Grand Palace and Reclining Buddha

Of course I couldn’t stay at this slow pace too long and so dragged myself out of bed after a long night to rendezvous with PJ downstairs for a cab ride across town to view the Grand Palace.
Now I had read the websites advising of scams where “guides” say a certain place is closed and persuade you to follow them to another site. Well we almost fell for one but I better explain the first scam of the day.

PJ was given some bird seed to feed the birds, no problems he thinks except after the fact he is told it is 50 baht which can buy you a small local meal here…

Anyway we rock up to one of the gates of the palace and are told by a scruffy (this was odd I thought) guard that the palace is closed until 2pm for religious reasons and that we should hop on the tuk tuk waiting just 5m away to go to other sights before returning.
We said we first go across the road to look at a small temple and then come back for the tuk tuk. However while crossing the road back we noticed a main gate further down the road that is open and has tourist flowing in and out. Scam avoided but we could still see the tout trying to convince others at the other gate (its closer to the main intersection hence everyone passes it) that the palace is closed, blah blah blah…

The Grand Palace is the home of the king but also is site of several major temples aspiring to various faiths, mostly Hindu and Buddists to no doubt safeguard the well being of the residence.

Afterwards we managed to walk and find the Reclining Buddha temple, where a giant gold reclining Buddha rests plus numerous other entities of Buddha. By this time we were a bit templed out on what was a typical hot and muggy day and so the call was made to go back to the hotel where we passed the Giant Gate on the way back.

Grand Palace and Reclining Buddha

Bangkok

Got into Bangkok early morning on a 1/3 full Thai flight, was able to stretch out across 3 seats across the back and enjoy superior service. Arrived in Bangkok to meet up with an old work colleague PJ aka Paul. Anyway PJ has been here many a time and so he slowly showed me around on what would be my holiday from my holiday. I slowly adjusted to the tourist way of life here where for once the AUD was stronger than the local currency, this meant late starts to the day, an afternoon and evening meal accompanied by some Chang or Singha.

There are temples everywhere of which one we did visit up the road and of course many shopping malls with magnificent air conditioning.
One day I decided to visit the Independence Monument but it starting raining monsoon buckets that even the raised footbridge just below the skytrain was flooded.

But otherwise basically didn’t really do much in Bangkok except a few long nights out when both PJs older twin brothers were in town...

Bangkok

Zurich

20/07/09

Possibly the most expensive city in Europe, Zurich's cost of living was noticeably more expensive than continental Europe and so I decided to save some $ by couchsurfing, my good host was a guy called Sam who had an apartment only a kilometer and a bit from the main train station.
Had one full day and so walked up to the local university for some skyline views before taking the Polybahn down to walk around the old town which meanders around the river Limmat. The river eventually reaches its source, lake Zurich where I boarded a vessel for a 90min cruise around the lake with the swiss alps in the distant horizon.

After the cruise had to have the local fare, veal sausage with a local beer before walking the other side of the river where further downriver locals swim in the river in what is essentially an urban beach, think no sand but grass and concrete and a pier with bars too. There was still hundreds on a Tuesday afternoon plunging into the currents slightly upriver to be slept downriver about 100m by the currents before swimming out. Plus the odd person jumping from the road bridge several metres above into the river before. All good fun.

The next day before the long flight to Asia took a free bike rental (thats right its free here in Zurich as they have a 1st rate public transport network, they have too much $ here) and biked around some more of Zurich as far as the east lakeside foreshore. Unfortunately it wasn't a great day and it actually drizzled a bit. I guess it was a sign, so farewell Europe and hello Asia next...

