TravelStream™ news feed for member aandl on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/aandl en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:27:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1245424212/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1245424212/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1245424212/tpod.html Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:27:07 -0400 A and L go East

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Singapore, Singapore

Took the late afternoon boat back from Bintan to the Tanah Merah ferry terminal and then made our way into central Singapore by bus, rapid transport and finally taxi (to find the hotel!). The Robertson Quay hotel (very good rates on the Internet) is very well situated right in the modern Riverside area, which is definitely close to the action! Sensational view from our 10th floor room.

Enjoyed checking out the different traditional pockets of Singapore (Chinatown, Little India, Arab quarter). There's not a lot left and they are surrounded by skyscrapers but it was fun. We picked up a "Best of Singapore Food" pamphlet at the airport Tourist Info which was good reading for the many different food specialities and where to find them. We tried quite a few!

Singapore must have the best variety of food in the world ... and at the best prices. Dishes in the Hawker Centres and Food Courts are mainly between 1 and 3 euros - delicious! We particulalarly liked the Hawkers centres at Maxwell Street (great variety, near Chinatown) and Lau Pa Sat (surroundings, Satay stalls outside). Great murtabaks at Zam Zam in Arab quarter too.

Singapore Sling at Raffles was a disappointment on last evening (27 Singapore Dollars and tasted more like a "mocktail" (= no spirit!)). However, found a Bacardi Mojito evening in Clark's Quay near hotel on way back (10 Singapore Dollars and delicious) - great Latino band and excellent dancers in the local crowd too. The area near the hotel was a real bonus - very lively and picturesque in the evenings - Clark's Quay, Boat Quay, Riverside Point (with good microbrewery) ...

Last day today ... going to check out the Colonial area, sample a microbrew or two, food court for late lunch, make way to airport for late night flight ... ...

Now, in September, I am finally completing this entry!

Although we had checked out of our rooms, we had an hour by the pool and showered and changed there before it was time to head off to Changi airport. The taxi was not expensive to the airport and much easier than the metro (long walk to station + several changes). There's a decent outdoor bar to savour those last Asian moments before the long flight back to Europe ...
... then ...
a few weeks on less exotic travels on a tour to visit friends and relatives round France and England and then ... back to work! At least we live and work in the Cote d'Azur, which is not a bad spot!

We could not have hoped for better from our two trips (to South America and Asia/Oz) during sabbatical break from work.

There's a wonderful world out there - its rude not to see it if you get the opportunity!
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Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Back after our long weekend to Augusta, we had few days to visit Perth and Fremantle again.

The centre of Perth is quite pleasant but nothing special (compared with the attractions of Fremantle). It's practically all high rise but there seems to be quite a backpackers scene with the pubs offering special backpackers evenings. So, I'm sure you would have a good time staying downtown.

The "must see" attraction is Kings Park. It has a beautiful setting above the city and the Swan River and so has spectacular views. Its also a lovely place to walk around with areas planted with native plants from different habitats in the region and quite a lot of birdlife around.

Our friend took us for Saturday breakfast at a cafe at a delightful spot on the edge of the park. I hd the "Full Monty" breakfast and they had Oeuf Fiorentine (although I am not sure they called it that). Eating breakfasts out with friends seems to be an Australian Institution! ... I suppose its like Sunday Brunch in Europe but we certainly go for the version Oz.

We have to thank our friend for giving us a wonderful séjour in WA. As you can see from a couple of the photos, she enjoys the good things in moderation (a nice drop of Champagne - French certainly, but some of the Oz varieties are very drinkable at a lower price, and of course the Margaret River wines are excellent (although more expensive then (arguably!) equivalent wines in Europe), ... spot the picture of the delicious Emperor Fish she cooked, ... ...).

We did take a drive round some of the lovely suburbs south of Perth along the Swan River - not a bad spot to live if you can afford it. One trip we have left until next time ... out to Rottnest Island ... weather not good enough while we were there. Next time!

