Am I really in Australia?
You know that image you have in your head of Australia? Yeah, you know, the one with a blazing sun, vast open spaces covered in scorched red earth and filled with kangaroos? Yeah, well it’s not like that everywhere (the country is SO vast!) and it’s certainly NOT like that in winter.
It was 1pm and we were on our second flight of the day. As we approached our final descent into Melbourne flight attendant cheerily announced that it was a freezing 9 degrees outside. It was the middle of the day and an ungodly 9 degrees! Matt and I starred at each other in shock. We’d just come from a frazzling, flip flop wearing, sun cream lathering, sweaty 49 degrees in Hong Kong, and now we’d arrived to this. Now, I’m no medical expert but I was almost positive that a sudden drop in temperature like that could be fatal. Well, I say sudden; it had been 14 hours since we’d last experienced that kind of temperature but had since then been cocooned in a 20 something degree recycled aeroplane air and blankets. This was going to be a pretty nasty shock. As soon as we collected our bags then, we rushed immediately to the airport toilets to change… into literally EVERYTHING that we had. I was now wearing pretty much ALL my clothes, and I still felt a chill.
It must be stressed, therefore, that when travelling from Northern-Southern hemisphere from our summer, to their winter that two drastically different wardrobes are required. In Vietnam we had moaned ceaselessly about the unrelenting heat and humidity and how much we longed to go to somewhere cooler, and now, barely five minutes after accomplishing such an ambition, we were already regretting it! ‘Where’s that genie… bring him back! I’ve changed my mind!’…
Melbourne, it has to be said, did not strike me as Australian. In fact, I had considerable trouble remembering where I was for the first few days. To me, it seemed more like America or Canada than Oz. At least the Oz I had had in mind. The streets were arranged in blocks and lined with trees, the yellow taxis were reminiscent of the NY style cabs, there were wide expanses of parkland and super tall buildings everywhere and the whole place had a kind of Manhattan in a movie set kind of feel. As we walked the streets it looked like autumn but felt, thanks to a particularly nippy wind, like winter.
Aside from the cold, however, I was loving being in Oz; loving being in an english speaking environment again. Whilst miscommunication in other languages can be entertaining, and learning a new language rewarding it is always nice to able to converse with utter ease in your own language, and to understand and be understood be everyone.
After a few days spent video editing, chatting with locals and banishing our jet lag, we wandered out onto the streets to get a feel for the place. To me, Melbourne seemed like the kind of place where you didn’t need to actually do much to have a good time. Or maybe I should rephrase that. You didn’t need to SPEND much.
We first hopped on the free tram service which forms a handy frame around the centre of the city and hopped off wherever took our fancy. Our first stop was to sample the delights of Victoria Market – a market that’s been around since 1878. (Market open every day apart from Mondays and Wednesdays) It was here you could peruse through aisles and aisles of the most bizarre and interesting arranged stuff. Amongst the delights the market had to offer were the following gems: gigantic furry caterpillars, the kind normally seen in IKEA-esque places, Oz inspired beer coolers,didgeridoos, crocodile Dundee style hats (as modelled in one of the pics!), magnetic wine racks, socks with Che Guevara on them and some truly hideous jumpers. Nothing in the end took our fancy (although I was quite tempted by the novelty of having a South American revolutionary on my socks!) so we moved on to kick leaves in the park and make our way to the Melbourne Museum, which was showing an exhibition of artefacts found from the wreck of the Titanic. The exhibition wasn’t free but the museum itself was for those with valid student cards. (Remember to bring them though. No amount of persuasion works!)
After that we wandered through colourfully graffitied streets to get to Brunswick Street, where we’d be told by the lovely people at STA Australia, was the place to go. At first it didn’t start out as the world’s most promising street but further up it turned into an ecliptic mix of funky boutiques, trendy cafes and bars, vintage shops and restaurants selling international cuisine. Melbourne has the highest Greek population outside Greece and Cyprus so it was unsurprising to find so many Greek style places, what was more startling, however, was the number of Vietnamese restaurants. Here we were having left the country barely a week ago and having travelled thousands of miles away and we were met with dozens of places selling Vietnamese food. We’d been recommended Brunswick Street, especially for a place called Bimbos- a place famous for its AU$4 pizzas. Look out for the giant baby we’d been told. As in turned out, the baby wasn’t as gigantic or as prominent as had been made out. Still, inside the place looked good, and the pizzas we even better.
After hopping back on the tram, we checked out Federation Square – the place to be to watch the world cup apparently. There wasn’t a match on when we went, and as such the place failed to impress, although I can imagine that were we there for a game, it would be pretty awesome.
On from Federation Square we took the tram, past a sculpture of a cow in a tree, to Melbourne Jail – the place where the notorious criminal Ned Kelly finally met his maker. It was closing as we arrived, so we didn’t unfortunately get the chance to go in, but the ghost tour looked interesting and the whole place serves as a good reminder of the country’s unorthodox beginnings.
In the evening we headed up, courtesy of STA Australia, (normal student price AU$18) to the top of the Eureka tower to see some amazing views of the city. All in all, a good day, and a relatively cheap one.
In my opinion, Melbourne gets the thumbs up. Visit it if you can, just remember to bring lots of layers!
“It’s all about ADVENTURE!!”
Tasmania is about the size of Ireland, yet has a population of 500,000, which gives you an idea of the amount of space around you on this island.
The island is considered so out-of-the-way, that you can only get there via an internal flight from somewhere in Australia, which are quite thin on the ground anyway. This is what constitutes the tiny domestic airport you enter after getting off the plane. The distance between the plane and the car waiting for you outside (be it taxi, bus or otherwise) is about 50 metres, and there is only one tiny baggage reclaim belt, which gives you an idea as to how small and ‘out-of-the-way’ this place is.
