Ah cricket on a small island in a frozen river, what could be more australian...err canadian....err...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Jasper...alot of cold...and alot of walking.
Where to start...ah yes the train ride. 17 hours on a train is very not cool. Even with all the gadgets, and books I have there is still plenty of time to be bored. I admit though the scenery was nice, snow capped peaks, and snow covered fir trees, and snow gently falling to the ground. But that can only hold ones attention for so long...and after that its just all the same. Mind you this was after the train being 2 hours late.
I thought Vancouver was cold...Compared to Jasper I was wrong, and there is a 7km walk up hill to get to the hostel I was staying in. Part of me wanted to be the man, and walk it, but something about the turning blue, made me decide to catch a cab. Yep definatly the better of the two decisions. Met up with Dave again at the hostel, and we decided to go for a walk, all well and good, 7km back into town, then god only know how many around town. We got sick of travelling along the road so decided to wander off into the forest, and cut across the frozen river to the other side where there is a pretty cool lodge, where the Alberta Winter Games speed skating was to be held. We later found out that wolves, and cyotes, tend to hand around the edges of the lakes and rivers, oh well... Venturing out onto the frozen river using large rocks hurled into the air and landing on the ice to test how strong it was... Probably not the best method but, we did get to the middle, and had a game of makeshift cricket using sticks and rocks. See photos... Had lunch at a great pizza place, and had chicken wings. Chicken wings must be close to the national food over here, so many places sell them, and so many varieties. We stopped in at the grocery store and picked up some grub, headed back to the hostel...thank you cab company.
Pasta, wings and an early night. The hostel is situated part way up a 2.8km high mountain. So today we decided to walk the rest of it, apparently a 3-5 our one way trip. Ha, although we probably would have done better if we had headed up the hill along the path to begin with rather than walking an additional km each way only to find we should be starting right next to the hostel, and not up next to the Gondola. Oh well, you learn something new every day. Climbing in snow really sucks, its really cold, and extremely tiring, we got about half way up, after about 2hours before we decided to turn around, and head back into town, so we could pick up the hire car we had booked. We might have only made it half way up, but the view was spectactular, photos just can't do it justice. And we didn't see any bears which was also a plus. Half way back down, I made the obligatory snow angel. Can now tick it off the list of tourist type things to do.
We got into town about 30mins late to pick up the car, but eh...they were still open. We got upgraded to a sedan, cause there were no small cars left, another bonus, and its was brand new not even 500kms on it. We more than doubled that in the two days we had it. Went for a drive that arvo to the lodge we had tried to find the first day but failed. Would be a great place to stay, but very expensive. Oh well, hostel was cheap, but they had dogs, which was cool, I missed the ones I had at home.
5:45 start on the following day, so we could make it the 300km to lake louise and back. Today was a day for several first, one driving on the wrong side of the road, while sitting at a steering wheel that was on the wrong side of the car, and also driving in snow... The plows don't come out overly early, so we had made it to lake louise before they started to clean up the roads...some amazing scenery on the trip down, though I did sleep for part of it. Arrived at the vistor center in Lake Louise, and first person I talk to is a young lass from rochdale, bloody aussies, meet more of them overseas than you do at home. Anywho finally managed to recover the photos from my camera, so happy about that... Will post a few soon. The major hotel situated on Lake Louise is huge, they had an ice sculpture display out the back, next to the lake, was pretty impressive. All the hikes started from here, so we headed up to Mirror lake, about 3.4 km each way, was pretty cool, to walk along tracks of snow amongst the fir trees, felt like the movies... heh... Tried the rolling a snowball down a hill, and I am dissapointed to report that it didn't get any bigger.... :( We finally got to mirror lake, and you won't belive it but like every other lake it was frozen, and covered in snow. I did get a bit of a kick out of the sign that said no fishing. We took a different route back, and again no bears... We got back to the car, and decided to start heading back to Jasper, stopped at a few places along the way, a random gorge, and some more frozen lakes. The ice fields were closed... along with half the things along the way, apparently the time to come is summer. About 50kms out of Jasper the coolest thing happened, a Cyote was standing in the middle of the road, so we stopped, and took photos, it circled the car a couple of times, trying to figure out what the hell some dodgy looking australian tourist were doing. But was cool too see one so close, and in the wild.
