TravelStream™ news feed for member karinandshayne on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/karinandshayne en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 24 May 2009 07:06:25 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/5/1209675540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/5/1209675540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/5/1209675540/tpod.html Sun, 24 May 2009 07:06:25 -0400 Russia

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Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation

Well, it was another one of those "mad the night before" situations. Howard Murray (my mate) and family were coming to stay while we were in Russia. As you can imagine, Karin wanted everything puka before we left, she even comprised an action, "to be closed out!" sheet. Which I managed to get through. Anyway, unlike our last trip, we were back to last minute packing and in bed around 2 am...but the bathroom was clean!For the first time we were flying from T5 (Terminal 5). Now if you don't know, T5 has had what you could call a bumpy start. The UK in general called it a fucken shambles!I have to say the building was awesome! The service not so much! So Karin was standing in front of me, in a line to have our tickets checked before security. She hands her ticket to the chap who puts it in the reader, machine reads it and she is waved through. I hand mine over and we had a Little Britain moment, "computer says NO!" So while Karin waited, I was whisked away to a check in desk only to be told, "I'm sorry sir but the gate is closed to you". WHAT?! Apparently the computer did say no, but once I explained that the wife will kill every man, woman and child in T5, the computer changed its mind. It was then a mad dash to the gate, which unbeknown to us was 20 minutes away! We screamed through the airport, wheelie bag burning rubber, ran, yes ran, up two gigantic escalators, Karin getting progressively redder in the face while dragging her wheelie bag, hand bag, winter coat, fleece, which had by now come off as we were getting up quite a sweat, but we made our flight and that was all that mattered. Karin's colour and heart rate eventually returned to normal!We sat at the back of the plane and I'd say due to the little bit of military friction going on between Russia and Georgia no one was interested in going that weekend and there were seats for miles. The airport passport control area felt like a cattle truck. Queue, queue, and for good measure queue some more. The train we caught into Moscow also looked to be built for cattle at 4 meters wide and 3 meter high ceilings.All hell broke loose once we arrived at the hostel. Karin had booked a private room for the two of us but that was not available on our arrival. It didn't really bother us too much, happy enough with a roof over our heads as it was only for 2 nights. The bigger concern was our missing train tickets to St Petersburg. They had not been delivered to the hostel as arranged and trying to find out why proved to be anything but straight forward. Eventually Karin got the big cheese involved who can't be faulted for doing the right thing and taking us to the train station the following morning and buying us replacement tickets. He eventually found out that the courier had turned up but were told I had already checked out??!!The next day we headed directly for red square. This area is great, loads of tourists and plenty of police and army present. It's not uncomfortable but you know they are there.The square itself isn't all that spectacular bit it does have a few nice buildings around it, one being St Basil's Cathedral. It was completed in 1561 after being commissioned by Ivan the Terrible. It was only since 1670 that the domes were painted many colours, it used to be white with gold domes. This is one church you seem to see on postcards all over the world. Its colourful pointed domes look great and on the inside the walls are painted with water colours and gold decorations. Very different.Red square is about 500m long. The big red brick building at one end is the Historic Museum. It sets directly behind the Kremlin and used to be a market. It was also the setting for public announcements and executions. Military parades took the place of religious ones during the Communist era on the anniversary of the revolution. By coincidence, we were there during this same public holiday and the square was clearly having a do of some sort with cables for TV cameras and seating being erected.Then it was time to hit the Kremlin. Kremlin in English is fortress, funny that as that is what it is! The ticket office was about to close for the day so we decided it would be better to go tube hoping instead. Now this might sound a little weird to a Londoner but there is a twist. The underground stations have amazing architecture. My favourite had life size bronze status of people in some sort of action. We visited about 4 or 5 stations and saw metro stations with chandeliers running the length of the corridor, stained glass masterpieces and marble for miles. The escalators are looooong as all the tunnels are a long way down. Purposely built that way so they could with stand war.Mac attack for breakfast/lunch with a coffee of course (surprisingly cheap), then stood in a line for 40 minutes for tickets to the inside of the Kremlin. The wait was worth it as the Cathedrals inside are quite impressive. There is always something on show demonstrating Russian power. One of the first things you see is a pile of cannons from yesteryear, then this massive cannon with its cannon balls piled beneath. I doubt that it could have been fired, but you never know??!!Citadel of the Tsars, headquarters of the Soviet Union and now the residence of the Russian president, for centuries the Kremlin has been a symbol of the power of the state. It only partially opened to the public again in 1955, 2 years after Stalin's death.Trinity Tower is what you walk under to enter and Napoleon marched in triumph through this same tower when he entered the Kremlin in 1812. There are a couple of palaces and the state Armoury which is a museum. There are various beautiful cathedrals with frescoes paintings inside. The bell tower was the tallest building in Moscow in 1600. Outside the Bell Tower is the enormous Tsar bell. The largest in the world, it weighs over 200 tonnes. When it fell from the bell tower and shattered in a fire in 1701, the fragments were used in a second bell. This still lay in the casting pit when the Kremlin caught fire in 1737. Cold water was poured over the hot bell and a large piece broke off. This section alone weighs 11.5 tonnes.Karin wanted to visit a market out in the sticks. It was mentioned in one of our travel books as a great place for bargain hunting, and I'm sure it was if we could have found the bastard thing. Now I know what you're thinking, "ask someone you Muppets!" We were a little way out of the city and couldn't find anyone who understood English. Once we had found the word "market" in Russian no one knew where it was. So it was back to the city centre for a look see.We had a few hours to kill and settled in to a nice cafe where we could dose up on caffeine and believe it or not, Karin could smoke inside.We then made our way back to the hostel to pick up our gear but the reception was a little frosty! Dan the owner had told us he was going to have a few words to the team and he obviously had. Once at the train station things just seemed to flow sweetly. We shared a sleeping cabin with a Russian chic that couldn't speak any English or didn't want to talk to us! Either way the trip was good but sleep was a bit broken with the bumping of the train and the cramped bed.Waking up in St Petersburg was pretty cool. We found our hotel 5 minutes walk from the main train station. Not a bad spot either. This place wasn't even comparable to the Moscow hostel. Modern in every way. St. Petersburg had the feel of any large European city. That's not a bad thing in my book, in fact the complete opposite. Moscow felt like there were limits to how you could behave, big brother was watching you. None of that shit in St. Petersburg.We hit the markets earlier than most, even earlier than some of the stall owners, as our train had pulled in at 7.30am so we were on the trail by 8am! One of my work mates had told me of a church that you could not leave Russia without viewing. I gave Mike (the work mate) a text, like the good bugger he is he googled it for us and texted back St. P. So that was now one of the first stops.Finding it wasn't a problem as its architecture was, well, unmissable. Karin was like a pig in shit, snapping shots left right and centre. I have to admit this place was impressive. I think as far as a cathedrals go around the world, that I've seen, this would be in our top 2. The portraits on the walls on the inside are all mosaic made of glass mixed with iron.We had seen mosaic before in Italy, but not as good as this. This was the most spectacular mosaic we had ever seen and at the biggest scale imaginable, apart from any Karin ever made of course.This design was the winner of a competition and the first foundation stone was laid in October 1883. The interior reopened in 1998 after more than 20 years of restoration. 144 mosaic coats of arms on the bell tower represent the regions, towns and provinces of the Russian empire. Jewellers enamel was used to cover the 1,000 sq m surface of the five domes. Almost 7,000sq m of mosaic embellish the churches exterior.The day was clear and warm with a sharp blue sky (as you can see in the photos) Karin has this thing going on, if there is a river, a cannel or a puddle big enough for a boat to float and call it a tour, she's in! So as per the norm we went on a cannel cruise through St. Petersburg, the sun beating down, not a bad way to spend an afternoon. All the cruising and photo taking had taken its toll, we needed somewhere to lay down and relax. There was a park by the river that had nice bench seats. The sun was still beating down so we laid out on a seat and fell asleep. Probably not the safest of things to do in a Russian city, well any city really. But hey, we came out the other side feeling revitalised and most importantly with all our processions! We appeared to have slept for two or so hours!! This day was about 27 degrees and totally out of season. This time last year they had 20cm of snow on the ground so the whole city was out and about in their shorts and wading around in the fountains. Making our way back to the hotel we stopped for a coffee. We had noticed the amount of affection the russcies show to each other in public and no joke, it gets into some heavy petting. Bordering on Porno. I just kept thinking "get a bloody room!" Snogging with tongue on the metro, in a café, on the escalator, on a canal cruise...it looked like French kissing had just hit town for the first time where 15 minutes non-stop was no problem! Bazaar!The next day brought different weather to start with. We were dressed for sunshine and warmth, we didn't find too much of either. In fact, when this was realized maybe we should have walked back to the hotel to get changed. No pain no brain!We headed directly for another cathedral called Saint Isaac's. Another mosaic master piece but much much different to St. Basils or the Church of spilt blood. I found this one of the most informative churches I've ever been in. Not in a spiritual sense, more how the structure was build. At the time it was one of the biggest engineering feats. Techniques were developed here that are still being used today. That and it's built on a swamp! Not the first to do this but impressive all the same considering thousands of piles were sunk to support the 300,000 tonnes. The 48 solid marble pillars, each weighing 114 tonnes, were transported from Finland on specially designed boats. Inside there are 14 different coloured marble and 43 other types of semi precious stones and minerals. The three great oak and bronze doors weigh 20 tonnes and are decorated with carved reliefs. The Cathedral opened in 1858 but was designated a museum of atheism during the Soviet era. It is still a museum today.Moving on to the queens winter palace, this is a massive pad for any tribe let alone a queen. She did have herself a habit of buying rear and priceless art. So the