. But as I look more closely all the doors and windows of the house are open and inside is a coffin with the head and shoulders end of the lid open and lying inside is the dearly recently departed. Lu says that the Filipino tradition is that the body is always returned to the family before the burial and they are never left alone. So it becomes a bit of a party, and drinking, singing, card playing and inevitably, eating are all part and parcel of keeping the deceased company during the night. He wasn’t very lucky at the card games but at least he kept a poker face.
As if that wasn’t enough tomorrow is Father’s Day (not just in England) and again there is a tradition that the eve of Fathers Day is as big a celebration as the day itself. And how do they celebrate? I hear you ask. Why, in at least 3 ways that the Filipinos are now famous for. Karaoke or Videoke, drinking and eating! And guess what, there was a Videoke stage directly outside our bedroom window. Oh joy! Our bedroom was lovely, cool and comfortable and with its own entertainment centre for free. We retired at around 10pm as we had to be up for 3am to be sure of getting to the airport in time for check-in and the flight at 08.00. Videoke stopped at 2am so I managed a good nights sleep to prepare me for the 16 hours travelling we had ahead of us. Lu? Hah. 10pm. Head touches pillow…. Zzzzzzzzzz. It’s just not fair.

Friday 15th June 2007 - The Last Supper. (not in the biblical sense of course)

2007-06-30T19:45:00.000Z

I think they liked the meal! How much? ! Thorn between 2 roses

Friday 15th June 2007
Up early and start to pack then go and get breakfast. The hotel is providing the complimentary lift back to the airport and we set off at 11.30 for our 13.20 flight. The airport is not very busy but as we approach the check in desk we see a sign that says it does not open until 12.30 and it is only 11.50. Lu gets the attention of the security guard who speaks to her and then he takes our luggage and puts it behind the check-in counter. “everything is taken care of” she tells me, “ just go back at 12.30 and collect our boarding passes and give him a little “merienda” (snack) money!” At 12.30 I return and am given 2 boarding passes for seats in row 3 a and b which have extra extra (that’s meant to be 2 extras there ok) legroom and priority removal of luggage when we arrive in Manila! Not bad for peso 180 merienda money. ( I think we might refer to it, quite wrongly of course, as a bribe.)When we board the plane row 3 does indeed have extra extra legroom. It is the row behind the business class seats and I would guess that we have about 3feet leg room! Lunch is served after take off and consists of 4 cracker biscuits and a chocolate brownie type cake. There is one thing that strikes me as remarkable during our stay on Palawan. We stayed less than 2 miles as the crow flies I guess from the airport but I never once heard any airplane noise. The airfield (you couldn’t really describe it as an airport) was right by the sea and the runway ran all the way from inland to the waters edge so I suppose all flight traffic arrived from the sea and took off out toward the sea as we did on our journeys in and out thereby avoiding noise pollution. We were also told that the local govt were in the process of obtaining funding and permission to upgrade and expand the airport as they anticipated an increase in visitors over the next 10 years. Seems it might actually be a good idea to invest here if the predictions of tourism and a property boom are correct. We land at Manila 1 hour after take off and true to his word our bag is 4th on the carousel! Another traveller tip coming up. No not offering Merienda money to all and sundry, but to do with airport transport. We hadn’t investigated how to get back to ‘Hotel Encarnacion’ because we forgot to ask if Dodie could collect us from the airport on our arrival. So we headed in the general direction of a big sign that said TAXIS. It wasn’t a taxi rank but the airport’s own taxi service together with a hotel concierge service as well. So if you are lost and alone in Ninoy Aquino International Airport Manila it is a good service to avail yourself of for relatively hassle free hotel searching, booking and travelling to. The taxis are all relatively new and supplied by Nissan, Toyota etc under a lease licence. The drivers are all smartly dressed in a uniform and carry ID cards. The fare is obviously a lot more than taking an ordinary taxi but I believe you are probably a lot safer and the fare will not be made up depending on how much the driver thinks you can afford. (especially as he’s carrying a Westerner and even if he is with a fellow Filipina countrywoman) We tell the Taxi desk clerk where our destination is and she charges us Peso 870 and fills out a fare ticket which also details how many passengers we are and how many pieces of luggage we have and we are shown to our car. When we arrive at our destination the driver unloads our luggage and asks us to sign his fare ticket to confirm he has delivered us to the correct destination and with all of our luggage. Without this he says he won’t get paid his 16% commission of the fare. We leave him a tip of the change from a 1000 plus an extra 100 as he was very helpful in answering questions I asked to give you the above information. Lu says I’m so inquisitive I must be a cat, too nosey and curious and be careful coz you know what curiosity did to the cat! Meeeow so I must have 9 lives!
So here we are back to disrupt the lives of the poor put upon household of Gerald (Jing Jing), Sheila, Rain and Tita (aunty) Del but for the last night. Lu has arranged for us to visit the family of her good friend in England, Ate Matilda so we are to leave at around 8am Saturday to see them. I ask all the Encarnacion family to join us for a good old slap up feast at a restaurant of their choosing by way of a thank you from Lu and me for their overwhelming hospitality during our stay. I also mention at about 4pm that we have to be up early and we should maybe make an early start for dinner. As is always the case in the Philippines Filipino time takes over and we leave the house around 8.15. We are being taken to a restaurant called Gerry’s Grill which is part of a popular and “hip” chain and a favourite of the smart and more middle class set of Manilenians. Unfortunately it is so popular that we have to go on a waiting list as there are no tables available and you cannot book ahead. We sit down for dinner at 9.30! By now I’m starving and rashly I had previously mentioned to Sheila to order the food for all 9 of us (Jing, Sheila, Rain, Ate Del, Ate Roma, PJ, Daniella, Lu and I) ensuring it was what all the family liked. So we had (as far as I can remember because the bill is en route via Sea Mail with all my other books and souvenir keepsakes) plain rice, garlic rice, 2 Molo (soup), shredded spicy pork adobo, pinakbet (vegetable stew), pusit (bbq squid), sugpong kinilaw (prawn salad), kilawing pusit (squid salad), bbq pork, whole honeyed chicken, sisig (pan fried diced pigs face) and crispy crablets. (small or baby crabs, dipped in batter and deep fried and were actually quite tasty though the claws were a bit sharp if you didn’t chew them properly!) Plenty of drinks although the Tower of Lager we ordered didn’t arrive so we had bottled beer instead. Most enjoyable and only Peso 2287.00! We all arrived home about 11 and Lu and I fell into bed exhausted knowing we had to rise about 6 as our lift to see Marivic and the family was at 8am! Nanite.

Thursday 14th June 2007 - Dinner in the mangroves

2007-06-24T19:40:00.001Z

Picture 1 Covered tricycle typical of Palawan

Picture 2 Us standing outside Restaurant Badjao

Thursday 14th June 2007
Hooray. Today is a “do nothing” day. We have no plans save for a little swimming in the freeform pool and lazing in the sun for about 10 mins every couple of hours. I think I’ve said it before but it is too hot to sit in the sun, you can actually feel your skin drying out and crisping. Added to that, you dehydrate quickly and perspire ceaselessly so the whole experience is not comfortable and relaxing at all. By the time we are up and dressed it is almost 9am and breakfast finishes then, so we rush down to the restaurant and eat a slow and lazy meal of omelette and fried garlic rice to which Lu adds Danggit, a deep fried crispy fish which the Filipinos are addicted to! Lu decides we need to visit the markets in Puerto Princesa and so we take another tricycle journey ably driven by Romel this time. I should add here that all the tricycle drivers here on Palawan, that we met any way are very friendly and chatty. They also insist on giving you their cell phone number so you may text or call them should you need a ride. We did this twice, one didn’t reply and the other did and arrived within 10 minutes. We had to buy a few supplies including a little tip we had been given on the previous day’s tour. Buy a medium sized bottle of hand sanitizer(sic) and carry it with you at all times. You get dirty hands from almost everything and it’s very handy if you are about to eat something such as mango or casoy (cashew) nuts. Also, if you’ve room, carry a packet of those small handbag or pocket sized tissues and wet wipes. Another handy tip is carry a small hand towel at all times to help keep your face dry by dabbing at your perspiration! All Filipinos do it so you will not look out of place. Any how we arrive in the town centre and try a few shops for our shopping and then end up in the covered market looking for one of those rattan style woven hand fans for Ludy. We take a good walk around and find stalls selling everything you can imagine. Fruits, vegetables, rice, wet fish, dried fish, woven rattan goods like hats and fans, mats and bags and so on. The people are all friendly and we stop at one stall and buy some bags of cashews. These are grown on the island and are a good export item for the locals. They taste very similar to the ones we generally buy at home but I think these are sweeter and have an almost coffee piquancy which seems to follow in the mouth but only after you have swallowed them. The lady who sells them to us lets me take some photos and tells us she is also a part time tour guide and we spend a little time chatting to her. The market is slightly cooler than outside but has a typically fish market smell and you have to be careful stepping on the concrete floor as it is wet and slippery. Another stall we pass by the owner has fallen asleep whilst sitting on his stool and is resting his head on the table. It must be lunch time as there are loads of school children milling around buying snacks and we find some of them sitting at their parents businesses writing and doing homework. It is so interesting slowly wandering around seeing the different businesses and the different ages of vendors, ranging from kids to the ancient and wizened wise elders of the family. Looking at the fish stalls I would have no hesitancy in buying any of the fish on display. Almost no smell at all, more a bouquet of the sea, and the fish eyes are bright and shiny, a sure sign of a fresh catch of that morning. We emerge back into the sunshine and heat and buy a Kilo of mangoes for snacks later from a street vendor then cross the road and walk into Jollibees more for the relief of the air con and a drink than for hunger. Romel arrives a little while later to take us back to the hotel and we mention that we might be interested in looking at land and property on Palawan. Romel instantly knows just the person to help us and promises that they will call us later to help.
Back at the hotel we change and have a swim in the pool and Romel appears with a lady who is a realty agent and can give us help with land and property sales. What a service! We discuss the intricacies of foreign ownership which in Manila include the regulation that foreigners can own no more than 40% of any property and must have a Filipino property partner who owns the remainder. In Palawan the rules are the similar but a little different in that you cannot own more than 5000sq metres unless you are a Philippine citizen. Current land prices in Palawan range from very dear in the centre of Puerto Princesa and decreasing all the while as you head out and into the more rural areas. We were quoted at about peso 400 psqm for the land we looked at which was about a mile from the town centre but only ½ km from the beach. This evening we‘re going to a restaurant called Badjao which is unique for being on stilts within a mangrove on the coast. To reach it you walk along a raised walkway on stilts for about 100 yards with mangrove trees and bushes either side. The whole restaurant is literally in the middle of the mangroves and as you look out on 3 sides that is all you see together with the ocean. The tide was out when we dined and also it was dark so the true effect was a little lost but none the less a very different dining experience. We learnt that the tree in front of us was a male mangrove and if we looked to the side of the restaurant we could see a female. “They both look the same to me” I said and our waiter explained that the male tree bore long pointed fruits which when they fell stuck in the mangrove sand and germinated. The female fruits were more rounded and did not stick in the sand but were washed away with the tides. He told us that where there was a female tree there would always be a male next or very close by. Fascinating what you learn by being inquisitive and talking to the locals. Our food is good but the lobster I ordered turns out to be the baby that no one else wanted. It is quite late in the evening and the restaurant is more popular in the day so all the good sized prawns and lobster are eaten already. A second whammy to my potential eating pleasure is that the ’fish man’ didn’t come today so they are at the end of their supplies and naturally only the smaller crustaceans are left. Lu ordered a local Philippine fish, Lapu Lapu, and that was the size of a small whale! Obviously not so popular as shellfish. We also ordered house fried rice (enough to feed 4 to 6) and a greens dish which is like pak choi. I finished with Moist Chocolate cake which was moist, covered in thick deep exquisite chocolate, made by the owners daughter and was gorgeous. 2 glasses of wine and a coffee each and the bill was Peso1200. Ronnie collected us at 11pm and we had taken the liberty of having the restaurant make us up a doggy bag for the huge amount of rice and vegetables which were left. We presented them to him together with his fare and a tip as he had waited for us whilst we dined, with which he professed many many thanks. A very good night indeed. Packing and saying our tearful goodbyes to Palawan tomorrow.

Wednesday 13th June 2007 - Up the creek without a paddle

2007-06-22T21:57:00.000Z

Fluorescent orange was always my first choice in the morning.

Cave rock formations note the swallow flying in front in the pitch dark. Light is from camera flash

Wednesday 13th June 2007
Up at 6am to get ready, have breakfast and wait for tour van due to arrive at 7.30am Filipino time. It arrives at 8. The journey is 2.5 hours to the village of Sabang from where we take a motorised outrigger boat to the bay and jump off station to the Puerto Princesa underground river tour. We make a couple of comfort stops and the second is at Ulugan bay on the west coast. The views from the observation point are quite spectacular as I hope you will see from those above. I would like to have experienced the mangroves, mountains and coral reefs here but time both on this tour and our holiday precludes it. The road has turned from concrete surface to rough earth and stone and is as bumpy as hell. After a few miles we hit a short stretch of concrete road again. Our tour guide Donna informs us that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had journeyed along the same road about a year ago to visit the underground river but gave up the drive because it was too rough for her. AAAAAHHHHHH! So she authorised the govt to invest peso500,000,000 in creating a new concrete road to Sabang to encourage tourism and obviously investment. Unfortunately that amount of money only buys about 5km of concrete road so they built on only the worst sections of the track. We eventually arrive at the village, harbour and bay of Sabang and take to the outrigger boats which sail us to the other side of the bay where the underground river and caves are. The beaches are almost white sand and clean and beautiful. We take a short trek through rainforest to a reception point for the outrigger paddle boat into the caves. Due to the amount of tourism the govt has restricted the amount of the 8.5 miles of navigable river that can be viewed to no more than 1.25 miles. We are required to don life jackets and helmets and one person has to sit at the bow of the boat to train the battery spotlight on interesting geological formations. Yes Ludy was that person. We are in a small lagoon surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs, mangroves, rainforest and a small sand bank which divides the brackish water from the sea. This small lagoon seems to home thousands of small fish which from time to time leap en masse from the water in a silver blanket then flop back to the water with what sounds like a cork being pulled from a bottle. It is quite beautiful and peaceful and it would make a tranquil retreat were it not to have such a unique phenomenon as the underground river. At the entrance to the cave we notice swallows flying in and out all the time and our guide explains that they nest in and around the cave and also fly for some distance down into the depths of the cave and river system. It is the longest navigable natural waterway in the world and the Philippine and Palawan govts are very proud of it. Not to mention its tourism value to the economy. The caves and river are only legally navigable by licence from the govt and for tourism only for just over a mile. Archaeologists, geologists and historians can apply for licences to navigate further and only genuine explorers are licensed to explore further. There are some truly amazing sights inside including large stalacmites and much larger and longer stalactites. Some of the lime formations have produced recognisable shapes such as images of Jesus or Mary or a jellyfish or one slightly macabre formation of 2 bodies hanging upside down.! The river depth ranges from a couple of feet to 40 or more in places but the water always felt about the same temperature. There are one or two places where you emerge into a huge cavern with a ceiling which is only just discernable even with the powerful torch lamp on the boat. At one point our oarsman (well paddler) noted that if you looked up into the ceiling with the aid of the light you could see the water droplets raining down on us which had permeated the high limestone mountains. If they were cold droplets they were from the mountains but if they were warm they were from the bats His advice was to keep your mouth shut just in case! Just before we reached our turning point and heading back to the the cave entrance ourguide asked if we wanted to proceed further along the long and dark forbidding cave we could see stretching before us in the beam of the baterry light. A few of us said yes. Good, says our guide you carry on by swimming coz I'm going back, have fun! After our pioneering of mountain caves we decamped to the picnic area for buffet lunch. Pretty good food considering which included cooked crab. We had lunch guests in the form of macaque monkeys and monitor lizards who cleaned up after us. Actually they also cleaned up whilst we were eating, stealing some chicken left unattended by one of the other parties! They also steal bottles of water but, are guide informed us they haven’t yet mastered the art of unscrewing bottle tops so they bite the plastic and drink from the piercing or by the dribblings from the holes. As she said it we then watched the macaque which had just stolen some water, climb to the top of a nearby tree and sit down and proceed to unscrew the top! Monitor lizards roamed freely around the site but were far shyer of the humans. We made our way back to the outrigger boats beached on the beautiful almost white sand and headed back to the bay. As the tide was now out we couldn’t moor at the small harbour we left earlier and so beached up on the glistening sand bay just before it. The backdrop to the beach was just as you would imagine a desert island or the most beautiful beach scene of your dreams. The blue green sea lapped gently against fine, almost white sand which was fringed with tall palm trees who in turn were shading small beach side restaurants, bars and cool seating areas. Interspersed almost invisibly from the sea, amongst the palms were a number of small palm laced walled, palm roofed and wood framed rooms belonging to entrepreneurial locals and some foreigners and being rented out as beach front holiday accommodation. Behind this the tropical forest stretches into the distance ever upwards reaching some of the highest peaks of grey and white streaked limestone mountains whose tops are shrouded in low misty clouds of white cotton wool. A view I could sit and stare at for hours just relaxing and letting my mind soar free, and my body warmed and tanned by the hot sun. I took some photos from the boat which reveal only a hint of the beauty and tranquillity we witnessed. Palawan has already, and it’s only day 2, worked a magic, hypnotic spell on us, making us feel relaxed, comfortable and entranced by all we’ve seen. The heat and humidity is still omnipresent but it is less intense than Manila and a little more bearable. Add to that the cooling sea breezes and you truly are experiencing probably as near as you can get to Paradise.
Our guide Donna tells us that in this area there are quite a few accommodations available for rental. They are all quite basic and naturally quite cheap. They are constructed of natural materials such as walls of interwoven palm leaves, roofs made of palm leaves or some with tiles made from local clays and the house frames from local forest wood. Some have electricity but that is often only available for a few hours a day. Some have their own generators but again they do not have them running all day and night. There is drinking water but it is all imported from the city of Puerto Princesa. Washing water is, during the rainy season collected in barrels and made available for ones ablutions. We have about half an hour before the bus leaves to return us to Hotel Asturia so we take a small tour and inspect the stalls and kiosks. Ludy bought a sarong for peso130 after a little gentle bartering and some of our fellow travellers bought Palawan t-shirts for a similar price. Donna bought a bag of mangoes, which we were instructed to peel not cut and then to suck the juice rather than eat the flesh. They are the most sweetest, juiciest mangoes you will ever taste and I would not be surprised if they were the basis for ‘Nectar of the Gods’!
Well, we have to leave our little corner of Paradise and take the 2 hour (Gloria road as I shall now call it!) back to semi civilisation. We have an uneventful trip back with a stop at a small bakers shop which originally just served the local community, but with the advent of the tourists to and from the Underground river and caves has enterprisingly made itself a must see stop off. The reason? They sell a pastry delicacy that many if not most Filipinos would die for to eat. Hopia, in its many flavours is a little like the shape and pastry of a vol au vont but not completely cooked. Personally I do not like them as they are almost stodgy and at the same time a little dry. We had one more comfort stop where I had a view of Honda Bay which has hundreds of little islands dotted around it and mountains in the distance once again with their summits shrouded in mists and some with the clouds encircling their lower slopes. Back to the hotel at about 5 and the cool of our air con room! We take a tricycle at 7.30, driven by a local called Ronnie, to a restaurant recommended by Donna and Janssen yesterdays guide. It is called Ka Lui and is unique in that you are required to remove your shoes on entry and walk barefoot around the restaurant. You have a choice of dining tables too. Normal height, sitting in chairs, mid height sitting on lowish stools or Japanese style, cross legged on cushions at a low table. Guess which option we took? (I wished I hadn’t later, as when I got up to go to the comfort room I fell over as my leg had gone to sleep!) The ambience was incredible with a great deal of attention to detail with the decoration. One which I particularly liked was a fish tank. Set into a wall with a background of bamboo sticks the wooden fish were most attractively and randomly arranged, hanging from string and being gently buffeted by the breeze from the fans to simulate their motion underwater. Saves on water and all the cleaning associated with tanks. Another brilliant feature was the giant clam hand basin which was situated near the restrooms at the rear of the restaurant. To obtain water you turned a small tap set in a barrel not dissimilar to a beer keg. Very different and totally in keeping with the setting. The food was outstanding including the fresh and lightly boiled seaweed! We also ordered clam soup, a mixed seafood platter of white fish, prawns, squid, clams and a side order of a lobster each! Very good value at around £16 including wine and gin and tonic. When we left Ronnie was waiting for us and whisked (relatively considering it was a motor tricycle) us back to Hotel Asturia and the sleep of a contented diner.

Tuesday 12th June 2007 Welcome to Paradise (Palawan)

2007-06-22T21:43:00.000Z

Checking out raw materials for Lu's new handbag. Hotel Asturias swimming pool

Tuesday 12th June 2007
Up at the ungodly hour of 4am (very reminiscent of he good old days with early morning 4.20 work starts) and wait for Dodi to collect and whisk us to the airport for Palawan. Finished the packing and wait for Dodi. And wait. And wait some more. We know all about Flipino time but this is ridiculous. We have to be at the Airport before 7.00 due to security measures even for internal flights and Manila traffic can be horrendous at any time of day or night for no apparent reason. At 5.30 we get a call to say he is on his way but stuck in traffic (see my point?) so we make an executive decision ( one of only a few decisions we have made this trip) to take a taxi. Annabelle the maid hails one for us and we bundle in with the goodbyes and good wishes from all and sundry. We impress upon the taxi driver the urgency of his mission and he sets his jaw and guns the motor. We set off at an impressive 30 kph for the next 10 minutes due to tricycles and speed bumps until we reach the main highway. Here we chance our luck and find a relatively unbusy and free flowing 4 lane road and at last we’re off. 20 minutes and we’re stuck in a traffic jam and no-ones moved for a minute or two and suddenly we’re off again and passing an accident between a lorry and a pick-up truck. Glass everywhere from a windscreen but no-ones bothered and they all drive over it and around the 2 vehicles involved. We reach the airport in 55 minutes at 06.35 which must a Manila record and reward our driver with the fare of P345 and a tip of P155. He had informed us on the journey that he rents the Taxi from his brother (a system which all taxi drivers seem to use, no not rent from our drivers brother, but rent 12 hours use of the taxi from the owner) for P500 a day. Some pay more depending on wether they are relatives, friends, 2nd cousins twice removed or how new or old the taxi is. So he was happy because his first fare of the day (he was on his way from home to the Mega Mall at EDSA north) had covered his rent to his brother. Everything else earned today is his, yaaaay! So almost an hours journey of around 20 miles cost us £5.50. At the airport everything runs smoothly and to time and we’re off to Palawan. Palawan airport is literally a tin roofed brick shack. Customs is relaxed, Ludy took both our passports through and went and waited for our luggage. The carousel was about 20 feet away from customs and so he just looked over to check me out. I think. The hotel bus was outside to greet us and we were whisked away with much efficiency and courtesy. Our new lodgings, Hotel Asturias, is only 2 storeys high and has a Spanish Hacienda feel to it. A big airy reception welcomes us and a large board declaring that The Hotel Asturia welcomes Derek Scanlon & Co ! Ludy says she can’t remember ever being christened with that name. Making our way to room 227 we pass the Pescados Restaurant and a largish free form swimming pool situated in the middle of the hotel surrounded on all sides by the guest rooms. Our room is a generous size with tv, air con and ensuite facilities inc a bath and hot water! (but no bloody hairdryer says Lu) It’s just after 10am and feels like the middle of the afternoon and with the trip around Puerto Princesa later at 1.00pm I feel like catching some zzzzz’s. But we’re in a new town and country (although it is still part of Luzon in the Philippines) and we feel duty bound to have a quick look. So we take a tricycle (they are slightly different here as they have a shell which encloses the passenger and driver rather than just a sidecar as in Manila.) into the centre of Puerto Princesa for peso20. The town is surrounded on 3 sides by the sea in a natural cove with the sea ferry terminal located on the harbour in the west. It is a bustling ‘city’ where the biggest danger to life and limb is being run over by one of the thousands of tricycles or slipping in the water in the indoor wet market with all the fish. We are told that this is a "No Littering " city and to be honest we didn't see much litter at all. You know, we were talking later on in the journey and neither of us can remember seeing many people smoking. I'm sure it's not banned but maybe they are a more self conscious and healthier island race than we give them credit for. Anyway after all our walking around, all we end up buying is a couple of bottles of water so make our way back to the hotel to get ready for our tour. Naturally whilst we are out the hotel has provided 2 complimentary bottles of water!
We are collected at 1pm by Janssen, our tour guide from Ellen’s Travel and tours. We go to another hotel to collect 5 more guests of which only the family of 3 are ready. After 20 minutes the young couple appear and we’re off. Our first stop is the city museum which houses many objects and artefacts to do with Palawan history and its indigenous people but with 2 slightly more interesting items. One is a burial pot which is about 2.5 feet high and about the same in width. It is an ancient Palawan burial rite where the dead are returned to a crouching/sitting position as if on their haunches and placed in the pot then buried. The ancient Palawan man was obviously not a lofty individual. The second is fossil remains identified as human, found at the Tabon Cave complex in Luzon, Palawan and dating back some 22-24,000 years. They are acknowledged as the oldest homo sapien remains in the Philippines and earned Palawan the title of the ’Cradle of Philippine Civilisation’. Our next stop is altogether more up to date but equally if not older. We are at the crocodile farm. The Philippine and Palawan croc is a highly endangered species and a conservation scheme was set up by the Govt to protect and increase their numbers. They now farm the little critters in large numbers and many are sold for the shoe and handbag market. Our guide said they are snapped up by customers ha ha! We had the pleasure of holding one for a few moments firmly behind the head and on the tail. No just a baby of about 9 months of age, who do you think I am Crocodile Dundee. Oh and his mouth was bound tightly shut by an elastic band. Snappy elastic on a future strappy basket. We then went fishing for crocs. Standing on a walkway above fully grown crocs in their pools we watched as a number of visitors paid for the pleasure of teasing the prehistoric time warps with a couple of fish tied to string attached to a very strong meta pole. The idea was to ‘dance’ the fish in front of a croc’s nose and then watch him thrash about as he tried to take the bait. Very entertaining. From here we ventured into the islands penal colony to view their way of life. Not as daft as it sounds because the Palawan govt have taken an enlightened view to how prisoners approaching parole are treated. They are given small farm holdings owned by the govt and to whom rent is paid. They then work the land and earn and learn. The term for renting is up to 20 years at which point they must be returned to the govt. Presumably they are expected to have saved to be able to afford their own smallholding in that time. Not quite proper joined up thinking because these people are poor, the income is poor and at the end of the lease term their chances are poor. We miss out on the butterfly farm because by now it is raining cats and dogs and of course we are behind on time due to a certain late couple who are on their honeymoon. One of the many outstanding natural features of this very pretty and interesting island is a beautiful tree whose flowers are bright red, nicknamed ’Fire Tree’ when in full bloom and we are lucky enough to witness it. They are in abundance on one of the mountainsides and it looks for all the world like there is a red hot flow of lava inching down the wooded slopes. Our tour takes us back through the city and a few more points of local interest and back to our hotel. We decide to eat in the restaurant and take their buffet dinner. Wish I’d looked harder before ordering. Our choice was grilled tuna, prawns, breaded chicken pieces, breaded pork strips, garlic rice and the only vegetable was green beans in oyster sauce. Unfortunately they had been steaming away for well over an hour and a half before we got there so they were not in their best condition. We also braved a half bottle of Cashew nut wine. Very, very sweet and best served highly chilled or as a dessert wine only. Cashew nuts are an abundant crop on the island and grown all year round except during monsoon months of May, June, July. We retired to bed after dinner as we are tired and have an early start tomorrow for our trip to Sabang and the underground river tour.

Monday 11th June 2007 Short and sweet

2007-06-13T16:35:00.000Z

Feeling a bit peckish, time for a Filipine mango
Monday 11th June 2007
We spent a day doing a little shopping for ourselves, t-shirts, shorts and the like and then treated ourselves to Shrek the Third which was very funny. Went home and packed as we are going on holiday within our holiday tomorrow to the island Palawan. I was really looking forward to a few days rest away from the hustle and bustle of Manila and to be able to catch up on a lot of blogging and photo uploads. Having just checked our itinerary I have realised we are on 2 tours whilst there! One, a half day tour on our first afternoon around the capital Puerto De Princesa and the second a whole day, 7.30am to 5pm to the underground caves and river of Sabang. Oh well one day to ourselves is better than none. Checked the weather forecast. Rain. Great. See you tomorrow with umbrella and wellies.