Pasta and wings again for dinner, then time to sort through alot of my photos, already taken about 400ish. We decided not to head out as early the following day, leaving around 10, we headed to a few of the more local attractions only to find them closed also. Oh well, We did find an awesome gorge with frozen waterfalls, and such...really cool, took the obligatory naked photo in front of a frozen water fall. We headed out toward the hot springs, and a wolf ran across the highway about 200 meters infront of us, and just stared at us as we slowed down to have a look at it, those things are so incredible, raw killing power, and so graceful, amazing to watch. This was my first attempt at driving on the wrong side of the road. Not as hard as I suspected, seems I was already used to it from being a passenger. We drove around a bit more, then took the car back...800kms in 2 days, with a lot of stops along the way, not a bad effort. We decided to walk it back to the hostel, got most of the way before the 5pm shuttle came past, so we hitched a ride the last km. Had steak and maca and cheese for dinner. Then we sat and played computer games for a few hours, not much else to do in Jasper at night in winter. Finally befriended the dog at the hostel.
Next day Dave headed back to van to start looking for work. So I had a lazy day in the hostel, It was snowing outside, and with nothing left to see in town, the walk didn't seem overly appealing. Went through more of my photos, and ordered a them, deleted dodgy ones, etc.
Time to leave Jasper, decided I'd do the 7km walk with packs, down to the train station, took nearly 2 hours, and I was wrecked by the end of it, only to find out the train was running two hours late, hmmphf, oh well, went for walk around town, bought a new razor, the head of the other one went down the drain, and I couldn't find any of the 4 bladed ones over here... Only a 5 hours train ride this time, watch the chronicales of riddick again, played some nintendo. A middle aged couple decided to start doing a song and guitar routine, which was ummm interesting, they were ok, but... In the end the ipod won out.
Stay tuned for another exciting instalment.
Narco out
I thought Vancouver was cold...Compared to Jasper I was wrong, and there is a 7km walk up hill to get to the hostel I was staying in. Part of me wanted to be the man, and walk it, but something about the turning blue, made me decide to catch a cab. Yep definatly the better of the two decisions. Met up with Dave again at the hostel, and we decided to go for a walk, all well and good, 7km back into town, then god only know how many around town. We got sick of travelling along the road so decided to wander off into the forest, and cut across the frozen river to the other side where there is a pretty cool lodge, where the Alberta Winter Games speed skating was to be held. We later found out that wolves, and cyotes, tend to hand around the edges of the lakes and rivers, oh well... Venturing out onto the frozen river using large rocks hurled into the air and landing on the ice to test how strong it was... Probably not the best method but, we did get to the middle, and had a game of makeshift cricket using sticks and rocks. See photos... Had lunch at a great pizza place, and had chicken wings. Chicken wings must be close to the national food over here, so many places sell them, and so many varieties. We stopped in at the grocery store and picked up some grub, headed back to the hostel...thank you cab company.
Pasta, wings and an early night. The hostel is situated part way up a 2.8km high mountain. So today we decided to walk the rest of it, apparently a 3-5 our one way trip. Ha, although we probably would have done better if we had headed up the hill along the path to begin with rather than walking an additional km each way only to find we should be starting right next to the hostel, and not up next to the Gondola. Oh well, you learn something new every day. Climbing in snow really sucks, its really cold, and extremely tiring, we got about half way up, after about 2hours before we decided to turn around, and head back into town, so we could pick up the hire car we had booked. We might have only made it half way up, but the view was spectactular, photos just can't do it justice. And we didn't see any bears which was also a plus. Half way back down, I made the obligatory snow angel. Can now tick it off the list of tourist type things to do.
We got into town about 30mins late to pick up the car, but eh...they were still open. We got upgraded to a sedan, cause there were no small cars left, another bonus, and its was brand new not even 500kms on it. We more than doubled that in the two days we had it. Went for a drive that arvo to the lodge we had tried to find the first day but failed. Would be a great place to stay, but very expensive. Oh well, hostel was cheap, but they had dogs, which was cool, I missed the ones I had at home.
