Sweet Odyssey

Football fan? I am not actually, but...

2010-06-23T19:16:00.017+01:00

I'm not a fan of football. I'm really not. But living in London, I can't help but noticing how people here are so crazy about football. Or football mad as some people call it. A few weeks before world cup started, I already saw cars with England flags on everywhere. Houses, windows, balconies were decorated with bigger flags. I also saw on newspapers that there was even a pub whose owner is a football fanatic and he decorated his pub's roof with the largest England flag he bought on ebay. A few days before the world cup started, the news then went on talking about how people would call in sick and avoid work to watch the match and how it would cost UK businesses because of that.

Today, my office was a little quiet. Quite a few of my colleagues finished worked early to watch the 3pm qualifying match of England vs Slovenia. And yes, if you're wondering, we are allowed to go home early to watch the game and we can pay the hours back later. I think a lot of companies do that too. After 2 rather disappointing games, many people were very hopeful that England could go further. Anyway...where was I? Oh yes...my office was a little quiet and then suddenly I heard people cheering so loud. Yeaahhhh! There must have been a big screen or big TV somewhere near my office building where people gathered to watch the match. The cheer made me and my colleagues who were working to wonder. What happened? Did England score a goal? So we checked the internet and found out about the first goal. Another loud cheer - the almost second goal. And so on, until the game finished where England won 1-0 over Slovenia. England can go forward. Yeay! And people were happy. Somehow I could feel it. Football brings people together.

So you see, now I know that much about the world cup and football...:). And not to forget, the world cup song, which my daughter keeps on singing everyday as her school has been preparing its students with world cup theme for its open day this Friday.

Here's the link to the song in youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhM-cpSwrmM&NR=1

And my last words to people here who are really passionate about football: Go England Go!

Blogging Absence

2009-11-06T11:59:00.005Z

I haven't been writing for a while now. I just moved to a new house and finally got a bit of time to relax. I still have lots to do but at least the move is over. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. And I'm so glad it's over.

Now let me have a cup of coffee and hopefully I can start writing again soon :)

Missed My Flights!

2009-08-03T09:12:00.013+01:00

I just experienced an unexpected turn of an event. I missed my flight to a supposedly lovely holiday in Norway. And in my overall travel experience, this was the second time it happened. What a shame! I just can't believe it!

Last Friday, when driving to Stansted Airport, there was a long queue somewhere in M25 towards M11. At first, I thought I wasn't going to wait for very long but I think we were stuck there with very little movement for over an hour. Apparently, there was a tunnel refurbishment where only 2 lanes left allocated for an initial 4, hence the bottleneck happened. We reached the airport 5-10 mins before departure time and I was hoping for a miracle like a delay or something. We went through the customs and ran towards our boarding gate as quickly as we could, but it was already closed. I actually saw our plane moving away from us. Sigh. What can I say? We tried.

A few years ago, we were planning to go to Hainan, China. We reached the airport with plenty of time left to check in and things. The problem came when the check-in staff told us that we didn't have the valid visa to go into China. We argued that Hainan accepts visa on arrival to certain nationalities and ours was one of them. The staff checked for more information on her system but at the end, she still didn't let us go because she was sure that we would be sent back without the visa. Another sigh.

If I didn't miss my flight, I would have been in a boat by now enjoying and taking photos of a beautfiul fjord somewhere in Norway. Well, looking at the bright side of things, the weather forecast said that it would be raining on most days so I wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway. But still. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Now that you know my stories, I hope you can take away the good things out of this. Please be safe than sorry. Prepare plenty of time before you travel to check on things such as travel time, visa, etc. In the case of the visa story, if I knew that would be happening, I would have just applied for a normal visa or phoned the airplane company to confirm about it before hand. What's the point of us knowing about such a rule if the staff working at the airport doesn't. At the end of the day, we want to go to our holidays, not miss them.

Singapore - A Trip Down Memory Lane

2009-07-23T22:17:00.065+01:00

It's been a while since my last blog, but no matter. I'm now back and starting with my travel experience in Singapore, which I visited a couple of months back.

Singapore is not a foreign place to me. I lived in this country for a few years before moving to London. The capital city, also called Singapore, is a modern and cosmopolitan city. It's one of the most convenient, efficient and enjoyable capital cities in the Southeast Asia. There are too many things to write about Singapore. So in this blog, I will write about things that fascinates me and I remember the most about Singapore.

One of the best things in Singapore, which every traveller will get to enjoy immediately, is the airport. Singapore Changi Airport is, by far, one of the best airports that I've been into. Upon arriving at the airport, I felt very comfortable. The big space, the high ceiling, the warm carpet colour, the air conditioning, the shops, the bars and restaurants, the restrooms, the free massage chairs, the speedy procedures of the immigration staffs, basically everything in that airport is created to make you feel good. And I did feel good. Very good, in fact. It's no wonder that the Singapore Changi Airport has won many awards and has been voted as one of the best airports in the world over and over again.

As I stepped out of the airport queueing for a taxi, I immediately felt the hot and humid weather hitting my face and a few seconds later, my body started to feel warm. What a drastic change from the very cool temperature of the airport! And then the first thing that came to my mind was 'Oh now I remember this weather! Welcome to Singapore!'

The weather in Singapore, like other countries in Southeast Asia, is warm and humid (and makes my hair go frizzy crazy) with temperature around 30 degree Celsius in the day time and a much cooler evening. I remember it rained quite a lot. It's really nice to jog in the evening, especially after raining.

When it's really warm outside, shopping malls are the best place to be. They provide cold air-conditioning (although sometimes too cold) to cool you down. Your body may need adjusting to the drastic change of temperatures between outdoors and indoors but I'm sure you'll get used to it. Just remember to always bring your umbrella in case it rains outside (the locals also use umbrellas to protect them from the sun) and bring a thin layer of sweater or a shawl in case it gets too cold inside (especially in cinemas).

Beside providing cooler temperature, the shopping malls in Singapore are THE place for bargains and shopping spree. It's a year-round shopping paradise. Having said that, the best time to visit is during June-July when the yearly Great Singapore Sale is on. During that time, practically everyone from every corner of Singapore as well as people from the neighbouring countries are flocking the shopping malls to get the best bargains of the year.

Public transports in Singapore are excellent. They are safe, convenient, reliable and more importantly, affordable. I'm talking about MRT, buses, free shuttles and taxis here. Some shopping malls provide free shuttles, from MRT stations to the malls or from one mall to another. I like the idea of providing free shuttles for shoppers. It's a win-win situation for both the shopping malls and the shoppers. The taxis were used to be very affordable but I found out the rates were increased a little and they do have a lot of confusing additional charges which you have to look at carefully. This link will provide you with more information.

One of the things that fascinates me about Singapore is Singlish - the un-official language that most Singaporeans speak. It's a mixture of English, other languages (Chinese, Malay and Tamil) and dialects used in Singapore (more information here). You usually come across this when ordering food at hawker centres or if you happen to listen to locals speaking to each other. So when you speak to a local and you thought you heard some english words but you still don't understand it, it's most probably Singlish.

Of all the things that I write here, the food is what I'm missing the most. Singaporeans have passion about what they eat and it's reflected in the great food. The local cuisine is diverse and comes from Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan. Some of the must-try are Char Kway Teow, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Roti Prata and Chilli Crab. You can get them in most hawker centres and they are very affordable. In choosing the right food stall, the rule of thumb is: if you see a long queue at the food stall, then you should be safe to follow the crowd. The food should be good. And there is a booking etiquette that you should know in hawker centres. Finding seats is always an issue in hawker centres especially if it's a famous one. If you see an empty table but there is a packet of tissues or a book or an umbrella on the table adjacent to the seat, then most probably the seat is reserved to the person who owns the item, whoever that is. I find this very amusing.

For tourist attractions, Singapore Zoo and Night Safari are a must-see. Boat Quay and Clarke Quay are the happening place for restaurants, pubs and bars with view of the Singapore river. Another good place to chill out are on the streets of Holland village. I used to go to Wala Wala to enjoy the atmosphere and listen to live music there. If you are into cultural stuffs then you should go to the Chinatown, Little India, and Arab Street. There are a few parks around but I find it too hot to be outside in the day time to actually enjoy the parks. More information on what you can do in Singapore is here.

As I mentioned earlier, I lived in Singapore for a few years before. So this trip was not 100% for pleasure. I had to run my personal errands which can only be done there and at the same time, I tried to meet and catch up with some of my friends there. As a result, I didn't really have time to do any of the touristy stuffs that I wanted to do. I only managed to do bits and pieces here and there. Things like the list of food that I miss and must eat again or the shopping that I must do, I didn't have the time to do a lot of them. And worst of all, I didn't take many photos there!

And talking about taking photos, I find it weird that when I was living in Singapore, I didn't feel the need to take many photos of the area. And now that I'm not living there anymore (and especially when I realised that I don't have many photos of the city), I want as many photos as possible. The irony of taking things for granted, which is a lesson learned. I try to bring my camera everytime I go out now, even in the city that I'm living in.

Traveling back to Singapore was definitely a trip down memory lane. And although I was there only for a short time, it was still good. I still get the same feeling as when I was living there. Taxi drivers were still as friendly and talkative, I still felt safe even at night, the food was still as nice, the shopping was still as exciting and the weather was still as warm. As a friend said to me, if the weather in Singapore is 10 degrees lower, it would have been perfect. It's probably true but I still like it the way it is. The whole package is what makes Singapore unique. I'll make sure I'll put enough time to do everything I want to do the next time I travel there. Yes, there will be next time. I'm very sure of that.

The Merlion and the Esplanade

Durian-shaped Esplanade, centre for performing arts

The Merlion with view of big constructions of one of the first casinos in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands Singapore

The typical hawker centre in Singapore. This particular one has 2-5 food stalls and a few tables and chairs

Peranakan style building is still very much preserved

Colourful Peranakan sytle terrace houses in Koon Seng Road

Close up on windows of a shophouse in Joo Chiat Road

Typical Chinese temple in Singapore - this is near where I used to live

Lake District

2009-04-16T12:07:00.023+01:00

I was spending my Easter breaks in the Lake District in the North West England. I passed by Windermere town once and took a cruise over Windermere lake last year when I was traveling up to Edinburgh. But the beauty of the winding road leading to Kirkstone Pass was the one brought me back to visit the Lake District.

The itinerary was a hard one to do. I didn't expect it at all. There are many lakes you can visit and so many things you can do. I decided to visit three of the many lakes in the three days we spent there: Windermere, Ullswater and Tarn Haws. I also put a few short walks as well as lake cruise in the itinerary.

One thing worth noting about bank holidays in the UK. When you're out and about, so is everybody else. So it's not really a surprise to see long queues and delays in the highway but it was still annoying. The supposedly four and a half hours trip became seven hours. It was very, very draggy.