Sunday 10th June 2007 - Managing motorised movement in Manila

2007-06-12T14:48:00.001Z

Jeepney at Mines View Baguio Jeepney and Tricycle

Sunday 10th June 2007
Did very little this morning but we are all going to a Mega Mall in Mandaluyong for bowling this afternoon, Yaaaay! It is an upmarket mall with many designer name outlets including Rolex, Armani, and Body Shop (just kidding). We go to the bowl and pay Peso 140 per game £1.55. Lu had 129, 142 and I had 168, 202. We were joined by Ate Bever, Ate Roma, her foster daughter Daniella, Sheila and Rain who all didn’t bowl. Had a long shop and then ended up having pizza dinner at an oulet called Shakeys. Went back to Hotel Encarnacion via Greenhills accidentally and we watched video of A night at the Museum.
Daniella is a small 7yr old girl whom Roma has fostered from an extremely poor family they met whilst holidaying in one of the provinces. Her family including 7 other siblings were existing by eating rice, chillies and salt and not much else. Daniella, had not been to school for some time as her parents did not have the money to pay for her educational uniform and equiment and she spent most her time helping to look after her brothers and sisters. Her family agreed to her being fostered to enable her to receive a good education which in turn would increase her chances of finding well paid employment in years to come. This would then benefit the family as, in common with most educated and well earning Filipinos from poor families, they send most of their earnings back to help them survive. Daniella was badly undernourished and small and short for age. She is 2 years older than Rain at 7 but is lighter and shorter. She is bright as a button, very caring of her Tita (aunty) Roma and learning to speak English quickly, as Roma and the extended family generally only speak to her in English. Here’s a funny thing. Both Daniella and Rain, quite independently of each other, would not talk directly to me for the first few meetings we had. I found out later it was because I spoke English “in a funny way”! Their English teachers are Filipinos whose first language is Tagalog and therefore speak with their native accent. To hear pure spoken English (well in the context of never having heard an Englishman directly) was confusing and in their eyes not right. But they overcame their shyness eventually and I am now Tito (uncle) Derek. Roma has a son PJ who is 24 and training to be a doctor and I think she has high hopes for her little foster daughter too. I’ve been looking around at Manila during our stay and I have to say it is not a city that would appeal to everybody. Mini facts on PI say there is approximately 84 million inhabitants on the 1701 islands that make up The Philippines. 30 million of those live in the capital Manila. It is a vast sprawl of houses, industry, commerce, shanty towns and shopping. Shopping comes in 2 basic sizes. Small, that is very small, one man or more accurately, family businesses selling anything from fresh veg, fish or meat to junk. Then there is large as in mega large which is the super malls. These are built by large investment companies and fitted out just like our bigger shopping centres. But these super malls have food halls unlike a lot of ours. The food halls usually take up one floor similar to say Meadowhall or Thurrock if you’ve visited them, only much larger and with almost infinite choice. Rice booths, noodle bars, sea food, kiosks specialising in Chinese style, or Filipino or Malay or Thai or, well you name it and many you can’t name will be there. How about Kenny Rogers‘ (yes the C & W singer) Roasters which is a carvery style restaurant or The French Bakery which specialises in French pastries and crepes. Or how about Balut, which is chicken eggs boiled and served as an appetiser or accompaniment to beer. Sounds good huh, a nice firm boiled egg with maybe a dash of pepper, a little salt and yum. Well not quite. You will find yourself eating the egg yes but the embryo has begun to grow and form, so you still have the white or albumen, and the yolk but also a partly formed and growing chick in the middle. Enjoy your dinner!
Anyway back to the malls. They also have huge cinemas, usually on the top floor with many screens and showing all the latest Western and Asian films. Some malls have tenpin bowling centres (bowling is very popular in PI) and supermarkets, many the size of a Tesco Extra or Asda. We talked to some of the shop assistants on our wanderings and they said that they earn the daily minimum wage of Peso350 and work a 6 day week. Nonetheless, they are helpful, polite and almost always beautifully dressed and made up. We braved a tricycle which originally was a pedal bike and rickshaw style assembly but they have modernised slightly and are now 100cc motorbikes with a covered sidecar 2 passenger seat attached. Quite a bumpy and uncomfortable ride but cooler than walking and with prices in the 20 or 30 Peso region you can’t go wrong. They do not travel too far so sometimes the taxis are better. However you can often do better than a taxi by taking an MPV taxi with up to 11 or 12 other passengers but be sure to make sure you stop the right one. They tend to only do specific routes and destinations so always check. They tend to have to and from routes printed on the body work. Alternative to that is the Jeepney. A frequently highly individually decorated form of transport similar to nothing else on the road. Made in PI and I’m led to believe pretty reliable mode of transport. Looking at the condition of many of them I am sceptical. Finally buses. Every one tells me that they should be avoided totally. That goes, not just for travelling on them but for sharing the road with them. The drivers are regarded by everyone else as illiterate as far as road signs go and illegitimate as far as road craft and courtesy goes. Seriously though do not use them! You have to see them to believe me. There is also an MRT or Metro Rail transport which we did not use. It doesn’t have a great city coverage but is efficient and cheap. Well that’s what Kuya Guy said but he’s biased. They pay his pension as he worked for them for 35 years.

Saturday 9th June 2007 - Here's a shilling, go to the pictures!

2007-06-12T14:44:00.000Z

Saturday 9th June 2007
Took Lu to the dentist again hopefully the penultimate time and then we went to the SM shopping mall at EDSA North to meet Lu’s old neighbours, Rik and Mel from Mandaluyong. We have lunch in the mall’s ground floor food court, (there are 2, the other on the top floor. The Filipinos love their food.) Did a little window shopping in this huge mall and then decided to indulge ourselves and watch Pirates of the Caribbean, The end of the world. Also the cinemas have better air con than the malls so you cool down better. I gave Lu a P1000 note (£11) to get tickets while I visited the restroom. I expected a little change bearing in mind that when we visit the cinema in UK there is usually very little change from £15. She handed back P720 so 2 tickets cost about £3.10! And that was for the Premier, top notch not cheap old deluxe seats.
Back at Hotel Encarnacion we learn a little more about our hosts, Sheila, Gerald (or Jing Jing or, Aga, as he closely resembles a good looking Filipino actor) their 5 yr old daughter Rain Danielle, Sheila’s mum, Del and their maid Annabelle. Gerald is the son of Ludy’s ‘adopted sister’ Bever and he husband Guy and they live in the house that Ate Bever had built for them. Gerald works for the largest TV company in PI, ABS-CBN as a news editor. Sheila works for a PR & Marketing Media company handling major businesses who advertise in the television media as an advertising ideas consultant. Daughter Rain has not yet made a career choice but whatever it is she will probably break hearts!

Friday 8th June 2007 - Strawberry jam and other foody pleasures!

2007-06-12T14:38:00.000Z

What do you mean, "Have we any strawberry jam?"

Friday 8th June 2007
Well you can probably guess by the way I left yesterday’s blog a 6am wake was wildly optimistic. In our mitigation Ludy succumbed to a mild case of Filipino tummy and spent some time in the toilet. As an aside the toilet or loo here is referred to as the rest or comfort room. We are awoken by Ate (pronounced Attay) Bever at 7.30 as they woke late too! Just after breakfast I succumb to Filipino tummy as well. We make it to the market and it is in full swing with hundreds of kiosks all selling similar items. Some specialise in kitchen or household stuff, some in fresh vegetables and others in tins and jars of food. There are also solo vendors who squat on a patch in the main thoroughfare of this hot covered market and sell a variety of fresh vegetables for peso 100 for 5 items. There are also fresh fruit, fish, hotdog and sausage stalls too but my camera battery ran out and I forget to take my spare with me. (well I was distracted when I got tummy aches and the world dropped out of my bottom!) We returned to the hotel and checked out and then drove off to see the Presidents summer Mansion which is just on the outskirts off Baguio city. This mansion was built by the Americans during their “occupation” of the Philippines in the early 1900’s and was used by the Governor as his home. After their independence it become the president’s summer home, a retreat from the stifling heat of Manila. From here we then drove up hill to a view point called Mines View. From here you look across and down from the mountains and valleys around Baguio where until only recently gold was mined. Hence Mines View. The view is pretty spectacular and would have been even better on a clearer day. Appositely, I’m told an equally spectacular view is seen when the clouds are very low and hang over the mountain tops and into the valleys where it looks as if the sky is on your head. As with all tourist sites a shanty town market has grown where you can buy all sorts if souvenirs, gold & silver jewellery, clothes food local strawberry jam (very tasty) and as is so often the case many of the stalls duplicate the goods they sell of other stalls. The only place in the Northern parts of PI that you can grow strawberries is here in the Baguio region as the temperature is more moderate than elsewhere. The jam available to buy is in 2 styles, one which has added sugar and lemon or the other just natural. I have bought some natural. Time is once again pressing on us and we must leave in order that we can reach the dentist in Manila in good time for Ludy. Our journey time will be around 4 hours plus a few steps for diesel and lunch. Our descent from Baguio takes in some spectacular mountain and valley views with one piece of the road which spans between 2 hills on what I assume must be a manmade earth built strip. The drop on either side was almost sheer and must have been hundreds of feet to the bottom. Keep driving Dodie, eyes ahead and don’t look down. We stop around 3.30 at Jollibee’s in Tarlac, Pampanga. Jollibee’s is the PI equivalent McDonalds with a range of beef burgers, chicken drumsticks and burgers, nachos, hotdogs and a number of Filipino dishes. Drinks are pretty much the same but with the addition of Nestea (Nescafe tea granules mixed with water) which is drunk with ice. I had Jollibee’s Champ, 1/3 pound pure beef burger with salad and fries. Peso 127, £1.40. The beef burger was a little greasy but quite tasty. As we near Manila we pass Mount Arayat an active volcano at Mabalacat, Pampanga which is on the outskirts of Manila.
Mt Pinatubo is only a little further away and is also active, and the last eruption in 1990 covered hundreds of square miles including Manila with volcanic ash. There is a toll road back into Manila which will help us avoid most of the Friday afternoon/evening traffic and we make the dentist in good time. Reynaldo and Rhodora Chanliecco are private orthodontic and orthopaedic dentists and have spent a lot of time and care with Ludy for which we both thank them. We are starting to read about the British taking up foreign hospital and dental treatment due to the cost and waiting lists at home. I am told that most Filipinos wait until their next trip back to PI for dental treatment as it is very much cheaper there. For example a filling is about Peso100, root canal work is Peso250 and a complete porcelain cap is peso18000 or £200. I paid £350 for one in May last year. We know also that the price Lu paid here in PI for her dental work is about half of that she would pay in England.

Thursday 7th June - Warm bath, Hot bath at last

2007-06-12T14:36:00.000Z

The South China Sea at Pagudpud

Thursday 7th June 2007
We all wake early and take a stroll down to the beach which is almost white and lapped gently by a calm and greeny blue sea. So, t-shirts off and we run into the South China Sea which is as warm as a bath. I look around me and as I’m facing out to sea I see I am in a wide bay reaching further out and round to the right of me. But when looking out to sea the cloud line way over to the horizon is almost touching the sea giving the effect of the sky meeting the sea. Check the photo and you will see what I mean. Also, the under the tall cloud, if you look closely you can see it is raining. After messing about and having a sand and seawater skin exfoliation we head off to the hotel pool and swim around in water as hot as a bath. We have breakfast and another swim in the pool followed by a short sunbathe then we check out and head for Baguio. Baguio is in the mountain province of North Luzon and known as the Summer Capital of the North. We drive back part of the way we came to Pagudpud and then head up the mountain road known as Marcos Highway to Baguio. During the journey up the mountain we witness a spectacular lightning storm which circle the hills around us for some hours. We can’t make out if it actually brings any rain or not. There is a little concern at the moment in Philippines that the true monsoon rains have not yet arrived. Usually they start beginning of May and essential day wear is shorts, t-shirt and umbrella. This is borne out by the fact we pass many rice fields that are bone dry and the rice seedling plants are dead. It takes us 9 hours with only 2 short breaks to get there. It was actually only 81/2 but a car got stuck in the road works trying to drive (unsuccessfully the first time) up a ramp of stones as we reached the outskirts of the city. He was rescued by other drivers and passers by and we carried on to Baguio town centre. As we ascended the mountains the air got cooler and cleaner and the humidity reduced. We found a hotel that was fully booked but one next to it, Hotel 45 was able to accommodate us. We booked a family room consisting of a lounge/dining area with sofa bed, small kitchen and 2 bedrooms both with ensuite. The showers are powered and have hot water as the Filipinos who visit find Baguio cold! We paid the princely sum of Peso 2700 to include breakfast. £30. Air con is not really necessary here as the evening temperatures are very comfortable at around 20C. After checking in we walked down to the town past a roundabout with a pine tree decorated for Christmas and decide to eat in a Japanese and Korean restaurant called Hodori. I’m trying to experience as many different eating pleasures as I can. I have Tempura prawns, fried rice and mido soup and all 5 of us eat for peso 1700. When we get back to the hotel we arrange to wake up at 6 so we can go to a traditional Filipino market early and see it at it’s best.

Wednesday 6th June 2007 -

2007-06-12T14:34:00.000Z

Sunset over rice fields and the South China Sea Lu & me in the Bell Tower, Vigan

Wednesday 6th June 2007
We got up early packed and went down to find the others had already gone into the town. They returned very quickly and we arranged to have a breakfast later. Ludy explained her nightmares to Ate B and we asked the receptionist without mentioning the reason, if the hotel was haunted. She replied that she has seen and felt the presence of 2 ghosts, a male and a female in the hotel many times before and was not surprised that we had been disturbed. I wasn’t sure if we should’ve asked for a discount for having a haunting but every body said I would’ve been charged more for having extra guests in the room. We toured some of the fine old streets of Vigan with beautiful Spanish colonial houses and warehouses and bodegas. The streets were cobbled with the original stones and Unesco has now decreed the town as a world heritage site. We make our way back to the town square and take a horse and carriage (Calesa) tour of some of the town. Our first stop is the bell tower of Santa Maria? which is what it says but dates back to the 15 Century. The original bells are still there but no longer are they rung. We are allowed to enter the tower and climb to the top where we get a great view of the town. There is a large bell in the centre and 5 (I think) smaller bells arranged around the outside walls facing the town. They all still move on their brackets but the bells themselves are badly cracked and in poor condition. There is also a large amount of graffiti on the wood and brickwork of the tower. Ludy, who has a fear of heights was very brave and climbed to the top and with a little cajoling sat near the edge for a photo opportunity. I also got a picture of her clinging to the wall for dear life! From here our pony and trap trots us to the Ilocano museum housed in Padre Burgos’s house. He was a local martyr who refused to bow to the new administration by the Spanish and fought for the rights of the local native Ilocano. He was hanged and beheaded for his trouble as a warning to other rebels. From here we are taken to the local pottery and market which is very disappointing and we do not stay long. Back to the town centre and we disembark our trap. Our “Jockey”, who by the looks of him must be at least 100yrs old, tells us the ponies are fed on corn leaf and rice seed and watered 3 times a day to prevent them having water sickness. To be fair I thought the ponies were in reasonable condition, it was our jockey I think we should have worried about. We checked out of the hotel for which we paid peso2000 for 2 rooms. About £22. (ghost - Govt Haunting Optional Sur Tax included foc)! We have early lunch at Grandpa’s Inn with usual Filipino style food at incredibly low prices and then make our way around 2ish to a beach resort up north called Pagudpud, where we will stay overnight and have a little r and r time until midday Thursday. We drive for many hours past small villages and miles of rice fields, many of which are being planted or tilled by locals and their long horned cattle. Our next destination is Bakat where past and much revered President Marcos’s body is preserved and on display. His mausoleum is an unpresupposing building set between his 2 old family homes. A curator unlocks the door and we enter a dimly lit entrance area and are ushered to the right and into the final resting place of the ex President himself. The body is in what looks like a hermetically sealed glass coffin resting on a silk mattress and pillow. He is dressed in presidential dress and sash and medals. I am assured it is his preserved body but the face; well I suppose they have to do some wax and make up work for appearance but I have some doubts about what I see. But hey, no doubt I’m wrong. Leaving the presence of the most loved president in comparison to other past presidents we make or way upwards and skirt some of the mountains in the north. Around 6 the sun begins to set and we luckily happen to pass a ridge which looks down on rice fields aand out to sea and the sunset. PI is called the Land of the Setting Sun and is reflected in their national flag and the scene we witnessed as the sun went down. Whilst not perhaps the most spectacular sunset it was still pretty good. Within half an hour we had reached the resort of Pagudpud and checked into the hotel Villa del Mar. We have early dinner and retire early as I think we are tired from the travelling. No ghosts tonight but we do have cockroaches wider and longer than your thumb! I don’t think we get charged for them. We are all looking forward to tomorrow morning for a walk on the beach, a swim in the sea and then breakfast.

Tuesday 5th June 2007 - Road trip to the North

2007-06-12T14:30:00.000Z

Tuesday 5th June 2007
Today we start our long journey north to the more rural countryside of Luzon, the northern island of the Philippines. We are making the trip with Ate Bever and Kuya Guy, and our driver, Dodie. Our first overnight stop after some 400 or more kms will be Vigan, Ilocos Sur. This town has significant historical interest to PI as it was one of the first places the Spanish landed in their conquest of the islands. The Spanish influence, architecture, language and culture permeates the islands equally if not more so than the native culture in some areas. The drive is long and uncomfortable due to the condition of the roads. After we leave the tollway the roads become concrete and in many districts maintenance is not so good. We make a few comfort stops and have lunch at Max’s which is a little like a cross between Pizza Hut, KFC and Chiquito’s. We ate well with a whole small chicken, Soup, various beef, fish and pork dishes accompanied by rice, noodles and drinks. Peso1666 for 5. £18! We meet some road works at one town where the traffic is controlled by red and green stop go lights which have an opened umbrella attached above them! We weren’t sure if they were to protect them from the sun or the rain! We finally arrive at Vigan at 9pm after leaving Manila at 11am. The hotel we are to stay at is owned by Kuya Guy’s cousin and we book in gratefully at the end of a long journey. We take a quick walk back to the town square and eat at quaint restaurant called Leonas. Again we have a full and varied menu of Bagnet, (deep fried pork) rice, barbecued fish, Pinakbet, (local vegetable stew), garlic mushrooms, sizzling pork again to a spicy local recipe and drinks, all freshly cooked on a barbecue and gas cooker outside at the front of the building and as always it’s very good. Another marvellous value for money meal at Peso1187 or £13. We walk our weary way back to Hotel Fernandino and take room 1. It is an old 16 century wealthy Spanish businessman’s residence converted to a hotel and bears all the hallmark designs of old colonial style. Large high ceilinged rooms with oak floors, large windows in a waffle design, glazed not with glass but the translucent insides of shells. The plumbing as usual leaves a lot to be desired, no toilet seat, normal for most parts of rural PI, a shower with only cold water, (why do want hot in these temperatures?) and all this in a very basic wet room. To bed and fortunately the air con is working, as the night temps only drop a few degrees and the humidity remains the same. About 3 am I wake to the most blood curdling ear splitting scream I have ever heard at this time in the morning. Ludy is clinging to me sobbing that “they are trying to hold her down by her arms and legs and hurt her” “who” I ask. “the ghosts” I calm her down and assure her it is just nightmare and all is ok. 30 mins later she does the same but before she did and whilst I was still awake I had a really strange feeling and all my body became covered in goosebumps. No it wasn’t the air con because it wasn’t actually that efficient. I mollified her again after she explained that the ghosts had this time been trying to take me away, but this was now becoming odd. Ludy woke again twice more with very similar dreams of ghosts and I had strange sensations of goosebumps once more. By now it was getting light and I think she felt safer and went back to sleep until 8.

Monday 4th June 2007 - Binangonan and painful memories for Lu

2007-06-06T11:57:00.000Z

Today we are to visit Ludy’s property in Binangon, Rizal. But first we must travel to Central Manila to visit Ate Bever’s office and then the travel agent to pay for our short 4 day holiday within a holiday. Bever is co-director of a recruitment company specialising in providing skilled PI engineers and technicians for the overseas markets but mostly concentrating on Dubai. She is able to convert my left over SG$ to Peso and then we go and pay for the holiday. We have booked 4 days and 3 nights in Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan at a good well recommended hotel including flights. I will post a map of PI and highlight where we are visiting. So now we make tracks for Binangonan and I can Tell Ludy is apprehensive. She has not seen the house for 10 yrs and her cousin and his family are living in it. She let them live in the property after her mother died so that it would not be left empty during her time in the UK. With a proviso that should she ever return they would vacate for her to resume residence. She left them money to continue building work and also bought them a motor tricycle for her cousin to have work and an income. She has written to him a number of times since she left but he has never replied. She is worried he has let the house down by not doing repairs or any other improvements as he was intending. Also she is concerned that he has not been paying the local house tax and if this is the case the council repossess the house to cover their costs. As we go through Binangonan Lu finds much has changed and that the town is now much larger and spread out than before. To me much of the “newer” area appears to be a lot of jerry built tin and creteblock shacks from which people run a small business and also live. I think that these people have a very hard time making enough money to feed their families let alone dream about enjoying what we might call some essentials. Bever and Lu have said that PI is very much a 3rd world country with poverty and overpopulation of the urban areas rife. Until you se it for yourself it is really not possible to truly understand what terrible conditions some of these people live and try to work in. Much of this could be helped by politicians who would implement the policies they so easily espouse during election time instead of using their positions for personal gain only. Sounds a bit like being at home really. A number of illustrations of attempts to help local communities can be found where for example you find covered community centres. These are used for markets or meetings or even festivals but when you see huge plaques bearing the name of the councillor who “with funding from the council and local community built….” you sort of wonder whether it was just built as a monument to the councillor as an ego trip and the fact that it benefited the community was incidental. There are the ubiquitous Jeepneys everywhere in all their finery of chrome, lights and bodywork art. Some are quite plain and some are truly the result of hundreds of hours of a labour of love. The school Andrea went to has been extended and improved and everywhere seems busier I‘m told. We turn off the main road and take a very small side road through what to western eyes would be considered very a run down and poor area. To be honest many of the houses are almost of a shanty town style and many are half finished or just plain falling down. We crest a hill and Ludy spies her house. From the plans I saw in the UK I expected a slightly larger house but I also expected it to be pretty run down. I was disappointed by the former but not the latter. The design of the house is quite good but the architectural dream does not appear to have transferred from the plan into reality. On closer inspection which one didn’t really need, the house is in extremely poor condition. The corrugated tin roof needs attention and all the guttering is loose and the down pipes and soakaways are missing. Where the gutter drain pipes are missing water has soaked into the cretebrick work. The wooden sofits and barge boards are weather worn and decaying as are the window frames and front sliding door. The interior is damp and musty smelling and all the wood ceiling panels need replacing. The outside toilet is little better than an old toilet bowl, which to flush, you swill water down by hand. I remember Lu saying that when she told Andrea we were coming to see the house she said “ but Mum, you can’t let Derek stay at the house because the toilet we used is outside the house and doesn’t have a flush!” Lu talks to her cousin and his wife and I think they come to some decision about the house. We take a little time to go and visit the grave of Lu’s mum, Aurora Ocampo Villegas who died 27 January 1997 and pay our respects. Now we head back to Metro Manila and do a little shopping for our 4 day expedition to the north part of PI starting at a large village or small town called Vigan (pronounced vegan). After shopping we head unexpectedly (by me anyway) to a eat as much as you like style restaurant which Ate Bever recommends. We sit down and are issued (again unbeknownst to me) with yellow plates. This means we can only choose our food from the Philippine buffet section. Problem is no-one told me. So we all get up and got to the starters area and choose various items. I chose Kangkong (fried green leafy vegetable, a sort of broad leaf grass), bbq chicken wings, ( I nearly picked up bbq’d chicken gizzards by mistake) and I few other quite western portions. Main dishes were arranged around the room and were not only very international, ie Japanese, Malay, Philippine and USA but varied and extreme. How about Ox Tripe kare-kare and pig’s intestine! Or pig’s face spicy stew. Or lechon which is mmmmmmm, roast pork. Problem with that dish though is I saw chef with the roasted suckling pig and watched him cleave its head off. I that is only me and not the others, then wandered over to the Japanese dishes and had loaded Khengis Kahn and spicy chicken kebabs on my dish when Lu came running over. “honey you can’t select from these Japanese dishes as you have only paid for yellow plate. So you can only choose from Philippine food. Japanese is blue plate” Luckily I don’t think any one noticed. We then are serenaded with 2 Filipino love songs by a quartet of Bass cello, 2 guitarists and a lady singer shaking her maracas! Highly inappropriate in a high class restaurant. After dinner we head home to “Hotel Encarnacion” (Ate Bever’s house her son and family live in and are making us very welcome.) and head for bed exhausted again. The heat is unrelenting but it’s the humidity that kills you.

Sunday 3rd June 2007 - National pastime for some

2007-06-06T11:51:00.000Z

Kuya Guy is taking me to a Philippine cock fight. These are legal here and take place in government authorised buildings (cockpit) every day. They generally start about midday and continue until there are no more roosters to fight. Pictures which I take will not be available to view unless you ask. We have early start today as Lu cannot sleep with the excitement and anticipation of another 6 or so hours in the dentist’s chair. Ok she’s hopelessly worried and to cap it all (pardon the pun) a temporary cap fell of during breakfast. At about 12 only 2 1/2 hrs after breakfast we have elevenses / lunch and then Cuya Guy and I leave for the cockfight. We are allowed through the VIP entrance as Cuya Guy is a member and enter the very hot stadium. He shows me to the Matching area where owners get together to match their cocks according to size, height and weight to ensure a more even fight. After matching and the owners are happy with their match bet fee they are issued with a fight number. Everybody is very friendly and eager to show me their birds and the stadium. The noise starts to increase so I assume the fights have started. We make our way into the arena or cockpit and take a seat near the fighting pit. On all 4 sides there is tiered seating and standing areas and the place is almost full. The noise is created when the punters are placing their bets with the pit bet takers (PBT‘s). I have had the system explained to me a couple of times and to be honest I still don’t really understand it! I think the Pit owners take a lead from the pit bet takers as to which cock will be the favourite. If there is too much bias they try to encourage more bets for the underdog from punters and PBT’s alike. I think you can bet direct as well as through the PBT’s. Now it gets really complicated. The 2 cocks fight from one side or the other of the pit which are named Meron and Wala. A sign above the pit is lit to indicate which is the favourite. Now odds are begun to be offered by the PBT’s. Essentially they are offering a % of the bet you place as the win fee. It also seems that the % reduces as it gets closer to the fight but not always. It could increase as the PBT finds he is not getting too many bets placed. All this goes on in a riot f noise as punters are trying to bet and PBT’s are offering odds and making incredible hand gestures very much like the bookmakers at horse race meetings. Whilst all this betting frenzy is taking place the owners of the fighting cocks are “warming” them up by sparring them with other cocks. Each fighting cock is fitted with a lethal and scalpel sharp blade spur to the left leg which is covered by a sheath until it is actually about to fight. The style in which cocks fight is to fly up and towards each other and to try and injure the other with the claws. So by having the blade as well a cock can fatally injure the other with a well aimed leg movement. The cocks are then let loose on each other when the owners have removed the blade sheath. Some fights are finished very quickly but others go on for 5 mins or so.

Saturday 2nd June - A quick trip to the dentist

2007-06-06T11:49:00.001Z

Today Ludy is going to the dentist to have work prepared on her teeth. Late start and breakfast and with Ate Bever’s sister, Roma we take Lu to the dentist and arrive 14.45. 45 mins late but no-one seems to mind. After about 20 mins we hear that the work the dentist has to do will take about 4 or 5 hours! So Bever and Roma take me to a new shopping mall that has only just been opened. Finding a parking space takes the best part of 30 mins. They have so much patience especially in traffic. I would have gone home after 10. After shopping in which I bought a new pair of cargo style shorts for Ppeso1950 or £22 we returned to Ate Roma’s apartment. I met her son PJ (Patrick Jason) and her recently adopted daughter Daniella. At 8pm we phoned the dentist to learn Ludy would still be another 2 hours or so! Can you imagine a UK dentist being so diligent and dedicated? Lu has opted for 8 caps to smarten, straighten and whiten her front lower teeth and new porcelain bridge for her upper set. Cost approx Ppeso 48,000 for 8 caps and 20,000 for the bridge. Total £500. She had it costed in the uk and the bridge alone was between £600-£1000! We collect her and leave at 11.30pm and she will return tomorrow at around 12 for another 6-8 hrs work! We return to Gerald and Sheila’s home where we are staying and receive supper and cool drinks. Food is integral to the Philippine life with up to 6 or more meals a day. Brkfst, elevensies, lunch, pm snack, tea, dinner then supper. Snacks between meals don’t really exist …………… there isn’t time!

