So, we found our ferry (it was my idea to go to the china ferry terminal, as in the one for chinese for all the ferries to china - no English!)
After almost getting sharked for a ticket, the guy was actually standing blocking the entry to the main ferry company, we got our ticket, business class and all for the ferry to Macau.
After a short, fairly smooth 1 hour trip over to Macau we jumped off the ferry and headed to baggage claim, this in itself was not as easy a task as it should be.
Did I mention that this was the section of our trip where we didn't skimp on the accommodation? Here we were booked into the Mandarin Oriental, which means free transfer on the mini bus to the hotel, this was a welcome addition after our earlier effort with the bags.
We jumped on the bus for the 5 minute trip to the hotel, where we were greeted by the doorman who unloaded our bags and ushered us in for check in. Everything about
this place was class (Australian hotels - this is how you do it) No standing around in the foyer for check in, you are introduced to the duty manager who escorts you to your room with a large folder where you check in at 1 of your desks... Amazing. The room was gorgeous, and right next to the sands casino.
After a long day of travel (the buddha, luggage hauling etc) we were stinky and over it so the shower and a relax was amazing.
After a while we shot off for dinner where we had an amazing Thai dinner and then hit the Sands, Wynn and MGM Grand.
Rick
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Last day in Hong Kong and heading to Macau
Lucky for us, the weather cleared up on our last morning in Hong Kong so we decided to make the most of it and head to Lantau Island to see the big buddha. To get to the big buddha, we had to catch the cable car, a 25 minute ride reaching almost 1km off the ground. Although being that high was a little scary, there were some fantastic views of the mountains and landscapes surrounding the buddha. Once we were off the cable car, we made our way to the buddha by climbing up a large flight of steps...it took us about 10 mins to walk up them all.
After we were satisfied we had taken enough photos, we headed back down the stairs and looked around the monasteries in the area.
We took the cable car back to the mainland and headed back to the motel to grab our bags and to make our way to the ferry terminal to Macau.
Let me just say that trying to find the ferry terminal was not as easy as we thought it would be. Both our suitcases were about 20kg and we had to drag them through the largest and busiest shopping centre in Hong Kong. But after much whining and swearing, we eventually found it and the next part of our adventure begun...MACAU!!!
After we were satisfied we had taken enough photos, we headed back down the stairs and looked around the monasteries in the area.
We took the cable car back to the mainland and headed back to the motel to grab our bags and to make our way to the ferry terminal to Macau.
Let me just say that trying to find the ferry terminal was not as easy as we thought it would be. Both our suitcases were about 20kg and we had to drag them through the largest and busiest shopping centre in Hong Kong. But after much whining and swearing, we eventually found it and the next part of our adventure begun...MACAU!!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Last night in hong kong
On our last night in Hong Kong, the weather cleared up and we finally got the chance to do the touristy thing and go up to the peak, which gives the most spectacular views of the city. The most exciting part of going up to the peak is the 120 year old tram that you catch to get up to it.
We spent some time at the peak taking photos of the beautiful city and decided we had had enough and made our way back down to the tram station, to find the longest line in the history of tram lines...seriously it had about 400 people... all waiting to get back down from the peak on the two trams that run every 3 mins. We both rolled our eyes and made our way to the end of the line, and waited for about 10mins before rick dashed off to see if there was a taxi rank. AND YES THERE WAS!!! So we jumped out of the line, yelled "suckers" and caught a cab back down from the peak. We asked to be taken to the city hall, which was where we wanted to have dinner, "what is ... city hall?", the cabby asked. We eventually got dropped off at the city hall, after the cabbie had a lady over his radio translate city hall for him.
At City Hall, we had read in the Lonely Planet that there was a dim sum restaurant that was a "must do" whilst in Hong Kong. But when we finally got to this restaurant at 10pm (the opening times said till 11pm), to have a waiter reluctantly lead us to a table and to find that there was no dim sum at dinner time, menu only! That was ok, we ordered off the menu and the other customers left to leave me and rick to be the only 2 people in this large dinner hall with all the waiters packing up the tables. The food was actually delicious. We headed home to bed, to get some rest for our last big day in hong kong
We spent some time at the peak taking photos of the beautiful city and decided we had had enough and made our way back down to the tram station, to find the longest line in the history of tram lines...seriously it had about 400 people... all waiting to get back down from the peak on the two trams that run every 3 mins. We both rolled our eyes and made our way to the end of the line, and waited for about 10mins before rick dashed off to see if there was a taxi rank. AND YES THERE WAS!!! So we jumped out of the line, yelled "suckers" and caught a cab back down from the peak. We asked to be taken to the city hall, which was where we wanted to have dinner, "what is ... city hall?", the cabby asked. We eventually got dropped off at the city hall, after the cabbie had a lady over his radio translate city hall for him.