When I mentioned to my friends that I was going to spend my breaks in the Lake District, the first thing they said was how unpredictable the weather is. I was a little worried. I kept checking on the weather forecast a few days before and was disappointed to see that it was going to be cloudy with rain and a bit of sun. It was raining on the way there but the sun suddenly appeared around sunset and back again with clear sky for the next three days we were there. We had been blessed with good weather. I totally agree that it was definitely unpredictable. And it was a very good surprise too!

It's hard to go to the Lake District and not noticing the farms. They are what make the beautiful lush green scenery of the area. And when you see the farms, you see the farm animals too. The sheep, cows, and horses are those very easily spotted. I was lucky to have seen some herdwicks too, which according to Wikipedia are rare domestic sheep native to Lake District. They are let free to roam around the big area of the farms. It looks like they are enjoying their life there too - which is a good thing.

There are more than 80 lakes in Lake District, which I'm not going to list them here (you can check Wikipedia for this). As I mentioned before, I only went to three of the many lakes that are visited a lot by visitors of Lake District: Windermere - the largest lake in Lake District, Ullswater - the second largest lake in Lake District that has spectacular landscapes, and Tarn Haws - the lake with beautiful surrounding scenery. At Windermere, I sat by the lake and enjoyed looking at the swans (I counted around 30 of them) and looked at busy visitors feeding them. At Ullswater, I took a steamer cruise and couldn't stop taking photos of beautiful landscapes. At Tarn Haws, I laid my picnic rug, sat there and immersed myself to the peaceful surroundings.

Walking is one of the main activities you can do in the Lake District. I think it's the best way to enjoy the lakes, the hills and of course, the beautiful sceneries. There are lots and lots of walking routes you can choose from easy to very difficult, short to long journey, all of which will definitely raise your awareness to how big this area is and how nature is still very much preserved here.

Last but not least, the people whom I heard about during my stay in the Lake District: Beatrix Potter - author of children's best selling books who fell in love with the area and tried to preserve it as much as she could, Alfred Wainwright - a walk lover who walked the Lake District hills probably almost all his life and created many popular walking routes around the area, and William Wordsworth - a poet who made the area famous with his poetry and his guidebook (Guide to the District of the Lakes). They are the people who loved the lakes and whose love was welcomed and admired by the people of the Lake District.

Lake District is a place of a surprise for me. The astonishing scenery and the beauty of all the things I've encountered there definitely feed my 'hunger for nature' soul. It's a great place to open your eyes and see how nature will take your breath away. It's also a great place to lay your head, close your eyes, and hum your favorite songs. I came once and now I'm wanting more. I've never expected this at all.

The swans at Windermere Lake

Boating is one of the activity you can do in Windermere lake

Orrest Head - the best view point over Windermere Lake (click to enlarge)

Spectacular landscapes while cruising in Ullswater Lake

Ullswater Lake view from walking in Hallin Fell, Howtown

Picturesque Tarn Hows

View from walking in Kirkstone Pass

Another view from Kirkstone Pass

The Farm

Enjoying the farm

The Farm

Spring Blooms in St James' Park and Green Park

2009-04-07T14:05:00.022+01:00

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me to visit St. James' Park because the daffodils in the park were abundant, blooming everywhere and breathtakingly beautiful. She also told me to go quickly before all the daffodils went wilted. Well, I only managed to go there last weekend and yes, some of the daffodils were wilted but most were not. I also went to the nearby park Green Park and saw loads of fresh daffodils there. Wilted or not, I think they're still beautiful. Proofs are in the photos below. And thanks for the tips, J!

Fresh daffodils in Green Park

I always love these lines of trees in Green Park

Cherry blossoms in St. James' Park. Notice that everyone is seeking the sun, no one is under the shade.

St James' Park with bits of London Eye in the background

Getting up, close and personal with these lovely flowers in St. James' Park. I was literary under them.

The line of trees and the daffodils (both the wilted and the not) in St. James' Park

Chatting with friends amongst the flowers is the best way to enjoy the park

La Rita, Barcelona

2009-04-03T09:54:00.033+01:00

Looking for a good value restaurant in Barcelona? If you ask me what I can recommend, the first thing that came to my mind is La Rita. I haven't been around Barcelona much to know a lot about many good restaurants in town but I do know this one is good. Very good, in fact.

Situated within the centre of the town, La Rita is famous with the locals. Around lunch time, there are always people queuing to get in to enjoy the food. The restaurant is exquisite. Crisp white linen cloth wrapped around the tables with matching comfortable chairs and big tablewares are what you see immediately when you walk into the restaurant. The staffs' neat black and white uniforms complement the overall elegant design of the restaurant.

If you look at the menu, you'll be in for a surprise because the food is reasonably priced. It's not as expensive as you would think. The menu of the day (menu del dia), which is offered every weekday lunch time, is the winner. For less than 10 Euros you get good quality 3 course meals including wine and breads. The food, which is Spanish/Catalan cuisine, is consistently good too. The comfy ambience makes you forget about the time. All this with the addition of great and friendly service from the staffs is what makes the restaurant very popular. Even on weekends, when menu of the day is not offered,the restaurant is still packed with people.

I'm very fond of this restaurant. The superbly exceptional food and the fantastic value draw me to it and I find myself going back there again and again. It's definitely not to be missed and I highly recommend it to everyone visiting Barcelona.

Contact Details:
Address: 279 Carrer d'Arago
Phone: +34934872376
Website: http://www.laritarestaurant.com/

Nearest Station: Passeig de Gracia

Opening Hours: Daily 13.00-15.45 and 20.30-23.30

I'm Walking London: Primrose Hill and Regent's Park

2009-03-24T22:24:00.051Z

There is nothing more exciting than waking up in the morning to find the sun is up and shining through my bedroom windows. I know straight away that spring has come. For some reason, the days are always fresh, the sky is always blue and the birds are chirping more happily than before. The weather has been very good to London these past few weeks and it makes people get on with outdoor activities. I myself feel obliged to go outdoor every weekend. I know I don’t have to but I must! London is famous for its cloudy sky and when the cloud disappears and is replaced by the sun with blue sky in the background, everyone in London is flocking every outdoor places you can imagine available, be it the parks, the beaches or their own backyards. It always feels good to be outside and to enjoy the good weather.

Last weekend I went out to walk for a bit. I kind of need the exercise, you know, after months of hiding in my apartment away from the coldness of winter. I need to breathe in the spring air and to re-introduce my skin with the warmth of the sun. And so I did a walk that I followed from a book called ‘Walking London’ by Andrew Duncan. It started from Chalk Farm tube station toward Primrose Hill Park and Regent’s Park and ended in Regent’s Park tube station. It is spring time and we need the walk in the parks!

The walk from Chalk Farm tube station to Primrose Hill Park was about ten minutes and I passed by a local high street on Regent’s Park Road. It’s got a few cafes, restaurants and pubs. It wasn’t very crowded but quite a cozy street to stroll when you need to get a quick bite after your rest in the park. Once I entered the gate of park, I immediately saw a hill in front of me. It was where a lot of people hung around. I hesitantly walked up to the hill but when I reached the summit, I understood why many people hung around here. The view from the summit was fantastic. I could see the London Zoo, Regent’s Park, London Eye and some building blocks of the city. I could also see the whole park itself from up there. It’s a small park, grassy, and manicured very nicely with walking paths and line of lights. You can bring your picnic baskets or read your book or just sit or lie on the grass and enjoy the weather. The park has got a very inviting ambience which is very pleasant.

I continued my walk toward the south-east corner of the Primrose Hill Park and found the London Zoo. I walked a bit more and I saw one of the entry points of Regent’s Park. There were many sport pitches on this side of the park. I saw people playing football, tennis, cricket, and many other type of sports. Then I walked to the boating lake where I saw people were busy moving and rowing the boats about the lake. There was a children’s playground near the lake and many children were playing there happily like there is no tomorrow. The park was huge and tended with very proper care. Colourful flowers were blooming everywhere in the park. I enjoyed the walk from the lake to the open air theatre the most. It was, after all, a walk by the lake and I felt very much at peace. There was an area called bandstand nearby and it is really good for picnic and reading books on deckchairs (if they are available).

It was already dark before I could finish my walk in Regent’s Park. The walk was supposed to go on to the open air theatre, Queen Mary's Garden and end at Chester gate. There were so many spots in the park where we just stopped and played around. I don’t think it matters if we finish the walk or not. The important thing is we enjoyed the day and we all did. I’m looking forward to another great day outdoor.

Contact Details:

Address: Regent's Park, London, NW1 4NR

Website: http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/regents_park/

Nearest Stations: Chalk Farm or Camden Town (to Primrose Hill Park), Baker Street or Regent's Park (to Regent's Park)

Opening Hours: from 5am until dusk all year round

The cozy Primrose Hill Park

Primrose Hill Park

Enjoying the summit of the Primrose Hill Park

Primrose Hill Park

Regent's Park

One side of Boating Lake at Regent's Park

Sunset at boating Lake, Regent's Park

Regent's Park

Daffodils in Regent's Park

Flowers in Regent's Park

More flowers in Regent's Park

Close up on a daffodil

Regent's Park

Rowing at Boating Lake, Regent's Park

More Rowing at Boating Lake, Regent's Park

Granada

2009-03-23T10:49:00.018Z

We reached Granada around sunset and therefore we had some time to sit back and relax at our accommodation before going for dinner. The weather was chillier than Seville which was surprising to me. I came here once before in the summer somewhere in August and the weather was too hot to handle (36C celsius) that I didn't notice its differences when I travelled to both Seville and Granada. I suppose being located not too far off from the coast and near the Sierra Nevada mountains, Granada enjoys both warmer and colder climates.

After getting ready, we went on to celebrate the surprise birthday party from the night before with a proper dinner. We went to a very nice little restaurant called Restaurante Sevilla. The food was fabulous and we really had a good time there.

The next morning, we walked the town a bit before visiting Alhambra. The town was quite hilly and the roads were narrow and covered with pebble stones. After an hour walking the pebble stones path, my feet started to ache. Every time I stepped I felt my feet were massaged by the stones. The town itself was quiet. There was a small local market selling food, fruits and vegetables, clothes and bric-a-brac where the locals traded among themselves. We visited the remains of the old city gate and at one point when we reached the top of the hill, we saw a view of the city and a spectacular view of Alhambra. It was magnificent.

A visit to Granada is not complete without visiting Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex that whose buildings and the designs around it was incredibly beautiful. The one thing that was very outstanding of Alhambra (compared to other palaces I visited in Spain) was the carving. Every walls and ceilings of each buildings there were carved beautifully into very detail. It must be taking the artists very long time to finish them. And looking at the results, I think it's worth it. The carving is definitely the highlight of Alhambra. Of course, there were other places worth noted as well, such as the pool of the El Partal Palace, the Alhambra reflections and there was a courtyard near the exit of the palace that was very lovely. I still remember enjoying the serenity while sitting at the courtyard.