Friday 1st June 2007 Look out PI, Ludy's coming Home!

2007-06-06T11:46:00.001Z

Ate Bever, Kuya Guy, Sheila and Tita Del - Hotel Encarnacion serving our supper!

Friday 1st June 2007
We got up and started and finished our packing and checked out. Had to listen to the rantings of a demented Australian who had abused the mini bar in his room and then only at check out did he complain about the prices and the hotel. “I’ve travelled all over the world and never been charged this much for mini bar. This is the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in!” Thing is, there is a large price list on the mini bar in every room so you know exactly how much each item is going to cost. If it’s too expensive for you, well don’t touch it! Go to your local bar or 7/11! Later, we saw him returning with Tiger beer cans and whiskey bottles so obviously he had gone out and bought replacements in the local 7/11 around the corner! The hotel is not too bad and I would recommend it if you visit SG. It was originally 2 separate hotels and they are joined by a Mezzanine on the 3rd Floor where reception is located. There is a good sized restaurant which was quite expensive for breakfast but I didn’t check the prices for dinner. There was a bar on the Mezzanine and a larger one a floor down which incorporated a Karaoke bar. There are 2 swimming pools, one indoor, one outdoor and a Jacuzzi.
Now we headed for the shops especially Robinsons, for Lu, a famous Asian department store where she invested in some new sunglasses and various items of clothing. Don't forget to get your tax free shopping vouchers where you can claim your tax back. Some stores will discount at their customer services desks and for other purchases from smaller shops you claim back at the airport. Also bought a dvd, the newish film directed by Clint Eastwood, Flags of our Fathers. SG$29. Hope it plays on my DVD player! Had breakfast lunch in an underground food hall just off Bridge Street and ate strange Malay/Chinese mix which was hot and interesting. Then went back to hotel, collected our luggage and took taxi to Changi. The weather seems to be taking a turn for the worst now. The skiy is darkening and the wind is getting up. As we get closer to the airport the heavens open and the traffic slows. After about 10 mins it stops abruptly and we are in sunshine and every where is dry. Changi is not too busy and we are through check-in and customs pretty quickly. The departures lounge is huge as I remember from last time and Lu wanders off for a bit of retail therapy. I got the laptop out but manage to nod off for about 10 mins - ooops! Lu bought a nice Tissot ladies watch and a few souvenir presents for friends and family in PI. We board SQ918 777 on time and take off 15 mins late. Meet a really nice guy called Manu from India who has made his home in PI and now runs a department store. We are entreated to call him and meet up during our time here. Great flight and food again from SIA, we really can’t fault the service or menus. Dessert was a Magnum and Lu said whilst eating hers “I’ve lost a large piece of chocolate, where’s it gone?” I found it an hour later, stuck to the bum of my light grey jeans. Got my revenge when Lu came back from the toilet later as she sat on her carton of water! We arrive almost on time in Ninoy Aquinas International and as we walk towards Customs there are large signs warning about the dangers of Avian/Bird flu. All passengers are monitored by heat camera as they walk towards customs. The reasoning being that Avian flu carriers, that is those whose symptoms have manifested themselves, will have a fever, ergo higher body temperature and this will be revealed by the camera. I stopped and took a brief look at the monitor. All the body images were grey, no red ones, whew! Customs was fairly quick, baggage reclaim slow and then immigration cards had to be handed in after all luggage was checked. The checking consisted of ensuring you had the same number of bags as you left the airport as you had declared at your embarkation point. We walked out of the airport to the passenger collection point. This is divided into different sections depending on the main passengers surname initial. You wait under your initial and your pick up knows where to find you! How simple and easy. Wow though. The heat and humidity. Nothing prepares you for it. Not even an acclimatisation stop in Singapore. We are at the start of the rainy season, temperature is 36c and humidity high 90% and this is at 10pm so how will it be tomorrow. We are eventually met by Ludy’s “adopted” sister, Bever and her business friend Dodie (who I thought was called Duggie) so they all laughed at me !
The car journey back to Goodwill town, Novaliches is fortunately air conditioned but the traffic is horrendous. Reminds me of Bangkok. Our welcome is excellent with supper being laid out for our arrival. Our host's house is built on the main road running through Goodwill Homes and at first sight is a 2 storey house. Actually the ground floor is the garage and laundry area with a little space at the rear for housing the dogs and cockerels. Upstairs we enter into the main living area with the dining table defining the dining area and sofas and tv at the other end facing the street being the lounge. At the opposite end is the kitchen and a door to the outside “dirty kitchen”. Off the main room next to the entrance door is the bathroom and then to the left are three doors to the bedrooms with the master bedroom facing the front of the house with en-suite. We ate our welcome dinner with the family who comprise Ate Bever and her husbund Guy (Kuya or Brother) who live across the road, their son Gerald (nickname Jing Jing) & his wife Sheila. Their daughter Rain and Sheila's mum Del who we call Tita (Aunt) Del 7 finally their maid Annabelle. Lu caught up with gossip and stories until we gratefully tumbled into bed in our air-conditioned room at 2.00am.

Thursday 31st May 2007 Sentosa and cable car

2007-06-06T11:37:00.001Z

Cable car to Sentosa Island Singapore and Pink Humpback Dolphins at Dolphin Lagoon Sentosa

Thursday 31st May 2007
Managed to prise ourselves from our bed at 9am and had breakfast at 99 Central next door. Ludy had fried rice and shark meat and I, fried rice and chicken in oyster sauce. SG$7. We made our way via MRT (and Robinson’s Department Store which is like an upmarket Debenhams) to Sentosa island where I was led to believe by an acquaintance that you could see it all in half a day. Take MRT to Harbour Front and walk through Vivo Centre to the cable car which takes you across to Sentosa island. The cable car ride is not for the faint-hearted as it crosses between SG and Sentosa at up to around 100m above the sea. You can pay to take a glass bottomed cable car too! There is a mono-rail system from SG which also takes you around the island but we were told that it is not working currently. I could not find out whether it was going to reopen or not. The cable car journey can be bought as part of a number of tour packages ranging from SG$47 to SG$64 depending on what touristy sights you wish to visit. Take a choice from Silosa Fort, Carlsberg viewing tower, Butterfly and insect experience, 4D magic experience, Underwater World, Dolphin Lagoon and many others. Each can also be bought separately or paid for at their respective entrances. I would recommend that you buy as many tickets as possible as part of the tour package because you avoid the queues for tickets at each attraction and can go straight in . While we were there the queues were very long and I would believe that they are like this most of the time. Food is available at many places but the widest choice is at the main entrance from the cable car including Subway, Ben and Jerrys and Pizza Place. The island is served by 3 bus routes, red, blue and yellow. Each circles a different part of the island with only one or two common stops so take care to choose the correct bus. Our tour guide Gideon, suggested we visit the Underwater World first as it was indoors so we wouldn’t get wet due to the rain which had just started! The other attractions were all outside and he expected the rain to have gone by the time we reached them. Underwater World was pretty much like all other aquariums I have now visited except it is smaller and has 2 special features, one of which they claim is unique. Firstly the have a large sea aquarium with many types of fishy inhabitants, of which many, if not all, are in no way endangered. This is served by a walkway and for the lazier amongst us (I prefer the phrase ‘wiser and more experienced’) a travelator. Secondly they have a hand held info system which identifies the fish species when it swims past a particular area of the aquarium in front of the visitor. They claim it to be the first of its kind in the world . From there we went to the Butterfly and Insect Kingdom but had to skip through it pretty quickly to be sure of making Dolphin Lagoon in time for the show. The butterflies did not show themselves due to the light rain and I think the insect area and long display inside would have been very interesting if we had had the time. We queued for the red bus to take us to Dolphin Lagoon. And we queued and queued. I got bored and went and bought 2 Subway sandwiches. Then we queued a little longer until eventually we reached the head of the queue and managed to board the bus for the nearly 15 minute drive. We arrived 5 minutes after the start of the dolphin show but got in and even though we were at the back still got a good view of the performance. 3 Pink humpbacked dolphins performed reasonably easy tricks and allowed paying customers to wade into the lagoon to stroke and have photos taken with them. We caught the next red bus and visited Siloso Fort which is next to the Underwater World Oceanarium on the far western end of the island. This is the last remaining military fortification on the island and has been maintained and restored as a monument to the fall, the prisoners and recapture of SG during WW2. It was extremely interesting but as it shut at 6pm we only had 50 mins to explore. The brochure recommended the visitor would take about 100 mins to walk around and digest all the displays and sights so I felt we were a bit cheated to be allowed in at 5pm. Back to the red bus and to the cable car and back to Singapore.
We showered and changed at the hotel and headed off to Smith Street, Chinatown for dinner. The stalls were all open and serving loads of different foods from Chinese buns to fried noodles, deep fried real prawn fritters (crackers) to wun ton soups and pretty much anything you have seen in your local Chinese take away plus food you have definitely not seen there! We had prawn and cockle stir fried noodles, wun tun soup, prawn fritters, prawn and seafood pancake rolls, and mixed vegetable fried rice washed down with fresh mango and orange juice and a Tiger beer for the grand sum of SG$25. Problem is our eyes are too big and we both have now eaten too much! We take a gentle walk around some of Chinatown including a look at the beautiful green and red Chinese temple style building in the square behind Smith Street. The problem with eating in the evening is that it envelops you with a terrible torpor which you have to fight if you want to do any more exploring. But when you add the humidity and the jet lag feeling it becomes almost impossible to want to do anything. So we head back towards the hotel, slowly, then cheat and take a bus. The MRT cards can be used on the buses also. I seem to remember reaching our room and just falling asleep on the bed.

Wednesday 30th May 2007 - Aaaarrggghhhh, shopping!

2007-05-31T12:19:00.001Z

Botanical Garden

Wednesday 30th May
Eventually went back to sleep around 04.30 and we awoke at 09.00and gently got ourselves back into the land of the living. It is absolutely throwing it down with rain and really windy so looks like a troublesome day for brolly owners. We are eventually ready to face the world about 10 and visit the 99 Centre just around the corner from the Excelsior. It is a mini food mall and offers many styles of food for incredibly cheap prices. Oh and by the way (btw) the rain and wind have both gone, and as we step onto the almost dry street you wouldn’t know it has been raining! The heat hits you like the curtain of hot air you encounter when going in and out of shops at home and the humidity envelops you like a hot wet towel! We choose a breakfast of fried rice, diced pork and cabbage, tofu and mince. SG$4.5 or £1.50 crazy price and a complete contrast to yesterdays dinner cost!
Off we go to Orchard Road and shopping heaven as referred to in my previous report on SG. We visited Tangs, one of the oldest department stores and Lu had great delight in sifting through hundreds of handbags all reduced in price in the great SG May June and July sale. We moved on to Lucky World centre which is one of the centres the locals are more apt to go as prices are a little lower and some of the outlets sell, shall we say “genuine articles of doubtful provenance!” We had a little success here as Lu had forgotten to bring the cable which connects her camera to the laptop to download her photos. We managed to pick up a USB adaptor for the memory card to plug into which in turn fits the laptop and lets you download the images. Even haggled him down SG$10! More window shopping in the Paragon Centre and then caught a #123 bus (you can also catch 77, 106 or 177) from Orchard Boulevard to the Botanic Gardens on Napier Road and spent best part of 4 hours very slowly walking round. The Gardens have an orchid cloning unit used to propagate and grow hundreds of thousands of orchids for display in the gardens and also for retail. The Orchid is the most numerous varietal plant in the world with literally thousands of types being grown. The humidity seems to have increased and the sun is out and fearsome. We dodge around in the shade as much as possible and in and out of the air con parts of the gardens. Take a great walk through the orchid gardens again but have to cancel the walk to the visitor centre as it is too far to reach in this humidity and have to walk back. Next visit we will only see the parts not yet explored! Visited Swan Lake which I missed last time and watched in fascination as one swan washed and preened itself in the slightly murky waters just in front of the great swan statue in the middle of the lake. Also discovered a turtle swimming around with only 3 legs! We expected to watch him swimming in circles! We caught a bus #174a or 174 back to St Andrews Church, North Bridge Rd and walked back to the relative cool of our room.
This evening we took the MRT to the famous Newton food hawker centre at Newton Circus on the Bukit Timah Road. Modern hawker centres are the result of the SG authorities rounding up all the original street hawkers and relocating them in cleaner and more hygienic centres with running water, gas and electricity facilities. Whilst obviously safer for the customers it has lost some of its original authenticity, charm and to a degree atmosphere. Now of course it is still a dining experience not to be missed and a good meal can be had from SG$2.5 or 80pence a course! We had tom yam soup (mixed seafood of prawns, mussels, squid and cockles in a lemon grass and oyster flavour) cracked black pepper crab, fried rice, pak choi in oyster sauce and SG style Chinese spring roll. We followed with mixed fruit platter of pineapple, water melon, pau pau, lychee, mango, apple, guava, star fruit, melon for SG$6 or £2! The experience of eating here is al fresco style but being able to sit anywhere and order from a variety of units. Most of our food came from The Ocean BBQ at unit 16 which is on the outside of the triangular courtyard arrangement of Newton and next to the bus and car park.
By now it is almost 10.30pm (but the centre stays open until around 5am!) so we head back to our hotel. We decide to have a cold beer nightcap at the mini food centre 99. 2 tiger beers of 633ml or over a pint is SG$10 or £3.60. We drank al fresco again at street tables watching the world walk past and feeling the humidity rise! It’s now 1.00am and time for bed. Sentosa island tomorrow.

28th May 2007 - Off we go, destination Singapore

2007-05-31T12:06:00.002Z

It's our plane looking in the window at us!

Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th May
Collected Ludy and drove to Andy and Carol’s house. We left just after 1.00 pm for Heathrow and Singapore International Airlines flight SQ319 to Singapore. I had booked the flight on line direct with SIA for £506 each to Manila via Singapore. We arrived nice and early and had a lovely surprise to see Ate Tess And Ate Matilda were there to wave us off. We booked in straight away but no upgrades this time as Raffles and First Class both “fully booked”. Oh well no harm in trying. LHR is really quite a nightmare for flying out from now since the anti terrorist measures were introduced. We were quite lucky as there wasn’t too many passengers passing through but during very busy times it must take hours to be processed through Departure control. We queued for approx 30 mins just to get through x-ray machines and body searches, and then you are required to take your shoes off and they go through a separate x-ray machine! We walked down to Gate 31 to board the flight only to find that there were no more than about 200 pax on the flight! So when we took our seats we prayed no one was going to sit next to us….. And they didn’t, so we could spread out over the 4 seats and be a little more comfy for the 12½ hour flight. Who needs an upgrade anyway! Took off 30 mins late due to Air Traffic control and made our way up through the bleak, grey and wet London clouds tand headed East o the warmth of equatorial Singapore.
Pre dinner drinks trolley was rolled out and a tiny splash of red wine was taken by me and a Singapore gin Sling (or 2!) by Lu. We had a choice of menu for dinner, roasted beef fillets served with roasted vegetables and mashed potato or, roasted chicken in hoi-sin sauce with chicken flavoured fried rice and seasonal vegetables including pak choi or, fish vindaloo with mixed vegetables and pilao rice. Not bad for economy! Oh and they insisted we had wine with the meal and that it should be refilled very regularly. I tried to refuse but to no avail of course. Watched a couple of films including the new one, Zodiac with Jake Gyllenhall. Pretty good film actually, despite the constant interruptions to refill my wine glass . Lu gave up about 4 hrs into the flight and slept fitfully for about 6 hrs. Lucky her, I managed about 3. During the flight I got to talk to the senior flight supervisor, Loy Ying Hian about life with SIA. He has been flying with them for 15 years but said there are some flight attendants and pilots who have been with them for 30 or 40 years! The current average though for flight attendants is about 4 yrs. On the long haul flights such as LHR - Singapore or USA - Singapore they have a 50 hr stopover. By law they must have one night and one clear day before flying again and they always stay in very good hotels. No stories of wild parties or orgies though and I also asked if he had any funny experiences or stories from his flights but he remained inscrutable throughout. I suggested it must be quite boring for parts of the long haul flights, during, for instance the part where pax tend to sleep but he assured me that they have a variety of jobs to perform to ensure the comfort of their pax. They remove previous or unused meals from the galley and restock for the next meal, check, restock and clean the toilets, deal with pax needs or problems and prepare for the interim snack and drink rounds of the cabins. With SIA the crew, Captain and flight officers do eat the same food as the pax but 2nd officer always eats a different meal to Captain. The rest of the crew must have a reasonably balanced split between the menu choices too. However one very interesting fact emerged from our talk. SIA has a very strict No Upgrade Policy. They say they have a high proportion of regular Raffles passengers travelling in that class. So when they get full on a normally half full Raffles class flight they get annoyed that they have paid full price and travel regularly and we, the hoi poloi get upgraded for nothing! They only operate it when they have an overbooking problem in economy. They allow a certain percentage of overbooking of seats because the also have a problem with ‘No Show’ pax. Naturally it doesn’t always balance it self out. So they bump Raffles Class (equivalent to Business) pax to First Class where possible and economy to Raffles to free extra seats. But he said they always get complaints none the less.

Flight takes an extra 30 mins or so due to strong headwinds and we land at Changi Airport at 14.50 local time Tuesday 29th May. (I hate the “losing a day” effect of flying East) The airport is just as clean and full of orchids and plants as last time. We take the airport shuttle (still SG$7) to Peninsular Excelsior Hotel and in the shuttle get talking to the 2 girls travelling with us. One is going to stay at Sleepy Sam’s in Bussorah Street which, as those who have been paying attention to previous blog entries will know, I raved about last time. Must go back again on this trip, I know Lu will love it. The other lady is from Mauritius and of French extraction. She has a marvellous mix of French and Afrikaans to her accent which, hard to decipher at first but becomes rather melodic as you tune in and listen. She has just returned from Vietnam on a buying trip for local artefacts to sell back in Mauritius. She also has about 40 apartments which she rents to holidaymakers and the web address is here and also in the summary at the end of the blog trip. www.Oazure.com
Peninsular Exelsior hotel is right in centre on Coleman Street by North Bridge Road and Hill Street and very handy for City Hall MRT so we can go pretty much everywhere without too much unnecessary walking in this heat and humidity. Today it is around 29C and humidity 80%. The hotel have upgraded us to a superior room which is on the smoking floor as there are no rooms at all in the non smoking floors. They have loads of tour parties staying and they take whole floors together. Our room is quite big and comfy with a sofa, armchairs, coffee table, dining table and chairs and a huge queen size bed but the bathroom is in need of a make over and refurbish.
More about the hotel tomorrow when we’ve had a better chance to explore it. We showered and dressed in nice clean, fresh creased clothes and went off to visit Clarke Quay for dinner via the MRT. Bought a new MRT travel card which you charge with $15. We chose Clarke Quay Fish restaurant (yes I know, everybody knows I’m not too keen on fish) and had an interesting dinner. Lu chose sea bass (we had seen it 5 mins earlier swimming around a fish tank with its friends) with stir fried okra, barbecued and served with chef’s special lime and chilli sauce. We started with crab claw and seafood soup and deep fried baby squid in chilli sauce and sesame seeds. I ordered stir fried scallops with asparagus in oyster and ginger sauce and we shared seafood fried rice. For drinks, Lu had fresh squeezed lime and orange juice and I had local Special Brew beer. Total SG$140 plus taxes and svc charge SG$164 or £56. Oh and the sea bass was delicious. Walked along Clarke Quay to the reverse bungy jump in a ball and watched some poor victims shoot into the air and get thrown around and upside down until they went green! Great fun for the spectators! We walked back to the hotel which took only about 15 mins, had a quick drink and retired at 10.30 pm completely knackered! Woke up at 02.00, not sure why, and as couldn’t get back to sleep decided to write today’s blog.

A New Adventure

2007-05-26T14:28:00.000Z

26th May 2007

Today trying to get the final strings tied up before Lu and I fly out on Monday morning to Singapore (SG) and on to the Philippines (PI). I'm pretty much there and packed I think , Passport suntan cream (haha it's monsoon season, hot, humid and very very wet). 5 day forecast for SG , 32C, humidity 70%+ and thunderstorms! Must remember my brolly.

Got my birthday to look forward to tomorrow as little bruv has organised something with family for me. Ok back to the packing. Now, should I take sunglasses or goggles?

helpful web addresses

2006-12-21T21:18:00.000Z

http://www.raintreespa.net/ Bangkok spa and Thai massage. Well worth a visit

http://www.phuketcampsite.com/ Exactly what it says in North Phuket

http://www.phuketboatlagoon.com/hotelresort/resort.php Boat Lagoon resort and hotel. Large marina and restaurants.

http://www.infogelarwisata.com/ Tour and travel company Bali. Extremely helpful and will create individual itineraries for the solo traveller or groups. contact: Wayan Sukada

http://singapore-raffles.raffles.com/ Raffles hotel Singapore

http://www.royalresorts.com.au/resorts/royal_bali_beach_club_at_jimbaran_bay.php

http://www.royalresorts.com.au/resorts/royal_lighthouse_villas_at_boat_lagoon.php

http://www.royalresorts.com.au/ Home site of the Royal Bali Beach Club and Royal Lighthouse villas Phuket resorts

http://www.keithfloyduncorked.blogspot.com/

http://www.burasari.com/indexonepage.html

bed@sleepysams.com Sleepy Sam's 55 Bussorah Street Singapore. Superb quiet, relaxing, time to kick back and hangout bed and breakfast and cafe.

http://www.princepalace.co.th/ Prince Palace Hotel Bangkok, excellent value and fantastic breakfasts.

http://www.grandpresident.com/ Grand President Hotel and serviced apartments Bangkok. The rooms are not quite the same as they appear in the web page and are smaller and more disapointing. Also they are quite tired and in need of a make over. One bathroom was pretty dirty too. However staff very helpful

http://www.robertsonquayhotel.com.sg/index.htm Robertson Quay Hotel Singapore. Not central but near Clarke Quay a very vibrant restaurant area by the river.

4th December Medititation and massage

2006-12-11T22:17:00.000Z

Erewan Shrine Bangkok

4th December (Monday)
Got up and packed and discovered t-shirt, swimming trunks and shorts tucked in the pocket of the suitcase. Problem was they are still damp and stink! No time to wash and repair so they go in the bin. Upside, might be closer to flight weight limit. Have breakfast and watch the same old guy come down to breakfast as I had seen the previous mornings with yet another different girl. No doubt he enjoys the idea in his own mind that he is the world’s greatest lothario! It’s actually quite sad seeing these aging men wandering around BKK with these young girls attached to their arms. Most of the men seem to be in their very late 40’s and anything up to 70! But, how shall I put it, aaahh, probably not have a great deal of success in attracting girls normally. It’s difficult making comments like that because as I’ve said before the culture here is so very different to ours. The whole bar girl, working girl, Thai bride girl scene is regarded as just another job with the benefit of possibly finding a husband and security for life for the girl and her extended family. It’s all completely accepted and no social stigma attached. I do just wonder what these men’s family and friends think. Not to mention what their 40 year old kids think!
Today I’m going to get on the train and get off at Chit Lom station and look at the Erawan Shrine. When I get there it is surrounded by Japanese and Chinese visitors all buying packs of incense sticks, candles and flower lei offerings. I watch for a while and you can’t help notice the noise and fumes of the traffic. Because the shrine is actually located on the corner of a busy road intersection on the Sukhumvit road by the side of a massive shopping complex. Fortunately the smell of the incense hides the traffic fumes. I buy a pack of incense, candle and flowers and I light the candle and incense and put them at the foot of the shrine. Look forward to a little help in life now! From there I decide to just walk and see where I end up. As I walk I find a little walk way full of the street food hawkers selling kebabs, little round sausages, pork (possibly!), fish and all sorts of things some of which are unidentifiable. What I do like is the ones which sell fruit in little plastic bags so as you feel a little thirsty and hungry I buy a bag of whatever I fancy for just a few Baht. Any way as I walk further down there is an entrance into what looks like some sort monastery or temple so I have a wander around. It turns out to be a working Wat or Temple which specializes in meditation called Wat Padumavanaram. The Temple is open to the elements and open to everyone. However it is obviously a little off the tourist trail as there are no English signs any where. I take a look through the temple having left my shoes outside and sit down crosslegged and contemplate my surroundings. The statues of Buddha are marvellous and bright gold and there are pictures of the first monk who created Wat Padumavanaram. I feel very peaceful and calm here, in this little oasis amongst the madness of BKK. I am offered a course in meditation which will take some hours but I decline. They then offer free lunch which is available to anyone and I suspect many of the beggars I have seen on the streets probably come here. Eventually I tear myself away and return to the noise and smells of the city and make my back to Sukhumvit Soi 11. I have booked a Thai traditional massage at a place called Raintree Spa http://www.raintreespa.net/ . I am taken to the foot massage room first, remove my shoes and place my feet in a bowl of warm rose scented water with rose petals floating in it. My masseuse, Pai (pronounced Pie) then takes each foot in turn and applies an exfoliating scrub and then rinses them clean. I put my feet in the reed slip on flip flops and follow her to the massage room upstairs. This is a large wooden floored room containing a number of cotton covered mattresses which can all be given privacy by a red curtain which can be drawn around. I am given a pair of cotton ‘pyjamas’ similar to Coolie type clothes to wear. Newly attired in my most alluring of outfits Pai returns and gestures for me to lay down on the floor mattress. The serious work of relaxing me for my 12 hour flight later tonight begins. Lots of pressing and kneading of leg, arm, neck and shoulder muscles begins which includes some limb stretching by Pai. This is actually slightly amusing. Pai is about 5ft tall, very slim and probably weighs about 6 stone. She has to kneel on the back of my thighs for one of the leg muscle stretching massages and I can feel her straining to pull my leg back to the correct angle. So small and delicate but with such strength. Next comes the herb body massage. This is a cotton bag of herbs which is heated in a steamer and then applied by pressing firmly and rolling on the body and is very relaxing. This proceeds until she has covered my whole body (well almost all of it) and then I am taken to a new room for the last part of the treatment. Here, I am given an aromatherapy massage which is heavenly apart from the bit where she massages the backs of my calves, which are quite tender from the pummelling she gave them in the first Thai massage before the herb compress. Slightly annoying also was that in the room next door during the aromatherapy massage, a Japanese client chatted the whole time he was there somewhat ruining the relaxed and quiet ambiance which Pai had built. Nonetheless, this was a good, relaxing therapy although slightly hard on some muscles. After the last massage I was given a large fluffy towel and taken to the shower room and left to shower under a huge shower head in hot steamy, water. The cost? Traditional Thai and herbal massage 750Bht, Aromatherapy massage 900Bht and foot soak and scrub free. Total time taken around two and a half hours. Equivalent price around £23. I left feeling very good. Back to the hotel and take the hotel taxi to the airport to get there in good time for check in. Thought that if I get there early I can check in quick, then go shopping in Tax free for camera and/or camcorder. Discover that the BA desk will not open for another 2 ½ hours! I decide to wait near the check ins in case they decide to open earlier and I can get an upgrade! and fall into conversation with a lovely lady called Sylvia. Sylvia is a Tour Group Manager for Titan Tours and has the most brilliant job in the world. She travels to wonderful and interesting places such as Melbourne, Uluru, Alice Springs, China and so on with groups of people on assisted or escorted tours. She is paid to travel the world and share her knowledge and love of the countries and their customs with others. How cool is that. She is also a talented sketch artist and she showed me a few of her recent drawings. It was a privilege to meet you Sylvia and I look forward to tasting your pickles and chutneys!
Boarded the BA10 flight back to Blighty and only had a ½ hour delay before take off. The flight was pretty uneventful but I would comment that the World Traveller Plus class is not too bad. You do get a larger, wider seat with more legroom, only 2 seats abreast at the windows and 4 abreast centarl, a kickdown footrest and when you recline your seat a leg calf rest unfolds and supports your lower leg. I actually found it a little uncomfortable and not very conducive to a comfortable sleep. But nonetheless much better than economy (world traveller) class. The cabin staff as always on the BA flights are very good and especially so when small children or babies are aboard. Arrived in UK on time and am greeted by temperatures of 10C, wind, rain and very rude people. So good to be back! Lu picked me up shortly after I entered Arrivals hall and we battled the wind and rain across to the car park for the journey to home.
Well everybody that’s just about it. I’m going to continue writing and updating this blog as and when remember other things I saw and did, because it was impossible to write everything due to time and having to sleep sometimes. I will e-mail and advise of the updates and where I made them so you don’t have to try and find them. I would welcome feedback and e-mails from anyone who has read the blog together with comments or questions about the trip.
Thank you for reading my thoughts and experiences and maybe I have touched a few of you and made you want to visit these places for yourselves.

