My Amazing Race - Part 4

Hi everyone!

Hope you had a good weekend. My side, things have been very quiet, being under quarantine and all. At least tomorrow, it's back to work for me and human contact again :)

So to wrap up my holiday news.....

Wednesday 12th:

Up at the crack of dawn to take a tour to the Bridge over the River Kwai - famous in history (it's featured in many WW2 movies). During WW2, the Japanese used prisoners of war as slave labour to build this bridge and railway line over the River Kwai, and through the surrounding mountainous area. Many POWs from Allies nations (Australia, UK, India, etc etc) died from malnutrition, disease and general bad treatment at the hands of the Japanese. When the Allies came in to bomb the bridge, the Japanese made the POWs line up on the railway and bridge, thus earning the railway the name of the Death Railway. We also visited the memorial cemetery of many of these POWs whose remains were never found or never made it home. Then was a trainride along the Death Railway, on an old train. Later, a trip to a popular waterfall area, which was quite packed with local Thai folk enjoying the day, as it was a public holiday, due to it being the Thai Queen's birthday that day. Then back to traffic-jammed Bangkok, and an early'ish night.

POW Memorial Cemetery

The Bridge over the River Kwai

Elephant trekking in the Thai jungle.

Feeding bananas to my beautiful elephant.

Local Thai people enjoying the Queen's Birthday (public holiday).

Thursday 13th:

Up at the crack of dawn again to go out to the Floating Market. Here one climbs in a longtail boat and you go shopping on the canals. Shopkeepers have their wares set up on the water's edge, so when you see something you like, your driver stops the boat, you pull up next to the store and proceed to haggle over prices. Sometimes, old women also drive their boats up and down the canals, peddling fresh local fruit and vegetables. We bought coconuts off a boat like this, freshly hacked open, with a straw stuck inside. Fresher coconut water, you ain't gonna find!

Fresh coconut water!

Then we off to the airport again, to catch a flight down south to the Krabi province, where we were to spend the last few days of our holiday. The accommodation was getting posher and posher, while the atmosphere was getting more and more relaxed, just the way we planned it. We stayed at a beautiful quiet resort on the beach. We each had our own teak villa. Al fresco dining on the beach, amazing sunsets, early morning walks on the beach, AMAZING food, thai massages, sleep, eat, sleep, eat....aaah, what a life!

Fire-breathing dragon cloud

Paradise

Early morning with view of islands in the background.

Friday 14th:

After a day of movies and sleep, we joined a trip into Krabi town, for some local sightseeing, shopping and hanging out with the other tourists.

Saturday 15th:

Idyllic lazy day of doing pretty much nothing at all, except enjoying paradise.

Sunday 16th:

We took a ride on a big speedboat to the Phi Phi islands. Snorkelling in a coral reef with the most beautifully decorated tropical fish and leopard sharks! Something bit me on my thigh at one point, but I couldn't tell what it was, must have been a curious fish! But it was quite swollen and itchy for a full week afterwards! We also visited the beach that was the location for the movie, THE BEACH. Then lunch on another island. Oh, paradise, paradise. I'll let the photos speak for me. My words cannot do justice to all the beauty.

After another awesome day, back to the resort.

Aboard our speed boat - really cool!

Movie location for THE BEACH (Leonardo de Caprio)

Beach restaurant where we ate lunch

Snorkelling...

... in crystal clear water.

Monday 17th:

Quiet morning, spent resting and packing, lunch, then off to the airport, where our connecting flight to Bangkok was delayed by an hour, and the luggage took forever to come off, causing us to once again hit the air running on our way to Hong Kong and Korea!

Tuesday 18th:

Arrived back in Korea, and to the news that I had another 7 days to twiddle my thumbs, thanks to quarantine laws. Extra holiday for me, Yippy!!!!

And now it's finally Monday 24th. I go back to work tomorrow, on payday! How cool is that!

Anyway, that's all my news for now. Life should go back to normal now, until the next adventure coming up next month, when I plan to attend a Mask Dance Festival in Andong. This is the closest one can get to Korean culture in Korea. A group of us will stay in a traditional Korean village. Of course, I'll send you ALL the news!

