TravelStream™ news feed for member v1213 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/v1213 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:13:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/eurojapmishmash/1203642000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/eurojapmishmash/1203642000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/eurojapmishmash/1203642000/tpod.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:13:45 -0400 EuroJap Mish Mash

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Urayasu, Tōkyō, Japan

I know it's corny but I'm going to start this entry with a selection of lyrics from one of the land theme songs from Tokyo DisneySea, because I feel it accurately represents my impression of the park. It's crazy that they commissioned songs for each of the park's lands when it openned but this is Japan so one must expect this kind of thing.<i>To sail into a port of awesome wonders / On a breeze that sets your heart and spirit free / To hear the song that floats from Porto Paradiso / You can feel the magic glisten / As you close your eyes and listen to the seaThe waves of wild enchantment break around you / On the shore that called from far across the sea / And all you ever need is your imagination / It's a dream you want to christen / As you close your eyes and listen to the seaA renaissance of beauty will enchant you / Bewitched with grace and charming history / Waves of wonder gently swirl around you / And wash away your troubles instantlyNew pleasures and discoveries astound you / The sky ignites at night above the bay / A symphony of sight and sound surrounds you / And gondoliers will sing you on your wayI hope this has painted a vivid image of the fun that lay in store for us at Tokyo DisneySea, but before that I must discuss our first park day, at Tokyo Disneyland. Despite being a weekday during a relatively low season of the year the park was openning at 9am and closing at 9pm. I had heard that the Japanese like to queue up well in advance to get into the park but the earliest we could get there with a decent wake up time was 8:40am. As the monorail curved around to the entrance of the park it was clear that at this early stage the park was going to be pretty full and it was going to take a while for the amassed crowds to even get in when the gates finally openned.Unlike any other Disney park I can remember visiting they leave the gates closed until the openning time and then let everyone rush into the park, instead of letting people in onto Main Street for shopping and dining before openning the rest of the park at the advertised time. The local response to this crowd management scenario is odd for Japan - mass running. As soon as someone passes through the turnstyle, the proper etiquette is to run as fast as you can for your favourite attraction and maybe stop to get a photo with one of the characters, who are strategically placed at the entry and on the main routes to the big rides. Since this was Steve's first time inside a Disney park it was decided to take it at a normal pace - no running.Disappointingly, Tokyo Disneyland is not so well suited to a Disneyland virgin because Main Street is covered (ruining the semi-legitimacy of an American street; it's clearly fake and not outdoors) and called "World Bazaar" as well as there being no steam train circling the park so we couldn't begin with a round trip to sample the lands and rides. Nevertheless we headed into the park up to the hub before taking a right into Tomorrowland. I was quite shocked as to how many people had already made it to this part of the park and were swarming around the place. At this point I found it amusing that the stories I had heard of there being queues to use FASTPASS machines were definitely true; Space Mountain's machines had a huge queue! Deterred by the concept of queuing to get a virtual queue place, we headed into the regular standby queue for Space Mountain.Tokyo's Space Mountain is the classic version, a near carbon copy of the one at Disneyland and thus was a new experience for me. You travel up an old-fashioned rubber travelator to the first floor, where the queue zigzags along the roof platform before descending inside to the loading platform. This incarnation was sponsored by Coca-Cola and this was made very clear in the large promo video in the queue. It was around this promo in the queue that the group of girls behind us decided to try out their English. Of course the purpose of the conversation was to ask for photos with my hair, although Steve ended up in a few as well. You have to feel sorry for Steve sometimes - not only do I have the blond hair but I'm also taller so I do the western cliché thing better. We hadn't been in the park for 30 minutes, ridden any rides but were already in some nice Japanese girls' photo collection!The station itself was very cool - a giant ship rests overhead, being refueled with a changing lightshow to match. The track layout is the same as I have experienced at Hong Kong and begins with a few lifts up into the dome. The effects on these lifts were different and impressive so I arrived at the top expecting a good ride. It is a shame that Tokyo's version has no onboard audio and hence no synchronised soundtrack. To add insult to injury there are no effects inside apart from the projected starfield so there was little to look at. The result was a less fun, less thrilling ride that was a non-event after the lift. How I miss Hong Kong's modern take on this ride!The plan was to progress around the park in an anti-clockwise direction, hitting the big rides for FASTPASSes as much as possible in advance to reduce our waiting times. To this end we found ourselves transitioning to Fantasyland and joining the extremely long queue for Winnie the Pooh FASTPASSes. How long? At least 150m of snaking people, carefully managed by attraction cast members. Thankfully this queue only took a few minutes and we soon had passes to return after 3pm. I know it sounds like a waste to get a FASTPASS for a family ride like this but you'll see that this ride is worth it. Here we discovered our first odd popcorn flavour vending cart: honey. Across the way was It's a Small World and Steve had wanted to give this annoying attraction a go since it's so famous so it was our next stop.Thoroughly disturbed we emerged and continued our tour of the park, noting a 2 hour queue for the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. Crowds were evidently worse than we had expected on a Monday. During the day we progressed around the park, returning to the big attractions to get FASTPASSes every 2 hours, once the system would let us get another and if they had any left. It was saddening that both Big Thunder Mountain and the Railroad (which just circles 2 lands at Tokyo) were down for maintenance so we couldn't enjoy some of the most enjoyable rides in the park and making Frontierland relatively dead and boring.Adventureland provided us with fun on the Jungle Cruise although trips were only offered in Japanese so we were unable to fully appreciate this ride. In addition the queue took us a good 30 minutes, pissing Steve off. Here was another ride that I'd encountered most recently in updated form at Hong Kong, but in Tokyo was presented in the classic way, without many alterations. I'm not sure which I prefer; Hong Kong's is more high tech and thrilling but Tokyo's was longer and had more scenes to enjoy.No visit to a Disneyland (except Hong Kong) would be complete without riding Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, Tokyo has the classic version of this attraction, which came as an enjoyable contrast to Paris' updated incarnation. It was quite nostalgic for me because I remember riding this at Disneyland with my family when I was just 5 and this came really close to my memories. It had been updated with props, effects and characters from the movies so it was also fresh and new in some ways. The updated material hadn't been translated so we had the bonus of English dialogue and singing. Of note is the Captain Jack figure at the end which is a funny way to cap of a great attraction.Throughout the rest of the day we rode most of the park's attractions, including the Mark Twain Riverboat, Splash Mountain (FASTPASS), The Haunted Mansion, the Fantasyland dark rides (Pinocchio, Snow White and Peter Pan) and Star Tours. Along the way I pointed out the equivalent attractions that our friend Alicia works on at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed the opportunity to finally visit a "Toontown" land and ride Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, which is a fun, immersive ride that is as wild and nauseating as you want it to be, which obviously means very wild for Steve and I. In contrast to Paris I prefer Tokyo's haunted mansion, which is far more creepy and foreboding, as well as their version of Star Tours because all of the fun, impressive and exciting effects (especially in the queue) are fully-functional in Tokyo, unlike Paris' run-down version. It should be noted that the only attraction we rode more than once on this first day was Pirates of the Caribbean, due to queues.For the record, brunch was from the bakery at the end of World Bazaar, which was another self-serve affair and had an interesting selection of items, including the now infamous "Meat Patty Danish". Dinner was from Pan-Galactic Pizza in Tomorrowland, which had a pretty crazy restaurant interior... but we had to eat outside because that's where the only free seats were.As far as shows were concerned most of the stage shows were outdoors so we avoided them because of the cold, we saw the parade while we were in the 75 minute queue for the Haunted Mansion and we didn't bother watching the nighttime castle show "Cinderalla's Royal Coronation" as it didn't appeal to us and we hoped it take the crowds out of the attraction queues. It did shorten queues, but not to acceptable lengths, although we did use this opportunity to enjoy Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters with the shortest wait it had seen all day - 45 minutes. We did spend some time in the evening enjoying the seasonal "Cinderellabration: Lights of Romance" setup in the gardens around the hub and in front of the castle. Basically heaps of lights on arches and in trees all through the gardens, performing a constant show in sync with songs from Cinderella. It doesn't make up for the Electrical Parade not running but it's better than nothing.I've held off talking about Pooh's Hunny Hunt so I guess now is the time. Sure, Pooh is for kids and is generally not very entertaining to anybody over the age of 8. Sure, the characters can even be annoying at times and it can be painful to watch the show but this ride is different. Riders board honey pots, which roll out of the station in a group of 3, travelling independently without any tracks. After the first scene (a short intro movie) the pots progress through the rides scenes randomly, separating, travelling and spinning completely independently. There are a few near miss times with other pots travelling around as each moves to different activity areas in the scenes to interact with a different part. One scene even involved pots moving onto a section of floor that bounced up and down with Tigger, which was fun. All of the animatronics had very fluid movements - Disney immersion at its best. The fact that the pots are independent and are controlled individually by the central computer means that each ride is different and you can never be sure where you'll go or what you'll end up doing until you get to the end. Speaking of the end, in the last scene, where Pooh ends up with tons of 'hunny', they make the room smell like honey! In short, if you're ever in Tokyo and you want some hi-tech fun go ride this ride, even if you hate Pooh!At the end of the day it was time for another monorail ride back to the hotel and to get Steve's impression of his first Disneyland experience. Unfortunately he was disappointed; he had always that Disneyland would be bigger from the hype of his childhood years. More than that it was the fact that guests cannot walk through the castle in Tokyo (it's a stage) and that the park was tired. This was especially visible in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Everything was immaculate, clean and working but it was old. Giant painted concrete paths and bare queuing structures aren't that much fun regardless of how clean and fresh they look. That said, the day was fun and some attractions (Pirates, Pooh, Roger Rabbit and Pooh) were very well done, creating that true escapist Disney environment. Returning to the MiraCosta only helped to reinforce that Disney can do better than parks designed in the late 1970's and create truly encompassing themed environments.In accordance with the rules of our 4 day park passport we had nominated our 2nd day for Tokyo DisneySea, the park in which our hotel was located. We woke around the same time as the previous day so that we'd have time to enjoy another Oceano buffet breakfast before hitting the park, which openned an hour later than Disneyland at 10am. We were hoping for a more modern, detailed theme experience this day because the park was built together with the hotel and, being the most expensive theme park ever built has got to mean something, doesn't it?Hotel MiraCosta guests such as ourselves are given the unpublished privilege of entering the park 15 minutes before the commoners, through the hotel's exclusive entrance from the foyer. We unknowingly took advantage of this service because we got to the foyer 20 minutes early to queue to get into the park anyway. Once inside we didn't need to run; there were only a handful of other guests entering with us so we soaked up the atmosphere and fantastic scenery that this park has to offer, whilst walking slowly in the direction of the Tower of Terror.I had heard that the Hotel Hightower (Tower of Terror [TOT] - a haunted hotel lift ride) had the longest lines in the park so it seemed like the logical ride to visit first. For us early-comers there were cast members creating queues for the standby and FASTPASS queues at the entry to the land, which was not yet accessible. Around the official park openning time the queues were moved to the attraction itself and we got on the first ride of the day. This ride is so massive and detailed, it just blows you away. In the pre-show the cursed idol causing havoc at the hotel comes to life before disappearing in the most believable way right in front of everyone. It truly is a "how did they do that?" moment. The theme and detail make this Tower of Terror the most detailed, intricate and visually appealing that I've been on but the dropping sensations on the lift part of the ride were a bit tame. Perhaps it's the over-the-shoulder seat belts restricting freedom and thus the freefall but the thrill part of the ride just wasn't as fun. Nevertheless I came out wanting more but the already 90 minute long queue and endless snake of a FASTPASS queue deterred us.Where to next? It's pretty hard to miss Mount Prometheus, the giant volcano in the centre of the park, so we made a beeline and grabbed a FASTPASS for Journey to the Centre of the Earth inside. The queue was only listed as 20 minutes so we joined and began to appreciate the attraction immediately. As an adaptation of the famous Jules Verne novel of the same name, guests are entering caverns inside the volcano for a tour to some of the locations described in the book. It's a bit of a bastardisation because the premise is that Captain Nemo, of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea fame, is organising this expedition and running the tours instead of the characters in the book. The queue is filled with details to provide context to the story - drawings of some locations discovered in the book, tools and samples from the expedition, excerpts from Nemo's diary and is all set in awesome-looking rock caverns. The late 19th Century industrial era theme runs strong with iron everywhere and the lights being powered by suspended cables that criss-cross the roof of the cavern.At the head of the queue guests are put into lifts to descend to the expedition base station and board their craft. In fact we ended up figuring that the lifts travel up, not down, but the short trip is well done with wind blowing through the lift, passing lights and sounds as if we were really speeding downward in a dodgy iron lift. At the base station large, steam powered machines are generating electricity and we can hear reports from the workers at different stations further down; most good but the odd 1 bad. There is steam leaking from cracks in the wall, drilling sounds in the distance and a cool rolling steam wave down the back of the chamber. Oh and did I mention that the roof is held up by giant screws? We soon find ourselves on a 6-person iron vehicle with a massive cow catcher to take us into the depths of the Earth.The journey begins without any problems, passing through crystal caverns, wind tunnels and giant mushroom forests before something goes wrong. We bump and speed past a collapsing station and end up finding ourselves at a vast underground sea with an overhead lightning storm. Soon enough we travel deeper and find ourselves in next to a magma pool with flames going off next to the vehicle and a giant monster lurching for us. Naturally the only way out is forward and with a blast of steam we're speeding through the darkness, eventually popping out the side of Mt Prometheus before arriving safely back with Nemo's crew at the exit. I realise I've blabbed on about this ride but I love it that much - superb!Also at Mysterious Island is the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride, which is another detailed masterpiece. It uses dry-for-wet effects to mimic actually being underwater as we travel in our submarines that are suspended from above using monorail technology. Each pair of passengers (again 6 per vehicle) gets a seat in front of a window and can operate a search light at select points in the ride. Even though the narration was in Japanese we could figure out what was going on by the tone of voice and the gauges in the vehicles which showed us depth and remaining oxygen.We made our way around the park in no particular order, stopping in at the different themed ports as we passed through. Our other favourite attractions were Aquatopia and Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull (FASTPASS) but there was nothing to dislike about Tokyo DisneySea. Everywhere we walked things were clean, modern and detailed. No more wide concrete expanses or cheap queues, everything had a part to play in telling the story and everything was meant to look real and genuine. What's more, the park has waterways connecting all the lands so in lieu of a train encircling the park there is a boat system that guests can take for intra-park transport or just for a tour. This doesn't mean there isn't a train in the park - a 3rd rail elevated railway runs from the 1920's American Waterfront to Port Discovery.Pretty much every experience we had in the park was a positive one. The only negatives I can think of were the all day 2 hour queue time for the Tower of Terror and the smoking area being too close to a high volume traffic area in Port Discovery. Even the crowds weren't so bad; they were less than at Disneyland and the locals have great queue etiquette. In addition so many of the queues in this modern park have a lot to look at so it takes a while to get bored.On the food side the stalls here always seemed to have long queues. It wasn't unusual to see people line up for a good 50m just to get there hands on a churro or a gyoza (Chinese sausage) dog. We thought that curry popcorn in Disneyland's Adventureland was weird but the strange varieties at DisneySea were more numerous. Some flavours were cappuccino, sea salt, coconut, black pepper and strawberry. We tried all of those but sea salt and black pepper. We only snacked until dinner, riding on our bountiful breakfast. Dinner was an odd experience, had in the American Waterfront's Cape Cod area watching the continuously running <i>Donald's Boat Builders show at the restaurant. There's just something about eating at the theatre that I find weird.Speaking of shows, this park has some interesting ones, though on our first day we only took the time to sample the main ones. We just happened to be around Mediterranean Harbour for the start of <i>The Legend of Mythica, a show that I had not expected to enjoy and was not fussed about seeing. In reality this show about unlocking the realm of fantasy and communing with dragons etc was so much better than it sounds. Heaps of floats move around the harbour, there are people on jet skis, people on jet skis with kites, dancers, characters, people on and off of the floats as they dock around the harbour, people being raised high into the air, water being sprayed far and wide, fire, mist, pyrotechnics, dancing, singing all to the tune of an annoyingly catchy bubblegum song. I think Steve's comment at the end sums it up: "well they don't do things by halves!"The other spectacular we took in on our first day was <i>BraviSEAmo!, which also takes place on the Mediterranean Harbour, except after dark. Here Mickey introduces the story of the spirit of water and spirit of fire who end up falling in love. This was another grand production set to a sweeping orchestral score of the scale to match the visual part of the show. What they manage to achieve within the confines of the harbour is very impressive, and I guess the tons of pyrotechnics, flames, water and smoke, some coming out of Mt Prometheus helps in this regard. Definitely a must-see that lived up to my highest hyped-up expectations.We left the park that night buzzing about our day and excited at the prospect of hitting DisneySea again the next day. I think I should just mention that we managed to get a ride on Journey to the Centre of the Earth at the end of <i>BraviSEAmo! by getting in queue just before the rush of others from the harbour so we finished the day in perfect DisneySea style. Again, it was such a bonus to be staying at the MiraCosta - we never actually had to leave the park! The park passports allowed us to park-hop on the 3rd and 4th days so we were now free to travel between the parks and enjoy the best of both worlds. Although after our first day experience at Disneyland we were far more focussed on DisneySea. It was a non-Oceano breakfast day so we got up an hour later and headed straight into our local park to get FASTPASSes for the TOT. On this second day we did all of the other attractions that we had missed the previous day due to queues and other circumstances, resulting in an even greater appreciation for the place. Of particular note is StormRider (a well thought-out simulator ride) and the fortress on Mediterranean Harbour. The fortress was a great place to run around and explore various little interactive rooms and it had a great view toward the park entrance.It was on this day that I began to wear my Pluto ears from Disneyland Paris, which caused quite of a stir. Sure, the locals are used to all kinds of Disney-related headwear in the parks but the Paris-exclusive Pluto ears were a novelty. Not to mention the colour of my hair, which was enough of a reason for photos already. This freak-ness did however earn us some benefits. In the queue between the pre-show and ride sections of the Tower of Terror, in addition to a group of Japanese girls waving at us, a cast member questioned me as to where I got the Pluto ears from. I showed him the tag and explained that it was from Paris. He relayed this information to his interested colleague and told me they looked really good - ha! Just when Steve and I thought it was all over the cast member returned, thanking us for coming "all the way" to Tokyo and giving us some free cards that are somehow tied to the park's then-current "Season of the Heart". We have no idea what they're meant to be for because the writing's in Japanese but we felt special all the same. Another cast member later in the day at the Magic Lamp Theatre (Arabian Coast) handed us some more cards with our surtitle displays - bonus!We also took in a few of the park's theatre shows but always ended up coming out thinking "what the hell just happened?" They were all interesting and impressive but the reasoning behind them and the connecting theme/story always seemed to get lost in the action. Meh, we're in Japan - things aren't meant to make sense! In keeping with the park's modernity some shows offered little hand held screens (think a PSP) that we could request from the cast members. These provided personal surtitles to help with show comprehension, even if much of the shows was already in English.Of course we enjoyed our favourites again and again, particularly Indiana Jones, Journey to the Centre of the Earth [JTTCOTE] and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I'm not sure if it was that we rode later in the day but the drop sequence on TOT seemed more thrilling and intense than before. Then again, perhaps I'm just insane?In the evening we transfered ourselves over to Disneyland to get some photos and video of the park at night. Specifically we had been impressed by the "Cinderellabration: Lights of Romance" light display around the hub and gardens in front of Cinderella's Castle. To better enjoy our days we had not taken any cameras with us on our first 2 days so the entire photographic task rested on days 3 and 4. Trust me, we definitely managed to get a ton of photos in just 2 days, it would've been insane if we had taken twice as many! We didn't hang around for any rides because of the restrictive queue times so we were soon back at DisneySea for some more rides and <i>BraviSEAmo!. In retrospect this 3rd day was the most enjoyable; the day was well paced with meal breaks, we rode our favourite rides several times, worked our FASTPASSes really well and also got to enjoy some more new experiences. We had a ball!The fourth and final day was on us sooner than one could hope. Not only was it our last park day but it was also the day we left MiraCosta for the Ambassador Hotel. We enjoyed a final Oceano breakfast before bringing down our bags and checking out. When we had checked in all those days ago at the welcome centre the staff had given us a hotel transfer receipt so when we presented this the bell staff labeled our bags and took them to be delivered to the Ambassador. We were then bag-free and ready to hit the parks, this time starting at Disneyland.The strategy was to get on Splash Mountain first thing before the queues ballooned out to 2 hours, grab some daytime photos, ride Pirates and grab some associated merchandise before transferring back to the better park. This worked pretty well so we were in DisneySea about an hour after it had openned (2 hours after Disneyland), freshly laden with merchandise (we didn't yet have a room number at the Ambassador so could not use the hotel delivery service). I convinced Steve to wear the Mickey pirate hat he had just purchased on the monorail and at through DisneySea, which garnered some interesting looks. I guess you could say we were now in our element - me in my Pluto ears, Steve in his Mickey pirate hat running around in the now familiar park, riding the best rides, eating at the coolest places and generally mucking around.A break was had in the early afternoon to check in to the Ambassador Hotel, earning us a room number. Sure enough our bags had made it from the MiraCosta, all donning large tags with that hotel's logo so everyone would be able to see - ha! The room itself was the same layout as at the MiraCosta but the decor was now art deco, which was pretty funky and cool. Unfortunately the Ambassador can't meet the awesomeness of the MiraCosta, mainly because it isn't inside a theme park; instead it's connected to a shopping centre - Ikspiari. Though that's why this hotel is cheaper than the Ambassador; no monorail, no transporting you to another place and time, just cool Disney art deco style in a bad location.Freshly equipped with the all-important room number we hit Bon Voyage with our hotel guest discount vouchers. It would be an understatement to say that Steve bought up BIG. It took forever for the poor cashiers to wrap and bag his purchases so that they could be sent to the hotel, although they seemed to not be phased by this task. I bought a few little things as well but unfortunately half of the items I wanted were available only in the parks themselves and thus were not available for a discount. I suppose it's a good thing that the merchandise at Tokyo is generally not that relevant for westerners like ourselves - I found myself wanting to buy very little. The few must-have items like monorail monorails were in short supply so it was hard to buy anything that I liked!Our day and indeed our Tokyo Disney Resort park experience ended in style at Tokyo DisneySea. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening enjoying the atmosphere, food and rides of this superb locale. Over the course of our stay we had become increasingly familiar with our favourite rides so we had slowly begun to ride in a theatrical manner, reacting to the effects and scenes we knew were coming. This generally involved a lot of ducking, recoiling, throwing hands in the air in a panicked fashion and, of course screaming. All of our favourite 3 rides (Indie, JTTCOTE and 20,000 Leagues - TOT would've been if the queues weren't always horrendous!) involved something going awry and a near-death experience for the riders so they were all perfectly suited for such antics. Our fun ranged from panicked comments and pointing at gauges on 20,000 Leagues to ducking from fire and lightning on JTTCOTE to full on screaming and waving on Indie and the climax of JTTCOTE. The best thing had to be cheering and clapping at the end of JTTCOTE - all of the Japanese (especially the girls) would join in and have a laugh with us. All the fun and Japanese girls joining in, not to mention the hilarious on-ride photos from Indie, made the subsequent sore throats worthwhile.We had wanted to finish our 4 days with a final ride on JTTCOTE but as our FASTPASSes and queues worked out we had 2 back-to-back rides on JTTCOTE, including 1 during <i>BraviSEAmo!, before finishing on Indie. By the time we disembarked at the end the park was closed so we walked slowly toward the exit through almost all of the lands, taking in the nighttime ambiance in relatively light crowds.I can confidently say that both Steve and I throughly enjoyed our time in the parks at Tokyo Disney Resort and will definitely be returning to Tokyo DisneySea in the future! A testament to this is that somehow, sometime during our visit it had been decided that Steve was going to get married at the MiraCosta and I was getting Mt Prometheus to take home and live in. Don't ask me how this is all supposed to work but that's what we decided!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244520000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244520000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244520000/tpod.html Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:08:42 -0400 Asian Persuasion