Even in our very tight schedules, we still had time to go street shopping. Our accommodation was located in Albayzin (also known as Arab quarter) where it is famous for its original houses since the 16th century. The streets were narrow and winding and full of small shops selling Arab's influence souvenirs, clothes, shoes, or trinkets that you can bring home. I was happy to have found two bubble pants for myself.

It was another chaotically short but still a very memorable visit to Granada. We visited Alhambra, which was the most touristy place in Granada and had a chance to walk the town in attempt to grasp the essence of the town. We even had a chance to enjoy free tapas in a few tapas bars around (Granada is one of the few cities in Spain that offers free tapas for every drink you order). It was all very good. This is the last story of the Spain Trip as this was the last city in our trip. After Granada, we headed back to Barcelona to do souvenirs shopping before catching our plane back home.

The town where we walked

Some of the many designs of Granada's floor

Alhambra

Carving on the walls and ceilings of Alhambra

Windows of Alhambra

Reflection pool in Alhambra

One of the fountains in Alhambra

The courtyard before exiting Alhambra

Borough Market, London

2009-03-14T11:24:00.008Z

The oldest food market in London, Borough Market is my favourite. Everytime anyone of my friends came to London, I always brought them here. The place is always full of people and very lively. It is touristy but that doesn't bother me at all. There are many variety of stalls around selling almost everything. I love to taste the yummy cheeses, the variety of olives, the delicious cakes, the hot chocolate (in cold weather) and not to forget, the world famous chocolate brownies. I can't resist the chorizo sandwich located at Brindisa. I always join the long queue and have it right there. Hmmm, very yummy sandwich. Now I'm hungry just thinking about it :).

This market is definitely not to be missed if you're visiting London.

Contact Details:

Address: Borough High Street, Borough, SE1 9DE

Website: http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk

Nearest Station: London Bridge or Borough

Opening Hours:

Thu 11.00 - 17.00

Fri 12.00 - 18.00

Sat 9.00 - 16.00

Monmouth Cafe, London

2009-03-14T10:21:00.013Z

One Saturday, I was brought by a friend of friend (an American who had lived here before) to Monmouth cafe. We were in the Borough Market and he praised this cafe a lot for its good coffee. This place was full of people and the queue was long. I ordered a latte to take out and at the first sip, I thought it was too strong for me.

A few days ago, I went in to the cafe again. It was Monday morning and I happened to be in the area. There were people queueing but not as long as that Saturday. I ordered a cup of cappuccino and was asked whether I would want double or a single shot of esspreso. The staff explained usually the cappuccino there is served in double shots of esspreso. That explained my first sip that was too strong. I opted for a single shot and this time it was perfect.

The cafe itself is small and the interior gives a very rustic feel. There is only one big table to be shared by customers where baskets of breads and jams are displayed in the middle of the table. Other seats are individual seats where two narrow bar like tables are attached to the wall. Even window ledges are used as tables. And for those looking for munchies to accompany your coffee, there are varieties of pastries and cakes displayed on a serving table.

A bunch of leaflets explaining about the history of the company and sources of their coffees are available for you to read. This is an independent local company which travels to different places to get the best beans and has been roasting its own coffee to get the best flavour. It shows how passionate the company is about coffee.

This is one exceptional place for serious coffee drinkers. Just be warned of the long queue on Saturdays.

Contact Details:

Address: 2 Park Street, Borough, London, SE1 9AB

Phone: +44 (0)20 7940 9960

Email: beans@monmouthcoffee.co.uk

Website: http://www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk/

Nearest Station: London Bridge or Borough

Opening hours:

Mon - Sat 07.30-18.00

Closed on Bank Holidays

The Super Long and Snaky Queue at New Tayyabs, London

2009-03-08T17:22:00.009Z

I went to New Tayyabs, a Pakistani restaurant that has great reviews, last night. I called to make a booking a few hours in advance but was told to come as it was on a first come first serve basis. When I reached the restaurant (around seven thirty) I was in shock to see the long queue but I thought it was not going to be very long to get a table. All of us, who were queueing, were standing in between the tables and chairs around (with people having dinner at the tables). The queue was too long that it went to a U turn at the end of the queue and that's in between the tables and chairs. Another U turn was in the hallway towards the ladies. The queue was barely moving and I stood for a long time in the ladies' hallway. It was stuffy and felt like forever. After two hours waiting, I gave up. Looking at the queue, it looked like I would be there for another hour (or maybe an hour and a half) and I was already so hungry. The food that came out from the kitchen smelled so nice and I could only stand in the queue and look at others eating it. It was a torture.

I have been to this restaurant once before. It was last summer at lunch time. The restaurant was empty and I got a table very easily. I have been warned by my friend about the queue but I had never expected it to be this long. The guy in the cake counter told me to make a booking two days in advance the next time because they don't take same day booking. Booking definitely is a must.

I'm still upset with the whole thing. I will wait until I can forget about last night and probably come back again.

Nerja

2009-03-04T20:18:00.023Z

Another bus ride away from Ronda and we arrived at Nerja, which is a resort town on the east of Costa del Sol (Sun Coast) in the Malaga Province. From the bus stop we walked for about ten minutes dragging our luggages to our hotel. The hotel is located at the Balcon de Europa, the centre of the old town, which is also a viewing point showing stunning panoramic view of the sea and the coasts around it.

The sun already set when we reached the hotel. And the next day was my sister's birthday. The five of us planned to give her a surprise at midnight. After dinner we spent our time chatting in one of the rooms and by midnight we turned off the lights and sang her happy birthday. We also gave her the presents we bought from Toledo. It was very hard to make it a surprise as she was with us the whole time. But still, it was a very fun night together.

The next morning we went out to the beach. Some of us went sun tanning and some of us walked around the beach and the Balcon de Europa. I must say the view from Balcon de Europa was just unbelievable. The sky was bright blue sat perfectly on top of the blue water. I could see the skyline very clearly. It was amazing.

The old town itself was very touristy. There were many tourists around and I found that the majority were pensioners from the UK. I overheard some of them talking about retirement money and similar topics. I didn't see many young people around except for those who came with their parents.

I also noticed there were many street cats around the area. I talked to one lady from the UK who had been there for a week or two feeding the street cats there. I think there were around ten or more cats gathered near her when she came with the cat food. She said she had been feeding them since she arrived and she only had a few days left in Nerja. She was worried no one would feed the cats after she left. She was one very caring lady.

Nerja, a pleasing city with amazing beach and sea view, is unforgettable. I still remember the sun shining brightly, the blue sky, the blue ocean, and the light breezy wind. The city was very laid back and it made me feel that the time had stopped and let me have a good time there. But then again, we had to rush out for our next destination, Granada. This would be the last city before going back to Barcelona.

Photos by me, MT, AW, HM, JK.

The birthday gal

The breathtaking views of Nerja

Balcon de Europa

Posing with King Alfonso XII at Balcon de Europa

Vete Katten, Stockholm

2009-03-03T22:34:00.007Z

If you go to Stockholm, I'd suggest you visit Vete Katten. This is my favourite place in Stockholm for having tea or coffee or simply taking a break from shopping in or walking around the city. Situated in the corner of Kungsgatan and Klara Norra kyrkogata, Vete Katten is an old-fashioned tearoom with antique interior and its old charm feel. The display of delicious cakes from window shop lure people to go inside. At least that was what got me (a tourist who happened to passed by) into this place. The cafe is surprisingly very spacious (it doesn't look that way from the outside) and divided into rooms with different themes. My favourite room is 'Kajutan' (or the cabin) - a small room that looks like it's in a ship. I've been there twice and it was always packed with the locals. There are fresh breads, cakes and chocolates for you to indulge. The staffs welcome you with good service and the whole ambience is very homey. It makes you want to sit there and enjoy. So enjoy!

Contact Details:

Address: Kungsgatan 55, 111 22 Stockholm

Phone: +46 (0)8 20 84 05

Email: info@vetekatten.se
Website: www.vetekatten.se

Nearest Station: Hotorget or T-Centralen

Opening hours:
Mon-Fri 07.30-19.30
Saturday 09.30-17.00
Sunday 12.00-17.00

A Winter Weekend in Stockholm

2009-03-02T11:24:00.026Z

There I was spending my weekend in Stockholm still in the month of February (actually it was the last day of February) but the snow was still apparent everywhere. The forecast said it was going to be sunny with very high visibility but it was not the case at all on Saturday. It snowed quite heavily on and off and the sun came out for a while but generally it was still okay to go out (provided you can handle the cold).

It must have been very cold everyday in Stockholm that most lakes, seas and areas that had water in them were frozen. I went up to Brunnsviken - a huge lake in Stockholm and took some photos of the frozen lake. I saw people were practising for cross country skates on the lake where others were jogging, walking with dogs or just simply crossing the lake. It was a scary experience for me to walk on the lake. I was afraid I stepped into thin ice and fell down but I guess the ice was quite thick and I managed to cross from one side to the other side of the lake. It was as if I was walking on water! Well, almost :).

I also went to an outdoor ice skating rink in Kungstradgarden. I was told that this was the only skating rink that has skating boots for hire. In other places in Stockholm, you're expected to bring your own. I'd imagine most people in Sweden has at least one boot. Also, there is no admission fee on all ice rinks in Stockholm - they're free.

On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. It was a good day to walk the old town (also known as Gamla Stan) and I did just that. The walk started on the quiet cobbled stones streets and ended in the shopping streets. It was a good Sunday walk. Click here to follow the walking tour of the old town.

And what about the food? One might ask. Well, I tried the famous Swedish meatball which was much more delicious than the one you normally get in IKEA. I also noticed a pastry cake called Semla being displayed in every place that sells cakes. Traditionally, Semla is a pastry that was to be eaten only on Shrove Tuesday (a day before Ash Wednesday). Now in Sweden people eat Semla every Tuesday from Shrove Tuesday up to Easter.

I have to say it was an interesting weekend. It was cold but very nice at the same time. Stockholm is a city surrounded by water, which makes the beautiful city even more beautiful. It's a modern city that keeps its old town along with its unique traditions. I enjoyed the food, the winter activities, and the city as a whole. And I can't believe I'm saying this, I didn't really mind the cold.

The frozen lake of Brunnsviken

The traditional pastry - Semla

Another frozen water somewhere in the city

The heart of Stockholm city

Kungstradgarden

The skating rink in Kungstradgarden

Line of seats overlooking the river near Stromsbron bridge

Stortorget square - Old town

Marten Trotzigs Grand - the narrowest street in Stockholm

The Great Gorge of Ronda

2009-02-26T22:35:00.022Z

The bus ride from Sevilla to Ronda (not Rhonda, I spelled it wrong on the previous blog) took less than two hours. When we came near Ronda, we could see range of mountains full of olive trees. Then the bus went up the hill where we could see lines of white houses spreading around it. It was absolutely gorgeous. Still a part of Andalusia, Ronda, which is in the Malaga regions, is a city on two hills divided by a gorge.

