There are a lot of routes from Yosemite to San Fran, and we were recommended at a tourist info centre to go through the historic goldrush region which included such towns as Jamestown, Copperopolis (say it aloud, it sounds cool), Coulterville and Sonoma. The mountain drive was pretty fun for James, and we got plenty of photos of the Jamestown sign.
We also passed by a place called 'Chinese Camp' (I presume this is where the Chinese gold rushers stayed) which mysteriously had a New Zealand flag flying outside the shop. However, I must say that the funniest thing by far we saw on the way was a building with this written on it 'Glory Hole Recreation Centre'. I now regret not stopping to take photos, but I'm sure there are already plenty of these somewhere on the internet...
The whole area was bone dry and boiling hot, so imagine our surprise when we arrived in San Francisco and found it to be put-your-jersey-on cold! But I'll save that for the next entry...
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Yosemite
As anyone who's gone into Yosemite can tell you, going into the park for the first time is pretty awe-inspiring, what with all the sheer, giant granite domes rising out of the valley, the waterfalls coming over some of the tops of them, and of course the pine forest everywhere. You'll be able to see from the pictures, but to appreciate the sheer scale of things you really have to be there yourself.
Once we arrived at Curry Village we were briefed on their bear policy, which was that no food, liquids, or scented items of any sort (including toiletries) could be kept in vehicles or inside the tents - instead, everyone was allocated bear-proof lockers for this purpose.
The tent cabins we stayed in were indeed pretty spartan compared to the hotels we'd been at previously, but it was comfortable enough - considering there weren't really any other accommodation options at the time given it was the peak family holiday season. Probably the most annoying thing were the shared shower facilities, sometimes there were queues of about 15-20 mins before you actually had your turn.
Food-wise, I wouldn't recommend the options at Curry Village itself, we were forced to dine there twice due to how late we got back to the valley for dinner, and on the second night when we had a hot dog each (as the pizza option would've meant a one hour wait, and it was already 10pm) was probably the worst dinner we've had on the entire trip... However, other places around the valley were not too bad, I enjoyed the (mc)muffin thing at Degnan's deli so much I went twice, James had a very nice pizza at Degnan's loft, and we both had a delicious lunch at the Yosemite Lodge 'foodcourt'.
Most excitingly, let me list the animals we saw while in the park! Of course there were copious squirrels as usual, especially one particularly bold fellow near Glacier Point who appeared when we broke out the Doritos, kept moving his nose like crazy, and even climbed onto James' camera bag looking for a tidbit. I have a video that I'll try to upload later. I also saw a marmot, which I at first thought was a very fat squirrel, but realised otherwise soon enough. At Curry Village where we had those infamous hot dogs under cover of darkness turns out there were raccoons scurrying around under all the tables looking for scraps. At both the Bridal Veil Falls and Glacier Point we saw deer wandering the carpark. And of course there were various birds, especially these blue things with a crown on its head... if I can be bothered I'll look up what it's called in my Yosemite brochures later.
Of course you must be wondering - did we see any bears? Well, I was about to give up hope when on our drive out of the valley on one of the days we saw a small bear cub climbing up a tree right by the side of the road! Of course we were driving by too fast so I didn't have a chance to take a photo, but at least I can say that I've seen a real live bear... even if it was only from the relative safety of a moving vehicle, and it was only small. =P
Can't really top that for excitement so I might as well end the post here, but just a quick mention that we covered most of the sights in the valley, including the giant sequoias near Wawona. Unfortunately we didn't end up doing Half Dome or in fact any of the strenuous hikes, but James is determined to return and conquer that in the future!
Once we arrived at Curry Village we were briefed on their bear policy, which was that no food, liquids, or scented items of any sort (including toiletries) could be kept in vehicles or inside the tents - instead, everyone was allocated bear-proof lockers for this purpose.
The tent cabins we stayed in were indeed pretty spartan compared to the hotels we'd been at previously, but it was comfortable enough - considering there weren't really any other accommodation options at the time given it was the peak family holiday season. Probably the most annoying thing were the shared shower facilities, sometimes there were queues of about 15-20 mins before you actually had your turn.
Food-wise, I wouldn't recommend the options at Curry Village itself, we were forced to dine there twice due to how late we got back to the valley for dinner, and on the second night when we had a hot dog each (as the pizza option would've meant a one hour wait, and it was already 10pm) was probably the worst dinner we've had on the entire trip... However, other places around the valley were not too bad, I enjoyed the (mc)muffin thing at Degnan's deli so much I went twice, James had a very nice pizza at Degnan's loft, and we both had a delicious lunch at the Yosemite Lodge 'foodcourt'.
Most excitingly, let me list the animals we saw while in the park! Of course there were copious squirrels as usual, especially one particularly bold fellow near Glacier Point who appeared when we broke out the Doritos, kept moving his nose like crazy, and even climbed onto James' camera bag looking for a tidbit. I have a video that I'll try to upload later. I also saw a marmot, which I at first thought was a very fat squirrel, but realised otherwise soon enough. At Curry Village where we had those infamous hot dogs under cover of darkness turns out there were raccoons scurrying around under all the tables looking for scraps. At both the Bridal Veil Falls and Glacier Point we saw deer wandering the carpark. And of course there were various birds, especially these blue things with a crown on its head... if I can be bothered I'll look up what it's called in my Yosemite brochures later.
Of course you must be wondering - did we see any bears? Well, I was about to give up hope when on our drive out of the valley on one of the days we saw a small bear cub climbing up a tree right by the side of the road! Of course we were driving by too fast so I didn't have a chance to take a photo, but at least I can say that I've seen a real live bear... even if it was only from the relative safety of a moving vehicle, and it was only small. =P
Can't really top that for excitement so I might as well end the post here, but just a quick mention that we covered most of the sights in the valley, including the giant sequoias near Wawona. Unfortunately we didn't end up doing Half Dome or in fact any of the strenuous hikes, but James is determined to return and conquer that in the future!
Mammoth Lakes
Apologies for the lack of updates lately, was entirely due to laziness - and now it's the last day before I head back to NZ tomorrow! Still, better catch this blog up in somewhat chronological order while I have the motivation to...
Before driving into Yosemite we spent most of the day around the attractions at Mammoth (just 'Mammoth', no 'Lakes', as the locals like to call it), such as taking a gondola ride to the top of the Mammoth Mountain, which gave us some beautiful views of the whole area and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We were quite surprised to see people still skiing, given it was late June! There was still some snow but very icy - I definitely wouldn't attempt it myself.
After that we went and saw 'The Devil's Postpile', a bunch of very interesting basalt rock formations which basically looked like honeycomb pillars pushed upwards from the earth. Look forward to some Flickr photos later when we've had time to properly sort and upload them...
Soon we were on our way to Yosemite via the very picturesque June Lake area, which was quite reminiscent of Queenstown - a nice aqua blue lake with snowy mountains in the background. Unfortunately I managed to have a freak encounter with a bee during our drive. Basically we were happily going along when BAM, I suddenly felt a burning, stinging sensation on my neck. James slowed down and pulled over, and just before the car came to a halt I saw a yellow and black thing 'stagger' (if flying insects could stagger) out the window... Obviously it'd got sucked into my window and when the first thing it hit was my bare neck, it panicked and dispensed its stinger.
Now, being the first time I can ever recall being stung by a bee, I was a bit paranoid for a while that it would turn out I was allergic, but apart from a persistent, painful stinging sensation which lasted for about half an hour, I didn't develop any breathing difficulties, so I guess it wasn't that bad after all. Overall, was relieved not to have had it worse, but also a bit annoyed that I got stung without having provoked the thing in any way... just bad luck I suppose!
One last thing we saw before heading into Yosemite were more different interesting rock formations, these things called 'tufa' by Lake Mono, which basically look like stalacmites but all around the edge of a lake.
Before driving into Yosemite we spent most of the day around the attractions at Mammoth (just 'Mammoth', no 'Lakes', as the locals like to call it), such as taking a gondola ride to the top of the Mammoth Mountain, which gave us some beautiful views of the whole area and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We were quite surprised to see people still skiing, given it was late June! There was still some snow but very icy - I definitely wouldn't attempt it myself.