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Seoul, Korea Rep.

Hi everyone from Seoul! Linda, Pacey, Rob and I arrived here on Tuesday afternoon and have been enjoying ourselves in what is new territory for every one of us. Sit back, relax and (hopefully) enjoy reading this latest update of our travels. On the theme of relaxation, here are some recommend K-Pop hits for you to listen to whilst reading. We've definitely been cranking them during our stay and they're to be found everywhere around Seoul. Get into the Korean frame of mind and YouTube these NOW... but don't forget to read this entry!Lollipop - Big BangHot Girl - SeeyaGee - Girls GenerationStrong Baby - G-DragonSurvivable - Brand New DaySuperman - MarioI suppose this entry should start on Monday night, about the same time that the last finished with Linda and me finishing our dinner and drinks at Disney's Hollywood Hotel. About this time in Perth Pacey would've been departing on her Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. The next thing is Linda and I waking and enjoying our final Chef Mickey breakfast at 7am. We then taxiied to the airport, checked in using the self-check kiosks and then proceeded through the checks to the departures area. By the time we got all the way out to our gate (43) half-asleep Pacey and Rob were already waiting for us.Shortly after reunification we were boarding our pretty full aircraft. I hadn't bothered contacting Cathay to get the 4 of us seated together so Linda and I were in row 67, Pacey by chance was in 68 but Rob was in something near to 33. As the rear of the plane had a few spare seats I was able to move around a bit although regular turbulence and subsequent use of the seat-belt sign by the American-sounding pilot restricted this somewhat. Linda and I spent most of the flight listening to the "Korean Music Box" channel as video entertainment was not on demand. This was the beginning of Linda's secret, dirty obsession with K-Pop coming out, an addiction that would come to heavily affect our stay here in Korea.When we arrived into Seoul's massive Incheon Airport we had to take the underground people mover to the main terminal to get processed and exit the facility. Somehow the "obvious" city-airport limousine buses were missed by the 4 of us and staff suggested that we take the train into the city anyway. I was hardly going to protest so we took the A'REX express service to its current terminus at Gimpo Airport, from where the Seoul Subway carried us the rest of the way into town. Rob was heading off to another couch surfing host but I tailored Linda, Pacey and my route to stick with him as long as possible. Our accommodation, Seoul Backpackers, is located pretty centrally, across the road from Namdaemun Market and a 5 minute walk from Seoul Station whereas Rob had to cross to the other side of the city to Gambyeon, which for those familiar with Seoul is a major "express bus" terminal and where TechnoMart is located.Initial impressions of this new country were positive and reminded me of a more Western-influenced version of Japan. Things were clean, impressive and modern. We encountered a completely automated mini mart at Gimpo Airport Station and the ticketing and fare structure for the subway was the Japanese "find your destination station on the map and purchase the ticket price as in the station dot on the map" system. The subway itself was almost the same as Japanese systems, except that the carriage roofs were notably higher (if not the doorways!) and they were also very wide. As we got into town my impression shifted as more Chinese and Vietnam-esque scenes were passed on our walk from Seoul Station to the backpackers. Infrastructure was quite Japanese but streets were used by a mix of motor scooters, cars and people pushing carts. Then there were stall holders and many kiosks listtered around the place but still everything was clean. I suppose it's in reality a cleaner, more organised and more high-tech, developed version of China. The contradictions of this country (from my Western perspective at least) are very interesting - people cram onto the subway watching TV on their mobiles, LED lights are standard but then people shop and eat on the streets and live under less consistent standards.The backpackers exceeded our expectations in being modern, clean and well-run. Almost all accommodation was in private rooms and we had one with a double bed and single extra mattress. There was also a TV and an adjoining shower room/toilet/sink and then a communal space with a computer, microwave, fridge and water purifier. Despite the nice accommodation and Korean music TV the girls were eager to explore the market across the road. We wondered around, all the time me reminding them just to observe and purchase later when I went back to the room to use the net. Our walk included a stop at the local Lotteria for dinner, introducing the girls to this Korean burger joint with their signature Bulgogi Burger. We continued beyond the market, north to the centre of town at City Hall, being passed by a man carrying a large plastic crucifix telling us to repent and playing something sounding like Kenny G's greatest hits. By this time it was dark and the girls could no longer control their shopping urges so we parted ways, with me descending into the subway and them heading into the Lotte Department Store.Seoul's subway network through the centre of town is east-west focussed and thus to head south to the backpackers I needed to take 3 different lines for only a few stops, but hey I always welcome an opportunity to expand my repetoire. Back at the backpackers I logged onto one of the many nearby unsecured wireless networks and started working on the blog. We were amassing a large collection of photos to be sorted through and songs found on the Cathay flight had to be tracked down. The girls eventually made it back to the backpackers after getting a bit lost and rained on in the market and we soon called it a night.Wednesday was our first full day in Seoul and with a dubious weather forecast we decided to spend it at the predominantly indoor Lotte World theme park. In the morning our room's most obvious flaw became apparent - no blinds or curtains on the window. Despite this we were tired enough to sleep through the light and got up at a lazy hour. Breakfast was had at the market across the road, from a stall manned by 3 mature ladies. We had no idea what they would be serving but the noodles, salad and many accomanying side dishes were all very tasty and filling.The subway journey to Jamsil Station and the adjoining Lotte complex took a while but was well worth it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lotte, it is one of Korea's biggest corporations, owning a theme park, hotels, department stores, general stores, a burger chain, a drinks company and other enterprises. The other major businesses that feature heavily in Korean life are Samsung and Hyundai.Exiting the subway we encountered what to be the first of many Lotte Department Store subterranean entrance classical Roman fountains. Faux marble horses and columns covered in cascading water seems to go down well with the locals, who love taking pictures in front of these fountains, despite their complete and utter irrelevance. Inside the despite their complete and utter irrelevance. Inside the store we entered on the food level and couldn't resist grabbing some stuffs to satisfy our sweet tooths as we passed through. To get to the theme park entrance we also had to pass through the supermarket section, which was a great way to see where some Korean food comes from. An inspection of a foreign supermarket is always an interesting insight into their culture and this Korean example did not fail to disappoint with its vast array of seafood in various states of preparation.Finally we found the demure entrance to the country's grandest amusement park, tucked away from the attention-grabbing indoor atrium. The middle of the Lotte complex is a large glass domed roof with the indoor part of the theme park occupying the top levels, then a few floors below of food and an ice skating rink at the bottom, all around a central atrium that allows natural light to flood the building. This set up helped to further draw us in and excite us for what lay ahead, and we hadn't even seen the outdoor section of the park yet.As we ascended the escalator into the park we were tempted to try some of the many indoor attractions but instead headed straight to the outside area, Magic Island, in an attempt to beat the forecast poor weather. Of course I steered the group towards my most anticipated ride first, Atlantis Adventure. This fun Intamin roller coaster is pretty unique as we travelled in 8-seater single cars, were launched by linear induction motors at the start, giving great airtime and also got to experience running in and around water each time we descended.We made our way around Magic Island in a pretty sequential, anti-clockwise order, enjoying the rides and good weather. Highlights of this part of the park were of course Atlantis Adventure, a particularly intense gyro swing (rotating circle of outward-facing seats swining on a pendulum), a gyro drop (rotating circle of outward-facing seats up a tower with a freefall drop) and the Comet Express. The latter was particularly bizarre, but this was half the reason that it was fun. It consists of a long powered train with each set of 2 seats spinning freely during the ride. As such, each ride is different depending on the weight distribution of the seats, and can often include much frantic spinning as the train rushes around many twists and turns. Add to this the crazy layer of themeing that, as far as I could tell, involved the train being eaten by a space monster, then somehow entering space, swirling around a UFO, passing some crazy crumpled stuff, somehow entering space, swirling around a UFO, passing some crazy crumpled stuff, a sun and then lots of black-light fluoro coloured everything.Our riding timed in well as the park's monorail was switched from running the internal loop only to run the full system, including the outdoor section. This meant that we could head back to the inside part of the park, Adventure, in style and also get an overview as our train passed by many of the attractions. This monorail is worthy of a little side note here because it is an Intamin design and is almost the "missing link" in their transition from being only a ride maker to a ride and public transportation monorail company. Systems developed from this one in Seoul operate as legitimate public transport rail networks in Shenzhen and Moscow.Once inside we again made a pretty logical progression through most of the rides, operating once again in an anti-clockwise fashion (this was not a concious decision). Although the Adventure part of Lotte World housed more attractions they were in general older and less enjoyable, so we did not re-ride any of them. The air inside could've also done with a bit more circulation in some areas. Notable rides indoors were the hot air balloons on the roof, a long, complex and impressive but in the end incomprehensible "Sinbad" boat ride and a rip-off of the Disney Indiana Jones Jeep rides, that even copied some of the effects from these originals.During our visit we had been snacking on the classic and Korean theme park fare and hadn't eaten properly. When we finished enjoying Adventure we exited the park to go to a lower level and dine at the Moevenpick Marché we had seen adjacent the ice rink. Linda was familiar with the concept as it exists in her native Singapore but Pacey had to be educated, which wasn't easy with the lack of English text and speach. Nevertheless, we fumbled our way through and ordered things like Linda's favourite Roesti to be cooked for us without extra cost. Whether this was our mistake, theirs, our foreign charms or that we were actually entitled to it, nobody will ever know. I wasn't fussed, as long as I had access to the chocolate fondue, I was happy (and I was).Post-dinner it was time for the favourites hit-list and as you can probably figure out this meant spending time on Magic Island, to which we travelled by monorail. The night was capped off with an enormous light, laser and sound show indoors that was pretty impressive, but yet again incomprehensible.If you thought we would end it there, you were wrong. Linda and I clearly didn't learn when to call it quits from Macau so we headed off to the nearby Hongik University district to meet Rob and his English teacher couch surfing host Andrew for some drinks. Once we had actually selected a bar things got underway with massive keg-sized jugs of beer and then soju and more beer. All this was of course accompanied by some K-pop hits as requested by Linda and Pacey. When we finally did make the tough decision to head home it was after the subway had closed so the three of us cabbed it, unconciously taking turns to sleep during the 10 minute trip.Surprise, surprise, Wednesday was not an early start for Pacey, Linda and I. Even the curtain-less window could not wake us before midday. Wispers of the previous night haunted us and delayed our start so that we did not actually get up and leave for the day until the ripe hour of 2:30pm! This meant trudging to the market for some food then subwaying it up to Gyeongbok-gung Palace.The palace grounds are vast and we spent several hours walking and resting in the calm of the complex, slowly soaking up the Joeson Dynasty legacy. About an hour was spent at the adjoining Korean Folk Museum, which allowed me to learn about the construction of Korean writing characters and their sounds, as well as the expected displays about Korean life and history as an ethnic group. What was most interesting for me was how Korean history has been greatly influenced by Chinese history, to a far greater extent than Japan. Although this makes sense when one considers that Japan is a series of islands.It was soon 6pm and the complex was closed and thus we began walking south, towards the Cheonggye Stream in the centre of town. This route took us through the crafty and traditional tourist-trap of Insa-dong, where we did stumble upon a few good things like an antique toy shop and some "royal court" almont sweets. We made it to and walked along the landscaped and completely engineered (the stream is a natural feature although I think that is was originally more of a wetland than flowing water) but very relaxing and pleasing stream environment.Soon enough it was time to eat and we found ourselves in a vast and crowded eating street leading away from the stream. After much deliberation and a stop to spin a wheel and win a Cold Stone Icecreamery discount voucher, or in my case phone accessory, we settled on a Korean BBQ joint. Dinner was nice, confused, but authentic and friendly. Yes, it was all topped off with some Cold Stone ice cream and I have to report that I prefer the Australian Cold Rock than this American counterpart.To finish off we returned to the stream to see some digital artistry that had been commissioned for the space.&nbsp; This consisted of some cool&nbsp;digital flowers projected and growing on a&nbsp;side wall and an impressive&nbsp;laser and sound show projected onto a mist screen for about 10 minutes every half hour.&nbsp; Then we subwayed once more back to the backpackers for an earlier night and the hope of a good sleep. Our original plan for Seoul had been to visit Everland on the Thursday but Wednesday night's activity had prevented this from occuring. Instead we were to go on Friday and thus needed to make this Thursday night rest a good one.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244433600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244433600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244433600/tpod.html Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:52:37 -0400 Asian Persuasion

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hong Kong, China

I left you folks mid-adventure as I was running out of internet time in the Prudential Hotel in Hong Kong.&nbsp; I'm writing this entry from Seoul Backpackers, where we have unlimited free internet, so I hopefully won't run into the same problem.&nbsp; Now let's get back to the story...From the Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery we returned to the above ground walkways to get to Central MTR Station.&nbsp; We took the Tsuen Wan line train back towards the hotel at Jordan Station, with the plan of making a quick pit stop before checking out some of the markets to the north of the hotel.&nbsp; Whilst en route we changed our minds, instead opting to continue on the train and make a few changes to get onto the ex-KCRC&nbsp;East Rail line and Tai Po Market Station.&nbsp; Of note on the train trip was this crazy and memorable&nbsp;ad being played on board the West Rail trains.The trip took a while but it made for my first real foray into the New Territories part of Hong Kong, towards the border with China.&nbsp; Linda was happy to embark on the trip to check out the Tai Po Market while I was pushing the train barrow, getting us to the nearby Hong Kong Railway Museum.&nbsp; The walk from the station to the museum took us through the market, which specialises in all manner of fresh food.&nbsp; Dead and live animals were being carved up and sold right before us, which prompted Linda to hurry us through to the other side.We had to walk down a few more streets from the market, which formed an informal and mostly pedestrian extension of the formalised market building.&nbsp; This part of Hong Kong was more Chinese, chaotic and run down.&nbsp; The museum was found at the end of a street and was a smallish set up, situated along the West Rail Line, presumably within the rail reserve.&nbsp; The&nbsp;exhibit was simply&nbsp;an old diesel locomotive, steam locomotive, a few passenger carriages, some blurb boards, a collection of photos in the old Tai Po Market Station building and some other odds and ends.&nbsp; Sadly the office was closed so there was no opportunity to purchase any literature or souvenirs.&nbsp; There were surprisingly a lot of locals there, most of whom seemed to get the greatest thrill from photographing each other on the railway tracks.By this time Linda and I were starting to feel hungry and thus we made the decision to stop off at the market to get some presumably fresh food from the upstairs food court.&nbsp; In keeping with the feel of the area this was a pretty informal affair, despite the formal framework and building within which the court operated.&nbsp; After much deliberation we settled on a stall selling dumpling noodle soup and were both fed and watered for about $3 each.&nbsp; I'm hazarding a guess that many in the market and this food court were Chinese mainlanders, since prices were low, English comprehension was non-existent and it's less than an hour by train to Shenzhen.&nbsp; I should also take this moment to acknowledge Linda and her Chinese skills for aiding communication.Another lengthy train trip brought us back to Jordan Station and the Prudential Hotel, where I did the last entry.&nbsp; During this time Linda headed out on foot to check out the nearby Temple Street markets and ultimately get lost.&nbsp; Despite this she did manage to get back just in time for the agreed "call the cops time" of 9pm.&nbsp; The internet run out shortly after and as such Linda headed out again with a quality navigator (me) to the night market at Mong Kok.The night market was heaving with people and covered in bright lights, making for a very un-Australian experience.&nbsp; We made a quick stop at KFC before continuing, food in hand, through the streets, slowly heading back to Jordan.&nbsp; As part of this process we crossed Nathan Road and went through the Temple Street Markets so that Linda could show me some things that she had found.&nbsp; Just prior to reaching the hotel we stopped at 711 for some beer and snacks to finish off the night in the hotel room.Sunday saw us checking out early and hitting the MTR with our bags heading towards Central and connecting to the Tung Chung line to reach Hong Kong Disneyland Resort via Sunny Bay.&nbsp; This was Linda's first time on Disney soil and she was very excited about this.&nbsp; Despite requests to go to the Disneyland Park straight away, we stuck to the plan and checked into the Hollywood Hotel, utilising the free resort shuttle bus to get from the station to the hotel.&nbsp; Surprisingly we were able to go straight to our park view room on the top floor, where we dumped our stuff and caught the bus back to the station.Another 15 or so minutes of MTR travel brought us to Tung Chung Station and the Ngong Ping cable car.&nbsp; To enhance the almost 30 minute cable car journey that we would take on this system we opted to upgrade to the "Crystal Cabin" for the upward trip, which meant that the gondola floor was made of glass.&nbsp; This was a new feature to an otherwise familiar and enjoyable experience for me.&nbsp; The weather was good so we had a clear view of the airport and surrounding parts of Lantau as we glided through the air.As we had opted not to purchase tickets for the Walking with Buddha experience or the Monkey's Tail Theatre we didn't spend too much time in the Ngong Ping Village.&nbsp; This overly touristy development offered little of interest and everything was more expensive than elsewhere in Hong Kong.&nbsp; Instead we headed straight for the real attractions in the upper reaches of Lantau Island - the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.There was about half an hour to walk up the steps and visit the Buddha before the vegetarian lunch service started at the monastery, so everything timed in well.&nbsp; A highlight of the Buddha visit was witnessing a very impressive tantrum being undertaken by a toddler who clearly wanted something from his parents.&nbsp; He would line himself gently on the ground and then cry and roll around until he could no longer see his parents.&nbsp; Then he would walk until he could see them once more and repeat the procedure.&nbsp; Linda and I were not the only tourists amused by this; others took photos of him doing this!Lunch at the monastery was still included in the ticket price to visit the Buddha and was unchanged from my last visit.&nbsp; Perhaps it's wishful thinking on my part but I reckon that I didn't make such a mess on the table this time.&nbsp; Although this impression may have just been a result of Linda's great liquid spilling efforts on her side.Soon enough we were returning down the wire on what was our own private (regular) gondola and back at Tung Chung.&nbsp; There we had a tiny bit of time to kill and I at least could think of fewer better ways to address this than by enjoying some Haagen Dasz ice cream.&nbsp; This helped relax us for the 1 hour or so of train commuting once again into Hong Kong Station, where we changed through Central to get to Sheung Wan and the Macau Ferry Terminal.&nbsp; Linda and I had significantly more time to get to our TurboJet ferry than I had on my last voyage with Belinda.&nbsp; So much time in fact that they let us go on the 2:30pm sailing instead of our ticketed 3:00pm departure.Before we knew it we were entering the terminal in Macau (I think I comment that this trip seems sort every time I take it) and thankfully this time the queue at Customs wasn't too bad.&nbsp; Instead of the usual "fake Macau" itinerary Linda and I had decided to see some of the authentic Portuguese remnants but had not sorted out our transport.&nbsp; So we grabbed a map from the tourist office at the terminal and looked for a taxi driver to haggle with.&nbsp; To get a better price we even considered hiding me until Linda had done some Chinese negotiations but in the end this was unnecessary.We managed to haggle down who we thought was a taxi driver, to find that we would actually be going for a cycle rickshaw ride!&nbsp; The speed of the cycle was conducive to appreciating the old, new, authentic and recreated parts of the city as we passed around the south and to the centre of the main ("Macau") island.&nbsp; In the end we felt a bit sorry for paying the driver for cycling our western bums across town for 45 minutes at&nbsp;the low haggled price that we paid him extra when we disembarked.Our exploration of the island was pretty much along the map's recommended World Heritage course, although we started in St Mark's Square and headed up to the famous ruins of St Paul's before heading south again, pretty much to the southern tip of the island.&nbsp; Some parts of this walk, especially around St Paul's were jam-packed with tourists although this meant that businesses were in full swing so we got lots of free food samples as we walked, keeping us more than sustained.&nbsp; We did however have to pay for the egg tarts and bubble tea that we specifically wanted to consume.During our walk it became clear that Macau is a city of extremes.&nbsp; At one end there are elaborate and massive casinos that dominate the skyline, straddling wide roads,&nbsp;then there is the&nbsp;old Portuguese colonial centre with narrow, winding hillside streets crowded with people and then there are the almost slum-like run down buildings in both areas housing what looks to be the majority of the population.&nbsp; Macau seems to have, or at least show, a "down and out" side much more than Hong Kong.&nbsp; It's a good place to come and see winners and losers in the same place.The exploration ended on the main road at the south of the island, from where we easily hailed a cab and drove across the bridge to the Cotai casino strip and the Venetian Casino.&nbsp; Next door we could see that the first stage of the City of Dreams development, including Crown and the Hard Rock Casino had recently openned, although we didn't have the time to visit.&nbsp; As we exited the cab we realised that we were just a bit short of local cash so Linda donated an AUD $5 note to the driver, which she eventually accepted.First stop after arriving and collecting our tickets for the 8pm showing of <i>Zaia by Cirque du Soliel was the gaming floor.&nbsp; Linda definitely enjoys the occasional gamble and thus was keen to&nbsp;see what Macau had to&nbsp;offer.&nbsp; We started with HKD $100 (about AUD $18) on the pokies, initially earning a few extra dollars on the 20c&nbsp;slot machines.&nbsp; Of course we got over-confident and greedy and ended up blowing all of it within about half an hour.&nbsp; Being the suckers that we are, we found "Wheel of Fortune" and "Star Wars"&nbsp;pokies as we ran out of cash so we decided to play with another $100.&nbsp; This time we were lucky, scoring an extra $46 on a Japanese-themed $1 machine.&nbsp; Again all the money was eventually lost, although this time in spectacular style with a final spin on the high-end $25 machines!&nbsp; We really were a bad influence on each other but we both had great fun mindlessly pissing away our money hoping to actually win and then know when to quit.&nbsp; Despite our losses I was happy that I managed to keep Linda away from the table games, which all had a minimum bet of $300.Dinner was upstairs at the Grand Canal Shoppes food court, where we both had some Chineseified Japanese food.&nbsp; We had a bit of time for Linda to see the gaudy craziness of the shops themselves and adjacent canals before we headed into the theatre for <i>Zaia.&nbsp; Sadly the theatre was not well patronised but we still enjoyed the show, especially me as we were seated further back than last time.&nbsp; Some acts were replaced with others, although this is to be expected with such shows to give artists breaks.We achieved great timing and found ourselves at the Tapia Temporary Ferry Terminal half an hour early.&nbsp; Luckily we were again allowed on the earlier sailing, settling into the nice Perth-made CotaiJet for the journey back to Hong Kong.&nbsp; Because of our early arrival we had extra fat in our MTR trip back to Disney, not having to run to make the last trains of the night.&nbsp; Because we didn't want to wait for the shuttle bus we walked back to the hotel, which was a nice thing to do in the relatively mild midnight weather.Monday was our last full day in Hong Kong and it was spent at Disneyland.&nbsp; I woke to the shock of actually being able to see the Hong Kong skyline from our park view room - the weather was that good!&nbsp; Previous readers will know that I always enjoy the Chef Mickey breakfast at the Hollywood Hotel and this time was no different.&nbsp; I gather that Linda enjoyed it too, especially with my 20% Annual Pass discount.It was a great sunny day to walk from the hotel to the park and this put us in a good mood for the start of the day. Of course Space Mountain was the first stop of the day and it was instantly clear that Linda was a fan. After a few rides we made our way through the rest of Tomorrowland (Autopia's queue was only 10 minutes long!) and then through Fantasyland and eventually Adventureland, with interruptions for parades and shows. Mickey's WaterWorks Parade was new for me and was good fun as the audience was splashed by the passing procession.As the day progressed the weather deteriorated, with rain beginning to fall at first intermittently and then steadily. Unfortunately the rain decided to come down hard just as the evening fireworks started, leaving us soaked and looking insane by the end of the show when we left the park. Plans for a discounted character buffet dinner at the Disneyland Hotel were shelved so that we could return to our room, dry off and get into some dry clothes. Instead of our buffet plans we ended up at the Hollywood Lounge with some nice a la carte meals and cocktails whilst the movie <i>Enchanted was shown on a screen above the bar. A bit of cognac and some martinis later we were finished and glad that 20% was taken off the bill with my Annual Pass.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244288193/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244288193/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1244288193/tpod.html Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:05:35 -0400 Asian Persuasion

