This is a combination of my 2006 and 2007 trips to Chicago.

Touristy stuff downtown

Chicago is a smaller city than NY, the central district (everything inside the Loop) is walkable. Even outside the Loop, like up on Michigan and Navy Pier, it’s walkable.

I travelled a lot on public transport in Chicago — Metra and CTA. But like a good tourist I also took the hop-on, hop-off trolleybus, which is okay value at $25 for a day.

  

The bus does a loop, from the Tribune building up Michigan Avenue, the central district, theatre district, museum campus and back up the lakeshore towards Navy Pier.

One of the most important landmarks is Sears Tower. There was a short video show about the history and its statistics, which was surprisingly informative. It was a hazy day so once we got up to the observation deck we could only see a part of the view. I can see how the skyline could look on a good day. I like Chicago’s architecture, it’s really beautiful, more than New York. I took this photo at a crossroad, looking straight up. I like it, it’s got an interesting perspective.

  

Everywhere is walkable. The skyline was impressive. I like the buildings in Chicago more than the ones in New York. There is a uniformity, yet artistry to them. New York skyscrapers all scream out or attention; the ones in Chicago are just there, laid back allowing people to enjoy. Even the sculptures are cool.

 

From Sears Tower we walked to Millenium Park. It’s really pretty. The big attraction are the unusual sculptures. The reflective bean was interesting, but I also had fun at the Crown Fountain where people could walk on the shallow pool between the two screens. Another fun thing about Millenium Park is the security guards moved around on segways. How sophisticated.

In the same area as Millenium Park are the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Art Institute. I browsed around at the CSO shop. Heh, didn’t realise Daniel Barenboim is a big shot there. I’m old enough, and like classical music enough, to remember Jacqueline du Pré’s death. Now I realise why the street outside the CSO is named after Sir Georg Solti. So when Barenboim leaves they’ll name another city landmark after him I expect.

Across the road from the CSO shop is the Art Institute. For $12 I got easily one of the most extensive collections of impressionists I’ve seen … though it doesn’t say much I’m not a regular museum-goer. I happily wandered around, it’s a cool museum.

Touristy stuff on the lake

The architectural cruise along the river and the lake was very impressive. The commentary was just right, information yet not intrusive. Lots of information about the buildings along the river, the skyline and the lake.

  

I visited Navy Pier both times. Can’t say I’m overly impressed — it’s nice enough to spend a couple of hours, with good restaurants, a killer view of the shore and lake, and some amusements. Not sorry I visited.

Federal Reserve

Visited the Federal Reserve of Chicago. There was a presentation on what they did (control the money supply etc) and we had time to walk around the exhibits. There was a big cube filled with $1m worth of $1 notes. A smaller dome of the same amount but in $20(?) and a briefcase of $100 notes. We were also given bundles of shredded money, a small roll turned out to be worth thousands of dollars.

Food

Since I stayed with Car on my visits, it’s always delicious home-cooked meals. But even going out to eat was great. Had lunch at a deli called Potbelly. Now I don’t know if it was our English or that of the servers but it was really difficult to order. We basically wanted salads. So we walked up to the counter and ordered 3 salads. Shuffled forward to the middle section of the counter and they asked us for our order again. It was confusing. We think they asked us what we wanted on our food, ie what toppings / dressings, but it wasn’t clear. We ended up with 2 salads (correct) but mine got switched to a sandwich. Sigh. It was a good sandwich anyway. We also had milkshakes and they were very good.

Another highlight was lunch at Bubba Gump at Navy Pier. Shrimps and margaritas, what else do we need?

  

Our usual hanging out place is Miller’s Pub, an Irish pub that serves good food and lots of types of beer. I was lucky enough to be in Chicago for St Patrick’s Day and the atmosphere was definitely very Irish. Another memorable meal was the steak and king crab we had at Lone Star — a Texas steakhouse in the suburbs.

Shops

I walked outside the famous Marshall Fields but no time to go inside. Apparently people in Chicago are outraged that Macy’s bought it and renamed. They feel that they’ve lost a big name. I sympathetise, it’s like bhs buying Selfridge’s and renaming it I suppose.

The main shopping strip is Michigan Ave, otherwise known as the Magnificent Mile. There were designer shops and department stores but honestly, once you’ve seen dozens of Tiffany’s or Burberrys you’ve seen them all. I had to go there of course, because of the Apple Store. Oh, and the bookstores! Sigh.

Wicked

One of the highlights of any Chicago visit is to see Wicked. I was also privileged enough to get a short backstage tour. Oh wow, it was a wonderful show! Simply fantastic. Better than Phantom. Better than Les Miserables. I want to see it in NY, in London.

How does Chicago compare with other US cities? Definitely very pleasant to live and move about it. Residents complain about the CTA, but it’s no worse than any other large metropolitan train system. House prices are relatively cheap. Weather can get extreme yes. At the end of the day, I’ll probably choose San Francisco because of the weather, the ocean and the cultural diverseness; but Chicago is not far behind. Heh, I speak like I’m an expert, but I’ve only really visited a few cities, so it’s not a fair comparison.

9 March: Chicago to Toronto

Early start, and I mean early like getting up at 4am. I made tea, put in a thermos, and we loaded the car. On our way by 5.30am. It was still dark. Saw the sunrise while on the road.

Stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel where I had peach pancakes and sausages with cranberry juice. Very nice. 2 hours later and we stopped for another break to fill up the truck and stretch our legs.

We kept looking out for signs to Canada and were disappointed when they were so obscure. There were directions to other places, and Canada was included on the list. Didn’t have problems crossing, the immigration officer asked the standard questions and we were soon on our way.

  

Lunch was quick at Wendy’s. First time we spent CAD, hee hee. There was a time change to Eastern time and we were at the apartment by 5pm. Met up with the others, made introductions and explored the apartment. It was a 3 bedroom place with large living room, dining room and kitchen. Everything was there, clean and functional. The apartment block itself looked like council housing but it was fine inside. Dinner at a place called Sushi 2 Go down the road. Then we retired to our apartment and the 5 of us played on our own computers. ha!

10 March: Toronto

We called a taxi to take us downtown this morning instead of driving. First, it seems that parking is expensive in town and second because we may want to go drinking and it sucks to have to designate a designated driver. The first reason was bogus, cos we could have parked in a carpark for a flat fee of CAD5. The second reason turned out the be the right one because we did some drinking alright!

We started at Kensington Market, which when I was reading up about Toronto I thought was indoors, like Sydney’s Paddington Market. But no, it was just a bunch of shops on two cross streets. Interesting shops but we had no need for fruits, breads and cheeses. Here’s an interesting pic of a couple of mooses on someone’s balcony.

Lunch was dim sum at Chinatown, right next to Kensington Market. Not bad, we had several beers while I fretted over what to order. Then another taxi to Church Street and visited an Irish pub where we had a “big boy” of beer — it’s larger than a jug, more like an ice bucket.

Didn’t stay out for dinner. Instead, got take-out Italian and drinks from the supermarket. For some reason I’m incredibly tired. Ahem. May be it was the beer.

Toronto is interesting but not as interesting as I expected. A little dilapidated in places and many shops are not open. Those that are, are nothing like Camden or the Village, no bohemian feel at all. I guess Toronto isn’t a very touristy city … more of a starting point for other places. It’s actually what people picture New York to be like, no wonder so many films and tv programs are made there.

  

11 March: Niagara-on-the-lake and Niagara Falls

The clocks turned forward overnight so we lost an hour, no matter because I went to bed early. Breakfast of healthy cereal that we bought at the supermarket yesterday.

We left at 10.30am-ish, and after a short detour (um, I got us lost blush) we reached Niagara-on-the-lake. It’s a quaint town a little way north of the falls, a little off the beaten track for normal falls tourists. Except there are quite a few tourists there. Ha! The reason we went there was because we wanted to have lunch at the Angel Inn which serves “authentic” British food. I had steak and kidney pie and the others had fish and chips or shepherd’s pie (should be cottage pie cos it was minced beef) and we all had different varieties of beer.

Walking around the town afterwards was nice. Small town, historical shops, good sunny day. Walked down to the lake, still with floating ice. Picture perfect.

   

The drive to Niagara Falls was short. It was very different from both the town and the image I had of “Niagara Falls”. The falls themselves were very impressive and it was worth spending lots of time at. Part of the river and the falls themselves were frozen over and the sight was awe-inspiring. The chunks of ice looked so small, but actually remembering photos of the boats going out it was deceptive. We started out at the American Falls, it’s the US opposite us. The smaller falls in the second pic is the Bridal Veil Falls.

   

Look carefully at the birds and then see how large the ice sheet was. Oh, and then the wind started blowing the mist from the Horseshoe Falls inland and several rainbows formed. Walked all the way to the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. There was an interesting ice formation that made it look even greater.

   

After taking in the magnificent falls, time to turn to the town itself. But what disappointed me were the nearby streets full of tacky amusement shops — Guinness Book of Records, Haunted House show, Ferris wheel, Ripley’s etc etc. Cheapens the experience, but I guess not surprising.

Had dinner at a steak place, most of us had the prime rib with 2 veg. CAD14.99, not bad. We had more fun at the apartment with beer and conversation. Was a memorable day, yep.

12 March: back in Toronto

First order of the day was to go to the mall to get new shoes for me — my boots fell apart and it was driving the others mad. Not many choice but I got Nike hiking boots for around CAD62. They were giving out freebies at Sears which turned out to be a lens cloth, of course it was a selling point for other goods, in this case it’s a “Mr Sticky” floor mop. We took the lens cloth but passed on the mop.

With new shoes I was off! Heehee. We drove the long way into town via the cross streets (as opposed to the Expressway) to the CN Tower. CAD21 entrance to the observation tower and the glass floor. The observation deck was fairly usual — great views of the city, shops and stuff. The glass floor was one floor down and part of the floor was…glass. It gets pretty scary to stand on two pieces of double-glazed glass and look down to the ground level 300m down. It was an interesting experience though.

 

We were quite tired and went back to the apartment early. Dinner was Chinese from a nearby takeaway, sigh.

Oh, the apartment. We found it on the internet — a short stay 3 bedroom. Good for 5 people. Has a living room, dining room and even a small breakfast table in the kitchen. Better than staying in a hotel, even though there is no daily service. it’s a little outside of town, a car is needed. The furnishings aren’t the tip of style but they’re functional and not broken.