After that we went and saw 'The Devil's Postpile', a bunch of very interesting basalt rock formations which basically looked like honeycomb pillars pushed upwards from the earth. Look forward to some Flickr photos later when we've had time to properly sort and upload them...
Soon we were on our way to Yosemite via the very picturesque June Lake area, which was quite reminiscent of Queenstown - a nice aqua blue lake with snowy mountains in the background. Unfortunately I managed to have a freak encounter with a bee during our drive. Basically we were happily going along when BAM, I suddenly felt a burning, stinging sensation on my neck. James slowed down and pulled over, and just before the car came to a halt I saw a yellow and black thing 'stagger' (if flying insects could stagger) out the window... Obviously it'd got sucked into my window and when the first thing it hit was my bare neck, it panicked and dispensed its stinger.
Now, being the first time I can ever recall being stung by a bee, I was a bit paranoid for a while that it would turn out I was allergic, but apart from a persistent, painful stinging sensation which lasted for about half an hour, I didn't develop any breathing difficulties, so I guess it wasn't that bad after all. Overall, was relieved not to have had it worse, but also a bit annoyed that I got stung without having provoked the thing in any way... just bad luck I suppose!
One last thing we saw before heading into Yosemite were more different interesting rock formations, these things called 'tufa' by Lake Mono, which basically look like stalacmites but all around the edge of a lake.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Grand Canyon & Death Valley
Okay, just quickly before I don't have the chance to/forget:
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
- Totally worth the fortune we paid for this flight/helicopter/boat/bus trip combo, my favourite part was probably being in the Cessna plane getting perfect views in all directions. James' favourite part was probably teetering on the edge of the Grand Canyon and nearly giving me a heart attack!
- Speaking of which, I was really shocked that there are absolutely no barriers on the tourist lookout points at the canyon. Sure, it's not sensible to try and fence off the entire thing, but at Eagle Point (where the Skywalk is), there are busloads and busloads of tourists going to the edge to take photos, and the drop is about 1.2km down - one slip, and you're custard! As I said, James enjoyed going all the way to the very edge, so far as to sit with his feet over the edge, while I stayed a wimpy but safe distance away...
- Native American people look and sound just like tanned Chinese people - seriously, we got in the boat ride where we were supposed to have a Hualapai (the local tribe) guide, but I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the guy we had and a Malaysian Chinese - I say Malaysian because he was a lot more tanned than regular Chinese people. Their accent was a wee bit different to typical Chinese English, but still... Hm.
- Overall, totally awesome, and a bonus that this is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site! Unfortunately we couldn't find any UNESCO signs to take photos with but it still counts.
Death Valley
- Unfortunately neither of us did much research into the drive from Vegas through Death Valley, so we probably didn't take the route which included the US's lowest point, however we still got some pretty breathtaking scenery all the way.
- In the hottest part of the valley there was a constant dry heat which felt like being inside an oven in fan bake mode, thank goodness we had air conditioning...
- I felt a little bit cheated that we paid the park entrance fee of US$20/vehicle which was good for 7 days, but we basically just drove through a small part of it in a couple of hours... still, we should support their national park service, and compared with what we've had to spend on other things, it was totally worthwhile.
- During one of our photo stops we heard, then saw, what looked like an F16 doing practice runs over the area. Man, if you've never experienced a jet flyover before, you really don't know how LOUD it is! It was probably one of the highlights of today's drive actually, really cool.
Finally, arriving in Mammoth Lakes was a bit of a relief thanks to the cool mountain air and for James, being able to stop driving! I have to say he did a very admirable job for the first time handling a vehicle in the US and having to drive on the WRONG side of the road, though we're kind of used to it by now... For dinner tonight we had some awesome Mexican food, the portion sizes were insane and we even got a doggy bag for lunch tomorrow, I just hope I remember to take it out of the fridge when we check out, otherwise our next guest will get a nice surprise...
Tomorrow we'll explore the Mammoth Lakes area a bit before driving up to Lake Mono, and then through Tioga Pass into Yosemite, where we will be staying in unheated tent cabins in Curry Village that costs more than both our Washington and Vegas hotels... ah well, I'm sure that being right in the centre of the park will make it all worthwhile!
Vegas
Ah, Sin City. We gambled away a total of US$2 and of course lost everything, but no matter, we still had heaps of fun! On the first night we managed to grab some pretty well-discounted tickets to Penn & Teller's magic show at the Rio, which was really entertaining and worthwhile, I'd definitely recommend it. The only downside to the whole thing was underestimating how far the walk from Treasure Island and the Rio was... The magic itself was mindboggling, of course being Penn & Teller they showed you the 'secrets' of some of their tricks, but left plenty of others unexplained - all in all, I was very impressed. It was especially nice that they stayed behind to take photos and sign autographs for the audience afterwards - I got one with Teller.
The next day was our Grand Canyon tour which I'll cover in a separate post, but we had plenty of time after we got back to have a look around. As you probably know most of the casinos are themed after a certain time/location, the most elaborate of which is probably the Venetian. Now, I've never been to Venice, but having gondola rides on bright blue 'canals' that reek of chlorine just seems to be an abomination... The pictures will speak for themselves there!
For dinner I got to fulfill my dream (well, kinda) of eating at a Vegas buffet, and we chose the relatively modest spread at Treasure Island. There was sushi, a carvery, salads, pastas, Mexican, Chinese, and of course a truly impressive array of desserts. I managed to tear myself away before I felt sick, but I think I still managed okay, and the food itself wasn't too bad at all. Next time when I'm super rich I'll indulge at the Wynn... or maybe one of those celebrity chef restaurants, definitely out of our budget this time around though!
After that we checked out the hotel's 'Sirens of TI' show, which basically was a 'battle' between some 'sirens' and 'pirates'. Being Vegas they don't do things by halves, and the moving ships, fireworks, singing, dancing, and HUGE fireballs were definitely very impressive. We were so close to the fireballs I thought I'd be roasted alive if they didn't stop after a few seconds!
However, I must say that probably my favourite 'free' Vegas show were the Bellagio fountains. I'd seen them in movies before, but nothing quite prepares you for how beautiful it is in real life, up close. I almost wish we had more time to stay and re-watch it a couple of times, but it was already getting super late and we had an early start the next day to drive to Mammoth Lakes.
Overall, I didn't think Vegas was that bad during the day, it was a lot cleaner than I expected, thoug they could've done without the guys on the street wearing the 'GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS' t-shirts trying to hand you business cards...
Probably the funniest thing that happened in Vegas (while I wasn't actually there) was when James was approached by a guy, who greeted him with a fistbump, and then asked if he liked to party, to which James replied (verbatim), 'Not especially?' and then made a run for it. Obviously that guy was trying to get him to go to his nightclub or something... I totally LOLed when I heard about it!
Okay, next post will be about the Grand Canyon, though we have a pretty packed schedule ahead so we may or may not have internet access again until San Fran... we'll see I guess!
The next day was our Grand Canyon tour which I'll cover in a separate post, but we had plenty of time after we got back to have a look around. As you probably know most of the casinos are themed after a certain time/location, the most elaborate of which is probably the Venetian. Now, I've never been to Venice, but having gondola rides on bright blue 'canals' that reek of chlorine just seems to be an abomination... The pictures will speak for themselves there!
For dinner I got to fulfill my dream (well, kinda) of eating at a Vegas buffet, and we chose the relatively modest spread at Treasure Island. There was sushi, a carvery, salads, pastas, Mexican, Chinese, and of course a truly impressive array of desserts. I managed to tear myself away before I felt sick, but I think I still managed okay, and the food itself wasn't too bad at all. Next time when I'm super rich I'll indulge at the Wynn... or maybe one of those celebrity chef restaurants, definitely out of our budget this time around though!
After that we checked out the hotel's 'Sirens of TI' show, which basically was a 'battle' between some 'sirens' and 'pirates'. Being Vegas they don't do things by halves, and the moving ships, fireworks, singing, dancing, and HUGE fireballs were definitely very impressive. We were so close to the fireballs I thought I'd be roasted alive if they didn't stop after a few seconds!