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hong Kong, China

Hello dear readers and welcome to this, the first overseas entry of the blog for this trip!&nbsp; I'm typing this in my hotel room at the Prudential Hotel in Kowloon while Linda is downstairs enjoying the opportunity to explore some of the adjacent shopping options.Rob, Linda and I&nbsp;departed Perth yesterday (Friday) morning on QF67, which left on time at 9:20am and was operated by a Qantas A330-300.&nbsp; The flight was uneventful, as expected, despite the crash of that Air France A330-300 just a few days prior.&nbsp; The flight was notably empty - the front economy cabin was about 60% full and the rear cabin was almost completely empty!&nbsp; It looks as though the downturn is hurting Qantas' international traffic pretty hard.&nbsp; Anyway, the hosties were nice (if not a bit weird) and we arrived into Honkers a tad early.&nbsp; Arrival was a bit different than what I'm used to as we landed from the East (instead of the West), parked at a gate in the central part of the airport, instead of the customary one right near the entry and we had to fill out a form and be processed for diseases like Swine Flu.&nbsp; This was all done in&nbsp;a relatively timely manner, although it would've been helpful if the Qantas crew had provided us with the correct health forms instead of outdated (and thus invalid) SARS-only ones.Linda and Rob, both Hong Kong virgins, were guided by myself to purchase 3 day tourist MTR passes with Airport Express trips before we got to the station for the aforementioned service.&nbsp; It was refreshing to travel with these 2 as everything was fresh and exciting to their eyes; the train station was so close and convenient, things were clean, apartment living was surprisingly large-scale and different to back home, things were Chinese etc.Before Linda and Rob knew it the Airport Express was arriving into Kowloon Station and Linda and I were due to disembark.&nbsp; Rob has chosen to couch surf for much of the holiday and as such had to continue to Hong Kong Station to get his bus up to his host's home.&nbsp; There was a bit of a mad scurry at this point as we spontaneously decided to give Rob Linda's mobile so that we could be in contact but Linda and I needed to get off before the train continued.&nbsp; We made it and were soon on free hotel shuttle bus K1, heading towards Jordan Station and the adjacent Prudential Hotel.Hailing from Singapore and with a Chinese background, Linda was somewhat prepared for what Hong Kong's streets would be like but the initial experience is pretty much guaranteed to shock all with a Western upbringing.&nbsp; The bus stopped in the middle of the road to drop of us off and this was conveniently across from a camera shop, where we made a quit stop for a mini DV tape.After a minute of navigating the seas of people on the footpaths we entered the tranquility of the Prudential Hotel.&nbsp; Long-time readers may have guessed that I would be staying here, having stayed at this particular establishment every time that I've chosen to be accommodated within the city of Hong Kong.&nbsp; The hotel didn't fail to impress, offering up a nice twin room overlooking Nathan Road with free bottled water and fruit all for a good price.By the time we had settled in and were ready to depart the last murmurs of daylight were disappearing and this meant we had continually less time until the city's nightly <i>Symphony of Lights show would be performed.&nbsp; With this in mind Linda and I set off down Nathan Road on foot, passing many a fashion shop for which the street is famed, and no less than 3 McDonald's and 3 Spaghetti House restaurants.&nbsp; Some things in Hong Kong never change.With 15 minutes to go before showtime we found ourselves on the waterfront of Victoria Harbour, in front of the Cultural Centre, finding a spot on the top deck of the main viewing area in this precinct.&nbsp; Visibility was good for the show, almost too good that I was worried we would not be able to see the beams of light well as there were not enough particles in the air for them to be caught on.&nbsp; The show has expanded since my last viewing and the skyline itself has also changed so I enjoyed this repeat viewing with somewhat fresh eyes.Dinner was had at TGI Friday's, which we chose at the cost of Outback Steakhouse.&nbsp; Both were located in a new mini shopping centre in Kowloon with a few other restaurants and a massive golf shop.&nbsp; Since neither kitch, crazy eatery exist in Australia we were tempted to see what they are really like.&nbsp; Friday's won out because it didn't have queue and was cheaper, plus I have fond memories of dining at one in Oslo with Thomas and Linda, see my last trip blog for details.&nbsp; Linda and I bit the bullet and decided to splurge on the Jack Daniels spare ribs, which we concured were extremely appetising.A bit full from the ribs, we hit the pavement back up Nathan Road towards the hotel, stopping for desert snacks of both the Western (McFlurry) and Asian (traditional waffles) varieties. Linda's Mandarin competency was increasingly showing its usefulness by this time.Our target near the hotel was a sign that we had noticed from the Airport Express shuttle bus that advertised "Bingo Bar". A little walking led us to this establishment, which sadly did not provide a venue for playing bingo but did have an impressive selection of electronic dart boards, complete with awesomely-Asian sound effects. Sadly they were "full", or at least had met their quota (0) of Caucasians and Chinese-looking people who can only speak Cantonese and not Cantonese. Disappointed, we continued on, finding the entrance to a building that effectively has a different bar or club on every floor. We happily ascended until we found a bar that had standards matching our current attire. The music was an interesting mix (traditional through to <i>High School Musical) and beer had to be purchased in groups of 6 bottles, which seems to be some sort of standard here.Our initial enthusiasm waned as it looked like we may not be able to complete the 6 bottles of "Blue Girl" beer that we had committed to. As the bucket of bottles on our table guilted us we began to drink more and more, playing cards until we made it through the allocation. Linda had a memory lapse as she could not find her Passport in her bag when we exited the bar, thinking she had lost it there. After a search of the bar ended fruitlessly we returned to the hotel, to find it sitting on her bed.As you can imagine, we were in no rush to get up this morning and the shutters in the hotel room meant that we had no idea that it was actually 9:45am when we woke. Message contact with Rob firmed our plans for the day of heading to The Peak first to meet with him there. Nathan Road's footpaths once guided us south to the harbour, although we took a different route through Tsim Sha Tsui to get over to the Star Ferry terminal. Breakfast was had en route.The Star Ferry voyage across the harbour was as turbulent as usual and both Linda and I agreed that visibility was not as good as the previous night. It took a while to walk from the newer Star Ferry terminal at Central to the Peak Tram's lower station, but we did make it with a few creative detours and guess-work through buildings.Even though I've ridden it a few times now, it still came as a surprise exactly how steep the track gets at points, which according to promo material is a 24% incline. At the summit we tried to make contact with Rob but received no response. Undeterred, we did the tourist thing and worked our way up the building to the roof observation deck. The visibility wasn't fantastic, but we could see Kowloon so I pointed out to Linda where we had been so far. The humidity and constant walking dehydrates us pretty quickly so we stopped at the Godiva shop for me to grab a "Dark Chocolate Decadence" cold drink, mm mm.Back inside The Peak building we decided to do the Hong Kong Disneyland promotional activity to get a free gift each. This required us to find the 6 question boards and choose the correct A or B response for each. As we neglected to bring a pen we had to memorise the order of the answers, chanting to ourselves as we ran around. The free gifts were plastic character bag tags. Who cares if they're lame; they were free!Linda's shopping urges couldn't be suppressed forever so we had to check out some of the shops around the summit area and picked up some good touristy stuff.&nbsp; We grabbed some cool drinks from The Pacific Coffee Co. and settled into their comfy couches to wait for Rob to get up and meet with us.&nbsp; Just as we sat down we spotted him out the window, so I ran out to save an SMS and let him know where we were.&nbsp; He was travelling with his host and her French room mate and after a quick exchange I let head off to enjoy the view.Linda and I enjoyed our beverages inside, planning our next moves while we waited for the group to return from their viewing activities.&nbsp; They did, we exchanged phones and chargers for a bit so that Linda could message her friend and then parted once more.&nbsp; Rob and his host group had to catch the bus to get to the New Territories for some camping on time.Back down the hillside we rolled on the Peak Tram before walking along some of Hong Kong's overhead walkways towards Central Station.&nbsp; During the walk I spotted a sign for the Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery, which we decided to visit.&nbsp; This was a new space as the old gallery is being renovated until 2012 and it was really good.&nbsp; It is new and high-tech and we both had a great time.&nbsp; A highlight was the Kai Tak promotional space and a green-screen where we could get our photo taken against photos of landmarks and email to people!More to come but the internet time is up!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1235410200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1235410200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1235410200/tpod.html Sun, 31 May 2009 04:08:39 -0400 Frei[burg]Zeit

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Yes, this final, trip ending update has been a while coming.As always it was nice to be home but it didn't take long before I was ready to head away again.I didn't have too much time for reflection as uni started the day after I returned so I had to jump into work mode straight away.&nbsp; My first class was for International Perspectives of Planning, for which we will be having an international field trip later in the year so this excitement made for an easier transition into teaching.I'm expecting my busy holidaying these past few years will stand me in good stead for this unit and that I can put all of this fun, and the records of it on this site, to good use!Thanks again for reading and I hope that I was able to share with you some of the fun that I had on this trip.&nbsp; Hopefully you will be reading along for my next adventure, which should be the aforementioned study tour in June.See you then!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1243725167/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1243725167/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/9/1243725167/tpod.html Sat, 30 May 2009 20:27:57 -0400 Asian Persuasion

