kiting, diving, trippin'

Photos: Kalahari, Northern Cape

bundynbeaches — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 06:25:00 GMT

A Sunday drive through a game reserve

Photos: Tasmania 2013

bundynbeaches — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:47:00 GMT

A quick trip in and around Hobart

The Apple Isle visited, finally!

bundynbeaches — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:36:00 GMT

Brisbane has been described as a big country town. That makes Hobart a village!

The first thing we noticed was how friendly the Tasmanians are, and that was before we even left Brisbane. The guy checking us in at Brisbane airport was a Tasmanian and insisted on making sure we had the names of a few places worthwhile visiting. He even wrote the place names down on the back of my boarding pass.

Once we got to Hobart we got the airport shuttle across town to the empty garage next to The Dive Shop that doubles as the Wicked Camper depot since the other building was ruined thanks to a young local arson. Having been given all the necessary instructions and do's and don'ts, we set off with the map given to us and got lost! Well not quite lost, but totally disorientated when trying to follow the bloody terrible map. Eventually we fuelled up, bought some groceries and ice and headed south.

Night one was spent on the beach at Blackmans Beach with breakfast next door at Trial Bay. All afternoon at Blackmans Beach we had people smile, stay hello and comment on the really good smelling dinner I was preparing. Well, we were preparing. Nobody was put out with a campervan and a couple of northerners camping on their beachfront. Next morning we were heading to Trial Bay around the heads from where we had stayed overnight and kids on their way to school waved and said good morning. Where we come from the kids on the their way to school are more likely to lob rocks at you!

We drove on down to the town of Kettering and put the Wicked van on the barge across to Bruny Island to the south east of Hobart. This place is relaxed, friendly and warm. The local news showed the focasatrcastecast temperature for Wednesday was one degree higher than the Brisbane forecast - and no rain! The day was spent looking around a few sights, walking the beach and trying to plan tomorrow. There is a penguin rookery to the north of where area ere staying but apperntly there aren't many around now according to the locals I spoke to. An old whaling station is around the point and roughly a two hour hike.

We drove down to the south of the island to Cape Bruny lighthouse and had a good look around there. After there it was over to a camp spot for took around. From there it was back to the Bruny Hotel for a beer and the best calamari I've had since eating seafood in Japan. The fish, crays and squid are literally caught out front of the hotel and dropped at the pub doors. The owners have only had the place for a little over a year but are doing a great job of building support a great business.

The next day we headed back in towards Hobart and out the other side to Port Arthur. The ferry going across to Bruny Isalnd was as full as it could get and the carpark was the same waiting for the next ferry to the island as well. Easter time!

Arriving later in the afternoon at the caravan park after a leasurely drive doing the tourist thing all the way. While we were getting flooded at home this area was alight and over 110 houses were burnt down in the bush fires. BlazeAid has been running since helping people and farmers get back on their feet.

Port Arthur caravan park has to be the best facilities of all the parks we stayed in. The whole show was clean, had a huge camp kitchen with big screen telly for the footy lovers and had really big, modern and clean toilets and showers. Next day was spent looking over the Port Arthur historical sight and learning a bit of history that was probably taught to us in school and forgotten not long after. The whole complex is impressive and well maintained but then tarnished because of one idiot with a rifle in 1996.

Hobart got the once over again on the second last day's afternoonn when we walked around the wharf area looking at the sights. We walked the bacstreets in behind Salamanca Square and found Arthur Circus, a roundabout of houses/cottages all just shy of their 200th birthdays. After a good feed of seafood on the docks we eventually found our campsite for the night up the river. Now that we knew where the Salamanca Markets were held we got ourselves set to offload the campervan once we'd done a lap, or seven, of the markets. Rowie got startled by a street performer painted blue who moves nothing but his eyes and stares intently at people, following them with his stare as they walk by. Eventually she came out from hiding behind me and stood beside him in for a photo. After finally finding the scallop pie stall, I was ready to go but there was little chance of that happening. We wound up doing a full lap of the whole three city blocks of stalls and saw everything from more performers to woodworked kitchenware and high quality woollen clothing.