We reached the city somewhere around dinner time. On the way to our restaurant, we passed by the bridge (known as Puente Nuevo or new bridge) that connected the two hills and took some night shots. It was a very deep gorge (known as El Tajo), unnerving to look down but beautiful at the same time. The next day, another bright sunny day, we went back to the bridge. The gorge was without a doubt magnificent. We walked down the gorge but not for too far down as we didn't have enough time. From below, I could see the houses that were attached to the gorge and from the top, the area was surrounded by mountains. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

We then visited Plaza de Toros, the oldest bullring in Spain. It was my first time to a bullring. There wasn't any bullfight when we were there. Not that I was looking for it anyway. I had no interest in watching bullfights at all. I think it's very cruel. But the bullring was something to be amazed to. It's very impressive and worth to look at.

Ronda definitely has something to be proud of; its beautiful landscape nature. The gorge and its surrounding gave me reasons to draw a series of long breaths which was relaxing and very calming. I wouldn't mind another visit. The next time I would give it enough time to walk further down towards the bottom of the gorge. I'm sure it will not disappoint me.

Night shot of the Puente Nuevo

More Night Shots of Ronda Town

Puente Nuevo and its nearby scenic view in day time

The amazing views of Ronda's surroundings

Plaza de Toros

More Plaza de Toros

Ronda's colorful town

The Lovely, Lovely Sevilla

2009-02-20T19:41:00.044Z

Our journey that started from northern Spain finally reached the southern part of the country. Sevilla, capital of Andalusia, welcomed us with its glorious sunny day. We started out a bit late as we were enjoying too much of the rooftop terrace of our lovely accomodation. We had longer than usual breaksfast there. We took photos there. We rested and relaxed there. It was a lovely terrace.

First up to visit was the Royal Alcazar, also known as Alcazares Reales de Sevilla. Located in the old town of Sevilla, the Alcazar was a real surprise for me. Some parts of the palace had similarities with Granada's Alhambra eg. the carving on walls, the patios, etc, but this Alcazar had one of the most unforgettable garden that I've seen. The garden was a real joy for me. There was a spot near the fountain and surrounded by very tall palm trees where I just sat there doing nothing and enjoyed it. It was very pleasing. And apparently this palace was very famous with wedding couples. It was a Saturday and there were a number of couples and their photographers in action that day. It's not surprising at all as there were many photo spots to take in the palace as if they were from different places. It was a great palace and I had a good time there. I never expected that I would enjoy it better than the Alhambra.

We spent so much time in Alcazar that we had a late lunch. We were too hungry and had to go out from it although we didn't feel like it. After our lunch, we walked the city. Sevilla is a big city and we would have covered places faster if we ride a bike. There were bike rental spots everywhere but we had to register first to rent one and we didn't. So we had no choice but to walk. We only managed to walk up to the area of Torre Del Oro (Gold Tower). It was a very unique octagonal Moorish style tower located along Guadalquivil river. We walked along the river for a while and wanted to go to the other side of the river but gave up on it as we were too tired to walk.

At night, we were very excited because we booked ourselves to watch a flamenco dance. It was my first time watching this dance and probably the first time for everyone else watching there as well. There were two dancers, a singer, and a guitarist. Each of them played a part that made every aspect of this dance very interesting. The dance was very passionate and full of fire. I could see that the dancers took so much passion and energy for every little movement. It was an amazing experience for me to be there to watch it.

The next day, we only had about half a day for Sevilla as we had to go to our next stop, Rhonda. We planned to visit the famous Cathedral and its bell tower, La Giralda, but surprisingly enough the queue to get in was too long and we didn't have time for it. So we just roamed around the Cathedral, had a delicious tapas lunch and went souvenir shopping before taking a bus to Rhonda.

Although it was my second visit, I still think Sevilla is a very fascinating city. The influence of Moorish style on its buildings made Sevilla different from other cities in the northern Spain. I felt that I was transported to a different country. And the food...I can go on and on about the food. I love the Andalusia's speciality such as the gazpacho (cold tomato-based raw vegetable soup) and rabo de toro (Spanish oxtail stew) and I love the churos. I love everything about Sevilla. There's definitely no doubt about it.

Photos by me, HM and JK.

The many features of Sevilla Alcazar

Us Enjoying Sevilla

The Flamenco Dance

The Bell Tower, La Giralda

Windows of La Giralda

Light Fountain in the square near the Cathedral

Waiting for a wedding couple from the Cathedral

Bikes for rent

Madrid

2009-02-17T20:15:00.033Z

We took bus from Segovia to Madrid. One of us was quite sick and when we reached Madrid bus terminal, we decided to take cabs to our accomodation. I thought the distance was not too far from the terminal and therefore we would get there in no time. But I did not consider the traffic jam. We split into two cabs. The one with me inside reached in about half hour to forty five minutes (I think it's supposed to be about fifteen minutes ride). The other cab was lost, literary. When my friend told the address to the cab driver, he nodded right away and seemed to understand where to go. He even put the address into his GPS. After escaping from traffic jam and into the highway, it was already almost an hour. My friend came to realise that the driver was lost because the road sign on the highway was showing they were on the way back to Segovia. After debating and arguing with the driver, he finally brought them back to the correct address and was still charging triple the price of what my cab was charging me (even though he reset the meter somewhere in the middle of the trip). As far as I remember, they were in the cab for about two hours. My friends on that cab were tired, hungry, angry, felt ripped off and regretted the decision of taking the cab. All of us were very hungry. So we had quite a big dinner somewhere near where we stayed.

In the morning, my sick friend was looking worse. So I let the rest go on with our schedules and I stayed back with her. I needed the free time of not having things to do anyway so it worked fine for me. My friends visited the Royal Palace and had a very fine Paella lunch. They said the palace looked similar to Versailles but better, but Versailles had a much better garden. The Paella lunch, they said, was the best and the most expensive they had ever tried. I, on the other hand, walked around the area where we stayed, near to Tirso de Molina metro station. I have to say though that the area was a bit rough and scary. I don't know whether it was just me because a friend told me to be very careful in Madrid so I became very conscious of my surroundings. To make matters worse, I got lost. So I went into a four star hotel hoping for a direction and a map but the person in the reception was not friendly and I was out of the hotel with nothing. Luckily, I found my way back to Tirso de Molina station. Phew!

All of us met up for a dinner and a little bit of shopping in Puerta del Sol (metro: Sol). This is the heart of Madrid. It was quite a busy night, full of people out and about. I enjoyed the atmosphere. It did feel like somewhere in Granada but I wasn't sure where exactly. But it was good. And I did some shopping myself.

The next morning, we went to Museo del Prado, which was full of fine art collections. This was where I was first introduced to Goya's collections. I spent quite a while looking at them and trying to understand and appreciate them. There were many things to look at in this museum so you have to be prepared and know what to see before you go inside. We spent about half a day there, just in time for lunch. It's just not possible to look at everything in one day, let alone half a day. After lunch we got back to our hotel, packed our things up and got ready to the train station (Atocha station) where we took a night train to Sevilla.

As the capital city of and the largest city in Spain, Madrid was big, modern, busy and full of energy. Like other big cities, it was also rough and unfriendly. I was actually quite dissapointed with it. I guess I was expecting something more than what I saw. Or maybe two days were not enough to feel the city. I don't know, really. I think I should give it a second chance and come back to this city. Let's see if I change my mind.

Our dinner in Madrid

The Clock Tower at Puerta del Sol

The square at Puerta del Sol

I took the photo of this bear statue without realising that this was Madrid's emblem and a favourite meeting place at Puerta del Sol

Tourist bus is common here at Puerta del Sol

Shopping at Puerta del Sol

On the way to the Museo del Prado, people were cleaning statues to be displayed

Entrance of Museo del Prado

An artist in action in Museo del Prado

Atocha Station, Madrid

Segovia's Charms

2009-02-11T20:55:00.015Z

After a deliciously authentic dinner the night before (Segovia's infamous roast suckling pig was of course on the menu) and a good night's sleep, we were ready to start the day in Segovia's old town. Situated on a high ground, the old town is full of narrow and twisting cobbled streets. Segovia's old town is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The weather was really great that day. We walked down the hill to visit the first place in our itinerary, church of Vera Cruz. We walked past the Alcazar at the top of the hill and the church, which is at the bottom of the hill, could be clearly seen from there. It looked like a long walk down but it only took about 10-15 minutes. The church was built by the Knights Templar and was said to once housed a fragment of true cross. The shape of the church is unusually circular, not like the shape of churches that I've seen before. Inside, it was very serene. I just sat inside enjoying the peacefulness.

We then walked back and visited the Alcazar. I wasn't feeling well and therefore I didn't really take much notice of what I saw. Looking up from the church of Vera Cruz, the Alcazar stands tall on top of the hill. From the outside, the building looks like the typical castle that is used in many of Disney stories.

The last thing we visited in Segovia was the Aqueduct. This is a must see in Segovia. From what I understand, the aqueduct was used to control water flow that was coming in to the town. It's probably equivalent to the dams or canals these days. It was how the Roman built it in the old days. I can't say that I understand how it was used exactly looking at the way it's located right in the middle of the old town. Probably there wasn't a town there before. But it's a great monument stretching around the old town of Segovia. Unfortunately, we only had limited time to check out one site of it. I think it's too beautiful to be what it is, you know, a water passage. I guess that's how people built things in the old days: beautiful and functional at the same time. A local cab driver was obviously very proud of this monument. He even tried to explain to us about it in Spanish knowing that we couldn't speak the language. But I could tell from his tone that he was very proud of the Aqueduct.

It was again another quick day for us but it was definitely worth coming to Segovia. It's a beautiful town with a lot of characters. And the Aqueduct is astonishingly beautiful and not to be missed.

Segovia's Cathedral

Sunlight's reflection

Baskets for sale

We're ready to start the day at Segovia

The amazing aqueduct

Close up on aqueduct

The church of Vera Cruz

The Alcazar

I Walked on Ice

2009-02-03T14:38:00.017Z

I just came back from my dentist today. As much as I wanted to stay at home, away from the cold, I had a dentist appointment that I had to attend in the morning. As I walked out my apartement, what I saw immediately was the snow had gone hard and it's not as beautiful as it looked yesterday. When it was snowing yesterday, the snow was really soft, flaky and easy to walk. This morning the flakes changed to this hard ice, something like the ice in ice skating rinks but with uneven surface. If you have ice skated before then you know how very slippery it is to walk the rink with normal shoes. Now imagine the skating rink is moved to road pavements and add the uneven surface to them. If you're not careful enough your backside could easily hit the ground. So you can imagine how hard it is to walk it. The normally ten minutes walk took me about half hour to walk. And along the way, I almost fell down a couple of times.

