Monday June 17th 2019

Return to the Big Metal Structure

I was recently in Paris on vacation and since I have yet to make a post of the Eiffel Tower (part of the 21-list), here it is.

I have seen it before, but this was the first time I was upp at the top. Pretty high up for such an old building.

A very nice view! :)

Friday January 19th 2018

The Tent
(aka Lots of money for a very small reward)


I was making yet another business trip to China and with some smart planning, I managed to get a transfer in Osaka for the same price as transfering elsewhere.

So time to check off another building on the 21-list!


Once I landed in Osaka, I went to my hotel (I had choosed the Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport to save  time), checking in - and then straight out again.

I took a JR train from the airport to Kyoto, since it seemed easiest - which it was.
It took about 65 minutes and no tranfers. I highly recommend this route if you are going from Osaka airport.

Once in Kyoto (oh, the memories came back from when I was here the last time), I took bus 100 (206 will also work) about 15 minutes (cost: 230 Yen, pay when you get off the bus) to the bus stop Gojo-zaka. From here you easily walk to Kiyomizu-dera in 10 minutes.

The entrance to the temple looks pretty nice:

Inside looked ok, less than I expected, but when I came out on the other side I could really see the reparations I had read about that was ongoing.
And this side is the iconic view of the temple when you google it.

What I got...was a tent.

Very disappointing. :(
I am not sure I have ever before spent this much (hotel, train, bus, entrence etc) for this little.
But at least I got the satisfaction off checking something off my list. A very small consolation at this point.

I walked around the area for a few more minutes; checked out the "3 waterfalls", some other temples - and then when back to Osaka and my hotel.

Tomorrow I go back to work in China.

Friday November 24th 2017

Athens - day two!

The hotel has its breakfast on the rooftop and it has a lovely view of Acropolis. A very nice backdrop for your morning tea! :)

Today is the day to go and see Acropolis. This hill has been the focal point of Athens for thousands of years. So many things has happened here.

In this place (Theater of Dionysos, built several hundereds of years BC) is apperently the place where the first greek tragedies were set up.

And this place below (Odeion of Herodes Atticus) was build in 161 AD, but has since been renovated and are now used as a place where many people has performed (like Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Jean Michel Jarre, Diana Ross, Ennio Morricone, and Foo Fighters).

I would have loved to see a concert here!

Finally coming to the top of the hill; I entered (like everyone else) through the Propylaea:

Up here, there is a lot of... stones. Some ruins (standing up mostly due to restoration projects that has been going on for decades), but still a lot of stone and marble laying around from former buildings.

The buildings that stood up, were incredible, but I think I expected a few more.

The most famous of course; the Partheon! Despite the little that is left of it (and the cranes), it's still magnificent!

To the right in the below picture is the Erechtheion. Other than that it is pretty empty up here. But just think how impressive this place must have been two thousand years ago!

The view from up here is also very nice. Below is a picture of Lycabettus Hill, where I plan to go tomorrow.

After this is was time to move on. One more item checked off the travel bucket list! Woohoo!

On my way to the Acient Agora (aka Athenian Agora), I went into the Roman Agora. Not supermuch to see here, but it is facinating to know that this gate (called The Gate of Athena Archegetis) was constructed in 11 BC by donations from the roman emperors Julius Caesar and Augustus.

Then into the Acient Agora.
Just like up on the hill; there is a lot of "used to be buildings here" - stones everywhere, but in the old days; what a sight it must have been.

One of the few building that is actually still standing is the Temple of Hephaestus:

A view over the Acient Agora with the Acropolis in the distance.

Then is was time to leave the ruins for today and I heading into the town.

I came to Syntagma Square and the Parlament.

Here we have the gurds outside the Parlament. They don't walk like regular people.

I stayed and watched the changing of the guards. They walk almost in slowmotion - and wierd. But very disciplined!

Then a slight detour into the National Garden and back to the hotel for a well deserved rest.

In the evening I went to a restaurant (Ta Giouvetsakia) for some dinner. I had a beef stew with a greek Beer (Alfa).

The stew was great, the beer was horribly tasteless.

Saturday July 29th 2017

My Day in India


I was going to another business trip to China and wanted to a detour to give me motivation for it.

I compared the map with my Travel-ToDo-list and found... India! :)

So be it.
I arranged for a 24 transfer in Delhi and started making plans.

A colleague of mine, Mats, found out my plans and joined me on this trip.
We had a driver (Mukesh) for the whole day and he picked us up at the airport 03:00 am and started driving towards Agra.

After several hour (where Mats and me slept most of the time) we got there.


There was lots of cows and monkeys in this town:

Anyhow, we started off with the mainattraction; Taj Mahal!!

 Six down, one to go!  :)


The Taj Mahal with its leaning minorets:

It's not that super-much to see so, after a while we continued to Agra Fort.

