I was sitting out in this little park/plaza on my tablet with my backpack and bags piled around me in the middle of the night. It's sort of in the middle of the bar area, and it was a Friday night (or very early Saturday morning) so there were lots of really drunk people stumbling around shouting a lot. A few came over to talk with me, but it's New Zealand, so nobody really gave me much of a hassle. Finally around 3am I walked to the corner and caught my shuttle bus to the airport. There were only 2 other people on board, and the ride was a lot faster than it had been when I flew into Auckland due to there being nobody getting on or off and no traffic. I checked in and lounged around the airport and read some more. My flight path was a bit strange. It was cheaper to go to LA through Melbourne than direct, even though going through Melbourne meant flying for hours in the wrong direction first. I'm more concerned with money than time, and spending long hours sitting in a vehicle is routine by now.
The issue in Melbourne was that I was transferring between two airlines (JetStar and Qantas), and they weren't going to transfer my backpack to the second flight automatically. This meant that I had to get my bag, queue up to go through border control, go through another queue at customs (which is very thorough in Australia), go to the Qantas desk to get my boarding pass and check my bag for the new flight, then go through more queues back through security and border control again. There was only about 1:15 between when the first flight landed and I was supposed to board the second flight, and with all the long lines that time disappeared quickly and I was feeling a little nervous (and rather tired since I still hadn't slept). Ultimately I did get there in just under the time I needed, but it turned out to be moot since there was some sort of equipment trouble and boarding was delayed 40 minutes anyway. Finally we got on the plane and it was time to head back the way I'd just come, flying east over the Pacific.
The person sitting next to me on the flight was a blind Australian who was eventually heading to Venezuela to visit hospitals and orphanages as a clown with Patch Adams. That, combined with me having been travelling the world for a year made for lots to talk about. I also watched a few movies, and got a couple hours of much needed sleep. American border control is known for being pretty thorough, so the lines were slow. When it was finally my turn, I got grilled. My passport is by now rather colourful, which seemed to make him suspcious (in Australia, people going to backpack around the world is almost part of growing up, in America, not so much). This led to him asking for additional identification, which hasn't happened anywhere else in the world. I gave him additional identification, but of course since it's me the names didn't match exactly since all my IDs are slightly different. This led to more questioning about all my aliases (no, I've never gone by the name Rico Martinez Miller) before eventually letting me continue on. I finally got into the main terminal about 7:30am on March 7, the same time and date as I'd left Auckland like 20+ hours ago (gotta love the date-line time travel flights). I took my time getting a shuttle to Union Station, and since I was still really early decided to walk to Mariachi Plaza instead of taking the subway. My hostel was across the Los Angeles River, and in a rather poor and run down Mexican/Latino area. The hostel itself was a small independent one, but the staff was friendly and it was right next to the subway. I was pretty exhausted still from all the travel and not getting much sleep on the plane, so I napped a little and just spent the day in the local area, talking with other guests in the hostel and finding some nice little restaurants in the local area. After months of craving Mexican food, bein in the Mexican part of LA certainly gave me a lot of options. I managed to put off going to bed until late, partially since it was Saturday night and there were a lot of people coming and going. Finally I got some well deserved sleep.
Showing posts with label Airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airport. Show all posts
Friday, March 22, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Day 290: Cutting It Close
The previous day I had returned to the bus station as part of my city explorations to see about booking a bus ticket to Singapore for my flight out of Asia. At the office they told me that there were lots of free seats, and that if I just showed up the next day I could just get on one of the buses that left every hour. When I actually got to the bus station to do that though, I found out that the next two buses had been cancelled because nobody/not enough people had booked it. This meant that I had to take the 1pm bus for what was supposed to be about a 5 hour ride (including going through customs) to Singapore, and my flight left at 8:20pm. I wasn't sure how long it would take for me to get from the bus stop to the airport, or exactly how long before the flight the check-in counter closed, but I knew it would be tight.
I'm pretty good at planning out contigencies and figuring out how to streamline the events in my control as much as I can, and then not stressing out about the things outside of my control. I used the extra time I had at the bus station waiting for the later bus to eat and to convert the last of my leftover Malaysian currency into Singapore dollars so I'd have money for a metro ticket to the station, and once on the bus couldn't do much but sit and wait. It took just over 4 hours to get to the border, and with the two border stops and driving through to the city it took almost exactly the expected 5 hours. The stop was pretty close to the metro line, and I was lucky in that it was on the same line as the airport, and on the same side of the city. In the end I got to the airport with almost an hour and a half before my flight, which is plenty of time. In the end, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have worried as much as I did, because I find a lot of other people tend to plan things according to the best case scenario, which is basically what happened. I just know that there can be a lot of delays in a long bus trip crossing between countries, and only feel comfortable with a large buffer. In the end though, everything worked out this time.
My flight took me from Singapore to Jakarta where I was supposed to have a 1.5 hour layover. That turned into a 4.5 hour layover as there was an equipment problem with the plane and takeoff kept getting pushed back. Eventually they got things fingured out and we took off for the overnight flight to Melbourne.
I'm pretty good at planning out contigencies and figuring out how to streamline the events in my control as much as I can, and then not stressing out about the things outside of my control. I used the extra time I had at the bus station waiting for the later bus to eat and to convert the last of my leftover Malaysian currency into Singapore dollars so I'd have money for a metro ticket to the station, and once on the bus couldn't do much but sit and wait. It took just over 4 hours to get to the border, and with the two border stops and driving through to the city it took almost exactly the expected 5 hours. The stop was pretty close to the metro line, and I was lucky in that it was on the same line as the airport, and on the same side of the city. In the end I got to the airport with almost an hour and a half before my flight, which is plenty of time. In the end, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have worried as much as I did, because I find a lot of other people tend to plan things according to the best case scenario, which is basically what happened. I just know that there can be a lot of delays in a long bus trip crossing between countries, and only feel comfortable with a large buffer. In the end though, everything worked out this time.