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Hello again one and all.It's less than a week until I'm flying out of Perth on my latest trip, which once again promises a mixture of the new and the well known.Friday morning will see me fly out to Hong Kong on Qantas with Linda and Rob from uni, where we soak up the local sights for a few days before meeting up with fellow student Pacey at Hong Kong Airport to go to Seoul.&nbsp; Fingers crossed that the failing of the Korean Armistice does not affect our Korean travel plans as the 4 of us then move down to Busan and across to Japan.In Japan we will meet up with the other 17 students from uni who are attending the Japan Study Tour for our International Perspectives of Planning unit.&nbsp; We shall spend 10 days in and around Tokyo seeing the sights and even doing a little work before having a few days in town after the conclusion of the tourn and then heading home.I handed in the semester's last assignments (except the ones that I must do on the study tour) on Friday and am now free to enjoy my last days in Perth.&nbsp; As usual, preparation is yet to begin and I guess I'd better start soon and take advantage of having free run of the house with Mum and Dad over east looking after Oma and Charles down south for this long weekend.&nbsp; It may also be beneficial to be mentally prepared before the study tour session at the Japanese consulate on Tuesday afternoon.As usual, feel free to add or remove yourself and/or others&nbsp;from the updates or read these entries as they appear on Facebook.&nbsp; I hope that you stay tuned and enjoy reading the updates as they come through from this latest overseas trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234906380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234906380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234906380/tpod.html Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:50:14 -0400 Frei[burg]Zeit

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

During the early parts of our southbound NSB Sove (sleep) journey I hopefully glanced out the window to see if being above the Arctic Circle brought us any luck with the northern lights. Unfortunately it was not our lucky night and evidently I must return in the future to experience such a manifestation of solar weather. The journey was pretty uneventful, a bit rougher than the more highly-engineered mainline sleeper journeys I had previously experienced. The diesel loco made its presence known through my sense of smell every time we powered through a tunnel, despite us being in the train's second last carriage.I woke just prior to the train stopping at Trondheim Værnes Airport and Hell, from which it was another half hour or so ride to Trondheim. Once back at the now familiar station we made our way to the dine-in cafe for a breakfast with our remaining Norwegian Kroners. The unremarkable food experience was constantly disrupted by an elderly man with some sort of respiratory problem that required him to clear his throat and cough loudly at frequent intervals.The goal was to kill a little under 2 hours until the first train back to the airport (Sunday timetable) lounging in the cafe but eventually the coughing became too much to handle so we migrated out to the main entrance hall. On the way we were harassed by a crazy muttering lady who looked like the bird lady from Mary Poppins for a second time... the station certainly has character! A handy remaining coin allowed us to run the station's model train layout (same size and concept as the now harder to find ones in Germany) for some entertainment. I was impressed that all trains were models of real Norwegian ones, it was not some generic model using easier to obtain items. The final coins were put to good use buying my aunt a one-way ticket to Hell so she knows how much I love her. Ha ha.NSB's Lokaltog out of town to Værnes was another diesel DMU affair, getting us out the airport in good time despite several stops at smaller stations for the locals. You may be wondering why we opted to go past the airport earlier in the day on the sleeper train, only to return a few hours later on the Lokaltog. This is because our first flight was not scheduled to leave until after midday and we thought it best to split the waiting time between town, the trains and the airport. Our railpasses ensured us free train travel so there was no extra cost for this extravagance.The airport itself seemed pretty modern and was a 2 second walk from the station, despite the path being diverted due to construction work. Check-in was a marvelous experience: SAS trust their passengers enough to engage in the entire procedure themselves. The self check-in computer allowed us to select the flights that we wanted to check in for and choose any seats on the various aircraft (including exit rows) before printing 1 boarding pass each with both flights on it as well as our bag tag stickers. Instructions were printed on the back of the stickers to show us how and where to put them on our bags and which part we were to retain as our baggage receipt. The high level of automation and consumer empowerment resulted in no line for the bag drop counter, which was for once what the name implies. We simply handed over the bags and a lady scanned them into the system while we walked away. Brilliant, easy and satisfying - I wish Qantas would trust us this much at home!With our bags gone and us through security we still had some time to kill so we explored the small terminal before settling down to watch the few arriving and departing flights through the large glass terminal walls. After a while we proceeded through to the international departures area, which was basically one big duty free shop. Our plane (Wideroe Dash 8 Q400) arrived a little late, but this was nothing compared to the delay for KLM passengers, whose plane wouldn't start meaning that they would have to wait for a replacement to fly in from Amsterdam. We walked out and boarded the plane, enjoying our self-selected seats in row 2 before leaving not too late.Turboprop aircraft may be noisier than jets but they fly closer to the ground, get tossed about by the weather more and with an upper mounted wing offer a better view of the terrain below. I enjoy my few turboprop experiences, as long as they aren't too long and this flight met expectations. On the haul down to Copenhagen we witnessed the landscape become less and less snowy, mountains rise and fall and then a lot of cloud cover. Visibility returned around Copenhagen, which we approached from over the water, with a good view of the tunnel and bridge to Sweden. A snack of tasty cold spring-roll/wrap-esque things and drink helped to endear the regional airline.Arrival at Copenhagen was pretty much on time, thanks to a short taxi from where we ended up on the runway. Our connection time was only 45 minutes so I was eager to get going once we hit the ground but a remote parking spot meant a bus had to be taken to the terminal so we had to wait for every last person to be off the plane before we could leave. Timing ended up not being an issue as we arrived at the gate for our next flight just as boarding commenced. The boarding call was in fact a bit premature as we had to wait for about a minute in the predominantly glass aerobridge before they would let us onto the plane itself.This leg of the trip was one that I had been dreading for a while. SAS are unfortunate in that they still operate a sizable fleet of "Mad Dog" MD-81/82/83 aircraft, averaging 19.5 years old. This is the same type of aircraft (and effectively the same owner) that crashed on take off in Madrid last August. Stepping aboard such an aged and non-refurbished aircraft is like stepping into a museum; I had not seen such retro interior fittings in a working aircraft before. We had chosen exit row seats for the flight so at least if there were to be an emergency we wouldn't have to worry about getting the other passengers out of our way to get off the plane.Thankfully the flight passed uneventfully and surprisingly quietly. I feel like I deserve a T-shirt proclaiming that I survived a flight on such a sad plane. The least SAS could do is to refurbish the interior to bring it up to contemporary standards. No in flight service was offered but I used the remaining Danish Kroners I had to purchase Steve and I lunch, with calming Tuborg beer.Some may wax lyrical about Zürich's airport but it's too spread out for my liking. The hike down the pier to the main part of the terminal took a good 15 minutes and we then had to proceed through the unorganised mosh of people at passport control. With Switzerland joining the Schengen zone but their infrastructure remaining unchanged all EU passport-holders were simply holding up their passport covers and walking through. Being Australian I had to stop the flow of people to get my passport actually inspected and stamped. Perhaps I should invest in a fake EU passport cover so I can hold it up and just walk through controls in the future?It was another lengthy walk through the terminal, past many shops, to the train station. It must've been the busy arrivals time of the day because the concourse was flooded with people and there was simply not enough in the way of timetables, live departure displays or ticket machines. One area where Switzerland drops the ball the most is a lack of network maps. It took ages to find one for the Zürich S-Bahn system and even then it was the wrong scale so we ditched the idea of taking a train directly to Hardbrucke station near the Etap, instead hopping on the next train (an ICN tilting EMU set) to the HB.The crowds of people were a welcome sight to Steve, whose spirits elevated at the prospect of more "exciting" urban interaction along the lines of Paris or London. I navigated our way through the HB to the underground S-bahn platforms and got us the 1 stop to our destination before leading to the hotel. During the Hurtigruten cruise it had become apparent that we had muddled the date that Steve was leaving so we actually had 1 less night than planned in Zürich. I had managed to cancel our initial Etap booking at the ship's painfully slow internet cafe but not to book a new stay. As such we entered the hotel booking-less but were thankfully able to get a room. This process did however take longer than expected thanks to a crazy male receptionist who was shouting at a cleaning lady on the phone when she managed to lock herself in somewhere and who could also not understand that we only have passports, not identity cards, in Australia.Once settled in and quickly rested Steve and I headed out for a little explore of the city in the fading late. First was the S-bahn trip back to the HB, during which I commented that with many more newer double deck EMUs in service on the system that Zürich may be coming close to being the second city with an entire double deck suburban fleet (the first is Sydney). The classic highlights of the central part of the city were taken in by our twilight walk from the station down Bahnhofstrasse almost to the lake, then across to the other side of the river, past the town hall and back up to the station.I had planned for us to have dinner at a nice noodle bar adjacent the Etap that Belinda and I had visited during my last stay in Zürich but arrived back there to find that it was closed, owing to it being a Sunday. In search of food we walked the local area, passing a few new (or at least not previously noticed by myself) trendy places and a cinema but nowhere with food in the desired price range. Eventually we took the S-bahn back to the HB for an ever-reliable serving of Nordsee's fake newspaper fish and chips. Much to my shock and amazement I managed to get Steve to eat some of his fish pieces, so it must've been not that bad!Monday was our only full day in Zürich so we didn't dawdle too much, beginning by heading out in the falling snow to the nearby tram stop. Along tram 4's route to the HB I pointed out to Steve a few places that I had wanted to visit but were unfortunately closed as it was a Monday. At the HB a quick change of tram allowed us to cruise a little further to the now infamous Sprüngli cafe for another memorable and decadent breakfast. Steve was in awe at the food selection and I can seen him taking a liking to this side of European culture.Thoroughly satisfied after only a couple of dishes and some real hot chocolate we headed off to take the S-bahn to Kilchberg. Being good law-abiding citizens, we purchased extensions to our Central Zürich day tickets to get us across the zone boundary to this lakeside station. Our train was composed of older single deck stock, confirming that Zürich has not quite yet made it to the all double deck stage.Kilchberg is a pretty unremarkable but lovely locale on the banks of Lake Zürich; a nice place for a relaxing walk... to the Lindt factory and its associated shop. Steve had banked on getting a swag of cheap chocolate to bring home as holiday gifts and he managed to achieve this in pretty good time. His weight to cost ratio was better than mine, but then I was picky as had limited bag space and weight and was after specific items. Back at the station I killed the waiting time in the waiting room (crazy idea, I know!), where I collected a few pamphlets detailing tourist attractions accessible on the S-bahn and also maps and timetables, partly making up for poor signage.Back at the HB I made a detour to the ticket office to see what printed timetable fare was on offer so I could plan my travels the following day after Steve's departure. The best thing that I found was a station timetable for Zürich HB, which was enough for me to frame my day trip. Onward we continued, taking the #4 tram through town to its southern terminus and changing to another S-bahn line to head back 1 stop toward the central area, disembarking at the contemporary, concrete Bahnhof Stadelhofen. The station's design looked good to me but the incarnation was very grey and concretey so it could do with a bit of a dress-up in my opinion.We moved on from here, taking the tram to the lower terminus of Dolderbahn. This rack railway runs up the hill and would normal offer a nice view of Lake Zürich, but not today. The snow was still coming down in and on and off fashion, ensuring a foggy view from the hillside. Nevertheless we went on an exploratory walk around the Bergstation before descending once more.Another tram ride (with connection) took us along the hillside around the back of central Zürich to the lower terminus of the Rigiblick funicular. This little automated funicular has been a part of every visit of mine to Zürich so I don't know what I would do without a ride on this institution in future visits. I guess I'll just keep coming back. Of all the times I've ridden up the hill, today's view was the worst. The odd spire in the central part of the city was visible but that was about it.Further tram connections continued our travels along the hillside and down into Central (the tram stop of this name) from the northern side, where we disembarked for a proper exploration of the windy cobblestone streets on this side of the river. By this time I was keen to get Steve to try some vermicelli, but was having a bit of a hard time locating a suitable eatery. Eventually we ended up having some of this sweet hazelnut snack at a CoOp (supermarket) eatery, which was supremely disappointing. An insane guy in extremely formal clothing did however make it a memorable experience.The day was capped off with a visit to some corny tourist shops to grab some of the last souvenirs and gifts of the trip. This time when we returned to the precinct around the hotel the noodle bar was open. Unfortunately it looks like it has been featured in the local press and as a result prices have increased. Despite this we still dined there, taking a while to translate the thankfully short menu, enjoying the very fresh food.As I settled in for my last night in Zürich I reflected on how much I had enjoyed my short stay in the city. I had fond memories of the place but this time it seemed more alive, more engaging and arty. I had rediscovered Zürich, even though I hadn't visited places that were new to me as I'd hoped to, it seems as though the city, especially the precinct around the Etap, has evolved and continues to do so, creating an interesting and worthwhile space worthy of more exploration.Tuesday morning was a timed start and began with a trip to the airport, this time on a direct S-bahn train. Steve checked in using the British Airways self-service kiosk and then dumped his bags for his flight to London. We had a half-hour breakfast consisting of bakery pastries eaten at common tables and chairs in front of the security and immigration point. Steve and I each considered our days ahead: Steve had a lengthy wait in London to meet his sister and fly back to Perth via Hong Kong and I had a day trip planned before heading to Freiburg to meet up with Belinda.With Steve off through security and embarking on his 20 minute walk to his gate I headed to the station and was on a train (double deck IC) to St Gallen within minutes. I took a seat in the casual upper deck vestibule lounge area and filled time looking out the windows and reading some left over French newspapers (the train had come from Geneva Airport). Th line between the airport and Winterthur was heavily trafficed and I'm surprised that extra capacity in the form of quadruplication has not been provided.At St Gallen I exited out of the main SBB station, crossing the road through the falling snow to the Appenzellerbahnen station. First up I boarded a light rail vehicle for a trip through town and up to Trogen. The line initially runs through the streets of St Gallen before traveling along side the road, winding up the hill to the side of the town. Trogen is beyond the escarpment and is not the highest point on the line. Once the train had arrived I hopped out to inspect the surroundings but just walked from one end of the 3-section vehicle to the other and reboarded. With the snow not showing any sign of letting off I didn't want to be stuck outside up a hill in Switzerland for 30 minutes waiting for the next service!Once back down in St Gallen I was able to make a good cross-platform connection to the train to Appenzell. This service was operated by a more tradition train consisting of an older single unit railcar with 2 unpowered carriages attached. Shortly after leaving from St Gallen the train headed for the hills, ascending a steep gradient using a rack system. The remaining stretches through the hills and plateau were normal, climbing and descending more moderate grades without assistance. This line also followed roads frequently although it was almost always separated. The route was also only a single track alignment so our service had to wait to cross other trains on a few occasions. This provided an opportunity for the driver to blow the (compressed air) whistle, which gave the trip a retro (steam train) vibe.Arrival at Appenzell was meant to mean another easy cross-platform train change but after waiting in the now windy, driving snow, for 10 minutes an announcement was made to say that the train to Gossau was canceled. This meant a half hour wait, which I endured with a few other passengers in the waiting room box on the platform. Thankfully this later service was running although the welcome heating in the carriages meant that the windows were perpetually fogged up. I'll also note here that this service, in contrast to the previous one, consisted of newer coaches and was hauled by an independent electric locomotive. The line down to Gossau was gentler than the line from St Gallen so we traveled at higher speed and before I knew it I was disembarking in the valley next to the SBB mainline once again.I just missed the IC back to Zürich so instead of killing 30 minutes in Gossau I took the next "Thurbo" S-bahn (Stadler EMU with central power section) to St Gallen, which took just over 10 minutes. Here I was able to board the next Zürich service, which was formed by an ICN tilting EMU set. This return journey was unremarkable except that a new ticket inspector was being trained and the Eurail pass provided an obstacle for her to overcome.I was back in Switzerland's largest city to collect my luggage before setting off to meet up with Belinda in Freiburg (Germany). The ever-reliable S-bahn took my to the Etap, where my bags were collected without fuss before returning to the HB. The platform for the German ICE train was close to the underground exit so I soon found myself standing on a disconcertingly full platform. Part of this crowding was owing to confusion as the first generation ICE train was yet to arrive and would be doing so the wrong way around and people were mixed on their uptake of this concept. When it did arrive I managed to get a seat that was displayed as unreserved and settled in for the trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234632600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234632600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234632600/tpod.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:31:02 -0500 Frei[burg]Zeit