Hobart, the capital sits in the shadow of Mount Wellington. A mountain that on most days you can jump on a tour called ‘All downhill from here’ which will drive you up to the top the mountain with bikes on the back, so that once at the top you can bike it all the way down. If you get the chance, do it. While at the top of the mountain, at this time of year, you will find icicles on your nose and you hands may go numb, it is still an incredible view from the top, looking North, East, South and West all over Tasmania. I can imagine that in the summer this tour is even better (especially as it started getting dark as we got to the bottom, which is where you go off road. Adventure tour indeed).
On Saturdays, by the marina, there is a massive market that is set up from 4:30 in the morning and carries on until 6:00 in the afternoon, all with the backdrop of Mt. Wellington. All the way along the street there are restaurants and cafes, one of which is Retro, a great place to go and chill for breakfast, watching the bustle of the market only get more intense.
Here in Hobart we met up with the STA US interns, Casey and Natalie, and have spent the past few days travelling Tasmania with them both and our tour guide, Greg, who is doing for the Tasmanian Tiger what Steve Irwin did for ‘crocs’.
Greg’s middle name is apparently ‘Adventure’. At any opportunity he will convince anyone that the road less taken is the right one to take, that it would be an ‘Adventure’ and just a bit of fun. More often than not, it is the road less taken for a reason. Yesterday we ended up in the middle of nowhere having to dig the bus out of a mixture of manure and mud. What an adventure.
Along the East Coast, there is small town called Bicheno. Now when I say ‘small town’, what I really mean is a couple of houses, a pub and a supermarket. The entire time we were there I think I saw 3 locals, but even they were some of the nicest people I have ever met (something that HAS to be said about Tasmania is that everyone here is amazingly friendly. all they want to do is make sure that everyone around them is happy and in tern, ooze happiness themselves. It makes the entire island and big bundle of happy helpful people. If you ever get lost, get lost in Tasmania!).In the morning, at some point during you stay, set your alarm a little (or a lot depending on who you are) earlier and head down the the beach to watch the sunrise. Tasmania is one of the ‘Greenest’ places in one of the ‘Greenest’ countries on the Earth, which means that there is no pollution in the air, making the sunrises spectacular, rivalling those on the beaches of Tulum in Mexico. At this time of year though, it is around -2ºC at the time of the sunrise, and make sure you get the right time (not an hour earlier like I thought. It is not fun the wait around in the freezing cold for the sun to finally come up), but it’s worth it at any time of year.
Off up another mountain today, this place is full of them.
Matt M
STA UK WTI 2010
Bungee Jumping
There are four things that you need to remember when you are doing a bungee jump:
1) Despite everything your body is telling you this IS going to be fun
2) It’s safe, I promise
3) Make as much noise as you can, all the way down, it will help, and
4) the moment you finish, you WILL be wanting to do it again.
I did my first bungee jump in a water park in Venice. I had always wanted to do it, and when the opportunity came along for a pretty low price I was all over it. At the time I was in a pretty dark place, and the moment I was taken off the rope all my problems seemed to have been blasted away by the amount of adrenaline pumping through my body. I was hooked.
For my following birthday, my sister got me a bungee jump voucher for anywhere in the UK. I spent no time waiting around, and booked into the earliest slot I could. I spent the next weeks shaking with excitement and once again threw myself off the platform and screamed all the way down. Knowing what to expect, I was so much more ready for what was to follow, and I was officially addicted to adrenaline.
The strangest thing that you will experience is the moment before you jump, as you step to the edge of the platform and look out into nothing. Everything in your head is telling you that this is wrong, that this should not be happening, and that this is NOT a good idea. Even that feeling makes me smile now.
Both of these jumps were at a mere 70 metres. Macau Sky Tower is the biggest bungee in the world, the main platform standing at an amazing 235 metres above the ground. As if I was not going to do this.
I do have to admit, that for the first time, I felt pretty ill on the way up to the top, which you take via a lift that accents at 6 metres per second. Mostly I was scared that I was going to bring the massive buffet I had just gorged on back up on the way back down. after standing at the top for a long while however, that feeling I am so used to washed over me like a blanket, and all I could do was smile.
There is no way that I can describe hurtling towards the ground held only by an elastic rope. That, you will have to experience for yourself, but suffice it to say, that that feeling and the incredible amount of adrenaline I got from it sent me through the next 24 hours. If there is anything I would tell you do in Macau, it would be the Sky Tower. If anything, for the views you get of the entire city as you fall to the floor.
Matt M
STA UK WTI 2010
Things can only get colder
With yet another England misery, came another amazing day in Hong Kong. Some how we had landed ourselves among the rich and famous of the Ex-Pats, and were chilling out next to a pool and being waited on hand and foot all day. The friends you make while travelling can land you in the strangest of places!
Quickly we had to come back to reality and leave the luxury of Hong Kong for Oz. We gave a fond farewell to our new friends (who offered to put us up for a few weeks next year for the ‘Sevens Tournaments’ which are apparently the best thing since sliced bread, and after experiencing the Hong Kong nightlife, I will be booking my flights back very soon), and set off for Melbourne. Stepping off the plane was a bracing experience. The last time I landed here, I was leaving winter and arriving in summer. Now, I was leaving 42ºC and landing in 9. I should not have been wearing shorts.
I will never under appreciate the joys of living in an English-speaking country again. The fact that we were able to go into a corner shop and ask for what we wanted without being confronted with a blank, dazed expression was heavenly.
It was all about catching up on lost time over the following days. We were back in hostels, back in dorms, and back to the real travelling life, and so there were no luxuries to distract from the job at hand. After hours of editing and uploading, we hit the streets of Melbourne, calling into STA Australia, who handed us free tickets to the 280 metre Eureka tower. Although higher, it was nothing compared to the thrill of the Macau Sky Tower!