Zurich

London III

03/07/09 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I had heard of it from Top Gear and other auto mags but had forgotten about the Goodwood Festival of Speed until upon chancing a billboard advertisement in London.
Persuaded Tony to join me and so we had an early start catching the train out to Chichester which is about 1.45 hr on the train out of London. Boarding the special chartered buses to take us out to the estate to view the cars on show and the practice laps on the circuit on what was the first day of the festival and this avoiding the weekend crowds. The highlight of the day was the Red Arrows display which actually lasted a good 30 mins and which commentary was provided through particular FM radio channel too. All in all, a long day on another blazing summers day.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Last week in London and Sig had already left to go back to Canada for summer, so here goes...


15/07/09 Imperial War Museum

A guy from London staying in my Dublin hostel recommended this museum which is not near the other main museums in London so I decided to check it out with Tony.
The Imperial War Museum is wholly dedicated to the perils of war and therefore promoting peace, it’s a small but effective museum with tanks, planes, arms and a special trench experience with authentic smells!

Imperial War Museum

16/07/09 British Museum

Decided to finish viewing the British Museum during my last few days in London, we actually went there to visit a section on my second or third day in London many weeks ago.

British Museum

18/07/09 Greenwich

My last weekend in London and we decided to visit Greenwich which none of us had been to before. Greenwich is site of the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. Greenwich is also famous for the Greenwich Meridian Line, where the longitude is 0 and where all time is measured from. This line separates the western and eastern hemispheres. Before that we had time to wander the Greenwich markets where we had lunch.

After the observatory we visited the nearby National Maritime Museum where various exhibits of the empires glorious maritime past were on show.

Greenwich

Thanks to Tony and Lauren again for their hospitality, don't know when I will be back in Europe...

London II

01/06/09 London Monument and Tower

Sig was back from his short trip out of London and so we went to visit the London Monument, dedicated to the great fire of 1666 (if ever a bad year) and onto the Tower of London. We thought we start with the free tour by the Yeoman aka as the Beefeater but gave up and did our own exploration due to the large crowds of tourists. We did see the Crown Jewels (no jokes thanks) but of course no photos allowed.

Monument and London Tower

02/06/09 Tower Bridge

After meeting up with my old boss Burgo, started a small section of the Square Mile walk (as featured in the Lonely Planet) before meeting up with the bros to watch the Tower Bridge open. Thereafter me and Sig continued inside the Tower Bridge Experience, a self guided tour of the workings and history of the iconic landmark.

Tower Bridge

03/06/09 Square Mile

Finished the Square Mile walk, this is basically a walk around old London City taking into account the following:
St Pauls, Australia House, Royal Court, Temple Church, Temple of Mithras, Royal Exchange, Leadenhall Market, Lloyd’s of London building (the building that outside looks like the inside of a factory), “Gherkin” building, Spitalfields, Christ Church and Petticoat Lane.

Square Mile Walk

06/06/09 Natural History and Science Museums

For once an overcast showery day, perfect for staying indoors and so the call was made by me and Tony to go and visit the Natural History and Science Museums, both are close to each other near South Kensington underground.

Natural History and Science Museums

07/06/09 Abbey Court and Lords

With Sig back in town after a sidetrip, he wanted to see Abbey Court Rd and Lords, the home of cricket; so off we all went. After dodging traffic and numerous attempts we got that pic…
Afterwards back to the old days of playing cricket in our driveway but this time outside the home of cricket. Just like our XI high school days I was wickie and Sig was the medium pacer bowling inswingers, all imaginary of course.
Lastly we went to the house of my brother's namesake, the Sigmund Freud mansion (now converted into a museum). The last pics are from the rooftop of Tony's building to catch the sunset and views from Putney.

Abbey Court and Lords

London I

Thanks to Tony and Lauren for having me and Sig over at their place in London, which we used as a hub for short trips across Europe. Will miss playing PS3, watching "Greys" and that addictive Strawberry and white choc cereal...

26/05/09

Finally in London but I was so exhausted that that I spend my first day in Europe having a midday nap at my youngest brothers Tony’s flat and did not venture out.
The next day was a late start and we just dipped down to Piccadilly for some tourist info and a quick walk through to Coventry Court passing Trafalgar Square and into Chinatown and wrapped up by a visit to the British Museum.