On the way out to the airport we were part of the traffic jam that happens each time a ship goes under the Tasman Bridge since an oil tanker collided with it fifteen years ago, sinking the ship and tearing a big hole in the bridge which cars from the southern side couldn't see which saw some plunge in to the river. The bridge is now closed for river traffic over a set length or height.

Anyway, after a five day trip to Tassie that saw us no further than two hours away from Hobart we would definitely come back........

Photos: Busuanga Island, Palawan Province, Philippines

bundynbeaches — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:26:00 GMT

Great diving, friendly people and a relaxing 2 weeks

Photos: South and Eastern Taiwan

bundynbeaches — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:56:00 GMT

Taimali, Hualien and Taroko Gorge

Photos: Lotus Pond, Zuoying

bundynbeaches — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:38:00 GMT

A short stay, a long walk and some nice scenery

Photos: Tainan

bundynbeaches — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:14:00 GMT

Traveling through, checkin' it out.

Photos: Ali Shan, Central Taiwan

bundynbeaches — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:18:00 GMT

Busuanga Island, Palawan, Philippines

bundynbeaches — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:43:00 GMT

After spending time in Bulacan, an hour or so from Manila for Xmas, I was well and truly looking forward to getting down to Busuanga for some island time and some diving.

As it turned out the flights were booked out on some airlines and travel agents were full of good stories to try to sell us business class seats. One agent told us that credit cards don't work in the Philippines over the extended Xmas period so we'd have to pay her cash for some expensive seats. I booked our own for a third of the price and then a typhoon came along threatening to scuttle all our plans.

My only concern was we would miss out on the typhoon!

The signal 2 typhoon came through without a whimper and I was forced to make some whistling noises myself when the wind chimes gave a half hearted rattle.

After that it was back into town to track down the local guys I'd dived with last time I was here. They had moved, and it was a little confusing trying to work out where to for a while until I was told to get on behind a young divemaster riding a scooter.

Coron Divers have a new place right on the water and had only moved last month, so there was a little chaos, but nothing too bad.

I tried to do two days diving and then a day back with family.

The first 'family' day we went out snorkelling (good way to get sunburnt) and after a lunch saw me sitting on a toilet all that afternoon, but I managed to dive next day - albeit carefully!

The second family day we hired scooters and took off up the National Highway on the western side of the island to have a look around. I was riding an automatic scooter that had a pretty ordinary back brake. by the time we'd travelled a half hour up the road we were first responders for a Filipina/American girl who'd managed to do a pretty good job on her wrist when falling off at one of the terrible bridges along the road.

After that we headed further up the coast just looking around and enjoying a day of it.

We decided to go have a look at a resort called Ocam Ocam on the far north west corner of the island, and this is where we came unstuck.

By now the back brake on this scooter was past ordinary, and when I came over the top of a ridge a bit faster than necessary the back brake wasnt having the desired efffect. I managed to slow it down a fair bit but had a pillion passenger squeezing hard, trying not to squeal and contemplating the ejection seat. When I had it sliding slow enough over the loose rocks on this hill, I grabbed the front brake - with the expected results.

The bike went down, and so did I - with a severely unimpressed wife on my back!

Long story short - No diving the next day, as I couldn't walk after a rock collected me under one knee.

Bugger the family days, I'm starting to think!

I got in another couple of days diving some really interesting and challenging wrecks of the Imperial Japanese Army that were sunk in a surprise raid in 1944. to dive a cargo ship, then swim through a school of fish to find a small bulldozer and cement mixer, the crawl through a hole into the next hold to find cargo/ camouflage nets was good. then to swim down from the boilers along the drive shaft in a space only just big enough for a normal sized person was even better.

And that was only the Kogyo Maru.

There are a dozen or more divable wrecks in reasonably shallow water so the tops are covered in coral, meaning fish, rays, etc., plus the extras inside the wrecks.

Another is the deepest I dived this time at just over 41m then straight back up through the drive shaft (propellor has been salvaged) back through the bowels of the ship for 15m or so in an area too small to change your mind a do a u-turn in.

One oiler has big open holds that make for some interesting travelling along passageways, another has an easily accessible bathroom, and another had a stonefish sitting on one of it's masts to greet divers on the their way in or out.