13 March: the Drive

Big driving day today, from Toronto to Chicago. We woke up early, finished off the food and was off at 6am. It was still dark outside. Stopped at a Country Marketplace (?) for breakfast — it was a buffet and I had sausages, scrambled eggs, salad, pancakes and some dessert which seemed like cobbler. I was pretty tired, and not trusting their tea, I had the coffee with lots of cream. They laughed at me, cos I made a face after my first sip — it got better after that. Views along the road was pretty.

Crossing the border took a little time, there was a long queue at the bridge connecting the US and Canada. Compared with going into Canada when we only had one car in front of us on the booths, this was a long 20-25min wait. The immigration officer asked the standard questions and we were on our way soon. It got hot! The sun was out, no clouds and we had to put the air-con on.

More driving later and we had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel — the same one as Friday when we drove up. I had their sampler combo of meatloaf, chicken & dumplings and ham. Their main dishes come with a choice of 3 vegs so I had corn, turnip greens (which is like any sort of greens) and fried apple. And on top of it, there were American biscuits (like scones but much fluffier) and a corn muffin. All very yummy and fattening. Of course the diet coke was refillable. I was starving and finished off a lot of it. Afterwards bought some old fashioned candy at the store.

Traffic around Chicago got suddenly crazy, apparently several highways become one strip. There was also construction. I was glad we got to the house at about 4pm. There was a time change, so it was 5pm Toronto time. Total driving time was 8-9 hours. Oh, here’s the ubiquitous pic of the rental car.

As expected the welcome was warm! We had pizza and I went to bed quite late because I did laundry. Now I can add another country to my visited countries map.

Toronto set at flickr

2 October: The Tuesday Special San Francisco tour - Part 1

So, the second part of my trip. San Francisco, a totally different city to Las Vegas in outlook, attitude and … everything. It was pretty late when I arrived so we went to a neighbourhood café for a quick bite. I was buffeted out from Vegas and only wanted something green and had no meat. Perfect place for something like that. It was one of those casual student type places that I remembered from Zurich (the one behind the Niederdorf) and Sydney (the one sherlock took me to) — worn wooden tables, mismatched chairs, relaxed atmosphere. So very different and refreshing.

I had my first proper cup of tea on this trip. In vegas I’d been taking iced tea, or really awful lipton (have to order hot tea otherwise they gave you iced tea — and tea came in a pot of hot water and a lousy tea bag, geez). For extreme caffeine needs I had to rely on Starbucks. But now in SF, I had the means and time to make a nice cuppa. I brought my own tea bags of course — not PG but individually wrapped Twinings English Breakfast since they weren’t as suspicious looking. Ahhhhh.

First order of business was trooping off to a local coffee shop that offered free wi-fi. I had another tea and a bagel. Looking around I almost jumped in glee when it turned out that every.single.user inside that coffee shop was using a mac! Not surprising, since it was SF, whose population were supposed to be more tech savvy. And by definition, tech savvy means … heehee, need I say more?

After the refreshing breakfast, I got the chance of a lifetime, to ride on a vintage motorbike. It was fabulous and exhilarating. I hadn’t ridden on a bike for almost 20 years, and I was glad I remembered how to be a good passenger (don’t move).

  

Rode to the park and visited the windmill and garden. The sun came out especially for me so I could take some gorgeous pics.

  

Nearby was Ocean Beach, which was quiet and pretty. Heading north uphill, we stopped for a moment at the ruins of the Sutro baths. I’d never heard of these ruins, but it told an interesting story and looking at the old pictures I was amazed at how extensive the baths were. Built over 100 years ago and burnt down in 1966, the basic layout and some structure still remained.

Next stop, Mission. We had sushi (yummy!!!!!! and much anticipated) and wandered around the area. Furniture stores, antiques, bookstores and even *sniggers* Good Vibrations. Very relaxing and actually creatively inspiring. We stopped at a coffee shop, again full of laptop geeks, and I had a real nice cup of soy latte. I could totally imagine hanging out there all the time.

  
  

After the Mission we headed to Haight, and I continued taking a lot of pics, mainly for the 26things challenge, which I wanted to make up of pics exclusively from this trip. It was an excuse to overindulge in photography, but then again there is so much to photograph and the light is so fantastic.

  

Dinner was at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place where we ordered fresh salsa, fish and chicken taco. Very satisfying. Another adventure to a more central area that was Italian but felt French. We wanted to go to City Lights bookstore but horror of horrors it was closed! But it didn’t ruin an absolutely fantastic day for me. If I hadn’t known it before, I’m now convinced that I will enjoy living in SF very, very much.

3 October: The Tuesday Special San Francisco tour - Part 2

Another relaxing coffee shop first thing. This one was lifted straight out of Paris (or actually a french-looking place in London). Blah to Starbucks!

Short stroll to the Castro, where I kept looking for the rainbow keychains and I was sure I’d find them, but alas no. Nevermind, another excuse to return. Took the Market Street trams all the way down (or was it up) to the ferry terminal at the Embarcadero. An absolute bargain for $1.50, we managed to ride on a Peter Witts design tram that had been repainted into the original 1928 Milan livery of yellow and white with black trim. The interior retained a lot of the original Italian features, including the signage and light fittings and … general feel.

Oh my! The ferry building was heaven. The marketplace stores there had all the sorts of food that I could only dream about — organic fruits, fresh seafood, breads, cheese, a store that sold only olive oil, another that had all sorts of mushrooms. A real foodie’s delight. Needless to say we had lunch there, bought bread, cheese, interesting looking tomatoes and some crabmeat and sat outside on a bench overlooking the Bay Bridge. The sun was out, the air was clear, good food, good company … I said I could see myself living there, didn’t I?

  
  

Visited Ocean Beach for one last time to see the sunset, then went back to the apartment to pack and shower. Dinner was at a fusion restaurant called Eos, which deserves a special mention. Food items on the menu were small, intended for sharing. And what food! Lovely salad, tuna stack, lemongrass edamame risotto, scallops. But what made it especially special was the wine flights, where they served up a whole selection of wines in small tasting glasses. So in totaly may be 1 1/2 glass of “normal” size but we could try 3 or 4 different wines. What a great idea.

Though the dessert at Eos were great, we decamped to another dessert place called citizen cake. The cakes were scrumptious, and the chef is self-taught. Wow.

The final item on the program was a drive uphill to Twin Peaks to view the city at night. A great end to a great trip.

San Francisco flickr set

29 September: north side of the Strip

Breakfast was at the Venetian. It wasn’t touted as a buffet, since they wanted to be posh. sniggers Sometimes Americans trying to be posh end up being pretentious. $13.95 wasn’t bad though. The “buffet-that-tried-to-pass-off-as-non-buffet” was basically bacon, sausages, hash browns, and a made-to-order omelette. I had ham and mushroom and mistakenly had cheese added too. Made it too heavy. But tasted very nice. Had some really great fruit too, was going to make birchermuseli but was too full, so I just stuck with skimmed milk with the cereal.

The Venetian was another impressive hotel. Yes, there was a replica of St Mark’s Square, the Bridge of Sighs and even canals. Gondolas and singing boatmen too. Made me laugh because the real ones in Venice don’t sing as much. Lots of shops and the family ended up spending time at a Lladró store. The lighting inside the pretend Venice was surprisingly dim, even with the pretend blue skies overhead.

From the Venetian we walked in the blazing sun to the Wynn. It’s the newest hotel on the strip and probably has the most stars. It truly deserved them, I really liked it. There was no specific theme, unless “unbridled luxury” is a theme. There was an understated, carefully designed feel to it, with the use of warm colours and natural light. Definitely not one for brash families with loud children, it has… class. From the garden to the water features to the general décor nothing was out of place. Man, a tiny part of me wished we could have booked that suite, but remembering the price difference (almost twice the Aladdin) was enough to make me feel like we made the right decision to go for the Aladdin.

  
  

From the Wynn, we crossed the road to a completely different world — the Frontier. From the 1950s style signage in front, to the old, old, old one-arm bandits at the entrance, it was an embodiment of times past. We played the slots there, like we did at each casino we visited. Surprisingly, the Texas Tea machines were very fun to play and we even won a few odd dollars.

Time for a change, as we headed to the Fashion Show Mall for a spot of shopping. While Car’s Mom and Gram explored Baby Gap, we went off to look for a bookstore. Amazingly it was only a Borders Express (ie tiny) and didn’t have the book we were looking for. It was a good break from the casino hopping though I didn’t buy anything.

We took a free train back to Caesar’s Palace which saved on a lot of walking. Retired back to the room to rest. Watched the Food Network! How I’ve missed it. Dinner was an easy choice — Spice Market at the Aladdin. It was the #1 (not sure which survey) buffet in town. But may be it was the renovation that moved the restaurant, or something else, but we didn’t feel like it was a #1. Top 5 may be, but we were unanimous in saying the Bellagio was better. It wasn’t bad, by no means, just not #1. There were prawns, crab legs, Greek food, Chinese food, Indian (I think), fried food, a very nice lamb kebab and the usual roasts. I was suffering from overindulgence and decided on as many veg dishes as possible. Still, an enjoyable meal.

We stayed at the hotel. Went shopping and visited the casino, had a really good time with the penny slots again.

30 September: weddings and beavers

The other vegas specialty is weddings. There was a chapel at the Aladdin, just outside the lifts, and seems like each hotel had one too. But north of the Stratosphere were the small chapels. Weddings are big business and the side of the road was lined full of them, with names like Viva Las Vegas, Candlelight and of course Graceland Wedding Chapel. The Wedding Wonderland offered drive-thru services so the happy couple don’t even need to get out of their car. We visited the Little Chapel of the Flowers, which was a traditional chapel with garden. Despite all the whiteness and flowers and lace, it wasn’t stuck in the middle ages. Friends and relatives who were unable to attend in person could watch the proceedings over the internet, live. Then later they could purchase a copy of the ceremony. It’s all very slickly planned, packaged and commercial.

  

From the chapel we took a taxi to the Hilton. It was off the Strip, but just as busy. One of its main attractions was the Star Trek Experience exhibition. One thing I found out though, is how not a trekkie I am — I didn’t have much clue about the characters and vessels on display there. To enter the exhibition was $38, and we decided we had far better things to do for that, since all I’d be doing is asking “what’s that?” throughout our visit. Did see this awesome (read: dorky) bowling shirt, but it was $60. Man, they were out to milk every dollar. Did spend a very nice half hour or so exploring the shop and outside displays. Must say the models of the Enterprise was very impressive.