London - First Day

28/05/09

Nice day so caught the tube to Hyde Park Corner and walked through all the tourist spots like various memorials (including a NZ one), Buckingham Palace, Downing St, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, etc till Westminster where I caught the tube just before the afternoon peak starts.

London - Hyde Park

29/05/09 Southbank

Today tackled the Southbank trail starting from Westminister where I had left off the day before and continuing along till Cannon St. A detour was required to view St Paul and to cross the Millennium Bridge in what was a glorious summers day! The pictures speak for themselves about the major sights on either bank of the Thames River.

Southbank

30/05/09 Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour first rehearsal was on today so went to enjoy it with the relative sparse crowd; I am guessing it will be at least 10 fold more on the actual day. Afterwards met up with Tony and Loz to go to Harrods at Knightsbridge, with the day still perfect we went to Hyde Park where all Londoners go to when nice weather. I joined the friendly family atmosphere in and around Princess Diana’s memorial pool and had a lazy stroll around The Serpentine. Sideswipe, we saw a Bugetti Veyron on the street while walking back to catch the tube home…what GFC!!

Trooping the Colour

31/05/09 Richmond Park

Another glorious sunshine day, where is the crappy English weather that people always go on about? We made our way to Richmond Park for a bike ride around the perimeter and a well deserved ice cream at the end.

Richmond Park

South Ireland

Southern Ireland, three words…rain, rain, rain!

10/07/09

Joined a 3 day coach tour of south Ireland with Shamrockers, starting with a visit to The Rock of Cashel, Mitchelstown Caves and Blarney Castle to receive the gift of the gab by kissing a dirty brick in the castle wall while supported upside down! All this time there would be prolonged showers with short fine intervals, no doubt this is why the Ireland countryside is so lush and green. Our overnight stop would be Killarney.

11/07/09
Second day of the tour and this time it would rain the whole day, I had not seen this much rain since living in Auckland but enough whining about the weather, starting to sound like some other people across the Irish Sea.
Along we went on the scenic coastal route while viewing the most western point of continental Europe towards the fishing town of Dingle, where Fungi the dolphin resides. An ice cream to enjoy the liquid sunshine before catching a glimpse of “the sleeping giant and three sisters” (an island whose contours look like a big belly person asleep and 3 hills). Then a short ferry ride across the Shannon River towards the Cliffs of Mohar. Our stop that night was Doolin where I had some Irish stew in a local pub watching the weird weird sport of hurling (cross between AFL and hockey).

12/07/09
Our last day of the tour started with trips to Clonmacnoise (an old monastery) and Burren plateau which is a raised ancient limestone seabed.
However our first activity was a quick stop to walk around a fairy ring, an abandoned mound ruin like a ring where the middle had scrub inhabited by fairies, true! We were sternly warned not to walk through the middle otherwise something bad could happen…

Now the coach we were on was not the most modern and in fact there was a problem as it could not engage 1st gear from the 2nd day onwards. While on a slight incline it started to roll backwards towards a parked car while trying to pull out onto the road outside Clonmacnoise. Everyone out and a big stone for leverage did the trick but there was only inches between the bus and the car.

One more stop for some Irish whisky at Locke’s Distillery Museum at Kilbeggan and then back to Dublin where I will catch the overnight ferry back into London.

South Ireland

Dublin

09/07/2009

Tossed up between Ireland or Munich and/or Amsterdam. In the end upon some recommendations from my old boss Burgo did the Ireland thing.
Being time rich and money poor I thought I’ll for a change take the long way around with an overnight coach and ferry crossing into Dublin.

After about 4 hours sleep arrived into Dublin with the rising sun; being early walked around the now quiet streets of Temple Bar and surrounds of the Liffey river before a traditional Irish breakfast watching people commuting to w_o_ r_k.
Then into Trinity College to look at the Book of Kells (one of the oldest books in the world), before visiting the National Art Gallery and the nearby shops of Grafton St.
Lastly finished the day by visiting, sampling and learning to pour the perfect pint (certified too) of Guinness at the storehouse museum. Simply tastes better here than anywhere else in the world!