Bonus for the day was a James Bond location! :)
On this balcony (not accessable for the public) a very short clip was filmed for the movie 'Octopussy' (a flyby of Taj Mahal to make sure the audience understood that Bond went to India).

After walking around in the heat (43 degrees Celcius today) in the fort, we decided we were done with Agra and headed back to Delhi. It was then only 10:00 am.


Once in Delhi, our first stop was the Lotus temple. It had been suggested to us by an Indian colleague of us (who also got us our driver).
We googled it and it's architecture intrigues us so we went there.

A very beautiful building!

Of course it had pools around it for the lotus to float "on": 

Then we went to the India Gate, a war monument for the Indian soldiers who died in World War I.

We also visited the Raj Ghat (memorial for Mahatma Gandhi) and looked at the parlament before we went back to the airport.

A very intense day indeed. Jolly good!

Friday February 24th

Quick update on the blog.

I have been in China on a business trip this last week and before I went home I got to see the The Great Wall of China.

One more thing checked off on the list! :D

Monday September 14th

Another super early morning; up 4:30, check out at 5:00, Breakfast at 5:05. Leaving hotel at 5:15.

The deal with getting to Machu Picchu is that you need to take the bus (or walk if you are cheap/crazy). A return ticket cost $24.

The first buses goes around 5:30 - 5:45 and even when we got to the bus station at 5:17, there were already a massive cue (around 150 meters).

So, yeah - you need to wake up early because everyone else does (and the earlier you get up there, the better).

So the queue started moving at around 5:39. We got on a bus at 5:51.
The bus takes you up the mountain, through the fog that was extensive today, and up to the Machu Picchu entrance (we arrived at 6:14).

Finally here! Another one of the Seven wonders of the Modern World!

The fog embraced the ruins in a mystical and adventurous way, however it also limited your vision so you couldn't see that far.

Sometimes the wind would clear some of the fog so you can see more, but it always came back.

Me and Henrik went through the "higher part" of Machu Picchu (following the recommended path) until we got to the other side. This is where the gate is if you want to go to the top of Wayna Picchu, a high-ass mountain next door.

We had bought the combo-ticket for both Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu, but even though Henrik was feeling better today, he didn't feel good enough to walk up this mountain.

We had a pass for the early time; 7:00-8:00. We got there at 8:05, but fortunately the guard let me pass anyway (but I had to sign in with the time "08:00"). I was the last out of the gate with number 161 (there are only 200 part time slot - and there is two time slots per day, the other is 10:00-11:00).

So I started walking along the path towards Wayna Picchu. Since it is another mountain, I had to go downwards a bit, before I could start walking up the actually mountain I was there for to climb.

F*ck this is high!


Once on Wayna Picchu, the path were basically just a large amount of steps. Irregular and often steep.

I don't know how many times I had to stop and rest before I fell over dead, but I got closer and closer. My legs are trembling and my knees are hurting. And I have been out of breath since I left the gate at Machu Picchu.

I met a few going down again (after being at the top) and one group told me that I was just a few minutes from the first real view point to see Machu Picchu. They had been there for 30 minutes before they gave up. The fog was still there and you couldn't see anything.
Damn. :(

Eventually I got to the place they told me about (at 09:00) and I rested there and took some photos of the invisible Machu Picchu.

But after just a minute or two, the fog started lifting and we could finally see Machu Picchu!

Then I started walking upwards again (and I had to climb through a cave/tunnel to get there!?).

I finally reach the top at 09:15 (it wasn't that far from the first view point, but there was a lot of photo opportunities on the way that made it go slower).

I had made it to the top!
Even I was amazed about it! :D

Here we saw the small, small Machu Picchu in the distance, but also the rest of the view from here was stunning.

I had now gone from Aguas Calientes at 2040 meters above sea level via Machu Pichhu's 2430 m to Wayna Picchu at 2720 m.

I stayed here for a little bit to rest and then it was time to head back (09:30).

The way down (especially close to the top) was very steep. It was very easy to fall and/or sprain an ankle. And now my knees are pretty much dead. So much pain.

It was somewhat faster going back, but it still took a while. At 10:25 I was finally back at the gate. I was very happy to have made it! :)

Walking through Machu Picchu again, the fog was gone so you could see the whole site.

However now it was  very, very hot here. I was already totally drained and it hurt just to take a step. I got flashbacks from my near-death experience at Gibraltar.

Not only the heat is trying to get hold of you up here, the mosquitoes and sand bugs are attacking you as well!

I considered myself done with Machu Picchu at 11:25 and took the bus down the Aguas Calientes. I met up with Henrik at our hotel and I could finally get some rest.

After a hour or so, we went to get some food at a restaurant before it was time to catch the train back to Cusco at 15:20.

The train ride was long and boring, but after almost four hours we got there.