My flight took me from Singapore to Jakarta where I was supposed to have a 1.5 hour layover. That turned into a 4.5 hour layover as there was an equipment problem with the plane and takeoff kept getting pushed back. Eventually they got things fingured out and we took off for the overnight flight to Melbourne.
Day 288: Travelling and Waiting
I got up early in the morning to take the first ferry off the island. Since we were on the far edge of town, I was the first on board and got to enjoy a nice ride seeing all the buildings along the island as we picked more people up.
Once on the mainland I had to squeeze into a van with 7 other people, none of whom spoke english fluently and 3 of whom were really argumentative about everything for the ride back to Medan. Luckily the ride that took about 7 hours getting in only took about 4 getting back, but this meant that I got to the airport about 8 hours before my flight. The Medan airport isn't exactly full of amenities, so it was a long wait. I mostly just worked through more of the book I'm reading.
The Kuala Lumpur LCCT airport is south of the city, in the direction I was going anyway. Once I got to the airport it was around 1am, and the bus I wanted to take south to Melacca didn't leave until 9am, so it was time for some more waiting. There were more things open here at least, and room to wander around a bit and to try to sleep, but it was a long day and night.
Once on the mainland I had to squeeze into a van with 7 other people, none of whom spoke english fluently and 3 of whom were really argumentative about everything for the ride back to Medan. Luckily the ride that took about 7 hours getting in only took about 4 getting back, but this meant that I got to the airport about 8 hours before my flight. The Medan airport isn't exactly full of amenities, so it was a long wait. I mostly just worked through more of the book I'm reading.
The Kuala Lumpur LCCT airport is south of the city, in the direction I was going anyway. Once I got to the airport it was around 1am, and the bus I wanted to take south to Melacca didn't leave until 9am, so it was time for some more waiting. There were more things open here at least, and room to wander around a bit and to try to sleep, but it was a long day and night.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Day 279: Medan
I had an early flight from Kuala Lumpur over to Northern Sumatra early this morning. The flight left around 7:30am, and it the bus ride to get to the airport is an hour, so I had to leave quite early to get to there with enough time to feel comfortable. I was flying out of the LCCT, which is the low-cost budget airline terminal, and you can definitely see where the low cost part comes in. Things were pretty disorganized and checking-in/dropping off bags was a massive free-for-all of people pushing towards the front without much of a queuing system. Luckily I came with time to spare and managed to get through everything without any of the frantic scrambling I try very hard to avoid.
Medan itself isn't much of a tourist destination, but it's the biggest city in the center of quite a few interesting things in North Sumatra part of Indonesia. It's one of those rare cities where the airport is actually near the city center, and I just avoided the swarm of taxis and tuk-tuks and just walked from the airport to my hostel and fortunately he extra weight of the stuff I bought in KL was barely noticeable. It was still early when I got to the hostel and my room wasn't ready, so I left my bags and went off on a lengthy walk without a map or any knowledge of the city at all.
Medan is a bit rough around the edges. It reminds me a bit of some of the more sane cities in India. It's hard to go a few minutes on foot without somebody trying to get you into their tuk-tuk or on the back of their motorbike, as if the only reason you were walking around has to be that nobody else has bothered to offer you a ride yet. I was obviously something of a rarity. All the old men sitting in front of shops would call out and wave to me, and lots of people came up to talk to me. Even though it does get a bit tiring when you can't just have a little peace, I much prefer the ones who just come up and want to talk out of curiousity to the ones always trying to offer you things. At least here people are pretty accepting when you just say no or shake your head, and don't hound after you. The streets all look virtually identical, full of squat little random shops and apartments. I can't think of a single building I saw with more than 3 floors, or a single recognizable brand name other than one McDonalds I came across.
My McDonalds anecdote deserves special mention. After walking around all morning after an early morning flight I was pretty hot and exhausted, so I went into the McDonalds with the intention of buying an ice cream. At the counter they told me there was no ice cream, so I left. I instead bought a cold drink from a shop outside and just sat on the patio in the shade relaxing. About 10 minutes later, a group of 4 Muslim girls who had been in the McDonalds came out with a bag of food. They, having seen but not heard my exchange at the counter thought that I hadn't had enough money, and when they saw me sitting outside had bought a meal for me. I was pretty embarassed, because obviously I do have money - probably a good deal more than they do, and I tried to explain the situation, but they insisted I keep the meal (I suppose there wasn't much else they could do with the food). I should have offered to pay them for it, but I didn't think of it at the time, and in a way I feel it might have cheapened their gesture. Instead, the only gesture I can offer is to mention this story and hopefully help out somebody in genuine need of a meal later in my travels. In the "western world" there's unfortunately a lot of negative feelings towards Muslims these days, but the fact that these girls were so willing to do something like that for a random stranger deserves special consideration.
I finally made it back to the hostel around noon and checked in. There's no AC and no windows, which means the one outlet in the room has to be for the fan when I'm in the room, which makes charging / using my tablet a bit of a problem. My plans in Indonesia are somewhat off the beaten trail, so it's very possible I'll have trouble keeping in touch for the next 10 days. If I stop posting things, don't worry - odds are I won't be dead.