Because of the no fly for 24hrs after diving, we hired bikes again for a look around after talking to a few people very keen to sell us some 'really good lots'.

We did find one that we are very interested in, and hopefully the solicitor can be tracked down sometime this month to get the ball rolling for our piece of paradise.

Definitely more to come..................

Sometimes it doesn't all go as you'd like, Part 2.

bundynbeaches — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:39:00 GMT

Because the high speed rail system is relatively new it would've been almost impossible to integrate it in with the railway stations in all the towns and cities on the way down the coast because of existing roads, buildings and infrastructure. This means that a few of the high speed rail stops we used (Tainan and Chiayi) are a fair distance from the connecting train and bus networks for the local area. So, once we got to Chiayi we had an hour and a half to get to the train/bus station to catch the last shuttle service for the day up to Alishan.

Easy? Yeah right!

When you step out of a high speed train station and know you have a free connecting bus ride to the train station, you say to the Taiwanese (no speaking the English) bus driver "bus station" and he says yes, it can still all go wrong.

And it did! We ended up going the full length of his bus route, hoping it was just the long way around, until we got ejected at a sports stadium without a clue where we were.

From there we walked, luckily in the right direction, until we asked a local girl where the bus station was. Once we got to the bus station we realised this wasn't the station we were after and and asked about the Alishan shuttle.

After the obligatory photos (it was me and the girl in the bus station info this time) we were on our way again.

This is where we found out how far off the mark we were. The bus ride to the bus station we should have been at took an hour.

It is only 2PM, so we have plenty of time to make alternative plans, and I am getting a kick out of the fact that we got it so wrong that I keep laughing, but this just making someone else's mood darker by the minute.

Long story short, there is a late service that leaves Chiayi every afternoon, probably for clowns like us, and we made it with seconds to spare.

That night we were back on Alishan again repacking because we've just been loaded up with Xmas presents to take home to the Philippines with us.

Philippines means warm weather, Busuanga and diving.....bring it on!

Taroko Gorge, Hualien & street drug deals

bundynbeaches — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:36:00 GMT

Taroko Gorge is world famous for the marble walled canyon/gorge that you can almost reach across in places. It is really nice, steep, clean, interesting........and busy!

We were here in December, which is the off season for tourists (apparently) and were amazed by the tour buses just constantly feeding people in and out of each stop on the road up to the head of the gorge at Tianxiang.

The trusty guide book didn't recommend taking the local shuttle because it "would be hard to pick it out amongst all the other buses on the road". I'm glad we didn't take that advice, asked at the Sleeping Boot, and took the shuttle. $NT250 gets a day pass so were able to get on and off as many times as we liked in the one day. The pictures tell it all, but it was just a pity that the typhoon damage from a few years ago saw a lot of infrastructure in the gorge still being repaired and/or replaced, so there are still some areas off limits and unsafe to see yet.

Hualien is the main city on the eastern side of Taiwan and is completely different to the cities on the western side (which aren't that far away as the crow flies). There is a completely laid back atmosphere which probably has a bit to do with the high percentage of native people on this side of the island. There is a lot more fruit, plenty of live music and just generally a nice chilled and friendly place.

Which all might have something to do with the drug deals done in the street at all hours of the day and night.

There are plenty of stalls and shops set up that sell beetle nut, which is a mild hallucinogenic drug when chewed. South East Asian countries all have it, but it did surprise me to see it in Taiwan.

Finding a shop/dealer isn't hard either. Keep your eyes on the ground and when you notice the red stains in the street from the spat out saliva produced when chewing the nut, you're getting close. Then, just stop and listen. When you hear a car stop, sometimes very suddenly for some reason, and hit the horn two or three times keep an eye out for someone running from their shop to supply the driver and occupants with their fix.

For some reason this amused me no end while we were sitting in the laundromat next door to one of these "drug dens."

Hualien was nice, the Sleeping Boot wasn't bad but they need to shut the bloody dogs up if their guests are to get a decent sleep (traffic is one thing, but a yapping dog at 3AM is another) and it was now time to get back around to Alishan to see Rowie's sister again before we left for the Philippines.

Taiwan has very little in the way of domestic flights, mainly because their rail system is so good!