Lots of love,

Have a great week everybody.

And please think of me..... this holiday trip has really made me miss home big-time!

Andrea

My Amazing Race - Part 3

Yes, it's me again....

Didn't I warn you there was loads of news?

So, to continue....

Monday 10th:

Of course, this was our last morning in HK, and we were quickly running out of time to see all we wanted to see. Yes, we knew that 2 1/2 days in HK was not going to be enough time to see everything, but at least we could get a tongue-tip taste. Now we both definitely want to return to both HK and Macau sometime to do it full justice!

So, we decided to split up for the morning so we could each do what we individually wanted to. Gyo Lim went to the history museum etc while I went to OCEAN PARK! Now we all saw what the Chinese accomplished with the Beijing Olympics (opening/closing ceremonies, etc). I now have an appreciation for the way the Chinese do some things. When they put on a show, they really go all out. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Ocean Park is an amusement/zoo park. It's built on a hill/mountain, over 2 levels. The lower level houses the giant pandas, giant goldfish, exotic birds, red pandas, giant Chinese salamanders, Chinese alligators, otters and children's amusement park rides. To get to the upper level, one has to take a long cable car ride (about 15-20min) to the top of the mountain. The scenery along the way is stunning, of course, as one climbs higher and higher with an awesome aerial view of the bay and boats down below. At the top are the sharks, rays, dolphins, seals, reef animals (including various varieties of sea horses, Richard!) etc. How on earth they managed to get all these huge marine animals to the top of a mountain, I guess only the Chinese can answer. What a feat! And the further extension and constant construction continues.

I've seen dolphin shows in SA, but, yet again, the Chinese trump everything I've seen. They put on a fabulous show, telling a story with narration in Cantonese/Mandarin and English, about how it IS possible for man and animal to live together harmoniously. Human divers and dolphins performed exquisitely, dancing together, perfectly timed choreography in the water. They even included a little demonstration of how a dolphin can save a drowning human. (Trained dolphins, of course, but effective nonetheless.) Then a seal show where they get the seals to interact with random members of the audience. Adorable.

Thereafter, I just about had time for a quick browse through the coral reef section. Giant stingrays, prowling sharks, my kind of heaven!

I spent 3 1/2 hrs at Ocean Park but still didn't get to see everything. It's so interesting, that one needs to spend an entire day there. I definitely have to go back to HK, even if it's just to visit Ocean Park!

Then, it was immediately off to the airport again, and on to Bangkok!

So...Bangkok! I loved it! Absolutely loved it! What an amazing vibe! The first thing to strike you as you enter Thailand (and I remember Bradley telling me this...) is that you feel like you have arrived in the country of the Coloured people! Everyone looks like home! What an amazing feeling after living in Korea for almost 5 months now. I felt like I had come home! There were people from all around the world, of course, but mostly Indians and Africans, with a few Germans and English thrown in for good measure. So, Cape Town. The traffic is a BITCH! Hence, subway and skytrain are the way to get around. We had booked into a nice big upmarket hotel in central Bangkok where the traffic was the worst. Gyo Lim had prebooked a dinner/theatre show for our first night in Bangkok. But thanks to horrendous traffic, by the time we had checked into our hotel room, not even showered or changed, and managed to navigate our way via skytrain and subway, to the theatre, we had missed dinner but had arrived just in time for the show. And what a spectacular show it was! SIAM NIRAMIT tells the story of Thai history, (when the country was still called Siam). Stunning costumes and stage effects! Unlike anything I've ever seen accomplished on a stage. The musical, Showboat, at Artscape, only had a section of a boat constructed for the stage show. Siam Nirimvit had an entire boat, and not just one! They even constructed a river on stage, that flowed constantly, one of the actors could actually dive into it and swim. Other actors could row small boats on this river across the forestage. Audience members were invited to float flower garlands on this river. They had 2 live elephants on stage, as well as some goats and chickens! At one stage, the elephants came into the house, among the audience. AWESOME STUFF!

Meet-and-greet with actors...

... and elephants!