However, I must say that probably my favourite 'free' Vegas show were the Bellagio fountains. I'd seen them in movies before, but nothing quite prepares you for how beautiful it is in real life, up close. I almost wish we had more time to stay and re-watch it a couple of times, but it was already getting super late and we had an early start the next day to drive to Mammoth Lakes.
Overall, I didn't think Vegas was that bad during the day, it was a lot cleaner than I expected, thoug they could've done without the guys on the street wearing the 'GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS' t-shirts trying to hand you business cards...
Probably the funniest thing that happened in Vegas (while I wasn't actually there) was when James was approached by a guy, who greeted him with a fistbump, and then asked if he liked to party, to which James replied (verbatim), 'Not especially?' and then made a run for it. Obviously that guy was trying to get him to go to his nightclub or something... I totally LOLed when I heard about it!
Okay, next post will be about the Grand Canyon, though we have a pretty packed schedule ahead so we may or may not have internet access again until San Fran... we'll see I guess!
Sunday, 21 June 2009
DC
We've only had one and a bit days in DC and already have walked a total of about 15 miles (or 24km) around the city! Unlike New York the subway system isn't as extensive or conveniently close to our hotel, so we've been deciding to just walk everywhere, with pretty tiring consequences... but it's all grist for the mill, especially as Yosemite isn't far away now.
Last night when we arrived from New York it was already about 7pm, as soon as we got into the room it was a relief to see that the lack of space restriction meant we could actually walk around without tripping over ourselves! And finally some free in-room wifi too. Unfortunately laundry service prices were still astronomical (US$3 for a pair of socks, US$8 for one pair of pants) so this morning we had to find another laundromat, but that worked out okay.
Dinner was at a tapas bar called Jaleo which was packed, we had to wait for a table but it was worth it because everything was delicious! Afterwards we decided to take a look at some of the monuments in the dark, first we went up to Capitol Hill, and then all the way down to the Washington Monument, which was actually quite a walk... we also intended to have a look at the White House at night but it was so well hidden behind the trees (and we didn't really know at the time where to look) that we missed it entirely. By the time we got back to the hotel it was about midnight and we were exhausted, little did we know how much further we would walk the following day...
The following day (today) first thing we did was drop off the laundry, and also grab some breakfast - I tried cheese and grits for the first time, which to be honest was a bit bland by itself, but I'm still glad I got to try it... it was raining pretty miserably the entire time, so we headed into the Smithsonian's Air & Space museum. It was packed (especially with school groups) but still worth the visit, it was funny to see how they had hastily corrected all the Pluto references in the Solar System exhibition, everything was in need of a bit of an update really! But probably the coolest thing was seeing things like the actual propeller from the first Wright brothers' plane, actual things used by astronauts in the Apollo mission, and I also touched an actual rock from the moon (worn smooth by many visitors past)!
After we finished we were pleasantly surprised that it'd cleared up outside, and was actually quite balmy. It was time to collect our laundry so we did that, dropped it back off at the hotel, and then headed back out with better directions to find the White House. We managed to snap photos from both the rear and the front, and then went to look at the Lincoln, FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Jefferson Memorials.
Overall, I've been very impressed by how well the neo-classical architecture (as James informed me) has been executed in DC, the wide expanses and grand monuments are a complete contrast from NY, and reminds me a lot of Vienna. Also, it was cool to see the famous speeches from the various presidents carved into their monuments, even though we weren't American, a lot of it is still universally relevant, especially seeing FDR's quotes and today's wars and economic crisis.
Tomorrow we'll look at the Natural History part of the Smithsonian and probably just take it a bit easier, given how much we've already done in DC.
Last night when we arrived from New York it was already about 7pm, as soon as we got into the room it was a relief to see that the lack of space restriction meant we could actually walk around without tripping over ourselves! And finally some free in-room wifi too. Unfortunately laundry service prices were still astronomical (US$3 for a pair of socks, US$8 for one pair of pants) so this morning we had to find another laundromat, but that worked out okay.
Dinner was at a tapas bar called Jaleo which was packed, we had to wait for a table but it was worth it because everything was delicious! Afterwards we decided to take a look at some of the monuments in the dark, first we went up to Capitol Hill, and then all the way down to the Washington Monument, which was actually quite a walk... we also intended to have a look at the White House at night but it was so well hidden behind the trees (and we didn't really know at the time where to look) that we missed it entirely. By the time we got back to the hotel it was about midnight and we were exhausted, little did we know how much further we would walk the following day...
The following day (today) first thing we did was drop off the laundry, and also grab some breakfast - I tried cheese and grits for the first time, which to be honest was a bit bland by itself, but I'm still glad I got to try it... it was raining pretty miserably the entire time, so we headed into the Smithsonian's Air & Space museum. It was packed (especially with school groups) but still worth the visit, it was funny to see how they had hastily corrected all the Pluto references in the Solar System exhibition, everything was in need of a bit of an update really! But probably the coolest thing was seeing things like the actual propeller from the first Wright brothers' plane, actual things used by astronauts in the Apollo mission, and I also touched an actual rock from the moon (worn smooth by many visitors past)!
After we finished we were pleasantly surprised that it'd cleared up outside, and was actually quite balmy. It was time to collect our laundry so we did that, dropped it back off at the hotel, and then headed back out with better directions to find the White House. We managed to snap photos from both the rear and the front, and then went to look at the Lincoln, FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Jefferson Memorials.
Overall, I've been very impressed by how well the neo-classical architecture (as James informed me) has been executed in DC, the wide expanses and grand monuments are a complete contrast from NY, and reminds me a lot of Vienna. Also, it was cool to see the famous speeches from the various presidents carved into their monuments, even though we weren't American, a lot of it is still universally relevant, especially seeing FDR's quotes and today's wars and economic crisis.
Tomorrow we'll look at the Natural History part of the Smithsonian and probably just take it a bit easier, given how much we've already done in DC.
Friday, 19 June 2009
New York Sum-up
As some of you may have seen on my Facebook, it's been unseasonally cold in the East Coast lately, in Boston it was as low as 12 degrees Celsius and overcast or raining interchangeably, same in New York. For most of our time it's been reasonably okay, but yesterday the skies let loose and it poured continuously for the entire day - really helpful when you're taking a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty... Basically we got out, took some photos as best I could under the umbrella (shielding us from the sideways-rain) and then hurried back to the ferry and the mainland.
However, not to worry, we already got some great (clear) shots of the UNESCO site (another one ticked off the list!) from our Staten Island Ferry ride and the Circle Line cruise. Ironically it's still overcast but at least not raining today, but ah well.
At the moment we're just waiting in the hotel until closer to the time that our bus to Washington leaves from Penn Station, I'm using the 'public' free internet computer in the hotel's 'business centre' to post this entry, which also explains why we haven't had much of a chance to upload photos yet - this has a 30 min time limit and I inevitably have to relinquish this before I can organise the photos properly. Nevermind, the Washington hotel supposedly has free in-room wifi, so hopefully that's going to be able to cope with some uploads!
Some things I want to note down before I forget about our time in New York, in no particular order:
However, not to worry, we already got some great (clear) shots of the UNESCO site (another one ticked off the list!) from our Staten Island Ferry ride and the Circle Line cruise. Ironically it's still overcast but at least not raining today, but ah well.
At the moment we're just waiting in the hotel until closer to the time that our bus to Washington leaves from Penn Station, I'm using the 'public' free internet computer in the hotel's 'business centre' to post this entry, which also explains why we haven't had much of a chance to upload photos yet - this has a 30 min time limit and I inevitably have to relinquish this before I can organise the photos properly. Nevermind, the Washington hotel supposedly has free in-room wifi, so hopefully that's going to be able to cope with some uploads!
Some things I want to note down before I forget about our time in New York, in no particular order:
- Saw a rat in the subway tracks one time, but heaps smaller than the ginormous one we saw in Pondicherry, India!
- I managed to tick two of the three (?) NY food icons off my list - a pastrami sandwich at Katz's, a lox bagel at Barney Greengrass. The hour plus line at Grimaldi's kinda put me off waiting for that famous Brooklyn pizza though, maybe next time.