I'm still learning about the different types of ice after snow. Beside the hard ice there were two other types that I came across today such as the ice slush and ice crust. If you ask me which one is better I'd probably have a hard time answering because I prefer none. The ice slush is like, you know, slush. It's watery and wet, and when mixed with the debris of the roads it looks kind of brownishy and it does not look pretty at all. The ice crust probably is safer to walk as it's not as slippery as the hard ice and it's not as wet as the slush. But as I said before I prefer none. Anyway, I hope I'm not boring you with the different types of snow. I just find it fascinating learning about this new stuff.

The road to my dentist - I was resting here and taking photo at the same time :)

It's Snowing in London!

2009-02-02T19:37:00.084Z

Living in London has its varieties. One of them is the snow at winter times. I've been living here for two years but this is the first time I saw the snow this thick. It was about 10cm thick in the morning and it's been snowing non-stop that in a local newspaper it's said that it has reached about 17.5cm deep. The newspaper also mentioned that this blizzard has caused the thickest snow in London since 1964.

The bizzare thing about the snow in London is that the city is incapable of coping with it. Two years ago when it was snowing for 4cm of depth, most of the tube lines were not working resulting in people flocking buses to work. I myself spent almost 2 hours reaching office. And of course, it was not a nice experience as I had to queue for a long time in the bus stop and when I managed to get a bus I had to squeeze myself to get into it with everybody else. This time, with 17.5cm of depth, I would expect it to get worse and it did. A lot of people were left stranded in the middle of going to work, some made it to office after a few hours and some others, who couldn't make it to office, went back home and tried to work from home. What happened with the public transportation? Some tube lines are either cancelled, partly suspended or with delays. Some buses were out of service due to road safety. In short, London is in a halt. You would have never thought that being a city used to wintry weather, London is having difficulty with its infrastructures whenever there is snow. And it's the sad truth. To its defense, London doesn't always experience snow in winter, especially one like this is very rare. That's probably why the infrastructures were not built to deal with it.

But it's not all bad news. I went out to walk in my neighbourhood and people were out and about, taking photos, making snowman, and in the park nearby people were sledging, snowboarding or just enjoying the snow. Dogs were obviously happy in the park. They were running around eating snow and scrubbing their faces to the snow. I also went out to Tower Bridge to take some photos of the city in white. Luckily the tube were working okay from my home to Tower Hill station and back. And so here are some photos I took today. Enjoy!

The view from my balcony

Another view from the balcony

On the way to the park - a post box covered with snow

This is an unusual sight - the park had a number of visitors today

On one side of the park with the pond

Another View of the park

Walking to The Tower Bridge

The Tower Pier and Tower Bridge

The City Hall

The Seats near Tower of London overlooking the Tower Bridge

A Winter Weekend In Barcelona

2009-01-26T15:30:00.050Z

I just spent a weekend in Barcelona. And yes, I went to Barcelona again! This is a city where I will always go back to whenever I have the time. I love it!

I took a plane from London and the weather was OK in London. I happened to check on the weather forecast on Barcelona for the 2 days on BBC's website and saw the wind would be 80mph on Saturday. I was wondering whether 80 is good or bad but I didn't really think about it much after that. On the plane, the captain mentioned that the flight would be a little bumpy at Barcelona because of strong wind. That's when I remember about the 80mph. I don't fancy flying. No matter how many times I fly, I don't think I will ever get used to it. So I was already worried before we even got to Barcelona.

When the plane started to descend at Barcelona, it started to shake. It was a clear day. I could see the mountains covered with snow. I could see the little houses and buildings. I could see the sea. I could even see the shadow of the plane reflecting on the sea. Everything was really beautiful from up there. But it was really, really shaky. I was really scared. I held my hands tightly to my seat and was hoping the plane to reach to the ground soon. I could feel that the captain was trying really hard to turn the plane towards the runway as it was turning against the wind's direction. Everytime the plane turned a bit, it went down very deep. I heard people at the back screaming. It was really that bad. Finally, the plane touched the ground. It was not a smooth landing but I'm not complaining. I was so relieved and so was everybody else in the plane. It was the worst turbulence of my life.

At the airport, I heard announcements that flights were delayed because of the storm. Outside the airport, I could see why. The wind was intensely strong. It was told on the news that the wind caused a significant damaged in Barcelona where a roof collapse killed several people.

Moving on from the aiport, I took train to the city, went shopping for a bit and then had lunch at my favourite lunch place at La Rita. I visited Gaudi's Casa Batllo and spent quite some time in there. I still think Gaudi is a genious. The best room in Casa Batllo is the drawing room overlooking the largest window in the building where bone-like pillars attached to it. The mushroom fireplace is unique too. The rooftop is somewhat similar to the one in Casa Mila but in a much smaller scale. Gaudi used a lot of broken ceramics to design the rooftop, which is also similar to what he had done in Park Guell. Everything about it is uniquely his style and creation. There's no question on that.

The next day, on Sunday, the weather was very good. The sun was shining brightly and it's the best time to go to park. So I decided to go to Park Guell again. I was surprised to find the park was closed. Some people said the park was closed because of falling trees all over the park. I understood it but was still disappointed. Then I walked up along the border of the park and found the highest open area outside the park and saw a superb view of Barcelona. It was just incredible.

I wanted to end my weekend trip by shopping spree in Barcelona and was very surprised to find most of the shops in the city centre in Barcelona were closed on Sunday. I knew about some Spanish cities celebrating siesta and to see shops closed on Sunday in these cities was not surprising. But I'm very much amazed to see it in Barcelona! I thought being the second largest city in Spain, it would open as business as usual, even on a Sunday. Apparently, I was wrong. So I decided to just walk Las Ramblas and the old town area. The old town looked different when the shops were closed. I think the shops were distracting too much that I never noticed the old town as the old town. I usually just looked at what the shops were selling without realising that the old town of Barcelona is beautiful. It was actually a good thing that the shops were closed.

All in all, apart from my worst flying experience, I enjoyed my weekend in Barcelona. The winter weather in Barcelona was good. It was about 13-15 degree Celcius, quite warm for a winter, very much like most summer days in London. The sky was bright blue and the sun was shining. It was such a nice warm winter.

The effects of the strong wind, from the top: motorcycles parked at Passeig de Gracia, a falling tree in Park Guell, and almost a falling tree outside the Cathedral de Barcelona.

Gaudi's Casa Batllo

The fine view from the highest hill near Park Guell

The bullet shaped building, Torre Agbar, appears at the end of the road

Reflection at Placa de Catalunya

I'd say this is probably the most photographed icon in Ciutat Vella

The Weird Drop Box

2009-01-19T12:35:00.018Z

We reached Segovia later than we expected and it was already dinner time. After carrying our luggages to our hotel and finaly meeting our two friends who were missing in action for the first few days of this trip, we decided to split up: some of us to go for dinner, while some others (me included) to return the rental car.

Having no GPS and no map, we asked the hotel reception for the directions to the AVIS rental car. The good news was we found the place. The bad news was it was not the correct AVIS rental car. Apparently, there was another one.

So we stopped at a few petrol stations asking for directions and it was funny to see my friend was talking with these helpful people at the petrol stations using a little body language and a little understanding of Spanish. They mentioned something about an Arch that we need to pass by before we can find the rental car.

After struggling a bit we found the Arch and finally the rental car. We parked the car and because the rental car office was already closed, we then looked for a drop box to drop the car key. But we couldn't find it.

The rental car was at a train station. We then asked someone who was working at the station about it. He thought we wanted to rent a car but after a few body language he finally understood that we were looking for a drop box. And he pointed us to the window of the rental car office which has a small square hole where we can drop the key. We didn't expect that at all. We were looking for a postbox or something like that but not a glass window with a square hole. It was so hilarious. So we dropped the key and we heard the key fell onto the floor and then we laughed.

We went back to Segovia's old quarter and joined our friends who were having dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. It was already pass midnight. We were so exhausted that after dinner, we went to sleep immediately. And that's that.

Here's the small square hole as the drop box for the car key

Avila City Wall

2009-01-14T13:39:00.026Z

On the way to Segovia, we detoured to Avila to visit the city medieval wall, which is amazingly still in one piece and surrounding the old town. This is another Spanish city that was declared a UNESCO Heritage Site.

The old town was quiet as we were there at siesta time. We were very hungry and went to a cafe recommended by the Lonely Planet. We were so happy to find this cafe was still open at siesta. We ordered simple bocadillos (Spanish bread rolls) with jamon serrano filling but the bocadillos were too hard to bite (they're not the kind that were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they were simply very hard all over) and the jamon was far too raw and none of us could eat them. And a waitress working there was giving us a very unhappy look at the unfinished food. It was a terrible lunch. We left the cafe still with empty stomach.

Soon after, we paid a small fee to walk on the Avila wall and because of time constraint, we only managed to walk on one side of it. Some parts of it were under constructions but generally the wall was still in a very good condition. It was a hot afternoon. The sun was shining upon us and we were half baked up on the wall. But it was well compensated by the astonishing view of and from the wall.

On leaving Avila, we stopped by at Los Cuatro Postes, which is only 1 mile outside the city. This is the best spot to view the wall encircling the city. It was just absolutely indescribable!

Despite our very brief visit, we really had a good time in Avila (luckily the unpleasant lunch didn't spoil our experience there). As I say it often and almost on every ending of my blog for this Spain trip, it's too bad we didn't stay long enough to fully appreciate of what this medieval city has to offer.

The view from the top of the wall

As you can see, the wall is very much still in good condition

Los Cuatro Postes and the Avila city wall in the background - I love this photo

Posing at Los Cuatro Postes

The magnificent city wall, which is still intact and surrounding the city

Funny Thing about the GPS

2009-01-12T11:30:00.050Z

On our last day of driving (from Toledo to Segovia), my GPS suddenly decided to stop working. It just died completely without any warning! Having owned this little thing for almost two years, I know that this could happen anytime and therefore I always have a safety pin attached to the GPS cover all the time so we can use it to poke the reset button hole in case it stops working.

The problem was I didn't know where the reset button was. I always thought the hole on the face of the GPS was the reset button. I was absolutely wrong! I poked and poked and poked, and nothing happened. All my friends were helping me poked it too. And still, nothing happened. Then all of us took turn to look for other possible reset button around the GPS and we couldn't find it. The only possible reset button was the one that we had been poking all along (or so we thought).