5:45 start on the following day, so we could make it the 300km to lake louise and back. Today was a day for several first, one driving on the wrong side of the road, while sitting at a steering wheel that was on the wrong side of the car, and also driving in snow... The plows don't come out overly early, so we had made it to lake louise before they started to clean up the roads...some amazing scenery on the trip down, though I did sleep for part of it. Arrived at the vistor center in Lake Louise, and first person I talk to is a young lass from rochdale, bloody aussies, meet more of them overseas than you do at home. Anywho finally managed to recover the photos from my camera, so happy about that... Will post a few soon. The major hotel situated on Lake Louise is huge, they had an ice sculpture display out the back, next to the lake, was pretty impressive. All the hikes started from here, so we headed up to Mirror lake, about 3.4 km each way, was pretty cool, to walk along tracks of snow amongst the fir trees, felt like the movies... heh... Tried the rolling a snowball down a hill, and I am dissapointed to report that it didn't get any bigger.... :( We finally got to mirror lake, and you won't belive it but like every other lake it was frozen, and covered in snow. I did get a bit of a kick out of the sign that said no fishing. We took a different route back, and again no bears... We got back to the car, and decided to start heading back to Jasper, stopped at a few places along the way, a random gorge, and some more frozen lakes. The ice fields were closed... along with half the things along the way, apparently the time to come is summer. About 50kms out of Jasper the coolest thing happened, a Cyote was standing in the middle of the road, so we stopped, and took photos, it circled the car a couple of times, trying to figure out what the hell some dodgy looking australian tourist were doing. But was cool too see one so close, and in the wild.
Pasta and wings again for dinner, then time to sort through alot of my photos, already taken about 400ish. We decided not to head out as early the following day, leaving around 10, we headed to a few of the more local attractions only to find them closed also. Oh well, We did find an awesome gorge with frozen waterfalls, and such...really cool, took the obligatory naked photo in front of a frozen water fall. We headed out toward the hot springs, and a wolf ran across the highway about 200 meters infront of us, and just stared at us as we slowed down to have a look at it, those things are so incredible, raw killing power, and so graceful, amazing to watch. This was my first attempt at driving on the wrong side of the road. Not as hard as I suspected, seems I was already used to it from being a passenger. We drove around a bit more, then took the car back...800kms in 2 days, with a lot of stops along the way, not a bad effort. We decided to walk it back to the hostel, got most of the way before the 5pm shuttle came past, so we hitched a ride the last km. Had steak and maca and cheese for dinner. Then we sat and played computer games for a few hours, not much else to do in Jasper at night in winter. Finally befriended the dog at the hostel.
Next day Dave headed back to van to start looking for work. So I had a lazy day in the hostel, It was snowing outside, and with nothing left to see in town, the walk didn't seem overly appealing. Went through more of my photos, and ordered a them, deleted dodgy ones, etc.
Time to leave Jasper, decided I'd do the 7km walk with packs, down to the train station, took nearly 2 hours, and I was wrecked by the end of it, only to find out the train was running two hours late, hmmphf, oh well, went for walk around town, bought a new razor, the head of the other one went down the drain, and I couldn't find any of the 4 bladed ones over here... Only a 5 hours train ride this time, watch the chronicales of riddick again, played some nintendo. A middle aged couple decided to start doing a song and guitar routine, which was ummm interesting, they were ok, but... In the end the ipod won out.
Stay tuned for another exciting instalment.
Narco out
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Vancouver... for the uninitated
Bright Sunny Vancouver. It might be bright and sunny, but its still bloody cold. But at least its above 0, well the days are anyway, the night however, drops below 0. The flight was the worst flight I've ever been on. Full of kids, and one of them was always screaming. When one finished another would start. I did have two seats to myself, but I think two is worse than one, its tempting to try to ly down and sleep, but I don't really fit on two, but the temptation was there, and it haunted me the whole way.
Decided to take the easy option when I left the airport, got a cab to the hostel. Not a bad hostel, has free net if you have a laptop. Crashed pretty much after I arrived. But woke up about 4 hours later when another bloke from the dorm came in, he was heading to the pub, sounded like a good idea, so I went as well. Funny how you go all the way around the world, and the first person you meet is an Aussie. Had a good first night, and for those who are interested the Australian accent does work.
Wednesday night, Dave and I headed to a small pub where his brothers mates mates were playing. Walked into the pub and felt like I'd fallen into the 1950's. Had the old vinyl chairs, and you had to buzz the door to be allowed in. Played a few games of pool, till the crowd built to a staggering 8 people. Listened to a few songs before deciding it was time to move on. Had a couple of beers in the pub below the Hostel, then crashed. Another Aussie from tamworth had joined our dorm, and was so pleased with himself having taken a jug with a cooler in it from a local pub. He came in later that night, pissed, woke everyone up, crashed on his bed, and proceded to snore for the next 8 hours. Thank you Ipod.