Medan itself isn't much of a tourist destination, but it's the biggest city in the center of quite a few interesting things in North Sumatra part of Indonesia. It's one of those rare cities where the airport is actually near the city center, and I just avoided the swarm of taxis and tuk-tuks and just walked from the airport to my hostel and fortunately he extra weight of the stuff I bought in KL was barely noticeable. It was still early when I got to the hostel and my room wasn't ready, so I left my bags and went off on a lengthy walk without a map or any knowledge of the city at all.
Medan is a bit rough around the edges. It reminds me a bit of some of the more sane cities in India. It's hard to go a few minutes on foot without somebody trying to get you into their tuk-tuk or on the back of their motorbike, as if the only reason you were walking around has to be that nobody else has bothered to offer you a ride yet. I was obviously something of a rarity. All the old men sitting in front of shops would call out and wave to me, and lots of people came up to talk to me. Even though it does get a bit tiring when you can't just have a little peace, I much prefer the ones who just come up and want to talk out of curiousity to the ones always trying to offer you things. At least here people are pretty accepting when you just say no or shake your head, and don't hound after you. The streets all look virtually identical, full of squat little random shops and apartments. I can't think of a single building I saw with more than 3 floors, or a single recognizable brand name other than one McDonalds I came across.
My McDonalds anecdote deserves special mention. After walking around all morning after an early morning flight I was pretty hot and exhausted, so I went into the McDonalds with the intention of buying an ice cream. At the counter they told me there was no ice cream, so I left. I instead bought a cold drink from a shop outside and just sat on the patio in the shade relaxing. About 10 minutes later, a group of 4 Muslim girls who had been in the McDonalds came out with a bag of food. They, having seen but not heard my exchange at the counter thought that I hadn't had enough money, and when they saw me sitting outside had bought a meal for me. I was pretty embarassed, because obviously I do have money - probably a good deal more than they do, and I tried to explain the situation, but they insisted I keep the meal (I suppose there wasn't much else they could do with the food). I should have offered to pay them for it, but I didn't think of it at the time, and in a way I feel it might have cheapened their gesture. Instead, the only gesture I can offer is to mention this story and hopefully help out somebody in genuine need of a meal later in my travels. In the "western world" there's unfortunately a lot of negative feelings towards Muslims these days, but the fact that these girls were so willing to do something like that for a random stranger deserves special consideration.
I finally made it back to the hostel around noon and checked in. There's no AC and no windows, which means the one outlet in the room has to be for the fan when I'm in the room, which makes charging / using my tablet a bit of a problem. My plans in Indonesia are somewhat off the beaten trail, so it's very possible I'll have trouble keeping in touch for the next 10 days. If I stop posting things, don't worry - odds are I won't be dead.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Day 261: Flying on South
For once I had a flight at a comfortable time and didn't need to get up in the middle of the night to catch it. The flight was on one of the bare bones budget airlines, but it was only for a couple hours, so it didn't really matter.
After getting through customs and getting my bags I took Singapore's thorough metro system across the city (/country) to near my hostel. Since it was already dark out by this point I got a taxi for the last 500m since I didn't feel like struggling around trying to find the place in the dark. There was nobody at the hostel to check me in, but they'd left things set up for me and after calling the manager I got everything worked out. I spent the evening deep in discussion with a couple of the other hostel guests and did a little research on what to do in the city.
Singapore is a really fascinating place. It's one of the few true city-states left in the world, and for such a tiny place generates a lot of wealth. Their aggressive immigration policies make it incredibly diverse, with 4 official languages and a real mix of culture and religion. The combination of growing population, limited space and lots of money also lead to some pretty awesome public works projects. The architecture is wild, and the the geography is.. flexible. Need more land? Build some new islands! Need more fresh water? Build a new lake! Need a mountain for a high elevation garden? Build something crazy! Since I haven't actually been to these places yet I'll stay away from too much detail at this point, but all shall be answered as I explore the city over the next week.
After getting through customs and getting my bags I took Singapore's thorough metro system across the city (/country) to near my hostel. Since it was already dark out by this point I got a taxi for the last 500m since I didn't feel like struggling around trying to find the place in the dark. There was nobody at the hostel to check me in, but they'd left things set up for me and after calling the manager I got everything worked out. I spent the evening deep in discussion with a couple of the other hostel guests and did a little research on what to do in the city.
Singapore is a really fascinating place. It's one of the few true city-states left in the world, and for such a tiny place generates a lot of wealth. Their aggressive immigration policies make it incredibly diverse, with 4 official languages and a real mix of culture and religion. The combination of growing population, limited space and lots of money also lead to some pretty awesome public works projects. The architecture is wild, and the the geography is.. flexible. Need more land? Build some new islands! Need more fresh water? Build a new lake! Need a mountain for a high elevation garden? Build something crazy! Since I haven't actually been to these places yet I'll stay away from too much detail at this point, but all shall be answered as I explore the city over the next week.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Day 257: Conclusions and Condoms
It was finally time to head back to Thailand. We took the bus back to Phnom Penh, had some lunch, then boarded a plane to fly us back to Bangkok. That's a short sentence for what was, in reality, quite a long day of travel. After having a little time to relax in our hotel back in Bangkok we met back up for our final group dinner at a quirky restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. Cabbages and Condoms is part restaurant, part tourist attraction, and part rural education initiative on the use of condoms. The food was really good, but the biggest attraction of the place is, of course, the condoms. All of the decorations in the restaurant, from wall mosaics to lampshades to flowers on the table to the Christmas tree and Santa are made from condoms. The restaurant was quite large and very busy, and it was an entertaining way to spend a last evening out together.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Day 239: Kathmandu to Bangkok
I had another early flight out of Kathmandu, but the airport wasn't as far away as it is in many cities. I got a taxi around 5am and put it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The Kathmandu airport is much smaller and less developed than any of the other airports I've used so far, but the check-in process went smoothly and my first flight to Delhi for a layover went fine. In Delhi I had a 3 hour wait for my next flight and got some lunch in the airport, then it was off once again on a flight to Bangkok.