3rd December Shopping and Eating and dodgy Thai girlfriends!

2006-12-11T21:14:00.000Z

3rd December (Sunday)
Feel a little dehydrated when woken at 6.30 by banging doors and only having had 3hrs sleep. Have bottle of water and reawaken at 9. Breakfast seems to work some magic and though I feel full, I now feel ready for the day. Check emails and try to upload some photos, but Snapfish is so slow could have delivered them personally and it would have been quicker so gave that up. The internet is supposed to have transformed our lives for the better. I ‘m beginning to think it needs to be classified right up there with automated telephone answering systems or overseas call centres. Think about that, if you’re in India and you phone a company in UK and they have an overseas call centre in India answering, shouldn’t that be a local call!
Go back to MBK shopping centre but it is even more crowded than yesterday so give it up as a bad job. I hate these crowdy scenes. It’s awful coz you can’t get to where you want to go because of the press of humanity which sort of has a life of it’s own and just sweeps you along and but sometimes that makes you do or see something perhaps you wouldn’t have normally. So in keeping with the tenet of this trip I do what I normally wouldn’t and go with the sweaty flow of bodies (that’s no joke either) Eventually got to the bowling centre SF bowling. It’s almost deserted. 30 lanes and done in style of Bed, everything’s white with orange or green or blue atmosphere lights about the place. DJ playing good music and very loudly. Got told off for trying to take photos, but still managed a couple! Decided not to bowl and find somewhere else to go bowling. Return to Chit Lom station and walk about to find the shopping centres. These are huge cathedrals of shopping commerce dedicated to the taking of your money as quickly and as painlessly as possible. They are also impressive in their design and the way escalators and stairs and lifts are designed. You are not able to travel directly up or down, you are always left with having to make a long walk to the next elevator or stairs so that you walk past more shops and temptation to spend. But I’m a bloke and we are immune to that sort of psychological shopping warfare.
Go to Dinner at a restaurant called Rosabieng, whose marketing hook is the fact that the bar is a converted Thai railway truck. Rosabieng is just up the Soi 11 from the hotel and I have a very good meal. Fried rice with chicken, pan roasted duck red curry ( no you’re right I don’t learn), Padd-ped-ped-yaang. and minced shrimp, pork and sweet corn in pastry shells. (Kra-thong-tong) The restaurant is in a good location and although it fronts on to the noisy Soi 11 it is in nice gardens with trees, palms and a very large pond with carp. There is a jazz band playing and they are every bit as good as the guys from last night at Zanzibar. Actually they’re better, because their guitarist can play and looks like he improvs too. Whilst sitting enjoying my dinner a couple behind me were having a very strange discussion. Trying not to listen, (yeah right) I could overhear that this was the first time they had met in person after corresponding and phoning. But it didn’t take the Thai girl long to spin the conversation round to the fact her brothers business was in trouble and he needed an injection of cash to keep it afloat. Couldn’t hear much after that because the band struck up and will always wonder whether he stumped for the brother and how much more she got out of him. Having finished my dinner and jug of beer (2 pints) I reckon I should go back to the hotel collect the laptop and come back to Rosabieng and write some blog with the musical background. Problem was having returned and ordered another jug of beer they told me they were shutting in 30 minutes! But it’s only 11pm. Walked up to Zanzibar but they were very quiet so returned to hotel to write a little more. As usual on the way back got asked if I wanted a taxi etc. and 4 girls greeted me with “Sawadee kah, You wan’ me tonight?” I don’t fink so! Went back to reception lobby and logged on and noticed that as time went on a number of girls came through the lobby, handed something to the security guy who wrote stuff down on a log book and then let her go to the lifts. I went and asked what was happening because obviously the girls were “working”. He told me the girls come in and hand over their ID cards and tell him which room they are visiting. He notes the details and keeps the card. When the girl returns, before he hands back her ID card he calls the room to ensure the guest is ok and nothing is missing from the room. Only when everything is confirmed as ok will the girl get her ID back. !!!!! Finish my beer and return to my room and decide to ignore packing until tomorrow. I don’t really want to go back to UK, the cold weather, wind, rain, grey skies and all the other depressing day to day bad manners and rudeness we put up with. Here in Thailand, Bali, Singapore and Australia, people have so much more respect for every one else. There isn’t the Me Me Me attitude that is so prevalent back home. People are genuinely interested in helping, or talking to you and crime is very low in all the countries I visited. And what more joyous event could you wish for every day than to wake up, throw back the curtains and gaze upon another warm, sunny, blue sky day.

2nd December Would you like to go to BED with me!

2006-12-07T21:30:00.000Z

2nd December (Saturday)
Bangkok again. Down to breakfast which was a feast of options, fried rice, toast, sausages, tomatoes, hash browns, beans, chinese noodles, eggs and Shepherds Pie! Go back to reception and they confirm they will move me and upgrade me from the Topaz room to the Opal room. Sounds good to me. Decide to brave the MRT and take it for a test drive. Best thing to do seems to be to buy a one day ticket but it warned it only covers the MRT (BST as they call it). Integrated transport policy hasn’t reached BKK yet, just like England. End up at a station called National Stadium. Not by design because I didn’t plan to head for anywhere in particular after visiting Baan Jim Thompson. Any way the only plan was to visit the house of Jim Thompson who helped revive the almost defunct Thai silk industry by reintroducing the traditional methods of production and colouring. It was a fascinating trip around his house with a well versed young girl as our guide to the history of this remarkable American. At the end an American lady and I ask a few question which the young girl answers fairly knowledgeably. I ask if we can walk about without a guide but she says no, but is willing to walk around with us again. The American declines so my guide and I revisit some the things I saw with questions unanswered at the time. We get talking and she tells me that all the girls who do the walking, talking tours are doing Uni degrees in mostly English. The job helps them practice their English and helps pay for the course. Hers was like an OU style were she wasn’t required to attend lectures but had certain books to read and essays to submit on a regular basis. She said that she learnt more English doing the guide job and watching English speaking films with subtitles than with the course.
Go to shopping centre Mahboonklong (MBK) by national stadium which is 7 storeys high but about a ¼ mile long with cinema and bowl on top. However got sidetracked by an outside event. Have you ever seen the rather peculiar Japanese teenagers practice of dressing in an outrageous outfit but with a care and attention to detail that you wouldn’t associate with the normal everyday average teenager. A lot of their outfits are based on movie or Manga (Japanese art cartoons who are generally heroes for good) characters. Well that was what was happening together with live bands throughout the afternoon and early evening. I can’t describe adequately nor do justice to the attention to detail these kids put into their outfits to explain what I saw. You’ll just have to check the pictures when I can upload them. Also check out a few Manga cartoons and you’ll see what they where doing. The live group I watched was just 4 guys probably still in their teens and they were bloody good. I’ve decided that BKK is always going to be a love hate relationship for me. I hate the crowds, noise, smells of sewers and bad cooking, the traffic and it’s pollution, the beggars, the areas of poor housing which are just shanty shacks with corrugated rooves, this constant huge wealth of the shopping malls nestling cheek by jowl with parts of incredible poverty. But I love the diversity of cultures, and being able to stumble across anomalies such as houses like Jim Thompson’s which is traditional Thai wood construction in a garden of lush thick vegetation, coolness and tranquillity, literally with a government concrete monolith next door. I love seeing the outdoor events like as described above and the open air temples deep in the city or on a street corner. The Thais walk past these temples in their daily lives but almost always remember to Wai and bow to Pashang or which ever Buddhist Monk or god is represented at the shrine.
I return to the hotel and they have moved me to the upgrade room. When I get to it, it is exactly the same as the previous room but cleaner and with a better microwave and cooker unit. I think the fridge was bigger too. The bathroom was a different layout and slightly bigger and again a little cleaner. I return a little wearily to reception. Why is my room so Spartan, no carpet like in the web pages blah blah blah. The receptionist, Chat is really helpful and he explains that the website is misleading because they show the suites of Grand President Tower 1 and not the Topaz or Opal serviced apartments in towers 2 and 3 which I have booked. I give up because I’m hot and tired and I don’t want to have an argument because I’m pretty sure it won’t get me anywhere. The problem I have is that the Prince Palace where I stayed week ago is the other side of city near China Town and was truly luxurious although it was in a quite poor part of the city and not very expensive. 2 nights there was the equivalent of about £22 per night. Here, at the Grand President, I am paying about £31 per night for a whole lot less. However like in the UK location is everything and the Grand President is in Sukhumvit which is a “very good” part of BKK. I resolve to use their lobby wifi as much as possible to get something out of it! How sad is that!
Evening, and I eat at a restaurant called Zanzibar which is recommended in the guide book and is near the end of Soi (small road) 11 The food is good. Menu is separated into Thai or Italian. Had Shrimp fried rice and Prawns with asparagus, mushrooms and broccoli in oyster, garlic and pepper sauce. Was forced to drink Chang (elephant) beer, so called because it’s the size of the headache you have the following morning, because the restaurant didn‘t have any Singha beer. After dinner went to find Q Bar and BED which were recommended by Manual the bar owner in Patong, Phuket. Excellent night. They are having a music festival and guest DJ’s are playing every night until Monday including Jazzy Jeff and Steve Lawler. Cool! Go first to BED (I think you may be able to work out why they called it that) which has 2 rooms. 1: the Bar which is what it says with guest do, video screen and a lot of good music that vibrates your stomach muscles! 2: Bed. The bar is at one end and each side of the room has wide and deep bed areas really just like Kingsize mattresses. Upstairs is a gallery all around the room with smaller beds I think as I couldn’t actually see up there. It might have just been tables and sofas. But, everything is in white. Floor walls tables chairs ceiling beds curtains and the staff. Guys wore white trousers shirts and jackets and the girls wore white skintight all in one lycra body suits some with jackets and skirts, with white furry boots all slightly individual in style but all the same. The lighting was hidden and played a single colour at a time to the walls , ie fluorescent blue or green or orange. Truly mesmerising effect. Later went to Q bar which is further down the road ( bought all inclusive ticket). This is the opposite of BED. All black with ultraviolet lights and one occasional coloured light which would zoom around the room. The music here was as good as Bar and much better than BED. Got back to hotel 3am.

1st December Where's the kettle?

2006-12-07T21:07:00.000Z

1st December (Friday)
Last day at Lighthouse Villas with checkout at 12. As I pack the suitcase I can’t believe how many bits of paper, brochures receipts and reminders I have accumulated since Melbourne. I must now be way over weight limit but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I go down to Boat Lagoon hotel again and “sunbathe” in the shade and swim a lot. Come back and leave the apartment for the last time. Meant to say that the apartment had satellite tv, dvd player, radio and cd player and a karaoke system! The kitchen was equipped with microwave, toaster, proper halogen hob, oven, extractor fan, coffee filter but I couldn’t find a kettle. There was a biggish item which looked to me like a rice boiler. I checked with the office when I arrived as to where the kettle was and they laughed. The “rice steamer” was in fact the kettle. You fill it with a litre of water, boil it, use what you need then it has the facility to keep the water in there hot. Weird! Small tip while I think of it. Buy a pack of wet wipes and keep them with you at all times. They are great for wiping perspiration away and refreshing the face and hands. Each time you use them they effectively cool you for a short while.
Have a last swim at the pool and then collect my bags and Jim takes me to Phuket airport. I shall miss him and Mah, Jim is a real character and I wish him well with his new venture.
Another on time flight with Bangkok Airways and another lovely meal of Duck in light chilli oyster sauce and fried rice with garlic and lemon grass. Superb! Arrive in Bangkok airport exactly on time, collect my luggage and go looking for a taxi. I’m not doing the bus again, although it’s a good option for those on a budget and who have checked the map and know where there going when the bus drops you off. Another little tip, look for the taxi drivers who are licensed and work from and for the airport. They have ID cards to prove it. These guys are generally quite smart and I think are cheaper than the metered taxis. My fare was 700Baht (£10). Bear in mind also that the airport is around 45km from the centre of BKK and can take anywhere from 30mins to 2 hours depending on traffic and the time of day. Arrive at the Grand President about 22.30 and check in. They advise they do not currently have a non-smoking and double bed room as I requested when I booked. But they will upgrade me and move me tomorrow to what I had asked for.
Go to the room and what a disappointment. Everything is white. The cupboards, the units, the bed, it’s really clinical and cold. The floor is white “marble” tiling as well. Look around the floor and there is dust and muck in the corners. The bathroom is all dark “marble” but the sealant edges round the sink and bath are all black with mould. I’m absolutely sure that when I looked at the website the room was carpeted and had wood units, cupboards etc. I’ve no choice for the night now and will sort it in the morning. Go and have a beer in the lobby and find out you can get wireless internet there. Reception advised you can have wifi in the room for 350baht a day plus 4000baht deposit! You can have cable internet in the room for the bargain price of 250baht per day and 4000baht deposit!
Might as well use the lobby then, that’s free!

30th November To infinity and beyond the Marina (say like Woody)

2006-12-06T22:29:00.000Z

30th November (Thursday)
This is another fairly uneventful day, and to be honest I just laze about a bit, read a book on code breaking I bought a while ago and never started. Bumped into Jim (Passepartout) who reminded me I wanted to buy some special items and said he knew the best place where the product was genuine and guaranteed. He then offered to take to me lunch where he and his friends and locals go . We had mixed meat and rice noodle soup with a Pepsi each and was quite tasty but didn’t like the cow tongue floating around the soup. I was outraged at the price of 102Baht (£1.50) Jim reveals that he is starting his own travel and tour company which he hopes will begin in December. His customers to begin with will be members of Royal Lighthouse Villas holiday club. I wish him well and will post more details soon as Jim gives me them. So I can now offer tour guides and travel advice in Bali and Phuket. Perhaps I should be working a sideline of travel and tourism in these gorgeous holiday and travel destinations.
Went to the Boat Lagoon Hotel, http://www.phuketboatlagoon.com/hotelresort/resort.php
better late than never, and had a swim in their pool. Quite odd really as I never anticipated swimming in an infinity pool with the infinity not being the never ending vista of the Indian Ocean, but the marina workyard. The effect is strangely, not the same. That said the pool is huge and very warm and surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens and palm trees giving much needed shade to protect you from most of the sun. The sky began to darken ominously at about 4pm so I packed up my little pool bag and made a brisk retreat to the villa/apartment/house. 2 minutes after I was inside a massive thunderstorm began and we had torrential rain for about three quarters of an hour. Decided at 7 to go back to Patong and Manuel’s bar and try his barbecue. Picked up taxi by the Boat Lagoon Hotel and took the half trip. Patong is still like the Spanish costas, or Ibiza, or Ayai Napa. Full of tourists, mostly Aussies and some Brits, Germans, Danes and a few French. But it is just so depressing. As you pass bars they call you in, the local girls all greet you “Sawadee Kah” hello. “You drink here, good bar, nice girls” Or the suit shops offer you the obligatory made to measure suit for next to no money and ready before you ordered it! Or the money changers, best rate in town. And so on.
Walk down to Manuel’s bar and he recognises me from last night and gets the name right! One small problem. No barbecue as the rain washed it out. I’m hungry though, but it’s no problem. One of his bar girls runs to the locals ‘café’ and returns with a menu. Hardly much English on it but Flat rice noodle thick meat soup seems quite appealing. I only know what it is cause Manual and the girls translate for me. It is really delicious and very filling and had huge chunks of chicken and noodles in it. Not bad value either, 60Baht (less than £1). Talking to Manuel an Aussie who has given up and the rat race of Brisbane and been living in Phuket for a couple of years find out some of the girls working in his bar don’t actually work for him. The finish their normal jobs around 8, 9 or 10 and then go to the bars where they hang around and work for nothing but the drinks the customers or bar owners buy them. Now we’re getting to it. The bar owners don’t mind because the girls obviously attract the men, the girls obviously are looking for their one way ticket outta here man, to a life of milk and honey in Oz or England, with preferably an old bloke who will snuff it in as few years as possible and leave them with the inheritance. Or if they inconsiderately, last longer than decently acceptable at least they are comfortable and can send money home to family. Often parents and a child. Oooh, how cynical! Actually according to Manuel and a number of other people I talked to that is cynical and mostly the wrong idea. The Thai woman have a strong sense of duty to the family and their ’man’ whether he be Thai or “Farang” foreigner. They see it as their privilege, not job, to be there for him, to do all they can to ease his way in life within the home and ensure he is happy. His happiness is their happiness. I would love to make a comment here but self preservation within a western environment forestalls me! You all know what I want to say but our politically correct times and the free of the bra brigade make us all hostages to minority and inferior thinking. However times are changing. Any way having said all that the girls, Sai, Pearl and Da and another 2 I can’t remember were all good fun even though only Da and another could speak a little English. (btw if you ever visit the bar do not challenge Pearl to Connect 4. You will lose. You have been warned.) Also another handy hint. Keep off the Bangla road area as the girls will make you buy them drinks all night will promise you the “world” and “shortchange” you. That advice from Manuel’s regulars. Somewhere around midnight or 1am I think, I got a tuk-tuk back to base. Seem to remember it being very uncomfortable and taking about a long time as compared to a taxi. But the wind in my hair was cool! Oh no, just remembered, got to pack again in the morning.

29th November Red curry revenge

2006-12-06T22:24:00.000Z

29th November (Wednesday)
Well the fantastic curry has turned over night into the nightmare curry and I don’t feel too good. Shan’t relate details but shall stay close to the apartment today. Read a lot, stay out of the sun, do crosswords and try to upload photos managed one set and then lost the signal. Feeling a bit better by late afternoon so at 6 venture off to Patong for a view of the nightlife and something simple and easy to eat at Floyds restaurant. Have a lovely dish called Floyd’s Bow Thai. Fried rice with peas, onion, mushroom, garlic etc. with shrimps, served in a halved pineapple. Very good indeed. Said Hi to Keith and Tess, who were busy talking to some people so left them to it and pushed off to see the market and bar area Jim recommended as less touristy and more for the locals. There are hundreds of market stalls selling everything from fake watches, cameras, videos, suitcases, shirts, trousers and souvenirs of every description imaginable. Dotted around the main walking areas are loads of little round bars with great names like English bar and English bar 2 or Murphy bar. Most were almost empty , but I walked past one near the back of the market area which had quite a few customers both Thai and Westerners. 2 girls called out from behind the bar “you have drink here?” And a man said it’s a good bar here to me in English. What the hell, so I stayed and introduced myself to the English voice. He was Peter from Vancouver and explained about the bar and its owner Manuel who was from Holland. Stayed and had a beer and a gin and tonic and had a great time talking to Pete and the locals. I think I will return tomorrow because Manuel cooks barbecue sausages and chicken and kebab stuff but doesn’t charge. But he does sort of expect you to stay and have a few beers. The people are really friendly (no, not in that sort of friendly as in the Bangkok way!) and genuinely want you to enjoy your visit with them. One of the ladies who is a friend of the owner was celebrating her birthday and there was free drinks for everyone. My bar bill was: for 1 beer and a bottle of water, the g & t was free...... 60baht! Peter was a very interesting guy and was teaching English to 5 to 11 year olds at Patong British school. Jim (Passepartout) came to pick me up at 10 and made my way home to Boat Lagoon Marina. I’ve done practically nothing all day but I feel completely knackered! BTW, talking of teaching English, Jim has asked me if I would be prepared to help some girls and guys who work in the tours and trips office next door learn more English, so I will investigate in the morning. The Royal Harbour Lagoon lady, Mah from the office has seen the pictures I took of their sister place in Jimbaran Bay Bali and has asked for copies. I think she wants to copy some of the things they do to make rooms even more acceptable to the guests here. I’m also asked to cast an eye over their spelling and wording in the Information Packs that are left in the apartments. Must remember to ask Jim about best places to find proper Thai silk in Bangkok as Mum will kill me if I don’t return with any.

28th November Floyd on Phuket

2006-12-06T22:19:00.000Z

28th November (Tuesday)
Off with my new faithful Passepartout Jim, who is taking me on a tour of the Southern part of the island. We start off heading for a hill area just outside Phuket town called Khoa Rang where the views of the town and the bays are regarded as being excellent. As we ascend the hill I can already see we are not going to get the clearest of views today. At the summit we can look across the town and far away to the bays and sea but there is a haze which spoils the clarity. What is interesting is the amount of new houses being built and they are easily identified by their orangey red roof colour. New 2 bed houses are selling in good locations for around 2 to 2.5 million Baht (£30,000 to £36,000) and are set to increase due to demand. Locals as usual are priced out of the market but tend to rent anyway. We make our way through Phuket town and aim for one of the main Temples of the island, Wat Chalong. Thailand is a Buddhist country and temples are a common sight around the towns and villages with some truly spectacular looking ones popping up here and there. Wat Chalong is a working temple with a population of Buddhists Monks.
Go to the headland overlooking Kata and Karon Bays and drive through them. like being in the Costas in Spain. Drive on to Patong where I ask to be left for a couple of hours as Jim reckons I should walk the town and see what their most liveliest town is like. I have a different agenda though because I read somewhere a few months ago that Keith Floyd was opening a restaurant in a hotel called Burasari in Patong. I had mentioned it to a few people back home but no one else had heard of it and I couldn’t find the article again so I began to think I had imagined it. How ever the Burasari Hotel website confirmed that Keith Floyd was indeed opening a restaurant. Jim dropped me outside the hotel and I wandered in. It is an interesting hotel which at first feel seems a little cramped. The central part of the complex has the pool and sun area and the rooms obviously surround it. I walked along a small corridor and turned right at the end where there was a casual dining area but set amongst hanging gardens of greenery and small pools and plant. A fine mist was constantly sprayed from the eaves of the rooves and pergola structures and gave a cooling effect. Just ahead and to my left there was a large wooden open structure which held a bar and seating area and seemed agreeably comfortable. Back out of there was the open kitchen area and beyond that was a restaurant room. Being inquisitive I walked in and enjoyed the air conditioning for a few moments. It was an ordinary restaurant style, clean and quite bright with pictures of Keith dotted around the walls in the sort of poses we have come to know him for over the years complete with hat. Well, he’s obviously got the business going but he’s not in residence today. It would seem that meals from the restaurant are an evening event so looks like I’m disappointed. Turn around and walk out and one of the chefs is walking towards me and her uniform has Floyd’s embroidered on it, I ask if I can photograph her by the kitchen and the result is on Snapfish as usual. With the normal delay too, sorry. Return to the open bar area and decide to have a bar lunch and treat myself to a Singapore Sling. Got a taste for them in Singapore. Sit down and Yaaayyy the man himself walks in and sits down on the other side of the seating area. Cool! His distinctive tones are heard across the bar and it is obvious he is working out menus and stuff. I order a beef sandwich having been dissuaded from the Tuna one by the young bar waiter who was very attentive. I was trying to take some photos of the bar when suddenly I got Keith in the viewfinder and whoops! Got a sneaky photo of him. Unfortunately for me I had pressed the “turn flash on” button accidentally so every one knew what I had done. A young, very elegant and tall lady got up from Keith’s table and approached me. That’s it, I’m about to thrown out of a very upmarket hotel in front of a man I have enjoyed watching cook over the years and not be able to finish my drink or delicious beef sandwich.
“Hello I’m Lily the General Director for the Hotel, how are you enjoying Mr Floyd’s food? Are you visiting us for lunch?” I explained why I was there and she said she would talk to Mr Floyd and if he had a moment he would come over and chat. And he did. Stayed and talked for about 20 minutes or so and gave me an insight into his vision for the restaurant and bar and how it would look when opening night arrived on 22nd December 2006. He is great. Easy to talk to, full of ideas and still had time to listen to my adventures and answer my questions. The restaurant will have 2 distinct menus. One, exclusively Western and the other distinctly Thai. No crossover of styles or tastes, just each as they should be. The bar area we sat in was his also and will be rejuvenated and known as Hector’s Bar. Hector is to be a parrot and will have a partner but final details are yet to be planned is my impression. The waiter brought him over a drink of whiskey and water but it had an unwanted addition, a piece of lime. I and the waiter then got pure Floyd repartee and wit but all done in a generous fashion. Keith left soon after clutching menu ideas but introducing me to his wife Tess, suggesting we exchange blog addresses. I then spent the next hour and a half with Mrs Floyd which seemed to flash by in an instant. I am invited to return during the week and Keith will willingly provide photo opportunities for the blog.
Dinner this evening is, at the suggestion of Jim, at a café the locals and boatyard and marina workers visit. It is very basic, as is the menu. Boiled rice, fried rice, Red curry, green curry, garlic and pepper, chilli and so on. Turn the menu over and you can choose from chicken, pork, beef or seafood. Going against all my instincts to leave immediately I order red curry chicken and fried rice with chicken and a Singha beer. This, I know is going to come tasting of coconut and yoghurt which I hate, hot with chillies which I love, but none the less which must be tried and tasted to say that I have done so. It is delicious. Very hot, way up in the Schovilles range as expected, but has a great taste of aniseed which almost hides but somehow compliments the creamy coconut and is really a great explosion of hot, sour, sweet and aniseed in the mouth. By the end I’m swea…… sorry David, perspiring profusely but full and satisfied. Outstanding value at 105Bht. (£1.50) including the beer. Went back to the apartment and drank half litre of water and 2 cans of beer to try and cool my mouth down!

27th November The name is Bond, James Bond

2006-12-06T22:15:00.000Z

27th November (Monday)
Having another quiet day today, really didn’t do much at all. Did a lot of reading both out in the sun (very short time), in the shade and on the apartment patio overlooking the canals. And sadly in the evening watched Bond films on tv after my visit to the Boat Lagoon Hotel for another dose of open air barbecue. Well, I can’t be interesting every day you know.

26th November All is not as it seems!

2006-12-06T12:33:00.000Z

26th November (Sunday)
Wake up around 7 thanks to the next alarm providers and make breakfast. 2 hard boiled eggs, toast and Bali coffee (I was given some by Wayan at the Royal Bali Beach Club) was from the filter coffee machine. Good, but not as good as the breakfast in the Prince Palace, BKK. Decide to visit Phuket town and Jim takes me there in the resort Honda CRV. (for a charge naturally) I have a small map and set out for a walk totry and include the old town now a Chinese area, the fish and vegetable market, and new shopping centre just of town called Centre Festival. Why there? Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s the contrast of construction styles. You know, the buildings of old town in their beautiful and intricate Portuguese/China style against the stark concrete and glass edifices we like to visit to worship at the shrine of consumerism. (oh, and they have a bowling centre).As I wander slowly around the town in the 30+C and rising heat I am constantly approached by very persistent taxi drivers who can’t understand why I want to walk when they can take me in comfort and coolness to any destination I choose! I wander through the small alleys and aisles of the market which is gradually closing for the day as it is now around midday. The smells in here actually make me gag, and I walk trepidatiously around suspicious looking pools of liquid on the floor. There are some stalls still selling but mostly they are clearing away the fish from the stainless steel tray counters and washing and sluicing down. The thought strikes me as I watch them put the fish in plastic bags, tie them, and place them in a box to put on a cart, to presumably take away somewhere, do they resell the fish tomorrow? Do they eat them themselves, but surely there is too many for that. Where’s the ice to keep them cool and fresh? Do they get sold to the street food hawkers? Too many unanswered questions here re food hygiene so I make a mental note to never buy fish from any of the street hawkers. My gentle wanderings take me to Phuket old town and some interesting building architecture. I I notice the buildings are thin but very long, with wonderfully ornate sofitting, verandas and window shutters. The pavements have glazed tile patterns (see photo) and along the road are a number of very large colonial style houses set in beautiful gardens of lawns, blooming bougainvillea bushes, trees and huge exotic plants. Reminders all, of past colonial trading and settling successes. I really enjoyed walking this bit of history and felt a little sad that so much of it was in a really quite bad state of repair. One or 2 places had been renovated to their past glory but all too many were but faded shadows. I am a faded shadow myself now as the heat and sun take their toll on me. My water supply has run out and I need a rest and shade. Return to the main part of town and take a taxi to Centre Festival. It’s a buzzin’ and happenin’ place and absolutely stuffed with shoppers and lunchers. It’s in 2 parts. The slightly older part is a very large supermercado surrounded by loads of restaurants including a Japanese style one called MK! The second building is newer and a concrete and glass structure with all the big name shops fo clothes, jewellery and electrical. Couldn’t get in there as too busy and had a waiting list. Found a little counter area further in that sold pizzas so had a seafood, pineapple and cheese 8” and pepsi. Very satisfying. Made my way up to the second floor where the bowl was and loads of karaoke booths. Sat here for a while and listened to the strangulated tones of kids and adults alike using echo or reverb effects to “enhance” their singing and murdering known and unknown songs. I waited for a while but the police never turned up to arrest them!
The bowl was fairly busy but lovely and cool so decided to have a game (or 3) Bowled 179, 202, 192 in those lovely house shoes and badly fitting house balls. Met a nice guy called Bentoon Rakrangsimansukon the lane next door and got chatting. He owns a backpackers campsite north of Patong at Mai Khao Beach but has not been able to trade so far this year as the government have decided to build a new road past his property and has consequently blocked all access to the site. His website is http://www.phuketcampsite.com/ for anyone interested next year. Went back to Phuket town and went into a department store called Robinson. As I was wandering around 3 girls went past me into the ladies perfumes and make up area and on a second look I think they are not quite all they seemed! As I watched they walked in a more girly way than girls and their mannerisms were so exaggerated they were almost obviously ladyboys! One of the male assistants was watching me watching them and he caught me eye. I raised an eyebrow as a question at him and he laughed and nodded in confirmation. Just thinking a little further on from this if you are out at night and having a few drinks , perhaps not quite in control of all your sensibilities and you are talking to these bar girls how do you how do you tell the difference. I bet it makes for some interesting conversations when they get back to apartments and exciting discoveries are made!