If you ever find yourself in Melbourne, I urge you to go to Shanghai Dumplings, located on Tattersalls Lane, just off the main road. I was handed 15 dumplings of fried pork for a mere AU$5.60 (about £3.50), and they were fantastic, but beware that these will come out hotter than the sun. I am still recovering.
Off to Tasmania now, were I’m told it’s even colder than here…. god help me.
Matt M
A hike in Hong Kong
Sometimes things just happen for a reason. Take for example the other day. Matt and I had ventured out of our swanky hotel to wander round the streets of Hong Kong, getting a feel for the place and trying the local cuisine. Around lunchtime we directed ourselves towards a number of Cantonese eateries eager to sample the dim sum- a dish which consists of small portions of food served either in baskets or on plates. The place we eventually chose looked authentic enough; indeed we were the only Westerners in it and as such had some trouble conveying our order through to the waitress who seemed to completely ignore me for some unknown reason. After a complex, confusing and frankly rather bizarre ritual involving checking off several little boxes on a number of pieces of paper- a process which looked more suited to a bingo hall than to restaurant – the waitress wandered off leaving us very confused about what we’d ordered. As it turned out, she had completely ignored any of my requests for vegetarian food, and had instead directed all her unintelligible questions to Matt, who totally overwhelmed by the whole situation, had allowed her to order masses of food for him and none for me. Consequently, I decided to give that place a miss and after Matt had finished eating we went off in search of another place for me to grab some food. It was then, in the sandwich bar I chose that fate struck.
We were seated at a table, map out, considering our next move when a voice called out from behind a newspaper. The voice, as it turned out belonged to a smartly dressed English businessman sitting at the next table along. ‘Do you need some help?” he asked. And that was it. From there the conversation went on. As it happened, this guy was the former president of the Hong Kong ex-pats hiking society, and as such knew all the best routes to take and where to find the most stunning views of the city. We’d done Victoria Peak, we’d been to Stanley, we’d taken the ferry across to the other side. Now we were looking for something different. Something that would fulfil our innate desire to explore and to experience a real adventure. Also, hiking sounded fun. As soon as he told us about the walk to a place called Ng Tung Chai, which passed through ’some of the best waterfalls’ he had ‘ever seen’ we were hooked. He then mapped out a detailed route of where to go and how to get to the starting point via bus and MTR metro system. Included in his precise description of our intended trail was the following gem of advice. ‘Take the path marked NOT VIA WATERFALL, and unless it’s been raining, ignore the warning signs. They’re only there to stop you from getting close up’. What? But we want to go to the waterfall I thought. How odd! He assured us that he had taken the very same route a few weeks back with his 9 year old son, and that anybody who was reasonably fit could manage it. Delighted with our newly acquired knowledge and the promise of a real adventure we headed back to the hotel, happy to have found such a helpful and informative friend.
The next day we were meant to be on a tour of the Northern territories, but a mix up with the hotel pick up times meant that fate struck once again. Having missed that tour we now had time to head off in search of these great waterfalls in Ng Tung Chai. The first part went well. We metroed it to the supposed bus stop for the number 51 K bus- the bus which would take us to the Visitor Centre and the start of our hike. We searched everywhere but could we find this damn bus stop? Short answer: no. Long answer: (exasperated) noooooooooo.
Realising that we were running out of time we hailed a taxi and showed the driver the address of our intended destination. He nodded and we got in. Barely 5 metres down the road he begins to consult a map. ‘Umm… do you get the slight impression that this guy might not exactly know where he’s going?’ I asked Matt. He smiled in agreement. Two minutes later our suspicions were confirmed when the driver started to call a friend. The friend seems equally stumped. Great! So now we’re just kinda cruising around in a taxi stocking up a hefty cab fare and getting nowhere, I thought. Just then fate struck for the third time. We saw the bus! We saw the same bloomin’ number 51 bus we’d been searching in vain for at the bus terminal. ‘Follow that bus’ I shouted momentarily forgetting he understood no english. ‘Umm.. busi, follow busi..busi good!’ I attempted in the manner of the world’s worst charade. Miraculously, however he seemed to understand and we followed the bus until we saw a sign for the Tai Mo Shan Visitors centre. Huzzah, we had made it, but by now it was 4pm. After a quick chat with the guys at the centre, we bought a Country side series map- essential if you want to try one of these hikes and make it back alive- and headed out at a brisk pace. Brisk, because they’d told us it would take around 5 hours. Barely 500 metres up the road the stunning views began. We’d climbed pretty quickly and already we could look down on the sprawling business heartland of HK and marvel at the sublime juxtaposition of countryside jungle on one side and urban jungle on the other.
From there on upwards the views just got more and more spectacular and although at one point we were shrouded momentarily in thick fog for around 15 minutes, we were fortunate with the weather. It was not stiflingly hot and humid, but was instead sunny and bright for the most part, which meant we had some absolutely stunning views.
With note pad in hand we followed the clear instructions that Paul, the man from the sandwich shop, had written down for us and took the turn marked ‘not via waterfall’ down a dirt track into dense jungle. The path was often rocky and sometimes a little difficult to scramble up and down but nothing that the average person couldn’t handle. Both Matt and I buzzed with a sense of real adventure. Everything was so green and lush and fresh. It was just like you imagine Harrison Ford or Angelina Jolie doing in Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. There was also a certain buzz from ignoring the danger signs and rebelling a little. Clearly, it must be stated that we kept our common sense and would have turned back if at any point it got too dangerous. It also should be said that we only did this on the advice of an experienced hiker. And it was advice well worth taking. The waterfalls when we reached them were just stunning and the whole day was such a great adventure. We swam for a little in the pool of the biggest fall and took some amazing photos (which should be up on flickr soon!) before realising it was getting dark and we still had a fair bit to go. So we pushed on eventually reaching the small, sleepy, town of Ng Tung Chai just as the sun was setting. From there we hopped on the bus and metro back to our hotel, thoroughly knackered but completely satisfied with a day well spent. If you’re in the area and you have a spare day I thoroughly suggest trying a hike. Just remember to bring a map, enough water and plenty of repellant for those peskie mossies. Try it though, and you will be rewarded with some jaw-droppingly beautiful scenary.