So, that's the end of Australia. Having been in exotic Asia for most of this trip we wondered if Australia would turn out to be a bit dull. Certainly NOT. We will have excellent memories.

Thanks to the natural treasures of Australia ... beautiful scenery, exotic wildlife (particularly the parrots), food and drink, lifestyle and ... culture!

But it really was our relatives and friends who made our stay so welcome and special - THANKS. See you soon in the South of France!




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Augusta, Western Australia, Australia

Augusta is about 320 kilometers south of Perth right down the bottom where the west coast meets the southern ocean. Our friend took us down there in the car for a long weekend at her holiday home, and what a delightful spot it is!

One day we did a tour up the coast to Margaret River. Our friend likes good wine and we sampled some very tasty drops on the way round. checked out other taste treats at a cheese outllet and at a pub brewery by a lake, had a lovely lunch at the Lamont winery also by a pretty lake, ran into (nearly literally!) loads of grey kangaroos as dusk approached. A excellent day out and lots of lovely scenery.

At other times, from our friend's balcony we spotted a dolphin down in the river inlet, we had lovely walks up and down the river (with pelicans, blacks swans, a large ray and more dolphins), down river you cross over to walk along the untouched shoreline ... we headed down the coast towards Cape Leeuwin and, just outside Augusta, spotted a number of Humpback Whales just off the coast, we watched a very spectacular sunset at Hamelin Bay (our friend had the foresight to bring a bottle of champagne to sip whilst the sun went down!). And much more ...

A lovely time.
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Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Australia is a big country! - its five and a half hours flight from Brisbane to Perth. We stayed in WA with a friend we first met in Bali back in 1988. She has been to stay with us a few times in England and France, and it was about time for us to come and see the places she has talked to us about.

She has a small and pretty house and garden in the very pleasant Perth suburb of Cottesloe. Certainly a good spot to live, nicely placed between Perth and Freemantle, just ten minutes walk down to the sea, popular surfers beach and great to walk along the beach up the coast. It could be a handy spot to stay (if you decide to have a change from the numerous backpackers places in Perth and Fremantle) as there is a backpackers just behind the beach two pubs and various other places to eat and drink at the beach.

Altogether, we stayed 10 days in WA - a few days in Cottesloe, a long weekend in Augusta, and then a few days again in Cottesloe before leaving Oz. It was very handy for us to be able to catch the local train one way into Perth or the other way to Frementle. We went into both Perth and Fremantle, but I will leave Perth and photos of there until we come back for Perth II.

Fremantle really is a great place, with loads to see and do. The event that saved it and made it what it is was the Americas Cup - held there back in 1994. Instead of knocking down all the heritage buildings they spruced everything up and they have not looked back since!

You could do as we did: have a look at the old round house, then take in the classic old buildings in the West End area, grab a coffee in the Cappucino strip (and/or a beer in the pub Brewery Sail and Anchor), potter round the Freemantle market (Fri/Sat only), and take an interesting tour round the old Fremantle Prison (closed for business and opened to the public in the early 1990's).

Then its time for serious business down at Fishermen's harbour! There's several fish restaurants round the port and the large Little Creatures pub brewery complex! We would particulerly recommend the Kailis fish restaurant as a great spot by the water, very reasonably priced hot and cold seafood with, say, Semillon Sauvignon wine to help it down. Highly recommended for both eating there and takeaway.



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Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

On Sunday, the day after the big family party, we went down to Brisbane in the car with Lindsey's cousin and her daughter - stopping off early on to see where some of the family had set up house (generally in 40 acres of land - much of which is native bush with dingos, wallabies, etc!). We stayed with the daughter who lives in Sandygate, a suburb of Brisbane right on Moreton Bay.

She has picked an excellent spot from which to commute into the centre of Brisbane for work. Right by the sea, with lots of typical colonial type houses, she lives in a unit in one of them - a 10 minute walk to the station and a half hour train into Brisbane.