- If you ever come to New York for 3+ days, I'd definitely recommend getting some sort of New York Pass/multiple-attraction discount pass and also an equivalent period unlimited ride Metropass, which works on both the subway and the buses. The New York pass basically meant we got about a 50% discount off all the attractions we went to, not to mention help us avoid a few queues, too.
- Pedestrians and cars pay zero attention to each other, I was led to believe jaywalking was some sort of henious crime here, but everyone in NY does it pretty much at every crossing, and cars don't wait for you even if the pedestrian light is green - if they're trying to turn and they see a gap, they just go.
- Every single American tourist in New York can't go around without wearing the 'I *heart* NY' t-shirts. Once we even saw a group of about 30 people in the exact same one, it was a bit weird... We've managed to get through the entire trip without purchasing a single kitschy NY souvenir, which I'm pleased about. I was somewhat tempted by the personalised 'CLARA' items (fake NY license plates, keychains) since they usually never have my name on personalised items, but at US$6.99 for a small keychain I managed to resist.
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Two top views, museums, and Comedy Central shows...
Have been doing so much lately I can hardly keep track of when we did what! Let's see how well I can recall it without also looking through the photos at the same time...
The night before last we went up the Empire State Building, the original plan was to go up at near-twilight and then stay for the sunset and also night view. Unfortunately, the crush of tourists (even at 8, 9pm) combined with the slow security check meant it was fully dark by the time we got up there. Nevermind, still a lovely view and we got some great photos. We went up Top of the Rock the following night and by contrast it was very spacious and relaxed, heaps less people, and much better views actually - a full vista of Central Park and also a great view of the Empire State Building itself. If you only had the chance to go up one of these in NY, I'd definitely recommend the latter.
Museum-wise we've now been to The Met(tropolitan Museum of Art) and also the Guggenheim, which was actually really interesting because they had a special exhibit on Frank Lloyd Wright himself. The Met had your usual array of Byzantium, Ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian stuff, etc, so we didn't actually spend as long there. Also made our first foray into Central Park which was as massive as we'd expected. On the great lawn we witnessed some sort of bizzare version of American baseball played with a dodgeball and instead of swinging with a bat you kicked with your feet. Didn't seem that fun to play or to watch...
Food-wise I've finally achieved my goal of going to Katz's deli for a pastrami sandwich - at US$14.95 a sandwich it wasn't cheap, but James & I shared that between the two of us and it was as delicious as I expected, so I think it was worth the trip! For dinner last night we went to Sip Sak, a Turkish place, which was probably some of the best Turkish food we've both had, and tonight we had some empanadas and arepas at a place on 9th Ave, again, really good... Too bad I then nearly made myself sick on ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery, but I guess I have yet to learn from my mistakes...
This morning we went to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which is basically an old aircraft carrier converted into a giant tourist attraction - really worth it, especially being able to go into a submarine! After that we took our 2 hour Circle Line cruise from the NY Pass, had a tour guide with an awesome NY accent and found out some interesting tidbits about the city.
Probably the most exciting thing today was NEARLY getting the chance to be in the audience of The Colbert Report, we were #7 & 8 on the standby list, but alas they only had one spare seat... Which is a shame since we spent probably two and a half hours in total around the studio, waiting, but... we weren't alone, that was for sure!
Well, I better let someone else use the computer now, tomorrow we're planning to go to the Statue of Liberty (finally) and also MoMA.
The night before last we went up the Empire State Building, the original plan was to go up at near-twilight and then stay for the sunset and also night view. Unfortunately, the crush of tourists (even at 8, 9pm) combined with the slow security check meant it was fully dark by the time we got up there. Nevermind, still a lovely view and we got some great photos. We went up Top of the Rock the following night and by contrast it was very spacious and relaxed, heaps less people, and much better views actually - a full vista of Central Park and also a great view of the Empire State Building itself. If you only had the chance to go up one of these in NY, I'd definitely recommend the latter.
Museum-wise we've now been to The Met(tropolitan Museum of Art) and also the Guggenheim, which was actually really interesting because they had a special exhibit on Frank Lloyd Wright himself. The Met had your usual array of Byzantium, Ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian stuff, etc, so we didn't actually spend as long there. Also made our first foray into Central Park which was as massive as we'd expected. On the great lawn we witnessed some sort of bizzare version of American baseball played with a dodgeball and instead of swinging with a bat you kicked with your feet. Didn't seem that fun to play or to watch...
Food-wise I've finally achieved my goal of going to Katz's deli for a pastrami sandwich - at US$14.95 a sandwich it wasn't cheap, but James & I shared that between the two of us and it was as delicious as I expected, so I think it was worth the trip! For dinner last night we went to Sip Sak, a Turkish place, which was probably some of the best Turkish food we've both had, and tonight we had some empanadas and arepas at a place on 9th Ave, again, really good... Too bad I then nearly made myself sick on ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery, but I guess I have yet to learn from my mistakes...
This morning we went to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which is basically an old aircraft carrier converted into a giant tourist attraction - really worth it, especially being able to go into a submarine! After that we took our 2 hour Circle Line cruise from the NY Pass, had a tour guide with an awesome NY accent and found out some interesting tidbits about the city.
Probably the most exciting thing today was NEARLY getting the chance to be in the audience of The Colbert Report, we were #7 & 8 on the standby list, but alas they only had one spare seat... Which is a shame since we spent probably two and a half hours in total around the studio, waiting, but... we weren't alone, that was for sure!
Well, I better let someone else use the computer now, tomorrow we're planning to go to the Statue of Liberty (finally) and also MoMA.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Two tours and our first celeb sighting!
After dropping our laundry off at a place around the block, we made our way to Rockefeller Plaza where we did the Radio City Music Hall and NBC Studio tours back-t0-back. We had a pretty good guide and a relatively small group of eight for the Radio City one so it was pretty good, the Art Deco interiors and design were cool, and we even got to go on the stage and meet a 'Rockette', one of two hundred dancing girls who perform regularly there (and around the country), though the one we met seemed almost... robotic in the way she recited her spiel and then offered to take photos with us.
The NBC tour was by contrast extremely packed, there were quite a few school groups going through and the pages doing the guiding were obviously quite numb to the constant flow of visitors. We got taken to Brian William's news studio, the Football in America studio, and finally the Saturday Night Live studio. The highlight of the tour though was definitely being given a chance to see Jimmy Fallon rehearse his jokes for tonight's Late Night show! We even got to talk to him 'directly' because he asked if there were any visitors from outside America, when James said 'New Zild' he responded 'England?', then I had to correct him by loudly enounciating 'New ZEEland'. Anyway, he had quite a few jokes mostly revolving around the Iran election, LA Lakers, etc. Most of them were good, except for one that nobody laughed at, and then we all laughed because nobody laughed... We'll be sure to catch tonight's show to see what made the cut!
The NBC tour was by contrast extremely packed, there were quite a few school groups going through and the pages doing the guiding were obviously quite numb to the constant flow of visitors. We got taken to Brian William's news studio, the Football in America studio, and finally the Saturday Night Live studio. The highlight of the tour though was definitely being given a chance to see Jimmy Fallon rehearse his jokes for tonight's Late Night show! We even got to talk to him 'directly' because he asked if there were any visitors from outside America, when James said 'New Zild' he responded 'England?', then I had to correct him by loudly enounciating 'New ZEEland'. Anyway, he had quite a few jokes mostly revolving around the Iran election, LA Lakers, etc. Most of them were good, except for one that nobody laughed at, and then we all laughed because nobody laughed... We'll be sure to catch tonight's show to see what made the cut!
Monday, 15 June 2009
Brooklyn & Lower Manhattan
Turns out today was Puerto Rico Day (or something like that), apparently there was a parade on but we went out a bit too late to see it, however we did manage to enjoy the street market running parallel, starting pretty much right outside our hotel. There were plenty of food stalls selling things like gyros, grills, tacos, and even clam chowder - I ended up getting a chowder since I only had one in Boston (and it was a bit average) and this actually turned out to be pretty good! James had a taco, I had a bit of beef and I can definitely testify to its tastiness.