25th November Still too hot to sunbathe

2006-12-05T21:12:00.000Z

Pool at Royal Lighthouse Villas resort Phuket

25th November (Saturday)
Quiet day today. Had a walk around the Marina itself and admire the millions of pounds worth of yachts, speed boats and cruisers that fill the harbour. There are many businesses that surround the marina ranging from chandlery supplies , hi tech sat nav systems and electronic and electrical spares to a small cafe that sells delicious cakes. Apparently. So I was told. Never had one myself of course. Go to one of the pools at the resort which is a bit disappointing to say the least. The pool itself is ok but the pool furniture has definitely seen a better century. The leisure and fitness centre is being renovated so no spa, sauna, or Thai massage for me this week. There is a pool at the hotel for the Marina so will check that out later. Internet access is not very good and intermittent at best. Uploading photos nigh on impossible as it the signal drops out every time I try. Back to the pool but it is too hot to sunbathe. The temperature is around 36c + but the humidity is worse than Singapore I think. After you have tried laying in the sun for a while (about 5 mins by my watch) you become entirely wet with sweat and it becomes just too uncomfortable to carry on. I decide to take shelter in the apartment and read.
For dinner tonight the Boat Lagoon hotel have begun an open air bar and barbecue until March 2007 so I’m forced to try it! Its actually quite good though the ants wandering over the bread was a little off putting. They barbecue chicken, beef, fish, prawns and home made sausages, there was spag bol! And chilli beef, rice, baked potatoes and salads, and for dessert watermelon, papaya and pineapple. Pineapple is one of the main exports of Phuket and apparently one of the sweetest in the world. Not a day to set the world alight but fairly relaxing in comparison to previous days. Back again tomorrow

24th November Arrive Phuket

2006-12-05T20:27:00.000Z

Pool at Prince Palace Hotel Bangkok

Pool at Royal Lighthouse Marina

24th November (Friday)
Up early and pack to leave Prince palace hotel and then indulge myself in their fantastic buffet breakfast. Get taxi limousine to Suvarnabhumi airport for Bangkok Airways flight to Phuket.
Bangkok Airways have just opened a new passenger waiting lounge here at Suvarnabhumi and it offers breakfast including non-alchoholic drinks for free. It is a relaxing area and very welcome. Move into departure gate lounge and sit down to wait for the gate call at 11.45. After a short time a young couple walk in laughing and joking, sit next to me and laugh about leaving a passport somewhere. We strike up a conversation and appears Harry has left his passport at the hotel. Good job he’s on an internal flight! We laugh and joke and swop stories of our travels and are suddenly frozen mid sentence as our names come over the speaker system. “Would passengers Mr XXXXX, Miss YYYYYYY and Mr Derek Scanlon please make their way to Gate 3 as their plane is waiting to depart”. Wow, what happened there? Did someone remove 45 minutes from the clock? It transpires that Suvarnabhumi airport does not make flight announcements and it is passenger’s responsibility to make the connections and board on time. As we hurtle down the sky bridge we turn the corner and there is ……………………. A queue of passengers still waiting to board. Not that late after all. Great 1 hour flight and some of the best food I’ve ever had on a plane (barring Club class BA) consisting of perfect noodles in an oyster, pepper and garlic sauce with shrimps. However I manage to push the dish accidentally off the tray and the contents settle warmly into my lap. I retrieve it all almost instantaneously remembering the 5 second rule regarding food and floors (substitute lap). Put it back in the dish and find I am now minus 2 prawns. Had 6 to begin. There they lurking on the floor, forget it can’t bend down there with tray, water, food and sticky lap. Feel distinctly cheated by this and slightly embarrassed by the interesting oily stain on the front of my shorts.
Disembark and eventually get met by Jim from Royal Lighthouse Villas who urges me to take a seat in the airport lounge as he has more guests to collect from the next flights. Wait nearly an hour for this and then we all board the shuttle bus. 4 of the six of my companions are from Perth and are very good company on the way to the resort. So Hi Peter and Kerry, and Alan and Joy. We arrive at the Phuket Boat Marina and get our room allocations and I am next door to the Perth couples. Kerry warns me regarding Alan’s laugh but to be truthful guys I never heard a thing. As for the couple at #14 their favourite trick was to turn the tv on at 7.00am exactly every morning at a very high volume and then proceed to shout at each from opposite ends of the apartment. English naturally. The villa rooms are of a good quality with kitchen and dining room and lounge area downstairs with a downstairs toilet and washroom. Upstairs, a good sized double bedroom at the front with a/c, a largish bathroom and huge wet room shower and finally a large master bedroom at rear overlooking a canal between us and other apartments.
I unpack and explore for a while and collect a few essentials from the marina Supermercado, including beer (no, sorry, that is an essential) then wander round the Marina and then head for one of the 2 pools. Sitting in this sun is very difficult for too long and eventually give up and go and get showered and changed for dinner. Visit the Watermark restaurant by the marina which is apparently the hot, hip and trendy place to be on a Friday night if you are of the yachting and boating persuasion, which I didn’t discover until later in the week. Chefs pasta quite good but am being stared at by every one as eating on my own. I am told later that the Watermark is used as a networking rendezvous for ex-pats from Europe and Australia mainly. There are also many Thai girls there who I suspect are looking for thair rich man to take them away tyo a better life. As the evening progressed (and I wasn't there that long the Thai girls had managed to attach themselves to some of the men and bottles of champagne were being opened. (Not sure who was celebrating the more , the girls or the men!) Go back to apartment have beer and watch James Bond on the Star movie channel! I know how to have a good time.

23 November 2006 Good Morning Bangkok (In a RobinWilliams style)

2006-12-01T16:49:00.001Z

Thai Navy vessels
Long Tailed River Boat on Chao Phraya River Royal Palace

23rd November (Thursday)
Wake up at 6.00am. Great, three and a half hours sleep. Try and go back to sleep but no luck as the sun is starting to peek round the edge of the curtains and can hear people in the huge foyer area by the lifts. Lots of dinging noises and I work out it’s the lifts announcing their arrival at the floor requested. I get up and open the curtains and reveal the panoramic view of Bangkok city from the huge equally panoramic window of the room. With sun rising to the right of me it cast an orangy glow across the clouds on the horizon and I wonder if it’s going to rain. Go down for breakfast (6-10am) and am met by a fantastic spread of goodies. Fried rice with chicken, pak choi stir fried with oyster sauce, omelettes made to order in front you, fried eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs, toast, water melon, pineapple, all types of cereals, yoghurts (yuk), porridge (double yuk) boiled rice and scrambled eggs but done in a Thai style, sorry didn’t try it as too full from eating loads of other stuff. As I’ve only got one day on this side of the city I intend to visit the Royal Palace and one of the Temples at least. Just realised I haven’t got a plug adapter for Thailand and the laptop is almost out of battery charge. I go out to see if I can find a shop and 2 things strike me as I step outside. The heat again and it’s only 8.30am, and the noise. A market has sprung up since I was out here 6 hours ago and its right up to the steps of the hotel with a small gap for cars to negotiate between. The concierge advised I went right and down to the canal and hang a left then another left for a 7/11 shop. Down to the canal and look at a dirty brown waterway that no way would I want to fall into by accident or design. The only left turn is a small walkway along side the canal with street stalls of clothes on the left. As I progress I can see small aisles between some of the stalls heading deep into what I presume is a clothing market. Emerge at the end onto the road I was on last night, at the bridge I had reached, but decided to turn right and look from the bridge to the canal. The river taxis do not travel so much as hurtle along the waterways and metaphorically speaking screech to a stop at the little landing platforms along the canals. So, turned back and saw the 7/11 store. No adaptors there, so go for a walk around the market. Photos will be uploaded later sometime. How the hell do they make any money. All the stalls (and there are hundreds, literally) are selling the same or similar shirts, t-shirts, jeans, underwear and yellow or light blue polo shirts wwith what looks like a crest on the left breast. I’m sure I’ve seen it before somewhere but can’t place it in my memory. There are food vendors all over the place selling everything from pineapples, whole or cut, to what could be curry in banana or palm leaves. And a few other things that I wouldn’t like to identify. There are a number of vendors on 3 wheeler bikes cycling slowly round the market and one old guy with a radio attached to a car battery blaring out a story or play or something. Might even have been the news. Eventually return to the hotel and book a car to take me to the Royal Palace, a river trip and a Temple called Wat Arun. I know, I know, not another bloody temple, but this one is different trust me. Charge me 1500baht for 5 hours. Go to the river trip first via the madness of Bangkok roads during the day. Good job I’m used to driving in London but some of the moves this guy makes would end in accidents and punch ups in there. We pull up outside a place called the Offices of State or something similar, and he gets out, moves a big metal barrier and parks in the only space that is in a whole line of official looking cars. The security or army guard just watches and we wander off to the river. Have to pay another 1500baht for the hour long river trip in a long-tailed river boat. These boats are very long and wide enough for about 3 people. They have a huge diesel engine mounted at the rear with a long (10ft or more) propeller shaft dipping in and out of the water, hence Long Tailed. river boat. The boat guys steer by holding a 3 or 4ft steel bar attached to the engine and using it in tiller fashion. Attached to the bar he holds (it’s like a piece of scaffolding) is his accelerator handle. See the photo above. We go up a canal and see the Royal Barge house. All the Kings barges are covered in gold and intricately carved and now are only used on very important royal occasions. The taxi driver said they might be used this year for the king’s birthday celebrations as he will be 80 on December 5th. The country has a holiday on King Bhumibol, (pronounced Poomipol) Rama the lX’s birthday. He also explained why I saw so many blue and yellow polo shirts. They are in the royal colours so people buy and wear them as a sign of respect for their king. Which explains that design, it’s the Royal crest. Anyway, further up the river, not the main river Chao Phraya we encounter some of the Thai Royal Navy, (see photo and don’t laugh) and also see back side of one of the golden Buddhas. Back we go t the main river and pass the Royal Grand Palace on the left and stop eventually at Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn.) This Temple is 341ft high and originally was purported to be the first place in old Bangkok (Thonburi) to see the dawn and was why previous rulers chose it as the place to build their Temple. It is absolutely stupendous, not just from a height point of view but because of the level of detail and decoration that has been put to the Temple. I have tried to do some justice to it with the photos but to be honest seeing it myself in the pictures is no where near the beauty of it in the “flesh”. It is just so intricate and it is all the way to the top. Some of the decoration is in a mosaic style and some such as flowers are made from small ceramic dishes.
Back on to the river boat and back to the landing stage where I find my driver fast asleep in a chair. We go back to the car and as we pass the security guard my driver shakes his hand, which is most unusual as they normally greet each other with the Wai. Hands together as if praying in the chest and raised to the chin. I realised that he was actually passing him some Baht notes as a bribe for letting him park there!
We head on to the Royal Grand Palace and he drops me near the entrance. As I walk in I’m accosted by an old guy who has an official tour guide i.d. card around his neck and offers to take me round. His English is quite good so might as well, coz you get loads more info this way and I’m his only client so one to one is good. 300baht for entry and you have to cover your legs in the Grand Palace grounds and buildings as a sign of respect. So for your money you also get a cool pair of camouflage green nylon trousers that are up to the minute fashion accessories. Bargain. Off we go and I’m hit with a torrent of information in reasonable English but with no pauses for breath or breaks between words and sentences so hard to decipher but I soon manage to adjust. Missed about 10 minutes though while I was learning to decode. One of the first things you notice is the Golden Temple and Mr Guide makes me stand by the lawn with the Temple as my backdrop. We’ll come back to it later. I’m trying to gather my thoughts on this experience and it’s not happening. Mainly, I think, because of the overpowering assault on the visual sense and the incredible amount of information needed and given to make some sort of sense of what you are seeing. I’m just going to write about what I remember as I remember it and not rerun the tour as I would do normally. Elephants used to be a Kings normal mode of transport for land and elephants were used as guard(dog!)s for the palace. Every side of every entrance to every Temple in the grounds has a golden serpent with a tail in the shape of 5 fingers. These fingers each represent the 5 commandments that the Thais (who are predominantly Buddhist) live by.
Do not steal
Do not lie
Do not commit adultery
Do not Kill
Do not
We then enter the main temple where the Green Buddha lives. He is made of Jade and very important to the Thai people. The temple is incredibly ornate with wall murals depicting many important events in Thai history. It is also going through a renovation as many of the wall paintings and murals have faded with time and being touched. The paying public are allowed in but you must remove footwear and once inside whisper only and never point your feet at the the green Buddha or anyone. The feet are considered as very low and it is a mark of disrespect. No photography is allowed in here so I’m unable to give an idea of just how beautiful the room is but probably you can find images on t’internet. My guide takes me to the ceremonial room where the King goes on his birthday and sits on his throne and receives guests and presents etc. The thrones, there is one for his Queen and children, all have golden canopies over them but they are suspended from the ceiling and circular, similar to lampshades. The King has a “lampshade” that has 7 tiers, with each lampshade ring smaller than the one below it. The queen only has 6 tiers and prince and princesses have 5. Outside this room is where Anna, the schoolteacher who came to Siam, and with whom the king would fall in love with, would teach the king’s and other parent’s children and who was responsible for changing the way education was taught. She insisted that schools and schoolrooms be built and that Monks, who previously had provided all the educational needs for children, only give religious instruction.
Finish the tour in the weapons musuem. There are hundreds of pikes, knives, lances, swords and heavy wooden clubs there many of which are ceremonial and many which were used in wars. Some of the swords, blade and handle, are as long as 5ft!
It’s now around 3pm so make our way back to hotel.
I’m having trouble writing this without having a moan because everywhere I went, without exception, Thai people come and talk to you. Some you can see quite obviously are trying to sell you something. Postcards (faded in the sun), hats, fruit and drinks. Some it’s not so obvious as they’re not holding anything, but after a few seconds it’s clear they want to: take you on a sightseeing tour, visit their cousin’s factory for genuine cultured pearls (and there’s me thinking they came from oysters!), visit another relative who knows where we can see loads of lovely Thai girls who will, “look after me” and “show me lovely sights of Bangkok”, (more like look after my wallet) or see his brother who can make me a suit in 2 hours! HAH! Not once though, was I asked, “hello Mister, you wan’ me love you long time?” !
At the end of my trips and this constant harassment, it was a relief to get back to the taxi and my hotel “guide”. As we head back to the hotel he asked me if I wanted a suit as his brother knew a man…………….., no thanks.
Ok he said, we go find lovely Thai girl, you not visit Thailand if you not visit Thai girl ! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh, get me back to the hotel, you‘re fired. Decide to have a 10 minute rest after a shower and then have dinner. Wake up at 7! Order room service as can’t get enthusiasm to find somewhere to eat. Have gorgeous garlic and pepper prawns with mixed meat fried rice and sesame prawn toasts for dinner washed down with a couple of Singha beers. Watch Man with the Golden Gun with Thai subtitles and fall asleep again!

22nd November One night in Bangkok (apologies to Murray Head)

2006-11-27T08:46:00.002Z

Prince Palace swimming pool area on level 11.

Prince Palace Hotel, Bangkok (Much better inside than outside appearance!)

22nd November (Wednesday)

Up early and pack. Down to the Global Gossip and upload some more photos. Quick lunch and pick up the shuttle bus back to Sydney airport. As we go down the road from the hotel we take a corner and to my left I see the harbour and docks and waterfront area which would have been a 10 minute walk. It would also have been a really interesting area for exploring as part of the Australian Navy is based there. The driver is a nightmare, talks to himself and shouts at the traffic and then his radio controller tells him to take a detour to collect some more passengers. The family I’m travelling with in the shuttle who are from Singapore look at me with a look of resignation. Their flight is at 5pm, mine is 5.30 and it’s now 2.15. I say to the driver he hasn’t time to pick up more people as the family are catching 3.30 flight and the driver is already late. Tell his controller that. We continue to the airport with out the detour. The family are really nice and the Dad used to travel to England a lot so we have a good chat about places he visited and chat about Singapore. Get to check-in and all goes well until we get on the 747 to Bangkok. Sydney air traffic control decide to change the direction of take off so we have to travel to the opposite end of the runway. This decision obviously creates a delay so they decide to give priority to smaller aircraft and Qantas flights. We wait a further 50 minutes at the side of the runway before finally getting cleared for take off. I’m beginning to notice a pattern emerging with all my flights, can you? Arrive in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport an hour late at 23.50 local. Clocks back 4 hours so is 03.50 by my body clock. The first thing you notice as you leave the aircraft and step into the walkway is the smell. It’s a sort of dull, spicy, herby, curry and slighty sweaty body odour type of smell but it’s everywhere. The other thing you notice is the heat and humidity. This is a brand new airport and only been operational since end of September 06. It is huge with 6 levels and has quite a spectacular design but is also a concrete monolith. Make my way to baggage reclaim which is about a 10 minute walk from disembarkation! Ok, how do I get from here to the hotel? Find an information desk but get accosted by numerous men and women for taxi services to Bangkok, best price was 900baht biggest was 1200baht. About £13 to £20. Information advise of shuttle bus which is 150 baht, yeah bargain! Hah, takes me to city with 20 others squeezed onto a smallish bus with inadequate storage luggage. Then find that it only takes me to near the hotel when the driver stops bus and says “tha’ way” and waving his arm in the general direction of a street to the right as I get off the bus. My glasses steam up in the heat and humidity after the aircon of the bus. Go down the road but is not the name of the road I need (Damrong Rak) but has a sign that says Bo Bae and the hotel is in Bo Bae Tower so I take a chance. Walk down the road past loads of fruit street vendors packing up their stalls and wares. I say stalls loosely as they are more ramshackle metal frames and many load their fruit and some seem to have been selling t-shirts, on to motor scooters or Tuk-Tuks. Get to a bridge which crosses a river? And decide I have gone too far or the wrong way. Just then a taxi pulls around the corner so I flag him down and ask “Prince Palace Hotel?” He nods and I ask him if it’s far. Stupid move on my part because of course it’s going to be far, he’s a taxi driver. At least he didn’t say “don’t go south of the river this time of the night Guv”. He shrugged so we loaded the suitcase and I on board and off we went into the night and uncertainty. Well, what a journey. All of half way back up the road I had just walked down. About hhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm let me see, some where round, aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh oh 300yds! Hotel Prince Palace was down a side road behind a market area and couldn’t be seen from the road I was on. Ha, cost me 50baht, .80pence but what a relief. Ground floor busboys and concierge met me and sent me to floor 11 reception. Signed in and got key card for room 2001 (A space odyssey). Lift to floor 20 (another 23 above me) and into the room. Wow! Huge. Aaahh, very soft carpet and hey, spectacular views of Bangkok by night from 20 floors up. My suitcase then arrived with bellboy and he showed the room and the remote control for everything. Well all the lights and the tv and the aircon and whether you want the room cleaned or not to be disturbed. It doesn’t draw the curtains tho’! It’s now 02.30 and I’m a bit weary so will retire and check out stuff tomorrow.

21st November A trip around the harbour and all things fishy

2006-11-22T00:23:00.000Z

21st November (Tuesday)
Found a little internet café that offers wireless connection so I can upload some photos and blog. Global Gossip charge $6 for a 24 hour connection but if you log off then they charge you again to reconnect. Managed to upload a bit and catch up on emails. Then went to Circular Quay to travel the harbour and get some shots of SOH and Harbour Bridge. In the end I booked an evening tour of the harbour and a return ferry to Darling Harbour with admission to the Aquarium for right now. The ferry leaves in 3 minutes so get a move on! The ferry trip is fun and we stop at 3 places on the way. They act as a “bus”
Service for getting across the harbour and other parts of the bay which would take ages in the train or car or bus.
The Aquarium is large and has a seal sanctuary and an oceanarium along the lines of Melbourne. It was probably as big if not bigger than Melbourne but seemed to have too many fish, turtles, rays and sharks in it and had the feel of being crowded. There was a tank inside which had many types of fish and small sharks and rays. This was also a very large. Almost Oceanarium size and had a novelty. Usually the sell is that you walk through and under the aquarium and the fish swim over you. This aquarium had a glass floor and you walked over the fish. Different! I really didn’t enjoy walking around although some of the fact boards were quite interesting especially regarding crocodiles and alligators. All in all I felt the tanks were too small for many of the exhibits Had small lunch in café restaurant called 26, filo pastry topped with 3 slices large tomato, shredded red onion and water cress with a small serving of soured cream. Oh and schooner of Stella. That’s about 300ml.
Caught the ferry back to Circular Quay and headed for the hotel to change and return for the evening Sydney harbour tour at 8pm. Back to the quayside and onto the ferry ‘Charlotte’ for the grand one and a half hour around a large part of the immediate harbour and bay. But. Yes there’s always a but. I sat at the corner of the prow and starboard side of the ferry for a good all round view which is definitely what I got and looked forward to hearing the commentary as we sailed around. But the family from hell on holiday from Brisbane put paid to all that. As we left the dock their mobile rang and it didn’t leave her or his ear until 10 minutes before we re-docked. So the only commentary I got was all about their holiday and how they were sacrificing their time and needs whilst away, for the kids so they didn’t get bored. And how husband was going mad because he hadn’t visited a gym in 8 days and how he would have to leave them when they get to Melbourne because he’s so important at work he HAS to go back. And they’re really enjoying it but have to go shopping for food which the kids hate because they’re on holiday, but it saves money and the new car will be ready to pick up when they get back but hubby will have to do more overtime to pay for it and…………. Oh you get the picture.
Still, it was a good voyage and was pleasantly cool after a really hot but sticky day. It was 30c at 21.30 at the quayside.
Went and had dinner in a Austrian restaurant just around the corner from the hotel and ate Kalbfleisch mit cream champignons. Very good. And for dessert Cherry and cheese strudel, oh my word that was delicious. Back to the hotel for a lie down to nurse my full stomach. Groan! (Will pack in the morning)

20th November 3 for 1 Ballet and cheap seats

2006-11-21T00:18:00.000Z

20th November (Monday)
Woken up again by banging doors, check my watch and it’s only 05.55. Why can’t people be more considerate of others. It isn’t hard to shut a door quietly. Wake again 7.00. By half past I give up and get up.
Decide to go to Chinese Garden, and China town then the Aquarium then see about a ticket for the Ballet at SOH. First need to change some AMEX travel chqs. Get off train at right platform but walk way down Gearge St for AmEx. as the one in the book is now closed and moved even further down road. My bearings are screwed and I walk the wrong way for the Chinese garden and end up at Parliament and Sydney Hospital. (should nip in and have brain scan while I’m here). Past these buildings which are not the original 1813 buildings and there is the Australian Royal Mint which was use dto produce gold sovereigns and half sovereigns from 1853 to around the early 1930’s. from there I walked into Hyde Park past the Archibald Fountain and the Anzac War Memorial along Liverpool St and to the Chinese garden. Better late than never. Spent a lot longer here than anticipated as there is so much to see and lots of small, try to get you lost, paths. Also it is very peaceful and tranquil and I am loathe to leave it for the hustle and bustle of Sydney and it’s harbour areas. Had light lunch overlooking harbour area.
Went to SOH and got restricted view ticket on the left of the stage in the gods for $25. (£10) apparently there were only 6 left. The theatre always keep 20 or 30 seats unavailable to public incase some one important turns up. Like Bono I was told! Well I suppose HE thinks he’s important. Got the tickets and now can say I’ve been to see a show at SOH.
Arrived at SOH in good time bought a programme and glass of wine and settled in to wait fro the start. The things people wear on a night out. Guy in t-shirt and jeans. Girl dressed like a Goth but not one (Becky knows what I mean) Man in full Dinner Jacket ensemble and another girl wearing gorgeous cocktail dress and …………………. Trainers! I kid you not. Called to our seats with 10 minutes to go and find my seat has a view of about a quarter of the stage and it just got worse as old guy sat down in front of me and he is about 7 ft tall. Lady sits next to me and says this is ridiculous, look at all the empty seats. There are loads behind us. So we ask the usherette (sorry customer seating advisor) if we can move. The lights take their first dim to announce 1 minute to go and she takes us to new seats higher up but further in and yayyyyy! we have great view. By the way found out tickets for those seats would have cost $69.
Have been to the Ballet Revolutions at SOH and it was superb. They performed 3 ballets, Les Sylphides, Le Spectre de la Rose and Scheherazade. Each is a very different type of ballet. Les Sylphides has no story and is really a vehicle for the dancers to show off their artistry, The rose is about a girls dream and breaks all the rules by having the male dancer as principle and being pursued by the woman. Finally, Scheherazade is an erotic tale of love and loss of trust and infidelity. This was a riot of colour and an easy to follow story, danced brilliantly and naturally did not have an happy ending!
Eventually got home as the station has a limited train service due to track maintenance and then the station I need to change at is closed. So get off at a different station and have to walk to Town hall stn which is miles away. Sydney is deserted, where is everybody? Eventually get home at 11.15 having left city at 10.15. Normally takes 20 mins!

19th November Sydney Opera House

2006-11-21T00:09:00.000Z

19th November (Sunday)
Nip out to Sydney Opera House do tour walk around see harbour bridge , walk round circular quay , see 2 guys playing didgeridoos but with modern dance sound track behind so bought cd $10. Going to update this later with more detail re SOH. We have small lunch (not) in CQ opposite Circular quay station and head back to hotel. Say farewell and au revoir to Jon and make him promise to visit UK in 2008. Had a great time seeing him again and he has been brilliant at showing me around Melbourne and making me feel generally at home. But now feel mentally and physically exhausted as have not really stopped for 2 weeks solid. Constant learning and seeing new stuff, being enthused by meeting new people and new experiences and then staying up late last night, Jon’s snoring (he probably says same about me!) having far too much to drink, but the first time since been away and catching up on so much, hardly surprising. Will just rest my eyes for 10 mins. Yikes ! It’s 2 hours since I began resting my eyes. Am finding Sydney a little disappointing so far but probably need to explore a little more.
Have decided to go out even though I don’t want to and find internet café. One down the road in Darlinghurst Road allows you to use your own laptop for $2 per hour. Well that’s what I think it means as the Chinese girl behind the desk just keeps saying “Ok”, “yes laptop” and “these is price” as she points to a menu. Will come back with laptop and check tomorrow. Had half hour for $1 and checked my e-mail and wrote to Becky and Lu. Carried on walking down Darlinghurst Rd Kings X but the “dodgy” area seems to end very quickly and doesn’t seem to spill out much into neighbouring roads and avenues. Come across some nice looking restaurants especially a German one called Maggies so will maybe eat there one night. Fancy a curry tonight as it’s months since I last ate one. It’s next door to hotel (DeVere Hotel, Macleay St, Potts Point) and called India Down Under. Sat me down at table next to elderly gent who was protesting about waiting too long. As he was talking his meal arrived so seemed happy. I ordered a gin and tonic and waited. And waited. Young waiter returned. “Your Gordons sir” It wasn’t in his hands. “Did you want tonic water?” Hmmmm, not good sign. When he returned I had to ask for the food menu! Waited 10 minutes for my order to be taken. Then waited 25 minutes for food to arrive. In this time 2 women had walked out, who were in there when I arrived and obviously hadn’t been served and a guy who had ordered a takeaway left without it. But, when the food came it was delicious. I had saffron rice, prawn do patio, prawns with chopped spring onion, chilli, tomato and a blend of spices. It was light, slightly sweet, not hot but with a hint of spiciness and fragrant. Really tasteful. When paying I found out 2 staff had not turned up to work and one lad, of the 3 staff working, was brand new.

