Friday April 14th 2017

Hong Kong Action


After making short visits to Shanghai And Beijing the last six months; Hong Kong was last on my "China-list".
Here is what I did that weekend.


I landed in Hong Kong airport during the day.
After immigrations, I took the train straight to Hong Kong island - then a taxi to my hotel; 9 Boutique Hotel.
They had four rooms and I don't think I have ever had a smaller hotel room than this.

After a quick stop at the hotel, I went out to Hong Kong island again.

I took a taxi to the Victoria Peak tram station to ride the Peak Tram up the hill.

What I ment to do before I got here was to purchase a ticket to the tram online. But I never did and paid the penalty; standing more than one hour in line to the ticket office.

Finally I got to go!

 Up we went through the trees and to the Peak Tower.

It was a very nice view from the building!

And it looked even better at night!

I ate at a japanese sushi restaurant at the top - not that good though. :(

It was a long line to get down as well; almost one hour,..

Then straight to the hotel to get some sleep.

Saturday April 15th 2017

Second day in Hong Kong!

I walked to the subway station and took the train to Tung Chung; I am going to the Big Buddha statue the Tian Tan Buddha.

The cable car was not operational so I took bus 23 to Ngong Ping.
It was a beautiful ride through the lush, green mountains of Lantau island.

When we got closer we could even see the staue from afar:

After about 50 minutes we had reached our destination and I was there!

It took a few steps to get to the top, but eventually I got there.

It was a big statue, but... I expected a bigger one..?
I mean, after all, it was the largest seated Buddha in 1993 when it was built.

But it sure wasn't small.
Either way, it was cool to be here. :)

There were also some smaller statues around the Big Buddha.

After seeing the Buddha, I took the bus back - and then the subway to Kowloon, which is the main land part of Hong Kong city.

Here also smaller (and older) buildings could be found next to the tall skyscrapers.

I went through Kowlon Park and finally arrived at the The Garden of Stars.

Here they celebrate the movie starts of Hong Kong. There were a lot of hand prints from actors/actresses like Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung and Raymond Chow.

But the main reason for being there is that they have a statue of the big hero; Bruce Lee

 So. Cool.

I also went to the pier and took photos of Hong Kong island; this is a panorama picture of said side:

After this I took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong island.

I walk back to the hotel and... didn't really do that much more during this day (truth is I fell asleep at five in my bed and didn't wake up until around midnight).


Tomorrow I will go to inland China for work so this is the final day-report for this trip.

Hong Kong Ending

I guess Hong Kong has always been there in the back of my head, but it wasn't really until I had a transfer on my way to Cambodia a couple of years back that I put it on my Travel ToDo list.

Unfortunatly, the city itself wasn't super exciting; it was rundown, somewhat filthy and the stench of the harbour was always there. It was fun to have been there, but I doubt if I will ever go back.

The green hilltops around the city was beautiful though. A very nice scenery to look at.


If I were to redo it; I would have only stayed there for one night instead of two. Everything I did could be managed in one full day.

They did have neat thing that really helps you exploring the city without that extra night; you could check in your luggage already on the train/subway station on Hong Kong island!
Had I known this before, I would have just done that and continued my trip one day earlier.

In any case, it was fun to be able to check this city off my list! :)

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 7th 2015

A South American Tale

This trip took a while to decide where to go - and even more time how to do it.

I knew I had 11,5 days and a few possible target zones. I decided to go with my good friend Henrik again (known from Mexico!) and together we decided for South America.
We then made a list of what we wanted to see - and removed just enough of stuff to make the time limit.

This, my friends, is the result. It will be a trip filled with flights (and waiting at airport terminal), because this continent is huge! Plus hopefully some interesting places.

I might not have time/wi-fi to blog everyday as it happen, but eventually all days will find their way to the web.


Today was all about travel - and I am not even halfway there. My first stop was at London Heathrow where I by some very strange rookie mistake read my boarding pass wrong and only got to my gate 25 minutes late.

Fortunately I there discovered the flight was one hour late so I made it. But this trip could have started with a disaster.

After about two hours+ in the air, I landed in Madrid. This is where I will spend six hours - and get together with Henrik who is arriving directly from Stockholm.
We are about to board the flight to Santiago, Chile from here.
It leaves at 23:55 - so this day is over even before we cross the Atlantic ocean.

Tuesday September 8th 2015

After 12 hours flight the morning broke on the air plane and we flew over the beautiful mountain range of the Andes.

Getting closer to Santiago, the view was just one big cloud with some mountain peaks breaking the whiteness.