At City Hall, we had read in the Lonely Planet that there was a dim sum restaurant that was a "must do" whilst in Hong Kong. But when we finally got to this restaurant at 10pm (the opening times said till 11pm), to have a waiter reluctantly lead us to a table and to find that there was no dim sum at dinner time, menu only! That was ok, we ordered off the menu and the other customers left to leave me and rick to be the only 2 people in this large dinner hall with all the waiters packing up the tables. The food was actually delicious. We headed home to bed, to get some rest for our last big day in hong kong
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Rain, Laundry and that F%$*en Red Fluff!!!
We keep putting off the touristy things here in favour of the indoor activities in the perhaps misguided hope that this rain will clear... this however presents 2 problems, 1 we are running out of indoor activities and 2, we are running out of time. We are off to Macau tomorrow and still have not done the peak or the giant buddha, 2 things high on our list.
So, stuff it. We are cranking out our umbrellas (one trend we aren't partaking in just yet is the designer gumboots) and heading to the peak tonight.
This morning we had an interesting excursion to do some laundry, a simple task? Not bloody likely. We shot off to the island with our sacks in hand chasing the "by the pound" laundry stores lonely planet speaks of, the 1st one was closed down, the 2nd one only did per item, 10 times the cost and the 3rd one we found eventually couldn't give them to us by Tomorrow as it is a public holiday here and were shut. This mind you, was in the pouring rain and really not that much fun.
So pissed off, we trudged back to the hotel only to find, on the 9th floor, a freaking self service laundry, FUCK!!! All for just $80, washed and dryed (about $10 Aussie... Not happy!
This was all good, except for the fact that I didn't think to check my pockets for the enormous red paper ticket that was in there... Oh, did I mention that it was in the dark load? Red Fluff everywhere. Not happy. Shirts were ruined, a quick text to mum (aren't they great) had it all sorted - in the dryer rick, keep emptying the filter. Good as new. So now, after a 6 hour laundry stint.. We are clean and heading out for a touch of retail therapy.... Aaahhh Hong Kong!!!
So, stuff it. We are cranking out our umbrellas (one trend we aren't partaking in just yet is the designer gumboots) and heading to the peak tonight.
This morning we had an interesting excursion to do some laundry, a simple task? Not bloody likely. We shot off to the island with our sacks in hand chasing the "by the pound" laundry stores lonely planet speaks of, the 1st one was closed down, the 2nd one only did per item, 10 times the cost and the 3rd one we found eventually couldn't give them to us by Tomorrow as it is a public holiday here and were shut. This mind you, was in the pouring rain and really not that much fun.
So pissed off, we trudged back to the hotel only to find, on the 9th floor, a freaking self service laundry, FUCK!!! All for just $80, washed and dryed (about $10 Aussie... Not happy!
This was all good, except for the fact that I didn't think to check my pockets for the enormous red paper ticket that was in there... Oh, did I mention that it was in the dark load? Red Fluff everywhere. Not happy. Shirts were ruined, a quick text to mum (aren't they great) had it all sorted - in the dryer rick, keep emptying the filter. Good as new. So now, after a 6 hour laundry stint.. We are clean and heading out for a touch of retail therapy.... Aaahhh Hong Kong!!!
Hong Kong Photos....continued
The Famous Peninsular Hotel(which is one block from where we are staying)
Rick getting in the Asian spirit
2 for 1 San Miguels...2 pints for $6.20! This makes Rick very happy
Beer!!!
There is a lot of shops in Hong Kong!!!