Route: Take the MTR metro to TSUEN WAN- the end of the red line. Then take either the 55 or 51K bus, or taxi (around 35,000 HK Dollars) to the Tai Mo Shan Visitor Centre. Buy a countryside series map- you’ll need it. Follow the path up and where it splits into two, take the road marked ‘Not via waterfall’. Dodge past danger signs and go round others warning of landslides only if the weather is good and it doesn’t look like raining. Our route took us 5 hours and it was dark when we finished so it’s a good idea to start earlier than we did. Say around 12 or 1 and you should be fine. Good luck, and let us know if you do it. We’d love to see your photos too!
Life in the fast lane
As the plane begins its final approach to one of the ‘hardest places to land’ and you release your white knuckled hands from the arm rest for a few seconds to lift the window cover and look outside, you are greeted with something fascinating. There is a line that runs along just below the horizon over Hong Kong, on one side of this line there are high rise buildings, fluorescent signs that advertise numerous digital companies and a spaghetti of roads full of flashing lights and flashy cars. on the other side of this line is a huge expanse of green. The entire city is surrounded by fields, jungle and waterfalls. the difference between these two environments is huge, and fact that they are resting next door to each other is an amazing thing to see from the air.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The last few days in Vietnam were fantastic. Hanoi was much faster than any other town we have been to, but there was ten times the amount of scooters on the roads, making crossing them an adrenaline sport. Every street looks very much the same, which meant that when we got lost, it took a long time to make our way back to home. But along the way we found a local market, one that not many westerners seemed to have found as we were the only ones in sight. After a little battering (3 DVDs and the complete 24 box-set for around £12) we did make it home.
Over the two days that we were there we managed to get to the War Museum, where I found out that the country has been ripped apart more times than thought, what with the French sticking there head in there as well at some point over the past 100 years. Some of the jeeps and planes that were left over were fairly haunting, some of them having plaques drilled into them expelling how many people were killed with them. Chilling stuff.
In the evenings it was all about the celebration. We found a bar on top of a block of flats, cleverly named ‘Top Pub’ which turned out to be a little dodgy, as when police came round, the music was turned off and we were told to keep our voices down and to pretend that we were infect friends with the bar man who had just come over for a casual drink. The bar man had a LOT of friends. Once they left the music instantly started again when I am fairly certain they were still in earshot. After far too many cocktails (which you got for free if you stood on one leg for 4 minutes, which gets harder after your 5th) we all stumbled into a taxi that drove around a few times before going to the hotel, watch out for this, it happens a lot, especially to drunk tourists!
The were some swift goodbyes in the morning, with the rest of the group heading into Lous and us jumping on our plane to Hong Kong, it was amazing to go up Vietnam with them all, and was a shame that we had to say goodbye so soon as they all rumbled off to the party capital of South-East Asia.
Hong Kong is a city full of rich businessmen and high rise 5* hotels. It’s no more expensive than it is back in the UK, but after going through a country that asked you for no more that 70p for a beer in the nations capital, it was a bit of a shock when the bill for our first meal come through. It would have been alright though if the food and service had been anything like what I had experienced in Vietnam, but alas it was not. On a recommendation from a guide book, we went to a restaurant in the City Hall. The place must have been a school hall at some point in its life, which had been closed down and then filled with tables, chairs and chandeliers. Avoid it if you can!
Here, they have something that works very similarly to the Oyster card back at home. Although here it’s imaginatively called the Octopus card. The public transport system is pretty sound all the time, and not only does the Octopus card work for all modes of transport, you can also use it in the 7-Elevens all aver town (like co-op, only smaller and there’s one every other shop). Even though this is great, you can’t eat food on the trains, at all. Annoying when my stomach was crying out for some food and I’m sitting there holding a bad full of biscuits, bread and cream cheese (the ONLY cheese you can actually buy out here).
The night life here is fantastic, and not as expensive as you think it might be after spending a day watching the back account suffer. I have a friend out here who moved out with her parents a few years ago, and she is well versed in the night time scene. Katie took me to a bar, ‘Carnegies’ in the centre on town. Here, the booze is stacked on the shelves behind the bar like a library and the way the bar staff get them down is using a ladder very much like the ones you would see in a library to slide back and fourth and drop them down to the colleague waiting at the bottom. You dance on the bar all night, and on wednesdays and thursdays it’s ‘ladies night’ so all girls drink free. Have a female friend with you helps and most of the time there are so many people there and you are ordering through someones legs so the bar staff have no idea that every girl is taking two drinks and handing one straight over to a male friend behind them. Twas a cheep night for all!!
The Hong Kong island is only one part of the entire city, and to be honest not the most exciting one. Whilst it has all the bars and night life, as far as things to do during the day it falls a little short. there is a place called the peeks, where you can get a tram up to the highest point on the island for another amazing view of the different environments in the city, but thats about it. There is also the ‘Big Buddah’ that you can find on the next island, the same island with Disneyland Hong Kong and the airport on it (diverse I know), which is definitely worth the very long cable car ride to it, but pray for good weather. being so high up in the mountains the whole place is prone to disappearing into the clouds.