18th November Sydney and the high spots

2006-11-21T00:04:00.000Z

18th November (Saturday)
Jon and I catch a flight to Sydney. Post off more paper memories which won’t arrive until February or March! $21 by sea or $68 by air?!
Visit Jon’s rented unit which is quite bijou.
Get on plane wait for spare part for broken down plane in Sydney. Have our own breakdown with smoke alarm in toilet. Leave an hour late. Arrive Sydney shuttle to hotel on edge of Kings X and Potts point. (v. seedy and V posh) Hotel acceptable
Go into Sydney use train, monorail visit Darling Harbour drink in posh harbour side bar see hen nights groups, phone the revolving restaurants in the Sydney tower to make a reservation for dinner as we both fancy the idea of 250m high dinner whilst spinning around. Hah, suckers, they are both fully booked.
Visit Sydney tower anyway as we don’t hold grudges. 300m high, but observation gallery only at 250m. see sun go down over Sydney try and get in to buffet in revolving restaurant as we are up there any way, they refuse as still fully booked so we have drink in the very posh restaurant, 360 degree, below it instead. Takes me while to realise we are going clockwise and not anti-clock as I thought when we first arrived. Don’t ask, it’s quite involved with perspective and reminded me of the Eyes , Lies and Illusions exhibition in Melbourne. Then takes me even longer to realise that the ceiling doesn’t revolve with us and that results in much hilarity for Jon and a New Zealand couple we were talking to. Look, I’m nearly qualified to join Saga so make allowances. The bar supervisor Quentin has worked in 7 other revolving restaurants around the world, including Miami, Los Angeles, and somewhere in Italy and after we’ve been chatting with him for a while we ask if he can get us a seat in the buffet revolving restaurant. 10 minutes later we are being shown to our table. Cool dude! One up for us. How are you paying sir? It’s $116 for you both. Aaagggghhhh! One all. Great food though and the view makes all the difference. The staff are all pretty great to so all in all we have a brilliant evening.
Go back towards Potts Point. But have to go through a little of Kings X which is the seedy and sex area of Sydney. Very loud very bright and lots of “interesting” clubs for gentlemen with diverse hobbies and an interest in models. Wonder if they have the Flying Scotsman locomotive and tender I want for the train set.
We decide to go to night club Bourbon which the hotel concierge recommended as safe and well run and not expensive and used by the backpackers and locals alike. Great music, want to dance but would be oldest on the dance floor by 3 decades! Unlikely to have been a pretty sight. 2 drinks, bourbon and coke Jon, red wine me, cost the same as my glass of red wine in the 360degree bar in Sydney Tower! Stagger off to hotel at 1.30am. Jon falls asleep in about .05 of a second and then starts snoring! Oh no, how am I going to get to sl………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

17 November Wines, Vines, Cheese and forgetfulness

2006-11-20T23:58:00.000Z

17th November (Friday)
Picked up by Greg and Donna at 9.30 and drive off to the Yarra Valley a reasonably well known grape growing region of Victoria. Wineries here date back to 1838 or so and new boutique wineries from only a few years old. Stopped at Healesville, which is in the Yarra Valley wine growing area and had coffee and toast at The Mad Hatter Tea rooms. Old wooden house which we had to walk up wooden side stairs to gain entry. It has a number of rooms set out as shop selling all things Alice in Wonderland and strange bloke wearing hat in Mad Hatter style from the book. After our late breakfast is finished “Mad Hatter” offers to show us a card trick. He performs it in manner which doesn’t make us feel confident it ‘s going to work. But hey presto! It does. Reach or first winery, Tarrawarra, and it has metal cows sculpture by the driveway. Probably to remind me of MK. All the wineries in this area have Cellar Doors where you taste and discuss the wines and can then buy if they are to your liking. So really aimed at people with a love of the grape or at least know what they like. The wines here at Tarrawarra are young and grown from very young vines and unfortunately not particularly good. Whilst we are tasting a party of 6 or so elderly ladies and gents arrive. One of them asks the group if they want to taste some wines before having lunch. One lovely old dear replied “No, I don’t like wine”.
We move on to the De Bortoli winery which has a lot more history and vines going back 40 years or so in age. We try Pinot noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Viognier, Sangiovese (used for Chiantis) Cabernet Merlot and one or 2 others. All have a strange undercurrent of what I can only describe as violets, but the vignioron assures me is actually menthol or eucalyptus. Nice.
By the way checked out the story re drop bears, koalas being permanently stoned. It’s true. They are very fussy eaters and will only eat about 5 types of the many available varieties of eucalyptus leaves. Apparently these leaves contain a drug which affects koalas and keeps them permanently stoned. They don’t like being sober so won’t eat non druggy ones! Anyway sometimes they get so high they lose their grip and fall out of the trees. Look out!……… drop bear. It’s a wonder they breed.
Oh and their claws will rip you to shreds as they are used for gripping bark and their beaks will give you a very nasty bite. So apart from the lacerating, biting and falling on you from a great height they are really cuddly and harmless!
We drive on to Balgownie Winery and have a little cheese and biscuits with our next selections. The cheese guy is really passionate about his cheeses and persuades us to try a selection including goats cheese. Which I really find disgusting, they are so bitter. Well suffice to say one of the goat cheeses is delicious so make a liar of me, see if I care. This set of estate wines, some of which are mixed with shiraz and Merlot varieties from their estates in Bendigo are much stronger fuller and tastier than any we have so far tasted. Bendigo is a wine region north west of Melbourne which has a hotter and drier climate than the Yarra and produces grapes with a fuller, deeper taste. Greg and Donna really like these so I buy them a couple of bottles as a thank you. Stop and have a snack lunch at 2.30 in a little village called ………….. No can’t remember, but it no longer has a railway running through it! We visited one more boutique estate and for the life of me I cannot recall its name. Can’t think why! But they didn’t do half bad wines either. By this time my taste buds have been shot to hell and I’d probably have said a glass of tar had a lovely nose and pleasant and lingering after taste.
Return home and make goodbyes to Donna and Greg. Hope they keep in touch as a lovely couple.
Go for dinner at Sammys Pizza restaurant and treat Craig and his girlfriend Sriani and Jon as a thank you for letting me stay in the house. They all have pizza and I opt for steak. It gets cooked medium not medium rare and tastes like sawdust. Worst meal I’ve had in Oz which is disappointing as generally the quality has been very high. Jon and I head into Melbourne and have a coffee and cake in Chapel St which famous in Melbourne for being the place to be seen and eating. Very very busy but we squeeze into on of the street cafes Jon uses a lot and have a delightful dessert. Leave about 10ish and return home to pack. Tomorrow Sydney.

16th November Ancestors

2006-11-20T23:50:00.000Z

16th November (Thursday)
Last day for sightseeing Melbourne as going to Yarra Valley wineries tour tomorrow. So go off to the State Library which has a good history, historically interesting and good architecture. Also has a number of exhibitions one of which displays Ned Kelly’s armour and a history of his exploits and capture. Found out that one of the policemen killed by Kelly’s gang at an ambush at Stringy Bark Creek in 1838 was called Michael Scanlon. Will follow that up when I get home and see if any ancestors went or were sent to Australia in 1788 or after.
Go to the Old City Gaol which held Ned Kelly until his hanging. Nasty place, very small cells and the hanging area was inside the jail where the prisoners could hear it all happening. Finish up at 3ish so walk back to Australia on Collins and visit La Scala Italian café restaurant and have coffee cake and glass of wine. Will update this later as my head hurts and going to bed early.

15 November More like England than England

2006-11-20T23:34:00.000Z

15th November (Wednesday)
Arranged to meet Jon for lunch back in Kew today so spent a little time in the city updating the photos and writing a little. The weather is foul today. Thunder, lightning, wind, hail and rain so a good opportunity to catch up a bit more. So damned annoying that you get partway through uploading photos to Snapfish and the line disconnects. Still, managed to upload a few more. The blog is proceeding slowly but I am persevering as I will regret it otherwise in days, months and years to come. Return to Kew and Jon and I go to a pub he recommends called the Spotted Dog which is well known for huge chicken or veal escalope. I am filled with trepidation as to the size of this monster dish and surprise, surprise, I am not surprised! It is the size of a large dinner plate and is accompanied by a plate of French fries and enough salad to feed 2 people. The portions size thing gets me thinking and I determine to look out for the size of Melburnians in general. Well, I manage to finish the Veal escalope, have a few fries and make a manful attempt on the salad. Still leave half a plate of food though.
Back to the city but have left my camera in Jon’s car and still it is miserable and cold and raining. I spend a little time in the Tourist information centre as I am thinking about taking one of the Yarra Valley wine tours. Well, I won’t be doing the tours as they start at $135. The rain has stopped now but I feel sort of naked without the camera and know that I will see stuff that needs to be photographed. Walk around Collins and Swanston but getting so cold I hop on a 35 Circle tram for free and go round the city to warm up! Normally they have a commentary running about places of interest but the driver has turned it off. He probably knows it off by heart. But I’m a visitor and I DON’T!
Arranged with Jon to go bowling tonight and find he’s invited his friend Alison (Ally) to join us. Ally bowls her best ever game and Jon and I don’t do so bad either. Just love those shoes every body has worn before you. They’re so uber trendy! We have a great time at the bowl and then go for pancakes after.

14 th November 2006 View from the top

2006-11-20T23:26:00.000Z

14th November (Tuesday)
So, back into the city on the tram with all the other morning commuters and go for breakfast at Beleize in Australia on Collins again. Mainly because it’s the only café serving hot cooked food there. I’m using Australia on Collins because of the free wifi to try and upload photos and blog. Nice breakfast of 2 poached eggs on toast. Successfully logon on today and upload some photos, but it takes nearly an hour to do it!
Today I’m going to go up the Rialto Tower 253 metres to the 360 degree observation deck where you have a panoramic view of Melbourne. $12.50 and that includes a 20 minute film about the city. Which of course just turns out to be a tourist appetizer for what you can visit in and around Melbourne and includes the world’s worst sound track and song called “My Melbourne.” Take the express lift to the 54th floor, The Observation Deck and take in the wonders of Melbourne from approx 250 metres above street level. There are 2 outside platforms as well as the glassed observation level so you can view from the comfort of the inside, (comfort as in warmth, no wind and Oh my God I don’t feel safe up here) or the more raw, close to edge, look directly down below you outside view. I did them all and I think, got some decent pictures. Look out for the tennis courts on the roof of a tallish building, gardens on some others, water features, and a children’s play area on top of another. I quite like the shot of the model railway!
Had lunch for a change in the Observation Deck Café and ordered the smallest piece of quiche I could see in the chiller display and a pot of tea. How very English of me. The lady said she would bring it all to my table in a few moments after serving the other customers. A few minutes passed and she appeared by my table with my quiche………………………………....... which was surrounded by a huge salad! Small and sensible portions just don’t exist here in Australia. After large lunch waddle back to the lifts and wait my turn. I did suggest to the lift guy that the stairs might be more appropriate and he told me a small story. Once a year Melbourne holds the Rialto tower race where competitors take it in turns to race up the stairs and the fastest time wins. Last year the winner took 20 minutes! I have unfortunately forgotten how many stairs he said there are. The lift downwards option seemed a good idea after that tale.
Back at ground level, I decide to take a look at the South Bank which is across the River Yarra and houses a lot of the new arty areas of the city. Some good views can be found of the city as you look back across the river. The river front is a sea of cafes, restaurants and a small shopping arcade. As I make my way along I come to St Kilda Road and a building with a steel tower which really looks like a radio mast. This building is the Melbourne Concert Hall which has 3 theatres inside, each designed in a different style but with an Aussie theme. Had a good look round and took a look at an exhibition of photos depicting Aussie actors holding one object which was dear or important to them. Clever idea, might copy that.
Next door was the Victoria Arts Centre which I thought might be worth a look, I could enhance my culture levels possibly! But no, it was shut on Tuesdays!
I walked back across Princes Bridge and crossed over into Federation Square and down towards the Yarra River again to see an open air exhibition called “earth from above”. This is a stunning collection of aerial photographs which highlight the changing face of our planet, taken by a guy called Yann Arthus-Bertrand. There is a website about his photography and this particular project, which is at www.yannarthusbertrand.com or very similar. Google it and you’ll find it. These photos are truly remarkable, not just because of the fact they are aerial shots but because they are a commentary on how we, mankind, live our life on this planet and our wastefulness, selfishness and carelessness in protecting what gives us our home and food. Went back into Federation Square and had a glass of red wine at the Time Out café and rested my weary feet for half an hour before catching the tram back towards “home”.
Jon has had a telephone call from Donna saying that the trip on Friday has to be cancelled as Greg is not very well. It’s a big disappointment but Greg’s health is more important. She said she will phone later in the week to arrange for us all to catch up before I leave.
Went with Jon in the evening to watch him have a dance lesson with his instructor Julie and was also able to watch some other couples taking lessons or just practising. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but the house Jon is house sitting belongs to a family who have gone to Singapore temporarily. The eldest son, Craig and his girlfriend, Sriani have just returned from the UK where they have been working but also dancing and taking lessons from world class coaches to better themselves. Craig is a very personable young man and in the top amateur ranks for Latin dance in Australia so Jon has told me. At this point I have not really met Sriani but understand she is also a top ranked dancer and Craig’s girlfriend and dance partner. They are also at the studio tonight and working out a new routine. Now, I have seen some people doing dance practice, lessons and watched the competition at Williamstown on Sunday so if you like, I have a benchmark to which, in a very amateur manner, I can judge. Craig and Sriani are very, very, very good. They were only rehearsing but it was obvious that it essential they get every detail right and they wouldn’t be happy until it was. Managed to get a photo of Jon with Julie for the record.

13th November 2006 Melbourne city, Away alone

2006-11-20T23:16:00.000Z

13th November (Monday)
My first day on my own in the big metropolis. I get up early and Jon gives me a lift to Kew where he works and I hop on a tram bound for the city centre. $6.10 for an all day rover tram ticket, not bad. Get off at Flinders and Elizabeth and head for Australia on Collins and some breakfast in the food court there. Tried to logon to the free wireless internet service the y have but it is so sporadic I give up in frustration. No uploading of photos and blog again! Go for a walk following one of the Melbourne Tourist offices suggested tours but do it by myself. Walk through small arcades like Block and look at shops and arcades built back in the 1870’s In that distinctive Victorian style. There is an old tea and coffee shop that apparently has barely changed since those days and I think I saw one of the original 1870 customers sitting in the corner with her tea and scones! As you walk through Melbourne it becomes clear that an awful lot of modern building has taken place but whilst managing to leave a considerable amount of historical buildings untouched and they sit together in a typically unique Melbourne way. Walk past the huge and imposing old Post Office on Collins St and get a couple of good photos. Find a building called the Manchester Order of the Oddfellows, strange but reassuring to find so many familiar names from home on the opposite side of the world.
As a small aside it is very odd when looking at the descriptions given to houses which are for sale. Especially the one which describes the house and rear garden as “ideally located in a North facing direction.” ? !! You can work it out for yourself.
Found myself on Swanston St and a parade of shops which included “Arthur Daley’s Famous Warehouse Store”. Couldn’t resist having a look. Well it was the stack ‘em high sell ‘em cheap option and there were 4 floors of it. Looked hard but couldn’t see Terry. Next door was a similar shop but not quite so cheap and next door to that was another one selling Christmas cards at 5 for $1. Was very tempted! Next to that was ……. Another Arthur Daly Discount Warehouse store! Made my way to an exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Federation Sq which was called Eyes, Lies and Illusions. This exhibition explores and displays the ways in which the art and science of visual perception has been used to deceive and entertain us down the centuries. Displays covering tricks of the light, perspectives, optical trickery and the precursor to the true moving image, sequential photographs or flip books. On of the displays was about 50 or so table tennis balls suspended from the ceiling at various heights and distances from each other to form a sort of one dimensial block. Projected onto the balls was the image of an eye and as you watched the display they appeared to blink. Quite intriguing and strangely hypnotic. One other display was swarms of bees being projected onto other displays periodically so you didn’t actually know when or where it was about to happen. A lady actually stopped one of the display attendants and said there was a funny noise in the exhibition which was interfering with her concentration and could they locate it and turn it off!
Left the exhibition at about 3.30 and returned to a little café I had noticed earlier in the day in a small lane off Block Alley and ordered Chocolate Mud Pie and a glass of house red. The wine was delicious, a Cabernet Sauvignon and just what the palate wanted. The mud pie was the size of a house! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, beware of the portions here.
Met Jon after work and I got a Thai take away on the way home, mixed meats soup, chicken pepper and garlic and special Thai rice. I am so tired I only drank the soup and ate a small piece of the rice and chicken and then I went to bed. Woos.

12th November Come Dancing Australia style

2006-11-20T23:09:00.000Z

12th November (Sunday)
Jon and I met up with his sister Nicola again and this time her husband Robert came too. We all met at a lovely little street café in St Kilda and had a fine brunch. The Melburnians have a hardy street café mentality and weekends is the time to indulge this favourite pastime. Families, friends and acquaintances meet to catch up over long macchiattas, short blacks and breakfast eggs Benedict and the like.
After brunch Jon and I take the road out past Luna Park fair and head out on to the Great Western Freeway which rises over the harbour and docks and gives great views back towards the city. W are aiming for Williamstown and a dance competition which Jon had been hoping to compete in. It’s a long story but sadly he and his dance partner couldn’t go. I am going to beg your indulgence and describe the day, the competition the levels and dances and hopefully make some sense. I rely on Jon for the accuracy of the detail and myself for the hyperbole. But your going to have to wait ‘coz he’s gone to bed and I’m too tired to write any more. Hope we don’t lose too much of the colour of the day by sleeping on it.
So Williamstown Dance competition is a non qualifying event which means nobody is dancing to gain points for their medal levels so should be a more relaxed time for the competitors. The entrants range from about 7 years old to mid to late fifties and they dance in a wide range of categories such as Latin, modern, progressive etc. They also compete at different levels from beginners level 1 to to level 5 but today the highest level is 4. The couples get approx. a minute and a half to show the judges their dance skills and then they qualify or not for the semis and finals in their particular category and level. To my eye some of the dancing is excellent and the costumes and dresses of the ladies are incredible, bright, flamboyant and beautiful. The men wear elegant suits and tails and they all look magnificent swirling and twirling around the Old Town Hall dance floor. We watch the youngsters first as they always go first and see some good and not so good latin and progressive. The programme intersperses a few adult and Masters (over 55) qualifiers and the youngsters near the finals. I’m not really sure who wins and why but they seem to get a great deal of enjoyment out of it and I think that’s the main thing. Jon and I wandered off after the awards and went down to Williamstown harbour and checked out he yachts and ships. It also is one of the dockyards for the Australian Navy and there were a couple moored but we couldn’t get a clear view of them.
Back to the competition and the adults groups were in full swing. The Latin categories are extremely energetic and I hate to think how many muscles I could pull all at once if I attempted any of those moves! Again the Masters was the one to watch if you wanted to watch elegant, graceful dancing by beautifully dressed men and women. This probably sounds a bit daft but I could watch this for hours without getting bored. Anyway we left around 8pm and they were all still going strong. Jon says some competitions run until 10 or 11pm. Poor ol’ Jon has to go to work tomorrow as his company wouldn’t let him have 2 weeks holiday for my visit. Also looks like he may not be able to have next Monday off for our visit to Sydney. Poor show by OAMPS the financial company he works for. There, they are named and shamed.

11th November Chuck a Tuna steak on the Barbie mate!

2006-11-20T23:06:00.000Z

11th November (Saturday)
Lazy day today as Jon is having dance lessons and helping out at the studio with other dance lessons and practice. So to be honest I have done nothing today but read a newspaper and dwashing and ironing. This evening we are going to visit Donna and Greg for dinner.
They are a lovely couple, Greg has his own Air conditioning and plumbing business and Donna is a talented freelance sculp(tor)? (tress)? (trix)? The house is a beautiful Edwardian Melbourne style chalet but with a huge extension built at the back in a more modern style but still in keeping with the older part. Greg barbies (been dying to say that) the tuna burgers and Jon’s lamb steaks to perfection. (Jon is allergic to most shellfish and fish). The mixed salad is delicious and we finish with a gorgeous Pavlova made by mine hostess. Excellent hosts and company and Jon and I have had a great night and met 2 very lovely people. The finale to the evening is that they have invited me to tour The Great Ocean Highway with them on Thursday and Friday. This is one of the great drives of the world along the south Victoria coastline and as they have a property somewhere along the route we can stay overnight. I am stunned by this generosity and they insist it is their pleasure to show me this heritage area of Australia. Where else in the world would you get this kind of generosity? In fact every where I go here, people just want to help and are polite and kind and always interested in where you come from and how are things back in the UK. I would say a vast majority of Australians have visited UK and Europe and in general are a widely travelled bunch. They also seem bemused that many of us want to emigrate from UK as they think it a great and historical place. But I am regularly thanked by them that we sent them here because it is definitely God’s own country and they love it!

10th November A Very Zoological Day

2006-11-20T23:02:00.000Z

10th November (Friday)
Zoo and Phillip Island
Today we visited Melbourne Zoo and met Jon’s friends Richard and Angela there too. It is not a big zoo and I believe it has been criticised in the past for not giving enough space nor the right environment for the animals to thrive and flourish successfully. However they seem to be putting that right currently. There are 3 new Asian elephant arrivals who have just gone on show this week and who have 3 new enclosures, one by their elephant house with play area and mud bath, another larger roaming compound and finally an area with a huge swimming and bathing pool. Looked more like an elephant Jacuzzi. Then there were new orang-utans who also have a new housing area, indoor play area and outside area all with many play items and climbing rooms. They even had blankets and clothes to play with. The pathways around and leading to enclosures have all been planted with bamboos and tall grasses to give a feeling of jungle and is quite effective. Much better than open walks and wood or steel fences. Wandered through the butterfly house and saw many varieties and asked the zoo keeper why she was tipping out baby stick insects onto the bushes and flowers. They were the babies that were not needed by the zoo for the insect house and so were released into the butterfly house as food for the Sun birds who were also housed there. We then headed for the indigenous Australian species paddock and saw lazy kangaroos, red kangaroos, wombats, platypus, koala, which is not a bear but a marsupial, Echidnae which is a large hedgehog with a very long snout (also known as spiny anteater) and emus. Been told a story that koalas are actually permanently stoned because of their diet of eucalyptus leaves. Jon said be careful because the drop out of trees and injure people, he calls them drop bears! Not sure if he’s pulling my leg or not. After a brief lunch we continued and saw little penguins, a beautiful red tree bear, lions, tortoises, reptile house and least rare of beasts, the Souvenir shop.
Left the zoo for the city to catch the Little Penguin Express coach to go and visit Phillip Island and the nightly penguin parade. My thanks to Richard and Angela for some excellent background info regarding the zoo and its inhabitants. The zoo also offers sleepovers to kids in the grounds. Wonder how many actually sleep.
Well, we’re off on the 2 hour coach journey to Phillip Island to witness, what I’ve been frequently told, is the highlight of any visit to Melbourne. How exciting can the walk of some penguins across a beach be, I thought. Nightly, little penguins leave the ocean to make their way across a long beach and up a grassy hill to their burrows where their mate and offspring are waiting for supper. The journey is hazardous because being only 12 inches in height they are the target of predators such as birds and sharks and land creatures including cats and dogs. But the biggest menace to them was, as usual, man because since time immemorial visitors have gone to the island to watch them come ashore. What wasn’t understood up until the ’70’s was that walking over the dunes more often than not crushed their burrows and would often bury penguins and their babies inside. Aside from that, the presence of humans put off the penguins from returning to certain parts of the nesting coastline and for many years the colony numbers where known to be decreasing. Currently they believe there are 60,000 or so. It is now a full time sanctuary as well as a tourist destination but it is controlled tourism and the penguins are the most important part of the equation. Viewing areas which are elevated above the pingwin pathways have been built using tourist income, rangers are employed and full time vets are on hand each evening in case of pingwin injury. On the night we were there one was rescued with a foot injury and packed up and sent to the vet.
It is truly a marvellous spectacle watching the little fellas waddle up the long beach in the twilight gloom, in gaggles of 30 or so. It’s not until you are there that you understand the distance they have to walk on their short little legs. Pingwins are designed to swim, not walk. They reach the grassy area and have a rest before the uphill journey towards their burrows. The noise of the waiting babies and partners is quite loud and often partners will venture out of the burrow and back toward the beach in search of hubby or wife. The rangers told us that the journey is also a social event where everybody catches up on the gossip because generally they spend up to 3 or 4 months at sea fishing and eating. They only return to land to mate and rear their young. Needless to say we saw some having pingwin nookie! It was pretty much all over within an hour (the pingwin parade not the nooky) and we all embarked on our coaches and drove back to Melbourne. No photos as it is prohibited, even non flash photography. As much to protect the income of the sanctuary through the sale of photographic souvenirs as the protection of the pingwins.

9th November Gold Fever!

2006-11-20T22:57:00.000Z

9th November (Thursday)
Up early today, well 8.00am anyway, due to a 2 hour drive to Ballarat, the site of the Great Australian Gold Rush. There is a village in Ballarat called Sovereign Hill which has been recreated as Ballarat was around the late 1850’safter the gold rush had begaun. It started with a few finds and then turned into full scale free for all with prospectors arriving from all over the world to make their fortune. It was a grim and tough existence but a few did make their fortunes but of course many more made their money from offering services to the miners and prospectors, such as hardware stores, bars, hotels, bakeries, apothecaries etc. and so Ballarat was made. The village was very good and supposedly as authentic as they could make it, but the beer was dispensed from old hand pumps by modern electric pumps. There was the opportunity to pan for gold from an artificial stream which, we were told was populated with gold shavings on a daily basis. Unfortunately for us we also shared the village with several hundred school kids on an educational so panning was impossible due to the number of kids “prospecting”. But they were having fun making “finds”. There were many local volunteers who dressed up in clothes of the time and wandered around the streets and shops adding a little authenticity to the feel of life. These included a mayor, a policeman, who arrested a young girl for “chewing her hair!” and handcuffed her to a post in the middle of the street, to waitresses, smithies, wheelwrights and a goldsmith. We watched this guy give a demonstration of the art of removing impurities and then pouring and casting 99.95% pure gold into an ingot. Oddly enough he wouldn’t let us near it and when he had cooled it using water he put it in a glass safe! See the photos. There was an awful lot to see and we did our best but just ran out of time. We didn’t manage the underground mine tour but did see the building where they still crush the quartz and separate out the gold. We didn’t see the wheelwrights working but did go 9 pin bowling as they used to do after a hard day ’s work. Didn’t manage to take the stagecoach ride around the village but did watch the Soldiers march around the village supposedly looking for hidden gold finds that weren’t reported and assayed. A great day and finished it, looking briefly in the Gold Museum only to find that many finds of gold nuggets in the last 20 or so years have been reported. The finders tend to keep hold of them and not have them smelted although they do register the finds and some eventually sell them to the Gold museum to put on display. There were about 20 nuggets and thousands of gold coins and other gold artefacts on display and it got me wondering. With all this gold on display the value of the contents must be in the millions, not to mention all the other displays of original papers, books, diaries and the like. It must be a prime target for thieves, so why has it not been burgled or whatever it would be called for such a high value crime. Of course, silly me, where would sell the only one of its kind in the world and who would be stupid enough to buy it. These items only have a value in the legitimate world of gold.
Drove a long journey home and I must thank Jon for it as he is not used to driving long distances in day. I forget that what I count as normal and do on a daily basis others regard as a very long journey and would do only 2 or 3 times a year. So, thank you Jon.