palace is now a museum of rear and, yes you guessed it, priceless art. Unfortunately we were unable to view any as the palace is closed on Mondays. Moving on we headed for the island of Vasilevskiy where there is another rear and priceless collection... of pickled body parts and bodies of different species like two headed lambs and a pickled 7 foot giant. Unfortunately once again, not open Mondays. This was a pity but Karin was keen to hit the markets again anyway so that's where we headed.Walking the high road we noticed a racket coming down the road toward us. It looked very military to say the least and by god it was. Trucks/ lorry's with rocket launchers bolted to their decks. This was awesome. First thought was, are we gonna get in the shit if we start taking photos? Fuck it, and away we went. So what looked to be turning into a shit day turned into a once in a lift time viewing of Russian military power. It was an amazing experience to see around 2-3 thousand men march, white gloved and all. Karin found herself even giving a sailor a smoke, oddly he had never seen a Dunhill ciggie. He was on security detail with another 50-60 others ensuring jo public didn't walk into the parade area. It was quite amazing how one smoke can create such an interest. We had by now figured out Russia was not going to war with Georgia just yet and instead they were having a dress rehearsal for the main parade a few days later. It was getting colder as the time past and by 5.45pm we had had enough. The proper parade hadn't happened yet but we had a good nosey at all the tanks, guns and rockets and seen their army, navy and air force march in the square, dressed in full uniform. Time for a coffee and to warm up at a cafe. More porno for free only a table over!Heading back we grabbed some takeaway for dinner. Not the best dinners on this trip. But cheap and convenient! There were one or two things that we noticed about the Russian TV programs. One, there is no English, at all. Two, there is no western TV like BBC News or CCN. Most countries do have one of these news channels available. Three, they have Married With Children, the American sitcom..but Russian style with all Russian actors looking like Al and Peggy. The ultimate spoof!Our hotel had the best massage chair ever. After a long day hitting the pavement laying back for 15 minutes and having all the knots worked out was bliss!!We had to pack first then get back to the market, since we'd been a bit sidetracked the day before by the military show. Karin had some buying to do, and so did I. Ged your Soviet hat with ear flaps to boot is on its way. Just in time for winter. I can confirm its warm; well it kept me warm anyway. Hope you don't mine.I was expecting a major interrogation at the airport, but it wasn't to be. Instead it was the opposite. Just a small interrogation by some fit chic. Not too much of a hardship.So, winging our way back to the UK, I thought to myself, if I were asked to recommend Russia what would I say. Well, I'd have to be honest and say Moscow is not the nicest city, if it didn't have the Kremlin, red square or St. Basil's Cathedral I wouldn't bother. Having said that, it is definitely worth going to see these things, and don't forget the tube stations!St. Petersburg is a place Russian's should be proud of. It has the genuine feel of any top European city. I'm sure it has its downsides but for us it was great, with wonderful architecture, a nice relaxed feel, good cafes, nice parks etc. An easy way for me to judge, would I go back to St. Petersburg. YES!Next trip is back to Corfu to attend a wedding in the sun. Can't wait.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/4/1110064380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/4/1110064380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/4/1110064380/tpod.html Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:15:32 -0400 ITALY

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Venice, Veneto, Italy

£1.99 flight sounds good in theory doesn't it? Well it is! Apart from the tax and the return trip which is never available at the same price on the day that you want to come back. Oh, and then there is just plain stupidity as well...booking the trip when your mate is turning up from NZ so you need to change the date at a cost of £80.00, making it not such a cheap flight after all. Then the accommodation. Well, normally this time of year is low season in Venice, but wouldn't you know it, the dates I booked were high season! Apparently it was carnivale...a huge event that lasts for 2 weeks and shoots the accommodation prices sky high. I thought that changing the dates by a week would solve that problem, but it seems carnivale runs for 2 weeks so the accommodation was still scarce and expensive! That is the last time I spontaneously book a cheap flight! Live and learn I guess.Anyway, we did get there and had a blast. We arrived at night so didn't see too much on the way in but it was freezing! I haven't felt cold like that in...ever! It is all a weird experience catching water taxis and buying tickets in a language you don't know, then getting off the boat and trying to find your hotel at 1am amongst a labyrinth of streets...Surprisingly it didn't take too long and we were pleasantly surprised by the state, and location of the room. Until the morning that is when there was no hot water and the workmen started up outside our window! The hot water turned out to be a hit and miss affair. I think the entire floor ran on one cylinder so you had to pick your time....1am seemed to work! It was a quick wash, getting in and out before it went cold. The hotel was undergoing extensive renovations (which may have something to do with why it still had rooms available) but to be honest it wasn't too bad. Breakfast was also interesting. A lot of pastries and on the final morning we discovered that the coffee was actually 2 parts...one pot with strong coffee, the other jug had hot milk. I had been suffering for three morning with this disgusting coffee, but on the up side I did feel perfectly justified in packing our ( or should I say my pockets) with goodies to snack on during the day, much to Shayne's embarrassment off course, although strangely enough he seemed to be the one to eat most of it!We walked a lot! Mostly to explore but a lot of the time because we were lost. We gave up on any maps after a while because they made no sense anyway! There are hundreds of little streets and alleys that go all over the place. It is all surprisingly safe, even at night time which is nice. Venice is broken up into 5 districts, or sestieri. San Marco is where we stayed. It is the most commercial sector but also has some of the best sights and shopping, not that I did that much! We didn't go to any museums or galleries but we did go and see other stuff though and had a gondola ride, grossly over priced but a must do. Venice is very famous for their glass, Murano glass in fact. Murano is an island that takes about 10 minutes to get too from Venice and is where all the glass is made. You get tours of the glass factories with demonstrations of how they blow it. It was really interesting and quite amazing. There are so many styles of glass but that doesn't even compare to the amount of shops selling glass! Shayne was a trouper I must say, he only started to get pissy after about the 150th shop I dragged him in to. I stayed out of the shoe shops, the hand bag shops and the Gucci shops! Not by choice I might ad, more dependent on the budget unfortunately. I bought one piece of glass for us to remember our trip. It was late at night, on our way home and I spotted my perfect piece of art through the door. Then there were other people to buy for.....Karen being the most difficult! I was under an enormous amount of pressure with this one. She has quite an impressive little glass collection and we're not talking coke bottles! So how do you pick the perfect piece when there are thousands to choose from but none feel right (or fit the budget)? Until the last day that is, and you stumble onto a small obscure little shop with just the thing. Basically she better like it cause we tried really really hard and Shayne lugged it around Venice for an entire day! And I might ad, 5 weeks after the trip it is still sitting quite happily on my cupboard looking very at home...it's going to be hard parting with it!It is an expensive city, which is to be expected I guess so we did the restaurant thing one night and after that lived off smuggled breakfast bits and pieces and pizza slices! The fact that it was carnivale time was actually really cool. People really get into it and it's an excuse to be a bit mad. There were masks on sale everywhere and everyone was walking around wearing them or having their faces painted. A lot of people really got into costume and they were absolutely amazing! Really detailed and fantastical. I can't imagine what it is like at other times of the year as carnivale was so prevalent everywhere you went. The weather was also beautiful. Very cold but clear and sunny everyday which was a nice change from London. Gondola rides are not cheap. I almost had a heart attack actually. Anywhere from 70 to 100 euro for 45 minutes! Still it had to be done. You can not go to Venice and not have a gondola ride! Nothing for it but to barter. I was bartering with the guy and apparently causing a bit of an audience?! Me, can you believe it?! The Japanese tourists seemed to think we were about to get into a fist fight but it was all in good fun. We walked away twice and eventually settled on 55 Euro for 30 minutes, which was long enough. It was worth it and Shayne did enjoy it! It gives you a different perspective and some great photo opportunities. Our gondolier didn't speak very good English but enough to point out the sights and take a few snaps. We didn't mind as he got enough shit from his fellow gondoliers for dropping his price. We spent some time in the Basilica San Marco. It is the third church to stand on this site and has 5 huge domes. The first, built to enshrine the body of St Mark in the 9th century was destroyed by fire. The second was pulled down in the 11th century to make way for a more spectacular edifice designed by an unknown architect reflecting the escalating power of the republic. It continued to be remodeled over the following centuries and in 1807 it became the Cathedral of Venice. It has 4 gilded bronze horses at the entrance and all of the images inside are mosaics, which is incredible when you look at the size of it. Unfortunately, as with many of the sights and museums, which was part of the reason we didn't go, is that you pay an entry fee but can't take any photos. I did manage to get a couple of snaps without being caught. You think I'm joking? I risked life and limb getting these for you as they have security guys wandering around looking very intimidating! We also went to the top of the Campanile. The first tower was completed in 1173 but its foundations collapsed in 1902. The new tower was opened in 1912. It has the best views in town. The five bells in the tower each had their role during the Republic. From signaling the end of the working day to warning of an execution.The other buildings are too many to mention!Venice is built on a patchwork of more than 100 low-lying islands in the middle of a swampy lagoon. The entire island has no roads and you get around on foot or water. This is why the fronts of all the buildings, on the water are decorated as this is how visitors used to arrive. Fleeing the Goths, who were looting their way southwards, the people of the Veneto sought refuge amongst the islands, where they formed villages in AD412. During the middle ages Venice gained power throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Venice enjoyed a uniquely ordered administration headed by the dodge, an elected leader. By the 16th century Venice held a monopoly on Mediterranean trade and had colonized the whole of northeastern Italy. Constantly at war to hold on to their empire, the Turks drove Venice from the Mediterranean. No longer a major power, 18th century Venice became a byword for decadence. In 1797 the city was seized by Napoleon who granted the city to Austria, from which it was freed in 1866. The opening of the Suez Canal brought new prosperity and it once again become a sought after destinationThe whole place looks like it's about to fall to the ground, literally. Even the outside of the fanciest hotel looks like its peeling on the outside. Many of them are on a major lean and there look to be many places that are so derelict they are boarded up and have no one living in them. It all adds to the atmosphere though, which I just can't explain. To me it felt very surreal. I can't imagine actually living there. It is purely a holiday destination to experience something completely different to your everyday life, and then you leave. I know people who have fallen completely in love with the place, which I can understand, but for us 4 days was enough. We both thoroughly loved our time there and got into the carnivale spirit. It was amazing. As pretentious as it sounds, it feels awesome to say "I have been to Venice". Not only because it is something I have always wanted to do, but also because it is the 2nd trip of many we hope!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/3/1105830300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/3/1105830300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/3/1105830300/tpod.html Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:07:19 -0400 WALES