Afterwards we got on the subway and decided to get off at Brooklyn Bridge, on which probably 99% of the pedestrians were tourists... It was pretty cool walking across, the raised walk/cycleway is definitely a sensible approach but it's probably a bit late for Auckland to adopt that. On the other side we walked through some of the parks and and a cursory stroll in the leafy residential streets, before catching a bus back to Manhattan, getting off at Wall St.
Being a Sunday, Wall St was pretty quiet (except for tourists) and some roadworks, we took the obligatory photos by the big flag on the NYSE, and then walked towards Ground Zero. When we got there, as I expected we saw a huge hole with a couple of cranes in it and not much else. To be honest I can't say I had a huge emotional reaction, as there wasn't any proper memorial, and a lot of it was fenced and tarped off, but I guess I can say I've now been there.
After that we pretty much walked all the way down to Battery Park but decided to save the Statue of Liberty trip for another day - instead we hopped on the free Staten Island Ferry, of course there was absolutely nothing on the other side so we just hopped straight back, but you got a nice view of the statue and also Manhattan either way.
The last 'attraction' for the day for was the 'Bodies...' exhibition in South St Seaport, it was fascinating but also a bit disturbing, especially as it seemed all the 'specimens' were Asian males - did they buy them in bulk from China or something...? Though probably the most disturbing part for me was the ones with the baby fetuses in various stages of development. I definitely recommend it though!
Had dinner in the same area, and then headed home to find a laundromat, given the exorbitant fees of the hotel's laundry service (US$5 for washing ONE shirt!) We walked around the block and could see quite a few places, however they were all closed - will try again tomorrow, a place that's already looking quite promising only charges US$1 per pound of clothes, with a minimum of 6 pounds, which is how much I guesstimated our load to be, so that should be okay. Still, I was hoping there would be the coin-operated self-serve ones open 24hrs, but obviously not in our neighbourhood!
Afterwards we got on the subway and decided to get off at Brooklyn Bridge, on which probably 99% of the pedestrians were tourists... It was pretty cool walking across, the raised walk/cycleway is definitely a sensible approach but it's probably a bit late for Auckland to adopt that. On the other side we walked through some of the parks and and a cursory stroll in the leafy residential streets, before catching a bus back to Manhattan, getting off at Wall St.
Being a Sunday, Wall St was pretty quiet (except for tourists) and some roadworks, we took the obligatory photos by the big flag on the NYSE, and then walked towards Ground Zero. When we got there, as I expected we saw a huge hole with a couple of cranes in it and not much else. To be honest I can't say I had a huge emotional reaction, as there wasn't any proper memorial, and a lot of it was fenced and tarped off, but I guess I can say I've now been there.
After that we pretty much walked all the way down to Battery Park but decided to save the Statue of Liberty trip for another day - instead we hopped on the free Staten Island Ferry, of course there was absolutely nothing on the other side so we just hopped straight back, but you got a nice view of the statue and also Manhattan either way.
The last 'attraction' for the day for was the 'Bodies...' exhibition in South St Seaport, it was fascinating but also a bit disturbing, especially as it seemed all the 'specimens' were Asian males - did they buy them in bulk from China or something...? Though probably the most disturbing part for me was the ones with the baby fetuses in various stages of development. I definitely recommend it though!
Had dinner in the same area, and then headed home to find a laundromat, given the exorbitant fees of the hotel's laundry service (US$5 for washing ONE shirt!) We walked around the block and could see quite a few places, however they were all closed - will try again tomorrow, a place that's already looking quite promising only charges US$1 per pound of clothes, with a minimum of 6 pounds, which is how much I guesstimated our load to be, so that should be okay. Still, I was hoping there would be the coin-operated self-serve ones open 24hrs, but obviously not in our neighbourhood!
Sunday, 14 June 2009
New York, New York
It's great to finally be in NYC! I say 'finally' even though I've only really been here for three days, but we've been planning this for ages after all.
We took the Lucky Star Bus (a shame they don't have 'gold' in their name) from Boston to NY Chinatown, it was super convenient and very cheap (only $15 per person). Am also very proud that we managed to get from Chinatown to our hotel using the subway, bags and all - apparently they haven't heard of lifts in these stations, or wide turnstiles for wheelchairs & people with baggage. I do miss HK in that respect... but I guess this system is a lot older than that!
I know I showed some people this hotel which we had originally booked, and it was going to be a spacious room with a fantastic view of Manhattan, etc. However, after looking at it on Google Maps and reconsidering the inconvenience of basically being ten blocks away from the closest subway station, I decided to change to this one instead, ended up being cheaper and much more conveniently located - only two blocks from the subway.
However. I guess there's a reason it's this cheap, as we ended up with a teensy-tiny room with a bona-fide anti-view... I gathered that the hotel is completely chocka-full at the moment, but am hoping that during the weekdays they might be able to move us somewhere else...
Still! It's definitely exciting to finally be here, we'll head out and grab our NY Pass now, and also some dinner, and get our teeth into the proper sightseeing tomorrow.
We took the Lucky Star Bus (a shame they don't have 'gold' in their name) from Boston to NY Chinatown, it was super convenient and very cheap (only $15 per person). Am also very proud that we managed to get from Chinatown to our hotel using the subway, bags and all - apparently they haven't heard of lifts in these stations, or wide turnstiles for wheelchairs & people with baggage. I do miss HK in that respect... but I guess this system is a lot older than that!
I know I showed some people this hotel which we had originally booked, and it was going to be a spacious room with a fantastic view of Manhattan, etc. However, after looking at it on Google Maps and reconsidering the inconvenience of basically being ten blocks away from the closest subway station, I decided to change to this one instead, ended up being cheaper and much more conveniently located - only two blocks from the subway.
However. I guess there's a reason it's this cheap, as we ended up with a teensy-tiny room with a bona-fide anti-view... I gathered that the hotel is completely chocka-full at the moment, but am hoping that during the weekdays they might be able to move us somewhere else...
Still! It's definitely exciting to finally be here, we'll head out and grab our NY Pass now, and also some dinner, and get our teeth into the proper sightseeing tomorrow.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
All malled-out
Yesterday I managed to go through pretty much all the stores in Natick Mall and surrounding area and only spent about $2! There were all sorts of stores I'd heard of but never been to, including Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Sears, JCPennys, Gap, Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, etc. Also, there were the specialty places like the Lego store, complete with candy-bin like dispensers of different coloured bricks, and of course a proper Apple store (not just a Magnum Mac).
Unfortunately I had more time to kill at the mall than I really needed, while I waited for James to finish his last day of work-related stuff, so... my first visit will probably also be my last - but I didn't come here for the shopping (definitely not why James agreed to take me along, anyway!).
By the time we got into our new hotel closer to town, we wandered around the Faneuil Hall Marketplace area before having dinner, which was not too bad - it was the after-dinner drinks that was interesting though... We were wandering around and ended up at an Irish pub, as soon as we walked it we could see it was a local joint, and the barwoman immediately asked for our IDs - even though we were 25, 26 and 44 (James' boss)! We pulled out our NZ driver's licenses but obviously she just wanted us to leave because she said it wasn't good enough...
Anyway, so we wandered off into the Hard Rock Cafe instead. That was also funny because we were told to go through to the bar (since we said we didn't want dinner), we went through and since there wasn't really space for all three of us to sit at the bar we sat down at a nearby table, and then a panicked waiter came over and started berating us for not getting seated by the proper person, and basically told us to get up... We ended up at the bar in the end, but not without some drama!
In the end, I guess the weird thing is how rule-conscious people seem to be here, and they freak out (loudly!) when you don't do what they expect... I guess we'll just have to pick it up as we go along!
Anyway, so we wandered off into the Hard Rock Cafe instead. That was also funny because we were told to go through to the bar (since we said we didn't want dinner), we went through and since there wasn't really space for all three of us to sit at the bar we sat down at a nearby table, and then a panicked waiter came over and started berating us for not getting seated by the proper person, and basically told us to get up... We ended up at the bar in the end, but not without some drama!
In the end, I guess the weird thing is how rule-conscious people seem to be here, and they freak out (loudly!) when you don't do what they expect... I guess we'll just have to pick it up as we go along!
