fishtails04's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

fishtails04's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member fishtails04 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/fishtails04 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:48:23 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Home Sweet Home — Geelong, Victoria, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/7/1257937561/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/7/1257937561/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/7/1257937561/tpod.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:48:23 -0500 Converting to Vegemite

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Geelong, Victoria, Australia

So here I am, after another day of house-hunting, with a place to live!  I declined the offer of an expensive room in an immaculate house where I would have been scared to sit on the sofa for fear of messing up the cushions;  I thought Paul's tiny flat had potential but, though he was very sweet, both he and his kitchen were a little too reminiscent of 'The Young Ones' for me to actually live there; and my final viewing of the day was at a large house in the suburb of Highton, owned by Ron.  He has terrible taste in music and decor and his main interests are football, tv and beer (so at least we have beer in common!), but he seemed easy-going and laid-back, offering me a seat and a cold beer as we discussed a deal.  And I though "Yes, I could live here!".  So I took the room and moved in yesterday.  It's a large single-storey house, and as well as two living areas, a decent kitchen, and a desk in the shared study, the house gives me my own bathroom opposite a good sized room containing built in robes with plenty of boot storage!  Oh, and did I mention the large drinks fridge in the covered area just outside the back door...?  It goes very well with the blue skies...! Unfortunately, the large garden does not contain a pool, but it does have a big trampoline... hmmm... the former is good for cooling down when it's hot and sweaty, while the latter is good for making you even more hot and sweaty when you're already, well... very hot and sweaty... Still, Ron's young neice and nephew like it... I may have to invest in an inflatable paddling pool for my own entertainment!  Or maybhe I will just stick to the beer fridge...  On the subject of being hot and sweaty, my plan all along has been to avoid the expense of a car, and to rely on public transport, along with the purchase of a bicycle for local jaunts... hence the 'hot and sweaty' in the summer heat.  I hit the jackpot when I mentioned this to Mandy, who passed on her two wheels to me, saying that she will never ride them herself!  Along with the long-term loan of a mobile phone from the same source, this has really set me up.  Ken has been equally brilliant, changing my appliance plugs to Aussie ones, setting up things on my computer, and running Ken's cabs on a regular basis.  But most of all, staying with Mandy and Ken has made the whole beginning of the 'migration process' so much easier because of their company and support - it's so comforting, when you're all over the place and have no idea what you're doing, to be able to laugh with someone you've known forever, who knows exactly where you're coming from.  It would have been a whole lot harder without them... and, of course, there is that pool, too! Remarkably, there was only one breakage in my shipment, which was delivered this morning.  As anticipated, the customs people had a field day when they saw 'footwear' in the inventory for nearly every box (all those boots, you know...!), and they opened eleven out of thirteen, searching for traces of  'foreign soil', but luckily everything was passed.  So I had a busy day unpacking, (trying on boots...!), and trying to sort my room into some order, giving thanks for the huge built-in wardrobes - it now has my stamp on it.  I made the mistake of flicking through the photo album of my own house back in Cliffoney, as I came across it, and it brought tears to my eyes... God, I loved that house, and, as I looked around at my cramped new quarters, I did momentarily question my decision, giving up a beautiful, cosy, spacious home of my own, to take a room in someone else's place - but I snapped the book shut, looked out at the blue sky, listened to the lorikeets singing, and thought 'onwards and upwards'! The locals keep reminding me that it's only spring, and it's not normally this good - It seems it's an unseasonal heatwave, and this has been the hottest November since early 1900s.  How was that for good timing on my part?!  Though it's not so hot inside... I spent last week on a refresher course for  Victorian teachers, shivering in the aircon of Deakin University (happily, my new place has ceiling fans so i won't have to use air-con), but it was very useful and informative - it hasn't made me any more eager to actually find myself a job in that field, but at least now I know the current local jargon and buzzwords so I can sound informed when I need to!  I also attended a seminar for 'skilled migrants', all about how the Australian cv differs from other styles, where to look for employment, and what the most popular interview questions are at present - it was full of people from diverse countries, mainly in business, and I found it quite amusing when we had the 'networking' session... in my experience teachers gossip at professional gatherings, rather than 'networking', so it was all very entertaining.  And the refreshments were top-notch!  So, now I'm in the house, I have a few more organisational matters to sort out and then I can put it off no longer - I have rent to pay so I have to find a job!  I'll let you know what transpires...PS I haven't had a chance to take pics of the house yet, so I'm putting in some of the town... not a bad spot, I think you'll agree! 
]]> Indian home cooking/ luxury living in udaipur — Udaipur, rajasthan, India http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/the_big_trip/1188251520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/the_big_trip/1188251520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/the_big_trip/1188251520/tpod.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:51:18 -0500 The Big Trip: Sligo to Sunny Maceio