Stayed at the Hilton for a while, then took the monorail all the day to the end — MGM Grand. Nice trip for $5. The monorail ran parallel to the Strip but we could see all the hotels from the windows. Went back to the souvenir shop to get some more keychains and a couple of fridge magnets. Dinner was at the Zanzibar Café back at the Aladdin. I had guacamole hot dog (what the menu called the Ozzy Osbourne) and Car had an Extreme burrito. Both were very good, though I got teased for combining guacamole with hot dog.

The rest of the evening was spent at the penny slots, specifically the Lumberjack Beavers machine that was our favourite. It gave great value too, with just a small outlay we played for more than an hour. When we met up with her mom and gram, they had dinner at the Zanzibar too, while we just had dessert.

  

1 October: goodbye to Vegas

We checked out early and left our bags at the hotel. Breakfast was at Paris, right next doors. Original plan was to go to the buffet but it was way too crowded, so we settled for the café. Still good value, and I gotta laugh at how unFrench-like the breakfast items were. Not a continental breakfast in sight. We had French toast (and we all know that’s not French) with bacon / ham and shared a portion of pancakes (American style, ie what I know as hotcakes) between us. I was stuffed!

The Paris wanted very badly to be French, but was actually full of tourists. Some of their signs were in franglaise, like Le Car Rental. Pretty funny actually. After breakfast and the obligatory play at the penny slots we were off to Caesars Palace. Again, very crowded, but plenty of space for everyone to walk around. Waited for about 15 minutes at the fountain for the show, only to be disappointed that it consisted of a couple of mechanical statues with moving parts. Not impressed. The size of the hotel was impressive, though by this time I couldn’t tell one hotel-casino from another, they were all blurred. Before going back to the Aladdin we hung out a little at the Bellagio shop. Then it was time to leave.

Taxi to the airport was quick, and a little sad. Time to say good-bye to Las Vegas. I really enjoyed this first visit, it was nothing and everything like I imagined. Because I was here with my friend’s family, we did mainly family styled activities. Didn’t see any shows or gambled big (I wouldn’t have anyway) or had the time for an excursion or spa. Plenty to do for future visits, which is what I like about going to a new place — can never do everything first time.

And here’s the flickr set

27 September: Travelling

The upstairs neighbours were redecorating and they started drilling round about 11am. I got sick of it and left for the airport at noon. I’ve checked in already so it was just a matter of getting my boarding pass and checking my luggage. Hung out at the lounge for hours, heehee. Ate so much! There was additional security of course, one section of the airport was set up specially for US flights. First there was a body check, then everyone lined up to have their bags checked by hand. Not too much hassle because they had something like 30 officers checking, so it moved quick. I was glad I have club membership so I could board at the business class gate.

Flight wasn’t full, the middle seat was empty so I could stretch my legs a little. Sat behind 2 babies and they were crying at the beginning of the flight though they quietened down later. Dinner was pasta with spinach and cheese. Didn’t feel like the meat or fish dishes. Slept sporadically, may be an hour at a time. I changed my watch as soon as I got on the plane, but all told probably only had 3-4 hrs of sleep.

Security at the domestic flight part of the journey was fine too. Most people know what to pack and what not to pack at this point, the queues were manageable. Instead of checking my bags, they swabbed and checked my crocs! Heehee. I had my caffeine injection and got settled for a little wait.

SFO airport was okay, lots of places to eat and shop. I had a split pea soup and a diet coke for late lunch. Came to over $8 though, not cheap. Internet day pass was $9.99, which was acceptable to me. Of course I prefer free wifi, but can’t be picky — it’s either pay or sit around with nothing to do. The terminal was fairly quiet early on and I was able to easily find wall sockets. The battery could probably last, but I wasn’t taking the chance. Available spots keep being used as the afternoon wore on as the place got busier.

Flight to LAS was delayed. Sigh. Originally it was supposed to leave at 7.30pm, then it changed to 9pm. As the evening wore on, it became clear that 9pm was optimistic. Apparently the plane coming in had a mechanical problem and was stuck in LAS. At almost nine they announced gleefully that it’d left LAS and will be readied for flying back out as soon as possible. The departure time shifted to 10.30pm at this point. It was all very disappointing and boring. I got a little hungry so I bought a roast beef and cheese sandwich, but not much of an appetite.

It was disconcerning watching other people board their planes; and still ours hadn’t arrived. A group of men started complaining loudly and though they had their point, I wished they could keep their voices down. Some officials came, huddled around the desk and made numerous calls on their cellphone. Everyone was watching them expectantly but they never made any announcement to reassure the passengers, which I thought wasn’t so nice. They came back later with police (!) and talked to the loud men. Shortly after, another group of police arrived on mountain bikes, and the long and short of it was that the loud men were led away. Wow, they were loud and slightly drunk but they were never threatening or anything. Kinda heavy handed in my opinion.

Finally, the plane arrived, we waited till the incoming passengers got off and not long after, we finally boarded. There was a cheer when the boarding announcement went up, it had been a long wait. Took off at just before 11pm, I was very tired, had a drink and then fell asleep. Flight was only 1.5 hrs, so it seemed like I’d just closed my eyes when the seatbelt sign came up. I could see the lights when we came in and it was exciting. The airport was virtually deserted, though I saw what Car meant when she said that there were slot machines as soon as I came out of the gate. There were! Anyway, despite there being hardly any other people at the airport, it was still a wait for the bags. At least mine wasn’t the last, and I got on the taxi really quick. $25 to the Aladdin, which was under renovation so it was a little trek through boarded corridors to the make-shfit reception area. I was so tired, I didn’t even hear Car call me, until she almost shouted in my ear that I’m deaf! Heehee.

The room was pretty good, Car’s Mom and Gram were already in ‘ready for bed’ mode (didn’t blame them it was past 1am). I unpacked a little, and then the two of us went downstairs to scout around the casino a little. It was BIG! Was a little too incoherent to take everything in, but saw the roulettes, poker, blackjack tables. Plus of course the rows and rows of slot machines. I never realised they had special “themes” — we put $1 in a Star Wars machine, it had the sound effects and we won a little, though promptly lost it all. Back to the room and I took a much needed shower. It’s been a long trek but it took me a while to actually fall asleep.

28 September: south side of the Strip

Early start (well, for being on vacation). First stop was to go across the Strip to the Bellagio. It was one of my original hotel choices but it was too expensive. And wow! Impressive! First thing that caught our eye was the glass flower roof at the lobby, with all sorts of colours.

Just a little way off reception was an awesome garden with fantastic light through skylights, and a banyan tree that had been rescued from (?)Florida(?). The Halloween theme could already be seen, with pumpkins and scarecrows heavily featured.

  

From the Bellagio we walked to the Monte Carlo. On the map, these two hotels are next to each other, but in reality it was a good 10-15 minute walk. Took us longer because: a) we had Gram’s wheelchair and b) we stopped off at a Walgreens to get Gram’s medicine and to do a little catch-up shopping. So when we got to the Monte Carlo we’d worked up a good appetite for brunch. Nice brunch it was too — mainly breakfast items of bacon, sausages, eggs, french toast and cereal. I was also introduced to the very interesting American breakfast item known as “biscuits and gravy”. It was not biscuits or gravy as I knew it. Basically it’s a large scone that was smothered by a white sauce that had bits of sausage in it. Tasted quite nice (as white sauce and scones would) but pretty stodgy. I also tried a blintz which was warm pancake stuffed with cottage cheese. That I did not like because the idea of warm cottage cheese was unstomachable for me. They didn’t have proper tea so I had iced tea.

Walked around the casino a little, took some pictures of the slot machines. This would become a theme for the trip — pics of strange slot machines. From the Monte Carlo we made our way to the New York New York. Dude, it was just like NY, with a Brooklyn Bridge at one side and the Statue of Liberty on the other. Inside was a rabbit warren of small alleys and NY-like cafés and shops. There was even a smell of apples (cos, well, big apple …). The rollercoaster outside wasn’t operating at first, but later on it was. I put $1 in a Star Wars Dark Side slot machine and played for a long time — was lucky enough to get bonuses and the like. It was a good $1 spent.

  

Next on our visit list was the MGM Grand. Now I started getting the feel of these hotel casinos. Each had a theme, lots of interesting things to see, a show or another, and then there was the casino. Many people walking around, made the place seem like a resort. The theme at the MGM Grand was lions, they had an enclosure where we could see 2 lions sleeping. Another area where they had cubs. For $200 one could enter the cub enclosure and have an “experience” with the cubs. Well, no.

From the MGM we visited the shops along the way. Bought a bunch of rainbow keychains, like my Chicago one. These were good souvenirs for the people at work. Also took in the M&M shop and passed by the Coke shop. Was pretty tired when we returned to the hotel. Originally the plan was to rest a while then go out exploring but we all ended up napping! Which wasn’t such a bad thing, we were all tired from the travelling.

Dinner was a the Bellagio buffet. $27 per person. It was GOOD! We got there early (before 6pm) so the queue was short. Alaskan king crabs, sushi, mussels, roast lamb, prime rib, turkey, ham, all sorts of hot dishes, pizza, polenta, paella … couldn’t try everything. Dessert was ice cream, profiteroles, crème brûlée and many others I couldn’t remember. Everything was done nicely and presented with the intention to tempt.

One of the other reason for going to the Bellagio was to watch the fountain display. They had a short display (one song) every 15 minutes and we stayed for 3 displays. It was a fabulous free show, I was impressed all over again.

7 April: Namsangol, Insadong

Took the subway one stop to Namsangol Park & Heritage Village. I thought there’d be an entrance fee but it was free. Nice peaceful park, not too large and good for walking. There was one section where they buried a time capsule to be opened in 40 years’ time.

Another part of the park was a replica of a traditional Korean village. The houses were real, and for a change there was furniture so we could picture what it was like.

  

Long, tiring walk to Dongdaemum market. Eventually we went back to Insadong to continue exploration, it seems we like it there best. More shopping, of shoes and cheap t-shirts. We also discovered a small shopping complex that had quite hip stores, and art in the form of toilet seats and pans.

Back to hotel to drop our shopping off. Then to a restaurant behind the hotel where we had raw beef with pears (ages since we had that) and hot pot. Pretty good. Afterwards we walked the food off before going to the Korean Sauna. First we had to go inside a hot oven to sweat, then after resting we were led to the spa area. It’s like the Japanese version where you shower then try out all sorts of different baths. Middle-aged women scrubbed, washed and massaged us, it was an experience. Was like 1am when we left.

Oh, it was my birthday today.

8 April:

The morning was spent at Namdaemun market where we found some areas and stalls we didn’t see last time. Like the part where there were stalls selling nothing but kimchi. Other stalls were equally interesting.