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Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

With Shayne back in NZ I thought I should take the opportunity to go on a girlie road trip somewhere which then looked liked it wasn't going to happen as half the girls were in Germany! But, Gus (flatmate) and I thought we'd do a day trip to Bath to see the old Roman Baths and apparently there were hot baths there as well so we figured it would be nice to go for a drive and take a hot dip.Gus's little car, MGX, as it is affectionately known had not had a good burn for a long time so we thought Bath would be a good destination. We left a little late by the time I got myself together after having my work Christmas do the night before but eventually we got on the road, armed with togs, towels and a jacket and hat (since the temperature here is definitely not 29 degrees, you lucky buggers in NZ!).The countryside on the drive down was actually very nice, and I remembered that I hadn't seen a sheep in 2 months! It was getting pretty dingy early and we thought we wouldn't see too much by the time we got there so we made the call to carry on to Cardiff, Wales and stay the night instead. We quite fancied waking up to a sea view in the morning so we headed for Barry, a very cute coastal village. Being completely unprepared we didn't have a decent map of the area so after driving around for a while we had seen enough and were about to head off when we came across their High St. Very pretty with all the Christmas lights at night. We stopped and had a walk down the main St. We came across a very pretty old church, all lit up and called Hyper Store, which was basically like the $2 shop so we had a good nosey in there and were both busting for a pee. We asked the owner and before we were allowed the toilet we had to consent that no we were not insured to use his toilet as it was not a public convenience! For Christ sake, we just needed a pee! What can go wrong sitting on the loo, apart from catching something off the seat? Incidentally, we were in a motor way service stop, on the loo again and they had ads on the back of the door which were quite good...it was for insurance and featured a very toned bottom in a G-string and said every year 10,000 people suffer from under wear injuries! I'm still a little baffled as to how you injure yourself with your under wear! But it was funny. Anyway, from Barry we drove to Penarth, up the road and also on the coast. We found the Pier, all lit up with lights and sussed out a nice B&B with a vacancy sign before having some food at one of the pubs there. Gus was in heaven to discover decent sized mussels, not the pathetic specimens measuring about 3cm that you normally find in England. After feeling quite content we headed off to check in and found out that they were full with a christening. Bugger! They were helpful however and rang another place for us who was charging 50 quid which we thought was a bit steep but drove there anyway and found another place that charged 60 quid. Hard to believe I know, but Guss is tighter with her money than me so we thought, fuck this, we'll drive to Cardiff instead. Very nice looking town at night with lots of lights and some very cool modern architecture mixed with old buildings so great photo opportunities. Off course, being a spontaneous trip, again most unlike me! My camera battery was almost dead and someone hadn't charged the spare! I blame Shayne entirely! Not to worry, my flash new cell phone takes pretty good pictures, only to realize that was also on its last legs! So, after making Shayne leave the digi at home so I could take photos if I went anywhere, I ended up buying a disposable! But, the digi actually worked for ages with the battery empty and flashing at me which was really good!Thinking Cardiff was a pretty big place and having been assured there would be plenty of accommodation by the Penarth people, we thought it would be easy enough to find somewhere. We finally found Cathedral road, after stopping at I can't remember how many pubs to ask directions...we girls do that, ask for directions! This road has a B&B at every second house so with a sigh of relief we finally found a park, having noted that Cardiff seems to be really happening and busy...well, that's because wouldn't you know it, the Motor cross was on and there was not a single spare bed in the entire town, except one that cost 70 quid which we didn't want to pay! So it's about midnight now and we have decided that we'll sleep in the car, after all, we have the grocery boxes in the boot for warmth and our towels as blankets! After parking up in a nice quite little side street we got comfy...the seats down, hats on, bags as pillows, towels as blankets...how cold could it be? Fuckin cold is the answer! Between gus snoring and swapping sleeping positions every half hour to wake certain body parts back up it wasn't the most comfortable nights sleep! Our toes had defrosted by about 10am the next day though which was positive as we weren't sure they were still attached and too scared to look! On the up side, we made a very early departure from Cardiff! The lesson boys and girls, is even if you think you're going on a day trip, take a sleeping bag and always, always have your camera charged!We tiki toured around and found a few castles and Cathedrals to look at. Spectacular! Because it was still early they weren't officially open yet so what's a girl to do but jump the fence offcourse! Seriously, how can you open a 13th century Cathedral that has more holes than swiss cheese?! At this point we were homeless, smelly law breakers! Quite fun really!After this we headed to Bristol for a look and then onto Bath. The traffic into Bath was a nightmare...we though surely not another fuckin motor cross meet! But no, they had Christmas markets on. Bath is beautiful. The architecture and stone is quite different to what you see in London and looks very nice, very Roman with lots of columns. As for the hot dip in the pools...that didn't happen. Apparently a bit of a sore point with the locals! The council has spent millions on this project and it was officially opened 2 years ago, by the 3 tenors no less, yet they still aren't working. One problem after another and they still aren't open to the public. However, the atmosphere was really nice and Christmassy and the markets were fun.We got home at about 6.30pm, after a slight navigational glitch that saw us on the motorway to Oxford with no way to turn around so a slight detour of about 70miles....but we managed to find our way home again in one piece. All in all, a bloody funny weekend.Tintern AbbeyFounded in 1131 for monks and largely rebuilt in the late 13th century, it is a spectacular example of Gothic architecture. Driving over the hill on a misty morning and seeing that was pretty mind blowing.Bath AbbeyIn c60 the Romans began to develop Bath as a spa. In 1499 the existing Norman Cathedral was ruined and replaced by the current Abbey. In 1539 the site was sold and the church largely destroyed. In 1611 it was re-roofed and repaired. In 1942 the Abbey was bombed and damaged. From 1991 to 2000 it was cleaned up and restored. And it is quite a sight!Roman Bath HouseI didn't do the tour as Shayne and I will go back there I think to do that and hopefully the hot springs will be up and running then!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/2/1220986740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/2/1220986740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/2/1220986740/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:51:23 -0400 CHINA

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Beijing, China

If everything goes in cycles I think we have entered an unlucky flight phase this year! Our insurance company will be auditing me soon because I'll be putting in another claim! After learning earlier in the year that using different carriers for connecting flights will leave you totally screwed if things go wrong I did have the good sense to use KLM all the way from London to Beijing, thank God ,since our flight left London over two hours late and we totally missed the Amsterdam to Beijing connection!! Not the best start it has to be said but with a few enquiries and some fast running through the airport we managed to get on a China Southern flight that same evening...unfortunately our bags didn't! We arrived in Beijing at about 1pm instead of 9.30am and incredibly our transfer person was still there to meet us. After just making it onto our flight we had literally a minute to ping off an email to the tour agency to tell them what happened before all phones had to be turned off for takeoff but I didn't hold high hopes of being met especially since it was a Sunday so to find Ming there holding a (large) sign with our entire names on it including middle names was quite a relief! Throughout the trip we would come across some interesting variations on those signs...I think the only one we didn't have was Mrs John Dolieslager!With a 7 hour time difference I had planned nothing for this first day and as expected, we were a bit buggered and ended up having a snooze in the afternoon and going for a stroll in the evening to find some food and a clean top for the next day. Now a dab hand at washing my gruts in the basin and giving them a blast with the hairdryer in the morning (since losing my luggage on a business trip recently!) we were all set to go the following morning.We had a tailor made itinerary which meant that we had everything already booked and paid for, transfers sorted and a guide to meet us in every city but it was just the two of us...perfect!For a long time Asia in general was not high on my travel agenda, I think largely because I didn't know what I was talking about and had not spent any time really looking into it. My friend went to China for her Honeymoon and that sparked my interest initially. Then the problem became how to see everything and what to miss! China has a fascinating history and loads of amazing things to see, including some beautiful scenic areas so after some creative time management we ended up seeing a huge amount and having 4 days to relax at the end. Of course there is so much more to see and Western China is a gorgeous area that we did not see at all. We might just have to go back!For this 15 day trip however we took the following route; Beijing - 2 nights, 3 days. Overnight sleeper train to Xian.Xian - arrive 8am, evening flight to Chongqing to board our Yangtze River Cruise boatYangtze River - 3 nights, 3 days with evening flight to ChengduChengdu - 2 nights, one day with evening flight to GuilinGuilin - 2 nights, 2 days ending in YangshuoYangshuo - 4 nights, 4 days with evening flight to BeijingBeijing - 1 night near airport and then homeBEIJINGDay 1 we arrived and vegged out. Day 2 we se t off (smelling of hotel soap, wearing our new tops, totally inappropriate gold footwear (just me!) and jeans from the flight) in 33 degrees. We still have not managed to figure out how much of the mist was smog and how much was humidity but you could not see more than 200 metres in front