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Udaipur, rajasthan, India

  ...and then add a teaspoon each of cumin seeds, ground coriander, anise, red chilli powder, chopped green chilli, a pinch of salt and simmer... Aahhhh, the aromas emanating from the pot on the stove in Renu Mahta's kitchen are mouthwatering! I'm in Udaipur, where I stayed for a few days with the Mehta family as a 'Servas' member (see www.servas.com for more info on this organisation). After weeks of cheap, basic accomodation it was a real treat to avail of the physical comforts of a family home, as well as being a fascinating insight into the ordinary daily life of an Indian family. And the home cooking is only deliciuous...so much for dropping the pounds on my dhal and rice diet... I'm being fed excessive portions of all manner of exotic delights, laden with oil and ghee, but it's just too good to refuse! Learning from Renu, I'm all fired up to spice up my own kitchen when I return so you can look forward (or not!) to being guinea pigs as I practise my palak paneer and aloo paratha.   Udaipur, apparently, has just been voted one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I heartily agree with the judgement. It's Rajasthan at its romantic best: a land of shimmering lakes, hazy wooded hills, whitewashed havelis and the cupolas and balconies of old palaces. The City Palace holds a wealth of exuisite glas mosaics, murals, and incredibly detailed paintings of the Maharana and his harem and Rajput prnces arriving on decorated elephants. All are housed in an architect's dream of connecting balcomied buildings arranged around tranquil fountained courtyards. My highlight was the weighing scales in the form of a hanging chair, used in days gone by to annually weigh the Maharana in order that his weight in gold be distributed among his people. It's a custom for which I'd happily be a peasant but, alas, it's no longer practised. Less impressive in design but even more stunning in location is the evocatively named 'Monsoon Palace', perched high on a wooded hill overlooking the city, lakes and hills rolling away to the horizon. Renu, an ex-lecturer of Indian architecture and art history, was an ideal companion for the jaunt, guiding me through the details as we sat watching the palace begin to glow orange in the setting sun.    I took an overnight trip to the awesome Jain temples in the forested valley of Ranakpur, staying overnight in the Pilgrim's Quarters: a blanket on a stone floor in a tiny cell with the sound of monkeys screeching in the trees outside. Tourist visits inside the temple are limited to 12-5 pm but, as I was staying overnight, the orange-clad priest invited me to attend the evening puja. It was an unearthly fire ritual in an eerie atmosphere as the carved figures within appeared to dance in the shadows of the flickering candles while huge bells clanged, enormous drums were beaten and the flaming bowl was circled around the idols and flower petals were strewn at the altar as offerings to God. It was an other-worldly experienced that will remain imprinted on my mind.  Back in the city I've been flexing my hands in some tabla lessons (Indian drums) and experiencing another's flexed hands in an excruciating but ultimately therapeutic massage. (My old shoulder injury has been making its presence keenly felt after weeks of backpacking and poor beds). And finally, for my last night before another bumpy overnight bus journey, I am having a serious blow-out and staying in a 'nice' hotel. Having averaged 3 euro a night for rooms so far, I had to spend days persuading myself that I could justify an excessive 36 euro for one night! But I finally talked myself into it and am luxuriating in a large double room with aircon, a bath, a jacuzzi, a hairdryer (palpitations at the prospect!)and ...wait for it...toilet paper!!!!!! All decorated in gorgeous local style, with antique furniture among the leafy verandahs and there's even a rooftop pool with fabulous views of the palace and lake. And all for the cost of a nasty B&B at home..how could I not treat myself! I'm acutely aware of the fact that the new school year starts this week, and wish all my teacher friends and colleagues a happy and successful year ahead. I'd ike to say I wish I was there with you but that would be an outrageous lie, as I'm delighted to be so far away with another 10 months of adventures to look forward to!
]]> Gers in the Gobi — Somewhere south-east of Mandalgovi, Middle Govĭ, Mongolia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1250261034/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1250261034/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1250261034/tpod.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:49:07 -0500 The Scenic Route

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Somewhere south-east of Mandalgovi, Middle Govĭ, Mongolia