Friday, 12 June 2009
Thirty-something hours later...
I'm finally in Boston! Well, Natick to be precise, about thirty minutes west, where the main feature seems to be the massive shopping centre (Sylvia Park or Westfield Albany ain't got nothin' on Natick Mall) surrounded by tech companies in an industrial park environment.
But anywhere is better than being on a plane or stuck in an airport, as I have been for the past two days... Flight from Auckland to San Fran was a breeze, it even arrived earlier than expected, but if anything this worsened the pain of the ten hour plus wait that was to come before my connecting flight to Boston was to depart...
At SFO I whiled away the time by:
1) riding a complete loop of the AirTrain for no reason
2) window shopping everywhere, including the SFMOMA store
3) checking in my bags to my American Airlines Boston flight with a frustratingly unresponsive touch screen
4) managing to avoid the con artists at the 'free speech booth' trying to get 'donations' from you
5) having lunch at the San Francisco Soup Company in the foodcourt
6) later, having Cheetos and Snapple - Snapple was fine but Cheetos have a thing or two to learn from Twisties...
7) getting dinner from a sushi place, with some regret as three pieces were unexpectedly laced with chili - I managed to knock them back in quick succession and soothe my mouth with an avocado roll in the end
Things started to go wrong for my Boston flight when the plane itself arrived late at the terminal, so we were already half an hour delayed from the get go... not a biggie, until two hours in the captain announced we were to make a stop in Denver. The reason for this remained a mystery until after we'd landed and two medical personnel whisked the pilot himself away! Turns out he fell ill about an hour into the flight and decided landing was the safest option... What surprised me next was the reaction of my fellow passengers - mild annoyance and resignation. I suppose everyone is used to domestic flights being unreliable so expectations were already at rock bottom.
The only thing opened inside the airport at the time (and it was about 4am local time) was McD's, and queues quickly formed - I put my 'breakfast' off until closer to the rescheduled departure time of 7.30am local time, which was then they said they'd managed to get a replacement captain & crew. Ended up getting the Sausage & Egg McMuffin (of course), which was actually very delicious - sausage pattie almost as good as in HK (but not quite), but the egg was by far the best I'd ever had in a McMuffin. Next I suppose I'll have to try the McGriddle, but looks to me like the English Muffins have been replaced by blueberry pancakes, so... not too sure about that... The only frustration was my failure to get a cup of tea with my bfast combo, the server was either stymied by my accent or my request for a 'milk tea'. Whatever it was, ended up with a gigantic cup of black (filtered?) coffee about twice the size of your normal NZ cup, and only managed to scull it down after adding two creamers and three sugars. Yum!
When we FINALLY got to Boston it was a full six hours after our initial estimated arrival time. At least it was easy to get from the airport to Natick! Met James at the Logan Express bus stop, had a quick shower back at the hotel and then grabbed some lunch at the nearby mall. I'll be heading back there tomorrow to have a proper exploration of the shops while James finishes up the last of his work-related days.
Dinner was at TGI Fridays, which was not too bad except their barbeque sauce tasted mainly like tangy high-fructose corn syrup, but at least we got the smaller (i.e. normal) portion sizes. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to a proper New England Clam Chowder!
But anywhere is better than being on a plane or stuck in an airport, as I have been for the past two days... Flight from Auckland to San Fran was a breeze, it even arrived earlier than expected, but if anything this worsened the pain of the ten hour plus wait that was to come before my connecting flight to Boston was to depart...
At SFO I whiled away the time by:
1) riding a complete loop of the AirTrain for no reason
2) window shopping everywhere, including the SFMOMA store
3) checking in my bags to my American Airlines Boston flight with a frustratingly unresponsive touch screen
4) managing to avoid the con artists at the 'free speech booth' trying to get 'donations' from you
5) having lunch at the San Francisco Soup Company in the foodcourt
6) later, having Cheetos and Snapple - Snapple was fine but Cheetos have a thing or two to learn from Twisties...
7) getting dinner from a sushi place, with some regret as three pieces were unexpectedly laced with chili - I managed to knock them back in quick succession and soothe my mouth with an avocado roll in the end
Things started to go wrong for my Boston flight when the plane itself arrived late at the terminal, so we were already half an hour delayed from the get go... not a biggie, until two hours in the captain announced we were to make a stop in Denver. The reason for this remained a mystery until after we'd landed and two medical personnel whisked the pilot himself away! Turns out he fell ill about an hour into the flight and decided landing was the safest option... What surprised me next was the reaction of my fellow passengers - mild annoyance and resignation. I suppose everyone is used to domestic flights being unreliable so expectations were already at rock bottom.
The only thing opened inside the airport at the time (and it was about 4am local time) was McD's, and queues quickly formed - I put my 'breakfast' off until closer to the rescheduled departure time of 7.30am local time, which was then they said they'd managed to get a replacement captain & crew. Ended up getting the Sausage & Egg McMuffin (of course), which was actually very delicious - sausage pattie almost as good as in HK (but not quite), but the egg was by far the best I'd ever had in a McMuffin. Next I suppose I'll have to try the McGriddle, but looks to me like the English Muffins have been replaced by blueberry pancakes, so... not too sure about that... The only frustration was my failure to get a cup of tea with my bfast combo, the server was either stymied by my accent or my request for a 'milk tea'. Whatever it was, ended up with a gigantic cup of black (filtered?) coffee about twice the size of your normal NZ cup, and only managed to scull it down after adding two creamers and three sugars. Yum!
When we FINALLY got to Boston it was a full six hours after our initial estimated arrival time. At least it was easy to get from the airport to Natick! Met James at the Logan Express bus stop, had a quick shower back at the hotel and then grabbed some lunch at the nearby mall. I'll be heading back there tomorrow to have a proper exploration of the shops while James finishes up the last of his work-related days.
Dinner was at TGI Fridays, which was not too bad except their barbeque sauce tasted mainly like tangy high-fructose corn syrup, but at least we got the smaller (i.e. normal) portion sizes. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to a proper New England Clam Chowder!
Sunday, 7 June 2009
another trip, another blog
I've lost count of how many blogs I've started, and how many months (years?) since I last posted in any of them, but given my imminent three week trip to the States, now's as good a time as any to throw another one into the mix!
Sunday, 2 December 2007
A Long Overdue Update
Seems like it's been exactly one month since I got back from India, but it seems like a lifetime ago... (Hinduism reference! Get it? LOL) Seriously though, I totally didn't mean to just abandon this completely, there were tons of things I neglected to mention in my hurried internet café bloggings, and I was also going to do a summary, but once we got back it was so easy just to fall back into the grind.
Anyway, I know someone who's going to India soon so it's as good an excuse as any to dispense my invaluable advice for anyone game enough for such an undertaking... Okay, it's not that bad, but some of the pointers below could help. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so I'll probably come back and add/amend it later on. Also, most of them are probably already in your Lonely Planet, but it's good to stress how important some of it is...
Food & Drink
Water - only drink bottled mineral water and ensure that you're the person cracking open the seal for the first time when you get it. Good brands to look out for and stick to are Kinley (made by Coke), Aquafina (Pepsi) and Bisleri (also a big brand). However, the dodgier looking local water brands turned out to be alright anyway, just make sure it's sealed...
Chai - if you've ever had a chai latté in Starbucks, you'll soon realise that it's miles apart from the real chai in India, which is an entirely different experience altogether! We drank it everywhere and didn't really have any major stomach problems (or maybe we did, but we couldn't trace it back to one particular thing...). It's generally boiled pretty well though so should be alright. If you're on the Sleeper class carriage in the train it's fun to get fresh chai in clay cups which you can throw out the window afterwards.
Maximum Retail Price (MRP) - a lot of manufactured/processed items will have somewhere printed on it a 'MRP' which indicates Maximum Retail Price, but if you're in a restaurant or just a dodgy roadside stall they're almost certainly going to charge you twice or more. Unfortunately there's not a huge amount you can do about this, but it's good to know what it should cost. Sometimes the MRP is unsubtly rubbed off... Generally a 1L bottle of mineral water should only be 12Rs.