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bodø, North Norway, Norway

Friday was the day to begin our final push northwards and make a Scandinavian cruising comparison. Having embarked on an investigative walk the day before we were knew what to expect from the walk from our hotel to the Hurtigruten dock in Trondheim, although the fresh overnight snow had not been anticipated. Even though the morning was at our own leisurely pace we arrived at the dock, having plowed our bags through the snow, a little after 10am. During the warming trudge one could witness sister ship <i>MS Midnatsol departing on its southbound voyage.Boarding and check-in for us port-to-port passengers was an unceremonious but friendly experience. Not sure what to expect and with no office at the port, we walked aboard the ship with our bags and were directed to the reception desk to the side of the entrance hall. Here our booking was retrieved and we were issued with personalised plastic room cards that showed our cabin number as well as which meals we had pre-booked (lunch, dinner and breakfast).It was immediately apparent that Hurtigruten's <i>MS Trollfjord was a nicer, newer ship than the <i>Pearl of Scandinavia, operated by DFDS Seaways, which we had taken from Copenhagen to Oslo. It was smaller, yet still a large cruise-type vessel, its public spaces were filled with artwork and were decorated in a sophisticated yet not pretentious manner and it was not crawling with people, especially those from the younger end of the spectrum.Our cabin was easy to access on deck 3, just a deck below the main entrance hall. Deck 3 is the ship's lowest accessible deck, with the aft dedicated to car and freight storage and the forward areas housing the cabins. We had selected the cheapest exterior cabins and despite the discounted price, the offering was not disappointing. Up near the bow, the cabin was spacious enough with 2 portholes, a private bathroom, clothes rack and 2 beds (1 of which folded up as a sofa). With all its features cabin 308 did not come across as cheap in anyway, except for what is generally perceived of the location within the ship.We were settled in by 10:30am, leaving us with 1.5 hours to freely move about the ship and on land prior to the scheduled departure at noon. Initial explorations were positive; all public areas of the ship were nice, most of which were on decks 5, 8 and 9. All the important locations were sussed out - restaurant, cafe, shop, laundry, bar, outdoor jaccuzis (no, we didn't use them!) and panorama lounge. With the ship seeming about half full in terms of cabins (~350 people can travel without a cabin) there was plenty of free space to sit and enjoying the upcoming views, including in the double storey panorama lounge.I was in the sunshine on the outside part of deck 9 (all of the deck to the aft of the panorama lounge) for departure, which began with the freight hatches being closed. I noted that the ship only has passenger, freight and vehicle access on the port side, sometimes necessitating a 180 degree turn to dock successfully. An announcement was made (in Norwegian, English and German) just prior to departure, increasing the number of guests on the deck, all crunching noisily on the refrozen remnants of snow. We powered slowly out of the dock and turned sharply into the Trondheim Fjord to begin the journey. Just as we headed off it began to snow - the first of many sudden weather changes for the voyage. On my way back down to the cabin I stopped in at the information/tours area to pick up a myriad of brochures, maps and guide books to keep informed with what was planned for each day, what to look out for, learn about the boats, the art on them, the food that would be served etc.Shortly after departure it was time for lunch so I coaxed Steve out of the cabin and we headed up to deck 5. We managed to snag ourselves a table, which we guarded well, in the full restaurant and began to load up plates. We were joined by an older couple from near London (our table seated 4) before the staff realised that they needed to open the entire dining area to provide more space. They couple stayed with us throughout lunch, providing entertaining and interesting British conversation. It was revealed that they were engaging in the full 2 week cruise from Bergen to Kirkenes (near Russian border) and return. They told us stories of their home (most recently London being snowed in) and also made very British comments about the food on board. The advice was to fill up on lunch because dinner portions were supposedly not on the generous side and breakfast wasn't the best - "they have things with labels saying 'jam' but it isn't jam in them!". It was all good fun and I appreciated talking to someone else from a different background. Heeding our table partners' advice we did load up at lunch, taking advantage of the many dessert offerings on the lengthy buffet bench.The afternoon was spent lounging around the ship and exploring some areas in more detail. Deck 6 provided an opportunity to circumnavigate the ship although there was no large open deck space here. At the suggestion of another announcement many guests went to see a heritage-listed isolated light house although precipitation ruined the view. Steve and I were initially out in the elements at the bow on deck 6, being assaulted by the weather until we quit when it became harder to see the lighthouse even though we were getting closer to it! A highlight of the bow time was seeing a few orca (killer whales) passing the ship on their journey south, something we hadn't even thought about seeeing.I killed the time in the lead up to dinner enjoying the remaining daylight from the panorama lounge listening to MP3s on my phone (with headphones). Other passengers here were reading and many had binoculars, not that they used them because they were looking at their books and not at the view! The view of the jagged and snowy coast came and went with the weather but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Perhaps its my lack of exposure to it, perhaps I'm strange but the wild, cold and snowy weather was something interesting in of itself. Steve stayed in the cabin except for a few short outings, at least the portholes offered the coastal view because the cabin was on the starboard side of the ship.As the daylight faded I set myself to task doing my final clothes wash for the trip. To my surprise, the use of the washing machine for 2 hours was not expensive and the dryers were free! I did a full load and appreciated that washing powder was free and unlimited. If I were feeling really stingy I could've done another DIY wash in the sink and used the dryers to be sorted by disembarkation the following day.From dusk the ship entered a relatively unprotected strip of ocean as we steamed north, resulting in quite a bit of onboard movement. The swell and waves hit the ship on the port bow, causing heavy pitching of the vessel, which was felt with force in our cabin at the front extremity of the ship. The air time was fun although seeing the water go above our cabin windows when we crashed back down was a little disconcerting but helped to justify why our windows could not be opened. The rough seas added to the awesome-ness of the weather, with howling winds and driving snow creating a dramatic scene. A fond memory of mine is standing outside on the down wind side of deck 6 watch the snow furl over the roof of the ship and down the side, captured in the floodlights as the ship powered uneasily through the dark and stormy night. I had a Tuborg in my cabin (due to licensing non-purchased alcohol could not be consumed in public areas).Soon enough it was time for dinner and we stood out because we had to be shown our table (seating was reserved) while all the full cruise passengers already knew where to sit. Steve had a large "NO FISH" sign on his place as he had requested this as we left the restaurant after lunch. Dinner came out in good time and there were not unnecessary lags between courses. Despite temptation all we drank was tap water to save money.The cauliflower soup, eaten hesitantly by Steve, proved to be a winner, as was the Szechuan pepper baked trout that I enjoyed for mains. The mocha fromage for desert wasn't bad but it was somewhat of a letdown after lunch. We were seated alone for this meal, missing out on the possibility of another mealtime conversation. Considering the demographics of the passengers this may not have been easy; some were the living dead, most were long retired, a few were middle-aged, there were about 10 others within 10 years of Steve and I and something like 2 children, then there is the question of which language they spoke!After dinner I dried my now clean clothes in the laundry, entered the "what time in the morning will we pass the Arctic Circle?" competition and chilled in the nicely-done bar lounge, enjoying what little I could see out of the large window. The final event of the evening was the docking at Rørvik, where we met sister ship <i>MS Vesterålen that was also docked, making the journey south. With the washing completed it was time to call it a night and get rest as I planned to be up relatively early to enjoy the final morning on the ship.Awaking for the last part of the roughly 24 hour Hurtigruten was like the start of the last week of school holidays. You know that you still get to enjoy the situation but the end is in sight and you are aware that good things like this just don't last. Prior to waking Steve for breakfast I headed up to deck 9 to see us pass another sister ship, <i>MS Nordkapp, complete with 3 long horns from both vessels as we passed. Sadly the older sister vessel had the better horn; a much deeper and richer tone than ours.Breakfast was enjoyed with the passing craggy coastline that seemed to becoming more wintry the further north we traveled. A quick pass of the British couple we had dined with the day before prompted an exchange of words, some of which included news that "real" jam had been found on the breakfast buffet! The biggest flaw with the breakfast would have to be the absence of pastry items although it was still substantial, offering anything from cold fish salad to bacon and cereal.The last few hours onboard were spent enjoying the view from a few of the public areas, again with musical accompaniment courtesy of my phone. I'm going to miss that snowy and mountainous coastal scenery. Eventually I had to descend to the cabin to ensure that all the items I had purchased from the onboard shop would fit in my already crowded bag and getting ready to leave. Docking in Bodø was unnoticeable but on time so we knew when to head up 1 deck with our bags to roll off the ship. The snow plough bag drag technique once again proved useful as we made our way to the train station, which is adjacent the port.An initial thought of Bodø was that it smelt of fish. Later in an SMS from Thomas in Oslo I would learn that there is a fish processing plant on the outskirts of town and when the breeze blows the wrong way this causes the town to reek. We didn't have enough cash in coins to pay for lockers for our luggage so further dragging from the station was required. We made it to the centre of town, slipping and sliding on the icy pavement, to use an ATM and supermarket to get money and change it to coins. We then had to return, in much the same manner that we had arrived, to deposit our bags in the station's large lockers. For future reference I'm thinking that Hamar Station's lockers would be a similar set-up.Despite the bag-related hold up by the time we had walked back into the central part of town to the bus and local ferry terminal we still had a bit of time before the departure of a regional bus to Saltstraumen. Being a Saturday, regular scheduled services to this location some 38km from Bodø were few and far between and I had planned us a journey using regional, Transwa-esque services. Following European norms this was a non-reservation buy-your-ticket-from-the-driver service (a contrast to home) and, although we paid in cash, one could purchase tickets using credit card!A few stops were made before we arrived our destination, almost missing it by not figuring out where the stop request button was until the last second. As the bus/coach pulled off over a large bridge I figured we were in the right place, following the bus along the side of the road to venture under this large bridge. On the water's edge a viewing area has been established for visitors to come and appreciate what is the strongest tidal flow in the world. The flow was meant to have peaked shortly before our arrival and seemed to still be going strong. The rushing water created maelstroms, whirlpools and areas where water from deeper areas was churned up to the surface. Mesmerising but continually changing, dynamic.To gain a better view I convinced Steve to follow me up the unplowed pedestrian path on the bridge to reach the apex, about 400m from the side of the waterway. We were able to literally walk in the footsteps of another person, who had previously stepped through the 20cm thick snow. From the bridge we could see straight down onto the action and were also afforded an impressive view of the snow-shrouded sharp mountains in the background. It was a great spot that would be worth a picnic in the warmer months. It looks like facilities exist in the area to do just that, although they were covered in snow when we visited.By the time we had walked back down off the bridge it was already only about 15 minutes before our return bus was due to arrive. Being a regional service and the 2nd last one for the day (the last being some 2 hours later) I was eager to be at the stop to avoid being stuck at Saltstraumen for the night. The bus ended up arriving just a few minutes late and picked us up, even though I did begin to doubt that we were possibly at the wrong stop as the regional stop names sometimes differ to those on the physical stops, which are used by the local buses under different names. No, it doesn't make sense.Back in Bodø Steve and I were faced with the problem of finding what to do to fill our afternoon and evening. We would've appreciated some tourist information but the office was closed on account of it being a weekend and all the English language booklets had run out. It would've been nice to visit the National Aviation Museum in town but with the Saltstraumen taking more than 2 hours we didn't have enough time to get the museum and see what it had to offer. Time killing began with dinner at a surprisingly reasonably priced and decent made to order independent food joint on the main drag at the end of a downhill park.Next we returned to the Tourist Information centre at the bus terminal to grab some German and French language tourist books to try and find the town's cinema. The books listed it and just said it was in the "Glasshouse" shopping centre, but not where that centre was. A few messages to Thomas and Linda in Oslo combined with some memory and detective work led us to the shopping centre and associated cinema, only a block away from where we were! Unfortunately all the next few sessions were either Norwegian movies or versions of international movies with Norwegian subtitles.Our last option was simply to walk slowly through the small town, without freezing, to eventually end at the station and await the departure of our sleeper train at 9:10pm. The town was unusually quiet for Europe; it was almost as if it had "Perth Syndrome" where everything goes dead after dark. At least Bodø has the excuse of being a small town with a population of only 46000 people! When we arrived back at the station the loco-hauled day train from Trondheim had recently arrived so we spent some time on the platform watching the carriages be shunted in pre-preparation for our sleeper service and the diesel locomotive run off to the yards. The line north of Trondheim to Bodø is completely unelectrified, making our service one of the few, if not the only non-electric sleeper trains in Western Europe.Minutes melted into hours as we waited in the heated and pleasant waiting room. Outdoor platform visits were made to break the waiting, allowing me to point out some train, station and yard features to Steve and for us to witness our service being compiled. Most of the day train's old sitting carriages were coupled, in a rough manner, to the 2 sleeper cars that had been sitting in the station all day before the train was slowly serviced and made ready for departure. A critical mass of waiting passengers had formed in the station building by about 8:35pm so people began to board. We had to wait in the cafe/reception car for a while for a staff member to arrive and organise our room key.The NSB sleeper carriages are nice and large enough but I think I've been spoiled by DB's newer product. The ladder was permanently attached to the opposite wall but folded down and out to be used, which was weird. The sink area took the entire width of the cabin below the window, restricting the latter's size. The window was further tarnished by the large hinge for the upper section crossing through its middle, destroying the view. This was particularly annoying since no purpose was served by this as the window was locked closed. At least the heating was not insane like on the DB carriages so the window didn't need to be opened to cool the cabin. No showers were provided anywhere in the car either, which was somewhat annoying as we had a long commute ahead of us.Despite all these shortcomings the cabin was nice, relatively modern and clean and would be our home for the next 10 or so hours so we settled in for the journey back down south.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234489500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234489500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234489500/tpod.html Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:22:45 -0500 Frei[burg]Zeit