It was 8.30 p.m and the sun had long since sunk below the horizon, leaving an inky sky with just a sliver of a moon but a magical display of stars, creating silhouettes of the humpy camels settling down to sleep.  The only other light for miles upon miles around us was from the flickering candle on the floor of the Batbekhs' ger, dimly lighting our evening entertainment: sitting cross legged with our host, throwing a handful of sheep ankle bones on the ground and 'reading' their shapes in order to strategically flick them at each other to try to win them- the traditional Mongolian game of 'shagai'.  This was the middle of the Gobi Desert and these herders have to find their amusements according to their very limited resources! The camels, who were eerily sighing and moaning outside the ger, had no idea that a few hours later they would be subject to us propping a bucket under them with a knee and ineptly pulling and squeezing their teats in a feeble attempt at milking them... we were left with a few drops, lost in the bottom of the container!  We redeemed ourselves slightly in the task of rolling lengths of their hair into rope, used to tie down the ger... not a bit of any animal is wasted out here.  But all this was to take place the following morning... we still had the night to get through and, on account of the brutal wind which had whipped up, rendering tent erection impossible, our hosts had invited us to sleep in their ger.  It was one of the most basic gers we had visited - common to all were the central stove, its pipe poking out through the top of the structure, and the obligatory altar to the north, while many of them also had a bed east and west of the south-facing door, brightly painted trunks for storage, and in the more affluent cases, a lightbulb powered from the battery on the back of an old motorbike, and even a similarly powered television.  The Batbekhs' camel herd didn't seem to be providing them with a high standard of living, though, and their ger was almost bare but for the altar, assorted posessions stored in cardboard boxes, and bedding piled on top.  Their humble circumstances made their hospitality all the more striking and I was very appreciative of their invitation to escape a cold, sleepless night in a wind-tossed tent. Bed time comes early in the desert, and Anju and I were soon following the lead of our host couple and their visiting friend, and laying out our bedrolls, the Batbekhs on the family side (east), the friend before the altar, a spot reserved for men (north), and ourselves in the visitors spot (west) - despite their small size each part of the ger has a specific meaning and function.  Tucked in my down sleeping bag, with the added warmth of the wood stove and the heat of five bodies packed in, I was toasty and relaxed, and drifting into slumber in no time.  The snores of the male friend didn't disturb me but i did wake up at the giggling coming from the family area and I did wonder quite what was going on over there...!  And then they were up and out of the ger with a few loud exclamations... maybe one of the camel herd was loose, I thought, as sleep overcame me again.  The same cufuffle ocurred a couple more times in the night, only slightly impinging on my oblivion, and I woke fully rested, to learn that the commotion had been caused by the intrusion of desert rodents, whose corpses were now lying outside!  And I had thought the scurrying sound was just more of the ubiquitous beetles! Our host was off, in a trail of dust, on his ancient motorbike early the next morning, while our hostess performed domestic duties and sat chatting with us, before taking us off to visit the mud brick ruins of a monastery, and walking us across the sand, past occasional scrubby bushes and animal bones, up to a cave full of bird feathers and bat droppings.  This was one of  the sandiest parts of the Gobi that we had visited - the changing terrain each day continually surprised me as we passed across flat stony ground, through lots of scrubland, around heights of bouldery rocks, onto wind-worn cliffs, and to the top of an isolated sand dune.  It was certainly not the stereotyped 'Lawrence of Arabia''-type desert, but a much more diverse region with a range of  landscapes able to support both domestic and wild animals - as well as the herds of goats, sheep, horses, camels and more rarely cows, we spotted gazelles, foxes, huge birds of prey and a camouflaged snake slithering through the stones. Oh and, of course, those desert rodents...           This unique encounter with traditional Mongolian nomadic life was part of our two week trip in the vast dusty expanse that is the Gobi, travelling between the gers (traditional felt 'tents' lived in by the majority of the rural poulation) of nomadic herders by various means: some days we walked, others we jolted along on horse cart or camel cart, long distances were covered in a jeep, there was the ocacasional spin on a rickety motorbike, while the most uncomfortable jaunts were on horseback - often exhilerating but on barely padded wooden saddles with clanking stirrups suspended from lengths of leather tied in bulky knots... well, an easy ride it was not!  It was a glimpse into a way of life which has endured for centuries and is still practised by approximately half of the national population (the other half squeezing into tiny apartments or ger 'shanty towns' in the ugly, polluted modern  capital of Ulaan Baator) and for us, it was like stepping into a bygone age, where life is slow and simple.  Water is collected in containers from desert wells, toilets are either pits or 'pick an empty space'-style,  showers are non existent, food is provided almost exclusively by the herd, entertainment consists of conversation and playing with sheep bones(!), clothing is predominantly still the traditional tunic-like 'dell', and the rhythm of life is dictated by the needs of the herd, the hours of daylight and the seasonal movemment to new pastures.  It was a whole other world - a fascinating experience but not as lifestyle I'd like to have longterm!            
]]> Along the Waterfront — Yichang, Hubei, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389319/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389319/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389319/tpod.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:26:09 -0500 The Scenic Route