If you ever do manage to make it Hong Kong, something that is a must is truly experiencing the sudden change between built up city to dense jungle. Right now, I just got back from an epic 4 hour trek up a (almost) mountain, where on one side of me there was a concrete jungle and on the other an actual jungle. We dropped down the other side and started hunting around for something special. We found it. Three hidden waterfalls are cut off by signs saying that there have been landslides and it’s too difficult to get there, saying that we have to turn back now for our own safety. But after bumping into an expat in a sandwich shop who turned out to be an experienced hiker, we were told to go for it, to climb around the sign, and climb down the old land slide (it had been a few years ago, and as long as it hadn’t been raining was still [relatively] safe). We did, and thank god we did. We fell upon one of the most beautiful water falls I have ever seen. If you are anywhere near here at any point, even if you are only there for a few days, get your trainers on (flip flops are a no go!!) and get out there, it’s well worth it, and the best hang over cure in the world!
Tomorrow, through various contacts made over the various nights out and friends of friends, I will be getting on a yacht, heading over to an exclusive yacht club, and dinning with the other half. Its a tough life!
Till then
Matt M
Hello there Hong Kong
Pull back the enormous floor length curtains in my twenty-fifth floor hotel room in Hong Kong, and you are greeted with some sight. Below me lies a sprawling metropolis with high rise blocks of flats and skyscrapers on one side and the highly prized breathtaking vista of the racecourse and Hong Kong’s Happy Valley, home of the rich, on the other. In the distance the leafy green mountains are, for the time being, shrouded in thick fog. This is a sharp contrast to Vietnam. The intricate road network, although bustling and busy, seems to work. At least here they’ve decided on one side of the road to drive on- and stuck to it!
It’s also very westernised. On the high rise opposite from me there stands an gigantic poster of a serene looking Nicole Kidman, advertising Omega watches. All around me there are signs in English, double decker buses, fast food joints like McDonalds, Burger King and KFC, and all the designer clothes brands you could ask for. In Hong Kong they drive on the left, eat western (as well as Cantonese) cuisine, and pay in Dollars (admittedly HK Dollars). The prices are also closer to what we are accustomed to at home, although having flown in from dirt cheap Hanoi everything seems astronomically expensive by comparison. (My advice, don’t compare. Don’t convert back. It only makes you angry, as Matt found out yesterday when he paid triple the price for his food compared to the night before). Aside from the ridiculously tall- and I’m talking really silly proportions here- and at times bizarrely constructed, skyscrapers -this could be London. If you squinted hard enough and ignored the normally warm temperatures that is. Hell, even the weather’s putting up a good pretence; at the moment it’s overcast and drizzling slightly, and later it’s forecasted to bucket it down.
None of this should really surprise, however, considering that HK was only handed back to the Chinese by the British in 1997 and the place still maintains a lively expat community. Just yesterday we met up with 19-year-old Brit Katie, whose parents emigrated here a few years back. There are also a great deal of well to do, suited and booted young Brits working for companies like HSBC and JP Morgan so going out here can sometimes be mistaken for one of the trendier areas in central London.
So this isn’t really China as you imagine it, but there is still enough to make it different, and the blend of East meets West makes HK quite unique. And I have to say, at the moment, I kinda like it, although this might have something to do with the ultra swish 4* Cosmopolitan hotel we’ve been put into. Since the moment we walked in the door, we’ve been treated like royalty. We were first greeted by Guest services Manager Agnes Yau, and escorted up to our beautiful hotel rooms by Assistant Front Office Manager, the very smiley Ronald Cheung. When we opened the door I could not believe my eyes. For five days I have this absolutely amazing room all to myself. It comes complete with a wide flatscreen TV, computer, a luxurious double bed, complementary tea and coffee, a selection of fruit, an array of free toiletries, the free use of dressing gowns and slippers, stunning views, and a power shower which could cure any hangover. They’ve literally thought of everything you might need.
We’ve just come back from a guided tour of the hotel, and her sister hotel, Cosmo, by the Public Relations Manager, a charming young man called Stewart Chen. During his detailed account on the range of the hotel’s facilities he was keen to stress the importance of comfort and connectivity as his two buzz words. Comfort in everything from the silky soft 300 thread count bed linen right down to the bouncy carpets, and connectivity in the form of phone and high speed internet access.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, built on the site of the former Xin Hua New Agency, is first and foremost a very business orientated hotel, though it’s in the process of changing that image to a more feminine and family orientated image, or at least something which combines both business and leisure. Allegedly this had something to do with the new carpets. Apparently plush and soft carpets means more feminine and therefore more appealing for female guests and families. It’s an interesting idea, but just goes to show just into how much detail the hotel’s managers are going, to try to cater for all needs and widen the hotel’s appeal. The deluxe room I’m in is furnished in a modern, neutral tone, and is above all designed to be functional but none of this really puts me off as a woman, and I have to say, before it was mentioned to us, oh the odd half a dozen times or so, I hadn’t paid much attention to the carpets. Still, it’s nice to know, that as a woman, they are thinking of my needs too. Attention to detail was also emphasised in the staggeringly wide selection of pillows available. There are a whopping eleven different types in the range. Just deciding upon which one to choose would make me drowsy! Still, were I so inclined- and you know I just might try it now I have the chance- I can chose between pillows which offer extra head and neck support, those that are designed to be soft and light, non- allergic pillows, pillows to improve circulation and reduce stress and those that are scented. Hell, even the paper this information is written on is scented, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was providing some kind of health benefit to boot!
Included in this startling array of choices, are options about the type of complementary water you can have. There are four types. To me, as long as it’s cold and doesn’t carry typhoid, water is water and will refresh me whatever brand it may be. To the guests of this hotel, however, it’s something a whole lot more. Still, sparkling, mineral, non-mineral, distilled, non-distilled, it’s confusing just trying to read the labels. I’m seriously considering popping down to reception later to ask for some Kabbalah water with my tears of leprechaun, rose hip and just feed baby smell scented pillow, though something tells me that no matter how mad hat your requests may be, the hotel staff will always try to accommodate you.