And this is where we started our decent - and went straight through the cloud (among said peaks). You could not see anything outside the windows - and then all of a sudden we landed (still in the cloud). Much respect to the pilots who land here!

Stepping out from the plane meant that I was on the southern hemisphere for the first time. Nice! :)

Interesting observation while we waited for our luggage; dogs (presumably drug sniffing dogs) were walking freely inside the area, across the luggage - and the luggage tracks.

Then we were picked up by our ride who drove us to our hotel; Le Rêve Boutique Hotel.
We had some problems with the shower in our first room (303) - it did not work - so we got a new room (302).

After a shower and refitting, we went out to look at Santiago.

First impression; it's not that different from a south European city. Second impression; it's freaking cold here!

We travelled with the Metro to the Baquedano station and ate a pizza at Patio Bellavista square. Then we took the Funicular up to Virgin Mary statue at Parque Metropolitano. 

 

View from top side of funicular over Santiago:

Then we went back to the hotel to chill a bit.

In the evening we went out to eat dinner at a nearby restaurant (called Lomit's) where I had a very nice Filet Mignon with bacon. Henrik had the salmon.

We also tried the local alcohol Pisco, which is made of fermented grapes. We were thinking shots. They did not.

The waiter put two real drinking glass on our table and started to fill them up. We had to stop him from poring after a while.

Henrik did not finish it.

Neither did I.

Then back to the hotel. Early wake up tomorrow.

Wednesday September 9th 2015

Up at 5:15 for a quick breakfast and then heading to the airport.

A looong flight (probably six hours, but felt like 60) took us to Easter island. The very small, isolated island in the Pacific Ocean famous for its statues, the moais.

We landed on the large air port strip on the island (built by USA during the 60's to function as an emergency landing strip for the space shuttle [never used for that purpose - yet] - NASA still has personnel here).

After a chaotic luggage retrieval, we got picked up and driven to our hotel.


Our hotel here is Taha Tai Hotel. We are staying in their Bungalow #6.




Me and Henrik had discussed a lot how to go about going around the island; our options are renting a car, going on a tour bus - or getting a private tour guide.
The tour bus was out of the question early, since we are only staying here for two half days. (to see all we wanted we would need a full day tour).
Renting a car (for about 100-120 USD) had the disadvantages that there is no car insurance on this island; ie you break the car, you pay for it - and you loose the guide experience.
So we settled for a private tour guide (for 350 USD). Fortunately, we could get a tour guide to our hotel very soon after we settled in. His name was Tongariki and was a very nice guy; he understood that we did not have much time and was very knowledgeable regarding the island and it's history. He probably thought we were crazy only staying here for 26 hours though.

He might not be wrong.


We drove along the southern coast line and got to Rano Raraku; the dormant volcano where all the moais were created. There were about 600 moais scattered around the grounds (out of the 900 on the whole island).


This was really a sight to see!


After walking outside the volcano, we also went inside the crater.


Then off to the largest Ahu (platform where the moais were standing); Tongariki (where our guide got his name from).

This ahu has been restored to it's original shape. Most moais on the island has fallen down and not raised again, but here they are shown in its intended glory.

15 magnificent statues, however most are missing their red "hats" (it's really their hair). The rest of the hats were laying not far from here, but they were not put on the statues since they had corroded and were damaged.

Then off to the beach!
Almost.

We first made a stop by some sites to watch some ancient hieroglyphs, very interesting. Kinda.


The beach (called Anakena) was very nice and this was also the place where the Polyneesian people first came to the island.


These moais were raised in that honour (it is of the royal family that came here).


Me and Henrik also took a swim here. The water was cold going in, but once there it was really nice. I wouldn't mind staying there longer, but it was soon time to push on!

Then we were heading towards the south tip of the island, but we got word that it closed at six, so we were too late to see that part. Our plan is to see it tomorrow if time permits.

After a stop at the hotel (shower, change and drinks), we took a taxi to a restaurant we had read about; Tataku Vave, where we got their speciality, lobster for starter (it was much smaller than we were used to back home) and then the Easter island speciality raw Tuna for main course.



We got the food in a sea shell - and it was a lot of food. Unfortunately neither the lobster nor the tuna was to our liking so we left a  lot on the plate where we were done, much to our waitress' disappointment.
It could be worse though, Henrik could have told them to give the leftovers to some random cat.
Oh, wait...



When we got back to the hotel, we took a moment to watch the beautiful, but very unfamiliar, night sky. An amazing sight without all the light pollution we have at home.

Thursday September 10th 2015

My telephone is apparently still on Santiago time so it woke us up two hours early.
Back to bed and then up again at 7:30.