Been having alot of trouble getting the sleep thing happening again, can't fall asleep till about 4am and then wake up at 12pm... Not cool. Anywho moving right along, had a quiet night the third night, and did a little walking in the arvo. Vancouver is a nice enough place, although there are alot of bums, and drugs here. The hostel quite freaquently has a very distinct pot smell. Walking down the street, you'll be offered Buds, Hash or mushrooms, from 50 something year old men, quite disturbing but each to their own.
Thursday, was a lot of sleeping before heading down to the Science World, and large building filled with cool science experiments for kids, I had a ball. Got to love quirky science things that are made for kids.
Friday was a prosperous day, applied for my SIN, and booked my train ride to jasper.
Yesterday arvo a scottsman walked into the dorm, and suggested beer and pizza, how could I refuse. Didn't have anything else to do. So we went and grabbed dinner and had a beer from a place called morrisey's. Nice pub, and great bangers and mash I'm told. From here we walked up and down the street a bit, before finally deciding to go into the Buffalo Club. In case I haven't mentioned it yet Canada is full of good looking women. We stood at the bar, and decided that given the average of the other patrons, we were both old. So to amuse ourselves, we tried all the different beers they had on tap... All 4 of them. Two out of the 4 were passable, the others were shocking... The Red Truck, and the Black Death, I suppose we should have taken into account the name, and then we wouldn't have had them. Not long after the curling was taken off the big screen a fight broke out right beside us. One guy got bottled, and another lady got a nice big cut on her hand that will require a few stitches. And at this point we decided it was time to move on. By the time we had cleaned the blood off, and headed out the cops had arrived, so we gave a little report, and moved back to hostel. Dave and a lady friend of his were just about to leave the dorm, and so we headed out with them to the pub under the hostel, and had a bit of a dance and a couple more drinks before retiring back to bed.
Went for a 4 hour walk today through the Stanly Park, saw some racoons, and squirrels. And saw a bunch of ducks land on a frozen section of lake, close to the funniest thing I've seen in ages. Wish I had a video of it. Squirrels are pretty cool little creatures. Walked around the harbor a bit, then had an awesome soup which is spilt all over myself, no surprises there. Anywho camera is being a b$%#$ at the moment, so will have to wait for photos.
Narco out
Decided to take the easy option when I left the airport, got a cab to the hostel. Not a bad hostel, has free net if you have a laptop. Crashed pretty much after I arrived. But woke up about 4 hours later when another bloke from the dorm came in, he was heading to the pub, sounded like a good idea, so I went as well. Funny how you go all the way around the world, and the first person you meet is an Aussie. Had a good first night, and for those who are interested the Australian accent does work.
Wednesday night, Dave and I headed to a small pub where his brothers mates mates were playing. Walked into the pub and felt like I'd fallen into the 1950's. Had the old vinyl chairs, and you had to buzz the door to be allowed in. Played a few games of pool, till the crowd built to a staggering 8 people. Listened to a few songs before deciding it was time to move on. Had a couple of beers in the pub below the Hostel, then crashed. Another Aussie from tamworth had joined our dorm, and was so pleased with himself having taken a jug with a cooler in it from a local pub. He came in later that night, pissed, woke everyone up, crashed on his bed, and proceded to snore for the next 8 hours. Thank you Ipod.
Been having alot of trouble getting the sleep thing happening again, can't fall asleep till about 4am and then wake up at 12pm... Not cool. Anywho moving right along, had a quiet night the third night, and did a little walking in the arvo. Vancouver is a nice enough place, although there are alot of bums, and drugs here. The hostel quite freaquently has a very distinct pot smell. Walking down the street, you'll be offered Buds, Hash or mushrooms, from 50 something year old men, quite disturbing but each to their own.
Thursday, was a lot of sleeping before heading down to the Science World, and large building filled with cool science experiments for kids, I had a ball. Got to love quirky science things that are made for kids.
Friday was a prosperous day, applied for my SIN, and booked my train ride to jasper.
Yesterday arvo a scottsman walked into the dorm, and suggested beer and pizza, how could I refuse. Didn't have anything else to do. So we went and grabbed dinner and had a beer from a place called morrisey's. Nice pub, and great bangers and mash I'm told. From here we walked up and down the street a bit, before finally deciding to go into the Buffalo Club. In case I haven't mentioned it yet Canada is full of good looking women. We stood at the bar, and decided that given the average of the other patrons, we were both old. So to amuse ourselves, we tried all the different beers they had on tap... All 4 of them. Two out of the 4 were passable, the others were shocking... The Red Truck, and the Black Death, I suppose we should have taken into account the name, and then we wouldn't have had them. Not long after the curling was taken off the big screen a fight broke out right beside us. One guy got bottled, and another lady got a nice big cut on her hand that will require a few stitches. And at this point we decided it was time to move on. By the time we had cleaned the blood off, and headed out the cops had arrived, so we gave a little report, and moved back to hostel. Dave and a lady friend of his were just about to leave the dorm, and so we headed out with them to the pub under the hostel, and had a bit of a dance and a couple more drinks before retiring back to bed.