Chocolate in Ooty - this is a bit random but if you're ever in Ooty make sure you don't buy the local 'handmade' chocolate. It may look delicious in the shop window, but trust me, it tastes nothing like what chocolate should.
How to Deal with Dodgy, Deserted Restaurants - if you're forced to eat somewhere which looks a bit dodgy and you're the first patron there in weeks, or even the rest stop restaurants along the highway, it's a much safer bet to stick to vegetarian food. Paneer Butter Masala is just like Butter Chicken but with cubes of tofu-like cheese instead of chicken and a nice stand-in for real meat.
Breakfast - Indian breakfasts are sorely lacking in variety, so I would highly recommend any Kiwis/Aussies to take some Vegemite/Nutella/Peanut Butter with them. I mean, depends on what you like. Generally you can get access to (under/overdone) toast, but they only give you butter and a sickly sweet jam to go with it. Parantha is kind of like a roti (flat bread) with a curried potato stuffing which doesn't taste too bad, but you can get tired of that pretty quickly.
Seafood - I would stay away from seafood anywhere inland because it's not likely to be fresh... However, in Goa you should definitely try the pomfret fish! It may be a bit more expensive than the other stuff, but it was delicious... Be wary of waiters trying to sell you lobsters though, they may well show you one thing and serve you another, but that's a hazard all over Asia I suppose. The crab I had in Mamallapuram was really good, so I would also recommend that!
Shopping
Pesky Street Hawkers - everywhere you go, if you look non-Indian then you will be inundated with people trying to sell you crap. The best and I've found quickest way to get rid of them is just to pretend they're invisible and don't even acknowledge their presence. Same goes for beggars. It might be difficult at first, but all they're trying to do is guilt-trip you into buying their stuff, don't be fooled! Trust me, after a week of trying to be polite and saying 'no thanks' to a million people a day, the ignoring option will start being easier to do. Unless you're genuinely interested in their wares (but they're probably ripping you off anyway), better just to ignore them.
Bargaining - this is an essential skill if you want to be doing any kind of shopping (or even for payment of services) because most people have some ridiculous 500% markup on their prices. Depending on what kind of thing it is, you should generally offer at least a third of what they said the price was. As you haggle, make sure you don't end up settling for something which is only, say, 10% off the original price... A surefire way to speed things up is just to start walking away, at which point most people will start shouting lower prices at you. I must admit I wasn't great at this, especially when it was something I knew I wanted to buy...
Regional Specialities - try to find out from your guidebook what your destination is famous for and only stick to buying that, because otherwise the likelihood of being ripped off is considerably heightened.
Show-and-Guilt-Trip Sales Presentations - if you're on a tour it's certain to happen, and even if you're on your own you're likely to be pulled into one of these stores with empty promises of 'just looking, no buying'. It generally goes like this - they show you how they make what they have, what they have in store, and then shrewdly manipulate you into spending a fortune in their shop using mainly guilt tripping. It's best just to avoid these situations altogether by not going into those shops, but when you end up in one, just be firm and rude, if necessary. I mean, it's entirely possible you might want to buy some of their stuff, but depending on what it is, there's probably a way to get it cheaper. For example we bought a load of tea in Jodhpur, but when we were in a supermarket in Ooty we saw the same thing but heaps cheaper... It's helpful to shop around if you have time. Use your discretion and be careful, basically!
Travel & Transport
Travel Agencies - I have mixed feelings about these because even though I know they take a ridiculous amount of margin, it can take a lot of the hassle out of things. However, given the choice again I definitely wouldn't have chosen one for the beginning of our trip. It's especially important to avoid travel agencies when booking one off things like train or bus tickets because they're totally going to cream it, and speaking of which...
Night Buses - definitely avoid night buses when there is a night train alternative!! We went on two, and both turned very badly. Plus the fact that whoever's selling it to you is probably making heaps of profit. Unless you'e super strapped for cash (buses are cheaper than trains), it's just not worth the pain.
Trains - it pays to book in advance because they can often be sold out, especially in high season, but always book at the official ticket office (which should be in your guidebook). When you're waiting in the line random people might come up and tell you the train is full, then sell you a bus ticket with a hefty commission attached, but just ignore people who isn't the one sitting behind the window. Generally you have to fill out a booking form before you go up to the window to actually book/pay, so to avoid queuing twice, when you first get to the ticket office push towards the counter and grab a form first. Some train stations also have tourist-dedicated booking offices which helps a lot. On the train itself, 3AC (an air-conditioned car with 3-tier bunks) is the best option for most foreigners, especially on overnight trains. On a short or daytime-only journey it can be fun to go on Sleeper class a few times just to get the 'real' experience though, you'll get tons of stares and people trying to talk to you though.
Auto-rickshaws & Taxis - one of the most important things you'll learn in India is never trust a rickshaw driver, which also applies to taxi drivers. They will always be trying to take you to their hotel (to get comission) or tell you some tourist attraction is closed so they can take you somewhere further away, or take you to their travel agent friend to rip you off even more. Always agree on a fare before you start the journey, which should hopefully match what the guidebook says. Unfortunately you won't always know what's a fair fare, but if there are several taxis around it helps to ask around first to see if someone else has a better offer. However in many tourist attractions they seem to have formed a price-fixing alliance against tourists which won't help much.
Government Buses - we actually found these fantastic value for money when we were travelling around the south of India. At least they pretty much always stop at a bus station which is on the guidebook's map, and buses between major centres are so frequent that it doesn't matter if you miss one, just hop on the following vehicle... Of course the only downside is that they can be a tad uncomfortable, especially when going over the ubiquitous potholes on the highways or up the winding roads towards Ooty (very sore bum afterwards).
Local Flights - if you can, definitely arrange this yourself online at an internet café, because it'll be cheaper than through an agency (of course!). We went with Air Deccan/Kingfisher for our Delhi to Mumbai flight, and booking was pretty smooth, you just need your credit card, they give you a confirmation number, and when you show up at the airport you just quote them the number, and show them your passport about a dozen times and it's all sorted! Being in an air-conditioned guarded airport (only passengers can even enter the terminal) is a refreshing change from being in a noisy, crowded train station.
Accommodation
Booking Ahead vs. Turning Up? - Of course there's pros and cons to both. The pro of booking ahead is of course that you're ensuring you have somewhere to stay, which is super helpful for when you first arrive in the country, if you know you're going to be arriving in a town quite late at night, or there's a big festival happening and all the hotels fill up super fast. Booking ahead will also eliminate the worry of people rightly or wrongly telling you a particular place is full and leading you somewhere else for their commission. The con is that you may well get a better price if you just turn up somewhere and start asking about prices. But again, if you're wandering around with your 15kg packs people are going to start asking if 'you want see nice room?' which means they are going to get commission if you decide to stay there... Of course a problem arises if you're wanting to go where they want to show you anyway, and when you stay there they will demand a commission from the hotel, which equals a higher room rate for you... Turning up can also allow you to stay somewhere not mentioned in the guidebook which may also end up being cheaper and/or nicer. I wouldn't recommend that during high tourist season or if there's a festival though. Then again, sometimes you can get totally caught off-guard, such as the unavailability of a decent hotels room in the hole known as Coimbatore...
AC or Non-AC? - Sometimes a non-airconditioned room is perfectly adequate for cooler places as long as they still have a ceiling fan to keep the air circulating and drive away mosquitoes.
Tipping - of course this depends on how generous you are and what kind of thing the person's done for you. Quite often as soon as you arrive at a hotel there will be people jostling to grab your bags in the hope of a monetary reward at the end. If they're the kind who stands around and waits for you to tip them before they leave you alone, give them 10 or 20 Rs and that's about the fair amount. If they ask for more, they're just guilt tripping you so it depends on how firm you can put your foot down I suppose. In some tourist attractions such as the elephant ride in Jaipur they try to force you to give some exorbitantly high tip, but again, a tip is a tip which is up to the giver, if they pressure you too much just start threatening to call for the authorities and they should leave you alone...
Useful Things to Have
A Local Simcard - I don't know what I would've done without my Indian simcard, because we used it all the time. I mean, we would have managed, but it would've been way more of a hassle trying to borrow phones from everywhere. You can use it to book a guest house at your next stop, ask about bus or train times, or track down a missing camera... Of course it depends on how long you're spending there, but a prepay doesn't cost that much and it's always good to know you have something to fall back on!