of you and the sky was grey when it wasn't raining. Not the best for photos but we had to get used to that as the majority of our trip was this kind of weather! Granted it was the rainy season but I had expected a bit more blue sky and sunshine overall. The temperature was consistently above 30 degrees though and humidity at about 70% so nothing dried! Looking back we were pretty lucky with catching plenty of dry spells for our sightseeing except for the great wall when it bucketed down, but did clear for about 20 minutes so we can confirm it is longer than 200m long!From our hotel we walked through a really nice park to Tiananmen Square. The largest public square in the world and where Chairman Mao proclaimed the People's Republic in 1949. A huge open space, busy with lots of people. Across the road from this is where you enter the Forbidden City through the Gate of Heavenly Peace with an enormous portrait of Chairman Mao above the entrance. Built between 1406 and 1420 it served as the imperial palace for the Ming and Qing dynasties and is said to contain 9999 rooms...it's pretty big! Residence of 24 emperors and focal point of the empire, entry was forbidden to all those, except on imperial business until 1911, when the last emperor was overthrown. The 720,000sqm complex is surrounded by a moat and has numerous gates, temples, palaces and halls. All the roofs are tiled in yellow which was the colour reserved for the emperors. With some imagination you can visualise what used to go on there, imagine the water flowing and cascading down the stone terraces and gushing out of the hundreds of dragon's mouths. There are loads of bridges and entrance ways which all used to be for specific people only. The emperor was the only one to go over the middle one. The empress walked it once upon entering the Forbidden City and thereafter had to come and go by the south gate only. Everything has a meaning, including the type of animals adorning the corners of the roofs. If you have read any of the Empress Orchid books you can imagine it was pretty cool to see the throne and the screen behind which she used to sit.After this we made our way out of town to the Summer Palace. This is where the emperors went to get away from the summer heat. It is set around a lake and has a huge long corridor along the lake side, about a kilometre long, that is all hand painted with all sorts of different scenes. After walking around the lake we caught a dragon boat back to the other side. Very relaxing.Before dinner and the Kung Fu show that evening we had some time and went to the silk market. Here you could see how silk comes from the cocoon and is separated into a tread. One cocoon unravels into a 1.6km long thread that is super fine but very strong. My friend had told us about silk duvets and regretted not getting one when they were in China so we picked one up for her and one for us. 100% pure silk, it is made of layers of stretched silk sheets that look like a spider's web. It doesn't bunch, doesn't smell, holds the heat in winter and is cool in summer, is light weight and very soft. The plan was to get these at the end of the trip to save lugging them around but these came with a 20 year government warranty which seemed a safer bet then getting one at an outdoor market somewhere but to be honest, they were a royal pain in the arse!!!!!!!!!! Who knows if they truly were the preferred supplier to the Olympics and I have no doubt we got a bit ripped off but sitting under my silk duvet at this very moment, I can say I'm pretty happy with it! We also went to a market where everything was a fake. From iPods, to iphones, to handbags. As you can imagine Shayne was in heaven. He couldn't help himself and bought a 4MB memory card for the camera, which worked for a while and then stopped working and lost photos so that went straight in the bin. The iPods won't load music from iTunes but the photo download plug in thing works a treat! Not all successful but it was fun bartering.The kung fu show was pretty cool. There was a story line and it was a big stage production which had some pretty amazing moves. A nice way to spend the evening.Day 3 we were off the see the Great Wall. About a 2 hour drive out of town, we caught the gondola up to the top but had no idea what the countryside looked like because it was pissing with rain and you could not see a damn thing! We were still excited though and spent a good few hours walking along the wall. My rain poncho (which I thought was practical to cover the back pack and Shayne thought just made me look like a hunch back) eventually gave up the ghost and the sleeves were no longer attached to the shoulders but were plastered to my arms so still stayed up! As we were considering turning around the weather cleared and for about 20 minutes we had decent views and realised we were at the base of where the wall went straight up a steep hill. We didn't climb that bit but it was cool to see and we finally managed to get some views of the wall running along the ridge into the distance. Before we went to China we had seen a documentary on the wall and one of the things we learnt was that it had been built by the army and there was no food so apricot trees were planted and that is what they lived off and there are in fact apricot trees for miles along the edges of the wall. The present wall dates mainly from the Ming dynasty, some 20 dynasties were involved in its construction over a period of 2,000 years. It stretches east to west for about 6,700km but at one time was nearer 9,700km long. Nearly 1 million soldiers worked on it and it features 1,000 fortified passes and 10,000 beacon towers. Each tower is separated by the distance of two arrows so every part of the wall was protected. When we flew home it was a pretty clear day and we could see the wall from the air plane window. Pretty incredible what steep terrain it covers. Definitely one of our greatest memories, walking on the Great Wall of China.On the way back to town we went to a glazing factory which was really interesting. China has so many beautiful hand craft traditions. When you look at the finished product you don't appreciate how much manual labour goes into creating these things. The glazing was an eye opener. The pattern is created by sticking on hundreds of copper moulds to create the pattern. The moulds are then filled in with natural dyes that come from stones. It then gets fired and repeated about 7 times until the top of the copper mould is flush and acts as the outline of the pattern. When this outline looks gold it is when gold moulds are used. I bought a Christmas ball for my United Nations collection!We had a few hours to kill before heading to the train station so we got as close to the Olympic stadium as we could for a look. Incredibly it only took 1.5 years to build. We also checked out a couple of malls in town. One of them had a huge ice skating rink in it. The train station was pandemonium. People for miles, pushing in, bags had to go through security scanners, and off course, it was pissing down with rain. We got on the train without a problem and were bunking with a couple from Yorkshire, England. It was nice having a yarn to them and finding out where they had been and were going. The train was nice and quiet and we both slept really well but as per usual, the beds are pretty short...no problem for me but Shayne was a little squashed! The logistics are always fun like having a change of clothes easily accessible, how to get your bra off, and back on in the morning, without flashing your room mates, what to do about Shayne's horrendously smelly shoes overnight and his feet when the shoes come off! And you thought it was all fun and games but no...some serious planning is required! Shayne would disagree off course and gives none of these things a second thought but thinks it's good luck when there happens to be a heavy duty plastic bag on hand to wrap his shoes in and the liquid soap makes a magical appearance to wash his feet! XIANDay 4 and we pull in at the train station in Xian at about 8am. Carry, our guide, picks us up, we grab some Mc D's for breakfast and are on our way to another great wall. This one surrounds to city of Xian and is the only completely preserved city wall. It was reconstructed by the Ming dynasty (14th century). Xian was the capital of 13 dynasties and is regarded as one of the most important cities in Chinese history but declined into a provincial backwater until the discovery of the terracotta warriors in 1974. We spent the morning riding a bike on top of the wall from the West gate around to the South gate and back again. It was a glorious day with the sun shining and was a really enjoyable and relaxing morning. We had a quick intro to Feng Shui at the museum there before making our way out to the terracotta warriors. We stopped on the way at a terracotta factory where I had a 'ghost' moment and had a go with the clay but unfortunately this was the time when the fake memory card gave up the ghost so there is no evidence but I had fun! The clay looked like huge pavalovas. They had the most amazing collection of pottery and also furniture. Screens that take six months to craft, the most beautiful lacquered cabinets (did you know there is a lacquer tree??) and the most hideous jade carvings, enormous things that sell for about £40,000. Not knowing what to expect at the warriors site we were impressed with how it has been developed and the three pits contained under enormous roofs. Pit 1 is the largest and the building the size of a couple of football fields. Pits were dug out and wooden beams laid over the top and then they were buried. Over time the beams have sagged and collapsed meaning that the terracotta underneath is smashed to pieces. I had never stopped to think about what state they were found in really but when you consider that they have been reconstructed piece by piece this is almost as amazing as their existence at all. In pit 1 many of the holes have not been excavated because when they are the oxidation causes the colour to disappear and until they invent technology to prevent this they will not uncover any more. The 700,000 people that worked on creating this shrine over 36 years were actually buried with it to prevent anyone disclosing its existence or whereabouts, as well as his concubines. Some might argue this was an honour but I suspect they didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. The various pieces are in a battle formation and no two are the same. Their faces, expressions and hair is different on each one. The generals wear hats and armour and the more intricate the armour the higher their ranking. They even have fingernails and tread on the soles of their shoes. Their size is larger than an average Chinese man. In addition to men there are horses and chariots and even though the weapons have largely eroded they were holding a range of weapons on their hands. There were also copper sculptures unearthed and the chariots took 8 years to restore. Hundreds of archaeologists have worked on this site which was first discovered by a farmer drilling a well in 1974. The warriors are 2,200 years old. Something that was really amazing and just one example of why their history is so fascinating is that a sword with a 10-15 micron thickness of chromium was uncovered which acted as a protective coating against corrosion. Chrome plating technology was not invented until 1937 by the Germans and 1950 by the Americans yet had been used in China 2,200 years before. There are so many examples of advanced metallurgy and understanding of technologies but that knowledge seems to have got lost and not been rediscovered until much later.In total more than 7,000 life-size warriors, archers and horses stand in military formation across the three pits. There is a photo of a board listing all the places the terracotta warriors exhibition has toured and Shayne has his arm under the NZ listing. Carry was explaining to us how the Chinese symbols used are representative of the sounds to form the words. Auckland was spot on as was Wellington but Christchurch was a little bit off!Carry, our guide, was fantastic. I had some really interesting chats with her about her opinions on the one child policy, censorship etc. It was becoming pretty clear that with the internet the government could no longer prevent its