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Yichang, Hubei, China

What a nice surprise Yichang turned out to be.  My train wasn't leaving till midnight and I arrived from the boat trip at 1pm... that looked like being a long time in a town which only warranted two paragraphs in the guide book, one of which said there was no point in going there!  So, bag stored in left luggage, I wandered the streets looking at life in a pleasant-sized town, thinking how refreshing it was to be somewhere that actually seemed to have sufficient space for its inhabitants to move freely, compared to the cram of the cities I've visited so far.  Keen to quench my thirst, and find a spot to sit and read in peace, I found myself sitting with a coke in Mac Donalds.... what have I been reduced to, drinking in an establishment I so despise?!!!  The sad truth is that it is the only place guaranteed to be smoke-free in a country which has not yet developed the notion of non-smoking areas, let alone a smoking ban, and in which it appears that the entire male population over the age of sixteen chain-smokes.  It's impossible to escape it and a result, I've developed a persistent itchy, burning throat, watery eyes and irritated sinuses - it's driving me crazy!  So Mc Donalds it was!**STOP PRESS** The dude in at the next computer in this net cafe has just hawked up his deepest-lodged phlegm and spattered it on the floor beside me...  yeuch!! So, there I was ambling round Yichang, pondering the possible reasons for such a quantity of wedding shops, with such hideous frilly numbers in their windows, when I spied something far more interesting... food stalls which had, as well as the usual assorted fried small birds and unidentified internal organs, veggie skewers... I was starting to think the town deserved a better write up in the guides!  I ordered kebabs of tofu and green veg, in chilli sauce, and sat down on a stool to fill up, having to empty my mouth a couple of times in order to grin in the photos of random strangers passing by!  Not too many foreigners around here, it seems. It was heading for dark by this point and I walked down to the river front, thinking I'd walk off my meal... and what a great option that was.  The entrance to the waterfront was flanked by two bandstands with pagoda-style tiered roofs, decked with fairy lights, and there were people singing to an assembled crowd in each.  This whole length of the river was lined with pretty street lamps, lighting the way for the many locals out for their evening walk, and I walked a while with them before stopping to watch the brightly neon-signed river boats passing by.  There was a wonderful, chilled-out atmosphere, as people stopped to chat to each other, dogs stopped to take advantage of the odd tree, and couples stopped to sit, holding hands and looking over the river.  But best of all was the activity in the landcaped narrow park strip that lined the walkway:  I had got used to seeing people in parks practising their tai chi or whatever, but this was in a different league!  There were separate groups of people all the way along, engaged in ballroom dancing, line dancing, aerobics and wafty-armed Chinese dancing... it was a sight to behold, and the good spirits emanating from the area put me in great form for my walk back to the station. The entertainment continued in the waiting room, though, as a large group took turns dancing and singing and wildly clapping each performance.  They seemed in very high spirits and as I continued to watch I began to recognise faces and realised they were one of the tour groups from the boat!  It didn't take long for me, hiding behind my book, to be spotted, and much of the final two hours before departure were spent with me helplessly nodding and grinning as they tried to converse with me in their native tongue, with regular breaks for more foreigner photos.  Bizarre but all very jolly! Ps  If you're wondering why my blog for this trip has so many more entries than my other trips, it's because there is free interent all over the place along my route so i'm typing it all instead of keeping my journal - that doesn't mean you have to read them all if you're bored! 
]]> Back to the Beginning — Melbourne, Victoria, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1257299978/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1257299978/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1257299978/tpod.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:51:14 -0500 The Scenic Route

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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I expected to be all excited to be arriving back in Australia, nearly a year after I had left, and with 'migrant' marked on my visa instead of 'tourist'.  But after my overnight flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne, via Adelaide, I was too exhausted to care where I was, or what status my entry documents accorded me.  My first flight with Cathay was definitely a one-night-stand and not the start of a long relationship: I will never use them again.  I think plane food's usually not too bad, however the offerings on this flight were truly inedible, but my real issue was the seats:  the 'revolutionary new design' is supposed to please punters as it means the end of the seat in front landing in your face, but the reality is a hard, moulded, desperately uncomfortable seat whose base slides forward, but which doesn't actually recline at all.  I hated it!  I usually find it hard to stay awake on a plane, but I must have scored a mere ten minutes of snooze on this nine hour flight.  Needless to say, I was not in great form on arrival!  But I was brought back to life by the smiling face and big hug of my old friend Mandy and her husband Ken.  It's always been great to catch up with Mandy during the twenty two years since we stopped misbehaving together, when we graduated from college, but it was all the better this time - I would never have predicted, all those years ago when we were snoozing and slurping pints in the back of our education lectures, that we would both end up living in sunny Victoria!  And so my first few days as a resident in Australia have been in the relaxing company of old friends - all the more relaxing, I might add, because lots of the chat was carried out as we ate our meals out in the garden, or cooled down in the pool, from the 32 degree heat!  I feel like I'm on holiday in a luxury resort and have to keep reminding myself that I am actually here to live and work.   But I have been busy on that front too, spending hours on the internet browsing employment agencies and trying to sound enthusiastic on the phone to them, and also adapting my cv to the preferred Aussie style.  I have been scouring accommodation sites and shortlisting possibilities, then making appointments to view and be viewed...  Ken drove us down to Geelong on Saturday and, after a walk along the waterfront and a relaxed sunny breakfast there, we cruised round town and visited some potential new homes: one of the guys was ex-army, super-sporty, a bit dull, and looking, I think, for a tri-athlete to move in... well, hiking credentials or not, there was no way he was going to take me!  Another was a great house but a little short on space to be sharing with the other girl there, who seemed a bit full-on - it's still a maybe.  We looked at the house of a Cuban gay male nurse, who I had thought would be a great  housemate (we could converse in Spanish, we could move to cool music together without me worrying about him being a sleazy Latino, he could look after me if I got sick...) but he lived in the kind of house where you'd be afraid to walk barefoot because of possible wildlife in the carpet.  And the last place we didn't even view - the surrounding houses had a mixture of broken windows, boarded-up windows, bottles in brown paper bags lying on the ground, and Mandy wouldn't let me get out of the car, never mind actually live there!  So, more viewings lined up for tomorrow! Watch this space...  ps... Travelpod have changed the design of the website which, apparently, makes it much easier to leave comments - you don't have to be registered or signed in, you can just type a message in- so please do!!!!!!  It would be lovely to hear from people back home, even it's just a hello!
]]> Ahhhh, saag...! — Hong Kong, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1256295168/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1256295168/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1256295168/tpod.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:53:30 -0500 The Scenic Route