And after the show, there was a meet and greet session outside with some actors and elephants. Some patrons were paying the elephant handler to get the elephant to pick them up with its trunk.

Tuesday 11th:

Tuesday morning, we went on a private temple and city tour. Apparently there are 400+ Buddhist temples in the city of Bangkok alone. The Thai people take their religion VERY seriously. We went to about 3-4 temples, I think, I eventually lost track after seeing so many various statues of Buddha. But of course, the most impressive one has to be the reclining Buddha. What you see is real gold, everything that looks gold IS gold.

The Reclining Buddha

Buddha's feet inlaid with mother-of-pearl

Next, was a canal tour via longtail boat. How absolutely exciting! We were taken through many small water canals through residential areas on the outskirts of the city. This is where we could see how traditional Thai people live. Homes (poor and rich) built on the water's edge. Kids learning to swim, using coconuts as floaters, kimodo dragons sunning themselves at the water's edge, mango, banana and coconut trees growing in people's backyards, fruit dangling over the water...... At one point, was a bread shop. The set-up is amazing.... You stop your boat, and using a pulley system, pay the shopkeeper by placing your money in a bucket which he hauls in and returns a bucket to you that is filled with loaves of soft bread. (Actually, we didn't pay, I assume it was the driver or the tour guide who handled that but I never saw money exchange hands, or buckets, that is!). The special thing about this place is that if you feed the bread to the catfish, it's supposed to bring you luck. The sign above the hut says LUCKY FISH! Well, it was the first time in my life that I got baptised by fish! As we threw bits of bread in the water, hundreds of giant catfish appeared. We were instructed to hold a chunk of bread in the water for the fish (the boat was so low that we could easily put our hands in the water). Of course, the greedy fish swarmed for our fingers, amidst much thrashing of tails. So, that is how I got baptised by lucky fish...churning water in the face, a number of times. They were right up against the boat, so it was easy for me to stroke them...no scales, big toothless mouths, smooth sleek skin. Amazing experience! Amazing Thailand!

Sight-seeing via long-tail boat

Water baptism by catfish!

Next, was a stop at a jewellery factory, where I bought a nice-sized Thai ruby set in white-gold ring. (Apparently, Thailand's famous for rubies and sapphires, but they import the gold from SA! So, they were very happy to meet a South African! And, of course, I had to buy an original Thai ruby as a nice souvenir for myself.)

Later that evening, we went on a dinner cruise down the Chao Praya River. Stunning, stunning, stunning! Buildings and bridges and temples were all lit up. We met 2 middle-aged Chinese-Malaysian guys, 3 nice guys from Myanmar who live and work in Singapore (one of them is MD of an architectural company, ooh la la...); also met a friendly guy from Iran. What an enjoyable evening...buffet dinner, good company, lots of male attention, live jazz music, excellent live entertainment, lots of dancing, fantastic international atmosphere, Hebrew music, Iranian music, Western music, those Iranians know how to dance! WOW! It felt great! Lekker party boat!

Finally back to hotel and sleep!

Wednesday....to be continued....

Hope you enjoy the details!

Luv,

Andrea

My Amazing Race - Part 2

Hi!

To continue....

Sunday 9th:

First thing Sunday morning, we took a ferry from Kowloon to Macau. And this is where the customs and immigration marathon began! Immigration at HK stamps passport "Departed Hong Kong August 9th". Arrive in Macau an hour later (and can you believe it, even hotter than HK!). Macau immigration stamps passport "Arrived Macau August 9th".

Boiling hot!

What do I see?

Do you think anyone would mind terribly if I dove into the fountain?

Ok, I'll behave.

Now, Macau is known as the Las Vegas of the East. Oh my word! What an amazing place! Not only is it as hot as the desert, but all around, all you see are towering casino buildings, each one vying to be grander than the next. Quite an experience! And because the majority of Macau's income is generated from gambling tourists, they send glam shuttle buses to the ferry port to shuttle visitors to their casinos/hotels for free! So we hopped a bus for free and were treated to an eye-catching sightseeing ride along the coast. Eventually we were deposited at some or other hotel casino, with ridiculous gold decor and giant chandeliers. The weird thing, though, is that just outside the casino, was a residential area that is obviously on the poorer side of things. From there, we took a cab to the famous Central Square, from where it is easy to do walking tours to all the touristy places. I've never seen a posher McDonalds.