That night noticed Dublins claim to skyline glory, a massive stainless spike that sticks up from a traffic island in the middle of the road…

Dublin

Paris

24/06/09
Got up super early to catch the 7.27am Eurostar London to Paris, as noted by others the chunnel is a non event as one moment you are in the UK and the next (well after several minutes in darkness) you are in France. Checked into our hotel and promptly caught the metro to the Notre Dame church. Impressive gothic features which are refreshing after visiting all those churches in Italy. There is no queue to get into the church but a long one for ascending to the roof which was worthwhile indeed when we did. Those cute little gargoyles crawling everywhere, but you also get to go inside one of the bell towers and ascend to another higher rooftop too.
Afterwards we walked past the Musee Du Louvre and into the park towards Place de la Concorde, before crossing the river towards our objective that night, the Eiffel Tower.

Paris

First encounter of French inhospitality was at the tower, you can climb or take the lift to the 2nd level to buy another ticket that ultimately takes you to the top. We brought the lift ticket but were not told that the lifts are in another pillar even after showing the attendant our ticket. Therefore we ended up climbing to the 2nd level wondering where is that lift which is not fun at all after a long hot day!
Now I been on the 1/3 scale model in Shenzhen of the tower and even that was high, the Eiffel Tower due to its isolation from other tall structures accentuates it height even more for superb views.

Eiffel

25/06/09

Today we went to the Louvre, just beat the crowds to get that picture with Lisa. Now any gallery would kill to have such masterpieces in their collection, and if they did they would be their own room as Lisa was but not here. Here hung casually in one of the main corridors were several Raphaels lots of Rembrandt too. Many other masterpieces are scattered throughout the museum and hence we ended up spending most of the day searching for them before leaving for a belated lunch at Avenue des Champs. Then a quick hop to ascend Arc de Triomphe Etoile for yet more skyline views.
Some sudden downpours almost brought the day to an early end (note this was the first rain I’ve seen for almost 3 weeks) but it cleared in time for us to continue to Cite de L’Architecture for some ground level night views of the tower.

Louvre

26/06/09 Friday
Woke up this morning to the BIG news. Michael Jackson is dead, RIP. Sig told me after he heard about it last night from a friend in NZ. Therefore I will remember where I was when I heard the news, Paris…

Anyway we went to visit the Sacre Couer which is on the highest point in Paris and therefore gives a free view of the Paris skyline from a northerly aspect. After that a stop at Galleries Lafayette, a 7 level department store that I know a lot of girls would love. To finish the day we walked to Ecole Militaire (which also gives a straight view of the Eiffel Tower), passing on the way Opera Garnie, la Madeleine, Assemble Nationale and Musee de Armee.

Later that night as we were back early I decided to watch some TV and the first thing I tuned into had a tribute news hour to Michael Jackson! Seems the French loved him and some smaller stores and radio stations were playing his music during the day.
On that note RIP MJ…

27/06/09

Nearby our hotel is actually a large park with a canal running through it. The park also contains the Science Museum housed in a modern building with a large shiny sphere in the front and of all things a decommissioned French submarine! Couldn’t resist going into the sub to add to our list another warship we have been into. I had a later train than Sig and so after sending him off biked around Paris for the afternoon before the last train back to London.