With all the time zone changes it was already evening when I got into Bangkok. I took the airport train into the city and then switched to the skytrain to get to the area my hostel was in. It was a bit tucked away, but a really nice and modern hostel. Although my stomach was feeling much better now, I was still feeling pretty worn out and planned to just take the first few days in Bangkok easy.
With all the time zone changes it was already evening when I got into Bangkok. I took the airport train into the city and then switched to the skytrain to get to the area my hostel was in. It was a bit tucked away, but a really nice and modern hostel. Although my stomach was feeling much better now, I was still feeling pretty worn out and planned to just take the first few days in Bangkok easy.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Day 215: Layover
The trip from Hong Kong to Delhi was pretty straight forward, but complicated somewhat by a substantial layover and my being sick. I left Hong Kong at around 8:30am, flew to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia isn't exactly between Hong Kong and India, but this was the cheapest way to get there), sat in the airport there for about 6 hours, then continued on to Delhi. Between the flight times, layover and time zone shifts it was almost 10pm by the time I got through immigration in New Delhi, but luckily the hotel I had booked provided me with a free pickup at the airport which simplified things considerably. Since rooms in India tend to be very cheap I got a private single room instead of staying in the dorm and as soon as I could I headed straight to bed.
Days 208-214: Rest Week
After a morning train to Shenzen we walked across the border to Hong Kong and took the metro train south to Kowloon. Our guide had only ever spent a day or two in Hong Kong at a time, usually doing the exact same things, so I was appointed the unofficial reference person since I'd done quite a bit in Hong Kong earlier. We visited the harbor for the light show, which is one of the things I missed my first visit, then I took some of the group around to the night market.
We all split up over the next few days as people drifted off and started heading home After leaving the tour hotel I switched to a really terrible hostel in Kowloon which I stayed in for a single night before switching to my old hostel on Hong Kong Island for the rest of my stay. A few of the people stayed in Hong Kong longer, so I took a few around to the electronics and goldfish market, and later revisited the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery and did the Dragon's Back hike again with people from my group. Since it was mostly just doing things I'd already done once, I didn't really take any pictures through this stretch. Parallel to this I had also gotten quite sick - the sickest I've been my entire trip. Most of the time I wasn't feeling too horrible, but I was getting fairly frequent stomach cramps and had ongoing diarrhea which made going too far from my hostel a bit of a hassle. Mostly I just tried to rest and keep meals to fairly simple things in an effort to get better before India, which I figured would give me even more problems.
Towards the end of the week I went back to Lantau Island with a few of the people from my hostel dorm, this time taking the cable car up the mountain to the Giant Buddha. By the end of my break week I was feeling quite a bit better, although I still wasn't totally healthy yet. I had to get up early on my last morning to take the first airport shuttle bus at 5:30am in order to get to the airport in time for my 8:30 flight, but everything went smoothly and I flew out without incident.
We all split up over the next few days as people drifted off and started heading home After leaving the tour hotel I switched to a really terrible hostel in Kowloon which I stayed in for a single night before switching to my old hostel on Hong Kong Island for the rest of my stay. A few of the people stayed in Hong Kong longer, so I took a few around to the electronics and goldfish market, and later revisited the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery and did the Dragon's Back hike again with people from my group. Since it was mostly just doing things I'd already done once, I didn't really take any pictures through this stretch. Parallel to this I had also gotten quite sick - the sickest I've been my entire trip. Most of the time I wasn't feeling too horrible, but I was getting fairly frequent stomach cramps and had ongoing diarrhea which made going too far from my hostel a bit of a hassle. Mostly I just tried to rest and keep meals to fairly simple things in an effort to get better before India, which I figured would give me even more problems.
Towards the end of the week I went back to Lantau Island with a few of the people from my hostel dorm, this time taking the cable car up the mountain to the Giant Buddha. By the end of my break week I was feeling quite a bit better, although I still wasn't totally healthy yet. I had to get up early on my last morning to take the first airport shuttle bus at 5:30am in order to get to the airport in time for my 8:30 flight, but everything went smoothly and I flew out without incident.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Days 203-204: Kunming, briefly
Kunming was a bit of an anomaly in our itinerary. Originally the tour spent a day in Kunming to visit a rocky region known as the Stone Forest, but due to some schedule changes and rearranging the Stone Forest got dropped and a very long train ride from Kunming to Guilin got switched to a much more comfortable airplane flight. We got to Kunming by taking a fairly lengthy public bus ride from Dali.
After a few hours on our own to explore we met up to go out for "Crossing Bridge" noodles. These come as a hot broth and a plate of noodles, thinly cut raw beef and vegetabes and an egg. All these ingredients are dumped into the broth as you go and the temperature of the broth cooks everything. Afterwards a few of us went out for another snack/meal of delicious spicy crab with our guide.
The next day we took the city bus to visit the big park in Kunming. It was an interesting park, and there was lot to see there, but certainly nothing that warranted all the time we spent in the city.
After taking the bus 90 minutes out of town to the airport we had a bit of excitement as Frank realized that he'd forgotten all our passports back at the hotel. He frantically hopped in a cab while we waited in the airport and managed to get all the passports and get back in time for all of us to check in. Once in Guilin we piled onto a bus for a final bit of travel to Yangshou, where we would be spending the next 3 nights.