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Trondheim, Trondelag, Norway

Here is another blog entry, this time from Trondheim, where I'm taking advantage of the hotel's free wifi to get on top of the process. I wonder how many of you guys have made it this far and are actually reading this? To make it easier on you the number of photos per entry seems to be increasing and I'll take a guess and say that they make it easier to read the blog. Anyway, I should stop wasting the valuable words at the start of the entry and get on with telling you all what's been happening.Tuesday in Oslo was a tiring early start because we'd got sucked into Foyle's War on the TV the previous night so we couldn't go to sleep until ended and we knew what had happened. Breakfast was the healthy-choices-only hotel buffet ahead of an express check out and short walk to the central station. A 4-car BM73 tilting EMU was waiting for us on platform 16 so we headed down and found our seats near the onboard cafe in car 2. I'm not sure if I noticed this last time I was onboard one of these trains but it was useful that seat numbers ran through the whole train and did not restart in each carriage.Departure was a few minutes late and it seemed as though this was related to general weather-related delays in the Oslo area. We were soon on the line to the airport, accelerating to 210km/h in the 14.5km tunnel at the start of the line. Then we stopped. It would seem that congestion was ruining our run on Norway's only high-speed line but after a few minutes we were once again underway. The stop at Gardermoen Airport filled the train substantially and signalled our departure from what one could consider the Oslo area. We still had a bit of 10 year old high speed line to traverse before hitting the regular lines for the rest of the journey to Trondheim.The train's tilting mechanism proved very useful for several stretches of the journey, especially those where the line travels along the shores of lakes. The top regular line speed of 160km/h seemed to only be acheived on rare occaisions, during the odd straight section. I didn't mind the slower speed of the train but it grated against Steve. He feels even scenic trips should be restricted to a 2 hour maximum travel time so the almost 7 hour journey to Trondheim was not to his liking. In terms of the scenery, we climbed slowly until we reached mountain plateaus in the middle of the trip and began to descend again. It didn't snow at all during the trip but the remnant snow from previous days provided a nice white dusting on the mountain valleys, farmlands and woods that we passed.Despite our late departure and delays en route due to a predominantly single-track alignment causing crossing loop delays, we arrived into Trondheim right on time. I had originally planned for Steve and I to stop at Hamar, a station about an hour from Oslo. Here we were to have visited the Norwegian Railway Museum. However, we were unable to get clear information as to whether the lockers at Hamar Station would've been able to hold our bags and, being winter, only a small part of the museum (not including the train sheds) would've been open. I'll just have to come back in the warmer months to visit the museum properly. The itienerary change meant that arrived in Trondheim a little before 3pm and had all these extra hours to kill in Trondheim.We were able to check into the hotel straight away so we settled in and tried to figure out our plan for the small city. I hit up the free internet to prepare for the next day's activities and do some blog work while Steve hit the streets to explore the local area. When he got back we ventured onto the cold streets to find something for dinner. This ended up being Maccas for the 2nd time, in what was a pretty funky store on the main square in town.Yesterday was another early (for holidays) start as we had to catch another train. Breakfast at our hotel here in Trondheim is something new for me: a bag hung on the door at 6:30am containing sandwhiches, apples and orange juice. There are 3 flavours of sandwhich to choose from and you must let reception know the night before if you want anything other than the standard ham and cheese. After breakfast we walked back to the station to take the 8:20am train into Sweden. The service was operated by a Norwegian BM92 2-car diesel railcar, with Norwegian crews to the border town of Storlien. As a joint service with the private Swedish operator Veolia Transport, staff swapped at the border with the equivalent service heading towards Trondheim.The journey itself was one of contrasts. We began on the fjord at Trondheim, travelling along its shores quite a way to Hell. Yes, there is a town in Norway named Hell and I can let you know that it has frozen over. During this windy shore section I lamented that the BM92 did not have tilting capabilities but enjoyed the scenery nonetheless. Trondheim's airport is quite out of town at Vaernes, which is just across a river from Hell. We were given a nice parallel with a Norwegian Airlines 737 on approach to the airport, descending over the fjord as we neared Hell. From Hell our train branched off onto the Meråkerbanen for the trip up the Stjørdalen valley, climbing to the Swedish border.Interestingly from the border, not the border station at Storlien, the line features overhead wiring, making our diesel unit only required for the 100 or so kilometres of unelectrified track from Trondheim. Despite this, with the Swedish crews, our train continued through Sweden on the now Mittbanan line across the mountain plateau. The line here is straighter than the Norwegian sections so we could pick up a bit of speed. Constant loud honking of the horn through the many unprotected crossings proved annoying for many passengers. At Östersund the Norwegian train was to terminate and passengers could connect to a Connex Regina electric set to continue through Sweden. However we were disembarking at Åre, not far into Sweden.Åre is one of the largest ski resorts in Sweden, although it started a little over 100 years ago as a summer science and medical town. A legacy of its early tourism days is a still-operating funicular, which will be celebrating its 99th anniversary in March. The 40 minutes we had between arriving on the train and the start of our zipline tour was used visiting the Camp Åre office to pay for our tour. After that we explored the centre of the small town on the side of the mountain, noting that there were significant structures to allow through-skiing from the runs into the centre of town.During the time we were outside it wasn't hard to tell that it was cold but being in the sun kept us from freezing. We had both put extra layers on but there's only so far that a pair of Australians can be prepared for such conditions when not hiring ski gear. The tour began in the centre of town fitting our gear and getting told stories about the area before we took the 6-seater chairlift up the mountain. An interesting chairlfit seen from the train on the way in was a combination of both traditional seats and gondolas.From the top of the lift we had to walk/skid/slide down a part of the piste to the cabin that forms the start of the first run. One of our two guides traveled on the wire first, braking their run with their special gloves. From the other end of the wire they could then set up the brake and us plebs could then go across safely. The first wire was the longest, crossing high above a valley in the middle of the resort area. This run is apparently the longest in Europe and speeds of around 70km/h can be acheived during the crossing.The second wire was the highest above the valley floor and we were encouraged to travel upside down, to achieve the best angle to view the valley floor. Steve and I managed to get into the inverted position while most of the other 6 guests struggled or couldn't bring themselves to do it. The third wire left from the same platform as the second arrived on so we were soon back on the other side of the valley. This wire began with a short free-fall, which was best experienced by falling backwards from the platform.Between the third and fourth wire we had to walk down and along the valley side a bit. Stairs and boardwalk have been constructed to simplify this operation except that the snow was so thick that it covered these structures. The snow had been compressed and frozen so that all the steps were covered by ice, making them nigh impossible to use. Everyone devised their own strategies for traversing these structures, whether it be stepping off of the structures into the deep snow, clinging desperately to the handrails or just using the stairs as slides.Line four was the final and closest to the ground line. Trees and other objects were close to the wire, giving the impression of speed. Because the line was angled down more than the others there was an extra break, which was entered at a higher speed, causing a heavy but fun stop. More odd walking structures took us down to the off piste valley that a lot of people were deciding to ski and board down. Normally the groups take the funicular from this point back into town but as one had just left the guides suggested we walk down. Missing out on the funicular was sad but the 10-15 minute walk did warm me back up, in particular my toes. The walk also paralleled the funicular track for a bit and we were lucky to be passed by one of the cars during our walk along this section.The zipline experience had been fun and I look forward to doing other runs in the future. I would've liked to do Åre's additional 4 lower runs, which we walked past on our way down, but tours are only offered for the top and lower 4 independently. We maintained our heat and replenished ourselves with lunch at the Swedish fast food chain Max on the side of the town's central square. Following lunch we had 2 hours before the train back to Trondheim (there's only 2 a day) was due to depart so it was difficult to find activities suitable for this time frame. We loitered in the relatively large station complex/shopping centre enjoying the warmth before deciding to try the ice karting on Lake Åre.Ice karting is offered in 7 minute blocks and, at the suggestion of the staff, we signed up for just 1 round. The karting was good fun; they would skid around the corners, making the obstacles harder to avoid and drifting around the corners nice and easy. It was a much cheaper and safer way to experience extreme winter driving conditions. 7 minutes was more than enough to speed around on the ice, after which time my chin and fingers were frozen, through my clothing. The staff helped us to reheat without burning our skin and we went inside to pay for the experience.The rest of our time was killed back in the station, watching the train's departure time become progressively later. While this was annoying it was specially bad for Steve, who was busting for the loo but too stingy to pay for the station toilets, plus we didn't have Swedish money anyway. Half an hour late the train arrived and we were finally able to relax and start heading home.Before Storlien we were informed by the attractive Veolia Transport girl, who had remembered us from the morning, that the train would be turning back at Storlien and we would have to take a bus to Trondheim. We never learnt why we had to take a replacement service but it was disappointing and much fuller than the train. The also attractive Norwegian Railways ticket inspector girl had never seen a Eurail pass before and had to deliberate for quite some time before deciding what to do with them. The morning's inspector had not touched them, we had forgotten to write the date of travel on them and now the nice inspector validated the previous (used) day, effectively giving us a free extra day of pass usage! The bus took longer to descend to the fjord but once there benefited from a comprehensive highway system with many tunnels to speed toward the small city. Overall the bus took about the same amount of time as the train.Trondheim. Whenever you mention it to someone who has heard of it before the reaction is something along the lines of "it's such a charming little town", and that's pretty much what it is. Today was our day to visit the small city on the banks of the Nidelva River and the fjord. We were not in the same rush as yesterday so we enjoyed a slow start, and with no set breakfast to attend we didn't have to get up at any specific hour.Trondheim has taken the typical European "closed for winter" attitude to another level, being "only open June-August". As such our options were limited; half of the free tourist guide may as well not be in there. I guess that's why they only have one for the whole year and not different ones for winter and summer; the winter one would be very thin. To tackle the slim pickings we devised a rough walking tour covering the main sights whilst trying to avoid the same route that Steve had walked the day we arrived.At first we headed up past the station to the docks on the northern side of the city. The aim was to acquaint ourselves with the location of and access to the Hurtigruten dock, which we will be departing from tommorrow. The <i>MS Norjesteren, one of the fleet's oldest and smallest ships, was in the dock and I believe it was running south. From the wharves we walked back to the central area, initially through the old dock redevelopment area. Both of us agreed that it wasn't exactly the world's best practice but it had brought activity into the otherwise industrial area.Continuing along the river, through narrow streets with old Amsterdam-esque wooden buildings we made our way to the Old Bridge. From here it was a short uphill section, past the world's first bike lift. The idea with the lift is that you sit on the bike but put a foot onto a step that travels up the hill. Unfortunately the lift was predominantly snowed-under so we weren't able to see it in action. Further up the hill was the Kristiansten Fortress, which we spent quite a while running around exploring and enjoying the view. Back down at the river we crossed the Old Bridge, which dates originally from the 1600s to the Nidaros Cathedral and back through to the main town square. The snow, which was looking a bit fresh after a light dusting the night before, gave the over 1000 year old town a nice aesthetic but with no museums of interest open we were running short of walking destinations.The world's northernmost tramway is located in Trondheim and I was not going to pass up the opportunity to ride it. Originally cloesd by the council in 1988 and then reopenned by a private group in 1990 the Gråkallbanen is the city's only remaining tram line. It runs on narrow metre gauge track, initially through town before continuing on its own right of way up the western slopes of the city to a traditional recreation area. The return trip clocked in just under an hour and was quite a rustic experience. There are lots of short rail sections remaining and most of the route is single track. A lot of the traffic appears to be independent of central Trondheim, with locals traveling through the picturesque areas on the western side of the city. Sadly the tram still seems to be a risky politcal issue as they advertise on the tourist map with the slogan "A city with a tram is a city with a soul."After a meal at Burger King (disappointing as always) we walked past the Royal Residence, back to the hotel and spent the last parts of the day preparing for what is ahead and finishing this blog.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234234800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234234800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/v1213/8/1234234800/tpod.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:00:44 -0500 Frei[burg]Zeit