Asturias

19/06/09
Managed to squeeze some time in my itinerary to visit Carlos, an ex work colleague in his home town. Therefore had to make the longer journey to Stansted airport for yet another delayed Easyjet flight to Asturias, Spain. There the local police perform the immigration checks and they spent a good few minutes with a small magnifier and UV lamp to see if my passport was autentico or not. After that Carlos and his good friend Josen drove me to a nice hostel in Gijon (prononced Hihon) that Carlos had organised.
I was then given an orientation tour by Josen in his little red Seat car which Carlos calls "de tank" around Gijon which is the major town of the Asturias region before introductions to the local Cider drink.
Now the locals love this stuff and its cheap too, but the best fun is that they pour it from head height with one hand into a small cup held waist level with the other hand. This is meant to air it for a better taste before you skull the small quantity served leaving a small residue to chuck away. The true cider bars have a small open drain next to the bar inside for you to do this. Finished my first day in Gijon in the warm company of Carlos, Josen and his gf Christina though I really need to learn some Spanish as Carlos was running his throat dry with translating duties.

20/06/09
I was warned by a random guy from Asturias who I met in Florence that the weather is like London, grey and mild in summer; and unfortunately it was true yesterday but not today. Therefore Carlos and his granddad took me to experience churros dipped into a thick chocolate drink for my breakfast before taking me for a walk around Gijon. After a mandatory siesta (as the locals do), I met up with Carlos to catch the train to a small town called Mieres, where Carlos's mum was from. There was some festival there and so was happening (for a small local town anyway).
Afterwards met up with some people that Carlos knows back in Gijon for a late dinner at 11pm and some bar hopping afterwards…

21/06/09
Carlos jokes I must have brought the good weather as another exceptional day. Was kindly invited by Carlos's grandparents for some traditional food before I made my own way around the areas visited yesterday. This time I walked till the other side of the main Gijon beach and it was packed like Bondi beach, guess the sunshine is really rare around here.

Gijon

22/06/09
Josen is such a nice guy, he should be the ambassador for Gijon! Note Gijon is only 30kms from the capital of Asturias called Oviedo, but the cities have a Sydney/Melbourne rivalry happening, except Josen takes his patriotic pride for Gijon to a high level as do most locals, so I heard.
Anyway he was going to show me and Carlos around Asturias in Christina's car for the day! We went to Convodonga (also happened to be name of the hostel I was staying in), this is the site where the “reconquest” of Spain by King Peloya started. Then we went for a nice lunch in Cangas de Onis near an ancient foot bridge of Roman era where I tried the local recipes Fabadas and Lomo meat. Onwards to Ribadesella, Lastres and lastly meeting up with Christina after her work in Oviedo. All along this trip there will be comparisons between Gijon and Oviedo, such passion about Gijon by Josen; Carlos was right joking about him being the face of Gijon tourism, not only that but he always knew someone on the street too. Finished the night (the sun sets here after 10pm!) at a free bird park in Gijon where there were some Emus! No Kiwis though...on that note I actually think I was the only Kiwi traveler and (probably asian too) in all of Asturias as foreign tourism has yet not taken off.

Asturias

Oviedo

23/06/09
All in all, Asturias reminds me of NZ, its relaxed, green, hilly, has small towns and clean air. Though it also has the many small bars like Melbourne, much better roads and trains, and the weather of London (good and bad). Most of all the people take pride in their state, I think they should promote more foreign tourism as they have the infrastructure in place. There was a hop on hop off tour bus in Gijon that was running around empty!
Lastly I would like to thank Carlos for organising my travels in Asturias; it was relaxing and insightful as well as being off the beaten track.

Pisa

18/06/09
A hot restless night before meant a dip in the pool before packing for the trip home, not before visiting the Piazza de Miracoli to see the neighboring cathedral next to the leaning tower of Pisa.
Then it was another delayed Easyjet flight back into London where I was threatened to go to the interview room by immigration as apparently I have the dodgy visa stamp on my passport meaning they don't believe my intentions in the UK! @#%*! Had to explain my life story again!

