TravelStream™ news feed for member smachim on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/smachim en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:07:11 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/11/1236629100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/11/1236629100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/11/1236629100/tpod.html Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:07:11 -0400 Salta, Argentina, visit 2009

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Salta, Northern Argentina, Argentina

Flight with Aerolineas Argentinas. My sister in law bought the tickets (about 40% more expensive for foreigners but once you got your ticket they don't care what country is the passport you are traveling with). Forgot to check availability with LAN airlines that now have several routes in Argentina.

Once in Salta took a cab (about ARG35) to the hotel www.hotelrefugiodelinca.com.ar. The hotel is well situated, about 4 blocks from the main town square, and 3 from a big supermarket (Carrefour). Staff is accommodating, rooms quite big and clean and cable TV with foreign channels. There is also a PC with internet for guest to use free of charge. Breakfast was coffee/tea/mate and various pastries.

It was pouring the whole day, so we confirmed our excursion with www.evolutiontravel.com.ar, bought water and snacks for the trip and walk around. For dinner we went to www.donasalta.com.ar very good and inexpensive local specialties.

Next day we were picked up at 7am and we started our trip to the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The day was a mix of drizzle, sun and wind, with temperatures varying wildly. The scenery is spectacular if you like arid mountains full of colors. Once in Humahuaca we tour the village and had one of our most memorable meals in an unnoticeable restaurant: different preparations of Llama that were delicious. Also we bought some knits and were impressed by the quality of the vicuña wool.

On our way back we stop at the Pucara of Tilcara (ancient ruins that were one of the highlights of the day).

For the night we stopped at Purmamarca, diminutive village home of the Cerro de los 7 Colores. But the real treat was El Camino de los Colorados, a 1 hour hike behind the Cerro with amazing colors and scenery.

We stayed at www.postadepurmamarca.com.ar simple but very nice hotel just underneath the Cerro. Big rooms and bathroom, clean, no TV, friendly staff and adequate breakfast. (IMHO better than Los Colorados, which is similar but further away). For dinner we went to Posta de Purmamarca (same name but different from the hotel) and the place was nice, but average food.

Next day we took the Cuesta de Lipan,an uphill route up to almost 4,200 meters, and then to the Salinas Grandes. Beautiful place highly recommended. Sunglasses are a must, sunscreen and hat recommended and even that you'll start to burn in 30'. Afterwards we drove to San Antonio de los Cobres. The road is uneven gravel and hard, but the scenery and the constant herds of llamas, vicuñas and donkeys made it enjoyable.

San Antonio is a poor and un-interesting village, but we had to have lunch and a pit stop.
In the afternoon we drove along the Tren de las Nubes route back to Salta.

Once in Salta we went for dinner to http://www.viejaestacion-salta.com.ar in the trendy area of Balcarcel. Good and inexpensive food, and the later folk show was supposed to be good, but we were to tired.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/10/1220290860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/10/1220290860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/10/1220290860/tpod.html Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:04:10 -0400 First Trip to Hong Kong

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Hong Kong, China

When deciding where to take our next trip and using www.Kayak.com as our fare searcher, HKG was the only destination under $1,000.

So after doing some research HKG looked like a perfect place to spend 6 days, enough to get a good feeling of the place and not get bored.

The 16 hours non-stop flight with continental from Newark, NJ was uneventful and not to painful, and the HKG airport is fantastic: modern, clean, easy to navigate.... Latter we find out that the whole City and territories are equally easy for tourists. From there we took the A11 bus whose last stop was just in front of our hotel.

It is not cheap to find decent accommodation in HKG, and we ended booking a room at Hotel Ibis North Point (138 Java Road NORTH POINT). The Hotel is on the cheap side and you get what you pay for. The room was tiny, the bed was big and hard as a rock (good), it had a safe and a small fridge, and everything was clean but rundown. A fresh coat of paint and new carpets would do wonders.