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Hong Kong, China

The train sped through the last few miles of China proper, arriving in Shenzhen at 10.30 am, where I had my passport stamped out of China and into Hong Kong, and walked through to Lo Wu Station across the border.  This was clearly different to the China I had left minutes before:  a tourist information stand attendant welcomed me with a bright smile and handed me a free map, asking in perfect English, if there was anything I needed to know.  As if this wasn't easy enough, the signs were all in English as well as Cantonese, and the tickest seller spoke flawless English, too, but even better, there were real cafes selling real coffee!  While I had been surprised to find English signs in Beijing on arrival there a few weeks ago, the rest of my travels in China have been as confusing as expected, with few English speakers and plenty of baffling Mandarin signs, while good coffee has been like gold-dust.  Hong Kong, as one might expect, is a breeze in comparison!  There is even a smoking ban in place, while signs about 'coughing manners' and not spitting abound... oh yessss! The differences were more pronounced when I caught the metro to Tsa Shim Tsui and wandered around... I kept looking at people, with a start, surprised to see such a range of ethnicities wandering the streets.  After weeks of being surrounded by Han Chinese faces (apart from the couple of days in Dazhai), suddenly I was among faces and clothing from the West, India, north Africa, South East Asia... it was quite intoxicating.  Naturally, these communities like to eat their own fare and this had been in my mind for the past few days... so I headed down a road whose name I remembered from my trip to HK eighteen years ago, scanned the myriad restaurant signs jutting out overhead, and recognising one, entered 'Gaylord Indian Restaurant'.  This had been a  memorable meal on that first foray and it seems the standard has not dropped!.  Much as I delighted in the abundance of veg in China after the milky nightmare of Mongolia, I have been craving daal, paneer, saag and spices... a craving fully satisfied after I had piled my plate high with offerings from the lunch buffet and eaten till I could barely move!  It was sooooooooooooo good! Things have changed for Hong Kong during the years since I last visited, most notably with the handover to China.  But I was more keenly aware of the changes in myself during this period.  I had arrived on a flight from Fukuoka, aftter my two-year stint working in Japan, and HK was the launching pad for my big trip in SE Asia.  I had never travelled alone before, never been backpacking at length, was unused to big cities... and I found  HK utterly overwhelming!  Full of bravado at the time, I would never have admitted how scared I was, how flummoxed I was by the new money, how tired I was from walking because I couldn't figure out the public transport connections, how intimidated I was by the hustle and bustle...  and I found the people shockingly rude after the interminable politeness of the Japanese!  Now it's just another big city, whose energetic buzz I appreciate, and while I still get confused by other currencies, don't like crowds, and get lost on public transport, I know it all works out, and it doesn't bother me a bit!  I was staying with couch surfer May, out in her apartment in the New Territories, about a 40-minute bus ride from the downtown areas.  She was a great insight into Hong Kong life and talked informatively about the changes of recent years, concluding that, with the Chinese Government's new attitudes of opening up their country, and its economic power, the future looks bright for this ex-Brit  colony.  She also walked me around parts of HK which I don't remember from last time, and we sat and ate at an atmospheric food stall, where she ensured that I wasn't served the slimy-looking fish heads, hanging beside the chef!  We did some of the standard sightseeing, taking the Star ferry over from Kowloon to Central and bussing it up to the Peak to appreciate the scale of the city from a height, a view which had eluded me before due to heavy mist.  We took trams along the neon night streets, just to take in the dazzle of the lights and to browse at street markets.  And I insisted we eat at the Taj Mahal restaurant in the infamous Chungking Mansions, of which she was wary, saying locals don't go there as it's dangerous!  This warren of hostels, restaurants, money changers and dodgy shops, has been done up considerably since I last wandered around it, and there are now video screened ads playing above the lifts, which amused me, as we waited to ascend to the Taj on floor 3.  The food was superb and we had a great evening there, convincing May that maybe it wasn't so bad.  It was only as we decided to take the stairs back down, that I sensed the same threat in the air that I remember from before... the stairways seemed like a scene from a thriller, all shady characters loitering with intent, and a negative energy hanging heavy, coming to fruition when a fight broke out and we ran down the remaining steps and out onto the street!    Finally in HK, I did the dreaded techno shopping I had planned, taking advantage of the lower prices here, to pick up a laptop, a replacement for my ailing small camera, and a cheap digital photo frame into the bargain.  This exercise wasn't quite as stressful as expected as, thanks to Dave and Fran, I had key info written down to show the salesmen, and recommendations for fixed price shops where I couldn't get ripped off!  So I ended up in a small branch of the 'Fortress' chain, so small I could see the street outside, which was a lot easier than those huge techno-malls, for a phobic case like me!  It was only a few minutes ago, as I worked out the overall costs on a currency converter, that I realised the photo frame wasn't the steal I thought: my discalculia allowed me to work out the euro equivalent minus a zero - it turns out it was actually very bloody expensive!  Ah well, 'tis done now!  And as this is the end of my wandering for a long spell, at least I have a good display format for those photos!    
]]> Another Day, Another Colony — Macau, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389439/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389439/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389439/tpod.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -0500 The Scenic Route