The ruins of St Paul's Church

A little piece of Europe in Asia

Now Macau has strong Portuguese heritage, thanks to Portuguese colonialism. It makes for a unique and interesting place in the East. Mainly Chinese inhabitants, European architecture, English and Portuguese street names, Portuguese food galore. Quite unlike the rest of the Orient. We did the usual sightseeing stuff; I bought an antique Chinese lacquered jewellery box (which also doubles as a pillow - you know the ancient Chinese wooden pillows we sometimes see in Chinese movies?). Macau is also renowned for all its antique stores. Wow! It's like walking through a museum! I browsed through a few antique stores, and absolutely beautiful furniture. One day, when I'm rich, I'll go furniture shopping in Macau and have it shipped to my villa in Tuscany!

Yummy to-die-for-hot-from-the-oven Portuguese egg custard tartlets!

Another thing Macau is renowned for is Portuguese egg custard tarts. Heaven on the tongue! I wanted to go to Macau just for this...seriously! The closest you gonna find in SA, is at Vida e Cafe. But of course, in Macau, it was hot from the oven, melt in the mouth, creamy, yummy....need I say more? They also do a style of jerkey (I'm not calling it biltong cos its more like jerkey, i.e. flat sheets of meat). Still delicious though. I bought some peppered beef, which I didn't get a chance to eat, as it stayed in my suitcase for the next week or so, and ended up in the bin at customs in Korea! Because I was honest enough to declare it. Oh well! At least I tasted it in Macau. And it was good!

Gyo Lim wanted to go shopping at the Ralph Lauren Polo factory shop in Macau, so off we went, and she got some really good bargains for Korean money. Then I needed to buy some tissues (cos of all the constant face mopping, I was fast running out of face mops), so I popped into what looked like a pharmacy. Only it turned out to be like a big Clicks, called Watson's, which was packed with customers, so it took a while to just buy tissues. And then at the tills, don't I see Lindt and Cadbury's etc etc and go crazy! So finally, after an extra kilo or two of chocolate and chewing gum, we headed to a Portuguese restaurant for lunch. Then back to the Polo shop, cos Gyo Lim had worked out just how much of a good bargain she got, and wanted to get some more. By then, it was time for us to start heading back to HK, so we walked to the nearest casino, naively thinking (rather...hoping) we could return to the ferry port via free casino bus again. LOL! Naturally, we were stopped by casino security, and asked for our casino tickets, which, by the way, you can only get at one of the gaming tables, hence, you HAVE to sped money at the casino. Of course! DUH! So, we politely, and as unobtrusively as possible, walked through the gambling section till we found the exit, and took a cab to the port! And yet again, at the duty free shop at the port, I saw more varieties of chocolate, bought some more, plus Magnum ice creams. I was educating Gyo Lim in the ways of the West, you see, not being greedy at all! ;)

Immigration stamps passport "departed Macau August 9th". Nice bouncy, bumpy ferry ride back to Kowloon across the South China Sea. (It feels so James Bond to say the South China Sea! I just had to do it!). One hour later, HK immigration stamps passport "Arrived Hong Kong August 9th". (My apologies to those who don't find this funny, but I get a kick out of it!)

We then took another ferry across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island, then a topless sightseeing bus to the tram station to take a tram uphill to the top of Hong Kong Island where we had another breathtaking view of Hong Kong at night, and of course, we saw the light show again, this time from a different angle. And we could look across to Kowloon.

See how much Hong Kong resembles Cape Town?

On board the Topless Bus touring the streets of Hong Kong.

Breathtaking night-view of Hong Kong, from the top of Hong Kong Island.

After an exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable day in the intense heat, we headed back to Kowloon by ferry, then subway to our area, and finally, aircon, in our tiny room!

Monday 10th....to be continued!

Luv,

Andrea