Our taxi driver from yesterday was there waiting and took us to our hotel for the night, the JW Marriot El Convento Cusco. It feels really good to be back at a JW Marriot hotel. I should always stay at their hotels!

We got room 123 and after a room service meal, I went to the spa to sit in the jacuzzi and just relax. I figured that I had deserved it. In the mean time Henrik was regaining his strength watching the NFL season first game with Denver Broncos.


We also got these cakes courtesy of the hotel, really nice of them (but we never finished them).

Info box!

So how do you get to Machu Picchu? This is what we did:

Since there is a limited access to Machu Picchu (2500 per day), we ordered our tickets long before our trip to South America. We bought the tickets at the official Machu Picchu web page.

They have a few different tickets, but we chose the combination ticket Machu Picchu + Huayna (Wayna) Picchu since we we figured we might want to do that peak too. The difference in price wasn't too much so in case we decided on site to skip Huayna Picchu, it wouldn't really matter.

The ordering was quite easy (once you have your passport number) and the tickets were sent electronically.

  

The train to get to Machu Picchu was another story.

You travel with PeruRail and as a non-Peruvian, you have three different trains to choose from;

Expedition, Vistadome and the luxurious Belmond Hiram Bingham.

I would recommend the Vistadome trains which have big panoramic windows to better see the lovely nature outside. Unless you can afford the Belmond Hiram Bingham of course! :)

The tickets are easily available from their web page.

Note that each passenger is only allowed to bring 1 bag or backpack (max weight 5 kg).

There are luggage storage at the train stations of Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu, but if you need to bring more luggage on the train, just contact PeruRail and they can probably take care of it (they did for us). Information can be found on their web page.

You would usually take the train to Machu Picchu from Cusco, but the trains do have other stops.

The train ride takes about 3-4 hours.

  

Of course there are inca trails you can walk to get to Machu Picchu, but we took the train so you'll have to investigate those yourself. :)

Tickets to the bus from Aguas Calientes to the site can only be bought in the town at the bus station.

If you go to Machu Picchu, I would recommend you to get up there as early as possible. Yes, it was a lot of fog when we were there, but you get to do most of it (including Wayna Picchu) before it gets to hot. I can't even imagine me climbing that mountain in the heat that met me when I got back to Machu Picchu.

You need a good mosquito/bug repellent. Mine works at home, but had no chance here. I got bitten plenty.
Maybe a good option is to get whatever the locals have? That repellent should work for the local mosquitoes.

Wednesday September 16th

We landed in Rio at 4:45 local time. We didn't sleep too much on the flight, but it feels ok anyway, which is good. We have some places to be today!

We got a pick up to our hotel; the Miramar Hotel by Windsor. At arrival we they gave us a glass of champagne and a few minutes later our room. We wasn't sure if we would get our room so early, but luckily we did.

Our room had this great view of Copacabana:


Then we took a shower and got ready for today's adventure.

First a taxi to the cable car beneath the Sugar loaf. After waiting a few minutes, we took the forst car for the day to the first plateau.

We are not there only for the fine view, we have also Bond business to attend.

At the first plateau, we could recognize scenes from the movie Moonraker:

Then we headed up to the second and last plateau, the sugar loaf itself.

Here we found even more Bond locations.

And of course a lovely view of Rio.

We spend some time there (and ate breakfast), but eventually we headed down again.

New taxi; this time to the train/funicular that would take us to Cristo Redentor (you can also take a minibus up there, which would be simpler and take much less time, but I wanted to do the train).
We arrived at the station at 10:20 - and got train tickets to 11:40.
During the wait, the heat came to Rio. It is really getting hot here now.

A 20 minutes train trip later, we arrived at the top of Corcovado.
And there is Cristo - and a whole bunch of tourists.

We did our thing, taking photos of the guy himself, the lovely view

and a few selfies,

before we escaped the sun and went back to the hotel to take it easy for a while.

When the temperature outside started to go down, we went to the beach. Our hotel was just by Tower 5.

Copacabana is a nice beach, but with big waves coming in which made it hard to do any real bathing. So we just jumped in for a bit, sat on our beach chairs - and repeated the process.
It was very nice to relax for a bit.

Back at the room, we had earlier discovered a fun leaflet from the hotel:

Henrik now tried to ask the cleaning lady in French (the closest language to Brazilian Portuguese any of us spoke) to get another one so we could both take it home to show friends.
He talked to her for several minutes, trying to make her understand.
It didn't work.

Five minutes later the cleaning lady came back with an envelope - with condoms.


Time for our last meal in South America. We stopped by our hotel pool to have a Caiprinha (of course - when in Brazil!) and then went to a nice Italian restaurant (Don Camillo) recommended to us by the reception at the hotel.
The food was very good.
Then back to the hotel. We can actually sleep in tomorrow. Yay! :)