 

Had lunch at a restaurant along that alley that was full of restaurants. Tofu soup, seaweed rice and stuffed pork innards. The dishes were displayed outside the shop and all we needed to do was point.

Went back to Myeongdong and circulated the blocks several times. Had green tea at a very posh and lovely teahouse, trying to kill time. We decided to go to the airport early, had dinner there and visited the duty free shops.

Good trip. Full set of photos are on flickr

5 April: Catholic Cathedral, Deoksugung Palace, Namdaemun Market

We decided to go to Korea for our birthdays trip this year. Flight departed at some god-awful hour and arrived at 5am. By the time we got out to the bus it was almost 6am. Even though the language was completely unknown, getting the airport bus tickets was straightforward, soon we found ourselves on the comfortable bus with reclining seats. And fast asleep.

Got to the hotel early, and they let us check-in. Woot! We stayed at the Sejong Hotel which is just behind Myeongdong and convenient. We unpacked and decided to rest for a while. Because we were so tired it turned out to be a 3 hr nap, which was probably a good thing. We went out around lunch and explored the streets of Myeongdong. I was in Seoul for business 18 months ago and remembered some parts, though it took me a little bit to re-orientate myself. We had lunch at a restaurant that only sold chicken, and there were only two types — roast or ginseng. We had ginseng chicken, one each … small chicken.

After lunch we walked to the Catholic Cathedral where a couple had just finished their wedding ceremony. We sat around for a little while, then the lights went out! Must be saving energy since the ceremony finished.

We left the cathedral, walked through Lotte Hotel to the City Hall area. Totally unplanned but we caught some changing of the guard ceremony at the Deoksugung Palace. It is ironic that the palace is surrounded by skyscrapers and next to a Dunkin’ Donuts.

 

From the Deoksugung, we walked to Namdaemun Market. There were all sorts of stalls including food, snacks, clothing, scarves, shoes, kitchenware. We were tired, so we went to a basement café that was straight out of the 1950s to have coffee and tea. It was quiet though, and we both fell asleep a little.

Went back to the hotel via subway, fell asleep for an hour again (lots of napping today!), then went out to a nearby restaurant where we had an all-you-can-eat barbeque dinner of beef and pork. They kept serving us food and we were very full. We also shared a bottle of rice wine.

Read our brochures for a little bit, then went to bed.

6 April: Insadong, Changdeokgung Palace

Took the City Tour bus from the stop opposite our hotel. It’s one of those hop-on-hop-off affairs so we plan to use it as our mode of transport today. The bus took us to Namsan and Seoul Tower — places we’d never go on our own. Our intended destination was Changdeokgung Palace but it got obvious that the bus wasn’t going to get us there in time for the 1pm tour. So we stayed on the bus for one more stop and stopped at Insadong.

I love Insadong, it’s a quaint little street with art galleries and antique shops. We went to a tiny family-style restaurant I stumbled into last time I was in Seoul. Sitting on the heated floor, communicating with the ladies who worked there in sign language. We had a most wonderful lunch of all sorts of dishes — fish, soup, steamed egg, tons of kimchi, tofu, pork … everything in small plates arranged all over the table. KRW20,000 each, IIRC.

More walking around Insadong, but there wasn’t enough time to fully explore before we had to make our way to Changdeokgung Palace to join the 3pm tour (we had to join a tour as that’s the only way visitors can go in). Nice palace, but empty buildings.

 

I think I’ve see too many historical buildings in my life, it was nice, nothing exciting. The flowers were very pretty though.

 

After the Changdeokgung we hopped back to the bus and went to Itaewon, which is supposed to be vibrant and full of shopping. We didn’t like it, it had too much of an even more downmarket version of Camden market to it. Luckily we had the tour bus ticket and spent half an hour walking around before catching the next bus back to the hotel.

We got off the bus and noticed a local restaurant right by the bus stop and decided we should have dinner there. We interpreted the Korean menu using a complicated series of guesswork and comparisons with photos on the walls. We had miso bean curd set and a clear beef soup. VERY nice. And cheap too, KRW5,000 I think.

 

Lots of walking today, I was tired.

I haven’t yet been in Mumbai for holiday but there’s so much new about India. No wonder it’s such a popular destination.

They kept feeding us on the plane. Drinks, snacks, more food. I had tandoori chicken (quite spicy), ice cream and lots of wine (heehee). Got out of the airport quickly. The greeting area was crowded with lots of drivers holding names for their clients but it wasn’t a problem to find my driver and get to the car. I’d been warned about beggars and unauthorised drivers but that wasn’t a problem either. In India it’s not unusual to have a driver, and it’s recommended for those travelling on their own. Stayed at the Marriott, which took about an hour from the airport. Whenever we stopped at traffic lights women or children would be knocking on car windows to get them to buy balloons or flowers. I looked away.

The feel of the roads is like Kenya actually — concrete roads, then dirt and/or rubbish, then houses. Streetside stalls selling sweets, cigarettes and papers, just like Kenya.

  

Lots of tuktuks, like Bangkok. They’re called ricksaws here. Driving takes nerves of steel, lots of honking and cars just swerving out of the side road. Actually there’s no difference between main road and side road, there are no road markings.

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There is a big difference between the suburbs and downtown Mumbai. Downtown is just like any big city, may be busier and dirtier, but I felt fine walking around even in the dark. Outside was poorer and more “local”.

India is a land of contrasts — the poverty of the children sleeping on the streets vs the opulence of my hotel suite; the streetside stalls vs the modern shopping malls.

 

There was a cow outside our office building. Not in some suburbs or village … right outside the business district.

Our flight was at 10am. Quick drive to the rental car office, they took us to the terminal by van. The terminal was larger than the one at Dunedin, the domestic and international terminals were next to each other and connected. We checked in, got our boarding passes and went over to the international section, where it was quieter, and shared a pot of tea.

No metal detector check, just walked to the tarmac, up the steps and we were on the plane. Flight was longer than I expected, probably cos it was a small plane (one of those with propellers). We were served cookies and tea and eventually we touched down at Rotorua.

Another regional airport, the rental car lady was there with a noticeboard waiting for us. She took us back to town and left us our car -- a 2.2 Camry, much bigger than the Pulsar.

Our motel was the Coachman Inn, along the main hotel street. Room 8 again, same as Christchurch. Room was okay, large kitchen with 2 hobs (yay!) and a spa tub. The furniture and decorations were little old though.

Drove out to town to have kebab, not as good as Dunedin. Then to the information centre and around the lake. North island was definitely more populated and there were a lot of cars and people and much much more built up. On the way around the lake we stopped off at the agrodome and looked at the zorb. I wanted to try, even before coming here, ever since I saw it on TAR; just watched other people today though.

A short drive away to the Mamaku Blue blueberry farm, tried the blueberry wine and liqueur and the juice. Ended up buying some liqueur and the juice as well as some jam and chocolate as presents.

The lake drive was okay, a letdown compared with south island scenery. we stopped a little way for photos, then went to the Blue and Green lakes. Honestly, disappointments.

Still light out, went to Woolworths and bought mussels and lamb chops for dinner. The mussels were the best, so sweet and fresh. We opened the second of our pinot noir, very nice.

***

Leisurely start today, our main aim was to head for Taupo. On the way we stopped at the Waimanga geothermal area and after a short debate decided to pay the $28 each entry to the reserve. Wow, so worth it. The walk was quite long, but well marked and explained. There were 3 stop-off points and a bus took people back to the entrance, so they didn't need to walk back.

The frying pan lake, cathedral rock, and inferno crater lake were awesome. We took the harder Mount Haszard hiking trail between bus-stop 1 and 2, quite steep and harder than we were used to. Then it began to rain. Then it poured. Eeep. We were so glad we had our waterproof jackets cos we hardly felt the rain. We missed the bus at bus stop 2 so we walked the extra 15 mins to bus stop 3. nice. We were very very happy, even though we were damp and hungry.

 

Short drive in the rain to the prawn farm. Too late for any activities, we had a late lunch of 1 kg large prawns. Quite nice, but not as prawn tasting as they could be. These had pinchers too, the first time I've seen them.

Just about enough time for the honey place before everything closed. It was still raining hard. Bought honeycombs and tried the hokey pokey ice cream - yums. A favourite.

Bback at Rotorua we went to Countdown to buy more mussels and venison. Happy that we had another nice dinner.

***

Today's target was Waitomo caves. It was supposed to be 200+ km but the drive was extremely boring. Nothing to see, windy roads, narrow and winding, rain one minute, sun another.

The cave more than made up for it. The glow worms were astounding. They're just larvae and they make thin strips of gunk that hang down from the ceiling of the cave to attract food. There were thousands of them in the dark, we were in the boat and there was silence and darkness, the glow worms were bright enough to give light. It was romantic.

We were very lucky, there was a fire last wed that destroyed the entire ticket office and shop and it had only reopened again this week. Luckily none of the smoke ended up in the caves. No wonder they were so disorganised. The river level was rising and any higher they'd have to close. And if CO₂ levels got high they close the caves too. We were very lucky.

[ETA: 30 December 2005, some despicable people vandalised the caves, spraying graffiti on the caves and limestone formations, forcing it to close again. So awful.]

On the way out, we stopped at a home farm and bought an ostrich egg. Empty, since we couldn't have eaten the entire egg -- equivalent to 24 normal eggs. We did buy a small ziploc bag worth of frozen ostrich egg that was about a quarter (ie 6 hen eggs). The lady very kindly gave us some herbs from her garden too.

We were very hungry, and by the time we had lunch it was 3.45pm. We headed towards Te Kuiti, the nearest town. After investigating several cafés we decided on the Chinese takeaway. My god -- the mountain of fried rice and the fried noodles without noodles, in-teresting.

Drove the longer but faster way back via Hamilton. Another visit to countdown to get asparagus, mussels, clams and more venison. Couldn't stay away. I fried the venison rarer today, I think I have the hang of it now.

 

***

Tried making ostrich omelette for breakfast. Very thick. Didn't scramble properly. Couldn't finish it. Heated up the fried rice again, for the trip.

First, zorb! $45 for one trip down. They didn't have the strapped in version, and most people went for the wet one anyway. So they gave me this yellow clingy outfit to change into, I was glad I had a swimming costume underneath.

A Land Rover ride up the slope with 2 other people. When it was my turn, the guide told me to take a running dive into the zorb that he had already filled with warm water. It was stuffy inside, and of course pretty wet.