people from hearing news and opinions from the outside world which has instigated a change in their disclosure policies. Opening up the eastern seaboard to the west in the early 90's has also had a big impact although the influences have taken a while to filter across to west China. In their daily lives I think they live very much like you and I, aspiring to own a home, a car, earn more money etc. The fact that the average person is not interested in politics because they have no involvement beyond electing their local representatives who then elect the ones above and above them which is all pretty much a foregone conclusion and there are no different parties, is the biggest difference. The people have no say in policies but the few pretty highly educated and worldly people I spoke with seemed to think that generally they did do a good job in the best interest of the people. I don't know much about it admittedly but the emphasis on increasing your wealth and prosperity, on the acquisition of material things, focussing on getting yourself ahead and the increasing power of businessmen all seems a bit at odds with my very basic impression of what communism was founded on. Interestingly when you hear what Carry's mother was told by the government and now what Carry is being told by the government things are definitely changing. I read a most interesting article in a paper there written by a film producer who was commissioned to make an animation film for the Olympics but was given so many restrictions that there was no room for creativity and the film never happened. He was commenting because there was a lot of criticism from some sectors about the film Kung Fu panda because it was not made by Chinese but used their culture to make money at the time of the earthquake. This film director summed it up brilliantly when he said they did it accurately, sensitively and creatively, giving the world a glimpse into the real China and not the misperception the government seems to want to present to the world which does nothing to allay the fears of the world with Chinas increasing growth and dominance in the world market. Having had a small glimpse of the real China myself, I can tell you that I had many misconceptions and discovering how wrong I was has been a pleasure. The people are very warm and friendly. English is widely spoken and signs are interpreted in many places. It is compulsory at school now. There was no overt army or police presence and we felt really safe the entire time. Our guides, granted they have a lot of interaction with overseas people, were really open about discussing their hopes and dreams, likes and dislikes, and concerns for the future of their country. OK, there wasn't a reporter nearby but they were pretty forthcoming about what they thought they were missing out on and what they would like to change and also about what they liked. The biggest thing that struck me was their awareness that they are often only getting one side of the story and look online for international news.Anyway, back to the trip. In case you wonder what the coke can photo is about....they have old tabs there that come all the way off which for some reason fascinated Shayne?!YANGTZE RIVER CRUISEWe had a small glitch with our flight out of Xian being delayed from 7pm to 11.15pm which meant that we made it to our boat after 1am (after catching a cable car down to the deck of the boat which was a bit unusual) when it was meant to sail at 9pm. Ooops!!!!!!!! Thankfully they waited for us which was a bit embarrassing and was going to throw the cruise agenda out the following day as we were due to dock somewhere in the morning for a shore excursion but did not arrive their until the afternoon. Christoff, the German Cruise Director, with a very dry sense of humour and convinced that we were late because we were buying weed (Dutch passport was responsible for that weird conclusion!) assured us that there were weather delays during the night which is what everyone was told at breakfast in the morning. Which incidentally was at 7.30am! Problem with these trips is you don't get a lie in because you're busy doing stuff! We did nap a lot though to make up for it. In the morning we attended a lecture (sounds awful but was really interesting) about the three gorges, which was the area that our cruise was covering. The reason I decided to do this was because it was meant to be very scenic and at the end of 2008 they will complete the three gorges dam project. The three gorges were formed around 70 million years ago. The Yangtze River that runs through the gorges is in total 6340km long and is the 3rd longest river in the world. The three gorges project is an enormous engineering project with 26 turbines producing a crazy amount of power daily which still only accounts for 3% of China's overall power consumption. It is maintained that the primary reason for building the dam is as a flood control measure for further downstream which periodically suffers severe flooding killings thousands of people and destroying millions of homes. This project affects 400km of river whose water level will rise to 175m. Currently is sits at about 140m which is already higher than it used to but at the end of the year when the level rises to 175m a lot of the scenery will disappear. About 4 million people have been relocated, towns have been moved, all bridges have to be rebuilt etc. It has had a huge impact on many things as you can imagine. Now is the last time to see this part of China before it will be changed forever. We visited a woman in her new home who was relocated. We learned about how much compensation they received and how that worked etc. Clearly, being a chosen person to visit, she was very happy about this and her new home but obviously not everyone is. We had a look at a school and also a local market which was an eye opener. There are fresh vegetables for miles and man do they know how to make them taste good! Another pleasant revelation...I did not eat rice once while there but had the best meals ever. So fresh and tasty. Nothing like the Chinese takeaway shop, trust me, but the herbs and spices they use are delicious. There were plenty of things at this market that no matter how long I looked, I could not recognise! And to be honest, probably would not want to. They must have guts of steel when you look at the meat sitting in this 30+ heat.After the captains dinner the crew put on a fashion show of Chinese dress through the ages. I really enjoyed it. The styles changed a lot but one thing was constant, they were always made from silk. Something else I learnt was that China is made up of many ethnicities. About 80% of the population is Hun and the remainder are minorities. Minorities have their own customs and the government seems to make a big effort to conserve their identities.Something we noticed everywhere we went was the number of Chinese tourists. Many people can't afford to travel outside of China and getting visas is not easy apparently so recently domestic tourism has sky rocketed. On our boat, looking around the dining room, about 40% of the passengers were Chinese. We had a couple with a little boy at our table. They couldn't speak any English but we had a few charade conversations anyway and they were good for chop stick tips!Day 6 was an even earlier start, bloody 6.45am up on deck to see the 1st gorge. It was only going to take about half an hour to sail through so we figured we shouldn't miss it! It was ok. To be honest we weren't that overawed by the scenery. It was nice but not spectacular. I guess the fact it was grey and drizzling didn't help. After breakfast we got on a ferry and went exploring up one of the tributaries which was a lot more scenic. Very relaxing. The markers showing the 175m height bought home what was going to be underwater very soon. There is a strange phenomenon called hanging coffins where a long time ago somehow people managed to stuff coffins into natural caves and crevices high on the cliff faces. Quite how they managed to get them in there is a bit of a mystery. The rain picked up again but the upside was that it created loads of waterfalls.After setting of again we had an afternoon snooze and just before dinner entered the 5 ship locks which ships need to go through with the new dam. Currently the fist lock is not used but will be when the water level is raised so we had 4 locks to go through. Huge things, fitting 6 large boats each. Once all in the water level drops 20m really quickly before you go into the next lock. They had also planned for an elevator for smaller vessels but seem to have run into some technical difficulties getting the calculations slightly wrong and realising it was going to be really heavy to lower a ship along with water on cables! No shit. Apparently they have recently commissioned a German outfit to build a system using gears.After dinner there was a cabaret show where some of the passengers showcased their unique talents. The Mexican contingent had a sing along and the US teachers group did a weird impression of their favourite fireworks, being the 4th of July and all. And the crew again outdid themselves. Multi talented they were but I think the show stopper was the fact that the girls costumes in one of the performances was pretty much see through under the lights!Day 7 began with breaky at 7am and then off for a closer look at this dam. Bit of a letdown since it again was so misty you couldn't see the dam thing!!!!!!!!!! It cleared for a bit and we could see the water rushing though which was the first day ever they had opened it to relieve some of the water after all the rain. After lunch on the boat we were met by our guide Allen in Yichang. Incidentally, all our guides had English names, sometimes they chose these themselves and sometimes their English teachers had given them their names. Allen struck me as an odd one to choose but he picked it because it was easy to say. It made me giggle. The rain had really set in now which was a shame. We went to see some sturgeons which are a fish that can grow to 4-5m in length. They are prehistoric and have bone armour plating on the back. Really bazaar things. We saw some young ones that were only a couple of metres long. The dam project has played havoc with their migration as they can no longer go upriver with the dam in the way so they now breed them and release them instead. It seems that no research was done on the effects on the ecosystem of these or really any other animals with the building of the damn before it took place which surprised me. The people were the primary concern. No one knows what impact it will have on these prehistoric animals who have been swimming up and down that river for thousands of years or on the rest of the ecosystem.We went to a museum which was interesting. It was exhibiting a collection of recently discovered artefacts of the region. Again the detail, skill and functionality of the pieces when you consider the ages of them was pretty impressive. After this we went to an embroidery place. Now I know what you're thinking but even Shayne was into it! You can't help but be impressed when you see firsthand the labour and skill involved in producing this work. They use silk thread which is highly reflective and achieves the most dazzling results. The animal pictures were the best because it really looked like fur and three dimensional, like you could run your fingers through it. I resisted a purchase but did get a blossom tree embroidery later on. They embroider onto silk and there is also a technique where they do double sided embroidery which is pretty clever.We still had a lot of hours to kill before our flight but because of the rain there was no point going to the park and we seemed to have exhausted anything else noteworthy to look at so we put Allen out of his misery and got him to drop us at the airport where I read my book for 5 hours, while drinking the most ludicrously expensive coffee ever! It's where we spent the most money actually...waiting in airports and paying about £5 per coffee!!!!!!!!!!!! At least they have liberal smoking rules in China so I could enjoy one with my overpriced brew. After being stung for excess baggage on out first internal flight because of the damn duvets we packed a little more creatively this time. I also had a cunning plan to actually have a lighter at the