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Macau, China

Macau is a mere hour by boat from Hong Kong but I didn't manage it last time... I was probably unable to figure the sailing schedule out!  This time round I wasn't going to miss it, my interest  particularly piqued by having spent such good times in another far-flung land which once belonged to Portugal.  And wandering along the cobblestoned streets of the old town, standing on the black and white tiled square, and admiring the yellow walls of the church, I thought I could easily be back in Brasil... except that the bi-lingual signs were in Chinese as well as Portuguese! The Europeans were allowed to establish themselves on this piece of land back in the 1500s, after their trading ships had apparently rid the surrounding waters of pirates.  And so began centuries of colonisation a long way from home.  Today it is a captivating brush with colonial Portugal in a place which, like HK, was eventually handed back to China and is now one of their 'Special Administrative Regions'.  Once you leave the ferry and drive past the strip of casinos, Macau being Asia's gambling capital, you reach the main square, off which lead narrow lanes of traditional colonial houses, in sunny colours, with gorgeous shutters and lanterns and balconies... it's nothing like anything I've seen elsewhere in Asia.  To match the houses are the ruins of the Church of Sao Paulo, reminiscent of the missions in South America, and other typical southern European-style churches, still in use, while up on the hill stands the fortress, its canons now pointing out towards the highrise blocks and casinos which circle the old town.  The lanes are full of small shops selling the local speciality dried meats, which May sampled, and almond biscuits, which were more to my taste.  It was bizarre to see signs for a 'pasteleria' which was actually selling very Asian goodies,  'dentista' with a Chinese name alongside, and 'muebles' on a shop of beautiful oriental antique furniture!  They are just not languages and cultures which I associate together at all, but it was lovely to read the Portuguese... I could almost hear Sergio's voice as I read!  One of the laneways was full of Chinese-style red wooden doors and unusual red shutters, with a contrasting yellow and green Portuguese house at the end, and it was this mix that made the town so unusual. We were in no hurry and had no plan so we spent the hours just losing ourselves in the sleepy Sunday afternoon streets, enjoying the pace which is very relaxed compared to frenetic hong Kong, and sitting over a long lunch and an even longer coffee, discussing life, the universe and all the rest of it... and Australia, of course, for the time has finally come: I am typing this on my new laptop, sitting in Hong Kong International airport waiting for boarding of flight CX 105 to Melbourne and the next chapter in my adventures... I'll let you know how it goes! 
]]> On the Dragon's Back — Dazhai, Guangxi, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1256617285/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1256617285/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1256617285/tpod.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:24:45 -0400 The Scenic Route

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Dazhai, Guangxi, China

The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces: my last experience of rural China before I head on to the frantic mayhem of Hong Kong.  I don't know why this area is so named... with lumps and bumps and sky-high slopes in every direction, methinks he'd be a dragon on disability pension if he were this shape.  Anyway, much as I love the poetic name, my purpose here is simply to relax before I head on for the last stop of my trip. I take a local bus to Longsheng, the dreamy karsts of Guilin gradually giving way to more rolling hills and then change for the village of Dazhai, onto a smaller local bus, clambering to my seat  over the woven baskets which cluttered the bus floor, belonging to the stunning local women.  The area is one of China's 'autonomous regions', on account of the ethnic background of the local people and it is clear that they are not related to the Han Chinese, their physical features and costumes more closely resembling other hill tribes in S.E. Asia.  Their skin is darker and their eyes wider, while their costumes are made from woven textiles in vivid colours, and the women all wear similar large, fat silver hooped earrings.  The women of Dazhai arefamed for their long hair and postcards abound of girls leaning over pools, washing hair which reaches their ankles.  I was sceptical, and I never actually saw any loose hair, but the volume of thick, strong, lustrous locks I saw tied up in the traditional manner, made me, with my puny thin strands, very envious!  The hair is tied in a long pony tail at the front and coiled around the crown, finished with a big loop above the forhead, giving the appearance of a large headdress - fabulous! The wonderful thiing about the villages of the terraces is that there is no traffic - it would be impossible in such terrain, and walking up and down the steep winding hillside paths is the only way to get around.  So the bus stopped at an elaborate gateway and I walked through, following a stream which was bridged a little way on by another gateway, the entrance to the  actual village, whose old wooden homes clustered together at this level and then thinned out as they stretched up the hillsides.  I say old, but tourism has brought considerable income to the area, and many of the buildings are also hotels, offering simple but very attractive accommodation, in newer buildings, but it is hard to didtinguish between old and new as they are all built in the same traditional style, with beams secured through holes in supports, rather than with more modern means.  They are gorgeous and a credit to the local craftsmen. Seeking ultimate peace and quiet, I decided not to stay in the village and was relieved I had left my big pack in Guilin and was only carting my daypack up the trails, as I wound up and along to where buildings were few and far between, following in the footsteps of men driving mules laden with timber and women carrying baskets or bundles of dried rice stalks on on shoulder poles.  Eventually I reached a hamlet with gorgeous views and settled on a room there, in a charming wooden home looking straight down into the terraced valley.  It was misty and the cloud was very low so it was impossible to appreciate the landcsape fully, and also I realised I had hit the period just post-harvest and the golden autumn terraces I hadseen in photos were now dry and dullyellow- green and brown.  They neeed to be viewed in clear light, while growth and colour defines their edges, to really look their best.  But I have been mesmerised by rice terraces before, in the Philippines, and so I was happy with a hazy outlook and blurred lines, as it was blissfully quiet! And then the tour group arrived... and I realised the reason my lovely private ensuite corner room with its fabulous views, was so cheap was because nobody wanted it!  In the only ground floor room, I was right next to the dining room and the acoustics in the bare wood room were terrific!  Likewise on the wooden stairs and the thin floorboards of the rooms above me where some of the guests, elephants from the sounds of it, were staying!  Ah well, I out my earplugs in and continued to look at the view! A hike from one village to another the following morning was all I had time before catching the bus back to Guilin in readiness for my train south, but the sun had broken through the cloud so at least I was able to observe the dragon in all his glory before I left!     
]]> Pigs Faces and People in Costumes — Fenghuang, Hunan, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1255772067/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1255772067/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1255772067/tpod.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:48:17 -0400 The Scenic Route