I chose the zig-zag course, which was supposed to be more fun -- at least it was longer and more bumpy. The guide tapped the zorb and I pushed it down, it was slippery and rolled around a lot, quite difficult to stay on my feet and I didn't even try. I went "weeeee!" all the way down, it was a little dizzy and I think I ended up going backwards. And it was me in this zorb.

Heh, they didn't call it "spin cycle" for nothing, it did feel like being inside a washing machine during the spin dry cycle. It was fun, although I might not do it again.

After the zorb, we popped by the blueberry farm and bought a carton of juice for the trip. I was hungry, so I got started on the fried rice. What a good idea, to pack some food for the drive.

Long long drive to Auckland, only 236km but a lot of traffic and slow moving vehicles. There was even a traffic jam on the motorway on the way into the city, a big difference from the open roads on South Island. Staying at the Kingsgate hotel, much like a travelodge.

Got checked in then drove out to city centre, looked for parking space. Damn, expensive. Eventually we gave in and parked at the Sky Tower. Luckily we validated the ticket at the souvenir shop (bought a few fluffy sheep) and it saved is $11. The charge for 3 hrs was $18 and we only paid $7.

Walked around the very busy city. Lots of Asians and Koreans. Stopped by Starbucks, for veg pie and berry muffin. It was extremely windy by the time we reached the bay.

Bought sushi and sashimi to eat at the hotel, didn't want anything too heavy. Took the car out again after dinner to drive over the harbour bridge and to look for some ice cream but with no luck.

Back to hotel, it's the end of our trip now. Sad but happily satisfied.

***

We got up around 6am, had breakfast (the only hotel that has breakfast included) and set off at 7.30am-ish. It was a miserable day in Auckland, rain rain rain. The drive to the car return office was free of traffic, and the guy there took us to the terminal in the same car.

Auckland airport was the largest so far, but there was a hellishly long line at check-in. Turned out the baggage handling / conveyor belt system at the airport was down. So we weighed our bags, the check-in lady came out of her booth and attached the tag, and then we had to wheel our bags ourselves (following a trail of uniformed staff) to the side of what seems to be the baggage warehouse. Then a window opened and we shoved our bags in. sheesh, first the eftpos system breaks down for 2 hours on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, and then the country's largest airport has a systems failure on Christmas Eve? Not doing well, them Kiwis.

Anyway the flight was full. Day flight, so I only managed to nap occasionally. They fed us well, we had a nice lunch of chicken and cake; tea of ice cream and shortbread; dinner of beef noodles and cheesecake. Food on Air New Zealand has been impressive.

No personal screen, only the large screen at the centre. Had to change headphones a couple of times before finding a pair that worked. Watched most of Bewitched, some of Goal! but wasn't interested in the third film, a little league baseball fatherly film with Billy Bob Thornton.

Most of the time I read Geek Love, which I brought for the trip but hadn't touched at all. It soon captured my interest. It's twisted, yet compelling, and easy to read. It basically appeals to anyone who never wanted to be just a grey, nameless cog in the conveyor belt of life; anyone who wanted / knew / liked it that they're a little bit different. I got to page 306 by the end of the flight.

We took over 2,800 photos during the trip, when sorted and duplicates eliminated we got it down to around 1,600. I've only posted a tiny selection here, I put about 800 on flickr:

Set 1: Dunedin to Queenstown
Set 2: Queenstown to Franz Josef to Christchurch
Set 3: Rotorua to Auckland

***

Driving day. We started early at 9.45am. I was glad to be out of the motel, not very impressed with this place. First place to visit was the petrol station, we took a longer way to a mobil that was the cheapest in the area. Sometimes every little helps.

Drove to Arrowtown, it was HOT! The sun was out in full force. Arrowtown was a small mining town, still with original architecture. We almost bee-lined to the sweet shop, very much like the ones in British seaside resorts. The lady there (from Ireland) said the sweets were actually imported from the UK. We bought cola bottles and flying saucers and some of their home made fudge.

 

We passed by the Shotover jetski station and stopped for a couple of pictures. [ETA 5 Jan: The Shotover Jet operation was shut down before Christmas, and again at New Year's, because of technical problems and fire. I'm doubly glad we didn't go.] More adventure watching at the AJ Hackett bungy jump place at Kawaroua bridge. Seemed fun, but not for us.

Finally got under way with the real journey, heading towards the glaciers. We took turns driving, changing over more often than usual, and taking more stops. Perhaps that helped so we weren't as tired. It was an extremely hot day, we were burning up through the glass in the car. I tried to keep my arms in the shade but not much luck.

Stopped at Lake Hawea for quick photos. BEAUTIFUL.

Eventually lunch was at almost 3pm at Haast Township. We had fish and chips. Ah, township, what an interesting definition, there was a supermarket, a café, a pub and several motels, that was the sum total of the township.

Another 140km or so of roads, and that was when the unsettled weather started. It could be bright sunshine, and the all of a sudden we'd hit a rain patch. Eventually we reached Franz Josef township early evening. Heh, township. It was another one main street settlement.

Our hotel was the Alpine Glacier, one of those where you parked your car directly outside your unit door. Quality wise, it was in between Portabello and Colonial village. Large room, clean and new fittings. No cooking facilities though, not even a microwave or electric frying pan.

At the advice of the very friendly and helpful owner lady, we booked our heli-hike for tomorrow and investigated the restaurants. Ended up at a place called The Landing, we had lasagna and shepherd's pie. Originally we wanted venison hotpot but they'd sold out.

Afterwards I investigated the converted bus that was the local internet access place. It was cool.

***

Our helihike was at noon, so we gathered with our group at the check-in point late morning, paid our $640 (eeeep!!!) and got changed into boots and waterproof jackets. The guide told us to just take our cameras and water, no need for anything else. It wasn't that cold up there anyway. I only had a polo shirt and a t-shirt underneath the jacket.

Waited about 20 minutes for the helicoptors to arrive. The ride was short but beautiful, the hike itself was 2 hours and ... what can I say? Amazing. Breath-taking, Trip of a lifetime. The crevices were deep, but we were with an easy group of 12 people so nothing too challenging. Crampons on the boots helped, and we got our ice-legs soonish. The caves and the water flows and general sights were so great. Probably better told with pictures.

 

 

It was hard to comprehend exactly how large the cracks were. What seemed like just small gaps could be the size of a person. There were also ice caves hidden away that we could crawl into. Where there was ice, the surface was slippery, and blue ice even more so.

Every so often we'd turn back and look up at the glacier. It was a sight.

Chopper trip down I managed to get the front seat and took some more pics. At the valley station we got a little brochure and a "certificate" that we "did" the Franz Josef Glacier. There was also a bunch of information about how glaciers form and how come there's a glacier at this latitude. The main reason is the lack of any landmasses that stop the rainclouds that blow into the western side of South Island. It takes 5 years for climatic changes to take effect, so if it doesn't snow enough one year, 5 years later the tip of the glacier will retreat.

Back to our room for shower and a late lunch of toast and pate, yum. After a short nap we drove out to Fox Glacier and another 6km to Lake Matheson. 1.5 hour walk around the lake, more exercise and walking for the day. Good scenery but the main attraction was the mirror lake reflection of Mount Cook. Which was behind clouds mostly but still nice photo opportunities.

Dinner back at The Landing, our food took a long time to arrive, it was just a chicken/brie/cranberry sauce pizza and lamb salad, apparently something went wrong with the pizza. I was kinda annoyed and they refunded us $20. Not expected but good gesture.

***

Long drive to Christchurch, on the map about 5 hrs. We stopped at lunch at Hokitika, a largish (for NZ) town that was quite touristy. It was full of jade and craft shops and a whole bunch of coaches that stopped and disgorged tourists. Kinda forgotten it was sunday but we were reminded by the sign at a restaurant that advertised sunday roast. We had a large plate of roast lamb each - $13.95 gave us a small mountain of roast lamb, roast potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, cauliflower cheese and peas all in a big heap on the plate. niiiice. That place was self service and boasted "the largest teapot collection in nz", so we had to try their tea. I had a very strong English breakfast and mm had peppermint, both from tea leaves. Altogether an excellent sunday roast lunch.

Moving on, the drive to Christchurch took us through Arthur's Pass, quite a steep climb, especially in our car that had no uphill ability. There were few cars on the road. The road eventually levelled out and by the time we were 50km from Christchurch the road was almost ramrod straight. It was also extremely hot outside so the effect was that I could see the heat from the road, and oncoming vehicles were hard to spot. Driving in remote areas like this I always turn the headlights on full, even in bright sunshine, it makes me so much more visible to other cars. I was thinking that we probably saw more roadkill than cars at some point.

Christchurch was a city alright. It was the first time we stopped at a traffic light for a week! There were more cars than we'd encountered the entire week. Trams! Taxis! Buses!

Our motel was the Milano motorlodge. Very nice again, large room, this time with very soft carpet. Nice colour coordination, everything was yellow and blue but very pleasing. The landlady was also extremely friendly and helpful, we're lucking out again.

Took a drive out to city centre. everything was closed, it was worse than the UK. Walked round a bit, to the cathedral, the pedestrianised zones and took some pictures of the trams. Dinner at this place called Six missing chairs that was supposed to be award winning. Service was home-styled and the cooking pretty decent, but I'm not so sure about "award winning." mm had venison and I had lamb shanks. We were reading brochures we picked up from the hotel and discovered this was a byo restaurant, so I ran down to the car and took one of the bottles of pinot noir we bought in Bannockburn. Corkage was $5 per bottle.

After dinner we drove up the road to a 24 hr supermarket, bought some silverside and hummus for picnic lunch tomorrow. So tempted to buy more but we were flying the day after, so we had to restrain ourselves.

I was amazed at the familiar names. There was a Hereford street one block from Worcester, another street up was Gloucester, followed by Armagh and Chester. There was Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Liverpool, Salisbury, Aberdeen, St Albans and the whole region was called Canterbury. Christchurch itself was located on the River Avon. It was like going home.

***

6am wake up, 7am leaving time. It was overcast and foggy. We were really early, got there at 9.30-9.45am, checked in and were told that our '10.30am' sailing meant watching a video at 11am, then boarding. We walked around the village and stopped for peppermint tea and chocolate milkshake.

A short coach ride to the boat, it was a fast speedboat that held around 60 people and was full. We couldn't walk around like other cruises, sat at our seats till the guide found a whale, then we all trundled up to the roof.

The crew consisted of a guide and a couple of spotters. The guide gave funny but clichéd comments. But it didn't matter, we spotted a whale very quickly. The boat got into a perfect position just behind the whale for about 5 mins, then the crew could tell it was diving and over the PA system the guide even told us when to click our shutters.