Some Laundry Powder and Travel Clothesline - since washing machines are more costly than just hiring manual labourers, there's no such thing as laundromats where you can just put in a $2 coin for the machine and wash all your clothes at once. No, they have to be taken away by either the hotel or the laundry service shop and charge you per item of clothing, down to the last sock. As you can see this ends up being pretty expensive after a while... I would recommend washing at least your own underwear and socks in the hotel room each night as you go. Shower gel can also help if you don't have laundry powder.
Okay, I think I'll leave it there for now, more later!
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Back to the Future
Here we are at KLIA, where there's free wifi, beef noodles, clean toilets, people who all understand English properly and don't do a useless head-wobble as an answer, no cows wandering around the terminal, no stench of poo and rubbish everywhere, no beggars, no hawkers, etc, etc... Wow!
Our last experience with the Indian public transport system didn't exactly leave a glowing impression, either. Basically a bus journey from Mamallapuram to Chennai Airport which should've taken two hours ended up taking three and a bit, there was some horrendous traffic jam and for a while we thought we might even miss the plane, but fortunately it didn't come to that.
Okay, we may have been a bit harsh on India, but it is what it is - a developing country, and we've still really enjoyed our trip in its entirety, but we're definitely glad to be back in civilisation! Now we have another ten hours to wait in this airport before our connecting flight to Auckland, fortunately we have internet and power so we should be set! There are still tons of things I want to write about the trip, which I'll probably continue to on this blog even after we get back to NZ.
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Cheap != Best
Sea Shore Restaurant, Mamallapuram (a.k.a. Mahabalipuram)
Here we are at the beach again, kind of reminiscent of Goa, except with slightly less polluted skies (thanks to the recent rains) and maybe a bit more amenities such as shops, restaurants and guest houses more conveniently located in a cluster.
It poured with rain basically the entire time we were in Pondicherry (cleared up the day we left) but it didn't really dampen our spirits much, since there wasn't much to see there anyway. Much of the time was spent hanging around in Coffee.com, and talking to Davide, our new Italian friend. Other highlights included seeing giant sewer rats, one dead, and later another live one which had a body about a foot long. When we saw it, Davide exclaimed 'Incredible India!', lol.
Yesterday at the Pondicherry bus station we encountered a bunch of unhelpful people in the effort to get to Mamallapuram, and also a fragrant drunk who had puke all down his arm. A security guard squirted a whole bottle of water at him, after which he stumbled away, barfing periodically on the ground. Classy.
When we got to the guest house I'd booked over the phone, I immediately got a sinking feeling when I saw the sign outside that said 'cheap and best', because that usually translates to 'crap hole', and we were proven right once again. All the dogs barking, people chipping away at rocks, the nearby mosque with its prayer calls and some idiots yelling at each other throughout the night didn't really help either. In the morning a monkey nonchalantly wandered onto the landing outside our room and started tipping over bins to look for food. Fortunately we've found a much nicer place now closer to the beach, hopefully it should be a bit quieter as well...
Today we visited the main two tourist attractions in Mamallapuram, the Shore Temple and Five Rathas, which were very underwhelming. It also didn't help that every time you got close to either of them you had to pass through a gauntlet of hawkers, beggars, and people offering to be your guide. I totally don't care about being rude anymore though, any semblance of politeness is only used by those people as an opening for pushing you even harder for their own purposes, so it's better to just ignore them completely, which we're very skilled at doing now.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Bonjour Pondicherry!
Ram Guest House, Pondicherry
Here we are on the home stretch! Only about five days to go before we head back home, and fortunately there's only a four hour bus trip now between here and Chennai (Madras), where we're flying out of. The day before yesterday we left Ooty on the World Heritage 'toy' train thing, which was actually a bit underwhelming... Not as cool as the train from Dunedin, but I guess different enough for Indian standards. It was fortunate we got a seat in the first class cabin, because there was a bunch of idiots in the normal cabin who kept hooting when we went through tunnels...
The last stop was Mettupalayam, which we'd been strongly advised against staying in since it was such a hole, so we caught a bus to Coimbatore, another hole, but this one had the population of Auckland and many more accommodation choices. For some reason though pretty much everywhere was full, so we ended up at a pretty dodgy place with an over-friendly attendant who kept coming into our room to talk to us. I guess just for novelty value since not many foreigners would stay there.
The next morning, after much misinformation from various unhelpful people, we finally ended up on a bus to Salem, where we could then transit to Pondicherry. I'm surprised that 1) there's a town called Salem in the middle of Tamil Nadu, and 2) they haven't changed it to some other thing like they have with Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, etc, to rid itself of any signs of colonialism.
We were on those buses for nine hours, and since they were cheap government buses there were plenty of locals using them as well. We got to watch some great Tamil movies onboard, including the Indian version of Mrs. Doubtfire. In the south it seems that the ideal look for male actors is to be short, fat, sport that John Travolta Grease hairstyle, and of course have a great big moustache. You can tell that they don't have nearly as much of a budget as Bollywood because all the movies look like they were taken with some home video camera, with the fast zooming and panning etc.
The other fun thing about being on public buses were the stares - we sat by the rear door (well, door frame, there wasn't usually an actual door there) and whenever we slowly passed through a town, it was funny to see people's reactions as they noticed we were foreigners, their mouth would go agape and then they would nudge their friends and point us out to them. It wasn't much better on the bus itself, once there was this woman who just stared continuously at us (mostly James) the entire time she was there - about an hour. We should be used to it by now, but it's still quite disconcerting...
So far what we've experienced of Pondicherry is that, sure, there are some French buildings, street names, and plenty of French tourists, but it's still just like anywhere else in India - too many rickshaws, rubbish everywhere, and traffic chaos. We had lunch at a place called Coffee.com (but their website is coffeedotcom.net) which was almost like being in another country! The western food actually tasted good, and it has wifi, so that's actually where we're going to upload this from.
The place we're staying at is called 'Ram Guest House', except they mark everything as just 'Ram Guest', which is funny because seems like they're using it as a verb... Anyway, we mostly chose this place because the other budget accommodation are ashrams, which cater to hippies wanting to explore their spirituality... not really what we're after! The owner here asked where we were from, and then said he had been to the Pacific with the French military in the 70s during the nuclear testing, lol. There's quite a few French people staying here and we heard him talking to them in French, which was a bit unusual because he's Indian.
Last night we had dinner at this local place near our guest house, one dosa, a fried rice, and two drinks, very nice, filling, and only costing NZ$2 all together! Tonight we'll probably splash out on some French cuisine (well, I guess an Indian version of French cuisine) and the tax-free alcohol, but it'll still be much cheaper than NZ I'm sure. We'll meet up withDavide, an Italian guy we first met in Hampi, and bumped into again in Ooty, so that should be good. Actually we've talked to quite a few other backpackers in the past week or so, hopefully we'll actually see a few of them again in NZ as well.
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
New photos!
We just uploaded a bunch more photos, so go have a look if you're interested!
This afternoon we're taking the toy train (another World Heritage thing) down to Mettupalayam, and then staying the night in Coimbatore, before heading to Pondicherry, so will probably update again in a day or two. =)
Back to Plan A
Reflections Guest House, Ooty
We went on the trek after all, and it would've been a lot better if the weather had been clear and our guide had been replaced by a trained monkey (since he hardly said anything the entire time and walked super slowly). We walked through some farms and tea plantations, and then to a top of a hill where we were supposed to get a great view over the valley, but we just got a great view of clouds instead. Ah well, I guess it was still good exercise!
Since it doesn't seem like the weather's going to improve for the entire region (apparently the monsoon has come back for a second hit), we're now thinking about flagging the whole Kodaikanal/Madurai idea, and going back to our original plan of heading straight to Pondicherry from Ooty, go to Mamallapuram, maybe lie on the beach for a few days, and then go to Chennai the day of our flight back to NZ - only a week away now! We're definitely ready to come home, though I don't know if I'm ready to go back to work, haha. Got to fund the next trip somehow though...
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