After a few hours on our own to explore we met up to go out for "Crossing Bridge" noodles. These come as a hot broth and a plate of noodles, thinly cut raw beef and vegetabes and an egg. All these ingredients are dumped into the broth as you go and the temperature of the broth cooks everything. Afterwards a few of us went out for another snack/meal of delicious spicy crab with our guide.
The next day we took the city bus to visit the big park in Kunming. It was an interesting park, and there was lot to see there, but certainly nothing that warranted all the time we spent in the city.
After taking the bus 90 minutes out of town to the airport we had a bit of excitement as Frank realized that he'd forgotten all our passports back at the hotel. He frantically hopped in a cab while we waited in the airport and managed to get all the passports and get back in time for all of us to check in. Once in Guilin we piled onto a bus for a final bit of travel to Yangshou, where we would be spending the next 3 nights.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Days 185-187: Solo in Beijing
Getting into mainland China went smoothly and I found my way from the airport to the inner city by train and metro pretty easily. The place I was staying was very central, down a narrow alley of squat buildings called a hutong. By the time I got in the first night and settled myself it was already pretty late, but the main pedestrian street of the city was very close so I had an evening stroll down, checking out shops and looking about.
The room I booked was a dorm-style one, but for 4 nights I stayed there it was just me and a Hong Kong student from Austria who was in Beijing on a school project. The second day I explored a bit further out, and had some of my first frustrating moments. Beijing, on a map, has a very elegant layout. Unfortunately it's not carried out so well, and traffic is a constant hazard. Not surprisingly, it's also a very crowded city and at times it seems every person in it is trying to find some edge to get money off you. On the plus side, public transit is extremely cheap (about $0.20 CDN by subway to anywhere in the city) so some of the traffic dangers can be avoided by just not walking much.
After a few days getting my bearings I spent the next day sightseeing. I walked from my hotel to Ti'anamen Square and across to the Forbidden City, which I explored all morning. The size of the complex is huge, especially when you consider that it's stuck right in the middle of the city, and everything else has been built around it. Other than the size, the rest wasn't too impressive as the architecture isn't really very different from many other buildings I've come across in Asia.
(That last one was taken a different day, which is why it's so much hazier, but it's the best one I could find showing the scale of the place)
In the afternoon I walked to the large park that contains the Temple of Heaven, and spent the rest of the day there. Besides the temple itself the park has long stretches of trees and other monuments, so there's quite a bit there to keep busy with.
The room I booked was a dorm-style one, but for 4 nights I stayed there it was just me and a Hong Kong student from Austria who was in Beijing on a school project. The second day I explored a bit further out, and had some of my first frustrating moments. Beijing, on a map, has a very elegant layout. Unfortunately it's not carried out so well, and traffic is a constant hazard. Not surprisingly, it's also a very crowded city and at times it seems every person in it is trying to find some edge to get money off you. On the plus side, public transit is extremely cheap (about $0.20 CDN by subway to anywhere in the city) so some of the traffic dangers can be avoided by just not walking much.
After a few days getting my bearings I spent the next day sightseeing. I walked from my hotel to Ti'anamen Square and across to the Forbidden City, which I explored all morning. The size of the complex is huge, especially when you consider that it's stuck right in the middle of the city, and everything else has been built around it. Other than the size, the rest wasn't too impressive as the architecture isn't really very different from many other buildings I've come across in Asia.
(That last one was taken a different day, which is why it's so much hazier, but it's the best one I could find showing the scale of the place)
In the afternoon I walked to the large park that contains the Temple of Heaven, and spent the rest of the day there. Besides the temple itself the park has long stretches of trees and other monuments, so there's quite a bit there to keep busy with.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Day 183: Taipei
Another plane ride over with. I must say though, Hong Kong International Airport has a rather nice departures wing. My flight this time wasn't until noon, so I could get up at a reasonable time and not frantically rush to the airport.
The ride into Taipei from the airport was a fairly lengthy bus ride, followed by another, much shorter bus. The city bus at the end was reporting stops out of sync with where it actually was, so I got off at the wrong stop which was a bit troublesome since the instructions I was given were landmark based ("go towards the Starbucks on your left...") assuming I was beginning at a place I wasn't. I still managed to find the place pretty quickly, which was good because there is no actual staff at the hostel and I had to be let in by one of the people that run it who was waiting for me. I had estimated in my correspondence with them that I'd show up around 4:00 and in the end it was like 4:15, so it wasn't too awful. The hostel I'm in is actually pretty amazing. It's brand new, having only been open for a month, and it's sparkling. There's a dorm (where I am), and two private double-rooms, but the only people staying here, at least for tonight, are me and one girl in one of the private rooms, so I have the dorm to myself. The place has two very modern washrooms, its own kitchen, and laundry (unfortunately I just washed everything before leaving Hong Kong). It's just another reason to be disappointed I have such a short time here.
I didn't want to do anything too wild tonight, so I just explored the neighborhood a bit and scrounged a dinner from a mix of street vendors. Tomorrow I'm going to squeeze in as much as I can, but I'm focusing on a few things in particular that interest me. I've found that with all these big cities, especially when you have a limited time, the most interesting thing to do is to check out the places that make the city special or give it its character. My flight out of Taiwan on Wednesday is at 8am (ugh) so I'll probably need to go to bed early or just spend another day exhausted.