8th November Ducks and sharks

2006-11-13T01:41:00.000Z

8th November (Wednesday)
Today we into Melbourne and headed straight for one of the more well known landmarks, the MCG, Melbourne Cricket Ground. We booked the tour and were marshalled to our guide starting point by a very fierce female security guard. We were then taken on a superb tour by Brian our volunteer tour guide. His knowledge of the ground and it’s history was only outdone by his knowledge of cricket and the greatest Australian players to grace the ground. The ground has undergone some major renovations over the last 4 or 5 years with some AU$5million being invested to increase the capacity from 100,000 to 100,000. Well ok Brian conceded many of the seats were now more comfortable than previously so obviously a good investment! In fact they have upgraded the entire stands and facilities and amenities and it is now well equipped to take on the 21st century. The ground is used more for Australian Rules Football than for cricket which was a surprise and also occasionally for concerts, like Kylie, Madonna and the like. Membership is available for the MCC, Melbourne Cricket Club, but the waiting list is currently around 170,000 and 15 to 18 years. Sign ‘em up when they’re born and by the time they’re earning they can afford it at AU$500 per annum! Our tour was scheduled for hour and quarter but was hour and 40 and excellent value.
We then made our way down towards Melbourne Dockside and decided to visit the Aquarium. Some of this is fairly new and they are still upgrading and adding so will be an even larger attraction in acouple of years. We thought we would whiz through quite quickly and head off to have an early dinner, but it didn’t quite work out like that. The exhibition was fascinating. Far too much to tell but the highlights were the feeding of the Rays and small sharks in the mangroves pool. The different fish in the pool all have different ways of taking the food, squid, chopped herring, etc. Some, such as the graceful rays, will only eat the food off of a long stick, the sharks only if thrown around the pool and the sea bottom feeler fish from the girl keeper’s hand. Loads of photo opportunities but the fish wouldn’t stay still long enough for decent shots! There was an Australian cod in one tank and he was the size of a dining table. According to the info plate they grow to in excess of 130kgs! Went down a floor to more exhibits including tropical displays with beautiful coral fish and those v. dangerous spiny fish. Then we plunged further down into the depths of the Aquarium to their centre piece, the huge shark, stingray and sea fish pool. Pool is not the right word. Oceanarium. It is massive, with clear walkway tunnels so that you are right in there with the equally massive inhabitants. You emerge from the tunnels into a large auditorium where you are surrounded by the oceanarium and able to watch Stingrays at least 7ft in width and more in length, sharks which are even longer. We stayed in there transfixed for ages, just watching them all swim lazily by. It was all at once a stunning but relaxing display, hypnotic in the gracefulness of the rays and chilling in the menace but beauty of the world’s most ruthless killing machine, the Great White Shark. At the end of the display is an example of the glass that separates us from the denizens of the ocean and also keeps you dry and safe whilst being able to watch.
Plexiglass, 13 inches thick.
There is a sign in the walk through tunnels that says,
“The curvature of the plexiglass makes our exhibits appear
ONE THIRD SMALLER than they actually are.”

Seem to have missed a day out of the blog in Bali and got the dates wrong. Not sure if I've already mentioned that or not so will have to go back and see what I've missed . Think it must be Thursday 2nd November. Will hopefully update soon. So easy to lose track of days and date when you're having so much fun. Ha ha ha ha!

7th November A day at the races

2006-11-13T01:39:00.000Z

7th November (Tuesday)
Yeah, race day. Today is the biggest day in Melburnians calendar, The Melbourne Cup day at Flemington race course. Today is an unofficial holiday where Melbourne shuts down and almost every one trots off the races. Jon and I get togged up in our finest and set off to lose money on the gee gees. As we arrive at Flemington it is bitterly cold (did I mention the weather has not been good so far?) and very windy. We meet one of Jon’s friends Kat who is selling Cancer Charity lapel pind and we buy one each. Purchase a race day programme and head off to make our bets. It is absolute bedlam here, and as crowded as the London Underground. Everyone (almost everyone) in their best bib and tucker and the ladies wear some most interesting headgear. We get in line for the betting counter and scratch our heads as to which bets to make. I have never been to a race meeting but Jon has and takes me through the routine. The lady ahead of us has a list of races and horses and turns to us and says she can’t read her own writing and wishes she re read it all that morning. We get chatting and discover she has bet the 4 previous races and has had 3 winners and a second. We copy her bets, for the next race (she insisted) but for the main race decide to follow only one of her recommendations, Pop Rock. I mark in the book, after we paid our bets “return for second bet before race starts” on another horse, Delta Blues. My bet for the next race came in 4th but after a protest for bad riding or something my horse is elevated to 3rd and I’m a winner!
The main race was at 3pm so we had plenty of time to walk about, see stuff and eat and drink. We stood at the top of the public steps leading on to the grass which leads down to the railings and race track proper. We couldn’t get down there so found a route under the grandstand and out to grassed areas. It was so crowded with families and friends and their picnics it was difficult to move about. We ended up deciding to stay by the Winners Enclosure as we had a good view of it and the huge TV screen opposite showing the racing. What a good choice. We saw all the horses being paraded before their races and all the winners and places after.
Before the main race, The Emirates Cup they had a presentation of all the jockeys to the crowds and dignitaries and the King of Dubai, who, with Emirates (the airline) where sponsoring the race to the tune of AU$5million. There then followed a short display by acrobats on poles dressed in racing gear and as race goers. Not sure what it was all about but an interesting spectacle none the less. Then all the horses for the main race were paraded around the arena, then again with their jockeys mounted and then they were off to the starting gate. From our vantage point we could see the huge race screen and watched the race from there. The atmosphere was fantastic with everyone shouting and screaming for their horse to win. The winner was decided by a photo finish and my selection came 2nd. Oh and the horse I was supposed to go back and put a bet on but forgot?. Yes…… it won. We did one more bet on the next race as it had an Irish horse and jockey running and I backed it to win, which it did! Jon and I then wandered around the Grandstands for a while admiring the finery and funny hats which Jon informed me they call “fascinators”. More like “terminators” if you ask me, as most of them would have your eye out if you weren’t careful. We squeezed onto the train back to Melbourne Flinders St and headed home and had a pleasant buffet dinner in a local hostelry.
What a great day out though. The sights, the sounds, the noise, the winning, the losing, and once again the great Aussie friendliness.

6th November Melbourne City and 3 left legs

2006-11-13T01:38:00.000Z

6th November (Monday)

We drove in to Melbourne City and saw a little of the Parade for the Melbourne Cup Horse race meet on 7th Nov. Wandered around with Jon and familiarised myself a little with city layout. Had lunch in a mall called Australia on Collins in Collins St where they have free wifi, and uploaded some photos and blog. Did a little more wandering and we used the city Central Tram system which is free for a mini guided tour. Melbourne is a big city and I suspect slightly larger than London but with about a tenth of the inhabitants. Quite a friendly city and customer service in shops, bars, restaurants, etc is excellent. Have just realised I have been putting wrong date on my blogs. You sort of lose track of time and dates as you are not involved in your normal daily routine of work and weekends so my apologies if anyone has noticed and wondered why I left Bali a day earlier than expected and have missed a day out. Funny it’s taken me so long to notice.
We have done a lot of walking as well as using the underground and trams. Went to Flinders Street station which is quite famous in Melbourne and used by everyone when meeting in the city with the phrase, “Meet you under the clocks.” These are at the front entrance to the station and were used to indicate the arrival time of the next train at each platform in years gone by. Pictures in the Snapfish album.
The outside of Flinders station is a very beautiful Victorian building and just one example of some very good architectural building works throughout Melbourne dating back to the early 1800’s. Decided to phone the number of the woman whom I met on the plane, Donna, as I had promised. They had been expecting the call and invited Jon and me to dinner on Saturday night. Jon said he had to visit another dance studio in Collingwood after which we went and had early dinner at Naxos’ Café Restaurant in Smith St, Collingwood and had Lamb roast. Very tasty.
Went to the dance centre’s social evening which is every Monday and joined in the beginners class, to learn; Evening 3 step, Cha Cha and progressive jive. 2 young lads called Neville and Matt are our instructors and make it look so easy. Bit of a dismal failure at this and seem to find my feet where they shouldn’t be and my hands seem to swop themselves over while I’m concentrating on my feet. Everybody is incredibly kind and supportive but I know that I am rubbish. Maybe if I practice enough I could raise my standard to just hopeless. Found out from e-mail that Ludy has booked us for dance lessons when I get home! The triumph of hope over experience.
Still, I enjoyed the evening watching the accomplished dancing of everyone else including Jon who is pretty good. My hat goes off to him.
Finished at 10pm and many of the Club dancers regularly finish up at the Pancake Parlour nearby. So with Jon and his friends, Rebecca (semi professional dancer, high standard), Michael (uni student dancing for pleasure), Michael (dances for pleasure but good standard) and Mark (dances for pleasure, quite good) I had single pancake with a huge plate of strawberries and a little ice cream. Not necessarily the best thing to go to bed on.

5th November Quiet Sunday

2006-11-13T01:35:00.000Z

5th November (Sunday)

Had a good night’s sleep in what I think is the younger brothers bedroom, of the family who own the house. Met Jon’s sister Nicola for brunch at Joe’s Garage (café brasserie, not a real garage) in Brunswick Street. First time of meeting her having heard Jon talk about her for all the years I’ve known him. She is lovely, warm and friendly and she makes you feel you’ve known her for years! Brunswick is a very popular area of Melbourne for eating, meeting and nightlife. Ordered what I thought would be a harmless omelette and pot of tea. When it arrived I thought there was a mistake, this omelette was big enough for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper! Should have made a mental note then about portion size here in Aus.
In the afternoon Jon went dancing at one of the many dance studios he uses, (he is known as a Studio Tart) and I stayed at home at Templestowe and wrote a little. Well quite a lot really.
In the evening we went to Lygon St, another popular area of Melbourne for dining and we chose to have dinner in an Italian restaurant called Via Veneto. We met the owner, Santino who regaled us with his reminiscences of days past in Sicily and stories of when Dustin Hoffman and Sean Connery visited his café in Sicily. Hmmmm.

4th November Melbourne - No Worries!

2006-11-06T02:58:00.000Z

4 th November

Arrive at Melbourne and stand in interminable queues for immigration. Proceed without trouble to bag reclaim. Where’s my bloody luggage! Have been round the carousel twice and it’s not there. It is not doing the round robin of the carousel and the bags that are on it show QF144 on their tags so I know it’s the correct carousel. Noticed a group of people standing nearby with bags and muttering, has theirs gone walkies too? Decide to make one more lap of the return belt and arrive back where I started but the group of travellers has gone. In their place is my lovely lonely suitcase. I won’t ever tell you you’re overweight again suitcase, just never leave me! Pass through customs where I have to give my email address as I don’t know the address of Jon’s house and make my way into the arrivals hall. Can’t see Jon. Don’t panic, he’s always late, but have a good look first to make sure I haven’t missed him on the first sweep. Look for long fair hair on tall guy with glasses. There he is with his back to me.
“Jon Hynson are you there?” I called in a loud voice. Boy did he jump!!
It’s good to see an old friend after a long time but you know after 10 minutes it was like we hadn’t been apart at all. Quick trip to the BMW Z3 and just managed to squeeze suitcase in the boot. The alternative being me in the boot and the suitcase in the car! Discovered we are not going to Brunswick where Jon lives but to Templestowe where he is house sitting for a friend. Stop off on the way for a spot of breakfast and coffee at a little parade of shops near the house. Hear my first “No worries” from the very helpful and chatty waitress! Arrive at the Templestowe house and unload bags and enter what appears to be a single storey house. It’s a lovely house with a huge downstairs den which leads out onto a covered patio and smallish garden. I think it has 4 bedrooms and is very roomy and airy. We are guests here for the next 2 weeks and it is most acceptable.
In the afternoon we go to a shopping mall near Templestowe as Jon needs to swap his mobile phone and we decide to have a look around and have a small spot of lunch. All the staff in the shops we visit are extremely friendly and genuine in their desire to serve you properly. Especially in the Vodaphone shop where the assistant apologises to us that she is serving another customer and will be a few minutes before she can attend to us! Would you get that in England ? I don’t think so! Working in a shop seems to be a reasonable career here as opposed to just a job as it is viewed in this country.
Whisked off by Jon to one of the dance studios he belongs to where he has a regular Saturday lesson. Introduced to a number of people some of whom I am ashamed to say I cannot remember the names of. In my defence, I am extremely tired as did not sleep on the flight over and probably drank too much. However the lady who runs and organises this club is Darlene and she makes me feel welcome. Jon has his lesson with Julie, an accomplished instructor, dancer, and Australian Latin Dance Champion, and, even to my untrained eye, you can see she is very good and she takes Jon through his paces. After the lesson we return home and I grab an hours sleep before we are off to pick up Richard, Jon’s oldest friend and take dinner in a country pub. Steak dinner to be precise and the size of the steak has to be somewhere round 18oz. It includes chips and salad and we have a dessert also, all for $21Aus. Say £8ish. After dinner we return to Richard’s house for a cuppa and meet his wife Angela. Both she and Richard are Bali enthusiasts and their house has many Bali statues and artefacts as they visit regularly so we had plenty in common to discuss.

2nd November Leaving Bali and my new friends

2006-11-06T02:52:00.000Z

Royal Bali Beach Club's Temple specially decorated for the coming festival

2nd November (Thursday)
Today had another half day trip to firstly revisit Celuk where they make the silver and gold jewellery as I wanted to photograph a spectacular piece made of sterling silver and fashioned to look like a 747 jet. You can see the piece in my Snapfish album and the price? A mere RP5,000,000. Subject to haggling of course.
Then on to a special temple called Pura Tanan Ayun or vast garden located at Mengwi. This Temple and its gardens is fully enclosed by a moat and then an inner moat protecting the main temple area. It was built around 1740 by the ruling king Mengwi and his family and used for the usual ceremonies to the Gods and as ancestral shrines for the Mengwis. There is, however one other curious fact about this temple. In all Temples across the island they build pagodas as shrines to Gods but with an odd number of tiers. This Temple, and it is the only one, has a meru with 2 tiers. The story is that a ruler (and I have forgotten his name) had become noted for being invincible in battle. He was frequently fatally injured but never died and also survived a number of assassination attempts. He learned over time that his people were becoming distrustful of him and jealous of his power, so he arranged for it to be known that he had an “Achilles heel”. This was that his death could be assured by using a garrotte of string the thickness of a human hair, pulled tight around his throat until ….. Enough already I’m about to have dinner. In exchange for this information the villagers were to build a Meru in his honour of only 2 tiers. So with the Meru being there and in one of my photos I guess the villagers must have used the garrotte as instructed. Probably would have seemed rude not to.
And now on to the last place and Temple I shall visit on Bali, Tanah Lot. This is a Temple the Balinese are into promoting heavily I’m told, and whilst I agree it has a pretty impressive setting, I can’t help but feel there is a secondary motive. Firstly the Temple though. The Temple actual, that is the part where only the worshippers may go and only during a ceremony, is set atop a rock some 100metres or so from the shore. When the tide comes in the Temple is cut off from the mainland and no doubt provides for some extra mysteriousness to those of ages gone by. There is also a quite spectacular rock formation on the northern side of the whole Temple complex, again there are a few photos of this. But, and this is just my perception, at Tanah Lot there is a massive market of souvenir and refreshment stalls, just before the entrance to the Temple grounds and this obviously provides work and income for hundreds of locals and with out the heavy marketing ………..
Back to the Royal Bali Beach Club and a well earned rest. I have arranged to met Nusa for dinner at a restaurant on Jimbaran Beach as my thank you to him for the extraordinary time and knowledge he has put my way. I know he has already been paid by Mr Wayan but he is a pleasant and interesting person and his company is most agreeable.
So, a little sunbathing and swimming, a small pre-prandial before dinner and off to the beach. On arrival at Baran Sari restaurant I learn that Nusa has been delayed by a group of Japanese tourists who after seeing Tanah Lot wish to throw themselves back into the 21st Century and go shopping in Katu. He arrives an hour and a quarter late with said Japanese tourists and manages a small dinner with me. We do however get to choose our dinner, that is, I will have that particular lobster, or those 12 prawns and that squid whilst all the other diners get what they’re given! The squid was fresh and delicious by the way.
Back to RBBC and my favourite Canadian and US ladies were at the bar so settled down for an evening of drinks and good conversation.

3nd November (Friday)
Went off to get suit fitted at Tommy’s. Very nice, trousers great, jacket required a smidgen more fit and is great too.
Back to hotel 11.30 and bit of sunbathing. Problem is at this time of day the sun is too strong to stay out long. Spent a great deal of time each day in shade. In the sun you burn quick, sweat and dehydrate fast, in the shade you sweat the same and dehydrate. Had another 30 minute dry massage from Wayan including a little manipulation of the back and shoulder muscles- lovely.
The hotel is preparing for a Temple ceremony tomorrow and decorating the restaurant, creating offerings for the Gods and preparing the suckling pig roast. Pity I will miss it, should be interesting, fun and tasty.
Packing is in order at this point and have discovered that suitcase manages to increase its weight with every stop. Will have serious words with it to watch what it eats and take more exercise. When I arrive in Oz think I will post small parcel home of paper items like brochures and leaflets etc.
The day is running away from me and every time I make to go back to the room someone wants to talk to me and see where I’m going to next. The kindness of virtual strangers is lovely and I have met some very interesting people. I realise too that I have not written enough for my own satisfaction of the characters I have met. May have to do that separately. Eventually escaped and finished packing and just have time for last dinner in the restaurant bar. Say goodbye to the staff on duty, Made, (pronounced Marday) Kadek, Putu and Yomang my driver.
I have made a lot of good friends at RBBC and I am very sad at having to say goodbye. Mr Wayan has been most helpful and I wish him much good fortune in hi future business ventures. The girls have all made me feel very welcome and pampered and I will stay in contact with them most definitely. I will, without doubt return here sometime in the future with Ludy and enjoy the excellent hospitality they offer.

We reach the airport in good time and I make my way to check in desk 7. No information on the board about this being the correct desk so after 10 minutes I go and check with an official looking airport person. I have misunderstood the information board and am in the wrong part of the departures building! At the correct check in desk I wait behind 3 ladies who are waiting for 2 ladies being checked in. These 2 have obviously been shopping for Australia whilst in Bali. Each had 2 suitcases and at least 4 large store bags they were going to have to carry on board. One lady’s suitcase, 1 case only remember, was 41kg! Went through check in but no upgrade again , thanks Quantas, and went through to Customs. At Customs you have to show your immigration card which was for either 7 days or 1 month. I paid $10 for a 7 day visa. However I had been in the country for 8 days! The Immigration guy wanted me to pay a $50 fine to exit the country! I said no way I only paid $10 to enter. Showed him my wallet and said I've only got $20. He said Ok and stamped my passport. Bet that $20 didn't go to the Government.
Got on my Qantas flight Aisle seat 26B and looks like nobody to sit in the window seat so will be able to spread out relax and slee……… no I have a lady sitting there so will have to make polite conversation for a while. C’est la vie. My new travel companion makes a few sarcastic remarks regarding Qantas’s entreaty to us to “Have a relaxing flight” and settles down to ignore me. As we begin take off was a little concerned that she didn’t look too well or comfortable about the prospect of the take off but all passed well and off to Australia. Discovered over dinner my travel companion Donna, is a stone and marble sculpter and travels to Bali to buy art for her business. We discussed Bali art for a while, Australia and Melbourne and Donna invites my Aussie friend Jon and me to visit her and her partner Greg in Hampton, Melbourne if we are over that way. We exchange phone numbers and she makes me promise to phone them next week. People in Oz are so much more friendly and hospitable than in England. We settle into companionable silence and I look forward to Australian footfall. Wonder how long it will be before I hear “no worries”?

1st November In which bowling makes a surprise appearance

2006-11-02T15:26:00.000Z

1st November
Decided to have a lazy day so hung around the pool and made a nuisance of myself. We have guests from many countries here, Wim and Carrie from the Netherlands, who used to work in Indonesia and Malaysia, a German couple who I think do not talk to the other guests, an Indonesian couple and their young daughters who also do not talk to other guests, 2 Scottish couples now naturalised in Oz who make up for the other people who don’t talk and constantly remind us of the all the places they go using their impressive portfolio of timeshsare, Peter and Geraldine of whom I have already written, an English (possibly) couple and shock horror a couple with an horological separation disadvantage.
Many staff at the hotel but they can afford them based on the salaries paid generally in Bali. 2 shifts daily 7am until 3pm and 3 until 11pm with night watchman security. All the girls and boys are extremely attentive, helpful, generous and genuine in their desire to provide everything the guests need. They love to hear stories of all our different countries and customs and are very serious when it comes to learning our languages, especially English.
Decided at the last minute not to have the resort barbecue dinner and took a taxi to Kuta, location of the first Bali bombing. Got dropped off at Kuta Central,
“Shopping Centre Mata Hari is good shopping Mr Derek your girlfriend and daughter love it when you bring them when come back. You visit and see” Yes they probably would so good job they are not here.
Kuta is exactly the same as any European tourist holiday resort where shopping and some frankly disgusting looking restaurants all vie for your dollar or Rupiah. However stumbled across Paradiso Bowling, 18 lanes and with a pro shop. Obviously would have been rude to not have at least had a game to try the lanes. Had to use house ball and (the only reason any of us go bowling at all) wear those out there fashion items, bowling shoes. No 16lb balls so made do with 14lb. Lanes were wooden and condition much better than I expected, but regrettable did not fare too well with a 178 and 168 pair of game scores. Better than I generally do at Croughton though! Went back up to the main road after and walked into the first restaurant I came to. Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Factory! I kid you not. Based loosely on the Forrest Gump film (which plays on a never ending loop on the TV mounted in view of every table) it is, never the less fast, fun, and with surprisingly, reasonably good food. On your visit do remember to turn over the car license(sic) plate from “RUN FORREST RUN” to “STOP FORREST STOP” to call your waiter/waitress remembering also to shout the phrase as well. They shout back to you and appear at your table immediately. Order a Margherita and be prepared for an ear splitting rendition of something akin to a song? from all staff. One member of the serving team was a good card magician and entertained each table with different tricks and jokes. If on honeymoon avoid it like the plague. Trust me. They were Japanese and she looked terrified.
All in all a good value evenings dinner and entertainment. Not bad for a lucky dip choice.

31st October Turtle Island and yoghurt

2006-11-02T15:08:00.000Z

Me and fruit bat just hanging out on the island of Pulau Serangan (Turtle Island)

31 October
Today I took a half day trip with Nusa my faithful Passepartout and Nyoman our driver. Went to a beach area around Nusa Dua in South Bali and took a glass bottom speed boat out to the island of Pulau Serangan also known as Turtle Island. It used to used by the turtles to lay their eggs but this no longer happens, most likely due to the incredible profusion of water sports companies along the adjacent beach lines making it impossible for the turtles to return. They now keep around 100 turtles for tourists but return them to the sea and replace them with different ones every month. Did get some good photos. Also they keep a python who weighs over 20kgs and eats a live chicken weekly. A fruit bat who was raised by the centre from a baby, is released every night into the wild but always returns and is waiting for his breakfast in the morning when they come to work. The staff say they reckon he’s out looking for girls at night and comes home ‘cause it’s easier than finding food for himself. They home an owl and a Monitor Lizard, the latter weighing probably twice as much as the python and about 4 to 5 feet long. His tongue was smooth and tickly and he ‘smelt’ me with it. By the way fruit bat was huge as you will see by the photo, and had a lovely light and dark furry head. The wings were more a leathery skin feel but quite strong. Turtle Island centre is, like most tourist businesses suffering severely from the effects of the 2nd Bali bombings at Jimbaran Bay and Sanur 2004. The Bali people say the Americans are the most notable absentees………………….. No offence meant Barbara, Cheryl and Gwen.
Back to the beach and the MPV and off we went to Pura Luhur Uluwatu. Uluwatu meaning high stone as the temple of stone is set on the 600ft high cliff top. As always with temples you cannot enter through the main split gate (Candi Bentaur) unless you are a worshipper and there is a ceremony to attend. So always limited photography opportunities. One drawback to visiting this temple is the wild monkeys who have made their home in and around the temple. The are aggressive, scavenging and lightning quick. Saw some Germans taking photos and while they were distracted the monkeys snatched their water bottle and a hat. I’m told the only way of getting your stolen goods back is to pay the local guides and guardians to try and bribe the monkeys with peanuts and food to return them, though this is by no means assured. End of tour and back to Royal Bali Beach Club resort for my full massage.
Wayan , (there are many Wayans in Bali, and Made’s and Komang’s and Ketut’s too which I’ll explain later), the masseur of Onsite Buda Massage is a first class masseur and one of the few massage, Shiatsu and reflexology instructors in Bali. My package was the Royal Jimbaran consisting of special Shiatsu massage with focus on acupressure points and gentle stretching of the muscles and limbs using aromatherapy oils. This followed by a traditional facial treatment including facial scrub, clay? face mask, and 5 minutes massage of key acupressure point in foot, face, neck, shoulder and hands. To finish with, a traditional massage, body scrub and exfoliation and skin moisturisation by way of yoghurt. All this took 2 and a half deeply relaxing hours during which after about an hour in at a very rough guess, I fell asleep for a while! Having been finally coated and rubbed roughly with an exfoliator he applied liberal coatings of yoghurt to my person and then directed me to my bath which he had begun filling. Having yoghurt applied externally is as disturbing as having to eat it and I fear I shall now be mentally scarred for the rest of my days. However the end result of this experience is I feel relaxed, refreshed, invigorated and many little muscle niggles appear to have gone. Tomorrow may prove otherwise. . My skin? Well I suffered a small allergic reaction to something he applied and I had an itchy rash over part of my chest, across my shoulders and a small part of my back. Some 7 hours after the massage it has all quite cleared and I am left with smooth wrinkle free silky shiny skin. I blame the yoghurt.
Oh btw, ordered a made to measure suit. Lightweight cotton rich material for hot weather, cost RP1,375,000 about £80.

30th October A brief history and tour Central Bali

2006-10-31T16:52:00.000Z

Gunung Batur from restaurant balcony in Kintamani

30th October
Trip and tour today to me know not where. Rush breakfast and off we go. Met by Wayan, (hotel assistant manager and Director of Bali Travel and Tours Company) to introduce me to the driver from the hotel with hotel Toyota Kijang 4x4 and tour guide operative to explain and educate. One to one tour no other passengers and can take as long or short a time as I want at all destinations. Today’s itinerary is, Kuta to watch a traditional Balinese dance depicting the dragon-like Barong and his battle for good, (order, harmony and peace), with Rangda for evil, (chaos, illness and harm). Then onto Celuk to witness silver and gold jewellery making, Ubud’s painting studio, Tampak Siring the Holy water spring Temple, Kintamani for buffet lunch and views of the volcano crater and lake of Gunung (mount) Batur. Finally make our way across to Besakih, the Balinese Mother Temple. Off we go through rush traffic to Kuta and an open air theatre to watch battle of good against evil. Very good story and great visual treat, the costumes, the dancing and music all traditional from thousands of years back. The moral of the play always being apparently, that good does not defeat bad but with it being inevitable that good and bad things will happen in life, that they learn to live in harmony.
On toward Celuk and we decamp into a compound surrounded on 3 sides by low wooden and concrete buildings with one on the left having 6 women at tables sitting outside. A petite Balinese girl of about 4ft 10in then whisks me to the first woman on the left and introduces the process she is completing with the silver. No exaggeration she was applying the tiniest balls of specks of silver as decoration to an already small orb which was to form part of an earring. Each of these women were performing similar intricacies in the making of these fine pieces of hand crafted jewellery. Then wandered around the shop viewing all the completed jewellery and listened in to some bargaining. This is obligatory in most of Bali from buying an egg to negotiating on property. Seem that you start off at approx a third to one half of the original starting price but the rules are a bit vague and depends on the product. With jewellery seems about 70% is the best discount you can hope for.
Up the road again to Ubud and the painters bungalows. Seems like a co-operative of painters have formed an area where they can paint, learn and teach and then sell their results to an unsuspecting public. Sorry, that might seem cruel but how many people know the quality of a painting or it’s worth? The paintings range from original Balinese style, through impressionism to a fusion of old and new, with a few monochrome thrown in. If you know what you like and you like what you see then maybe, but you’re always going to start price haggling from their perspective and still finish at what they want. With the jewellery you have an educated guess based on UK prices to guide you and if you end up on the low side of the approx UK price you can be happy. Yes I know, it’s part of the experience and bah humbug to you too! Only stayed at paintings for about 15 minutes and off we go to Tampak Siring.
This is the sacred spring temple collecting water from near the source of a river and apparently has never dried up. It is an important place to Balinese as id dispenses different types of holy water dependant on the offerings made. It consists of a number of different bathing pools many of which now have carp in. Better not take take your fishing rod though!
On towards lunch at Kintamani and expected spectacular vies of Gunang Butar and Lake Butar. Not the clearest of days for good views when we arrive. Lunch was Eat as Much as You Like at franchise option in Bali for EAMAYL of Oxford and Aylesbury. Just joking (I think) as it was very similar. The tea, deep fried banana fritters and the views were better though! The views were partially obscured by low cloud and a haze, but what I did see was quite good. We are on the rim (caldera) of the original crater of an active volcano which spectacularly blew it’s top way back in history. Inside this caldera is a new volcano mount created by an eruption in 1917 and a natural lake, which provides the water for irrigation of rice and crop fields of East and Central Bali.
Pura (Temple) Besakih next. This is the oldest and most important temple in Bali. Originally built around 8th Century it has been almost completely destroyed and rebuilt over the intervening years, due to volcanic activity. Pura Besakih is built over approximately a square mile and is the largest Temple in Bali. It is used for the main worshipping ceremonies which occur every year, every 10 years a more important ceremony and every 100 years the most important Balinese Hindu ceremony. This Temple is huge and took us over an hour to walk only part of it missing out large chunks. Its other main feature is its elevation looking down over the valley and a large part of eastern Bali. Had to walk uphill for a km to reach the temple and nearly another 4 walking around and I lost count of the number of steps we climbed. Also it has the tallest and with most tiers meru (pagoda) but I managed to miss that and didn’t take any photos. But there is one of a 7 tiered meru by way of consolation. It was downhill all the way after that and a well earned bottle of bee….. water. Back to the hotel and met an expat and his Aussie wife living in Melbourne and having their 3rd holiday at Royal Bali Beach Club, this year! More about them separately I think. Suffice to say I spent the evening with them listening to fascinating stories of Indonesian travel, RAF, Aussie Radio Indonesia, and retirement. And so ended another fascinating, fact filled, hot and sticky day.