You see, even though I partly own this thing, my husband is the one who's using it. And I totally forgot about asking him where the reset button was or maybe I thought I knew where it was. So I tried contacting him but to no avail. He was on business trip in Denver at the time with a totally different timezone and therefore, I couldn't reach him.

In the end, we gave up on poking it and with no map, we had no choice but to just follow the road sign. Having had to look at the road sign, we noticed that Spain has a lot of weird spots to put them up. Sometimes they were right before the turning, sometimes they were in the middle of the roundabout, and sometimes they were too small for us to notice. But other times they were normally placed at the spots where you expect to find them. So you would really have to be looking around in case you miss them. And that was what we did and amazingly, we got to Segovia without any problem.

When I was back to London I searched the net on my GPS reset button and when I found it, I was laughing my head off. Apparently, there is another button hole. It was somewhere hidden at the back of the GPS. Who would have ever thought? That poor thing had been poked at the wrong spot over and over.

So what's the moral of the story? Talking about my ignorance to this thing, is ignorance bliss? In this case, maybe not. It would have been better if I knew about it. We would have reached Segovia on time with no drama whatsoever. However, to my defence, it didn't turn out so badly. I mean, OK, we were late but everything was under control. And my ignorance was the cause of this memorable event to happen - something to laugh about when we talk about this trip ;-P. But still, my advice is: in case of emergency, remember to always bring (or at least read at home) the manual of your electronic devices everytime you travel. You might need it :-).

This was where we poked it over and over - the poor thing.

And this is where we supposed to poke it.

Shopping Day in Toledo

2009-01-08T09:22:00.034Z

Continuing the Spain Trip story...

From Cuenca we drove to Toledo, which was another 3 hours of driving. Toledo is a Spanish city that is well known for its three cultures where Christians, Jews and Arabs settled there since a long time ago and therefore there are many historical and cultural things to see there. In fact, it is a UNESCO's World Heritage Site because of the mix of cultures and historical monuments.

Ok, so we had those many things to see and do in Toledo but we ended up only went to the Cathedral. We spent quite a while inside the Cathedral immersing ourselves with the history of the church, the rooms and of course, the paintings. Toledo Cathedral has quite an extensive painting works by El Greco, Lucas Jordan, and many others in the sacristy room. Too bad, photo taking is not allowed in this church.

I was very tired myself after driving for 3 hours. There were so many roads under constructions that I had to drive fast and slow, fast and slow on the highway. I'm not a driver person. To me, driving takes up a lot of energy because I have to use my full concentration when I'm driving. So, when in the Cathedral, I was resting and kind of half asleep for a bit.

After the Cathedral, we walked down the twisting cobblestoned lanes of this medieval old town. And without any planning, we suddenly were in a rush doing present shopping. My sister who we would meet the next day was having her birthday in a few days and we had yet got her anything. So we were busy in and out the shops in the old town until dinner time. I bought her a Damascene bangle and my friend bought her the matching necklace. They were handcrafted by the shop owner (search 'Damascene' in Wikipedia and you will find the clear explanation). It's a beautiful craft and Toledo is the place for this. I like it a lot that I bought a Damascene necklace for myself too. Another items that I noticed were sold in many shops in Toledo are swords. Apparently, Toledo is famous for its swords although they are not my kind of souvenir.

At dinner time, we went to a restaurant, Adolfo Coleccion, which was recommended by a travel book that my friend borrowed from a library. We only had a few tapas as we found the food there was quite pricey. The waiter recommended us to try Menchego cheese. He said this was the best cheese in the world. He also recommended us a very, very nice cava (Spanish sparkling wine) which when asked he said the price was only €12 a bottle. I have to say we had a very good time enjoying the nice food and cava there. I also have to agree that the Menchego cheese IS the best cheese in the world (I still buy it every now and then from the local supermarket here in London). And when the bill came, we were surprised that the cava was €40 instead of €12. And the waiter was nowhere to be found. But we just let it go and paid for it. I think it's probably the cava that made us let that go. We were still happy and even laughing about it on the way back to the hotel.

Although I didn't see much of Toledo, I really enjoyed the day we spent together there. There's just so much to see in this city and one day is definitely not enough. So Toledo is on my list of cities to come back to in the future.

I didn't take any photos when I was in Toledo as my camera was giving me a false message about flat battery and my battery charger was with my sister whom I was to meet the next day. The only photos I took in Toledo were the photos of the view of the city across the Tagus River. It was the next day and we were on the way to Avila. I couldn't stand not taking photos of the nice scenery. Then I saw that the message of flat battery was gone and my camera was perfectly fine. I didn't know why it was showing me the false message before. So most of the photos below were a mixture of photos taken by my friends: AW, JK and HM. Thanks guys!

The front gate of the Toledo Cathedral

A plate souvenir of Damascene handicraft being made

The lovely cava and food from Adolfo Coleccion, including the waiter who was missing in action at the end of our meal

This is the after effect coming out of Adolfo Coleccion - look how happy we were!

The magnificent view from across Tagus river

Christmas Markets 2008

2009-01-04T13:47:00.041Z

Since living in London, visiting christmas markets at christmas time has become a tradition for me. Last christmas (2007), I visited the christmas market in Nuremberg, Germany and this christmas, I went to Germany again for its another wonderful christmas markets - this time to Cologne, where I visited three of the six christmas markets the city offered.

But before I even started my trip to Cologne, I had been to a few other christmas markets without realising that it has become such a habit of mine to visit christmas markets during christmas time. I went to the Bath Christmas Market in the UK, Skansen Christmas Market in Stockholm, Sweden and Leuven Christmas Market in Belgium.

It's amazing what a christmas market can do for me. It gives me an excuse to get out there and embrace the cold weather (although I can't do more than an hour outside when the temperature is below 0 degree celsius). The cold winter weather, the warm mulled wine and the hot food, all combined creating a fantastic atmosphere to every christmas market. And not to forget the shopping spree if you are into traditional christmas cookies, decorations and traditional toys.

I enjoyed every moment of it and will definitely visit another christmas market come Christmas.

In this picture: the Christmas Market at Skansen.

Christmas Market at Skansen was located around the central square of this outdoor museum featuring the Swedish old town of the mid-19th century. The surroundings of the town really brought me back in time. The people were wearing traditional costumes of the era. The christmas market was very festive despite the wet weather. The music created a perfect atmosphere for people to participate in traditional dancing and it was fun too. The stalls were selling variety of hot food and drinks and other stuffs. I loved the glogg a lot. It's a Swedish type of mulled wine that has raisins and almonds in it. This is the sweetest mulled wine I've ever tried. The already perfect day was ended with carol singing for everyone to enjoy.

In this picture: Leuven Christmas Market in Belgium

Located at the town centre of Leuven, the christmas market was surprisingly quite big (I thought christmas markets outside Germany are usually smaller). The market was packed with people eating, drinking, shopping or simply just enjoying the whole thing. The kids were really happy with the many rides the market offered.

In this picture: Mark der Engel, Cologne

The Angel's Market is located at Neumarkt Square within the popular shopping areas of Cologne. This is Cologne's oldest Christmas market and some stalls were still there since early 70s. I liked the stalls. I think they were very beautifully designed. I also liked the star lights hanging on the trees. They shone magnificently when the night came.

In this picture: Christmas market at Cologne Cathedral

With the christmas tree at the middle of the market and the lights designed brilliantly hanging and coming out towards the stall, the Christmas market at Cologne Cathedral was beautifully lit. The atmosphere was unbelievable and the food was excellent too. It's a tradition to collect the Gluhwein mug and I collected one from this market. I think this is the most festive christmas market of all.

In this picture: Christmas market on the Alter Markt, Cologne

Located at the heart of the Altstadt (Old Town), the stalls were designed with timber giving the impression of traditional market. And on top of every stall was a crafted timber showing the theme of the stall. The traditional ginger cookies were the decoration of the trees around. There were many crafty items on sale here. I bought quite a few of christmas cake and cookies from this market as gifts for my friends.

Photos were taken by me and FH.

Cuenca Old Town, Spain

2008-12-17T20:05:00.021Z

This is my last blog of the year and then I'll be off for Christmas holidays. Yipeee!

What I remember about Cuenca is it's a nice little town with very narrow streets where Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses) is the main attraction to see there and the Cathedral has a beautiful facade.

I drove from Valencia to Cuenca. That was my first time driving in Europe and to me, it was on the wrong side of the road. I was driving OK until we reached the town. We used a GPS and were lost as the GPS brought us to a walk path to our hotel instead. We were lucky to find a restaurant with staffs who could speak English. So we asked for directions and the people there were very very helpful and friendly.

When we reached the old town, I thought the GPS brought us to a walk path again as the road was very narrow and I didn't dare to bring the car in (I found out later that people normally drive through these narrow streets). So we brought down our stuffs and I went to park the car. And Oh my God, the view from the car park was amazing as we were on the highest point of the hill and we could see the houses of the old town below us. It's just breathtakingly beautiful. I felt very peaceful there. I loved it straight away.

The old town of Cuenca was absolutely amazing. There were not many people around and I think that made it special. It seemed untouched and very original. I felt like we were back in the old times. We walked around the town and enjoyed everything about it. The Hanging Houses, which were said to be the most photographed houses in this town, was unbelievable. They are famous because they are literary hanging on the edge of the cliff. It's obvious that these houses are the symbol of Cuenca.

In short, Cuenca is a good place to relax and recuperate. The peaceful moments we’ve had combined with the beautiful scenery are perfect mix. It’s a remedy for tiredness and sore muscles. I think it’s a remedy for everything, really. It’s too bad we couldn’t stay longer as we were moving on to Toledo. To me, this is a city that I would definitely want to come back to again in the future.

The breathtaking view from the car park

From left to right, above and then below: The city square, the Cathedral, the Monastery and the bridge that connects the monastery to the town

The Hanging Houses, and the narrow and winding streets

Magical Night view of the Hanging Houses

Valencia

2008-11-20T18:18:00.027Z

From Barcelona we went to Valencia by train. It was about 3 hour journey and we reached Valencia around lunch time. So the first thing we did after checking in to our accomodation was to look for the food market and have lunch there. The market, Mercado Central, was not as big as the one we visited in Barcelona but it was quite busy. We tried quite a few things as well as the famous paella. We then continued by walking around the old city following the Lonely Planet's walking tour. We visited the square, took some pictures of the Cathedral and enjoyed our walk.

That day was happened to be World Tourism Day and therefore public transportations such as trains, trams and buses were free. We also got a taste of Valencian Horchata (or Orxata in Catalan) which, I just found out, is made of tigernut. I initially thought it was made of almond. It's an interesting drink, I have to say, very nutty and sweet. I quite liked the taste after a few sips.