Wifi is complementary in the lobby and restaurant areas but annoying not so in the rooms. Consequently, it’s invariably packed by reception, with those checking out, those checking in and those struggling to find a plug socket for their laptop. Incidentally the plugs here are the same as in Britain, so there’s no need to bring an adapter. Hurrah! Another British hangover for you. I’m full of them today!
Aside from your average deluxe room – I say average… at 280 square feet it’s anything but! – which would already set you back a whopping $763 per 7 night stay, you can enjoy the luxury of an executive suite, which, at 520 square feet, would cost you around $1,167. The suites have four themes, including the massage suite, complete with a variety of massage equipment (all relatively painful in our experience, though whatever floats your boat!) and the toy suite which comes complete with a number of games and puzzles aimed at small children, fluffy animals and a built in Wii and DVD player. Though both of these options of course might mean that you never actually end up leaving your hotel room, which of course defeats the object of actually travelling there in the first place.
The Cosmopolitan also offers free use of its gym for all guests and a complimentary shuttle service to 16 different points on the Island. ‘Location is everything in Hong Kong’, Mr Chen informs us as we walk round the hotel. I can see the shuttle bus coming in handy for us, but some of the other amenities seem a tad unnecessary. Then again, that’s exactly their point. They are unnecessary frivolities, capricious desires that don’t really need fulfilling, but if you have the money and do feel so inclined then I guess that these subtle nuances are what makes a good hotel experience a great one. And at the moment, with monetary considerations set aside for the while, I have to say, as hotel experiences go, aside from the dull ache in my neck from sampling the torturous neck massager, I’m loving my one.
Right, we’re off to check out what this city has to offer.
More from HK next time!
Suits, shirts and sleeper trains
A week further down the line and we have managed to stretch across the whole length of Vietnam, I am now sitting in my room over looking Ha Long Bay, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
A week ago I ended up in the Nah Trang Mud Baths after sitting by the pool for a good few hours nursing the burn that everyone had managed to acquire. It would seem that a bunch of white westerners was actually more of an attraction to the locals than the baths themselves, a fact I realised when an elderly Vietnamese man with black teeth came over and stroked my skin and laughed… its a strange country. The mud baths themselves were an experience, it turns out that they weren’t the thick kind of mud I thought they were going to be, more like an off green runny paste that you sat in for 15 minutes. Was still a good way to spend the afternoon, and good laugh had by everyone who came along, and at around £4 a pretty cheep way to spend it to.
After to heading the cash point and withdrawing 1,000,000 Vietnamese Dong (it’s pretty strange seeing that number coming across an ATM machine) we went on to board out second sleeper train. This time around, we were told that the train would not be waiting around for very long, that we would have to run to get on, and that if we weren’t on time it would leave without us. Yet getting a sweet on and fighting to get on that train was not worth the hassle.
The window was smashed, the mattress emitted an amazing amount of flies when you sat on it, and cockroaches had set up shop in most corners of the room. I felt unhealthy just sitting in there.
As if 8 hours wasn’t enough in that hell hole, the train broke down somewhere along the way for a further hour. I think in all I slept about an hour and half. Once again, there was a rush to get off the train before it started moving again. One upside to the whole thing was turning around to see one of the most incredible sunrises coming over the train. Every cloud.
Hói An is a small town that sits on a river that has been made famous for the amount of tailors that have set up shop here. For around £55 you can get a full suit with shirt and tie, all completely made to fit you how you want. How could I have said no?
It takes just over 24 hours to get the suits finished, but it’s totally worth it. I came out of the shop with the nicest suit I have ever owned, and for a quarter of the price I would have paid back home. Most of the girls I was with went about getting a fitted dresses as well, but this will take a little longer, mainly because they will look much more extravagant! I was offered the chance to get shoes made for me as well, but I thought I would draw the line somewhere!
On the first night in Hói An it was one of our groups birthday, and after a few hours of fittings, we all went to a bar restaurant called Before and After, which you can find nearer the river at the centre of ‘Old Town’ where a few of us carried on the night after the meal.
We were approached by an American who seemed to love that my name was Matt (I never found out why) who then shoved a leaflet into my hand explaining about a Beach Party and a free bus would take us to. Not one to pass up such an offer, I jumped on with Katie. Here you can get a bucket of some disgusting mixture of Red Bull, Orange Juice and Vodka in a massive bucket for 65,000 Dong (around £2.20), and after a couple of these you will be sufficiently inebriated.
A great way to cure a hang over in Hói An is to get on a coach at 8am and head to the My Son temples. Here they are using some of the US army jeeps left over from the war to cart you up the mountain to the ruins. One of the monuments in the complex was once considered the centre of the universe and there is a small statue of a penis that you can touch to give you a better libido. I hugged it.
We moved on the next day for a quick stop over in Hue (pronounced H-way), here there isn’t much in the way of tourism apart for a number of bars where you can find a handful of over travellers. But the one reason that you should go there is the opportunity to experience the crazy streets of Vietnam first hand. For 250,000 Dong (about £9) you can be taken on a tour on the back of a motorcycle around the rice fields and local villages around Hue, the views you get to see are incredible, and the adrenaline rush of riding at 30 miles per hour on the wrong side of the ride is, while ill-advised, a brilliant feeling!
The next day we set about on our epic 19 hour journey to Ha Long Bay. The journey went something like this: Sleeper train late by 1 hour, sitting in the pouring rain, sleeper train is better than the last one but teaming with roaches, watch movies, air con breaks, sweat through sleep, get off train, bus has flat tyre, ‘10 minute’ wait turns into an hour and half, drive to mechanics, wait another ‘10 minutes’ (45 minutes), back on bus, 3 hour journey to Ha Long Bay. I will never get annoyed at the London transport system again.