Taipei in the north to Zouying (almost in the south) is only an hour and a half high speed rail trip, and there are two or three and hour. A 'slower' express train will take an extra half an hour, or you can do the all main stops train which adds an hour or so to the trip. Once at the main station there are the local trains that do all stops, so our trip from Hualien to Chiayi, via Taipei only took a couple of hours in a roomy air-conditioned train for $NT1080 each (roughly $A35.00).

But when rushing, sometimes things go wrong!

Sometimes it doesn't all go as you'd like.

bundynbeaches — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:18:00 GMT

In the Lonely Planet Taiwan guidebook there is a little town south of Taideng that's doesn't get much of a review other than it was apparently named as one of the best places to view the sunrise of the new millennium.

But it has a beach!

After the chill of Alishan and the hustle of Tainan and Zuoying a warm, quiet beach sounded like a good idea, so we got ourselves tickets to ride the train across the bottom half of Taiwan as far as Taimali.

Taimali is a small town that grows a lot of crops - custard apples mainly - and has a beach that is all but deserted. The walk down from the railway station - do you see the hitch here? Walk down means a return walk UP the hill - wasn't all that far, but didn't get any better the closer we got to the town. With packs on and carrying a bag we marched up the main street, found a 7-Eleven to get some cash, and decided on a feed. Rowie picked out a street vendor selling fried chicken.

This lady put KFC to shame! It was good, and it was ridiculously cheap. The short time we were there the bain marie emptied out and another load was almost sold out as well. Seems the locals liked it as we'll.

Anyway, with not much to hold us there we walked back UP the hill to the train station to find a mob of primary school kids doing an activity in the car park. They were drawing a picture of the front of the railway station when we got there, then they went on to a few games before their teachers put on a concert for them and their families. By concert I mean they set up a drum kit, plugged in guitars and mikes and went for it, back up dancing, and crowd (and parent) participation. It was a bit like a Taiwanese Wiggles concert.

Another young guy befriended us for a while in the station foyer asking all sorts of questions of the two strange travellers in his town before the train turned up and we were on our way to Taideng.

It didn't get any better here either!

We marched past the incessant taxi drivers at the station - first mistake - to go find a place to stay and then hopefully something to eat. After a while we got sick of walking and whistled down a taxi to take us to a hotel close by, somewhere. We ended up at some high class Chinese place, but I was past caring, I just wanted to get this pack off and a bed for the night. By this time it was already well after dark. After checking in we went downtown by taxi - second mistake, too far away from town - to find something to eat and have a look around. We found yet another night market and I tucked in to some BBQ squid and bacon and spring onion on sticks, washed down with a Taiwan Beer.

Taideng didn't do much for us so we decided it was time to head up the east coast a bit further to Hualien, and Taroko Gorge.

Another session at the train ticket window and another short hop up the coast by rail and we stepped in to the Sleeping Boot hostel in Hualien with out a hitch. Easy when you book ahead and make plans!

Tainan Filipinos

bundynbeaches — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:11:00 GMT

She did it again! Every time we hit a snag, wonder whether we should zig or zag, and look around, there is another Filipina (or Filipino - male) to ask if we should be on this platform for the local train, how many stops to XinShi, or whatever. Then, for the next five minutes Rowie is in a deep conversation in Tagalog and the Taiwanese are wondering what the hell is going on.

There are no shortage of Filipinas and Indonesians in Taiwan. A lot work as care givers to elderly, some are in manufacturing, some are domestic help.

Anyway, Rowie got to catch up with a friend she'd been at nursing college with who is married to a local guy, which turned into meeting her friends, which turned in to eating out at an 'all you can eat for the cover charge' Shabu Shabu (Japanese Hot Pot) restaurant not unlike a Sizzlers at home. This place had it all, from every kind of meat for the pot, along with seafoods and vegies. Then there was the deserts, which included a chocolate fountain (stop drooling Cath), every colour ice cream and fruit and cakes. We sat there for hours, had a great time of it, then went and walked it all off at the local night market.

Rowie and I also had a look around the city, checked out some temples (plenty to chose from), looked in a wood carving shop (declined the offer of a drink of tea) and entertained some more locals with our bloody terrible Mandarin.