Nearby Torres de Serranos walking towards the fine art museum, El Museo de las Bellas Artes de Valencia San Pío V, we passed by 5 huge football fields and we saw people gathered around watching or playing football there. I just thought 'Wow'. I had never seen 5 football fields side by side like that before. We then finished our day at the museum before going for paella dinner.

A part from visiting the old quarter and the museum, there was nothing much to see in Valencia. I asked my friend why we put this city in our itinerary and she said it's because one of my friend wanted to go to the aquarium and due to work related issue she cancelled her trip with us. I supposed after we put it as a city to visit, we never thought much about cancelling any cities. Looking at what we visited I thought we could skip Valencia but maybe we didn't have enough time to appreciate it...

I must say though the paella I had in Valencia was the best I've tasted. Too bad we forgot to take photo of it until it's finished.

Valencia's Mercado Central. This photo was taken by HM.

Some of the food we had from Mercado Central

The Cathedral and Bell Tower from a distance

Details of the Cathedral

Torres de Serranos

I just have to show you this. This is from google map. We were crossing the footpath bridge (the blue dot) and you can see there the 5 football fields. They're huge!

Beware of Pickpockets in Las Ramblas

2008-11-16T17:41:00.012Z

Las Ramblas is always busy and crowded and therefore it's good to watch out for your belongings. On the last few days back in Barcelona, my wallet was stolen from my bag. I remember all of us were watching a headless street performer sitting down with his head on the table. A lot of people gathered around there and I think that was the time my wallet was stolen. And then we continue walking towards Liceu metro station. I only realised I lost my wallet when I was to buy metro tickets.

I then quickly rushed back retracing my steps in case I dropped it although I knew it's impossible. I went back to the shop I went shopping before and back to the area where the headless street performer was sitting. But I couln't find my wallet.

At the point where I sort of accepted that my wallet had gone and thought about what I had to do next, I saw a policeman and a policewoman standing there looking at me. I thought since they were looking at me I might as well tell them about my lost wallet. And that was I did. I told them "I lost my wallet". And he suddenly took out his whistle and blowed it towards a man who was walking away but not too far away from us. He came rushing back towards us and I saw in his hand he was holding my driver's licence and he asked "Are you Josephine?". And I said yes. Apparently, he's an under cover police. He and his partner caught the pickpocket who stole my wallet. It was a lady in her 40s I think. She was caught in the act and my wallet was one of the items she stole.

I guess the 2 uniformed policeman and policewoman were shown my photo on my driver's licence and were standing there looking for me. That's why he was looking at me when I was passing by.

After being shown my wallet, I then followed the under cover policemen and went to the police station nearby filling up some forms. And voila! I got my wallet back! I just couldn't believe it! I was so lucky.

And that's the story of my lost and found wallet.

Antoni Gaudi's Work in Barcelona

2008-11-16T11:13:00.029Z

Another interesting thing about Barcelona is the people there worship Antoni Gaudi, a famous architect well known for his unique and distinguished designs. His buildings are everywhere around Barcelona. And it's not surprising really, I went into one of his building, Casa Mila (also known as La Pedrera), and was very amazed with what I saw. I don't think I had ever seen something like that before. In his time he already thought about ergonomic designs and use of nature forms in his creations.

I also went to the unfinished church, La Sagrada Familia. I had not seen a church with the kind of details presented there and I think it's definitely the most exceptional building in Barcelona. The outside area was in a better shape than the inside but the church is practically still under construction. Looking at workers working around the church, I had to agree with one of my friend's comment that it was a very historical moment and that when it's completed and we're still around we could tell our kids that we were there when it's being built.

The last Gaudi's work I visited was Park Guell. Park Guell, a UNESCO Heritage Site, is a park with a unique designs of architecture. There is not much activities you can do there apart from strolling around, looking at the building structures and designs in the park and sitting on the long and wavy bench with a very vibrant and colourful ceramic designs. Park Guell is also a great place to view Barcelona from high up towards the sea. In short period of time, I became one of those people in Barcelona who admire him and his creations.

Travel tips:

1. When in Barcelona, it's worth visiting Gaudi's Casa Mila, La Sagrada Familia, and Park Guell. If you haven't seen any of Gaudi's buildings before, then it's good to start with Casa Mila. There you will find a museum explaining his works and the roof terrace is just breathtaking. You have to pay to get into the first two buildings but it's free admission to Park Guell except for the Gaudi's house located inside the park. Another building worth going into is probably Casa Batllo. I only took photos of the building from outside. Click here to see list of Gaudi's buildings.

2. Nearest metro station to Casa Mila is Passeig de Gracia - Green Line, L3.

3. Nearest metro station to La Sagrada Familia is Sagrada Familia - Blue Line, L5 and Purple Line, L2.

4. The best way to get to Park Guell is to take bus no 24 and it will take you up the hill and stop in front of the park. You can catch this bus from Placa the Catalunya and let the bus driver know to tell you where to stop. If you take metro (Lesseps - Green Line, L3), you will have to walk up the hill.

Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

The Roof Terrace of Casa Mila

Casa Batllo

The many features of La Sagrada Familia from outside. There are just too many details for me to capture.

The inside of La Sagrada Familia

Park Guell

Gaudi's house at Park Guell

Oh How I Love Barcelona!

2008-11-14T23:16:00.046Z

I took Ryan Air flying from London to Girona. It was just me and a friend, and later we were going to meet another 2 friends in Barcelona. From Girona airport we took a bus to Barcelona's main bus station for about an hour and a half and then we continued on by metro to our B&B which is located nearby Las Ramblas, Barcelona's main tourist area.

We walked around Las Ramblas enjoying the atmosphere there. Las Ramblas is a long walkway that's streched from Catalunya to Drassanes metro station. There are all sorts of shops, restaurants, bars, street performers as well as flock of people (mainly tourists, I'd say) along the walkway. There are stalls selling birds and other animals in one part of the walkway, around Catalunya metro station, and then flowers stalls somewhere in the middle and souvenir stalls towards the Drassanes metro station. It's very, very lively. I just loved walking and browsing around the stretch as well as people watching. One thing about it though, I find the restaurants on the stretch are too expensive for what they serve. I also think the shops on the Las Ramblas stretch are overpriced. I was surprised to find a 1Lt bottled water that costs over €3 and most of the shops there sell it around that price. It's just ridiculous.

Shopping was another activity we did in Barcelona and it was fun! There are a lot of shops around Placa Catalunya and on the small streets along Las Ramblas. You can get almost everything in this area. The most interesting shopping place I went to was Mercat St. Josep La Bouqueria. It's a food market selling variety of fruits, meat, seafood, and the lot. It's full of character and literary a very colorful market.

Travel tips:

1. Barcelona Bus between Girona and Barcelona. Tickets can be purchased at Girona airport.

2. We stayed at Vrabac Bed and Breakfast in Barcelona. The location is superb (nearest metro station is Liceu - Green Line, L3). It's only a few steps away from Las Ramblas. The place is warm and has got a character, it felt like living in local apartment. It's also clean and very secure. They provide free tapas on certain days where guests can meet and chat with each other. The only two bad points (and they are very minor) are it's shared bathroom and it's on level 2 and 4 with no lift and many steps.

3. Barcelona metro map.

4. Mercat St. Josep La Bouqeria is located at Las Ramblas. Nearest metro station is Liceu - Green Line, L3.

It was raining the first few days we arrived Barcelona. In this photos: Las Ramblas, the floor pattern of Barcelona, my friend posing with a street performer, Port of Barcelona at night, birds everywhere in Placa Catalunya, and Water view from Port of Barcelona.

Music is everywhere around Barcelona. I just love the atmosphere. Photo at the bottom left: the old man was dancing following the music.

Some of the food items sold at Mercat St. Josep La Bouqueria. These photos were taken by my friend HM.

La Font de Canaletes (Canaletes Fountain) at Las Ramblas. The rough translation of the words on the floor at this fountain says: If you drink the water from this fountain you shall always love Barcelona. Away you go, always return.

Spain in 2.5 Weeks

2008-11-11T17:22:00.021Z

I haven't done much with my blog lately as I just came back from my long awaited Spain trip. After I came back, I got what people call 'post-holiday blues' which I named it 'Spain blues'. I was not in the mood to do anything at all especially in the first few days when I was back. The weather in London was cloudy and it was raining most of the time. In comparison, the weather in Spain was very good most days I was there. It was cold at night time but generally nice and sunny in the day time.

And I was torn between continuing the Angkor trip and starting the Spain trip story. It's not easy to continue the Angkor trip as I was just back from Spain with all the memorable journey in my mind. Even until today, I'm still feeling it. So I decided to start with Spain trip and continue Angkor trip later.

And now here goes, the itinerary for 2.5 weeks in Spain:

- Barcelona (2 days)

- Valencia (1 day)

- Cuenca (1 day)

- Toledo (1 day)

- Avila (1 day)

- Segovia (1 day)

- Madrid (2 days)

- Sevilla (2 days)

- Ronda (1 day)

- Nerja (1 day)

- Granada (1 day)

- And back to Barcelona (2 days)

It's the six of us travelling - all girls. Two were lost in transit on the first 5 days :-). And by that I meant they were only joining us from day 6. There was a mixed up with their visa applications and they could only enter Spain on day 6. So they had their own trip to Edinburgh in Scotland and then joined us in Segovia.

We moved very fast from place to place taking trains and buses as well as driving a rental car. It's a very tiring trip, I must say, but I enjoyed all of it. And we had a lot of good food and wines. I guess it comes to no surprise as Spanish food is just very delicious. But during the trip, I felt we ate too much sometimes. I always felt too full after meals. It's yummy but it was a bit too much for me. But overall, the trip was very enjoyable and memorable to me.

Angkor Trip - Day 1 at Angkor

2008-09-17T23:07:00.025+01:00

After a good night sleep at our guesthouse, we were quite fresh and ready to visit the temples at Angkor. The question was: which one to visit? There are so many temples around Angkor and we only had 3 days. Fortunately, there was a guide book provided in our guesthouse explaining each temple briefly as well as ranking them by interest (1-3 stars, 3 being the highest). So we went to Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Phrom and we spent a little time in Angkor Wat for sunset, all of which are ranked with 3 stars.

The temples were beautiful. The carving, the color of the stones, the statues, the multiple doors, the windows, the surrounding trees, the atmosphere...I can keep going on and on...There was something mystical about the temples. I could feel it when I was walking inside. It's incredible how people in the past could build them without machines and technologies. And it's even more incredible to see how the whole Angkor city was full of them everywhere.

It was the first day... so we were very excited with taking photos of the temples. We have so many photos of them, especially Angkor Thom, the first one we visited and the famous Angkor Wat.

We were having breakfast and discussing which temples to visit on the first day.

This is Siam Reap's version of tuk tuk - our transportation in Angkor.

The gate of Angkor Thom - click photo to enlarge. This is one of the largest Khmer cities with 9 sq km in area. These face-towers are the causeways of the city gates.