29th October Round the pool

2006-10-31T16:47:00.000Z

29th October
Quietish day today mostly lazing round the pool and taking the rays. Learnt a bit about the local culture and places to visit whilst talking to the other residents, many of whom have been visiting Bali for 20 or more years. Some of the staff speak quite good English and have taught me more about their religions and culture. Local guy came round the pool offering free 5 minute intro into massage, reflexology, aromatherapy and something else I can’t remember but will tell you about later. He was pretty good because he said I had bad muscle and tendon knots and tenseness in my bowling arm shoulder, which I do! So , anyway, I booked a full two and a half hour total treatment, it must be the new age man in me. (Plus he said it would make me feel and look younger!) He said it would cost RP350,000, now by my reckoning and I’m getting better at it, that is US$35 or £22 approx.
Took a brief walk up the road from the resort. Hell, it’s motorcycle alley here. Weaving about all over the road, talking to their friends 2 or 3 abreast on the road, no helmets, 2, 3 and even 4 to a motorbike. I especially liked the one riding his bike one handed with his cockerel under the other arm!
At dinner tonight in the resort we were treated to a traditional Balinese dance and music performance. Against my expectations turned out to be pretty good, very colourful and, help! Participatory. Best bit was a story to dance and music not dissimilar to a cross between Beauty and the Beast and the ending of Snow White where the Prince awakens her from her sleep by a kiss. Except she was shaken awake violently by a monster like a cross between a cat and a dragon.
Met 2 retired Canadian Mounties on an Eastern tour with their lawyer friend from San Francisco. They were all into the Eastern culture and its design and colours for fashion projects they had back in Canada and US. Fascinating people to talk to especially the story about the two of them being in the first all female Canadian Mountie Class.
Ok yes, I got a one to one tour from Wayan with a driver and English speaking guide for Monday, half a day Tuesday and half a day Thursday. He’s given me an itinerary based on some of the places I wanted to see interlaced with some ideas of his own for a more complete insight into Bali culture, customs and heritage.
So lead on Passepartout, let’s see what’s out there.

28th October Bali, Royal Bali Beach Club, Jimbaran Bay

2006-10-29T07:20:00.000Z

28th October
Wake up with a start. What’s that noise? A telephone? What?
“is that Mr Derek?”
“yes”
“Mr Kenny from Pameran property company Bali”
They don’t waste any time in getting you into property investment here. Suggested what he could do with his investment as he’d find rich growth medium there and did he realise what time of the morning it was?
Yes sir, it’s 10.05am, have a great holiday”
Made it down for breakfast in time, must try and get a menu for you to look at, prices make your eyes water plus they add 21% govt tax! Some odd dishes for a breakfast on there as well. Like a dish called Nasi Goreng, fried rice and chicken and vegetables! Might try it another day. Place looks even better in the daylight. Lush and verdant planting, small but inviting swimming pool, pleasant pool bar and restaurant. Staff are friendly and know your name. Waiting for Norm to appear!
Down to reception to get stuff sorted. Safe key or code, internet access, exchange rates as can’t get my head around all these bloody noughts on the banknotes and two of them look similar as both red in different shades but very different values. One 10000 and the other 100000.
Exchange rate RP17000 to £1.00 or RP10,000 = US$1.20. Now even more confused.
“OK Mr Derek I make it easier for you, RP9000 = US$1” aaarrrrrggggghhhhhh!
So, anyway, internet access from the room is dial up only and as it happens doesn’t seem to work. The IT guy has just gone home ill with a headache so now have to wait till Monday before I can upload. This blog is becoming an albatross. However the Hotel office has broadband so I can use for e-mail but not to upload my blog or photos. Mr Wayan is the Assistant Manager and very helpful guy, from the point of the hotel but also because he also owns and runs a travel and tour company here in Bali. It’s called Bali Gelar Wisata Tours and travel. http://www.infogelarwisata.com/ Cool! Ok press the pause button and guess what happens next. Correct.
What do you mean tell us then? Come on, you want me to do all the work? You’re going to have to wait because like all stories there has to be certain ingredients, mystery, romance (hmmmm, better skip that one eh Lu?!) action, strong characterisation and a human interest thread.
Today is a bit of a me day. Sunbathed by the pool and got a bit pink, (human characterisation) swam, (action) had a beer and ate at a nice restaurant (human interest) on the beach at Jimbaran Bay and watched the sun go down. (slightly romantic but seemed to have an ingredient missing) And yes I did take the camera and can bore the pants off you with some beautiful sunset shots. Also quite proud of the beer shot!
Well it’s 12.30 and I’ve been writing, editing, cutting and pasting and uploading photos since 9pm so goodnight. And I still can’t upload to the blog! Night night. The bed bugs won’t bite but the mozzies will.

27th October Last day in Singapore

2006-10-29T07:11:00.000Z

27 October

Orchid in Singapore Botanical Gardens

Had to get charger for Walkman as battery almost dead. Did I mention I bought these new headphones that go right inside your ear? That is, right inside and down in to your ear canal. Strange feeling to begin with and cuts out ALL external noise. Apparently they are best sellers with teenagers living at home! And the sound is phenomenal. Went to Sony gallery at Isita tower Orchard Road, arrive 9.30. Don’t open til 11. Advised to try Concord shopping mall, Sony gallery there as well. Opens at 10. Bought supreme Mizuno trainers from Mizuno store and smelly lavender trainer ball inserts total sg$72. Cool
Got my charger and rushed back to MRT Orchard Road. MRT Ez-link card was used up and had to charge it with $10. Just made hotel checkout time 12.00. Left for airport and used MRT to use up fare card, but trip to Changi airport only S$1.90! If anyone going to Singapore soon you can buy my MRT card.
Got early check in but no upgrades available. The Premier Economy Qantas operate on their planes is not for the likes of BA Exec club members but for their frequent flyer members. Wandered about Changi airport which is huge but clean. So for the weary traveller we have massage, aromatherapy, swimming, sauna, hotel rooms by the 6 hours, the Cactus Garden, Harry’s Bar on the roof where you can watch the planes and sit near the smokers who are banished from the terminal. Very funny because the have to sit in a specific area surrounded by a sort of pergola which has spray misters which ( no not men with garden sprayers ) puff cool water in, around and on the smokers. Can’t workout if it’s to dampen cigarette smoke or some sort of inexpensive aversion therapy for those without the will power! The terminal has laptop work areas where you plug in, recharge and log on. There are quiet areas with lovely relaxer chairs and even ones that will gently massage you! More restaurants than you could possibly eat in over a week and food from every and anywhere. Really splashed out and had a cup of Chinese tea. Boarded Qantas 767 QF144 on time.
Turned out for the good not being upgraded because sat next to lovely young Indonesian woman called Erdina who was having short break from work in Singapore and visiting friends in Bali. She gave me loads of info and help re Bali and contact details of friend who runs travel co. So will try contact them and get a trip or two I would like.
Arrive Bali and pay for privilege of entering. Exchange rate is IndoRupiah17,000 to £1 (just so you know, I’m a millionaire) Collected by driver for the resort from airport and endured hair raising drive back to Royal Bali Beach Club, Jimbaran Bay. Windows steamed up as too cold in car and 30c outside with 85% humidity. He forgot to turn his lights on until we were on main dual carriageway and I gently asked if it was prudent to turn them on. Didn’t get much better as he made a scooter swerve off road into ditch as he overtook it and squeezed us between oncoming traffic and scooters where oncoming all had to stop. Then he informed me he was a travel and tour company driver. Make mental note to avoid them. Receptionist, Radek, extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Apartment……..WOW Simple Balinese style incorporating intricate carvings , Incense burners , mozzie repellent burners tea lights round bath and probably other stuff I’m too tired to see at moment. Drone on some more at you all tomorrow.
Thought I might finish each country visit with some thoughts that probably didn’t get included but help give a conclusion to the experience.
Singapore govt is bringing in gambling by way of super casinos in Las Vegas style. Where have I heard that before. They have just licensed the first topless dancing club which is right by the Novotel by Clarke Quay (Jock ‘ll be ok) but only found that out last night when too late to investigate (from a purely journalistic point of view of course) Govt also providing huge incentive to foreign investors and banks to encourage setting up of Asia Headquarters thus increasing Sg influence as good invest risk and serious world finance centre. Expect them to succeed.
Sometimes you hear about people going native in the their adoptive country. Not sure how that could be possible in Sgp
as too many cultures in the mix, any way you’d probably explode trying to eat your way to inclusion! Oh and by the way (BTW) Cadburys chocolate does NOT, no way and in any possible way taste like Cadburys chocolate in UK.
Helpful traveller’s tip #1: take Cadburys choc rations with you. (or stay at home, whichever is cheaper).
Helpful travellers tip #2: Mozzies are more prevalent than the guides and books and other visitors tell you. Use repellant and those electric tablet burner thingies in your room, apartment, suite, whatever.
Helpful travellers tip #3: if mobile phones stuck to ears or ringing incessantly with strange tones (ring ring pick up de telephone ding ding bing bing) in London or your town annoy you, stay away from Sg. You will cause harm to someone eventually.
Will most definitely visit again, even if as couple of days stopover. Would recommend it to everybody. I commend this destination to the Blog audience.
Singapore is everything anybody ever tells you about it and a whole lot more. The heat and the humidity can be truly oppressive, especially in the build up to thunderstorms. Air conditioning is essential. Smells are every where, food, cooking, spices, bad drains, sweaty bodies, exotic perfumes in the shopping malls, diesel fumes, smog from forest fires in Malaysia, dust from building works, incense in the markets, coffee, grass but most memorably ……………….. Orchids.

26th October Singapore Little India & Kampong Glam

2006-10-29T07:02:00.000Z

Bussorah St Kampong Glam looking at the Golden Mosque
Little India Market trader

26 October

Picture is Sleepy Sam's:

26 October
Started the day with a walk to Canning Fort. This is a small hill that originally looked down on Harbour Quay and the original Parliament buildings. It was considered a good lookout point and was the site of the colony’s Signals site. Flags were used to communicate to and from the fleet sitting out in the bay of the Singapore River. It is also the site of Raffles’ house again were he was able to look down on the harbour and the growing colony. Around the hill a little is Canning Fort which was the barracks of the British army whilst they were the protection of the colony. It is now a restaurant, headquarters of a dance studio and the huge rooms can be hired for banquets and balls.
The very top of the hill is a reservoir and a military installation. Probably a communications centre as it is one of the highest points within the city area of Singapore. My feet are tired again but need to keep going as I have only today to really do full exploring. Also I’m running out of water again so need to find a shop. (It’s only 11.00am)
Walked on towards Little India and Kampong Glam. Little India is what it says and Kampong Glam is the Malaysian area. Took the MRT to Little India and bumped into the 2 ladies I shared the airport shuttle service with to our respective hotels on arrival in Singapore. That’s a pretty impressive statistic considering there is something like 4 million plus people milling about on this island. Little India: what can I say, the spicy smells, the crush of the milling throng, noisy street vendors selling everything from suits, “make it for you today, sir, you collect tomorrow”, to every food and spice you can think of to Christmas decorations! Not to mention the Goldsmiths shops, loads of them all selling 22ct gold in just about every style and design you could imagine, except Christian crosses, and I looked in 5 or 6 shops, funny that. Loads of food halls containing small counters selling just about all types of asian food you could imagine. These are a necessity to the weary traveller as they are air-conditioned and a welcome respite from the relentless heat and humidity of a normal Singapore day. Plenty of water and cool drinks available and tea or coffee. Wandered up and down some back streets like Campbell Lane, Clive Street, Madras Street and names evocative of India and it’s Colonial past. Some of my photos were taken around these lanes and show the style of houses built back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. As it is Deepavali (New year) there has been a lot of celebrating and the street decorations are up and very colourful. Street food traders in the old Hawker style have been outlawed by the Singaporean Govt. and have been replaced by large food malls which don’t quite have the same ambiance. It’s all air conditioned and formica quick clean tops and microwaves, but still a lot of traditional style cooking and food but …..it should all be outside!……..
Moved across the streets a bit and came across a set of large warehouses which were signed as Victoria St Wholesale Market. Bit cash and carry. But with a definite smell of hmmmmmm rotting food? Spices? Fish? Make your own mind up. Suspect that early morning would be best bet to visit and watch it in full flow as it was a bit sleepy when I was there round midday. Check my photos of deep salted shrimps, prawns, what could be similar to whitebait and other unknown fish and their removed bits and pieces sitting outside unprotected and uncovered, yum! “give you Delhi Belly long time mister …. You like?”
Carried on into Kampong Glam after that and came to a halt at the Sultan Mosque. Huge building with a massive golden dome which sort of dominates all the smaller 19 and 20 century buildings around. Leading to the door of the mosque was a lovely little pedestrianised street (Horrible 20th Century word to describe a beautiful oasis of peace and calm in a non-stop city). Again photos show it but do not do it justice. My feet were again begging for mercy so decided to stop for an iced tea. Noticed this almost invisible café as 2 westerners (Americans as it turned out) were outside reading well thumbed Lonely Planet books. Sleepy Sam’s is great. Very dark inside and cool, with a book case filled with well worn books, paperbacks and travel guides and local newspapers. Very bohemian style and calming and relaxing. Honestly didn’t want to go back out into the heat. Or the rain as we had another thunderstorm. The assistant, Grace was really helpful and offered me a choice of homemade brownies and small selection of sweets and cakes. Brownie was delicious. If you ever visit Singapore find Sleepy Sam’s and go chill. It is also a very reasonably priced bed and breakfast. The rest of Kampong Glam is quite small but, strangely has a very large number of fishing and angling shops?!
Went back to hotel to rest my weary legs for a while before returning to Little India with the intention of trying some food mall delicacies. However, whilst cogitating the mysteries of the Blog thought I might venture into Raffles and see what the dining would be like. No doubt everything gets booked up weeks, nay probably even months in advance.
So anyway there I was staring at the Long Bar Steak Room menu at my table next to the window by the veranda on my right and only 15 feet from the chefs in the open kitchen on my left. How did that happen? Probably what Natwest Visa might say too when they see the bill!
I had walked in to Raffles main entrance to enquire about dining and unfortunately they had a table free in the Long Bar Steak Room. However, it was still early evening, 7.30pm, and dining seems to be a later evening event here. I was graciously shown to my table close to the open kitchen and by a window looking out over the balcony at the rear of the hotel and down towards the road. I chose grilled/clay oven cooked prawns for starters and fillet steak, medium rare, on a bed of sweet potatoes crisply chipped and local vegetables. These vegetables were accompanied by 3 mounds of mashed potato, each a different type. Sweet, Yam and ordinary. I ordered a glass of House Red (merlot) to accompany. The prawns were cooked to perfection as was the steak but I felt a dessert would be too much and spoil the meal overall. I managed to take a few photos but they did not turn out too well unfortunately. Must practice my indoor, food and low lighting photo skills! From the restaurant I went into the famous Raffles Long Bar. What a shock.
It is nothing like I had imagined after reading quite a lot about it over the years. I had imagined a dark, woodened floor, strewn with discarded monkey nut shells, a wood bar, dark mahogany wood and plastered upper walls with photos of long dead but famous writers and illustrious visitors to the hallowed room. Old but comfy rattan chairs and sofas encircling mahogany drinks tables hidden by tall palm plants in beautiful Chinese pots each worth a Kings ransom. Victorian style wall lights emitting a dim glow and Punkah wallahs would be positioned around the room pulling strings that wafted the fans to cool the thick, smoky humid air and offer a short but welcome break from the relentless heat of a Singapore night. Drinks boys and girls dressed in the old Dhoby’s of an almost forgotten time, hovering unseen awaiting to silently replenish your almost empty gin sling without you realising you needed a refill The reality was quite different. To begin with the original Long Bar was on the ground floor at the rear of the hotel and was exactly what it said it was; a long bar stretching for most of the length of the hotel. This new, reinvented bar is neither on the ground floor nor long. It is a stubby ‘ L ‘ shape with tiled floors, plastered walls with an atmosphere of tourists seeking the memory of a not so long forgotten era. The monkey nut shells were still on the floor though. The fans were in a long line across the ceiling and connected by wire to a little eccentric motor that moved them back and forth creating a small but barely perceptible breeze. Such is progress?

I'm going not going to enjoy myself - honest

2006-10-26T17:03:00.000Z

Some bloke posing at Heathrow. Top Photo Clarke Quay Shopping and restaurants Singapore

23-10-2006 Monday
Got to Heathrow in good time (thanks Lu) but T4 really busy, and had to wait 30 mins for Fast Track check-in to open. We had coffee and returned to check-in. The desk guy said “sorry, we can’t check you in on World Traveller Plus.”
“What?, why?”
“You’re upgraded to Club Class, I’m afraid”
RESULT! Glad I went smart and wore a tie!
Boarded on time and enjoyed the HUGE seat (converted to a bed later) and free champagne and wine and 3 course dinner and wine and chocolate and wine and big breakfast and w….tea.
The passenger next to me is making a fuss to a flight attendant about something but I’m too interested in my very large seat and all its facilities to take much notice. Then the attendant approaches me and explains about the fuss. The passenger says he cannot fly in a seat which is facing in the opposite direction to travel! Our seats though next to each other are facing in opposite directions, top to toe style if you will. Would I mind swapping with the gentleman? I say “no problem and we swap around. From here on I seem to have a slightly better service than my New Zealand passenger! I get a number of top ups to my champagne glass and he has none! Our take off is an hour late due to 3rd back up radio being faulty! The food is served shortly after take off and is on proper china plates and with normal dining knives, forks and spoons and linen napkins. The food itself is first class and hot and tasty. XXXXfood menuxxxx. I settle down to watch a film or two and make the most of my upgrade. I decide to use the bed facility after watching The Devil wears Prada. Press a button and hey presto! One bed as the seat and back move out and down. Blankets and pillows provided make one a little more comfortable and I manage to take a few hours sleep. Breakfast is served with a few hours flying time left to Singapore and again, it is pretty good considering it has been stored for around 12 hours by the time it is served. Plenty of tea or coffee is available too. We made up time during the flight and arrived 17.30 local time Singapore. (7hrs ahead UK time) The terminal is like a show home, absolutely immaculate, no rubbish or litter strewn around like Heathrow. Plants, shrubs, trees and orchids every where. Stopped at Information Desk for help finding location of shuttle bus and was helped by 2 very pleasant and knowledgeable ladies. The shuttle bus is a system of mini bus style vehicles which take 7 passengers directly to your destination. Provided the bus is full the price is reasonably cheap. SG$7.00 to be precise or just over £2.00. Remember the terminal is fully air-conditioned and a very pleasant temperature. I stepped outside the terminal to get in the mini bus and got wet in about 5 minutes! The temperature is around 26C but the humidity is around 90-95% currently. They are anticipating some thunderstorms which will reduce the humidity to 85-90%. Great, we’ll really notice the difference! On the shuttle bus is a lady and her daughter who have just been to Australia to visit her eldest daughter and are staying in Singapore for a week before returning home to UK. Must remember to try and talk to everyone I meet, unlike my normal self who tends to not! The shuttle cab SG$7.00 takes me to Robertsons Quay hotel through the streets of Singapore. It is so busy! A large part of the city seems to have a toll system for all vehicles. There are large gantry systems over the roads with cameras and what seem to be electronic reader systems. I learn later on that all cars are fitted with electronic boxes which the street systems read and make a debit to your account whenever you use the toll roads. Hmmmm, no doubt our current Government will try the same system on us in the future and cock it up completely as only they can. Robertson Quay Hotel is a little tired in its decoration and quite small but uniquely is circular! But it’s ok for my short stay. The bathroom is err… bijou. Take one step in and left is the shower, facing you the sink and right is the wc. There is no need to move, you can do all 3 operations from that one step into the room. I kid you not! The room is big enough for the double bed with just a little room to walk either side. There is a work area at the foot of the bed and a huge picture window which faces out to the west of Singapore and gives magnificent views of the sunset. Had quick shower and went out exploring the immediate area by the Singapore River, Robertson Quay and Clarke Quay, which is jam packed with restaurants and bars and shops and hotels. Took a few pictures, a couple of which are posted here.

Ate at a restaurant called……. Wait for it…………. Hooters! Leave that to your imaginations …. No they were NOT topless! Had another walk around and took a few more photos and ended up having couple of beers in the Beach bar outside my hotel. Now writing the blog entry and will post it tomorrow. Hotel has broadband internet for SG$5 per day. It’s now 1am 24 Oct so off to bed.
24 Oct 1800hrs
Bad nights sleep as hotel has guests arriving at all times. Got up after about 2 hours sleep and wrote a little more on the blog. Plus some are just bloody noisy foreign drunks! Went out 10am and got wet in about 5 mins again. Temp still 26C, no thunderstorm and v. humid. visited the place Sir Stamford Raffles first landed on Singapore soil at Harbour Quay, then on to the old Parliament building, the Courts and Singapore Cricket Club. Walked on to the Esplanade Theatre and walk onto the Esplanade by the entrance to Singapore River. Today is Deepavalli and the Malaysians have a day off and meet up to party. The Esplanade is a riot of colour and a strange mix of traditional and modern dress so took some photos to illustrate my point. Had my photo taken with a bunch of girls, then walked from Esplanades Theatre to Marine Sq (shopping heaven for you girls, hell for the guys.) Stopped in Nike shop and bought a pair of cool beach sandals for more comfortable walking in these temperatures. Walked through Singapore International Convention Centre (only event was Timberland having a sale!) and on into Suntec City Mall, yes you guessed it another huge shopping area. Did have 2 interesting parts, one the Fountain of Wealth, put you’re hand in the water and it will bring you untold riches. Only seems to work for the developers of Suntec City! The other was a massive Koi carp pool which was supposed to be an oasis of calm and quiet for the weary shopper. I left quite quickly due to all the screaming kids who wanted to get in with fish and touch them! Crossed the road at this point and went into Raffles City, how perceptive of you, yes it IS a shopping Mall. Then across the road onto Beach Road and Raffles Hotel. Got refused entry because I am wearing shorts. Will go back later and refuse to go in coz they are all wearing silly doorman outfits! Finally as I was feeling knackered at this point, about 4pm, decided to brave MRT (mass rapid transport) system which everyone talks about. Bought preloaded travel card SG$15 which you wave over the reader at the entry stiles. Go through and into an immaculately clean Tube/Metro which is extremely efficient. You cannot get to the tracks or train as there are doors on the platform which are aligned with the train and which only open when the train has arrived and stopped at the platform. Oh and by the way the trains all start and stop smoothly unlike London Tube trains. However it cost me SG$7 for 2 stops! (about SG$2.75 to the £) But it was rush hour. The trains also run on time.
This evening walked to Chinatown, just a 15 minute walk from hotel. Smith Street is really the centre of the Chinatown where the street stalls which used to operate here have been modernised by the efficient Singaporean Govt. They are now licensed and operate as fixed stalls with running water, gas and electricity but still sell the good wholesome fresh food they used to. I had ‘big’ prawns and pork noodle soup which was v. hot as in the chilli variety, but nonetheless very tasty. Wandered around for a few hours taking in the sights and sounds and watched some old Chinese guys playing Chinese checkers in an area specially designed and built for them. Watched a live band playing and singing Chinese music, old, traditional type but played in a more modern style. Back to the hotel for a couple of beers and write this blog, only to find I still can’t add or upload to it. Woke up at 3.30am again, so uploaded the photos to Snapfish. I think I am suffering a little jetlag even though I have tried to sync my body with local time straight away. Or it could be that I am so excited to be here that I don’t want to miss anything.
25 Oct
Went to the Botanical Gardens which also incorporates the Orchid Botanical Gardens. Left the hotel and walked to Dhobie Ghaut MRT and on to Orchard Road. Orchard Road is best described as shoppers paradise irrespective of what you want to buy or how much you have to spend. The stores range from Bulgari, YSL, Prada etc to small Sgdollar shops and cheap electrical retailers. Also saw Tangs, a famous Singapore store but will visit it another time. When I eventually found the Botanical Gardens, (they are not on The Tanglin Road as my map showed) but on Harris Road past the British Consulate and the Australian High Commission and you can’t miss it. (I did!) You will need a day to see it all and do justice to what they have there, and to be able to see all the beautiful orchids. There is a separate garden dedicated to all the hundreds of varieties of orchids all beautifully displayed and in full bloom. They are running a program to clone hundreds of thousands of orchids of all types and to create new ones too. Guess what? Yes there is one called Princess Diana. Took a walk through what is signed as original virgin rainforest which is how almost all of Singapore was originally. My guess is it isn’t now, what or how it was just a hundred years ago, as I suspect they have somehow done a Forestry Management project to it to make it more acceptable for the public to walk through. What was quite amusing was whilst hacking my way through this verdant jungle in the oppressive heat and keeping a sharp eye out for the more menacing of its inhabitants, I was quite sure I could hear 20th century traffic noise. I think the concrete path and Victorian style lampposts gave me a clue I wasn‘t quite as isolated as I wanted to imagine I was. I turned a corner and to my left was an Iron gate and wire fencing and a main road running by. Unfortunately it started raining as I walked through ( it is a rain forest after all) so didn’t get to see any more of the gardens as I was by now running late to get back to go to the Singapore Zoo night safari at 5.45pm. Took a chance and jumped on a bus, 90 cents fare, about 34p hoping it was going to Orchard Road MRT and as if by magic (more luck than design) it was. ( Oh my God Orchard Road is a shoppers paradise or purgatory dependant on your point of view …… and gender) Braved the MRT again 90 cents only this time as out of peak time.
Got picked up from the hotel at about 6pm, must take photos of hotel, and was whisked off to Night Safari cost SG$46 in the pouring rain. Raindrops here are v large and hurt! As is usual in Singapore everything is organised to the nth degree and the Night Safari is no exception………except for the weather because part of the show, post safari, is to watch some of the nocturnal furry and not so furry beasts perform and this was cancelled because of the rain. No doubt there was some artistic disagreements, or perhaps they have a clause in their contracts about not performing if the weather is inclement.
The safari itself was about 45 minutes long and we are driven in a train around the zoo area for the nocturnal animals. I have to express misgivings about what I saw. They animals are in open and landscaped areas similar to their natural habitats but which are very small. They are obviously given food prior to the safaris beginning But in such a way or place as they are in full view of us the paying customers. Another thing is that they are lit by bluish halogen style lighting from atop high lamp posts. It is not so obtrusive to the animals but is like a permanent dusk. So obviously the animal’s welfare is put first and not the paying public. One of the hyenas and a leopard were displaying those caged animal characteristics of walking back and forth repeatedly in a disturbing, to me anyway and I’m no expert, manner. Took photos but a bit disappointing. Will upload tomorrow. After the safari we are allowed to wander around a smaller part of the zoo where some of the animals who were to have been part of the performing show are kept. I wandered around with my umbrella and saw otters and leopards and not much else. Wandered back to the main area and we are then herded towards the souvenir shops or the outrageously expensive cafes. Picked up and returned to main coach station of the tour company and then minibused back to the hotel. Sat at the Beach bar at the hotel and had a few beers and talked to the bartenders. One came from Sri Lanka and the girl from Nepal. I would like to point out that my feet are killing me and I reckon I have walked more than 20 miles! Also the Nike beach sandals have chafed one of my feet and I will have to wear a sock with it! Went to bed about 12.30 am completely knackered again.