other end of the flight as on the first internal flight we learnt that you could have no liquids or gels at all on internal flights...resulting in getting to the boat at 1am in the morning after a 4 hour delay only to not have anything to light my damn smoke with! Christoff was less than helpful informing me this was a smoke free boat which temporarily made me feel faint until he said if you can see the sky you can smoke so in other words, outside. After turning over my luggage I located my spare lighter which I knew I had packed somewhere only to tiptoe down the corridor to the doors leading outside but do you think I could get that fucken thing open? Not on your life. Given it was now 2am, there were other cabins around and if my banging and rattling the door hadn't woken them my swearing would shortly do so, I gave up and promptly went to sleep in a very foul mood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This time I knew better and had matches. Ha ha. Only to have these confiscated at security!!!! Come on. The flight took off on time and we were met by Lilly in Chengdu at about 11pm. CHENGDULilly was my kind of girl. Laid back, genuine and for a self confessed shy girl she could talk! Sympathetic to our lack of sleeping in we pushed the departure time in the morning to 9.30am. Guess where we were going today...to see the pandas! As much as I was loving the history the pandas were a must do for me on this trip. Given my slightly strange fascination with getting as close to the local animals as I can, whether they are camels, elephants, alligators, snakes, monkeys etc. the panda was not getting missed. It was the one reason we were coming to this part of China but when the earthquake epicentre was not far from the panda reserve we were visiting it was looking a little doubtful. Woolong reserve was badly affected. The enclosures were very damaged, pandas escaped although most have been recaptured now, and 5 staff members lost their lives. Sadly this happened during an aftershock after they returned to rescue the animals. Pandas eat 25kg of bamboo a day so after the earthquake this in itself was also a rescue mission to get food to the pandas who as you all know are very endangered. This panda reserve is part of a large national park but this whole area is out of action and will be for some time. Thankfully there was another research centre nearer to the city of Chengdu where pandas are bred naturally and through artificial insemination. Their gestation period is between 5-6 months and they give birth to one or two cubs, at 1,000th the size of the adult panda so mortality rates are very high. This research centre was really nice with developed grounds, a lake etc. The outdoor enclosures were nice and the animals looked very well cared for. First we saw a couple of adults who were still outside even though it was stinking hot. This is why you need to go in the morning because they choose to go inside late morning because of the temperature. We then went into the area where the young pandas were. They had already come inside and loved the aircon unit which you can understand when you see how dense their fur is. Not made for 30+ degrees! They were sooooooooooooo cute. A lot more agile than I thought, climbing all over everything and rolling all over each other. Then they would take a little break, crash out on their backs and have munch on some bamboo. Apparently they have an acute sense of smell and if the bamboo is not fresh they will reject it. They are not at all easy to photograph because they were constantly moving around. I swear you could stand there all day and not get sick of watching them. I know the bars in the photos look awful but they were free to go outside and their enclosures were huge with lots of jungle gyms and stuff. Next it was my turn to actually hold a 4 month old panda girl on my lap...for a cost off course but the money went straight to the research centre and I thought it was money well spent for this once in a lifetime experience. It was short but unforgettable. You could not get that smile off my face for days!! Their fur is so incredibly dense with down against the skin that they are made for snow and not humidity! She loved honey and didn't care about the apple at all I had for her and instead was quite happy licking the honey off her paw. Shayne had the camera on multi shoot and was snapping away frantically while behind him quite a crowd gathered so god knows where my photo will end up!We then went to see the red pandas that are also endangered and since I was on a role I also gave this one a cuddle. More fox like with a long tail and much smaller but also very cute.Finally we went to see the adult pandas that are pretty huge, they do 10kg of poos a day! Just amazing to see them up so close. Although Shayne was a bit ho hum about it initially I think it was one of his highlights too.After this we had another wonderful lunch (getting pretty good with the chop sticks by now) and then we went to the Sanxingdui museum. Very new and once again pretty mind blowing. Unfortunately one of the buildings was closed for repairs after the earthquake but they had moved most of the important items into the other building. Not an exhibition I had heard of before, but some of the items, namely the golden mask and the golden sceptre have been on a world tour. This was a civilisation existing 6,000 years ago that not much is known about and one that seemed to be wiped out quite suddenly. Once again their craftsmanship was staggering. They definitely had invented round wheel like objects thought to be used for worship and quite how they carved jade into the tools and weapons on display so long ago is unimaginable. There has been reference about these items in some ancient literature but until they were discovered it was thought to have been mythical. According to the writings there should be more in the area which they are still looking for.We still had quite some time before our evening flight so went to a tapestry place where they weave on these huge looms. I know I sound like a broken record but the hours and hours of manual labour involved is insane! Two people need to operate the loom and they need to learn the pattern so that the top one lifts the right strands and the bottom one threads through the right colours. It takes them about 3 months to learn a new pattern. I think there were about 5,000 threads running across and unbelievably they create only 7cm of tapestry in an 8 hour day. Some of the work is so fine that it looks printed, not woven. After this we went for a stroll in the park which has many tea houses. I forgot to mention that in Beijing we went to a tea house where they take you through the different teas and explain the significance of the cups and the lids and the positions of the lids eg. Use it to filter the leaves but balanced on the saucer it means a refill, left on the seat it means I'm coming back. Tea tottlers we are not (normally) but it was really interesting. They also had these ones where a huge flower opens up over time. Our favourite teas were Jasmine and lychee tea which is incredibly sweet naturally but Lily had never heard of it so we all had Jasmine teat at the teahouse in the park. It was a cool experience because all the locals go there to read a book, play cards or marjong and just chill out. Something else the locals get done is have their ears cleaned while enjoying their tea! Long sticks with fluffy bits on the end and some kind of vibrating stick, to shake the wax loose I guess, and hey presto, your ears are cleaned and buffed. You can also have a bit of a neck and shoulder massage which Shayne naturally went for. It was funny because lily usually would translate stuff but the guy said something and she didn't until Shayne asked and he had commented how hairy Shayne was! Which is probably one of the reasons he got stared at a lot, I think the other is because he's white and tall and big. This little boy in the park could not take his eyes off him! That is only topped by our paparazzi experience a few days later when we were walking along the market with our guide and got stopped. Shayne thought she was asking him to take a photo of them but no, she wanted a photo of him, and me, with her man??!! Weird or what??!! She was so excited she could hardly contain herself, and so was he for that matter. Next thing she wants to be in the photo and then their friends so we ended up with this group shot of these incredibly excited Chinese people who we can only guess had never seen Europeans before. They were so excited and grateful, you'd think we were bloody pandas!Actually, the other time we saw a group so excited was on the internal flight. I think with domestic travel being quite a new thing there many people have not flown before and we were totally gobsmacked at the state of chaos on the plane and felt really sorry for the air stewards who were trying to get them to sit and keep their belts on! Landing was the worst part as they were all jammed up against the window when we were about to land and then as soon as we touched down they were up and about chattering like crazy, so excited that half of them forgot all about their bags and went storming out the exit only to show up at the baggage belt 5 minutes later and then, it gets better, completely not understanding the concept of a belt that moves and brings your bag to you they would run alongside the thing piss bowling people left right and centre trying to catch their bag!!!! I am not kidding. We were in stitches!Anyway, back to the park. The oldies like to hang out there and sing a bit of karaoke, again, I'm deadly serious! Quite entertaining when they are singing Britney Spears! While 20metres over we have some other music blaring and a full on ball room dance competition underway! Absolutely mad! Good on them I reckon. Not so good for Lilly's auntie who is an accountant in an office block across the street who finds it hard to concentrate with someone swinging a cat all day long!!!!!After a couple of relaxing hours at the tea house we headed to the airport for our 9.30pm flight to Guilin. After setting us up with the most unusual KFC feed you've ever seen (my wrap had soy sauce and cucumber sticks and some very yummy seasoning on the chicken. Not seen dumpling soup on the menu before and that was for breakfast!) Lilly was done for the day. For the record Lilly, your dad was totally wrong! You were the best guide on our entire trip. You were such great company, easy to be around and really good to talk to. We had a great time with you and may be back to see the West side in the future! We like your style!GUILINJing Jing met us at the airport and got us settled into the hotel for the night. Due for some sleep we negotiated a bit of a later start at 10am the following morning to head out of town to Longsheng. 2.5 hours drive it was a bit of a schlep to get there but comfy as in our air conditioned car. Where were we going? The dragon's backbone off course! 