The many features of Bayon, another temple with a lot of face-towers. There are also many carvings on the walls which was said to tell history of Khmer's daily life. Click photo to enlarge.

Ta Phrom, a temple where roots of figs and silk-cotton trees are spreading and covering many of its ruins. It has many hidden corners where you feel mystical ambience. Click photo to enlarge.

Angkor Trip - The Road Trip to Siem Reap

2008-09-12T21:24:00.046+01:00

And so there we were, getting into our taxis. Hmmm...let me think about how to describe the road trip to Siem Reap. It was a very very long and uneven dirt road. It was bumpy most of the time and I felt sick for the first hour or two in the car.

The driver was very familiar with the road and he skillfully tried to avoid every single hole he saw on the road by turning the car right and left, right and left and sometimes up and down, up and down and at the same time, still maintained his speed. Just imagine yourself in it and being moved right, left, up and down randomly and continuously for about 5 hours. I think you would feel sick too. Then surprisingly at the second hour, I kind of got used to the whole thing and didn't feel sick anymore. But we were all so bored...It was a long journey....

Apart from the bumpy journey, the trip was quite smooth for me. But it was not the case for my friends in the other taxi. They got into a traffic jam which was caused by a collapsed bridge and so there was a line of cars trying to get through (see photos below). And it was amazing how the cars got through the bridge. You have to see it with your own eyes to believe it.

But in the end, we reached Siem Reap at about 7pm. We checked into our guesthouse, put our bags there and then went to a restaurant nearby to have dinner. Ahhh...finally...no more bumpy road...

Travel Tips:

Tales of Asia - Cambodia. The one and only notes we used for our overland journey. It's updated frequently and very thoroughly written so set aside time to read it before your journey.

This was the road we were seeing for about 5 hours. It was uneven and very dusty too. Some parts of the road had been developed and the time to reach Siem Reap from the border is now about 3.5 hours.

Traffic jam due to collapse of a bridge - cars were waiting to get through

Before a car could get through, the bridge was checked and tested

"Ok, it's safe to come through now", said this guy as he was directing a car. Steady...steady...and go...

And that was how it's done!

Making a stop at the driver's house

Playing jenga at the restaurant where we were having dinner. We were so glad to finally reach Siem Reap.

Angkor Trip - To The Border of Thailand and Cambodia

2008-09-11T22:35:00.026+01:00

On the third day, we had to get up very early about 5am in the morning to catch a 6am bus to Aranyaprathet. One of my friends woke us up at sometime around 4am thinking it was 5am and when he realised it he went back to sleep. But I had trouble sleeping after that and so I got ready and waited at the lobby. It was actually quite a funny story at at that time. Now I don't remember what was funny about it but I remember cursing him for waking me up too early.

It was still very dark and quiet. When everyone was ready to go, we went to look for taxis which then brought us to Morchit, one of Bangkok’s bus terminal. Once I was on the bus, I went to sleep right away. The trip to Aranyaprathet took about 5 hours. I don’t have any photos of us in the bus. We were all mostly sleeping throughout the journey. I don’t remember much of the bus trip to be honest. Once we reached Aranyaprathet, we took tuk tuk (this is public transportation known in Thailand and Cambodia) to the border of Thailand and Cambodia, which is not far from the bus stop. The border was quiet. There were not many people around. I wasn’t feeling safe there and wanted to quickly go through the immigration process to enter Cambodia. We had all of our bags tightly with us as we knew the area was not safe. And there were kids, I think 2 or 3 boys of 8 or 9 years old following us around and managed to snatch 2 plastic bags of bottled water and snacks. They snatched them from my friend’s hand so hard until the plastic bags were torn and all the things inside dropped. We just went on and walked towards the immigration office and let the boys took everything.

At the immigration, they charged us 1000 Baht per person (US$25 at the time) for a visa although we had notes telling us to insist on paying US$20. We thought there was no point haggling for $5. Not everyone had to pay for a visa though. One of us, who’s holding a Malaysian passport, didn’t have to pay a penny.

A few steps later, we were in Poipet, Cambodia. Then a shuttle bus brought us to the transport depot, where we had to wait for 2 taxis to bring us to Siem Reap. We waited there for quite sometime and there were a few people before us waiting for taxis as well. I remember feeling a bit daunting. Everything was a bit hazy. I was not sure if we’re doing things right and wondering if the people there could be trusted. I felt better after we got into our taxi...or so I thought...

At the border - we were holding all of our bags very tightly

Waiting for taxis to bring us to Siam Reap

Angkor Trip - The Grand Palace Bangkok

2008-09-07T23:48:00.018+01:00

The next morning, after we had breakfast at our hostel, we were then off to The Grand Palace. We walked there as it’s within a walking distance from Khao San road. The Grand Palace is a must see for people visiting Bangkok. It’s just simply beautiful! I was amazed with the elegant architecture and the detail of each wall, ceiling, roof and statue. Basically everything attached to it, everything in it and everything around it, is designed for the pleasure of the eye. They’re just amazing. I couldn’t take photos enough.

Travel Tips:

1. Official site of The Grand Palace. It opens everyday from 8.30am to 16.30pm. Tickets are sold until 15.30pm. Ticket costs 250 Baht.

2. The Grand Palace is Thailand’s most sacred site and therefore strict dress code applies. There is a booth at the front gate that provides clothes to cover you up if you turn up without proper clothing (a deposit is required). At the website above, select ‘13. Helpful Information’ at the drop down bar for more information on this.

Phra Sri Rattana chedi

Buddha statue at Phra Mondop

Taking a break - palace complex in the background

One of demons cast in metal is guarding stairways into Phra Mondop

Close up - the intricate detail of one of the walls

Angkor Trip - and so the trip began at Bangkok...

2008-09-03T21:17:00.039+01:00

We arrived Bangkok in the evening and the first thing we did after arriving at the Airport was to look for a bus that could take us to Khao San Road. Khao San Road is basically THE place to look for cheap accommodations for budget tourists like us and we had to get one that night, as we didn’t make any bookings for the 2 nights there. I was a little panicky myself when I found that out. I didn’t want to sleep on the street especially in a place I knew nothing about. I guess the reason why we did that because we were sure we would get rooms easily. And so we looked at several places and finally found one room available for the girls at one hostel and another room for the guys at another hostel. It’s not ideal but it was the best we could do. I don’t know if this is normal practice in Khao San road but apparently you can ask to look at the rooms first before you decide.

Khao San road was very happening that night. It was 31 October and people were celebrating Halloween. The streets were lit up, the bars and pubs offered deals to passers by, people were out and about wearing fancy Halloween costumes and there were many street performances too. And another good thing about Khao San road is the abundance of street carts lining up and selling street food. We had pad thai (Thai fried noodles), pancakes...I remember having banana and chocolate pancake, and I don’t remember what else we had that night but I do remember we stuffed ourselves with a lot of yummy but unhealthy food...not that I'm complaining :-). Then we spent the night walking and enjoying the atmosphere before eventually went back to the hostel and rested.

Travel tips:

1. The bus ride from Airport to Khao San (Route A2) takes about 60-90 minutes depending on traffic, as Bangkok can get very congested at times. The cost is about 100-150 Thai Baht per person.

2. I can’t give you much tips on accommodations in Khao San road as we didn't make any bookings in advance. We walked in and paid cash. We paid around 600-900 Thai Baht per person per night (this was 3 years ago). The good thing about walking in is you can have a look at the room before hand so you know exactly what you're paying for. There is a site that you may find useful (Travelfish.org) but I haven’t used it myself so I can’t say much on it either. If you have used it, please let me know if it’s a good site.

Waiting for the bus at the airport

This is the lounge of one of the hostels we visited while checking for room availability. Unfortunately there was no room available in this nice little hostel.

Yummy street pad thai cooked for you on the spot

Posing with a guy in fancy costume

The lively atmosphere in Khao San road. This was around 1 am in the morning.

Angkor Trip - The Highlights

2008-09-01T22:04:00.029+01:00

I thought I start with my trip to Angkor Wat, a famous temple at Angkor, Cambodia. The trip took about 2 weeks. We started with a few days in Bangkok, Thailand, and then we took the overland route from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet in Thailand, then to the border of Thailand and Cambodia, and then the Cambodian side from Poipet to Siem Reap. We spent 4 days looking at many temples at Angkor using the 3 days pass. And then we're back on the road again to Bangkok and ended our trip shopping in Bangkok for another few days. I think we spent about an overall 3-4 days on the road.

The overland route is probably the most talked about route for its overpriced visas and taxis, and the very terrible and awful roads. Not to forget the scams everywhere! To me, the roads were so terrible that it's actually the most unforgettable part of the trip :-). I don't think I will use this route the next time I visit Angkor though. Once is enough. Having said that, this route shows you the side of Cambodia that you will not see if you were flying straight to Siem Reap. So it really depends on what you're looking for.

The next few blogs will be about this trip in details. Also, please note that the photos presented here were not all taken by me. At the end of the trip, we merged all of our photos and so each of us has all photos of the trip.

It was 7 of us on this trip.

When we started off at Bangkok we met with 2 friends who were visiting Bangkok as well.

The 7 of us at Ta Phrom, a temple made famous by Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Rider

The magnificent view of Angkor Wat. It was a bit cloudy when this photo was taken.

The second layer of Angkor Wat.

There are many temples at Angkor. This is Banteay Srey - famous for its beautiful carving on every sides of its temple.

Welcome to Odyssey-ing

2008-08-28T00:33:00.021+01:00

I'm not a professional traveller or photographer but I do love going around places and I also love taking photos of places I go to. I've been to a few places where the views are breathtakingly beautiful and the people and culture are very interesting. And the food, of course. A trip will not be complete without tasting the local dishes. As for the photos, I have many of them that whenever I look back at them I can still feel the fond memories of what happened there. Some of them I still remember clearly but others are a bit sketchy as they took place a few years ago. That's the main reason why I want to do this blog. I want to write what I can remember now so I won't forget about it later.

Ok, let's talk about the trip itself. I usually do 2-4 weeks trip once a year with bunch of friends. This started 3 years ago at Angkor Wat trip. We promised each other that we were going to make this a yearly thing. And we did it continuously for 2 years at Angkor Wat and Japan trips but missed it last year. This year we are back on track and planning on Spain trip that will happen in 4 weeks time! And I'm so excited! I've been counting down the days and I can't wait! I also do a week long and weekend trips every now and then. As I now live in the UK (from 2 years ago), most of my recent trips are within Europe.

Each trip has its own unique story and some are unforgettable. A quote from Ursula K. LeGuin says it perfectly that "It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end".

Also, in between the stories, I will try to give as much travel tips as I can think of and that I came across as useful for you when you're planning your trips.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I will surely enjoy writing it.