Went for a 4 hour walk today through the Stanly Park, saw some racoons, and squirrels. And saw a bunch of ducks land on a frozen section of lake, close to the funniest thing I've seen in ages. Wish I had a video of it. Squirrels are pretty cool little creatures. Walked around the harbor a bit, then had an awesome soup which is spilt all over myself, no surprises there. Anywho camera is being a b$%#$ at the moment, so will have to wait for photos.
Narco out
Friday, February 17, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
A tale of 14 million suit salesmen
Late one Friday Night, a somewhat bleary eyed Australian tourist arrived all on his lonesome in the never sleeping Hong Kong. The first shop straight out of the airport... A Shell service station. I expected nothing less. 45 mins in a bus got me to my hotel in the heart of Kowloon. The folks were downstairs in the Lobby waiting for me, isn't that nice :) Apparently you can smoke in hotels in Hong Kong, or at least you could in my room. Even after a quick burst of air freshener I still felt like I was in a cigar box. Oh well I'd only be sleeping there anyway. I could think of nothing more Hong kong to eat than MacDonalds. 1 chicken burger later and I was knackered, time for sleep.
Waking rather early...I think. We headed for the star ferry and a trip up the peak. I think we got offered about 30 different types of fake rolex, and hundred of suite, these guys were everywhere, and no matter what you say to them, you still want a suit. After a little while we decided that making eye contact was bad, and to them it meant a guarenteed sale. The place was so smoggy, that when standing on the Kowloon side you are very hard pressed to see the Hong Kong Island side. But we pressed on, and after a few stops at ATM's along the way we concluded my cards don't work. But we also arrived at the tram terminal for the peak. This tram is crazy. They have steps along the floor so you don't fall over when its going up the hill. We had also bough an "Octopus" card from the main rail station... This thing can be used just about anywhere, you want a burger in MacDonalds, you can buy it with your Octopus card. Even cheap wine from 7-11 is no contest for this card. But moving right along. Up the top of the Peak we could almost see the city below. This was according to the news report...a slight smogg. The peak has several food stores and restaurants, and a shopping mall. What would you put there. This is Hongkong after all. There are only two types of cars in Hong Kong, expensive or none. Given the lack of sales tax everything becomes so much cheaper.
Returning from the peak we headed for a temple... but not just any temple, this one was next to ladder street, which featured quite heavily in a movie a while back. Can't remember the name, ask someone from the previous generation, they'll know. Anywho back to the story. This temple has so much burning inscence in it, my eyes came out covered in a thick layer of dust. Further obscuring the myriad of amazing sights that is Hong Kong.
After returning to the hotel for a quick break, we moved on to the massive floating restaurant. The ... wait for it... Jumbo... wasn't that worth the wait. Where we sampled some of the more expensive foods that Hong Kong has to offer. This place had banquets for 1,300 Hk a person ( about $250AU a head. The food was nice, the beer was ok, but its not every day you sit on a giant boat in the middle of a harbour and have chinese food. So the experince was something new. Moving right along. A quick bus ride (45mins) and we were back near the hotel. A touch of shopping was in order. I almost bought a video camera, but with the amount of tech stuff I'm already carrying I decided against it. Then we headed home for a much need sleep.