70 sq km of rice terraces that began construction in the Yuan dynasty 1271-1368. The Zhuang and Yao ethnic people have lived there for generations leading simple farming lives. The highest terraces are at 1180 metres and the lowest at 380 metres above sea level. Over hundreds of years the rice terraces have been completed and make for a spectacular sight. Their appearance changes over the seasons with the water filled terraces reflecting the light in spring time, in summer the rice seedlings are green, in autumn they are golden and in winter they are covered in snow. After a steep ascent in the car the rest is on foot. There are a lot of steps to get to the top but the amazing view is worth it. The camera can't quite capture the beauty and the detail that you see before you. Once again, it was raining quite a bit obscuring the view in the photos but it was a spectacular sight. As you climb to the top you pass through one of the villages, precariously build on the hill side with houses seemingly jammed in at all angles where ever there is a space. Pigs live in the basement, chickens run around, ducks are everywhere and small pack horses go up and down the steps as everything that comes in or out needs to go up or down! For those not up for the walk you can be carried in your own royal padded seat...as tempting as that was, and half way up I was wishing I'd invested in one, we leisurely climbed our way to the top where we enjoyed the best tea I have had in my life! Off course you can't buy this one in a box, damn it, because it is literally a specific fruit boiled up in water. I can't remember the name of it but it also had ginger in it and man was it delicious!!!!!!! So naturally sweet you would think it had teaspoons of honey in it.The Yao women have a long tradition of only cutting their hair once, when they are 16 years old. They wear it all wrapped up on their heads in a special way with the cut of hair as part of it. They actually hold the Guinness world record for the first village with long hair! And it is long, like to the ground. I got a sneaky pic of one ladies hair all twisted up but mostly they cover it with a cloth.After making our way back down and driving back to Guilin we had agreed with Jing Jing to book on an evening tour around the lake with bridges which I didn't even know was there. She did a good job of up selling! It was worth it though as it was very relaxing and pretty. There were two enormous pagodas (tall tiered structures) one of which was made from copper I think and weighed a huge number of tonnes. In the evening light with the lights and lanterns on they were very pretty. There was a completely glass bridge as well as replicas of other famous bridges all magically lit. As you went around there was a waterside play taking place just for our benefit and it was the first time we had heard about the cormorants. These birds are shags to you and I but what the fisherman do is tie some string around their necks so that when they catch the fish they can't swallow them. The birds come back to the fisherman who removes them and collects the fish in his basket. We also got a demo of this in action and those birds are quick at catching fish! Amazingly they are taught to return the fish to the fisherman and when they stray too far they respond to his call. Following the boat trip around the lake we went to check out the biggest waterfall on the side of a building you can imagine...72 metres wide! It comes on just in the evenings to music and a great crowd. Pretty impressive!It was at this point that Shayne's little ongoing issue, which I have not mentioned yet, got well and truly got out of control. I will keep it brief, only to not work myself up into a homicidal state, but for quite a number of weeks before we left for China he had developed a really nasty cough. It was weird in that it wasn't constant, didn't have any other cold or flu symptoms but was getting worse in that the attacks would be that severe he'd make the most bizarre noises, not breathe for a bit and then burp. Might sound funny but actually I didn't find it that funny when neither of had slept through the night for weeks and especially when this was now accompanied by involuntary ejection of fuck knows what. On the plus side we were in a place where we didn't know anyone and you might think well, he was in good company in a country where people are hoicking left right and centre, but it was a bit of a problem, especially when aircon seemed to set off an attack and since its bloody 33 degrees there is aircon everywhere! Our poor guides and drivers must have thought we were nuts wanting to go everywhere with the windows down instead of the aircon on!!!!! Anyway, having been incredibly stubborn and not seen a doctor before we left to get something to clear it up before we went, it off course got worse and worse to the point where poor Jing Jing kept asking if we would like to go to the doctor which finally Shayne agreed to after a particularly explosive and disgusting attack. Hence we ended up at the hospital in Guilin. Jing Jing did a sterling job of interpreting the gruesome details about colour, texture and consistency to the doctor who declared he had a lung infection. Fantastic. Loaded up with what we can only assume was every antibiotic under the sun - drinkable vials, bottle of liquid, some pills the size of horse tranquilizers and some normal size pills - we paid a pittance really and were on our way. I will say I'm glad any kind of surgery was not required by us in that place but the service was good, it didn't take too long, we got an insurance form and we left with drugs. What those were is anyone's guess but they weren't expired! (to be taken before or after food remains a mystery as Shayne didn't pay attention to the explanation and couldn't remember!). Finding a balance between genuine concern and total embarrassment when your husband sounds like he's dying and looks like something you want to give a wide berth in public places is not actually easy. In the end I found pretending not to know him was the easiest way! At least that way I could divert the guide's attention. Sounds harsh I know but I could have quite happily murdered him otherwise!!!! To be fair, he was feeling increasingly ill and tired which was not nice for him obviously but all so unnecessary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will say no more.The following day, day 10, we were picked up at 8.30am and drove to the dock where we boarded our Li River boat which would end in Yangshuo at 1pm and follow the river through one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, the limestone karst rocks. Shaped by erosion over time, the rocks come in all shapes and sizes. The only thing marring this idyllic scene was the presence of the other 100 tourist boats! It was basically one long convey that set sail in the morning with a bit of jostling for position along the way. Jing Jing said that this time last year 10,000 people per day travel this stretch of river and this year it was only 3,000 as a result on the strict cut backs on visas issued prior to the Olympics. I have not been able to get to the bottom of what the logic behind this decision was other than to minimise risk before the games but I do know that all our guides have been hit hard by a decline in tourism this year which seems ironic as I would have thought it would have been the opposite. I can't even imagine what that river would be like with 3 times the number of boats on it daily. It was possible to still get some nice shots without a boat in the picture if you got the timing right but it was a bit of a shame. They have now closed all the paper factories along the river who used to dump pollutants into it as they have recognised the value of tourism in the area but I'm not sure how much better that many dirty boats is for it?! Still, without it we would not have got to see it and it was wonderful. Lunch was on the boat and the entertainment, not intentionally, was a crazy Chinese tourist, dressed to the nines in white leggings, fluoro pink shiny jacket, big black shades, black heels, black shiny bum bag and, wait for it, her phone/music player...without air phones! Oh yes, we all got treated to her dubious taste in 16 year old pop music while she sashayed her way around the deck like she was at the hottest night club in the 1980's!!!!! Hubby was a little conservatively dressed we thought but dutifully took snaps of her as she posed really badly for him...again, in the middle of the deck. And it gets better because she had a daughter who already had mummies attitude...god help that poor man!After docking in Yangshuo we walked through West Street, where we had our paparazzi moment, before being picked up and taken to our Mountain Retreat about 20 minutes outside of town. The shopping had looked good and we intended to make a day of it but were now just looking forward to doing very little for the next 4 days. I had booked this place myself and it didn't disappoint. The room was great. We had a balcony overlooking the river and it was set in the middle of karts rocks. The view from out balcony was spectacular. Shayne crashed out and I read my book on the balcony for the afternoon while we had a little monsoon moment with crashing thunder. It eventually stopped. Being isolated I wasn't sure about the restaurant or prices but both again did not disappoint. Fantastic menu, delicious food and really friendly staff.Day 11 we rocked down for breakfast at 10.30am and spent until 3pm doing sweet fuck all. It rained again but then cleared so we grabbed a couple of bikes and took off down the road to explore. The roads are slabs of concrete so nice to bike on and it's all flat so not strenuous at all! We got to the second village which is where the road ended and we negotiated our fare for our bamboo taxi back. Two chairs, on a bamboo raft, with a brolly if you want one and a little man with a long stick pushing you along, and the occasional waterfall/wear thing to go over. The rain stayed away and an hour later we and our bikes were delivered back to our hotel. Bliss. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. That evening we had a 'hot pot'. Basically a hot plate, a pot of broth stuff and things to chuck in it. I hated it, Shayne loved it. Not surprising really since it's like a good old boil up! Nothing for it but to order a large desert to fill the gap.Day 12 was shopping day. Off we went to town and spent the whole afternoon and evening shopping! Everywhere we went, including here, everything is so clean. You don't see rubbish lying around, you can't smell sewers. You can smell the toilets from 20meters away but that's a different matter! After some hard bargaining, plenty of ice coffees and some dinner we headed back. Miraculously there was no rain at all this day. We had a great time.Day 13 was going to be a walk to Moon hill but it rained and rained and Shayne was knackered so I read and he slept. For the evening we had booked to go and see a show that takes place on the water, set with a natural backdrop of karst rocks. A bit pricey but definitely unique. Some of it was great, some of it could have been done better, being able to follow the storyline would have helped but overall it was enjoyable with some clever use of pontoons, lighting, rafts, fire and props. The best bit was the audience. Largely Chinese, who all thought it was fine to talk nonstop and loudly through the whole performance! And they are an excitable bunch with huge ooooooohhhs and aaaaahhhhhhhs when something happened.Day 14 was our last day and we were leaving at 5pm to go to the airport but I had booked a late flight so that we had the day there which worked out perfectly. After strategically packing and leaving some cheap singlets and jandals behind we managed to get it all in within the allowed weight ranges, or so we guessed! We checked out, paid the bill, stored the bags and took off for our hike to moon hill. We left the bikes behind and set off on foot, crossing the river, walking through a couple of villages, encountering a scary bullock who thankfully was tied up on a very thin piece of rope which miraculously held him when he didn't like Shayne's aftershave and started charging at us, or maybe he liked it a little too much?! About an hour later we spied the famous Moon Hill. Depending on what angle you view it from the hole in the hill can be a half moon or just a sliver. What I can tell you is there is a fuck load of steps to actually be standing in that hole!!!! Sweating like a bastard we climbed up and the view was worth it. The day was clear and you could see these amazing karst peaks for miles. The descent was a bit easier and on jelly legs I had a welcome ice coffee at the bottom. We managed to shake the two ladies who were selling water and, of all things, mango juice to us on the way up but a couple of guys we passed on the way down had them as personal fanners for their ascent! Those old bags must be fit climbing that a few times a day! After we got back to the hotel at about 4pm the rain kicked in which didn't bother us much and an hour later we were in our car heading for Guilin airport, a couple of hours away.As the two hours were approaching Shayne was getting a little twitchy as we were on a remote back road with pot holes and a very unlikely location for an airport but when our guy said 5 minutes he meant it and next thing you know we bounce out of a pot hole, through a barrier and the back way into the airport. I was more worried about the petrol situation myself as he'd pulled into three stations and they didn't seem to have what he needed and every time his tutting got louder which didn't seem to be a good sign! God