The ride into Taipei from the airport was a fairly lengthy bus ride, followed by another, much shorter bus. The city bus at the end was reporting stops out of sync with where it actually was, so I got off at the wrong stop which was a bit troublesome since the instructions I was given were landmark based ("go towards the Starbucks on your left...") assuming I was beginning at a place I wasn't. I still managed to find the place pretty quickly, which was good because there is no actual staff at the hostel and I had to be let in by one of the people that run it who was waiting for me. I had estimated in my correspondence with them that I'd show up around 4:00 and in the end it was like 4:15, so it wasn't too awful. The hostel I'm in is actually pretty amazing. It's brand new, having only been open for a month, and it's sparkling. There's a dorm (where I am), and two private double-rooms, but the only people staying here, at least for tonight, are me and one girl in one of the private rooms, so I have the dorm to myself. The place has two very modern washrooms, its own kitchen, and laundry (unfortunately I just washed everything before leaving Hong Kong). It's just another reason to be disappointed I have such a short time here.
I didn't want to do anything too wild tonight, so I just explored the neighborhood a bit and scrounged a dinner from a mix of street vendors. Tomorrow I'm going to squeeze in as much as I can, but I'm focusing on a few things in particular that interest me. I've found that with all these big cities, especially when you have a limited time, the most interesting thing to do is to check out the places that make the city special or give it its character. My flight out of Taiwan on Wednesday is at 8am (ugh) so I'll probably need to go to bed early or just spend another day exhausted.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Day 169: Bumps in the Road
My least favourite part of travelling is the actual days when I have to travel, especially when I have to fly. Unlike many people, I have absolutely no issues with being on an airplane, but the stress of having to get up early, get to the airport (which is usually a long way from the actual city), wait in lines, go through security, fly, wait in more lines, and then finally lug your things by whatever means you can find to your new accomodations makes for a long, exhausting day. Because of that exhaustion, as well as being focused on many things at once, I, at least, am much more prone to make mistakes.
This ended up being one of my more stressful days overall. Due to some exceedingly poor estimating skills by the girl at my hostel I cut it much closer than I'm comfortable with getting to the airport. I narrowly dodged a bullet when about 10 steps from the airport train I took I checked my pockets like I do almost constantly and realized my wallet was missing. I ran back to where my seat was, found my wallet beneath it, and got back off the train about 15 seconds before the doors closed and it took off again.
Because I'm getting to be somewhat of an expert on airports by now, plus it being a pretty efficiently run airport, I managed to get through everything very quickly and got to my gate with 7 minutes to spare and the actual flight was fine (although with a less fancy seat than my flight in). Once in Hong Kong things were also pretty smooth. There was a bus that took me from the airport almost exactly to the building my hostel is in. Unfortunately between the length of the bus ride (just over an hour) and my mind being occupied on other things I somehow got separated from my hoodie, and it's gone for good now. In the grand scheme of things, it's not terribly important. I still have a jacket, and I can buy another sweater/hoodie if I get somewhere with weather that needs it. It's much better to lose that then my wallet, for example.
After checking in and dropping my things off I spent a few hours walking down the street and occasionally checking places out. My hostel is right in the heart of things on Hong Kong Island, and my first reaction was just being a bit overwhelmed by it. I've been to a lot of big cities, and while I'm not a big fan of crowds I can deal with them ok, but I've never been anywhere that just feels as dense as here. The built up area on the island is only really a handful of streets wide, squeezed in between the mountains and the bay, but it is really, really built up. I'm used to having big modern office towers, but having thin, dirty apartment buildings that are still all at least 15 stories, lined side by side down the street just feels different. Not many pictures today, since I just wanted to get a feel for the place, but here's one of the area near where I am.
This ended up being one of my more stressful days overall. Due to some exceedingly poor estimating skills by the girl at my hostel I cut it much closer than I'm comfortable with getting to the airport. I narrowly dodged a bullet when about 10 steps from the airport train I took I checked my pockets like I do almost constantly and realized my wallet was missing. I ran back to where my seat was, found my wallet beneath it, and got back off the train about 15 seconds before the doors closed and it took off again.
Because I'm getting to be somewhat of an expert on airports by now, plus it being a pretty efficiently run airport, I managed to get through everything very quickly and got to my gate with 7 minutes to spare and the actual flight was fine (although with a less fancy seat than my flight in). Once in Hong Kong things were also pretty smooth. There was a bus that took me from the airport almost exactly to the building my hostel is in. Unfortunately between the length of the bus ride (just over an hour) and my mind being occupied on other things I somehow got separated from my hoodie, and it's gone for good now. In the grand scheme of things, it's not terribly important. I still have a jacket, and I can buy another sweater/hoodie if I get somewhere with weather that needs it. It's much better to lose that then my wallet, for example.
After checking in and dropping my things off I spent a few hours walking down the street and occasionally checking places out. My hostel is right in the heart of things on Hong Kong Island, and my first reaction was just being a bit overwhelmed by it. I've been to a lot of big cities, and while I'm not a big fan of crowds I can deal with them ok, but I've never been anywhere that just feels as dense as here. The built up area on the island is only really a handful of streets wide, squeezed in between the mountains and the bay, but it is really, really built up. I'm used to having big modern office towers, but having thin, dirty apartment buildings that are still all at least 15 stories, lined side by side down the street just feels different. Not many pictures today, since I just wanted to get a feel for the place, but here's one of the area near where I am.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Day 162: To Korea
I was a bit late getting out the door, but Japan's lovely public transit still got me through to the airport with plenty of spare time. My flight out was a bit interesting. I was on a double decker airplane, which I believe is a first for me. It was by far the most space and comfort I've ever had on a plane. Instead of seats you sat in a fully adjustable pod that you could electronically position however you wanted, including reclining it to a full bed. Since my flight was less than two hours I didn't try to sleep at all, but having the luxury of being unable to touch the seat in front of me was very nice. I landed in the smaller airport of Gimpo in Seoul, and in the time it took me to go through customs and reclaim my backpack I only saw 2 other white people.