Pisa

Chianti

17/06/09
Had enough of Florence and so decided to join the hostel organised wine tour of the neighboring Chianti region. Chianti is between Siena and Florence and is home to wines of the same namesake. The tour was hosted by Irene (pronounced Irina I think) who is a local from there and so we walked to the train station to hop on a coach to get there. There are 3 grades of wine from this region, table wine being called super Tuscany or IGT, the good stuff is graded DOC (has document of originality and manufacture) and lastly DOCG (same as before but guaranteed to an higher standard).
First stop was an sampler plate of the local cheese and ham with some IGT reds and whites. Then a stop at Greve before heading to another winery for some lunch where we had more DOC and DOCG wines. Lastly we went and had some Grappa (spirits made from the skin of the grape) which you have in small sips of 40 and 60% alcohol before a sweet version to finish the day.

Chianti

Unfortunately my day was not done as I had to catch a train to Pisa for my accommodation that night. When I got off the train in Pisa I bumped into a couple of Ozzies (Connor and Chris?) and their Irish friend Fenton, the two from Oz play in the Irish National Soccer League for Belfast and the trio of them had no idea how to get to see the leaning tower of Pisa. Luckily I showed them where to get the prepaid bus ticket and also where to get off, "kids" thesedays. After having dinner together they went on their way back to the train station to catch a train to Rome, their leaning Pisa photo mission done. I had to trudge to my campsite cabin with no a/c and no window too!

Florence

14/06/09
Good old Italian efficiencies! Had trouble with my non existent train booking and so after much confusion had to buy it onsite. Luckily I got a seat as there was only 1 seat left in my carriage. Got to Florence in the mid afternoon and promptly went to queue 20mins in the blazing heat to see big David (not the Tuaman too). No photo! again and so played hide and seek to sneak 2 shots, had to justify my 10 euros!
Then walked down to the Duoma (a church with a big dome), Batistery, Piazza della Signoria and the Ponte Vecchio.
Some sights are closed today and some tommorrow (Monday), so a bit of back tracking to do in the next few days me thinks.

15/06/09
Decided to have a casual day and visited the stuff that were open which were not many as it was a Monday, Italians love their days off.
Visited the Piazza San Lorenza, climbed 468 steps up the Duomo for some panoramic views of Florence, viewed Piazza Strozzi, Church of Ognissanti (closed), Church of Santa Maria Novelle (did not enter, churched out now), Dante Alighieri's house, Church of Santa Croce (did enter as has tombs of Michaelangelo, Galileo and Dante!) and last but not least hiked up across the Arno river to Piazza Michaelangelo to see a (bronze) copy of David.
As the heat was unbearable had to have a beer from the street stall (no questions about age asked either). Thought I wait for the sunset as really nothing else was open and so escaped into the church of Santa Miniato al Monte where mass was being held in a small partition of the church yet the organ music reverberated nicely throughout the church.
Very serene indeed that you would be hard not to feel a little spiritual of sorts.
Finally with the sun setting across Firenze, walked all the way back to the hostel for a well deserved dinner and to see Italia beat USA in the Confederations Cup, Bravo Italia!

16/06/09
Damn Italian small lanes, got a little lost going to the Uffizi gallery which I have passed many a time in prior days! Got there at 8.30am and the queue was already massive as they only let in so many people in every 20minutes, that meant that I was there for 90mins! Got in and again Non Photo! signs so no pics to show for my effort. Got to see some famous paintings, being the art connoisseur I purchased a guide after the event to get an idea of what I was really looking at. Art can be so complicated...
Second stop of the day was the Medici Chapels, tombs of the leaders of Florence and where Michelangelo scrupled some of his famous creations being Lorenzo with Day and Night, Giuliano with Dusk and Dawn.
Third and last stop was crossing the Arno river to the massive Pitti Palace, long time home of the Medici dynasty. See if you can spot the private passageway that linked the palace to the Uffizi, this allowed them to travel halfway across town without being in public view. Sheer filthy opulence! Ended the day in the Boboli gardens, the (Pitti) palace gardens are massive that I only covered half of it; mind you I sat half the time in the shade escaping the (again) extreme heat and admiring the skyline.

Florence