know what our car was running on but it was going to be fumes soon! Thankfully he gassed up and we made it. Not long after someone turned the tap to full on and it pelted down. Unbelievable, along with thunder and lightning. It cleared and our flight left on time, along with a guy so drunk he kept dropping his parcels and they flew a security person with him! At the other end we caught a cab to the airport hotel but we seemed to have arrived in the middle of some chaos. A flight was cancelled and they were trying to accommodate all these people and the crew who looked like hotel staff but weren't which explained why they hanging around the reception desk but not doing anything! Finally it was our turn and we hit the pillow at about 1.30am. The next morning after some breakfast we caught the shuttle, got checked in, without incurring any excess baggage costs (bonus!) and were on our way. This time we actually flew KLM which was very nice with good leg room for Shayne and made the connection in Amsterdam to London without any problems. In typical fashion half the trains in London weren't running due to engineering works but we eventually made it home by about 7.30pm and back at work the next morning.Ironically I developed a cough in the last few days of our trip which escalated and the doctor (who I went to see!!!!!) said it was a viral chest infection and nothing for it but copious amounts of water and having your head over a bowl of steam. I was off work 1.5 days last week and spent the whole weekend in bed with fever and aches the likes of which I have not had since stupidly going to the gym a long time ago! I've been off work Mon and Tue this week too so well and truly suffered from a nasty lurgy! Some might say karma for pretending not to know Shayne???!!! I say just bad luck!!!! The irony is he slept straight through me coughing up a lung during the night!Anyway, that was our China experience. Full of new discoveries, corrected misperceptions about a country and its people and a new found appreciation of the unexpected, like tea houses and embroidery!!!!!!!Next on the agenda is a boat trip along the Croatian coastline for a week at the end of August. I'm hoping for a few more sunbathing opportunities on this one!Check out the Videos at the bottom of the photos, Scroll to the end!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/1/1104940140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/1/1104940140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karinandshayne/1/1104940140/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:03:59 -0400 HOLLAND

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Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

HOLLAND FOR NEW YEAR!So, how was your New Year's? I hope that every one that Karin and I know, and their family and friends are unaffected by the massive Tsunami hitting the Asian areas. What a shock it was for us watching T.V. seeing and hearing of such huge devastation in Thailand, and the lovely Phi Phi Island, being that it's only been a few months since we were there.Sorry, to you all on the state of our website. The problem is that we don't have the internet at home, and the cafes are shit! But don't be glum old chap, change is in the wind, we should have some sort of internet system at the flat, hopefully with in the month.Weeeell, Holland. A K A (for Karin anyway) the mother land. This was our first trip within Europe. So we left on the 28th of December not knowing what to expect. The flight was sweet and landing at Amsterdam airport within an hour it felt like we had flown from Napier to Auckland, apart from the service, British airways were A one.Well anyone that knows Karin or any Dutch people will tell you, these people are what I call straight up and not ones to mix their words. Well it seemed to me that most Dutch live like that and that's why service in the country is so good. People have already been told, and all the questions have been asked.Finding our FREE transfer bus to our hotel, (yes, I was surprised. Free in Holland.) Now arriving at the Hotel not far from Amsterdam, to find that they didn't have double beds and that twin meant two single beds, sent Karin understandably in a spin. She was baying for blood. But bugger me, if the chap running the Hotel couldn't do enough to help our situation. So a phone call here, and a quick internet surf there, and we were off to another Hotel in Haarlem, a city close to Amsterdam(15 min by train). Once settled into our room, it was off to investigate the streets and in Karin's case, the shops.What an absolutely fabulous city, the architecture, canals, the pretty blue eyes everywhere. We walked down the main street that night taking in the atmosphere it was very cold, but the Christmas lights were a site worth staying out for. As we wandered to the square (the city centre) the aroma's of the local cafés hit us, it was time to eat. The next day dawned, with clear skies. Not that Karin nor my self were likely to see it. I think we got out of bed around eleven o'clock, but the sun was still out. Karin had sussed out a canal night cruise in Amsterdam, so that was to be our main task for the day. I know what you're thinking, broken ass. But remember we're on holiday. So we're back on the strip perusing the shops around one that afternoon, and stumble upon a kaas shop or in English, cheese. Now this place had every conceivable make and type of cheese you could find in Europe, Swiss, Dutch, you name it. I was like a kid in a candy store, well what do you do, they had tasters. We did buy some and received some funny looks from locals as we continued walking the street munching on a chunk!That evening we made our way into Amsterdam for our canal cruise, it was fantastic; words can't really describe the views. Buildings made of brick, bent out of shape, like the piles have moved, but also leaning this way and that, and they still stand sound. Some are hundreds of years old. Amazing. All the canal arch ways are lit up. I think it is meant to be romantic. This was lost on us; we were too excited with the architecture and the lighting of the canals to worry about that sort of stuff. After the cruise it was time to check out the cities night life.......AKA........Red Light district. The only thing was the weather. You see you have to walk those areas of Amsterdam, no trams or tour buses there. So we checked out the sex museum insteed, which was an eye opener, I tell ya! And after that we head back to Haarlem to a warm shower and dry clothes. No red lights for me tonight.The next day the city was under the grip of sea fog, and we weren't really in the mood to do much. So once out we visited a couple of shops and a big department store, whose name I can't pronounce let alone spell. We brought some items, Haarlem had some cool clothing. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in a café drinking, Karin coffee, me, red wine. It was great, laid back. They even let people bring there dogs in the cafes. And they are treated like people, well almost.Well New Years Eve had arrived and I still hadn't seen the red light district of Amsterdam yet. So that was our next on the must do list. Karin wanted to see the markets there as well so it was a matter of two bird's one stone. The only thing hampering this was once again the weather. But what the hell ay, it's only water. So we jumped on the train around two in the arvo, and headed to Amsterdam. You see you can't see the red light area in day light, can ya. So we found our way to the market, only to find that they were starting to pack up early due to the weather and the New Year's thing. So off to the next sight. The city gardens. Which are housed in a massive glass house. Sadly on arrival we found them to be closed. Dark was starting to fall, and we were wet and in need of some coffee, and a bit of a regroup. So we found a small pub, this one was only five hundred odd years old. So we had coffee got our bearings.By this time, we had walked some kilometers, had taken plenty of photos and were ready to go, but not of course until I had seen the girls in the windows. This was when you put your camera away incase some gorilla (girl minder) comes out and smashes it for you. Now the streets in Amsterdam are generally small, so I expected this place to be seedy, and even a bit dirty. But as it turned out it was nothing like it. The street it self was packed with people men and woman ogling the flesh merchandise in the windows. It was a hard case to watch these girls work there magic, trying to get customers. They tap on the window and flash a little taster for someone who shows a serious interest. We walked around there, just the once and then slowly made our way to the train station, the last train on new years eve was around eight, so we couldn't miss that or we'd be stuck. So in true Dolieslager style we caught the last train to Haarlem. Back in our Hotel room by nine, we had three hours to dry off get ourselves fed and bums to the square by midnight to see in 2005.We found a little Thai place not far from the square, so it was Thai food for dinner. And at about eleven thirty we made our way to the square, to find it completely empty. Thinking that the New Year may be a non event, we stood on the step of a memorial and waited ten minutes before more people started to appear, and with five minutes before midnight the place was packed with locals. Even the cops and ambo had their bottle of bubbles ready to pop. There would have been at least two to three thousand people, and most had brought fire works to celebrate 2005. Well I must say, it was bloody awesome hour of fire works I have seen that wasn't choreographed, and the noise was what a war zone must be like.....deafening.So, it was out 2004 and in 2005. Happy New Year! We didn't wake up till late on the first so Karin sent me on a food run. And that's about all I managed to achieve on new years day. I don't recall Karin even getting dressed. The next day brought shitty weather, but on the plus side Karin was dressed and keen as mustered to venture out and see some more of the mother land. First we went to check out the local wind mill. It wasn't a big walk, but it was cold and we were a little pissed off to find the place locked up tighter than premo-remo prison. So Karin had wanted to have a look at the mini Holland in a town south of Haarlem. So we jumped the train and headed to Den Haag, a trip of about forty minutes I think. From the train station we had to catch tram nine which would stop at the mini Holland place. Now this place was cool. Most things moved or made noise. We only had an hour or so to have a look around but that was long enough. Cruising back to the train station we had a great view of some of the architecture of the city. Now this city was was really modern in appearance. Buildings that even look a little space aged. Anyway we were out of time and after a feed of smullers, it was back on the train to Haarlem.One more day was all we had left; you know that feeling of running out of time. Well that feeling was starting to rear its head. I still hadn't seen the inside of a wind mill. Also we both wanted to do some ice skating after having a taste of it in London. And finally, shopping. There were things we'd seen that we both wanted. But time wouldn't be in our favor. So something had to be given the miss and because we intended to return one day the wind mill got the chop.After we'd shopped for our little things, for me cheese, Karin, surprise surprise, clothes. Then it was off to the ice rink for some more fun. Having had ago in London I was quite confident that I wouldn't fall flat on my ass, as I hadn't fallen there. But that was with a little bit of luck. But in the end I was freaking out about nothing, a walk in the park. I think I had more fun than Karin did, she seemed to have trouble with one of her skates and was in a bit of pain. So after a couple of hours, we were knackered, and we also had to pack, for our flight was early. So after only a few hours of sleep we caught the airport bus across the road at five am. So that was that, been there done that. I'm looking forward to going back. I have a wind mill to see! All and all, Holland is a great place, people are nice, service was great, and we both look forward to returning.
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