Ha Long Bay is easily the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. We got on a boat almost immediately and set off around the 1,968 islands around the bay on our own ‘Junk boat’. If you ever managed to do this, there are three things you should do: Visit the caves, go to the floating fishing villages and watch the sunset out at sea. All of these things are breathtaking. One thing you should avoid is the beach. There is apparently only one beach that you can go to during the trip (how true this is I don’t know and don’t want to know now that we are leaving!) it will cost you 10,000 Dong, it isn’t much, but it still isn’t worth it. It’s crowded, filthy and totally destroys the peaceful feeling you might have managed to acquire during the journey. There is a path behind the beach up to the top of the hill which will give you the most amazing view aver the islands, and that is what you should pay for, but avoid this beach at all costs!
We are about to set off for the wonderful capital city of Hanoi, and our last few nights in Vietnam, so I will write again once in Hong Kong!
Tell then.
Matt
Same, same but different!
As we had arrived ridiculously early – at a time so early that even the early bird contemplates having an extra five minutes lie in- our rooms at the hotel Vien Dong in Nha Trang were not yet ready for us, so we headed to the beach until noon. The sea was a refreshing cool temperature which was just as well as outside the water it was scorching. Fully aware of the ever present danger of travelling to far flung places as a self confessed quasi albino, I opted for the shade, protection and, if I’m honest, damn right laid-back funky style offered by one of those quintessentially tropical looking beach umbrellas and donned my ultra handy mauve aeroplane socks so as to not burn my feet. Lying back, I listened to the dulcet tones of Jack Johnson- essential music for a chilled out sesh on the beach and thought back to all the stress and strain of the previous year’s work. This, though completely unrelated, made all that hard work and effort worth it, as I tend to like to think of it as both a reward and a pick up from the last hellish year. Though naturally a little sad not to be able to share this with all my friends and family, I was thoroughly enjoying being able to lie on a beach and not be overly concerned about getting burnt. The others however, who had decided for whatever reason- either intent on getting a tan, or put off by the relatively cheap 30,000 DONG charge- not to get an umbrella all burnt horrendously badly, especially those with paler skin and those on doxycycline Anti-Malarials. So be warned, when heading to a beach in a super hot country, irregardless of what you may or may not be accustomed to doing in Europe, you should really think about some greater protection in far flung places. Everyone to a greater or lesser degree applied suncream but it didn’t stop them from turning a shade of red normally reserved for screaming babies and overweight men who attempt to do some jogging.
I was also in no danger of getting dehydrated as my newly acquired Vietnamese lady friend (no, not that kind!) was ever attentive to my needs (and her opportunity to make a tidy profit) and in between chats she scurried back and forth with ultra refreshing coconuts and water.
In the evening we went for a nice meal at… as recommended to us by our guide. The food was reasonably priced and the place had an amiable ambiance which made for a relaxing meal. The only thing which made me mildly uneasy was the gigantic leopard print eel which glared at me menacingly from his tank for the almost the entirety of the meal. It’s quite hard to enjoy yourself when you’re stuck in a face off between yourself and an enormous eel, but somehow I managed.
The next day we worked on finishing our first video blog, hampered ever so slightly by a weak wireless connection and intermittent power cuts. Once we’d sorted that out, we headed to the hot springs and mud baths which our guide Apple had told us about. A taxi shared between 4 came to about 75,000 DONG, working out at roughly … each, … in dollars. Entrance to the hot springs was free, but for the mineral mud baths there was the option of either a four person private mud bath totalling 700,000 DONG or access to the public ones working out at 100,000 per person. We opted for the public baths: a) because they were cheaper but more importantly b) because we weren’t segregating ourselves off from the locals. In the event we were guided to a bath for just the four of us- presumably they’d assumed that we would choose the private option, though later I joined in with some of the locals. I’d hopped out of our bath to take some photos with Matt’s new SLR when an ‘official’ photographer popped up and started snapping. I swivelled round and began to take some general photos of the place and my attempt at National Geographic-esque snaps of the locals enjoying the mud. It was at that moment when the Vietnamese photographer approached me gesturing to the camera and pointed at a group of women in a bath that I’d just photographed. Oh ok, don’t take pictures of them I thought- perhaps they don’t want to be in other people’s photos. Yet that wasn’t what he was trying to get at. What the women wanted was, in fact, a photo with yours truly. Umm… ok, I said, surprised at the request, though I suppose we are just as interesting and photo worthy to them as they are to us.
After my somewhat bizarre bonding session with the three women which, as far as I can gather, involved variations of the Vietnamese for ‘Man, how white is she?!’ and ‘what on earth is she wearing?!’ (apparently unbeknownst to us swimwear clad Brits, it was actually customary to dive in to the murky green liquid mud fully clothed, complete with jewellery and watches- not sure how they still worked!) we headed off to first shower and then hop into one of the luxurious hot springs where we were joined by some fellow travellers from Canada and the UK. Our next stop was a warm waterfall, which was exactly what are aching muscles needed. Finally we headed into the pools, both hot and cold to enjoy a leisurely swim before heading back to the hotel. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and one which I would recommend to anyone. The muddy water, although giving the appearance and smell of watery cement was in fact full of minerals which made your skin incredibly soft. Those with sunburn also mentioned that it appeared to soothe their discomfort somewhat. After wolfing down some delicious, and I’d have to say most authentically italian of all the pizzas professing to be so, (purchased from a charming lady from the restaurant Little Italy- she was so nice she even gave us some extra sauces for those who were taking their meals away with them- we headed back to the train station, safe in the knowledge that Apple had promised us that this train would be just as comfortable and well equipped as the last. Now I’m not trying to call anyone a liar here, but the Vietnamese (technically Apple’s thai but this rule applies to her as well) have a wonderful way of stretching the truth slightly to fit their purpose, and nowhere is it summed up better than in the oft heard phrase (so much so that it now appears on souvenir t-shirts) of ‘same, same, but different’! More of slight artistic license used by Apple to describe our second overnight sleeper next time.