Brisbane itself is quite pleasant without being anything special as a tourist destination. Its mainly modern and high rise, with just the very occasional old building, just to give the place a bit of "heritage". A very good way to see Brisbane and environs is from the river using the River Cat, which has regular services, which runs right through the centre of the city and out on both sides. Day passes covering all Brisbane's transport options are very reasonable.

There are lots of possible places to stop off on the river Cat trip:
- certainly the old Expo site, which has been well re-utilised with everything from museums to restaurants to a mini version of the London Eye to a beach area. The original Nepali peace temple (which we saw there back in 1988!) is about the only remnant still there from Expo.
- possibly a drink/meal at the well known Regatta Hotel
- there's also a few parks en route and the Queensland University - set in a pleasant campus.

... but we really enjoyed the area around Sandygate, with Lindsey's cousin, daughter and also one of her son's and family living nearby - pleasant for walks along by the sea or into the village, and socialising with family.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1242382560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1242382560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1242382560/tpod.html Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:36:18 -0400 A and L go East

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Bangkok, Thailand

Note: Photos of main tourist sights are in previous entry.

Decent flight with Air Asia (no frills but fine - "Now everyone can fly") from Hanoi into Bangkok. We are just here for 3 days before flying out to Sydney.
On Saturday, we spent practically all day looking at shops !! ... first the weekend market (which has 15000 stalls) and then the enormous MBK and Siam malls back in the centre of town. Not the nightmare you might expect! Easy transport to and fro as the BTS skytrain connects to both from Sukhumvit where we were staying, and quite fun. A great discovery was the Food Court in the basement of the Siam Paragon building - a multitude of food opportunities and cheap. Its just 3 stops from where we were staying by skytrain (and right outside the station), so we ended up going there to eat for the next two evenings.
We were looking to have a trip by long-tailed boat down the klongs We had done such a trip many years ago in Bangkok but could not remember where started off in the long-tailed boat. So, on Sunday, we headed up river to Nonthaburi on the Chao Phraya Express boat. Well, the trip we were looking for was not from Nonthaburi! ... but we found a trip to Koh Ket island upriver by long tail boat. It seems to be a favourite spot on Sundays with the Thais. It was a fun trip on the boat ... when you get to the 'island' there's a very long narrow path/alley with loads of not very exciting handicraft stalls, a wat, and what looked like good places for lunch by the river.
The next day we flew out ... the end of of our Asia trip, sadly ...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1243387140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1243387140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1243387140/tpod.html Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:41:55 -0400 A and L go East

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Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Happily, air travel in Australia is rather cheaper than it used to be - now there is actually competition! Just one and a half hours from Sydney to Brisbane, and we were picked up by Lindsey's cousin, then 2 hours up by car to Toowoomba (literally up - its generally 5°C colder than on the coast), to stay in their house on the edge of the bush a bit out of town. They built a lovely house on a big plot with loads of native vegetation and birds.

Whilst the town of Toowoomba is not a place you would expect visitors to Australia to go out of their way to visit, its a pleasant enough place which definitely has an Australian feel to it (wide streets, typical facades, ...)

We had a lovely stay there for a week - enjoying the countryside and nature, visiting town, other relatives and friends, a meal out at a winery for my birthday, a great day out to the Bunya Mountains National Park (named after the impressive Bunya trees found there) - picnic, lovely walk in the forest, lots of wallabies and multi-coloured parrots - and, on the last day, an excellent all day party with the family out there and their numerous offspring (it ended up quite "arosé" - I will spare the photos).
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Sydney, Australia

We had a couple of three month visits to Australia years ago and did quite a lot of the standard travellers stuff. This time we're here mainly to see some friends and relatives ... so our itinerary and activities are

Had a great few days staying with friends who we met and spent time with back in the 80's (both in Europe and Australia) and we have not seen since! They now have lovely daughters of 13 and 17. Stayed with them in a delightful suburb (Grays Point), at the edge of the Royal National Park south of Sydney.