Currency in South Korea has also been a bit strange. The exachange rate is about 1000 won = $1, which isn't that unusual, but until a couple of years ago the largest bill they had was 10,000 won ($10). They now have a 50,000 won, but it's still new and the infrastructure is still updating for it. Because of all this, when I took out cash from the bank machine it came in 35 10,000 won bills. The metro system is in many ways similar too Tokyo's, and for the most part very easy to get around in. I ignored the advice of the information desk guy in the airport and decided to get to my hostel by metro instead of by airport train. It took quite a bit longer and involved a few transfers, but it cost me less than 1/4 as much and was a good chance to figure things out a bit.
The hostel is in a university neighborhood, and there are lots of good, cheap restaurants around. The big specialty in the area is fried chicken and beer restaurants, which doesn't really strike me as terribly Korean, but there are plenty of more traditional things around too. I spent the afternoon wandering around the area, but didn't try visiting anything specific.
It was a very muggy, hazy day outside, and this morning it's raining out. Apparently two typhoons have just passed and it has rained a lot in the last two weeks, so it could be a very wet week for me.
Currency in South Korea has also been a bit strange. The exachange rate is about 1000 won = $1, which isn't that unusual, but until a couple of years ago the largest bill they had was 10,000 won ($10). They now have a 50,000 won, but it's still new and the infrastructure is still updating for it. Because of all this, when I took out cash from the bank machine it came in 35 10,000 won bills. The metro system is in many ways similar too Tokyo's, and for the most part very easy to get around in. I ignored the advice of the information desk guy in the airport and decided to get to my hostel by metro instead of by airport train. It took quite a bit longer and involved a few transfers, but it cost me less than 1/4 as much and was a good chance to figure things out a bit.
The hostel is in a university neighborhood, and there are lots of good, cheap restaurants around. The big specialty in the area is fried chicken and beer restaurants, which doesn't really strike me as terribly Korean, but there are plenty of more traditional things around too. I spent the afternoon wandering around the area, but didn't try visiting anything specific.
It was a very muggy, hazy day outside, and this morning it's raining out. Apparently two typhoons have just passed and it has rained a lot in the last two weeks, so it could be a very wet week for me.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Days 144-146: In Transit
If you ever have to spend 20+ hours flying halfway around the world, Qatar Airways isn't a bad way to do it. There were a few annoyances that they don't have much control over, but overall it was a rather pleasant flight, if still a bit draining as all long periods spent in a seat are.
The trains to get from Narita to my hostel took quite awhile, and I got in late last night, but luckily the woman running the hostel was up still and didn't charge me the usual late arrival penalties. The hostel is pretty interesting, and very Japanese. It's run by a family and is one of the cheapest in the city, so to make money it really has to fit as many people into a small space as possible. I'm in what is basically a makeshift shed that sleeps around 20 people. The "room" I'm in is for 6, and takes inspiration from the capsule hotels - my bed being a little niche in a stack 3 niches high. I'll include a picture tomorrow to explain better, but I don't want to dig out my camera for the few pictures I've taken right now.
Tokyo is still very much the Tokyo I remember. I didn't venture far today, as there was a lot of rain and I was still feeling run down - both from the airplane and just the accumulation of travel. Just hanging out in the local area gave me plenty of that unique culture I haven't seen anywhere else: the endless vending machines with most of the same drinks I remember from last time, the roar of pachinko parlors when I walk by, the reflexive polite murmurs from every clerk and armies of people on street corners handing out flyers and tissue (and occasionally dressed in maid outfits with cat ears), and having a constant conversation of machines around you.
Tomorrow I plan to get a metro day pass and cover a lot more ground, and I should have some pictures to share.
The trains to get from Narita to my hostel took quite awhile, and I got in late last night, but luckily the woman running the hostel was up still and didn't charge me the usual late arrival penalties. The hostel is pretty interesting, and very Japanese. It's run by a family and is one of the cheapest in the city, so to make money it really has to fit as many people into a small space as possible. I'm in what is basically a makeshift shed that sleeps around 20 people. The "room" I'm in is for 6, and takes inspiration from the capsule hotels - my bed being a little niche in a stack 3 niches high. I'll include a picture tomorrow to explain better, but I don't want to dig out my camera for the few pictures I've taken right now.
Tokyo is still very much the Tokyo I remember. I didn't venture far today, as there was a lot of rain and I was still feeling run down - both from the airplane and just the accumulation of travel. Just hanging out in the local area gave me plenty of that unique culture I haven't seen anywhere else: the endless vending machines with most of the same drinks I remember from last time, the roar of pachinko parlors when I walk by, the reflexive polite murmurs from every clerk and armies of people on street corners handing out flyers and tissue (and occasionally dressed in maid outfits with cat ears), and having a constant conversation of machines around you.
Tomorrow I plan to get a metro day pass and cover a lot more ground, and I should have some pictures to share.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Day 79: Unexpected Expense (Sometimes all you can do is chuckle)
I got up early this morning with everything planned out. Boarding for my flight wasn't until around 1:15pm, so I figured I had lots of time for the Parthenon and Parthenon Museum. I got up around 6:30am to get ready and packed up all my things. I stopped by an internet cafe on my way to the Acropolis to print out my boarding pass to Istanbul, and got to the ticket office around 7:50. The gates opened at 8:00, and while I wasn't the first in line my practice at walking uphill combined with my knowledge that no, those pillars over there aren't part of the Parthenon meant that I had 5-10 minutes around the temple before anybody else (minus the omnipresent construction workers) worked their way up.