Til then!
Becky
Monsoon season is still freakin hot
And so it all begins!!
Its been a few days now since we left the UK and already an amazing amount of stuff has happened. The first thing wasn’t as fun as I would have expected it to be however…
I got to the airport and began to prepare for the journey ahead only the realise that I had managed to leave the one thing that I never go anywhere without at home. My camera. Nightmare. After lots of swearing (I apologise to Becky’s parents for this as this was the first time that we met and I wasnt acting at my best) I calmed down, and figured that I was going to buy a new one anyway, and it would be cheapest abroad anyway, so not a total loss. Never the less, I was going to feel naked without it until i got the new one!
After the fury subsided, Alex (the big boss) gave us our ever fashionable STA T-shirts, which we had to immediately don to walk through the airport representing the company. Hmmm….
And so the time came to say goodbye to the family, my sister took a million photos as I headed through security and managed to hold back the tears as I wandered off. What a trooper! Got the security and for the first time in a long time managed to get all the way through without an alarm going off. Becky wasn’t so lucky. After they searched her bag (which revealed even more liquids in her bag after showing me the 500 bottles she had already removed before heading through) we were pulled aside and put through the new full body scans I had been reading about in the papers. Which was actually quite a lot of fun to be a part of! Not sure how we look like terrorists in our nice STA shirts.
The plane itself was amazingly empty and we ended up getting our own rows to ourselves. So a good nights sleep was in store.
After a long sleep (where I missed the dinner and the headphone I had from the airline were taken off my head by someone) we landed in Ho Chi Minh. At our transfer in Doha we had had 40 minutes to get to our next flight, and I never thought that our bags were going to be following us through. But against all odds, they appeared without problem!
Once in a taxi we got our first feel of the Vietnamese lifestyle. And it appears that the word is SCOOTERS, lots and lots of them!
All the way to the hotel we were surrounded by them, they outnumbered cars at least 10 to 1, and there seemed to be no rules to them whatsoever. Driving in Vietnam is suicide!
That night, I was thinking that we would have a nice quite one to recover from the jet lag and settle in, but it was not to be. After meeting our guide (cutely named Apple, who screams, loud, whenever she was drunk) and the rest of the group, we had dinner and then headed into town. The night was very much a blur after that and two hours sleep later, we were up for our first trip.
So still drunk and slowly moving into the realm of hang over we set off on the 1 and a half hour bus ride to the Cue Cho tunnels. I have to be honest, I did not think that crawling through tunnels the size of a coffin was going to be a very good hang over cure, especially when I was claustrophobic…
The bus ride was a good laugh and we got to know our group a little better, and pretty soon we were standing on the site of all those battles you see in the movies between the Viet Khong and the Americans. The sun was well and truly out and I was sweating as soon as I stepped off the bus, I could see what they meant when they said that the reason the americans did so badly was because they couldn’t handle this blistering heat!
We were shown one of the original entrances, which I couldn’t fit into, but Becky could, which I was pretty glad about as what lay underneath did not look like my idea of fun. Later on though, there was a much bigger entrance and I was told I would be able to fit into it. Not being one to back out of anything I gave the tunnels a try. I got about 30 metres and had to bail. Hats off to the Viet Khong, there is no way I would have been able to stay in those tunnels for any longer than 45 seconds!
On the journey back, I thought about maybe getting a little shut-eye, but then got distracted by the scenery that I had missed on the way there. It was beautiful. there were miles of green fields all around, framed by an array of mountains, and in the distance you could see massive rolls of mist floating around the bases of the looming shadows cast across the sky. It was breathtaking.
Once back, many of the group retired for a little shut-eye, but I had spent too long without my camera, so ventured out with a couple of others from the group in search of one! It took a couple of hours, but eventually I found success, and once again I can been that geek in the back you can hear constantly snapping away!
It was on this little trip that I found out was it was like trying to cross the road. Just like driving, it is suicide. No one stops for you, but if you walk slow enough, the hoards of scooters can drive around you. Cars on the other hand you really have to look out for. Nether the less, it is still terrifying to see 1000 scooters driving towards you at speeds that would kill you. You just have to believe that those driving them know what they are doing and that the years of experience they have on them is enough to save your life.
A quick shower later and we were packed and on the 9 and half sleeper train to Nha Trang. And I welcomed it with open arms. After the two hours sleep that I had had in 48 hours it was beautiful.
We were woken at 5.30 as the train pulled into the station and heading straight to the next digs. We dumped all our stuff into one room (as only one was ready) and headed straight to the beach, at 5.30, and yet most of the town seemed to be up already. it seems that everyone in Vietnam follows the rule of waking and sleeping with the sun.
We worked on the first video for most of the morning and spent the rest of the day chilling on the beach, where the water was beautifully cold, and so refreshing, seeing as sitting down for five minutes in the sun made you start to sweat. Everyone got burnt.
Painfully we all heading to dinner and most people couldn’t eat as they all had sun stroke… it was an early night for all involved. Unfortunately the hotel had had all the power cut off due to the building works next door so we couldn’t get into our rooms until later. And were we did the air con hadn’t been working all day. Nice sweaty nights sleep.
Later on today we’re heading to the hot springs around the corner and hopefully getting into a mud fight with the locals, at least that’s what we’ve been told!
Till Next time!!
Matt M