Visits to the Eastern Suburbs to meet up with Michele and Louise, who we had met on the Halong Bay boat trip in Vietnam, and trips with our friends to the Royal National Park and futher down the coast, and lastly into Sydney to the Rocks, Opera House etc.

It all went very quickly ...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1245132013/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1245132013/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aandl/2/1245132013/tpod.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:27:10 -0400 A and L go East

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Bintan, Riau, Indonesia

The flight from Perth to Singapore takes the same as from Brisbane to Perth - Five and a half hours!

After the four weeks in Australia we decided to finish our trip off with a week in Singapore to get a final Asian touch. We opted to head out to Bintan Island in Indonesia, for some sun, sand and sea, for the first half of the week and then finish off in Singapore.

Its under an hour's fast ferry ride to Bintan Resorts from the Tanah Merah terminal which is not far from Changi Airport. So, we found one of the hotels from the Fragrance Hotel chain out in Joo Chiat Road and stopped there the night. Its quite an interesting area out there - lots of the classic shophouses and plenty of places to eat.

Incidentally, its worth checking out the Fragrance Hotel and Hotel 81 chains for reasonably priced accommodation in Singapore. There are branches in the centre as well.

We found a decently priced chalet in Nirwana Beach Club on Bintan through Expedia and booked before leaving Oz (around 50 Euros a night). Although you need a visa and enter Indonesia, that's about it! Its really Singapore on Indonesian territory - drinking water in the taps ... ...

We enjoyed it a lot there - the chalets were quite OK but not opulent and its great to sit out front and look over the lake, and spot the wildlife (very large monitor lizards, kingfishers, ...). (Chalets are split into two so you have to hope your neighbours are quiet!). The whole Nirwana Gardens complex is large (3 hotels,plus villas, numerous restaurants) and the facilities, pool, restaurants, etc can be used by all guests.

The beach and sea there are lovely.

Prices at the restaurants etc are not giveaway but OK. If you like a beer on your terrace for an apero, think about getting a few at either the Tanah Merah ferry terminal duty free shop or the shop where the boat lands on Bintan. (All drinks prices are the same in Nirwana Resorts (and pricey) and, with 20% service + government taxes added on to menu prices, you can get beers at a third of the price and keep them in the fridge!


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Tabatinga, State of Amazonas, Brazil

2 hours on the plane with one quick stop from Tefe to here in Tabatinga and it was comforting to see nothing but forest as far as the eye can see. At least in the upper Amazon there is still forest there!

We would not have stayed so long here but had to wait for a boat to Iquitos (Peru), which does not run every day. However, there is interest here as it is there are three towns next to each other in three different countries (Tabatinga - Brazil, Leticia - Columbia, Santa Rosa - Peru). This offers the possibility (if you stretch your imagination) to do a 3 nations pub crawl - with no cross border immigration formalities!

Half an hour´s walk (or by kombi) from Tabatinga, takes you past the border into Letitia - the best developed of the three. The principle mode of transport is light motor bike - see if you can spot more than 5 on a bike! Check out indigeous souvenir shops, the market, and then stop at the cafe by the port for a tasty Aguila beer (Columbian). Drop down to the channel to pick up one of the small boats going across the Amazon to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa is rather more primitive and more like a village than its cousins across the water. Quite a few restaurants along the river - all blaring out loud music (as is the habit in this part of the world). The one we checked out had the excellent Cusqueña beer from Cusco (Peru). The blaring local music was interupted by one tune from our previous travelling era: I come from a land down under ... where women go and men chunder ... (Men at Work)!! Go back down to the landing spot and pick up another small boat back to Tabatinga. There´s a pleasant spot there by the port to check out a Brazilian beer (say Skol/Antartica).

Good exercise! Costs practically nothing. Only mistake we made ... went on a Sunday - in Leticia (Colombia), ¨Domingo - No Cervesa¨! So, it was Cafe de Columbia and water for this stop.
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