Regarding its location, North Point is a blue collar neighborhood east of downtown. Transportation is easy, cheap and convenient with the subway (12' from Central) entrance 50 yards from the Hotel, trams (25' from Central) 2 blocks away and a bus terminal just in front with routes to the whole island. The neighborhood was interesting and there was an excellent supermarket/bakery called Wellcome two blocks away in King's Road where we ended buying breakfast and drinks every morning to eat at the McDonalds' café (kind of a Starbucks inside McDonalds. Also we mostly took the tramway as it is the most interesting way of transportation.

Some highlights:
- Dim Sum: Great. We tried several restaurants and everyone was different and good. If your lunch is latte in the day (after 2pm) many items in the menu are discounted.
- Light Show from Kowloon: a must.
- Shopping: you won't find anywhere a bigger amount of luxury malls and cheap markets.
- Stanley and Repulse Bay make for a nice half day break. Despite all the raves the beaches are average at most.
- Aberdeen: mixed feelings between the interesting and the depressing
- Victoria peak: A must by day and by night. The bus is more interesting than the tram.
- Macau: we did a day trip and is interesting but enough for a day.
- Tian Tan Buda in Lantau island: our favorite excursion and the cable car is a must. We completed the day going to Silvermine Bay Beach which is nice but unremarkable.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1194813900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1194813900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1194813900/tpod.html Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:35:10 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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New York City, New York, United States

By all standards is huge. It belongs to the Voyager class of RCL and it has 14 floors of staterooms and common spaces.

The dinning main room was divided throughout 3 floors, on deck 5 there was a "promenade" with shops and bars and was very lively the whole day. On deck 11 it has the buffet restaurant (where we did all breakfasts and lunch on the ship) usually very crowded. Food overall was good with ample variety and free teas and lemonades.
Shows: Big theater with nightly shows (average guest performers and great own production shows) and an ice skating ring with a great production show as well.
Sports: the gym was always crowded (which surprised me) and the machines showed a lot of wear. The climbing rock wall is interesting but just a 2 minutes novelty. A mini golf, basketball court, several ping-pong tables and an in line skating ring complemented the offers.
Pools: Very small and contained more chlorine than water. On the other hand plenty of sun chairs available, unusual considering the amount of people.
Service: As friendly and attentive as it gets.
Shops: They had very good prices, better than in many islands.
Arcades: Disappointingly vs. Norwegian's you had to pay for them.
Our stateroom was an exterior one on deck 2. Nice despite some wear and tear and very quiet.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195246440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195246440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195246440/tpod.html Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:31:07 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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Roseau, Dominica

Last time we visited my underwater pictures were on the crappie side, so I had just bought an underwater casing that Dominica deserves. I had arranged with a local cab driver an excursion, but he never showed up so I negotiate with one of the touts for a 5-hour car for $150. His name was Margel Durand (ontimetaxitours@hotmail.com 767-225-5173) and he was very polite and informative.

We went up to Titou Gorge. The drive is really interesting as it's up in the mountains. When we arrive there was no one else around and the cave was just for us. Well, for me. My wife decided the water was too cold this time, and I had to swim by myself, so again my pics don't make justice of the place.

Afterwards we went back to Roseau, crossed through the botanical garden and went to Champagne Beach. Since our last time they have built a wooden runway that makes much easier to get to the "reef". As a side note, most of the reefs we saw on this trip were dead. The lack of respect, knowledge or just the number of tourist is terrible for the live near the shores. But Champagne is famous not for its corals but for its volcanic bubbles and the steam was blowing strong.

Back to Roseau we cut our stroll short because of the heat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195073400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195073400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195073400/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:09:29 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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Saint Marteen, Netherlands Antilles

Because of the long trip we arrive very late (15.00) to the island. We took a cab ($8 pp each way) to Maho beach, as I wanted to see the planes landing, but we just saw 1 and two small ones, had a swim and went back to the ship.
The traffic was chaotic and took us about 35' to go there and 90' to come back.
Otherwise the island seem worthy to spend much more time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195851780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195851780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195851780/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:03:47 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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New York City, New York, United States

The days at sea were filled with exercise, reading and for the part of my family shopping. The stores on the ship offered sale after sale of watches, purses, shirts, etc. I bought a running/bottle holder for $6.5 that retails for $25, so they had good prices.