Got to sleep in this morning, before we headed for a traditional Dim Sum, (Yum Cha). We were the only non hongkong people in the restaurant, so it had to be good. Sampled quite a variety of cuisines, including a Cuttlefish, and chickens feet. Chickens feet tastes like Chicken...:-o, and the cuttlefish was a tough version of Calamari. Then we headed across to Hong Kong island again, for some shopping, seems to happen alot over here. I didn't buy anything...only bought a couple of things the whole time I was there. A few gifts for people when I find something I think is appropriate. We took our first normal tram ride for the trip... They don't make those things for people over 5 and half feet tall. But it was another oppotunity to use the Octopus card. Is there nothing it can't do. Back to the hotel again for a quick sit before heading back out into the "wild" for some more shopping, this time and the Night Markets at temple street. Dinner came first though... not 3 steps into the night markets we were accosted by A nice little Hong Kong lady who insisted we came to her little ourdoor restaurant, how could we refuse such a generous offer. With an assortment of still live food sitting on a display table, we knew we were in for something good. We weren't disappointed. Oh and did I mention the beer. Apparently beer is only served as Tallies in this "restaurant". Stomachs full, and the need for beer temporarily sated we moved further into the unknown world of the Hong Kong Night Market. If you want anything fake...this is the place to come. If it didn't exist here...it doesn't exist in the real world. Everything from little penis toys you can throw at the table to squish them only to have the unfurl right before your very eyes, to minature spy camera's, to a spinning UFO type toy which I couldn't resist. A $4 pocketwatch later we headed home.
Today was our big trip, into the very heart of China, well Canton anyway. At 7am sharp a little chinese man herded us onto a bus and whisked us off to the Ship terminal, where another little chinese man gave us bit of paper and said fill them out. So we did. An hour on a Cat, and we were at the chinese border. By this time I had had the oppotunity to scope out the other people on the tour, and I can only say I was a long way from the average age. Only one other traveller was even close to me. Back to the story... no sooner than we have left the boat to go through customs does dad get pulled up for something. Apparently he hadn't signed the form. Can't take some people anywhere. A short 15 minute wait on the other side of the barrier, and we were again herded into buses to begin the journey. So far so good, we'd only been on the road for just over an hour, and we had already lost two people. Well thats not entirely true...we hadn't even picked them up. My first impression of China is... this place is depressed...I mean they should be on prozac depressed. Nobody smiled. I might have just come on the wrong day but they were depressed. First stop was a Zoo, and my first look at the Mighty Panda Bear. The way it ate that bamboo was so intimidating, it made me glad I was behind that bit of glass. Moving on from here, we headed to a gallery where the Terrecota warriors were on display. 5 at any rate. I can't belive that this big bad ass emperor had so much spare time that he could make thousands of these things. Impressive none the less all life size, and all different. Apparently he killed all the crafters when they were done. Nothing like ancient china job security. He also had 3,000 wives...now that is just asking for trouble. Which he killed all of when he died. Not the best life for a wife of an emperor...spend all your time doing not much, probably not even going to get lucky with the hubby, and all you have to look forward to is having your head removed. From here we headed on to the city of Canton. Pretty dingy place really. Interesting though. Half way there...and a loud hissing sound begins to emenate from the back right tyre. Pulling over to the side of road the drive pulls a 6inch bolt from the tyre, we all move to the other side of the bus, and carry on on our merry way. The next stop was the best of all. The petrol station. This place was amazing. ok enough of my sarcasm, it was a necessary stop, as we were short a tyre. But it did give rise to the joke how many chinamen does it take to change a tyre. Well from my experience its at least 5. One to observe, and the rest to jump up and down on a long metal bar, to try to get enough leverage to undo the nut. After this short detour we headed to lunch. Thankfully before the trip to the market, more on that soon. 6 people to a table, and an assortment of authentic chinese meals, and a bunch of people who wouldn't try anything. Well except for Dad, Mum, and I anyway. And 1 australian woman who made me want to denouce my australianism (made up a new word :) ). Again the ceilings were a problem here... at points only just reaching my shoulder. Again the beers were served as tallies here too. Life's tough. From lunch we headed to a traditional little chinese market place. You could buy an assortment of different products including freshly skinned toads, snakes, and scorpions. For the more morbidly facinated ones in the audience I'll send the video of the toad preparation. All you need is a bucket of water...once previously caught toad, and a pair of sissors. Next in the line of exciting tourist attractions was a temple with 6 stories, and some huge banyan trees. Pretty cool, was wallet guarding time though... Beggers apparently like tourist hot spots. There was 3 giant budda's here and a female budda, apparently according to our tour guide, chinese women weren't aloud outside, this made it very difficult to go and worship, so they were given their own statues, but chinese blokes are a little jealous, and a female having a male statue just isn't done, do they made the already gender neutral budda into a female version. All very confusing but each to their own. Fighting my way back through beggers, we again boarded the bus. Next was the huge octagonal building dedicated to the Father of Moderm China Dr Sun Yet Sen. If you want more history on this impressive dude, google it, I've got better things to be doing. Anywho from here next stop was a shopping center. I was stoked they had a Lamborgini shop, and Rolls Shop. Finally a trip back on the train, and our foray into china was all over. Much need sleep was in order, but not before dinner. We again ordered too much, and didn't pay much for it. Nice beer though.