Saw 5 whales in all, got close to 4. I tried out the fast shutter speed and got some very cool pics for one dive. And to cap it all, we had a fabulous movie.

Then the guide got us to all scramble back to our seats and the pilot moved the boat quickly inland to shallower waters and caught up with a pod of dolphins, it was the most dolphins I've seen at once. It was wonderful.

 

There must have been around 30 of them. Some of them were even doing jumps and flips. The best advice from the guide, they usually did 3 or 4 flips, so focus on them and they would probably repeat. And I caught one!

 

And finally, just watch them swim about, there's something so peaceful about it.

Lunch was at a pub called Strawberry Tree, we had fish and chips and a fisherman's basket meal. Service was very slow, there was only the one guy serving and cooking and he was cooking everything from frozen. Food wasn't value for money either, the fisherman's basket was a few deep fried fish nuggets, one mussel fried, and probably 3-4 potatoes worth of wedges.

As if the day wasn't eventful enough, we went to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, it was open till 10pm and we sneaked in before they closed part of one section. Nice stuff -- deers, birds, farm animals and KIWI!!! Plus other interesting animals. It was worth the trip.

Raining when we left, wanted to find a Chinese takeaway but the one we found was closed. 9.45pm and a takeaway is closed. wtf. Ended up at Mcdonalds where we got the deli sandwiches, kinda sad, but it was what we felt like.

Pretty much all packed now. Bye to South Island.

***

Flight was at 7pm, but it was almost an hour before we took off. Seats were 2-3-2 and we had the 2 seats at the second row of our section, next to the emergency exit. Nowadays nothing is sacred on the internet, I already found out as soon as I knew we were 19A and 19B that we had emergency exit seats.

Legroom was comparable to business class. Now I realise comfort on a plane is proportional to legroom. food and stuff were good, but no personal screen, had to watch the film on the big screen.

***

Arrived Auckland at 11.30am local time. Had to claim luggage, go to the domestic terminal via a slow courtesy bus and check-in again. I was getting anxious because there wasn't a lot of time. What struck us was the number of Asians in Auckland, well at least at the airport, we called them the ethnic majority. Honestly, they were everywhere, I was afraid we'd arrived at another Vancouver.

Flight to Dunedin was via Wellington, so more time wasted with the stopover. Got very tired at the end and it was a relief to finally land. Dunedin airport was tiny and very provincial. Our car was a Nissan Pulsar, NZ$524 for 10 days rental. The guy didn't have change for 530 so there was a bit of faffing around, he kept asking if we had change and we kept saying no. Dude, we just got off the plane and only have large notes. Last time I drove was in April, so it took me a few minutes to get used to driving again. Luckily not many cars, and slow speed.

Didn't see much of Dunedin town itself, we drove straight to the Otago Peninsula where our hotel was. First shock to the system was the narrow road, next to coast with no barriers between the car and the water. The Portabello motel was fantastic, the pictures on their website didn't do it justice. It was spotlessly clean, big, with kitchen, balcony. Everything looked new. Lovely.

Took a shower and napped for 10 mins on the armchair. Almost 7pm when we headed out for dinner. Hey! it was like London! Still light out. Actually it didn't get dark till past 9pm, which was another pleasant surprise.

Drove a little round the city, found parking space easily. Decided on Japanese food at this casual place called Minami -- grilled fish, fresh oysters, one sashimi bento each. NZ$40 approx.

Drove to Woolworth's after dinner, bought essentials -- breakfast, water, drinks, bread, peanut butter, snacks and stuff like that. Took some pics on the way back to hotel of the sunset by the bay. Very nice.

 

***

Breakfast at "home" -- a full breakfast of sausages, eggs, grilled tomato and toast. The plan today was to see the wildlife of the Otago Peninsula, which is one of NZ's biggest eco-tourism centres. Drove out to the tip of the peninsula to find the Royal Albatross Centre. VERY windy, so windy all we could hear was the wind. Decided not to go on the 90 minute tour of the albatross centre - we weren't 100% enthusiastic about albatrosses. Took a short walk down to the cliffs, even more windy.

Drove about 5 mins to Penguin Place, and there we did take part in the tour (2.15pm, 1.5 hours) to see yellow eyed penguins. It's a conservation project that provides sanctuary for penguin pairs to raise their chicks in a safe environment. Apparently this year there are 21 pairs. Altogether just about 4,000 yellow eyed penguins are left in the world, concentrated in NZ and South Australia, so it's vital to give them the opportunity to breed. We walked with the guide in the reserve, there were seals there too, lazing about. Even one that was surfing in the water! We also saw some seagull chicks. The penguin chicks were brown and almost the same size as the adults. We walked along trenches and tunnels that had viewing gaps at ground level so we were invisible to the animals. Managed to get close to a few penguins, it was fantastic and well worth the trip.

Started drizzling a bit in the late afternoon. Drove back out to Dunedin and had kebabs. NZ$6 each, plus a diet coke. The kebabs were different from London ones, the meat was a little tougher but the cook put hummus with it and it made the whole thing very tasty.

At the outer edges of Dunedin was Baldwin street, holder of the world record for steepest street. And it was steep, by the time we walked up the top we were exhausted.

Bought our dinner at Woolworths -- lamb shoulder steak, monkfish, carrot soup, steamed puddings. Cooked ourselves. The monkfish was so fresh we set aside a little for sashimi. niiiiice.

One thing about NZ in December, it gets dark late. So we were having dinner at 8 and it seemed early.

***

First on the agenda this morning was fill up the car. It was cold, windy and wet at the BP, grrrr. Pleasant drive though, we were heading towards Alexandra, via the "fruit route." There were lots of fruit farms near Alexandra and we bought a large pack of cherries at $12. The cherry orchards were shrouded by nets, to protect them from birds and insects apparently.

By the time we got to Central Otago the weather had changed so much, from wet and windy to positively hot. Scenery changed too, we drove alongside the Clutha River and stopped at the Cromwell Lookout to take some huge photos.

Alexandra is supposed to be a largish town in the region, but the main street was still pretty tiny. We had a late lunch of mini quiche and bacon & egg pie (more like a quiche than pie IMO). Visited the tourist information centre and got tons of brochures. Armed with our newly acquired 'Central Otago Wine Map' we headed towards Cromwell to the vineyards. This is the southermost winemaking region in the world (NZ holds a lot of 'southermost' records) and the climate of hot summers and cool winters suit the grapes very much.

The vineyard we visited at Cromwell wasn't impressive so we decided to move on, and ended up at Bannockburn. Almost by chance we hit Olssens, which is the last one along the road it is on. We tasted the available wines, had a brilliant chat with the lady there and bought a couple of bottles of pinot noir and some verjuice, which is sour like vinegar and used in dressings and baking. 2 bottles of ice wine too, total $165, pretty good. There were some sculptures on the grounds, more photo opportunity.

Here's a photo at Cromwell Lookout and one of the sculptures at Olssens. Kinda similiar?

 

Then it was onward again to Queenstown. The view on the way was stunning. Rock formations, driving along the river, sheep, deer, lovely. Passed by the place where bungy jumps were invented but it was closed. Still tourists there taking pictures of the bridge.

Queenstown was very touristy, we thought it was like Davos. And yes, it felt like a downmarket version of any alpine resort. Very commercial, lots of outdoor shops and backpackers hostels. We had dinner at a posh restaurant called the Tatler - john dory on risotto cake & asparagus and rack of lamb with potato dauphinois & ratatouille. Half a dozen oysters to start and a beer. $90 total.

 

Still light out so we walked around the town. Bought cheese, eggs, ribena and stuff at a small supermarket. Tried to decide on what to do tomorrow. Saw a few internet places, about $3-5 an hour. VERY tempted. sigh. Here's a photo of sunset at the lake. NO FILTERS, NOT PHOTOSHOPPED.

We stayed at the Colonial Village motel. It could not be compared with the Portabello at all, it's one of those places where you try to touch very little of the furniture and fittings. nothing particularly wrong, just not 100% comfortable.

***

Major panic this morning -- my camera memory card decided to stop working, so I spent a very frustrating early morning in freaked out mode. We tried it on the PB and it was the card, not the camera. Still not good. The day when we were driving to supposedly the most beautiful scenery in NZ and my camera conks out.

Ooops, I'm getting ahead of myself. We got up at 6am and were out by 6.45am, drove through the fog and got to Te Anau in very good time, about 2 hours. Found an electrical shop and bought a new memory card. $220, yikes, but no choice.

Milford Sound was famous for its spectacular fjords and scenery. We took the 11.25am from Mitre boats and it was the best decision today -- a small boat, few passengers and NO TOUR GROUPS! Gotta see it to believe it, but the entire Milford Sound was teeming with tours. Luckily we were early, and they all took the other bigger boats.

Our cruise had only about 20 people, plenty of space to move about and take pictures. As much tea and coffee as we could drink on the boat. Weather started off not so good, cloudy and rainy, scenes weren't exciting. The boat went full speed out to the tip of the fjord and it was a fun bumpy-ish ride. On the way back the sun came out again and we spotted some seals sunning themselves on a rock.

Then we saw dolphins. many many many, and they played around with the boat. The captain turned the boat around in a giant circle and they surfed along the wash, it was brilliant. Also trying to spot penguins but no luck. It was a great cruise though. Here's the Stirling falls, next to the Elephant, see the trunk?

Driving 4 hrs to Milford means another 4 hours back to Queenstown. Stopped at Te Anau for an hour on the way back, stretched our legs and had a frozen yogurt. Bought venison pie at the ice cream place, chatted for a llittle while with the owners. The drive back was long too, but I got up to 110kph on the open roads and we were back at our hotel by 8pm.

Did laundry, popped over to KFC to buy some chicken wings, then had the wings and pie for dinner. I washed it all down with some Speights beer we bought at the Woolworths in Dunedin, seemed so long ago.

***

Woke up at 9-ish, had breakfast of beans on toast, taking it easy after yesterday. By the time we headed out it was almost 11am. Drove via Cardona to Wanaka, about 1 hr away. There are 2 possible routes to Wanaka, one via this Cardona road which is shorter but more windy, the other is via the main highway.

We both wish we'd known more about Wanaka, cos it would have suited us better to stay there rather than in Queenstown. Had a quick lunch of mutton pie, steak pie and diet coke - $9.20. Enquired at one shop about fishing, but it was full. Asked at another place and we were in luck.