Debarkation: Our previous experience with NCL was hellish so we were prepared for the worst but turned out that after a very slow start, our group was out 2.15 hours after arrival, with a smooth and quick customs and baggage pick up.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195592460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195592460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195592460/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:02:33 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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San Juan, Puerto Rico

If you read our other blogs you'll notice we've been in S.Juan several times, so this one we just showed the beautiful downtown and the impressive El Morro fortress to my parents. S.Juan continues to be IMHO the most attractive town in the whole Caribbean.

We had never shopped before in S. Juan, but we found some incredible good prices on watches and the duty-free shop in the piers had the cheapest booze in all the islands.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195505940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195505940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195505940/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:00:44 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands US

Back in US territory we had to pass through Immigration, but it was way less painful than expected. It was done in the ship and took us 10'.
St.Thomas is not our type of island (to commercial and touristy) so we wanted to visit St.Johns. The bad news it was raining again. We walked to the ferry dock in Charlotte-Amalie's waterfront and caught the 9.00 ferry ($10 pp/way). The ride is beautiful and in a sunny day I would recommend it to anyone even just for a short tour.

Once in St.John and because of the weather we decided to change our plans and instead of renting a moped we decided to go for a car (and we were glad we did). The problem was that there were no cars available at any rent-a-car stand. Finally we ended renting an overpriced, only cash, piece of junk, but at least it moved and wasn't too wet in the inside.

We drive the north road up to the sugar mill ruins, to Coral Bay and surroundings, but again it started to rain dogs and cats, so we went back to Francis Bay to wait for the rain to stop. And waited and waited. With just 2 hours to our last ferry we decided to re-visit Trunk bay and luckily although it was still raining in the parking lot, there was some sun on the beach (by the way it has very complete facilities with showers, lockers, etc). We snorkeled a bit (lots of friendly hungry fishes but dead corals), enjoy the beautiful views and dried off.

The ferry back to Charlotte-Amalie was even nicer than the first time. We strolled a bit, try to buy some alcohol (but found it too expensive) and went back to the ship as it started to rain again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195419420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195419420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195419420/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:58:48 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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Baseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

We arrive late, 12.00, so we just had time to go to the beach. We hire a cab to Cockleshell beach ($25 each way) with pick up 3 hours later. The beach is beautiful with a couple of palm trees for shade. Snorkeling is very average as the sea bed is grass but there was plenty of starfish and conchs.
Back at Baseterre the shops around the cruise terminal were open but just the usual turist traps.
The island seems worthy of more time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195332900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195332900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smachim/cruise_2007/1195332900/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:56:53 -0500 Cruise on the Explorer of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean.

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Bridgetown, Barbados

The day started raining and our plans for the beach weakened. We waited until it stopped and walked to town, and there we spitted as I didn't want to loose any swim.
We hired a cab to Mullins beach (about 25' and $25 one way) and when arriving asked the driver to pick us back 3 hours later. He wasn't very convinced we were going to be there but he agreed.

It was really cloudy and the sand was wet so we started to walk to Gibbes bay further south. Then it started to rain, then to pour and later the gates of the heaven's dam broke.
Considering it was drier inside the sea we dove in and waited until it stopped....about one hour later. We went out, dry a bit and I went to snorkel, but visibility was terrible and it started to pour again. So we decided to trespass and got into the garden of the next villa, which had a small pergola under which is was dry. We had a pick up time of 14.30 but considering the Great Flood was on its way we doubted the cabbie would be there, so we started to hike back....under the pouring rain, and when we arrived to Mullin's bar he was there. I've never been happier to see a cab.

Back to the cruise terminal, bought 2 liters of Mount Gay and off to the ship to dry out.
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