The plan was to see the southern tip of the island before heading for the airport so we rented a taxi to be able to get there - and back.

The taxi driver drove us to the dormant volcano Ranu Kau, which was really cool to see. The crater looked amazing.


Next stop was further out to Orongo, where we got a lovely view of the small islands south of Easter island.


Then it was time to return to Santiago. The flight wasn't as bad as yesterday, but it was still long.
Back at the mainland of Chile, we were met by our driver.
He didn't even have a sign this time; he knew perfectly well which gringos he was here to pick up.

We are staying at the same hotel as two nights ago, the Le Rêve Boutique Hotel. This time we are in room 203 (a mirrored replica of our last room).

Friday September 11th 2015

Another day - another flight.

Today we actually had some time in the morning to take it easy. Our taxi to the airport didn't pick us up until 10.

No problem at the airport and we departed on time.

After about two hour flight we landed in a place called Iquique (still in Chile). There we had to leave the plane, go through customs, wait a little bit - and then go on the air plane again.
Then we could fly again - towards Bolivia. Why they couldn't just have a customs booth at the Santiago airport is beyond me.

Anyhow, after flying over the Andes again - and this time even land in the majestic mountain range, we arrived at the world's highest located airport El Alto (4062 m above sea level).

From there we took a taxi down to La Paz (around 3600 m). First impression of the city: a lot of pollution in the air (exhaust fumes and whatnot) - and there are even more loose dogs here, than in Chile.

You can defiantly feel the high altitude here, but as for now it is survivable.

We checked in to our hotel; the Suites Camino Real, where we had asked for a non-smoking room - so we got a smoking room, but the key came with a "non-smoking card" to prevent us from smoking. The room still had ash trays.
Very strange. So naturally we made them change our room to a real non-smoking room, which we got; room 404.

After this, we went out to ride the cable car system (recommended by friends as a good way to see the city).

La Paz is the first city in the world to use a cable car system as public transportation; they have three lines in operations now (with more to come).

So we went to the the green line which was located very close to our hotel, took that, continued on to the yellow line. Both lines takes 17 minutes end-to-end.



The plan was to see the city, but five minutes after we got on it, the sun set so we mostly saw the city by night - which was nice too.


Then back to the hotel and ate at the restaurant there. I had Llama; it was good, far from the best meat I had, but not the worst.

Then time to sleep, we are going up crazy early tomorrow.

Saturday September 12th 2015

Wake up call at 4:30. Pick up at 5:15.

The night has been rough on both of us with very little sleep.
The thin air has finally got to us.

Today we had booked a day-tour to Lake Titicaca; the worlds highest navigable lake (3800 m).

The trip from the hotel to the lake took about 1,5-2 hours. Then we got on a small boat that took us from the smaller part of the lake to the land that divides the lake.

During the trip, the guide told me I looked like the singer from Alphaville (Marian Gold). With that eyesight, I am glad he isn't the one driving today.

Another bus ride got us to the town of Copacabana where we had 1,5 hours to explore by our self.


There were some other tourists joining this tour, but only one who stayed for the whole day (like us); a woman called Renata from Equador. She was very nice and also helped us with the language when needed.


In Copacabana we went to a café where we were introduced to the local altitude-sickness-remedy; Coca tea (coca leafs in hot water, preferably with sugar).

Yes, coca leafs.

Then we went on a catamaran that would be our vessel for most of the day.




The ship took us to Isla del Sol (Sun island) where we disembarked. The tour then went up some steps; 206 of them to some kind of sacred fountain.

This took all breath I had left for today. And after these steps there were 70 more. Henrik is almost dying now.

Here we went through some carefully prepared tourist culture sites, like a big herb garden.


There were also a some dried vegetables on display, shipbuilding, a priest who blessed us (by sacrificing candy and other stuff) and a museum.


They also had a little pen with llamas and alpacas.


At least the view was lovely from up here.

Back to the harbour and onto an "old" reed ship (it did have an engine and modern seats).


We even got to dress up in ponchos and Bolivian hats and they got us to row (this motor boat).


Yay.


After we got to the bird palace on the Sun island, we changed boats and onto the catamaran again.
Then we had 3-4 hours boat ride back to the shore.


Me and Henrik tried oxygen from a tank on the boat (partly because of curiosity, partly for needing it). Non of us really felt any effect.
But at least now I have tried it.

Back to shore - and the bus, we went back to La Paz. After about 3 hour we were back at our hotel.
Dinner (I had Alpaca this time which tasted about the same as the llama - maybe the llama was a little better, but it could all be because of how it was prepared).

Then sleep. New country tomorrow!