Photos from Hong Kong
We haven't been able to connect to the internet here in Hong Kong. We have been having a great time though. It's a lot different to Singapore...it feels like we are actually in asia!! They don't speak english as well here in hong kong as they did in singapore.... The waiters in the chinese restaurants don't speak english very well and even the people at McDonald's don't speak english (we asked for a cheeseburger, fries and a McFlurry and we ended up with a happy meal with milk, and a double cheeseburger.....seriously it took 5 staff members to eventually sort out our order...).
It is a very large city though with some great views. The weather has been very rainy and cloudy so we haven't done the touristy sights but have done a lot of shopping, eating and drinking!!!
Check out these photos to see what we have been up to!
It is a very large city though with some great views. The weather has been very rainy and cloudy so we haven't done the touristy sights but have done a lot of shopping, eating and drinking!!!
Check out these photos to see what we have been up to!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thiursday Night - Did anyone say Tiger?
We woke after an hour or so of sleep and were ready to hit the town.
We jumped in the cab and shot down to the singapore flyer (www.singaporeflyer.com) the worlds biggest ferris wheel, like the London Eye. We got there and it started to rain and we just weren't in it.
So we bailed from there and headed for dinner, Newton Circus, the overtly touristy food centre that everyone hits apparently.
Trudes' first taste of real asia, high pressure tactics were well and truly in force trying to lure you into there stall for dinner. Ended up giving in to a nice guy called Po. Ended up a great meal. Chilli stingray, sweet n sour chicken and veges and oyster sauce. And then there were the tigers... Started gently on a can each then hit the tallies, $6.50 each (which is like $5 Aussie, this is a bargain in Singapore where we were used to paying 8 or 9 for a tinnie.
Ended up fairly loose then jumped on the train back to the unit, was a wonky ols walk home...
Thursday - Seriously, do we really need to do more shopping?
So, Thursday rolls round.
We hit the roads early for some sight seeing as no shops here seem to open until 11.30/12. Had a great walk around the city centre/colonial district. Did the very stereotypical Raffles experience, cool place. Dropped into the museum in Raffles for a look, very cool to see how much it has changed over the years.
Visited, city hall, supreme court and some very interesting war memorials.
Then it was shopping time, we were over it by this time. It was hot and we were tired. Walked aimlessly around a couple of centres but were over it so bailed back to the unit. A little disappointing really.
Me and Rick outside RAFFLES HOTEL!!!
The Fountain of Fortune(Biggest water fountain in Asia, or something like that)
We shot back to the unit for a couple of hours R & R then hit our local strip, Orchard Rd to explore. Found some very cool centres, it is interesting. 1 street has like 10 to 15 indooroopilly shopping centres on it, crazy.
Got some cool stuff, old Trudes is struggling with the asian way of customer service, they follow you so closely its painful, she just needs to be more forceful and tell them to piss off, she is too n ice.
Ended back to the room for a snooze.
We hit the roads early for some sight seeing as no shops here seem to open until 11.30/12. Had a great walk around the city centre/colonial district. Did the very stereotypical Raffles experience, cool place. Dropped into the museum in Raffles for a look, very cool to see how much it has changed over the years.
Visited, city hall, supreme court and some very interesting war memorials.
Then it was shopping time, we were over it by this time. It was hot and we were tired. Walked aimlessly around a couple of centres but were over it so bailed back to the unit. A little disappointing really.
Me and Rick outside RAFFLES HOTEL!!!
The Fountain of Fortune(Biggest water fountain in Asia, or something like that)
We shot back to the unit for a couple of hours R & R then hit our local strip, Orchard Rd to explore. Found some very cool centres, it is interesting. 1 street has like 10 to 15 indooroopilly shopping centres on it, crazy.
Got some cool stuff, old Trudes is struggling with the asian way of customer service, they follow you so closely its painful, she just needs to be more forceful and tell them to piss off, she is too n ice.
Ended back to the room for a snooze.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday Night - When in Rome...
Evening People,
My turn, we thought what better way to welcome ourselves to a country/region than make ourselves look like the locals, wigs and costumes were the order of the day!
No, but seriously, hair cut time. After 4 days of nagging from T I finally succumbed to getting the chop... So after a lazy 5k run (this is my turn to write and I will talk myself up as much as I like..) we made ourselves presentable and headed down to the hotel's hair chopper (crazy asian hair dresser - T's suggestion, not mine) Trudes was first, what would you like darling? Do whatever she says, I peer over my book in surprise, you do know we are in a foreign country trudes and I am not sure about you, but I haven't seen an abundance of good hair since I have been here, but maybe that is just me...