Everyone keeps looking at Rowie, thinks she must be Taiwanese, and starts talking to her while pointing at me. It's then up to me to say "ta ting bu dong" (she doesn't understand) which just makes them think I can! Anyway, we'd get something to eat, ask how much we owe and pay for it. None of it costs a lot either. A good meal with a drink or two thrown in will be covered by NT100 most times (A$3.00 +)

Another new friend had a birthday and we were told we had to put off our departure until after the BBQ at a water reserve decked out with BBQ's and walking tracks. As with most Filipino gatherings, there was way too much food, plenty of laughs and a good time was had by all.

Next day we caught a local train back to Tainan Main Station, bought a ticket on the southbound train to XinZuoYing. Another bus ride to the side of Lotus Pond and we were sitting in a local cafe eating another meal. While I went next door to get a coffee, Rowie asked the cook if he knew of a good hotel for us for the night. By the time I came back the computer was turned, Google Maps running and the guy has called ahead and made a booking for us. For A$50.00 we got a double bed with spa and breakfast - loving it! We went for a good long walk around the 'pond', saw some wake boarding on a cable set up, checked out the local fisherman's catch a few times and had a drink and peanuts on the side of the lake as the sun went down and the lights came on.

Quite peaceful!

From there it was back to the train station for more tickets to ride.

I got us tickets to a place in the travel guide book that had a beach.

That's where it all fell apart .........

ChiaYi - ALiShan - Hsinchu

bundynbeaches — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:04:00 GMT

To get to the famous tourist spot of ALiShan you need to go through ChiaYi, which is pretty easy as the HSR train got us there from Taipei in just over an hour. There isn't a lot to do or see there - except a sister (Linda) that Rowie hadn't seen in over ten or twelve years! Once the shrieking and hugging had died down we went and ate - of course! - then had a look through a ceramic display/museum. This is a display of the early stages and different styles of ceramic/pottery characters seen on the roofs and in the entrances to a lot of the temples around the country.

That done we got in a car and drove the hour or so up to Linda's place which is just short of the ALiShan tourist park. Because the road climbs almost a couple of thousand metres in that time it winds around mountains and back on itself a fair bit, with very few straight stretches, and very few 'sensible' drivers.

On the day we left 16 people died when a bus went over the edge and the roof was torn off. That was the second accident for the day, which followed a minibus doing the same trick with three fatalities. They seem to have a different idea of available room when overtaking on winding roads!

We met up with Linda's 93 year old father in law who shuffles around the place keeping himself occupied. Because their house is halfway down a mountain going to the market means a serious stroll up a serious hill to buy your meat and vegies from the travelling vendors who show up every morning on their way through to ALiShan. He walked up there one day with us and collected some more bamboo on the way back down to make chopsticks or clothes airers out of. Most of his time is spent with a bush knife whittling out a chopstick, making stakes for wasabi plants, or just making a fire which everyone else comes and joins him at. He spoke no English of course, but would say a few words of Taiwanese to me and then have a chuckle. If I managed to pick up on what he said and reply correctly, the chuckle would turn into a full on belly laugh.

Linda's boss offered to chauffeur us on a drive around the ALiShan area the day after we went for a short run up to the tourist area, didn't see a lot except a million Chinese tourists, and caught the next local bus home again.

This guy owns a wasabi plantation as well as a tea plantation, neither of them small operations, and is either related to, drinks with or knows, nearly everyone in the area. I wouldn't have a clue where we went because he wasn't long on the main road and we took a turn up, or down, a sidetrack and wound around the hills and mountains. He took us to see a town devastated by a landslide during a typhoon three years ago that wiped out most of the buidings and is still being rebuilt. They are building bridges and widening out roads again, where they can, still cleaning up from a typhoon three years prior. In some areas they don't cut into the mountain any more for access, they simply wall up the side of the hill, build a roof over the road and let the mountain come down over the top of it each time another slip occurs. Some of these are already completely closed in and have become tunnels.

Travelling with a couple of locals was especially good as we got to see a local school celebration, drink local beer and eat locally made (insert meat here ?) sausages. We got some history on the place and met some really interesting people, but none as interesting as his brother who is a coffee farmer.