Today was when I finally break loose of the shackles of family, and head out into the wide world in search of something which I don't know what it is. But rest assured when I find it I'll let you know. Last minute shopping, then it was off to the airport, and a 3 hour wait. So with nothing else to do I headed to the Pizza place, and had some lunch. Ordered a beer, then another... then I thought thats enough, so I asked for the Bill, which apparently meant I wanted another beer. Not one to make a fuss over others people mistakes I graciously drank the beer, paid my bill, and headed for my boarding gate. The plane ride to canada is a whole nother story...
Please ignore the undoubtedly numerous spelling mistakes, and grammar etc.
I'll post some photo's at some point.
Narco Out.
Waking rather early...I think. We headed for the star ferry and a trip up the peak. I think we got offered about 30 different types of fake rolex, and hundred of suite, these guys were everywhere, and no matter what you say to them, you still want a suit. After a little while we decided that making eye contact was bad, and to them it meant a guarenteed sale. The place was so smoggy, that when standing on the Kowloon side you are very hard pressed to see the Hong Kong Island side. But we pressed on, and after a few stops at ATM's along the way we concluded my cards don't work. But we also arrived at the tram terminal for the peak. This tram is crazy. They have steps along the floor so you don't fall over when its going up the hill. We had also bough an "Octopus" card from the main rail station... This thing can be used just about anywhere, you want a burger in MacDonalds, you can buy it with your Octopus card. Even cheap wine from 7-11 is no contest for this card. But moving right along. Up the top of the Peak we could almost see the city below. This was according to the news report...a slight smogg. The peak has several food stores and restaurants, and a shopping mall. What would you put there. This is Hongkong after all. There are only two types of cars in Hong Kong, expensive or none. Given the lack of sales tax everything becomes so much cheaper.
Returning from the peak we headed for a temple... but not just any temple, this one was next to ladder street, which featured quite heavily in a movie a while back. Can't remember the name, ask someone from the previous generation, they'll know. Anywho back to the story. This temple has so much burning inscence in it, my eyes came out covered in a thick layer of dust. Further obscuring the myriad of amazing sights that is Hong Kong.
After returning to the hotel for a quick break, we moved on to the massive floating restaurant. The ... wait for it... Jumbo... wasn't that worth the wait. Where we sampled some of the more expensive foods that Hong Kong has to offer. This place had banquets for 1,300 Hk a person ( about $250AU a head. The food was nice, the beer was ok, but its not every day you sit on a giant boat in the middle of a harbour and have chinese food. So the experince was something new. Moving right along. A quick bus ride (45mins) and we were back near the hotel. A touch of shopping was in order. I almost bought a video camera, but with the amount of tech stuff I'm already carrying I decided against it. Then we headed home for a much need sleep.
Got to sleep in this morning, before we headed for a traditional Dim Sum, (Yum Cha). We were the only non hongkong people in the restaurant, so it had to be good. Sampled quite a variety of cuisines, including a Cuttlefish, and chickens feet. Chickens feet tastes like Chicken...:-o, and the cuttlefish was a tough version of Calamari. Then we headed across to Hong Kong island again, for some shopping, seems to happen alot over here. I didn't buy anything...only bought a couple of things the whole time I was there. A few gifts for people when I find something I think is appropriate. We took our first normal tram ride for the trip... They don't make those things for people over 5 and half feet tall. But it was another oppotunity to use the Octopus card. Is there nothing it can't do. Back to the hotel again for a quick sit before heading back out into the "wild" for some more shopping, this time and the Night Markets at temple street. Dinner came first though... not 3 steps into the night markets we were accosted by A nice little Hong Kong lady who insisted we came to her little ourdoor restaurant, how could we refuse such a generous offer. With an assortment of still live food sitting on a display table, we knew we were in for something good. We weren't disappointed. Oh and did I mention the beer. Apparently beer is only served as Tallies in this "restaurant". Stomachs full, and the need for beer temporarily sated we moved further into the unknown world of the Hong Kong Night Market. If you want anything fake...this is the place to come. If it didn't exist here...it doesn't exist in the real world. Everything from little penis toys you can throw at the table to squish them only to have the unfurl right before your very eyes, to minature spy camera's, to a spinning UFO type toy which I couldn't resist. A $4 pocketwatch later we headed home.