Just as I was leaving the Acropolis, things went bad. I didn't have a watch, so I was taking out my camera to check the time on it to make sure I was still on schedule and dropped it. I know, it's so newbish - not really much I can say. The thing still worked, but the screen was dead. I was annoyed with myself, but strangely also incredibly amused by it all. I'm not sure if irony is the appropirate term, but after frantically trying to hunt it down two days earlier only to break it just seemed like some twisted fate. At least this way I get my memory card and another spare battery!
I continued with my plan to visit the Parthenon Museum, and took a few pictures with difficulty (not being able to confirm how zoomed in or straight I was). The museum is pretty cool though. The interior section is built to the dimensions of the actual Parthenon so all the marblework (and plaster copies of the extensive bits the British have) can be put in their actual positions, and glass floors let you look down to get a feeling for the actual size.
It was going to be cutting it a little closer than I had planned, but I also found time to find a camera shop. They had the upgraded model of my current camera, and I wasn't going to be able to continue without a screen, so I bought it. As I mentioned this gives me another battery and a few new features - like GPS location tagging on photos, and it's blue! I'll carry the old one around for the time being as a backup, and maybe try to take it apart and see if it can be salvaged later.
Anyway, all this and it was still only noon. I took the metro to the airport and succesfully caught my flight to Turkey. I got my visa in the airport smoothly, and took the shuttle bus to one of the main squares. Here I had another hiccup as it took me nearly 2 hours of walking to find my hostel. This might not sound too bad, but it was 36 degrees out, and I was carrying around all my possessions. After questioning numerous people I eventually found the place and checked in with relief.
My initial impression of Istanbul is that it's a wacky, wacky place. It definitely has tinges of Egypt to it, and it's very, very crowded, but it is incredibly full of culture and energy. I hadn't sorted out my new camera yet, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow when I can get some pictures to really go into detail on things. I went out for dinner with a couple roommates from the hostel and had some fresh swordfish. It was pricier than most of my meals, but I felt I needed a treat (even though I'd already spent much more for the day than I wanted). No specific plans for tomorrow yet. We'll see what happens.
Just as I was leaving the Acropolis, things went bad. I didn't have a watch, so I was taking out my camera to check the time on it to make sure I was still on schedule and dropped it. I know, it's so newbish - not really much I can say. The thing still worked, but the screen was dead. I was annoyed with myself, but strangely also incredibly amused by it all. I'm not sure if irony is the appropirate term, but after frantically trying to hunt it down two days earlier only to break it just seemed like some twisted fate. At least this way I get my memory card and another spare battery!
I continued with my plan to visit the Parthenon Museum, and took a few pictures with difficulty (not being able to confirm how zoomed in or straight I was). The museum is pretty cool though. The interior section is built to the dimensions of the actual Parthenon so all the marblework (and plaster copies of the extensive bits the British have) can be put in their actual positions, and glass floors let you look down to get a feeling for the actual size.
It was going to be cutting it a little closer than I had planned, but I also found time to find a camera shop. They had the upgraded model of my current camera, and I wasn't going to be able to continue without a screen, so I bought it. As I mentioned this gives me another battery and a few new features - like GPS location tagging on photos, and it's blue! I'll carry the old one around for the time being as a backup, and maybe try to take it apart and see if it can be salvaged later.
Anyway, all this and it was still only noon. I took the metro to the airport and succesfully caught my flight to Turkey. I got my visa in the airport smoothly, and took the shuttle bus to one of the main squares. Here I had another hiccup as it took me nearly 2 hours of walking to find my hostel. This might not sound too bad, but it was 36 degrees out, and I was carrying around all my possessions. After questioning numerous people I eventually found the place and checked in with relief.
My initial impression of Istanbul is that it's a wacky, wacky place. It definitely has tinges of Egypt to it, and it's very, very crowded, but it is incredibly full of culture and energy. I hadn't sorted out my new camera yet, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow when I can get some pictures to really go into detail on things. I went out for dinner with a couple roommates from the hostel and had some fresh swordfish. It was pricier than most of my meals, but I felt I needed a treat (even though I'd already spent much more for the day than I wanted). No specific plans for tomorrow yet. We'll see what happens.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Day 69: The Long Night
I made it safely to Athens and am making use of their 60 minutes of free wifi at the airport. It's about 12:30am here, and I have a ferry leaving around 7am from Piraeus (the port) which is about a 90 minute bus ride away. There was no point getting accomodations, so I'm just pulling an all nighter. I took a few pictures this morning at the Republic Day military parade in Rome, but I don't feel like digging all the cables out, and honestly it wasn't all that interesting for me. I missed out on my haircut in the end because I left it until the last day not knowing it was a holiday, and all the ones near me were closed. I managed to find a place to do laundry before I flew out at least, so one less thing to worry about.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Day 0: Leavin' On A Jet Plane
Sitting around killing time at my departure gate at Pearson for my flight to London. A few interesting quirks so far. I had to check my backpack in a special place for oversized luggage despite it being so small. Apparently the straps on it are a danger to the conveyor belts. Hope nothing unusual happens, because losing that would be a rather rocky start to the trip. I also had to open up my carry-on at the security check because my tablet drew concern. The guy at the xray drop-off said it was fine to leave a tablet in, but apparently not. No major issues though. I caved in and bought a few british pounds in the airport for their huge markup just so I have a bit of a cushion the first day until I get things figured out.
Hope everybody has a great year and takes care of themselves! At least one (see above) can't bare to see me leave!
Looking overly Canadian.
Looking overly Canadian.
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