We'd (apparently) agreed to stop off for lunch at his place on the way around his neck of the woods. When we got there we were treated to a traditional Chinese-Taiwanese meal, complete with baijou. The Taiwanese variety is a lot easier to stomach though. I doubt you'd run your car on theirs! After lunch we were asked if we'd like a cup of coffee - remember this guy grows it, so he's trying to show off his wares here.

His coffee grinder and then coffee 'machine' was something I hadn't seen before. It involved heating water in a round sealed glass bowl until it rose in to the open glass bowl above it to be blended with the ground beans before taking the flame away from under the bottom glass bowl, which then cools and allows the coffee to run down a chain in to the now cooling bowl below. It all looked like a crazy science experiment!

It was good coffee too!

The next day he loaded everyone up again to go and see some monkeys in the YuShan National Park around the mountain from ALiShan. This place is a bit higher again and regularly gets snowed in. Because of the rainy weather the monkeys were all inside drinking that good coffee trying to stay dry so we didn't see any.

Now we've decided to go and see a niece that hasn't been on the radar for a while. But it gets better, she's not long had a baby! Linda, Rowie and I all climb in a local shuttle bus and head down the mountain back to Chiayi, then train it back north to Hsinchu for the night to say hello. More catching up and heaps of photos later, we're back on another train south again to drop Linda off and keep going on to Tainan.

So it was off to Tainan to see another one of Rowie's friends that hasn't been eyeballed in quite a few years .........

Taipei touring

bundynbeaches — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:47:00 GMT

Seeing as the recent history of Taiwan involves both the Japanese and Chinese the place is an interesting mix of both. Mandarin is the spoken language but there are the subtle Japanese gardens, lane ways between houses and heaps of Sushi and Shabu Shabu restaurants.

And it is busy! Catching a train or a bus isn't a matter of sitting and waiting long, even for the high speed rail trip south to Chiayi which only involved a wait long enough to have a cup of coffee. There are three or four trains an hour from Taipei south.

Our first adventure was finding our booked accommodation for the three nights in Taipei. The trip from the airport on the shuttle bus dropped us at the main train station which makes a rabbit warren seem organised. The signs are in English as well as Chinese characters, but that didn't seem to help much. Eventually we found the right train line, there are a few, and rode to the stop in the directions. From there it was a walk down some busy streets to the address, though it was a bit of a backtracked walk in the end. The address was there displayed on a plaque on the wall besides a big doorway that had building materials piled up in front of it and a door that hadn't swung open since it was put there. As has happened a few times now, a Filipino walks up and starts a conversation with Rowie, and we now have the instructions to go around the back of the building to the door which is wedged in between a few restaurants.

How easy is that? There are Filipinos everywhere.

As we were staying in a "hotel" close to the famous Shilin night markets, we spent a bit of time exploring there. We even found a steakhouse! If I had've pointed to the right dish on the Chinese menu, I might've found out how good it was too.

We also went into Taipei, I love cities - NOT, and walked around 2-28 Peace Park, had a look though the museum commemorating the 'incident' on February 2, 1947. It was all in Chinese so a westerner wouldn't get too much out of the text, but just like Hiroshima, the pictures and displays do the job.

By this time our luck has run out and the threatened rain has started. We went on a trip to the end of the train line out near the river mouth to see what was there, and found plenty. First spot was an umbrella for me after getting poked in the face by Rowie's - again! Ten steps outside the shop a gust of wind turned mine inside out, much to Rowie's amusement, so I spent the next ten minutes trying to straighten the frame out.

In summer, or even when the weather is clear, the area is set up for tourists with all sorts of food stalls, shooting galleries, trinket shops, etc. to cater for the horde of Chinese tourists travelling around in the CITS tourist buses from the mainland.

After a while I've had more than enough of the city and Rowie is keen to see her sister, so off we go south on the High Speed Rail down the western side of Taiwan.

Photos: Taipei

bundynbeaches — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:28:00 GMT

Touring around Taiwan's capitol by subway and on foot

Photos: Stopover in Hong Kong

bundynbeaches — Tue, 4 Dec 2012 12:39:00 GMT

Life in and around Nathan Road

Stopover in Hong Kong

bundynbeaches — Sun, 2 Dec 2012 20:59:00 GMT

The best flights for our trip to Taiwan had us stopover in Hong Kong on the way to Taipei so I used that as an excuse to call in and catch up with a friend and have a look around a place I haven't had much to do with.