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Oslo was one of my favourite cities that I'd visited prior to my arrival this time and as I leave its status has not changed. There's just something about this small yet well catered-for city, its people and lifestyle that strikes a chord with me, makes me happy to be here. However, I should not tease with talk of Oslo until I cover how we got here, continuing on from where I left you at the end of the Copenhagen entry.Checking-in at the modern DFDS terminal provided us with our boarding documents, which were paper cards with magnetic strips on the back that were used to open our cabin door. We had a short wait before boarding commenced but it was not long before we were onboard <i>MS Pearl of Scandinavia and settling into our cabin on the tenth deck (out of 11 enclosed decks). Being an overnight crossing we had saved money and got an interior cabin and thus had no view of the outside world. This necessitated a departure from the cabin any time that we wanted to see what was going on, which was a bit of a hassle but it forced almost an adventure out of every time I would normally just glance to my side.After settling in it was time for the customary exploration session. Most facilities were below us on decks 7 and 8 although just above on deck 11 was the main access to the upper deck upon which one could walk the entire length of the ship and see anything, weather permitting. The main facilities 2 nightclubs, several restaurants, a cafe, a coffee shop and a duty free shop. You can guess where Steve and I ended up spending the little money that we did onboard. Yes, it was dinner from the coffee shop (a surprisingly tasty and cheap [everything is relative] pasta salad) and a 6-pack of cans of Tuborg from the Duty Free shop.Before shopping and eating we had to depart from Copenhagen, which in the local spelling, Koebehavn, can be broken down to Koebe Havn (Harbour). The ship departed the dock a little after the scheduled time of 5pm as they were still loading the last vehicles. This delay led to a few cold people in the small crowd who had gathered on the top deck to witness the event. I was of course part of said crowd and enjoyed the experience of the ship slowly powering out of the rear-loading dock and gradually pick up speed as it navigated out of the protected part of the harbour. The fact that I could watch the frequent S Tog and regional trains passing had nothing to do with my presence on deck.Once we had settled into the cruise, long after the customer service welcome and safety announcements the captain came on the PA to discuss the voyage - how we were going and what to expect. I find it a bit amusing how I associate this with air voyages when many aviation standards such as this originate from the maritime realm.Following our dinner Steve pretty much retired to the cabin reading (I figure he's more into the destination than the journey) while I perused the Oslo tourism brochures and map I had picked up at the onboard Guest Service Centre on deck 7. Once I had re-acquainted myself with Oslo and formulated some plans of attack I spent the rest of the night enjoying deck strolls. Each time I would take a can of Tuborg and a few extra layers for a walk up top in the darkness. There's something very calming about the boat powering through the water in the darkness. I only saw land once, partly due to our route and partly because of the foggy conditions. Each time I went there would be less people and for the last few trips I saw nobody else, it was just me, the ship and the sea. The more trips (and beers) that I took the better it got, by the last trip I could just stare at the aft wake mesmerised for ages. Despite the cold it was great and I look forward to doing something similar on my Hurtigruten cruise in Norway. For the record, I did still had some beer left when we arrived in Oslo.In the morning I woke before the general PA wake up call at 8am because I had set an alarm with the view of beating the breakfast rush. While Steve was still mustering up the courage to get out of his bunk I ventured on deck to find that it was very windy and snow was billowing! I suppose this shouldn't really have come as a shock but it did at that hour of the morning, albeit a welcome shock. I had chosen to pre-purchase breakfast at the time of booking to save money and when we got down to the restaurant it was already quite busy. We did manage to get seats to ourselves but were joined by others later after the general wake up. The offerings were comprehensive but it has to be admitted that we spent a lot of time around the Children's Buffet, because it was home to the pastries!After breakfast we had a bit over an hour before arriving in Oslo, time which I spent up on deck equipped with wet weather gear and gloves and also in more casual attire down on deck 8 looking at the GPS map and out the window. As the masses finished eating most communal spaces became busy like they had the night before. Distinctive groups of guests travelling with us were the bunch of Dutch people proudly showing their orange as they were travelling to support a sporting team of some sort and also the hoardes of loud children running everywhere. It is a bit of a family affair but parents should take note that the cabin doors are not that soundproof in the middle of the night!The plan had always been to walk from the DFDS terminal in Oslo to the hotel, it had been chosen because it was in a central location between the DFDS dock and the central train station. What my plan hadn't factored in was the snow and the unplowed footpaths. Being stubborn and stingy the plan was stuck to although the cases weren't so much rolled to the hotel as they were dragged, performing the community service of plowing the footpaths. The people of Oslo are deeply thankful, I'm sure.Finding the hotel was not a problem but when we arrived we hit the snag of not being able to check in until the advertised time of 3pm. This is the first hotel in a long time that I've stayed at that has stuck to the advertised check-in time. This did chuck a spanner in the works because my ex co-workers, Thomas and Linda were due to meet us at the hotel at 11am and we now had a little over an hour to kill. The hotel luggage room was spacious so it wasn't really a problem. To kill the time I gave Steve a general central Oslo walking tour, taking in the main station then walking up the main drag(s) to the Town Hall and then back along the old harbour and through the streets to the hotel.Waiting for Thomas and Linda did not take long and we were soon chatting to them and figuring out what we would do for the day. We begun with another walking tour of the city's central area, this time continuing up to the Palace. The walk was greatly enhanced by Thomas and Linda's local knowledge, especially in regards to Norwegian history, which of course we don't have the chance to learn about back home. After what turned out to be quite a while, even though it didn't seem like it, we were down at the Aker Brigge waterfront area having warm drinks in a cafe. We were coincidentally served by a girl who had studied with Linda in Joondalup, which helped us to obtain more Australian prices.During our break it was decided to travel out of town to the museum peninsula and visit either the Folk Museum or the Polar Ship Fram museum. To this end our Thomas and Linda helped us to secure 24-hour public transport cards from a Narvessen kiosk. Before heading out there we went back to the hotel to check that we couldn't check-in yet, make a note that we would be checking in later at night and then put some of the vast amount of dirty clothes we had created into a backpack for transport to a washing facility.The bus trip I had made previously with Charles but had not been aware of some local facts, provided this time by our hosts, like that the large farm on the way out there is actually the royal farm and the royal family spends Christmas there. The museum of choice was the Fram museum, which took up a surprisingly large amount of time for a single-hall museum. The blurbs were in English but polar exploration is an area of interest for Thomas so he was able to provide a lot of the information himself. A highlight of the museum was not only the actual ship itself in the middle of the hall but that we could go onboard and explore below deck to see what it was like and how it was made. Modern polar vessels to this day are built with a similar hull shape designed to push the hull above the ice, not leave it to get crushed between flows.Satisfied with our educational experience we took the bus back into central Oslo to change to the T Bane train system. We took a line 2 service operated, to Thomas' surprise, by one of the newer Siemens sets. The cold weather and fading sunlight made for good spark action as the third rail shoes lost and made contact with the pick-up rail. Disembarking at Røa allowed us to visit a large supermarket to obtain dinner supplies. We were monitoring the time because, by law, beer sales would cease at 6pm and we didn't want to miss the deadline! After shopping we had a short wait for the 32 bus outside the station and then a few minute ride up the hill to Thomas' parent's apartment. The parents were away at their cabin in the mountains so Thomas and Linda were enjoying the opportunity to stay together before they move into their own home in April.Living in a snowy environment means that some things must be done differently and Steve and I had to learn fast. We almost made a few mistakes like putting the snowy shopping bags on the kitchen bench and benefited from other things like floor heating in the bathroom. Linda and Thomas lamented that due to the continually falling snow we could not appreciate the view down to the Fjord from the apartment but the snow is such a novelty that we were happy just the same. Dinner was delicous homemade (by Linda) meat pizza, which she constructed while we got a load of Steve and my dirty washing going and Thomas joined us for some beer and conversation. The night continued with more pizza, beer and talking and I gather fun was had by all. I certainly had a great time anyway.Thomas looked up the bus times for us so we coordinated our exit and only had to wait a few minutes before it arrived. It took a while to wind its way down the hill to the centre of town but when it did it dropped us near to the hotel. We then finally checked in, got our room and had to clean ourselves before getting to sleep quite late. Thankfully breakfast the next day was to run until noon because it was a Sunday.As you can probably guess, we didn't get out of the hotel until the afternoon but with a leisurely 3 day stay in Oslo we were in no mood to rush ourselves. First order of the day was the public transport museum, which is housed in an old tram shed near the Majorstuen interchange on the western side of the city centre. I was happy to be able to make the visit because its opening hours are nearly as restricted at this time of year as the Rail Transport Museum back home. The museum delivered what I had expected - lots of old trams, a trolleybus and a few buses in varying conditions with some blurbs provided, some only in Norwegian. I was impressed that most vehicles could be entered and they had a good display explaining a typical tram bogie and also an underfloor viewining area. I also found it interesting that during the German occupation some trams were taken for use in German cities and even the odd one for use in Poland.I had hoped that after the public transport museum we would rendez-vous once more with Thomas and Linda for another local's tour of the city but unfortunately a cold that Thomas had developed the previous day was getting worse and the decision was made by them to stay home. This was disappointing but Thomas needed to be well for work at his relatively new job the following day so I could understand the decision. Also, I did feel a bit guilty because Steve and I probably kept Thomas and Linda up too late the night before, which wouldn't have helped matters.Staying in the Majorstuen area Steve and I visited the (in)famous Vigleparken to see the bizare sculptures depicting the cycle of life, or something along those lines. One way to describe it is a bunch of naked statues in many different positions. As it turned out the snow (which had paused briefly in the morning but was now falling again) censored some of the statues, as if strategically-placed over reproductive organs. During the visit Steve and I managed to lose each other and I was on my way back to the hotel to regroup when we found each other again near the tram stop.On Thomas and Linda's recommendation the next destination was the Norwegian Technical Museum. This is located on the edge of the city limits to the north of the centre, at the end of tram line 12. I relished the excuse to ride the tram to the end but I'm not sure if Steve was enjoying it so much, I think he still yearns for more "exciting" places with lots to do like Paris. There were no signs to the museum at the tram terminus and a group of Scandinavians asked us if we knew where we were going. Unfortunately we did not be we led the exploration as I spotted the regional train station that I remember seeing on the map as being close to the museum.From the station the museum was easily visible (just across the tracks) so we took the underpass and walked through the carpark to the entry. The museum was a cross between a technical museum as I know them (German ones basically showcasing lots of machines) and Scitech (science discovery centre) back home. Predictably my favourite part was the transport section and this wasn't because it was one of the limited sections that did provide English blurbs. The train and boat representation was diappointingly small (1 cut up Steam engine, a tram and 2 ship models) but I learnt some interesting aviation facts. For instance, Norway's first encounter with human aviation was the result of the 1870 French-German War. At the time apparently the only way out of Paris was by hot air balloon and one group got lost and eventually made it back to the ground in Norway!Our exit of the museum coincidentally timed well with a regional train due at the adjacent station for Oslo in 10 minutes. As we waited we were entertained by some presumably local youths snowboarding down the station stairs, grinding the handrail and taking photos and video of themselves as they did it. The train was a few minutes late but that was excusable in the weather conditions and because the interior was so comfortable for that standard of train.Dinner ended up being from the McDonalds at the main station in the city. There we enjoyed promotional El Macco meals with Chicken Nacho burges containing corn chips and sides of shaker fries. I've had a good run with beloved shaker fries these last 6 months, hopefully my luck continues and they do a promo with them in Australia! The 'restaurant' was good to dine in as well because the back wall is one giant photo of one of Oslo's airport trains.This morning was that of our last full day in relaxing Oslo with breakfast finishing at 10am dictating the wake-up time. Steve couldn't manage the early hour so I savoured the most important meal of the day alone. We were in no rush: Steve didn't want to visit anything in particular and I had few things on my list. The weather had gone to our advantage overnight and now it was a clear, sunny day with great visibility making it perfect conditions to enjoy the snowy environment.To take full advantage of the weather we began with a trip on T bane line 1 to Frognersetern to look over the city. The plan was to take the train from the main station but it looked as though the remnant snow (there's a lot) was getting the better of the public transport system. The next line 1 train kept on getting later on the display and announcements in Norwegian were being made so I figured something was up. To increase our chances we took the next train (any line) to Majorstuen, where line 1 diverges from the others to see if any services were beginning from this station.Confusion appeared to be king upon our arrival at Majorstuen but soon enough it looked as though a train was going to begin its trip up the mountain from the dead-end platform. Steve and I hopped on before most people with ski gear so we got seats for the trip. Line 1 is still powered by overhead wiring, in contrast to the other lines, which all use a 3rd rail system. What is odd is that although Majorstuen station and maintenance yard are wired the trains use the 3rd rail to the first stop and change to the overhead system there. Our train wound its way a little up the mountain before changing to run wrong road for part of its journey. During this time we passed an out of service train that wasn't moving; it looks as if it had failed half-way up. Once passed we crossed back to the right road and continued the climb.The view from the top was magnificent and Steve and I went for a walk to better appreciate the area. Locals were skiing through forested sections, no doubt to join the train again at a lower station to be returned to the top. The journey back down was less disrupted although it looks like the system as a whole was still not functioning as our train terminated at Majorstuen.Since we were in the area I suggested visiting the City Museum, situated in the Vigleparken, as it was free and I was interested. Steve agreed so we took the conveniently there number 12 tram 2 stops to the park. Unfortunately we arrived to be told that the museum was closed on Mondays, which made Steve quite upset. Oslo doesn't seem to have impressed him and it is as though he is wearing his dissatisfaction on his sleeve. I was enjoying myself so we pressed on, taking the number 12 again through the centre of town to the Aker River. We took Hausmanns Gate parallel to the river to find the Design and Architecture Centre but had similar luck there. This process did include a little walk on the mainly frozen river but it was good to finally see it in this fjord-oriented city. The rather small river looks like it would be a good place to be in the summertime.The last few minutes of our second 24-hour tickets granted us passage back to the hotel area, where we chilled. For me this involved blogging and checking up on some things on the free lobby internet. I had planned to take Steve to the nearby fortress area but my internet time dragged until it started to get dark and he still didn't seem overly enthused about much.At about 6:30pm Thomas and Linda were back in touch to coordinate going out for dinner, which had been suggested the day before. We were soon on our way to the Parliament building on foot, where we met Linda and Thomas. They suggested we dine at TGI Fridays for something nice and not overly expensive for Norway. It turned out to be an American version of the Hog's Breath Cafe (steakhouse) back home and featured Jack Daniels branded meat and sauces. All of us except Steve had burgers which were tasty and filling. To thank Thomas and Linda dinner was on me before we had to farewell Thomas as he had to attend to family matters at home.Linda was happy to keep showing Steve and I around so she led us up on the route 19 tram to see the city lights from the hill on the eastern side of town. This is a part of the city I have not visited before and it offered good, close views of the central area. The three of us had a good discussion about Norwegian culture and language and also spotted the places we had visited over the last few days. We decided to return to the hotel (and not visit the Fort) as it was getting late and the chances of Steve's toes succumbing to frostbite were increasing.Back at the central station Linda kindly bought back the excess single ride tram tickets that we didn't end up using that night from us before we farewelled her too. It's somewhat sad to be leaving Oslo because I enjoy being here, no matter what it is I'm doing and it's great to have awesome people like Thomas and Linda to visit. Next time I'm in this part of the world I'll definitely have to make sure Oslo is on my itinerary.
]]>