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Fenghuang, Hunan, China

Another overnight train followed by couple of hours on a bus and I arrived in the centuries-old riverside town of Fenghuang.  Welcome to China a la Disney... This place must have been beautiful before the attack of tourism.  A calm green river flowing slowly through wooded hills; houses on stilts lining the river banks; a hotchpotch of steep narrow lanes, too narrow for traffic, radiating outwards; huge, grand entrance gates positioned at the four compass points;  bridges spanning the water: a simple wooden crossing, an elaborate arched,  covered thoroughfare, and a series of stepping stones;  while floating gently with the current, quaint, roofed bamboo boats, drifting past the temples and pagoda.  Sounds gorgeous doesn't it?  And, in a way it still is, but, alas, Fenghuang has become a victim of its own charm and domestic tourism has developed to the degree that I had the sense of being in a Disney theme park. Sitting on the balcony of the super-cheap riverside hostel, I had a prime view up and down the waterfront and could look down on the lanes just below... lanes choked with tour groups, caps colour co-ordinated with the flag held aloft by their leaders who raced along maintaining a constant commentary  via megaphone.  The din was phenomenal.  Looking down I could see many of the visitors wearing flower garlands in their hair (or over their group tour hat!), fashioned by the tribeswomen who flock in from local villages to make a killing from the tourist wallets.  They were the kind of garlands that would have looked gorgeous on a 'comely maiden' in some springtime ritual, but looked a little silly on the dumpy, ageing matrons I spied in the lanes.  It wasn't just garlands for sale, though... there was barely room to move between the clustered stalls selling all manner of tourist junk from embroidered bags to cheap jewelery, name seals to  local spirit.  Then there were the costume photographers, with their baskets of local tribal costumes in which the Chinese were delighted to dress up in order to be photographed, so the whole waterfront was peppered with girls in bright pink gowns and silver head-dresses posing with skirts spread wide and heads angled.  I pondered the different approaches to getting the 'authentic picture' : the foreigners omitting anything modern, people included, while the Chinese simply adding to the 'reality'  by donning local costumes and poses - we're at the same game, really, in our own different ways!    I looked above the crowds to the river itself but that was as bad... one boat after another chock full of singing visitors, garish in their orange life jackets against the green water.  I decided to enjoy my balcony seat as a prime reading spot, with earplugs in place, and wait for the daytrippers to leave before I ventured out...but they didn't go!  They were all staying in town, it seemed, and as the pagoda and temples were illuminated at night and the red lanterns along the river were switched on, creating a magical view, so the bars in the quaint stilt houses on the opposite bank switched into night mode and summoned in revelers with the sounds of their thumping speakers.  Ah, Fenghuang, how did you let this happen?! It wasn't all bad, though. and I did go exploring, preferring the areas further up or down stream or back from the water, clearly outside the tour groups' route.  And there I found people sitting outside their grey stone houses playing cards or mah jong, chilis and river weed hanging on walls to dry, old bent-backed men standing smoking and chatting on corners, and women scrubbing their laundry in the river.  Real life... and it was even quiet... oh, yes! I had to venture into the tourist throng eventually though, at the prompting of my rumbling belly, and so I crossed the prettily lit covered bridge and headed for the street with all the cafes and food stalls.  It wasn't a good idea to examine the restaurants' stocks too closely... I had become accustomed to seeing delights such as piles of fresh intestines and bloody organs which may have been hearts or livers or some such, while chickens' feet were fairly standard, as were big greasy pigs' trotters.  But among of the specialities of Fenghuang's dried meats was, not pigs feet, but flattened pigs faces, and there they were, hanging outside store fronts, like grotesque masks.  I'm so glad I'm a vegetarian!  Many of the eateries had food so fresh it was still alive... though only just, I thought, observing the tiny cages housing the doomed rabbits,  chickens, snakes  and various other furry animals I didn't recognise, and noting the poor condition they appeared to be in.   The water creatures fared little better: crammed into plastic boxes of water, with barely room to wriggle, were fish, tiny crabs, eels, turtles...  I turned away and perused the street stalls instead, happy to find fried tofu in chilli and even chilli-fried potatoes... oh those carnivores just don't know what they're missing!
]]> Sci-Fi City — Chongqing, Chongqing, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389142/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389142/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fishtails04/6/1254389142/tpod.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:32:12 -0400 The Scenic Route