Rowie, of course, had her eye on the shopping and eating side of the stopover - and was not disappointed. I wasn't all that keen to even get out of bed and was just looking to have a break, do nothing and enjoy it.

We went in amongst a night market close to our hotel when we got in the first night to find the usual market trinkets. One I hadn't seen before was the Chinglish signs. Entertaining! In amongst all that was the t-shirts, jade, iPhone cases, etc. We sat and had a meal in one place, walked around a bit more and found a BBQ restaurant and had another meal. Complete with a few beers, soft drinks and a dozen squid, mushroom and beef on skewers, we were only down a hundred Hong Kong dollars (AUD15)

Sunday was a MRT (train) trip - not allowed to catch ferries anymore, P&O have a lot to answer for! - to Hong Kong Island for a look around. Seeing as we're only here for a day really I didn't do any research to make plans on any must see places, and it showed. We found Times Square - a shopping centre - a heap of people (shopping), busy streets (full of people shopping) and not much else. This is why I don't do major cities!

We got back on the MRT after the obligatory photos and came back to Kowloon for a bit more of a walk around the area close to our hotel. We found Kowloon Park and their aviary (half the birds are Australian), water bird park, and two and a half thousand filipinas all sitting on a towel or blanket having their lunch. There are plenty of them working in Hong Kong and they all get together for lunch in the park. So much so that the signs warning of a fine for littering - were in Tagalog!

After catching up with a good friend, doing a bit more shopping in the markets (Rowie managed to talk a stall holder out of seven t-shirts for HK$100) eating out and drinking too much we wotheir on Monday with only a few hours before our flight was due to leave.

Hong Kong is impressively efficient, and we were lucky they are.

The free Airport Express shuttle bus, which runs every twelve minutes, picked us up at the hotel door and dropped us off at Kowloon MRT where we able to check in our bags for the flight to Taipei. Checking in for a flight at a train station was new to me. Then we got the Airport Express train for the twenty minute ride to the airport. The train pulls up at the terminal and doors on both sides open up. Terminal 1 to your left and Terminal 2 to your right. None of those shuttle bus rides or long walks when you get to the wrong terminal here.

We woke up to rushing to get to the airport, and ended up walking around the airport taking happy snaps with plenty of time to spare.

Overall, the weather wasn't all that good, there were too many people around to make sightseeing even close to enjoyable (we were here on a Sunday - apparently always busy) and we weren't here long enough.

Next time! Maybe make a few more plans, come in during the week, but definitely come back for another look.

Off to Taiwan now!

A quick trip to another part of the Great Wall

bundynbeaches — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:39:00 GMT

We'd come back down to 2000m at Jiayuguan from 4000m at Jingtieshan iron ore mine and had time to kill this morning, so I went for a look around..............

I walked out of the hotel for a while in the general direction of the Jiayuguan Fort (or Pass, but guan is mandarin for pass, so it get's confusing) I finally climbed into a taxi and told the driver in mandarin that I wanted to go to Jiayugaun Great Wall, which confused her until I pulled out my camera and made clicking motions. She grinned and told me the Chinese name and off we went.

RMB100 later and I'm one of the first tourists in the gate for the morning. Though 'tourists' in China are 99.99% Chinese coming to see their own country and sights.

I walked around the place taking photos, got befriended by a group of young army guys who loved the fact that I replied ni hao to their greeting of hello. That lasted ten minutes until their boss came around the corner and they took off like rabbits. There must've been something else they were supposed to be doing.

The western end of the wall was built in the 1300's and has snow capped mountais to one side and another moutain range on the other side. It was the end of the line for the people who were banished apparently. Out there is the Gobi Desert and not much else. The majority of it's walls are rammed earth and still stand today, though with some restoration work along the way.

The surprise for the day for me was the ultralight flying over and around the fort. I didn't expect to see one in this country and would've loved to know where the ticket office was for that thing. I suspect it would be hard to get a foreignor up in on of those though.

Photos: Jiayuguan Gate, Gansu Province

bundynbeaches — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:29:00 GMT