Today was our big trip, into the very heart of China, well Canton anyway. At 7am sharp a little chinese man herded us onto a bus and whisked us off to the Ship terminal, where another little chinese man gave us bit of paper and said fill them out. So we did. An hour on a Cat, and we were at the chinese border. By this time I had had the oppotunity to scope out the other people on the tour, and I can only say I was a long way from the average age. Only one other traveller was even close to me. Back to the story... no sooner than we have left the boat to go through customs does dad get pulled up for something. Apparently he hadn't signed the form. Can't take some people anywhere. A short 15 minute wait on the other side of the barrier, and we were again herded into buses to begin the journey. So far so good, we'd only been on the road for just over an hour, and we had already lost two people. Well thats not entirely true...we hadn't even picked them up. My first impression of China is... this place is depressed...I mean they should be on prozac depressed. Nobody smiled. I might have just come on the wrong day but they were depressed. First stop was a Zoo, and my first look at the Mighty Panda Bear. The way it ate that bamboo was so intimidating, it made me glad I was behind that bit of glass. Moving on from here, we headed to a gallery where the Terrecota warriors were on display. 5 at any rate. I can't belive that this big bad ass emperor had so much spare time that he could make thousands of these things. Impressive none the less all life size, and all different. Apparently he killed all the crafters when they were done. Nothing like ancient china job security. He also had 3,000 wives...now that is just asking for trouble. Which he killed all of when he died. Not the best life for a wife of an emperor...spend all your time doing not much, probably not even going to get lucky with the hubby, and all you have to look forward to is having your head removed. From here we headed on to the city of Canton. Pretty dingy place really. Interesting though. Half way there...and a loud hissing sound begins to emenate from the back right tyre. Pulling over to the side of road the drive pulls a 6inch bolt from the tyre, we all move to the other side of the bus, and carry on on our merry way. The next stop was the best of all. The petrol station. This place was amazing. ok enough of my sarcasm, it was a necessary stop, as we were short a tyre. But it did give rise to the joke how many chinamen does it take to change a tyre. Well from my experience its at least 5. One to observe, and the rest to jump up and down on a long metal bar, to try to get enough leverage to undo the nut. After this short detour we headed to lunch. Thankfully before the trip to the market, more on that soon. 6 people to a table, and an assortment of authentic chinese meals, and a bunch of people who wouldn't try anything. Well except for Dad, Mum, and I anyway. And 1 australian woman who made me want to denouce my australianism (made up a new word :) ). Again the ceilings were a problem here... at points only just reaching my shoulder. Again the beers were served as tallies here too. Life's tough. From lunch we headed to a traditional little chinese market place. You could buy an assortment of different products including freshly skinned toads, snakes, and scorpions. For the more morbidly facinated ones in the audience I'll send the video of the toad preparation. All you need is a bucket of water...once previously caught toad, and a pair of sissors. Next in the line of exciting tourist attractions was a temple with 6 stories, and some huge banyan trees. Pretty cool, was wallet guarding time though... Beggers apparently like tourist hot spots. There was 3 giant budda's here and a female budda, apparently according to our tour guide, chinese women weren't aloud outside, this made it very difficult to go and worship, so they were given their own statues, but chinese blokes are a little jealous, and a female having a male statue just isn't done, do they made the already gender neutral budda into a female version. All very confusing but each to their own. Fighting my way back through beggers, we again boarded the bus. Next was the huge octagonal building dedicated to the Father of Moderm China Dr Sun Yet Sen. If you want more history on this impressive dude, google it, I've got better things to be doing. Anywho from here next stop was a shopping center. I was stoked they had a Lamborgini shop, and Rolls Shop. Finally a trip back on the train, and our foray into china was all over. Much need sleep was in order, but not before dinner. We again ordered too much, and didn't pay much for it. Nice beer though.
Today was when I finally break loose of the shackles of family, and head out into the wide world in search of something which I don't know what it is. But rest assured when I find it I'll let you know. Last minute shopping, then it was off to the airport, and a 3 hour wait. So with nothing else to do I headed to the Pizza place, and had some lunch. Ordered a beer, then another... then I thought thats enough, so I asked for the Bill, which apparently meant I wanted another beer. Not one to make a fuss over others people mistakes I graciously drank the beer, paid my bill, and headed for my boarding gate. The plane ride to canada is a whole nother story...
Please ignore the undoubtedly numerous spelling mistakes, and grammar etc.
I'll post some photo's at some point.
Narco Out.
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