This boat held max 3 passengers so with 2 of us and the captain it was perfect. Did a type of fishing called trolling, where we cast the line with colourful lures and moved the boat along very slowly. Had 3 lines - two were handheld, and another downrigger fixed to the side of the boat which was weighted and went down further. First hour went by and nothing. Then James, the captain, changed the lure on one of our rods and quickly we reeled in a salmon. It was about 1.5 foot long and perhaps 1-1.5kg. We were really excited! Decided to keep it. Soon we got a second one.

The downrigger got another salmon, but we put it back, thinking 2 was enough. We then stopped for tea and coffee and I was still eating my trail snack when I got a pull on my line. Reeled in slowly, it didn't feel like a salmon. The salmon fought and pulled, this one felt looser and didn't fight -- it was a large brown trout. I decided to put it back, cos we had 2 salmons already and we couldn't possibly eat them all.

Two more salmons followed quickly, we put them back in the lake too. So all in all 5 salmons and 1 brown trout -- wow, in only 2.5 hours, impressive. Would have liked to have snagged a rainbow trout too, but they were much rarer in that lake.

We agreed it was a way way better experience than the jetboats, rafting or other activities. Such a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We bought some salad and oven bake bags for the salmon, and a utility knife at a homeware store. All prepared. heehee.

Drove back to the hotel to prepare dinner. Some of it went as sashimi and the rest were poached inside one of the bags, in the microwave. Yummy. And free too! well, free with the $285 + $18 licence that was the fishing trip.

 

After dinner we drove out to town and visited a bar called minus 5°. It was a bar constructed entirely out of ice, $25 entrance including one vodka cocktail. They provided us with warm jackets and gloves. Our drinks were served in ice glasses and we sat on seats made from blocks of ice.

 

It was so much fun, we took lots of pictures of the ice sculptures and the drinks. A lot of them didn't turn out that good cos of the reflection. Actually the temp was -7.8°C, but I wasn't that cold, taking my gloves off was fine.

Great trip so far. We're enjoying ourselves.

***

Aberdare

We stayed at a supposedly treetop hotel called The Ark. Its design was nautical, a shout-out to Noah's Ark, with rooms that were very much like cabins on a boat. The back of the hotel overlooked a waterhole which was frequented by elephants, hyenas and others. It was a fantastic sight to see a herd of elephants playing in the water.

Each room had a bell alarm system which rang whenever there were visitors, the number of buzzes indicated which type of animal, like 3 buzzes would be a leopard. They even provided extra blankets for wrapping so the guests could just run out to the viewing rooms in the middle of the night whenever there were interesting visitors. Unfortunately we weren't woken up because nothing interesting came along during that one night we stayed.

And the surprises kept on coming. Our last excursion was a walk inside the country club to see the giraffes. It was truly a fabulous end to a memorable trip.

Scenes

Kenya was full of surprises and contrasts. Everything was so new, so different, made us forget about the stresses of our mundane lives. We came to realise the real beauty was the wilderness, the animals. That you could be driving along seemingly empty bushes then you turned a corner and there was a herd of zebras. We felt so small, so insignificant, yet so privileged at being a part of the wonderment that is nature.

It's all part of the experience.

Living conditions were basic for most Kenyans, most in huts of concrete walls and tin roofs and very small windows. It must be stifling hot in the heat. Roads were full of potholes, sometimes entire sections of the tarmac had fallen away. Toilets were holes-in-the-ground but most times there was paper. But it's everyday life. People were poorer in the countryside, the cars more beat up, most people walked, some had donkey carts. Children and women in traditional dress came up to the van to beg or sell souvenirs.

We drove by towns but mostly stopped at roadside souvenir stops. Not so many opportunities to explore the towns, except once we stopped at a gas station and we had a few precious minutes. But the Kenyan people were not keen on being photographed so we had to be kinda sneaky.

In total between the two of us we took 27 rolls of film, close to 1,000 pictures in total. Here's a selection of the rest, scenery, roadside snaps, people, signs. And the "You are Now Crossing the Equator" sign. We even got a certificate.

The call of the wild

In the end we come back to the animals.

Here's what we saw: giraffe, elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, servor cat, baboon, monkey, zebra, rhino, wilderbeest, topi, gazelle, impala, hartbeest, eland, waterbuck, bushbuck, hyena, jackel, warthog, wild pig, mongoose, vulture, eagle, malibu, flamingo, pelican, ostrich, camel.

Nakuru - Baboon fight

Here's another experience we never expected to see. Baboons fighting. Right in front of us.

Aberdare

From the central lakes we made our way via Thomson's Falls to the Aberdare Country Club. Set in surroundings that is reminiscent of a colonial club it had dark mahogany bars, a golf course, high teas and just the whiff of the Empire long gone. Warthogs, gazelles and impalas roamed freely on the grounds.

The Aberdare Game Reserve was very different from the Masai Mara. While the Mara was mostly flat plains, Aberdare was like a rain forest with dense undergrowth and trees. The soil was rich clay, so the overall effect was a red tinge on everything. So the types of animals found there were different.

Nakuru

Another long bumpy ride from the Mara and we arrived at Lake Nakuru, one of a series of salt water lakes which from above seemed to be lined with pink shores. Pink from flamingos and pelicans in the thousands. Around the lake were dense bush where other animals could be found - monkeys, zebras, even a couple of rhinos.

Masai Mara - Lion Hunt

Getting up before sunrise, warming ourselves up with cups of tea, and we're off by 6.30am. We were able to catch lions in action as they hunted and breakfasted on an eland.

It's all part of the experience.

Africa changes people.

It's not every day that we get to set foot on a brand new continent and there are fewer to choose from now. Only South America and Antarctica left.

We went there full of trepidation, full of worries about crime and disease and drinking water. Did as much research as we could beforehand, getting travel books from the library, looking all over the net. But at the end, it worked out just fine.

Nairobi

Yes Nairobi can be dangerous, but it's no more dangerous than Bangkok or Rome or New York. Watch out for pickpockets, follow the traffic, don't go to certain areas, be careful after dark. As a tourist expect to be harassed to buy stuff. People were friendly, with a purpose, but never hostile. Bargain for souvenirs and walk away if an agreement can't be made. See? Not so different.

The flight arrived early in the morning and we got settled into the hotel. The first day in Nairobi was no more than a filler, to get used to the country, to have a bit of a tour round the city, visit the shops and museums.

Dinner at a restaurant called Carnivore. A rather touristy place but then again we were tourists, so embrace the label. On the menu were all sorts of meat, grilled on skewers in a giant BBQ pit. The usual lamb, beef, sausages, chicken, but as a local flavour there was zebra, hartbeest, eland and crodocile. We tried everything, the game meats were a bit tough, at the end we decided we like the lamb best.

Masai Mara

From Nairobi it was a long drive south, made worse by the conditions of the roads which at some point, resembled the lunar surface. The journey drove home the vastness of Kenya as we passed the Great Rift Valley, past the town of Narok and across acres upon acres of farmland onto the arid plains of the Masai Mara Game Reserve.

Four, or was it five hours of bumping and we finally arrived at our camp. To call it a mere camp is like calling Disneyland a park. Lush surroundings, pool and well kept gardens were a big contrast to the emptiness outside the fence. Living quarters were tents but these were large fixed affairs with proper beds and an ensuite bathroom. The meshed openings at the sides served as windows and there was even a small sitting area out in the front.

But no TV.

At night with the window coverings in place and no lights outside it was eerie lying in bed and hearing the sounds of nature so close by. Birds and insects mainly. But we knew there were monkeys on the grounds and did a leopard manage to get in? The imagination can go into overdrive there. The uncertainty of what was outside the canvas walls added to the sense of adventure.

Game drives were early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Other times the animals tended to hide and sleep so it would be hard to spot them. The drives took place in white minivans with a roof that opened up. So whenever the driver spotted an interesting animal we would all scramble up and peek over the top of the van at the animals.

In-town check-in, now that's the way to go. Without the burden of heavy baggage you can have lunch in town thus avoiding a) having to lug suitcases all the way to the airport and b) paying airport food prices. Comfort for price, it was good value.

Flight was good, we had 3 seats to ourselves and read all the newspapers onboard. Shanghai airport was big but empty, as if waiting for planeloads of passengers that haven't quite arrived yet. Bus trip into town was fairly long, in addition to the driver there was a matronly conductor who would shout out the names of the stops. We had to take a taxi from our stop to the hotel but it was only a short ride. We stayed at the Mayfair, on the west side of town, it felt brand new because part of the hotel was still being renovated and the health club wasn't opened yet. And because it wasn't in the town centre it was nearly half the price of say, the Shangri-la. For what we saved over just one night, we were able to cover taxi fares for the entire trip.

Dinner was new and fabulous food. Cold appetisers of marinated duck's tongue and chopped greens. Hot dishes of mini chicken kidneys and beans, pork knuckle in soup (not fat at all, yummilicious!). We were completely stuffed by then but could not resist ordering dessert - deep fried pumpkin cakes that were just so light and melt-in-the-mouth. One bite and the fullness in our stomachs was quickly forgotten.

Stayed up for New Year's Eve of course, but in the comfort of our hotel room. I had a half bottle of champagne I'd brought from home so we had a toast. It was nice.

The Yuyuan Garden itself is a private garden that dates back some 400 years and is now open to the public. The surrounding buildings are in the same style as the gardens and have been converted to shops and restaurants. Man, how many people can fit into that space?

Lunch was at this tiny dumpling place inside the complex - buy your ticket, give the ticket to the servers and the food arrives to your seat minutes afterwards. Steaming hot dumplings and savoury beancurd soup. Despite the "cosiness" of the establishment, ie 8-9 people around a table that would otherwise sit 4, there was no shortage of willing customers. People must know the food is good, the take-out section had a permanent line snaking out from the tiny serving window all the way down the other side of the building.

In the afternooon we visited a quaint teahouse situated in the middle of a small lake, the architecture and furnishings suggest times past. The dried tea leaves came in a small ball that expanded in the glass like a pretty shy flower opening up.

Early dinner at "Old Shanghai". Fried glutinous rice cake with hairy crab roe, chinese cabbage with dried scallops, crystal prawns. The most expensive meal of the trip, but still good food. There was a wedding banquet at the restaurant, funny thing was the bride and groom totally disappeared toward the end of the meal and the wedding cake was cut by the waiters into large chunks which were deposited at each table. The guests just used their chopsticks to get a piece of the chunk, no new cutlery was laid out. Then at the end what looked suspiciously like 2 kitkat bars were given to each seat and the bride and groom's bounty was taken by another guest who swooped to their seat and pocketed the bars to herself. Bizarro behaviour if you asked me.