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Chongqing, Chongqing, China

China's cities are gobsmackingly big... Chongqing, from where I type, for example, has thirty two million residents... that's compared to the Irish national population of about six million and the Aussie equivalent of twenty one million.  Small wonder, then, that I find them a little overwhelming... it can take an age to travel across a city on a bus,  the streets are teeming with bodies, and you can imagine the degree of air pollution in a city this size, especially in a country with such dubious environmental policies.  The combination of pollution, chain-smoking locals and damp climate is, of course, playing havoc with my sinuses and shoulder and I'm feeling pretty rough at this point... I have to move further south soon.  But Chongqing, sprawled over misty hilly terrain at the junction of the Lijiang and Yangtxe Rivers, and enveloped in smog, was worth the trip, just for the people I met there. Kehua is a thirty year-old qualified doctor, now working for a pharmaceutical firm, and recently returned to her hometown after spells in several other Chinese cities.  Luckily for me, she is also a Couchsurfing member and so I was able to contact her and arrange for us to meet up.  After showing me the old part of the city down by the river, we wandered through the central district, where she pointed out the fairly small clocktower which, on its construction to herald the revolution, sixty years ago, was the tallest building in town... it is now barely noticeable, dwarfed by surrounding skyscraping residential and office blocks, and hi-tech, neon-lit, multi-storey shopping malls, in which the crowds were spending their Sunday afternoon.  How times change...We adjourned to a restaurant which Kehua knew would have veggie-friendly options available and she treated me to a feast!  Unless there's a point-at-what-you-want eatery, my normal approach is to find a restaurant, sit down, look at the all-Chinese menu, show my paper stating "I do not eat meat or fish", and wait to see what I am given... it's usually a bowl of plain noodles, cooked in horribly meaty tasting stock, but there's only so much you can insist on!  Here Kehua ordered delicious veggie dumplings and fritters along with an array of other unidentified but very tasty vegetable items... and I gorged!  Joined by her friend Yuan Yuan, we moved on to a street bar for a couple of beers and a fascinating chat about life in China for independent young women such as these two.  Combining their modern aspirations of career success, travel, independent living and general freedom with cultural expectations and other limitations is no easy task.  Traveling is often limited by inability to obtain visas, it being assumed they are probably out to overstay and work illegally.  Career success here requires the kind of dedication and work ethic I lack.  But the biggest issue of all is their marital status... at thirty Kehua is practically an old maid, in Chinese terms, and the pressure is on, from colleagues and family, particularly parents, to follow the conventional path and get married to start a family, despite the apparent lack of 'a suitable boy'... in society's view any boy will do.  The infidelity of Chinese men was also lamented, though I reassured them that this was by no means unique to their homeland!  I told them I would try and recruit for them when I get to Australia!  And we parted with me greatly appreciating the automatic freedoms granted me by my culture and background. My other couchsurfing contact, Xiang, is an EFL teacher from the States and lives with another teacher, Alex, in Shapingba, an area in the west of the city.  Traveling over there at night, I had the sensation of being in a sci-fi film as the lights of other vehicles appeared to fly through the air both above and below me on the complex flyover-junctions, and the miles of highrise towers cast an eerie glow through the night gloom.  Things appeared equally surreal the following day as I wandered the vicinity during daylight.  Sight of the hazy, grey sky was limited by the overcrowding of towerblocks in a bewildering plaza design, with a multitude of shops and restaurants, topped with floor after floor of apartments, and hordes of people everywhere.  I walked for hours around the plaza, disoriented by the lack of landmarks and the fact that all the buildings appeared identical to me.  It felt like a whole city in its own right, swallowing me in its excessive scale.Safely up on floor seven of one of the blocks, inside the teachers' apartment, however, reality re-established itself, and we sat on the comfy sofas, discussing China... it was interesting to hear of these guys' experiences in the different parts of the country they have lived in, and to pick their brains about their students' lives and thoughts.  I spent an afternoon sitting in on the Spanish-Chinese language exchange that Xiang holds with a local girl, eager to learn a little more about how the tonal system functions and to see the elegant written characters broken down into easy steps.  The language fascinates me but a few weeks is too little to attempt any serious learning, so I continue to operate by pointing to lines in a phrase book!Anyway, enough of life in the city, I have to go as I have a boat to catch... and hopefully the next couple of days will provide a little more fresh air!      
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