Long story short, her hair looks great (I always have had a thing for asians, no I know, it is all in the hair...) I promise we will post some photos. As for my hair, gay. That is all we will say about that one.
So, we headed off for dinner, on Lonely Planets suggestion to an Indian restaurant, turns out that it is a vegetarian restaurant, not to worry. Was a good feed (a little on the spicy side though - Why are you sweating Rick?)
Then we had this great idea to go shopping, walking a long Orchard Rd, but everything was shut so we jumped on the train and headed sightseeing. Checked out the waterfront in the financial district with the spectacular Fullerton Hotel (pics coming) and then the Merlion, very cool.
The construction site for the Marina Bay Sands (new casino) was still pumping at 11pm, 11PM!!! Wow, no wonder we are so backwards in Australia, what would the unions say on that one?? We counted 50 cranes.
We then wandered back through Boat Quay, a cool little restaurant strip where we were accosted by every crab peddling local and expat restaurant owner in the strip, we got offered everything from cheap crab, to drinks to something one referred to as a happy ending (not sure what he meant there, maybe they sing us a song at the end of the meal)
Anyway, Trudes is complaining we have to go.
Until next time
Hooroo
Rick
The underground mall that links that mall to the other mall, no not that one, the other one...
Today was our first real shopping day in Singapore (and by our, I mean I dragged rick around by the ear for 14 hours... )We decided to check out Marina square which is where the majority of the shops are. Even if we had 2 weeks here just for shopping, we still wouldn't have enough time to see all of the malls. AS well as having about 20 million shops, from the end of may to the end of july is a promotion known as the The Great Singapore Sale, where all of Singapore goes on sale
Seriously this is the only place where the malls are connected by malls, oh yeah, this is the connector mall not the link mall...
Some excellent acquisitions were made, I will put some photos up. I eventually succumbed to ricks complaining and we headed home..
Seriously this is the only place where the malls are connected by malls, oh yeah, this is the connector mall not the link mall...
Some excellent acquisitions were made, I will put some photos up. I eventually succumbed to ricks complaining and we headed home..
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Our adventure begins
Sitting on the plane, anxious to leave the country and start our adventure, we hear an announcement over the load speaker, "We apologise for the delay but our ground engineers are checking the engines. This is normal procedure. We hope to be pull off soon. Thank you for your patience."...AN HOUR LATER, our plane pulled off from the terminal and began it's journey to Singapore. Overall the plane trip was fairly uneventful cepts for the fact that rick's tv screen crashed and they had to reset it and the old lady sitting next to him thought it was ok to put her head on his shoulder and her pillow on his dinner tray whenever she decided she no longer wanted it.
We had a transfer to pick us up from the airport to take us to our motel. He was nice; he seemed to want to tell us everythign he knew about singapore.....i mean EVERYTHING. "See that dark patch over there, that's a grassy area","those buildings over there, they are apartments"
Got to the motel around 2am, singapore time and went straight to bed!
Signing off
Trudy
We had a transfer to pick us up from the airport to take us to our motel. He was nice; he seemed to want to tell us everythign he knew about singapore.....i mean EVERYTHING. "See that dark patch over there, that's a grassy area","those buildings over there, they are apartments"
Got to the motel around 2am, singapore time and went straight to bed!
Signing off
Trudy
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sydney...
Afternoon good people
We are sitting here in Sydney Airport, 10 minutes before boarding starts, ready for the adventure to begin.
Uneventful flight from Brissie, train ride (wow how bad is Brisbane transport when you experience any other cities...)
Wish I could be exciting, witty or even remotely interesting. (Well my writing anyway..) But that is it... I am sure I will warm up to that!
Will talk again soon
Rick
We are sitting here in Sydney Airport, 10 minutes before boarding starts, ready for the adventure to begin.
Uneventful flight from Brissie, train ride (wow how bad is Brisbane transport when you experience any other cities...)
Wish I could be exciting, witty or even remotely interesting. (Well my writing anyway..) But that is it... I am sure I will warm up to that!
Will talk again soon
Rick
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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