Around 1.5-2 hours by bus is the water village of Zhou Zhuang, literally meaning Zhou's village. It dates back more than 900 years and was basically built alongside the banks of crisscrossing rivers and canals. The operative word is quaint, just about, the small houses riverside have been converted to restaurants and shops, the bridges well trodden by visitors, boat cruises with boatmen and women who sang while padding. It was a pleasant way to spend the day, except it was marred by the aggressive and at times annoying sales tactics of every single person who wasn't a tourist.

The entrance ticket included visits to the museums, ancestral homes and historical monuments around the village. At the far end of the village we found a shop owned by an artist, one of the very few who were not pushy. More reason to linger at his shop.

Hotpot dinner at the restaurant near the bus stop back in Shanghai. Chilly night, we were glad to find somewhere nearby. We chose the chicken and mushroom pot and the pot was as big as a wash basin! We had a bowl of soup each before we started. Dishes were priced individually but there was no service charge and drinks were free. We had 2 large bottles of beer and a tankard of soya milk respectively. Tried some new dishes, including sea cucumber (like thick seaweed) and cactus (surprisingly good). Staples like beef and lamb were fresh and melt-in-the-mouth. Yet another memorable meal.

And a fabulous day topped off with a visit to Xintiandi, the swanky nightlife/bar/cafè area. Bar prices were comparable with other major cities around the world. And on that Friday night it was buzzing.

Early (for us) start, so we could fit in as much as we could. Taxi to the imposing Jin Mao Tower which stood heads and shoulders above everything in the city. Visited the sky lobby of the Grand Hyatt, went all the way up to the top floor observation deck. View could have been spectacular if not for the smog, they really have to watch the air pollution there.

Lunch at Yunan Street South, a food street full of different restaurants. Initially we wanted to go to a really local dumpling place but we got distracted by the smell of lamb kebabs from a Tibetian food stall. Had to wait till the kebabs were ready, then they were gone in a flash.

Lunch proper was chicken, big bowl of noddles, wonton and soup. That, plus a beer, came to only RMB26.50. Who says cheap food can't be as delicious? For dessert we bought candied apples from a stall that sold all sorts of candied fruits, the apples were small and sour, which complimented the sweetness of the sugar coating perfectly.

Walked to Huai Hai Road, Shanghai's version of Oxford Street. Department stores and international brands at one end, flea market at the other. We bought some tissue box covers, a scarf and were seriously looking at binoculars and rucksacs. Although we were crap at bargaining, we still bought our stuff for relatively cheap prices.

Dinner at a place called Yang's Kitchen, a longer walk than expected away. It was situated at the end of a dark alleyway that led of the main road, not a place we would have known if not for the guidebook. Had the most yummilicous pumpkin and lily salad for starter. For mains we had crispy aromatic duck (yes! just like the ones in Chinatown), stewed pork, dumplings and eight treasures rice for dessert. What is it with meals in Shanghai? Don't think we had any duds.

The evening ended with a "romantic" walk along the famous Bund. In reality, too many people to be really romantic but the atmosphere was nice enough.

Our taxi dropped us off at the opposite side of the road for some reason, so we took the opportunity to take a walk around the hotel. What did we find? A supermarket. And true to tradition we paid a visit and couldn't resist buying food and grocery.

In the morning we went back to the Bund to see what it was like during the day. Then returned to Huai Hai Road to buy desserts to take home. For lunch we had shrimp noodles at that shop.

The time left before our flight was spent at the park opposite the hotel. Kids playing badminton and adults social dancing in the playground painted a perfect, idyllic picture. Our final meal was a snack of savoury soya milk, then it was off to the airport.

A good trip.

Just as we thought it couldn't get any more memorable. About an hour from Furano is Bibaushi, a small village on the way to Biei. It was a beautiful sunny day and we rented bikes and leisurely cycled around. We both agreed that it was the best part of a trip already full of bests. The rolling countryside with fields of corn, rice and what not is like an Asian version of Switzerland.

We cycled to the local school which is a much-photographed landmark. We also visited the Takushinkan, a museum of works by local photographer Shinzo Maeda, whose photographs of the local scenery are full of amazing colours and textures. We were glad we were on bikes because it gave us the freedom to stop every few minutes to admire the landscape and take pictures. It would have been more difficult with a car.

After Furano and Bibaushi we returned to Sapporo for our final 2 nights. About an hour from Sapporo is Otaru where we planned to visit last on our trip because we thought we'd get most of our shopping done there. We bought several music boxes, glassware and several sake sets. Unable to shake off the bicycling urge we rented bikes again and it proved to be very useful in nipping around the narrow streets.

The must see landmark in Otaru is the canal with the cluster of historic warehouses along the way, a remnant of Otaru's shipping past. The warehouses are all converted to shops and restaurants nowdays but by day or by night, walking along the canal still retained its romantic feel.

Hokkaido is the northernmost but least populated of Japan's islands. Our trip started in Sapporo and a bus trip from Chitose airport to our hotel, immediately we were treated to Japanese hospitality and politeness, even though we didn't know Japanese and the bus driver didn't know English, he made a special detour to bring us right to the hotel entrance.

Sapporo is one of the few cities in Japan where the street layout actually makes some sense. Blocks are named and numbered according to compass points, so walk north from block North 1-West 2 and it'd be North 2-West 2. For that first night we stayed at the Sapporo Grand which was within walking distance of the station and famous sights like Government House, Clock Tower and TV Tower.

The Clock Tower is very much a New England styled building. It is the symbol of Sapporo and seemed to be constantly teeming with visitors. The TV Tower is located at the eastermost side of Odori Park, which dissects the city from east to west. The park is small but beautiful and peaceful, even though it was right in the centre of town.

The other attractions for us were Ramen-Yokocho and the Fish Market. Food places of course. The former is a narrow alleyway that has a dozen or so small ramen shops - we had other plans for dinner otherwise we would have tried one of them. Instead we had a crab feast of 3 types of crabs all beautifully cooked, as well as side dishes such as fish soup, salad and dessert. The Fish Market was full of stalls selling all sorts of fresh crabs, fish and our favourite, roe. There were a couple of small restaurants serving the freshest sushi and we ate some fabulous sushi at this one stall which was no more than a counter with 3 chairs, and the chef made the sushi one piece at a time and served straight to us.

From Sapporo we went Noboribetsu, where we stayed at the Daiichi Takimotokan hotspring hotel. The hotsprings are open 24 hours and there are over 10 different types of springs of various mineral content and temperatures. The spa is separated into male and female sections and all you're allowed to take into the spring is a teeny tea-towel which barely covers half your torso. But nakedness is so matter-of-fact that anyone who is overly modest stands out more. My 2 favourites are the foot spa and the outdoor spa. The foot spa is made up of 2 knee-deep trenches filled with hot and cold water respectively and you walk along the trenches experiencing the different temperatures. The outdoor spa is absolutely breathtaking, surrounded by trees and flowers while the hot water flows out from a bamboo pipe and steam wafts up from the surface. The sensation of lying there at night, our bodies immersed in this body of sulphurous nectar, gazing up at the stars surrounded by nature, is as close to heaven as we can get on earth.

All meals were provided and served in this cavernous dining hall. It was buffet style and there were numerous stalls serving different types of food, like grilled crabs, sushi rice, teriyaki steak, noodles and all sorts of other delicious foodstuff. Japanese breakfast is rice and all sorts of other goodies and a perfect start to the day.

Noboribetsu is a typical resort town, with one main road running through the resort lined with shops. At the top of the village is the Hell Valley, with sulphurous streams of hot water bubbling out of red and yellow rock formations. This is where the water in the spa comes from naturally. There are a few well marked walks in the valley and we joined a local guide on part of his walk, of course it was all in Japanese but we could sense how knowledgeable he was. He led us to a small pool and asked us to try a sip of the water. It was hot and acidic but supposed to have medicinal uses.

Further into the valley the red rock formation gave way to the regular greenery of a well maintained "wilderness". The other lakes in the were just as beautiful.

From one highlight to another. We took a bus back to Sapporo where we changed to another bus to Furano. Buses in Japan are clean, comfortable, reliable and cheaper than trains. We're lucky we can read a bit of kanji, which makes travelling so much easier. Even so stops are clearly shown on the bus, well basically, they're a doddle to take.

It was also the only day on our trip that rained, so spending it on the bus wasn't a bad deal. By good planning and a little bit of luck we got to Furano on an earlier bus and gained a couple of hours.

Furano town itself has very little to recommend it, it felt uncannily like an out-of-favour seaside town, and we dubbed it Westgate because it reminded us of Westgate in Kent. Furano of course is famous for the lavender farms. And spectacular they are. The lavender doesn't grow everywhere, they're grown in specially designated areas but when in season the entire hillside is completely covered by a lavender carpet.

There are special local trains that bring people over to the main fams. Farm Tomita is the biggest, the brochure suggested a visit of 1 1/2 hours, in the end we were there something like 5 hours but each minute was well spent. Lavender wasn't the only attraction, the other flowerbeds were equally well maintained and pretty.

I'll let the flowers do the talking ...

A city with no cars, no diesel buses, with a rich maze of alleyways and squares that interconnect with one another. By all means, line up to go inside the Basilica, feed the pigeons at the Piazza, take a picture at the Bridge of Sighs. But Venice is more that that. Venice is where every street and square leads to another alley, another square, another new place to explore. Just go without a map and without a fear of getting lost. Eventually you'll come out into a bigger street or square and you'd know where you are.

Venice is where all the senses are fully occupied, sight, sound, smell, taste. During the summer the canals tend to have a distinctive, perhaps even stinky, smell. But that's what makes this city unique. Everyday life goes on under our noses, gondolas may take tourists on the romance of a lifetime, but the vaporettis run 24 hours and are the lifeblood of locals. To cruise down the Grand Canal on a sparsely occupied vaporetti is just as fulfilling as the equivalent gondola ride. Cross the canal on the rickety standing-room only traghetti which are old gondolas. Buy souvenirs from the small shops everywhere selling the unique masks, or colourful glassware, or beautifully handcrafted notebooks.

Visit the Rialto Bridge of course, but don't miss the Rialto markets where stalls groan under the weight of foods on sale. Try squid ink pasta at a small osteria, or make a meal out of cicchetti (Italian version of tapas) at a small bacarro. Try the melt-in-your-mouth varieties of smooth creamy gelato. Sit at a café and sip bitter, strong coffee. What else is there, what else?